Faceoff - WR Jerricho Cotchery, New York Jets

Posted 7/25, exclusive to Footballguys.com

Upside - by Jeff Tefertiller

Last season, Jerricho Cotchery was a relative unknown to many outside of New York City even after posting 961 receiving yards in 2006. He took another step forward in 2007. Even with the unreliable and inconsistent quarterback play of Kellen Clemens and Chad Pennington, Cotchery finished the season with 82 receptions and 1130 yards. The entire Jet offense was a mess in 2007. The running game was lackluster. The only two bright spots for the offense were Cotchery and Coles. These are the only two legitimate options in the passing game.

The upgrade of the offensive line and hopefully the improved play of the quarterbacks should help the twenty-six year old take another step in his development. After finishing as WR23 and WR25 the last two years respectively, any improvement in the offense should enable the former North Carolina State star break into the top twenty fantasy receivers. Jerricho Cotchery finished the season strong. In the last four games of the year, he caught at least six passes for over 53 yards. In two of those games, the receiving yards exceeded 119. The only negative in 2007 was the lack of touchdowns with a mere two scores. This was down from six the year before.

With an ADP of WR29, Jerricho Cotchery is an absolute steal. It is highway robbery taking the young, improving pass catcher as a mid-range fantasy WR3. The Footballguys consensus rankings have the former fourth rounder ranked as WR23. I am the staff member with the highest ranking at WR15. There are two staffers, Jason Wood and John Norton, with rankings on the low side at WR30. It is hard to believe that Jerricho Cotchery is currently being drafted in the late seventh round, the 80th pick overall. That is just amazing to me.

The only issues for Cotchery are the uncertainty at quarterback and the competition for targets with Laveranues Coles. In the past, Pennington has favored Coles and Clemens favored Cotchery. The strong arm of Kellen Clemens enjoys having the deep threat of Cotchery. The situation should work itself out. As the young Jerricho Cotchery is emerging, the injury-prone and aging Coles is declining. At his current draft spot, fantasy owners should be ecstatic to take Jerricho Cotchery in the seventh round as a fantasy WR3.

Downside - by Mike Brown

There's a decent chance that we've already seen the best of what Jerricho Cotchery has to offer, at least with the current group of players surrounding him. Cotchery has got some very nice talent in his own right, but it's the system and teammates I take issue with.

The Jets have, for years, run a very conservative style of offense. That style has served them fairly well at times, but not nearly well enough to turn any of the members of the passing game into fantasy studs. With a quarterback decision looming between Chad Pennington and Kellen Clemens, it's unlikely that the conservative nature of the offense will be changing anytime soon, either. Both quarterbacks come with a ton of risk, having both played pretty poorly in recent seasons. The fact that Clemens may have a leg up is supposed to be to Cotchery's benefit. Yet all I see is a quarterback who has more than his share of trouble in the red zone. He's a guy who has the arm strength to get the ball down the field, but it doesn't help when it's nowhere near its intended target. It seems to me that most people see Clemens as a positive for Cotchery due to flawed logic.

See, Coles and Pennington have developed a great rapport over the years with one another. So if Pennington were to take the job, it would benefit Coles. But that doesn't automatically mean that Clemens would benefit Cotchery. Those two don't have some sort of great chemistry with one another, and no one really knows who'd benefit (if anyone) with Clemens under center.

Speaking of Coles, he should return to full health this season. As we know, he was well on his way to a big year in 2007 when injuries began mounting. If he remains healthy and the New York offense remains conservative, there will only be so many balls to go around between the receivers and incoming tight end Dustin Keller (drafted in the first round).

Whether it's partly his own fault or not, Cotchery hasn't become a big-time touchdown scorer in his first four seasons, having scored just eight in 59 career games to this point. Even with Coles injured and out of the lineup for five games last year, Cotchery still managed just two touchdowns the entire season. With big-bodied Keller in town and a dedication to the running game in the red zone, Cotchery will be hard-pressed to greatly increase that total.

Cotchery would be a terrific selection if he were only on a different team. But as it stands right now, he's being taken ahead of arguably eight other guys who are the number one options for their respective teams. Do you really want a player who may be number one or may be number two on a conservative offense that can't score more than a true #1 guy from another team?