The Preseason Game Plan (#FantasyFootball)

It’s @TheBLeagueSays here with this week’s ‘Game Plan’, where I give you plays to make for your dynasty and redraft roster construction, prop bets, and DFS options. Before you make any start and sit decisions this weekend make sure you check out our dynasty and best-ball rankings also.

Thank you, and enjoy!

Slant Route

The irony that he landed in this section…

Michael Thomas always strikes a match when he says even just a little, and his recent post makes you think there is more smoke coming from behind the mirrors in New Orleans in regards to his recent injury issues. I generally side with the athletes when it comes to protecting their health – who wouldn’t – so to see his recent outburst of saying something without coming out to say anything has everyone racing to their waiver wires to find who on that roster is available.

If your head is buried in the sand Adam Trautman and Tre’Quan Smith are this year’s offseason darlings but it is Marquez Callaway (76% rostered on Sleeper) who has risen draft boards, to a point where he was going from relatively undrafted in best-ball formats to jumping both Trautman and Smith in ADP. I have also been trying to grab 7th round rookie Kawaan Baker (22% rostered on Sleeper) on my dynasty rosters, the 6’1, 225lb receiver out of South Alabama looks the part and could be worth a stash off of waiver wires as well.

Flat Route

(No) Shot through the arm, but you’re to blame…

Vikings Head Coach Mike Zimmer has been fairly vocal about players (his, or otherwise) not getting vaccinated and has pretty much sold his quarterback Kirk Cousins out for not doing so in press conferences, specifically after being on the COVID-19 list and not being able to train and practice this close to the season starting. Cousins is a very ‘pro-life’ kinda guy which makes the irony of revolting against the idea of vaccination even more curious because let’s face it, COVID-19 is still killing many, many people but as long as Cousins has the ‘YOLO If I die, I die’ mantra then what could go wrong? Right… But the disdain seems real on both sides and that can’t bode well for either party. Zimmer is the odds on favorite to be the first coach fired and Cousins’ deal leaves him somewhat vulnerable to be moved on at the end of the current season possibly via trade. None of this sounds good for team morale a month before the season starts.

However, belligerent ‘BS’ aside, this doesn’t mean we can’t look at what the Vikings have done quietly this offseason and think that maybe on the field something different can happen. They’ve addressed their leaky defense by adding a stack of quality veterans like Patrick Peterson and Breshaud Breeland and bringing Sheldon Richardson home is a bigger deal than what’s being let on too. Nick Vigil, Dalvin Tomlinson, and Xavier Woods are all going to contribute effectively to a point where they aren’t being spoken about, which makes them a more well-rounded team that is a good shot to make the playoffs (+115) and potentially win the division (+225). 

Comeback Route

Whose porridge did he piss in…

Matt Ryan has fallen off the face of the best ball earth going from a surefire 8th round selection with Julio Jones, to a guy that has fallen back with an ADP of 140th as the QB17 now once Jones’ move to Tennessee happened. A bit of a bummer because that duo was a solid combination of winning people games and has been uber fun to watch over the years. But life moves on and it moves fast, but quickly looking back to their last season together the Falcons had only the lone win in 2020 in games without Julio Jones – absolute destruction of the Raiders mind you – but with that 1-6 record as a team they still managed an average of 24 ppg, where Ryan stayed close to his season average of 18.34 ppg with 16.55 ppg, again without their legendary receiver beside him. In that regard, Ryan was somewhat fine, and if anything you should feel ok knowing that he’s survived.

Flash-forward a year, and the Falcons haven’t really upgraded their run game, their O-Line is still pretty decent and they added phenom rookie tight end, Kyle Pitts. There are many routes (pun) that I could take this, but I chose best-ball because I see not only value in him, but his teammates as well. Kyle Pitts (TE4) is probably the only Falcon being taken too early for me but I get why you might jump on board, but Calvin Ridley (WR4) can go to the next level without ’11’ by his side so I’m heavily looking to stack the pair together. There are also later pairings for Ryan in Russell Gage (WR54), Hayden Hurst (TE32), and Olamide Zaccheaus (WR93) which makes Matt Ryan, still, a late viable option as your leading quarterback in this format if you are waiting at on the position, or a solid veteran to grab if you happen to jump on a rookie or locking the position up if you got on a quarterback in the earlier rounds. Worth a grab. 

Screen Route

Blowin’ (FAAB) money fast… 

Find me a league where between Weeks 4 and 5 that someone in a league didn’t splash all their FAAB cash and chuck it all in the air for Eagles wide receiver Travis Fulgham; because I would bet that this league is non-existent. Travis Fulgham justifiably so in a five-week span was absolutely worth your FAAB money as he was not only the WR1 between Weeks 4-8 he punched over 400 yards and four touchdowns in this time with an average of 19.3 ppg in PPR. He was not only 13th overall in aDOT, but Fulgham also carried the 12th best target share amongst receivers in that time with over 25%. What happened from week nine onwards is a mystery to most but for the most part, the Eagles fell apart, and so did every ounce of quality he had flashed. But that was last year…

Currently, we are starting to hear and see his name pop up as a player who is looking productive at training camp, surprising many who had written him off after disappearing halfway through the year. Reporters are saying that he is looking sharper than Jalen Reagor, whilst Devonta Smith is still shaking off a couple of niggling injuries as well paving a way for Fulgham to put his name out in front of your fantasy football mind’s eye once again. Recently he has been one of my favorite last (not late, last) round dart throws in best-ball (WR97 on Underdog Fantasy), but he’s also a guy that is sitting there on waiver wires as he was probably rage dropped with how his end of the season went. In 2020, we saw both sides of the coin with Fulgham but with how things are shaping up he opens the season as their best/healthiest starter against a couple of secondaries that left a lot to be desired a year ago – starting with Atlanta in the season opener.

Out Route

The horseshoe does not fit…

The Indianapolis Colts have been hit pretty hard by the injury bug lately as preseason is maybe a week old with recruit Carson Wentz (but I mean… are we really shocked he’s hurt again?) and Quinton Nelson are both having surgery to repair a bone in their respective feet. I’m not sure which bone in the foot it was specifically, but my understanding is that once that bone was pulled out it screamed ‘wee, wee, wee’ and hobbled all the way home… Sorry.

Amazing ‘dad’ jokes aside, Jonathan Taylor would be the lone Colt that I am half willing to trust but that leash is getting shorter at this point. I’m finding it hard to want any Colts players across the board in any format even as they start to drop in ADP – and even still with Taylor – I’ve tempered my expectations and I’m hoping his undeniable talent wins out. But what do they say about hoping in one hand and crapping in the other? Yeah, maybe I’ll find something better to do than hope, crap, or watch the Colts for the next few weeks.

The Go Route

To the Mooney…

All it takes is one film clip of Justin Fields side-arming a pass to Darnell Mooney for a touchdown in preseason training for him to jump five rounds into the 8th round in best ball ADP which normally should sound the alarms but in all fairness, it may be justifiable. Anthony Miller getting traded helps along with a depth chart that has Allen Robinson playing this season on the franchise tag and likely heading for the door, Damiere Byrd and Marquise Goodwin have turned up and there as well, I guess, but neither is a solution as they’ll both be gone sooner than later. Oh and there’s Dazz Newsome, who was hurt at the earlier part of the preseason but could be a thing as the year wanes on. None of which is exciting, and are all reasons as to why Mooney is also shooting up dynasty rankings. 

This is all well and good but let’s get to that cherry on top and look at Mooney with a ‘futures’ bet or two. He hit over 600 receiving yards last season and at times he and the Bears were erratic. Those ‘erratic’ games look like the 5-6 target games with maybe two receptions for 15 yards which could have been due to a multitude of reasons *coughmitcheltrubiskycough* which was be concerning. But he still has big games in him (the final game vs Green Bay in 2020 is a nice indicator of his usage). I’m banking on growth from the second-year receiver with an upgrade at quarterback – whoever it is – it’s still an upgrade. Currently, Darnell Mooney has the line drawn at 705.5 for total receiving yards, where I think he smashes the overs, easily. And I think he will beat the line of 4 touchdowns set as well. 

Hail Mary

As much of a chance as a one-armed man in a handstand competition…

D.J. Chark hurt his hand and has already had surgery. As a result, the Laviska Shenault fanatics are embracing together as he finally shoots up the ranks – I’m not sure why, he’s fine when he’s healthy but that’s been an issue for most of his career through college until now. Still,  his price in DFS for the Week One slate is not as bad as you think it might be ($5000) which is great because they get the legitimately useless Houston Texans first up where this matchup has a modest O/U set at 45.5.  

I do feel like this makes him more of a chalk play in a tasty matchup so I like him in ‘cash’ games, as everyone looks to get a piece of the Jaguars offense. In ‘GPP’ lineups some will pivot to Marvin Jones who is paying a cool $3600. However, even cheaper than that is the riskier play in Collin Johnson – a big-bodied second-year receiver priced at $3000. He started to flash towards the end of the season, he’s a guy to keep an eye on during the preseason games if he starts to pick up more snaps.

I want to thank you for checking this article out! As always you can follow me at @TheBLeagueSays and feel free to check out my @GothamCity_SR podcast (linktree) – subscribe, rate, review, share, and listen.

Let’s all get better together!

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