The Seattle Seahawks traded away Percy Harvin and now Doug Baldwin, Jermaine Kearse and Ricardo Lockette are the top fantasy football pickup options as free agents for Russell Wilson and fantasy owners, as the team now needs a new number one offensive option and Baldwin looks to be that player, as he had a big game last week and should get targeted into Week 8 against the Panthers.
The Seahawks traded away Harvin after he got into multiple altercations with teammates and also had issues with Russell Wilson. Harvin is a dynamic player, but Cleary he was dividing the locker room and now the Seahawks have to find a way to replace him in the offense. Harvin was not that productive in his work this season, but he is explosive and now Baldwin and others will have to step up. The team likes Kearse and Lockette and another reason they likely made the trade was due to the confidence in Kevin Norwood and Paul Richardson.
The Seahawks are not as top heavy as other teams at WR, but they are deep and with Baldwin at the top Wilson should be able to work the offense after the loss last week to the Rams. Baldwin put up great numbers last week and that could be a sign of things to come for fantasy owners, as he should be the clear WR1 now that Harvin is out. Baldwin and Kearse are the top two options and Richardson has shown the ability to get open in space and that could get him more targets and snaps on offense.
Baldwin comes in after his best game of the season with seven catches for 123 yards and a TD and those numbers should be consistent moving forward the rest of the way. Baldwin was targeted 11 times and that is a sign of things to come and now with Harvin not demanding the ball, Wilson can play his game and not worry about a diva. Baldwin has 23 catches for 310 yards and one score in six games and he is on pace to break his career highs from his rookie season of 51 catches for 788 yards. Baldwin has had at least three catches in all but one game this season and that consistency will be big for fantasy owners if they pick up Baldwin for the coming weeks.
Kearse is a solid option in deeper leagues along with Lockette, as those two will get more snaps now with Baldwin moving up to the top spot. Last week Kearse had three catches for 50 yards and more promising was the fact that he was targeted seven times in the matchup. Kearse comes in with 14 catches for 218 yards and one score and he likely will pass his career highs from last season when he had 22 catches for 346 yards and four touchdowns.
Lockette is only an option in deeper leagues unless someone gets injured, as he has four catches for 85 yards this season, but two of those gave gone for touchdowns. Last season he has five catches in eight games and while he is likely to beat that, he is a WR4 or WR5 pick at best right now. Lockette had one catch last week and Richardson is a better option for fantasy owners than he is.
