I watched The Match on Sunday featuring Tiger Woods and Peyton Manning battling against Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady. The echo chamber said Tiger had a huge advantage playing at his home course. The echo chamber said Tiger wouldn’t lose two matches in a row to Phil. Turns out the echo chamber sometimes echos for good reason, as the Tiger/Manning duo held off a later charge from Phil and Brady to hoist the Pandemic Cup. But the echo chamber isn’t always right, especially in fantasy football. Remember last years mad chants of David Johnson and Le’Veon Bell as surefire first rounders? And JuJu and OBJ as top 15 draft pick elite WR1s? Well, I’ve stepped outside the echo chamber and into a private padded room to compile my 2020 fantasy football rankings. Over the weekend I gave you my overall top 10 for 2020 fantasy football which were crazy as a pack of unicycle-riding-gorillas. The only echos you’ll find here are the friendly, completely sane, voices inside my head. Anyway, here’s my top 20 for 2020 PPR fantasy football:
Tier 4 (cont’d)
11. Clyde Edwards-Helaire – The only first round running back from this years draft class landed in a dream situation, allegedly hand picked by Patrick Mahomes. I already wrote a bit about Clyde as well in my top 10 rookies for 2020 fantasy football where I said, “I’ve seen folks on Twitter projecting crazy workloads for Edwards-Helaire out of the gates–like 250+ carries. It’s certainly possible, but remember Kareem Hunt’s huge workload during his 2017 rookie season with the Chiefs came on the legs of a Spencer Ware preseason knee injury. I think Damien Willliams will still have a decent role in this offense in 2020, just my guess.” And that’s a jackass quoting a donkey. UPDATE 8/7/20: Damien Williams has officially opted out of the 2020 season opening the door for a possible huge workload for CEH in his rookie season. I still expect DeAndre Washington or even Darwin Thompson to take a fair share of the touches, but it’s now hard to ignore the massive upside Edwards-Helaire brings to the table in the high powered Chiefs offense.
2020 Projection: 980 rushing yards, 40 receptions, 380 receiving yards, 8 total touchdowns in 14 games
PPR Pts: 224 / 16 ppg | 1/2 PPR Pts: 204 / 14.6 ppg | Standard Pts: 184 / 13.1 ppg
12. Le’Veon Bell – After a year long hold out and a year spent trying to avoid catching mono from Sam Darnold (and being alone in the same room with Adam Gase), Le’Veon had faded to the back burner of my mind. And I have a one burner mind—some argue it’s a half burner mind. So I had Bell penciled in at the backend of my top 20 running backs and hadn’t even considered him for this top 20. But once I ran the numbers on my abacus, it was clear I had to move him up. I mention in my top 20 quarterback rankings that I believe Darnold was hampered by the kissing disease for the majority of the 2019 season; a rising Darnold should lift all Jets. And Le’Veon is likely out to show he’s still one of the top players in the league after a disappoint first season in the Big Apple.
2020 Projection: 910 rushing yards, 65 receptions, 450 receiving yards, 8 total touchdowns in 15 games
PPR Pts: 249 / 16.6 ppg | 1/2 PPR Pts: 216.5 / 14.4 ppg | Standard Pts: 184 / 12.3 ppg
13. Derrick Henry -The echo chamber probably won’t look kindly on this ranking. Henry looked unstoppable late in the year as well as the playoffs. Early MFL/Bestball10s (PPR) show Henry as the 7th player off the board. There’s no denying he’s an absolute motaur of a man, but he also compiled 387 carries last year (including playoffs) which just about equaled his carry total from 2017 and 2018 combined (391 attempts). That’s quite the increase in work and wear on the body. All of that said, Henry might have the special kind of motaur frame that can handle the heavy usage. He’s still in my first round and 12th overall isn’t a full out snub.
2020 Projection: 1,225 rushing yards, 15 receptions, 150 receiving yards, 11 total touchdowns in 13 games
PPR Pts: 218.5 | 1/2 PPR Pts: 211 | Standard Pts: 203.5
Tier 5
14. Davante Adams – It’s easy to look at Adams’ 2019 stat line of 83 catches, 997 receiving yards, 5 touchdowns and forget that he missed 4 games with turf toe and likely wasn’t 100% for a few of those other games—who knew a little turf in the toe could be such a big problem. In his final 7 games last year he totaled 51 catches, 578 yards and 5 touchdowns which prorates out to 117 catches, 1,321 yards and 11 touchdowns in 16 games. Excessive proration can of course make you go blind, but it’s less dangerous when the player posted almost that exact line in the previous season. And don’t forget, he still has a half of fame QB tossing it his way. Let’s get Rodgers partnered up with Vijay Singh for the next match.
2020 Projection: 95 receptions, 1,140 receiving yards, 9 touchdowns in 14 games
PPR Pts: 263 | 1/2 PPR Pts: 215.5 | Standard Pts: 168
15. Chris Godwin – Lots of echoes out there about Tom Brady’s game management limiting the upside of the Buccaneer receiving corps. The question I keep asking is, why can’t Godwiener slide right into the Julian Edelman role with Brady? Over the past 6 seasons Edelman played 16 games three times, and in each of those three seasons he saw 150+ targets. Don’t make the mistake of devaluing Godwin just because Brady won’t be throwing 3 interceptions per game. Godelman anyone?
2020 Projection: 85 receptions, 1,275 yards, 8 touchdowns in 14 games
PPR Pts: 260.5 | 1/2 PPR Pts: 218 | Standard Pts: 175.5
Tier 6
16. Jonathan Taylor – Hello, my name is Donkey Teeth and I’m an upside addict. Give me that sweet, sweet, shiny rookie upside. The kid from Home Improvement has a vaulted ceiling. I know my projections point to the guys above in tier 6, but what’s 30 made up projection points between fantasy friends? Taylor’s huge upside is slightly muted in PPR, but the talent’s off the charts and Indy has one of the best offensive lines in the league. Don’t fade special talents because of format.
2020 Projection: 1,150 rushing yards, 30 receptions, 240 receiving yards, 11 total touchdowns in 14 games
PPR Pts: 235 / 16.8 ppg | 1/2 PPR Pts: 220 / 15.7 ppg | Standard Pts: 205 / 14.6 ppg
17. Aaron Jones – I had Jones a bit higher before the Packers spent a 2nd round pick on A.J. Dillon and his tree trunk legs. If you read any of my pre-draft or post-draft rookie rankings then you know I had a bit of a thing for Dillon. I expect the big man out of Boston College to immediately come into a goal line back role and maybe more. Jonesy was already headed for serious touchdown regression after hitting pay dirt 19 times last season. I hate to bet against talent—and I do believe AJones is very talented—but I’m scared to invest a late first/early second in the Packers backfield this season.
2020 Projection: 920 rushing yards, 40 receptions, 360 receiving yards, 8 total touchdowns in 14 games
PPR Pts: 216 | 1/2 PPR Pts: 196 | Standard Pts: 176
18. Joe Mixon – This is a tier of players I doubt I’ll own anywhere considering where I have them ranked. If you read my 2020 dynasty football rankings then you know I’m a Mixon hater. I actually just received my nomination for Player Hater of the Year. The echo chamber loves to talk about Mixon’s strong 2019 finish where he scored 5 touchdowns over the final 7 weeks, but where are the echos about his pathetic first 8 weeks which dragged fantasy teams out of contention? I get the first half usage was far from ideal, but the team will now be led by rookie QB Joe Burrow—in my opinion, also not ideal. Could the 2nd half Mixon reappear for a full season? Absolutely, but I’m not betting my first rounder on it. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go put water in Buck Nasty’s momma’s dish.
2020 Projection: 1,066 rushing yards, 35 receptions, 285 receiving yards, 8 total touchdowns in 15 games
PPR Pts: 218.1 | 1/2 PPR Pts: 200.6 | Standard Pts: 183.1
Tier 7
19. Josh Jacobs – Here’s what I said about Jacobs in my top 20 dynasty rankings, “Josh Jacobs was a low mileage guy in college as he shared touches with Damien Harris at Bama. Gruden showed no signs of limiting those carries at any point in 2020. But after the “broken shoulder” Jacobs battled thru up until week 14 last year, maybe that changes in 2021? JJ was on pace for a 1,400 yard rushing season prior to week 14, so I get why there’s a group of fans calling for him in the top 10 ahead of Miles Sanders. But these have always been forward looking rankings and I think these two young backs just might be two ships passing in the night.” And that’s me quoting a jackass. I’m hedging a bit by giving Jacobs a 14 game projection, but those numbers still look nice.
2020 Projection: 1,2000 rushing yards, 20 receptions, 160 receiving yards, 9 total touchdowns in 14 games
PPR Pts: 210 / 15 ppg | 1/2 PPR Pts: 200 / 14.3 ppg | Standard Pts: 190 / 13.6 ppg
20. DeAndre Hopkins – Traded to Arizona in exchange for a baby cactus and a Grand Canyon magnet, Hopkins may have a little something to prove. Truth is I wanted keep Nuk in my first round. I love the player and dream about the future of Kyler, Kliff and the Cardinals offense but receivers coming into new offenses don’t have the best track record. Then again, how many of the top wide receivers in the league have changed teams in recent years? Can’t think of any other than Antonio Brown, who may have been fine if they just gave him his helmet! Randy Moss and Terrell Owens made team changes look effortless back in their day and the GOAT Jerry Rice did too. Does D-Hop deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as those names? Guess we’re about to find out.
2020 Projection: 90 receptions, 1,100 receiving yards, 8 touchdowns in 15 games
PPR Pts: 248 | 1/2 PPR Pts: 203 | Standard Pts: 158
21. Julio Jones – At age 31, Julio’s starting to get crusty. But the numbers haven’t dipped much and his consistency is remarkable with a six year average of 15.33 games played, 103 receptions and 1,565 yards. Also, I just got done looking at the ridiculous numbers Terrell Owens and Jerry Rice posted into their mid and late 30’s. I probably have Jones ranked a little lower than I should, but the touchdown upside is limited with only one 9 TD season in his career plus we’ve already been over my little upside problem. That’s what she said.
2020 Projection: 85 receptions, 1,235 receiving yards, 6 touchdowns in 14 games
PPR Pts: 244.5 | 1/2 PPR Pts: 202 | Standard Pts: 159.5
