NFL Draft Prep: WR Preview! Hunter, Burden, Egbuka and More (04/10 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Summary

Fantasy Football Today: NFL Draft Prep – WR Preview! Hunter, Burden, Egbuka and More

Released on April 10, 2025, "Fantasy Football Today" hosted by Adam Azer along with analysts Dave Richard, Jamie Eisenberg, and Chris Chipasso dives deep into the wide receiver prospects for the upcoming NFL Draft. This episode provides comprehensive insights into the top WR candidates, their potential team fits, and their implications for both real-life and fantasy football.

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1. Introduction to Wide Receiver Prospect Pool

The episode kicks off with Adam Azer welcoming the team and setting the stage for an in-depth analysis of wide receiver prospects. After briefly discussing personal updates and a humorous exchange about a recent baseball game loss, the focus shifts to evaluating the wide receiver class ahead of the NFL Draft.

Notable Quote:

• Adam Azer [01:06]: "We are continuing our prospect preview here. Getting ready for the NFL draft in just a couple of weeks."

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2. Top Wide Receiver Prospects

Travis Hunter

Leading the pack is Travis Hunter, who is anticipated to be the first wide receiver taken in the draft. The team discusses the excitement around his potential to dominate both real-life and fantasy football leagues.

Notable Quote:

• Adam Azer [03:23]: "Travis Hunter is so fascinating because, you know, hopefully he'll play wide receiver."

Luther Burden

Luther Burden emerges as a strong candidate, especially for his athleticism and potential to become a high-impact player straight out of college. Jamie Eisenberg expresses significant enthusiasm for Burden, citing his youth and physical prowess.

Notable Quote:

• Jamie Eisenberg [04:53]: "I think I'm much higher on Luther Burden than most. I love that he's young."

Ted McMillan

Ted McMillan is noted for his size and classic wide receiver attributes, making him a reliable target in fantasy leagues. His comparison to established NFL receivers underscores his potential to secure a substantial target share.

Notable Quote:

• Adam Azer [04:10]: "And then obviously Travis Hunter at the top."

Matthew Golden

Matthew Golden is a subject of debate, with discussions highlighting his improvement at Texas and questioning his ability to maintain high performance levels in the NFL. His route running and target distribution are scrutinized to gauge his readiness for the next level.

Notable Quote:

• Dave Richard [05:37]: "How often he played in the slot... Golden played 21 of his snaps in the slot last year."

Jaden Higgins & Jack Besh

Jaden Higgins and Jack Besh are highlighted as versatile receivers with different strengths. Higgins is praised for his route-running and potential to be a primary target, while Besh is lauded for his reliable hands and physical play, making him a safe pick with a solid floor.

Notable Quote:

• Jamie Eisenberg [11:28]: "He's big like Dave mentioned and there's a lot of fanfare for him because of how well he tested and the routes that he ran."

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3. Draft Strategies and Team Fits

The analysts delve into potential landing spots for the top receivers, considering team needs and existing rosters. Discussions include:

• Chargers: Looking to bolster their receiving corps by possibly selecting a top WR to complement existing talent like Quentin Johnston.
• Broncos & Packers: Mentioned as teams that might prioritize running backs but could still target receivers based on roster needs.
• Titans, Browns, Patriots, Giants: These teams are identified as likely to pick Travis Hunter due to their offensive structures and existing player dynamics.

Notable Quote:

• Adam Azer [14:10]: "I was just writing this, catching up on the owners meetings... Justin's excited."

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4. Player Comparisons and Debates

Luther Burden vs. Matthew Golden

A heated discussion unfolds as the team compares Burden's high floor and athleticism against Golden's higher ceiling and potential explosive plays. Concerns about Burden's ability to maintain his performance in the NFL are weighed against Golden's developing skill set.

Notable Quotes:

• Dave Richard [17:17]: "I like Burden as a prospect better, so I probably would lean that way."
• Chris Chipasso [25:52]: "I don't really see that from him. So I honestly really struggled with them."

Abuka vs. Jack Besh

The conversation shifts to Abuka and Jack Besh, examining their utilization in college and projected roles in the NFL. Besh is favored for his polished route running and reliability, while Abuka is recognized for his speed and savvy play.

Notable Quote:

• Jamie Eisenberg [40:51]: "He can run routes. Reminds me a lot of someone that I watched a lot here in Buffalo, Robert Foster."

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5. Fantasy Football Implications

The episode places significant emphasis on how these prospects will impact fantasy football leagues. The ability to secure a high target share and consistent production is scrutinized, with Burden and Hunter being particularly highlighted as potential fantasy studs if they secure quarterback support and fit well into their new teams' offensive schemes.

Notable Quote:

• Dave Richard [05:28]: "There aren't elite fantasy wide receivers who can come in and dominate other than potentially Travis Hunter."

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6. Sleepers and Late-Round Picks

Elijah Badger emerges as a notable sleeper, praised for his yards after the catch and reliable hands. Despite lower target volumes, his efficiency and physicality make him an enticing late-round pick with high upside.

Notable Quote:

• Jamie Eisenberg [60:00]: "I think Elijah Badger has like the polish and the yards after the catch ability to well outweigh his draft position."

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7. Final Thoughts and Predictions

As the episode wraps up, the analysts summarize their top picks and offer mock draft scenarios, predicting where the top receivers might be selected based on team needs and player profiles. Emphasis is placed on balancing floor and ceiling considerations to maximize both real-life team success and fantasy football performance.

Notable Quote:

• Adam Azer [28:00]: "You're looking at him compared to maybe Luther Burden that has some perceived character issues as an early second rounder or one of the last picks in round one."

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Conclusion

This episode of "Fantasy Football Today" provides a thorough examination of the wide receiver class entering the NFL Draft, offering valuable insights for both fantasy football enthusiasts and real-life team strategists. By dissecting each prospect's strengths, potential fits, and fantasy implications, the panel equips listeners with the knowledge needed to make informed decisions in their drafts.

Final Notable Quote:

• Chris Chipasso [66:34]: "Pluto TV has all the shows and movies you love, streaming for free."

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For more detailed analyses and weekly updates, tune into "Fantasy Football Today" – your essential guide to dominating your fantasy league.

Transcript

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[Chris Chipasso]

Hey Neville.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports. What a play.

[Chris Chipasso]

Can you believe this?

[Adam Azer]

No, I can't.

[Chris Chipasso]

It's time to dominate your fantasy league.

[Dave Richard]

Off to the races and he stays on his feet.

[Chris Chipasso]

This is gonna go the distance.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie and Heath.

[Chris Chipasso]

We are continuing our prospect preview here. Getting ready for the NFL draft in just a couple of weeks. I am Adam Azer with Jamie Eisenberg, Dave Richard and Chris Chipasso is back once again. We broke down tight ends and quarterbacks yesterday. We're going to do wide receivers today. A lot of fast slot guys at this position here, but also maybe this position getting better as we get closer and closer to the draft. It looks more likely or hopefully that Travis Hunter is going to play some wide receiver. Anyway. Welcome, welcome back Chris. How is everybody's everybody have a good Wednesday? How's everybody's Wednesday?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Yeah, it was good. I mean being on the show yesterday, that was like the cherry on top for me at 10 in the morning. So after that it was just gravy.

[Chris Chipasso]

After that it was all downhill. Right? You couldn't get better than the show. Dave, did you have a nice Wednesday?

[Dave Richard]

It was wonderful. Thank you for asking, Jamie.

[Adam Azer]

It was good until my son's baseball game at 6:30 Eastern and we lost the tough one so.

[Dave Richard]

Oh, oh, you can't win them all, Jamie.

[Adam Azer]

That's true. And just watching before the show started how the White Sox lost, that was brutal.

[Dave Richard]

Yeah, I've been used to that for what happened. 2:20.

[Adam Azer]

So they're they're facing the guardians with Emmanuel, Class A, arguably the best closer in baseball. One of the best clubs in baseball. And I don't know who hit the ball but runner on second comes around for the tying run. Just came back from a hamstring injury. Looks like he blew out his hamstring again, rounding third base. Don't know if he would have been safe, but probably would have and get tagged out. Limping to home to end the game.

[Chris Chipasso]

Oh, Mike Talkman. Yankees legend Mike Talkman. Okay, let's get to it here. Hey, I just saw you randomly on the street. I needed 20 seconds on the wide receiver class. Chris Chapasso, you're awesome. Tell me about the wide receivers.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

It's got Travis Hunter at the top and then so much depth as we've come to, to realize is the case every year from rounds two through rounds five or even six. It's not top heavy. Be beyond Hunter. And I think the Ted McMillan's and the Luther Burdens wouldn't be top 15, top 10 picks in most drafts. But after round one, the perceived day two and day three guys, there's a lot of really good talents with different flavors.

[Chris Chipasso]

Jamie, what's your perception of wide receivers right now?

[Adam Azer]

I think Chris nailed it. You know, Travis Hunter is so fascinating because, you know, hopefully he'll play wide receiver. I think that's clearly more fun for what we talk about, but I wouldn't be surprised if he does a little bit of both. But in any event, yeah, I think we're looking at, you know, three to four guys, maybe, maybe five first round talent caliber players based on how they'll be drafted or draft capital. Will they be immediate impact players? You know, that's the biggest question. So the, the day two, day three, you know, surprise guys that'll end up at the end of the draft are going to be, you know, fun to dissect. But where we see, you know, Ted McMillan go, where we see Matthew golden go. Burden, maybe. How do you say the Ohio State guy's name? I don't want to mispronounce it.

[Dave Richard]

The G is silent.

[Adam Azer]

So where we see these guys go is going to be sort of the, the fascinating one. And then obviously Travis Hunter at the top.

[Chris Chipasso]

Rock. Oh, the C is silent. Oh, hey, Dave. Richard, can I have your autograph in 20 seconds? On the wide receivers, this ain't 2024.

[Dave Richard]

There aren't elite fantasy wide receivers who can come in and dominate other than potentially Travis Hunter, if he is a full time wide receiver and gets north of 120 targets. But we should have some good contributors. This is going to fatten up that wide receiver three position, which was already pretty fat to begin with. It's, it's not going to make for a bunch of elite fantasy studs is how.

[Chris Chipasso]

Okay, elite fantasy studs. How many have that potential, Chris?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I would say three at most. I'm much higher on Luther Burden than most. I love that he's young. We can get into him, you know, like into the weeds of his profile. I think in the right scenario, in time, he can be that. And then McMillan, just because he's kind of different from all the other top receivers in this class and that he's six'four and £220. It kind of fits that classic X profile that in most offenses can garner that 120 to 140 targets in time. In the NFL.

[Chris Chipasso]

Does anybody see any other potential fantasy studs?

[Adam Azer]

We'll see Fit. You know, fit is a big part.

[Chris Chipasso]

Of this because people, you know, people are going to say, Matthew golden, he's got a lot of, you know, a lot of fans out there. But after that, I don't. I. Yeah, probably not golden. 42940.

[Dave Richard]

I see a lot of dudes that can get 70 catches a year.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

That's a really good call.

[Chris Chipasso]

I agree with that. All right, let's get a top five. Dave, you have your top five.

[Dave Richard]

I can probably throw one together. Hunter would be first, Tet would be second, golden would be third. And yeah, I, I like Jaden Higgins. I think that he could end up being the. The second best big X type of receiver. And I like Jack Bash. This is another guy who probably won't get drafted till day two, but could end up being one of those 70 catch receivers that come out of this.

[Chris Chipasso]

All right, so you have Hunter McMillan, who is third for you. Golden.

[Dave Richard]

Golden.

[Chris Chipasso]

And then followed by Higgins. Or did I miss someone?

[Dave Richard]

Higgins. And then Bash. But again, pencil.

[Chris Chipasso]

We're using pencil here, so not burden right now. Okay, Chris, Top five.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

This makes for good, you know, tv, so to speak. And that we're going to disagree a little. I have Travis Hunter at one, easy. Luther Burden at two, Tut McMillan at three, Jack Besh at four and one that Jamie's gonna like quite a bit. I actually have Elijah Badger as my number five receiver. I know he's going on day three, but he. And I can again get into the weeds on him later, too. He has a profile that I think if he had it stayed at Arizona State and wasn't hurt by the quarterback play at Florida last season. We know Lagway got hurt. Graham Mertz got hurt, too. That Elijah Badger, we would be talking about him as a second or a third round pick because what he did in a limited sample at Florida was really, really good. I'm a little lower on Golden. I do like Jaden Higgins quite a bit and I agree he can be that number 2 outside X receiver in this class. Very good workout, bigger body in this class. So I think that top five is going to look different than most people's. But as you get to 4, 5, 6, 7, there's going to be a wide range, a lot of diversity in terms of how people, different analysts are going to stack the wide receiver position.

[Chris Chipasso]

I mean, Elijah Badger, that was. I just did not expect that. I know you're really high on him, but I haven't seen Badger very high on on rankings lists. Not to say that that's, you know, a prerequisite, but I like that. And I was going to ask you for a sleeper. That's definitely one for you. Florida's Elijah Badger, he's not even, I think probably not even the number one Florida receiver for some people. Chimera DK ran a 4, 3, 440 and he might be the first Gators receiver taken. But we'll talk about Luther Burden. We'll get into that. I wanted to do a quick game called 15 Prospects in 3 Minutes. So Dave and Jamie, you guys can email each other or work on your taxes or whatever. You're off the air for three minutes. I think we're just going to have Chris give us some scouting reports which I think, you know, we didn't really do enough of that yesterday's show. So. All right, let me Get CBS Sports.com's top wide receivers here. Travis Hunter, not listed, but we'll start with him. So just give me some quick scouting reports and we've got three minutes. I'm going to wait till we get the eight minute mark in two, one. Travis Hunter, go.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

All right, he is Garrett Wilson 2.0. Tracks the football probably better than Wilson does. Super smooth route runner, can be explosive down the field and really good after the catch. His missed tackle force rate was close to 28% in his three years in college. So he's already high floor and he has got a high ceiling.

[Chris Chipasso]

Tetaroa McMillan out of Arizona, 6 4, 219 pounds.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

So my comparison for him is actually a range. It's somewhere between T. Higgins and Drake London. He's not quite as good and as much of a moose after the catch as Drake London, but catches the football very well in rebounding situations. Not super fast, not going to separate. You just are drafting him for his size and how well he uses his body in traffic.

[Chris Chipasso]

Luther Burden out of Missouri.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

So my comparison for him is DJ Moore, a little bit of a smaller version of DJ Moore missed tackle force rate was almost 34%. Once you're getting above 30, you're talking about elite level yards after the catch ability tracks it really well in the back shoulder game. Ran 4 4, 1 and is young. He just turned 21 in December.

[Chris Chipasso]

Next up, that was Luther Burton. We go to Matthew golden out of Texas 511, 191 pounds.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

He reminds me a lot of Jalen McMillan who came out of Washington last season and flashed a little in Tampa Bay down the stretch. He was probably the most electric receiver in college football during the College Football Playoff. I don't think he's a tremendous route runner and I don't view him. I mean, I guess this is different than Dave. I don't view him as someone that is actually four to nine fast. Like I think he does not play to that speed. I did love though at his size with a smaller catch radius, how well he tracked the football near the sideline. The body control, the hands are certainly there too.

[Chris Chipasso]

I believe Mike Remmer also said he did not see that kind of speed from Matthew Golden.

[Dave Richard]

It's true.

[Chris Chipasso]

Yeah. A Mecca. Buca out of Ohio State. Six one, 202 pounds.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Slot guy, slot guy who started on the outside and then gradually played more in the slot at Ohio State. Which I think is interesting. Reminded me of A.D. mitchell. Maybe not quite as smooth as A.D. mitchell, but a bigger body who does run very good routes. Can get open with with intricacy, with nuance and like pretty much all the Ohio State wide receivers the last five to seven years. Tracks it like a center fielder. You can throw it over the shoulder, contorts his body very well. And he's a really good blocker on film too.

[Chris Chipasso]

Jaden Higgins out of Iowa State.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

So my comparison for him is Cortland Sutton. He is big like Dave mentioned and there's a lot of fanfare for him because of how well he tested and the routes that he ran. Like he is not just trying to win like Ted McMillan. He can get open with some separation ability and because he's so big, he's just naturally a good rebounder down the field. Jack Besh, I love him. He is Pukinakua 2.0 for me. Catches everything. His missed tackle force rate was 3, 30%. And again, if you get in the upper 20s or get into the 30s, that's elite level. Only four drops on 200 targets in his college career. That's very Puka esque to me. You see him make a lot of really challenging catches. Where he reels the football in. Not a crazy route runner, not super explosive, just a really well rounded wide receiver on the outside.

[Chris Chipasso]

Okay, that was seven receivers in.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Sorry. No, I get long winded.

[Chris Chipasso]

No, not at all. It was a stupid game. I was way too.

[Adam Azer]

You're on the right show to be long winded.

[Chris Chipasso]

You weren't long winded at all. It was perfect. Let's make it an even 8 in 4 minutes. How about Isaiah Bond?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Reminds me of Darnell Mooney, who is smaller downfield guy and isn't strictly a vertical threat because there is route running savvy to his game. That's exactly how I view Isaiah Bond. He's not going to reel in the football often in traffic and physicality kind of gives him problems at times. But 439 speed, which I think is legitimate. Like he plays to that level of juice and again has that nuance that you need to be able to sell the post when you're running a corner, things like that. I just think the yak ability and the contested catches are probably why he's viewed more as a second or third rounder as opposed to a first round pick.

[Chris Chipasso]

All right, we're going to take a break and we're going to come back. Got you acquainted with some of the top names that are going to be going in rounds one and two, hopefully for most of these guys. And we will. We got a lot more to talk about after this on fft if your.

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[Chris Chipasso]

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[Jamie Eisenberg]

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[Adam Azer]

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[Chris Chipasso]

Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Tracker, the Walking Dead, Defiance and more. Pluto TV stream now pay Neville. Okay, so 15 prospects in three minutes. Just gonna have to change that to eight and four minutes. Still pretty good. A nice quick introduction to some of these players. Jamie, looking at teams in the first round or the second round that you want to see grab a wide receiver, what kind of landing spots are we looking at?

[Adam Azer]

The Chargers come to mind. You know, again, just looking at what they have on their roster. Obviously. Quentin Johnston's been a little bit of a failure, as we know. And bringing back Mike Williams. I was just writing this, catching up on the owners meetings and how Jim Harbaugh said he was asked about. He was asked about Mike Williams and he was like, Justin's excited. It was cool to see Justin get excited. The first time I met him was, was when he signed the contract. Like, interesting time.

[Chris Chipasso]

I watched him play. Yeah.

[Adam Azer]

So Chargers come to mind. Would not be surprised if the Broncos, I mean, it seems like they're gonna go running back, but would not be surprised if they add a receiver just based on what their room looks like, you know, with Marvin Mims and, you know, some other guys there being in, in the second role behind Cortland Sutton, who's going to be, I believe, 29 or 30 trying to think who else in the first round.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Packers, maybe.

[Adam Azer]

The packers certainly would, but that would go against almost everything that they do, especially knowing that, you know, Christopher Christian Watson is not necessarily done for the year. Texans, I don't know. Do they have a first round pick? But make some sense.

[Dave Richard]

Everybody does. Everybody's the first one.

[Adam Azer]

Looking at it, I think we could see this would not be surprising to see a team go back into the first round if they like somebody. The Titans, you know, especially looking at what their room looks like, we know they're going to get Cam Ward most likely at the top spot. And obviously the Browns, you know, I think Travis Hunter to Cleveland makes a lot of sense. The Patriots, Travis Hunter to New England makes a lot of sense. And even the Giants, Travis Hunter there makes a lot of sense too. So look at the teams at the top.

[Chris Chipasso]

Yeah, I think that you look at what the Bengals did drafting Burrow and Higgins. You look at, listen to this comparison, what the Panthers did drafting Bryce Young and Mingo. There's definitely that desire for teams to give their rookie quarterbacks somebody to throw to. I do think it would behoove the Titans to do that. They have the third pick of round two even though they have the first pick of round one. So they have the third pick of round two. Do you think Chris, there's a wide receiver there that could make a big impact in year one if Luther Burden falls.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I think he could be that because he was that underneath yards after the catch option at Missouri. He could garner a lot of targets right away from a rookie quarterback that probably is going to be looking to get the ball out of his hands in a hurry. Although we talked about yesterday how good Cam Ward is off structure, you know, extending plays And a Mecca Egbuca like those two seem like they could be there in the early portion of the second round and are two pretty polished wide receivers that were productive over multiple seasons at, you know, big time schools and big time conferences.

[Chris Chipasso]

Dave, what's your beef with Luther Burden, who's number two for Chris not in your top five?

[Dave Richard]

No, I like the athleticism. I just wonder if that's what he got by on at Mizzou. And a lot of short targets, lowish adot, not the lowest of the top receivers in the class. It was at 9.5. Abuka, for example at 7.94. Travis Hunter's ADOT was 10.6. Not a bad drop rate either. Just his entire game was not entirely. But a lot of his passes or his targets were short throws. Make up make something happen after the catch and his avoided tackle rate is insane. Like yeah, that's really almost 50. It, it's crazy how many tackles he avoided. Can he do that at the next level? Is his route running polished enough so that he could be like a number one type guy? Can he go beyond 10 yards downfield and make plays consistently? We know that. We saw that a bunch at Mizzou. I, I like him, but I don't want to get so attached to him into thinking that he's going to be like any more like that 70 catch threshold that I talked about. How many receivers in this draft class could go over that now? He certainly could if he's in a team. If he goes to Carolina, he's the number one target. He's going to get eight targets a game. Four of those targets are going to be inside of five yards. Can he, can he overcome that? Can he have some great efficiency on top of that? Can he score more than the six touchdowns he had last year? I think that remains to be seen. So as far as athleticism goes, he's very, very good. Top five in that regard. But all around game at wide receiver, we know that a lot of receivers that come out of college and all they do is just out hustle guys on the field, they struggle once they get to the NFL and I'm a little bit nervous that Burden could follow in those footsteps.

[Chris Chipasso]

Yeah, it's interesting you said that, right. Because I look at the Jalens, Jalen Lane out of Virginia Tech, Jalen Noel, and I think about like a guy like yeah, they're right. Jalen Royals out of Utah State. I don't know if he's the same type of player, but I do see these guys who Just routinely run by people at college and reminds me of Wandale Robinson. Wandale Robinson did that a lot. And he never does that now in the NFL because he, you know, he has his A dot is like negative eight yards, but. Right.

[Dave Richard]

But he's also like 180 pounds, maybe. Maybe 190. And I'm selling him short.

[Chris Chipasso]

Well, that's what a lot of the guys are be thick on, that. Jalen Noel is 194. Jalen Lane is 191 lb. Ty Felton is 183 lb. But I don't know. That's a tough thing for me is I watch these guys and they're just blowing by people in college and getting open deep, you know, and it's like, whoa. But I feel like so many receivers can do that. Doesn't mean they can do it in the NFL. Chris, how do you. How do you translate that from college to the NFL?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

It's a good question. And obviously it's not an easy thing to do because all the corners are fast in the NFL. What I will say about Noel from Iowa State and Jalen Lane from Virginia Tech, they're nifty underneath, too. Like, they are dynamic with their suddenness. They can run routes. And the missed tackle force rate, especially for Jalen Lane, was very good at Middle Tennessee State and then in his final two seasons at Virginia Tech. So those two, I think more so than Ty Felton from Maryland, they can win underneath and at the intermediate level, where you don't have to lean on your speed as much. Tight. Felton was a lot more of a goalball wide receiver at Maryland who did test really well. So just looking at the numbers, you're thinking, okay, he can do that in the pros. But if you're a little skeptical of a player's ability to translate that from college to the pros, I think the two Jalens in the slot and even Jalen Royals, who's a bigger body and is actually closer stylistically to Luther Burden, they can win underneath and at the intermediate level, they don't just have to win with their speed.

[Chris Chipasso]

So what's the difference between Luther Burden and Matthew golden, by the way? One thing About Burden, his 2023 season was so much better than his 2022 season, about 500 more yards. He did not even lead his team in receiving last year. Luther Burden. But, Dave, what do you see the difference between golden and Burden?

[Dave Richard]

Well, if you're looking for experience, I think Burden wins there. Golden, to me, really didn't get going until the second half of this past season and that's when he broke out and when he started to look like a potential top receiver in the draft class. And I. I kind of had this thought this morning that if he had stayed at Texas, I'm not even sure if he had the eligibility for it, but I think he did. Could he have stayed one more year and then been like the top receiver in the 2026 draft class or one of them and. And I'd like to think that the answer to that, yes, but you never know. The problem is when you draft golden, are you drafting the guy who shine the last I don't know. I think it was like week six on or the guy who struggled to make a huge impact at Texas in all these years before so. Or he was at Houston the two years before and then he transferred to Texas. He had a decent time in Houston and then Texas. He broke out a little bit like I said. But I do think he wins downfield a little bit more than Burton Wood and Burns is a little thicker or a lot thicker and can win on shorter stuff.

[Chris Chipasso]

Chris, your take on that golden versus Burden?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Yeah, that's the disparity between those two. I don't think either are tremendous route runners and it's always hard. And what I don't love about always pointing to route running ability, I mean we watch all these players, we watched them for years. I like to have the quantifiable cross check for myself. You can get that with missed tackles force. You can get it with contested catch win rate. Dave, Jamie can look at adot to see how how far down the field these players were being thrown the football when it comes to route running ability. It's just all observational and I'm not going to say that I don't trust my own eye but. But I also realize that it's very hard to discern like who's a really good route runner and what that really means. I don't think either of those two. You just saw them leaving cornerbacks in the dust repeatedly. But yeah, there are different body types and golden is someone that gives a little bit more vertical ability beyond just running 4:2:9 compared to 4:4:1. I think he is a little bit.

[Dave Richard]

Better down the football field and I'd like to just add that I thought he improved as he went to Texas and maybe he just got his master's degree in route running and receiving skills, footwork, all that stuff that he just couldn't get at Houston and that's just what would make Golden Yeah, maybe he's just got a little bit more speed than Burden and he's not as physical, but he can still win on all three levels of the field. We don't know if Burden can in the NFL.

[Chris Chipasso]

Yeah, Texas, they have a great route running program there. Actually it's very hard to, very hard to get in. Jamie. I've got golden from. In Chris's draft. I've got golden going 16th to the Cardinals and I've got Luther Burden going. Well, I've got. I don't know why I'm saying that. Chris has Luther Burton going in the second round falling to the Saints. Which do you like better, Burden than a dynasty draft? Let's say Burden on the Saints or Golden on the Cardinals. And in this case we're talking about a first round pick and Matthew Golden, a second round pick and Luther Burden.

[Adam Azer]

I like Burden as a prospect better, so I probably would lean that way, especially knowing that the hope would be that the Saints are starting to head in the right direction and this could be their 1A. You know, I, I think hopefully he's the two because we all like Chris Olave. Golden to me is going to be a very interesting player. And going to a team like the Cardinals where we know Kyler Murray has sometimes struggled as a fantasy, as fantasy options to support two guys, to support three guys there knowing that he would be at best the third behind, you know, Trey McBride, Marvin Harrison, Marvin Harris training Brightever, you want to rank those guys. It would be tough for him to I think produce the type of statistics that we look for to make him a starting caliber option. Whereas Burden can easily go there and beat the two right away and hopefully have an immediate impact with Carr and maybe whoever the quarterback of the future is there. Assuming Kellen Moore is going to be the long term answer coach, is it.

[Dave Richard]

Safe to say that Burden is has the higher floor and golden has the higher ceiling?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Yeah, I think that's totally fair.

[Adam Azer]

Absolutely the same.

[Chris Chipasso]

I don't agree with that. I don't really see Golden. Wait, you're saying, you're saying golden has the higher ceiling.

[Dave Richard]

Golden has the higher ceiling, but Burden has the higher floor.

[Chris Chipasso]

Now look, I, I have trouble.

[Adam Azer]

They both have a pretty high ceiling.

[Chris Chipasso]

I had trouble evaluating these two guys. Honestly. I thought they were, I thought especially Burden, I thought was like a little gadgety, but I didn't watch a ton of his 2023 which was so much better. But I think Burden has the higher ceiling. I think he's more explosive with the ball in his Hands now I'm not going to sit here and die on that hill. You know, it's all in the eye of the beholder. But I, I felt Burden was a little bit more of an athlete than golden, personally. Even with golden running the faster 40. But again, I don't know, I just really struggled with those guys. I don't know. I don't know. You know, like they don't have great size and, and they, and like golden plays a lot on the outside, right. And I, I look at him and I feel like he looks like a slot receiver to me. I don't see an outside receiver. I guess he really going to go downfield and out jump guys and high point the ball. I don't, I don't really see that from him. So I, I, I honestly really struggled with them and, and was hoping for some clarity today, which I feel like I'm getting. But Chris, Chris, you gotta understand.

[Adam Azer]

Adam doesn't like receivers that are under 6 foot 2.

[Chris Chipasso]

No, definitely not. But I, but when you have a guy who's 5 11, 191 pounds, I don't, that's Golden. I don't want him on the outside so much. Right. I want that guy on the inside more to me. And he had a 13.5 yard a dot. That is a lot. And also he had, he had 987 yards and nine touchdowns. That's a good season. They threw for the fourth most yards in the country. They threw for the second most touchdowns in the country. It's not that great of a season. It was in 16 games I think, right? Yes, 16 games. He didn't even crack a thousand yards. So like a top 15 pick, which golden might be. He doesn't really have the production for that. So I'm just wondering if he's like, you know, just talking football here. Sorry. But if he's like Henry Ruggs or you know, or if he's really worthy of a top 15 pick. I, I'm a little skeptical on Golden.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Yeah. It just feels like in terms of again, real football. So I'll be quick on it in terms like value wise. If he is and there's some building momentum that he could even be the first receiver off the board.

[Adam Azer]

Right.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

You're looking at him compared to maybe Luther Burden that has some perceived character issues as an early second rounder or one of the last picks in round one. I think it's easy a win for the team that drafts Burden in just terms on value and where these players might actually get picked in the Draft.

[Adam Azer]

But I think also like, you know, we had this whole conversation last week or the week before on Marvin Harrison. The Cardinals is the perfect spot for him because he, for, for NFL reasons, not necessarily fantasy reasons. Like he goes there, he adds a speed element. He's a good compliment to play off of a guy like Harrison and take some pressure off of what this offense needs. Like that's a great landing spot for him to end up hate. I hate it for fantasy, but I think for real life, like that's the type of player he's going to be. He's not gonna, he's not going to be 120 plus target guy. I just don't see that in his profile unless it's just a team that's terrible and needs him, you know, throwing a lot of, you know, fourth quarter type of stuff or you know, just, you know, one of those, you know, yolo type of teams that we see from time to time. I just think he's going to be a good complimentary guy. That that's the problem with this class is like, it feels like there's a lot of just they're all good guys.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Yes, it's a really good wide receiver to class.

[Adam Azer]

Right. Like, you know, and, and, and he could have a solid career. He could be productive to certain extents. I just don't know if he's going to go to a team and you're going to say, okay, like Xavier Worthy, you know, not to make the same comparison, but obviously his teammate who ran fast and you know, ended up in a great destination. You know, it wouldn't be surprising based on what we thought from Worthy, if he's the best receiver in Kansas City. You know, no disrespect to Roger Rice, but coming off knee injury, all those things, I think in the case of, of a guy like golden, you know, BSB guy, you know, develop your routery, you know, his career could still be very solid and he ends up being productive. You know, I think like a Marquis Brown type of player, you know, somebody who can end up being, you know, very productive, maybe develops into more than just what was perceived to be a speed guy coming into the league and you know, smaller receiver that could still make some plays. But I don't think you're, you're looking at him and saying, okay, this is now the alpha. It just, I don't see that for him. And you know, somebody just posted in, in the chat, Houston will be a good fit, you know, especially with Tank Dell situation. I think the Cardinals great fit, you Know, just, just knowing those type of scenarios, Denver to me would be a good fit, you know, opposite a Cortland Sutton type player. You know, open up the field a little bit for somebody like Bonix. So those type of teams, those type of situations.

[Dave Richard]

Can I give you some numbers on Golden Adam?

[Chris Chipasso]

Absolutely. Yeah.

[Dave Richard]

So I don't think he truly got an opportunity to be the, the number one guy for the Longhorns until the seventh game of the year. I looked it up. All right, so his first six games didn't play nearly as much. He got about 10 more snaps per game and they kind of rode him the rest of the season. In those last 10 games, small sample size, all that stuff, 57 targets, 39 catches, 741 yards, six touchdowns, 2.5 yards per route run on a 19% target share. 19 yards per catch ADOT was 14.3. That's a little worrisome. 5.4 yards after catch per reception, that's not great. Explosion rate of 35%, 10 endzone targets. All of those stats were, except for yards after catch perception were first or second best on Texas among wide receivers. The question is, is he an ascending player? Does a team believe that he's ascending? And like this is when this is the guy who you're getting is who you saw in those last 10 games. And you almost have to ignore the first six games of last year and what he did at Houston. And if a team really believes that, then he is going to get a chance to get over 120 targets per game. But he, he's the one that's got some downside and this is why I couldn't make him my number one wide receiver. But his downside, I don't think it's as far behind a lot of those 70 catch wide receiver two guys that we either have talked about or will talk about. And I think there will be a team that gambles on him at some point late round one because that upside is just something that you don't see from a lot of receivers in this class.

[Chris Chipasso]

So this is Matthew golden we're talking about. He's only 21 years old by the way, so he's on the young side. We're going to talk about. I want to talk about Abuka versus Besh in a second. We did Burden versus Matthew golden, but we've sort of. You said something about Chris, you said something about golden maybe being the first wide receiver taken. I think you're not including Travis Hunter there, right?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Yeah, sorry. I'm in after him.

[Chris Chipasso]

Yeah, but, yeah, I like, how could he go ahead of McMillan? Do you think they're close?

[Adam Azer]

Speed.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I don't. Yeah, it's just speed. I mean, the first round is all about traits and just what Dave said. I think it's. Now it was across what, three games instead of one. But I think bowl game bias and what you see the last, like, recency bias for a lot of these evaluators and as coaches come into the scouting process late and that's what they're watching. They're out of the playoffs and they're seeing Matthew golden play his best football late. That usually translates to an ascending draft stock, whether you're a receiver, whatever position you're playing. And I think that is what Matthew golden is, is really benefiting from what he did late in the season at Texas.

[Chris Chipasso]

One more.

[Adam Azer]

And again, fantasy versus reality. Guys that do what he does. Teams covet this.

[Chris Chipasso]

No, they don't take. They should not take. Okay, if you're saying that what Matthew golden does is stretch the field, you know, and be a deep threat, they should not take that with the 15th pick. I'm not trying to crap on anyone's mock draft. Like, if you're going to take a guy with the fifth pick, whether they.

[Adam Azer]

Should or what they do. I mean, when did they do that?

[Chris Chipasso]

Like the Raiders do that. Yeah, but like, but teams don't take that guy 15th.

[Adam Azer]

I mean, the Bengals did it at seven with John Ross. This is what happened.

[Chris Chipasso]

Horrible.

[Dave Richard]

What did the Jaguars do last year?

[Adam Azer]

I'm not saying it's right. Adam, I'm not disagreeing with you, but what happens is, is when you're, especially if you're an offensive head coach or a GM that has an offensive background, they see, okay, this guy is now our Z receiver or he can be our, you know, our, our slot guy that stretches the field, or it's two or three shot plays a game or now he plays on special teams and he's in the return game. Like, there are things that these guys bring to the field that we can say that sucks. But they say this could change this flip field position. You know, it's just, it's just how 15 you take.

[Chris Chipasso]

You're saying the guy's going to, can be a special teams contributor, team's going to him with a top 20 pick.

[Adam Azer]

I'm not saying that that's their plan going in. Well, it's not if, if they can get value out of it. That's how they view it.

[Chris Chipasso]

I'm glad you brought up Brian. Tom, I'm sorry. Go ahead, Jamie.

[Adam Azer]

Right, but, but that's why situations fail. Just people get enamored with speed first round.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Yep.

[Adam Azer]

It's just what the NFL does.

[Chris Chipasso]

No, I get it. I just, I would hope that they see more than that out of golden if they take him.

[Adam Azer]

I'm not saying that's all he does. You're not. I'm not trying to paint that picture. What I'm saying is, is that when you see four, two anything and, and knowing that he can just, if it's two or three plays a game that he. Pass interference down the field, a return that he may be in, in that portion of the game, he, he opens up things for guys underneath. Like that's the way coaches think. You know, it's like they, they, they're not looking at it and saying, okay, this is going to be 100 catch guy and he's going to be a Hall of Famer, necessarily, because that would be stupid. But if they're looking at it and saying that four two speed can maybe win, win one game. Right. How many times we have this conversation, would you spend all your fab on one guy to win you one week? Right. They look at it and say, hey, may, he may win us three or four games just based on two or three plays throughout the course of the game. Whereas let's say Ted McMillan could be 100 catch guy. Like, you know, in terms, you know, Chris brought up that people are looking at golden as the first receiver after, after Travis second year off the board, like that's what teams look at it as. Like, can that guy make two or three plays a game? For me, especially in this draft class where it's very, very muddy in terms of a couple of guys at the top and then just a lot of good. Maybe good. Hopefully good. Like that's the way this draft is sort of unfolding.

[Chris Chipasso]

Yeah.

[Dave Richard]

Never mind the fact that coaches are blindly optimistic and they'll think, oh yeah, I can, I can turn that guy into a guy that helps us win five or six games.

[Chris Chipasso]

I get it. But if you just think, if you just thought that he was basically a deep threat, you wouldn't take him with a top 20 pick. You would hope that's the good thing.

[Dave Richard]

About Matthew golden, is that he can contribute in a number of ways. And I don't think any of us would sit here and say that Brian Thomas Jr. Was a complete NFL ready wide receiver last year, but he was a dude who had some unique traits including deep speed and he's faster than golden. And I'M not saying that golden is the next Brian Thomas Jr. And Brian Thomas Jr. Went 23rd overall to a team that needed somebody that could take the top off of defense, and he morphed into being their number one guy. And look at where we're taking him now and look at how important he is to Jacksonville's offense. It would not be crazy to see golden, assuming he keeps the ascension in that same boat. Eventually. Probably not as fast as Brian Thomas.

[Chris Chipasso]

Jr. Well, he's ran a faster 40, Dave. For what it's worth, he ran a faster 40. But I think the bigger thing for me, Brian Thomas Jr. Is six foot three. That's what I'm talking about.

[Dave Richard]

Like Dan Golden's what, six? Just under six.

[Chris Chipasso]

One. Five eleven, I thought. Am I wrong here?

[Dave Richard]

Five eleven. Yeah, I see. Yeah, you're right.

[Chris Chipasso]

511. 191 at the combine. Brian Thomas is 63209. It's just a different profile again, trick. I got to take a break here. Sorry. A lot of Golden. We'll. We'll got more players to talk about. We had a birthday to celebrate. We got a bracket winner to celebrate. We'll be right back on fft.

[Dave Richard]

This episode is brought to you by Shopify. Upgrade your business with Shopify, home of the number one checkout on the planet. Shop pay boosts conversions up to 50%, meaning fewer carts going abandoned and more sales going cha ching. So if you're into growing your business, get a commerce platform that's ready to sell wherever your customers are. Visit shopify.com to upgrade your selling today.

[Chris Chipasso]

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[Jamie Eisenberg]

You'Re reaching the right decision makers. You can even target buyers by job title, industry company seniority skills. Wait, did I say job title yet? Get started today and see how you.

[Dave Richard]

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[Chris Chipasso]

Right buyers with LinkedIn ads. We'll even give you a $100 credit on your next campaign. Get started at LinkedIn.com results, terms and conditions apply. There we go. Yeah. Oh, the acoustic version. We got a 21st birthday in here. I'm looking. Thomas, can you find it? There we go. It's Austin. He's watching FFT on his 21st birthday. Cheers, fellas. What should he do tonight, Guys, you.

[Dave Richard]

Should watch film of Matthew golden and see who he likes better. I agree with that.

[Chris Chipasso]

Want to give a shout out to John Warner. He won our bracket challenge. He gets a year of Paramount plus and he gets to Be in our podcast league. John Warner, congratulations. Picking the Gators and winning the whole thing. All right, let's do one more.

[Adam Azer]

Just great. Back to back comments in the chat space. Ricky says good content, guys. And then Mr. Papinski goes. That was a painful discussion.

[Chris Chipasso]

What? That was a good discussion.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Going deep on Matthew Golden. We should.

[Chris Chipasso]

Yeah, for sure. All right, so let's go deep on Ameka Buka versus Jack Besh. And who do you like better and are they similar? Chris, like, give me those two guys.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Well, I like Bash a lot more and they're different. You can start by how they were utilized. I mentioned earlier that Igbuka started on the outside at Ohio State. He's the all time leader in receptions there, Played four seasons, was high, reasonably high volume and then gradually move more in the slot. Jack Besh played most of his snaps. I think it was like 56% at LSU and TCU on the outside. They both track the football really well. I think Besh gives you more of the acrobatic catch ability like the Puka Nakua ability near the sideline and post catch. In terms of pure speed, Igbuka is faster. That's just kind of has been par for the course for the Ohio State receivers, but in terms of contact balance, just making guys miss in tight quarters, that's certainly Jack Besh. So I think Jack Besh is more of the classic outside receiver. Igbuka is more of a player that you want to move around, maybe utilize on slot fades or on post, you know, skinny post from the slot. They're a little bit different, although they are similarly sized, which I think. And they're kind of both projected to be second round picks. So I think that's. It's an apt conversation to talk about these two because of all of those things. But in terms of stylistic play on the field, they're a lot different.

[Chris Chipasso]

Dave, you like these guys. Mecca Buca out of Ohio State, Jack Besh out of tcu.

[Dave Richard]

This is another floor versus ceiling type of discussion. I think a Booka has one of the safest floors in this draft class. Yeah, I mean, you know that you can set your watch to 70 catches. He's very polished as a route runner. You didn't see the speed all that often from him, partially because he got a lot of short targets at Ohio State, but on the rare occasions that you did, you liked it because he, he can get up there. He's got some pretty good speed, but he's not nearly as physically like gifted as Bash, I would say. And Maybe that's not the right term. More physical with the ball in the air. I think Besh is just. He plays a little bit stronger than a Buka does. I think he's got a little bit more upside. I think if I were really in a, in a. In a GM chair. Push comes to shove and I need somebody who can play just wide receiver for us. If I'm Houston, if I'm Carolina, I probably do take a Buca. Just because track record of being a great football player all the way back from his days in high school was like all state and Washington and Chris mentioned just how great he was at Ohio State for four years. I, I think a book is probably just the safer guy to take the. The upside play is Bash who has, has done it. Did really well at TCU as his breakout years last year but did contribute at LSU at one point ahead of neighbors, ahead of Thomas Jr. He's got great strength, he's got great hands. He can track the ball. He's got good quickness. He just doesn't have the long speed. I don't know if a book is long speed is going to be something that's featured on a week to week basis in the NFL. I think he's going to get slammed into the slot pretty quickly.

[Adam Azer]

I think if you're looking for draft prospects you want guys that either played at Ohio State or lsu. I mean those have been two of the best programs. This will make you vomit though if you're thinking about track record. He is one of best is one of four receivers in tcu. I think it's history that have had a thousand yard receivings. A thousand yard receiving in okay in college three, four yards last year. Here are the other three. Josh Dotson, Johnson.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Yikes.

[Adam Azer]

Jalen Rigger. That's as awful as it gets.

[Chris Chipasso]

There's a whole thing about Big 12 wide receivers. It's like they're. They are.

[Dave Richard]

What's the track record of Colorado wide receivers?

[Chris Chipasso]

Yeah, not a lot. Right. But they are pretty much never good. And then you know, Texas is in the SEC now so hopefully things change. But once upon a time USC wide receivers were busts all very consistently. And then I think that changed a little bit. I mean juju came out. I feel like I'm forgetting some guys obviously had Keyshawn but there were a.

[Adam Azer]

Lot of like Junior Drake, London.

[Chris Chipasso]

Yeah, right. You had some good, some good ones anyway. And I do think about those sometimes. The big, the Big 12 wide receivers not doing well. And then there are some systems there's like Trey Harris's system at Ole Miss, maybe like Tennessee's system. They don't have anybody this year. But we've seen Jalen Hyatt and Cedric Tillman, you know, and I don't know, Jury's still out, I guess on Tillman. But anyway, we can talk about that in a second. Would you say that. See, like a book and Besh are so different, right, from the previous, from Burden and Golden. Right. They're not the physical freak, the athletic specimens, right. They're. They're more solid production receivers. Are they? That's why I group them together. Right. Like if we could combine those receivers, then we'd have a, like a top five overall pick. We'd have the speed of Burden or whatever and then the skills of Besh. But they're different, right? I just wanted it from a profile standpoint. Chris think Abuka and. And Besh very different from Burden and Golden. Is that fair?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

That's fair. But I, I am always kind of beating the drum on missed tackles. Force and how good they are after the catch. Because we talked about it yesterday with tight ends. There's so much schemed up element to today's NFL that I want Jack Besh to be able to catch a shallow cross on a third and six, make the linebacker miss and then run over the safety. And now it's a 15 yard gain. And I think he's in that Luther Burden mold or caliber in terms of what he can do after the catch. Igbuka isn't really that type, or at least he wasn't utilized that way at Ohio State. Maybe he has the physical ability and I think golden would be a step or a tier below those players in terms of what he can do after the catch, beyond what his speed affords him in that part of the game.

[Chris Chipasso]

Okay, so by the way, I put in, I wrote in my notes about Jack Besh, if you want someone to convert a third and six, Besh seems like the kind of guy to do it. Which is kind of what you just said, but. And then I put him in just as easy. Yeah, yeah. Buka's very savvy player. Him and Jaden Higgins. I put, I put Jaden Higgins. So let's talk about Jaden Higgins. I liked what I saw from Jaden Higgins. One thing about him, horrible on deep balls, past attempts of 20 or more air yards, eight catches on 24 targets. I do think his quarterback stunk, but I'm just, just to get two guys in the same discussion here. Let's go with Jaden Higgins versus Trey Harris. Who do you like better, Jaden Higgins out of Iowa State or Trey Harris out of Ole Miss?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I have Higgins graded higher and I'm interested to see obviously how Dave comes down on this because he likes Higgins a lot. Trey Harris, like you mentioned, Adam, the. The scheme was so gimmicky and it's just totally spread slants and go routes. I don't think either of those two bigger wide receivers, Higgins or Harris, play to their size. You just kind of reference the numbers on Higgins. They're not going to go up and get it a ton and come down with the football. Higgins tested better and is a sharper route runner in terms of just how he can make breaks at the top of his route stem. So I'm a lot higher on Jaden Higgins. But the analytics in terms of yards per route run and all of that with Trey Harris just because I'm sure his ADOT was through the roof because they just threw him go balls all the time in that Lane Kiffin offense.

[Chris Chipasso]

You know they did. I don't know about the adot. I can find it.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Or Dave, they throw a lot of screens too, right?

[Chris Chipasso]

Because they throw a lot of plays where it's really weird. Trey Harris at Ole Miss, he will line up out wide and he will not even move. He will stand completely still one on one. And like it's almost like the offensive line sometimes when there's a false. When there's a defensive player jumping and they just like let the play go, he just stands still and then they throw it to him. So he did pad his stats a little bit on those types of plays and that would lower his A dot. But. All right, Dave, what do you.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

A lot of deep balls too, though.

[Chris Chipasso]

Yeah? Oh, yeah, for sure. And he was good. He was a lot better on deep balls on past attempts of 20 or more air yards. And by. This is what I love about Trey Harris. He had a 79% catch rate with a 12 yard A dot. There it is. 12 yard A dot. No wide receiver with an 8 out of 12 or higher had a higher catch rate than Harris. Only two wide receivers with an 11 yard 8 out or higher had a higher catch rate than Harris. That's pretty impressive. Dave Harris versus Higgins. Sorry, who do you like better?

[Dave Richard]

They're both big guys. Neither of them are burners. Although Higgins had the faster 40 time. I don't know if I believe in that 40 time. Kind of like I don't believe in Golden. Golden's not a 4 to 9, but if we said he was 4 4, I think I would believe that. Harris has a pretty concerning injury history that would make me nervous to take him including hip injury in October, needed knee surgery in 2023 and he doesn't have a lot of lower body power. And when you look at Jaden Higgins, the dude's just big. He's physical guy. A lot of comparisons to, to Michael Pittman because he's big and strong and not necessarily somebody that can win downfield. Doesn't have great agility. I'm not sure if either of them really have great agility, but Higgins is 6, 42 17, huge catch radius, 22 years old. He can, he did line up everywhere at Iowa State. One cut routes he can win on. I kind of lean toward him. I think that he could end up being a little bit better of a prospect and one that doesn't have the same type of injury history.

[Chris Chipasso]

Jamie, mock draft here from Chris. We've got two fun destinations. Trey Harris, 44th overall to the Cowboys and Higgins to Seattle. Eight picks, six picks later. So Trey Harris to Dallas, Higgins to Seattle.

[Adam Azer]

Love the Higgins call. Another team that really needs wide receiver help. Clearly. And I do think he's got top five upside in this class. So you know, it's, it's a strong fit. You know, hopefully Sam Darnold comes in and plays somewhat close, if not as well as he did in Minnesota. I'm a little skeptical, but obviously knowing that you have an immediate opportunity for targets and the way that this kid could play and be a solid compliment to jsn. I love that call. Yeah, I think Harris to Dallas is, is certainly interesting. You know, this is a team that's still chasing to find a number two compliment to CD Lamb. He could easily come in and, and be that guy right away. So another, another strong fit there. But I, I mean Higgins would be I think a potential first rounder and Dynasty rookie. Only draft just based on that landing spot.

[Dave Richard]

Yes. You want to hear a fun fact on Harris?

[Chris Chipasso]

Yeah, go ahead.

[Dave Richard]

He was Malik Neighbors high school quarterback.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Oh my lord.

[Chris Chipasso]

About that. Let's eliminate someone that, that Chris and I talking before the show don't really like. I guess I shouldn't use the word eliminate but you, you might see him in top five lists. You know, if you look at other rankings, Manor out of Stanford. Six two, two, oh six pounds. Ran a four, four 40 which is pretty good. Four, four, four 40. Pretty good for six, two 206 pounds. Yeah. What is it? We're not really so big on him. What's your beef with Eric IO Manor.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

So I think he's a little bit stiff at that size. 62206. There was a lot of hype pre combine and even being down in Indianapolis like before he worked out, people thought hey, he's got like a track background. He's going to blow it up. He's going to run sub 44 at that size and kind of shoot up maybe even into the back end of the first round. He didn't run that fast. And at Stanford I just talked about it with Trey Harris, although it obviously wasn't Lane Kiffin or Josh Hypo running that offense there in Palo Alto. A lot of Alec AO manners targets were just like go routes down the field. There was not a lot of, you know, the full route tree that we like to kind of tab for those players that are considered high floor. You didn't really get that with AO Manor. And I don't really think at that size, even though he's thick at 6:2 and almost 210, I don't think he's this bulldozer after the catch either. And clearly that's something that I really value at the receiver spot. So I think he's kind of a one trick pony that has build up speed in terms of or as compared to explosiveness down the field.

[Dave Richard]

14.6 drop rate.

[Chris Chipasso]

That's the other thing with IO man are a lot of drops. What bothers me about him just watching like pretty much all of his targets. He does nothing over the middle. He had six catches between the hash.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Marks all season, all downfield deep balls.

[Chris Chipasso]

Ted McMillan had 32 catches between the hash marks with lead which led all receivers. So yeah, okay, that's I.O. manor. We're not so high on him. Let's go to. Let's get two more guys here. Let's go with the speedy Isaiah Bond. Actually, we'll come back to him. Let's do the Jalens. Let's do Jalen. All right, we'll do three of them. Jalen Royals out of Utah State. Jalen Noel out of Iowa State. Jalen Lane out of Virginia Tech. So that's three guys. And just so it doesn't get confusing, I won't make you compare them all. Just tell me this, do any of them have a thousand yard potential? Jalen Royals out of Utah State. 4, 4, 2, 40. Jalen Noel out of Iowa State. 439 slot receiver Jalen Lane. 4, 3, 4 40. Take that Jalen Noel. And they're both like speedy slot receivers. Who can play in the return game. All right. Anyway actually am I wrong about. Yeah, no, I'm right about it. Okay, go ahead. The Jalens.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

So I'm going to start with what Jamie says a lot and he's totally spot on about a thousand yard upside. All depends on, on fit and like where they go. I mean we, we know that at this point I think all of them in the right situation. Jalen Noel is the probably the better route runner of the three or the best route runner of the three. I think Jalen Lane is the best all around wide receiver that he gives you the low 43 speed. The 3 cone was under 7 seconds so that hints at high level agility side to side wiggle to make those guys miss. Didn't have a lot of volume at Middle Tennessee State and Virginia Tech but I thought, I thought and that I was seeing someone that had an ascending game that with better quarterback play could be that high volume possession slot receiver and a missed tackle force rate in his college career of almost 28%. So again getting up there close to 30 is what you want. Jalen Royals.

[Chris Chipasso]

Which Jalen was that that forced all the missed tackles?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

That's Jalen Lane from Virginia Tech. He started at Middle Tennessee State.

[Chris Chipasso]

Okay.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Jalen Royals is, is kind of a light version in my opinion of Luther Burden that he's similarly sized, kind of Debo Samuel esque where you see him make a lot of just defenders bounce off of his frame. But then he ran in the low four fours like you mentioned that kind of surprised people. I didn't necessarily see that on film. So in the right situation where a team wants to just pepper him with underneath targets he can maximize run after the catch ability. Jalen Royals.

[Chris Chipasso]

Jalen Royals. Okay, Dave. Any strong takes on them Royals would.

[Dave Richard]

Be at the top of the list for me. One of the problems I have with Noel and I do like Noel, but he's got eight and a half inch hands. He had dropped 15 passes over 230 targets and in three seasons before 2024. He cleaned it up in 2024. If he can overcome that then he'd be pretty close to on par with Royals. But I think Royals might be a tad better as far as route running goes and just as far as versatility goes. I think Royals beats him there too. But I like, I like Noel. I haven't watched enough of Lane to have a good opinion on him.

[Chris Chipasso]

I watch him against Miami. He kicked our butt. But, but I put, I put in the notes for Jalen Lane.

[Adam Azer]

Your Defense didn't stop anybody.

[Chris Chipasso]

He was great against Miami. Parentheses who wasn't. Yeah, it was a fun year from Miami perspective. You know, it was. It's good because you get to watch the guys that are prospects, but also you get to watch the other prospects on different teams. Just destroying Miami all the time and making these other guys would be the.

[Dave Richard]

QB one in this draft. If we're watching just how we did against Miami.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Devonte Williams too.

[Chris Chipasso]

All right, Jamie. We got Jalen Noel going to the Jets. We've got Lane going to the Eagles, 96th overall. And we've got Jalen Royals going to the Chiefs. I'm not sure we have any, any fantasy. I don't know if anybody's getting drafted in a redraft league there. Again, that's Royal going. Joyland rules to the Chiefs. Jalen Lane to the Eagles. I think it was. Yeah. And then Jalen Knoll to. What was it? I'm sorry, Jets. The jets in round two. Yeah.

[Adam Azer]

That's certainly an interesting one just looking at what this team looks like now. They just had the news this morning of restructuring Alan Lazard's deal to basically allow him to stay on the roster. It sounds like they're going to cut him based on what he was getting paid and he basically took a huge pay cut. So knowing that they can use a number two receiver to step in right away opposite Garrett Wilson. It's just the problem is Justin Fields, can he support multiple targets for what we talk about fantasy wise? I think all of these fits aren't going to be ideal statistically, but you certainly see the fit. The Chiefs one is, is, is very interesting knowing that they have two young receivers locked in for the foreseeable future. But behind those two guys, it's very thin and so, you know, sort of adding some depth there and, and, and maybe a playmaker that can help out at times. Not necessarily being a superstar, but hey, Rashi Rice, if he's suspended or has a knee injury and, and we could see some impact right away. I, I think they all make sense. You know, the Eagles are very thin, so any injuries to A.J. brown or Devonte Smith helps out potential rookie situation there as well. But you just don't see a clear path for any of these guys to be dominant. But I think that's kind of the theme with this draft class is, you know, ending up as, as complimentary players more so than stars.

[Chris Chipasso]

All right, let me get to two more. One more comparison here between two players and then I'll let Chris freelance at the End talk about whoever he wants to talk about. Ty Felton out of Maryland. He's 6 1, 183 pounds. He ran a 43 7, 40 and Chimeray DK out of UF. I think he played actually with Graham Mertz in Wisconsin and then transferred to to Florida with mertz and had 783 yards and two touchdowns in 13 games. And he ran a blazing 434-40@6 1, 196 pounds. So we got Ty Felton out of Maryland and Shimmery DK out of Florida.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Well, I like Ty Felton a lot more and being the not the Florida guy in the room here, Jamie can certainly talk more about DK as well. I think Felton is a little bit stiff, but he gives you more legitimate ability down the field. Like he plays to that low 43 speed. He reminds me a lot of. Let me see, sorry. Troy Franklin last season at Oregon that he wasn't a great route runner. It wasn't running intricate routes. But in the vertical game and we saw Troy Franklin make some plays down the stretch with Bo Nix. That's kind of the vibe that I get with Ty Felton. He gets pushed around a little bit because he's close to 180 pounds. DK is a little bit better built like he has more of an NFL caliber frame, but I think he's very raw in terms of after the catch running routes. Reminds me a lot of someone that I watched a lot here in Buffalo, Robert Foster, who had like a little blip in Josh Allen's rookie season of making big plays down the field that ran like 4:4:1, but played super fast. That's how DK. I mean he certainly tested well too. You saw him open deep but not really anything underneath or at the intermediate level.

[Chris Chipasso]

Oh my gosh, look at this stretch from Robert Foster was 2018. Five games, 17 and 1890. Four more yards in four or five games. Three games with 104 to 108 yards. He was crushing it. That was a lot of fun. All right, so the floor is yours. Who else? Why don't you bring up the other Gators receiver who you talked about earlier, Elijah Badger and any other sleepers you want to highlight.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Yeah, I love Elijah Badger. We were. I've said it 50 times. I've kind of listed all the different missed tackle force rates for all these receivers. Not crazy high volume for Elijah Badger, but his missed tackle four straight at Arizona State for two seasons, 22 and 23 and then Florida in 24 was almost 36%. That's the highest of any player that I've talked about today. I think he's being underrated because he only had 39 catches last season at Florida. And there was DK there as well. I talked about the quarterback play was not great. He came down with the football on almost 70% of his contested catch situations. I think he runs pretty good routes. And I like the fact that 75% of Elijah Badger's snaps in college were on the outside. A lot of these players were like, oh, yeah, probably better in the slot. Give him more room. Badger had to deal with press coverage. I thought his release package was good. Very reliable hands, and I like that. Even on those 39 catches, Elijah Badger averaged almost 21 yards per catch. And I remember early in the process reading Lance Zurline from NFL.com's profile because I was like, am I the only one in the world that likes Elijah Badger? I think one of the first things that Lance Zerline talked about was or like his first note is a lot of games this guy looks like he is a varsity player playing against jv. Guys like the most talented guy on the field would just like to see more of the consistency, which I certainly can get on board with. But I think Elijah Badger, even if he's a day three selection, has like the polish and the yards after the catch ability to well outweigh his draft position.

[Chris Chipasso]

Okay, so some other names we didn't mention. Kyle Williams out of Washington State. Tory Horton out of Colorado State. Kobe Hudson, ucf Tez Johnson, Oregon. Savion Williams, tcu. Isaac Tesla, Arkansas. Xavier Restrepo out of Miami. You like any of these guys? Like, you know, we really like them. Like, like.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I'm not as high on Kyle Williams as a lot of people. I saw that Chris Sims had him as like his number two receiver in this draft. I. I'm not quite as high. I think he's like a bigger Greg Dortch. That's kind of how I view him. Tori Horton would probably be. Probably be the one that you mentioned that I like the most. He reminds me a lot of Rashad Bateman and I like that. Tori Horton was like the number one guy for multiple seasons at Colorado State. In every defensive quarter, coordinator knew Torrey Horton's going to get eight to 15 targets in this game and they couldn't stop him. He had an injury in his final season, but tested very well. He's over six two Adam, so you would like him just by that in its own right. A little bit under £200. So he's not a big body, but route running ability is there. I think he's another one. Day three, maybe late. Day two. That has a well rounded game and I like the production over multiple seasons at Colorado State.

[Chris Chipasso]

Just to go back to that, is Matthew golden going to be an outside receiver or a slot receiver, you think?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I think eventually in this slot, but I don't think like 80 to 90% in this lot. I think he showed at Texas and Dave and I both referenced it. His ability to contort his body and get his feet down inbounds on sideline routes, that was like a specialty, I thought, to his game. So I think that in and of itself will keep him probably on the outside eventually 20 to 30, maybe 40% of the time in the NFL.

[Chris Chipasso]

Dave, Jamie, you have any final thoughts?

[Dave Richard]

I'm looking to see how often he played in the slot. Golden played in the slot last year. If you give me a second, I'll find it.

[Chris Chipasso]

Yeah. Jamie McMillan to the Raiders, sixth overall in Chris's mock thoughts.

[Adam Azer]

I mean, again, another team that needs receiver help and it's, it's a, it's a good landing spot, you know, for what Geno Smith will do, what I think will happen in this offense. I mean, we like Jacoby Myers, but he's certainly not a, not a true number one guy. You know, he's better suited to be a complimentary receiver. So that'd be a fun offense. You know, I, I think a lot of people are looking at and saying maybe that's a landing spot for Genti. I don't know if you have Genti going before the Raiders, but the, the idea of them adding two significant pieces offensively and if you're going to do that to get a receiver and to get a running back, you may miss out on the better talent in Genti if, if that's the way Chris has it going. But there's obviously a lot more depth at the running back position in terms of, you know, not getting the, the top guy, but getting some potential value. And any of these guys behind Genti might be selling Hampton short to say he's not the second best running back, but, you know, there's a lot of great talent in, in that, that position. If you feel like McMillan's the second best receiver and you can get him, it's a, it's a smart move by the Raiders.

[Chris Chipasso]

Well, it's going to be a very interesting dynasty discussion because if Hunter, you know, goes to the Browns and they're like, well, we're going to play him on both sides. He's going to be so difficult.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

It's going to be hard for you guys.

[Chris Chipasso]

Yeah, it really is. He's going to play, what, I don't know, 70% of the wide receiver snaps. Is that enough? Probably not. So we'll see. Dave, you have our information.

[Dave Richard]

Golden played 21 of his snaps in the slot last year. That was higher than Ted McMillan, who was at 16.9% and Travis Hunter, who is at 4.8%. The guys that we talked about a lot today that were heavy in the slot burden, obviously. Almost all of his snaps. 87 in the slot. Abuka, 72%. Jalen Noel, 61. Everybody else was under 30%.

[Chris Chipasso]

Okay, okay.

[Dave Richard]

Missing a couple people that we talked about.

[Chris Chipasso]

Jalen Lane.

[Dave Richard]

I'll look him up.

[Chris Chipasso]

Yeah, whatever. All right, Chris, thank you. You're done. You're. You're free from us for a little while. We appreciate it, man. Have a great.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Thanks for having me on.

[Dave Richard]

Yeah, no, it's 83% for Lane. Yeah.

[Chris Chipasso]

There you go, Chris. Make you save. Save some time. I think probably Saturday, day three of the draft.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

It's an annual tradition when my eyes are bugging out. Right. After all the grades.

[Chris Chipasso]

Yeah. You join us to tell us about all the players I've never heard of, so.

[Adam Azer]

Thanks. Chris did a great job with that last year.

[Chris Chipasso]

100. Yeah, it was awesome.

[Adam Azer]

You know, remember when you took the day off?

[Chris Chipasso]

I didn't do it last year.

[Adam Azer]

No, you didn't.

[Chris Chipasso]

Oh, it was my wife's 40th birthday. It was her 40th birthday. I could. That was. Come on, that's a good excuse, right?

[Adam Azer]

No, I didn't say it was a. You didn't have a good excuse. You just didn't do it.

[Chris Chipasso]

Of course he did a good job. That's why I didn't do it. I was like, if it was only going to be Jamie, of course I would have been on. But I knew we had Chris, so we were fine. All right, we'll talk to you all on Monday on Fantasy Football Today.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Enjoy your weekend.

[Chris Chipasso]

Paramount podcasts. Pluto TV has all the shows and.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

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[Adam Azer]

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[Chris Chipasso]

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[Adam Azer]

Pluto TV Stream now.

[Chris Chipasso]

Hey, Neville.