Fantasy Football Today - Best WRs to Draft in Rounds 2 and 3 (06/04 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: June 4, 2024

Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and wherever else you listen to podcasts You may have a tough call to make in Rounds 2 and 3 if you're looking at wide receivers. Do you draft Drake London? Chris Olave? Nico Collins? Davante Adams? One of the 49ers WRs? We'll take a look at WRs 10-18 in Jamey's rankings and give you pros and cons for all of them. First, we have some intro questions about the WR rankings (3:30) and news and notes (6:00) ... Pros and cons for Chris Olave (12:30), Drake London (18:40), Jaylen Waddle (24:35) and Michael Pittman (29:05). Are these guys high floor WRs or high ceiling WRs? Is Pittman enough of a playmaker? ... Pros and cons for Davante Adams (34:45), Mike Evans (39:45) and the trio of Nico Collins/Brandon Aiyuk/Deebo Samuel (44:35). We get into targets vs. efficiency and also detail how the rankings change in different scoring formats ... Email us at [e-mail] SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dynasty/id1696679179 SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2aHlmMJw1m8FareKybdNfG?si=8487e2f9611b4438&nd=1 Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs Follow the brand new FFT TikTok account: https://www.tiktok.com/@fftoday Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday Get 20% off Fantasy Football Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-football-today%20?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-football-collection Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter You can listen to Fantasy Football Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast." To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports. What a play! Can you believe this? No, I can't. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Off to the races, and he stays on his feet. He's just going to go the distance. Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath.

Pop quiz, hotshot. It's round two, maybe round three. You're on the clock. You want a wide receiver. What do you do? What do you do? That was my Keanu there. I was going to say,

you think people get that reference? Thomas Schaefer, do you get that reference? No. He has no idea. No, that's Speed. Speed, which was on a few weeks ago. It's really good. Really, really good. Like a classic action movie.

Speed 2, not so much. What's up, Jamie? How would you rank Keanu Reeves' movies? Well, if you're going to count the movie Parenthood, which he doesn't star in, it is by far the best Keanu Reeves movie. No. It's an amazing movie.

It is, but it's not better than Matrix. I forgot about the Matrix. Matrix is really good. I would say Speed 1, Matrix 2. Wow, speed ahead of Matrix. The bus jumping the ramp better than the futuristic existence that we live in. You'd go Matrix 1? I would go Matrix 1,

although John Wick is pretty good. Oh, God, I forgot about John Wick. John Wick, number one. John Wick, Speed. Like, John Wick, I haven't seen the fourth one. I've only seen part of the third one, but they're all better

than the Matrix and Speed so far. Okay, okay. John Wick is great. All right, all right. He's got a pretty good catalog. Let's get into the show today. So I was doing one of those listener-only, I almost said fans-only, only fans mock draft yesterday.

And I had to draft one of the guys who didn't show up. So I was on the clock in round three, and I needed a wide receiver. And already off the board, after Marvin Harrison went with the 13th pick, then Puka went. Then it was Olave, just the wide receivers. Olave, London, Ayuk, DJ Moore, who we weren't really going to talk about on today's show, but we can. Nico Collins, Devontae Adams, Mike Evans, all off the board. Oh, no. I

took Mike Evans. I should have taken Kelsey, but he went with the next pick. I took Mike Evans. Jalen Waddell was still there. Debo Samuel was still there, but I think you can get a very different order of all those guys. Some people could take Olave. Some people could take Ayuk. Some people

could take Debo. Evans could be your favorite. I want to go through wide receivers 10 through 18 in your rankings, and they are in this order. Chris Olave in full PPR. Olave, London, Jalen Waddell, Michael Pittman, Devontae Adams, Mike Evans, Brandon Iuke, Nico Collins, and Debo Samuel. So it didn't include DJ Moore, who's 20th for you, Cooper Cupps, 19. I just thought we'll take those nine guys, 10 through 18,

that are going to be mostly in the second and third round, and kind of break down pros and cons for each of them. A couple of intro questions before we get to that. Is Marvin Harrison an easy wide receiver nine for you, clearly ahead of that group, Olave, London, etc.? No. And, you know, that's the one name I think that probably stands out that's not listed there. Because I know Dave, for example, has Chris Olave ahead of Marvin Harrison.

You know, we really haven't seen that drafted that way very much in our mock drafts but uh he's probably in belongs in this discussion just because i think you know he'll be most likely ranked and drafted in this group by the way a lot of uh votes for point point break never seen it but the replacement is a good one spelled very funny in a couple different references in the chat yes point break it's about your it's about cars brake pads um yeah schaefer voted for the replacements uh bill and ted i'm telling you man he's a bill and ted he's got a great catalog ted is a bad vote it's not number one robert oh i don't say number one but i'm saying like his his oh robert did um but his his uh his movie career is pretty fantastic.

If you haven't seen Parenthood, it's just, oh, my God, warm your heart. Amazing movie. And Thomas had another good call. The Devil's Advocate's a good movie. Yeah, never sell that one either. I got to see more Keanu. Okay, do you like the trio of running backs, James Cook, Isaiah Pacheco, and Rashad White better than your number 10

receiver, Chris Olave? In full PPR, I do. I'm sorry, not better than Olave, no. I thought you were going to say better than my 12th receiver. I have my top 11 receivers ahead of those group of running backs. Okay, so that would be Olave and London. Yes. And the first nine. All right. We are, I know I should have promoted this more yesterday. I apologize. If you're listening before two o'clock Eastern on Tuesday, you still have time to tune into CBS Sports Network at two o'clock Eastern on Tuesday.

We'll be doing a special edition of Fantasy Football today. I assume the video will also be available on YouTube, but it'll be a little bit more different. We'll have some fun. We're going to do some fill in the blank. We're going to do some Fantasy Feud and not fill in the blank. We're going to do some fantasy feud and not fill in. Yeah, we are also name that player. That's what we're going to name that player.

Fill in the blank fantasy feud. A fun gimmicky show for you here on June 4th. CBS Sports Network. You can find it on your cable provider or whatever you have. You can watch it online as well. So, okay. Check us out at 2 o'clock. Jamie, news and notes. That's why Adam is shaved

today. That is why I shaved. Absolutely. I will be putting some product in my hair as well. News and notes, and then we'll get into those wide receivers. Sad news, Larry Allen, what a legend for the Dallas Cowboys. Offensive lineman, Hall of Famer, amazing player. He died at the

age of 52. Sad news and our condolences. I went back this morning and listened to my favorite Larry Allen story, which was told by Justin Tuck on the Dan Levitart show when it was still on ESPN. Tuck said that Larry Allen would line up against defenders and make a choo-choo sound to let you know that Emmett Smith was coming this way behind him and there was nothing you could do to stop him. Justin Tuck at the time said, it would be like me lining up against my son, who I guess was a young boy,

and saying, I'm going to just run you over at this point. That's how good Larry Allen was, that he would just make a choo-choo sound and you know not even hide what they were doing that is amazing yeah amazing player just arguably the best guard of all time you make case for it uh bijan robinson back on the practice field he had a sprained ankle he practiced for the first time in a while and he said that atlanta's offense is going to be run first like how they use christian mcafree San Francisco. Cool. I like that. Yeah. I was thinking, as I have a note on Chicago head coach Matt Eberflus saying that DeAndre Swift called him a weapon back,

talked about all the ways they can use DeAndre Swift. I was thinking if you polled football fans and you asked them to name the head coach of every team, other than maybe the first-year guys, I feel like Matt Eberflus would be the least correctly responded. Such a random coach. Yeah. I don't know why.

I would say the three most difficult for casual NFL fans would be Matt Eberflus, Shane Steichen, and Jonathan Gannon. Other than the first, like Dan Quinn, you think people would get Dan Quinn? I mean, Dan Quinn was a head coach for a long time with the Falcons. Right. Went to the Super Bowl. Just new. I think you're right, though.

Those are good calls. You want to talk about what he said about DeAndre Swift? We don't have to. We can talk about his name. I mean, look, actually, you know, so we're following the magazine, which comes out in August, and we have to lock in our rankings relatively soon. So I keep looking at them and nitpicking and, you know,

probably made some changes that Adam's going to hate if he did his wide receiver notes yesterday afternoon. But, like, one I struggle with is DeAndre swift versus james connor for example and jonathan brooks i'm like that group of like 20 through 24 uh 20 through 26 you know essentially so i move like zach moss up and drop nick chubb back just because again for people reading the magazine you know who knows when nick chubb will be ready and that's something that you know i think matters so that whole group of of of running backs, uh, keeps moving up and down and Deandre Swift could jump four or five spots if they move on from

Khalil Herbert, which we'll see if they decide to do. There was a report in the athletic, I believe that said that the bears are shopping. Yeah. Makes sense. It would help. I think I said during the free agency period, during that week of podcasts that I felt like DeAndre Swift was for me, the hardest player to rank, project, wrap my head around. Just, I have a hard time seeing him score a lot of touchdowns. Uh, that, and I'm not really sure why, but he could easily be the goal line back, but I, maybe because he came up, so came up short so frequently last year. Yeah. If he, if he had five more touchdowns last year, yeah. Three more so frequently last year. Yeah, if he had five more touchdowns last year. Yeah. Three more touchdowns last year.

Yeah. Feels like it's a different player. Tyreek Hill may want a new contract after Justin Jefferson's big deal. What? Not may. Will. Will want a new contract, which is, I think, ridiculous. He's making $30 million a year.

It ranks fourth among wide receivers behind now Justin Jefferson, A.J. Brown, and Amon Ross St. Brown. He's 30, not in the middle of his prime like Justin Jefferson. I think he's very fairly paid, very fairly paid. He certainly is very fairly paid, but it's not necessarily the amount of money it's the annual salary that he probably wants to be bumped up to be first but i'm gonna guess he's probably gonna wait out the lamb and chase deals which may or may not exceed jefferson's deal yeah

san francisco signed logan thomas to be a backup tight end would not be surprised if kiddo misses time if we are streaming Logan Thomas some weeks. And a couple of Colts notes. Anthony Richardson says his shoulder is about 95% healthy. And Trey Sermon appears to be the number two running back right now for the Colts.

Boy, do I have a softball story for you, Jamie. Oh, nice. I think we should save it to the end because we haven't really gotten to the meat of the show. So I'm going to put it in the notes for the end.

Positive or negative? A little bit of both. A little bit of both. We did not get run rules last night, I will proudly say. Back we went to extra innings. All right. We'll be right back. I'm going to ask you a parenting sports-related question as well.

Now or later? Later. Okay. Discuss later? Later. Okay. Discuss. All right. Yeah, stick around. It's going to be a fun show today.

We'll be back to talk about Chris Alave and the rest of the gang after this. Whether in the game or in life, the right coverage can make all the difference. Securian Canada gives you that coverage. For more than 65 years, Securian Canada has been helping Canadians build secure tomorrows. Their insurance solutions

are designed to help protect you and your loved ones financially, giving you the peace of mind to focus on what truly matters. Find their products through banks, credit unions, and associations, or visit SecurianCanada.ca. Securian Canada, insurance designed for life. I am so dreading groceries this week. Why? You can skip it. Oh, what? Just like that? for life. nope, you're on your own there. Could have skipped it, should have skipped it. Skip to the good part and get groceries, meals, and more delivered right to your door on Skip. Chris Olave is wide receiver 10 in Jamie's rankings. He will be a second round pick almost by default,

I think, in a lot of drafts, but he might slip into the third round in 12 team leagues. Last year, he was 21st per game in full PPR, 23rd per game in non-PPR, and he has a bit of a touchdown problem. So I want to ask you for pros and cons for each guy. Give me a pro for Chris Olave. Another third-year wide receiver that has the chance to, you know, hopefully have a breakout career type of season.

You know, and you mentioned second-round pick. I think when we start to see ADP of everybody drafting, you're going to see a lot of quarterbacks push guys like this down. And so, you know, this whole conversation that we're having of when should Laporta and Kelsey come off the board and what about running backs like James Cook and Isaiah Pacheco and those guys at the back end around two, I think round two is going to be potentially have four to five quarterbacks in it. So don't be surprised if a lava is a round three pick, but in terms of where his wide receiver listing should be,

it's anywhere in this range. And the reason I like him at 10 ahead of London, ahead of Adams, ahead of Debo and I, you can, some guys that are a little bit more established and proven, is I think that with the change in coordinator, change in system, with Clint Kubiak coming on board, that they will allow Chris Olave to blossom into the best version of himself.

We've seen a player that can make a lot of plays down the field. We saw that with Jameis Winston in his rookie campaign. We saw a guy that can step up and do a little different things with Derek Carr last year. I think that you will see the best of him because this receiving core is very unproven. And Michael Thomas, you could say, wasn't there for the majority of the season last year, and that's certainly an acceptable answer. But Rashid Shaheed is the most proven second option on the team. And I think Olave is going to be 150 plus target guy, if not more, uh, with the chance to see the best stats of his career. So I'm excited about the situation for him, which is why I have him ranked 10th.

Give me a con or cons for Olave. I mean, the con is what we've seen the first two years. You know, it's, it's an offense that can get run heavy. It's an offense that can certainly be limited by its quarterback. And Derek Carr has had a lot of great moments, you know, that go under, undervalued and he's had a lot of, you know, stinkers and his time in New Orleans has been inconsistent. And so, you know, we could see a lot of Alvin Kamara, Jamal Williams, Kendra Miller, Taysom Hill, you know, dominating in the red zone and the touchdowns don't go up. And so he can be a good receiver, still be in the 15 to 20 range, but not be a top 10 guy. So again, I'm hoping for him to add about four PPR points per game to that number that you're seeing there, which is at 13.5, which is what he did a year ago.

And that's the expectation. But if he stays in this range, still be a good fantasy option, just won't live up to these expectations and be more of a bust. I just want to give some touchdown context here because O olave let's see he had five touchdowns last year in 16 games and what did he have four i think the year before something like that um we've had three seasons with 17 games if you want 10 touchdowns from your wide receiver that's not easy to do you're not probably not going to get more than eight wide receivers who get 10 touchdowns from your wide receiver, that's not easy to do. You're probably not going to get more than eight wide receivers who get 10 touchdowns. You want eight touchdowns from your wide receivers? You might have 15.

I think there were 17 last year. There were 15 in 2021. There were less than that in 2022. Let's say maybe 15 wide receivers are going to get about eight touchdowns. So you'd like to see your second or third round pick at least be able to get you eight receiving touchdowns, which we haven't seen. I have some pros and cons for Olave. Pros, it's going to be a lot of repetitive stuff, but pros, he has been 16th in yards per game amongst wide receivers two straight seasons. That's pretty good. I mean, that's a pretty nice floor there.

16th in yards per game could get better. He's the unquestioned number one target on his team. New offensive coordinator could help. Derek Carr played hurt in 2023. Cons. The Saints were ninth in scoring last season, so he might not get that much of a jump offensively. He doesn't get Olave does not get a lot of red zone

green zone or end zone targets. Did not. I wouldn't say does not. Did not. Actually, a lot of the guys on this list do not or have not. Has been only average in explosive play rate, probably because he has somewhat of a low catch rate, and he hasn't finished as a top 20 wide receiver per game yet. But we like his role, and definitely, is it safe, is it fair to say, actually, I don't know if it's fair to say. What do you think about this?

When you look at this group of receivers, is targets the most important stat when you're trying to rank them? It certainly is among the most important stats for me. When you talk about just counting stats and pure volume, he should be among the target leaders and that's the hope you know again Kubiak and I know you brought this up previously he had one year but he also comes from a family that knows how to call plays his father Gary Kubiak was an office coordinator for many years and head coach he was on the offensive staff I believe he was a receivers coach in Minnesota in Justin Jefferson's rookie year. So he worked with Jefferson and Adam Thielen. And so he knows

how to get production from his wide receivers. Jefferson had over 17 PPR points per game as a rookie. So I'm excited about this addition, you know, and so is it going to be the same impact that Mike McDaniel had or Bobby Sloak had, or some of these other former 49ers guys that had moved on and had a lot of success with their offenses. Maybe, maybe not. But again, it's not just his time in San Francisco. It's his time on earth, being in a family that knows how to get

a lot of great production from its offense. All right, well, I just bring it up because one of the things we definitely like about Olave is the targets. You're going to be comparing him with guys like Nico Collins and the San Francisco guys who probably aren't going to get as many targets, but might be more efficient, more explosive. But I think we haven't seen the best of Olave, hopefully. I mean, I'm not saying he can't be a super explosive player. All right. Drake London is next. He's 11th for you. Give me a pro, give me some pros and cons for London. I mean, the pros are, I think both sides are relatively obvious. The pros are

the addition of Kirk Cousins, the addition of Zach Robinson, and just the ability to be in an offense that's going to be throwing the ball at a higher level and giving him more opportunities to make plays. You know, this is a former first round pick in the NFL draft, the first receiver drafted in his class of a very talented wide receiver group. And we just haven't seen the best of him yet. And so I think for what London's upside is, he does have to contend with potentially a run first offense, Zach Robinson, new offensive coordinator from what B. John Robinson said is going to lean on the run. Makes sense. They have an elite level talent in the backfield. But they're obviously going to throw the ball at a much different level

than we've seen in the last two years under Arthur Smith. You can go back to Smith's first season when they had a veteran quarterback in Matt Ryan and they threw the ball a lot more. Clearly, London was not part of that as he was still in college. But he's got the ability to be a playmaker, a big, big body receiver that I think will, will definitely have more opportunities in the red zone. So his touchdowns should hopefully spike. He gets that a touchdown range. I think it's possible. Um, he does have, you know, interesting options for competition, you know, with the additions of Darnell Mooney and Rondell Moore, but clearly you've seen what those guys

have been. London could be, you know, the alpha, uh, should be the alpha in this offense. And so, um, while he's been very underwhelming and, you know, you, you've certainly brought up the advanced metrics about how poorly he's done in the first two years of his career. I think all those things kind of get pushed aside. At least they do for me because I see a third year receiver who's about to break out and getting a quarterback upgrade, offense coordinator upgrade, and not that much competition for targets should allow London to be the type of receiver he's capable of being. Yeah. So you kind of hit on the pros and the cons. The pros are number should be the number one target for a much improved offense was the first

wide receiver selected in a good wide receiver class. And he's led his team in red zone and green zone targets two straight seasons. I think that should probably continue. Just need to see more touchdowns. He has six touchdowns in two seasons. Atlanta threw 34 touchdowns over the last two seasons combined. Is it so unrealistic to think that they'll throw 30 this year? Could he have eight touchdowns out of 30?

That's really not even asking for all that much if he's going to lead the team in the important targets. Yeah, the cons are some of the advanced metrics and kind of what we outlined a few weeks ago where we compared him to Garrett Wilson and George Pickens. All three of those guys have been on bad passing offenses, but the other two guys have given you 1,100-yard seasons. Drake London, 905 yards is his career high. He did that in 16 games. So maybe he's like a 960 yard guy last year. So he hasn't shown the explosiveness that the others have had. I guess if I had a concern with him, it's, and we're going to talk about Michael Pittman, right? It's, is, are these guys explosive players? I don't know. They haven't been. Pittman's been

in the league four years and he hasn't really been an explosive player. I still feel like they could be, you know, just because we haven't seen it. But you compare him to Jalen Waddell, Nico Collins, Brandon Aiyuk. I know those guys can make big plays, can run away from defenders, can, you know, give you like a 130-yard game.

I don't know. Pittman, I think, has been a little bit limited by the lack of explosive plays. That's my concern for London, that he's going to get a lot of targets but not quite do enough with them. Well, I mean, again, you're talking about not just quarterback change, which is huge,

but the coordinator change. And Zach Robinson coming in from the Rams offense, where you just saw Puka Nakua have a breakout rookie campaign, which doesn't happen to that level very often, if ever. You saw what he was able to accomplish in Cooper Cupps' tenure over the last couple of years. I don't know exactly how long Robinson's been with the Rams, but I'm guessing he's had a big part in cup success as well. And so, you know, you look at those two guys and what they'd even Demarius, uh, Demarcus Robinson, you know, what he was able to accomplish as the third receiver, you know, so this offense gets production from its receiving core. And so really the, and, and, and one of the cons, we didn't even mention this. We are asking, it's the same thing with Garrett Wilson. We are asking

a 35 year old quarterback and Kirkins to return at that level off a pretty significant Achilles injury. By all accounts, he's going to be fine. But if he's not, then we're back dealing with potentially bad quarterback play again for London, whether it's a rookie in Michael Penix or a guy that he's already struggled with in Taylor Heineken. When you look at Olave and London and compare it to the rest of the group, which I know people might not have memorized,

it's Olave, London, Waddle, Pittman, Adams, Evans, Ayuk, Collins, Debo, Samuel. Do Olave and London have the highest floors? Maybe Pittman as well? No, I don't think they have the highest floors. They might have the lowest floors. Really? Because I see high floors, Jamie, because I see clear cut number one going to get a lot of targets. I see a lot of targets, which is why I see a high floor for them. Yeah. But again, it's not like a lobby didn't have a lot of targets last year. It's not like London

wasn't getting targets the year before as well. You know, it's just, you're getting hopefully better targets for those two guys in terms of offensive coordinator upgrades and in the case of London, quarterback upgrades. I think, you know, when you're talking floor, for all of these guys really, except for those two, you've seen them do something pretty significant in the NFL. So who has the highest floor then in this group of nine? Who has the highest floor?

Yeah, give me like the three highest floors of this group. I guess you'd probably say the two 49ers guys. So, absent of injury, their floors are pretty safe. And probably Adams. Okay. All right, let's go on, then, to Jalen Waddell, who you have 12th overall and third in this group. He was number 22 per game last year.

Kind of in and out of the lineup. Didn't play his full snap shares in a lot of games. Pros and cons for Jalen Waddell. And just to kind of tie into what you just asked about, the reason I have Olave, London, and Waddell ahead of those guys, I think they have the highest ceiling of that group. And so that's kind of the way I always draft and the way I encourage people to draft is, you know, who's going to produce at the highest level with hopefully still having a good floor. But in the

case of Waddle, I mean, look, you saw what he was able to accomplish two years ago. Um, I think the injuries played a significant role in how poorly he performed last year. And, you know, we usually talk about injuries and miss games. He missed a lot of time, you know, and you've, you've brought this up and done a great job of illustrating the snap share that he's had, um, the snapshot that he had last year and how much of that was an issue for him. You know, I, I mentioned this a few times last season and I think it was relevant. I really do think that the dolphins were making a concerted effort to try and get Tyreek Hill, 2000 yards. And that took away a little bit from Jalen Waddle as well. Now you have clearly Tyreek Hill back. You have an addition of two receivers that could be a problem for both of those guys

to whatever extent, whether it's a huge problem or just a slight problem, which is the way I view it with Odell Beckham and Malik Washington. So a rookie that can make a lot of plays and a veteran who clearly passes prime but could be a little bit of a nuisance to both Waddle and Hill. Uh, but if he's healthy, you know, we've seen a hundred catch season from him. We've seen a dynamic, you know, player across the entire field in his sophomore campaign. And then year three was just a little bit of a struggle. So, you know, you hope that he's a hundred percent healthy. Um, we also saw, and this is something just to factor in, it's a small thing, but the one game that Tyreek Hill didn't miss last year and he's a receiver entering his 30s Jalen Waddle was an absolute monster in

that game against the Jets and so you know tough competition still produced at a high level so I don't mind taking a chance on him at the end of round two that's how excited I am about Jalen Waddle when you see our magazine and the pick by pick series it's the only draft I could reference that I took him in the spot because the only time that I had this spot but I had the first overall pick with the 2-3 turn. After taking Christian McCaffrey, Jalen Waddell was one of my selections, my first wide receiver. All right, here are the pros and cons that I have for Jalen Waddell.

Waddell pros, I like that he was on pace for 1,231 yards in what I consider a bad season for him because of the missed playing time. He's played 70% of the snaps in six of 14 games, which is much, much lower than what we saw the year before. So that's 1,231-yard pace in a down season. If you remove week 7 and 16 when he played less than half the snaps, Waddle was on pace for 1,276 yards. That's better than what Mike Evans did last year. That's better than what Debo Samuel was on pace for in his healthy games, even when you factor in all his rushing totals.

So there's good yardage there, and I think there's 1,350 to 1,400-yard potential if he is healthy and Tua is healthy all year. And I like that he saw a big increase in his target per out run rate last year cons obviously has to contend with tyreek hill and waddle has shown that he's a little bit dependent on the big play that was the a huge difference he just didn't make those big splash plays last year and that's going to affect his touchdowns because he he's not really a big touchdown guy he has six eight and four touchdowns in three seasons doesn really a big touchdown guy. He has six, eight, and four touchdowns in three seasons. Hasn't gotten a lot of red zone, green zone, end zone targets. And I don't know

that that's really going to change. So he needs to make big plays. He can make them, but it's in his profile. He might be a little bit too reliant on them. I feel like you're going to be, and I'm with you, man. I love Waddle. I think you're going to be kind of the high guy in the industry or among it, or, you know, maybe based, maybe compared to ADP. That's the sense I'm getting is that people will be a little bit down on Jalen Waddle. Yeah. Again, I don't think using our rankings is going to be reflective of what ADP is going to look like. Cause when you push the quarterbacks up, a lot of these guys are going to get pushed down, which is, you know, just how people will draft because there's so much uncertainty as we've talked about this week that we have, you know, this group of running backs, this group of receivers that people, I think, like to have on

their fantasy team. They just do not want to take them in round two. And a lot of a London and Waddle are probably three of them. Yeah. Well, I mean, I'm not even talking about the round. I'm just talking about where you have him ranked among wide receivers. He's wide receiver 16 in Fantasy Pros ADP. He went toward the back end of this group in that listener draft I did yesterday. All right. Next guy we'll do, and then we'll take a break, is Michael Pittman. I got to get – where's my music?

Pittman. All right. Last year, he was the number 18 wide receiver per game in full ppr number 27 in half ppr pitman checks in at wide receiver 13 this year for jamie so that's after olave london and waddle we get pitman and uh give me pros and cons for pitman i still expect him to be uh the target leader for the colts by a significant margin. I expect Anthony Richardson to continue to improve in year two as a pastor and hopefully stay healthy for the majority of the season. Um, I also expect his touchdowns to come up, not necessarily in a significant way, but you know, two or three, I think is realistic. Six or seven is,

is something to, you know, not not expect but hope for um but hopefully will be the case when he uh when he finishes the year the cons are anthony richardson is not going to pepper him with targets like gardner minchu did that there is a better josh downs a better third receiver in adenai mitchell and that pit targets, not crater, but he comes back to the pack. Plus you have a healthy Jonathan Taylor for the whole season. Now that's not necessarily, I think a fair argument because Zach Moss was very successful in the games that Taylor missed. So running back running game was still there, but you know, if he stays in the four touchdown range or less, then Michael Pittman might be a bust in this range because of the targets and everything

else coming down around him so he makes me nervous to be honest you know he's somebody that I'm a little concerned about but I'm hoping that Anthony Richardson becomes a uh continues to improve as a passer and and can you know make Pittman play at the level that we saw last year at least very close to it with again a bump in touchdown All right, pros and cons that I have for Michael Pittman. Pros, he's been on pace for 105 and 119 catches in his healthy games, which are most of them, over the last two seasons.

And obviously he gets a lot of targets. And while he only has six, four, and four touchdowns in his last three seasons, consider that the Colts have thrown 17 and 18 touchdowns as a team in their last two seasons. I consider Pittman to be a good, reliable player who's capable of doing more per catch if he gets a higher ADOT.

His ADOT has been, in my opinion, too low for a true number one wide receiver to really thrive. The cons, he's played with so many quarterbacks that it's hard to project him. There's been no consistency. It's been a new guy every year. And a lot of times it's been two guys or three guys, like Sam Ellinger in there for Michael Pittman. We don't know how much Anthony Richardson is going to throw. And we don't know how much he's going to throw near the end zone. And Pittman just hasn't been an efficient wide receiver. He's been either mediocre or bad in yards per catch or yards per

target. He's never ranked higher than 50th in explosive play rate among wide receivers with 50 or more targets, which is usually about 80 or 90 of those per year. So I think that Pittman is capable of doing more if they throw to him downfield more, but he's really been kind of like a Keenan Allen. I don't think people really think of him that way. He doesn't play in the slot as much, I guess, but that's more or less what he's been. And that's not the kind of guy

who scores a lot of touchdowns. So I've been nervous about Pittman too. Like you have him ahead of Adams one spot. I definitely take Adams over Pittman. It's just tough with all these guys. I don't think Pittman's as good of a player as Debo or Ayuk

or Nico Collins, but it's that pull of even how good could Josh Downs and Adonai Mitchell be? I don't think good enough to truly take away from Pittman. It's that pull of, like, even how good could Josh Downs and Adonai Mitchell be? I don't think good enough to truly take away from Pittman. It's that pull of getting all those targets, Jamie. Yeah. And it's the Richardson factor, too. It almost feels like he needs to be a 100-catch guy.

And if he's not, then we could be in trouble. So PPR versus half and none, he's, you know, like the Alvin Kamara version of that at wide receiver. You know, just a guy that, for me, is, you know is top 15 in PPR and barely in the top 24 and none. Wow. So in half PPR, are you taking Debo Samuel or, excuse me, or Pittman? Debo. Okay. All right, we're going to take a break here.

We've gotten through the first four, Olave, London, Waddle, Pittman. We'll get to Adams, Evans, Ayuk, Nico, and Debo when we come back. Miller Lite. The light beer brewed for people who love the taste of beer and the perfect pairing for your game time. When Miller Lite set out to brew a light beer, they had to choose great taste or 90 calories per can. They chose both because they

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Then sit back and let your matches start the chat. Download Bumble and try it for yourself. Devontae Adams, 31 years old. He went from the number three receiver per game. Actually, I think it was number six in full PPR, number three in non-PPR in 2022 to number 17 per game in 2023. But he still had 175 targets last year. Pros and cons for Devontae Adams, who is wide receiver 14 for Jamie. The pros are he's done it year after year. He's done it now

two seasons in a row from a target perspective with the Raiders, with a few different quarterbacks, and he should still be the target leader for the Raiders once again. The cons cons are, you mentioned that 31 years old, um, in doing the research specifically for him last year, uh, there were only three receivers, I believe since 2000 that averaged over 19 PPR points per game, which is what he was in 2022. And I expected him to fall short of that. I didn't expect him to lose almost five points per game, uh, from that total. So to drop him to wide receiver, would you say 17 or 14? 17 last year per game.

You know, that was, that was kind of the, the fear was that he would do that. Now I didn't expect him to still have that many targets. He did have a 21 target game, if I'm not mistaken, toward the end of the season with Aiden O'Connell. So that's encouraging in his final four. And despite the fact that Samir White was getting all that work, he was still getting all those targets. But now you add a pretty significant piece to this offense in Brock Bowers,

who I anticipate having a bigger role than the tight ends had last year as a group. Jacoby Myers is still there. And you have some questions at the quarterback position, whether it's going to be Gardner Minshew, we should feature him. And, and, and O'Connell again, who did,

but will they start to spread the ball around a little bit more and, and feature some of these other guys. So Adams is still top 15 guy. You know, I think originally when I did my first version of our 2024 rankings, he was a little bit lower than that. And, you know,

you can, you can easily sell me on he's better than the four guys in front of him. I know for Dave, I think he's the high guy on Adams. I think he has him in his top 10 still. And I, and I get it. Um, but, um, okay. So, you know, in his top 12, um, it just feels like we're, we're starting to see the, the, the, the slow crawl toward the end of his career. And he's still going to be very good, very solid. I have no problems. If you want to take him in round two,

you know, if it's a very receiver heavy draft and you just want the safe player and, and he certainly should be around three pick. But for me, I'm, I'm taking the guys that I feel have a little bit more upside, which is the, you know,

the guys I have in front of him, which is why he's only 14. There are some great receivers like Randy Moss. I think even Heinz Ward, Marvin Harrison, who had awesome season, especially Moss and Harrison at age 31. I think Moss wasn't so great at 31, but then he was like a top five wide receiver at age 32. We can get into this a little bit later. There just aren't

that many receivers that do that. You know, the three guys you mentioned had pretty good hall of fame caliber quarterbacks. Yeah, so, yeah. I have actually noticed that it seems like if there is an age drop-off for a lot of these guys, it's usually 31. That's what lately I'm sort of seeing. 30, I still feel like you get a lot of really good years.

31's a little scarier, and that's what he is, and he'll be 32 in December. Pros I have for Adams, two straight seasons with the Raiders with 175 to 180 targets. He's caught at least 40% of the team's touchdowns both seasons. But last year, they barely threw any touchdowns, something like 22 touchdowns or something. Gardner Minshew could be a big upgrade over what was the worst pass offense that Devontae Adams has ever played on last year.

Cons, the rates were bad last year. You don't like seeing that in an older receiver. Antonio Pierce seems like he definitely wants to be more run heavy than Josh McDaniels, but they were 14th in pass rate with Pierce. They were sixth in pass rate with McDaniels, and it could be Aiden O'Connell. And I would be pretty happy with Minshew. I wouldn't be as happy with Aiden O'Connell. So

that's definitely possible. I mean, we could see both play significant amount of games this year. I don't think if they commit to one, that guy is entrenched if he struggles. I don't agree with what you said about the upside. I still see huge upside for Adams because I see 180 target upside for Adams. Did I say there's no upside? No, I think you said that the other guys had more upside. Oh, yes, I do agree that the other guys have more upside. The one that you can, again, sway me on is Pittman.

But I think if Waddle on the offense that just led the NFL or at least the quarterback that led the NFL in passing yards last year, I take that upside more. And I think the other two guys that we talked about, Olave and London, are in better situations. Okay. I think you could argue that he's in a better situation than Olave. Yeah, you can definitely argue it.

And, you know, part of the argument is the quarterback he went to Las Vegas to play for is now in New Orleans. But for better or worse. Yeah. All right. Mike Evans is next. Mike Evans is 14th, 15th in your rankings. Excuse me. And he is after Olave, London, Waddle, Pittman, and Evans and Adams.

Evans is going to be 31 years old in August. And I'll just say this, Jamie, as I dug in and I did a lot of research preparing for this show, this was the guy that I got the coldest feet on. And it was after I drafted him yesterday and just didn't feel good about Mike Evans in this spot. I'll get into it later, but you tell me how you feel about Evans with some pros and cons and your ranking of Evans, which is again, wide receiver 15. He was 11th per game last year in full PPR and top eight in the other two formats. I mean, the pros are his resume, you know, every year of his career, a thousand yards. And I believe it's six years with 10 plus touchdowns, which is hard to overlook that he's been that consistent and, you know, should be in the hall of fame conversation for what he's done in his body of work. He really tailed off in the second

half of the year last year. I don't know if that was a by-product of Chris Godwin getting more involved, you know, his age being a factor offense changing a little bit, Rashad white being a little bit better running the ball, Kate. Dotton getting more involved. There are a lot of things to play there. But that's what you have to worry about with an older receiver. And we've seen this now for him for a couple of years, you know, whether it was with Tom Brady at the – it might have even been just two years ago, where it was like a push to get him his production in a stretch of games. And then he kind of disappears for others. And, you know,

when you're a little touchdown dependent, which I think Mike Evans has been at times, you have to be worried about that. You know, you, you talked about this, you know, how difficult it is for receivers to get 10 plus touchdowns last year.

There were only six who did it. Clearly he was one of them. So he's got the potential to be, you know, that, that type of player, um, a thousand and 10.

And so that's why you like him. But if this is the, you know, point where the production starts to crater, it could be really bad for him, you know? So, um, he does make me very nervous. Yeah. He's a, he's somebody that I tend to avoid, even though I haven't ranked in this range. This is Mike Evans pros for Mike Evans is what Jamie said, his resume. He has been a top 24 wide receiver per game in every format in every year of his career. I mean, you talk about a high floor,

he has never finished outside the top 24 per game. He's been top 12 per game in full PPR, which is really his worst format in four of the last six seasons. It's just really impressive. The cons is kind of what I thought might happen last year. It didn't really happen. Half of it did, but I thought they would have a much worse passing offense. I mean, Mike

Evans has been obviously a big reason for it, but also he's been lucky. He's been on, you know, a Bruce Arians offense. He's been with Tom Brady. He's been with Jameis Winston, but even Ryan Fitzpatrick, he's been with these gunslingers that throw, they've been among the leaders in passing yards per game almost every year of his career. Last year, the pass offense was good, but it was much worse. And yet he still thrived because nobody else did well. If it's a little bit more balanced, I think he's in trouble. He's not going to be a 1300 yard guy anymore. He had 1,255 yards in 17 games last year. So that's, like I said, that's like what Debo had. It's a little bit better than what Waddle had in a bad year for Waddle.

So Evans is not going to be a catch standout. He's going to be maybe good, not elite in yards. It is really all about those touchdowns. But also, there were just some great stats last year. He had the highest yak per catch of his career. There's just some things I just don't quite buy. So if they are just an above average but not great passing offense like they were last year, and Godwin's more involved and Evans doesn't get almost 50% of their receiving touchdowns, it's going to be a disappointing year for Mike Evans,

who's going to be 31 in August. And furthermore, think about Geno Smith, the difference between his 22 and 23 seasons, and think about what we've seen from Baker Mayfield in his career. I'm terrified of Baker Mayfield taking a step back. So I also nervously draft Mike Evans if I draft him at all. Well, you bring up Geno Smith. I think the name that needs to be mentioned is Dave Canales.

And that's, I think, part of your reasoning is that Geno Smith loved Dave Canales, went to Tampa Bay, and took a step back. And now Canales clearly going from Tampa Bay to Carolina. And so we'll see how things go for this Tampa Bay offense. He could easily have 1,000 yards and seven touchdowns, Mike Evans, and still be a very good receiver, but would be a bust if you're drafting in this range. All right, Brandon Ayuk is next.

The last three are Ayuk, Nico Collins, and Debo Samuel. We can try to go one by one here. Maybe we'll go a little bit faster. You could put the 49ers guys together if you want. Yeah, I'll just say this for the 49ers guys. I mean, there is an obvious con for them, and it's that they are maybe of this group going to see the fewest. I'd say almost guarantee they're going to see the fewest targets of this group.

I mean, Brandon Iyuk, in his best sample size, removed weeks two and 18. He played 53% of the snaps, 38% of the snaps. Brandon Ayuk was on pace for 115 targets. That's super low. Debo Samuel, how about this for Debo? Over his last two seasons, he's played 34 games, including the playoffs, in two seasons. And he has... Oh, man. I'm sorry. He has like more than 70 yards in nine of those 34 games. In fact,

I've got to tell you this. Over the last two seasons, his 17-game pace in his healthy games, including the playoffs, is 996 receiving yards. And he's running the ball less every year in the McCaffrey era. So if Debo,

like Debo getting to 1,200 yards to me, total yards, is not a foregone conclusion. I mean, he's so damn good that he could have a 1,500-yard season. It wouldn't surprise me. But he's running the ball less. And these guys, they're like 110, 115-target guys.

So I see a ton of downside with them, actually. But then again, they're both among the most elite talent, I think, in the NFL. So yeah, that's my 49ers thing. And then Collins, like, is he a lock for 130 targets? No. Right, so that's where I think these three guys are easily lumped together. Collins, like, is he a lock for 130 targets? No. Right. So that's where I think these three guys are easily lumped together.

Nico's only done it for one year. You could argue Ayuk's only done it for one year. But they look like supreme talents with maybe the lowest targets among this group of nine receivers. Yeah. I mean, I think in the case, at least for me, you know, I'm, I'm banking on the offenses that they play into, uh, enhance those elite talents. And it happened for Collins last year for the first time because of, you know, Bobby Sloan and CJ Stroud. It's been a consistent factor, I think for the 49ers guys, because of Kyle Shanahan and, you know, with, uh, clearly the case of Debo, but for both those guys with different quarterbacks and Brock Purdy, you know,

sort of being the steadying force for them the last couple of years. But, you know, the cons are relatively easy when you look at it, you know, for Iuke and Debo and Collins, they're in crowded receiving cores and the 49ers guys just got more crowded, which was not something we expected with a first round receiver being added and Ricky Pearsall. And so I think it's easy to say, okay, Pearsall is a guy for the future as opposed to now, what if he is the now, you know, what if it is a third receiver in the mix? And so now you have McCaffrey and George Kittle also getting targets. And now another guy taking away from these guys. And if I, you doesn't get a contract, I wouldn't rule out a holdout here for him. So he could be a guy that slides out of this range just because of fear of when he will

actually show up. So that's a big part of what you have to keep an eye on with him with Debo. Like you said, he's been running the ball less. Now, if there's a McCaffrey injury, who knows what they decide to do if they lean on Elijah Mitchell or the running backs that they still have there or added in Patrick Taylor and Isaac Arendo. I probably butchered his name again. I don't think so.

They have a lot of options in their backfield that they may decide to lean on more so than Debo, but we know how much Kyle Shanahan likes giving him those chances. So I think for those two guys, you sort of overlook the target crunch and bank more on system and talent and hopefully that they stay healthy because the touchdown should be there for them. And certainly in the case of the 49ers guys, for Nico, it's, it's a little bit of an unknown because was he a one hit one benefit when, you know, tankel got hurt?

I don't think that's the case because he's somebody that I know I liked for the first years of his career, not necessarily to the same level last year, but can produce at a high level and show the ability to make a lot of big plays and be a target hog, which is the things that we like. But Stephon Diggs being there, Tanktel being back, Dalton Schultz still staying, those are all negatives for Nico Collins, which is why we're starting to get into the range where there's a lot more question marks. But again, you know, you're banking on talent, you're banking on offense, quarterback, all those things. And that's where

these guys start to win a little bit, maybe even more so than a couple of guys in front of them. Debo Samuel is a much easier player for me to draft in, in half PPR or non PPR. Not that people really play in non PPR that much, but half PPR. And the same with Evans. Same with Evans? I still have the same concerns, though, about Evans' performance. But still, when you look at it, I think seven touchdowns plus is where Evans lives. Probably, yeah.

And which we already said, there aren't that many receivers that get to eight. Debo, where is he in your half PPR rankings? Half and non, he's borderline top 12. So I like him better than Pittman. I move Adams up in that range also. But yeah, Debo is my favorite 49ers receiver in those formats.

Stuff you and Collins have a lot in common. They were, I think you would say, the two most efficient wide receivers last year. What they did was not really sustainable there's regression coming in terms of Nico Collins being one of the only receivers in recent years to have an ADOT as high as his and a yeah I don't have the specific numbers and a yak as high as his it's not going to happen again we've seen the same thing with AJ Brown Jalen Waddle and Jamar Chase they had these outlier seasons where they were just too efficient.

The efficiency came down for those guys, but for Brown and Chase, the targets the following season went way up. Is that going to happen with Brandon Ayuk? Is he going to develop into a true alpha? I don't think so, Jamie, if everybody stays healthy, right? I don't think the offense is going to change that much. I don't know why it would. They've just been so successful. You know, why would they all of a sudden say, okay, we're going to, you know, change how we operate when you have clearly,

arguably the best running back in football, um, and a very diverse receiving core that includes one of the better tight ends. So, you know, they're going to be who they are, which has gotten them to, you know, a couple of super of Super Bowls in the Kyle Shanahan tenure. Just haven't won one yet. And I think they're still the favorites to reach the Super Bowl again, have the best record in the NFL. So there's a lot to love about what these 49ers do. It's just a matter of how high you want to take them. by pick you know which is a half ppr um and just looking at it i was i was surprised that uh with the uh what pick would it be 33 i think it was um no i'm sorry it was in the second round dave took

out yuka in the second round um like that was a little bit of shock to me i don't know how high he hasn't ranked but clearly he liked him best in that spot and so like he's not around to pick for me i just can't pull a trigger that high on him. Yeah. He went right. And Mike Evans went one pick before him to Heath. That's what I'm saying. I mean, you're just going to get such a different, uh, order of these guys. And I decided that I was going to try to rank them because you, you go Olave, London at 10 and 11. I have the same top two, Olave and London. This is my PPR rankings. And then your next two are Waddle and Pittman. My next two are Adams and Waddle. So we have three of the top four of the same. That's pretty much where I'm done confidently

ranking them. After that, I actually went with Debo Samuel. I simply think he is the unicorn of the NFL. There's just no player like him, and he does still get you about probably 200 to 250 rushing yards per season. Then I went with Nico Collins, which scares the crap out of me, but he's so good.

Then I went with Mike Evans, Michael Pittman, and Brandon Ayuk. And I will say that Ayuk would be confidently last in this group for me. He's not for you. He's 16th. Then you have Collins, then Debo. Ayuk would be confidently last if you guaranteed me that Debo Samuel and George Kittle were going to play even like 15 to 17 games each. But Debo gets hurt. 17? That's pretty good. Right, exactly. Debo gets hurt. Kittle were going to play even like 15 to 17 games each, but Debo gets hurt. 17. That's pretty good.

Right? Exactly. Debo gets hurt. Kittle stayed pretty healthy last year, but then he, but he actually played through an injury at off season surgery. That's the thing about IU is he's been the healthiest by far. And when those guys are out,

I mean, he's just like, he could be just like a top five. So now I will say there's one name that's absent that could change if the contract situation is settled. And that's T Higgins, who I just moved out of this range last night. So I was the high guy on T Higgins. And then the last couple of drafts, I'm like, I can't take him with the potential of a holdout. You could see again, an IU holdout looming.

That could be a problem if he does not get paid and the 49ers you know have pros and cons to pay him you know based on what they just did with their nfl draft by drafting ricky pierce hall um you talked about this at the start of this dj moore i think is in this range for a lot of people yeah for me if you tell me that keenan allen's going to play i'm not going to go 17 games because i think that's, easy if he stays healthy that long, but you know, 12 to 13 games, I think that's a problem for DJ more, uh, plus what Roma Dunzay should be able to accomplish in his rookie campaign. So he makes me a little bit nervous. Um, and one guy that, um, two guys that are close to this range for me, but will not crack this

group. Uh, one is George Pickens. Cause I'm very excited about him. Another 30 receiver who I think is going to break out. Uh, will be one of my favorite breakout candidates just outside this group. And DK Metcalf, um, is another one that I'm getting more excited about. You know, I just think that the, uh, the change in, in system is going to change an offense is going to help them. Um, you know, especially with Tyler Lockett fading a little bit. So even though I think that will benefit JSN as well, I think Metcalf in this offense can make hopefully the plays downfield that have been missing for him at times during his career. So he's somebody that I'm getting more excited about as well.

But you have Stefan Diggs, who's just outside this group. I think another guy that could be a surprise that can crack this group, not necessarily from a ranking standpoint, but from a production standpoint by the end of the season is Christian Kirk. We've seen this from him two years ago. And then we'll see if your favorite guy, Malik Neighbors,

can maybe get enough targets from whoever's throwing him the ball to produce this level. I don't even know if he said Cooper Cup. He's right after the season. I'm sorry, Cooper Cup, yes. I was thinking more guys if you said Cooper cup. He's a, he's right after Cooper cup. Yes. And I was, I was thinking more guys like with upside and not that cup doesn't have it, but you know,

guys that are, are rising. But yes, cup is another one that should, you know, be discussed in this range too, of just, you know,

how much of it was injury related for him last year. If he gets back to producing at that level, you know, should be fun. And then just the flip side of that, I'm about to start writing it for our magazine is the the elite eight guys of what are the eight guys in our consensus rankings. Harrison, the lava in London are the guys just outside of that. But, you know, who's going to be the number one receiver in fantasy? I think you make a case for all eight

of those guys that they can all have the ability to be number one. I wonder if Harrison moves from wide receiver nine and ADP. I suspect he will be kind of sticky there unless we get some, maybe Drake London can overtake him. But, uh, I suspect Harrison definitely. Well, I can't imagine a crack the top eight,

but, uh, nine Harrison. Yeah. It seems like his spot. Number nine. The only guy he can maybe leap over is Puka. And that's not because Puka is bad by any stretch, but if it's cup is back and you're hearing all great things and you're seeing a lot of stories and or highlights of cup, cup, cup,

cup, cup, then, you know, that could drop Puka a little bit and Harrison getting a lot of pub, but yeah, it feels like there's a consensus eight for us and a consensus eight in industry. And Harrison, at best, I think will be nine. So hopefully you got a little bit more clarity on these guys. Obviously, you feel how you want to feel about them. And that's sort of the point, is once you get past those eight wide receivers,

I think Harrison will be next. But you could take these guys in any order. Go with your guy. Go with your gut. I wanted to outline the ones that are going to really get the targets and outline the ones that are super efficient. Is there a combination of the two? A lot of targets and a lot of efficiency? I don't know. We will see. In the past, obviously, it's been Devante Adams, but that wasn't the case in 2023. Maybe Olave can join that group.

Let's hope. Yeah. All right. Softball. Boy. All right. So we're the worst team, but getting better. And we played a team.

I think we were sort of evenly matched. And we came up first. I think we scored three of evenly matched. And we came up first. I think we scored three runs, two or three runs in the first inning. Everything's going really well. I think in the second inning, they had runners on the corners or something. Maybe bases loaded two outs. And, oh, my God, it's so embarrassed. They hit, this guy hit like a 15 hopper right at me.

Just like a slow, painful ground. Painful in that it was so easy. You're playing right field? No, I was playing second base. I played second base the entire game. Went right under my glove. I cost the team two runs. Super embarrassing.

I mean, like Little League bad. It was such an easy play, and I just didn't get my glove on the ground and just a pathetic play by me. Prep step, buddy. Got to be ready. I was ready. It took too long.

I had two, you know, the wide open three-pointer? Why don't you charge it? I don't know. It was a pathetic play. I bounced back. I made some good plays in the field, thankfully. I got two hits, which tripled my season total.

Okay. What's your batting average now? Oh, gosh. I don't even know. Probably three for... Probably like three for 12, we might guess. I haven't had that many at bats. Anyway, we're playing great. We go to extra innings. 5-5. We go to the eighth inning. We score four runs in the top of the eighth.

I even drive in an insurance run. Yeah, so things are looking good. This guy comes up with two on. We fall apart a little bit in the bottom of the eighth. Two men on. One or two outs. He's the winning run. He's their best hitter. He's a winning run. He's their best hitter.

He's a lefty. I'm playing second base. He's already smoked two balls right at me. So I am absolutely expecting this ball to come to me. This guy hits the ball to California. He hits the ball so far. It's the best hit I've seen all season. He hits a walk-off three-run homer.

You don't hit home runs. Even the best, like the hardest hit balls. You guys don't hit home runs? No, they usually end up as doubles or triples. Okay. This guy, we play with... Is there a fence?

We play with wooden bats. No, no fence. Oh. He hit a freaking bomb. Walk-off three-run homer. They score five runs in the bottom of the eighth. They scored five runs in the bottom of the eighth. They scored five runs in the first seven innings. They scored five in the eighth, and we lost.

Wow. Wooden bats and softball is a little weird. Wooden bats is tough, man. It is tough, yeah. Slow-pitch softball, but it's tough. Interesting. I have a parenting question for you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. My 12-year-old

earned a spot on what is the 12 view all-star team, which is the Lily world series eligible team. And their team is loaded. He, he, he legitimately played well enough to earn a spot. Now the league brought in some pretty high end travel players. My son does not play travel by choice. He certainly could play on a variety of travel teams in South Florida. Um, anyway, so earned a spot, didn't get it was, I was told he was one of the 15 finalists for 12 kids that made the team. Um, they put him on the 13 U team, even though at the time he was 11, just turned 12. So yesterday find out that one of the kids no longer eligible to play on the 12 U team. So they have an opening.

They asked him to come try out. I have no idea if he's going to make it. I believe there's, you know, two or three kids trying out. But if he's on the 12 U team, which again has a chance, I legitimately think this team has a chance to make a run to be on TV, represent the state of Florida.

They have some amazing players. So it could be an amazing experience for him. But he's probably not going to play just because the team is so loaded. However, on the 13U team, which he is currently on, he would be one of the top four players. Probably hitting the top four of the order, and he'll be either first base or center field. He's lefty. And so if he gets the opportunity to play on this team, I don't know what to tell him.

I don't know what he's going to want to do. This is an easy call. What would you do? The 12 team, the World Series team. Good experience? Yeah, and that's how you get better, right? I mean, you're playing with the best competition. This is an easy call. What would you do? The 12 team, the world series team experience. Yeah. And, and that's how you get better. Right. I mean, you playing with the best competition. So I told him, I'm like, you know, I'm one of his coaches on the 13, you team, the 12, you team has like legitimate professional coaches that have played baseball and work in

baseball facilities and are just rockstar baseball coaches. Like, I'm like, you're going to get a much better coaching experience, uh, for you. I don't mean to're going to get a much better coaching experience for you. I don't mean to agree with you so wholeheartedly, but yeah. No, this is a no-brainer. He's got to go on the 12 team. Got to go to the World Series. Where is the World Series again? Williamsport. Yeah. You'd go. That'd be super fun. But that's during- I mean, they have to make it. We've had, I think- They're making it. They're fine. They're good. Florida's Florida's a pretty good hotbed for baseball, uh, South Florida for sure.

And I think one team in 20 years, the Boynton beach team that went a few years ago. Yeah, I do. Yeah, I know, but I have an issue here with this. Actually. I think you have to tell them the 13 team. We can't lose you during a bit august that's draft prep time you can't be at the little league world sir i'm sorry i think i think i could still work um but uh he so the way that it works is you you hit everybody hits and then it's just a matter of the nine best kids that play the field so like last night for example he was in, in this baseball facility doing, they just wanted to see him hit. Cause really that's what they're looking for. And he's just getting peppered with 70 mile an hour fastballs from 46 feet, which I think is like the equivalent of like

95. Like it was, it was just so, and, and, uh, poor kid was, um, sick for a week with strep throat and hadn't swung a bat for a while, so went to practice and got told to practice, hey, you got to come, see if you can try out. And it was just like laser after laser, and he's just, he barreled up a few of them and was making contact on most of them and doing a great job, you know. And just like, he walked out, he's like,

my hands are in so much pain from the experience. But it was fun to watch. That's great, man. I give him credit. Congratulations to you and your kid. Yeah, we'll see if he makes it. You're a dedicated dad. You spent a lot of time on the baseball field.

Good for you. All right, everybody. Thanks so much for tuning in. Thanks for indulging the last 10 minutes there of our lives. And we will talk to you. We've got the show at 2 o'clock today on CBS Sports Network and another podcast tomorrow. We look at some early average draft position trends. Talk to you. We got the show at two o'clock today on CBS Sports Network and another podcast tomorrow. We look at some early average draft position trends.

Talk to you then.