2024 NFL Draft: Dynasty Fantasy Football Winners and Losers from the NFC East
With the 2024 NFL Draft now over, we can accurately re-assess the depth charts of teams around the NFL. In this series, we’ll be taking a look at players who either gained or lost value based on what their team did during the draft.
Dallas Cowboys
Draft Class
- Round 1, Pick 29: Tyler Guyton, OT Oklahoma
- Round 2, Pick 24: Marshawn Kneeland, EDGE Western Michigan
- Round 3, Pick 9: Cooper Beebe, OG Kansas State
- Round 3, Pick 24: Marist Liufau, LB Notre Dame
- Round 5, Pick 39: Caelen Carson, CB Wake Forest
- Round 6, Pick 40: Ryan Flournoy, WR SE Missouri State
- Round 7, Pick 13: Nathan Thomas, OT Louisiana
- Round 7, Pick 24: Justin Rogers, DT Auburn
Winner: Ezekiel Elliott, RB
Going into the NFL Draft, one of the picks that seemed like a certainty was Jonathon Brooks to the Cowboys. Jerry Jones even revealed in the middle of the draft that Brooks was “high, high, high” on the Cowboys draft board. The next day, the Panthers took Brooks with the 14th pick of the second round, and then the Cowboys decided to completely punt on the position, focusing instead on the offensive line and defensive needs throughout the NFL Draft.
Somehow, the Cowboys’ fantasy football winner of the NFL Draft wasn’t even on the team on draft weekend. But, it was no secret that Elliott planned to come back to the team that drafted him this offseason, especially if they skipped out on the top running backs in the draft. Dallas didn’t waste any time bringing the veteran back into the fold, but on a comparatively minuscule $2 million contract.
Despite what Mike McCarthy says to the media, Elliott is expected to be the leader in backfield touches on this team. A motley crew of running backs makes up the rest of the room behind Elliott, including Rico Dowdle, Deuce Vaughn, Royce Freeman and Snoop Conner.
Don’t get carried away with Elliott. With the Patriots last year, he had career lows in carries (184), yards (642), touchdowns (three) and yards per carry (3.5). He’s expected to get an expanded opportunity with Dallas this year, but we can’t expect outstanding production. Elliott is a good bench or flex option for a team in win-now mode in dynasty fantasy football.
Loser: Dak Prescott, QB
The Cowboys had a boring fantasy football draft, but they put together a solid draft class. Tyler Guyton should plug right in at left tackle and they addressed several positions of serious need. For that reason, there really isn’t a clear “loser” from the fallout of this draft. Having said that, the situation surrounding Prescott right now could be a bit concerning for his managers.
First, in the fallout of the draft, the Cowboys didn’t address any pass-catching positions or the running back position to give Prescott more weapons in the passing game. The group of wide receivers in Dallas is really weak after CeeDee Lamb. Right now, Brandin Cooks and Jalen Tolbert are expected to be the second and third receivers in the starting lineup. Lamb is obviously a stud, but he can’t catch every single pass in this offense. Prescott had a great season last year, with this same group of receivers, so it may be a moot point. But, the situation certainly didn’t improve during the NFL Draft.
Secondly, the contract can continue to be kicked down the road by Cowboys management. Prescott and the Jones’s are saying all of the right things, but the fact is that Prescott does not have a contract for the 2025 season yet. If he goes into the year without that sort of security in his contract situation, he may make some decisions with his wallet instead of his heart on and off the field. We could see a holdout situation or some plays were Prescott decides to throw the ball away instead of using his legs. Again, he isn’t a major loser from the draft, but the contract situation lingers and it could rear its ugly head this year.
New York Giants
Draft Class
- Round 1, Pick 6: Malik Nabers, WR LSU
- Round 2, Pick 15: Tyler Nubin, S Minnesota
- Round 3, Pick 6: Andru Phillips, CB Kentucky
- Round 4, Pick 7: Theo Johnson, TE Penn State
- Round 5, Pick 31: Tyrone Tracy Jr., RB Purdue
- Round 6, Pick 7: Darius Muasau, LB UCLA
Winner: Daniel Jones, QB
Daniel Jones may have been one of the biggest winners of the NFL Draft. Reports are that the Giants were desperately trying to move up into the top three to take a quarterback. They even offered up their sixth overall pick and another first-round pick to move up to the third pick to take Drake Maye. Once Maye was picked, the Giants pivoted to wide receiver and took Malik Nabers. Jones went into the first round of the NFL Draft worried about defending his job over a first-round rookie. Instead, the Giants didn’t get anyone to compete with Jones, and they used their sixth overall pick on the best wide receiver Jones has ever had the chance to throw the ball to in Nabers.
Image from DLF’s ADP Over Time Tool.
Jones is a very cheap option to target in superflex leagues as a third quarterback right now. He is only two years removed from finishing the 2022 season as the number nine quarterback in fantasy. The team won’t be able to lean on the run game as much with Saquon Barkley moving onto Philadelphia, and Nabers is a huge boost to the receiving targets for Jones. A win-now team could do much worse than Daniel Jones as the third quarterback on their dynasty depth chart. Below are some recent superflex dynasty trades involving Jones to give you an idea of how low his value currently is.
Image and data from DLF Trade Finder tool.
Loser: Darren Waller, TE
Waller technically hasn’t retired from the NFL, yet, so I feel comfortable including him as a loser of the NFL Draft. It seems to be the worst-kept secret in the NFL that Waller will retire this off-season, but there hasn’t been an official announcement.
In the extremely unlikely case that Waller does decide to return for the 2024 season, the Giants drafted his replacement with the 107th pick of the NFL Draft. Theo Johnson was one of the amazing stories of the NFL Combine. He displayed historic athleticism for a tight end and flew up draft boards because of it.
Theo Johnson, Penn State
Height: 6-6 (95th percentile)
Weight: 259 (77th percentile)
40: 4.57 (92nd percentile)
Speed Score: 118.8 (95th percentile)
Vertical: 39.5 (98th percentile)
Broad: 125 (95th percentile— Scott Barrett (@ScottBarrettDFB) March 2, 2024
Despite his outstanding athleticism, he failed to put up numbers at Penn State. He had his most productive season in 2023, catching 34 balls for 341 yards. Johnson played behind several NFL tight ends, including Pat Freiermuth and Brenton Strange. He also played last year with Tyler Warren, who will likely be an early draft pick next year. He’s a project and the odds are stacked against him, but he’ll have an opportunity with the Giants.
Philadelphia Eagles
Draft Class
- Round 1, Pick 22: Quinyon Mitchell, CB Toledo
- Round 2, Pick 8: Cooper DeJean, CB Iowa
- Round 3, Pick 31: Jalyx Hunt, EDGE Houston Christian
- Round 4, Pick 27: Will Shipley, RB Clemson
- Round 5, Pick 17: Ainias Smith, WR Texas A&M
- Round 5, Pick 20: Jeremiah Trotter Jr., LB Clemson
- Round 5, Pick 37: Trevor Keegan, OG Michigan
- Round 6, Pick 9: Johnny Wilson, WR Florida State
- Round 6, Pick 14: Dylan McMahon, OG NC State
Winners: Parris Campbell and DeVante Parker, WR
It’s tough to pick out an individual winner for the Eagles, because once again the team was one of the winners of this year’s Draft. Howie Roseman found value all over the board and made a ton of draft pick trades. If you missed it, check out the war room video of Roseman making the trade for Cooper DeJean.
Behind the scenes of our trade up for @cdejean23 @lincolnfingroup | #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/MYzFCBKkzc
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) May 3, 2024
The Eagles focused most of their early picks on the defensive side of the ball, so you won’t find any major fantasy football winners and losers from this draft. Because they waited so long to address the offensive side of the ball, the wide receivers they selected are not needle-movers. Ainias Smith is an interesting prospect, and Johnny Wilson is huge, but neither of them will be ready for the NFL gridiron as a rookie. That leaves Parris Campbell and DeVante Parker behind to battle it out over WR3 snaps behind DeVonta Smith and AJ Brown.
The role will not be a large one, whichever one gets the edge, but I’ve seen both players scooped up late in deep rookie drafts that include veterans as well.
Loser: Kenneth Gainwell, RB
Once again, it’s a low-end loser for the Eagles in Gainwell. He came into the draft as the established number two back behind Saquon Barkley, but after the Birds took one of my favorite players of the draft, Will Shipley, he’ll have some competition for touches.
Gainwell has the big leg up because he is a favorite of Nick Sirianni. He came into the league as a receiving back, but he’s been used much more than expected between the tackles in his time in Philadelphia. Will Shipley is a similar type of back, but I think he’s better suited for up-the-middle runs than Gainwell is. He has a similar skillset as a receiver and an incredible motor. Gainwell is on the final year of his deal in Philadelphia, so we could see him come out as the guy behind Barkley in 2024. But, long-term, Shipley may be the dynasty handcuff Barkley managers will want on their teams.
Washington Commanders
Draft Class
- Round 1, Pick 2: Jayden Daniels, QB LSU
- Round 2, Pick 4: Jer’Zhan Newton, DT Illinois
- Round 2, Pick 18: Mike Sainristill, CB Michigan
- Round 2, Pick 21: Ben Sinnott, TE Kansas State
- Round 3, Pick 3: Brandon Coleman, OG TCU
- Round 3, Pick 37: Luke McCaffrey, WR Rice
- Round 5, Pick 4: Jordan Magee, LB Temple
- Round 5, Pick 26: Dominique Hampton, S Washington
- Round 7, Pick 2: Javontae Jean-Baptiste, EDGE Notre Dame
Winner: Terry McLaurin, WR
In five years in the NFL, McLaurin has caught balls from Case Keenum, Dwayne Haskins, Colt McCoy, Alex Smith, Kyle Allen, Taylor Heinicke, Garrett Gilbert, Carson Wentz, Sam Howell and Jacoby Brissett. Finally, after years of turmoil, he’ll get to play catch with a true franchise quarterback in Jayden Daniels. We’ll also see a new offensive system brought in with Kliff Kingsbury taking over the reigns as the offensive coordinator. Fantasy managers rejoice, we may finally have McLaurin’s true breakout season on the horizon.
Despite having high-end WR1 upside and route-running skills, McLaurin’s best fantasy finish was WR14 in 2022. He is a stud receiver who has been constantly misused and underappreciated by poor quarterbacks and coaching staffs in his career. He will finally have the opportunity to step up and prove he is better than his WR28 showing last year.
Data from the DLF Trade Finder Tool.
Despite being a winner of the NFL Draft, McLaurin’s ADP and dynasty value haven’t changed much in recent weeks. He is still being taken outside of the top six rounds in startup drafts and being selected in the same range as Diontae Johnson, Christian Watson and Chris Godwin. He’s a prime candidate to see his value increase throughout the season. Even if you don’t buy into the talent or the improvement at quarterback, his value will very likely increase this season.
Loser: Zach Ertz, TE
Believe it or not, Ertz, at 33 years-old, still had value in dynasty this season prior to the NFL Draft. But, after the team took Ben Sinnott in the second round, that value has all but disappeared. After being replaced by Trey McBride last year in Arizona, Ertz asked for his release so he could go “ring chasing” with another team. The Lions brought him in, but he never saw a snap in Honolulu Blue. His fantasy football career, at this point, seemed over.
The Commanders signed Ertz this off-season and, because of the state of that tight end room, he had a chance to carve out a significant role. With Sinnott on the team, any chance at a significant role is gone. Ertz could still be the team’s number-one tight end while Sinnott develops into the position. College tight ends tend to take a while to acclimate to the NFL game, and he should be no different. Sinnott currently projects more as an H-Back than as a traditional tight end. But, with the second-round draft capital, the Commanders will need to give him a chance to be their pass-catching tight end. If Sinnott doesn’t overtake a 33-year-old Ertz this season, it could be a problem for his dynasty future.
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