Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports
The wide receiver position is the deepest position in fantasy football this year. There are plenty of players who will be getting a starting job after riding the bench in previous seasons. One player who is stepping up to a new role is Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Markus Wheaton.
Wheaton is currently slated as the No. 2 wide receiver on the Steelers depth chart. He is replacing Emmanual Sanders, who left for the Denver Broncos. Sanders caught 67 passes for 740 yards and six touchdowns. The team also lost Jerricho Cotchery, who had a career resurgence with 10 touchdowns.
To fill in some of the gaps, the Steelers signed Lance Moore. He caught 37 passes for 457 yards and two touchdowns with the New Orleans Saints last season. Moore will be the No. 3 receiver by lining up in the slot.
Wheaton recorded stats in just two games while dealing with broken fingers for most of the season. He had six catches for 64 yards. In college, Wheaton hauled in 227 passes for 2,994 yards and 16 touchdowns, including 11 in his senior year. If the Steelers can get this level of production out of the sophomore, then they would be alright.
Fantasy owners should know the status of Wheaton and his health by preseason. He will be competing with rookie Martavius Bryant as the No. 2 guy. He has the skills to step up and line up opposite of Antonio Brown. Wheaton is a late-round risk after not having a big sample size of NFL playing time.
However, if he win a starting job, then he should be considered a low-end WR3 with Ben Roethlisberger throwing him the ball.
Bill Pivetz is a fantasy sports writer for Rant Sports. Follow him on Twitter @BPiv_Sports.
