Fantasy Football 2017 Preview: Should You Draft These Old WRs and TEs?

We all want to load our team with high-end studs at the top of the draft, and super young sleepers as the rounds – or auction – rolls along. But sometimes there are certain – read old – players staring you in the face and begging to be taken for a bargain.

Once football players hit age 30, we pretty much start downgrading them. Sometimes that’s right, and it’s often true of running backs. But other times these guys wind up as valuable cogs on playoff-bound teams. 

Below, I’ll run through some of the most relevant and interesting players that are 30+ and let you know how to handle them. All ADP data is courtesy of Fantasypros.com.

Click here for some old QBs and RBs. 

Wide Receivers

Larry Fitzgerald, Cardinals (Ranking: 26, ADP: 58)

Fitz feels like he’s 100 years old, but he’s played like a much younger man over the last two seasons. From 2012-2014 he looked like he’d lost his relevance, but it was quickly proven that he was simply in need of competent quarterbacking. In the last two years, Old Man Fitz has hauled in at least 107 passes, topped 1,000 yards and played in all 16 games. He is no longer the superstar of old, but there’s no reason to expect a drop off from his recent production with Carson Palmer still under center.

Brandon Marshall, Giants (Ranking: 27, ADP: 60)

Marshall is an intriguing case. At age 32, Marshall caught 109 balls for 1,502 yards and 14 touchdowns, leading the Jets to 10 wins. The next season he apparently got old overnight, freefalling to only 59 receptions, 788 yards and three touchdowns. Did Marshall truly begin to suck that quickly? Age is most likely a factor, but no, he didn’t completely lose his talent in a few offseason months. The Jets had arguably the worst QB situation in football last year, and they lost Marshall’s running buddy Eric Decker early in the year. Now, Marshall will be playing in a pass-first offense, have a Hall of Fame-bound QB throwing to him, and a world-class No. 1 keeping the opponent’s top CB off him. Marshall will not be returning to his 100-catch days, but 10+ TDs is more than a reasonable expectation.

Pierre Garcon, 49ers (Ranking: 36, ADP: 84)

You’re thinking….Garcon? Maybe you didn’t even consider drafting the 30-year-old Garcon. Well, you might be surprised to find that he actually racked up more than 1,000 receiving yards. His 79 catches were serviceable, and his three scores were less than serviceable. But remember, he was fighting for targets with DeSean Jackson and Jamison Crowder, not to mention All-Pro TE Jordan Reed.

The good news is that Garcon will have far less competition for targets in San Francisco. His main competition is Jeremy Kerley, who isn’t much more than a decent slot receiver. The bad news is that his QB is Brian Hoyer, a guy who struggled in Cleveland to hold off the immortal Johnny Manziel. Expect Garcon to draw lots of targets, and possibly exceed his 79 catches. But the yardage will be low, and he’s unlikely to domuch better than his three touchdowns from a year ago. WR 37 isn’t a great risk, but you’re still better off going with someone a bit more sprightly.

Tight Ends

Martellus Bennett, Packers (Ranking: 8, ADP: 85)

Bennett, 30, has been consistently disappointing during his career. He’s always a sleeper candidate to break into the Top 5, but he’s only really delivered once, in 2014, when he caught 90 passes and scored six touchdowns. This year, he is going to live up to it. Some will point to the fact that Aaron Rodgers has never done much for the value of his TEs, but I’ll argue he’s never had particularly good TEs. Jermichael Finley let everyone down every year, but perhaps he was an athletic body with little football talent. Last year he got Jared Cook – a perennial candidate to be dropped after three weeks – to 30 catches, 377 yards and a touchdown in just five games. In the postseason, Cook went off to the tune of 18 catches, 229 yards and two scores. Bennett is far better than Cook, and should be a major weapon in 2017. I suspect he will finish higher than eighth at the position.

Jason Witten, Cowboys (Ranking: 16, ADP: 167)

TE 19 may seem disrespectful for Witten, especially since there’s not much in the way of eye-catching talent in the Dallas receiving corps beyond Dez Bryant. But it’s not. Witten, 35, has only topped six touchdowns twice in his 14-year career, and he hasn’t gotten there since 2013. He hasn’t gotten past 77 catches in four years, and he hasn’t beaten five touchdowns in three years. He’s old, getting slower, and the Cowboys offense is going to be all Ezekiel Elliott. You pick Witten for consistency, but he’s consistently going to give you low output. Counting on four to five points isn’t worth it; you’re better off trying to stream.