A couple of vets and a 2nd-year WR earn spots
As well as my Boom-Bust: Running Backs were last season, my Boom-Bust: Wide Receivers were equally as bad.
Baltimore’s Rashod Bateman (Boom) and Houston’s Nico Collins (Sleeper) both had issues. Bateman battled injuries all last season, while Collins was plagued by injury and bad quarterback play.
My Bust was Jacksonville’s Christian Kirk. He responded with a WR1 year during his first season with the Jaguars. He finished with 84 catches, 1,108 yards and 8 touchdowns.
Oh well! There is only one way to go with this year’s Boom-Bust: Wide Receivers.
Boom
Keenan Allen, LA Chargers
This one relies on Allen staying healthy for a whole season, but the chances of a career year for veteran WR are in the cards.
QB Justin Herbert will be healthy to start the season after playing with a chest injury for most of last season. The Chargers brought in Kellen Moore to be the offensive coordinator after leading the Dallas offense the last four seasons. Moore wants the Chargers improve on their 67.9 plays per game last season, which ranked 2nd in the NFL in 2022.
Allen has also been playing the same position during training camp in Moore’s offense that CeeDee Lamb had played the last two seasons. Lamb had seen 120 and 156 targets in those seasons.
A 100-catch, 1,000-yard, 10-TD season is very possible for the Chargers top WR.
Bust
Cooper Kupp, LA Rams
This one pains me to write, but the hamstring injury Kupp suffered in training camp and the re-injury last week has me and a lot of other prognosticators concerned.
Kupp has just reached the age (30) that has historically pointed to WRs starting their decline in production. Plus, he is seeing specialist to find out what is the cause of the soft tissue injury. Soft tissue injuries tend to linger if the player comes back too soon which appears Kupp may have done.
He’s coming off a year that saw him leading the league in receiving until his ankle injury ended his season in Week 10.
Sleeper
Jahan Dotson, Washington
I know Dotson isn’t much of a sleeper as several in the fantasy football industry have the second-year WR pegged as a breakout candidate.
He led the Commanders in TD receptions with 7 and paired up nicely with Terry McLaurin in the final five games last season. McLaurin had 23 catches for 351 yards and 3 TDs, while Dotson had 21 catches for 344 yards and 3 TDs.
If he can remain healthy this season (he missed five games because of a hamstring injury last season), Dotson could become the Commanders No. 1 WR this season with new QB Sam Howell.
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