Bold Predictions for 2020 + Rojo, Fantasy News - Fantasy Football Podcast for 9/3

You know, not a full season, but more than half of a season. And he's got the fifth most receiving touchdowns. Fantasy points come from touchdowns. Now, sometimes they come three in a game and it's not very consistent. But they come for Marvin Jones last year. Kenny Gallaudet, dominated. He only had 65 receptions. And he was on pace for 70 with Matthew Stafford. Marvin Jones was on pace for 84 receptions with Matthew Stafford. That's better.

So the receptions are there. The touchdowns are there. And here's the thing. It's not like Marvin Jones is a slot wide receiver dink and dunk guy, so the receptions are higher. Marvin Jones has averaged 15.1 yards per reception, which is the 11th best of qualified wide receivers, those who have at least 33 receptions a year over the last three years. And, you know, that's a really good number. Now, Kenny Gall days is even better than that. So Matthew Stafford.

to Andy's bold prediction, he's going to air it out. Both these guys are going to get touched us, but here's the way I view it. Will Marvin Jones be the number one target? No. No. No. But will he lead the team in receptions? Yes. No. Yes. I believe he will. You know, before this, before this argument, before this bold prediction, I wrote that down and I go, you know what? I know this is, I know I'm being, I'm finding a bold prediction, but I wanted to know how far off I was. I went to my numbers that had already been set it out.

Marvin Jones leading the team in receptions a few ahead of Kenny Gulliday. So he won't be the number one target, but he will lead the team in receptions. Will he lead the team in receiving yards? Probably not. But will he lead the team in touchdowns? I'm going to say yes. Is he being picked 65 players after Kenny Goladay? Yes. Should he be? No. That is my argument. I feel like I'm taking a test right now. I feel like I'm shocked and then I'm telling myself,

Of course I should be shocked. It's a bold prediction show. Yes. Also, I have Marvin Jones with more receptions than Kenny Collins. There you go, because it makes sense for these players, experience, history, archetype, everything. I had the, I traded for Kenny Galladay in one of our leagues last year. So excited to get him in the lineup. And I had them for two weeks. And both weeks were quote unquote Marvin Jones weeks, where the touchdowns go his way. Marvin Jones, do you remember a couple years ago?

that insane 50-50 ball percentage? Yes. Where on the deep passes, he came down with, like, all of them. I think he was a top 12 wide receiver that you, right? Yeah. Marvin Jones is. I love that yours backs up my Matthew Stafford take, though. I really appreciate that. Because both of these guys are great. Here's what this isn't. This is not an anti-Kennie Gallaudet take. Kenny Gallaudet is great. This is a pro Marvin Jones take. Marvin Jones is being drafted too late, and yes, he will be less consistent.

Then Kenny Gallaudet, there's rationale. You know, people aren't dumb in their drafts. And, you know, there's rationale why he's being drafted so far behind. But at the end of the year, I think their fantasy points will be so extremely close or wait the same because that's the bold prediction. Yeah, that is the bold prediction. And, yeah, they got Marvin Hall there too for deep balls. It's going to be fun to watch Detroit, see if they lean into Matthew Stafford's skill set again this year. All right. Am I up? You are. All right. I'm pretty stupid.

Well, you're stupid because of the take you're about to drop. Yeah, I mean, I just don't. I could have picked anything out of a million different bold predictions, and I'm deciding to go down with this one. Do we have? Can I? We have breaking news. Breaking news. I just wanted to double check because, Mike, you looked up yours. Andy Holloway as well has Marvin Jones, the leading receptions. Do I really? Yes, you do. So it doesn't sound very bold then.

Yeah. Okay. All right. That's fair. That got me. And yet, everyone was like, this is crazy bold. This is the bold prediction we all already had, apparently, reception-wise, but didn't know it. My second bold prediction, I might as well lean in here. I mean, I've already got Joe Mixing as my guy. AJ Green might as well be. I've talked up Joe Burrow, his camp performances, how he's been impressing me.

So why not go with Joe Burrow, a record-breaking rookie season, breaks the touchdown record at the quarterback position, and the Cincinnati Bengals find a way to challenge for a wild card spot this year. So do they get it? Do they get it? I know. I knew that question was coming. And of course they do because it's a bold prediction episode. So why not? Look, they challenge for a wild card spot. Eventually they fall a little bit short.

Bold. Hey, listen, I like the fantasy outlook for a number of these players. I even think Tyler Boyd could very well surprise. He's being largely ignored in fantasy football. And what I like about this, I like Zach Taylor. I like the fact that Joe Borough is going to have a chance at this. There are situations as a rookie quarterback. You don't have a shot.

If you're Dwayne Haskins, you have no shot at breaking rookie records or being fantasy relevant in an offense that was handing the ball to Adrian Peterson four times every three plays. But the Bengals do have that shot. They dropped back, their passers last year dropped back 665 times. That was fifth in football. I think he breaks the rookie record, which is 27 touchdowns. That's Baker Mayfield. I think he can.

The one rookie season I don't think he can top fantasy-wise is that Cam Newton rookie season from 2011. That's just going to be, you're going to need to have somebody come in that has the rushing capability that Cam Newton did to break that record. But they have, this is according to Warren Sharp, the Bengals project to face.

the number one fastest schedule by pace of play, which fits right in with what Zach Taylor is doing. They have the number eight easiest schedule and projected defenses in terms of passing efficiency from the 2020 season. And the reason I actually believe in the team having some success is because unlike previous years in Cincinnati, they actually went out and they spent a lot of money on their defense. They had a bit of a spending spree on that side of the ball where they struggled. They still have Gino Atkins in the middle, and they've improved their secondary quite a bit.

Look, it's a bold prediction show. You see teams go from, you know, the bottom tier in terms of projected wins out of Vegas into that surprise category. This one feels like a tough one. I mean, they're projected for five and a half wins, this fourth worst of any team. But I really believe in the fantasy options in Cincinnati, the way they play football is going to be conducive for that. So I'm putting it out there. Joe Burrell breaks the record.

And the Bengals are competitive. All right. Last year on this show, this is where I dropped the Austin Echler is going to be a running back one. At the time, for the record, insane. Let me, let me do this for you, Mike, because you don't. Ah, yes. Mike went two for two on this show last year. Both bold. Both very bold. One was Cooper Cup having leading league in touchdowns.

And then the second one was Austin Echler at top 12, which we were not really on board with last year. Yeah, I was on an island about that one. I know I won't be so much on an island with this one. And look, it's not as hot and spicy as a top 12 pick for Austin Echler, but it's still pretty spicy. Wait, are you going back to Austin Echler? No. Oh, okay. I'm calling for the new Austin Echler.

Chris Thompson will be a top 20 running back by the end of the year. Jacksonville Jaguars. And here is why. Let's look at that backfield. What do we like? Chris Thompson. Yes. Chris Thompson. I'm just processing. And Jacksonville has created a murky backfield situation. These are the places that you can take advantage of and find a breakout candidate. Who is the starter right now for Jacksonville? Is it?

Reikwell Armstead. He's got his supporters, his believers. Divino Zigbo. It's Chris Thompson. Even James Robinson has people in his camp, the rookie. Whose role is secure? Chris Thompson. Since 2015, Chris Thompson has averaged over four and a half targets a game. That's a 74 target a year pace. Since 2015, even with my man missing 20 games, he still has the 11th most targets to the running back position since he has,

started really playing. This team had Leonard Fournett see 100 targets last year. Now let me ask you this. Do we believe that Jacksonville will be seeing more positive game scripts or more negative game scripts? Their defense. Look, spoiler alert for our week one episodes, play against Jacksonville. Start your guys against that defense. So that sounds to me like they're going to need a running back who is a past catching specialist on the field more often than not.

That is Chris Thompson. He averages over nine yards per reception. That is an elite number. In 2017, when he really broke out six of those first seven weeks, he was a top 20 guy. He was top 15 in five of six of those games. He was a fantasy superstar off the waiver wire. In 2018, he started with two top two or top 10 weeks yet again, but unfortunately went down to injury. 2019. He was in the top 20.

In two of the first three weeks, unfortunately, an injury stopped him yet again. That is the only thing in the way of Chris Thompson. Feels like maybe the bold prediction part of this is him staying healthy. Look, he does have one year where he was healthy for all 16 games in 2016. But he's not finished the year as a top 20 before. So that is something he hasn't done. No, he has never done it. But the opportunity is so great in front of him. The offensive coordinator, Jay Grude, and that's who.

That's who Chris Thompson has done all of his damage with. Jay Gruden convinced the team we need to get Chris Thompson into this backfield. Releasing Leonard Fournett is huge for the opportunity, in my opinion, for Chris Thompson. His ADP has taken a bit of a jump for people drafting this, you know, right now and this weekend. But I believe that Chris Thompson by the end of the year can be a top 20 guy and a real fantasy difference maker.

I don't, I don't like it. Yes, let's go. Yes, I totally, I get it. I mean, look. You totally tricked me. Yes, that was my acting. Yes, I got you so good as an actor. All right, hey, I'm going to read you four bold predictions from the listeners on Twitter. I want you to handicap them for me, okay? So just give me percentage odds of it happening and that's all I want. Gardner Minshu, top 10.

Ooh, top 10. I think it can happen, but I will put it down at like 15%. That was the exact number I had. Justin Jefferson outscoring Adam Thielen. Zero percent. Well, injury. No. Five percent. Anthony Miller, a top 15 wide receiver. Zero percent. One percent. 20 percent. Wow.

I almost, my, my bold prediction. Anthony Miller? My bold prediction was so close to being Anthony Miller is, you know, how I had Marvin Jones scores his many points as Kenny Gallaudet. Oh, was the Anthony Miller scores as many points. Your Alan Robinson fade knows no bounds. Darn right. Last one, Jonathan Taylor, top five running back. Top five. 35%. 20%, but I will say this. I immediately went to the schedule already looking at.

who Jacksonville is playing week one because I was going to try to get my start of the weekend for week one already. Oh my goodness. They play the Colts. Yes. You want to give an opportunity for the young gun to, you know, I mean, I was like, do I make it Marlon Mac? Do I go Jonathan Taylor? Yeah, Marlon Mac could end up being like the best running back in week one and nobody plays them. We want to thank pristine auction for supporting the show today. Daniel Jones signed logo football.

$74.49 for an up-and-coming quarterback. And no, it wasn't me who bought it. No, no, not yet. He'll buy it off you. He'll buy it off you for $200. Contact him at FF. Hitman on Twitter. That could be a whole industry. Flipping stuff you get on pristine auction straight to Mike. Just buy your Gibson, your Jarwin, your Daniel Jones, your Chris Thompson gear. Get it cheap on pristine auction at pristine auction. Use the code ballers. Then flip it to Mike for double their money. I've heard worse ideas in my life. All right.

Guys start buying it up. All right, that is it for today's show. Thank you for the bold predictions on Twitter. And look forward to the Bengals winning the Super Bowl. See you tomorrow. Goodbye. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers podcast. Join our fantasy football community on join thefoot.com. And follow us on Twitter at the FF Ballers. Instagram teen accounts have automatic protections for what teens see and who can contact them.

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