While not as valued by fantasy owners as the running back, and not as popular in real life as quarterbacks, wide receivers still serve as major attention grabbers. From players like Jerry Rice, to the Terrell Owens of the world, the WR position is prominent.
With many WR’s, including players like Chad Ochocinco, and Terrell Owens, being prominent in the social media community, a large internet presence will clearly follow. Keeping up with the premise of our first two articles, Chitika Insights took a look at the top 26 fantasy football wide receivers for 2011, according to walterfootball.com, and looked at the volume of search traffic on each player. While we affirmed that the best tended to rise to the top among quarterbacks and running backs, it seems that the distribution of wide receivers tell a different story:
By nearly a two to one margin, Chad Ochocinco exceeds every other receiver on this list, even after the buzz about his trade to the Patriots died down. Being the king of social media among athletes likely does not hurt, and fans are likely highly drawn to news about Ochocinco due to his bizarre antics, amicable personality, and ability to turn attention towards himself.
DeSean Jackson, another good, but not great, fantasy option registers at #2, also by a good margin. However, Jackson is a clear beneficiary of his own play-making ability, and this combined with playing on a team widely considered to be a favorite in the NFC is enough to make him the second most popular wide receiver on the Chitika network.
Interestingly, Hakeem Nicks, a 23 year old wide receiver for the Giants coming off a 1,052 yard season and a clear number one receiving option on a pass-leaning team, barely registers a blip on the radar. This lack of buzz could signal that Nicks is a potential sleeper in many leagues for players willing to wait on him. The two Johnson’s (Andre and Calvin) also curiously lack the buzz that even Austin Collie and Julio Jones were able to obtain. While quarterbacks and running backs seemed to follow a predictable path, more based on ability, wide receivers seem to be more centered towards the ones that are able to grab the most attention, be it on or off the field.
To learn more about the players of highest interest and those which are potentially undervalued, keep checking in on Tuesdays and Thursdays for Chitika “Fantasy Football” Search Draft updates.