This article is part of our Job Battles series.
Like the quarterback and running back entries before it, this article will look to preview the wide receiver training camp competitions most pertinent to fantasy football this upcoming year.
The blurbs are listed in descending order of team location, while the players are listed left to right on the basis of seniority rather than favored status.
Chad Williams vs. Christian Kirk, Arizona
Both of these players should primarily play outside receiver when Larry Fitzgerald is on the field, but Kirk's skill set might play a bit better in the slot. Williams more easily translates outside and has a year of experience after the Cardinals selected him in the third round of the 2017 draft, so Williams has an advantage heading into camp.
As much as Kirk ideally fits in the slot, he still has the talent to close the gap if Williams doesn't hold his ground in practice. Kirk (5-foot-10, 201 pounds) was a blue chip recruit who established himself as the best receiver for Texas A&M the second he arrived on campus, even with a loaded returning receiver rotation headlined by Josh Reynolds and Ricky Seals-Jones. Some think Kirk lacks playmaking skills because he finished his career with an average of 12.2 yards per catch, but this was more a testament to the mediocrity of A&M's quarterbacks. Kirk can kill in the open field after the catch – he wouldn't have scored six times on punt returns, averaging 22 yards per attempt, if anything else were the
Like the quarterback and running back entries before it, this article will look to preview the wide receiver training camp competitions most pertinent to fantasy football this upcoming year.
The blurbs are listed in descending order of team location, while the players are listed left to right on the basis of seniority rather than favored status.
Chad Williams vs. Christian Kirk, Arizona
Both of these players should primarily play outside receiver when Larry Fitzgerald is on the field, but Kirk's skill set might play a bit better in the slot. Williams more easily translates outside and has a year of experience after the Cardinals selected him in the third round of the 2017 draft, so Williams has an advantage heading into camp.
As much as Kirk ideally fits in the slot, he still has the talent to close the gap if Williams doesn't hold his ground in practice. Kirk (5-foot-10, 201 pounds) was a blue chip recruit who established himself as the best receiver for Texas A&M the second he arrived on campus, even with a loaded returning receiver rotation headlined by Josh Reynolds and Ricky Seals-Jones. Some think Kirk lacks playmaking skills because he finished his career with an average of 12.2 yards per catch, but this was more a testament to the mediocrity of A&M's quarterbacks. Kirk can kill in the open field after the catch – he wouldn't have scored six times on punt returns, averaging 22 yards per attempt, if anything else were the case. His jumps and agility drills at the combine were poor, but a quick glance at the tape shows Kirk has abundant quickness. His 4.47-second 40-yard dash was otherwise encouraging.
Williams certainly lacks Kirk's pedigree as a Grambling product, but his own qualifications are quite sound as a prospect. At 6-foot-1, 207 pounds, Williams ran a 4.43-second 40-yard dash at his pro day, making him at least as good of an athlete as Kirk is. Meanwhile, Williams' college production does a lot to ease concerns about his low level of competition. Williams also earned high reviews for his Senior Bowl work prior to the 2017 draft.
With both young wideouts appearing formidable, and with slightly different skill sets, there's no need for one to fully overrule the other. It wouldn't be the preferred outcome of fantasy owners investing in either player, but a draw seems like the most plausible outcome. Fitz is the king of this (likely modest) passing game until further notice, leaving Kirk and Williams to fight over what could be a relatively small pie.
Mohamed Sanu vs. Calvin Ridley, Atlanta
Ridley is a first-round pick and one of college football's recent blue chip recruits, so his pedigree is quite strong relative to Sanu, a somewhat overachieving former third-round pick who has ground out a fine career despite a modest sum of parts. Ridley boasts 4.43 speed compared to Sanu's 4.67, which may be an especially pertinent detail to the Falcons after they specifically struggled to put speed on the field last year.
Will Sanu's experience be enough to outweigh Ridley's advantage by most conventional talent measures? It's possible – Sanu heads into his third year with Atlanta, and his seventh in the league. But Sanu was only able to parlay his experience into 703 yards on 96 targets last year, netting him a YPT of 7.3 in an offense that averaged 7.7 YPA. This also occurred in his first season with Atlanta, when he turned 81 targets into 653 yards, resulting in an 8.1 YPT as Ryan averaged 9.5 YPT throwing to the rest of the offense. Sanu's YPT is a drag on the offense, but his reliability is the rationalization for sticking with him anyway. He certainly is a dependable target, as his low YPT numbers are offset somewhat by his completion percentage of 71.2 over that stretch.
The question facing the Falcons is whether the potential YPT improvement posed by Ridley and his superior explosiveness will be at any expense of completion percentage. I don't see the evidence for this. Ridley is quite polished as an underneath and intermediate target, known for his advanced route-running ability throughout his Alabama career. I personally expect Ridley to take the lead here by October, even if he isn't declared the winner in training camp.
Curtis Samuel vs. Torrey Smith vs. Jarius Wright vs. D.J. Moore, Carolina
None of these four are likely to be useful in most leagues, but they're explosive talents who could catch our attention with flashy plays from time to time.
If one of the four is likely to produce for fantasy owners this year, Moore (6-feet, 210 pounds) seems like the best bet. The first-round pick out of Maryland possesses deep speed (4.42 40-yard dash) and a high motor temperament that pose a big-play threat both downfield and underneath, and the Panthers didn't select him in the first round to play a background role. Unlike Smith, Moore is a candidate to earn slot snaps, giving him another way to reach the field easier.
But Moore will have his hands full trying to beat Smith, who the team seemingly traded for to specifically start at outside receiver, and Wright, who's been a quietly productive slot receiver for the Vikings the past six years. Then there's Samuel, who's even more athletically gifted than Moore. But Samuel's entire situation is murky due to a nasty ankle injury from November, and his development as a receiver was delayed by playing two years at running back at Ohio State. This is compounded by the fact that he's still very young – he doesn't even turn 22 until August.
Kevin White vs. Anthony Miller, Chicago
White is highly unlikely to turn into the player Chicago envisioned when they selected him seventh overall in 2015. His injury luck has been so profoundly bad that you can't pin any of the blame on him, but he's still in a tough spot. The Bears signed Allen Robinson and Taylor Gabriel this offseason, then spent a high second-round pick on Anthony Miller, one of college football's elite receivers over the last three years. The signing of Trey Burton and the fact that he'll often see slot snaps doesn't make it any easier to imagine room for White. Coach Matt Nagy spoke optimistically about White this offseason, so there's a chance that the former West Virginia star could make an inspiring comeback. Despite his bloated cap figure over $5 million, the fact that his contract is fully guaranteed means Chicago doesn't have anything to gain financially by cutting him, and they might otherwise have an incentive to keep him and rehabilitate his value in hopes of catching a compensatory draft pick as a free agent departure this upcoming offseason.
Whereas White is strictly an outside receiver, both Gabriel and Miller will contribute slot snaps. The same is true of running back Tarik Cohen. With Cohen, Burton, Gabriel, and Miller all pushing for slot snaps, the Bears will likely need to find ways to get Gabriel and Miller involved on the outside, at least occasionally, which would pose yet another obstacle for White.
As explosive and generally talented as he is, Gabriel's tiny frame (5-foot-8, 165 pounds) will likely limit him to a peripheral role. Miller, on the other hand, is built to be a true three-down wideout at 5-foot-11, 201 pounds with a 4.50 40-yard dash and 6.65-second three-cone drill. That makes Miller the primary threat to White, and vice versa. With 2,896 yards and 32 touchdowns in his last 26 games and a new coaching regime that's obviously fond of him, I would consider Miller the favorite, and a fine bet to post the best numbers among this year's rookie wideout class.
