By: Jake Rajala

The dynasty fantasy football season is heating up as the early August Hall of Fame game nears. Dynasty gurus are starting to be bolder with their push for a more competitive starting lineup. 

It’s important to be up to date with the players that may be under the radar, yet possess the ability to propel your team to championship royalty. It’s factual that the running back position is prioritized and it carries the most weight on one’s team. Although, it’s important to master the understanding of the talent at other positions like QB, or WR. 

In this debacle, the wideout spot will be dissected. We’re going to go through WR profiles that are slowly rising through the cracks and yield the ability to rise up in big moments of the fantasy season. Let’s begin. 

• Tee Higgins

Everybody in the football world is talking about the high draft pick Ja’Marr Chase replacing the franchise legend AJ Green. Of course, the LSU connection will come to life with Chase and Burrow. Nonetheless, the hype surrounding the LSU rookie is shadowing the ability that the Bengals second-year player Tee Higgins carries. 

Even though Joe Burrow missed six games, Higgins still vastly outperformed the likes of Michael Pittman Jr, Henry Ruggs, and Jalen Reagor (67-908-6).

• Pittman: 40-503-3
• Reagor: 31-396-1
• Ruggs: 26-452-2

Expect a healthy Burrow, who was “second in passing attempts” prior to his injury, to unleash an improved Higgins in many shootout contests next season. The 22-year-old flat out has lots of skill and a freakish ceiling.

• John Brown

The new Raiders deep threat is still going strong at this stage in his career. Brown just recorded a career 1,000+ yard receiving season in 2019. Everybody loves to talk about the “first round” WR Henry Ruggs taking the next step without Gregg Williams giving a boost, but I fully expect another veteran wideout wearing #15 (Nelson Agholor being the former) in LV to outperform Ruggs. 

Carr threw the most 20+ yard passes since 2017 last season and I expect the well-established wideout that Carr already loves to be the reliable number one wideout throughout the 2021 season. Brown may be 31 years old, but speed demon Ted Ginn Jr. just retired at the age of 36 and Desean Jackson appears to be strong (when healthy) at age 34. 

• Tre’Quan Smith

Tre’Quan Smith was seriously underrated even before Michael Thomas’s injury. The Saints All Pro punt returner Deonte Harris seemed to be nearly in the same conversation as the former UCF wideout. 

I loved Smith to follow in the footsteps of UDFA Lance Moore, who recorded a 1,000-yard season in New Orleans, to step up in the absence of former Saints number two WR Emmanual Sanders. Now that MT is on the sideline for at least the beginning of the 2021 season, there is no reason to not fully expect Smith to be a go-to target and big body red zone threat. 

The comparison of Lance Moore can step aside, while Smith can now be seen as the next “Marques Colston”.  Expect the Saints wideout that often had 10+ pt showcases in PPR to be a very reliable weapon going into his fourth season.

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By: Jake Rajala

The Las Vegas Raiders questionably drafted Henry Ruggs in the first round of the 2020 draft. Head coach Jon Gruden wanted a wideout that could stretch the field, capitalize off the play action, and ultimately help the Raiders offense go point for point with the likes of MVP Patrick Mahomes. 

It’s safe to say that Ruggs did not live up to expectations in his rookie year. The former Alabama WR recorded a mere 452 yards and two touchdowns. He was outperformed largely by fellow WRs in his draft class like Ceedee Lamb, Justin Jefferson, Brandon Aiyuk, Michael Pittman, and the list goes on. 

Headed into the 2021 season, Gruden rightfully wanted to bring in more juice at the WR spot. To help utilize Carr’s arm strength and talent, the former Super Bowl-winning coach signed veteran deep threat John Brown. Brown has played seven seasons in the league (AZ, BUFF) and he just recorded an impressive 1,000-yard season in 2019. I firmly believe the Raiders WR will bring an immediate boost to LV’s orchestra and that he truly was one of the best contracts in the whole NFL. 

Here is why Brown will have a superb outing for his new QB in the Death Star.

• Derek Carr passes the deep ball A LOT

Henry Ruggs didn’t just disappoint last season, but he failed to be a factor with a QB that threw the ball 20+ yards more than he has in four seasons. Yes, Ruggs was far from average with his efficiency in catching the deep bombs. Per PFF, he was 69th in the rate of catchable deep passes beyond 20 yards. 

The veteran John Brown will be the absolute go-to target now that the veteran Nelson Agholor is out of the picture. Not only does Carr share the same jersey number as Agholor, but Carr said he reminds him of Agholor as a player. He’s stated that he loves the newly acquired WR. Agholor found quality production with the Raiders QB, despite having marginal expectations coming into Las Vegas. Brown has a much better resume than Nelson coming into the Raiders huddle and I expect him to post at least similar highs as Nelson Agholor did in his Raider tenure. 

Do not let the first-round mark on Ruggs name and his top play of the 2020 season where former Jets DC Gregg Williams sent an all-out blitz in a hail mary situation, which allowed Ruggs to beat a below-average CB over the top with no safety help let you believe he should be more reliable than John “smoke” Brown in 2021. 

• Brown is still has a lot of talent left in the tank

NFL WRs that specialize in torching defenses usually enjoy a longer-lasting NFL career. Ted Ginn, who has been an underrated speed demon at WR for over a decade, just announced his retirement at the age of 36. The well-known deep threat Desean Jackson is still going strong at age 34 and he enjoyed 734 yards in 12 games at age 31 (same as Brown). These are unique players, but they share a common strength of skill. It’s clear that Brown, who enjoyed a “career season” in 2019, will show that he’s still in his prime when the 2021 season comes around the corner.

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By Calvin K (Twitter: @Calvin_SGF)

Fantasy drafts will soon be upon us, and the beginning of July marks the time for committed fantasy players to begin draft preparation. As always, the ins and outs of this year’s ADP (average draft position) have dominated the discussion, and while consensus rankings usually do a good job of valuing players, there are always many who are being underrated (and overrated) in fantasy drafts. In this article, I’ll be giving my opinions on just that. Below are my top five fantasy value picks for 2021.

5. John Brown (WR, Las Vegas Raiders)

What if I told you that the clear #1 WR for a team is ranked as the WR58 in the FantasyPros ECR? You wouldn’t believe me, right? Well, just look at where Raiders WR John Brown is currently ranked. I currently have Brown 14 spots ahead of that ranking, a much more fitting spot for a player who produced upper-tier-WR2 numbers in Buffalo just two years ago.

Last year, Brown was still good when healthy, but he struggled mightily with injuries, and the presence of Stefon Diggs in the Bills’ offense was a slight damper on Brown’s opportunity potential. Now, he has signed a contract to be the presumed WR1 in Vegas, a team that desperately needs help at the position after the first-year flops of Henry Ruggs and Bryan Edwards. Those players still have some potential and shouldn’t be completely written off, but the receiver you should want in that offense is the 31-year-old Brown, who has already had success as the number one wide receiver in an offense.

Two years ago in Buffalo, Brown caught 72 passes for 1,060 yards and six touchdowns in 15 games played, finishing as the WR15 in Weeks 1-16. Brown is an explosive receiver who is good at catching deep balls, so if he stays healthy, he could certainly put up similar numbers again. Raiders QB Derek Carr isn’t the greatest player ever by any means, but he definitely isn’t terrible, and Brown put up those 2019 numbers with an inconsistent Josh Allen, who had just a 58.8% completion percentage that year. Even if you don’t think Brown has the potential of two years ago, his current WR58 price is just way too low, and he should be a must-add in all fantasy drafts because of it.

4. Marvin Jones (WR, Jacksonville Jaguars)

Jones slots in at WR48 on FantasyPros, making him yet another WR1 in an offense who is ranked too low. I have Jones ranked as my WR38, and I believe that, like Brown, he has the potential to be a WR2 in fantasy.

Jones was actually the fantasy WR5 from Weeks 7-17, and he showed during that stretch that he could handle a WR1 workload with Kenny Golladay out. Even if you remove Week 17 (he had 11 catches for 180 yards and two touchdowns that week), he only drops to the WR10 in that stretch. Now, he joins a Jacksonville team that has recently received a major QB upgrade in the form of Trevor Lawrence.

Fellow Jags WR D.J. Chark has struggled since his breakout at the beginning of 2019, and while slot WR Laviska Shenault is talented, he hasn’t proven that he can have success as a target hog like Jones did in 2020. Jones will have the best opportunity out of the three to gain an immediate connection with Lawrence, an opportunity that he will deserve given his past production. Jones has been consistently underrated in fantasy for years now, but now that he’s shown off his true potential, he may be in his most undervalued spot yet in 2021.

3. DeVonta Smith (WR, Philadelphia Eagles)

The reasoning behind the pick of Smith (the FantasyPros WR40) is very similar to the rationale behind selecting Marvin Jones and John Brown at their respective values. However, Smith may have the highest potential of them all, due to the enormous availability of targets in Philadelphia.

In Vegas, Brown will still have to compete with superstar TE Darren Waller for opportunities, and like I said before, Henry Ruggs and Bryan Edwards shouldn’t be completely written off. In Jacksonville, Jones is competing with two other receivers who, while unproven or inconsistent, have shown flashes of being good in the NFL. Smith, who was selected with the #10 overall pick in this year’s NFL draft, has virtually no competition for targets, and therefore has the ceiling of an alpha WR in Year 1.

Smith, who is currently my fantasy WR30, has all the traits necessary to be an alpha for Jalen Hurts. His route-running, field awareness, and hands are all excellent, and he should mesh immediately with an Eagles team that needs major help at the WR position. His size is a concern for some, but Smith was the first wide receiver to win the Heisman Trophy in two decades, so it’s already been established that he’s an outlier. Smith was the pick that Miami should’ve made at #6, but he ended up falling to Philly, and as a result, he could see a massive workload in Year 1, giving him plenty of fantasy potential.

2. Javonte Williams (RB, Denver Broncos)

It’s possible Williams doesn’t produce for fantasy at the very beginning of the year, but once he becomes Denver’s starter, he could break out, much like Jonathan Taylor in 2020. Williams has an extremely dominant running style, and he was easily the best tackle-breaker in college football last year.

Williams’ ability to stay balanced and run defenders over is matched by very few players in the NFL. When you combine that ability with the fact that he’s also a solid pass-catcher, you get a complete three-down skill set, which could mean that Williams gets a heavy workload even in year one. Melvin Gordon is a talented player, but the Broncos traded up for Williams for a reason, and it’s because they know he has the potential to be a great running back. If Williams has any sort of consistent breakout in any part of the season, he could easily be worth it at his RB28 FantasyPros rank, and he could produce like an RB1 late in the year.

1. Kenny Golladay (WR, New York Giants)

Golladay’s WR23 FantasyPros ranking is truly a travesty, and his potential role in the Giants’ offense could genuinely make him a top-five fantasy receiver in 2021. This isn’t at all meant to say that Golladay will undoubtedly be top five, but him and Daniel Jones have the potential to make a connection that could be lethal for fantasy and real life.

As the clear #1 option in New York, there’s really no possible way that Golladay finishes outside of the top 24 fantasy receivers unless he gets injured, which basically shows that he is currently being drafted at his absolute floor. Even if Daniel Jones continues to be inconsistent, Golladay will still be the most reliable option for the Giants, so his target share would likely be enough to put him in WR2 territory anyway. However, there’s reason to believe that Jones will take a step up this year.

The addition of Golladay, an excellent contested-catch receiver, gives Jones a WR1 talent that he’s never had in his NFL career. On top of that, Jones graded out as NextGen Stats’ best deep-ball passer in 2020 (he went 19-39 with 636 yards, 5 TDs, no INTs, and a +14.8 completion percentage above expectation on 20+ air yard throws). Turnovers have been a problem for Jones at times, but he began to make smarter decisions (ex: not forcing as many throws) in 2020, and the Golladay signing will let him get away with more risky passes anyway.

As mentioned already, there is virtually no competition for downfield targets in this Giants offense. Golladay could easily see 150+ passes thrown his way this year, and a target share that high wouldn’t be surprising with Jones getting a dominating receiver for the first time in his career. Even if Jones falls short of his potential, Golladay is still good enough to perform at ADP. However, his potential and ceiling is very high, and if Jones is able to make a leap in Year 3, Golladay’s breakout could resemble the one we saw from 2020 Stefon Diggs.

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