By: Matt Gruber

Week five is upon us and it is time for the weekly starts and sits. This is now the fifth installment of the 17-piece series aimed to help you make the roster decisions to give you an edge over your opponent. Let’s jump into it and win some championships!

Quarterbacks

Start: Kirk Cousins ”“ Minnesota Vikings

After a down week last week, I expect Kirk Cousins to bounce back when he takes on the Detroit Lions. In his last four games against the Lions, Cousins has averaged 301 yards and just under three touchdowns. I am starting Cousins confidently this week as he should be in line for a quarterback one performance.

Honorable Mentions: Mac Jones @ HOU, Zach Wilson @ ATL, Daniel Jones @ DAL

Sit: Ben Roethlisberger ”“ Pittsburgh Steelers

Last week, Ben Roethlisberger saw his worst fantasy performance, scoring just over nine points. Still yet to break 14 fantasy points this season, he will remain on the bench for me. This week he goes up against a solid Broncos defense that has only given up three passing touchdowns all season. Until Big Ben can show us he can turn things around, I will not be starting him.

Honorable Mentions: Baker Mayfield @ LAC, Carson Wentz @ BAL, Jared Goff @ MIN

Running Backs

Start: Chase Edmonds ”“ Arizona Cardinals

Coming off his best fantasy performance of the season in week four, I expect Chase Edmonds to continue producing. He has recorded at least four catches in every game so far and it is that passing work that provides a safe floor. Yet to find the endzone, Edmonds is due to score against a San Francisco team that has allowed a rushing touchdown in back-to-back games. Fire him up with confidence this week.

Honorable Mentions: Damien Williams @ LV, Nick Chubb @ LAC, Leonard Fournette vs. MIA

Sit: Melvin Gordon ”“ Denver Broncos

Aside from his long touchdown in week one, Melvin Gordon has not been too impressive this season. Splitting carries with rookie running back Javonte Williams, his ceiling is severely capped. He faces the Pittsburgh Steelers that have not allowed a single rushing touchdown to running backs all season. With this in mind and the lack of volume, I am looking elsewhere at the running back position for week five.

Honorable Mentions: Latavius Murray vs. IND, Myles Gaskin @ TB, Miles Sanders @ CAR

Wide Receivers

Start: Marvin Jones ”“ Jacksonville Jaguars

Back-to-back disappointing weeks have fantasy managers concerned for Marvin Jones. I am not one of them. Still an integral part of the offense, I expect his usage and targets to increase even more with fellow wide receiver DJ Chark out with an ankle injury. This week he has a nice matchup against the Titans that have given up eight touchdowns to wide receivers this season. I am starting him without hesitation.

Honorable Mentions: Emmanuel Sanders @ KC, Corey Davis @ ATL, Jaylen Waddle @ TB

Sit: DeVonta Smith ”“ Philadelphia Eagles

Coming off his best performance of the season, DeVonta Smith finds himself on the sit list for me. This is solely matchup-based. This week, he faces the Carolina Panthers. While they have given up three touchdowns to wide receivers in the last two weeks, they have not allowed more than 135 receiving yards in either game. For Smith to be a solid play, I think he will have to find the endzone. If I have better options at receiver, I am playing them over Smith.

Honorable Mentions: Chase Claypool vs. DEN, Robby Anderson vs. PHI, Odell Beckham Jr. @ LAC

Tight Ends

Start: Dalton Schultz ”“ Dallas Cowboys

Recording six catches in back-to-back games and scoring three touchdowns, Dalton Schultz has earned himself a spot on the start list. Putting up 15 fantasy points during this run, Schultz has become a dependable tight end to plug into lineups. This week he gets the New York Giants that have allowed a touchdown to tight ends in every single game. Start Schultz with confidence this week.

Honorable Mentions: Dawson Knox @ KC, Jonnu Smith @ HOU, Dallas Goedert @ CAR

Sit: Tyler Conklin ”“ Minnesota Vikings

Tyler Conklin saw his best game by far in week three. Every other week he was not someone you would want in your lineup. This week, he will remain on my bench. He has not produced enough for me to be willing to plug him in. This week he plays the Detroit Lions and they have been good against tight ends. Only allowing one touchdown, I am looking for another option at tight end this week.

Honorable Mentions: Evan Engram @ DAL, Jared Cook vs. CLE, Maxx Williams vs. SF

If you enjoyed this piece, feel free to follow me on Twitter. I am always available to talk fantasy football and answer any questions.

The post Fantasy Football: Week 5 Start/Sit appeared first on Pro Football Mania.

By: Andy Davies

The Jacksonville Jaguars will go into the 2021 season with a new head coach. Urban Meyer is the new man to take charge, hoping to be the guy to change the fortunes of a franchise that has struggled for many years. After drafting the best quarterback prospect since Andrew Luck in Trevor Lawrence this year with the number one overall pick, the Jags fans have rarely gone into a season this excited. The Jags have twice gone into a season on the back of reaching an AFC Championship game but with the addition of Urban Meyer and Trevor Lawrence, there is a real buzz around the organization and in the city of Jacksonville. However, Urban Meyer has never coached in the NFL. He is one of the most successful college head coaches of his generation. Can he translate this to the pros?

His Journey As A Player

Meyer was a walk-on in college as a defensive back for the University of Cincinnati, despite initially being drafted by Major League Baseball’s Atlanta Braves in 1982. Injury would deny Meyer the chance to make it as a professional player, but he showed signs of his coaching credentials whilst in college. He would go back to college, heading to Ohio State University where he studied sports administration. He would get a degree at both colleges, earning a bachelor’s degree in psychology at Cincinnati and sports administration at Ohio State, which will have no doubt helped him massively during his time as a football coach.

He may not have made it to the NFL as a player but he showed signs of his credentials as a coach during his time in college. Meyer would often spend additional time in practice, learning how to run them and handle substitutions. These all prepared him for life as a coach. As a player, he was part of a Cincinnati team that finished 2-9, with Meyer saying that it “wasn’t a great experience. We weren’t very good”. This will help him be prepared for a Jaguars team that won just one game in 2020. His former coach in Cincinnati David Currey spoke of his coaching abilities.

“He was not a great player but you could tell he would coach for a living. He was a student of the game, always trying to learn about things”.

The Start Of Meyer’s Coaching Career

He started his coaching career in 1985 as a defensive backs coach for St Xavier High School in Ohio before becoming a graduate assistant for two seasons with Ohio State. He spent two years with Illinois State as an outside linebackers coach in 1988 and a quarterback and wide receivers coach in 1989. He would then spend eleven years as a wide receivers coach, spending six with Colorado State and then five with Notre Dame before getting his first head coaching job in 2001 with Bowling Green.

The Early Stages Of His Time As A Head Coach In College

Meyer only spent two seasons with Bowling Green but would leave the team with a 17-6 record in charge. Highlights of his time there was the 56-21 win over rivals, the University of Toledo Rockets. Whilst with Bowling Green, he transformer their fortunes. He joined with the team having gone 2-9 in 2000 to then go 8-3 in 2001 and 9-3 in 2002, before leaving for the University of Utah.

Utah hired Meyer and was an instant success, going 10-2 and winning the Liberty Bowl in 2003. They would go 12-0 and win the Fiesta Bowl in 2004. Whilst with the university, he coached safety Eric Weddle and quarterback Alex Smith, who went on to be the number one overall pick in the 2005 NFL Draft. Smith would become an inspiration to everyone when he went on to win NFL Comeback Player of the Year during the 2020 season, returning the field after a life threatening injury in 2018.

Meyer openly claimed that he “made Utah competitive” during his time there. Morgan Scalley played as a defensive back under Meyer at Utah before going on to become a defensive coordinator with the college. He spoke of how Meyer changed everything.

“You could tell it would be different from the first session at the weight room. I never had butterflies going into a weight room and that had me going”.

Success With Florida and Ohio State

The Florida Gators then came calling in 2005, where Meyer would spend the next six seasons. He would coach notable players such as Cam Newton, Carlos Dunlap, Janoris Jenkins, Maurkice and Mike Pouncey, Tim Tebow and Trey Burton during his time in Florida as head coach. With an overall record 65-15 with the Gators, Meyer won Florida the Outback Bowl and the Sugar Bowl as well as winning two National Championships. He had a 5-1 record with Florida in Bowl games. Following a health scare, Meyer decided to leave the Gators after the 2010 seasons as he wanted to put focus on his family and “life away from the field”.

He soon returned to college football, becoming Ohio State head coach two seasons later. During his time with the team, he had an 83-9 record. He won one National Championship as well as a Sugar Bowl, Cotton Bowl and Fiesta Bowl. His time there sadly ended in controversy, before leaving in 2018 due to health reasons. He spent time as a television analyst before accepting the Jacksonville head coaching position in January 2021.

His Coaching Style & The Spread Offense

Meyer is seen as someone who is competitive, fiery and resolute. His “juice” is said to fire his teams up, with his infectious personality an integral part of his head coaching success. During his time as an analyst, he often went through a breakdown of offensive systems, with one component of his style of coaching being his Spread Offense.

This is a scheme which features four receivers, resulting in the opposition defense attempting to cover these players. This system allows the run game to excel, with RPO and read option plays often used under this style of offense. In a modern day NFL, we are seeing plenty of college schemes being brought into the league. Meyer will look to bring this style of coaching into the NFL that worked so well for him in college.

Can He Transform The Jaguars?

This is not going to be an easy task for Meyer but as he showed in Utah, he is capable of turning a team around. Jacksonville has the talent on their roster but have never seemed to fulfil their potential. One of their aforementioned trips to the AFC Championship was in the 2017 season. Their defense named ‘Sacksonville” played a big part in their journey, where they had a ten point lead and were nine minutes away from reaching the Super Bowl. They would end up losing 24-20 in agonizing fashion.

The components of Sacksonville would slowly fall apart. Jalen Ramsey, Malik Jackson and Yannick Ngakoue all left in 2019, with both A.J. Bouye and Calais Campbell leaving in 2020. Quarterback Blake Bortles was seen as the player holding back the team, being released in March 2019 as the Jaguars looked to Nick Foles, who won Super Bowl 52 MVP just a year earlier. He was seen as the missing piece in the jigsaw but only lasted one season in a disappointing spell with the franchise.

Head coach Doug Marrone guided Jacksonville to the AFC Championship and a 10-6 record in his first full season as head coach of the franchise. Despite this, he couldn’t guide them to more than six wins in any of the three seasons that followed before being fired in January 2021. Issues off the field started to develop, with the players arrested on their annual trip to London in 2018 after an unpaid £50,000 drinks bill. Meyer won’t stand for any negative behaviour with his aforementioned fiery, competitive and infectious personality is likely to keep the players in check.

And then of course, there is Lawrence. One of the best college prospects in many years, he brings a lot of expectation with Jags fans pinning their hopes on him being the man to bring the good times to this franchise. He had not lost a regular season game since high school and reached the National Championship in two of his three seasons with the Clemson Tigers, winning one of those two.

He played 40 games in college and threw for 758 out of his 1,138 throws, giving him a 66.6 completion percentage. Across his time with Clemson, he threw for 90 touchdowns and 10,098 yards. Jacksonville have a real talent on their hands and they need to do everything they can to ensure he fulfils his tremendous potential.

Along with Lawrence, they have reunited their number one overall pick with his Clemson team-mate in running back Travis Etienne, who recorded 70 rushing touchdowns and 4,952 rushing yards during his four seasons in the ACC. He will join a running back room alongside James Robinson, who impressed highly in 2020 during his rookie year with 1,070 rushing yards and 7 touchdowns. Etienne is said to also be working out as a receiver, which gives variety to the offensive side of the ball. Former Detroit Lions wideout Marvin Jones has joined the team via Free Agency to add depth to a wide receiver room already including DJ Chark Jr and Laviska Shenault Jr. Second-round pick Tyson Campbell gives depth to the Jaguars secondary, as will 65th overall pick Andre Cisco. 45th overall selection Walker Little will add protection to the Jags offensive line. Myles Jack is a survivor from the Sacksonville era and alongside fellow linebacker Josh Allen, they have the potential to cause problems for the opposition.

Jacksonville have a long rebuild ahead and fans should not expect an immediate transformation. Doubts remain over new Indianapolis Colts quarterback Carson Wentz and whether he can get back to his 2017 form. The Tennessee Titans’ defense is seen as their Achilles heels and the Houston Texans are a mess. They will likely see their quarterback Deshaun Watson leave, which will result in years of struggles and mediocrity. This is not the toughest division in the NFL and the Jags will want to capitalise on this, but the improvement will likely be in either year 2, 3 or 4 of the Urban Meyer Jacksonville era.

The post Urban Meyer’s career so far: can he transform the Jaguars? appeared first on Pro Football Mania.

By Calvin K (Twitter: @Calvin_SGF)

Fantasy drafts will soon be upon us, and the beginning of July marks the time for committed fantasy players to begin draft preparation. As always, the ins and outs of this year’s ADP (average draft position) have dominated the discussion, and while consensus rankings usually do a good job of valuing players, there are always many who are being underrated (and overrated) in fantasy drafts. In this article, I’ll be giving my opinions on just that. Below are my top five fantasy value picks for 2021.

5. John Brown (WR, Las Vegas Raiders)

What if I told you that the clear #1 WR for a team is ranked as the WR58 in the FantasyPros ECR? You wouldn’t believe me, right? Well, just look at where Raiders WR John Brown is currently ranked. I currently have Brown 14 spots ahead of that ranking, a much more fitting spot for a player who produced upper-tier-WR2 numbers in Buffalo just two years ago.

Last year, Brown was still good when healthy, but he struggled mightily with injuries, and the presence of Stefon Diggs in the Bills’ offense was a slight damper on Brown’s opportunity potential. Now, he has signed a contract to be the presumed WR1 in Vegas, a team that desperately needs help at the position after the first-year flops of Henry Ruggs and Bryan Edwards. Those players still have some potential and shouldn’t be completely written off, but the receiver you should want in that offense is the 31-year-old Brown, who has already had success as the number one wide receiver in an offense.

Two years ago in Buffalo, Brown caught 72 passes for 1,060 yards and six touchdowns in 15 games played, finishing as the WR15 in Weeks 1-16. Brown is an explosive receiver who is good at catching deep balls, so if he stays healthy, he could certainly put up similar numbers again. Raiders QB Derek Carr isn’t the greatest player ever by any means, but he definitely isn’t terrible, and Brown put up those 2019 numbers with an inconsistent Josh Allen, who had just a 58.8% completion percentage that year. Even if you don’t think Brown has the potential of two years ago, his current WR58 price is just way too low, and he should be a must-add in all fantasy drafts because of it.

4. Marvin Jones (WR, Jacksonville Jaguars)

Jones slots in at WR48 on FantasyPros, making him yet another WR1 in an offense who is ranked too low. I have Jones ranked as my WR38, and I believe that, like Brown, he has the potential to be a WR2 in fantasy.

Jones was actually the fantasy WR5 from Weeks 7-17, and he showed during that stretch that he could handle a WR1 workload with Kenny Golladay out. Even if you remove Week 17 (he had 11 catches for 180 yards and two touchdowns that week), he only drops to the WR10 in that stretch. Now, he joins a Jacksonville team that has recently received a major QB upgrade in the form of Trevor Lawrence.

Fellow Jags WR D.J. Chark has struggled since his breakout at the beginning of 2019, and while slot WR Laviska Shenault is talented, he hasn’t proven that he can have success as a target hog like Jones did in 2020. Jones will have the best opportunity out of the three to gain an immediate connection with Lawrence, an opportunity that he will deserve given his past production. Jones has been consistently underrated in fantasy for years now, but now that he’s shown off his true potential, he may be in his most undervalued spot yet in 2021.

3. DeVonta Smith (WR, Philadelphia Eagles)

The reasoning behind the pick of Smith (the FantasyPros WR40) is very similar to the rationale behind selecting Marvin Jones and John Brown at their respective values. However, Smith may have the highest potential of them all, due to the enormous availability of targets in Philadelphia.

In Vegas, Brown will still have to compete with superstar TE Darren Waller for opportunities, and like I said before, Henry Ruggs and Bryan Edwards shouldn’t be completely written off. In Jacksonville, Jones is competing with two other receivers who, while unproven or inconsistent, have shown flashes of being good in the NFL. Smith, who was selected with the #10 overall pick in this year’s NFL draft, has virtually no competition for targets, and therefore has the ceiling of an alpha WR in Year 1.

Smith, who is currently my fantasy WR30, has all the traits necessary to be an alpha for Jalen Hurts. His route-running, field awareness, and hands are all excellent, and he should mesh immediately with an Eagles team that needs major help at the WR position. His size is a concern for some, but Smith was the first wide receiver to win the Heisman Trophy in two decades, so it’s already been established that he’s an outlier. Smith was the pick that Miami should’ve made at #6, but he ended up falling to Philly, and as a result, he could see a massive workload in Year 1, giving him plenty of fantasy potential.

2. Javonte Williams (RB, Denver Broncos)

It’s possible Williams doesn’t produce for fantasy at the very beginning of the year, but once he becomes Denver’s starter, he could break out, much like Jonathan Taylor in 2020. Williams has an extremely dominant running style, and he was easily the best tackle-breaker in college football last year.

Williams’ ability to stay balanced and run defenders over is matched by very few players in the NFL. When you combine that ability with the fact that he’s also a solid pass-catcher, you get a complete three-down skill set, which could mean that Williams gets a heavy workload even in year one. Melvin Gordon is a talented player, but the Broncos traded up for Williams for a reason, and it’s because they know he has the potential to be a great running back. If Williams has any sort of consistent breakout in any part of the season, he could easily be worth it at his RB28 FantasyPros rank, and he could produce like an RB1 late in the year.

1. Kenny Golladay (WR, New York Giants)

Golladay’s WR23 FantasyPros ranking is truly a travesty, and his potential role in the Giants’ offense could genuinely make him a top-five fantasy receiver in 2021. This isn’t at all meant to say that Golladay will undoubtedly be top five, but him and Daniel Jones have the potential to make a connection that could be lethal for fantasy and real life.

As the clear #1 option in New York, there’s really no possible way that Golladay finishes outside of the top 24 fantasy receivers unless he gets injured, which basically shows that he is currently being drafted at his absolute floor. Even if Daniel Jones continues to be inconsistent, Golladay will still be the most reliable option for the Giants, so his target share would likely be enough to put him in WR2 territory anyway. However, there’s reason to believe that Jones will take a step up this year.

The addition of Golladay, an excellent contested-catch receiver, gives Jones a WR1 talent that he’s never had in his NFL career. On top of that, Jones graded out as NextGen Stats’ best deep-ball passer in 2020 (he went 19-39 with 636 yards, 5 TDs, no INTs, and a +14.8 completion percentage above expectation on 20+ air yard throws). Turnovers have been a problem for Jones at times, but he began to make smarter decisions (ex: not forcing as many throws) in 2020, and the Golladay signing will let him get away with more risky passes anyway.

As mentioned already, there is virtually no competition for downfield targets in this Giants offense. Golladay could easily see 150+ passes thrown his way this year, and a target share that high wouldn’t be surprising with Jones getting a dominating receiver for the first time in his career. Even if Jones falls short of his potential, Golladay is still good enough to perform at ADP. However, his potential and ceiling is very high, and if Jones is able to make a leap in Year 3, Golladay’s breakout could resemble the one we saw from 2020 Stefon Diggs.

The post Top Five Fantasy Values for 2021 appeared first on Pro Football Mania.

By: Rachel Marie – @rachelmariesports

Matthew Stafford heads to Los Angeles, but what does the future have in store for one of his go-to wide receivers in Marvin Jones Jr.? The 30-year-old veteran receiver enters the 2021 offseason as an unrestricted free agent and many teams could greatly benefit from adding a reliable pass catcher like Jones.

Let’s talk the top 3 landing spots for Marvin Jones Jr.!

1. Los Angeles Rams

Let’s knock this one out first. How could it not make sense for Jones to follow Stafford over to the Rams? Cap space maybe, but still! The kind of chemistry this duo has found on the field is often irreplaceable. Except for one down season in 2018, we’ve gotten to watch the Stafford-Jones connection flourish and grow in Detroit.

Jones has posted both of his career-best seasons with Stafford at the helm. In 2017 Jones broke 1,000 yards, tallying 1,101 yards to be exact, and scored nine touchdowns. In 2020, Jones had the second-best season of his career putting up 978 yards and another nine touchdowns. Once again, Jones was easily Stafford’s favorite target.

Off the field, there are plenty of factors that make this a realistic landing spot for Jones as well. Consider the fact that he already owns a home in California. Add to that that Kelly Stafford and Jazmyn Jones, the wives of Matthew and Marvin, are besties. And top it all off with this detail: Jones has made it known via social media that he wants to follow Stafford there.

With Josh Reynolds, who has spent the past six seasons with the Rams, hitting free agency, I wouldn’t be surprised if Jones would take a seriously team-friendly deal to join Stafford in Los Angeles and have a legitimate shot at a Super Bowl in the 2021-22 season.

2. Tennessee Titans

The Titans are most likely going to end up losing their breakout wide receiver, Corey Davis, to free agency due to their lack of cap space. They’re about $7.3 million over the cap and, “can’t afford to get into a bidding war with another suitor” per TitansWire.

Jones is a statistically comparable player AND a cap-friendly solution. At 31, and with a wide array of wide receivers hitting free agency this offseason, this could bring Jones’ perceived market value down just enough for the Titans to bite.

Bill Barnwell thinks he could “be signed by Tennessee to a two-year deal worth $13.5 million, or $6.75 million annually.”

This would place Jones with a veteran QB in Ryan Tannehill who has only continued to get better statistically speaking over the past two seasons. Tannehill threw 28 touchdowns and only five interceptions in 2020. His touchdown percentage, interception percentage, and quarterback rating all ranked Top 5 in the league. Jones could easily help him to maintain those numbers.

3. Miami Dolphins

According to DolphinsWire, “The Miami Dolphins’ objective this offseason is clear: get better weapons for quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.” Besides Devante Parker and Mike Gesicki, the Dolphins pass catchers were a mess in 2020.

But here’s the team’s predicament: “The Dolphins are committed to over $25M in cap commitments to the wide receiver position in 2021 ($25,500,001 to be exact). That figure is the 11th highest allocation of salary cap for the wide receiver position in the NFL.” That’s $25 million in cap commitments for one of the worst producing receiving cores in the league. So, bringing in more talent for the wide receiver room seems both a wild idea and yet extremely necessary, right?

Like I said previously, Jones could sign a very cap friendly deal. 31 years old and a veteran. Heavy wide receiver presence in free agency. Could it end up the perfect storm for the Fins to end up with the veteran on a reasonable deal?

Imagine a revitalized receiver duo. Parker opposite Jones sounds like a legitimate threat indeed. Even in a down year Parker still posted a respectable 63 receptions for 793 yards and four touchdowns.

The post Top 3 Landing Spots for Marvin Jones Jr. appeared first on Pro Football Mania.