TEAM BY TEAM THOUGHTS ON THE 2022 FANTASY FOOTBALL SEASON (ARI-CLE)
June has arrived and Mandatory Minicamps are staggered out and underway across the NFL landscape. If your favorite franchise has not started their camp already, your wait will be short, as the remaining teams should be off and running within the week.
This article will assume you are up to date on all of the player and coaching changes that have taken place throughout the offseason, that you have fantasy points, schedule strategies, stats and micro-stats from various sites already in your toolbox, and will focus instead on a general vibe that you can combine with those tools regarding how each team appears to be shaping up for our 2022 fantasy football season.
Speculating on talent and opportunity is a very large part of our yearly puzzle, and following the most electric and fascinating offseason of legitimate superstars being traded left and right, we have the option to lean toward the known (players and coaching generally remaining similar to the 2021 season) or lean toward the unknown (players in new cities with new teammates) and speculating on how those touch-based-hierarchies will play out as the season unfolds.
Without fail, each NFL season brings with it a minefield of injuries, suspensions and general aches and pains as chemistry is needed to be redeveloped all over again, and it’s never too early to wish you all some good luck in that department, so “Good Luck in 2022!”
ARIZONA CARDINALS
The Cardinals seem to be on the right track, going from 5 wins in Kliff Kingsbury & Kyler Murray’s rookie season, to 8 wins, to 11 wins last year. They share a division with the reigning Super Bowl champion Rams, but both the 49ers and Seahawks could be in for a bit of a struggle based on how quickly or slowly their new quarterbacks can develop.
I traded away Kyler Murray for Lamar Jackson straight up in two dynasty leagues this offseason, but still have plenty of Kyler remaining on other teams, as he’s been a consistent and strong producer. I just feel when the big money is on the line late in the fantasy season that Lamar can potentially be more of a difference making fantasy quarterback.
Arizona lost 2021’s top target Christian Kirk via trade and must wait for the services of 2020’s top target DeAndre Hopkins due to suspension, but the addition of former college teammate Marquise Brown could be surprisingly productive. I’ll keep an open mind, but I’m pretty down on the odds that Rondale Moore becomes a reliable fantasy asset, and I’m not overly excited to roster the 34 year old version of A.J. Green (who quietly was second in targets for ARI last year and had a decent average per reception), so aside from one share of Hopkins across my 11 dynasty leagues, I’m flying solo with Kyler.
I have some interest in adding “Hollywood” Brown and even Hopkins if the age-depressed price is right, but I’m not too excited about adding much else from ARI, though I admit Zach Ertz for redraft and Trey McBride for dynasty seem like solid bets.
I’ve never been too big of a fan of James Conner, but saw how well his style of game fit in with what the Cardinals needed near the goal line, so he gets my respect in what should be a similar role in 2022.
ATLANTA FALCONS
Where Arizona looks like a team you can forecast with a high degree of accuracy, Atlanta looks like a team filled to the brim with exciting speculation.
You have the Three Towers (Kyle Pitts, rookie Drake London, and newly signed Bryan Edwards) who are all at least 6’ 3” tall and at least 213 lbs. which presents a fairly rare size problem for most NFL defenses. With Calvin Ridley suspended for the 2022 season and Russell Gage heading to the Buccaneers, there are as many new targets available as one can handle.
Marcus Mariota has a widely forgotten number two overall draft pedigree and already has two seasons under his belt with a tight end leading his team in targets, so he should feel pretty comfortable as a Falcon. I respect the moxie of the angry-faced Desmond Ridder on his draft night fall and the chip that is growing on his shoulder, but think Mariota holds him off for the majority of 2022. The odds are strong that Atlanta doesn’t win too many games this coming season and puts them in position to draft a top quarterback in the 2023 draft.
I have a couple shares of the very expensive Kyle Pitts in dynasty, but faded Drake London everywhere I had the chance to draft him in rookie drafts. If I’m wrong, I’m wrong and that’s the best part about dynasty. You just place your bets, and if it turns out you are wrong, you can open up your dynasty wallet and trade for the guys you missed on.
At the moment, the only other Falcon I have rostered aside from Pitts is quite a few shares of speculation rookie RB Tyler Allgeier. The competition in front of him looks beatable to me, so he’s someone I’ll likely keep placing bets on in redraft at his depressed price. Cordarrelle Patterson had an impressive career year after a position change, but I have zero worry his 31 year old body and 38 yards rushing per game will be any type of road block if Allgeier picks up the playbook and just does what he does best.
BALTIMORE RAVENS
I get the feeling that Baltimore plans to run the ball down the throats of a league full of defenses designed to stop the passing game. They may have even been planning that for last year, but early season injuries derailed the odds of success.
I have a ton of respect for how the Ravens franchise is run. The talent runs deep there from coaching to scouting and drafting to player development. They change very little from year to year and you can usually pencil them in for a playoff push.
The healthy return of J.K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards, and addition of Mike Davis plus rookie Tyler Badie has me excited to see how beat up opposing defenses will be, come the 4th quarter of games in 2022. Add the legs and threat of Lamar Jackson and you have the makings of a team that could start new trends in how to win in this league.
Mark Andrews has shown the entire fantasy world that he’s now in the mix for being the top tight end drafted, and knowing backup quarterback Tyler Huntley can take the reins and hold his own brings some additional comfort when drafting Raven receivers.
Rashod Bateman is set up beautifully to become a star this season. Marquise Brown is now in Arizona, and Sammy Watkins packed his bags for Green Bay, leaving a ton of targets for Bateman, Devin Duvernay, James Proche and Tylan Wallace to sort out. With a potentially extreme run-heavy attack, there may not be room for more than two receivers to shine here insofar as locked in starters, but the moments of brilliance should happen now and then.
I have a few shares of Lamar Jackson in dynasty, a few more of Bateman, and quite a few J.K. Dobbins (and a shipping boat load of Tyler Badie) shares. I had very high hopes for Dobbins last year prior to his injury, and am looking forward to seeing him take his game to the next level in 2022.
BUFFALO BILLS
The division that used to simply be the New England Patriots and a clown show has tightened up considerably since the exodus of Tom Brady and ascension of Josh Allen. It now looks more like a surplus store of bargain priced fantasy assets with enough questions surrounding them to drive their prices down.
Buffalo has two players I’m very interested in for 2022. Can Gabriel Davis build off of his explosive playoff performance, and just how much of a workload can James Cook carve out for himself in the Bills backfield? When watching Gabriel’s breakout game live, (I seldom commit player jersey numbers to memory and can usually tell everyone apart by how they look and move) I kept thinking Stefon Diggs scored another touchdown, until I got to see the celebration. That’s a nice problem to have, being mistaken for a stud like Diggs.
I was never really into Dawson Knox for fantasy, but he’s put himself on my radar with his play. O.J. Howard has a small chance of complicating things there, so I’ll likely continue fading away, as Knox has become fairly pricey.
If Jamison Crowder can slip into the role Cole Beasley once held, that could be quite a boon for him, but I suspect Gabriel Davis will capture a much larger role in this offense moving forward as well.
I imagine as James Cook finds his way into the Bills playbook, he will become more and more involved in the run game, and Devin Singletary (who will likely start the season as the lead back) will fill the complementary and possibly clock-burning closer role. I think Cook could be a Top 5 back when it comes to strictly targets and receptions right out the gate.
CAROLINA PANTHERS
The Matt Corral Experience™ could be coming to a theater near you far sooner than you think. We’ve seen the never ending articles trying to keep Sam Darnold’s NFL career afloat, but I chalk that up to great marketing and representation vs. the back-to-back reality of Darnold throwing more interceptions than touchdowns while also missing games.
After two straight seasons of epic-level arson, there are more fantasy players than care to admit unwilling to set fire to yet another top-of-the-draft-order Christian McCaffrey selection in 2022. His price is holding strong in spite of this, as we also understand if he can buck the trend of injury, he’s a Main Event winning talent. It’s a bit rough to cast judgment on rookie Chuba Hubbard so quickly, but I’ve seen enough to come away thinking he’s Just-A-Guy™ and the odds are strong that D’Onta Foreman might be the better bet, should CMC suffer yet another injury for the third season in a row.
D.J. Moore sure had a quiet 163-target season. That is some alpha involvement lacking the receipts to show for it. Maybe Matt Corral can improve on those results, and hopefully Terrace Marshall can dig into the workload of Robbie Anderson and we can see what we have in the second year player. At one time I held a ton of DJM shares, but after a busy offseason or two, I’ve tinned that out considerably while his value is still holding fairly strong.
I’ve been fortunate to have recently had two 1.01 picks in FFPC’s FBG Tourney, but have passed on both Jonathan Taylor and Christian McCaffrey due to their bye weeks coming during the money playoff weeks. Nothing worse than making the playoffs without the auto-advance, and then facing a must-win game without your number one pick. Been there, done that, no thanks.
CHICAGO BEARS
Count me as one who was impressed to hear Justin Fields claim that he’s happy with his surrounding talent. From a developmental angle, that is the prefect mindset for unpressured growth. Having a new head coach also relieves some of that pressure to win right away and Fields can continue to hone his craft with the chess pieces he has now, and build off of that with upgraded weapons moving forward. I think Justin has a high ceiling in the NFL, but will take another season of patience.
Darnell Mooney was a pleasant surprise last season, surviving the general punishment that comes with a WR1 target load, and looking good doing it. The exodus of Allen Robinson cements Mooney as Chicago’s top target, and the case can be made for Byron Pringle and Velus Jones to battle it out for the scraps.
Most fantasy players would be startled to find out Cole Kmet finished second in targets for the Bears. The zero touchdowns likely kept his name out of our mouths, but his 93 targets more than doubled that of his rookie season. With the competition for targets seemingly even more wide open than last year, Kmet should be on fantasy radars everywhere.
David Montgomery’s lack of efficiency is offset by his highly coveted heavy involvement in the Bears offense. Khalil Herbert filled in admirably when Montgomery missed games last season, which qualifies as a minor threat when coupled with 2022 being the final year Montgomery will be under contract with Chicago.
CINCINNATI BENGALS
I came away extremely impressed with how seamless the transition to the NFL was for Ja’Marr Chase after taking a season off from playing football. Like riding a bicycle, Joe Burrow rekindled their LSU connection to the tune of Chase walking away with Rookie of the Year honors. Cincinnati went from a 4-win team with a broken quarterback, to Super Bowl runner ups in a single season.
Joe Mixon qualifies as one of the Endangered Species™ workhorse running backs, and the bad taste left from that Super Bowl loss would have me thinking they might want to run even more when the situation dictates to do so in 2022. Chris Evans has a chance to battle Samaje Perine for the mop-up role in lopsided games.
Tee Higgins took a small step forward (in two less games) from his excellent rookie season, and has tons of fantasy talent himself. Tyler Boyd rounds out their three receivers pushing 100+ targets, which doesn’t leave a whole lot for the rest of the Bengals to fight over.
I thought C.J. Uzomah faired well for himself last year, resulting in a respectable contract via trade to the New York Jets. There are a few people excited to see what Hayden Hurst can do in Cincinnati, but I’m not one of them.
I sold the damn farm in one dynasty league in order to get my hands on Ja’Marr Chase to pair up with Justin Jefferson, and had zero post-trade remorse. I would also welcome Higgins via trade, but his price has been holding very strong over this entire offseason.
With such a young core under contract together, it’s wheels up for Bengals stacks in any fantasy format you can find.
CLEVELAND BROWNS
The addition of Deshaun Watson changes the Browns dynamic completely, and injects some life (and plenty of drama) into a floundering franchise right on the edge of challenging to become a perennial playoff type team. I had higher hopes for Baker Mayfield at one time, and wish him the best wherever he ends up. Watson will create some fear in opposing defenses who have to fully respect the run game Cleveland has established over recent years.
Nick Chubb has been a complete stud on the ground, and Kareen Hunt makes a fine complement as a fresh-legged change-of-pace back who could take a series, a game, or even a full season and run with it if needed.
I’ve been let down by David Njoku’s fantasy production for years now, but his age, contract and upgraded quarterback keeps me at least somewhat interested from afar.
The trade for Amari Cooper would have headlined the offseason in most years, but sank like a stone once the floodgates opened and superstars were being flipped from coast-to-coast. Cooper could shine very brightly once Watson is on the field, as his competition for targets are a few pegs down the pedigree scale.
I had some sneaky high hopes for a Watson-to-People’s-Jones connection to possibly form, but those odds took a big hit with the Amari trade. David Bell’s draft day fall had a Charmin Soft™ landing when Cleveland called out his name, and he has the perfect game to fill the Jarvis Landry role that recently opened up when he bolted for New Orleans.
That wraps up PART ONE of a four part series. Feel free to use my homemade team graphics on your own site, as the subtle logo promotion would be appreciated and flattering. Be on the lookout for PART TWO coming out in the days ahead.