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2026 WR Tiers UNVEILED! Rankings, Projections & Draft Strategy (07/15 Fantasy Football Podcast)
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Enjoying the World Cup. If you want proper analysis, honest opinions and plenty of laughs along the way, give the Rest Is Football a listen. Gary Lineker, Alan Shear and Micah Richards break down the biggest games, the standout moments and everything happening on and off the pitch with brilliant guests joining them throughout the tournament. Whether you followed football your whole life or you're just getting into it, they'll help you make sense of the drama, the tactics, the joy and the heartbreak of the World Cup. Listen to the Rest Is Football wherever you get your podcasts.
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This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports.
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What a play.
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C
Can you believe this?
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No, I can't. It's time to dominate your fantasy league.
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Off to the races and he stays on his feet. This is going to go the distance.
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Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie and he
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wide receiver Tears. Does Amanra St. Brown belong in the top tier with those first three wide receivers, Jamar Chase, Jackson Smith and Jigba Puka? Well, it depends who you ask because Heath and Jamie have different takes on that. I'm Adam Azer with Heath Cummings. Heath, hey, what's up? Abbott and Jamie will be joining us shortly. Before we get to the wide receiver tiers, we'll knock out some news and notes. Geno Smith will not be charged after a woman accused him of assault. Uh, so the police investigated that. There will be no charges and hopefully that be the end of of that. Um, now the Giants, we got some big news. John Harbaugh did an interview yesterday, or I think it was yesterday, did an interview at least recently and he said that Malik Neighbors and Cam Scatter Boo are on schedule. Scatter Boo he thinks is going to be ready early in training camp. Neighbors is going to work his way into practice. He was a little vague on Malik Neighbors, but he feels good about both of these players about their recoveries, quote unquote. You'll see a lot of those guys this season Scatter Boo though further ahead of Malik Neighbors. Let's talk about Malik Neighbors before we get into the wide receiver tiers because he has to be one of the hardest ones to tear, of course. But what do you think about Neighbors right now after these optimistic comments but still non committal comments from John Harbaugh.
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B
Yeah, I, I, he was one of the players that I moved down a tier from where he was in my projections just to try to more accurately rank show his value and his projections have already been impacted by the injury. So I think Malik Neighbors, if he had no health concerns, is probably a tier 2 wide receiver when we get to. I don't know where he lands in Jamie's tears. When we get to my tears, he will show up in Tier 4 because it's not just when is he ready, but it's when is he. Malik Neighbors.
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He is Tier 6 for Jamie with DJ Moore, Jaylen Waddle, Mike Evans, and Devonte Adams.
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Yeah, he's lower on him than I am. I have all of those guys in tier 5, but a tier below Lake Neighbors.
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A
Yeah, the tier above that for Jamie is tea McMillan, lad McConkey, Terry McLaren, Luther Burden, Garrett Wilson.
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B
Those are. That's a mixture of tier 4 and tier 5 guys for me.
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C
Yeah.
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We can let Jamie speak for himself on Malik Neighbors now, but let me bring this up with Malik Neighbors. I think he's a guy that we all watch, have eyes. We know he's better than his numbers. His numbers, I feel like they're honestly not that great. Since entering the NFL, there have been 121 wide receivers with 50 or more targets in that stretch, and malik neighbors is 73rd in explosive play rate. And that's kind of what he's supposed to do. He's supposed to be a big playmaker. He hasn't really been that. It's been kind of like Garrett Wilson in that regard. He has. This is an interesting one. He has 71 or more yards in seven games. He's played 19 games. Malik neighbors, I'll really call it 18 games that got hurt, tore the ACL, and I think it was meniscus as well in Week 4. So not 18 games and 71 more than 71 yards in seven of those games. In those seven games with more than 71 yards, his quarterbacks have averaged 36 pass attempts per game. Now, twice they've been under 30, but you've got games of 41, 40, 37, 49, 34 pass attempts. Jackson Dart averaged 28.3 pass attempts per game in his 12 starts. He did leave one of those games early, but I think that, you know, just have to consider. Jamie, what do you think? Do we have to consider a little bit of a different environment for Neighbors, not only coming off the injury, but also they. They brought in Isaiah Likely and Darnell Mooney. They did lose Wando. I know, but they have a quarterback who's more likely to run. So what does that. What does that all mean to you as you look at Neighbors? And again, we. We talked about what John Harbaugh just said about him.
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But your thoughts, sir, I think you have to take into account all of it. And it's, it's a frustrating situation because, I mean, as we've talked about Neighbors before, I remember asking this question. If he had stayed healthy all season and been good, let's just not say great, you know, to keep it in perspective. But now you have this new coach, this sophomore quarterback, this offensive environment that may not be the most pass friendly, but still he's so good as a profile prospect. We're probably not even questioning taking him in round two and maybe talking about him as a round one pick. So I think if, if we get positive reports that he's healthy, it's worth the risk in round four. But I wouldn't take him before that.
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A
I don't think he's gonna make it there, do you? Right. Right now he's 49th. But if he's, if he comes off the PUP list at some point in training camp, what do you think will happen In Malik, neighbors, ADP, a full
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C
round hire or I'm sorry, a full 10 picks higher.
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B
It'd be in the three, four turn.
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C
Okay, he went, he, he hung around in, in the 14 team draft I was in last night with other analysts. I'm trying to think. He definitely did not go in the
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first three rounds of a 14 teammate.
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C
Okay, that's three. That's a three receiver league.
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All right, we'll keep an eye on it. Meanwhile, George Kittle, he could be ready for week one. That's what San Francisco fullback Kyle Jus check said. And ESPN's Jeremy Fowler thinks that Washington could be a destination for Stefan Diggs, which I think we'd said on yesterday's show would like to see.
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We.
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He could be going there, but he also thought that right now it doesn't look like Washington is going to be bringing in Brandon Iuk. And Luca Evans of the Denver Post thinks that rookie running back Jonah Coleman could have a short yardage role. And that's not the first time that we have heard something like that about Jonah Coleman. All right, I think we should just get right into the wide receiver tiers. Here we go, Tier one for you. Jamie has three players and Heath has four players. And Heath, you talked about a little conundrum off the air with what to do about tier one, which I, I thought, you know, both angle, the Chase angle and the St. Brown angle were fascinating in that. But what were you thinking with chase one? With chase, tier one, excuse me, because you have chase, JSN, St. Brown and puka, whereas Jamie has just chased JSN and puka and no St. Brown.
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B
So I know it's really bothered you when we've gone through these years and Jamie and I's tears haven't really lined up very well. And so like what I've tried to do through this process is look where the gaps are in my projections. And if I was doing that I would have put Jamar Chase in his own tier. But I remember with the running backs, Jamie just kind of did the round one guys and then the round two guys and so I thought, you know, I'll just do the top four all in one tier. And then I look at our tears and we're still way off and it didn't work. But yeah, I guess, I guess the disagreement is whether a Monroe St. Brown belongs in tier one. My argument for yes is that he's been a top four wide receiver each of the last three years. He's I think maybe the safest pick in round one and we all have him as a top five or six pick in full PPR leagues I believe. So he's a, he's a. If you're in the one of the top six picks in a fantasy football draft, you should be in tier one.
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And Jamie, you do not have Aman Ross St. Brown grouped with Chase, Puka and jsn.
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I really struggled with it and almost thought that he's going to be in a tear by himself just because like I did it based on the rounds again and I have these three picks as top five overall selections. Amara say Brown is right behind those guys, but I almost feel like he belongs to, he belongs a little bit closer to the Jefferson Lamb group, but he really should be like just by himself. He, he's, he's amazing.
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A
St. Brown is, he's been top four per, top four overall three straight years as he said, per game he's been fourth, seventh and fourth. And the one season where he was wide receiver seven per game was I think you could say the one season where both Jameson Williams and Sam Laporta were, were healthy for most if not all of it. So I guess that would be a slight knock on Aman Ross St. Brown. I guess if you were going to look at, if you were making a tier, what's that?
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B
What year do you have him?
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Seventh per game? 2024.
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Okay, I've got him tied for fourth per game. Yeah.
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Oh, question, do you have Chris Godwin and Rasheed Rice in there? Because they played three and seven or seven and three games respectively.
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B
Rashid Rice played four games.
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Oh, okay. So I have him on the three games which because he Played.
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B
So this is azer static St. Brown, if you count the guy who played four games. But we're gonna pretend like he played three games. Then a Monroe St. Brown was actually. Come on.
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He played like.
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This is the worst use of Azer stats in the history. I think there's a question whether we even include guys that played three games, but when they actually played four, they didn't.
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He didn't play third.
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He didn't play for say. The most fascinating thing that we do by far is the four of us with Dave included. And please make sure you continue to wish Dave a happy birthday. Yes, the four of us. We never have the same stats.
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I know that. Really close.
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We never have the same stats.
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Yeah, but here's the thing.
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You have T. HIGGINS probably playing 11 games that year.
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Probably. I. I don't know. No. Rasheed Rice played four snaps in week four. Didn't have a target, didn't record a stat. Why would I hold that against him if I want to get the true representation?
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Why would you hold that against a Mon. Rice St. Brown in to say he was only wide receiver 7 in the game.
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Arguing here. He's awesome. He's great. He is good. We got. We got 75 receivers to cover and we're nitpicking on it.
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If I were the worst use of Azer stats in the history, it's a. And we should ban them. And you.
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You're taking it against Amanra St. Brown.
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It's really about what did you get a booster seat?
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No.
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You look a little taller today.
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That's because I'm feeling emboldened by what I've done with Machine Rice. Anyway, my question was if your first tier was wide receivers that you think could be number one overall, who do you. Who would you put in it?
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These four guys.
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The three for me.
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What the hell. Everyone you would like. If you agree with Heath, you agree with Heath that this is a bad. This is what Azer stats were made for. When a guy plays four snaps in a game and that's. That would be 25 of his season, you don't include that in his per game averages. If anyone thinks that you should, then you haven't been then. Then we're not friends. All right, moving on to tier two. Tier two is still going to be wide receivers going in the first round. For Jamie, it's Saint Brown, CD Lamb and Justin Jefferson. For Heath, it's not Saint Brown, but it's Lamb, Jefferson, Drake, London, Rasheed Rice and George Pickens. So Jamie, is this just the rest of your round one guys.
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Yes.
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Okay, so that's St. Brown, CD Lamb and Justin Jefferson for Heath. Saint Brown's already covered in tier one. Lamb and Jefferson are in this tier, Lamb at the top, Jefferson at the bottom. But you do have Drake London, Rashee Rice and George Pickens. Are those round one caliber players for you?
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B
These are 16 to 17 PPR fantasy point per game wide receivers for me. So I, again, I'm, I'm kind of doing this by where the breaks in the projections are and Justin Jefferson is just right at 16 fantasy points per game. I think of my projections, 15.8, 15.9. Drake London is, you know, just, just a little bit over 17.
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Jamie, you have just Lamb in this tier, whereas Heath has Lamb and Pickens in this tier. Pickens is in your next tier. Jamie. But I guess you see some separation between the two Cowboys receivers.
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Yeah, and a lot of it is based on hope, you know, because Pickens was better than him last year. But the hope would be is that, you know, Lamb performs like he's capable of. And we saw it at the start of the season. You know, we had a lot of unlucky touchdown scenarios for Lamb last year because he did get more end zone targets than Pickens. But I, I struggle really with Lamb versus Jefferson. And what it comes down for me is the quarterback. If I had more faith in Kyler Murray, Justin Jefferson's resume is better than CD Lambs. And so I don't, I said this, you know, a lot of times the last couple of years, like I feel like we're chasing the end of the 2023 season still for CD Lam. And he's been great, don't get me wrong. But like that 10 game stretch has put him in a stratosphere that I don't think he's ever going to get back to, especially with Pickens on the field. So Jefferson's talent, like you put Jefferson on the Cowboys, you put Jefferson with any safe quarterback, I don't want to say competent, but like just safe quarterback. Like Jefferson's back in the top three. He's just got that much potential, that much upside. So I'm hoping that the Kyler Murray Kevin o' Connell combination is going to be enough to get Justin Jefferson back to at least the Carson Wentz level that we saw last season. But even better than that. So I agree with heath. I think 16 plus points per game is, is the range. But we know he's got 20 point potential still on any given season. He's still young enough and productive enough that if the quarterback play is good, he could be great.
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Okay, we're going to take a break. I want to get Heath's take on Lamb versus Pickens. And I'll just tell you before we go to break, in the last 10 games, not including week 18, this is when CD Lamb came back. But excluding week 18, where they played a half, CD Lamb was wide receiver 7 overall in both half and full PPR. Wide receiver 11 per game. No, I always do this. Pickens. I'm sorry. Pickens was wide receiver 7 overall, 11th per game. Lamb was 13th per game and 9th overall. So Pickens was a little bit better. He averaged 17 points per game. Lamb averaged 16.1 points per game. Lamb had a 26% target share and Pickens had about a 24%, 24.2%. Lamb also dominated the end zone targets. He just couldn't catch touchdowns. It was weird, but, yeah, that. That's how it shook out Pickens. A little bit better than Lamb in those last 10 games. All right, we'll take a break and get Heath's take on those two Cowboys receivers and. And more after this. Okay, Heath, you're up. CD Lamb and George Pickens in the same tier. Lamb ahead of him in the rankings, but same tier. Yeah.
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And Lamb in round one. Pickens in round two. So if I was doing it that way, and I. I probably stretched the projections a little more in this tier to. To not have quite as small of tears, which of course, this. Then Jamie has the smaller tiers, so it didn't work out to serve the purposes I wanted to. But I. I've got Lamb for about a point per game more than George Pickens. I think we'll see more targets for CD Lamb. I think we'll see that Pickens targets will be worth more yards and I would expect Pickens to score more touchdowns.
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Okay. All right, let's go to the tier three then. Bring it up. Tier three for Jamie. It's Rasheed Rice, AJ Brown, Drake London, Nico Collins and George Pickens. For Heath. It's guys that I think you're going to see more in round three. Zay Flowers, Nico Collins, who's at the 2, 3 turn in ADP, Chris Olave, T. Higgins and Devonte Smith. So again, Jamie's tier three is kind of like Heath's tier two. For Jamie, it's Rashee Rice, AJ Brown, Drake London, Nico Collins, George Pickens. And if you look at that group of five, well, we still don't have A.J. brown for Heath. He's still not there yet with him. And, and Nico Collins is in tier three for Jamie and tier three for Heath. But does that mean that Nico is higher for. For Jamie? I know you're higher on. On A.J. brown than Heath is. Are you higher on Nico Collins than Heath is? Do you know?
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C
I mean, I would have to say yes because I would take him over Zay Flowers still. And for me, he's around 2 pick and I think we're picking. So obviously I'm hiring.
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B
Yeah. I have Zay at 21, Nico at 22, Olave at 23, Higgins at 24, and Devonte Smith at 25. So like this is the, the very end of round two for me. I, I told everybody, I think yesterday to go check out the episode Gibbs and I did or it wasn't quite an episode because it was beyond the box score and it only 20 minutes. But the, the, the player profile that we did on Zay Flowers, I just, I think he became an alpha number one wide receiver last year and nobody noticed. And Gibbs talked about how he and Dan have watched the film and he's a number one wide receiver. I believe Matt Harmon had him top five against or fantasy points and Matt Harmon both maybe had him top five against both man and zone coverage. The past totals last year for Lamar, they're always low, but they were about 15 lower than his career average. And I don't see anybody that's going to cut into that 30 target share for Zay. So I'm the high guy on Zay, but these are basically round two wide receivers for me.
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A
Yeah, when he was saying 21, 22, whatever, he was talking overall, not just the wide receiver rankings.
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B
Right.
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A
All right, Jamie, anything stand out to you in this interior tier three for you? Rice, AJ Brown, Drake, London, Nico Collins, George Pickens, these are all guys that perfectly fine in round two.
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C
Right.
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A
And terrific.
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C
Yeah. I mean the outlier would probably be A.J. brown. And so, you know, the, the hope would be going to New England he gets the opportunity to, you know, sort of take a step forward with Drake May. And I think we expect more pass attempts in this offense from by comparison to what we saw last year. Tougher schedule. Brown is coming off a disappointing season, but he did have that stretch in the middle of the year where he was averaging over 19 PPR points per game. And if he does that, he's going to justify being selected in round two. So I wouldn't give up on A.J. brown. I wouldn't be afraid to take him in the second round. As you see I moved him ahead of Drake London. That's a pretty big move, you know, knowing what London is capable of doing in his offense as well and what he accomplished last year when he was healthy. But I think that the ceiling is a little bit higher for AJ Brown based on his resume and the situation that he's in for this year.
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B
And it's worth saying, like Jamie said, A.J. brown's the outlier. I think at this point in the industry, like I'm. More people have AJ Brown where Jamie does than where I do. So I'm probably the guy that's too low on A.J. brown and I'm, I'm trying to start to come around. I'm just not convinced that it's going to be a high volume pass offense in New England and I'm not convinced that it's going to be a super concentrated share of targets in New England. And I do think that like A.J. brown's health is a little bit of a concern.
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I think, I think it will be pretty concentrated because it was when Stefan Diggs was on the field. You know, he just didn't play that.
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C
It's kind of a Josh McDaniel staple.
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A
Yeah. The health thing is, I think, completely ignored by people. I don't know how many times I should say it because it's probably repetitive, but there was a report that the Rams were out on A.J. brown because they were worried about his knee in terms of trading for him and that that's why the Patriots didn't really. That's why the Eagles didn't really get that much in compensation for A.J. brown. So I, I always wonder when you
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C
get stuff like that, which is shouldn't, shouldn't be discounted. But I always wonder when you get stuff like that if it was free agency versus draft because general managers hold on to their draft picks like they're their children and so do they want to part with such huge assets? Think about Max Crosby, for example. You know, whether he was actually hurt or not. But like if there, if there is some concerns over injury, like they don't want to give up those future picks for players that may not help them long term, short term, if they were paying them because we know they can manipulate contracts and what they have to do, it's a little easier.
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B
I will say that the, like, the Rams are the one team that like an entire meme and T shirts were sold based on their distaste for their picks.
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A
Yeah, I mean the report was from.
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B
They like giving them up.
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Jeff McClain of the Philadelphia Inquirer The Rams were interested in A.J. brown. They were not satisfied with his medicals. So I don't know. I, I, as someone who, if I were drafting right now, I probably would have A.J. brown, he, he might be my most rostered player because I just, I think I'm so high on him. I, I, It's a risk. It's a risk. I'm hoping that it's more like, well, this sounds mean, but if he's got a knee issue, that it's not something that's going to affect him this year, that it might be like, something to worry about later in his career.
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B
Would you take A.J. brown over London?
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A
If I had 10 drafts, I would take A.J. brown over london six times.
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B
Okay.
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A
I hope that answers your question. Difficult call. All right. Okay, let's go to our next tier and see how many of Zay Flowers, Olave this is probably going to be. Yeah, Jamie's got Olave, Higgins, Devonte Smith, and Zay Flowers in this tier. That's exactly what Heath had in his third tier. But Jamie has a Mecca Buka in this fourth tier. Heath also has a Buka in his fourth tier, which means he's a little lower on Abuka, which we know, but Higgins. So when we look at Heath's third tier, Jamie's fourth tier, Higgins, Olave, Devonte Smith, and Zay Flowers are in that group. Heath, do you consider those four. Higgins, Olave, Devonte Smith and Flowers closer to safe or risky?
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B
So I, I'd like to have a little bit more information on this blood clot situation for Chris Olavi, but if, if that's okay, then I would say probably closer to safe. Higgins has obviously had some injury concerns of his own, but, but closer to safe than risky.
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A
Higgins, Olave, Devonte Smith. How about we go one by one? You guys both tell me T. Higgins. Closer to safer. Risky.
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C
Risky.
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B
Probably closer to risky, but it's, it's just barely.
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A
Is that only because of injuries?
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B
Yes, yes, entirely. Yeah, Well, I guess. And, and Joe Burrow's health, too.
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A
Right. You can argue when he's on the field, he's actually one of the safest players.
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C
Right.
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A
Olave?
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C
It's funny because every concern last year was the concussions, and then he plays a full season and it's like, oh, he must be safe again. I think you have to put him in the risky category because of what he said with the blood clots.
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B
Yeah,
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A
yeah. But also in terms of performance for Olave, he does kind of remind, I think, a lot of people of 2024 Terry McLaurin, where a lot of it was the same, except you just scored more touchdowns. And you're right.
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C
Like a lot of people or you like to remind a lot of people.
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A
I don't want to take credit for this. I feel like the comparison is very obvious, quite frankly. So I don't want to act like
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C
I think you're the one that makes it all the time.
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A
No, Heath does. Okay, fine.
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B
Honestly, no, I definitely said that once.
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C
Okay.
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A
I don't remember all the things I've said. I was not trying to take credit for something that wasn't mine. But, yeah, I mean, he had 156 targets turned into 1,163 yards. That's not great. Now they draft Jordan Tyson.
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B
You know, I, I think the difference between Olave and Terry McLaurin1, Olave is younger, too. Olave is not threatening to hold out. But then the, the bigger difference is it was. It was a full season for Terry McLaren with Jaden Daniels. Right?
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A
Yeah.
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B
Like, if you just look at what Chris Olave did with Tyler Schuck. Yeah, he was on pace for 106 catches, 1365 yards and 11 touchdowns in 17 games.
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C
But he also did it as a solo act. And if you look at the beginning part of the season, again, Tyler Shuck factoring into that, clearly, because he wasn't the starter when Rashid Shahid was on the team. Chris Olave's numbers were dramatically different.
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A
They were. Unfortunately. We don't know if that's a Shaheed thing or that's a Rattler thing.
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C
Right.
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A
Because it's kind of.
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C
I don't know if it's a target share thing because you go back to even the year before when it was quarterback issues still, too. You know, Derek Carr, I believe, was still there and then Rattler took over. But you had Shahid outperforming him.
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A
Yes.
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In that season before the concussions. And we know that Jordan Tyson as a prospect is much better than Rashid. She.
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A
Yeah, Olave actually had a 26.4% target share with Shaheed and then 27.1% after Shahid was traded. So not a big jump there. Just the quarterback change was different. All right, let's go to devonte Smith's Risky or Safe. Closer to risky or closer to safe.
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B
Safe.
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C
Safe.
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A
Zay Flowers.
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B
Safe.
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C
Safe.
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A
And this is where I will remind people that Zay Flowers basically had the same amount of targets per game two straight seasons. But that was the difference of being like wide receiver. 12 per game last year. And I don't even think he was top 30 the year before. So that's kind of weird, isn't? Was 36 per game.
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B
Yeah. I think it's also kind of a weird way to frame it because he had the same number of targets on 60 fewer pass attempts for his team. And he was much better on those targets.
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A
Yes, he was. All right. And then a Mecca. Buka is in Jamie's tier three, Heath's tier four. If we look at Heath's tier four. What? AJ Brown is in this tier. We talked about him. But you have Neighbors, you have Burden, you have a Buka, you have McMillan and you have A.J. brown. And I think what's fascinating is I feel like these five wide receivers are mostly different in terms of their profiles. Neighbors, Burden, Abuka, McMillan and A.J. brown. Do you feel that way or do you think they're similar?
- [27:41]
B
I mean, I think Burden, Abuka and McMillan are united by the second year wide receiver thing. We're hoping they are the clear number one wide receivers on their team. We think there's enormous upside, but there is some risk. Neighbors kind of gets falls into this tier for me because I don't want to be too high on him. And Brown's kind of in this tier because I don't want to be too low on him.
- [28:03]
A
Yeah.
- [28:04]
B
And I guess I still am.
- [28:05]
A
So obviously Neighbors and Brown are just different. Especially Neighbors. He's just, you know, could be in his own tier.
- [28:12]
B
Although maybe Neighbors and Brown are united by the fact that we have questions about their knee.
- [28:16]
A
Sure. All right. Maybe they're not as different as I thought, but when you look at Burden, Abuka and McMillan, how do you decide between the three of them? Who's your favorite burden, Abuka, McMillan.
- [28:28]
B
Burden for me, Jamie Abuka.
- [28:31]
A
Right, that makes sense since he's in this tier for you by. By himself. Why Burden Heath?
- [28:40]
B
Because I think the combination of DJ Moore leaving and having Ben Johnson as an offensive coordinator and Burden's ability to make huge plays gives him more upside.
- [28:54]
A
Why Abuka, Jamie?
- [28:55]
C
I mean, you look at the first four games of last season and now Mike Evans is gone. And so, you know, Baker talking about his health. Hopefully he's healthy. You mentioned yesterday, the offensive line and their health. Zach Robinson was able to get as the new offense coordinator a very quality campaign out of Drake, London. And Abuka may be a more explosive player than Dre. I don't think maybe he is a more explosive player than Drake. London. Hopefully it'll be more productive than than London. That's hard to ask in the second year, but the potential is there. So, you know, you take a Hall of Famer off the field and I think a book of hopefully playing a little bit of a more well rounded role, there's a chance for him to be an absolute superstar.
- [29:36]
A
Why McMillan? Random person. Who would pick McMillan? I don't know. I wouldn't pick McMillan, but I guess my argument would be he is the clear number one guy on his team. And is he? Yes, I, I know that. Okay. Yes. Like if Jalen Coker is going to out target him and yeah, he really struggled late down the stretch, McMillan, because Coker was coming on, then we got a real problem here. But I, I don't see that happening again, quite honestly. I kind of look at it as Rashid Shahid, Chris Olave, like in that small sample size in 2024, Shahid was better than Olave. Olave again, 26.4% target share with Shahid last year. So I think McMillan will, will, you know, be the clear number one guy, whereas, I don't know that's the case for a Mecca, Buka and Burden. But for the record, I would not take McMillan over a buka. I don't know about him versus burden. Super tough call. Probably, probably not, but. Yeah. What do you think, Jamie?
- [30:34]
C
He makes me very nervous. I mean, it's not just Jalen Coker. It's now Brazil, you know, being there, it's a team that, despite what may be a lack of talent in the backfield, is going to want to run the ball a lot. That's Dave Canalis's track record. I know he's not calling the plays anymore, but it offense and you have the Bryce Young problem, you know, and so is Bryce Young. Does he have the ability to elevate his number one receiver to the fantasy heights that I think a lot of people hope Ted Roll McMillan can get to? So I think he's. This is the range for him and I don't see him going past round four. I don't think that you can necessarily make strong enough pro con arguments for the guys in Keith's tier that he shouldn't be ahead of some of those, behind a couple of them. You see, he's not in this tier for me, he's in the next group. Same thing with that list. You know, you can make strong arguments for and against some of the guys around him. I just think, and I've said this before, like, what you got from him last year I think is somewhat replicable. You know, you're going to get right around a thousand yards receiving. You're going to get eight to 10 touchdowns. You're going to get a healthy enough target share that you'll like it, but you won't love it. You'll be asking for more. You'll see him do things. You know, you'll. You'll say this a lot, Adam. You. You watch him play football. He looks really good. Yeah, the numbers just won't back it up, I think, unfortunately, because the team
- [31:50]
A
he's on, the Garrett Wilson effects. Jamie goes abuka McMillan, burden. Heath goes burden, abuka McMillan. Next tier, please. On to tier five. All right, so here we have McMillan. We have burden in here for Jamie. We also have lad McConkey, Terry McLaurin and Garrett Wilson. McMillan, McConkey, McLaurin, Luther Burden, Garrett Wilson. This is tier five for Jamie.
- [32:17]
B
These tears match up.
- [32:18]
A
Yeah, I love it. Yeah, Yeah, I love it. We have McLaurin, McConkey and Garrett Wilson in here for Heath as well. We don't have burden and McMillan. Right. Because they were in the previous tier. Right. But the three in common are Lad, McConkey, Terry McLaurin and Garrett Wilson. Now, Heath has four more guys that he's grouping with them. DJ Moore, Jalen Waddle, Devonte Adams and Jameson Williams. DJ Moore, Jalen Wadd, Devonte Adams and Jameson Williams in a seven receiver tier with McLaurin, McConkey and Garrett Wilson. Jamie, what is it about McLaurin, McConkey Garrett Wilson that separates them from DJ Moore, Jalen Waddle, Devonte Adams and Jameson Williams?
- [33:00]
C
I think just a little bit more upside McConkey, as we've kind of heard from the reports in Los Angeles and the hope of Mike McDaniel being there and Justin Herbert, what we saw in his rookie campaign, I think there's an opportunity for him to get back to producing that level. Especially if they don't do what still might happen and resign Keenan. Alex. I think that was a problem for McConkey last year. McLaurin, you mentioned it. Stefan Diggs. I think there's going to be another pass catcher joining the team prior to week one, whoever that may be, because they're obviously knocking on doors, whether it was Brandon Iuk or Diggs or somebody else. You know, some. Some. Something will potentially happen. Could be another tight end, could be Zach Ertz coming back. You know, there just feels like there's another pass catcher coming to Washington, so that may lower his ceiling a little bit. But, my God, what we saw in 2024 with Jaden Daniels when There was no holdout. And you look at the restless receiving core, like I don't think he leads the NFL and targets, but if they decide to be this very pass happy, friendly team like Terry McLaurin is going to be up there, certainly targets per game if he stays healthy. And then for Garrett Wilson, you know, it's. Did you ask about Wilson? I'm sorry.
- [34:09]
A
Yeah, yeah. McLaurin, McConkie and Wilson being ahead of
- [34:13]
C
a tough one for me because you see the talent, you know what he's capable of producing, like, and I do think Geno Smith is going to help him. To what level? We'll find out. But then you got to factor in like they just added two high profile pass catchers in Kenyan Sadiq and Omar Cooper. They like Adnai Mitchell for what that's worth. Like, is there enough targets in this offense for Garrett Wilson to get to the place he needs to get to? So that's my concern with him. It's not really a talent thing. I, you know, hopefully he stays healthy. We saw it last year averaging over 19 PPR points per game when he was on the field. But it's just a matter of is there enough opportunities for him to get those chances. So the lot, the later he is, the more excited I'm, I get about him. But when I see him going round three, I just can't buy into it.
- [34:55]
B
This is kind of the 12 to 13 fantasy point per game range for me and I should say based on my current projections who's on the team. Terry McLaurin would have been in the tier above, which maybe would match up better with where Jamie has him with Ted Aoa and Luther Burden because I do have him projected for more points right now. I'm just really scared that Stefan Diggs or Keenan Allen's going to show up and kind of move him back down into this tier. I think DJ Moore and Jalen Waddle are kind of the same thing. Like we're, we're, we've seen these guys look awesome before. They are going to in theory better situations, definitely better quarterbacks than they had last year. And we're hoping that they can be the, like there's a chance either one of these guys could be the clear number one wide receiver. And if they are, then I'm too low on them in this tier. But also they, I'm kind of afraid they won't be and that Jalen Wadden Waddle and Cortland Sutton just both have like 115 targets because Sean Payton likes to throw it to 17 guys. And the same thing with Brady. So I think like Moore and Waddle are probably the two for me that I, I really just don't know. And so I've kind of settled on this 12 1/2 point range.
- [36:13]
A
Waddle averaged 13.4 points per game from weeks five through 15 without Tyree kill and with Tua Tonga by loa. But he just had no target competition. And honestly I was a Little disappointed in 13.4 PPR points per game. But they were so run heavy. They averaged 27 pass attempts per game or at least two I did in that strength.
- [36:34]
C
He's the one guy that just. It I struggle with so much or one of the guys I struggle with so much. Just because we're supposed to get excited about players when they join new teams, right? When these receivers get this compensation and, and you look at the track record for the majority of them, you know, DK Metcalf may be the outlier. I don't know if I'm missing somebody, but these guys go to these new teams. And Bo Nix has been a good fantasy quarterback and Sean Payton's system has been good. But despite the fact that they threw the ball 613 times last year, which was top five in the NFL, the guy that was second in targets had 104. And so like, does that just completely change? And it's just so concentrated to Waddle. And then I'm expecting, I think most people are, that Cortland Sutton just goes from the number one to the number two, and he's been living in that 130 target range in the two years with Bonix. But it's just so hard to expect because there was a report. I don't know if you referenced this in the last couple of days, Adam, but there was a report, I think it was on the Broncos website of Evan Ingram. Looks really good and he's going to benefit from the, the, the, the attention going to Waddle into Sutton. And there's still Pat Bryant and there's still Troy Franklin and there's still this and there's still that. And they have, you know, all three running backs that they're going to use. Like, it's just not enough. It's not enough, you know, so like you'll see in the next year. I agree with Heath. Like DJ Moore, for me is, is. Is I think a better fantasy prospect this season than Jalen Waddle because he should get so many target opportunities if,
- [38:04]
B
if they throw the ball enough.
- [38:07]
A
I just got to say I really like. Not everyone in on this list here For Jamie, it's McMillan, McConkey, McLaurin, Burden, Garrett, Wilson. For Heath, it's McLaurin, McConkey, Wilson, DJ Moore, Waddle, Adams, Jameson Williams. I like most of them. I want to be in this tier. I want to draft a wide receiver in this tier. And I'm sure I'm gonna, you know, I like all the first four tiers, I'm sure, but I feel like I'm going to like these guys more than the running backs in this range, quite frankly. And I still think we're looking at players who have top 12 potential. You know, that's kind of how I look at this tier. I don't think Jameson Williams does, especially in full ppr, but I don't really think Jalen Waddle does because of the target stuff. But I really think everyone else on this list, McLaurin, McMillan, McConkey, Garrett Wilson, Luther Burden, DJ Moore, Devonte Adams. I really think every single one of them has top 12 potential.
- [39:06]
C
I mean, I know you always like to say, like, that's the, the place they need to get to for you to want them. Well, at least that's the way you.
- [39:12]
A
Not necessarily, but I like if you, if you.
- [39:15]
C
These are guys that we're talking about now that are in the late teens, early 20s, like, if they return their, you know, you get the return on investment that you're drafting them. Especially if, you know, from the way you're describing it would be you want to go running back. Running back essentially, or running back in your first two running backs in your first three picks. Like, you can get away with that this year easily if you love these guys and if they're top 15 receivers, not necessarily top 12, but you're running back set, you're going to be great.
- [39:39]
A
Actually, I think it's super important based on the way wide receivers been set certainly last year. I don't know if it's going to repeat, but I think it's super important to have an elite wide receiver. I would be upset if this was my first wide receiver, but I definitely want to get one of these guys as my wide receiver 2 and maybe come back with my wide receiver 3. If I could go, like, if you,
- [39:58]
C
if you, let's say go. I'm trying to think how it will work adp, if you start with Saint Brown and then come back and get Hampton and Hampton and Kyron Williams. So you go Saint Brown, Hampton, Chiron, receiver, receiver with two of these guys being the next two.
- [40:21]
A
Yeah, I like that.
- [40:22]
C
Yep.
- [40:24]
A
I wouldn't even be. I wouldn't even be upset if I threw in like a Lamar Jackson in there or something like that and and just had one of these receivers.
- [40:33]
C
But we all know you're gonna take Joe Burrow.
- [40:36]
A
Anyway, I I guess as we try to label these tiers, we still have a lot of upside, at least according to me. Didn't sound like you guys were disagreeing in this tier. Let's take a break and get to Tier 6 and see how many we can get to. Hopefully at least 8. We'll be right back. Ready to experience something new. Alltrails helps you find your next hike whether you're looking for something nearby or planning a trip. Read reviews from real people like you to choose your trail and know what to expect. You can also download the map in case service gets spotty. Plan and experience your next hike with All Trails the app for exploring the outdoors. Download it today and find your outside maybe I'm running a little bit of a risk here asking this question from the chat of getting off subject, but I do think it's relevant based on the conversation we just had from Scott. What is your lean in the first round? Running back or wide receiver? And my answer would always be best player available? I do not have a lean. But what about you guys? Okay, yeah, you're gonna find good players at the position. Just take the best player. Maybe it depends on where you're picking in round one. I don't know if you find that maybe the wide receivers or running backs at the 2, 3 turn are better. I think wide receiver a little bit, but not enough.
- [42:04]
C
I mean, look, you got to know your league. You got to know what you're, you know, if you can, you know what, what the majority of the trends may be for the the teams in your league. But I think if you start to just study ADP a little bit and get an idea of the players in those ranges, which is why, you know, Dave just posted his tears last week. I'm in the middle of posting mine this week. I think he's for next week. You get an idea of of what you can see and we're talking about it here on, on the show as well. Like you get an idea of where the ranges are of, of players. So you know, if you have an early pick in round one, do you really want to pass on Chase Puka, JSN Saint Brown, you know, those, those four guys to take one of Gibbs or, or Bijan knowing that when you get to that 2, 3 turn, like the running backs May be a little bit better than the receivers that are still on the board. So it all comes down to, I think, what you're looking at if you're building it out in your head. But if you go in with the idea of outside of the first, you know, four or five picks, knowing that that's the range of guys, like, if you're at the back end around one and you say, I'm, I'm taking this guy, he may not be there, you're gonna, you know, screw yourself over.
- [43:07]
A
True.
- [43:08]
B
We. We have a very strong agreement on the top seven picks and even kind of the order, like the first two picks for everybody are running backs. The next four picks for Jamie and I are wide receivers. Dave messes that up because he has Jonathan Taylor just ahead of him on Ross St. Brown, but he has him on a seven. So like, we kind of have a pretty, like the first half, it's pretty easy to just say, if the two running backs are there, I'm going to take them. If they're not, I'm going to take one of the four wide receivers. The, the back half of round one is a complete crapshoot in terms of running back versus wide receiver. And you have to make that decision about Christian McCaffrey at some point.
- [43:46]
A
For the record, I don't think I would have the same number two pick as you guys.
- [43:50]
B
You'd put Chase over Bijon?
- [43:51]
A
I would. I think it's just like these guys are all so elite that the only thing I can really see torpedoing it, other than injuries would be the Falcons offense is so bad and they're just bouncing back between quarterbacks and really struggling. I don't think that's going to happen, but I just don't think I can take a Falcons guy over a Bengals guy. Whatever.
- [44:12]
C
All right, so I guess again, looking at the. The build, do you prefer Chase and Derek Henry or. Well, you will never take Derek Henry, Chase and Ken Walker, let's say, or Bijan and see Jamie, here's where.
- [44:32]
A
Here's where it gets tough because, yeah, they. Based on average draft position, A.J. brown's going 19th. So let's. Let's say we can't get him. But Nico Collins, George Pickens and Rashi Rice are all available at the 2, 3 turn. And I like them all better than. Than Derrick Henry, I think, But I still don't think that would influence my pick. I'm just gonna take the guy that I like better in, in the first round. And if I have to take two wide receivers with My first two picks, then so be it.
- [44:59]
C
No, I'm, I. That's the way you should draft it. Obviously, you know, you shouldn't let the, the rest of the draft dictate what you're going to do in the first pick, but it's clearly something you can take into account of. Here's the range of guys that are coming next and how do you want to pair them together.
- [45:12]
B
I do think you're going to get really uncomfortable in round three if you do that because there's a pretty big gap between after that Ken Walker group.
- [45:22]
A
Yeah.
- [45:23]
B
And you're like, you're probably then staring down the barrel of do I want to start three wide receivers or do I want to start two wide receivers and bounce Bowers or McBride if one of them's still there. And now you're looking at late round four before you get a running back.
- [45:37]
A
And if I do that, what are we looking at at 48th overall at running back, we're looking at David Montgomery, Deandre Swift, Travion Judkins, Basil Tootin, Bucky Irving.
- [45:49]
B
I mean, if you get Judkins there, I'd feel. And I took swift in round four of the 14 team league.
- [45:55]
A
Yeah. It's not a typical me team. Right. All right, let's. Let's go to tier six now at wide receiver and we are looking at Malik. Yeah. Oh, man. Malik. Neighbors for Jamie, D.J. moore. Basically for Jamie, it's Malik, neighbors and the rest of tier five for Heath here in tier six. DJ Moore, Jalen Waddle, Mike Evans, Devonte Adams. Not Evans though. Evans is. Evans is in tier six. He's lower on Evans. But the guys we just talked about, basically neighbors, more Waddle, Adams and then Evans, who's a new name and Heath has.
- [46:33]
B
Welcome to your wide receiver threes.
- [46:35]
A
Fifteen receivers here. I don't even know. We got Metcalf, We've got both Jaguar. Well, two of the Jaguars guys, Thomas and Parker Washington, we got Odunze, we got Marvin Harrison Jr. Christian Watson, Jordan Tyson, Cortland Sutton, Alec Pierce to Quentin Johnston, Carnell Tate and Josh Downs. Jordan, Addison, Jacoby. We do have all three Jaguars. Jordan, Addison, Jacoby, Myers and Mike Evans. So obviously when you're watch. When you're looking at this, I think a lot of people are going to go, Mike Evans, Mike Evans at the bottom of the mega tier. So we could talk about him separately. But he's. What's. What point are you making here with this mega tier?
- [47:17]
B
We used to talk about the blob of wide receivers that Was like wide receiver 20 to wide receiver 37 or whatever. This is the Blob, except it starts a little bit later than it did in the past. All like, literally. I think all of these guys are within 1.2 points per game in my projections. So don't care about the order. These are your wide receiver threes.
- [47:42]
A
And that would be Metcalf.
- [47:43]
B
You can choose floor, you can choose upside, you can like, you can choose old, you can choose young, you can choose slot guys, you can choose 16 yard ads, whatever you want. There's something for you. Here are your wide receiver threes.
- [47:56]
C
This is Heat's golden corral.
- [47:59]
A
Yes. So what do you choose? Like, what do you typically, you know, in terms of profile slot guys, old guys, whatever. Like, what do you typically lean toward?
- [48:09]
B
I think it depends on whether you've started, as we were just talking, like with a couple of wide receivers early and then those guys like Alec Pierce, Quentin Johnston, kind of the. The even Marvin Harrison, Jun, Christian Watson.
- [48:21]
C
The, the.
- [48:21]
B
The quintessential boom bust wide receiver three. That's going to win you six weeks a year. That's great. If you started with a couple running backs early and you need some security, then you take the guys that are a little bit safer.
- [48:34]
A
I'm going to read the names again. Metcalf, every. Jaguar Odunze, Marvin Harrison, Christian Watson, Jordan Tyson, Cortland Sutton, Alec Pierce, Quentin Johnston, Carnell Tate, Josh Downs, Jordan Addison, Mike Evans. Obviously, if I asked Jamie, who are you going to lean toward? I know he's going to say Mike Evans because he has Evans a tier ahead of this. Well, same tier numerically for you guys, but for all intents and purposes ahead of this, we just did round seven through nine wide receivers. So Jamie would probably say, throw Chris Godwin on there. I want him. But who are some of the names that jump out to you that you would find yourself favoring?
- [49:12]
C
Jamie and Heath's mega tier.
- [49:14]
A
Yeah.
- [49:15]
C
So I would get a plate and I'd probably go with Watson first. Oh, Dunes a first, sorry, Odunze, then Watson, then probably the Jaguars guys of Washington and Thomas, in that order. Then Josh Downs. I'm sorry, Then Alex Pierce, Josh Downs, those two guys. But yeah, Evans will be first.
- [49:41]
A
This morning was Parker Washington. Morning for me said a lot of. A lot of research on Parker Washington. But not just that, but just try to find some comps. Thomas, can you throw up the graphic that you. I throw this. These numbers at him half hour before the show and he comes up with this amazing graphic.
- [49:56]
B
Wow.
- [49:57]
A
So these are players from 2024. And I looked at weeks 12 through 18 because that was Parker Washington's, you know, boom season. He actually missed week 14 and he barely played in two of the games there. And he's still amazing. But here are some players who finish strong. Weeks 12 through 18 of 2024 had an ADP boost in 2025. And how do they do the next year? Brian Thomas Jr. Horrible bust. Jerry Judy, even bigger bust. Lad McConkey, bust. Marvin Mims actually averaged 15.8 points per game. He didn't really have that big of an adp.
- [50:35]
B
Nobody cared.
- [50:35]
A
He was second, but he was a bust. Cortland Sutton, originally I put him as a bus, but I would say, I guess I'd call him a fine pick. He, he, he had a big finish. So did Bo Nix in 2024. He was 53rd overall. He was like wide receiver 22 or something. And he finished basically right around there. So we'll call him a fine pick. And then there was JSN and that, that's the prize here. Jackson Smith, Ninjigba averaged 15 points per game from weeks 12 through 18 of 2024 and he had an MVP caliber season there. Then I went back, but most of them were busts. And then I went back and I looked at the same stuff from 2023. We don't have a graphic on that, but again, most of those guys who finished strong in 2023 were busts. You had CD lamb, right? Jamie says we've been chasing that stretch for CD Lamb. Well, he finished as wide receiver 9 per game and he was drafted as wide receiver 1. Yet Christian Watson, who averaged 24 points per game in weeks 12 through 18 of 2023 and he was a was wide receiver 83 per game. Rashee Rice though, was the JSN of the group. Even though he only played, in my opinion, three games, he was obviously a great pick. He parlayed a terrific finish to 2023 into big production. Yet Zay Flowers, who was a bust after a strong finish to his rookie year, and you had Jaden Reed, who was a bust bust, I would say a slight bust after a strong finish to his rookie year. And I know I threw a lot of names out there. I guess my point is I am going to be wary of guys who just did it in a small sample size. And yes, that means we all missed on Amon Ross St. Brown after his rookie year and I probably missed on Rashi Rice after his rookie year. But Parker Washington was in his third year when he had this big outbreak and he was so good and then he backed it up in the playoffs with an amazing game.
- [52:31]
C
Can I give you two names that might matter?
- [52:33]
A
Yeah.
- [52:34]
C
Wanda Robinson and Chris Godwin.
- [52:38]
A
What? In what regard?
- [52:39]
C
The slot receivers for Liam Cohen.
- [52:44]
A
Wandale Robinson was a slot. Oh, in college in Kentucky. Oh, that stuff doesn't really matter to me in college. Yeah. He also was like a deep threat in college, you know, but that. No, it matters to some people. I didn't mean to dismiss it.
- [53:00]
C
I mean, look, there's my, my biggest issue with Parker Washington is how are they going to get all these guys the football? Yep. You know, so it's, it's great to love him. It's understandable to love him. It's understandable to want to bounce back for Brian Thomas. It's understandable to want Jacoby Myers to still do what he's done. It's understandable to want to see Travis Hunter play on offense to be successful. It's understandable to want to see Brent Strange play like he did at times last year and, and justify the contract. How do they do it? Well, this is why I love Trevor Lawrence because I think there's an opportunity for him to just thrive with all these guys, especially with a suspect run game. But somebody's going to disappoint here. Two guys are probably gonna disappoint here. Maybe three guys are going to disappoint here, especially depending on how quickly you draft or how soon you draft them. So I think the Parker Washington excitement level is justified if he's drafted in the right range. If you're taking him ahead of like, I think the, the, a lot of the names that Heath has here, like, I would prefer, I do prefer Romo Dunes a Christian Watson. I think there's a higher ceiling for those guys. But I understand where Parker Washington is. I know Dave is very excited about Park Washington, for example. I think a lot of people in the industry are excited about Park Washington, but it's again, four guys need the football and I go back to they reached for Travis Hunter and to just completely dismiss him is I think a little bit of a mistake. They traded for Jacoby Myers. I don't think he's going to disappear. We know what Brian Thomas can do. We know what he's capable of. And whether he's the sacrificial X or just a deep threat or whatever the case may be, he's going to get opportunities too. So it's like how, how good can Parker Washington be? Because a lot of what he did last year was no Travis Hunter and a very different Brian Thomas. Yeah.
- [54:50]
A
An injured one, but the best. That was the bad stuff, I guess for Parker Washington. From what I said, it's not how I necessarily feel about him because you know, I mentioned weeks 12 through 18. If we get rid of week 12 is Brian Thomas Jr.
- [55:03]
C
Didn't play.
- [55:03]
A
We look at weeks 13 through 18 when Parker Washington was on the field, he had a 31.5% target share. So really impressive stuff.
- [55:14]
B
What would you guess his snap share is this year?
- [55:17]
A
80% of the routes Washington, not the snaps but the routes. You think that's too high?
- [55:25]
B
I think it's probably too high.
- [55:28]
A
Then either he's good enough to justify that. Right. Like he's a good enough player where they need to keep him on the field or if not, then I don't think he should be taken in round six or seven.
- [55:37]
B
I mean they extended Britain Strange and drafted two tight ends also and are talking about playing more two tight end sets.
- [55:42]
A
You're right. You're probably right. That makes me nervous. Let me see Parker Washington's ADP 66. That's. That's mid round six.
- [55:54]
C
I mean look, if you read the reports out of Jacksonville and go based on what we saw last year and I think the two guys that should make you nervous for how they impact everybody else but even their individual performances is Jacoby Myers and Travis Hunter. Because I think what Brian Thomas does changes their offense whether he's good or not. But he just obviously is such a threat to the defense. And Parker Washington just feels like that's the safety blanket for Trevor Lawrence and Lincoln.
- [56:24]
A
But that's the thing. He's actually. His ADOT was 12.5 yards. He's not. He's a different. And he's not an exclusive slot guy either. 44% slot rate. It's not like a 70% slot guy or anything.
- [56:39]
C
So now you have everybody healthy.
- [56:40]
A
He's a different cat. Yeah. I don't know who he is. We don't know yet. And sorry, we just spent so much on Parker Washington. There's a lot of guys on this list. There's no way we can talk about all of them.
- [56:50]
B
It might be better just to go to Tier 7 and talk about which guys for Jamie are in in this tier. Like to try to separate them a
- [56:57]
A
little bit before we do that. We talked about how the last tier was. Was full of. Was a lot of guys that might have top 12 potential. Do you think anyone in this tier has top 12 potential.
- [57:07]
B
Yeah.
- [57:08]
A
Who.
- [57:10]
B
I mean, Brian Thomas Jr. Has already done it.
- [57:13]
A
Yeah. Who. Anyone else?
- [57:16]
B
I. I think Marvin Harrison still could. Roma Dunes, they could. We could all be dumb. And Roma Dunes, they could be the best pass catcher on the Bears.
- [57:25]
A
Okay. But most of the guys, like maybe Alec Pierce, I don't know.
- [57:29]
C
Well, Heath, is your concern about Evan's health or performance?
- [57:34]
B
A little of both, but more. More health.
- [57:37]
A
I forgot about Evans. Yeah, I think you got to throw him in that conversation.
- [57:41]
C
Yeah, I. I mean, look, obviously got to be concerned about Evan's health. I think if we were guaranteed a certain amount of games for him would determine how high he would be ranked if he was going to play the majority of the season. But you just got, you know, a nine touchdown season out of Juwan Jennings in this offense. Yeah. Like he. He could be this year's Devonte Adams.
- [58:00]
B
Let's see. And I. I think you probably have to say Christian Watson. Yep. Like, if everything goes right, my thing
- [58:06]
A
about Watts is like, I don't know if we'll have enough catches in ppr, but in the other formats, you know,
- [58:13]
C
I don't have it in front of me. But I'm sure you guys have different stats on this. Where did Watson finish points per game last year?
- [58:18]
A
He was 19th, 13th and non. 17th and half. 19th and full.
- [58:24]
C
So this is a Watson comment and a Malik Neighbors comment. Watson did that coming off a torn ACL and in an offense that didn't throw the ball very much. And Neighbors coming off torn ACL in an offense that may not throw very much. And Malik Neighbors is a much better prospect than Christian Watson. Watson. So hopefully we get that type of season from Neighbors. Again, hard to count on that because of where he's at with his health. Watson was in a seemingly better spot, but no Don Tavian Wicks. More importantly, no Romeo Dobbs. This could be. The Runway is clear for Christian Watson and Jane Reed and Matthew golden, but Watson is the most likely alpha. Like he could. He could have a big year.
- [59:01]
A
All right, Tier seven at long last. By the way, listen to the Wide Receiver 7 through 9 podcast from last week. Should be helpful for Jamie. It's Christian Watson, Romo Dunze, Jameson Williams and Marvin Harrison Jr. So many ways I want to go about this show, but Jameson Williams, I think feel like he's higher on him than. Than Jamie. Let me just check on that.
- [59:25]
B
I think I'm probably higher on the Lions total pass attempts than anybody this year.
- [59:31]
A
So Jamie's got him 29th Jamo. And Heath has him 25th. Dave has him 34th. All right. But Heath's tier seven is Chris Godwin, Xavier Worthy.
- [59:41]
C
NFL.
- [59:42]
A
What's that? Yeah, the rest of football. Chris Godwin, Xavier Worthy. I don't know why Xavier Worthy wasn't on the graphic that I gave to the notes that I gave to Thomas. He probably was a guy who had a strong finish, was pushed up in ADP and was a bust. Michael Pittman, Khalil, Shakir, Trey Tucker, Michael Wilson, Makai Lemon, Antonio Williams, Romeo Dobbs and Ricky Pearsall. Godwin Worthy, Pitman, Shakir Tucker, Michael Wilson, Makai Lemon, Antonio Williams, Romeo Dobbs, Ricky Piersol. What do you think?
- [60:20]
B
He wasn't on the list because his strong finish was a lot of playoffs and he played one snap in week 18.
- [60:27]
A
Right, right, right. Which of course you.
- [60:29]
B
On the Azer stat.
- [60:30]
A
If you.
- [60:30]
B
If you don't count week 18, but you do count the playoff games, then you could. You could definitely put them on the list. Right.
- [60:36]
A
You, of course, would count one snap in week 18. It's makes. Makes very much sense. Jamie, what do you think about this tier? What does this tier represent? God. When Worthy, Pittman, Shakir, Trey Tucker, Michael Wilson, Lemon, Antonio Williams, Romeo Dobbs, Ricky Pierce, all.
- [60:50]
C
I mean, it represents a lot obviously, that I. I'm. I'm curious on some of the rankings. So Shakir ahead of Pierce all, Godwin.
- [61:03]
B
This is just tears the order doesn't matter.
- [61:08]
C
Yeah. But even behind the. Some of the guys in the other tier.
- [61:10]
B
Yeah, I. I think for Godwin, it's like all the concerns that I have about Mike Evans and health and is he still the same guy? And if he's number two for Baker Mayfield. Who is Baker Mayfield? And like, I'm just down on the Bucs offense.
- [61:25]
C
Yeah. I was gonna say, I always like when Heath comes at it and is consistent because most people in our industry are not consistent. Heath is certainly not that. He's very consistent. When he has his slants on a team, he is very across the board with it. So no love for Baker. No. Doesn't really buy the Buka breakout. I think to most people's level, very down on Godwin. It's interesting. I do. I do find it curious though, that you're of such a Brock Purdy guy and out on Evans and Pearsall.
- [61:55]
B
Yeah, well, he's got George Kittle and Christian McCaffrey.
- [61:58]
C
It's true.
- [62:03]
A
Antonio Williams being on here might. Oh, you know what? I'll just say this. When I look at Godwin, when I look at Worthy, Lemon and Piersol. Those are the guys that I think if things go right, they could really outperform this tier. Godwin, Worthy, Makai Lemon and Ricky Piersol. I'm not sure I see that for anyone else.
- [62:31]
C
I think just in. And it's tough to say Michael Pittman, but if you look at last year when Daniel Jones was healthy first nine games of the season, he was averaging over 16 PPR points per game.
- [62:44]
B
Yeah, he was better for a longer stretch than Parker Washington.
- [62:48]
C
Yeah, yeah. And a lot of that obviously was Daniel Jones healthy. He broke his leg in Week 10. So the first nine games of the season, Pittman was a pretty solid fantasy option. And then now you go to this offense that may throw the ball a little bit more with Mike McCarthy, may throw the ball down the field a little bit more with Mike McCarthy, but that doesn't speak to what a 42 year old Aaron Rodgers probably wants to do. And so I struggle right now with Pittman vs. DK Metcalf and who's better right now. I'd still take Mac House. I think there's more upside, but wouldn't shock me if Pittman has a better fantasy season.
- [63:23]
A
No, you shouldn't struggle with this.
- [63:25]
B
I want to clarify too. The reason I said rankings don't matter is this is not. I didn't. I just put these in the order of where they come out in the projections. I move guys if I think they have more upside. Makai Lemon's higher than most of the guys in this tier because I, I do, I agree with you. I do think he has more upside. I think the other guy, you left out, Adam, like you said, if everything goes right, these guys are in the wrong tier. I think after like we just spent so much time on Parker Washington after what we saw from Michael Wilson last year, who also did it when somebody wasn't healthy like Parker Washington, that like, if everything goes right for Michael Wilson, he doesn't belong in this tier.
- [64:00]
A
What does that mean to you though? If everything goes right? Because I did not mean if other
- [64:04]
B
guys get hurt hurt if he's. Well, if the, if the tight end targets for Trey McBride go down, if Michael Wilson's just better for Marvin Harrison than Marvin Harrison Jr. Because Marvin Harrison Jr. Is never as good as Michael Wilson was during that stretch.
- [64:19]
A
Right.
- [64:20]
C
Did you see this photo of Michael of Marvin Harrison last week?
- [64:24]
B
No.
- [64:25]
C
Oh, look, quickly.
- [64:28]
A
Is he like really big or something?
- [64:30]
C
He's massive.
- [64:33]
B
In a positive or negative way?
- [64:35]
C
Well, I mean, look, I would like to look like that. He looks like the Hulk.
- [64:38]
B
Okay.
- [64:39]
A
I don't know where the picture. Oh, oh, at the press conference. Oh, wow. Yeah. He is a big dude.
- [64:45]
C
At the press conference. No, he's standing shirtless on a field.
- [64:49]
A
Well, it's also him. Maybe this was. This was last year. He was big last year.
- [64:56]
B
Can I ask a question, Adam? When was the last time you stood shirtless in public?
- [65:05]
A
Years ago, like. Well, I go swimming in a shirt,
- [65:10]
C
so this is gonna. This is gonna sound funny, but Adam and I, once, we were. I think you were there, Heath. I'm pretty sure Dave was at the event we did in New England.
- [65:19]
B
No, I didn't do an event in New England, so I think it was you three.
- [65:24]
C
And we had to put on polo shirts.
- [65:26]
A
Yeah.
- [65:26]
C
So Adam and I had to go in to change, and I saw Adam shirtless.
- [65:31]
B
Yeah.
- [65:32]
C
Still horrified.
- [65:35]
A
Do you want to see a really disgusting bruise on my arm?
- [65:37]
C
Of course. Yeah.
- [65:38]
A
What do you think about this?
- [65:41]
C
Wow. Dan did that too.
- [65:43]
A
I got hit with us by a softball right in the shoulder.
- [65:47]
C
You cried, didn't you?
- [65:49]
A
I was thankful to be alive. The ball could hit me in the head. And it was screaming. It was.
- [65:54]
C
Where?
- [65:54]
B
Okay. No, no. Were you, like, off to the side without her glove?
- [65:57]
A
I was coaching third.
- [65:59]
B
Okay, that makes. Makes more sense.
- [66:00]
A
Yeah. I was watching the play at third. The guy. My guy slid. I didn't have any eyes on the ball. And the short. I think it was the shortstop. He's like the cutoff man. He made a throw to third, and he must have just thrown it way too fast because the third baseman completely missed it.
- [66:14]
C
It.
- [66:14]
A
And it went whizzing by my face. Hit me. I mean, really, the best possible place could have hit me. I'm just so, so lucky.
- [66:23]
B
Is it going to affect your tennis?
- [66:27]
A
No. I play the best tennis of my life the day after, so.
- [66:29]
B
Okay.
- [66:30]
A
I think I'm okay.
- [66:32]
C
But, yeah, coaching bases could be a little scary sometimes.
- [66:34]
A
That's what I says. Like, listen, there's too many errors in our leagues. You gotta get.
- [66:38]
C
Yeah, but, like, how close do you were. How close to the base were you.
- [66:42]
A
That's probably 10ft behind the base. But the throw was pretty close. I would say the distance between me and the guy was like the distance between second and third base, but on a little league field, like we weren't. Or like we weren't on a major league baseball field. So he threw it as hard as he could. And softball, I mean, it's the biggest misnomer in. In sports, those things are super hard. Yeah, they're huge.
- [67:06]
B
Oh, I, I got, I was playing first base once and got drilled by a lefty, hit a one hopper off my knee and like, I looked like the guy that got hit by the buffalo at the state park.
- [67:18]
C
I once had to drive one of my teammates to the hospital after he got drilled in the face by the shortstop or third baseman throwing the ball, you know, way off first baseline and just drilled the guy right in the head.
- [67:29]
A
Yeah, man, it's scary because we don't wear helmets. And I was like, I think this the riskiest thing because these guys, we were all so bad, you know, make such bad throws.
- [67:36]
C
You guys have nets for the pitcher or no?
- [67:38]
A
No.
- [67:39]
C
Yeah, that's something that's become popular lately.
- [67:41]
A
We don't wear helmets. And then it's the throw to first. You're running a first base. You're obviously not looking.
- [67:46]
C
Yep.
- [67:46]
A
And that's, that's the scary thing. But base coaching too, I guess. Oh, there's, There's Marvin Metcalf Jr. Right. Looks like, it looks like DK Metcalf. He's enormous. That could be a good thing. All right, we can mirror. We'll talk to you tomorrow with tight end Tears of Fantasy Football.
- [68:07]
B
Today,
- [68:18]
C
Paramount Podcasts.
- [68:20]
A
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