Fantasy Football: D.J. Moore is poised for a Top-10 WR season in 2020

Fantasy Football: D.J. Moore is poised for a Top-10 WR season in 2020

Last season, we saw Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ third-year wide receiver Chris Godwin up his statistical production to the next level. He finished 2019 with 86 catches for 1,333 yards and nine touchdowns while averaging 16.7 fantasy points per contest in half-PPR formats.

His 2019 campaign opened a lot of eyes for fantasy managers alike and now Godwin is one of the most coveted wide receivers heading into 2020.

With that said, there’s another third-year wideout who lurks within the NFC South that we as fantasy football managers should keep a close eye on for this upcoming season. His name is D.J. Moore and he resides with the Carolina Panthers.

Even though the Panthers are still rebuilding their team, they have several viable weapons on offense worth tracking this year. Christian McCaffrey is obviously the best offensive option the Panthers currently have to offer (probably the best offensive option in all of football), but guys like Moore could very well rise up the ranks and be a name people argue over wanting if everything goes according to plan.

During the offseason, Carolina acquired veteran quarterback Teddy Bridgewater from the New Orleans Saints to fill the shoes of Cam Newton. Bridgewater played admirably in the five games he started with the Saints last year after Drew Brees went down with a thumb injury. He won every start and the New Orleans’ offense remained as one of the league’s most productive even without their future Hall of Fame quarterback leading the charge.

To prove such a statement, Saints receiver Michael Thomas did not lose a step in that span with Bridgewater under center and managed to haul in 42 passes for 551 yards and three scores. This spells good news for Moore in Carolina.

Bridgewater is a significant upgrade from what Moore had to put up with last year as Kyle Allen was the primary starter for much of the year. The Carolina receiver still was able to reel in 87 passes (tenth-most) for 1,175 yards (eighth-most), and four scores with at best, subpar quarterback play in 2019.

That’s quite an impressive accomplishment, and this all transpired only in his second year as an NFL pro. The addition of a more talented quarterback in Bridgewater will only increase Moore’s chances of having a monster season in 2020.

The presence of McCaffrey, along with fellow pass-catchers Curtis Samuel and Robby Anderson, will benefit Moore in the long-run. Defenses will have to attempt to devote an equal amount of attention to all four of these guys. Moore won’t be keyed in on and it will at times, make it easier for him to find cracks within the coverage in the secondary.

Should Moore’s production on the gridiron pan out as I am anticipating, the NFC South is poised to be the most loaded in terms of wide receiver talent in the league. Allow me to elaborate.

The Saints have arguably the best receiver in the game to date with Michael Thomas as he set the record for most receptions in a single season last year with 149. The Buccaneers have Godwin and Mike Evans who both were top-10 receivers in 2019. Did I mention that Tom Brady will be delivering passes to them as well this year? Finally, the Atlanta Falcons have a beast in Julio Jones and a speedy Calvin Ridley who both can do a lot of damage to defenses on any given Sunday.

Not since Steve Smith have the Panthers had talent such as what stands before them in Moore. He can add to the embarrassment of riches of talent the NFC South possesses within the receiver department if he can live up to the hype.

It certainly will make things much more interesting as all four squads in that division could potentially have receivers who will be selected within the first two rounds of almost all fantasy drafts by this time next year.

Moore is currently being drafted somewhere in the middle of the fourth round which is a perfect spot to take him. The fact that his popularity isn’t as high makes it easy for us to overlook him but don’t be fooled. The signs are all there for Moore to have a similar season to what Godwin had in 2019.

The quarterback talent and the talent around him have improved over the offseason to give him a great shot at obtaining top-10 fantasy numbers this fall.

At his current draft position, it is considered a bargain and you should not take this lightly because if you do and he does break out this year, it’s going to be much more difficult to land him on your roster for 2021.

Heed these words and don’t let this potentially golden opportunity slip past you. The key to winning in fantasy is trying to stay ahead of the curve. Sometimes it can be tricky to determine which players are set for a big year, but I believe there is plenty of evidence here to show that Moore will rise to the occasion.

Make sure to keep Moore’s name on your draft list and not forget about him when it’s time to draft in your league this year.