Antonio Brown and Julio Jones are two of the elite wide receivers in the NFL, but which player has the edge in fantasy football?
The way that people draft their fantasy football teams has changed a great deal in the last few seasons. An increasing amount of people are opting to wait at running back, a position that was long viewed as the most important in the fantasy world – that is no longer the case, though, as top-tier wide receivers have managed to steal the spotlight in recent years.
Related Story: Fantasy: 5 surefire PPR wideouts
That being said, it’s not uncommon for fantasy owners to spend the first overall pick in the draft on a wide receiver. This is partially due to the fact that the running back position has greatly declined, and partly because of the incredible athletic ability that today’s wideouts possess.
The two top wide receivers in the league are, in my opinion, Antonio Brown and Julio Jones. Thanks to their game breaking abilities, there’s a strong chance that they will be the first two players off of the board come draft day. The dynamic receivers, barring any sort of injury, are near locks to please their fantasy owners, but which player is the better option at the top of the draft?
If you’re looking solely at the statistics, it’s a complete toss-up between the two. Their numbers were nearly identical, with Brown securing 136 receptions for 1,834 yards and 10 touchdowns, while Jones recorded 136 catches for 1,871 yards and eight touchdowns.
Both receivers had fantastic years in 2015, largely because they were targeted at extremely high rates. Out of the 193 passes thrown in his direction, Brown caught 136 of them, which equates to a catch percentage of 70.5 percent. Jones, on the other hand, was targeted a total of 203 times, and also caught 136 passes, or 67.0 percent of the balls thrown his way.
With their numbers being as similar as they are, it’s likely that you’ll have to turn your attention to the quarterback position to fully understand what they are capable of in terms of performance. This, in my opinion, is where Brown has the slight advantage over Jones.
It basically comes down to Ben Roethlisberger and Matt Ryan, and which of the two you trust more to deliver the football. If you exclude the 2015 season, where the passers, like their star wideouts, had nearly the same stats, I believe that the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback is the better player.
Over the last three seasons, Roethlisberger has performed at a higher level, completing 66.4 percent of his passes for 13,151 yards with 81 touchdowns and 39 interceptions. While Ryan has completed 66.6 percent of his passes for 13,800 yards with 75 touchdowns and 47 interceptions in the same time frame.
With Roethlisberger performing at higher level than Ryan, I believe that Brown is a slightly safer option for fantasy football owners. Having said that, Jones isn’t far behind, and is definitely a safe pick if you’re looking to land a top-tier wide receiver in the early portions of the draft.
Fantasy: A.J. Green is grossly underrated
If you find yourself in possession of the first overall choice in the draft and you’re leaning towards selecting a wide receiver, you can’t go wrong by selecting Brown or Jones. Their statistics were eerily similar in 2015, which leads me to believe that the tipping point will be based on the person throwing them the football. With that being the case, I’d choose Brown over Jones by the slimmest of margins.