Anthony Miller flashed some serious skills as a rookie. Will he break out in year two?
Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy loved what Anthony Miller could bring to the Chicago Bears’ offense. So much so, that they traded back into the second round of the 2018 draft to secure the Memphis wide receiver.
Miller turned in a solid rookie campaign, despite struggling all season long with an injured shoulder. While Pace and Nagy were pleased with what Miller produced on the field, any fantasy owners that were hoping to catch lightning in a bottle with Miller were disappointed.
While Miller caught an impressive 7 touchdowns last season, he paired that with only 423 yards on 33 catches.
Unless you are in a seriously deep league, that’s just not enough production to warrant a roster spot on your fantasy squad.
But the arrow is definitely pointing up for Miller. First of all, he’s already shown he has a knack to find the end zone which, of course, is fantasy gold. If he can get some standard production to go with it, he will definitely find himself, not just on fantasy rosters, but in fantasy starting lineups this season.
Last year, Miller found himself fifth in both receptions and receiving yardage on the Bears. What’s interesting is that Allen Robinson, Taylor Gabriel and Tarik Cohen were all targeted in the 90s (Trey Burton was fourth with 76 targets). Miller was at 54. That’s almost half the number of targets as the top three.
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Miller was without question the fifth target in the Bears offense last season. This season, Miller should be expected to be far more featured in the offense, potentially even seeing the second most targets (and probably no lower than third).
An increase in targets for Miller should result in a nice season for the second-year receiver. If Mitch Trubisky targets Miller more, fantasy owners should be very excited with what 2019 has in store for number 17.
On most fantasy cheat sheets, Miller is ranked in the 40s or 50s among WRs. Some lists have him as low as ranked in the 60s.
Miller has sleeper potential in 2019. He should come off the board with the WR4s but he should produce as a WR3 with a chance, that he could even produce as a WR2 this season.
On the high-end, Miller could produce over 1000 yards and double-digit touchdowns. Most likely he won’t reach those levels, but depending on how integral he becomes as part of Matt Nagy’s offense, he could really reward those who draft him.
Anthony Miller 2019 stat projections– 60 receptions, 810 yards, 13.5 yards per catch, 8 TDs