BUSTS

Jalen Hurts followed up his outstanding 2022 campaign with an equally remarkable 2023. To make things even better for him, the Eagles went out and signed Saquon Barkley and gave Devonta Smith and AJ Brown new contracts this offseason.  It looks like Hurts is bound to have another high-end Fantasy Season in 2024, but is there a chance he will regress slightly?   Players not named Jalen Hurts ran for 7 TDs last season for the Eagles, while Hurts scored 15.   While the Eagles have maintained a run-heavy offense, the investment in Saquon Barkley brings a whole new dimension to this offense.  A feature back has not been highlighted in Philly during Hurts’ time, and they will likely want to back their investment with a high usage rate for Barkely, which could take from Hurts slightly.   We can’t talk Hurts and not speak about the tush-push. Hurts had 16 rushing attempts from inside the 5-yard line, resulting in 14 TDs. Josh Allen has the second-best splits from inside the 5 with 14 attempts resulting in 8 TDs, and the third-best QB didn’t come close to those numbers as Russel Wilson had 5 attempts that led to 3 TDs. The loss of Jason Kelce at Center cannot be understated, as it means the tush-push will potentially not be nearly as effective as it was this past season.   If Hurts loses out on ½ of his 1-yard line rushing TDs, Hurts winds up right around the QB6 mark, where we have him ranked for the upcoming season.

It is hard to find any positives going for Stefon Diggs right now. He is about to turn 31 and is on his third team in the most crowded/competitive receiving room he has ever been in. Nico Collins and Tank Dell are young rising stars that the Texans will look to develop to grow alongside CJ Stroud. Last year, Diggs was competing with Gabe Davis for Targets, and during his time in Minnesota, he was competing with Adam Thielen. Diggs has routinely seen a clear path to 100+ receptions each of the last 7 years of his career, and that is no longer the case. To build off that major red flag, Diggs’ performance last year was shockingly bad. After week 8, Diggs was the WR35, just behind New York Giant Darius Slayton. The back half of last year is a bigger indicator to us of what to expect from Diggs in Houston. His 2nd half performance last year, and unclear path for target share has us significantly below his 3rd round price tag. He could be one of the biggest busts in drafts this season.