Let’s get all the Aaron Rodgers jokes out of the way: dolphin sex, Jimmy Kimmel, lizard people, Joe Rogan, RFK Jr., drinking clay… I think that mostly covers it. Oh, “immunized!” There we go. No more shenanigans, just talking ball from here on out. Rodgers looks to be back as the QB1 on the Jets, and I should hope his tenure is at least as long as it was last season. What of the Jets as a whole, for fantasy football? Is there anything to be found here? I truly believe there is some value here, but it’s actually hard to find an overvalued New York Jet. So I am using one of the two punts allow myself this season on trying to lie to you and say that Garrett Wilson or Breece Hall are overvalued. That’s stupid. Let’s dive in with an undervalued Jet and a sleeper Jet for 2024 fantasy football leagues!
Undervalued: Mike Williams, Wide Receiver (WR52, Pick 114 Overall)
He’s now activated from the PUP list, so he’s cleared that major hurdle on his road to recovery from his ACL tear last season. Williams is a big play threat whenever he gets the ball thrown his way, and he prefers protecting the ball to protecting his body (which explains all the injuries). But, he’s arguably playing with the best quarterback he’s ever played with, and he’s had some great quarterbacks (Philip Rivers & Justin Herbert). He has an incredible floor, with the second-highest yards per reception since he entered the league (15.6) as well as ranking fourth in end zone target rate in the same span, behind D.K. Metcalf, A.J. Green, and Mike Evans.
While Williams played in just three games last season before his injury, he WR10 in fantasy points per game (16.7 PPR points per game in his three games) thanks to 26 targets, 19 catches, 249 yards, and a touchdown in his three games played. Those pace out to 147 targets, 108 receptions, 1,411 yards, and six touchdowns. Those come on the heels of a WR23 season per game (13 games) in 2022, and WR18 in fantasy points per game in 2021. He’s still a good football player, he just gets hurt. But imagine if he played with one of the most precise quarterbacks in history. Imagine if he played with, say, Aaron Rodgers?
He has double-digit touchdown seasons under his belt, as well as 1,000-yard seasons. With Aaron Rodgers throwing him the ball in the end zone, the ten touchdowns might be the easy part. The 1,000 yards will only be stopped by any sort of injury that might develop throughout the season.
Sleeper: Tyler Conklin, Tight End (TE23, Pick 180 Overall)
It was hard to be a passing game Jet not named Garrett Wilson last season. The cavalcade of subpar quarterbacks that the Jets trotted out there last year (Zach Wilson, Trevor Siemian, Tim Boyle) didn’t do a whole lot to make life easy on players in the passing game. It was this team that gave Tyler Conklin the third-most targets on the team (87 targets, the thirteenth-most in the NFL), but it’s also a team that clearly signaled that Tyler Conklin’s targets weren’t a fluke and that he was the tight end on the roster.
Conklin ranked ninth in the league in routes run, fifth in slot snaps, ninth in average depth of target, and sixth in true catch rate. The problem? He ranked 30th in catchable target rate, 32nd in quarterback rating per target, and 23rd in yards per target. The Jets were trying to get Tyler Conklin involved, unfortunately, their quarterbacks did not cooperate. Now give Aaron Rodgers Conklin, and we are off to the races. The LaFleur offense involves a strong tight end, and Rodgers will be happy to oblige.
