The Oakland Raiders have made an early offseason headline, trading draft picks to the Pittburgh Steelers for Antonio Brown. Brown’s presence automatically raises the fantasy stock for quarterback Derek Carr, but others are in line to benefit too. First in that line looks to be wide receiver Jordy Nelson.
Nelson signed with the Raiders last offseason after being cut by the Green Bay Packers. He finished as WR49 in standard scoring and WR38 in full point PPR, with 63 receptions for 739 yards and three touchdowns over 15 games.
Through the end of November, Nelson had just 25 catches for 353 yards (albeit with all three of his touchdowns for the season) over 10 games. But in five December games, he had 38 receptions (on 48 targets) for 386 yards. In full-point PPR scoring, he was WR17 over those final five weeks of the season. Narrowing to just Week 13-Week 16, the meaningful weeks for most fantasy football owners, Nelson was WR14 over that stretch in full-point PPR. Even in standard scoring, Nelson was on the border of a WR2/WR3 as WR26 over the final five games.
The Raiders can cut Nelson will no cap implications, but the idea he won’t be back is far-fetched. Brown will automatically take over as the team’s No.1 target, as tight end Jared Cook (a team-high 101 targets last year) hits free agency, but Nelson clearly found some rapport with Carr that shouldn’t go away.
Somewhere between is first 10 games (WR63 in standard and full-point PPR leagues) and his final five looks like where Nelson will settle in when it’s all said and done in 2019 as the Raiders’ No. 2 wide receiver. That puts him in the WR3 conversation in PPR formats, and a low-end WR3/high-end WR4 worthy of a roster spot in 12-team standard leagues. Compared to 2018 that’s only a slight boost, but there’s upside potential for Nelson that didn’t exist a year ago when he signed with the Raiders.
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