While most players in MFL 10 leagues will focus on Alshon Jeffery and Kevin White, what if I told you there was another receiver on the Chicago Bears who could put up big performances at a cheap price?
Eddie Royal: The Forgotten Man in Chicago http://t.co/KahaIbfYpv #Bears — Gridiron Experts (@GridironExperts) June 5, 2015
With an MFL 10 league, you don’t have to worry about the headache of starting or sitting streaky players. After two strong performanes in Week 3 and Week 4 of the 2014 season, Eddie Royal quickly found a home on many rosters. After Week 4, however, Royal went back to Fantasy obscurity, only to rise twice more in Week 13 and Week 16 respectively.
You may have felt slightly burned in your season long league if you started Royal after Week 4, but what if you owned him in a MFL 10? What if you own him in a 2015 MFL 10?
Here’s why Royal should be on your radar and your roster.
Eddie Royal and the Chicago Bears
Interesting fact: New offensive coordinator, Adam Gase, was the wide receiver coach for the Denver Broncos in the 2009-2010 season. Royal, played for the Broncos during that time.
While Gase has to identify the strengths and weaknesses of his new players and work them into a system, he at least has familiarity with Royal because of their time together in Denver. He knows what the 29-year old receiver can and can’t do, and that helps make Royal Fantasy friendly.
Gase won’t be the only person Royal can take a trip back to memory lane with, however, as Jay Cutler was actually the starting quarterback for the Broncos in Royal’s rookie season. With Mr. Cutler at the helm, Royal caught 91 passes, accumulated 980 receiving years and hauled in five touchdowns.
While Matt Forte racked up a ridiculous 102 receptions last season, Marc Trestman is now in Baltimore, and that reception total will decrease. New head coach Jon Fox and Gase have already stated that they are fans of using multiple backs, even if Forte is talented enough to handle a full workload on his own. Running back Jeremy Langford was brought in through the 2015 NFL Draft, and he also has a predisposition for catching passes. That could serve to limit Forte’s presence in the passing attack, and it’s currently not conceivable that the veteran could finish with another 800-yard receiving season. So if you’re scared away form the receivers on the Bears because of Forte, he will have a very difficult time replicating his numbers in the passing attack in 2015.
Tight end Martellus Bennett will also be heavily involved in the passing attack, but that doesn’t mean Royal won’t be able to find success.
Eddie Royal in San Diego
Over the past two seasons, Royal averaged 54.5 receptions, 704.5 receiving yards and 7.5 touchdowns per season. That doesn’t make him a must-own-player in standard scoring leagues, but he has his moments for MFL 10 purposes.
In Week 3, Royal was the 14th-highest scoring receiver in PPR leagues with 20.2 points, the fifth-highest scorer in Week 4 with 27.5 points, the 11th-highest scorer in Week 13 with 21.1 points and the third-highest scorer with 25.4 points.
With two weeks where Royal was a top-five receiver, he could have come in handy when your studs underperformed. When Royal finished as the fifth-highest scoring receiver in Week 4, Dez Bryant, Alshon Jeffery, Julio Jones and Jeremy Maclin all finished outside the top 20. In Royal’s performance of 25.4 Fantasy points in Week 13, he outperformed DeSean Jackson, T.Y. Hilton, Demaryius Thomas and Odell Beckham Jr. just to name a few players.
Eddie Royal’s ADP
Royal is currently the 103 receiver off the board, which means he isn’t being drafted in most leagues.
Currently, Dez has been selected in 361 drafts, while Royal has only been selected in 136 drafts. That means that Royal goes un-drafted more than half the time. I’m not saying you should run out and grab the guy in Round 15 to lock him up, but there is no reason not to spend your final pick on Royal.
With a built in familiarity with Cutler and Gase and White still learning the ropes, I think there will be a few chances for Royal to finish as a top-15 producer. You don’t have to guess when that will be, and you will look like a pretty smart player for picking up a receiver everyone else overlooked.
Jack Delaney is the owner of Your Fantasy Football Coach. Connect with him on Twitter and Facebook, and make sure to check out his new ebook The Zero RB Theory to start preparing for your 2015 Fantasy Football draft.
Categories: 2015 Fantasy Football, 2015 MFL 10 Strategy
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