As we gear up to the start of the NFL season, Football Absurdity is going to bring you a comprehensive breakdown of every notable player that will be available in fantasy football drafts. We only look at the past three seasons for a player. This is because anyone who is looking at data from 2016 to figure out what to do in 2020 had better be J.K. Rowling trying to figure out how she went from writing the hit movie Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them to writing offensive tweets. The Raiders’ top-10 passing game was anything but offensive last year, how much fantasy impact will their first-round rookie wide receiver, Henry Ruggs III, have?
Henry Ruggs III ADP and AAV:
Standard: WR55, 138 overall
PPR: WR47, 117 overall
Average Auction Value: $1
Henry Ruggs III Statistics:
Henry Ruggs III has as many NFL statistics as you and I do… combined*
*this does not apply to any NFL players who might be reading this. Hi, A.J. McCarron!
Henry Ruggs III Overview:
The Raiders did a very Raidery thing by selecting the wide receiver with the fastest 40-yard dash time at the combine. Oakland’s offense can move the ball, and desperately needs a WR1 to reach the elite tier. This is the best situation for a rookie wide receiver in terms of fantasy value, just like this last month has been the best situation for construction companies specializing in statue removal.
Ruggs caught Raideritis early, cutting his leg moving furniture in the offseason by getting pinned between a moving truck and a wall. It must be a pretty bad cut for us to be talking about it, but the Raiders fully expect him to be ready for offseason activities… if we have offseason activities.
Henry Ruggs III Strategy:
Henry Ruggs III Auction Value: $3
Draft Ranking: Find out for your league settings in a Beersheet! (coming late June)
Before you rush to pick Ruggs in a single-digit round or half a dozen auction dollars, hold up a bit. With no preseason likely, it’s a good bet it will take a while for Ruggs to blossom into a starting fantasy role. So he’s a much better lottery ticket than a start-of-season flex or WR3, but there are cheap gambles everywhere: It’s Las Vegas. Plus, he’s on the Raiders, and I just don’t know if I can fall in love again after being hurt so much (is it really “moving on” if I’m going back to the exact same team?)
Best Case Scenario:
After a month or so, Ruggs becomes a WR2, the Raiders offense explodes, and ex-pat Raider fans stop being mad at the team and start being mad at the universe.
Worst Case Scenario:
Ruggs never gets on the same page as QB Derek Carr and becomes the next Darrius Heyward-Bey. The Raiders coaching staff remembers “HR3” not as an amazing player, but the department they have to go to when their workplace harassment complaints escalate.ht
[Photo Credit: https://vimeo.com/373948538 under cc-2.0]
[Statistics are sourced from pro-football-reference.com and airyards.com]
