ANTHONY MILLER - WR CHICAGO BEARS

Start Him

Throughout the course of the year, I will be taking time to write about a player that I think has an advantageous matchup for the upcoming week. These players won’t be the obvious “start Michael Thomas” takes or “I have Christian McCaffrey as a top-10 RB this week” advice that should come as no surprise if you’ve watched football for the last couple of years. These are players likely to be fringe starters or flex players and potentially even end of the bench guys that I believe can capitalize on matchups for the current week. To start these pieces off I will be talking about why you should be starting WR Anthony Miller on your fantasy team in Week 1.

Anthony Miller is coming into his 3rd year in the league, all with the Chicago Bears and all with current starting quarterback Mitchell Trubisky. After the team released WR Taylor Gabriel, Miller immediately jumped to the #2 WR on the depth chart. Following up on a year in which he finished 3rd on the team in targets and receptions, he has a clear path for more targets to continue the strong finish he had to 2019. From Weeks 11-16, Miller was on the field for 84.7% of the team’s offensive snaps and received a 22.5% target share as a result. The Bears didn’t add much of anything in the offseason besides the acquisition of QB Nick Foles. All this mixed with the favorable match-up against one of the league’s worst defenses in 2019, I believe that Anthony Miller is a top-30 WR in Week 1. And for some added reassurance to his performance at the end of the 2019 season, in a Week 13 match-up against the Lions, Miller had 9 receptions on 13 targets to go along with 140 receiving yards. I think that while the season long value for Miller will not be roster spot worthy, you can obtain the most value this week.