No significant signings today, so I'll recap the biggest move of all. DeAndre Hopkins to the NFC West and the Arizona Cardinals.
Arizona Cardinals:
DeAndre Hopkins: Got to stay equally excited for the new team. Kyler Murray was a promising rookie in a fast-paced offense that throws in 4 WR sets 18% of the time, they’re not afraid to sling it. Deshaun Watson is a more developed QB at this point in his career, but Arizona’s offense is strong enough to maintain his WR production.
Kenyan Drake: From week 15 on he finished with 17 points or higher in every game. Similar to Chris Carson’s end of 2018 before he exploded the next year. I still have some reservations about the off-and-on-again Drake productivity, but excited for his new role as the feature back in Arizona. They will be a talented offensive especially if they draft a plug and play offensive lineman in the draft like they are projected to.
Larry Fitzgerald: Kind of off my radar for fantasy purposes, will be a great NFL contributor, but it will be hard to make a relevant impact with fewer targets being the third option in the passing attack.
Kyler Murray: Hype will continue to increase this offseason. An already targeted up and coming QB just got a ginormous boost in his WR personnel. Arizona was in the bottom four of red zone percentage, which should improve in Murray’s second year. And let’s not forget about his legs while everyone is focusing on doubling Hopkins. He will be a projected top 5 QB.
Christian Kirk: He’s a great No. 2 WR for NFL purposes, he shows promise as a productive WR3 that can get you double-digit fantasy points consistently and astronomical numbers like last year’s week 10 against TB. I actually think he will improve his stats from 2019 because he missed three games in ‘19. He can do better as a No. 2 seeing less of the prominent coverage and will have another year of chemistry with creative head coach Kliff Kingsbury and QB Kyler Murray. Remains a WR3 because his targets will go down, but like his promise over the Hall of Famer Larry Fitzgerald at this point in his career.
Los Angeles Rams:
They let Todd Gurley go and resigned Andrew Whitworth to a massive deal. Last year we saw a shift focused more on the passing game and arm talent of Jared Goff and that shift did not start great in year one… The Rams need to do more to improve their O-line because Goff struggled under pressure. Robert Woods, Tyler Higbee, and Darrell Henderson have the best values coming into 2020.
Higbee and Henderson are relatively less-known commodities. Henderson likely takes over the starting RB position for now. He could be a good value for his Average Draft Position (ADP), but the running back position on this team scares me a bit until they bolster their O-line.
Woods was more targeted than Cooper Kupp last season but scored fewer TDs. Kupp’s ADP will be the highest and deservedly so but that means less value on his pick. This offense is a bit of an enigma for me, at stretches being good for both WRs but also useless at other times. Woods being slightly cheaper might push me to take him.
There is also talk of Brandin Cooks seeing more targets if he remains on the team. If that’s the case, that would directly hurt Woods and then Kupp becomes the better value out of the slot. Finally, there’s Higbee. He emerged as a main weapon at the end of the year, scoring 18 points or more from week 13 on. I think this offense changes dramatically this year and it’s hard to envision where all the targets go. But I think Higbee was so efficient he will be a playmaker that carves a significant role like he did at the end of last season. Higbee is the best blend of talent and low value on the Rams.
Seattle Seahawks:
Greg Olsen and Jacob Hollister: This muddies the waters for a team that will likely get Will Dissly back by the start of week 1 or early on in the season. Olsen is the TE I trust out of this group. Dissly is more talented at this point in his career but the injuries have piled up and it scares me for the start of this season. If good news on his rehab continues, I may shift to liking Dissly again, but two catastrophic injuries have ended his seasons short already. Regardless, the juggling act of TE will be difficult to predict. I wouldn’t want to trust anyone from this group, if I had to, for now, it would be Olsen.
Phillip Dorsett: A good No. 3 WR to add to the mix. Won't be fantasy relevant but will help bolster the team's WR core.
San Francisco 49ers:
They resigned Ben Garland to Center… Nothing’s really changed for the offense except losing free agent Emmanuel Sanders. This bodes well for Deebo Samuel as the new No. 1 WR, he will be a top 35 WR.
Travis Benjamin: The 49ers signed Benjamin to replace Sanders walking away. This is a smart move, Benjamin has shown big-play flashes at times and the one-year deal is a minimal impact to the 49ers. Benjamin is a good football move, but likely irrelevant for fantasy.
The 49ers also restructured Jerick McKinnon’s deal to bring him back. Why does Kyle Shanahan hate fantasy football? Does he really need 5 RBs?! Up to his old Shananigans again. Who am I to question a brilliant Super Bowl attending coach? He schemes them so well and utilizes all his backs at one point in the season. McKinnon leapfrogs Jeff Wilson on backs I would prefer to have, but remains behind Raheem Mostert, Tevin Coleman, and Matt Breida. Mostert is the only back I am hopeful emerges but with Shanahan’s run schemes working so well with whoever he has in, that seems doubtful.