This article is part of our On Target series.
The vast majority of words spilled in this column are about elite, or at least upper tier, fantasy football pass catchers. Your DeAndre Hopkins', Travis Kelce's and the like. In this week's column, I wanted to do a little something different and analyze 10 players with 40 or less targets who are in for a volume increase, either for the rest of this season or in 2018.
More than anyone else in this column, Samuel should be the one you are rushing to your waiver wire to pickup. The departed Kelvin Benjamin was a bulky, slow, stocky wide receiver. Samuel ran a 4.31 40 at the combine and was a multi-positional weapon while in college. Cam Newton is legit awful at throwing into tight windows (under 3.5 AYA while throwing into tight coverage this season, per NFL.com's Next Gen stats) and Samuel is very unlike the slow moving Benjamin and Devin Funchess. If Samuel is able to get his Ted Ginn/Philly Brown on, he could be this year's breakout WR that wins leagues down the stretch. Cam did not forget how to play football overnight, I feel very confident in stating that.
With Chris Conley injured for quite some time with a ruptured Achilles and Albert Wilson leaving last week's game with a lower-body injury, Robinson is now the primary starting WR for the Chiefs. Tyreek Hill moves around the formation, playing in the slot, the backfield, all over the place.
The vast majority of words spilled in this column are about elite, or at least upper tier, fantasy football pass catchers. Your DeAndre Hopkins', Travis Kelce's and the like. In this week's column, I wanted to do a little something different and analyze 10 players with 40 or less targets who are in for a volume increase, either for the rest of this season or in 2018.
More than anyone else in this column, Samuel should be the one you are rushing to your waiver wire to pickup. The departed Kelvin Benjamin was a bulky, slow, stocky wide receiver. Samuel ran a 4.31 40 at the combine and was a multi-positional weapon while in college. Cam Newton is legit awful at throwing into tight windows (under 3.5 AYA while throwing into tight coverage this season, per NFL.com's Next Gen stats) and Samuel is very unlike the slow moving Benjamin and Devin Funchess. If Samuel is able to get his Ted Ginn/Philly Brown on, he could be this year's breakout WR that wins leagues down the stretch. Cam did not forget how to play football overnight, I feel very confident in stating that.
With Chris Conley injured for quite some time with a ruptured Achilles and Albert Wilson leaving last week's game with a lower-body injury, Robinson is now the primary starting WR for the Chiefs. Tyreek Hill moves around the formation, playing in the slot, the backfield, all over the place. Robinson is now always on the outside and already has nine targets over the last two weeks. Robinson is a fairly athletic, although unproductive in college, prospect from the University of Florida but I do really want pieces of this Chiefs offense, and Robinson should get 5-7 targets per game as long as Wilson remains out.
Washington chose not to trade for any wide receivers despite NFL teams finally opening up during the trade deadline. Terrelle Pryor has been utterly disappointing (breaking my poor little heart), Ryan Grant is a below replacement-level player and Jamison Crowder is not athletic enough to be a driving force of an offense. The only thing that Washington has not tried is turning to Doctson as a 100 percent, legit full-time player, and that is now on the table. His 1/1/1 stat line from last week is not inspiring in and of itself, but more targets are in his future.
I do not think that anyone is going to be surprised to see JuJu's name here after his epic performance against the Lions, but his worthiness goes deeper than that. The Steelers offense was at its absolute best the year that Martavis Bryant was turning every eighth target into a touchdown and stretching the field while Le'Veon Bell and Antonio Brown operated underneath. If JuJu can grow into that role while the team tries to get rid of Bryant, he is likely a high end WR3 the rest of the season and will be a sixth-eighth round draft pick next year. He has the profile as a highly touted high school recruit who showed brilliant flashes at USC but struggled as the program did. I would be buying JuJu futures if possible.
The Saints offense looks a lot different this year than in years past, but something that I think people have forgotten in regards to Coleman, Tommylee Lewis and Willie Snead is that Ted Ginn's contract has an out for the Saints after one year. If the team decides that one of those three players is ready for a bigger role, Ginn will be on to greener pastures and the six-four Coleman is a player that I've always seen as an eight touchdown per year sort of player in New Orleans.
With Golden Tate and Marvin Jones getting another year older (Tate especially is seeing himself fall into declining efficiency) and Eric Ebron's hands being better suited for some sort of non-technical manual labor, there is a path for one of Golladay or Jones to become fantasy viable. Golladay started the year on an impressive note with a two-TD game, but it has been Jones who filled in while Tate was injured and has 33 targets with 351 air yards. I actually think Jones could be a very usable WR3 next season, if not this year, and Golladay is a deeper-league flex play every week because of his scoring ability.
Unlike everyone else on this list, Westbrook has ZERO targets this season because he has been on IR-designated to return. The Jaguars have actually been a fine football team this year, but each and every one of their pass catchers have been brutally bad. Allen Hurns and Marqise Lee have eaten up the targets but neither have done anything special with them. Westbrook is a different sort of player, a true game breaker even with limited targets. I have already made the move to add Westbrook in my deep 16-team league and I would advise you to monitor his situation closely.
There is a good chance that Davis has been dropped in your league due to his extended absence. In his stead, Eric Decker and Rishard Matthews have been largely underwhelming and the Titans do not seem near as explosive as they should/could be with the offensive personnel that they have. I am a firm believer in Davis' talent and think that he has a WR1 season ahead of him at some point, and I want to have him for the rest of this season as the coaching staff has said that he will be starting against the Ravens in Week 9.
Kroft has been the best pass catcher on the Bengals other than A.J. Green. Brandon LaFell is just a utility man, Giovani Bernard is a scatback, and neither John Ross nor Tyler Boyd has made any impact at all this year. While his role is going to diminish if and when Tyler Eifert ever gets healthy, I think Kroft has established a role for the rest of his time in Cincy. Using two tight ends is a big tactical advantage and I think the Bengals coaching staff would be stupid to not use Kroft even when Eifert returns.
