By The Hudsonian, Joshua Hudson
If you head over to the Club Fantasy Instagram page, you can stay up to speed on all the transactions as they occur, or as fast as my graphic designer can make some bomb ass pictures for you to like. Below you’ll see how I view all of the relevant NFL offseason transactions. I say relevant because, for the purposes of fantasy football, defensive signings don’t impact us as much as the offensive ones. I’ll cover the defensive signings when I do my team-by-team previews later in the summer.
I’ll identify the player, who they signed with or were traded to, and how I think it impacts their fantasy value going into 2017, positive or negative. First up: Brandon Marshall walks across locker rooms and signs with the New York Giants.
WR Brandon Marshall remains in New York, but switches teams. Marshall to the Giants offers a lot to fantasy owners in 2017. (Design credit: Kathilia Colón; @katcolon37 on Instagram)
Transaction: Brandon Marshall signs with the New York Giants
Fantasy Outlook: This is a move Fantasy owners can wrap their heads around, yes? I mean, the thought of Odell Beckham Jr. lining up with Brandon Marshall on the same offense – that’s gotta put the fear of God into corners. Marshall is a year removed from a top 6 fantasy performance in 2015, where he caught over 1,500 yards and scored double digit touchdowns. And that was with Ryan Fitzpatrick throwing him the football. Now, he’ll have a two time Super Bowl winning quarterback slinging him the ball, and he won’t have to be the de facto number one guy. That’s OBJ. He gets to be the Jeffrey/Decker of this relationship.
Remember when Isaac Bruce and Tory Holt were both top 10 receivers in Fantasy? How about Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne? Or Marshall and Alshon Jeffrey? Or, more recently, Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders? OBJ and Marshall have a chance to be exactly that in 2017. Marshall to the Giants is a dream scenario.
I think Marshall easily crosses 1,000 yards, in the neighborhood of 6 touchdowns on 70+ catches. Remember, the Giants are a team that runs almost exclusively from a three wide receiver formation. OBJ will get his. There’s hardly any stopping that. But he won’t have to do it all and Eli Manning shouldn’t have to force feed him the football. I do expect a slight downtick in production on his part – likely still double digit TDs and close to 100 catches, but less than 1,500 yards – and a huge drop off for now from number 3 WR Sterling Shepard. All three should be drafted though: OBJ in the 1st, Marshall between rounds 3 & 5, and Shepard as a late round flier – think 10th and beyond.
Now just imagine if the Giants found a sustainable running game? This offense could be unstoppable.