More often than not, when a wide receiver of a certain age signs with a new team in free agency there's a certain connotation that hangs over the new union, and not a terribly exciting one.
Former team non-tenders wide receiver, wide receiver signs with new (often worse) team, and mediocrity ensues. We don't have to look too hard to find recent examples either: Allen Lazard and JuJu Smith-Schuster in 2023. Worse still, Kenny Golladay in 2021.
But none of these guys signed second contracts with their original teams, which got me wondering about what recent history looks like for receivers who trend maybe even a little older but had more sustained success than your JuJus and Golladays. Guys like Mike Williams and Tyler Boyd, who both finally reached free agency for the first time at the ripe old age of 29.
I went back through the last 10 years to look for wide receivers moving on to new teams via free agency for the first time in their career that also had 6+ years of NFL experience, implying they received a contract extension from a team by the end of their rookie deal if not before. I was expecting to find a real boneyard of cautionary tales, and while I did find some stinkers I also noticed that grizzled veteran wideouts may be affecting something of a renaissance (fantasy-relevant performances have a dot next to the player's name).
| WIDEOUTS SIGNING WITH NEW TEAMS WITH 6+ YRS NFL EXPERIENCE | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | New Team | Rec | Yards | TDs | Finish |
| 2023 | • DeAndre Hopkins | Titans | 75 | 1057 | 7 | WR22 |
| 2023 | • Adam Thielen | Panthers | 103 | 1014 | 4 | WR25 |
| 2022 | • Zay Jones | Jaguars | 82 | 823 | 5 | WR26 |
| 2022 | Julio Jones | Titans | 24 | 299 | 2 | WR97 |
| 2021 | A.J. Green | Cardinals | 54 | 848 | 3 | WR41 |
| 2019 | Randall Cobb | Cowboys | 28 | 375 | 5 | WR74 |
| 2015 | Andre Johnson | Colts | 41 | 503 | 4 | WR59 |
| 2015 | Dwayne Bowe | Browns | 5 | 53 | 0 | WR168 |
| 2015 | • Michael Crabtree | Raiders | 85 | 922 | 9 | WR18 |
| 2014 | • DeSean Jackson | Commanders | 56 | 1169 | 6 | WR17 |
| 2014 | • Steve Smith | Ravens | 79 | 1065 | 6 | WR18 |
| 2014 | James Jones | Raiders | 73 | 666 | 6 | WR42 |
Patterns like this are always so interesting to me, where you can almost see the shifting philosophy leaguewide of front offices over a given time period. The 2014 and 2015 seasons gave us rock-solid WR2 seasons from Steve Smith, DeSean Jackson and Michael Crabtree for their new teams, and that was on the heels of Anquan Boldin's WR14 finish in his first season with the 49ers the year before. Older star wide receivers remaining fantasy relevant after signing with new teams was alive and well.
But something changes abruptly in 2015, because we didn't see a remotely notable wide receiver like these even manage to land with a new team via free agency again until Randall Cobb's modest lone season as a Cowboy. But finally this ice age seemed to begin thawing in 2022 - perhaps owing to AJ Green's respectable first season-last gasp showing in the desert and Odell Beckham's Super Bowl stint with the Rams the year before - and deliver NFL front offices back into at least a semi-willingness to give old dogs a fresh start.
Obviously this doesn't exactly guarantee that Mike Williams, Tyler Boyd and Calvin Ridley (who didn't technically qualify based on these criteria since he was suspended for all of 2022 but is 29, the same age as Williams and Boyd) will find success with their new teams; Mike Williams is rehabbing an ACL tear after battling injuries throughout his career, and Ridley and Boyd are competing for pieces of the same pie in Tennessee. But perhaps their age and circumstances are at least less of a reason to avoid them in fantasy this fall.
—Luke Wilson