When all is said and done and the dust settles, the Jaguars might not be any better than they were before free agency started. However, their wallet is a lot lighter and there are new shiny toys in town. Let’s have a quick look at the moves and what it means for the dynasty stock of these fantasy football assets.
QB – Trevor Lawerence – Stock Up
Christian Kirk, Evan Engram and Zay Jones are not elite players. However, they got paid a lot of money to come in and help the second year QB. The team also brought back their offensive tackles and signed 2020 All-Pro guard Brandon Scherff. Look for them to also add more offensive line help in the draft after they finished 24th according to PFF.
His rookie year will forever be stained by the Urban Meyer experiment. Not only that, but injuries to key players such as Travis Eitenne, D.J. Chark and Dan Arnold definitely didn’t help. Many are already calling him a bust. I don’t know if the new weapons themselves raise Lawrence’s stock. However, the hope of the team staying healthy and new Super Bowl winning coach Doug Pederson coming to town certainly should help.
WR – Christan Kirk – Stock Up
The biggest riser is Kirk, he is signing a four year, 72 million dollar deal. I am not sure how you pay him that amount of money and don’t feature him as the number one target on the team.
Kirk finished as the WR26 last year in Half-PPR leagues. He is currently ranked as the fantasy football dynasty WR48 on FantasyPros. I expect that to rise over the next few months.
It wasn’t that long ago Kirk was being talked about as a breakout candidate before DeAndre Hopkins was traded to the Cardinals. Does Kirk finally get the chance to show what he can do as the true WR1 on a team? Or does he make this deal look like the overpay of the century? I think it will land somewhere in the middle.
The time to acquire Kirk was before he signed anywhere. If you remember from my free agent WR piece a few months back I told you to buy into Kirk. I believe with this land spot and the target share likely coming his way, he will be a consistent top 24 WR for the duration of the contract. I believe if Lawrence takes a step forward Kirk can even raise that bar.
TE – Evan Engram – Stock Up
This wasn’t the landing spot I had in mind for Engram. Although, it might not turn out too bad! Engram has a very good chance of being at least the number two target on a team desperate for player makers. Heck, with a Doug Pederson’s led offense he might even be the number one target. In his first four years coaching the Eagles, TE Zach Ertz finished no lower than 6th at the TE position for fantasy football. In two of those four years Ertz led the Eagles in targets.
This might be a very good spot for Engram to raise his stock again. He only signed a one year deal, but if he turns in a good performance he will only be 29 going into next year. Just like Kirk, you had a cheap buying window, I expect his value to rise as the offseason goes on.
TE – Dan Arnold – Stock Down
He flashed in fantasy football PPR leagues last year, but sadly with the Engram signing he will take a backseat this year. Arnold will be a 29-year old free agent next offseason, and with little to show. He had some sleeper upside going into the year, but you can now drop him to the wavier wire in most formats.
WR – Laviska Shenault – Stock Down
I am going to guess that in three wide sets, Kirk will play the slot while Zay and Marvin Jones line up outside. I also expect Evan Engram to take plenty of snaps from the slot position as well. Add in a healthy Travis Eitenne to catch plenty of balls out of the backfield and there just doesn’t seem to be a place for Shenault. As much as I’d personally love to see a third year breakout from Shenault, it ain’t happening unless he gets traded away.
His fantasy football stock was already quite low before all the signings. However, for those that believe in his talent there is rumours he might be on the move. Buy now before that happens!
WR – Marvin Jones – Stock Down
The Jaguars would only save $3.5 million if they cut Marvin Jones. With Zay Jones signing, Marvin will be competing to be on the field in two wide sets. He saw over 100 targets last year, I expect that to be cut in half. Like Arnold, he can be cut in the majority of fantasy football formats.
WR – Zay Jones – Neutral
Does he beat out Marvin Jones? Even if he does, what kind of target share does he get? Of course him being signed to a WR-needy team does help his fantasy football stock, but this WR room is crowded. Behind Kirk there will be some kind of messy rotation of the two Jones’ and Shenault; also don’t forget about Jamal Agnew. He is worth a spot at the end of your bench, but unless there is an injury I don’t expect any consistency.
Sheldon Hand
Sheldon Hand is an elementary school teacher. He started writing in 2019, and started working with The League Winners in 2021. He has been playing fantasy football for fifteen years, got into dynasty seven years ago and have become a bit obsessed.