6 Bold Predictions About the 2015 Fantasy Football Season

Eric Decker Will Be a Top-24 Wide Receiver

By Matt Goodwin

When it comes time to make bold fantasy football predictions, it's always easier to go bold with a player that made a lasting impression late in the previous season. So if I'm a betting man, I'm going to leverage Eric Decker and his strong 2014 finish to predict Decker will finish among the top 24 wide receivers in 2015.

While Decker's 2014 fantastic finish wasn't sponsored by Alcoa, it was memorable. Decker's Week 17 finale included a 10-catch, 221-yard game with a 74-yard touchdown. Further, his five game December resulted in 27 receptions for 449 yards and a touchdown.

Most importantly, Decker's performance was with Geno Smith at quarterback. Decker proved that, when healthy (he had a right hamstring injury that hampered him from training camp through mid-November), he isn't reliant on his quarterback to produce, after being boosted by Peyton Manning in Denver.

Our Reception Net Expected Points metric, bears out that Decker actually performed like a top-24 wide receiver with the Jets in 2014 -- he ranked 19th among qualifying receivers in Reception NEP and 11th in Reception NEP per target.

Meanwhile, Decker's average draft position as the 42nd receiver being taken in fantasy drafts shows that those in the fantasy football community don't trust his quarterback situation.

This presents the ultimate draft value opportunity for Decker, as he has several other things going for him in 2015. Being healthy and having teammate Brandon Marshall taking some of Decker's coverage away from him should help immensely.

Additionally, Chan Gailey's new offense will be more balanced than 2014's fourth most run-heavy offense, and quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick has run this offense before.

Things aren't so bad for Eric Decker.