2017 fantasy football rankings, pre-draft: Wide receivers for PPR leagues

While ranking the top 50 wide receivers for PPR leagues, it struck me — Larry Fitzgerald is in a strange position. The 2016 reception leader turned in a WR11 season while also finishing in the top 20 in yardage. However, his situation is changing and not in his favor.

He’s a year older and so is Carson Palmer. The offense now runs through David Johnson, and John Brown is getting healthy. So where would you rank Fitz going into 2017? He secured the No. 24 spot in my PPR rankings, a full 11 places up from his standard ranking.

There are other PPR stars in similar situations. How about everyone’s favorite slot receiver, Julian Edelman? He’s normally a no-brainer to finish in the top 20 in PPR formats, but will Brandin Cooks sap his value? I don’t think his role changes much from what we’ve witnessed in recent seasons, but I also think Cooks can demand enough targets to seriously vulture Edleman’s yardage totals.

In his first few seasons, T.Y. Hilton’s value wasn’t drastically altered in PPR formats. Now that he broke the 90 reception mark, it may be time we consider him more than a big-play threat. Conversely, Jordan Matthews has traditionally been best-suited for PPR leagues. Now that Alshon Jeffery is an Eagle, you can see an avenue where his targets go down significantly. I have Matthews at No. 30, but everything points to him falling further as we move toward training camp.

Here are our rankings for wide receivers in PPR leagues prior to the draft. Who do you have as the No. 1 WR right now?

(SK: Scott Kaliska, JG: Jeff Goldberg, DG: Derek Gordon, JM: Jason Marcum)