Bold Predictions: Russell Wilson, Adrian Peterson, Derek Carr

Each year droves of football writers and fans will make strong predictions for the coming NFL season. These can be from the wonderfully outlandish, to the run-of-the-mill, but it is all in good fun and interesting to look back on once the year has come and gone.

Here at FantasyPros, we also like to make bold fantasy football predictions. In other words, these are unlikely, but not impossible. Here are five from writer Tom Woods.

1) Russell Wilson to Jimmy Graham will be the most valuable fantasy connection this year
Ever since the Seattle Seahawks drafted Russell Wilson, their offense has been crying out for a tight end. Despite the absence of top-tier wide receivers, the former Wisconsin Badger has never fallen outside the top-10 in passer rating. The lack of a quality receiving corps has also seen the quarterback have to scramble more than Seattle would presumably like. This was likely the main reason for Wilson’s less-than-amazing passing yards and touchdowns. Fortunately, the addition of Jimmy Graham could change all of that.

Graham is a big-bodied tight end with a basketball background, and will give Wilson a massive target to aim for. He’s also a big scoring presence with a touchdown in 65 percent of his career games, so together the two Seahawks could be one of fantasy football’s most fruitful pairings this season. They’ll likely have a lot of competition from the likes of Tony Romo and Dez Bryant, Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown and Matt Ryan and Julio Jones. Not to mention, there’s the small matter of double coverage that the tight end will likely have to overcome often. However, the potential for plenty of fantasy points is most certainly there.

2) Adrian Peterson will finish top-10 overall among fantasy scorers
On the surface, this may not seem like a bold prediction. After all, Adrian Peterson is one of, if not the most talented player in the entire National Football League. But when you consider that only two non-quarterbacks, DeMarco Murray and Le’Veon Bell, cracked the top 10 in fantasy scoring last year, it’s clear that ‘All Day’ will have to play extremely well to get there.

And, like seven of the last eight years would suggest, he is more than capable of doing just that. 2014 aside, Peterson has yet to go a season without double-digit touchdowns and has only failed to reach 1,000 rushing yards once, falling just 30 yards short in an injury-shortened 2011 campaign. One possible knock on him this season is that he may be rusty after missing 15 games last year, but he also has had time to recuperate by not coming straight off the back of 300-plus carries. There also has to be concerns about whether Peterson’s head will truly be in it after expressing his disappointment with the Vikings franchise for their lack of support last year.

Another double-digit touchdown campaign and 1,500+ yards will give Minnesota’s main man a good chance of being a top-10 fantasy football player by the end of 2015.

3) Not a single Philadelphia Eagle will crack the top-10 at any fantasy position
The Philadelphia Eagles are one of the most highly-anticipated teams of 2015 thanks to the wheeling and dealing ways of head coach Chip Kelly. He sent Nick Foles to St Louis in return for Sam Bradford, swapped LeSean McCoy for Kiko Alonso, and didn’t re-sign Jeremy Maclin. He also drafted Nelson Agholor and penned one of this offseason’s hottest free agents, DeMarco Murray, to a five-year deal. To a lot of people, they’re favorites to win the NFC East – even Dallas Cowboys’ legend Michael Irvin thinks so.

But even if they do win the NFC East, even if they do have a winning record and make the playoffs – they will NOT have any fantasy players in the top-10 at any position (excluding IDP). That’s right, even Murray, last year’s seventh-highest scoring player, won’t even make the top ten among running backs running behind a line inferior to Dallas’, especially now that they’ve lost Evan Mathis. Their D/ST also won’t crack the top 10, even after finishing as a runner-up to the Buffalo Bills in 2014.

4) Derek Carr will score more fantasy points than Ryan Tannehill
Ryan Tannehill was a third-year breakout player last year and finished with the eighth-most fantasy points among quarterbacks. Even though Oakland Raiders’ rookie Derek Carr didn’t score as many fantasy points as the Miami Dolphin, he performed admirably with limited weapons and a mediocre offensive line. Tannehill is expected to do well again this year with Kenny Stills as the deep threat, rookie DeVante Parker offering another passing outlet and veteran Pro Bowlers Greg Jennings and Jordan Cameron getting in on the action. A solid running game and a defense that could help Tannehill and company get good field position should provide plenty of opportunities to score fantasy points.

However, Derek Carr could offer some improvement of his own. Now instead of James Jones being the main target, Carr will have Michael Crabtree and highly-touted draftee Amari Cooper to aim for. After a good rookie season, Carr has plenty of promise heading into his sophomore year behind an offensive line which has apparently “improved.” The brother of ex-Houston Texans QB David Carr could step up his game to  outdo Tannehill and earn more fantasy points. It’s unlikely, but it wouldn’t be a bold prediction otherwise.

5) Le’Veon Bell will be fantasy’s best back despite a suspension
At the beginning of April, it was announced that Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2013 second-round pick Le’Veon Bell had been suspended by the league for violating their substance abuse policy. As a result, he’ll miss Pittsburgh’s first three games of the year, and will have only 13 games to reach the same heights that he did in 2014. But despite a shortened season, Bell can still score more fantasy points than any other running back in the game.

As a dual-threat player, the former Spartan scores points from catching the ball almost as well as he runs with it. Last season, he was Ben Roethlisberger’s second-favorite target behind Antonio Brown, and only trailed him in the passing yards and receptions. In addition, Bell had more rushing yards than any other player on the roster and had over 230 more carries than the next-closest player, LeGarrette Blount.

He will obviously have a lot of competition from the likes of Adrian Peterson and Jamaal Charles. But if his fellow backs fail to live up to expectations, then Le’Veon Bell could be the best option at the position.

Tom Woods is a correspondent at FantasyPros. To read more from Tom, check out his archive and follow him @RealTomWoods.