The 2020 Draft is still fresh in our minds and Pro Football Focus has taken the liberty of releasing their early fantasy football stat predictions. Here are where each Steelers skill player falls.
It’s never too early to start thinking about your 2020 fantasy football league – at least not to Pro Football Focus, that is. Just days following the draft, PFF has released their stat predictions for each Steelers skill player for the upcoming NFL season.
Pittsburgh may not have the monster fantasy names as they did in the past with Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell, but there are still a few players who could do some damage for your team this year. This early insight may give you a leg up on the competition and help you to know which Steelers players to target and which ones to avoid in our fantasy league.
Here are 2020 stat predictions by position for the top skill players on the Steelers:
Running back stat predictions:
RB James Conner, 774.3 rush yards, 5.7 TD, 36.3 receptions, 279.3 yards, 1.5 TD
RB Benny Snell, 377.4 rush yards, 2.3 TD, 6.2 receptions, 43.1 yards, 0.3 TD
RB Jaylen Samuels, 209.8 rush yards, 1.0 TD, 40.6 receptions, 316.7 yards, 1.9 TD
By the looks of things, Pittsburgh may not be headed towards the league’s best rushing attack in 2020. After seeing the best performance of his career back in the 2018 season, PFF predicts that James Conner will have a modest season, statistically.
The former 2018 Pro Bowler will be sharing more of the load this year, as Pittsburgh will likely implement a running back by committee approach. In PPR formats, Conner should still pull in consistent productions but don’t overdraft him (or overpay, depending on your format). He hasn’t played a full season yet, and there’s a chance he could see his smallest workload since his rookie season in 2017.
It gets really dicey after Conner. In deep leagues, adding a handcuff in Benny Snell could bo, okay, but he doesn’t offer enough to roster him in PPR leagues. Jaylen Samuels isn’t even guaranteed to be on the roster in 2020, but his value as a pass-catcher is worth monitoring in deep formats. It’s interesting to note that PFF didn’t include Anthony McFarland in their stat predictions. McFarland wasn’t much of a receiver in college, but he’s a boom or bust prospect if he can land in a rotational role.
Wide receiver stat predictions:
WR JuJu Smith-Schuster, 87.9 receptions, 1005.0 yards, 5,2 TD
WR Diontae Johnson, 63.4 receptions, 768.6 yards, 4.5 TD
WR James Washington, 35.1 receptions, 473.9 yards, 2.4 TD
WR Chase Claypool, 15.8 receptions, 191.8 yards, 1 TD
JuJu Smith-Schuster still stands to be the main dog in the passing game, and he’s one of the only receivers left on the roster that Ben Roethlisberger had a true connection with before his injury. JuJu won’t be the phenom he once was during his Pro Bowl 2018 season, as drawing more attention has hurt his efficiency. However, he will be a starting-level fantasy wideout. Just don’t overdraft based on his reputation.
Diontae Johnson is protected to be the runnerup of this group. He showcased a promising rookie season and should be in line for added targets with Roethlisberger at the helm. He has some upside as a WR2 in deep fantasy formats, but should at least be a solid WR3.
James Washington is slated behind Diontae Johnson in receptions, yards, and touchdowns, and the acquisition of Chase Claypool could end cutting into his production. Unless you are in a very deep standard league or a dynasty format, you may want to avoid Chase Claypool in his rookie season as there are a lot of receivers who could be in line for targets ahead of him, and Eric Ebron was signed this offseason.
Tight end stat predictions:
TE Eric Ebron, 43.0 receptions, 525.9 yards, 3.7 TD
TE Vance McDonald, 33.5 receptions, 311.7 yards, 2.0 TD
If you were looking for Eric Ebron to elevate himself to elite fantasy status when the Steelers signed him, you may want to lower your expectations. While he should no doubt give Pittsburgh a boost in the passing game, the Steelers have never been a team that sees a high volume of targets go to tight ends – even in Heath Miller’s days.
Ebron, however, should be a respectable mid-level starter, but it remains to be seen what type of formations the Steelers will deploy this year. Vance McDonald is coming off perhaps the worst season of his NFL career. However, when Ben was around in 2018, he had a breakout campaign. McDonald is projected to be the inline tight end this year with Ebron serving more as a ‘move’ tight end and big slot option.
My money is on Ebron seeing a bulk of the targets at the position, but with a quarterback who historically loves throwing to wide receivers, I wouldn’t pull the trigger on Ebron until late in the draft.
It’s hard to say what will actually go down in the regular season, and these stat predictions by Pro Football Focus could end up being way off the mark. Still, it’s nice to get an idea of what they think in terms of fantasy outlook heading into the 2020 NFL season.