Jamison Crowder Could Be Fantasy Football’s Top Breakout Player
By Ben McDaniel
Josh Doctson has the first round pedigree and Paul Richardson has the shiny new contract, but it’s Jamison Crowder that has caught my attention this offseason. A groin injury that has kept him from preseason action has helped him to stay under the radar, but you might want to consider grabbing him before his stock rises! Here are three reasons that Jamison Crowder could be Fantasy Football’s top breakout player! Follow me on Twitter @BenMcD_Sports to let me know what you think about Crowder’s prospects for the upcoming season!
Alex Smith
Despite finishing 2017 as the top deep ball thrower in the NFL, Alex Smith is still widely known for his penchant to play conservative, turnover free football. His love for checking down should play right into Jamison Crowder’s skill set. Over the first 3 years of his career, Crowder has shown himself to be an efficient weapon for Washington by logging a 68% catch rate that is well above league average.
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The diminutive wide receiver spends the majority of his time in the slot and is coming off a season in which he recorded a career high 103 targets. If he sees just an additional 17 targets (which seems likely with Alex Smith under center) and his catch rate remains at his career average, he would finish with 82 receptions this season. At his career average of 12 yards per catch, that would give him right around 1,000 yards. That’s great production from a guy who ESPN.com currently shows being taken as the 42nd wide receiver off the board.
The Washington Redskins Schedule
If you believe that a player’s fantasy football success is linked to his strength of schedule, then you might be interested to know that FantasyPros.com currently shows the Redskins with the easiest schedule for wide receivers in the entire NFL. Excluding a week 15 matchup with Jacksonville, every single opponent on the Redskins schedule finished outside of the top 10 in defensive receiving yards allowed per game. Once again, ignoring the Jaguars, the Redskins also won’t be facing a single defense that finished in the top 10 in defensive receiving touchdowns allowed. This is just another reason Crowder could be fantasy football’s top breakout player.
A Questionable Running Game
When Derius Guice went down with an ACL injury, the chances of the Redskins fielding an above average rushing attack seemed to go out the window. Rob Kelley has failed to make much of an impact in the first two years of his career. Semaje Perine finished with a putrid 3.4 yards per carry last year. Chris Thompson is a great option on third down, but will never be expected to carry the load due to his size.
Now, I will admit that I was thoroughly impressed with Adrian Peterson in week 3 of the preseason, but the fact remains that he’s 33 years old. Even if he’s effective early on in the year, there’s no telling how long his legs will hold up. With the way the NFL has changed over the past few years, many teams essentially use short passes and dump-offs as their running game, and Washington might be forced to follow suit.
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