Fantasy Football: Ideal landing spots for 12 pending NFL free agents

• Reuniting Tee Higgins and Trevor Lawrence: The former Clemson teammates ride together again in Jacksonville, providing a fantasy boost for both players.

• Another weapon for Patrick Mahomes: Mike Evans takes his 10-straight 1,000-yard seasons to Kansas City.

• The Philadelphia Eagles add another weapon: Saquon Barkley remains in the NFC East to help bolster the Philadelphia backfield.

Estimated reading time: 10 minutes

Before the 2024 NFL offseason kicks off in earnest, it’s always fun to go over some hypotheticals and continue playing the fantasy football game that we love so much by taking over the general manager role for all teams in an effort to move around this year’s crop of free agents to best suit our fantasy football needs.

As things stand right now, there are plenty of key NFL players set to hit free agency, and while there are sure to be franchise tags and players re-signing in the next month or so, the way things look right now allows us to get creative and imagine best case scenarios for fantasy purposes.

For the purpose of this article, all players will be going to new teams and, for the most part, salary implications are thrown out the window, as we shuffle things around.

QB Kirk Cousins

Ideal fantasy landing spot: Atlanta Falcons

The Falcons stand out as a team that is really missing that one key piece on offense. With playmakers at every offensive skill position, having a quarterback in place who can efficiently and effectively get them all the ball consistently to benefit all involved is something that fantasy managers were craving with this Atlanta offense in 2023 — along with consistent playing time.

Cousins has been among the most consistent quarterbacks over the last several seasons and while his time in Minnesota could be nearing its end, stepping into a Falcons offense with a new head coach and surrounded by offensive weapons could be exactly what he needs to keep his career going in a positive direction. Not only would this be a positive for Cousins’ fantasy value, but Drake London, Kyle Pitts and Bijan Robinson would all be getting the biggest upgrade at quarterback that they’ve experienced thus far in the NFL.

Top-five NFL teams with the most expected vacated running back carries via free agency:

RB Saquon Barkley

Ideal fantasy landing spot: Philadelphia Eagles

The Eagles are no strangers to bringing in high-profile players at a bargain to fill out a deep roster, and with D’Andre Swift being a pending free agent at the moment, they may look within the division to upgrade the position. Barkley has both the rushing and receiving profile to fill multiple needs in the Eagles backfield, as they won’t have to rely on multiple other backs to play either role and can still address other teams' needs.

Barkley is still at a point in his career where he can be relied upon to handle a large workload and perform at a high rate, coming off back-to-back seasons of close to 250 carries or more and at least 50 targets. There are plenty of mouths to feed in the Eagles offense, but they’re also a team that can sustain enough offense to allow a back like Barkley the opportunity to rack up strong fantasy production on a weekly basis.

RB Josh Jacobs

Ideal fantasy landing spot: Tennessee Titans

Derrick Henry’s time with Tennessee appears to be at its end, and while the team is going to look relatively different in 2024 with a new coaching staff and new offensive identity, there is still going to be a need for an early-down back, capable of handling a heavy workload. For as efficient as Tyjae Spears was as a rookie, he’s still a smaller back that NFL teams may not want to throw into a lead-back role. 

Jacobs has the size, experience, and pedigree of a more traditional NFL lead-back, and this spot could allow him to thrive without having to take on a large receiving role — an area where he struggled significantly in 2023. Allowing Spears to remain the passing down back allows Jacobs to stay fresh and do what he does best, which is run the ball and hopefully score touchdowns. While he’ll likely lose some fantasy value as a PPR back, this feels like it was going to be the case either way at this point in his career, but he’ll still have a reliable workload for fantasy purposes.

RB Derrick Henry

Ideal fantasy landing spot: Baltimore Ravens

Henry will be 30 years old at the start of the 2024 season, and it’s no secret that running backs tend to lose a step at this point in their career. However, Henry would at least not have to be relied upon as heavily as he was with the Titans despite the Ravens still being one of the more run-heavy offenses in the NFL. Lamar Jackson often handles a lot of that himself. 

Henry has had to carry the ball at least 200 times in each of the past six seasons, whereas the Ravens haven’t had a back do so since 2019 (Mark Ingram) — though, Gus Edwards had 198 this season. Edwards is set to become a free agent and provides an opportunity for Henry to come in and be used in a similar role while still allowing Jackson and Keaton Mitchell (once healthy) to remain involved.

RB Tony Pollard

Ideal fantasy landing spot: Houston Texans

This past season didn’t exactly go the way Pollard’s fantasy managers had hoped, but there is still potential for him to produce, even if not on the Dallas Cowboys. Pollard can remain in Texas and take over a role that saw Devin Singletary (pending free agent) deliver strong fantasy production in the latter half of the year. Pollard still delivered a strong 83.9 PFF rushing grade (10th) and 1,005 rushing yards (12th) but ultimately finished as the PPR RB14.

Pollard did have slightly better rushing metrics than Singletary in 2023 and could be considered an upgrade for an ascending offense looking to add to their arsenal. The Texans are currently slated to lose about 60% of the team’s running back carries in free agency, which is a great number for Pollard to absorb as he looks to recoup some fantasy value.

RB Austin Ekeler

Ideal fantasy landing spot: Dallas Cowboys

The Cowboys go from one disappointing fantasy performer at running back in 2023 to an even greater disappointment at the position for the 2024 season, however, Ekeler could bounce back in Dallas. Two seasons ago's fantasy RB1 didn’t come close to those heights in 2023, but this could be the offense for him to thrive in and get back closer to that value in 2024.

Ekeler would absorb a lot of the workload that Pollard handled in 2023, including receiving down work, in a stable offense that can give him chances to score and touch the ball with plenty of other offensive threats that defenses have to focus on. While it feels unlikely from an NFL standpoint, for fantasy purposes, if fantasy managers are holding out hope for Ekeler to bounce back, this might be the best landing spot to do so.

Top-five NFL teams with the most expected vacated wide receiver routes via free agency:

WR Tee Higgins

Ideal fantasy landing spot: Jacksonville Jaguars

Coming off a down year in 2023, Higgins dealt with injuries to both himself and his starting quarterback this year that hurt his fantasy value. A change of scenery in 2024 is certainly possible and the Jaguars, who are expected to lose a little more than half of their wide receiver usage this offseason, could find a long-term option in Higgins. He would likely step in as the clear WR1 for Trevor Lawrence and re-establish a Clemson connection that led to 18 touchdowns and over 1,600 receiving yards from 2018-2019 between the two.

WR Michael Pittman Jr.

Ideal fantasy landing spot: Arizona Cardinals

Trey McBride emerged as the Cardinals’ top target in 2023, and while McBride is set to return in 2024, Marquise Brown, who accounted for 94 targets this past season, is a pending free agent. Pittman has established himself as a capable top wide receiver over the past three seasons, leading the Colts in targets since 2021 by a large margin. There’s no reason he and McBride can’t work together as Kyler Murray’s top targets in 2024 for plenty of fantasy goodness.

WR Mike Evans

Ideal fantasy landing spot: Kansas City Chiefs

Of all the landing spots listed in this piece, the Chiefs are actually losing the lowest percentage of routes at the position (9.4%), as just Mecole Hardman and Richie James are slated to be free agents this offseason. However, there is still a significant need to add to the wide receiver room in Kansas City, as this was a particular weak spot all season long. Evans, at 30-years-old, wouldn’t likely come with as high of a price tag as others at the position and is coming off of his 10th straight 1,000-yard season, which includes his best receiving (83.2) and offensive grades (81.5) since 2019.

WR Calvin Ridley

Ideal fantasy landing spot: New York Giants

Ridley’s first season with the Jaguars had ups and downs but ultimately wasn’t quite what a lot of fantasy managers, or the Jaguars, had hoped for. Ridley did finish with just over 1,000 receiving yards and eight touchdowns, but his 1.57 yards per route run ranked 49th among wide receivers, and his seven drops tied for the fifth-most at the position. With that being said, the Giants could use a receiver who can command targets, which Ridley has proven capable of, as his 132 targets were tied for the 15th-most at the position, giving them an established starter who can get open consistently while being a downfield threat as well. 

Top-five NFL teams with the most expected vacated tight end routes via free agency:

TE Dalton Schultz

Ideal fantasy landing spot: Cincinnati Bengals

The Bengals are slated to lose all of their tight end snaps from this past season on top of potentially Tee Higgins, so adding a legitimate receiving tight end option could be crucial this offseason. Schultz has delivered at least 577 receiving yards in each of the past three seasons, whereas no Bengals tight end has hit even 500 in Joe Burrow’s time in the NFL. Schultz has scored at least five receiving touchdowns in each of the past three seasons whereas only one tight end for Cincinnati has done so (C.J. Uzomah – 2021) since Burrow has been with the team.

TE Hunter Henry

Ideal fantasy landing spot: Los Angeles Chargers

A reunion for Henry and the Chargers could make a lot of sense after he spent the first four years of his NFL career with the franchise, racking up 21 touchdowns and over 2,300 receiving yards over that span. Henry’s final year with the Chargers was his only season with Justin Herbert at quarterback and he produced 613 receiving yards and the second-most targets (87) on the team. The Chargers have also dealt with plenty of injuries on offense over the years and should get some reliability back from Henry, who has played at least 600 offensive snaps in each of the past five seasons.