Fantasy Football History: Both Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels could pay off in Year 1

The NFL Draft is just a few weeks fresh in our minds, and with that, I thought it was a good time to dig into Pro Football Reference and see just how well certain positions have performed as rookies in the fantasy era. The series started with the tight ends. Now, let’s go with the quarterbacks.

The 2024 NFL Draft went down as a draft dominated by quarterbacks. There were six of them selected in the first round, so they’ll be linked together forever.

Caleb Williams. Jayden Daniels. Drake Maye. Michael Penix Jr. J.J. McCarthy. Bo Nix.

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The fantasy community is expecting big things from Williams and Daniels right away; Williams currently carries the QB14 rank in Yahoo ADP, with Daniels just two slots behind. The other four quarterbacks are fantasy afterthoughts in early drafts, as it’s not clear when any of them will be allowed to start. Penix, of course, might have to wait a full season or two behind Kirk Cousins. Ah, those wacky Falcons.

So, the immediate focus is on Williams and Daniels, and I think most fantasy players see exciting upside in both cases. Williams stepped into a Chicago offense that’s unusually stocked for a team that held the No. 1 overall pick, and Daniels has the rushing chops to be a fantasy-relevant player right away.

With that, I wanted to see what the best rookie quarterback seasons were in the modern fantasy era (2000-to-present). What’s possible? What does history tell us about the reasonable range of outcomes for Williams (a pass-first guy) and Daniels (an electric runner)?

There have been plenty of immediate fantasy hits with a quarterback taken first overall. Cam Newton, Kyler Murray, Andrew Luck, Jameis Winston and Baker Mayfield all were fantasy-relevant quickly. It also speaks to how the NFL has changed, but consider those five quarterbacks are the five best-scoring rookie QBs from the No. 1 overall, slot all-time. Peyton Manning (the No. 1 pick in 1998) is a distant sixth.

Newton was…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/fantasy-football-history-both-caleb-williams-and-jayden-daniels-could-pay-off-in-year-1-215552524.html

Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2024-05-20 21:55:52

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