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B
Can you believe this?
A
No, I can't.
C
It's time to dominate your fantasy league.
A
Off to the races and he stays on his feet. This is going to go the dist.
D
Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie and he.
A
Well, in 2024 we had Brian Thomas Jr, Malik Nabors, Lad McConkey all finished top 13 overall neighbors and Brian Thomas Jr were top six overall in 2023. We had Pukinakua as a top five rookie wide receiver. Top five wide receiver as a rookie last year, you know, not quite as good. Tedro McMillan did finish 15 overall, 23rd per game. Ameca Abuka had a strong season, but obviously finished poorly and finished wide receiver 36 per game. But there's a lot of talent here and a lot of reason to be optimistic. And we're gonna. I don't know, I think we're gonna be pretty optimistic on today's show. Welcome, everybody. It is Thursday, February 26th. We're looking at the sophomore wide receivers, and we've got some sophomore wide receiver trivia. And Heath, you're allowed to play today because I didn't send you the answers.
B
Oh, good. You ready to.
A
You gotta win. You think you're gonna win?
B
I don't know.
A
All right, let's see. Sophomore wide receiver trivia. Minimum 25 targets for some of these stats.
D
25 targets. So they had at least one and a half targets per game.
A
Well, yeah, I mean, for some of these stats, but this one is irrelevant in terms of that minimum. Who had the most targets?
D
Ted Arrow? McMillan.
C
I'll say a. Booka.
A
Oh, good job, Dave. Get after Heath took McMillan off the board. Dave gets the first one right. Abuka had 127 targets, led the position. McMillan had 122. Who had the highest targets per route run rate.
B
Is that Bird?
A
I got to give it to Dave. He got in there just ahead of Jamie. Yeah, it's Luther Burden. What was a Mecca? Abuka's target share in his last four games, which were the only four games he played with Mike Evans and Chris Godwin.
B
Healthy.
A
Ameca Booka's target share in those four games.
C
Closest wins a dead branch from a tree.
A
What'd you say, Heath?
D
1712.
A
12 JB wins. It was 13.8%. Yikes. Jalen Lane had the highest drop rate among rookies at 9.7%. Who had the second highest drop rate at 8.3%.
C
T. No.
B
Close.
A
He's bad though. The book Also bad, but not quite as bad as Luther Burden. Luther Burden, Tenor, McMillan and Mecabooga all need to work on their dropsies. And finally, which rookie wide receiver tied Tenero McMillan and a Mecca Abuka for the most end zone targets with 11? This one is impossible. It's unbelievable that he had 11 because he only had. Let's see how many. Let me tell you how many targets this guy had for the year. He had 27 targets for the year, and 11 of them were in the end zone.
B
Oh, man. What conference?
A
Nfc. Nfc North.
C
Oh, Isaac Tesla.
A
Yes. Insane stat right there. Isaac Tesla. And there you go, Dave. I think wins the the trivia contest.
D
Congratulations, Dave.
A
Way to go, Dave. Still amazing, Heath. I'll give you the answers next time.
B
Thank you.
A
All right, we got a lot of other podcasts. Go to cbs.
B
You give Heath the answers all the time since he always wins.
A
Yeah, maybe. Maybe that's what it is. We need some transparency on this show. Go to cbsports.com podcasts check out all of our shows. Ion College basketball. Good time to be listening to that one. Inside College Basketball now with the first pick, the early edge, Pushing the pile. Fantasy baseball today. Fantasy Fantasy football today. Dynasty beyond the Box score. Cover three, Attacking third. Call it what you want. Kicking it and more CBSSports.com podcasts.
B
All right, trivia question for you now, Adam.
A
All right, let's do it.
B
Which of those podcasts is Ryan Wilson on?
A
Who's Ryan Wilson again? Well, Ryan Wilson's going to be buzzing now that the jets and Titans have made a trade. We'll talk about that in a second. Just some quick news and notes. ESPN reporting that teams are monitoring the trade market for Brian Thomas Jr. Todd Monkin, the new head coach of the Browns, says that the Browns will have an open competition at quarterback. And here's the jets trade. They have traded defensive end Jermaine Johnson to the Titans for defensive tackle to Vondre Sweat. Jamie, what do you make of. Of that?
B
I believe Robert Sala was on the jets staff when they drafted Jermaine Johnson. So that's a reunion of getting a guy that I'm sure he likes and hopefully improves the pass rush for the Titans. And, and listen, they have one of the best already. Simmons sounds like there's a plane flying over Dave's head.
C
So it sounded like,
B
I mean, the, the jets are, I think, opening up a spot to go get a premier pass rusher in the NFL draft at the number two overall pick. So, you know, that probably is. Is a precursor to the next move for them, but hopefully it works out well for both and the jets can improve their run defense.
A
Yeah. So the jets get the defensive tackle to Andre Sweat, the Titans get the defensive end, Jermaine Johnson, and the jets have the second pick and the Titans have the fourth pick.
B
All right.
A
All right, here we go, Sophomore.
B
What I sent you.
A
Oh, wait, what was that again?
B
Kind of relevant to what we talked about yesterday.
A
Okay. Raiders Head coach Clint Kubiak says that they want a two man show at running back, wants to have a wingman for Ashton Genty. Well, Jamie, you sent it to me, so I'll let you talk about it first.
B
Well, I mean, it's just, it makes sense, you know, to, you know, take some pressure off of Genti. We hate it because we want to see Genti get the same amount of work that he got as a rookie, which helped allow him to still be a very solid fantasy option, just not the guy that we were drafting. It's just going to come down to who it is, you know, is it going to be somebody of prominence? Is it going to be, you know, rookie that they work in? You know, we've heard these stories and seen this from teams time and time again where they want to take pressure off of the lead running back and then the lead running back is just too good and they can't take him off the field. So the, you know, Kubiak is obviously coming from a system that had a lot of success with two running backs and Ken Walker and Zach Charbonnet. And so you don't want to see those, you don't want to see Genti in that type of situation where he's either losing touchdowns or losing passing down work because, you know, he can obviously do both of those and have a lot of success doing that. Especially if the Raiders, as we talked about yesterday, get better across the board, quarterback, coaching staff and obviously offensive line. So we'll just have to see what that spot is. You know, if it's, you know, somebody that like, like a Tyler Algier, for example, do they go and, and sign someone that's gonna maybe be a touchdown vulture type of player like Charbonne was, is it going to be Kenneth Gainwell type, like a pass catching guy? Is it going to be just a, you know, again, a day two, day three rookie that they just, you know, try and develop and you know, give some opportunities just to take, you know, Genti off the field for a few snaps. So it's gonna, you know, TBD right now. But I, I think it's not ideal that we're hearing Kubiak say that already.
D
Just looking at the history, because I tweeted this out this morning, Clint Kubiak, he's been an offensive coordinator three years. 2021, Dalvin Cook averaged 21.8 touches per game. 2024, Alvin Camara averaged 21.1 touches per game. And then last year it was ken Walker at 15.2. So it could be that he had a major change of heart before the 2025 season. It could be he just had a more balanced backfield last year and so they split it up more. The other thing is like, Genti averaged 18.8 touches per game last year on a team that ran fewer plays than anybody else in the NFL. If they're going to run a league average number of plays, they were going to have to have somebody else have more touches because he's not going to touch the ball 24 times a game.
B
Right.
C
This isn't the end of the world for Genti whatsoever.
D
Depending on who they sign.
C
Right. If it's somebody who's got a lot of pop and could end up being in a 5050 split, gosh, that would be terrible. Even if it's something close to what he had in Seattle last year. I think the reason why Kenneth Walker didn't have the same type of work as what you said. Heath Camara in 2024, Dalvin Cook in 2021. They had two running backs that they really liked and they wanted to try and preserve Kenneth Walker. I don't know if he's going to feel exactly that same way about Ash and Genti, but it does depend on who the second guy even is.
B
And he did that number for Walker include the playoffs?
D
No. Right.
C
So that number would be way higher
D
if you included the playoffs.
A
But you gotta. You gotta azer stat the games that Charbonne didn't play at the end of the year.
D
Oh, do we? Does the Azer stat include the playoffs?
A
Well, you wouldn't have to include the playoffs because Charbonne didn't play.
B
I've only missed one game in the regular season.
A
Oh, oh, right. He got hurt in the playoffs.
B
Okay, never mind.
A
So you can keep it. I mean, if you wanted to, you could get rid of week three Heath. But I'll allow it. It's fine now. It's a good stat. Good perspective there.
B
What if, unfortunately, Walker follows Kubiak to Vegas?
A
Oh, that'd be such. That's to be such a mistake. That's.
D
The other side of this thing is like, I don't know if any team has as many holes as the Raiders do. So if they do designate significant resources.
B
Cleveland.
D
Cleveland at least has a good defense.
C
Yes, but they've got almost nothing on offense.
A
Yeah, well, no offense.
C
Jerry Judy, Isaiah Bond, his team stink for sure. Sanders.
A
All right, ready to get into the sophomores? Let's do it. Sophomore wide receivers ranked your top three. Heath, Dave, Jamie. For.
D
Specifically for 2025 or 2026.
A
Yeah. Huh.
D
I'll go tea McMillan, Ameka Buka, Luther Burger.
C
Same.
B
Same as of now. But a Buka may move up to the top of the list depending on what Tampa Bay's receiving core looks like.
A
Okay, so let's discuss that. Teterell McMillan, Ameka Buka, Luther Burden. Everybody's got it in that order. So Jamie, what. What would be the scenario in which a Buka would jump ahead of McMillan?
B
Mike Evans gone for sure and potentially Chris Godwin as well.
A
Dave, how about you? What would be the scenario in which Mecca Buka would leap frog teterom McMillan?
C
So what? So what? So what's the scenario? What if the Panthers improve their run game and add another wide receiver with a day two pick? I think that would be something that would hurt Ted Aurora, McMillan's opportunities and a Mecca Buka. Same thing. Like if Evans is gone. That should keep a Buka ascending.
A
Heath, do you see any scenario in which you'd move abuka ahead of McMillan?
B
Well, sure.
D
I mean we got a whole off season worth of moves, so. But I think they pretty well covered it.
A
Okay.
B
Yeah.
A
I mean I gave that stat about abuka having a 13.8 target share in the last four games of the year with Evans, Godwin and Jalen McMillan, for what it's worth, all healthy. And that's obviously concerning. And not only that, he just didn't play that much. His, his snapshare went way down. This guy was playing over 80 of the snaps every week. It was like 2/3 of the snaps when all those guys were healthy. That's a Mecca Buka. But I'm going to give you a stat about Tele McMillan that you need to know as well. I'm going to do that after we take this little break on fantasy football today. We will be right back. Finding a skilled hire takes more than just reviewing a resume as AI raises the bar on how experience is presented. Hiring managers need better ways to evaluate skills and fit. That's where Robert Half can help our recruiters combine their expertise with award winning AI to review what's behind every application. Quickly learn how we can find you specialized talent in finance, accounting, technology and more at Robert Half we know talent. Visit roberthal.com talent today.
C
Why have I asked my electrician I found on Angie.com to bury my pet
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hamster nibbles in our yard for me?
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Because I was so moved by how
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knew I could trust him to bury my sweet nibbles after his untimely end
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Nibbles gone too soon.
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May he scurry in peace.
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Hey, sorry about your pet, but I just wire stuff.
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B
Parle tu Francais hablage espanol Parle italiano.
A
If you've used Babbel, you would Babbel's conversation based technique teaches you useful words and phrases to get you speaking quickly about the things you actually talk about in the real world. With lessons handcrafted by over 200 language experts and voiced by real native speakers, Babbel is like having a private tutor in your pocket. Start speaking with Babbel today. Get up to 55% off your Babbel subscription right now at Babbel.com listen spelled B A B-B-E-L.com listen rules and restrictions may apply. Meka Buuka was not the only wide receiver in this class that saw a lower target share down the stretch. In Teterro McMillan's last five games, he was actually only on pace for 88 targets. Carolina averaged 27 pass attempts per game. They got super run heavy. They, they weren't like allowing fewer points or anything like that. They allow basically the same amount of points as they were allowing in the first 12 games of the year, but in the last five games of the year, a 21.3% target share for McMillan. Much better than the stat. I gave about a buka 13.8% with everybody healthy. But you did see Jalen Coker start to get more involved. Jalen Coker had a 19.7% target share in the last five games of the season. And then in the one playoff game, 12 targets for Coker, seven targets for Tea McMillan. So to sum it up, McMillan was on pace for 136 targets in his first 12 games, 88 targets in his last five games. His target share went way down, probably because of Jalen Coker, but also the pass attempts went way down for Carolina. So you have just something to keep in mind. There's and it wasn't it wasn't really a standout season for McMillan. He had one huge game, 33 fantasy points at Atlanta in Week 11, and he had three other games with 16 or more points. But you know, he struggled. And I wonder, I wonder if his career is going to look like Garrett Wilson's and Crystal Lave's basically being held Back by pretty bad quarterback play, I guess I'd say. I don't know how you guys feel about that, but yeah, let's, let's break down 10 year old McMillan a little bit here. Heath and, and he finished, he had pretty, I think, a pretty similar season overall to the rookie years of Olave and Garrett Wilson. So I see some, some parallels there.
D
Yeah, I mean there's, there's quarterback concerns, there's past volume concerns, but I think even so. And yeah, he played 17 games, so he doesn't quite fit the, the typical 16 metric. But 17 games he gets a thousand yards, he scores seven touchdowns. The history of guys that have done that in their rookie year is mostly positive. So I think you're going to get a number, a top 30 wide receiver. The hope is that he becomes a top 20 wide receiver.
A
I think he's probably going to be drafted that way. My guess.
D
Yeah, yeah.
A
And then on the other hand, Dave, I think you can make the case. Abuka is going to have the, the offense behind right where the Bucks offense wasn't that much better than the Panthers offense. Panthers finished, I think 27th in scoring and the Bucks were about 20th in scoring, but they're capable of so much more. So if you wanted to make the case for a Buca over McMillan, you could say, well, he's going to be on a better offense and again, he had more targets than McMillan last year. So what are your thoughts there, Dave?
C
It could absolutely happen. And I, I would ask people to focus on the best parts of the Bucks offense, which were their first five games. And then we talked about it before, just tons of injuries. A book himself got hurt. He had a hamstring injury. At first it was talked that he was going to miss some time and then he ended up playing through it. I don't think that helped him at all. Baker wasn't Baker. The offensive line wasn't very good. I'd like to know where Tampa's offense was those first five weeks in terms of scoring, because I think they were pretty dang good. And Abuka certainly benefited from that and was getting a ton of targets per game, a few more per game than what McMillan averaged over the course of the season. But I can't sit here and say that Carolina's offense is dead in the water. They've got potential to be better too. They've got to continue to protect Bryce Young. I thought when Young had time he would make some excellent throws and we could say that about a ton of quarterbacks in this league. McMillan just has to still see a ton of targets per game. Stop dropping the ball all over the place. Seven drops were terrible last year. His catch rate was 57. Adam, that was 25th out of 28 wide receivers that saw 100 targets last year. He's got to get better at just simply catching the ball. He's a great talent. And so it's going to come down to which of those two receivers are going to continue to have a big role in their offense and which offense will stay healthy, slash take the next step in 2026.
A
Yeah, but what you said about McMillan, he had a higher catch rate than a book of book had a 50% catch rate and a book. I had a higher drop rate. Like I said, all three of these guys that you guys ranked as your top three sophomores, which has to be the case here, of McMillan a book, a burden. All three of them had issues with drops and not just total drops, but drop rate. So they got to fix that for sure.
B
Jamie?
C
Yeah, I'm trying to see how many drops a Buka had after the injury. I wonder if I really think the injury impacted him quite a bit.
A
The fir the first five games of the year, the Bucks were ninth in scoring and he was amazing. He was the number a. Buka was the number three wide receiver per game in the last 12 games. He was the number 58 wide receiver per game.
C
Yeah, it was terrible.
A
It's not all the injury. The injury happened, I don't know, Week nine ish, something like that. Jamie.
C
He definitely had some drops in those first. He had three drops in his first four games, and two of them were on short throws.
A
Jamie, I've got a theory about what, what went wrong for Abuka, but what do you make of the splits? First five games, he averaged over 20 fantasy points per game. Last 12 games, he averaged less than 8 fantasy points per game.
B
Well, I mean, it was the receivers getting healthy for Tampa Bay. I think that's the biggest thing, you know, so, you know, Dave's right. He obviously tried to play through the hamstring injury. Baker tried to play through the shoulder injury. Offensive line was banged up. But, you know, you're just putting talented players that have a history with, with the Bucks, with Baker Mayfield, and, you know, obviously it's. It's tough for a lot of young players, you know, when they're getting to the end of their season, you know, playing from a, you know, more games and, and, you know, hitting that rookie wall potentially. I, I think the hardest thing for Abuka is just really Going to be personnel. You know, if, if the Bucks lose one or two guys, then it's an easy path to success for him because that's what was so successful for him early in the season with God, when trying to come back from the ankle injury and obviously Evans not being there, that was huge. When everybody was healthy and, you know, Baker was leaning on his guys, it was difficult. You might be able to make an argument that if Evans and Godwin are still there, assuming McMillan is still there also and DJ Moore leaves Chicago, Luther Burden is probably in a better spot than a Mecca Book. I don't think they'll get drafted that way. But, you know, if Burden is kind of set free, the burden is relieved from Burden, then there's an easier path to success for him than there would be for a Mecca.
A
Buka I. Yeah, now. All right, so you're saying the guy's getting healthy, but I really, I mean, it was only those last four games where everyone was healthy. So Abuka had a. All right, he had these great first five games, then he hadn't.
B
If you, if you just take it in segments, you know, factoring everything we just said, nobody there in the beginning of the season.
A
No, Evans was there in the beginning of this.
C
Evans was there for three of the first five. Godwin was not.
B
Okay, so not everybody there for the first part of the season. Then you have the injury to both Abuka and Mayfield and then you have everybody fully healthy. So it's like you just, you segment it and it's, it's easy to sort of see what happened.
A
All right, but he had like, he had Evans in weeks one through three. He had Godwin in weeks four and five. So he had one them in all five of those games. And he was the number three wide receiver per game, averaging 20 and a half fantasy points per game. Then he gets an eight game stretch. Now this is the perplexing part to me, an eight game stretch before these last four games where Abuka's target share plummets. Eight game stretch where he is on pace for 153 targets. He's getting nine targets per game and he's turning that into a pace of 62 catches, 767 yards and two touchdowns. And every week it was like, do we start him? He's getting targets. Evans is out or Godwin is out. And he just was not producing the. What was it? Yards per target. Per target.
B
Him not healthy fully. Baker not healthy fully. 8 game sample size of what he does and what he doesn't do. And how to defend that. Those things all come into play.
A
I mean, I guess I'm just. These are just the stats. He had this opportunity. It didn't work. I want to show some, some screenshots if we can, because the, I think the biggest thing was the, was the deep balls. In the first five games of the year, he was making big play after big play. And then after that. Let me show you some, some screenshots. This is like second half of the year pass attempts with 20 or more air yards. See how he's open? I got him circled. This was an incompletion. For those of you who are just listening, I'm showing screenshots of a Mecca, Buka getting open downfield and Baker Mayfield either missing him or Abuka dropping it. So he's, he's got what week. This is the Lions game. This is like week 10 or something.
B
So Baker's already injured at this point.
A
Sure. This is week seven. This is week seven. Yes. All right, he's open here.
B
This is the game Baker got hurt, right?
A
This is the game Evans got hurt. I don't know if Baker got hurt in this game.
C
I don't remember.
A
Here he is. This should have been a touchdown. He destroys this defensive back against the Saints. This is week eight. Incomplete pass. Here he is against the Rams. I remember this one. This, I think was a Thursday night maybe, or Monday night or Sunday, maybe a Sunday night.
C
Sunday night.
A
Yeah. He's got two or three steps against the Rams cornerback here in week 12. Incomplete pass. And this one we probably all remember. He abuses this Saints defensive back. This was in week 14. Baker makes a good throw here and he dropped it. Abuka dropped it. We couldn't believe it. But I think that was, that was the thing that really stood out to me in his first five games. Eight catches, 291 yards, four touchdowns on 13 targets of 20 or more air yards. Last 12 games, two catches for 71 yards, no touchdowns on 14 targets of 20 more air yards. So I don't know, Heath, you know, I look at that as man, There were some opportunities that Baker missed him on or he dropped. But also he was pretty big play dependent. So it's good and bad. I also remember making the same exact case and showing the same types of screenshots for Xavier Worthy last year and it didn't work out in year two. So what do you make of the deep ball splits for Abuka?
D
I think deep ball splits are inherently wacky. And you're going like if you're, if you're being targeted well downfield on a regular basis. You're going to have some hot and cold stretches because those are not consistent targets. And he had a 12.18 out for the season. That's. That's probably a little bit high for a guy that's going to be a high volume guy. I kind of expected him to be more of a short area target when he was coming into the league.
A
Yeah.
D
So I think some of that. Listen, the, the biggest thing I think is which Baker Mayfield do we get right? Do we get the guy? I mean, he's had who. What it basically two years, like the end of 2023, all of 24 and the start of 2025 where he looked like a great quarterback. He's had lots of stretches in his career, including the second half of last year where he really did not. His off target rate ballooned in the second half of the season. Maybe that was all injury related. Maybe it was a little bit of Baker Mayfield inconsistency. But if, if Baker's back to being an elite quarterback next year and Mike Evans is somewhere else, then a book absolutely has the chance to be better than Ted Roll McMillan and maybe even be a top, top 12 wide receiver. But there, there's ifs involved that we're just not going to know.
A
There's a comment here from Big Farts. I always love reading that name. Ameca Buka is always wide open. Well, ESPN's analytics had him 104th out of 110 wide receivers in open score. He was toward the bottom of that all year and people, people were just always questioning that. It did seem like this guy knew
B
how to get open.
A
I, I don't really understand that score, but that's what it is. All right, so those are McMillan and Abuka. Let's talk about Luther Burden. Jamie. And you said, yeah, there's a scenario where Luther Burden could be approaching these guys in adp. And he led. He had one of the best yards per outrun of any rookie wide receiver probably ever. I only looked at the past like 12 or 13 years. He didn't have that many targets, though. Man. I went back and I watched tape today and he's so fun. Just makes guys miss incredibly well. What are your thoughts on. On Luther Burden and his potential?
B
Huge potential. I mean, you know, we saw it at the end of the season when Romo Dunes A was out and he was getting those opportunities, he was getting those targets. Caleb Williams was leaning on and Ben Johnson was featuring him. And that's the hope that what we see in his second season in 2026, obviously that's tough to count on if more is still there because they'll mix and match all three of those guys, assuming they're healthy. But I think you just look at what the upside and the potential is in this offense and you know, we were all sort of trying to figure out the beginning of the season last year. You know, who's going to be the amount. Ross St. Brown for Ben Johnson. And there really wasn't one guy that materialized. You maybe make the argument that we saw that from Burden toward the end of the season when he got this chance or got those chances. I just think that if everybody's there, it's almost as bad as what we're talking about for a Buka and Tampa Bay, maybe worse just because of Loveland and what he's potentially capable of doing with 10 plus targets in his final four games, including the playoffs. Oh, dunesday, what he did the beginning of the season. And DJ Moore will still kind of probably live in that 5 to 7 target range, which would clearly limit what burns potential could be. So if you're, if you're factoring in and projecting a big leap for Caleb Williams and maybe they do finally cross the 4,000 yard threshold for the first time ever and maybe getting better than that, then everybody could be successful. But if we kind of live in that right around 4,000 yard range and spectrum, then I think it's hard for, you know, Burden to have that breakout potential that we saw barring an injury. So I think you probably treat him as a number three receiver coming into the year. Assuming D.J. moore is gone, then he probably cracks the top 24.
A
For some perspective here, the Bears, yeah, they did not reach 4,000. They were at 3,991 yards. So let's just say 4,000 yards, that was 12th best in the NFL. It's not a standout number, but it's pretty good. It's not that different than the team that was 17th best. Denver. Denver average three fewer yards per game than Chicago passing. All right, does Heath, does Burden have the widest range of outcomes of those three receivers? McMillan Abuka burden.
D
Yeah, I think that that was pretty much the way we felt going into the NFL draft last year. That the upside is immense and the floor was lower and I think the floor probably moved up just a little bit. With what we saw from Burton last year and his progress in the Ben Johnson system, I don't think we saw anything to lower our ceiling feeling about Luther Burden. He could be the number one wide receiver for Ben Johnson's off this offense this year. It's. It's really difficult, I think to kind of sort things out between him and Roman Dunes because of the early part of the year when Burton wasn't playing that much in the late part of the year when a dunze was out with an injury. But Burden still has that upside. Be the number one wide receiver on his own team and I think has more upside in terms of efficiency than McMillan or Buka do in this current situation just because of Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams.
A
Anything you want to say about Luther Burden Day before we move on?
C
He had seven games including the postseason where he had a route rate of 50% or more. That's a low bar. He had 11 or more PPR points in just two of those games. I think the key here, and he really touched on it, the efficiency spiking that's going to come if he plays more. If we watch this offseason unfold and it makes it crystal clear, Chicago makes it crystal clear that Luther Burton's going to have way more routes to run. He's just going to play a lot more than all the other great numbers will follow. And you compared him to a Monroe St. Brown those four games without Romo Dunes a his ADOT actually fell to 8.1 yards. So he was a shorter area target. He had a higher catch rate in those games and we are talking way higher in those games compared to the two playoff games that he had. He was just way, way better. I think that's part of the role that he should absolutely have in Chicago along with some deep shots mixed in. And if that's what they do and there's fewer mouths to feed, then by all means Luther Burden can hit that huge upside.
A
And he left one of those four games early. He had six catches for 84 yards against Cleveland in a half. He had 26 point. He had 26% target share in that game and he only played a half. So in three of the four games without Odunze, Luther Burden had a target share of 21.4% or higher. It was really encouraging stuff. He. He just never played that much. I always make the comparison to Jaden Reed, a guy who was like super efficient, really good, but couldn't get on the field enough to be a consistent fantasy contributor. And I hope that's not the case with Luther Burden. I think that guy needs to get on the field more.
B
I don't think we know what the Bears really look like because we didn't see that for an entire stretch of everybody playing at their best healthy level. You know, Loveland had the shoulder injury early in the season. Odunes had the foot injury late in the season. You know, again, we'll see what they do with DJ Moore, but if everybody's back, then it's a little tougher. You know, I. I do think, though, just your question to Heath. I still think Abuka's range of outcomes is a little bit different. A little bit higher.
D
Yeah.
C
Yes.
A
Okay.
C
I think his ceiling is higher.
B
Well, I just think, like, we. We saw how bad it was for Abuka when everybody was there.
C
Yeah, yeah, sure. But I don't know if that's necessarily a fair representation of who Abuka is.
B
Oh, agreed, Agreed. I just think, like, I don't know if we really know if, If Evans is gone, we're all going to be excited about a book. If Evans and Godwin are potentially gone, we're going to love a book of more than we probably should. But I think in terms of if, If DJ Moore is gone, they'll probably be realistic expectations for Burden, which will probably put him, my guess, would be as high as, like, wide receiver 20.
C
Is there anybody here that doesn't have high ceiling for any of these top three wide receivers? I think they all have high. I think they could all finish potentially top 12.
B
But I think it's harder to.
C
Everything goes right for them.
B
It's harder to see that, though, if Tampa and Chicago bring back the same cast. Right.
C
It's harder for them. That's fair.
A
Yeah. And I. I think especially there, though, especially for Burden because, like, his supporting cast is young.
B
Right.
A
You know, Evans could just be kind of on his way out, but.
C
Right.
A
Like Loveland and Odunze, if they bring back dj, let's. Yeah, obviously they bring back DJ more. It's a problem. But if they don't, then I don't know that he has top 12 potential because he only had one end zone target. That's the other thing. I know that, you know, he didn't have that many targets to begin with, but this was not a guy they were looking for. In the red zone, in the green zone, in the end zone, Luther Burton. I don't know that he's going to profile that way either, so I don't know. A lot. A lot of. A lot of things to consider here and a lot of moving parts and a lot of. A lot of time before we're done with the show. We got a lot more to talk about. We got to take a break. So we'll be right back. We'll talk about Travis Hunter, Matthew Golden, Jaden Higgins, Jack Besh, and more after this. Avoiding your unfinished home projects because you're
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D
Heath Overdrafted? I think most likely Burden's probably most likely
B
Dave.
C
I think Burden's the easy answer.
B
Jamie Ebuka or Burden, depending on what personnel we see.
A
Okay, I'll ask you a question. I asked about the sophomore running backs. Are you concerned about any of these guys just being a complete bust? You know, not, not necessarily just in fantasy, but in the NFL. Who could be that complete bus?
D
Matthew Golden.
C
Yeah, Golden's Holden's a good answer.
B
Yeah,
C
I'm a little scared that McMillan could be that guy. Really? Yeah.
A
Interesting.
C
Just because of where he landed. And if that offense doesn't gravitate to throwing him the ball a ton, I think he just needs volume. For sure.
A
But you're. That would be like a Garrett Wilson kind of bust. Not, not a, I'm thinking worse than
C
Garrett Wilson kind of bus. But yeah, along those lines, I mean, you touched on it. He had the kind of year as a rookie that Garrett Wilson had as a rookie. And Garrett Wilson has shown flashes since the rookie year.
D
But he hasn't been a bust.
A
No, but he, he's been held back by his question.
C
And so that could be the same type of thing for Ted A. Roa is that he's just not in the right environment for him. Like, if he had gone to the Rams, holy moly, he'd be amazing right now. We'd be going crazy for him. But he's not. And I Don't know if he'll ever be. And it's, it's going to take Carolina really making an effort to get him to make him a big time focus of the passing game, which they didn't always do last year.
A
Well, as a wide receiver, I think I'm a little worried about Travis Hunter. Yes, right.
C
Oh, yeah, that's probably the right answer.
A
Also, Jaden Higgins. If we just look at guys who were taken in the first two rounds, round one was Hunter McMillan, Abuka Golden. Round two is Jaden Higgins, Luther Burden. Jaden Higgins was the 34th pick in the draft. That's pretty, pretty big. Capital. Luther Burden, Trey Harris and Jack Besh. So Higgins, Harris and Besh did very little as rookies. Are they worth drafting? Jamie Higgins, Jaden Higgins for Houston, Trey Harris for the Chargers, Jack Besh for the Raiders.
B
Absolutely. I mean, you know, you got a double digit rounds at best, you know, at least as of now. But you, you know, Higgins should be the number two receiver for Houston opposite Nico Collins. Best should be in a more prominent role for the Raiders, depending on what their receiving core looks like. And Trey Harris, assuming Keenan Allen's not brought back, you know, should step into the number three receiver role there for the Chargers, depending on what else they do from a personnel standpoint. But, you know, right now you're, you're finding a hard, consistent path to easy targets or consistent path, hard path to consistent targets. Whoever you want to phrase. I, I think the, the one that you can maybe be the most encouraged by, at least that's not for me, would be Higgins. Just because we saw some big play potential for him, he should, you know, get an opportunity to play a lot more. Especially they move on from Christian Kirk. So there's starting opportunity. There's, you know, still some, I think, decent pass volume there. I don't think C.J. stroud's a complete bust yet. Despite the rumors of them maybe trying to trade him. I don't think that's realistic. So if Stroud can get back to, you know, being a little bit better as a passer, get some more protection up front, I think there's a chance for Jade Higgins to, you know, be a borderline number three receiver. I don't think anybody's going to view these guys as, you know, top 24 caliber fantasy options.
A
He's, let's talk about, Sorry, excuse me. Let's talk about Travis Hunter and how you view his dynasty value.
D
He's a wide receiver three with immense upside and zero floor. And you really hope that Brian Thomas Jr gets traded this off season.
A
Yeah, it's hard to love Travis Hunter's prospects for 2026, but at some point I wonder if they're gonna make him a wide receiver again or how much of, you know, he, he was. He was emerging potentially as the number one guy. He had a huge game against the Rams in Europe and then got this
C
excited after that game to get him more involved in the offense. They really had designs on him being a huge part of their offense.
B
Right.
C
And he got hurt and so it came to fruition. So not only do you have to contend with how he does coming back from a serious injury, but also where do the Jaguars put him on the team? Is he going to be a cornerback all the time and a receiver? Some of the time? We didn't really have that same type of concern as a rookie because we thought that he'd play a lot as a wide receiver and he did and that was where he was going to go. But now everything's kind of changed for him and it just, it makes him. He said it best. Like there's really no way to feel good about him for fantasy purposes in 2026 because we don't know how much receiver he'll play.
A
Do you guys?
B
If they stand pat with Brian Thomas, it just makes so much more sense for their franchise to put him on defense. Yeah.
C
And they could always change back in 27 or 28.
A
Right.
C
Like they'll have that possibility if they want to.
B
I don't think he's ever leaving one side of the field permanently. So whatever he plays predominantly the other side, he'll still get snaps and get opportunities. It's a matter of like when you just look at it, with the trade for Jacobe Myers and the emergence of Parker Washington, they don't really need him offensively. Right. I think defensively they need him more because of what he can do for them on that side of the ball. So again, it's a matter of, you know, how they finalize their personnel. It just for our purposes. It's unfortunate because if he was a full time wide receiver, looking at that game, looking at what he was building toward and what we know he's capable of doing, like there's so much upside, but it's now a very crowded receiving core and if he's not going to be a full time player there, like when do you feel comfortable taking a chance on him? That's the toughest part. You have to make a, a call on for, for how we rank him and certainly when you draft him.
A
Any sleepers in this sophomore class?
B
There's a bunch. I mean, Trey Harris, I think, has got a huge opportunity and, you know, maybe not fully in 2026, but you could see, you know, a better offense in general, certainly with the, with tackles there. I'm really excited about Tory Horton's upside. You know, I think we saw, you know, he played eight games. He scored four touchdowns in those eight games before he got hurt. Rashid Shahid's a free agent. Cooper cup is 33 or B33 by the end of, you know, summer. You know, that's a, a great scenario. If he can be the number two receiver there opposite jsn, Kyle Williams could take a step forward for New England. You know, that's another guy that can make plays down the field with, you know, we keep saying, hey, go get, you know, Alec Pierce to trade for this guy and that guy, like, maybe Kyle Williams gets a, you know, bigger opportunity and he takes advantage of it. And then Jack Bash, I just, I, I like them coming into the NFL. I thought, you know, it was a good landing spot for, for him with the Raiders, it didn't materialize, but, you know, now you have a new offense, you have a, you know, hopefully a more creative play caller and opportunity. You know, we'll see what this receiving core looks like, but, you know, they're not going to be able to get everybody they want. They have to fix the offensive line. They have to probably find a number one receiver. You know, I don't think Jack Best profiles is that, but could he be number two on that team or maybe even number three behind Trey Tucker? I think there's a, there's a path to success for him as well. So I like to set up for, for Jack Bash, too.
A
Dave Heath, any snappers?
D
Oh, I mean, he gave 17 of them. I'd say Trey Harris is my favorite.
C
I'm not, I'm not ready to give up on Matthew golden, and I especially like the idea of taking Matthew golden at a lower round this year than last year. I still love the traits. He's fast, he can, he can certainly move and make guys miss in his routes. And Jordan Love, we've seen him throw deep and throw well when he's had the opportunity to do so. That receiving core needs to thin out. And so if Romeo Dobbs leaves, maybe some other changes happen. Matthew golden gets an opportunity to step up and get more work. I know we're going to be scared to trust any Denver wide receiver, but Pat Bryant offers them a little bit something different given his size and he's got good hands and another guy that you can take with a late round pick. And we've already talked once on this show and we might talk every show for at least five seconds about how Cleveland is a mess this offseason. I'm not sure how much they're going to add to their receiver room given how much help they need on other parts of the team. Isaiah Bond is someone that can win downfield and have some speed. To him. This is last round pick material. He's in the same range as a bunch of other second year receivers. But if he ends up getting a lot of playing time next year, yeah, maybe he's somebody that ends up rounding out your roster and delivers a couple of decent games because we figure Cleveland's going to have to throw a lot in their games.
A
Anyone left for you? Heath?
B
Just.
A
You said. Oh, you said Trey Harris.
B
Sorry, I already.
D
Yeah.
C
Are we ready to write off both of the Titans receivers? I. I imagine Tennessee is going to add at least one. They're going to make one splash at wide receiver to try and help Cam Ward out.
D
They're both sleepers. Yeah. I mean they're going to be behind Wanda Robinson, but
A
well, dk. DK had I think one of the highest slot percentages in the NFL last year. So if they had a slot receiver, that's bad news for Chimeri DK IO Manor. I, I really wasn't really super impressed with him, but yeah. Is DK clearly ahead of aisle Manor for you guys?
B
Yes.
D
I had them both very, very close. I had DK1 spot ahead.
C
I've got DK spot ahead.
D
Okay.
A
Did we mention Romeo Dobbs, a free agent, right?
B
Yes.
A
All right, so you've got an opportunity there for Golden. What we really need to see is
B
not ready for the start of the season.
A
No one in the last four seasons for the packers has had even 900 receiving yards. Now part of that is injury that the last time they had a thousand yard receiver was Devonte Adams. After that, after he left, he had one more year with Aaron Rodgers and then he had three with Jordan Love. We have not had a 900 yard receiver yet for the Packers. They've been so run heavy the last two years. They can get away from that. I, I think they've been bottom five and pass rate each of the last two years. They can get away from that. That could help Matthew Golden. I looked at his go route percentage. 20% of his routes are go routes. It's not that high. It's it's high, but it's, it's the same as a Cortland side. It's not. This guy can't be a consistent receiver because all he's doing is running downfield. It wasn't that. That wasn't the situation at all. All right, let's go through the NFL draft then and cover any bases that we missed. So again, the first round was Travis Hunter. This is the 2025 NFL Draft. Travis Hunter, General McMillan, a Mecca, Buca and Matthew Golden. The second round was Jaden Higgins, Luther Burden, Trey Harris and Jack Besh. And then the third round, Kyle Williams, Isaac Tesla. I mean, at least you could say that guy's been productive when he's been on the field. I don't know if he'll get on the field more, but Kyle Williams, Tesla, Pat Bryant, Jalen Knoll for Houston and Savion Williams for Green Bay and Ty Felton for Minnesota. Anyone there? Kyle, Kyle Williams, Isaac Tesla, Pat Bryant, Jalen Noel, Savion Williams, Ty Felton.
C
So I'd love to see Tesla get the opportunity because we've seen him just look amazing when it comes to end zone targets and being a factor there. But I don't know how that's going to come in an offense that's got St. Brown and Jameson Williams locked into long term contracts. Laporte is there long term. They're all expected back healthy for this season, so it's tough with Tesla. Jalen Noel is interesting because if the Texans move on from Christian Kirk, he's their slot receiver, there could be matchups where we will like Jalen Noel because the opponent is bad against the slot or they've got a slow nickel, something like that. And it leads to Noel getting some opportunities to catch. 5 passes per game, 6 passes per game and
B
good.
C
I just, I don't know. He, he would be in that late round mix of receivers that we would take for the bench and see what happens through the first few weeks of the season. But he is talented.
D
I do like Higgins and Noel. I. I wonder if Christian Kirk's the only thing standing in their way though, because I do think that they expect Tank Dell to play football this year.
C
Right.
A
He's.
D
He's expected to be pretty close to fully healthy after a year and a half removed from his major injury. So I think. I'm not sure those guys are necessarily ahead of Tank Dell in the pecking order.
A
All right, let's go to round four. Chimary dk, Dante Thornton for the Raiders, Arian Smith for the Jets Jalen Lane for Washington, Jalen Royals for Kansas City, Alec Aisle Manor for the Titans. They drafted two wide receivers around four and Jordan Watkins for San Francisco. Chimary, dk, Dante Thornton, Arian Smith, Jalen Lane, Jalen Royals, Ellick Eilmanor and Jordan Watkins.
B
Thornton's interesting again just with the Raider situation, but he's got to get on the field. He's just.
D
All of these guys are like that you love. Maybe their team doesn't add any wide receivers and then they get a better chance.
B
Right.
C
That's the Niners.
D
With most of these guys we expect them to add wide receivers.
B
Right.
A
Round five was Keandre Lambert Smith for the Chargers, Tori Horton, Lejante Wester for Baltimore, Jimmy Horn for Carolina and. Oh, sorry, that was rounds five and six. Round seven was Tess Johnson for Tampa Bay, Ricky White for Seattle, Kaden Prather for Buffalo, Kanata Mumfield for the Rams, Dominic Lovett for Detroit and Junior Bergen for the Niners. All right, I don't think we're going to get much there.
D
Glad you read those names.
A
Tori Horton is one that we talked about earlier.
D
Yeah, yeah.
C
Lambert Smith in deeper leagues maybe.
A
Do you think there's a scenario where Chris Godwin and Mike Evans are both gone from the Bucks?
D
No, I don't really.
B
But if they were, then I think
C
Godwin's contract is too prohibitive.
A
Yeah, Tez. I was getting at that. Tez would maybe be interesting in that scenario. Teams, you know, I think I forgot to put these in the notes. I think I have an email to read. Isn't that exciting?
B
It is very.
A
Okay, here's a question from Nick. He says we're done with the sophomore wide receivers. By the way, onto the emails. Fantasy Football. CBSI.com if you want to send in your emails. Fantasy football. That's the letter I. If Tyree Kill signs with Kansas City, how much does Rasheed Rice drop, if at all?
B
Not much for me.
C
Yeah, not much.
D
She Rice's future is. Is far more determined by things that have to do with him.
C
Okay, that's a good way to put it.
A
Okay. Will the Bears be this year's Cowboys and Bengals high potent offense that you just want pieces of?
B
Yes.
C
Yeah, they're on that list for sure.
A
But the difference is the Bengals and the Cowboys defensively.
C
Right.
A
At least struggle? I don't know.
C
And I would expect Chicago's all of like all their off season acquisitions to be defensive focused. So there's a chance that defense gets significantly better and that would hurt. But until that happens. There's a lot to like about the.
B
There's. I mean, there's. You know, Detroit's a very similar team, too. You know, like, you want pieces of that offense.
A
Yeah. But again, that's a team where their defensive splits really determine their pass attempts each of the last.
B
Well, I mean, I. I guess the question would be. Is like, you're going into a draft right now. You're going to draft a lot of players from the Bears. You're going to draft a lot of players from the Lions. You're obviously drafting players from the Cowboys and the Bengals.
A
You're drafting. So you're drafting at least two, if not three, Cowboys and Bengals, if not four Bengals.
B
In the first.
A
Hold on, I'm not done with my sentence. You're drafting at least.
D
Long sentence.
A
At least two, if not three, Cowboys and Bengals, if not four Bengals before your first Bear.
B
Yeah. Yeah.
D
I think that's the biggest difference is that the certainty in roles in Dallas and Cincinnati are a little better than what we have in Chicago right now.
A
Yeah.
D
Those teams don't have even splits at running back. Those teams don't have as big of questions about the target distribution of wide receiver.
B
Depending on who you're drafting with and what kind of format you're in, I would say you're only getting three Bengals and three Cowboys.
A
Two Cowboys before your first Bear.
B
Yeah. You're going to draft DeAndre Swift before the quarterbacks.
A
Oh, I mean, I don't. I think Burrow will have a higher ADP than Swift.
B
Oh, I don't disagree with that. That's what I said. It depends on who you're drafting with in the format. Like, you think.
A
You think Swift will be the first Bear off the board?
D
I think it'd be lovely.
B
Yeah. Yeah.
A
Right. And the other teams don't have the tight end that with the big role either. Yeah. So Javante, you taking Javante or. Or Swift
B
right now? Javante slightly.
D
And my projections, I have Swift just ahead of Javante.
A
I didn't get to give this stat because I wasn't on the Monday show, but Javante Williams just had the least efficient receiving season for a running back with 30 or more targets in at least 15 years, measured by. Hell, yards per target and yards per catch. It was so bad.
B
So we have 35 catches on 51 targets.
A
I don't know what it was, but his yards per catch. Yards per target were so bad and can't be that bad again. It has to improve. It's actually. I think it's actually a good sign for Javante because you cannot be that bad in the passing game.
B
It fell apart in the second half because the first half season he was, I think it was 24 targets in the first eight games, 24 catches in the first eight games on 36 targets. I think it was.
C
Yeah, he's better in the first half overall.
A
He stopped getting targeted big time. Maybe there's a reason for that. Okay, thank you to Heath and Jamie and Dave. Thank you to all of you for watching and listening. Hope you have a wonderful weekend. We will talk to you on Monday as we talk about the Sophomore Tight ends. That's gonna be. That's gonna be a good show. Our most exciting Sophomore Tight ends episode episode ever. Perhaps. Looking forward to that. All right, take care everybody. Talk to you soon. Paramount Podcasts two Good and Co Coffee Creamers are made with farm fresh cream, real milk and contain 3 grams of sugar per serving. That's 40% less than the 5 grams per serving in leading traditional coffee creamers for a rich, delicious experience. Whether you enjoy your coffee hot, cold, bold or frothy, two good coffee creamers make every sip a good one. Two good coffee creamers, real goodness in every sip. Find them at your local Kroger in the creamer aisle.
Date: February 26, 2026
Host & Analysts: Adam Aizer, Dave Richard, Jamey Eisenberg, Heath Cummings
This episode zeroes in on the promising but volatile 2025 “sophomore” wide receiver class for Fantasy Football. Adam, Dave, Jamey, and Heath debate the upside and risky floors of second-year wideouts, break down stats and trends from rookie seasons, and forecast outlooks for 2026. The conversation also spans team situations, depth chart concerns, and notable sleepers, culminating with advice for draft strategy and dynasty moves.
[03:24] Adam: Challenges the crew to sophomore WR trivia—a fun way to highlight standouts from the rookie class.
Most Targets:
Highest Targets per Route Run:
Drop Issues:
End Zone Target Oddity:
[07:23]
[12:37]
Quote:
“If Baker’s back to being an elite quarterback next year and Mike Evans is somewhere else, then Abuka absolutely has the chance to be better than Tedaro McMillan and maybe even be a top-12 wide receiver.” - Heath (27:39)
[40:20]
[52:05]
Bottom Line:
The 2025 WR class brings tons of excitement but no certainty. Clear outliers like McMillan, Abuka, and Burden can anchor your WR corps—if the situation falls right. Stay glued to role and personnel news, draft for upside, but diversify to avoid big risk exposure in this boom/bust sophomore crop.