Fantasy Players On New Teams in 2024
I was thinking about players that changed teams in the offseason and it made me think about how some of the most successful fantasy players last season were on new teams. Of course, I wanted to take a closer look...
I have the table above sorted by 2024 points per game, which is a simple way to determine the most successful fantasy player on a new team (spoiler alert: it’s Saquon), but it’s not the only interesting data point we have to work with. Yes, Saquon had the most points per game, but was he the most successful transplant? Are there other ways to determine success?
Most points per game – Saquon Barkley (22.21 ppg) - moving from the New York Giants to the Philadelphia Eagles. The Saquon story last season is endlessly interesting to me. First of all, it’s book ended between the preseason Hard Knocks in which the owner of the Giants, John Mara, said “I’ll have a hard time sleeping if Saquon goes to Philadelphia, I’ll tell you that.” And Philadelphia winning the fuckin Superbowl. On top of that, this trade (as well as some other notable runningback trades) came on the heels of a discussion/trend in the NFL about how devalued the runningback position had become. Well, they’re a lot more valuable now, I’ll tell you that, John.
Honorable Mention: Jimmy Garoppolo (19.86 ppg), Derrick Henry(19.79 ppg), Sam Darnold (18.12 ppg), Josh Jacobs (17.24 ppg), Davante Adams (17.24 ppg)
Including Jimmy Garoppolo on this least feels like cheating because he played in a single game but he did score 19.86 points in that game which earns him the #2 spot. After that you have Derrick Henry and Josh Jacobs at #3 and #5 respectively, adding fuel to the “perhaps we were hasty on discounting the value of good runningbacks” fire. I’ll get to Sam Darnold in a second and Davante Adams was the highest scoring wide receiver on a new team in 2024 (though since he was traded mid-season, he probably shouldn’t count for this exercise). He actually had numbers comparable to 2023, when he played for the Raiders. I think most would consider both seasons a disappointment for him and I’m excited to see what he does with the Rams. It’s notable that half of the top six on this list were on the Raiders in 2023… it goes to show that the team itself has a massive impact on individual performances. Yeah, I know that sounds obvious when I say it out loud, but it’s surprising how often we seem to forget it.
Greatest points per game leap – Sam Darnold (15.78 more ppg). Considering he only had 23.38 points (and 2.34 ppg) in 2023 it’s no wonder he performed better in 2024 when given the chance to start for the Vikings… but no one (and I mean, no one) predicted him performing this much better. He went from being the #63 ranked QB to the #8 ranked QB for points per game. Now, haters can say “Every QB does good with the Vikings under O’Connell and throwing to Jefferson and Addison” and that may be true (J.J. McCarthy will be putting that take to the test this season), but still it revived a quarterback most of us had left for dead. It will be interesting to see how Darnold does in Seattle. I hope he succeeds. It’s not likely he’ll reach the heights he did in Minnesota because the roster around him just has that many more holes, but I hope he can establish himself as a starter for years to come.
Honorable Mention: Jimmy Garoppolo (10.7 more ppg), Jameis Winston (9.93 more ppg), Marcus Mariota (9.37 more ppg), Darnell Mooney (6.44 more ppg), Saquon Barkley (6.27 more ppg)
The quarterbacks after Darnold on this list aren’t very interesting. It’s guys who had limited starts last year and limited starts this year. The wide receiver on a new team with the largest jump in points per game was Darnell Mooney who had a decent season in Atlanta and may be a sleeper target if Penix is the improvement over Cousins we all think he can be. The runningback with the largest ppg leap was Saquon, of course.
Highest rank by position –
RB - Saquon Barkley (1) – Yeah he was the best runningback in fantasy last year, John!
Honorable Mention:
Derrick Henry (4)
Josh Jacobs (8)
Joe Mixon (9)
QB - Jimmy Garoppolo (6) – I already explained this. He’s a false flag.
Honorable Mention:
Sam Darnold (8)
Russell Wilson (14) - He'll be on this list again next year.
Josh Dobbs (17) - Bonus points if you can tell me who he played for last season. No peeking!
WR - Davante Adams (10) – finishing as the #10 wide receiver after moving from the Raiders to the Jets midseason is impressive, not going to lie/
Honorable Mention:
Stefon Diggs (16) - This might look impressive until you see that he was #13 with the Bills. Any guesses on how he ranks with the Patriots?
Jerry Jeudy (22)
Keenan Allen (33) – This man was the #3 ranked wide receiver in 2023. What a tumble. Maybe Justin Herbert is good, after all?
TE - Jonnu Smith (4) – My man! He had a career year with Miami and they couldn’t give less of a shit. He’ll be on a new team again next season so he will make this list again. Will he remain a top 5 tight end?
Honorable Mention:
Zach Ertz (8)
Mike Gesicki (16)
Highest increase in rank by position –
RB – Kene Nwangu (-75 spots) – I don’t know who this is but apparently he was the 129 ranked runningback in 2023 with the Vikings and 54 ranked in 2024 with the Jets.
Honorable Mention:
Guh… no one interesting… Maybe this isn’t a very good metric
QB - Sam Daaaarnold (-55 spots)
WR - Sterling Shepard (-80 spots) He went from #165 with the Giants to #85 with the Bucs.
TE - Nick Vannett (-57) No one cares about the #44 ranked tight end, even if he was #101 in 2023
So, what did we learn? Honestly, not much beyond it turns out that good runningbacks are good. It was the only position to really have several players make significant impacts on new teams. Sure, Darnold impressed, but he seems more like an outlier. Jonnu Smith is an interesting case for tight ends, but again, he seems like an outlier. When it comes down to it, lists like this need to be taken with a grain of salt because good blue-chip players are rarely moved to new teams. Sure, it happens, but not a ton. I think the prominence of runningbacks on this list was largely due to the mindset I alluded to above: about how the league really devalued the position. I hope that the performances of players like Saquon, Henry, Jacobs and Mixon will change that mindset.