Antonio Brown Fantasy Production Could Cause Tom Brady's Value to Skyrocket

Believe it or not, Tom Brady was something of an afterthought in fantasy football drafts this summer. The man who many deem to be the greatest quarterback of all time had an average draft position (ADP) of QB14 in Yahoo! Fantasy Football leagues.

Brady's ADP was largely the result of underwhelming fantasy season in 2018. He finished as QB16 and posted his lowest passer rating (97.7) since 2014. However, now that the New England Patriots have signed Antonio Brown, Brady's fantasy value has improved significantly.

Tom Brady Fantasy Outlook

Entering the offseason, there was little reason to believe Brady would rebound this year. The Patriots were the third most run-heavy team in the NFL last season, and that rushing volume severely capped Brady's ceiling. He was also staring at a lackluster skill-position group that didn't featured many established options outside of Julian Edelman and Philip Dorsett.

That certainly isn't the case now. With AB, Josh Gordon and Edelman at his disposal, Brady has an embarrassment of riches. In fact, it might even be the best group of weapons he's had since the 2007 season.

And that's important, since Brady was significantly more productive when he had his top weapons on the field last season. Brady played the first four games of the season without Edelman, who was suspended, and Gordon, who was not with the team yet. Brady finished as QB23, averaging 16.1 fantasy points per game during that span.

Once he got both Gordon and Edelman back, he looked like a different player. From Week 5-15, Brady averaged 18.5 fantasy point per game and finished as QB12. That's a significant spike in production and it doesn't even account for the fact that Brady will now have Brown at his disposal.

If the Patriots can find a way to keep Gordon, Edelman and AB on the field for the rest of the regular season, it's hard to imagine New England running the ball as much as it did in 2018.

The early returns were great. Brady threw for 341 yards and three touchdowns against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 1, a feat he only managed twice in the 2018 regular season. His arm looked as strong as ever, as Brady connected with Gordon on a 44-yard deep ball, and Dorsett on another 58-yard bomb.

With arguably the best receiving group he's had in the last decade, and a potential uptick in attempts, Brady has a real shot at posting a monster season. If you don't own him, you'd be wise to try and trade for him before he plays his first game with AB.

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Max Staley is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Max Staley also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username mstaley1212. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.