2015 Fantasy Football: Wide Receiver Rankings (Part 2)
Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
41.) Eddie Royal, Bears – The last time Royal caught passes from Jay Cutler was his rookie season in 2008 and he caught 91 of them for 981 yards and 5 TDs. Royal hasn’t matched that production since, but is coming off his 2nd best season with 62 catches and 7 TDs in 2014. During his time with the Bears, Jay Cutler has never had a reliable underneath receiver until now. The loss of rookie Kevin White and lack of another experienced WR should keep Royal on the field often and lead to plenty of targets.
42.) Nelson Agholor, Eagles – One of the sharpest route runners in the draft and a perfect fit for the Eagles offense. Agholor just has to beat out Riley Cooper for the Eagles #2 target behind Jordan Matthews. He’s dangerous with the ball, has sticky hands and is tougher than expected for his average size (6’0 | 185). With the Eagles running more plays than any other team in the league, just being the #2 WR should be enough to make Agholor a valuable fantasy player. He got off to a nice start in the first preseason game with 3 catches for 57 yards and an impressive 34-yard TD.
43.) Roddy White, Falcons – He’ll be 34 this season and has had two sub-par seasons in a row. His yards per catch has dropped about 3 yards since 2012 and he looked noticeably slower from the eye test. White did have 125 targets last season and could have a similar number in 2015. 3rd receiver Leonard Hankerson is making some noise in training camp, but there isn’t much proven talent at the receiver position behind Jones and White.
44.) Larry Fitzgerald, Cardinals – He’s coming off the worst statistical season of his career with his 2nd lowest catch and yardage totals and a career low 2 TDs. Fitz had 5 games with 3 or less catches and wasn’t productive enough to be a fantasy starter for the first time ever. Maybe a healthy Carson Palmer improves Fitz’s stats but he was actually worse with Palmer than Stanton last year. I would take a flyer on Fitz with one of my last roster spots, but someone will inevitably take him earlier based on name recognition.
45.) Pierre Garcon, Redskins – Followed up a breakout 2013 season (113 | 1346 | 5) with a disappointing 2014 campaign (68 | 752 | 3). Garcon has never had much success finding the end zone (career high 6 TDs in ’10 & ’11) so his fantasy value is contingent on catches. With a questionable QB it’s hard to trust that Garcon will get back to around 100 catches this season.