Okay, here’s my take on the “Jaylen Waddle or DeAndre Hopkins” situation, presented as a blog post from a fantasy football enthusiast:
Alright, guys, so I’ve been staring at this dilemma for like a week now, and I finally just had to sit down and hash it out. I’m in a 12-team PPR league, pretty competitive, and I’ve got the option to trade for either Jaylen Waddle or DeAndre Hopkins. Both are sitting on benches, and the owners are itching to make a deal.
First, I pulled up all their stats from last season. Waddle had a killer year, tons of targets, great connection with Tua. Hopkins, on the other hand, missed a chunk of games, but when he played, he was still getting a lot of looks, even with a shaky QB situation. That’s what got me thinking.
Digging Deeper
Next, I started looking at their situations for this season. Waddle’s in Miami, still with Tua, but now they’ve got Tyreek Hill taking up a huge chunk of the targets. That’s a red flag, for sure. Hopkins is now in Tennessee. New team, new offense, and Ryan Tannehill at QB. Tannehill’s not exactly a gunslinger, but he’s solid, and Hopkins is clearly the number one receiver there.
- Waddle: High ceiling, but target competition is a major concern.
- Hopkins: Lower ceiling (maybe?), but a much clearer path to consistent targets.
Then,Because I am a real man who likes to record every detail, I went and found some expert rankings and projections. Most of them had Waddle a bit higher, but the gap wasn’t huge. It’s that classic “upside versus floor” debate. Waddle could explode, but he could also disappear some weeks if Hill is going off. Hopkins is probably going to be more consistent, even if he doesn’t have those 30-point games.
I tried to watch some preseason games,I tried to see their performance, but you know, preseason is preseason. It’s hard to get a real read on things. Mostly, I was just looking at how the offenses were flowing and how the quarterbacks were looking.
The Key factors of the final decision, I talked it over with my buddy who’s also in the league. We’re always bouncing ideas off each other. He’s a big Waddle fan, thinks he’s going to be a superstar. But after I laid out my concerns about the target share, he started to see my point.
The Verdict
After all that, I made my decision. I’m going with Hopkins. I know, I know, Waddle is the sexier pick, the guy with more “potential.” But in my experience, consistency wins championships. I need a guy I can plug in every week and know I’m going to get a decent floor. Hopkins gives me that. He’s the top dog in Tennessee, and Tannehill will be looking his way a * I did it!
I sent the trade offer, and it got accepted! Now I’ve got Hopkins on my roster, and I’m feeling pretty good about it. Only time will tell if I made the right call, but I’m confident in my process. I did the research, I weighed the pros and cons, and I made the best decision for my team. That’s all you can do in fantasy football, right?
Let the game on!
