2024 NFL Draft: Dynasty Fantasy Football Winners and Losers from the AFC West
With the 2024 NFL Draft now over, we can accurately re-assess the depth charts of teams around the NFL. In this series, we’ll be taking a look at players who either gained or lost value based on what their team did during the draft.
Denver Broncos
Draft Class
- Round 1, Pick 12: Bo Nix, QB Oregon
- Round 3, Pick 12: Jonah Elliss, EDGE Utah
- Round 4, Pick 2: Troy Franklin, WR Oregon
- Round 5, Pick 10: Khris Abrams-Draine, CB Missouri
- Round 5, Pick 12: Audric Estime, RB Notre Dame
- Round 7, Pick 15: Devaughn Vele, WR Utah
- Round 7, Pick 36: Nick Gargiulo, C South Carolina
Winner: Adam Trautman, TE
There were plenty of dynasty fantasy football losers on the Denver Broncos, so it’s tough to find a winner among the veterans. Tight end is the one fantasy position where the Broncos didn’t make a pick, so we’ll call Trautman the Broncos’ winner of the 2024 NFL Draft.
Trautman followed Sean Payton from New Orleans to Denver and had a career-high in touchdowns with three. But, it still wasn’t a resume to get excited about. He only caught 22 balls for 204 yards. He led Denver tight ends in all three of those categories, and figures to do that once again this year with Bo Nix under center.
Loser: Javonte Williams, RB
While it was difficult to pinpoint a winner on the Broncos, it’s equally difficult to pinpoint the biggest loser on the Broncos after the NFL Draft. The team took Nix, who will likely start now over Jarrett Stidham. The team drafted Troy Franklin, Nix’s teammate in college, threatening the jobs of Tim Patrick, Josh Reynolds and Marvin Mims Jr. But, it’s the running back position that has me concerned the most, and Williams becomes one of the biggest losers of this Draft.
The Broncos running back room was crowded enough as it was going into April. Williams may finally be completely healthy and is a full year removed from his major knee injuries. Samaje Perine and Jaleel McLaughlin were perfectly capable players to back up Williams. It wasn’t a need that the Broncos had to address, and yet, they took Audric Estime in the fifth round and then signed one of the better UDFA running backs of the class in Blake Watson.
Javonte Williams’ DLF Startup Dynasty ADP History.
Williams is going into a contract year, and Sean Payton could simply be planning for a future where Williams is playing for another team, but it could have an immediate impact on his fantasy value. Payton didn’t draft Williams, but he was there when the team signed Perine and McLaughlin. With all of his injury issues, and the lack of efficiency running the ball last season, Payton could be ready to move on from Williams right now. Once a sought-after player in the dynasty community, Williams’ ADP is down to 82nd overall and 21st at running back.
Kansas City Chiefs
Draft Class
- Round 1, Pick 28: Xavier Worthy, WR Texas
- Round 2, Pick 31: Kingsley Suamataia, OT BYU
- Round 4, Pick 31: Jared Wiley, TE TCU
- Round 4, Pick 33: Jaden Hicks, S Washington State
- Round 5, Pick 24: Hunter Nourzad, C Penn State
- Round 6, Pick 35: Kamal Hadden, CB Tennessee
- Round 7, Pick 28: C.J. Hanson, OG Holy Cross
Winner: Isiah Pacheco, RB
A seventh-round pick in the 2022 Draft, Pacheco may go down in dynasty fantasy football history as one of the best rookie draft picks of all time. Coming off of an RB15 finish in PPR leagues, the Chiefs once again didn’t spend a single draft pick on the position, solidifying his spot as the bell cow back on the best offense in the NFL. He isn’t flashy, he isn’t efficient, but he’s reliably in your roster week in and week out.
Isiah Pacheco’s DLF Startup Dynasty ADP History.
Pacheco is now being drafted as a dynasty RB1, going 50th overall and 12th at the running back position. The Chiefs seem incredibly satisfied with their unheralded back out of Rutgers. They barely addressed the position in free agency, re-signing Clyde Edwards-Helaire to a minimal contract, and they didn’t spend a draft pick on the position.
The Chiefs do have a long-shot rookie “running back” on their roster in Louis Rees-Zammit. The former rugby star from Wales signed a contract with the Chiefs in the off-season and he could be an intriguing piece for Andy Reid to mix in. He’ll likely start off as a special teams player, if he makes the roster, but don’t be surprised if Reid draws up some plays for Rees-Zammit this season.
Loser: Rashee Rice, WR
With Rice in some serious trouble with the law and with the NFL, the Chiefs traded up in the first round to take the fastest wide receiver in the draft – Xavier Worthy out of Texas. It’s a strategy the Chiefs are unfortunately used to, after they needed to do the same thing in 2019 when Tyreek Hill had a potential suspension looming over his head and the team used a first-round pick on Mecole Hardman. The Chiefs know that Rice could be facing a lengthy suspension, and they felt the need to bring in someone to help fill the gap while Rice is gone.
Rashee Rice’s DLF Startup Dynasty ADP History.
Worthy seems a bit redundant on the Chiefs. They already had an undersized speedster in Marquise Brown on the team. Skyy Moore also fits that bill, but he’s obviously been a major disappointment. When Rice isn’t suspended, this will actually be a very interesting wide receiver group. Brown and Worthy can outrun any defender on the outside while Rice and Travis Kelce provide a more reliable possession receiver for Mahomes to look to when he gets into trouble. But, with the additions of Brown and Worthy, Rice’s value has to go down in dynasty fantasy football, before you even consider the off-the-field problems. At WR30 right now in ADP, some may say he is a good buy-low candidate, but I won’t be one of those people.
Las Vegas Raiders
Draft Class
- Round 1, Pick 13: Brock Bowers, TE Georgia
- Round 2, Pick 12: Jackson Powers-Johnson, C Oregon
- Round 3, Pick 13: Delmar Glaze, OT Maryland
- Round 4, Pick 12: Decamerion Richardson, CB Mississippi State
- Round 5, Pick 13: Tommy Eichenberg, LB Ohio State
- Round 6, Pick 32: Dylan Laube, RB New Hampshire
- Round 7, Pick 3: Trey Taylor, S Air Force
- Round 7, Pick 9: M.J. Devonshire, CB Pittsburgh
Winners: Zamir White, RB
The Raiders lost their former first-round pick Josh Jacobs this off-season, and the only thing they did to replace him was sign Alexander Mattison. They ignored the position through the first 207 picks of the Draft before they took Dylan Laube, a pass-catching back out of the University of New Hampshire. They seem perfectly comfortable to enter the season with White as their leader out of the backfield.
White spent most of the 2023 season riding the bench behind Josh Jacobs, until Jacobs suffered a quad injury in week 14 that would end his season. From that point on, White was a fantasy stud. From weeks 14 through 17, White carried the ball 84 times for 397 yards and a touchdown and caught 9 balls for 60. He averaged 15.2 PPR points per game in that stretch.
At each and every point of the fantasy football off-season, managers have expected the Raiders to do something at the running back position, and they have continued to do mostly nothing. One could argue that Aidan O’Connell or Gardner Minshew was the Raiders winner of the draft because they were unable to scoop up a first-round quarterback, but White will be the one to have the most dynasty fantasy football value this season. He’s currently the RB23 in startup ADP and he’s the 86th overall player off the board.
Loser: Michael Mayer, TE
One of the biggest fantasy football losers of the NFL Draft had to be Raiders tight end Michael Mayer. One year removed from being a second-round pick, the Raiders leapfrogged him on the depth chart by using the 13th overall pick in this year’s draft on Brock Bowers. Bowers is a stud prospect, perhaps the best to ever come out of college at the tight end position, and a much bigger fantasy football weapon than Michael Mayer could’ve ever hoped to be. With this pick, Mayer becomes nothing more than the number two tight end on a bad, low-volume offense without a good quarterback.
Michael Mayer’s DLF Startup Dynasty ADP History.
Before the NFL Draft, Mayer’s ADP had him as the 17th tight end being drafted and the 138th overall player off the board. This month, he plummeted down draft boards, going 200th overall as the 24th tight end off the board. It’s a brutal blow for Mayer and his fantasy football managers. Unless Bowers is a major bust, Mayer won’t have any fantasy value until he finds a new team, which could be several years down the road.
Los Angeles Chargers
Draft Class
- Round 1, Pick 5: Joe Alt, OT Notre Dame
- Round 2, Pick 2: Ladd McConkey, WR Georgia
- Round 3, Pick 5: Junior Colson, LB Michigan
- Round 4, Pick 5: Justin Eboigbe, DT Alabama
- Round 5, Pick 2: Tahreeb Still, CB Maryland
- Round 5, Pick 5: Cam Hart, CB Notre Dame
- Round 6, Pick 5: Kimani Vidal, RB Troy
- Round 7, Pick 5: Brenden Rice, WR USC
- Round 7, Pick 33: Cornelius Johnson, WR Michigan
Winner: Quentin Johnston, WR
Johnston had a disaster of a rookie season. He struggled to earn snaps early on and, once he did see a large percentage of snaps, he never became the boundary threat that the Chargers were hoping for when they used a first-round pick on him. His best fantasy football finish last season was when he finished as the WR31 with 12.1 PPR points in week 14. His dynasty stock is about as low as it could be for a first-round wide receiver heading into his sophomore season. Despite all of that, he is the biggest “winner” on this team after the NFL Draft.
The Chargers had a chance to use their fifth-overall pick on a stud wide receiver like Rome Odunze or Malik Nabers. They chose to push the need at wide receiver down to the next round and took tackle Joe Alt instead. At the start of the second round, the team decided to trade up to take a wide receiver, Ladd McConkey. It isn’t great news for Johnston, but it could’ve been much worse. McConkey is not the same type of receiver as Johnston. While McConkey is an elite route runner who will mostly be used in the slot, Johnston is a big-bodied power forward type of wide receiver who will win jump balls and spread the secondary out down the field. Basically, with Keenan Allen and Mike Williams on the move this offseason, it appears the Chargers are looking for McConkey to replace Allen and Johnston to replace Williams.
The Chargers did draft some competition for Johnston, but it wasn’t until the seventh round. They chose Brenden Rice with the fifth pick of that round, and Cornelius Johnson with the 33rd pick. Los Angeles realized that wide receiver was one of the biggest needs of the draft, so they brought in three receivers over the course of the Draft. With Rice and Johnson, the team brought in some long-shot prospects who could push against Johnston and potentially earn a role over him in training camp. Johnston was a winner of the draft, but not a big one.
Loser: JK Dobbins and Gus Edwards, RB
This is another spot where Chargers players could be considered winners or losers depending on the point of view you take. You could say that the duo of Dobbins and Edwards are a loser of the Draft because the Chargers took another interesting running back in Kimani Vidal. On the other hand, they waited until the sixth round to take a running back, which could be viewed as a positive for them.
I personally consider it a slight downgrade to the value of Dobbins and Edwards. Vidal is a raw prospect coming out of Troy, but, on film, he’s a very similar running back to Blake Corum.
Vidal is the same size as Corum but more athletic. 20 spots apart on my board.
Jim Harbaugh has a type. Kimani Vidal is it.
Vidal was my favorite sleeper RB in class — my comp was Jaylen Warren. Asked him his opinion on that at the Senior Bowl ⬇️
— Thor Nystrom (@thorku) April 27, 2024
That is, of course, noteworthy because Jim Harbaugh was Corum’s head coach at Michigan and he’s now the head coach for the Chargers. Vidal is a sixth-round pick, so he should be considered a long shot to make a fantasy impact in his career, but the Chargers may be in trouble if they plan on leaning on just Edwards and Dobbins at running back this season.
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