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 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
Let’s get right to it!
Josh Jacobs, Las Vegas Raiders
RUSH ATT | RUSH YDS | TDs | RECEPTIONS | REC YDS | TDs | FPTS |
278 | 1222 | 9 | 25 | 217 | 1 | 216.61 |
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Volume is king in fantasy football. The more opportunity a player has, the greater a chance they have of making a huge impact on your fantasy football lineup. Jacobs is going to receive as many carries as he can handle this season and he’ll be a steady contributor for your roster, but he lacks the involvement in the receiving game that would vault him into top-5 consideration at the position. With the resigning of Jalen Richard, plus the addition of versatile receiving weapon Lynn Bowden, Jacobs figures to remain about as involved as a receiver as he was last season. Jacobs has the talent and the skillset to be a true 3-down back, but the Raiders don’t seem intent on using him in that way. Jacobs lands at RB11 in my rankings with these projections.
David Montgomery, Chicago Bears
RUSH ATT | RUSH YDS | TDs | RECEPTIONS | REC YDS | TDs | FPTS |
277 | 1080 | 8 | 34 | 271 | 1 | 205.96 |
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Just like with Jacobs, Montgomery is in for a huge workload this season. While Montgomery failed to live up to expectations last season, he simply has too many opportunities to not be relevant for fantasy football. Montgomery saw 33 carries inside the red zone last season and I don’t see any reason why that would drop off in 2020. If this offense can be slightly functional this season, Montgomery should be in line for a huge season. These numbers place the second year back at RB15 in my season-long rankings.
Marquise Brown, Baltimore Ravens
RECEPTIONS | REC YDS | TDs | FPTS |
59 | 798 | 7 | 151.35 |
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Brown was electric on the field last season, despite battling injuries. Now, Brown appears to be fully healthy and has packed on some weight to help him withstand the beating that NFL receivers take. While Brown should be the clear-cut WR1 on this team, there might not be enough volume to go around to turn him into a locked and loaded every week starter. Brown certainly has huge blowup performances, but he’s too inconsistent to be relied upon as a weekly WR2/WR3. He’s someone I’d love to plug into my FLEX in order to give me the week winning upside. With these projections, Brown slides in at WR42.
Terry McLaurin, Washington Football Team
RECEPTIONS | REC YDS | TDs | FPTS |
81 | 1031 | 6 | 179.32 |
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McLaurin was outstanding last season comparative to where you drafted him. He emerged as one of the league’s most dynamic receiving threats and he should be heavily targeted again this season. This Washington roster has a bunch of unproven players outside of McLaurin, which bodes well for F1’s fantasy outlook in 2020. He finished just below 1,000 receiving yards in 2019 and I’m projecting that he gets over that threshold slightly this year. These numbers land McLaurin at WR22 in my season-long rankings.
DK Metcalf, Seattle Seahawks
RECEPTIONS | REC YDS | TDs | FPTS |
71 | 992 | 9 | 188.57 |
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Metcalf should’ve been drafted much higher than he was in the 2019 NFL Draft. He’s a supreme talent at the WR position and should continue to ascend with a full season in the NFL under his belt. Metcalf was targeted 17 times inside the red zone last season, but only reeled in five receptions for 47 yards and four touchdowns. If Metcalf can remain that heavily targeted, but can see his catch percentage bounce up to even 50%, he could easily outperform my projection here of nine receiving touchdowns on the season. Metcalf slides in at WR18 in my rankings.
TJ Hockenson, Detroit Lions
RECEPTIONS | REC YDS | TDs | FPTS |
46 | 505 | 5 | 141.68 |
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Hockenson certainly has the talent to break out and be a star for fantasy football purposes, but injuries may prevent that from happening anytime soon. Hockenson claims that his ankle is not yet 100%, which doesn’t exactly instill confidence in his 2020 fantasy outlook. Hockenson might get off to a slow start this season, which brings down his overall numbers. With these projections, Hockenson falls just outside my top-18 TEs.
Noah Fant, Denver Broncos
RECEPTIONS | REC YDS | TDs | FPTS |
51 | 638 | 5 | 119.25 |
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Fant was great as a rookie for fantasy football purposes, but a revamped receiving corps may pause his assumed ascension this season. With Jerry Jeudy, KJ Hamler, Phillip Lindsay, Melvin Gordon, Courtland Sutton, and Albert Okwuegbunam all in town now, it’s hard to see how Fant will see enough targets to be a reliable option this year. He’ll certainly have games where he can be plugged in as a streamer, but that might be all in 2020. Fant falls outside my top-12 TEs with these projections.
Gardner Minshew, Jacksonville Jaguars
ATT | COMP | PASS YDS | TDs | INTs | RUSH ATT | RUSH YDS | TDs | FPTS |
576 | 370 | 3905 | 22 | 10 | 68 | 292 | 2 | 265.42 |
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Did you know that Minshew ran for 344 yards and averaged 5.13 YPC in 14 games? He’s more athletic than the public realizes and rushing yards for a QB are extremely valuable. While I’m not expecting this Jaguars team to be very competitive in 2020, Minshew can be productive and put up some solid fantasy numbers. Minshew’s unlikely to be a consistent weekly starter, but he can absolutely be a viable streaming candidate several times this year.
Daniel Jones, New York Giants
ATT | COMP | PASS YDS | TDs | INTs | RUSH ATT | RUSH YDS | TDs | FPTS |
560 | 358 | 3873 | 25 | 16 | 53 | 290 | 2 | 263.94 |
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Jones showed much better than many were projecting his rookie season, but he still struggled to take care of the football. This season, Jones has a brutal start to his schedule and goes up against some top-tier defenses right out of the gates. While Jones may end up with nice passing numbers like I’m projecting above, the interception and fumble numbers may be too high for him to finish as a top-12 option. Jones and Minshew are neck and neck in my rankings, but both fall outside the top-15.
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Kyle Yates is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Kyle, check out his archive and follow him @KyleYNFL.