Be one step ahead of your league-mates, and check out these round-four players to target and avoid in your fantasy drafts.
Best: Trey McBride, TE, Arizona Cardinals
(TE4, 2.12)
Trey McBride entered the 2023 season as a sleeper and left as a star. Expectations were high, as he was a second-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. He did not have much opportunity to break out as Zach Ertz's backup during his rookie year and for the first few games of the 2023 season. McBride got his chance to secure the Cardinals’ starting tight end role in week eight once Ertz was put on the injury reserve.
Even with a bit of a slow start, McBride finished toward the top of the tight ends in almost every major statistical category:
105 targets (6th among tight ends)
81 receptions (T-5th among tight ends)
825 yards (7th among tight ends)
3 receiving touchdowns (T-18th among tight ends)
TE7 in PPR leagues
*stats from PFF.com
When McBride became a featured part of the Cardinals offense in weeks 8-18, he was fantasy’s TE3, behind only David Njoku and Evan Engram. McBride’s averaged 14.95 points in those ten weeks. Had he played a full season with that per-game average, he would have surpassed Sam LaPorta as the TE1 in 2023.
This upcoming season should be pretty similar to the end of last season. The biggest difference is the addition of rookie phenom Marvin Harrison Jr. He will certainly be the offense's focal point, but that does not mean McBride cannot be productive. There are not any players outside of Harrison Jr. who will compete with McBride for valuable targets. He will likely get most of the targets in the middle of the field and underneath while Harrison Jr. does the damage on the outside.
Trey McBride will be the surefire number two option for a team that targeted the tight end position the most this past season and should continue to build upon his promising sophomore year. McBride can be found at the end of round four in PPR drafts. He has just as much upside as Sam LaPorta, yet he is a full two rounds cheaper. He could be in store for a huge season, assuming he can improve on his three touchdowns in 2023.
Worst: DJ Moore, WR, Chicago Bears
(WR22, 4.09)
DJ Moore just came off of his best career as a pro. He found chemistry with previous Bears quarterback Justin Fields and would end the season with:
132 targets (T-15 among wide receivers)
96 receptions (12th among wide receivers)
1,364 receiving yards (6th among wide receivers)
8 receiving touchdowns (tied for 8th among wide receivers)
WR6 in PPR leagues
*stats from PFF.com
So, how can a player who finally broke out last season be a bad pick in the fourth round? It is not that DJ Moore is slowing down; rather, the Bears are now loaded with offensive talent. Last season, Moore was the leading receiver by a wide margin. He will compete for targets with star receiver Keenan Allen and first-round rookie Rome Odunze.
With the new additions, DJ Moore is no longer the unquestioned top target. The Bears have three talented receivers who can be the leading option any given week, which is a big advantage for an NFL team and a nightmare for fantasy managers. To make matters worse, Moore was wildly inconsistent when he was the only legitimate receiving option for the Bears, and it will be even harder to predict when he will have a big game now that there are more mouths to feed.
Last season, DJ Moore would either win you your matchup or lose it. Moore averaged 16.91 fantasy points per game throughout the season but had huge spike weeks that bumped his average. He had six games with over 20 fantasy points and 49 points in Week Five. While his highs were high, his lows were also incredibly low. He had five games where he scored under ten fantasy points.
DJ Moore is a talented receiver but not worth a fourth-round pick. His ceiling and floor are lower than the past few seasons due to the caliber of receivers added to the Bears. The chance he repeats as a top-10 fantasy receiver is unlikely since he has competition for targets. He is not much better than Keenan Allen, if at all, and will not be force-fed targets like he was last season.
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