Rookie Fantasy Rankings for Redraft: Where Do Caleb Williams, Malik Nabers, and Marvin Harrison Jr. Land?

Rookies can have an immense impact on your fantasy football team, given their reduced asking price on draft day.

Here is a closer look at the rookie fantasy rankings in full-PPR redraft formats entering the 2024 NFL season.

Rookie Fantasy Football Rankings for Redraft Leagues in 2024

1) Marvin Harrison Jr., WR, Arizona Cardinals

I’ve spent most of the offseason speaking about how exceptional of a prospect Marvin Harrison Jr. is entering the NFL after his outstanding career at Ohio State.

Fortunately, he landed in a great spot to potentially maximize his fantasy ceiling in Year 1 playing with Kyler Murray as a member of the Arizona Cardinals.

Harrison combines an elite athletic profile with surgical detail in his release package, STEM IQ, and perfect breakpoint timing to make him one of the most NFL-ready receivers to enter the league since Ja’Marr Chase.

The lack of elite target competition on the Cardinals positions Harrison to be the focal point of an ascending offense in 2024.

2) Malik Nabers, WR, New York Giants

To say it has been hard to trust any New York Giants player as a fantasy producer over Daniel Jones’ five-year tenure under center is putting it very gently.

This passing attack hasn’t produced a single player with 70+ receptions or 800+ receiving yards over the last five years.

This lack of production has made it incredibly difficult to believe anyone can come into this scheme and become an instant impact player — especially as a rookie.

Despite all of the potential pitfalls, I am still very much all-in on Malik Nabers in 2024.

Nabers’ elite separation skills, dynamic playmaking ability after the catch, route-running nuance, and excellent ball skills suggest he is going to be an instant fantasy impact player at the NFL level.

Given the current state of the Giants’ receiver room, one could reasonably expect Nabers to be not just a target funnel this year but the featured player in New York’s offense.

When you combine elite physical talent with a crazy high target share, you could have the recipe for a breakout fantasy player if the quarterback play is even marginally above average in 2024.

3) Ladd McConkey, WR, Los Angeles Chargers

A leg injury that kept him off the practice field for a chunk of training camp may have slowed down the Ladd McConkey hype train a bit, but that isn’t enough to make me jump off of the bandwagon quite yet.

McConkey is a versatile, lightning-quick, explosive playmaker who threatens defenses vertically with his 4.39 speed. He tortures ill-equipped defenders who can’t compete with his elite short-area burst as an underneath run-and-catch threat or contributor as a ball carrier with designed rushing touches.

Those traits make me very optimistic that McConkey will be able to impact any NFL roster he joins.

Yet, when he joins a passing attack led by Justin Herbert that just purged 229 receptions and 2,339 receiving yards worth of production from the season prior — you have the recipe for a huge fantasy-friendly rookie-year role.

KEEP READING: PFN’s Consensus Fantasy Football Rankings

McConkey’s main target competition is Quentin Johnston, Joshua Palmer, and DJ Chark. No offense to any of these players, but McConkey is easily the best route runner/separator and is arguably the best yards-after-catch threat on the team.

If McConkey can stay healthy, I believe there is a very real possibility he will lead the team in targets, receptions, and receiving yards.

4) Xavier Worthy, WR, Kansas City Chiefs

The last time we saw Patrick Mahomes paired with a revolutionary fast receiver in the Kansas City Chiefs’ offense, it produced one of the most lethal fantasy duos in the NFL.

Do Tyreek Hill and Xavier Worthy have different games and body builds? Yes, but that doesn’t mean Worthy can’t be an instant impact player in this offense from the jump.

The collection of pass catchers — namely Travis Kelce, Rashee Rice, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Mecole Hardman, Justin Watson, Kadarius Toney, and Skyy Moore — led the NFL with 44 drops last season. Outside of Rice and Kelce, the Chiefs couldn’t rely on any of these players to show up from week to week.

One could make the argument you can’t trust Rice this year either because of a potential suspension for the second-year receiver stemming from an off-field incident this summer.

Hollywood Brown is already dinged up and could be unavailable for the season opener, which could instantly elevate Worthy to the third option in this productive passing attack.

Worthy has already flashed his big-play ability this preseason, which suggests he has league-winning potential if things go his way in 2024.

5) Rome Odunze, WR, Chicago Bears

It’s not easy for me to rank a talented prospect like Rome Odunze all the way down the board as the fifth-best rookie entering the 2024 NFL season, but his fantasy outlook does come with some question marks some of the other players ranked ahead of him on this list don’t have.

The target competition with DJ Moore, Keenan Allen, and Cole Kmet is some of the toughest in the league. Additionally, Odunze will be catching passes from a rookie Caleb Williams, and first-year QBs tend to be a bit of an unknown commodity.

All target share concerns aside, I do see a world where Odunze emerges as the clear second option in this passing attack by the end of the year. If he starts getting consistent volume on a weekly basis, then Odunze has top-20 upside in 2024.

6) Brian Thomas Jr., WR, Jacksonville Jaguars

Many of the players listed ahead of Jacksonville Jaguars rookie Brian Thomas Jr. had faster starts to training camp, but the strong finish is enough to make me a big believer in his potential fantasy impact in 2024.

No player saw more end zone targets in 2023 than Calvin Ridley, which is the projected role for Thomas entering his rookie campaign.

Other encouraging signs we saw from Ridley in this vertical threat role last year were his 1,792 air yards, which ranked eighth at the WR position in 2023.

Thomas is an exceptional vertical threat at 6’3″, 209 pounds, with 4.33 speed and a 38.5″ vertical jump.

Expect Thomas to be a bit boom or bust early in the year while he continues to expand his route-running tree from what we saw at LSU. But if he can become a competent intermediate threat to complement his elite vertical playmaking ability, then we could be a looking at a top-20 fantasy WR in 2024.

7) Brock Bowers, TE, Las Vegas Raiders

You can scream at me all you want about Gardner Minshew, Michael Mayer, and Davante Adams all potentially being factors to limit Brock Bowers’ fantasy impact in 2024. I simply can’t bring myself to be out on him this season.

Bowers’ lateral agility, twitchy acceleration, and play strength through contact are all objectively elite, which makes it difficult for him to get to the ground as a dynamic YAC threat.

MORE: Fantasy Team Names | Fantasy League Names

In one of the few drives we saw from him this preseason, the Raiders experimented with using Bowers as a tight end, fullback, slot receiver, and outside receiver. That is outstanding news for fantasy managers.

Don’t overthink this; Bowers is an elite playmaking talent and will find instant fantasy success in the NFL.

8) Caleb Williams, QB, Bears

The Bears made the decision to part ways with Justin Fields for a reason — they believe Williams is going to be a special player in the league.

So what did they do? They put him in a situation to succeed immediately to start his NFL career with a plethora of weapons on the perimeter.

Williams has a real shot at being the first Bears quarterback to throw for 4,000 yards in a season in his rookie year, but his contributions on the ground should be not be overlooked.

Williams scored a rushing touchdown on one of his final plays of the 2024 preseason, which showcased his uncanny ability to extend plays and create off-script.

There may be some growing pains operating within the structure of an NFL offense, but the flashes of special playmaking ability combined with an elite collection of pass catchers is enough to make him a fantasy asset at quarterback as a rookie.

9) Jayden Daniels, QB, Washington Commanders

Jayden Daniels is a bit of a polarizing quarterback option because of the absurd amount of depth at the position this season, but fantasy managers who love dual-threat quarterbacks are right to be very excited about his fantasy outlook in 2024.

Players like Cam Newton and Robert Griffin III finished their first year in the NFL as top-five fantasy options at the position, with QB3 and QB5 overall finishes, respectively. Daniels possesses a very similar skill set and is arguably a more polished passer than both of his predecessors entering the league.

Additionally, new Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury once helped another dual-threat QB produce a great fantasy campaign in his rookie year, with Murray finishing as QB6 in 2019.

Kingsbury helped Murray achieve this by utilizing a ton of run-pass options. In 2021, the Cardinals ranked second in the league with 110 passing attempts on these concepts.

This should help simplify the offense for Daniels, enabling easier reads and completions. It could raise his passing production floor enough to complement his elite upside as a runner in 2024.

10) Trey Benson, RB, Arizona Cardinals

The top rookie running back on my board heading into the draft process fell into the the Cardinals’ lap in the third round of the 2024 NFL Draft.

Despite many believing that James Conner is still the runaway top backfield option in Arizona, I believe Trey Benson is going to see plenty of run this season.

KEEP READING: Fantasy Football Draft Strategy

Benson is a big play waiting to happen and can contribute on all three downs.

Conner is a solid player who may cap Benson’s fantasy ceiling to start the season, but once Benson gets up to speed and begins to rip off chunk plays out of this backfield, we could see the talented rookie slide into a full-time role much earlier than expected.

Rookie Rankings 11-20

11) Keon Coleman, WR, Buffalo Bills
12) Jonathon Brooks, RB, Carolina Panthers
13) Adonai Mitchell, WR, Indianapolis Colts
14) Ja’Lynn Polk, WR, New England Patriots
15) Bo Nix, QB, Denver Broncos
16) Jaylen Wright, RB, Miami Dolphins
17) Tyrone Tracy Jr., RB, New York Giants
18) Ray Davis, RB, Buffalo Bills
19) Blake Corum, RB, Los Angeles Rams
20) Drake Maye, QB, New England Patriots