Fantasy Free Agency Winners and Losers

We are going to take a quick look at who won and who lost in terms of fantasy for the 2019 offseason so far.

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Winners

 Chris Godwin, Tampa Bay

This was a case of addition by subtraction, as both Desean Jackson and Adam Humphries both left Tampa Bay, and all their targets left with them. Godwin is expected to be elevated to the #2 role opposite Mike Evans. He is a prime candidate to break out and build upon his underrated 59-842-7 line from last year. He has upside WR2 potential.

Baker Mayfield, Browns 

Baker must have been ecstatic with how the Browns offseason has gone. The Browns added two big-time playmakers in RB Kareem Hunt and WR Odell Beckham. Odell should slip right into the #1 WR role, allowing Jarvis Laundry to fit in as a threat in the slot. Add in the talents of RBs Nick Chubb and Duke Johnson and TE David Njoku, and Mayfield is primed to build upon his record-breaking freshman campaign in the NFL.

Antonio Brown, Raiders 

Brown goes from a team that had a stellar WR2 and pass catching RB to a team with far fewer weapons to work with. While it stands to reason that it would be very hard to duplicate his TD total from last season, the truth of the matter is that his target share is set to increase big time. Brown should be in line to snag at least 170 targets next year, and he should translate that into another big-time fantasy season.

Latavius Murray, Saints

Take Mark Ingram‘s stats from last year, slap them onto Murray, and you get a sense of his production for next year. Ingram averaged 13 carries and 3 targets per game, so expect Murray to step in with that workload. In addition, Murray would instantly jump into RB1 territory if anything were to happen to Alvin Kamara.

Losers

RB Le’Veon Bell, Jets 

Bell will become afflicted with what I like to call the David Johnson effect this year, as he goes to a system with not a lot of standout weapons to take the pressure off him. In addition, Sam Darnold has shown that he is not that fond of checking down, which should cut into Bell’s targets some. Bell will still have a decent year, but not an elite one.

WR JuJu Smith-Schuster, Steelers

Two Killer Bs have left town and poor JuJu has to go into the season as the sole remaining quality target for Big Ben. While we can expect James Washington to develop further and James Connor to take some attention from the backfield, by and large JuJu will be priority one for opposing defenses. All the double coverage Antonio Brown once necessitated is gone, and JuJu will find things much harder to deal with this year.

The 49ers Backfield 

Matt Brieda, Jerrick Mckinnon, Tevin Coleman, Raheem Mostert. These are all the names currently occupying the 49ers backfield. Each of those names could be a significant contributor to a fantasy roster, but how are you going to know who in any given week? It’s the ultimate form of the Patriots backfield conundrum we deal with every year. You would do well to make a play for Coleman if anything, or just save yourself the headache and skip this situation entirely.

RB Saquon Barkley, Giants

Poor Saquon. He went from having one of the best receivers in the NFL as a teammate to keep pressure off him, to being the sole big-play threat in the entire Giants offense. We have never seen 10 man boxes in the NFL, but we may actually see it this year with Barkley. The Giants continue to trot out the rapidly declining Eli MAnning as the quarterback, which is also doing the run game no favors. Expect a sharp decline in production from Barkley this year.

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