Fantasy Football Player Notes

It was a down year for the now-23-year-old in 2019 as he battled through injuries and incompetent quarterback play. All that changes in 2020 as he's healthy and has Ben Roethlisberger under center. Not just that, either. They're moving him back to the slot almost full time, which will help his efficiency. The Giants secondary might be the worst in the league, even though they did acquire James Bradberry as a free agent. Outside of him, their cornerback depth chart goes Corey Ballentine, Brandon Williams, Darnay Holmes, and Isaac Yiadom. They recently added Logan Ryan, who can cover the slot, but might be listed at safety due to the recent injury to Xavier McKinney. Even if he were to come down into the slot, it's not as if it's a matchup you'd avoid. Ryan allowed 69-of-97 passing last year for 766 yards and five touchdowns in his coverage. He was the slot cornerback who was most targeted in the NFL with the closest seeing 85 targets. It's Roethlisberger's first game back, so we have to be a little cautious, but the matchup is too good to pass up playing Smith-Schuster as at least a WR2 with true WR1 upside.

This will be Johnson's first full game with Ben Roethlisberger under center, as he played just 24 snaps in the first game last year (but still saw five targets), and then 26 snaps in the second game where Roethlisberger was hurt halfway into the contest. Did you know that even as a rookie, Johnson led the NFL in yards of separation at target for perimeter wide receivers? Keep in mind that's despite horrendous quarterback play. Johnson will play the Antonio Brown role in the offense, so if he's getting separation, he has massive target potential. The downside is that he'll probably see a lot of the Giants top cornerback James Bradberry. He's had some ups and downs in his career, but overall, he's a rock-solid cornerback. He was the bright spot in an otherwise horrendous Panthers defense last year, allowing just two touchdowns on 80 targets in his coverage. However, if the Giants play sides and keep him at RCB, it could be a free-for-all against Corey Ballentine, who was tagged for 392 yards and four touchdowns on just 43 targets and 180 snaps in coverage. Johnson has true breakout potential this year, and depending on how the Giants approach him, it could start this week. Consider him a low-end WR3 with some volatility baked in. *Update* Apparently, Johnson is dealing with some sort of toe injury that kept him out of practice on Thursday. They say it's not an issue, but we must monitor it as the weekend approaches.

It's going to be very interesting to see how the Steelers get Ebron on the field a lot this year, as they are a team that run 3WR sets 70 percent of the time. That means they'll either have one tight end on the field, or they'd have to go without a running back to have two tight ends on the field. So, why can't that be Ebron as the one tight end? Well, he's a horrendous blocker, and that's an issue for a lot of teams, as it makes them predictable when he's on the field. The Giants weren't bad against tight ends last year, as they allowed just 63.2 percent of passes to them be completed, which ranked as the second-best mark in football. That doesn't bode well for Ebron, who's caught just 62.9 percent of passes in his career. The silver lining for Ebron is that the Giants lost their starting safety Xavier McKinney to IR just two weeks before the season, which can expose their lack of depth. Again, my concern is how and when they get Ebron on the field. Hey, they could surprise me and have him out there as a full-time player, but they decided to pay McDonald $5.1 million to be on the team this year. I'm going to see how the snaps play out before trusting them in season-long leagues, though Ebron is clearly my favorite option.