At PFN, we’ve researched more than 350 fantasy football players, trying to identify which ones are overrated, underrated, and priced right. With that in mind, here is Carolina Panthers WR DJ Chark Jr.’s fantasy outlook for 2023.
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DJ Chark Jr.’s 2023 Fantasy Outlook
In his 2019 Pro Bowl campaign, Chark demonstrated why the Jags selected him in the second round a year earlier. In his second campaign for this offensively challenged franchise, Chark operated as the No. 1 receiver for rookie QB Gardner Minshew. Still barely 23 years old, the speedy wideout had a bright NFL future.
But then, three circumstances altered his professional trajectory — none of them under his control. The first concerned a rash of injuries that limited him to 13 games in 2020, four in 2021, and 11 in 2022. He might have overcome all of this had he remained the No. 1 WR after 2020.
Instead, his misfortune dovetailed into the second issue, as Jacksonville implemented an aggressive rebuild while he spent a lot of time hurt on the sidelines. The franchise replaced Minshew with future star QB Trevor Lawrence. Then last offseason, the team secured Christian Kirk, Zay Jones, and Evan Engram, essentially making Chark expendable.
The writing was on the wall. As an unrestricted free agent, despite some initial interest from Jacksonville to retain him, Chark signed with the Lions in the hopes of reviving his career. And that led to the third circumstance that pushed him further into fantasy irrelevance.
On paper, Detroit gave him an opportunity to re-establish himself. They had a good, ascending offense — not unlike Jacksonville’s. But the Lions were more top-heavy, led by Amon-Ra St. Brown and T.J. Hockenson through the air. Rookie Jameson Williams was going to miss a large chunk of his rookie campaign. There was an opening for Chark to shine.
But once again, injuries took their toll. A career-worst drop rate didn’t help. And his three best performances occurred with Hockenson long gone in Minnesota, the rookie Williams mostly neutralized while working his way back on the field, and either Josh Reynolds or Shane Zylstra serving as Jared Goff’s No. 3 receiver.
The big question that remains is whether Chark can be useful in fantasy if he’s not a top-two offensive option. He put his stamp on the league as the alpha receiver on a WR-needy team. But that’s no longer in the cards. These days, he’s a hazy puzzle piece that’s tough to place.
And that brings us to his current team, the Panthers, where he’s part of one of the oddest collections of skill players in years, including veteran and perennial red-zone monster Adam Thielen, rookie second-rounder Jonathan Mingo, 2021 second-rounder Terrace Marshall Jr., 2020 second-rounder Laviska Shenault Jr., and 2018 first-round TE Hayden Hurst.
Four former second-rounders — three of whom are “juniors” — on the same team? Yes, somehow, that’s what’s happened. And while Mingo and Marshall are trying to carve out promising careers, Chark, Thielen, Shenault, and Hurst are more reclamation projects — recent or very recent castoffs from other teams.
Everyone is trying to gel with rookie QB Bryce Young, who’s also trying to establish himself as the savior of a franchise that’s fallen on tough times. Chark is guaranteed nothing. If he plays well early on, then it will bode well going forward. If he’s outplayed by the similarly speedy Marshall and/or Mingo, then Chark might not be more than the No. 4 WR in a questionable passing attack.
This spells potential trouble for Chark. Again, the only time he’s come close to dominating was when he was “the guy.” Some teams, like the Eagles or Bengals, boast multiple top-20 or even top-10 fantasy WRs. They’re top-heavy and dynamic.
That’s not the case in Carolina, which might need months to sort out who’s No. 1, No. 2, etc. If you’re the first manager to draft a Panthers WR, you’re probably as likely to get burned as if you’d drafted a different one.
As a result, Chark should be faded in most leagues at his current market price. No doubt, he still has the athleticism to produce a handful of big performances if things break right. However, it will be tough to predict when those occur, if at all. And in the meantime, there are plenty of more reliable top-50 producers to choose from.