Draft Jared Goff and other bold predictions

The meek shall inherit the earth, but the bold shall win Fantasy Championships. I’m talking swashbuckling, wear a red cape to the running of the bulls boldness. Like Saints head coach Sean Payton’s bold call for an onside kick to start the second half of Super Bowl XLIV. Bold choices lead to championships.

If you are bold, snatch Goff up as your starting QB. He had the sixth most passing yards in the NFL last season with 4,438, which included five 300-yard games. He underwhelmed with 29 TD passes, but only because RB Jamaal Williams had an unthinkable 17 TDs on the ground. Shift just six of those scores to Goff and he vaults into the 35-TD range with the likes of Josh Allen and Joe Burrow. Goff has seven of his last eight games in comfy air-conditioned domes. That’s just in time for your Fantasy playoff push and championship matchups. Draft Goff. It was a bold man that first ate an oyster.

Williams’ 17 scores set a new Detroit Lions record for rushing touchdowns in a season, surpassing Hall of Famer Barry Sanders (16). Combined with his 1,066 yards, Williams finished as the 12th best Fantasy RB. The 28-year-old is on his third team in eight years, but he might be in the best spot of his career. Alvin Kamara has been suspended for the first three games of the season, leaving Williams as the bell cow for contests against the defensively challenged Titans (31st in 2022), Panthers (22nd) and Packers (21st). Enjoy the ride with Jamaal in those first three weeks, and feel free to trade him to a sucker in your league when Kamara comes back.

I don’t care if you have the first pick or the ninth pick, grab yourself some Bijan. He will outscore both Christian McCaffrey (who usually gets injured anyway) and Austin Ekeler. Atlanta’s schedule is very running back friendly, facing only one Top 10 run defense (Tennessee) all season. When Robinson isn’t tearing through holes on the line of scrimmage, he’ll be darting past linebackers catching the ball. Little known fact: Bijan’s 9.85 relative athletic score (out of 10.0) is one of the highest all-time grades for a running back at the NFL combine.

The Lions weren’t willing to pay Hockenson $10 million in 2023, so they shipped him and two fourth-round draft picks to Minnesota for second and third rounders. After shedding Honolulu blue for primetime purple, Hockenson averaged six receptions for 60 yards in his first nine games. That’s 102 receptions for 1,020 yards over a full season. Those are Travis Kelce numbers, and you can get Hockenson in the draft about four rounds later. While your competitors are reaching for George Kittle, Kyle Pitts and Mark Andrews, let T.J. give your squad a little TLC.

What I witnessed in the first drive of the Giants-Panthers game left me very impressed. Daniel Jones threw nothing but dimes on a 10-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that featured four of his first six passes going to the Giants’ $17 million investment: TE Darren Waller. He caught three balls for 30 yards (he lost control of the fourth after a hard defensive hit). Waller looked uncoverable. Curiously, the Giant TE to score on that first drive was not Waller. The honor went to TE Daniel Bellinger. But he was only open because Waller was doubled teamed on the play, leaving Bellinger all by his lonesome. The defense is that afraid of the G-Men’s new toy. Draft Waller. He was the second highest scoring Fantasy TE as recently as 2020.

Younghoe Koo will be kicking in 11 of their 17 games in windless domed stadiums. Additionally, the Falcons have but two possible bad weather games: December matches in New York and Chicago. This all bodes well for Koo, one of the best kickers in the NFL. I’d even draft him over Justin Tucker this year. Koo had 16 FGs in his last seven games. He had seven 50-yard FGs and six of them were kicked in, you guessed it, a dome. Draft Koo. A cucumber is not bold until it becomes a pickle.

Pat Mahomes was brutally honest last year when he said that no WR for the Chiefs would be a steady Fantasy producer. He wasn’t kidding. Though Mahomes was the leading Fantasy QB in 2022, his wide receivers were in the back of the pack. Rostering JuJu Smith-Shuster (27th), Marquez Valdes-Scantling (54th) and Mecole Hardman (80th) was an act of futility. For you truthers singing the praises of Kadarius Toney and Sky Moore, I hope you enjoy their 40 receptions for 400 yards each.

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