It’s a good year for teams looking for slot receivers – there’s a deep crop of options available. And it looks like three have settled on new teams.
Adam Humphries, Danny Amendola and Jamison Crowder have all agreed to contracts with new cities. And there’s still another four notable slot players that are shopping their services.
Crowder signed with the Jets, and I see that as the most notable move so far. Crowder was hurt for half of last year, but he’s a good player. Had he re-signed with Washington, I think he would have led them in catches. They’ve got Paul Richardson and Josh Doctson, but those guys both tend to line up outside and run vertical routes. They need somebody who can work the middle of the field, and I don’t think they’re ready to thrust Trey Quinn into that role (he didn’t play much as a rookie but at least caught 9 of the 10 passes thrown his way).
Now that Crowder is with the Jets, the New York receiving group is coming together nicely. Quincy Enunwa and Crowder can work the middle of the field. Chris Herndon will start at tight end, and he showed some potential as a rookie. And Robby Anderson has plenty of big-play ability.
Adam Humphries signed for Tennessee and received a nice contract -- $36 million for four years, according to the league’s website. That doesn’t surprise me at all. He was a really nice slot receiver for the Bucs. Over the last two years, he’s caught 73 percent of the passes thrown his way. That’s the highest among all slot receivers with at least 100 targets.
| SLOT RECEIVERS WITH 100 TARGETS (2017-18) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Tgt | Rec | Yards | Avg | TD | Pct |
| Adam Humphries, T.B. | 188 | 137 | 1,447 | 10.6 | 6 | 72.9% |
| Danny Amendola, N.E.-Mia. | 165 | 120 | 1,234 | 10.3 | 3 | 72.7% |
| Golden Tate, Det.-Phi. | 233 | 166 | 1,798 | 10.8 | 9 | 71.2% |
| Tyler Boyd, Cin. | 140 | 98 | 1,253 | 12.8 | 9 | 70.0% |
| Mohamed Sanu, Atl. | 190 | 133 | 1,541 | 11.6 | 9 | 70.0% |
| Chester Rogers, Ind. | 109 | 76 | 769 | 10.1 | 3 | 69.7% |
| Julian Edelman, N.E. | 108 | 74 | 850 | 11.5 | 6 | 68.5% |
| Cooper Kupp, LAR | 149 | 102 | 1,435 | 14.1 | 11 | 68.5% |
| Trent Taylor, S.F. | 101 | 69 | 645 | 9.3 | 3 | 68.3% |
| Seth Roberts, Oak. | 129 | 88 | 949 | 10.8 | 3 | 68.2% |
| Randall Cobb, G.B. | 153 | 104 | 1,036 | 10.0 | 6 | 68.0% |
| Cole Beasley, Dall. | 150 | 101 | 986 | 9.8 | 7 | 67.3% |
| Nelson Agholor, Phil. | 192 | 126 | 1,504 | 11.9 | 11 | 65.6% |
| Sterling Shepard, NYG | 191 | 125 | 1,603 | 12.8 | 6 | 65.4% |
| Larry Fitzgerald, Ariz. | 273 | 178 | 1,890 | 10.6 | 12 | 65.2% |
| Willie Snead, N.O.-Bal. | 111 | 70 | 743 | 10.6 | 1 | 63.1% |
| Jamison Crowder, Was. | 152 | 95 | 1,177 | 12.4 | 5 | 62.5% |
| Jarvis Landry, Mia.-Cle. | 310 | 193 | 1,963 | 10.2 | 13 | 62.3% |
| Michael Crabtree, Oak.-Bal. | 201 | 112 | 1,225 | 10.9 | 11 | 55.7% |
I’m not particularly excited about Humphries with the Titans for fantasy purposes. I don’t have enough confidence that the passing game will be any good. But he shores up that receiving corps. They’ve got Corey Davis as the No. 1 option. Taywan Taylor looks better as No. 3 option than a starter who must be relied on. But Marcus Mariota has been underwhelming the last two years.
With Tampa Bay, the league’s deepest receiving group has been thinned down considerably. Humphries is gone, and they traded DeSean Jackson to Philadelphia. So now it’s just a nice one-two punch there – Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. With additional opportunities, Godwin might not be a top-30 receiver.
Miami released Amendola, and it didn’t take long for him to sign with the Lions. That makes sense. They’ve got a great pair working on the outside (Kenny Golladay and Marvin Jones) but they need somebody to complement those guys out of the slot. Matt Patricia and Amendola spent five years working together in New England.
The Patriots reportedly were interested in bringing back Amendola. Julian Edelman will be 33 in May (and has played 16 games only twice in his career), so they make sense as a team that should obtain a slot receiver with the ability to potentially take on a huge role. Golden Tate might be a receiver who would interest them, and he was talking fondly about the Patriots last week.
Best remaining slot-type receivers: Tate, Randall Cobb, Michael Crabtree and Cole Beasley.
With the Eagles having obtained Jackson, they potentially could dump Nelson Agholor, and he also works mostly out of the slot.
—Ian Allan