2020 Season in Review: Fantasy Football Hits & Misses | FantasyPros

I told everyone way before the 2020 season began that JJ Arcega-Whiteside is one of the least talented wide receivers in NFL history and belongs nowhere near fantasy rosters in even the deepest of leagues. Right or wrong, it’s essential to understand why the fantasy community, and I, thought something would happen in order to further fine-tune our process because, as we know, process > results.*Note that whenever you see fantasy points, unless otherwise indicated (and this goes for every article I ever write), I use average fantasy points per game from Weeks 1-16 with a minimum of 8-10 games played to qualify.Can you draft the perfect 2020 team? It was predicated on the fact that since there were so many desirable wide receivers in Rounds 3-7, it made sense to go out of your way to get running back early, even if the wide receiver you were passing on was objectively superior.While Zero RB is dead and just a terrible strategy you should never use, 2020 was a unique season in that it’s hard to say Robust RB really worked. The fantasy community was correct about the mid-round wide receivers, but the early-round running backs were a disaster. Adams posted the greatest wide receiver season in fantasy history, scoring 4.4 more ppg than the WR2, Hill. I had Murray ranked as my QB4 so, from that perspective, this is a hit, but it’s also a miss for me personally because I wasn’t willing to draft Murray in the middle rounds, sticking steadfastly to the late-round quarterback strategy.Murray finished 2020 as the overall QB1 and although he faded a bit down the stretch, he was a legitimate difference-maker for the majority of the fantasy regular season and well worth his fifth-round price tag.2021 Outlook: By my very early count, there are 10 quarterbacks you want next year. If a quarterback can’t run, don’t even think about drafting him.Mark Ingram (BAL)Despite finishing as the overall RB11 in 2019, the fantasy community, myself included, wanted very little to do with Mark Ingram in 2020. Taylor was one of the players worth passing on a wide receiver for.2021 Outlook: Taylor is going to be drafted in the back half of the first round, hopefully by me.David Montgomery (CHI)Last year, David Montgomery was a smash hit for me. For every Montgomery you miss out on, there will be a dozen actually terrible players you safely avoid.2021 Outlook: Montgomery’s 2020 performance will catapult him into the second round of fantasy drafts, likely early second round. The fantasy analysts that faded Fournette based upon some baseless prediction that 30-year-old washed-up Chris Thompson would somehow matter at all – they were more wrong than the Fournette enthusiasts.And to top it all off, after Ronald Jones went on the Covid list during the two most important weeks of the fantasy season (Weeks 15 and 16), Fournette posted a low RB1 and mid RB2 game.2021 Outlook: Despite Fournette proving he can still produce if given volume, he did not look anything like the elite prospect from three years ago. The process wasn’t necessarily flawed because there is merit to the wide receiver switching teams analysis, but perhaps exceptions should be carved out for elite talents.2021 Outlook: Hopkins will be 29 years old next season so the end is closer than the beginning, but I’ve seen nothing to suggest Hopkins can’t continue to produce at a high level for at least another three or four years. With a seventh-round ADP, Johnson was a popular target for just about any fantasy player and someone we were all happy to reach for to make sure we got.Johnson epitomized good process for a number of reasons. Johnson is everything you look for in a mid-round fantasy target and we will spend much of the 2021 offseason searching for the next Diontae Johnson.Johnson finished as the overall WR18 despite leaving two games very early due to injury and getting benched for the entire first half of a third game. Godwin had this price tag that just didn’t make sense given the increase in target competition and the significant downgrade at quarterback from a fantasy perspective (obviously a huge upgrade for the Bucs).Godwin was priced as the overall WR6, but finished as the overall WR21 while also missing four games. Godwin was very clearly not a full round or two better than guys like Allen Robinson and Adam Thielen and he certainly wasn’t three rounds better than D.K. Metcalf or the next guy on this list.Unfortunately, the late second round was kind of no man’s land in 2020 fantasy drafts. Diggs finished as the overall WR3 and given his cost, gets my vote for most valuable fantasy wide receiver.The lesson to be learned here goes back to what I said earlier about talent. Despite Chark’s complete bust of a 2020 season where he finished as the overall WR37 (I’m actually surprised it’s even that high), he’s still a talented wide receiver. From our Start/Sit Assistant – which provides your optimal lineup, based on accurate consensus projections – to our Waiver Wire Assistant – that allows you to quickly see which available players will improve your team, and by how much – we’ve got you covered this fantasy football season.273004Jason Katz is a featured writer at FantasyPros.