Fantasy Football Bounceback Candidate: Odell Beckham
WR Odell Beckham (Cleveland Browns)
2019 Stats: 74 receptions for 1,035 yards, 4 TD
After all the hype attached to his arrival in Cleveland last year, it couldn’t have gone much worse for Odell Beckham in 2019. He was targeted plenty (133 times, 12th-most in the league among wide receivers), but chemistry with Baker Mayfield was an issue as he had 74 catches (55.6 percent catch rate), barely topped 1,000 yards and had his lowest touchdown in a season he played at least 12 games.
Beckham also played hurt last year, with surgery to repair a core muscle injury right after the season. He played all 16 games though, and was on the field for 95 percent of the Browns’ offensive snaps. He finished as WR25 in full PPR, WR31 in standard scoring and WR26 in half-PPR.
Beckham also had a relatively down 2018 season for the New York Giants, with 77 catches for 1,052 yards and six touchdowns. He also missed four games, and was catching passes from the hollowed-out shell of Eli Manning. In 2017, Beckham missed 12 games due to a broken leg. So he been diminished by injury in three straight seasons.
It’s virtually impossible for Mayfield to be worse than he was last year. The change to Kevin Stefanski as head coach, and an offense that should be constructed better and more efficient (more run-heavy?) will help everyone.
Via Fantasy Football Calculator, Beckham’s ADP is at WR10 in 12-team full PPR (pick 3.07, No. 31 overall). In standard scoring his ADP is off a cliff, down to WR34 (pick 7.11, 12-team leagues).
The opinions and predictions among fantasy analysts on Beckham this year are wide-ranging, from a finish in the top-10 wide receivers to being even worse than he was last year. I fall somewhere in between, willing to draft him as a WR2 (maybe even a high-end WR2) with that counting as a certifiable bounce back in 2020.
2020 Projection: 80 receptions for 1,136 yards, 7 TD
Bounceback Confidence Level: 90%
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