If someone in the preseason had told me Rob Gronkowski would lead all tight ends and wide receivers in fantasy scoring this season, I would have called him nuts. But this is the kind of bold prediction that could have nudged me into drafting Gronk a round before my competition (Yes Andrew, you were right!).
 
Predicting the unpredictable is always fun (and sometimes helpful), so we asked 21 experts to give us one bold prediction for the fantasy playoffs. Felix Jones, Jake Locker, and Tim Tebow scored multiple mentions, but there were a few other noteworthy players that you might think about rolling the dice with this weekend. Enjoy…
 

“Felix Jones will be our game’s top scorer during the most important two-week stretch of the fantasy season. There it is. Bold enough? Hope so. Felix is about to face the NFL’s most generous defense in terms of points-allowed to running backs (Tampa Bay), and then he’ll face the ninth-most generous D (Philadelphia). He’s also the last man standing in Dallas’ backfield. Add if you can.” – Andy Behrens, Yahoo! Sports
 
“Felix Jones will be a top 10 RB in weeks 15 and 16. With matchups against the Bucs and Eagles, the fresh-legged RB will run wild against these suspect run D’s and could carry many teams to a fantasy championship.” – Tommy Rowan, TOFantasySports
 
“Felix Jones will be a top 10 fantasy running back over the next two weeks.” – Sigmund Bloom, FootballGuys
 
“Felix Jones will be the leading fantasy scorer at all positions for Weeks 15 and 16.” – Derek Lofland, FantasyFootballManiaxs
 
“Rob Gronkowski will be outscored by at least one other tight end in week 15 or week 16.” – Greg Smith, TheFakeFootball
 
“Some lucky fantasy enthusiasts will secure a spot on the finals because they started … wait for it …
Jake Locker. Not me, I’m starting Eli Manning in all of my important leagues. But somebody who lost a quarterback this week (like Ben Roethlisberger owners) will start Locker and get 322 yards, 2 passing touchdowns and 34 rushing yards.” – Adam Rank, NFL.com
 
“Jake Locker will finish the season as the Titans starting QB and he will post top 10 fantasy football stats helping savvy waiver wire vultures pull off a championship.” – Kurt Turner, FantasyKnuckleheads
 
“Jake Locker will be a top-10 QB over Weeks 15 and 16, throwing for over 500 yards scoring four TDs while throwing only one interception.” – R.J. White, Fantasy Cafe
 
“Jake Locker starts for the Titans and ends up a QB1 for Week’s 15 (Colts) and 16 (Jaguars) while out-producing the likes of Sanchez, Flacco, Freeman and Roethlisberger, to name a few.” – Keet Bailey, NFL Soup
 
“Texans RB Ben Tate will be a top 10 fantasy back over the fantasy playoffs.” – Josh Moore, 4for4
 
“With three dome games against Jacksonville’s injury-depleted corners, the Bucs’ dead-men walking defense, and a potential shootout with the Saints, Julio Jones finishes as the No. 1 fantasy receiver over the final three weeks.” – Chris Wesseling, Rotoworld
 
“Lions WR Titus Young produces 200+ receiving yards and two TDs over the next two weeks. Neither Young’s recent target numbers nor his upcoming matchups (Oakland and San Diego) really justify this; it’s strictly a gut feeling. As opponents continue to go all out to stop Calvin Johnson, the time seems right for Young to finish his rookie year with a bang.” – Pat Fitzmaurice, ProFootballWeekly
 
“Despite two tough matchups, Philip Rivers will finish in the top three in fantasy points among QBs in Weeks 15 and 16.” – Kevin Hanson, EDS Football
 
“TJ Yates will be this years Billy Volek.” – Ken Moody, DynastyLeagueFootball
 
“Roy Helu has proven himself as an integral part of “Fantasy Satan” Mike Shanahan’s evolving offense. With matchups in Weeks 15 and 16 against the Giants and the Vikings, my bold prediction is that Helu will be the highest scoring runner (on average) over the final two weeks of the fantasy season, thanks largely in part to his receiving production.” – Alex Dunlap, RosterWatch
 
“After failing to go over 80 yards against the Cleveland Browns in week 14, Rashard Mendenhall breaks out in week 15. Mendenhall, not only rushes for 127 yards, but scores the first touchdowns (yes, plural) on the vaunted 49’er rush defense, vaulting his owners that took the chance on him, into their Fantasy Bowl Championship. Mendy goes for 127 and 2 scores against the 49’ers in week 15.” – Mike Woellert, FantasyFootball.com
 
“Ben Roethlisberger gets hit so hard that his flesh splits proving once and for all he is an android!” – Ken Zalis, FansFantasyFootball
 
“Tim Tebow will throw for 300 yards and run for 100 yards in a win vs. the Patriots in week 15.” – Nelson Sousa, scoutPro
 
“Fantasy owners around the world will start a Hasselbeckian quarterback over Tim Tebow in the playoffs because ‘there’s no way Tebow can keep doing this, right?’ They will regret it until at least Week 1 of 2012.” – Eric Pehowic, Chinstrap Ninjas
 
“Tim Tebow will guide the Broncos to three more consecutive wins, finishing 11-1 as a regular-season starter for the Broncos in 2011. This will have the Broncos finishing the 2011 NFL regular season with an 11-5 record. Want bold? Tebow will do all of this while playing like a top 5 fantasy QB! And, no, we’re not jumping on the wagon here… if you read our article posted back in August, which called out the media-driven hate directed to Tebow, well, then you can see that we helped construct the Tim Tebow wagon. NFL greatness is already upon us… fantasy greatness is the next step. Enjoy the show!” – Smitty, FantasyFootballXtreme
 
“Tim Tebow will be a top-5 fantasy quarterback for the final three weeks. Tebow is clearly progressing as a passer and he continues to carry value as a dual threat. He has a terrific matchup in the passing game against the weak Patriots pass defense in week 15, a dream matchup against an overall pathetic Bills defense in week 16, and a matchup with a sunken Chiefs team to end the season. The Broncos will fight to the finish every week until the season ends, while even in his worst outing, Tebow has never dipped under 14 fantasy points.” – Kevin Roberts, NFL Soup
 
I want to thank all the experts that gave us their crystal ball readings. Your bold predictions are in print now… let’s see if anyone nails these long shots!
 
Which reminds me, if you’re ever curious about which experts were high or low on certain players with their preseason rankings, just click on the “Draft Rankings” tab on any of our player pages. You’ll instantly see who really loved/hated the player.
 
Got a bold prediction too? Let us know!
 
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