NFL Wide Receiver Depth Charts Analysis - AFC East and AFC South

Antonio Losada looks at the wide receiver corps for teams in the AFC East & AFC South divisions and provides some analysis on WR sleepers and busts.

Today we're looking at the fantasy football wide receiver depth charts for the AFC East and AFC South. The regular season is right around the corner and each team's depth chart is mostly complete! Before diving into the fantasy season, RotoBaller has you covered with some wide receiver depth chart recaps for each team, including some useful bits of analysis for players you want to keep on your radar.

Please note that the charts below are based on individual team depth charts and come from RotoWire's projected starting units. The charts project the real-life pecking order expected to be used by head coaches at the respective franchises, not where RotoWire projects those players to finish in fantasy leagues.

Here are the current preseason depth charts at wide receiver from AFC East & AFC South teams.

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Fantasy Football WR Depth Chart Takeaways: AFC South

Once undervalued, always undervalued: Brandin Cooks, Houston Texans

There is not a lot to like in this group of receivers. The AFC South is, most probably, the weakest division in terms of pass-catching players entering 2022 and that's clear to see. With the exception of Michael Pittman Jr., no other receiver is projected to score more than 225 PPR points next year and even Pittman's projection (239 PPR) would only achieve him a WR15 finish. Second in line is Brandin Cooks, the oft-overlooked talent plying his trade in Houston for the third season come Week 1.

Cooks as always been a bona fide top-tier performer... yet his ADP has never topped that of WR10 (in 2017) and only twice has been inside the top-12 WRs getting off fantasy draft boards through his eight-year career. In comparison, he's finished all seasons in which he's played 15+ games as a top-20 receiver (six of them) and one of those as a top-10 wideout (2016).

Only once in eight years has Cooks dropped below scoring at least 13.8 FPPG, and he's put up 15.5 and 14.5 figures in the last two years in Houston--yes, including 2021 playing for rookie QB Davis Mills. There is nothing stopping Cooks from getting to another high-end WR2 finish with upside for much more if Mills keeps improving, and his current ADP of 63rd-overall is the third-cheapest among the 20 WRs projected to hit 224+ PPR points next season.

Alternative value-play: Marvin Jones Jr., Jacksonville Jaguars

Junior is a consummated professional doing it for the 10th season in the NFL next year. Jones has spent time in Cincy when Andy Dalton was manning the pocket, then with the ever-losing Detroit Lions, and now with the rookie-led Jaguars. It's not that he's ever been in great positions to succeed, is what I'm saying.

Even then, Jones has always scored more than 10.6 PPR points per game other than in his rookie season and has now strung three years in a row catching 60.8%+ of his targets while getting an average receiving line of 110/70/860/7 in that span. Trevor Lawrence should be much better in 2022 than he was last season, and Jones should definitely benefit from that. To PFF eyes, MJJr. is worth much more than his current 206th-overall ADP as he projects to a top-43 finish among WRs with 185+ PPR points over the year.

Fantasy Football WR Depth Chart Takeaways: AFC East

Secondary receivers shouldn't make you shiver: Gabriel Davis, Buffalo Bills

There is nothing interesting in advising you to draft any of Diggs/Hill because looking at their ADP (13th and 22nd overall, respectively) already tells you all you need to know. That said, I'm actually impressed by how much talent all four teams from the AFC East boast in their secondary-wideout roles. Without fail.

Gabriel Davis, Jaylen Waddle, Jakobi Meyers, and Corey Davis could all put their WR1 counterparts under (at least some) heavy pressure. Diggs and Hill are most probably locked into finishing as their teams' WR1 (both of them project, in fact, to WR1/top-eight finish in PPR leagues next season) but it feels like a coin flip who will finish first in both NYJ and New England.

Anyway, the fact that Davis is a clear WR2 in Buffalo is depressing his ADP and making him one of the best values in the division. Davis has an ADP of around 65th overall while projecting to a better WR21 finish. That translates from a total tally of 223 PPR points over 17 games.

It might not align with Davis' first two seasons as a pro (136.9 and 125.9 PPR points, respectively) but it comes in a much different role than those he has had in previous years. All of Cole Beasley, John Brown, and Emmanuel Sanders are now gone and Davis is expected to get many more targets than his 62/63 from the last two years. But if you don't trust that bump in usage...

Alternative value-play: Jakobi Meyers, New England Patriots

Then you can always draft Meyers at an astonishing 147th (!) overall ADP. That's absolutely crazy, and there is still a chance Meyers enter the 2022 season as the Patriots' WR1 over recently-acquired DeVante Parker. In fact, Parker is probably the Pats' no. 1 receiver in name but probably not game. PFF projects Meyers to 182 PPR points while Parker is down to only 124.

Meyers has an ADP of 147 compared to Parker's 158. One is a potential ROI King while the other comes projected as a negative investment. Only Corey Davis – another WR2 in his team – has a higher ROI than Meyers in the division, so consider him as good an option as Meyers if you need a good WR3/FLEX on the low end of the ADP spectrum.

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