It's never too early, right?

By Martin Richardson

Just like that, the regular season and fantasy football season is over. Fantasy players up and down the land have conquered their leagues and become champions and etched their names in history as the victors in 2024.

But there will be some people, who have taken stock of a potentially poor year and are already making provisions and taking steps to ensure that a poor season doesn’t happen again; dossiers have been created, spreadsheets collated, names of the next best sleepers taken down ready for draft boards in the summer.

It is never too early to start again and be ready for the next challenge.

Onto to 2025.

Onto victory.

Onto some ridiculously early predictions and takes about your fantasy football leagues next season.

EVERYONE WILL BE CHASE-ING SAQUON:

Both of the players named in that awful pun will be spoken about the number one fantasy pick next year, without a doubt. Ja’Marr Chase put up sensational numbers: 17 touchdowns, over 1700 yards and the most receptions with nearly 130. Along with WR partner Tee Higgins, it really was a shock that the Bengals didn’t make the playoffs. Now, with Higgins, at this moment in time, likely out of Cincinnati, Chase is likely to have even more of the lion’s share of targets and receptions to help Joe Burrow reach another Super Bowl in a tightly contested AFC division.

As for Saquon, well what more is there to say? Over 2000 yards, 13 touchdowns and just shy of 350 carries; his move to the Eagles has just been a ridiculously good one. As I write this, the Eagles are still in the Super Bowl hunt, rolling through the Packers at a canter and Saquon has been a huge reason for their continued success this season. His numbers have been elite since moment one and he will continue to have that success next season as well, there is very little doubt on that one. The Eagles just seem to have got this right and Saquon seems like he should always have been an Eagle. You would be wise if you had the number one pick in your draft to pick him up.

BRIAN THOMAS JR IS YOUR GUY:

I was really high on this guy before the draft. When it was rumoured that the Bucs could have moved on from Mike Evans, Thomas was the guy I wanted to replace him. I didn’t get why he was so far behind the likes of Nabers and Odunze, and even Marvin Harrison Jr (hindsight is 20/20 on that one) and this season has shown just how good he can be, and will be next season, for you in fantasy football. His numbers, in a season where the Jags 4-13 and fired their head coach, were incredible: just shy of 1300 yards, tied 3rd; 10 touchdowns with an average yards per catch of 14.7 yards, which is higher than Ja’marr Chase by the way. This is as well as having Mac Jones as his QB when the Jags decided to sit Trevor Lawrence due to injury.

The jags will improve their roster, there are no doubts about that, and that can only benefit someone like Thomas Jr. If they improve their offensive line, Lawrence has more time to get the ball in the right places for Thomas. If they give Lawrence more weapons on offense, then that leaves more space for Thomas to move into and perhaps have less coverage. So, the upside for Thomas having a bigger and better season in 2025 is there for all to see. What they need to do is make sure that their new HC has the offensive schemes and brains to get the most out of someone like Lawrence and Thomas. I just hope that it’s not the early frontrunner from that team down in Tampa…

DON’T SLEEP ON JALEN MCMILLAN:

Speaking of Tampa Bay, about halfway through the season, the Bucs lost all hope for a moment on offense. Rachaad White appeared to lose the ability to play ball like he did last season, Bucky Irving hadn’t really announced himself yet and the Ravens game happened: yes, that game where Mike Evans blew his hamstring and Chris Godwin dislocated his ankle and potentially ended his time in Tampa.

This paved the way for the old adage: next man up. And that man was Jalen McMillan. There were a few weeks where Baker Mayfield and Liam Coen flirted with the idea that Cade Otton was actually Rob Gronkowski, but it was actually Jalen McMillan who was his go to guy when it mattered most. You just have to look at the two play story where he was punished for a silly gun-like first down celebration, to the ridiculous tow tapping touchdown minutes later. His total of 8 touchdowns all season has him as a top 15 wide receiver, but he has 7 of those touchdowns in his last five games, showing just how dependable he has been for the Bucs when it mattered most. Add to that the yards he’s got along the way: 74 against the Saints, 75 against the Chargers, and averaging over 10 yards a carry in his last 7 straight games, McMillan is going to be a major piece on the offense of the Bucs in 2025 and a definite sleeper for fantasy leagues.

VALUE IN ALL THE RIGHT PLACES:

Jayden Daniels, Bo Nix, Courtland Sutton, and even someone like Adam Thielen would all have been names that you picked up later on in your drafts last summer. But all would have been difference makers for you at some point in the season.

Which is why there is always going to be value in a fantasy draft.

At the end of the day, there will always be at least 32 running backs who start every week, which means there are also probably 64 wide receivers who will be on a football field during that opening football weekend. I could go on, but you get the idea. There is no shame in thinking that someone like Adam Thielen is a solid pick up for you in those later rounds. There is no shame in picking out someone like Micheal Wilson is your sleeper for 2025. You already know my thought on Jalen McMillan. Not every throw can be aimed at Marvin Harrison Jr, Mike Evans or whoever is that elite WR1, so of course there is value in picking up those WR2’s at some teams. Hell, let’s not forget that in a season where the Raiders had more QB’s than Trey McBride had touchdowns, Jacobi Meyers had over 1000 yards this season. Take your time to find the value in those lower end picks. You do that, and you’re probably on the way to finding the next Brian Thomas Jr. or Jalen McMillan.

Finally, I suppose it’s time for a hot take. Or at least a warmer take than the previous ones:

RBS IN ROUND ONE NO MATTER WHAT:

During last off season, Tyreek Hill, Justin Jefferson and CeeDee Lamb were all spoken about as potential number 1 picks in fantasy drafts and there will be people who are reading this with a smug look on their face because they didn’t get lumbered with an injured Christian McCaffrey as their top pick.

However, all three of those aforementioned wide receivers had their issues. Jefferson had a few injuries that lead to him missing some time in games, which didn’t help fantasy players at all. CeeDee Lamb decided to ask for the Earth and miss time in preseason which meant he was simply off the boil from the first game and just didn’t get going at all, leading to him missing what would have been fantasy championship weekend due to being shut down injured for the season. Then we have Tyreek Hill. Mr ‘I’m out’ but I guess not really because I had a chat with the GM. Hill never really got going and was struggling to reach the heights of what he did last season. Now you could argue that he lost his QB for some of the season, and that isn’t exactly helpful. But he never seemed to want to try and help his team push on and get the ball to try and win. He shockingly enough had a tantrum live on social media when his average performances didn’t elevate him to the playoffs. Read into that what you will and watch his off-season with caution and intrigue.

Which leads to my take that running backs come first. As I said, Barkley could well be the first overall fantasy pick, but then you could easily argue that the next set of picks in round one of fantasy could well be Jahmyr Gibbs, Derrick Henry, Bijan Robinson and Josh Jacobs. You could even argue Jonathan Taylor has the credit to still be a round one running back. That’s not even adding breakout stars Chase Brown and Bucky Irving to the mix. And you definitely know that someone is going to go all in on college sensation Ashton Jeanty wherever he gets drafted (Cough* Cowboys Cough* cough*). Oh, and I’ve not even mentioned Christian McCaffrey here yet. You could see all those top names going off the board and still come away with someone like Joe Mixon, James Cook, Kyren Williams and Breece Hall, and still have a fantastic RB1 for fantasy matchups. That’s 15 running backs alone who you could pick up and have an RB1 solution.

Running backs over everything else. I’m telling you.

TO FINISH...

Fantasy football may well be over, but we have so much more content to look forward to. There is free agency and the clamour of how that impacts players value and ADP. Bucs WR Chris Godwin will be a major player there. Then we have the draft, and there are so many fantastic prospects on offense for you to be excited about. I’ll be around to give you all the updates and impact all this will have on your fantasy football off-season.

MARTIN RICHARDSON

NFL/FANTASY FOOTBALL ANALYST

A Yorkshireman living in Lancashire, Martin is a massive NFL fan but his heart belongs to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Also a huge Fantasy Football enthusiast and spends far too long crunching the numbers! Follow him at @MRBucsFan31

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