Fantasy Football: 7 Veterans Who Were Negatively Impacted By the Draft

Rex Burkhead, RB, New England Patriots

Pre-Draft ADP: 88

We've established that teams aren't likely to invest first round draft capital in a running back unless they plan on getting him the ball. That should leave it as little surprise that we now turn to the New England Patriots, the third and final team to select a running back on Day 1 this year.

Rex Burkhead was a popular fantasy target in the crowded New England backfield in 2017. He ended up ranking third among the team's running backs in carries (64) and accounting for only 23.8% (36) of the team's running back targets, although he did have some usable weeks.

Burkhead had been back on the radar early in the offseason, when the Patriots re-signed him while letting Dion Lewis (who led the backfield in touches in 2017) walk, but the addition of Sony Michel will likely go a long way to fill the void left by Lewis.

Lewis did most of his work on the ground (his 35 targets were less than half of James White's 72, but he out-carried White 180 to 43), but his efficiency in the pass game did make him a more versatile option than a bruiser like Mike Gillislee.

Michel profiles in a similar way. Two of his last three college seasons saw him catch 20-plus passes, while he ran the ball at least 150 times in each of those three years. In 2018, Michel probably won't cut into White's role as the team's featured pass-catching back, but his ability to be versatile on early downs puts him in direct competition with Burkhead for the touches vacated by Lewis.