Your Team's Players to Watch in 2016

[BwareDWare94]

Try to avoid obvious guys unless you have a very specific reason. For example, I'm not going to list Adrian Peterson even if he'll probably have a great rushing season because you already know that.
 

 
Offense:
Andre Smith--with the retirement of Phil Loadholdt, it'll be interesting to see if Smith can provide some stability at RT as opposed to watching TJ Clemmings get annihilated over and over again in pass protection.
 
Brandon Fusco--he needs to return to form at RG or he's wasting a roster spot. The LG experiment was an utter fiasco.
 
Jerick McKinnon--I really hope this guy is Minnesota's featured back in the post-Peterson era. He's shifty with breakaway speed, and hits the hole so quickly he almost always gains yards. He also is great catching the ball and can gash opponents in many ways. He should have a larger role this season.
 
MyCole Pruitt--I'm taking a guess here, but if Kyle Rudolph disappears frequently again, I expect Pruitt to start stealing targets, which would be great for the Vikings because Rudolph is overpaid and Pruitt can make him expendable.
 
Stefon Diggs/Laquon Treadwell--I'm putting these two together because they should be the day 1 starters and neither can fail to produce. Diggs disappeared down the stretch but was good against Seattle in the playoff game. Very few yards (26) but he made crucial catches and is a player Teddy and the fans trust.
 
Defense:
Anthony Barr--You'd think this would be obvious, but I'm putting him here because I want to see him stay healthy. 
 
Danielle Hunter--This kid really came along late last season, which was earlier than expected. 
 
Trae Waynes--Get on the field, young man. There's no reason a 38 year old should beat you out for a starting spot. 
 
Andrew Sendejo--Can he keep his starting spot alongside Harrison Smith? God, I hope not.
 
Other:
Walsh/Locke--Walsh needs to get his head out of his ass on XPs and better not miss another chip shot. Locke needs to be cut so hopefully there's somebody in camp to kick his ass out of Minnesota.
 
 
 
 
What about the rest of you?
 

 

[Hurricane Season]

Jamison Crowder is going to play a major role in the Redskins offense this year.  I would even go as far as saying he could possibly be the catalyst for the entire passing game.  His numbers might not end up being eye-popping, but he will be Cousins' security blanket. 
 
On defense, hopefully Preston Smith gets the bulk of the snaps opposite Kerrigan instead of Murphy.  If so, I wouldn't be surprised with a 15 sack season.  It might be a little early to expect such a leap in production, but Smith proved to be an incredibly talented edge rusher in a fairly limited role last season.

 

[bosoxlover12]

Crowder is awesome, but I question how many snaps he'll truly get. Y'all still have DJax, Garçon, and rookie Doctson, plus Jordan Reed and Niles Paul is healthy again. Me personally I'd play Garçon/Doctson/Crowder/Reed/Jones the most, but I don't know if they'd do that to Desean. But maybe they ease in Doctson into the offense ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

And yeah Preston Smith is a fucking beast. He'll actually start at OLB now that Galette got injured again. Trent is actually moving inside to 5T, since he bulked up a bit this offseason. I think it'll be a good move overall for him.

Baker/Golston/Murphy + Kerrigan/Compton/Riley/Smith + Norman/Hall/Bruton/Breeland is what I'd expect he starting line to be, with Ihebacho, Blackmon, Cravens, and Paea as some good guys off the bench

 

[Hurricane Season]

I don't expect Doctson to contribute all that much this year.  At least not right away. His bum achilles has him on the preseason PUP right now.

 

[bosoxlover12]

Ah didn't know about the Achilles injury

Skins should still be very good this year. Underrated as fuck (which is why they are my Bandwagon #2 Team this year)

 

[videofreak8]

RG3- No one expects him to return to rookie form but our staff believes he can still be a productive starting QB
 
Duke Johnson- Lots of hype surrounding him this year, some expect close to 70 catches out of the backfield and in the slot, I don't know about all that but he does have a lot of talent

Josh Gordon- For obvious reasons. Is he still the player he was before?
 
Terelle Pryor- Former Ohio State QB converted to WR last year. He's big and fast and actually has decent hands, just a matter of whether or not he can make the transition.
 
Cameron Erving- Was God awful last year and has some big shoes to fill at the center spot.

Danny Shelton- Lost 30 pounds, has worked relentlessly this Summer, and is wearing #55 in honor of his brother who was shot and killed. I think he'll have a much better stat line this year.
 
Joe Haden- He's very eager to get back on the field after dealing with concussions last year and ankle surgery during the offseason. Is he still the shutdown CB he once was?
 
Justin Gilbert- Another Browns first round pick that has done nothing with his career so far, but Hue Jackson thinks he can bring out the best of him. I know he has CB2 talent but I have never once seen it as long as he's been here. 

 

[RipCity32]

A full season of featuring Theo Riddick the way we did will give him a breakout season catching the ball. He's such a weapon. I'm also hoping Abdullah is able to have a breakout season with the offensive line hopefully being a ton better.
 
As far as defense goes, I think Tahir Whitehead will take a leap forward, showing us he can be a staple in the linebacker core for years to come and Darius Slay will cement his name into one of the best corners in the league. 

 

[NV]

As a Giants fan I'm real excited to see what Sterling Shepard can do. A kid with good hands and considered a great route runner Eli must be thrilled after having to deal with Randle who never seemed to get on the same page as him. And with all eyes obviously on OBJ he should be able to put up some good numbers in his rookie year.

 

[jonathanlambert33]

I think a guy like Delvin Breaux is the obvious answer for the Saints. He was really good last season, and in what should be a improved defense this season I would hope he gets recognized a little bit more.

Offensively I think Coby Fleener could have a huge season. 35 year old Ben Watson went for 825 yards and 6 scores last season, I wouldn't be surprised if Fleener cleared 1000.

Couple others like Kasim Edebali and Damian Swann. CJ Spiller was never healthy last season so I hope you see some kind of resurgence from him.

 

[HitmanCapone]

 
Try to avoid obvious guys unless you have a very specific reason. For example, I'm not going to list Adrian Peterson even if he'll probably have a great rushing season because you already know that.
 

 
Offense:
Andre Smith--with the retirement of Phil Loadholdt, it'll be interesting to see if Smith can provide some stability at RT as opposed to watching TJ Clemmings get annihilated over and over again in pass protection.
 
Brandon Fusco--he needs to return to form at RG or he's wasting a roster spot. The LG experiment was an utter fiasco.
 
Jerick McKinnon--I really hope this guy is Minnesota's featured back in the post-Peterson era. He's shifty with breakaway speed, and hits the hole so quickly he almost always gains yards. He also is great catching the ball and can gash opponents in many ways. He should have a larger role this season.
 
MyCole Pruitt--I'm taking a guess here, but if Kyle Rudolph disappears frequently again, I expect Pruitt to start stealing targets, which would be great for the Vikings because Rudolph is overpaid and Pruitt can make him expendable.
 
Stefon Diggs/Laquon Treadwell--I'm putting these two together because they should be the day 1 starters and neither can fail to produce. Diggs disappeared down the stretch but was good against Seattle in the playoff game. Very few yards (26) but he made crucial catches and is a player Teddy and the fans trust.
 
Defense:
Anthony Barr--You'd think this would be obvious, but I'm putting him here because I want to see him stay healthy. 
 
Danielle Hunter--This kid really came along late last season, which was earlier than expected. 
 
Trae Waynes--Get on the field, young man. There's no reason a 38 year old should beat you out for a starting spot. 
 
Andrew Sendejo--Can he keep his starting spot alongside Harrison Smith? God, I hope not.
 
Other:
Walsh/Locke--Walsh needs to get his head out of his ass on XPs and better not miss another chip shot. Locke needs to be cut so hopefully there's somebody in camp to kick his ass out of Minnesota.
 
 
 
 
What about the rest of you?
 
 

LT - Matt Kalil / TJ Clemmings -  IF/When the Kalil experiment has finally burned his last bridge Clemmings might get thrown in as his replacement.  Clemmings got bullied around last year because he wasn't anywhere near being ready but with not only a full offseason to prepare but a year's worth of experience Clemmings could be ready to show us what he has.
 
TE - Kyle Rudolph - Make or break year for him.  If he falters Pruitt could step up but I'd be hoping for us to land OJ Howard out of Alabama in the '17 draft
 
WR - CP84(Patterson) - Another player who is forced with a make or break year.  From everything I've heard this offseason he can finally run some routes but we've heard that story before so it's time to put up or shut up.  We have a lot of depth for the first time in years but he has the size & speed that Zimmer loves and Norv's system needs.
 
LB - Erik Kendricks - He's going to explode this year

 

[BwareDWare94]

I really don't want to draft a TE. I think Pruitt just needs the opportunity. He's a much better blocker than we could have expected, and his route running is nice. Get the kid some receiving snaps and get Rudolph the hell out of town. 
 
I also hope Rhett Ellison is in decent shape. That injury of his was nasty. 

 

[HitmanCapone]

I really don't want to draft a TE. I think Pruitt just needs the opportunity. He's a much better blocker than we could have expected, and his route running is nice. Get the kid some receiving snaps and get Rudolph the hell out of town. 
 
I also hope Rhett Ellison is in decent shape. That injury of his was nasty. 

I'm not a huge fan of Rudolph, never have been and especially wasn't when he got over paid thinking he was about to break out.  I like Pruitt but I don't think he's a #1 TE in today's NFL, maybe I'm wrong but I love him as a #2 TE and having a TE like Howard(who I think has Gronk like potential) would really open our offense up especially if Treadwell & Diggs develop as I expect them to.  My only issue with taking Howard is unless he falls on his as he's going to most likely be a top 10-15 pick and without seeing how anyone performs this year I have 1st round possible needs as RB/TE/OT but that's getting way ahead at this point.