Marqise Lee 2019 Outlook - Risk Outweighs Reward
6 years agoAfter missing all of 2018 with a gruesome leg injury, Jaguars wide receiver Marqise Lee will be back, but will he return like Adrian Peterson and Deshaun Watson or will he be more like Carson Wentz or Dalvin Cook, who took longer to recover?
Taken in the second round ahead of former teammate Allen Robinson, Lee was a highly touted prospect out of USC and the Jaguars were hoping he would grow with Blake Bortles. Bortles is gone and so is Allen Robinson. But here remains Lee. With a new quarterback in Nick Foles and surrounded by receivers like Keelan Cole, Dede Westbrook, D.J. Chark, the chance is there for him to be the number one receiver if he does return to full health. Despite this you should still be wary of him in fantasy drafts.
For one, he is still on a team that has a run-first offense with Leonard Fournette in the backfield and an elite defense to shut down the opposing offense. This limits the upside of all the receivers in Jacksonville so why take an even bigger risk on the one coming back from injury? In 53 career games, Lee has amassed 171 receptions for 2,166 yards and eight touchdowns. Even with Blake Bortles at quarterback, these are not great numbers for a number one or a number two receiver. At only 27 years old, Lee is not old. In fact, for a wide receiver he should just be entering his prime years. This said he has the above-mentioned younger Cole, Westbrook, and Chark who have seemingly overtaken him to contend with. This means he is no better than a flier as a WR5 in fantasy, who if taken at all should be considered in the area of the 13th round of drafts.