Fantasy Football: Is Jets Eric Decker on the upswing?
By Dan Thomas
Injuries derailed Jets wide receiver Eric Decker’s season last year. Is he set for a bounce-back campaign in fantasy football this season?
Around this time last year New York Jets wide receiver Eric Decker was on everybody’s radar. He was coming off a 2015 season where he had 80 receptions, 1,027 yards and 12 touchdowns. Out of the 15 games he played in, he caught a touchdown pass in all but three of them.
Must Read: Fantasy Football 2017: Top 7 Wide Receivers on New Teams, Ranked
His production in 2015 was the reason he was being drafted in the fourth-fifth round range in 2016 fantasy football drafts (according to Fantasy Football Calculator). Unfortunately for Decker (and the owners who drafted him) the season itself was a disaster. Decker only appeared in three games before missing the rest of the season with a shoulder injury. He finished 2016 with 9 receptions, 194 yards and 2 touchdowns.
As we know, the NFL and fantasy football is a “what have you done for me lately” business. When a player does well, he’s cherished like a newborn baby who was on purpose. When a player isn’t living up to expectations, he is perceived as trash. Right now, Decker is being treated closer to the latter.
According to Fantasy Football Calculator, Decker’s current ADP is in the ninth-round in 12-team leagues. His ADP has doubled from a year ago. If you are an owner who is looking for value at the wide receiver position, do yourself a favor and go into your drafts looking to trash-pick Decker.
Decker goes into 2017 as the team’s unquestioned No. 1 wide receiver. Last year’s No. 1 wide receiver, Brandon Marshall, signed with the New York Giants. Robby Anderson (42 catches, 587 yards and two touchdowns in 2016) was recently arrested for allegedly pushing an officer at a music festival. A multi-game suspension should be in his future. The Jets other rookie wide receiver last season, Jalin Marshall, is already serving a four-game suspension after testing positive for PEDs.
With these three either gone or on the shelf, Decker should be the main beneficiary.
Free agent addition Josh McCown will replace the disastrous Ryan Fitzpatrick as the team’s starting quarterback. McCown might not but be someone who gets you excited but he is certainly an upgrade from the 2016 version of Fitzpatrick. He also has shown he’s more than capable of getting the ball to his wide receivers. In all three of his starts last year with the Cleveland Browns, McCown was able to produce a 100-yard wide receiver.
- Week 2 vs. Baltimore Ravens – Corey Coleman – 5 receptions, 104 yards and 2 touchdowns
- Week 8 vs. New York Jets – Terrelle Pryor – 6 receptions and 101 yards
- Week 12 vs. New York Giants – Terrelle Pryor – 6 receptions and 131 yards
On top of the McCown addition, the Jets also brought in John Morton to be the team’s offensive coordinator. Morton spent the last two seasons as the New Orleans Saints wide receiver’s coach. In each of those two seasons the Saints finished top-two in the NFL in both passing yards per game and passing attempts per game. They also had a wide receiver reach 1,000+ receiving yards and eight-plus touchdowns three times in those two seasons (Brandin Cooks twice and Michael Thomas once).
This isn’t to say with the addition of Morton I expect the Jets to chuck the ball around 650 times in 2017. It’s also not saying I think they’ll be top-five passing offense. It is saying I believe Morton will know how to get his wide receivers in the best possible position to succeed.
Next: Fantasy Football: Ranking the Top 10 Rookies for 2017
If Decker can enter training camp 100 percent healthy and build a foundation with McCown, there’s no reason to believe he won’t be a productive receiver. A 1,000-yard season, a handful of touchdowns and a low-end WR2 in fantasy will be well within reach. With his ADP in the ninth round, fantasy owners should be targeting Decker in 2017.