Fantasy Football Today - Fantasy WR Reset: Big Moves for Moore, Burden, Pittman & More! (03/25 Fantasy Football Podcast)

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Starting point is 00:01:01 Express. We're talking about the state of wide receivers following free agency. I'm Jamie Eisenberg. That's Dave. We'll be a lot of fun wide receivers to talk about. All right, Dave, let's talk about some of the moves that happened and some of the wide receiving pores that have changed. And we talked about this a little bit on our full-length episode on Wednesday in regards to Tampa Bay and San Francisco and some of the changes that may now happen for both of those teams with Mike Evans leaving. So we'll start with the Bucks. You had a Mecca Abuka as a wide receiver riser. I believe you said he's wide receiver 15 for you. Is that right? That's it. And Heath says him at wide receiver 19. I think he's like 13 or 14 for me. Very excited about him. But just break down the the Bucks receiving

Starting point is 00:01:46 core with what they're top three guys and where you anticipate them getting drafted, Abuka, Chris Godwin, and Jalen McMillan. Early round pick, middle round pick, late round pick. I think Abuka will be the leader as far as targets go in this Tampa offense. Godwin will be maybe a target and a half per game behind him. And then McMillan, another target and a half behind Chris got one, but they're all going to play a lot. I think those are going to be the primary three for Tampa Bay. I think this is still going to be a team that throws the ball around a lot. And I think that all three of them, while they're all talented in their own right, we'll see Emeka Buka take a step forward in his second year. Got off to such a great start last year.

Starting point is 00:02:22 And then injuries to Baker, injuries to Buka. I think those things really affected the entire offense in Tampa as a whole. This year, if they're healthy, if the offensive line's healthy and that defense doesn't play to expectations, it could force Tampa to be a very pass heavy offense. And I'm going to want pieces of that offense. Obuka, chief among them as people that I want to target for my fantasy squad. Yeah, I think Adam asked a great question when we're reviewing the mock draft. Would you rather have Abuka in round four or Godwin in round six? We all said Abuka, but it feels like a good spot for Godwin as well. And then Jalen McMillan, I think, is going to be very much an afterthought. We saw in that 2024 season, his

Starting point is 00:03:01 rookie campaign end of the year after Godwin suffered the ankle injury. Evans was coming back from his hamstring injury. McMillan was an absolute stud. And so, you know, again, just opening up opportunities for him. The wild card and all this now is they have, you know, what might be an upgrade in terms of a past catching running back and Kenneth Gainwell. So we'll see how that changes things for what Baker does. And obviously, Zach Robinson, who gave his running back 100 plus targets last year with Bejohn. But obviously the arrow pointing up for both of the top two guys and maybe even McMillan as well. Really excited about Tampa Bay's pass-catching group there.

Starting point is 00:03:32 And in San Francisco, so we don't know where Joanne is going to end up. We are anticipating Brandon Iyuk ending up somewhere else as well. But Mike Evans, the new guy there. They also add Christian Kirk. Ricky Pearsall is still there. How do you view the San Francisco 49ers receiving core after free agency? As much as I love Ricky Pearsall, there's no way I can draft him as the first 49ers wide receiver. It's Mike Evans.

Starting point is 00:03:54 And really, what a great spot for him, at least to begin the season, because we don't expect George Kittle to play. You brought up all the question marks that we have in the 49ers passing game. Well, if Evans is healthy and ready to go week one, he should be the top target together to begin the season and maybe even carry it throughout the entire season. It's such a good fit for him out there in Kyle Shannon's offense. He's looking for precise route runners,

Starting point is 00:04:17 especially guys who, yeah, they can win downfield. But if they can cut and break in on routes and have that timing down with Brock Purdy, they're going to earn a lot of targets. and Mike Evans has been so good at that over the course of his career. And it's still something he's good at even at his age. You'll worry about the injuries with Mike Evans. And that's a fair point to concern yourself with. But the touchdowns have always been a big part of Mike Evans game.

Starting point is 00:04:40 And I think as long as Kittle is sideline, Evans will be the one dominating those end zone targets for San Francisco. And I kind of can't help myself. I view him as a number two wide receiver all over again. And maybe I've got them ranked too low. Jamie, I'm looking at it right now. he's at like 22 for me. And maybe he should be even higher than that. Maybe he should be inside the top 20.

Starting point is 00:05:02 Just completely forgetting about the injury concerns and focusing on how talented a receiver he'll be and the opportunity that's there for him, not only in the first half of the year, but maybe to carry it all year long. He's 23rd for me now. So I'm in a similar range. I think once you start to look at, you know,

Starting point is 00:05:19 that wide receiver, you know, basically almost past the Bucca, you know, that whole group of wide receivers where the next couple of guys will talk about DJ Moore in the Chicago. guys coming to play as well. It's just a matter of how much do you trust Mike Evans staying healthy. He's missed time each of the last two seasons. He's going to be a year older now. He's going to a new team, new quarterback again. And there are plenty of mouths to feed there when everybody is healthy because you've got to hope that McAfrey stays healthy. You have to wait for Kittle to come back on the field. You have

Starting point is 00:05:45 Pierce, Saul who has a very difficult time staying healthy. And the addition of Christian Kirk, I think Pierceall is going to end up being a very good value pick based on where he'll go now because I think, as you said, you know, most people are going to take Mike Evans first, as they should. And Pearsall is going to be a little bit of an afterthought, but still plenty of upside. And the guy right now, assuming Kittle is going to miss the start of the season, the best rapport with Brock Purdy. And I don't think he's forget about Christian Kirk as well. You know, we've seen him have some good moments. Clearly, most of that came during his beginning stages of his Jacksonville career. But I think when you look at it as can he have success as the third option here, probably

Starting point is 00:06:24 a couple weeks, and especially if Kittles not going to be healthy, could make some plays and be a good late-round flyer as well. All right, we take a quick break here on FFT Express. When we come back, get into the Bills' new edition, the Chicago benefits from DJ Moore leaving. That's next year on Fantasy Football Tech Express. When Westchap first took flight in 1996, the vibes were a bit different. People thought denim on denim was peak fashion. Inline skates were everywhere, and two out of three women rocked, the Rachel. While those things stayed in the 90s, one of the ones.

Starting point is 00:06:54 Something that hasn't is that fuzzy feeling you get when WestJet welcomes you on board. Here's to Westjetting since 96. Travel back in time with us and actually travel with us at westjet.com slash 30 years. All right, Dave. So DJ Moore goes to Buffalo, opens the door for Luther Burden and Romo Dunzee, Colton Lovelin as well, but we're talking wide receivers. Of the three main wide receivers here, DJ Moore, Luther Bird and Romo Dunzee, they're not teammates anymore, at least one of them.

Starting point is 00:07:21 Well, how do you rank those three wide receivers? We're going to start with burden as the low-end number two wide receiver of this group, followed closely by O'Donzei, and then more. They're all within five spots of each other, kind of on that fence of low-end number two, high-end number three fantasy-wide receiver. I like more slightly ahead of burden. So, you know, you said you have Evans-22. I have Evans-23.

Starting point is 00:07:46 21 for me is more. 22 for me is burden. 23 is Evans. I'm just hopeful. the return to Joe Brady playing with Josh Allen, DJ Moore gets a little bit rejuvenate. He's only 29, so it's not like he's past his prime. I think we all look at him as sort of old.

Starting point is 00:08:02 He's been around for a long time. But I think there's an opportunity here for him to, you know, maybe have one of the best years, if not the best year of his career, if the bills do throw the ball a little bit more. Burden can easily be the best. I mean, we saw plenty of upside from him in a very small sample size when O'Donzee was dealing with the foot injury to love that situation. And then O'Donze was so good at the start of the season last year.

Starting point is 00:08:24 A lot of it was touchdown related. But, I mean, clearly, again, you're opening up targets and opportunities. Now, he did most of that before Burden was a thing, before Colston Loveland was a thing in terms of O'Donze. But still a lot to love about that situation. Again, assuming that the Bears are done finishing out or rounding out their receiving core. I want to talk about another pairing that sort of ties together. That's the Colts and the Steelers. So Alec Pierce gets his big deal.

Starting point is 00:08:47 They now trade Michael Pittman to Pittsburgh. and now we're left with a pairing in the Steelers receiving core of D.K. Metcalf and Michael Pittman. So give me the breakdown of the top four wide receivers for the Colts, which would be Alec Pierce and Josh Downs as of now. And then the two top receivers in Pittsburgh, which would be, at least in my opinion, still D.K. McCaff and then Michael Pittman. I'm not drafting any of these guys as top 24 wide receivers. Pierce is the closest to that group. I'm expecting him to see an uptick and targets be used a little bit closer to the line of scrimmage compared to his.

Starting point is 00:09:19 prior four years in the league. I've got D.K. McCaff next. And then I've got Josh Downs, if we're talking full PPR, and then Michael Pittman bringing up the rear. All of them in that, let's call it wide receiver 30 to 45 range, where we can count on them in a pinch as a starter in a two wide receiver league. Certainly in a three receiver league, you're going to start Pierce. You're going to start McHaff.

Starting point is 00:09:43 But really, when it comes to Downs and Pittman, those guys are more of bench players that you hope just get a lot of targets in a given matchup. You play the matchups with those guys with other receivers that you might have. Maybe you didn't draft a ton of receivers. And so you'll juggle Downs or Pittman with a couple of other wideouts and you just play the matchups from week to week with those guys. But Pierce is the one that I think has the highest ceiling of the four.

Starting point is 00:10:07 Totally agree. I would probably still take Pittman over downs, but that's certainly something that you can make an argument for and against for each guy. Just hopeful that, as Heath alluded to on our full-length episode Wednesday, Mike McCarthy, a little bit more past volume. Pitman will be the short area target by comparison to Metcalf. We know that's something that Rogers can lean on. And they do lose their number two pass catcher in Kenneth Gainwell leaving.

Starting point is 00:10:30 So that could open the door for Pittman to sort of ascend a little bit, maybe more so than either Jalen Warren or Rico Dowdell as the short area target there for Aaron Rogers, assuming he is the quarterback. Two more or three more players I want to get to before we wrap this up. So Jalen Waddle gets traded from the Dolphins to the Broncos. Give me the breakdown of Waddle and Cortland Sutton in Denver now that they're teammates. I like Waddle more. I think Waddle has some pretty big upside with a fairly safe floor.

Starting point is 00:11:01 He's got the same type of injury concerns that a lot of other receivers that we've talked about have. So you've got to weigh that. And I know that we've seen Broncos wide receivers. There's a stigma that they're spreading it around a lot. I don't know if that's necessarily been the case since Sean Payton's been there. If there's been one guy that gets north of seven targets per game, and then everybody else kind of falls in line behind him. It hasn't been that close. And I wonder if Waddle could actually get, I don't know if he can get to 7.5, but maybe 7.3 targets per game and just have the chance to do a lot with them. He's far more explosive than any other receiver that Denver has in their offense right now.

Starting point is 00:11:36 Worry about the touchdown production for him. I don't know if he's necessarily going to be fed near the goal line. But I do think he's going to be in sync with Bo Nix. Nix doesn't have a high AD. We've seen that through the first two years. He likes to keep his passes short. It doesn't mean he doesn't try downfield. It just means he doesn't try it enough. Waddle, we've seen him succeed in that role.

Starting point is 00:11:54 We've seen Waddle succeed in every role. And the Broncos didn't have a wide receiver like that last year who could do it consistently. And the end result was an offense that was good, but it could have been better. Now it'll be better. Waddle is someone who's definitely a top 20 wide receiver for me, maybe closer to 15 then 20, although we already know my wide receiver 15's a Buka. I would rather have a Bucca than Waddle. Sutton a number three wide receiver who you're hoping gets a lot of touchdowns

Starting point is 00:12:19 over the course of the year. Yeah, I don't want to say significantly lower on Waddle, but I would rather have DJ Moore, Luther Bird, and Mike Evans. Waddle right now is Wadder's 24 for me. I am concerned about the targets. It's a little crazy to think that Denver was fourth and past attempts last year at 613, and their number two guy in targets only had 104.

Starting point is 00:12:42 So they did spread the ball around quite a bit last season. And in the two years that we've seen Bo Nix and Cortland Sutton together, Sutton being the leading pass catcher there, it's been right around 120 targets is what the average is for the two years for Sutton. So I don't know if we're going to see 140 targets for Jalen Waddle. I think 120 is probably a safe number knowing that Sutton's still there and that there are still going to give opportunities to some of the other guys. They just have a lot of Mouss to feed.

Starting point is 00:13:09 And if J.K. Dobbin stays healthy, I think they're running. game is much more successful this year than it was last year. That's saying a lot because Dobbins never stays healthy. But obviously, you know, Sean Payton wants to run the ball and involve his running backs as past catchers as well. So I think Waddle is the best receiver in Denver. I think he's a good number two receiver. You certainly can make the argument, you know, top 15 through, I think 24, 25, depending on when you want to take a chance on them. And look, most of those receivers in that range get drafted in round four, early round five. I think that's a good spot for Waddle. I didn't like where you took him in round three.

Starting point is 00:13:39 Me neither. I wouldn't do it again, round four. would change that. But he's going to be one of the more debated guys. Two more guys I want to get to quickly before I wrap this up, just because they're prominent names. You got Wondell Robinson in Tennessee and Romeo Dobbs in New England. Which of the two guys do you prefer in full PPR this year? I like Wondale in full PPR, but I'll tell you what, if we're talking non-PPR, it might

Starting point is 00:14:01 be Romeo Dobbs. It's that close between the two of them. But Wondale, we've just seen it. He was drafted into the NFL by Brian Dable. He was made a star by Brian Dable. I'm using the term star very, very loosely. And now he's followed Brian Daibel and a lot of money to go to Tennessee. It's 8.2 targets per game in his last 38 games for Wondale Robinson.

Starting point is 00:14:23 That's with Daibel or Mike Kafka at the helm. Remember, Daibel got fired toward the end of last year. Kafka kept Rondale Robinson in that role. And I think he's going to have that exact same role in an offense in Tennessee that's probably going to throw the ball a lot, probably going to be chasing points in a lot of games. And they've got a quarterback who can move on and, and around and out of the pocket. Cam Ward, he keeps plays alive.

Starting point is 00:14:44 Wondale Robinson has flourished in that type of opportunity. When the quarterback's keeping plays alive, he finds ways to get himself open. In no way am I saying that Wondale Robinson is a top 24 wide receiver, even in full PPR, but he could finish there because I think he's going to get a lot of volume that turns into a lot of catches. Those catches count for a point each. The yardage and the touchdowns that come with it aren't going to be exciting.

Starting point is 00:15:07 That's where Romeo Dubs might have. an advantage. But to me, Wondale and full PPR is the better bet. With Dobbs, we don't know for sure that he's going to end up as the number one wide receiver in New England. And even if he is, we just saw the number one wide receiver. It was an older Stefan Diggs, barely had 100 targets. That's a team that will certainly spread the ball around. I don't see them shoving all their targets into Romeo Dobbs lap and expecting him to be great. I think Dobbs will end up being the type of wide receiver who averages between 10 and 11 ppr points per game, has some blow up weeks. And we've seen him do.

Starting point is 00:15:40 that in Green Bay. And he's a good talent. I just worry about him getting a high dose of targets. And that's the name of the game, certainly in fantasy, but especially in full PPR leagues. Totally agree. I think he should be drafting Robinson ahead of Dobbs. But I think both guys are going to maybe, maybe, depending what happens in the draft, slip through the cracks a little bit just because it's the number one receiver for the Titans and the potential of Romeo Dobbs is not being that exciting to anybody that might not be a New England Patriots fan. But both benefit in a big way with the places that they ended up to think of Robinson had stayed in New York with neighbors coming back addition to likely wouldn't bad for him and same thing for Dobbs as we've seen during his career

Starting point is 00:16:19 in Green Bay all right that'll do it for us on fantasy football to express for Dave Richard I'm Jamie Eisenberg thanks for watching thanks for listening we'll talk to you next time

Fantasy Football Today - Fantasy WR Reset: Big Moves for Moore, Burden, Pittman & More! (03/25 Fantasy Football Podcast)

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