It’s that time of year once again! Football Absurdity will bring you a breakdown of every notable fantasy football-relevant player throughout June, July, and August. We continue with the wide receivers. Today, we take a look at the last man standing in the Green Bay wide receiver corps, who people are wishcasting a massive role on just because they have been wanting to put a massive role on him for years. But, do the changes to the receiver room in Green Bay really herald an Allen Lazard breakout campaign? Let’s take a look at his 2022 fantasy football player profile!
Allen Lazard ADP and AAV:
Average Draft Position: WR45, 106 overall
Average Auction Value: $1.4
Allen Lazard Statistics:
| Year | G | GS | Tgt | Rec | Yards | TD | Tgt/G | Rec/G | Rec% | Yds/Tgt | Yds/Rec |
| 2021 | 15 | 13 | 60 | 40 | 513 | 8 | 4.62 | 2.67 | 66.7% | 8.55 | 12.83 |
| 2020 | 10 | 9 | 46 | 33 | 451 | 3 | 5.11 | 3.30 | 71.7% | 9.80 | 13.67 |
| 2019 | 16 | 3 | 52 | 35 | 477 | 3 | 3.25 | 2.19 | 67.3% | 9.17 | 13.63 |
| Year | Std Pts | HPPR Pts | PPR Pts | Pts/G | HPPR Pts/G | PPR Pts/G | Pts/Tgt | HPPR Pts/Tgt | PPR Pts/Tgt |
| 2021 | 102.5 | 122.5 | 142.5 | 6.8 | 8.2 | 9.5 | 1.71 | 2.04 | 2.38 |
| 2020 | 64.8 | 81.3 | 97.8 | 6.5 | 8.1 | 9.8 | 1.41 | 1.77 | 2.13 |
| 2019 | 67.8 | 85.3 | 102.8 | 4.2 | 5.3 | 6.4 | 1.30 | 1.64 | 1.98 |
| Year | Air Yards | aDOT | YAC | YAC/Tgt | YAC/Rec | AYMS | Tgt MS |
| 2021 | 653 | 10.9 | 168 | 2.80 | 4.20 | 19% | 13% |
| 2020 | 436 | 9.5 | 195 | 4.24 | 5.91 | 22% | 16% |
| 2019 | 736 | 14.2 | 131 | 2.52 | 3.74 | 19% | 12% |
2022 Allen Lazard Fantasy Football Overview:
Many in the fantasy football community think that Allen Lazard can fill Davante Adams’ shoes by taking over as the team’s WR1. And by think, I mean that they desperately need him to fill Davante Adams’ shoes after years of talking spicy about what Lazard could do if given the opportunities to produce. Now, he has a chance to land as the Packers’ WR1 and will have nowhere to hide as the team’s WR1.
In four seasons in Green Bay, Lazard has four WR1 games, 5 WR2 games, and 3 WR3 games. Granted, you can say that a lot of this has to do with the hyperfocused nature of the offense, insofar as the Rodgers-to-Adams connection came first, second, and third. That’s true, but also, Allen Lazard had a hand in that. After all, Aaron Rodgers is not a stupid man, at least not on the football field, and he knows who he can trust, and that’s not Allen Lazard. Lazard has five games without Davante Adams in his career, and in those five games, he goes from 4 targets, 2.5 catches, and 32 yards, to 4 targets, 3.6 receptions, and 59 yards per game. While that’s a nice bump, that comes out to just a hair over 1,000 yards over the course of a seventeen-game season; 23 wide receivers had over 1,000 yards last year, thanks to the additional game. That figure isn’t quite the line of demarcation that it used to be.
So, is Allen Lazard the cure for what ails the Packers’ passing game, or is he another symptom of the disease? The disease was a complete inability to develop a consistent weapon behind Davante Adams during his tenure in Green Bay, to the point that Aaron Rodgers went out of his way to demand the Packers trade for Randall Cobb as part of his hostage negotiation last offseason.
So, that is to say, not even Aaron Rodgers believes in Allen Lazard, and the Davante Adams targets can (as they likely will) end up just distributed among the players on the team instead of going to Lazard; that’s completely legal!
2022 Allen Lazard Fantasy Football Draft Strategy:
Allen Lazard Salary Cap Value: $2
Draft Ranking: Find out for your league settings in a Beersheet!
Personally, if I want Allen Lazard, I will simply wait one round and take Jakobi Meyers, instead. Lazard is a ninth-round pick by ADP (106 overall, WR45) and I just can’t ever see myself dipping my toes in those waters. While Lazard should have a nice floor, that has more to do with his quarterback than with Allen Lazard, and in that case, Rodgers could simply move between his targets or shut out Lazard entirely, instead choosing to focus on Christian Watson, Aaron Jones, and Robert Tonyan as his top targets.
So yes, I am advocating a fully hands-off approach for Allen Lazard. It’s not often that I recommend not touching a player, but at his price, I can really only see heartbreak. The upside isn’t really there (two games over 100 yards in four years) and people are mostly hoping that Rodgers can just transfer all of Adams’ targets to Lazard. I’m merely asking: what if he doesn’t?
Best Case Scenario:
Allen Lazard is the new Davante Adams and I think back on this article with such shame and rage that I commit Seppuku.
Worst Case Scenario:
Aaron Jones is the new Davante Adams and everyone who believes in Jones (me) will have their day in the sun.
Check out all our 2022 player profiles, here.
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[Statistics are sourced from pro-football-reference.com, airyards.com, and ftnfantasy.com]
[Image Source: Allen Lazard on Twitter]
