2019 Jets Free Agency Profile: Devin Funchess

Welcome to the 2019 Jets Free Agency Profile series! Up until the start of the 2019 free agency period in March, I’ll be running through a bunch of names the Jets could potentially bring in with their hoard of cap space. Let’s get into it!

Name: Devin Funchess

Birthday/Age: May 21st, 1994 (age 25 on September 1st)

Height/Weight: 6’4, 225

FA type: Unrestricted

College: Michigan (drafted 41st overall by the Panthers in the second round of the 2015 draft)

Team(s): Panthers (2015-18)

Position/usage: X receiver

2018 stats: 14 games, 44 catches, 79 targets, 549 yards, 4 touchdowns. 55.7% catch rate, 12.5 yards per reception, 6.95 yards per target (67th / 83 wide receivers with 50+ targets)

Previous salary: 2015 second round, 41st overall rookie contract. $1.8M cap hit in 2018

Spotrac Market Value: $8.9M/year (would currently be 26th highest at wide receiver)

Jets connections: Michigan teammate of Jeremy Clark and Ben Braden

Measurables (via mockdraftable.com):

Pros:

• Will only be 25 at the start of 2019
• Size teams love in wide receivers at 6’4 and 225 pounds
• Respectable 21 career touchdowns in 61 games. Over past two seasons, 12 touchdowns in 30 games (pace for 6.4 per 16 games)
• 16 red zone touchdowns since 2015, 14th among wide receivers in that span
• Played in 64 of 67 possible career games
• Good track record against AFC East, played four games against the division (one against each team) and played well in every game, averaging 6 catches for 85 yards on over 10 yards per target while scoring in each. Team went 4-0 in those games. Among all divisions, has his best numbers against the AFC East in every category

Cons:

• Down year in 2018. Posted just 549 yards, which was 65% of his yardage total in 2017. Second-fewest yards per target among 6’4+ receivers, better than only Kelvin Benjamin. 62nd in wide receiver DVOA. Career-lows in yards per reception (12.5) and passer rating when targeted (68.0)
• Had good YAC numbers in 2016 and 2017, but coming off of a 2018 season in which he posted the second-fewest yards after catch per reception (1.8) among wide receivers
• Snaps decreased drastically at the end of the year. Played on average 84% of offensive snaps over first ten games, decreased to 32% over final four. Had played at least 66% of snaps in every game since the start of 2017, played less than half in each of final four games, including only 19% and 24% in last two. Collected total of 33 yards over the final five weeks of the season
• It’s not a great look if a longtime receiver-starved franchise like Carolina just lets him walk as a former second round pick
• Iffy route-running, capable of some beauties but often slips or has miscommunications with the quarterback
• Shaky hands, while capable of those acrobatic catches, he doesn’t grab as many of the tough catches as you’d like. When you think of 6’4, 225 pound wide receivers, you think jump balls and tough grabs. Whichever team signs Funchess will be signing him to consistently make plays like this one:

For every one of those catches that Funchess made, there were too many instances where he lost contested catch situations that he should be winning.

• Spotrac per year estimate is $8.9M. Same question that just about every other free agent wide receiver will face applies to Funchess. Is that price worth it for a guy who is coming off of a poor season of production, and whose career year was just “solid”?