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Jacob Adler gave his bold predictions on Friday, and now I thought it was time to give you mine. These predictions are highly unlikely to happen, as that is just more fun. The predictions below, while having a slim chance of happening, do show how I feel in most cases about certain players. Now let's get to the fun, and see if I can hit on even a few of these at the end of the year.
John Brown will finish inside the top 15 at WR, with 1250 Receiving Yards, and 7 TD's. With the aging Larry Fitzgerald, and the disappointing Michael Floyd the other two receivers being a threat to Brown, I see his skills winning out in the end. He now has a healthy Carson Palmer for the year, hopefully, and he can do a good job getting the ball downfield to him.
Leonard Hankerson finishes the year as a top 25 WR, ahead of teammate Roddy White. Coming up with a bold prediction for the Falcons was tough, but this is one that I feel is bold enough. Roddy White has had all of those years of health in the past, but over the past couple of years he has always had lingering injuries. I could see Hankerson being involved in the offense as the number 3 WR, and then moving up and really performing well when White is banged up.
Really what can I say about the Ravens that is bold? Well how about nobody on the Ravens finishes inside the 20 at there respective position, except for Justin Tucker. Yes this even means Joe Flacco. I see him being a lot worse this year as Torrey Smith is gone and I just don't see Breshad Perriman being up to the task of filling his role. Justin Forsett will be splitting time with the other two backs at some point in the season, thus having him finish outside the top 20.
Charles Clay will finish the season inside the top 7 at TE, due to the volume of targets he will see. Tyrod Taylor is a little bit of an unknown, but I think he can do a decent job as the starter, and will look to his safety net in Clay often in games.
Cam Newton will finish the season as the 3rd best QB, only behind Andrew Luck and Aaron Rodgers. In the process of finishing in the top 3, Newton will set a career high for rushing yards, going for 800 yards, chipping in 11 Rushing TD's on top of the 25 Passing TD's. I listed why I still believe in Newton in our sleepers article, but one thing I left out is that he was playing the beginning of last year hurt, and wasn't looking to run much. Now he has his health and can run, since he will need to with that offensive line.
Eddie Royal will finish the season as a top 20 WR, on the strength of 10 TD's, and his 80 receptions. He is the number two receiver on the roster, and has played well with Cutler before. The reunion for the both of them could invigorate there careers back to the old Denver days.
Marvin Jones follows up his great 2013 season with 1200 Receiving Yards and 10 TD's. While Jones still has to show he has recovered from his missed 2014 season, he still has the skills necessary to be a great guy next to Green in the offense. Maybe Andy Dalton can get benched, making primetime Bengals games more bearable to watch with less bad throws by the Bengals starting QB.
Isaiah Crowell finishes the season as a top 12 RB, as he never relinquishes the starter role. Duke Johnson I think is a good back, and should be when he plays, but that is the problem. Johnson currently isn't set to play in the first week, and after missing a good portion of training camps, he hasn't done himself favors to take the starters role. Crowell has also showed last year if he can avoid fumbling, he can be a nice back with power and speed.
Dez Bryant finishes the season as the top WR with 1700 Receiving Yards and 16 TD's. There is no way the Cowboys can run the ball as much as they did last year, so Bryant is destined to benefit from this. He already had 16 TD's last year, but I could see a big uptick in yards with added volume.
Emmanuel Sanders finishes the season outside the top 30 WR's. Peyton Manning may not be healthy, and the Broncos will continue the shift into a more run-heavy offense. Sanders would be unfortunately the odd man out with this occurring, as Demaryius will still get his, and Peyton has always loved throwing to his RB's and TE's.
Golden Tate finishes outside the top 35 at WR. This one is solely based on my belief that Calvin Johnson will be healthy for all 16 games this season. If that ends up being the case, Tate loses a lot of his value, as he was only a pedestrian fantasy wide out in games where both guys were on the field. Add in the fact that the Lions are running the ball more so that Stafford isn't trying to do too much, and you have a recipe for less work going to Tate.
Randall Cobb finishes the season with 120 receptions, 1500 yards, and 15 TD's. With Jordy Nelson out, Cobb is one of the few targets Rodgers has had multiple seasons throwing the football to. As long as Cobb doesn't get hurt any further, He has a great chance of getting a large volume of targets this season.
DeAndre Hopkins finishes the season as a top 5 WR, by accumulating 1400 Receiving yards, and 12 TD's. He looked great last year opposite of Andre Johnson, and now he is the true number one receiver on the roster. Whether Brian Hoyer is the QB all year, or Ryan Mallett takes over, it won't matter as Hopkins has the skills that will make him successful with any QB at the helm.
Speaking of Andre Johnson, he will have one of the worst years of his career, finishing outside the top 40 WR's, and getting surpassed by Phillip Dorsett and Donte Moncrief in the process. I think the wheels have been coming loose for him over the years, and now with younger and more athletic receivers on the roster, it won't be too hard to envision him not seeing the targets he has been accustomed to.
Even with being hurt to start the season, Julius Thomas proves he can be good anywhere he plays, scoring 11 TD's and finishing in the top 5 in the position. Now looking at his stats from last year, this really isn't all that bold, but the hate on him is just too much for someone who can dominate in the redzone.
Alex Smith will finish the season as a top 10 QB. So not much to say about this, other than Andy Dalton has done it before, so why can't Alex Smith? He has some great receiving targets in Maclin, Kelce and Charles.
DeVante Parker after the Dolphins bye week in week 5, finishes the season out with 1200 receiving yards and 10 TD's over that 12 game span. Give him a few weeks to get fully healthy, and implemented into the offense, and then watch as his natural skills should lead him to stardom.
Kyle Rudolph stays healthy for all 16 games, finishing with 1000 Receiving Yards and 12 TD's. Norv Turner has always been good for his TE's, and Teddy Bridgewater is a very accurate passer. This team will spend a lot of time in the redzone, and Rudolph is a nice target to get the ball to when they need a short score.
Rob Gronkowski finishes with the best season known to TE's, and even for most receivers, as he goes for 1600 Yards and 18 TD's. Gronk is just a great player, and with no concerns for injury as of right now, the sky truly is the limit for him.
Brandon Coleman finishes the season as a top 25 WR, and over the last half, he is a top 15 WR. He only needs to pass Marques Colston and prove he is a better athlete than he is, and can also hold onto a ball when thrown to him. Colston has been injured in the preseason, so envisioning him getting hurt isn't that far fetched. Allowing room for Coleman to take the reigns.
Eli Manning finishes the season outside the top 20 at QB. Doesn't all of this Eli Manning hype over the preseason remind you of something similar from last year? Jay Cutler was the hot sleeper last year, and flamed out in true Jay Cutler fashion. Yes Manning is in a new system, but he is still the same guy who throws interceptions for what looks like fun sometimes.
Chris Ivory finishes the season outside the top 50 RB's after getting benched in week 5. I watched him play a little bit this preaseason, and whenever I saw him get a carry, his first move was to either stutter or do a jump cut. Now there are some instances where that is needed, but he did it on every carry, even when he could have hit a hole hard for a nice gain. He has the power and speed to make up for it a little bit, but it won't be enough as he will get stuffed if he keeps on doing this.
Roy Helu Jr. will become the starting RB for at least half the games when Murray gets hurt early on in the season. Helu will then ride being the starter to a top 20 finish among RB's. Helu never got a good run in Washington, but I still believe he is a good everydown back. His pass catching ability should get him on the field when Murray is healthy, but when he isn't Helu will see over 20 touches a game.
Ryan Mathews finishes the season as a top 15 back, with DeMarco Murray missing 6 games due to injury. Even with only 6 games as a starter, he will see a lot of work in that Chip Kelly Offense.
Martavis Bryant is a top 15 WR despite his suspension. Bryant has looked great in the preseason, and not even a 4 game suspension will stop him from being great when he comes back.
Danny Woodhead finishes the year with more rushing TD's than Melvin Gordon, and then goes on to outscore Gordon in all scoring formats. Woodhead was used as a goaline back two years ago in San Diego, and they have done it in the preseason too, so why would they stop doing what works?
Carlos Hyde struggles to get anything going in the terrible 49er offense, and to no fault of his own, but rather the team, he gets benched by week 10 for Reggie Bush. Even though he gets benched for Bush, neither guy all season will be worth starting expect if you randomly choose the right week they score a TD.
Todd Gurley proves that he isn't Adrian Peterson, and can't have a monster season after an ACL injury. Because of this he will finish outside the top 40, never fully getting the starting spot from Tre Mason due to his nagging pain and the Rams seeing no point in playing him a lot when the team gets eliminated from playoff contention.
Newly acquired Fred Jackson scores 10 TD's, and is FLEX worthy. Lynch can't stay healthy after all of his workload again can he? I mean I hope that he can, but at a certain point it has to catch up to him. Jackson is also a great back close the endzone, something the Seahawks have struggled with in the past.
Jameis Winston finishes the season as a top 12 QB, scoring 5 TD's on the ground and using the targets that he has to propel him into starting QB relevance right away. He also should have a great first week going up against the bad Titans pass defense, so that doesn't hurt his overall outlook.
Tennessee Titans:
As much as I don't want to see this happen, Bishop Sankey is the leading back for the Titans the entire season, causing no Titans back to finish in the top 40 of RB's. Now this one may not be that bold, but a lot of people see David Cobb taking over as the starting back at some point in the season, but that is kind of hard when you are hurt. Sankey also just isn't good, and if Shonn Greene getting as much run as he did last year is any indication, Sankey will be getting run even when he struggles.
With Robert Griffin III getting benched, Alfred Morris has a terrible season, finishing outside the top 40 in the position, and getting benched for Matt Jones by week 8. Morris has struggled in the past with Cousins as his QB, and that trend will continue. When it does continue, the Redskins will see no reason to not give the rookie Matt Jones the starting role.
That does it for my bold predictions, stay tuned as we start our weekly coverage, and rankings on Tuesday for the rest of the Fantasy Football season.