Cincinnati Bengals:
The Bengals were solid enough on offense and defense not to have too many areas of focus other than injuries and quarterback Andy Dalton’s performance in the playoffs. They chose to look to their future and keep their running game intact and Dalton upright by selecting a pair of offensive linemen with their first 2 picks. Texas A&M OT Cedric Ogbuehi will be a cornerstone for years to come, although he will work slowly later this season as he is coming off a torn ACL. Oregon OT Jake Fisher will have a more immediate impact this season.
This team selects tight ends like the Raiders do with wide receivers. This year’s draft further solidified that trait with Rutgers’ TE Tyler Kroft in the third round and Auburn’s CJ Uzomah in the fifth round. They still have former first-round pick TE Tyler Eifert on the roster, but he had a poor 2014 season plagued with injuries and they need some production from this position in 2015. Kroft will get his first shot at that spot.
Fantasy Starters: RB Jeremy Hill, WR AJ Green, Cincy D
Fantasy Bench: QB Andy Dalton, RB Giovani Bernard, WR Mohamed Sanu
Sleeping Fantasy: TE Tyler Kroft
Pittsburgh Steelers:
The Steelers have focused more on offense in recent years rather than propping up their aging defense and caught up with them. Following the adage of “better late than never,” they focused on that unit in this year’s draft. They picked up LB Bud Dupree in the first round from Kentucky. Projected to go much higher, Dupree looks like a steal in the 22nd pick. He runs a 4.56 40-yard dash and has a 42-inch vertical and will have an immediate impact on the outside. With their second pick, they addressed an evident need in the corner with fellow SEC graduate CB Senquez Golson of Ole Miss and added Ohio St’s Doran Grant in the fourth round.
The offense didn’t need much help, but they added a bit of depth by adding RB DeAngelo Williams in Carolina free agency and selecting WR Sammie Coates from Auburn. Coates is an intriguing prospect, but he joins several WRs who have similar abilities, which is a bit strange unless they plan to move one of them through the exchange.
Fantasy Openers: QB Ben Roethlisberger, RB La’Veon Bell, WR Antonio Brown
Fantasy bench: WR Martavis Bryant, WR Markus Wheaton, TE Heath Miller, Pitt D
Sleeping Fantasy: WR Sammie Coates
Baltimore Ravens:
The Ravens surprised on defense last season, but were inconsistent on offense. They strengthened their offense in hopes of providing some consistency and added a bit of defense to replace some defections. After losing Torrey Smith in free agency, the Ravens Dyed to get a higher WR somehow. They chose to do it in the draft. In another deep wide receiver draft, they took out Central Florida’s Breshad Perriman. He fell into the Ravens’ lap at the 26th pick of the first round and they were kicking his heels when they surrendered his name as their pick. He’s big and has astonishing speed (4.29 in the 40-yard dash). He’s the kind of receiver that quarterback Joe Flacco NEEDS and the Ravens need to help open midfield. In that midfield, Steve Smith Jr should have another productive year. The Ravens are normally solid at TE, but all they had at that position entering the draft was TE Dennis Pitta, who comes off consecutive years plagued with injuries. They solved this problem by selecting TE Max Williams, the top ranked from Minnesota, in the second round.
To repair holes in the defensive line, the Ravens were able to get DT Carl Davis of Iowa in the third round and DE Za’Darius Smith of Kentucky in the fourth round. One element the fantasy community should be aware of is that the Ravens added USC’s RB Buck Allen in the fourth round. They caught lightning in a bottle last season with Justin Forsett, but he’s not a true pass catcher and Allen could easily see the rush-catching action right away this season.
Fantasy Openers: QB Joe Flacco, RB Justin Forsett, WR Breshad Perriman
Fantasy Bank: WR Steve Smith Jr, Baltimore D
Fantasy Sleeper: TE Max Williams, RB Javorius “Buck” Allen
Cleveland Browns:
Somehow, the Browns excelled in the first half of the 2014 season before returning to play at their talent level. Their offense was too inept for them to live for a playoff spot and it was definitely their focus in the offseason. Too bad they have a clueless front office. They replaced a mediocre QB with another mediocre QB in Josh McCown. I hope to see him fail this season, like he did in Tampa last season, followed by Johnny Manziel proving he’s a complete NFL bust and finding out that Connor Shaw is their best quarterback on the team and possibly their quarterback of the future. . . I still think RB Terrance West is their best RB, but they selected Miami’s Duke Johnson in the third round to add to the mix with Isiah Crowell and repeat the leading RB confusion of 2014.
The Browns formed the worst receiving corps since the scabs were played during the NFL strike in 1987. While it’s virtually impossible not to improve that unit, they didn’t do so convincingly with their free agent signings of Dwayne Bowe and Brian. Hartline. With back-to-back harvests of astonishing wide receivers available in the NFL draft, it’s inconceivable that an NFL team could have such a poor unit. It’s so bad that fourth-round pick Vince Mayle could easily break the starting lineup in no time.
The defense is by far the better of the two units for the Browns and actually improved a bit with the addition of DT Danny Shelton from Washington. However, if the defense doesn’t outperform the opposing offense, I’m not sure how many games they will win this year.
Fantasy starters: Not a soul
Fantasy Bank: WR Dwayne Bowe, RB Isaiah Crowell, RB Terrance West
Sleeping Fantasy: RB Duke Johnson