12 Players to Avoid in Fantasy Football Drafts This Year

Kelvin Benjamin, WR, Carolina Panthers

By JJ Zachariason

A lot went right for Kelvin Benjamin during his 2014 rookie campaign. He saw the sixth-most targets in the league at 145. He scored 9 touchdowns. He finished as the 16th-best wideout in PPR formats.

There are some underlying reasons for his success, though. That offense in 2014 dropped back to pass more than any other Carolina Panthers team has since 2001. Benjamin saw a 25.75% target market share, a number that's really only seen by elite wideouts. And the main reason for that was because his biggest receiving competition -- aside from Greg Olsen, who's seen generally the same market share over the last four years -- was Jerricho Cotchery.

The Panthers are led by one of the best quarterbacks in football in Cam Newton, sure. But the offense is already bound to regress through the air from a passing touchdown standpoint, and they'll more than likely throw fewer passes than what Benjamin saw in 2014. This is on top of the fact that Benjamin's market share has a chance to drop fairly dramatically with the potential of Devin Funchess and last year's solid-enough season from Ted Ginn Jr.

Benjamin's being selected as the 16th wide receiver off the board on FantasyFootballCalculator.com, but he should be selected more as a high-end WR3 in 12-team leagues instead.