NFL

How High Is Will Fuller's Ceiling in Fantasy Football?

Tyler Buecher  —  @TylerBuecher Sep 19th, 2016
How should Fuller be valued in fantasy football leagues moving forward in 2016?

Will Fuller's fantasy football stock is on the rise.

After two games, the Houston Texans receiver has amassed 211 receiving yards on 9 receptions and 18 targets. He has one touchdown on the season, and the Notre Dame rookie is already making history:


He was the WR8 in PPR scoring in Week 1 and is poised for another great finish in Week 2 after eclipsing the 100-yard mark for the second time in a row.

After leading the league in plays per game last year, the Texans' offense hasn't skipped a beat. They rank top-five once again and are currently going at a faster pace with more plays than 2015.

The Texans signed big contracts to running back Lamar Miller and quarterback Brock Osweiler, and we've seen head coach Bill O'Brien already start utilizing them both heavily.

Miller currently ranks second in the league in rushing attempts (53), which has opened up passing lanes for Osweiler and the deep ball with safeties keying in on Miller.

That has led to Fuller tying the league lead in 20-plus yard receptions with five to date. Fuller was always seen as a downfield, big-play artist waiting to happen, and we're already seeing that pay immediate dividends.

Osweiler dropped a dime to Fuller for a 53-yard gain downfield yesterday, and we should start getting used to seeing Fuller finding ways to stretch the defense vertically. Fuller and DeAndre Hopkins have accounted for 54.4 percent of the Texans' target market share through two weeks. Last year, the leading duo of receivers from the same team -- Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders -- combined for just 51.8 percent of the Denver Broncos' market share.

With Hopkins and Fuller seeing a near-even split of targets (19 for Hopkins and 18 for Fuller), Fuller's usage in this offense is already beyond noteworthy and something we should be heavily targeting in the future.

Fuller is routinely seeing heavy targets (11 in Week 1 and 7 in Week 2) and has a penchant for big plays, given his top-five average depth of target at 23.5 yards per ProFootballFocus, so it's already starting to look like Fuller is moving well beyond the flex range in leagues into that WR2 to WR3 territory.

With only three teams on the schedule that ranked top-10 in schedule-adjusted Defensive Passing Net Expected Points (NEP) last year, Fuller shouldn't have too much of a challenge with his matchups this season.

In an offense that isn't afraid to push the tempo or the limits of the vertical passing attack, we may still have yet to see the best from Fuller this season.