Most casual fantasy football players do their own research but have a few analysts and insiders that they trust. Fulltime Fantasy’s Preseason Pro picks allow those fantasy managers to get insight from some of the top minds in all of football.
Jody Smith was ranked the top NFL totals bettor last season at BettingPros and won the title as FantasyPro’s Most Accurate Expert in 2012, his first season in the acclaimed contest.
Here are Jody’s Preseason Pro picks for fantasy football breakout, bust, sleeper, comeback, and top stash & cash players for 2021.
Breakout
Terry McLaurin
Despite a subpar quarterback situation last season, Terry McLaurin still posted top-20 fantasy numbers and was a dependable WR2. There is a legitimate shot that McLaurin can enter top-10 territory in 2021 with gunslinger Ryan Fitzpatrick solving Washington’s QB woes.
Fitzpatrick isn’t the most dependable signal-caller but one this he does do is fire the ball downfield to his No. 1 wideout. If McLaurin can surpass 130 targets again, he’s going to have a lot more success getting into the endzone with Fitzpatrick under center. McLaurin has a decent shot at catching 100 balls and 8-plus touchdowns in 2021.
Bust
Logan Thomas
While Terry McLaurin should thrive with Ryan Fitzpatrick, TE Logan Thomas is highly unlikely to repeat last year’s breakout numbers. Along with McLaurin commanding targets, Washington signed Curtis Samuel and used a third-round selection on dynamic North Carolina rookie wideout Dyami Brown, who has looked very good this preseason.
Fitzpatrick generally likes to get the ball into the hands of his wide receivers, and with that influx of talent, there’s little chance that Thomas will see anywhere near the 110 targets he absorbed last season. I view Thomas as a borderline TE1, not the top-6 option he is often drafted as.
Sleeper
Rondale Moore
Moore is small but he plays big and is a superb after-the-catch runner. My preseason comp for Moore was former Carolina Panthers’ wideout Steve Smith, an undersized but tough player who always seemed to make plays.
Like Smith, Moore is a downfield burner who brings an all-new speed element to the slot that has been missing in Arizona with Larry Fitzgerald. The Cardinals have one of the top offenses in the league and I think Moore is a dark horse to lead the 2021 rookie class in catches.
Comeback
James Conner
Conner was way better than most people remember, he has just had trouble staying healthy. At 233 pounds, Conner is going to be Arizona’s between-the-tackles runner and should command all the goal-line totes in an offense that ran for 24 scores one year ago.
Chase Edmonds will factor in as a change-of-pace option but Edmonds isn’t built for heavy usage. Kenyan Drake managed to score 10 TDs and post RB15 numbers in this role last season and I believe Conner can be an excellent fantasy RB2.
Stash and Cash
Jakobi Meyers
In his final four games of 2020, Meyers snagged 21-of-28 targets and averaged 12.2 fantasy points per contest. Nobody seemed to notice as Meyers is routinely being drafted extremely late and in some leagues, going undrafted altogether.
Meyers has already locked up the coveted slot receiver role in New England and should see a steady share of targets in a passing attack that should be vastly improved, particularly when first-round rookie QB Mac Jones takes the starting gig.
These high stakes fantasy legends put their reputation on the line just in time for your big draft!
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Head back to the PreSeason PRO Hub to see the High-Stakes Players’ One Sleeper, One Breakout and One Bust.
Lastly, If you have time to prepare, make sure you mock in our Mock Draft World Championships. No better way to practice for the real thing.
