Running Back 12- Dalvin Cook NYJ
New York, New York!!! Or East Rutherford, New Jersey… close enough. Dalvin Cook joins the new look Jets, and the expectations have been raised higher than the Chad Pennington era. Yes the arrival of Aaron Rodgers and his crew, paired with Dalvin Cook (and Hard Knocks) has the Jet faithful feeling the team can Fly Me to the Moon. Come Fly with Me Jets fans are saying, but with Head Coach Robert Saleh’s football philosophy of controlling the game with great defense and ground-and-pound run game, Cook should see a large volume of touches.
Breece Hall is a great running back (RB) but he will be RB 2 on the depth chart. It would be Somethin’ Stupid to believe Hall won’t see shares and that is why he’s RB 29 on Mano y Mano Top 40. However D. Cook was paid to be a marquee RB, to be a three-down RB, and his numbers indicate he can handle it. He has had 283 or more touches in each of the past four years, and that has led to at least 1,383 scrimmage yards per season, and 46 total touchdowns. With the New York Jets all in for a Superbowl run in a loaded AFC, D. Cook will be a valuable fantasy football RB in 2023. The best part is his ADP is currently RB 25, what a value! It’s Been a Long, Long Time since the Jets have been to ‘the big dance’, and Cook owners and Jet fans hope The Best is Yet to Come.

Linebacker 13 – Matt Milano BUF
Buffalo let T. Edmunds walk in free agency and it will force Matt Milano into more action. In addition to that, Buffalo’s safeties, Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer, are climbing in years. They were both injured last year, forcing Milano into more coverage and zone schemes. The 2022 All-Pro linebacker (LB) will also be asked to help 2022 third round pick Terrel Bernard who will be starting beside Milano. There are some in the IDP community that believe Milano will have a recession in fantasy production, but let’s look deeper into that belief.
Milano had 99 combined tackles, 12 tackles for loss, 11 passes defended, 3 interceptions, 2 fumbles recovered, 1.5 sacks. and 1 touchdown in 2022… easy to see why he was first team All-Pro. As mentioned Milano had to help in pass coverage which increased his ‘targeted at’ numbers… a good thing for IDPs. He will likely be a three down LB, if not the green dot for Buffalo in 2023. His tackles, passes defended, and sacks could all increase this season which would improve his 16th ranking from last year. Grab Milano with confidence and have a plug and play LB.

Thank you for reading Mano y Mano. Check in tomorrow for RB & LB #11.
Bet Smart, Be Lucky – Iggy

*Stats come from FantasyPros, Pro Football Reference, Sleeper, Statmuse, and NFL/Next Gen.
*Rankings are based on .5 PPR format and FF7s.