3 Up 3 Down (Wide Receivers)

3 Up 3 Down

UP

Domenik Hixon- Hixon isn’t what you might call a “star wide-out” but he’s all the Giants have, literally. The top 4 receivers on the Giants depth chart for 2009 combined for only 104 receptions in 2008. That’s 7 less than Wes Welker had in total. So basically all I’m saying is that Eli Manning needs to throw to someone and Hixon is going to be that guy. He might not be a fantasy starter, but he could be a hidden gem you can find in the later rounds. He’s ranked 115 on my Top 200. Plaxico Burress is gone as well as Amani Toomer so it looks like Hixon is the man in New York. Now that Burress and Toomer are gone, 43 percent of the receiving yards are gone, 42 percent of the receptions are gone and 62 percent of the TD grabs are gone from the ’08 season. I predict that Hixon will get 45 receptions with 567 yards and 3 touchdowns.

Bernard Berrian- Berrian is a VERY streaky player. For example, there were 4 games where Berrian went over 100 yards receiving, but then there were 4 games when Berrian couldn’t exceed 20 yards receiving. Among Wide-Receivers with more than 60 targets, Berrian led them with 20.1 yards per catch last season. You can blame some of his troubles on QB Tavaris Jackson. Jackson is horrible at throwing the deep ball which is just what Berrian likes. Berrian has blazing speed which gives him leverage on catching the deep ball. I predict that Bernard will get 947 yards on 54 receptions and 7 touchdowns. Berrian is the kind of guy that you need to pair with a Wes Welker or a T.J. Houshmanzadeh because they are very good possession receivers and you know what you are going to get from them week in and week out.

DeSean Jackson- Jackson has speed and lots of it. He makes the Eagles passing attack dynamic. Last year he caught 62 receptions for 912 yards and 2 touchdowns. These numbers aren’t spectacular but they should improve this year. I predict that Jackson will get 1,178 yards on 76 receptions and 5 touchdowns.

Down

Hines Ward- Ward is a very experienced receiver which could work in his favor. But then again, he’s not getting any younger. He has lost a step or 2 and isn’t the same Hines that we saw a couple years ago. It looks like Santonio Holmes is almost ready to take the reins as the Steelers number 1 receiver. He already made an amazing catch to win Super Bowl 43. Holmes has more speed and skill than Ward. But don’t get me wrong, Ward will still fight and will have a decent year. But his numbers will decline. Ben Rothlisberger will still find ways to get him the ball but I don’t think it will be as many. But it seems like every year that we think he will decline, he just proves everyone wrong. This year I predict that Ward will catch 69 balls for 867 yards and 6 touchdowns.

Santana Moss- Moss isn’t very productive anymore. He doesn’t have that blazing speed that we were used to seeing. He doesn’t have those soft hands that caught just about everything. And he doesn’t have the route running ability that made opposing defensive backs break their ankles. Part of the reason that Moss is declining so rapidly is because he doesn’t have a good Quarter Back to get him the ball down the field. Last year Moss caught 79 passes for 1,044 yards and 6 touchdowns. These numbers aren’t bad; in fact they are pretty good. But Jason Campbell hasn’t proven himself as a good QB and Moss basically disappeared in the second half of the ’08 season which could give us a glimpse of what might happen this year. This year I predict that Moss will get 69 receptions for 893 yards and 4 touchdowns.

Roy Williams- Roy was just awful coming over to the Cowboys in the middle of the season. He had just 19 catches in 10 games with the Cowboys. But he was battling a foot injury all year long. This year he will be much better and he is Tony Romo’s # 1 receiver. But don’t take a chance on him too early.