While the 2021 NFL season is still months away, it is never too early to prepare for the fantasy season. Whether it’s research, mock drafts, or going with your gut, everyone has a way to prepare for their fantasy drafts. However, this isn’t another article to help you prepare for the fantasy season. Today, I am going to give three bold fantasy predictions for the Cincinnati Bengals in 2021.
All stats are base on PPR scoring.
Be sure to check out all of Fanelli’s Fantasy Predictions.
Joe Burrow Finishes Outside the Top-12 Quarterbacks
If not for the knee injury and the lack of rushing upside, Burrow would easily finish the year as a top-12 quarterback. However, he is coming off major knee surgery that left a massive scar down the front of his leg. Furthermore, the Bengals did very little to improve their offensive line this offseason. Before suffering the injury, Burrow was finding his footing, throwing six touchdowns and only one interception in his last three games before getting hurt. It will take Burrow some time to get back to playing at the high level he was during the 2020 season. However, while Burrow isn’t likely to finish as a top-12 quarterback, he has the weapons around him to finish top-15.
The Bengals Have Three Wide Receivers Finish Inside the Top 30
Despite Burrow missing the final 6.5 games of the season, the Bengals had three wide receiver record 100 or more targets. While A.J. Green was awful, catching only 45.2 percent of his targets and scoring two touchdowns, Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd both averaged over 12 fantasy points per game. Furthermore, in the nine healthy games with Burrow, Higgins averaged 13.9 fantasy points per game while Boyd averaged 16.1 per game. With the addition of Ja’Marr Chase, the Bengals have one of the best wide receiver trios in the league. Meanwhile, the defense is awful, which will give the Bengals plenty of opportunities in a negative game script and allow their wide receivers to score plenty of fantasy points.
Joe Mixon Finishes the Year as a Top-12 Running Back
Before you place the injury-prone tag on Mixon, he has one more missed game in his career than Christian McCaffrey. Furthermore, Mixon has been an RB1 most of his career. Last season he finished as the RB10 on a point per game basis. In 2019 he finished as the overall RB13 and as the RB10 in 2018. During the 2018 and 2019 seasons, Mixon rushed for over 1,100 yards and scored eight or more total touchdowns each year. With Giovani Bernard in Tampa Bay, Mixon will take over as the pass-catching back. Last season he was on pace for 56 with Bernard on the roster. This season he should have no trouble totaling 70 or more catches. Don’t let last year fool you; grab Mixon in every league possible.
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