The regular season is finally here! After all the months of analysis and speculation, it's time to draft our teams and let the magic happen. It's also time for us to put all of our studies to work and determine which players are headed for fantasy superlatives in 2014. We asked the crew of NFL Fantasy LIVE to name the guys they think will earn some notable designations by the end of the season. Here's what they came up with.
The envelope please...
MVP:LeSean McCoy is the favorite to take home fantasy's top honor this season. While the Eagles running back might not finish as the game's top scorer this year -- that will likely once again go to a quarterback -- McCoy could be the man to help the most fantasy owners to a championship. After a big 2013 campaign in Chip Kelly's offense, could Shady be primed for even bigger things this year?
Sleeper:Mark Ingram garnered the most votes with Alex Gelhar and Matt "Money" Smith giving the nod to the Saints running back. After three lackluster season, Ingram is in a make-or-break campaign. He certainly made the most of it during preseason. Now the trick is to carry it over to the regular season. The one constant is that people have high hopes for second-year wide receivers with Justin Hunter, DeAndre Hopkins, Markus Wheaton and Cordarrelle Patterson earning votes.
Bust: Fear the Beast? Marshawn Lynch's big workload over the past few seasons certainly has people spooked. It's been reflected in the running back's draft value. An ADP of 6.83 doesn't seem like a bad thing, but it's a setback for a player who has been among the top three running backs in fantasy football over the past few years.
Comeback: The only player to get more than one vote in this category is Carson Palmer. Could that have something to do with Gil Brandt's assertion that the Cardinals quarterback is in line for a 5,000-yard season? Possibly. Or maybe it owes to Arizona having arguably its most complete offense in some time.
Rookie: Despite a couple of votes for Kelvin Benjamin, Carlos Hyde gets the edge. The 49ers rookie is going to play behind Frank Gore, but Hyde showed in the preseason that he could be worthy of a greater role as the season progresses. Maybe the biggest surprise in this category was that Brandin Cooks, after weeks of enormous hype, didn't get more consideration as the top fantasy rookie.
