Each year, heading into draft season, we start settling upon players we love and those we hate, relative to ADP. This article will dive into the former portion, my fantasy football wide receiver targets. Every year there are players that outperform their ADP. Identifying these players can greatly help you win your leagues. Here are three wide receivers to target in fantasy football for 2022.
READ MORE: Three Running Back Fantasy Football Targets
Fantasy Football Wide Receiver Targets for 2022
Before we get into these fantasy football targets, I want to preface this by saying that all of these are relative to ADP. These are three guys that go later in drafts than they should and represent excellent values in fantasy football drafts right now. These are all based on FantasyPros PPR ADP data as of this writing.
1. D.J. Moore, Carolina Panthers
D.J. Moore is a stud. There is not any other way to say it. All he has done is produce his entire football career. In college, according to his Player Profiler page, he had a 97th percentile breakout age, a 98th percentile dominator rating, and a 100th percentile target share at Maryland. After that, he showed an elite athletic profile at the combine on his way to becoming a first-round pick by the Carolina Panthers.
Moore had a decent rookie season and since then has put up more than 1,150 receiving yards for three straight years now. He’s done this in spite of coaching, scheme, and role changes along with absolutely horrible quarterback play. His size, speed, and career path look eerily similar to Stefon Diggs except Diggs was able to play with better quarterbacks so the touchdown production was much better.
DJ Moore is the only WR in the NFL with 1200 or more scrimmage yards in three straight years
— Alex Caruso (@AlexCaruso) August 18, 2022
Luckily for Moore, he should get a nice upgrade at quarterback this year. The Panthers traded for Baker Mayfield and while Mayfield is nothing special, he does represent a big upgrade over Sam Darnold. Darnold was at or near league-worst in terms of touchdown percentage and EPA among all quarterbacks. Mayfield, on the other hand, is near league average.
Just an upgrade to league average should help Moore take another step, especially in the touchdown department. Just last season, Moore was fifth in target share and air yards, sixth in total targets, 10th in receiving yards, and 11th in receptions among all players. Right now he’s being drafted as the 43rd overall player and 17th wide receiver off the board behind guys like Antonio Gibson, Jaylen Waddle, and Cam Akers. That’s far too low for a player with top-five upside. Moore is currently my WR10 and an easy third-round pick, making him one of the best fantasy football wide receiver targets this year.
READ MORE: D.J. Moore Fantasy Football Profile
2. Courtland Sutton, Denver Broncos
It wasn’t too long ago that Courtland Sutton was being talked about as one of the best up-and-coming young wide receivers in the league. In his Sophomore season, he caught 72 balls for 1,112 yards and six touchdowns from the three-headed monster at quarterback that was Joe Flacco, Drew Lock, and Brandon Allen. Unfortunately, it was all downhill from there.
Sutton tore both his ACL and MCL in the second week of 2020 and missed the rest of that season. Last year, Sutton took a step back in production as he only caught 58 passes for 776 yards and two touchdowns. That is not atypical though as most players tend to see a dip in production in their first year back from a major injury. The quarterback play with Teddy Bridgewater and Drew Lock remained a hindrance as well.
Everything looks to be “wheels up” heading into 2022 for Sutton. He’s now more than a full year removed from the knee injury and will be more than two years removed early in the season. This is when most players tend to return to their pre-injury performance level. Sutton also will be playing with the best quarterback of his career after the Denver Broncos traded for Russell Wilson this offseason. Wilson has long been heralded as one of the most efficient quarterbacks in the NFL, and possibly of all time.
He should also be allowed to air it out more this year too, much to the benefit of the Broncos pass catchers, Sutton included. Wilson has always been especially efficient as a deep-ball passer which is where Sutton thrives. This could end up being a match made in heaven. Sutton is currently being drafted as the 59th player, and 23rd wide receiver off the board. There is no reason that he should be going behind guys like Amari Cooper, Chris Godwin, or Joe Burrow. Sutton is my WR15 and it wouldn’t be surprising at all if he ended up being “this year’s Cooper Kupp” making him a great wide receiver to target.
3. Rashod Bateman, Baltimore Ravens
Rashod Bateman was a bit disappointing in his rookie season last year. After a great college career at Minnesota, Batemen drew a ton of Stefon Diggs and D.J. Moore player comps and was drafted in the first round by the Baltimore Ravens. There was plenty of optimism that he would be the perfect compliment to Marquise Brown and Mark Andrews.
Unfortunately, Bateman suffered a groin strain in the preseason that lingered and caused him to miss the first five games of his rookie season. That missed time proved to be crucial especially as Lamar Jackson missed time with injury as well. Bateman’s groin injury seemed to cause issues all year as it popped back up during the season and he was never really able to take off. He did show flashes as he drew at least six targets in his first five games and in seven games total. Bateman also scored double-digit fantasy points in half his games played.
1st-Rd rookie WRs that had at least 500 receiving yards on fewer than 70 targets since 2010 in their 1st year.
Brandin Cooks
Rashod Bateman— Andrew Erickson™ (@AndrewErickson_) May 4, 2022
Heading into 2022, Bateman is in a prime position to break out. The Ravens traded Marquise Brown away during the offseason, clearing the way for Bateman to be the alpha wide receiver in this offense. He also has a full year under his belt and getting a full offseason in with Lamar Jackson, who is also healthy again. Mark Andrews is still likely to see the most targets but there are more than enough to go around for Bateman as well. He’s currently being drafted as the WR38 and 92nd player off the board. Bateman is my WR24 and should be going ahead of guys like Tyler Lockett, Devin Singletary, and Aaron Rodgers. This makes him one of my favorite fantasy football wide receiver targets in 2022.
