With Will Fuller done for the year… can Brandin Cooks be valuable in Fantasy Football again?
The NFL announced Monday that Texans Wide Receiver, Will Fuller ha been suspended for 6 games.
The Texans WR was caught using PEDs that were prohibited in the NFL.
This was bad news for the Texans considering WR Will Fuller was the Texans go-to option at Wide Receiver and was Star Quarterback, Deshaun Watson’s favorite Touchdown and deep threat target in the Texans offense.
In terms of fantasy football, this was just as bad to hear.
Not only was he on pace for an excellent fantasy season (with 53 receptions, 879 yds, and 8 TDs in just 11 games), but he was likely a quality starter for most fantasy managers.
With Fuller Suspended, former Saints, Patriots, and Rams WR Brandin Cooks will get his shot as a WR1 again.
Can this aging WR keep up and be a valuable starter and handle the work load for the Texans and for you in fantasy football?
The answer... is yes.
Since his dud game vs the Minnesota Vikings in week 4 (with 0 receptions, on 3 targets for 0 yards), Brandin Cooks has been posting solid numbers as the Texans WR2.
Cooks has averaged 8 targets, 6 receptions, and 83 receiving yards a game and has caught 3 touchdowns after the Minnesota game.
By the way... these were Cooks stats as the WR2!
Will Fuller on the other hand has averaged around 6 targets, 4 receptions and 79 receiving yards a game while catching 8 touchdowns this season ( these numbers would be higher too, but he also had a 0,0,0 game vs Baltimore.
So...both WRs are having a great season (or were) thanks to Watson.
With the absence of Fuller, the Texans offense as a whole is definitely going to change and I see a lot more targets for everyone… I mean everyone.
I see Cooks as the leading receiver and I expect Duke Johnson to have an increased role as a receiving threat out of the backfield as well as David Johnson when he returns from IR (which to me was supposed to happen right when he came there from AZ, but I digress).
As for the other Texans WRs, I expect when Cobb returns in 2 weeks that he will have an increased role over Keke Coutee and Kenny Stills. As for Tight Ends, I see Atkins and Fells seeing a larger uptick in targets too (especially in the redzone).
For Fantasy, If you have Cooks there is now no doubt that he is a great flex option moving forward.
I am expecting at least 9 targets, 7 receptions, 80 yds a game from him over his last five games as well for him to have at least have 3 TDs.
To me this is very doable considering their remaining schedule (IND, @CHI, @IND, CIN, TEN).
I also expect RB Duke Johnson and TE Darren Fells to also get an increase in value over the last 5 games of the season in fantasy.
Good Luck with the rest of your seasons, if you have any questions feel free to contact me via Twitter @bullseyefantasy or to email me at bullseyefantasy1@gmail.com
Also feel free to listen to my podcast Sounds Like SAM! (Episodes are available on all podcast platforms!)