This article is part of our NFL Reactions series.
-Jamison Crowder caught eight of 10 targets against Buffalo, totaling only 66 yards but scoring once. He finishes his first season with the Jets with 78 catches for 833 yards and six touchdowns on 122 targets. He stayed healthy after injuries derailed much of his final two seasons in Washington, and he set a career high in receptions as a result. Perhaps his numbers this year were a bit maxed out, but I'm optimistic that he can maintain his target volume while increasing his efficiency next year, especially if Sam Darnold improves. Something like 85 catches for 1,000 yards and six touchdowns would be closer to my 2020 expectations.
-Baker Mayfield might be worse than I thought he was, but I still think the fired Freddie Kitchens is the person most responsible for the unique extent of Cleveland's 2019 failure. The team typically played as if it hadn't practiced at any point, and the problem was compounded by GM John Dorsey's poor handling of the offensive line personnel. Still, even with excuses factored in, 22 touchdowns to 21 interceptions (59.4 completion percentage, 7.2 YPA) is tough to sell in an optimistic light. Mayfield was often inaccurate this year, even when he had ample time to throw. It would help if Odell Beckham leaves the yips behind in 2020, because his uncharacteristic drops issues were a meaningful setback this year. He finishes his cursed season in Cleveland with 74 receptions for 1,035 yards and four touchdowns on 133 targets
-Jamison Crowder caught eight of 10 targets against Buffalo, totaling only 66 yards but scoring once. He finishes his first season with the Jets with 78 catches for 833 yards and six touchdowns on 122 targets. He stayed healthy after injuries derailed much of his final two seasons in Washington, and he set a career high in receptions as a result. Perhaps his numbers this year were a bit maxed out, but I'm optimistic that he can maintain his target volume while increasing his efficiency next year, especially if Sam Darnold improves. Something like 85 catches for 1,000 yards and six touchdowns would be closer to my 2020 expectations.
-Baker Mayfield might be worse than I thought he was, but I still think the fired Freddie Kitchens is the person most responsible for the unique extent of Cleveland's 2019 failure. The team typically played as if it hadn't practiced at any point, and the problem was compounded by GM John Dorsey's poor handling of the offensive line personnel. Still, even with excuses factored in, 22 touchdowns to 21 interceptions (59.4 completion percentage, 7.2 YPA) is tough to sell in an optimistic light. Mayfield was often inaccurate this year, even when he had ample time to throw. It would help if Odell Beckham leaves the yips behind in 2020, because his uncharacteristic drops issues were a meaningful setback this year. He finishes his cursed season in Cleveland with 74 receptions for 1,035 yards and four touchdowns on 133 targets (55.6 percent catch rate, 7.8 YPT). It's a bit jarring that Beckham posted preferable numbers in 12 games last year with the Giants.
-Aaron Rodgers was sloppy at best against the tame Lions defense, accumulating 323 yards and two touchdowns but at a dreadfully inefficient completion percentage of 49.1 (27-of-55) and 5.9 YPA. It will be interesting to see how high of a priority the Packers place at wide receiver this offseason, as the position has generally been a weakness this year. Despite high expectations both Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Geronimo Allison were busts, and there's reason to doubt their long-term viability as anything more than backups. Allen Lazard is a reasonable cause for optimism at one spot, as he finished this year with 35 receptions for 477 yards and three touchdowns on 52 targets. That leaves the 24-year-old wideout with a catch rate of 67.3 percent at 9.2 yards per target. Green Bay could target a wide receiver as soon as the first round in the upcoming draft, but I still hold out some optimism for Equanimeous St. Brown.
-I'm certainly high on Mecole Hardman, but I can't tell this early whether I'll be buying him in redraft next year. Demarcus Robinson was a drain on the offense and the team might let him walk in free agency, in which case Hardman would get at least penciled in for the WR3 role after Tyreek Hill and Sammy Watkins. The hype would get understandably quite high in that scenario, and Hardman's abundance of big plays as a rookie makes it easy to dream on what might happen if his playing time spiked upward. On the one hand, Hardman wasn't targeted especially heavily on the snaps he did play, averaging just 0.89 air yards per snap (25th percentile) while receiving just 40 targets on 463 snaps going into Week 17. On the other hand, he was super efficient and explosive, catching 26 of 41 targets for 538 yards and six touchdowns (63.4 percent catch rate, 13.1 YPT). Not just that, but Hardman will be only 22 in March and is in only his third year playing receiver. Raw as he might be, he's generally shown a lot of encouraging production indicators for his age and experience level, and he has top-shelf tools to work with. The per-target efficiency is unsustainable by at least a couple yards, but if his wide receiver skill set keeps developing then he could earn targets at a higher rate next year.
-He will be hated in the fantasy community until further notice, but Mike Boone will make a strong RB3 for Minnesota next year.
-Even if the Jets can convince themselves that Adam Gase shouldn't be fired for his first year with the Jets, they should find cause to fire him for how badly he wasted DeVante Parker at his prior coaching job. If Roger Goodell can suspend Terrelle Pryor for getting free tattoos as an Ohio State player, then I'm right to say this. Parker faced off against Stephon Gilmore on Sunday and dominated anyway, catching eight of 11 targets for 137 yards. He finishes the year with 72 receptions for 1,202 yards and nine touchdowns on 128 targets (56.3 percent catch rate, 9.4 YPT), a triumph in an offense that completed 60.3 percent of its passes at 6.7 yards per attempt. Isaiah Ford should make a fine rotational receiver along with Parker, Preston Williams (knee), and Albert Wilson next year. Ford finishes his age-23 season with 23 catches for 244 yards on 35 targets, including 21 catches for 235 yards on 29 targets in the last four weeks.
-Breshad Perriman is a former first-round pick who caught 25 passes for 506 yards and five touchdowns on 37 targets over the last five weeks, and now he's an unrestricted agent. Who knows what his market might look like, but it's possible that he played his way out of Tampa Bay.
-Nothing is truly guaranteed with Kyler Murray going forward, especially with so much of Arizona's wide receiver personnel unsettled, but his rookie season was generally encouraging. Despite playing through a late-season hamstring issue, Murray finished with 3,722 yards (64.4 percent completed, 6.9 YPA), 20 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions while running for 544 yards (5.8 YPC) and four touchdowns. The scheme places a great deal of responsibility on the quarterback, especially a rookie who started only one year in college, and Murray stayed afloat at the very least, even with an underwhelming supporting cast.
-Jordan Howard is a free agent, but Boston Scott is under contract with Philadelphia for 2020. Miles Sanders would likely be the unchallenged starter next year, but Scott's explosiveness and pass-catching ability could afford him a meaningful fantasy impact off the bench. He might be able to function in an Austin Ekeler-like role, as in the past four games he's run for 151 yards (4.0 YPC) and four touchdowns, turning 25 targets into 23 catches for 199 yards.
-Jacoby Brissett is perhaps a good backup, but at this point it's difficult to believe in him as a prospective starter. For as much as the knee issue he played through in the season's second half might explain some of his struggles, it doesn't explain enough to make up the gap between acceptable numbers and the numbers Brissett posted this year. He finished with 2,942 yards (60.9 percent completed, 6.6 YPA), 18 touchdowns, and six interceptions this year, adding 228 yards (4.1 YPC) and four touchdowns on the ground. The mobility is helpful, and Brissett at least takes care of the ball, but that ball security comes at the expense of the offense's ability to move the chains. For 6.6 YPA to be acceptable he'd probably need a completion percentage 15 points higher, and for a 60.9 percent completion rate to be acceptable the YPA would probably need to be 2.5 higher per attempt.
-Derrick Henry is definitely a foundational piece for the Tennessee offense and his 2019 season was memorable (1,540 yards and 16 touchdowns rushing at 5.1 YPC), but the Titans should either run a more uptempo offense or call more pass plays. A.J. Brown needs to be fed as a potential top-eight receiver, as it's difficult to overstate how impressive he was in his rookie season. He finishes with 52 catches for 1,051 yards and eight touchdowns on 84 targets (61.9 percent catch rate, 12.5 YPT), and that kind of production demands a workhorse role. But if Brown is to see his target count spike in 2020 then he'll need to take usage from somewhere else, and Jonnu Smith is already criminally underused as a pass catcher. The Titans have too much talent on offense to be running such a dated approach.
