This off-season, there were some huge new landing spots for very notable wide receivers. Just like the running back edition, let’s discuss two of the most talked about wideouts that found a new home and what it does for their fantasy outlook.
Stefon Diggs, Houston Texans
There isn’t a bigger name who joined a more hyped up team than Stefon Diggs to the Houston Texans. Diggs leaving Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills started to feel inevitable towards the end of Diggs’s contract. Bills fans may be upset at the small return they got for Diggs as Buffalo only received a 2025 second-round pick. However, it’s final and Diggs is now a Texan.
Diggs is joining up with the 2023 rookie of the year Quarterback C.J. Stroud. Stroud had an unbelievable rookie campaign as he threw for over 4,000 yards and 23 touchdowns, along with only five interceptions. While I completely understand the appeal to selecting Diggs in your 2024 fantasy drafts, something just doesn’t sit right with me about the new situation. There is no doubt that Diggs is going to technically be the top receiver on this team, but the Texans have a ridiculous amount of depth at the position. Next year these are the returning receivers (and a tight end) for the Texans: Tank Dell, Nico Collins, Noah Brown, Robert Woods, and Tight End Dalton Schultz. These players made up for 71% of the target share among the team and all of them are returning next season. Diggs received almost 30% of the target share in Buffalo last season and still at times seemed very upset with his usage. I do not see Diggs getting even close to 30% of the target share in Houston with all of the weapons they already have. I’m by no means saying Diggs will not be good in Houston or that the Texans won’t win with him. However, there are three players on the roster in Dell, Collins, and Diggs who could all be the number one guy for Stroud. This offense is going to be very spaced out and there could be some dud games from Diggs in 2024.
Marquise “Hollywood” Brown, Kansas City Chiefs
If there is one thing I have learned when playing fantasy football the last few years, do not draft any player on the Chiefs besides Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes. This opinion is obviously post Tyreek Hill era on the Chiefs but it’s one I feel strongly about. This opinion formed in 2019 when I consistently started Demarcus Robinson in hopes of a long touchdown. Some weeks Robinson would catched that bomb, other weeks it would be Sammy Watkins. The Chiefs are starting to remind me of the Tom Brady Patriots. They do not care about who gets targets and who does not, they are solely worried about winning.
However, even after all that being said, I’m for some reason buying into Hollywood Brown being effective in Kansas City. I think there are a few factors to this but I’ll start with the most obvious one, the drops. The Chiefs led the league in dropped passes with 44 in one season, that’s almost three drops per game. With Travis getting older and seeming to be slowing down, Mahomes needs a guy. Just looking at the 2023 target share proves this. Kelce was obviously the top targeted guy on the team with 121, however the second guy is Rashee Rice with 102. Now Rice looked very good last season but he is in some very serious legal trouble and there’s a world where he's not on the roster this coming season. Then the third guy is Justin Watson with only 53 targets, a near 50 target drop off. Unlike when talking about Diggs, I don’t see how Hollywood does not get over 100 targets. There are only two players that truly could compete for that number two option outside of Kelce at the one. Rice, who might not play, and Xavier Worthy who is a rookie. Not to mention that Mahomes loves launching the ball deep and Brown is the best deep threat Mahomes will have since Tyreek. Hollywood is, in my opinion, the best wideout on the roster and I’m expecting a huge season.