Today, we continue our Risers and Fallers series looking at the Dynasty Fallers at Wide Receiver following the 2021 fantasy football season!
DeAndre Hopkins – Arizona Cardinals
“Nuk” as he’s affectionately known, has been a FF stud since 2015, but the sure-handed receiver’s time as a top-tier asset could be coming to an end. The Cardinals stud will be 30 by the time the 2022 season kicks off, and with young talents like Ja’Marr Chase, Justin Jefferson and Jaylen Waddle likely to be infiltrating the WR1 tier for the foreseeable future, some longstanding members of the WR1 group will fall to the waste side. Hopkins suffered an MCL injury in Week 14, which landed him on IR for the rest of the season. Whilst his injury isn’t necessarily concerning in isolation, what is though is the fact Nuk only played in two games after Week 8 and didn’t have 90 or more receiving yards in a single game. Nuk became TD dependent in 2021, and when you roster a name like Hopkins, you expect a lot more than just a TD dependent starter.
Robert Woods – Los Angeles Rams
Bobby Trees has been a favourite of the FF community for a long time. The Rams receiver had been a constant value pick who outperformed his ADP in three straight seasons from 2018 through 2020, but after suffering a torn ACL in practice not long after OBJ signed with the Rams. The move to bring in OBJ already dented Woods’ value with the knee injury compounding that drop in value. The success of Beckham Jr in the Rams offense could mean an extension to his stay in LA, and that would make you wonder where that leaves Woods, who’ll be 30 when the 2022 season kicks off. Even before OBJ and the ACL tear, it was clear that Matt Stafford’s favourite target was Cooper Kupp, with Woods having less than 50 receiving yards in five of the nine games he featured in whilst Kupp had five 100+ yard games in the same period. Woods is also a potential trade candidate, with the Rams able to save 13.5m on the cap if they can trade Robert Woods post-June 1st. So we have a 30-year-old who, at best, will play second fiddle to Cooper Kupp, coming off an injury and is a potential trade candidate. Yep, I’m out.
Adam Thielen – Minnesota Vikings
The veteran Vikings receiver has been a WR1 in Fantasy Football in three of the past five seasons, but age (Thielen will be 32 by the time the 2022 season starts) and the emergence of Justin Jefferson as an elite playmaker, and the clear number one receiver in Minnesota means that the value of Thielen shares is plummeting. Thielen finished the 2021 campaign on IR after suffering an ankle injury, and you have to wonder if the Vikings may look to the upcoming draft as an opportunity to select Thielen’s future replacement in what’s looking like a good class for the position. With the age factor, his demotion to WR2 behind Jefferson and finishing the season on Injured Reserve, it’s easy to see why Thielen is a faller heading into the offseason.
Chris Godwin – Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Dominant Slot-heavy receivers are often Fantasy Football gold (see: 2016-2019 Michael Thomas & 2021 Hunter Renfrow), and Chris Godwin has fallen into that category in two of the last three seasons. 2022 brings with it some questions surrounding Godwin from a Fantasy Football perspective though. Firstly he’s an impending Free Agent, and that brings with it uncertainty. Sure he could land with a heavy passing offense like Buffalo (a dream scenario from a FF perspective btw) or Kansas City, but it is just as (maybe more so) likely that he ends up with a team like Miami, Jacksonville or Indianapolis as WR needy teams who’re in good cap situations. Godwin could still stay in Tampa, but with Tom Brady retiring, there is a huge question mark regarding who’s going to be under Center for the Buccaneers in 2022 and moving forward, not to mention that Mike Evans is still the top dog in that offense. All of this to consider even before we talk about the torn ACL Godwin suffered in Week 15 that landed him on IR to end the season. Injuries like this typically have a recovery time of between 6 and 9 months. There’s no doubting the talent Chris Godwin possesses, but with these question marks looming over him, it’s hard not to see him as a WR faller for 2022.