NFL Wild Card Predictions; 2024 Fantasy Football Sleepers; College Football Finale

The college football season is over, we’re finished with the regular NFL season, and we’re starting a transition into the full winter…

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NFL Wild Card Predictions; 2024 Fantasy Football Sleepers; College Football Finale

NFL Wild Card Predictions; 2024 Fantasy Football Sleepers; Do Philly Fans Negativity Hurt Their…
_Episode 62 of the Fantasy Sports Collective Podcast covers NFL Wildcard weekend predictions, do Philly Fans hurt their…_share.transistor.fm

The college football season is over, we’re finished with the regular NFL season, and we’re starting a transition into the full winter doldrums where the NBA, and for a few of you, the NHL and college hoops seasons get us through.

So let’s kick off this week’s show with a collection of topics.

College Football Predictions. How did I do in my predictions? Well Michigan surprised me beating Alabama, and I nailed the Washington call. In the national title matchup, I was convinced Washington would win. I thought they were a more dynamic team, and have some big scoring plays that opened up the game.

I would have predicted the Huskies would have won by multiple scores, which is precisely the margin Michigan won by. I underestimated Michigan’s physicality, and that’s a trademark of all Jim Harbaugh teams. You go back to, to University of San Diego, his Stanford and 49’ers teams.

NFL Wild Card Playoff Predictions.

AFC Games

• Browns will beat the good storied Texans. CJ Stroud is a good story but the Browns have a dominant defense and Joe Flacco brings playoff experience to the offense.
• Bills will win a tough matchup vs. the Steelers at home. Buffalo is on a 5 game win streak, enters this game as healthy as one can believe.
• These 2 teams are my favorites to potentially upset the Ravens in the AFC bracket.
• Chiefs vs. Miami will be a toss up. If Tyreek is healthy I could see KC exiting early, but I think Mahomes wins this then loses in round 2.

NFC Games

• The NFC games are more of a toss up than AFC games. I’m going with all the home teams to win, Dallas over Packers, Lions over the Rams, and the Bucs over the Eagles.
• The Eagles will be controversial because nobody believes in the Bucs, but the Eagles are a mess, they’ve lost 5 of their last 6 games, including 3 straight where they were heavily favored, and they’ve struggled mightily on the road this year (5–4).

Who are the Fantasy Football Sleepers for 2024? Looking at players that were outside current starters (top 20 QB’s, top 24 RB & WR’s, top 10 TE’s).

• QB Anthony Richardson — The Colts pick looked like a fantasy beast in his limited time, the team has plenty of talent around him, so he should and likely will be a top 5 fantasy QB in 2024.
• RB Tyjae Spears — Based on Titans giving Derrick Henry a farewell speech at the conclusion of their game and lots of discussion on passing the baton to Spears for ’24, this one is pretty solid. Spears exceeded 800 total yards, caught 52 passes and looks like a dynamic threat for their offense. He finished as the 39th fantasy RB in a limited role in ’23, so save to predict he will be a top 25, RB2 type performer in ’24 as the primary back.
• RB Rahmondre Stevenson — This is a bit of a cheat in that Stevenson was a top 10 fantasy RB last year. But here’s the case, he’s talented, he missed a ton of time and the Pats will be competitive defensively but be breaking in a rookie QB and new offensive system. Meaning Stevenson is well positioned to get 250+ touches and return to a top 15 fantasy rb season.
• WR Rashee Rice — Hear me out on this one. The Chiefs are desperate for a receiver to step up. They whiffed on trades and previous draft picks. I expect they’ll spend some FA $ on another pass catcher but Rice has been steadily improving. He finished this year as #27 with 79 catches, 938 yards & 7 TD’s, so just the typical sophomore improvement of 20% will make him a top 15 fantasy WR with a team that is desperate for that type of ascension from a receiver.
• WR Courtland Sutton — This is more of a hunch based on talent, past experience and opportunity. Sutton was the 29th overall fantasy WR this season, he was excellent in the red zone (10 TD’s) and he has a coach who will feature him. If the Broncos can secure a more consistent QB, Sutton can and will become a top 15 performer.
• WR Zay Flowers — This rookie is dynamic, if Lamar can prove that he can support a top end WR, I would have strong conviction on this. He was the 31st overall fantasy WR this season with 77 catches, 858 yards & 5 td’s.
• TE Trey McBride — Quietly McBride finished as the 10th best fantasy tight end catching 81 passes for 825 yards in 12 starts. If you add in the Zach Ertz featured games to start McBride would have been a top 4 fantasy tight end w/ 100 catches & 1k yards.