In this series, I will be looking at players I like and want in my fantasy teams this coming season. Some of it will be down to my own personal preference but I will throw in some stat-based reasons too to back me up.

D.K Metcalf – WR – Seattle Seahawks

Big, fast and another year wiser. Metcalf will be heading into year 2 confident and ready to push on to be the main man that Wilson connects with.

With a full rookie season under his belt and all the experience Metcalf has gained, he can only go from strength to strength. Other positive news came after Seahawks offensive coordinator, Brian Schottenheimer, said he is looking to expand Metcalf’s versatility in the passing game in 2020.

PPR ADP

At the moment in a PPR set up, Metcalf is coming off the board as the 56th overall pick and as the WR 26. This puts him in the 5th round. His teammate Lockett is actually going at 49th overall which is the first pick of the 5th round. The fact that Metcalf is going in the same round as his teammate Lockett says a lot.

It’s actually a good thing. With Lockett going in round 5 you can use that to your advantage. Hoping that people see Lockett as the No1 in Seattle, let them pick up Lockett whilst you go about business taking Metcalf who looks to push forward in his Sophomore year.

Why Metcalf over Lockett

Metcalf’s rookie season was positive. He was targeted 100 times, which was only 10 less than Lockett. He had 58 receptions for 900 yards giving him an average of 15.5 yards per reception. Lockett averaged less at 12.9 yards per reception.

Throughout the season Metcalf had 9 games where he had 60 receiving yards or more, which tied him for 10th most among Wide Receivers. On top of that, he bagged himself 7 touchdowns. Lockett only had one more with 8.

Just one more thing, Metcalf also set the rookie record for receiving yards in a playoff game after he picked up 160 yards against Philadelphia in the Wildcard round.

2020 boom

After being picked up in the 2nd round of the NFL draft you could see the delight that Pete Carroll had knowing he had this rapid monster of a WR on his team.

He followed that up by getting Metcalf involved and targeting him as much as Lockett. Just to compare, It took Lockett 5 years to get 100+ targets. Which just so happened to be the year D.K. turned up and got 100 for himself.

Heading into 2020, I feel this production is going to increase along with his targets. With Schottenheimer already talking about Metcalf’s versatility, this can only mean they want Metcalf involved and used even more than he was during his rookie season.

Picking Metcalf as a Mid round WR will bring you nice value. A presumed target increase from 100 should improve on his 58 catches from last season. As we all know, the volume is key in fantasy football. That is what I fully expect to be getting with Metcalf this season.

Redzone bonus

Targets near the endzone give a player a better chance of getting TDs. So I had a look at the players going around Metcalf in the draft.

In 2019, McLaurin at 51st overall and WR 24 had 13 targets inside the 20 and 7 targets inside the 10. Hilton at 53rd overall and the WR25 had 8 inside the 20 and 6 inside the 10. Diggs is going just behind Metcalf at 57th overall and the WR 27. He was targeted 5 times inside the 20 and 2 times inside the 10.

Compare this to Metcalf who had 17 targets inside the 20 and 5 targets inside the 10. This put him as the 14th overall (not just WRs) targeted player in the NFL in 2019. With the predicted increase in volume, we can expect this to rise further in 2020. Giving us even more value from Metcalf this season.

Pittsy – @PittsyNFL