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One of the most hyped wide receivers this fantasy football season is New England Patriots’ Danny Amendola.
New England lost almost their entire receiving core this off-season and it has caused Amendola’s value go through the roof. TE Rob Gronkowski is still recovering from his second off-season surgery, while former TE Aaron Hernandez likely won’t be playing football anytime soon. To make matters worse the team also lost WR Brandon Lloyd to free agency, so there will be a lot of passes to go around this year in New England.
However, I am not sold on the weekly reliability of Amendola.
Amendola wasn’t exactly a model of durability during his time with the St. Louis Rams. The receiver missed 15 games in 2011 with a dislocated elbow and missed another five games with a dislocated clavicle, so Amendola does come with an injury risk.
Despite his off-season hype, Amendola has also never been a strong touchdown threat. The former Texas Tech star has only hauled in seven total touchdowns in his 42 career games in the NFL. There is nothing more frustrating than a wide receiver that doesn’t score and Amendola simply isn’t physical enough to get into the end-zone on a regular basis.
Additionally, the team also has WR Julian Edelman on the roster. Edelman has been a Wes Welker-clone for years and anyone that has seen a New England game could certainly attest to this. I am not saying that Edleman will outscore Amendola this season, but the presence of Easy E will at least take away from the newcomer’s targets. Edelman knows the offense perfectly and the veteran has obviously gained confidence in QB Tom Brady.
Amendola could be a decent WR2 in deeper PPR formats, but taking a shot on him as a number two in a standard scoring league is too risky. I would rather cross my fingers and hope I can draft him as a WR3.
Adam McGill is the Senior Fantasy Sports Writer at Rant Sports. Follow him on Twitter @adammcgill83, like him on Facebook, or add him to you networks on Google here or here.
