• Bijan Robinson finds his perfect fit: The top running back in years lands with the NFL’s run-heaviest team behind a top-five offensive line, making him an early first-round pick in fantasy drafts.
• D’Andre Swift is replaced: The Lions took the best receiving back in the draft in Jahmyr Gibbs, pushing Swift from a potential fantasy starter to third on Detroit’s depth chart.
• Jordan Addison can immediately produce: Addison lands in a pass-happy Vikings offense where he can immediately earn an every-down role.
Estimated reading time: 10 mins
With Day 1 of the 2023 NFL Draft in the books, we saw the fantasy football stock of several players improve or decline. Some rookies landed in better spots for production, some veterans face a lot more competition and some others are grateful their team picked a player at a different position.
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Winner: RB Bijan Robinson, Atlanta Falcons
Landing in Atlanta was the best-case scenario for the top running back prospect in years.
- The Falcons were the only team to run the ball on more than half of their offensive plays last season.
- This included maintaining the run even when playing from behind.
- They ran 48.8% of the time while losing, which was 5 percentage points more than any other team.
- Those rates remained similar when Desmond Ridder took over as the team’s starting quarterback.
- The Falcons' depth was a talented Tyler Allgeier and 32-year-old Cordarrelle Patterson. Allgeier can give Robinson a rest at times, but that shouldn’t stop Robinson from seeing 20 touches per game.
- He will be running behind some of the best interior linemen in the league. Chris Lindstrom and Matt Hennessy are two of the five interior linemen to earn a 90.0-plus PFF run-blocking grade over the past two seasons.
Winner: WR Jordan Addison, Minnesota Vikings
There was a run of four wide receivers late in the first round, with Addison having the best opportunity to immediately produce for fantasy managers.
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