Fantasy Football Season Review: Wide Receivers

We are three weeks removed from the Super Bowl and sprinting down the stretch of the college basketball season and fantasy baseball draft season is starting to take form for most. But fantasy football is a 12 month per year sport. I’ve already drafted a start up dynasty team this off season and can’t wait for free agency, the combine and the draft. We have a ton of NFL draft content on the site for you to sort through and there is plenty more to come. 

The wide receiver position had some great break out performances this season and also some disappointment at the top of the fantasy draft board. Some of the guys that we are accustomed to didn’t live up to their draft day price, while a few of the players that had preseason hype of a discounted price lived up to their potential. Just like we do every season, we had an unexpected breakout from a player that nobody was talking about. And in 2019, that player was D.J. Chark. Chark did have a few outlier games, but one of the more impressive parts of his season was the consistency of his stats. It didn’t matter who was taking snaps under center. Chark went from a fantasy waiver wire pick up to a guy that caught 73 balls for over 1,000 yards and 8 touchdowns. Let’s break down the 2019 wide receiver leader board based on a few key stats. 

Air Yards

Falling just a few yards short of the top 5 in air yards was Allen Robinson. Allen Robinson is probably a top 5 NFL wide receiver, but he is in a terrible offensive situation. Situation aside, he saw plenty of opportunities from Mitch Trubisky. 254 PPR fantasy points is a great season, but with Robinson’s skill set, his 7 touchdown output should have easily been in the double digits. 

The air yards potential from Odell Beckham Jr. was one of the things that drew me to him this draft season. I thought that the Baker Mayfield-Odell Beckham combo was going to be a home run. Unfortunately, Beckham was left on my bench quite a bit down the stretch. Beckham ended up with about 350 yards less than I thought he would and at least 6 fewer touchdowns. Things were a disaster in Cleveland from the jump and it especially showed in the win/loss column. But, if Beckham stays in Cleveland, the 1,800 air yards give me some hope for a big 2020 from him. 

DeVante Parker sticks out like a sore thumb on this list. He was written off as a bust after a handful of sub par seasons in Miami. What can’t Ryan Fitzpatrick fix? Outside of postseason wins, I can’t think of much that he can’t do. Anyways, Parker was reborn and rocked out a 1,200 yard season and 9 touchdowns to go along with it. 

Target Share

Michael Thomas was a monster in 2019. He was absolutely unstoppable. Seriously, teams couldn’t figure out a game plan to defend him for 60 minutes. His pack-leading target share is part of what leads to 149 receptions and 374.6 PPR points. 

DeAndre Hopkins had a down year (for DeAndre Hopkins), but was still targeted 150 times which made it nearly impossible to buy low on him in redraft leagues. Despite not living up to first round fantasy numbers, his stock shouldn’t move much. Hopkins is still young and will remain one of the top-tier receivers in the league. 

Keenan Allen was a guy that I thought was severely under drafted. It had to be injury history or experts were just that obsessed with a Mike Williams breakout. In any case, Allen was drafted towards the end of the 2nd round or early 3rd round in 12 team leagues. Allen was one of 5 players in the NFL with 100 receptions and he was targeted 149 times. 

Courtland Sutton has a nice future with Denver after a nice break out in 2019. Sutton didn’t do much in the fantasy playoffs but he did go for over 1,100 yards and dominated the target share in Denver. Year 3 is historically a big year for receivers and Drew Lock has some potential, so there could be some big things coming for Sutton. 

PPR Fantasy Points 

I already brought up the historical season that Michael Thomas had but can we just relish in the fact that he outscored all other wide receivers by 100 points. Chris Godwin had the best season among the Tampa Bay wide receivers. Godwin was one of those chalky fantasy picks whose ADP got juiced up, but it didn’t matter. Godwin smashed expectations with 9 touchdowns and 1,333 yards. 

Cooper Kupp slowed down quite a bit towards the end of the season in favor of some Robert Woods production, but he had a hell of a beginning of the season. Kupp is easily a top 7 dynasty wide receiver going forward, that’s just the offense in Los Angeles. 

Julio Jones is getting up there in age, but he still has it. It will just depend on health for the next few years or however long his relevancy lasts. Touchdowns continued to be an issue in 2019 and it doesn’t make any sense considering the skill set. In 2020, Julio will still be a be a beast and Calvin Ridley can continue to shine as well. There is room for both of them to succeed in Atlanta. 

Stats courtesy of airyards.com