In the four years of his career, Mike Wallace has established himself as one of the game’s top-flight wide receivers. He has built a reputation for blazing past opposing defenders and making ridiculous plays down the field. While he’s done it on the field, he’s also been able to light up fantasy scoreboards as well.
Now that Wallace has taken his talents to South Beach, the question is whether he brings the fantasy production with him?
The Verdict: Boom
There’s a lot to like about Wallace in Miami. For starters, he’s in an offensive system that likes to throw the ball around a lot.
New Dolphins head coach Joe Philbin directed one of the top offensive units in the NFL in his prior five years as the Green Bay Packers offensive coordinator. During that span, the Packers ranked in the top-10 in passing yards every year, peaking at No. 3 in 2011 where they threw for 307.8 yards per game. (Close jaw, wipe up slobber)
Now, here comes the linchpin. Wallace will go as second-year QB Ryan Tannehill goes.
Remember, Philbin’s aerial onslaught was headed by some nobody QB named Aaron Rodgers. Although Tannehill isn’t Rodgers, he should be a capable enough fantasy QB.
Tannehill completed 58.3 percent of his passes for 3,294 yards last year. If he can cut down on his TD to INT ratio (12 TDs to 13 INTs) while maintaining his completion percentage, Tannehill’s yardage should rise and Wallace will be the primary benefactor.
Finally, Miami signed some other free agent pass catchers to compliment their new deep threat.
The Dolphins re-signed Brian Hartline for five years and added free agent TE Dustin Keller. Both are solid receiving options for Tannehill that can take some pressure off of Wallace.
So what can we expect of Wallace? I think 1,000 yards is realistic, especially in Philbin’s scheme. So is five or six TDs.
Eric Smith is an MMA and fantasy football contributor with Craveonline.com. Follow him on twitter or @EricSmith_SP or email him at ejmith7@asu.edu.
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