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Over the past few years, there have been several very popular articles written by myself and our very own Chase Stuart that look at an interesting approach to building a fantasy team with late value picks. Based upon the theory of using both Strength of Schedule ("SOS") and taking two players as a combination to build one very good player, Chase has discussed both Team Defense by Committee ("TDBC") and Quarterback by Committee ("QBBC") as a general fantasy league strategy. In general I think that this is a wise move because very early on in fantasy drafts there are a ton of RB and WR prospects to go after to build a great team. While there are a few studs at QB and also a few choice defenses, I do not see a huge need in leagues to pursue either too hard in the beginning stages of a fantasy draft.
So with this in mind, I started to think about what else can be done with the committee approach. Tight end? Perhaps. Running back? Maybe. Wide receiver? Hmmm, that's really intriguing, but we should probably look at say the third starting option - "Fantasy WR3". What if you could grab two wide receivers later in the draft that could combine to perform on a WR3 - or even WR2 - level, based solely on their current projections and their schedule? Now we're talking. This really got my attention, so I went after this. Let's take a look at how I went about this and then we can digest and discuss the results.
ELIGIBLE RECEIVERS
So how to begin? Defenses and quarterbacks are relatively easy to "committee" together. There's usually only one QB and certainly only one team defense per NFL club, so the approach is pretty simple as far as picking out which players / teams to try and pair up. When it comes to wide receivers, the line is not quite so easy to draw, but I needed some basis to pick which players it made sense to try and combine for a decent committee. I decided that I would use the following criteria to decide which players to start with for evaluating:
CRITERIA #1 - WR37 AND BEYOND
This seems pretty simple. If we want to have a duo that puts up WR3 numbers, that means we want WR36 or better production - else we would just draft WR36 or higher and forget the whole idea. So here is the list of players with which I started, based on their Average Draft Position (ADP):
ADP | Player | ADP | Player |
WR36 | Pierre Garcon | WR49 | Kenny Britt |
WR37 | DeVante Parker | WR50 | Rishard Matthews |
WR38 | Jeremy Maclin | WR51 | Marvin Jones |
WR39 | Randall Cobb | WR52 | Quincy Enunwa |
WR40 | Eric Decker | WR53 | Sterling Shepard |
WR41 | Cameron Meredith | WR54 | Josh Doctson |
WR42 | Corey Davis | WR55 | Ted Ginn Jr |
WR43 | Adam Thielen | WR56 | Kevin White |
WR44 | John Brown | WR57 | John Ross |
WR45 | Corey Coleman | WR58 | Mike Williams |
WR46 | Tyrell Williams | WR59 | Breshad Perriman |
WR47 | Jordan Matthews | WR60 | Taylor Gabrield |
WR48 | Mike Wallace | WR61 | Robert Woods |
WR62 | Cole Beasley |
Table 1: Wide Receivers WR36-WR60+ Based on ADP
Notice that I went past WR60, as several wide receivers in the WR61-WR70 range had projections comparable or better than WR60, so they deserved to be included (and highlighted for your drafting benefit). Also of note this year is that I included WR36 (Pierre Garcon) to show how WR36 compares to the rest of the wide receivers under consideration.
Now we have 27 guys to pair up and see how they do. That makes 351 potential committees, so there had better be a decent one (or several, we hope) out of all of those couplets. Now, before I go over the method of how to pair them up and the results, we need one more rule:
CRITERIA #2 - NO MORE THAN ONE WR FROM ROUND 7 AND ONE FROM ROUND 8.
This could get tricky here, but understand the overall goal. The point of WR3BC is to "free up" the first six rounds of your fantasy draft to pursue 2-3 receivers after grabbing a stud RB in Round 1. After six rounds you can have 2-3RBs, 2-3 WRs and possibly even a stud QB or TE, depending on your personal preference, or even to get your WR3 have the "WR3BC" be your WR4. Flexibility is the name of the game here. We all want value in our drafts, and having the ability to grab two WRs in Rounds 7 and 8 to act as our WR3BC gives us that ability.
There is some good news – all of the WR3BC candidates have ADPs that are beyond Round 7 (PIck 84+) with only Pierre Garcon (WR36) and DeVante Parker (WR37) projected to go in Round 8. That should make it relatively easy to take two receivers in this part of the draft (or later), but I will have to keep all those details in mind when we look at the WR3BC recommendations against ADP.
So what do we do now to figure out some WR pairs?
CRITERIA #3 - USE FOOTBALLGUYS' WR STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE
This sounds pretty simple, doesn't it? Just take the WR Strength of Schedule to figure out when certain players are more likely to score well. What I did is similar to what the Projections Dominator and Draft Dominator do for you - take the projected fantasy points and slice them up over 17 weeks based on the strength of schedule. I call this result the "distributed fantasy points" for each receiver.
After I had all 27 wide receivers with distributed fantasy points on a weekly basis, I just compared all of the possible WR pairs to find the best duos for WR3BC. So here we are - time for some results:
Rank | Wide Receiver 1 | Wide Receiver 2 | Value |
1 | Tyrell Williams | Rishard Matthews | 144.23 |
2 | Mike Wallace | Rishard Matthews | 143.39 |
3 | Rishard Matthews | Breshad Perriman | 142.91 |
4 | Cameron Meredith | Rishard Matthews | 142.83 |
5 | Adam Thielen | Rishard Matthews | 142.09 |
6 | Corey Davis | Mike Wallace | 141.13 |
7 | Corey Davis | Tyrell Williams | 140.89 |
8 | Corey Davis | Breshad Perriman | 140.39 |
9 | Pierre Garcon | Rishard Matthews | 140.04 |
10 | Cameron Meredith | Corey Davis | 139.81 |
11 | Corey Davis | Adam Thielen | 139.77 |
12 | Corey Coleman | Mike Wallace | 139.05 |
13 | DeVante Parker | Mike Wallace | 138.98 |
14 | Pierre Garcon | Corey Davis | 138.94 |
15 | DeVante Parker | Rishard Matthews | 138.89 |
16 | Corey Coleman | Breshad Perriman | 138.47 |
17 | DeVante Parker | Breshad Perriman | 138.22 |
18 | Adam Thielen | Mike Wallace | 138.01 |
19 | DeVante Parker | Corey Davis | 137.89 |
20 | Rishard Matthews | Marvin Jones | 137.86 |
21 | Rishard Matthews | Josh Doctson | 137.78 |
22 | Jordan Matthews | Rishard Matthews | 137.75 |
23 | DeVante Parker | Tyrell Williams | 137.35 |
24 | Pierre Garcon | Corey Coleman | 137.35 |
25 | Adam Thielen | Breshad Perriman | 137.18 |
26 | DeVante Parker | Corey Coleman | 137.05 |
27 | Rishard Matthews | Quincy Enunwa | 136.82 |
28 | Tyrell Williams | Mike Wallace | 136.33 |
29 | Rishard Matthews | Ted Ginn Jr | 136.13 |
30 | DeVante Parker | Adam Thielen | 135.94 |
31 | Rishard Matthews | Cole Beasley | 135.94 |
32 | Corey Coleman | Marvin Jones | 135.79 |
33 | Tyrell Williams | Breshad Perriman | 135.56 |
34 | Jeremy Maclin | Rishard Matthews | 135.23 |
35 | Cameron Meredith | Mike Wallace | 135.05 |
36 | Pierre Garcon | Adam Thielen | 134.86 |
37 | Mike Wallace | Kenny Britt | 134.6 |
38 | Rishard Matthews | Taylor Gabriel | 134.53 |
39 | Corey Davis | Jordan Matthews | 134.47 |
40 | Eric Decker | Tyrell Williams | 134.4 |
41 | Rishard Matthews | John Ross | 134.34 |
42 | DeVante Parker | Cameron Meredith | 134.23 |
43 | Pierre Garcon | Tyrell Williams | 134.18 |
44 | Corey Davis | Quincy Enunwa | 134.1 |
45 | DeVante Parker | Randall Cobb | 134 |
46 | Corey Coleman | Rishard Matthews | 133.96 |
47 | Cameron Meredith | Breshad Perriman | 133.96 |
48 | DeVante Parker | Kenny Britt | 133.93 |
49 | Randall Cobb | Tyrell Williams | 133.87 |
50 | John Brown | Tyrell Williams | 133.83 |
51 | Rishard Matthews | Mike Williams | 133.82 |
52 | Randall Cobb | Corey Coleman | 133.68 |
53 | Pierre Garcon | Kenny Britt | 133.65 |
54 | Kenny Britt | Breshad Perriman | 133.59 |
55 | John Brown | Corey Coleman | 133.58 |
56 | Adam Thielen | Corey Coleman | 133.57 |
57 | Corey Davis | Marvin Jones | 133.51 |
58 | Rishard Matthews | Kevin White | 133.04 |
59 | Pierre Garcon | Mike Wallace | 133.01 |
60 | Randall Cobb | Adam Thielen | 133 |
61 | Randall Cobb | Mike Wallace | 132.96 |
62 | Corey Coleman | Tyrell Williams | 132.91 |
63 | DeVante Parker | Marvin Jones | 132.89 |
64 | Corey Coleman | Josh Doctson | 132.85 |
65 | DeVante Parker | Josh Doctson | 132.84 |
66 | Corey Davis | Corey Coleman | 132.65 |
67 | John Brown | Mike Wallace | 132.09 |
68 | Pierre Garcon | Breshad Perriman | 132.01 |
69 | Tyrell Williams | Marvin Jones | 132 |
70 | Randall Cobb | Rishard Matthews | 131.99 |
71 | Adam Thielen | Marvin Jones | 131.87 |
72 | Eric Decker | Adam Thielen | 131.86 |
73 | Randall Cobb | Breshad Perriman | 131.84 |
74 | John Brown | Rishard Matthews | 131.65 |
75 | Tyrell Williams | Quincy Enunwa | 131.59 |
76 | Kenny Britt | Rishard Matthews | 131.49 |
77 | DeVante Parker | Jordan Matthews | 131.11 |
78 | Mike Wallace | Marvin Jones | 131.1 |
79 | Adam Thielen | John Brown | 131.06 |
80 | John Brown | Breshad Perriman | 130.97 |
81 | DeVante Parker | John Brown | 130.96 |
82 | Tyrell Williams | Josh Doctson | 130.94 |
83 | Eric Decker | Mike Wallace | 130.91 |
84 | Corey Coleman | Quincy Enunwa | 130.69 |
85 | Corey Davis | Ted Ginn Jr | 130.63 |
86 | Pierre Garcon | Cameron Meredith | 130.61 |
87 | Cameron Meredith | Corey Coleman | 130.57 |
88 | Randall Cobb | Cameron Meredith | 130.48 |
89 | Corey Coleman | Sterling Shepard | 130.45 |
90 | Kenny Britt | Marvin Jones | 130.33 |
91 | Pierre Garcon | Randall Cobb | 130.3 |
92 | Adam Thielen | Josh Doctson | 130.27 |
93 | Tyrell Williams | Jordan Matthews | 130.27 |
94 | Corey Coleman | Jordan Matthews | 130.25 |
95 | Corey Coleman | Ted Ginn Jr | 130.24 |
96 | DeVante Parker | Cole Beasley | 130.19 |
97 | Tyrell Williams | Cole Beasley | 130.13 |
98 | Mike Wallace | Quincy Enunwa | 130.12 |
99 | Adam Thielen | Kenny Britt | 130.04 |
100 | DeVante Parker | Sterling Shepard | 130.03 |
101 | Corey Davis | Cole Beasley | 129.99 |
102 | Eric Decker | Breshad Perriman | 129.91 |
103 | Adam Thielen | Quincy Enunwa | 129.84 |
104 | Rishard Matthews | Sterling Shepard | 129.83 |
105 | Marvin Jones | Breshad Perriman | 129.8 |
106 | Cameron Meredith | Marvin Jones | 129.78 |
107 | Tyrell Williams | Kenny Britt | 129.75 |
108 | DeVante Parker | Jeremy Maclin | 129.74 |
109 | Corey Coleman | Cole Beasley | 129.69 |
110 | Tyrell Williams | Ted Ginn Jr | 129.64 |
111 | DeVante Parker | Ted Ginn Jr | 129.58 |
112 | Tyrell Williams | Sterling Shepard | 129.36 |
113 | Corey Davis | Kenny Britt | 129.36 |
114 | Adam Thielen | Tyrell Williams | 129.33 |
115 | Eric Decker | Cameron Meredith | 129.33 |
116 | Randall Cobb | Corey Davis | 129.31 |
117 | Corey Davis | John Brown | 129.23 |
118 | Mike Wallace | Ted Ginn Jr | 129.15 |
119 | Adam Thielen | Sterling Shepard | 129.11 |
120 | Quincy Enunwa | Breshad Perriman | 128.91 |
121 | Adam Thielen | Cole Beasley | 128.84 |
122 | Jeremy Maclin | Corey Coleman | 128.78 |
123 | Cameron Meredith | John Brown | 128.77 |
124 | Randall Cobb | Kenny Britt | 128.76 |
125 | Corey Coleman | Taylor Gabriel | 128.53 |
126 | Mike Wallace | Josh Doctson | 128.48 |
127 | John Brown | Kenny Britt | 128.45 |
128 | Adam Thielen | Taylor Gabriel | 128.43 |
129 | Mike Wallace | Cole Beasley | 128.4 |
130 | Tyrell Williams | Taylor Gabriel | 128.28 |
131 | Corey Davis | Josh Doctson | 128.25 |
132 | DeVante Parker | Eric Decker | 128.24 |
133 | Adam Thielen | Jordan Matthews | 127.9 |
134 | Pierre Garcon | Eric Decker | 127.85 |
135 | Ted Ginn Jr | Breshad Perriman | 127.78 |
136 | Adam Thielen | Ted Ginn Jr | 127.69 |
137 | Corey Coleman | John Ross | 127.62 |
138 | Pierre Garcon | Jordan Matthews | 127.52 |
139 | Pierre Garcon | Josh Doctson | 127.51 |
140 | DeVante Parker | Mike Williams | 127.5 |
141 | Kenny Britt | Josh Doctson | 127.48 |
142 | Mike Wallace | John Ross | 127.34 |
143 | Josh Doctson | Breshad Perriman | 127.22 |
144 | Breshad Perriman | Cole Beasley | 127.22 |
145 | Cameron Meredith | Tyrell Williams | 127.17 |
146 | Jeremy Maclin | Adam Thielen | 127.15 |
147 | Pierre Garcon | John Brown | 127.12 |
148 | Pierre Garcon | Marvin Jones | 127.1 |
149 | Cameron Meredith | Kenny Britt | 127.02 |
150 | Mike Wallace | Sterling Shepard | 126.98 |
151 | DeVante Parker | Kevin White | 126.77 |
152 | Jeremy Maclin | Corey Davis | 126.76 |
153 | Cameron Meredith | Quincy Enunwa | 126.62 |
154 | Adam Thielen | John Ross | 126.48 |
155 | Pierre Garcon | DeVante Parker | 126.36 |
156 | Cameron Meredith | Adam Thielen | 126.23 |
157 | Jeremy Maclin | Tyrell Williams | 126.2 |
158 | Randall Cobb | Jordan Matthews | 126.2 |
159 | Cameron Meredith | Josh Doctson | 126.11 |
160 | Mike Wallace | Kevin White | 126.03 |
161 | DeVante Parker | John Ross | 126.01 |
162 | Cameron Meredith | Cole Beasley | 126.01 |
163 | John Ross | Breshad Perriman | 125.87 |
164 | Tyrell Williams | John Ross | 125.83 |
165 | Corey Davis | Sterling Shepard | 125.82 |
166 | Mike Wallace | Taylor Gabriel | 125.79 |
167 | Jordan Matthews | Kenny Britt | 125.65 |
168 | Kenny Britt | Quincy Enunwa | 125.6 |
169 | Eric Decker | Corey Coleman | 125.51 |
170 | Sterling Shepard | Breshad Perriman | 125.43 |
171 | Cameron Meredith | Jordan Matthews | 125.08 |
172 | Corey Davis | Mike Williams | 125.04 |
173 | Randall Cobb | Marvin Jones | 125.01 |
174 | Pierre Garcon | Ted Ginn Jr | 124.99 |
175 | Jordan Matthews | Marvin Jones | 124.86 |
176 | Mike Wallace | Mike Williams | 124.84 |
177 | Corey Davis | Rishard Matthews | 124.84 |
178 | Kenny Britt | Ted Ginn Jr | 124.72 |
179 | Randall Cobb | Quincy Enunwa | 124.5 |
180 | Corey Davis | John Ross | 124.46 |
181 | Kevin White | Breshad Perriman | 124.39 |
182 | Pierre Garcon | Sterling Shepard | 124.35 |
183 | Breshad Perriman | Taylor Gabriel | 124.15 |
184 | Pierre Garcon | Jeremy Maclin | 124.11 |
185 | Jordan Matthews | Mike Wallace | 124.1 |
186 | Corey Davis | Kevin White | 124.02 |
187 | Kenny Britt | Sterling Shepard | 123.95 |
188 | Kenny Britt | Cole Beasley | 123.94 |
189 | Eric Decker | Marvin Jones | 123.84 |
190 | Randall Cobb | Josh Doctson | 123.78 |
191 | DeVante Parker | Quincy Enunwa | 123.77 |
192 | Cameron Meredith | Ted Ginn Jr | 123.75 |
193 | Cameron Meredith | Sterling Shepard | 123.62 |
194 | John Brown | Josh Doctson | 123.36 |
195 | Eric Decker | Rishard Matthews | 123.32 |
196 | Rishard Matthews | n/a | 123.32 |
Table 2: Wide Receiver #3 Committee Pairs
Okay, that is a really big table, but I wanted to be thorough. As you can see, we have some very good pairs to select from for WR3BC. So digging in, there are 100 pairs ot Table 2 to consider, so there are a number of options. Let's also take a look at how often some of these guys show up on the table:
Running Back | Frequency | Running Back | Frequency |
Rishard Matthews | 25 | Josh Doctson | 13 |
DeVante Parker | 24 | John Brown | 12 |
Adam Thielen | 23 | Jordan Matthews | 12 |
Corey Davis | 23 | Quincy Enunwa | 11 |
Mike Wallace | 23 | Sterling Shepard | 11 |
Tyrell Williams | 23 | Ted Ginn Jr | 11 |
Corey Coleman | 22 | Cole Beasley | 10 |
Breshad Perriman | 21 | Eric Decker | 10 |
Cameron Meredith | 20 | John Ross | 8 |
Pierre Garcon | 19 | Jeremy Maclin | 7 |
Kenny Britt | 18 | Taylor Gabriel | 6 |
Randall Cobb | 15 | Kevin White | 5 |
Marvin Jones | 14 | Mike Williams | 4 |
Table 3: Wide Receiver #3 Committee Pair Appearances by Player
That is a pretty big result, with so manyreceivers on that list with 10+ appearances, so let's shrink the list down to the Top 45 receiver pairs, since Pair 45 equals exactly 134 projected points. That is a clean line to draw, so if we look at the frequency of wide receiver appearances in this smaller group, we can narrow down the focus for getting the best WR3BC. Here are those results:
Running Back | Frequency | Running Back | Frequency |
Rishard Matthews | 16 | Marvin Jones | 2 |
Corey Davis | 9 | Quincy Enunwa | 2 |
DeVante Parker | 9 | Cole Beasley | 1 |
Mike Wallace | 8 | Eric Decker | 1 |
Tyrell Williams | 7 | Jeremy Maclin | 1 |
Adam Thielen | 6 | John Ross | 1 |
Breshad Perriman | 6 | Josh Doctson | 1 |
Corey Coleman | 5 | Kenny Britt | 1 |
Pierre Garcon | 5 | Randall Cobb | 1 |
Cameron Meredith | 4 | Taylor Gabriel | 1 |
Jordan Matthews | 2 | Ted Ginn Jr | 1 |
Table 4: Wide Receiver #3 Committee Pair Appearances by Player (Top 45)
Before I present the plan for 2017 for WR3BC, allow me to compare Table 2 with the projections for the Top 36+ wide receivers to see how a WR3BC lines up against the best wide receivers. Remember our goal - find a pair of wideouts that can combine for WR3 (or better) fantasy production. To figure that out we need a better metric, so here are the projections for WR10 through WR36 (and beyond), sorted by projected fantasy points:
ADP | WR Rank | Player | Team | FPs |
1 | 1 | Antonio Brown | PIT | 205.12 |
2 | 2 | Odell Beckham Jr | NYG | 197.71 |
3 | 3 | Julio Jones | ATL | 190.24 |
4 | 4 | Mike Evans | TB | 187.15 |
5 | 6 | A.J. Green | CIN | 175.52 |
6 | 5 | Jordy Nelson | GB | 182.35 |
7 | 8 | Michael Thomas | NO | 168.64 |
8 | 7 | T.Y. Hilton | IND | 172.16 |
9 | 10 | Dez Bryant | DAL | 161.44 |
10 | 9 | Amari Cooper | OAK | 163.47 |
11 | 15 | DeAndre Hopkins | HOU | 150.03 |
12 | 13 | Doug Baldwin | SEA | 153.39 |
13 | 12 | Brandin Cooks | NE | 154.88 |
14 | 14 | Demaryius Thomas | DEN | 151.15 |
15 | 17 | Alshon Jeffery | PHI | 144.62 |
16 | 19 | Sammy Watkins | BUF | 143.66 |
17 | 16 | Allen Robinson | JAX | 146.24 |
18 | 23 | Keenan Allen | LAC | 135.1 |
19 | 20 | Jarvis Landry | MIA | 139.47 |
20 | 25 | Davante Adams | GB | 134.83 |
21 | 18 | Michael Crabtree | OAK | 144.11 |
22 | 41 | Terrelle Pryor | WAS | 118.72 |
23 | 11 | Tyreek Hill | KC | 158.4 |
24 | 29 | Julian Edelman | NE | 127.5 |
25 | 22 | Golden Tate | DET | 136.59 |
26 | 27 | Larry Fitzgerald | ARI | 131.47 |
27 | 28 | Martavis Bryant | PIT | 130.86 |
28 | 21 | Emmanuel Sanders | DEN | 136.91 |
29 | 24 | Kelvin Benjamin | CAR | 134.88 |
30 | 31 | Stefon Diggs | MIN | 126.24 |
31 | 32 | Brandon Marshall | NYG | 125.12 |
32 | 39 | Jamison Crowder | WAS | 121.92 |
33 | 35 | Donte Moncrief | IND | 122.83 |
34 | 30 | Willie Snead | NO | 127.15 |
35 | 26 | DeSean Jackson | TB | 132.64 |
36 | 42 | Pierre Garcon | SF | 117.39 |
37 | 33 | DeVante Parker | MIA | 124.32 |
38 | 66 | Jeremy Maclin | BAL | 88.16 |
50 | 34 | Rishard Matthews | TEN | 124.16 |
43 | 36 | Adam Thielen | MIN | 122.51 |
48 | 37 | Mike Wallace | BAL | 122.35 |
59 | 38 | Breshad Perriman | BAL | 122.08 |
46 | 40 | Tyrell Williams | LAC | 119.04 |
Table 5: Projected Fantasy Points for WRs 10-36+
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
Based on Table 5, we see that WRs beyond the Top 10-14 are really bunched as far as projections. After that point, it gets a little trickier. Keenen Allen (ADP of WR18) is projected for 135.1 points, while Alshon Davante Adams (ADP WR20), Emmanuel Sanders (ADP WR28) and Golden Tate (ADP WR25) are projected to score nearly the same amount. This screams opportunity for a strong WR3BC this season. If we can identify a pair of receivers that can get in this range, we are nearly there. Taking a typical number projected for a Top 36 (WR3) of 125 points based on the projections listed in Table 5 and adding seven points for a bye week filler, we next look at our possible pairs to see how many exceed 132 projected points for 2017, and the answer is an incredible 69 pairs. Raising the bar even further to a lower-end WR2 such as Davante Adams (134.83) and adding seven points once again gives a higher target of just under 142 points. Looking at our earlier data, we find five duos in Table 2 that all meet or exceed that mark. That is a remarkable result, and strongly suggests that 2017 is a great year to go after a WR3BC option. Choosing the correct pair can give us the result we wanted – high end WR3 production (and borderline WR2) on the cheap.
Considering all of the results, there are four distinct plans that make sense for 2017:
Plan A: Draft Mike Wallace in Round 9 (or 10) and Rishard Matthews in Round 10 (or 11). Wallace is WR48 on the ADP list, but his ADP puts him in the window of Round 10-11 (ADP of 127 overall). Matthews is close behind (ADP of WR50, 131 overall). Taking both a round early may seem a bit of a reach, but not based on value. I would much rather grab both a round early to make certain I secure both and rest easy with a strong WR3BC (second pair on the chart). Note that if Tyrell Williams is available in Round 8 or Round 9, I may just grab him as well to make the super WR3BC with both top pairs.
Plan A, Part 2: Looking at Table 6, Breshad Perriman screams as a value. Taking him in Round 13 to lock him up would be immense value, and with Rishard Matthews gives us the third pairing on Table 6. If you can get Wallace and Perriman, it should not matter if one gets hurt - and actually could increase the other receiver's value. (Note once again that if you grabbed Tyrell Williams in Round 9, you now own the Top 3 pairs on the chart with these four smart picks).
Plan B: Draft Rishard Matthews. Plan B is a "if all else fails", such as you have others in your league with the same Plan A. Just take Matthews in Round 9 if Wallace is not there and then fall back to either Marvin Jones, Josh Doctson or Ted Ginn Jr.
Table 6 below highlights the Top 60 pairs with the combined projected score for each and the ADP for both receivers, with recommended pairings for WR3BC:
Rank | Wide Receiver 1 | Wide Receiver 2 | Value | ADP1 | ADP2 |
1 | Tyrell Williams | Rishard Matthews | 144.23 | 46 | 50 |
2 | Mike Wallace | Rishard Matthews | 143.39 | 48 | 50 |
3 | Rishard Matthews | Breshad Perriman | 142.91 | 50 | 59 |
4 | Cameron Meredith | Rishard Matthews | 142.83 | 41 | 50 |
5 | Adam Thielen | Rishard Matthews | 142.09 | 43 | 50 |
6 | Corey Davis | Mike Wallace | 141.13 | 42 | 48 |
7 | Corey Davis | Tyrell Williams | 140.89 | 42 | 46 |
8 | Corey Davis | Breshad Perriman | 140.39 | 42 | 59 |
9 | Pierre Garcon | Rishard Matthews | 140.04 | 36 | 50 |
10 | Cameron Meredith | Corey Davis | 139.81 | 41 | 42 |
11 | Corey Davis | Adam Thielen | 139.77 | 42 | 43 |
12 | Corey Coleman | Mike Wallace | 139.05 | 45 | 48 |
13 | DeVante Parker | Mike Wallace | 138.98 | 37 | 48 |
14 | Pierre Garcon | Corey Davis | 138.94 | 36 | 42 |
15 | DeVante Parker | Rishard Matthews | 138.89 | 37 | 50 |
16 | Corey Coleman | Breshad Perriman | 138.47 | 45 | 59 |
17 | DeVante Parker | Breshad Perriman | 138.22 | 37 | 59 |
18 | Adam Thielen | Mike Wallace | 138.01 | 43 | 48 |
19 | DeVante Parker | Corey Davis | 137.89 | 37 | 42 |
20 | Rishard Matthews | Marvin Jones | 137.86 | 50 | 51 |
21 | Rishard Matthews | Josh Doctson | 137.78 | 50 | 54 |
22 | Jordan Matthews | Rishard Matthews | 137.75 | 47 | 50 |
23 | DeVante Parker | Tyrell Williams | 137.35 | 37 | 46 |
24 | Pierre Garcon | Corey Coleman | 137.35 | 36 | 45 |
25 | Adam Thielen | Breshad Perriman | 137.18 | 43 | 59 |
26 | DeVante Parker | Corey Coleman | 137.05 | 37 | 45 |
27 | Rishard Matthews | Quincy Enunwa | 136.82 | 50 | 52 |
28 | Tyrell Williams | Mike Wallace | 136.33 | 46 | 48 |
29 | Rishard Matthews | Ted Ginn Jr | 136.13 | 50 | 55 |
30 | DeVante Parker | Adam Thielen | 135.94 | 37 | 43 |
31 | Rishard Matthews | Cole Beasley | 135.94 | 50 | 62 |
32 | Corey Coleman | Marvin Jones | 135.79 | 45 | 51 |
33 | Tyrell Williams | Breshad Perriman | 135.56 | 46 | 59 |
34 | Rishard Matthews | Cole Beasley | 207.11 | 53 | 60 |
35 | John Brown | Corey Coleman | 207.04 | 42 | 44 |
36 | Pierre Garcon | Jordan Matthews | 206.78 | 37 | 46 |
37 | Randall Cobb | Cameron Meredith | 206.66 | 38 | 43 |
38 | Pierre Garcon | Cameron Meredith | 206.31 | 37 | 43 |
39 | Corey Coleman | Josh Doctson | 206.3 | 44 | 52 |
40 | Randall Cobb | Tyrell Williams | 205.97 | 38 | 47 |
41 | Eric Decker | Adam Thielen | 205.66 | 39 | 45 |
42 | Josh Doctson | Rishard Matthews | 204.97 | 52 | 53 |
43 | Corey Davis | Quincy Enunwa | 204.82 | 41 | 49 |
44 | Eric Decker | Mike Wallace | 204.78 | 39 | 51 |
45 | Adam Thielen | Cole Beasley | 204.69 | 45 | 60 |
46 | Marvin Jones | Rishard Matthews | 204.64 | 48 | 53 |
47 | John Brown | Mike Wallace | 204.61 | 42 | 51 |
48 | Randall Cobb | Jordan Matthews | 204.5 | 38 | 46 |
49 | Corey Davis | Corey Coleman | 204.5 | 41 | 44 |
50 | Pierre Garcon | Breshad Perriman | 204.32 | 37 | 58 |
51 | Corey Coleman | Rishard Matthews | 204.02 | 44 | 53 |
52 | Cameron Meredith | Breshad Perriman | 203.89 | 43 | 58 |
53 | Cameron Meredith | Corey Coleman | 203.85 | 43 | 44 |
54 | Adam Thielen | Marvin Jones | 203.81 | 45 | 48 |
55 | Quincy Enunwa | Rishard Matthews | 203.8 | 49 | 53 |
56 | Eric Decker | Tyrell Williams | 203.77 | 39 | 47 |
57 | Corey Davis | Cole Beasley | 203.71 | 41 | 60 |
58 | Marvin Jones | Mike Wallace | 203.48 | 48 | 51 |
59 | Corey Coleman | Quincy Enunwa | 203.44 | 44 | 49 |
60 | Corey Coleman | Sterling Shepard | 203.38 | 44 | 56 |
Table 6: Top Suggested WR3BC Pairs with Projected Scores and WR ADP
For completeness, I have included Tables 7-9 below, showing the best combinations of WR3BC with Rishard Matthews and either Mike Wallace or Breshad Perriman and then also Matthews with Doctson or Ted Ginn Jr.
Wk | Suggested Player | Opponent |
1 | Rishard Matthews | Oakland |
2 | Mike Wallace | Cleveland |
3 | Rishard Matthews | Seattle |
4* | Rishard Matthews | at Houston |
5 | Rishard Matthews | at Miami |
6 | Rishard Matthews | Indianapolis |
7 | Rishard Matthews | at Cleveland |
8 | Mike Wallace | Miami |
9** | Rishard Matthews | Baltimore |
10 | Rishard Matthews | Cincinnati |
11 | Mike Wallace | at Green Bay |
12 | Rishard Matthews | at Indianapolis |
13 | Mike Wallace | Detroit |
14 | Rishard Matthews | at Arizona |
15*** | Rishard Matthews | at San Francisco |
16 | Rishard Matthews | Los Angeles Rams |
17 | Rishard Matthews | Jacksonville |
*Week 4 = Close call with Wallace vs. Pittsburgh | ||
**Week 9 = Close call with Wallace at Tennessee | ||
***Week 15 = Close call with Wallace at Cleveland |
Table 7: Suggested WR3BC Schedule Plan - Rishard Matthews and Mike Wallace
Wk | Suggested Player | Opponent |
1 | Rishard Matthews | Oakland |
2 | Mike Wallace | Cleveland |
3 | Rishard Matthews | Seattle |
4* | Rishard Matthews | at Houston |
5 | Rishard Matthews | at Miami |
6 | Rishard Matthews | Indianapolis |
7 | Rishard Matthews | at Cleveland |
8 | Mike Wallace | Miami |
9** | Rishard Matthews | Baltimore |
10 | Rishard Matthews | Cincinnati |
11 | Mike Wallace | at Green Bay |
12 | Rishard Matthews | at Indianapolis |
13 | Mike Wallace | Detroit |
14 | Rishard Matthews | at Arizona |
15*** | Rishard Matthews | at San Francisco |
16 | Rishard Matthews | Los Angeles Rams |
17 | Rishard Matthews | Jacksonville |
*Week 4 = Close call with Wallace vs. Pittsburgh | ||
**Week 9 = Close call with Wallace at Tennessee | ||
***Week 15 = Close call with Wallace at Cleveland |
Table 8: Suggested WR3BC Schedule Plan - Rishard Matthews and Josh Doctson
Wk | Suggested Player | Opponent |
1 | Rishard Matthews | Oakland |
2 | Rishard Matthews | at Jacksonville |
3 | Rishard Matthews | Seattle |
4 | Ted Ginn Jr | at Miami (London) |
5 | Rishard Matthews | at Miami |
6 | Rishard Matthews | Indianapolis |
7 | Rishard Matthews | at Cleveland |
8 | Ted Ginn Jr | Chicago |
9 | Rishard Matthews | Baltimore |
10 | Rishard Matthews | Cincinnati |
11 | Rishard Matthews | at Pittsburgh |
12 | Rishard Matthews | at Indianapolis |
13 | Ted Ginn Jr | vs. Carolina |
14 | Rishard Matthews | at Arizona |
15 | Rishard Matthews | at San Francisco |
16 | Rishard Matthews | Los Angeles Rams |
17 | Rishard Matthews | Jacksonville |
Table 9: Suggested WR3BC Schedule Plan - Rishard Matthews and Ted Ginn Jr
The committee approach is not a perfect one, but having this knowledge prior to your fantasy draft can prove to be invaluable if you decide to adopt this approach. If all the players on your starter list are gone, goiong with a committee can save your team and help you deal with the loss of bigger names. The method is also a big help in "Best Ball" leagues, where lineup decisions are not necessary every week. That's exactly where a committee can do the best, as either player can count for you each week.
Questions, suggestions and comments are always welcome to pasquino@footballguys.com.