PFF: Cardinals’ Michael Wilson a sleeper fantasy football pick for 2024

Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Michael Wilson is looking to take a step forward in his sophomore season as he battles for the WR2 spot on the depth chart.

Pro Football Focus’ Nathan Jahnke has Wilson as a sleeper fantasy football pick for the 2024 season with an average draft position of 16.08 (16th round, 8th pick).

Wilson was a third-round pick by the Cardinals last season and was immediately put in as their Z receiver. He had a slow start in Week 1, leading to a reduction of playing time, but he rebounded in Week 2 leading to his playing time getting restored and was WR40 from Weeks 2-8. He accomplished this despite having Joshua Dobbs as his quarterback.

With Marquise Brown leaving in free agency and Rondale Moore being traded to the Atlanta Falcons, Jahnke has Wilson being much more of a impactful deep threat option this season.

The exciting part about Wilson this season, outside of his health, is that he was more of a deeper threat. His 14.1-yard average depth of target was among the top-10 wide receivers last season who ran 400 routes. With Brown off the roster, he could see even more deep targets. Murray has the third-highest accuracy percentage among quarterbacks on deep passes over the last four seasons among those with 50 or more deep attempts. He’s also the most consistent on accurate-plus throws or throws where the pass is perfectly accurate or away from coverage.

How does Wilson look going into 2024?

In his rookie season in 2023, Wilson played in 13 games had 38 receptions for 565 yards and scored three touchdowns. Wilson did miss four games with a shoulder injury but returned the last four weeks of the regular season.

Wilson enters his second year as part of a revamped receiving group after the departures of Moore and Brown, as the Cardinals added Harrison in the draft and Zay Jones and Chris Moore in free agency.

They join Greg Dortch and tight end Trey McBride, the latter of whom led the Cardinals in receiving last season with 81 receptions for 825 receiving yards and scored three touchdowns.