I guess Diontae Johnson is as good as I thought he was. Pittsburgh’s receiving situation could be similar to Dallas’s before Dak went down, with one or two receivers stepping up each week and next to no way to guess who it will be in any particular game. That being said, I think Johnson is the best player right now. I kind of like the idea of Chase Claypool as a better version of Michael Gallup . Claypool is playable every week based solely on his upside, but I think he’ll have the highest variance of the three receivers. He could also benefit if Johnson gets more defensive attention. JuJu Smith-Schuster should probably be fairly consistent out of the slot, though I don’t expect him to get anywhere close to his production from two years ago.
Speaking of the Cowboys receivers, I think the only one who’s playable is Amari Cooper , and I don’t even feel great about that. I still think Andy Dalton and the Cowboys’ offense is better than its shown the last two weeks, but I don’t think we’ll see it until after the bye. They face two more good pass rushes the next two weeks in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and I think it will continue to be ugly. I wouldn’t try to buy low on any Dallas receivers, especially not yet, but I don’t think I could bring myself to drop any of them. I am, however, already penciling in a Cowboys stack in DFS Week 11 against Minnesota.
Are the Cincinnati receivers a poor man’s version of the Pittsburgh receivers? Tyler Boyd is the safe one, though I think he’s definitely better for fantasy than JuJu Smith-Schuster . A.J. Green has double-digit targets in three of his seven games, and unlike early in the season, he is actually being productive with his targets, with at least seven receptions and 82 yards in two straight games. Green still hasn’t found the touchdown, but I have to believe that is coming soon. Higgins has between five and nine targets in all six games this season, and while that’s not a lot to write home about, he is a good enough player to turn that into a fairly high floor with a reasonable ceiling. I don’t know that I’ll ever be excited to play him for fantasy, at least this season, but you could do much worse, especially in a PPR league.
I’m shocked to discover there are people still advocating Cole Beasley outside of deep PPR leagues. Don’t we know exactly what he is by now? Beasley had his best game of the season last week at the Jets, catching 11 of 12 targets for 112 yards. It was his first game this season with more than six receptions or seven targets. John Brown was a full participant in practice Wednesday, and presuming he is active, I think we can expect Beasley to go back to six or seven targets for 60ish yards every week. He has a long track record of producing those kinds of numbers.
I believe this is the first time all season Jerry Jeudy has fallen out of our target leaderboard, though he has basically been irrelevant for fantasy for a few weeks. This rookie receiver class has been remarkable, which makes Jeudy’s struggles even more confounding. He was supposed to be the receiver in this draft who was going to get open from day one, and that has not been the case. He obviously has a long time to get better, and perhaps he needs someone like Courtland Sutton on the other side of the field to draw defensive attention, but it’s hard to overstate how disappointing he has been. He is droppable even in deeper redraft leagues, and while I would take a shot on him in dynasty leagues, I wouldn’t give up much to get him.
I think if I was playing for next year, I would rather have Jeudy in a dynasty league than Travis Fulgham. There is a chance Fulgham is Alshon Jeffrey, or that Juedy is a bust, but I think I would be surprised if Fulgham is more than a WR3 for fantasy in a real NFL offense. For this year, Fulgham has at least 10 targets in three straight games, and Sunday was the first game in his NFL career without a touchdown. Fulgham is playable based on volume alone, and a nice remaining schedule doesn’t hurt.
Nelson Agholor generated some fantasy buzz with his five catches on nine targets for 107 yards and a touchdown Saturday. Bryan Edwards returned to limited practice Wednesday, and the last thing Agholor needs is more competition for targets in addition to Darren Waller , Hunter Renfrow, Josh Jacobs and Henry Ruggs. I would be pretty shocked if Agholor turned out to be anything more than a GPP play for DFS, though stranger things have happened.
Chris Godwin ’s injury would appear to be good news for Scotty Miller, but that hasn’t borne out so far this season. Miller has topped five targets three times this season, and two of those were with Godwin in the lineup, including Sunday. One thing that seems unambiguous is that Miller will turn into a pumpkin if/when Antonio Brown takes the field for Tampa Bay. Miller will likely always have weekly upside as Tom Brady ’s main deep threat, but that receiving corps could be awfully crowded when Chris Godwin returns from his injury.
Week 7 was pretty quiet for tight ends, thanks in part to injuries and byes, but I thought Richard Rodgers acquitted himself well, with six receptions for 85 yards on eight targets. Dallas Goedert made a return to limited practice Wednesday, but if he cannot play this week, Rodgers is a streaming option.
I’m surprised how much of the discussion surrounding Odell Beckham ’s injury focused on Rashard Higgins and not Jarvis Landry . I know Landry is dealing with a rib injury, but he has only topped six targets once this season after he did it 13 times last season. If he can physically handle more targets, I expect him to get them. Higgins should be on rosters on the off chance he pops, but I suspect if he was going to, it would have happened already. He caught all six targets for 110 yards Sunday against the Bengals but I don’t expect that kind of production from him or the Cleveland passing game most weeks.