Welcome to Bounceback Candidates. Here we take a look at some of the players who were major disappointments in 2023, whether due to injury or underperforming. We will be using Fantasy Pros ADP as well as Sleeper for their 2023 end-of-season fantasy finish. Check out the rest of our 2024 Fantasy Football Draft Kit for all your fantasy football needs.
Josh Jacobs, RB (Packers)
Injuries caused Josh Jacobs to have nearly a career low in touches during the 2023 season, which subsequently led to his lowest fantasy finish of his NFL career. In addition to lingering injuries, Jacobs was surrounded by both an anemic offense and contract issues causing his relationship and role with the team to fracture.
Jacobs will get a fresh start this season in Green Bay and is likely to return to the ranks of the top 10 running backs that he has been for the majority of his career. Jordan Love may not check down to running backs at the level Aaron Rodgers did, but we have seen with a healthy Aaron Jones that the running backs are involved in the passing game more than enough to stay fantasy-relevant. There is a scenario in which Jacobs returns to his carry level on the ground sees 50 or more receptions and finds himself as RB3 or higher. Jacobs is certainly a mystery box, but what is in the box could be a league-winning running back.
Cooper Kupp, WR (Rams)
Kupp had his worst fantasy finish since 2018 due to a stretch of missed games with injury. Even with the missed games and injuries, he still managed to crack 700 receiving yards and five touchdowns showing that even bad Cooper Kupp is still flex-worthy. Kupp has plummeted down draft boards this season due to the combination of age, injury, and the emergence of both Puka Nacua and Kyren Williams.
Over his time with the Rams, quarterback Matthew Stafford has struggled to stay healthy which has led to a bit of inconsistencies in both his play and that of Cooper Kupp, but when they are both in the lineup, it’s tough to find a better QB/WR stack relative to their cost. For years, Kupp was a nearly unstoppable force in the slot and even when teams knew he was going to beat them, they were unable to stop him. Add in Williams and Nacua to keep defenses honest and Kupp may see more open field than he has seen since the days of prime Robert Woods. The 2024 could see Kupp operate at a whole new level of efficiency. His target share may dip a bit, but his yards per target are sure to skyrocket with the newfound talent on this roster.
Tee Higgins, WR (Bengals)
Higgins has had a tumultuous time in Cincinnati over the past two seasons. The 2023 season was all but rendered useless for fantasy by a combination of injuries to himself and quarterback Joe Burrow. The 2024 offseason has not been much kinder as he has been embroiled in a contract dispute that has seen him rumored to be traded all summer long. After starting his NFL career with three consecutive WR2 seasons, Higgins fell outside the top 50 last year as he appeared to have no chemistry with Jake Browning when he was healthy.
The offseason is drawing to a close and as Week 1 inches closer, it appears very likely that Higgins will indeed play one final season with the Bengals, and with Tyler Boyd now departed for the Tennessee Titans and Joe Mixon departed for the Houston Texans, he should easily see a career-high in targets, even if he is still the WR2 behind Chase.
Diontae Johnson, WR (Panthers)
Johnson has been a perennial target hog that you could just pencil in for 140 targets each season and forget about. Unfortunately, in 2023, the combination of injury and maybe more, Kenny Pickett‘s poor play brought that to a screeching halt. Not only did Johnson dip below 140 targets for the first time since his rookie season, but his targets plummeted to 87. His 717 receiving yards were also the lowest since his rookie season. Sure, Johnson was injured, but the total lack of production was much more indicative of just how truly terrible Pickett was for the Steelers, which is likely why he is now a backup in Philadelphia.
Diontae Johnson now finds himself as the most logical target on a lackluster Panthers offense. The once superstar Adam Thielen saw his production tail off at the end of 2023 as time had seemingly caught up with him and aside from Thielen the Panthers lack any real proven players. Rookie Xavier Legette and sophomore Jonathan Mingo are intriguing, as are rookie tight end Ja’Tavion Sanders and rookie running back Jonathon Brooks, but Johnson is easily the most viable fantasy asset on this roster. If Bryce Young can even produce at a Derek Carr-like level, Johnson should rebound and once again finish among the WR2s of the fantasy world.
Pat Freiermuth, TE (Steelers)
After two years of seemingly impressive potential, Pat Freiermuth took a major step back in 2023. Freirmuth is a similar case to Diontae Johnson in the sense that he too struggled with injuries last season and was largely a victim of terrible play by Kenny Pickett. It’s truly amazing how many solid fantasy assets one terrible quarterback can ruin.
Freirmuth enters the 2024 season healthy and with a new quarterback that can’t be worse than Kenny Pickett. Factor in the departure of the target hog in front of him to Carolina and Freirmuth sets up to finish the season second in targets for the Steelers. The general principle is to target tight ends who have the potential to be first or second on their team in targets and that’s exactly what we have here. It’s well within the realm of possibilities that The Muth could find himself as a mid-range TE1 this season.
That concludes my week one Bounceback Candidates. Check out The entire Fantasy Football Universe 2024 Draft Kit and head over to The FFU YouTube channel for all of our daily podcast episodes.
