If you were to ask NFL fans or analysts who the best receiver in the league is, the vast majority of them would say Calvin Johnson. While I am not quite as high on Calvin's fantasy value as most others (in regards to his overall value), it's hard to argue that he's head and shoulders the number one fantasy receiver heading in to mini-camps and OTA's.
If you were to ask those same fans or analysts who the second-best receiver in the league is, my guess is you would hear several different names. Some might say it's Julio Jones. Some would say it's A.J. Green. Others might say it's Brandon Marshall, while someone else could argue that it's Dez Bryant. Hell, some people may even say that Demaryius Thomas or Andre Johnson is number two.
I'm going to take a closer look at two of those receivers, A.J. Green and Dez Bryant.
A.J. Green caught 97 passes for 1,350 yards and 11 touchdowns last season.
Dez Bryant caught 92 passes for 1,382 yards and 12 touchdowns last season.
For my money, these two go-to receivers were essentially equal in terms of fantasy production last season. Less than half a point difference per week is not enough to give Bryant a clear edge over Green. So, let's take a closer look at potential reasons for one of these two receivers to stand out in 2013.
If A.J. Green is going to take the next step and separate himself from Bryant, a big reason why is because he is extremely skilled at going up and pulling down the deep ball (often times in traffic). I can remember watching a Bengals game this past season with my cousin, who does not follow the NFL and hasn't seen a single game from start to finish in his life, and I can vividly remember him saying, "Cincy should just throw the ball as far as they can and let Green jump up and get it, he always catches it."
While there is some truth to that, everyone knows that there is more to being a great receiver in the NFL than just being tall and jumping super high. Another thing you must be able to do if you're going to be an elite receiver is be able to not just pull the ball in, but make a guy or two miss after securing the catch. Dez Bryant does that better than almost any other receiver in the league.
On top of being able to make more plays after the catch than Green, the targets Dallas has around Dez are significantly more talented than what Andy Dalton has around him. While this gap will close some if Cincinnati is able to incorporate Tyler Eifert and Jermaine Gresham in to vital parts of their offense at the same time.
The last major factor in deciding which of these two receivers I would rather have on my fantasy team comes down to who is throwing them the ball. Bryant has Tony Romo throwing him the ball, while Green is hauling in passes from Andy Dalton. While I don't think Dalton is a bad quarterback, I do not think that he will ever be able to "lead" his team to the Superbowl. At least to some point, A.J. Green's ceiling is somewhat limited as long as Dalton is his quarterback in my opinion.
That brings us to Romo; it's no secret that everyone loves to make fun of Romo when he has his inevitable one or two games a year when he does seemingly everything he can do to make his team lose. That said, he has had several performances where his team would not have won with another "marginal" quarterback. In my opinion, the biggest reason Romo is so heavily criticized is because when he makes mistakes, they're glaring mistakes, and almost always on National television. For my money, he is the most unfairly critiqued quarterback in the league.
Needless to say, if I am faced with needing a receiver and my only two options were A.J. Green or Dez Bryant, I can't envision a scenario in which I would draft Green over Dez.