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WR Chosen Anderson has always had the ability to make big plays. In Week 1 of the 2022 NFL season, the then-Panther caught a deep pass from Baker Mayfield and took it all the way for a 75-yard touchdown that put Carolina within striking distance of a comeback win. Unfortunately, that was his only touchdown of the season.
Anderson has had better seasons. In 2020, he broke 1,000 receiving yards for the first time. But he has always been plagued by inconsistency, drops, and poor quarterback play.
Anderson, who changed his name from Robby to Robbie in 2022, and then to Chosen in 2023, signed with the Miami Dolphins on April 16. Is he a good fit with the Fins?
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How Has Chosen Anderson's NFL Career Been?
Anderson played football under Matt Rhule at Temple University, and Rhule convinced Anderson to switch from defensive back to wide receiver during his freshman year. He displayed his big-play abilities early on, setting the single-game school record with 239 receiving yards against SMU.
After attending community college in 2014 to sort out some academic problems, he returned to Temple in 2015, where he caught 70 passes for 939 yards. He ran a blazing-fast 4.36-second 40-yard dash and was signed by the New York Jets as an undrafted free agent.
In four seasons with the Jets, three as a season-long starter, Anderson routinely gained over 700 yards and scored between 5-7 touchdowns. He was used as a big-play threat. His average depth of target was over 8.0 yards in each of his final three seasons in New York, and he gained at least 14.9 yards per catch in each of those seasons.
In 2020, he reunited with his old college coach Matt Rhule on the Panthers, where he was one of their top two receivers for three seasons. In his first season with Carolina, he was targeted 136 times and caught 95 passes for 1,096 yards and three touchdowns.
In his next season, he was again targeted frequently -- 110 times -- but he only caught 48.2% of those passes for 519 yards and five touchdowns. He was one of the league leaders in dropped passes, with six in 2020 and seven in 2021.
In 2022, he looked even worse than he did in 2021. The Panthers were doing poorly and traded away the few assets they had to rebuild. Matt Rhule was fired. Anderson got into an argument with the interim coaches on the sidelines and was swiftly dealt to the Cardinals for a couple of late-round picks.
How Does Chosen Anderson Fit With The Dolphins?
The Dolphins give Anderson the best quarterback he has ever had for a full season. While he was on the Kyler Murray-led Cardinals for the second half of last season, he played very little, and the QB never had a chance to develop chemistry with his wide receiver.
In Miami, Anderson slots in as the WR4 on ESPN's current depth chart. However, Dolphins WR3 Cedrick Wilson is the subject of trade rumors, so Anderson could move up to No. 3 on the depth chart. Trent Sherfield signed with the Buffalo Bills in free agency. Former Jets WR Braxton Berrios is also in the running for winning the WR3 job.
Dolphins fan blogger Matt Serniak wrote (before Anderson signed), "It interests me [who is the WR3] so much because Hill and Waddle draw so much attention that whoever is the other guy who isn’t them has the chance to really explode."
The reality, though, is that Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle draw so much attention because they are by far the most likely receivers to be targeted. Together, Hill and Waddle combined for 52% of Miami's targets. Each of them had the ball go his way over 117 times. The third receiver wasn't the WR3 but the tight end. Mike Gesicki had 52 targets and Trent Sherfield had 51.
In the past, Anderson has had some serviceable fantasy years because he was getting targeted all the time as one of the better receivers on teams with bad receivers. He was never a highly efficient receiver. Now that he is having to compete with two of the best receivers in the league for targets, he won't be a productive fantasy option even if he does end up being the Fins' No. 3 WR.
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