Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Robert Woods has rejuvenated his career in LA after a quiet start with the Buffalo Bills. Since joining the Rams, Woods has been one of the NFL’s most consistent wide receivers, always seeming to be in the right place at right time for young quarterback Jared Goff. Even though Woods has grown a tremendous amount as a player over the last couple of seasons, it still seems like he doesn’t get the respect he deserves. He is a part of one of the leagues best offenses, has an ascending quarterback throwing him the ball and has shown that he can be trusted in the biggest moments. Heading into 2019, Woods should be someone to target in all your drafts as a safe and consistent wide receiver/flex option.
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Robert Woods Fantasy Preview 2019
2018 Recap
While Woods already broke onto the scene back in 2017, it was last year when he showed that it was no fluke. Woods finished the 2018 season with 86 catches, 1,219 yards and six touchdowns and that was only receiving. Woods actually got 19 rushes last year which is a huge amount for a receiver, he finished with 157 rush yards and a touchdown. Its nothing to freak out about but it’s always nice to have a guy that can get you points from multiple spots on the field.
What was most impressive about Woods was his consistency throughout the entirety of the season. From Weeks 2 through 15, Woods never recorded under five catches and 60 yards. Think about that, every single week he had a floor of 11 PPR points. If you’re getting that out of your 3rd wide receiver or the flex spot, your golden.
Even in the Rams loaded offense that features other wide receivers Brandin Cooks and Cooper Kupp as well as star running back Todd Gurley, Woods still finished the year with the most targets, and it wasn’t that close. Woods finished with 130 targets which were 13 more than the next closest player (Cooks). These are the kinds of stats that usually hold over from one year to the next. He brings an extremely high floor with a nice amount of upside as well.
2019 Preview
Looking ahead to 2019, Woods is in the same spot he was last year, and that’s a really good thing. He’s still catching balls from one of the leagues rising quarterbacks and should be even more featured in the offense with both Cooper Kupp and Todd Gurley dealing with injuries that could free up more targets for him.
A big indicator for a wide receiver’s fantasy success is the offense he plays in and the quarterback he’s working with. No matter how good you are, if you’re stuck on a terrible offense or with a bad quarterback, you’re not going to have much fantasy success. Luckily for Woods, these are issues he does not have to worry about.
A number that stuck out to me was the number of targets Woods got even with Kupp in the lineup. He received 7.8 targets alongside Kupp and Cooks which goes to show just how valuable he is to Goff. Every quarterback needs a trusty go-to guy in the slot and Woods is exactly that guy. Something I always look for when using PPR scoring is targets and more specifically, targets in the slot. That’s where Woods lines up most the time and those are always the easiest completions to make. Last year when targeting Woods, Jared Goff posted a rating of 104.4, that’s a very high number for any quarterback-wide receiver duo.
Taking all of this into account, Woods is the perfect #3 receiver or flex option that will bring you consistent production while also having a handful of big splash games as well.
Average Draft Position
As of this writing, Robert Woods’ FantasyPros ADP is at 42nd overall (WR18). That comes out to about the middle of round 4 depending on the size of your league, I think that’s a nice spot to grab a player of his caliber. As mentioned earlier, his consistency is really what makes him so great. You always want at least one guy on your team that you know rain or shine, you’re getting double-digit points. If you stock your team with all upside and no floor you could very well end up as your leagues “Sacko” and no one wants that. Looking for a good mix of high upside and safe floor players will put you in the best position to win and Woods fits the safe floor category perfectly.
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