Fantasy Upside
Rivers handled his top priority in 2017—curbing turnovers. After throwing a league-high 21 interceptions in 2016, Rivers finished with just 10 interceptions last season. Still, his offense sputtered at times, struggling to score points, especially during the team's 0-4 start. Rivers said the team's struggles were due to a lack of execution, and one of his priorities during this offseason has been focusing on doing the little things better to improve in 2018. And that means scoring more points.
"Early on, the first five or six weeks of (last) season, there were too many missed plays," Rivers said. "We talked about not scoring enough points those first few games -- we were just not scoring enough points." Despite the lack of points, Rivers eclipsed the 50,000-yard passing mark and, for the 10th time, had at least 25 touchdown passes.
Fantasy Downside
Rivers loves to freestyle with a riverboat gambler's demeanor, often trying to force passes into windows with little room for error. Of his 10 picks last year, six of them came in two games, both losses to the Chiefs. One major change this season? Rivers will be without tight ends Antonio Gates and Hunter Henry, players he's leaned on heavily in the past.
2018 Bottom Line
Yahoo's Brad Evans recently reminded his Twitter followers that Rivers has finished as a QB1 in 12-team leagues nine times since 2006. That would be very good. It would also suggest he'll once again outperform his ADP. The fact you can draft a player who regularly posts QB1 numbers at a QB2 price is how you regularly win your league.
