Dynasty Fantasy Football 2024 NFL Draft: Veteran Winners and Losers from Day One
Dynasty managers have been looking forward to this weekend for weeks, maybe even months. This year, we were promised a run of top-notch quarterbacks and elite wide receivers, along with the possibility of just one tight end or running back taken in round one. In the end, the draft’s first day delivered all of that and more. With all the talented players entering the league, NFL veterans will feel the impact, some fearing for their respective jobs while others will breathe a sigh of relief, at least for 24 hours. Let’s take a look at some of the players who could see their dynasty value affected by this first round rookie class. On to the initial veteran winners and losers from day one.
WINNERS
Bears Skill Position Players
As expected, the Bears took Caleb Williams with the top overall pick. He should start day one and while nothing is ever guaranteed, it would be surprising to see him not at least maintain seasonal value for a new-look offense that includes D’Andre Swift, DJ Moore, Keenan Allen, Cole Kmet, and now even rookie Rome Odunze, whom they drafted ninth overall. You could make the case Odunze hurts some value here but it’s hard to look at the likes of Allen and Moore and think they aren’t still going to get their numbers and targets now that they have a perceived upgrade at quarterback.
Commanders Skill Position Players
Washington needed an upgrade and if Jayden Daniels is the real deal, you have to like it for Austin Ekeler, Terry McLaurin, Jahan Dotson, Jamison Crowder and the rest of the crew. Sam Howell actually did a decent job of keeping these players relevant but Daniels should still provide a step up. Of all the ceilings of players in this draft, Daniels could have the highest and all these players would benefit.
Patriots Skill Position Players
New England is essentially hitting the reset button after the departure of Bill Belichick. With a new quarterback in tow in the form of Drake Maye, the hope is we see some relevance from players like Rhamondre Stevenson, Kendrick Bourne, Demario Douglas, KJ Osborn, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Hunter Henry. While this group has been a wasteland for some time, I actually like Douglas as a player to take a nice second-year leap and Maye has the talent to make these players relevant again.
Kyler Murray, QB ARI
The idea of having Michael Wilson as the team’s top option next year was clearly not in the cards (see what I did there), so they went ahead with the biggest no-brainer in the draft with Marvin Harrison Jr. He should provide Murray with the best receiving option he’s had since DeAndre Hopkins. Murray looks like a player who is at a “make or break” point in his career and having Harrison won’t hurt him any.
Daniel Jones, QB NYG
Jones was quite possibly the biggest winner of the night after New York failed to maneuver their way to get their new franchise quarterback. The Giants weren’t ready to throw in the towel on Jones quite yet, despite him playing in only 60 games over his five year career. In fact, they passed on JJ McCarthy in the draft and took LSU wide receiver Malik Nabers instead. All of this keeps Jones on the map and while he’s never been an elite option, the Giants are going all-in to prove paying him big money wasn’t a mistake. Having Nabers certainly won’t hurt his chances of having a bounce-back season.
Aidan O’Connell and Gardner Minshew, QBs LV
The Raiders were a hot mock draft landing spot for a quarterback but ended up seeing a record-breaking six go ahead of them before they were even able to pick. This was a stunning development and now we’re going to see a true quarterback battle between O’Connell and Minshew this off-season. Whoever wins will have some streaming appeal – they even have a new tight end in Brock Bowers to throw to as well.
Veteran Running Backs
While they’re nowhere close to out of the woods, players like Rico Dowdle, Gus Edwards, Devin Singletary, Zack Moss, James Conner, Nick Chubb, Chuba Hubbard, and Zamir White are all sitting there on top of their respective depth charts. The second day promises to be unkind to a few of these players but they made it out alive after day one.
Patrick Mahomes, QB KC
The one is easy. Mahomes has been missing a deep threat and now has Xavier Worthy to use as a new toy. While this is going to be a little overblown (Worthy is not Tyreek Hill, gang), it’s hard not to like it for Mahomes.
LOSERS
Michael Mayer, TE LV
At this time last year, Mayer was an elite-level prospect at the position. After dropping in the 2023 NFL Draft and having a pretty quiet rookie season, Mayer was effectively replaced as the Raiders had tight end Brock Bowers drop in their laps. It’s possible each of these players siphon some value off the other but the idea of Mayer being a TE1 in Las Vegas is all but over.
Kirk Cousins, QB ATL
The shocker of the draft came at #8 when the Falcons took Michael Penix Jr. Cousins is in no danger of losing his job this season but he’s also clearly looking at an Aaron Rodgers / Jordan Love type of situation where his margin for error is going to be pretty thin moving forward. He’ll have to not only prove he’s healthy quickly, but also show everyone he’s still an elite option in order to hold off Penix. This was quite honestly one of the most surprising draft picks of the past ten years.
Josh Allen, QB BUF
Allen really needed some more weapons at wide receiver and the Bills instead decided to move down a couple of times and see them pass on some quality receivers at the same time. The Bills should address the position soon but this was a pretty big surprise and did Allen no favors.
Marcus Mariota, QB WAS
There was little chance the Commanders were going to come out of draft night without taking a quarterback and they did just that. Mariota may get a start or two while they wait for Jayden Daniels to be ready but Mariota’s dynasty value has long evaporated.
Jacoby Brissett, QB NE
Some thought New England could trade out of the #3 spot but they chose Maye instead. Brissett is the ultimate bridge quarterback but it looks like his days as a starter in New England are already over again.
Sam Darnold, QB MIN
He just can’t catch a break. After looking like he may finally get one more legitimate shot to be an answer for a franchise, Darnold now has JJ McCarthy to fend off. He may just be out of chances, though he could start this season should McCarthy come along slowly.
Jarrett Stidham and Zach Wilson, QBs DEN
It was always going to be tough to see Stidham or Wilson start for the Broncos this year and it seems that won’t happen now with Bo Nix in the fold. Ir remains to be seen if any of these players will really be an upgrade over Russell Wilson but we’ll see in time.
Let’s see what happens tonight as more veterans are sitting on pins and needles!
Ken is on Twitter at DLF_KenK
