It's never too early to start preparing for your fantasy football drafts, and RotoBaller is here to help. In this series, two RotoBaller experts will discuss the merits of two players with similar value and average draft position (ADP). Remember that situations will change for all players over the course of the summer and it may impact where they are selected in drafts.
This article comes from RotoBaller lead columnists Bill Dubiel (@Roto_Dubs) and Nick Mariano (@NMariano23). Bill will defend the running-and-gunning Tyrod "TyGod" Taylor while Nick extols the virtues of controversial yet undoubtedly talented "Famous" Jameis Winston. Feel free to reach out to either or both with questions or opinions.
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Jameis Winston (QB, TB) - Nick Mariano
All Jameis Winston did become the third rookie quarterback to ever eclipse 4,000 passing yards, falling short of the single-season franchise record by 23 yards. He also rushed 54 times for 213 yards and six TDs. Tyrod Taylor scored four times on 104 attempts. Many will say Jameis cannot replicate the TDs, but I reply that he didn’t rely on broken plays, showing a strong nose for the end zone as he comfortably rolled out of the pocket on goal-line plays.
Don’t be falsely-anchored by his rough opening either, because after throwing seven INTs in his first four games he threw only eight INTs over his final 12 games. You’ve gotta respect the dedication he put in to making improvements so early in his career.
Winston also did all this with a WR corps that started studs such as Adam Humphries and Donteaa Dye across from Mike Evans (who many peg as a huge regression candidate after scoring only 3 TDs, drops be damned). That’s what happens when Vincent Jackson misses six games and Austin Seferian-Jenkins misses nine, but Winston made it work. So why should you believe in the 2016 Winston?
Firstly, Vincent Jackson had played in all 16 games from 2011-2014 and is in no way a durability threat in his age-33 season. Secondly, ASJ’s absence gave way to Cameron Brate, who caught 23 of his 30 targets (against ASJ’s poor 21-for-39 rate) and was just named the starter. Thirdly, we didn’t even discuss Charles Sims yet! The shifty running back drew the second-most targets on the roster with 70, catching 51 of them for 561 yards and four TDs in his sophomore season.
I’m not going to sit here and say that Tyrod Taylor is a bad quarterback, but he is trapped in a poor situation. Yes he only threw six picks and is very efficient, but that’s because he’s more of a game manager without any real volume thanks to Rex Ryan’s run-heavy approach.
Sammy Watkins is his only real above-average receiver and he has yet to show he can stay on the field. Karlos Williams is also out through Week 5, leaving another injury-prone guy in LeSean McCoy shouldering the load. Pass on this looming depth-chart disaster.While Winston was hurt by losing Jackson, it becomes a lot different if it were Evans, Sims or Doug Martin hobbling around. And again, Jackson isn’t really “injury-prone” at all.
Their QB ADPs are close on all sites with the exception of CBS, where Jameis goes at #11 while Tyrod checks in at #19. I’m certainly not advocating that, but it does skew the overall ADP metrics. I blame their rankings, which I’ve shown can be ruthless on your mind. If you’ve got a coin-flip decision, get the guy who is actually being allowed to reach his full potential in Jameis Winston.
Tyrod Taylor (QB, BUF) - Bill Dubiel
Just going to go ahead and spell it 'Tygod' from here on out, mmkay? One of the only bright spots in an another forgettable Bills season, the one they call Tygod established himself as the franchise quarterback that the Bills so desperately need. In just 14 games Taylor threw for a modest 3,035 yards and 20 touchdowns. Not remarkable numbers by any stretch, except he also led all NFL quarterbacks with 568 rushing yards and another four touchdowns. The Bills are a ground-and-pound team, and defenses need to prepare for that. When they do, Tygod takes off. Sure Jameis had more rushing touchdowns, but Tyrod ran for an extra 355 yards. In most fantasy formats that's an extra 35 points over the course of the season.
But Bill, those yardage totals are so low! They're not blowing anyone away, sure, but they also come with a bonus: accuracy. Tygod threw just six interceptions over the course of 380 pass attempts in 2015. For those who don't have a calculator handy, that's an absurdly low 1.6% INT rate. So let's see, 20:6 TD to INT ratio for Tygod and 22:15 for Jameis...sure hope you don't play in a league that counts interceptions. Add up all the yardage, touchdown and interception totals and you'll see that Jameis Winston did indeed edge out Tygod in 2015 in ESPN standard scoring, 261-258...but Tygod played two fewer games.
When it comes to weapons, Tygod isn't as far behind as one would think. While the Tampa Bay supporting cast (Vincent Jackson, Charles Sims, and Cameron Brate) are good, the Bills counter with the underrated Robert Woods, Karlos Williams (Mike Gillislee until Week 5) and Charles Clay, who operates more like a wide receiver than a tight end. Sammy Watkins and Mike Evans are somewhat of a toss-up, as they are both the primary weapons in their respective passing games. Evans will definitely regress to the mean in touchdowns after last season's mind-boggling total (three), but Watkins should be a lock to at least match him after scoring nine in just 14 games last season. The one area that Watkins has a notable advantage is when it comes to drops. He sported a 62.5% catch percentage, while Evans came up with just 50.0%. That's uh...that's really bad, you guys. When you see 148 targets and only come away with 74 catches, the problem is either you or it's your quarterback--either way it's a strike against Jameis Winston.
At the moment Tygod can be had for cheaper, and has just as much upside as Jameis Winston in 2016. What he lacks in passing volume he makes up for with his legs, and as long as he stays healthy he could threaten top-10 production. In a head-to-head battle I give Tygod the edge.
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