Fantasy Football Player Notes

Aiyuk is a tough one to crack, as he exploded onto the fantasy scene last year, finishing with 583 yards and four touchdowns over his final seven games, but there were factors that helped him achieve those numbers. The major ones being the injuries to George Kittle and Deebo Samuel. There were just four games where the trio were on the field together, and during that time, Aiyuk saw just 21 targets (the lowest of the three) and had 13/189/1 combined in those games. To be fair, it was from Week 4-7, so it was very early in Aiyuk's rookie season, so it's possible he just hadn't earned the trust yet. There's a wide range of outcomes in his projections, going as high as a top-15 wide receiver, but also as low as a wide receiver in the WR30-36 range. You want equity when drafting, so taking Aiyuk as anything more than a WR3 when Kittle and Samuel are healthy is risky.

Samuel's average depth of target of 2.2 yards wasn't just the lowest among wide receivers, it was so comically low that it's difficult to believe it's not a typo. To be fair, it's hard to criticize anything Samuel did last year, given that he was limited to seven games because of a Jones fracture in his foot and a hamstring injury. But still, the fact that he was targeted closer to the line than most running backs isn't a great sign for his long-term value. Worse still is that between George Kittle's dominance, Brandon Aiyuk's emergence, and a quarterback position in flux, it's difficult to see a scenario where Samuel turns into a safe fantasy option. There will be weeks where Samuel will probably be worth starting, but if you draft him as anything but a bench option then you're taking unnecessary risk.