By The Hudsonian, Joshua Hudson
If you head over to the Club Fantasy Instagram page, you can stay up to speed on all the transactions as they occur, or as fast as my graphic designer can make some bomb ass pictures for you to like. Below you’ll see how I view all of the relevant NFL offseason transactions. I say relevant because, for the purposes of fantasy football, defensive signings don’t impact us as much as the offensive ones. I’ll cover the defensive signings when I do my team-by-team previews later in the summer.
I’ll identify the player, who they signed with or were traded to, and how I think it impacts their fantasy value going into 2017, positive or negative. Next up:Â Terrelle Pryor signs with Washington.
Transaction: Terrelle Pryor signs with the Washington Redskins
Fantasy Outlook:Â Kirk Cousins has been a top 10 quarterback in fantasy football the last two seasons. Last year, he threw for over 4,900 yards and had two wide receivers catch more than 1,000 of those yards. Each. This offseason, Cousins returns on the franchise tag, again, but has two less 1,000 yards receivers to throw to. Actually, one less, thanks to the signing of Terrelle Pryor.
After losing both DeSean Jackson and Pierre Garcon to the Bucs and 49ers, respectively, Washington dipped into free agency and brought in former Browns receiver Pryor, who, in his first year as a full time wide receiver after converting from quarterback, posted his first career 1,000 yard receiving season. Pryor had hoped to return to Cleveland, but they didn’t offer him the kind of money he was looking for as potential number one receiver. He settled for a one year “prove it” deal, a la Alshon Jeffrey, to show he’s a capable number one and secure a long term deal next offseason.
The good news for Pryor is he caught over 1,000 yards with 5 quarterbacks throwing him the ball. This year, barring injury, he’ll have one quarterback doing that job. One really good one who throws the ball a lot. Pryor will join Jamison Crowder and 2016 first round pick Josh Doctson in the receivers room, and uber tight end Jordan Reed will round out their pass catching corps. Cousins certainly isn’t short on options.
Pryor should be drafted as WR2 in 2017. He finished last season 23rd among WRs in Club Fantasy scoring, which puts him as a WR2 in 12-team formats. With an upper echelon QB throwing to him, he should be comfortably in WR2 territory, top 20 for certain. I also expect his touchdown numbers to increase. There aren’t many corners who can handle someone 6′ 4″ in the red zone. I’m thinking 75 catches, 1,100 plus yards and 7 TDs. The plus side? He has the athleticism and skill to creep into your top ten. That’s excellent value you can likely get in round 4, possibly round 5 of your fantasy draft.