Fantasy Football: 7 Veterans Who Were Negatively Impacted By the Draft

Mohamed Sanu, WR, Atlanta Falcons

Pre-Draft ADP: 121

Mohamed Sanu has never been a sexy fantasy producer, but with 81 and 96 targets in his two seasons with the Atlanta Falcons, he also hasn't been someone to ignore.

In 2017 he ranked 47th in Reception NEP per target among the 89 wideouts that saw 50-plus targets, and in 2016, he ranked 43rd out of 93. Like I said, not sexy, not highly efficient, but volume is king in fantasy football, and he had it.

This upcoming season was shaping up to be a similar situation for Sanu. The Falcons weren't losing many offensive weapons, with Taylor Gabriel being the only player leaving who saw at least 15 targets last year, but more of the same would still leave Sanu as a viable (albeit low ceiling) fantasy option.

The arrival of Calvin Ridley, selected 26th overall, changes things.

Ridley is not likely in Atlanta to be a Gabriel replacement. Gabriel is small and shifty, ranking in the 69th percentile or better in PlayerProfiler.com's measures of 40-yard dash time, agility score and burst score. Ridley had a similar 40 time, but PlayerProfiler has him ranked in only the 40th percentile in agility and 2nd percentile in burst.

As we mentioned with Moore, being a first round pick doesn't mean Ridley is a lock to see big volume, but with Julio Jones standing to command his usual huge market share of targets in addition to Tevin Coleman and Devonta Freeman catching passes out of the backfield, the presence of anyone else on the outside siphoning away volume from Sanu is a concern.

His middling efficiency means that he needs serious volume to be worth drafting anywhere near the 10th round, which is where he was going before the draft. While he still may be worth a shot at the very end of a draft with deep rosters, you're not going to want to draft Sanu anywhere near where it made sense to take him before the NFL Draft.