If you can come away from your fantasy football drafts with a bona fide top wide receiver, it would save a lot of potential headaches down the stretch to assemble a competitive cast of wideouts.
A popular fantasy football strategy could be to wait on WR because of how deep the position is, but speaking for myself, I prefer having that go-to guy I can start every week and know will have more good games than duds. Here, I’ll compare two players, Davante Adams and Marvin Harrison Jr., who are at very different stages in their careers.
Adams is a veteran who’s put up WR1 numbers for many years, while Harrison was the No. 4 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft and is already viewed as a top fantasy receiver. In fact, Harrison is one spot ahead of Adams as WR9, while Adams is WR10.
Below, we examine who you’d be better off taking and the value of each player.
2024 Fantasy Outlook for Davante Adams
Adams is entering his third season with the Las Vegas Raiders, and he has a different quarterback once again. In 2024, the Raiders are giving Gardner Minshew the starting nod over Aidan O’Connell.
According to TruMedia, Adams ran 579 routes in 2023, catching 103 passes on 175 targets. He recorded 1,144 receiving yards and eight touchdowns, good for a WR11 finish.
With Minshew as his quarterback, Adams should see a bit more stability.
In 2023 with the Indianapolis Colts, Minshew completed 305 of 490 passes for 3,305 yards, 15 touchdowns, and nine interceptions. It helped propel Michael Pittman Jr. to WR13.
Interestingly, Minshew and O’Connell were similar when you look at their target distribution behind the line of scrimmage, 0-9 yards, 10-19 yards, and 20 yards or more.
Adams may have slightly more competition with the team adding tight end Brock Bowers, but he’ll lead the team in targets and receptions with ease once again.
The Raiders have a Week 10 bye week.
2024 Fantasy Outlook for Marvin Harrison Jr.
The Cardinals let Marquise “Hollywood” Brown walk this offseason and took Harrison at No. 4 overall in the draft. With those two transactions occurring, it’s safe to say the star rookie will be Arizona’s top offensive target.
Behind him is Michael Wilson, who showed some promise as a rookie, and Greg Dortch.
The Cardinals did see some excellent production out of tight end Trey McBride, too.
In addition to Harrison, they added Trey Benson in the third round to help out the backfield.
Throwing passes to Harrison will be quarterback Kyler Murray.
KEEP READING: PFN’s Consensus Fantasy Football Rankings
Murray played in just eight games last season, completing just 65 of 122 attempts to wide receivers. This 53.3% rate was far lower than passes to tight ends (80.2%) and running backs (77.6%). On those targets, TEs averaged 8.4 yards per attempt compared to the receivers at 6.6.
Over his career, though, Murray has thrown for 10,355 yards to wide receivers. Looking at a broader sample size, this is far more than tight ends (2,929) and running backs (2,363).
A big part of that 2023 passing spread was simply that McBride was the most reliable option.
Now, Murray has Harrison, who proved in college that he can win at all levels of football. I expect Harrison to have a monstrous target share with McBride behind him.
Who Should I Draft in 2024?
I’m going for the upside and optimism of Harrison here. There’s something to be said about the Adams’ floor, and yes, he did finish as WR11 last season despite the Raiders’ QB play. However, Harrison has more upside.
I see Adams as a borderline top-10 receiver with middle-of-the-road quarterback play, whereas Harrison is an exciting young asset in the NFL and will receive well over 100 targets as a rookie.
Take Harrison, and don’t look back.
