There are two ways to play fantasy football. You can play it safe, or you can swing for the fences. It’s always risky to chase outliers, but outliers are how we separate from our competitors.
With that in mind, we’re going through bold fantasy takes for every NFL team, with this installment looking at the New England Patriots.
New England Patriots Bold Fantasy Prediction: Ja’Lynn Polk Emerges as Team’s WR1 with Big Second Half
This was the most difficult team to find a bold prediction for. There just isn’t anyone on this roster I’m excited about for fantasy purposes. But if one player could break through and be a value, it’s rookie second-rounder Ja’Lynn Polk.
The Patriots have one of the most climbable WR depth charts in the NFL. They’ll likely deploy fifth-round sophomore DeMario Douglas and journeyman Kendrick Bourne (once fully healthy) as their top two receivers.
That leaves the door open for someone to step up and establish himself as this team’s true alpha. If anyone is going to do that, it’s Polk.
The rookie was incredibly productive in his final season at Washington, catching 69 balls for 1,159 yards and nine touchdowns. With a WR67 ADP, he’s essentially free. Polk just might end up winning fantasy managers championships over the second half of the season.
Ja’Lynn Polk Fantasy Profile
The Patriots’ one strength from a team perspective works against fantasy managers. They owned the third-best yards-per-play defense from a season ago, thus allowing them to keep games reasonably competitive and not be forced to open up their offense in a meaningful way.
Enter Polk. The 6’1” wide receiver caught the eye of Pro Football Network Draft Analyst Ian Cummings, who wrote, “incredibly fluid route runner who can stack effortless hip transitions on double moves … exciting freedom with angle manipulation … near-elite explosive capacity to create late-snap separation.”
On the surface, that profile has me sold on the talent, and for a receiver who’s not routinely drafted, checking one of the two primary boxes (talent or opportunity) is all we can hope for.
Check out Pro Football Network’s full fantasy football profile of Ja’Lynn Polk right here.
