5 players that will win you a PPR League
The difference between PPR(Point Per Reception) and standard leagues is sometimes overlooked. These 5 players should receive a big boost on your draft board in PPR leagues for a variety of reasons and will help you win your league!
Justin Forsett (RB)
After Gary Kubiak left for Denver I thought Forsett’s value may tank, especially if they changed blocking schemes. Instead, they now have the Bears old coach, Marc Trestman at OC who has already committed to running the same schemes as last year. He also loves to get his running backs involved in the passing game. In his two years with Trestman Matt Forte had 74 and 102 receptions! Reports from Ravens players is that Forsett is going to catch the ball a ton. They have been saying he will be running tons of checkdowns, which means he will have a lot of short catches. It wouldn’t surprise me if Forsett ends up with 70-80 catches with over 500 receiving yards and a few receiving touchdowns, which is PPR Gold. The additional receptions should make Forsett a borderline RB1 in 2015 for PPR Leagues.
2. Jarvis Landry (WR)
Jarvis Landry is being overlooked in Fantasy Football drafts far too often. Even with the Dolphins additions of Jordan Cameron, Kenny Stills, Devante Parker and Greg Jennings, this second year wide-out could potentially put up a 100 catch season. In his rookie year he had 84 catches for 784 yards. This should easily increase in his second year as he develops a stronger bond with Tannehill. A few weeks ago the Miami Herald said they expect Jarvis Landry to be Tannehill’s, “Go-to guy.” Last year in the second half of the season he averaged 9 targets per game. Landry has been the 26th receiver coming off the board in recent PPR drafts according to FantasyPros.com. In my opinion, It wouldn’t be a reach to take him closer the 20th receiver off the board.
3. C.J. Spiller (RB)
There have been glowing reports out of New Orleans about Spiller this year. The Saints have added a new center and bolstered their offensive line. They also got rid of Kenny Stills and Jimmy Graham. All of these signs point to running the ball more often. While Ingram may be the lead back Spiller is going to be on the field catching a ton of passes. Saints running backs combined to catch 120 passes last year! Now that Pierre Thomas and Travaris Cadet, who accounted for 83 of those 120 passes are gone, there is plenty of room for Spiller to come in and make an impact. Spiller’s old coach Doug Marrone struggled to get him into space and consistently ran him between the tackles, leading to two very disappointing years. Sean Payton is the opposite of Marrone and is very good at getting his RB’s into space, a great example being Darren Sproles. Spiller is being drafted as the 17th RB off the board in PPR leagues according to FantasyPros.com. There is still plenty of value there as I think Spiller can become a high-end RB2 while putting up a few RB1 performances.
4. Julian Edelman (WR)
Edelman has been a great PPR receiver the last two years. In 2013 he had 105 catches with over 1000 yards and would have posted similar stats this year if he had played a full season instead of 14 games.
He finished 2014 with 92 catches with around 900 yards. He will continue to be the slot receiver for terrific Tom and be bombarded with targets. I expect Edelman’s value to only rise during Tom’s suspension because newer QB’s usually use their slot receivers and tight ends often because they are the easiest to complete passes to. I see Edelman posting similar stats this year of around 100 catches and 1,000 yards. His current ADP is the 19th receiver off the board but I think he will finish a few spots better than that and am not afraid to take him as the 15th receiver off the board.
5. Brandin Cooks (WR)
The Saints off-season is looking very good for a few key players (See C.J. Spiller). Cooks benefits from the dismissal of Graham and Stills a lot. He should now be the #1 WR in the Saints offense. He was leading all rookie receivers in receptions until week 10 when he had a thumb injury. Before that injury, he was on pace for around 85 receptions. Cooks also has been working on improving his mental game in the offseason as well as working out with Drew Brees in San Diego. All of these signs point to a great year for Cooks. My one problem is his ADP is getting blown out of proportion. I have seen him drafted as high as the second round in certain MFL drafts. I would be comfortable taking him in the late third or early fourth as a WR2 with the real possibility of posting WR1 numbers.
