Washed Up Wideouts

Jeff Miller

washedupwrs

It is 2010. BP’s drilling platform Deepwater Horizon explodes, dumping untold gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, As the World Turns ends its 54-year run, Jerry Rice is inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame and Katy Perry is shooting whipped cream from her bra while Snoop Dogg raps away his last iota of credibility in the background. More important than all that, Hakeem Nicks and Greg Jennings combine for 155 receptions, 2,317 yards, and 23 touchdowns.

Except it isn’t 2010.

BP has shelled out over $2.5 billion in fines, penalties and reparations, Rice’s son is a Washington Redskin, and Snoop hasn’t made a great album since 1993. Yet here we are, still talking about Nicks and Jennings. The question is, are they an oil spill or a whipped cream spurting bra?

Hakeem Nicks, WR TEN

The Tennessee Titans are quickly turning into the Oakland Raiders. They are Bud Adams in a white track suit away from drafting Darius Heyward-Bey seventh overall. Already devoid of talent and prone to adding past-their-prime players whose prime was mediocre to begin with, the clock has once again struck 12 with the addition of the fading Nicks.

Between 2013 and 2014, Nicks played 31 games. In that span, he totaled 248 PPR FFP. In 2010 alone he scored 250.

[inlinead]Beyond that sobering stat, Nicks’ film is no longer that of a good NFL player. He is playing at a 4.65 40 pace, which makes sense for a guy whose lower body is held together with scotch tape, chewing gum and prayer.

So (aside from comedy), why are we even talking about him?

The Tennessee pass catching picture isn’t exactly rosy. Kendall Wright is no doubt better than he showed last year, but is still nothing more than a steady, chain moving slot type. Justin Hunter is long on upside but Danny DeVito (short) on actual production. Delanie Walker is, uh, OK, I guess. With this rough around the edges group it isn’t hard to imagine Nicks sliding in and seeing all of Nate Washington’s 2014 targets (72) plus perhaps another 25-30 if Hunter continues to flounder.

In order to reach the 100 target threshold (and boring WR5 value), Nicks will need to beat out Harry Douglas for playing time, hope Hunter struggles, and get something out of whoever is under center this season. Even if that someone ends up being Philip Rivers, I’m not convinced it will matter. After all, having Andrew Luck didn’t seem to do much for his bottom line.

At the very least, I feel pretty comfortable saying Nicks’ presence shouldn’t impede Wright’s return to form or Hunter’s potential breakout (this is what we call a hollow victory).

Cliff notes: Hakeem Nicks is an oil spill

Greg Jennings, WR MIA

Jennings is 31, hasn’t topped 175 points in three seasons, is now the third (at best) option on his new team and hasn’t made one of those fantastic Old Spice commercials in years, but I still like him.

Last summer I touted Jennings as a player with WR2 upside for a WR7 price. Sure, I was disappointed with his WR41 finish, but a closer look reveals I wasn’t as far off as you may think. After a rough start, Jennings scored double digit fantasy points in in eight of 10 games to finish out the year. Over that span, he managed just under 12PPG. While the overall results weren’t spectacular, it is hard to argue with getting ten games of WR3 play at an ADP of WR70 based on our April mocks.

I won’t be making any such declarations this year, as Jennings goes from being his team’s best option to something much less. But before we condemn him to the Nicksheap (like the scrapheap, but worse), let’s once again take a look at the price of entry. In our most recent mocks, Jennings’ fee is, “who?” Over the course of six mocks, he wasn’t drafted once. Even though that is likely to change now that he is on an NFL roster, Jennings almost certainly won’t be picked inside the top 200. So what we have here is a guy who could easily put up 8-10 PPG with a price tag of, “Really? You want him?” As a bye week fill-in or emergency starter, you could do much worse.

Of course this assumes Miami doesn’t follow through on recent rumors and draft a receiver in the first two rounds. For their sake, I hope that’s smoke and mirrors, as they have bigger fish to fry (offensive line, the entire defense, hideous green uniforms).

The other side of all this is how Jennings will impact the existing players on the Dolphins’ offense. Jennings’ presence should specifically help Ryan Tannehill as he continues to develop and improve. With Kenny Stills and Jordan Cameron also in town, Miami has done a lot to improve their young quarterback’s chances of taking the next step. Already being drafted as the QB7, all these signings will only help Tannehill’s chances of fulfilling his promise.

Cliff Notes: Greg Jennings is a whipped cream shooting bra..…worn by Kathy Bates

[ad5]

jeff miller