BALLER MOVE: Sit in Standard 10-12 team leagues
POSITIONAL VALUE: WR4
ANALYSIS: Seattle Seahawks wide receiver started 2024 looking like his old self, being targeted seven times and hauling in six passes for 77 yards. The "old self" narrative came crashing down in Week 2, when he was targeted just twice, catching both for 15 yards. 3.5 PPR fantasy points aren't great.
Meanwhile, fellow Seahawks WRs Jaxon Smith-Njigba and D.K. Metcalf lit up the stat sheets, being targeted 16 and 14 times respectively. Smith-Njigba scored 23.70 fantasy points and Metcalf racked up 28.90. Lockett was an afterthought in this iteration of OC Ryan Grubb's offense.
Some very promising signs on #Seahawks WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba:
1. Has run 69 routes on 76 Geno dropbacks this season. That's more than Tyler Lockett (62).
2. Still getting a lot of short-area targets, but now mixing in deeper routes. Average depth of target yesterday was 10.6… pic.twitter.com/45PT8IlzFM
— Adam Levitan (@adamlevitan) September 16, 2024
Lockett making way for Smith-Njigba was only a matter of time. While Lockett probably won't see just two targets per game for the remainder of the season, he's also unlikely to see seven or more. Lockett is 31 and dealing with a thigh injury, and until he's fully healthy, he's not worth starting.
When he does recover, provided the injury doesn't linger, he's still a WR4. Metcalf and Smith-Njigba should be prioritized targets ahead of Lockett. Former OC Shane Waldron went out of his way to get Lockett involved, and Grubb seems to understand that's not great for the offense overall.
Lockett still has some juice in him, but he's likely to be too inconsistent for fantasy managers to rely on, with a lower ceiling than last season. He's better left on the bench.
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