The New England Patriots haven’t exactly been the best producers for fantasy football since the days of Tom Brady, Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski.
Last year, their best player for the game was running back Ezekiel Elliott, who recorded 178 fantasy points in PPR formats. That was good enough to be the 30th-highest-scoring running back and 98th overall.
Elliott left this offseason to return to the Dallas Cowboys, leaving the Patriots without many clear-cut fantasy standouts for the 2024 season.
In fact, ESPN’s Field Yates recently put out his list of top 100 fantasy football players for PPR leagues, and not a single member of New England’s roster was listed.
Across the league, 43 quarterbacks, 35 running backs, 12 quarterbacks and 10 tight ends made the list, and none of them are donning a Patriots uniform this year.
New England’s offense is so tough to predict right now, so it’s not surprising that none of them were listed. The team is having open competitions at quarterback and wide receiver, and their tough running back (Rhamondre Stevenson) has battled injury issues in his career. Even Hunter Henry’s level of production is up in the air, as we’ve seen him struggle to remain relevant in a bad Patriots offense in 2022.
As we get closer to the season and positions on Jerod Mayo’s depth chart become more clear, someone like a Stevenson, Henry of Ja’Lynn Polk could sneak up in there, but until then, fantasy owners are being warned to stay away from New England.
Mike Masala previously served as the Managing Editor of USA TODAY's Dolphins Wire as well as a contributing writer at Patriots Wire. Follow on Twitter/X: @Mike_Masala