Smith is practically the prototype for a player to avoid in fantasy
football. Despite missing Jamaal Charles in 2016 which should have
presumably led to an increased reliance on the passing game, Smith
continued to perform about as poorly as he always has as a passer,
throwing for more than one touchdown just four times and never throwing
for more than two scores. He threw for 300 yards just once all season
– Week 1 against the Chargers. But while we don’t really
expect Smith to be a prolific passer, he also was not nearly as
productive as a runner. While he did sneak through with an impressive
five rushing scores, Smith ran for more than 15 yards in a game
just twice. Now without Jeremy Maclin on the roster, Smith will
be relying on a superstar tight end and a breakout wide receiver
as the only pass catchers he shares chemistry with. Worse yet, the
Chiefs have made an investment toward the future at the quarterback
position, leading to speculation that Smith may not even finish
the season as Kansas City’s starter. The limited upside and
the questions at wide receiver along with his potential competition
should leave Smith undrafted in most leagues.
RB Spencer
Ware (2016 RB Rank – No.16, 11.9 FPts/G)
The 2016 season saw Ware given the opportunity to breakout and fully
establish himself as the running back of the future in Kansas City.
Unfortunately, while we saw glimpses of greatness, Ware finished
middle-of-the-pack among starting fantasy backs at No. 16 while
showing a significant drop-off in production in the second half
of the season. He’s still trending well with a solid 4.6 yards
per carry average and an impressive 11.6 yards per reception over
the past two seasons combined, but it is worth noting that he seemingly
wore down late in the season averaging 3.2 yards per carry from
Week 12 through Week 16. While Ware is still expected to be the
primary ball carrier in Kansas City, at least to start the season,
rookie Kareem Hunt is drawing hype and could eat into Ware’s
workload. If the Chiefs do opt to give substantial touches to other
backs on the roster, Ware’s upside will take a huge hit.
One of the hottest players to watch in training camp has to be rookie
Kansas City running back Kareem Hunt. Hunt is getting a ton of hype
right now with some sources close to the team even indicating that
he will not only be a major part of the backfield to start the season,
but could have the inside edge to finish with the highest number
of running back touches in 2017. Running back coach Eric Bieniemy
has been specifically praising Hunt’s skills as a pass catcher,
which could lead to Hunt getting the majority of work on third downs
as long as he can pick up his pass protection assignments. Hunt
was highly productive in college at Toledo, including rushing for
over 100 yards in each of his final five games. He caught four or
more passes in six of his 13 games as a senior.
The Chiefs cut top receiver Jeremy Maclin this off-season, which
caused Tyreek Hill’s fantasy stock to skyrocket. The second-year
playmaker is expected to takeover Maclin’s role as the “Z”
receiver in the Kansas City offense – an offensive system
known for being notoriously unfriendly to wide receivers. Hill was
arguably the most explosive player in the entire league as a rookie,
but much of that production came when the Chiefs were able to create
mismatches against nickel cornerbacks and confuse defenses with
gadget plays. Hill’s ADP shot up dramatically right when the
Maclin story broke and it might drop off a bit, but the chances
of him finishing as a WR1 for fantasy purposes are just not great,
especially if you’re in a scoring format where individual
players do not get credit for special teams scores. It’s also
worth noting that while he’s expected to keep his role as
the team’s primary punt returner, the second-year burner will
no longer be regularly returning kickoffs. Hill could continue to
surprise everyone, by honing his craft as a route runner because
the chances that he continues to score at the crazy rate per touch
that he did in 2016 are unlikely. Hill played on only 40 percent
of the team’s offensive snaps last season but managed to score
9 TDs (6 receiving, 3 rushing) finishing as the WR23 in PPR leagues.
WR Chris
Conley (2016 WR Rank – No.88, 3.3 FPts/G)
Finding another wide receiver on the Kansas City roster beyond Tyreek
Hill is a tough task, but if you find yourself in some weird situation
where you have to pick a Chiefs wideout, consider Chris Conley.
Conley is currently expected to start out wide opposite Hill and
his production was more consistent than the other players on the
roster. He caught multiple passes in all but three regular season
games, which is surprisingly good considering the lack of overall
pass attempts in the Chiefs offense. Despite those catches, Conley
really never put it together with a great – or even particularly
good fantasy game in 2016. He failed to score a single touchdown
all year and his best overall game was a six catch, 60-yard performance
against the Steelers in Week 4. While Conley isn’t likely
to blow anyone away with production, the opportunities are there
for him to get an increased workload with Maclin now out of the
picture. Conley has been seeing time as the team’s “Z”
receiver in OTAs and that could mean that he gets more opportunities
to make plays down the field. He’s been stuck as a possession
receiver early in his career, but at 6’2” with a 4.35
forty yard dash, Conley’s actual skillset would seem to be
better fit as a downfield playmaker. While Hill is still by far
the better overall fantasy option, it would not be all that surprising
if Conley actually led the team in wide receiver catches in 2017.
After disappointing many fantasy owners with a lackluster 2015 season,
Kelce finally fulfilled his potential in 2016 with an absolutely
monster season which saw him finish as the league’s top-scoring
fantasy tight end – and by a fairly wide margin. While he
only scored four touchdowns, Kelce’s week-to-week reception
and yardage totals were borderline WR1 numbers. He finished the
regular season on an absurd pace, catching five or more passes in
every game from Week 8 through Week 16, including a whopping six
100-plus-yard performances in those nine contests. While it’s
hard to imagine that he stays on a yardage tear, he was a bit unlucky
in the red zone. An increase in touchdowns should be expected if
he’s targeted anywhere near as often as he was in 2016. While
he is currently going as the No.2 tight end off the board in most
fantasy drafts, a case could be made that Kelce should be ahead
of even the great Rob Gronkowski, given Gronk’s ever-so-frustrating
injury history. Still, Kelce represents great value in drafts and
could really be a difference maker on fantasy rosters again this
season if the position remains as sparse as it has been as of late.
