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Bill'S ADVICE
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As we all know, the Super Bowl is Sunday and it ends the 2011 NFL season. For us fantasy sports fanatics, we have little downtime as pitchers and catchers will begin reporting soon and we will begin our preparation for the 2012 fantasy baseball season, though many of us have already started.
The problem with shifting gears into a different sport is that we tend to forget who played well down the stretch in the NFL and could be primed for bigger years in 2012. These are players you want to earmark and evaluate their projected draft position for next season and consider taking them in the prior round since we are projecting them to outplay their draft position. So, save this list until summertime and dust it off when starting your fantasy football season prep work.
Momentum Players For 2012:
- Matt Ryan - As the season wound down, Ryan continued to get stronger. He had less than 18 fantasy points in only one game in the last third of the season. This will be forgotten next season and Ryan will be lumped in the middle of the second tier of QBs, who start getting drafted around the 8th or 9th round. However, even with an aging Tony G, the Falcons have turned into a passing team and will continue to do more throwing in 2012, thus making Ryan a steal in those rounds.
- LeGarrett Blount – Blount was hampered by injuries this year, but should bounce back strong in 2012 under new coach Greg Schiano. Schiano will return the team to a run-first offense and Blount will be the benefactor of that focus. After a weak 2011 campaign, he’ll be available in the fourth round.
- Ryan Mathews – The Chargers will be considered a passing team as long as Philip Rivers is under center. While that may be true, they do run quite a bit. As long as Mike Tolbert is around, people will assume that it is a RB committee in San Diego and that is a mistake. At 5 ypc, the Chargers will try to give him 20 carries a game next year. He had 8 games that he had 13 carries or less this year. Mathews still had over 1000 yards rushing and 50 catches while sharing time (or injured). This is another RB that can be had in the late third or fourth round.
- Demaryius Thomas - Thomas has had incredible upside since coming into the league a few years ago but hasn't stayed healthy. When healthy though, he has definitely produced, even with Tim Tebow at the helm. With Brandon Lloyd no longer on the team, Thomas is the clear-cut number 1 receiver but will be going in a round where you'll see a lot of number 2 receivers being picked.
- A.J. Green – Green is a flat-out stud and his numbers will increase each year and Andy Dalton continues to mature as a QB. Though he will go ahead of Demaryius Thomas, he won’t go too far ahead of him and he’ll be an absolute steal.
- Jeremy Maclin – DeSean Jackson has played his way out of favor in Philly, though they could still sign him to another contract. Jeremy Maclin seems to be more in sync with Michael Vick. Should they both stay healthy in 2011, Maclin will outperform Jackson and can be nabbed in the eighth or ninth round.
- Torrey Smith – Ray Rice was a work horse in 2011. To avoid burning him out next year, the Ravens will continue to rely on Joe Flacco’s arm. Smith had a breakout year as a rookie (7 TDs) and is barely scratching the surface of what he can bring to the offense. I can see him supplanting Anquan Boldin as the team’s number 1 receiver and you can pick him up around the 10th round.
- Jared Cook – If Matt Hasselbeck is back for the Titans, Cook should finally realize his full potential. He was a monster in college and put that talent on full display at the end of the season. His last three games yielded 21 catches for over 300 yards and a TD. He will be available in double-digit rounds, so don’t overpay for one of the other 10 tight ends that will go before him. Truthfully, if Jake Locker takes over the team, I’ll pull back my expectations a little bit, but can still see a big season ahead for him.
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