Preseason Pro: The top ranked players in the world each reveal their No. 1 sleeper, bust, breakout, comeback and stash & cash player of the year!
Dr. Roto | Shawn Childs | Brad Kruse | Bill Enright | Kimra Schleicher | Mark Deming | Adam Ronis | Scott Atkins | Jim Day | Darren Summer
Adam Ronis’ Preseason Pro Picks
Sleeper: RB Matt Breida, San Francisco 49ers
While Tevin Coleman projects to be the starter, the 49ers will use multiple backs. Jerick McKinnon could start the season on injured reserve as he struggles to come back from a torn ACL, pushing Breida to second in line to start the season. Coleman doesn’t profile a feature back, allowing Breida to get a good amount of work. Breida was productive when he played last season and even played through injuries. He averaged 5.3 yards per carry, 9.7 yards per reception and didn’t drop a pass. Breida showed a lot of toughness with 1,075 total yards on 180 touches and five touchdowns in 14 games last season.
Bust: RB Tarik Cohen, Chicago Bears
There’s already talk that Cohen will see fewer touches and it makes sense. The Bears are high on rookie David Montgomery, and he can catch the football, unlike the now-departed Jordan Howard. Mike Davis was also added to the running back group, and several wide receivers get targets. Many look at Cohen’s final stats and see 71 catches for 725 yards and five touchdowns and get excited, but only had 99 carries for 444 yards and three touchdowns. Consistency wasn’t there for him, with 47 percent of his stats coming in four games. In half his games, he had three receptions or fewer.
Breakout: WR Chris Godwin, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Godwin was a sleeper for me last season, and in 2019 he’s a breakout. All Godwin needs is the opportunity and more targets, and it all lines up for it to happen. Last season, Godwin had a good year with 59 receptions for 842 yards and seven touchdowns, while playing 64.3 percent of the snaps. He will be on the field a lot more this season as a starter. He had to vie with Adam Humphries, and DeSean Jackson for targets behind Mike Evans and both are gone. Godwin will play in the slot often, and it’s going to lead to a ton of targets in an offense that will pass a lot because of a lousy defense. We got a glimpse of Godwin without DeSean Jackson last season. In those six games, Godwin had at least 90 receiving yards in four of the games and scored four times. Get ready for a tremendous season.
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Comeback: WR Allen Robinson, Chicago Bears
It was a disappointing season for Robinson, one year after tearing his ACL. He caught 55 of 94 targets (58.5% catch rate) for 754 yards and four touchdowns and missed three games due to injuries. Robinson averaged 7.2 targets per game and entered his second season in the Matt Nagy offense. In the playoff game against the Eagles, Robinson showed his potential with ten catches for 143 yards with a touchdown. Robinson couldn’t run routes until June before the 2018 season, and it limited what he could do. He participated in every practice this off-season. This is a player who had 1,400 yards and 14 touchdowns in 2015 with Blake Bortles as his quarterback.
Stash & Cash: RB Justice Hill, Baltimore Ravens
The Ravens are going to run the football often. With Lamar Jackson at quarterback, it helps the running backs immensely since defenses have to account for the threat of Jackson running. Mark Ingram is the starting running back and turns 30 in December, but there’s still room for Hill to get touches and if Ingram goes down, Hill will see more touches. In seven games with Jackson at quarterback last season, the Ravens ran the ball 316 times, and the Ravens ran the most plays in the NFL. The Oklahoma State product is very athletic and performed well at the combine. Hill is expected to play a role in the passing game and getting him in the double-digit rounds will be worth it.
