Carolina Panthers wide receiver Robbie Anderson is looking to rebound after a historically inefficient season. What is Anderson’s current ADP in fantasy drafts, and should fantasy football managers look to draft him at that price?
Robbie Anderson ADP | Is he worth his current price in fantasy drafts?
Anderson’s ADP is about 200th overall but varies considerably by platform. He’s being selected as the WR68 in fantasy football drafts, and I’d expect him to end up on a roster more often than not in typical 12-team leagues.
It’s certainly wise to use those final picks on young, high-upside players. If you don’t want to bother with an old veteran like Anderson, by all means, he’s not a must-draft player.
With that said, I kind of like Anderson at his ADP. He’s pretty much free and is going to be the WR2 in what can’t possibly be a worse offense now that Baker Mayfield is replacing Sam Darnold. And how many wide receivers going in the last couple of rounds are virtual locks for 100 targets?
Robbie Anderson’s projected fantasy value in 2022
For a guy that went undrafted, Anderson has had quite the career. His best season was in 2020 when he averaged 14 PPR fantasy points per game and set career highs in catches (95) and yards (1,096). As a result, Anderson was a pretty popular guy to target in 2021 fantasy drafts.
Unfortunately, Anderson and Darnold just couldn’t make it work. Anderson’s target share dropped from 26.3% to 19.3%. More concerning, though, was Anderson’s 48.3% catch rate. Darnold’s inaccuracy didn’t help, but Anderson needs to shoulder at least some of the blame for catching less than half of his targets.
Despite Anderson’s horrendous season, it seems extremely unlikely he’ll be that inefficient again. No one is expecting a return to 2020 levels, but even 12-13 ppg would be a massive return on investment.
Impact of the Panthers’ depth chart on Anderson’s fantasy value
Mayfield is an obvious upgrade over Darnold (although the degree remains to be seen). While Mayfield struggled last season, he did support two top 36 wide receivers in 2019.
The Panthers haven’t really done much to improve their pass catchers from last season. It’s a big part of the reason I’m cautiously optimistic about an Anderson bounce back in 2022.
DJ Moore is obviously the WR1. That’s locked, and no one is a threat to him leading his team in target share (except, of course, Christian McCaffrey). Even if CMC is healthy this season, he and Moore are unlikely to combine for more than 50% of the targets. That leaves plenty for Anderson.
So, who is Anderson competing with? The Panthers came into this season with Brandon Zylstra, Rashard Higgins, and Terrace Marshall Jr. — none of which inspire much confidence. After the preseason, they traded for Laviska Shenault, someone who lost targets to the likes of Jamal Agnew and Laquon Treadwell last season. As far as I’m concerned, they pose no threat to Anderson’s role as the WR2.
It also helps that the Panthers don’t really utilize their tight ends in the passing game. They targeted the position at the second-lowest rate in the NFL in 2021, at just 13.8% of the time.
As sure as I am that we’re not getting 14 ppg from Anderson again is as sure as I am that he’ll be better than the 8.1 ppg he averaged last season. In our 2022 fantasy football rankings, Anderson is currently our consensus WR58.
Once you get past the top 48-54 receivers, at that point, feel free to throw darts at whichever players you want. But Anderson should very much be in the mix.
