← The Herd with Colin Cowherd
The Herd with Colin Cowherd
FantasyPros - 2026 Fantasy Football Wide Receiver Rankings and Tiers (Ep. 1966)
00:40:41
Loading summary
Transcript86 lines
- [00:00]
A
This is an iHeart podcast.
- [00:02]
B
Guaranteed Human we all want the best without having to pay the most. That's where Verizon comes in. Get this now you can take your AT&T or T mobile bill into any Verizon store. They'll look at what you're paying and give you a better deal, period. You get the amazing coverage you want while keeping more cash in your pocket. Visit your local Verizon store to start saving today. Must provide recent consumer mobile bill in the name of the person redeeming the deal. Additional terms and conditions apply.
- [00:35]
C
Welcome in everybody to Fantasy Pros. This is the Fantasy Football podcast. This is me, Joey P, Joe P. Zappia and today we're going to take a look at the early ranks for 2026 because it's never too early to look ahead. Get a sense of where the early consensus rankings are falling so we can start looking ahead to the 2026 fantasy football season. We're going to break down all the positions here and you can find these ranks over@fantasypros.com rankings. And to help us go find maybe some differences of opinion because we love a good debate here on the program, Jake Sealy from the Athletic, Andrew Erickson of Fantasy Pros. We're going to talk to the boys here, get their takes on some of these players here. We're going to start at the very top with the wide receivers. So gentlemen, that number one spot right now we have a pretty clear guy. Puka Nakua actually, believe it or not, goes to the top spot above Jamar Chase and above Jackson, Smith and Jigba. So that's your tier one guys right now. JSN coming off a fantastic season. Jamar Chase obviously missing Joe Burrow for a good chunk of the year, but Pukua gets Matthew Stafford back so he has the top spot as of now. In tier number two at number four, we have CD Lamb with the Dallas Cowboys. I'm on Ross St. Brown Steady Eddie at number five, Drake London number six. We'll see what Kevin Stefanski brings to that new offense as he is the new head coach. Malik Neighbors coming back at number seven from a torn acl, Justin Jefferson. We'll see what quarterback situation he has at number eight, Nico Collins at nine. Rushy Rice will not have Patrick Mahomes to open the season, but he is still top 10 here. George Pickens off a great year at 11 and recently franchise tagged as well. And then Chris Olave at 12 who had a very surprisingly good season as Tyler Shuck emerged last year. So let's talk about these guys. Andrew Erickson, let's talk about some of the differences here. And let's start with Chris Olave because you've got a difference of opinion on that one.
- [02:20]
D
Yeah, I'm a little bit lower versus consensus on Chris Olave. I have him at wide receiver 16 where he's ECR at wide receiver 12. I guess I'm just trying to stay grounded with my take on Olave where not trying to just copy and paste exactly what he did last year, finishing as the wide receiver six and half ppr. Because you look at the first couple years of his career, he was a player that was going outside and finishing outside the top 20 wide receiver. So he was really more of a wide receiver too. And you look at this past season, was it all because of Tyler Schuck just kind of unlocking Chris Olave? I think that's part of it, but it's also that he stayed healthy, he played all of the games and he also had a career high in touchdowns. Right. So chasing that touchdown production sometimes leads you down a wrong path. I know last year I was trying to push back against a player like Terry McLaurin where, okay, he just had this monster outlier touchdown season, which he has never done at any point in his career. Obviously the holdout, the injuries played a role with Merrick McLaren falling off, but it does kind of remind me a little bit of just kind of, okay, jaden Daniels, Tara McLaurin, year two quarterback, going to take this Ohio State wide receiver to the next level for another season. Does it happen again with Tyler Shuck and Chris Olave? So that's where I'm just kind of pressing pause a little bit of just getting too ahead of my skis on Chris Olave. Now it does work in his favor that after they traded away Rashid Shahid and Shuck took over as the quarterback in the second half of the season, I mean, like the production was fantastic. 17 points per game and half PPR since week 10. I mean, that's top 10 fantasy wide receiver production. So I totally understand where he is at ecr, but I just have some hesitance with Tyler Schuck and he's an older prospect, entered the NFL as an older quarterback, and I'm not so sure that he has so much more room to grow given that he's already played so much football. So that's kind of why I get a little bit concerned. And I would say too, the last thing, the last two games for the Saints with Crystal Lave is where he really smashed like the last week, 16 and 17. He had two monster, monster games. Devon Bailey didn't play in either of those contests. So I do think that if there is a full bill of health between some of these other receivers in the Saints receiving corps with its Juwan Johnson, Devon Vale, they seem like they wanted him to take on a larger role after they trade away Rashid Shahid. That's another concern. But the big thing is nine touchdowns last year that matched nearly his career total entering the 2025 season, which was 10 total touchdowns. So that's why I'm just a little bit lower.
- [04:50]
C
All right, I'm. I think I'm a little bit closer to you, but I'm not quite as high as ecr, so I'm probably somewhere right in the middle there, which is, I think, pretty good when it comes to Chris Olave, you know, so I don't know about 16. I think that's a little low. I think 12 is a little high. I'm probably more in that 14 range when it comes to him just outside league. He's a great one A. That's what I think. I don't know if I'd love him as my number one wide receiver, especially with his concussion history as well. That's something to keep in mind with Jake Seeley. Malik Neighbors ranked very aggressively here in the ecr and to be honest with you, a guy returning from acl, I think that's something we should maybe pump the brakes just a little bit in terms of our enthusiasm. Do you agree?
- [05:26]
A
It's not just the acl and the report is good that he had to wait longer than expected to have the surgery done. And now there's real questions of whether or not he's going to be ready for week one. There's real questions that if he is ready for week one, is it going to be the same Barkley when he was the Giant situation where we had to wait all of September to get him back to 100%? Is it Chris Godwin where, I mean that's worst case scenario where it's all of a sudden like it's not happening, it's not happening. Aggravate something else and we lose half the season. And I know he's much younger. I know there's optimism for it. But again, we're talking about today. There's a lot of questions right now as of today for week one, so much so that as you guys have seen, the most common thing that people are mocking to them at the fifth pick is Carnell Tate, likely Is there? I mean, like you look at the fact that a wide receiver is a need there, whether or not one L. Robinson is there, because there's the questions of Malik Neighbors. So I just say as of right now, I'm going to put him at 13. And honestly, I don't know that that's not going to be lower. Just because if you guys knew today, hey, you have to wait till October. Cool. This is the Rasheed Rice situation like we've seen. We can make up easier in September for the rest of the season and we have opportunities, our team is healthy, blah, blah. I get that. But at the same time, it's four games potentially that you're not going to be able to start Malik Neighbors again, I'm speculating. I'm just saying as of today. So I just think there's enough concern that if you look at the names in front of them, they don't have that question. And that's really what it comes down to. Chris Olave, I have well in front of him. I'm different than you guys on Chris Alave. So it really just comes down to I trust Nico Collins, I would trust Chris Olave, I'd trust, you know, down the list of Drake, London and even Pickens and Lamb on whether or not they're on the same team, which they will be. So that's what really comes down to. I just want those names in front of me before I roll the D on somebody that might not be 100 to start the year.
- [07:11]
C
All right, Andrew Erickson, let's walk through another name that you have a little bit of a difference of opinion than the expert consensus rankings, and that's Justin Jefferson, obviously. Justin Jefferson, all world talent. But the quarterback position right now, possibly a question mark again, going into 20, 26. Again, it's early in the process. We haven't hit free agency yet as of recording this show that comes in March. And then of course we got the NFL draft and lots of other action to happen in the NFL. But right now that ranking is where it is, which is number eight. And you have him a little bit lower. Let's talk about it.
- [07:41]
D
Yeah, I have him at 11. And it's really dependent on who the quarterback in Minnesota is. I know that we talked about last week on some of these free agency prediction shows where JJ McCarthy or guys that are going to lose their jobs. Is McCarthy even the quarterback for Minnesota? That's probably good for Justin Jefferson, but what's the alternative? Is it if we're getting Carson Wentz as the quarterback Are we getting Kyler Murray as a quarterback in Minnesota? So there's a lot of things that still need to play out to really feel confident about ranking Justin Jefferson because the quarterback does matter now. He's been quarterback proof up until JJ McCarthy showed up in Minnesota, so that does bode well for him to still get. I still haven't ranked as a wide receiver one, but just tempering expectations a little bit here. Wentz last year 95 receiving yards per game. That's what Jefferson was at. But he also scored zero touchdowns, the big thing and talked about with a lobby having this massive touchdown output last year total opposite with Jefferson where he had two receiving touchdowns. So you'd like to think that that can improve if the quarterback position can get a little bit more stable in Minnesota. And when you look at Jefferson's body of work, I mean he's never finished worse than wide receiver six in a full season plate. He actually scored more points in 2023 when he only played 10 games than he did this past season. Which just goes to show how bad it was as wide receiver 30 in 2025. So I'm still want to figure out who the quarterback is before I feel a lot confident about putting Jefferson, but right now just a little bit lower.
- [09:09]
C
And Jake, you have reservations about Jefferson as well. Where do you have him ranked? Yeah.
- [09:13]
A
Why does Erickson love him? Because I'm a 12. It really comes down to we talked about on the free agency show. You told me or you tell me that Daniel Jones ends up being the option for this team. I know it's just Daniel Jones, but we talked about that at the time, said what if the Vikings want to bring him back because they're done with J.J. mcCarthy, which seems to be the report. Everybody is saying that they're moving on from JJ McCarthy, but this unlike the carousel going the other way where it was like there's too many quarterbacks for the openings. We have the reverse this year. We have too many openings and not enough quarterbacks to fill these options. Which is probably why Daniel Jones is going to get a huge payday because somebody wants them and somebody needs them. What if the Vikings are left scrambling? What if they're just left holding the bag? What if Daniel Jones goes back to the Colts and they're looking at Russell Wilson as their option to keep J.J. mcCarthy on this team? Because everything Erickson said is right. He was actually, if you talk about qualified wide receivers, wide receiver 33 in points per game and it was actually 36th with McCarthy. The only reason it wasn't worse is because what he said is like the Wentz situation, the yards were there, but the touchdowns weren't. So if he told me he had a capitol quarterback, hell, if he had Carson Wentz, I'd move him up about two or three spots because at least one arm Wentz was doing things. But if it's somebody like Daniel Jones or they do find an option, then I would actually put him back inside the top 10. I don't think he'll get back to being top four for me, though. I don't think he deserves to be in that top tier even. I mean, they would need a massive shock at quarterback to get him back there.
- [10:37]
C
All right, if you're enjoying the debates about the ECR and just fantasy football in general, make sure you subscribe to this channel here over Fantasy Pros. And don't forget, we got a new channel as well. The Dynasty channel is rocking right now. Fantasy Pros Dynasty is up. We're talking rookie rankings. We're talking about super flex draft strategies, startup strategies. We're talking about the NFL draft. We're talking everything over that. Fitzy and I just did a video that's over there as well, so go check it out. Today, our Fantasy Pros Dynasty channel is live on YouTube, so subscribe and go give it a follow there and ring the bell till it goes ding. Let's talk about the second group from 13 to 24 in the ranks for the expert consensus. AJ Brown, Philadelphia Eagle question mark at 13. Tedro McMillan off a hell of a rookie campaign. Then you got Tekins at 15. That goes through the tier three continuation from that top group. Then you have tier four beginning. Garrett Wilson at 16. Who the hell that quarterback is? Jets, we'll never know. Devonte Adams at 17, Jameson Williams at 18. Lad McConi, disappointing year at 19, Zay Flowers at 20, Terry McLaren at 21, Jaylen Waddle at 22, DeVonta Smith at 23, Luther Burden at 24. Jake, what sticks out? What really sticks out to me about this grouping here is the amount of question marks. I got to be honest with you. Like, there's so many questions in this tier. Typically, this is a tier where I always go, all right, well, I'm going to get a couple of these guys and I feel pretty good. But you can poke holes in almost, what, 10 out of 12 of these ranks right here and ask yourself, is this a good investment? So let's talk about it. And which investment here really varies the most for you in terms of your ranking versus the consensus yeah, this is
- [12:11]
A
something we talked about all throughout the season, whether on waivers or the rank show or the shows you guys were on. You echoing the same thing is that wide receiver twos last year became more volatile than they had been in probably what, a decade. I mean, we're talking about the inconsistencies across the board. If you got 50% performances inside the top 20, you're actually having a pretty good wide receiver too. So I think there's a lot of questions mine.
- [12:32]
C
Could you argue that that's because of the lesser quarterback play? We saw a big turn last year towards more running the football from a lot of teams, but do you think it's because of some of the green quarterback play or the less than thrilling quarterback play? Like, well, they can make one wide receiver quality, but it takes a Matthew Stafford or somebody of that level to make two on one team quality?
- [12:52]
A
I think it's that. But more I think it's what we're seeing this offseason from the massive, the biggest coaching change like this offseason. I started in 2010, Joe, and I was right. You were right about the same time.
- [13:04]
C
This is 12.
- [13:05]
A
Yeah, the biggest off season coaching movement I've seen in my career and a lot of it involved offensive coordinators. I think there's a lot of poor game plans called. I think there's a lot of mistakes with using the quarterback and not getting the best out of them. And then it's also the fact that because we went from arguing for years that wide receiver was so deep, but now that's become its own crutch because now the wide receiver threes are so good that they don't need to rely on the wide receiver twos for 24% of the target share. They can mix and match and go 18 and 12 and between those two options. So I think there's just a lot of factors, including the one that you said the quarterback fall off which is why you saw more run games and also the quarterback injuries. But anyway, speaking of one, we just saw the worst year of Devonte Smith's career with Jalen Hurts and this entire offense and I'm still a little bit lower on him. I actually think he's a great buy low in Dynasty, but I have him three spots below because I look at it the fact of yeah, we're assuming that A.J. brown's done with the Eagles, but what if he's not? What if they bring back Dallas Goddard too? And it just comes down to what we've been talking about with wide receiver twos is that Devontae Smith, even at his best was 60% of his games were top 15. The others were wide receiver 45 and you just got to deal with that roller coaster. So I love him on my team as my wide receiver. 3 I just don't really want to get him as my wide receiver too and that's why I bring him up. It's not a huge difference. There's only three spots but I did want to talk about him for that. The other one is if you watch the show with Joe and me the other day with Laquan, we've already talked about it. With Luther Burden it just comes down to we're stuck as of today and the Bears are the ones that are stuck. They can't get rid of DJ Moore. Maybe they figure out a way to trade him and figure out something with there's a lot of money that they're still on the hook for if they do trade them. But if they clear out DJ Moore and it is just Roma Dunes and Luther Burden but still Colston Loveland, I'll move them up. But Luther Burden at 22 feels like what we're talking about with here with Devonte Smith. If you add in one extra factor like Goddard and a good run game like it just the volume is just got is the biggest concern as we just saw with Smith and Colston Loveland just had a massive breakout at the end of the year. So why do we just assume that like Luther Burden and this is coming from one of the biggest fans about Luther Burton. Joe, you and I talked about it on that show. I just don't see where a healthy Roma Dunes a with Colston Loveland in the second season is going to get the volume to have a top 25 finish. So I have him as a wide receiver.
- [15:24]
C
Three as a great show too. We did a sophomore kind of recap for all the guys who were rookies last year going into their second year and what our expectations are. Laquan Jones, myself, Jake Seeley, check it out on the channel. Excellent show. Super fun. Andrew, walk us through two of your picks here that you want to single out here. I know devonte Adams is a guy you want to talk about another guy, another year older, had a great season, a lot of touchdowns. Again, age isn't always on the table necessarily for 20, 26, so let's start with him and then walk me through another difference of your rankings.
- [15:54]
D
Yeah, I'm coming out with all these wide receivers that I'm much lower on than the consensus. So bringing the negativity here on this show, Devonte Adams I have basically buried. He's outside my top 24 wide receivers just because I'm just trying to get ahead of it right. He is a wide receiver entering his age, 33 year old season missed time last year with a lower body tissue injury. And all of his production for the most part was touchdown based. And we know that can be the toughest thing that sticks from year to year. Especially when you look at Matthew Stafford again he still has this back injury lingering that could pop up at any moment next year. What happens if he's go down? They don't have Jimmy Garoppolo as their backup anymore potentially. So what would the alternative be for the Rams if Stafford were to miss time And Adams the efficiency marks were not great last year. Career low catch rate at 53%. Can talked about the touchdowns. He had 15 touchdowns and this was part of their game plan and strategy. Like let's get devonte Adams the ball in the red zone. You look at his red zone targets, his end zone targets, he is lapping the field with ranking number one in those categories. It's bunkers. And I think part of that is hey, we want to get Matthew Stafford the mvp, right? We want to have to have him as many touchdowns as possible. Who's our best touchdown guy? Devonte Adams. So if they're not as focused on that and it's more about let's keep Stafford healthy, maybe we'll feature the running backs a little bit more in the red zone between Kyron Williams and Blake Corum. That makes a lot more sense to me. And you see that this 15 touchdown score maybe turns into six touchdowns. And I think that dramatically influences where Adams would finish because at this point in his career, not creating yards after the catch, career low in yards after the catch per reception. So I think it's more likely that he falls off than replicates last year's production. So even at wide receiver 17, I think this is a really risky pick and I think that you're hoping oh, he finished as a back end wide receiver too. But I paid mid range wide receiver 2 price for him. So I got major concerns about Adams where he's going at 17.
- [17:49]
C
All right, so Adam's a concern for you. Let's talk about another wide receiver here, Zay Flowers. So where do you stand on Zay Flowers heading into first year with a new head coach for him and who knows what this offense might look like?
- [18:01]
D
Oh, it's gonna cook. That's what this offense is going to look like and say Flowers is going to be the focal point of this office. Because I think that's a. Flowers is just that good. I think that he has the talent to be a top five fantasy wide receiver. When you look at last year, over 1200 yards, 86 catches and yes, what's the thing that we all get annoyed at? Only five touchdowns. But he was still wide receiver seven wide receiver three over the last five games. Super consistent four plus catches in 13 of his 17 games played. But the metric numbers fifth in target share at 28, 11th and air yard share at 35. He has gotten better every single year he's been in the NFL. Fourth in yards per route run behind only Pukinakua, Jack Smith and Jigba. Where are those guys in the tier number one and two and Luther Burton who we hate here. But that's okay. We won't draft him but he's probably going to be decent in 2026.
- [18:50]
C
So we don't hate our expectations. I think, I think Jake, Jake's just right like Loveland's there. DJ Moore is going to be hard to get rid of it just to. To be where the rank is just seems like it would have to be the perfect storm of economy of targets and that just seems unlikely.
- [19:07]
D
No, I, and I don't.
- [19:08]
A
I mean put it this way. If you told me that DJ Moore was gone and Odunze was still dealing with. I was gonna say and Odunze still dealing with injury concerns of week one. You put him up there with Chris Olave like that's how good he is. But it's just the fact. And let's also not forget Caleb Williams still didn't even throw for 4,000 yards.
- [19:25]
D
Like we're still talking about the league's worst because.
- [19:30]
C
Because no Bear quarterback will ever throw for 4,000 yards. Haven't we learned this already?
- [19:34]
A
Go ahead, go ahead. Zay Fly.
- [19:36]
D
It can never be as a flower you started always has to get pushed into something else. But I would say because we talked about Zay Flowers, myself, Worm and Jake earlier this year and I got some pushback on Zay Flowers. But at that time Harbaugh was still the offensive or the head coach monkey and was still the offensive coordinator. Now that has completely changed. So the Ravens have a brand new office coordinator coming in, Declan Doyle. I think that opens the possibilities of increased play volume and increased red zone role for safe Flowers which has been the biggest thing lacking in his three year career up to this point. Ravens last year were 29th in plays per game. The Bears, that's where Declan Doyle was the offensive coordinator last season under Ben Johnson. Ranked first in that category. And the first thing that Declan Doyle said in an interview recently was offensively, we want to hunt and create explosive plays on offense. Per player profiler, the third most explosive player among wide receivers last year, Mr. Zay Flowers himself. And I don't even think I have to convince anybody how explosive he is when he gets the ball in his hands. So I think that this could be a monster year for Zay Flowers. He finally gets a little bit more usage in the red zone. He's attached to a MVP level quarterback who we know can throw 30 plus passing touchdowns. If Mark Andrews continues to decline, Isaiah likely leaves in free agency. I think the plants could align for Zay Flowers. So I want to be aggressive on him because I think that he's an ascending talent entering year four. To me, he reminded me a lot of Antonio Brown coming out of college. What year did Antonio Brown absolutely blow up? Was his fourth season. So I love Zay Flowers and I want to be aggressively ranking him ahead of ecr.
- [21:11]
C
All right, let's take a quick break in the action to tell you about our sponsor, Hard Rock Bet. Today's show is brought to you by Hard Rock Bet, Florida's sportsbook. And I know it's tough. There's no football and you're listening us talk about football. You're saying, I wish there was football. Well, that's okay. There's other things that can occupy your time like hoops, hockey and so much more. Plus all the great same game parlay, live betting action and player props on Hard Rock bet. And did you know that Hard Rock Bet is the official sports betting partner of the Miami Heat and the Orlando Magic? So they know their basketball. And if you haven't signed up yet with Hard Rock Bet, there's even a better time than now. Nope, there isn't. New signups can double their winnings with their first 10 bets. Max of $50. That's right. So if you would have won a hundred bucks in your bet, you make it 200. That's math. That's called doubling. And the Hard Rock Bad Sportsbook app is the only legal sports book for whenever you're in the state of Florida. It's also live in Arizona, Ohio, New Jersey, Indiana, Tennessee, Virginia, Illinois, Colorado, Michigan, and coming soon to more states. Plus, Hard Rock Bet offers new promos every single day. So whenever you're listening to the show, just open the app, check it out, see what you've got in store for you this week, but you can't do that if you don't download the app. So download the Hard Rock BET Sportsbook app today and make your first deposit on Hard Rock Bet Payable and bonus bets. Not a cash offer offered by the Seminole Tribe of Florida and Florida offered by a Seminole Hard Rock Digital LLC and other states must be 21 plus in physically present in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee or Virginia. Play terms and conditions apply. Concern about gambling in Florida, call 1-833-play- wise in Indiana. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem wants help, call 1-809 with it gambling problem, call 1-800- gambler in Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia.
- [22:45]
B
All right, two truths and a Lie Here we go. I went to college with college football coach Jim McElwaine, I began my broadcasting career doing play by play for the Las Vegas Stars, and I've been a Verizon customer for 15 years. Okay, I lied. All three are true. Verizon isn't as expensive as you think. In fact, if you bring in your AT&T or T mobile bill to a Verizon store, they'll give you a better deal. That's right, a better deal on the best network with the most ways to save on plans, streaming and phone deals. So take that AT and T or T mobile builder Local Verizon store today. Get a better deal and start saving based on root metrics. Best Overall Mobile Network Performance US Second Half 2025 all rights reserve must provide recent consumer mobile bill in the name of the person redeeming the deal. Additional terms, conditions and restrictions apply. Support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public, you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index with AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing brokerage services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory services by Public Advisors, llc. SEC Registered Advisor Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available@public.com disclosures all right, so
- [24:35]
C
next up here, starting at 25 we got Mike Evans and then tier five begins. Mike Evans is returning by the way, for 2026. Christian Watson at 26, Cortland Sutton at 27 Carnell Tate, incredible young talent from Ohio State. The early rank for him is 28 overall after Cortland Sutton at 27, then a Mecca Egbuka at 29, DK Metcalf at 30, Roman Dunze at 31 Jordan Tyson and Makai Lemon, two of the big prospects at 32 and 33 respectively. Ryan Thomas Jr. Great rookie season, terrible sophomore year at 34 and then Jacobe Myers at 35. Marvin Harrison Jr. At 36 Andrew let's talk about a Mecca Egg Buka the difference of your rank versus ECR.
- [25:13]
D
I'm higher on Emeka Ebuca as well versus the ECR 126 targets last year that was top 10 in the NFL and a rare number to hit for a lot of rookie wide receivers. The last rookies that have done that Malik Neighbors, Brian Thomas Jr. Lama Conkey, Rashi Rice, Puka Nakua, Garrett Wilson. It's a really strong list of players predicting them. Okay, how are their careers going to shake out? It's been pretty positive for the most part for some of those guys. Now we know that some of the second year guys did not meet expectations between Brian Thomas Jr and La Cony last year. Neighbors obviously got hurt, but I just don't want to ignore the fact that he got so many targets last year and what if the production had flipped? So I know that he started the season really, really strong, did not finish as strongly as we have liked and hoped. But I don't want to just forget about what happened at the beginning of the year when he was melting faces. When Baker Mayfield was healthy, Agbuca was essentially a lock for Offensive Rookie of the Year. We weren't even considering any of the running backs. Tedro McMillan was buried in terms of the betting odds for Offensive Rookie of the Year with Mike Evans potentially walking in free agency going somewhere else. I'm not sure why he wants to leave Tampa Bay and that no income tax in Florida, but I mean I think I book could be really set up here to take another step forward here. Bounce back. Look like the guy we saw at the beginning of the year, especially if Baker Mayfield is healthy, because I think that's the biggest impact on why Igbuka struggled down the stretch was his quarterback was not 100% healthy.
- [26:38]
C
All right, Jake, the ECR is low on Brian Thomas at 34, but you're even lower because you have him at 40.
- [26:44]
A
Yeah. I think Brian Thomas is a great opportunity for the Jaguars in real life to find a new spot for him and capitalize on, you know, the investment of the talent, because we saw it as the rookie and, you know, you know, I was one of the highest and continued to be one of the highest last year. That's why I got to sign football next to me. And it was a massive disappointment for me and everybody else. And I sat here and made apologies for him at the beginning of the season because of the injury to his hand. And that looked like he was limiting and scaring him over the middle, and he didn't want to take extra contact. And they said, all right, well, he needs more time to develop with Trevor Lawrence, and we saw flashes of it. But the biggest thing here is that Parker Washington did what Trevor Lawrence loves to do and just manifested his ability out of the slot. And that's where Lawrence loves to go. He loves to make the quick decision. He does take shots downfield. But when Parker Washington came on back healthy at the end of the season, the average depth of target skyrocketed for Brian Thomas Jr. It was almost 50% higher. I mean, we're talking about almost Alec Pierce levels. And it's just when you're taking those shots as one, Trevor Lawrence doesn't need to throw it there. So the volume wasn't there because he's already making his decision, throwing it to Jacoby Myers or Parker Washington and Brenton Strange or going to the backfield. So the volume went down, and then the collision percentage went down. Just because those are harder targets to catch. And if this roster is constructed as it is, as of today, Jacoby Myers is back. He has a new contract. Parker Washington's essentially the number two. Hell, you could argue he was the number one at the end of the season. So I Love Brian Thomas Jr. I love the talent, I love the kid, I love the football. And put him on a new team now on the Jaguars. He does not deserve to be higher. That's why I have him.
- [28:18]
C
Yeah.
- [28:18]
A
As wide receiver. 40.
- [28:21]
C
Yeah. I think that he might find a new home this offseason. Let's talk about Roma Dunes, because we're talking about the whole Bear situation here the ECR is 31 but Andrew Erickson, you have him a little bit lower. Let's talk about your reasons why I'll
- [28:31]
D
pass lead back to Luther Burden in some way. Somehow I think that Burden can be the potential focal point of the passing game along with Colson Loveland and Ben Johnson hand picked these guys first two draft picks he made as the head coach of the Bears. I'm drafting Coles. Love that I'm drafting with the Burden. Although it took a lot longer than most of us wanted it to for those guys to see featured roles on offense because they had to play guys like Olimi, Dizakias, Cole Comet was still on the Colcomet is still on the roster. Eventually those guys started to break out in the second half of the year and were both highly efficient, very productive players on a per route basis. So yes, Odunze did play through a lot of injuries last year and that I think was part of the reason why his production nose dived again. 12 games dealing with some late season foot limitations. After week eight he averaged under 50 yards per game. His catch rate was really, really bad, was bottom five in the NFL, 48.5 catch rate. Now he still did gobble up a lot of high value opportunities in terms of air yards, terms of red zone targets, but ultimately still kind of felt short of expectations based on the role that he was put into wide receiver 27 and points per game. So I do think he will move up my rankings from wide receiver 37 if D.J. moore ultimately does get dealt, which I do think is going to happen. But I guess I'm more on the negative side of a dunesay and less so on Luther Burden on just projecting how this offense looks in 2026. I would bet that Burden has more targets than Odunze straight up. So that's why I would rank him ahead of Odinze.
- [29:59]
C
You're a little bit more positive on Marvin Harrison, Jake. He's at 36 but you have him at 32. Let's discuss the reasons why you think it might be a better situation for him this season than last.
- [30:09]
A
So I'm buying Marvin Harrison everywhere I can because it's the perception, it's the massive disappointment of, you know, a tier one wide receiver and then all the flaws that we consider were even greater and exposed with Kyler Murray and the continuing of this offense. Jacoby Brissette unlocked everybody. Michael Wilson, Trey McBride. He also went to Marvin Harrison Jr. More than Michael Wilson and peppered him the opportunity he had. It was Brief, but when Marvin Harrison was close to 100% towards the end of the year and they're moving on from Kyler Murray if Jacoby Brissette's the quarterback next year. I know everybody's super excited about Michael Wilson, somebody that I like coming out of college as a deep sleeper. But Marvin Harrison was still the one. And I still think that Marvin Harrison has a better upside than being wide receiver 36.
- [30:52]
D
We're.
- [30:53]
A
We're that upset with him. Like I'm gonna buy Marvin Harrison in Redraft and and Dynasty.
- [30:59]
C
All right, next grouping here, starting at 37 is Tier 6. Chris Godwin, Stefan Diggs at 38, Ricky Pierce all 39. Michael Wilson at 40, Michael Pittman at 41, Alec Pierce at 42, Jordan Addison at 43, Quentin Johnson at 44, Juwan Jennings, Parker Washington, D.J. moore at 47, Wanda Robinson at 48. Jake, let's talk about Wanda Robinson. The ECR is 48, but you are much more excited about his potential. You have him all the way up at 33. Let's talk about this massive gap.
- [31:29]
A
It just comes down to what we're seeing is that somebody is going to pay him to be a top two option on their team. Whether it's back with the Giants, whether it's reunited with Brian Dabel and Bruins. My later pick that we're going to talk about with the Titans. There's just an opportunity for Wanda to step into a Stefan Diggs tight role with another team. And I'm not calling them Stefon Diggs, I'm just saying it's that role as the two. And any offense that's going to pay in that kind of money to immediately be the two we're talking about that similar volume and Wando Robinson's continued to be disrespected because of his size and the fact of look at how much he produces on a deep ball rate. Even with his size. I think he is underrated and somebody that could be a top as you can see 30, 35 wide receiver at worst with potential for even more depending on that. Now of course the landing spot can ruin it depending like he goes to a team that's clogged up. I think somebody's going to pay him to be their number two. And whether it's a return to the Giants, he's going to put pullback on that value as a top 35 wide receiver.
- [32:26]
C
Andrew, you have him higher as well. Not quite as high as Jake, but sentiments clearly hate.
- [32:32]
D
Even though every time I publish my rankings it always Comes up with that notification. Are you sure you want to rank?
- [32:37]
C
I love that.
- [32:39]
A
It's like a heads up.
- [32:40]
D
Yeah, right. It's like yes. I want to keep ranking Wanda Robinson this high. The only wide receivers with at least 130 plus targets last two seasons, Jamar Chase, Amon, Ross St. Brown, Jack Smith and Jigba, Justin Jefferson and Wandell Robinson. It's underrated.
- [32:57]
C
All right. So underrated. Wandell Robinson, Erickson. Let's talk about Quentin Johnston here. ECR is 44, but you are not nearly as excited about him. You have him at 56. That's a 12 spot difference.
- [33:08]
D
I'm just not sure I'm ready for this. To ride the roller coaster again with Quinn Johnston because man, that's exactly what it is. Starts out this year or last season out of the Gates on Fire and then he just has these certain games where just totally disappears when he was basically used more as a. A deep threat, kind of a clear out routes and they were featuring more of the tight end and Lama Conkey underneath. Now I think I could probably still move him up a little bit from 56. Just because you're taking such a big target monster out of this offense with Keenan Allen presuming that he doesn't come back and if they don't add anybody of significance, I could see. Okay, Johnson, Boomer Bus, wide receiver four. Yes. I want him in basketball. Do I want him anywhere in my redraft team? Like probably not, but that's kind of the way I'm viewing Johnson. It's just so Boomer Buskin, wide receiver, 26 in points per game. Which would say like, man, you have him outside your top 50. That's crazy. But wide receiver, 42 expected points per game just based on his usage. Again, it's a brand new office Mike McDaniel. So I think spike week is going to come for Johnston but I am concerned that the consistency is going to be all over the place.
- [34:15]
C
All right, Jake, you've got Ricky Pearsall at 31, but the ECR is at 39. I'm actually kind of where you are. The health of Ricky Pearsall has been difficult to deal with. Two years. Yes, very. But with George Kittle, you know, not ready for the start of the season or God knows when in the season, it does seem like there's a path for Ricky Piersol to really take his game to the next level. Yeah.
- [34:34]
A
And Juwan Jennings is a free agent, Brian. And Ayuk's not coming back to this team. So if you One of the things that we saw with Ricky Pearsall, as I know this is frustrating to say and I'm going to say the words, but when healthy, he was majorly productive. He looked like coming back from injuries and we all joked about how it took him longer to come back from an actual injury than the gunshot wound. But like when he finally did and he was 100% out there, he looked like he was 100%. And Ricky Pierce on this offense, especially the Shanahan system, he does a lot of what Debo used to do for this team, obviously not with the rushing out of the backfield, but I bring it up to say is that he can do things inside, intermediate and outside to a time more so exposing the space in the intermediate side of the field. But Peirso essentially is the number one right now for the 49ers. I know they're going to address it whether they bring back Jennings or find a different free agent option but you brought up George Kittle. I made the joke on the other show as we finished things out that Jake Tonjes was going to be a top 20 tight end. I have him as a top 20 tight end because I don't think George Kittle's playing at least half, if not the entire season. But who's the beneficiary? Ricky Pearsall. More people should be on Pearsall for next year. I know he's burned us with the injuries.
- [35:41]
C
All right, so the last grouping here as we round out the top 60 wide receivers, you have at 49, Jaden Higgins, who I'm very high on personally this year at 50, Travis Hunter, 51, Tyreek Hill, who's now a free agent Khalil Shakir at 52, Jaden Reed, 53 at 54, Brandon Ayuk. We'll see where he lands. Debo Samuel at 55, Xavier Worthy at 56, Josh Downs at 57, Jalen Coker, another one of my guys circle him at 58 Troy Franco to 59 at 60 AD and I Mitchell of the New York jets. So Jake, let's start with Deebo Samuel ECR has got him at 55 you5've got him at 44 let's talk about the reasons why because, you know, you
- [36:17]
A
saw what happened last year and Debo Samuel, like again, somebody else that wasn't always 100% healthy but he's still getting back to being like the production that we saw when healthy when with a good quarterback like that's just the biggest problem that really killed him last year and I'm not expecting Deebo Samuel. Look, you're talking about. I'm at 44, not 34, not 24. I don't think we're ever getting old Debo Samuel back. But similar to the revitalization that we saw with Stefan Diggs with the Patriots, I think you could find Deebo Samuel on the right team in a similar situation. And I think that's what it's going to come down to if he ends up in a bad spot. If he ends up the third wide receiver on a team and he's just searching for deals, obviously you can throw this out the window and 55 is more the reasonable spot. But I'm kind of buying on the expectation that we still saw something left in the tank last year. We still saw that he could click with Jaden Daniels. I think it's just the quarterback situation in the offense that just really killed him. So I want Debo in a nice spot. But again, this is just. This is just the hope on that there's something left in him.
- [37:14]
C
All right, Josh downs is at 57, but Andrew Erickson, you've got him at 41. Why?
- [37:19]
D
Because I think Josh Downs good. I think he's a very good underrated wide receiver. Does he have the best usage? No, not quite. But I want to look for value with some talent this down the ranks in terms of the wide receivers. PFF's 20th highest graded wide receiver last year, hyper targeted 24 target rate per outrun. Very high rate for a wide receiver that led all Colts wide receivers and tight ends in 2025. So amid all that talent, between Tyler Warren, Alec Pierce, Michael Pittman Jr. When Josh Downs is on the field, which again, he's a slot receiver, so he's not on the field enough. But he was the one being targeted at the highest clip, 20th in average separation score. That's per fantasy points data suite. So looking at the optics of this Colts offense, Alec Pierce is a free agent. He might not be on this roster when we're talking about this team in 2026. Michael Pittman Jr. Is in the last year of his contract and every time I look at anything newsworthy with Pittman, it's are they going to cut this guy? Right. Because they're trying to get out from his contract and move on to some of these younger wide receivers, potentially get rid of Pittman so they can pay Michael or Alec Pierce. So I think Josh Downs is kind of flying under the radar as like, yeah, like the fantasy production's not there, but all of the Peripheral metrics. He commands targets. He looks good on the field, he creates separation. It's like, check, check, check. This guy, I think is much better than wide receiver 57 when it comes to his talent level. And I think that the way that this roster might shake out, it might work in his favor to produce more fantasy points. Especially now, too, you're getting a discount because the Daniel Jones injury.
- [38:48]
C
All right, Brandon ayuk is at 54, Andrew on the expert consensus rankings, but you have him at 48. That's simply because you're just, I assume, anticipating a new address for him in 2026.
- [38:59]
D
Yes, he's going to the Washington Commanders to play with Jaden Daniels, his former college quarterback. I really think that's the only spot that a team would be willing to take him on. I mean, after how things shook out with Kyle Shanahan in San Francisco, how he basically just like stop showing up to work. Like you're really gonna have. Someone's gonna have to have a vote of confidence for Brandon you to bring him into the building. And I think that going to Washington would be a perfect spot for him. You pair him along with Terry McLaren, who's not a certified Alpha number one, it's. You could also be dropped into that offense, replace Debo Samuel as the wide receiver 2 or the 1B to Terry McLaren's 1A. And look, man, this guy's really talented. And him and Kyle Shannon seemed never see eye to eye from the minute that he landed in San Francisco. But despite that, he had very good seasons of really high efficiency. Again, he's completely removed from that ACL injury that knocked him out all of last year. Even though, like, maybe he was actually healthy enough to come back. So full bill of health. Jaden Daniels quarterback upgrade, better situation. I think IU could be someone that we're looking at and be like, man, this guy had like a George Pickens esque type of impact where kind of disgruntled. We don't really feel about him. But you watch him play on the field, man, this guy's good.
- [40:09]
C
That's interesting. I like that comparison too. In the right spot, like, you know, George Pickens landed with Dak Prescott. That that worked out right? If Brandon Yuka ends with Jaden Daniels or another quarterback of that ilk, that could be a very tantalizing possibility in 2026. Jake, you've got a guy ranked in the top 60 who isn't ranked in the top 60. You've got Chimney DK, who is at 63 and the rank for him right now is at 54 for Jake Seeley. So let's talk about what you see in Jim Ray.
- [40:37]
A
I see, like I said, what could get ruined by Wanda Robinson signing with the Titans. But if he doesn't and they go the Alec Pierce route or somewhere else and then look for the deeper option to fill what I Manor hasn't been able to do DK is essentially what Wandell Robinson can do for this offense and you saw the volume was more consistent towards the end of the year. He started getting some touchdowns. The yards were never enormous, but again, Brian Dabel coming in. We saw the improvement from Cam Ward and if you're looking for somebody who can fill that kind of role with Brian Dabel calling this offense, I think DK is not a perfect one for one, but very close to Wandell Robinson. This offense it all comes down to do they leave him alone and address the deeper threat, the outside wide receiver, or they bring Wandell over because he's comfortable with Dable and then you kind of throw DK out the window unfortunately.
- [41:24]
C
All right, that is a quick look at the top 60 wide receivers again. You can see them for yourself@FantasyPros.com rankings. Go check it out. We love to hear from you. Our YouTube community. Drop your comments below. Which wide receivers do you have higher than the ECR or lower than the ecr? Give us your opinions. We love to have them here and everyone's got opinions just like almost everyone has rankings this time of year. So we love to hear from you. And while you're at it, subscribe to the channel and subscribe to our Dynasty channel as well. Fantasy Bros. Dynasty Channel is up and running. We're here for you for all your Dynasty content. Great stuff here from the guys. And if you want more of these rankings, well you're in luck because we're going to do more of these shows too. We got running backs, we've got quarterbacks, tight ends. We're all going to talk about the debates between the ranks versus the ranks of these two handsome gentlemen as well. So make sure you stick around and click on the next video to hear more about those ranks discussions. That'll do it for us. But the story of the game goes on for Andrew Erickson and Jake Seeley from the Athletic, I'm Joey P. We'll see you next time, kids.
- [42:23]
D
Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football Podcast. If you love the show, the best
- [42:28]
A
free way to support us is by
- [42:29]
D
leaving a positive review on apple podcasts@fantasypros.com review or on Spotify. Follow us on x Instagram and TikTok
- [42:38]
A
antasypros and subscribe to our YouTube channel at YouTube.com fantasypros. This is Daniel Cormier from the Daniel Cormier Show. This podcast is sponsored by Total Wireless, the official wireless partner of ufc. Power doesn't wait in the octagon or outside of it. You either make the move or you missed a moment. That's why you need a network that's just as powerful as you are. With Total Wireless, you get unlimited 5G data keeping you in the action from the walkouts to the knockouts. Now that's a total power move. Make your total power move today. Visit totalwireless.com or stop by your neighborhood Total Wireless Store. Additional terms apply. See totalwireless.com for details at CVS it matters that we're not just in your community, but that we're part of it. It matters that we're here for you when you need day or night, and
- [43:50]
C
we want everyone to feel welcomed and rewarded.
- [43:53]
A
It matters that CVS is here to
- [43:56]
D
fill your prescriptions and here to fill
- [43:58]
A
your craving for a tasty and yeah, healthy snack. At cvs, we're proud to serve your community because we believe where you get your medicine matters. So Visit us@cvs.com or just come by our store.
- [44:12]
C
We can't wait to meet you.
- [44:13]
A
Store hours vary by location. This is Chelsea Handler from Dear Chelsea
- [44:18]
D
after the Big Game like most people,
- [44:19]
A
I kept thinking about the commercials, and there was one that stayed with me.
- [44:22]
D
It was from the Blue Square Alliance
- [44:24]
A
Against Hate, and it wasn't loud or flashy.
- [44:26]
D
It showed a Jewish kid being targeted
- [44:28]
A
at school and another student who chose not to ignore it. As someone who is Jewish, that moment felt very real to me. Not dramatic, just familiar. And what struck me was how clearly it showed that hate doesn't always announce itself, but the impact is still huge. If you saw the Blue Square spot
- [44:46]
D
during the big game, it's worth thinking about. And if you want to show support, sharing the Blue Square is one small
- [44:51]
A
way to do that. In the heat of battle, your squad relies on you.
- [44:55]
D
Don't let them down.
- [44:56]
C
Unlock elite gaming tech@lenovo.com Dominate every match
- [45:00]
A
with next level speed, seamless streaming and
- [45:02]
C
performance that won't quit. Push your gameplay beyond performance with Intel
- [45:05]
A
Core Ultra processors for the next era of gaming. Upgrade to smooth, high quality streaming with Intel Wi Fi 6e and maximize game
- [45:13]
C
performance with enhanced overclocking.
- [45:15]
A
Win the tech search power up@lenovo.com. This is an iHeart podcast guaranteed human.