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2020 Fantasy Football: Bounce-Back Candidates
Every season fantasy football owners have to deal with disappointing years from players that they drafted. When one of your early draft picks don't live up to expectations, they can tank your season. I've said it for years: Fantasy owners are too romantic when it comes to players in which they've invested.
What I mean by that is, when an owner is let down by a player, they tend not to draft that player again. When that happens, players coming off a poor season end up with plummeting in drafts and their average draft position (ADP) suffers. Eventually, these players become value options as the masses downgrade that player. These value options are players that I like to target. I call it going after last year's trash! Here are some bounce-back players this could apply to this season.
WR Odell Beckham Jr., Cleveland Browns
I will be the first to admit; I was overly aggressive when it came to drafting Beckham in 2019. I bought into how Baker Mayfield looked in his rookie season and thought Beckham was the perfect player to join the offense. I was terribly wrong, and it cost me in some of my high-stakes leagues. Beckham didn't lose any of the talent that made him a star. The problems were the performance of Mayfield and the coaching of Freddie Kitchens.
Beckham's numbers were pretty bad last season, and you could see the frustration on his face at times. He played in all 16 games last year for the Browns but only caught 71 passes for 951 yards and a lowly three touchdowns. Beckham finished the year as WR30. The Browns' offensive line was terrible last season, and Baker didn't play well behind them, then head coach Freddie Kitchens stubbornly refused to give up play-calling.
My Beckham shares went down in flames. This season, Kevin Stefanski will take over as the Browns head coach, and his focus will be getting the Browns offense on track. Stefanski has a good track record coaching offenses (see the Vikings last year). I think he can turn around Cleveland's offense, and I'm willing to bet on a Beckham bounce-back, especially at his early ADP of WR10.
WR JuJu Smith-Schuster, Pittsburgh Steelers
Fantasy owners were very bullish on Smith-Schuster last season. With Antonio Brown out of the picture, many felt Smith-Schuster would become the Steelers' top receiver, a spot that has been very friendly to fantasy fans for years. What fantasy owners could not predict was a season-ending elbow injury to Ben Roethlisberger. The Steelers were not prepared at backup quarterback.
The passing game had major struggles, and JJSS investors paid the price. Smith-Schuster missed four games toward the end of the season, but his fantasy owners' fate had already been sealed. He could very well go back to being one of the top wideouts in fantasy. In early drafts, Smith-Schuster is going off the board at WR14. That is a major value! I would like him even more if the Steelers go out and sign Jameis Winston to back up Big Ben.
RB Sony Michel, New England Patriots
Before drafts started last year, many were feeling very good about Michel. He was coming off a rookie season in which he showed flashes of being a future fantasy stud with New England. The former Georgia Bulldogs back ran for close to 1000 yards and scored six touchdowns. Some of my trusted friends in the fantasy industry warned me that Michel could be nothing more than a touchdown-dependent RB2. They were wrong; he was a touchdown-dependent RB3.
I have a feeling that Michel was masking an injury last season. He never admitted to that, but he didn't look right. Fantasy owners are not expecting much of at Michel in early drafts. He is going off the board as RB38, Michel is a better player than that, and I expect a bounce-back this year. The good news is you won't have to pay last year's price for him. Fantasy owners were not the only ones upset with Michel last season, check out the .
O.J. Howard TE, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
This is a bounce-back recommendation with a twist. I am a big fan of Howard's skill set. He has proven to be an athletic freak and a matchup nightmare for opposing defenses. Fantasy owners went all-in, and Howard was drafted as a top-five TE in what looked to be a promising Tampa Bay offense. It was promising, just not so much for him. I wasn't really into Howard, though. No matter how talented the tight end, they just aren't used frequently in a Bruce Arians' offense. Last season Howard finished as the TE27.
This year with Tom Brady in Tampa, people will once again talk up Howard. In early drafts, he is the TE17 off the board. We know Brady likes to throw to the tight end, but it's just not a position that gets love in Arians' offense. With others likely gravitating toward all things Brady, I will be passing on Howard until he is out of Tampa.
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