Fantasy football tips, breakouts, busts for this NFL season

A plethora of high-stakes fantasy football players in the live Circa Draft Series also have entered the high-stakes Circa Survivor contest.

Inspired by the crossover appeal, FullTime Fantasy Sports — which has partnered with Circa to host the Fantasy Football World Championships and Las Vegas Fantasy Championships — has created a free fantasy survivor contest.

Entries pick three players each week, and the players can’t be used again the rest of the season. If one of the players scores a touchdown, the team advances to the next week. If the three-man team doesn’t score a touchdown, it is eliminated.

The winner of the contest (fantasysurvivorcontest.com) will receive three $1,000 entries into next year’s Circa Survivor.

Top fantasy picks

49ers running back Christian McCaffrey was tied with Dolphins running back Raheem Mostert for the NFL lead in touchdowns last season with 21. Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb (14) and Dolphins wideout Tyreek Hill (13) finished sixth and tied for seventh, respectively.

Despite Lamb holding out for a new contract, that trio has been taken with the top three picks in most fantasy football drafts.

“They’ve been the first three picks in almost every single one of our drafts,” FullTime Fantasy Sports founder Ian Ritchie said. “But a guy who sneaks in there and a couple guys have taken No. 1 overall is (Lions wideout) Amon-Ra St. Brown. Some of the best players in the world think that he’s going to finish as the No. 1 receiver this year.”

Ritchie said it might be worth reaching for Eagles running back Saquon Barkley with a late first-round pick.

“He’s been falling to the mid-second round. But some of the best players in the world are jumping up and taking him at 11 and 12,” Ritchie said. “We think Barkley is going to have an absolutely huge year. The Eagles have changed their offense to get the ball out in 2.3 seconds on every play, and if it’s not out in 2.3, (quarterback) Jalen (Hurts) is supposed to tuck and run.

“That being the case, we think Barkley will get a lot of little dump-offs and get the ball in space.”

Breakouts, sleepers, busts

Giants rookie wide receiver Malik Nabers will be this season’s breakout player, according to FullTime Fantasy.

“A lot of our high-stakes guys are targeting Malik Nabers. He went in the beginning of the second round,” Ritchie said. “Cardinals rookie Marvin Harrison (Jr.) is another one. He’s going late-first round or early-second round in our drafts. People are expecting big things from those two rookies.”

Another breakout candidate and fantasy draft sleeper is Bills running back James Cook.

“A lot of our guys love James Cook this year,” Ritchie said. “He’s going about the fifth round in our drafts. But he’ll give you top production like the early guys will. Real value.”

Another projected sleeper is Packers tight end Luke Musgrave.

“If you wait on tight end and all the tight ends you like are gone, Luke Musgrave is great,” Ritchie said.

Ritchie said his site expects Dolphins running back De’Von Achane, Texans running back Joe Mixon and Rams running back Kyren Williams to be busts.

“We’re really cold on Achane because … he has to maximize his touches to be as valuable as where he’s being drafted,” Ritchie said. “Williams is going pretty early and he’s an injury (concern), and (the Rams) drafted (running back) Blake Corum.”

Wait on QBs

Ritchie, formerly the world’s top-ranked high-stakes fantasy football player, recommends drafting running backs and receivers before quarterbacks.

“There is so much depth at quarterback now that I’m a big, big believer in waiting and loading up on the other positions,” Ritchie said. “The quarterback depth is a lot better than the running back and receiver depth this year. I would recommend waiting on quarterback and looking at Jayden Daniels, Joe Burrow, Jordan Love and C.J. Stroud. That’s kind of my little area in the ninth, 10th and 11th rounds.

“A lot of people are hot on Jayden Daniels. He’s the new hot shot that a bunch of the high-stakes guys are really targeting.”

The Las Vegas Championships (circadraftseries.com) have a $349 entry fee with $2,500 in league prizes and a $50,000 grand prize. The World Championships have an $1,850 entry fee with $12,000 in league prizes and a $150,000 grand prize.

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on X.