Everyday I will cover the fantasy relevance of each team in the NFL division by division. I start with the AFC East. Today’s team is the Buffalo Bills. There’s a lot of questions regarding how effective this offense will be this coming season but here’s a preview of which players will likely make an impact and are worth owning in the fantasy football world this season.
C.J. Spiller: The once highly sought after Spiller who was projected to be a top ten RB has fallen off quickly. There was trend of lot of high end RB’s falling off last season and I don’t expect many of them to actually bounce back to have elite seasons this year but if there’s one back who can do that out of that group, it’s Spiller. I’m not hoping for a breakout here with Spiller since we’ve seen him put up elite numbers before, what I’m hoping for with Spiller is that he stays healthy and that Jackson finally regresses. Besides injuries, which are uncontrollable, Fred Jackson has been the biggest pain to C.J. Spiller owners. He continually gets goal line carries and continues to have great seasons even at his older age, which is remarkable for a RB. Jackson deserves recognition but for this fantasy season at the age of 33 Fred Jackson will finally fall off and Spiller in a similar fashion to Jamaal Charles last season will gain full duties as the RB. I’m not saying he’s going to produce Jamaal Charles numbers but with his talent and the opportunity to be a starting RB he should produce at least Top-15 RB numbers.
Sammy Watkins: The first receiver taken in the NFL draft and who some may consider the best player available in the NFL draft. The Bills traded up for a reason to get Sammy Watkins, he’s a star receiver. If you’re a Watkins fan, he ended up in a terrible place. Besides having to play in the snow in December he’s going to have E.J. Manuel throwing to him. That isn’t exactly the best scenario, even though Manuel was injured for most of last season, when he played he didn’t exactly produce a fantasy worthy WR’s. With that said Watkins is still a beast and should find ways to make Manuel look good, plus he will get plenty of targets, which should help his case. Remember when drafting Watkins not to reach on him because of his skill, as the past has shown us rookie receivers have struggled there first year. Watkins is a different kind of beast but even Green and Julio Jones weren’t studs right out the gate. So expect a ceiling of a Top-35 WR season out of Sammy Watkins this season. Although long term in Dynasty leagues he can be at least a Top-15 WR for a very long time.
Robert Woods/Mike Williams: I couldn’t decide which of these two receivers would be more useful fantasy wise this season. They aren’t exactly battling for the number two spot as it looks like Buffalo will use a lot of three wide sets with Robert Woods playing the slot and Mike Williams playing opposite of Sammy Watkins. Neither of these guys will likely crack the top 50 WR rank but I do like Robert Woods as a dynasty player. Robert Woods will eventually emerge I believe in the golden third year for receivers so if you can hold onto him until then it should pay dividends. Mike Williams on the other hand, when he gets himself together after being stabbed at home while wrestling with his brother, he could be the one this season to score more fantasy points out of the two because of how big he is making him more likely a redzone target. So Robert Woods long term, and Mike Williams in very deep leagues this year.
E.J. Manuel: Finally there is the Buffalo QB, I debated even including him in this article but he does present some interesting value. Now as you noticed I didn’t rank the receivers on this team very highly but in a perfect world for the Bills these receivers manage to all breakout this season and E.J. Manuel is the one throwing them the ball. In this case E.J. Manuel I can see managing to be a low end backup QB for fantasy football teams. Realistically he will be on your waiver wire and you may have to use him because of injuries or bye-weeks but I likely won’t be using a roster spot on him. There’s just too many good QB’s. Avoid him if you can but if you play in a very deep 2 QB setting then he may be worth a shot.
