Alabama Football: Former Tide players in fantasy football
Wide Receivers
This is another position rife with former Alabama football stars. It is also a position with nothing but superstars across the board. It is just a who’s who list of talent. Julio Jones, Amari Cooper, Jerry Jeudy, Henry Ruggs III, and Calvin Ridley. Every single one of these guys is a superstar. Jeudy and Ruggs might be rookies but it is almost a foregone conclusion that both of them will eventually ascend to stardom.
As far as fantasy is concerned Julio Jones tops the list again as the best former Bama receiver. Following closely behind is Amari Cooper. Both Jones and Cooper have great starting QBs who know how to get them the ball. If they stay healthy they are both locks for the top 10 fantasy WRs in 2020.
The next tier is Julio’s teammate in Atlanta, Calvin Ridley. The Falcons employ a pass-heavy offense and even though Ridley is the second option behind Julio, he will still put up respectable fantasy numbers. He takes a slight bump down in PPR leagues because Julio sees the lion’s share of targets for the Falcons and he will need to score TDs to make up for the lack of targets.
The final tier includes the two rookies, Jeudy and Ruggs. They find themselves further down not because of their talent level but due to the talent level of their respective QBs. Las Vegas has had an up and downtime with Derek Carr and adding the injury-prone Marcus Mariota to the mix doesn’t do much either. Ruggs will be successful because he is the team’s only downfield threat and could see multiple 50+ yard TDs in 2020.
Jeudy may see less success than Ruggs in 2020 because he is not the consistent downfield threat Ruggs is and is arguably in a worse position in regards to his QB. Drew Lock has flashed talent in his short career but hasn’t shown that he can be the guy in a top offense yet. If he takes a step forward in 2020 Jeudy could have a monster rookie season. If not it could just be a mediocre season.
Tight Ends
This is a position with less star power than others for Alabama football. There are only two viable options at TE and both are in offenses with other good TEs. OJ Howard is in the best situation in Tampa Bay with Tom Brady but with the offseason addition of Rob Gronkowski, his targets will be reduced. He is worth a pick in the middle rounds but probably shouldn’t start unless you don’t have any other options.
The other option for Alabama TEs is Irv Smith Jr. He could potentially end the season better than OJ in terms of fantasy points, but it will probably be close between the two. OJ has the better QB but Irv has the advantage of being the number one TE option for the Vikings. Kirk Cousins is no slouch at QB but Irv still has to share targets, especially in the red zone, with Kyle Rudolph.
This will put a damper on each of their fantasy seasons.