Under the Radar – Week 1

Players who go under the radar might not be a championship winning addition but knowing about a player who is going unnoticed could give you an edge before anyone knows about them. 

This season I will go searching for players that have activated stealth mode that could be one to watch in the near future.

So, who is under the radar for Week 1?

Preseason hype edition

Amon-Ra St.Brown – Wide Receiver, Detroit Lions

The Lions Wide Receiver room isn’t really something to shout about but knowing about the line up can give you an idea about St. Brown’s potential to move on up the depth chart. 

Right now their Wide Receiver one and two are Tyrell Williams and Quintez Cephus. The lions loss of Wide Receivers Golladay, Marvin Jones and Amendola have opened up a lot of targets.

Obviously the Lions have the likes of Tight End T.J. Hockenson and Running backs that can catch but as a Wide Receiver, St. Brown doesn’t really have competition to move up.

Especially now they have let go of Perriman. 

Quarterback play

Jared Goff is the new Quarterback in town for the Lions and has had to learn a new offence fast. Looking back at Goff’s time in LA could also give us an indication that St. Brown has the potential to move up fast in that offence and useful in PPR leagues. 

For the last three years Goff’s completed air yards per pass attempt  has averaged a pretty low 4.6 yards in 2018, 3.8 in 2019 and even lower at 3.3 yards in 2020. The fact that Goff’s passes are so short is great news for St. Brown who won’t be running long routes out wide but more close to the line of scrimmage and down the middle in the slot.

Current status

Before the season kicks off, St. Brown was coming off the board towards the back end of the draft In round 14. He’s going as the 68th Wide Receiver taken and averaging around the 199th overall pick.

St. Brown is a perfect late round flyer in drafts or an early waiver add now that all roster cuts have been made. The way that the Lions offence is set up, St. Brown has the potential of being a huge target and definitely someone to keep an eye on.

Mecole Hardman – Wide Receiver, Kansas City Chiefs

We all know the Chiefs have an outstanding passing attack in the form of Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce. Even though they try, they can’t do it all on their own. 

In the off-season the Chiefs let go of Wide Receiver Sammy Watkins which opens up an opportunity for Hardman to step up and become a bigger part of this offence. 

This will be the third season for Hardman at the Chiefs. For his first two seasons, the Chiefs didn’t give him much more of a role than a flex play and a return guy in his rookie year. 

When he was on the field however we did see some flashes of what could be this season. In his rookie season, Hardman averaged an impressive 20.7 yards per reception and then had a good show in 2020 with an average of 13.7 yards per reception. 

This is still pretty impressive as he didn’t go above 4 catches in any game apart from one. Week 8 saw Hardman get 9 targets where he caught 7 for 96 yards and a TD. With Watkins of of the way, the extra targets could be heading Hardman’s way and he’s shown us that when given the opportunity, he can put up the numbers. 

Current status

Before the season kicks off, Hardman was coming off the board as the 114th player making him the 45th Wide Receiver taken. 

With the potential to be the 2nd Wide Receiver in the Chiefs offence and Mahomes behind centre slinging him the ball, Hardman has the potential to have a career season. 

Look out for more under the radar players throughout the season. 

But until then Rush Nation, Keep Rushing

Pittsy – @PittsyNFL