Christian Kirk

Everything came together for Christian Kirk in 2021 because he was finally used from the slot. Unsurprisingly, Kirk established career highs across the board in targets (112), receptions (83), and receiving yards (1,035) while filling the void left by an injured DeAndre Hopkins.

Kirk commanded a 21% target share without Hopkins in the lineup and averaged 13.8 fantasy PPR points per game - a top-10 per-game average. In addition, he finished with the second most receiving yards from the slot among all wide receivers.

Kirk should stay kicked iside with the Jaguars after they got little production from that position in 2021. Marvin Jones and Laviska Shenault ranked in the bottom 10 with 1.30 yards per route run from the slot. Kirk ranked 13th with 1.80 yards per route run from the slot. He is shaping up to be the new Amari Rodgers for Trevor Lawrence, operating from the inside.

At worst, Kirk takes shape as a strong WR3 asset who can elevate to WR2 status quickly with an up-and-coming quarterback.

Jacksonville gave him a 4-yr deal worth $72M, 25 years old, was healthy in 2021, set career highs in yards (982), catches (77), and targets (103), finished as PPR WR26 and WR30 in points per game (13.8), but is currently being drafted as the WR41. He had 11 games of double-digit points, was 2nd in yards from the slot, but just 13th in slot snaps (406). Two of his new teammates ranked bottom-10 in yards per route run from the slot, he was 13th. Per player profiler he was 22nd in target separation (1.77), 21st in adjusted yards per route run (1.98), 15th in fantasy points per target (2.02), 14th in overall yards per target (9.5) and 8th in contested catch rate (60%).

Jags are clearly all-in... I just don't know that Kirk's all that good. Never had 1K yards, finished as WR58, WR38, WR51, and WR26 across career & Doug Pederson never produced a 1K WR in Philly... not ideal even if the WR1 here IMO -- but drawing heavy praise from Lawrence as "QBs best friend"