NFL.com: Cardinals’ John Brown to exceed fantasy football expectations in 2015
Jul 20, 2015, 1:51 PM | Updated: 1:52 pm
After big rookie seasons, athletes often try to avoid the “sophomore slump,” a drop in production the next season.
According to NFL.com’s Matt Harmon, Arizona Cardinals wide receiver John Brown shouldn’t have a problem maintaining, if not improving, his production next season.
Harmon projected Brown as one of three sophomore wide receivers who will exceed fantasy football expectations in 2015.
Much like T.Y. Hilton and Mike Wallace, John Brown came out of nowhere to contribute in Arians’ offense in his first NFL season. While Brown produced the least impressive raw stats of the trio, there is a caveat here. Hilton and Wallace got 16 games of Andrew Luck and 15 games of Ben Roethlisberger, respectively. Brown was forced to play 13 games with a Drew Stanton/Logan Thomas/Ryan Lindley triumphant of sadness taking turns behind center. If you take the numbers Brown recorded in the six games Carson Palmer played in, and stretch them out for a full season, his campaign suddenly looks even better.
John Brown performed markedly better when the team’s starting quarterback was in the lineup. Had Palmer played out the full season, it is not out of the question Brown would have finished right in line with Hilton’s 2012 season. The two players have very similar skill sets, and are both in the 5’10 and 180 pound Arians’ mold. For his encore, Hilton recorded 82 catches for 1,083 yards and five touchdowns. No one should rule out Brown having a similar season, if Carson Palmer plays all 16 games.
Brown caught 48 passes for 696 yards and five touchdowns in his rookie season out of Pittsburg State.
Per Harmon’s projections, Brown would have had 53 catches and 840 yards and eight touchdowns on 107 targets had he played all 16 games with starting quarterback Carson Palmer last season.
“Smokey” will be joined in the receiving corp by veteran Larry Fitzgerald and Michael Floyd.
The other wide receivers Harmon listed are Allen Robinson of the Jacksonville Jaguars and Mike Evans of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
