Fantasy Football Today - FFT Dynasty: 2024 NFL Draft Wide Receiver Prospects Part 1 with Matt Waldman! (04/01 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: April 2, 2024

In this episode of (1:00) Fantasy Football Today Dynasty, host Heath Cummings teams up with guest Matt Waldman (12:18) from Rookie Scouting Portfolio to provide an in-depth analysis of wide receiver prospects for the 2024 NFL Draft. From Marvin Harrison Jr (24:07), Malik Nabers, and Rome Odunze (42:10) to Brian Thomas (48:05), Troy Franklin (52:30), and Xavier Worthy (59:30), we delve into player profiles and offer valuable insights for dynasty league managers looking to gain a competitive edge. 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

It's hockey season, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So no, you can't get an ice rink on Uber Eats. But iced tea, ice cream, or just plain old ice? Yes, we deliver those. Gold tenders, no. But chicken tenders, yes. Because those are groceries, and we deliver those too.

Along with your favorite restaurant food, alcohol, and other everyday essentials. Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. 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. Welcome to fantasy football today dynasty it is our wide receiver preview for the 2024 NFL draft and we have Matt Waldman Dan Schneier here with me Heath Cummings to break it all down for you Matt I know because I've heard from people everybody was so excited to have you back on show. I can't wait to talk to you about these wide receivers. Oh, man, it's always a pleasure to get a chance to chop it up with you guys. I look forward to this whenever we get the chance, and I appreciate it. I'm glad that the feedback has been good and that they want me back

on, so that's good. Dan, it's almost been as long, it feels like, since I've talked to you as it's been since I've talked to Matt. Just not been a part, I guess it was about a month and a half ago that we did a mock draft together. We did a mock. How deep into the weeds are you getting on this class? So deep into the weeds. We just did on our show, our Marvin Harrison profile. We're doing Romo Dunze today. I'm excited for that.

I was just watching some tape before this to prepare for the show. And, you know, it's funny. It's kind of like Christmas for the draft season when the RSP comes out because I have a bunch of different draft chats, and I had a bunch of different people talking last night about some things that they saw in there. People grilling me on some of my quarterback stuff, so I'm excited to see, to talk another time maybe quarterbacks with Matt,

but I'm also excited to hear his takes on receivers because we have some interesting uh developments there as well so just always exciting when when the rsp drops because you always seem to get the draft chats just popping off and i think that that's an excellent transition dan's clearly a pro at this because matt before we get into anything else i'd like for you to tell everybody kind of what the RSP or the rookie scouting president is and, and how they can get their hands on it. Because I say this every time you were on, like, I don't finalize my rankings of these rookies until I see what the work that you've done is. I think it's the most valuable resource there is. Man, I really appreciate it. And you can find it just easily,

quickly. It's at mattwaldman.com. You can go there. You can order it for download. You create a password. You'll get an email. It's for $21.95. You get a pre-draft that was out April 1st. Really, it was out Sunday afternoon.

And then you get a post-draft that comes a week after the NFL draft. So in the pre-draft, you're going to get scouting reports, really unadulterated, non-draft capital, non-team fit kind of looks at players based on film study. And I watch anywhere. Usually I chart at least four to six games on every player.

Sometimes I get a little less when there's guys that I just don't have as much access to film on. Like this year, it was Jaden Sheridan, I could only get a little less when there's guys that I just don't have as much access to film on. Like this year, it was Jaden Sheridan of Monmouth. I could only get a couple of games. So I didn't get a chance to really do what I usually do. But most players, it's six to eight games. And then I watch a lot more than just those games. But I chart that out. I have a very dedicated process that is rooted in criteria that I've developed based off of certifications I got many years ago on how to develop best practices on basically evaluating performance. And so every position

that I look at has a dedicated checklist that is transparent for everyone to see. There's defined criteria of how I look at things, how I score things. And then I just take you through the process. It's kind of like a choose your own adventure book where it's 1183 pages of material in a PDF. It's all bookmarked, so it's easy to find. But if you want to look at profiles

that give you in-depth like scouting reports on these players, you can look at that if you want to just look at charted rankings that are tiered and separated and give you little blurbs on each player and what their score was and what their combine workouts were you can get that if you want commentary about the position you get that that's all in the pre-draft post-draft i give you like re-rankings based on fit depth chart studies based on the where they fit with the entire team and what i'm projecting and then you can look at i do adp studies so basically if i like patrick mahomes or nick chubb or aj brown or

justin jefferson more than the consensus or Sam Laporta or somebody like that, then I'm not telling you sometimes to go, yeah, I think Nick Chubb's the best player in the draft. When Saquon Barkley is the guy everybody wanted, I'll say you can get them in the second round based on ADP. So you can get your first round guy and you can get the best running back. Apologies, Dan, but well, he's gone. So you guys don't care anymore anyway. But like, no, you know, you can get one of the best players in the draft in second round. And I show you kind of how to go about doing that. So that's all for 2195 at mattwaldman.com. Awesome, awesome stuff. And I think last year, and Dan mentioned quarterbacks, and

you talked to us about quarterbacks. And you actually had actually requested that because you said, I don't get to talk about quarterbacks very much. But one of the things that I enjoyed the most about that show was when you kind of just took a couple minutes to tell people a little bit about your kind of a peek behind the curtain on your process specifically for quarterbacks. And I was hoping you do just a little bit of that at wide receiver here today. Yeah, I'm glad to, you know, my wide receiver checklist is probably, I haven't counted how many criteria points there are, but when I just kind of scroll down the sheet and if I take out the headings, it's probably over 150 criteria points that I look at. And like the, the categories are things like releases. I look at their stance. I look at

concepts about releases. Like do they wait for defenders to shoot their hands before they counter? Do they attack leverage first? Do they get into the defender's toes? So they understand how to be patient but sudden with their movements, you know, things with how they use their hands, how they use their feet, how do they separate, How well do they separate versus different ranges of the field against man? Looking at stems, setups with breaks, how they work against zone, what their break types are, and whether they're executing them technically in a sound way, how they track the football, what kind of work they do on the boundary, their hands positions based on the trajectory of the ball and whether they're using an optimal or appropriate

technique and how they position themselves, how they handle contact, and then carrying the ball, blocking, all those things are a part of it too. And these are all things that have evolved over the years and even especially in recent years probably in the past six to seven years i started doing some studying i first i looked at um uh the colorado state jay norvell um the colorado state head coach he used to coach marvin harrison senior senior and Reggie Wayne and a bunch of other guys. I know. Right. And so I read his book many years ago and modeled a lot of what I did off of his coaching on recommendation from a scout that was a subscriber. And then I, I became acquainted with,

with Drew Lieberman, who was known as the sideline hustle on youtube who is a wide receiver coach to guy he was to julian edelman he's worked with um davante um duntavian wicks last year a number of guys that he's worked with and he used to be a assistant coach at ruckers he has a great site and i i can say that a lot of what I look at is modeled after what he teaches wide receivers and works with them on in terms of development. And so I have that as a checklist of what I score. I watch multiple games. I give you kind of a charting of what I've looked at with these players in terms of how many targets were pinpoint versus how many were not quite pinpoint but catchable, whether they did it against contact

or it was targets that weren't, whether they were in tight coverage. And I show you all that. So for say Isaiah Williams, the slot receiver out of Illinois, I looked at, you know, five games. I show you the five games. I show you which five games I looked at the stats for it. And then the breakdowns for that tracking. And I just, you know, when, when I score these guys, when you read the RSP, it'll take you through like each of the categories, like the big categories of like separation, route running, pass catching. And I, and i basically rank those players stack rank them in those categories and tell you who i think the best were who i think notably needs improvement um and who i think need you know maybe needs a lot more work to even really like

be decent at this for an nfl standard and i go through overrated, underrated, and then I give you the scouting report, which just shows you my commentary and thoughts based on the checklist about those players and give you more of a narrative-based understanding of what the checklist is saying, saying like, these are the things that they need to work on in these situations. He's good at separating against coverage,

like Ladd-Mccculkey for instance he's got great footwork he's got great speed but he hasn't really proven that he can use his hands well to counter against defenders who are aggressive against him doesn't mean he can't can't but it's something he hasn't shown right these are things he might want to know and know why maybe i have ricky Pearsall slightly above him. And people are going, wow, that's a little bit outside the consensus. I give you the why. Well, I think Thomas is probably upset here that he didn't get to be here for that moment. He might have just come on just to cheer because I know he is a big, big Ricky Pearsall guy.

So he'd be very happy to hear that you're excited. And from a Georgia grad, too. I mean, come on now. I will tell you, just listening to you talk there, I could have asked 17 follow-up questions. We are going to skim the surface, and that's why you guys do need to go get the RSP. Dan, one thing, when Matt was talking about these things that wide receivers need to succeed, and as we get into this class, I thought one of the trends we've seen from the last three, four, five years was that, man, it seems like a lot of the busts are all big, tall guys that look like they could have been related to Calvin Johnson. And a lot of the guys that are proving people wrong all weigh like 10 pounds less than I do.

And so I wondered if maybe we were going to get a transition. And then I start to look at the wide receivers that we're going to talk about on today's show, because we are going to do, this is our first part of the wide receiver preview. We'll do another show on Friday because there's just not enough time specifically for this position in this class

to talk about all these guys. But we're going to talk about the top six by Dynasty League Football ADP right now. And there's not a lot like there's, there's some big dudes. We are back to some alpha looking dudes at the top. So how much Dan, when you, when you're evaluating these guys, do you care about the size we used to look for? I think a lot of that has to kind of do with just the classes we've had in the last few years versus the class we have now. When I look at it like a guy last year, I believe we discussed him last year, Matt, we were both very low on Quinton Johnson compared to the consensus

last year around this time. We both didn't like, but then I look at some of the guys this year and I'm like, they're just totally different prospects. Like 80 Mitchell's completely different prospect. Even Brian Thomas, who I'm a little bit lower on than consensus is a entirely different prospect than Quinton Johnson. So when I'm looking at the bigger receivers, what might scare me a little bit more than like, say, can they, can they create separation is are they a hands catcher? Are they letting the ball come to their body? How are they uncontested catch situations? How are they in the air with their body control, with their ability to position themselves and position their hands and extend them away from their frame and make those catches and, you know, tap their toes in. Like there's little technical things that I look for, but it's not necessarily like

if you're a certain size, I'm going to rule you out because I'll be honest with you, Heath, the way I look at it, I'm still looking for the prototypical Xs, especially maybe more so in like the GM sense of it. Like if I'm looking for how I would approach this as somebody, as a fan of a football team, but even as a fantasy football team, if you can get those true X receivers to develop the way they can potentially, as I think some of these prospects have the chance to do, they're not there yet, but have the chance to do.

Now you have a guy who can win in the red zone. Now you have a guy who can win in third downs, even when you shift coverage over the top, because you can catch those contested plays or catch situations. So, you know, I still look for it, but it is an interesting trend that we have seen develop that I wonder if it has more to do with just the last few classes of prospects and who's been in them.

It's hockey season, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So, no, you can't get an ice rink on Uber Eats. But iced tea, ice cream, or just plain old ice? Yes, we deliver those. Goal tenders, no. But chicken tenders, yes. Because those ice? Yes, we deliver those. Goal tenders, no. But chicken tenders, yes. Because those are groceries, and we deliver those too.

Along with your favorite restaurant food, alcohol, and other everyday essentials. Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. I am so dreading groceries this week.

Why? You can skip it. Oh, what? Just like that? Just like that. How about dinner with my third cousin? Skip it. Prince Fluffy's favorite treats? Skippable. Midnight snacks?

Skip. My neighbor's nightly saxophone practices? Uh, nope. You're on your own there. Could've skipped it. Should've skipped it. Skip to the good part and get groceries, meals, and more delivered right to your door on Skip. You know, Matt, we always start our shows with three questions for our guests. These are going to be very specific to the wide receiver class. And I'm going to confess something because I know you have a section in the RSP every year.

It says, why rankings suck. And I understand that, especially as somebody that has to put together 4 million pieces of rankings every single year. But I will also confess that one of the things I do when I'm trying to get an idea of like how you feel about these guys at the very beginning, I will go to that three-year ranking. So I can see the prospects lined up against all the wide receiver prospects of the past. And wow, when you look at this wide receiver class versus the last couple of years. And so I just want to start right there and let you tell people like, how good is this wide receiver class? There's probably, I don't remember right off the bat. Cause again, remember I just finished writing this thing.

So, but I'm pretty sure that there were like eight wide receivers that probably would have been ranked in the same tier or above the top wide receiver in last year's class. You know, so it's a pretty, it's a pretty awesome group. And the thing that I hate about rankings and why I joke that they suck is that I also do this tier. So like what I would recommend to folks is do what he did. That's exactly, that's a great way to go about it. But pay attention to then go back and look at the 2024 tiers and look at the depth of talent score because to me like i don't care if

a guy like a good example i'm gonna go with running back real quick i don't care if a guy is like the second ranked running back or the 11th ranked running back if their score is in the same tier right it just means that maybe one maybe two things that could be correctable if that changes they could be much better so really how you formulate your draft plan as a dynasty guy with rsp is you look for the tiers and go okay there's a lot of tier one wide receivers that means i'm probably going to get a tier one wide receiver in the second round means i should get a decent starter you know all right that's like a no worse than a fantasy wide receiver three early you know in his career one to two years in and maybe even a wide receiver two or wide receiver one so yeah

it's a great class in terms of potential 2014 was the best class i remember for a while which had you know mike evans brandon cook sammy watkins you know be, Beckham, a great crew of potential guys. Some of them worked out. Some of them didn't. It would be the same thing here. I always joke that you've got to divide it by, I always call it a fudge factor number, essentially, that injury and immaturity or bad team fit is going to really tear a lot of these guys down. But to have eight guys who are ranked as instant starters

to franchise caliber receivers, meaning they're going to be the anchor of their team and maybe the production leader early in their career, that's a historically good or a historically talented class. Good class, we'll find out. That's exactly right. That talent does not always turn into production, but especially fantasy production. So let's talk about those wide receiver traits, because you were mentioning all the different things you're looking for. Now, everybody's process is just a little bit different i think everybody probably values or weighs things a little differently so is there is there one wide receiver trait you feel is either under or overvalued by consensus opinions yeah i would say i would say speed is overvalued

okay greatly um because as long as the speed is baseline level for the role that you're projecting the player to be in, then that's fine. So if you're going to be a big slot, you don't need to be that fast. If you're going to be a flanker, you don't need to be super fast. If you're going to be an X, yeah, you probably need to have some speed, but that also depends on size, leaping ability, and route running too. You could have four two four speed but if you clap attack every ball and it goes through your hands like you're a little boy who's learning how to catch all those big balls you know then that probably doesn't matter so much if you can't run compelling routes and get off the you know get off the line against tight man

coverage in the nfl it doesn't matter. So for me, you know, overrated to speed underrated, I would say are the artistry that's needed to create releases and breaks with footwork. Um, do you understand how to use your feet to set up your hands both at the line and at the top of the stem? And it's not just how many moves you have. You know, you can look on on X or look on any type of social media and people will talk about, oh, we use this technique to get a release. And that's great. You know, I mean, it's good to teach that and for people to understand. But there are a lot of wide receivers in this class and other classes who have maybe, you know, a mini library filled with moves or a toolbox filled with moves. But how well they use them.

Right. And it's the artistry of the patience and suddenness that you have to create. It's like speaking monotone versus actually having a natural tone variation in your voice to tell a story. And that's the kind of thing that if you just talk like a computer and you do this, then yeah, you could play music that way,

but go listen to a robot playing the saxophone on YouTube and then go listen to an actual saxophone and you'll see a very big difference. And that's the same thing that happens with route running is like, I would argue that Roman Wilson is a good example of a route runner who does not, who looks more like a robot playing the saxophone right now. Whereas Malik neighbors actually sounds like a recording artist signed to a really lucrative contract. Now, now can that change? Because when you say that, like the thing that pops into my head and I'm, I'm a big basketball head, obviously also.

And so I remember, and Joel Embiid came into the NBA and of course he didn't play for a while because he was hurt, but he'd spent so much time training and doing all this work. And so he gets onto the court in his first few NBA games and he'll do a seven combination post move when the guy didn't go for any of the first six moves. He could have got there on the first move, but he's got this training that I'm going to do this, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do do this but eventually we know that joel and b turned into an mvp like he he figured that out do you think is that one of those traits that like you feel like is kind of frozen or we can expect that to develop yeah it's a good question you can expect it to develop

and that's why i like what i like is showing a lot of this stuff so that people can go, okay, these are things I should be looking for in year two. So, yeah, some guys do it. Some guys choose to drink. Some guys choose to like party. Some guys think they made it already. Some guys lean on their God given ability and Bill Belichick still pays them a whole bunch of money, even though they wore their welcome out in Miami. So, I mean, there's all these situations where it's a wide range. Some guys, Devontae Adams is a good example of a guy

who really figured out the artistry of how to, and he would tell you, he's like, I knew how to do all these things. I knew I could physically win, but it took me three years to figure out how to read coverages and read man to man and understand how to use what I used against them. And so, yeah, definitely. Now I'd say the thing that's hard to teach is toughness at the catch point, right? If you don't have it, um, now you probably aren't going to get it later right i i get that and i i want to go back to one more thing matt said in that answer

when he was talking about speed being overrated i know we had some questions before the show even started about xavier worthy that was not a slide against worthy matt likes worthy we're going to talk about worthy there's a big difference and we had that joke on our show a couple times i maybe made it with dance dan that like worthy may have run too fast because the guys that have run that fast haven't been any good but the good thing is he was really good before he ran that fast we don't have to worry about that final question who is the one wide receiver that in this class that you find yourself higher on than most anaya smith the uh texas a&m slot flanker kind of running back combo who basically may not even get drafted because he had an acl year tear a couple years ago and then he was busted

for um dwi and in the same in the same arrest also for marijuana possession and and an illegal firearm so you know obviously the legal firearms probably just you should have given that license kid right the marijuana i don't think the nfl really cares other than that like come on don't be stupid we telegraph when you can you when you can uh um you know when you can use and when you can get off this i mean we don't say that to you but we're basically doing it by our actions, but the DWI was pretty serious. So if he can prove that he's matured, he is a good route runner. He is a very strong pass catcher and he's one of the best open field runners in this class. Very patient, good contact balance, very good at setting up defenders with movement.

He's a legit receiver. He's not just like some gadget play guy. He's tough at the catch point. He's good at setting up routes. He could play multiple positions. I just don't know if teams are going to look at the off-fielder and go, he hasn't grown up, and they dig deeper and go, we'll take a chance on him, but we're not paying him until we've seen some proof right and dan do you have anybody uh that you've

kind of fallen in love with that you can't figure out why everybody else isn't higher on well now people are higher on him because he had a great combine and somebody who matt mentioned earlier it's ricky parasol he's just been my guy since the start of this before the combine it's almost like when it's almost like when you're uh it's like uh when you're planning your fantasy football drafts and you have your sleeper and then he has those highlights in training camp you're like no i didn't want to see that i don't want that going around social media because i wanted this to be my guy but no i'm happy that he's getting the love he deserves now he'd probably be my guy that i would say for that excellent excellent stuff we're going to take a short break and then we're going to do something

brand new for the rookie wide receiver previews we'll be right back bumble knows it's hard to start conversations hey no too basic hi there still no what about hello handsome who knew you could give yourself the ick that's why bumble is changing how you start conversations you can now make the first move or not. With opening moves, you simply choose a question to be automatically sent to your matches. Then sit back and let your matches start the chat. Download Bumble and try it for yourself. Metrolinks and Crosslinks are reminding everyone to be careful as Eglinton Crosstown LRT train testing is in progress.

Please be alert, as trains can pass at any time on the tracks. Remember to follow all traffic signals. Be careful along our tracks and only make left turns where it's safe to do so. Be alert, be aware, and stay safe. Okay, so we are back. We are going to go through a little bit more in depth on what are the top six wide receivers according to Dynasty Football

current rookie ADP. This is not my top six wide receivers. These are not Matt's top six. Oh, they might be Matt's top six, but not necessarily in the right order. I don't believe number one is number one, but he's number one for just about everyone else. So let's start with Marvin Harrison Jr. And the argument that I hear most common for him is like, there's almost no doubt he's going to be a very good wide receiver. He has the size you want. He has the skills you want. He has the

pedigree you want. 6'3", over 200 pounds, won the Blitnikoff Award. Everyone seems to frame him as the safest, surefire, number one wide receiver in this class. Is that fair, Matt? Or do other people have both more upside and more for them? I think it just depends on what you're looking for out of a wide receiver in the NFL. And that's probably why he, I think, is one of the top three wide receivers.

But I don't think it's a consensus thing. I don't think the NFL has it as a consensus thing. I think it's a consensus thing that Marvin Harrison Jr. has been the most celebrated college wide receiver for the past three years. Um, and you know, he's a, he's a good player, six, three, two Oh nine. Um, great tracker at the boundary. That's probably his greatest skill is to play tight coverage at the boundary and win those X routes that everybody, you know, has has looked for for years, even if there's been a lull in finding it. So he's that guy that can come down with the ball

and win it over his shoulder and make those plays. He's a solid route runner. He can have some inconsistencies with how sharp his breaks are, and that's important in the NFL. Because in college, if you get two steps on a guy, you're kind of covered in college for a lot of quarterbacks. If you get two steps on a guy in the NFL, you're wide open. If you get a half a step on a guy, you're open with a good quarterback.

So every sharp turn makes a difference difference and he has a little bit inconsistencies there he's got a little bit of inconsistencies with catching the football surprisingly if you look at his game and it's not just against georgia but like against penn state against a number of teams i watch he has a habit where he tries to turn downfield to catch a football and he uses underhand attack and he and he and he can't get his hands up in time to get them together so the ball goes between his hands and it's happened numerous times where he ends up trying to position himself like he's trying to do something too fancy and it ends up biting him or he gets kind of confused about how he

should attack it and thinks let me try and get down field as opposed to, let me just get my arms out in front to the earliest point. He's also not the, he's also not the niftiest runner of this group, meaning that he's, he can, he can bend away from defenders. He's not a lateral cut guy. He's not a big-time tackle breaker in the open field. So when I hear people talk about him, I hear Josh Gordon. He's like what Josh Gordon should have been. And they've got similar builds when you think of them coming out of school before Gordon kind of bulked up more.

But I think that Josh Gordon was a more dynamic player. I would say he's more an aspiring T. Higgins, Mike Williams type than he is a, you know, maybe a Larry Fitzgerald if he really takes it out of the park and keeps growing. But I don't, and that's a really good receiver and could be a co-number one. But I don't see that as, I don't see that as a generational talent i see it as a very good starter like i think he's closer to his ceiling than people realize

interesting yeah i mean i i want to weigh in a little on marv i like that evaluation i can see i i like that you see him more as like the t higgins than the josh gordon type i will say this on marv the thing that you mentioned earlier with how they release off the line of scrimmage and they create separation that way to me he was the best that i've studied so far i've only done the big three receivers for the show and i just like now neighbors will win with the speed release the jab or the fake jab and that's fine like antonio brown made a career of that so it can work if you have that kind of athleticism but i always wonder like how that translates to nfl dbs who are all like the best you're going to play in the college level by far. But with Marv, I just feel like he's like a pass rusher almost. He has like

a pass rusher plan that comes in and like 15 different ways he can beat you, uh, you know, press coverage off the line of scrimmage. So I thought that stood out. I did think there were some special moments to me. I'm like, there was a moment against Michigan state in the red zone where he wins a route, uh, from the slot where he just creates separation that just, I look at that play. I watched it like five times, Matt. And I'm like a man who's six foot three should not be able to move his feet that way. So I do think there are some special aspects to his game that stand out to me that maybe say that he has some left to uncover. But I do think that if you're looking at him as just like the more polished wide receiver, maybe not have the athleticism, obviously in the, in the open field, I think he only had just five

force missed tackles compared to like 30 for neighbors. So there's clearly a difference there from like the ability in the open field and the speed. So Matt, you, you, you made that comp when you said Higgins, when you said Mike Williams. And the first thing that I thought was, you know, it seems like one of the things that's making these guys really successful in the NFL is the ability to move all over the field. And we talk about like that has unlocked some wide receivers in the last couple of years to have just monster seasons. Do you see Harrison as somebody who can do that? Or do you think he's going to be stuck outside most of the time? No, I mean, I think you could probably play inside, outside. I just don't think that he's probably, he's a guy that you're going to try and find matchups for him.

And there's certain areas where he's going to have a matchup domination. Like I think on the outside, he's going to dominate as a boundary guy. But if you're going to want if you're going to press him, like for me, I think that the press moves he has are good. But he does leave his chest open a little too much, and that's something where he's going to get jabbed there. He rocks off his back foot beginning of release. So he has some release tells that he should fix early in camp, but if he doesn't, you're going to see defenders be glued to him

because what he does great is separate late. He's a great late separator. Even if they've got him jammed early, he'll uncover late. So if a quarterback trusts him, that's good. But that's the thing. I'd say inside, probably he's an X and then he can be used as a big slot,

kind of like Kenny Galladay. But early on in his career, you could take Kenny Galladay and put him in the slot against a safety or a linebacker. But now you're getting a much more skilled version of Kenny Galladay, you know, and put him in the slot against a safety or a linebacker. But now you're getting a much more skilled version of Kenny Galladay, you know, doing that type of work. I'm just glad Dan didn't go into convulsions when he heard that name. Dan, last question. And we'll talk about this with all these guys in terms of landing spot. It's kind of a different question for the top guys, though. So as far as

Marvin Harrison Jr. goes, there has been a little bit of talk that possibly the Patriots could not take a quarterback in round one and take one of these wide receivers. Do you think that Harrison Jr. is the type of wide receiver early in his career that could succeed with a terrible quarterback situation? It's a great question. I mean, I've seen some terrible quarterback situations myself watching the New York Giants, and I've seen some quarterbacks who can't get the ball out to receivers who can win one-on-ones on the outside for whatever reasons.

They can't process it fast enough. I think a lot of people just don't realize so much of the game at quarterback is do you process information fast enough to get the ball outside even when you have the one-on-one? So I think that would be a nightmare scenario going to the Patriots, quite frankly, especially when you're staring down the barrel of maybe Justin Herbert at five, if the, if it goes quarterback, quarterback, quarterback,

quarterback, or Kyler Murray at worst. So, yeah, I, I don't know if he's scheme in the, or I guess, quarterback independent. I'm not sure anyone is. Uh, I would think that if you have a willing quarterback, that's fine. I don't know. Like if the Patriots, let's say they go Harrison at three, they might come back and trade up and try to take a quarterback like a michael pennix type i think he would be perfect for marvin harrison perfect like for his fantasy value you

need someone who's willing to throw those outside passes though very very good stuff that's marvin harrison jr now we're going to move on to the guy who is and i'm not going to give away too much from the rsp because i want you guys to go get it, but the number one wide receiver in the RSP this year, the number one wide receiver over the last three seasons, Malik Neighbors, Matt. This guy just absolutely smashing records. And what he did this past year and then what he put on film, I think, probably changed a lot. You talk about Marvin Harrison as the most acclaimed, the most decorated wide receiver, and there was a much bigger gap in perception

between these two before this year, right? Oh, yeah, absolutely. It was so much so that I do Devy Leagues, and I was picking Marvin Harrison Jr. like three years ago. I didn't know anything about Malik Neighbors. And then by the summer, I was picking Marvin Harrison Jr. like three years ago. I didn't know anything about Malik Neighbors. And then by the summer, I was like, oh, I wish I'd picked Malik Neighbors. Even though I like Marvin Harrison Jr.,

I was like, I wish I had some shares in him too. So what, I know when we talk about separation, and I think this is a good time also to talk about rookie drafts, because i've heard a lot of discussion of is malik neighbors closer to marvin harrison or closer to wide receiver three that's obviously from people who have harrison number one what is it that makes neighbors for you the prize of this class sure and there are both tier one receivers so you know again if you're going to want to take Marvin Harrison, fine, go take Marvin Harrison. It's not a big deal to me on that level. But neighbors to me, one of the things is that the RSP is not designed to draft for your league. It's designed to draft for all leagues, including the people in the NFL who buy the RSP as a cross-checking device. So I'm not geared towards one particular offense. So neighbors to me, like, while, you know,

Dan made a good point that he's very good at the stick release and the using jabs and things like that. I saw a whole repertoire of releases that I thought were great against press coverage. And the artistry was there. He knew how to use his feet first. He knew how to use double ups. He knew how to use the stick and double up as a kind of a fastball slider kind of combination, you know, change up type of thing. He understood how to use three quicks and one step stretches and two quicks and, and the different types of handwork that he used, he could really counter very well.

His route running with the pacing that he did was advanced. And then his ability at the catch point, he's someone that, like Marvin Harrison, can go up and win the ball. Now, not with the height Harrison has, but he was tough at the catch point. He would take hard hits. He didn't have issues catching the ball technically on any level. So it's a small difference is that I thought Malik Nabors had, I saw more footwork releases from Nabors that mattered to me

and fewer gaps or opportunities that needed to improve, like with Harrison in terms of the tells that he showed that are going to get him jammed immediately in the NFL, that college players just won't dare do. And that's part of the projection of talent is that sometimes you got to look at things and go, okay, this isn't happening in the college game because teams are, they're too afraid. But Jalen Ramsey is going to take one look at this kid opening his chest like that and his hands are gonna live right in the in between the numbers of harrison and it's gonna make it a little bit tougher whereas with neighbors i'm looking at this stuff and going no he's he's

he doesn't have any of these issues this is very technically sound and then after the catch i mean you can see what he does after the catch so you can see him if they need him at that split end he's got the speed to do it and he's got the leaping ability to do it probably not going to put him there if you need him at flanker which is probably where he's going to be at he can give you a lot of different routes and run the whole route tree for you and tell the stories you need to do and do it with the craft and he can win over the middle and win after the catch and if you need him in the slot well with the craft and he can win over the middle and win after the catch and if you need him in the slot well if you get the luxury of putting this guy in the slot um he's

going to kill you um he's going to be a catch leader he's going to be a yardage leader he's going to make big plays for you and so he's got the widest variety of potential to just be a dynamic player for you and that's probably why he scores a little bit better than harrison put harrison in his best role with a good with a better quarterback than neighbors and harrison's gonna outscore him in fantasy put roma dunze there probably the same thing put um put you, neighbors in that situation. He's going to, I think he'll rule in that regard. And I really like that breakdown for neighbors because I think for fantasy purposes,

he could end up being a better prize pick for all those reasons. I look for, for fantasy, I look for, can you win at all three levels as a receiver? And he can, he wins short, intermediate and deep. And he wins deep. You talked earlier, Heath, you asked, you asked Matt, like, can a receiver. And he can, he wins short intermediate and deep and he wins deep. You talked earlier, Heath,

you asked, you asked Matt, like, can a receiver get better at that? And you're discussing releases and the ability in your routes. Now I believe you can get better at your release off blind scrimmage, but as far as like getting better at the top of the route stem, like as far as breaking down your hips, the ankle flexion,

all those things, some of that to me is just natural. And you can watch neighbors on these double moves. And it's like, these DBs are playing 15 yards off coverage to begin with. And it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter how much space they give him. They're completely left out.

Like you watch some of these, I've, I've broke down a few games for, for the big blue vendor podcast. And there was like 40, 50 yard bombs that were just left on the field where Jane and Daniels either under through him or just missed the read where neighbors created separation.

And then Matt mentions after the catch, after the catch, he reminds me in some. And then Matt mentions after the catch, after the catch, he reminds me in some ways of Kadarius Tony after the catch, which is crazy because he was one of the best receivers I ever studied for the Giants, at least after the catch. And he reminded me of Alvin Kamara with the contact balance, like neighbors contact balance. You only truly see that usually for running backs,

but you see it with a receiver here. So for fantasy purposes, I actually feel like I haven't really done my rankings yet for dynasty, but I'm considering moving, even though I like Harrison better for the NFL, moving him ahead of Harrison for, because what we look for in the fantasy game, he may offer more.

That's good. So one thing I wonder, Matt, and we don't talk about age a whole lot. And we had this weird time and there'll be a little bit of that still this year with the last couple of years because of COVID, where we had guys that were 24 years old or not the early declares. And most of the guys we're going to talk about today, they are. But still, Malik Naber's almost a full calendar year younger than Marvin Harrison Jr. And for me, I know that age 18 to 22 development is pretty huge.

Does it give him any bonus in your mind, the fact that he's doing this at 20 years old or 19 years old, being that much younger? Well, I'm not one to really study that, to be honest. But I'm going to quote someone who I know does and had a really good conversation with them about this. And that's Dwayne McFarlane over at fantasy life. He used to write at the RSP way back in the day. Yes. And he's just come out with a wide receiver model. And one of the things that he talked about,

cause we were talking about age as well. And cause I got some questions about with quarterbacks. And I said, my feeling with quarterbacks is, is look, it's such a hard position. And there's so many variables that honestly, the older you are, the more the game slows down for you. If Steve Young saying, I

didn't really understand how much the game slowed down to me until I turned about 30, you know, then maybe we should not do that with quarterbacks, you know, because there's, there's too much, but with a, with wide receivers, one of the things he mentions in his model is that when the wide receiver plays for a team where you can quantify that their level of competition and their level of success as an offense is really strong, and it's a strong team, and that wide receiver starts early in his career at an early age, that means he's beaten out some really quality prospects to get on the field. Even if you're just earning playing time at Alabama or LSU, then that's a statement about how talented you actually are. So yes, I think from Dwayne's perspective, you're going to get bonus points probably for that. And I can see the logic for that. Now, does that mean that it's a curse for a player who's very talented, who doesn't come from a good program, who waited later to develop?

Not necessarily. It just depends on the skills that he's lacking. Are they things that he already has? Like as Dan mentioned, does he have the bend, the hip flexion, and it shows up in other areas, but it doesn't quite show up at the top of his stem, but you see it with change of direction skills already or with a different type of route.

Then you can project maybe that there's a potential for some success there. And there may be some circumstances that can be difficult. But again, when we're modeling players, we're looking for the easiest answer and getting rid of all the ifs, as many ifs as possible.

So I don't deal in, I like to deal in ifs. So, you know, so I like to look at, especially, you know, later on, like in the post-draft, I'll eliminate some ifs. Right now, I'd rather dwell in the ifs because that's where you find the Isaiah Pachecos or the Nick Chubbs or, you know, players like that who go, you know, if this didn't happen or if these things happen, then there's some possibilities. And that's where you can gain an advantage if

you're looking at the context deep enough. So yeah, it's a great question. Great stuff. Let's get to wide receiver three by current rookie ADP. And you mentioned him just a moment ago, kind of putting him in the same class of these guys, definitely in the same tier in the LRSP. And I think that's really valuable for dynasty managers to know because there are people who act like there's maybe a tier break either after Harrison or after Harrison and neighbors. We don't necessarily see it that way. Roma Dunze out of Washington. Now, this is not a kid who played at LSU or Ohio State, but still had a ton of success last year. Another guy over six foot, over 200 pounds,

looking more like that prototypical NFL wide receiver. How did you break down Roma Dunce, Matt? Yeah. I mean, to me, I think he's probably the best combination of size, speed, quickness, and technique. Overall abilities you're looking for probably in this class, you know, 6'3", 2'12". I mean, I think at worst, he's like peak Allen Robinson at worst. I think at best, and I just saw this yesterday because now I'm starting to digest other draft comps now that I'm done. And I saw Matt Harmon talk about how that he comped him to Devontae Adams. And that's the guy at the top of my comp for him as well. So it's nice to see that Matt and I saw the same thing in terms of an overall broad picture on him.

I think that Odunze is probably the guy who isn't as conceptually as refined as Neighbors is a route runner, but he's good enough produced immediately um you know the things that i think he does well as bait defenders with his pacing and angles during his stems he really understands how to set up and turn the hips of the defender or to get them to to go in the wrong direction um i think he has a few breaks in his repertoire that's going to get the job done with most routes, really good body control and tracking, and he doesn't leave his feet unnecessarily for targets. So he really understands how to extend and win the ball.

He's good after the catch. He's someone that I think will only get better as a route runner. And as a result of that, when you look at that size that speed the already strong baseline of route running that he can play now that's why he kind of has that um davante adams kind of upside there and i think that you know i it might be unfair to say that he's already as good or better than Alan Robinson at his peak because Robinson was really awesome at his peak. It was just a very short peak. Yeah. I love Bromo Dunz. I have him right there with these two. I think, you know, the thing with the Dunz is I almost see him. My comfort is like a bigger version

of Chris Olave. That's kind of where I see his game from watching him on tape. And I think part of his game that I love so much is that people look at him like, oh, is he not fast enough? And then you watch the tape and you're like, he is plenty fast enough. He led all college football in deep yards, let him deep catches. Even when he's not open on the vertical plane, he does a better job than some of these receivers and stacking, getting itself in the position to make the catch.

He had, this is the craziest stat of the entire draft season in my mind. He caught 75% of his contested catch situations. That number is out of control. Three fourths of his contested catch situations. That number is out of control. Three-fourths of all contested catch situations he came down with. That's crazy. But what really stands out to me is you can also throw him the ball in the short level game

because as Matt says, he's much better after the catch than people realize. He's not necessarily like neighbors. He doesn't look like he's bursting in and out, but he just understands space so well and where to position himself to create the maximum amount of yards after the catch on those quick hitting screens and things like that. He does a great job there. And then one final thing that doesn't help us for fantasy, but I just love watching his tape. He's a hell of a blocker and he is a willing blocker and

he's going to really, there's some plays where he just seals the edge and you're just like, oh my God, is this guy good at blocking for a wide receiver? So I just love watching his tape. He's an exciting prospect. One thing that dan mentioned that i thought was a great point is what he does at the catch point against contested catches and that contest catch right when you look at it on film the thing that he does that separates him from what people i think people saw quentin johnston and what they were really looking at was roma dunze mean, because really what Johnston couldn't do when you watched him is that he wasn't a great player in terms of getting position at the catch point. There's something called a jump up and through technique, which is where when the quarterback throws a back shoulder

fade or under throws the ball and the receiver comes turns around and leaps up to catch the ball what we see oftentimes is say dan knows this intimately because colin johnson was a giant colin johnson at texas used to do this all the time he would lean back and literally make these like diving stretches where he opened his chest to the to the defensive back and maybe he caught the ball at texas doing that but in the NFL, it doesn't work because you need to be jumping straight up and down. Stephon Diggs is great at that as a small receiver.

So is Nabors. Adunze, with his size, understands that as well, and his jump up and through is great. He has a good pullback. His whole technique with positioning pre-catch and post-catch is why he has a 75% catch percentage in those areas. We're going to take one more short break.

But before we do, Matt, I want to ask you, when we look at these three, Harris and Nabors-Odunze, is it fair to say that we could get to the first week of May, and depending on what happened in the NFL draft, any of these three could be number one in the post-draft yeah yeah are they the only three no okay well then we will talk about maybe maybe the fourth or fifth or sixth right after this did you know that across ontario utility damage happens 19 times a day that's over over 4,222 incidents a year. Don't let your next dig be one that causes costly delays or safety risks. Before you break ground,

make it a point to request a locate. It's not just the law. It's a step to keep your team and community safe. Visit OntarioOneCall.ca and avoid unnecessary damages to get the job done right. Data sourced from the ORCGA 2023 Dirt Report. Now, I knew this was going to happen when we had Matt on, and I laid out the rundown.

I said, I'm being too ambitious. Matt, I asked you for an hour. If an hour is all you can give me, I understand. If we can push just a little bit longer, that would be fantastic. I'd like to get through three more wide receivers. Wide receiver four by current rookie ADP is Brian Thomas. And I just want to say, we're going to talk about four, five, six. Brian Thomas, Troy Franklin, Xavier Worthy would make a heck of a track relay team.

These guys are blazing fast. But the difference between the three is that Brian Thomas is also 6'3 and 210 pounds, whereas the other guys are kind of little guys. Is this another one of those guys for you, Matt, that could end up as wide receiver one in this class? I think he could down the line. I would say that I wouldn't bet on it, but it's one of those things that a month from now, knock on wood, nobody gets hurt, but say somebody does or some weird thing happens

off the field that we didn't expect um you know and now we're looking at thomas is one of those candidates who's in a good fit then yeah it could happen because he's he's a burgeoning um um what would i best put he's developing well as a route runner he's on on his way. I'll put it that way. He's capable of being a split end in a West Coast offense. He could probably even develop into a flanker if he really develops his route game at a higher level. But teams are going to leverage his speed, his height, his length,

his ability to go up and win the ball. He's better after the catch. Kind of like Odunze, he's a little bit better after the catch than people give him credit for. He works through contact effectively really sound hands um though there's some isolated issues with attacking the ball um they're very small they're minor compared to say like courtland sutton who's a perfectly good nfl wide receiver even if i like to joke that you're gonna have you know probably three three drops a game or one to three drops a game with him but you know you're gonna get one to one to three big plays as well um he's that he's like that power forward you got to feed the ball a lot

too and they're gonna miss a lot of shots but they're gonna make a lot um you know but he's kind of an AJ Greenlight type of player um Brian. I think that I like the comp with him. He also has a good feel. He's not just like the sidekick to Malik Neighbors who benefited from Malik Neighbors. He's a guy, I think, that will prove that he can stand on his own and will develop into no worse than a big play wide receiver, too, for fantasy purposes within you know within the first

i'd say one to two years dan is this are we still in the range of guys that you just can't even imagine them getting two round true two are we still in the the surefire round one wide receivers with brian thomas and what do you think of him yeah for sure for me i mean you know how i am with dynasty heath i'm very wide receiver heavy so so I'm not, I'm going to be leading NFL draft actually. Oh, NFL draft. Yeah. I would say Brian Thomas is probably surefire just based on the physical traits. I'm not as high on him as Matt, just from watching LSU.

I think there's a lot of potential here and I think he's very raw prospect, but for fantasy, I wonder like if he would have done better in a different era before we had all these defenses moving to like the Fangio principles where you have all these safeties and the two high, because he does have that Trump card right now. But I still think there's a lot like for me, like if he's going to play flanker in the NFL, he said, maybe he can get out to that and play and play obsession. I'd like to see a little bit more as far as like his route running goes and his ability to win in the short and intermediate areas of the field. So that I think can still be developed. He wouldn't be my wide receiver for, but I think he's definitely based on his size speed and his upside going to be a first

round pick in the NFL. And, and just as a reminder, like we're not using Matt's order of rankings. We're not using my order of rankings. We're just using ADP's order of rankings right now. He's not my wide receiver for either, but I wonder with a, is there a, is there a risk here, Matt, that with his skillset that he could end up in a situation like we've seen for George Pickens over the last just a big play he's used kind of like a Gabriel Davis in a sense but but not in an offense that targets Gabriel Davis to the level that that uh Josh Allen does right exactly yeah quarterback to even get those plays right exactly so so that's Brian Thomas let's let's's move on to the slightly more diminutive, not necessarily diminutive, just light in the case of Troy Franklin. And I was surprised to see after the combine that Troy Franklin still ranks as wide receiver five by current rookie ADP. He was a guy I was pretty fond of early in my research. And I don't get the impression, Matt, that you're necessarily putting a huge amount of weight on the combine. And so the reason I say that is because I know

that he's not your wide receiver five either, not a top five wide receiver for you. And so what, I guess you can talk about the good things about Troy Franklin as well, but what are the things that are concerns for you? Well, he would have been top five last year he probably been top five the year before so let's let's frame it that way from the beginning of the show i mean he's amazing he could be an instant starter that's again you know the fact he's wide receiver 10 on my board and he's got an instant starter grade is not usual for most classes that i'm doing so you know he has some occasional bouts where he clap attacks of football. When you clap attack the football,

generally what that means is that the ball striking your palms, because your hands aren't together enough and the ball has a ricochet effect. That's much more violent than if these really subtle pieces of human engineering are all able to clamp onto it with the various levels of sophistication that they do with your brain that you're not even thinking about it's also known as the quentin johnson effect no i'm just kidding there you go we've got too much quentin johnson that's right but uh but yeah i mean he's a guy that you know he's he's someone that as of his route game isn't quite fully done.

He's someone that has the elite speed, but as Dan mentioned, if you're just going to be used as a speedster in a cover two era, that's going to be difficult. But he does have an understanding of how to get off the line pretty suddenly. He has some good combos of footwork to be able to to earn separation um he just needs to do more with his attack like he doesn't attack stems at full speed and when you play man-to-man coverage and you're not using your speed as the way to set up your underneath routes fully, then, you know,

that's, that's a tell that defenders are going to be able to handle. If you're using that deep speed, well, defenders have to play that first. So he's got to get better at that. You know, but he does work back to the ball.

He has some snap with his brakes. It's pretty strong. So I think he's's gonna give you the op he's gonna put himself in an opportunity to contribute right away and if he can develop the route techniques against man coverage to where he's beating at least the secondary corner um he's gonna give you value but that's still a little bit of an if year one. Year two, year three, I think you're going to see this guy develop into someone

that may be like Jameson Williams. I think he's on par with what Jameson Williams was rated to be, at least from my perspective. And then maybe a guy that I really liked that just couldn't stay healthy, but I thought was more talented than both of them was Paul Richardson. I thought Paul Richardson was a dog, you know, and he was an unbelievable, you know, anybody who would win the Brandon Lloyd,

Matt Waldman, RSP, Brandon Lloyd invitational on pass catching at aerial pass catching gets bonus points in my book and Troy Franklin. I don't know if he's quite there but he's he's got some comparable things with paul richardson yeah my only follow up there would be like i feel the exact same way as matt in any other class especially last year's class he'd be up there for me in this class he's probably closer to that 10 range for me as well i think what i would want to see personally i would want to see him in like a mike mcdaniel

kind of offense if he can get to that kind of fit like that's where i want to see personally, I would want to see him in like a Mike McDaniel kind of offense. If he can get to that kind of fit, like that's where I want to see Troy feeling as far as what do we want for fantasy? How do we get some points for fantasy and how do we maximize their usage there? So that's where I'm at with Franklin. So I do want to ask you, Max, I kind of stumbled over the size before he's six one,

but only one 76. Now the six one parts, absolutely fine. One 76 is a lot for me. It seems a lot different at six one1 than it does at 5'10". Does that lightness or that light frame show up on tape as well, or is that not a problem? It's going to show up on NFL tape.

It's more of a projection thing. So you look at Jahan Dotson as a good example, as a player that you go, really good player. We all know he's good but is he going to disappear in games because he's going to be covered well by physical corners or is he going to be in situations where the quarterback's resident um reticent to target him because of his frame is he going to miss time because of that frame that those are the things that nfl decision makers are going to have concerns about which

leads to draft capital being you know declining um and it's so it's more of a perception thing based on history but there are also players like oh isaac bruce who played many years in the league or before our time cliff branch when i was growing up and watching mel blunt suplex the guy on his head and still play another 10 years and have a couple of Pro Bowls after that moment where it looked like he got killed on the field. So it's one of those things that I think if the player has strong routes and he can play physically tough inside, the size thing doesn't concern me as much. Dan, you mentioned that you'd like to see him in Mike McDaniel's offense.

It seems like maybe his chances of going in round one may have, according to some perception, been hurt by the combine performance. So how about if he's a day two pick to an Andy Reid offense? Would you be okay with that? I mean, I always get scared of wide receivers and Andy Reid offense. It takes so long to learn that system though rishi rice did a pretty good job himself but i would say that would be exciting anytime i can get patrick mahomes i just think with with franklin the thing i do like about him more than more than most maybe is that i see like that quick twitch those quick twitch traits that i think could be great in a specific style system but i do worry like what matt says when he's talking

about like the size being an issue what i worry about is like when you project at the nfl level like he said okay if you can you trust these guys to beat press man on the outside and if not then what are they they're now a slot guy and now i need them to be in a mike mcdaniel type offense where you're using them in motion and you're getting them in all these different places because if not like you're you're really pin pigeonholed into a certain role that i'm not sure how you can find too much production from so it's it's an interesting spot with these these receivers for me who are like a little bit under that 180 range though i mean like like matt said there's always outliers like i never had this issue with davante smith i never felt like this is going to be a problem for him at the nfl level

that is troy franklin we've got one more wide receiver to go through here it is xavier worthy the fastest guy not just at the combine this year but i guess at the combine ever and another guy who's got some size questions 511 165 on the positive side just 20 years old on the more positive side number four wide receiver format waldman i think this is your favorite guy we've talked about since the break right probably so yeah i mean so he's look the one of the things i remember watching him early on and going wow he fights the ball a lot and so you're going to hear a lot of people talk about how he has some drops or he juggles the ball more than people may have let on or what his buzz is worth, but he also makes a ton of tough catches. So to me, when I see a player make tough catches with good technique and he's not fighting the ball doing it,

and then he has some where he fights it a little bit, but he still makes the catch, maybe he needs to shore up a couple of things and tighten up but overall his positioning strong he's good he's reliable in the middle of the field making tough catches he can win the ball at the boundary with his explosion with his positioning he's obviously very strong after the catch in terms of what he can do with his quickness and speed. And there's a lot more to me of him being an Isaac Bruce Deshaun Jackson type of player. Not late Deshaun Jackson who played two games, led fantasy leagues in points in those two games and then was hurt and he didn't see him for the rest of the year.

But Deshaun Jackson with the Eagles, when he had some seasons where you're like, I mean, I've done some studies on wide receivers where it's talking about how many guys have had wide receiver one caliber seasons over the years. And Deshaun Jackson's pretty high on that list of only a handful of names who've done it. So way back in the day, Jackson and Isaac Bruce before him, full-fledged route runners could play tough, could be your intermediate receivers as well. I think Xavier Worthy has a chance to show he can do a lot of that. At worst, to me, he's a better version of what Titus Young could have been

if Titus Young wasn't an immature and criminally-minded human being. In terms of the promise that he briefly showed in Detroit and at Boise State, an immature and criminally minded human being. You know, in terms of the promise that he briefly showed in Detroit and at Boise state or KJ Hamler before KJ Hamler's heart issues. And maybe what Hamler's promise was the way people saw him. I think Hamler's a couple of tiers below Worthy. Worthy is more in between like a higher version of young and, and approaching that Deshaun Jackson,

Isaac Bruce tier. Yeah. What stands out to me about what Matt broke down there was Worthy's willingness and his toughness over the middle to make those catches. Because I look at it like this, what we talked about earlier was so many teams going to that cover three Vic Fangio principles playing that style of defense. Well, you need a receiver who's going to be able to be tough against zone in those, in those in those situations because a you're seeing a lot of that and b you're also getting a situation where you got to trust that these white like that you got to trust these wide receivers in those in those spots that maybe you might not trust other wide receivers and so i think that he stands out from that maybe above some of the other smaller receivers now matt i get i

get the impression because we talked about with Thomas probably still an NFL first rounder, Franklin maybe falling to the second. Worthy seems to be from the buzz building so far pretty likely to be a round one, maybe even a middle of round one guy in the NFL draft, right? Yeah, and I think that that's well-deserved. I think that it's well-deserved because he's legit a good pass catcher and decent route runner. Yes. As opposed to just a fast guy that the NFL can kind of fall in love with. Right. That really helps when you're good at football and then you're also the fastest guy there. Yeah. Yeah. I have one more thing on that. Like I actually, and he said, I could share this

on any podcasts or anything, but I, I speak with Carl Banks, the former giants player, and he works with teams and he, and he told me from speaking with NFL evaluators and scouts, one thing that they're really stressing is, and this is more for quarterback play, but it can go for wide receivers too, for someone like worthy is how these they're charting plays. And they're stressing how these quarterbacks perform against zone. Cause they believe like the zone spots,

the key spots against zone and what they want to see based on, you know, some of the things we discussed, how defense are changing. So when you see worthy out there, and I've seen this too, and his ability to beat some zone coverages with those catches over the middle, it stands out versus other receivers. And it means a lot to these NFL valuers. So if it means a lot to them, it's likelier that he's going to have higher draft capital.

If he has higher draft capital, we know from a dynasty standpoint, from a fantasy standpoint, gives him a better chance to be fantasy successful. Yep. Agree with all that, except I would say Carl Banks, former Cleveland Brown. Yeah. There you go. Or Michigan's H. Martin. That is fantastic. That's Xavier Worthy. That's the top six wide receivers by current rookie ADP. I had some questions about what about AD Mitchell? What about this guy? We will have another wide receiver preview on Friday. We will definitely talk about AD Mitchell and at least six more wide receivers that we've not

broken down on an individual basis. But Matt, before you go, and it's always so great to have you on the show. I always appreciate you making the time going a little bit extra here. Please tell everybody one last time where they can find the RSP. Sure rsp is at mattwaldman.com you can download it there pre-draft and post-draft again it's one of the two most purchased draft guides by nfl people according to old miss recruiter alex brown who meets with these guys on a regular basis and says that they use it for cross-checking purposes i will joke that I was told by somebody that there was an NFL owner who was well aware of the work. And basically, he was asking about folks to read and he put the pen down when my name was mentioned. So now I'm well aware and put the book away. So we'll just put it that way.

That was kind of a nice little fantasy moment for me. Well, it's absolutely well deserved. I know, like I've been trying to get Dan on a show for two months. And the only thing I had to tell him was Matt's coming on and Dan's like, oh, I'll make time that day. A little bit of exaggeration, but I'll take it. Dan, thank you for being here, Matt. Thank you. Thank you to everybody who was active in the chat today. You guys were awesome. Thank you to everybody who's listening on the podcast. Later, we will talk to you on Friday.