Jarvis Landry’s elite intermediate route skills and Baker Mayfield’s superb accuracy were supposed to be a fantasy football match in heaven. Instead, Landry’s been shockingly ineffective over Mayfield’s first three starts, and never moreso than this past Sunday versus the Chargers. Landry hauled in just 2-of-9 targets for a paltry 11 yards — both his lowest totals since 2015. Despite seeing a healthy 29 targets, Landry’s mustered just 11 catches (37% rate) for only 114 yards in Mayfield’s three starts. He’s the WR24 on the season, and the WR34 since Mayfield took the reigns… but still makes for an intriguing Fantasy Buy Low. Here’s why:
For one, Landry’s usage has improved (as predicted), despite the stats not yet reflecting this. Under Todd Haley, “Juice” has indeed seen his route tree grow more diverse and vertical. His average depth of target (aDot) and yards per reception (YPR) have risen from 6.3 and 8.8 in 2017, to 10.2 and 12.6 in 2018. While this hasn’t yet translated on the field, Landry could become a yardage monster if/once he and Mayfield click.
Which should be far easier in the upcoming weeks thanks to an absolutely glorious schedule. Leading into his Week 11 Bye, Landry will square off with Tampa Bay (2nd most FPs to WRs), Pittsburgh (4th), Kansas City (14th… but clearly awful), and Atlanta (5th). All of those games project as Landry-favorable scripts.
Betting on Landry is also a bet on Mayfield, which isn’t easy to stomach. Yet, both the QB and WR so much natural ability, and currently depressed overall fantasy value after the latest dud, that Buying Low feels awfully smart right now.
