Placing Fantasy Values on Jacksonville Jaguars Wide Receivers

By Vincent Frank on Monday, June 2nd 2014
Placing Fantasy Values on Jacksonville Jaguars Wide Receivers

For the first time since Jimmy Smith and Keenan McCardell were catching passes in Jacksonville, the Jaguars have a ton of talented receiving options. The issue here is that Chad Henne and Blake Bortles leave a lot to be desired as it relates to getting them the ball. Henne has never been more than a pedestrian starting quarterback, while Bortles is about as green as the junk that was found in Josh Gordon's car last week. 

With that said, we can finally start to place a value on Jaguars' players not named Maurice Jones-Drew, who has moved on to the Oakland Raiders in free agency. What value should we place on each of Jacksonville's top receiving options? We will answer that question here. 

Cecil Shorts

Shorts finished last season with 66 receptions for 777 yards and three touchdowns. This was good enough for him to rank as a top-tier FLEX option in basic 2WR leagues. He caught 56 percent of the passes thrown in his direction and dropped a high rate of targets (8.7 percent).

Shorts' lack of consistency coupled with Justin Blackmon's off-field issues were two primary reasons why Jacksonville exhausted two early-round picks on wide receivers last month. He was the 40th-ranked wide receiver based on eDraft's consistency metrics, which is about exactly where he was in terms of overall rankings. The issue here, however, is that Shorts will not accumulate the same number of targets as last season. He was targeted 7.3 times per game in 2013. Expect those numbers to drop dramatically in 2014, indicating that he'll be nothing more than a decent bench option. 

Ace Sanders

Sanders is about as sure handed as you can get. After not dropping a single pass in 52 targets for South Carolina in 2012, Sanders dropped just four passes in 79 targets as a rookie for the Jaguars last season. That's about a five percent drop rate right there. 

Unfortunately for Sanders, he averaged just 6.1 yards per target and less than 10 yards per reception. That's what you talk about being in Dexter McCluster mode, meaning that Sanders simply didn't show the ability to break the big play and get into the end zone. With a ton more options out there for the Jaguars, Sanders should be put in a more comfortable position. Look for him to make a living in the slot against lesser defensive backs, which should help his overall output. In fact, an argument could be made that Sanders will be a better value play in deeper leagues than Shorts. 

Allen Robinson

Robinson caught 65 percent of the passes thrown in his direction at Penn State last season. He dropped just seven of the 150 passes thrown to him. That's what you talk about being a consistent receiver on the outside. Despite this, Robinson fell to the third round due to issues with a perceived lack of ability against press coverage.

He will be lined up on the outside and should be given every opportunity to earn a starting role with the Jaguars as a rookie in 2014. While it's difficult to gauge how a rookie receiver will perform, Robinson is likely a much better option than some watered-down veteran options as a decent back end bench guy. 

Marqise Lee

We can expect Robert Woods-type production from Lee, who is more polished than any rookie receiver. He might not provide a ton of upside as a possession guy, but Lee could max out as a decent FLEX option this season. 

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