I’ve been doing this column annually for a long, long time now, but these days, in a TikTok world where everyone has the attention span of, like, five seconds, it seems more relevant than ever.
So without further ado here are 10 lists… Of 10.
List 1: 10 Preseason Storylines I’m Buying
1. Darren Waller will be the focal point of Brian Daboll’s passing game. Healthy, motivated and a perfect fit for the kind of offense Daboll uses (and for the kind of routes Daniel Jones likes to throw to), Waller has top two tight end in fantasy upside.
2. Lamar Jackson will return to MVP form in Todd Monken’s high-octane offense. Well paid, with the best weapons around him he has ever had, Monken will unlock all of LJax’s potential.
3. With Aaron Rodgers as his quarterback, Garrett Wilson will have a monster breakout season, becoming the new “Davante Adams.”
4. That Dameon Pierce will dominate touches in the Houston’s backfield and catch 40+ passes, while running behind a better-than-you-think offensive line. Pierce has played on seven drives with C.J. Stroud this preseason. In those drives, as noted by Dwain McFarland of FantasyLife.com in his Preseason Utilization report, Pierce has logged 83% of the snaps, 83% of the rushing attempts and had a 67% route participation (eye emoji).
5. That the Steelers offense will take a nice step forward this year, with Kenny Pickett being a nice late-round QB sleeper and that Jaylen Warren will be a much bigger part of the offense at the expense of Najee Harris. In five preseason drives, Pickett went 13-of-15 for 199 yards and 2 TD. Warren has looked more explosive this season and got some run on early downs with the starters, plus all of the passing game work.
6. Luke Musgrave is the real deal and will be a viable mid-tier TE2 with legit TE1 upside. A size and speed freak, McFarland notes that of the 37 dropbacks Jordan Love had this preseason, Musgrave had a 84% route participation and a 22% target share, both TE-1 worthy numbers.
7. Kenneth Gainwell will have a legit role in the Eagles backfield. Now, I’m not saying he’ll be their RB1. It’s gonna be a three-headed monster with Jalen Hurts also vulturing touchdowns. But, he’ll be close to equal compared to the others and he’s the cheapest to draft right now.
8. James Cook will the RB1 for the Bills and get north of 15 touches per game. Color me not too freaked out about Damien Harris.
9. Sam Howell is going to be a very good fantasy streamer this year. Call me a homer all you want, but the guy who was a QB1 the one week he started last year and who had over 1,100 rushing yards (removing yardage lost on sacks) his junior year in college has looked sharp this preseason surrounded by talented playmakers.
10. The Patriots offense will be much improved under Bill O’Brien and TE Hunter Henry will be a focal point of the passing offense. O’Brien uses tight ends a decent amount in his offense and camp reports about Henry have been raves.
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List 2: My 10 “Chicken” players
A few years ago, University of Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh famously told his team not to eat chicken because it’s a “nervous bird.” To be fair, if you could be fried and chopped into something called a nugget you’d be nervous too. But as always, I digress. Here are 10 big-name players I am just kind of nervous about. All talented players, all ranked where they should be. But as I’ve been drafting, when it comes time to pick that player, something about them just gives me nervous vibes and I find myself passing on them and drafting a different, similarly-ranked player.
1. D’Andre Swift. Eagles don’t pass to their running backs. Plus, he's injury prone and what if the small passing game role we expect to be Kenneth Gainwell's is actually Swift's?
2. Mike Evans. WR30 last year heading into Week 17 with Tom Brady as his QB. Scored 22% of his points last year in Week 17 and now has Baker Mayfield who, ahem, is not Tom Brady.
3. Najee Harris. I much prefer Jaylen Warren at cost. This could be a 60/40 split pretty soon.
4. George Kittle. Just a 15% target share last year when CMC, Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk were all active.
5. JK Dobbins. Doesn’t catch passes. Health is an issue. Missed a lot of time in preseason.
6. Dak Prescott. Doesn’t run anymore (averaged 11.7 rush yards per game over the last two years) and lost OC Kellen Moore. (Dallas was top six in points three of Moore’s four years).
7. Drake London. They didn’t pass last year and now they added Bijan Robinson, who will demand touches.
8. Alvin Kamara. It’s not just the suspension. He’s also injury prone and he’s not nearly as involved in the pass game as you think. He averaged a career low 32 receiving yards per game last year.
9. Jonathan Taylor. I get it. He’s been dropping like a stone in drafts and if/when he comes back he’ll be a steal. But he’s currently hurt, he missed time last year and was merely RB 17 on a points per game basis last year. Now, he has a legit threat on Indy to vulture rushing touchdowns in rookie QB Anthony Richardson and, you know, Taylor and his team hate each other.
10. Deshaun Watson. Preseason reports have been uneven and man, it has been a LONG time since we saw him perform at an elite level. Such a wide range of outcomes for a QB regularly drafted inside the top 10 at the position. I want a top 8 QB (Hurts/Allen/Mahomes/LJax/Herbert/Burrow/Fields/Lawrence) or I want to wait much longer.
List 3: 10 “Unsexy” players who will help you win
These are players with no hype or buzz. They are snoozy and when you draft them, no one will say “Ooooh, great pick” like they will when you draft Bijan Robinson or Jahmyr Gibbs. But they will outperform their too low ADPs and help you win. In no order:
1. Joe Mixon, RB, Bengals
2 . Tyler Lockett, WR, Seahawks
3 . David Montgomery, RB, Lions
4. Diontae Johnson, WR, Steelers
5. James Conner, RB, Cardinals
6. Jakobi Meyers, WR, Raiders
7. Jared Goff, QB, Lions
8. Isiah Pacheco, RB, Chiefs
9. Tyler Higbee, TE, Rams
10. Adam Thielen, WR, Panthers
List 4: The 10 Best Fantasy Team Names (That I Can Print!) With The Handle Of Who Sent To Me on Twitter/X
1. The Summer I Turned Purdy (@gregcon345)
2. LaPorta Potty (@metsfan126)
3. Mamma Mia, Jahmyr We Go Again! (@dimab549)
4. To Infinity and Bijan! (@purkleses)
5. Olave when you call me big papa (@who3dat)
6. The Bryce is Right (@TedAtchley3)
7. Bijance Renaissance Tour (@FFballCulture)
8. Bijan Mustard (@TheMikePuma)
9. Public Bieniemy (@kentness)
10. Perine into your soul (@Jeffrich86)
List 5: My 10 Favorite Late-Round RB Targets
1. Jaylen Warren, Steelers
2. Raheem Mostert, Dolphins
3. Tank Bigsby, Jaguars
4. Tyjae Spears, Titans
5. Jerrick McKinnon, Chiefs
6. Ezekiel Elliott, Patriots
7. Jerome Ford, Browns
8. Keontay Ingram, Cardinals
9. Ty Chandler, Vikings
10. Sean Tucker, Bucs
List 6: My 10 Favorite Late-Round Pass-Catcher Targets
1. Jordan Addison, WR, Vikings
2. Skyy Moore, WR, Chiefs
3. Rashod Bateman, WR, Ravens
4. Marvin Mims and Courtland Sutton, WRs, Broncos
5. Luke Musgrave, TE, Packers
6. Quentin Johnston, WR, Chargers
7. Nico Collins and Tank Dell, WRs, Texans
8. Gerald Everett, TE, Chargers
9. Rashid Shaheed, WR, Saints
10. Sam LaPorta Jr., TE, Lions
List 7: 10 Blatant Plugs For a Bunch of Free Things That Will Help You Win Your Fantasy League. (And a few paid ones)
1. My weekly ranks and all of my content are conveniently grouped and always available on the Matthew Berry page on Rotoworld.com, including my preseason Draft Day Manifesto, my preseason Love/Hate and my 100 Facts You Need to Know Before Your Draft.
2. Fantasy Football Happy Hour with Matthew Berry airs LIVE every weekday at Noon ET on Peaco*ck and SiriusXM radio Channel 85. It’s then available on demand on Peaco*ck, on the NFL on NBC YouTube Channel and wherever you get podcasts.
3. The Rotoworld Fantasy Football Draft Guide … Chock full of fantasy goodness with player profiles, projections, mock drafts, tiers and targets and everything else you need to crush your draft. Promo code BERRY20 gets you 20% off.
4. My free daily Fantasy Life Newsletter. A five-minute read delivered to your inbox each morning that tells you everything you need to know in the world of fantasy football. Did I mention it’s 100% free?
5. The FantasyLife.com website. Also 100% free, it has a ton of tools, like a trade rater, start/sit tool, waiver hub, ADP grid for a bunch of sites, defense vs. position ranks, a fun fantasy league punishment generator, dynasty rookie model, Best Ball hub, parlay calculator, odds calculator and much, much more.
6. The Fantasy Life App … Free app with player news, the fastest fantasy alerts in the business, articles, forums and much more.
7. RotoPass.com … My bundle site that combines many great sites, like the Rotoworld Fantasy Football Draft Guide, a 6 month Peaco*ck subscription (so you can watch the two exclusive NFL games including the exclusive NFL playoff game) and you can watch Fantasy Football Pregame with Matthew Berry exclusively on Peaco*ck every Sunday morning during the regular season 11am ET – 1pm ET. All that plus subscriptions to 4for4.com, RotoViz.com, DynastyLeagueFootball.com, FootballGuys and Sharp Football Analysis, all for the over 30% less than if you bought them separately.
8. My guys Denny Carter, RotoPat and Kyle Dvorchak host the Rotoworld Football Show three times a week, available wherever you get your podcasts.
9. The Rotoworld.com player news remains the best in the business.
10. My social media channels. I’m “@MatthewBerryTMR” on Twitter/X, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and Threads. I’m @MatthewBerry on the Fantasy Life App.
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List 8: 10 Leftover Facts from My 100 Facts Column
1. Here’s the list of players with at least 8 receiving touchdowns in each of the past five seasons: Tyler Lockett. That’s the list.
2. No player in the NFL had more slot targets last year than… Christian Kirk.
3. The player that led all RBs in yards per TARGET last season was… Derrick Henry.
4. The running back that led all RBs in yards per rush AFTER contact last year? Tony Pollard.
5. There were only two RBs last year to average at least 5.0 yards per carry and 9.0 yards per reception…. Tony Pollard and Travis Etienne.
6. Miles Sanders had more touchdowns last year (11) than he did in his first three seasons COMBINED (9).
7. No tight end had a higher percentage of his team’s red zone targets last year than… David Njoku.
8. No player had more red zone touches last year than… Austin Ekeler.
9. Dameon Pierce led all RBs in avoided tackle rate last season
10. Last year’s TE leader in yards per route run? Chigoziem Okonkwo
List 9: The 10 Players I Have On Most Of My Teams
1. Amon-Ra St. Brown, WR, Lions
2. Jalen Hurts, QB, Eagles
3. T.J. Hockenson, TE, Vikings
4. Jaylen Warren, RB, Steelers
5. Dameon Pierce, RB, Texans
6. David Montgomery, RB, Lions
7. James Cook, RB, Bills
8. Luke Musgrave, TE, Packers
9. Jaylen Waddle, WR, Dolphins
10. Marvin Mims, WR, Broncos and Marquise Brown, WR, Cardinals (tie)
List 10: 10 More of the Best Fantasy Team Names (That I can Print!)
1. CharLazard (@A_Hartska)
2. Dodge Kamaravan (@madkowdesign)
3. Bijan with the wind (@Toomuchsnark)
4. Easy Pickens (@Mayor53860)
5. Howell at the Moon (@Genghis_John)
6. Happy Jahanukah (@smithmaster22)
7. Calvin and Doubs (@ptobin32)
8. Allgeier on the western front (@cmcamp03)
9. Akers of Fields (@Dont_Matter07)
10. Steichen it Rich(ardson) (@Frayed_Knot_323)
