In fantasy football, we want good players on good offenses. The New York Jets had one of the worst offenses in football last season. Of course, we know why.
Hopefully, Aaron Rodgers stays healthy this year and we see legendary seasons from their two elite fantasy assets, Breece Hall and Garrett Wilson. Here is our New York Jets fantasy preview.
New York Jets Fantasy Depth Chart
QB
Aaron Rodgers, Tyrod Taylor, Jordan Travis
RB
Breece Hall, Braelon Allen, Isaiah Davis, Israel Abanikanda
WR1
Garrett Wilson, Allen Lazard, Malik Taylor
WR2
Mike Williams, Xavier Gipson
WR3
Malachi Corley, Jason Brownlee
TE
Tyler Conklin, Jeremy Ruckert, Zack Kuntz
Aaron Rodgers’ Fantasy Outlook
Rodgers is one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time and a surefire Hall of Famer. He is also 40 years old, coming off a torn Achilles, and had the worst fantasy season of his career, by far, the last time we saw him play.
This is Rodgers’ second year with the Jets, but the only sample we have to go off of is one preseason drive. He looked fantastic. But, again, that was a year and an Achilles ago.
In 2022, Rodgers averaged 14.8 fantasy points per game. Obviously, that guy is not worth rostering in fantasy. But the two years before, Rodgers was at 21.1 and 24.3. It’s not impossible that, with a supporting cast better than the one he had in Green Bay two years ago, Rodgers can return QB1 value.
With that said, Rodgers was never particularly mobile, and he will likely be even less so coming off the injury. For a pure pocket passer to achieve QB1 status, he has to throw for about 35 touchdowns. I’m not ready to project Rodgers for that. As a result, he’s not someone fantasy managers should target.
Breece Hall’s Fantasy Outlook
Now, for a guy fantasy managers should definitely target, we have the electric and dynamic starting running back for the Jets.
It’s pretty outrageous what Hall was able to accomplish last season. He averaged 17.1 fantasy points per game, finishing as the overall RB6.
That, alone, is impressive enough. But what should get fantasy managers really excited about this season is the noticeable change in Hall’s explosiveness as the season wore on.
#Jets RB Breece Hall dashes to the end zone to extend the lead over the #Commanders 💨#TakeFlight
pic.twitter.com/E7NPP7vN8o— Pro Football Network (@PFN365) December 24, 2023
Over the first 13 weeks of the 2023 season, Hall averaged 13.5 fantasy points per game. Given where he was drafted, that was fine. But the theory behind drafting Hall was his knee would get healthier throughout the season and fantasy managers would get an elite RB1 when it mattered most. Well, Hall delivered.
From Week 14 forward, Hall averaged 25.8 fantasy points per game. As a reminder, his quarterbacks were Zach Wilson, Tim Boyle, and Trevor Siemian. Now, he gets Rodgers back.
Even with a less-than-100% knee, Hall averaged 3.9 yards created per touch and a 25.8% evaded-tackles-per-touch rate. Fully healthy entering the 2024 season, with a better quarterback and offensive line, Hall has an overall RB1 upside.
Garrett Wilson’s Fantasy Outlook
After averaging 12.7 fantasy points per game as a rookie, fantasy managers were convinced the addition of Rodgers would propel Garrett Wilson to the ranks of the elite. So, he was drafted as a clear WR1 in 2023.
That obviously did not work out. Wilson once again averaged 12.5 fantasy points per game, disappointing fantasy managers everywhere.
Rodgers got hurt a few plays into the season, relegating Wilson to the same plight as the year before. He had some good plays with the other QBs running the show, but they were few and far between.
The Wilson Connection 😮💨
Zach Wilson finds Garrett Wilson and the #Jets are on the board!
— Pro Football Network (@PFN365) September 17, 2023
Once again, though, fantasy managers are buying into the Rodgers-to-Wilson connection being magical. Wilson is being valued as a WR1 despite having yet to produce like one through two seasons. We are paying for something in advance, which creates increased risk. We think Wilson can be a WR1, but we don’t know.
What we do know is Wilson can command targets. He saw a 30.1% target share last season. However, he was only targeted on 25.2% of his routes run, 19th in the league. There’s room for growth there.
MORE: Consensus Rookie Rankings
Most importantly, Wilson can improve across the board in efficiency with better QB play, which he is going to get as long as Rodgers stays healthy. Will Rodgers be good enough to make him a WR1? That remains to be seen. But I have zero concerns with Wilson’s talent and am willing to buy the hype once again.
Mike Williams’ Fantasy Outlook
There’s no denying Mike Williams has not lived up to the billing of being the No. 7 overall pick in 2017. But would it be fair to classify him as a bust?
He’s been a starting-caliber WR every year except his rookie season. And despite his injury-prone label, before last season, Williams had only missed seven games since his sophomore season. But that’s a discussion for a different day.
No way Mike Williams caught this, right? 🤯#Chargers | #Vikings
pic.twitter.com/uK2NHSZTDh— Pro Football Network (@PFN365) September 24, 2023
Williams had the ever-popular fifth-year breakout and has been a viable fantasy asset ever since. He averaged 16.7 fantasy points per game in the three games he played last year. Now, Williams steps in as the clear WR2 on the Jets, where he gets to play with Rodgers.
Williams is going to be 30 years old this season, though. He’s not young, and he’s coming off back-to-back seasons that ended due to injury. Plus, we don’t know if Rodgers can support more than just Wilson this season.
Given how much of the Jets’ offense projects to run through Wilson and Hall, I am skeptical Williams can be anything more than a random WR3. And that’s likely the best-case scenario. I would opt to go with younger, less proven guys with my late-round dart throws.
Jets Fantasy Sleepers
It would probably be unfair of me to leave Malachi Corley out of the sleeper conversation. The rookie is 22 years old and has a pretty clear path to the WR3 role.
With that said, his prospect profile is just not an exciting one. He played at a small school, and over 50% of his receptions came on screens. Small school receivers need to be completely and utterly dominant. Corley fell short of the mark.
KEEP READING: Dynasty Rookie Rankings
I don’t think it’s a foregone conclusion he beats out Xavier Gipson or even Allen Lazard on the depth chart.
It’s always better to take shots at rookies over veterans with no upside. From that standpoint, Corley is fine. But he’s not one I expect to surprise.
Other than Corley, the only potential sleeper would be TE Tyler Conklin. The Conk Daddy, as he’s known on the streets, had a couple of solid outings last season, scoring double-digit fantasy points four times.
Rodgers has never really had much in the way of reliable tight ends outside of a brief Jermichael Finley run in the early 2010s. Perhaps Conklin surprises as a back-end TE1.
