McLaurin has the Fitzmagic to boom
Boom
Terry McLaurin, Washington
McLaurin's success this season starts at the quarterback spot.
Washington has had six different QBs the last two seasons and the most successful, Alex Smith, was more a dink and dunker type of passer, which limited McLaurin’s upside.
Enter Ryan Fitzpatrick in 2021.
Fitzmagic’s gun-slinging style should allow McLaurin to thrive and provide the opportunity for new career highs after last year’s 87-catch, 1,118 yard season.
Bust
Calvin Ridley, Atlanta
Ridley may not be a total bust because I still expect him to be around WR1 territory at the end of the season, but not as a top 5 scorer at the position.
Ridley’s preseason expectations are bolstered by the departure of Julio Jones – however, new head coach Arthur Smith ran the Tennessee offense the last two seasons, averaging less than 31 passes a game per season.
A slip in his 1,374 receiving yards from last year, Ridley could easily fall into the WR2 realm and burn those who draft him early.
Sleeper
Antonio Brown, Tampa Bay
It’s hard to believe Brown was a consistent top 5 WR in fantasy less than three years ago. Now he’s part of the three-headed WR attack for Tampa Bay.
Despite joining the Bucs late in the season, Brown averaged 7.8 targets in eight games and scored four TDs in the final three games. He also added two TDs during the playoffs.
I would rather take Brown at his spot (40th in FantasyPros ECR and 36th in Yahoo! Sports expert rankings) than burning early picks on Mike Evans and Chris Godwin.