Welcome back to fantasy football season! With the NFL season mere weeks away, let’s take a look at some more players to keep an eye on as the season draws near.

(Slightly) Overrated: Bijan Robinson, RB, Atlanta Falcons

While it seems almost cliché to call a rookie running back overrated from a fantasy football perspective, it’s hard not to look at Robinson as such a player. Coming into his first NFL season, Robinson is ranked 7(!) on ESPN’s fantasy football draft boards, which is a tad ridiculous considering that he’s never played an NFL snap.

Let’s get something out of the way: My aversion to Robinson isn’t due to a perceived lack of talent. Throughout his glorious career at the University of Texas, Robinson proved time and time again that he was the real deal. Robinson racked up a marvelous 3,410 yards across 3 seasons in Austin with A mind-boggling 41 total touchdowns to boot. He also proved himself to be a veritable challenge in the passing game, with 805 receiving yards despite an already massive rushing workload. Whenever the Longhorns needed someone to lift the team up, Robinson was there to do so, and he should do more of the same in the NFL.

The main issue with Robinson is that he’s coming into a situation far different than that of his NCAA days. According to PFF, Texas had the 7th best offensive line in college football last season. Coincidentally, the Falcons ranked 7th in PFF’s offensive line grading for 2023, so Robinson should translate well to the NFL, but this info is a bit misleading.

What these grades fail to mention is the caliber of teams that Robinson will be facing over the course of this season. On top of bi-seasonal matchups with the top-tier Buccaneers and Saints defenses, the Falcons will have to play the Lions, Jets, and Vikings, which are teams are expected to be formidable offensively. With the Falcons’ porous defense often being prone to scoring outbursts, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Atlanta abandon the run game entirely in many games in favor of a passing attack.

It also doesn’t help much that the offense is devoid of receiving talent with the exception of Robinson and Kyle Pitts, which means that Robinson will have to deal with arguably the same level of defensive attention that he received in college.

Overall, Robinson isn’t a bad pick to make in the top-10, and his talent alone could carry him to a massive season. However, the Falcons’ defense ineptitude and lack of offensive variety knocks him out of the top tier of fantasy players. If you have a late first round pick, Robinson is a solid choice, but don’t make selecting him a priority over more proven commodities.

Underrated: Juju Smith-Schuster, WR, New England Patriots

Smith-Schuster’s 6-year NFL career has been quite the roller coaster. After a scorching sophomore season in which it looked like the Steelers receiver was destined to be the next superstar wide receiver, the next 3 years saw him crash back to Earth as the NFL community labeled him as a locker room cancer.

Schuster signed with the Chiefs in 2022 with tempered expectations, but it turned out that this change of scenery was just what he needed. The following season would see Juju post 933 yards, 3 touchdowns, and a very solid 12.0 yards per catch.

While Schuster is no longer viewed as a player with superstar potential, he still has strengths that work to his advantage from both a real-world and fantasy perspective. He’s a great bet to hit 100 targets every season, perhaps even more so now in a Patriots offense devoid of any elite receiving talent. His style of play is also conducive to the Patriots offense, with a short to mid-range skillset that lends itself well to a Bill O’Brian-coached squad.

One possibility for Juju’s fantasy numbers to skyrocket this season lies in his touchdown totals. Schuster’s fantasy projections for this season have him scoring around 4-5 touchdowns, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see his numbers get back up to the heights reached during his Steelers days.

The main reason for this is that Schuster is finally the top receiving target in his offense, a distinction that he has seldom had throughout his career. In Pittsburgh, he was either overshadowed by Antonio Brown or got injured and usurped on the depth chart by players such as Diontae Johnson and Chase Claypool. In Kansas City, he had to compete with Travis Kelce for high-value targets, which is a nearly impossible battle to win. In New England, there isn’t really a receiver that could usurp him on the depth chart, and the team’s tight end situation isn’t built for red zone production, as Hunter Henry and Mike Gesicki had just 7 combined touchdowns last season.

Smith-Schuster is by no means guaranteed to return to Pittsburgh form or even the form he found in Kansas City. However, his team situation has set him up for individual success far more than it had in years past. With the right scheme fit and a little luck, Schuster could be one of the best sleeper picks of this fantasy football season.

Fun Risk: Skyy Moore, WR, Kansas City Chiefs

Everybody knows that the engine to Kansas City’s offensive success has been the duo of Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce. The two superstars are considered the best players at their respective positions and have ascended the fantasy football ladder to become league-altering talents who are nearly guarunteed to be taken in the first 3 rounds of the draft.

This information shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone with even a passing interest in fantasy football. What should be of interest, however, is how this affects the Kansas City wide receiver room. Since the departure of Tyreek Hill in March of 2022, the Chiefs haven’t had a true star in the wide receiver room. With the subsequent departure of Juju Smith-Schuster in the spring of 2023, the Chiefs don’t appear to have a clear #1 receiver at all.

This is where Skyy Moore comes in. As the de facto top receiver on the depth chart, Moore is primed for a massive second-year boost in production after an underwhelming 2022-23 season in which he amassed a paltry 250 yards and 0 touchdowns.

Moore’s competition for a primary position in the offense is anything but stiff thanks to his main contemporaries being constant underachiever Marquez Valdes-Scantling and unproven young commodity Kadarius Toney. There are some concerns for Moore that he’ll have to disprove, though. He’ll have to prove that he can develop a rapport with Mahomes in the first place, and he’ll be competing for targets with both Kelce and a very talented backfield comprised of Isiah Pacheco, Jerrick McKinnon, and Clyde Edwards-Hellaire. This could lead to many red zone opportunities being taken away from Moore, but it won’t matter as much if he can soak up targets as Hill and Smith-Schuster did before him.

Moore is no sure thing to succeed, but the potential of the speedy wide reciver is simply too much to ignore in a fantasy draft. If he can reach his peak potential, 2023 could see Moore take on a sort of mini-Tyreek Hill role as the Chiefs’ primary deep threat. Still, his floor is incredibly low. If Moore fails to connect with Mahomes in his sophomore season, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him fall out of the offensive scheme entirely. Moore is a quintessential boom-or-bust asset that could flame out entirely, but the tantalizing prospect of his offensive potential will make him worth picking on a late-round flier.

With that, part 2 of the list concludes. My sincere thanks to everyone who’s stuck around and continued reading, as I know that my scheduling is rather horrendous (to put it lightly). Thanks for reading and happy drafting!