Fantasy football bold predictions for each AFC team in the 2020 season.
With the 2020 NFL season approaching, fans are prepping for their fantasy football drafts. Through mock drafts, expert analysis and previous performances, the public arrives at a general consensus on every player at every position.
However, by looking past the hype and singling out overlooked or over-drafted players, you can gain a huge advantage in your fantasy football draft. With that being said, here are bold predictions for every team in the AFC.
Note: All fantasy stats and ADP info via Fantasy Pros unless otherwise noted.
AFC East Fantasy Football bold predictions
New England Patriots will produce a top 15 QB, RB and WR.
The Patriots are being criminally under-drafted right now with Cam Newton going outside of the top 15 and Julian Edelman and James White both going outside the top 30 at their positions.
Edelman is averaging 88 receptions over the past six seasons, Newton should offer a solid floor with his rushing ability and White is always sneaky, catching 87 and 72 balls in his past two seasons, respectively.
All three are proven talents who will receive plenty of volume and likely play in competitive games with their elite defense.
Miami Dolphins: Devante Parker will finish as a top-15 WR.
With Tua Tagovailoa likely to start the season as the backup, the Dolphins are going to have a similar feeling season to last year, albeit with a slightly improved offensive line. Ryan Fitzpatrick is still going to be slinging it and Parker, who finished 2019 as the WR11, will be the prime beneficiary.
Buffalo Bills: Josh Allen will not finish as a top 12 QB.
Despite finishing as QB6 in 2019, Allen scored nine rushing touchdowns, more than Patrick Mahomes, Russell Wilson and Dak Prescott combined. If you were to change the nine touchdowns to a still respectable five, he would have finished as the QB14.
Though he clearly has a nose for the end zone, quarterback rushing touchdowns are historically one of the hardest to replicate year to year and Allen is due for some regression.
New York Jets: Le’Veon Bell will finish as a top 12 RB in PPR scoring.
Despite having an incredibly lackluster 2019 season, Bell still finished as the RB21. Even though the Jets are likely to be one of the worst offenses in the league, he is a lock for 60+ receptions and should find the end zone more than the four times he did in 2019.
He won’t consistently put up monster games, but by seasons end he will be in the RB1 discussion.
AFC North Fantasy Football bold predictions
Baltimore Ravens: Mark Ingram will repeat his 15 TD performance.
Ingram scored 15 touchdowns in 2019 on route to a RB11 finish. Many expect regression, as his touchdown percentage was an extreme outlier. In 2019, the Baltimore Ravens scored 52 more points than the next highest team season and averaged 10 more points per game than the average team.
Outlier offenses lead to outlier seasons and Ingram will have multiple chances to score every game as the RB1 on the best offense in the league.
Pittsburgh Steelers: JuJu Smith-Schuster will finish outside the top 20 WR.
Though his season was clearly affected by poor quarterback performance and injury, it is important to remember that he was outperformed by wideouts James Washington and Diontae Johnson and they were all catching passes from the same quarterbacks.
Even though his connection with Big Ben will lead to more than the 552 yards and three touchdowns he put up in 2019, drafting him at WR13 when he finished 2019 at WR65 is unjustifiable.
Cincinnati Bengals: A.J. Green will finish outside the top 30 WRs.
At this point, it seems almost impossible for A.J. Green to play a full season. He has only put up one complete season in the past four years. Obviously, his injury risk is priced into his ADP of WR26 and, if he plays the full season, he is likely to pay huge dividends for those willing to risk it. But anyone who drafted and held him through 2019 knows better.
Cleveland Browns: Odell Beckham Jr. will finish outside the top 20 WRs.
Despite being one of the more disappointing finishes in 2019, Beckham still posted a 1,000-yard season. However, this may be the norm in a run-first Cleveland offense.
With Austin Hooper acting as another weapon for Baker Mayfield, OBJ should see similar targets. Though he may be able to score more than four touchdowns, the one-two punch of Chubb and Hunt will be what the offense is centered on, not Beckham.
AFC South Fantasy Football bold predictions
Houston Texans: Deshaun Watson will finish outside the top 10 QBs.
Currently being drafted at QB5, Watson is coming off a solid 2019 campaign where he finished as the QB4. However, hidden in that number is the seven rushing touchdowns, a stat historically hard to replicate.
In addition, he lost his star wideout, DeAndre Hopkins, who accounted for 30.9 percent of the target share and now has injury-prone Brandin Cooks and Will Fuller, the latter of whom has never played a full season in the NFL, as his primary receivers.
Indianapolis Colts: Philip Rivers will finish as a top 12 QB.
Philip Rivers is one of the most underrated fantasy football quarterbacks of his generation, often overlooked for bigger names. He has been one of the most consistent quarterbacks of the decade, finishing in the top 12 every year of the 2010s except for 2012 and 2019.
Being on a new team that should be competitive in a relatively weak AFC South with plenty of talent around him should be enough to spark a 4,500-yard, 25-touchdown season.
Tennessee Titans: Derrick Henry will not be a top 10 RB in PPR scoring.
There is no way Henry will be physically able to handle 30 carries week in and week out for a whole season. Even though he will likely put up a 1,200+ yard season on volume and talent alone, he has never caught more than 18 balls in a season. His lack of involvement in the receiving game means he will not have as high of a floor as some of the other high-tier pass-catching backs.
Jacksonville Jaguars will produce an RB1 and WR1 in Leonard Fournette and D.J Chark.
Despite being projected to be one of the worst 2020 teams, the Jaguars offense shouldn’t actually be too bad. Gardner Minshew showed he was competent as a signal-caller, throwing 21 touchdowns to six interceptions and finishing with a 91.6 passer rating.
Their abysmal defense will likely lead to them playing catch up in most games, which will run through these two talented offensive weapons.
AFC West Fantasy Football bold predictions
Kansas City Chiefs will have a top 5 player in every position.
Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce are essentially a lock for this finish but Tyreek Hill and Clyde Edwards-Helaire will also fall into the top five purely from being talented pieces on one of the best offenses in the league.
Even though the Chief’s highest finishing running back in 2019 was Damien Williams at RB34, CEH seems to have a firm grasp on the starting role with the opt-out of Williams, whereas 2019 was more of a committee year for the KC backfield.
Las Vegas Raiders: Josh Jacobs will be a top 5 RB.
He finished his rookie season as the RB14 with only 20 receptions and seven touchdowns in only 13 games played. Those numbers are sure to climb as Las Vegas tries to establish themselves as serious playoff contenders and Jacobs gets more involved in the passing game whilst maintaining goal-line duties.
Denver Broncos: Phillip Lindsay will outperform Melvin Gordon in PPR scoring.
Lindsay has sneakily finished in the top 20 both the past two years and has established himself as the pass-catching back in Denver. With Drew Lock likely to be dumping off a lot and goal-line opportunities to be few and far between for Gordon, Lindsay will provide a much higher floor throughout the year.
Los Angeles Chargers: will not have a top 10 finish at any position.
Regardless of whether the Chargers QB is Justin Herbert or Tyrod Taylor, there just won’t be enough yards and touchdowns to go around to sustain a single elite season from any position.
Though Ekeler should put up solid RB2 numbers through volume alone and Keenan Allen is a consistent performer, there are too many mouths to feed in Los Angeles and it is a situation that should be avoided.