Yahoo Fantasy Cram Session: Cam Newton ranks QB12 or better and other 2020 fantasy predictions

Liz Loza, Matt Harmon and Andy Behrens drop some wild fantasy predictions ahead of the 2020 season concerning New England's Cam Newton, Cincinnati's Joe Burrow and Washington's Terry McLaurin.

Video Transcript

LIZ LOZA: We have more predictions, and I'm gonna kick this one off. Then we'll go to Andy and then Matt. Mine is that Cam Newton-- we're gonna talk about another Patriot. Cam Newton is a top 12 fantasy producer at the position.

I am not scared about it. We talked about it with Alex Weber earlier. He may be entering his age 31 season, but Dr. Weber thinks he's going to be 100%. He's on a one-year, bare minimum deal.

The only advantage that Bill Belichick has not had offensively for the past 15 years is a mobile quarterback, and now he finally gets one. So if he is going to be healthy, tell me on a one-year, bare minimum deal that Bill Belichick and Josh McDaniels are not going to scheme like hell for him. He is being drafted in the 13th and 14th rounds because people are unnecessarily scared.

He's my QB 11. Don't wait for it. There's my big prediction. Andy, give me yours.

ANDY BEHRENS: I actually love that call. Cam Newton, by the way, one of the best goal line runners of his generation. And he's part of the reason that I get a little bit skittish about the New England backfield. I feel like Cam takes a ton of those inside the five carries. Absolutely love that call.

I'm gonna stick with quarterbacks, and I'm gonna say that Joe Burrow finishes as a rookie as a top 10 fantasy quarterback. I don't need to teach people about Joe Burrow. He's coming off perhaps the greatest collegiate season in history. He had a passer rating of 202, which is considered quite good. 60 touchdowns, that's pretty good.

So he was a great collegiate player. We know that. It is very rare that a number one overall pick at quarterback comes into a situation that is as ripe as the one that we see in Cincinnati. And some of that is just that AJ Green was out the entire year, right?

So he's got this dominant size receiver in AJ Green. He's got Tyler Boyd in the slot, a wonderful play who's gonna deliver value at his draft position. Got a bunch of weapons, got Mixon, got Bernard. It's a great situation. They're gonna be playing from behind a lot. I just love it.

If we'd had a normal offseason, I would be pretty confident in predicting that Joe Burrow would break Andrew Luck's rookie passing yardage record. It's about 4,300 yards. I think he can go over 4,000 yards. I think he can challenge 28, 30 passing scores.

And then the other thing about Burrow, he runs the ball really well. We maybe don't give him enough credit for that. He ran for 12 touchdowns over the last two seasons at LSU. Over 300 rushing yards in each of those seasons, so there's a little bit of a rushing safety net here as well.

LIZ LOZA: Matt, take it home.

MATT HARMON: Terry McLaurin, your consensus wide receiver 24 in ADP going in the fifth, sixth round, is gonna be a top 13 fantasy receiver this year. Look, I could sit here and read you off a bunch of reception perception nuggets, blah, blah, blah. I'm not gonna waste everybody's time with that. You can find them on Twitter if you'd really like to.

But here's the deal. This guy, I think, is the next superstar at the wide receiver position. I'm excited about all of these 2019 rookie receivers. Like I said, Marquise Brown, AJ Brown, DK Metcalf, all of these guys. But at the top of the list to me, the best player from this class is easily gonna be Terry McLaurin.

Legitimately, when you watch him play from a contested catch perspective, from a separation perspective, he's not too dissimilar to Odell Beckham. I think he's that type of talent. And everybody's gonna be yapping about Dwayne Haskins. What about Dwayne Haskins?

In the final three weeks of last season, Haskins went 67% completion percentage, five to one touchdown-to-interception ratio, 8.8 adjusted yards per attempt. He was legit good, or at least passable, and that's all you really need. For McLaurin to break out, you just need Haskins to be passable. I think he can be passable when you consider just what a mess he was throwing into last year. And it was very unfairly judged from just a lot of stupid stuff last year and people just being too hard on the guy honestly.

And look, I think when you look at this situation in Washington, Scott Turner last year 64% pass rate in neutral game scripts last year. They leaned towards the pass even when they weren't losing. So if you give Terry McLaurin a 23% share, which I think is being conservative given the state of Washington's pass-catcher crew right now-- 23% share of those targets, it's very, very easy to get him to 80 catches, 1,100 yards.

And then you're talking about a guy that I think could be a superstar, scoring seven to 10 touchdowns. Way out-kicking where he's going in average draft position right now.