Reggie Wayne showed us once again why he is one of the safest bets as a fantasy wide receiver to come along since, oh, say, Marvin Harrison. His numbers weren’t Top-3 in the league kind of good, but as usual, they were #1 fantasy receiver good. There was a lot of pressure on him coming into the season with this being his first campaign as the undisputed WR1 on the Colts, and he responded as well as he possibly could. So whether it’s Peyton Manning that makes him as great as he is, or whether his individual skills put him at the top of the heap on their own, Wayne continued to ease his 2009 fantasy owners week-in and week-out regardless of the answer. 100 catches, 1,200+ yards, and 10 TDs tends to do that sort of thing…
~ Made his fourth career Pro Bowl team (consecutive)
As long as Peyton Manning continues to be the Colts quarterback, Wayne should have no problem staying among the top receivers in the game. After losing the Super Bowl this past year, you can bet your freaky Aunt’s farm that Wayne and Manning will be driven hard to go above and beyond the norm this upcoming season, which bodes well for at least a repeat performance out of old Reg. Book him as a #1 fantasy wide receiver again in 2010, especially in PPR leagues, as he has put up top-3 numbers in that format three of the past four years.
~ Wayne is looking to extend/enhance his current contract, but this shouldn’t be a distraction
~ He and Manning are both Super Bowl driven
~ Wayne is one of the smoothest route runners in the game, a perfect quality for Manning to use
~ With Anthony Gonzalez coming back and the rise of Garcon and Collie, the double-teams should be at a minimum
Reggie signed a six-year, $39.5 million contract in March of ’06 which included a $12.5 million signing bonus. Reggie always plays the same speed no matter what, so this doesn’t have any bearing on his draft status. The remainder of the contract is outlined below:
Tough to say which guy would get more time if Wayne were to go down, but either Austin Collie or Anthony Gonzalezcould be considered your handcuff to Wayne