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There is a general inkling in fantasy football that the third year of a wide receiver’s career can and usually is their breakout year in the NFL. Over the course of the off-season, Razzball will take a look at some wideouts heading into their third year in the league and see if they’re a breakout candidate for 2013 fantasy football. This week we will review Randall Cobb.

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After weeks of studying this draft class with my elite research team, the AT&T kids, we have come to the conclusion that this Wide Receiver class is being slightly underrated, even if we can't tape a cheetah to the back of the slow ones. It is well known that the position of Wide Receiver, unlike Running Back, has a huge learning curve when a player steps into the NFL, but can a player be successful straight away? Sure, if put in the right situation a player can and will make an impact. This is going to be an exciting year for Wide Receivers in this year’s draft mostly due to the depth at the position. While it's unlikely there is a Megatron or AJ Green that will come in and make an immediate impact, there are several receivers in this draft, due to their athletic ability, that have extremely high ceilings in terms of Fantasy Football. Most of the players you read about here won’t be immediate household names, but you can be sure that a few will be coveted 2013 Fantasy Football assets in the coming years. Let’s take a look at some of the top receivers in the 2013 NFL Draft and where the best landing spot would be for each. Even with major moves in the off season, there are still several teams that need to improve their Wide Receiver corps as the passing game has become such a huge part of what it takes to be successful in the NFL and for your Fantasy Football teams...
Yup, it's that time of year. The time of year where football is all about the what ifs and the maybes and the possiblies. A time where everyone could have value and no pick could possibly go wrong. So of course this was a great time to have a Mock Draft when the world is your oyster and you get to shuck the hell out of it. So with that mindset, I joined Murph for a little bit of late February, early March mockery of the 2013 fantasy football draft system. Let's just look at how I did, shall we? Yes, let's:
Well, this one is gonna be short and sweet. Well maybe not sweet. Might actually be dry. But things can be dry and sweet at the same time, though, right? Think raisins and dates here. So let's whip out the food dehydrator, make some dried mango slices and see how this new rule is going to affect our 2013 fantasy football season...
Now that we have completed the majority of our major events of the Rookie scouting period with the combine and pro days behind us we start to get a better picture of the best prospects in this draft (and if you need catch up, click on this magical 2013 NFL Draft link for coverage). Ranking the top rookie Running Backs for 2013 Fantasy Football has been extremely challenging mostly due to the fact that it is as much about what team a player lands on as it is about their football potential and ability. Could Doug Martin, Alfred Morris or Trent Richardson been impact players if they landed with the Vikings behind Adrian Peterson or in Arizona with what is considered the leagues worst offensive line? The answer is most likely no. With that in mind these rankings are strictly based on my personal assessment of each player and are certainly subject to change. Lets take a look at some of the names that could become valuable assets to your 2013 Fantasy Football teams next year and the teams I would like to see them play for...
It seems like the more we see of Greg Jennings in the media, the less news there actually is about him concerning football. Last year his owners got to see his believe in your smellf campaign more than they got to see him on the football field as he only played in 8 games in 2012. It was like the exact oppostite of Bader-Meinhoff Syndrome (real thing) as his owners started a Go F@#$ Your Smellf campaign (not a real thing) in protest of his absence. Then at the start of free agency and even leading up to it, Greg Jennings talking on ESPN was more commonplace than Greg Jennings actually signing as it took until most of the rumored suitors had moved on with another player before he 'picked' the Vikings for a 5 year deal. Honestly, this was a desperation play on both sides that could benefit the fantasy community quite handsomely. You see, for all the issues with how bad Ponder was last year - and yes make no mistake he was bad and not in a Michael Jackson sort of way - he still produced a top ten caliber wide out before Percy Harvin got hurt and then moved on to the double entendre 'Evergreen State' this off-season. There's no reason to think Jennings can't still hold value without Aaron Rodgers at the helm. Of course, there IS a question of whether or not he can stay healthy enough to produce as he's only played 21 games in the last two seasons. In a way too early way to evaluate things, Jennings is looking like a 6th round pick right now and the 27th wide receiver off the board and this is before many mocks have happened with the new locale for him. Something tells me Greg is going to keep slipping which should create a reasonable value when considering volume being a factor. Before losing Harvin to injury, 36% of Ponder's completions went to Percy. To put that in perspective, of Stafford's 435 completions, 25% went to Calvin Johnson. Being a big fish in a little pond is a huge boon to fantasy value even if the pond is covered in algae and has the local sewage run-off going into it. If Jennings can stay healthy, he's going to reward his owners with a WR2 season for a fraction of the cost. Sleeper potential is high here.
Though most of the rumors had SJax becoming a cheesehead for most of Wednesday, it was the Falcons that landed Steven Jackson on a three year deal Thursday which lead me to relive all the great acts from the dirty south. Somehow despite having Outkast available I went with Ludacris which is...well its ludicrous but it's happened and now we must move on from it. The writing had been on the wall for most of the 2012 season that the Rams wouldn't be bringing Steven back so for him to land on the Falcons is a blessing for many in the fantasy world. Firstly, SJax himself gets a major boost as Atlanta was an offensive juggernaut in 2012, finishing in the top 5 in total yards last year and 7th in PPG, leaving a Rams team that finished 23rd and 25th, respectively. Factor in that his predecessor Michael Turner averaged 3.6 yards per carry and still finished as a top 20 fantasy running back in 2012 and the ceiling for Steven Jackson just got a lot higher. Like we're talking vaulted ceilings and you'll need an extension for your sticky buddy to clean up all the uh...joy that you'll release if you get to draft him this year. You see, Turner was burned out last season. In three of his five seasons with the Falcons, Turner had 300 or more carries with one of those seasons being only 11 games after carrying the ball 376 times in 2008. Though it's not the same kind of concern that goes along with Arian Foster and his 400 touches, 300+ carries is a heavy burden to bear. I mention all these things because even with a terrible burnout year, Turner still scored 11 total touchdowns. That's 1 more than SJax has scored in the last 2 years combined. I can tell you're blinking rapidly with surprise and shock at that so I'll give you a moment to let it settle in. Good, now I'll tell you that SJax has only scored 10 or more touchdowns twice in his career and the last time it happened was in 2006. Hello, you still there? Crap, someone call a paramedic I think we lost one! When you factor in Jackson's versatility - Turner only has 70 career receptions compared to Jackson averaging 49 in a 16 game season for his career - the fantasy world will be his for the taking and yours as well if you take him. I might be wrong but I think we get some vintage SJax in 2013.
Well there were rumors of it and inklings and rumors of said inklings but it finally happened. On Wednesday, Reggie Bush signed with the Detroit Lions on a 4 year deal which sets in motion some fantasy commotion of major implications. Firstly, getting the former Kim Kardashian ass caddy is going to make waves in Detroit which is funny because he just moved from South Beach to do it. At least I think that's funny. *Checking* no, it's decidedly not but what is funny is Bush's new teammate Mikel LeShoure eating a bag of weed before the officers could find his stash. Maybe they should trade him to Denver or Seattle now...well anywho, I'm not here to talk about Mikel. At least not yet. In getting Reggie, the Lions grabbed a great Jahvid Best replacement. You know, the running back who was probably the starter had concussions not taken his career from him. Why do we like this and by this I mean the Bush signing and not the concussion? Because in 22 games as a Lion, Best caught 85 passes which is a 62 catch pace for a 16 game season. When you consider Detroit has attempted the most passes of any team the last two years, the passing volume for great things is going to be there for Bush to be fairly Sprolesy. Overall, he probably will cede some touches to both Mikel and Joique Bell, there's enough to go around for him to stay a solid RB2 in PPR leagues. And of course, Reggie's exit from Miami along with the Mike Wallace signing should increase the stock of Lamar Miller dramatically. Sounds like I have some game film to watch and a post to write, yes? Yup and yup but we're not here for that right now so let's take a look at more moves from day two of the NFL free agent market for 2013 fantasy football...
Well, if it wasn't clear last year to you that Mike Wallace would no longer be a Steeler this off-season it should definitely be now. Yesterday, Mike signed a 5 year $65 million dollar deal with a Dolphins squad that went on an FA shopping spree this off-season. What, you wanted a funnier intro? Well, I would've gone with Mike Wallace retires to South Beach but the 60 Minute man is dead, both the the guy from the show and the man who wrote the song so you're gonna have to make due with whatcha get. But more back to the point, this is a very expensive move by the Dolphins but - in all honesty - the right one for the team. Yadda to the 3rd power, Sky, what does this have to do with fantasy? Yes, yes my friend, we're getting there. You see, the Dolphins had already signed Brian Hartline to a 5 year 30 mil deal last week but if you know anything about last year's Miami team, you know that Hartline is not a #1 wide receiver. Alright, technically I don't consider Wallace one either but he does stretch the field and gives young QB Tannehill the downfield threat he was missing in 2012 and makes Hartline a clear WR2 which he should fill the role of quite nicely. In all, much like the Percy Harvin trade I talked about yesterday, I don't see this affecting Wallace for the better or the worse but I do see it as a boon for the value of Tannehill and Hartline and maybe to a lesser extent even Davone Bess in deeper leagues. Miami hasn't had this big of a threat since Brandon Marshall...who went to the Bears...for 5 years...and only 44 million...eh, well again I'm no analyst on how that worked out but I can assure you this bodes well for many wearing Dolphins uniforms for fantasy purposes. But of course, Wallace wasn't the only major roster move yesterday so without further fooferah, let's see what other signings and releases will have an affect on our world for 2013 fantasy football...
Yesterday or as I like to call it, 'the day before real trades could be made but just like the Alex Smith trade no one pays attention to these arbitrary dates', the Seattle Seahawks traded away multiple draft picks to pick up the disgruntled Percy Harvin from the Minnesota Vikings. The internet was abuzz, ablaze and other things that start with 'ab' upon hearing the news, especially from Seahawks fans. But before we fans - yes, I'm a Seahawk fan and yes I still b!tch about all those bad calls from Super Bowl XL to this very day - get too ahead of ourselves, let's take a look at Percy, what he does and how he fits within the Seahawks for 2013 fantasy football...
It seems the Super Bowl just ended and we still find more than enough to talk about when it comes to football. One of the hot topics of the past few months has been the upcoming NFL draft and the teams that potential prospects would be best on. I personally have only been doing draft analysis for a short time but have always found it interesting for as long as I have followed football to try and assess team needs and what players I thought fit where. I have always thought draft analysis is pretty biased and limited in many ways, I mean how can one person possibly predict what teams were going to do in the draft? The answer truly is they can’t, so it’s hard to take any one persons opinion seriously with so many conflicting viewpoints.