Initial reactions to trades and free agency signings.
Buffalo Bills:
Stefon Diggs: The new alpha in Buffalo. I love this landing spot for the Bills but have mixed feelings for Diggs.
Kirk Cousins succeeded throwing to Adam Thielen more because he was in the slot. Thielen was the more productive and sought after WR in Minnesota. Now Diggs gets to be the man in Buffalo but on a team with an inaccurate thrower and a team that’s looking to run and play good defense to win.
Josh Allen in Buffalo has a cannon arm that can hit Diggs on deep routes, albeit inaccurately; on deep-ball accuracy Allen ranked in the bottom 4 of all starting QBs. Allen will be less accurate than Cousins but the increase in targets should help balance out a less polished QB.
A new No. 1 WR, he will take over John Brown’s 115 targets, if not get a few more. Brown’s role will likely be reduced.
The Bills resemble the Vikings offense last year with Diggs as the alpha, Brown as an exceptional No. 2, and a strong running/defensive philosophy. Diggs will be a good WR, with an increase from his 94 targets last year. His yards per rec will regress though, 17.9 was an outlier. Overall, I think he moves up a few spots into the top 20 WRs after this move. Just beware of the snowy month at the end of the season where the Bills like to run the ball and play strong D.
New England Patriots:
They franchise tagged guard Joe Thuney… Let’s be real, the real news is Tom Brady left the team. The Patriots with their current roster are offensively in shambles… With no Brady and Jarrett Stidham or Brian Hoyer at the helm, the team has no run game, the team has no passing game. Julian Edelman’s fantasy stock takes a hit, James White actually might stay the same as a pass-catching back that can catch check-downs from the second-year QB. This team’s playmakers will be atrocious, and I’ll likely be out unless they make a dramatic change to the roster before the start of the year.
Miami Dolphins
Jordan Howard and Ereck Flowers: It’s not flashy, but it’s a step in the right direction. Both will improve the current roster positions. The biggest splash in free agency the Dolphins made was on the defensive side. They signed Bryon Jones, Shaq Lawson, Kyle Van Noy, and Emmanuel Ogbah. The defense won’t directly impact fantasy players, but it’ll be interesting to see if the Dolphins ask Ryan Fitzpatrick to sling the ball the way he did last season when they were constantly behind. DeVante Parker finally broke out and I expect his role to stay the same and hope he can keep up his production from last year. What’ll be most impactful for the Dolphins offense, is what they do in the draft. They have five picks in the first two rounds which could likely be a QB and RB that they pair together for the future.
New York Jets
The Jets only impactful signing on the offensive side has been in their O-line, which needed a lot of help from last year. They ranked in the bottom 4 of the league last year according to Pro Football Focus. This should help Le’Veon Bell’s atrocious 3.2 YPC but in this new coronavirus world, the offseason will likely be limited and that could hurt the chemistry of the 4 new offensive linemen.