Sunday Debate: Stefon Diggs Will Help You Win Your Fantasy League
Brendan Pignataro and Mark Morales-Smith will be debating a different topic each Sunday. This week will feature a debate on value picks in fantasy football. Will Stefon Diggs or Travis Benjamin help win you a championship?
In this week’s edition of Sunday Debate, we will try to help you win your fantasy league with a great value pick that could help propel you to a championship. Well, at least my pick will be helpful. This debate will feature sleepers that are currently being way under valued. Mark has decided to go with San Diego Chargers wide receiver Travis Benjamin, while I will be arguing for a huge year out of Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Stefon Diggs.
Related Story: Sunday Debate: Travis Benjamin Will Lead You to Fantasy Title
Diggs wasn’t a household name prior to his rookie season last year, but that quickly changed when he accumulated 419 yards in his first four professional games. That is pretty outstanding considering considering the Vikings were the second worst passing offense in the league last season. Diggs showed some flashes the rest of the season, but was not able to regain the production he had in the first quarter of the season.
Due to his decreased production as the season went on, Diggs is currently being drafted as the 44th wide receiver according to Fantasypros.com. If this holds true, it will be incredible value come draft day. Diggs has the potential to be a high end WR3, even a low end WR2 if Teddy Bridgewater can raise his game to the next level.
The Minnesota Vikings irresponsibly lined up Diggs as the X receiver last season which should be reserved for the big bodied receivers. They have put their brain caps back on and moved Diggs to the Z position where he belongs.
Lining up there he will get many more targets lining up in the slot, and should get put in motion a lot more often. PPR players need to take note of that as well. This is where he should have played all along, and will reap the benefits on the stats sheet.
Diggs is the number one receiver on the Vikings and I believe will by far receive the most targets in the offense. Laquan Treadwell was a good draft pick, but he is having trouble adjusting to the pros thus far in camp. Charles Johnson is not a consistent threat, and is definitely not a number one receiver. Diggs has the most talent on this squad, and Minnesota Vikings beat writer Matt Vensel of the Star Tribune seems to agree, “Diggs has been by far the most impressive offensive player.”
Another reason fantasy players are afraid to draft Diggs high is Adrian Peterson is still around, and is still the focus of the offense. While this is true, the freak of nature Peterson can’t be run into the ground at age 31. The Vikings need a balanced attack, and need to improve in the passing game.
The franchise obviously believed enough in Bridgewater’s talent to take him in the first round, and they know it’s time to take the reigns off a little bit. I’m not expecting him to be a top 15 fantasy quarterback, nonetheless there will be plenty more targets to go around this season. With an ADP of WR44, Diggs is one of the only number one options valued that low.
Even though I thought Mark’s choice of Benjamin was one of the most underrated off-season acquisitions of the year, Benjamin will not see the amount of targets Diggs should. His only hope would be for Keenan Allen to go down with an injury. If healthy, Allen may lead the entire NFL in targets as he and Philip Rivers has tremendous chemistry. Let’s not also forget Antonio Gates is still in the offense and producing at a high level.
Benjamin will help this offense immensely, but may still be the third receiving option on the team. I do think he will break some long touchdown catches and have a few huge games, but I expect his season to be extremely inconsistent. Going into a fantasy championship you want high ceiling and high floor players. In 2016, Diggs will fit this bill, while Benjamin will be a high ceiling, low floor and hold your breathe on a weekly basis type fantasy player.
In the words of the great philosopher Joe Dirt, Fantasy Football is a garden, Digg it!
Please check out Mark’s opposing article, and feel free to join in on the debate in the comments!