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2022 Fantasy Football Wide Receiver Shuffle Up: Everyone loves Michael Pittman

The Shuffle Up fantasy draft series concludes with the wide receivers. Earlier, we shuffled the quarterbacks, running backs and tight ends.

The dollar values below are unscientific in nature but reflect how I see the clusters of talent at the wide receiver position. My number is on the left; the number on the right is what the player commanded in the recent Vegas Flex salary cap league, which ran its draft earlier last week. Assume a half-point PPR scoring system. Players at the same offer are considered even.

Have some disagreements? Good, that’s why we have a game. I welcome your reasoned disagreement over at Twitter: @scott_pianowski.

The Big Tickets

$43 Cooper Kupp ($40)

$43 Justin Jefferson ($42)

$41 Ja'Marr Chase ($39)

$38 Stefon Diggs ($34)

$38 Davante Adams ($30)

$36 CeeDee Lamb ($30)

$32 Mike Evans ($30)

You have my permission to take Jefferson and Chase as early as you want, superstars already but we've yet to see their best season . . . Adams would hold more value in Green Bay, but at least he and Carr have the Fresno State pinball experience on their resume. Adams is so dynamic in tight spaces, I can't imagine him scoring fewer than 10 touchdowns . . . Evans is building a Hall of Fame resume, and he's spiked 27 times since Tom Brady arrived. May we all age as gracefully as those two Buccaneers.

Legitimate Building Blocks

$28 Tyreek Hill ($23)

$27 Deebo Samuel ($27)

$26 Tee Higgins ($25)

$26 A.J. Brown ($24)

$25 Michael Pittman Jr. ($28)

$23 Keenan Allen ($23)

$22 Terry McLaurin ($21)

$21 Allen Robinson II ($25)

$21 DJ Moore ($20)

$20 Mike Williams ($19)

$20 Diontae Johnson ($13)

$19 DK Metcalf ($17)

$18 Jaylen Waddle ($19)

$18 Courtland Sutton ($19)

The case for Pittman is obvious and well-documented, but that doesn't mean the overwhelming Pittman backers are wrong. He stepped forward last year, the QB situation improves from Carson Wentz to Matt Ryan and Pittman doesn't face any major target competition in-house. Often I'm allergic to buzz and this kind of a helium player, but I'm glad I already have some Pittman shares secured. I'd be stunned if he's not at minimum a high-end WR2 . . .

Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. (11) has a positive fantasy outlook
Michael Pittman's fantasy outlook has improved dramatically. (Photo by Zach Bolinger/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) (Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Williams finished ahead of Allen last year, and although Allen's PPR floor has to be higher, Williams can win on more explosive routes. He's a proactive pick for me . . . I've loved Brown from the moment he entered the league, but the Titans never peppered him with targets right off the bus, and the composition of the Philadelphia offense — and the questions about Jalen Hurts' passing chops — cap Brown's ceiling.

Talk them up, talk them down

$17 Jerry Jeudy ($12)

$16 Gabriel Davis ($20)

$16 Rashod Bateman ($18)

$15 Darnell Mooney ($15)

$15 Hunter Renfrow ($11)

$15 Brandin Cooks ($11)

$15 Amon-Ra St. Brown ($10)

$14 Brandon Aiyuk ($21)

$14 Michael Thomas ($13)

$14 Marquise Brown ($11)

$13 JuJu Smith-Schuster ($15)

$13 Elijah Moore ($11)

$13 Adam Thielen ($9)

$13 DeVonta Smith ($8)

$12 Amari Cooper ($12)

$12 Chris Godwin ($8)

$11 Allen Lazard ($9)

$11 Kadarius Toney ($9)

$11 Tyler Lockett ($6)

$11 Christian Kirk ($6)

$9 Chris Olave ($9)

$9 Drake London ($9)

$8 *DeAndre Hopkins ($2)

Sure, Kirk received a juicier contract than everyone expected, but that doesn't mean he can't be Jacksonville's primary receiver . . . Thielen is a boring veteran value jam at this stage of his career, and even as Jefferson is likely ready to start scoring some of the short, chippy touchdowns that Thielen lives on, there should be plenty to go around given the narrowness of the Minnesota target tree. The Vikings also made a modern coaching change at precisely the right time . . . Kevin Stefanski has run the Browns for two years; they've posted one receiver over 600 yards, and no one with better than 840 yards. Sure, there have been extenuating circumstances, but with Deshaun Watson up in the air and Cooper joining a new team, this is an easy wide receiver room for me to fade . . .

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I suspect the Renfrow genie is out of the bottle, and Josh Mcdaniels' offenses have generally been proactive with use of slot receivers . . . Bateman's truncated rookie year had plenty of high points, and the Ravens don't just like Bateman entering this year, they desperately need him to produce. Colleague Matt Harmon projected that Mark Andrews and Bateman could absorb around 50 percent of Baltimore's targets, and I don't think that's an unreasonable stance.

Plausible Upside

$7 Chase Claypool ($5)

$6 Tyler Boyd ($2)

$5 Nico Collins ($4)

$4 Robert Woods ($3)

$4 Skyy Moore ($2)

$4 Russell Gage ($2)

$3 Romeo Doubs (FA)

$3 Isaiah McKenzie (FA)

$3 Marquez Valdes-Scantling ($2)

$2 K.J. Hamler (FA)

$2 Joshua Palmer (FA)

$2 Mecole Hardman ($5)

$2 Parris Campbell ($3)

$2 Rondale Moore ($1)

$2 George Pickens ($1)

$2 Jakobi Meyers ($1)

$2 *Will Fuller ($1)

$2 Wan'Dale Robinson ($1)

$2 Kenny Golladay ($1)

Collins is one of my favorite later-round depth plays, as he's locked into the WR2 slot in Houston and Davis Mills is better than many people realize . . . If Fuller's health checks out, he'd be a perfect target for the Cowboys . . . Jones can help the Buccaneers as a support player, but is unlikely to provide projectile volume on a weekly basis . . . The Kansas City receiver room is filled with interesting cases of plausible upside, but after watching Hardman make careless mistakes for three years, I'm not optimistic he'll be playable in any kind of weekly managed league. Consistency is unlikely to show here.

Shuffle Up Salary Cap Draft Values: Quarterbacks | Running Backs | Wide Receivers | Tight Ends

Bargain Bin

$1 Laviska Shenault (FA)

$1 David Bell (FA)

$1 Christian Watson ($5)

$1 Julio Jones ($3)

$1 Treylon Burks ($2)

$1 Jarvis Landry ($2)

$1 *Michael Gallup ($2)

$1 DJ Chark Jr. ($1)

$1 Garrett Wilson ($1)

$1 Jalen Tolbert ($1)

$1 Alec Pierce ($1)

$1 DeVante Parker ($1)

$0 Tyquan Thompson (FA)

$0 Jameson Williams ($1)

$0 K.J. Osborn ($1)

$0 Devin Duvernay ($1)

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