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Veteran Wide Receiver Targets for Redraft in 2022

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Redraft season is upon us, and age is nothing but a number. Which veteran wide receivers should you be targeting in your respective drafts?

To some, veteran wide receivers are their worst enemy. To others, they are the league winners that every fantasy manager should have on their roster. With a shift of the younger star wide receivers making such an impact, the veterans have been forgotten.

DeAndre Hopkins, Adam Thielen, Mike Evans, Brandin Cooks, and Keenan Allen are just a few names of receivers 28 and older who can still perform at a high level. Here are three veteran wide receivers that must be targeted in redraft leagues this season.

1. Brandin Cooks

Brandin Cooks has been one of the more consistent receivers in the NFL since entering the League in 2014. He has the seventh most receiving yards since then. The names ahead of him are future hall of fame players such as Julio Jones, Antonio Brown, and DeAndre Hopkins.

In six of his eight seasons, Cooks has eclipsed over 1,000 receiving yards. Now, with second-year quarterback Davis Mills, Cooks looks to pick up where he left off in 2021. He is the veteran wide receiver on the Texans and has become Mills’ favorite target and the numbers showed it.

Cooks had the seventh-highest target share percentage in 2021 ahead of names like Keenan Allen, A.J. Brown, and Stefon Diggs. Those three wide receivers are going in the first three rounds of drafts, whereas Brandin Cooks is WR26.

With extremely great value and no off-season moves by the Texans, it looks like Cooks will produce another efficient year with great value when he is drafted.

2. Adam Thielen

Adam Thielen is the story all sports fans love to see. He went undrafted and since then has proven himself to be an incredible football player. Now, the veteran wide receiver has taken on the WR2 role for the Minnesota Vikings as the generational talent in Justin Jefferson takes the WR1 crown.

Thielen has a similar ADP to Brandin Cooks. Thielen is WR25 but can produce WR1 weeks any given Sunday. Fantasy Football is all about having fun, bringing people together, and TOUCHDOWNS. With touchdowns holding the most value with six points per touchdown, Thielen sits in a great spot to once again produce great fantasy numbers.

Newly hired head coach Kevin O’Connell, the former offensive coordinator for the high-powered Rams offense, is set to bring that offense to Minnesota. With the Rams, Cooper Kupp and Robert Woods were both WR1s before Woods tore his ACL in practice. With an ADP of WR25, Thielen is at a great value and scores a lot of touchdowns.

In his first six NFL seasons, Thielen brought in 24 touchdowns. In his past two seasons, he has matched that exact number. Having Thielen as a WR2 this upcoming redraft season is a big IQ play with a load of touchdowns waiting to crush opponents on Sunday.

3. Mike Evans

Mike Evans‘ name is not often brought up in the top wide receiver conversation. Some do not even have him in their top 10. Those people are wrong. The veteran wide receiver has had 1,000 yards or more since he entered the NFL in 2014. Just like Brandin Cooks, Evans has had some of the most yards since 2014. He is ranked third behind Julio Jones and DeAndre Hopkins.

Evans was doing it for the majority of his career with Jameis Winston. Now, going on year three, Evans has the greatest of all time, Tom Brady, throwing him the football. The value is still there as Evans has an ADP of WR9 according to fantasypros.com. With Tom Brady throwing the football, Evans has had the most touchdowns in single seasons (2020/2021) than he has had his entire career.

As stated earlier, touchdowns are everything in fantasy football. Since 2014, Evans had the second most touchdowns right behind Todd Gurley who is not on an NFL roster anymore. Mike Evans’ ADP is behind guys like Stefon Diggs, Tyreek Hill, and Diontae Johnson. Evans deserves to be ahead of all three of them and be the WR6 in redraft formats this upcoming season.

With Tom Brady coming out of retirement with a point to prove, once again, after the loss to the Rams, Mike Evans has a real shot to finish as a top-five wide receiver this season.

Thank you for checking out my veteran wide receivers to roster article! You can read all of my articles on my IDP Guys’ author page. Be sure to follow me on Twitter at @NBF_Clo and @IDPGuys (we have offense too) and please check out our website at idpguys.org.

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