Fantasy Football: 6 Players We’ve Changed Our Minds About for the 2024 Draft

Sometimes the key to fantasy success is being able to step back and reevaluate your stance on a player. Here are six players our team of fantasy football analysts have changed their minds about over the past month.

WR Jameson Williams, Detroit Lions

This one has almost nothing to do with the player and everything to do with expectations implied by draft positioning. I’ve covered Williams at a pretty absurd amount of length this offseason for a guy who has 31 career receptions in the regular season and playoff games he’s appeared in over two years.

Through all the countless hours of route laying, analysis, and care put into explaining the context of his peculiar career journey thus far, my position has never really changed; I don’t have a particularly strong opinion on how his 2024 season will go. He hasn’t been a great route runner on film for most of his time in the pros, but he has indeed turned a corner and operated at the level of strong role player to solid WR2 in his final six games last year (including the playoffs). Will he remain the last one this year simply because it’s the most recent data, or does it portend another leap? I don’t have a strong opinion on that, and I can see it going either way. The past data can point you either way.

Anyway, what changed my mind is whether he’s a good fantasy draft pick this season. I thought all the almost relentless hype from the Detroit coaching staff and the enthusiasm from fans would push his ADP up into the mid-rounds. That never happened. As it stands now, he’s the 125th player off the board in Yahoo drafts at the end of August and the WR46. He’s even lower in consensus multi-site ADP at WR49. At that late positioning, you might as well take a chance and see what happens. — Matt Harmon

Brian Thomas Jr., Jacksonville Jaguars

I leaned more on Christian Kirk than Brian Thomas heading into training camp. It wouldn’t be the first time we’d been burned by an LSU WR2, and the ghost of Terrace Marshall continued to haunt me. Thomas led the NCAA in receiving touchdowns last year with 17 touchdowns on just 68 receptions. Despite that tremendous production, the league saw elite receivers from the 2024 draft in Marvin Harrison Jr., Malik Nabers, and Rome Odunze. Thomas was the fourth receiver drafted, and even though it was still in Round 1, the gap between Thomas and Odunze was significant. The preseason was a bit of an eye-opener, though.

Throughout the preseason, Thomas and Gabe Davis played in dual-receiver pairings, with Kirk being the odd one out. The sample size is small, but it’s consistent with 2023, when Kirk was underutilized in Week 1 before Zay Jones got hurt. If the Jags’ offense repeats its 2023 scheme with Thomas as a direct replacement for Calvin Ridley, Thomas has clear upside at a much better value. — Tera Roberts

Zamir White, Las Vegas Raiders

Early in the draft season, I was proactive about Zamir White, thinking he would be a cheap source of volume on a team that wants to win on defense and the running game. But I’m starting to think the Vegas offense has bottom-out potential — there’s no legitimate No. 1 quarterback here — and White may not have as much market share as I initially expected.

Fearing the downside of this whole onslaught, I’ve dropped White as a late-round target. I’m also passing on Davante Adams, as much as it pains my heart.— Scott Pianowski

Keon Coleman, Buffalo Bills

I think the fantasy community got off to a bad start with Coleman. He was a polarizing prospect who went out of the first round of the NFL Draft. This caused some people to develop a negative bias toward him. But let’s look at the context we’ve been given since the draft process.

Coleman came to a team that no longer has Stefon Diggs or Gabe Davis. A lot of people have been talking about a potential down year for the Bills offense, but I don’t believe it, and neither does Vegas. The Bills have the sixth-least chance to lead the NFL in points scored this season. And that’s without even mentioning Joe Brady, who took over the play-calling halfway through last season, now has a whole offseason to get his offense in place.

I know there are some concerns about Coleman’s profile, but are those concerns not taken into account since he’s a 10th round pick in fantasy drafts? I’d like to target the 215-pound rookie late in the drafts since he’ll be a starting WR for Josh Allen this season. — Salt Vetri

Rome Odunze, Chicago Bears

In my starting position, I had Odunze well behind both DJ Moore and Keenan Allen, believing the rookie wouldn’t be able to leapfrog the veterans in Chicago’s receiving hierarchy. But it’s becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the fact that Caleb Williams seems to be looking for Odunze in every possible situation. At this point, we clearly have to consider that Rome will be a preferred receiving option right away, in the opening weeks. His talent is too obvious to ignore. — Andy Behrens

Javonte Williams, Denver Broncos

Javonte Williams was lower in my rankings earlier this summer after a poor season and seemingly by committee, but I’ve changed my mind about him. His 2023 can be excused while he’s coming off serious multi-ligament surgery, and Williams should be much healthier after two years removed this season.

Sean Payton gave Williams 264 touches in 16 games last year after a major injury, and his offenses have been in the top five in RB targets every year for the past decade. Russell Wilson saw his career RB target rate jump from 18% to an NFL-high 30% last year in Denver, and new starter Bo Nix had the highest career RB target rate of this year’s QB class.

Williams led all running backs in targets per route run last season, and he’s back to pre-injury form if the preseason buzz is true. I now rank Williams higher (RB21) than his expert consensus rank (RB27) since he’s emerged as the clear leader in Denver’s backfield, even more so now that Samaje Perine was fired this week. — Dalton Del Don