Player Profile: Rueben Randle
Sometimes when young players leave teams, that’s a sign of the growing process. A guy finishes out his rookie contract and bets on himself to go make it somewhere else.
Now this isn’t exactly the case with Rueben Randle as he signed a one year deal, but he obviously wanted out of New York. Today, we are going to look at him, and discuss his fantasy value. Was it a good move? Is he a low WR2 or possibly a high WR3/FLEX play? Let’s breakdown his stats and look at his new home to find our answers.
Breaking down Randle statistically, the first thing people may notice is the drop off of targets and receptions from 2014 compared to 2015, here’s why that happened. 2014 was Odell Beckham’s rookie season, and he had that early four game stretch he was out with a hamstring injury, this is where Randle saw most of his targets bunched together like they were.
I’m not saying this accounted for all of Randle’s 2014 stats, but it played a major factor. Once Beckham was perceived as unstoppable, Eli Manning didn’t even bother to look anyone else’s way. The only statline that improved in 2015 for Randle was his touchdowns, which would make owners that benched him cringe from time to time.
Time to breakdown the move from New York to Philadelphia. I honestly don’t know why Randle left New York, maybe it was money, maybe it was coaching, but hopefully he didn’t think he was going into Philly to be the number one guy, because they have that in Jordan Matthews.
Despite what the reasons are, here’s what I am predicting will happen. Rueben Randle is going to have a good chance at being the number two option to whoever wins the starting quarterback job between Carson Wentz and Sam Bradford.
As the off-season progresses, we’ll find out more as to where he fits in the Eagles offense. With Chip Kelly being gone, this is the best time for Randle to join the Eagles.
What I have found in studying Randle is that he has shown he can improve, but doesn’t do well behind absolute studs. Matthews isn’t a stud, but is a fairly good WR1. Randle’s fantasy value is going to be tough to predict with the current quarterback situation the way it is.
While I don’t think that either quarterback will necessarily kill his value, it will make a difference. As of now, I am considering Randle a low-end WR2 with as much upside as there is downside.
In smaller leagues of say 8-10 teams, he’s a bench guy. As the teams grow from 12 and higher, his value grows.
If you draft him this year, give him a little time before you decide what to do with him. Personally, if he ends up on my squad this year, I’m giving it until Week 4 if I decide to dump him or not.
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