Who Will be the 2017 Fantasy Football MVP?
The 2017 edition of the world-famous Fantasy MVP episode has been released! The Fantasy Footballers invited several respected fantasy experts to weigh in on who they consider to be the top candidates to lead your team to a fantasy championship. So…who’s your fantasy MVP this season?
Ty Montgomery, RB Green Bay Packers
“If you like beer, cheese curds, and fantasy titles, then Ty Montgomery must be on your team. He’s a player who last year averaged 6.7 yards per touch and top 3 in several secondary analytics, including yards after contact per touch, juke rate, and breakaway run percentage. He could go for 1300 combined yards along with 9-11 TDs. Remember, he faced a defensive light front 89.6% of the time in 2016. Ty Montgomery will be a borderline top 5 RB this season, bank on it!”
-Brad Evans @YahooNoise (Yahoo Sports)
Ty Montgomery, RB Green Bay Packers
“When you’re talking about fantasy football MVPs, you’re looking at upside. When looking at upside, you’re gonna want to associate those players in good offenses. That offense in Green Bay is pretty good, and so is their RB. In games where Ty Montgomery saw 40% or more of the Packers snaps last year, he averaged top 10 RB numbers at the position. He did that after converting to the RB position midseason as well, he didn’t even start the year as a RB! This year there is more competition in the Packers backfield, but I’m a firm believer that the draft picks that they spent on RBs had more to do with the depth chart that didn’t exist prior to the draft rather than based on any doubt in Montgomery. He doesn’t need a ton of volume to be viable in PPR formats, and if he does see significant volume and goal line touches we could easily be talking about a fringe top 5 RB in fantasy football this season. In that dead 3rd and 4th rounds of fantasy drafts, Ty Montgomery is literally the perfect option.”
-JJ Zachariason @LateRoundQB (Editor-in-Chief at numberFire, Host of Living the Stream podcast and The Late-Round podcast)
Joe Mixon, RB Cincinnati Bengals
“A fantasy MVP is one who gets 10 times the return of what you paid. Joe Mixon has received a ton of praise from coaches and his QB Andy Dalton during preseason. Mixon, currently going in the 4th round, is by far the most talented RB of the current rookie group and will take over the Bengals backfield situation, like Jordan Howard did with the Bears last season, and will be an RB1 as soon as he does.Draft him, enjoy the ride, just be a little bit patient because he will be a fantasy league changer and MVP for you this season.”
– Jake Ciely @allinkid (Senior Writer/talent for RotoExperts and FNTSY Sports Network)
Bilal Powell, RB New York Jets
“If we’re talking fantasy MVP’s it’s all about finding a guy anyone can take later in drafts and not just a high pick in the first round. So, the guy you can take in any draft, especially in PPR, because he’s available into the mid-rounds, is Bilal Powell. The Jets are going nowhere this season, and it already looks like Matt Forte isn’t going to be on the field all that much. So, what do we know about Bilal Powell? The Jets tend to run him out when they are losing, which I expect them to do a lot of this season. Also, with the way that he is used out of the backfield as a pass catcher, aided by subpar QB and WR play, Powell will pile up dinky catches. In PPR he is probably the only receiving RB who can challenge LeVeon Bell and David Johnson in terms of receptions, and this is a guy you can get in the fourth or fifth round of drafts. Let’s say you do zero RB, if he was your RB1 and starts averaging five-to-six catches a game, he’s gonna be fine. Bilal Powell is your fantasy MVP.”
-Pat Mayo @ThePME (Draft Kings)
Devonta Freeman, RB Atlanta Falcons
“I am here to repeat myself. That’s right, Devonta Freeman is going to be your fantasy MVP, I said this last year and I am sticking to it. There are some interesting things about Devonta Freeman that you may or may not know. He is the only RB with over 1,000 rushing yards in both 2015 and 2016, that’s right, just Devonta Freeman. He also was incredibly productive on a per touch basis, averaging 4.75 yards per carry and 8.56 yards per catch while scoring 13 total touchdowns last year. He did all of this with Tevin Coleman nipping at his ankles. Kyle Shanahan left town, but we’ve exaggerated how much this offense is going to fall off a cliff. They look pretty darn good to me. If anyone benefits from Shanahan’s departure in the Atlanta offense, it’s Freeman because Coleman was a Shanahan guy. Shanahan loved him. Well, now they’re just gonna say, ‘we just signed this guy (Freeman) to a big deal, he’s our future, let’s ride it out.’ I’m all in with Devonta Freeman for MVP.”
–Brandon Marianne Lee @BrandonHerFFB (Fantasy Alarm/SiriusXM Fantasy Channel/Her Fantasy Football)
Pierre Garcon, WR San Francisco 49ers
“My fantasy MVP this season is a guy I’m targeting in the sixth round of every PPR draft, and that’s Pierre Garcon of the 49ers. He is going off the board as the 34th, 35th receiver in PPR drafts and I think he’ll finish in the top 25, maybe top 20, and maybe even the top 15. He’s being reunited with Kyle Shanahan, and the last year they were together in 2013 Garcon caught 113 passes for 1346 yards and five TDs. He doesn’t have much competition for targets and the 49ers are likely to be in negative game-scripts for much of the year forcing them to throw the ball more. Given all of that I think he’s a great pick in the sixth round.”
–John Paulsen @4for4_John (Senior Editor at 4for4 football)
Russell Wilson, QB Seattle Seahawks
“I know everybody is expecting me to drop some WR here, especially after I smashed it with Bruce Ellington last year, however I am going to give you a QB here who I am really excited about and finding myself drafting more and more as the season gets near. That player is Seattle Seahawks QB Russell Wilson. Not only is Wilson due for some progression in his career rate statistics that hit lows last year, with just 72 rushes for just over 250 yards and also a TD rate which was just under 4% last year. His career average sits at 5.6% and has cleared 6.3% three times over the last five years. Those are going to rise this year, and not to mention, look at the weapons surrounding Russell Wilson this year. He has a resurgent Jimmy Graham who is primed to get back to his New Orleans form, the best slot receiver in the NFL in Doug Baldwin, and two speedy young receivers who are primed to break out this year in Paul Richardson and Tyler Lockett. Everything is setup for Wilson and I believe that this is the year when you can get him at a discount but he is still going to give you that QB1 overall upside and unfair weekly advantage, he’s my MVP pick for the 2017 season, go get him.”
–Matt Harmon @MattHarmon_BYB (NFL.com, Creator of Reception Perception)
Randall Cobb, WR Green Bay Packers
“I’m not going obvious because that’s not fun. I want to talk about a value and a guy who doesn’t need an injury to blow his ADP out of the water. I’m talking about Randall Cobb. In 2014 he posted 91 catches for 1287 yards and 12 TD for a PPR WR8 finish, that’s not that long ago. In 2012 he had 80 catches for 954 yards and 8 TDs. Yeah, he’s had some bad seasons mixed in there, but those can be explained by injuries and Aaron Rodgers having his worst fantasy season of his career in 2015. Throw out Cobb’s rookie year when he wasn’t a full time player, and in the three years when he’s played in at least 15 games his lowest PPR finish is WR25. Know where you can get him now? He’s WR39 at pick 8.06, he was going as WR19 at pick 3.08 just last year. Take the discount on this guy all day, embrace the recency bias. The injury risks are baked into his ADP, so you get him at his floor and he possesses tons of upside thanks to Aaron Rodgers. He’s healthy now, he’s got a double-digit TD season coming this year, book it!”
-Ben Cummins @BenCumminsFF (Fantasy Footballers DFS Show and The Fantasy Authority, Draft Day Consultants, Contributor for Fantasy Footballers, Two QBs, Rotoviz, RotoUnderworld)
DeVante Parker, WR Miami Dolphins
“My 2017 fantasy football MVP is Miami Dolphins WR DeVante Parker. After a slow start to his NFL career, due to a foot injury, Parker is now healthy and primed for a big-time season in year three. The 6’3″ wideout has all the tools to be successful, tremendous hands and speed, and can turn short catches into big plays as he has a 15.1 yards per catch average over his first two years. Ryan Tannehill’s favorite target was Jarvis Landry, but with Tannehill gone and Jay Cutler in, that favorite WR in the passing game will no doubt be Parker. In Cutler’s first preseason game, he targeted Parker in three of his six throws. In his second preseason game, the duo connected twice for 74 yards including a 72-yard play. Cutler is a gunslinger, he’s been known to lock into a WR and he’s not afraid to throw the 50-50 ball. Parker has the ability to go up and get that ball, and he’ll be a red zone target. Plus, Cutler has already commented on how Parker is a faster Alshon Jeffery. Parker’s average draft position has jumped three rounds since the Cutler signing, but its warranted.”
–Chris Meaney @chrismeaney (Host/Producer at FNTSY Sports Network, Fantasy Footballers DFS Show)
Kareem Hunt, RB Kansas City Chiefs
“My fantasy football MVP this year is the newest hotness that has been created, I am all in on the rookie Kareem Hunt. Kareem Hunt has the best overall situation for success out of this year’s rookie RB class. He was very successful and productive in college, his NFL team traded up to get him in the draft, and head coach Andy Reid is GREAT for RBs. Reid uses the RB’s heavily in the passing game, and Kareem Hunt was great in college with his receiving production. All the way around you have the volume, talent, opportunity, bad competition in the backfield, a great head coach, college production, draft capital, preseason film, and one of the best ADP’s of any workhorse RB, going at the 3/4 turn.”
-Jason Moore @jasonffl (The Fantasy Footballers Podcast)
Rob Gronkowski, TE New England Patriots
“Gronk! He’s going at the end of the second round and my contention is this: everyone who drafts him in the third round is primed to win your fantasy league. He’s unguardable, Edelman’s targets disappear, he’s healthy right now. During his five healthy games last year he averaged 17 fantasy points per game, that’s six more per game than Travis Kelce, and more per game than Mike Evans, Jordy Nelson, and Antonio Brown. You’re outscoring your opponent at the TE position by 7-10 points on average, that’s the gap between Aaron Rodgers and Blake Bortles, that’s the gap from Jordan Howard to Chris Thompson last year. That’s an unfair advantage, that’s a fantasy MVP. I’m banking on the health this year, he’s played in the preseason for the first time in a long time, I love Rob Gronkowski and he’s my fantasy MVP pick this year.”
-Andy Holloway @andyholloway (The Fantasy Footballers Podcast)
Ted Ginn Jr., WR New Orleans Saints
“I’m going with an extreme value pick. I’m going Ted Ginn Jr. The value in your draft is insane, and we caught a glimpse in preseason Week 3 of what Drew Brees is going to do with Ted Ginn. The only player targeted more was Michael Thomas. Ted Ginn is the speed on this team. They lost their speed in Cooks and decided to go get it in the veteran Ted Ginn Jr. If he can get 10 TDs with Cam Newton, what is the floor here for Ginn, who, by the way, you are drafting in the double-digit area? Sean Payton is going to plan some special things for Ginn, such as an end-around he took 40+ yards to start a game. Since I’ve seen that, how they are going to use him, I’m grabbing him everywhere. I’m reaching two round early because, who cares? Even if you grab him in the eighth or ninth round and you don’t get full draft value, he potentially could be a WR2 starter every single week and if not, he still slides into a flex play who can go off and win you a week at any given moment. I’m all in on Ted Ginn Jr. this year.”
-Mike Wright @FFHitman (The Fantasy Footballers Podcast)