Sleeper Series: Jamison Crowder

Methodology and Intro

After writing my redraft team breakdown series, I decided to start a new series as we approach the 2020 fantasy season. Every week, or probably more often than that, I’m going to bring you one fantasy sleeper representing a massive value in 2020 redraft leagues. All the links to previous articles are at the bottom of the article. In the first article, I detailed my methodology behind this series, so go back and read that piece if you haven’t yet! 

Now, I want to take a look at Jamison Crowder. My friend @DocFFN recently wrote a free dynasty profile on Crowder, but I wanted to look at Crowder’s redraft prospects. I also wanted to take more of a long-form approach, as the dynasty free profiles are quick-hitters. 

Anyway, Crowder might play for the hapless Jets, but I think he deserves some attention as a sleeper for 2020 PPR redraft leagues. Let’s get into why.

Past Production

Here are Crowder’s full NFL stats.

The then-Redskins selected Crowder with the 105th overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft. Crowder almost immediately became the team’s primary slot receiver. He complemented tight end Jordan Reed, outside receiver Pierre Garcon, speedster DeSean Jackson, and scat-back Chris Thompson in the offense. While Crowder saw spotty usage throughout the season, he developed into a quality NFL player. However, he didn’t find much fantasy-viability during the 2015 season.

Going into 2016, Washington returned their same main offensive pieces from the previous season and still had Kirk Cousins at quarterback. Like 2015, Crowder finished third on the team in targets, but Cousins majorly improved. He threw for 4,917 yards, allowing the team’s offense to support multiple fantasy weapons. Crowder still only finished as the WR31, but he was a very usable PPR fill-in receiver in deeper leagues.

However, while Cousins returned in 2017, Washington overhauled their entire offense. Both Jackson and Garcon moved on to other teams, and Reed missed the majority of the season. While they attempted to replace Reed with Vernon Davis and integrate Josh Doctson into the offense, Crowder became the de facto top target. He led Washington in targets, receptions, and yards for the first time. Unfortunately, since he declined from seven to three touchdowns, Crowder finished lower in fantasy points than the prior season.

Up until 2018, Crowder had been an unsexy, but reliable PPR option and had become Washington’s best receiving weapon. He had played 47 of 48 possible games, so he was also dependable. For 2018, Washington decided to sign Paul Richardson in free agency to play outside alongside Doctson, with Reed handling the tight end spot. They had also traded for Alex Smith to replace Cousins, who had signed with the Vikings in free agency.

None of Washington’s offseason moves paid off, though. Smith played 10 games before he suffered a horrific leg injury that forced him to miss the rest of 2018 and all of 2019. Doctson continued his failures, while Richardson made little impact. Reed failed to stay healthy, leaving a massive void in Washington’s offense. Crowder had an opportunity to step up, but he suffered a nagging ankle injury that limited him to nine games. He didn’t look like himself all season, and he essentially became a non-factor, both in real-life and in fantasy football.

After 2018, Washington decided not to retain Crowder, and the Jets signed him to a 3-year, $28.5 million contract with $17 million guaranteed. For the Jets, Crowder slotted in as their clear slot receiver with Robby Anderson and Quincy Enunwa as outside receivers and Chris Herndon at tight end. Like 2017, Crowder became the top target on his team, as Herndon and Enunwa missed the entire season with injuries.

Crowder had his best season in 2019. He finished as the WR26, and he remained healthy for the entire year. Crowder also set career-highs in receptions and targets, and he came close in touchdowns and yards. Even though the Jets’ offense struggled through issues with Sam Darnold’s mononucleosis and Adam Gase’s poor coaching decisions, Crowder lived up to his contract. He was the lone bright spot in a sea of despair for the Jets. 

The Prevailing Narrative

The prevailing narrative surrounding Crowder is that he’s a dull, low-upside PPR option. Fantasy owners are always in search of upside, and they don’t tend to want safe players. On that narrative, the masses are correct, as he’s never even finished as a WR2 in his career.

However, I would say that the bigger problem is the stench surrounding the Jets’ offense. In my opinion, Gase is the worst head coach in the NFL. I feel like I have discussed Gase’s failures repeatedly throughout the offseason, and it turns out that I have done precisely that. 

I’ve mentioned Gase’s horrific and inexplicable coaching decisions in a Jets’ redraft breakdown, a Kenyan Drake story, a Sam Darnold dynasty profile, and a dynasty WR buys article, to name a few of the many examples. I believe that most of the fantasy football community shares my opinion surrounding Gase, as he’s the butt of jokes in almost every fantasy football conversation I’ve seen. Between Crowder’s uninteresting production and Gase’s terrible coaching, Crowder finds himself unwanted in 2020 leagues, coming in as the consensus WR44 and 113th overall player in FantasyPros ADP.

2020 Outlook

I rank Crowder as my WR40 and 104th overall player in my redraft PPR rankings. While I’m not that much higher on him than consensus ADP, I still see him as a value. I would love to have him on my team as my WR3 or WR4, especially if I drafted an RB-heavy roster at the top.

Once again, the Jets did little to upgrade their receiving weapons, so Crowder could easily duplicate his 2019 numbers. Signing journeyman Breshad Perriman and drafting second-round rookie Denzel Mims were nice moves, but neither is a threat to Crowder’s slot role. The Jets also lost secondary targets Robby Anderson and Demaryius Thomas, so essentially they’ve added nothing to the roster.

If Darnold improves in Year 3, Crowder might even improve. I’m not racing to draft him, but he’s going to be a reliable depth PPR option despite all the negativity surrounding him and the Jets. Therefore, he finds himself on my sleepers list for 2020.

Thanks for reading this article. You can find me on Twitter at @DFF_Karp. I love to interact with anyone in the community, so reach out at any time! I take fantasy questions and help with all formats, so keep sending those questions my way.

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