Last season, I created three rosters that had two wide receivers from the same team. I drafted Demaryius Thomas and Wes Welker, Randall Cobb and James Jones and Julio Jones and Roddy White. Here were the results:

Thomas and Welker Team: 7-6, did not make playoffs

Cobb and Jones Team: 10-3, finished in second place

Jones and White: 9-4, finished in third place

I made some key trades and played the waiver wire hard because most of those players on my winning teams were hurt throughout most of the year, so I wasn’t able to fully gauge how effective this strategy was. I think these teams proved you can make the playoffs even when key players miss most of the season when you play the waiver wire right, but that is a different article for a different time.

The benefit of creating such a team is that you know you will have consistent points each week, and you will have weeks where you will blow the competition away. If Julio Jones goes off for 24 points, Roddy White may only have three points, but two of your wide receivers totaled 27 points. If each of those players has six games with 10 or more points, some of those games will overlap at some point. Another benefit is that if one of those players becomes injured, your second wide receiver will see an increase in targets, and you will most likely be able to pick up the third wideout on the team from waivers.

The negatives are that if both of your players go down with injuries, you will have to do some scrambling. Fantasy players will also argue that you are limiting yourself with such a strategy, as having two featured receivers such as Dez Bryant and Antonio Brown would allow you to maximize your point opportunities from week to week. While that can be true, you would have to feel comfortable not drafting a running back until the third round to get such a pairing

For the 2014 season, there are some intriguing options for combining a pair of wide receivers from the same team together. I broke down the rosters, and I found nine teams that have upside.

*Data provided from fantasyfootballcalculator.com*

The biggest values that jump out at me are the Colts and Redskins. I am higher on Reggie Wayne and Hakeem Nicks than I am T.Y. Hilton, but all three of those receivers have a chance to finish in the top 20 this year. Wayne and Nicks are such late round picks that it doesn’t really matter if they don’t work out. You can already have two or three wide receivers on your team before you even get to them.

I think Pierre Garcon and DeSean Jackson are huge values at where they are being drafted. Since Garcon isn’t going until the fourth round, you have the chance of getting two running backs and either draft an elite tight end or lock up Drew Brees or Aaron Rodgers in the second, and still be able to draft two wide receivers that could finish in the top-15.

The Bears and Packers are a little risky because of the high draft position, but those receivers have some of the highest upside heading into 2014.

This is a strategy that you need to plan out before heading into your draft, as obviously these adp selections are not set in stone. You will need to decide how you are going to build your team around these receivers, and you will need to know what you are going to do if someone goes crazy and takes Emmanuel Sanders in the first round after you just drafted Demaryius Thomas.

Categories: Fantasy Football

Tags: Fantasy Football Strategy, NFL Fantasy Football