6 Rookies GUARANTEED To Make An Impact In Fantasy Football In 2024

Rookies Guaranteed To Make A Fantasy Football Impact In 2024

Last year, it was Puka Nacua and Tank Dell. It was Zay Flowers and Rashee Rice. It was Jayden Reed, it was Jahmyr Gibbs, it was De’Von Achane and definitely not Quentin Johnston. Now with the NFL Draft behind us and redraft season not too far ahead (it’s coming fast!), we need to start identifying which of these rookies from the 2024 class are going to make an impact for us in fantasy football this season. Let’s start at the top with the son of a hall-of-famer.

Marvin Harrison Jr., WR, Cardinals

Marvin Harrison Jr. was always the chalk pick to the Cardinals at the 1.04. He’s about as close to a “can’t miss prospect” as it gets. This is a guy who’s coming off a 1,200-yard, 15 touchdown season at Ohio State. He became the first wide receiver in Ohio State history to record multiple career 1,000-yard seasons. He’s a Biletnikoff Award winner, a two-time unanimous first-team All-American, and a Heisman Trophy finalist 

Harrison fits the mold of a prototypical alpha X-wide receiver. He’s an exceptional route-runner who commands targets and has the versatility to line up in multiple positions across the formation. He is going to be a big-bodied playmaker for quarterback Kyler Murray who will appreciate Harrison’s ability to contort his body to track and attack the football in traffic. Harrison immediately slides in as the top passing catcher in Arizona and should command a high volume of targets as a rookie. He compares favorably to AJ Green and Justin Jefferson—both of which had incredible rookie seasons and it’s likely we see something similar from Harrison in 2024. 

Malik Nabers, WR, Giants

The initial reaction to Malik Nabers to the Giants from the fantasy community has been mostly negative. However, Nabers is entering a very fantasy-friendly situation. The Giants have one of the weakest receiver rooms in the NFL and tight end Darren Waller appears likely to retire. That leaves Nabers as the clear, uncontested top target for Daniel Jones in 2024. And sure, it’s still Daniel Jones and of course it would have been nice to see Nabers paired with a better quarterback, but the target volume is going to be very high. With Nabers’ skill set, he will do the most with his targets. He is incredible after the catch, meaning he will always be gaining additional yardage and the team is surely going to feed him high-percentage manufactured touches like screens and jet sweeps as well. 

Nabers is an exceptional wide receiver prospect—one that we’d be ranking as No. 1 in just about any other class. His game is going to translate so well to the NFL level. He’s a great route runner who has the versatility to line up in the X, Z, and slot positions. His speed allows him to create separation down the field on posts, go’s, and slot fades, but he can also dial it back to win in the short and intermediate areas of the field as well. 

Nabers is in line for a 130 target rookie season and is likely going to be a top-20 scorer in fantasy football. A Ja’Marr Chase-like rookie campaign is in the range of outcomes.

Xavier Worthy, WR, Chiefs

We could not have asked for anything better for Xavier Worthy. He got the first round draft capital and he is matched up with Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid. This is a clear effort by the Chiefs to bring back some of what they had with Tyreek Hill and to thwart the difficult shell coverages that defenses have been throwing at them for the last two seasons. Worthy has that incredible 4.21 speed but he can control that speed to run quality routes in the short and intermediate areas on top of being a vertical demon. He has the versatility to line up in different positions across the formation which will allow the Chiefs to fully maximize his role and find matchup advantages. 

Between Worthy and free agent addition Marquise Brown, the Chiefs offense is in line to return to its 2018-2021 form. Worthy is going to be a big part of that. He’s not Tyreek Hill despite the comparisons, but there are enough similarities between their play styles to think Worthy can give us 75% of the production we saw in the prime Mahomes to Hill years. 

Worthy may not be a consistent volume commander but he will absolutely have week-winning performances that can make a huge difference in fantasy football. He will be used all over the field and will especially thrive on crossing routes in this offense. It’s realistic to picture him having the third-most productive rookie season out of this year’s class of wide receivers. 

Trey Benson, RB, Cardinals 

Trey Benson may begin his career backing up James Conner, but landing with the Cardinals was one of the more underrated good landing spots of the 2024 draft. Conner is 29-years old and has never made it through a full season and has played more than 13 games just once in his career. Benson is absolutely going to get on the field as a rookie and will very likely start multiple games. It’s not out of the question that Benson just outright takes over the backfield at some point during 2024, leapfrogging Conner for the RB1 job. At worst, he is one of the few elite handcuffs in fantasy football. At best, he is a league winner. Either way, he is going to have an impact and needs to be targeted in drafts.

The Cardinals are shaping up to be one of the better offenses in the NFL with the additions of Marvin Harrison Jr and Benson to pair with Conner and Trey McBride as weapons for quarterback Kyler Murray. That will only enhance the ceiling outcome for Benson as we know good offenses are where league-winner seasons are born. And Benson has all the makings to become one: quality offense with touchdown scoring upside, a clear path to touches, size (he’s 216 lbs), and elite athleticism. Benson is undervalued in dynasty rookie drafts and is shaping up to be the best zero rb target in redraft leagues this summer.

Jayden Daniels, QB, Commanders

Jayden Daniels quietly landed in a good spot with the Commanders. He has quality weapons around him in Terry McLaurin, Jahan Dotson, Austin Ekeler, and Brian Robinson. Daniels is coming off a heisman trophy winning season after throwing for nearly 4,000 yards and scoring 50 total touchdowns. He also ran for over 1,100 yards. He has the arm to make all the throws and his legs give him the highest fantasy upside of any quarterback in the class. Daniels has plenty of experience and should be ready to play right away. He will utilize his legs a ton early in his career as he adapts to the NFL game. That means there’s a real chance he outscores even Caleb Williams in 2024. He could have an RGIII level rookie season where he’s a locked-in QB1 in your lineups.

 

 

Honorable Mention

Caleb Williams, QB, Bears

Ray Davis, RB, Bills

Jonathon Brooks, RB, Panthers

 

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