Roundtable Week 1: Bold Predictions

Photo: USA Today Sports

Welcome to Week 1 of the 2023 Footballguys Roundtable. Our intrepid panel of fantasy pundits discusses and debates four topics every week. We split the conversation into separate features.

This week's roundtable features these four topics:

• Scouting the Waiver Wire
• Who Changed Our Minds This Summer?
• Game of the Week: Bills-Jets
• Bold Predictions (See below)

I shared my bold predictions this week. Let's see what our panel predicts.

Bold Predictions

Matt Waldman: Call your wildest fantasy-related shot for the 2023 NFL season and share at least one plausible scenario for why it could happen.

Corey Spala: Dalton Kincaid will finish as a top-five (PPR) tight end. Many may be fading Kincaid due to the rookie tight end narrative, where rookie tight ends take time to develop. However, we cannot ignore the specific role he is playing. He does not play in-line, a major component requiring time to learn, a role for the bigger Dawson Knox. Kincaid will line up the slot and have mismatches on opposing teams if they leave a linebacker to cover him. There is the possibility he becomes the second option in the passing attack.

Waldman: I am 1,000 percent with you.

Gary Davenport: Tennessee Titans inside linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair will lead the NFL in tackles on the way to a top-five fantasy finish among linebackers. The path there really isn’t all that difficult—if the Titans' offense struggles (which isn’t that hard to imagine given all the aging players with injury histories), then the Titans' defense is going to spend a lot of time on the field. Al-Shaair is an easy bet to lead the team in tackles.

Think Foyesade Oluokun of the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2021. I am the IDP guy, after all—and I’ve been one of Al-Shaair’s biggest cheerleaders all summer long. Might as well break out the pom-poms one more time.

Jeff Bell: J.K. Dobbins is a top-five fantasy running back. Dobbins steps into Todd Monken’s offense; in his last NFL stint in 2019 in Cleveland, Nick Chubb dominated the backfield work. Monken showed creative usage in his Georgia backfield, using RPOs and vertical passing concepts from the running back position. Dobbins is the best talent in a Baltimore backfield that has long left the committee favored by Greg Roman. Health is the primary question with Dobbins and the running back position in general. Assuming he maintains his availability, he is a featured back in a dynamic offense—the perfect recipe for a dominant fantasy season.

Waldman: I have never agreed so often with a Roundtable panel before. I'm not sure what to make of this...

Bell: Maybe you're getting better or sinking to my depths...

Waldman: Thanks, Hemingway.