The 7 Riskiest Players in Fantasy Football
1. Sammy Watkins, WR, Buffalo Bills
Sammy Watkins has a whopping 71.9 point gap between his ceiling and floor projections for this season. If all goes well, he could have a career-year and end up with 179.08 fantasy points, ranking eighth among all wide receivers. Or, things could unravel for him, and he could end up closer to 107.18 fantasy points as the WR44.
Like others on this list, Watkins' risk centers around his inconsistent health, as he missed 11 games over the past two seasons. While attempting to play through a foot injury last season, he only caught more than four passes in one game, and eclipsed 60 receiving yards just twice. That's a far cry from his performance in 2015, when he averaged the eighth-most fantasy points per game among all wide receivers.
He did go through another surgery on his foot in January, but injuries are not the only issue that Watkins will have to overcome in 2017.
The Buffalo Bills have a new offensive coordinator in Rick Dennison, who called the shots for the Denver Broncos for the past two seasons. The Broncos ranked among the bottom eight teams in the league in Adjusted Passing NEP per play during both of those seasons. But a bright spot on those Denver teams were wide receivers Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders, who both ranked inside the top-21 players at their position in each of the past two seasons.
Watkins' quarterback, Tyrod Taylor also ranked higher in Passing NEP per drop back than any Denver quarterback in each of the past two seasons. And there is no argument on this Bills team as to who the top receiver is. Of the top four receivers on Buffalo's depth chart, Watkins is the only player who was on the team last season.
There is certainly a lot of risk on the line in taking Watkins at his current third round ADP, but if he ends up near his ceiling as the eighth best wide receiver in fantasy football this season, the juice will be well worth the squeeze.
