Blue Chips & Penny Stocks: We're back, Cowboys vs. Bucs!

Hark! The Herald Angel Sings! Glory to the newborn NFL Season! If you are reading this, you have survived the droughts and famine called The Offseason, and we can all rejoice and indulge in the never-ending gift called “Football!” Dramatic? Nope!

Unless you live under a rock, you know by now we have a brand-new app, just in time for the start of the season. If you haven’t updated the app, I implore you to do so as soon as you finish reading this article. For me, I almost exclusively use the app, and the new updates make it way easier to maneuver. You can filter by league, team, price, position, alphabetically, etc. I can talk on and on, but just trust me and get the new app.

After that… make sure to take advantage of our Week 1 DEPOSIT BONUS! From now until Sunday, for every $50 deposited into your account, you will receive one mystery stock. Remember how much fun opening Pokemon cards was back in the day? Well, it's like that, but with real money on the line! Make sure to get in there and deposit before the game tonight, just in case you pull a Mike Evans ($7.78/share) or CeeDee Lamb ($4.95/share)!

And lastly, it’s the Return of the Daily Dividends Podcast! Check it out on Apple, Spotify, Soundcloud, or wherever you get your podcasts for a rundown on what to expect from their portfolios this year and what stocks they’re targeting as early as Week 1.

Now that we got all those announcements out of the way, let's get to what you all came here for in the first place. If you are new to PredictionStrike this season, this is our Blue Chips and Penny Stocks article. Each week I will be going into detail on at least one “Blue Chip” stock, and at least one “Penny Stock.” In the financial world, a “blue-chip stock” is a huge company with an excellent reputation. These are typically large, well-established and financially sound companies that have operated for many years and that have dependable earnings, often paying dividends to investors. On PredictionStrike, Blue Chips are your perennial All-Star type players. These are the kind of players your mom would recognize. Think Patrick Mahomes ($15.31/share), Zeke Elliot ($7.42/share), CMC ($16.54/share), etc. Penny stocks on the other hand, are lesser known, small companies. Traditionally, they are worth less than a dollar, but for PredictionStrike purposes, we focus on the lesser known, or supporting role part of the definition. These are your third receiver options, or backup running backs. These are players your mother would most certainly not know. Well, I don’t know your mom, but my mom doesn’t know who Adam Trautman ($0.85/share) is, and I doubt yours does either.

For today's installment of Blue Chips and Penny Stocks, I will be focusing solely on the Thursday Night Football game. Let's be real. If you are reading this article, you obviously are watching the game tonight, so you might as well have some skin in the game. If you like what I am saying, or think I’m full of it, feel free to let me know! Find me on Twitter @ChipsStocks, and tell me who, and why your stocks tonight will perform! Without further ado, let's get this season started!

Blue Chips

CeeDee Lamb, $4.94/share | WR, Dallas Cowboys

Lamb has been on my radar ever since my interview with Brian Martin on “Insider Trading” a couple weeks ago, and I am beyond excited to see him on the field on the first night of NFL action. So much can be said for Lamb, and damn near all of it is good. Now, is all the talk good for the Cowboys as a team? Maybe not, but this is an individual effort on PredictionStrike. We do not need the team to thrive, just CeeDee.

The first bit of news that is good for CeeDee, but not for the Cowboys, is Amari Cooper’s ($6.55/share) foot. Cooper is the second half of the unstoppable tandem that we call the Cowboys receiving core. Amari struggled for good parts of last season with a nagging foot injury which eventually led to offseason foot surgery earlier this year. All reports are that Cooper is back to 100%, but you have to assume that game one on a surgically repaired foot will be a conservative effort. Lamb will have to jump into the role of number one option for Dak Prescott ($9.38/share), and he has proven he is capable all offseason long. Dak and Lamb have created quite the rapport in the preseason by all reports, and I expect that to transfer onto the field.

The second point that is good for Lamb, but bad for the Cowboys is the lack of defense. I personally think the Bucs will move the ball at will against the Cowboys, and if Dallas wants any chance of staying remotely close in this game, they will have to air it out. More passes means more targets for CeeDee, which hopefully means more money in our pockets.

Last point, Zack Martin. If you don’t know who Martin is, he is the all-pro right guard for the Cowboys that will be missing the game Thursday due to a positive COVID test. On the surface that doesn’t sound like it should affect Lamb, but it could potentially mean a whole hell of a lot. With Martin gone, Connor McGovern will be stepping into the right guard position. If you are the Cowboys offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, do you trust Zeke Elliot ($7.42/share) finding running lanes set by Connor McGovern? No! You are going to tell Dak to take three steps and fire away. I’ve already said it once, but I will say it again. More targets means more points, which means more money.

The morale of the story is this. Lamb will need to be a cornerstone of this offense if they want to have any chance at winning this game, or for that matter any game this season. The defense is downright bad, and they will have to win shootouts if they want to win at all. Lamb will be the biggest benefactor in all this. In my opinion, CeeDee Lamb has the chance to be a top eight receiver this season, and he is currently not being priced, or projected for that possibility. I suggest getting in now before the hype train leaves the station and his projections, and stock price is too high to join.

Penny Stocks

Antonio Brown, $5.72/share | WR, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Alright, I know I mentioned Antonio Brown last week, but when you feel this high on a player, you have to keep mentioning them! You have to use your imagination a little bit to convince yourself that Brown is a “Penny Stock,” but remember, he is the 3rd receiving option on this offense. If you are the third option, you are “Penny Stock” material. At least momentarily. Anyway, I have to keep bringing him up because I think we are primed to see a vintage Pittsburgh Steelers style performance from Antonio this season, and I want to benefit from it. Remember, this is the first full offseason that Brady and Brown will have had together. You saw how slow the entire offense started last season, and how they absolutely clicked during the playoffs, and of course during the Super Bowl. This is a player with the talent and the opportunity around him that could very easily translate to a top 12 fantasy WR league wide. Antonio is currently sitting with a projection hovering around 12 fpts. Now consider that A.J. Brown for the Titans has a projection of over 18.2 fpts. At this point in their careers, I would much rather start a franchise around A.J. Brown, but if I was building a PredictionStrike portfolio, I would build it around Antonio. That all starts with a dominant performance in week one. If you remember last season, we targeted the Cowboys secondary, and day traded receivers based on who was playing the Cowboys on said week. Unfortunately for Cowboys fans, I am going back to that trend. Buying Antonio Brown for the opportunity he has this season with the Buccaneers is a no brainer, but when you add in the bonus that he gets to start the season off against the Cowboys, it’s back up the Brinks truck time. Take all my money, and don’t give it back until Brown has over 1,100 receiving yards this season.

Giovani Bernard, $1.19/share | RB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

One of the many off season transactions that happened while you were hibernating was the acquisition of Gio Bernard to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That's right folks, the rich get richer. Not only did the Bucs basically retain every starter from the Super Bowl winning team, they added elite pass catching running back Gio Bernard. Personally, I do not think they would add Bernard into this rotation unless they plan on using him A LOT. Gio joins a running back room that already has Ronald Jones II ($0.50/share), Leonard Fournette ($5.32/share), and Ke’Shawn Vaughn ($2.96/share), so why bother adding him unless they plan on using him? Well if the offseason is any indication, it is to be the lead ball catching back on this offence. Remember, PredictionStrike uses a PPR scoring system, so volume catching is essential. I have mentioned all the weapons the Bucs have, and you are right. Tampa Bay's offense is loaded, and there's only so many passes that can go Gio’s direction. Nonetheless, this may be a week in which Bernard can explode facing the Cowboys. Dan Quinn is their new defensive coordinator, and as the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons, they routinely yielded receptions to running backs. In fact, according to Pro Football Reference, they ceded the most receptions to running backs four straight seasons from 2015 through 2018. Combine all that with the fact that he currently has a projection of a middling 7.14 fpts, and we have a recipe for success. These type of Penny Stock home run plays don’t always work, but just imagine for a second Gio scores a touchdown. With the second highest implied team total of 30.5, there will be plenty of Bucs points to go around. Here’s to hoping for one of those TDs to be GB’s.