In today's Fantasy Life Newsletter, presented by Xfinity, running down Day 1 of free agency, Kenneth Walker and more moves, Brian Thomas landing spots.
In today's Fantasy Life Newsletter, presented by Xfinity:
NFL Free Agency kicked off yesterday with a dizzying flurry of moves… and by moves, I mean “tampering” … and by tampering, I mean of the legal variety.
Our team served up a ton of instant reactions yesterday, so I thought I would rank all of the signings in order of their fantasy impact, which you can read more about by clicking each linked name …
1. Kenneth Walker > Chiefs. It’s hard to envision a more perfect marriage of player and team need right now than K9 and KC (more on it below). The Chiefs are desperate for a big-play runner who can break tackles, and defenses can’t stack the box against Mahomes. If Ian’s new Walker rank is any indication, he’s going to be a pricey commodity in 2026 drafts.
2. Mike Evans > 49ers. The veteran WR, who will turn 33 in August, entered the day as the WR34 in ADP, but he’s about to climb quickly on this news … even as electromagnetic substation jokes reach all-time highs. As Ian mentioned, he’s a strong candidate to be this year’s Davante Adams—a TD machine in an efficient passing attack.
3. Travis Etienne > Saints. Etienne moving from the Jags to the Saints doesn’t sound great at first blush, but New Orleans has a sneaky good o-line and Alvin Kamara’s days are numbered. The real impact of this move, however, is the clear runway forming for Bhayshul Tuten in Jacksonville. They’ll add a body, but at this point, he’s the favorite to lead that backfield in touches.
4. Malik Willis > Dolphins. This is exciting news for Willis because he’s going to run a ton, but it represents a downgrade for De’Von Achane and Jaylen Waddle’s fantasy value.
5. Rico Dowdle > Steelers. We’ll always have those few hours that Jaylen Warren was the lead back for Pittsburgh. Instead, he gets a new Najee Harris to compete with like it’s 2024 all over again. Meanwhile, Kaleb Johnson is shaping up to be an epic “remember that guy?” trivia question.
6. Kenneth Gainwell > Bucs. Kenny G goes from being a thorn in Warren’s side to being a pain for Bucky Irving. Irving will likely be fine, but we are all going to once again tilt our faces off while Gainwell steals high-value touches.
9. Isaiah Likely > Giants. As LaMarca notes, this feels like a lateral move, as he will once again have to compete with another starting TE for playing time. Once again, the idea of Isaiah Likely in fantasy remains far more tantalizing than the reality.
10. Tyler Allgeier > Cardinals. James Conner, Trey Benson and Allgeier all in the same backfield sounds like a miserable time for us. Can’t wait.
BONUS MOVES:
Michael Pittman Jr. was traded to the Steelers, which is absolutely perfect because Pittman is the most Steelers WR ever.
Travis Kelce re-upped with the Chiefs for one more year. The full-time podcast life can wait.
It appears the Cardinals will head into the season with Jacoby Brissett as their starter after the team signed Gardner Minshew to a one-year deal. Bad news for Cardinals fans, great news for fantasy fans.
If you have Puka Nacua in dynasty, what’s not to love? He’s already established as one of the best wide receivers in the NFL, having just dominated to the tune of a league-high 129 catches, 1,715 receiving yards and 10 TDs. He’s the focal point of NFL MVP Matthew Stafford’s high-powered attack, and he’s barely turning 25. His star is still rising. We’re looking at potentially at least a five-year run of consistent greatness.
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Are any players left to sign? Kidding, we know there are many more deals that are going to come down in the days ahead, but Day 1 of the legal tampering window had that feeling on Wall Street when the stock market is going into orbit. We haven’t even hit the new league year on Wednesday, yet so many NFL franchises really “stocked up” (sorry, couldn’t resist) on players who could be difference-makers in fantasy football in about six months.
Starting with the Chiefs inking Kenneth Walker to a three-year deal. Fresh off Super Bowl 60 MVP honors, K9 is off to KC to join forces with Patrick Mahomes (heal up, amigo!) and freshly re-upped Travis Kelce in an offense that has not had a true RB1 since Kareem Hunt 1.0 in 2017. Chiefs Kingdom can’t wait for the season to get here.
Ian Hartitz and Matt LaMarca were busy following the news and providing quick analysis looking ahead to how these big moves turn into fantasy noise next season. Any players who stayed put we did not cover here, so you won’t see Kelce, Alec Pierce nor Rashid Shaheed—cooterdoodle doesn’t have to buy another jersey!—get their own breakdowns. Other than K9, here are the rest of the features on new faces in new NFL places.
Brian Thomas Jr. has been the subject of trade rumors since the midway point of last season. And after the smoke died down this offseason, it appears the Jaguars are now entertaining offers for the second-year wide receiver.
The emergence of both Jakobi Meyers and Parker Washington has suddenly made this a possibility, on top of whatever Jacksonville’s plans for Travis Hunter are at wide receiver. With so many players already switching teams to start the week, let’s find a hypothetical new home for BTJ, shall we?
New England Patriots
While the Patriots have been linked to A.J. Brown, if Thomas is suddenly available for trade, perhaps he would be a more logical target. The team moved on from Stefon Diggs, creating a need for a true WR1 in New England.
Thomas’ rookie season suggested he could play that role for an NFL team, but his sophomore season told a different story. In 14 games, Thomas hauled in just 48 passes for 707 yards and 2 touchdowns, while his production especially took a dip once the Jaguars acquired Meyers midseason. From Week 10 on, Thomas averaged just 5.2 targets and 8.9 PPR points per game, as Jacksonville shifted his role to that of an exclusive deep threat. Of his 31 targets after the Meyers addition, 11 came 20-plus yards down the field. And during that stretch, he aligned on the perimeter just over 77% of the time.
A move to New England would once again present him with the opportunity to lead his team in targets, while also seeing more versatile usage. Kayshon Boutte ranked fifth in the NFL in aDOT (17.0) and first in yards per target (12.0) last year, already giving the Patriots a viable deep threat. But when Thomas’ number is called deep down the field, he’ll have an elite deep-ball passer looking his way. In 2025, Drake Maye completed 52.5% of passes 20-plus air yards, the third-highest rate in football.
