Fantasy Football: Looking back at early season bold predictions and how they turned out
By Ryan McCloy
Leonard Fournette will not finish the season with the Bucs after being cut mid-season
Incorrect. Fournette did not have a good fantasy season by any means in 2020. He finished as RB35, missing 3 games, including being listed as a healthy scratch in week 14. So while he wasn’t cut, he was ineffective and benched at one point. After Ronald Jones’ late season injury, Fournette was given the reigns of the Tampa Bay running game and (no pun intended) ran with them, averaging over 18.5 fantasy points per game in weeks 15-16. Fournette will probably never be a sure fantasy play again, but keep him on your radar if he’s ever given the chance to lead a backfield.
Russell Wilson will be the No. 1 overall QB
Incorrect. Russell Wilson spent much of the early part of the season as QB1, before he was eventually supplanted by league sophomore Kyler Murray. The title of QB1 ended up sitting in the hands of Josh Allen by the end of the season, as Murray dropped to QB3 and Wilson to QB6 after a few ineffective games late in the season.
The Falcons will have 3 top-30 WRs
Incorrect. In fact, in terms of total points, they only had 1, and it wasn’t Julio Jones. Calvin Ridley finished the season as WR5 overall. Julio Jones finished as WR52 after missing 7 of Atlanta’s games. Russell Gage, the third WR indicated in this prediction, actually outscored Julio, finishing as WR37. Ridley actually finished the season as WR4 in fantasy points per game, Julio Jones finished as WR14 in PPG, but Russell Gage dropped to WR48 in points per game. Two teams actually did accomplish this feat this season. The Steelers (Juju Smith-Schuster, WR16, Diontae Johnson, WR21, and Chase Claypool, WR23) and the Panthers (Robby Anderson, WR19, Curtis Samuel, WR24, and DJ Moore, WR25) each had 3 weekly fantasy starters in 2020.
Devante Adams will be the No. 1 overall WR
Correct! Devante Adams finished nearly 30 points higher than the next highest WR (Tyreek Hill) despite missing two games. Adams averaged 25.6 points per game, which was best of any player who played at least 6 games. Adams was a fantasy rock star this season.
Darius Slayton will be a top 15 WR
Incorrect. Slayton had a solid showing early on, with two 20+ point games in the first 5 weeks. Those were, however, his only two 20 point games of the season, and he finished as WR54 overall, averaging 8.8 points per game.