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I often find myself making a case for some of the overlooked players in the league. It’s like rooting for the short kid to be picked during the pickup football game.
Wide receiver Kendall Wright has been one of those guys.
Fantasy owners too often chase touchdowns, which is something that Wright will rarely provide you with. However, he has been extremely productive seven weeks into the season, and he should warrant a lot more fantasy attention. He’s hauled in 40 passes on 58 targets on the year, serving as one of the more reliable PPR wide receivers in all of fantasy football. That’s right, I said it. Wright has been targeted 37 times over the last four weeks, including a career-high 12 looks in Week 7. He’s particularly thrived when Jake Locker has been under center for the Titans, and now that Locker has returned from injury ahead of schedule, Wright’s value doesn’t drop. You can take the following as one player struggling or Wright thriving, but quite frankly, I don’t care. Check out these comparisons since Week 2:
Kendall Wright: 38 receptions, 422 yards, 67.2 fantasy points.
Player X: 19 receptions, 256 yards, 35.1 fantasy points.
So, who is this mysterious player? How about the struggling Marques Colston of the Saints? Granted, Colston has been on a bye already, but still, Wright has vastly outplayed Colston, despite playing in a far worse offense. Let’s do another comparison, shall we?
Kendall Wright: 38 receptions, 422 yards, 67.2 fantasy points.
Player Y: 22 receptions, 356 yards, 46.6 fantasy points.
Not having a bye week thus far, Player Y is Giants wideout Hakeem Nicks. He has been seemingly healthy all season long, but just hasn’t produced, yet, fantasy owners consider it preposterous to play Wright over him. Name value is the most overrated aspect of fantasy football, and Wright deserves more love. I mean, look at what he has done in PPR formats this season. According to Pro Football Focus, Wright is averaging 0.32 fantasy points per snap. That’s better than the likes of A.J. Green, Victor Cruz and Jordy Nelson. Keep in mind that Wright has been putting up these strong numbers, despite the fact that Tennessee is currently throwing the ball an average of 32.9 times per game. Only six teams are throwing the football less through seven weeks. He has a relatively favorable schedule for the rest of the season, and if running back Chris Johnson can establish some sort of a consistent running game, it will open up Wright (who is clearly Tennessee’s number one receiver) in the passing game even more.
Stop giving into name value and start inserting Wright into your lineups. And oh, by the way, he is only owned in 29 percent of Yahoo! leagues.
Sickening.
Adam Pfeifer is a featured fantasy sports columnist for Rant Sports.
You can follow him on Twitter @aPfeiferRS.
