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Earlier this week we looked at the biggest winners and losers in the fantasy football realm after the 2014 NFL draft. There was plenty more where that came from, however.
Here are some more fantasy winners and losers post-draft.
Winners
The Veterans
Andre Ellington, RB, Arizona Cardinals
Perhaps the biggest winner not named in the “biggest winners” piece, Andre Ellington is well-positioned for a monster season at running back.
Last season saw Ellington average an eye-popping 5.5 yards per carry. Unfortunately, head coach Bruce Arians saw fit to limit his touches and keep force-feeding Rashard Mendenhall to the tune of 3.2 yards per carry.
Now that Mendenhall is retired and exorcised from the fantasy realm, Ellington has the backfield to himself, so to speak.
The Cardinals didn’t draft another running back, and Ellington’s main competition is newly signed Jonathan Dwyer and fellow second-year back Stepfan Taylor. There is little reason to quash Ellington’s playing time because of those two, though head coach Bruce Arians does work in mysterious ways.
EJ Manuel, QB, Buffalo Bills
He might not be a huge winner, but EJ Manuel was a beneficiary of a solid draft from the Buffalo Bills.
Sammy Watkins should be a nice upgrade at wide receiver for Manuel. He also got help on the offensive line in Cyrus Kouandjio, who should solidify the right tackle position and give Manuel a bit more comfort in that pocket.
Jordan Cameron, TE, Cleveland Browns
The Josh Gordon situation is depressing, both in Cleveland and across fantasy rosters everywhere. Losing him for a year—and potentially forever—will be a big blow for that offense.
One guy who stands to benefit is tight end Jordan Cameron. That is if opposing defenses don’t double-team him on every pass route he runs, anyway.
Chris Polk, RB, Philadelphia Eagles
The Eagles traded away Bryce Brown for a future draft pick, opening the door for Chris Polk to contribute more.
The door is only open a crack given Darren Sproles is in the fold, too, but Polk is a young back with potential that the Eagles may not be able to ignore.
Colin Kaepernick, QB, San Francisco 49ers
For the most part, the San Francisco 49ers are a muddled mess for fantasy purposes. There are too many receivers and running backs vying for touches and targets, making a high draft pick on any of them a risky proposition.
All those options are an embarrassment of riches for quarterback Colin Kaepernick, however.
Ben Roethlisberger, QB, Pittsburgh Steelers
Ben Roethlisberger saw over half his 2013 touchdown total walk out the door when Emmanuel Sanders signed with the Denver Broncos and Jerricho Cotchery fly south to the Carolina Panthers. The Pittsburgh Steelers remedied that situation in the draft.
Receiver Markus Wheaton was already in the fold, and the Steelers added a dynamic weapon in Dri Archer and a potential red zone nightmare for opposing defenses in Martavis Bryant. Both receivers shore up the receiver position in a big way for Roethlisberger.
Travis Kelce, TE, Kansas City Chiefs
It was a lost 2013 rookie season for Travis Kelce, promising pass-catching tight end out of Cincinnati. The Chiefs had to rely on the likes of Anthony Fasano and Sean McGrath at the position.
Kelce should be back to speed, ready for action in his second year. He should be able to unseat Fasano and McGrath easily, at least as the pass-catching option at his position. With no real competition out of the draft, Kelce is on track to realize that potential we all missed out on last season.
Andrew Hawkins, Charles Johnson, and Travis Benjamin, WR, Cleveland Browns
Apparently the Browns think they will be just fine at wide receiver despite losing Josh Gordon for at least this year, if not forever.
The Browns not only avoided drafting a single receiver, but they just cut Greg Little, who was penciled in as a starter. Of course, they may have felt good about the move after signing Miles Austin and Earl Bennett, but are those guys really any better?
The answer is no, they are not.
Austin is a one-year wonder, nursing one injury after another while riding on the coattails of a fantastic 2009. Bennett is, well, uninspiring with 2,277 career receiving yards and 12 career touchdowns through six seasons in the NFL. That leaves Andrew Hawkins, Travis Benjamin and Charles Johnson as the best options in Cleveland right now. The latter two are recovering from torn ACLs, but hopefully they will make it back for training camp.
Perhaps Austin and Bennett will garner playing time after early, but bet on talent to win out. If Benjamin and Johnson are healthy, they are easily better options than the free-agent retreads the Browns signed. Johnson is a draftnik favorite from 2013 who could thrive if given an opportunity to shine.
The Rookies
Teddy Bridgewater, QB, Minnesota Vikings
Of all the rookie quarterbacks, Teddy Bridgewater may have landed in the best situation for a rookie quarterback in terms of fantasy production.
Bridgewater has to win the starting job first, but there is little talk of purposefully benching him as a rookie, unlike Johnny Manziel in Cleveland and Blake Bortles in Jacksonville. Even if all three wind up starting, Bridgewater wound up in the best situation.
Norv Turner did a marvelous job patching together a 4,000-yard season for Cleveland’s quarterbacks last season. Granted, receiver Josh Gordon was a huge reason for that, but Turner is now Bridgewater’s offensive coordinator and he has Cordarrelle Patterson and Greg Jennings to work with.
C.J. Mosley, LB, Baltimore Ravens
There aren’t many rookie linebackers that look to make an impact in the fantasy realm, but C.J. Mosley is one of them.
Mosley was drafted into a great situation in Baltimore. Barring a slow offseason for him, he will have a starting job warmed up for him. While Arthur Brown was among the biggest losers, Mosley stands to benefit from a starting gig.
Calvin Pryor, S, New York Jets
This is more for dynasty leagues than anything. Calvin Pryor is a great rookie target for dynasty IDP leagues. The big-hitting safety figures to have a healthy tackle count in New York for the Jets.
Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, S, Green Bay Packers
Another safety with a clear path to playing time, Ha Ha Clinton-Dix is a good rookie option in dynasty leagues as well. He doesn’t quite have the upside that Pryor does in New York, but Clinton-Dix figures to start right away in Green Bay. Wouldn’t you say?
Martavis Bryant, WR, Pittsburgh Steelers
Perhaps this is wishful thinking, but Martavis Bryant could become a touchdown machine this season. The 6’4”, 210-pound receiver out of Clemson is, by far, Pittsburgh’s biggest receiver, unless you think Justin Brown or Derek Moye have a serious shot at crashing the top of the depth chart.
Bryant oozes upside—the Steelers just need to figure out how to develop him quickly.
Losers
The Veterans
Justin Blackmon, WR, Jacksonville Jaguars
Not that we should have expected much this season with Justin Blackmon still indefinitely suspended, but Jacksonville’s selections of receivers Marqise Lee and Allen Robinson all but put the nail in Blackmon’s coffin as a member of the Jaguars.
What little hope was left that Blackmon might come back and make an impact at some point this season was extinguished by the draft.
Zac Stacy, RB, St. Louis Rams
It looked like Zac Stacy had the backfield to himself in St. Louis.
The unheralded fifth-round pick from a year ago rose to starter status, amassing 973 yards and seven touchdowns in just 12 starts, albeit on just 3.9 yards per carry.
Alas, the Rams took Tre Mason—one of the top running backs in the draft class—creating a likely timeshare in St. Louis. Even with Daryl Richardson—last year’s Week 1 starter—out of the picture, Stacy’s fantasy stock took a hit after the draft. That's because Auburn's Tre Mason is coming to town.
Mason is certainly a different runner than Stacy, and he has a better all-around game. He was arguably the best back in the draft who many had as the first one off the board in mock drafts. He wound up being the fifth one off the board in the third round, a nice value for the Rams. They might get him on the field early and often, to Stacy's detriment.
Bryce Brown, RB, Buffalo Bills
Brown went from backing up LeSean McCoy in Philadelphia to backing up Fred Jackson and C.J. Spiller in Buffalo due to a draft-day trade. Even as a handcuff, Brown’s value went in the toilet with that move.
Giovani Bernard, RB, Cincinnati Bengals
Last year saw Bengals running back Giovani Bernard in contention for Offensive Rookie of the Year for a spell, before falling off a bit and giving way to eventual winner Eddie Lacy.
With BenJarvus Green-Ellis’ odometer rolling over and Bernard presumably capable of handling a bigger workload in his second year, it looked like he was in for a huge fantasy season. Then the Bengals drafted Jeremy Hill, with a second-round pick no less.
Bernard was drafted in the second round a year ago, and the running back position was depreciated even more this year. That means the Bengals thought highly enough of Hill to threaten Bernard’s playing time, even with HIll’s off-field issues. The former LSU Tiger was the second running back off the board in the draft, a bit of a surprise.
Emmanuel Sanders, WR, Denver Broncos
It seemed like Emmanuel Sanders stepped into an excellent situation when he signed with the Kansas City Chiefs Denver Broncos. With Peyton Manning chucking the ball, Sanders was a serious threat for a 1,000-yard, double-digit-touchdown season.
He could still get there, but not if Broncos second-round pick Cody Latimer has anything to say about it. The rookie is far closer to Eric Decker in size and style than Sanders, meaning he could wind up starting at the Z-receiver position. With Wes Welker likely starting in the slot, Sanders could struggle to find enough playing time to be a big fantasy factor.
Of course, Latimer could just languish at the bottom of the depth chart.
Antoine Bethea, S, San Francisco 49ers
Dashon Goldson bolted for Cleveland, opening up a hole at safety for the 49ers which they filled by signing Bethea.
The problem? Bethea hasn’t been terribly good in recent years. As such, the 49ers hedged their bets by drafting safety Jimmie Ward out of Northern Illinois.
Ward figures to cut into Bethea’s playing time, even as a rookie. That negates any IDP boost Bethea might have gotten by playing behind that fearsome front seven in San Francisco.
Ben Tate, RB, Cleveland Browns
Ben Tate was free and clear to a lead back role in Cleveland. Then the draft happened.
Of course, how much third-round pick Terrance West and undrafted free agent Isaiah Crowell will really eat into Tate’s playing time is a mystery at this point, but the Browns clearly wanted to shore up depth at the position, at the very least.
West is an incredibly productive back out of the Football Championship Subdivision, amassing a FCS-record 2,509 and 41 touchdowns last season. Level of competition notwithstanding, those are video game numbers.
Could Isaiah Crowell climb the depth chart early in Cleveland?
The way draftniks extoll Crowell’s on-field virtues, he might give West a run for his money. Off-field issues caused Crowell to fall all the way out of the draft, but he is a highly talented back out of Alabama State that might have been one of the first ones selected were it not for his exile from Georgia due to a positive drug test and felony weapons charges.
Both West and Crowell could give Tate owners fits this season if they steal touches.
Rueben Randle, WR, New York Giants
Hakeem Nicks skipped town—betting on himself on a one-year deal with the Indianapolis Colts—leaving Rueben Randle the starting X-receiver gig as a parting gift. He didn’t even get a chance to unwrap it before the Giants rained on his parade.
New York selected his former college teammate, Odell Beckham Jr. out of LSU, in the first round, presumably to slot him in as a starter right away. Jerrel Jernigan was also going to give Randle owners headaches. Along with Victor Cruz, the trio of receivers could leave Randle on the outside looking in.
Stevie Johnson, WR, San Francisco 49ers
Stevie Johnson finds himself in an interesting position after the Bills shipped him to the 49ers for a fourth-round pick in the draft.
On the one hand, he is headed to a team with a strong running game and a dynamic quarterback, potentially boosting his fantasy stock after being stuck in quarterback purgatory his whole career in Buffalo.
On the other, the 49ers have a glut of talent at wide receiver now, though none of it appears to be elite at this point. Michael Crabtree, Anquan Boldin, Quinton Patton, and rookie Bruce Ellington are all vying for playing time alongside Johnson, a sticky situation in San Francisco.
Markus Wheaton, WR, Pittsburgh Steelers
Nobody had more to gain from the departures of Emmanuel Sanders and Jerricho Cotchery than Markus Wheaton. A disappointing rookie, Wheaton was set to rise to No. 2 on the depth chart.
The draft took some hot air out of that balloon, however.
Pittsburgh took speed demon Dri Archer in the third round and aforementioned Martavis Bryant in the fourth. While Archer figures to be a Swiss army knife that lines up all over the place, Bryant could be the starter at X or Z if he catches on quickly. Even if the rookies don’t garner a ton of playing time, Wheaton figures to see fewer targets as a result of the draft.
The Rookies
Jimmie Ward, S, San Francisco 49ers
While the arrival of Jimmie Ward in San Francisco may be a bad thing for Antoine Bethea—as mentioned above—it’s not exactly a good thing for the rookie, at least not this year. Ward will steal playing time from Bethea, but he will have no IDP value as a rookie.
Blake Bortles, QB, Jacksonville Jaguars
This isn’t a joke about the Jacksonville Jaguars, who continue to distance themselves from the “joke” label. But Blake Bortles landed in a bad spot, at least in terms of fantasy football success as a rookie.
Bortles may not even get a chance to start this season given Jacksonville’s expressed preference to have Chad Henne under center for the entire 2014 season. That alone nukes Bortles’ redraft stock.
Even if Bortles does wrest the starting gig away from Henne, he has an injury-prone receiver and two rookies to throw to this season.