Thursday, June 27, 2013

Fantasy Analysis: Seattle Seahawks

Russell Wilson
Despite being drafted in the third round of last year’s draft, Wilson handled the position like first- round picks Andrew Luck and RGIII. He played with poise and calm, and flashed some rushing ability, finishing 3rd among QBs with 489 rushing yards. In fact, over the second half of the season, when the Seahawks finally took the kid gloves off of him, Wilson ranked 1st among fantasy QBs, with a 16:2 TD:INT ratio, and all 4 of his rushing TDs. He completed 67.2% of his passes, carried a 9.03 YPA, and had a league- best 120.3 passes rating. If head coach Pete Carroll will allow Wilson to throw more, like he did late last season, Wilson has the potential to be the top ranked fantasy QB. However, odds are he’ll finish somewhere in the top 10.
Marshawn Lynch
“Beast Mode,” has been truly that over the past two years, grabbing 23 TDs and just under 2800 yards. He has been a top- 5 running back over the past two seasons, and is one of the safest picks in the draft, playing in a juggernaut offense behind an excellent offensive line. He’s currently the 5th RB off the board, and Yahoo! Sports has him ranked No.8. At that position, Lynch is a steal. He should eclipse his averages over the past two years, even if he doesn’t run as much as Russell Wilson takes the leap into greatness.
Percy Harvin, Sidney Rice, and Golden Tate
Harvin is one of the more dynamic  players in the game, a multi- faceted weapon who plays inside, outside, running back, and returns, all well. That said, Harvin does so much he hasn’t yet cracked 1000 yards receiving. One reason could be former quarterback Christian Ponder’s 6.1 YPA, a very low number for a quarterback. New QB Russell Wilson averaged 9.03 during the second half of the season, and that number should assure that Harvin gets his first 1000 yards receiving. That said, the Seahawks have two very good end- zone receivers, and appear committed to the run game, so Harvin’s touchdown numbers could remain low. He’s never had more than 8 in a season, but even that seems too high.  His current ADP of 3.05 is a reach. The last time Rice and Harvin played together on the same team, Rice averaged 6.67 points through 6 games. Since then, Rice has yet to play like anything more than a WR3 in fantasy leagues. Despite a nice 50/748/7 line, Rice was only targeted a mere 80 times last season, behind the likes of Ben Watson, Nate Washington, and Chris Givens. The addition of Percy Harvin and Seattle’s own reluctance to throw the ball do not bode well for Rice’s fantasy value. Neither does it for Tate, who was targeted even less than Rice last season. He did, however, lead the team in catches while Wilson went on his 9- game tear, and he plays well in the red zone, so he could have similar value to Rice this season. Neither are more than WR4’s, though.
Zach Miller
Once one of the best TE’s in football, Miller has struggled in obscurity over the past 2 seasons since joining the Seahawks. However, things did look  brighter for him over the past 2 months. Over his final 10 games last season (including the playoffs), Miller pulled in 34 receptions for 359 yards and 4 TDs. Over a full season, that’s 54 receptions, 574 yards, and 6 TDs, enough to make him a dark horse candidate for TE2 production.
Steven Hauschka

Hauschka finished 13th among kickers last season, hitting 24 of 27 field goals. He doesn’t have a big leg (just 4- 10 on 50+ field goals for his career), but Seattle’s offense keeps him relevant. Draft him if you like, as you know what you are getting from him- low- end K1 production. 

No comments:

Post a Comment