It’s one thing to simply get fantasy football advice from a magazine or website that may or may not have qualified help to dole out. But when fantasy football fans can get tips from the best of the world, that’s a whole different ball game. John Rozek is the former No. 1 ranked fantasy football manager in the world and All-Time Great: Toyota Legend of the Game, 2011 Hall of Fame Class Inductee. In addition to his successes in FFWC events, John is one of the most respected high-stakes fantasy players anywhere.
Here is the rare opportunity to get into the mind of one of the most highly-respected fantasy minds out there with John’s 2022 Preseason Pro exclusively from Fulltime Fantasy.
BREAKOUT
Travis Etienne (RB) Jacksonville Jaguars Travis Etienne was drafted in the 1st round of the NFL Draft last year but the hype ended before the season even began with a season-ending Lisfranc foot injury. Now Etienne appears to be back to full strength as he tries to live up to that hype. His situation has improved this year with Head Coach Doug Pederson calling the shots and 3rd-year undrafted phenom, James Robinson recovering from an achilles injury that he sustained in week 16 of the 2021 season. I expect Etienne to get a majority of the 3rd down work and enough carries to get to 200+ touches. Therefore, I see a floor of 50 receptions with the potential for 60-70+. If that happens, he has top 5 running back upside.
BUST
Deebo Samuel (WR) San Francisco 49ers Deebo Samuel had a phenomenal year last season and is currently being drafted as an early 2nd-round pick. Samuel was productive as a WR last season, but what really elevated him was his work as a RB which added 84 fantasy points to his total. I don’t see him repeating the 8 rushing scores from last year nor his 18.2 yards per catch. In addition, a healthy Brandon Aiyuk and George Kittle along with a heavy rushing attack will put pressure on his receptions. I see Deebo as more of low-end WR2 or high WR3 and there are several other WRs I’d rather have in round 2 so I’ll let someone else take him.
SLEEPER
Dameon Pierce (RB) Houston Texans Dameon Pierce was held back by his surrounding cast at Florida but has the chance to claim the top RB spot in the unsettled backfield in Houston. Pierce showed great promise as a runner and was a more than adequate WR while at Florida. It may take a few weeks for Pierce to emerge as the starter, but I think he could be a difference maker for the fantasy playoffs.
Editor’s note: It’s interesting that Dameon Pierce didn’t play in NFL Preseason Week 3 after this performance in Week 2.
All of Dameon Pierce’s touches. NFL Preseason Week 2. pic.twitter.com/tBK8lqxVya
— Zareh Kantzabedian (@ZKantzFF) August 14, 2022
COMEBACK
JuJu Smith-Schuster (WR) Kansas City Chiefs Christian McCaffrey is the easy and obvious choice after missing over half the season last year and is now a consensus top 2 pick so I’ll go a different route with JuJu Smith-Schuster. JuJu had an up and down career with Pittsburgh finishing as high as WR8 and as low as WR 62 (excluding last season). Now he moves on to KC and gets paired up with Patrick Mahomes and the high-powered KC offense. In this offense, tight end Travis Kelce is the clear number 1, and there’s a slew of other receivers including Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Mecole Hardman and rookie Skyy Moore, but I think JuJu will emerge as the true number 2 despite the competition from all three. MVS and Hardman will be the primary big-play threats on the outside while JuJu and Kelce will move the chains. I see him with a floor of 80 catches with the potential for 90+ which makes him a solid WR2 that is currently being drafted as a WR3/4.
STASH AND CASH
Zamir White (RB) Las Vegas Raiders Rookie Zamir White is currently the top early down backup to contract-year player Josh Jacobs and likely needs an injury to Jacobs to be fantasy relevant but don’t let that stop you from taking a late-round flier with upside. (He’s currently sitting RB 53 at pick 153 in FFWC’s high-stakes leagues.) White was a productive runner at Georgia and has the size/speed combo to succeed in the NFL. While he was rarely used as a receiver in college, I think he has the skill set to catch 30+ balls if he were to take over the lead role.
Read Fulltime Fantasy’s Rookie Scouting Profile on RB Zamir White
Stay close as the PreSeason PRO Hub comes to life for the 2022 season and you’ll see who the very best of the best are taking in their fantasy drafts. These are streaming in all this week and next!
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