Welcome to the 2024 SEWIFFL Keeper Preview. I hope you enjoy!
Quick Thoughts from the Commish: Absolutely love the keep. You can't not hold onto someone who put up 1500 yards in the last two seasons. AJ Brown is a stud and will continue to lead the Eagles offense this season.
Quick Thoughts from the Commish: There's some risk. Unless you've been under a rock you've heard the quote "Ja'Marr won't touch the field without a new contract" so there's always a chance he digs in. In all liklihood he'll be back with the team in short order. Money talks and he has 2 years left on his deal.
Quick Thoughts from the Commish: Tyreek has been the best wideout in the game for the last couple seasons. 1 yard shy of 1800 last season and all indications are he'll be trending towards that number again. He's football aging, but until he falls off, you take the Cheetah.
Quick Thoughts from the Commish: Aiyuk has been the center of trade demands this offseason. He's currently in an offense that is chock full of weapons: CMC, Deebo, George Kittle...a change of scenery to a place where he's a true WR1 could be the benefit of fantasy managers everywhere.
Quick Thoughts from the Commish: You can copy and paste this to the Rice text as well: INCREDIBLE value. Bill put in work on the waiver wire last season and it should pay off this season. Puka might downgrade a bit and be second fiddle to a healthy Cooper Kupp, but he should still be a valuable weapon for the Rams.
Quick Thoughts from the Commish: Value aside, there's a bit more risk with Rashee Rice. The big question is when will the NFL suspend the 2nd year wideout because of his offseason reckless driving crash? History tells us to expect a multi game suspension but it could come as late as next season.
Quick Thoughts from the Commish: CMC is still him. He'll end up missing a game or two due to injury at some point, but other than that he is a lock and load, RonCo "Set it and Forget it" stud. Given that he's been a bellcow for nearly a decade we all have to accept there is an end on the horizon for CMC, but I don't think its this year.
Quick Thoughts from the Commish: Chris was another one that did some great business on the waiver wire last season. Picking up the eventual rookie of the year for free helped overcome a disastrous keep of Austin Ekeler and eventually nab Chris his first ever title. If Stroud can avoid a sophomore slump Chris will be a favorite to repeat.
Quick Thoughts from the Commish: Breece exploded last year for just under 1000 yards after a less than stellar rookie campaign. A healthy Aaron Rodgers should open up the Jets offense this year which very well could lead to an even bigger year for Hall.
Quick Thoughts from the Commish: Gibbs has the best offensive line in football blocking for him. The Lions are one of the favorites to win a Super Bowl and their diverse offense is no joke. Much like Hall, Gibbs should benefit from having so many weapons around him taking focus out of the backfield.
Quick Thoughts from the Commish: QB1 got a huge contract extension this summer. The pressure is off of the Packers and directly on the shoulders of #10. If he plays like he did the last half of the year he should be a favorite for MVP and the Packers should be enjoying the fruits of their $220 Million Dollar Man.
Quick Thoughts from the Commish: Honestly I wasn't expecting to see Flowers on this list, but he quietly had a solid season in 2023. 850 yards and 5 TDs. Sophomore year for WR tends to be the breakout season, so George very well could be looking at a great investment here.
Quick Thoughts from the Commish: James had a year that he would describe as "suboptimal" last season and went scorched earth on his former squad, only keeping the man who fought through a scary burn injury to end up at TE6 last year. Its a strategy that I support. Look for James to put in work at the draft and be on a revenge tour.
Quick Thoughts from the Commish: Josh Allen has been a top 5 fantasy QB the last 4 years and a top 10 QB his entire career outside of his rookie season. There's no reason to think he won't do that again. Allen is a safe floor, high ceiling QB who has talent on his feet and with his arm.
Quick Thoughts from the Commish: Waddle had a season that most WRs would kill for last year. 1000 yards on 77 catches. You didn't hear much about it because he's overshadowed by Tyreek Hill and a fun, if frustrating, Miami backfield. I'd fully expect to see Waddle have another similar season, hopefully with more scores.
Quick Thoughts from the Commish: The Sun God will tell you he's the best WR in football. He still rattles off the name of every WR picked before him. He might not be WR1, but he's damn good at his job. And he's tough. ARSB played most of the year with his oblique muscle ripped off the bone. Guy is a dawg.
Quick Thoughts from the Commish: Lamar somehow had a quiet MVP season. He's never going to lead the league in passing yards, but what he lacks there he more than makes up with his feet and playmaking ability. He's got a new backfield mate in Derrick Henry, which should take a bit of focus off of Lamar. Look for big things from Baltimore.
Quick Thoughts from the Commish: The 49ers have been shopping Brandon Aiyuk, which means they believe in Deebo as their WR1. Deebo should see a boost in targets and also gets a sneaky yearly boost with his rushing prowess. Look for him to repeat what he did last year tacking on 200-250 yards on the ground and a good handful of touchdowns.
Quick Thoughts from the Commish: All this guy does is win. He's on a team friendly contract and has 3 Super Bowl rings before he's 29. He's on the GOAT path and there's nothing any of us can do about it. The good thing is he likely won't do enough on the ground to be QB1 overall, the bad thing is he does do enough with his arm for casual top 5-10 finishes and we'll be dealing with it for the next 12-15 years.
Quick Thoughts from the Commish: Bijan has lofty goals for himself. He's been talking about wanting 2000 yards from scrimmage. If we're being honest, that's not absurd for him. He's the main weapon in ATL and he got a huge quarterback upgrade. Bijan very well could be the next CMC that fantasy managers trip over themselves to draft.
Quick Thoughts from the Commish: Kyren came out of nowhere to finish as RB6 despite missing 5 games in the middle of the season. There's got to be some concern that the Rams spent a third round pick on Blake Corum. Kyren is still the lead dog, but clearly the Rams don't have 100% faith in him, otherwise Corum wouldn't be in town.
Quick Thoughts from the Commish: Training camp reports are saying that Kupp is back to his 2021 form. If that's true then getting him as a forth round keeper should scare everyone. Combine that with a very dangerous WR2 in LA and Kupp might find himself at the top of the WR heap again.
Quick Thoughts from the Commish: Tee Higgins isn't happy in Cincy. He's made that clear, demanding a new contract or a trade, neither of which he has gotten. He's on a franchise tag and wants to maximize his value and to do that he needs to ball out. A healthy Joe Burrow will help that. Look for a big year out of Higgins, even if he's playing second fiddle to Chase.
That's it for the keeper preview. I think there's value in every player that was kept. Tons of WR talent is already locked up, so the draft will be interesting. If i had to pick a keeper set that I liked most its got to be Bill's combo of Rashee Rice and Puka Nacua. Its just absurd value for two waiver wire pickups from last season.
Draft is 4pm central time tomorrow. Can't wait. Good luck, everyone!