A couple days ago I placed a "buy low" tag on Le'Veon Bell. Not much support from the community, so let's see how that shakes out. Is is interesting, though, that the following day head coach Adam Gase offered some praise for his beleaguered back. Maybe it was just posturing in light of the obvious tensions between these two. But Gase's job is on the line, and Bell's New York career--and probably his future earning potential--are on the line (if he's cut after this season, the Jets will burn only $4 million of cap money).
With an improved offensive line and a schedule that looks a little easier than it did a month ago (before several big-name Patriot defenders opted out), I'm more bullish about the Jets' offense than I've been in years. While Bell is one key piece, there are three other vastly underrated options. Yes, I'm saying in deep leagues, stacking a few Jets will pay off.
For starters, Sam Darnold (QB-27) is a lock to outperform expectations. He was (of course) 27th in QB fantasy scoring last year--hence, his 2020 ranking. Not very imaginative or insightful. Had he played 16 games, he was on pace to crack the top 20. They were second-to-last in scoring last season, just ahead of Washington. So the fantasy universe either believes Darnold will miss several games (quite possible, but too early in his career to factor that in too much), or he'll regress (almost impossible). If you're in a two-QB league, Darnold will be a near-weekly starter. In one-QB leagues, he'll probably flash 4-5 times--enough to make him a solid bye-week streamer in 12+ team leagues. Keep in mind, zero experts rank him in the top 16, and only two of 119 experts place him better than 20th. Few "non-draftable" QBs are so obviously undervalued.
I won't mention Jamison Crowder (okay, I mentioned him). There's a consensus that he'll be the #1 receiver, and that might be true. His WR-44 ADP is probably more of a floor than a ceiling. But he's not the best value pick in this corps. Breshad Perriman (WR-59) or Denzel Mims (WR-67) will be a top-40 receiver, and if Darnold takes a solid step forward (as I assume he will), there's room for all three receivers to crack the top 50. In Best Ball, these are fairly easy "risks" to take. Same in deep leagues.
The key takeaway is that the prognosticators are eyeballing the Jets through a 2019 lens. That's not unusual, since so often future stats are predicated on past stats. But in the Jets' case, it's far off the mark.
With an improved offensive line and a schedule that looks a little easier than it did a month ago (before several big-name Patriot defenders opted out), I'm more bullish about the Jets' offense than I've been in years. While Bell is one key piece, there are three other vastly underrated options. Yes, I'm saying in deep leagues, stacking a few Jets will pay off.
For starters, Sam Darnold (QB-27) is a lock to outperform expectations. He was (of course) 27th in QB fantasy scoring last year--hence, his 2020 ranking. Not very imaginative or insightful. Had he played 16 games, he was on pace to crack the top 20. They were second-to-last in scoring last season, just ahead of Washington. So the fantasy universe either believes Darnold will miss several games (quite possible, but too early in his career to factor that in too much), or he'll regress (almost impossible). If you're in a two-QB league, Darnold will be a near-weekly starter. In one-QB leagues, he'll probably flash 4-5 times--enough to make him a solid bye-week streamer in 12+ team leagues. Keep in mind, zero experts rank him in the top 16, and only two of 119 experts place him better than 20th. Few "non-draftable" QBs are so obviously undervalued.
I won't mention Jamison Crowder (okay, I mentioned him). There's a consensus that he'll be the #1 receiver, and that might be true. His WR-44 ADP is probably more of a floor than a ceiling. But he's not the best value pick in this corps. Breshad Perriman (WR-59) or Denzel Mims (WR-67) will be a top-40 receiver, and if Darnold takes a solid step forward (as I assume he will), there's room for all three receivers to crack the top 50. In Best Ball, these are fairly easy "risks" to take. Same in deep leagues.
The key takeaway is that the prognosticators are eyeballing the Jets through a 2019 lens. That's not unusual, since so often future stats are predicated on past stats. But in the Jets' case, it's far off the mark.