NFL Fantasy Impact Free Agent Signings

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NFL Fantasy Impact Free Agent Signings

Free agency in the past has always been extremely hard to predict (as noted by my free agency predictions write-up) but nobody saw what the Patriots were going to do. Swinging for home runs right out of the gate, New England instantly upgraded their offensive weapons in 24 hours. While there are still big names that have yet to sign (Kenny Golladay, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Chris Carson, Kenyan Drake, Will Fuller V, Leonard Fournette), there have been quite a few NFL Fantasy Impact Free Agent Signings as detailed below.

Kenny Golladay – WR – Giants – 4 years / $72,000,000 – If Dave Gettleman and Daniel Jones are going to save their jobs, the Giants needed to sign a big time wide receiver. With Allen Robinson and Chris Godwin getting the franchise tag and Curtis Samuel signing with the rival Washington Football Team, New York needed to overpay to get the last remaining top guy. From a fantasy perspective, this signing is a big help for the offense. For starters, Daniel Jones has a true number one type wide receiver. Looking past his injury-filled 2020 season, Golladay was a beast in 2019 with 65 catches for 1190 yards and 11 touchdowns. Opposing defenses now have to key in on Golladay and this takes one more player out of the box for Saquon Barkley. I do expect Saquon to have a bounce back season after another injury plagued year and one of the factors for this is Kenny Golladay.

Kenyan Drake – RB – Raiders – 2 years / $11,000,000 – Now this is a perplexing move. The Raiders have a pretty good running back in Josh Jacobs, although he is very dependent on volume. Last year Jacobs was among the league’s least efficient running backs and now you add another volume-dependent running back in Kenyan Drake. Prior to free agency, I may have been a bit more excited about this move, since the Raiders offensive line was a good unit, but with the release of Gabe Jackson and Rodney Hudson, the once-strength of this team isn’t what it used to be.

Drake was severely misused in Arizona as noted by 25 receptions (lowest since his rookie season). When he was on the field it was a running play and it was a passing play when Chase Edmonds on the field. Drake could be a good change of pace back if he is used in that role but I feel as though this move only takes away value from both players. The only way this works out is if Jacobs sustains an injury otherwise I have a hard time ranking either of these running backs in my top 20 for 2021.

1. Christian McCaffrey
2. Dalvin Cook
3. Derrick Henry
4. Alvin Kamara
5. Jonathan Taylor
6. Nick Chubb
7. Saquon Barkley
8. Aaron Jones
9. James Robinson
10. Ezekiel Elliott
11. Cam Akers
12. Miles Sanders
13. Antonio Gibson
14. Austin Ekeler
15. JK Dobbins
16. D’Andre Swift
17. Joe Mixon
18. Najee Harris (pending draft spot)
19. Travis Etienne (pending draft spot)
20. Clyde Edwards-Helaire
21. David Montgomery
22. Chris Carson (pending signing)
23. Javonte Williams (pending draft spot)
24. Josh Jacobs
25. Kareem Hunt
26. Chase Edmonds (if he’s the lead back in AZ)
27. Melvin Gordon
28. Rashaad Penny (if he’s the lead back in Seattle)
29. Myles Gaskin (if he’s the lead back in Miami)
30. Leonard Fournette (pending signing)
31. Kenyan Drake

Will Fuller V – WR – Dolphins – 1 year / $10,625,011 – Fantastic signing by the Dolphins. Tua Tagovailoa excelled when he had a plethora of receiving weapons, especially ones that have incredible speed. Will Fuller is a talented receiver with great speed and is quite the touchdown producer. He will help take the top off the defense and will take some pressure off of DeVante Parker. The signing of Fuller allows the Dolphins to enter the draft and take the best player available. That can still be an offensive weapon or a left tackle. Either way, it was a smart signing by both sides as Fuller can prove he can stay healthy (minus his one-game suspension for PEDs) and the Dolphins get a great receiver trying to prove himself on a one-year deal.

Jonnu Smith / Hunter Henry – TE – Patriots – Smith 4 years / $50,000,000 and Henry 3 years / $37,500,000 – Going to sleep Monday night I was running through a list of the top 10 fantasy tight ends for the 2021 season. It went something like this:

1. Travis Kelce
2. George Kittle
3. Darren Waller
4. Mark Andrews
5. Robert Tonyan
6. Kyle Pitts
7. Logan Thomas
8. TJ Hockenson
9. Dallas Goedert
10. Noah Fant

You could throw Mike Gesicki and Rob Gronkowski in there and I would be fine with that. Trying to slot in Jonnu Smith was interesting. He’s an extremely versatile tight end that can line up in the backfield, inline or split out wide. He can take a screen pass twenty yards down the field with ease and is a mismatch nightmare. So I was going to slot Jonnu Smith in the tenth slot and knock Noah Fant down (because of the amount of legit receiving options already in Denver and Drew Lock being a subpar quarterback).

Then Tuesday morning rolls around the Patriots make another massive deal involving Hunter Henry. New England now has two top 15 tight ends but they are both ranked outside of my top ten. With the signing of multiple receivers, Nelson Agholor and Kendrick Bourne, and two tight ends there are now a plethora of weapons for Cam Newton to distribute too.

I expect Julian Edelman to get cut to save some cap space but Cam Newton still isn’t going to push the ball down the field enough to make all of these players fantasy relevant. Hunter Henry does have injury concerns and if he goes down Jonnu Smith jumps back up into the top ten of my rankings, and vice versa, but together they create a massive headache because each player will have their good weeks but also complete duds. Such is the way with Patriots players and fantasy football.

Marvin Jones – WR – Jaguars – 2 years / $12,500,000 – Trevor Lawrence is starting to get excited about coming to Jacksonville. The Jaguars currently have some very talented young receivers in DJ Chark, Laviska Shenault, and Collin Johnson but they still needed a bit more. Insert Marvin Jones, a veteran receiver that has been coached by Jags’ new offensive coordinator, Darrell Bevell, for the past few years. His experience under Bevell, and overall NFL experience, will pay huge dividends with that young wide receiver corps. 

AJ Green – WR – Cardinals – 1 year / $6,000,000 – This move is contingent on what 37-year-old Larry Fitzgerald decides to do. If Fitz retires, then AJ Green could have a very nice role in an offense that pushes the ball down the field. Having a healthy AJ Green helps take more players out of the box and “maybe” takes away some double coverages from DeAndre Hopkins. The keyword is healthy though. He played in all 16 games last year for the first time since 2017 and is only 32 years old with the potential for a bounceback season. If Hopkins, Fitzgerald and AJ Green all line up in trips on opening day, the combined age of those receivers is 100 years old. High upside one year move here.

Andy Dalton – QB – Bears – 1 year / $10,000,000 – Unfortunately for Bears fans, this was the best that Chicago could do. After being told “no” repeatedly by Seattle, the Bears settled on Andy Dalton. At one time a highly paid, average quarterback, Dalton settled on a backup role with the Cowboys and didn’t exactly take advantage of the situation once Dak Prescott went down. The elephant in the room for Dalton is: will Allen Robinson be part of the team?

If Robinson is part of the team, Dalton could have some decent DFS value in weeks where the Bears play the Bengals, Lions, and possibly the Vikings. If Robinson isn’t part of this wide receiver corps then I have a hard time banking on Dalton finishing the season as a top 20 quarterback. Maybe David Montgomery continues his improvement, and teams load the box more to stop him, giving Dalton more one on one coverage to pick apart defenses but I can’t see Dalton thriving in this offense.

Jamaal Williams – RB – Lions – 2 years / $6,000,000 – I’m adding in Jamaal Williams onto this list not because he will become a fantasy star next year but because he’s going to take away from D’Andre Swift. The question is how much usage will he get in 2021. Swift started to come into his own last year then the concussion he sustained against Washington in week 10 slowed down his progress. He did finish the year off nicely for a rookie running back but let’s dive into his stats. Swift had 521 rushing yards, 46 receptions for 357 yards and 10 total touchdowns in 13 games.

The first four weeks of the season he saw a combined total of 23 rushing attempts and targets. Not a bad rookie year but in comes Jamaal Williams who has a similar skill set. Effective in the run and pass game, it seems like Williams will spell Swift on passing downs (especially since Williams is better in pass protection). As somebody who has shares of Swift, I am slightly concerned about this signing but Williams never took over the role from Aaron Jones. I am not saying Swift is a better running back than Aaron Jones but Williams didn’t sign a big enough deal to warrant him taking away anything from Swift. 

Ryan Fitzpatrick – QB – Washington – 1 year / $10,000,000 – I love love love this move by Washington. Not because I think it improves their quarterback play but because Fitzpatrick is a fantasy godsend. He is constantly pushing the ball down the field and can adapt to what his team needs. Terry McLaurin and Curtis Samuel are going to love this move as Fitz is the best quarterback they have ever had. Here are the total targets for number one wide receivers with Fitzpatrick: 137, 148, 141, 134, 146, 173, 128, 128.

Now throw in Terry McLaurin and let’s see what he can do with that consistent target share (McLaurin did have 134 targets last year but his catchable passes were among the league’s worst). I’m very excited about this move but I’m extremely excited to see what Scary Terry McLaurin can do (along with his 4.04 average draft position).

Curtis Samuel – WR – Football Team – 3 years / $34,500,000 – This is a slam dunk signing for the Washington Football Team. They now have multiple talented receivers that Ryan Fitzpatrick can just get the ball into their hands and take it the distance. The tandem of Curtis Samuel and Terry McLaurin creates one of the best one/two punches in the league. Throw in Antonio Gibson as a weapon out of the backfield and this offense puts them in contention as a real threat to make some fantasy noise.

One of the biggest factors that nobody is talking about is this Washington defense is a force to be reckoned with. They will be getting the ball back to Fitzpatrick often and those extra possessions create a lot more touchdown opportunities for the former Ohio State Buckeyes receivers.

Thanks for the read-through of my NFL Fantasy Impact Free Agent Signings! Still plenty of more signings to come but make sure to check this as it will update as and when the remaining fantasy-relevant players sign. Then we can discuss how it will affect their teams and how you should view them as it pertains to their fantasy relevance.

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