Darnell Mooney

Fantasy Upside
Darnell Mooney had a better than expected rookie season, finishing 61-631-4 last year on 98 targets. And as many film watchers have pointed out, his season could have been even better with improved quarterback play. He’s expected to get that with Andy Dalton, but perhaps even more with Justin Fields once the rookie takes over. Fields had an excellent deep ball at Ohio State, and that would pair nicely with Mooney’s speed. Mooney established himself as a strong No. 2 option in this offense, and we’d expect him to finish with the second-most targets in Chicago again, behind Allen Robinson.

Fantasy Downside
While Mooney is an intriguing sleeper, there’s a reason why fantasy owners are waiting until the double-digit rounds to take a chance on him. Mooney had 10 games last season with 40 yards receiving or less and only scored four touchdowns. He also could struggle to see the same amount of targets as last year considering Tarik Cohen is returning from injury, and Cole Kmet is emerging at tight end. The Bears also retained Jimmy Graham, and Riley Ridley, and brought in Marquise Goodwin and Damiere Byrd in the offseason.

2021 Bottom Line
Mooney is a solid sleeper candidate for 2021. Improved quarterback play could get his low catch percentage (62.2%) up, meaning fewer targets wouldn’t be a bad thing if he could convert them at a higher rate. He’s still not a top-tier option considering he averaged less than 40 yards per game with four scores, but if you have room on your bench late in the draft he’s a solid add.

Week 16 at Jacksonville Jaguars

Darnell Mooney was surprisingly productive last week, finishing 4-49-1 on five targets while adding a run for 16 yards. Mooney has now scored in back-to-back games, but at this point, he mostly needs a score to remain relevant in fantasy. He's averaging just 3.3 receptions for 35.6 yards, which is around what we have projected for him in Week 16. He'll be a TD-dependent WR5 in Week 16.

Week 14 vs. Houston Texans

Darnell Mooney finished 4-43 on six targets last week. He's now finished between 30-45 receiving yards in seven of his 12 games this season, while averaging 3.3 receptions per game. That's basically the type of production you can expect from Mooney, who has just two scores on the season. He's not much more than a WR5 despite the favorable matchup against the Texans.