Fantasy Football : Where Should They Be Drafted?
As camps start up and Fantasy Football owners start to get their draft boards locked in, lets take a look at some players whose 2017 Fantasy value and draft position is up for debate.
There are some players in Fantasy Football whose draft value is a complete no brainer. They are drafted early and often in almost any draft. Fantasy owners can grab an Aaron Rodgers, Antonio Brown or David Johnson in the first couple rounds and never have a sliver of doubt about that decision.
The players we will be discussing in this series of articles are the ones where their Fantasy value is up for debate. These situations can go one of two ways. You either grab the player too early, he under-performs and you end up relentlessly ridiculed and bullied by your fellow owners. You are then forced to leave your league, move to Pamplona and take on alias Corredor De Toros.
The other scenario is, you take the same player a few rounds later, he exceeds expectations and your fellow owners look at you the same way they looked at your friend Chuck that time he pulled that waitress out of the local Hooters.
So lets take a deep dive into some players who have the ability to make your Fantasy dreams a reality or leave them in a burning pile of rubble along side your other dream of being a backup dancer for 2008 American Idol runner-up Adam Archuleta.
Marshawn Lynch
This years poster child for this Fantasy Football debate is none other then Beast Mode himself. Two years ago Marshawn Lynch was a grab him in the first couple rounds, no doubt about it Fantasy Football star.
However, his year off from the sport and the fact that he has the label of over 30 year old running back attached to his name, makes determining where he should be drafted a bit of a mystery.
Lynch represents one of this years biggest risk/reward picks. There is the possibility that a year off will have reinvigorated him and his 31 year old legs. There is also the realistic threat of a Beast Mode break down. Where he is slowed down the entire season by the type of nagging injuries we saw him suffer through in 2015.
Lynch has a couple things going for him that make me believe that he is going to make it through the season in one piece. The first is that he will be splitting time with two other backs early in the year, thus keeping him fresh for a playoff run. The second is that he will be running behind one of the top three lines in the NFL.
When all is said and done, I believe that Lynch will have close to 1000 yards and around 10 TD’s this season. However, a majority of those stats will come later in the year as the Raiders attempt to keep him fresh and ease him back into action. When the inevitable push for the playoffs start, I expect Lynch to be a major force and to really begin to pile up some great Fantasy numbers.
Verdict
So with all that said, Where should you draft Lynch? Drafting Lynch anywhere in the first four rounds is too big of a gamble. Yes there are factors that point to him being very productive this year, but frankly this is a situation that is pretty unique in the world of Fantasy Football. Players don’t routinely take a year off and come back older and better.
I believe it will take some time for Lynch to really get his legs under him and start to make an impact, so draft him in round 5 or later, show some patience with some tepid early season box scores and then look like Belichick when Lynch is the workhorse that gives your team that extra boost come playoff time.