It’s that awkward time of the year where us football writers scatter to distant lands, such as “baseball land” and “Branson.” But before I head out for the spring/summer, I wanted to do one of those montage scenes where we check out all of our favorite Razzball writer’s bold preseason predictions…and find out who is the boldest and who is the most accurate!
For reference, here’s the original article, where our writer Skorish asked us to try and make bold yet reasonably possible predictions about the year.
Bold Prediction #1: Jameis Winston finishes the year in the top 5 in QB scoring.
- Result: Fiction. Pure fiction. But at least it was a possible prediction. Winston probably had every opportunity for success lined up for him…in an alternate dimension. To start the year, the Saints lost receivers Michael Thomas (who missed the entire year) and Tre’Quan Smith (who missed significantly more time than many analysts thought). Then Winston got banged up for a bit and Trevor Siemian took over for a short stint of adequacy before Taysom Hill took the reigns. Hill ended up signing an incentive-laden contract that pays him as if he was a legitimate starting QB…if he starts at QB…but then Saints coach Sean Payton decided to retire. So, Jameis may never get another shot at being famous.
Bold Prediction #2: At least three of the following 4 RBs will be more valuable on a per game basis than Ezekiel Elliott: Jonathan Taylor, Joe Mixon, Austin Ekeler, and Antonio Gibson.
- Result: Winner, winner, chicken dinner! Indeed, Taylor, Mixon, and Ekeler scored more fantasy points on a per game basis than Elliott, and Gibson was a mere 0.5 points behind Zeke. Rudy wins this bet, and there’s a fair chance he would have been 4-for-4 (no not the football site) had Gibson not played through a stress fracture all year.
Bold Prediction #3: Ronald Jones rushes for over 1,000 yards and finishes as a top 15 RB.
- Result: I’m so sorry JB. To be fair, everybody loves RoJo, and nobody really saw Fournette coming back to be one of the absolute best RBs in the game. RoJo finished with 428 yards on the ground and was good for an RB60 finish. [teeth sucking noises]
Bold Prediction #4: Le’Veon Bell will finish as a top 25 running back in 2021.
- Result: I won the award for the boldest prediction on the slate, and you know what? It almost had a chance. When the Ravens lost basically every RB they had rostered, they pulled in Le’Veon Bell…and Latavius Murray…and Devonta Freeman. Freeman ended up the winner of that trio of geriatric backs, and Bell got shuffled off after the Ravens proved to be an injury magnet. Bell ended up as a complete bust, although there was never much of a chance of my prediction getting much traction anyway.
Bold Prediction #5: Tom Brady breaks Peyton Manning’s single-season yards and touchdowns record this season.
- Result: Almost! Peyton Manning’s single-season yards record? 5,477. Tom Brady passing yards in 2021? 5316. TD record? 55. Brady 2021 TDs? 43. Now, this is a really good bold prediction, but it fell a bit short. Brady did finish as QB3 on the season behind Josh Allen and Justin Herbert, and 2022 could prove to be another chance for Brady to break some records. Also, this was Son’s prediction, and Son’s the smartest of any of us so it doesn’t surprise me that he nearly pulled this one off.
Bold Prediction #6: Cole Beasley will be cut or traded and Emmanuel Sanders will have a top 25 WR season.
- Result: Yikes. People forgot about Beasley once the immunized Aaron Rodgers and his volume of Atlas Shrugged showed off the power of Toevid. Beasley played most of the season (when he wasn’t out with Covid) and finished as WR39 in PPR leagues. Meanwhile, Emmanuel Sanders had a fair run but got played out of a job by Gabriel Davis to finish the season. Coolwhip’s boo Sanders finished as WR54.
Bold Prediction #7: Sterling Shepard, not Kenny Golladay, will be the best Giants WR for fantasy in 2021.
- Result: Uh…draw? Maybe? They both had lost seasons on an awful Giants team. Golladay eeked out 500ish yards and Shepard about 300…and Golladay was actually the best receiver on the Giants. Yeesh. So, I guess this prediction is a complete flop. Sorry, Bobby. But really, there are no winners with this prediction.
Bold Prediction #8: This is the year Deebo Samuel puts it together. In addition to doubling his career total of 90 receptions, he’ll lead all WRs in rushing yards.
- Result: Steve Paulo is psychic! Samuel only got 77 receptions on a 49ers team that never really got the pass game moving (stop arguing), and to everybody’s surprise, Samuel cranked out 360 yards and 8 TDs on the ground. Many fantasy managers are asking their favorite playing sites to give Samuel RB eligibility after he rushed 59 times and lined up in the backfield a ton. I’m calling this prediction a win.
Bold Prediction #9: Terry McLaurin will be a top-6 WR in 2021.
- Result: WR25 on a Washington team that spent the year with Taylor Heinicke at the helm. I mean, it’s tough to complain about a guy who put up over 1,000 receiving yards on a team with a QB that hadn’t been in the NFL in 2 years. I mean, scroll up and look at what Kenny Golladay did with 2 “franchise” QBs at the helm (y’all remember when Mike Glennon was a franchise QB, right?). This was Kirksey’s prediction, and I give him a high five on it, even though it failed.
Bold Prediction #10: Jonathan Taylor will lead the lead in rushing yards and rushing touchdowns on his way to finishing as the top scoring fantasy player in 2021.
- Result: Winner. Winner. Chicken. Dinner. Is there anything left to say about this? Except Cooper Kupp outscored JT (among non-QBs). This is obviously Donkey Teeth’s call, and he already won big on it.
Bold Prediction #11: Jerry Jeudy finishes the season as a top 15 WR.
- Result: WR84, but he also missed about 40% of the season. On a per game basis, he was [checks notes] WR61. Yuck. Sorry BDon, this one is a flop.
Bold Prediction #12: Hunter Henry finds a way to play at least 15 games and leads the Patriots receivers in fantasy scoring.
- Result: 17 games, but far inferior to Jakobi Meyers and Kendrick Bourne. The Patriots haven’t been TE friendly for a few years, and 2021 proved no different. Sorry Roto Wan, this is a flop prediction.
Bold Prediction #13: Parris Campbell will finish as a Top 36 WR
- Result: 162 yards and 10 receptions on the year after missing most of the season. At least this prediction did better than my Le’Veon Bell attempt.
Bold Prediction #14: Both Zach Ertz and Dallas Goedert finish as TE1.
- Result: Well, the Eagles did manage to ship off Ertz like they wanted, and Ertz finished the year as TE5 overall and Goedert finished as TE8. So, Ertz blew past his obvious pre-season ADP value, but neither of them came close to topping the TE category, where Mark Andrews claimed the TE1 throne for the 2021 season.
That’s it my friends! Did you have any bold predictions that went right or wrong? Share them down in the comments. While Razzball Fantasy Football will continue with off-season content, yours truly will be manning the pitcher prospectus on the baseball side for the next 6 months. See you come the fall!
