Fantasy Football 2024: Who To Draft & Best Draft Picks This Season
Published: Sep 01, 2024
Can you believe it? It's the FINAL weekend of fantasy football drafts before football officially kicks off next Thursday! So, Andrew Cooper is here for one last show to discuss who you should draft for fantasy football as well as some last tips and tricks to crush your draft.
If you want his full 2024 fantasy rankings for your drafts over this final week, grab a copy of the Fantasy Alarm 2024 Fantasy Football Cheat Sheet available now!
Player News
The Times-Picayune’s Matthew Paras reports that Saints OT Trevor Penning took snaps at left guard during organized team activities.
Saints first-round rookie, OT Kelvin Banks Jr., is already taking repetitions at left tackle, which pushes last year’s first-round pick and starting left tackle, Taliese Fuaga over the the right tackle position. Penning, who manned the right tackle spot last year, will now evidently kick inside to left guard. Penning has failed to developed into a reliable pass protector through three NFL seasons but respectably earned a 70.1 PFF run-blocking grade last season. The Saints’ offensive line is rounding into form as an above-average unit.
The Athletic’s Zac Jackson reports that the Haslam Sports Group is asking for a $600 million loan from both the state and Cuyahoga County to build a new, indoor stadium for the Browns outside of Cleveland.
Per Jackson, “Gov. Mike DeWine has a June 30 deadline to sign the state budget into law,” though he must first wait for state Senate approval. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell recently joined Browns owner Jimmy Haslam for a meeting with DeWine and other state leaders to help secure public money, NBC Sports’ ProFootballTalk. Goodell proclaimed the theoretical Brook Park stadium “would clearly be Super Bowl material,” and would benefit Cleveland’s small businesses located roughly 20 minutes away. Although Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb intends to fight the move, per Jackson, “the team essentially said it will move forward even without the county’s support.” The desired new stadium would also host other events and can be viewed as an “entertainment complex.” For fantasy-point purposes, moving to an indoor stadium would have a positive impact on December games, leaving behind the at-times snowy environs of the Browns’ roofless Huntington Bank Field.
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reports that the Lions can now “kickstart” contract negotiations with EDGE Aidan Hutchinson (leg), now fully cleared by the medical team.
Regarding the potential contract’s value, Rapoport said, “we’ll see where it ends up landing” in relation to Myles Garrett and the other top EDGE players. Top-tier players generally reset their positional market, in terms of average annual value, and Rapoport’s phrasing leaves some room for interpretation as to whether that will be the case here. Hutchinson is inarguably one of the best EDGE defenders in the league, but he is returning from a serious injury, having suffered season-ending tibia and fibula fractures in October 2024.
Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said he thinks WR Jermaine Burton is doing “a good job” this offseason.
Per Sports Illustrated’s Jay Morrison, Taylor said Burton has been “in the building outside of work hours, doing his own thing, prehabbing to get his body right” and is attacking “practice the right way.” Burton has reportedly declined interview requests, focusing instead on his work and there appears to be a “lighter air about him.” Joe Burrow noted that Burton seems to have “matured,” adding that “he’s in a good spot mentally and physically.” Morrison also plainly states that WRs “Kendrick Pryor and Isaiah Williams would shoot past Burton if there’s another transgression,” though Burton does technically occupy the No. 4 wide receiver spot. Burton has a long way to go before he should be considered as a serious late-round option in re-draft formats but if he continues to improve his standing with the team, he could get there with a standout training camp performance.
Cardinals placed CB Sean Murphy-Bunting on the reserve/non-football injury list.
We expect clarifying news to arrive shortly. Murphy-Bunting’s injury was not specified in the report, but notably dealt with a mid-season neck injury last year. Second-year CB Max Melton, CB Kei’Trel Clark and Starling Thomas V will likely compete for the No. 2 perimeter cornerback role opposite second-round rookie CB Will Johnson, while CB Garrett Williams mans the slot. The Cardinals also waived DE Ben Stille.
Dolphins signed QB Brett Gabbert to a contract.
Blaine’s younger brother enters the NFL as an undrafted free agent after a six-year career at Miami (Ohio). In his final college season, he completed 189-of-331 passes for 2,605 yards, 21 touchdowns and 10 interceptions and rushed 35 times for 111 yards. The Dolphins released LB William Bradley-King in a corresponding move.