9 – Ladarius Green
Coming into his fifth year, Ladarius Green might be looking at a season of very high expectations. Even higher than they have been for the previous four years with the San Diego Chargers.
The Pittsburgh Steelers, who had eyed taking Green in the 2012 draft, signed him to a four-year $20 million deal. If Green can hit his ceiling with one of the best signal-callers in the game, Ben Roethlisberger, then he may be looking at a breakout year.
We have yet to really see what Ladarius can accomplish since he has played behind Antonio Gates, a future Hall-of-Famer, all of his first four seasons.
Look back to Delanie Walker, an athletic and tough tight end, coming from the 49ers to the Titans after spending his first seven years behind Vernon Davis. He got to become the exclusive tight end and we all know how popular he is with fantasy owners now.
Green has incredible upside with his freakish athleticism and speed for a big guy. Put that together with the ferocious offense that will take the field for Pittsburgh next season and the fact that Big Ben loves his tight ends almost as much as he does Antonio Brown, Ladarius could fare very well.
We got to see a glimpse of what he could bring to the table when he started the first four games for the suspended Gates. He had 19 catches, 224 yards, and two touchdowns in those four games and finished the year with 37 catches on 63 targets, 429 yards, and four TDs.
Green is going to have a great year, but there are three things that could hinder all of that; Jesse James became a favorite target for Roethlisberger and could cut into packages for Green, the offense has a lot of mouths to feed and he could be the odd man out in that mess of talent, and obviously injuries.
If Green can get a nice share of targets and not squander any of those chances, expect big numbers from this guy. He has all the talent in the world to be something special.
Prediction: 67 Receptions – 750 Yards – 7 Touchdowns
