Making The Leap: You'll Finally Be Able To Rely On Corey Davis

It’s easy to get lost in the pure talent of players, especially early in draft prep season, and forget about the most important aspect of fantasy production: opportunity. Sometimes players with big expectations flounder, and it burns their credibility with us. Corey Davis is one such player. A former Top 10 pick of the Titans, he’s oscillated between useless and inconsistent, failing to deliver any big returns in his first four seasons. So what has changed?

Opportunity.

Davis was signed by the Jets this offseason, joining a team with a new offensive coordinator, a brand new QB (No. 2 overall pick Zach Wilson), and, most importantly, no clear WR1. Davis had his best season to date in 2020, catching 65 passes for 984 yards and five touchdowns, both career bests. He averaged 15.1 yards per reception, and a career-high 10.7 yards per target. This is all impressive stuff, especially considering he was the No. 2 option on a Titans team that threw the third-fewest passes in football. It wasn’t perfect – he did post five games with fewer than 50 receiving yards, and two with zero – but overall he resembled a guy worth the draft capital expended on him.

Diving deeper under the hood, and the numbers agree. Davis earned the eighth-best receiving grade (85.6) from PFF, ahead of guys like Keenan Allen, Julio Jones and Tyreek Hill, and ranked inside the Top 10 in WR DVOA (22.5%). Davis is a clear-cut example of a player most have moved on from, and who don’t want to accept that he’s potentially just a late bloomer. And even though he’s joining the Jets, who had one of the NFL’s worst offenses last year, it’s a clean slate for them as they overhauled the entire coaching staff and brought in a new QB. What they didn’t do, is make any major additions to the receiving corps aside from spending a second-round pick on Elijah Moore, who figures to play the slot. Davis’ main competition includes 2020 second-round pick Denzel Mims, and veteran Jamison Crowder, who typically did the most damage from the slot and could be let go depending on how Moore progresses. Should the Jets part ways with Crowder, that would vacate 100+ targets.

It’s easy to say Davis has never even scored more than five touchdowns in a season, so why bother? I see a player who has improved each season, set career highs in 2020 with Ryan Tannehill, the best QB he has ever played with, and is now getting a second chance as a primary receiver as a matured veteran.

He will benefit from an improving Jets offensive line tasked with protecting a QB who was compared pre-draft to Aaron Rodgers. Best of all, his reputation – and the Jets’ reputation for that matter – will absolutely depress his ADP. Davis will not cost you much on draft day, and he very well may end up as a WR2. You heard it here first.