RADIO
The Jacksonville Jaguars entered the 2022 season with a murky pecking order in the wide receiver room. After Marvin Jones led the team in 2021 with 832 receiving yards, the Jaguars overhauled the position in the offseason, signing Christian Kirk and Zay Jones to hefty contracts.
While Marvin Jones is still there, they let go of both their second and third-leading receivers, Laviska Shenault Jr. and Laquon Treadwell, leaving plenty of vacated targets heading into 2022.
The early results show that the Jags made some shrewd offseason signings as both Kirk and Zay Jones have paid dividends thus far. Kirk's production is not all that surprising but Jones went largely overlooked in the offseason. Should fantasy managers be adding Zay Jones off of waivers after his Week 3 performance? Let's take a closer look.
Editor's Note: Our incredible team of writers won two writing awards and received 12 award nominations by the Fantasy Sports Writers Association. A big congrats to our very own Byron Lindeque (Golf) and Jordan McAbee (NASCAR) for both winning Writer Of The Year awards! Be sure to follow RotoBaller's analysis and advice all year long, and win more. Win More With RotoBaller!
What Did Zay Jones Do In Week 3?
Jones caught 10 of his 11 targets for 85 yards and a touchdown in an upset win over the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 3. All three of those marks led the team, while Kirk and Marvin Jones both also found the end zone.
Zay Jones has now drawn caught 19 of 21 targets for 173 yards and a touchdown through three games. He is second on the team in receiving yards but Jones is actually leading the Jags in receptions, with one more than Kirk.
Here is Jones' touchdown reception against the Chargers on Sunday.
You cold for this one @zayjones11 all love lil bro lol pic.twitter.com/FUyLiB4phs
— Shawne Merriman (@shawnemerriman) September 26, 2022
Jones has drawn at least nine targets in two of his games and appears to be firmly established as a featured weapon in what has been a revitalized Jacksonville passing attack in 2022.
Should I Add Zay Jones Off the Waiver Wire in Fantasy Football?
It is easy to forget that Jones was a very intriguing NFL draft prospect once upon a time. The Bills thought highly enough of him to use a second-round pick on him in the 2017 draft. Just take a look at these elite metrics, courtesy of Player Profiler.
Jones didn't pan out in Buffalo but he did show something in 2021 as a member of the Las Vegas Raiders, catching 41 passes for 431 yards following the team's bye in Week 8. Week 9 was also the week where he became close to a full-time player as he didn't top 26.8% of the team's snaps over the first seven games of the year.
Jacksonville quarterback Trevor Lawrence has taken a big step forward after a rough rookie year. If he continues to improve in a friendly offensive system run by Doug Pederson, Lawrence could certainly support several fantasy-relevant receivers.
With Marvin Jones now in his age-32 season, he is best suited as a situational receiver, leaving the door open for Zay Jones to ascend to the No. 2 WR chair in Jacksonville. Even if Jones remains behind Christian Kirk, he will still hold fantasy value as a weekly flex option moving forward. Fantasy gamers in leagues of 12 teams and larger should be prioritizing Zay Jones as a top waiver add this week.
Download Our Free News & Alerts Mobile App
Like what you see? Download our updated fantasy football app for iPhone and Android with 24x7 player news, injury alerts, rankings, starts/sits & more. All free!
Win More With RotoBaller
Be sure to also check out all of our other daily fantasy football articles and analysis to help you set those winning lineups, including this new RotoBaller YouTube video:More Fantasy Football Analysis
