Which Early-Mid 3rd Round WR to Draft in 2021 Fantasy Football? A. Robinson, McLaurin, K. Allen, Lamb

Are you drafting Allen Robinson, Keenan Allen, CeeDee Lamb, or Terry McLaurin in the 3rd round?

Welcome to the Daily Draft Day Fantasy Football Dilemma! Each weekday, The Wolf poses four players drafted in the same ADP range for our experts to choose from. Below, we share the results and reasoning.

Past Dilemmas: Late 1st Round RB

WHICH WR SHOULD YOU DRAFT IN THE EARLY-MID 3RD ROUND?

ALLEN ROBINSON, TERRY MCLAURIN, KEENAN ALLEN, CEEDEE LAMB

RSJ’S EXPERT FAVORITES

Allen Robinson: Despite a Trubisky / Foles carousel of crap at QB since arriving in Chicago, Robinson has finished as the PPR WR8 & WR9 over his last two seasons. Whether Andy Dalton or rookie phenom Justin Fields, ARob will be playing with THE best QB of his career. Shockingly just 27, Robinson is still in his prime and routinely grades within the Top-5 of Matt Harmon’s Reception Perception in all meaningful categories. The guy is elite, could lead the league in targets, and finally has a QB to maximize his skill set — all ingredients that could lead to a legit Top-3 finish in 2021. – The Wolf

Allen Robinson: This is a very, very difficult question for me but I’m going to go with Allen Robinson. Despite the QB carousel he’s been put through in his career, he has always, always produced. If you take out his rookie season, the season he tore his ACL and the season after (his first year in Chicago, still recovering from injury, etc), he’s finished as the WR6, WR25, WR7, and WR9 in PPR leagues. He is the undisputed target hog in Chicago and has the highest TD potential. If Fields is any good, Robinson will be a top 5 WR in 2021. – Kendall Brown

Terry McLaurin: McLaurin for sure. He’s had two very good seasons with subpar QBs, so having a gunslinger like Fitz gets me all excited. His talent is unreal and his fantasy stock keeps rising. McLaurin gets it done in all three phases (receptions, yards, TDs) while being the undisputed WR1 on his team. – JimboSlice

Keenan Allen: I honestly have McLaurin, Robinson, and Allen all grouped together in a tier. I know that’s a boring response… but it’s the truth. I think the 29-year-old Keenan Allen provides the safest floor of the three but is the least exciting pick to make. Terry and Allen Robinson have massive ceilings as target hogs as well, but their QB play is much more of a question than Keenan Allen. – Tailback Tino

Keenan Allen: Keenan Allen is probably my favorite WR target this year and my clear top choice here. If you remove Weeks 5 and 15 when Allen left early due to injury, he averaged a staggering 20.9 expected fantasy points per game in full-PPR, second only to Davante Adams among wide receivers. While he was slightly better in full-PPR, his 15.4 points per game average in half-PPR was good for the WR5 overall on the season (still removing Weeks 5 and 15). Robinson finished WR15 with 13.2 points per game, McLaurin WR20 with 12.0, and Lamb WR34 with 10.9. – Jackson Barrett

CeeDee Lamb: What separates these receivers is pretty negligible. You really can’t go wrong. Ceedee gets the nod for me because the Cowboys’ offense has proven that they can be a fantasy points factory if need be, and their defense shouldn’t be all that much better in 2021. I like Lamb’s year 2 leap even though none of the other receivers on this list have an Amari Cooper to contend with for targets. – Chase M-G

Allen Robinson: I’m putting a lot of faith into Matt Nagy to make the right decision and start Justin Fields sooner rather than later, but with Fields under center, Robinson has top-five receiver upside and the highest ceiling of this group. I’ll chase the ceiling here. – CJay

CeeDee Lamb: My Favorite to target is CeeDee. I feel like the Dallas Defense is still going to suck so the Cowboys will have to throw a lot. CeeDee was labeled as untouchable so far in camp. – Tunes

RSJ’S LEAST FAVORITE

CeeDee Lamb: I absolutely LOVE Lamb’s talent. However, in the 5 games played with Dak last year, Amari Cooper was the clear Alpha with 49 targets compared to just 28 for Lamb. Of course, Lamb was hyper-efficient, finishing as the WR12 in this span, largely due to said talent. Indeed, Lamb has reportedly been lighting up camp to the point reporters are comparing him to Dez Bryant, but he still needs Dak to stay healthy and for the target pendulum to switch fully his way to top the above names. With talk Gallup will be interchanging in the slot, I’m not confident this happens, even if I drool over the player. – The Wolf

Keenan Allen: Not sure I really have a least favorite but if I had to pick I’d go with Keenan Allen. Despite 147 targets last year, he didn’t even eclipse 1,000 yards. He only had four 100+ yard games last season and he tied his career-high with 8 touchdowns (maybe that’s Herbert or maybe not we’ll see). He had his lowest YPT in his career (6.75) and of these four I think his ceiling is the lowest. – Kendall Brown

Allen Robinson: As long as Andy Dalton is his QB I won’t trust him. Even when Fields comes in, I don’t see the Bears as a pass-heavy team. McLaurin and Lamb have extreme upside, and I see Keenan’s floor significantly higher than Robinson’s. – JimboSlice

CeeDee Lamb: Definitely gotta go with Lamb here. There’s no denying the talent. He has looked great in camp and I expect him to have some blowup games. So why is he the lowest of the four? His competition for targets is much greater. I want my top-round WR’s to be needed by their NFL team as target hogs. I don’t think the Cowboys need that from Lamb every game. Not enough ball to consistently feed Zeke, CeeDee, Cooper, Gallup, etc. even in a high-scoring offense. – Tailback Tino

CeeDee Lamb: Lamb is my least favorite option because has the least secure role out of these four players. Cooper led the Cowboys in targets, and Gallup led the team in snaps and air yards in 2020. I certainly expect Lamb’s numbers to improve with better quarterback play and a year of experience in the NFL, but I’m not sure he can break into the top tier if Cooper and Gallup play the entire season. – Jackson Barrett

Keenan Allen: His aDOT of 7.29 was a full two yards behind the next highest receiver on this list (Ceedee – 9.29). Either that number needs to go up, or his target count of 147 in 2020 does, it’s too much to ask yards-after-catch alone to make up that difference. Good luck with that though, as he’d need 163 targets to catch up to rookie CD (with a healthy Dak) in Air Yards. That number rises to 180 to catch up to McLaurin, and 199 to A-Rob. Though he led these receivers in catch rate (68.0 %), the difference between him the WR with the worst catch rate (McLaurin – 64.5%) only accounts for a whopping 0.2 ppg roughly. And Keenan’s eight TD’s, which tied his career-high, kept him barely ahead of the others last season in half-PPR points per game. The other receivers can absolutely close that gap this year. – Chase M-G

Keenan Allen: I hate saying this because Keenan is severely underrated and underappreciated every fantasy season, but in half PPR, I’m going to continue to chase upside and rank Allen last out of this bunch. Justin Herbert is a stud and Keenan is one of the league’s best route runners, but I’m going to roll with the other three before Herbert’s No. 1 wideout. – CJay

Terry McLaurin: It’s hard to say my least favorite because I honestly like all of these guys but I would probably have to go with Terry McLaurin. The Ceiling is huge with Fitzmagic chucking the rock and giving him a chance for some 50/50 balls and actually being able to target him downfield. But the reason I do not like McLaurin is Fitzmagic. He can be streaky at times and he is not getting any younger. So essentially the question is do you take the risk for the upside? – Tunes

RSJ’s Composite Top Choice = Allen Robinson

RSJ’s Composite Worst Choice = CeeDee Lamb (3 votes); Keenan Allen (3 votes)

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