It’s Silly Season!

Its official! It’s now been too long since we’ve seen our favorite teams in action. We’ve once again started to look at last season’s fantasy stats and apply them to real life; convincing ourselves that players and teams that are not very good are set to be elite. Let’s take a moment to remind ourselves that fantasy football exists to keep lay-fans interested and that just because a player won you that week 12 match-up against “Rex’s Foot Soldiers”, he probably won’t help your team win too many real games.

Here are each team’s fantasy leaders:

Jets:

Geno Smith: Geno could do well in fantasy due to his ability to amass rushing yards in garbage time. Just like in real life, if Geno is your QB, your team is going nowhere.

Brandon Marshall: Marshall has the ability to put up huge fantasy numbers, but he is wildly inconsistent. He’ll certainly win you some games, but he’ll also lose you a few.

Chris Ivory: Ivory is currently the leader in a crowded Jets’ backfield. Expect him to pick up big yards in losing efforts with few TDs.

Jets D: This is your best bet if you are insisting on sullying your roster with any Jets personnel. The Jets D is the only reason people are looking at the Jets to win as many as 8 games instead of one or two. They will rack up sacks and should hold opponents to below average numbers in point and yards.

Bills:

EJ Manuel?: I guess if you are Scooter or some other weirdo that needs to have a Bills QB on your roster this is where you would go. I wouldn’t though…

LeSean McCoy: Shady is a beast. He is one of the most elusive players in the NFL and coupled with Rex’s affection for the running game he should see a ton of action (not to mention the Bills’ QBs’ inability to throw the ball more than five yards downfield). Your biggest concern here is going to be durability; the Bills’ offensive line looks a lot like the Iraqi Army when defending a city, he could very well get killed by week 4.

Sammy Watkins: Sammy did what I expected him to do last year. He had a few monster games but was hampered by the nagging injuries that seem to plague guys from his alma mater. Expect him to play in 12-14 games and be very productive in those games (assuming he can stretch screen passes into longer gains).

Bills D: As with the Jets, the Bills D is your best bet. They have a real chance to be the top scoring defense in fantasy this year. Res will have the front seven blitzing relentlessly, thus piling up sacks and forcing QB to make bad throws that have a chance to be picked off.

Dolphins:

Ryan Tannehill: Lauren’s husband looks set to step out of his wife’s shadow this season and have a breakout year. His accuracy has improved and his receivers have more skill than Fin fans have seen in some time. If Ryan can survive his own offensive line’s offensive play, he should be a serviceable option.

Lamar Miller: Mr. Miller’s yards per carry last season were nothing short of remarkable. If he continues to improve this season, he could be a decent RB2 in deep leagues. Expect Lamar to perform admirably in both the run and pass game, your biggest concern should be Blind Joe giving all of his carries to the rookie or the terrible Daniel Thomas.

Jarvis Landry: This is your best bet of the Fins WRs…It’s risky banking on a second year player because sophomore slums can be so devastating in the NFL, but the lack of time that Tannehill is sure to receive this season will give the Fins’ slot receiver a good chance to pile up targets. It’s up to him what he does with it…

Fins D: I feel like a broken record. Yup, this is your best bet. The Fins’ D line should wreak havoc this year causing turnovers and amassing a ludicrous amount of sacks. Feel good about this pick.

Pats:

Tom Brady: He’s arguably the best QB and player in the league, but expect only an average fantasy season from him. (Unless of course he revert to ’07 F-You mode) As of now Tom is going to miss a quarter of the season, this will keep him fresh for the real playoffs, but might put your fantasy team in a hole. Tom Brady is the poster boy for why you can’t base your real predictions off of fantasy. There are plenty of QBs I’d rather have on my fantasy team, but probably none that I’d rather have on my real team.

LeGarrette Blount?: Once again, not a bad guy to have on your real team, but I’d steer clear pf Pats RBs on my fantast team.

Brandon Lafell: Hmmm, why is it that the best team in the division (and possibly the league) doesn’t have any solid fantasy guys? Maybe because fantasy doesn’t translate to the field?

Rob Gronkowski: (were going to pass over the Pats D because everyone knows they will suck)- Gronk is the only real fantasy option on the Pats (once again, unless they go full F-You this year). Gronk is a stud, he’ll probably surpass 12 TDs and 1,200 yards this year and is far and away the best TE in the game.

There you have it, conclusive proof that fantasy stats don’t predict much in the real world. Please remember that when attempting to argue that your team won’t blow this year.