There is a lot of chatter about all these sleeper wide receivers available in the later rounds of fantasy football drafts. The main issue is that everyone looks at potential and refuses t0 acknowledge the situation of each player. When you look at the big picture, these sleepers are actually WRs to avoid in 2020.
Remember, people thought they were getting a steal when drafting Keke Coutee and Donte Moncrief last year. How’d that workout?
See more: Yahoo Fantasy Football improvements for 2020
Note: Rankings are based on Yahoo Fantasy Football standard scoring (half-point PPR).
3 WRs to avoid in 2020
Mike Williams / Los Angeles Chargers
2019 Rank: 38
Mike Williams is a baffling wide receiver. He seems talented enough. You can’t help but notice him on the football field. But Williams is still one of the WRs to avoid in 2020. Part of that is his unsustainable success over the past two seasons. Last year he averaged 20.4 yards a reception. The last time a player surpassed 20 yards a reception was Torrey Smith in 2015. The last player to come close to averaging 20 yards per reception in consecutive seasons was Mike Wallace a decade earlier.
In 2018, Williams’ fantasy value was propped up entirely by hauling in ten touchdowns from 43 catches. Forget about all that for a second. The real concern about the former first round draft pick is his quarterback – Tyrod Taylor. Only once during his three seasons as Buffalo’s starter did a WR catch more than 50 passes in a season. Let someone else take a chance on Williams.
Darius Slayton / New York Giants
2019 Rank: 35
Darius Slayton had a nice season in 2019, but he is on the WRs to avoid list in 2020. And if you were in a championship game during week 16, you’d probably wish you had avoided him last season too. The main issue with Slayton is that he is all booms or busts. In eight games last year, Slayton had three catches or less meaning he needed yards or touchdowns to be viable.
What’s more, Slayton is the fifth passing option for Daniel Jones. Sterling Shepard played in ten games and Golden Tate was active for 11 but both managed more catches than Slayton who saw action in 14 games last season. Evan Engram only played in eight games and managed 44 receptions, only four less than Slayton.
John Brown / Buffalo Bills
2019 Rank: 20
John Brown was a surprise in 2019. That being said, he’s unlikely to replicate his performance this year. Somewhat ironically, Stefon Diggs finished 0.2 fantasy points behind Brown. The problem for the latter is that they just traded for the former who is both younger and more talented.
Brown and Cole Beasley both caught six touchdowns and saw more than 105 targets. The Bills’ third WR was Isaiah McKenzie and he could only muster 27 catches on 39 targets. Given all we know about Josh Allen and the offense Buffalo wants to run, there isn’t going to be enough volume to support three pass catchers.
The best-case scenario is that Diggs depresses both Brown and Beasley equally, but even that isn’t a great for Brown’s fantasy value. If you take 20 catches and 300 receiving yards (his YPC was 14.7) from his 2019 totals, Brown falls from WR20 TO WR37.
