Top 10 Fantasy Football Wide Receivers for 2019

Kicking off another controversially intuitive positional debate listing between Sean (@SeanTGreen) and Ryan (@KramerCentric) on one of the latest episodes of Sports Gambling Podcast, the guys got into some very contrarian takes on how they believe the Fantasy finishes of the Top 10 Wide Receivers will pan out for the 2019 season.

Featuring the likes of dudes you likely won’t find on your typical ho-hum Fantasy Football Wide Receiver top lists (Sammy Watkins at Sean’s #9 seems quite reasonably fitting given the circumstances in KC), our guys Sean and Ryan pull no punches on the remainder of their lists without letting the chalk plays get in the way of statistical reasoning.

Sean Green’s Top 10 WR

10) AJ Green

“…Toe injury seems all good to go, he’s coming back, he’s in a contract year, it’s a make-or-break year for AJ Green…and a make-or-break year for the Red Rocket himself, Andy Dalton…I think if you’re Andy Dalton, and you’re trying to stay in the league, you’re going to get him [Green] as many targets as you can…I think if you’re in round 5, you can get AJ Green.”

9) Sammy Watkins

“This is under the assumption that Tyreek Hill doesn’t play 16 games…Watkins had a 116 passer rating and 63% success rate when targeted, both numbers were better than Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill…”

8) Antonio Brown

“I just think that this Oakland team…I’m seeing disaster. I’m really concerned about Derek Carr as a quarterback…but if you look at Antonio Brown’s production…from 2013 on: 110, 129, 136, 106, 101, 104…that’s six years of 100+ receptions…touchdowns all in the double-digits (except 2017 he only had 9), coming off a career-high 15 touchdowns…it just seems this isn’t gonna go well in Oakland.”

7) TY Hilton

“When TY Hilton’s healthy and Andrew Luck is healthy, amazing production…he’s just a guy that Andrew Luck loves, that Frank Reich offense, it seems just like there’s going to be a lot of opportunities for him…last year, 76 [receptions], 6 touchdowns, and that was in 14 games.”

6) Michael Thomas

“He’s in his fourth year, Drew Brees loves throwing him the ball…you look at his three years in the league…92, 104, 125 receptions…touchdowns: 9, 5, 9…this guy should have another big year, maybe I have this guy too low…there’s a chance Drew Brees is hitting a wall.”

5) Keenan Allen

“He’s just looked really good, since that ACL injury, he’s [had] two really strong years in ’17 and ’18…102 receptions and 97 receptions…1,393 yards in 2017…1,196 in 2018…and no Tyrell Williams.”

4) Davante Adams

“Since 2016, Antonio Brown is the only person to catch more touchdowns than Adams…Brown has had 36, Adams has had 35…I’m not super high on the Green Bay Packers, but again, he seems to be the #1 option…you still have Aaron Rodgers…I think Aaron Rodgers is just gonna be in F-U Mode.”

3) Odell Beckham Jr

“Huge upgrade at the quarterback position…getting to play with Baker Mayfield…if you’re Freddie Kitchens, there’s one guy you know you have to get the ball to, and that is Odell Beckham Jr…your job depends on it…and he’s gonna get a tremendous amount of targets…if you’re Baker Mayfield, you want to throw to a guy who’s gonna get you tons of yards after the catch, that the crowd is gonna go nuts for…Odell Beckham’s gonna get like 170 targets, even with Jarvis Landry and Njoku.”

2) DeAndre Hopkins

“Hopkins is a guy that, even in 2017 when Deshaun Watson was out, he still had 96 catches, 13 touchdowns for almost 1,400 yards…I think he’s kind of QB-independent of the results…he’s just super consistent…he had basically a career year last year in catches and yards, with 1,572 yards, and it turned out he was playing on torn ligaments in his shoulder…the guy is a fuckin’ gamer.”

1) Juju Smith-Schuster

“I love guys, especially in the receiver position, [who are] in that third or fourth year, they’ve showed you year one and year two high production, high level of athleticism, and now year three, year four, year five, this is where they start to figure out the different routes, how to be crafty, how to get that separation…you combine that with the huge targets that are up for grabs…Antonio Brown had an insane amount of targets, between him and Jesse James that’s over 200+ targets that are up for grabs, and Juju had 111 catches playing WITH Antonio Brown…the ceiling is the floor.”

Ryan Kramer’s Top 10 WR

10) Keenan Allen

“I honestly think Hunter Henry is gonna cut into there…and I have this thing that Keenan Allen probably isn’t gonna play every game…I think if he plays every game, his upside is much higher.”

9) AJ Green

“Still an elite talent, he’s had some injuries…he’s still AJ Green, when it comes down to it, he’s going to be healthy…you’re having the conversation with yourself at this point in the draft where you’re deciding between AJ Green, TY Hilton, Amari Cooper, Adam Thielen, guys like this…and to me, AJ Green has the upside.”

8) Antonio Brown

“I think he’s getting 100 catches, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s having a great year…I think he catches a lot of short shit…while I think Antonio Brown will be fine from a catch perspective…there’s so many ways this can go wrong, it’s hard for me to rank him higher.”

7) Odell Beckham Jr

“Beckham has been on teams where he has been the clear volume guy on offense…that will not be the case this year. They have two running backs to feed, they have a tight end…he’s going to a new team, he’s going to a team with so much hype around it, so much media attention…”

6) Mike Evans

“Bruce Arians, Bruce Arians, Bruce Arians…leveraging Jameis Winston’s strengths…putting the ball down the field…I like Mike Evans more than Odell Beckham because I think the floor is much higher.”

5) Juju Smith-Schuster

“It’s just Big Ben…I think he’s gonna sling it…I think he’s [Juju] is gonna have some monster, monster games…and I think his bad games are gonna be fine…high floor, high ceiling…we don’t really know what Juju can be without Antonio Brown…I guess there’s that element of ‘can he be a number 1?’…I absolutely believe he can be a #1…and I feel like his style almost works better for Ben…and I think we’re gonna see a lot of improv, post, over-the-middle touchdown type stuff.”

4) Julio Jones

“This is maybe unfair, but this is all about the fact that there’s clearly something about him finding the end zone…yes, he will be banged up as well, he will play through some stuff, he may be a decoy for a game or two…but that’s why I couldn’t put him in the Top 3.”

3) Michael Thomas

“No-brainer here…he’s been Top 10 every year he’s played…Drew Brees likes throwing him the ball, I think he’s gonna get the bulk of the catches…a pure, pure floor play…while he maybe doesn’t have quite the ceiling as the guys at my 2 and 1 spot, and maybe even below him like a Juju…I just think Michael Thomas is going to get you so many points every week that that floor is like, a 12-points a week minimum…”

2) DeAndre Hopkins

“I think he just he’s gotta be there, I could see him being #1…he has the opportunies…they play sandlot style…even when Watson gets hurt, he [Hopkins] still gets his…you’d be silly to not have him as one of your first two receivers…”

1) Davante Adams

“2014, Aaron Rodgers had 38 touchdowns…2015, Rodgers had 31 touchdowns…2016 , he had 40 touchdowns…he got hurt in 2017 so I’ll throw that out…last year, he only had 25 touchdowns…Davante Adams was the #3 fantasy wide receiver when Aaron Rodgers ONLY threw for 25 touchdowns…to me, when I’m having that discussion after those first five picks, of who I want to take, hard for me to look past Davante Adams.”