Fantasy Football Stock Watch: NFC West risers and fallers
By Drew DeLuca
Taking fantasy football stock of the NFC West with the 49ers, Seahawks, Cardinals and Rams.
Our analysis of the NFC West begins by examining the offensive lines. As noted in our NFC East, NFC North, and NFC South Fantasy Football Stock Watch articles, offensive line play has a significant bearing on the production of fantasy football’s skill position players.
The Arizona Cardinals offensive line elevated their play from “league-worst” to “below-average” in just one season. Hardly a ringing endorsement but in an offense run by an elusive quarterback that’s predicated on getting the ball out quickly, this minor improvement was significant.
D.J. Humphries and Justin Pugh return to anchor the left side of the line, and Mason Cole returns to replace A.Q. Shipley, as he did last season. Quarterback Kyler Murray‘s continued progression will make life easier on an offensive line that should benefit from increased continuity and added depth in the form of Kelvin Beachum (45 career starts at tackle) and underrated rookie Josh Jones, a Houston Cougars prospect taken in Round 3 of the 2020 NFL Draft.
The Los Angeles Rams had one of the worst offensive lines in the NFL last year, and many fantasy football analysts are fading their skill position players in 2020 as a result. However, esteemed NFL personnel guru Gil Brandt is bullish on a bounce-back year from the Rams’ frontmen, so such an approach may be unwise.
When several colleagues criticized the architect of the Dallas Cowboys dynasty for ranking the Rams offensive line among the top six units in the league, Brandt didn’t hesitate to double-down:
Too much PFF group think. Now I know why Andrew Whitworth left twitter.
— Gil Brandt (@Gil_Brandt) June 8, 2020
It may seem scary to some that the Rams return their entire starting unit intact, but Brian Allen has fully recovered from his season-ending injury, and second-year starting guard Austin Corbett, acquired in midseason last year, will benefit from a full offseason and training camp. Veteran Andrew Whitworth should help a young group gel and take a step forward in 2020.
Meanwhile, up the coast, the San Francisco 49ers replaced legendary left tackle Joe Staley (retirement) with former Washington Football Team Pro Bowler Trent Williams. The 49ers offensive line welcomes back left guard Laken Tomlinson, center Weston Richburg, and right tackle Mike McGlinchey, as Tom Compton and Ben Garland battle for the right guard spot on what figures to be an above-average unit.
Last, and definitely least, is the much-maligned bevy of below-average blockers from the Seattle Seahawks. Aside from the play of four-time Pro Bowl left tackle Duane Brown, the Seahawks offensive line was nothing short of abysmal, and fantasy football managers who own shares of Seahawks should feel a bit blue as the unit weighs in as one of the NFL’s five worst in 2020, according to Pro Football Focus.
LSU rookie Damien Lewis is holding down the fort at right guard, according to Tacoma’s News Tribune, and Brandon Shell has impressively locked down the right tackle position. Question marks abound at the center and left guard positions, however.
A quick recap for fantasy football owners: stock up on Cardinals, don’t fear the 49ers, snatch up values created by those fading the Rams, and fade the Seahawks a bit more than you think you should. We begin our team-by-team breakdowns of the skill positions with the Cardinals.