Under-The-Radar Winners From the 2020 NFL Draft (Fantasy Football)
The NFL draft usually consists of multiple winners and losers, whether it’s the team, the player drafted, the QB who gets a first-round hog-mollie upfront to protect him, or even the dog on Bill Belichick’s kitchen chair. This year was no different (except, it was totally different). The fallout from the draft usually produces another type of winner, the one who avoids a love triangle when his team doesn’t invest in a player to potentially replace him. It’s important to identify both winners and losers because they should dictate your moves in dynasty leagues.
Listen to the Fantasy Footballers cover the major winners & losers from the 2020 NFL Draft on this week’s podcasts. Let’s take a look at five less-than-obvious winners from the NFL Draft.
Aaron Jones
I’m sorry I’m not gonna interrupt, but the Packers had one of the weirdest drafts of all time. We all saw it, you know what happened. A lot of people correctly pointed out the fact that Davante Adams is the only person left in Green Bay after they failed to draft a receiver, but they did draft a running back – A.J. Dillon. In the days following the bizarre decision making by the Packers front office, they made it clear they’re transitioning to a power run offense and won’t be airing it out as often. Some people think this is an issue for Aaron Jones, I’m not one of those people. A.J. Dillon has talent, but he’s not a generational talent and Jones has not given the coaching staff any reason to reduce his workload. Jamaal Williams is the one who suffers here, but Jones should be a locked and loaded top 10 back again in 2020.
Todd Gurley (and whichever guy backs him up)
The Falcons made the ultra-brutal mistake of signing a high priced running back who’s on the downtrend of his career. Gurley still has some juice left, but it’s essentially a Devonta Freeman situation in the making. I fully expected the Falcons to draft a running back, that I’d be all over for a potential sleeper, but they kept quiet through the full seven rounds. There’s certainly points to be had in the Atlanta offense, so the lead back there will have value. Gurley will obviously carry the load, but we’ve seen him struggle to stay on the field before, so he’s far from a lock. If he can stay healthy (which is always an obvious ‘If’), he should rack in the fantasy points. If he can’t, one of the current backups should have more value than they appear to in the public eye.
Tom Brady
I know, I know. Brady wins everything, even this article. Seriously though – the Bucs quietly killed the draft. They traded up to snag a much needed left tackle to protect his blindside, invested in a talented sleeper running back in Ke’Shawn Vaughn who I refuse to shut up about until September, then took a talented wide receiver with serious upside in Tyler Johnson, and to top it all off – a second-round safety to improve the simply awful secondary on the other side of the ball. Brady is all set up to make another run at it this year.
Latavius Murray
This one might be a stretch, I’ll admit it. Latavius Murray isn’t a dynamite talent by any means, but he has some value in an offense that puts up points at will. Alvin Kamara steals the show every season and will do it again in 2020, but Murray shouldn’t be ignored. He was a big late-round draft target for industry vets, but the injury to Drew Brees derailed a lot of the potential for the offense as a whole. He’s only worth as much as his goal-line touches take him, but he might be worth another dart throw this year.
DeVante Parker
The man who defied the breakout model, and defined the fifth year explosion. Parker was an exciting and potentially league-winning choice last year, and it should keep on moving again this year. The Dolphins took their future signal-caller with their first pick in Tua Tagovailoa, who recovering from injury. Ryan Fitzpatrick may get another swing at things next year if Tua takes the year to fully recover. Either way, DeVante Parker should remain the top target in Miami. I also like this outlook for Mike Gesicki, keep an eye on him too.