30 Fantasy Football Bold Predictions for the 2017 Season

Austin Hooper Will Finish as a Top-12 Tight End

Why This Is Bold: Hooper has a 14th-round average draft position, being selected as TE20.

Why This Will Happen: During his rookie season last year, Hooper saw 27 targets for just a 5.03% market share in the Atlanta offense over 14 games. That's not great, Bob, but to reiterate what was written earlier, rookie tight ends tend to struggle as receivers in Year 1.

His small sample did show us some potential. Among the 56 tight ends last year with 20 or more targets, Hooper's air yards per catch rate was fifth-best in football. And his 4.42 yards after the catch per reception was above-average for such an air yards rate.

Not too shabby.

A bump in volume as he enters Year 2 should be expected, especially with the praise he's been getting during camp. That volume added to strong efficiency could make him a viable tight end option.

But so could his touchdown potential. Last year, running back Devonta Freeman saw 18 targets in the red zone, while Tevin Coleman saw 11 more. For reference, only 14 players -- not just running backs -- saw more volume in the red zone through the air than Freeman last year. Because those numbers are so high for backs, we should almost expect some regression, which could help Hooper take away looks in that area of the field. And it's not like Julio Jones is a huge red zone threat -- he actually only had 10 targets, and despite averaging 9.84 targets per game over his career, he's averaged fewer than 7 touchdowns per season over his last three.