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The New York Jets don’t have many players that are worth drafting on your fantasy football team, but Jeremy Kerley is one of them. The third-year player was drafted to solely be a punt returner and worked his way to leading the team in receiving in 2012.
Kerley stared off the 2012 season with a great performance against the Buffalo Bills. He hauled four catches for 45 yards and scored two touchdowns, one of them being a punt return. The good production continued for Kerley until WR Santonio Holmes went down with a foot injury, which caused Kerley to move out of the slot and into the outside receiver position.
Before Santonio’s injury, Kerley played 86 percent of his snaps in slot position, after the injury, that number dwindled down to 56 percent. According to ProFootballFocus, Kerley was one of the best receivers in the slot position. He ranked fourth in yards per route and fifth in drop rate (two drops on 67 targets).
He was also very impressive on deep balls as he was ranked first in catch rate on deep targets by hauling in 10 of 15 passes with no drops, and over 30 yards per catch.
With Holmes back on the field for the 2013 season, Kerley will be back in the slot, an area where he clearly does the most damage. Kerley could be a great sleeper pick in bigger leagues but will only go as far as Mark Sanchez will take him, something that most fantasy owners won’t want to take a chance on.
If Sanchez does manage to find Kerley often, he could become the first 1,000-yard receiver on the Jets since Jerricho Cotchery in 2007.
Michael Block is a featured sports columnist for Rant Sports You can Follow him on Twitter @Blockski12
