For sure. It's also the proliferation of the short game - it's not just that teams are throwing more as a percentage compared to run - it's that they're outright replacing Running as their default method for moving the ball in short-yardage situations.FantasyFreak wrote: ↑Thu Jul 06, 2023 9:44 pm As the NFL gets more and more pass happy, and teams go to RBBC more and more, WR's in typical standard PPR leagues will start to hold more value, for a lot of team builders, because they are just safer and last longer.
The idea of a WR going over the middle 200+ times in a season would have been straight lunacy as little as 20-25 years ago. Now we've got Cooper Kupp getting 196 targets with an aDOT of 8 yards, and turning it into a 1947 yard season. (To say nothing of Amon-Ra and Jefferson and the other slot elites running those same routes from the slot, too - obviously JJ can and does a bit more). The rise of the elite slot in tandem with the fall of the RB market is no accident imo.
RBBC has definitely killed the bellcow, but I would posit that the short-game passes have done their part too. It's what makes those rare guys like Ekeler, CMC, Gibbs, and Bijan so desirable - they have actual route-craft, and can operate as proper short-range passing weapons in a way that the 2-down grinders of the league just cannot. The checkdown routes of the old days aren't good enough anymore for being a "3 down back"... you've got to be as good as the passing down specialists, or you're coming off the field.
(As an aside: we should be properly scared of whatever Shanahan has cooked up for CMC in 2023 with a full offseason to scheme for him)
Anyway. Buy Garrett Wilson.