Baltimore Ravens
What they needed: One of the tougher teams to to gauge what they needed as they had a lot of very solid guys but not really any elite skill players. Their most pressing fantasy need was probably an elite pass catcher, whether at WR or TE. It always seemed like a headache trying to decide who would be the best target week-to-week last season. It would be nice if they had one elite player that could be counted on in the receiving game…
Moves I liked: And they tried to get that elite player by spending their first two drafts picks on WR Perriman and TE Williams. I’m not a huge fan of drafting rookies in fantasy unless they are deep on my bench but Perriman is rather interesting considering the situation. With Torrey Smith out of the picture, Perriman has a great shot at being a very productive player from game 1. And with a good QB throwing his way, he might have higher production than some of the WRs that went earlier in the draft. Someone definitely worth keeping a very close eye on as new OC Trestman did get some pretty good numbers from his WRs in Chicago. Also worth noting about Trestman when he was coaching the Bears: he uses his studs almost exclusively at times. Some of those Bears games had only Forte, Marshall, Jeffery, and Bennett touching the ball and no one else. If Perriman is the starter, I would certainly rank him a little higher for that fact alone.
Moves I disliked: Not much to dislike here. If forced, I’ll say allowing TE Daniels to head off to Denver with Kubiak. There’s no guarantee Pitta will be healthy which means they may have to start Williams rather early. Never good when you have to throw a rookie in the fire like that, particularly one that isn’t expected to be an elite pass catcher.
Cincinnati Bengals
What they needed: The Bengals were pretty strong last season, especially on the offensive side of the ball. Their problem seems to be defensive depth. The past few years it has seemed like a couple injuries each season have just devastated this team on defense (Atkins and/or Burfict, for examples).
Moves I liked: They shored up their O-line with early picks in the draft which can only mean good things for the RB combo of Hill and Bernard. They will use both plenty as they did when they were healthy last season. They also brought in a few more vets on D which will help as the season progresses.
Moves I disliked: Would have liked to seen maybe one more star-ish player brought in on D but they should still be good enough to ground and pound with their offense. Spent some mid-round picks exclusively on D so the depth should be there. Not much to dislike here and this team should be very strong this season (assuming Dalton has more “Good Andy” games than “Bad Andy” ones).
Cleveland Browns
What they needed: Too many areas to address on the offensive side of the ball. The D was fairly good when the O could keep them off the field. They had a desperate need at QB and O-line was also a big problem after C Mack’s injury.
Moves I liked: Mostly, I liked a lot of what the Browns did this off-season. A ton of draft picks were spent fairly wisely and they brought in QB McCown as a placeholder for whoever will be the QB of the future in Cleveland (not Manziel, IMO). McCown was pretty terrible behind an awful O-line in TB last season but he should be protected a little better in Cleveland. Still, not a ton to be excited about from a fantasy perspective.
Moves I disliked: We all know about Gordon’s suspension. That hurts, obviously, along with the loss of TE Cameron who was not replaced with anyone close to his talent (TE in Cleveland looks like a fantasy wasteland this season). But the most baffling move was the drafting of RB Duke Johnson in the 3rd round. Cleveland has a lot of needs but RB was not one of them and certainly not one worth an early pick. Maybe Johnson will be great and I’m not saying he won’t. But that pick could have been used for a variety of other positions and needs and it boggles the mind why Cleveland continues to do some of the things they do.
Pittsburgh Steelers
What they needed: O-line has been a problem that has been offset by a quick-strike offense in recent years. With the talent they have at the skill positions, this needs an upgrade. The D was just atrocious at times last season and major help is needed there as well.
Moves I liked: Grabbing RB Williams to fill in for Bell during his suspension was a move I liked. But that’s only part of the season. They went defense early and often in the draft so they should be able to replace some of the aging stars that are no longer playing. They did have a changing of the guard at DC but this should be a better fantasy D than last season.
Moves I disliked: O-line doesn’t seem to have changed much so there might still be some questions there. On the upside, however, they are a pretty young group so they will hopefully gel a little more this season and keep Big Ben from having to throw with someone wrapped around his waste half of the time.
Last Minute Fantasy Football Pickup 