WR Kenny Golladay | Detroit Lions | 2nd Year
2017 Stats: 28 receptions, 477 yards, 3 TD
After a prolific two seasons at Northern Illinois (160 catches for 2,285 yards and 18 touchdowns, Kenny Golladay landed with the Detroit Lions in the third round of the 2017 draft. He started his career with a two-touchdown game in Week 1 (four catches for 69 yards), and the other book end of his rookie season included a 54-yard touchdown (two receptions for 80 yards). But in-between, things were not as good.
Being Detroit’s No. 3 wide receiver didn’t help, behind the combined target share of Golden Tate and Marvin Jones that approached 40 percent, and Golladay also missed five games with a hamstring injury.
But the big play ability was there, with five catches of 40-plus yards and an average of 17 yards per catch overall last season. He also played two-thirds of the snaps in the games he played, so there’s room in a pass-heavy Lions’ offense for three wide receivers to produce.
Golladay got rave reviews early in minicamp, with notes made regarding his route-running and run after the catch ability. Tate also noted the second-year man’s ability to be dominant and a “WR1 kind of guy.”
Golladay is big (6-foot-4, 218 pounds) and fast (4.5-second 40), and the hype is growing for him as teammates and coaches point to a bigger role and buy in. It’s easy to see him doubling his rookie season numbers this year, and if Tate or Jones were to go down to a multi-game injury more would be in store.
Golladay is currently a WR5 in 12-team Fantasy Football Calculator mock drafts (WR58, pick 13.12 in standard scoring; WR59, pick 13.09 in PPR). There is some built-in value in that ADP, especially in standard scoring or less than full-point PPR formats. But determining a true breakout season depends on where subjective expectations sit, and based on all the variables that’s only a coin-flip proposition here.
Kenny Golladay 2018 Projection: 55 receptions for 830 yards, 6 TD
Breakout Percentage: 50%
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