Fantasy football veteran winners and losers of the NFL draft

Much of the fantasy football focus over the next several days is going to be on this year’s crop of rookies — which ended up in good situations, which didn’t, and where they should be ranked going forward. But just as important is what the weekend’s draft means for the fantasy stock of several veterans.

So now, in the immediate aftermath of the draft, I’m taking a look at the biggest veteran winners and losers of the draft from a fantasy perspective:

Winners

Tom Brady, QB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Moves the Bucs made in the draft (not even counting the acquisition of Rob Gronkowski days earlier, which certainly should help Brady as well): Maybe the best offensive lineman in the draft, one of the draft’s most underdrafted receivers in Tyler Johnson (in the fifth round!) to fill the slot, an upgrade — but not too much — out of the backfield. If the Bucs had taken a Jonathan Taylor or a J.K. Dobbins, I’d have worried about too many carries out of the backfield siphoning Brady’s pass attempts. But Ke’Shawn Vaughn? He’s just good enough to help the offense without becoming a new focal point. Now the team has an improved offensive line, one of two candidates around the league for the best 1-2-3 at receiver, and the oldest quarterback in the world with every opportunity he could need.

Dak Prescott, QB, Dallas Cowboys

What CeeDee Lamb’s arrival in Dallas might mean for Amari Cooper and/or Michael Gallup is a fair question — he almost certainly hurts the top ends of both (especially Gallup) — but for Prescott, this is perfect. It gives him the other candidate for best 1-2-3 in the league at receiver, a clear upgrade on Randall Cobb from 2019. Prescott went from QB5 in my rankings before the draft to QB3 now.

Drew Lock, QB, Denver Broncos

Sometimes, a young quarterback struggles, but we can’t really tell if that’s because he wasn’t good enough or it was his situation. With Lock, that definitely won’t be the problem. Adding Jerry Jeudy (the best receiver in the draft), K.J. Hamler, and Lock’s college tight end Albert Okwuegbunam to incumbents Courtland Sutton, Noah Fant, and Phillip Lindsay and free agent signee Melvin Gordon gives the Broncos arguably the best set of offensive weapons around the league. How good this offense will be will come down to how good Lock actually is. We’ll see.

Philip Rivers, QB, Indianapolis Colts

The Colts gave their new quarterback the best No. 2 receiver the team has had since Reggie Wayne’s departure in Michael Pittman and arguably the best running back in the class in Jonathan Taylor. For a quarterback like Rivers who loves to dump off to his running back, Taylor and Nyheim Hines (and Marlon Mack, if he sticks around) should be a big benefit, and an actual competent group of receivers (and not “T.Y. Hilton and hope”) is a heck of a boost as well.

Cam Newton/Jameis Winston/Andy Dalton, QB

The fact that the Patriots didn’t come out of the draft with any quarterback leaves an opening for one of these displaced (or in Dalton’s case, quasi-displaced) quarterbacks to find a job. Even if the team wants to roll with Jarrett Stidham at quarterback (and hey, maybe they do), I cannot picture a scenario where the Patriots roll into Week 1 with Stidham and Brian Hoyer and no more quarterbacks. One of these guys is going to find a job in New England.

Nick Chubb, RB, Cleveland Browns

Chubb was already solidly going to be an RB1 in this draft, with only the spectre of Kareem Hunt stealing touches working against him. The Browns boosted everything for their backfield this offseason with the signings of Jack Conklin and Austin Hooper and the trade for Andy Janovich. And complementing them with the dominant form of Jedrick Wills completes a blocking overhaul that should give Chubb far more help than he had a year ago.

Leonard Fournette, RB, Jacksonville Jaguars

In my predraft mock, I had the Jaguars landing Jonathan Taylor in the first, which was only partly something I actually expected and more a signal that I thought they would come out of the draft with some new candidate to start at running back, either with Fournette gone in a trade or as a signal that they were seriously looking to deal him. And maybe they still are, but the Jags made 12 picks over the draft’s three days and came out with exactly zero running backs, so if Fournette is moved, that means the team will roll with Ryquell Armstead or opt for one of the retreads on the market. Basically, the team’s moves this weekend seemed to indicate that Fournette’s job is far safer than we thought a few days ago.

Matt Breida, RB, Miami Dolphins

This is only draft related inasmuch as it happened on draft weekend, since the benefit to Breida doesn’t come from any draft picks. But a couple days ago, he was (at best) third in the pecking order in the San Francisco backfield behind Raheem Mostert and Tevin Coleman (and with Jerick McKinnon, Jeff Wilson Jr., and Kyle Juszczyk to contend with), and now he’s in a battle for the top of the backfield in Miami with Jordan Howard — and that’s a battle I expect Breida to win. He went from just about undraftable in all but the deepest fantasy leagues to a borderline RB2.

Miles Sanders, RB, Philadelphia Eagles

There has been nothing in Doug Pederson’s tenure as a head coach to indicate he’ll roll with one bell cow at the running back position. So it was a bit of a surprise that the Eagles went through the draft with no running backs, seemingly content to go forward with Sanders, Boston Scott, and Elijah Holyfield. Scott looked good down the stretch of 2019, but Sanders is the only back there who looks likely to have any kind of workhorse load. There’s really no choice but to bump Sanders up in the rankings into the solid RB2 range.

Keenan Allen/Mike Williams, WR, Los Angeles Chargers

The jury is out on Justin Herbert, and it likely will be in deliberation for a long time. But he is far more likely to cock back and launch the ball than previously presumptive starter Tyrod Taylor. This boosts Allen’s and (especially) Williams’ fantasy value a fair amount, assuming Herbert grabs the starting job at all soon.

Devin Funchess/Allen Lazard, WR, Green Bay Packers

Look, the Packers appear to have bombed this draft (more on that later). The most common reactions to what Green Bay did this weekend have been some combination of “WTF” and “LOL.” For a team that should have had championship aspirations but with a clear void at receiver to go through the deepest WR draft class in memory and draft zero wide receivers is absolutely baffling, and a decision we’ll be questioning for a long time. But the draft is over now, and the Packers are going to have to have a receiver or two behind Davante Adams. Maybe Funchess and Lazard shouldn’t have held on to fantasy relevance through the draft, but they did.

Losers

Carson Wentz, QB, Philadelphia Eagles

I can’t imagine anybody seriously thinks Jalen Hurts is a threat to Wentz as a starter, at least not any time soon. But it’s also hard to imagine Hurts won’t be doing something beyond just being a backup. Even if he just comes in for a few plays a game as a mega-Taysom Hill, well, those are touches Wentz won’t be getting. The pick of Hurts lowers Wentz’ ceiling.

Aaron Rodgers, QB, Green Bay Packers

The Jordan Love pick has to be frustrating, but there also isn’t much realistic chance that he’s going to unseat the veteran Rodgers right away. But the pick of Love precluded the Packers from taking a receiver in the first, and as mentioned above, they continued not taking a receiver through all nine of their picks. Rodgers needed help. Rodgers got no help.

Aaron Jones, RB, Green Bay Packers

And even with the Packers not adding receiving help, their top running back doesn’t look to have benefitted from the draft, because the pick of A.J. Dillon indicates there’s a strong chance of a three-headed monster out of this backfield in 2020, lowering Jones’ ceiling considerably.

Devin Singletary, RB, Buffalo Bills

Frank Gore leaving in free agency appeared to open the door wide for Singletary to be a bell cow in 2020 (T.J. Yeldon was slated to be the backup), but that door all but slammed shut with the team drafting Zack Moss in the third. Singletary might still be the No. 1 (though he might not), but adding Moss to the mix caps what work Singletary will get. He’s back to a flex at best.

Marlon Mack, RB, Indianapolis Colts

Well, a few days ago, Mack was the starting running back on the team with arguably the league’s best offensive line. Now he most certainly is not that, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he isn’t on the Colts at all come Week 1 (admittedly, I wouldn’t be surprised if he is on the team, either). That’s a tough weekend.

John Ross, WR, Cincinnati Bengals

Ross went to bed Thursday night secure in the knowledge that his team had added possibly a generational quarterback at the top of the draft and that he would be the third receiver in a three-WR-heavy offense. Had to feel good. And then with the first pick Friday, the Bengals killed that by taking Tee Higgins. You’d have to expect the team to have A.J. Green, Tyler Boyd, and Higgins all above Ross on the depth chart. If Ross gets dealt, maybe he lands somewhere intriguing, but unless and until we see that, he’s a big loser of the weekend.

Dede Westbrook, WR, Jacksonville Jaguars

I lovelovelovelovelove Laviska Shenault, but I also wanted to see him go somewhere where the coaches appeared likely to try to make the most of his versatility. And maybe that’s Jacksonville, but I don’t have much reason to believe it right away. That said, D.J. Chark is entrenched as the Jags’ No. 1, but you’d have to believe Shenault slides right in as the No. 2, with Westbrook and Chris Conley and Keelan Cole and whoever else battling for what’s left after that.

Jimmy Graham, TE, Chicago Bears

Chicago, the land of a thousand tight ends. The Bears gave the veteran Graham a two-year deal this offseason despite the fact that he’s clearly been dead for about 30 months now. Regardless, for all the tight ends the Bears had, there wasn’t an obvious threat to Graham on the depth chart, at least right away. But with the team taking the first tight end off the board in Notre Dame’s Cole Kmet, now there is one. And maybe Kmet, like most tight ends, takes some time to get the hang of the league, but the already-ticking clock hanging over Graham’s head just sped up.