Fantasy Football: 5 biggest losers from first wave of free agency

• Alvin Kamara has some competition: Jamaal Williams will make the New Orleans Saints backfield a competition rather than allowing Kamara to be the workhorse back.
• JuJu Smith-Schuster downgrades at quarterback: Smith-Schuster is going from Patrick Mahomes at quarterback to Mac Jones in an offense that won’t be scoring as many touchdowns.
• See where the players rank: Fantasy rankings have been updated with all of the free agent signings so you can see how high each of these players rank.

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

With the bulk of the NFL's free agency period over, fantasy football managers are already looking ahead to the 2023 season. As teams filled roster holes and addressed weaknesses, some players find themselves in better situations than others, and we're here to break down which ones saw their fantasy value decrease the most.

In this article, we'll take a look at the five biggest losers in free agency for fantasy football purposes.

1. RB Alvin Kamara, New Orleans Saints

Jamaal Williams signed with the Saints to give Kamara his biggest competition since early in his career.

• Kamara was grading above 90.0 overall at his peak but has a sub-75.0 overall grade in three of his last four seasons.
• His lower level of play would typically warrant a decrease in playing time for most teams, but the Saints haven’t rostered any better alternatives.
• Kamara was consistently playing slightly less when Mark Ingram II was healthy the past two seasons, and Williams can be a bigger and younger version of Ingram in the offense.
• New Orleans has tried seven other running backs over the last two seasons, and Tony Jones Jr. is the only one who played more than 60 offensive snaps.
• Williams has graded better than Kamara in recent seasons, with a 75.2 PFF grade over the past two seasons compared to Kamara's 70.1.
• They have graded similarly as rushers while Kamara is better as a receiver, but Williams has been significantly better as a pass blocker.
• This move will greatly hurt Kamara's fantasy value. He finished last season at RB16 despite his declined quality of play because he still had volume. The Saints didn’t have a better alternative. Now, they do.
• Williams should be the one leading the team in carries week in and week out while Kamara remains the receiving back.

2. RB Over the Age of 28