WR Elijah Moore (NYJ)
Stats: 43 receptions for 538 yards, 5 TDs; 54 rushing yards, 1 TD
After he neared 1,200 yards in his final season at Ole Miss, the New York Jets took Elijah Moore in the second round of the 2021 draft.
Moore did not top 50 yards in any of his first five games, as the Jets’ passing game couldn’t get off the ground. But from Week 8-13 (six games), he had 34 receptions for 459 yards and five touchdowns. All three numbers were top-10 in the league over that stretch.
Of course that translated to high-end fantasy production. From Week 8-13 Moore was a top-five fantasy wide receiver regardless of scoring format (WR3 in standard, WR2 in 0.5-point PPR, WR4 in full PPR). Then a quad injury cost him the rest of the season.
It’s worth noting Jets’ quarterback Zach Wilson missed the first four of Moore’s six-game breakout stretch.
Moore was in line for a clear, full-on breakout this year for a time, as Wilson can only get better in his own second season. Re-signing Braxton Berrios wasn’t a huge deal. But then the Jets took Ohio State wide receiver Garrett Wilson 10th overall in the draft. C.J. Uzomah and Tyler Conklin are also sure to command more targets than the Jets’ tight ends did last year.
Moore is lined up for primary slot duties, with size (5-foot-10, 178 pounds) that fits the role. Per Player Profiler he posted top-20 marks in contested catch rate, juke rate and route win rate (vs. zone and man) last season. So to pigeonhole him as a smallish slot guy is wrong.
Fantasy Football Calculator ADP data (12 teams) has Moore in low-end WR3 range right now, no matter the scoring format. That feels about right, given how much target competition he has. Particularly in PPR formats, Moore has what looks like a stable floor to make him a viable WR3 overall. There will be some spike weeks where he goes off, it’ll just be a matter of picking them properly to get the max fantasy utility out of him.
Setting the bar for a breakout at a WR20-24 range finish, with some nod to PPR scoring, that’s a coin flip proposition for Moore in 2022.
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Projection: 65 receptions for 800 yards, 6 TD
Breakout Confidence Level: 50%
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