3 Wide Receivers Who Lose Value in PPR Leagues (2023 Fantasy Football)

Our last article discussed players who receive a bump in PPR leagues, so we must dive into the other end of the pool. There are just as many players who see a decline in PPR formats, and we will discuss those here.

It feels like the fantasy community has been trending toward more PPR leagues over the last decade, but there are still plenty of standard formats out there. It’s now the traditional way to play fantasy football, and it’s helpful to know which players are overvalued in those formats.

With that said, let’s kickstart this piece with one of the best running backs in the NFL!

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Players Seeing Decline in PPR Leagues

Here are players who are less valuable in PPR scoring formats.

Wide Receiver Declines

Jaylen Waddle (MIA)

Big-play players are always great options in standard leagues. That’s what we have with Jaylen Waddle, who had 75 catches for 1,356 receiving yards last year. That’s hard to even fathom, with Waddle leading the NFL with 18.1 yards per catch. He finished 10th in standard leagues last year and 13th in PPR formats. Tyreek Hill is stealing over 30 percent of the team’s targets as well, severely limiting Waddle’s upside in PPR formats. Waddle was 22nd in the NFL in team target share, and these two receivers’ usages could drop since there are so many good weapons in this backfield. There’s also some chatter that they will sign another back, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see Miami lead the league in rush attempts if that does happen.

Deebo Samuel (SF)

This is a tricky one, but what makes Deebo Samuel so valuable is that he does a little bit of everything. That’s always more useful in standard leagues because it gives him a higher floor. Having a higher floor is far more critical in standard leagues than in PPR leagues because so many players bottom out in standard leagues every week. Samuel has 101 carries for 597 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns on the ground over the last two years. Most receivers don’t get a single carry all year, and his red zone assertiveness adds to his value immensely in standard leagues. He’s finished 25th and second in standard leagues over the last two years while finishing 28th and fourth in PPR leagues.

Gabe Davis (BUF)

No player in the NFL loses more value from a standard league to a PPR one than Gabe Davis. This was the darling of many fantasy managers’ eyes in draft season last year, but the big plays overshadowed many of his flaws. Despite finishing with 836 receiving yards and seven touchdowns, Davis had just 48 catches. He also had just 35 receptions in each of the two years prior, and it’s become clear Davis is strictly a down-the-field threat at this point in his career. He finished 24th in standard leagues last year but 36th in PPR. His 14.4 air yards per reception was the highest total among all wide receivers, but he finished 52nd in the NFL in receptions.