Buy Low on These “One Last Ride” Wide Receivers

There are a few wide receivers that you’ve heard about seemingly since the turn of the century. Players that everyone knows and even football nay-sayers (those curmudgeons) know their names. Because they’ve been around a long time. They’ve played with multiple teams. And their lines are always 6-55 and maybe a touchdown every three games. They aren’t flashy. They don’t make huge plays. But they are reliable, damn it. They are dependable. They help their real team more than your fantasy team.

But here it is: Sometimes, having those boring, old men can help save your butt in times of trials and tribulations. Bye-Week Saviors. Backup Gods. Receivers that you can replace an injured Cooper Kupp with and know that you could still squeak out a win. (Or at least not get blown out and thereby be humiliated by your league-mates.)

There are three that come to mind. They’ve got one more decent season in them, and then they will fade out into an A.J. Green/Desean Jackson-like mist. The One Last Ride Guys. I think Dominic Toretto would be proud of all of them (and myself).

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Robert Woods – Houston Texans WR

Bobby Trees. Ol’ Reliable. The soon-to-be safety valve for an elite, young QB. Ever since Robert Woods joined the Rams in 2017, he’s just been a really solid receiver. He’s the guy that Jared Goff always looked to when they needed a big play (when Todd Gurley wasn’t decimating the run defense, that is). In 2018, he posted a terrific 86-1219-6 and tacked on a few hundred rushing yards. In 2019 he went over a thousand yards again, on 90 receptions, but with only two touchdowns. Keep that in mind, Woods has been more of a between-the-20s king.

And let’s not forget that Robert Woods tore his ACL in the middle of the 2021 season (curiously as soon as Odell Beckham Jr. came to town). He was then traded to a middling-to-blech Titans team with an offense that was hurt more often than it wasn’t. His stats weren’t that great – 53-527-2 – but the offense was piss-poor and he was coming off of a possible career-ending injury. Also, he was targeted 91 times last year. That means Tannehill, Malik Willis, and Josh Doubs still counted on Woods.

Now he’s with the Texans. Either Bryce Young or C.J. Stroud is coming his way and they need a veteran guy, a reliable guy, to depend on when they need to convert a third down. He’s 30 years young, with a little more gas in the tank.

Note: This is assuming that Brandon Cooks is not on the Texans’ team by the beginning of the season, which is likely due to last season’s antics.

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Adam Thielen – FA

Full disclosure: I love Adam Thielen. I am wildly biased on this man because he has been on most of my important Fantasy teams since I started playing. He’s been a dominant force since coming into the league (one of the great Undrafted stories). He’s been a touchdown machine over the last couple of years – 14 in 2020 and 10 in 2021 – although there was a lack of production last year thanks to Justin Jefferson.

But now Thielen is a free agent. And the rumors that are floating around have been about him joining the Carolina Panthers. Since D.J. Moore is no longer there, the receiving core in Carolina is non-existent (save for Terrace Marsal Jr., who I believe has shown flashes of stardom, but that’s for a different article), or at least, very depleted.

Here Thielen can slide in and be a trustworthy source of production. Especially considering that the Panthers traded up to the Number 1 pick so that they can draft a young, elite QB. That young man is going to have to rely on someone and I believe that Thielen is that guy. I don’t care that he is 32 years old. I think he can continue to be the red-zone threat he has been known to be.

But no matter where he lands, I believe that he’s still useful. I do think the best landing spot is for a team similar to the Panthers, who have a mish-mash of receivers and need someone who has been in the business long enough and has shown, over and over again, that he can produce.

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Julio Jones – Tampa Bay Buccaneers WR

Okay, I know. Jones is like the most injured receiver, he’ll be 33 years old at the beginning of the 2023 season, and he could honestly retire at any moment (it wouldn’t surprise me if he announced it thirty minutes after this article is published). But if he plays, no matter where it is, I believe Jones has one more decent year left in him, barring him missing eight games due to a myriad of injuries.

Do I really need to list some stats for this man? He’s a damn legend. He’s a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer, baby. Stranger things have happened, by the way. Terrell Owens had 1180 yards and 13, count ’em, 13 touchdowns when he was 33. A more likely scenario is what happened with Larry Fitzgerald when he was 33 – he had over 1,000 yards and 6 touchdowns. It’s been done by many receivers before Jones and if his name belongs next to Jerry Rice, Terrell Owens, Marvin Harrison, and Tim Brown in the Hall of Fame, (and it certainly does) then I don’t see why he can’t perform at their level when they were still producing good numbers. He just needs to stay healthy.

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