The Game Plan for Preseason Week 1 (#FantasyFootball)

The Game Plan for Preseason Week 1

Fine readers of the Going For 2 fanbase my name is @TheBLeagueSays and I am 100% grateful for the last year of the #ProsAndCons series. But as we evolve so should the information I bring to you, so I want to formally welcome everyone to the new article I will present for @GoingFor_2 called ‘The Gameplan of the Week’. Each week I will give to you some plays to make in regards to your Fantasy teams weekly roster construction, DFS selections or Dynasty evaluations. 

So before we get started – Thank you, and enjoy!

Yes, it’s evolution baby! Pros and Cons have finally opened its wings and changed formatting as mentioned above. With a few weeks to go leading to your draft season, I am going to throw some advice to you, but whether or not you catch it is another thing. The @GoingFor_2 Game Plan Of The Week is designed to bring you what’s good this week (being in the preseason it will be what’s good for the upcoming year), and right now I will give you exactly that and this weeks focus is on the AFC and NFC East. So let’s start with the…

The Slant Route

Who is trending up this week:

Evan Engram has no other choice but to trend up considering Sterling Shepard broke his thumb, Golden Tate was slapped with a four-game suspension and Corey Coleman tore his ACL and is on the fritz for the year already. This should separate Engram from the other Tight Ends in his tier and volume is indeed still king, so get on board now as he currently sits at the top of the 6th round of draft boards. Any more than that might be a bit rich for me considering the company he is in like Calvin Ridley, Tyler Boyd and ‘the three amigos’ at Quarterback in Aaron Rodgers, Andrew Luck, and DeShaun Watson.

The Flat Route

The hate has tapered off on Sony Michel:

Boy, oh boy, were people dumping on Sony Michel this offseason with the addition of Damien Harris in the draft or the whispers of offseason injuries having people flat out bail on the former first-round pick. Seeing him out on the field in any capacity this early in the preseason should put doubters minds at rest (for now); it was always a matter of health and the knee scope this offseason had people worrying. Michel is proving that he may well be well above the issues triggering people and aims to give you more than the 5th round ADP he is currently dishing out right now. Any more footage of him improving in the receiving game could have people on full tilt completely and back on board.

The Comeback Route

Who will recover after a poor performance in the previous season:

Le’Veon Bell, but hat’s kind of a gimmie right? But considering that he was the 1.02 in redraft last year and didn’t lace up a boot I’d say that this is a no brainer. I’m not worried about Adam Gase, and I think Sam Darnold is going to love having Bell to check down to. He can regain your trust as the current RB6 off the board; I think he may jump back into the top tier of Running Backs when it’s all said and done at the end of the season.

The Screen Route

The contrarian play of the year:

Someone will emerge from the Buffalo Bills backfield and I think that T.J. Yeldon as a late Running Back selection is a hell of a target in Best Ball formatting, who is virtually going undrafted. It’s as good as a dart throw as any that late and offers a slightly different skill set to others on their depth chart, so why not, someone has to get a chance right?

The Out Route

Who am I completely off this year:

I am not interested in the merry-go-round that Washington offers at any position, at all. There’s no clarity on who is the starting Quarterback so at this point it would be naive to think there won’t be a change at some point during the year. Every Running Back looks to be in a committee; Adrian Peterson thinks he is the lead back and everyone is waiting for the Derrius Guice breakout – and Chris Thompson could still be their passing-down specialist. And there is no sign on what Receiver has stood out so far; there have been some slight Trey Quinn and Terry McLaurin hype but there’s been nothing on Kelvin Harmon, Josh Doctson or Paul Richardson. And then there’s Jordan Reed, who still played most of the 2018 season but still, his best days are behind him. It’s a team as a whole I am avoiding, and I would rather try to buy in next season once we know who can produce what. What a mess.

The 9 Route

A straight forward confidence play of the season:

I have more Carson Wentz than I would like, purely because I am indeed a New York Giants fan. This is the year Carson Wentz gets back into the M.V.P. conversation again (currently paying $17.00 on mybookie.ag), with as stacked a roster as any – I think that taking the NFC Championship is well within their grasp if they can stay healthy – which seemed to dog them in 2018. Carson Wentz currently on @GoingFor_2 is the consensus QB7, and to be fair it’s Baker Mayfield, Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson in the 4, 5 and 6 spots which I believe he can climb over by the end of the year. It could be a year of breakouts all over the pitch for the Eagles, especially out of Dallas Goedert and the returning DeSean Jackson and if the rest of their crew keeps dominating as they have it will be because of their guy Carson Wentz.

And finally…

Hail Mary Plays Of The Year

I’m always late to the party, and this time I am definitely late on the Randall Cobb love. I’m all over his arrival in Dallas, considering Cole Beasley, now a Buffalo Bill had gained 248 Targets in the last three seasons that Dak Prescott has been under center, and with all due respect to Cole Beasley, Randall Cobb is the superior player. Beasley also had a 16.5% target share last season with an 87-65-672-3 Touchdown season and to be fair, that has to be the floor for Cobb should he remain healthy. Cobb is generally going undrafted as the WR74 and could be a fantastic ‘floor’ play in redraft formatting, (in a world where ‘Sleepers’ no longer exist) a great late Best Ball or deep roster formatting addition or a solid ‘add-in’, buy low candidate in Dynasty.

Speaking of late… and hail marys…

I mentioned a little bit of Best Ball during this article, and let’s keep this real quick and simple – Ryan Fitzpatrick is one of the last Quarterbacks picked in this format – and if last year was anything to go by, ‘the bearded one’ could single-handedly win you a few weeks alone. Outside of losing his job to Josh Rosen, in this format, he is a low-risk option because if your other Quarterback outperforms him on any given week, the potential four intercept games he has in his back pocket, won’t hurt too much. You’re aiming for that weekly upside as a compliment to someone else who may be safer and more consistent. He is the sizzle to the steak for your Best Ball roster.

And there you have it!

I want to thank you for getting this far and taking in everything I have presented. You can as always follow and find me at @TheBLeagueSays and offer any view or conversation about this. Shout out to fantasyfootballcalculater.com, pro-football-reference.com, and fantasypros.com for the data and information provided. Don’t forget to check out the #GF2 weekly rankings which you can find https://goingfor2.com/2019-fantasy-football-redraft-rankings-gf2-consensus/ and to subscribe, rate, review, and share and listen to The Armchair Fantasy Show podcast.

Let’s all get better together!

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