Top Fantasy Football Players In The AFC North

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This continues our 4-EYED OBSERVATIONS series where we’ll be discussing with you the top fantasy football players per division in the NFL for the upcoming fantasy football season. We’ll be talking offense and IDP, specifically at the QB, RB, WR, TE, LB, DB, & DL positions.

Without further adieu let’s discuss who we feel are the top fantasy football players to target in your drafts from the AFC North:

QUARTERBACKS: Ben Roethlisberger 

“Big Ben” is coming off a season in which he tallied 4,251 yards passing, 283.4 yards per game, and 28 touchdowns. Reports out of Pittsburgh state that with the departure of offensive coordinator Todd Haley, who is now the offensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns, the Steelers offense will operate in more of a no-huddle style of system under new offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner putting Roethlisberger at the helm of the offense even more so than in recent years. I would target Ben this year in my drafts around the 11th or 12th round because of this change in offensive philosophy and target him ahead of quarterbacks such as Kirk Cousins & Philip Rivers. (@JorgeBEdwards)

RUNNING BACKS: Le’Veon Bell, Joe Mixon, & Alex Collins

What more needs to be said about Le’veon that hasn’t already been said? He’s clearly, based on past performances, one of the first two picks in most people fantasy drafts this year. While the latest news about him sitting out of training camp due to him and the organization being unable to reach a long-term deal for the second season in a row sucks have no fear. The extra time off is probably good for him and he should be good to go for the regular season come week 1.

One of the main reasons for the downfall of the Bengals offense in 2017 was their abysmal offensive line performance. The team addressed that this offseason by drafting center Billy Price from Ohio State, left guard Rod Taylor from Ole’ Miss, and trading for left tackle Cordy Glenn, hoping to bring stability both in run blocking and pass protection to the Bengals offense. While the right side of the offensive line is a work in progress it is safe to say that replacing 3 out of 5 linemen should lead to some serious improvement which will, then, of course, lead to improvements in the running game.

Enter Joe Mixon. While his lackluster 7.98 fppg last season didn’t astound fantasy managers, considering he accomplished that without being the lead running back on a team with a poor offensive line I’m surprised he didn’t average fewer fantasy points per game. Now he’s the lead back, playing behind a better offensive line making him an automatic must draft RB candidate in the 4th or 5th rounds of your drafts this season.

Alex “The Irish Dancer” Collins was a breath of fresh air for the Ravens running game last season. While not even starting the season as the lead running back, Collins amassed 973 yards rushing, averaged 4.6 yards per carry, and scored 6 TDs. Despite the return of running back Kenneth Dixon from suspension make no mistake about it, this is Alex Collins’ backfield. Look for him to continue to produce for fantasy managers and target him in the mid/late 3rd to mid-4th rounds of your drafts! (@JorgeBEdwards)

WIDE RECEIVERS: Antonio Brown, A.J. Green, & Josh Gordon

Antonio Brown returned in just a few shorts weeks from a partially torn calf muscle to post in the divisional round of the playoffs, against one of the toughest secondaries in the NFL, 132 yards & 2 TDs. I mean…. come on. While everyone and their mother is going running back heavy in their fantasy drafts this year, AB is the ONLY wide receiver that should be mentioned in the same breath as running backs Todd Gurley, Le’veon Bell, Ezekiel Elliot, and David Johnson who are considered to be the top 4 fantasy players off the board in this year’s drafts. The latest Brown should be drafted is 5th overall.

Remember my rant about the Bengals offensive line being upgraded when talking about my outlook for Joe Mixon earlier? The same rationale goes for the new pieces of the offensive line improving upon the passing game. Specifically with giving Andy Dalton enough time in the pocket to deliver the ball to the top receiving playmaker A.J. Green. While not always my favorite receiver to draft due to his lack of consistency putting up double-digit fantasy points per game during a season he DID get better in that department scoring double-digit points, in 0.5 PPR leagues, in 9 of 16 games this past season which I want to say is a lot, even for him. With better offensive performances on the horizon, look for Green to increase his total of double-digit fantasy point scoring games making him a decent WR1 and a great WR2.

Josh Gordon. Josh. Gordon. The man has WR1 upside and is currently being drafted, on average, in the late 3rd and early 4th rounds. While it goes without saying his off the field past is a slight concern, look what he did last season after missing the past two seasons: In 5 games played he racked up 335 yards and 1 TD, and that was after joining the team midseason with Deshone Kizer throwing him the football.  Take my word for it that is impressive for a guy returning to a poor offense after being off for two years.

Now he has had an entire offseason to prepare in a new offensive scheme, which former Steelers offensive coordinator Todd Haley is now implementing. Furthermore, he’s been able to practice with new starting QB Tyrod Taylor during OTA’s and minicamp who is a massive upgrade over Kizer at the position. Look, I grant you this isn’t much to go on but if he’s anything like his 2013 season where he posted 1,646 yards, averaged 117.6 yards per game, and scored 9 TDs I think we’d all be happy, and he is now in the type of offensive scheme that should allow for that. (@JorgeBEdwards)

TIGHT ENDS: Let’s Talk

Look I’m not going to sugar-coat it, tight end in the AFC North is kind of a hazy thing to analyze. I’d like to say David Njoku will emerge as a top receiving threat in Cleveland’s offense, but they already have Josh Gordon and Jarvis Landry poised to absorb a bulk of targets in the passing game.

I’d like to say Vance McDonald’s playoff performance against the Jaguars this past season where he posted 10 receptions for 112 yards wasn’t a fluke and he’s dialed in to be the Steelers new go-to guy in Pittsburgh, but they already have Le’veon  AB & JuJu Smith-Schuester in the receiving department PLUS they just drafted James Washington who could very well likely be the team’s #2 WR.

I would hope that Tyler Eifert would play all season long, but we all know that won’t likely happen due to his lack of durability.

And yes while the Ravens did draft Hayden Hurst to be their future at the position he’s still a rookie and not worthy of wasting a draft pick on.

The moral of the story: Look in other divisions for tight ends. (@JorgeBEdwards)

*As a reminder to those who listen to or don’t listen (you really should) to our podcast, all of our projections and insight for IDP players is based on the FANTASY IN FRAMES IDP scoring rubric which we will be using for the 2018 season and in our IDP followers leagues this fall.*

LINEBACKERS: C.J. Mosley & Christian Kirksey 

Both were tackling machines in 2017 with Mosley racking up 132 total tackles and Kirksey with 138. Nothing has changed in Baltimore to make me worry about Mosley’s outlook from an IDP fantasy perspective. Kirksey is now in a LB corps that is filled with talent. They signed Michael Kendricks in free agency, Jamie Collins is returning from injury, and Joe Schobert is looking to duplicate his fantasy performance from last season. Assuming Kirksey retains the middle linebacker role on this defense look for him to continue to dominate from that position. However, this position battle is one to monitor during training camp and the preseason. Whoever comes out as the middle linebacker will be afforded the same opportunities for playmaking that Kirksey had in 2017. (@JorgeBEdwards)

DEFENSIVE LINEMAN: Myles Garrett, Carlos Dunlap, & Casey Heyward

With Myles Garrett being the newest addition to the group, all three of these defensive ends have tremendous upside. Heyward and Dunlap being a steady DE presence in IDP for what feels like forever. Myles Garrett, now healthy unlike during his rookie season, should be set up nicely to take the next step forward from his 31 tackle total and 7 sack performance he accumulated during his rookie season. (@JorgeBEdwards)

DEFENSIVE BACKS: Eric Weddle & Tony Jefferson 

It’s not often you find two valuable IDP safeties on one team. Besides the Rams and Bills secondary, I don’t see another team with a pair of players that can produce in IDP like these two can. Weddle played like a free safety should in accumulating 6 INTs on the season in 2017 and Jefferson, at strong safety, accumulated 79 total tackles. The beauty of secondaries like the Ravens, Rams, & Bills is that while each team has one part of the pair being drafted sooner than the other, you can still wait on the other later on in your IDP drafts and get tremendous value at the position. (@JorgeBEdwards)

We’ll see you next week when we’ll be discussing the Top Fantasy Football Players In The AFC South!

As always thanks for checking out FANTASY IN FRAMES!