Rookie WRs Stepping Up
Published on August 8, 2014
- Rookie first-round pick Brandin Cooks continued to impress Friday, building on his strong training camp with a five-catch, 55-yard debut that featured a nifty 25-yard touchdown reception, catching an out route from the slot before turning inside to split the safeties for the score. Cooks has received constant praise for his training camp performances and all indications to this point give reason to expect an immediate impact from the 2013 Biletnikoff Award winner. Cooks might be more of a WR3 than a WR4 in PPR formats.
- Another rookie first-round wideout who appears poised for an immediate impact is Carolina's Kelvin Benjamin, who followed up his glowing training camp reports with an impressive touchdown reception of his own Friday. Running a fly route down the left sideline, Benjamin stumbled mid-route as a Derek Anderson bomb sailed his way, but Benjamin managed to get his feet under himself just enough to dive past top Buffalo corner Stephon Gilmore and scoop up the ball for a 29-yard touchdown. With a 6-foot-5, 240-pound frame and no one but tight end Greg Olsen to pose a real receiving threat on the Carolina roster, Benjamin seems to have real WR3 potential in leagues with 12 or more teams. The hype is about to get loud.
- Cecil Shorts remains sidelined with a hamstring issue and sat out Jacksonville's preseason opener against Tampa Bay on Friday as a result. The assumption has long been that Shorts is unchallenged as the Jaguars' top wideout, but he arguably has worse pedigree than the duo of second-round picks that the Jaguars acquired in the draft -- both Marqise Lee and Allen Robinson have size/speed/production that indicate WR1 potential in the NFL, and it wouldn't have surprised if both had gone in the first round instead of the second. Robinson has been out with a hamstring injury of his own, but with those two out, Lee has received a lot of reps as the team's lead receiver over the last two weeks. Lee went without a reception in Friday's game, but quarterback and fellow rookie Blake Bortles was promising, completing 7-of-11 passes for 117 yards.
- Riley Cooper (foot) is no longer in a walking boot, but he's out for Friday's game against Chicago, which will allow quarterback Nick Foles to get some more work in with two of his new receivers, veteran Jeremy Maclin and rookie second-round pick Jordan Matthews. Training camp reports have been positive for both players, and Matthews in particular is a threat to Cooper's workload if he gains traction throughout training camp. At 6-foot-3, 215 pounds with sub-4.5 speed and a sterling college career to point toward, Matthews has all the indicators of WR1 potential in the NFL. Matthews mostly faceplanted in Friday's game, however, dropping three passes while posting four catches for 14 yards. Huff, meanwhile, caught a four-yard pass and returned a kickoff for a 102-yard touchdown.
- Robert Woods was listed as Buffalo's second starting receiver opposite rookie Sammy Watkins headed into the preseason, yet offseason trade acquisition Mike Williams ran with the starting offense at Woods' expense in both of Buffalo's first two preseason games. It's hard to tell how much to read into this, but William was arguably the more worthwhile fantasy target all along thanks to his prowess as a red-zone target -- a trait that makes him unique in a Buffalo wideout rotation that features a YAC guy (Watkins), a finesse guy (Woods) and an undersized burner (Marquise Goodwin).
- Cam Newton (ankle) and Julio Jones (foot) both sat out their respective preseason games Friday, though neither player's injury is believed to be any threat to their ability to hit the ground running in Week 1. Knowshon Moreno (knee) also sat out Friday, though he did manage to log a practice prior to Friday as he attempts to get back into shape from his June knee scope
