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Pat Fitzmaurice
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Matt Jones
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Chris Welsh
What's up, friends? And welcome into Fantasy Pros. This is the fantasy football podcast. I'm Chris Welsh and we are talking ranks. That's right, it's week five ranks. This is the wide receiver episode and the gang is back together. We got Pat, Fitz Morris and the return of Andrew Erickson. He's back. The crowd roars. Erickson, how was wedding season? How are we doing?
Andrew Erickson
Yeah, good to go to the West Coast, California, Temecula wine country. For those that are unfamiliar, it was a lot of. It was a lot of fun. Congratulations to the new Mr. And Mrs. My cousin got married and you guys would think that this was the last wedding. Now I got another one coming up, so that'll be fun.
Chris Welsh
Nope. I have known you for a little bit of time now. I know that it is never the end. I haven't been to a wedding in, like 10 years, and you've been to 10 in the last year, so I know it is never the end. Erickson is a. Is a busy bee. Fitzy. Not a big. Not a big going to weddings guy. I'm a big ranking and complaining about Juwan Jennings guy. I don't know stages of.
Pat Fitzmaurice
Of life. Erickson is at this stage where, like, one of his friends is getting married every other weekend. I'm at more like the divorce stage where some of my friends, you know, been married a long time. Like, they're. Yeah, we're sick of each other. We're gonna end this.
Chris Welsh
Yeah. The divorce stage, where they're getting. Where those guys are also getting a little bit more into fantasy football, too. Those kind of coincide sometimes. So. All right, well, let's. Let's figure out who are we marrying, who are we divorcing? As far as wide receivers for week five, there's a bunch of decisions. Boy, there's a bunch of injuries. So we got a lot to cipher through here as we're going to be going through the top 36. We. We've got. We are trying to Kind of figure out what some of the big questions might be, where we have some big rank differences. And that is what we are going to be tackling today. Speaking of ranks, of course you can follow along@fantasypros.com rankings. You can go and check out what the ECR is. And every single week we've got our ranks contest. It goes all season long and each week we get number ones, twos and threes. Unfortunately, none of us were on the board, fortunately. Just want to point out I was the highest of our group, but it is nothing to get excited about. What there is to be excited about is Chris Raybon, who finished number one in the ranks contest for week four. Chris Dell finishing two and Kev Wheeler. Let's all give them their flowers. They finished 1, 2 and 3 in the ranks contest for this week. This is a tough week. I got Jalen Warren. I did not get to fix Jalen Warren. I've also figured out I might be the greatest tight end ranker on the planet. I ranked in the top 10. I'm five on the season. So if you need your tight ends, come to me. Those guys, they'll get you with everything else but Chris Raybron, Chris Dell and Kev Wheeler. Those are your top three in the ranks. And boys, we're gonna, we're gonna pick it up this week. I. I feel good. I feel I gotta. I got a premonition that Erickson's gonna finish really high in the ranks. I don't know why. I feel like it's. It's gonna be a little bit of Waller. There's gonna be a wide receiver. He's gonna get down. I think Erickson's gonna finish pretty high. So before we tackle this and get into the ranks, I think let's also talk about some wide receiver giveaways. We're not talking about the Jamar Chase giveaway anymore because we are going to give it. And then we've got a new prize for somebody. So the winner of the signed Jamar Chase Bengals Jersey giveaway is. McCoy. The real McCoy. That's it. That's all it says on here, just McCoy. So we'll be contacting you to get you that prize. So stay on the lookout and congratulations on winning our friend McCoy. But we are not done. If you want a chance to win a sign, AJ Brown Eagles jersey, we're doing more jerseys for free, courtesy of our friends over@pristine auction.com. all you've got to do is go to fantasypros.com contest, complete the form, then download Fantasy Pros app. You can leave a review for the podcast. Follow us on x Instagram TikTok. All of those are at fantasypros and you can also do all of them. All of those give you entries where you could potentially win. And we'll be announcing a winner right here on the podcast, just like I did. So so if you're watching on YouTube, be sure to subscribe. Turn on notifications so you can be alerted of new episodes so you can claim your prize. Wide Receiver jerseys for you, for you, for you. There you go. All right, fantasybros.com rankings gentlemen, let's kick up the big board. Let's look at the top 12 for week five starts with Puka Nukua, Thursday Night Football, Amonra St. Brown, Jackson Smith in Jigba, Justin Jefferson and Garrett Wilson. That's our top five. Nico Collins, Devonte Adams, George Pickens, Emeka Igbuka, Jamar Chase at 10, Debo Samuel and Quentin Johnson at 12. Just like we all thought week five was going to look like in the ranks. Just when you all knew that Garrett Wilson would be 5 and Quentin Johnson would be 12. So we got actually a couple things to talk about in the top 12. Let's start with George Pickens. George Pickens is ECR8 this week. Both of you fine gentlemen have him a little bit lower. I'm curious if there's anything with that. This is pretty minuscule, but you guys are lower than consensus where everybody's kind of putting a big week on him. What do you think about Pickens this week? Fitzy?
Pat Fitzmaurice
I underranked Pickens last week because I was worried that he would be miscast as an alpha receiver with CD Lamb out. You know, Pickens had been miscast as a lead receiver in Pittsburgh. I was bullish about Pickens during draft season and got him in a few drafts because I love the idea of George Pickens being able to be the number two receiver and just do his thing and he was getting a big quarterback upgrade with Dak Prescott. Well, Pickens did really well as an alpha receiver last week, and it looked silly to have been worried about his ability to thrive as a lead receiver against a defense from Green Bay that most people consider one of the best in the league. I'm still a little nervous about ranking Pickens as a wide receiver one when he's probably going to be seeing a lot of Sauce Gardner this week. And I don't know if it's possible for Dak Prescott to play as well as he did against the packers. Like I'm guessing that if you ask Dak, he would tell you that last week's game was one of the two or three best games he's ever played at any level of football. So if Pickens smashes again, I'm going to have to reassess how I feel about him. But yeah, I mean, obviously you're. You're starting him and probably feeling pretty good about it after what we saw.
Chris Welsh
Last week action, you're a little bit lower. Are you worried about the sauce for Pickens?
Andrew Erickson
I think that it's worth mentioning and when you're trying to rank George Pickens, factoring in that, because I don't think that the Green Bay packers have cornerbacks that are as good as Sas Garder is. You look at the way that sauce garter plays, I think that Pickens, they don't move around that much in the Dallas Cowboys formation. Like, he's strictly like a perimeter guy. Like, they don't really move him a ton into the slot. And so you're going to see Gardner basically match up with Pickens all game long. And that's just not a matchup. That, oh, where Dallas like, let's attack Sauce Gardner all day long. It doesn't make a lot of sense where the jets just put or the jets just lost their starting slot corner Michael Carter to a concussion last week on a short week. So if they find that Kevonte Turpin has like all these really favorable matchups inside Jake Ferguson from the inside of the field, then I think that we see Dallas maybe attack more of the inside of the field. The jets defense versus okay, let's just attack the perimeter with these 50, 50 balls. I don't know if they necessarily need to do that against the New York jets, so that's kind of my take on it. Just again, you're starting George Pickens because of what the ceiling he shouldn't show. But I, I don't think we're going to get a repeat ceiling game from him against the New York Jets. And also too, the Dallas Cowboys are going to be out with another offensive line injury. Tyler Guyton had a concussion as well, so that's just another offensive. Now they're down three starters like in the past two weeks. Like, as great as Dak played to Fitz's point, I think it's going to come back down to earth just a tad.
Chris Welsh
If there was like, if you could go back in time about a month or so ago, do you think you would have ever and could have ever imagined a scenario where George Pickens would rank higher than Jamar Chase. That's kind of the big question now we are faced with. Can we start Jamar Chase? It's a legitimate question that we are all facing because it is multiple weeks of what looks like the most, I affectionately say, piss poor offense in the NFL. They cannot do anything. The Bengals are offensive line. Browning is not it. Jamar Chase still though, is a wide receiver one this week he falls down to 10. Um, Fitzy, you've got him at nine and Erickson, you've got him at six. You guys are still both above consensus. You're holding out hope. There is absolutely a mental side of this to like imagine benching Jamar Chase and he does go off. He is so crazy talented. But we are seeing weeks and weeks of this not working. I think anybody that is asking the question, should I start bop, bop, bop over Jamar Chase is justified. And I'm not sure that I fully buy in here, but maybe there's some matchup stuff that's in play here. Erickson, let's actually start with you because you are the high guy. You've got him at 6 this week. What is your level of. I mean, your level. You have him at 6. So I know your level of worry isn't like crazy, but legitimately, how far off are we from having to put him in Brian Thomas territory into the 20s?
Andrew Erickson
Well, I'm not trying to overreact to two bad games from Jake Browning when the matchups have been terrible for him. He's played back to back road games against the Minnesota Vikings, Brian Flores defense, no bueno. And at the Denver Broncos on the road. So do we all just forget about what happened the last time we saw Jake Browning play at home against the Jaguars? Oh, Jordan, Chase had a great game. Like he was fine. And you just look at, you look at Jake Browning in his career as a backup, his record at home, 6 and 2 on the road, 1 and 6. I think that we are just burying Jake Browning after he just had two really bad matchups on the road. Like, that's not his fault. Like the schedule just did not work in his favor. So after week three, or, excuse me, after the, the game where Joe Burrow got hurt, it seemed like, okay. Like we can be okay with Jake Browning. The Jacksonville game was fine for Jamar Chase. He had like 16 targets. And now we're just gonna completely forget that ever happened and just write him off because of these two tougher matchups on the road. So that's why I'm buying the dip on Jamar Chase like he's too talented of a player to be kept down for week after week. And you look at the Lions, they're down two of their starting cornerbacks. DJ Reeds got put on injured reserve. Terrion Arnold is banged up again at home. The Bengals, this is when you buy the dip on Jamar Chase. So I'm starting him no matter what.
Chris Welsh
I really like that my biggest worry would be that offensive line is so bad that Aiden Hutchinson is going to turn Browning into a huggy pillow like that. It looks really, really bad. And because of that, you've seen a lot of like tight end, you know, dump off stuff, but it doesn't take away like this situation. Jamar Chase is insanely talented fit. So I think this is a bit that you're going to get a million questions about this, but the matchup definitely lines up that this is still a great spot for Chase. It's probably not the week to get cute about it, even though it has been bad, but people are asking some pretty hard questions, Fitzy, and you've got them at nine though, and you've got them a little bit. You got one spot above consensus right now.
Pat Fitzmaurice
Yeah. And after I posted my rankings on Tuesday morning, someone on Twitter asked me why I was still ranking Jamar Chase as a top 10 receiver. And this Twitter follower didn't identify himself as a Jamar Chase stakeholder, but it was pretty obvious that he was. And no doubt he was completely distraught by what he had just seen from Jake Browning and the Cincinnati offense Monday night against the Broncos. I totally understand the frustration and I completely understand that some Chase investors might be thinking about benching Chase after a game in which he had five catches for 23 yards. So what I told this person when he asked me about why I'm continuing to rank Chase so highly is that Jamar Chase is insanely good at football. And like I wasn't trying to be a smart Alec, and I know that's an overly simplistic answer, but when Joe Burrow had the season ending injury in 2023 and Jake Browning had to make a bunch of starts late in the year, Chase had some good games. Like he had four catches for 81 yards in the first of those starts. Chase had 11 catches for 149 yards and a touchdown in Browning's second start that year. But then again, Jamar Chase averaged 3.5 catches and 38.3 receiving yards over the last four games he played with Jake Browning in 2023. So it's not all rosy here. Like, I'm not trying to sugarcoat things for the Jamar Chase investors. Like, the situation is kind of bleak. Chase is not finishing as the overall wide receiver one this year, but I don't think it's crazy to rank this undeniably great player as a mid range or low end wide receiver one in a week where there are four teams on buy and a bunch of good receivers hurt.
Chris Welsh
Do we think this is just a quick. Like, we don't have to go into a crazy analysis of this. If he bombs again this week, are we going to see the, the week six plummet of Jamar Chase?
Pat Fitzmaurice
We will in the rankings because people are knee jerk.
Andrew Erickson
I do want to bring up one last thing. If you're like, you're looking at your weekly matchup, right, and your opponent has Jamar Chase, are you is a sigh of relief if you see Jamar Chase on their bench or do you want to face Chase this week?
Chris Welsh
Well, that, I mean that I think that ultimately is.
Andrew Erickson
But that's not for me.
Chris Welsh
I don't know what the answer is.
Andrew Erickson
I, I just think you can't put that type of upside on the bench, especially with bye weeks.
Chris Welsh
I think you're indifferent about it. I think you're indifferent. I think the answer is you're indifferent. If you see that, you're just like, all right, this could go either way. Like, he could absolutely destroy me or this, you know, he could be worth less than Josh Downs. Like, I, I think you're just completely indifferent. Where usually you would have seen Jamar Chase and you're like, here we go. You know, like, here we go, it's gonna be a problem. You're very indifferent right now. And that's a space. But I don't want to say, like, this is the be all end all. But if he bombs out this week, three straight weeks with a good matchup, I think this is where you're going to see guys like you to have him ranked below the consensus moving forward if he bombs out. All right, so let's strap in and let's have. We're going to talk about another top 12 wide receiver, but let's have a bigger conversation around this guy that we need to have. This is a family conversation about the Chargers wide receivers. Quinton Johnston is number 12. Fitzy. I think I might have said on this show last week that I think Quentin Johnston deserved to be the top guy on that list, but that was still me loving lad McConkey. I'm broke breaking up with lad McConkey I'm done. I still think he is talented. He doesn't work as an elite wide receiver in this offense anymore because there are too many good options. There's too many good options for Herbert. That's the thing that was different from last year, was just like, oh, bad, bad, bad. Go to Lad. Lad saves. Now Herbert can go to first read. Bam. He's up a full percentage point on his first reads than he was last year. You got Hampton as a great receiver. That's what's creating this mix. So there's a Lad conversation to have, there's a Keenan Allen conversation to have. But I think the biggest change that everyone has come to terms with after this week and hoping they don't regret it, is that Quinton Johnson now needs to be looked at as the number one in this offense. And the consensus ranks obviously tell that story of him going up to 12. You guys don't agree though. You guys both have him as wide receiver 20 now, that actually doesn't mean you don't have him above the other guys. You just don't have him singularly as high. So Fitzy, let's start with you. Your thoughts on Quinton Johnston. You're way lower than the rest. And how do you sparse out this grouping of wide receivers?
Pat Fitzmaurice
Now I was on a show with my friend Kevin Tompkins earlier this week and Kevin and I were talking about whether we need to adjust our priors on the charts Chargers wide receivers based on what we've seen so far, and I think we probably do. But I think it's less about lad McConkey than it is about Quentin Johnston and Keenan Allen. And especially Quentin Johnston, like QJ was talented enough to be a first round pick in 2023. He was drafted 21st overall. He was the second wide receiver taken in that draft. Jackson, Smith And Jigba went one spot ahead of him at 20th overall. And Quentin Johnston's hands were obviously a major issue early in his career. So much so that it seemed like his problem with drops might be career threatening. And I don't know what Quentin Johnston and Jim Harbaugh and the Chargers coaches did to fix those problems. But QJ looks like a totally new guy, supremely confident catching the ball right now. And we are seeing the version of Quentin Johnston the Chargers thought they were getting when they drafted him. This big fast playmaker who's an absolute monster after the catch and a physical mismatch for pretty much every defender who tries to cover him. And he's like quietly second in the league in Air yards right now behind only Malik neighbors. So then you've got Keenan Allen, who's obviously aging like fine wine, like he's still the the Picasso of route runners. But I don't want to bury Lad McConkey in the rankings because of the slow start. Like I just don't believe that lad McConkey is going to finish wide receiver 56, which is where he is currently ranked in half point PPR fantasy scoring behind Luke McCaffrey, Hunter Renfro and DeAndre Hopkins.
Chris Welsh
But what if he finishes his wide receiver 35?
Pat Fitzmaurice
I mean he might, but like I'm still. I think the show that lad McConkey put on in 2024 was pretty convincing and I think he's playing well right now. But I don't think it's going to be like this all season.
Chris Welsh
But see, I think part of the problem is I don't think it's that he's not playing well. It's that the ball is not getting to him at the same clip as before. Again, like in week four, LAD had a 20% first read percentage. Quentin Johnson was almost 40%. He's also the air yards guy. Herbert doesn't need to check down at the level that he did before. Maybe it's even the checkdown percentage that was down a full percent as well. Like he has got his big target. So what I'm curious about.
Pat Fitzmaurice
Let me add one more thing also.
Chris Welsh
Give your rank after give your rank of those three wide receivers.
Pat Fitzmaurice
Let's get Eric. Yeah. So one of the reasons like this is kind of specific to this week. The the Chargers look very unlikely to have Joe Alt, who was carted off with an ankle injury, luckily not super serious it seems, and he's not going to miss extended time, but he's probably not going to play this week and maybe without Alt, their top offensive tackle. And they'd already lost Rashan Slater, their other starting offensive tackle, to a torn patellar tendon in training camp. Maybe that necessitates the need for some more quick throws, which seems like it's more up lads alley and up Keenan Allen's alley than Quentin Johnston, who again second in the league in air yards. Right now I don't know if Justin Herbert is going to get the time to wait for that. You know those deeper routes to develop this week. So maybe that's more.
Chris Welsh
How do you. How do you sparse those three.
Pat Fitzmaurice
Yeah, I've got QJ wide receiver 20, lad 22, Keenan Allen 23.
Chris Welsh
Okay Erickson, let's get your take it's it's all the same stuff that we built out here. I'm. I'm kind of done. Not that Lad isn't super talented. It's just his usage in the offense I think makes him a questionable starter. He'll have a couple games that blow up. Quinton Johnson is the constant. Talk to us about the lower rank of Quentin Johnson this week and then how do you sparse out those three Charger wide receivers?
Andrew Erickson
Yeah, I think that Fitz did a good job of hitting on the ascension of Quinton Johnson, so I don't necessarily need to rehash that because I agree with all the points that he made. I really want to focus more on McConkey and if you just look at this season, this is per Next Gen stats. No receivers have faced more double coverage than keenan Allen and Lab McConkey this year. So that's like part of one of the reasons why Johnson has been so productive. Not Gun. He's taken a massive talent jump in how they've used him, but he's gotten a lot of favorable looks, like the opportunities have been there for him. And unlike past years where he's kind of blown those opportunities, being attached to Justin Herbert this year he's really capitalizing on it and why he's been so productive. So I don't think the production is just going away, but eventually, like the ebbs and flows are going to kind of shift a little bit where you're not going to just see McConkey just never produce ever again. Like, I don't think he's going to be wide receiver 56 rest of season. In fact, he's, if you go back to last year, the only guy that has faced double coverage more than LA McConkey is Jamar Chase since the beginning of 2024. So teams have been rolling coverage towards McConkey to be like, no, we're not letting this guy beat us. And then Quinn Johnson has been absolutely feasting. So eventually you're going to see teams. All right, well now we have to pay more attention to this third year breakout because he's absolutely killing us. We can let up a little bit on Lamb McConkey and I think this particular matchup against the Commanders, this is a spot where I think LAD can finally bounce back because they're one of the worst defenses in the NFL this year against slot receivers. They're dead last in yards per target to the slot. The leader in slot routes for the Chargers is lad McConkey. So although they're mixing in Keenan Allen a little bit Even Quentin Johnson to an effect in the slot. It's interesting because even though McConkey is running most of his routes from the slot, he's been the least productive slot receiver for the Chargers. I believe Johnston and Allen both have like more yards, more catches and have been just more productive with those opportunities. Whereas Lama Conkey, he hasn't played great. Like that's the other thing too. Like part of it is on him. The usage again hasn't been ideal, but he's also dropped more passes than we're occasionally used to him seeing, hasn't been winning these 50, 50 balls and obviously hasn't scored any touchdowns. I think that changes because of the matchup this weekend's the Commanders who are a slot funnel defense. 3rd most targets, 4th most points allowed to slot receivers this season. Like I mentioned before, league high yards per target, 10.1 to pass catchers aligned in the slot this season. I don't think that that's going to go unnoticed when the Chargers are putting together their game plans. Like, oh wow, like we can really get Lad going this particular week. So I don't think this is the week to bench Lambert Kong. I think, yes, he's more of that wide receiver too, just because I don't think the other guys completely go away. But yeah, I'm in on Lad this week.
Chris Welsh
Yeah. And I'm not going to make a big argument about like this week and how you want to approach. I think it's the bigger piece of this is like when you guys make the argument that, hey, he's not going to be wide receiver 56, that's not necessarily telling. Like, because again, if he's wide receiver 38 or 36 or 35 or something like that, well, guess what? He's super inconsistent and that's my problem with him knowing when to start him. So you want to see consistency. Hopefully this is the start of it. He's way too talented to not be used, but I do feel he's kind of a hard, hard start in general. But you guys are kind of seeing that with Quinton Johnson. So do you have it ranked Johnston, Ladd and Keenan Allen, like Fitz, I.
Andrew Erickson
Have it Lad, Johnston and then Keenan.
Chris Welsh
Allen because you have Lad above everybody. Okay.
Andrew Erickson
I, I just believe in the matchup this week, like, this is lad's spot to have a productive game like he had his rookie year. And yes, he's. I think he's one spot ahead of Quinn Johnson for him because I don't expect Johnson to lay an egg in any capacity. I mean Marshawn Lattimore is. I mean, he's turned into like a turn style type of cornerback where I kind of hope that you they put Latimore on Johnson one on one and just kind of see how that goes. And that's obviously a matchup that Johnson should win, but I think that this slot matchup for LA McConkey is ideal for him to get going.
Chris Welsh
All right, let's move to the wide. It's a lot of conversation we had on the wide receiver ones, but there are some good things we need to do in there. Let's go to wide receiver twos this week. We've got 13 through 24, starting with Cortland Sutton, followed by Zay Flowers, Tet McMillan, Michael Pittman, AJ Brown, Jaylen Waddle, Xavier Worthy, Keenan Allen, Jacoby Myers, Marvin Harrison, Brian Thomas and Olave. So there you go. That tells you right there they got. We got Keenan Allen as far as ECR as the number two. So lad has dropped down there a couple points to hit on here. Let's start with Michael Pittman. ECR 16. You guys are both lower. Fitzy at 19, Erickson at 24, even lower. Let's get a quick hit, Eric. So why don't we start with you, Michael Pittman. This is probably the highest he's ranked this this season. You guys are a little bit lower, but you still are in starting range. What are your thoughts on Michael Pittman for this week as a starter?
Andrew Erickson
Yeah, I had to move him up a little bit since I first put my rankings in and just kind of a peek behind the curtain for when we're doing these. We do our initial ranks and then Fitz will take out certain players that we think are most debatable to talk about. But then as I'm kind of prepping for the show, I'll go back in and kind of update things based on stark differences. And Michael Pittman, to me, was one of the players that I kind of looked again at and thought, now I think I am too low on him because you just look at what he's done this year. He's been a top 22 finisher in all the games that he played except against the Broncos, which we all know is okay. This is the Patrick Zertane matchup. Nobody ever plays really well against him, so it's okay that he was wide receiver 66 that week. So he's been locked and loaded as the top 22 guy. And the Raiders have allowed the third most fantasy points to wide receivers. So I moved him up much closer to the ECR rank.
Chris Welsh
Fitzy, you on the buy in. I mean like I said, as Erickson said, Pittman has been finishing high. He has not ranked high really whatsoever. But now this is the first week that everybody is just kind of in as he goes up against the Raiders, which is one of the few in this wide receiver two range four star matchups according to fantasy pros. If you check out on the ranks page you can go and see all of that and it is also given an A rating. What do you think about Pittman?
Pat Fitzmaurice
Yeah, as Erickson said, this is a really attractive matchup with the Raiders having a lot of the fourth most receiving yards and fourth most receptions to wide receivers. And Pittman's been pretty consistent as far as volume. He has at least four catches in every game. But I, I do think may the ECR is just a little bit of an overreaction to the touchdown output for Michael Pittman. So far he's had three touchdown catches but he's only had one red zone target this entire season. Like his, his touchdowns have come from outside the 20 yard line. And I think Tyler Warren is kind of clearly Daniel Jones go to guy close to the end zone. So maybe he's just a little over inflated as far as where ECR has him.
Chris Welsh
Unfortunately Tyreek Hill had the dislocated knee, might be career threatening. He's definitely out for this season. That's what we know. But what it has unlocked is Jalen Waddle, Sizzen Erickson. The smile comes because he knew. He knows what was coming. Where we can just freely get back to betting overs on Jalen Waddle. That's all that we really want in this world. He is ECR18. Both of you have got him higher. Fitzy at 15, Erickson's at 14. Fitzy, let's start with you real quick. He becomes the de facto number one. I think that puts him in a good spot. I think some people might argue he would want to go even higher. I can already feel in like the Sunday chat we're going to get like Waddle or Jamar Chase. I feel like that's like a question that's going to start popping up, but how excited should we be? You guys are higher than ecr. This is a pretty good rank on Waddle here. So Fitzy, what's your take?
Pat Fitzmaurice
Yeah, no matter how eternal my Jalen Waddle optimism, I'm never going to be able to outflank Ericsson on Jaylen Waddle. That's just a given, you know, and I I just don't want to stop batting on a former top 10 draft pick who began his career with three straight thousand yard seasons. And you know, now with Tua healthy and Tyreek Hill no longer around, you would have to imagine that Jalen Waddle is going to get at least some additional targets.
Chris Welsh
I think we're going to talk about Malik Washington a little bit later. I think he is a super sneaky option as well as a big deep threat. I think maybe a worry Erickson could be that just like this passing offense is already kind of, you know, there's some stinkiness to it that the stink can continue on and it's just one less target. But like Waddle's a guy that finds himself open. You've got him at 14. How did you not just get him as a wide receiver? 12. I just do it, just do the thing and get him as a 12. But let's, let's hear your optimism on Waddle right now.
Andrew Erickson
Well, we have a four game sample size including the last game that we saw with Waddle and Tyree Kill where Hill has played less than 50% of the snaps in the Dolphins offense. And in those games Waddle has averaged over 8 targets per game, 76 receiving yards per game. So look, drafted Jalen Waddle, he's on all my teams and I'm not going to bench him in the first game that Tyree Kill is not playing again. This was never the idea behind the play that Hill would suffer an injury like he did again. There was always a chance that I thought okay, maybe Terry Kill does get traded and then you get Waddle with like this opportunity to be the wide receiver one and now we're getting that opportunity here with, with the Hill's injury. So I think you got to start him. I mean it's going to be disappointing if it's not the exact boom game that we expected, maybe in his first outing. It's the Carolina Panthers who are a team that we know a lot of teams mostly attack through the ground game and don't necessarily need to throw the ball over. But this is just a bad defense overall, top to bottom. It's not a matchup to be feared in any capacity. And Waddle has been pretty good this year. He's actually PFF's 20th highest graded wide receiver this season through four games. Hasn't had the massive volume numbers but it's been efficient and you're expecting the volume to uptick without Terry Kill in the lineup. And I think Welsh, when you mentioned like you felt good about me doing well this week in the rankings. I think it was a subtle nod at, hey, the Jalen Waddle call. You got to be above consensus on Jalen Waddle because he's going to deliver a smash week.
Chris Welsh
Yeah, it was just a feeling that grew in me. That's all that it was. I didn't even like have any logic to it. There you go. It might be all about Waddle one more in this range. Jacoby Myers, ECR21 this week. Erickson, you got him at 23, so you're a little bit lower than consensus. So this is one of those situations where you guys are on opposite ends. Fitzy, you got him quite a bit higher. You've got him at 16. That's actually the ECR Michael Pittman range. So, Fitzy, why don't you spit some positive and maybe Ericsson's got a little bit of negative.
Pat Fitzmaurice
Yeah, I mean, Jacoby Myers had kind of a quiet game last week. Four catches, 30 yards, but he had a team high seven targets in a game where Geno Smith only attempted 21 passes for the Raiders. So Myers has a 26.8% target share on the season, ranks 25th in the league in air yards and sixth in the league in yards after the catch. So that's a pretty nice combination. And I don't hate the matchup against the Colts, who have allowed the second most receptions and the fifth most receiving yards to wide receivers this season.
Chris Welsh
Yeah, Erickson, the Colts cornerbacks definitely PFF grades are relatively bad kind of across the board. So if they get back to, you know, aerating a little bit with the Raiders, Jacoby Myers is going to get some targets. You're a little bit more pessimistic though. You got him at 23.
Andrew Erickson
I did move him up a few spots. Thought more about the Colts and their defense, how they don't have Kenny Moore, who was their best cornerback and he was a guy that was manning the slot. Well, that's where Jacoby Myers runs the majority of his routes is from the slot. So I think that this is a bounce back game for Jacoby Myers and he's in this tier of receiver where it's him versus how many receivers can I rank ahead of A.J. brown this week? And Jacoby Myers now falls into that category. So I'm now starting Jacob Myers over A.J. brown, starting Chargers wide receivers over A.J. brown just because. Yeah, that's the A.J. brown experience that we're all going through right now.
Chris Welsh
I'm glad you brought that up. We didn't really talk about him. 17, where do you have him ranked? AJ Brown?
Andrew Erickson
I have him at 23, and I think that if you can make a compelling case to start somebody over him, I would. He's not. It's not the extent where I think you should just pick someone up off the waiver wire and start that player over AJ Brown, just because he does have a projection every week.
Chris Welsh
No Trey. No Trey Tucker.
Andrew Erickson
I'm not doing Trey Tucker over A.J. brown type of analysis. But again, like Jameson Williams over A.J. brown. Yeah, sure. Just because, I mean, I think we can all agree that AJ Brown's ceiling is not high in this matchup or in this offense.
Chris Welsh
Fitzy, do you. Where do you have A.J. brown? Just real quick.
Pat Fitzmaurice
I've got him at wide receiver 14, but I'm gonna have to move him down. I mean, Pat Patrick certain and just like. Yeah, the total reluctance of the Eagles to, like, throw the ball when they're not down multiple scores. I don't get it. Like, the Eagles, Man 4 and. Oh, and flying high. But I think they've been outgained in all four of their games so far. Like, the passing game, they've. They've got to get it going because, like, there's just no indication that they are going to be able to. I don't know. I guess they did play from behind against the Rams, but, you know, it. It took a miracle with the blocked kick at the end of that game to. To save them. But, man, like, the Eagles passing offense is just bleak right now.
Chris Welsh
There's some dude out there that, like, somehow got Chase Brown and Neighbors and they just were, like, celebrating in the preseason and they're just in shambles right now. So shout out to that guy, let us know who you are. All right, we got wide receiver threes coming up. But first, today's show is brought to you by our new presenting sponsor, Hard Rock bet. The Hard Rock Bet sportsbook app is top rated, probably because there's so many promos and so much to bet. Week five doesn't kick off till tomorrow, but on Hard Rock Bet, if you're doing some fantasy research for this week, don't forget to check out those players odds to score on the Hard Rock BET app, you're going to get a profit boost for Thursday night's game. If you want to parlay a few of your players to score and maybe hit their yardage total as well. And if you haven't tried your first bet on Hard Rock Bet, there's still time for you to get 150 in bonus bets. If you win, just place a $5 bet. And if it hits, you get not only your winnings, but 150in extra bonus bets. It's a great day to download the Hard Rock Bet app and make your first deposit, because tomorrow's Thursday. Every Thursday isn't just a new fantasy week. It's a new rewards drop on Hard Rock Bet. That means you get even more promos on top of that welcome offer. We talk fantasy every week. That's our thing. They dish out a whole lot of rewards and promos every week. That's their thing. Download the Hard Rock Bet app and make your first deposit payable.
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Hey, this is Matt Jones and I'm Drew Franklin, and this is NFL Cover Zero. We think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining and twice a week. That is exactly, exactly what you're going to get. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts pretzel? That was my other big takeaway from that game. What was that? Looks like something that should not be sold. Oh, my. So that was my other big Colts takeaway. They sold that.
Pat Fitzmaurice
Yes.
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Might want to go back at the Colts stadium.
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Yeah, I might want to go back.
Pat Fitzmaurice
To the drawing board on that. Yeah.
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I thought the shape we had with pretzels was working pretty well.
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It's worked for generations.
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Carroll is at his age.
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Wide receiver threes, gentlemen. That's where lad McConkey comes in. He comes in at 25, followed by Jameson Williams, Devonte Smith, Wandell Robinson, Jordan Addison, Stefon Diggs, Juwan Jennings. Though I think he will come off because I don't think he's going to play at 31. T. Higgins, Khalil Shakir, Chris Godwin, Keon Coleman and Trey Tucker. Gentlemen, we got to talk about Wandell Robinson, the new number one in New York. Is that a good thing? ECR 2850, you've got him at 32. Erickson, you've got him at 29. We got Jackson Dart running the offense. Maybe Slayton gets a bump up, I don't know. But Wanda has been a. He's been able to be a target monster and now he is the guy on this team. Is it worth anything? Erickson, let's start with you. Wide receiver, 29. You're just about at consensus, but you guys are both still just a tiny bit lower. You're not stoked about Wandell.
Andrew Erickson
I mean, He's a top 30 receiver attached to a rookie quarterback. I think that you can't just copy and paste well what we thought women league neighbors would do. You should do that to Wanda Robinson. I think that the talent levels are completely different. That's not to say that Wando can't, you know, suck up a lot of volume in this offense from Jackson Dart. I think that's definitely the case. We saw it last year with Wanda Robinson. He saw a lot of targets in the games that Mike Bambers missed last year, but so did Darius Slayton. So I don't know that we necessarily need to hone in on. It's just going to be Dart to Wandell Robinson this entire matchup. But it is a game where you're expecting to at least be close and not a scenario where the Giants are getting blown out or blowing out the Saints. It's more of back and forth. So I think the pass volume should be pretty steady throughout the contest and I think that he's a solid start this week.
Chris Welsh
I think he's even better in a full PPR in Jackson. Dart moves around so much in the offense. I think Wandell is a guy that is going to be able to find. I think they're going to use Slayton in some of that deeper stuff and Wondell is going to be a safety net, so I actually like him a bit more. Fitzy, you're going to get inundated with Wandell questions this week. I have no doubt about it as the new number one here, but you're 32 rank. I don't know. To me, that kind of says like, you just are very disinterested. You'd rather play higher up. So you're pretty disinterested in him in the preseason as well. Now he's the number one. But there still isn't a lot of, like, love for him.
Pat Fitzmaurice
Yeah, I mean, there was that kind of surprise early in the season with his usage with Russell Wilson where he was running much deeper routes. I mean, last year Wanda Robinson's average depth of target was 4.8 yards. This year it's at 10 yards, which is really unexpected. I don't know if it's going to stay that way. I think they might need him to go back to being that short area wide receiver. In which case, you know, get ready for more of the usual Wanda Robinson 6 for 33 stat lines, which don't really help that much. I mean, they'll, they'll keep you afloat in a PPR league. But, you know, I mean, last year this guy had what, 93 catches for 699 yards and there just wasn't a lot of impact there. So I kind of worry we're going to go back to that sort of usage with Wanda Robinson. I think the passing numbers for Jackson Dart are going to be probably pretty bleak, and so I just can't get super excited about him. And yet at the same time, I think you're probably starting Wandell Robinson if you have him, considering all the buys and the injuries.
Chris Welsh
And I got a couple shares of him. Jordan Addison, this is a situation where you guys are both lower, but you guys seem to be on a much bigger spectrum of him. He is ECR 29 for this week. He's going up against Cleveland, tougher defense, fit. You got him at 31. Erickson, you got him at 40. So kind of bearing him down there. He. He really didn't do much until the big Giant play. That's what really brought him into the offense wins. Definitely likes that shorter inside stuff. I've talked about it a bunch with like the tight ends. Addison can kind of play that role, but Jefferson is playing a lot more of it. But Erickson, you got him at 40. So we're in like no start territory. Very disinterested in Addison. Let's hear your breakdown.
Andrew Erickson
Yeah, because without the 81 yard catch, he went 3 for 33 last week with Carson Wentz as the quarterback. I don't like the. Is this game going to be a shootout between Dylan Gabriel and Carson Wentz in. In London? No, I. I really don't think so. So I don't think this is going to be a fun game where we can start ancillary pieces because the game is popping off. We're seeing points. I think the total is 35 and a half now, the lowest on the week by far. Again, we had preseason games with higher totals than 35 1/2 points is Vikings and Browns. So I think this game is just going to be a slog on both sides potentially, and I'm trying to avoid starting players in this game if I can, and that includes Addison.
Chris Welsh
Queue up my Judkins Rush attempt. Bet again, Fitzy. All right, Fitz, what do you think about Addison? You're. You're a little bit closer to consensus. He's a tough start, but you have him one spot higher than Wanda as well.
Pat Fitzmaurice
The total's really down at 35 and a half.
Andrew Erickson
Huh?
Pat Fitzmaurice
That's like an Iowa Wisconsin game.
Andrew Erickson
I think it's. I mean, last I checked, I think it's somewhere in that range, but that was before they announced Gabriel as a. So I'm sure that the Unders have been heavy hitting that.
Chris Welsh
Yeah.
Pat Fitzmaurice
So I know Addison is the second banana behind Justin Jefferson. I know Carson Wentz doesn't inspire great confidence in the Minnesota passing game, but Addison is a terrific player whose usage in his first game back from suspension was pretty reassuring. Like, I didn't know how much he was going to play last week. He played 96% of the offensive snaps, got eight targets. Um, so that was, you know, and I know the 81 yard catch kind of made his day, but for that kind of usage with a. A pretty good player. And I, I think even though it hasn't really been the case so far, I do think the Browns are going to be kind of a pass funnel because they're just really hard to run against. So, yeah, I, I think Addison's kind of in starter territory this week.
Chris Welsh
Chris Godwin, I think, well, his targets defied where he was ranked. Unfortunately, he couldn't catch any of them. That was a discussion that Fitzy and I had last week. He is ECR 34 this week. You guys are on a little bit of split. Fitzyou are on the negative. Erickson's a little bit on the positive. What's got you on the negative? It's clearly not the target share, but it definitely was, you know, maybe the legs. And I think there's some quarterback playing discussion here. So you barely have. Yeah, I mean, you have Chris Godwin under Jordan Addison. You have him under wand. Dale, he had the 10 targets but couldn't pull them down. So what's your, what's your concerns with Kyle, Chris Godwin this week?
Pat Fitzmaurice
Mainly matchup. Seattle's defense is number one in dvoa. They have one of the best defensive backfields in the league, and they've given up the second fewest receiving yards to opposing wide receivers. But again, Godwin, kind of like Addison where the, the usage was better than I expected in his first game back, like 86% snapchair for Godwin. 10 targets, 146 air yards, which was kind of a shocker in his first game back from that gruesome ankle injury last year. Only three catches for 26 yards, but yeah, the usage was encouraging with Mike Evans out and maybe Bucky Irving out too. Like, Godwin should be pretty heavily involved again and I will be moving him up if Bucky Irving is ruled out.
Chris Welsh
Erickson, is the usage from last week the reason we should have more optimism on Godwin?
Andrew Erickson
Yeah, he was at number three in expected fantasy points among all wide receivers last week. So for him to finish with under what, under 30 receiving yards was very, very underwhelming but this is the stuff that we look at one week and identify as by low players the following week. He checked off all those types of boxes and you expect that, hey, maybe a little rusty coming in his first game. You know, missed all of the preseason, wasn't active. So I think that it's okay to look at. Hey, it wasn't necessarily squeezing the football, not making great plays, but a lot of that was against when Quinoa Mitchell was covering him. Cooper DeJean was covering like these really talented second year players who are going to match him one on one with Chris Godwin. And you know, sometimes he's not going to win those types of battles. So I believe in Baker Mayfield to create some magic. Chris Godwin is going to be heavily involved like we saw last week. I think that he can be better improving in this next week back from his injury and with a full playing time role. So that for those reasons that's why I'm a little bit more optimistic about Chris Godwin.
Chris Welsh
That's your top 36 that goes through the numbers but we always take a look who's a wide receiver that is not in the top 36. That should be FITC. We mentioned this guy's name a little bit earlier, but this is your highlighted deeper play this week.
Pat Fitzmaurice
Malik Washington. He is going to have an enhanced role with Tyreek Hill out and maybe not just in the passing game like Malik Washington has eight rushing attempts this season and this is a Dude who had 110 catches for over 1400 yards in his final college season at Virginia. Malik Washington can play.
Chris Welsh
Erickson, you're picking a guy that literally just dropped the ball every time it was thrown to him. And he's got a balmy 36.5 over total is actually the number here. So who's your post 36 wide receiver.
Andrew Erickson
So he was in my top 36 before Dylan Gabriel was announced as the starter. So I did move him down a couple spots. I do think that he'll be somewhere when I finally settle in on the rankings probably in that wide receiver 36 fringe. It's Jerry Judy and it's really just based on Cedric Tillman not playing. Because when Cedric Tillman missed games last year, Jerry Judy's numbers doubled. Essentially they, they were so much better than they were when Cedric Tillman was playing because every time Tillman plays, he out produces Jerry Judy. Like that has been a constant since last year. Jerry Judy, I, I think that we all agree he's kind of like a fake alpha in every way. He usually drops a lot of the opportunities, but he does get a lot of volume. Still, if the Browns are scheming up plays for their rookie receiver or their rookie quarterback, what do we see a lot with rookie quarterbacks is they hone in on their number one guy. Like they don't necessarily go through all their reads. If Jerry Judy's the number one read on a lot of these plays, well, then he's going to get volume in this spot. So he's wide receiver 28 expected fantasy points per game. And I don't know why, but the coaching staff still loves him. You know, after the game, the head coach is still saying, Jerry Judy, he's our guy. He's our best wide receiver. So whether that's because Jerry Judy's got dirt on him or not, I'm not exactly sure. But the fact that there are still some positives to look at when it comes to Judy in this particular matchup, even against the Vikings. And again, he's not a ceiling play. He is a floor play where I think that he will see at least enough volume to probably maybe crack in the top 36, but probably not be better than like a top 30 receiver when the dust settles.
Chris Welsh
If we didn't get to a big question that was in your brain based off of these ranks, don't forget that we've got our weekly start and sit live stream on our YouTube channel where you guys can come and ask any of your specific start and sit questions, especially wide receiver ones. We'll be here every Thursday, 3pm Eastern. Those on the podcast YouTube.com fantasypros subscribe, click get notified and they can get your questions answered. That's going to do it for the week five wide receiver ranks for Pat Fitzmaurice and Mr. Andrew Erickson. I'm Chris Welsh. Good luck and we'll talk to you next time right here on Fantasy Pros.
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Hey, this is Matt Jones and I'm Drew Franklin and this is NFL Cover Zero. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit. Did you see the Colts pretzel? That was my other big takeaway from that game. What was that? Oh my. We think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining. And twice a week that is exactly what you're gonna get. Listen to NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.
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Date: October 1, 2025
Host: Chris Welsh
Analysts: Pat Fitzmaurice, Andrew Erickson
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A comprehensive, opinion-rich breakdown of fantasy football wide receiver rankings and tiers for NFL Week 5, with a spirited analysis of studs, sleepers, must-starts, and compelling WR debates. The episode tackles wide receiver injuries, emerging trends, and some tough fantasy dilemmas.
To help fantasy football managers make informed wide receiver start/sit decisions for Week 5 by debating updated rankings, analyzing player usage and matchups, and highlighting upside as well as risk. The hosts use sharp stats, personal rankings, and lively banter to examine the state of the wide receiver landscape amidst injuries and shifting team dynamics.
“Last week, Pickens did really well as an alpha receiver… it looked silly to have been worried about his ability to thrive as a lead receiver against a defense from Green Bay that most people consider one of the best in the league. I’m still a little nervous about ranking Pickens as a WR1 when he’s probably going to be seeing a lot of Sauce Gardner this week.”
“Pickens doesn’t move around much… you’re going to see Gardner basically match up with Pickens all game long… I don’t think we’re going to get a repeat ceiling game from him against the New York Jets.”
“Not trying to overreact to two bad games from Jake Browning… after week three, the Jacksonville game was fine for Jamar Chase, he had like sixteen targets. Now we’re just gonna completely forget that ever happened?... I’m buying the dip.”
“My biggest worry would be that offensive line is so bad that Aidan Hutchinson is going to turn Browning into a huggy pillow… but Jamar Chase is insanely talented.”
“Jamar Chase is insanely good at football… When Joe Burrow had the season-ending injury in 2023… Chase had some good games. But then again, averaged 3.5 catches and 38.3 yards over the last four games… So it’s not all rosy. The situation is kind of bleak, but I don’t think it’s crazy to rank this undeniably great player as a low-end WR1.”
“QJ looks like a totally new guy, supremely confident catching the ball right now… quietly second in the league in air yards right now behind only Malik Nabers.”
“No receivers have faced more double coverage than Keenan Allen and Lad McConkey this year… Johnston has been absolutely feasting. Eventually you’ll see teams pay more attention to him, which could allow McConkey to bounce back. The Commanders are dead last in yards per target to the slot—great spot for McConkey.”
“Had to move him up… Top 22 finishers in all games except the Broncos (Pat Surtain). Raiders have allowed the third most fantasy points to WRs.”
“This is a really attractive matchup. Pittman’s been consistent, at least four catches every game. But he’s only had one red zone target—it might be an overreaction to his touchdowns.”
“No matter how eternal my Waddle optimism, I’m never going to outflank Erickson on Jaylen Waddle. I just don’t want to stop betting on a former top 10 draft pick.”
“In games where Hill has played less than 50% snaps, Waddle has averaged over eight targets, 76 yards. You gotta start him… This is a bad defense overall, top to bottom. Waddle will deliver a smash week.”
“If you can make a compelling case to start someone over him, I would… his ceiling is not high in this matchup or this offense.”
“Patrick Surtain… and just like… the total reluctance of the Eagles to throw the ball… The Eagles are 4–0 but the passing offense is bleak right now.”
“He’s a top 30 receiver attached to a rookie quarterback… I think that the talent levels are completely different (from Nabers)… he’s a solid start this week.”
“Average depth of target is up but could revert back… get ready for more of the usual Wandale 6-for-33 stat lines which keep you afloat in PPR, but don’t really help that much.”
“Without the 81 yard catch, he went 3 for 33 last week. I don’t think this game will be a shootout… This game is just going to be a slog. I’m trying to avoid starting players in this game.”
“His snap share was 96%, got 8 targets… Browns are hard to run against, may be a pass funnel. Addison's in starter territory this week.”
“Mainly matchup. Seattle’s given up the second fewest yards to WRs. But the usage was encouraging: 86% snap share, 10 targets, 146 air yards.”
“No. 3 in expected fantasy points last week. Usage was great, just didn’t convert. By-low player—he’ll improve.”
“He is going to have an enhanced role with Tyreek Hill out… had 110 catches for over 1400 yards in his final college season. Malik Washington can play.”
“He’s a floor play where I think that he will see enough volume to probably maybe crack in the top 36. Not a ceiling play, but volume is there with Cedric Tillman out.”
The hosts blend statistical depth with playful, self-deprecating humor and candid admissions about their own rankings biases. Regular digressions (“wedding season”, “divorce stage”, “marrying/divorcing” WRs) keep things light while deep dives into data and schemes offer actionable advice. The camaraderie between Chris, Pat, and Andrew is palpable and engaging.
For more, check out the full episode and the FantasyPros weekly ranks at fantasypros.com/rankings.