At the beginning of every fantasy season, people want to know what to expect when a player ends up in a new situation or with a new team. This season is no exception. But, unlike past seasons, I am here to answer that question - at least when it comes to Jarvis Landry.
Jarvis Landry recently found himself in Cleveland now at the receiving end of Tyrod Taylor's throws after both players were picked up during the offseason. This appears to be a match made in heaven. Landry is a possession receiver that is notorious for getting it done after the catch. As his rankings show, he is consistently towards the top of the leaderboard for both receptions and yards after catch ("YAC") since he joined the league:
2014 - ranked 7th (among WRs) in YAC and 6th in RECs *Rookie season*2015 - ranked 3rd (among WRs) in YAC and 4th in RECs2016 - ranked 1st (among WRs) in YAC and 3rd in RECs2017 - ranked 3rd (among WRs) in YAC and 1st in RECs
He has managed to put up these impressive statistics without being paired with a quarterback that was ideal to his playing style. Take his matchups with Ryan Tannehill and Jay Cutler, for example. Both quarterbacks have been touted as "gunslingers" (i.e., a quarterback that likes to throw deep), which is a terrible match for Landry because he is possession receiver, but all that is about to change now that he has Taylor.
Taylor is a game managing quarterback, making him a great match for a possession receiver like Landry. Since becoming a starter in Buffalo, Taylor's NFL rankings prove that he knows how to protect the ball and doesn't like to throw it deep:
2015 - Ranked 1st in INTs (6) with a min of 200 completions, ranked 21st in 20+ yard completions (45) and was tied for 8th in 40+ yard completions (11)2016 - Ranked 5th in INTs (6) with a min of 200 completions, ranked 27th in 20+ yard completions (33) and was tied for 22nd in 40+ yard completions (7)2017 - Ranked 1st in INTs (4) with a min of 200 completions, ranked 20th in 20+ yard completions (36) and was 26th in 40+ yard completions (4)
Impressively, after being named the Buffalo Bills' starter in 2015, he has only thrown 18 interceptions. By comparison, Blake Bortles, starting quarterback for the Jacksonville Jaguars, threw 18 interceptions last season alone. Moreover, Taylor has only completed a total of 22 passes for over 40+ yards in the past four years. And, to date, he has never completed more than 45 passes of over 20+ yards in a season. By comparison, Drew Brees completed 72 passes of over 20+ yards last season.
What does this all mean? It's simple: Taylor is an ideal matchup for Landry's game, and Landry is an ideal wide receiver for your fantasy team. Landry is currently being drafted as 24th wide receiver off the board, according to MFL10s ADP in the last 6 weeks. He is easily going to return that value and, given his match with Taylor, should return a top 15 wide receiver value this year.
The one caveat to this is the number #1 overall pick for the Browns, Baker Mayfield. If Mayfield takes over for Taylor, it means Landry goes back to catching bullets from a gunslinger. However, Mayfield does protect the ball better than either Cutler or Tannehill and really shouldn't be a major concern for Landry owners (and, in my humble opinion, I don't expect Baker to start many, if any, games). So this season, when you are drafting in a 12 team PPR league and you see Landry fall into the 3rd round (or even the 4th round!), don't hesitate to pull the trigger. He will pay off in dividends.