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Fantasy Football Draft Prep: League winners to be selected as targets in each round

You play to win the game. Herm Edwards didn’t talk about fantasy football, but he might as well have been. When assembling your team on Draft Day, your very first thought should be, “How will this guy help me win my league?”

Of course, some people are more helpful than others. In 2019 it was Christian McCaffrey, Lamar Jackson and Michael Thomas. Mark Andrews, Darren Waller, Aaron Jones, and Chris Godwin also helped. Who will these guys be in 2020? We want to find out.

Below I have listed my favorite league winner for each round with at least one honorable mention. Well, almost every lap. The players selected in the first and second round should all be potential league winners. That is the whole reason they are drawn in so high. For the first two rounds, it’s probably better to talk about the players who I don’t think can win a league on their ADP.

Based on ADP, the first three are obvious. If you make a choice for Patrick Mahomes or Lamar Jackson in the first round, you are making a mistake. Same goes for Dak Prescott (or any other quarterback) on Round 2. Yes, Mahomes, Jackson, and Prescott have all shown this kind of upward trend. But they were league winners precisely because they weren’t called up so early. Quarterback is so deep that it just isn’t fair to expect a quarterback to return first round value.

It’s also hard to imagine Josh Jacobs, Nick Chubb or Joe Mixon as a league winner in a PPR league. All three have limited their advantage by not playing a major role in the passing game. Yes, Derrick Henry has the same problem, but he has the advantage of being on a team that is doing as well as any other, behind a good offensive line – oh yes, and he is an athletic specimen like no other that runs backwards League.

But that’s enough negativity. Let’s get to the league winners.

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Conner is the third round to go back with legitimate top 5 results. We saw it in 2018 when Conner ended up as RB6 despite missing three games. We even saw it last year when Conner was the RB9 for the first half of 2019. Yes, there is Jaylen Samuels, Benny Snell and Anthony Mcfarland. But none of them are as talented as Conner. Mike Tomlin’s story is pretty clear. If Conner can stay healthy, he’ll be near 300 touches, and that should mean a top 5 season on the Steelers offensive.

Award: Chris Godwin

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DJ Moore just caught 87 passes for 1,135 yards when a 22 year old passed from Kyle Allen and Will Grier. Oh yeah, and he almost missed two full games. Teddy Bridgewater will be an upgrade at quarterback, bringing Moore 110x benefits. If his touchdown luck improves, he could be a legitimate threat to Michael Thomas and Davante Adams, who are at the top of the PPR rankings.

Award: JuJu Smith-Cobbler

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We’re in lap 5 and it’s getting a little more complicated. Taylor could be a league winner in the form of Miles Sanders who acts as a mid-season rookie posting top 10 numbers. It is also possible, although less likely, that he could dispatch Mack without injury. The key for Taylor will be proving himself in the passing game, where Nyheim Hines remains an obstacle. Despite the downsides, it’s important to note that Taylor is an absolute physical specimen behind one of the best offensive lines in football. While there are reasons why the outbreak may not happen this year, it would be huge if it did.

Award: AJ Brown

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Round 6, Kareem Hunt can contribute to a team win even if Nick Chubb stays healthy. Hunt was in the top 20 in the eight games he shared with Chubb last year, and this year’s Browns will likely have more rewind options. That’s why Chubb is one of my favorite targets at Zero-RB. But the league win comes when something happens to Chubb. In this scenario, Hunt would be my second favorite in fantasy.

Award: Cam Akers

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In week 14 of last year, Chark WR9 was in the PPR standings, between Kenny Golladay and Moore. So I have no idea what the third year recipient is doing here on round 7. Gardner Minshew should be improved in year 2 and Jacksonville’s defense appears to be one of the worst in football. Chark made a big leap last year, but there’s no reason to believe that he improved by the age of 23. He has a legitimate uptrend of 1,200 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Award: AJ Green

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Like Taylor, Dobbins may need an injury to reach his full potential in the first year. But even like Taylor, Dobbins is involved in arguably the best crime in the league and offers a phenomenal prospect, so the upward trend is enormous. The nice thing is that both the Colts and Ravens have plans to add a twist to their newbies at the start of the year so they have every opportunity to earn more work. Don’t be surprised if Dobbins breaks off a few long runs early in the year to Nick Chubb as a rookie. In that case, Dobbins could see 15 touches per game in the second half. In this offensive, that’s enough to be a league winner.

Award: Will Fuller

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Dirk Koetter’s offense achieved an average of 125 goals compared to the previous year. Hayden Hurst is now able to take as many of these as he can. Hurst has the pedigree as a former first round pick and has received rave reviews from Matt Ryan for being the sportiest close end Ryan has ever played with. Austin Hooper was number 3 per game last year, and Hurst has just as many advantages.

Award: Brandin is boiling

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The last time we saw Cam Newton healthy, he was the No. 6 quarterback in Fantasy in 14 games, doing 69% of his passes with more than 400 rushing yards. If he stays healthy in New England, there is no reason to believe that he will not have such an advantage in 2020. The Patriots don’t have great weapons, but neither do the Panthers, and Newton graduated as a top 5 fantasy quarterback every time he’s played 16 games. It’s quickly becoming my favorite late lap target.

Award: Latavius ​​Murray

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It’s not hard to imagine Alexander Mattison becoming the league winner. After all, Dalvin Cook never stayed healthy for 16 games. Mattison averaged 4.6 yards per carry as a rookie and was better than advertised in the passing game. If Cook missed the time, Mattison would be in the top 12 instantly in all formats, and it might not have to be an injury. Lately there have been rumors that Cook’s contract situation could last into the regular season.

Award: Darrell Henderson

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Before tearing up his ACL, Williams guided the dolphins into goals, receptions, and yards. This in his first eight games as a professional. The reports from the training camp were absolutely brilliant about Williams, who appears to have made a full recovery. While DeVante Parker was a star after Williams went down, it sure sounds like there is legitimate competition going on for number 1 in Miami. If Williams wins he could be an absolute bargain in the double digit rounds. I’m already thinking about him in lap 8.

Award: Tony Pollard

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Evans and Edmonds both need injury, but they may have the greatest advantage too. Harris tries to take advantage of Sony Michel’s injury but the New England backcourt is so messed up it’s difficult to project a real uptrend. Herndon is perhaps the most interesting of the group. He is undeniably talented, plays a weak position and almost all Jets receivers missed the time during training camp. The offense against Jets could be very consolidated around Herndon, Jamison Crowder and Le’Veon Bell.

So which fantasy football busts should you absolutely avoid? And which early runback from the board should fade? Head over to SportsLine now for cheat sheets from the model Baker named Mayfield’s disappointing season and find out.

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