The NFL Fantasy Football 2015 season is around the corner and with mock drafts starting up, some advice for this year should have owners ready to replace Le'Veon Bell for a few weeks as he deals with a suspension and DeAngelo Williams or Adrian Peterson could be good replacement options, while Justin Hunter is one of the risky picks and Dez Bryant is one of the safest.
Bell is set to be one of the highest rated running backs in fantasy after the season eh had last year, but he is expected to miss three games with a suspension. Bell has appealed the suspension and fantasy owners should wait and see what happens before making any final decisions on where to draft Bell. Either way the Steelers will miss Bell no matter how long he is out, but he still deserves high consideration in drafts and is a strong pick in keeper leagues.
Last season Bell rushed for a career best 1361 yards and eh added 83 catches for 854 yards and had 11 total touchdowns. Bell is a number one running back and fantasy owners could look at Williams as an option for the first few weeks of the season. Dri Archer should get some carries and Williams comes in at 32 years old, so production may not be consistent. Williams played in six games last season and had 63 carries for 219 yards for the Panthers.
Adrian Peterson may start off low in some leagues after missing an entire season apart from one game, but he could be a worth draft pick. Peterson is coming back with a chip on his shoulder and while he is a year older, he also spent a year not getting hit in the NFL. Peterson rushed for over 1200 yards in his last full season and with the Vikings offense improving with Mike Wallace, he may have been more chances top break free and be productive.
Bell previously dealt with a DUI and marijuana charge last season and he was suspended for three games by the league and now the Steelers are hoping he can win his appeal. If not, the team has prepared to replace Bell with DeAngelo Williams and some fantasy owners could look at him as a handcuff this season. Bell is one of the most productive backs in football and missing him for any period of time is tough for fantasy owners and for the Steelers.
Justin Hunter was coming into the season as a sleeper option in fantasy, but he is a risk now after his arrest for assault. The league could look at suspending Hunter and the Titans also could consider sitting him. Hunter being out could give Dorial Green-Beckham, Harry Douglas and Hakeem Nicks a boost, while Marcus Mariota may get ranked a bit lower if he doesn't have Hunter. The safest WR pick this year is Dez Bryant after he signed his deal, as Bryant has been as consistent as anyone over the past three seasons. Bryant has at least 88 catches, 1230 yards and 12 touchdowns in each of the past three seasons.
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