A.J. Brown Fantasy Outlook & Injury Update 2022 (Is a Bounce-Back Coming?)

Fantasy managers who jumped at the opportunity to draft A.J. Brown in the first couple of rounds a year ago were left disappointed. The promising talent finished as just WR32 in PPR leagues, partly thanks to four missed games because of injury.

Brown found himself a new home this offseason and was dealt to the Philadelphia Eagles. He joins a tantalizing wide receiver core with DeVonta Smith. He's certainly in the conversation amongst top-12 wide receivers, judging by his average draft position (ADP) going as WR11 and 29th overall.

A.J. Brown Fantasy Football Outlook

Brown saw a down year in his third NFL season, finishing 35th in targets (105), 46th in receptions (63) T-40th in receiving touchdowns (5). This was his first of three NFL seasons without 1,000-plus receiving yards.

A lot of that can be attributed to the injuries, but we'll dive into those later. We must first consider his new team.

Changing scenery can do wonders for any fantasy player, although the Titans and Eagles played a very similar style of football last year. Tennessee ranked behind just one NFL team in rush ratio (50.7%): the Eagles (52.7%).

Jalen Hurts conceivably will take some kind of step forward in his second NFL season when it comes to passing, but he's a dual-threat QB for a reason. Hurts actually led all NFL quarterbacks in rushing attempts (139), the 35th most in all of football.

That's not just magically going to change with the addition of another pass-catching weapon. Still, Brown should have been on pace for another 1,000-yard receiving campaign had it not been for his injuries.

A.J. Brown Injury Update

Brown missed a total of four games last year. This included a chest injury that knocked him out from Weeks 12-15 and a hamstring issue in Week 4. Those injuries are a thing of the past, but Brown has a tendency to miss one or two games in his last two years. He played only 14 games in 2020, and 13 a year ago.

A.J. Brown Projections

Projections from the NFL odds on FanDuel Sportsbook are also solid for Brown. He's T-11th to lead the NFL in receiving yards and T-21st in receptions. Considering he's averaged 6.86 targets per game in his three-year career, he could net 117 targets across 17 games. At his career-average of 62.7% catch rate and 16.2 yards per reception, 117 targets projects to give him about 73 receptions for 1,188 yards.

Is A.J. Brown a Good Fantasy Football Pick?

So with all said and done, is Brown good fantasy pick? He's solid, but not a first-round talent. Brown ranks as the No. 10 wide receiver in The Duel's PPR fantasy football rankings, and you may want to consider him late in the second round.

After all, he's playing with a lesser quarterback. Hurts isn't far off from Ryan Tannehill's abilities, but he struggled completing just 61.3% of his passes last year.

If you drafted Brown with one of your second- or third-round picks, then check out the best A.J. Brown fantasy football team names for your squad.

New users earn an instant FREE entry when you sign up for FanDuel DFS! Sign Up Now!

Adam Taylor McKillop is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Adam Taylor also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username atmckillop. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.