Calvin Johnson: A Top Shelf Guy

Calvin Johnson was my first round draft pick in one of my leagues last year. I regretted that pick for the first several weeks of the season because teams were double teaming Calvin, so he did not have any touchdowns until week six. However, in the second half of the season Calvin really turned it up and had a record setting season. Calvin had a great individual year. He had the most receiving yards by more than 400 yards. He was the leader in points for receivers despite having only five touchdowns. To put that into perspective Lance Moore of the Saints had more touchdowns than Calvin. The reason Calvin had 80 more overall points than Moore was because he had 900 more receiving yards. In a points per reception (PPR) league, Calvin would have had a lot more points than Moore.

Although Calvin is the best receiver in the NFL and had the best overall fantasy year for receivers, he is not a first round draft pick in my eyes. The amount of receivers that are draftable has grown more and more since the NFL has made passing a preference for teams with even a decent quarterback. Take the Jaguars for example, they had Chad Henne and Blaine Gabbert at quarter back, yet Cecil Shorts and Justin Blockmon had breakout seasons.

Matthew Berry, the most famous fantasy football analyst and my personal favorite discusses the reasons NOT to draft Calvin in the first round. Berry talks about the importance of running backs and the large market for wide receivers. Its a risk not to draft a receiver as dominate as Calvin but in the long run, it will probably be worth passing on him for a running back and getting a sneaky receiver pick in the later rounds