As it stands, the first round of the upcoming 2024 fantasy football drafts are loaded with studs who performed phenomenally last season, with the needle pointed as high as ever heading into the next campaign. Each season, as the summer progresses and thousands upon thousands of minds process their takes on the next NFL fantasy football season, we eventually see a general idea of who should virtually always be taken with the first cycle of 12 or so draft selections. Some seasons are more obvious than others, and this year’s is an instance where I believe there is a clear tier-break after the top 12-14 players.

How did Consensus Fair in the first round of 2023 Drafts?

Before getting into how the dust is settling in this season’s draft boards, let’s take a gander at how the consensus of last year’s top-12 players turned out in the 2023 fantasy football season:

1. Justin Jefferson – Always produced when on the field, no matter the QB, but struggled with multiple isolated injuries
2. Christian McCaffrey – Bona fide league-winner that he is always while healthy; should’ve been the first overall pick
3. Ja’Marr Chase – Dealt with QB change midway through the season after Joe Burrow (wrist) had his ended early, felt like a floor outcome for him
4. Austin Ekeler – Got hurt during Week 1 RB3 finish, came back after Week 5 bye never the same, finishing the season with career-low 4.6 yards per touch; a true bust
5. Tyreek Hill – Explosive games that often single-handedly won fantasy managers their weekly matchups all season long
6. Travis Kelce – Usage decreased down the stretch as the team looked to preserve him for the playoffs, finished TE22 or worse each week of fantasy playoffs
7. Bijan Robinson – Frustrating usage and inefficiencies in the offense at times, though outlook up with new staff in tow
8. Nick Chubb – Solid Week 1 and start to Week 2 before suffering a brutal injury, could have gone either way but likely would’ve hit as a first-rounder if healthy
9. Saquon Barkley – Had trouble behind bad o-line play, was a true boom-or-bust this season; 6-of-14 top-10 RB finishes, but also five outside top-30
10. Stefon Diggs – Great start to the year but finished horribly, finishing worse than the WR45 in six of his last eight performances of 2023
11. CeeDee Lamb – The only first-rounder to far exceed expectations, Lamb took the leap to fantasy superstardom
12. A.J. Brown – WR2 overall through first nine weeks; Had a brutal touchdown run to close the year, with just one in his last eight games coming out of the bye

Want to get access to the rest of Nathan’s articles? You’ll need to have a SportsEthos NFL FantasyPass membership. Click here to learn more and sign up!  

Click here to join us on Discord! And Follow us on Twitter by clicking here

Come join us at SportsEthos by filling out an application by clicking here