Key Players Opting Out of 2020: Fantasy Fallout

August 9, 2020

Rishi Patel discusses key NFL players who are opting out of the 2020 NFL season to determine the fantasy football impact in redraft leagues.

The NFL opt-out deadline for the 2020 season due to COVID-19 related concerns passed on Thursday, August 6^th.  A total of 67 players have opted out, which means teams must make necessary adjustments to fix the positional holes caused by absences.

Quite a few notable players have opted out of the 2020 season for their own reasons. This includes numerous New England Patriots such as LB Dont’a Hightower and Patrick Chung, Chicago Bears DT Eddie Goldman, Denver Broncos RT Ja’Wuan James, Kansas City Chiefs RB Damien Williams, New York Giants OL Nate Solder, and New York Jets LB C.J. Mosley.

For fantasy owners, this means some players’ values will fluctuate due to some absences on the offensive skill units of some teams. Let’s break down some more important absences on several offenses and what it means for the other players on the team.

Kansas City Chiefs, Damien Williams

The loss of Damien Williams is perhaps the biggest impact move from opt-outs considering Williams was an integral part of the KC rushing attack last year during the regular season and postseason.

In six seasons in the NFL, Williams produced his best statistical season last year with the Chiefs. The 28-year-old accumulated 111 rushes, 498 rush yards, five rush touchdowns, 4.5 rush yards per attempt, 45.3 rush yards per game, 30 receptions, 213 reception yards, and two receiving touchdowns in 11 games. The California native paced the Chiefs in rush attempts, rush yards, rushing touchdowns, and rush yards per game.

With LeSean McCoy also on Tampa Bay now, Clyde Edwards-Helaire out of LSU becomes the RB1 on this team as a rookie and the bulk of the rushing duties will fall on him.  The 21-year-old played three seasons for the Tigers, slowly becoming better each season. He had an incredible junior year last season where he racked up 215 rush attempts, 1,414 rush yards, 6.6 rush yards per attempt, 16 rush touchdowns, 55 receptions, 453 receiving yards, and one receiving touchdown in 15 games. At 5’7” and 207 lbs, the rookie is a big-bodied back who has the capability to rush with power.

Williams and Edwards-Helaire were expected to compete for the starting role in 2020, but the absence of Williams puts the rookie in a good spot to carry the bulk of rushes considering rather unproven guys like DeAndre Washington, Darrel Williams, and Darwin Thompson are backing him up. We've seen both sides of the debate, with analysts claiming he is a first-round pick and others saying he is being overhyped.

Though it may be tough to trust a rookie in fantasy, Edwards-Helaire should be a top-10 fantasy RB heading into drafts considering he is on an explosive offense and slated to have a large role as the workhorse back.

Miami Dolphins, Albert Wilson and Allen Hurns

The Dolphins lost two receivers for 2020, which means their depth behind DeVante Parker is now slim. The unit now consists of Preston Williams, Isaiah Ford, and Jakeem Grant rounding out the top-four receivers alongside Parker.

Because Wilson and Hurns were slated to be among the top four receivers on the team, the player that will benefit most from a fantasy perspective is Preston Williams. Williams and Parker will now comprise the top-two receivers on this Miami receiving corp. A torn ACL limited the now second-year Williams to only eight games last season, but the Colorado State product brings huge potential. At 6’5” and 218 lbs, he brings massive size and can emerge as a red-zone presence too.

Last season, the 23-year-old did manage 32 receptions, 60/615 targets (9.8%), 428 yards, 13.4 yards per catch, and three touchdowns. No Hurns and Wilson mean Williams should be considered the clear-cut WR2 on this team with huge potential for an uptick in targets and production. He can be considered a WR3 on 14-16 team leagues heading into drafts with room to elevate his fantasy value as the season progresses.

New England Patriots, Marqise Lee and Matt LaCosse

The Patriots have lost quite a few players from opt-outs, but the notable ones come on the defensive side of the ball. From a fantasy perspective, the loss of Marqise Lee and Matt LaCosse should not make much difference on the depth chart considering that Lee was further down the WRs chart and the New England TE depth chart is irrelevant from a fantasy perspective. Lee played the last five seasons with the Jags, but his seasons have varied quite a bit from a statistical standpoint.

The wideout’s underwhelming 2019 season (due to injury) would have spelled a bit of bad news for his 2020 value, and the wideout would have been behind Julian Edelman, Mohamed Sanu Sr., and N’Keal Harry on the depth chart anyway. This means his value would have been very small even if he were to play this season.

LaCosse joined New England last season during his fourth year after playing the previous three campaigns with the New York Giants and Denver Broncos. The Illinois product did not end up with great numbers, compiling 13 receptions, 19 targets, 131 yards, 10.1 yards per catch, and one touchdown in 11 games. The loss of these two players should not be concerning from a fantasy perspective.

Green Bay Packers, Devin Funchess

Longtime Panther Devin Funchess could only appear in one game last season during his short stint with the Indianapolis Colts due to a broken collarbone. The 26-year-old signed with Green Bay this offseason on a one-year deal, but the wideout has decided to opt-out of the season.

The Packers are lacking WR depth behind Davante Adams, so this is a bigger blow than many may think. Funchess is 6’4” and a proven receiver. His best year with Carolina came in 2017, where he compiled 63 receptions, 113 targets, 840 yards, 13.3. yards per catch, and eight touchdowns.

The absence of Funchess could increase the fantasy values of WRs Allen Lazard and Marquez Valdez-Scantling, but that’s being very optimistic. Both Lazard and Valdez-Scantling have not been all that impressive even when Funchess was not on the team.

The 24-year-old Lazard played all 16 games last season during his sophomore year and managed 35 receptions, 52/573 targets (9.1%), 477 yards, 13.6 yards per catch, and three touchdowns.

In his second year last season, the 25-year-old Valdez-Scantling did not skyrocket his value on the field either. In fact, he finished with a similar stat line to Lazard. The USF product had 26 receptions, 56/573 targets (9.8%), 452 yards, 17.4 yards per catch, and two touchdowns.

Though Funchess is not in the picture in 2020, there is no reason to believe these receivers can make a leap in production this year considering they couldn’t last year when there was clearly room for a WR2 to emerge on the team behind Davante Adams. After all, Lazard finished 68^th among fantasy wide receivers in 2019, and Valdez-Scantling ranked 76^th. Consider both these players only flexes in deep leagues at best.

Philadelphia Eagles, Marquise Goodwin

The Philadelphia Eagles were lacking good WR depth, so they traded for speedster wideout Marquise Goodwin from the San Francisco 49ers during the past draft. Goodwin did not have stellar campaigns on the 49ers, as he notched 12 receptions, 21 targets, 186 yards, 15.5 yards per catch, and one touchdown in nine games played in 2019.

The 30-year-old has played seven NFL seasons and his best season came in 2017 when he recorded 56 receptions, 105 targets, 962 yards, 17.2 yards per catch, and two touchdowns with the 49ers. The Texas product wasn’t expected to have a big role in this Philly WRs unit in 2020 considering DeSean Jackson, Alshon Jeffery, Jalen Reagor, and JJ Arcega-Whiteside were likely ahead of Goodwin on the depth chart. Therefore, from a fantasy perspective, the absence of this receiver does not mean much.

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