There were a pair of fifth-round receivers on display in the Thursday night game, and I left with a higher option of both of them. Darnell Mooney and Tyler Johnson, I think, will have viable NFL careers.
With Mooney, he seems to be separating from Anthony Miller. Their stats so far have been pretty similar (Mooney has caught 2 more passes, while Miller has 1 more yard and 1 more touchdown) but Mooney has been on the field for more of their plays in four consecutive games. Mooney looks like the “starter” so to speak, while Miller is more of what we think of as a third receiver, rotating in on obvious passing situations.
In this most recent game, Mooney was open for a long touchdown, but the pass was way off target. Either he ran the wrong route or Nick Foles simply missed on the throw.
With the Bears, Allen Robinson is the clear No. 1 receiver. He dominates the touches (currently on pace for 112 catches). But he’s also in a contract year; it’s not guaranteed he’ll be back in 2021. Regardless, I think Mooney is going to be the second-best receiver on that team in the upcoming few seasons.
With Chris Godwin out with a hamstring injury and other Tampa Bay receivers playing with injuries, we also got a chance to see Tyler Johnson on Thursday night. He caught 4 passes for 61 yards, and he passes the eyeball test. He’s a bigger guy, and he’s caught a lot of balls. He had 154 receptions and 25 TDs his final two years at the University of Minnesota.
The Bucs have some other reserve receivers, including Scotty Miller and Justin Watson, but if I were in a dynasty league, Johnson would be the third Tampa Bay wide receiver I would select (behind Godwin and Mike Evans). I’m not sure he’ll outproduce Miller this year; Miller seems pretty entrenched as their current slot guy (and has gone for 70-plus yards in three games). But long-term, I like Johnson more than Miller.
My re-stacked dynasty board for wide receivers appears below. On these ones, they’re put together by hand. Basically, I go through each of the 32 teams, assigning a ballpark guess of where each wide receiver should rank (using PPR scoring). Then I spend about an hour slowly going over the list, moving guys up and down a few spots. These are trickier than the more common rankings because you’re trying to find a balance between what guys are doing right now (the most important of all seasons) and what they’ll be doing for the next 3-5-7 years.
With the Minnesota receivers, for example, Adam Thielen is better than Justin Jefferson today. But Jefferson seems to be dramatically narrowing the gap (he seems to be for real) and is 9 years younger, so I went with Jefferson.
On the rankings below, rookies are tagged with black dots (and there are a lot of them).
I turn my attention to dynasty leagues each Saturday, rotating between the four major positions. To see previous installments, use the “past issues” box on the right side of the page.
Last week: Tight ends.
New week: Quarterbacks.
DYNASTY WIDE RECEIVERS | |||
---|---|---|---|
Rk | Tm | Player | Age |
1. | GB | Davante Adams | 27 |
2. | NO | Michael Thomas | 27 |
3. | KC | Tyreek Hill | 26 |
4. | SEA | DK Metcalf | 22 |
5. | ARI | DeAndre Hopkins | 28 |
6. | TB | Chris Godwin | 24 |
7. | DET | Kenny Golladay | 26 |
8. | DAL | Amari Cooper | 26 |
9. | SEA | Tyler Lockett | 27 |
10. | ATL | Calvin Ridley | 25 |
11. | WAS | Terry McLaurin | 24 |
12. | BUF | Stefon Diggs | 26 |
13. | TEN | A.J. Brown | 23 |
14. | LAR | Cooper Kupp | 27 |
15. | JAC | DJ Chark | 23 |
16. | TB | Mike Evans | 26 |
17. | SF | Deebo Samuel | 24 |
18. | MIN | • Justin Jefferson | 21 |
19. | DAL | • CeeDee Lamb | 21 |
20. | CHI | Allen Robinson | 26 |
21. | LAR | Robert Woods | 28 |
22. | CLE | Odell Beckham | 27 |
23. | PIT | JuJu Smith-Schuster | 23 |
24. | MIN | Adam Thielen | 29 |
25. | BAL | Marquise Brown | 23 |
26. | CAR | DJ Moore | 23 |
27. | CIN | Tyler Boyd | 25 |
28. | ATL | Julio Jones | 31 |
29. | LAC | Keenan Allen | 28 |
30. | DEN | • Jerry Jeudy | 21 |
31. | KC | Mecole Hardman | 22 |
32. | SF | • Brandon Aiyuk | 22 |
33. | MIA | DeVante Parker | 27 |
34. | DEN | Courtland Sutton | 24 |
35. | CIN | • Tee Higgins | 21 |
36. | NYJ | Jamison Crowder | 27 |
37. | HOU | Will Fuller | 26 |
38. | PHI | • Jalen Reagor | 21 |
39. | IND | Parris Campbell | 22 |
40. | CAR | Robby Anderson | 27 |
41. | GB | Allen Lazard | 24 |
42. | DAL | Michael Gallup | 24 |
43. | PIT | • Chase Claypool | 22 |
44. | PIT | Diontae Johnson | 24 |
45. | CLE | Jarvis Landry | 27 |
46. | LAC | Mike Williams | 25 |
47. | LV | • Henry Ruggs | 21 |
48. | NYG | Darius Slayton | 23 |
49. | NE | N'Keal Harry | 22 |
50. | IND | • Michael Pittman | 22 |
51. | BUF | • Gabriel Davis | 21 |
52. | JAC | • Laviska Shenault | 21 |
53. | IND | T.Y. Hilton | 30 |
54. | NYG | Sterling Shepard | 26 |
55. | NO | TreQuan Smith | 24 |
56. | DET | Marvin Jones | 30 |
57. | LV | • Bryan Edwards | 21 |
58. | ATL | Russell Gage | 24 |
59. | CHI | • Darnell Mooney | 22 |
60. | KC | Sammy Watkins | 27 |
61. | ARI | Christian Kirk | 23 |
62. | TEN | Corey Davis | 25 |
63. | LV | Hunter Renfrow | 24 |
64. | CIN | A.J. Green | 31 |
65. | NE | Julian Edelman | 34 |
66. | MIA | Preston Williams | 23 |
67. | NO | Emmanuel Sanders | 33 |
68. | HOU | Randall Cobb | 29 |
69. | BUF | John Brown | 30 |
70. | NYJ | Breshad Perriman | 26 |
71. | PIT | James Washington | 24 |
72. | GB | Marquez Valdes-Scantling | 25 |
73. | NYJ | • Denzel Mims | 22 |
74. | LAR | • Van Jefferson | 23 |
75. | HOU | Brandin Cooks | 26 |
76. | WAS | Steven Sims | 23 |
77. | CHI | Anthony Miller | 25 |
78. | NE | Damiere Byrd | 27 |
79. | CAR | Curtis Samuel | 23 |
80. | NYG | Golden Tate | 31 |
81. | BAL | • Devin Duvernay | 22 |
82. | PHI | Greg Ward | 24 |
83. | ARI | Andy Isabella | 22 |
84. | PHI | DeSean Jackson | 33 |
85. | TB | • Tyler Johnson | 21 |
86. | BAL | Miles Boykin | 23 |
87. | IND | Zach Pascal | 25 |
88. | BUF | Cole Beasley | 31 |
89. | DEN | • KJ Hamler | 20 |
90. | TB | Scotty Miller | 22 |
91. | UFA | Antonio Brown | 31 |
92. | JAC | Keelan Cole | 27 |
93. | ARI | Larry Fitzgerald | 36 |
94. | LAC | Jalen Guyton | 23 |
95. | DET | • Quintez Cephus | 22 |
96. | MIA | Isaiah Ford | 24 |
97. | NYJ | Jeff Smith | 23 |
98. | TEN | Adam Humphries | 27 |
99. | DEN | Tim Patrick | 26 |
100. | PHI | Alshon Jeffery | 30 |
—Ian Allan