It’s Week 3 of the NFL preseason, featuring so-called “dress
rehearsal” games. As such, the once-cloudy picture of who
we ought to be targeting in fantasy drafts starts to come into focus.
If you’re worried about some of the big names underperforming
this year…well, you should be. They always do. The best way
to ensure you’re prepared for this inevitability, however,
is to make sure you grab some guys who could end up being next summer’s
big names. Following are the list of guys I believe we’ll
all be talking about a year from now.
Note: All rankings are based on FFToday’s default standard
scoring.
A quick reminder of the Top 10 fantasy WRs from last season...
Dez
Bryant, DAL: Maybe it’s the number of games he’s missed
the last couple years (10), but there doesn’t seem to be a lot of
buzz surrounding Bryant this year. I guess that’s understandable
(players can’t help us if they don’t actually play), but trying
to avoid risk in fantasy football, specifically injury risk, is
kinda like trying to avoid traffic during rush hour: not realistic.
Football players get hurt because football is dangerous. End of
story. All things being equal, we should be grabbing the most talented
players we can grab when it’s our turn to do so and Bryant is still
one of the most talented players we can grab at the WR position.
He’s also 100% healthy, which should scare opponents.
You only have to go back to the 2012 through 2014 seasons to see
how dominant this current and former Cowboy (Okie State) can be.
He ranked no worse than No.5 at the position those three years and
was twice the third-best option (2012 and 2014). That’s probably
because he scored 41 touchdowns (!!!) over that time period. Bet
you can guess how many wide receivers scored more. When Dez is healthy
and playing with a legitimate battery mate, there’s basically
no way you’re keeping him out of the Top 10. This just in:
Dak Prescott is a legitimate battery mate.
The looming suspension of Ezekiel Elliott is another reason to get
excited about Bryant this year. If Zeke loses his appeal, the Cowboys
will be without their star meal ticket for half the fantasy season.
Think that might lead to more targets for Dez? Even if they shorten
it to four games, you’re still benefiting from a month’s
worth of a Dez-centric Cowboys attack. Forget the matchup analysis
(pessimistic) making the rounds. He’s too good.
Increased usage plus elite quickness and
speed makes Tyreek Hill a threat to crack the top ten in 2017.
Tyreek
Hill, KC: This other Oklahoma State product was easily
the most exciting player in the NFL last season, parlaying a part-time
role in the Kansas City offense and a full-time role as the Chiefs’
specialty teams ace into 140 total fantasy points, good for 15th
overall at the WR position. Note that this doesn’t even account
for the three return TDs he scored (two punts and one kick), which
may be bonus points for many fantasy owners, depending on the scoring
system. And yet, there seem to be whispers he’s actually overvalued
heading into the 2017 season.
Most pundits are cautioning Hill’s 2016 touchdown rate is
unsustainable and, to be fair, they’re probably right. He
was only used on 40% of the Chiefs’ offensive plays and scored
nine touchdowns from scrimmage. That’s insane. But wait! He
was only used on 40% of the Chiefs’ offensive plays??? What’s
gonna happen when that number approaches something closer to 70%,
which it probably will now that Jeremy Maclin has moved on to Baltimore?
I get the skepticism about his unsustainable TD rate. I get the
skepticism about his size and the accompanying fear of injuries.
I get the skepticism about his ability to be the focal point of
an NFL passing game. I guess I’d counter all that with…have
you seen this guy run?
There isn’t a faster/more explosive player than Hill in the
league and the NFL is stocked with fast/explosive players. If anyone
can figure out how to get the most out of this type of weapon, it’s
a guy like Andy Reid, who’s been doing it for a long, long
time. Even if Coach Reid unplugs him as a kick returner and uses
him judiciously on offense, Hill is guaranteed more touches this
year. More touches = more points.
Terrelle
Pryor, WAS: Like the aforementioned Ty
Montgomery, it took a position switch in order for Pryor, once
a star college quarterback, to come into his own as an NFL player.
Last season, his first as a full-time starter at receiver, he managed
to surpass even the wildest expectations by tallying over 1,000
yards, four TD receptions, and 132.8 fantasy points, good for 22rd
overall at the position. He even managed to garner eight rushing
attempts and play a little quarterback on the side. Like Montgomery,
and some others on this list, what made the former Buckeye so intriguing
was his ability to produce in so many different ways.
He won’t do that this year, unfortunately, but that’s
not necessarily a bad thing. Washington doesn’t need Pryor
to play quarterback. They have Kirk Cousins for that. They don’t
need him to carry the football. They have a bevy of running backs
(Rob Kelley, Samaje Perine, and Chris Thompson) to do that. What
the ‘Skins need Pryor to do is replace the production of two
guys, DeSean Jackson and Pierre Garçon, who accounted for
almost half the receptions/yards the team produced in 2016. Tall
order, right?
Yes, it is and I don’t think he’s actually up for it.
That doesn’t mean he can’t outperform his 2016 numbers
and still fall short of now loftier expectations. Pryor is still
new at this, after all, and will be playing with a new, albeit better,
quarterback in an entirely different system. Nevertheless, he’s
got ideal size to be a matchup nightmare in the red zone and precocious
ball-winning skills down the field. If Kirk Cousins loved throwing
the ball vertically to the speedy Jackson, he’s gonna love
laying ‘em out for the speedy, and significantly larger, Pryor.
Last year was no fluke. Grab him.
