902: 15 Transactions for Week 1

JJ Zachariason (0:11)

What's up, everyone? It's JJ Zachariason. In this episode, 902 of The Late-Round Fantasy Football Podcast, sponsored by Underdog Fantasy. Thanks for tuning in. The NFL season starts in just a couple of days. We're officially back. That means that this 15 Transactions Podcast is going to hit your ears every Tuesday morning for the next four months. For those of you who are newer to the show, 15 Transactions, it's a column that I've been writing for basically a third of my life now. Each week, I talk through players that I'm looking to buy, sell, add and drop in fantasy football. Now, two things to keep in mind with this show, two caveats. I call this out each year, but there are important things to say. First, if a player is a buy, let's say, it doesn't mean that you need to buy them for absolutely anything. I'm just giving you a recommendation based on how I think the market is viewing a player. Every Tuesday morning, I also publish my rest of season rankings over on Patreon. So you can always see how I view a player based on those rankings and tiers. Now, second, you guys, I try to walk through my analysis with as much sincerity as possible. This podcast each week is what I call my brain vomit. I'm just taking what's in my head and making it as actionable as possible. I'm not hiding anything from anyone, and I'm not shying away from my takes. I'm gonna get plenty wrong with these recommendations each and every week. The goal is not to bat a thousand because that's impossible. It's just to provide an edge, to provide some value. That's how it goes with fantasy football. So as this season moves forward, yes, I'm fully aware I'm going to get things wrong. And I'm saying that because at the end of the season, at the end of the year, once January hits, and we're not worried about managing our fantasy squads, I will do an episode on the things that went right and the things that went wrong in the fantasy football season, the one that we just completed. I do that every single year. So there's no need to go back and forth on JJ got this right and JJ got this wrong when it's week six of this NFL season. It does not matter to me. All that matters is that I'm giving you the goods, that I'm helping you win a fantasy football title. That's all I care about in season. We can save all of the you got this right and you got this wrong stuff for the end of the year. At the very least though with this show, I hope this episode each week makes you think and learn. That's what this is all about to me. It's why I show my work. because the thought process behind all of this is arguably more important than the action item itself. So keep all of that in mind as you listen each week. Now before we get into the transactions this week, keep in mind that if you do want a copy of the Late-Round Draft Guide still, that Underdog promo is going to be running through the end of the week. Just sign up at underdogfantasy.com with promo code LATEROUND, make a deposit, and you'll be emailed a copy of the Late-Round Draft Guide for absolutely free. You'll also be able to take advantage of some Underdog offers as well. There's a deposit bonus, but there's also No Sweat Tuesday, where there's a No Sweat token waiting for you in your lobby. Just make a qualifying entry, and you'll either win or get your money back as bonus cash with that token. So check it all out, underdogfantasy.com, and when you sign up, make sure you use promo code LATEROUND. Now, let's get to the first list of transactions for this 2024 season.

By Jordan Love. So you've heard me talk all offseason about the importance of mobile quarterbacks. I talk about it every offseason. I wrote about it at length in the Late-Round Draft Guide. Jordan Love, though, he's not exactly a mobile quarterback. He rushed for fewer than 250 yards last year. He's not Lamar Jackson with his legs. He has some ability as a rusher, but he's mostly a pocket passer archetype. But that doesn't mean that it's impossible for him to score fantasy points. And like I talked about in the Bold Predictions episode, he could score a lot of points during the first half of the season. because the Packers open up their year against the Eagles, then they get the Colts, Titans, Vikings, Rams, Cardinals, Texans and Jags. According to PFF's preseason secondary rankings, only two of those teams rank better than 26th as a unit. Those two teams come in at 15th and 18th. We always want appreciating assets in fantasy football. Love was drafted on average around that QB9 range. A lot of drafts saw Dak Prescott get drafted ahead of Love. There's a very real chance though, that Jordan Love is a top five quarterback through the front half of this season. That's why he's a buy.