2018 Blogging Hood Fantasy Football Preview – Pittsburgh and San Francisco Depth Charts
July 27, 2018Every year, thousands of fantasy players win their leagues. Not only do they receive a giant trophy, they also receive a champion’s pay check and the right to mock the rest of their league mates until next season. Few things in life are more rewarding than winning, but even fewer top winning when you’ve done nothing but start virtual players. Truly, it’s the reason many of us get out of bed in the morning.
However, for every winner, there are hundreds of thousands of losers. Some of these poor unfortunate souls finish in second place. Others just miss the playoffs. But a select few come in dead last. These outcasts are mocked by even the next to last place finisher, forced to suffer through unending punishments and shamed to the point of severe confidence loss. There’s a reason you see a bunch of Viagra commercials during the NFL season. That will put those images of people sitting in adjacent tubs outside in a whole new light.
The 2018 Bloggin Hood Fantasy guide doesn’t look to help the first place winner. No, that’s not the Bloggin Hood way. Instead, we intend to give to the poor(poorly informed) by taking knowledge through tons of research(the rich). Now, who actually did this research? Why me, Bloggin Hood of course. If you don’t trust my work, go ahead suck a rock, or kick lemons. Do it in reverse and see if I care.
The Blogging Hood Fantasy guide is not for the faint of heart. The word count would make George RR Martin blush, mostly because he’s forgotten how to write. This year, we’re not even stopping at one preview. Welcome to Part 1 of the 2018 fantasy guide – Team Previews.
Over the next 16 weekdays, right until the last day in July, we’ll be looking at two NFL depth charts for potential breakouts, busts, and deep names to consider. What we will not be doing in part one is addresses ADP, or any actual rankings. I haven’t looked at any of that stuff yet. At this point in the year, it’s irrelevant. If you’re drafting in July, it means you’re baseball team has probably tanked to 12th place. It’s way too early to hone in on ADP. We’ll save that for part two.
If you followed the Bloggin Hood Fantasy Baseball guide and find yourself in 12th place, no refunds.
Without further ado, let’s dissect two team’s depth charts, as per rotoworld.com.
Pittsburgh Steelers
This is the same motion Bell did to the Steelers’ contract offer
Ah the Steelers. This isn’t the first time they are coming off a disappointing end of the season in the past half decade. This is one of the biggest home road split teams in the league, which is additionally surprising when you consider they have arguably the best two skill position players in the game. I’m not sure exactly how great of coach Mike Tomlin is, but then again, when your QB has an annual 5 INT game on the road against an inferior opponent, things may not be your fault.
Funny, I could have written that sentence about Eli Manning too. Life’s fun that way.
There’s no question that the Steelers are prolific for fantasy, even if it’s based on two players. An argument (though not a strong one) could be made to take Steelers with the first two picks of every draft. These two players are as bankable as fantasy assets can be. Of course, there could be a giant, red, holding out flag on one of these players, but we’ll cross that terrifying bridge in August.
Outside of the main two options, there’s a potential budding star, and a few players who could be useful in every fantasy format. However, know what you’re getting into with the ancillary pieces. You want to be careful when drafting Steelers after the top half of the first round. This is a 2.5 player offense – 3,000 yards are coming from two players and the remaining 1,500 are divided up into much smaller chunks. Imagine Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell as Lions and the rest of the Steelers as Buzzards. Or maybe Bumble bees. Whichever.
QBs
Ben Roethlisberger – For the all the accolades and praise that Big Ben gets, remember, not only is he a horrible person, he’s also not ideal for fantasy purposes.
Most people already know the deal with Roethlisberger. If you’ve been playing fantasy for the past few years and paid attention, you know all about the player’s home and road splits. While he’s one of the most dominant home QBs in the league, but abysmal on the road. Even beyond this, a bulk of Big Ben’s stats seem to come in a handful of games, and he’s decidedly “meh” in the rest. In a lot of ways, he’s like a boom or bust WR – you’ll love him 4 times a year and hate him the other 11/12. If you draft Roethlisberger, you’ll likely need an extra QB to play when the Steelers are on the road. Do you want to spend draft capital on an expensive platoon player? I don’t. Since his stats will be so high, and he will win weeks, he’ll probably project out as a low end QB 1, but there’s better options, and even more consistent options who will rank lower than him.
RBs
Le’veon Bell – I won’t bother wasting time hyping up Bell. He’s the best RB in the league, only his teammate really has a claim as a better offensive weapon, and he might catch 90 passes. There’s no reason not to take Bell with the #1 pick in the draft… except for the whole holdout thing. He’s working on a rap EP right now instead of reporting. No seriously, google it.
I’m going to pass on this one… maybe.
Something tells me this is not the next coming of Illmatic.
Bell will reportedly not miss any regular season games but will skip camp, as he did last year. In 2017, Bell put up a 1850 yards, 85 catches and 11 TD capmpaign. People were mildly disappointed with this, which shows how good he is. Most of the time, I fear holdouts, expecting a hamstring injury. I think Bell – who isn’t immune to the injury bug, has plenty of experience missing time due to suspension (I’m not sure this is a ringing endorsement) and will avoid the typical annoying injures associated with this (hamstring pulls). He’s relatively safe and deserving o the first pick. Gurley is the safe #1 choice, but Bell’s floor if he plays 16 games is significantly higher. Remember, Gurley scored 20 TDs. That’s unlikely to carry over this year.
I won’t lie that I’m a little hesitant about him right now though.
James Connor – If there’s one benefit of Connor, it’s that the Steelers only use one back. Le’Veon Bell gets over 90% of the snaps each week. If something were to befall Bell, Connor would get the vast majority of the work. Even if he’s only 60% as effective as Bell, he’s a starting RB for the workload alone. Bell is one of the few backs worth handcuffing.
WRs
Antonio Brown – In a year where he only played 14 games and was hobbled at the end of the season, he had 101 catches and 1533 yards. This is unquestionable the best WR we’ve seen since Randy Moss and Terrell Owens, and he could end up as the second best receiving of all time when it’s all said and done. The only downside to Brown is taking a WR over a running back in the first round. RB, as always, dries of quick. Remember, points still count no matter the position, and Brown’s value raises in any league rewarding receptions. This year, Brown is likely going 4th-6th overall, so you should be able to pair him with an RB 1. That’s a great start to the draft. Personally, I would take him 5th right now, but that’s subject to change.
JuJu Smith-Schuster – After recording 900 yards in his rookie season, Smith-Schuster is rocketing up draft boards, and with good reason. However, keep in mind that he will always be the 3rd option on the team. This could actually be a good thing since it means he’ll have less coverage on his side. He should be a semi inconsistent deep threat, but he definitely has WR 2 potential. I consider him a home run swing in the fourth round (where he’s projected to go) and that’s a bit rich for me unless I’m fully confident in my first three picks.
James Washington – The Steelers aren’t gun shy in using rookies, and Washington is a deep threat that should open things up. With Smith-Schuster building off a great rookie year, I think Washington takes a back seat early and probably isn’t worth drafting. He may be a target later on in the year, and if somebody ahead if him is injured, his stock rises. Again though, there’s only so many yards and targets to go around. He’s a vulture/bumble bee.
TEs
Vance McDonald – This is not somebody you’d want to target early in your draft, but he had 16 targets in the divisional playoff game and he might be very useful in the right matchups. I just can’t see him being a weekly threat. You’ve seen the talent on this offense. He’s not at the top of it. He might get a few cheap TDs with all those starts requiring defensive attention, but he had 14 catches in 10 games last year. The playoff game is more likely an abbreviation than reality.
San Fransisco 49ers
Get that hype train rolling to an 8-8 season
Has there ever been more hype for one team that got hot at the end of the season than the 49ers? I mean, holy shit. Last I checked, the team was 20-1 to win the Super Bowl, the same odds as the Jaguars. If I’m not mistaken, and I don’t believe I am, the Jaguars were a quarter away from going to the Super Bowl while the 49ers were eliminated in October. Now, there’s certainly reason for excitement in San Francisco. But let’s hold the horses a little bit before we crown then. They aren’t better on paper than at least, the Eagles, Vikings and Rams, and that’s just in the NFC. Also, what defense are we hyping up here?
Still, this is a fantasy preview, so questions about wins and losses are semi irreverent. We really only are about how many points the team scores. Honestly, there’s only one potential superstar here, and the rest are adequate pieces. It’s unlikely anyone other than Jerick McKinnon will help you win any week. However, there’s solid WR 3 potential in the receiving core and that’s more valuable than you’d think. However, nobody ever won a banner for rostering the 25th-36th best receivers in fantasy.
We’re also ignoring the richest, most handsome (allegedly) elephant in the room, so let’s get to it.
QBs
Jimmy Garoppolo – The way Analysts describe Garoppolo, you’d think he was the second coming of Joe Montana. And how could you not think that with his miraculous 7:5 TD to INT ratio.
To be fair, he did need to learn the playbook on the fly and did not lose a game taking over a bad 49ers team without their best wideout. Sure, there were a lot of field goals, but that was a hell of a lot better than what they were doing before. I do believe Garoppolo will be a good QB, but I don’t think he’s a top 10 option this year. If he had a sure fire #1 WR, like an Antonio Brown, I could definitely see it. But with the options available to him, I think he tops out as a low end QB 1 this year who will cost too much for the hype. I think this is another example of a better real life QB than fantasy. When the true outside talents emerge, I’ll buy in.
RBs
Jerick McKinnon – McKinnon is one of the most difficult players to rank this season. On one hand, there’s a lot of talent here, and a back who’s capable of playing on all three downs. On the other hand, he’s been given multiple opportunities to succeed in the past and never really ran with it, if you’ll ignore the incredible pun. In the two season where McKinnon received more than 150 carries, he did not average even 4.0 YPC. He’s lost touches in those two seasons to the likes of Matt Asiata and Latavius Murray. That’s not a good sign honestly.
McKinnon’s floor is a bit higher than it seems because he does have good hands and should make some plays in space. Based on his contract, he should receive all the opportunity in the world. I’m still not sure where I stand on McKinnon yet, and I’m hoping in drafts I won’t have to make the decision. I’m saving my final verdict in August.
Matt Breida –At the end of the year, Brieda finally received more than 10 carries a game 4 times, but didn’t do a thing with them until weeks 16 and 17. There’s a chance that Breida could have some use between the tackles if McKinnon falters, which wouldn’t be the first time. I don’t know how much talent is here, but I like Breida as a late round gamble since I not fully sold on McKinnon’s three down status. This could be the new Asiata. You don’t even have to change the first name on the stat sheet.
Joe Williams – After a lost rookie season, this is just a reminder that at this exact time last season, Williams was a popular sleeper and a favorite for carries. This year, he’s a complete and total afterthought, even behind surprisingly soft handed Full back Kyle Juszczyk. There’s little room for carries here, but remember, crazier things have happened. You could even be crazy enough to draft Joe Williams in a standard 12 team league.
WRs
Pierre Garcon – Despite being the safest option on the 49ers, there’s risk with Pierre Garcon who’s coming off a neck injury at the wrong side of 30. He was having a good year before the injury, and that was with awful QB play. Assuming the neck injury doesn’t hold him back, Garcon should be a very solid WR3 – a volume play who will catch a lot of passes for modest yardage and probably not a lot of touchdowns. That’s ok though, as there’s 90 catch, 1,000 yards in play. You can get a target monster in the 7th round. You know, like last year.
Marquise Goodwin – There is a lot of hope for Goodwin, who nearly eclipsed 1,000 yards as the 49ers de facto WR 1 when Pierre Garcon went down. From Week 12-15, Goodwin put together at least 78 yards, topping 100 yards twice. He didn’t score during that stretch, but most fo Goodwin’s TDs are going to come from long range. He was inconsistent, though that’s to be expected as it was Goodwin’s first year in a prominent role. Few players have his breakaway speed and perhaps he can wrestle the WR 1 reigns from Garcon this year. I can’t recommend him as more than a WR 3, but he can fit on a lot of teams that need a home run threat at a modest price.
Dante Pettis – Pettis seems to be the third or fourth option on the 49ers, though considering the question marks above him, he could, theoretically rise to the top of the food chain here. However, his ceiling is limited, and probably projects, at best, as a WR 2 on a real life team. The hope is that he can develop a rapport with Garoppolo in camp and become his preferred intermediate target. He’s worth a late round pick, but not much else to me.
TEs
George Kittle – Now this is interesting to me… for some reason. I don’t think Kittle is a world beater, but Garoppolo came from the Patriots system, where they featured the TE. Kittle picked up over his last three games with Garoppolo, and he was also a rookie TE who had 500 yards. Tha’s fairly impressive for a TE, and maybe more people would take notice if not for Evan Engram. Kittle could be a value TE you can snag at the end of your draft.
Am I grasping at straws in this pro Kittle argument? Of course I am. Welcome to BlogginHood.com, where all the arguments are straw grasping and incomplete. It’s even on our t-shirts.
