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FFT Dynasty - 2025 NFL Draft WR Prospects Part 1: Hunter, McMillan, Egbuka, & More! (04/15 Dynasty Fantasy Football Podcast)
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- [00:00]
Heath Cummings
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Matt Cooper
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Heath Cummings
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Matt Cooper
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Heath Cummings
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Matt Cooper
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Heath Cummings
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Matt Cooper
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Heath Cummings
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Matt Cooper
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- [00:58]
Matthew Rupert
Foreign.
- [01:04]
Heath Cummings
Welcome to fantasy football today Dynasty. I am your host Heath Cummings joined today by the Couch Scouts. We've got our wide receiver preview part one, the rookie wide receiver preview part one. And I've got Matt Cooper, I've got Matthew, Rupert. Thank you guys for both being here today and I want to give you a chance right at the top. I know last time you were on you gave the listeners a little discount and a lot of people really liked that. And so what do you got for us today?
- [01:34]
Matt Cooper
Yeah, absolutely man. Thank you for having us. We are running it back. So last time we were on, some of you may have been listening and may remember we did 50% off using the code FFT for the first 50 people that use the code and those went like hotcakes. So this time we're going to do the first hundred people that use the code we're going to give 50% off. So get in there before they're gone. But let me tell you a little bit about it because you're like, what? What even is Couch Scout? So we were a dynasty fantasy football website. We have tools and advice and analysis. Most recently, just yesterday we launched our Rookie Guide. So 166 pages, 73 prospects. We've got overall rankings that are color coded by tier. We've got positional rankings, detailed scouting reports. We give numerical film grades for a number of different attributes and categories that kind of spits out an overall grade and you know, we've done everything that we can to try to make it comprehensive so that it feels like it's not something you could just find by Googling, but also digestible so that you can, you know, scan through it and get the information that you need, even live on the clock during a rookie draft. So, yeah, the rookie guide. We've also got bonus podcasts. We've got a free discord for people to hang out in. We got all kinds of stuff. And you can get that for normally as little as $5 a month, 15% by buying annually, and then another 50% by using the code FFT. So that's for all of our annual packages. You can get 50% off. So, yeah, definitely appreciate you guys.
- [03:25]
Heath Cummings
Go check that out. You guys. I took a look at the draft guide the last couple of days and one of the things that I love about it is that when I look at your rankings, I just don't get a facsimile of the consensus rankings like you guys. You guys go in depth and you've got your own process. And it does produce some interesting, I think, really helpful results. On today's show, we are going to talk about the consensus top six wide receivers in the 2025 draft class. So that is Ted McMillan, Amiga Buka, Travis Hunter, Luther Burden, Matthew golden and Trey Harris. We will start, as we always do, with three questions for the Mats. Matthew, Rupert. We'll go. We'll start with you, Matt. Matt Cooper already talked enough. Right. We'll start with you. Is this just a mediocre wide receiver class or is it a bad wide receiver class?
- [04:18]
Matthew Rupert
I would say mediocre. I feel like the more I study this class, there's a lot more really good, you know, second wide receivers for a team, there's not a ton of alphas. To me, I think there's. There's three guys where you could plug them in and, you know, they can be the alpha on your team. To me, there's a lot of really good, like one B's, you know, wide receiver twos, guys that, you know, could fit a role where they stretch the field or they're more that possession receiver. So when you look at it from a dynasty perspective, there's not a lot of cornerstone guys that going to get in this draft that's on the, the tight end and the running back side in my opinion.
- [04:55]
Heath Cummings
Right.
- [04:56]
Matthew Rupert
But this side, there's going to be a lot of good, like, kind of flex options in my mind, like guys that you can stick in on bye weeks. And then there's some higher upside guys to where if they, you know, can kind of shore up a weakness, they can definitely turn into a plus starter.
- [05:11]
Heath Cummings
I think one of the things that people kind of like disagree about when they talk about it being a bad class or a mediocre class is what are those people are expecting Travis Hunter to be a full time wide receiver, a part wide receiver or a full time corner. Because if he's a full time wide receiver, the class looks a little bit better at the top and that just go, that just kind of filters on down the rest of the way. Matt Cooper, we'll go to you. What is the most important thing to you when you're evaluating a wide receiver on film?
- [05:39]
Matt Cooper
Yeah, so you would think that the first job should be catch the ball, but actually the first job is to get open, right. And so in our weighting on our film grades, we have certain attributes weighted higher than the two highest weighted attributes for us is route running and release against press coverage. We, we feel like, especially with today's fantasy leagues being almost entirely PPR right across the board, like you get open, you earn targets, you earn targets, you rack up receptions, you rack up receptions, you score a lot of fantasy points. And you know, more and more we're seeing the best fantasy producers are the best route runners, not the big bodied X receiver jump ball guys. And so that's going to come up later in the show as we talk about some of these guys. But yeah, so our kind of hierarchy of importance, I guess you could say, is route running first, then ball skills, how well can you catch it, Contested catch, body control, all that kind of stuff. Thirdly, yards after the catch and then athleticism only mattering in so much as it plays functionally into those other three categories. So I don't care how well you tested the combine, if I can't see it show up and leading to you winning on your routes, making people miss after the catch, you know, winning the jump balls. It needs to be functional athleticism, awesome stuff.
- [07:06]
Heath Cummings
I'm gonna let you guys decide who answers the third question because I know like what, what I get in the draft guide is kind of, I assume, the consensus opinion of the couch scouts, but you guys have your own guys. So who, whoever the guy is that needs to answer this. Go ahead. Because you guys do have Daniel Jackson ranked considerably higher than the consensus or really any other rankings that I have seen. So I'm asking the, the, the Daniel Jo, the Daniel Jackson guy to please stand up and, and tell us why.
- [07:39]
Matthew Rupert
I'll pass That one to Coop. He. He has a slightly higher grade than I do.
- [07:44]
Matt Cooper
So all three of us really enjoyed the tape. You know, the. The film grade is a composite of our three film grades. The ranking is a composite of our three rankings. So a guy's not going to be that high in our rankings without all three of us being in on him. But, yeah, he's just a dang good football player. I gotta shout out my friend Skip Newton. He co hosts one of the podcasts on our feed with me. And Skip is a Minnesota Golden Gophers fan. You know, that's where Daniel Jackson played collegiately. And Skip was like, you got to watch this guy, Daniel Jackson. I think there's something there. And so really the only reason he was even on our list to watch was because Skip told me to put him on there. And I just thought his route running and release really jumped out on film. He had sticky hands, made some really tough catches in traffic, respectable after the catch. And not unathletic. I mean, he's not a burner by any means, but I don't think he's unathletic. So really, I'm just praying he gets a chance because I hear nothing from anyone on him in the fantasy or the draft community, which is a good and bad thing. Like, it's good because our couch scouts are going to get him for really, really cheap. You could probably take him with the last pick in your rookie draft or pick him up off waivers after the draft is over. But the bad half of that is, you know, I fully expect him to be day three, maybe even undrafted, because I'm just hearing no buzz at all. And you need the guy to get a chance. So praying he gets a chance. But I was really surprised I had him graded out as a fantasy starter on our film grading sheet. And I had no expectations going into the tape. So I think if he gets the chance, he could be an Adam Thielen type. This was a guy that went undrafted, but earns his way to a long and productive NFL career because he's just a good football player.
- [09:32]
Heath Cummings
So it sounds like you just said that Daniel Jackson is Pukinakua and he's going to win people leagues from the third or fourth round. No, he did. He did not say that. But I do also think it's. It's good to know it's not just that Skip had somebody rated as the number one wide receiver and you guys had him at 13, and then he happened to be six because of that, you guys were all on board and think he's better than advertised and that that's how you make big gains in Dynasty, is finding those guys in round three or round four of your rookie drafts that actually turn into producers.
- [10:03]
Matt Cooper
Yeah.
- [10:03]
Heath Cummings
Let's take a short break. When we come back, we'll start with Techn McMillan and work our way through the top six wide receivers in consensus rookie rankings.
- [10:13]
Matt Cooper
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- [10:27]
Heath Cummings
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- [10:29]
Matt Cooper
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- [10:42]
Matthew Rupert
All rights reserved. Hey there, travelers.
- [10:46]
Heath Cummings
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- [11:10]
Matt Cooper
Go to your happy price price line.
- [11:14]
Heath Cummings
We are back and we are starting with the consensus wide receiver one in the 2025 draft class. And that is not the wide receiver one over at Couch Scouts, but let's start with you, Cooper. Matt Cooper. Where what's your. Evalon McMillan.
- [11:33]
Matt Cooper
Yeah, so I like Ted McMillan. I have him as my wide receiver too currently. And, and I have him with a grade of a fantasy starter, so. And towards the higher end of that. So in our grading scale, like an 80 and above would be an elite fantasy producer and a 75 to 79 is fantasy starter and he's up in the 78 range. So towards the higher end of fantasy starter, there's a lot to like. He's got respectable athleticism for sure. For the, for the position, the movement skills, I think less of a straight line burner and more of a. He's, he's got good lateral ability.
- [12:11]
Matthew Rupert
He's.
- [12:11]
Matt Cooper
He's quick in and out of breaks on his routes. For being a guy that's as big as he is and so I think he struggles a little bit with a release off the line press Coverage. I felt like he didn't have much of a plan of attack. He didn't have a lot of footwork. He kind of was just, I'm going to run in a straight line and try to bully you and then catch the jump ball. So he needs to improve against press coverage for a guy who's going to be an X receiver at the next level. But I think in the short to intermediate area of the field, he can run routes really well, Slants out routes, you know, just these quick, quicker breaking routes he does a really good job with. And that's why he racked up so many receptions. A lot of times you'll see a guy like a Keon Coleman that's like, oh man, he had like 50 receptions for his whole collegiate career. Ted McMillan had like 90 every year. So he was an absolute target hog, possession guy. And I think that's how he profiles at the next level. Like the ceiling comp for a guy like that would be. And I'm not necessarily projecting that this comes to fruition, but like on Michael Thomas, because he's just, you know, slant God, right? He's catching everything over the middle, he's racking up the receptions. Bigger bodied guy, but he's a possession receiver and I think that's the type of player that Ted McMillan is. But he also has those elite ball skills to go up and make the contested catch and contort his body and toe tap and all that on the boundary. So he wins deep, less with speed and more with with the ball skills. But in the short to intermediate, I think he does win with route running and yeah, I think he's a good player, good prospect, deserves to be a first round pick.
- [13:52]
Heath Cummings
Matthew, I. Speaking of that first round pick, and this is at the very surface level, and I thought this a couple of months ago, like looking at the wide receivers in this class, McMillan seems to remind me the most of the first round busts we've had from the last few years. It's those bigger guys. But listening to Matt's eval, it doesn't sound like that at all. So is that, is that a valid concern?
- [14:14]
Matthew Rupert
I think it's a valid concern because we have seen it quite a bit and but to Cooper's point, I feel like he does win on his routes in the the short range to where he can rack up targets. And then I think an underrated aspect of his game for being a big guy is his yards after catch. I feel like he transitions so quickly to attacking up the field when he has his back Turn. He has a really good sense of where the defensive back is at to where he can kind of set him up to cut inside or cut outside when he turns around. So to me he can win early with the slant routes as long as he's not getting pressed. And then he can win deep down the field with his physicality and ball skills. And then he has yards after a catch ability where you can throw him screens and he's going to rack up some yards. So to me like my concern is his release and being able to consistently win with route running. I feel like I saw some inconsistencies on his film but to me I, I don't think he's going to be a bus. I feel like he's more in that kind of Drake London range where potentially has like a slower start to his, his career. But I feel like he's a very well rounded prospect other than his release.
- [15:31]
Heath Cummings
Hopefully he gets better quarterback play. Yes. So far in the NFL, Matt, I haven't actually placed any of the rookies into my dynasty rankings yet. I did put them in the tiers though. So I kind of want to go through some names and you tell me before we have draft capital, before we have landing spot. Let's say you're on the clock and can draft tit but you have to give up one of these wide receivers. I'm trying to fit him in where you'd put him in the rankings. And let's start a little bit high. I think Jalen Waddle.
- [16:03]
Matt Cooper
I would take Ted McMillan over Jalen Waddle.
- [16:05]
Heath Cummings
Okay, let's go higher. Then Garrett Wilson.
- [16:10]
Matt Cooper
I would take Garrett Wilson.
- [16:13]
Heath Cummings
Matthew Devonte Smith.
- [16:15]
Matthew Rupert
I take Tet.
- [16:17]
Heath Cummings
Xavier Worthy.
- [16:20]
Matthew Rupert
Oh, I probably still wing Ted but that was really close to my mind.
- [16:27]
Heath Cummings
With this teammate, Rushy Rice.
- [16:29]
Matt Cooper
I'll take Rice.
- [16:32]
Heath Cummings
So I had him in my tier 5 of the wide receiver rankings and I have in the same tier as the top three in the class. You guys, I'll throw a couple more. Zay Flowers.
- [16:44]
Matt Cooper
Jameson Tet.
- [16:47]
Heath Cummings
Okay, so you guys have got him kind of higher in tier 4. Not quite a top 12 dynasty wide receiver as soon as he enters the league unless. But I guess there's a potential. He's a top 10 pick and goes to a team that I'm not even thinking who's in the top 10 but needs a wide receiver and doesn't have a bad quarterback and then maybe he moves up a little bit. But a high end wide receiver 2 for dynasty purposes sound right. Just about right for.
- [17:10]
Matthew Rupert
Yep. Yeah.
- [17:11]
Matt Cooper
I think he has more upside than maybe like a Zay Flowers or devonte Smith. But those guys, Devonte at least feels safer to me. Like I, I, I like devonte to continue to be a high end wide receiver too, year in and year out and say, I think, you know, obviously the offense holds him back more than anything. He's a really talented wide receiver. So that's right in, you know, Smith worthy. Zay is right where it becomes an interesting conversation for me with Tet.
- [17:41]
Heath Cummings
Well, I think he fits in that tier also because a lot of the wide receivers in that range, like Rice and Worthy, we don't even know for sure who the wide receiver won for the Chiefs is next year. Or like devonte Smith if Dallas Goddard actually gets dealt away and they don't replace him with a significant tight end. Or like Jameson Williams. Like there's a lot of guys with a bunch of upside but maybe are tiered a little bit higher than what their actual production's been so far. So that is kind of the, the upside wide receiver two range. Let's move on to wide receiver two in the consensus rankings. It is a mecca Buga and I probably did just butcher his name again. I've been, I've been getting better this year, but it's like one out of six on every show. It's just, I can't, I know what I want to say and don't say it. Matthew, I'll start with you on the eval.
- [18:27]
Matthew Rupert
I really love him as a prospect. He's not the flashiest guy, but to me he has zero holes in his game. He can win short, he can win intermediate, and then he can win deep with not really his athleticism. I feel like he has a lot of nuance to his route, running with tempo, head fakes, and to me, his ball skills are phenomenal. He pretty much just catches everything that's around him. Really good body control. To me, again, he shows a ton of nuance with his ball skills with having weight hands. When he's got a DB like right on his hip, he's running down the field, the DB's not looking back. He waits until the last second to throw up his hands, catch the ball, doesn't give the DB a chance to break it up. And to me he's just been a little overshadowed and maybe just been around for so long that he's kind of lost some of that luster. He's not like the new shiny toy, but to me he probably has like the safest floor of any wide receiver in this class. And he's another guy that I feel like could end up being a cornerstone of your dynasty roster.
- [19:34]
Heath Cummings
So Matt, you earlier actually compared Tet to a former Ohio State wide receiver, but we've had a ton of them come through the NFL in the last four or five years and we've got more coming. Where would you rank this prospect amongst those wide receivers coming out of college?
- [19:49]
Matt Cooper
Yeah, well, first of all I'm seeing a bunch of Happy Birthday Heath in the comments, so I feel like I should say it on stream. Happy Birthday Heath.
- [19:56]
Heath Cummings
Thank you very much.
- [19:58]
Matt Cooper
Honored that you chose to spend it with us, huh? But yeah. So as far as the Ohio State wide receivers, I think Abuka, he's not a size speed freak like Marvin Harrison, doesn't have the special twitchy change of direction of like a Garrett Wilson. You know, maybe not quite as fast as Olave, but he's just as polished as all those guys were or more. I think OSU really knows how to develop the wide receiver position and Abuka is certainly no exception to that. Like, like Rupert said, lots of nuance craft to his game. Very, very good route runner. If I had to pick one of the the Ohio State wide receivers to make a one to one comp, it'd probably be jsn Jackson, Smith and Jigba in terms of just being a big, big for a slot guy, playing mostly slot but with the size to be an outside guy and just bullying people in the slot. Great route runner, great after the catch, really reliable ball skills, not afraid to stick his nose in there and block. So yeah, kind of, kind of in that power slot mold that the JSN is in.
- [21:04]
Heath Cummings
So Matthew, I think that's interesting because if I'm as I'm listening to you guys talk about Tabuka, it sounds like a guy who could come in and start having success week one. Maybe. Maybe he's not the best of these rookie wide receivers for dynasty purposes, but it's possible depending on landing spot that he might be the best in their rookie season. You think he is a guy who comes into the NFL just ready to go?
- [21:27]
Matthew Rupert
Exactly. I, I think he's going to come in, he's going to be a coach's dream right away. To me he does like everything right and the fact that he, I may be, you know, looking in too much here, but the fact that he's okay, didn't seem to be a diva about being outshined by the all these other players at Ohio State. He just stayed there, he didn't transfer and he just kept on Grinding to me just I think he's a plug and play right away. He's going to be a target hog just because he can win against zone, win against man at all three levels. So to me I think he's just going to have come in and put up 70 receptions plus his his rookie year.
- [22:08]
Heath Cummings
Matthew kind of referenced this earlier in the show Matt, but it is a strange time when you're looking at rookie drafts because we're going to have a lot of running backs going really early and that's something that a lot of dyn the analysts have preached against for the last five years. But this is the year for it to happen. So thinking in terms of rookie drafts, how many running backs do you think should be drafted before Abu yeah, so.
- [22:32]
Matt Cooper
I think worth adding to this conversation about Abuka. We've talked a lot about how safe he is and how ready he is. I also think the upside is there too more than people want to give him credit for. Like we mentioned that the NFL is moving less towards these big bodied x jump ball guys and more towards these slot type route runners and Abuka is exactly the kind of player that the NFL is trending towards. And you know this comp is probably a little chalk at this point, but if a guy like Amon Ross St. Brown can be a top three dynasty wide receiver, Abuka is very much in that archetype and I, I think he, he can be a higher upside than he's given credit for. And so with that being said, you know we have him pretty high in our rankings. The only two running backs we've got ahead of him is Hampton and Genty and he's just behind Henderson. But I would say in the same tier like Abuka and Henderson I could go either way depending on the the team needs for your dynasty roster. They're, they're very close. Even though you know we've got a booker ranked slightly ahead in our rankings. That's one where if you're on the clock I'm totally cool taking either one. So yeah, he's right up there with you know, with with Henderson in my.
- [23:52]
Heath Cummings
Mind to that point. I just put out my pre draft Rookie top 40 on the site yesterday and I had Hampton and Henderson and Abuka all in the same tier. There's one more running back and one more Buckeye that I had in that tier as well. It's because I had Matt Waldman on for the running back preview and he loves Quin Sean Judkins and so I've got we'll see where the chips fall with draft capital. But those three running backs, I think if you were in need of a running back, any of them, you could take over a book. If you're in need of a wide receiver, you might be able to take him over. Any of them is kind of where I'm at. I think we've waited long enough for this. Let's get to wide receiver three in the class. And I know these guys have a lot to say about Travis Hunter out of Colorado. So. So, Matt, you start with the eval, and then Matthew, any, like, remarks that you've got that Matt leaves out, you just pile on.
- [24:45]
Matthew Rupert
Got it?
- [24:46]
Matt Cooper
Yeah. So we were on this show. What was it, about a month ago, as a guess? Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was. No, it was. It was even more than that. It was.
- [24:57]
Matthew Rupert
It was January.
- [24:58]
Matt Cooper
It was pre. Pre combine. So it's January. And we came on and we had just done Travis Hunter for our podcast the week before we got on here. So we were raving about him. And, I mean, we had just watched the tape and we said, he's. He's clearly the wide receiver one, like, in a different tier than Ted McMillan if he plays wide receiver. And we still feel that way. So that was probably a spicier take then than it is now. I feel like consensus is kind of coming around and. And saying, yeah, if Hunter plays full time wide receiver, he's that dude. I saw Harmon put out his RP profile. Matt Harmon, he's kind of the. The goat of wide receiver evals, and he combined him to. Compared him to Prime Odell Becke Jr. Which is a high praise. And it is. I. I very much see that. I mean, the movement skills are special. The route running is shockingly advanced for somebody who's only been playing the position for two years and has never been able to dedicate himself to it full time because he's been splitting time, you know, with. With db, of course, the whole. The whole way along. So, yeah, for a guy who's as new to the position as he is, his ball skills are unreal. He catches everything. He can change in every direction. His hands are sticky like glue. He. He beats press coverage at an extraordinarily high rate. I mean, anybody that presses him, he's got a full package of moves and the footwork, the hand fighting, the whole thing like he makes them pay. So when I. When I saw Matt Harmon's profile, he was like, one of the top five ever beating man coverage, one of the top two ever beating zone coverage. And, like, the Number one guy for beating press, all while having only played the position for two years. And all of that is consistent with what we saw on tape. So that was very validating to see that from, from him. And I, I just, I think I've got him in the same tier of prospect as I had Malik Neighbors last year. In terms of our film grade, they're very, very similar film grade, but film grade doesn't have a grade for potential. And so, like, Hunter could be even better. And yeah, he's, he's one of my favorite prospects in this class. I think if, if he's a full time wide receiver, he's closer to 101 than he is to 103 for me. And I'm all aboard. He's an elite prospect.
- [27:26]
Matthew Rupert
Yeah. Just to add to that, I have Hunter like seven points higher on our film grade than Ted McMillan. And I like McMillan. It's not any shit against him. It's just how much I like Hunter. And I don't think this gets talked about a lot, but his time playing cornerback, I feel like really helps him to know exactly what he's going to do against press coverage and win pretty much every single time. Knows how to beat zone, knows what the defense is doing so he, he can figure out how to get open. And then to me, what's so special about him is his hips. And again, this goes back to being able to backpedal playing cornerback and flip his hips. He shows that in his route running. And he's just so hard to cover at the stem of his route. He's so hard to cover on his release. To me, like he could, I could see him being a top five dynasty wide receiver pretty much right from the get go. And I think I said this back in January, like I was planning my flag. He's just way too talented at wide receiver to be drafted as a cornerback. I can see him being drafted as a wide receiver and then playing situational cornerback third down in a game, those kind of obvious passing situations. To me, he's just such a game changer at wide receiver.
- [28:44]
Heath Cummings
Yeah. And I hope that as an industry and even on this show that we haven't spent too much time on the questions about where he's going to play and not enough time talking about what an incredibly gifted athlete this guy is. And he does definitely look like one of those guys that, like, he's never played a sport and you play it competitively and he tries it and he's just better than you the first time he tries it because he's just good at everything he does. And I think what you guys talked about with the route running and the technique in such a short amount of time, like there are some guys that a coach tells them no, do it this way and the very next rep, they just do it that way. From now on, he has such great control over his body moving at a high speed. So I, I don't want to spend too much time on the position thing. But I do want to come back to you, Matt, because you guys have him at wide receiver one overall and, and we do to the 101. Here's my nightmare scenario. We go through the NFL draft, he goes second overall and he says I'm gonna play both. And the Browns say we're gonna let him play both. And we don't really get more information than that until July. How do you handle him in rookie drafts then?
- [29:56]
Matt Cooper
For me, I just think if, if I have him graded in the caliber of prospect as Malik neighbors and Matt Harmon is comparing him to Prime Odell Beckham Jr. And we're right about that. It's hard for me to imagine an NFL team drafting that caliber of wide receiver prospect and being like, nah, we're good on using him on offense. Well, you know, he's a part time offensive player. We're mostly going to use him at defense. Like I just can't see it happening. I can't. So I'm taking the risk. The upside to me is worth it. I think he's just that good. And I honestly, like, I don't know, we haven't seen it done. I'm not opposed to believing that he could try full time on both sides and actually be successful about it because he's that much of a freak and he did it in college and was put up some pretty guard, good, darn good wide receiver numbers doing it there too. I know NFL is a different animal. You know, you got to split time at positional meetings and watching the film and, and the whole thing. So I don't know. But I just, I'm gonna take the risk. I'm viewing him as a wide receiver. I think he's too good not to be a wide receiver.
- [31:10]
Heath Cummings
Okay, so we'll finish up with this. Matthew, because you answered one of my questions already. I was asking how long it would take for him to be a top five dynasty wide receiver or if he could. And. And you think it could happen very, very quickly. So I want to go back to the. The. We've talked a lot of positives about Travis Hunter. Let's forget about the corner thing. Is there any real risk or concern other than that I don't have any.
- [31:34]
Matthew Rupert
Weakness that I graded out for us with him. The only thing is like the knock on him is his size. He's not the biggest wide receiver, but he wins at contested catch rates more than a Techman Millen who's, you know, a contested catch monster. And it's by a decent margin. They're more like 70, 30 balls. With Travis Hunter, he has just a crazy innate understanding of, you know, like how to fight through contact and position himself to make the catch. So to me, I don't see any weaknesses on the film.
- [32:08]
Heath Cummings
That is pretty, pretty exciting. Let's take a short break and we'll finish up with wide receiver 4 through 6 in the 2025 wide receiver class. McDonald's meets the Minecraft universe with one of six collectibles and your choice of a Big Mac or 10 piece McNuggets with spicy nether Flame sauce.
- [32:27]
Matt Cooper
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Heath Cummings
At participating McDonald's Renolds for a limited time. A Minecraft movie only in theaters.
- [32:33]
Matt Cooper
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Heath Cummings
But anyone can get the same Premium.
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Matthew Rupert
Wireless for $15 a month plan that I've been enjoying.
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Heath Cummings
It's not just for celebrities. So do like I did and have one of your assistant's assistants switch you to Mint Mobile today. I'm told it's super easy to do@mintmobile.com.
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Matt Cooper
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Heath Cummings
Required intro rate first three months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees, extra fee, full terms at Mintm. So I know there's some people definitely from my home home state of Missouri that are listening right now and probably all over the country. They're like, how have you guys talked about the top three wide receivers in the class yet and you've not talked about Luther Burden? Let's write that wrong right now. Wide receiver 4 I was surprised he was this low in the consensus rankings. Luther Burden Matthew, you've got the evil.
- [33:26]
Matthew Rupert
I think he's a really good player and his weakness in my mind is just being average at route running. And this is what I struggle with with my eval because I feel like he's athletic enough to be a really good route runner. He wasn't really asked to run a ton of complicated routes and pretty much always in the slot. So you didn't really get to see him run routes at every wide receiver position. He wasn't moved around the field, didn't have to fight elf press coverage against number one corner of time. So that's my struggle with his evaluation. But to me, if he can shore that up, I don't really see any other weakness in this game. I think he's a really good athlete. He can be very twitchy at the stem of his route and to me, where he really wins is with his yards after catch is just phenomenal. And then his hands are incredible. I think he has a really good body control to be able to catch those back shoulder passes, running up the seam, fight through contact to come down with the contested catches. His really, really solid hands. Really dangerous after the catch, just lacking a little bit with the release and the route running. And to me, he's going to come in, he's so dangerous with his yards after catch because he's quick and he's physical. I think he's just going to get manufactured plays from the get go. So even if he hasn't rounded out his route running and his skill sets there to me, I think is for still pretty safe.
- [34:53]
Heath Cummings
Matt, how much of the things that we're concerned about with Luther Burden and the things that we haven't seen are things that we have small sample on tape and it doesn't look good or just things that Missouri didn't ask him to do because of their offense and their quarterback?
- [35:09]
Matt Cooper
I think it's a little bit of both. I do think like, like Rupert said, there's flashes athletically of him like flipping his hips, snapping out of a route break, running a really good route and you're like, wow, like that's he. He has the movement skills for sure to be a really good route runner. And there are also times where the routes are rounded off. They're not as crisp as they need to be. You know, like technically, I think he just has a lot of polish he needs to add to his game, but he can do it. So we're not talking about like a Malachi Corley here. That's like, you know, he can't beat man, he can't beat press, he can't beat zone. He's purely a manufactured touch guy and he's probably not talented enough to actually get those manufactured touches at the next level. Like, no, this is a guy who's already a very serviceable route runner. He can win. He's got a ton of room to improve and when he gets the ball in his hands, he's absolutely special. He's also got Good ball skills. I think he does pretty well for a. For a smaller player in those contested situations. He's got nice body control, he's got reliable Bible hands. So overall, like when I have him in my film grades, I've got him with the exact same film grade as a Buka to a decimal point and like half a point lower than Ted McMillan. So he's right there in that same tier with those guys. The only reason I have him slightly lower than the other two is, is honestly because of these. This noise that we're starting to hear from NFL circles. It's getting louder and louder about him being, you know, kind of bad work ethic, bad attitude, maybe dropping him out of the first round. He wasn't happy at Missouri, so he wasn't given his best effort. And so again, I, I don't know how much credence to give those things, but if he's tied with two other guys or slightly behind and they don't have those concerns and he does, then I'll drop him just lower. So I've got, you know, Tet, then a Buka, then Burden, but they're all really close. For me, I think Burden is a first round talent. You know, he's the devo comp is kind of tired, but he, he does because he's a bigger bodied guy that can actually take the beating and break the tackles. I think the comp fits and he's got the upside, actually to be a better route runner than Debo if he develops and polishes in that area. So I, I really like Burden as a prospect.
- [37:43]
Heath Cummings
Matthew. I wonder because I know, like, I've seen those three Tet, Burden and a book, I think in almost every order imaginable. Is it. Do you think it's true that Burden has more upside? Because if he fixes those flaws, the best version of him is better than the best version of the other two.
- [38:02]
Matthew Rupert
It's. It's really close to me. I feel like him and Tet are. Are very close because I think is really good with his physicality or Zeppelin catch as well. Burns a little bit more explosive, better long speed. So I can totally see a world where he ends up being, you know, higher than them in production. Goes to the right situation. To me, why I have him lower is I feel like he's more situational dependent.
- [38:29]
Heath Cummings
Okay. No, that, that makes sense. Let's. Let's get to wide receiver 5 in the class, Matthew golden, the speedster. Matt, what's the eval on Golden?
- [38:40]
Matt Cooper
I think he's a good player. I was surprised when I started hearing so much first round buzz on him because, you know, even before the combine when he ran the 429, I was hearing guys like Lance Zirline, Dane Brugler, Daniel Jeremiah, like really connected NFL guys that had him in their top two or three wide receivers. And I'm like, oh wow, like I need to watch this guy because he was a devi name. I play in devi leagues and didn't really do anything at Houston. The production at Texas was just okay. And then all of a sudden, you know, we're hearing about him as a first round talent and I was surprised, but when I got under the tape, like I could see why. You know, he's, he's fast. He snaps out of his brakes really crisp, really clean. He's got above average ball skills like, like really tough receiver, you know, can catch things outside away from his frame with regularity, does the toe tap really well. Like overall I don't think he's elite at anything, but he's good at everything and, and great at some things. So yeah, he's a good prospect. I've got him just a tier below the other guys that we've talked about. In my film grades, he's in that 76 range. So still graded as a fantasy starter but a little bit more on the low end rather than a high end like the guys that we've talked about. And you know, certainly I, I would not have thought of him as a first round prospect, but if he is, that means he's going to get opportunity and I do think he's good enough to do something with the opportunity. I'm not out here saying, you know, oh, he's a bust like, like a Quentin Johnston. A couple years ago I was like, I don't care if he gets first round draft capital, I'm out. That's not how I feel about Golden. I think if he gets the capital, I'm in on him as a solid wide receiver too, type of player.
- [40:37]
Heath Cummings
So I do think he's elite at one thing. Running a 40 yard dish. He is definitely elite at the 40 yard dash. Matthew, I, you hear all of that though, like, oh, he's actually got really good skills and he's, he's not great at anything but he's good at everything. And he runs a 42 9. How was this guy not more productive in college?
- [40:55]
Matthew Rupert
That's a phenomenal question that I've been asking myself as well. To me, one, I don't think he ran a 429 on the field to me when I watched the tape I felt like Isaiah Bond and Jaden Blue on the same team looked more explosive. Not to say they slow. I feel like those two guys are faster. So to me he looked more like a high four three guy with pads on. And I also saw, I felt like inconsistent effort level. I, I mean not to throw too much shade at him but to me he just didn't really look like the, the alpha wide receiver on the field. He does look like a number two when it doesn't seem like he's going to get a target running kind of lackadaisically. Just didn't seem like a full effort player all the time. So I, I think he has high upside to me. If I had to comp him I'd say like a Jordan Addison kind of player. Probably best as a number two on a team.
- [42:00]
Heath Cummings
Doesn't really matter if you can run a 4:2:9 when you're running the 40 yard dash. If you don't play at that speed regularly and if your effort's not consistent, both of those things matter. Matt, you mentioned earlier the fact that, that there is talk that he could sneak into round one in this draft and maybe the 40 time helped with that or with your kind of where you've tiered him at right now. Is that assuming a late round one draft capital or will you be moving him up if that happens?
- [42:26]
Matt Cooper
No, I'm already assuming that. I think he was trending towards being a first round pick even before the combine I mentioned all these connected NFL guys were touting him as a top wide receiver in the class and then the combine I think just cemented it to me. First round seems like a lock at this point. I'd be shocked if he wasn't a first round pick. He's, he's been invited. He's attending the draft on day one. Like I think he's a lock for that. So I'm not gonna double count it. I'm not gonna bump him up my rankings. That's already projecting that in my, in my ranking of him.
- [42:59]
Heath Cummings
So I think for everybody there's a pretty clear top for at least consensus wise. Not for you guys necessarily but a lot of people have golden at 5 and then you might be able to find 12 different answers for who is wide receiver 6 in this class amongst the different experts. We're using the consensus consensus ranking. So we've got Trey Harris up next. Matthew, what's the eval?
- [43:23]
Matthew Rupert
And Trey Harris, I think he's a really solid prospect and to me he really struggles with inconsistency. I, I re watched some tape this morning because it's been a while since we'd studied him and to me, the LSU tape, tape last year really sums up his game. One of the first plays, he gets open deep. He's very smooth, has good build up, long speed, especially for his size. He gets open deep on a nine route and then he's lets the ball come into him. He basically just tries to cradle it into his body and drops it. It was a beautiful throw. Hit some in stride and he drops it. He didn't reach out and, you know, attack the ball, which I would like to see in that situation. And then coming back later in the game, he's running up the seam and he's got a defender right on him and he basically like goes through him to get the touchdown catch. So you see it in some areas and you don't see it in others. And to me, that kind of wraps up his eval a little bit inconsistent. And then to me, he wins really early. I, I think he has a good release for his size. He can win on plants, little hitch routes, wide receiver screens. I think he's surprisingly good with his jars after catch. He's not a burner, but to me he's just really smooth and efficient with his movements, which I really like to see. Man, he wins deep. I don't really see him win in the intermediate range a ton and that matters a lot.
- [44:53]
Heath Cummings
Matt, one of the, one of the things I noticed is he's not in the couch scouts consensus top six at wide receiver. Did Matthew just lay out all the reasons why? Is there anything else?
- [45:06]
Matt Cooper
Yeah, I mean, it's because we like other guys better. You know, that's a cheeky response, but in all seriousness, this, this isn't a situation where we like hate Harris or we're telling everybody, you know, fade him. None of us disliked him as a prospect. We had him with, you know, really good scores for route running and release for a big guy, solid ball skills, pretty average athletically, you know, but like he mentioned, pretty good after the catch. So, yeah, solid player. We have him graded as a flex option. He's our wide receiver nine, but not a huge gap for us between wider six, wide receiver six and wide receiver nine. Like that's it, that's all. It's a pretty flat tier, I think, and we just liked a couple other guys a little bit better. But I think my biggest question is when I look at X receivers in the NFL right now for fantasy purposes, you've got your elite guys, Devonte Adams, T. Higgins, you know, A.J. brown. And then like who else is like a big bodied X receiver that we care about for fantasy? There's just, I mean Cortland Sutton, I guess, you know, then the rest you got Devonte Parkers and Cedric Tillmans and the Josh Reynolds of the world. And it's like, it feels like in today's NFL if you're a big bodied X receiver, you're either elite or you're not that good for fantasy. And I don't think Trey Harris fits the bill of one of those elite guys. So I'm worried about like what is his range of outcome in terms of.
- [46:46]
Heath Cummings
Fantasy production that makes, makes all the sense in the world. I wanted to hit on one last idea, Matthew, and it has to do with Trey Harris because He is already 23 years old. He's the, the oldest player we've talked about here in the top six. And you can talk about how much that matters for Harris. But also, and if you guys are different on this, please say it. But how much it matters to you how young a player is both coming into the NFL and when they had their breakout season. Season.
- [47:15]
Matthew Rupert
I think it's really beneficial to look at that when you have guys that are in that same tier like, like Cooper said, like we have a bunch of guys that are within like two points on film grade. Not a lot of difference there at all. So when you start looking at, well, what's their upside? Well, I'm going to take a guy that's only 20 years old or 21 years old over a guy that's already 23 because they're two years behind on the development curve already. You got two last years that they're going to be in the NFL. So to me I'm. If they're in that kind of same tier, I don't have really any other concerns. I'm going to look at age as kind of like a tiebreaker there.
- [47:52]
Heath Cummings
Excellent stuff. Is that kind of how you handle it too, Matt?
- [47:55]
Matt Cooper
Yeah, I agree with that. I think it doesn't have to be a deal breaker like Terry McLaurin was 23 or maybe even 24 coming, has had a very good fantasy career and been a nice dynasty asset. But yeah, for sure. So it's not a deal breaker, but it'd be kind of silly I think not to account for it. So yeah, it's a variable. It factors in probably more as the tiebreaker.
- [48:20]
Heath Cummings
Like he said, I think like there are guys like Joe Burrow where this scenario plays out and they're just awesome. But it does, it worries me more if a guy is like like 500 yards receiving through his age 22 season and then he's older than everybody else and all of a sudden he puts up 1200 yards. And I just wonder like, well, he's playing against 18 and 19 year olds and I guess there's not as much of that as there used to be. They're all, they're all 20 now. But yeah, it's something to consider. Don't let it be the end all be all. But it's a great tiebreaker. Matt, one more time just tell everybody about Couch Scouts and how they can become a part of it.
- [48:58]
Matt Cooper
Yeah, so I mean the brand kind of came from like we're just a couple guys on the couch that like to scout NFL prospects. We love to play dynasty fantasy football. I think over the years we've gotten pretty good at doing these film evaluations and finding edges that translate to help you dominate your fantasy league. Like our, our philosophy is if you can scout really well, then you can dominate your rookie draft. And if you dominate your rookie draft year after year after year, you're going to dominate your fantasy league league. So that's what we do. We have the rookie guide that I mentioned. 166 pages, 73 plus prospects. It is a labor of love. There's, there's a lot of blood, sweat and tears that, that went into making that thing. We think it's the ultimate cheat sheet for dominating your rookie draft. We have bonus podcasts every week just for our paying subs as well. We have people can schedule 30 minute one on one consultations with us to, to talk over their dynasty roster and get strategy help. We have an all 22 film room that has IDP and Debbie players in it. So guys like Jeremiah Smith or Abdul Carter, Arch Manning, like those types of guys are in our all 22 film room. So we've got a lot that you can get within the Couch Scouts membership package. Our plans start at just $5 a month and like I said, right now we are doing 50 off for the first 100 people to use the code FFT@CouchScouts.com.
- [50:32]
Heath Cummings
Thank you Matt Cooper. Thank you Matthew. Rupert. Thank you guys. Go check out Couch Scouts. You will not be disappointed. Thank you to Thomas for making everything work. Thank you to everybody who was active in the chat, especially those happy birthdays. I appreciate it. We will talk to you on Friday with the rookie wide receiver preview Part two Paramount podcasts. I'M gonna be famous. The most original musical ever is now streaming on Paramount Plus. I'm just giving the people what they want from the director of the Greatest Showman. Better man absolutely sizzles from start to finish. What are you gonna say?
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Matt Cooper
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Heath Cummings
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Matthew Rupert
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Heath Cummings
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