12 Post-NFL Draft Situations to Watch at the Wide Receiver Position for Fantasy Football

Does Oakland Have Their Franchise Wideout?

While the Oakland Raiders got an ideal player for their team with the fourth overall pick of this year's NFL Draft in Alabama receiver Amari Cooper, the same cannot be said for Cooper's end of the bargain.

Cooper easily tops the list of this year's draftees as the most polished, NFL-ready prospect. However, questions still remain whether the Raiders will be able to take advantage of this fully in the upcoming season.

Despite the praise quarterback Derek Carr has received, and despite taking the eighth most pass attempts in the league last year, Carr still measured in as our second least efficient quarterback with a Passing Net Expected Points score of -40.94. Contrast this with Aaron Rodgers' league leading 188.41 in this same metric and to emphasize the point further, Jay Cutler's -1.24.

For those unfamiliar with Net Expected Points (or NEP), it is an advanced metric which measures a player's performance above or below expectation. A positive NEP means that a player helped improve his team's chances of scoring, and a negative NEP score is, of course, the opposite.

So for Carr to record a Passing NEP of -40.94 means that the Raiders' signal caller left a ton of points on the board last season, which this does not bode well for Cooper's chances at success this season.

You could argue that with another year under Carr's belt and with Cooper now in town, these two factors should synergize to boost the former Aggie's value in Oakland this season. But the fact still remains that Cooper will also have to suffer through Carr's growing pains as he himself is still learning to adjust to the speed of the NFL.

Beyond the quarterback position, another concern for me regarding Cooper's value for next season is opportunity. While I have no doubt Cooper will leapfrog Michael Crabtree as the team's primary receiver, what I do worry about is whether this offense can sustain drives and stay on the field long enough for Cooper to be worth the high price-tag he'll likely command in this year's fantasy football drafts. Indeed, last year Oakland's 66.3 total plays per game clocked in as the seventh-worst figure in the NFL, just ahead of Jacksonville.

While Cooper might just be the best wide receiver in this rookie class, given his high price-tag and the uncertainty surrounding this offense, fantasy football managers may want to avoid this situation altogether for next season.