Houston Texans |
Height: 6-0 Weight:
180 Age: 24
Born: 4/16/1994 Philadelphia,
PA
College: Notre Dame
Experience: 3rd season
High School: Roman Catholic HS
[Philadelphia, PA]
The Perception:
When the
Houston Texans drafted Will Fuller in the 2016 NFL draft, many criticized the
move suggesting he wasn’t good enough to become a true difference maker in the
league. The largest knock on Fuller during the scouting process, was his
obvious lack of size for a receiver playing the outside with a lean frame difficult
for evaluators to envision any team kicking him inside to man the slot. Adding
to that, the consensus had grave concern for the lack of hand size Fuller
possesses, believing that would limit his ability and increase frequency with dropped
passes on the biggest stage. With all the negatives well documented, teams
still had a difficult time looking away from Fuller’s lightning quick feet and
elite level speed and acceleration. All coaches preach the fact that you can’t
teach raw ability and Will Fuller is loaded with those traits which forced the
Houston Texans to use the 21st overall selection in the 2016 draft to
secure his services.
Believing
Fuller would add a dynamic complementary piece to the offense removing pressure
from their all-star DeAndre Hopkins; Fuller become a camp favorite showing off
his great speed in the process. While some compared Fuller to the likes of
DeSean Jackson, the Texans received more Ted Ginn like play in his first season
in spreading the field and not producing on levels the brain trust had hoped,
but still had solid flashes to believe hype would come to fruition the
following season. As the Texans moved on from free agent failure Brock Osweiler,
the 2017 season had young potential star Deshaun Watson added to the mix, but ultimately
seeing the staff defer to Tom Savage as the week one starter. Even as the
Texans struggled with their decision to start Savage, Watson found his way onto
the field earlier than expected, taking over in week one with no plans to give
the job back. As the Watson train began to pick up steam, Will Fuller remained
on the sidelines as a spectator for the first three weeks of the season eager
to build chemistry with the electric Deshaun Watson.
With the
lean frame feared to be an issue during the evaluation process, Fuller had been
proving those grades to be true while missing eight games thus far in his first
two seasons in the NFL, not the best start. As week four approached and Fuller
was ready to take the field, his skillset which made him a first round
selection was clearly on display. Showing a fantastic first step off the line
beating press coverages with ease, baiting defensive backs to pinch closer
while hitting fourth gear taking the top off of the defense was witnessed more
than once. The proverbial coming out party for Will had begun with rookie
sensation Deshaun Watson finally being the quarterback that could exploit his
speedy skillset. Over the course of the next four contests, the Houston Texans
took the league by storm as Watson lead the charge using Will Fuller much the
way the Texans coaching staff had hoped. A vital secondary option, Fuller was
literally unstoppable creating plays resulting in big gains and touchdowns.
From week’s four to eight, Fuller amassed a stat line of 13 receptions going for
279 yards and a whopping 7 touchdowns becoming known as a playmaking machine. During
this time the negative perceptions began to fade as Fuller was making a name
for himself rather quickly.
The Reality:
As the
Texans continued to roll piling up statistics but failing to see the results in
the win column on a consistent basis, opposing team’s preparation when facing
Houston now included the difficult task of stopping Will Fuller from finding
the endzone. With a formula mounting in the direction of success, the Texans
worst fears were realized during practice preparation for their week nine
contest with the Colts, seeing Deshaun Watson hit the turf with a torn ACL
ending his stellar campaign. While the media covered the news on Watson, our
eyes went straight to the future outlook for Fuller now that Watson was relegated
to the sideline for the remainder of the season. No quarterback aside from
Watson has been able to generate the type of triumph thus far in Fuller’s short
career, which led to skeptical future aspirations moving forward for that
season.
It was no surprise
to us at ADF that Fuller once again became an afterthought in the Texans
offense now that their golden boy (Watson) was lost for the season. Over the
course of the following nine weeks to close out the 2017 slate of games, Fuller
found himself only able to muster pedestrian statistics in the neighborhood of
15 receptions going for 144 yards while putting up a giant goose egg in the
touchdown column. It was more than evident that Deshaun Watson had a great deal
of influence on his success. Just as quick as Fuller gained credibility, the
public perception once again was flirting with reality suggesting Fuller is a product
of circumstance with limited overall skills to support lesser talented passers.
The Outlook:
While the
Texans 2017 season ended in utter disaster, the possibility that Fuller obtained
new skills to hopefully translate to future seasons making him more than just a
simple deep threat will be the guiding principle to our evaluation of him for
2018. There’s no question Fuller has elite level skill (speed and acceleration),
while convincing us that his lack of hand size wasn’t a clear limitation to his
overall game, the outlook does appear to have good upside. Injuries and lack of
production with lower end quarterbacks is a great concern as we move into his third
year in the league. It’s quite obvious this receiving core runs through DeAndre
Hopkins and most of the targets will be deferred to his direction, Will Fuller
has a great opportunity in year three to plant himself as a viable and reliable
secondary piece with lower end coverage dictated to his side. The fear of
course remains that lost time due to injury will result in lost productivity if
he can’t find a way to steer clear of the medical room. His third campaign will
tell a great story for the future outlook of his career. ADF is cautiously optimistic
Fuller will have a banner year if all goes to plan.
From the fantasy
football perspective, Will Fuller was an absolute darling coming off the waiver
wire crushing weeks four to eight basically racking up all his fantasy relevance
in that time. In ten contests played, Fuller was able to generate a decent 113.2 fantasy points in PPR
(Point Per Reception) formats, good enough for a healthy 11.3 points per game. One is forced to speculate what the
outlook on Fuller would’ve been had Watson completed his rookie season. With
the increased hype and Watson looking to return to form, Fuller has climbed the
charts in terms of ADP (Average Draft Position) currently sitting with the 75th
rank overall in recent mock drafts, with a floor hitting as low into the 130’s.
The Texans have a favorable schedule as of today where the Houston receiving
core would be facing the 11th easiest defensive back pairings in the
league, thus inflating Fuller’s overall outlook. For our appetite, if fantasy
managers can find a way to select Fuller anywhere from the eighth to tenth
rounds, we fully endorse that selection as potential is the driving factor to
not overpay. Fuller has gained quite the high ceiling with an equally high floor;
Fuller is shaping up to be the epitome of boom or bust for the 2018 fantasy
season.
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