As I mentioned in my last edition, for simplicity sake I'll be acting as if this is a standard 10 team .5 PPR league. Personally I prefer .5 PPR, it’s the Baby Bear’s ‘juuust right,’ of Fantasy Football scoring. Also for those of you are new here, my system for ranking players in unorthodox but it’s how I think and helps me visualize my draft strategy unfolding as the draft goes. I break players down into tiers based on where they should be targeted compared to where my picks sit.
Late Round 1 - Early Round 2
Travis Kelce | TE | KC
Davante Adams | WR | GB
Stefon Diggs | WR | BUF
DeAndre Hopkins | WR | ARI
Tyreek Hill | WR | KC
I’ve been saying it since last year but Travis Kelce is my (and should be everyone’s) first non RB off the board. PPR, standard, .5 PPR, don’t care, doesn’t matter. The draft is all about maximizing value and Kelce did that better than any player in football last year by putting up WR1 numbers from the TE spot, a traditionally low scoring spot. Even the top TE’s were in the dust compared to Kelce. The rest of the players I name may put up similar or better numbers this season, but WR is very deep as always and TE is the thinnest. Kelce’s valuable by being a TE is too high to put anyone above him so he’s easily my top pass catcher. Assuming, like I did in my QB addition, that Aaron Rodgers will be back, Davante Adams is atop my WR rankings. The steady volume he gets week in and week out combined with his matchup proof route running makes him the top target. If Rodgers isn’t in the picture, I’d think long and hard about where I take Adams and it won’t be in round 1. Stefon Diggs comes in a very very close third. Diggs put up great numbers but with the target he had you’d hope for more than 8 TDs. TDs aren’t a reliable stat to project a performance but with Gabriel Davis and Isaiah McKenzie getting 5 receiving TDs each it’s reasonable to assume Diggs could get at least 8 scores again, if not more. DeAndre Hopkins and Kyler Murray were an underrated stack to beat last year. Trust me, I was cruising to victory in week 10 until the Hail Murray play gave my opponent a 17.8 point boost cost me the week and almost my season. Like Adams he too gets the ball consistently and can be relied upon no matter the matchup. Tyreek Hill, like all the WRs here, can be a part of a lethal stack with their QB. Hill is at the bottom of this list because he’s never had more than 87 catches in a season and 15 TDs is hard to replicate but the chance to stack him with Mahomes has me ranking him just above the next tier.
Late Round 2 - Early Round 3
DK Metcalf | WR | SEA
Justin Jefferson | WR | MIN
Calvin Ridley | WR | ATL
Keenan Allen | WR | LAC
I’ve been a big DK Metcalf fan since his NFL Draft days. His size/speed combination is otherworldly. However he wasn’t 100% consistent last year, and Jalen Ramsey had his number when they faced off (he’ll Ramsey see again twice again this year). Still DK’s ceiling could have him easily ending the season as the top WR and he’s just outside the top tier after last season. Justin Jefferson is hard to nail if he’ll progress, regress, or stay about the same. On one hand, 1400 yards is hard to replicate, even with Jefferson’s talent. On the other hand, same can be said for Thielen’s 14 TDs on only 74 catches. I could see Jefferson both coming up short of the 1400 yard mark while also finding the endzone more. I think late round 2/early round 3, just outside the top tier, is a fair spot for him. Calvin Ridley broke out as a fantasy WR last year and has a chance to excel even further with Julio Jones out of the mix. It’s hard to judge how rookie TE Kyle Pitt’s volume will be through the season but it’s hard to imagine a rookie TE drawing more attention than Julio Jones. I’ll have Keenan Allen a little lower in non PPR formats but he has a high floor in fantasy. So much so I’m confident taking him this high in PPR formats, especially with more of a chance to work with Justin Herbert in a full offseason.
Late Round 3 - Early Round 4
AJ Brown | WR | TEN
Allen Robinson | WR | CHI
Terry McLaurin | WR | WFT
George Kittle | TE | SF
Darren Waller | TE | LV
AJ Brown may lose some targets to Julio Jones, but don’t forget between Corey Davis and Jonnu Smith, the Titans lost 157 targets in free agency this offseason. Julio Jones won’t receive 150 targets this season so I’ll bet that Brown repeats last season’s production. This next tier is SUPER dense for me and will come down to your team’s needs and individual preferences at the end of the day. This is the end of the “top,” tier of TEs if you don’t count Kelce since he’s in his own God tier for TEs being a first round talent. So if you want to take a TE you can rely on week after week no matter the matchup, go get Waller or Kittle. Neither have any major competition for targets and are the main cog of their respective passing offenses. If you don’t mind taking one later and want to land another WR I’d go with Allen Robinson who I have as right behind AJ Brown as my top guy in this tier. Gut feeling, Justin Fields will eventually become the starter, probably sooner than later. That being said, can Andy Dalton be any worse than Mitchell Trubisky? Can anyone? Robinson should see some better balls come his way this season and I think that reflects in his production, especially in another contract year. Scary Terry McLaurin should see a similar boost with Ryan Ftizpatrick throwing to him. I’d have him higher if Curtis Samuel didn’t join the mix (and Dyami Brown as a dynasty sleeper/someone to watch depending on early season playing time/target share.) George Kittle and Darren Waller slide right into early round 3 for me because this is where I would normally rank the top TEs. In a given year, Kittle and Waller would put up typical top TE numbers but with Kelce in his own God tier in round 1, this is where they find themselves. If you’ve comfortable with who you have amongst your core WRs and RBs (maybe a QB too) here is where you should take Kittle or Waller.
Late Round 4 - Early Round 5
CeeDee Lamb | WR | DAL
Mike Evans | WR | TB
Chris Godwin | WR | TB
Amari Cooper | WR | DAL
Julio Jones | WR | TEN
Robert Woods | WR | LAR
Ceedee Lamb, Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and Amari Cooper is maybe the densest group of any positional tier I have. They all have the same issue keeping them from being in higher tiers and that is the offenses in Tampa and Dallas have A LOT of mouths to feed. I have them in this order because I think Lamb has the most upside, he put up similar numbers to Cooper last year and now has Dak back. Evans and Brady seemed to get better and better as the year went on last season and I trust that to continue. Godwin is in a contract year so if he can avoid injury he’ll be a nice WR to play ever week. Cooper always seemed to be fighting off some injury last season and I’m worried that some day that may catch up to him. The curious case of where to draft Julio Jones will be hard to answer this year. Can he surpass AJ Brown as the WR1 in Tennessee? If he gets just the volume that Corey Davis gets, how much will he be able to do with that? I think this is a fine spot for Julio. A nice spot between WR1 and WR2. Robert Woods has always felt undervalued in fantasy too me. A very good WR2 but while he always had that WR1 potential he hasn’t quite reached it. Could be a very nice find here in the middle of round 5.
5 More Fantasy Team Name Suggestions WR/TE Edition:
Game of Jones
Hasta Laviska Baby
JuJu Binks
Forgetting Terrace Marshall
Silence of the CeeDee Lambs
Late Round 5 - Early Round 6
Cooper Kupp | WR | LAR
Kenny Golladay | WR| NYG
Odell Beckham Jr | WR | CLE
Adam Thielen | WR | MIN
Mark Andrews | TE | BAL
TJ Hockenson | TE | DET
Cooper Kupp takes the top spot in this tier, right behind his fellow Ram. Both tend to put up similar numbers and in full PPR I’d probably flip them. Kupp is reliable with healthy and similar to Woods and a few others in this tier has WR1 potential this year. Kenny Golladay could be a steal this late. With the Giants offensive weapons he could see a ton of talent in New York. They’ll be run heavy, that’s for sure but who after that? Shepard is a good complimentary piece but isn’t a big play receiver and also struggles to stay healthy. Engram has unreliable hands as any Giants fan will tell you and has also struggled to stay on the field through his career. We last saw this heavy WR1 usage from a Giant known as Odell Beckham Jr. Odell is right behind Golladay because he is in a similar spot. WR1 talent, but unlike Golladay, Odell has more competition in the passing game around him. I’m not sure if the volume is there for him to be a top of the draft WR again, but he could easily find his way into the low end WR1 and high end WR2 rankings. Adam Thielen is a risky pick for me because it’s hard to imagine him replicating his TD numbers with the volume he saw. Thielen snagged a career high 14 TDs, 5 higher than any other season) on only 74 catches. If his puts up those yards and receptions without those TDs, he could be a bust for some which is why I have him this low. That being said, the next tier comes with tons of risks. In my opinion, I expect to see a dip in volume this season for Mark Andrews. The Ravens have added to their WR core this offseason and Rashod Bateman and Sammy Watkins are way more of a threat to draw targets than Willie Snead and Miles Boykin. Still, Andrews is the next best option at TE and has the best resume of the rest moving forward so here is a fair spot for him. TJ Hockenson seems to have found himself in the complete opposite situation in terms of target-share. Outside of Hockenson, Detroit’s passing game is bringing back… Quintez Cephus and his 35 targets. They did sign Tyrell Williams and Breshad Perriman and draft Amon-Ra St. Brown, but do you honestly believe any of them will be a bigger factor in the passing game than Hockenson? TJ could finish as the 4th best tight end, and with the volume he could see, he could potentially launch himself into the top 3.
Late Round 6 - Round 7
Kyle Pitts | TE | ATL
Tyler Lockett | WR | SEA
Dionte Johnson | WR | PIT
Ja’Marr Chase | WR | CIN
Courland Sutton | WR | DEN
Robbie Anderson | WR | CAR
Deebo Samuel | WR | SF
DJ Chark | WR | JAX
Chase Claypool | WR | PIT
Tee Higgins | WR | CIN
Buckle up because a run on pass catchers begins here. Now normally I wouldn’t ever rank a rookie TE as draft worthy. That being said, Kyle Pitts is no ordinary TE. Watch his tape when he’s split out as a WR and you’ll see, he’s truly a WR but bigger and stronger. So much so that it would be foolish to not utilize his size at a TE, as a run blocker and a mismatch against LBs and Safeties. Watching Kyle Pitts tape there was no TE comp for him, only a WR comp. I saw Calvin Johnson. I know it’s a stretch but I’m not putting Pitts up in the Waller (another common comp) and Kittle tier yet. That being said once all the other consistent TEs are gone, Pitts presents the most upside. No Julio in Atlanta anymore so those are a ton of targets to go around. Pitts could have a huge season and I’d rather take him over the WRs in this tier, who each come with their own major flaws. Back to the wideouts and no WR may have been more frustrating to fantasy owners week in and week out than Tyler Lockett. On face value Lockett’s numbers look awesome. 100 receptions, over 1,000 yards, 10 TDs, what’s not to like? Well it was the consistency, or lack thereof, that carried or killed fantasy owners depending on the week or if you trusted Lockett enough to start him. What if I told you that in the 16 games Lockett played in, 36 catches, 390 yards and 8 TDs came in just 3 games. That’s 105 of his 215 points scored on the year (.5 PPR don’t forget). Almost half. The other 13 games, he averaged just under 8.5 ppg. Barely flex worthy in the deepest of leagues. So will Lockett find a level of consistency this year? Or are you willing to bank on catching lightning in a bottle a few times to steal a couple of games from your opponent? Me, I’d prefer a more steady WR who doesn’t keep me up at night because I benched him during his 51.5 point performance. Dionte Johnson has some good upside, but personally I don’t know if it will all come together for him this season. Personally if I end up with none of the 3 Pittsburgh WRs, I won’t be mad. Similar to Lockett, the inconsistency scares me. Furthermore with the addition of Najae Harris at RB, it’s reasonable to assume that Pittsburgh probably won’t lead the league in pass attempts again. That means less volume for everyone. Johnson may be a popular sleeper for some but me, I’ll let someone else have him and cut my losses if he finds that potential. Ja’Marr Chase may climb my board as we get closer to draft day, depending on two things preseason. How he looks and especially how that Bengals OL looks. It wouldn’t completely surprise me if Chase has a Justin Jefferson level season this year. I was a huge fan of his coming out of the draft and I think the year he took off has people forgetting just how dominant he was in the SEC as a 19-year-old. Chase is the best WR prospect I’ve seen in a long time, my only hesitancy to put him higher is A: I don’t trust the Bengals OL to keep Burrow upright long enough to allow more complex plays to develop and B: Chase isn’t the only mouth to feed. Still the volume should be there with the Bengals clearly building around the passing game so Chase is someone I’d love to land in my drafts. Courtland Sutton could be a nice find at this spot in the draft. It’s not super risky here and the upside is he returns to his mid WR2 standing from 2 years ago, if not better. My issue with ranking him any higher is he is coming off a torn ACL, and there are plenty of mouths to feed in Denver and we don’t know who the starting QB will be. Robbie Anderson had a really nice season in 2020 and 2021 could be even better. While I’ve never been wild about Sam Darnold, he’ll definitely take more shots down the field than Teddy Bridgewater did. We saw it first hand between Anderson and Darnold in 2019 and 2018 when Robbie Anderson had nearly identical air yards from Darnold in those years than he did from Bridgewater in 2020. That in spite having over 300 more receiving yards in 2020 compared to ‘18 and ‘19. The major issue could also be Darnold, who unlike Bridgewater, has a well documented history of turning the ball over. Anderson can’t score you fantasy points if his QB keeps taking the Panther offense off the field. Deebo Samuel is a player who I’m a big fan of. However the role he plays when Garrapolo is the QB is limited so I’m not too wild about the upside he presents. Still I think he has a nice floor this late and could be a steady flex play with low end WR2 upside, especially if Trey Lance can win the starting gig. DJ Chark of all the Jaguars WRs offers the most upside I like Shenault, but I’m afraid his usage may drop because the Jaguars drafted Travis Etienne (after barely missing Kadarious Toney), and the role Urban Meyer described for Etienne matches the role for Shenault. I like Marvin Jones but I think his upside is limited compared to Chark. I think Chark could be a nice find this late in the draft.
Round 8 - Round 9
Brandon Aiyuk | WR | SF
Tyler Boyd | WR | CIN
Michael Thomas | WR | NO
Robert Tonyan | TE | GB
Juju Smith-Schuster | WR | PIT
Brandin Cooks | WR | HOU
Jarvis Landry | WR | CLE
Jerry Jeudy | WR | DEN
Logan Thomas | TE | DEN
Corey Davis | WR | NYJ
Brandon Aiyuk probably won’t fall this far, as he’s a popular pick for many, but I’m giving a slight edge to Deebo Samuel here. Aiyuk was nice last season but I think a lot of that had to do with injuries to players like Kittle and Deebo. I like Tyler Boyd as a real life wide receiver, but in fantasy I have a feeling that by the end of the season he could be the Bengal pass catcher holding the short end of the volume stick. Chase and Higgins I think offer way more upside than Boyd does. Still should be a nice find and could see himself in a regular flex role if Chase or Higgins get hurt. Pre injury I had Michael Thomas ranked as high as right around Justin Jefferson. A former #1 WR, the upside is there to return to that level, IF he can click with Taysom or Jameis at QB. Now that he’s hurt and expected to miss months of the season (how many nobody is 100% sure), at best I’m taking a flyer on him. If my league has an IR spot I’m more inclined to draft him earlier but otherwise I will wait until this late. I don’t want to spend half the season short one roster spot, holding out hope that whenever Michael Thomas returns he’ll also be back to his old self. Best of luck to someone else if they want to reach any higher for him. Robert Tonyan would be far lower if he didn’t have Aaron Rodgers throwing to him this season. He does but he’s still lower on my rankings than most people probably have him. Reason being is I don’t see him putting up an 11 TD season again. Lets say we cut those numbers in half, and round that half TD up to 6 total, a reasonable number for a TE. That gives him 120.6 points on the season, just below Hayden Hurst and right above Jonnu Smith, who missed a few games and finished the season slow. I expect some regression from Tonyan, he’ll need more volume and receptions for me to rank him higher. Juju Smith-Schuster I view similarly to Tyler Boyd. Too young to call him an, “aging veteran,” but could find himself on the outside looking in on the Steelers passing attack by season’s end. As I said before, if I end up with 0 Steelers WRs by the end of a draft, I’ll be quite alright with that. Brandin Cooks is coming off a decent season last year, and being the only offensive weapon in Houston could be a nice late season find. My issue is at the QB spot. DeShaun Watson’s situation is toxic, even with him showing up to camp. Assuming he doesn’t get traded away from Houston, how many games will he be suspended for? Will he be gone for half the season? What kind of year will Cooks put up with Tyrod Taylor, Jeff Driskel or David Mills at QB? If Cooks is here, I’d probably take a flyer on him but I’m not expecting much. Jarvis Landry will, naturally, get a boost in PPR but his ceiling is extremely low. He’s a solid flex play in deeper PPR leagues and if OBJ misses time will once again be the top receiver in Cleveland but he’s nothing more than a bye week fill in or a safety net if you have drafted some WRs with issues staying on the field. In reality, I’m a very big Jerry Jeudy fan. I had him as the top WR in last year’s NFL draft and this year I’ve got him in a similar spot to last season. He dropped the ball a ton last season and was on the wrong end of some off target passes from a young Drew Lock. Will Lock even be the guy this year? Teddy Bridgewater comes to town from Carolina and he specializes in short to intermediate passing. A receiver with the route running of Jeudy could thrive with that connection. However even if Bridgewater wins the job there is no guarantee that he keeps it. Lock could always improve too so Jeudy could be a nice buy low here. Logan Thomas could be a nice find this late in the draft for a team in need of a TE. His reception totals were good, TD numbers decent, but it was the yards, or lack there of, per catch that held Thomas back from reaching his true fantasy potential last season. Another year in the offense and Ryan Fitzpatrick at QB could change that. However the addition of Curtis Samuel could take some targets away from Thomas so there is some risk he actually regresses this year. At TE8, the risk is worth the reward this season. The final guy on my list is Corey Davis. Davis, similar to Cooks, is on an offense where SOMEBODY has to do something. The Jets have some talented young WRs in Denzel Mims and Elijah Moore and Jamison Crowder is back too. That being said, I could see Davis being the reliable #1 WR for a young QB in Zach Wilson. If he is, he could be roster worthy and maybe even carve out a role as a matchup dependent flex play.
5 Fantasy Team Name Suggestions WR/TE Edition:
Davante Adams Family
Hotel, Odell, Golladay Inn
Pop Lockett Drop It
Hooked on a Thielen
King of Ty Hill
Sleepers:
Noah Fant | TE | DEN
TY Hilton | WR | IND
Evan Engram | TE | NYG
Michael Gallup | WR | DAL
DaVonta Smith | WR | PHI
Elijah Moore | WR | NYJ
Jaylen Waddle | WR | MIA
DaVante Parker | WR | MIA
Mike Gesicki | TE | MIA
Rashod Bateman | WR | BAL
Tyrell Williams | WR | DET
Tre’Quan Smith | WR | NO
Mecole Hardman | WR | KC
Jakobi Meyers | WR | NE
Dallad Goedart | TE | PHI
Marvin Jones | WR | JAX
Guy’s I’m Not Drafting… But I’m Watching
Dyanmi Brown | WR | WFT
Michael Gallup | WR | DAL
Terrence Marshall Jr | WR | CAR
Kadarius Toney | WR | NYG
Antonio Brown | WR | TB
Amon-Ra St. Brown | WR | DET
Cole Kmet | TE | CHI
5 MORE Fantasy Team Name Suggestions WR/TE Edition:
Build the Waller
Bateman and Dobbin
Pitts Creek
Waddleburger
Ridley Me This
If you don’t see a WR or TE you like here? Or did I rank someone too high or too low? Tell me on twitter @SMalone27 or leave a comment at the bottom.
Next week we’ll break down the running back, arguably the most vital position to fantasy football success.