As the NFL season is officially underway, there might be some former Duke Football players on your fantasy football team and find out if you should pick them up.
Duke University has produced more active professional football players than any other college that begins with the letter “D.”
Sorry to the Fightin’ Blue Hens of Delaware, the Delaware State Hornets, and the Drake Bulldogs, but the Dukies own the “D”!
More from Ball Durham
- Duke basketball: The architect behind digital dominance
- Duke basketball prioritizing frontcourt prospects in 2025
- Duke basketball: Unmasking the hate for the Blue Devils
- Duke basketball: Countdown to Craziness lands another huge visitor
- Duke basketball fills final open scholarship
Currently there are nine former Blue Devils scattered across the NFL, seven of which are fantasy ineligible, unless you play in one of those weird defensive player leagues.
Of the two former Blue Devils that are fantasy football eligible, one, Shaun Wilson, is currently owned in 0% of ESPN and Yahoo! leagues.
Wilson, who made his debut on Sunday in a wild 48-40 win over the New Orleans Saints, amassed one carry for six yards. Among unqualified rushers, Wilson’s yards per carry ranks high, albeit without fantasy value, but he is literally on nobody’s team.
Jamison Crowder is probably the former Blue Devil you are most familiar with. He might be the player you thought would be a late-round steal, or the player your team is relying on because you completely botched your fantasy draft.
In 2017, Crowder led the Washington Redskins team in both targets and yards but only reached the end-zone three times, making him a decent flex play in non-PPR leagues.
This season, Kirk Cousins is gone to the Minnesota Vikings, and Alex Smith is in at quarterback, and as we know, Alex Smith loves the tight-end.
The tight-end is always open; it is one of the weird quirks of football which makes the tight-end such a valuable asset if he can catch a football.
Alex Smith has two tight-ends in Washington – his old buddy Vernon Davis, and Jordan Reed, who is the same player Vernon Davis was six years ago. For Crowder, that means his quarterback has two new favorite targets and none of them are him.
Things might get worse for Crowder still as Chris Thompson led Washington in targets in week one. If you’re not familiar with the dynamics of Washington’s receiving corps, Thompson and Crowder are the same player, which is a sign Alex Smith might simply look in the direction of Thompson more often than Crowder when he is not looking in the direction of his two favorite tight-ends.
Overall, Crowder seems to be trending downward. For week one Crowder hauled in three catches on four targets for 32 yards, which is not going to get in done in any format.
Evan Watson, the know it all computer, gives Crowder a 21.4% bust chance on ESPN for Week Two (a bust is listed as under 5.4 points). Hopefully Watson doesn’t know the Colts secondary has been terrible for the last 10 years because this could be the week that Jamison Crowder breaks out.