Kirk Cousins
Kirk Cousins continues to get PAID. Quarterback has been a huge need for the Falcons after acquiring talented playmakers like Drake London, Kyle Pitts, and now Bijan Robinson.
The playmakers have been there but they’ve failed to find a QB as they’ve ran through Macrus Mariota, Desmond Ridder, and even Tyler Heinicke last year.
Insert Kirk Cousins, Cousins has statistically been a top 10-12 Quarterback most years in the league despite being one of the most hated Quarterbacks. In fact, when he tore his Achilles in week 8 of last year, he was tied for first in the league with 2300 yards and 18 touchdowns.
During that same time Desmond Ridder had a third of the touchdowns and more interceptions..
Cousins can get the most out of the playmakers in the Atlanta offense as Pitts, London, and Bijan will all be on the rise.
Saquon Barkley
Saquon Barkley goes from a team that was ranked 30th in run blocking with a 41.1 PPF score to a team that is ranked third in run blocking with a 74.9 PFF Score. Not only does Saquon get an elite offensive line to run behind, but he’s now on a team with AJ Brown, Devonta Smith, & Dallas Goedert running wild in the secondary, so he will not have to face the stacked boxes he faced while playing for the Giants.
Yes Jalen Hurts can vulture touchdowns from Saquon at the Goal line and that may cap some of his ceiling, but I still expect Saquon to have a higher floor than the 14 points we saw from him last year in Half-PPR formats, and for that reason alone, I see him as one of the 5 best free agency landing spots.
Keenan Allen:
When Keenan Allen got hurt in week 14, he was the league’s leading WR. Caught 74% of his passes, for 1243 yards and 7 touchdowns.
He can play inside and outside, and will be a deadly combo to play alongside DJ Moore.
Insert Caleb Williams, who’s expected to be the number one overall pick for Chicago. He threw for over 3600 yards and 30 touchdowns for USC last year which averages out to 300 yards per game.
The Bears should see an uptick in passing this year and despite Allen entering his 12th season, he shows no signs of slowing down after posting his best season with a 17.29 Fantasy Point average in half PPR formats.
Derrick Henry
Similar to Saquon Barkley, Derrick Henry gets a big upgrade along the Offensive line. He goes from the 18th ranked Run Blocking team to the 6th ranked Baltimore Ravens.
The Ravens are similar to Philly in the fact that they have playmakers like Zay Flowers and Mark Andrews who Lamar can sling it to, and seeing stacked boxes is something that Henry won’t have to beat as he did in Tennessee.
Furthermore, despite being 30 years old, Henry is just built differently than other backs at 6’3 247 lbs and still had a great year running behind the 18th ranked offensive line with 1100 yards on 280 carries for a 4.17 average and 12 touchdowns. Barring injury, I’d expect those numbers to climb as Gus Edwards is gone and Keaton had a major injury late in the season - Henry should get the bulk of the work on a team that projects to score a lot of Touchdowns again this season.
Josh Jacobs
Recency bias would tell you that Jacobs isn’t an upgrade from Aaron Jones and that may be true, but I’m willing to take a stand here and give you several factors as to why Jacobs will be better than Jones in 2024.
Number one, Josh Jacobs is younger than Aaron Jones. A whole 3 years younger and by NFL Standard shelf life for Running Backs, there is a big difference from 26 to 29.
I also think Jacobs’ slow start to 2023 could be attributed to his camp holdout.Players who miss a large portion of camp normally start slow. Also Derek Carr to AOC was a big drop off in the overall production of the offense and Josh Mcandiels had clearly lost the locker room.
With a full offseason underneath him, and going to a team with a talented young Quarterback and several talented pass catchers, I expect Jacobs to have a good bounce back year and be closer to the Josh Jacobs we saw in 2023 who had almost 2000 all purpose yards and 14 touchdowns.
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