2022 Finding ‘The Next Deebo’ (Atlanta vs. Carolina) -- March Madness Tourney Sweet 16

Same Intro each day: We all know what the phrase ‘next Deebo’ means – a player who works at one position primarily but takes on a second position (in-game) beyond just a random 1-2-3 carries or targets…that they become a real dual-threat option for their team, and thus a great producer for Fantasy Football.

Before there was ‘Deebo’ (midway through the 2021 season), there was ‘Cordarrelle’ as the breakout WR who started also taking a good workload at RB…so much so he became the team’s lead RB, but then got all but dropped on his WR aspect.

Before ‘Cordarrelle’ there was Curtis Samuel trying to breakthrough as a ‘nails’ WR in 2020, but also a guy taking 3-5 carries a game in CMC’s absence and looking like he might make the turn – but then he went to Washington in free agency, got hurt, and barely played/impacted in 2021.  

Before Samuel there was everyone looking for the ‘next Tyreek’. We might forget that Tyreek started out as a low target WR taking 1-2 carries a game, and then taking every carry for a 50+ yard TD…then he was converted over from random WR/RB to main WR, and they stopped pushing him in the running game the past two years (definitely don’t get that guy the ball more, whatever you do).

We’ve had some promising guys try to breakdown this ‘Deebo’ wall, but Cordarrelle really was the one who kicked in that door to start 2021 season (then ATL went away from it)…after the door was kicked in, then Deebo ran right through it 2nd-half of 2021 and became the ultimate/best dual threat of our lifetimes – so much so every analyst is running around saying certain players ‘can be their Deebo’, and you’re going to get sick of hearing about it they say it so much now. But credit to Deebo (really, credit to Kyle Shanahan) the ‘Deebo’ role is a thing now…I think some teams are going to copy because of its success, as they should…as they should’ve created it years ago. It’s the evolution of the game – players/weapons who you don’t know where they’re gonna lineup or what they’re going to do, and they’ll draw plenty of mismatches to expose.

With that in mind, we’re going to have a ‘next Deebo’ tournament/FFM daily series for the next few weeks during March Madness time.

I am going to nominate one player from each NFL team to be the possible ‘next Deebo’…the ‘their Deebo’ hopeful. I’ll explain why I choose that player, and why not others if there was a close option – and then like March Madness, we’ll pit two of them against each other/state the case and I’ll choose a winner…the one most likely to be used as ‘the next Deebo’ for the 2022 season.

We’ll go by division, matchups by 2021 record (so #1 v. #4, #2 v. #3 in the division), one matchup/winner declared each day into April until we have one AFC rep and one NFC rep and then we’ll declare a final ‘Super Bowl of Deebo’ winner.

Now, San Francisco has their own Deebo already…so he is not in this tournament. For the SF slot, there will be a play-in game between two current draft prospect options. Unsigned free agents will be an option for the team they were last on in 2021, so like a heavy Final Four favorite, but current free agent (as of this writing), Cordarrelle Patterson, will be an option for Atlanta. Got it? Good. Let’s go…

Today’s Matchup = NFC South: CAR vs. ATL

WR D.J. Moore, CAR

vs.

RB Cordarrelle Patterson, ATL

D.J. Moore…a player who has had a smattering of opportunities to run the ball the past three seasons (did run the ball 13 times for 172 yards in his rookie season but tailed off last three seasons) versus the original 2021 ‘Deebo’, Cordarrelle Patterson.

Before you just assume CP breezing through to the next round, remember he’s the guy that went from that true split role worker as a WR weapon mixed with legit team’s best tailback with 5.9 targets a game his first 8 games of 2021 season, and everyone going nuts over him -- to 2.8 targets per game his final 8 games as more just the primary back. There are plenty of 3rd-down backs who see more targets per game than what CP got to end the 2021 season.

All that may be true, there is confusion on Cordarrelle going into 2022 on just how much multi-purpose they’ll use him on -- but I just can’t push DJM over CP. I mean, come on…Moore is a randomly solid WR on a bad offense with CMC returning (in theory) while Patterson is the known Superman Jack of all Trades. I have a lot of concerns on how CPatt will be used in 2022, but I trust that he’ll see more dual action opportunities/purpose than D.J. Moore, and he’s just a way better player than Moore.

WINNER = Cordarrelle Patterson, who goes on to the Elite 8 to face the winner of the NFC North (Tarik Cohen v. Amon-Ra St. Brown).

Sweet 16 Results:

Rondale Moore defeats D.K. Metcalf

Kadarius Toney defeats Curtis Samuel

Cordarrelle Patterson defeats D.J. Moore

Coming Up:

Amon-Ra St. Brown vs. Tarik Cohen

Kendall Hinton vs. Joe Reed

Elijah Moore vs. Tyreek Hill

A.J. Brown vs. David Johnson

Ja’Marr Chase vs. Chase Claypool