2024 Unsung Heroes

Quarterback: Brock Purdy (Written By Robert Szolosi)

We were excited about Brock Purdy, particularly in the range in which he was most drafted in standard formats in the off-season. Even though the 49ers season did not go the way anyone would have expected, Purdy finished with a 17.8 fantasy point average And exceeded that number In eight weeks this season. What makes this even more impressive is the number of injuries the 49ers went through, beginning with his primary safety valve at running back Christian McCaffrey, and even after losing McCaffrey, the receivers were fairly inconsistent other than TE  George Kittle. What we saw the season, however, was a nice emerging year from Jauan Jennings, which helped Brock Purdy stay afloat for most of the season in fantasy, and how he earned the honor of the quarterback unsung hero on this list.

Running Back: Bucky Irving (Written By Brandon Furtado)

Nobody made a stronger case as a legitimate RB2 in fantasy this year than Buccaneers running back Bucky Irving. He was both an unsung hero in fantasy and in the Offensive Rookie of the Year race. Unfortunately, he won’t win the award, but he absolutely deserves some votes. The rookie tallied over 1,500 combined yards from scrimmage, with 1,122 rushing and 392 receiving, to go along with eight touchdowns. If it wasn’t for him down the stretch of this season, Tampa Bay most likely does not make the playoffs. Irving ended up as RB15, but don’t be surprised if he solidifies himself as a true RB1 next year.

Wide Receiver: Ladd McConkey (Written By Brandon Furtado) 

It was a slow burn for Ladd McConkey in his rookie season. In the first half of the year, the chemistry was not quite there with quarterback Justin Herbert. From Weeks 11-18, however, the duo hit their stride, and McConkey ended up as WR12 at the end of the season. He finished with 82 receptions for 1,149 yards and seven touchdowns and put himself firmly in the WR1 category. After this rookie’s performance this year, fantasy owners should be very charged up for next season.

Tight End: Jonnu Smith (Written By Robert Szolosi)

Jonnu Smith finished the season as TE4  in total fantasy points.  It was a completely horrible year for tight ends in fantasy right from the first snap of opening night, but  Smith found his way to fantasy relevance in the second half of the fantasy season when managers needed him the most. This began with a fantastic 28.1 PPR fantasy Point day in week 11 versus the Las Vegas Raiders. At the same time, most of us viewed this as a one-hit-wonder situation when it happened. We were wrong, as it just kept rolling as he had two more 20-plus point barrages in Weeks 12 and 13, and from that Week 11 mark to the end of the season, he finished with 18.58 PPR fantasy points. If you’re looking for a sleeper tight end to draft next year, look no further than Johnnu Smith.

Defense/Special Teams: Houston Texans (Written By Brandon Furtado)

When looking at the grueling season the Texans had to deal with, it is no surprise that their defense has earned a spot on our unsung heroes list. They finished just outside the top five in yards allowed while finishing second in interceptions. At various points, Houston’s defense struggled to crack the top 10 in fantasy, but they eventually finished eighth. Given the number of injuries to key pieces like Denico Autry, Christian Harris, Jeff Okudah, and Jalen Pitre, it is amazing they finished as high as they did. With their offense also struggling to stay healthy for a majority of the season, the Yeoman’s work this unit did is deserving of an unsung hero highlight.

Kicker: Chris Boswell (Written by Brandon Furtado) 

Simply put, Steelers kicker Chris Boswell was the cream of the crop in the NFL this season. In a woeful year for kickers as a whole, Boswell remained a constant and was part of the best special teams unit in the league. He finished as the top fantasy kicker and had seven games with double-digit fantasy points, including two with at least 24 points. For the second straight year, Boswell made at least 93% of his field goal attempts. He made the most field goals in the league and did not miss an extra point. In 2025, fantasy owners should easily pull the trigger and take Boswell off the board when the time comes.

2024 Duds

1.  Breece Hall (Written By Robert Szolosi)

The first player on our does list is the guy who went at number two overall in most drafts this season. Honestly, the entire Jets season makes fantasy managers so exhausted to think about. Coming into the year we expected Breece Hall to clearly be the RB1  in New York and an excellent check-down option for Aaron Rodgers. In hindsight, that was wishful thinking. Another piece of wishful thinking was just hoping that Aaron Rodgers would be the quarterback he was in Green Bay. It’s fair to say that the Achilles injury in week one of 2023  effectively ended his prime. That affected everyone around him, but none more than Hall. Let’s add Garrett Wilson here for good measure. If we were to pick a team that we talked about on the Duds list this season more than anyone else, it would be the Jets, and it simply wasn’t even close. So we went to the numbers enough. Let’s just say that we hope for a new Young face at quarterback to join this organization and that Breece Hall gets back to that RB1 potential, even with the excellent young talent in Braelon Allen behind them.

2. Deebo Samuel Sr. (Written By Robert Szolosi)

Deebo Samuel is another very curious fantasy case. He was still relatively high on most of our wide receiver rankings throughout the season, even in an off-year.  it was reasonable to expect after Christian McCaffrey went down with an injury this off-season that Samuel would turn into even more of a Swiss army knife than he already was. Bizarrely, Kyle Shanahan didn’t really go to that at all this year. That ultimately was a gigantic reason for his ineffectiveness other than injuries. Moving forward, Samuel will undoubtedly be a giant part of the 49ers game plan, but it will be interesting to see how his usage changes next season as they also look to give a more prominent role to rookie Ricky Pearsall as he found a way to success over the last month of the season.

3.  Justin Tucker (Written By Brandon Furtado)

Unfortunately, the greatest kicker in NFL history is human. The veteran kicker had the worst season of his career by far. He made an extremely low 73.3% of his field goal attempts and posted his second-worst year in extra point percentage. There were murmurs of replacing him in Baltimore all season long, which is unheard of for the future gold jacket recipient. In all honesty, one year does not mar the greatness of the NFL’s field goal percentage record holder and Super Bowl XLVII champion. However, he is no longer the first kicker coming off fantasy boards in 2025.

4. Patrick Mahomes (Written By Robert Szolosi)

The best player in the entire league just had an off year this year, particularly for Fantasy managers.  Patrick Mahomes only hit above our standard 20-point threshold for quarterbacks four times this season. He also couldn’t really get consistent chemistry with any of his receiving targets, primarily Travis Kelce, who also appeared to regress slightly this season. We saw some improvement later in the year when most Chiefs receivers got healthy. Hence, the expectation is with another offseason under rookie  Xavier Worthy belt and an entire season of Hollywood Brown, along with Kelce and Noah Gray, who found success this year. This offense will get back to some sense of normalcy in 2025.