The team at Yahoo Fantasy is determined to ensure you have a successful fantasy football season. That success (hopefully) begins right at the start of your fantasy drafts. Here, our team identifies six of their "must-draft" players in 2024.
RB Isiah Pacheco, Kansas City Chiefs
As a longtime resident of Pacheco Island, Kansas City's featured back has found his way onto most of my rosters. I've had Pacheco ranked as a first-round back for months. He was a massive and obvious offseason winner, as the Chiefs never made a significant addition to their backfield. (And no, Samaje Perine does not qualify as a serious threat to anyone other than Carson Steele and CEH.)
Pacheco has always been a dynamic and hard-charging runner, plus he answered any questions about his receiving ability last season when he hauled in 44 of 49 targets. Simply put, he's a talented back tied to one of the NFL's elite offenses. No need to overthink it. — Andy Behrens
WR Rome Odunze, Chicago Bears
The Bears rookie wide receiver was one of my favorite prospects of the last five years. Odunze is a do-it-all threat at the wide receiver position who separates with speed and precise route running, in addition to excellent contested catch chops. I understand why there’s a cataclysmic ADP gap between Marvin Harrison Jr. (16th overall) and Malik Nabers (41st overall) all the way down to Odunze (84th overall) given the number of projectable targets.
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However, that is in no way reflective of their respective talents. Odunze was just as pristine a prospect as those two. He’s paired with a gifted young quarterback in Caleb Williams who already has a preference for his fellow rookie in scramble-drill situations. Odunze is a value at WR38, and a guy I’ll bet ends up being the WR2 on this offense, at worst, by the end of the season. — Matt Harmon
Rashee Rice, Kansas City Chiefs
It took a while for the Chiefs to trust Rashee Rice last year, but he was a central part of the run to a championship. Over his final 10 games (playoffs included), Rice posted a juicy 69-780-4 line; over a full season, those numbers would rank top five at the position.
There's obviously some suspension risk with Rice, but as the summer has moved along, the tea leaves suggest Rice could be looking at a light sanction, or perhaps nothing until 2025. I feel like he's been mispriced all summer and he's a big part of my 2024 fantasy portfolio. — Scott Pianowski
Anthony Richardson, Indianapolis Colts
Fantasy points per dropback is one of the best future indicators of fantasy performance, and Anthony Richardson just recorded the most FP/DB since Lamar Jackson’s historic 2019 season. Richardson averaged 29.2 fantasy points per four quarters as a rookie and matched C.J. Stroud in weekly top-five finishes despite playing just 10 quarters.
Richardson continued to show a strong ability to avoid sacks like he did in college, and last year’s full-season rushing pace would’ve led all quarterbacks in rush yards (925), rush TDs (26!), attempts (170) and designed runs (111). He easily paced the league in designed rush rate in the red zone and doesn’t plan on changing his playing style in Year 2.
Shane Steichen is a certified QB guru, and the Colts play indoors at an incredibly high pace (top-five in plays per game with Richardson last year). Indianapolis is loaded with athletic weapons and has a top five offensive line. Richardson has as much fantasy upside as any quarterback in the league, yet he’s available rounds after others go off the board. — Dalton Del Don
WR DeVonta Smith, Philadelphia Eagles
I understand your pain if you felt burned by DeVonta Smith in 2023. Smith was coming off a spectacular sophom*ore season, finishing as the overall WR10 in half-PPR in 2022. As a result, he got a significant boost in ADP and was drafted as a borderline WR1. Smith’s 2023 wasn’t a bust but his overall WR20 finish and 11.7 fantasy points per game were disappointing at his cost.
Targets and consistency were a major problem but with Kellen Moore as offensive coordinator, Smith is set for a huge bounce-back season and return to the top 10. Smith is a perfect fit within Moore’s offense and he’s being drafted as a low-end WR2, an excellent discount for his proven upside. Moore will increase the Eagles’ pace-of-play — which dipped at the end of last season — and Smith should be a big beneficiary of an increase in targets. — Tera Roberts
Malik Nabers, New York Giants
Nabers used to go in Round 5 of fantasy drafts, but recently he’s moved up into the fourth round. Despite this, he’s still my favorite must-draft player in all of fantasy. I have him as a borderline second-round pick in my rankings, making him one of the best values I’ve seen at the position in a few years.
Nabers has done everything asked of him. Whether that be dominating in team and joint practices or showing his abilities in his limited preseason playing time. Nabers has a legit chance to break Puka Nacua’s rookie record for most targets in a season (159). His top competition this year will be Darius Slayton, Wan’Dale Robinson and potentially a rookie TE in Theo Johnson. None of these guys have shown they can consistently earn targets in the NFL.
If you are not familiar, Nabers was the Giants' sixth overall pick in Round 1 of the 2024 NFL Draft, comparing closely to AJ Green and Amari Cooper as a college prospect. He produced nearly 1,600 yards at LSU last year, then showed up to his pro day and ran a 4.35 40-yard dash.
By all accounts, Nabers is an alpha receiver; he’s the playmaker the Giants have been missing since Odell Beckham Jr. left. The QB situation is scary for sure, but in my opinion, it’s baked into his fourth-round price tag. Don’t leave drafts without Malik Nabers. — Sal Vetri
