Fantasy Football 2012: 8 Players Looking to Rebound Next Year

While some players rose to fantasy superstardom in 2011 (Cam Newton, Rob Gronkowski), others experienced a dramatic drop-off in production.

Running backs like Jamaal Charles and Jahvid Best were unable to build upon their 2010 campaigns because of injury.

Quarterbacks Philip Rivers and Josh Freeman simply didn’t perform up to expectations.

And they're not the only ones looking to reclaim fantasy stardom.

Here are eight players looking to perfect the art of the comeback.

*Players who did not suit up in the NFL last year were not included (Peyton Manning, Randy Moss etc).

Chris Johnson

In 2009, Johnson was the No. 1 fantasy RB, racking up almost 25 points per game for his owners in standard scoring.

In 2010, he dropped to No. 5.

And in 2011, he dropped even further to No. 16.

The decline is most directly tied to a drop in yards-per-carry that has fallen from a career-high 5.6 in 2009 to a career-low 4.0 in 2011.

Johnson also had double-digit TDs in each of his first three seasons before dropping to four last year.

Johnson held out for all of training camp and the preseason in 2011 before getting the four-year, $53.5 million contract extension he desired. Maybe a full camp and full health can get Johnson back on track and looking like the 2,000-yard back he was in 2009.

Josh Freeman

With all the moves the Tampa Bay Bucs made in free agency to improve the offense, Freeman will be short on excuses if he has another year like 2011.

The Bucs were able to land one of the league’s top guards (Carl Nicks) and a No. 1 receiver (Vincent Jackson) in free agency.

Expectations were high for Freeman coming into the season. He had a breakout 2010 in which he finished with 25 TDs while throwing just six INTs. He was also the No. 7 fantasy QB.

But 2011 was a different story, as he threw 16 TDs and 22 INTs.

Freeman will just be 24 years old as he enters his fourth season, but he’ll have to cut down on the turnovers in 2012 to be a productive fantasy QB again (Freeman also has 16 fumbles in his three-year career).

Having two talented receivers in Jackson and (now No. 2) Mike Williams will help, but it will be up to Freeman to prove that 2011 was the anomaly, and not 2010.

DeSean Jackson

Jackson is coming off his worst season since his rookie year. He had only four total TDs after posting eight in 2010 and 12 in 2009.

Still, Jackson has averaged over 1,000 receiving yards per year in his four-year NFL career.

This offseason, the Eagles gave Jackson the franchise tag before eventually signing him to a five-year deal worth $51 million.

In 2011, Jackson held out at the beginning of training camp because he was unhappy with his contract situation. Hopefully, the dip in production was at least partially due to distraction caused by the lingering contract situation.

Jackson was the ninth WR taken on average in 2011 drafts, but ended up as just the No. 27 producing fantasy WR.

He’ll look to reverse that numerical disparity this year, as he has fallen on most draft boards.

Philip Rivers

Rivers had a disappointing season marred by a career-worst TD-INT ratio of 1.35. His INT total of 20 was also a career high, as were his seven fumbles.

Rivers had a rough start to the season, throwing seven TDs with 11 INTs threw seven games.

However, he picked up his game a bit in November, and finished with 4,624 yards and 27 TDs on the season.

Still, something seemed off for Rivers in 2011.

And now he will be without his top WR of the last few years as Vincent Jackson has signed with Tampa Bay.

The Chargers added Robert Meachem and Eddie Royal in free agency to go along with holdovers Malcolm Floyd and Vincent Brown.

Of course, Rivers will still throw to one of the league’s best TEs in Antonio Gates.

Rivers is a good candidate to rebound in 2012, but it doesn’t seem likely that he will get back to being a top-five fantasy QB.

Jamaal Charles

Charles played in just two games in 2011 before tearing his ACL. He was (on average) the third player selected in fantasy drafts in 2011 after a monster 2010 campaign. 

In 2010, Charles rushed for 1467 yards on a very impressive 6.4 yards per carry. He also added 468 yards receiving with eight total TDs.

Charles looked up to form in his limited 2011 action, averaging 6.9 yards per attempt.

However, a huge rebound season seems less likely now that the Chiefs have signed free agent RB Peyton Hillis.

Charles is the real deal when healthy, but being limited by Hillis means a return to Top 15 RB (not Top 3) is more likely.

Peyton Hillis

Last year’s Madden cover-athlete has signed with the Kansas City Chiefs, looking to duplicate the success he found with the Browns in 2010.

Unfortunately for fantasy owners, he joins a backfield that also features Jamaal Charles—a player on the comeback trail as well.

Hillis ran for 1,177 yards with 477 receiving yards and 13 total TDs in 2010. But he missed six games in 2011 with a hamstring injury and did not look great when he did play, averaging just 3.6 yards per carry.

Still, Hillis is the perfect complement to Charles, and could see goal-line carries even if he’s not the feature back.

Jahvid Best

Best had a promising rookie season in 2010 in which he gained 1,042 total yards while scoring six total TDs.

However, concussion symptoms kept Best from being able to improve upon those numbers as he suited up for only six games in 2011. But Best did show that he was moving in the right direction, as he was averaging 112.8 total yards per contest.

In his rookie year, he averaged just over 65 yards a contest.

If he can avoid the big hits, Best should be a lock to gain over 1,500 total yards (his 2011 stats project to 1,804).

The Lions might also try to keep best Best healthy and concussion-free by using second-year back Mikel Leshoure (who missed his rookie season with a torn Achilles). Still, Best should see a definitive majority of RB touches.  

Marcedes Lewis

Lewis went from 10 TDs and being the No. 4 fantasy TE in 2010 to zero TDs and falling off the fantasy map in 2011.

Lewis still led Jacksonville in receiving yards—but with just 460. Of course, it’s not surprising the Jags ranked last in passing offense in the NFL. Rookie Blaine Gabbert struggled throughout the season to hang in and deliver passes downfield.

Hopefully, experience will help Gabbert and the Jags passing offense develop, and allow Lewis to have a rebound year. 

Jacksonville did land free agent WR Laurent Robinson, which should take some pressure off of Lewis in the middle of the field.