Fantasy football favorites: 30 players to know -- in 30 words or less -- for your 2024 drafts

We're at that time of the year when the spoken word simply cannot be trusted.

When leaders in this nation take to the microphone to rally their fans and plead for your pledged support.

When the only difference between truth and fiction is a difference of opinion on the left or the right.

Wait, did you think I was talking about politics?

Preseason games are now underway, and we're officially four Thursdays away from the kickoff of the 2024 NFL regular season.

That means it's officially fantasy football season once more. Training camp and fantasy are synonymous these days for marking the beginning of the coach speak carousel, too.

It's that time of the year when most of the 32 NFL coaches around this country will spew lies upon lies onto our most trusted beat reporters. Injury-plagued players will soon be marked into miracle recovery men, and "he'll be ready for Week 1" will be the most commonly used phrase for torn ACLs, PCLs, MCLs and everything in between. Seemingly every rookie will become the next "Franchise X" generational talent over the next four weeks. Oh, and don't you think I forgot about the dreaded "we're going to throw to our running backs more" line.

Case in point: it's time to filter through the noise and win ourselves some championships.

Coach speak is often the biggest fantasy killer, whether it's your upcoming home league draft or trying to set your starting lineups week by week during the regular season. It's a problem that's plagued our (fantasy football) nation since its inception, so much so that it's even spawned its own website, www.coachspeak.com, to track every lie and truth told over the past six years.

But we'll have plenty of time to discuss training camp position battles and our favorite players to draft in the coming weeks. A lot has happened since the conclusion of Super LVIII and the NFL draft, so consider this column a fantasy course refresher of sorts, filtered down into a '30 for 30' format that's easy to consume. I therefore leave you, my fantasy friends, with 30 fantasy players to know, in 30 words or less, for the upcoming 2024 NFL regular season.

Fantasy QBs to know

— No player averaged more fantasy points per snap (0.43) in 2023 than ... Colts QB Anthony Richardson ... Josh Allen, who led all QBs in fantasy scoring, averaged 0.36 points per snap ...

— Kyler Murray was a T10 fantasy QB after returning from a torn ACL in Week 10 ... he's now fully healthy and enters 2024 with top draft prize Marvin Harrison Jr. ...

— Jayden Daniels rushed for 2,019 yards and 21 touchdowns in two LSU seasons ... His 1,134 rushing yards last year would've been third-most ever in a season by an NFL QB ...

— Dak Prescott was fantasy's leading QB scorer in Weeks 10-18 and ranked third in points per game during that stretch, only behind Allen/Lamar Jackson ... He's currently being drafted as QB9 ...

— Joe Burrow was QB4 in Weeks 5-10, sandwiched between an early-season calf injury and a season-ending elbow injury. CIN drafted two uber-athletic TEs and also selected Alabama WR burner Jermaine Burton ...

Fantasy QRBs to know

— Raheem Mostert, last year's overall RB3, is now 32 years old ... De'Von Achane, 22, was last year's RB4 ... on 11 fewer TDs, a stat which varies wildly year to year ...

— Kyren Williams, last year's RB2, hasn't eclipsed 12 games played in any season ... LAR drafted Blake Corum in Round 3. He totaled 527 touches in his last two college seasons ...

— Isiah Pacheco was the overall RB6 in Weeks 15-18 last season and ran away with the Chiefs' starting job in the postseason ... he's currently being taken RB13 in fantasy drafts ...

— Rachaad White was RB4 in total fantasy points during the second half of 2023 and ranked third in RB receptions (31) during that stretch ... he's currently being drafted as RB12 ...

— No RBs saw more carries from Weeks 15-18 than ... Najee Harris and Zamir White ... Pittsburgh and Las Vegas project near the top of the league in rushing attempts in 2024 ...

— The Packers used a Round 3 pick on USC's MarShawn Lloyd, who boasts a 93rd-percentile speed score and could end up being fantasy's most coveted handcuff back in 2024 ...

— Joe Mixon ranked as the RB7 (points per game) in the second half of 2023 as the Bengals starting RB ... Zack Moss, two years younger, now takes over the same backfield ...

— Fellow Cinci tailback Chase Brown enters Year 2 having averaged 4.1 yards per carry and 11.1 yards per catch over his final six games of 2023 ... he's a high-upside handcuff ...

— The aforementioned Joe Mixon joined Houston this offseason and could stand to see some of the lightest boxes of his life with opposing defenses hellbent on stopping C.J. Stroud and company ...

— Speaking of RBs, the Steelers' Jaylen Warren was the RB22 in full PPR scoring last season ... with the arrival of run-heavy OC Arthur Smith, he could soon enter the T10 discussion ...

Fantasy WRs to know

— D.J. Moore and Keenan Allen were both top-10 fantasy WRs in 2023 ... in 2024, they are being drafted as WR19 and WR 29, respectively, despite play-calling upgrades for both ...

— Tank Dell was the WR3 overall from Weeks 9-12 ... He's currently being drafted 27 spots behind fellow Texans WR Stefon Diggs and 41 spots behind Nico Collins ...

— Brian Thomas Jr. led the FBS in receiving scores in 2023 and had the second-best WR 40-yard dash time ... he now enters a Jacksonville offense with no No. 1 WR ....

— Fellow rookie Ladd McConkey had a 94th-percentile 40-yard dash at the combine and now enters a seemingly barren Chargers WR room ... yet he's being drafted as the WR43 overall ...

— Xavier Worthy had the best 40-yard dash combine time ... but is currently being drafted behind Chiefs WRs Hollywood Brown and Rashee Rice, who could miss four-plus games due to suspension ...

— From Weeks 16-18, two Packers WRs ranked top 10 in fantasy points per game ... Jayden Reed and Dontayvion Wicks ... Reed is currently being drafted as WR35, and Wicks WR66 ...

Fantasy TEs to know

— Sam LaPorta is currently being drafted as the TE1 for 2024, but it was Cleveland's David Njoku who actually led all TEs in fantasy scoring from Weeks 10-18 in 2023 ...

— Only seven TEs averaged more than 10 half-PPR points per game last year ... three are currently being drafted outside the overall top-60 picks (Evan Engram, George Kittle and Njoku) ...

— Upon becoming Arizona's starting TE, Trey McBride turned in four different weekly performances of TE3 or better ... He's currently being drafted 14 spots behind Travis Kelce and 22 behind LaPorta ...

— Noah Fant is being drafted as TE25 (186th overall) despite Colby Parkinson and Will Dissly vacating 56 targets from 2023 ... He's a prime breakout candidate under new OC Ryan Grubb ...

— CIN signed Mike Gesicki in March, but don't sleep on rookies Erick All (Iowa) and Tanner McLachlan (Arizona) ... McLachlan boasts an 89th-percentile 40-yard dash and 87th-percentile catch radius ...

Players with red flags for re-draft leagues

— D'Andre Swift was the first signing of free agency and is coming off a T25 fantasy season ... but he now joins a loaded backfield with Roschon Johnson and Khalil Herbert ...

— Same goes for Bears rookie WR Rome Odunze, a top-10 draft pick ... who now has to compete with Allen, Moore and Cole Kmet for targets ... from a rookie QB ...

— To wrap up our rookie WR pessimism for the week, let's shift focus to Panthers WR Xavier Legette ... who will struggle with Diontae Johnson and Adam Thielen hogging targets in CAR ...

— Arrows down for Raiders rookie TE Brock Bowers ... who joins an LVR team with subpar QB play and will be competing for target scraps left behind by Davante Adams ...

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Chris Dell is the founder of BettingPredators.com, a former fantasy football/sports betting lead analyst for ESPN 97.5 and recently won first place out of 235 analysts in the FantasyPros Fantasy Football Accuracy rankings competition. He's also the sports editor at the Post-Gazette.