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We’re quickly approaching the fantasy playoffs and with that, it’s always important to bring a critical eye to your fantasy team and make sure it’s as primed as ever to experience success in the most important part of the season.
To help do this, I posted a bunch of polls out to the Twittersphere yesterday to gage how you the public feel about certain fantasy names. Now don’t think these pairings random. I have my reasons for each one, especially my wide receiver and tight end polls. That in the business is called a tease.
Anyways, let’s see who you’d rather have for the rest of the season!
Quarterbacks
which qb would you rather have rest of the season in fantasy?
— Pete Rogers (@petemrogers) November 14, 2018
Looking back on this, I think this grouping was tainted by my lack of faith in the Eagles as a whole. Even though the Eagles haven’t been great this season, Carson Wentz has been a very solid fantasy quarterback and is clearly the best option of these four. That being said, he’s also a guy who’s likely owned in every league. The other guys—Dak Prescott, Marcus Mariota and Baker Mayfield—you might be able to still snag off waivers.
I’m obviously here for the Baker support. Mayfield has been looking much better with Freddie Kitchens calling the plays and his schedule gets real juicy rest of the season as the Browns have the 5th easiest schedule for fantasy QBs. I included Dak on the list because the Cowboys have looked better with the addition of Amari Cooper and have the 2nd easiest ROS schedule ahead of them.
Running backs
how about running back?
— Pete Rogers (@petemrogers) November 14, 2018
Right off the bat, clearly no one believes the Dion Lewis hype. That’s fair. It’s a tough schedule ahead for the Titans and I’d fully expect Dion to take a step back in fantasy production.
You all got the right answer in this list which is Nick Chubb. He’s averaging 18.85 PPR points per week the last four weeks and the Browns have the 4th best schedule for fantasy backs rest of the season. I’m ready to just sit back and watch Chubb carry my team to fantasy success this year. As crazy as it seems, the Browns might actually be a league winner this year thanks to their cushy schedule during the fantasy playoffs.
The Joe Mixon vs Aaron Jones battle is an interesting one and one that I intentionally wanted to create. They both have similar strength of schedules and both have been producing roughly the same over the last couple of weeks—each having a big game with a couple of underwhelming games. Personally, I have more faith in the Packers offense than the Bengals but we also know that Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers seem to love ignoring the ground game so who knows if we consistently see enough of Jones to make him viable.
Wide receivers
which wide receiver would you rather have ros in fantasy?
— Pete Rogers (@petemrogers) November 14, 2018
Now I’ll be honest, I probably picked the wrong “big name” guy to have in this group as evident by JuJu Smith-Schuster registering 79% of the votes but I did pick him for a reason. Smith-Schuster has been underwhelming his last three games, averaging roughly 13 PPR points in each and hasn’t gone over 100 yards since Week 6. I think ultimately he’ll perform better than the other receivers in the group rest of the season, but I’m not sold that it’ll be smooth sailing for JuJu owners from here on out.
Also Danny Amendola is on this list because he’s been averaging the 19th most PPR points per game over the last four games, more than every other wideout in this group. Will that keep up? Highly doubtful but a trend is a trend is a trend.
Tight ends
finally, which tight end ros?
— Pete Rogers (@petemrogers) November 14, 2018
What would it take for you to give up on Gronk? I thought for sure after the season he’s had that he wouldn’t have gotten the love that he has in this poll. I understand I didn’t put him with the sexiest names in the game, but these are all guys who are producing and have very favorable schedules ahead of them.
Ben Watson is third on the Saints in targets and catches and faces the 3rd easiest schedule for tight ends rest of the way. Jeff Heuerman had a huge performance in Denver’s first game without Demaryius Thomas and is facing the 4th easiest schedule. Vance McDonald, who I talked about at length on Tuesday’s RB1 Podcast, is the 13th best TE in fantasy, owned in under 60% of leagues and has the 5th easiest schedule.
If you wanna ride with Gronk, go for it. I’m just not sold that he’s a) going to play when you need him to and b) that he’ll be actually a productive fantasy tight end when he’s on the field.
Did my book of facts change your opinions at all? Do you wish Twitter had a re-vote? Let me know in the comments.