This week, after being traded to Miami, TE Darren Waller will unretire; still with the Dolphins, they traded three-time All Pro CB Jalen Ramsey and TE Jonnu Smith to Pittsburgh for Minkah Fitzpatrick; and teams are lining up to plan trade offers for holdout pass rusher T.J. Watt, even if he’s not technically available… yet. Other Fantasy football stories we’re tracking include…

Pittsburgh Keeps Revamping Offense

As mentioned above, Jonnu Smith is now a Steeler, and his addition should provide a boost to a revamped Pittsburgh offense.

But does the move north from Miami help or hurt his Fantasy value, especially with Pat Freiermuth enjoying such a solid bounce back effort in 2024?

The last time 2024 Pro Bowl selection Smith wound up in a two-TE environment (with Hunter Harvey in New England), he basically became a very expensive blocker, getting just 45 targets all season. The following year was even worse before Smith broke out in 2023 with Atlanta and then took it to a whole new level last year with the Fins.

However, now Pittsburgh has two tight ends that both finished among the top 10 at the position last year, so surely this trade hurts each from a Fantasy perspective.

For what it’s worth, Raider (and former Dolphin) RB Raheem Mostert was not impressed with the fact that Smith was sent packing.

When Smith was drafted out of Florida International, he was projected to be an average backup or even a special teams player, so he’s vastly exceeded expectations thanks to his athleticism and burning effort to make each play count.

But now — a season removed from being the NFL’s TE4 – he’s likely been rendered to barely being a top 10 option, while Freiermuth drops to being a low-end Fantasy backup.

Jarred Goff Due for Regression

When we last checked in on the Detroit Lions near the halfway point of the 2024 season, they looked like a team built to win it all. And while they continued to soar — going 8-1 down the stretch to finish with a team-record 15 wins — the Lions were shocked in the Divisional Round by Washington, 45-31.

Detroit certainly had no problem moving the ball that day, recording a whopping 30 first downs, but was doomed by a ridiculous five turnovers. Heading into 2025, the Lions are again expected to be a team that will score consistently (-270 to post at least one touchdown in every regular season game as per FanDuel).

It was an ugly ending to a career year by quarterback Jared Goff, who was picked three times and lost a fumble while being sacked twice in the playoff loss. He only had one game in the regular season that was as bad, and it’s really a shame as 2024 looked like Detroit’s year to finally bust its Super Bowl cherry.

For the third straight year, Goff did not miss a single game and he shattered his best completion rate while setting new career highs in YPA and touchdowns. And this offseason the former Ram really helped the team with a contract tweak that allowed the Lions to pen some important players to extensions.

In 2024, Goff ranked third in the NFL in passing TD rate en route to posting the seventh highest Fantasy points per game among all QBs. That will likely regress this season; expect him to be a high end QB2 or streaming option, or at best, a low-end starter in 12-team leagues.

RotoRob Tune of the Day

American girl group Destiny’s Child formed in 1997 and remained active until 2006, reforming briefly in 2013 and again in 2018. In 2001, they released their third album, Survivor, and the anthemic title track and first single reached No. 2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.