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VideoFrom Yahoo Fantasy Football - Josh & Hayden

These 8 Wide Receivers Will Decide Your Fantasy Season

STACKED extracted the fantasy-relevant player signal from this video and kept the full transcript here for context.

1 hr 23 min

Duration

Estimated from transcript

Jul 27, 2026

Published

Mon, July 27, 2026

13

Player insights

13

Players mentioned

Topics

Caleb WilliamsDeVonta SmithDrake LondonGeorge PickensJeremiyah LoveLadd McConkeyLuther BurdenMalachi FieldsMalik NabersMarvin Harrison Jr.Michael WilsonNico CollinsTrey McBride

Player analysis

Player insights

13

Caleb Williams

NegativeProjection27:47

Accuracy and development directly impact WR performance; needs to get on same page with receivers and improve catchable ball rate; shocking how many times he missed guys; over quarter of pass attempts to Roma Dun in final eight games were purely inaccurate; if he doesn't improve at all, offense will rely on gimmicky touches rather than normal drop-back throws.

DeVonta Smith

NegativeValue11:24

DeVonta Smith is a really good football player but faces environmental issues with the Eagles offense that will be hard to overcome, placing him below Malik Neighbors in the ADP tier cluster of Nico Collins, George Pickens, AJ Brown, and DeVonta Smith. Matt Harmon explicitly states Neighbors should rank ahead of Smith due to these situational constraints; Smith's scheme limitations restrict his upside relative to his talent.

Drake London

PositiveValue12:33

Drake London is in an excellent spot post-ACL injury recovery. Matt Harmon groups him with Nico Collins and AJ Brown as very good players returning from ACL injuries; it would take a lot for him to rank Malik Neighbors ahead of this tier despite Neighbors' elite talent.

George Pickens

NegativeValue11:24

George Pickens is grouped in the ADP tier cluster with Nico Collins, AJ Brown, and DeVonte Smith as part of the discussion around where Malik Neighbors should land post-injury recovery.

Jeremiyah Love

NegativeRole37:00

Jeremiah Love is a round two/three ADP pick for the Cardinals and will receive significant target volume in the offense. However, Matt Harmon describes him as a nice player but expresses concern about the overall Cardinals offense and quarterback talent, which limits his fantasy upside despite his role.

Ladd McConkey

NegativeBreakout16:00

Matt Harmon identifies McConkey as an obvious bounceback candidate with elite route-running ability in breaking routes and intermediate areas; 87th percentile success rate versus man and zone in press coverage; great fit in the Chargers' heavy personnel scheme emphasizing intermediate quick hitters. McConkey excels in intermediate breaking routes and in-breaking movements within the cavern of space between linebackers and safeties, winning against both man and zone coverage; positioned to be the featured player Mike McDaniel moves around for advantageous looks. However, 2024 target environment collapsed: ran league-high 95 pass routes without a pass attempt due to sacks, scrambles, and throwaways; after Joe Alt's injury, averaged only 2.7 catches for 38 yards per game; catchable ball rate dropped from 78% to 67% on downfield intermediate targets due to Justin Herbert running at the line of scrimmage. Contested catch rate also dropped significantly from 57% as a rookie to 3 of 14 (21%) in 2024, though scheme fit should reduce contested catch situations going forward since he will not run as many downfield routes (Quentin Johnston handles that role) and will focus on intermediate quick hitters. Early-down target share identical to rookie season, but third-down target share dropped 7% to 18.4% due to Keenan Allen's 35% third-down target share. Grouped in same draft tier as Amari Cooper, Jalen Guka, and Garrett Wilson; ranked above Luther Burden; fourth-round target. Durability concern: inherited Tyler Lockett syndrome of falling down and preserving his body after the catch; scrapes himself up off the field in intermediate in-breaking routes, putting his body back together after hits. Tyler Lockett comparison as a prospect is a warning flag given Lockett's injury history, though McConkey does not need to excel in all areas to succeed.

Luther Burden

PositiveProjection31:00

Luther Burden did not make any plays in the playoffs and cannot maintain the role he had in his rookie year as the offense will not use him that way. If Caleb Williams improves, his easy button touches will decrease and his per-route efficiency will change significantly. Burden had only 8% red zone target share in his rookie season, with 30% of his targets being screens rather than traditional drop-back throws into the end zone. Matt Harmon notes that the upside belongs to Roma Dun and Coulson Loveland due to their proven red zone scoring ability from college tape, in contrast to Burden's limited red zone involvement and screen-heavy usage.

Malachi Fields

PositiveRole14:04

Matt Harmon likes Malachi Fields as a power player and potential second receiver in the Giants offense; he sees upside for Fields to emerge in that role, particularly given the offense's ability to create horizontal space for receivers.

Malik Nabers

PositiveProjection4:11

Matt Harmon ranks Malik Nabers next to DeVonta Smith and AJ Brown in the WR2-3 tier despite going in round four; he's the only tier-one prospect from his class who has "slam dunk" delivered on NFL expectations. Even at 85% of his career production, he'd match historical third-round WR averages like T. Higgins and Z Flowers. With no WR competition on the Giants (Darius Slayton not practicing) and the team likely improving from 31st in scoring when he was healthy, Harmon expects rapid ADP correction upward. Nabers suffered an ACL and lateral meniscus tear in week four with delayed surgery, followed by a setback requiring a second surgery to remove scar tissue; however, rehab has progressed well since the second surgery and he appears on track for week one availability. His role in year two was diminished compared to his rookie season under Russell Wilson's scheme (25% go routes on charted routes), and his after-catch ability may be initially diminished upon return from injury, though this is a point to monitor.

Marvin Harrison Jr.

PositiveValue32:42

Marvin Harrison Jr. is currently the sixth pick of the seventh round at WR31 ADP, but finished the 2024 season as WR40 in PPG despite being the best prospect Matt Harmon has evaluated since Jamar Chase and going fourth overall. While this represents a disappointment relative to his draft capital and prospect pedigree, the underperformance is not as bad as painted. Relationship issues with Kyler Murray and the Cardinals' offensive system contributed to his underperformance, but he is now separated from both, positioning him for better deployment and success. Harrison is a strong separator in particular areas despite the narrative that he can't separate or doesn't get open; he is a nuanced route runner with Calvin Ridley-type profile (top three comparables) who makes mistakes at the catch point rather than having separation issues. His drop problems in 2024 were hilariously bad and poorly timed (e.g., week four vs. Seahawks), suggesting a correctable mechanical issue rather than a talent gap. He is expected to be better deployed in his new offense and catch the ball cleaner going forward.

Michael Wilson

PositiveBreakout37:16

Michael Wilson is an eighth-round pick who finished the 2024 season as the most impressive Cardinals wide receiver in two years, outproducing Marvin Harrison Jr. in the final stretch. Matt Harmon highlights Wilson's strong end-of-season performance and notes he has T. Higgins-type comps as an X receiver, suggesting he should be used more interchangeably with Harrison rather than locked into the Z position. Wilson target-mogged Harrison Jr. when both were in the game, demonstrating his emergence as a primary option in the Cardinals offense.

Nico Collins

PositiveValue11:24

Nico Collins is in an excellent spot post-ACL injury recovery and is grouped in the ADP tier with George Pickens, AJ Brown, and DeVonta Smith. Matt Harmon notes that Collins, along with Drake London and AJ Brown, represents a tier of very good players returning from ACL injuries; it would take a lot for him to rank Malik Neighbors ahead of this group despite Neighbors' elite talent.

Trey McBride

NegativeProjection35:59

Trey McBride is a complete talent working over the middle and should be receiving more targets, but he will be a better real-life receiver than a fantasy player. His 1% career screen rate and minimal tackle involvement per PFF limit his fantasy ceiling despite his elite skill level. Matt Harmon notes that the Cardinals' low quarterback talent and McBride's competition from Jeremiah Love and Michael Wilson will constrain his fantasy output despite his schematic fit in the LaFleur offense.

Full transcript

Episode Transcript

853

0:00Hayden, viewers, I think it's fair to say that nailing the year three wide receivers might be the critical piece to winning your fantasy football league

0:08this season. Just think about it, okay?

0:10We're about to talk about four names that have already been selected in the top two rounds at any point in their

0:16first two seasons in a fantasy football draft and they all flopped. They all flopped. So the question is, were we wrong or is this like the perfect post

0:27hype opportunity to find incredible value? And there's only one person that can answer that for us. It is now our colleague over at Yahoo, Matt Harmon.

0:37How you doing, buddy?

0:38>> Colleagues, that sounds good, boys. That sounds really good. Now, if we have any big disagreements, you know, knockout, drag down, you know, fights or whatever

0:46on the show, I can just go straight to HR after this. [laughter] So, this is this is really good for me.

0:52But, no, I I am number one super excited to have you guys here at Yahoo. I mean, I've respected both of your guys for

0:58work for so long and it's going to be an incredible partnership. It's already been super fun so far and we're just

1:02getting started. Um, but secondly, and maybe more importantly for the viewers out there, I'm still I'll admit right off the top like I'm still really

1:10bullish on a lot of the players in this class. Like there are it hasn't happened for some guys. It's kind of happened and

1:15then unh happened for a few of them as you mentioned Josh. But you know going back and looking at this group for the

1:22year three charting for reception perception man there's still a lot of players I really want to bet on. So I'm excited to

1:27talk about this.

1:28>> Yeah, there's kind of like two different tiers of players here. You got some like your smaller guys and there's like four

1:33guys that are all very similar to me.

1:35I'm trying to nitpick the exact differences between them all on their tape and then after that you have to, you know, acknowledge what offense

1:42they're actually playing in. But I went back and pretty much everybody I went back to after watching them, I went to

1:48my rankings and I just kind of moved them up a little bit.

1:50>> Yeah.

1:51>> Every single one of these guys just a little bit up.

1:52>> Love all that. And I didn't even mention that outside of those four, we have two other former first round picks that

1:59we're talking about here today. So like there's a lot of investment in in these players. How we're going to do this, we're going to

2:04go name by name of how they're being drafted right now over on Yahoo. give you stats, the underlying metrics, and maybe most importantly the eye test with

2:12a number of these guys and see how they fit in a lot of new situations. So, let's kick things off with the man in

2:18this group that's going earliest. That is Malik Neighbors, fourth pick of the third round right now on Yahoo. That is wide receiver 13. Harmon

2:27let me know right before we got started that Link Neighbors is avoiding the pup list. I mean, does this change your

2:36entire outlook, our entire outlook of Malik Neighbor's season and really where we should be drafting him right now?

2:42>> Yeah, I mean, listen, I think we still have a long way to go with this Malik Neighbors injury situation. But, I mean,

2:48for God's sakes, this is the most positive day of Malik Neighbors news we've had [laughter] in a long, long time. So, um, I'll take it. Yeah. I

2:56mean, honestly, he's been somebody that just because of the way the the tenor and and kind of the way they've talked

3:01about the the injury and everything, I just really haven't even been thinking about. Honestly, just haven't even really been considering. I mean, I

3:07obviously if you're doing like best drafts, that's one thing, but if you're looking at like traditional reddraft leagues, there's just he's going to fall

3:13in an area where there are so many good wide receiver picks that I like this year that he's just been someone I'm

3:20like, "All right, I'll I'll kind of just cross him off and somebody's gonna like him more than me." Now, if he's going to

3:26play, then I mean, this does change the conversation here. Even if, and I think we should probably acknowledge that he might not be himself all of 2026. Like,

3:37even if he's going to be active week one and play throughout the course of the season, he he might be a diminished

3:42version of himself. But if he's not a diminished version of himself, this is a guy that is very clearly, not even just

3:50based on like the stats and the results so far, but reception perception, the eye test, this guy is clearly of any of

3:57this group is is on the fastest track and is like right there knocking on that door of like a true tier one receiver in

4:04the NFL. And when I say that, I mean like that's like three, four, five guys at any given point that is in that first

4:11tier. Um, and I've got some RP data to kind of talk about that and and unpack that a little bit. But yeah, man, this

4:17guy is is is right on the precipice of graduating to that group and unfortunately just got hurt after, you know, four or so games with Russell

4:25Wilson last year.

4:27>> I'll say this, I think he's like the most mispriced player in fantasy right now. I I was reading Jordan Ronan

4:33>> from the last couple weeks and he's all of a sudden been more optimistic. He was kind of being like, "Hey, what the

4:38hell's going on here?" And then the last couple weeks he's like I think he's not going to be on the the pup list like the

4:44the actual pup list like during the season. The fact that he's avoided the pup list like the training camp pup list

4:50is all the data that I need here. Even if he's like 85% of what he has been throughout his career that's still like

4:56the historical averages for T. Higgins Z Flowers all the third round wide receivers. And if I'm going to be, you know, taking the exception player coming

5:04off of an injury, had a little bit of setback in the offseason, it's probably the freak athlete that's 23 years old

5:09who's been a wide receiver one and there's no competition. The number two wide receiver for the Giants right now is Darius Sllayton. Darius Sllayton is

5:16not practicing right now either. So like I think he can go absolutely crazy. And when he's been the wide receiver one in

5:22fantasy, the Giants from his rookie season through week four when he got hurt, they were 31st in points per game.

5:2831st. I don't think the Giants are going to be 31st this year in scoring. And if he's going to be out there in week one,

5:36why shouldn't he be next to Dvonte Smith, AJ Brown, the two three turn?

5:39That's where I'm ranking him right now.

5:41And he's been going in round four. I think that this is going to correct really quick.

5:44>> Just to update everyone on the timeline, uh towards ACL and lateral meniscus in week four. Surgery was delayed a month

5:51at that point. Then he had a setback. A second surgery was needed to remove scar tissue that was restricting his rehab.

5:58But it seems like ever since that second surgery, uh, the rehab has been going great despite, you know, videos that we

6:05see on social media, uh, him jocking to first base in a charity softball league.

6:09Like everything's to be seems to be on the right track. And Matt, what you said about he's kind of out of sight, out of

6:15mind because of who he's going around is exactly how I've interpreted, too. like he's going extremely early on Yahoo in comparison to other platforms, but no

6:24matter what, he was being selected around like the the Garrett Wilson's, the Mecha Bukas, T. Higgins, Lad Maki, who we're going to talk about here in a

6:32little bit, many more names. And it's just difficult for me to go into a draft room and say, "Well, until today, all of

6:41the feedback that we've gotten from Malik Neighbors is either mysterious or negative." Whereas, I can paint a really pearly picture of how great these wide

6:50receivers going around him could explode this year and like be the guy that you need in round three or round four. But

6:56now based on this and even if he isn't back to 100%. Uh I have to change that tune completely. And Matt, I think

7:03that's always fun for us to do when we approach July and August because we've been talking about these players since May and had these firm hard stances and

7:10now we have to change them.

7:11>> Yeah. I mean, for like a different example, when we get to talking about Roma Dunes, I don't feel like I've

7:16changed my thought on that at all throughout like since the season ended last year, like that Bears situation, because I we all knew DJ Moore was was

7:24going to, you know, be gone and pretty much nothing has changed from that. This is one where yeah, I'm glad that what I

7:30said in June or May probably doesn't apply to what it is in August, which is which is great because there's nothing

7:36worse than talking about this stuff all offseason and like you said, it's just a metronome of the the entire thing. But I

7:41I do kind of want to just take a step back and talk about neighbors as an individual player for a second because I

7:45think that's >> really the the crux of all of this is that yeah like the names that you mentioned Z Flowers and Amecha Ibuka

7:52good players I like these players this is a guy that is at a different level than that like even Ibuka who was a you

7:58know a first round receiver prospect to me Z Flowers a first round receiver prospect to me like this was a tier

8:03higher of a prospect was Malik Neighbors and he has and I had three guys as tier one prospects in this class and he's the

8:10only one that like slam dunk. No doubt about it. The door is shut. He has been what he's supposed to be in the NFL. And

8:17I would say that he had kind of a dumber role last year than he did [laughter] as as a rookie. And again, it it's hard

8:26Hayden, right? Because he played all like the entirety of the his season last year, which was only a few games, was

8:33with Russell Wilson, so it was very much like the Russell Wilson offense. It's all go routes. I mean, he ran a go route

8:38on 25% of the routes I chartered for him, which was his entire season, because that's what Russell Wilson does.

8:44I came out of his rookie season, and I actually had a conversation with Malik Neighbors after his rookie season, talking about the detail that he takes

8:51to being an after catch player, which I think might be the thing that is is most diminished with him coming back from the

8:56injury, at least to start, but we'll we'll put a pin in that.

8:59>> I was like, this guy's got to have more plays in space in year two than he did in year one. He was in space on 48% of

9:06his catches in year one in reception perception that actually fell to 33%. So it just I I think even and obviously

9:14we're talking about a Matt Naggie offense here which is let's be honest that's tough. At the same time though I think he can be used in some of these

9:21ways where you know look we're two different galaxies of of talents but like the way they've used Rasheed Rice to like get the ball in his hands in the

9:29Kansas City Chiefs offense. We're talking about him in some of those gimmick roles. Neighbors is going to be a different beast. And again, just as a

9:34route runner, he is in a really small select group of players in reception perception at this point. Again, this is a truncated sample. It's not a full

9:43season sample. So, keep that in mind when I say this. But over in the reception perception era, so 2014 to current, these are the only receivers

9:51that I've charted who have taken 30 than 30 fewer than 30% of their sampled snaps in the slot and have cleared the 98th

9:59percentile in success rate versus press coverage.

10:03>> AJ Brown, Devonte Adams, Jamar Chase, Justin Jefferson three times, Odell Beckham three times. And then now this truncated sample for Malik Neighbors.

10:13So, a little bit dangerous to put his name near Odell Beckham considering how his career with the Giants went with injuries and Beckham is currently on the

10:20roster, right?

10:21>> But still, yeah, that's the type of talent we're talking about here.

10:24>> It was kind of fascinating to see him in that role that like every single play was just down the field, but you can see

10:28how fast he is on those reps and we saw in the first year where so much of it was kind of like underneath and some of

10:34it was a little bit more static than I would want and some like back shoulder type of stuff, but nothing like yards

10:38after the catch wise. He's so close to Jamar Chase like when he's fully healthy and Jamar Chase is like literally slot

10:45outside, underneath, over the top, over crossing over the middle, it doesn't matter. He's the best in the league at like all that stuff. I think Malik

10:51Neighbors is like this far below across the board. But I think we're talking about that level of player. And the Giants, let's be honest, they absolutely

10:59have to pepper him with targets this year. Whether he's 80% of himself, 100% of himself, it doesn't matter. Like you just look around the room, okay, there's

11:07nobody else out there. Like the other thing I was going to say, even if we go into this year and he misses week one,

11:13week two, you don't take zeros in your starting lineup. You throw Josh down in your freaking starting lineup and then you wait for Malik Neighbors, you get

11:19some points, and then you keep this thing going. Like I think that I'm glad Matt hit on this, the starting point

11:24that we're talking about when coming back from injury is one of the best wide receivers in the NFL. So, as much as we

11:29like these other guys that he's been going around, like we're hoping they become like 90% of Malik Neighbors, Malik Neighbors, even coming back as 90%

11:37of himself is one of the best wide receivers in the NFL still.

11:40>> So, Hayden, do you think he just totally rebounds from an ADP standpoint and now we'll just go in that cluster of Nico

11:45Collins, George Pickkins, AJ Brown, Devonte Smith?

11:48>> I think it'll be close. I would put him at the end of that tier and let's just like see how the rest of this offseason

11:53goes. I will say Drake London and Nico Collins and AJ Brown are in excellent spots. Like those guys, we're talking about very good players without the ACL.

12:01So, I think it would take a lot for me to get over that hump, >> but I do think like he he should be like

12:07ahead of Dvonte Smith. Like Dante Smith's a really good football player, but like he has like environmental issues that will be pretty hard to

12:14overcome himself.

12:15>> Yeah. Just to close this one in that three and a half game sample that we got last year, there might have been one

12:20snap where he kind of was given manufactured space. was against the Washington Commanders where he motioned from the left at the snap to the right

12:27into a stack that gives him, you know, natural space to work in. Uh, this corner is terrified and then just with

12:36his selling from a route standpoint, uh, creates even more separation. Like this is why we talk about pre- snap motion and especially into stacks because if

12:45you give that to elite players, not only do you give them again space immediately, then they create even more separation on top of it. Uh, and then he

12:52went after the catch, he created another five yards after it. Um, and Matt, you already answered my final question, which is going to be I know reception

12:58perception has gone back multiple years of Matt Naggie offenses, like what type of player and what can the the utilization be like

13:08for this type of player in a Matt Naggi offense? Uh, and is there any optimism for that?

13:13>> I mean, I I don't have a lot of optimism for the Matt Naggie offense. No, >> shout out.

13:19>> I I do. And by the way, I do think that matters a lot when it comes to the run game and talking about, you know, Cam

13:24Scataboo and and Tyron Tracy and these guys is that >> we can be honest and Matt Naggie was a fallback plan for them. They thought

13:30Todd Mckin was going to be their offensive coordinator and then obviously he's Cleveland head coach. So I think it pretty much is going to be, you know,

13:36Matt Naggie runs the pass game and Greg Roman runs the run game. I don't still don't love that though. Like the the

13:42Chiefs pass game is was the one of the least enjoyable to watch over the last couple of years. So, we'll see what that

13:49looks like. But yeah, no doubt um neighbors can fit in that sort of create a touch after catch, you know, create

13:55space for these guys. If there's one thing this offense does still do well, it is create horizontal space for their players. Um and I do kind of I mean I

14:04like Malachi Fields enough as like even just a you know kind of a power player and a little bit of a sacrificial guy.

14:09So I I think it would be nice if he emerged as the second receiver here.

14:12>> All right, as you guys can tell this is going to be a long episode, but we have to do it. We got a deep dive. So, buckle

14:17up, get comfortable, maybe grab some popcorn, and uh while you're doing that, hit subscribe. This is a whole new era for us here at Yahoo. We're super

14:26excited. Uh Matt, we're like 90% done with the inseason schedule on top of, you know, going four days a week until

14:32the season starts. And there's going to be quite a lot of crossover. So, subscribe to this channel and obviously subscribe to uh Matt's channel down

14:40below. It'll be in the description down below. Okay, let's jump to it. Lad Mananki the ninth pick of the fourth round on Yahoo right now. That's wide

14:48receiver 18 at this point. Uh and that's despite finishing last year as the wide receiver 35 in half PPR points per game.

14:56Simple question, Matt. Is this the perfect scheme to for him to level up in?

15:00>> I mean I think he'd be great in any scheme, but yeah, totally. This works out for me. Um, this is another one

15:04where I haven't really changed my opinion based on what I kind of thought going into the offseason, which is just like this to me is the most obvious

15:12bounceback candidate in the NFL this year at the wide receiver position because like I go back and watch Lad Mani last year. We know what the

15:20offensive line was. We know that Keenan Allen was soaking up the, you know, safety blanket, the binky targets there for for Justin Herbert when he's playing

15:28in chaos. And by the way, like I don't know, Keenan gets talked about like he's just complete dust. Like he can still

15:34play Alabama. He's not he's not peak Keenan Allen. He had been pee Keenan Allen for quite some time, but there's this is why receiver decline is just so

15:41tricky that sometimes it is just right off the cliff. But other guys age very gracefully and kind of plateaued at some

15:47point. I think Keenan has plateaued here a little bit obviously, but still a useful player. So, it's not as if like,

15:53oh, you know, 50-year-old Keenan Allen came and took Vlad Maki's lunch as as it's kind of getting painted on fantasy Twitter. But anyways, point about Maki

16:00like I go back and watch him. I don't really think he did anything wrong other than like his contested catch work was,

16:05you know, yeah, that's always going to be volatile. Like some mistakes at the catch point this year, especially for a guy like him. I I think that's totally

16:12excusable. But as a separator, still just as good as he was most critically like where he wins as a route runner is

16:19in those big breaking routes in the intermediate area, which is that's going to be a lot of what this offense wants

16:24to do out of heavy personnel packages.

16:26He wins against man, he wins against zone. I still think he's a great vertical slot player as well. So 87th percentile in success rate versus manto

16:35zone in press coverage this year. Clears all those numbers. Uh was just as good as a rookie as well. So to me, I I think

16:42he's somebody that is an obvious bounceback candidate. He's a great fit in this scheme. It's just how high do you want to take him in fantasy is the

16:48question based on again a really good group of receivers that I like a lot of these picks here, but he is certainly

16:54one of them.

16:54>> Yeah, I think the two biggest things were definitely the Keenan Allen almost like in a rebounder role like third and

17:00six like throw it to him at the sticks and like go break a tackle was kind of the Keenan Allen role and it was fairly

17:04effective. And then the big thing was the catchable ball rate went from 78% down to 67%. If you look at the

17:11downfield intermediate targets specifically um they were just like I mean he it was like unacceptable and like a lot of that Herbert was like

17:19running at the line of scrimmage running away from guys and like those balls had like just no chance. Um I will say the

17:25one thing that happened with Vlad Makon I thought like by himself just isolating him was was the contested catch stuff.

17:31uh 57% uh as a rookie, three of 14 last year.

17:36There's some times where I thought players were kind of playing through him and obviously I had his size that's always going to be something, but as a

17:42rookie he was like doing like an Antonio Brown impression uh for a while there and I was like, well, if he's going to

17:47do this >> kind of fooled us during his rookie year because I thought at Georgia some of the contested catch stuff was a bit hit or

17:52miss, >> right? But like Matt says, like that comes and goes and I think that he's not going to have to be put in those

17:57situations because of the scheme. uh he's not gonna probably run as many downfield routes because they're getting that from Quinton Johnson, but the

18:05intermediate stuff hopefully some more quick hitters and stuff. I think that that type of target is going to come back up. I'm in the fourth round. The

18:12only thing I was in the back of my mind is they sometimes will rotate all the personnel grouping and stuff like would

18:18they ever take Lad McConi off the field for a couple plays for like Trey Harris stuff? That's probably overthinking things. I think he's in that same

18:24cluster as you know Amecha, Guka, Garrett Wilson, that type of tier. I would take him over Luther Burden, but I think Ladam Con is still one of the

18:31better wide receivers in the in the league.

18:33>> Yeah, you just went through all those names. I mean, I really think that this area of the draft might be the most

18:38exciting section for wide receivers. Uh I want all of them and really you can only take two of them at most. And

18:45that's frustrating. Really frustrating.

18:47We can just list stats of why the environment and how the environment collapsed around him. You guys talked about Justin Herbert running for his

18:54life. Apparently, Lad Maki ran a league high 95 pass routes without a pass attempt coming on the play due to sacks,

19:01scramles, and throwaways. Uh, after Joe Alt's injury, this is according to Rich Rebar. Lad averaged 2.7 catches for 38 yards per game. Again, we know that the

19:13environment just totally collapsed this past season, but man, when I went back and watched, it's just what you said, Matt, where you can just visualize it in

19:21this offense working out so well. Like there was this play, multiple plays against the Chiefs where they weren't necessarily putting heavier bodies on

19:27the field, but they were doing condensed splits with like Darius Davis and Keenan Allen staying in and Chel helping, but it was Quinton Johnson running for love

19:36of the game down the field and then here comes Lad Mananki underneath it. And both were like technically downfield routes, but it's in that cavern of space

19:45between the linebackers and in front of the safeties. And those inb breakers from Lad are diabolical, you know? I mean, the way he

19:53>> cuts inside and then if it's zone, just settles in and finds space and has these little nuance movements to stay in a

20:00string with Justin Herbert. Oh, it's so good. It's so good. I don't think he's great after the catch. I think he kind

20:05of inherited a little bit of Tyler Lockett syndrome of falling down and preserving his body, but that's okay.

20:10Um, he doesn't have to be great in everything, but man, I just think he can be the featured player that Mike

20:16McDaniel moves around and gets advantageous looks for and space for and he's going to maximize it even more in the system. Tyler Lockett's actually

20:24like kind of the devil's advocate like warning if you want to be out on Lad Mcconkey this year just because number

20:31one that was actually my player comparison for him as a prospect was I thought he would be Tyler Lockett and by

20:35the way Tyler Lockett was awesome but you know you mentioned the injuries like that's one thing with Lad just I mean

20:41he's even in his rookie season he's like scraping himself up off the field you know like putting his body back together

20:48like a you know a doll or something after getting hit and smacked in some of these intermediate inb breaking routes which will definitely happen in this

20:55role and I could see a world where you know you mentioned Hayden like they rotate in a Trey Harris for run blocking

21:02work just to give him like a breather and obviously then you're going to run some routes you're going to do play

21:06action you know Brennan Thompson like some of these guys just to preserve Vlad Maki's body so I think that's when you're trying to break ties in favor of

21:14like an AMC Ibuka or Lad Makanki like I do think I could see like a 140 target season for Ibuka more so than Manki

21:22But I mean, yeah, the efficiency could be there for Lad and and there's no question that he shares a lot of

21:27variables. I know I mean I I said this at Feb in February, so I'm not just copying everybody else. Like there are a

21:32lot of variables here and like the breakout season that JSN had last year.

21:37There's a lot of variables that they carry over from Maki as well.

21:40>> Yeah, I think if he stays healthy, he's going to be a total baller. I think the the snaps might be a little bit less

21:44than some of the other guys we're talking about and maybe some of the targets just just because like they don't run three wide receiver sets like

21:51pretty much at all. I think they were 29.

21:52>> Isn't that a good thing? Like you know the show we did with Ryan Heath where I think the Chargers are going to be one

21:58of the teams that leans into heavier personnels and not necessarily three tight ends, but you know they brought in a fullback on top of it that has history

22:05here. And so if there are more tight ends on the field, isn't that a good thing for the wide receivers to get

22:11things funneled in their direction?

22:12>> It's like a pro and a con. It's easier to earn a target. All the yards per route numbers are higher, play action

22:17targets are better, and at the same time, if you lose four routes per game because they have to get Trey Harris on

22:21those, then like you aren't even on the field. So I think it comes out to a wash. I think he's pro uh properly

22:26priced. I thought he's a little bit better after the catch maybe than you thought, Josh. I think there's a lot of

22:30like kind of Olay stop start uh like kind of jitterbug aspect to that. I like the best days of him is like almost like

22:38the Antonio Brown for a half second. The hard part is Antonio Brown stayed healthy for so long. He was so physical.

22:44He like was able to withstand things. I think he was more powerful than Vlad Makoni and stuff. So I think >> Tyler Lockett is I think a pretty

22:51reasonable floor for him. I I do think there's like maybe one level above that in terms of like being kind of a focal

22:58point of an offense that he can hit, but um he's next to all the guys that you could say that about.

23:02>> All of them. I want all of them. One final note here from Reeves. Uh Lad Makkey's early down target share last

23:08year was basically ident identical to his rookie season, but his target share on third downs was 18.4% and that was down 7% from his rookie year. And that

23:18was all Keen Allen stuff. I mean, Keen Allen had like a 35% or something target share on third down. So I I I do wonder

23:25who is getting that work because as we saw last year, not just on third downs, but just overall that Tyreek Hill and

23:30Jaylen Wadd were both top 13 in yards per route.

23:35Not bad for this offense. All right, >> we move on to Roma, the ninth pick of the sixth round on Yahoo right now. That

23:43is wide receiver 28. And he actually finished last year, I think I did the math correctly, as wide receiver 23 in

23:50points per game. certainly doesn't fit the narrative of him this off seasonason. So Matt, leading into that, people on every single platform are

23:58certain that Luther Burton will outperform Robo Dunay. Are you? No. I mean, I think the gap between these two guys like doesn't make any sense to me.

24:09And a lot of the And I, by the way, I will not participate in the culture war of like you have to hate one and love

24:15the other. All right. I I like both of these players. It's unfortunately just like the ADP market right now does kind

24:22of force you to make a really hard choice on Luther Burton when he's in that group of receivers that we really

24:26really like and Dunay just goes so much later and I just think a lot of the reasons to fade Roma Dunay just don't

24:33really stand up to merit to me. Um you know number one great great player. I mean I think he is really he's not been

24:42perfect. I'm not going to say he's been blameless. Like he had really big problems at the catch point last year, which based on his prospect profile and

24:49even based on his rookie season were kind of shocking to me. Um, you know, he just made a lot of mistakes there. And I

24:54do think the injury compounded that. A conversation I had with him in February of this past year where he had talked

25:00about it was less of like the physical problems coming back from the injury and like he didn't feel as much, you know,

25:07like himself and from a movement perspective. it was more about like the timing and rhythm within a very timing and rhythm detailed-based offense that

25:16he kind of felt like he fell out of rhythm with the quarterback and that was where some of those contested catch

25:22issues even got worse once he got back from the injury. So that's that's something that he like you got to start

25:29there and say he needs to just be better at the catch point period. End of story, no question about it in year three. That

25:35being said, like as from a separation standpoint, he's unbelievable. like this guy gets open open especially against press man coverage and there's just no

25:43question that he's the best receiver on the roster doing that and he definitely was a little bit worse like I don't love

25:49to split up the numbers you know but I I have done it a decent chunk this year for some of these guys because there is

25:54like context worth pointing out here he was definitely better before the injury which tracks with the production too when he was incredibly uh productive to

26:02start the year like that's one of the things I I I find a little bizarre that people like well Ben Johnson inherited

26:07Roma Dunay Yeah, he inherited Roman Dunes and then proceeded to run his entire passing game through Roman Dun in the first eight weeks of the season

26:13before he suffered a foot fracture. So, um he's just such a tantalizing talent, can sink and separate in the intermediate area and like what number

26:21one receivers are doing in the NFL right now. He's not going to get the same like Mickey Mouse touches and like create a

26:27touch stuff that Luther Burton will because Burton's much much better with the ball in his hands. I think objectively better in that area, but

26:33like making explosive plays like Ben Johnson is all about making explosive plays. And Roma Dunay is not running like a bunch of nine routes either. He's

26:42not he's not this sacrificial exceiver.

26:44He's moving around pre- snap running as the Z receiver and running these big breaking outs and digs. That's where the most of his route tree is. And that's

26:52what that's like the first read stuff in this offense. So, um you know, again, you don't have to hate Burden to like

26:57Adun, but Adun goes too low. like people are way too down on him based on his film last year when he was healthy.

27:03>> I have a dunes ranked ahead of Luther Burton. I feel good about that and I saw the same thing with Rome is this is not

27:10like some static exceiver nonsense that we're frustrated about. Like he's in motion running at full speed. He's really fast for somebody as big as he is

27:17could tap the brakes and and break either way. Uh [snorts] he's not going to be like Mr. Stop start in terms of

27:23after the catch like you said. That's totally fine. I think that he's got the most potential to be dunking on players

27:28versus like uh Luther Burden. And I thought the two biggest things were, like you said, the catch point stuff is just like has to get better, but

27:35hopefully that gets better. And then the catchable ball rate slash kind of chemistry and zone coverage kind of all that blends together there. He was 73rd

27:43out of 79 wide receivers in catchable ball rate over the last two seasons.

27:47That comes at the six highest average depth of target. I think a lot of that's just because he's not going to get some

27:51of the screens. He's like that intermediate guy but put into advantageous situations and his numbers were actually pretty good. Wide receiver

27:5918 in usage, wide receiver 22 in targets per game.

28:04>> He just has to be more efficient and I think a lot of that is just like Caleb Rome got to get on the same page.

28:10>> Make those catch the ball, you know, catch the freaking football. That would be nice. But we're talking about a top

28:1510 pick here. I think that he's pretty well-rounded. uh as long as he kind of makes these kind of improvements. So,

28:23he's one of the guys that going into this I had like the most questions about and then after sitting there and

28:28watching it, I'm like I can really see the the vision where he's he's like multiple rounds too low. I think he can

28:34be like priced in the second or third round next year after a huge season. I still want Coulson Level the most, but

28:40Roma Dun is a really good player.

28:42>> Yeah. Not just reddraft. I think Roma Dunce is an awesome dynasty buy right now because his stock might not be any

28:47lower than it is right now because of all the focus on Luther Burton and Coulson Lovelund as secondyear players.

28:53I'm with you. I mean his body control for his size I really think is sensational. So smooth on those easy outbreakers and post cuts and

29:00everything. It's just like almost every single fingertip catch after the buy just went against him, you know? and then over a quarter of his pass attempts

29:12in his direction over the final eight games were just purely inaccurate. This does leave me with a question and it might be an unanswerable question. Uh

29:20I'm going to ask it anyways. Five touchdowns over the opening four games, then the by-week and then obviously we know about what the left foot stress

29:28fracture and planer fasciitis and everything. Leaves me this question, Matt. Does the end of season performances matter more than the beginning when we're just talking about

29:36fantasy players at all? because I feel like that determines where players end up going in our final like the taste in our

29:45mouths from them. And should it like should it >> at all? I mean, I've seen other folks do the research on this, so like maybe I'm

29:53speaking out of turn, but I don't think there's been any correlation between like how you finish the season and like what happens next year. Um, certainly

29:58sometimes like I obviously the the offense is fundamentally different now that Burton and Lovelin have both emerged. Um, so I don't know that like

30:07like Roman Jun pacing to be like a top five fantasy receiver like he was last year. That was probably always going to

30:12take a step back once we introduce these two young and really talented players.

30:17Um, but yeah, I do think that the the way the season ends always carries way too much weight as we're projecting into

30:24the next year when like the full body of work, especially when we're talking about a guy that did suffer a serious

30:30injury and I don't want to just yada yada through the injury either. you know, he makes the >> new new normal comment or whatever. And

30:36like it's just funny, you know, if he never says that, we probably are not sitting here having like that that conversation at all when like Tedo

30:43McMillan, no one talks about his foot injury and he like missed a ch a huge chunk of the offseason with it. Um, but

30:49yeah, man, I I I think that it's definitely worth investigating that part of it and and the way the season ended,

30:55but you know, still got back out there.

30:57I think still made a couple of plays in the playoffs. You know, Luther Burton didn't make any plays in the playoffs.

31:01So, um, I do think that's just worth noting like this is a really good player attached to a good off. I actually think

31:06the way I've thought about this and I'm curious if you guys feel the same way or think this makes sense. I think if you

31:11are if you want to really bet on Caleb Williams not getting any better, like he's just what he was last year, which

31:17is not the bet that I want to make. I think that does lead you into Luther Burden a lot because he's gonna get like

31:21the easy button touches and stuff and you know Roman Dun will still continue to have this like low catchable ball rate and all this stuff because he's

31:28just running the big boy routes like he's running the harder stuff.

31:31>> At the same time, I also think that there's just no way that Luther Burton can have the role that he did last year.

31:37He won't be used that way. So then a lot of the kind of per route stuff is is going to change and everything. So it's

31:42a really interesting discussion between these two guys. But yeah, if Williams doesn't improve at all, then yeah, you can do the the create a touch gimmicky

31:50things, but that's not what this offense wants to do and it's not the way they used their players last year.

31:54>> Last note I had in the red zone, it was Coulson Love and Roma Dunay over 20% target share. Luther Burton was at 8%

32:01and then if you look at those targets that he got for for Luther Burton, 30% of those were screens. So like in terms

32:08of just like normal drop back throwing the ball into the end zone, it was very rarely Luther Burden last obviously that's as a rookie, but to me that makes

32:15sense. Roman Dun, Coulson, Leland, like have proven players that they can dunk on you if you look at their college tape. So, I I do think that the upside

32:23belongs to those two guys the most. Like you said, Matt, if Caleb, you know, throws more catchable targets. Like it was just shocking how many times he just

32:32straight up missed guys.

32:33>> Yeah. Yeah. Totally. Uh just on Yahoo, Luther Burn is going as the ninth pick of the fifth round and Rome is the 10th

32:39pick of the sixth round. So again, we have over a round difference between the two. All right, next. Marvin Harrison Jr., sixth pick of the seventh round at

32:50this point as wide receiver, 31. He finished last season as wide receiver 40 in points per game. Matt, I've known you

32:59for a very long time, like over a decade, maybe like two decades nearly at this point. It's crazy. Uh >> yeah,

33:05>> I would not call you an optimist in regards to everything. I'm just being kind here. Uh, but with receivers, >> we'll unpack that later.

33:13>> I I'd [laughter] say you typically lean on the optimistic side. So, does that even apply here to Marvin Harrison Jr.?

33:21>> Yeah, I I will admit like I'm a pretty full-blown like Marvin Harrison Jr.

33:27apologist while also admitting that he has not obviously been the player that he was supposed to be. Like I think you

33:33can hold two opinions in in your head at one time and that he's been a disappointment relative to he was the

33:39best prospect I think I've evaluated since the since Jamar Chase. Uh he went fourth overall. His name is freaking Marvin Harrison Jr. and I think he's

33:48been a disappointment relative to those expectations. Well, he's also not as bad as what he has been painted to be. And

33:56like some of that is his relationship with the the quarterback was not, you know, with Kyler Murray. Just to me, like and I said this to to Nate Ty on

34:03301 like the very beginning of this past season. I was like Drew Petting, Kyler Murray, and Marvin Harrison Jr. They just like all need to get away from each

34:11other. Like they could I actually don't think that >> again, you got your wish. Well, now they're all away from each [laughter]

34:16other obviously, which is we'll see how that goes. Um, but like I don't think that Ping's offense was like abhorrent or offensive. And I don't think like

34:25Kyler Murray is a, you know, total clown, but they just didn't all work together. I think they will find more success away from each other for a

34:33variety of different reasons, but I think obviously Harrison's role, it's it's just very traditional static exceer.

34:42I think he is still like a misunderstood player for for kind of like the guy he's supposed to be. he can have like some

34:49real dunk on you exceiver moments, but like we we launched a new player comparison tool on the reception perception site this off seasonason. And

34:57if you go back and look at Marvin Harrison Jr.'s rookie year when he was a little bit healthier than he was this

35:01past year where he had just a ton of weird stuff going on, >> he has like three Calvin Ridley comps, you know, in his top comparables because

35:08he's more of that like nuanced route runner and makes mistakes at the catch point just like just like Calvin does at

35:14times. Um, so yeah, I think like that's kind of the more of the player he should be and I do think he'll be better

35:19deployed in this offense, but like flat out people think that he can't separate or he doesn't get open. Totally disagree. Strong separator in particular

35:28areas while there are still some areas for growth as well.

35:30>> I thought last year he was stacking guys vertically more often than he did as a rookie. Uh, I thought like speed wasn't

35:36necessarily like the thing that was kind of holding him back. It was >> I mean the drops were just like >> they were like really badly timed. some

35:44of the most hilariously bad drops here.

35:47I mean, the the one week four against the Seahawks terrible >> was just like the d like the the most ridiculous drop of the entire football

35:55season. And by the way, I think he kind of and he even said something like this recently where he says like, "Yeah, I

35:59don't even look at the positives. I only look at the negative." I'm like, there's like something to that, you know, with

36:04that whole the way that game played out for him. So, that's something to keep in mind.

36:08>> There was like some like open like I don't know if the sun was in his eyes drops where like he was like standing

36:12there and like just like dropped the football. It was it was just a mess at the catch point uh with him. Once again,

36:17he's way too good to be doing that. I'm assuming that that stuff's going to get better. He's going to catch the ball

36:22cleaner than that. I see it the same way. I think he does create separation.

36:26I don't think that he's like some superstar in the making. I think he's going to end up being a really nice

36:31football player. I think that you can throw him at the exceiver and survive if you want to play in like the traditional

36:36role. I do think there's more that he can do there. At the same time, career 1% screen rate for him. I'm not sure if

36:43he's like so like jitter buggy that you have to be like throwing him the ball tackles in his career according to PFF.

36:50That's it.

36:51>> That's that's the ultimate holdup is he's going to be a better real life receiver than >> a fantasy player. Especially when you

36:59have Trey McBride who's a complete alien working over the middle and like you should be throwing that guy the ball.

37:05And then now this year now you have Jeremiah Love. So I think after doing all this I was like he's a nice player.

37:11Like no doubt about it. He's a nice player and I'm concerned by the offense.

37:16The quarterback talent is so much lower than his skill competition. Michael Wilson's a real player now. Jeremiah Love is going to get the ball at a time

37:25Trey McBride where I'm still coming out of this. I'm like I wanted to like him more, but I just don't see like the

37:30gimme stuff really applying to him enough to like overcome the fact that he's been the wide receiver 40 uh this last season or two. It's got to be the

37:39most times we've or like the highest ranked fantasy players in ADP for a team that is projected to win three and a

37:46half games.

37:46>> It's not gonna end well. Like it's just it's not going to end well at all.

37:50>> It's not going to end well. And yet at the same time, and Josh, your um you know, accusations here about me not

37:57being an optimist, they're gonna you're going to fly in the face of what I'm about to say. I really think like

38:03Laflur's offense from a schematic standpoint is gonna do a do so much good for all of these guys. Yeah. And I mean

38:10just like the complete lack of motion, especially motion at the snap for these players. I mean >> never >> like that's that never in the like

38:18that's fine. The Cardinals offense is just like under petting was pretty traditional, but it's pretty traditional for like what was going on in the NFL 10

38:25years ago. And now you got, you know, like what I think Lafleur is going to be able to do for these guys just to blur

38:30the line between like when Marvin Harris Jr. was an ex receiver for this team the last two years. It's like yeah, he was

38:35an receiver like outside boundary on the ball. Like that's it. But even just getting a guy like shoot they had Greg

38:41Dorch on the roster like like what Jimmy Horn Jr. was doing for like the the Panthers with Tedo McMillan last year

38:47where he's still the outside on ball receiver but he's you know cutting across behind him and and creating leverage for Tedoa to break inside like

38:55that that that stuff will happen this year in this offense which it's going to make it a cool like NFL pro watch it

39:01back on film offense but I mean obviously unless Jacobe Brassette is just going to run back the tank commander stuff from last year

39:08>> it's going to be tough >> for a team that is projected 32nd and is favored in zero games to open the

39:16season. Uh >> zero.

39:18>> This team has [laughter] on Yahoo on Yahoo a second round pick and Trey McBride a round two three turn pick and

39:26Jeremiah Love. I just mentioned the Marvin Harrison Jr. is a seventh round pick and then Michael Wilson's an eighth round pick.

39:33>> Yeah, >> that's like Michael Wilson's good. Like he's good.

39:37>> He mogged Marvin Harrison Jr. at the end of last I mean, I I know Marvel wasn't playing, but like just in terms of

39:42production and overall, again, final taste in our mouth, uh, yeah, I think you could say that how Michael Wilson ended the season was the most impressive

39:52a Cardinals wide receiver has looked over the last two years. Um, which honestly made me even more angry because my whole thing, you know, with with this

40:01whole situation was like, why is it always just Michael Wilson at Z and and Marvin Harrison at X? when Michael Wilson can very clear like again you go

40:08look at the comps for him it's all like T. Higgins like ex receivers and stuff like that just so I I and I think they

40:14used more interchangeably here but yeah sorry sorry to cut you off but god this is that was so that almost it was so

40:20frustrating because I like Michael Wilson and they just completely they but then you talk about like Marv when he was in the game he was like target mogs

40:27>> Michael Wilson [laughter] it just like it just makes no sense.

40:30>> Yeah. And look, I would love just for my sanity to have 17 games of Jacobe Brassette, but we're not going to get

40:37that. You know, Carson Beck's going to get starts this year. The Cardinal schedule is the Chargers, Seahawks, 49ers, Giants, Lions, Rams, Broncos,

40:45Cowboys, Seahawks, Rams, Chiefs, Commanders, and Eagles before their week 14 buy.

40:49>> Um, sweet.

40:50>> It's rough.

40:51>> Yeah, we're going to see Beck and like third round rookies in the fantasy playoffs is like it's just not going to

40:56be pretty. By the way, the history of having like three uh pass catchers in the top 100 is already really bad. Like

41:03unless you have like a a truly elite like the Joe Burrow with Tyler Boyd offenses, we're not getting that. Like multiple of these guys are going to bust

41:12>> at ADP. Um I'm really nervous about the Trey McBride stuff in round two. Like I would not >> I wouldn't touch. Nope.

41:18>> Uh I still I don't think I could recommend Marv even if I went into this.

41:22I'm like he's a little bit better than I thought he was after sitting there and just watching him in isolation. So,

41:25here's here's how here's how I've advised like how I'm gonna handle the the Marvin Harrison Jr. situation. If you can if you can't tell, like I'm pot

41:33committed to Marv uh like >> forever forever.

41:37>> So, like if he has a great season this year, I'm going to feel like joy from that regardless. I don't need to sit

41:43here for the next month and on on our podcasts now, guys, and tell people to draft Marvin Harrison Jr. in fantasy and

41:49then when he doesn't do anything, like they're pissed [clears throat] at me.

41:52So, because that's the most likely outcome here. Uh, so yeah, I think if Marv is good this year, we can all just

41:57enjoy it. It doesn't need to help our fantasy teams.

41:59>> He is going backtoback in consensus rankings out there from experts. Uh, with Roma and >> Yeah. every time. Easy.

42:08>> The two could not be more different. And I don't know if you guys agree or disagree. I almost want to take like a

42:14mystery box and Carnell Tate above Marvin Harrison Jr. this year.

42:19>> I don't know. [laughter] >> Give me another name. I literally have them back to back at like the end of

42:26that tier. Yeah.

42:27>> And I'm a little worried Carnell Tate's going to get target mogged by Wando Robinson with the cheapies, but that's a

42:33for another podcast.

42:34>> Just just how the consensus rankings are going, it's Marv, then Carnell Tate, then Alec Pierce, DK Metaf, and then actually brings us to our next name in

42:42Brian Thomas Jr. who's the eighth pick in the eighth round over on Yahoo.

42:46That's wide receiver 36. He finished last year, as we all know, as the wide receiver of 45 in points per game.

42:54You know, one of the questions of fantasy draft season is how are the Jags going to deploy their wide receivers? So

43:01for you, Matt, from week 10 on after Jacobe Meyers was added to this roster, where did and does Brian Thomas Jr. fit

43:09in that group?

43:10>> I kind of think we do need to throw out most of, if not all, of Brian Thomas Jr.'s 2025 season due to injuries. You

43:18know, uh, and by the way, that's just a theme with like all of these guys. with Marv. I mean, he had

43:23>> appendicitis, a concussion, and then the heel injury. Uh, all of course after Kyler Murray gets benched, classic. Uh, but yeah, I mean,

43:32>> Rome injuries to like some of the guys we haven't even talked about yet. Just tons of injuries. So, it's a theme for

43:37this entire class and why I think drafters in fantasy right now just aren't looking at these 2024 receivers when they should be. And Dynasty Bros

43:45like should be buying these guys because they've just left a bad taste in everyone's mouth. And that that includes Brian Thomas Jr., But I think if you

43:52want to just look at what his season was last year in isolation, like there were a couple of things you even in this

43:59fantastic rookie season >> where we can be honest, >> he did go crazy in the back half when everybody else was hurt and they were a

44:06lost team and M. Jones is throwing passes. That doesn't mean that like he can't produce for Trevor Lawrence, but even in this great rookie season, you

44:13could nitpick a couple of things, which primarily was like running quick routes over the middle of the field and beating zone coverage consistently. And those

44:21became like two massive issues that defined his entire second season as a rookie. 77% success rate versus zone coverage, which was 38th percentile

44:30mark, but for his arc, it's not the worst thing in the world. That falls down to se 69.8% 8% this past year,

44:36which is just like a mess uh for ter in terms of success rate versus zone. Um I I I think that that can get better with

44:45health. You know, he said it doesn't hurt to run anymore in OTAAS, which is encouraging. So, it really does come down to the role for him. And that's

44:53where I get kind of like I can go both ways on this Brian Thomas Jr. situation because theoretically like if this is a

45:00team that's running more heavy personnel, if this is a team that's going to have a receiver rotation, to me like the base case for what's going to

45:06happen in Jacksonville this year is going to look very similar to the Green Bay Packers where it's a bunch of guys

45:10rotating in and out and they still play heavy personnel and they want to run the football a decent bit. Well, the guy

45:14that ends up playing the most there is usually like Romeo Dobs because he was the ex receiver and like BTJ should be

45:19the team's ex receiver. And I think we've gotten to a point, and this is partly my fault with because of saying

45:24sacrificial exceiver where like people have begun to think like being an ex- receiver is bad. Like no, you want to be

45:30you want to have an awesome ex receiver and BTJ theoretically could be that.

45:34Even last year while he's having this nightmare season, still solid results as a man press beater, just more so on the

45:41vertical plane, not the stuff going over the middle of the field. But um I I think he can still be a really valuable

45:47player for Jacksonville in that role.

45:49and even exceivers in this offense, you know, if you like Mike Evans in 2024, if he just has Mike Evans's route tree in a

45:56Liam Cohen offense, >> I think that's good enough to not be like a sacrificial player, you know. So, um I I'm actually totally comfortable

46:03drafting him in fantasy this year because I think if somebody's going to be a big hit from this room, it's going

46:08to be BTJ, but I don't know how many universes that he is that big hit.

46:11>> Yeah, you kind of are the Robert Oppenheimer of the Sacrificial X wide receiver narrative.

46:16>> Yeah. What have I done? I have. Yeah, I know. Look, look what happened to him and look what happened to you. I mean,

46:21here you are.

46:21>> We'll see what happens.

46:22>> We'll see how it goes for me. [laughter] >> Go ahead, Aiden.

46:26>> Uh, [snorts] no spoilers. I haven't seen it yet. Uh, the [laughter] >> Okay, >> dude. Even I've seen Oppenheimer and I

46:34haven't seen anything.

46:35>> Oh, go to the movies. It's insane. Uh, I have to watch this tape. The thing with Brian Thomas is he's going to catch the

46:42ball cleaner than he did last year. I just think part of the thing was just getting absolutely obliterated, hurt his wrist in the preseason. and that caught

46:48up to him. Uh, and >> but I don't think he's going to have the same role that he had as the rookie

46:53season like you guys said just because of the surrounding parts to some of the rotation that could come into play here.

46:58So last year he was the wide receiver at 37 in expected points. I think it's a good baseline. Here's the thing where I

47:05think could get better for him. I think he can still be a really good player and like outproduce that. And speaking like

47:10the Packers guys when you said that I know he's going to play a lot like the Dobs ro like role like on the line of

47:16scrimmage but I do think that he can have like a Christian Watson type of season if things go well. He has to get

47:22a lot better at that. He's got to play a little bit faster. So some of the notes that I had is last year he only had

47:28eight receptions against man coverage. I think that plays in he was just like not himself. The year before that like almost tripled that number and he was

47:36winning down the football field. There were some slant wins after the catch which we did not see at all this last

47:41season. I just get a little bit concerned that all the manufactured stuff is just like not going to go to him anymore. Uh under five air yards he

47:50had three and a half targets two years ago. This last year that was down at 1.3.

47:56So screen rate went from 11% down to 1%.

47:59I thought he was really good in the screen manufacturer department. I'm just not sure if we're going to get that because Parker W

48:03>> I think Parker's getting it.

48:05>> Yeah, Parker's gonna get a lot of that.

48:07They do that stuff with Tutin. Brennan Strange was kind of absorbing not the exact manufactured touches but like in that general parts of the field. Jacobe

48:14Meyers can kind of do that thing.

48:15Obviously Travis Hunter. So >> it's kind of the middle ground between the two seasons. I I feel really good that he's going to be way better in

48:23isolation. I just don't think that the the role is going to necessarily come with him. Boom bust wide receiver three.

48:29Like to me this like a classic uh fantasy archetype. He >> he can absolutely outperform this ADP. I mean, when you have and finish with an

48:3618.1 A dot over what, the final seven, eight games of the season, if those hit and you run hot, then yeah, I mean,

48:45those are massive points. You're going to have >> massive weeks on top of it. At the same time, I firmly do believe like we have

48:52seen already the best fantasy output from Brian Thomas Jr. in the NFL. And I know we're already entering his year three and that's a very short time in

49:01his NFL career, but like what we saw at the end of his rookie season that forced us to draft him at the one-two turn, I

49:07just don't know if we're going to see that in this version of the Liam Cohen offense because the room is so stacked

49:12and just how they utilized BTJ at the end of last year. And again, it's a small sample. We are working with small

49:18samples here, but at the same time, this is the entire supporting cast that's returning on top of actually drafting a tight end in round two that's going to

49:25allow them to play more heavier personnel sets. But getting back to it, Brian Thomas Jr. ranked third among these receivers on the team in terms of

49:34the targets from week 10 on, 17% of his routes, 21% for Jacobe Myers, 25 and a half percent for uh Parker Washington.

49:43Are you mentioning an 18 AOT a 1.35 yards per route run? 36% of his targets in that span were 20 plus 20 plus yards

49:50down the field. I just think like from an environmental standpoint, the crossing routes mill the field that fringe on down the field but are more

49:58intermediate is such a focal point for Liam Cohen. And we discussed why, but BTJ was such like a a ne negative in that area of the

50:09field that going out and getting Jacobe and now the emergence of Parker Washington and also Britain Strange in that area just makes him like so much

50:17lower in that totem pole that he's still going to have routes on this team, but I just think like he's not even close to

50:24being uh a funnel type player that he was and we were hoping to at this point last year.

50:29>> Yeah, I I think that's right. At the same time, like we just mentioned Harrison and Carnell Tate, like I would

50:34take the shot on BTJ over those guys.

50:37And I and I like Harrison. I think I might rather have Harrison and Dynasty just on the the chance that they fall

50:43into a quarterback in next year's draft, which they probably could. Um, but yeah, BTJ tough. I But at the same time, like

50:50if there's a big hit from this room, I think it will be BTJ. But I don't know that there's going to be a big hit from

50:54this room because like Travis Hunter is still going to run at least like 20% of the routes, maybe more than that. You

50:58know, I I just like it's going to be very rotationheavy base, the whole deal.

51:01So, we'll we'll see.

51:03>> I've been listening to the Jaguars reporters because we have to. It's like the >> the number one thing between the

51:07backfield and the receiver mix for for the all of training camp. They think that Travis Hunter is going to play like

51:12infinitely more snaps at corner. And one of the reporters even thinks that like CJ Williams might play more snaps than Travis Hunter and that Travis Hunter is

51:20like only going to play a little bit of wide receiver. The more I kind of thought about this, like isn't the

51:24simplest answer like Jacobe Myers is like just not nearly as involved. He does some of the sacrificial stuff. We can applaud his blocking stuff and then

51:31like we go back to Brian Thomas, Parker Washington at one after another.

51:34>> I don't know if he stays there. He's like, yeah, >> I I I think that he's just the peak of

51:40Brian Thomas and watching Parker Washington. Parker Washington, I think, clears Jacobe Myers. I think that the easy stuff is going to be Jacobe just

51:47like takes a backseat. not in terms of like a bunch of playing time difference, but just like where you're dialing things up. I I just I'm hoping that

51:54Brian Thomas gets a little bit better.

51:56And then I really liked what Parker Washington was doing in like some of the similar stuff that Jacobe Meyers provides.

52:01>> I I think that's up to Brian Thomas Jr.

52:03though, like if if he shows the inconsistencies and the negative plays, then obviously they'll lean more in those two wide receiver sets on the

52:10steady Eddie that is Jacobe Meyers. But maybe he has the opportunity to like have that role early on and if he is

52:19consistent in it then he does keep Jacobe off the field in those scenarios.

52:23Yeah, I mean this is a fascinating one.

52:25Also they go through a period of time facing outside corners like Denzel Ward, Patrick Certan, Christian Gonzalez, DJ Turner, Quinan Mitchell, and Derrick

52:33Stingley. And we know where Brian Thomas Jun is going to line up a lot.

52:36>> Yeah, that's where he could get sacrif that's where the X can be sacrificial in in those situations. So it's tough.

52:42>> Yeah. Uh he is still going as the first Jaguars wide receiver on every single platform and in every single ranking out

52:50there. He is very close and in the same round as Parker Washington and the Jacob's a round or two later depending

52:54on where you're drafting. But yeah, I want to get this right and I want to get the backfield right. Like that is

53:00critical.

53:00>> I think league settings really matter for these two between Thomas and Parker Washington. Like the roles are so different that you know full PPR, half

53:08PPR, best baseball, not baseball, like that type of stuff matters here.

53:10>> All right, we got a few more names.

53:11We're just shy of an hour. Before you guys go any further, give us a thumbs up. Give us over a thousand likes on

53:17this video. That would be generous and helpful. We'll give you a thank you. On top of that, hit a subscribe. Uh,

53:23subscribe to Matt's show. It's in the link in the description down below. We have so much stuff coming up between the

53:29two of us, collaborating and not. Uh, and you should tune into it all because we're going to give you good information. All right.

53:36>> Yeah. Speaking of good information, let's talk about Ricky Pieraw.

53:40The second pick of the 10th round on Yahoo. That's wide receiver 41. Finished last year as wide receiver 52.

53:46Regrettably, I spent all of last summer telling people to draft Ricky Pearl.

53:51When he played, you know, he performed there four games. Top 24 scoring wide receiver. He only appeared in nine. So, Matt, I'm here to ask you, should I

54:00spend the rest of this summer telling people to draft Ricky Pierce because I really want to?

54:06Josh, we're do we're doing it again, man. Um, we're so doing it again. God, there's a range of receivers where it's

54:13like Ricky Puraw, Josh Downs, Jaden Reed, and I'm like, can can we just that that's where I almost want to go full

54:21boomer and, you know, load up on running backs and just hit those, but they all go kind of in the same range. So, you

54:26got to make picks there, which is tough.

54:28But, um, anyways, second time we've mentioned Josh Down sneakily on the >> I know. [laughter] I mean, you got to do

54:33it every It's a running joke.

54:35>> For a reason, baby. Uh, but yeah, Ricky Pearaw, I still can't believe there are people out there that swear this guy's

54:40like not a good receiver. They just like don't have eyeballs. They're they're in the spread. They're way too deep in the

54:45spreadsheets. Get out of the spreadsheets and and watch the film.

54:47Ricky Pieraw, really good player and was productive like when he was healthy for 5 seconds last year. He was third in the

54:53NFL in receiving yards for the first three weeks of the season. They can never take it away from us. Um, I mean,

54:58Kyle Shan said it, so it was going to work. Damn it, it was going to work. And that was all while last year, my theory

55:05on this, and obviously I could be to I could be totally off on this, but like they basically had to cobble together

55:11the role that they thought Brandon Aayuka was going to play for this team by essentially having Jennings play too much outside on ball than is is

55:19conducive for his skill set. And for Ricky Persaw to be this massive vertical route player, which he can definitely do a strong success rate versus man numbers

55:27last year and he wins on those big breaking routes, which is good, but I mean I think if you go back and look at

55:34what he was doing as a rookie, he was more off the ball, more in the more in the slot and running game.

55:40>> Yeah. these and the and even before that too like his first game and the film wasn't great because he was coming back

55:45from the gunshot injury, the gunshot situation, but like he was running all these like return routes like whip routes like go outside, snap it back

55:51inside to give Perty these like big chunk completions over the middle of the field and then there just wasn't almost any of that last year because they had

55:59to make him the vertical player because the other option was Jawan Jennings who like Josh, you probably run faster than Jawan Jennings at this point. I don't

56:06know. Oh, maybe Hayden runs faster than you'd run like a 476 coming out of Tennessee if I'm not mistaken.

56:12>> That would be that would be the fastest uh fantasy analyst has run ever. Like I don't care who it is.

56:18>> Just quick sidebar, Roto Pat was certain over like the decade I worked with him that he could clear five seconds. Love

56:25you Roto Pat, but every single time that made me jump.

56:27>> That's [laughter] absurd. That's absurd.

56:30>> I could do it if it wasn't for my bad knee, but that's a separate conversation. Um, anyways, yeah, I think

56:35that when you when you just look at Ricky Pierce, like I think he could end up really being more like just a

56:41different player at the position this year because they added Mike Evans. So, like Mike Evans just being the exceiver of this offense outside on ball, it's

56:48going to allow Ricky Pieraw to do a lot of the big breaking routes, but also just get way more layups than he did

56:53last year, which was essentially none.

56:55>> Yeah. I mean, if you look at his like AOT and how involved he is like the manufacturing department, he's like

56:59closest to like Rasheed Shahid, Jordan Addison, Jameson Williams. I think that he has more lateral ability than than some of those guys and he's just like

57:07not put in those situations. I think that he's >> a near lock to have more than five targets per game, which is what he had

57:13last year. I he's playing through that >> season on like one and a half legs. It's It's interesting because I think he's

57:19really good at like the vertical intermediate stuff like all like he can really tap the brakes and and hit all the big breaking routes. Yes.

57:26>> Um he's done zero after the catch and like the underneath stuff. He's broken zero tackles according to PFF. Like we

57:33got to figure that out. Like he's too good to not be doing that. Sometimes when I watch him like when he gets

57:38tackled like he really gets tackled.

57:40It's kind of like the Lad Manki stuff. I think he's a tier below Lad Mcconkey athletically. But it is like fascinating

57:46to see somebody who you'd think gets involved in that department. Like none of it. And that's, you know, that's a KD

57:51thing, that's a Macaffrey thing, that's you can name a bunch of different reasons, but that is like the one glaring weakness in the profile so far.

57:59And I think injuries and all that type of stuff could explain some of it.

58:02>> So Ricky Persol, you mentioned broke zero tackles. Um I've been charting, you know, hundreds of receivers since uh 2014. There's these are the only guys

58:11that have like zero broken tackles in a season that I've charted.

58:15>> There there's going to be some names that we've already discussed and one that we will discuss in a second. Ricky

58:19Pieraw, Marvin Harrison Jr. from his rookie season, Adie Mitchell from his rookie season, Josh Palmer, DJ Chalk, Marquez Valdez Scantling, Van Jefferson,

58:28and Henry Rugs. Uh, so like that's it's a very small group of players. Uh, and his he went down on first contact on 85%

58:36of the players I charted in his rookie season as well. Like he's >> just like break a tackle Ricky Pieraw challenge is is defin like I would love

58:44to see him get more layups than he did last year cuz he didn't get any. But I don't think he's going to be doing much

58:48after the catch cuz which is weird cuz he's like a decent kick returner. I think Mike Evans is such a huge win

58:52though for Ricky Pierol in that >> agree.

58:54>> Like it's so obvious when you're watching this 49ers scene and they're somewhat healthy that Kyle loves to move Ricky around and

59:03>> that's only going to be good things for us. You know, he's the one that you get in these full speed motions, these fly

59:08motions, getting him into stacks and these free releases. And if that's the case, he is one of these guys to me that

59:14you give him separation, he sustains it and can even create it at multiple levels. So, as long as Mike Evans hamstrings stay intact, I think that

59:22allows us to have Ricky Pieraw in like the best situation possible for him. Uh, I'm just I can't believe I'm so

59:29optimistic for a guy who has like 99 targets in his career so far and and less than a thousand yards through two

59:34seasons. I don't want to be of this mindset of, well, he's had these fluke and crazy injuries over these last two

59:40years and that's just going to sustain itself because I really do think when it all comes together for this 49ers team,

59:45if it ever is again, uh, Ricky Pieraw is just going to be like a massive beneficiary for it because Kyle is

59:51exactly the type of play caller I think that's going to get the most out of this styling of a player.

59:56>> I like all these guys in this range. I I put Ricky Paw a tier above all the guys in this ADP just because I think that

60:03his ultimate upside is like he plays every single snap. You know, George KD like we'll see if he's going to play the

60:09first month of the season. Like I don't think that's a given uh given when he actually tore his Achilles. Mike Evans

60:15has been struggling to stay healthy.

60:16He's still pretty dang good football player when he's been out there though.

60:19U and then yeah, the CMC stuff like if if he goes down with an injury, then we're talking like 25 30 touches per

60:24game going somewhere else. So, I think his like pathway to being like the wide receiver 16 in scoring this year is a

60:30little bit clearer to me than a lot of the other guys that have like not done it yet that have flashed and yeah, right

60:36now he's he seems good to go. So, >> just quickly in rankings of where these guys are listed, it goes Michael Wilson,

60:42Michael Pitman, Quinton Johnson, Mai Lemon, Ricky Pearl, then Jacobe Meyers, Jordan Madison, Juan Delale Robinson.

60:49>> Oh my god. Yeah. I mean Ricky Pearl over all of those guys. And there's just like >> if you're trying to hit if you're just

60:56trying to get on base in like a baseball format like the Michael Pitman, Jacobe Meyers, you know, boring picks, like I

61:02get it. But but yeah, Juan Delu is is in that bucket. But yeah, any >> Quinton Johnson's fine, but yeah, I

61:09would take Ricky Paris over all those guys. Um >> yeah, his his uh top two comparables, by the way, uh in the player comparison

61:17tool on the site are like two Adam Thielen seasons, which I think like ultimate up and I know that's like white

61:22guy to white guy, but >> I know hey we that input is not in the tool. Okay, >> makes sense. It does make sense,

61:28>> but like yeah, like kind of flanker slot, runs isn't just a bunny hop receiver, runs big breaking routes. It's I think that's like the best use for

61:36him.

61:36>> I agree, >> Harman. I will say we just appeared on the Ringer Fantasy Football Show for a two-parter. It turned into uh and you

61:42were shouted out for that Ricky Pierce saw Adam Thielen because Hiett said he did the drop down and went to skin color

61:46and said oh [laughter] it's it's >> Jack Bash to the current version of Cooper Cup.

61:52>> I heard that. I heard that on your show today. [laughter] >> Okay, let's talk about Xavier Worthy. I I'm not and am excited for this conversation

62:01at the same time. He's going in the 11th round on Yahoo. Simple question for you, Matt. What is Xavier Worthy and what can

62:08he be? Yeah. So, let's just be honest. I was lower than consensus on Xavier Worthy as a prospect. I was lower than

62:15consensus on Xavier Worthy coming out of his rookie year. At the same time, if I'm going to do the like, hey, we got to

62:21give this guy a pass for this, that, and the other due to injuries, we have to be intellectually, you know, consistent

62:25here and say that we can give Xavier Worthy a pass for his second season because he got blasted by a teammate

62:31that is listed, and I'm going to emphasize listed as 85 pounds heavier than him. and I'm gonna go ahead and actually take the over on the 85 pounds

62:40there. Um, so yeah, I think that a lot of, you know, Worthy's second season was just really banged from the start,

62:46literally. Um, but you know, it wasn't a good result on on the field. Like he's really struggles to separate. He goes

62:54down on first contact all the time. Um, he's not going to be useful against press man coverage whatsoever, which is a problem because the Chief's best

63:03receiver is only good against zone coverage. So that's really like a these two guys just should not be on the same

63:10team together whatsoever. Uh he's just a is a nightmare in that room because of that. But I mean he's he's not a

63:16completely useless player. There are areas where he definitely wins. Like he's good on quick out routes against man coverage. He can win there, but it's

63:23just the deep stuff is not has not come together for him mostly because he just is he's just he's just too small.

63:29>> He's just playing out of position like to me. What's his numbers like on the line of scrimmage? like just sitting

63:33there watching and just like he's on the line of scrimmage way too often and he just can't get enough space to like be

63:41good and on breaking routes.

63:43>> He's like the perfect >> 71% snaps outside. Uh he was on the ball which went up from 43% to 53%.

63:50>> Yeah, you felt you felt that.

63:52>> Yeah. To >> to me he should never be on the ball.

63:54Like he should he should never be on the ball. He's 165 pounds. Come on.

63:57>> True. To me, he's the perfect example of like to be a good downfield receiver, you have to be more than fast because

64:04>> these corners at an NFL level, just an average one right now, >> slow him down to their speed and then

64:11they can just play at that and then when the ball is a tight window target, they just play through him and and he can't

64:17come up with it. It It's so fascinating to me like just going through this. He caught four of 16 20 plus yard targets

64:24this past season, seven of 21 the year before and was only four of 13 on the intermediate receptions during his rookie season as well. Like he really is

64:33Hayden to go back to what you were saying, he's like a nine yard and underneath wide receiver so far in his

64:38career and that's kind of not how at least I thought he was going to be utilized in the NFL. Yeah, last year was

64:47I'm almost willing to throw it com completely out because the type of routes that >> on the show >> I know, but this one I feel I think

64:55maybe even stronger about because >> Andy Reid said that they were going to throw him a lot of crossing routes and

65:00they said they couldn't do that. They were going to throw him screens. His screen rate dropped like almost to to zero this last year because they knew if

65:07he got tackled on that delicate shoulder like he would just be out for even longer than that. And all that said,

65:13when Taekquin Thornton's your third guy, like someone's getting jammed like, so who is that gonna be? I I do in the back

65:21of my mind, I do wonder, >> do we just start like closing the gap between Rasheed Rice and Xavier Worthy and the manufactured touches and how

65:28you're utilizing them to some degree. I think that would be a smart thing just like, you know, hedging against the entire situation that you have in Kansas

65:35City there. Um, but the he has to face more off coverage to win downfield. like that's just kind of the reality. Uh or

65:42you have to get him running crossers where I think he's got a little bit better of a chance. But in order to do

65:47that, you have to, you know, make that a priority. And I think that they probably were going to do that last year to some

65:53extent. The second play of the season before he lost his shoulder was actually a run to Xavier Worthy. It's like you

65:59can kind of extrapolate maybe where this thing was going, but it's you have to really speculate here to get excited about Xavier Worthy.

66:07>> Two things. one uh like you get two beers in me and I would tell you that Cyrus Allen is their fifth round pick is

66:13easily the best man coverage receiver on this team [laughter] Rice.

66:18>> It's not Well, yeah, it's not Rasheed Rice. I mean, Rasheed Rice has a 4.69 average depth of target the last three

66:24seasons, which out of 117 receivers that have run 200 or more routes >> is telling the out of Rasheed Rice this year, though.

66:32>> Cool. Have fun with that. I I actually worry that was this was going to be my second point. I actually worry that if

66:37they can if they can credibly run the ball, are they still going to do all the scammy targets to Rasheed Rice and

66:42they're going to run the ball better this year? I mean, they were the worst.

66:44They he had the lowest AOT and they were the worst run game over the last two years by a decent bit in terms of

66:49explosive plays. So, >> that would be my one worry with Brashy Rice on the field. And it's like the hard part with Rice is like, yeah, it's

66:56like there's nothing wrong with it worthy even though it's it's too limited of a skill set to take in the first

67:00round of the NFL draft, whatever. But like individually, he's a useful player.

67:03Rice is a useful player, but just like the way that them being in the same room together is just a huge problem when

67:08they don't have like George Pickkins as the number one receiver or something.

67:12>> Yeah. And technically, I think you could argue that Travis Kelce is also occupying kind of the same area that >> another roll c you can't roll cater to

67:19three guys.

67:19>> Correct.

67:20>> Correct.

67:20>> But what if Kelsey's not involved in the offense? Like that's what I'm saying. If if Rice scales back a little bit,

67:25Kenneth Walker stops working and then all of a sudden like Kelsey like that's where like you can picture like Xavier Worthy being a boom bust flex option

67:33wide receiver three which he has not done for a very long part. I think like you can squint and see how things are

67:38kind of falling into place for him. But I think anything beyond that like he hasn't shown that he's good enough to to

67:43belong in that tier.

67:44>> Yeah. And look the the one offseason move that this team made in offense was to add Ken Walker. And hopefully that

67:50changes the math for them just in terms of coverages. At the same time, you know, the quarterback needs to hit those

67:55downfield passes for for that to work.

67:57Um, Nicker Colano posted today that in games where Rasheed Rice has played, Xavier Worthy has averaged 2.7 catches per game. Uh,

68:06>> not great.

68:07>> Yeah, not great, you know. And then just overall in his career, his three games of reaching 80 yards receiving over 34

68:15appearances. So, yeah, I mean, maybe Ken Walker is how this whole thing is going to change. But if it does change, like

68:22as much as I think Rasheed Rice is a linear skill set player, I still think that linear skill set is better than

68:30what Xavier Worthy's linear skill set is. But maybe I'm not with that.

68:34>> No, I agree. I agree with that.

68:35>> Okay, moving on. Jaylen Coker, you texted me. We got to talk about him.

68:4116th round.

68:43You have loved Jaylen Coker for multiple seasons since he's entered the NFL and since you got a taste in preseason and

68:48everything like that. Why have you been so on board with Jaylen Coker, whereas it even took the Panthers a while to fit

68:57him in the starting lineup? I know we're not going to sit here and advocate for him to be drafted on Yahoo, for example,

69:02because he's going in the 16th round, but just overall, do you think the public has the correct perception of what Jaylen Coker's talents are?

69:11>> Uh, no. Guy's a stud. like he's he's a great receiver. Uh he's and the only reason the Panthers took forever to do

69:17it is one little out of shape at times. You know, you hear the the whispers about that. He needed to get his body right. That's

69:23okay. Coming from Holy Cross, all right, they don't have the most, you know, advant I'm not big. Well, speak for yourself. Uh [laughter]

69:32but, you know, [clears throat] I mean, for for Jaylen Coker, he's getting an NFL weight room, whatever. He's got his body right, his his nutrition, you know,

69:38that's fine. But like skill set wise, this is the archetype of receivers that are smoking in the NFL right now. Big

69:44body, not as he's not like I know he's listed as 6'3, like 215 pounds. He's a little bit lighter than that. He's

69:50actually built more like Chris Godwin.

69:52Um, and that's kind of the type of player that I think he is like Jacobe Myers is uh like Chris Godwin type. He

69:59can be a power slot but can win outside big breaking routes. He's much better against press man coverage than you would think for somebody that is a UDFA

70:06that I'm saying is like Jacobe Myers.

70:08Meyer's also a good route runner in those areas as well. So, yeah, I think he's just a really, really good player.

70:13They got an absolute steal and I think it's actually I'm not going to sit here and like advocate for the the Panthers

70:21offense. I know everybody's first retort is the quarterback and I I get that. But these reports about McMillan playing more in the slot and everything I think

70:31are legit because one, he can't he can almost can't play fewer snaps in the slot than he did last year. 15% last

70:37year.

70:38>> Yeah, it was 107th uh or 101st out of 117 receivers with 200 plus routes last year. So, yeah, he he he's towards the

70:47bottom. He's not quite in the George Pickins, Rashad Baitman zone, but like he's pretty much just an X. That's going to change this year. A big part of that

70:54is because Coker can actually play on the outside. like watch him late in the season like line up against man coverage

71:01as an ex receiver and stack big oh the Rams game big wins on go routes and they draft Chris Brazzle who's just like the

71:08perfect sacrificial receiver at least to start like get him on the Alec Pierce path where he's just clearing space earlier and then see what he can be by

71:16you know year four or whatever and you know legette's going to do his thing every now and again maybe uh but I think

71:22they're one of these teams that actually could go against the trend because they have these big bodied receivers and be more spread. Now, I wish they didn't

71:28have two backup offensive tackles uh necessarily, but yeah, that's a part of the the issue there. But yeah, I think they could be one of these teams that go

71:35against the trend, spread things out, get these three receivers on the field a lot, and I think Coker is going to get a

71:40lot more targets than people think.

71:41>> I think the fact that Koker can win on the outside is like the reason why T-Max's going to go in the slot this

71:46year. I mean, it's like perfect, perfectly timed for Coker to be breaking out as they drafted Tedella, I thought his film was was pretty legit. He he's

71:54one of these interesting guys where his catch radius is pretty big and then you're like he's not like blowing by guys like with like straight line speed

72:01but then like you go look he had a 42 and a half inch vertical which is absurd. So he's got this like nice catch

72:07radius working over the middle. I think Jacobe Myers is an excellent comp there.

72:11Just like to remind folks nine for 134 in a touchdown in the playoff game. He played 88% of the snaps there. For a lot

72:19of his career, he was kind of in that 66ish percent snap rate. In those games, he averaged nine and a half half PPR

72:27points, which would have been like wide receiver 34. There's no way he's not playing 85, 90, 95% of the snaps this

72:33year. Like, they have to do that. The other two guys, Brazil and Legette, those guys will rotate as the wide receiver three. And I think the best of

72:40Bryce stuff is the spread amount stuff.

72:42Like, that's how I would orchestrate this thing. if you can't block him up, get the ball out quickly, let Bryce throw these huge lollipops towards the

72:48sideline like right as the ball is snapped and like I think Coker can come down with some of those and obviously

72:53Tedoa can too. So I I see how the offense is kind of coming together here.

72:57I think that Coker should be drafted in reddraft leagues. I think there's enough here and if T-Mac did go down with an

73:02injury, I think he's skilled enough that he would be an every week starter uh because just the rest of the offense

73:08like those guys are just like not target earners. So I think that he's like a good like handcuff in reddraft. Uh, and

73:13then in basketball, I do think that he's good enough to like have random spike weeks >> and new play caller here. And Brad

73:18Aidzik and Hayden, you and I have talked about this at length this summer. This team, despite having the same coaching staff, has still struggled to start

73:24seasons of how to build a correct passing attack. And I think from the jump this year, they're finally going to attack down the field. Um, again, people

73:34have their thoughts on Bryce Young, but if you look at the underlying numbers, uh, he is one of the more efficient

73:40downfield throwers in the league. And you see that in that Rams game like a lot of those are really nice throws and

73:46I think they're going to lean into that from the start with these bigger bodies that they have and T-Mac can do that and

73:51Jaylen Coker can definitely do that and like he was going to be in three wide receiver sets to start last year and

73:56then as soon as they trade away Adam Thielen he gets injured in training camp and then you know things have gotten

74:02better as the wide receiver room. Hunter Reenfro was their slot receiver and like no disrespect to Hunter Refro made a made a big time comeback, but like that

74:09is the slot only of slot only of all time. So yeah.

74:12>> And then when Hunter's in there, you know, then you can't move T-Mac in the slot because Hunter Renfro can't play

74:17anywhere else. So like I bet T-Mac plays like 30% of the snaps in the slot. So it's doubling what he did last year.

74:22Let's not go crazy and start calling him a big slot out there and just >> overemphasize. Like Drake London. Yeah, I mean like Drake London. They were the

74:30same family of receivers. I think London's a little bit better and has a higher ceiling. Like did better as a prospect. But yeah, like London was 39%

74:37snaps in the slot in 2024 on passing plays. That's good enough.

74:40>> And when they're in the slot, the ball is basically going to them.

74:43>> It's go. Yeah, I >> I'm excited for Jaylen Cooker. Really fun player, really good player. Uh make some difficult grabs and then make some

74:48highlight real ones on the outside.

74:50Okay, let's end this episode with some three quick hitters. Uh just because for us sickos that have been drafting best baseball all summer, these guys are kind

74:59of relevant. Uh, first is Adnai Mitchell. Matt, chances that he's the second highest scoring wide receiver on the Jets this season. E

75:07>> even. I mean, I think it's like even between him and uh he is the He's the only receiver in the NFL. Uh James Co

75:15jokes about this like every receiver I'm like, "Yeah, he could be better off the ball. He could be better in the slot.

75:19He's like the only receiver I never want to see him in a slot. I never like just like what he should be what George

75:24Pickkins was last year.

75:26the farthest away from the ball. You're doing your own thing because I know he gets kind of painted as this great

75:32separator. Super overrated as a separator because he can't beat zone coverage, but like these one-on-one situations on like just basically four

75:39routes, slam control out, you know, nine, he can be good on those routes, but that's about it.

75:44>> No more notes than that for me. That's >> Hayden. Is there a difference to you though in in your mindset with him where

75:51you know at the start of the summer on underdog we were drafting him in the 18th round and now because we hate all

75:56those picks basically from the 14th round to the 18th round now he's a 15th round pick. Like is there any change in

76:02your wavelength on that?

76:03>> No, I I think that's that's fair. Like that's where I I would be ranking him.

76:06Um I I think that Omar Cooper the are they going to trust him in two wide receiver sets? because I think they are

76:12going to use two wide receiver sets a lot because they have, you know, Mason Taylor as a as somebody. Whoever is

76:18going to be out there in two wide receiver sets is going to be the one that outscores the one that's not in

76:21them. So, is Omar Cooper going to push Adnai Mitchell? Not in three wide rece.

76:25It's the two wide receiver set stuff and like we'll see. Omar Cooper is kind of like I think probably best in the slot

76:32did play some flanker. Like he's kind of in between and I think it's just up to him just like to push Adai Mitchell and

76:38and best ball. I'm sure Mitchell will have a couple 40 yard touchdowns this year, but the volume's not going to be

76:43there consistently, obviously.

76:44>> Matt, I don't even know if you charted this guy, but I have to ask because this is the bleakest wide receiver room

76:50>> in the NFL. What should our thoughts be on Malik Washington?

76:54>> Oh god.

76:55>> I I haven't charted Malik Washington yet, but I did like him as a prospect.

77:00Um, no, that's okay. I've done like I've done a couple games. I don't have a full profile up on on him yet because uh he

77:05will and he but he will be on the site because I did like him as a prospect and I'm just curious. But for the most part,

77:10I think he's he's like been a create a touch guy who um can win against zone coverage at times, but I don't think

77:16there's like a high high ceiling here.

77:18But again, did like him as a prospect.

77:20Uh he showed he could beat man coverage at UVA, so that was exciting. And I think he should be better with the ball

77:25in his hands than he's been so far. So I do like Malik Washington. I'm holding out like a little bit of hope for him,

77:30but I mean, my god, the Dolphins just >> right. I mean, >> what a what a disaster.

77:35>> That that's why I asked because of what this wide receiver room is at this point. And like other than Chris Bell, is he the most

77:43exciting name from that group? Like I I have found myself literally getting to drafts and end >> of best baseball leagues and saying, I

77:51don't want to draft any of these guys.

77:52Why not just take a shot on Malik Washington instead of Jaylen Tolbert and 22 Atwell, you know?

77:58>> Yeah. Don't take never take 22 Outwell or Jaylen Tolbert. Like come on.

78:03>> It's Greg Dolich for me. You guys can have receivers. Yeah.

78:07>> Uh someone I was taking in that range, Matt. And I mean this guy might have climbed the most in the last month than

78:14any other player is Ryan Florenoi of the Dallas Cowboys. He's a very fun player.

78:21>> Yeah, >> he has climbed from round 18 up to the middle of the 14th round. Matt, if this was, I don't know, the 2011 NFL season,

78:29uh, I think we could really get excited about Ryan Florenoi as like a slot type player.

78:34>> Uh, I just fear and I know that he really won't have any fantasy relevance unless one of these Cowboys wide

78:42receivers are sidelined for a long period of time, but as soon as he is, he will headline the waiverwire column or

78:47video for every single person out there.

78:49>> No. Yeah. Name to know because of that.

78:51And uh Dynasty Wise is is a good you know I stuck him at the end of my benches all last year because um you

78:57know shout out I hate to give producer Colin any credit but I'm going to give him credit here that he was on me all

79:02last year like you got to chart Ryan Floy the guy's really good and I was like Colin he's a Cowboys fan I'm not

79:08charting Ryan Fenoy and then Nate said to do it so I was like all right I'll listen to Nate [laughter] so I did and

79:14like he's legit Fenoy is legit good like he's a he was a legitimately good player can can beat man coverage can sink and

79:21win over the middle of the field. Uh I actually think his presence as a third receiver sometimes like what the what

79:27these third receivers are and what they do to the top two guys for fantasy for us is definitely more important than

79:32what they are in their own right. Even though I think Leno is a legit good player and he would be awesome if either

79:38of these two guys weren't on the team.

79:39But you got to remember like last year CD Lamb opened up the season as the Z receiver, not as the slot receiver

79:45because their third receiver was the affforementioned Jaylen Tolbert and Kavonte Turpin who you know is a tiny like kick returner. Now that Florenoi

79:53has emerged, I actually think that kicks Lamb back into the slot more because Florenoi can win coverage as a Z receiver.

80:00>> I totally agree. He was part of our wide receiver sleepers just for that very reason. Like when Lamb was out, he saw

80:06more of the slot stuff, but then at the same time, you saw him on the outside in two wide receiver set looks and he

80:12actually held his own as an outside wide receiver. Like Florida, >> when did you say he when did you say he

80:15was like back in the 18th round? Was that >> uh I think at the start of the summer he was like a 17th or 18th round pick.

80:20>> Yeah, dude. Literally the last video I posted on my YouTube channel uh was like Ryan Feno is a good player. Like peace

80:26out, I'm going to Portugal for you know two weeks and I come back and he's like a 14th round pick.

80:30>> He's a 14th round pick. Yes. Yes. That's what happens.

80:33That's what happens. Hayden, any closing thoughts here?

80:35>> I had a really good tier of receivers to be buying low on just for injuries just across across the board. I think all

80:42these guys have upside. I I think the Ricky Pieraw shot is really good one to take later on. And then I think that you

80:47can swing I would say like Roma Dunce is a really good swing at where he's being drafted. And then I think the Malik

80:52Neighbor stuff if you're drafting for today, I think his ADP is going to go up. But the PUP stuff is a really big

80:58deal. Yeah, Rome is the guy for me that I I mean just he's the one I want most out of this group at cost. I agree with

81:04Neighbors and and Maki, too. One one other name just to note like I think Jaylen McMillan took some nice steps at

81:09the end of last year against man coverage as a vertical player and at least can be like their ex receiver while Ted Hurst gets up to speed coming

81:15up from Georgia State. So that's useful for the Mecha Ibuka bags uh as well. But we'll have to see if Keon Coleman can

81:23make the video next year. But uh we'll see.

81:26No, the answer is >> I don't like his odds. [laughter] >> I do not like his odds. All right, that's going to do it for us. Uh, this

81:33is the first episode of our Yahoo era.

81:37We have four episodes per week until the season kicks off. At least four episodes per week. Who knows? We might go crazy.

81:43Uh, so hit subscribe, join us here.

81:46We're so excited to be a part of this amazing team that Matt has now been a part of for years and years and years

81:51and has helped build. was a major reason why we wanted to join this Yahoo crew.

81:56Um, and if you're new to our channel, we have plenty of other videos already on the channel from earlier in the summer.

82:03I mean, sleepers, >> we have Ron Stewart's favorite picks, >> five running backs you would touch with a 10-ft pole. I mean, we've got tons of

82:11stuff out there. So, >> go and check it all out. Go and watch another video. And, uh, we'll be back here tomorrow with another one. Matt,

82:19thanks so much. Anything you want to plug before we get out of here?

82:20>> Yeah. Uh Yahoo Fantasy Forecast, you you plugged the YouTube channel several times. Definitely check that out. And receptionperception.com. I got profiles

82:27on all these guys. The new player comparison tool where uh you know, like I said, it's fun. You can get lost on

82:32that thing, man. Just playing around a little bit. So, I think people will enjoy it.

82:35>> Awesome. All right, everyone. Up to you guys soon. See

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