The darkhorse -- though it’s becoming more and more obvious each day -- to finish as this year’s top rookie wide receiver in fantasy football is Kenny Golladay.
(Or Babytron, as I like to call him.)
Golladay’s a 6'4", 218-pounder from Northern Illinois who played all over the field in college. He ended his final season at NIU with a hefty 43.01% receiving yardage market share on 37.50% of his team’s receptions, scoring 40.00% of the Huskies' touchdowns that came through the air.
It’s a MAC school, sure, but Golladay balled out.
Now he’s in Detroit, playing for a Lions team that’s thrown the ball at least 594 times in each of the last six seasons. (That’s a top-half pass-heavy offense.) He’ll compete for wide receiver targets with Golden Tate and Marvin Jones, but should see the field often, as the Lions were fourth in percentage of plays run last year with three wide receivers on the field.
A decent market share is there for Golladay to grab. And if he becomes a nice red zone weapon, watch out. —JJ Zachariason