The Falcons had one of the youngest rosters last season with players such as Bijan Robinson, Drake London and Kyle Pitts, but they lacked stability at the most important position, quarterback. After signing Kirk Cousins to a four-year, $180 million deal this offseason, Atlanta hopes to have found that missing piece. How should Cousins taking over at quarterback affect where you place Falcons playmakers in your 2024 Fantasy football rankings? Cousins has passed for at least 4,200 yards in his previous three seasons, outside of last year where he tore his Achilles in Week 8.
The Falcons averaged just 3,351 passing yards as a team over the last two seasons, so there's plenty of optimism for potential 2024 Fantasy football breakouts in Atlanta. Before crafting your 2024 Fantasy football draft strategy, be sure to check out the 2024 Fantasy football rankings and 2024 Fantasy football cheat sheets from the proven computer model at SportsLine.
Last year, the model accurately predicted that Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs would carry significantly more value than expected during his rookie season. The result: Gibbs rushed for 945 yards and 10 touchdowns while also catching 52 passes for 316 yards and a score. Gibbs was coming off the board in the middle of the fourth round on average but finished as a top-10 running back in CBS Sports PPR leagues.
The same model has a proven track record providing Fantasy football tips, identifying A.J. Brown as a sleeper in 2020 and nailing Jonathan Taylor's monstrous season in 2021. Additionally, it's called past Fantasy football sleepers like Derrick Henry in 2019, Christian McCaffrey and Alvin Kamara in 2018, and Davante Adams in 2017. Anybody who banked on players like those made a run at their league title.
The model is powered by the same people who generated projections for all three major Fantasy sites, and it beat human experts last season when there was a big difference in ranking. The projections update multiple times daily, so you're always getting the best Fantasy football advice.
Now, SportsLine has simulated the entire NFL season 10,000 times and released its latest Fantasy football rankings 2024, along with plenty of sleepers, breakouts and busts. Head to SportsLine now to see them.
Top 2024 Fantasy football breakouts
One of the 2024 Fantasy football breakouts the model is predicting: Chargers wide receiver Ladd McConkey. A two-time national champion at Georgia, McConkey caught 119 passes for 1,687 yards and 14 touchdowns in three years with the Bulldogs and also ran 13 times for 216 yards and four more scores.
A proven route-runner, McConkey cemented his status as an NFL prospect by running a 4.39-second 40-yard-dash at the NFL Scouting Combine. Now, he should step into a starting role in Los Angeles, with the Chargers forced to offload receivers Keenan Allen and Mike Williams this offseason for salary-cap reasons. McConkey should start in the slot and the model is predicting he quickly becomes a favored target of Justin Herbert, predicting that he outperforms first-round picks like Rome Odunze and Brian Thomas Jr.
Another breakout that SportsLine's Fantasy football rankings 2024 have identified: Bengals running back Chase Brown. The Bengals selected Brown in the fifth round of the 2023 NFL Draft. Brown didn't get much usage last season behind Joe Mixon, who took 80.8% of Cincinnati running back carries last season. But the Bengals cut Mixon this offseason to clear cap space and although they signed Zack Moss, there could be a significantly more even divide in carries this season.
Brown has a quick first step out of the backfield and was projected out of the NFL Draft to be a solid catching running back as well. The ability to catch out of the backfield would expand his role with Joe Burrow at quarterback as the Bengals will likely remain a pass-heavy offense. Mixon was third on the team in receptions and fourth in targets and in the eight games Moss received double-digit carries with the Colts last season, he never recorded more than four receptions in those contests. Brown has one year of experience in the Bengals offense already and given his ability to catch and pass protect, he could take a key role in what should be one of the top offenses in the NFL. See which other Fantasy football breakouts 2024 to pick here.
How to find proven 2024 Fantasy football football rankings
SportsLine is also extremely high on a surprising running back you aren't even thinking about being taken in the middle rounds of 2024 Fantasy football drafts. This running back is listed as a shocking top-10 option ahead of superstars like Jonathan Taylor and Joe Mixon. You can only see who it is, and the 2024 Fantasy football rankings for every player, at SportsLine.
So which 2024 Fantasy Football breakouts should you target? And which RB shocks the NFL with a top-10 performance? Visit SportsLine now to get 2024 Fantasy Football cheat sheets for every single position, all from the model that called Jahmyr Gibbs' breakout season, and find out.