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Dave Richard
This is fantasy football today from CBS Sports.
Heath Cummings
What a play.
Jamie Eisenberg
Can you believe this?
Dave Richard
No, I can't. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Off to the races and he stays on his feet.
Heath Cummings
This is going to go the distance.
Dave Richard
Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie and Heath.
Heath Cummings
Wide receiver week continues here on fantasy football today, Wednesday, July 9th. And we've gotten through 40 wide receivers so far. We've gone through eight rounds of average draft position in our PPI PPR mock drafts. Our fans only PPR mock drafts. So let's get through rounds nine and later. And welcome to the show, everybody. And welcome to the show. Heath Cummings and Jamie Eisenberg. How we doing, Heath? How's it going over there? How's Scott Fishbowl treating you?
Dave Richard
Well, as I told you earlier in the week, I'm doing a live draft on Sunday, so I don't have any players. But I've been living vicariously through Jamie's team, which sounds like he's already won the league to me.
Heath Cummings
Oh, yeah? Is it better than my team? Jamie, what's your team?
Jamie Eisenberg
I mean, I. I hope Heath is just judging rosters as opposed to us playing them out. So I love that. My team is Trey McBride, Devon HN and Chase Brown.
Heath Cummings
No quarterbacks. Same here. No quarterbacks. Me. You don't have to start any quarterbacks in this league. I'd like to. I have. Okay, so he's got McBride, Iron Sleeper or MFL Sleeper. Okay, so McBride, that's three and a half points for tight end receptions. Two and a half points for all the. All other receptions. McBride, H. And Chase Brown. I have McCaffrey, Lamb, Nico Collins.
Jamie Eisenberg
It's pretty impressive.
Heath Cummings
Who wins, Heath.
Dave Richard
You know, I. Your team is much better than what I expected for you to say, so I would. I. I do have Lamb just ahead of Trey McBride. I have McCaffrey. Oh, I have Achan ahead of Lamb. I have McBride ahead of McCaffrey. Who was your third?
Heath Cummings
Nico.
Dave Richard
And I have Chase Brown ahead of Nico in the scoring. So Jamie beats you on all three players.
Heath Cummings
Okay.
Jamie Eisenberg
Did you have any tough calls?
Heath Cummings
Yes. McBride, Big Bowers, or McBride versus McCaffrey? I thought I had the 10th pick. I thought maybe I can get one of the tight ends coming back. The player with the. The person with the 11th pick took Bowers. Bowers in the first round and McBride in the second round. So I did not get that 100 catch tight end, unfortunately.
Dave Richard
And you would have won the league if you'd just taken Bowers, maybe. And now you're gonna probably finish sixth in your own league.
Heath Cummings
All right, so in the CBS ADP, there are 40 wide receivers in the first eight rounds. We're gonna pick it up from there with wide receiver 41. But in fantasy pros, ADP, just so you know, there are actually 50 wide receivers in the first eight rounds. I'm gonna ask you who are your favorite late round picks? And yeah, you can base it on CBS, ADP and round nine or later. So pick 97 or later. But I think I'm gonna make you say someone other than Calvin Ridley, Juwan Jennings, Debo Samuel and Cooper Cup. They are the next four wide receivers off the board in our adp. Calvin Ridley, Juwan Jennings, Debo Samuel and Cooper Cup. I know for Ridley, Jennings, like, those are easy calls in the, you know, more like round seven. Debo and cup for Heath are top 30 wide receivers in his rankings. So I'm gonna. I think those are sort of easy calls. Calvin Ridley, Jennings, Stebo and Cup. Jamie, if you had to go deeper than that, who are some players that you've been drafting a lot?
Jamie Eisenberg
Draft a lot of. Darnell Mooney. Draft a lot of the guys on this list doesn't have to be these.
Heath Cummings
Guys, but it can be.
Jamie Eisenberg
I like Stefan Diggs, I like Keon Coleman. I think there's an opportunity for him to bounce back and. And hopefully, you know, play like the receiver the Bills thought he was last year and maybe that he showed in the two games prior to the wrist injury. So the guys that are listed here, the three that I draft a lot of are actually back to. Back to back of Darnell Mooney, Stefan Diggs and Keon Coleman.
Dave Richard
And I would say Abuka and Josh Downs and probably like Mooney definitely. But if I was giving a different name, it would be Luther Burden. I've. I've cooled on Luther Burden a little bit just because of his missed time this off season. But I still think if he shows up day one of training camp and is what Ben Johnson drafted him to be, this could be a screaming value.
Jamie Eisenberg
Of the guys not listed here, the one I draft a lot of, I mentioned them yesterday. I believe Cedric Tillman draft a lot of Senator Tillman.
Heath Cummings
Okay, that's pretty deep. That's. That's even deeper, right?
Jamie Eisenberg
Yeah.
Heath Cummings
I. I would draft Christian Kirk at 146th overall. I like that we're looking at a new list here. If you're watching@YouTube.com fantasy football today, I. I love to maybe talk super late, maybe 14 team leagues talk about Mike Williams at some point. Jamie and I talked about him on FFT Express. I think he's kind of interesting. Probably not going to work out, but there's a case.
Dave Richard
Have we seen Quentin Johnston yet?
Heath Cummings
No. There he is. 100 and almost 200th overall.
Dave Richard
I gotta got a really interesting Quentin Johnston trade offer.
Jamie Eisenberg
Yeah, he did.
Heath Cummings
What are you thinking?
Dave Richard
But Isaiah likely on the block in a dynasty league and this guy offered me Quentin Johnston with no other picks for Isaiah likely.
Heath Cummings
Is that so crazy?
Dave Richard
I thought someone might want to speculate on what Isaiah likely is going to be as opposed to just offering what his value is if Mark Andrews plays 17 games and stays with the Ravens for the next three years.
Heath Cummings
So hit the Clyde, hit the client. It's fine.
Dave Richard
No, I'm just gonna leave it sitting there and then if something ever happens to Likely and he gets hurt, I'm gonna accept it.
Heath Cummings
That's gold. Did you guys happen to read the research that I sent this this morning?
Jamie Eisenberg
I. I did glance at it. Yes. That the. I saw the first handful of names in the rookies who perform well in this range.
Heath Cummings
All right, here we go. Let's talk about this. I looked at the wide receivers over the last five seasons. I didn't think there would be that many, but there were who finished top 24 while being drafted in round nine or later. This is using fantasy pros, PPR, ADP. ADP over the last five years and there have actually been.
Jamie Eisenberg
Yeah.
Dave Richard
Overall or per game?
Heath Cummings
Both. Most of them were. Were overall. And most of them were overall. Some of them were just per game. There were a handful of those. Tank Dell was one of them, Antonio Brown was one of them when he played half a season for the Bucks. But most of them were per were overall. But either overall or per game. There were 33 wide receivers who finished top 24 and they were drafted, you know, 97th or later. One of the things I noticed, rookies, rook. There are two every year that one year there were four but there are at least two every year and total of 12 rookies of the 33 over the last five seasons, not necessarily being on great pass offenses but pass attempts are key and that was not the case last year but the previous four years, 2020 to 2023, 75% of the wide receivers who were late round picks and finished top 24 either overall or per game, 75% of them were on teams that threw 34.3 or more passes per game. So how many teams you have projected for that Heath? Because that's a lot. That's usually going to be top 10 I think.
Dave Richard
Yeah, I don't have that information readily available but I get that's 578 pass attempts over 17 games. I have an answer after you ask Jamie a question. How many teams I have projected for that. But you've just reaffirmed my love for a Mecca Buka. He's a rookie, he's on a high volume pass offense. It's perfect.
Heath Cummings
And last year there were nine teams that averaged more than 34.3 past attempts per game. Now I would say last year was the exception of this rule only I want to say 3 out of 9 of the wide receivers who were drafted late and finished top 24 were on these high volume pass offenses. But if we look at the last five years it is 64% of these players on high volume pass offenses and 75% from 2020 to 2023. The very very best of this group, the elites of the late round receivers who finished top 24, they were all rookies in the last five years. Justin Jefferson in his rookie year, Puka nakua, Brian Thomas Jr. They were the only ones who were absolute stars. And then there was this other category of player.
Jamie Eisenberg
Jamie who he wasn't in that.
Heath Cummings
He. Yeah, well yeah he was. He was like wide receiver 20 per game. So I didn't, I mean he is on this list of 33. I didn't consider him one of the true elites.
Jamie Eisenberg
Gotcha.
Heath Cummings
There was this. I don't know if there's any of These guys on this. This year that you could think of, but guys like Hunter Renfro, Jalen Waddle in his rookie year, Michael Pittman, Darnell Mooney, Garrett Wilson, Chris Olave, Adam Thielen last year, Cortland Sutton and Jerry Judy. A lot of these guys didn't finish 20 top 24 per game, but they were. They outperformed their ADP. They're usually top 30 per game. They just dominated targets. They either had really bad. Yeah, someone's asked me to clarify. Target hog. This is what I'm talking about. They either had really bad options on the team with them like Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave, or they had injuries like Brian Thomas Jr. For example, benefited from Christian Kirk and Evan Ingram getting hurt. Pukinakua benefited from Cooper cup missing five games that year. But yeah, I don't know a guy that maybe won't be great on a per target basis, but could get 130, 140 targets because there's just garbage around.
Jamie Eisenberg
Him in this range.
Heath Cummings
Yeah. Or anywhere. 97th or later.
Jamie Eisenberg
Ridley certainly qualifies. Yeah. Cup, I think qualifies.
Heath Cummings
I don't. Well, he wouldn't be because JSN would be too much of an impact.
Jamie Eisenberg
You said injury occurs.
Heath Cummings
Yes, but guys that start the year with this opportunity to just dominate the targets on their team downs. You think so with Warren.
Dave Richard
I mean, he's a rookie tight end.
Heath Cummings
Diggs for sure, right?
Jamie Eisenberg
Yep.
Dave Richard
Maybe. Okay, maybe like, I don't know, this whole digs playing outside. I'm not sure he's going to be a huge target hog playing outside.
Heath Cummings
He at least has the possibility here to dominate.
Jamie Eisenberg
Right.
Heath Cummings
Want to go to the next list? Producer, Striker. No, no shape.
Dave Richard
I have seven teams projected for at least 578 passes. Unfortunately, Tampa Bay is not one of them.
Heath Cummings
Okay.
Dave Richard
You don't know who they are?
Heath Cummings
They could. Yeah. In one moment. Let's just take a look at this list here. Is there anyone here that could rise above and just dominate targets without an injury? I don't think so.
Jamie Eisenberg
I mean, one of the Texans guys could.
Heath Cummings
Sure. If there's an injury.
Jamie Eisenberg
Well, I mean, even if there's just concentrated targets to one of them, you know, so it's Nico and one of these guys.
Heath Cummings
Okay. Yeah. Just get a lot of targets. It's just something to think about. Think about that. You know, we want. We like rookies in this range. I don't know about this year because it's not a great rookie class. We. We like target volume and we like teams that pass the ball A lot. All right, Heath, who are the teams that you have passing the most?
Dave Richard
I have the Chiefs, Dolphins, Bengals, Vikings, Cowboys, and then probably two surprises. Raiders and Browns.
Heath Cummings
Jack Besh, Cedric Tillman. These are guys that I know. Tillman is someone that Jamie mentions. He drafts a lot very late. All right, would you agree, as we evaluate these players that we're going to talk about today, that Calvin Ridley. Calvin Ridley, Juwan Jennings, Debo Samuel, and Cooper cup are probably not going to make it to round nine and. Or at least shouldn't make it to round nine?
Jamie Eisenberg
I'd be surprised. You know, I. I know this isn't the biggest sample size of drafts. You know, we're doing our best to compile early, average job position, but I would. I would be shocked if these two. At least. At least two of these guys, you know, whether it's. I think Ridley's the easy one. Whether it's Jennings or whether it's Debo or whether it's Cup. Like, it'd be a surprise if they're not all but two of them probably in. In the range above the show that we did yesterday.
Dave Richard
I. Yeah, I would not be surprised if Jennings is still round nine, but.
Heath Cummings
I wouldn't be surprised for cup either. Heath, because he's actually, surprisingly. He's wide receiver 50 on fantasy pros. Yeah, my wide receiver, 44 in our ADP.
Dave Richard
Well, and if, like, there's also obviously things that can happen during training camp. Like, if he's struggling with not being fully healthy at training camp, then he's not going to be one of our favorites in this range anyway. Debo, maybe there's a few more pictures of him and people continue to think that he's too heavy, and so he stays in this range. If there's a ton of positive buzz about Ricky Pearsall, then. Then Jennings could definitely stay down here.
Heath Cummings
Okay, would you consider. How many of these four would you consider steals if you got them in round nine? Ridley, Jennings, Debo, Cup.
Dave Richard
All four.
Jamie Eisenberg
Two for me.
Heath Cummings
The first two.
Jamie Eisenberg
Yeah.
Heath Cummings
Where are you taking Debo and Cup?
Jamie Eisenberg
Just slightly ahead of this, but I wouldn't consider them steals.
Heath Cummings
Gotcha. Okay. All right, so we'll spend a lot of time on the other guys on this list, and we can talk more about them as well. Hey, listen, it's. It's that time of year again with podcast awards. We are a nominee in the best sports podcast category in the People's Choice Podcast Awards, and we appreciate all you've done for us. We won this award last year, so we're looking for a repeat here and I know I ask a lot of you guys. We talk about draftathon all the time and go vote for this and go vote for that. So you guys and girls out there, it's so appreciated on our end all the work that you do for us. We're a big FFT family here. But what we'd love for you to do now is to nominate nominate us. Go to podcastawards.com/app/sign up. I have a feeling if you just go to podcast awards.com you can find the links to it and scroll down to the best sports category. The whole process takes less than 60 seconds and I'll include a link at the top of the episode description as well. So please vote for fantasy football today in the for the best sports category in the People's Choice podcast.
Jamie Eisenberg
It's a very funny process because we've obviously been, we've non stop podcasts like we never take a break and take shows off but this is like the start of the season for us and so like you know, like if it does feel like a little bit of a reset and so like hey, vote for us for what we've done so far. I know what we're about to do, which is, you know, crush our competition, which we usually do. But you know, it's like hey, vote, vote ahead of everything that's coming your way.
Heath Cummings
Yeah, I know it's it's a weird time for sure. But you know, it's a good time because we have a lot of excited people here for fantasy football. I've maybe if this were in November and somebody was like 3 and 10, they wouldn't want to over us. Everyone's undefeated right now. The other thing is we only have one mailbag slot left. Go ahead and claim it at tinyurl.com 2025fft tinyurl.com 2025fft 50 donation to St. Jude Ask your question. It will be read on Friday show. We're going to take a quick break and come back with some news and notes and more on fantasy football today.
Dave Richard
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Heath Cummings
The hell's that? Naval Investigative Service. We go where the evidence takes us.
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Heath Cummings
This crew is a team.
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Dave Richard
Star Trek Strange New Worlds new season streaming July 17th on Paramount Plus welcome back, folks.
Heath Cummings
All right, so let's get into some news items. Brian Callahan, coach of the Titans, what do you think? Just quick question. If we asked all of our audience, who's the head coach of the Tennessee Titans, what percentage do you think would get it?
Jamie Eisenberg
90.
Dave Richard
That's a nice thing to say.
Heath Cummings
Yeah, I think 60. He's just kind of a random coach.
Jamie Eisenberg
You don't think that our audience can name all. Every NFL head coach, if they had.
Heath Cummings
If they had one of those sheets of paper that had like the coach on the left side and every team on the right side, they could draw the line.
Dave Richard
So Adam, if we gave you like a 10 second clock per team, how confident are you that you go 32 for 32, like with the pressure of the moment on air?
Heath Cummings
A hundred percent.
Dave Richard
Okay.
Heath Cummings
And we are not doing that right now.
Jamie Eisenberg
But Striker, get it ready.
Heath Cummings
Who do you think I wouldn't get? I don't know.
Dave Richard
I just think he'd probably have a brain fart at some point in those 32 teams.
Heath Cummings
Yeah, I'm having a brain fart with the Colts right now. All right, let's, let's go. Oh, so Brian Callahan, that's the news item. He once again talked about splitting the workload among Tony Pollard and Tajie Spears. It does seem like he wants some, obviously a split, but something Fairly close to 50. 50 if I'm just trying to read, read the, between the lines or read the lines. Jamie, what do you think?
Jamie Eisenberg
I mean, Pollard was basically two points per game better when Spears either left the game early or did not play. And so, you know, that's a, a big thing. If you're looking at Tony Pollard as a potential starter. I think he's a strong flex play. Spears, you know, missed, you know, significant time last, I think it was five games last year or left five games and did not play in the total of those games. And on the flip side of that, you know, Spears is, is one of the better value picks, you know, if he's going to get a decent enough workload. He had five games last year where he was, you know, very successful when his touches were up. He had one game where Pollard didn't play and he had over 90 rushing yards and 23 total touch. I believe was so, you know, I wouldn't reach for Pollard. I think you Know, once you get past, at least for me, you know, once you get past the rookies you know of like Judkins and Caleb Johnson, RJ Harvey, those, those guys. I think Pollard should go in the range of depending how you feel about these guys. But like Pacheco and Aaron Jones and, and some of those guys, you know, probably before, like the, the Brian Robinsons and Ramandre Stevenson of the world, but I don't, I don't think Pollard should be drafted as a starter in a two running back league.
Dave Richard
I, I do think that we're probably drafting him closer to what he is if Spears plays 17 games.
Heath Cummings
You think so?
Dave Richard
I think there's, I think he's probably a high end flex if he and Spears both stay healthy and both of those guys, if one of them misses time is a great value at where they're being drafted.
Jamie Eisenberg
Yep.
Heath Cummings
Strange that Tony Pollard and Taji Spears, it's strange that Spears was the goal line back. It was so few carries that you don't know if it was fluky or not. But when they got to the 3 yard line or closer. I don't think Pollard had any carries in the games that Spears was healthy. So it was. I, I can't sit here and say Spears is the goal lineback, but that's what it was last year with Tennessee's head coach, whoever that is.
Jamie Eisenberg
I think the one thing that's encouraging for both is that this offense should be better, you know, so if the offense is better, maybe there are more going opportunities for Spears and, and Pollard, you know, and just Cam Ward, if he can perform better than Will Levis, which isn't a huge ask, then, you know, we just get more opportunities for both these guys.
Dave Richard
What about the Cardinals, Adam?
Heath Cummings
Oh yeah, it's the guy from the Eagles. Oh God. It's really. What the hell is this, Dave?
Jamie Eisenberg
I will say, to be fair to Adam, we're talking about somebody yesterday, maybe Marvin Harrison. I did also forget Gannon's name and if you heard me when I answered, I said I spoke to someone from the Cardinals coaching staff.
Heath Cummings
Yeah, I did. I did hear that. I didn't know that. I don't know why you said I didn't know why you said that, but now I know. Jonathan, get a very anonymous.
Jamie Eisenberg
I did, I did. For a moment I was like, it's Gannon. But I don't want to say it because I want to be wrong.
Heath Cummings
It's the two Eagles guys, the two Eagles coordinators. I can't, I get stumped on them. Okay. Dak Prescott says he's full go after the hamstring surgery. And Zach Jackson of the Athletic has recently written that Jerome Ford probably opens the season as the starter at running back and that the two rookie quarterbacks, Dylan Gabriel and Chadur Sanders, could battle for a roster spot. But does this report about Jerome Ford make you hesitant on Quinton Judkins, who's going 67th overall in our ADP in between Caleb Johnson and David Montgomery Heath?
Dave Richard
No, I think that Jerome Ford will open camp as the starting running back and Quinch on Judkins will quickly disperse of that notion. I, I there was like I they didn't love Jerome Ford at times last year. They were trying to find a different guy to give the ball to because he's got a little bit of that hit a home run or lose 3 yards mentality.
Heath Cummings
Oh, they never give him big work. They just. How many, how many like 18 carry games does he have?
Jamie Eisenberg
But yeah, they did in 2023 when Chubb first got hurt.
Heath Cummings
I feel like, oh, look, I mean, it doesn't really matter because he's not going to get big work this year. But he's a guy that they kind of, I feel like they kind of capped his carries. What year? 2023. I mean, he, he had one game with more than 17 carries, but they're also bad.
Jamie Eisenberg
I mean they're not going to give a lot of carries when they're trailing.
Heath Cummings
He in a win he had 15 carries and a win he had 10 and a win he had 17. And when he had 11, 12, just okay, whatever. And that's it for the news and notes. Let's go to the late round. Wide receivers in round nine or later. And Ridley, Jennings, Debo and Cup are the first four on this list. Now Keith, I want to go to you because you have Debo 29th, Jamie has him 44th, Dave 41st. You have Cup 24th. Jamie 38th, Dave 43rd. You are definitely the high guy on Debo, Samuel and Cooper Cup. And you like Debo. You like cup the best at 24th and Debo 29th. So make your case.
Dave Richard
Yeah, I think I probably need to lower Cup a little bit, but I, it's so hard for me to. And I am the guy who says if a wide receiver shows you he's falling off, believe him. I don't know how much health had to do with it last year because the first nine games that Cooper cup played last year he was on pace for to be Cooper Cup 170 targets and 1200 yards and I don't think that, that Jackson, Smith and Jigba is going to prevent cup from seeing a lot of targets because there's not really anybody else that they're going to throw the ball to very much in that offense, especially in the receiving core. And Debo is kind of the same situation. He, I think he perfectly, he and Terry McLaurin work so well in terms of complementing each other with what McLaurin does downfield and what Debo does close to the line of scrimmage. We've seen, I mean, we, we joked about Cliff Kingsbury and the, the horizontal air Raid when he was in Arizona because he does like to have those. He tried to turn Rondale Moore into Debo Samuel at one point. So I, I think the fact they went out and acquired this guy, they have a plan to use him maybe similar into some ways that areas of the field. They used Ertz and Eckler last year and they don't have any other wide receivers that I think deserve any targets.
Heath Cummings
Okay. He, Cooper cup was the number 23 wide receiver in fantasy last year per game. So I thought that was interesting. But he, I think, let's see, he had a, you know, he had a very respectable 20, 24.2 target per route run rate. It's very good with Puka on the field.
Dave Richard
And that's including the last three games where he just like mysteriously disappeared from the game plan.
Jamie Eisenberg
Right.
Heath Cummings
And then with Puka off the field, though, was probably insane. It was 36.2 target per route run rate. He did make a lot of his hay in a few games without Puka or Puka leaving early. But yeah, wide receiver, 23 per game. Jamie, you're not feeling it with Cup.
Jamie Eisenberg
I'm just concerned about the offense in general. I mean, we spent a lot of time in the last two days talking about JSN and his potential pitfalls because of the Seahawks wanting to run the ball more and Sam Darnold not necessarily being unit Geno Smith's level because of the change in system. So I'm curious, Heath, because I, I know you have JSN in, in the top 20 somewhere. Do you, do you like the passing offense for Seattle or is it just more the concentrated targets for those two guys?
Dave Richard
It's entirely the concentrated targets. I have Ken Walker third on the team in targets at 72. I don't have any wide receivers over 56 and I don't think that Noah Fant or Elijah Arroyo are going to have an enormous role in the offense. So it's it's definitely concentration. I only have Seattle projected for 57 pass attempts, which is probably pretty close to average and just over 4, 000 yards in 17 games.
Jamie Eisenberg
So my, my concern with cup is the injury track record. I mean, yes, he was, he was good prior to the last three games. He also missed time for the last three seasons, I believe. Right. Since 2021 when he had the Triple Crown. 22, 23, 24, he's been banged up. He's getting at the age where you got to worry about a complete fall off. So to your point, Heath, you know, was the last three games more of just getting phased out of targets because he was still playing, but was he getting phased out of targets or was he heard or what was the deal there? Yeah, and then you have this potentially pathetic passing game that we could see in Seattle and if they do struggle, like do they turn to Milro at some point, which could be awful for both guys. You know, if, if you're getting this mobile quarterback who may not support, you know, two targets, let alone maybe even supporting one. So I think for me, like cup is, should be in this range. You know, if you want to put him slightly ahead, I have no problem with that. But like, once you start to get to, you know, like wide receiver 40, I think is where he comes into play. And Debo, I've kind of moved up and down, you know, several spots in, in the rankings. I, I don't want to obviously buy into the out of shape narrative because he's kind of been this, you know, way for the last couple of years. But you know, how much of his fall off last year was again byproduct of offense. You know, you were to say going into last year, Christian McCaffrey is only going to play four games and Brandon Iuk's going to miss half the season. And I think everybody would have signed up for Debo Samuel probably in the first three or four rounds and he certainly did not produce like that. And so to go to an offense that should feature him, like, I agree with everything he said. I don't know how much though we, we see a Zach Ertz fall off, you know, for an older tight end, but coming off a very strong season, maybe a bounce back for Austin Eckler, who, you know, missed some time last year, had, you know, was only on pace for 50 catches. I don't know if he can be better than that, but wouldn't surprise me. And so if Debo's not going to get carries to the same level that he was getting in San Francisco and that's, to me, a big concern. Is he enough of a threat as a complete pass catcher? And I don't think he's gonna, you know, get phased out of the run game. But if Izzy, you know, enough of a pass catcher that you want to draft him as a, as a starter, even in three receiver leagues. So, you know, whether he's like in the late 30s, early 40s, you know, that's probably as high as I'll go. If I continue to readjust that range, I'd rather have him as a key reserve. And this is kind of again, the range I'm drafting him in.
Dave Richard
I, I think that the, the key thing that Jamie said there is carries. He's basically been at three carries per game for the last four years. He was at 2.8 last year. Kingsbury did use Rondale Moore a little bit in the, in the running game in Arizona. I don't know if that will continue. I'm projecting the Debo's carries per game are pretty similar to what they were in San Francisco. But if they're not, then I think he's. I've got him too high. And this is probably about right.
Heath Cummings
And I'll just say make this excuse for debo. He had 19 targets in weeks one and two, and then he missed week three with a calf injury. Later in the year he had a wrist injury, he had pneumonia like symptoms that put him in the hospital. And then he ended up playing that week, I think. And then he had rib and oblique injuries. He had so many ailments. DEBO Samuel in 2024. All right, moving down the list here, we've got Brandon Ayuk, we've got Jaden Reed. Oh, Jaden Reed is fascinating to me. We've got a Mecca, Obuka and Josh Downs, Ayuk Reed, Abuka Downs. Of those four, someone really jump out at you? Heath?
Dave Richard
I mean, I think they're, they're so such different cases almost across the board. If I had to bet who's going to score the most PPR fantasy points, but doesn't matter if they matter for your fantasy team. I would probably take downs if you tell me that I like Ayuk is at some point this year going to be fully himself then he'll probably be the best per game once that happens. But how many games does he play where he's still hampered by the recovery? Ibuka is the most exciting to me from this group just because I thought he came into the NFL as maybe the most ready prospect in the class and Tampa Bay's done nothing to dispel that, that notion so far. And then I, I am not really very excited about Jaden Reed.
Heath Cummings
Why?
Dave Richard
I, he's never really been able to command a consistent target share without a first round wide receiver. And then the team went and drafted a first round wide receiver.
Heath Cummings
They did. I mean, you, you could, you could argue that that offsets Christian Watson, who was an early second round pick and is out for now with an ACL injury.
Dave Richard
Christian Watson hasn't played that much. I mean, to impact Jaden reed in the first place.
Heath Cummings
Well, in, in 2023, Jaden Reed was much better without Christian Watson on the field. In 2024, it wasn't really a huge factor. But in, in 2023, Watson played about half the year, I think. And, and he, he had a 29.2% target per out run rate with Watson off the field compared to 18.4% with him on the field. So it made a big difference. Look, obviously they need to throw more. Okay. They threw 479 passes last year. The packers in 2023, they threw 581. So you're talking about 100 pass attempts. Basically less. They got to be. They gotta be throwing more than 479 times.
Dave Richard
Even at 581, if he's 18 target per route run guy, that's not very exciting.
Heath Cummings
I was with Watson on the field. Okay, so you're saying with golden, golden might command more targets than Watson. Watson was more of a big play.
Jamie Eisenberg
Deep, deep adot guy.
Heath Cummings
Right. So I get it. There's. That's a problem. What's exciting about Reed though is he rushed. He runs the ball. He had 163 yards and a touchdown last year rushing in 17 games. He did so in 2023 as well with 119 yards and two rushing touchdowns in 16 games. And he's great per route. His yards per route run, his metrics, his, his yak. He's exciting player and he can make big plays. So he doesn't need heavy target volume to be, you know, he's efficient. So Jamie, I think you said you take Reed over Golden. I think you said that yesterday. Right.
Jamie Eisenberg
Have them ranked, you know, almost back to back. So yeah, I do slightly prefer Reed over Golden right now. That could change in camp for me there. You know, you look at read and. And downs of these guys and there's the, the past attempts are clearly an issue for Reed. If they do get back to that 2023 level, I think Reed's going to be one of the better value picks. And if Daniel Jones is the starter, I think Josh Downs has a chance to be going into the season a better fantasy option. If Daniel Jones is named the starter, he'll. He'll move up in my rankings as well. It wouldn't shock me if Richardson's better because of the work that he's done this off season, spending time with Josh Allen's throwing coach and, you know, trying to work on his mechanics. So it could be a, you know, a moot point of, you know, which quarterback benefits Downs the most. But clearly we saw Downs played such a different level last year when it was Flacco by comparison to Richardson. So he's one of these guys that may just, you know, be, you know, one of the, the receivers we talk about that doesn't have the quarterback or passing game to be at a, you know, better level and, you know, just to throw his name in there, Michael Pittman, you know, as we saw two years ago with Gardner Minshew at times last year with Flacco, how much of it was the back injury for him that he was really struggling last year and not performing at a high level? There was talk about him shutting it down, you know, at one point during the season. Then he played through this and, you know, it's not like he's a slouch and gonna go away. And you mentioned, Adam, that Tyler Warren now being there, that that's a potential problem for both those guys. So it's a, it's a fascinating group. Abuka is, you know, I agree with a lot of what he said. It's a matter of how many, how many targets we get, how much playing time we get. You know, when you look at everybody healthy there, as we talked about Yesterday, like, Jalen McMillan's still going to get opportunities. And obviously, if Evans and Godwin are healthy, it'd be very surprising if they're not the target leaders on this team. So is a Booka in his role? Does he have enough opportunities and chances to be someone you can consider a starter, you know, or even, you know, be one of these next guys that can break out in this rookie, you know, based on your research, you know, the, the rookies that have come out of this range and done well. So I'm, I'm certainly hopeful, but, like, I couldn't. And I don't know how, how this will reflect once we get to, you know, August and you find out that Diggs is healthy and, you know, looking at Mooney, for example, for me Like I couldn't envision doing a draft where I'm taking right now a book and Luther Burton over Darnell Mooney and Stefan Diggs.
Heath Cummings
Say that again. You couldn't imagine.
Jamie Eisenberg
I, I can't right now. Draft. I mean, you tell me Godwin's out then a different conversation for Buka but. Or same thing. The Bears guys but like to take the two rookies over Darnell Mooney and Stefan Diggs. I couldn't do that.
Heath Cummings
Yeah. I mean, yeah, Diggs I digs ADP is crazy low compared to where he is on fantasy pros. All right, so that's Reed Abuka Downs and Burden downs was almost 5 points per game better with Flacco than he was with Richardson. He averaged 10.7 PPR points per game with Richardson. He averaged 15.4 with Flacco. And Flacco was on pace for four, five oh seven yards and 29 touchdowns on 36 pass attempts per game in that stretch. All right, so then we got this next group here. We got another rookie, Jack Besh. I'm going to read the rest of this list here that you're looking at. Besh, Mooney, Diggs, Coleman, Pittman. I, I feel like, Jamie, you're going to echo this, but I love that three. That trio of Mooney, Diggs, Coleman. Those are the ones that catch my eye of best. Mooney, Diggs, Coleman, Pittman, Mooney, Diggs. Coleman would be on a lot of my teams if I could get them in the 11th round.
Jamie Eisenberg
Yeah. And, and best is being drafted. Two. I too. I liked him coming out of the draft. It sounds like he struggled a little bit in mini camp and OTAs. I wouldn't necessarily make that the end all be all for him because he could still, you know, bounce back in, in camp and have an opportunity to be the second receiver there opposite Jacoby Myers. But again, to take him over those three guys behind him, four guys behind him, you know, not, not to, you know, disrespect Michael Pittman as well, but like, that just shouldn't be happening.
Heath Cummings
Heath, strong feelings on Besh, Mooney, Diggs, Coleman or Pittman.
Dave Richard
I like Mooney a lot more than the other three. I, he, he would be my favorite by, by a pretty large margin. I don't overdigs.
Heath Cummings
What over Diggs?
Dave Richard
Yes, I and Diggs might change my mind in training camp, but he did tear his ACL last year, right?
Heath Cummings
He did. And he's 32.
Dave Richard
And we do get worried about young guys in year one like Rashid Rice had a different Knee procedure and we're still discounting him a little bit because of an acl. And Diggs is on a new team and there's, I don't want to say there's off field concerns with Diggs, but I think there's at least some concerns that we don't have with other wide receivers might be contributing to his lower adp. And it sounds like Demario Douglas is going to be the team's primary slot wide receiver, so Diggs is gonna have to go back outside. I don't necessarily like the idea of a 32 year old coming off of an ACL that has to try to beat the other team's number one corner every week.
Heath Cummings
Okay, that's, it's a good point. Do you guys think that Keon Coleman has boom potential, could have a real breakout?
Jamie Eisenberg
Yes.
Dave Richard
I, I think if Keon Coleman booms, it's gonna be like in a James Jones kind of way, like he scores 10 touchdowns and has 750 yards receiving.
Heath Cummings
I think so. And I think he's, I think he's. Well, I hope for more receiving yards than that, but I think he's gonna be a bit of a, of an end zone target. He's kind of, you know, he's the big body guy. Maybe it's Kincaid, but yeah, I mean, I feel the same way. He's gonna have to catch some touchdowns.
Dave Richard
I, and this is, again, I'm probably the low guy on Coleman, so maybe don't put too much into this, but I like, I, I think I've got more hope for Quentin Johnston than I do for Keon Coleman. Oh, you should take him rise a likely.
Heath Cummings
Yeah, I think so.
Jamie Eisenberg
I think the thing with the, you know, Coleman profile you're hoping for is, you know, Cortland Sutton, you know, guy that's going to be a thousand yards, seventy catches and, and, and score ten touchdowns. That's a huge ask, obviously. But you know, the, the way that this receiving core is shaping up, like Josh Palmer is getting hype right now and, and I know, you know, some workout videos of Coleman and, you know, trying to improve. I go back to the two games last year before he had the wrist injury against Miami and it was, they just acquired Amari Cooper. You know, there was the, the famous highlight that was circulating at the time where he's on the field telling Amari Cooper what played a run the first game that they played together. But those two games before he got hurt, like that might have been the taking off point. And then he missed some time with the Wrist injury and I don't think he was ever healthy. So to what extent he can get to, you know, again, the, the Sutton compass is, is obviously, you know, rose colored glasses to try and see if he can get to that level. But that's the type of player he's going to be. He's never going to be a high volume target reception guy. He's just not, doesn't profile like that. Like you said, you know, touchdowns are going to save him and playing with the quarterback that he plays with, you know, clearly the offense changed a little bit last year where they didn't need one guy to dominate targets to be that alpha receiver. But I think that's what they drafted Keon Coleman to be.
Heath Cummings
Right?
Jamie Eisenberg
And so if he can live up to it, like you said, Adam, it could be Kincaid, it could be, you know, Shakira just continues to be the, the safe, reliable option. But I mean, my gosh, Keon Coleman's upside is huge.
Dave Richard
And Elijah Moore got a little bit of positive talk too.
Heath Cummings
All right, so that's Keon Coleman and we're going to take one more break here on fantasy football today and we'll wrap it up with some more late round picks after this.
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Dave Richard
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Heath Cummings
Plus, you're gonna love this.
Dave Richard
It's an adrenaline rush of yay, this is the best and a bloody good time.
Heath Cummings
Looking forward to it.
Dave Richard
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Heath Cummings
Plus tomorrow we're gonna have Alfredo Brown on the show to talk about some of his favorite values. And then on Friday, we'll have your. We'll have a mailbag which will be some of the. Which will be all of 10 of the St. Jude Draftathon questions, but also emails and Apple podcast questions. So excited for the next two days. Okay, who is next on the list? We've got. All right, let's go. Trey. Hair. All right, you tell me, do you like them? Round 12 or later? Trey Harris, rookie for the Chargers and Kyle Williams, rookie for the Patriots.
Jamie Eisenberg
Yes. Okay.
Dave Richard
Yeah, I think, I think I have Kyle Williams higher. I'm trying to find like these Guys are not in my top 60 at wide receiver, but I do prefer Williams, I think.
Heath Cummings
Then you got two Texans, Christian Kirk and Jaden Higgins. So we have three rookies in these first four picks of this range, basically round 12, Trey Harris and Kyle Williams and Jaden Higgins, plus the veteran Christian Kirk.
Jamie Eisenberg
Right.
Heath Cummings
What? He's my favorite of these four, but that. It's almost like I'm ignoring my advice on the, on the rookies. But at the same time, I just feel like Christian Kirk is still a solid player. If you put him in the right role. I think the Texans will. I take. I take them first on the. Of those four. Would you.
Jamie Eisenberg
Yes, I would take him ahead of Bash, I would take him ahead of Bird, and I would take him ahead of Abuka.
Dave Richard
Right now I have Kirk ahead of Trey Harris, ahead of Kyle Williams, ahead of Keon Coleman, but pretty close to where he's being ranked here.
Heath Cummings
That's a tough one. Would you take for Jamie, would you take Keon Coleman or Christian Kirk?
Jamie Eisenberg
I think I have them almost ranked back to back. I would lean toward Coleman just based on upside, but similar to how we discussed some of this yesterday, it's probably based on how I build my team. Ceiling is clearly in Coleman's favor. Floors Kirk's favorite in Kirk's favor.
Heath Cummings
Do you think Christian Kirk is significantly more valuable in full ppr than half or non?
Jamie Eisenberg
I don't know. Significantly. But yes, he's more valuable there. Okay.
Dave Richard
I don't. I think that's part of the reason that I also don't have Kirk very high. It's just, I don't think if, like Nico, if Nico gets hurt, then yes, but if Nico's healthy, I, I think he's going to have 140 targets and nobody else has much more than 100. And so it's hard to be a good PPR threat if you're not a high target guy.
Jamie Eisenberg
So Adam, who's the head coach of the Texans?
Heath Cummings
D' Amico, Ryan Snow.
Jamie Eisenberg
D' Amico told me that he's going to be the slot receiver. Kirk's going to be the slot receiver. That, that will hopefully help with his, you know, rapport with CJ Stroud and that's when he's been at his best, when he's been in the slot.
Heath Cummings
They're not, they're not that run heavy of a team. I don't think they are a run heavy team. So let's see.
Dave Richard
No, I don't, I don't have them rhyme, but just about league average.
Heath Cummings
Okay.
Jamie Eisenberg
Okay.
Heath Cummings
All right.
Dave Richard
They got a new offensive coordinator, so we don't really know.
Heath Cummings
Please don't ask me his name. Cedric Tillman, Xavier Legate, Rashid Shahid, and then free agent Keenan Allen are the next four. We got Marvin Mims, Josh Palmer with the Bills. Rashad Bateman again, Cedric Tillman, Xavier Legate, Rashidrahid, Keenan Allen, Marvin Mims, Josh Palmer, Rashad Bateman, Pat Bryant, rookie for the Broncos, Wandale Robinson, Savion Williams, rookie for the Packers. Heath. Anyone jump out of you in that as a big group? Anyone you like?
Dave Richard
Yeah, I'd like to draft some, some handcuff running backs, please. Can I get a second quarterback? Maybe. Maybe Anthony Richardson. Tillman is, is definitely my favorite. He's the one guy that I might get excited about drafting.
Heath Cummings
It was pretty good. Jamie, you've talked about him a lot, so he was pretty good, I guess. Is he your favorite on this list too, of the. After the Christian Kirk group?
Jamie Eisenberg
Yeah, by far. You know, a lot depends on how many games Joe Flacco starts, because I think that's important for the entire passing game in Cleveland. And you do have to factor in the Deontay Johnson move and how much he'll potentially, potentially play. But I think assuming Flacco starts, let's say, 10 plus games, I'm not too worried about Deontay Johnson because I think Tillman, what he showed in those three games, the first three when Amari Cooper was traded, two of those were with or two and a half, I guess, were with Jameis Winston. Like he's got an opportunity here to, you know, be a full time player. And we just haven't seen that for the majority career. He suffered concussion. I think it was five games following the trade. So he had three really good ones, one mediocre one, and then he got hurt in the fifth one and I don't think he played again the rest of the season. So there, there's just a chance for him here, you know, for a team that the only significant move they made for their receiving core, you know, unless you're counting Harold Fannin as a significant move, was Deontay Johnson. And that's not something I think you should fear at this point. You know, he certainly could, could take away targets, but again, fearing it, when you're drafting Tillman at 158 or, you know, 150 overall, it's like, it's a free spot. You know, you can move on from him easily. So the other guy that, that kind of is intriguing to me is Marvin Mims. You know you're getting more. There was a report in one of the Denver publications that he's going to be the second receiver. So we'll see what Pat Bryant does. There was a little bit of buzz for, for Franklin as well, you know, Troy Franklin, maybe he has a bounce back opportunity here also. But Mims, the last, you know, latter part of the season was finally getting chances to play and you saw the production, you know, so I know he's going to be value valuable as a receiver return guy for them and you know, maybe gets some gadget plays, but just in terms of upside. Rashad Bateman's kind of in a similar boat too. Like he'll score touchdowns, he's better in best ball than Redraft. But you know, these guys are just intriguing late round flyers. Like if they get opportunities, I think they could be successful.
Heath Cummings
I feel like Juan L. Robinson could be a streamer in ppr.
Dave Richard
There you go.
Heath Cummings
I do. You know, look, he's a, he's a short area slot guy, he's a safety valve and caught 93 passes last year for a whopping 699 yards. Unbelievably bad. But yeah, I'm not drafting Wandale Robinson, but I think he could be a streamer.
Jamie Eisenberg
In ppr. It's a free space.
Heath Cummings
Do we have any more names? Do we have another list? We do. Romeo Dobbs, Jalen Noel, rookie for The Texans, Jalen McMillan for the Bucks, Marquis Brown for the Chiefs, Adam Thielen for the Panthers, Quinton Johnston for the Chargers, Adonai Mitchell, second year guy for the Colts, Jalen Royals, rookie for the Chiefs, Demario Douglas for the Pats, couple of Steelers, Calvin Austin and Roman Wilson and Jalen Coker for the Panthers. I don't know. Dobbs is that we go. Romeo Dobbs is bad.
Dave Richard
I like Dobbs and Johnston better than several of the guys on the prior list. I think Brown and Royals are fine dart throws and Demario Douglas kind of fits in that one Dale Robinson conversation. Maybe.
Heath Cummings
Yeah.
Jamie Eisenberg
Yeah. Douglas is my favorite based on the value.
Heath Cummings
You like Douglas better than Dobbs?
Jamie Eisenberg
I do, yeah. I think just the, the crowded receiving core now in Green Bay makes me a little nervous. You know, Dobbs has been so touchdown dependent and so if they're not going to increase their past attempts and now you're giving Matthew golden chances and maybe Savion Williams chances and still Jaden Reed and still Don Taming Wicks for what it's worth, like it's just, you know, you can't keep talking, talking up Tucker, Kraft, and not expecting him to get a bigger role too. So it's like if they're not going to be back to the 580 level like they were two years ago, like, where is all this coming from? You know, who's, who's gonna. I would love to see them trade one of these guys, you know. So Dobbs is the most likely candidate to get moved.
Dave Richard
It kind of seems like he's the guy that, that maybe they trust a little bit more. And the other guys are a lot more exciting. It's interesting if you look at their targets from last year, it was 76 for Wick, 75 for Reed, 72 for Dobbs, 70 for Kraft. Those other three guys all played 17 games. Dobbs played 13.
Heath Cummings
Yeah, it's a, he was one of my favorite late round picks before the, before the Matthew golden draft pick. But when Watson is coming off a torn ACL and it was just basically Dobbs and Reed and Wicks and stuff like that, I, I like Dobbs. He's not a terrific player and he's not exciting like Jaden Reed, but, you know, he's, he's good, he's solid. Okay.
Jamie Eisenberg
I know he's older, but if, if you're looking at that sort of strategy of like, who they trust, like wouldn't feel and be the same guy.
Dave Richard
Might be.
Heath Cummings
Feeling. Yeah. God, he is super old, though. What is he, 34? Wide receivers do well at that age.
Jamie Eisenberg
Another, another example of a guy that, you know, I know, I was worried about based on age and missed a lot of time with his hamstring injury, but when he came back those final seven games, he was extremely productive.
Heath Cummings
Thielen has averaged right around 60 yards per game two straight years. At ages 30. Basically ages 33 and 34.
Jamie Eisenberg
Yeah.
Heath Cummings
Not, not basically. He's gonna be 35 next month, but that's amazing. 60 yards per game might not sound like a lot. It's pretty solid. And for a 33 and 34 year old on the Carolina Panthers the last two years to average 60 yards per game, extremely impressive.
Dave Richard
His, his whole run. I mean, you think about what the path he had to take just to get to the NFL. Through his age 25 season, he had 281 yards receiving. Through his age 25 season, he currently has 8, 300 yards receiving. Incredible. Panthers coach Adam Canalis.
Heath Cummings
Come on now. I don't really like this game. Yes, I can, I can name all of them. I don't appreciate it.
Dave Richard
You've already missed two.
Heath Cummings
No, I didn't I missed one, but I would have gotten it a hundred percent. I can name all 32 head coaches.
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Heath Cummings
That's insulting.
Jamie Eisenberg
Here we go. Yeah.
Heath Cummings
No, I'm not gonna do it.
Jamie Eisenberg
Five seconds. Name all the coaches in the NFC West. Go.
Heath Cummings
Gannon, Shanahan, McVeigh, McDonald.
Jamie Eisenberg
Good job. Good.
Heath Cummings
Thank you. Come on. This is too easy. This is insulting. I don't know that I could name more than 10 basketball coaches.
Jamie Eisenberg
That would be you, like the next head coach.
Heath Cummings
No, I. I. Mostly because I don't think they should have fired tips. It just didn't make any sense. Hey, Mike Williams coming off, he's a year removed from the ACL. He was a very good player before the ACL injury. It's back in familiar ground here. 14 team leagues wouldn't mind taking a shot on Williams, unfortunately. He's old. Was he 32 coming off these? 31. But deep sleep on Williams.
Jamie Eisenberg
Yeah, I just find it hard on this offense that just brought in two running backs, especially the caliber of running backs that they brought in, that McConkey's still going to be as hopefully elite as he is. And then you have Trey Harris, Quentin Johnston, and Mike Williams, and they all have a chance to be somewhat productive. Like, it's just hard to buy. Plus the tight ends.
Heath Cummings
There's only 30. He'll be 31. Jamie's talked about the Army, Brown, and I feel like we can just end it there. Anything else is going to be pretty deep leagues. Okay, have a great day, everybody. We will talk to you tomorrow with Alfredo Brown and his wide receiver thoughts. And we'll be back on Friday with the mailbag as well. Talk to you soon.
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Dave Richard
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Fantasy Football Today
Episode: Best Late-Round WRs! What History Tells Us and Our 2025 Favorites
Release Date: July 9, 2025
Hosted by Adam Aizer with analysts Dave Richard, Jamey Eisenberg, Heath Cummings, and the CBS Sports Fantasy Football team.
In this episode of Fantasy Football Today, the hosts delve deep into the realm of late-round wide receivers (WRs), exploring historical data and projecting their potential impact for the 2025 fantasy football season. The discussion primarily focuses on identifying value picks in the later rounds of drafts, backed by historical performance and current team dynamics.
Heath Cummings opens the conversation by highlighting the impressive performance of late-round WRs over the past five seasons. He shares intriguing statistics:
"There were 33 wide receivers who finished top 24 and they were drafted, you know, 97th or later."
(07:08)
Further breaking down the data, Heath notes that a significant portion of these successful late-round picks were part of high-volume passing offenses:
"75% of the wide receivers who were late round picks and finished top 24 either overall or per game, 75% of them were on teams that threw 34.3 or more passes per game from 2020 to 2023."
(07:20)
This insight underscores the importance of targeting WRs from offensively prolific teams, where passing attempts can amplify a receiver's fantasy value.
Dave Richard and Jamey Eisenberg express strong confidence in Cooper Kupp and Debo Samuel as prime late-round targets. Dave emphasizes Cooper Kupp's consistent target volume:
"Cooper cup was the number 23 wide receiver in fantasy last year per game. So I thought that was interesting."
(25:34)
Jamey raises concerns about Cooper Kupp's recent injuries but acknowledges his potential when healthy:
"I'm just concerned about the offense in general... Debo's carries per game are pretty similar to what they were in San Francisco."
(26:19)
The discussion shifts to other notable late-round WRs:
"I think Josh Downs has a chance to be going into the season a better fantasy option if Daniel Jones is named the starter."
(33:16)
The hosts discuss several emerging WRs who could provide significant value if given the right opportunities:
Keon Coleman: Highlighted for his boom potential and role as a touchdown target, though concerns about consistency remain.
"Keon Colombo's upside is huge. He’s going to have to catch some touchdowns."
(40:35)
Justin Jefferson & Other Rookies: While Jefferson was a standout rookie, the focus remains on other emerging talents who could surpass their draft positions based on their team's offensive dynamics.
Cedric Tillman: Viewed as a standout late-round pick with potential to dominate if the Texans' offense improves.
"Tillman is definitely my favorite. He's the one guy that I might get excited about drafting."
(43:35)
Dave Richard brings up a potential trade scenario involving Quentin Johnston and Isaiah Likely, weighing the risks and rewards based on Likely's injury history and future prospects.
"But I'm just gonna leave it sitting there and then if something ever happens to Likely and he gets hurt, I'm gonna accept it."
(06:27)
This segment underscores the importance of evaluating player durability and speculative trade value in late-round drafting.
Injuries significantly influence the fantasy value of WRs. The hosts discuss how injuries to key players like Cooper Kupp and Debo Samuel have affected their production:
"Cooper Cup had 19 targets in weeks one and two, and then he missed week three with a calf injury... DEBO Samuel in 2024."
(35:34)
The conversation highlights the necessity of monitoring player health and understanding how injuries can impact target volumes and overall fantasy performance.
As the episode wraps up, the hosts offer final thoughts on late-round WRs, emphasizing the balance between upside and reliability. They encourage listeners to consider target volume, team offensive strategies, and player health when making their late-round selections.
"We like rookies in this range... we like target volume and we like teams that pass the ball A lot."
(12:22)
Heath Cummings concludes with a nod to the depth and potential of the late-round WR pool, encouraging fantasy managers to remain flexible and vigilant throughout their drafts.
Heath Cummings:
"There were 33 wide receivers who finished top 24 and they were drafted, you know, 97th or later."
(07:08)
Jamie Eisenberg:
"I think Josh Downs has a chance to be going into the season a better fantasy option if Daniel Jones is named the starter."
(33:16)
Dave Richard:
"Tillman is definitely my favorite. He's the one guy that I might get excited about drafting."
(43:35)
This episode of Fantasy Football Today provides a comprehensive analysis of late-round WRs, blending historical performance data with current team dynamics to identify high-value picks for the 2025 season. The hosts emphasize the importance of selecting players from high-volume passing offenses and caution fantasy managers to account for potential injuries. By leveraging these insights, listeners can make informed decisions to bolster their fantasy rosters in the later stages of their drafts.