J.K. Dobbins, RB - Baltimore Ravens
People are tired of hearing me talk about JK Dobbins, but all signs have been pointing to him being the guy in this backfield. Their new OC has talked about it, and he’s being involved more in the receiving game. People forget that Dobbins had 71 receptions in 3 years at Ohio State!
Gus Edwards is falling out of favor in this offense - my conversation with Jason La Canfora helped bring more light to that situation, so it seems like there is a considerable gap between Dobbins and the rest of this backfield. And while we’re so used to a split in this backfield, we have a new OC now with a healthy JK Dobbins.
Jason La Canfora also helped me understand that he really thinks that this uncertainty throughout the offseason was all just about JK not wanting to get hurt in camp and preseason again - it happened multiple times with him, and he’s just trying to not have that happen again. He’s back, and he’s good to go for Week 1 at 100%.
So I see an ascending offense, a better offense, and I see Dobbins with 250 carries and 50 receptions this year with the primary goal line role - I think he’s this year’s Josh Jacobs.
Jordan Addison, WR - Minnesota Vikings
I really liked Addison coming out, and I’m finding him on a lot of my teams… and I’m just excited about his role on a team that passed the ball at the third highest rate last year.
This year, they’re probably going to either be #1 or #2 with the Chargers - Tampa was #1 last year, but that ain’t happening this year. The Vikings are one of the fastest teams in the NFL, so you get more plays because they pass in every situation - they were top 5 when trailing, when they were in neutral scripts, and they even passed at the 2nd highest rate when leading - so you don’t have to worry about game script.
Adam Thielen ran the 2nd most routes of any WR last year, only 2nd to his teammate Justin Jefferson. Jordan Addison’s getting that role now, and he’s an upgrade to what Thielen was at this point of his career - he can do more. So I really like Addison to be a lock as a top-36 WR, and I do think he has Top-24 upside as a rookie even sharing the field with Jefferson.
And it’s worth noting here that with all the attention on Jefferson, Addison is going to be getting a lot of single coverage, and he’s going to be open a lot. Let’s remember the type of prospect he was - he broke at 18 and was a 1st round WR… those two factors combined gives him extremely good chances of being a very good WR in the NFL.