Who would’ve thought that Patrick Mahomes would be far and away the top quarterback in fantasy? Did anyone ever guess that James White would be a top-five running back in PPR leagues? We bet no one ever expected that Doug Baldwin would have had fewer PPR fantasy points, both in total and on average, than Tavon Austin, Jarius Wright, and Tajae Sharpe.

If we have learned anything by now, it’s that both the NFL and fantasy football are very difficult to predict, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. Our most accurate fantasy experts have been the best in the industry at predicting the results of this fake football game we love, so we reached out to them to get their insight on what could happen throughout the season’s second half. Here are their bold predictions.

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Q. Please give one bold prediction for the second half of the season.

“In our recency biased world, people forget how good he is. They’ll look to the drops and be quick to make him the scapegoat, but Derek Carr has not been the same since his unfortunate injury at the end of 2016. That’s evident in his aggressiveness ranking from NextGen, which puts him 29th in the league at 11.5%. There was a 20% drop in Amari Cooper’s Oakland targets since that 2016 injury to Carr, which correlates almost precisely to the drop off in his overall statistics. He gets the change of pace he needs and brings his 3.8 average yards of separation (10th in NFL) to the second-most aggressive quarterback (24.8%) in Dak Prescott. Take all of that into consideration, and add to it Dallas’ extremely favorable schedule versus defenses against WRs. Five of their final nine matchups are against defenses in the bottom five of this category. Get Cooper where you can if anyone’s forgotten him after back-to-back bye weeks. When he gets targeted, he produces, and Prescott is going to be looking his way quite a bit.”

– Andy Singleton (Razzball)

“Amari Cooper finishes the remainder of the season as he was drafted, a top-20 wide receiver. Is 96 targets per year too much to ask for from a receiver as talented as Cooper? That number is there because there’s been 34 games in his career where he’s seen six or more targets (6 x 16 = 96). In those games, he’s averaged 5.6 receptions for 81.8 yards and 0.44 touchdowns. Oddly enough, there’s been 18 games (35 percent of the time) in his career where he’s seen just five or less targets. In those games, he’s averaged just 1.9 receptions for 22.9 yards and 0.22 touchdowns. The Cowboys didn’t bring him in to be a decoy, or at least I don’t think so.”

– Mike Tagliere (FantasyPros)

“If we used team quarterbacks in place of individual ones, the Bucs currently hold the QB1 baton. I don’t view this as a fluke — OC Todd Monken has the hot hand, and Tampa Bay’s skill players are outstanding. The risk of Ryan Fitzpatrick being benched again is being overestimated; the Bucs had to see what Jameis Winston could offer, but it was also time to pull back from him. Winston’s Year 5 option would automatically kick in if he were to get hurt; I think the team decides to let Fitzpatrick run with the gig, and he’s a top-six quarterback the rest of the way. Sure, Fitzpatrick will throw some picks and have a few “WTF?” throws, but with the Tampa Bay defense giving it away on the other side, this should be a weekly shootout in the pinball arcade of the NFC South.”

– Scott Pianowski (Yahoo! Sports)

“I’m going with Ryan Fitzpatrick as a top-five QB for the rest of the season. The Buccaneers have no running game to lean on, their offensive line isn’t good enough to elevate any mediocre RBs into being a star, and their defense is poor enough to throw them into negative gamescripts. Fitzpatrick has so many weapons and an offensive coordinator in Todd Monken that isn’t afraid to emphasize the pass attack — they ranked eighth in passing-play percentage — so give me the Fitzmagic all day in fantasy.”

– Nick Mariano (RotoBaller)

“Alex Collins will post RB1 numbers from Week 11 to Week 16. Collins is finishing up a stretch of tough matchups against some of the best rush defenses in the league. The Saints (fifth), Titans (sixth), Panthers (11th), and Steelers (fourth) are all in the top 11 in raw fantasy points allowed to running backs. Even so, he’s averaged a respectable 12.5 fantasy points (PPR) in the last three weeks prior to his Week 9 matchup against the Steelers on Sunday. However he fares against Pittsburgh, I think he’s a good trade target as he goes on bye in Week 10, since his schedule lightens up mightily down the stretch. He’ll face the Bengals (26th), Raiders (29th), Falcons (25th), Chiefs (31st), Buccaneers (23rd), and Chargers (16th) in his final six games. These teams have yielded, on average, 120 rushing yards and 1.0 rushing touchdowns per game, with a generous 4.78 yards per carry. It also doesn’t hurt that he has seen at least 11 carries in six straight games or that the Ravens are starting to use him more as a receiver (five catches in the last two weeks).”

– John Paulsen (4for4.com)

“Larry Fitzgerald will be a WR1 (top 12) in Weeks 10-16. Last week the Cardinals replaced their ineffective OC (Mike McCoy) with QB coach Byron Leftwich and in one week we noticed a significant difference. Fitzgerald saw 12 targets last week, scored a TD for the second week in a row, and topped 100 yards for the first time this season. Arizona has a bye this week, allowing them some extra time to get the new offensive scheme implemented. Arizona faces the eighth-easiest WR strength of schedule for the rest of the season. Most, if not all, of the remaining games will be among the highest in Vegas’ implied total scoring (KC, GB, LAC, LAR, DET), in other words, plenty of shoot-outs. Fitzgerald has also been hampered with hamstring issues most of the season and looks to be fully recovered and ready to show why he came back for one more season. He was the WR9 last year and he’s looking for redemption after starting the year as the WR81 (through the first six weeks).”

– Kevin Wheeler (NFL Mock)

“Currently the QB20 on FantasyPros’ stats leaders page, Carson Wentz will finish as a top-five QB in the second half of the season. Wentz, only 10 months removed from ACL surgery, barely participated in training camp, didn’t play in the preseason, and missed the first two games of the regular season. He now finally looks to be ready to elevate the Eagles’ offense to the next level. Compare his Week 7 and 8 performances to when he first took back the starting job and Wentz looks more comfortable moving around the pocket and confident in his surgically repaired knee. The acquisition of Golden Tate is going to do wonders for Wentz’s stats. Combine Tate — the yards after the catch king — with Zach Ertz and Alshon Jeffery, and Wentz suddenly goes from having good weapons to having great ones.”

– Bill Enright (FFChamps)

“When Denver sent Demaryius Thomas to Houston in exchange for a fourth-round pick, the most common reaction in the fantasy community was one of anticipation for what promising rookie Courtland Sutton would do with an expanded role in the Broncos offense. While Sutton certainly has the potential to put up solid numbers going forward, don’t overlook the real league-winner in Denver’s passing game. Emmanuel Sanders has seen double-digit targets in three games this season. In those contests, he was able to post a combined 26 catches for 309 yards and two scores (an average line of 8.6/103/.67). Sanders is already enjoying a WR1 season in PPR leagues, but with the possibility of seeing double-digit targets in every game going forward, I boldly predict that Sanders will be a top-four wide receiver for the second half of the season.”

– Matthew Hill (DataForce Fantasy Football)

“Russell Wilson finishes as a top-five QB from Weeks 8-17. Historically, Wilson has posted huge fantasy results in the second half of the NFL season, and we expect that trend to continue this season. In 2016, from Weeks 8-17, Wilson averaged 288 total yards and 1.7 TDs per game – finishing as the #4 fantasy QB during that span. In 2017, from Weeks 8-17, Wilson averaged 285 total yards and 2.5 TDs per game – finishing as the #1 fantasy QB during that span. Wilson currently sits as the #17 fantasy QB with an upcoming schedule that should provide multiple shootouts and high scoring affairs. With history on our side and Seattle fighting for a playoff spot, we expect huge games moving forward. Now is your last shot to buy low!”

– Tozzi Brothers (Legion Report)

“Marvin Jones will finish as a top 10 wide receiver the rest of the season. Everyone is excited over Kenny Golladay and, while he will succeed, Jones was already getting a big share of the red zone targets with 27 percent. Jones is slightly off of last season’s pace, but with the departure of Tate, Jones will see more targets and he is averaging 14.9 yards per catch, which is 0.1 below his career average of 15. He doesn’t need 120 targets like the top receivers to be top 10. Jones has five touchdowns in seven games and will score 10-12.”

– Adam Ronis (ScoutFantasySports)

“Matt Breida sells physical agony better than most professional wrestlers. His recent ankle woes have on several occasions left him writhing in pain like Ric Flair after a back body drop and have left his fantasy owners exasperated. Breida was the RB13 in fantasy scoring over the first six weeks of the season but has been RB59 over the last two (tied with “The Roc” Thomas, befitting the wrestling theme here). I love Breida’s athleticism, love that he’s a good pass-catching back on a team bereft of quality pass catchers, and love that he’s the lead back in a Kyle Shanahan offense. I’ll predict that Breida is a top-10 RB the rest of the way.”

– Pat Fitzmaurice (The Football Girl)

“Currently outside of the top five tight ends, Rob Gronkowski fails to make it back, even if he plays 15 games this season…which would be the first time that’s happened in a season with at least 11 games. Gronkowski looks worse than we thought Larry Fitzgerald would after the first few weeks. While some of the spark returned for Fitz, Gronk couldn’t separate Monday night and has looked sluggish all year. With Sony Michel returning, the multiple of weapons and the names in front of him at tight end, Gronk is primed for the worst healthy season of his career.”

– Jake Ciely (The Athletic)

“Cam Newton will out-score all QBs — yes, even Mahomes — over the second half of the season. Newton is playing some of the best ball of his career, completing 66% of his passes with 13 TDs versus just four INTs. Greg Olsen is healthy (at least for now) and D.J. Moore is breaking out. The cherry on top is Newton’s schedule, which features four games against bottom-three QB defenses.”

– Jared Smola (Draft Sharks)

“Le’Veon Bell returns from a holdout to disappoint owners who patiently held out hope. This saga has gone on for too long and James Conner’s RB4 performance cannot be overlooked. There’s no doubt Bell is talented but will he be in shape? Will he be dedicated? Will he be the steadying force that Conner has become? There simply won’t be enough volume in Pittsburgh for Bell to perform up to expectations and he is sure to be on a short leash if he gives anything less than 100-percent.”

– Scott Smith (RotoViz)

Thank you to the experts for making their bold predictions. Be sure to give them a follow on Twitter if you’re not already doing so and check out our latest podcast below for more great advice.



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