Now that we’re in best ball mode here on Fantasy Alarm and Bettor Sports Network, we'll have regular fantasy football best ball drafts with the #FAmily starting soon. That means we’ll be hitting the best ball coverage very hard now with the NFL Draft in our rearview mirror and rookie landing spots intact. Watching the 2023 NFL ADP is going to be fantastic as we will now be inundated with more rookie hype, new fantasy football projections and, of course, a whole new set of fantasy football rankings to study. Are you ready? Make sure you register for Underdog Fantasy by clicking here and using promo code “FANTASYALARM” so you can come draft with Howard Bender, Andrew Cooper, Britt Flinn, Jon Impemba and a host of others, including myself.

 

Now starts one of the biggest lulls of the NFL offseason, where news trickles in slowly, and it’s usually dominated by veterans signing with teams. With that, we’ll be going position by position to pick out some wide receiver targets that are attractive values at their ADP. 

All ADP is per Underdog Fantasy and is from the just-released Best Ball Mania IV.

If you missed my Best Ball Running Back Targets, check it out here!

DeVonta Smith, Philadelphia Eagles (WR13)

Selecting DeVonta Smith this season is extremely similar to selecting Tee Higgins last season in best ball, where he was coming off of best ball boards at roughly this same spot at the late-second or early third-round turn.

If you read my First Round Winners and Losers for Fantasy Football article from NFL Draft weekend, you’ll know when I talk about a player, we’ll see pop up later in this article that we love condensed offenses for fantasy. It removes most of the doubt about “if” a player is going to earn targets. We’ve seen it year in and year out with Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen in Minnesota to DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett in Seattle.

A.J. Brown and Devonta Smith are one the latest duos consolidating passing-game targets (with Dallas Goedert at tight end) for an elite offense in Philadelphia. There’s literally no other wide receiver that’s in the same galaxy as these two when it comes to target-earning potential in Philadelphia. With all due respect to Quez Watkins or Olamide Zaccheaus, it’s a two-man show for the Eagles. In fact, the Eagles in 2022 led the NFL with the highest target percentage to wide receivers amongst their total targets at 69%. When Jalen Hurts targeted a pass-catcher, almost 70% of the time, it was to a wide receiver. Brown (145) and Smith (136) were far and away over the next highest player at the wide receiver position, which was Watkins’ 51 targets.

Smith led the Eagles in receptions with 95 but ceded receiving touchdowns and yards to Brown in 2022. Smith can absolutely overtake Brown in terms of fantasy scoring if some touchdowns or a couple of broken plays break the right way for him. It’s not a WR1 and WR2 scenario, it’s a 1A and 1B here.

When it comes to the Eagles' top-two pass catchers, both Brown and Smith are worthwhile targets, but if you’re drafting in the second round and you want a player that had top-six upside in a consolidated offense, Smith is a clear choice as the cheaper of the two elite wide receiver options in Philadelphia. 

Keenan Allen, Los Angeles Chargers (WR25)

I’m going to be completely transparent here: the fourth and fifth round wide receivers in 2023 are pretty gross as a collective unit. It hasn’t been this bad in several years. Sometimes, the values just aren’t there in a given year.

The studs who we thought were going to be studs are above this tier. The veterans are prominent among a group of disappointing options — whether it’s because of players not living up to their expectations or being on offenses not conducive to fantasy success — and being veterans, they aren’t as exciting or capable of the kind of league-winning upside we’re looking for in best ball. But they can steady the ship. Let’s take a look at some wide receivers from WR17 to WR24:

  • Calvin Ridley hasn’t played a snap since Week 7 in 2021
  • DJ Moore goes from Carolina to a Bears offense that had the lowest pass rate over expected (PROE) in the league last season (-14.1)
  • DeAndre Hopkins may have Cardinals rookie quarterback Clayton Tune throwing the ball to him in Week 1 if Hopkins isn’t traded
  • We’ll get to Mike Williams in the next paragraph, but he’s got a big worry too
  • Christian Watson has Jordan Love at quarterback, who has all of 83 passing attempts in three NFL seasons and had only two games of six or more targets in 2022
  • Jerry Jeudy (Courtland Sutton, WR44) seem destined for either a trade or a run-first offense in Denver
  • Drake London is likely to have serious problems earning targets in an Atlanta offense that wants to run the ball back to the Paleozoic era with Bijan Robinson now the bellcow running back

You can find warts in a lot of players around Keenan Allen’s ADP, but Allen has zero questions about the offense he plays in, even if the Chargers added a first-round wide receiver in Quentin Johnston. Mike Williams (I told you I’d get to him) should actually worry about Johnston and his 2023 and future fantasy prospects, especially if Williams’ injury concerns creep up in 2023. The good thing for Allen is that he has an insulated role in this offense no matter the outcome. Allen is the flanker in two-wide receiver sets and plays the slot in three-wide receiver sets. After missing more than half of the 2022 season, Allen came back with a vengeance, outscoring every receiver in fantasy football but Justin Jefferson and Davante Adams in Week 11 through Week 18. Sounds pretty good, I’d say.

Allen was subject to trade rumors but is likely to remain with the Chargers for 2023, so amidst a wide receiver group in best ball with a ton of uncertainty, and despite turning 31 a week ago, Allen should be a rock-solid, productive, target-earning option for Justin Herbert in a pass-heavy offense. WR25 is the cheapest price we’ve had for Allen since his post-ACL injury 2017. Pounce on it. 

Jordan Addison, Minnesota Vikings (WR40)

I clearly cannot stop talking about Jordan Addison being such an insane value, and I think the word is getting out to people. In the last five days, Addison’s Underdog Fantasy ADP has gone from WR43 to WR40. It might keep creeping up, and we’re going to continue to hit the Addison propaganda train hard.

The thesis behind the play in drafting Addison is, of course, hoping he can cement himself as the WR2 in Minnesota and leapfrog K.J. Osborn. As we talked about with A.J. Brown and Devonta Smith, the condensed offenses are ones we should go out of our way to target in fantasy.

Addison has a clear runway to getting on the field immediately, as longtime Vikings Adam Thielen is now catching passes from Bryce Young in Carolina and the only player standing in his way to starting at flanker opposite of Justin Jefferson. Even if Addison is ceding snaps to Osborn to begin the season, the WR3 role in Minnesota is very fruitful given the very few personnel the Vikings use in games. Most teams use anywhere from 11-14 players on a given week between their RB, WR and TE, but head coach Kevin O’Connell going back to his time with the Los Angeles Rams uses some of the lowest amounts of personnel in the league.

The top-three Vikings wide receivers in routes per dropback for 2022 were Justin Jefferson at 94.1%, Adam Thielen at 91.9% and K.J. Osborn at 80.9%. Simply put, Addison will get on the field on at least 80% of routes per dropback, and from there, the sky is the limit. Even with a rising ADP on Underdog, he’s still a massive buy at that price.

Romeo Doubs, Green Bay Packers (WR61)

This is not just a ploy to get back into the good graces of the Packers fans I have besmirched on social media, but if it works, I won’t complain.

Doubs had a nice stretch from Week 3 through Week 8 where he was earning targets regularly and most importantly, running 93.5% of routes per dropback. An ankle injury took him off the field in Week 9, and he would come back in Week 15 with the fanfare officially moved on to Christian Watson and his late-season touchdown barrage. Doubs would not earn anywhere close to the routes share he enjoyed in the beginning of 2022.

In Weeks 3 through Week 8, Doubs started out strictly out wide but by Week 8, his snaps were virtually half and half between wide and slot. Matt LaFleur highly values versatility in playing all three wide receiver positions, so it was great to see him show that kind of flexibility.

Not only was Doubs versatile, but he also showed glimpses of efficiency and target-earning ability for Aaron Rodgers. Now, the quarterback is Jordan Love, and while the team invested draft capital into some pass-catchers for Love, Doubs still remains a starter opposite Christian Watson in two-wide sets and likely as the flanker in three-wide sets if rookie Jayden Reed gets on the field early as a second-round rookie.

At WR61, Doubs is a free square best ball pick where you can tell yourself a story that if Love is the quarterback of the future, he’s going to need to show it in 2023 and Doubs would be a big beneficiary.

 

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