Tag: Davante Adams Fantasy Football

Fantasy football preview: WR Hunter Renfrow, Raiders

Will Renfrow capitalize on a career year, or will Davante Adams’ arrival get in the way?

When a player is the No. 1 receiver for a team with more than 100 receptions and 1,000 yards the previous season, the last thing many would think is he may be the odd man out the following year. However, that’s what many are projecting for Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Hunter Renfrow.

In his third NFL season in 2021, Renfrow nearly equaled his production from his first two years, catching 103 passes for 1,038 yards and nine touchdowns. He was consistent throughout the season in terms of receptions – you need to be to catch 100 passes – but came on big late in the season. Renfrow had 12 games with five or more receptions and, over the last seven games, caught 47 passes for 514 yards and five touchdowns.

Everything was looking up for Renfrow to put on a repeat performance this year, but that took a hit when the Raiders swung a blockbuster trade to acquire Davante Adams from Green Bay. Adams had more than 110 catches and more than 1,350 yards in three of the last four years and, in his last four seasons (57 games), scored 47 touchdowns. He has been the most lethal fantasy receiver in the league over that span and brings his talents to Las Vegas to offer Derek Carr the most dangerous receiving option he’s ever had.

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The other perception that has people questioning Renfrow’s 2022 fantasy outlook is the return of playmaking tight end Darren Waller. Waller missed six games last season after catching 107 passes for almost 1,200 yards and nine touchdowns in 2020. His absence left a void in the Raiders’ passing attack that was largely filled by Renfrow. Without Waller and Henry Ruggs, Renfrow was just about all Carr had left.

The new scenario isn’t unusual for what the Raiders offense had planned as it’s just replacing Ruggs with Adams. Ruggs’ NFL career is likely over as he awaits trial on an alleged drunk driving charge that led to the death of a 23-year-old woman.

Many are of the opinion that Renfrow will be left behind the A&W (Adams & Waller) juggernaut, but just the opposite may be true.

While Adams and Waller are supreme talents at their positions, the job of a slot receiver, like Renfrow, is to find the open seams in a defense – sticking his foot in the ground and getting separation. Both Adams and Waller are going to demand additional defensive attention, meaning Renfrow will likely see single coverage on almost every pattern, which Carr will take full advantage of to move the chains and set up big plays downfield. Even though the volume is sure to decrease, Renfrow’s crafty route skills position him for more efficiency in the red zone.

Fantasy football takeaway

From the fantasy draft perspective, most guys coming off a 100-catch, 1,000-yard, nine-touchdown season would be viewed as a WR1 or high WR2 candidate. However, slot receivers rarely get the credit they deserve. With the targets Adams and Waller are likely to command, Renfrow is most likely a low-end WR3 candidate with a position rank in the mid-30s. If you can get him there, he could be a valued member of any fantasy roster, particularly in PPR.

Which receiver should be chosen second in fantasy football drafts?

Is this one closer than the average draft position suggests?

There is little debate as to which wide receiver is going to be the first one to come off draft boards or fetch the highest asking price in auctions. Coming off his monster 2021 season, it’s hard to argue that it would be anyone other than Cooper Kupp of the Los Angeles Rams.

The question then becomes who checks in at No. 2? That is up for debate, and three candidates are looking to be that guy – Davante Adams of the Las Vegas Raiders, Justin Jefferson of the Minnesota Vikings and Ja’Marr Chase of the Cincinnati Bengals. Each one can make a strong case for being the next player to come off the board as a roster cornerstone piece.

Before we get any more words on the page, the overall consensus in ADP solidly favors Jefferson. Is it presumptuous, or is the third-year Viking an unquestioned lock after reviewing all of the key factors at play?

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Fantasy football team previews: AFC West

Huge changes with Denver and Vegas look to turn the division on its head.

The 2022 fantasy football draft season is starting to heat up now that we’ve gone through the height of free agency and all of the chosen rookies have been assigned to their professional home cities.

The landscape has changed a great deal for many franchises after a whirlwind offseason, and our divisional preview series will help you stay on top of all of the changes to date.

AFC divisional previews

East | North | South | West

NFC divisional previews

East | North | South | West

Fantasy football shocker: Davante Adams traded to Las Vegas

The best receiver in football has a new home.

The football world is abuzz thanks to Green Bay Packers wide receiver Davante Adams being traded to the Las Vegas Raiders after the franchise-tagged star was unable to secure a long-term contract in Titletown.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter has the details:

The Raiders immediately locked up their prized pass-catcher to a five-year, $141.5 million contract, per several media reports.

Raiders fantasy football outlook

Adams is reunited with his collegiate teammate in quarterback Derek Carr, and the drop-off in production shouldn’t be drastic coming from Aaron Rodgers, the reigning MVP of two years running. The 29-year-old Fresno State receiver is coming off a career-high 123 catches, which almost certainly won’t be replicated. It was his third 110-plus catch season in the last four years, and Vegas didn’t acquire him to be an observer. Adams is a top-five receiver lock and likely will be in the top three of just about every format that rewards for catches.

Carr becomes a legitimate top-five quarterback contender with the likes of Adams, Hunter Renfrow and Darren Waller, which is about as dynamic of trio as the league has to offer. On the surface, Renfrow takes the biggest hit to his fantasy stock with the addition of Adams. A reception-dependent fantasy commodity, Renfrow may struggle to approach 80 grabs, let alone the 103 mark he set in 2021.

It’s a net positive for Waller’s outlook, since he’s no longer going to be the focus of nonstop double-teams. Adams draws so much attention that Waller’s athleticism and size will force defenses to pick their poison. He’s among the top two or three players at his position.

Running backs Josh Jacobs gets a significant boost, too, because even with all of the weapons, Josh McDaniels’ system emphasizes the ground game. Defenses now have to account for a number of dangerous aerial weapons around the goal line, which benefits Jacobs in an area where he’s at his best. He’s a low-end No. 1 back in most situations, but gamers should lock up Kenyan Drake as a handcuff given Jacobs’ injury history.

Packers fantasy football outlook

The obvious question is how does this team replace all that is Adams? The free-agent market is drying up as an injured Odell Beckham Jr. (knee), who’s expected miss roughly the first two months of the season, is the top remaining option. No one available is an immediate replacement, that’s for sure. The Packers are likely to invest a first-round pick on a wideout now that Aaron Rodgers is locked up.

Speaking of the $200 million man, Rodgers’ best weapon is gone, and there’s no easy way around it: This will hurt his fantasy stock. He’s still a midrange to low-end QB1, but gamers will have plenty of options with more going for them at this deep position.

Allen Lazard will stand to get the most notable boost in value, presuming the Pack cannot secure a legitimate WR1. For now, until the position fills out, he’s the de facto No. 1 target for Rodgers. There’s sound No. 2 PPR worth here if the position isn’t addressed beyond depth material, so we’ll revisit this as more is known.

We’ll see second-year receiver Amari Rodgers make his case for more targets. He’s far closer in style and stature to Randall Cobb than Adams, and there’s far too much yet to be resolved to make any kind of definitive proclamation about how these two will coexist from a target perspective. The younger Rodgers has far more upside, but he landed just four passes in his rookie season. Cobb is reliable over the middle and No. 12 loves him, though the veteran enters his age-32 season as a career-long injury liability. Neither is poised to be better than a third wideout at the moment.

WRs Juwann Winfree and Malik Taylor round out the current depth. Re-signing free-agent WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling may become a higher priority now, and the Packers also could work to get tight end Robert Tonyan under contract again to help keep some continuity intact.

To a degree, we’re probably going to see a shift in offensive philosophy that relies more on the talented tandem in the backfield and matriculates its way up the field with less explosiveness. Aaron Jones is fringe No. 1/RB2, whereas AJ Dillon is closer to flex/depth territory.

We’ll get a better scope the nuances of all things Packers offense once the dust of free agency settles as well as after incoming rookies are rostered. This situation will be examined in greater detail after the 2022 NFL Draft.