Reggie Wayne’s Fantasy Value With New England Patriots

Reggie Wayne is on his way to the New England Patriots. (Getty)

In need of some extra depth at the wide receiver position, the New England Patriots have reportedly come to a one-year agreement with veteran Reggie Wayne.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter has the news:

It’s a nice move for the Pats, but it’s not one fantasy owners should be too concerned with.

Wayne has been one of the most productive receivers of his generation, but he’s beginning to wear down at the age of 36. In 15 games last season with the Indianapolis Colts, he tallied 64 receptions, 779 yards and two touchdowns, numbers that ranked him 56th among all wide receivers in fantasy points, per ESPN’s standard scoring.

And that was with Andrew Luck slinging the ball 616 times and really having TY Hilton as the only another reliable wideout. By comparison, Tom Brady threw the ball only 582 times, and he’ll have Julian Edelman and some guy named Rob Gronkowski to eat up many of those targets. Throw in the fact that there’s a legitimate chance Brady will be out for the first four games of the season, and there’s a lot of downside to Wayne’s fantasy value.

All that said, there is also some slight potential here. With Brandon LaFell currently on the PUP list, Wayne would only have to surpass guys like Aaron Dobson and Danny Amendola for a starting spot.

The main thing here is to keep an eye on LaFell. If he remains out, Wayne is worth a deep-league, late-round flier for the possibility of starting and developing a rapport with Brady, a future Hall of Famer.

If LaFell looks healthy, though, he will again have a big role in this offense, and Wayne will be waiver-wire material.

The Patriots-Steelers Thursday night opener isn’t part of DraftKings‘ Week 1 fantasy contests, but Wayne is worth watching as you keep an eye toward Week 2, when New England plays at Buffalo. (If you haven’t done so already, click here to sign up for DraftKings’ Week 1 Millionaire Maker contest.)

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