DJ Moore vs Calvin Ridley vs Chris Godwin (Young Potential Stars)

Keep/Trade/Cut. This is a simple idea where you have three young potential stars around the same fantasy football ADP (average draft position) and you have to choose which action you’d like to do with each of those three certain players. Recently Twitter was faced with a very tough question to choose what they would do with DJ Moore (ADP of 60), Calvin Ridley (ADP of 55) and Chris Godwin (ADP of 49) for full point per reception on Fantasypros. These players themselves are very polarizing to the fantasy football community due to their situations and many hanging their hats on the potential success of one or many of these players. All three are in very different situations with very different roles on their teams, but each of these guys have very high upside despite all of these differences.

            The final tallying of 70 participants for the leader of each category was Calvin Ridley getting 32 votes to keep, Chris Godwin getting 47 votes to be traded and DJ Moore getting 33 votes to be cut. There was a largely clear theme that Chris Godwin was getting Traded and DJ Moore was getting cut. But, the keep was very close between DJ Moore and Calvin Ridley.

DJ Moore

Moore has the most potential upside but also has the lowest floor of the three players. But, he is also the most polarizing player out of these three options. With Funchess gone and as Olsen gets older and older every year, Moore has a wide-open door for him to step up into the main wide receiver role for the Panthers. With minimal competition for receptions past Christian McCaffery and many questionable players and aging lower-middle tier like Chris Hogan, Curtis Samuel and Torrey Smith. Having Newton can both help and hurt Moore’s development with his tendency to lock onto pass catchers feeding them targets or leaving others in the dark. In his rookie season Moore faced 82 targets bringing in 55 receptions. That lead to 788 yards, 2 touchdowns which was roughly 50 yards per game.

He clearly struggles to bring in touchdowns but as a rookie with chemistry needing to be improved with Newton and multiple other options in the RedZone this should be improved on. But, something many don’t often talk about is his usage in the run game with 13 carries totaling 172 yards last year. He has a great ability to run after the catch and clearly the Panthers have realized that by using him in the running game. With a catch rate at 67% and a WR1 role wide open for Moore to take he could end up being one of those team boosters heading into this season where you’re currently able to draft him in startups and his modest trade value currently.

Moore is extremely fast and shifty to help create separation. But, he also is more than willing to use his height and physical ability to make some tough catches in tight coverage. Out of the Three options in this game he is the cheapest values with potentially the highest upside. Moore was very close in being voted as the one that is kept but also was the highest voted to be cut due to the unpredictability of his situation. Out of these three players his team runs the most and Moore will also not be receiving help from another stud WR like the other 2 guys will be easing that eases the coverage for them to get open and make plays. DJ Moore is the guy I would keep in this game and wait a couple seasons until Newton heals his shoulder and wait for him to take over and breakout into being one of the higher tier WRs in the NFL.

Calvin Ridley

            Calvin Ridley got the most votes to be kept but you would need to take this with a grain of salt. Ridley is the safest of the 3 WRs but I believe he has the lowest ceiling out of the group. He is tied to easily the best QB out of the three players in former MVP Matt Ryan, but he is also faced with the most competition to get the ball as well. With Julio Jones lining up on the other side, he also has Mohamed Sanu who is coming off an 838 yard season, Austin Hooper who reeled in 660 yards and a backfield of Ito Smith was targeted 32 times last season and Devonta Freeman who if he stays healthy he is a game changer receiving coming out of the backfield. Ridley is coming off a season where he was targeted 92 times bringing in 64 of those for 821 yards and 10 touchdowns. He had a catch rate of an impressive 70% and was used 6 times in the run game rushing for 27 yards. But, as impressive as Ridley was I am uncertain if he has much room to grow in that offense at least for now.

His 10 touchdowns were very impressive but, 7 of those came before Julio was able to even bring in 1 which means once Julio got going Ridley came back down to earth getting 3 in the last 8 games. The Falcons were playing from behind most of last season, so Matt Ryan’s 608 passing attempts could end up dipping down to the early 500s like it was the previous two seasons. Ridley is a smooth route runner and should be super consistent in his production. But, Ridley would have to be the guy I would end up cutting out of the 3. He doesn’t have the same ceiling as DJ Moore but, he also doesn’t have the same trade value as Godwin.

Chris Godwin

            Godwin has such extreme hype around him currently boosting his value to a point where many are shying away from keeping him and just not going out and selling him to other owners that would be willing to pay an extreme price in order to acquire him. Like Ridley, Godwin has a genuine stud across from him in Mike Evans that can help him by taking away the heavy coverage but that also means he won’t be the “guy” at receiver that a player like Moore can fill for the Panthers. The main difference in Godwin’s situation to Ridley’s situation though is there is a ton of room for him to improve within the offense he is already in. Godwin has the highest upside for short term success, but his ceiling is limited due to having a 25-year-old stud already matched up alongside him. But, with Humphries and Jackson both not coming back this year, this leaves 179 vacated targets from last year up in the air in which Godwin potentially could get some more passes thrown his way. Godwin is coming off an of a 95 target, 59 reception, 842 yard and 7 touchdown season. He has a wildcard at QB both on and off of the field in Jameis Winston.

Winston isn’t afraid to force the ball to a WR on the field, but he also is a huge question mark off the field to remain the QB in Tampa. As many know there have been some discrepancy that they want him to remain their QB after all of the drama he brings in off the field. But with a new coaching staff making way in Tampa with a great passing mind in Bruce Arians there is so much upside in that offense’s passing attack and many fantasy football owners know it, so Godwin’s value has skyrocketed this season. Although he is such a great player to own, his trade value is currently insane and with other great options in Ridley and Moore he was the clear-cut guy to trade out of the group which was proven by 47 of the 70 people who participated chose him to be the guy to be traded.

My Take

Personally, this is a tough decision to choose between these three players. But, I would keep DJ Moore for his extreme upside from not having a star already positioned as the WR1 on his team with an ability to also dominate by both lining up outside and dominating in the slot. Moore has an impressive knack for creating separation both with his speed and ability to fool the corner even when matched up against top guys like Darius Slay and Marshon Lattimore. Also, he has the ability to bring in the football with a solid ability to bring in passes. Lastly, DJ has a great ability to break tackles in open space and run for many yards after the catch with his blazing speed. With the hope that Cam and Moore get into a great rhythm, DJ Moore would be propelled into being one of the top fantasy assets to own heading into the 2019 season.

I would Trade away Chris Godwin due to the amount of hype he currently has coming off a good season and having everything currently looking up for him. Although he may go on and be the best producer these next two years, his trade value is far superior than Moore’s and Ridley’s and undoubtedly Godwin will return the most value for you. To both myself and 47 others, he’s clearly that guy to go ahead and trade. Although you would never want to cut a guy like Ridley, I will have to for the sake of this game/scenario. He is limited majorly due to having Julio Jones on the opposite side of him who will always get fed the ball as much as possible and having Sanu still there will take away some of Ridley’s targets although Ridley is deemed the better WR between those two. With guys like Hooper who seems to be getting utilized more and more every season and Freeman hopefully coming back from injury, there is only 1 ball in Atlanta and a ton of mouths to feed. Ridley doesn’t have the same upside Moore possesses and doesn’t have the extreme trade value that Godwin has so he is just the odd man out in this situation. There are no wrong answers to this game but, it has the potential to become a league winning choice due to the talent each of these individuals possess as young potential stars.