Two Rookie RBs Shake up the NFC West! 🫨

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What’s in store:

• Tell me if you’ve heard this before: Rashee Rice is in more legal trouble 😬. A suspension is seeming like more and more of an inevitability at this point.

• Tyler Boyd reunites with Brian Callahan in Tennessee ⚔️. The Titans WR corps. is officially the oldest in the league… but also the most experienced.

• Where will Zay Jones land for 2024? He continued his free agency tour in Dallas and Kansas City this week.

• Two NFC West teams, two new-look backfields (potentially). See what Faraz has to say as the dust from April’s draft settles.

• Chiefs WR Rashee Rice reportedly involved in yet another incident, under investigation for alleged nightclub assault

  • The hits just seem to keep on coming for the second-year receiver, who is now waist deep in legal trouble at the halfway point of the offseason. Our previous advice still stands with his price tag likely coming down even lower than it did after the street racing incident, but understand that buying low now means assuming significant risk in the short term. The drama has officially dashed any momentum that Rice had built up with Mahomes going into his sophomore campaign, and a smooth transition back into action – whenever that happens – likely isn’t in the cards. Fantasy managers should operate moving forward with the assumption that Rice will receive some form of punishment from the league, and likely a significant one at that. In the meantime, Rice’s status being up in the air opens the door for the two latest additions to the Chiefs’ WR room to establish themselves in Kansas City’s passing attack. Xavier Worthy and Marquise Brown will still need to compete with Travis Kelce for targets, but both will likely see substantial increases in their ADPs with Rice staring down a suspension.

• Former Bengals WR Tyler Boyd signs with Titans on one-year, $4.5M deal to reunite with Brian Callahan

  • It’s not a ‘final infinity stone’ situation in Tennessee, but the addition of Boyd rounds out a Titans WR corps. that has veteran talent at every position. Boyd’s familiarity with his former OC and new Titans HC Brian Callahan is most likely what drew him to Tennessee and should allow him to step in and be relatively productive from day one. Sharing the field with Calvin Ridley and DeAndre Hopkins might ultimately cap Boyd’s usage at the end of the day, but his role as a slot receiver should help him have his games here and there to serve as a serviceable flex option in a pinch. Meanwhile in the murky depths of the Titans WR room, Treylon Burks is losing ground quickly on a potential starting role. He’s dealt with his fair share of injuries to open his career and has yet to really stick as a fantasy relevant option in the Titans offense. With the addition of Boyd, the trade whispers are only likely to get louder as the former first round pick trends towards a fresh start elsewhere in the league.

• Former Jaguars WR Zay Jones continues his free agency tour, visits Cowboys and Chiefs this week

  • The visits in Dallas and Kansas City come on the heels of two other previous visits in Tennessee and Arizona. The former Jagaurs receiver has drawn significant interest on the open market since his release last week and seems certain to find a new home ahead of the 2024 season. With the Titans signing Tyler Boyd earlier this week, Tennessee is likely out of the Zay Jones sweepstakes by default with the vacancy behind Ridley and Hopkins now filled. Both Dallas and Kansas City would be very solid landing spots for Jones, who will look to bounce back from an injury-riddled 2023 campaign that saw him finish with just 321 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Jones’ most productive season came two years ago in 2022, with the veteran wideout snagging a career-high 82 balls for 823 yards (also a career-high) and five touchdowns. On offenses in Kansas City and Dallas that are lacking experienced depth at the position, Jones could carve out a not-insignificant role and contribute to fantasy teams as a spot starter.

Trey Benson landed with the Cardinals - 3rd round, pick 2, solid draft capital. Here’s the thing - James Conner was REALLY good last year. One of the most efficient RBs in the NFL. If he stays heathy all year, this either stays a primary Conner backfield as the clear guy with Benson working in a bit, or Benson shows a ton early and is able to work in to close to a 50/50 split. They do complement each other well; Benson has that home run ability that Conner doesn’t at this point of his career. I don’t necessarily see Benson completely taking over if Conner stays healthy. But here’s the thing:

Conner is 29 years old. He has an injury history. He misses games. Benson can end up being a league winner if Conner can’t hold up - or if he falls off a cliff - which many RBs do at this age. So, I am not staying clear of Benson in redraft - just have to understand that the range of outcomes for him is very wide, but someone who contributes late in the season to help you win your league is in the range of outcomes.

In terms of Conner, I hope you sold him before the draft if he was still sticking around on your dynasty roster. I wouldn’t be overly excited to grab him in redraft, but his RB24 price tag isn’t terrible. I just don’t love drafting older RBs - he isn’t Derrick Henry, and there’s always the risk that Conner never gets his full-time job back if he gets hurt and Benson seizes his opportunity, performs, and at that point, you can’t put the genie back in the bottle.

Blake Corum goes to the Rams with the 19th pick in the 3rd round. This makes me so much more interested in him dynasty-wise, more so because his ceiling just got raised, and I believe this offense - if he were to ever get opportunity to be the guy, will support him at a high level. His floor is very low though because I do believe that Kyren Williams will continue to be the bell cow for the Rams for the foreseeable future - maybe his snaps go down a bit - maybe to 70-75% opposed to 90%, but that’s perfectly fine. That RB1 appeal is still there. I don’t see Corum making this a committee - Kyren killed it last year, Sean McVay loves him, he was a big producer, and he was very efficient on the ground. Blake Corum in his last year, was not.

I will say though, Corum becomes a very high value handcuff to Kyren Williams. If he were to ever go down or get hurt, I don’t think we’re looking at a split backfield like we did last year when Kyren missed time with the high ankle sprain. This could be the same workhorse role just being transferred over to Corum. So he’s someone who should be rostered all year on benches in redraft because we will unload our FAAB on him if something were to happen to Kyren.

Another thing to note here - if you draft Kyren Williams in the 2nd round, you have to understand - if he ends up getting hurt and Corum comes in and kills it, it’s very possible we don’t ever see Kyren Williams the bellcow again. That is the risk you’re taking - is that risk high? I don’t think so, and I’m still willing to take that shot on Kyren in the 2nd because he is still in the running to be the overall RB1 this year, but we have to understand the risks.

Burton is a good WR who might have had a higher output this past year if he had a better QB situation. He’s tough, he’s sure handed, he’s a good deep threat, and a good contested receiver. His career average depth of target was the 2nd highest in this class, and his yards/reception ranked first. He’s not an after the catch guy, but the dude had zero drops last year; no other WR in this class can say that. The fact that he combined that with a 56.4% contested catch rate is very impressive.

On top of all that, he can run routes, and he can run a variety of them. Despite his size, he can get off the line very well, even against press coverage. Simply put, he’s a vertical receiver who can win deep but also at other levels of the field. He smacked a female fan after a game, so that isn’t good, and NFL GMs and coaches have their doubts around his character. That is the risk in his profile. Otherwise, he can be a fantasy diamond in the rough.

Landing Spot Analysis: Pairing with Joe Burrow is such an underrated winning outcome for Burton. Despite the off the field issues, he got the Day 2 draft capital we were hoping for, so he got a couple of boosts in value post-draft. He’s an auto draft at the end of the 3rd round of every single one of my rookie drafts.