In our “32 in 32” series, we are highlighting three of the most notable fantasy football players for each team, covering all 32 teams in 32 days!
Rachaad White (RB – Tampa Bay Buccaneers):
The best description for the Buccaneers’ offense in 2022 was the word “dysfunctional” and that was reflective on their rushing attack.
The Buccaneers had the 25th-ranked scoring offense and the 32nd-ranked rushing offense in 2022, both of which contributed towards what was a rather pedestrian rookie season for White, who tallied 771 yards and 3 TDs in a limited role.
The key to White’s season was involvement – when he got the opportunity, he was productive. In the 8 games where he saw double-digit touches, he finished with double-digit points in 6 of them, even with virtually no redzone work with Leonard Fournette present.
With Fournette gone (and no notable additions to the backfield), White appears a likely workhorse in Tampa. Given that role and a transition to a run-first offense (between the departure of Tom Brady and multiple upgrades on the O-Line), White could be a sneaky value option in 2023.
It appears that White will be commanding a price tag as a low-end RB2/high-end RB3 option, which I am more than comfortable drafting him as, but the bigger question comes down to when within the draft he will be going. His ECR indicates as high as a 5th-round price while his ADP indicates as low as a mid-7th round price point. I’m comfortable with either of those price points, but if he were to favor the latter, he could be a potential league-winning option with his top-15 upside.
Mike Evans (WR – Tampa Bay Buccaneers):
After coming off back-to-back seasons of 13+ TDs that controlled his production in 2020 and 2021, we were warning of the potential for TD regression for Mike Evans in 2022 and what any potential fluctuation in TDs could do to his production.
We saw that come to fruition in 2022 as he saw a very solid 77 catches for 1,124 yards, but saw his TD totals take a nosedive, dropping from 14 in 2021 to just 6 in 2022, seeing him drop to the WR17 in points.
On top of that, he was actually nowhere near the WR17 in value, being virtually unplayable without finding the endzone (single-digit points in 7/15 games) and scoring over 35% of his season points in just 2 games.
Even with his historic run of 9 straight seasons with 1,000+ yards, Evans remains one of the least-secure fantasy WRs, especially with the uncertainty at QB this year, but it appears that has been taken into account (and perhaps too much) into his draft price.
Currently going as a very low-end WR3 (WR34 on ECR, WR35 on ADP) in the 6th/7th round range, I am all for targeting Evans as a limited-risk/high-upside option as very few WRs at that price offer his level of established production and weekly ceiling.
Chris Godwin (WR – Tampa Bay Buccaneers):
Coming off a 2021 year that saw him with a late-season ACL tear, there were many questions about Godwin’s anticipated availability and abilities heading into 2022 off of such an injury.
While he did set a brief setback early (re-aggravating it in Week 1), he returned shortly after and left no second doubt about it, posting 10+ points in each of his final 14 games, ranking as the WR7 from Week 4 onward.
He was very quietly one of the best (and certainly one of the most valuable) WRs in fantasy last season, but very few truly acknowledged it was happening, seeing as he never offered true week-winning performances (20+ points in just 3 games) but was always an extremely solid option that you could set in your WR2 spot and forget about.
The loss of Tom Brady introduces some uncertainty, but between Godwin now being a year excluded from his ACL tear and a very likely increase in TD production (from his 3 TDs in 2022), Godwin appears a solid WR2 option yet again.
Projecting as a mid-to-late 4th rounder as a mid-to-low WR2 option, I am targeting Godwin if I can’t land Keenan Allen shortly before him. The upside is there for a top-12 finish for Godwin, but even if he doesn’t hit that mark, it’s likely he offers top-12 value among WRs given his week-to-week stability.