The Miami Dolphins’ decision to trade out of the No. 3 overall pick and, eventually, away from talents like Ja’Marr Chase and Kyle Pitts has been widely debated. Some feel as though Miami did themselves as disservice — but if you ask the Dolphins themselves, they seem to indicate that they got the guy who stood out to them the most after all.
That would be former Alabama wide receiver Jaylen Waddle.
And with the mantle of being a top-6 pick and the prize Miami elected to collect after trading out of the top-3 picks, there comes a significant amount of pressure and expectations. Waddle will ideally go on to be an impact player from the jump for Miami — although how much of an impact he’s poised to have is ultimately nothing but guesswork at this point in time. But we can look to some of the top resources to try to mold our expectations accordingly.
Here are a handful of projected stat lines for Jaylen Waddle’s 2021 season courtesy of a number of the most popular fantasy services:
Yahoo! Fantasy
Jaylen Waddle – 116 targets, 73.5 receptions, 1,036 receiving yards, 6.5 receiving touchdowns
ESPN
Jaylen Waddle – 106 targets, 64 receptions, 861 receiving yards, 13.4 yards per reception, 5 receiving touchdowns
CBS Sports
Jaylen Waddle – 92 targets, 57 receptions, 867 receiving yards, 15.2 yards per reception, 5 receiving touchdowns
Perhaps the most intriguing dynamic to the Waddle projections is how they are inversely related to the projections for Tua Tagovailoa, his quarterback in 2021. Tagovailoa has the most robust projection in CBS Sports’ model and the most conservative forecast in the eyes of Yahoo!’s projection. Meanwhile the opposite is true for Waddle; although if the Dolphins’ No. 6 overall pick manages to secure a season like what any of these trio of forecasts indicates, we doubt anyone will be complaining about the end result.
Waddle is going to have a great opportunity to be a game breaker for the Dolphins and may even be afforded the opportunity to be involved in the return game as well depending on what happens with incumbent Jakeem Grant. Add on return duties to this kind of hypothetical production and there would likely be no question of the Dolphins’ choice in Waddle by the end of the season.