As fantasy football drafts continue to kick off all across the country, there probably aren't many members of the Washington Football Team that are high on your list of targets. Sure, Terry McLaurin has proven his worth as a primary receiver, but with Dwayne Haskins still unproven and no more Derrius Guice, there's not much to be excited about when it comes to this offense. Then again, McLaurin certainly wasn't considered a top fantasy rookie before the beginning of last year, and Washington may have acquired a couple of weapons that fantasy players will later be kicking themselves for not taking a flier on in this year's draft.
One of these players is former Memphis offensive weapon Antonio Gibson, who Washington selected in the third round with the No. 66 overall pick. In two seasons at Memphis, he caught 44 passes for 834 yards and 10 touchdowns and rushed for 369 yards and four touchdowns on 33 carries. The fact that he scored 14 touchdowns from scrimmage on just 77 touches shows how dangerous Gibson is with the ball in his hands, and it's an ability that Ron Rivera is going to try to get the most out of in 2020. Gibson has seen some work with the first-team offense in training camp, and he's already been surprised with how many reps he has gotten as a wide-eyed rookie.
"Definitely more [reps] than I expected coming in as a rookie. I always expect to play no matter where I go, but sometimes you've got to work your way to that," Gibson said recently, via NFL.com. "I've been getting a lot of reps. I don't know if that's just a rookie thing with them throwing reps at me, but that just shows that they see something in me. I'm ready to handle that. You throw me in there and I'm going to get it done."
A reason Gibson is an intriguing prospect in fantasy drafts this year is because of his potential as a receiver. While he is listed as a running back, expect the 6-foot, 228-pound weapon to line up all over the field. If you take part in a PPR league, Gibson is someone to keep an eye on. Here's what CBS Sports fantasy football expert Heath Cummings published a couple of weeks ago concerning Gibson's potential:
"Gibson has a more clear path to playing time than he did when he was drafted. This is still a very crowded backfield but now J.D. McKissic is the only one standing in Gibson's way on third down. There's been plenty of buzz about Gibson's skill set resembling Christian McCaffrey, who Ron Rivera and Scott Turner coached last year in Carolina. Before you get too excited about those carries, remember Gibson had just 33 career carries at Memphis. He has a lot to learn and is probably more of a scat back this season."
Gibson was considered one of the top small-school steals in the 2020 NFL Draft according to a report published from Yahoo! Sports. Washington vice president of player personnel Kyle Smith told reporters that he resembled a "Swiss army knife," which is exactly how Smith described McLaurin after drafting him in the third round last year.
"He's a Swiss army knife," Smith said following the draft. "You can use this guy in a lot of different ways, so it opens up a lot of options for our offense."
Keep an eye on the home-run hitter out of Memphis this year. While his team isn't expected to have one of the most explosive offenses in the league, he could put up some surprising numbers in his rookie season.
