May 07, 2025
Bill Streicher/USA TODAY Sports
Will a change of scenery in Washington help Deebo Samuel return to his Pro Bowl form?
Even in the offseason, life moves very quickly in the NFL.
One big-name wide receiver got traded Wednesday, just a few hours before a big-name tight end on the trade market ended up staying with his team.
As usual, free agency and the NFL Draft produced a decent amount of movement across the league, with some finding better situations while others weren’t as fortunate.
Fantasy football interest also never wanes, and owners are surely keeping close tabs on all the latest transactions.
For those who haven’t paid as close attention, here’s a rundown of some players who are likely to benefit from their change in uniform this offseason, and some who might not.
George Pickens, WR, Cowboys
This is a big win for Pickens if Dak Prescott comes back healthy. Going from the Steelers’ messy, dysfunctional QB situation from the past three years to a proven passer like Prescott should do wonders for Pickens’ fantasy value. The enigmatic WR topped 1,000 receiving yards just once in his three seasons in Pittsburgh and has never caught more than five TD passes, but he could be in store for a career season with Dallas and could get to WR2 status for fantasy owners. Although he runs a limited route tree and probably won’t ever be a high-volume receiver like his new teammate, CeeDee Lamb, Pickens is a big-play threat who has elite contested-catch ability. He can flourish complementing Lamb as long as Pickens keeps his head on straight. That would be the only concern. If Mike Tomlin had enough of Pickens, how will new Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer handle him? It’s worth noting that Schottenheimer was the offensive coordinator in Seattle when D.K. Metcalf produced a 1,300-yard, 10-touchdown season in 2020. Metcalf is one of the receivers Pickens is most frequently compared to, so Schottenheimer should have a good plan for Pickens’ usage.
Deebo Samuel, WR, Commanders
A change of scenery – and being paired with another outstanding offensive mind – could be just what’s needed to get Samuel back to Pro Bowl form. Too much competition for touches in the 49ers' offense – George Kittle, Brandon Aiyuk, Christian McCaffrey, etc. – and some injuries led to Samuel coming nowhere near the 1,770-yard, 14-touchdown breakout of his 2021 All-Pro season. To be clear, fantasy owners should harbor no expectations of Samuel getting anywhere close to those kind of numbers, but in Washington, he’s the unquestioned No. 2 weapon, and OC Kliff Kingsbury is the right guy to make use of Samuel’s versatility. Not to mention that Jayden Daniels has the potential to be – or already is – the best quarterback Samuel has played with since entering the league in 2019. Fantasy owners might've fallen out of love with Samuel after watching his numbers plummet over the years, but it was only two seasons ago that Samuel produced an 1,100-yard, 12-touchdown season, scoring the 12th-most points in Yahoo! PPR leagues. Can Samuel get back to being WR2 or WR3? He’ll have a better chance in Washington’s playmaker-starved offense than he would’ve had in San Francisco.
Davante Adams, WR, Rams
Adams showed last year that he can still be a highly productive, Pro Bowl-caliber wide receiver even north of 30 years old by producing an 85-1,003-8 season on 141 targets – the same number of targets as Amon-Ra St. Brown. All that, despite playing just 14 games for two of the NFL’s worst offenses. Now, Adams is playing with Matthew Stafford, alongside Puka Nacua, and under the playcalling of Sean McVay. That’s like trading in your Honda Civic for a Rolls-Royce. There’s surely room in the Rams' offense for Adams to produce much more than LA was getting from injury-riddled Cooper Kupp over the last two seasons. Fantasy owners should expect at least one more season of Adams posting WR2-type numbers.
Christian Kirk, WR, Texans
It’s easy to overlook Kirk’s potential fantasy impact given that he broke his collarbone eight games into 2024 and had his season ended. A groin injury late in 2023 landed him on IR late in the season, limiting him to 12 games. Injuries are a factor with Kirk, for sure, but when healthy, he’s a target monster and very solid PPR-league WR3/Flex candidate, with perhaps even more upside playing with C.J. Stroud. Kirk logged career highs in targets (133), receptions (84), yards (1,108) and touchdown catches (8) in 2022. The next season, he was on pace for 120 targets, 80 receptions and 1,149 yards before the groin injury. Last year, his numbers took a dip as Jacksonville’s offense hit the skids and as rookie Brian Thomas Jr. became the focal point. In Houston, Kirk can quickly become a clear No. 2 option from the slot behind Nico Collins and, if healthy, get enough targets and receptions to become fantasy-relevant again. He’ll never be much of a touchdown-scorer, but Kirk can help PPR owners in the other categories.
Javonte Williams, RB, Cowboys
We’ll probably never see the same Williams who piled up 1,219 scrimmage yards and seven touchdowns for the Broncos as a rookie, showcasing fierce downhill explosion and a penchant for making tacklers miss. The gruesome knee injury he sustained his sophomore season might have robbed Williams of his best attribute, but the key is that he's free from Sean Payton’s indecisive running back committee that featured a different ball carrier every week. Now he's with Dallas, which lacks a clear No. 1 option and waited until the draft’s fifth round to take an undersized ball carrier (Jaydon Blue) who isn’t built to handle a heavy workload. Plus, the Cowboys upgraded their offensive line with a known run mauler in first-round OG Tyler Booker. Their inside zone schemes should blend well with Williams’ between-tackles running style. The Cowboys’ only other RB option right now is Miles Sanders, who hasn’t stayed healthy and fell way down the depth chart in Carolina over the past two years. Take a late-round flier on Williams. He might be just good enough to be a legit option when your RB2 or FLEX is on a bye.
Geno Smith, QB, Raiders
How many times can Smith throw to Brock Bowers on a Las Vegas team starved for playmakers? The potential for Smith to be QB2 in two-quarterback leagues or even a viable backup for when QB1 is on a bye is in serious jeopardy now, with the Raiders short on passing weapons and with run-loving head coach Pete Carroll licking his chops to hand the ball off 25 times or more per game to rookie Ashton Jeanty.
DK Metcalf, WR, Steelers
Something about catching passes all season from …. Mason Rudolph … sure seems unappealing. On one hand, the trade that sent Pickens to Dallas leaves Metcalf as the Steelers’ one and only fearsome option in the pass game. On the other hand, that’s the same situation Pickens has been in for the past three years and, at best, Pickens was a decent WR3 or FLEX who frequently disappeared in any given week. It's always possible that Aaron Rodgers hops aboard to save everyone from the Rudolph era, which would help Metcalf's outlook, but that’s still not enough to have faith in Metcalf becoming a top-10 fantasy wide receiver.
Sam Darnold, QB, Seahawks
Notice a trend here? In leaving the Vikings to sign with the Seahawks, Darnold said goodbye to one of the NFL’s best offensive environments and hello to one of its worst. No more throwing to Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison and T.J. Hockenson. No more play calling from Kevin O’Connell. Darnold instead moves to a defensive-minded head coach in Mike Macdonald, an offensive coordinator (Klint Kuibak) who just got fired from the same post, and one legit receiving weapon in Jaxon Smith-Njigba. The Seahawks could be an OK team and average offensively, but this is about fantasy value. Last year, Darnold was the seventh-highest-scoring QB on Yahoo! after passing for more than 4,300 yards and tossing 35 touchdowns. This year, he’ll be hard-pressed to be a top-15 fantasy QB.
Najee Harris, RB, Chargers
It looked good for Harris to resurrect his career out West under head coach Jim Harbaugh, one of the few dudes who still loves to play ground and pound. Harris, who rushed for more than 1,000 yards in each of his four seasons with the Steelers, could’ve been the feature back in a run-first offense behind a very good offensive line and come closer to the 1,200-yard rushing season – with 1,667 scrimmage yards – from his rookie year. Then Los Angeles used a first-round pick on Omarion Hampton, a prospect who’s more dynamic and more athletic than Harris and should be the foundation of the Chargers’ run game fairly early in the season, if not right away. The best chance for Harris to become a viable fantasy RB is an injury to Hampton, but even the drafting of Hampton shows the Chargers weren’t all that into Harris in the first place.
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