Drafting your fantasy football team is all about risk management. You want just as many guys with a good statistical pedigree as you do guys that have big upside. Let’s face it, not every 6th-7th round pick with the explosiveness and opportunity to return profit is going to do so. You’re going to draft a flop every now and then, it’s just how this stupid game that we love so much works. The players that I’m writing about today are most likely going to return value, but they probably won’t jump out at you on a week to week basis. These are just solid contributors that you can’t take out of your lineup and they end up helping you get to your goal of making the playoffs and making a run at the title. This is how you take luck out of fantasy football and it’s also a reminder to myself to enforce risk management in my drafts.
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Marvin Jones
Yuck. Detroit Lions. I definitely don’t want many of them, but Marvin Jones is probably going to sneak his way to 900-1,000 yards if he can be out there for 13-16 games this season. Some writers that are familiar with the Lions believe that Jones is their most valuable receiver over Kenny Golladay and would you really be surprised if Jones finished with more fantasy points than Golladay? I certainly wouldn’t be. Before getting injured in 2018, Jones was on pace for over 900 yards and almost double digit touchdowns. Even though it may feel like Jones is 32-33 years old, this guy is still only 29. You are getting a solid WR3 in the 8th round with Marvin Jones.
Tevin Coleman
Tevin limped his way to a top-20 running back finish in PPR formats last season. He is moving to an offense that fits him well in San Francisco and it turns out that Jerrick McKinnon isn’t quite ready to join in on the fun. This secures a pretty significant role for Coleman and he is currently going at the end of the 5th round in PPR drafts. Matt Breida is also going to have a role so it would be smart to handcuff Coleman with Breida. San Francisco ranked 11th in rushing attempts per game last season, so two running backs is certainly sustainable.
Jared Goff
Jared Goff is coming at a great value in an age where we all tend to push off drafting our quarterbacks until the middle rounds. Although Goff was borderline awful in the Super Bowl in February, his fantasy football numbers told a different story in the regular season. Goff finished fourth in passing yards and 3rd in air yards in 2018. He also threw 32 touchdowns which isn’t too shabby. There might be a little regression with the offense in Los Angeles, but Goff has Brandin Cooks, Robert Woods, Cooper Kupp, Josh Reynolds, and Todd Gurley to throw to. The better the news is coming out of camp for Gurley, the better it is for Jared Goff. So far the news on Gurley has been pretty good. I would love to take Jared Goff at the end of the 9th round, especially if you don’t want to sign up for the risk that Jameis Winston brings to the table a round later.
Vance McDonald
There hasn’t been exciting tight end play in Pittsburgh for quite a long time. I was going to make a Ben Roethlisberger joke right there, but I’m tired of beating a dead horse. Nobody is going to “ohhh” and “ahhh” at a Vance McDonald pick but he performed as a low end TE1 last season and his opportunity is only growing with the departures of Jesse James and Antonio Brown. In 2018 McDonald finished with 50 receptions and that is likely to grow. I also expect him to improve upon his 5 red zone receptions and 4 touchdowns. McDonald comes at a dollar menu price of an 8th round pick.
