The ESPN Top 200 and The Other
Panther’s Early Fantasy Outlook
In the ESPN Fantasy Projections
Pre-rankings, after Cam Newton’s third round appearance, there isn’t a lot of
Carolina on the list for a while. Clearly the all knowing, infallible, and
never long winded Matthew Berry has very little faith in the Panther’s offense.
I’ve never been shy about saying that I’m not a huge fan of the Talented Mr.
Roto, but I do respect his faith in Cam Newton over the years. That being said,
there are definitely some Carolina fantasy gems that slipped through the cracks
into the later rounds. In a Twelve Man, standard scoring, normal setup, sixteen
round snake redraft league, that isn’t auction or IDP, the first half of the
draft is mostly QBs, RBs, and WRs, and the Cats have exactly one (Least in the
NFL).
But if you are feeling nerdy like me
and after most people’s mock draft has automatically switched to auto-pick,
Greg Olsen comes nexton the list at #86, ranked TE9. This is statistically
about where he ended up at the end of last year, as the whole TE list is essentially
a copy and paste of last year’s scoring leaders, just substitute Gronk for
Gonzo. Personally, I think that saying Olsen is barely draftable as a TE1 is a
joke. Cam is going to have to throw more than run on that ankle (especially
early on), Olsen is a great receiving tight end, and he is practically the only
player on the team Newton has thrown a touchdown to. In football we talk about
building a rapport with your receivers, and as of a few weeks ago, Greg was the
only passing target Cam Newton had even met, and now he will spend most of the
offseason on an exercise bike. Of all
the tight ends in the top ten, Olsen and Jordan Cameron are the only ones whose
value has shifted significantly in the offseason, and I feel that the rankings
do not reflect that. I have him ranked at TE6, making him round five value,
available in the eighth.
