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20 Fantasy Football Takeaways from the 2020 NFL Draft

20 Fantasy Football Takeaways from the 2020 NFL Draft

What a weekend! Real actual sports happened. Ok, maybe they weren’t played, but you know the NFL Draft is even more fun than preseason football. We learned so much about what will be happening in the upcoming fantasy season and now that we’ve had a few days to let it stew and breathe a little bit, I wanted to process what happened with you all. Today, I’ve got 20 fantasy football takeaways for you from the 2020 NFL Draft. Let’s do this!

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Ryquell Armstead has a chance to be a bell-cow back
Oh, you weren’t expecting me to go here at all, let alone start here, right? I started here because no one is talking about it and it’s important. I want you to have this man on your radar before he rockets up draft boards. The Jaguars have said that they intend on trading Leonard Fournette. They are trying to clear cap space and have no intentions of winning this season so even if they have to take a 6th rounder next year, it still helps them more than it hurts them. The Jags didn’t draft a running back which means Armstead, who runs very much like Chris Carson, would be the clear-cut lead back. He is a great pass-catcher too and it wouldn’t shock me to see him end up as an RB1 with 300+ touches.

Darrynton Evans has league-winning upside
As you can see, I’m not going for the run-of-the-mill analysis right off the bat. We will touch on those pieces that you’ve already heard five times each. This is one player so few are discussing though. Besides Evans, Dalyn Dawkins and Khari Blassingame are the only running backs on Tennesse if Derrick Henry were to get injured. In that scenario, this run-heavy offense with an incredible offensive line would make a young athletic running back like Evans an RB1 right away. I’ll be drafting him late just in case this scenario plays out.

Devin Singletary will continue in a similar role
But wait, Zack Moss, right!? You all know who Moss is right? He’s a Frank Gore clone. Gore had 166 carries last season to lead the team and still, Singletary had 12.3 PPR points per game which was the same as RB19, Phillip Lindsay and above Kareem Hunt, who was supposedly a big deal when he came from his suspension. Singletary may not win you your league but he is an excellent RB3 or RB4 that you can draft in the later rounds and rely upon.

Dak Prescott should be the #3 fantasy QB
I really didn’t think I was going to be saying this because Kyler Murray is a special fantasy football talent and just added DeAndre Hopkins, but the Cowboys might just have the best wide receiver core in football to go with a top-three offensive line. Not only that, but Dak was pretty dang good once again last year. He runs well too and most importantly, passed the ball dang near 600 times. I can’t imagine that is going to change so last year’s QB2 should be off the board by Round 8 this season now that they added CeeDee Lamb and a stellar offensive guard (Tyler Biadasz) to replace Travis Frederick.

Michael Pittman, Justin Jefferson and Denzel Mims have perfect landing spots
If you had told me before the draft that I’d have Jefferson as my rookie WR1 and Denzel Mims ahead of CeeDee Lamb and just behind Jerry Jeudy, I’d have laughed so hard. But landing spots are huge, as you know, and the three listed above landed in the best possible situations. Pittman will start right away with Philip Rivers behind the best offensive line in football. Jefferson takes over for Stefon Diggs as the only other competent wideout on the Vikings opposite of injury-prone Adam Thielen. Then Mims might just be the top wideout right away for a Jets team who has only Jamison Crowder, an injury-prone Qunicy Enunwa and newly signed Breshard Perriman.

Clyde Edwards-Helaire is the easy dynasty 1.01
I know most everyone had one of D’Andre Swift or Jonathan Taylor as their 1.01 before the draft. Heck, even Jeudy and Lamb appeared to be locks over CEH, but then Andy Reid went out and drafted him in the first round before saying he is a better version of Brian Westbrook. Whoa! You can say first round running backs don’t always get a huge workload so CEH isn’t guaranteed to start over Damien Williams, but that doesn’t make it true. The only example we have of that happening is with Pete Carroll a few years ago before Rashaad Penny showed up overweight then broke his hand. Edwards is starting for the best offense in football so don’t get cute and pass him up.

Bryan Edwards might lead the Raiders in targets
Huh? You mean them team that drafted the first wideout in the first round? Yeah. That’s the team. Ruggs is great at what he does but he is not a possession receiver. He’s a gadget player who can break a big run after the catch like Tyler Lockett. That’s a very useful player, especially when your QB doesn’t throw downfield often, but that doesn’t mean he’ll see over 100 targets. Edwards might. Yes, they drafted Lynn Bowden too, but they called him a running back when they drafted him. Edwards is starting as the X-receiver and this a polished NFL-ready wideout who will make for a solid WR5 in your fantasy leagues this season.

Duke Johnson looks like an elite backup RB
We know the Texans want to run the ball right? It doesn’t matter if it makes sense or not. It doesn’t matter if you have one of the best quarterbacks in football. Bill O’Brien is going to do Bill O’Brien things and apparently no one in Houston will hold him accountable for it. So last year, they had Lamar Miller and he got hurt so they added Carlos Hyde. Both of them are gone and now only David Johnson sits in his way. I certainly hope it’s not the case and we actually get to see a healthy DJ, but more than likely, he’ll miss some time or a lot of time and if he does, Duke is the clear-cut three-down backup in a run-heavy offense.

Ryan Fitzpatrick is going to be a great late-round pick
Whoa, hold on a second there, pal; the Dolphins drafted a quarterback fifth overall, dude. Yeah, and he’s recovering from an extremely serious injury. Fitzpatrick was awesome over the second half. This is about him finally having an offensive line. They grabbed Austin Jackson in the first then two plug and play starting guards in Solomon Kindley and Robert Hunt. I can’t wait to see him protected with a healthy Preston Williams on top of DeVante Parker and an emerging Mike Gesicki. After all, there is no sense in drafting a QB for the entire season. Just get the best guy for Week 1 then focus on Week 2’s waiver wire when it comes. Fitzpatrick might just be a top 10 QB in Week 1-6 before the keys are handed over to Tua.

Ke’Shawn Vaughn is going to start Week One
Look, I like Ronald Jones II too. I’d love to see him get his crack as a week in, week out starter in this offense but it just isn’t going to happen. Bruce Arians didn’t draft him and clearly isn’t thrilled with him, otherwise, Dare Ogunbowale and Peyton Barber wouldn’t have been stealing so many touches and snaps from him. Arians has a specific type of running back he has always liked and Jones doesn’t fit the bill. Vaughn does entirely. He will protect Tom Brady and is good enough to post RB2 numbers in this offense even with a 60/40 or 65/35 touch split. He will be a steal in the 8th or 9th round of redraft leagues this season.

Ten other takeaways

  • Todd Gurley won’t have to deal with a split-backfield (they didn’t draft a backup RB)
  • Anthony Miller is going to get plenty of targets (didn’t draft a WR until Rd 6)
  • Jerry Jeudy’s landing spot drops him to rookie WR #5
  • Jonathan Taylor has one of the best offensive lines in football (1.02 in dynasty)
  • D’Andre Swift has the least competition for touches of any rookie RB (1.03 in dynasty)
  • Cam Akers might have the worst offensive line (again)
  • Joe Burrow has some major weapons in CIN (top 15 QB right away)
  • Brandon Aiyuk and Jalen Reagor are solid late-1st dynasty rookie picks (targets available + draft capital)
  • Drew Lock all of a sudden has some fantasy appeal
  • Anthony McFarland has major upside if James Conner gets injured (#2 behind great O-Line)

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