On Friday's episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast, we discussed 10 crazy stats from 2019 season. From Lamar Jackson's incredible rushing production to Leonard Fournette's unlucky season to the Eagles tight-end centric offense, here are my thoughts on what happened in 2019, and what they could mean for 2020 Fantasy football players:
If you removed Lamar Jackson's passing totals, he would have finished as RB15 in non-PPR, tied with Alvin Kamara. Jackson is almost certainly going to regress in 2020. That's one of the reasons Patrick Mahomes is our average No. 1 quarterback.
If Christian McCaffrey stopped playing after Week 12, he would've finished as RB1 by 22.1 PPR points. Like Jackson, it isn't fair to expect McCaffrey to repeat what he did in 2019. But he was so much better than everyone else, he's still the clear No. 1 pick this year.
Leonard Fournette was the first player since 2007 to score 3 or fewer TDs on at least 341 touches. If you guaranteed me another 340 touches I'd expect eight-plus touchdowns and a top-five Fantasy season. But there have been a lot of changes in Jacksonville since the end of last season.
Josh Jacobs had 27 targets in 2019. Jalen Richard and DeAndre Washington combined for 84. The Raiders just re-signed Richard at a rate of pay that makes you think they'll use them. Jacobs probably won't see a big increase in targets, which limits his upside.
The Bills had 18 carries inside the 5. Devin Singletary had 2 (both in Week 9). Frank Gore is gone but Josh Allen is still there. Unless Singletary gets a workhorse role it's hard to see how he's a top-20 back.
16% of Deebo Samuel's total yards & 50% of his touchdowns came on running plays. This is simply not sustainable. George Kittle is the team's No. 1 option and they'll be a run-heavy offense. There's not much room for a Samuel breakout.
Michael Thomas scored more points in home games (224.8) than Stefon Diggs (218.1) and Odell Beckham (202.5) did all season. We know how awesome Thomas is, but this is more about the struggles of Diggs and Beckham. Volume could make it tough for them to reach the top-12 again but I wouldn't mind betting on the talent in Round 4.
Tyler Lockett led the NFL in red zone targets, and 7 of his 8 TD catches came in the red zone. Prior to the 2019 season, only 6 of his 19 career TD catches had come in the red zone. Lockett took extremely well to Doug Baldwin's role and continued to be one of the most efficient receivers in the league. If Russell Wilson gets his way the Seahawks will throw more and Lockett will be a top-10 receiver.
Kenny Golladay led the league with 11 TDs with just 65 catches (29th most). I'm a little worried about Golladay in PPR. Even with Matthew Stafford he was just on pace for 70 catches, which would match his career-high. It's hard to be a top-15 receiver with fewer than 70 catches.
The Eagles tight ends saw 234 targets, the second most by any team since 2000. They may not throw the ball to their tight ends 234 times, but they were over 200 in 2018 as well, so I'd expect them to lead the league. That means Zach Ertz and Dallas Goedert can both be top-12 options.
Listen to our discussion of these stats and more, including Week 1 of the XFL season, on Friday's episode of Fantasy Football Today: