Top 2022 Fantasy Football Targets and Busts: Wide Receivers
Fantasy football drafts are beginning for the 2022 season. Which wide receivers should be targets or may be busts?
Unlike running backs, wide receivers have a much higher “boom or bust” possibility. When judging who you pick, it’s always a good idea to keep the players’ floor in mind when putting your fantasy wide receiver core together. Someone putting up a doughnut one week and dropping a 50 burger on someone the next isn’t desirable in a standard league. That being said let’s look at the wide receivers.
Fantasy Football Targets And Busts For 2022
Diontae Johnson – ADP 8 – Overvalued – Diontae is coming off a breakout year where he finished with 1,161 yards with 169 targets and eight touchdowns. Never play with last year’s numbers and always plan for the future. Ben Roethlisberger is gone, and no one affects wide receiver value like the quarterback. Even the Pittsburgh Steelers don’t know who is going to be slinging the rock yet and that’s not a good sign for an offense that appears to be heading in a run-first direction. Do you trust your first-round pick to be in the hands of Mitchell Trubisky or Mason Rudolph? I do not. I advise you to look elsewhere when picking a wide receiver in the draft.
Mike Evans – ADP 9 – Overvalued – It’s best when attempting to estimate a single person’s performance to put everything together and attempt to do the math. Tom Brady is now a staggering 45 years old and just lost two key pieces of his offensive line that have done an amazing job these past few years at keeping him upright.
This already looks bleak and add the fact that the best replacement if Brady goes down is Blaine Gabbert. I know it’s hard to bet against the GOAT but if there’s ever a year, this is it. Add that with the fact that you’ll have to use a late first to second-round pick on this guy. I’m staying away from all the Buccaneers receivers this year considering there’s much more value at this position later in the draft.
Tyreek Hill – ADP 19 – Undervalued – Tyreek Hill has only finished one season in his career where he wasn’t a top 7 wide receiver and after the Miami Dolphins gave up five draft picks and a boat load of cash to go get him, it’s safe to say he’s going to be the centerpiece of the offense for Mike McDaniel. Pair this with Jaylen Waddle on the other side and you suddenly have a dynamic duo that matches or exceeds the likes of Adam Theilen and Justin Jefferson in Minnesota.
It’s impossible to double up both of these guys without allowing massive holes for other players to exploit on what appears to be an extremely talented offensive roster. There’s also the possibility of a Deebo Samuel-like role to be carved out in this offense which means the receivers can be used out of the backfield for rushing carries to add even more value to the position. All of this potential in the late first or early second round of fantasy drafts? Yes, please.
Jaylen Waddle – ADP 46 – Undervalued – I’ll start this by saying I love grabbing two wide receivers from the same explosively powered offense. As I said in the opening statement when seeking wide receivers, I like to have a high floor. Grabbing two essential key pieces of an offense raises your floor where if one has a rough day or gets constantly doubled up by defensive backs, you’re protected by the other.
This is the perfect scenario for this situation to unfold. You can grab Waddle in nearly the late third or early fourth round somehow in drafts still. This is an unbelievable amount of value at this position and even if you miss out on Tyreek or not, this is still a must-have at this spot. Add this concept with the fact that Waddle broke the rookie record for receptions last year with an inept offense that has been improved this off-season and it appears the possibilities are endless.
Jerry Jeudy – ADP 85 – Undervalued – Many believe Courtland Sutton will be the big key weapon for newly acquired Russell Wilson on the Denver Broncos. I wouldn’t be so sure about this. Jeudy finished last year with more yardage and is the younger player.
With Tim Patrick going down with an ACL tear there’s a clear hole that will be filled by one of these two. As I stated with Waddle and Hill, it’s a good idea to get both of these guys if you can. But if I had to pick one, I would take Jeudy if only for the fact of the value of the pick where he’s getting drafted. You can’t go wrong with this guy in the seventh or even eighth round of your draft.