2024 NFL free agency will change the value of fantasy football. We cover all the important free agent winners and losers in fantasy football, including trades, franchise tags, and more. And we're already getting started on this, as there are some impactful moves before free agency begins.
2024 NFL Free Agent Tracker
free agent quarterback
Baker Mayfield: Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Mayfield returns to Tampa coming off his best season in the NFL. It's great to see his career and value to the Buccaneers, but even his best season was only good for T-18 in FPPG with Matthew Stafford and Tua Tagovailoa (15.9). Mayfield is just a bye week filler.
free agent running back
free agent wide receiver
Mike Evans: Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Mayfield had his best season, which helped Evans' best season since 2018 and the third-best finish of his FPPG career. Even if Evans regresses to his 2022 season level, he will still be in the top 16 in overall and FPPG. Even at age 31, it's hard to bet on Evans' chances of cracking the top 20 again.
free agent tight end
Zach Ertz: Commander Washington
While we find memories of Ertz's great seasons and are happy to see him back alongside Kliff Kingsbury, Ertz is pretty far from gaining any fantasy relevance. That's even though Ertz hasn't exceeded 8.8 FPPG since 2019 and has 112 targets in 2021. Additionally, since 2000, only six tight ends over the age of 33 (age 58 with at least 100 snaps) have topped 9.6 FPPG…well…actually Travis Kelce, Antonio Gates, Tony… This is the third time since Gonzalez has done each twice.
Dalton Schultz: Houston Texans
Schultz returned to Houston, back on the fringes of TE1, likely for a bye week or as an injury replacement (in case an upward pick doesn't pan out). We can expect a season with FPPG of around 8-8.5.
Hunter Henry: New England Patriots
A new quarterback is coming in, and so is Henry. He's a tight end whose value depends on the waiver wire, streaming starts, and touchdowns.
transaction
Jerry Jeudy, WR: Cleveland Browns
Would it be more interesting if Joe Flacco was the quarterback in 2024? That would be possible, since the passing game with Deshaun Watson didn't have a lot of consistency or high-level production. Last year, Watson averaged just 33.2 passes in five “full” games against the Browns, but that number is only 30.5 in 11 games with the Browns (excluding Week 7 of 2023). In Watson's five games, Amari Cooper's TmTGT% was 24.4%, Elijah Moore's TmTGT% was 21.3%, and David Njoku's TmTGT% was 16.3%. With Joe Flacco at the helm, Njoku is at 22.5%, Cooper at 21.0% and Moore at 15.5%. Whether it's Flacco or Watson, Jeudy's best-case scenario is likely a 20-21 TmTGT%, so Jeudy will struggle to even reach WR3 territory, but the Browns' passing success This is still limited as the rate is only 56%. This addition hurt Moore's fantasy value, so consider Jeudy just his WR4…or there's no real change to Jeudy and Moore anyway.
franchise tag
Tee Higgins, WR: Cincinnati Bengals
Rinse and repeat unless Higgins gets traded amazingly. Higgins is a mid-range WR2 with a lot of upside with the Bengals and a lot of week-to-week fluctuations.
Michael Pittman, WR: Indianapolis Colts
Pittman was much different with Gardner Minshew than Anthony Richardson, but so was the entire Colts offense. Pittman showed his TmTGT% similar to Richardson's 27.2 and Minshew's 28.8. However, Richardson's targets were not as accurate, leading to a REC% of 59.1 compared to Minshew's 71.6, and furthermore, 7.7% of Pittman's receptions were 20 yards or more downfield for Richardson and 7.7% for Minshew. was 9.4%. What's the quick breakdown? Pittman is an unstable WR2/3 with Richardson and a stable high-end WR2 with Minshew.
(Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
