David Johnson, Antonio Brown, and Utilizing “The Madden Rule”

Lance Doll
Aug 25, 2017 · 4 min read

Congratulations! You are the proud owner of the number one overall pick in this years fantasy football league! Can you feel it? That sensation in your stomach? The butterflies fluttering around in every inch of your body? You’re excited and nervous…and you should be! With the first pick comes a huge advantage that no one else in your league will have. Now go ahead, open your laptop and make your pick, it’s easy and simple right? The obvious pick is David Johnson right? I mean the man had the most points overall in standard PPR in 2016. You’d be foolish not to take him right?? David Johnson was an absolute beast last year rushing for damn near 1,300 yards and rushing in 16 touchdowns, let’s not forget that what makes Johnson a true fantasy asset is the fact that he’s bringing in almost five catches a game and brought in almost 900 receiving yards in total. These stats look promising but let’s break down these two factors and see why Johnson is an unreliable #1 overall.

Receiving — while it’s true that Johnson is almost like another receiver, the biggest wild card in this specific situation is the health and play of Carson Palmer. The 37 year old came off an average 2016 campaign, but I mean the man is going to be 38. For Johnson to catch the ball he needs the ball thrown to him, and the well being and physical ability of an aging Palmer can factor his 2017 numbers. We also need to take into account that this is only Johnsons third year in the league and he will have drawn a lot more attention as a receiving threat. The only positive (and this is actually huge) is that the Cardinals receiving core is god awful.

Rushing — 1,239 yards for 16 touchdowns. Only 5 fumbles with 3 of them being lost. All this sounds great, whatever, but lets take a look at our next best options at the RB1 spot, Ezekiel Elliot and Le’Veon Bell. Both power horses that both had considerably better rushing stats than Johnson. Elliot finished with just over 1,600 yards and if Bell had laid off the reefer he would have finished with just over 1,500. Oh, by the way the Bills half back, mister Shady McCoy finished with thirty more rushing yards and had one less game. So you’re potential number one pick didn’t rush as well last season as you thought huh? If it makes you feel better the other three options also caught the ball considerable well out of the back field.

So now you’re stuck, your beloved hero, David Johnson, the man you were sure could lead you to this years championship game, turns out is no more than a poor mans LeSean McCoy that can catch. So who’s the pick going to be then? Ezekiel Elliot? After all he and sophomore, Dak Prescott, seem to have a nice thing going in Dallas, but wait…that six game suspension thing. How about the Michigan State great, Le’Veon Bell? Solid RB1 option, however, do you really want to risk a drug test? The answer ladies and gentlemen…is none other than Central Michigan’s own, Antonio Brown.

Antonio Brown and his 106 receptions got him a whopping 12 touchdowns, which is the second highest of his career and second highest of last season (after Jordy Nelson). Brown also had a catch/target ratio of almost 70%. Let us also not forget that Brown has a huge upside in that he plays an important role on the Steelers kick return squad. Sure, he was a little low in the total yards received department, however, the top receivers last year (with the exception of T.Y. Hilton, and Mike Evans) all received under their career averages. With this in mind we can easily overlook this past season and look back at the three before that where Brown averaged over 1,500 yards, which is more than any receivers total yards this past season.

Now look, I know some people aren’t too high on picking up Antonio Brown or other top receivers with the number one pick, due to the insane depth overall at that position. It is also no doubt that having a quality RB1 paired with some above average receivers is a winning recipe, but just hear me out, entertain me for just a second. I am about to tell you the most important bit of information you will read in this entire article. I am going to tell you about…the Madden Rule.

Grab your friend, your brother, your sister, boyfriend, girlfriend, grandma or father and have them read the following to you:

Close your eyes. You’re in your room, playing a game of Madden. You just started your fantasy franchise and you’re feeling good. You’ve had a couple good drives, a couple not so good drives, but now there you are. Two minute warning in the fourth quarter, down by four. You’re on offense, running a four wide receiver set. Antonio Brown is all the way over to the left side running a deep slant for major yardage. You snap the ball, OH NO IT’S A BLITZ! You were not prepared for this and you’re under heavy pressure. You manage to squeeze past the first linebacker, BUT HERE COMES THE SECOND. YOU NEED TO THROW THE BALL NOW!!

Okay, open your eyes. What button did you press? I can almost guarantee it was whatever button was over Antonio Browns head as he ran that glorious slant for 40 yards. When in doubt throw to your highest rated receiver, and I can assure you that is what even the best quarterbacks do when they have nowhere else to turn. This ladies and gentlemen is the Madden Rule. Use it to your advantage or have fun watching Big Ben toss lobs to Antonio while your beloved David Johnson runs around in triple coverage.

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Lance Doll

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Blow average writer, above average friend.

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