1. McLaurin Will Be A Top-12 WR In Fantasy

This prediction may come down to semantics, with fantasy scoring format to account for. McLaurin was WR24 in standard, WR29 in full-point PPR and WR27 in half-point PPR last year, so it would be quit a leap up for him to get into the top-12 (WR1 territory) this year.

Leaving out the precise bump in target total and the residual bump in yards I’m boldly projecting for him this year, here’s a look at what McLaurin would have needed last year to be a top-12 fantasy wide receiver.

Standard Scoring: 23.1 points
Full-Point PPR: 45.6 points
Half-Point PPR: 36.4 points

That’s 231 more yards in standard scoring to get to a top-12 finish, straight up. Let’s take that 231 yards and add 23 catches to get there in full PPR. With that same 231 yards, it would have taken 27 catches to get to a top-12 finish.

In raw total numbers, that would have meant 1,150 yards and 81 or 88 receptions last year for McLaurin-without any more than his seven touchdowns-to have been a top-12 fantasy receiver across the board. But it’s safe to assume he would have scored a few more times with that many more catches, which alters the equation of the exercise I just did.

For some extra context, RotoWire’s 2020 projection for McLaurin (86 receptions for 1,211 yards and eight touchdowns) is right in the midst of what would have been good enough to be a fantasy WR1 (top-12) in 2019.