Three Tigers ranked in ESPN's Top 70 fantasy football players

Hopkins has some of the best hands in the NFL (James Lang - USA Today Sports)

by Tony Crumpton - Assoc. Editor - Fri Aug 18 14:06:31 GMT-04:00 2017

The 2017 NFL preseason is underway so that means people around the country are excitedly getting their Fantasy Football leagues setup and ready to go for the upcoming season.

ESPN released their 2017 projected season stats for NFL fantasy football and three former Clemson wide receivers made the top 75 individual rankings.

Houston wide receiver DeAndre "Nuk" Hopkins was rated No. 25 on the list. ESPN's 2017 projection for Hopkins was 83 catches for 1135 receiving yards and 5.4 touchdowns.

"The disaster that was the Brock Osweiler season in Houston had a fairly sizable effect on Hopkins' numbers last season," ESPN stated. "One year after finishing as fantasy's No. 4 wide receiver, Hopkins' targets fell by 44, his receptions by 33, his receiving yards by 567 and his touchdowns by seven. He managed two top-10 fantasy weeks and 26 receivers scored more fantasy points. Osweiler is gone, but Houston's quarterback situation remains shaky, at best. Nonetheless, Hopkins is a bounce-back candidate on the grounds that he's in his prime at age 25 and one of the game's most talented players."

New Los Angeles Ram wide receiver Sammy Watkins made the list at No. 50 overall. ESPN's 2017 projection has him with 70 receptions for 1068 yards and 4.4 touchdowns.

"Injuries have limited Watkins to 21 games over the past two seasons, leaving the super-talented wideout as one of the most intriguing post-hype targets in fantasy this season," ESPN stated. "During his career, the 2014 first-round pick is averaging 7.8 targets per game (27 percent share) in the 32 games he's played at least 70 percent of the pass play snaps. Watkins was fantasy's No. 6 wide receiver during the 11 weeks that fit that bill in 2015. He was limited to 28 receptions for 430 yards and two touchdowns over eight games last season. Watkins turns 24 this summer and is in line for a massive workload again this season. He's a fine WR2 target, but will hope for a big step forward from Jared Goff."

Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Martavis Bryant was ranked No. 66 on the list.

"Bryant has been on the field for at least 70 percent of the Steelers' pass plays during 12 of his 24 career games (11 of which came in 2015)," ESPN stated. "During those 12 showings, he handled 9.5 targets per game (25 percent share). Bryant ranked 10th among wideouts in fantasy points during the weeks he was a full go in 2015, and he scored eight touchdowns and ranked 20th during the 10 weeks he was active as a rookie. Bryant was suspended all of last season, but has been reinstated and is all systems go for 2017. The 6-foot-4 deep threat has WR2 upside in Pittsburgh's high-scoring offense."

In case you were wondering, Deshaun Watson had a rookie projection of 2,325 passing yards with 12.6 touchdowns, 10.4 interceptions, and 151 rushing yards.