WR Breakdown: NFC East Edition
The depth chart for a NFL team can only tell you so much. Sometimes a WR3 on one team may be more fantasy relevant than the WR1 on another. In this series we will be breaking down each team’s WR group and letting you know who is worth drafting:
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Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys receiving corps comes into the 2018 season as one of the worst groups in football, but Allen Hurns and Michael Gallup are currently sleeper favorites by many experts due to their potential to be the WR1 for the Dallas Cowboys. While Hurns has shown he can produce like a top receiver in this league, his last good fantasy season was in 2015, but since then he’s been plagued with injuries. Gallup is an intriguing rookie whose draft price will continue to rise if he keeps on making plays like he did in the last preseason game, but it’s worth noting that neither Hurns nor Gallup has played with Dak Prescott before. This fact makes Cole Beasley a sneaky good pick up off waivers. He’s one year removed from an 800 yard, 5 touchdown season with Prescott, and now that Jason Witten has retired, it’s likely Beasley will see more targets in the middle of the field that Witten used to get. In a run first offense with a QB in Prescott who has yet to throw for more than 3,600 yards, it’s likely that none of these receivers make a notable impact in fantasy.
Allen Hurns (ADP Round 11.07) - WR4 with upside if healthy
Michael Gallup (ADP Round 14.04) - Boom/Bust bench WR
Cole Beasley (Undrafted) - Worth a bench spot in deeper leagues
New York Giants
The New York Giants offense comes into 2018 with sky high expectations. Leading the WRs is an established superstar in Odell Beckham Jr., whose ankle injury took him out for most of the 2017 season, but most of the hype is due to the offseason acquisitions of both Saquon Barkley and new head coach Pat Shurmur. Pat Shurmur was the brain behind the powerful Vikings offense last year that not only produced two top 20 WRs, but also made Case Keenum look like a stud. Considering how well Keenum played in 2017, it shouldn't be surprising if Shurmur gets elevated play out of Eli Manning as well. Shurmur’s offense in 2017 was especially good for slot receiver Adam Thielen, a role that will be occupied by Sterling Shepard for the Giants. Shepard had more than 700 yards despite only playing in 11 games and operating under an uncreative offense led by Ben McAdoo. Expect this offense to have many fantasy relevant players even outside the WR position.
Odell Beckham Jr. (ADP Round 2.03) - Top 5 WR with #1 WR potential
Sterling Shepard (ADP Round 13.07) - WR3 with WR2 upside
Cody Latimer (Undrafted) - Not worth a roster spot
Philadelphia Eagles
While the Philadelphia Eagles are coming off a championship season, there are a few concerns for the offense that involve the passing game. Carson Wentz was a fantasy stud last year, but it’s looking more and more likely that he misses time in the beginning of the season, and at this point it’s hard to tell whether Nick Foles’ playoff success was a fluke or not. These questions surrounding the quarterback position directly affect the WR group, led by Alshon Jeffery who also has injury issues. Jeffery has and still will be a great red zone threat, scoring 9 touchdowns on 57 catches, but his catch rate of 47.5% was the lowest of any receiver with over 100 targets, by a significant margin (4.7%). It’s unlikely Jeffery sees 120 targets again now that Darren Sproles is healthy and Mike Wallace is in the lineup. If Jeffery misses the first few weeks, it will be Wallace who fills in the WR1 position for the Eagles while Agholar occupies the slot, making Wallace a great starter for the first few games.
Alshon Jeffery (ADP Round 6.01) - WR3
Nelson Agholar (ADP Round 11.07) - Worth a bench spot
Mike Wallace (Undrafted) - WR4 with WR3 upside and weekly boom/bust potential
Washington Redskins
The Washington Redskins decided to give up on Kirk Cousins and traded for Alex Smith, who is coming off a career year and a #2 finish in fantasy at QB. While it should be expected for Smith to see some regression, it should be noted that the Redskins should still have a top passing offense thanks to Jay Gruden, who not only created an offense to keep Kirk Cousins a top 10 QB for the past 3 years, but also was the OC of the Bengals when Andy Dalton had a top 5 season. This is good news for Jamison Crowder, who is expected to see most of the targets on the team. Doctson is an intriguing talent, being a 1st round pick only a couple years ago, but despite playing in all 16 games last year he only managed 500 yards and only caught 44.9% of the balls thrown his way. In fact, there was no receiver in the NFL that had as bad of a catch rate on as many targets that Doctson had. Based on both Alex Smith’s and Paul Richardson’s success with deep ball targets last year, it is likely that Richardson has a better fantasy season than Doctson.
Jamison Crowder (ADP Round 10.09) - WR3
Josh Doctson (ADP Round 14.02) - Worth a bench spot in deeper leagues
Paul Richardson (Undrafted) - Boom/Bust Bench Player