2016 New Contract Tracker: Wide Receivers – Week 9

Week Nine was an interesting week. Most of the players who signed new contracts in the off-season either had an excellent game or a bad one. Usually, most of the players are on par with their tier, and a few players stand out positively and negatively.

It was tough to choose the Week Nine stud. Doug Baldwin had an excellent game on Monday night against the Bills, posting a line of six catches, for 89 yards. He also caught every pass thrown his way. Rishard Matthews also made a big impact for his team. He was thrown to ten times, the second most of any newly signed wide receiver, and caught six of them for 63 yards and two touchdowns. The Titans definitely got their money’s worth out of Matthews this week. Mohammed Sanu also played better than usual, catching five passes for 74 yards on seven targets. However, the stud of the week goes to Mike Wallace.

Week 9 Stud: Mike Wallace ($5,750,000 APY)

Wallace didn’t get as many targets or receptions as other receivers, but he was way ahead of them in terms of yards, gaining 124 on Sunday. He also added one touchdown to the stat sheet. Intriguingly, he was one of only three receivers, of the ones who signed new contracts in the off-season, who scored a touchdown this week. What’s most impressive about Wallace’s big game is that he achieved all of that on just 21 snaps — ten less than Mohammed Sanu, 11 less than Doug Baldwin, and 20 less than Rishard Matthews.

Simply by taking a glance at his stat line, you can tell that Mike Wallace played to the level of a number one receiver. Here’s how his Week Nine stats compare to the season average of two players his age:

Name TeamTargetsReceptionsYards TDsSnaps
Mike WallaceRavens

6

4

124

1

21

Emmanuel SandersBroncos

9.6

5.4

68.2

0.3

25.6

Brandon MarshallJets

9.6

4.4

65.0

0.2

40.1

Wallace caught just about the same amount of passes as Emmanuel Sanders and Brandon Marshall on almost four fewer targets. He also accumulated practically double the amount of yards.

When looking at the efficiency stats, Wallace’s numbers jump out even more.

Name TeamSnaps/TargetSnaps/ReceptionYards/SnapCatch RateYards/TargetYards/Reception
Mike WallaceRavens

3.5

5.3

5.9

66.7%

20.7

31.0

Emmanuel SandersBroncos

2.7

4.7

2.7

57.0%

7.1

12.5

Brandon MarshallJets

4.2

9.0

1.6

46.3%

6.8

14.6

Wallace falls in between Sanders and Marshall on how often he’s targeted and how often he catches the ball, although he is light years ahead of them in the categories involving yards.

Wallace clearly played better this week than Marshall has over the course of the season, so his Week Nine value would eclipse Marshall’s $8,666,667 average per year. Sanders has slightly been better than Wallace in a couple of categories, but overall, Wallace gets the upper hand. Hence, Wallace’s value for this week would be a little north of Sanders’ $11 million APY.

Week 9 Dud: Marvin Jones ($8,000,000 APY)

Marvin Jones has generally been in consideration of the weekly stud, and he was even the stud of the first half of the season. However, he underwhelmed in Week Nine. Jones was targeted five times and only caught one of those passes for five yards. He also had plenty of opportunities to produce. He got 41 snaps on Sunday’s game against the Vikings, but for some reason he wasn’t getting targeted much.

The only players with stats comparable to Jones’ are ones who barely play. When they get snaps, it’s usually to involve them in a certain play where they’d be near the top of the quarterback’s progression. Aldrick Robinson is one of those players.

Name TeamTargetsReceptionsYards TDsSnaps
Marvin JonesLions

5

1

5

0

41

Aldrick RobinsonFalcons

2.0

0.8

11.0

0.1

5.4

Robinson, on average does much better than Jones based on snaps per statistic, so the Falcons are getting their money’s worth out of him. In total, however, Jones’ stats are close enough to Robinson’s averages on the season. That mean’s Jones’ value would be similar to Robinson’s $675,000 APY. That’s pocket change compared to what he is actually making. To be fair, his stats from Week Nine are peanuts compared to how he’s done up until now.

Eli (@Ebookstaber) is a big follower of every facet of the NFL: from the contracts, to the game-film, and to the Draft. He also writes for OvertimeIreland.com. Eli compiles their weekly power rankings and analyzes game film. Additionally, in the offseason he writes a variety of articles on free agency and the Draft. Growing up in Silver Spring, Maryland, Eli was brought up as a Redskins fan from the day he heard his dad yell at the TV as a little kid.