In the early days of fantasy football, rookie receivers were an afterthought, almost a joke. You’d ignore them for their first seasons, barely look at them for their follow-up seasons, then maybe consider them for Year 3 breakouts. That was the playbook, and almost everyone followed it.
There were occasional exceptions. Randy Moss detonated with an amazing 1998 season. Anquan Boldin smashed in 2003, announcing his presence with 217 yards on opening day. There were some hits in the mid-’90s, Joey Galloway and Terry Glenn and Eddie Kennison, comets in the pre-internet era, back when fantasy football commissioners were still scoring by hand, fueled by caffeine and the morning newspaper.
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The rookie rules changed in 2014. That’s the year the freshmen crashed the party. Odell Beckham Jr. and Mike Evans were both top 10 fantasy wideouts. Kelvin Benjamin and Jordan Matthews were reliable WR2s. And some of the quieter rookies would turn into stars soon enough: Davante Adams, Brandin Cooks, Allen Robinson, Jarvis Landry. Sammy Watkins had some moments, too.
Let’s examine the rookie classes since then and try to figure out what we’ve learned, if anything, and what trends might be emerging.
Class of 2015
The market tried to correct the rookie WR rules after the 2014 explosion, but the adjustment year was a washout. Amari Cooper checked in as the WR25 (a mild disappointment given he was the fourth overall pick in the draft) and Tyler Lockett (WR35) and Stefon Diggs (WR46) were respectable, especially for players taken outside the first round of the NFL Draft.
Four other wideouts were joining Cooper in the first round of the draft that year, and they were all marginal contributors, finishing outside the top 60 at the position: DeVante Parker, Nelson Agholor and Phillip Dorsett at least got on the field. Kevin White and Breshad Perriman had to wait until 2016 but never became productive pros.
There weren’t a lot of stealth hits…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/fantasy-football-history-lessons-learned-from-previous-rookie-wr-classes-to-apply-in-2024-191610002.html
Author : Yahoo Sports
Publish date : 2024-05-30 19:16:10
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