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Vacated Opportunities in Fantasy Football

NFL Fantasy

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The 2024 NFL draft is here, and it’s time for the new rookie class to take the league by storm. But new rookies means veterans are about to lose snaps, targets and rushing attempts to rookies.

As we do every year, we’re going to examine each team’s “vacated opportunity” leading into the draft (we first published this piece before free agency – now we’re updating it). The charts below will show you how many opportunities and yards are “available” leading into the draft (using 2023 stats).

Teams With the Most Vacated Target Share and Receiving Yard Share

These are the teams that have the most receiving work available pre-draft.

Team Vacated Targets Vacated Rec. Yards
LA Chargers 250 1,790
Buffalo 173 1,369
Dallas 139 861
Arizona 126 569
Washington 91 722
NY Jets 69 192
Detroit 67 657
Pittsburgh 63 565
Indianapolis 60 300
Las Vegas 52 447
Denver 48 238
Jacksonville 40 187
Seattle 38 170
LA Rams 36 140
Minnesota 32 315
Baltimore 29 441
Green Bay 22 70
Tampa Bay 16 173
Cincinnati 8 52
NY Giants 4 -28
San Francisco 1 132
Atlanta -17 16
New Orleans -36 -294
New England -45 -276
Miami -45 -326
Philadelphia -47 -229
Carolina -71 -723
Cleveland -88 -740
Kansas City -106 -458
Tennessee -140 -716
Chicago -164 -1,297
Houston -182 -1,335

The three teams with the most vacated receiving work — the Chargers, Bills and Cowboys— all have good-to-elite QBs. Those are the teams to circle.

On the other end of the spectrum, the Bears have loaded up and will give Caleb Williams a surplus to work with. The Chiefs have taken a similar approach, but for different reasons.

Teams with the Most Vacated Rush Yards

These are the teams that have the most rushing work available pre-draft.

Team Vacated Rushes Vacated Rush Yards
Dallas 267 1,061
Indianapolis 224 919
LA Rams 107 319
Denver 80 341
NY Jets 75 230
Cincinnati 74 240
Atlanta 57 136
Las Vegas 37 33
Arizona 34 201
New Orleans 28 91
NY Giants 25 119
Tampa Bay 24 42
Chicago 22 86
Miami 18 106
Carolina 8 21
Detroit 6 -4
Tennessee -3 89
Buffalo -6 -121
Green Bay -15 237
Houston -19 -55
Jacksonville -22 -86
LA Chargers -25 -223
Seattle -45 -268
Philadelphia -48 98
Kansas City -57 -151
New England -63 -221
Minnesota -68 -339
Washington -69 -125
San Francisco -82 -502
Baltimore -93 -361
Cleveland -105 -418
Pittsburgh -198 -1,038

Pittsburgh is a little misleading, since Justin Fields’ rush attempts and yards count toward the total here. But if he’s the starter, it’s certainly something to monitor.

The Cowboys find themselves at or near the top of both lists. It really underscores how big Tony Pollard was for this offense last year.

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