Fantasy Football Daily - Mike Evans will WIN LEAGUES in 2026 | WR Sleepers & Breakouts w/ Matt Harmon

Episode Date: March 23, 2026

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Starting point is 00:01:37 2025 type impact. Oh, dare you say it, I would bet a significant portion of my salary that Devante Adams' name came up in San Francisco's building when they were deciding to make this move. It is just objectively true when you look at this offense, like it functions best when it has an ex-receiver in a dominant form. That is why they gave Brandon Ayuk all of that money. So I think Mike Evans, like, is the ex-receiver who can run this route tree who's really good on dig routes and stuff over the middle of the field.
Starting point is 00:02:09 Like he'll be awesome there if he can stay healthy. He picked San Francisco for a reason, and I think there's a lot of good reasons for him signing there. Let's help. That's the old cheat. Discussing 2026 wide receiver sleepers, sleepers, potential breakouts, and looking at some wide receivers on new teams,
Starting point is 00:02:43 as well as this potential impact from the 2026 rookie wide receiver class. Theo Greminger, Fantasy Football Daily on the Fantasy Points podcast, Network and Fantasy Points YouTube. Join today by Matt Harmon of Reception Perception and Yahoo. This should be a lot of fun. Matt, you're sort of like an officianto when it comes to wide receiver evaluations. You've had some really big hits over the years.
Starting point is 00:03:06 So we're going to attempt to do it again today. How you doing today? I appreciate it, Theo. Way too kind in the intro. That's for sure. Yeah, hits along the years. That's for sure. But I think that why I love doing what I do and this time,
Starting point is 00:03:22 year is so fun to be in this position is because I just am really I just love thinking about wide receiver from a big big picture standpoint and especially like how guys will fit within certain roles and certain offenses and this time of year right now in like late March we're sort of still kind of talking free agency but also transitioning towards the draft it's just like the perfect time for a wide receiver dork like myself to sort of hypothesize some of these like players changing and what it might look like both for guys that are on new teams and also players that are on the teams that have lost wide receiver talent. So it's a fun time of year, and I love doing it.
Starting point is 00:03:58 Yeah, it's very interesting when you look at new schemes, you look at players on new teams. And the wide receiver position, we always associate it with it's the same guys score and points every year. It's not necessarily the case. We see breakthrough wide receiver ones every single year in fantasy football, and we see a ton of breakthrough wide receiver twos. Even last season, George Pickens goes to a new team.
Starting point is 00:04:21 Chris Ilave, a new offensive scheme. Zayflowers some spike weeks at the end of the year. The year before, Terry McLaurin, new offensive scheme, Malik neighbors, Brian Thomas Jr., Ladd-McConkie, all of those guys on new teams, obviously, as rookies. So we're going to attempt to identify a few players this year that could break through as well. Let's take a step back. We keep hearing about all of these rookie wide receivers, and we're certainly breaking them down over here at fantasy points on Dynasty Life.
Starting point is 00:04:51 this show, 2026 draft show with Brett Whitefield. When you take a look at the 2026 wide receiver class sort of as a whole, we know there's going to be a lot of players drafted on day one and certainly some on the first half of the second round on day two. But when you take a bird's eye view and sort of look at this class as a whole, are you getting excited about the talent level? Is it just the depth? Break it down for us, Matt, your initial thoughts on this rookie class.
Starting point is 00:05:18 I think actually some of what you're saying about how we have a new group of wide receiver ones and some of the names that you rattled off there actually dovetails us perfectly into the draft discussion and kind of my overall thoughts on not just this class but the last couple of classes and probably what will be classes for years to come and Theo that's that there's too many good wide receivers right now and this is something I keep talking about where I can go down and not necessarily fantasy rankings but thinking about like real life receiver rankings I could get into like wide receiver 45 or so and think like, you know what, that's a pretty good player, like who's a good starter. And I think that makes the position really crowded. It makes the top guys really stand out. And we saw that in fantasy football this year where the wide receiver two scoring was down for a lot of different reasons. I know JJ Zacharyson's done great work on that. I know Ryan Heath from Fantasy Points has had some good takes on this as well that I've engaged with. And I think there's a lot of different factors there. I do think part of it is that just we have a pretty big glut of what our wide 2s, even if they're not scoring like wide receiver 2s, because there's just so much depth
Starting point is 00:06:23 at this position. And I think that's a direct result of the fact that every year they're seemingly a pretty good wide receiver class. Like at some point, there's going to have to be consequences to that, right? Like there's going to have to be trends within the league. And I think this is part of that where guys that even are pretty good prospects, and we'll get to this when we talk about year two guys here, guys who are pretty good prospects are going to get squeezed in year one because of just the depth in the league and then the incoming depth of this rookie class. And I think this group here, this year, looks like a pretty good deep group right now. So I've looked at about, you know, 15 to 16 of the guys so far.
Starting point is 00:07:01 I'm not fully done with my charting process on everybody. But I've charted most of the kind of consensus top guys. And I think there's like five guys that are verifiable round one picks. I think Omar Cooper is another guy who will probably end up going in the first round this year. And a part of that is not just because he's a good player. And I think you look at him and you think like there's a real easy application to how he will be used in an NFL offense. Like I think in a worst case scenario, he's something like a Khalil Shakir type, which, you know, that's not the best player in the world. But it's useful to an NFL offense.
Starting point is 00:07:34 I'm not going to, nobody's bus proof. Nobody has a locked in floor necessarily. But I think on the range of outcomes, you take Khalil Shakir and you got a nice player in your offense, right? I think there is still a higher ceiling than that. Totally different discussion. I think that will get him pushed up into the first round of this year's class just because I talked to just more like big picture evaluators and not everybody's got like 20 first round grades, 25 first round grades.
Starting point is 00:08:00 So you look at a receiver and you're just like, hey, everybody needs a receiver. Even if there's a lot of them, you can always use more players in the room. That's going to push guys up into kind of this first round range. So it's a good class. I don't necessarily think we have a Malik neighbors or I don't know he has been a little hit or miss in the league so far, like a Marvin Harrison type of player where you could take him in the top five. He's an elite type prospect. Jamar Chase.
Starting point is 00:08:23 I don't know that we have one of those guys in the class. I think we have a pretty solid group of first round options here. Yeah, I think you said it very well. It kind of feels like 2024 where you had Xavier Liggett, Ricky Purcell, Xavier Worthy, all like in that cluster at the end of the first round. It feels like we can have that this year. When you look at picks like 22 through 36, there's so many wide receiver needy teams there. So we could see guys sort of going in a row there.
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Starting point is 00:10:31 Talk to us about KC. Concepcion and the sort of traits you're seeing the potential impact he might have at the next level. And another one of these guys we fully expect to go in the first round. The knee thing this off season, I'm not sure that's going to hurt him. We don't have all the details. But as of now, I would be very surprised to see him fall to day. too. I love to hear that you guys are high on him because he was one of the guys that I first started looking at prospects for this year's class immediately really liked him. And he's the type of wide receiver that has, you know, kind of I've been right on and
Starting point is 00:11:03 been a little bit like too high on some of the guys from a fantasy standpoint. You know, these kind of like not, I was glad to see him check in at about 511, 196, I believe at the combine. I think that's good size, not undersized there. Typically the guys who are sub 190 and the 185 or, 180 range, you know, I'm thinking about like Josh Downs, who's even lighter than that, or like, Jaden Reed, where they've struggled to become full-time players. I do think he's like within that archetype, but he's more along, I think about like, is he, is he Jaden Reed or is he Stefan Diggs?
Starting point is 00:11:34 You know, if we're talking about like that player archetype, I think he's closer to the Diggs part of that archetype than Jaden Reed because explosive three-level separator. He's probably the best man coverage beater in this class this year. I think he settles underneath. against zone coverage really well too. So I think he can be a three level threat that can play multiple positions. I definitely don't see a slot only player. He does have a drop issue. Like if we're looking at the number of drops,
Starting point is 00:12:00 I think some of them, for the most part in games I've watched, I think it's been like a focus issue, but he does clap at the ball sometime. I think that can get corrected. And typically if I think like, all right, the one question I have with this guy is he's got a drop issue, I think that's something that can get corrected in the league. typically we see guys that if you bring explosive plays,
Starting point is 00:12:21 like coaching staff is going to live with some bad drops every now and again. It's the guys who don't offer anything else that also drop the football. Those guys tend to get weeded out into the league, not vice versa. I mean, even Jaden Reed's an example of a guy who's had a drop issue at times, but he still gets a good amount of playing time because he brings explosive plays into the equation. So I really like Casey Concepcion. I think I'm going to try to be, depends where everybody else is, but I'm going to try to be higher than consensus on him.
Starting point is 00:12:47 Yeah, I think that there's a hive right now, and I think that it'll continue to grow throughout the process because the more you break him down, the more there is to like some of the drop issues, but also suffered with not the greatest quarterback play of this past year at Texas A&M. Yeah. Gotta say that gauntlet looked pretty good, though.
Starting point is 00:13:04 We hear about all the drops, and you watch the guy to do the gauntlet, and you're like, oh, my God, this guy looks like an AI-generated wide receiver going through that gauntlet. So we're rooting. You can tell he was thinking about it, right? You could tell, like,
Starting point is 00:13:15 I got to come in here and crush this gauntlet, which is good to see because like I said, I think some of it is a focus issue with him. And it's like, hey, if you can just like before you think about it, I get this ball in my hands, I got to make plays with it. Like you got to actually cleanly catch it. So that was good to see, I thought. Is there a landing spot for KCC? And obviously not on the show sheet here.
Starting point is 00:13:34 But when you look at sort of the back half of round one, is there a landing spot where you're like, okay, at KCC to the moon with this spot? Or is it a player that you think brings a diverse skill set that could end up? thriving in multiple systems. How much of KC's projection for you will be landing spot dependent or is it just a pure talent bet? I mean, the longer I do this, Theo, the more I think like everybody is landing spot dependent.
Starting point is 00:14:03 Like I think that destination is destiny so often at, certainly at the quarterback position, but at wide receiver too. I mean, we're going to talk about Jalen Waddle here in a minute and some of the kind of thoughts about his production from this past year. It's like you got to think about the circumstances he was playing in. You know, like that matters a lot, team that was literally dead last and plays run. You think that that didn't suffer like some of his overall stats last year.
Starting point is 00:14:27 I think you're crazy if you think otherwise. Like comparing wide receivers like and just production like guys in different situations, there's so many factors that go into it, which is why I do what I do with reception, all the charting and everything, trying to isolate them from those surrounding variables. But two spots that I think stick out to me that would, be really favorable for him for different reasons. One I think probably is maybe off the table now after
Starting point is 00:14:49 they traded the second first round pick, which would have been the Rams. I think he would make a lot of sense as a guy that can move across the field, play different positions, really bring a speed element. It's very clear they want wide receiver help because they're thinking about beyond this just last year likely with Devante Adams. The one I think is a little more realistic and is still on the table here. Maybe not after the DJ more trade, but I still think Buffalo should be in the mix to double tap this position this offseason like get a veteran you did that with DJ more great i would still follow it up with an explosive player in the draft like a casey conception and i think that's probably more likely the range if he goes in that late first round yeah i think we'd all get excited about him
Starting point is 00:15:29 being attached to a josh allen and and we wouldn't complain about a matt stafford either matt what do you have going on this time of year yahoo wise reception perception you got a lot going on tons going on which is again i well i love this time of year because it keeps you busy but Yeah, over at Yahoo! Hosting the Yahoo Fantasy Forecast, we're two times, three times a week right now. Excuse me, I don't even know how, I'm doing so many shows. I'm not even sure how many shows it is. Three times a week right now, doing prospect previews, looking through the league. So hosting that show three times a week, people can subscribe to that anywhere they get there.
Starting point is 00:16:00 Anywhere they get this show, they can get that show as well. Football 301 with Nate Tice as well leading up to the NFL draft. And then over at Reception Perception, I've been posting all of these free agent profiles plus guys that get traded, all the guys we're going to talk about here today. I've got a profile on them up on the site. And then I'm also working through prospects. This coming Monday will be the first batch of prospect profiles that will be dropped. So Jordan Tyson, Mackay Lemon, some of those guys, they'll be on the site here in short order.
Starting point is 00:16:28 I love this time of year. Like I said, studying the prospects is one of the more enjoyable times of the calendar. Yeah, it's nothing like NFL draft season for fantasy football, the potential impact, the guys nuked, the situations that they land in. It's just awesome for us. and we finally have something to talk about, and we finally see NFL teams telling the truth and actually pushing their chips in and saying a name.
Starting point is 00:16:49 So I absolutely love it. We talked a little bit earlier. You mentioned Jalen Waddle. You mentioned DJ Moore. What's interesting is traded wide receivers, when wide receivers are traded at this time of year. In season, there's been some misses. But wide receivers traded in the offseason around the NFL draft
Starting point is 00:17:07 or right after it, there's been a huge hit rate for at least one of those guys having a career year finishing as a wide receiver one. Last year, George Pickens traded Pittsburgh to Dallas. The year before that, you had Jerry Judy having a career year in Cleveland, DJ Moore the year before going from Carolina to Chicago in the Bryce Young Trade. And then Matt, before that, it's just a murderer's row of elite wide receivers. Tyree Kill, Devante Adams, AJ Brown, Stefan Diggs, DeAndre Hopkins. It's been happening for five, six years, which makes it interesting to me the sort of the lack of
Starting point is 00:17:41 buzz in the fantasy community about the Jalen Waddle trade. I've seen some very tempered expectations with a lot of people where, oh, it's going to coexist with Cortland Sutton as a wide receiver one. Oh, they also have Pat Bryan and Troy Franklin. And I'm like, hold on a second. They just gave up a first round pick, a third round pick, a fourth round pick. They get a 28-year-old wide receiver, and they were a play away from making the Super Bowl last year.
Starting point is 00:18:06 It feels like Jalen Waddle has a chance to thrive in Denver. Am I wrong about this one? you and I could not be more on the same page with with this one actually especially from the reaction standpoint I think it comes back to something I was talking about earlier which is I still well there's two things with the Jalen Waddle like tempered enthusiasm one is I think he's been one of these guys that has burned fantasy managers the last few years because he's just been probably over aggressively drafted ranked etc I think that's part of it which by the way is what kept people away from Chris Olavay last year like I and obviously there were concussion concerns but even then I remember posting stuff last summer about Chris Olobben, people like, he's just not that good. Like, okay, these efficiency metrics, whatever, he's not that good. Like that is so circumstantial as to why you think that. And it's because he was kind of, like I said, overranked and overdrafted.
Starting point is 00:18:57 And I think a lot of that applies to Waddle here too, which just leaves me the second reason why I think people are tempering expectations is because there's still this view that like wide receivers own their production. And yes, of course, like their talent and what they can do is a big part of it. it, but so much of it is circumstantial. And you do have to look at Jalen Waddle last year. It's like he finally got the chance to be the wide receiver one because Tyree Kill went down last year. And that was great. And he had about 900 yards, a few touchdowns. Wasn't anything crazy from a fantasy standpoint. Well, number one, two, it was a disaster last year. I think anybody, if you just watch a single game of
Starting point is 00:19:32 that team, you'd know that. You look at the production. I think you would know that. The team wasn't going anywhere. And like I said, they were 32nd in plays run last year. in seconds per play and 30 at the neutral dropback rate. So like, yeah, he had 900 yards and a few touchdowns on a team where there just wasn't a lot of passing production to go around. They were 26, 25 in total offensive EPA. Like it was not a good environment last year. Now he's going to a team in Denver where even before we talk about Jalen Waddle and how
Starting point is 00:20:00 good of a player I think he is, his Broncos team was fifth in plays per game last year. Like Bo Nix might not be everybody's cup of tea, but he's a pretty damn good quarterback going into his third year. And yes, like Cortland Sutton is there and Sutton is a good player. I think Waddle is a superior player. And I also think one thing that's been underdiscust about Jalen Waddle the last three years playing alongside Tyree Kill and still last year, even when Tyree Kill went down, he's mostly been, I don't know, you could call him the X receiver, but Miami has is so like condensed
Starting point is 00:20:36 and they kind of blur things a little bit there. But without question, he is the guy who, run the most routes outside and on the ball. So again, that typical nominal X receiver. He's facing the more difficult coverage on the outside. He's facing or he's running the like vertical routes for a quarterback who's trying to get the ball out in two and a half seconds or less. So like this, those routes didn't have a lot of chances to develop for Jalen Waddle. And like that that outside on ball X receiver stuff, that's Cortland Sutton's role. I think for the first time in years we're going to see Jalen Waddle using a more dynamic fashion where he's moving across the formation,
Starting point is 00:21:12 getting some layup routes, running big inbreakers from the slot, perfect match for his skill. So I just think like people are not thinking about some of the like quieter, smaller details of this transaction that could lead to a massive season of production for Waddle. Yeah, it feels like he's an under the radar potential wide receiver one in fantasy to me. And I think another crutch that people are. leaning on, and maybe you could speak to this one is, oh, it's Sean Peyton. Sean Peyton's going to burn us. And I'm thinking to myself, like, hold on a second.
Starting point is 00:21:44 Like I get it like with the running backs, but when we look at Sean Payton, Sean Peyton was the head coach for Michael Thomas, and then Marcus Colston, obviously, Jimmy Graham, Alvin Kamaro. There's been some absolute fantasy superstars. So I like that one. And then also, Cortland Sutton, to me, he's sort of been an opportunistic wide receiver one rather than a classic one. So, yeah, I think we're pretty locked in.
Starting point is 00:22:07 And Jill and Waddle is really a value. It reminds me a lot of, and I made this comparison on reception perception, the show yesterday. It actually kind of reminds you a lot of when Stefan Diggs got traded to the bills from the Vikings because they were actually both coming out of their fifth seasons in the NFL. You look at their production. They were actually pretty similar from a production standpoint. And there was a lot of questions about Diggs. Like, was he even a wide receiver won?
Starting point is 00:22:29 Like he was playing alongside with Adam Thiel in all those years. And sometimes Thielen out produced him because his game overlapped a little bit better with Kurt Cousins and what he's liked to do and he got a lot more of that role catering did Adam Thielen. And if you just look at Tyree Kill and Jalen Waddle, there's no question who's been getting more role catering in that offense. And that's not to say anything bad about Mike McDaniel. Of course you're role catering to Tyree Kill. He's been an incredible player during that run. So I just think that Waddle, just like Diggs, I think how good he, and I had a higher opinion of Diggs at the time than I do of Waddle. Don't get me wrong. I think Waddle's a really, really good wide receiver. I thought Diggs in isolation
Starting point is 00:23:04 in Minnesota was a legit elite wide receiver. I don't know if Waddle is there. I don't know if Waddle's going to like become a top five NFL real life receiver like Diggs did in Buffalo and was prior to that. I'm not 100% sure on that. But I just think like some of the subtle ways that there's some similarities there from their production where they were traded at the time. Both went to quarterbacks going into their third seasons, hoping to make that big leap.
Starting point is 00:23:29 So there's a lot of similarities there. And that was another one that people did not want to draft Diggs that year. And he ended up having, as you mentioned earlier. or a huge season in his first year in Buffalo. Yeah, Diggs ended up being the league winner that year. He was like a sixth round pick in some high stakes drafts, and people ended up drafting. I believe he was wide receiver two or three overall that year.
Starting point is 00:23:46 So just a massive, massive impact in year one. And we'll look for Waddle to. I think you nailed it. Like, I don't know if he's got top five there, but he'll finish to me closer to wide receiver 15, 12 to 15 range, than he will some of these prognosticators saying wide receiver 25. Just not there with that one. Okay, when I sell my business, I want the best tax and investment advice.
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Starting point is 00:24:45 It seems like the two sides were pretty close on that one. DJ Moore on the flip side, though, had a big regression this past year. Only 682 receiving yards had 50 catches, and he was two seasons removed from that career year, his first year in Chicago. So didn't get the Ben Johnson treatment in any way. There was some dynasty managers really dropping him in the rankings. And then gets this incredible bailout landing spot, ends up in Buffalo with Josh Allen. And Matt, they trade a second round pick to Chicago in order to acquire him. So serious draft capital and a serious opportunity for DJ Moore.
Starting point is 00:25:25 Are you optimistic about a bounce back season for more cautious about this one? How are you handling this landing spot? thought pretty optimistic maybe cautiously optimistic is the way to say it you mentioned i love the way you frame that like a dynasty bailout did dj more get because yeah he was a guy that i was just like dropping in my dynasty ranks pretty much like every month over the last i would say year maybe year and a half and it just because like as soon as soon as they drafted luther burden last year did the chicago bearers like oh dj's out of it yeah like he'll be there one year We all know that.
Starting point is 00:26:01 So I hope nobody actually bumped up this quick note on Luther Burden. Nobody should have bumped up Luther Burton in their dynasty rankings because DJ Moore was traded because you should have been baking that in for about like 12 months now. This was very obvious that that was going to happen. And that kind of leads me into how weird this past year felt with DJ Moore. Like I'm trying to find the right way to frame this. But at times watching the Bears offense last year and charting DJ Moore for reception perception, I was like, there's 10 guys running Ben Johnson's offense or trying to because it's a lot of young players.
Starting point is 00:26:33 And then there's one guy that just kind of is doing, not doing his own thing because that makes it seem like he's not running the routes or like goofing off or anything. And that's not what I mean. But it just doesn't, this didn't seem like a fit. Like Roman Dunez-A fits the offense. Colson-Lleven fits the offense. Caleb Williams has adjusted to fit the offense. Luther Burton fits the offense. But DJ was kind of at times just like a sacrificial clear-out.
Starting point is 00:26:56 receiver for these guys. And it felt like he knew it too. Like this is the, this is, you know, the kind of psycho analyzing from the film, but also talking to DJ more about this in February. I just think he just wasn't not like, again, I don't want to say he wasn't engaged because that makes it seem like it's a him issue. But I think they just kind of both knew it was an arranged marriage essentially last year. So I think that does have an effect on his production because when he was the primary read and when he was, you know, kind of engaged with the, with the route concepts and everything, like his success rates on a variety. of routes were still really good. The overall numbers aren't as good as they were in Carolina for me
Starting point is 00:27:30 from a reception standpoint, ironically, when he was playing with Joe Brady. But that's what makes me kind of excited about this move in particular, because I asked DJ about this, because again, I was kind of on, I was pretty aware he was going to get traded. I think we all were. And I thought Buffalo made a lot of sense because of Joe Brady. I remember asking him like, hey, what did you like about playing in that offense? And he was pretty complimentary of it, talking about how he, you know, really liked the explosive play potential. He said, yeah, you might just see them open it up this year. I do think they will open it up now that he is in town there. So I'm not totally bullish on the move.
Starting point is 00:28:04 There's questions about it. I would say I like it. I don't love it for Buffalo. And I think for DJ definitely has a chance to bounce back. I'd be surprised if he produced anywhere near what he did the last few years in Chicago. But him bouncing back to be like a wide receiver one, that would probably be aggressive. Yeah, I'm with you. I think wide receiver two seems like a decent bet.
Starting point is 00:28:25 And if it was another team that gave up a second round pick to get DJ Moore, I would be like, okay. But it's Josh Allen, a guy that has elevated a number of wide receivers to elite play. There's also a lot of pressure, I think, on Joe Brady in this offense. You fire a Sean McDermott, you elevate a Joe Brady, the front office, Joe Brady, let's score some points. Let's go push it for a Super Bowl. And the player they chose to get was a player that was attached to Joe Brady in Carolina and had some very successful. successful season. So I like the whole reunion here. I think sometimes coaching reunions, people overthink it. Like the, we're not going to talk Chris Rodriguez, Liam Cohen today.
Starting point is 00:29:05 But, you know, people love talking about that one. DJ more Joe Brady won. There's some, some very interesting ties there. So like the optimism for both of those players. Let's, I say one thing, too, about Josh Allen real quick. Like, I think one thing that's really important here, too, is like DJ, part of the reason why I don't think you really fit in Chicago is that like, like i like dj a lot i but he's he's he's lucy goosey with some of the details uh like this route needs to be at for and when you're playing with ben johnson he we all know this like he's a stickler for the details that route needs to be run at 10 yards from this split like it needs to be run at 10 yards in this split but i've talked to josh allen previously about this and he's like i don't care
Starting point is 00:29:45 about that stuff like and i've linked this in my write-up on dj more but you know when someone's talking about stephan digs like sometimes the route's supposed to be seven yards. If he's open at 12, it's my job to find him. Like, he's not a stickler for those details. So I think in that way, these two guys will be like a more of a comfortable pairing than it was for a Ben Johnson offense with like Caleb Williams trying to get integrated into that. Right. And like, that's something that I think really matters a lot. We're talking about quarterback to wide receiver pairing. So that's something to be, I think, optimistic about the fit here. Yeah, I'm, I'm optimistic for sure. And another player that I'm optimistic about is Alec Pierce, who wasn't traded, but certainly
Starting point is 00:30:23 benefits from a big trade with Michael Pittman going to Pittsburgh. It's been like an upwards trajectory for Pierce 10 points per game two years ago, over 12 points per game this past season, went over 1,000 receiving yards, and has been the only player in the last 25 years to lead the league in yards per reception in back-to-back seasons. Indianapolis paid him a fortune, didn't let him walk in free agency, and then traded Michael Pittman within an hour or two of the signing. I mean, doesn't get more, hey, we believe in this guy than the moves. Do you think that their belief is going to be rewarded with a big fantasy
Starting point is 00:31:05 like an impact season from Pierce, like to the point where we're talking 15 points per game and challenging for high end wide receiver two type numbers? Maybe. I think that the, I think that the I think that the Colts are really trying to walk a high wire act here. And that's essentially, I think they've fallen into the trap that incomplete information is good information. And what I mean by that is I think that everything they've done this offseason and everything they've said, anytime you talk to anybody with the Colts or played the Colts,
Starting point is 00:31:39 like they believe that first eight games when they were a historically efficient offense, then Daniel Jones broke his leg, had a couple of whatever moments. and then was out for the rest of the year after you towards Achilles. They're like, if we can just get back to that, we'll be good, right? Like that is still a thing they can access. But and maybe it is, by the way. Like I'm open to that idea.
Starting point is 00:32:01 But now you don't have Michael Pittman and you have Daniel Jones coming off a torn Achilles, a guy who's dealt with a lot of injuries previously. And we've just seen like with Kurt Cousins, Aaron Rogers, these guys take a minute to get back to like that full form, the movement skills that you need within the pocket and all that. So, and I think that why that transitions us into Alec Pierce here is that I think they believe that Pierce is a big part of that. And I think he will be a big part of it as well.
Starting point is 00:32:24 But, you know, talking about a guy like Cortland Sutton, who he said earlier, that X only wide receiver, which is what Pierce has been for the most part. Like early on in his career, he was truly just outside on the line of scrimmage on like 90% of his snaps, which is pretty crazy. You never see like a high volume wide receiver doing that. Last year it was more like 84 or 85% outside on the line. So a little bit less. They also did some good work to kind of condense him.
Starting point is 00:32:49 closer to the offensive line as the ex-receiver so that he had more space to operate, which is a big reason why he was able to have more success. I think why he expanded his route tree last year. To me, the idea that, oh, Pierce can only run deep routes, that's the prop. To me, no, that's not true. Like, he's definitely a guy that can win on a more expansive route tree at this point. It really has always been able to win on like slants and quick out routes and stuff like that. Last year, he kind of colored in the middle, like the intermediate area,
Starting point is 00:33:18 which was great to see for his development. To me, though, it's like, Cortland Sutton, again, the example there, there's like three games this year where Cortland Sutton had like one catch. And it's like, what's going on with Cortland Sutton? It's like, well, nothing's going on with Cortland Sutton. It's just the quarterback's playing in chaos at times.
Starting point is 00:33:33 And he's not always able to access those throws. So he's taking the cheapy stuff underneath to a guy like Troy Franklin. And I think that we might see that at times with a banged up Daniel Jones or like Riley Leonard in the first month of the season, if that's what has to happen. And like Pierce becomes more violent.
Starting point is 00:33:48 volatile because of that. Even shoot, like last year when Philip Rivers got under center, if you just even look at the box scores, it's like one catch game, 86 yards and two touchdowns, zero catch game, over 100 yards and two touchdowns, I believe, against the Texans in week 18 before he got unjustly thrown out of the game. So I do think that that boom bust nature, if Pierce's role doesn't change, will always be a part of him as a player. And again, you just kind of have to ask, like, how high can you push that guy up in fantasy rankings? Yeah, I think it's interesting. I think that the amount of money they paid him, I mean, you all, and then losing Pittman, do you look at the players around him like Downs projects as a guy, maybe he absorbs some more consistent targets this year. He had more targets than Pierce last year. Tyler Warren already at that 110 range as a tight end, has a little room to run. But Pierce, the way some of the beat reporters are talking about it, if you can get that sort of archetype player in the 125 target range, I think he could beat. expectations, but like you said, some real question marks about the offense as a whole.
Starting point is 00:34:52 Interesting one with Alec Pierce. Another really interesting landing spot, Mike Evans to the San Francisco 49ers, not a whole lot of people projecting this one, Matt. And when it happened during Free Agency, I was live recording with Scott Barrett and Brett Whitefield reacted to it. And we were all sort of like really liked this one. George Kittle, going to be injured to start the year. obviously Juan Jennings, we don't anticipate.
Starting point is 00:35:18 He's sort of out on the market now, but probably not going to be a San Francisco 49er this year. Ricky Purcell, a player that Shanahan's very much into, but hasn't been able to stay on an NFL field. How do you see Mike Evans fitting in with Brock Purdy? Is this a, dare I say it, Devante Adams' 2025 type impact, or is this a you're not sure?
Starting point is 00:35:41 Oh, dare you say it? I would bet a significant portion of my salary that Devante Adams' name came up in San Francisco's building when they were deciding to make this move. Because you know these guys, they're all from the same coaching tree, they're in the same division, they're all competitive and stuff. They saw Devante Adams come in there and have that level of impact from a touchdown scoring standpoint.
Starting point is 00:36:00 And I think bare minimum, Mike Evans is going to do that in San Francisco. But I also think there's like potential cascading effects from him coming in here in a positive standpoint. Like we get caught up with the Shanahan offense with a lot of like the gadgety stuff, the creative touches underneath, like scheming guys open or whatever. But it is just objectively true when you look at this offense, like it functions best when it has an X receiver in a dominant form. That is why they gave Brandon Ayuk all of that money.
Starting point is 00:36:30 That's just like that's why they made that move because he had this monster season from an efficiency standpoint in 2023 and unlocked so much for other guys. Obviously it did not go well, but they have been trying to ever since then cobble together that player with like, Joanne Jennings playing on ball. And that's not really his game. It's kind of why he had a bit of a downseason in 2025. Ricky Pearsall running more of the vertical routes from the outside,
Starting point is 00:36:54 which is not what they wanted out of him when they drafted him. So I think Mike Evans, like, is the ex-receiver who can run this route tree, who's really good on dig routes and stuff over the middle of the field. Like he'll be awesome there if he can stay healthy. I also think he'll help a guy like Ricky Pearsall be able to move around, play off the line of scrimmage and do some of the more. things that they kind of envisioned for Ricky when they drafted him. So, yeah, I loved the Mike Evans edition.
Starting point is 00:37:20 I was kind of surprised that he left Tampa Bakes. I thought he was just a Bucs lifer, but, you know, he wanted to change a scenery, and he picked San Francisco for a reason. And I think there's a lot of good reasons for him signing there. Yeah, it feels like one to get excited about. I think the ADP is going to creep up throughout the summer. The Purcell and Evans together, I feel like they coexist pretty well. you bring up sort of your expectation.
Starting point is 00:37:45 So I think this could end up being a very consolidated offense. And with Evans, you have a chance to get off to a very fast start to the season. We don't know if he's going to hold up. The guy's missed some time. He's getting older. But with Kittle out, with Kittle out, I mean, I think it's wheels up. So very much into Evans as well. Another wide receiver that nobody really wants to talk about.
Starting point is 00:38:06 But back-to-back years of 140 targets, this past year, Wondell Robinson was the shortest wide receiver ever in NFL history to get a thousand receiving yard season. Now he goes and reunites with his head coach in New York, who's now the offensive coordinator in Tennessee, and he's attached to a young quarterback who's in need of sort of an easy button target. Is there a chance Wondell Robinson is more productive in Tennessee than he was in New York? Your thoughts on Robinson after getting paid this big contract, getting rewarded for his past two seasons of productivity in this Titans offense.
Starting point is 00:38:46 Yeah, first of all, just because you brought it up, like, I've always been pretty mixed on Wondale and was kind of hard on him as like a fake receiver at times. I'll say I'll interrupt you. Podcast with Scott Barrett, who was almost angry about the usage for Wondell two years ago. And then this year sort of finally capitulated and started giving him a little bit of props. But yeah, I deal with this a lot. dealt with this a lot. Well, well, I'm just saying like, yeah, I mean, the guy literally had a negative EPA per target in 2024.
Starting point is 00:39:16 He had like, what, 93 catches and a sub 700 yards, which is like difficult to do. It's literally like I said, negative EPA per target. Throwing DeWonnell Robinson with this very stupid like Mickey Mouse hitch heavy route tree in 2024 was a negative value proposition. So it's very fitting that me, the idiot who has fallen for many of like small twitchy wide receivers, like the one small twitchy wide receiver that I didn't really like all that much. Of course he's the one that went over a thousand yards. So I love to see Wondale Robinson absolutely dunking on me. That's great.
Starting point is 00:39:49 But I would say too, just like one thing that to kind of make the point about capitulating here on Wondale, there's no question that like last year he ran more routes outside and was more effective as a downfield receiver. The Giants coaching staff, which obviously is pretty similar to Tennessee, considering Brian Dayball is there. They basically said like, what if we just took his little Mickey's, Minky Mouse route tree, the hitch heavy stuff, and threw him like a big post route or a big corner route every now and again when the matchup is right. And that was actually really effective, which by the way is what Liam Cohen did with him in Kentucky when he was there in college as well.
Starting point is 00:40:22 That was kind of how he was used in college as Mickey Mouse stuff underneath and a vertical slot option down the field. So I do think like there's a usage plan for Robinson there in terms of him being more productive in Tennessee. I still think though if that happens, that means the Titans offense was not very good, which is possible. that it wasn't very good. But I think they need more options on the perimeter to really emerge here for Cam Ward to truly take that next step. So if you want to make the bet on Wondale, because I still think he will be running a lot of underneath stuff,
Starting point is 00:40:52 if he gets 140 targets again, that means it, again, I think some of Tennessee's other plans did not go very well. So that's no shot on Wondale. It's just like a player archetype thing that you want more, like you want more explosive players in the perimeter. And like they need to get those in Tennessee if they don't. like Wondale's going to eat up a bunch of volume, but it might not be a very good offense.
Starting point is 00:41:12 Yeah, definitely a cap ceiling player with Robinson, but again, the fact that we know that he's attached to the same O.C. in Daible, it gives him a little bit of a baked-in floor, but not necessarily a league winning one. All right, Matt, let's talk about it. Justin Jefferson, one of the worst picks you could have made last year. Absolutely dreadful season in Minnesota. J.J. McCarthy, about as bad as it gets in terms of a starting quarterback production. Jefferson managers were really down bad last year. Can this year be a big time reset and Jefferson returns to giving you elite scoring numbers?
Starting point is 00:41:50 Kyler Murray is now a Minnesota Viking. It feels to me like that's a foregone conclusion almost that he's going to take that starting job. How do you project Jefferson with Murray? What's the tape tell you about Jefferson this past year? Are you in on a huge bounceback? Yeah, other than like a few drops or, you know, he missed up some contested catch stuff. Like Jefferson was Jefferson last year. There's no question about it.
Starting point is 00:42:15 Like I think he's there's, I don't have any issues with him as an individual player. This is about like quarterback fit and stuff like that. And for Kyler Murray, I mean, it was that situation in Arizona, it was just like everybody needed to get away from each other. Like Kyler Murray didn't fit with Marvin Harrison. Marvin Harrison didn't fit with Kyler Murray. Kyle Murray didn't really fit with Drew Petting. Drew Petting's offense didn't really fit Kyle Murray. And I think that everybody comes out of that situation looking worse for what was kind of
Starting point is 00:42:41 an arranged marriage essentially, which I mean, that was like that coaching staff took over in Arizona and they had to try to figure out with Kyler Murray. And it's just like, they never really adjusted to him. And he never really adjusted to them either because with a drew petting offense, and especially like some of Marvin Harrison's best routes is the ex receiver in that in that offense, it's all stuff that works over the deep intermediate middle of the field. And, like, Kyler's just never really thrown that, to be honest, because he's a short quarterback and he doesn't really, this is like not the area of the field where he operates. But there are clear strengths of Kyler Murray's game, just like I think there's strengths of Marvin Harrison's game and of Drew Petting's offense. So it's almost like they all need to just get away from each other and now we can sort of judge them on their worth.
Starting point is 00:43:21 And for Murray, there's definitely some parts of like the Sam Darnold offense where Jefferson was running a ton of these dig routes over the middle of the field. And, you know, Sam Darnold just will throw blindly over the. middle of the field and we'll rip it, that's probably not going to be present with Kyler there. But Jefferson can do anything. Like he can win as that just boundary X receiver kind of running the straight line stuff that Kyler Murray does throw pretty well, like outside the numbers down the field. So I think that it's maybe not like the perfect pairing for Justin Jefferson, but it's more than good enough.
Starting point is 00:43:54 Kyler Murray is more than good enough. Even in these last three years where I said he's playing in a situation that wasn't great, he was still like 18th and EPA per play. And I know that's like, oh, 18th. Well, J.J. McCarthy is like in the 40s out of 57 qualifying quarterbacks at the time. So I think we can we can raise our expectations for Jefferson to get back to that wide receiver one status. Yeah, Jefferson, you're able to get sometimes in the second round. So for him to have a very successful season, he doesn't really need to be wide receiver one overall this year.
Starting point is 00:44:22 He can just get back into being a top three level wide receiver. I think that him getting to that 18 points per game mark, we've seen it so many seasons of his career. and a potential bailout spot for Kyler Murray, just to get back on track. There's been a huge run of fantasy football success in this system for guys like Josh Dobbs. Even Nick Mollins had those weeks he was drunk for 400 plus yards, not to mention Kirk Cousins.
Starting point is 00:44:49 So big opportunity for all parties aligned. And Minnesota wants to get back to the playoffs. I need to get back to the playoffs. They haven't won a playoff game in Kevin O'Connell's tenure. I mean, we all like Kevin O'Connell. I like Kevin O'Connell, but they got to win a playoff. playoff game like or they just fired their general manager like and I think afterwards there was a lot of you know uh jj we weren't we weren't really convinced and all that sort of stuff and you know where that's
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Starting point is 00:46:36 Medcans. Live well for life. Visit medcan.com slash moments to get started. One coach who doesn't have any pressure after the dream season he had in year one was Liam Cohen in Jacksonville. Jacksonville ran a fun, diverse offense. Trevor Lawrence, a huge bounceback season. Travis Eton had a great year rewarded with a big contract this year in New Orleans.
Starting point is 00:47:01 And Jacksonville played a neck-and-neck-down-to-the-wire playoff game, ended up losing to Buffalo in the end, but there's still a ton of hope and optimism, I think, in NFL circles about Liam Cohen in year two. Trevor Lawrence, we mentioned him back to being drafted as a quarterback one. And then you've got this cluster of wide receivers, Matt, where it's the early underdog bestball drafter, the early FFPC redraft manager, they're sort of putting Brian Thomas Jr., Parker, Washington and Jacoby Myers all sort of close to one another and people are basically saying this is going to be the guy this year. Is it as simple as let's take a bet on one of them? Do you think that there's a range of outcomes where it could just be a very balanced offense?
Starting point is 00:47:49 Who are you betting on if you had to pick one Jacksonville wide receiver this year to return with fantasy scoring numbers? I think it's pretty likely that we see a scenario where, you know, like Jacoby Myers leads the team in catches. Parker Washington leads the team in yards and like Brian Thomas leads the team in touchdowns, right? Like I think that's a very live possibility here because all these guys have pretty clear roles within the offense. Like Parker, like Brian Thomas, Jr, if they're going to keep him and they are going to keep, my guess is they are going to keep him, that's always kind of been my suspicion because coming off the season that he had, like, he's just not a guy that is they're going to return capital on with a cheap rookie contract.
Starting point is 00:48:31 And like, even if he's not as useful for our fantasy lineups, he's still useful for the offense as that ex-receiver, sometimes sacrificial ex-receiver. Like, he still serves a role there very cheaply and there's still the upside that like, here's the thing to with Brian Thomas Jr. I think he had a bad season last year. It was not just his fault, but a large percentage of the blame does need to be laid at his feet for how he played in isolation. That being said, I think the dumbest things that teams do is that they look at their situation last year and just say like, okay, all of that is just going to repeat and we're going to be fine. This is the fallacy that like the Falcons fell into last year where it's like, well, last year we had Drake London, Darno Mooney cooking. We don't need to add any wide receiver depth. Drake London got hurt.
Starting point is 00:49:18 Darno Mooney was hurt all year. And then they ran out some of the worst wide receivers you've ever seen. Like this is Arizona, same thing. They didn't add like anybody else to that room. and it just gets a little stuck at times. I think Jacksonville would be making a mistake if they don't try to pour into Brian Thomas. And like,
Starting point is 00:49:35 because yeah, what if Jacoby Myers, he's closer to 30 now, he takes a step back. What if Parker, I like Parker Washington. I think Parker Washington's good. And he's like maybe the guy that played the best in the entire room last year.
Starting point is 00:49:47 But what have you come? He was just a little bit of a fluke, you know? Then they come into camp and it's like, oh, these guys aren't that good anymore. Like, do we need Travis Hunter playing more wide receiver? even though we planned on him playing more cornerback, or do we want to just have Brian Thomas Jr.
Starting point is 00:50:01 Try to get back on track and ask him to do more things. I think it would be smart of them to pour into Brian Thomas, and I think they will do that. Yeah, rational coaching with Jacksonville. I believe in Liam Cohen. I believe that they're going to go into it, and at least we see some wrinkles. Me too, yeah.
Starting point is 00:50:16 It's a really funny team. And the fact that I'm not even mentioning Travis Hunter, who has fallen like a rock because everybody's expecting him to be a cornerback. I mean, there's scenarios where one of those guys gets hurt, and then Travis Hunter, you're able to draft him in, like, round 13. And he comes in and gives you eight usable fantasy weeks. So really, an offense. 100%. Offense we expect to score points, Matt, but a lack of clarity.
Starting point is 00:50:42 But I like your Brian Thomas Jr. Optimism. It's like maybe optimism. Kind of optimism. You gave him the touchdowns. You gave him the touchdowns. Well, leave him. I think we should leave the light on for him, essentially.
Starting point is 00:50:53 I think he's, I think he's not as good. as the production as his rookie season showed, but I think he's not nearly as bad as what he was last year. Like I think he could come in somewhere in between. And if, and that could still be like an even better player than he was in year one. Maybe just the production isn't there necessarily. But just because you brought up Travis Hunter, like, yeah, I think Travis Hunter is one of my favorite wide receiver prospects I've ever evaluated. But there was always the risk that he was going to play defensive back. But I think the tough thing with Jacksonville's plans.
Starting point is 00:51:23 And I think this is something like I accepted. early on with Travis Hunter as somebody that was really optimistic about him, is that like, this is not going to be a situation where you got to play by the typical rules for a player. Like he's just, he's a unique player, a unique situation. And that's going to be the case for, for, I think the entirety of his career, certainly early on his career. Because if you just kind of follow what Jacksonville said about him, I think they see the value in him as like, oh, year one, our wide receivers weren't very good. So we want to ramp him up at wide receiver.
Starting point is 00:51:52 Unfortunately, then he gets hurt right as he seems like he's kind of taking off and learning the office. offense. But then this year it's like, well, aren't we have a weaker cornerback room? We're going to play him there. But to your point, like, there might be a scenario in his third season or he's playing more wider series. It's just like, and which by the way, see, it sounds super annoying to try to have him on your dynasty team. It's complete pain. It's complete pain. Oh, it's a total pain in the ass. And like that, that to the point is like, I wouldn't mind. If you just don't even want to deal with that, that's totally fine. I get that. But I do think like trying to speak in absolutes with a player like him, it's just going to, it's going to be tough. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:52:25 It's just, it's, it's, it's, it's one of the weirdest players to try to gauge in terms of dynasty value. If we knew he was in a full-time wide receiver role, we'd want them. If we're in like some part-time role, it's, I mean, except for best ball, really, really tough player to gauge. Yeah. Travis Hunter, of course, was drafted very, very early. And there was another, a number of other wide receivers also selected in round one who have steamed way, way up in terms of ADP. Tons of optimism for guys like Tetaroa McMillan, Luther Burden. a mechagbuka with Evans gone. But there's another wide receiver drafted inside a round one
Starting point is 00:53:01 that might have a bigger opportunity in year two in Matthew Golden. Not a lot of people talking about him. Your thoughts on a potential golden breakout season with Romeo Dubs now a New England Patriot. Yeah, I have, I'm glad we're talking about him because I don't have like a strong take on Matthew Golden necessarily in like any way. I didn't really have a strong take on him as a prospect.
Starting point is 00:53:27 I'm like, he's a pretty good, pretty good prospect, like maybe end of round one, kind of where he went, which I thought was fine. But there was definitely some volatility in his prospect profile. And then coming out of his rookie year, I thought the film on him was, it was fine, you know, like I think if I was to categorize some of the reception perception charting I've done on him so far, I'm like, it was fine. It wasn't, oh my God, this guy's, you know, there's been, to be transparent, there's been times I've charted rookies that have had, you know, mismatch production.
Starting point is 00:53:55 in year one and just been like, yeah, the film was, and the reception perception was as bad as the stats. Then there's been other times where guys have been all that productive. I'm like, yeah, well, he was really good though in isolation. He just needs another opportunity. And like Matthew Golden is neither of those things. He's just kind of in the middle, I would say. But I do think that to bring back the point I mentioned earlier where there's too many wide receivers and some guys, too many good receivers in the league. And there's some guys are going to come in here and they're just going to get squeezed in year one and not have a lot of opportunity. I think Matthew Golden, you'd think like, oh, they drafted this guy in the first round.
Starting point is 00:54:27 They want to make him their starting receiver. Well, they didn't really need to do that last year because Dobbs is good. He's locked into that ex-receiver role. Christian Watson shocked me by playing the best football of his entire career coming off in ACL in the same calendar year. Like, they just didn't really meet. And Tucker Kraft was awesome until he got hurt. Like they didn't ever really need Matthew Golden to step up and be that guy.
Starting point is 00:54:48 And I think that kind of, what shows us, though, that they still have some faith in him is Yeah, they let Dobbs walk completely uncontested. And so far, they haven't done anything to add to the room. I'm sure they'll take a big bodied receiver in like round three or round four because they do that every single year. But for the most part, like Matthew Golden's got a pretty clear runway here. And I kind of want to be, again, not optimistic, but open-minded on Matthew Golden having a good year too. Yeah, I think with Matthew Golden, it's the price.
Starting point is 00:55:17 It's such a small bet to make. He's wide receiver 51. Exactly. So wide receiver 51, you know, in a redraft sense, if it doesn't work out, you just cut them. Right. Who cares? And that's another to another point about the price too. Like, you know this working working in the fantasy industry.
Starting point is 00:55:36 Like there's a lot like he was one of these guys that had a terrible production profile overall was or maybe I shouldn't say terrible production profile, but was not like round one caliber production. I'm sure you guys have talked about this on the show. And then he comes out here and he has this bad year one. and most of like the dynasty community prospects based on data and stuff like that's like, okay, well, he's already failed. And I think, again, maybe he's failed. Maybe he is a failure. But I think I want to leave like a little light on at this very depressed price,
Starting point is 00:56:02 especially in redraft leagues, anything like that to be like, yeah, what if just the Packers don't really care about these typical rules and stuff? And he has an opportunity to still be the prospect that I thought he could have been, which was like a solid starting receiver in the NFL. Yeah, he's cheap. a significantly cheaper now than he was after being drafted. So we always look for sort of those kind of guys. Interesting one with Matthew Golden.
Starting point is 00:56:27 Another pair of interesting players, we saw some flashes from Jaden Higgins last year, specifically over the second half of the season. And also Jalen Knoll, they selected in round three. Your thoughts on Houston with these two players, your enthusiasm level, specifically on Higgins, and then if you have any thoughts on Jail and Null. Yeah, I'm really enthusiastic on both of these guys heading into year two.
Starting point is 00:56:53 We'll see obviously, like can CJ Stroud kind of bounce back? I think Stroud, like our last memory of him is abysmal, and I think it's kind of coloring the entirety of his season. I still think he can be a perfectly solid starting quarterback in the league, and I still think there's some room for him to be better than that, but he's clearly wearing a lot of battle scars from what was a really rough year or two behind a bad offensive line. and even when the line got better last year,
Starting point is 00:57:19 he still kind of played like he was having some battle scars there. So that's an open question about just how interested should we be in Texans past catchers in general. But I think both of these guys came into the league last year. And again, this comes back to, I keep bringing this up, but there's too many good wide receivers in the leagues. Like, well, Jalen Knoll should just become the Texans starting slot receivers. Well, yeah, they had Christian Kirk last year.
Starting point is 00:57:42 And like, Kirk is a totally fine NFL player who's a veteran who is not going to do anything to embarrass himself and and like he when you need him he's going to show up just like he did in the playoff game against the Steelers so there was really never a need for Jalen Knoll to come in here and produce so he could be one of those rookies that does nothing in his first season and then year two like he just gets promoted to the starting lineup because I think that was kind always the plan and he breaks some of those like face planter uh molds and higgins too like kind of similar situation with Xavier Hutchinson where he never fully just iced Hutchinson completely in terms of like Hutchinson wasn't playing at all.
Starting point is 00:58:20 Like Higgins kind of in him rotated a little bit because I think Hutchinson is kind of a solid NFL player in his own right too. But I think both those guys in isolation showed different things that are good. Higgins is still a guy that I do have separation questions with overall. Like can he be a full field player that is getting like a hundred plus targets a year? I think that's, you know, kind of a question for me. But I still think him not having to play X receiver because they have Nico Conno. there is a big boost to a guy that can move around the formation and get some of those favorable matchups. Yeah, it's interesting. Both of these guys, we like the talent, and then we'll say,
Starting point is 00:58:56 can they absorb targets in this offense. Dalton Schultz last year was pretty heavily targeted. Do we see a shift from the tight end position to maybe a wide receiver too? And now that Kirk is gone, I think it's an opportunity for one of them. I think a lot of people are going to bet on Higgins in a major way. It just has that profile where where he's going, the ADP will align with people saying this is a kind of breakout. Jill and Noel is like free. You get them around 20. Yeah, and I love Noel.
Starting point is 00:59:24 A bunch of under. Admittedly, I was a big, I liked Noel better as a prospect than Higgins. Obviously, the Texans didn't agree with me. They drafted DeRapted Higgins ahead of Noel. But I think there's a chance, like there's a non-zero percent chance that Noel is better than Higgins. And like, I don't really care about their year one production when it comes to that. Because like I said, Noel was the one blocked by a guy that has a little bit more of a
Starting point is 00:59:45 reputation. You've also seen some like this being a slot wide receiver, sometimes the nuance and the experience we've seen guys take really big leaps a little bit later. You mentioned Parker Washington. Parker Washington year one looked a little bit like Jalen Knoll year one. So interesting, interesting with the Houston Texans, another player who's completely buried right now that I know Brett Whitefield liked him as a prospect, Jack Bess of the Vegas Raiders. And, you know, we're talking about guys like Jalen Naylor, Trey Tucker. They flirted with Alec Pierce. Obviously, that didn't work out.
Starting point is 01:00:20 But Vegas signs Jailen Nailer. There's been people saying, you know, Jailen Nailer here could end up seeing a big expanded role. Jack Bess just sort of in the weeds. Nobody's talking about him. Could you see him at least have a big leap in production? Not necessarily a guy that you're starting on in fantasy, but maybe some flex value, some wide receiver three value in this Clint Coo.
Starting point is 01:00:43 BX scheme with Jack Besh. How about a guy that just plays? Yes. Like that would be good. Just get on the field. And look, I really like Jack Bish as a prospect too. I had the same opinion as Brett. I thought he was a good prospect.
Starting point is 01:00:57 Somebody that might, you know, and again, this comes back to what happened as a rookie, he was definitely a guy that might have needed some development if he was going to play on the perimeter because he was one of these like one side of the field players at TCU that really kind of ran a stripped down route tree. And typically those guys don't come into the NFL and crush. it right away. And obviously we didn't see Bess do that. We saw Bess barely play. But let's be honest
Starting point is 01:01:18 here about that Raiders situation last year. It was one of the biggest S shows we've ever seen from an entire from an operation standpoint. Way too many cooks in the kitchen. I've talked to people that have been like, yeah, this guy wanted Jack Besh, but this coach didn't want Jack Besh. And so it was just very clear that not everybody was aligned for a guy that I do think needs like the right role. He needs to be kind of ironically used the way. that Clint Kubiak used Cooper Cup last year, right? Where he's like kind of a power slot and 11 personnel, but he can play as a condensed Z receiver in two receiver sets.
Starting point is 01:01:53 So I think that path is still very open for Jack Pesch. He's a guy that they drafted in the second round last year. The front office is still in place. And I think when you watched him as a rookie, I'm like, this is what drove me crazy about is like you watch him play. Like he doesn't look like terrible. He gets open. He's in the right spots.
Starting point is 01:02:08 Like I think I have, I definitely still have some optimism for Besh being, you know, is he going to be a fantasy. superstar. I don't know about that, but like a useful receiver for the Las Vegas Raiders, I definitely want to leave the light of me for that. Yeah, he didn't seem like the kind of guy that was going to be an outright bust when you looked at that profile. And the rookie season production was just so low, completely, completely under the radar. So Jalen Noel, Jack Bish, we're going to leave a candle burning for those guys. Matt, this was so much fun today breaking down a number of these players. Let everybody know once again what you have coming out, rest of March, and end April.
Starting point is 01:02:41 Yeah, no doubt. I love taking a, uh, a view of all these different types of receivers. So many fascinating players to talk about here. And yeah, if you like fascinating wide receivers, you're going to love reception.com. I got the free agent profiles up right now. And like I said, this coming Monday will be dropping the first batch of prospect profiles
Starting point is 01:02:57 with new profiles hitting the site every single week leading up to the NFL draft. And with the head start I got this year, I'm definitely going to break record in terms of how many prospects get added to the site by the time the draft comes around. Yeah, keep going. You got like a little less than 30, like about 35 days until the NFL draft.
Starting point is 01:03:16 So a lot to do, a lot to break down. Fantasy points, YouTube is going to be your home for NFL draft coverage. We're going to be live streaming day one, day two, and then day three as well. That's going to be a lot of fun. John Hanson, Scott Barrett, myself, Ryan Heath. The whole gang is going to be here. That's going to be a great, great time. Day three.
Starting point is 01:03:35 Well, day three, I will tap out on day three. Day three, shout out to the Dynasty Points crew. That'll be Thomas Tipple, Jacob Sanders. Ryan Heath, etc. I'll be day one, day two, though. But we go hard in the paint when it comes to NFL draft coverage, specifically for fantasy football. That'll be a lot of fun.
Starting point is 01:03:54 J.J. Zacharisen is my next guest after Matt on Fantasy Football Daily. Look for that one. We're going to break down JJ's rookie break wide receivers as well as tight ends. We're going to look at some of JJ's favorite prospects in this 2026 class. And then Sigmund Bloom joins me on Dynasty Life. You can find that over on Fantasy Points Dynasty YouTube, our other YouTube channel if you're watching Matt here on the YouTube channel. We're everywhere here at Fantasy Points. We're going to help you crush your leagues this season.

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