Dallas Cowboys - Fantasy News

Terrance Williams 2017 Fantasy Projections

by Derek Norton

8/13/17

NFL

Dallas Cowboys

Terrance Williams

Terrance Williams had a high ceiling when the Dallas Cowboys made him a third-round pick out of Baylor in 2013. He was an All-American and led the nation in receiving yards his senior year with the Bears. For years, fantasy owners have waited to cash in on Dez Bryant’s wingman.

Though Williams has received plenty of opportunities, he hasn’t made the most of them yet. The hope that this will finally be his year continues in 2017.

Why Terrance Williams Will Be A 2017 Fantasy Football Stud

Williams played 70 percent of Dallas’ offensive snaps last season. Bryant is still the top receiver, but Williams is comfortably ahead of Cole Beasley for the second spot. Bryant’s injury history is well documented, so there’s a good chance Williams will be the No. 1 receiver at some point this year.

While Bryant is oft-injured, Williams has never missed a game in four seasons. He should always be around to pick up the slack if Bryant is hurting.

Dallas saw enough in the former Baylor star’s play to sign him to a four-year contract in March. The Cowboys haven’t brought in a direct competitor for Williams through free agency or the draft, so his spot as the second receiver should be locked down.

The schedule is looking pretty good for him as well. He has eight matchups against teams that were 20^th or worse against wide receivers last season and only has three games against teams that were in the top 10.

Why Terrance Williams Will Be A 2017 Fantasy Football Dud

Williams has never really been statistically good. If you took his career high for receptions (52), yards (840) and touchdowns (8), that would have given him 158 Dober Fantasy Points. Jamison Crowder had the same amount in 2016, and he was the 30^th best receiver in Dober scoring. That’s not a very high ceiling.

It’s actually worse than that because of how much time Bryant has missed. Over the last two years, he sat out 10 full games and barely played in several others. Even with 10 full games as the top receiver in Dallas, Williams never could make himself a viable fantasy option. He was the 62^nd receiver in Dober scoring last year.

Even though Williams was the top receiver for three full games and the No. 2 receiver for 13 others, he was barely targeted in 2016. He was 82^nd in the league with 61 targets. That’s 3.8 per game, or 85^th in the league among wide receivers who played at least 10 games.

Williams doesn’t have an exceptionally high ceiling from week to week. In his 64 career games, he has two 100-yard performances and two multi-touchdown games. Last season, he had 11 contests under 50 yards and six games under 20 yards.

The scoring trends in particular aren’t likely to change in 2017. Quarterback Dak Prescott very rarely looked his way near the end zone. Williams had just four red zone targets last season. That ranked him fifth on his own team, behind Jason Witten, Bryant, Beasley and Brice Butler.

It’s going to take an extraordinary situation for fantasy owners to get excited about Williams.