While we don’t always get the most insight when watching preseason football games, there is important information to be gained when it comes to the upcoming fantasy football season.
With that in mind, here are the top players from each AFC team that fantasy managers should keep a close eye on during the exhibition contests.
Who Are the Top Fantasy Players To Watch for Each Team in the AFC This Preseason?
Baltimore Ravens: WR Rashod Bateman
The Ravens typically don’t play starters at all in the preseason. Even if they do, we know who Lamar Jackson, Mark Andrews, Zay Flowers, and Derrick Henry are. The only real fantasy-relevant question mark on this offense is Rashod Bateman.
Now entering his fourth season, Bateman has not even come close to fantasy relevance yet. However, we have gotten a lot of offseason coach-speak about Bateman being in store for a big year. If he does play in the preseason, let’s see if he looks the part.
Buffalo Bills: WR Keon Coleman
The Bills typically have their starters play a little bit in the preseason. We should get a chance to see Keon Coleman work with Josh Allen. But even if we don’t, whether the rookie can get open and make plays is something fantasy managers want to pay attention to.
This team has no clear WR1 at the moment. Coleman will compete with Curtis Samuel and Khalil Shakir for targets at the wide receiver position.
Coleman is already a solid late-round dart throw due to the ambiguity. If that ambiguity gets cleared up at all in the preseason, it could make Coleman even more of a value … or too expensive to draft.
Cincinnati Bengals: WR Jermaine Burton
The Bengals don’t typically play starters at all in the preseason. Perhaps that will change, given that Joe Burrow is coming off wrist surgery and the team has a competition at running back. One guy who will definitely see preseason action is rookie WR Jermaine Burton.
With Tyler Boyd gone, the Bengals have an opening at WR3. Andrei Iosivas is currently the favorite for that role, but the third-round rookie Burton is not without talent. He fell down draft boards largely due to off-the-field concerns.
Focus on Burton’s performance, as well as when he is in the game. If he shows signs of pushing Iosivas for the WR3 role, Burton may very well be worthy of a late-round dart throw in fantasy drafts.
Cleveland Browns: QB Deshaun Watson
This was a tough one because the Browns actually have a lot of question marks from a fantasy perspective regarding players beyond WR Amari Cooper and TE David Njoku. There could be as many as four additional fantasy-relevant players … or zero. But the guy that will determine all of this is the quarterback.
Deshaun Watson played just six games in 2022 and looked quite rusty after sitting out the 2021 season and being suspended for the first 11 games of 2022. In 2023, Watson again played only six games due to a shoulder injury.
We’re looking for two things if Watson plays in the preseason. First and foremost, does he look healthy? His arm strength and accuracy will be most telling.
Second, does he look good? When Watson has been on the field the past two seasons, he hasn’t come close to resembling the elite QB1 we remember from his Houston days.
Performing well in the preseason certainly won’t guarantee Watson does well in the regular season. However, performing poorly against backups doesn’t exactly bode well for his prospects. Keep a close eye on how Watson looks.
Denver Broncos: QB Bo Nix
The Broncos are putting a lot of faith in their rookie quarterback, a guy many analysts feel was overdrafted. The fantasy outlooks of Courtland Sutton, Javonte Williams, and the rest of the Broncos offense heavily ride on how well Bo Nix is able to perform as a rookie.
Nix will definitely get on the field in the preseason. He may see extensive playing time. Fantasy managers considering the Broncos’ offensive weapons will want to pay close attention to how Nix performs.
Houston Texans: RB Dameon Pierce
For better or worse, there really isn’t much to see with the Texans this preseason. It’s highly unlikely C.J. Stroud, Nico Collins, Tank Dell, Stefon Diggs, Joe Mixon, or Dalton Schultz can do anything in their limited playing time to change fantasy managers’ minds.
Last year, Dameon Pierce raised his ADP by over a full round when he appeared to be a three-down back. We later learned that was just the Texans wanting to get him his reps and get him out.
With Mixon the clear starter, combined with Pierce’s dreadful performance last season, it will be worth noting if Pierce looks better this year. That will help us determine if Pierce has any value as a Mixon handcuff … or if Pierce would be worth picking up in the event he gets traded to an RB-needy team.
Indianapolis Colts: WR Adonai Mitchell
It’s safe to say everyone is excited to see what QB Anthony Richardson can do throughout a full season, but we’re not going to really learn anything watching him play exhibition games.
The most intriguing player on the Colts right now is rookie WR Adonai Mitchell. The only thing that is certain on this team is that Michael Pittman Jr. is the WR1. Mitchell could be as high as the WR2 or as low as the WR4, behind both Josh Downs and Alec Pierce.
Pay attention to when Mitchell plays in preseason games, as well as how he performs. It could clue us into what his role might look like when the games actually count.
Jacksonville Jaguars: WR Brian Thomas Jr.
It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that so many of the players we’re interested in are rookies. Brian Thomas Jr. is a prospect with a very high ceiling but also a very low floor.
As a rookie, Thomas has the chance to start in two-receiver sets but could also find himself behind Gabe Davis. If Thomas performs well in preseason games, that could cement his status opposite Christian Kirk as Trevor Lawrence’s WR2. If he performs poorly, we may end up with a guy fantasy managers drop early in the season due to a lack of playing time.
Kansas City Chiefs: RB Deneric Prince
The Chiefs are a team that always plays starters in the preseason. We likely won’t see any of them in the first game, but head coach Andy Reid always gives Patrick Mahomes and friends a couple of series in the final two games.
While we should definitely be interested to see how Hollywood Brown and Xavier Worthy look, RB Deneric Prince is the guy I’m most interested in seeing.
Clyde Edwards-Helaire is the presumptive favorite to be the RB2 behind Isiah Pacheco. But apparently, Prince has been the second man during training camp drills. The order in which these players enter preseason games will determine how much that actually means.
The Chiefs’ RB2 is worthy of being selected in fantasy drafts. If that guy is going to be Prince, we want to know.
Las Vegas Raiders: TE Brock Bowers
For the Raiders, we’re going with the obvious one. Brock Bowers has been labeled a generational prospect at the tight end position. The preseason will be his first opportunity to prove worthy of that distinction.
It’s unclear how new head coach Antonio Pierce will handle starters in the preseason. Regardless of what he does, all rookies are very likely to play.
Fantasy managers should focus mostly on Bowers’ performance. Does he look the part? Volume is not necessarily going to be worth reading into, as Bowers likely won’t be sharing the field with Davante Adams until Week 1.
Los Angeles Chargers: RB J.K. Dobbins
The fact that J.K. Dobbins is at practice at all coming off a torn Achilles, his second serious lower-body injury, is impressive in its own right. It’s been a long time since Dobbins was truly healthy. But when he was, this was an incredibly talented runner who averaged 6.0 yards per carry as a rookie.
There’s a very real chance Dobbins never gets back to the player he was. In fact, it’s more likely than not. It’s also something we’ll be able to effectively evaluate when we see him on the field.
Dobbins hasn’t taken a preseason snap since the one he tore his ACL on two years ago. Given that the Chargers backfield is an open competition, fantasy managers should keep a keen eye on how Dobbins looks. If the explosiveness is back, he’ll be someone rapidly climbing up draft boards in late August.
Miami Dolphins: RB Jaylen Wright
The Dolphins’ decision to draft another running back seemed perplexing at first. When you realize De’Von Achane struggled to stay healthy last year and Raheem Mostert is 32 years old, it suddenly makes more sense.
Jaylen Wright is a perfect fit in Mike McDaniel’s run-friendly scheme. He won’t have any fantasy value to start, but if Achane or Mostert miss time, Wright will see the field. Use the preseason to evaluate how he looks.
It is unlikely that both Achane and Mostert play all 17 games. Knowing Wright is capable of producing when called upon will give fantasy managers more confidence in drafting or, more likely, picking Wright up during the season when the time comes.
New England Patriots: WR Ja’Lynn Polk
There is a bevy of players fantasy managers should be interested in seeing in the preseason. Outside of Rhamondre Stevenson, there is no clear fantasy-relevant player on the Patriots.
The first thing worth paying attention to is who plays when. DeMario Douglas and Kendrick Bourne project to be the team’s top two receivers. But what if rookie Ja’Lynn Polk impresses? This is not a difficult depth chart to climb.
We want to see evidence of his talent and then have confidence that Polk will be able to ascend to the WR1 role as the season goes on.
New York Jets: WR Malachi Corley
We already know Aaron Rodgers is not playing a snap in the preseason. It’s hard to imagine the rest of the starters will see much action, if at all.
One guy who will definitely play is rookie WR Malachi Corley. He’s been getting positive reviews out of training camp.
Primarily a screen specialist in college, it will be interesting to see if Corley can run a full route tree. How the Jets utilize him in the preseason may give us a clue as to what his upside is as a fantasy asset during the season.
Pittsburgh Steelers: QB Russell Wilson
We know who the fantasy-relevant guys on the Steelers are. What we don’t know is how valuable they will be. This team brings a lot of uncertainty between the departure of Diontae Johnson, the arrival of new OC Arthur Smith, and the overhaul of the QB room with all three guys from last year no longer on the team.
Russell Wilson is going to start Week 1, but I believe he won’t last more than half the season as the starter. How Wilson looks in the preseason could help us predict if or when Justin Fields might take over.
Tennessee Titans: QB Will Levis
Under former head coach Mike Vrabel, the Titans did not play starters in the preseason. New head coach Bill Callahan comes from Cincinnati, where they never played starters in the preseason either. It’s entirely possible we don’t see anyone of relevance take the field.
Given that Will Levis is only in his second season and his first as the unquestioned starter, it seems more likely than not that he sees some action. Levis’ progress as a passer is paramount to the fantasy values of every Titan.
For a team that wasn’t particularly good last year, the Titans sure have a bunch of fantasy-relevant options. Levis appearing to have taken a huge step forward would be a strong indicator all Titans are being undervalued in fantasy drafts.
