• WR Xavier Worthy, Kansas City Chiefs: Worthy logged promising first-team offense usage for the second consecutive week, this time efficiently racking up yardage as both a short-area and downfield target-earner.
• QB Bo Nix, Denver Broncos: The Broncos' new starting quarterback confirmed his preseason Week 1 productivity against the Indianapolis Colts was no fluke, playing efficiently against the Green Bay Packers.
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Estimated Reading Time: 15 minutes
While most established NFL starters have little to gain or lose through preseason play, players on the fantasy football margins can rise to must-draft status via revealing snap counts or standout performances with the starters.
The article below details three such players who have emerged through NFL preseason Week 2 play and must now be targeted as high-upside, late-round fantasy football draft picks in both half-points-per-reception and PPR scoring formats.
WR Xavier Worthy, Kansas City Chiefs
Worthy logged promising first-team offense usage for the second consecutive week, this time efficiently racking up yardage as both a short-area and downfield target-earner. Fantasy managers should target Worthy as a week-winning flex option with weekly WR3 potential. His 74.1 PFF overall grade ranks 29th among 240 NFL preseason wide receivers with at least 20 receiving snaps.
Worthy received consistent first-team usage in both preseason Weeks 1 and 2. As noted in PFF senior fantasy analyst Nathan Jahnke’s preseason Week 1 fantasy football recap and preseason Week 2 fantasy football recap, head coach Andy Reid evidently already considers Worthy a starter. Four of his 22 combined offensive snaps came via 12 personnel (two-wide receiver sets) snaps. Access to two-wide receiver sets is critical for weekly fantasy viability, and Worthy has already checked that box.
Worthy’s record-setting speed, showcased at the 2024 NFL Combine proved translatable; he tallied two explosive pass plays on three receptions in preseason Week 2.
Worthy failed to earn a target in preseason Week 1, but his first-team usage demanded monitoring. His successes in preseason Week 2 places him among the league’s most efficient first-team offense players. Among 84 NFL preseason wide receivers with at least six targets, Worthy ranks 12th or better in target rate (31.6%), deep-target rate (50.0%), average depth of target (17.0), yards per reception (20.7) and yards per route run (3.26). His 77.9 PFF receiving grade ranks 10th.
Worthy was not limited to downfield usage, earning two targets thrown behind the line of scrimmage. He also fumbled on an 11-yard run, though Kansas City retained possession.
Fellow Chiefs receiver Marquise Brown suffered a sternoclavicular joint sprain during the team's first preseason contest, jeopardizing his early-season availability. Any missed time provides Worthy more opportunities to earn quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ trust.
Among 64 NFL wide receivers with at least 630 offense snaps in 2023, Brown’s 67.1 PFF overall grade ranked 48th. And among 32 NFL quarterbacks with at least 475 offensive snaps in 2023, Mahomes’ 90.5 PFF overall grade tied for second.
Worthy’s preseason emergence makes him a must-draft flex option in fantasy football drafts.
QB Bo Nix, Denver Broncos
First-round rookie quarterback Bo Nix confirmed his preseason Week 1 productivity against the Indianapolis Colts was no fluke, playing efficiently the following week against the Green Bay Packers. Nix is a perfect fit for Denver’s offense and offers fantasy managers underrated rushing ability as a late-round bench stash. His 80.4 PFF overall grade ranks third among 34 NFL preseason quarterbacks with at least 50 offensive snaps.
Denver head coach Sean Payton attempted to mold former Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson into a serviceable fit for his quick-passing offense, but the cannon-armed Wilson struggled to adapt. Wilson hit career-lows in average target depth (7.8), past-the-sticks throwing rate (31.8%) and yards per passing attempt (6.9) last year despite producing his third-highest completion rate (66.4%). In 10 years with Seattle, Wilson maintained a 9.0-plus-yard average target depth, threw past the sticks on 39.0% of passes, averaged 7.5-plus yards per passing attempt nine times and completed between 61.3% and 67.5% of passes each year. He was a poor fit for the offense.
Nix was steeped in Oregon’s quick-passing offense over the past two seasons, making him a natural fit for Payton’s play-calling. Among 33 Power Five quarterbacks with at least 625 dropbacks from 2022 to 2023, Nix ranked 32nd in average target depth (7.1), 30th in past-the-sticks throwing rate (36.3%), first in completion rate (74.7%) and second in yards per passing attempt (9.2). His exceptional completion rate led the group by 5.2 percentage points. His 91.3 PFF passing grade ranked second.
Among 43 NFL preseason quarterbacks with at least 25 dropbacks, Nix ranks 34th in average target depth (6.4), ties for 25th in past-the-sticks throwing rate (36.7%), ranks second in completion rate (76.7%) and ranks 12th in yards per passing attempt (7.0). His 78.4 PFF passing grade ranks third.
Nix efficiently picked up first downs on the ground at Oregon, and that skill has carried over to the preseason play. His 45.9% first down-plus-touchdown conversion rate from 2022 to 2023 ranked second among 37 Power Five quarterbacks with at least 110 rushing attempts. His 33.3% preseason first down-plus-touchdown conversion rate ties for eighth among 21 NFL preseason quarterbacks with at least five rushing attempts, and his two explosive run plays tie for second overall.
Nix has emerged as a worthwhile late-round bench stash.
RB Devin Singletary, New York Giants
New York Giants general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll reunited with running back Devin Singletary this offseason after a three-year stint together with the Buffalo Bills from 2019 to 2021. Singletary has emerged as a three-down running back in Daboll’s offense this preseason and can now be drafted as an RB3 with volume-based RB2 upside. Singletary’s NFL-average skill set comes with some floor and ceiling concerns, but his promising usage is unignorable. His 62.0 PFF overall grade ranks 46th among 89 NFL preseason running backs with at least 25 offensive snaps.
As noted in Nathan Jahnke’s preseason Week 2 fantasy football recap, Singletary played 29 of the 33 first-team offensive snaps as the unit remained on-field for the full first half against Singltary’s former Houston Texans team. Among New York’s first-team offense running backs, Singletary finished with a 75.0% third- and fourth-and-long snap share, an 87.5% two-minute drill snap share, an 80.0% red zone snap share and a 100.0% green-zone snap share. All four categories are important for high-ceiling fantasy football outcomes at the position. Singletary’s two-minute drill and green-zone usage are particularly noteworthy.
Fifth-round, 24-year-old rookie running back Tyrone Tracy could eventually siphon away touches and snaps, but both usage and health are currently working against him. As Jahnke noted in his preseason Week 1 fantasy football recap, the coaching staff drew a hard line between Singletary and Tracy in the team’s first preseason game, deactivating Singletary on game day and featuring Tracy early on. Tracy then suffered a low (inversion) ankle sprain on Aug. 13. Per doctor of physical therapy Adam Hutchison’s injury report, running backs who suffer inversion ankle sprains average 1.8 weeks missed and possess a 14.9% re-injury rate. Tracy earned a 64.2 PFF overall grade on 17 preseason offensive snaps.
Singletary has proven himself a consistent player throughout his five-year NFL career. He earned a 78.1 PFF rushing grade in 2023, the third-best mark of his career, and has maintained a 73.6 PFF rushing grade or better all five years. He is one of just 11 NFL running backs to total more than 975 rushing attempts (982) from 2019 to 2023, and his 91.0 PFF rushing grade during that span ranks sixth. He ties for third in missed tackles forced per rushing attempt (0.21) and ranks seventh in yards after contact per rushing attempt.
From 2019 to 2023, no running back in the NFL logged more receiving snaps than Singletary’s 1,999. He lacks elite traits but possesses the requisite play-to-play reliability to earn the coaching staff’s trust. Among 12 NFL running backs with at least 1,300 receiving snaps from 2019 to 2023, Singletary’s 49.0 PFF receiving grade ranks in the bottom three, but his 0.3-yard average target depth and 8.6% drop rate rank seventh and his 81.6% catch rate ranked sixth.
Among 11 NFL running backs with at least 3,000 offensive snaps from 2019 to 2023, Singletary’s 3,661 snaps rank second and his 52.2 PFF pass-blocking grade rank sixth.
Singeltary has emerged as a bankable three-down player this preseason, carrying a steady five-year sample in tow.
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