The 2020 fantasy football season is right around the corner, and our experts here at YardsPer Fantasy sat down and created a list of 2020 fantasy football wide receivers you must draft. This is the third of a four-part series compiles analyst’s Zareh Kantzabedian, Jake Brouillette, Andrew Zamzow, Scott Leathley, Alex Johnson, and Big Cat’s favorite players. Let’s look at the team’s favorite WRs.
Part One: Target These Quarterbacks In 2020 Fantasy Drafts
Part Two: Six Running Backs We Love To Draft In 2020
BIG CAT: ALLEN ROBINSON, CHICAGO BEARS
Allen Robinson is the man. Honestly, if Robinson didn’t have to deal with quarterbacks Blake Bortles and Mitch Trubisky throwing him errant passes his entire career, we may be talking about Robinson as a top-eight WR in the NFL. Despite Trubisky’s abysmal 2019 season, Robinson saw 154 targets, caught 98 passes for 1,147 yards and 7 TDs. This was good enough for the WR7 in PPR formats (WR10 in PPG).
Perhaps new Bears quarterback Nick Foles is better than Trubisky, but who knows. Will Trubisky remain the starter? JJ Stankevitz of NBC Sports Chicago projects him to be, after all. Either way, be sure to expect that Allen Robinson will get his targets and will be effective with whoever the signal-caller is in Chicago. With all of this in mind, I’ve projected Robinson for 152 targets, or a 26-percent target share. As the 37th overall player in ADP (WR12), he is being under drafted and can be one of the “set it and forget it” 2020 fantasy football wide receivers.
SCOTT LEATHLEY: MICHAEL PITTMAN JR., INDIANAPOLIS COLTS
Generally speaking, I’m one to avoid drafting rookie wide receivers. The majority of rookie wide receivers don’t produce right away and can be grabbed off the waiver wire in the middle of the season. With that said, Pittman is the exception. Not only can you take Pittman with the last pick of the draft, but he also has an opportunity to produce immediately this season. The Colts drafted Pittman with their first pick of the 2020 NFL Draft. Therefore, the draft capital leads me to believe that the Colts will give him every opportunity throughout the season to showcase his skills.
Related | Michael Pittman Jr.: 2020 Dynasty Rookie Profile
Teammate and fellow wide receiver T.Y. Hilton continues to battle injuries even when he is in the lineup. If Hilton were to miss any time, Pittman will be thrust into targets thrown his way. Even if Pittman isn’t targeted as much, he is a big play waiting to happen.
In college, Pittman averaged just under 15 yards per catch. If he sees any sort of volume and even comes close to that yards per catch, Pittman will outperform his average draft position easily.
There’s no evidence to show Pittman won’t see deep targets either.
Quarterback Philip Rivers has shown in the past that he isn’t afraid of throwing interceptions and utilizes the big-play receiver. Los Angeles Chargers wide receiver Mike Williams (who has similar measurables) had 10 touchdowns two seasons ago with Rivers on the roster, followed up by a season receiving over 1,000 yards. Pittman can immediately step into that role and be valuable in fantasy this year.
JAKE BROUILLETTE: DK METCALF, SEATTLE SEAHAWKS
Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson has an incredible rapport with wide receiver Tyler Lockett. However, Metcalf’s 18.3 average yards per catch in college carried over to the NFL. He’s a hyper-efficient WR option who will score touchdowns, too. Simply put: do not wait until WR24 to take Metcalf.
ZAREH KANTZABEDIAN: JUJU SMITH-SCHUSTER, PITTSBURGH STEELERS
In 2018, JuJu finished fourth in wide receiver targets and as the WR8 in PPR formats. Fellow wide receiver Antonio Brown finished second in targets that same year. Now, Brown is a distant memory. The last time Smith-Schuster played an entire season he caught 111 balls on 166 targets for 1426 yards and 7 touchdowns.
With fellow wide receiver Dionte Johnson manning the “X” position, expect to see a lot of Smith-Schuster in the slot in 2020. Right now, I’d place Smith-Schuster above Robinson and Detroit Lions wide receiver Kenny Golladay based on the pure volume alone that Smith-Schuster will be receiving.
With quarterback Ben Roethlisberger getting older, expect plenty of high percentage throws to Smith-Schuster. He is going to be a target monster this season and is a personal favorite to finish inside the top-10 among 2020 fantasy football wide receivers.
ANDREW ZAMZOW: D.J. MOORE, CAROLINA PANTHERS
Moore is one of the most intriguing WRs of the 2020 NFL season. Some people, like myself, have him as a top-10 wide receiver for the season. Conversely, others view him as a one-hit-wonder from a poor offense. The Panthers offense as a whole will look much different in 2020. With additions of quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, fellow wide receiver Robby Anderson, and new offensive coordinator Joe Brady, the Panthers are hoping to expose NFL defenses. We all know that running back Christian McCaffrey is the focal point of this offense, no doubt. Still, Moore is locked in as a very nice second option.
Related | Could DJ Moore Produce A Michael Thomas-Like Season In 2020?
Moore put together a very solid 2019, posting an 87-1175-4 stat line on 135 targets. All of those stats came from subpar quarterback play after Cam Newton went down with an injury to begin 2019. Moore managed a 55.6-percent contested catch percentage, good for sixth in the NFL, according to PlayerProfiler, and was eighth at the WR for yards after the catch (YAC). The YAC stat is a huge factor in Moore’s 2020 outlook. Just about every fan of football knows that Bridgewater isn’t a gunslinger. He doesn’t chuck it deep, he prefers the high percentage, short passes.
With Moore’s ability in the open field, this is a huge plus for the stud wideout. He will have plenty of opportunities to make defenders miss and tack on extra yardage. Moore is being drafted as the WR10, according to FantasyPros. With the new offense in place, Moore should improve on every statistical category, especially touchdowns. Put Moore inside the top-five of 2020 fantasy football wide receivers.
Alex Johnson: Terry McLaurin, Washington Football Team
Despite coming off the board in the third round of the NFL Draft, Terry McLaurin was a complete fantasy afterthought heading into the 2019 season. That didn’t last long, though, as the man they call ‘Scary Terry’ burst onto the scene with 125 receiving yards and 23.5 fantasy points in Week 1. He followed that up with several other impressive performances, including a 5-130-1 line against the Eagles and another 100 yards and two scores in Miami. He averaged 13.7 fantasy points per game while seeing many of the game’s top cornerbacks like Byron Jones, Jaire Alexander, and Stephon Gilmore. One year later, and he is now a mid-round pick in all formats with an FFPC ADP of 57.19. But I have him ranked almost a full-round higher, and for good reason.
McLaurin was extremely efficient for a rookie, especially considering the carousel of bad quarterbacks parading through the lineup. He dealt with poor performances from Case Keenum and Colt McCoy before the team turned the keys over to first-rounder—and McLaurin’s college quarterback—Dwayne Haskins. The trio ranked No.85 in Target Accuracy when targeting McLaurin. Despite this, McLaurin still found a way to rank No.11 among wide receivers in Production Premium and second in Target Premium while finishing with 919 yards and seven touchdowns on 58 receptions. If it wasn’t for two games missed with a hamstring strain (Week 4) and concussion (Week 17), he would have easily topped 1,000 yards.
Listen: Terry McLaurin SZN
McLaurin was the clear favorite in the Washington pass attack from day one. None of his teammates came close to his 93 targets or 23-percent Target Rate. His 36.7-percent Dominator Rating was second among all wideouts, as was his 47-percent share of his team’s air yards. His blazing 4.35 (98th-percentile) speed allowed him to be a deep threat as well as a target hog. McLaurin was targeted on deep balls 21 times (No.24) and averaged 15.5 (No.14) yards per reception and 9.9 (No.12) yards per target, with an Average Target Distance of 13.9 (No.21). That shouldn’t have come as a surprise, though, considering his incredible 20 yards per reception average in his final season at Ohio State.
We’ve established that F1 (another of his popular nicknames) commands targets and is a threat to go deep, but how is he in traffic? Fantastic is one way to describe it. Another is to say he led all receivers with a 68.4-percent Contested Catch Rate. With improved target accuracy, it’s easy to see McLaurin ranking near the top in Catch Rate in future seasons.
See Where McLaurin Lands In Our Top-300 Rankings!
McLaurin’s 2.38 yards per route, one of the more predictive metrics for future fantasy production, ranks third among rookie wide receivers over the last three seasons. It’s just another indication of how efficient he is and how good he can truly be with more targets. Speaking of more targets, with a year of experience under his belt and a new coaching staff bringing in a more pass-friendly philosophy, McLaurin is in line for a significant bump in 2020. The team will see more pass volume after ranking in the bottom five in 2019, naturally leading to more opportunities for pass catchers. They’ll be playing from behind often, something the new coaching staff, particularly head coach Ron Rivera and offensive coordinator Scott Turner, experienced plenty of during 2019 in Carolina, which resulted in the second-most pass attempts in the league.
Check Out Alex On The Feed Me Fantasy Podcast!
With his only target competition coming from Steven Sims, Trey Quinn, and rookie Antonio Gandy-Golden, McLaurin will see a significant share of the increased pass volume. Rivera compared his new WR1 to his old WR1 (D.J. Moore) this offseason. Moore saw 135 targets in his second season. If McLaurin can come anywhere close to that, he will far out-produce his ADP.
If we could count on consistent quarterback play in Washington, McLaurin would be even more of a smash pick in the middle rounds. But, his numbers actually took a dip with Haskins under center thanks to a pretty dreadful 5.2 (No. 34) Adjusted Yards per Attempt and 34.8-percent (No. 53) Red Zone Completion Percentage.
We have to trust that Haskins’ play will improve from year one to year two. Even modest improvements would help McLaurin take the significant second-season jump we expect that he will. And if Haskins turns out to be good, we could be talking about McLaurin as one of the steals of 2020 by season’s end.
