2022 League Winners: The Must-Draft Secondary Breakout WR If You Can’t Afford Michael Pittman

Shawn Siegele
August 29, 2022

Shawn Siegele examines a wide receiver poised for eruption and yet camouflaged by events that have kept his ADP very much in check.

Michael Pittman has become the trendiest name in fantasy after a successful campaign where he broke out to the tune of 14 fantasy points per game.

Pittman’s overall combination of target share, target depth, target efficiency, and route profile all fit a receiver who was very good but not great last season. They fit with a player who finished WR24 in fantasy points per game. With several second-year WRs coming up quickly behind him, the Range of Outcomes tool likes him as the WR29.

Now drafted as WR12, Pittman is expected to make a much bigger leap by drafters who like his chances to benefit from Matt Ryan and take his game to the next level in Year 3. He joins a buzzy-camp/QB-upgrade club that includes players like Allen Robinson and Courtland Sutton. There’s something to be said for creating some exposure to receivers who are playing well according to observers and team sources, but the downside comes in price. Each member of this trio now needs an excellent season to justify ADP and an epic season to beat it.

In order to build a roster with the most total talent and the greatest potential for smashing ADP, we also need to add less trendy players. I’ve discussed several of these names recently in finding the WR with the most similarities to Cooper Kupp before his transcendent 2021 campaign, and the WR with the most similarities to Deebo Samuel before his ADP-crushing campaign.

Today I’m going to take you behind the scenes to find a secondary breakout candidate with a profile that’s strongly preferred by history and costs quite a bit less than Pittman.

For a look at other priority player targets, check out some of these series:

Zero RB Countdown
Discount WR Series
Discount RB Series

Want a Young WR With Massive Upside But Can’t Afford Michael Pittman?

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Shawn Siegele

Author of the original Zero RB article and 2013 NFFC Primetime Grand Champion. 11-time main event league winner. 2015, 2017, 2018 titles in MFL10 of Death.

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