AFC: Fantasy Football Factors

Fantasy Football Factors, what exactly do I mean by that? Super simple answer, it's one thing to keep an eye on when tracking each team's preseason performances. Fantasy Football Factors was just the shortest way I could come up with to say that.

Buffalo Bills: Gabriel Davis

Davis is one of my sleepers at Receiver. He did well last season and I loved what he did in the playoffs. I was excited for him heading into his second year, but then Buffalo went out of their way to bring in Emmanuel Sanders and now I’m not sure what they have planned. So, we use the preseason to determine what kind of playing time Davis will be looking at.

Miami Dolphins: Tua Tagovailoa

We all know it was a rough season for Tagovailoa in 2020 and there are plenty of reasons for why it may have gone down that way. But now he’s heading into year two, he’s over a year and a half removed from the hip injury, and Miami stocked the cupboard for him. Now’s the time for him to show that Miami took the right guy. Preseason will give us a feel for what he may have in store in 2021.

New England Patriots: Mac Jones vs Cam Newton

Whoever is under Center for this team this year will have some value. The Patriots know how to run a successful team and they did a very good job of reloading on talent in the pass catching department. That means the winner of this job could be your solid QB2 selection late in your draft. The other thing to keep an eye on is how well Jones is playing. Chances are Newton takes the starting job to open the year, but if Jones plays well enough from the get go it won’t be long before a switch is made. Obviously if Jones is struggling Newton will hang on to the job longer.

New York Jets: How Zach Wilson looks

There are plenty of good looking fantasy players on the Jets this year, but it will depend on how Wilson plays. Corey Davis, Elijah Moore and Denzel Mims will need Wilson to play smart and get the ball downfield to them. Michael Carter and Tevin Coleman will need Wilson to move the ball and keep opposing defenses from stacking the box. If Wilson looks more like your traditional rookie passer (think Tagovailoa last season), then it’ll probably be best to avoid this team this season.

Baltimore Ravens: The Wide Receiver competition

Marquise Brown has been a little disappointing through his first two years. Sammy Watkins hasn’t been fantasy relevant since 2015. And there are two unknowns in Rashod Bateman and Tylan Wallace. It certainly looks like Baltimore has done a good job of improving the pass catcher situation around Lamar Jackson. What we’ll need to see is who’s getting the work on the first team and who does Jackson like targeting through preseason.

Cincinnati Bengals: Joe Burrow’s Composure

When you suffer an injury like Burrow did after taking a beating for the first half of the season before going down, it can get into your head. Plenty of great Quarterbacks coming out of college have had their careers ruined because they got hit too many times. It’ll be important to see how Burrow handles the mental aspect of it. Does he look comfortable in the pocket? Is he willing to stand in and take the hit or is he jumpy? Does he have a case of happy feet? Those kinds of things.

Cleveland Browns: The secondary

Cleveland’s defense has been trying to push for fantasy relevance for a few years now, but their secondary has not been helping the situation. So, they went out this offseason and landed some big names to help out. Preseason should give us an idea of whether or not these guys will pick up with where they left off and if they’ll be able to help the unit, as a whole, hit the top ten in fantasy land.

Pittsburgh Steelers: Ben Roethlisberger’s arm

The expectation is that Najee Harris is going to get plenty of work and he’s going to be a fantasy beast, and those expectations should stay that way. The thing we need to look for is how Big Ben’s arm is doing. If he’s looking worse than he was last year it will affect where Claypool, Smith-Schuster and Johnson are going in our fantasy drafts.

Houston Texans: The Running Back situation

The odds of Watson not playing for Houston this year remain high, so the Texans will need to rely heavily on their backfield combo of Mark Ingram, David Johnson and Phillip Lindsay. If you’re interested in targeting someone from Houston’s backfield in your fantasy draft then you’re going to want to keep an eye on who is getting the bulk of the first team work in the preseason and who is looking good.

Indianapolis Colts: Carson Wentz

Wentz is back with Reich, which makes you think that he could return to form. But there are so many other factors. Seasons like the one Wentz had last year can destroy a Quarterback’s confidence and essentially send them into a tailspin. There were also rumors that Wentz was refusing to let his coaches coach him. Should be interesting to see if there’s any talk coming out of Indy’s camp. The good news is, Wentz should already be familiar with the scheme, so if he’s struggling in preseason we’ll know it probably doesn’t have anything to do with the playbook.

Jacksonville Jaguars: How they use Etienne and Robinson

During rookie OTAs rumor was Meyer had Etienne split out as a Receiver. If that’s the case then Robinson’s value will remain strong, but Laviska Shenault’s value will take a little bit of a hit. Regardless, Etienne should peak your interest on draft day, if Meyer wants him on the field bad enough to move him around like that then he’s going to get plenty of looks.

Tennessee Titans: Tannehill to Julio Jones

Landing Jones was a really great get for the Titans because even if he doesn’t have a big statistical season his presence will make an impact for A.J. Brown and Derrick Henry. For fantasy purposes though we need to see how the rapport is looking between Tannehill and Jones in the preseason. If they’re struggling to connect on passes then coaches with Jones on their team could be in for a long season.

Denver Broncos: The Competitions

Denver’s offense will have quite a few competitions this preseason. You got Bridgewater vs Lock at QB, Williams vs Gordon at RB, and while we should believe Sutton and Jeudy will be WR1/2, Tim Patrick and K.J. Hamler will be competing to be the primary WR3. The loser of the QB competition will sit on the bench unlike with the competitions at the other positions, but we should still keep an eye on how much work Williams, Gordon, Patrick and Hamler are getting, and who looks better.

Kansas City Chiefs: The O-Line

Big headline for KC this offseason was them landing Orlando Brown, Joe Thuney, Creed Humphrey and Kyle Long. Bringing in talented big names is all well and good, but it doesn’t guarantee success. There are two factors that we need to keep an eye on: Do these guys fit into KC’s scheme? And are they gelling together well? If the Line is looking good then Mahomes and all subsequent targets will thrive.

Las Vegas Raiders: Their Receivers

Last year Henry Ruggs had plenty of hype after being the first Receiver drafted, and Bryan Edwards was receiving plenty of smoke after training camp kicked off, but both disappointed. Nelson Agholor is gone, John Brown and Willie Snead are in, someone will have to step up as the new #2 target behind Darren Waller. Preseason should give us some idea of who Carr is liking.

Los Angeles Chargers: Herbert and the new scheme

A change in coaching staff this early in a young QBs career can ruin their future. Preseason always involves a watered down version of the actual schemes that will be run because team’s don’t want to give away too much, but you can still learn a little. The key here is just keeping an eye on how Herbert plays. If he seems comfortable, he gets the ball out quick and easy, and doesn’t make too many mistakes, then there shouldn’t be much to worry about when the season rolls around. If he doesn’t then you’re going to want to reconsider targeting him in your drafts, or at least move him down a little on your boards.