(Editor’s note: We here at FullTime Fantasy Sports had a meeting of the minds. We debated internally. We went through all the options. After much careful thought, we landed on this one player to be our 2018 Breakout Player of the Year! Thanks to Adam Ronis for bringing the article to life.)
There weren’t many positives to take away from Corey Davis‘ rookie season. The Titans wide receiver was taken with the fifth pick overall in the 2017 draft and didn’t score a touchdown in the regular season.
Some of the reasons for his poor production was a hamstring injury that limited him in the preseason and lingered into the season, missed games and a poor offense. Davis flashed his talent in the playoffs with five catches for 63 yards and two touchdowns against the Patriots.
The Titans have a new look for the 2018 season and it all sets up with Davis playing a major part. Davis is FullTime Fantasy Sports’ Breakout Player of the Year.
Think you can beat the elite? Just $299 to find out if you have what it takes to win the $50K grand prize!Davis’ rookie season didn’t start well. He missed nearly all of training camp and the whole preseason with a hamstring. Despite that, Davis shined in Week 1 catching six passes for 69 yards on ten targets. Then the hamstring became an issue in Week 2 and Davis didn’t return until Week 9. He was quiet most of the way outside of Week 16 when he caught six passes for 91 yards on nine targets against the Rams.
Davis had 34 catches for 375 yards in 11 games, but the playoffs showed his upside. Davis made a one-handed catch down the left sideline, beating Malcolm Butler, in the first quarter against the Patriots. Davis displayed his hands and field awareness later in the game, leaping for a two-handed catch while keeping both feet in bounds for the score against Butler again.
Davis, who is 6-foot-3 and 209 pounds, runs precise routes, has good hands and is physical. While injuries were a factor for the lack of production, the coaching staff played a part, too. Despite the talent, the Titans’ offense underachieved.
Mike Mularkey and offensive coordinator Terry Robiskie are gone. Mike Vrabel took over as coach and brought in former Rams offensive coordinator Matt LaFleur, who was a part of a great Rams offense last season and he was with the Falcons in 2016. He’s learned under Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay. LaFleur is expected to inject life into an offense that threw the fifth least pass attempts in the NFL and ran the fourth fewest plays.
Senior Expert Shawn Childs had this to say about Davis in his Titans’ team outlook:
The most impressive thing about Davis on draft day in 2017 was the high praise from long-time Carolina Panthers WR Steve Smith. He knows what it takes to have success in the NFL, and he painted an impressive picture of this young man in my eyes. Corey was TD machine (46 over 39 games) over his last three seasons at Western Michigan. Over four years in college, Davis caught 331 passes for 5278 yards and 52 TDs. He’ll win many jump balls plus he does a nice job tracking the deep pass. Corey has the accelerator to turn a short screen pass into a long TD. He runs well in the open field with the ball in his hands plus his second gear creates instant separation after the catch. Davis will have value in fades at the goal line and enough quickness to score on slants. He’ll represent the number 84 well in his career. Last summer Corey suffered a hamstring injury leading to him re-injuring it in Week 2. After five missed games, Davis only had 27 catches for 302 yards and no TDs on 52 targets over the last nine games of the season. His best game (5/63/2) came in the second week of the playoff vs. the Patriots. Last year the Titans’ WRs caught 159 passes for 1,977 yards and a league-low six TDs on 266 targets. Great talent who will emerge as one of the top receivers in the game. With a healthy offseason, Corey should be an attractive value WR in 2018. His starting point should be 70+ catches for 1,000+ yards with mid-level TDs.
It wasn’t a surprise that Davis didn’t get rolling until late in the season. He barely had any time to develop chemistry with Mariota. It’s encouraging that even with all the missed time, Davis was targeted frequently by Mariota. From the time he returned in Week 9 until the playoffs, Davis had a target share of 19.4 percent, averaging 6.1 targets per game. In the two playoff games, he had a target share of 23.1 percent.
Even by positive regression, the Titans offense has to get better. They had 18 rushing touchdowns and 14 passing. It’s rare to see the passing scores so low. The Titans were run-focused last season and while they might not be among the leaders in passing attempts, they will throw the ball more and use Davis.
Davis showed in the playoffs he can be a big red zone threat. He only had one end zone target in the regular season, while Delanie Walker had 50 percent of the end zone targets. The Titans wide receivers scored six touchdowns.
Davis is the all-time NCAA leader in receiving yards and scored 46 touchdowns in his final three seasons at Central Michigan. In four seasons, he caught 331 passes for 5,278 yards and 52 touchdowns.
Since 2000, 11 wide receivers have been taken in the Top 5. Most of them have produced, including A.J. Green, Calvin Johnson, Larry Fitzgerald, Andre Johnson, Sammy Watkins, Amari Cooper and Braylon Edwards, while Justin Blackmon, Charles Rogers and Peter Warrick didn’t. Davis needs to show he won’t fall into the flops.
All reports have been positive for Davis in the offseason. When you take his college dominance, talent, target share, draft capital and strong finish in his rookie season into account, Davis is set up to take a quantum leap. That’s why he’s our breakout player.
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