Fantasy Football: 5 Passing Games With the Most Available Volume in 2019

Pittsburgh Steelers

The Pittsburgh Steelers may not have any wideouts becoming unrestricted free agents, but "Mr. Big Chest" Antonio Brown does not look like he'll be around much longer.

If Brown and his Twitter posts (like this one, this one and this one) are to be believed, he has no intention of playing another snap for the team, and we can expect him to be traded this offseason.

That would make him the player with, by far, the biggest target market share of any departing player this offseason. His 24.8% target market share in 2018 ranked 10th among all wideouts, and his 36.7% air yard market share was the fifth-highest in the NFL.

If you had any doubts at all about JuJu Smith-Schuster being one of the league's future stars and top fantasy options at the position, Brown's departure should erase all of those. Even with Brown in town last year, Smith-Schuster ranked 11th among wideouts with a 24.5% target market share and sat 25th in the league with a 26.9% air yard market share

Without Brown, Smith-Schuster has a good shot at finishing top five in receiving volume, and a league-leading workload would not be surprising at all.

James Washington also has a good shot to rise from relative obscurity. The 2018 second-round pick saw only 38 targets in the crowded Steelers receiving corps last year. When Brown sat in Week 17, though, Washington played 72.1% of the team's offensive snaps, second only to Smith-Schuster.

It doesn't look like Brown's imminent departure is being fully factored into his cost yet, either. According to FantasyFootballCalculator, early mock drafts have him going in the late 12th round. That cost is likely to rise heavily once Brown is gone, so it might be worth acting on now if you play in dynasty leagues or are drafting early in the spring.

It's also worth noting that Washington is still almost entirely unproven at the NFL level. If his cost sky-rockets into the high end of the mid rounds, it will be worth taking a look at who else Pittsburgh has on the depth chart after the draft and free agency shake out. They could end up priced as essentially free in fantasy due to the assumption that Smith-Schuster and Washington will dominate the work. That could give us a cheap way to hedge against Washington's inexperience and the chance that he just doesn't shake out as a top NFL player.