1QB PPR ADP taken from Sleeper

So you’re dynasty team sucks, please excuse my candor, but it’s important that we’re in agreement here. For this is a room for the hopeless, for those that have finally given up and are ready to rid themselves of their past mistakes, the Skyy Moore’s, the Darren Waller’s and the… *shudders*… Kadarius Toney’s.

This is a safe safe space, you will find zero judgement within the four walls of this blog post, just similarly lost souls wandering the dynasty abyss, welcome.

I will warn you, it’s gonna take patience, resilience, some draft picks and any high quality veteran that you may have. But for those that feel ready to make the necessary changes and get their lives dynasty rosters back on track, here are four trade targets to prioritise heading into the 2024 season.

I’ve excluded rookies from this post, as it felt too obvious and you’ll likely have to pay a premium at this point. There are also no running backs on this list, as they are the final piece of any dynasty team and should be the position you prioritise last when re-building a roster. In fact, if you have any valuable running backs on your team, they would be the first pieces to trade away in order to get the following players.

Here we go.

Tee Higgins (Cincinnati)

ADP 50/WR 23/Bye Week 12

Photo credit: Andy Lyons/Getty Images

The 2023 season was unkind to Higgins. The receiver missed five games through injury and played five further games with his second string quarterback after Joe Burrow’s season ended in week 11.

When healthy, Higgins played 75% of offensive snaps on eight occasions, finishing as a fantasy WR1 in four of those games, two of which were without Burrow and three times despite playing opposite Ja’marr Chase.

2024 is a contract year for Cincinnati’s number five, after being tagged by the Bengals for this season. If he can stay healthy, Higgins should expect to attract WR1 money in free-agency, and there won’t be a shortage of teams interested.

If the Bengals do manage to keep their second pass catcher beyond this season, Higgins will offer a WR2 floor throughout the year, with WR1 weeks thrown in. If however he ends up on another team, you could be getting a future fantasy WR1 for the price of a low-end WR2 in 2024.

Rashee Rice (Kansas City)

ADP 66/WR 31/ Bye Week 6

Photo Credit: @doub11e_r/Instagram

MVS, Kadarius Toney, Mecole Hardman, Justin Watson, Skyy Moore, Justyn Ross. There is a long line of wide receivers since Tyreek Hill that have failed to sparkle at Arrowhead, despite playing with arguably the most talented quarterback of all time. So why is it being so overlooked that Rashee Rice, as a rookie, did exactly that?

Eased in to the team early on, Rice was finally given an 80%+ snap share from weeks 14-17. He finished WR12,WR7,WR35 and WR14, and is being drafted as the WR31 in dynasty! Rice is, in fact, already being drafted behind his new rookie teammate Xavier Worthy, despite the latter having never run a route in the NFL.

One reason could be the threat of a suspension in 2024 after two off-field incidents made the news this off-season, but if you’re re-building, that wouldn’t matter.

Overall, I think you are getting a probable WR2 floor for the 2024 season (without suspension), as Rice has the trust of Patrick Mahomes, including in the end-zone. Add to that that the Chiefs’ number one pass-catcher, Travis Kelce, is widely expected to retire after the 2024 season and Rashee Rice is yet another possible WR1 from 2025 onward.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba (Seattle)

ADP 69/WR 33/ Bye Week 10

Photo credit: Jane Gershovich/Getty Images

Let’s just deal with the low-hanging fruit, Tyler Lockett has kept up his impressive streak of getting another year older every season, quite remarkable really. Hilarious jokes aside, Lockett, whilst still very relevant in 2023, recorded his first season of under 1000 receiving yards since 2018. Lockett went from the WR13 the previous season, to the WR32 last year, despite a slight increase in targets, so further decline for Lockett is not out of the question.

Enter JSN, a player so talented that he was the first pass-catcher taken in the 2023 NFL draft, despite playing just three games in his final season in college due to injury. A player talked up by his former Ohio State teammates, Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave, as perhaps the most talented of the three.

Smith-Njigba’s rookie season left a lot to be desired, which in hindsight, should probably have been expected. The then-rookie was coming off the aforementioned injury-hit collegiate season in Ohio, and started his first season in the league with a broken wrist. But more obviously, the receiver was set be third on the receiver depth chart, behind two established and trusted veterans.

With a new coaching staff in Seattle, including new pass-friendly offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb, JSN should see much better usage than he did under previous coordinator Shane Waldron, now with the Bears. The receiver finished 2023 with an ADOT of 6.1 yards (142nd in the NFL) with nine weeks lower than five yards, zero yards in week seven and minus one(!!!) in week nine.

Isaiah Likely (Baltimore)

ADP 142/ TE 18/ Bye Week 14

Photo credit: Julio Cortez

Despite Mark Andrews’ appearances in 2023 dropping by a third from the previous year (15-10), Isaiah Likely’s targets actually dropped by the same amount (60-40). Counter to that strange stat, Likely finished the season as the TE25 last year, two spots higher than he managed in 2022.

The reasoning for that may lay in the sizeable increase in efficiency, with his yards/target increasing from 6.22 in 2022, to 10.28 in 2023, which was second in the NFL among tight ends behind only George Kittle.

If you need proof of Likely’s talent then you needn’t look far. In the final six games of the season, with Mark Andrews sidelined, he recorded four TE1 finishes, two TE2 finishes and scored five touchdowns. This run included a TE4 overall finish in week 18, despite only playing 33% of Baltimore’s offensive snaps.

2023 saw more NFL teams lean on a two tight end set when in possession, due to the flexibility and mis-match opportunity that two athletic tight-ends can impose on a defence. Baltimore are arguably the best-suited team to implement this with two outstanding pass-catching tight ends, the best mobile quarterback in the league and now future hall of fame running-back Derrick Henry in the backfield.

Likely could easily end up as the third option for Lamar Jackson in this scenario, with only Zay Flowers really overshadowing him from wide-receiver.

In terms of Dynasty outlook, Mark Andrews is only twenty-eight years old, and Likely won’t be overtaking him in the near future. But with only two more years on his rookie contract he should be atop an NFL depth chart from 2026 at the very latest, just in time for your rebuilt roster to challenge for titles once again.

I really hope you’ve enjoyed this article. If you feel like you’ve received any benefit or insight from reading this, or perhaps have your own list of dynasty targets, please like, comment, share etc. It would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

ADP reference: Sleeper Fantasy Football and Draftsharks.com

Advance stats: Pro-football-reference.com