Fantasy Football: 5 award predictions for the 2024 NFL season

The following is an excerpt from the latest edition of Yahoo’s fantasy football newsletter, Get to the Points! If you like what you see, you can subscribe for free here.

Predictions are a blast this time of year, even if several of them are destined to land in the garbage can. Let’s dust off the crystal ball and give you some of the end-of-season headlines today:

💪 Best Fantasy Value: Jayden Daniels, QB, Commanders

Imagine someone with the rushing upside of Anthony Richardson and then throw in the upside of a Heisman Trophy passer. That’s Daniels. A questionable Washington offensive line has to be negotiated, but the mobility of Daniels will mitigate some of that. WR Terry McLaurin is ready for a career year, too.

Both the Panthers and Seahawks received coaching upgrades at a perfect time — head coach Dave Canales lands in Carolina, while design savant Ryan Grubb is the new Seattle OC. Young was mostly set up to fail in his rookie year — Canales, the Winston Wolf of the NFL, can iron that out — while JSN’s first year was mostly a mess of injury (both to him and his offensive teammates). I’m not going to assume every scout was totally wrong on him.

🥱 Best Boring Value From a Player Still Young: Trevor Lawrence, QB, Jaguars

Maybe Lawrence wasn’t Peyton Manning 2.0 as advertised, but he hasn’t done much wrong as a pro, either. His rookie year washout was mostly about mistake-hire Urban Meyer being over his head as an NFL coach. Since then Lawrence has charted as the QB7 and QB12, and if rookie WR Brian Thomas Jr. hits as expected, the Jaguars should have a fun and dynamic offense in 2024. Lawrence merely turns 25 in October. He’s still on the upswing.

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😬 Load Management All-Star: Travis Kelce, TE, Chiefs

Kansas City was careful using its all-world tight end during last year’s regular season, then unleashed all fury during the playoff run (Kelce posted a ridiculous 32-355-3 line in the tournament). Now Kelce enters his age-35 season, so look for more of the same. The Chiefs should win their division easily and the wide-receiver room has been freshly repainted, so Kelce doesn’t have to carry a burdensome workload. The Chiefs are basically the NFL’s version of the Dodgers — a team already quasi-planning for the playoffs on opening day. I can’t wait to use Kelce in my playoff contests, but I haven’t proactively drafted him all summer.

Look at New England’s schedule, and tell me where the wins are. Every underdog ultimately falls into an upset here or there, but this slate is a meat grinder. And remember we’re talking about a team with an unproven coaching staff, a spotty offensive line, eventually a rookie QB, and a defense that just traded its best player. The over-under is 4.5 wins, but they might not get there. The Patriots are also going to be a consistent target in survivor leagues.