Fantasy Football 2017 - WR Rankings Pt. 2 + BIG Zeke News

Summary

Fantasy Footballers Podcast Summary
Episode: Fantasy Football 2017 - WR Rankings Pt. 2 + BIG Zeke News
Release Date: August 11, 2017

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Introduction

The Fantasy Footballers kick off the episode with their characteristic blend of enthusiasm and expertise. Hosts Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike "The Fantasy Hitman" Wright welcome both new and returning listeners, emphasizing their mission to help fantasy football enthusiasts dominate their leagues with astute analysis and strategic insights.

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Wide Receiver Rankings Part 2

The core of the episode delves into the second part of the wide receiver (WR) rankings for the 2017 fantasy football season. Building upon Part 1, where the top 10 WRs were discussed, the trio extends their analysis to rank additional receivers, offering listeners comprehensive guidance for their drafts.

Key Discussions:

1. Impact of Starting Three WRs Instead of Two:

   • Jason Moore highlights, "Having to start three wide receivers changes your bench strategy significantly. It's crucial to prioritize depth and quality over just having top-tier starters" (05:23).
   • Mike Wright concurs, emphasizing the increased value of WRs in PPR (Points Per Reception) leagues, stating, "You need a high-powered WR corps to maximize weekly points, especially if you're playing four wide receivers" (06:57).

2. Doug Baldwin (#11 Ranking):

   • Andy Holloway notes Baldwin's potential disappointment due to his current average draft position but acknowledges his past performance: "Last season, he was a wide receiver one with five top-seven scoring weeks" (12:32).
   • Jason Moore praises Baldwin's talent and rapport with Russell Wilson, though he expresses concerns about Baldwin not being a primary WR: "I believe he has a ceiling for a career year, but he's not someone you'd want as your only WR" (13:21).

3. Demaryius Thomas (#12 Ranking):

   • Andy Holloway points out Thomas's consistent reception numbers but notes his lack of yardage on receptions: "He only gained 20+ yards on 10 of his 90 receptions, ranking 35th among WRs" (16:26).
   • Jason Moore remains optimistic about Thomas's floor and potential ceiling, citing improvements in the Broncos' offensive line and quarterback play: "His floor is solid, and with Trevor Siemian as QB, his ceiling could rise" (17:18).

4. Sammy Watkins (#13 Ranking):

   • Andy Holloway and Jason Moore discuss Watkins's injury history versus his explosive potential: "Sammy has the ability to deliver big plays consistently when healthy, making him a valuable pick in the mid-rounds" (20:38).
   • Mike Wright adds, "He's a touchdown threat similar to DEZ Bryant, offering high efficiency and big-play potential" (21:17).

5. Terrell Pryor (#15 Ranking):

   • Andy Holloway appreciates Pryor's role in Washington's offense, especially with a solid rapport with Kirk Cousins: "If healthy, Pryor can be a difference-maker in the red zone, making him a top 10 WR for me" (28:47).
   • Jason Moore balances enthusiasm with realism, stating, "While Pryor is talented, his production needs to align with his stats-based evaluation. I see him around WR20 rather than top 10" (33:07).

6. Michael Crabtree (#16 Ranking) & Allen Robinson:

   • Andy Holloway praises Crabtree's consistent target share and red zone opportunities with Derek Carr: "Crabtree's reliability in Washington's offense makes him a strong WR2 option" (40:41).
   • Jason Moore underscores Crabtree's safe floor and efficient target utilization: "With Carr throwing to him in the red zone, Crabtree is a dependable pick even if not a top-tier WR" (43:07).

7. DeAndre Hopkins (#18 Ranking) & Brandon Cooks (#17 Ranking):

   • Andy Holloway and Mike Wright express caution about Hopkins's potential lack of volume despite his talent: "Hopkins needs sufficient targets to remain fantasy relevant, which might be challenging in a run-heavy offense" (46:19).
   • Jason Moore moves up Brandon Cooks in his rankings due to his strong rapport with Tom Brady, despite concerns about inconsistency: "Cooks has the potential to be a top 10 WR with Brady leading the offense, making him a valuable Mid-round pick" (47:31).

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Big Zeke News

A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to the latest news regarding Ezekiel Elliott (Zeke):

• Zeke's Suspension Appeal:
  • Jason Moore shares breaking news, "Adam Schefter reports that Cowboys RB Ezekiel Elliott is expected to appeal his six-game suspension. He has three days to appeal" (29:21).
  • Mike Wright anticipates potential outcomes: "A six-game suspension is severe, but if appealed successfully, it could be reduced. However, expect him to miss at least four games" (30:12).
  • Andy Holloway advises fantasy managers to treat Zeke as unavailable until more clarity is provided: "Given his bye week in week six, most won't see him until week eight, so adjust your draft strategy accordingly" (61:10).

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Best Ball Segment

Transitioning from WR rankings, the hosts discuss best ball strategies, offering actionable tips for listeners participating in best ball leagues:

• Roster Construction for Best Ball:

  • Jason Moore emphasizes the importance of a balanced roster with ample WRs: "In best ball, prioritize drafting at least six WRs to maximize weekly starting lineups, especially in 4-WR PPR formats" (58:23).
  • Andy Holloway and Mike Wright reinforce the strategy of waiting on QB and TE positions to focus on WR depth: "Concentrate on securing stellar WR talent early, as QBs and TEs can be grabbed in the later rounds" (58:23).

• Play Draft Promotion:

  • The hosts promote Play Draft as the ideal platform for best ball, highlighting its user-friendly interface and opportunity to win cash prizes: "PlayDraft.com is where you want to play best ball. Join using our code 'ballers' for a free entry and a chance to win prizes" (57:49).

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Final Thoughts and Upcoming Episodes

As the episode wraps up, the hosts preview upcoming content:

• Mock Draft Announcement: Scheduled for Monday, providing listeners with a simulated draft experience.
• Preseason Thoughts: A detailed analysis of Week 1 performances and player evaluations.
• Zeke Updates: Ongoing coverage of Ezekiel Elliott's suspension status and its implications for fantasy managers.

Andy Holloway concludes with a reminder to stay engaged with the Fantasy Footballers community: "Subscribe to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast, join our community at jointhefoot.com, and follow us on Twitter @theffballers for all the latest updates and insights" (61:12).

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Notable Quotes

• Jason Moore on WR Bench Strategy: "The real key is your bench. More running backs over WRs in standard leagues, but with three WR starts, prioritize WR depth" (05:24).
• Andy Holloway on Doug Baldwin: "Doug is not a prototypical WR1, but in fantasy, he's a perfect complement to a team with his explosive weeks" (12:32).
• Mike Wright on Sammy Watkins: "Sammy is a touchdown guy, similar to DEZ Bryant. His big play potential makes him a top-tier mid-round pick" (21:17).
• Andy Holloway on Terrell Pryor: "Pryor's role in Washington's offense and his red zone capabilities make him a top 10 WR for me" (28:47).
• Jason Moore on Best Ball Roster: "Ensure you have at least six WRs to maximize weekly lineups in best ball leagues, especially in PPR formats" (58:23).

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Conclusion

This episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast provides listeners with an in-depth analysis of wide receiver rankings, crucial updates on Ezekiel Elliott's suspension, and strategic best ball tips. The hosts blend their expert opinions with actionable advice, ensuring fantasy managers are well-equipped for the upcoming season. Stay tuned for their upcoming segments, including mock drafts and preseason evaluations, to stay ahead in your fantasy football endeavors.

Transcript

[Andy Holloway]

Hey, Foot Clan, Great show for you today. We're going through more of the wide receiver rankings. Before we do that, I want to tell you about the Secret to Victory podcast. It's a new podcast from Gatorade and Gimlet Creative about how the best athletes in the world use defeat to fuel a win. This week, you'll hear from J.J. watt himself on how he worked his way from college. Walk on to NFL Defensive Player of the Year. Visit Gatorade.com podcast to listen now or subscribe wherever you get your podcast. Hi, this is Eric Dickinson, NFL hall of Famer, and you're listening to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast.

[Jason Moore]

Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast coming to you from the Play Draft Studios with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright.

[Andy Holloway]

Ah, welcome in. Come on in. Come on in.

[Jason Moore]

Have a seat.

[Andy Holloway]

Have a seat.

[Mike Wright]

Continue to drive.

[Andy Holloway]

Wait, yeah. I mean, most people are sitting while they drive. Well, I mean, after that Segway Craze.

[Mike Wright]

Went away, You've never done the stand standing drive?

[Jason Moore]

Nope.

[Mike Wright]

It's wild. Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Welcome in to the podcast, the Fantasy Footballers. It's not safe, but Andy, Mike, and Jason, once again, here, if you are joining us for the first time, extra special, welcome to you. Welcome to the podcast. Welcome to the Foot Clan. Welcome to our world of fantasy football. We're here every day of the week, and this podcast is all about equipping you to dominate your fantasy football league.

[Mike Wright]

I really want to sing Willy Wonka there.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, when I was welcoming them.

[Mike Wright]

Yes. I held it back, though. Maybe I'll debut that.

[Andy Holloway]

There are some parallels there. It's going to be a great show today. Have a good quick question. We'll touch on a little bit of news, and then we'll get right into part two of our wide receiver ranking episode. If you missed part one yesterday, we went through the top 10 wide receivers on our rankings. Getting you ready for your fantasy league, equipping you, helping you make better decisions for your draft day. That's what this show is all about. We want you to have a great league. We want you to dominate that league, and we want you to have fun from week one through week what, 17. And even beyond.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Because we're here all year long.

[Mike Wright]

Well, we. We would Prefer that Week 17, you're celebrating your hashtag Foot Clan title and not playing your championship week. But if you're playing, then, we're here for you then, too.

[Andy Holloway]

You know what you can do in week 17? You could walk into your man cave and you can glance at your autographed David Johnson helmet.

[Mike Wright]

One of you could.

[Andy Holloway]

One of you can because we are giving away an autographed full size David Johnson helmet. We love giving stuff away to the Foot Clan. This is an amazing piece. If you go on Twitter, you'll see Jason holding it up like a cherished.

[Mike Wright]

He's holding it up like Simba.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. On Pride Rock.

[Jason Moore]

Exactly what was in my mind. Thank you, Mike. You. You nailed it.

[Andy Holloway]

And it's free to enter. Go to foot clangiveaway.com now one of the ways you can enter that giveaway, so there's a bunch of different ways you can get extra entries to win the autographed David Johnson helmet. One of the ways you can do that is to leave a review for a brand new podcast. We have the Fantasy Footballers have a brand new podcast now every Friday. Last year, if you were with us, you remember we had Chris Meaney from the Fantasy Sports Network. Come on. We did like a five minute segment on Fridays all about DFS for daily fantasy sports fanduel play draft draftkings to talk about some strategy. Now we know not everybody's a DFS player, but we. So we didn't want to, you know, make Fridays all about DFS or anything like that. So we came out with a once a week podcast. Now Mike is hosting it. Chris Meaney is on it. Ben Cummins is on it, one of our great writers. The show is already out. You can go find it on itunes. We'd love your itunes reviews for that show and it's going to be once a week. And look, I'm telling you, I wanted to be the one to announce this because I am on the outside looking in on this one a little bit. Mike is hosting this show and I want to tell you this is high quality stuff. This is about making DFS accessible. Whether you are a first time player or whether you are an experienced DFS player, there is something exciting about the tips and insights that these guys bring in only the fantasy footballers kind of way. This is DFS for the rest of us.

[Mike Wright]

That's exactly right. Where we bring you the information on this show. We're talking your season long, your redraft leagues in a way that it's for everyone to hear.

[Andy Holloway]

Right?

[Mike Wright]

And that's exactly what we're trying to do with the daily fantasy podcast, the Fantasy Footballers DFS podcast. Because honestly, the world of DFS can be very intimidating, can be very confusing because there's a. There's a lot of different factors that need to be thought of and strategies. So we're breaking it down over there on the, on the dfs.

[Andy Holloway]

So if you're a DFS player and you want to check that out every week, that's going to come out a brand new episode with Mike if you've never played. Yep, exactly. So just type in fantasy footballers, DFS or fantasy footballers on your, on the iTunes store. It's on Google Play as well. And you can subscribe and listen to that if you like. All right, quick question of the day, guys. Does having to start three wide receivers instead of the standard two change your draft strategy?

[Jason Moore]

It doesn't matter.

[Andy Holloway]

Does it change your bench strategy?

[Jason Moore]

I think that is the real key is your bench. We've spoke a lot about the fact that in normal home leagues, redraft leagues, you want to have, you know, more running backs or at least as many running backs as you do wide receivers.

[Mike Wright]

More lotto tickets.

[Jason Moore]

Yes, exactly. You know, when you leave your draft. But if you are starting three wide receivers and only two running backs as far as necessary starts regardless of your, of your flex, if you have to start three, then it does change how deep your your wide receivers need to be. And also when you're, when you're in those, you know, middle earlier rounds, you got to think to yourself playing matchups is going to really matter. You will start more than likely if you're in any kind of PPR and have a flex four wide receivers a week. So that means you have to have quality depth and not just, you know, meandering Alan Hearns in their starting. So in those leagues it's all the more reason to draft your quarterback and your tight end very, very late just to make sure that your, that those rosters the, you know, when you can, when your opponent doesn't have the ability to play matchups, you don't win your championship at the draft. You win it making the right start sit decisions. And you can't make the right start sit decisions if you don't have the options on your, on your roster. So I think it makes a big.

[Mike Wright]

Difference and scoring format is huge for this. If you're playing in a PPR three wide receivers and there's a flex spot, I mean you're talking that wide receivers are more valuable than running backs where if I'm in a PPR3 wide, of course I'm still taking David Johnson, Levy on Bell first and Zeke which maybe with the news on the Zeke suspension is supposed to come soon, we still don't have it. But after that, I mean you can start. You need to have these wide receivers you need to have. You need to have a high power arsenal in the wide receiver crew and I'm going to start skewing that way, especially now if it's ppr. I'm going to be playing four wide receivers, so you have to take that into account as well.

[Andy Holloway]

I don't really have anything else to add. You guys, you guys hit that one right on the head. So I'm not going to have a. We're going to jump back into the rankings. A couple things I want to mention first, we're not going to do a full news and some of you might be saying, well, where. Where's your preseason reaction? And I what we're going to do is we're going to kind of hold that until all the preseason games are over and we're going to give you Our Full Week 1 thoughts on Monday and some of the things that we're going to focus on and some things I want to remind people about in the preseason. Stats are not the most important thing in the preseason. In fact, they're one of the least important things. Limited reps, you're in with the different defenses, you're in with different personnel groupings. What do we watch for? We'll talk a lot about it on Monday. We'll talk about what we saw this past weekend and what we're watching for. Don't necessarily overreact to everything you see, but we're going to kind of filter the information and the things that have happened. And remember week two, week three, those are the times when you see a lot more reps from the starters, a lot more things that you can kind of look at and say, okay, they might be, you know, Jason said he wanted to see what the Tennessee wide receiver corps is going to look like, what the personnel groupings are going to look like. It's going to be a lot easier to see when the starters are out there for a quarter or two, maybe three quarters even in week three. And he can make more of a judgment call based on that. So I'm excited to get into all of that. Jason, or I'm sorry, Mike just brought up Ezekiel Elliott. That's the one piece of news worth mentioning. More reports coming out. Basically nothing official saying he is suspended, but it's just looking stronger, like it's a guarantee that he will get some sort of suspension. And that's why he's down in my ranks already, is because I just, I took the side of, okay, he's going to get suspended. Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

And you know, you all right there my Thoughts?

[Mike Wright]

A little froggy today.

[Jason Moore]

Jane Slater from the NFL Network is saying it's. It looks like it's. They're expecting it to be closer to the six games than the one or two. So we will be monitoring. I would not be surprised if this doesn't break while we're on this show. I think today's going to be the day.

[Mike Wright]

I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't break till next year, too. I mean, the way that the NFL is handling this. Are we about to jump into wide receivers?

[Andy Holloway]

You bet we are.

[Mike Wright]

Because we cannot move to the wide receivers until I announce this.

[Andy Holloway]

The beard's coming off.

[Mike Wright]

No.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, sorry.

[Mike Wright]

Ballerslive.com the show, the live show, the live podcast that we are putting on. We're taking the podcast out of, out of the studio. We're taking it to the stage. We're going to be mingling, mixing it up with Foot Clan. Ballerslive.com the tickets are. If you're hearing this, that means the tickets are on sale officially. The show is on Labor Day, September 4th. It's a Monday night. It's going to be just.

[Andy Holloway]

You should probably mention it's in Phoenix, Arizona.

[Mike Wright]

It's in Phoenix, Arizona. I'm getting there. I'm just so excited about this. Mike is really, I really, really, really hope you can be there. Tickets will be limited, so if you want in. Ballerslive.com what I can tell you is.

[Andy Holloway]

This is Mike's baby. Like, Mike has wanted to do this for a long time. I think we've all wanted to have a meet and greet and do that, but Mike has been wanting this the most. And I can promise you he's going to make it fun. That's. Yes, because of the excitement he has for this event. It's going to be a lot of fun. We're going to spend as much time as possible with everybody and pictures and hugs for everyone. There you go. Ballerslive.com youm can grab them now.

[Jason Moore]

Wide receivers.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, to see the future. How nice would that be for our wide receiver rankings?

[Mike Wright]

I would be infinitely wealthy, my friend.

[Andy Holloway]

I was on a podcast yesterday, I'd be Biff Tannin. And somebody asked me about, look, every year you have a certain amount of players in those first three rounds that just plain disappoint, to put it the best and pure busts, to put it otherwise. I mean, you know, DeAndre Hopkins is a great example of that. And they, they asked me who I thought might disappoint players. Uh, oh, and I actually went with number 11 on our list as a possibility. And a lot of that just has to do with his average draft position right now. But Doug Baldwin comes in at number 11 on our wide receiver rankings. And no disrespect to Doug Baldwin the player. I think he's just one of those absolutely great, just a perfect complement to a team. Probably not what you would consider a prototypical wide receiver one in the NFL, but certainly in fantasy has performed like it before. Last week he had five separate weeks. Last week. I'm sorry, last. Last season he had five separate weeks where he was inside the top seven on that week's fantasy scoring. So he can deliver the boom.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

But the bright is going in the back of the second round in PPR.

[Mike Wright]

Leagues and I don't get in the respect.

[Andy Holloway]

I know we waited for it for years, but now I'm. Now I'm. I'm a little uncomfortable now that we've.

[Mike Wright]

Now that we're finally respecting him. You're not respecting him.

[Andy Holloway]

You're right. The headline, it's like the pendulum is swung. The headline thing for me though last year was that despite finishing the season as the 10th best fantasy wide receiver, which here let's. Congratulations to Baldwin. 31% of the time he was a wide receiver. One or two. That's not a good number.

[Mike Wright]

That's really bad.

[Andy Holloway]

So I say all that. He's 13 on my list. That's. That's respect. That's not a one. I'm not giving him the one respect. But number 11 on our list. What do you guys think about Doug Baldwin?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I mean, he gets this because he's not, you know, a super flashy player and he, he ends the year with a good amount of receptions. He gets the incorrect, you know, idea that he's consistent. He's a very inconsistent receiver. Over the last few years, he's put his touchdowns together in the same games, you know, so often where he'll. When he, when he hits, he's on fire and that's why he goes up those rankings. I do have hope that he has a true. Like his best year still could be this year. It would make sense because of what we saw last year from the health of Russell Wilson in the first half. So if he comes out this year and has a career year and is unbelievably great, I'm not going to be shocked. I've always, of the three of us, been the biggest believer in Doug Baldwin. I think he is a really talented wide receiver and his rapport With Russell Wilson is as good as any connection in the league. But I do worry about. I would never want Doug Baldwin ever to be my wide receiver. One on a team. That's where I was. People ask the question all the time, like, what running back are you? Like, what's the last running back you're most comfortable with as you're one. Doug Baldwin is not in the equation for me, for the wide receiver, for my wide receiver. One that I just. Yeah, I don't think you're going to win that way.

[Andy Holloway]

I think we're going to get a lot of pushback on Baldwin because when we did our. Our last mock draft, I think we passed on him and a lot of the response was, how in the world did you not take Baldwin there? We've. I've seen Baldwin go ahead of Des in a lot of drafts. What? And.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, come on.

[Andy Holloway]

But look, I want to take the time to say the good. I mean, 94 receptions we had that. Remember yesterday we talked about Michael Thomas and that catch percentage. Baldwin's right with him. He's 75%. I mean, he's incredible when it comes to Russell Wilson gets out of the pocket, he finds his guy. I'm very enthusiastic, though, about Paul Richardson making a contribution about Jimmy Graham and about pro size. Like those guys can all contribute in the passing game. So I'm with Jason. You took the words out of my mouth, apparently out of j. Out of Mike's mouth. If he's my 2, I'm. I'm just super excited. I love him as my 2.

[Mike Wright]

So the way that a draft would have. Would fall. Let's say you're number two overall. You got Le'Veon Bell on your way back, you grab another running back. So you're saying you would not be looking to take Doug Baldwin on that short turn?

[Jason Moore]

At that point?

[Andy Holloway]

Probably.

[Jason Moore]

No. Yeah. At that point, if I'm looking for my one, I would rather have, like, Sammy Watkins or even demarius Thomas.

[Mike Wright]

So you would reach for Watkins in that.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. And that's a good example of, you know, sometimes when you look at just rankings and you say, you know, you don't always draft exactly according to ranking because of roster construction. And those things matter. I'm looking for someone that is, you know, a consistent one.

[Andy Holloway]

Let's talk about Demaryius Thomas. He's number 12 on our rankings. One of the more interesting things about Thomas is He's, you know, 90 receptions last year. He's always been consistent when it comes to being on the field, having a High reception total. It's been a while since he's had those double digit touchdown numbers. Here's something that is interesting to me. He only gained 20 or more yards on 10 of those 90 receptions. That's really low. That's 35th out of 39 qualifying wide receivers. That's 11% of the time. So Demarius was reliable, but Demaryius wasn't flashy the way he has been in the past. So, Jason, you said you'd take him over Baldwin to be your one. What are some of the things to look for from demarius Thomas this year as he comes in as the last of our wide receiver ones here in the rankings?

[Jason Moore]

Well, you've got a situation where first off, Demarious Thomas has been, you know, he's the longest running, you know, receiver right now with over 1000 yards. Five straight years in consecutive seasons. So he always gets barely, he barely.

[Mike Wright]

Got over this year.

[Jason Moore]

But last year he had Trevor Simeon as a first year, you know, teammate. And this year coming in, I think it will be clear by the end of the preseason that Trevor Simeon will be the quarterback. That's kind of my projection for the Broncos and I think going into year two, the offensive line being improved this season. I believe what you saw last year from demarius Thomas was his floor and nobody was, you know, Demarious Thomas wasn't exciting last year. Nobody feels like, you know, they put, you know, dt, put him on their back and took him to a championship. But if that's his floor and I know his ceiling is much higher, we've seen it forever with him. I believe that's just the type of player I look for as my one.

[Andy Holloway]

You know, Simeon is Alex Smith. He might be a lot like Alex Smith for fantasy production. It's kind of crazy because if you look at the other guys that are that low in the 20 plus yards receiving, you know, catch percentage, it's Beasley, Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Bolden. All three of those. You expect to be in the dink and dunk universe and suddenly look, I said it. He's a, he's like a tall Jarvis Landry right now. That's the way Demarys Thomas is coming across to me. Like I'm the way I used to think about putting Jarvis in my lineup is the way I think about putting demarius in my lineup. It's nice that he can make an impact in the red zone and surprise you with touchdowns.

[Mike Wright]

He's like a seatbelt. I mean, you gotta, you should put Your seatbelt on. And you should draft Demarius Thomas because he's safe. And while 144 targets, I mean, I think that last season may have been his floor, but I think it's pretty close to his ceiling. Demarius Thomas is one of the hardest guys to evaluate because you look at his history and what he has done. But then you have to realize he did that with Peyton Manning, who was putting up historic touchdown numbers, except for of course Peyton Manning's last year. And I'm with Jason, I think that Trevor Simeon is the quarterback, but Demaryius Thomas is very safe. To me, I think that he is. He has a 90 plus reception, the thousand plus yards. But those touchdowns with that team wanting to be a run first team, we'll see if they can do it with Anderson and the crew. But I think that the touchdowns are just going to be in that 5 to 7 range for Thomas, which is. That won't be high level one numbers, but it's going to be a nice wide receiver too.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, let's, let's talk about Sammy Watkins. Sammy Watkins had a very good game last night. However you want to look at it, he was the go to guy for Tyrod Taylor. I believe he had caught four or five passes last night, looked good on the field. And I think he might be the first guy in this wide receiver ranking show that we kind of, you know, maybe debate a little bit more because he's across the board in our ranks. He's 13 here on our consensus. But that's because of Jason. Jason's got him at 11, I have him at 16. Mike, you have him at 21.

[Mike Wright]

I have him too low.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay.

[Mike Wright]

I have him too low.

[Jason Moore]

And right now his average draft position, he's the 15th wide receiver off the board. So consensus higher. We're higher than, you know, what, what people usually see in Sammy and I am.

[Andy Holloway]

And if Mike, if Mike moves him up, he's going to move up possibly even more in our ranks. The thing about Sammy Watkins is you kind of have to make a decision as a, as an analyst and how you rank players. When do you start bumping up a guy because you have more confidence in his health? Because the payoff for Sammy Watkins could be incredible.

[Mike Wright]

It could be a guy, top five potential.

[Andy Holloway]

Right? Right. And he's always been a player that can get separation pretty much whenever he wants it. He also is a guy that, it's like there's a magnet when he goes deep and Tyrod throws that ball up. Tyrod throws A good deep ball. So even if you don't have, you know, 90 or 100 receptions, you have big play capabilities. With a guy like Sammy Watkins, number 13, that feels about right with big.

[Mike Wright]

Time upside, it's like DEZ Bryant. I mean it's, that's what you're getting with Sammy Watkins. It's. You're not expecting a high volume of receptions. It's efficient targets, it's big plays and it's touchdowns. And Sammy Watkins was one of the guys that I've been waiting to go all in on. You often will see a discrepancy in our rankings where Jason's got the full confidence in Sammy Watkins. Already my mind has been growing, you know, as the reports are still positive about him, seeing him actually get out there, seeing him get targeted, my confidence in him will grow. So he will not be 21 for much longer in my rankings because we've. Jason has also brought up the. Of his foot where we've, we've seen time and time again when players deal with his foot injury, it often takes that second surgery.

[Andy Holloway]

Bryant, Edelman, Bradley, before they are ready to.

[Jason Moore]

Julio Jones. Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Before they're ready to be back.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, that's.

[Andy Holloway]

He's had it and he's a contract year player.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Not just a normal contract year player. He's a contract year player. They did not with a giant chip on his shoulder because they didn't pick up his fifth year Buffalo.

[Andy Holloway]

What are you talking about?

[Mike Wright]

I don't know, man.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I mean, that is one thing I want to bring up. Last year when you listen to the show, we talked about the fact that the foot problem he was having is so common to be re aggravated and need a second surgery. So watch out. But we also said, and this was, you know, a year ago, if he gets a second surgery, it's pretty doggone reliable. All those players who have done it came out after the second surgery and they've been fine and they've been fantasy superstars. The talent for Sammy Watkins. I think people are starting to forget how talented he's not a good wide receiver. Okay. In the, in the historic 2014 draft class where Odell Beckham coming out of college was this unfathomable superstar and Kelvin Benjamin was Mike Evans, monster Mike Evans. I mean, just all of these guys, they went after Sammy Watkins in the draft. 4.

[Mike Wright]

He gave up a first round pick to move up a couple spots for Sammy Watkins.

[Jason Moore]

And the absolute truth is, I believe wholeheartedly that if the Buffalo Bills didn't take him every single One of those teams that took a different wide receiver, they probably had Sammy Watkins higher on their draft board than they had Odell Beckham. And they did that for a reason. And he's shown it in the NFL. He's shown his flashes of unbelievable ability, except he's been injured.

[Andy Holloway]

And I believe second half of 2015, he was the wide receiver seven in point, in points per game. So that's a whole half of a season. Showed the ability. You believe it's his year?

[Jason Moore]

I do.

[Andy Holloway]

I made the call in my article. I thought he'd play 16 games. I want to see it. You talk about things on my list of want to see in fantasy football this season. I want to see a healthy Sammy Watkins. I want to see what the possible ceiling really is. Now, before we. What were you going to say?

[Jason Moore]

I just, you know, I don't want us to paint. I do believe he, he will not re injure that foot. I don't want to paint a picture though, for listeners that he doesn't carry risk. He certainly does. He's been injury prone. So you have to weigh that at the draft.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. And you're semi protected. If you do get him in the fourth round somehow, that's the golden place to be. So before we talk about 14 and 15 on our wide receiver ranking list, I want to thank the sponsors of today's show. And they're good ones. Foot clan. They're great. If you know anything about us, we vet our sponsors. We say no to a lot of different people that want to come on and pitch a product or tell something about, you know, sell something to you. Today's sponsor, fantasychamps.com fantasychamps.com you are talking about an absolutely stunning pile of fantasy football hardware for your league. You need a trophy, you need a championship ring, you need a belt. Or right now, one of the big things, the fantasy football draft board. Okay, you need one of the boards with the stickers and the marker. Look, they've got it [e-mail] and I'm telling you, the quality of the products is amazing. Like, we have them all. We've had them ship all of them to us. We've looked at all of them.

[Jason Moore]

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[Andy Holloway]

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[Jason Moore]

I mean, this.

[Andy Holloway]

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[Jason Moore]

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[Andy Holloway]

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[Jason Moore]

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[Mike Wright]

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[Jason Moore]

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[Andy Holloway]

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[Jason Moore]

We are best friends with Pristine Auction. We are the three best friends. You know, signed memorabilia, signed jerseys, signed helmets. You know, everything we give away on this show, it's always from Pristine Auction because we always know that it is 100%.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, we go buy it. We go buy it off of there.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, we really do. And it's certified, guaranteed authentic signatures. It's an auction system. So get in the habit of just like checking in and stealing some of these items for prices that are cheaper than you could go buy a jersey out of a store and it's signed. I mean, I, you know, sometimes when I see the stuff Mike gets pretty much every day.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, that's.

[Jason Moore]

That's.

[Mike Wright]

That's a fair statement.

[Jason Moore]

And they have, they have the elite stuff, too, if you want to get in on the Babe Ruth signed ball for, you know, look, if you got. You're a collector, a collector. They've got everything there, so check them out. Any great gift ideas? You're just not going to do better than Pristine Auction. It's P R I S T. I'm.

[Mike Wright]

Just going to throw this out there today. They have a signed Deion Sanders jersey.

[Andy Holloway]

I just watched a video on YouTube just. Just to be a distraction for a second, I just watched a YouTube video. I got caught up in the Deion Sanders, Jerry Rice vs. Jerry Rice video.

[Mike Wright]

Where he goes to give him the handshake.

[Andy Holloway]

No, I. And it was all their. Their battles. It was.

[Mike Wright]

That's what I mean. Yeah, it's them lined him lined up and he's like, just goading him like you're. You want a handshake? Like, let's go.

[Andy Holloway]

It was. Yeah, that was pretty cool. All right. 14 and 15 on a wide receiver rankings. Alshon, Jeffrey, Terrell Pryor. Two hotly debated players. Two players that we are in different places On Alshon, I got him at 20. Jason and Mike, you got him at 15. Mine has to do with the mix of moving teams. Something that is not always a success in fantasy football or in NFL football. For a big time wide receiver. You move a team, you're in a different system, different quarterback and he's got.

[Jason Moore]

You gonna need to hit a button.

[Andy Holloway]

And he's got the injury risk.

[Jason Moore]

You gonna need to hit do we got it? Breaking news. Adam Schefter is saying that Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott is expected to appeal his six game suspension per sources. So he has three days to appeal. What is a six game band? Brooks, I know you are a cow.

[Andy Holloway]

He's not only a Cowboys fan. Brooks has Zeke in our dynasty league. You're in my division, aren't you? Maybe.

[Mike Wright]

So here's the deal. He can appeal. It's possible that we've seen suspensions of this nature be appealed and brought down to four games. But this, that looks like, like that's.

[Andy Holloway]

The way to approach it. A lock of missing four games.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, a lock of missing four games. But we also have to keep in mind this appeal, because it's a six game ban is super scary to me. Because what happens is, let's say he appeals and it takes them half the season to come back.

[Mike Wright]

It shouldn't. But that's in the realm of possibility, taking this long.

[Andy Holloway]

I mean, we'll know a lot more soon, so we'll be able to talk more about that on Monday as well. But. But breaking news on the show. Yeah, that's Mike, Jason right now. If it's six games, both of you hadn't adjusted him yet. Where does he go?

[Mike Wright]

Six games?

[Andy Holloway]

Because he's going to go. He'll probably go down for my. I mean he's, he'll probably stay where he's at. I have him at 8.

[Jason Moore]

No, he's going to be lower than that for me.

[Mike Wright]

Probably a third round.

[Jason Moore]

That's exactly what I think. I mean, I'm going to take some time, you know, after the show. This is just gut. Yeah, take some time after the show, really crunch some numbers and see the different outcomes. And. And Monday we'll be able to speak to it with clarity and a direction. But right now my instinct says third round is probably where I would. Man, that stinks.

[Mike Wright]

Well, hey, Zeke, get it together. Wake up call, man.

[Andy Holloway]

Get it together. Wake up call is right.

[Mike Wright]

It's. You don't get to do whatever you want. Just.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, there's some things you don't mess around with and this is one of those things right now.

[Jason Moore]

If you're on the clock in any of the play drafts, leagues over your best, you go grab Darren McFadden immediately.

[Andy Holloway]

Unbelievable. All right, back to Alshon, guys. I do like Carson Wentz. I think he could surprise people this year.

[Mike Wright]

He looked good yesterday.

[Andy Holloway]

He did. And Alshon is a player that has, look, massive impact potential. But because again, I think in this offseason, now he's back already, but he's already had another soft tissue type of issue. There's too much pause for me. I just. Here's the thing. Maybe he's. Maybe he's good. Maybe he's a good fantasy football wide receiver for your team. I don't want to deal with it. Yeah, there are some players you don't want to mess. I don't want to deal with the. I'm going to have excitement for Alshon Jeffrey, and then he's going to come up lame in practice, and then I'm going to wonder if I can play him on Sunday, and I'm going to Wonder if he's 100% back for the next game or if he's going to be, you know, a decoy out there. I don't want to do it.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I don't blame you. When I look at the rankings, you've got him 20, I've got him 15, along with Mike. I think to myself, man, I really don't like Alshon at 15 for me, and it's not because he doesn't have the ability to do that. I believe in Carson Wentz this. This coming season. I. I'm. I'm buying more and more into his ability to allow Alshon to be a true wide receiver one. And I'm speaking of a fantasy wide receiver one. But I, you know, with Alshon, I can't. I can't just think, okay, well, he's going to play 16 games, and his ceiling to me is not, say what Sammy Watkins ceiling. They both, you know, have injury risks, but I don't think Alshon is a true world beater. He's just a really, you know, good receiver.

[Andy Holloway]

He's the player who, when he's too far down in your rankings, you're like, oh, man, I definitely need to move him up.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

And when he's too hot and then you move him up and you're like, man, I got to move him down.

[Jason Moore]

It's weird you say that, because that's exactly how it's been for me this whole off season.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I moved him up to, like, 13. At one point in the early off season, I was like, ooh, he had.

[Mike Wright]

He had basically 800 yards in 11 games. So, I mean, he's, he didn't score, though. Yeah, I know. And, but we know that touchdowns can come and go, but he's, historically, he's.

[Jason Moore]

Been fine at scoring.

[Mike Wright]

He is, he is so big, man. He's so big. He has a good wide receiver.

[Jason Moore]

Here's the nice thing about Alshon, though. Let me, let me speak to the. Let me make the case for Alshon. Jeffrey. He has come over and he's taken a prove it deal with an up and coming. With an up and coming quarterback on a.

[Mike Wright]

Allegedly turned down more money to go to play for Minnesota.

[Jason Moore]

He wants to prove, you know, that he is an elite wide receiver. Right now he's in the fourth round. Okay. So when we're talking draft value, he's, you know, he's not bad for where he's going in your draft. I would be super happy to have Alshon in the fourth round. And if he stays healthy, I think he's got a floor that is probably around, you know, wide receiver 18. So there is, there's enough there to like. But as someone that owned Alshon, you know, last year in a lot of different places and had to deal with the constant injuries, his to me are, you know, the nice thing with the Sammy injury is that he dealt with this foot problem forever and I believe it's fixed. You don't really fix soft tissue issues. I mean, they heal and then hopefully you just don't run.

[Andy Holloway]

You hope to find new training habits that prevent them. That's all you can do.

[Jason Moore]

Right? But we've already seen it this offseason.

[Mike Wright]

Carson Wentz had the fifth most attempts last year. I mean, you don't want it on that volume.

[Andy Holloway]

I like Jason said, if the values there late fourth round, if he sneaks down that far, maybe I take the chance. But it's just a little bit.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, you know, I get it.

[Andy Holloway]

I'd rather have the next guy on this list, let's put it that way. Terrell Pryor, number 15. I have him at 10. He's a top 10 wide receiver for me. Guys. We've talked about him a lot on the show. Last year he was a wide receiver one or two in 50% of his games. The raw ability of Terrell Pryor, the long history of getting from where he was as a quarterback to where he is now. Now he's in a system. Look, he. This is not a coincidence that he's in Washington. Hugh Jackson and Jay Gruden were coaches that watched him work out years ago and gave him opportunity. Jay Gruden brought him in. Hugh Jackson had him first. Now he's with another coach that believes in him and the ability that he has. And when you look at what Washington could not do last season, they couldn't score in the red zone. They didn't have size. Now you have not only Pryor, but you have Doxson, who has size. If he's healthy, the offense should be good. Pryor is going to do the things that he's great at, which is create separation with super long arms and be a difference maker in the red zone. Believer. As a believer in Kirk Cousins, as a believer In Charles Pryor, the 306 price point right now in drafts, I love it. Give him to me.

[Mike Wright]

He was sensational last year and he was a deep threat. Like Andy said. He was able to be a wide receiver 1 or 2, 50% of the time. And that's with some of the worst downfield targets of all of last year coming from the Browns quarterbacks. Now he goes to Kirk Cousins, who's one of the best, most accurate deep ball throwers in the league. If you want to put that say, well, that's on D Jacks and Jordan Reed.

[Andy Holloway]

That's.

[Mike Wright]

The wide receivers are doing it. But the numbers are there for Kirk Cousins that say he's a great deep thrower. So I'm with you that the ceiling of Pharrell Pryor is. I mean, the ceiling can't hold us.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, yeah, it can. Yeah, it can. Here's.

[Andy Holloway]

Is that your. I didn't say you're ranking because I don't know if that's where you want him, Jay. Is that where he belongs?

[Jason Moore]

That is.

[Mike Wright]

I thought you were. You were getting a Terrell Prior.

[Jason Moore]

Yes, I was.

[Mike Wright]

What happened to that fire?

[Andy Holloway]

He's 25.

[Jason Moore]

I moved him up to 25.

[Mike Wright]

I thought you got caught up in.

[Andy Holloway]

No, he didn't get caught up in the.

[Jason Moore]

I didn't get caught up enough to be swept away to Oz like you guys have with your tornado.

[Mike Wright]

No, here is that we're not in Washington anymore.

[Jason Moore]

No, the problem is we are in Washington.

[Andy Holloway]

Said we're not in Cleveland anymore. So that's what you said.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, that was way better.

[Andy Holloway]

Missed it, Mike. I know.

[Jason Moore]

All right, let me make the case here.

[Mike Wright]

Well, no, we got to move on because I ruined the joke.

[Andy Holloway]

Go ahead, Jay.

[Jason Moore]

All right, so last year you had a great offense. Kirk Cousin was a, you know, a.

[Andy Holloway]

He was talking about Cleveland for a second.

[Jason Moore]

No, he was. Kirk Cousins was a, you know, a top 12 quarterback in fantasy. And the problem is you had back to, back to back in the rankings. Desean Jackson, Jameson Crowder and Pierre Garcon because he spreads the ball around. Kirk Cousins is not a guy to target that number one wide receiver. And if he is, it's going to be Jordan Reed. You got Jordan Reed, you got Jameson Crowder, you've got Josh Doxson, you've got, you've got Terrell Pryor. Now if Terrell Pryor becomes the 1B, if he becomes the 1B to Jordan Reed, then I think he has the chance to, you know, have a decent season. I don't see the possibility of a top 10. I mean, you've got him at 10. And I'm glad we've got a little bit of a polar opinion here. I'm interested to see who's going to win out, but when I just look at all the volume and how it has to split up, it would just have to go so much towards Terrell Crowd.

[Andy Holloway]

I don't know what's happening. I don't know which episode to tune into. I mean, I thought you were rising. I know this is the most confusing thing in the world because it's like I think there are four episodes that I could find where half the time you're high on him and the other half of the time you're telling us to be quiet. By the way, I am on the clock in Best Ball, but I already, I already have Darren McFarlane.

[Jason Moore]

So here, just to clear it up, because, you know, you might be new to the fantasy footballers and you haven't been tracking along and sometimes we assume, okay, you've heard previous episodes. You knew or know where my opinion was at. I had Terrell pryor at about 30 and I realized that is too low and I've been bumping him up and now he's at 25. And maybe that is also too low. Maybe he can get up to, you know, 2015. I mean, I'm not saying he doesn't have a ceiling that can get there. You know, if he finishes as the wide receiver 15, I would love that. I really like Terrell Pryor. I think he is talented, all of those things. But you have to be realistic. This is a stats based game we play and he has to have the production that comes from that. So I am rising on Terrell Pryor. I like Terrell Pryor and that puts him to me pretty much as a Wide receiver, too. So maybe I am a little low having him at 25. Maybe he should be more around 20. I just don't see him being a true fantasy wide receiver one this year.

[Mike Wright]

I think the one thing we can agree on with Terrell Pryor is whenever we sing his name, we need. In the video, we need to superimpose an explosion and someone flying through the screen.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, let's try to move a little faster through some more of these so we can tell me what's going through. Michael Crabtree and Alan Robinson, our 16 and 17 on our rankings. Michael Crabtree has a firm believer in Mike, who has him at number 10.

[Mike Wright]

Yep.

[Andy Holloway]

In that Terrell Pryor range, I have him lower.

[Jason Moore]

It's ironic. It's, you know, the exact opposite rankings. I had terrell Pryor at 25, Andy had him at 10. Mike, you've got Crabtree at 10 and Andy's got him at 25.

[Andy Holloway]

So tied for fourth in red zone targets 21, ninth in total receptions right now. His average draft position is beautiful. It's the fifth round pick and that's why Mike loves him so much, I'm sure. Yes, look, he gets touchdown opportunities, the kind that you can't always count on for Amari Cooper. They've always been there for Crabtree in this offense. And last year, a big number that jumps out to me 62% of the time. He was a wide receiver one or a wide receiver two. He is a beautiful wide receiver two for your fantasy team. I'd feel great rolling him out there week in, week out, knowing the target share is going to be there. Love Michael Crabtree. I'm not sure that there's a lot to debate other than the fact that he's not going to give you the kind of, I think, ceiling maybe, you know, he's not. Not a top five potential guy. You know, he's not Sammy Watkins, but you can get him at, you know, he could certainly outperform Watkins.

[Mike Wright]

And I have. I have him at 10, but I mean, he's like Demaryius Thomas. I mean, I think that Crabtree is a very, very safe wide receiver, too, who slips into the fifth round, which is absolutely ridicul. I don't know what people want from Michael Crabtree. His first year with Carr, he was, I think, wide receiver 18 then he was a wide receiver one last year. You know that Derek Carr is going to throw for around 4,000 yards and around 30 touchdowns. And Crabtree has the trust of Derek Carr in the red zone. And in the end Zone, unlike Amari Cooper, because when you look at their contested catch rate, Amari Cooper, he can't grab the bomb. He's. He's got like a 50% contested catch rate. Meanwhile, Michael Crabtree grades out as one of the best. And I'm getting those numbers from. From Matt Harmon's reception perception, which you can find in our ultimate draft kit, which is a kind of like a theory of why is Amari Cooper not getting these. These targets? And maybe it's because Derek Carr knows that when the coverage is tight on Amari Cooper, he can't feel assured that Cooper's going to come down with it. Meanwhile, he knows that if he puts the ball where Crabtree can catch it, he's going to come down with it. So I love him. A10 is certainly an aggressive ranking on him, but I want people to know that I'm all in on Crabtree at his draft position, and I'd grab him in the fourth happily.

[Andy Holloway]

Jason. Talk about Alan Robinson. Allen Robinson, Jacksonville Jaguar. Interesting stat. Look, he had a yards per reception. I think those are in. Are those in there backwards? Which I think they're in there backwards. The yard per reception for Allen Robinson.

[Mike Wright]

Well, in 2014, it was. It was his rookie year. His yards reception were low. And then the. His breakout year jumped over up to.

[Jason Moore]

17 and a half yards per reception.

[Mike Wright]

And then last year, he was back down.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, okay.

[Mike Wright]

He was much closer to his rookie year.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, that. That got it. I was reading it as 2015 and 2016. I was confused. All right, so talk about Allen Robinson, Jay.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, so Allen Robinson was, you know, the new hotness. Last year he was a first rounder for everybody's draft because coming into his second year, he had that explosion where he had 14 touchdowns, 1400 yards, and you knew he's the centerpiece of that offense. And of course, Blake Bortles, he's coming up in the world. And then all of a sudden, last year, Blake Bortles was exposed for Blake Bortles, and you saw the touchdown regression that was sure to come. Go from 14 to 6.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, it plummeted.

[Jason Moore]

Monstrous. What a lot of people don't realize is he had the exact same amount of targets. So both years he had 151 targets. The way I view Alan Robinson is this. He is a very good wide receiver, and I'm hoping that Blake Bortles can get the job done. This is a team that's shifting away from the passing game to the running game.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, and I heard the running game's really easy. Leonard Fournette told me that the NFL is easy.

[Jason Moore]

Right. I saw that report, so be careful. I cannot fathom that Alan Robinson gets 151 receptions for the third targets. Targets, yes. Whoa, that'd be amazing. You know, I expect him to drop, you know, 20 targets this season. That being said, if the running game is better, people come up. I think what we're going to experience is kind of an in between place where on 130 targets you're going to have a guy who has more efficiency than he had last year. Never again going to get it to the point of 2015. And he'll be a solid wide receiver too. I expect him to be more consistent this season than he was last season. But I don't think he has a ceiling that the people like the people drafting Allen Robinson right now. I think they, they still hope that they has. He has that like top five potential. I don't see that.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, let's touch on 18 and 19 in our rankings. DeAndre Hopkins and Brandon Cooks. What are the storylines here for these guys right now? Hopkins drafted in the third round. Cook's drafted in the third round. Basically back to back a lot of different things we could talk about, but Hopkins specifically, I think we all agree he's super talented, hyper talented guy. It's just a matter of the offense being able to provide enough targets and enough consistent, catchable targets for him to be fantasy relevant.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. And that's people. It's like Alan Robinson. Allen Robinson and Hopkins are difficult because you know that the talents there, but will the volume be there? They're both on a defense, first a run, first offense. And Hopkins superstar production came when, when the defense had fallen apart and they were playing catch up and DeAndre Hopkins was getting all the targets in the passing game. So I think that people are going to be sadly disappointed once again in Hopkins. Not that he'll be awful for your team but. But what you expect out of a third round pick and thinking you're stealing a really high upside guy, I don't see it.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, let's touch on Brandon Cooks. I got to drop the. There's the train. Because the height train on Brandon Cooks is heading down the tracks right now. Every report out of Patriots camp, it's pictures of one handed catches. It's disintegrating the defense with that speed and he's a great player. I don't think we doubt the capability. Do you buy the hype on Brandon Cooks that you've been hearing and does it make you adjust your Rankings I got him at 17. Mike 27, Jason 13. Is that a result of some of what you've seen in camp?

[Jason Moore]

It is a direct result of some of what I've seen. I mean, his rapport with Tom Brady looks on, you know, a terrific pace. You know, this is a guy that.

[Andy Holloway]

They say he's picking up the offense.

[Jason Moore]

Wide receiver one already. I mean, he had Drew Brees. So we have to keep in mind it's not like he's upgrading quarterbacks. Yes, Tom Brady is the goat, but for Fantasy, both of those quarterbacks are excellent goat brothers. Yes, they both spread the ball around. So the situation, the situation isn't really changing that much. The problem we've always had in fantasy with Brand Cooks is his, you know, disappearing acts and his inconsistency. He'll, you know, light the world on fire and then disappear. We have said that that's because the ball gets spread around a lot. I actually think that there will be more consistency with, or at least the chance for more consistency with Tom Brady than with Drew Brees. And so I've moved him up to 13 in my rankings. He is a guy that has the potential to, you know, be a top 10 wide receiver. What he's shown.

[Andy Holloway]

Here's an easy question. Do you want him as your one because you have to take him in the back of the second round in a PPR league right now. Are you cool with that if you had a guy like Landry to balance him out?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I mean, I think I'm starting to be more comfortable. The problem is. No, I think I would. I think right now, in the back of the second, I think I would take Brandon Cooks, which. That's really been changing.

[Andy Holloway]

I mean, you said it out loud. And the first step is acceptance.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, that is. I feel bad to say that out loud.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. That's just because the fear has been there. But if there is new information that convinces you of his potential, look, he'll win you a week. So if he can give you enough those other weeks, he's going to be worth it. Let's talk about Larry Fitzgerald, number 20, Golden Tate, number 21. I'll touch on Larry Fitzgerald real quick. Last year I am at 15, so that's the highest of our group. Last year he led the league in receptions, 107 receptions. He's a fifth round pick in PPR leagues, a sixth round pick in standard. I think people need to realize that Larry does have the ability to still give you red zone targets and touchdowns, and he had six last year. But this is a guy who over the last two seasons finished ninth in fantasy in 2015, finished 12th last year. The kind of thing I want fantasy owners to know as I talk about Larry is that he started hot each of the last two years. Yes, last year he had five weeks right up until the buy, basically where he was a top 24 guy. But he had some really down weeks in the back half of the year. Three straight weeks outside the top 40 to end the season. So I think, basically I think we see here in the notes it says guilty of a monster start. Well, yeah, that, that helps that end of season number. But if you can get him, if he can give you those early season numbers and you can move him, maybe that's a strategy fantasy owners want to take.

[Mike Wright]

His touchdown upside is going to is capped by David Johnson because that's the offense runs through DJ now. And what's weird about Fitz falling off at the end of the season, that's when Carson Palmer was actually playing better. So those things, the graph looks really bizarre.

[Andy Holloway]

Also had basically no John Brown for a huge chunk of the season and hopefully Brown's back in the mix.

[Mike Wright]

So I wouldn't overlook Larry because of his age. I think in the around that sixth round is perfectly fine, especially in a PPR because it's like Andy said, he did lead the league in receptions most because Antonio Brown took the last week off. But 100 receptions is still in the realm of outcomes for Larry Fitzgerald.

[Andy Holloway]

Are you expecting more of the same from Golden Tate, number 21 on our rankings? I am the lowest of this group because I do think Marvin Jones is going to have an impact in that offense. I like.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, what about those smooth routes, man?

[Andy Holloway]

You want me to put that on again?

[Jason Moore]

Oh, smooth routes.

[Andy Holloway]

Timmy Golladay, man, that is a drop. Eric Ebron's health, those things factor in. But Golden Tate, he's moving all over the offense. There's no more Anquan Bolden. Jason, what do you think about Golden Tate this year? Is he going to keep it going in terms of fantasy value?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, he will. He's. He's a slightly less consistent player over the last few years. You know, a lot of his fantasy production has come in spurts and he's, you know, we saw when Marvin Jones was. Was on fire in the beginning of the year, Golden Tate was non existent.

[Mike Wright]

Golden Tate fantasy benjamin buttoned, right?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, Golden Tate last year was not involved in the beginning of the season. And then they're like, wait, we should throw to Golden Tate because he's Better than Marvin Jones and then he had a really good rest of season. So you have to ask yourself, is there the chance that that repeats like Andy's saying, if Ebron is more involved and if Marvin Jones, you know, is more involved, can Golden Tate still have a chunk of the season where he disappears? I think they will avoid that this year. And if you're in a PPR league, Golden Tate definitely gets a bump because he's pretty much locked and loaded for 90 receptions. If he gets 100 receptions, you know that, that, that's very realistic. So those points are going to, you know, those points are going to push you over the edge when you can get a guy in the fifth round, sixth round in some leagues. I've seen them dropping there. If you're in a PPR half point. I do like Golden Tate this year.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, I'm going to give you a couple big names to round out our top 24. And then I want us to share one or two sleepers. Maybe one that's like a middle tier sleeper, maybe one that's a deep sleeper in your mind at the wide receiver position for the listeners. But couple big names at 23, 24, Kenan Allen and Devonte Adams. All right, Kenan Allen and Devonte adams. I'll speak for a second on Devonte because I made a tweet last night. It was really tongue in cheek. I was just. I saw devonte Adam.

[Mike Wright]

Or as your tweet said, tongue and cheek.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. I accidentally said tongue and cheek. It's both. It's a little tongue. It's a little cheek.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, no.

[Andy Holloway]

But devonte Adams, I have the lowest of us. I thought last year was a perfect storm for Adams. In terms of Cobb's lack of health. In terms of Cook's lack of health. You have Martell's Bennett back. Cobb looks pretty good. And the. He averaged a touchdown every 6.3 receptions. He only had, I believe 75 receptions on the season. So I don't, I'm not trying to destroy devonte Adams. I just think there's a world where Jordy Nelson, Randall Cobb, Ty Montgomery, you know, Martellus Bennett, they all have a heavy target share. That just makes Adams reliant on those kind of touchdown totals.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Could he do it again? Yeah. Because he's got Aaron Rodgers and they're in the red zone every 30 seconds.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

When you look back on the the historical data of Aaron Rodgers career, he easily supports two fantasy wide receivers and we know one will be Jordy. It's the projection of that too. It's which I believe it'll be, It'll be Adams. And could it be Cobb? Certain it could because we've seen it from Randall Cobb, but we basically haven't seen that since 2014 when Randall Cobb was the wide receiver 7. So I'm, I'm good taking Adams in the back of the fourth round and I'm fine knowing who he is for my roster. He's, he's a touchdown guy. But last year, wide receiver 1 or 2, 43, almost 44% of the time. That's, I'll take that because when he, when he explodes, you know it's going to be great.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I would just say for Adams, much better value in a standard league because he is going to be a touchdown centric player. So if you're in a PPR league, I would move him down a little. If standard, I'd move them up a little.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, you guys want to give me a couple sleepers?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. You know the middle tier sleeper that I was already thinking of. I'll hop right in. It is Randall Cobb. Right now. Randall Cobb is, you know, the 40th wide receiver off the board in the back of the eighth round. And if the touchdowns shifted from Devonte Adams to Randall Cobb, Devonte Adams was a wide receiver one. I mean Randall Cobb has been a wide receiver one before. I mean there's, there's, I believe he has that middle tier, you know, draft price where he also has the ability to actually finish as a one. This is very rare that you can get middle or late a guy that could finish at, you know, the wide receiver 12 overall. But that's just Aaron Rodgers. That's 100%. I want to be a part of that, you know, quarterback.

[Mike Wright]

The name I want to throw out to that people. Don't forget. Do not forget about Cameron Meredith. He was excellent last year and he did, he did whatever the team needed him to do outside play the slot.

[Andy Holloway]

He excelled in both first two Glennon targets last night. Straight to Meredith and both terrible passes but they went straight to Meredith.

[Mike Wright]

Mike Glennon may not be, may not be long for this starting position. Trubisky against lower level defenses, but still looked, still looked like he can play in the NFL. And Cam Meredith is just so good and fantasy players are going to completely bail on the Bears wide receivers. Do not forget about Cam Meredith in the around the 10th, 9th round.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I'll throw Rashard Matthews out there as a middle tier guy. Not really a sleeper, but still somebody that's a value. And I'll throw a deep sleeper out there, Paul Richardson of the Seattle Seahawks, if he earns the starting wide receiver two position. We've talked about when Russell Wilson's healthy, getting out of the pocket. I'd love to just see what Richardson can do with more targets because he made huge plays last year. But the target share has not been there. So deep sleeper again, that was the question. So I'll throw Paul Richardson's name out there too. Now, next week. Now we're going to talk best ball here for a second, but next week I wanted to let everyone know we've got a mock draft coming on Monday. We also have our preseason thoughts. We'll have more Zeke thoughts, so keep it right here. Subscribe, make sure you're listening to the show. Next week, let's talk best ball.

[Jason Moore]

Best ball bonanza brought to you by Play Draft.

[Andy Holloway]

If you don't know about a play draft is the best place to play best ball. Dfs you draft. We're in the middle of a draft right now. I am on the clock. I have not made my pick.

[Mike Wright]

And if you don't know what best ball is, essentially you draft a gigantic, a ginormous roster. On play draft, it's 18 rounds and then each week the computer fills in your optimal lineup and then at the end of the season, someone wins some cash. I mean, you do the draft and you're done.

[Andy Holloway]

Yep. And Jason has some tips for you today. We do basically a best ball tip every Friday during this segment. And Jason, what do you got for the peoples?

[Jason Moore]

Well, today's an important one. It probably should have been. The first one we went through is just roster construction, like how many players at each position you draft. We always say, you know, you want to stay water and have different strategies. Any strategy works with best ball. I would say it's a little bit different because you know, you have to have a certain player pool to maximize how many positions you know you're starting. So you've got a total of 18 players on your roster. There's no defense, no kickers. If you're doing best ball on Play draft, you'll have to deal with defense and kickers on some of the other best ball formats out there. But I see a lot of teams where when they tweet me and they say, hey, how's my team look? They stuck to essentially what we usually do in our normal drafts, which is they've got as many running backs or more than they have wide receivers. That's a mistake in this format. In half point ppr, which is their scoring format where you have to have three wide receivers cracking that roster every week. You need to have your larger pool there. So what I like to do is make sure I've got like one stud running back at least because I'm going to be in that 4, 5, 6 range of running backs at the end of the draft. But I want at least six wide receivers. At least six. And when it comes to the quarterback and the tight end, if you are waiting late on those positions, you can grab three of them. You know, if you grab Aaron Rodgers at a good value early, then just go two. But three at that position, you know, those make a big difference. There was I saw this from our good friend Scott Barrett. For reference, last year if you had Tyrod Taylor, Marcus Mariota and Blake Bortles, you would have outscored the combo of Matt Ryan and Drew Brees last year. So that gives you an idea. Wait on the quarterback position and grab three late quarterbacks because you know, you just need one of them to hit every week. Chances are pretty good that that's going to happen.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, if you want to play basketball, you can go to playdraft.com ballers and you get a free entry into a best ball league where you can win some cash. Also, before we close out the show, it's going to be a big day for ultimate draft kit updates. Today we're going to we're going to do our Zeke updates, a bunch of other players we might be touching, some of the sleepers and the breakouts. And stay tuned for Monday with the mock draft and the preseason week one highlights.

[Mike Wright]

The the parting Zeke thought I want to give everyone, uh oh, better hurry. Their bye week is week six, so that means you would not get Ezekiel Elliott until week eight.

[Andy Holloway]

Wait.

[Jason Moore]

Right?

[Andy Holloway]

That's crazy.

[Jason Moore]

Goodbye. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers podcast. Join our fantasy football community on jointhefoot.com and follow us on Twitter at theffballers.