Fake Teams Consensus WR Rankings

Wide receiver week ends today with a look at our consensus WR rankings.  We have brought you detailed individual rankings by jcable32 here. We have brought you our sleepers and we have brought you are busts.  Now here are each of our individual ranks and some comments on the WRs we disagree on.  I love this exercise because it allows me, as a fantasy football player, to get inside the minds of my potential opponents and exploit what I perceive to be inefficiencies in others' rankings.  Likewise, I am sure my opponents do the same with my ranks.

WR is a deep position.  My strategy is to fill my core with a couple of studs if I can get them.  From there, I like to draft for high upside. I know because of how deep the position is that I can probably find waiver wire help on a week by week basis so I am looking to stash upside and home run hitters on the bench for late in the season during the draft after securing my starters.  Corrdarrelle Patterson was a great example of that last year.

So .... lets take a look at how the Fake Teams guys rank 'em at WR.  Comments below.

COUSTAN:  Dez, Dez and more Dez this year.  Anyone who has read my articles knows that I have a crush on all things Cowboys offense except for Terrance Williams.  With Scott Linehan in Dallas now, Dez will get force fed just as Linehan forced fed Calvin Johnson in Detroit all those years.  On the contrary, I think that Detroit's offense will feature more balanced targets because of new offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi from the Saints, who spread the ball around among Colston, Moore, Sproles and Graham.  This is the year of the Cowboy and that Cowboy is Dez Bryant.

The flip side to my argument for a balanced target distribution in Detroit is Robert Keeley:

KEELEY: Golden Tate - I am hesitant to trust a number two receiver on the Detroit Lions, as year after year there is promise of one to breakout, while nothing happens.  He is an upgrade over Broyles, so he should be looked upon as a better draft choice than Broyles was last season.  With great options in the backfield like Bush and Bell, and two pass catching TE's I find it hard to believe that Tate will get enough targets to put up a good season.

That is what makes this stuff so great!  It is up to you guys to sort out the opinions and find the ones that resonate with you.  Robert and I could go on regarding Pierre Garcon and Desean Jackson as well.

KEELEY:  Pierre Garçon - He had 113 receptions last year, good for the most in the NFL last season.  RG3 loves to find Garçon and that is a trend I see continuing.  He only scored 5 TD's last year, which is a bit flukey when you consider all players with over 90 catches last season had an average of a little over 8 TD's on the season.  I'm not worried about the addition of DeSean Jackson as he is a big play guy, while Garçon is the volume guy.

COUSTAN:  I am not a big believer in either one of the Washington (Warriors) WRs.  Try saying that 5 times fast!  Washington Warriors WRs.  I do believe, however, that Garcon gets less targets than last year and DeSean steps into the A.J. Green role in the Gruden offense.  So if I am predicting targets I predict DJax gets more than Garcon.  Add in a healthy Jordan Reed in the middle of the field and that spells regression for Garcon.

KEELEY: Percy Harvin - I am all about maximizing the fantasy points you can get over a full season, and Harvin is the prime example.  If you pencil him in for 13 games this season, most people will take his stats and compare them directly to a guy who is projected to play 16 games.  This is not the correct way to go about this, since you are able to put in a replacement level guy at worst into your lineup for him.  Now add in 3 games of a replacement level WR, and you get a point total that more accurately shows exactly what taking Harvin means towards your team.  That is the reasoning that pushes him up on my draft board compared to other writers.

ARMANDO: Injuries and Inexperience plagued the New England receiving corps last year. This gave Edelman the opportunity to climb to the top of the depth chart, gain an impressive rapport with Tom Brady, and post career numbers across the board. This year, he will face much stiffer competition for targets. Rob Gronkowski is expected to be ready for the start of the season, Shane Vereen should be heavily involved in the pass game out of the backfield, and Danny Amendola is healthy (for the time being) and looking great so far in the preseason. When Gronkowski is on the field, he will dominate the targets. Edelman will face a steep decline in targets and will not be able to meet expectations for this season as long as the other, better options stay healthy.

DUFFENDACK:  As long as Pep Hamilton remains the offensive coordinator in Indianapolis, Hilton's and the entire passing game's potential is capped due to his desire to run the offense through the power run game, no matter how ineffective it is with a weak offensive line and a disinterested Trent Richardson. Last year, the Colts favored playing Darrius Heyward-Bey over Hilton due to his blocking ability. This year, he has more competition with a healthy Reggie Wayne, Hakeem Nicks, and the rookie Donte Moncrief. It has also been reported that the Colts will be running more two tight end sets with Dwayne Allen and Coby Fleener. When given the opportunity, Hilton can be the most dynamic player on the field, but this offensive scheme will force Hilton to come off the bench and attempt to make an impact in a limited amount of plays each game.

ARMANDO:  Did you know that Kenny Britt was only 25 years old? I was shocked when I saw that because he has already played in 5 NFL seasons, and is entering his 6th. Britt hasn’t played well since his short three game season in 2011, when he had an ACL injury. 2012 can then be seen as him still not fully recovered from his knee injury, but explaining 2013 is a little tougher to do. He suffered the loss of Jeff Fisher as his head coach, and had to try and fight with Nate Washington, and Justin Hunter for time as the second and third WR’s on the depth chart. Now Kenny Britt steps in as the number one receiver on theRams roster, who happens to have Jeff Fisher as their head coach. He will always be an injury risk, but if he can show that his knee troubles are behind him watch out as he has already shown to be very successful before in the NFL.

So that concludes WR week at Fake Teams.  I hope you are enjoying our coverage.  Next week we begin the TE position.  I have a few drafts coming up this week so I will be doing some formulating from my vacation at the shore.  Look for all of our great TE coverage along with a new Fantasy 100 and a new Buy, Sell & Hold from me this week.  Enjoy the last vestiges of summer.  FOOTBALL IS ONE WEEK AWAY!