Final Head Coaching Vacancies are filled! ✅

This is it: the quiet before the storm. The last hurrah of the 2023 NFL season is just a little over a week away – and we’re still not done talking about fantasy football.

What’s in store:

• Final head coaching vacancies have been filled ✅. Dan Quinn lands in Washington and Mike Macdonald heads to Seattle as the coaching carousel comes to a stop.

• Arthur Smith winds up in Pittsburgh. He’s set up perfectly with a backfield by committee after his debacle of a tenure in Atlanta.

• SEC wide receiver stands out at Senior Bowl 👀. See which pass catcher ‘caught’ Faraz’s eye this week in Mobile!

• One of the WRs in next week’s Super Bowl has been a secret superstar ⭐️. Hint: he was a first round pick in 2020. Keep reading to see who we’re talking about!

• Commanders hire former Cowboys DC Dan Quinn as their next head coach

  • You have to wonder if Quinn was the backup plan for the Commanders the whole time after Washington watched Ben Johnson slip through their fingers when he announced that he would be returning to Detroit in 2024. Quinn has plenty of coaching experience and was able to take a bottom-3 defensive unit in Dallas in 2021 and transform it into a top-5 defense in just one offseason with the team – something he’ll be tasked with once again following the Commanders’ abysmal 2023 season on the defensive side of the ball. Washington’s defense surrendered the most passing yards and sixth-most rushing yards in the NFL, as well as the most passing touchdowns in the NFL this past season. With a brand new ownership group, a heaping helping of cap space to work with, and the No. 2 overall pick in this year’s upcoming draft, Dan Quinn has both his work cut out for him and the resources he’ll need to kickstart Washington’s rebuild in 2024. And with Eric Bienemy expected to reprise his role as offensive coordinator under Dan Quinn, fantasy managers can expect Washington’s offense to operate very similarly to what we saw last season – but perhaps with an exciting new face under center.

• Seahawks hire former Seahawks DC Mike MacDonald as their next head coach

  • With all of the big name offensive-minded coaches coming off the board in the wake of championship weekend (Texans OC Bobby Slowik and Lions OC Ben Johnson among the most notable of that group), Seattle scooped up the mastermind behind the Ravens historically good 2023 unit in Macdonald. At 36 years old, Macdonald is the youngest head coach in the NFL as of today and replaces the league’s oldest head coach, Pete Carroll. As fantasy football people, the hire is one of less intrigue than others, but close attention should be paid to whoever MacDonald brings in as his offensive coordinator for the 2024 season. With plenty of weapons on offense in D.K. Metcalf, Tyler Lockett, JSN, Kenneth Walker III, and Zach Charbonnet, there shouldn’t be too much concern overall for Seattle’s prospects next year – but with Geno Smith taking a step back this past season, it’ll be paramount for whoever gets the coordinator job to help make sure Smith’s step back doesn’t trend into a regression.

• Steelers hire former Falcons HC Arthur Smith as their offensive coordinator for 2024

  • Just try to contain your excitement, Steelers fans! As hilarious as this landing spot for Arthur Smith is, it’s probably one of the better teams the embattled former Falcons HC could have landed with – especially with the two-headed monster the Steelers will deploy next year in Jaylen Warren and Najee Harris. All signs are pointing towards Pittsburgh using the dynamic duo as the centerpiece of their offense in 2024 with owner Art Rooney II saying that the duo can be a ‘real foundation for success going forward’. Now that Arthur Smith is safely out of squandering range of a workhorse running back (*cough cough* Bijan *cough*), he’ll be free to split carries between Warren and Harris to his heart’s content. Once again, however, Smith will be dealing with less than inspiring talent at quarterback, with the Steelers’ situation very much in flux after a shaky-at-best showing from their former first round pick Kenny Pickett. The hire probably doesn’t fix anything for the Steelers, but it also can’t be worse than what we saw last year…right?

Ladd McConkey was already being considered by many as a Top-50 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, but after Day 1 of the Senior Bowl, don’t be surprised if he shoots up to the 1st round. He was easily the best skill position player on Day 1 on either the National or American team because he was separating himself from the rest of the players rep after rep.

He was banged up this past year with some injuries, but he still was pretty efficient when he was out there - he was 6th among all 226 qualifying Power 5 WRs in yards/route run in 2023. McConkey showed some high level route running ability this week in Mobile, and showed some variety. Here was able to generate separation on an out route and even made a nice diving catch on top of it, and then he was able to separate from his man on a comeback after a little hesitation move later on.

He did have to deal with some errant throws, but it didn’t stop him from showcasing his ability - because anyone watching him play didn’t really care that he didn’t come down with the catch on all of his reps after the release package he demonstrated.

He has some after the catch ability as well - he ranks 16th among those 226 qualifying WRs I mentioned in missed tackles forced per reception. (3376) Can he be a #1 WR in the NFL? I asked him where he thinks he fits in the NFL, and he said he fits just about anywhere he’ll be needed. McConkey’s probably more of a very solid #2 WR as either a slot or flanker, but with his precise route running ability, he seems like he’ll be a very productive receiver at the next level either way.

With just two teams left in action for the 2023 season ahead of the Super Bowl, our options were relatively limited when it came to finding a relevant stat of the day – so today’s column will shed some light on the fact that Brandon Aiyuk has been incredibly underrated as a fantasy wide receiver. The fourth-year WR out of Arizona State has been a monster with the ball in his hands in the Kyle Shanahan-led 49ers offense, but he took his game to another level this season that leaves us wondering just how good he could be in an offense that’s not as loaded with target competition as San Francisco’s.

Brandon Aiyuk absolutely dominated when he saw the ball, posting a ridiculous 3.01 yards per route run in 2023 – second only to Tyreek Hill, who paced the position at 3.81. What’s more, though, is Aiyuk’s absurd 18.3 yards per reception – a number that led the league this year among WRs with 80 or more targets and contributed to the aforementioned yards per route run number. Maybe the most hilarious stat of them all, though, is that Aiyuk was the only wide receiver this season to surpass 1000 yards receiving with less than 100 targets – and he had 1317 (lmao).

Despite those mind-boggling per-touch numbers, Aiyuk finished as just the overall WR13 in fantasy points scored. So what gives? For one, the target competition in San Francisco is extreme. Including Aiyuk, three 49ers players were able to register a 20+% target share (Deebo and Kittle being the other two), while CMC also logged an 18% target share on his own. Aiyuk’s targets per route run numbers also lag significantly behind the league’s best WRs at just 22%, which begs the question: if Brandon Aiyuk was the clear-cut WR1 on another offense, just how good could he be?