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“The 2015 first-round draft pick missed his entire rookie year because of a stress fracture in his left shin that required surgery, but White looked like a beast in the offseason program. He is big, strong and fast and should tear up Chicago’s suspect secondary in training camp. It remains to be seen how White fares in the regular season, but on paper, he looks the part.”
– Jeff Dickerson, ESPN Chicago
Kevin White will be a fun one to keep an eye on during training camp and the pre-season. He is a physical freak with soft hands, who will benefit from single coverage across from Alshon Jeffery. Hopefully White can knock the rust off from sitting out of a year of football and dominates as Jay Cutler’s No. 2 target. He could be easily forgotten about in your league, so you might be able to get a mid-to-late round steal with the former Mountaineer.
“Even though Jackson’s offense is built off the running game, I don’t expect Isaiah Crowell or Duke Johnson to topple 1,000 yards rushing individually. I can see them combining for 1,500 yards and Johnson totaling 70 or more receptions.”
We tend to agree with Tony Grossi here, as Crowell will have a higher total of carries, but Johnson should steal enough to keep Crowell below 1,000 yards. If you are new here, we have a slight obsession with Duke Johnson and we expect a solid fantasy (PPR) season out of the former Hurricane. 70-ish receptions and 500-plus yards would be a nice season for Duke.
“He’s [Brandin Cooks] not exactly a secret, especially to Saints fans and fantasy football owners. But the dynamic speedster looks ready to explode in Year 3. Over the final nine games last year, Cooks caught eight TD passes and had four games with 100-plus yards from scrimmage. And he turns just 23 in September.”
Last season started rough for Cooks, but he finished as a solid WR1. This season with added pass catchers in New Orleans, Cooks will fight for targets; however, he should still put up gaudy PPR numbers. He should put up WR1 numbers, but we would be more comfortable selecting him as a WR2.
“[Ryan] Mathews is not a great fit for Doug Pederson’s offense. Pederson has said that he wants to be able to move his backs around to create mismatches for opposing defenses in the passing game. That is not at all a strength of Mathews’.”
– Jimmy Kempski, phillyvoice.com
Jimmy Kempski went on to say that third-down back Darren Sproles actually fits Doug Pederson’s offense better than Mathews. Barring injury, which is hard with Mathews, he is actually a pretty talented back who produces at a steady level; however, injuries have been a major issue with the tailback. Mathews, Sproles and rookie Wendell Smallwood all bring different traits to the table, which will be good for the Eagles, but not so good for fantasy owners.
Not strictly fantasy:
- Future first-round bust Will Fuller is not expected to start Week 1
- It looks like Jameis hit the treadmill over the off-season, losing 20 lbs in the process
- Donald Brown was given more guaranteed cash than LeGarrette Blount, meaning Blount is no roster lock for ’16
