Jaylen Waddle Fantasy Football Outlook 2022 (Expect Even More Production From the Sophomore)

Finding success in the NFL is something that's tougher on wide receiver than a lot of other positions. Fortunately for the Miami Dolphins, that wasn't the case for Jaylen Waddle, who finished his first-ever professional campaign as the WR13 in PPR fantasy formats by averaging 15.4 points per game.

The term "sophomore slump" gets thrown around a lot. While it is true for some cases, Waddle is in the perfect position to avoid experiencing it by having an even stronger showing in the 2022 NFL season.

Jaylen Waddle Fantasy Football Outlook

Waddle excelled as a rookie by using his impressive speed to torch defenders. He finished the year by catching 104 of his team-leading 140 targets, turning those opportunities into 1,015 yards and 6 touchdowns. Though he was rarely used in the rushing game, he did score one TD on the ground, too.

Fortunately, Waddle is set to benefit from Tyreek Hill's rival at Miami. Hill is one of the premier athletes in the league and his presence alone garners plenty of attention from the opposite, opening up more possibilities and better matchups for the second-year wideout.

The Dolphins own the 12th-hardest 2022 schedule, according to ESPN's Mike Clay. The result could be Miami playing from behind in multiple games, likely leading to the team passing more. Considering that Waddle already has great chemistry with quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, back-to-back 1,000-yard campaigns are a real possibility.

Jaylen Waddle Projections

Projections from the NFL odds on FanDuel Sportsbook aren't that high on Waddle. For starters, his +5000 odds to pace the league in receiving yards put him in a nine-way tie for the 26th-best odds. He's also available at +7500 (T-No. 38) to be the 2022 NFL receiving TDs leader.

FanDuel is also listing his projected receiving yards total at 925.5 with -112 odds on both the over and under. Waddle averaged 9.8 yards per reception last year. If that trend continues in 2022, he'd need about 95 receptions to hit the over on that prop.

Is Jaylen Waddle a Good Fantasy Football Pick?

After last season's performance, I think Waddle is a fantastic fantasy football pick. If Hill has a smooth transition to the Dolphins, I believe that the duo could have a similar performance as when JuJu Smith-Schuster and Antonio Brown combined for over 2,700 receiving yards as Pittsburgh Steelers teammates in 2018.

For now, Fantasy Pros ranks Waddle as the WR15 in PPR formats, putting him in WR1/2 territory depending on the size of your league. He also carries an average draft position of 41.6, meaning you shouldn't plan on waiting beyond Round 4 if you hope to roster him.

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Devon Platana is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Devon Platana also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username PepeSilvia0. 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.