By Marc Hardin
NKyTribune contributor
Late-season revelations such as Jets running back Elijah McGuire and Broncos wide receiver DaeSean Hamilton continue to emerge, and that’s something you can count on at the end of every fantasy football season, no matter the year. Attrition in an unbelievably brutal sport ensures it.
The “next man up” battle cry — that every player should be ready to get the job done — is a cliche among players and coaches for a reason. In football, quite often the next man is needed. Just ask Bengals’ tight ends coach Jonathan Hayes, who of late has rarely finished the season with a healthy No. 1.
Fantasy-wise, this year’s McGuire is last year’s Kenyan Drake is 2016’s Ty Montgomery is 2015’s Thomas Rawls. They keep coming like windmill blades. The leading ball carriers for the New York Giants in the final game the past two seasons have been surprise 100-yard rushers Paul Perkins and Orleans Darkwa, neither of whom were at the top of the depth chart to begin those particular seasons.
This year, you have a pretty good idea who the Giants’ leading rusher is going to be in the final game (hint, it’s Saquon Barkley). But who’s going to end up being the leading man for the Broncos now that surprise lead man Phillip Lindsay is out for the season with a wrist injury? Cast into fantasy irrelevance by Lindsay’s breakout 1,000-yard season as an undrafted rookie, newly ascending backups Royce Freeman and Devontae Booker are provided last-ditch chances this Sunday to make positive in-game impressions while also making cases for their inclusion in 2019 Broncos plans.
Though you can count on late-season surprises — please add C.J. Anderson to the list after last week’s monster effort in place of injured Rams stud Todd Gurley — what you can’t count on is year to year consistency atop position groups until beasts like Barkley and Gurley come along to settle things. Injuries, free agency, trades and the NFL draft alter much of the fantasy landscape every year.
Still, whether you’re in this week’s championship game or if you finished last in the standings, it’s a good idea to stay on top of late-season developments, especially if you’re in larger keeper leagues that allow carry-over of players from one year to the next. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen fantasy team owners get excited about a sleeper during the offseason only to realize the player had already been picked up by another team in a sneaky, low-profile move late the previous season.
If you haven’t done so already, now is the time to make those moves in keeper leagues and stash away potential 2019 impact players while you don’t have to fight over them in a draft. Here is a list of 10 widely available players (generally less than 50 percent owned) who I’m keeping an eye on ahead of my Jan. 1 keeper deadline. For some of you, that deadline is Saturday as final-game rosters are set. So, cue up Guy Lombardo, brush up on the lyrics to Auld Lang Syne (I still don’t know them — who does?) and take a cup of kindness. Surely you’ll buy your pint cup. And surely I’ll buy mine.
QUARTERBACKS
Josh Allen (Bills): He’s slowed a bit after a torrid stretch in which he seized the starting job with gusto but he’s the unquestioned quarterback of the future for the Bills, who seem intent on giving him the best tools available by stockpiling young talented wide receivers. If he keeps flashing his wheels in the running game and cuts down on interceptions, I would have no problem having him around as my mandatory second quarterback for next year’s 12-team leagues.
Sam Darnold (Jets): After a rough beginning, the AFC East’s other ballyhooed but slow-starting rookie QB is playing his best football of the season with 20-point games each of the past two weeks, while increasing his touchdown passes (5) and lowering his interceptions (0). If the Jets’ running game continues to sputter for another year, he could be a garbage yardage dynamo next season and worthy of a spot as a backup in 12-team leagues.
Jimmy Garoppolo (49ers): He’s been on Injured Reserve most of the season with a knee injury and is widely available, but don’t sleep on him. Garoppolo put up a 22-point game just before he got hurt. Before the season, he was signed to a five-year contract worth a maximum of $137.5 million with nearly $90 million in guarantees the first three years. Last April, his peers voted him 90th among the NFL’s top 100 players for 2018. He’s going to play and is expected to lead the 49ers promising offense going forward. His Week 3 ACL tear is not career-threatening. 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan thinks he could be ready for OTAs when he’ll be eight months removed from surgery.
RUNNING BACKS
Kalen Ballage (Dolphins): With Ballage now in the mix, I get the feeling the Dolphins don’t trust Kenyan Drake as a primary ball carrier. They let 35-year-old Frank Gore split carries with Drake before Gore got hurt. When Gore went down Week 15, they let Ballage gash the Vikings with 123 yards and a TD on 12 carries while giving Drake one carry. As we’ve seen previously with the discarding of Jay Ajayi, the Dolphins aren’t afraid to get rid of a talented running back for something they deem more desirable. If they part ways with Drake, they could be giving the ball to Ballage a lot more in 2019. Then again, Ballage could be merely the next committee runner in Miami.
Le’Veon Bell (Steelers): He’s still Le’Veon Bell and very likely playing for somebody else next season as the new bell cow back for some lucky team. He’s unowned in 80 percent of leagues nationally, which probably overstates his availability in your league. Because he is Le’Veon Bell, he’s worth checking on just to make sure.
D’Onta Foreman (Texans): There were whispers last offseason the Texans may cut or trade Lamar Miller, who wound up having a solid if inconsistent 2018 before he got hurt. If Foreman becomes the runner he was before he ruptured his Achilles — he scored on a 34-yard touchdown run during a 22-point game on his final play of the 2017 season — and if Houston is OK with eating $1 million in dead cap space, they could cut Miller next year and turn to Foreman. That’s a lot of ifs, but Miller will be in the last year of his contract in 2019 and may be trade bait at some point next year. Foreman, still in his rookie deal and highly regarded, is five years younger than Miller and may be worth the gamble this week.
WIDE RECEIVERS
Christian Kirk (Cardinals): Larry Fitzgerald is at the end of a one-year deal and is expected to retire, leaving a gaping hole in Arizona’s receiving corpse. A free agent addition is very possible this offseason as is a newly drafted receiver to compete with holdovers. Kirk, the team’s most consistent playmaker at age 22 even with Fitz still hanging around, is chief among the holdovers. Kirk is out for the season with a broken foot, making him ripe for the picking on the waiver wire.
Dede Westbrook (Jaguars): Donte Moncrief is probably past his prime and may not be around next year. I get the feeling he’s just passing through town. Keelan Cole was de-emphasized the back half of the season. Due to those factors, Westbrook is already being mentioned as a solid sleeper candidate for 2019. Three of his five double-digit scoring games have come since Week 11, but he’s owned in just 40 percent of leagues despite ranking 25th among fantasy receivers. Even though the Jags’ QB situation could remain fluid next year, I say pounce if he’s still available in your larger keeper league
Mike Williams (Chargers): The 2017 first-round draft pick is the only healthy receiver ranked among fantasy’s top 24 who is owned in just half the leagues nationally, so he’s undervalued somewhat despite his big three-touchdown day Week 15 against the Chiefs. He still doesn’t catch a lot of passes but he’s scored two touchdowns in a game three times this year and is up to nine TDs on the season. Because of that, he could be a middle-round draft pick next year, and you could do much worse in next year’s No. 3 receiver slot, especially if he starts seeing more targets.
TIGHT END
Chris Herndon (Jets): He’s ranked 14th among fantasy tight ends while becoming a favorite target of quarterback Josh Darnold. He had his best game last week with six catches for 82 yards and a TD, good for 14.2 points in standard formats. He’s owned in just 15 percent of leagues but has a strong chance to emerge as a top-10 guy in 2019. With the tight end position looking volatile next season, Herndon’s addition to your team would be a great way to ring in the new calendar.
With that, please do have a happy new year and pick the daisies fine.
