Marquez Callaway: Fantasy Football Sleeper No More? (2021)

When it was reported that New Orleans Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas would miss the start of the season, the fantasy football community zeroed in on the team to determine who the beneficiary of the vacated targets would be. Tre’Quan Smith was the name that most turned to, given his history and the flashes he’s shown. However, it’s another name that has been the focus of training camp reports: Marquez Callaway.

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Following a great camp, Marquez Callaway burst onto the national scene Monday night during the team’s preseason game against Jacksonville Jaguars. He finished the game with five receptions for 100+ yards and a pair of touchdowns. However, somehow that line may not do his performance justice. Take a look at his touchdown catches.

Here is Callaway’s first connection with quarterback Jameis Winston:

? @Jaboowins DEEP TO @CallawayMarquez – TOUCHDOWN! ?#Saints pic.twitter.com/YheFLsVcRx

— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) August 24, 2021

The duo followed it up with another first-quarter strike:

SLING DAT THING @Jaboowins! ?

29-yard TD strike to @CallawayMarquez ?

?: ESPN pic.twitter.com/SPBZczDB1b

— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) August 24, 2021

Callaway enters Tuesday with an Expert Consensus Ranking of WR96. That is guaranteed to rise over the coming days. His Average Draft Position at many sites is already in the WR60s.

Our experts are even higher on him, as Dan Harris has him as WR56 in half-PPR formats, while Kyle Yates has him at WR57.

Like Tre’Quan Smith, Callaway has generally had success when he has gotten the starts/targets in the past. When Michael Thomas went down with an injury, fantasy managers and analysts alike immediately gravitated toward Smith, but his leg injury, and Callaway’s strong camp, had moved the latter into sleeper territory. With his monstrous two-touchdown performance on Monday, he’s going to likely shoot up draft boards, and he should. With Thomas out, Callaway has likely cemented himself as a starter even in two-wide receiver sets to begin the season and, even when/if Thomas and Smith return, he’ll almost certainly have a role in three-receiver sets. Exercise some caution – we’ve had “great camps” and monstrous preseason games followed by limited regular-season success from a million receivers. But taking a stab on Callaway as a fourth receiver for now mitigates the risk while capturing his potential upside.
– Dan Harris

One of the things I love/hate the most about this job is player development. While we spend so much time researching previous statistics and analyzing a current team’s situation to death sometimes, there’s no way to account for a player working tirelessly during the off-season to become a better football player. I hate it because I missed out on telling people to draft that player before everyone else, but I love it because this player is now taking advantage of their opportunity and making the game better. That’s what has happened with Marquez Callaway this year. Based on last year’s stats (21/213/0), Callaway shouldn’t be someone we’re talking about as a potential breakout for fantasy football. However, he’s putting on a show during this 2021 NFL pre-season and he deserves to be in the redraft conversation now. With Michael Thomas sidelined, Callaway has a significant opportunity in front of him and he could emerge as the WR1 for this Saints team. If that’s the case, Callaway deserves to be talked about as a low-end FLEX play with considerable upside. He’s still unproven, so we shouldn’t go overboard with our expectations, but as a player to draft on your bench and stash to see what happens? I can get on board with that.
– Kyle Yates

Callaway was among the top-10 sleepers in our fantasy football sleeper rankings, with several experts considering him a top target outside the top 55 wide receivers drafted.

All of this to say, while Callaway was trending toward a popular sleeper and late-round round fantasy football target, that door may have closed with his monstrous performance Monday night.

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