Postseason Shootout | RealTime Fantasy Sports

WR Strength of Schedule

Mon May 22 10:15am ET
By JEFF PAUR
Sr Fantasy Writer

Olave is setup for big year two

Using our rules for our money leagues, we came up with a schedule strength ranking for the wide receiver position. We are using our fantasy defenses report to calculate the rankings. This report can be found in all of our leagues under the "reports" heading. We took the schedule for each team and entered the average number of fantasy points allowed to wide receivers last season from all of their opponents to get our fantasy points allowed number. This is a good indication of the wide receivers with the most favorable schedules for fantasy scoring for the coming season. Defenses obviously change from year to year, but knowing the wide receivers that might have the easiest schedule for fantasy is always a good idea when formulating your rankings and draft strategy.

	WR SOS
1.	Titans	531.69
2.	Browns	533.83
3.	Rams	534.57
4.	Patriots	537.21
5.	Ravens	538.59
6.	Steelers	540.75
7.	Chiefs	541.80
8.	Bills	542.51
9.	49ers	542.86
10.	Cardinals	545.26
11.	Commanders	546.16
12.	Texans	549.24
13.	Giants	549.94
14.	Raiders	551.02
15.	Cowboys	551.28
16.	Jets	551.53
17.	Bengals	554.94
18.	Dolphins	557.63
19.	Broncos	557.92
20.	Colts	562.66
21.	Jaguars	563.56
22.	Vikings	563.61
23.	Falcons	566.96
24.	Panthers	569.11
25.	Eagles	569.41
26.	Lions	570.06
27.	Seahawks	573.04
28.	Chargers	574.34
29.	Bears	574.66
30.	Buccaneers	578.37
31.	Packers	584.00
32.	Saints	587.08

The Saints new passing attack, led by Derek Carr gets the easiest fantasy schedule for receivers. Chris Olave and Michael Thomas see a little bump in their fantasy value. Olave could really have a monster season in year two. He gets a favorable schedule and much better quarterback situation. Thomas is tough to trust with his injury issues of the last few seasons, but might be worth a flyer for fantasy owners in the middle round of drafts.

The Packers, Buccaneers, Bears and Chargers round out the top five most favorable schedules for receivers. Christian Watson is looking good these days. He gets to be the top option in the passing game from day one and has a chance to rack up the targets from new starter Jordan Love.

Tampa’s receivers are hard to trust because of an uncertain quarterback situation, but the talented receivers should not be forgotten come draft day. Mike Evans and Chris Godwin certainly have the potential to produce big. D.J. Moore also is looking good as the top target in the Bears passing game. And lastly, the Chargers trio of wide receivers could be really good in this high-powered passing attack with a favorable fantasy schedule for receivers.

Teams with challenging fantasy receiver schedules include the Titans, Browns and Rams. Tennessee is really scary because of an uncertain passing attack to begin with. It might be hard to trust Treylon Burks come draft day.

Amari Cooper seems setup for a big season with Deshaun Watson as his starter from day one, but a tough fantasy schedule is a little concerning. It would not surprise to see the Browns be a run heavy team once again.

The Patriots and Ravens round out the top five most difficult fantasy receiver schedules. New England has a lot of receivers vying for playing time, making many question marks to begin with. JuJu Smith-Schuster is their top receiver, but could struggle some with his new team, especially if you consider this schedule. And the Ravens remain a run-first offense, which should continue if you look at this schedule.

We also wanted to look at playoff schedules for fantasy wide receivers. So we crunched the numbers of all the schedules from Week 14-17, which is the fantasy playoffs for most leagues. We know you have to get to the playoffs first, but knowing the wide receivers with the easiest playoff schedules doesn’t hurt by any means, especially in the big money contests.

	WR PLAYOFF SOS
1.	Titans	493.36
2.	Browns	499.69
3.	Chargers	512.25
4.	Steelers	516.89
5.	Jets	521.74
6.	49ers	526.83
7.	Eagles	534.44
8.	Giants	537.15
9.	Patriots	542.03
10.	Panthers	546.50
11.	Buccaneers	546.50
12.	Commanders	548.37
13.	Colts	548.58
14.	Chiefs	552.76
15.	Bears	553.85
16.	Rams	554.23
17.	Cardinals	558.95
18.	Vikings	563.03
19.	Broncos	566.09
20.	Jaguars	568.28
21.	Cowboys	570.94
22.	Texans	573.45
23.	Falcons	574.21
24.	Lions	580.08
25.	Ravens	581.16
26.	Dolphins	583.19
27.	Raiders	584.08
28.	Bills	585.20
29.	Saints	588.60
30.	Seahawks	588.93
31.	Bengals	590.43
32.	Packers	612.90

There are a lot of really good receivers that have favorable fantasy playoff schedules. The Bengals, Seahawks and Bills are in the top five most favorable fantasy playoff schedules. Ja’Marr Chase was already looking great this year, but could be a league winner based on this schedule. The Seahawks pair of top receivers are looking pretty good as well. Both Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf could post big numbers during the fantasy playoffs. Lastly, you have to like seeing Stefon Diggs having a favorable fantasy playoffs. Diggs could really finish the fantasy season strong.

The regular season and fantasy playoff schedules for receivers is pretty similar when it comes to the toughness. The Titans and Browns top the list once again and are followed by the Chargers, Steelers and Jets. The Chargers are the only team on any of these strength of schedule lists to have a favorable regular season schedule and unfavorable fantasy playoff schedule. That will be a tough one for fantasy teams to figure out come draft day.

Jeff Paur is a two-time finalist for FSWA Fantasy Football Writer of the Year and won the FSWA award for Best Fantasy Football Article on the Web in 2011. He also was the most accurate expert in 2012, winning the FSTA Fantasy Football Accuracy Award. If you have any questions for Jeff, email him at [email protected]. Follow Jeff on Twitter @jeffpaur.

WR Strength of Schedule

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