Seth Vigdor
Every season, we all have predictions for how we think things will play out during the course of the year. The game of Fantasy Football is very unpredictable though. From injuries to the emergence of new stars, things generally don’t shake out how we anticipate they will. Even the greatest of Fantasy experts have difficulties projecting a season. For example, let’s take a look at a couple of Mr. Fantasy, Matthew Berry’s bold predictions for last season.
Berry said: Montee Ball will be the number one RB in all of Fantasy Football.
Reality: Ball played in 5 games last year, rushing 55 times for 172 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 fumble. Those were despicable numbers.
Berry said: RG3 is a top 5 Fantasy QB
Reality: Welp. Griffin played in 9 games and was 147-214 for 1,694 yards and threw for 4 touchdowns, 6 interceptions and had 5 fumbles. Again, those are hideous numbers.
To Berry’s credit, each year he does nail few of his bold predictions. All of this to say, there’s no exact science to Fantasy predictions. Let’s have some fun now and let me put my Vigstradamus cap on. Let’s take a look at my bold predictions for the upcoming season.
Eli Manning will be a fantasy stud
My bold prediction for Eli Manning is that he finishes the season as a Top 7 QB. The Giants are a funky team in the sense that every couple of years, they come out of nowhere and make a run at that Super Bowl. Now I’m not being that bold here because that would just be insane for me to predict that. But, I do think that Manning will be drastically better than he was last year, which shouldn’t be difficult as you can’t get much worse than he played last year. Manning was 379-601 for 4,410 yards and he threw 30 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. Manning has arguably the best wide receiver in the game with Odell Beckham, Jr. and the Giants have added Shane Vereen to their backfield, so I expect them to be much improved. Also, I see a decline coming for some QB’s that would typically be ahead of Manning, like Brees, and Newton, so I expect Manning to be one of the better QB’s in Fantasy this season.
Ameer Abdullah will be the Lions’ running back of the present – and future
The cat is out of the bag on Ameer Abdullah. This kid is such a stud that it’s unreal. However, my bold prediction is that this kid is so much of a stud, that not only will he wrestle the starting RB gig away from Joique Bell later in the season, but that this will end up being Joique Bell’s last season in Detroit because of it. Bell has been hampered by a knee injury in the offseason, but he will be the lead back for the Lions to start the season. In an ideal world, Bell and Abdullah could coexist and form a dynamic duo in the Lions backfield. But as we’ve seen over the last couple of seasons, Bell has a hard time staying healthy. Abdullah is just so explosive, that I foresee him forcing the Lions’ coaching staff to start him over Bell after the latter fails to perform at a high level again this year.
https://vine.co/v/edxj95XULeA
As you can see from above, the kid has some moves on him.
Julio Jones will have the best season of his career
My bold Julio Jones prediction is that he will finish the season as the #1 WR in Fantasy this year. I’ve talked about him in my previous article that ranked wide receivers, and the more that I think about the situation that Jones is in, the more I bump him up in my expectations for him. It’s a new season, he has a new coach, a new offensive system, the Falcons have no running game and they have no other legit WR’s for Matt Ryan to throw to. There’s no reason that Jones won’t be the number one target on the team and as we’ve seen in the past, Jones is capable of scoring with big plays in a short amount of time. I feel that Jones has been like a brewing volcano getting ready for eruption. I think that this the year that Mount Julio blows the lid off of the joint.
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Brandon Marshall, despite having crap for QB, will continue his outstanding career
Brandon Marshall’s 2014 season was marred by injury and poor QB play from Jay Cutler. In the offseason, Marshall was traded to the N.Y. Jets. Upon initial review, one might say that it’s terrible for his Fantasy value. However, something magical happened. In true Jets fashion, Geno Smith got sucker punched by one of his teammates and as a result, he’ll be forced to miss a few weeks in the season due to a broken jaw. This unfortunate incident will open the door for Ryan Fitzpatrick to step in and help the Jets. Fitzpatrick isn’t an amazing QB, but he is a game manager and what every true game manager needs is a reliable player to go to when in need. That’s where Brandon Marshall comes into play. I say that when the season is all said and done, Marshall is one of the top 8 WR’s in the league.
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Anquan Boldin will have the best year of his career – or close to it
A team that I think will struggle mightily during the season is the San Francisco 49ers. But, this is Fantasy we’re talking about, so even on the worst of teams, there are shining stars. In the 49ers case, I think that star will be Anquan Boldin. Boldin is currently ranked 76 in Yahoo and has an ADP of 97 in ESPN leagues. I don’t think his QB, Colin Kaepernick is very good, but I do think that he has a strong arm. I think Boldin will bail Kaepernick out a great deal this year, and my bold prediction is that I think that he’ll finish in the overall top 60 players this year, especially in PPR leagues.
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Jay Ajayi will test Lamar Miller’s starting job
This is perhaps my boldest prediction of them all, as the player that this involves is on Injured Reserve currently and is essentially unavailable to return until mid-season. Plus, I know many of you are asking yourself who the heck Jay Ajayi is. My bold prediction is that Jay Ajayi will emerge from this season as a true threat to Lamar Miller’s starting job next year. Ajayi is the 6’0”, 228 pound, rookie running back out of Boise State. If you know me, you know that I’ve never been a fan of Lamar Miller. While I believe Miller is talented, I just don’t trust the guy. The Dolphins are slowly but surely improving on both sides of the ball. As I said in my Overall Top 100 Fantasy Players article https://phillyinfluencer.com/2015/08/your-top-100-overall-fantasy-football-players/, if Miller doesn’t produce this year, never again will I target him. I think the Dolphins will approach the situation the same way. Ajayi rushed for 3796 yards in three years in College and I believe the Dolphins have stumbled upon their back of the future. It’s now or never time for Lamar Miller and I say it’s never. Look for Ajayi to make a name for himself this year and be in the conversation for the Dolphins starting running back next year.
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Sam Bradford will lead the Eagles to a championship game
Perhaps the most intriguing storyline to watch going into the Season is how healthy Sam Bradford is this year. If healthy, the Philadelphia Eagles will make lots of noise around the league this year. However, on the other end of the Spectrum, if Bradford can’t stay healthy, the Eagles Super Bowl hopes are screwed royally because the Butt Fumbler, Mark Sanchez is just not good enough to take the team deep into the playoffs. My bold prediction for Sam Bradford is that he will manage to play 12 games this year and will lead the Eagles to the NFC Championship game.
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Chris Johnson will be the best running back in the Cardinals’ backfield
A backfield that I’m very unimpressed with is the Arizona Cardinals backfield. I think that Andre Ellington couldn’t stay healthy if his life depended on it and that leads me to my bold prediction that Chris Johnson, who signed with the Cardinals a couple weeks ago, will not only be the best RB on the team, but he will produce big time for them. I can’t remember the last time that Johnson was relevant in Fantasy, but I think he turns out to be a solid RB2, once Ellington goes down with another injury. I think Johnson finishes the season ranked higher than guys like Joique Bell, Isaiah Crowell and LeGarrette Blount.
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Doug Martin will return to his rookie season form
Instead of where’s Waldo, last season it was more like, where’s Doug Martin? It’s hard to imagine that after the sensational year that he had a couple years back that he could be so dreadful, but he was last year. It wasn’t all injury related either last year. Martin lacked a burst of speed and was unable to make anything happen. This year, I think Martin makes like Stella and gets his groove back. My bold prediction for Martin is that he finishes the season as one of the league’s top 15 RB’s.
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We’ve seen the last of the best of Jamaal Charles
I love Jamaal Charles as a player, but my bold prediction for him is that this is the year we start to see the decline of Charles’ career. If Charles was on any other team, maybe the decline that I expect to see, wouldn’t be that noticeable. However, there’s a stallion patiently waiting in the background to get his shot and his name is Knile Davis. Davis has been waiting in the wings for a couple of years now. Anytime Davis has been called on, he’s been a beast. For instance, last year in week 3 against the Dolphins, Davis carried the ball 32 times for 132 yards and 1 touchdown. Those are beastly numbers. Add to the equation, that Andy Reid doesn’t know how to properly use Charles, I think that this is the year that there’s a seismic RB shift in the Chiefs organization.
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We are now just a few days away from the 2015 season starting and it’s always fun to take a stab at what’s going to happen during the season and I have no problems putting my predictions on paper, so that I can go back and revisit just how off or how dead on I was. I have a good feeling about some of my predictions, but now it’s time to see how the season plays out.
You can stay up to date with everything fantasy football related by following me on Twitter (@ViggieSmalls765) and Instagram. I’ll be available on Twitter for upcoming Twitter Chats and to give out advice to help guide you through your fantasy season.