Calvin Ridley Fantasy Outlook Rises After Mohamed Sanu Trade to Patriots

Calvin Ridley burst onto the scene in his 2018 rookie campaign by catching 10 touchdowns for the Atlanta Falcons. He's been off to a solid start in 2019 as well, catching four in seven games.

The only concerns for his fantasy value have been related to volume, but those have largely been erased following news that the Falcons have traded Mohamed Sanu to the New England Patriots.

Another trade: Falcons are sending WR Mohamed Sanu to the New England Patriots in exchange for a second-round pick, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 22, 2019

Ridley already sits well ahead of Sanu in fantasy production in 2019, but it's the volume split that has been particularly interesting. Sanu has played 80.6 percent of the Falcons' offensive snaps, which is the most for any of their wide receivers, including No. 1 wideout Julio Jones. By comparison, Ridley is third in the group at 71.6 percent.

Sanu also accounted for 14 percent of the Falcons' targets so far in 2019, just one percent behind Ridley.

As an added bonus, the Falcons are leading the NFL in pass attempts per game (41.6). Ridley has already seen at least six targets in all but one game this season, and that impressive floor should climb even higher moving forward.

Calvin Ridley in games with at least 8 targets:

7-146-3
5-88-1
6-71-1
8-105-1
8-93-1pic.twitter.com/ftIOohfHF5
— Ian Hartitz (@Ihartitz) October 23, 2019

Ridley doesn't find himself in an ideal spot to take advantage of an expanded role in Week 8, though. The Seattle Seahawks rank No. 16 in Football Outsiders' pass defense DVOA rankings and have held opposing wideouts to bottom-10 fantasy production on the year.

With so much potential volume coming his way, however, Ridley is still worth starting, and he sits at WR32 in our Week 8 PPR fantasy football rankings.

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Jason Schandl is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Jason Schandl also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username Jaymun. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.