Fantasy Football: Top Ten Watch List for 2018 Season (Early Edition)
Ad you prepare for your summer Fantasy Football Draft, take a look at our top ten players to watch during your 2018 NFL Fantasy Football Drafts. Each of these players could have a huge impact on your Fantasy Football season, but their ADP is sporadic, giving us value potential.
1. Patrick Mahomes – This offense is explosive, but becomes a little bit of a different offense with Mahomes under center, rather than Alex Smith. Mahomes has a cannon on him and will take shots down the field unlike they were able to do with Smith games manager role at QB. He’s got a burner at WR in Hill who i think will be a top 10 WR as well as make Mahomes a sneaky top 10 QB in fantasy this season.
2. JuJu Smith-Schuster – With Martavis Bryant in Oakland JuJu now becomes the second fiddle to AB and will get tons of looks over the season. He’s young and has great potential to grab double digit TDs this season as well as grab over 80 balls this year. If Big Ben is able to stay healthy majority of the season Smith Schuster is in line for a big 2018.
3. Marlon Mack – He now becomes the work horse back in Indianapolis and man is he explosive. Despite being second in the league in runs for 0 or negative yards, he made up for that being tops in the NFL in runs over 20 plus yards. He can made plays in the receiving game as well. Look for a top 20 PPR running back in Mack this season.
4. Cameron Meredith – One of the Wide Receivers that I’m highest on this season is Cameron Meredith. Number 1 and biggest reason for that is he’s got a Hall of Famer throwing him the ball now in Drew Brees. He’s going to be playing in a much more spread out which should help him get plenty of looks. Micheal Thomas is still the obvious top option but with him and both Kamara and Ingram also getting plenty of looks. This should take attention defensively from Meredith and help him approve on his career high of 66 catches and TDs he had leading the Bears in 2016.
5. Jerrick McKinnon – Kyle Shanahan loves his receiving RBs a has produced a top 10 PPR back the past three years. McKinnon produced a very productive 2017 season splitting time with Murray after Delvin Cooks injury. I see him continuing Shanahan’s string into a fourth straight year and finishing as a top ten PPR RB. He has a young QB who will look to get him the ball out of the backfield, look for McKinnon to make things happen in the open field.
6. Saquon Barkley – Easily the top rookie RB this season by far and is set up in a phenomenal position to excel. He will be there bell cow and should easily reach 250 plus touches in his freshman campaign. A offense that was heavily invested in getting the ball to Odell Beckham Jr. now will force defenses to respect both the passing and rushing game of the New York Football Giants.
7. Joe Mixon – I was high on him last year and showed some flashes of his potential throughout the season. But he is Cincinnati’s workhorse and will get a ton of touches this season, near 300 touches. Giovanni Bernard can cut into his workload a bit on some passing downs but Mixon proved that he can carry the load for the Bengals.
8. George Kittle – I’m feeling a top 5 season at the Tight End position for Kittle this season. A much more improved offense led by Jimmy Garrapolo for a full season should see the production of everyone in the offense improve.
9. Sterling Shepherd – Just like Barkley, Shepherd should see a significant jump in his numbers this upcoming year opposite OBJ. He’s shown flashes of potential and this offense just got more explosive this offseason. With an aging Manning look for a lot of targets across the middle and short routes for Shepherd. With OBJ spreading the defense out and defenses forced to respect the running game will only open things up for Shepherd.
10. Jimmy Garrapolo – Another QB I see finishing inside the top ten by seasons end. Garrapolo has a surprisingly good offense with lots of weapons around him, two of which are mentioned above. Marquis Goodwin and him seemed to be clicking well last season and having a back as good as McKinnon is as catching the ball will help. They will have to play that stacked Rams Defense twice but I have faith in Jimmy G to lead this team and offense into a very surprising season.
Next: Late Round Fantasy Football Quarterbacks to Grab
Best of luck in you during your Fantasy Football Drafts this summer, and stay tuned to Fantasy CPR for all the latest season-long fantasy sports and DFS news or analysis!