Those who play fantasy basketball are well aware of how much opportunity can transform average talents into commodities. Monitoring injuries — or sudden tanking initiatives — is crucial to attaining success as a fake hoops GM.
Being ahead of the curve on the Kirk Hinrichs or Darren Collisons of the world became essential in hoops competition in recent years, but these kind of transformations from bit player to locked-in starter are somewhat more likely to take place in basketball.
Running backs are the closest thing the NFL has to it, with the violent position requiring handcuffs for inevitable injuries. Only this season in Pittsburgh, we look to have a receiver who meets this criteria.
Once the league put Martavis Bryant on the Justin Blackmon/Josh Gordon career track for his drug use, Markus Wheaton began to dance into the fantasy consciousness in leagues of all sizes. The fourth-year Steelers wideout has not been a bad player by any means; he just hasn’t been one a majority of owners have thrown into their respective starting lineups.
With Bryant shelved for the season, however, Wheaton looks set to become the de facto second option in one of the game’s best offenses. While Wheaton was already receiving big minutes — in NBA parlance — last season, he’ll almost certainly stand to receive more touches due to Bryant’s misfortune altering the Steelers’ aerial hierarchy.
And Wheaton will have the NFL’s best receiver — and possibly its best offensive player in Antonio Brown — drawing coverage away in his contract year. The 2013 third-round pick could be the latest Steeler wideout to break big, only the 25-year-old Wheaton will have taken a different route to emerge as a potential 1,000-yard pass-catcher.
But how far can this elevated status take a wideout that played more than 800 snaps in 2015?
The former Oregon State cog drew 79 targets last season, fourth-most on the Steelers behind Brown, Bryant and the now-retired Heath Miller, but did amass a career-best 749 yards. His snap count rose because of Bryant’s suspension to start the season, yet Wheaton only pulled in nine passes (though he did gain 228 yards on those plays) during Bryant’s hiatus.
However, much of that sample came with the long-since-washed-up Mike Vick as the quarterback, so it’s hard to gauge what could have come Wheaton’s way (much more fun to read this sentence in Stewie Griffin’s voice) had Ben Roethlisberger been healthy.
With Roethlisberger down the stretch, Wheaton scored in four of the Steelers’ final five games, with the former Steelers No. 3 wideout torturing owners who’d benched him during Week 11’s nine-catch, 201-yard performance in Seattle.
The Steelers’ slot starter has never seen more than 86 targets in a season, drawing that figure in 2014. With lesser-known players like Ladarius Green and Sammie Coates — with a dash of Darrius Heyward-Bey — now in line to serve as Brown’s other sidekicks, there’s a high likelihood of Wheaton’s targets spiking this season.
Wheaton won’t remind of a top-flight receiver, and owners might feel weird about penciling him in as their WR3. But the opportunity is there. This offense, one that will feature a presumably healthy Le’Veon Bell, has an incredibly high upside. And the Steelers can kind of churn out productive receivers.
Plaxico Burress and Santonio Holmes priced themselves out of Pittsburgh, and Mike Wallace and Emmanuel Sanders emerged to varying degrees in Todd Haley’s passing-fueled system. Actually, Sanders’ 2013 stats, the ones from his last season in Pittsburgh, are quite similar to Wheaton’s 2015 work: 67/740/6, but on 113 targets. Wheaton hasn’t shown Sanders’ athleticism, but he’s going to have a good chance to play for a new deal in a year where there don’t look to be too many strong free agent WRs to sign.
Sanders and Doug Baldwin look like the 2017 free agent class’ top wideouts as of now, and should Wheaton capitalize here, he can establish himself as the No. 3 player and join the fraternity of pass-catchers who parlayed Pittsburgh playing time into much bigger paychecks elsewhere. After the money A.J. Green’s ex-sidekicks received this year, Wheaton could have a lofty market next spring.
Wheaton’s status in the Steelers’ offense makes him a solid WR3. Proven players in less-than-ideal situations — DeSean Jackson, Torrey Smith and Vincent Jackson come to mind — shouldn’t be taken over someone like Wheaton, who is in about the best possible spot to advertise himself for his next employer.
As the Mike Tolbert ride taught us, you don’t have to be awed by someone aesthetically to start them in fantasy.
Being Brown’s wing man in a proven offense with a top-five quarterback give Wheaton a high floor. Don’t let an underwhelming past dissuade you from taking a player with opportunity-based upside.
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