My disdain for drafting wide receivers early in fantasy football drafts is well-known.
I favor running backs over wide receivers, so it’s imperative to find low-valued wide receivers in the preseason who can be a consistent hammer for fantasy football rosters.
That’s why I examine targets, compared to production from previous years, to hopefully predict the future (which worked well last year with Keenan Allen). Here’s three wide receivers ranked 13th or lower in the preseason fantasy football wide receivers rankings, capable of putting up top-12 fantasy football numbers.
Amari Cooper, WR, Oakland Raiders
The fantasy football world is crushing Cooper for one bad season without his starting quarterback.
There’s no denying he was bad last year. He totaled just 96 targets, with 680 yards receiving on 48 catches. The lone bright spot was he tallied seven touchdowns.
He was a colossal disappointment in 2017, so now he’s ranked 15th among wide receivers, which would cost you a 36th overall draft pick, according to rankings by FantasyPros.
Let’s not completely write off Cooper just yet. He’s still the same guy who had at least 130 targets in each of his first two season, with a healthy Derek Carr at the helm. He’s been pretty durable during his career, so there’s no reason to believe injuries should hamper him.
He’s a WR1 with Carr as the quarterback, so you’re getting great value in this position.
Demaryius Thomas, WR, Denver Broncos
What I love most about Thomas is that bad quarterbacks don’t devalue him too much.
Denver’s quarterback situation isn’t good. Despite that, Thomas still has at least 140 targets in each of his last six seasons. However, his production hasn’t been what fantasy football owners have anticipated in recent years, with less than 100 catches in each of his last two years.
And his touchdowns have disappeared, going from a combined 35 touchdowns from 2012 to 2014, to a combined 16 touchdowns from 2015 to 2017.
The targets are still plentiful, so I’m still hitching my wagon on Thomas. He’s ranked 19th among wide receivers, putting him at 43rd overall. That’s a nice place to draft Thomas, especially with his solid stature as the No. 1 option in Denver.
Allen Robinson, WR, Chicago Bears
Robinson has the chance at being one of the biggest steals in this year’s fantasy football draft.
He’s ranked 18th among wide receivers in fantasy football rankings, placing him in the 39th position overall.
What you get with Robinson is an extremely high ceiling, as long as he stays off the injury list. When healthy, he was a target hog in a Jacksonville offense that was pathetic, racking up 151 targets apiece in 2015-16.
Robinson is accustomed to playing with bad quarterbacks, so second-year quarterback Mitchell Trubisky shouldn’t be out of the ordinary.
Trubisky needs a go-to receiver and Robinson delivers in that department. Don’t tell anyone in my fantasy football leagues, but Robinson is my top-rated receiver when I start focusing on that position in the third round.
