Vox Talks: Washington Wideouts
Welcome back to Vox Talks; the article series that peels back the curtain on the private DLF writer Voxer channel.
A short time ago I wanted to check our writers’ pulses on the Washington wide receiver trio of Terrelle Pryor, Jamison Crowder, and Josh Doctson. Kirk Cousins is coming off a season in which he threw for nearly 5,000 yards and 25 touchdowns. In 2015 he was over 4,100 yards and threw for 29 touchdowns. This is clearly a productive offense for fantasy, but deciphering the distribution of targets in Washington is one of the more vexing passing games puzzles analysts are attempting to solve heading into the 2017 regular season.
With that in mind, I posed this question to our writer staff: Which Washington receiver do you want at their current price and why? Pryor (45.5 overall, WR23), Crowder (48.67 overall, WR28), or Doctson (65.33 overall, WR34)
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Two writers came down clearly on the Pryor side. Eric Olinger had this to say: “Terrelle Pryor by a lot. I think he brings a unique combination of what Washington lost when DeSean Jackson and Pierre Garcon left town. He has consistently improved and is now playing in the best offense of his career. Pryor has the best opportunity to jump into WR1 territory.”
Curtis Patrick agrees, “ Pryor already gave us a WR21 season and just landed in a much better situation.”
I tend to agree with both Curtis and Eric here. In his first full season playing the wide receiver position, Pryor turned in a top 24 performance with Josh McCown, Robert Griffin, Cody Kessler, Kevin Hogan, and Charlie Whitehurst throwing him the ball. He gets a massive upgrade in 2017 and I love that Pryor is using his experience as a quarterback to build a rapport with Cousins.
Two more writers chose Josh Doctson largely because he is the cheapest option.
For Tom Kislingbury, it comes down to opportunity cost where Pryor is being selected, “Doctson. Because around the mid-40s, I can get Martavis Bryant or Tyreek Hill or Donte Moncrief. Who am I gonna take at 65? Julian Edelman? Greg Olsen? Emmanuel Sanders? Martavis + Doctson > Pryor + Edelman”
Ryan Finley adds: “I’m taking Doctson there. I still believe he has the most potential upside and since not one of those wideouts is a slam dunk, I’ll go with the guy I believe has the highest ceiling. The fact he’s also the cheapest just makes the call easier.”
This is certainly the cheapest Doctson has ever been so if you were a fan of him coming out of school and don’t already own him this is a fine time to buy. There is always the possibility that his value tanks even more if he doesn’t see the field often in 2017, but the reverse is true as well. We appear to be at a breakpoint with Doctson’s dynasty value and he is a player you need clarity on before considering buying or selling.
No one chose Jamison Crowder at his current price likely due to how expensive he has gotten. His ADP has risen over 100 spots since this time last season. I like Crowder quite a bit myself, but he does feel like a player whose ceiling lies in the late WR2 range and that’s what you’ll have to pay to acquire him in startup drafts. There isn’t much room for this investment to grow.
Brian Malone has a slight lean in one direction but prefers to avoid the situation entirely. “I’m avoiding them all at current cost, but I’ll take Pryor of the three. He’s older, but he’s flashed the most upside. I want the potential for multiple high-end WR2 seasons in this range, and Pryor is easily the best bet for that.”
Dan Sainio wants the tight end in this offense instead: “I’m also avoiding because even though ADP has Reed going close to Pryor, you can actually get him for closer to Doctson’s price. At that price, I’d rather take the risk on what could be a league winner. Next option would be Doctson. Crowder seems to be at his ceiling, similar to Landry, just with less volume. Pryor carries a lot of upside, I just can’t get myself to spend on him there.”
With all three receivers going within 20 picks of each other, this is a fantasy situation you really need to have a strong take on to make a good decision. If you don’t have a strong feeling on one of these three then it seems like you should go another direction in the range where the Washington wide receivers are currently going.
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Creator and Co-host of Dynasty Game night, the fantasy football game show.
Creator and host of the Zookeeper Stories podcast.
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