Flag Plants, Big Calls on Wide Receivers

Photo: Kirby Lee, USA Today Sports

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We asked our staff to make a call on a wide receiver. Who will surprise - either good or bad? Here are their answers.

Jason Wood

Alan Lazard, JuJu Smith-Schuster, and Robert Woods will all be must-start, Top 25 receivers this season.

Further, they'll outperform some of the hot industry breakout picks like Darnell Mooney, Amon-Ra St. Brown, and Gabriel Davis.

Kevin Coleman

CeeDee Lamb finally realizes his potential and finishes as a top-three receiver.

Lamb is finally the clear #1 on this Dallas roster and should finally earn the highest target share percentage of his career. With Michael Gallup and James Washington injured, Lamb is the Cowboys best weapon on offense and lead to a third-year breakout for the 23-year-old receiver.

Gary Davenport

JuJu Smith-Schuster will score more PPR points in Kansas City than Tyreek Hill will in Miami.

If I'm going to plant a flag, it might as well be a big one. Thing is, this really isn't that wild a proclamation. We know that Smith Schuster is capable of high-end fantasy production, whether it was his top-10 season in 2018 or his WR16 PPR finish just two years ago. We also know that there's a fair bit of difference between catching passes from Patrick Mahomes II and playing with Tua Tagovailoa. This isn't a probable call. It might not even be a likely call. But it's a reminder that Hill isn't in Kansas City anymore, and Smith-Schuster is. One's quite possibly overvalued. The other is undervalued. And fantasy managers who know which is which will reap the benefits.

Ben Cummins

Courtland Sutton leads the league with 18 touchdowns.

Everything has come together for Courtland Sutton to have a monster season. Sutton is now two years removed from his torn ACL, Russell Wilson and Nathaniel Hackett are in town, and touchdown-scoring Tim Patrick was lost for the season. Before Sutton’s knee injury, he impressively put up 1,112 yards and 6 touchdowns catching passes from Joe Flacco, Drew Lock, and Bandon Allen. First-ballot Hall of Famer, Russell Wilson, throws one of the most accurate deep balls in NFL history and is not shy about aggressively throwing the ball downfield and into the end zone. Reports out of training camp have consistently pointed to Sutton being Wilson’s go-to pass catcher. Like, DK Metcalf, who caught 22 touchdowns from Wilson over the past two seasons, Sutton is also 6-foot-4. Sutton will prove Wilson’s value to Metcalf was massive, turning in a better fantasy season than Metcalf ever has, leading the NFL in touchdown receptions with 18.