Fantasy Football Weekly Mailbag: Mark Andrews Moving Up The Rankings

Fantasy Football Weekly Mailbag: Mark Andrews Moving Up The Rankings

Kendall Valenzuela drops the weekly fantasy football mailbag, with questions on dynasty rookie drafts, training camp battles and more.

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After the holiday weekend, our readers had plenty of questions, varying from dynasty rookie drafts to redraft rankings movers. We also got a question looking head to training camp. Yes, those camps may be two months away from opening, but smart fantasy managers are already preparing for the fun news cycles that will follow. Here is the weekly mailbag.

Fantasy Football Weekly Mailbag

What should people expect in the first round of rookie dynasty drafts?

I just finished a rookie dynasty draft and let's just say, things get pretty scary quickly. If you've done your homework, you already know there's a significant talent dropoff even before the first round ends. I had the 1.09 and was hoping someone like KC Concepcion or Kenyon Sadiq would fall to me, but my leaguemates don't care about my happiness (duh). I went with Omar Cooper, and was between him and Eli Stowers. I believe the ninth pick is where it becomes a bit of "choose your own adventure" and turns into the Wild West of sorts. 

I drafted for need and since it isn't a TEP league, I decided to go with Cooper due to the fact that the Jets are setting their future quarterback up for success and because of that Cooper lands in the borderline WR3 range with some WR2 upside if you squint hard enough.

Another takeaway is if you need a running back this season, you need to trade up. It seems obvious, but Jeremiyah Love went 1.01 and then Jadarian Price went 1.03— he next running back didn't go until the second round. Now there are some solid options later in drafts, but the upside isn't there like the other two. Some other rookie running backs to have on your radar could be Kaytron Allen, Nicholas Singleton, Jonah Coleman and Emmet Johnson

Has anyone drastically moved up or down your rankings?

Kyler Murray moved up my rankings simply because he can beat out J.J. McCarthy for that starting job, and for what it's worth we've seen more than our fair share of veteran quarterbacks change teams recently and revive their careers.  In the past three seasons with Arizona, Murray missed 21 games due to injuries. 

He's now working with Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison and T.J. Hockenson. To say that there needs to be a better rapport between Jefferson and his quarterback would be an understatement. Last season McCarthy completed just 57.6% of his passes and threw for 11 touchdowns coupled with 12 interceptions. 

Kevin O'Connell needs to breathe life into the "Quarterback Whisperer" nickname, and he can do that with Murray. The former Cardinal can still be dangerous on the ground, especially considering that last season he averaged his most rushing yards per game (34.6) since his ACL injury. And he has a good group of weapons around him. Murray is my QB17 so far this offseason, but I can see myself pushing him up the ranks even more.

Mark Andrews is another one! Andrews was fourth among tight ends in end zone targets last season and I'm betting on more touchdowns for the 30-year-old tight end. Andrews scored 5 touchdowns in 2025 and finished as the TE23 finish in fantasy points per game. It's been two down seasons for Andrews, but a new coaching staff and Isaiah Likely leaving are huge.

Likely and Charlie Kolar are now out of the picture. Likely has missed four games in two seasons, and when he was out Andrews saw 80% route participation and averaged 12.2 fantasy points per game.

He's going to score more touchdowns in an offense that's hungry to prove that a Super Bowl is within reach. 

What big questions are you hoping to be answered during training camp?

It probably won't happen during training camp, but there are a few wide receiver rooms that seem like a mess currently for fantasy football. Jacksonville feels like it's another Packers situation where maybe a receiver could rise to the top, but what if it's just going to be a spread-out offense? 

We have Brian Thomas Jr. projected for 102 targets, Parker Washington for 98 targets and Jakobi Meyers sitting at 100 targets … way less than ideal!

BTJ is the receiver going earliest on Underdog right now, but I find myself drafting Washington because the promise he showed last season did not seem like a fluke. When Travis Hunter went down in Week 7 last season we saw nine healthy games from Washington and he locked down an 83% route participation rate with a 25% target share and averaged 17.1 fantasy points.

If we look over at Tampa Bay, it feels like it'll be Emeka Egbuka as the clear winner, but who will benefit after him? The projections aren't awful for Chris Godwin or Jalen McMillan.

Projections:

Emeka Egbuka: 122 targets, 73 receptions, 990 receiving yards, 7 touchdowns

Chris Godwin: 104 targets, 70 receptions, 805 receiving yards, 6 touchdowns

Jalen McMillan: 43 targets, 27 receptions, 340 receiving yards, 3 touchdowns

Ted Hurst: 40 targets, 23 receptions, 363 receiving yards, 3 touchdowns

I don't mind taking Godwin at his current price (WR42) and if he were to go down with an injury of course Egbuka would benefit the most. But I'm not sleeping on McMillan here, either. I like Hurst, but right now I don't think he's jumping McMillan on the depth chart. Tampa Bay gave McMillan 56% of the routes when healthy from Week 15 on last year and he has shown promise. We won't know any of these answers until the season starts, so I'll be taking my fair share of each, especially the Jaguars' receivers.

Players Mentioned in this Article

  1. Mark Andrews
    MarkAndrews
    TEBALBAL
    PPG
    6.2
    Proj
    133.1
  2. Kyler Murray
    KylerMurray
    QBMINMIN
    PPG
    16.2
    Proj
    289.5
  3. Emeka Egbuka
    EmekaEgbuka
    WRTBTB
    PPG
    9.5
    Proj
    177.1
  4. OmarCooper
    WRNYJNYJ
    Proj
    124.7

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