Roundtable: Facing the Music
Jesse Pantuosco (@JessePantuosco): It’s time to face the music, guys. As fantasy experts, prognosticators—whatever we are—we make a lot of predictions. Sometimes we’re right on the money (Remember when I said Delanie Walker was going to have a big week? You’re welcome). Other times, well not so much.
This Roundtable can serve as kind of our collective blooper reel. If you could take back any of your preseason predictions, which one would it be? It could be someone you overvalued or a breakout star you should have seen coming.
Off the top of my head, I know I was pretty high on Charles Johnson. He played well during the preseason and seemed to have good chemistry with Teddy Bridgewater. I drafted him as a flex player but obviously that didn’t pan out. Let’s hear some more horror stories.
Rich Hribar (@LordReebs): Easily Sam Bradford for me. I soaked in all of the narratives around his past pedigree and Chip Kelly's offense without hesitation. His price point also played a part in that, but he was a player I ended up with in several leagues. Now he's on waiver wires across the board. Never fall for a quarterback in fantasy.
Graham Barfield (@GrahamBarfield): Yeah, Rich, I drank the Sam Bradford Kool-Aid as well ... it's bitter. I think my biggest swing-and-miss this year was Andre Johnson. His price tag was palatable (4th/5th round) but in hindsight, I should have thought about the fact the Texans literally deemed Johnson "done" after cutting him. Houston had zero quality depth behind DeAndre Hopkins originally after letting Johnson go. I also should have considered the fact the Colts simply had younger and more promising weapons to compete with Johnson for targets. Donte Moncrief was the far better fantasy investment there and came free in some leagues.
Pantuosco: My most obvious miss, and I’m sure this one applies to most of us, was Eddie Lacy. I was toting him as a top-three pick along with Le’Veon Bell (that didn’t work out either) and Adrian Peterson (so far, so good). The “Fat Eddie” moniker has always been kind of a tongue and cheek nod to that unflattering photo that surfaced a few years back. But this season Lacy really has struggled with his conditioning. I’m not discounting his ankle and groin injuries. Those have played a role in his decline. But four carries for three yards against San Diego, 10 yards on five carries against Carolina—some of these stat lines are beyond comprehension. We haven’t seen a guy bottom out like this since Trent Richardson. I really hope he turns it around, but I’m not holding my breath anymore.
Raymond Summerlin (@RMSummerlin): My biggest miss was Todd Gurley. I love him as a player – he was easily my favorite back in this class – and I thought he would be a great buy-low candidate after the first half of the season. My problem was his ADP, which was as high as the third and fourth round in the summer. I did not expect him to become the starter until the middle of the season, and I did not think he would have a ton of scoring opportunities in the Rams’ offense. Turns out I was terribly wrong on both counts. Considering how much I like him as a player, this miss really hurts.
Jeff Brubach (@Jeff_Brubach): I was really into Nelson Agholor this summer and that obviously has not worked out. I was banking on the Eagles using their shiny new first round pick to fill the target void left by Jeremy Maclin, but then the entire Eagles passing game went into the tank with Bradford this season. The ankle injury has also been an issue of course, but Agholor wasn't quite ready for prime time when the season kicked off. I'll probably get sucked in on this guy again next year when he will be heavily discounted.
Patrick Daugherty (@RotoPat): Two weeks ago I would have had to tell you DeMarco Murray. I was his street-corner prophet this summer. Not that he's been a top-three back, but he's at least been useful for the better part of a month now, and seems like he could really close strong. For me, Murray was a Hindenburg that's been downgraded to a, uhh less severe blimp incident.
Charles Johnson was undoubtedly the worst for me. I thought he would be a legitimate WR2. That's still a really strange one to go so wrong. Such a young player who had such a great finish in 2014. Not typically the kind of call that burns you.