Greg Olson spending as much time on the shelf as he did certainly helped, but McCaffrey’s role in the passing game likely won’t be diminished. That would’ve been good for 29th among receivers, ahead of Michael Crabtree, Jamison Crowder and Amari Cooper. He caught 80 of those targets for 651 yards and five touchdowns, which comes out to 175.1 points in full PPR leagues. He racked up 113 targets last year, first among backs and 21st overall. Still, McCaffrey is going to be a key player for the Panthers, and he’s arguably the most dangerous receiving back in the league. Anderson, an obvious upgrade from Jonathan Stewart, in town. Ron Rivera can make all the protestations about McCaffrey getting 200 carries that he wants. All those points for all those receptions make a difference, most notably for the following players. Yet, nearly all fantasy leagues award some points for every reception, with full PPR, as outdated as it is, an industry hallmark. The best running backs now have a thumb on the scale that they certainly don’t need. On top of that, with today’s elite backs doubling as dangerous pass-catchers, PPR is exacerbating the problem it was designed to combat. In the last five seasons alone, there have just two fewer 1,400-yard receivers, 22, than there were from 1990 through 2000. From 2007 through last year, a period covering 11 seasons, there were 39 such seasons. From 1990 through 2006, a period covering 17 seasons, a receiver racked up at least 1,400 yards 36 times. In the modern game, receivers no longer need that thumb on the scale. Receivers were falling too far behind backs, and they needed the help. Never mind the fact that receptions that gain zero yards would be worth the same amount of fantasy points as a 10-yard run. Introduced during the heyday of the workhorse running back, PPR set out to even the playing field for wide receivers by awarding them with points for performing their position’s fundamental act: catching the football. Points-per-reception, or PPR, fantasy football formats should have been consigned to the dustbin of history earlier this decade.
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