1. Le'Veon Bell will be the most productive rookie RB.Eddie Lacy was the bigger name available on the board, but the Steelers went with the big back out of East Lansing. Good choice, given OC Todd Haley's affinity for RBs who catch as well as carry the ball. Behind a young and talented o-line and a QB who'll keep defenses from stacking up eight men in the box, Bell's gonna do big things.
2. Aaron Rodgers is still the king. When the dust settles, Aaron Rodgers will still be the No. 1 QB. Cam Newton's third season will be his best; Peyton Manning and Tom Brady and Drew Brees will all do what they usually do; and the spread-option kids will produce ... but, boring as it may sound, Rodgers is the NFL's (and fantasy's) best, most consistent weapon.
3. Wes Welker will wither.Wes Welker will not produce on the level fantasy owners have come to expect over the last several seasons. The issue isn't that Peyton has "too many mouths to feed" to consistently target Welker; the situation wasn't much different in New England with Randy Moss, Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez on the field. Rather, how many players have left Belichick's team and put up the same numbers at their next stop? (Answer: you can count 'em on one hand.) Furthermore, Welker is a little guy who's taken a real beating over the years. If he was the same player, would the Pats have let him walk away with so little fight?
4. The South will be hot. Of the four directional regions on the NFL map, the South (more specifically, the AFC and NFC South) will be the highest scoring. The teams in those divisions figure to rank among the NFL's hottest offenses in 2013 (Blaine Gabbert notwithstanding), while the defenses below the Mason-Dixon Line will remain cold (Tampa's new-and-improved secondary notwithstanding). Bottom line: to warm up your fantasy numbers, head south.
5. Running backs are back. The relevance of running backs will rise in both reality and fantasy. The NFL may currently be considered a quarterback league, but it's also a copycat league -- and based on the success of the brutish Niners and Seahawks' running games last year, look for many others to try and follow suit in 2013. Therefore, after you (hopefully) get Adrian Peterson, Arian Foster, Marshawn Lynch, LeSean McCoy or Ray Rice, it'd be prudent to double down and use your second- or third-round pick on less-obvious names like Steven Jackson, Stevan Ridley or Lamar Miller.
Follow Dave on Twitter @Dameshek.
