Fantasy Football File: Josh Reynolds
The start of NFL training camps is rapidly approaching, which means that Fantasy Football drafts are not far behind.
The Tennessee Titans had one of the NFL’s best offenses in 2020 and this season they feature a number of players who should be appealing to fantasy owners. To help with the pre-draft process, All Titans at SI.com will break down the players who will (or might) show up on draft boards.
Today, wide receiver Josh Reynolds.
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Why you should draft him: He is a fifth-year veteran who has shown steady improvement throughout his career. Last season with the L.A. Rams – his first as a regular starter – was his best to date with 52 receptions for 618 yards and two touchdowns, and those numbers were enough for him to rank among the top 70 among all wide receivers in fantasy points. Plus, he signed a one-year, free-agent deal with Tennessee for $1.75 million, which means he still has plenty of motivation to prove himself in an attempt to earn a long-term deal, either to return in 2022 or to go to another club. Given the Titans’ well-earned reputation as one of the NFL’s best rushing offenses, they won’t face many pass-heavy defenses, and that should create favorable matchups for all of the potential receivers.
Why you shouldn’t draft him: With A.J. Brown and Julio Jones, Tennessee has two Pro Bowl wide receivers, and both are accustomed to topping 1,000 receiving yards. As a result, exactly what role Reynolds will play and how many passes might come his way is murky, at best. After all, only two teams threw fewer passes in 2020, when the Titans’ top two wide receivers (Brown and Corey Davis) each had at least 65 receptions but no one else at that position managed even 25 catches. If it took Reynolds three full seasons to carve out a regular role with a pass-happy team like the Rams, it is fair to wonder if he will be little more than an afterthought in his first season with Tennessee.
Notable number: 46 – receptions in 24 games against the NFC West teams, which he faced annually when he was with the Rams. For his career, Reynolds has 113 receptions in 64 games. That means 41 percent of Reynolds’ catches have come in 21 percent of his contests. The Titans will play face the four AFC West teams in 2020, including Arizona and Seattle in Weeks 1 and 2, respectively.
They said it: “I can tell you that he’s done a great job really establishing himself in terms of being multi-faceted. He has a pretty good grasp of the (three wide receiver) positions. So, it should give him an opportunity to be extremely versatile for us. That’s something we’re going to be looking to him to provide for us.” – Rob Moore, wide receivers coach
Bottom line: The only way Reynolds pays off big is if you draft him in the late rounds and Brown or Jones miss an extended period due to injury. That being said, Brown had surgery on both knees early in the offseason but managed to play through issues with one or both all of last season. Jones will be one of the NFL’s 10 oldest wide receivers in 2021 and missed seven games in 2020 due to injury. Reynolds stayed healthy during his time with the Rams, and if he does so with the Titans it will be an upgrade from what they experienced with their No. 3 receiver each of the last two years. Yet if he is the No. 3 all season there is no way he will put up good numbers from week to week.
