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FantasyPros - Fantasy Football Podcast
Week 6 Fantasy Football Wide Receiver Rankings & Tiers: Studs, Sleepers, and Must-Starts (Ep. 1760)
00:44:06
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This is an iHeart podcast.
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Fantasy Pro's fantasy football podcast is brought to you by Grainger. If you work as a maintenance manager, your facility is your home turf and your home field advantage is having a partner like Grainger. They offer trusted professional grade products for every industry from lighting and electrical to safety and everything in between. Plus fast, dependable delivery. Which is why they always come through in the clutch. Just like you. Call 1-800-granger. Click granger.com or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done.
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What's up, friends? And welcome into Fantasy pros. This is the fantasy football podcast Rank show. We've got wide receiver ranks for week six. I'm Chris Welsh and joining me as always is Pat Fitz Morris and Andrew Erickson. Some pretty high rankers. This week we're going to be talking about our top 36 wide receiver ranks. Some names in between helping you guys make some of the tough decisions. We're also, we've got some giveaway stuff we're going to be talking about. And as always, we give a little shout out on our weekly ranks contest that we do every single week. We have the weekly ones and this week, yes, Andrew Erickson did good. Do good on this show like I predicted. Yes, Fitzy did good. The boys, we got to give some flowers to our dear friend Derek Brown for finishing number one in week five ranks, Fitzy. Derrick Brown is also top five on the show. So how this works is it's like an elimination. I think one of you guys is going to get eliminated at the end of the season and Debro is going to have to join the show or it'll be me. And then, you know, Ericson, you can host, which probably people would want. So Fitzy, what do you. Yeah, what do you guys think? Dbro, Fitzy, we'll start with you. Dbro one, you ended up finishing 32, Fitzy. So, you know, no small order there. Fantasy pros are rocking in the accuracy contest.
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Yeah. Although you know, Jeff Probst is going to snuff up my torch pretty soon to get DBRO on the ranking show at this rate. So I guess whoever's following the primer this year has to be doing pretty well because DBRO is throwing out some crack advice.
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Yeah, he is going nuts here. But Erickson, you get the flowers for this show. You did finish 17, so again, no small order there. Your articles kind of laying people out in the betting side in here. The primer actually working very well for Debro. But shout out to you, Erickson and 17. I think, like we were talking about this off air. I had predicted for some reason I felt that you were going to rank highest on this show. And it had to do with Waddle. And Waddle definitely waddled out.
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Yes, Jalen, Waddle being a little bit higher than consensus on Waddle definitely helped give me a boost in the rankings. But that's all in the past again. Doesn't matter anymore. No one cares about what we did last week. We care about getting it right for week six. So, yeah, just got to read Deebo's primer this week and then I'll finish in the top five.
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C
Yeah, I'm just gonna do that. Remember when I was like, oh, I'm like, I'm one of the best tight end rankers gone. That's gone. By the way, the number one tight end ranker in the world, Andre Erickson. You're just, you're the tight end whisperer now. So there you go. So that's how that's going to roll today. So giving the top three, though, we're talking about us. It's. It wasn't just Derrick Brown the top three in the accuracy contest. So again, dbro, go check out the primer. What a better promotion for it ever than for him to finish. I think he's finished in the top two twice already. He's four over the whole season and he finished one last week. We also had Matt Harmon. Matt Harmon finished from Yahoo. Finished two overall and Brad Beatson from Bandit Football finished three. So Debro, Harmon and Beatson all finishing inside the top three. So shout out to those guys. Shout out to these guys here on their rank. And if you guys want to check out where the ranks are every single week, go to fantasypros.com rankings. You listening? Probably don't care as much about the accuracy contest outside of if you want to dial up some of the weekly ranks based on your own preferences of the people that rank the highest, you can do that. You can play around with it or you can just check the full consensus fantas fantasypros.com rankings and you can see how it moves and shakes throughout the week. Before we get into the wide receivers, which we're just about to do, we've got a wide receiver for you to win. Some awesome free autograph stuff because this is your chance to win a signed AJ Brown Eagles jersey for free courtesy of our friends over@pristineauction.com all you got to do, go to fantasypros.com contest, complete the form, then you can do a couple different things. You can download the Fantasy Pros app, leave a review on the podcast, you can follow us on x Instagram, TikTok and fantasy pros and you can do all of those things and they all give you more entries. We'll be announcing a winner right here on the podcast. So if you're watching on YouTube, make sure you're subscribed and turn on notifications so you are alerted when new episodes are up. And so you can take A.J. brown home. I think he wants you to take him home. He wants to be anywhere but Philadelphia, so he wants to be with you.
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Yeah. Does the jersey come with some sort of book to read while you're it comes very clean on the sideline.
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It comes very clean and unused. Like you know he only had one or two targets in the game and a book, maybe some tears, I don't know. Really good. Look good behind you erickson.
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Good.
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Little A.J. brown behind you.
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Yeah, I'll rock the AJB every day.
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Like you to wear it. Like you to wear it and catch more passes than A.J. brown. All right gentlemen, let's get into this. Let's take a look at the big board for wide receivers in week six. The big board looks as such. Puka Nukua coming in at number one followed by Amon Ross, St. Brown, Jackson Smith and Jigba Drake, London, Ameka Egbuca and Roma Dunze as your top six. Seven to 12. We've got Jamar Chase, Devonte Adams, George Pickens, Deebo Samuel, Xavier Worthy and Garrett Wilson. By the way, shout out to we did have the bounce back Jamar Chase game so that was probably very good for Erickson as well which helped in the ranks because he really bounced back kind of back into the good graces. And yeah, actually we didn't even have this planned here. I just want to get quick, quick takes on this. Fitzy, what is your take in any potential improvement for Jamar Chase and or T. Higgins with Joe Flacco now as the quarterback and looking like might be.
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As early as this week potential improvement if Flacco can tap back into that good yolo. Joe Flacco we were seeing the last couple of years where he was just cutting it loose and throwing into danger a lot of the times. But if you have a receiver with a quarterback like that throwing into danger, you don't care. You just want your guy to get those downfield catches. So that's a potential bright side thing. But then again like Flacco has kind of been showing his age. The 40 year old Flacco averaging what, 5.1 yards per pass attempt this year so far. And the bad thing is, like, part of it is, is that he is just crumbled when under fire this year. And the Browns have allowed, I think like the ninth highest pressure rate in the league. Well, the Bengals have a lot of the fourth highest pressure rate, so I don't think that's going to get any better for Joe Flacco. It's just, you know, whether he can do a little bit better under fire. I have my doubts.
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Erickson, you've had the trust, you had the belief in Jamar. Chase Browning has looked atrocious. Does Flacco do anything for you, for Chase moving forward, or do you think it's still just a volatile situation?
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I think it's still a volatile situation. I don't really think it's like that massive of an upgrade, to be totally honest. Joe Flacco can't move and he's playing behind one of the worst offensive lines in the NFL. Like, that's the big problem. That's why he got benched with the Cleveland Browns, because he couldn't. Couldn't move anywhere and he was stuck behind a terrible offensive line. So I think it's just the Bengals are just so desperate, like they're trying to look at any other option and for some reason they couldn't get Jameis Winston. Like, that was like the one thing that could have saved this team or if Joe brought somehow able to come back from this injury. And because they acquired Joe Flacco means like, Jamie Swinson's not going to be a Bengal at any point. So I am not optimistic. I would be talking about Chase as a sell high off the monster game against the Detroit Lions. Keep in mind, that game was at home, where we talked about that in the show last week, where Jake Browning splits are much better playing at home versus on the road. And the Lions lost like three of their starting defensive backs in the game. And then you started Chase getting all that production, especially late in the fourth quarter. So on the road this week at Green Bay, where he's going to have like five seconds or yeah, he wishes he had five seconds to throw half a second to get the ball out to a guy he's never thrown to before, assuming that Joe Flacco even starts this game, we don't know when he's going to be the starter, if he'll start this week, next week, whatever. Yeah, I'm not really optimistic. And yes, Chase is going to have big games here and there because he can make a 80 yard play out of anything. But it's going to be a very very rocky ride and I'm not nearly as bullish on him this week as I was last week.
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I'd have really liked Russell Wilson. Together that would have been one I thought that have worked well but it's Joe Flacco all right to the wide receivers we do want to talk about Full on Roma Dunes A comes in at wide receiver six this week on ecr. Fitzy you've got him at seven. Erickson you've got him at nine. So you guys are all in the top ten camp. Both a tiny bit lower than consensus right now. Fitzy, what's got you guys so jazzed up about Roma Dunes A this week?
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Yeah and I've been a little behind consensus on O'Dunze I think most of the year, but I'm getting a little closer to consensus. I mean amazing what a good offensive system can do for a talented player, isn't it? Roma Dunze is pretty clearly the lead receiver in the Bears offense. Like before the season it was sort of hard to tell how things were going to shake out with the Romeo Dunze DJ Moore combination. Well O'Dunze is the main man. He is a 25.5% target share and 42% air yard share. There are only seven players in the league with a higher air yard share and two of them are out for the year. Malik Neighbors and Tyreek Hill and and one is named Calvin Austin iii. So I do feel pretty good about Odun and I'm excited to see his matchup with rookie Trey Amos who's playing pretty well for the Commanders. But I do feel like Odunze should win that matchup.
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Erickson A Dunze at six is a pretty big marker. We've got a four star matchup rating. We've got the matchup ratings over on the Fantasy Pro's rankings page. Only two wide receivers in the top 12 have that rating. Tim and actually the next guy we're going to talk about and it's also the start sit is given an A plus. Do you buy that A Dunes A is in one of the best spots and is going to absolutely eat this week.
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I think that he's in a very good spot. But like I pointed out last week when I talked about the Chargers wide receivers against the Commanders who ended up having the most productive day for fantasy? It was La McConkey. Now that wasn't because he saw a boatload of targets because he caught a touchdown, but the slot receivers in that specific matchup between Lama Conkey and Keenan Allen, they were the most productive. And we saw Quinn Johnson put up his first dud of the season as the more perimeter wide receiver. So that's the only thing I'd push back with O'Dunze again. He has run hot on touchdowns, seeing all the high value targets in this offense and that's always in play regardless of where you line up. But the commanders are more of a slot funnel defense. So if Chicago does something different, where Ben Johnson during the bye week was in the lab thinking, hey, let's use Luther Burden in the slot, like let's play this guy. So this is a Monday night game. Luther Burton could have a breakout game in this, in this matchup. That's the only thing I would say. And that could technically like, you know, water down Odunze, but it would only be a one week blip and you'd be going right back to Odunze anyway. Regardless, he's a top 10 receiver.
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The only other guy we're going to talk about in this one is Xavier Worthy who comes in at ECR. Wide receiver 11. You guys are a little bit on opposite ends. Fitz, you've got him at 15, so you know we're still in the same general space, but it's a difference between, between a wide receiver one, obviously and a two. Erickson, you have him at 10 a little bit higher. So you're kind of designating like he is an absolute must start. 15 kind of is the same, but also the last week without Rasheed Rice. So enjoy your Xavier worthies while you got them. Erickson, let's start with you. You're a little bit higher on Worthy. Is this also going to be the last week? I know this is about this week in general, but I'm curious at what you think this matchup is good for him and do you also kind of think this is going to be the last week we're really, really relevant on Xavier Worthy with Rice coming back, I.
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Think that he stays relevant. I think what you see is the Taekwond Thorntons, the Marquis Browns, like those guys really fade into the background. Mahomes, those guys are so inconsistent. Anyway, I'm sure that Mahomes would rather throw to somebody else like Arashi Rice. But I think Worthy has been solid over the last two weeks since he's come back from that shoulder injury. He has 250 air yards over the last two weeks, 17 targets, 22% target share. He also has three end zone targets, but hasn't scored. And it's kind of funny because every other Chiefs receiver has score like Thornton scoring touchdowns, Marquis Brown is scoring touchdowns, Travis Kelce scoring touchdowns. But Worthy hasn't found the end zone. So I like him a lot in this spot to score. The Lions, we just talked about it, they don't have anyone left in their secondary. Everybody's hurt. D.J. reed is hurt, Karen Arnold's hurt, Khalil Dorsey's hurt. And that was the reason why we saw the Bengals offense start to score points in the fourth quarter because their secondary pieces started getting injured all over the place. So against, with or against the lines depleted secondary. Xavier Worthy loves to take the top off the defense. I think he's slated for up to some big plays, so I like starting him as a backhand wide receiver one this week.
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Fitzy, your 15 rank, is it relative to like you're a little bit dicey on him? Is it just, is it just a number, baby? Is it just a number that doesn't really necessarily mean anything and you still really like him. What's your take on Worthy this week?
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Yeah, I think I'm going to have to move him a little, move him up just a bit because of all the Lions cornerback injuries. I mean they do have three cornerbacks out for this game, which could mean a feast for Worthy. But it, it still does seem like the Chief's passing attack is sort of an ensemble affair. Like some Worthy, some Travis Kelsey, some Taekwond Thornton, some Juju Smith Schuster. I do agree with Erickson that, you know, we like Worthy more now than we will in a week when Rasheed Rice is back. Although Worthy is going to remain fantasy relevant. I do think it's the guys like Juju Taekwond Thornton who you won't be able to use even in larger leagues. But you know, in the the two games since he's been back from the shoulder injury where they had one pretty big game against the Ravens, 5 for 83 receiving plus two carries for 38 yards, then just kind of a so so game against the Jaguars last week, 6 for 42. So I don't know, maybe he has the big explosive play or two this week against this injury depleted lion secondary like we saw the Bengals have late in that game last week. But yeah, I just, I don't know what the target share is going to look like this week.
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All right, we got a lot to cover in wide receiver twos and threes so we're going to just get right into what wide receiver 13 through 24 looks like because we got a bunch of names to hit. Tet McMillan comes in at number 13, Cortland Sutton. At 14, Jalen Waddle. Top 15, Quentin Johnston, AJ Brown, Marvin Harrison, De DK Metcalf, Michael Pittman at 20, followed by Keenan Allen, Brian Thomas, Stefon Diggs and Lad McConkey. That is your top 13 through 24. Let's start with Quentin Johnston. You guys are more than welcome to also throw a little bit of a Lad into that discussion as he comes in at number 24 here. Fitzy, you've got him at 17. Erickson, you've got him at 21. Fitzy, let's start with you. You're. I mean, you guys are both a tiny bit lower. Erickson, quite a bit more. Quentin Johnston didn't have the big week that he's been having. I would say none of the wide receivers, though, took over. Like, everyone's like, oh, Lad can bounce back. Like he got a touchdown, but the volume looked similar. It just looks similar across the board. Just Quentin Johnson was a little bit less involved. Do you think that was more the anomaly or do you think, you know, he is maybe in line to start losing some shares as the season goes on?
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That's the thing. We don't know. I think it's going to be volatile week to week because Quentin Johnston has to share targets with lad McConkey, Keenan Allen. We're going to get some unpredictable weekly results with all of these guys. In his first four games, Quentin Johnston averaged nine targets a game and had at least seven targets in each of those games. But then in week five, only four targets. Keenan Allen had nine, lad McConkey, seven. And now the concern is that the Chargers passing game isn't going to be as effective without Joe Alt. And that's sort of what we saw against the Giants last week. Justin Herbert was under duress for a lot of the day, had only 166 passing yards, averaged 5.7 yards per attempt. So I do think the Quentin Johnston emergence is real. He does seem to have fixed his hands problems. But the big picture view of QJ's fantasy value has to factor in the target competition. And at least in the short term, it has to factor in the Chargers offensive line problems too.
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Erickson, you've got him at 21. I got a sneaky little suspicion that maybe lad McConkey has a number that is higher than 21. But you tell me I'm not looking at your ranks. I might be completely wrong. What do you think about Quentin Johnston? And how are you ranking out the three Chargers wide receivers?
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So you actually are wrong. I have Ladd ranked last. I just have Johnson ranked the highest. But I'm lower on the entire Chargers receiver room, I guess, compared to consensus because I'm concerned about this offensive line. Like, this is a major issue and you lose multiple pieces. These cluster injuries cause a lot of concerns for me. With Justin Herbert again, seeing it last week, you know, all the receivers kind of across the board, a little bit down. And I guess with Johnson specifically, I do think that his role overlaps the least when it comes to, like, Ladd and Keenan because those guys are using a little bit more in the slot. Johnson, obviously the big playmaker, obviously has been a focal point in the red zone. But if there are offensive line issues and Justin Herbert has to get the ball out quicker, well, Quinton Johnston has the fewest targets. When Justin Herbert has been under pressure this season, he has the lowest target chair of the three receivers. He also has the highest average depth of target on the team. So if Herbert doesn't have time to sit back there and throw the ball deep to Quinn Johnston, then he's not going to see as many targets. So I think that it's. They're all kind of in that Wide Receiver 2 territory. Like, that's why I have him outside the top 20, but at wide receiver 21. Because I think we're probably best getting one guy that, like, hits in a big way and the other guys are probably more like floor plays just because I think the overall ceiling is a little bit capped just based on the injuries. Now it is Miami, so there's always this chance that, hey, this defense is just so bad it doesn't matter. And I'm really interested to see what Greg Roman does offensively where, okay, we know this is a really bad run defense, but we're also down to our third and fourth string running backs. Like, does it make sense for me as the play caller to be like, all right, let's feature these Jags in a good matchup, or do I just give my ball to Justin Herbert because he's the best player on the team and he's going to win this game? Because, yes, Miami is worse against the run, but I think that they can be pretty easily beat through the air as well. Just a matter of how teams have attacked them. It's been on the ground mostly, so that's something I'm interested in seeing. And again, I'm. I'm not saying that I'm super confident with the Chargers rankings. I'm not sure if you guys feel different but I feel like I am hedging a little bit ranking them all like in the 20s.
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I think that's the problem at the end of the day is the hedge that you play. Luckily they're all kind of like relevant ish, but it seems to be like two of the three guys every single week. I think this is a good matchup for Quentin Johnson this week. We'll see where it spans out between Ladd and Keenan Allen. A.J. brown, can you trust him? That feels like the weekly question. It's getting deeper and more and bigger and super chats and everything everybody wants to know about A.J. brown. Can we start him? Can we start him? He is now fallen to ECR wide receiver 17 but you two fine gentlemen are still ranking him higher. Erickson you've got him at 14 and we're going to go back to Fitzy though because Fitz you still have him as a wide receiver one you've got him at 11 this week. I have a feeling this might be about the matchup some, but you tell us Devontae Smith ate big last week. Can A.J. brown get back into style?
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Yeah, it does seem like a get right game and maybe a squeaky wheel game for AJ Brown who seems less than thrilled with his role so far in the Eagles offense this season. Like he's currently wide receiver and 43 and a half point PPR fantasy scoring and the guys just behind him by the way, Calvin Ridley, T. Higgins and Jameson Williams talk about a disappointing group early on in 2025. But yeah the the Eagles are not as run heavy this year as they were last year, but they're still the sixth run heaviest team in the league and passing game just hasn't always looked great under new offensive coordinator Kevin Pattillo. Talk to an Eagles fan and they will complain for an hour about what the Eagles offense has looked like this season. But A.J. brown does have a 25.9% target share so far and a 36.3% air yard share. And the matchup against the Giants is a good one. Giants have given up a league high 74 receptions to wide receivers. They've given up the second most receiving yards to wide receivers and their collection of cornerbacks Paulson Adibo, Andrew Phillips, Cordell Flot. Just not all that fearsome.
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Erickson, is this the situation like we talked about with Jamar Chase where it was like boys just been getting bad. He's got to get it this week and if he doesn't get it then maybe we're going to start like really, really dropping ranks. But the matchup also looks pretty, pretty good here. What do you think, what's your take on A.J. brown this week?
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Well, the volume has been there for him the last two weeks. Like he's had eight plus targets in back to back games. So this isn't a week one occurrence where he's just not getting targeted at all. So the opportunities are there for him. They're trying to get him the ball. And even in a tough matchup last week against Pat Patrick, sir cant like he was able to do produce something. I mean he did a lot more than some receivers do when they go up against the number one cornerback in the NFL. So I also think that they missed him on a couple deep shots in one of the routes that he run downfield. Sir Tan was not covering him. Jalen Hurts took a shot and just missed him. So that's unfortunately always something that tends to happen with AJ Brown at times when Jalen Hurts is your quarterback. But I think that this matchup against the Giants is really great, especially when it comes to some of these kill shots downfield. Giants are terrible against deep passes. Everybody knows it. Like there's a reason why the Saints 1 productive play they had was a deep shot to Rashid Jahid for the long touchdown. And like that's really all they did through the passing game with Spencer Rattler. So they're going to take shots with A.J. brown. He had a good game against giants last year. Five cats for 89 yards and a touchdown. I also think that the Eagles, it seemed weird last week how throw heavy they came out of that offense because they were winning that game and you look up and think that, oh, jalen hurts threw 38 times so they must have been trailing. But they weren't. Like this was, hey, we're going to throw the ball more. And I think that the narrative has been yes, the receivers want to get more involved. I think that's part of it. But I don't think Saquon Barkley is 100 healthy. I mean he's been on the injury report leading up to this game. He only had six carries in the game against the Denver Broncos. So if he is, you know, hampered by this knee injury that he's dealing with, we don't know if he's going to play or not. I think that they could lean on the passing game a little bit more and you're going to see A.J. brown continue to see targets. So he wants to play volleyball, he wants to dominate the opposition And I think against the Giants little brother in the NFC East, I think the Eagles can finally give him what he wants.
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C
We've got two wide receivers in this range where you guys are on complete opposite ends it Fitz, he's a little bit closer to ecr, but Erickson, these kind of become about you. You're really, really big on is Michael Pittman. Michael Pittman is A wide receiver, 20 this week. Fitz, you're a little bit lower than that at 22. But Erickson, you're up at the 13. You've got him higher than A.J. brown, who we're just talking about. So let's start with you. Michael Pittman this week, very, very high rank for you. He is in that must start territory.
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D
Yeah. I just think that he's been a guy that has produced every single week this season. And I understand that a lot of it has come down to the touchdowns. But if you look at Michael Pittman in his career, this is what has been missing, right? Has been the touchdowns. He's had a ton of targets, he's had a ton of receptions. And sometimes we get years where the regression finally starts to cash in. Where, okay, finally, now Michael Pittman finally could score touchdowns. Now, did I think it was going to be Daniel Jones that was going to unlock this side of Michael Pittman? Not necessarily, but he's looking for him in the red zone constantly. So I don't think there's nothing broke with Michael Pittman, so I'm not going to fix it. Like he's been a top 20 wide receiver basically every single week except for the game he played against the Denver Broncos. He's going to keep scoring touchdowns. I'm not afraid of the Arizona Cardinals, who look like they're going in the complete opposite direction of a team. So 23% target share, that's leads the Colts. And I think what Michael Pittman is putting to rest is last year's what he did on the field. He was playing with a broken back last year, like clearly not 100% and that's why you saw these other guys pop up. There was a Josh Downs versus Michael Pittman discussion. I think that, that there was some legitimacy to that because Josh Downs is a really talented player in his own right. But I think the alpha when it comes to the receivers is still Michael Pittman. And I don't think he's going to stop scoring touchdowns. So that's why I have him ranked as top 15 guy.
- [24:35]
C
Fitz, you got him at 22. Is that alpha rank? Is that an alpha rank?
- [24:40]
D
To you?
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A
Yeah, I mean, maybe it's not in alpha rank. I have Pittman in several leagues on him, starting him totally confidently. No, no thought to putting him on the bench. It's just that Pittman ranks 25th in receiving yards right now among wide receivers and he has four touchdowns in five games. But he has managed to score four touchdowns in five games despite only four red zone targets so far. So he's definitely out kicking expectations with regard to touchdowns. In fairness, maybe he should be doing a little bit better in receiving yards. Like two of the last three Colts games, one they won by 21 points, one they won by 34 points. And they scaled back the passing volume a little bit in those blowout victories. But just generally, whenever I'm assessing receivers for rankings, I always consider target counts, reception counts, receiving yardage to be a little more. A little more real than. Than touchdown counts. And you know, Pittman's target counts so far just okay. He's averaging seven targets a game. So it's not like he's been a super high volume guy. I just, I don't. I think he's closer to being wide receiver three than a wide receiver one.
- [25:55]
C
Okay, makes sense. Last one in this range, Brian Thomas. What is Brian Thomas? Is he a one or a three in fantasy? I don't know. At this point he is ECR wide receiver 22. This is another opposite end. Fitzy, you're a couple spots lower. And Erickson, you haven't met. Wide receiver 17. This is a trust category. So I just want to go back to Erickson. You start the positive narrative here. Top 20 wide receiver Brian Thomas. You're still in?
- [26:20]
D
Yes, I'm still in because I've seen improvement from Brian Thomas over the last two weeks. The first three weeks of the season, his catch rate was absolute garbage. Basically catching under 50 of his passes. Did not look like he was on the same page at all with Trevor Lawrence. Now I think that they're still taking signs and still developing that chemistry, but the last two weeks he has a 70 catch rate. He had a season high in yardage last week. Brenton Strange is on an injured reserve. Like the. The picture is being painted for Brian Thomas Jr. That he's going to continue to improve as he's seeing opportunities in this Jaguars offense. He needs to be the guy. We're still not getting the Travis Hunter. Okay. He's going to play on offense only. He's still kind of playing on defense and they're still trying to figure out how they're going to use him. There's no figuring out who the number one wide receiver on the Jaguars is and who's going to lead the team in targets this week against the Seattle Seahawks. His name is Brian Thomas Jr. So that's giving me confidence. I think he's building that confidence as well with what I've seen over the last couple weeks. So I think that He's a top 20 guy I get. The matchup against Seattle is tougher, but I just believe that the guy is talented and I think that he's on the right trajectory fits with him.
- [27:19]
C
Being at 25, do you feel pessimistic about him or is this where you're going to like paint a positive narrative? Like, does a number one wide receiver on the Jags matter at this point anymore? Plus a bad matchup? You tell us Brian Thomas 25 for you.
- [27:31]
A
I did move him up, so now I'm in line with ECR at wide receiver 23 because of the Brenton Strange injury. So we know how good Brian Thomas is, but he and Trevor Lawrence just haven't really clicked yet. I am optimistic that BTJ is going to get back on the same sort of track he was on last year. I just, I have a lot of faith in Jaguars head coach Liam Cohen as an offensive choreographer. And some someone mentioned this that last year when Cohen was with the Buccaneers, like someone asked him how long it took his offense to start clicking and performing the way he had hoped it would, and he he said it was about a month. And now we're about a month in with the Jaguar, so maybe we'll start to see his offense bear a little more fruit. But so far Thomas has only one game with more than seven targets. He's only had one game with more than 55 receiving yards. He still hasn't had a touchdown catch, although he did have a touchdown run back in Week one. And Erickson said it even though you wouldn't have thought it with the way Baker Mayfield diced him up last week. The Seattle pass defense is is pretty good and the Seahawks have one of the better secondaries in the league. So I do think it's kind of a tough matchup. Maybe the target share we finally see BTJ get more than seven targets with Brenton Strange out, but I'm just still sort of pumping the brakes until we get more positive signs.
- [28:59]
C
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Check out zyn.com find to find Zyn at a store near you. Warning. This product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical. Wide receiver threes 25 through 36 we start with Zay Flowers at 25, followed by Calvin Ridley, Devonta Smith, Chris Olave, Jameson Williams, Jacoby Myers, D.J. moore, T. Higgins, Keon Coleman. Final three is Romeo Dobbs, Rashid Shahid and Matthew Golden. Can Zay Flowers exist with Cooper Rush? He comes in at 25 this week. That's kind of his rank all the time. I think that floats out there. He's ECR 25. Fitz, you've got him at 29. Erickson, you are on ECR fits. Let's talk with you here. You're a little bit lower here. What what's your take on Zay Flowers for week six?
- [33:30]
A
Yeah, I'm just concerned about what the Ravens offense is going to look like with Cooper Rush at quarterback. Presumably he will be the quarterback again. The Ravens gone by in week seven and you know, maybe the Ravens set Lamar Jackson again just to make sure he comes back as healthy as possible in week eight. But can the Ravens move the ball well enough to get Flowers more than the five targets he saw last week? To his credit, he gave us a floor game. He caught all five of those targets for 72 yards. But the odds of getting a Zay Flowers ceiling game with Cooper Rush at quarterback seem pretty remote. The odds of getting a touchdown, not great. So I just, I think there's more of a floor here than we normally get with Zay Flowers. When Lamar Jackson is a quarterback, I.
- [34:19]
C
Actually think that's like a good term to use the floor and the ceiling because was that 5 for 72, the absolute ceiling for Zay Flowers with Cooper Rush Erickson, or do you think there's more to be had? You've got him at ecr, so it's not like you're like pounding the table and having a parade for Zay Flowers or anything like that. But you know, you're at like 25, top of the ECR or top of the wide receiver threes. What's your take on Zay Flowers this week?
- [34:41]
D
Well, I would say that if he scores on that long catch, then that would be. His ceiling would be five for 75 and a touchdown. But I think that that's the best case scenario with Zay Flowers. And if we think back to our debates during the offseason talking about Zay Flowers, we had concerns about his touchdown upside with Lamar Jackson as the quarterback. So I think on one end of the spectrum because they're going to be facing negative game script. You have a situation where Zay Flowers actually may see double digit target, double digit targets, which wasn't always the thing when Lamar Jackson and Derek Henry were just running the show. So I think that there is that floor opportunity with Zay Flowers in a full ppr. But he's probably not going to catch touchdown. He has to rip off at least one or two big plays and that's probably more on him than the actual quarterback. Now he's a really talented player, so that's always in his range. I think that he's probably. Yeah. That wide receiver three where there are two teams on by. Unless you real feel really great about your other options. Like am I going to start Hassan Haskins over Zay Flowers? Like probably not. Like, I don't think I'm there yet with Hassan Haskins, but if there are some other receivers that, oh, I really like this guy's ceiling this week, I think we're going to lean towards that because I know Zay is probably more of a floor play than a ceiling play. Again, last week he had five for 72. He only ran 21 routes. The Ravens had no offensive plays because they played so bad and the Texans had the ball the entire time. So that's still in play because they're playing the Los Angeles Rams this week, which is not, again, a really tough matchup for their defense. So the Rams are going to score a ton of points. So, yeah, that's it for me on flowers.
- [36:10]
C
All right, I'm going to call an audible. We're calling an audible on a guy on a sheet here because we did not have him. So we'll get some live reaction just because it just hit me looking at this player and it didn't hit me before is Calvin Ridley. Calvin Ridley jumps in at ECR 26. And I just wanted to get your guys taken it. So apologies for calling the audible without the, the full prep here, but he's a guy that, like, not only wasn't on this list but was being talked about as a drop candidate. And it just, it did occurred to me, like, him coming in as one of the highest wide receiver threes has a lot of people back in the good graces. So, Fitzy, maybe we can start with you. What is your take? I don't know where you have him ranked here, but what's your take on Calvary? Like, do you buy last week as being him back in this offense moving forward?
- [36:58]
A
Where is Ridley and ECR 26? Oh, geez. No, I've got him wide receiver 34.
- [37:05]
C
Okay.
- [37:05]
A
I mean, like, he was having some major drop issues early in the season. And yeah, good game against the Cardinals last week. Although I think, you know, he had that big 47 yard catch late to set things up. I just, I'm not sure if I totally buy it yet with Calvin, really. He had had no more than 57 receiving yards in any previous game. He had been 30 or fewer receiving yards in three of his first four. And just really having major issues with his hands to the point where, like, he was briefly benched, I think in week four. So, yeah, I'm not quite ready to put Calvin Ridley back in the circle of trust.
- [37:50]
C
Yeah, that's kind of the big question is, is he back in the circle of trust? Erickson. So he is 26. The rankers have him high. Fitze does not. Where are you at?
- [38:00]
D
I think I'm a little bit more optimistic just because we finally saw a good game. From Calvin Ridley. I know that came late into that contest against the Arizona Cardinals, but this is something that I've been trying to keep in mind with two players last year that had rookie quarterbacks that start out the season really bad, veteran guys. And he was. And these were players I was comparing to Calvin really. It was Cortland Sutton who was terrible with Bonix to start the year last year. And Tara McLaurin was also equally bad with Jaden Daniels to start the year last year. So are we seeing now okay, Calvin Ridley, he's played a month plus with Cam Ward now they're far and he's starting to gel. So I'm a little bit more open to this being real. And they're also playing the Las Vegas Raiders, so it's not a defense that I'm afraid of in any capacity, especially when you look at how you beat the Raiders. The Raiders kind of throw everything at to kind of stop the run. So I think that you could see an opportunity where they're passing and elic. I am an or. He's had opportunities to kind of like be the alpha in this offense and it's looked like that was potentially happening. And now Calvin Ridley is he, you know, the undertaker meme, right? He's coming back from being, you know, left off from IU Manor. You know, I was telling people, yeah, cut Ridley, add IU Manor because he looks like he's the guy not the case here last week. And I think that you could see something positive again for really. So I don't really disagree with him as a wide receiver.
- [39:13]
A
3 and it, by the way, Ridley might be super matchup sensitive. Like started with a nightmare matchup against Denver in Week 1. Then the Rams and the Colts to, you know, neutral to slightly tougher than average matchups. You know, got also struggled against the Texans and then week five gets the injury depleted Cardinals secondary and now he gets a pretty soft matchup against the Raiders. So maybe there is more hope than I'm giving him credit for with that wide receiver 34 ranking.
- [39:46]
C
So what was your rank, Erickson?
- [39:48]
D
Wide receiver 32.
- [39:50]
C
32. Okay.
- [39:51]
A
No, much more optimistic than I. Yeah.
- [39:53]
C
You set us up. You set us up. You're like, I'm more optimistic like two spots higher than I was expecting, like 24, 20. I don't know.
- [40:01]
D
All right, all right.
- [40:03]
C
You did get more optimism.
- [40:05]
D
All right.
- [40:06]
C
You laid out this whole thing and you're like, by the way, I'm 32, so I'm six spots lower than that.
- [40:11]
D
That's.
- [40:11]
C
That's a fun one. All right, this is going to be an interesting one. Ridley. There's gonna be a lot of questions about Romeo Dobbs. There's gonna be a lot of questions about this week. You had the touchdown. Touchdown Bonanza. He comes in at ECR 34 this week. So that is a starting wide receiver. You guys are a little bit split. Fitz, you got him at 40. Erickson, you've got him at 35. Erickson's a little optimistic about Romeo Dobbs. So Erickson, let's start with you. Let's hear about Dobbs here. 35. He is a starter. What say you? Are you trusting that touchdown equity that he had that he can kind of continue holding some fantasy relevance?
- [40:44]
D
That's been his role since he's been on the Packers. He's always kind of been Jordan Love's go to guy in the red zone. Now, it's not going to catch three touchdowns every single week, but is he going to catch another touchdown because he's facing the Bengals. That defense is just terrible. Yeah, I think that's very firmly in play. And you catch touchdown, it's pretty easy to finish as a top 36 wide receivers. So I think if you're hurting at receiver or flex, you want an upside play. I think Roman Dobbs can do that, you know, not just bad players. I don't think score three touchdowns like Dobbs does. So I think that he's a fine start as a backhand wide receiver. 3. I know that the packers like to spread the wealth and I think that if Dobbs doesn't end up delivering, it's just because, oh well, Tucker Kraft and Josh Jacobs scored all the touchdowns and if that's what beats me was starting Dobbs and so be it. But this is a great matchup for him against a terrible defense against. So I'm not going to overthink it when Jordan Love and the packers have the highest implied team. If this Packer seems going to score the most points, like you probably want the guy who has the most red zone equity among their wide receivers in your starting lineup. So that's the kind of way I see it. But I do understand that the floor probably isn't super high just because he doesn't see a ton of volume.
- [41:48]
C
Fidzy, you got him at 40. Do you have Matthew golden higher or Romeo Dobbs Higher, I believe I've got.
- [41:56]
D
I think.
- [41:56]
C
Sorry, answer that.
- [41:57]
A
No, that's okay. I'll check it real fast. I think I have Dobbs one spot higher than Golden.
- [42:03]
C
Oh, so it's close enough that it's like, it's not like an immediate like oh, it's clearly this guy. That is interesting. You have Dobbs ahead, so love to get your breakdown on Romeo Dobbs a little bit lower. You got a more of like a flex play this week in a three wide receiver setup.
- [42:17]
A
Yeah, I mean I have no beef with anyone who's starting Romeo Dobbs this week. I just, just don't be too aggressive if you have several good flex options. I would just say not to chase the three touchdown game that Dobbs had against Dallas in week four. Like the target distribution in Green Bay is just so unpredictable. And I think there's a pretty good chance the packers get a run friendly game script as 14 and a half point home favorites against the Bengals. And if that's the case, maybe Jordan Love throws Fewer than 30 passes because we know that. But if he can, Matt LaFleur is content to just run it 35 times against an overmatched opponent. So. Plus our guy Dbro has pointed out that Dobbs is normally much better against man than zone and the Bengals don't especially play man at a high rate. I think they're just kind of middle of the pack as far as that goes. So yeah, Dubs is a reasonable option, but I wouldn't elevate him over other guys just because like you think the touchdown equity is going to repeat last.
- [43:23]
C
Up here, a wide receiver that is not in the 36, that should be. You guys both put this player. So we're going to nix him. But Terry McLaurin, Terry McLaren's ranked just so low because of the injury stuff, but that would be a player that would be up there. You guys both put a couple different names. Why don't you each pick one. Fitzy, we'll start with you. Wide receiver that is not in the top 36 that you think should be this week.
- [43:44]
A
I think Juwan Jennings also falls into that category for Erickson and I and that's the thing. He'll obviously be top 36 if we know for sure he's playing. I think that's still up in the air as of this recording. But for me, another guy would be Keon Coleman. He's wide receiver 39 in ECR. I have him wide receiver 32. I just, I always think there's upside with the Bills passing game. Even though Josh Allen likes to spread it around.
- [44:09]
C
Erickson, you got a name. You also, you had Juwan Jennings, you had McLaren in there, but you got one other name that you think is a top 36 guy this week that is not ranked that way.
- [44:17]
D
Well, I actually wanted to talk more about Juwan Jennings because I'm just very confident that he is going to play this week and that Ricky Pierce I'll probably won't play this week. So what we saw from I mean Jennings has played one healthy game all year and he went 589 on 10 targets with a touchdown. So he's kind of the forgotten 49ers wide receiver because we really haven't seen him put it all together aside from one week because he's been so banged up with several different injuries. But Tampa Bay, they don't have anybody like we're talking about the Lions secondary, the Buccaneers secondary is also depleted by a ton of injuries. So this is a team that every year Todd Bowles, their defense is a pass funnel defense. They, they sell out to stop the run and then teams throw all over them just like we saw last week with Seattle and Sam Darnold. So I'm very confident that I'm starting Jennings like this week as a top 20 guy. If he's out there, especially Pearsall's not, Kittle's definitely not going to be back. Shannon said. That's a long shot that he plays. And last year against The Buccaneers, Jennings seven catches for 93 yards.
- [45:18]
C
Rashid Shahid was the other name, by the way, since Erickson wanted to talk about Jennings, which I got no problem about talking about Juwan Jennings. But Rashid Shahid, another one of those guys to take a look at. That's in the 36. There you go. You guys want to check out who is in the top 36? As every day changes and these ranks change, you can also see who Erickson, Debro Fitzy, who they've individually got as well just by going to fantasybros.com rankings if we did not answer a big question in your wide receiver world, well, guess what, we got a weekly start and sit live stream right here on our YouTube where you guys can come and ask specific start and sit questions. Thursdays 3pm Eastern so on the podcast get on over to YouTube, YouTube.com fantasypros make sure you're subscribed. Click on the notifications so you'll get a little buzz when we go live and we can answer anything that we didn't hit for you. That's going to do it. Wide receiver ranks in the books for week six for Andrew Erickson and Pat Pitts Morris, I'm Chris Welsh. We'll talk to you next time right here on Fantasy Pros thanks for listening.
- [46:16]
B
To the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football Podcast. If you love the show, the best free way to support us is is by leaving a positive review on apple podcasts@fantasypros.com review or on Spotify. Follow us on X Instagram and Tik Tok at Fantasy Pros and subscribe to our YouTube channel at YouTube.com fantasypros.
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