5 Undervalued Wide Receivers Heading Into Your Fantasy Football Drafts

Dwayne Bowe

Heading into the season, no one is going to mistake Dwayne Bowe for the 15-touchdown version he once was in 2010. But currently, Bowe is being drafted as the 65th receiver off the board, with numberFire’s projections placing him as the predicted 47th best receiver for the upcoming season.

Now, many a fantasy nerd have been burned by Bowe in his last three seasons, so I understand the trepidation in investing a pick in him. But being selected in fantasy drafts as the average 165th overall pick as Bowe currently is, you can get him in the late 13th or early-14th round range in 12-man leagues. Not bad for a guy with a clean slate and some presumed opportunity. And, yes, there should be a legitimate opportunity for Bowe in Cleveland.

With Josh Gordon on suspension for the entire 2015 season and Andrew Hawkins serving as the highest-targeted receiver returning to the team, Bowe could legitimately serve as Cleveland’s number-one receiver in 2015. Bowe hasn’t been as ineffective as folks tend to believe. In 2014, on a per-target basis, he finished 21st out of 48 receivers with 95-plus targets with a 0.72 Reception NEP per target. Where did Hawkins finish? 37th.

Now Josh McCown’s quarterbacking from last season in Tampa, was, in a word, wanting. Finishing 29th out of 30 quarterbacks in Passing NEP per drop back, McCown was pretty awful last season. Bowe’s last quarterback, Alex Smith? 13th.

But never forget that Alex Smith is allergic to taking chances. According to Pro Football Focus’s Quarterback Deep Passing signature statistic, McCown chucked passes 20 yards or more down the field at the sixth highest clip among 38 qualifying quarterback at a rate of 15.3% of his total dropbacks. Alex Smith? Dead last, with a rate of 5.2% of his total drop backs resulting in deep throws.

All of this is to say is that with little to no investment, Bowe might provide some healthy returns in his new situation as a Cleveland Brown.