Sundays Well Spent: Fantasy Football Rankings

With the NFL season having kicked off, people have finished drafting their fantasy teams, and competition between co-workers, friends, and peers is in the air. Getting a leg up in your league can be tricky, so here are some helpful rankings from fantasy expert and last year’s Head-Royce Juniors’ League third-place finisher myself, Luke Lamison. 

When you’re building your fantasy team, you want to make sure to have a nice balance between players with high upside and high safety. However, after you have assembled a core group, you need to go out and find some diamonds in the rough: undervalued players who you think can burst out onto the scene. Here are some players at several different positions that I see having breakout years in the near future. 

At the running back spot, someone who you should go and trade for right now is Broncos rookie, Javonte Williams. Coming out of college, Williams drew comparisons to Brown’s star, Nick Chubb, for his fantastic tackle-breaking and pass-blocking ability. The difference between the two is that Williams can be much more involved in the passing game. In a much improved Denver offense, Williams has received the same amount of touches as backfield mate, Melvin Gordon, and with more explosiveness and burst, it’s only a matter of time before he takes over the RB1 spot and sets the fantasy world on fire. 

For the past few years, players have lamented over missing out on wide-receiver finds like Justin Jefferson and DJ Chark who ended up having huge years. No need to fret! I’ve got you covered. A player I see having a huge year is none other than Cardinals rookie, Rondale Moore. The speedster has torn it up in his first two games and out-targeted his perennial All-pro teammate, DeAndre Hopkins. With Kyler Murray showing early flashes of an MVP year and the Cardinals running plenty of 4 WR formations, everything looks good for Moore. If he isn’t picked up off waivers now, get him immediately. And if he is, trade for him, because his value will only rise from here. 

Lastly, if you are lacking at the quarterback and tight-end spots, there’s no reason to panic or rush to overpay for a positional improvement. There are several waiver players that I see having breakout years. At quarterback, I would highly recommend picking up Bears rookie, Justin Fields. He is starting this week and could have a Lamar-Jackson-esque impact in Chicago. Additionally, Giants gunslinger, Daniel Jones, also appears to be a solid and reliable option. While tight-end options are thinner, a player who is severely undervalued right now is Tyler Higbee. Higbee will put up top ten numbers with a much-improved quarterback situation, and you should trade for him now if you struggle at the position.