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Thank you for tuning in to a new episode of the Football Guys Fantasy Show. I'm Dave Kluge with Football Guys and we're changing things up a bit for the 2026 season. While this show used to focus on fantasy football content year round, we're going to cover a little bit of everything going forward. Fantasy football, Dynasty football, NFL draft, coaching changes, basically best ball, high stakes drafts and so much more. Between now and the end of April, we'll be focusing primarily on Dynasty rookie rankings and the NFL Draft. We're going to get started with a series on positional rankings discussing my top players with Jeff Bell at every single position for year round Dynasty content. Be sure to find the Football Guys Dynasty show feed with Jeff Bell and subscribe there. We've got an exciting offseason scheduled with a fantastic rotation of some of the smartest minds at Football Football Guys. Be sure to find the YouTube channel at YouTube.com footballguysfantasy we will be starting back up next week with three new episodes per week starting on Monday. As always, thank you so much for tuning in. This wouldn't be possible without you, the listener taking the time to hang out here. Now let's dive in. Last week we covered our big board top 24 and some of our favorite sleepers. And over the next couple of weeks what Jeff Bell and I are going to do is just going to dive deep into every every single position looking at some of these rookies and helping you know this class a little bit better. Today we are going to talk about wide receivers and Jeff, you did all of the scouting reports for the wide receivers. As we talked about last week, I did the running backs by Kishuba, did quarterbacks and tight ends. So everybody welcome to the Jeff Bell show today we are going to talk about everything Jeff Bell has learned about these rookies over the last two months. Jeff, let's just start at the top. Who is the wide receiver one in this class.
C
So our consensus ranks in my ranks as well have Makai Lemon as the wide receiver one. I know Dave, he is not sure wide receiver one and I don't blame you there. I think that there's three wide receivers worth mentioning for me. Lemon, just when you look at projecting to how fantasy points are earned at the NFL level, I think Lemon lines up very, very well for that impactful player. The short and intermediate passing game. He's got the ability to stretch the ball downfield as well. My comparison is in the guide was DJ Moore. I'm hearing a lot of Amon Ross Brown to me. Lemon, I think there's a little bit despite the size, there's a lot more physicality to Lemon. There was a lot of usage where they were working him out of the backfield kind of it was a lot less lineup in a traditional slot, get free on the line and go and a lot more scheming him open out of opportunities. And that's where kind of DJ Moore stood out to me.
B
I like that comp quite a bit. And I remember when we first talked about Lemon a couple of months ago when we were kind of like introducing the rookie class. I did use that Amanra St. Brown comp because they are very similar players. But as you dug in a little bit deeper, you saw an ability to win outside, which is something that here we are now what going into year five for Amon Ross St. Brown and still struggle sometimes to win outside the numbers. So we're looking at Mikhail Lemon coming in here automatically with a better or you shouldn't say better, but more versatile skill set than you'd get from a traditional slot player. Now before I get to the next player, what I'm doing today. We've got no show sheet or anything here. Jeff and I didn't even talk beforehand. What I'm doing right now is just on footballguys.com radio rookie guide. We have a guide right now. It just came out on Monday. Over 150 rookies in here. We have scouting reports, player comps, strengths, weaknesses, quick little rundowns, ideal team fits, sortable stats. So much like I can't even say everything that we have here. But the biggest thing it is 100% free. You don't have to pay for this. So just footballguys.com rookieguide go ahead and Check that out. And then you could follow along with Jeff and I as we are talking about these players. And next up on the list after Makai Lemon is our consensus on wide receiver two, Jeff out of Ohio State, Carnell Tate. Talk to me a little bit about Carnell Tate.
C
Yeah. My comparison out of the guide was George Pickens for Carnel Tate. And I see a player with great length, the ability to win outside, the ability to stretch the field when vertically he's. The talk about him is how he wasn't even the best wide receiver for Ohio State. And that's because Jeremiah Smith was the best wide receiver in America. But think Cardinal Tate would have led almost every other team in targets, been their top receiver. Really. I think one of the things as we go through this, as I go through my rankings, the way that I looked at this class, just the changing landscape in the NFL, moving away from those pure slot receiver players and more towards players capable of winning outside. And I think Carnell Tate definitely defines that. I see a player that can contribute immediately outside. We know that Brian Hartline, the receiver showed Ohio State's receiver history there. If you're going to bet on a receiver, it's a pretty good spot to make a bet.
B
Yeah. And it's not just, you know, betting on a receiver, what he's done in college. This is a guy we've been waiting for years to come into the league. Like he came out of that 2023 recruiting class as one of the top wide receivers in the nation, a consensus five star recruit. So you've got everything here. You've got the pedigree, you've got production at a good school. The only thing missing right now is draft capital. But we'd expect that Carnell Tate probably won't fall out of round one. I know there's some mocks that have him going in the top five, the top 10, that might be a little bit rich. But Jeff, there's almost no world where Tate isn't a first round receiver, right?
C
No, I, I can, could not imagine that. And I do think he's going to go off the board within the top half of the first round would be my expectation. I mean we, a couple years ago, 2023 class, that was when we had like the Jackson Smith and jig by Jordan Addison. That kind of zay Flowers fell to the back end of the teens. We just don't really receive or sit on set, see receivers sit on the board. We're about to hit free agency and we've already got George Pickens has been franchise tags where maybe Alec Pierce might be franchise. The availability of receivers that could win outside is limited.
B
Yeah, exactly. So I think we're going to see a lot of teams going into wide receivers in the draft just because this is a deep class. Now, last little bit of housekeeping before we get into the rest of the show. If you're watching the show on YouTube, please give us a thumbs up. It is going to help us tremendously. If you've got anything that you'd like to add, positive or negative, let us know in the comments. We try to respond to every single comment that we get through, but the least you can do is just give us a thumbs up. If you're watching right now, please help us out by doing that. Now we can talk football for the rest of the show. We've got that out of the way. Jeff. Jordan Tyson, our wide receiver three and we've talked about it so much already. There's very a much so a clear cut top three in this class. I think when you look at just about anybody's rankings, you're going to see Makai Lemon, you, Carnell Tate and Jordan Tyson in some order of 1, 2, 3 at the top. So talk to me a little bit about Jordan Tyson and then tell me, like, how tight is this cluster, this trio of wide receivers for you, Jeff?
C
Yeah, I think Tyson, when you look, look at him. That's player again, the ability to win outside, but also to come down in the slot to really be a primary receiver. Violent player after the catch, but he's got very good. Elusiveness is not quite the right word. It's more like. It's almost like bendability. Like is almost kind of the way to describe him of like, it's. It's almost like Gumby at times, the way that he just kind of has that flexibility. But I at the same time will deliver violence. And I think that that's one of the things when I did my first run through comps like a Jerry Judy type player kind of stood out to me. But at the same time I was like this. He will lower his shoulder and go into a defender in a way that some of these receivers we've just not seen do that. And so that's where I ended up with Pierre Garcon as an explosive athlete who plays with violence, but also just the ability to win. Long vertical Garcon, early in his career was that. And then he developed into a really strong, solid underneath target.
B
Yeah, you know, we saw him played a lot out of the slot later in his career, catching those balls across the middle of the field. And it's kind of weird. Like, when I first started watching Jordan Tyson, the way he plays the game, you almost think that he's this like five' eleven, six foot kind of guy, just because, like you said, the violence, like, he doesn't shy away from contact. He's willing to just take defenders head on. And then you look and he's 6 foot 2, 200 pounds. Like, he's a little bit taller and thinner than you'd imagine, but he just plays compact, he plays aggressive. A guy that I really, really like. And, you know, I was on Jeff Blalock show last week and we were talking about the scouting process a little bit and kind of how we do this. And he asked me, like, what is it for you that helps, you know, when a guy has an it factor? And I said, they just move differently than what you're used to seeing. Like, when we're going through this kind of slog of these projected day three guys and these potential UDFAs, you feel like you're watching a lot of the same players over and over again. These guys at the top, they just have like a different movement style. And you'll see Jordan Tyson. You talk about like the Gumby type of bendability, as you say. Like, he just moves in ways that you aren't used to seeing people move, where you have to like, rewind it. And it's like, how did he do that? Like, he was about to hit this guy and then he took one side step. It ended up five yards downfield, untouched. Like, just doing things out here that you don't see normal athletes doing. And that is kind of that it factor that we're searching for. And I think Tyson has it. So once we get outside of this top three, Jeff, that's when you can go a lot of different directions. I have seen lots of rankings out here, and I've seen about eight different names holding down this wide receiver four spot. We were pretty much aligned here at football, guys. We all have him, either four or five. Casey Concepcion. Talk to me a little bit about him.
C
Yeah. Casey Concepcion. Like, first off, on your point, and I didn't address your question about how tight this top three is or how the separation there is. I. I think it's. To me, I don't know that it's quite as separated as maybe the feeling is out there, but at the same time, there's just a lot of uncertainty around Casey Conception. And I think Denzel Boston deserves to be in that conversation as well. I don't feel like there's a lot of other players that can be potential options at the wide receiver 4. Wide receiver 5. In this class, to me, I think it's pretty clearly Concepcion as the W receiver 4, Boston as a wide receiver 5. You can flip those orders. I'm fine with that conception. I compared him to Stefan Diggs and this is another one that it's. It's really interesting as you go through the process is I watch college football and you see a player and you kind of have an idea in your mind's eye of what that player is going to be, and then you dig into it and they end up being a little bit of a different player. And we already talked about the Makai Lemon and Amon Ross St. Brown Concepcion. I thought he was a vertical threat that like kind of was a speed merchant guy. And then I dig in and he's a lot more in the underneath game. It was just that Texas A M didn't utilize him quite in those same areas of the field. And that's where I ended up. My comparison being Stefan Diggs is a player that I think there's a lot in his game in terms of the ability to separate quickly. He just wasn't in an offense with a quarterback, with Marshall Reed that allowed him to do that within the Texas Tech or Texas A and M offense. So I think that's where I see the NFL level and that's where he's my wide receiver for, because I do think he's that type of athlete that has the ability to be a primary target in an NFL passing game.
B
And I'm glad that you mentioned that. Kind of like what he was asked to do in the offense and the structure of the offense and what he can do. Because we do see this pretty often, right?
C
Like the.
B
The two guys that jump out to me immediately and I'm sure there's better options, but we're just kind of talking on the fly here. Like Zay Flowers. If you watch what Zay Flowers did at Boston College, he was just a pure burner. That was it. Like he was just running downfield, just vertical routes almost every single snap. And that's what we thought he was being drafted to be. And then he comes into the NFL and he's immediately this like, low adot after the catch player. Just completely different than what we saw in college. Jalen Coker was another guy that, like we saw very much so. Just like a downfield guy. And then once he got into the pros, we saw him line it up as this big slot and creating after the catch. So that's why this process is so important, because if you just look at the highlights. Yeah, Casey Concepcion just catching these bombs deep downfield consistently, once you start digging in, he's a little bit more well rounded than that. So I like that one. I mean, this guy is also young, so we like that as well. And all of these guys, we're talking all underclassmen at the top here. So of course, you know, in, in dynasty, these are the guys that you want to draft, these young receivers that we expect to still be putting up points eight to ten years from now in those long lasting dynasty leagues. So you already mentioned his name, Jeff. Next up, we've got Denzel Boston out of Washington. And this was a guy that we talked about him probably a month and a half ago or so. And at first look, I kind of thought, you know, this guy's a little bit of a project. Kind of reminds me of like a DK Metcalf, AJ Brown, you know, just a big bricked up, physical, running, hard, aggressive type of player. But as you started to watch him, you pointed out this guy is a little bit more polished of a receiver than some of these other just pure athletes coming into the league. So I went back and I rewatched him through fresh eyes and I think that you're right here. This feels like another guy who should be going inside of round one.
C
Yeah, he. I think some of the conversation comparisons around him are kind of interesting that I'm seeing out in space where like Michael Pittman Jr. Or like Cortland Sutton type of a player. And to me, I think he's got much better feet probably than I. I don't. I hesitate to say these guys that are established all pro players, but like when I look at them coming out as prospects, I think he. I called him a rare mover at his size and some people made jokes about that, but neither here nor there. That's what I in this, like you said, a developed receiver, the size, the prototypical X receiver, the ability to win outside. I think there's a lot more finesse in his game without being. Without sacrificing toughness, without sacrificing physicality, but just kind of soft hands like type of player that I think you don't see in those big Project X packages. It's like the antithesis of the Quentin Johnston type of a player.
B
And do you think that's it is that we have just seen so many of these big body Like, I can't name all of them but Jonathan Mingo and Trailen Burks and Quentin Johnson. Do you think that there is just kind of this like immediate reaction that when you see this like big, muscular, physical athlete, we just assume that he can't do the good things and that he can't catch the ball, he can't run routes. Because we have seen so many of those prospects coming into the league lately.
C
I think what we end up seeing with big receivers, and I've talked about this on the Audible live with Matt Waldman about how so a lot of what you see with big receivers, they win with physicality or like throughout college and they're just going to be bigger and stronger than the cornerbacks that they're going up against. And there's a real adjustment period when you hit the NFL to, to be running up against, physically developed in their prime, 26, 27, 28 year olds that are not these 20 year olds that are just getting their feet wet and afraid that they're going up against an NFL prospect. And so I think that there's a development curve with that. And I think we've gotten to a place where rookies are league winners and rookies got us like we don't need to wait for production anymore. And so if you don't see immediate production, you, the guy's a bust, terrible. Forget about him. And, and when you, A lot of what we, I think the conversation becomes is when you're putting that out and saying that. And then when a player does develop in two or three years, well, you don't want to look foolish about what you said previously. So, you know, the busted coverages and made up things and, and that's the reason why they might win as opposed to they figured some things out. But I think that that's where it kind of ends up being with these bigger receivers.
B
Yeah, I wrote a big article, I think it was after week four, week five, about Quentin Johnston, kind of us anchoring ourselves to our pre draft biases more than we should and just being able to let go of those. And yeah, I think that, you know, Denzel Boston. Denzel Boston is definitely one of those guys that if you go in with an idea of what you want to see, you're going to see it. But if you watch it objectively, he is a much more well rounded player than I think that we would expect. Now we're talking about big guys and next up would be Chris. I always get this one wrong. Is it Brazil? I believe.
C
I think it's Brazil.
B
Brazil. Yeah. Chris Brazil. Yes. We, we will be wrong on this one, I'm sure. Let us know in the comments. But Chris Brazil out of Tennessee and another big guy where David Boston or I'm sorry, Denzel Boston is listed at 64209. Brazil's got a little bit more height. He's 6 foot 5, but a little bit of a thinner guy, more of a long strider. But Jeff, is this guy who's just going to get like glued to the outside running vertical routes or is there a little bit more versatility in Brazil's game?
C
I, I worry that that might be the case. But at the same time the reason why he's my wide receiver six and he ends up being our consensus wide receiver six is I think he's got the best chance to go in the first round as you're looking at some of these other players because of what teams are looking for those players, size and speed, the ability to win outside. He had great production his final season and he's at NFL bloodlines. His dad was a Jet, a cowboy for a little bit and then ended up having a longer career in Canada. So I think that as you're looking at what teams are looking for drafting and potentially in the first round is kind of more this package as opposed to some of these other players that probably might end up better fantasy assets there. But you know, I think taking the guy that ends up in the first round is a good bet to make. I think Brazil's got a chat at that. I am worried a little bit about limitations in his and I think that a lot of it where it comes in is just questions about lapses of concentration he likes. I think it ends up being he had a massive game against Georgia very, very early in the season and then Tennessee kind of fell out of it. They weren't really pushing for the College Football Playoff in the way that they had in the past. And I don't know if kind of like taking time down like senioritis like get to the NFL was maybe played into it, but definitely maybe some lapses in concentration.
B
So tell me your player comp for him because I think it's just one of your better just more on point player comps.
C
Martavis Bryant is my player comp for him. Just an explosive athlete able to win outside. And I mean I don't think he's, I'm, I'm not putting it as like he's the off the field guy that Arteus Bryant was. To be clear, we talk about last concentration then we compare him to martavius Brian I don't, I'm not there on that.
B
I knew what I was doing by asking you about the player. All right, let's move on to the next one. Here we're on wide receiver seven again. I know I said I wasn't to going to plug it again but footballguys.com rookieguide like you really have to check this out. The amount of work that we put into it. Full new redesign website. You don't have to worry. Last year we were doing this like clunky PDF delivery. No. Now you just go to footballguys.com rookie guide. It is all there for the reading. Wide receiver 7 Jeremy Bernard out of Alabama and this is a physical receiver. He can kind of do it all just here. I don't know if Swiss army knife is the the best way to describe Jeremy Bernard, but talk to me a little bit about what you saw with Jeremy Bernard, what you think he could do in the NFL.
C
Swiss army knife might be a good way to describe him. Just a player that to me I think he's a player that can be impactful in the short and intermediate areas. And as we're looking at PPR type utility players like that that can, I think he has the ability to win outside and then also you can shift him down into the slot. And so that's kind of where I'm looking for in our current NFL with multiple tight end sets. And I, I really, really my rankings, I really strayed away from guys that I thought were more of the pure slot archetype because we saw like a guy like Xavier or Strepo was valued very highly early in the process last year ended up not getting drafted. It's just that I don't believe that NFL teams value those pure slot receivers in the same way they might have 10, 15 years ago. And to Bernard, I just want to
B
say we, we kind of like vibed our way through those conversations in season but shout out JJ Zachary actually like did the study to show that like these slot receivers aren't as involved as they are anymore. We're seeing so many teams just going to these multiple tight end sets instead of having that third slot receiver on the field. Sorry, keep going with with Jeremy.
C
No. Now JJ had some awesome numbers too in the work that he did where he was talking about usually he did 300 snaps and players that played 50% out of slot or more and he was saying that for a long stretch it was about 18 players per year would average that. And then last year was Only three players that averaged that. And so as I was going through this class, I was definitely had that in mind of looking for players. And I think Bernard, he's. I think a Swiss army knife is a good way to describe him. And I copped him to Mohamed Sanu and people will scoff and say, mohammed Sanu, he didn't do anything like, what are you doing? But I, I think that Sanu had a very, very good, strong career. And Bernard brings that ability to kind of just solve some problems.
B
So the next guy we want to talk about here, Jeff, are wide receiver nine in consensus rankings. I talked about that 2023 class where Carnell Tate was number three in that class. The top receiver in that 2023 class, Zachariah Branch went to Georgia, had himself a pretty good career here. But we talked about it briefly with, with Mike Kishuba. It seems like we are a little bit lower on Zachariah Branch than a lot of the other people in the industry. And, you know, this is still a guy who could end up going early in round two, land in a good situation and be a good wide receiver. But talk to me about why we might be. Or actually, I see you're. You're highest of the bunch, so I'm asking the wrong guy here. It seems like you like that. I, I'm putting words in your mouth. Jeff. Talk to me about Zachariah Branch.
C
To, to me, I think it's what you talk about. He's the wide receiver one in the 2023 class. And so I think that I value him higher because he just has a very intriguing package that I think NFL team's going to take a chance on trying to figure out. I don't know that he. I don't know. There's some conflicting opinions about his ability downfield. I'll just say that. But I do. I think that there were some limitations with Gunner Stockton, but at the same time, there's. I think there's some limitations with Zachariah Branch as well. And he didn't really do much at usc, really struggled especially with having Makai Lemon there with Jacoby Lane as the receivers there. And it wasn't until he came to Georgia and was really in, I mean, basically a gadget role in Georgia's offense. He was. There was a lot of behind the line of scrimmage, at the line of scrimmage, screen time plays, and that ended up being a big focal point of Georgia's offense. So I've got questions about where the development could go, but at the Same time, I think that when you look at raw athleticism and the ability that he brings. My comparison here is Kevonte Turpin. And I think that Kevonte Turpin. And so if you have been paying attention for 10 plus years and you know what Kavante Turpin was at TCU before he kind of went sideways a little bit. He, he was really, really up there. His true freshman year is the year that TCU fell just short of. Josh Doxen was on that team. Dribble Boykin. They fell just short of the College Football Playoff. Vante Turpin had some problems. He figured him out. He ended up being a pretty solid NFL contributor. You might view him more of a special teamer, but I think that Zachariah Branch is kind of at that developmental point where if you would have picked him up and, and really kind of pushed him in that direction of some of the earlier flashes.
B
And that's why I'm a little bit lower on him. Again, talking back about the show that I did with Jeff Blaylock last week where we were talking about this a little bit, I said one of the biggest red flags for me is when I see guys who are just consistently schemed up touches, not guys who are winning on their own in various ways. You know, you see a lot like, especially the thing that jumped out to me for running backs is like there were some running backs who like, their big plays only came on stretch runs to the outside. And it's like, yeah, they're, they're fast and they've got some nice bend and that's going to work for them in college. But the defensive tackles are going to be just as fast as they are once they hit the pro level. So when you're looking at these guys that are kind of reliant on gimmicky schemed up touches, that is a little bit of a red flag for me and that's why I'm a bit lower on, on Zach Rad Branch. But the, the, the, the ceiling here is just astronomically high. If he could put it all together.
C
Exactly.
B
Next, let's talk about Chris Bell out of Louisville. Was having a really, really good season until he tore his ACL late in the season. So that is going to muck up the waters a little bit as we go through this combine and the draft and all that sorts of stuff. Like we might have to put a little asterisk next to his draft capital if he falls a little bit. But looking before the acl, this is a guy who was putting a lot of really promising stuff on date.
C
He was. And. But it's. To me, he's. He's just an interesting player because part of, part of my rank is built off of the conversation that I see around him or I see like somebody like Daniel Jeremiah valuing him highly. And there are people that I pay attention to that view him. And so I think that looking at what an NFL team's looking for, we've already talked about outside receivers that have that ability. He's got excellent size. The thing that struck me with Bell, that isn't necessarily a good thing. It seemed like instead of trying to create separation, it was like he almost was creating contested catch opportunities because it was like he said he knew he was stronger than the defensive back. So allow me to like create this closeness at this point while you're trying to go for the ball and kind of catch off the. Off balance trying to go for the ball. I'm gonna secure it and blow you up again an instant basically, and then break a play that way. And. And to me, I would rather see a wide receiver trying to get open as opposed to why you were trying to get covered. Like. But you know, I do think that, I mean, Puka Nakua is like a type of player that kind of plays to that physicality.
B
We know that almost like it was better in content. And I think Roma dunes a too. Like there are some players that are just like more comfortable. Comfortable in contested catch situations.
C
Yeah. Because I don't know if they maybe if they're feeling the proximity of a defensive back and so they've got a good idea where. Where they are to be able to play off that. I don't. I don't know. Or maybe they, they want to catch that defensive back off balance and, and explode into them. That might be the case. But Noah Brown was my comp for Chris Bell and people might not like that, but that's another player that he was a plus plus athlete at Ohio State in an offense that was really different than what we've seen now out of Ohio State wide receivers where that was kind of the Urban Meyer offense where it was a lot of J.T. barrett running the quarterback. And Noah Brown was an explosive player that's dealt with some injuries in his career, but great physicality at the wide receiver position. He just never really was able to put it all together consistently.
B
Yeah, when I watched him, the first one that jumped out to me was Zay Jones, another guy who like a very good athlete, a guy who can excel with Contested catches, but also just like Noah Brown and just like Chris Bell has struggled with some injuries. Let's keep working down the list. Here we are on wide receiver 10 now, Malachi Fields. He played most of his career at Virginia, but transferred to Notre Dame last year. So he saw a little dip in production. Just because it's Notre Dame, they're going to run the ball, they're not going to throw it all that much. But he was more efficient with the opportunities that he got. So, Jeff, I don't know if you have an answer for this, if you just want to talk about them, but would you say that Malachi Fields improved, hurt or didn't really do much to his draft stock in 2025 playing at Notre Dame?
C
I would say that he did a lot with his draft stock at the Senior Bowl. He was one of the biggest risers at the Senior bowl and showed out very, very well there he that Virginia offense. So the Virginia offense was where Malik Washington two years ago led the nation in receiving out of that Virginia offense. And then Malachi Fields picked up after Malik Washington left and was a major featured receiver there. Going to Notre Dame, I mean, probably a push. He, he did emerge as the top receiver for Notre Dame. There were some players. Joey Gatewood, people are excited about him coming into the year that Fields, I think separated himself in the Notre Dame receiving room, but it was probably a net neutral where it ended up. He started out as a quarterback and, and so you really developing out of quarterback. And I think he's a better athlete than people realize. He was on Bruce Feldman's freak list and I think people see just big, strong, big slow receiver type of a player. And I think that there's some underrated athleticism with Fields.
B
Let's keep working on the list. Here we are at wide receiver 11 now, Reggie Virgil out of Texas Tech. I don't really know too much about Reggie Virgil. I gotta be honest. This isn't a guy that I've dove very deep into yet. So talk to me about Reggie Virgil. What you like, what you dislike, strengths, weaknesses, all that good stuff.
C
Reggie Virgil's a dude.
B
Yeah.
C
All right. He's a guy. He is. I, I love that Kashiba came in at higher than me because I feel like I was the person highest on Reggie Virgil that out of anybody. But then Mike was at the Senior bowl and watched Virgil and he was like, Jeff, like, what's going on here? And so I've, I've compared him to Marvin Jones, who was just a player that like Marvin Jones was just. It felt like you could pluck Marvin Jones into any offense. It didn't matter of like there.
B
And he did. He played on like eight different teams.
C
Yes. And it just like fills, it just fills a need. Like whatever need you have. Like, do you need a guy that can operate in the short and intermediate? Sure. Like plug him here. Do you need a guy that can invert? Like he can do that. And so I really. Texas Tech was one that I didn't watch them probably as maybe as much as I should have throughout the season and then really dug in and I just really enjoyed their scheme, the way that they asked the receivers to do a lot of different things. Because a lot of what you'll see at the college level now is like, is. I call it the Dante Thornton special, where it's like you just run a straight line fast or we'll throw a wide receiver screen to you. And other than that, whereas like, like Virgil's running routes and he's setting defenders up and these and it's really just building upon itself, playing out of inside, outside, all over. I don't really know why there's not any buds on Reggie Virgil. Maybe it was because he's just a late riser. He kind of came out of nowhere. He had a little bit of a troubled childhood background, got into some trouble around high school, not really recruited. Ended up at Miami University, had basically a massive explosion year, then went to Texas Tech and was an immediate contributor.
B
Let's keep moving down the list here. We're now on wide receiver 12. We've got Elijah Surat and this is the first player that there is like major dissension between me, you and Mike and how we have this player ranked. You are a little bit lower on Elijah Surat. Mike Kashuba is much higher on him. And I am just Switzerland right in the middle at wide receiver 12. So talk to me about some of the reservations you might have about Surat, because this is a guy who is the lead receiver on a championship winning Indiana team. And I think that that alone is going to get a lot of people excited.
C
Yeah, I think to me it was really difficult to rank wide receiver 7 through like wide receiver 16. It felt like it was a really tight jumble and I kind of want the NFL to tell me what they think about these players. Surat, we, we talk about the big receivers, we talk about guys that have struggled. To me, I think he's gonna be. Separation probably was my biggest concern was Sirat. It was a lot of back shoulder in Indiana's offense playing to that physicality and. And not in a way that I felt like Sherratt was particularly explosive in what he was doing in that back shoulder. That's just kind of what I saw there. I just. And again, I think it was really, really difficult for me to rank like, wide receiver seven riders for 16. And I think you can make arguments about any of the players. And so it just kind of ended up. Sirat ended up closer to the back of the pack than the front of the pack.
B
So you said some really good things about Elijah throughout there. But I'm gonna go back to the first thing that you said, which is I want the NFL to tell me who is good. And a lot of people might hear that and just like, not really understand what you're saying here. This. We talk about it a lot. We don't want to get like, too tied down to our pre draft opinions. Like, we look at this time of year, we want to learn as much as we can about these players. We want to know what their strengths are, their weaknesses are, what types of offenses that they would fit in. But you talk about, like, how hard it is to split hairs between these guys once you get like outside of the top 10 wide receivers. And I think what you say, I want the NFL to tell me who is good. They are going to answer those questions in the draft. So, like, right now we have, I think Xavier Strepo, you already mentioned him earlier in the show. That was a guy that a lot of people were very excited about in the pre draft process. And you had some reservations about Restrepo saying, like, this guy probably isn't going to get the same buzz in the NFL draft as he is in dynasty drafts. And sure enough, while everybody was hoping that he was going to get day true, day two draft capital, he ends up going undrafted. Every team in the NFL decided they didn't need a guy like him. So when you look at a guy like Elijah Surratt, you know, we've got him ranked where we have him ranked right now. But if we get through the NFL draft and they go through all seven rounds and Elijah Surrott doesn't get drafted, it would be foolish for us to continue saying that this guy is a top 12 wide receiver when the NFL decided that he's not. So I think that's one of the more important things about being a dynasty rookie draft, whatever you want to say, analyst, is being able to look at the NFL draft and kind of use that as your guiding light, regardless of what opinions you formed beforehand. But that being said, we're going to keep working our way down. I think in consensus rankings, our consensus rankings prefer Elijah Surat to Omar Cooper, but you and I both have Amar Cooper ahead of Elijah Surratt very slightly. Like, we're talking marginal here. But talk to me a little about Omar Cooper, because I also prefer him ahead of Surat, and I see you do as well.
C
A player that probably profiles to just be a little bit more impactful in fantasy football, I think, is where I see Omar Cooper Jr. That package of can. Can play in the slot, potentially can play outside. I know some people are very, very high on Omar Cooper Jr. And I just to. From what I watch, I just don't see the elite athlete that I see other people claiming that he is. And I know that the. The spreadsheet, the numbers are really, really good for Omar Cooper Jr. I think it's very good field awareness. A veteran player that just, you know, understands defenses really, really well. And I don't know that overall I see him, like, creating the same separation maybe, or like they're finding those same windows in NFL passing game potentially as what he was able to do at Indiana. My comparison for him was Christian Kirk as where I kind of saw him and Christian Kirk, I think it was just a heady player, the ability to figure it out. I mean, Christian Kirk, like Cooper, I think Cooper does have the ability to be potentially offered verticality, to be kind of in the shortening intermediate game. You'll be able to be moved around, but you're kind of dealing with a little bit of. I just don't see maybe the elite, elite guy that I've seen some other people paint him as.
B
And I love the Christian Kirk comp because he's such a versatile player, can kind of do it all. We saw early in his career in Arizona, he was playing a lot outside. He was running vertical routes. Then we see him go to Jacksonville, where he's playing a lot of slots, run across the middle of the field. And then this year in Houston, it was a limited sample, but we saw him just playing all over the formation and running a lot of routes out of the slot to the numbers outside. So just doing some different things as well. He's been able to pick up systems real quickly and just kind of figure it out. So I like that comp quite a bit. Another guy that you and I are both a little bit higher on is going to be Jacoby Lane and Makai Lemon. Obviously one of the top three receivers we talk about in this class. Jacoby Lane, his teammate at USC was a very different type of receiver. We're looking at a guy listed at 6 foot 4, under 200 pounds, a tall, lanky receiver, good contested catches, good at getting downfield. But are there any limitations in his game that you'd be worried about, Jeff?
C
I'd like to see. He needs to develop. I mean, it's the biggest thing with him. It's. There's a lot of room that he can build out his frame and become more of a. He needs to play to. He's going to be the type of player that's going to have to play to physicality. And I think he's got to put a lot of strength on to be able to accomplish that. I think the. His ability in the red zone, the ability to go play the ball, I think it's definitely there. But we saw him playing off of Makai Lemon and I think it was different in the ways that he, you know, Cardell Tate was playing off of Jeremiah Smith, where Jacoby Mait Lane was just a lot more limited in what he was offering in the route tree. And so I compared him to Tim Patrick and I think to get to Tim Patrick, he probably needs to put on some strength and put on £30 at least. Yeah, yeah. But I think that people like some of these comparisons. I feel like people are probably gonna scoff at and whatever, but like I'm talking about players that have had long successful NFL careers and once you start to get outside of like wide receiver 10, wide receiver 12, wide receiver, like that range, like a long, successful NFL career is a win because there are a lot of guys that don't even get to that point.
B
Point? Yeah, I mean, Tim Patrick was in the league for nearly a decade and suffered an Achilles and an ACL and still continued to come back. So yeah, I think like any rookie, incoming rookie, you know, you're a 22 year old kid hoping to get drafted, you'd pray for a career like Tim Patrick, a guy who played, like I said, nearly a decade and probably made close to 30, 40 million dollars throughout his career. I'm sure many people would be happy to live the life Tim Patrick lived. Now, again, Jeff, I said this about Reggie Virgil and I'm going to say the same thing about Caleb Douglas. I know my homework for tonight. I gotta watch some Texas Tech because I did not watch a lot of Texas Tech this year. But Caleb Douglas is another guy that you seem to like quite a bit. Does he also get the, the Jeff Bell? This is A dude stamp.
C
He's close, he's close. I think Reggie Virgil a little bit smoother than Caleb Douglas and so offered a little bit more. Josh Reynolds is my comparison here. And Josh Reynolds at Texas A and M was like a freak, freak athlete and we didn't really kind of see that at that NFL level the way that he was in college. But like Caleb Douglas, the ability to win, win balls in the air, win downfield. But I really again, I really enjoyed Texas Tech's offense and what they asked their receivers to do and it was just really interchangeable of, you know, guy like Caleb Douglas might line up in the slot, Reggie Virgil outside or going to flip him around the next time. Really a lot of roots in like the Mike Leach air raid type of an offense that asked receivers to do a lot of different things. And as we are getting a lot more simplified college passing games in some, some areas, I think somebody that can offer versatility, I value that pretty highly.
B
So I am not going to say much on Caleb Douglas because I haven't watched him a ton yet. But like I said, I'll be watching some Texas Tech later tonight and hopefully have more to add about these two receivers when we talk again next week. But again continuing to work our way down the list. We are now at wide receiver 16. We're going to talk about Antonio Williams out of Clemson now. This guy was very productive. But you talk about how the NFL is kind of moving away from these slot only players. Do you have that fear about Antonio Williams that he is kind of limited to just being a slot receiver?
C
I definitely do. And it's, he's a Debbie Darling. It's the, he was a highly, he was a high recruit, landed at Clemson and then he, when he landed at Clemson, it was really a transformational period with the program where they had just seen like guys like T. Higgins and there was a run with DeAndre Hopkins like starting it early. But a lot of those, I mean Justin Ross didn't really quite hit in the way but a lot of those types of players kind of fell out and it ended up being the next tier of receivers that were supposed to be the guys that stepped in. They just kind of missed and ended up kind of almost struggle targets out of like freshman Antonio Williams and really just being, he ended up being like Kade Klubnick's best friend type of a guy. And a lot of what I just didn't see a lot that I feel comfortable translating at the NFL level of what was being done with Antonio Williams. Clemson's Offense has not been good for the last couple of years and not operating at a high level where their talent level suggests that it's potentially should be a lot of receivers flaming out and it just ended up being Antonio Williams, a lot of underneath gadget type stuff. And to me, I just don't. I understand why he might be valued highly in certain circles because when a player has a high recruiting pedigree at a blue chip school and he's productive immediately it's gonna enter him into some conversations. I'm just not sold on the NFL really loving Antonio Volumes.
B
And I'll say too like guys like this can be very situationally dependent. Like if he lands with you know, a team that has a need for that type of receiver, I think that he does have the, the, the skill to be productive. But he's not a guy who is just going to be scheme agnostic, show up to any team and just like declare himself the wide receiver one and play like that. So I think that you are right to have some reservations here. Next guy we want to talk about Dion Burks, wide receiver out of Oklahoma. And this is an undersized guy listed at 5 foot 9, 188 pounds. But as you love, he is on the Bruce Feldman freak list. Just a very, very good athlete, has dealt with some injuries throughout his career. But talk to me a little bit about Dion Burks and what you like about him, what his upside could potentially look like in the NFL.
C
Yeah, it's almost the exact opposite conversation of Antonio Williams because it was Dion Burks is and it really boils down to this. This is the type of guy the NFL likes to take chances on. The guy NFL likes to take like twitched up guys. And you were talking earlier about kind of going with what the league tells us and, and I see it all the time on I, I think people build very good prospect models and I think that they do really good work in that area and it's a different way to view players. But I also see those prospect models miss on like a guy like Isaac T Slot because like that's not, they're not really accounting for what the NFL is looking for. And then NFL is looking for guys that are freaks of freaks basically and hoping that it figures it out. And so that's where that balance comes in on taking a chance on and valuing a guy that I think the NFL will value highly. And I know I, I really appreciate the work of Daniel Jeremiah. And Daniel Jeremiah had his top 50 and Dion Birch was like wide receiver 11 and inside his top 50 prospects. He got absolutely roasted by fancy social media on. On having Brooks there. But to me, that's somebody that is inside NFL circles, that has been in NFL scouting rooms that knows what the NFL teams are looking for. And so we know that these types of players get opportunities, get drafted, and they get multiple opportunities, whereas some other players might not get that multiple opportunity.
B
I think I'll have to take a closer look at Dion Burks, because I've got him at wide receiver 18 right now, but you make a pretty compelling case about what his upside could look like in the league now for him. So I like that one. Now, wide receiver 18. I know for a fact this guy gets the Jeff Bell dude stamp. Talk to me about Tyron Montgomery. I know we talked about him on the sleeper show just last week. Be sure to check that out if you haven't already. But this guy, you know, we have to be responsible with our rankings, but this is a guy that I know you like a ton and have just continued to gush about and move up your rankings throughout this process.
C
Well, he didn't. This is my first rankings, Dave, so I didn't really move them up any rankings. But I think it's. It's just fun when you discover, like, a guy like Tyrone Montgomery and it's just off the radar and you. You find the story and you learn about it and then it's. You see them play and you see him performing at tiny John Carroll with like, very, very. Just not a lot of experience at a receiver position and then going to the American bowl and just lighting it up and getting an opportunity Senior bowl. And he comes out and he's going up against cornerbacks that are viewed as top five corners in the class and just mossing them, just, just beasting. I'm like, pure. And. And the interesting thing about him is that basketball background walked on at LSU, made LSU's basketball team. And Stevie Johnson has. Talks a lot on. He's on X. He talks about receivers a lot. And the thing that, like Stevie Johnson, if you remember, he would always give Daryl Reavis fits. And the thing with Stevie Johnson was he was just outside of the traditional molded receiver. He, again, another guy that had a basketball background and like, a lot of his moves were like bat. Like the. The footwork was basketball crossing people up, basically. And so he'd tie a guy like Daryl Reavis or these guys that might be very, very good and very technical. It's just a wild card that you're throwing into there and. And I have no idea how NFL teams are going to value it, how to value it in general. But I think that when you look at a player, and again this isn't a guy that he was at every single football camp and then blue chip and, and guys that I really value one players that have cross sport backgrounds that especially at a high level because I think that they've learned different skill sets and, and offer different solutions, but also people that have lived life and that have understood life. And Montgomery is a player that like, like some of these guys you look at. Keon Coleman is still trying to figure it out and maybe doesn't like Montgomery. I feel like he's lived a lot of life and you're going to get a guy that is very dedicated. He's, he's almost like he's second chance. Like I'm not messing this up and, and just infectious personality from everything that I've seen. Just going, trying to figure out solutions and just bringing an entirely different package in a high, high level athlete. Just a very intriguing player.
B
So again you talk about lived a lot of life. I'm just going to go off on a quick little tangent here. He's an older prospect. I don't know his exact age, but I think he's around 23, 24 years old or I think he's 24 years old. How much does that weigh into your evaluation? Because of course, you know, dynasty, we, we love these young players and we love the underclassmen that are coming in. But for the guys who got the, the COVID year and then a medical exemption, whatever it is, like we're looking at some guys now that are coming into the league after six years of playing in school. Does that concern you at all? When a guy, I mean when we talk about the running backs, I know all their ages off the top of my head. But like Seth McGowan is 25 years old. Rasul Faison is going to be 26 if he gets drafted his rookie season. So how much does that concern you for some of these older prospects?
C
If I know the story and I know the reason why, it's like it's one of those that I hear it and, and I get it but it's also probably concerns me a little bit more on a guy that like a Xavier Legat where it's like four years, five years, hasn't done anything and then just figures it out one year basically. And because he's a, he's a grown man, a high level athlete and he realizes like this is my Last chance versus maybe somebody that has had a little bit of a different background and it's like a kind of impossible for him to have been in this position any younger. So there. But I think a lot of when it comes down to that it context is everything.
B
So let's talk about the next guy here and I, I might be irresponsible here with my ranking because I am dragging him down quite a bit. Kevin Coleman, you've got a bit wide receiver 14. Micah Shuba has met wide receiver 19. I've been wide receiver 27. So having a detention that big makes me want to go back and re watch Kevin Coleman and see if I missed anything here. But talk to me about Kevin Coleman and what you like about him.
C
Jeff, big time riser from the Senior bowl and just he has been in some situations. I mean he's been with four different teams in four different years. He was kind of the other guy with Travis Hunter that went to Jackson State to play with Shadow Sanders and Deion Sanders. When all those guys left for Colorado he ended up going to I think he went to Louisville first and then Mississippi State second. And it was really just he was being very intentional about trying to find the best place for him to develop and to become an NFL receiver. I think he's had that vision probably since he was a freshman and made that choice to go with Deion Sanders down at Jackson State. And so I think ending up where he ended up. He, he's a St. Louis kid. He was a high school legend type of a player in St. Louis. Ends up at Missouri to end up his career there. Really, really strong Senior Bowl. And and so I think that it's a player that like Luther Burton's not a fair comp. I think he's. Luther Burton's definitely better but like a player that I think could impact. Yeah, a player that can impact fantasy production.
B
Next guy I want to talk about here, Jeff Skyler Bell. And again I'm just going to keep gushing about this rookie guide but we have a really cool feature here where we show where these players rank statistically among everybody else that we have in the rookie guide. And Skyler Bell was just, was unbelievably productive last year. 101 receptions was second among the 55 players we have in the rookie guide. 1278 yards was second. 13 touchdowns was second. I mean this guy was just wildly productive. Ended up finishing as a Belitnikov Award winning finalist. So Skyler Bell, why is it that we're a little bit lower in our rankings despite his very productive college career.
C
Probably upside is a big question there. If you talk about an older prospect and, and as you start to get to some of these guys that might not be the most explosive athlete that, that were able to be very productive at college, especially their fifth six years in college, like kind of, they figured everything out. They know the little tricks and I think there's value in that. But also there's questions on can he win outside? Can what, what are we really dealing with? And so I think that as you don't have those elite, elite level athletes and guys that tend to be a little bit more on the production side, especially older prospects on the production side, starts to open up some questions about what might you be looking at overall upside.
B
And we've talked about age a lot with these last few players. When you go to this rookie guide, footballguys.com rookieguide we don't have every player's ages, but for the players that have publicly listed ages, we've added those as well. So Skyler Bell, 23 years old, which might not sound old, but in the, you know, the, the context of rookies coming into the league, potentially playing his rookie season at age 24, you know, definitely not a young guy. Now wide receiver, 21. We got Barry and Brown here and I think a lot of people are just going to see a very, very fast player in an LSU jersey and get really excited about him. But are there any concerns about Baron Brown and how his skill set could translate to the NFL
C
if he figures it out? I think that it, there's a very high upside here. He. So Rashid Shahid is my comparison. He was set the SEC record for most rushing yards or not rushing return touchdowns and so explosive, explosive player. But at the same time I think there were some struggles in Tennessee and not Tennessee, Kentucky's offense overall, the ceiling of the offense, the way that they played football, they really tried to play like limit the score and win with defense type of an offense. And so that created some questions about his production profile. And so it's, it's a high level recruit that you're just hoping figures it out, but the potential is definitely there.
B
Now Jeff, I'm looking at this next guy here and I see Bryce Lance, a Lance player from North Dakota State. Am I, am I following the breadcrumbs here?
C
On the breadcrumbs? This is Trey Lance's little brother. And there it's, I think this is fascinating because he's not that much younger than Trey Lance. I think it's about 16 months or so younger than Trey Lance. But we've got him hitting the draft and meanwhile Trey Lance has exhausted his rookie year or rookie contract. I think he. Last year he was a year beyond his rookie contract. And so just polar opposites of Trey Lance coming into the draft. One of the youngest players to come into the draft and then his brother Bryce Lance being one of the older players in this class. And to me it's, it's a lot of questions around. I think his name does a lot of work for him. On getting him on the radar. There were some things posted. He's a 46 guy but like I don't know if he's 46 guy but like same time I don't know he's a 4 or 4 guy. It's just kind of interesting on seeing where Bryce lands, puts it all together.
B
Let's go to State. Was an interesting team, you know, not, not a school that a lot of people are watching but have a lot of players that are going to potentially find their names being called in the NFL draft. We talked about Cole Payton is one of Mike Ashuba's big sleepers. Barika Capinu and Truman Weirmeiner could both end up getting drafted as well. And then we're looking at, you know, potentially Bryce Lance getting his name called. So for a school that there aren't a lot of expectations for, they had some, some pretty fun players coming out of this 20, 25 roster. Next guy we want to talk about here, Jeff, and this is another guy. You know, just full disclosure. I know about the running backs, you know about all the wide receivers. This is a guy that I have very, very little information on. Josh Cameron out of Baylor. I don't even really have a question here. I'm just gonna ask you to tell me about Josh Cameron out of Baylor.
C
Yeah, so my comparison is Juwan Jennings and, and Cameron is a physically developed receiver. It's very, very strong and he's been an explosive player in the return game. His overall wide receiver ability might be called into question on what he can do potentially downfield like that. Whereas a lot more leaning towards the schemed opportunity type of a player. But I think that he's, I really like the Juwan Jennings comparison of a player that he's not going to be afraid to be that guy that's knocking a defensive ends head off on like a swing around type play or just opening things up for his teammates. And so that's kind of what you're looking at with Cameron. I think he's he is a good athlete and so I'm curious to see how I'm testing out the combine, but you're kind of maybe limited closer to line of scrimmage type gadget type of role.
B
All right, Jeff, I'm gonna let you pick the last guy that we talk about here. This will not be our wide receiver 24 in the rookie guide. We've still got 28 players left that we could discuss if we really want to. But I'm going to leave this one up to you. Dealer's choice. Round us out with a nice clean top 24. Give me one more receiver that you just want to close the show talking about.
C
I would like to close the show talking about. You might have incepted me earlier, but talking about me goes Louis Bond here.
B
All right.
C
And people are going to be very angry that we haven't mentioned Ted Hurst and or that we haven't mentioned probably Ted Hurd hearse one people get angry about. But I think Lewis Bond, he strikes me as so he's. He's a converted running back but he doesn't look like a running back. He's a. He has really developed into a very, very well rounded slot receiver. And so I think there's questions about his overall upside, what you might be dealing with. But at the same time I think he's a very intelligent player that if you're looking for a player that can create after the catch that can do those quick separation type of place. Juliana Edelman was my comp here and so like Lewis Bond to me maybe Fton Chisholm has it locked down but like feels like just like the Patriots slot receiver in like the Josh McDaniels offense. Like type of a scheme type player but converted running back and, and I think that he ended up being Boston College's all time leading receiver and pretty much every receiving category. So I think Lewis Bond's a player to keep an eye on.
B
I like that one and that's a good way to wrap up the show here. Now again, this is just a little taste. We talked about 24 receivers today. We have 55 receivers in our rookie guide. We have full scouting reports on all them. We've got strengths, weaknesses, player comps, ideal team fits so much more. After the NFL or after the scouting combine we'll be adding relative athletic scores, all the combine data. After the draft we're going to do full write ups with the team and schematic fits with updated depth charts, all of that good stuff and you're going to be able to find it all off season long@footballguys.com rookieguide completely free, no download required, just footballguys.com rookieguide if you check that out, let us know what you think. Whether it be in an Apple review or a YouTube comment, let us know what you think about it. Share it with your friends or don't share with your friends if you think it's good enough, that you don't want them getting that same edge that you got. But we will be back later to talk about running backs, quarterbacks and tight ends. We've got a lot of rookie content coming your way over the next couple of months here, so stay tuned here on the Football Guys Dynasty Show. Thank you so much for tuning in and we will see you soon.
D
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Episode: Top Rookie Wide Receivers Rankings and Tiers || Fantasy Football 2026
Hosts: Alfredo Brown & Dave Kluge
Date: February 25, 2026
This episode marks the start of an in-depth positional series focused on the 2026 NFL rookie class for Dynasty Fantasy Football. Dave Kluge and Jeff Bell break down the 2026 rookie wide receiver class, sharing Footballguys' consensus ranks, detailed player comps, tiers, and scouting insights. The conversation flows dynamically—with no preset show sheet—as they discuss the evolving NFL landscape, rookie evaluation philosophies, and specific strengths and concerns for 24+ wide receivers.
“We’re just going to dive deep into every single position looking at some of these rookies and helping you know this class a little bit better. Today we are going to talk about wide receivers…” – Dave Kluge (01:41)
“Lemon, I think there’s a little bit—despite the size—there’s a lot more physicality … my comp was DJ Moore.” – Jeff Bell (02:24)
“I see a player that can contribute immediately outside… betting on a receiver, it’s a pretty good spot to make a bet.” – Jeff Bell (04:30)
Player Comp: Pierre Garçon (with some Jerry Jeudy traits)
Traits: Versatile in/out, ‘violent’ after catch, impressive flexibility ("Gumby"), unique movement, compact/aggressive play at 6'2".
Quote:
“It’s almost like bendability ... he just kind of has that flexibility, but at the same time will deliver violence.” – Jeff Bell (07:21)
Cluster Tier Commentary:
“I don’t know that it’s quite as separated as maybe the feeling is out there, but at the same time, there’s just a lot of uncertainty around Casey Concepcion. ... It’s pretty clearly Concepcion as the WR4, Boston as WR5.” – Jeff Bell (09:54)
“He’s just a much more well-rounded player than I think that we would expect … a rare mover at his size.” – Jeff Bell (13:18)
“Best chance to go in the first round … size and speed, ability to win outside.” – Jeff Bell (16:52)
“He just has a very intriguing package … but I do … have questions about where the development could go.” – Jeff Bell (21:55)
“One of the biggest red flags … is when I see guys who are just consistently schemed up touches.” – Dave Kluge (23:37)
“It was like he almost was creating contested catch opportunities because he knew he was stronger than the defensive back.” – Jeff Bell (24:52)
“[He] was just a player that … you could pluck … into any offense.” – Jeff Bell (29:33)
“Once you get like outside of the top 10 … we want the NFL to tell us who is good.” – Dave Kluge (32:14)
“He needs to develop … put on some strength and put on 30lbs at least.” – Jeff Bell (36:20)
“Clemson’s offense has not been good ... I’m just not sold on the NFL really loving Antonio Williams.” – Jeff Bell (39:44)
“The NFL likes to take chances on twitchy guys … [this] is the type of guy NFL likes to take chances on.” – Jeff Bell (41:55)
“When you discover, like, a guy like Tyrone Montgomery … he comes out ... just mossing them, just beasting.” – Jeff Bell (44:08)
“Context is everything” when considering prospect age. – Jeff Bell (47:19)
“As you start to get to some of these guys … not the most explosive athlete … starts to open up some questions about overall upside.” – Jeff Bell (50:10)
“He’s a converted running back but he doesn’t look like a running back. … Juliana Edelman was my comp here.” – Jeff Bell (55:31)
On Big WRs and NFL Adjustment:
“There’s a real adjustment period when you hit the NFL … physically developed in their prime, 26, 27, 28 year olds … I think there’s a development curve with that.” – Jeff Bell (14:35)
On “Letting NFL Tell Us Who’s Good":
“We want the NFL to tell us who is good. … They are going to answer those questions in the draft.” – Dave Kluge (32:14)
On Age and Breakout Context:
“Context is everything … it probably concerns me a little bit more on a guy that ... just figures it out one year basically ... versus maybe someone who just had a different background.” – Jeff Bell (47:19)
On Depth and Value in This Guide:
“We talked about 24 receivers today. We have 55 in our rookie guide—full scouting reports, strengths, weaknesses, player comps, ideal team fits ... you’re going to be able to find it all offseason long at footballguys.com/rookieguide.” – Dave Kluge (56:34)