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Craig Rondinone analyzes free-agent wide receivers who may be sleepers or surprise breakouts in the 2018 fantasy football season with new teams.
Fantasy football owners know that changing teams usually changes a player’s fantasy value, and many times for the better.
NFL general managers have been paying free-agent wide receivers more millions this offseason than the producers of Big Bang Theory pay its stars. It seems all you need is a 100 career receptions on your résumé and the potential to have a 600-yard season and you can rake in multimillions. So receivers have been switching teams more often than germophobes wash their hands.
Here are three free-agent wide receivers who may surprise in 2018 now that they have inked deals with new teams.
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Free-Agent WR to Watch Out For in 2018
Terrelle Pryor, New York Jets
Pryor was one of the biggest busts at wide receiver in 2017, going from a 1,000-yard year to having as many yards as Pittsburgh’s Antonio Brown can put up in one game (240). Nothing went right for Pryor in Washington when he signed a one-year deal and hoped to cash in like a lottery winner after he had another above-average season. He had zero chemistry with quarterback Kirk Cousins, lost snaps to the lackluster Josh Doctson and had ongoing ankle problems that kept him under 100 percent for most of the year and ended his season prematurely.
Pryor comes to a Jets team whose receiving corps is fronted by Robby Anderson and Jermaine Kearse, a twosome who did a lot better than anyone expected last year as they combined for 128 receptions for 1,751 yards and a dozen touchdowns. Neither are a No. 1 receiver or a sure thing, though. Anderson has had off-the-field issues out the wazoo and Kearse is not gifted enough to hold a more talented receiver behind him on the depth chart. The best of the Jets receiving bunch might be Quincy Enunwa, but he missed most of last season with a bulging disc in his neck and is a question mark entering the season.
Josh McCown was able to milk career years out of Anderson, Kearse and tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins last season, so why can’t he get another 1,000-yard campaign out of Pryor? We have seen what Pryor can do when healthy and given an ample amount of targets. Pryor should not cost fantasy owners much in auctions or drafts but could pay humongous dividends in the end if he becomes the Jets No. 1 or No. 2 WR.
Ryan Grant, Indianapolis Colts
Grant has had one of the most interesting offseasons out of free-agent receivers. After signing a $29 million deal with the Baltimore Ravens that had fantasy football players scratching their heads, he had the deal voided because he failed his physical. He then had to settle for a paltry one-year, $5 million dollar contract with the Colts. The strange thing is that even though this did not work out financially for Grant, it may work out better statistically for him.
Grant has no competition for the No. 2 WR role in Indianapolis as of right now. Chester Rogers and his 42 career catches? Nope. The rest of the receivers on the roster are practice-squad-caliber pass catchers, so unless the Colts draft somebody or sign someone else, Grant will be the one seeing single coverage with T.Y. Hilton and Jack Doyle distracting defenses for him while Andrew Luck hopefully is throwing pinpoint passes to him.
The sample size with Grant is smaller than your average Lilliputian. The man has 84 receptions for 985 yards and six touchdowns… in four seasons! This will make most fantasy owners ignore him on Draft Day. But if a healthy Luck recovers and rebounds, and the Colts do not find a Hilton clone in the draft, Grant could have the best season of his career.
Taylor Gabriel, Chicago Bears
Gabriel burst onto the scene in 2016 when he blossomed into a home run-hitting slot receiver in Atlanta’s high-octane offense. Playing third-fiddle behind Julio Jones and Mohamed Sanu, Gabriel and his fleet feet had a career-high 579 receiving yards and seven total touchdowns. Last season he fell off the face of the fantasy football earth, though. Gabriel’s 33 receptions for 378 yards and one lone touchdown were worthless in fantasy circles. Gabriel signed with Chicago in the offseason, which on the surface does not look like the best thing for his fantasy value, but it may turn out to work out well for him.
Chicago’s top target, the newly-signed Allen Robinson, is coming off a torn ACL. No. 2 receiver Kevin White is coming off a season-ending shoulder injury and is perpetually injured. While Gabriel is more of a speedy complementary receiver than a No. 1 go-to guy because of his smallish size (5’8’, 165), he could get a career-high in targets if the receivers ahead of him in the pecking order get banged-up again.
Let’s not make Gabriel out to be the next Jerry Rice. He has never had 40 receptions or 700 yards in a season and has eight touchdowns in four years. Yet with franchise quarterback Mitchell Trubisky ready to be the Jared Goff/Carson Wentz of 2018, Gabriel could finish the season with 45 catches for 800 yards and seven touchdowns, which would set new personal bests for him across the board.
