Lessons Learned in 2024 📝

The Tyreek Hill saga went from 0 to 100, and now it’s sitting at something that feels like a 45 or 50. Reminder: this is what we have to cling to as fantasy football players waiting for next year to start. This is day 4 of many more to go this offseason 😢.

• Raiders fire HC Antonio Pierce after tumultuous 4-13 season

  • Did Antonio Pierce have a fair crack at actually proving himself as a head coach given the Raiders’ bottom-5 roster? No he did not. Do we know that he would have been a better head coach with a better roster, either? No, we do not. You have to feel for him considering he was given the job by winning over the locker room, but it’s not often those types of coaches make a lasting impact in real life or for fantasy football. As a former linebacker, he wasn’t a savvy offensive mind and didn’t pull many strings – if any at all – with the Raiders offense, so perhaps his firing is for the best. With Brock Bowers and Jakobi Meyers in tow for next season, Las Vegas will at least have two high-quality weapons for whatever quarterback they bring in to replace the platoon of Aidan O’Connell and Gardner Minshew. The key, of course, is actually landing that quarterback; they were famously unable to do so last season after all five of the top quarterbacks were off the board by the time they were on the clock with the 13th overall pick. If they can land a solid quarterback (and fingers crossed, hire an offensive head coach), we could see real positive differences made for Bowers and Meyers in 2025.

• Dolphins WR Tyreek Hill, GM Chris Grier reportedly have ‘productive conversations’ regarding Hill’s talk of leaving Miami

  • Something tells us this is far from over this offseason with Tyreek Hill and his Antonio Brown-esque antics. Whether or not these comments are window dressing on the part of the Dolphins brass remains to be seen, but it should be enough to cool down talks of a potential trade for Hill for the time being – and at least until the end of the NFL Playoffs (which, in case you didn’t know, the Dolphins missed). The bottom line here is that Miami is highly unlikely to trade their top weapon for QB Tua Tagovailoa, especially considering the fact that they just signed both to big money deals this offseason. Hill is coming off his worst season as a pro since his rookie season – but when you’re forced to deal with quarterbacks like Skylar Thompson and Tyler Huntley for more than a game or two per year, it’s hard to blame Hill for being frustrated. Obviously, any move out of Miami for Hill would be monumental and change the landscape drastically for Jaylen Waddle, Jonnu Smith & co –and of course, hurt Tua’s dynasty and redraft stock. For the time being, nothing is imminent, but this could quickly become one of the top offseason talking points for speculation.

Take fliers on low-cost, high-upside rookie talents.

All five of Jayden Daniels (QB5), Malik Nabers (WR6), Brian Thomas Jr. (WR12), Ladd McConkey (WR21), and Brock Bowers (TE2) were selected outside the first four rounds of drafts. The risk associated with rookies is obviously greater than the risk of taking a proven producer in the early rounds of your draft, but drafting rookies – especially unicorns like Bowers or standout athletes like BTJ – is one of the best ways to inject your roster with upside in the mid-late rounds.

Let efficiency be your guide in seemingly crowded backfields.

There’s a reason we liked Bucky Irving in Tampa even with Rachaad White sharing the backfield – and it’s because he demonstrated efficiency in the run game in college when White did not (in college or the NFL). And it goes both ways – just like new faces can usurp opportunity from incumbents in a backfield, so can the incumbents hold off competition by showing efficiency themselves (Kyren Williams, James Conner, etc.). More often than not, the best players in the backfield will earn the work – and that’s where value can be created.

Don’t draft players who will rot on IR all year.

Seems like a no-brainer, but there are players every year that get heavily discounted to the point where the potential reward seems to outweigh the risk. Most of the time, though, that’s fool’s gold you’re being sold; Nick Chubb, T.J. Hockenson, and Jonathon Brooks are prime examples this year (and Kyler Murray last year). Your IR spot will be better served housing bigger names who need to miss a week or two instead of being clogged up by a player that won’t scratch the surface of their capabilities in limited action late in the year.

Don’t miss out on huge fantasy seasons by being scared of injuries.

One of the most obvious pieces of advice that bears repeating every year. There are bad draft decisions like drafting C.J. Stroud in the 4th round and expecting him to return value on that investment as a pocket passer – that’s totally in your control as a fantasy football manager. Injuries, however, aren’t – and if you predicate your draft choices on the chance that a player could get hurt, you could miss out on seasons like Saquon Barkley and De’Von Achane just had. Injuries are unpredictable, so instead of treating a player as one that might get hurt, consider the upside if the player were to stay healthy. A player who’s already hurt when you’re drafting them? That’s a different story.