Fantasy Football Rankings: Wide Receiver (Part 2)
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Tier 11: Solid Vets
These guys aren’t exciting picks and are going to slip farther than they should in some drafts but they can still be valuable fantasy assets. It’s tempting to pick the high upside players, but these guys are proven NFL talents and will most likely outscore the rookies in tier 10.
52.) Anquan Boldin, 49ers – Just keeps catching passes and being a bad-ass. He is getting old (34 this season), but still put up a couple huge fantasy lines last season and wasn’t worthless in between those games. His targets will drop across from a healthy Crabtree for 16 games, but Boldin could still deliver close a 70, 900, 7 season which would make him an ideal WR on your bench.
53.) Brian Hartline, Dolphins – Might be the most boring 1,000 receiver ever. You know what your getting from Hartline, 75, 1000, 5 or somewhere in that vicinity. It’s boring, but has value in PPR leagues. His lack of big play ability makes Hartline one of those players that people undervalue because he never ends up on Sportscenter. Hartline averaged over 5 catches per game and finished the season as the number 26 WR, so don’t be afraid to pull the trigger late in your draft.
54.) Cecil Shorts, Jags – Chad Henne is statistically one of the worst QBs in the league. Did you know that he has never thrown more TDs than INTs in a season? He is the only starting QB in the NFL that can say that. As long as he is starting it’s hard to get excited about any of the Jags WRs, but on the bright-side, Blake Bortles has looked really good in his two preseason games. Bortles will have some growing pains, but the Jags might have a legit NFL QB by week 8 this year and when that happens, talented receivers like Shorts, Marqise Lee and Allen Robinson will have fantasy value. Stash Shorts at the end of your bench now and you will thank me come fantasy play-off time.
55.) Dwayne Bowe, Chiefs – On almost any other team Bowe would be ranked higher but his QB, Alex Smith, is afraid of throwing the ball farther than 15 yards so a large part of Bowe’s skill is wasted in KC. Bowe didn’t have over 70 yards in any regular season game last season. Don’t get fooled by name recognition. His 1-game suspension to start the season hurts his value as well.
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56.) Riley Cooper, Eagles – Went from possibly being cut due to some racial slurs to having a breakout season last year with 47 catches, 835 yards, and 8 TDs. Drafters seem down on Cooper this year maybe thinking that last year was a fluke and they may be right. Copper had 4 huge games and pretty much sucked the rest of the year. Cooper does a good job using his size (6’4, 222) to win jump balls and averaged just under 18 yards a catch last season but I’d be surprised if the wins as many this year. He’s still one of Foles favorite targets (5 / game) and might be the Eagles best deep threat. It’s a bit of a crapshoot, but after the Eagles re-signed him for 4 more years so Cooper will get another chance to produce this season.
57.) Danny Amendola, Patriots – He gets hurt way to often for my taste; Amendola has missed 9 games in the last two years. I would take him for a few bucks or with one of my last two picks in case he stays healthy for once, but he is just one of many receiving options on the Pats and Edelman took over as Brady’s most reliable white receiver last season.
58.) Steve Smith, Ravens – All I know is that Smith told fans to bring goggles to the Ravens / Panthers game in week 4. Why? Because he said there will be blood and guts everywhere! I’m terrified and not even going to be there. I have been rooting for Smith from that comment on. He sucked last year in Carolina; He couldn’t get open, couldn’t seperate after the catch, and is still really small. I doubt any of those things have changed, but Steve Smith is motivated and I’m not going to doubt a motivated Steve Smith.
59.) Rod Streater, Raiders – He had a decent season last year with 60 catches for 888 yards and 4 TDs. Streater doesn’t get much press playing on a bad Oakland team but he is a solid WR. Starting across from either James Jones or Andre Holmes, Streater will be catching passes from the best QB he has had as of yet (depressing, but true).
60.) Greg Jennings, Vikings – Looked old and slow last year, but supposedly was injured. That’s what I would say too if everyone was calling me old and slow at work. The Vikings are going to do whatever they can to get the ball in Cordarrelle Patterson’s hands, which is going to hurt Jennings’ target total quite a but. TE Kyle Rudolph has looked awesome so far as well so I don’t think Jennings (30 years old) is going to have much fantasy value this season. A repeat of last year’s stats is likely (68, 804, 4)