By Steve Silverman
A Supreme Court decision that has given states the right to legalize sports gambling is not likely to impact current football fans.
It may change the way you choose to bet and both pay and receive your money, but football fans who have been betting in the past will continue to bet in the future.
The decision is more likely to impact young people who may have opted into sports gambling without the decision or ignored it as the large majority of Americans currently do.
In the future, gambling advertisements and access to betting will be front and center and almost impossible to ignore.
Casual sports fans are likely to give strong consideration to betting in the future, and many will get involved with something they don't know a lot about because friends and relatives are doing it, and the casual fan doesn't want to miss what his or her so-called expert friends are doing already.
Fantasy football has not been classified as sports betting from a technical point of view, but that's just semantics. Fantasy football players put their money where their mouth is in an attempt to show off their expertise on skill-position players.
There may be more skill involved in picking winning fantasy football players than picking pointspread winners, but luck is still one of the key factors.
Every fantasy football player knows when they have had favorable matchup and they know the circumstances are right for a quarterback like Drew Brees or Matt Ryan to light up the scoreboard. However, they are subject to factors like injuries to key wide receivers, the lack of help from the running game or a hole that develops in the offensive line.
Both you and position coaches may believe completely that a big scoring day is on the horizon, but it will disappear when one or more of the above factors come to the surface.
As we prepare for the Fantasy Football season, we will be presenting our annual position-by-position breakdowns during mid-to-late July and August.
But in this piece, we offer four breakout performers who are likely going to step up and have first-rate seasons in 2018.
RB Alex Collins, Baltimore Ravens
Collins found himself in an excellent situation last year as he was claimed off waivers from Seattle and he settled in as a running back for John Harbaugh's team and stepped up his performance. He ran for 973 yards a year ago as the number of his touches went up significantly in the second half of the season. He averaged 4.6 yards per carry and he has the ability to make tacklers miss.
Collins has both speed and quickness, and he can chop his feet and make defenders look silly as they try to bring him down. He also showed fine hands, and he should be more of a factor in the passing game after catching 23 passes a year ago.
RB Tarik Cohen, Chicago Bears
The sky could be the limit for Cohen in new head coach Matt Nagy's offense. The Chicago attack stalled under former leader John Fox, as he was hesitant to give his young players the freedom needed to excel.
That is not likely to be the case for the young and creative Nagy, who rose through the ranks in Kansas City to become a legitimate head coaching candidate and the Bears pounced on him. Cohen is super quick with the ability to make the best tacklers miss when he is in the open field. He should get at least 100 carries this year and it would not be a surprise if he caught 70 or more passes from quarterback Mitchell Trubisky.
WR Geronimo Allison, Green Bay Packers
This may be a bit of a reach, but Allison finds himself in the position that was occupied by Jordy Nelson, who was an Aaron Rodgers favorite at the WR position.
Allison looked competent in his limited opportunities with the Packers the last two seasons, but it is his development that intrigues us. He looked like a confident and talented receiver in OTAs and minicamp, and he should continue to work on his timing with Rodgers in training camp.
We expect Allison to take advantage of his opportunity this summer, and he will start the season on fire. The 6-3, 202-pound Allison has the size, strength and talent to excel at his position for several years.
TE George Kittle, San Francisco 49ers
Jimmy Garoppolo is going to need a security blanket as he establishes himself among the top quarterbacks in the game, and don't be surprised if Kittle fills that role.
Kittle caught 15 passes from Garoppolo in five games last year, and while that is not a substantial number, it is a good jumping off point for the current season. Kittle is 6-4 and 250 pounds, so he will play a key role as a blocker.
He also has the hands and the overall ability to make big plays as the Niners establish their offense and show quite a bit of growth in 2018.
