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2020 Fantasy Projections: Notable Contract-Year Players (Fantasy Football)

2020 Fantasy Projections: Notable Contract-Year Players (Fantasy Football)

I’ve gotten quite a few questions the past couple of months about what I will be writing on during the NFL season. My co-host on The FantasyPros Football Podcast, Mike Tagliere, obviously has The Primer and it’s an incredibly valuable asset during the season.

Well, this year, I will be writing an article every week that will give you a breakdown of every fantasy relevant player on every team and my projected stats for them in the upcoming matchup. I’ll be utilizing several resources at my disposal to make these as accurate as possible in hopes of helping you construct the best possible fantasy lineup.

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With that being said, I wanted to spend the next couple of weeks giving you a preview into my season-long projections and how I construct my rankings. Each day, you’ll find a different category highlighting ten players and a brief summary on my thoughts for them in 2020. If you’ve missed the previous two articles in this series, you can find the links for those below.

Notable Quarterbacks
Notable Running Backs
Notable Wide Receivers
Notable Tight Ends
Notable RB Battles
Notable Rookies
Notable 2nd-Year Players
Notable Guys On New Teams

Let’s get right to it!

Tarik Cohen, Chicago Bears

RUSH ATT RUSH YDS TDs RECEPTIONS REC YDS TDs FPTS
89 391 2 66 596 4 167.73

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Cohen was fantastic in 2018, but his fantasy production fell off a cliff in 2019 along with the rest of the offense. Cohen actually saw an increased number of targets, but his efficiency took a major hit. Cohen should still be heavily involved in this offense and could very well see over 100 targets again in 2020. As long as he can get back to his old form of breaking away some big plays, Cohen will easily outperform where he’s being drafted. He slides in at RB30 in my Half PPR rankings.

Leonard Fournette, Jacksonville Jaguars

RUSH ATT RUSH YDS TDs RECEPTIONS REC YDS TDs FPTS
240 984 5 49 356 2 200.69

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Fournette hasn’t lived up to expectations after being drafted as the fourth overall pick back in 2017, but he was actually able to find fantasy success last season on the back of 100 targets. With Chris Thompson now in town, it’s going to be near impossible for Fournette to see that level of involvement in the passing game. Fournette will see significant work on the ground, but without that passing volume to supplement his inefficiencies in the run game, Fournette’s not going to be anything more than a RB2 this season.

Kenyan Drake, Arizona Cardinals

RUSH ATT RUSH YDS TDs RECEPTIONS REC YDS TDs FPTS
233 1025 9 46 324 2 233.7

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Drake finally showed the top-end talent he’s had all along after moving from Adam Gase to Kliff Kingsbury. Drake’s a perfect fit in this offense and should be extremely productive again this season. With these stats, Drake lands at RB10 in my season-long rankings.

Joe Mixon, Cincinnati Bengals

RUSH ATT RUSH YDS TDs RECEPTIONS REC YDS TDs FPTS
276 1214 9 40 316 2 238.96

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Mixon’s one of the most talented RBs that the NFL has to offer. He’s a fantastic pass-catcher, but the Bengals simply don’t seem intent on utilizing him in that capacity. If Mixon saw the type of workload that someone like Fournette saw last year, we’d absolutely be talking about Mixon as a candidate to finish as the RB1 at the end of the season. However, as long as Giovani Bernard is on this roster, Mixon has a capped ceiling. With all that being said though, Mixon still finishes as a top-7 RB for me in 2020.

Dalvin Cook, Minnesota Vikings

RUSH ATT RUSH YDS TDs RECEPTIONS REC YDS TDs FPTS
255 1097 8 51 477 2 242.82

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Cook had rumors of holding out this season, but he appears to be all set and ready to go for the 2020 NFL season. While Alexander Mattison should continue to be heavily involved, there’s going to be more than enough work in this backfield for both players. Cook should easily see over 250 carries this season, provided he can stay healthy for all 16 games, and is a solid candidate to finish in the top-5 at the position at season’s end.

Alvin Kamara, New Orleans Saints

RUSH ATT RUSH YDS TDs RECEPTIONS REC YDS TDs FPTS
200 881 8 76 611 3 253.33

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Kamara’s never going to be as heavily utilized as a runner as some of the other names above him on this list, but he makes his mark through his work in the receiving game. This offense should get back to being a high-powered unit, which only means more scoring opportunities for Kamara. With these stats, Kamara slides in at RB4 in my rankings.

James Conner, Pittsburgh Steelers

RUSH ATT RUSH YDS TDs RECEPTIONS REC YDS TDs FPTS
226 860 5 51 404 2 293.66

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It’s never been a question of talent with Conner. He absolutely has the talent to be in the conversation with some of the best in the NFL, but he’s struggled with injuries his first few years in the league. If he wasn’t an injury risk, I’d be comfortable projecting Conner with much more of a workload than what’s listed above. However, with that in mind, I wanted to be more conservative in my projections. These numbers cause Conner to slide in just inside the RB2 threshold in my rankings.

Allen Robinson, Chicago Bears

RECEPTIONS REC YDS TDs FPTS
91 1134 8 206.82

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Robinson was the lone bright spot on a horrific Bears offense last season and there’s no reason to doubt that that should continue into 2020. Robinson should easily see over 130 targets in this offense and he has the talent to make them count. Robinson’s one of my favorite targets in drafts this season and, with these stats, I have him finishing as a top-6 WR. But don’t be surprised if he finishes even higher than that if this offense can get back on track.

Jared Cook, New Orleans Saints

RECEPTIONS REC YDS TDs FPTS
37 522 5 100.89

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Last season, a tight end scored a touchdown (on average) every 130.67 yards. In 2019, Jared Cook scored a touchdown every 78.33 yards. He obliterated the baseline metric for Expected Touchdowns and also averaged 16.4 yards per reception at 33 years old. There’s absolutely no way that Cook repeats those numbers again this season with Emmanuel Sanders and Adam Trautman both in town. Cook’s being absolutely over-drafted right now and there’s a very real chance he doesn’t finish inside the top-15 TEs in 2020.




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Kyle Yates is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Kyle, check out his archive and follow him @KyleYNFL.

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