Chicago Bears Fantasy Football Preview |
With the beginning of the season approaching and rosters being finalized, it is officially time for fantasy football. While the Bears record generally steers some people away from Chicago players, that is not a mistake you should make this fantasy season.
First and foremost, Fields is someone you want as your quarterback. In addition to all of his rushing upside, the third-year quarterback finally has an elite wide receiver to throw to in DJ Moore. This should increase his passing numbers dramatically while hopefully seeing an increase in passing touchdowns. Returning to his rushing upside, Yahoo! has projected that Fields will have more than 1,000 rushing yards this season, which looks pretty attainable given last season. Every draft is different, so where you draft a player will also depend on what is going on and how many teams are in the draft. However, Fields should be considered an elite fantasy quarterback. He is not seen as highly as someone like Patrick Mahomes, who has most likely been drafted in the first or second round in a number of leagues. But this makes Fields the perfect fantasy steal to lead your team this season.Justin Fields - Draft Around Sixth Round
DJ Moore - Draft Around Seventh Round
The chemistry between Moore and Fields was evident in the preseason. If this chemistry continues into the regular season, the chunk plays that were witnessed during the preseason will get fantasy players a lot of points with Moore once the season starts. Moore also has the upside of having a stable quarterback position with a starter who has proved himself. That is not something many wide receivers have going for them; 11 different teams will have a different quarterback at the beginning of this season than they did last season. While Moore may be working with a new quarterback, at least he is working with a quarterback that has been ingrained in this system for a while now.
This season has a lot of depth at wide receiver, especially compared to the running back position. Therefore, a starter like Moore can fall far in the draft. This makes sense to some extent since Moore is new to the Bears. Still, he is another Chicago player who can be a draft steal.
Khalil Herbert - Draft Around Eighth or Tenth Round
Drafting Herbert this high may seem risky. However, this is not a very running-back deep draft. Some of the more prominent picks over the past several years - including Ezekiel Elliott and Dalvin Cook - are now on different teams. Jonathan Taylor and the Indianapolis Colts still cannot get along. Other running backs out there, like James Conner for the Arizona Cardinals, present injury concern, and Najee Harris on the Pittsburgh Steelers is on a rather sluggish offense. Outside Josh Jacobs on the Las Vegas Raiders Derrick Henry on the Tennessee Titans, and perhaps Saquon Barkley on the New York Giants, every running back seems to have some downside. So, drafting Herbert this high is more a reflection of the position than Herbert himself.
Still, Herbert had a productive season when he could play last season. He played a total of 13 games and had 731 rushing yards. This will be the first season Herbert is the starter after being behind David Montgomery last season. Nonetheless, the Bears kept four running backs on their roster - Herbert, D’Onta Foreman, Travis Homer, and fourth-round draft pick Roschon Johnson. So, Herbert does have the downside of potentially facing some competition. Still, with how much of a running team Chicago is, that should not prevent anyone from picking him up in later rounds.
Other Notables
There are some other notable players that could be worth picking up, particularly in the later rounds of the draft and for leagues with 10 or 12 teams. The first would be Cole Kmet. He will likely not lead the Bears in receiving yards again this season, but he should still have decent production. This would put him in contention for a backup tight end slot.
The other notable player would be kicker Cairo Santos. Santos does not have a problem with accuracy. What made him, not a worthwhile kicker for fantasy owners last season was that he did not get the opportunity to kick too often. He only attempted 23 field goals, the lowest he has ever attempted in a season as a starting kicker. The offense for the Bears looks improved. If that holds in the regular season, Santos should get more kicking opportunities and rack up more points. While he may not be worth drafting right now unless you want a backup kicker, he is worth considering as a waiver wire pickup once the season begins.
One final notable Bears player for fantasy is Darnell Mooney. Mooney may get fewer targets due to DJ Moore’s presence on the offense. However, this should also give him the opportunity to get less coverage from defenses and give him the chance for more chunk plays.
