Crystal ball reveals bold picks for 2015
With the 2014 season just about in the books (and for some of you, it already is), I thought it would be fun to make some bold predictions about next year.
I'm going to tackle one player from each team from the AFC this week and the NFC next week.
Clip (or print) and save so you can heap praise upon me for all of these brilliant calls ...
• The Ravens' Justin Forsett finishes as the No. 1 RB in fantasy points. (Told you these would be bold!). Forsett wasn't even the team's primary back for the first few weeks of 2014, but he'll carry over this season's momentum and continue to shred defenses at an eye-opening rate.
• With a year to fine-tune his game, 6-foot-4 Steelers WR Martavis Bryant becomes a huge threat all over the field and finishes with 9 TD catches.
• Jeremy Hill takes over as the No. 1 back in Cincinnati and racks up 1,300 yards from scrimmage and 10 total TDs. The 6-1, 238-pound bruiser out of LSU has a pair of 150-yard rushing games this season, and he's going to make coaches forget about Giovani Bernard.
• Johnny Manziel takes over at QB for the Browns and this team turns into the Jets, jettisoning everyone except Josh Gordon into the fantasy trash heap of unusable players.
• Chargers WR Keenan Allen ends up being the best value of next year's draft. A massive disappointment most of this season, Allen has quietly averaged 81.6 yards the last five games with 4 TDs. He'll be a top-10 wideout in 2015, but you'll be able to get him in the fourth or fifth round.
• The Broncos totally forget about Montee Ball and realize they have the second coming of Terrell Davis on their hands in C.J. Anderson. He's going to rack up 1,500 YFS, catch 60 passes, score 10-plus times and be a top-5 RB.
• The Chiefs' Travis Kelce catches 8 TD passes and is a top-5 TE.
• The Raiders have a V-8 moment and realize Latavius Murray should have been their starting RB in 2014. He becomes a rare Raider that cracks fantasy lineups en route to a 1,000-yard, 6-7 TD season.
• Bills WR Sammy Watkins will be overdrafted. High-end fantasy players haven't come out of Buffalo in forever, and until the Bills roster includes a QB who can take advantage of Watkins' elite, high-end speed, his numbers will continue to underwhelm. He's outside my top 20 next year.
• Jarvis Landry (5-plus catches the last five games) leads the Dolphins with 90 catches for 1,100 yards and 7 TDs. And he'll outpoint the aforementioned Sammy Watkins.
• The Patriots' Brandon LaFell (53-712-7 and 6 TDs last seven) ends up as a top-10 WR.
• The Jets' Jace Amaro (34-291-2) emerges as a top-12 fantasy TE.
• Dan Herron leads the Colts in rushing and is a viable RB2 / flex player all year. The seemingly-always-nicked-up Ahmad Bradshaw is going to be 29 and Trent Richardson is a plodding, 1950s-type RB. The one caveat here is Herron (2 fumbles last two games) must learn how to hang onto the ball. If he does, he's the perfect back for this high-powered attack.
• Texans WR DeAndre Hopkins (60-1,041-6) finishes in the top 5 WRs. This guy is flat-out amazing.
• Tennessee's Kendall Wright emerges as a 1,000-yard, 8-TD receiver and - like Keenan Allen - is one of the steals of the draft.
• Jaguars RB Denard Robinson - all 197 pounds of him - gets hurt early and is a completely wasted pick.
Good bets
• Lions QB Matthew Stafford vs. Tampa Bay. A pathetic waste most of the season, Stafford is suddenly a viable playoff option thanks to Calvin Johnson's return and an easy-as-pie opponent in the Bucs.
• Seahawks QB Russell Wilson at Philadelphia. Few QBs remain in fantasy lineups when they managed just 4 TDs over a four-game stretch. Wilson, however, is the outlier because he's scampered for 286 yards over that time.
• Giants RB Andre Williams at Tennessee. Start of the week here (assuming Rashad Jennings is out). Only the Falcons have allowed more rushing scores than the Titans, and nobody gives up more yards on the ground.
• Panthers RB Jonathan Stewart at New Orleans. A sneaky flex play here, especially if DeAngelo Williams (hand) is out. Opposing RBs are averaging over 175 YFS with 5 TDs the last four weeks vs. the Saints.
• Titans WR Kendall Wright vs. NY Giants. Justin Hunter ruptured his spleen, meaning more targets for the up-and-down Wright.
• Bills WR Robert Woods at Denver. In garbage time, Woods - with whom Kyle Orton has developed a nice rapport - gets you at least 7 points.
• Dolphins WR Jarvis Landry vs. Baltimore. Just in case you didn't read the top half of this column, Landry has 5-plus catches in the last five games.
• Saints WR Kenny Stills vs. Carolina. Drew Brees likes his new toy.
• Chiefs WR Dwayne Bowe at Arizona. You heard it here first. The no-TD-to-WR drought ends this week in an appropriate place - the desert.
• Colts defense at Cleveland. The Browns have been held under 10 points in three of the past seven games.
• Packers defense vs. Atlanta. Don't let that Falcons' resurgence against a flailing Cardinals squad fool you. They will fall way behind in this one, and Green Bay will get at least 1 defensive score.
Bad bets
• Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger at Cincinnati. Buyer beware: The last time I picked against Big Ben, he went out and tossed 6 TD passes. But Roethlisberger has never solved the Bengals, managing a meager 10 TD passes with 9 INTs over his last 10 games against them.
• Falcons QB Matt Ryan, WR Roddy White and RB Steven Jackson at Green Bay. I'm sensing total domination by the Packers here, even though a slight letdown might be expected after their emotional win last week vs. New England.
• Dolphins RB Lamar Miller vs. Baltimore. Miller must score to be effective fantasy-wise, and the Ravens have allowed just 7 rushing TDs.
• Jaguars RB Denard Robinson vs. Houston. Teams appear to be figuring out Robinson (25-69 last two weeks).
• Chargers WR Keenan Allen vs. New England. Opposing wideouts have had an extremely tough time scoring on Darrelle Revis and Co.
• Eagles defense vs. Seattle. This is a tough spot for fantasy points with the ever-elusive Russell Wilson behind center.
• Follow John on Twitter @johndietzdh