Fantasy Football Today - NFL Draft Prep: WR Preview! Hunter, Burden, Egbuka and More (04/10 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: April 10, 2025

Chris Trapasso once again joins us, this time to preview the wide receivers in the 2025 NFL Draft. We get a quick overview of the class (3:00) including how many WRs could become Fantasy studs and then a Top 5 list (6:15) from Chris and Dave. Travis Hunter is at the top of the list. Is Luther Burden a Top 5 WR? ... Chris gives us quick scouting reports (9:15) on eight of the best WRs in this class, and then we talk about which NFL teams we want to see these players on (14:50). And let's have some prospect debates! Burden vs. Matthew Golden (17:05), Emeka Egbuka vs. Jack Bech (40:00), Jayden Higgins vs. Tre Harris (46:15), Jalen Royals vs. Jaylin Noel vs. Jaylin Lane (53:00) and more ... Finishing up with some sleepers (58:30) and more prospects that will hear their name called on Day 2 or Day 3 ... Email us at [e-mail] To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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What a play! Can you believe this? No, I can't. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Off to the races and he stays on his feet. This is gonna go the distance. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie and Heath. We are continuing our prospect preview here, getting ready for the NFL draft. Just a couple of weeks.

I am Adam Azer with Jamie Eisenberg, Dave Richard and Chris Chapasso is back once again. We broke down tight ends in quarterbacks yesterday. We're going to do wide receivers today. A lot of fast slot guys at this position here, but also maybe this position getting better as we get closer and closer to the draft. It looks more likely or hopefully that Travis Hunter is gonna play some wide receiver.

Anyway, welcome. Welcome back, Chris. How is everybody's, everybody have a good Wednesday? How's everybody's Wednesday? Yeah, it was good. I mean, being on the show yesterday, that was like the cherry on top for me at 10 in the morning. So after that, it was just gravy. After that, it was all downhill, right? You couldn't get better than that. Yeah, true. You got this show. Dave, do you have a nice Wednesday? It was wonderful. Thank you for asking. Jamie? It was good until my son's baseball game at

Jamie. Uh, it was good until my son's baseball game at, uh, six 30 Eastern and we lost the tough one. So, Oh, Oh, you can't win them all. Jamie. That's true. And, uh, just watching before the show started, how the white socks lost, that was brutal. Yeah. I've been used to that for what happened to 20.

So they're, they're facing the guardians, uh Classe, arguably the best closer in baseball or one of the best closer in baseball. And I don't know who hit the ball, but runner on second comes around for the tying run, just came back from a hamstring injury. It looks like he blew out his hamstring again rounding third base. Don't know if he would have been safe, but probably would have and get tagged out limping to home to end the game. Oh, Mike Tachman, Yankees legend, Mike Tachman. OK, let's get to it here.

Hey, I just saw you randomly on the street. I needed 20 seconds on the wide receiver class. Chris Trapasso, you're awesome. Tell me about the wide receivers. It's got Travis Hunter at the top and then so much depth as we've come to realize is the case every year from rounds two through rounds five or even six, it's not top heavy, um, be beyond Hunter and I think the Tet McMillan's and the Luther burdens wouldn't be

top 15 top 10 picks in most drafts. But after round one, the perceived day two and day three guys, there's a lot of really good talents with different flavors. Jamie, what's your perception of wide receivers right now? I think Chris nailed it. You know, Travis Hunter is so fascinating because, you know, hopefully he'll play wide receiver. I think that's clearly more fun for what we talk about,

but I wouldn't be surprised if he does a little bit of both. But in any event, yeah, I think we're looking at, you know, three to four guys, maybe, maybe five first round talent caliber players based on how they'll be drafted or draft capital. Will they be immediate impact players? You know, that's the biggest question. So the day two, day three, you know, surprise guys that'll end up at the end of the draft are going to be, you know, fun to dissect.

But where we see, you know, Ted McMillan go where we see Matthew Golden go, Bird and maybe how do you say the Ohio State guys name? I don't want to mispronounce it. The G is silent. Um, so where we see these guys go is going to be sort of the fascinating one. And then obviously Travis Hunter at the top. R O C K. Oh, the C is silent.

Oh, Hey, Dave Richard, can I have your autograph and 20 seconds on, uh, the wide receivers? This ain't 20, 24. Can I have your autograph and 20 seconds on the wide receivers? This ain't 2024. There aren't elite fantasy wide receivers who can come in and dominate other than potentially Travis Hunter. If he is a full-time wide receiver and gets north of 120 targets, but we should have some good contributors.

This is going to fatten up that wide receiver three position, which was already pretty fat to begin with. It's, it's not going to make for a bunch of elite fantasy studs. Is how okay, elite fantasy studs. How many have that potential, Chris? I would say three at most. I'm much higher on Luther Burden than most. I love that he's young. We can get into him, you know, like the, uh, into the weeds of his profile. I think in the right scenario in time, he can be that. And then Macmillan just because he's kind of different from all the other

top receivers in this class and that he's six, four and 220 pounds. It kind of fits that classic X profile that in most offenses can garner that 120 to 140 targets in time in the NFL. Does anybody see any other potential fantasy studs? We'll see fit. You know, fit is a big part of this. Because people, you know, people are going to say Matthew Golden, he's got a lot of, you know, a lot of fans out there. But after that, I don't, I, yeah, probably not. Golden, 429.40.

Only, only- I see a lot of dudes that can get 70 catches a year. That's a really good call. I agree with that. All right. Let's get a top five. Dave, you have your top five? I can probably throw one together.

Hunter would be first. Tet would be second. Golden would be third. And, uh, yeah, I like Jayden Higgins. I think that he could end up being the second best big X type and I like Jack Bash. This is another guy who probably won't get drafted until day two but could end up being

one of those 70 catch receivers that come out of this record. Alright, so you have Hunter, McMillan, who was third for you, Golden? Golden. And then followed by Higgins or did I miss someone? Higgins and then Besh, but again, pencil. We're using pencil here. So not burden right now.

Not burden. Okay. Uh, Chris, top five. Well, this makes for good, uh, you know, TV, so to speak, and that we're going to disagree a little, I have Travis Hunter at one easy Luther burden at two, Ted McMillan at three, Jack Bash at four and one that Jamie's going to like quite a bit. I actually have Elijah Badger as my number five receiver.

I know he's going on day three, but he and I can again, get into the weeds on him later, too. He has a profile that I think if he had stayed at Arizona State and wasn't hurt by the quarterback play at Florida last season, we know Lagway got hurt. Graham Mertz got hurt, too, that Elijah Badger, we would be talking about him as a second or a third round pick because what he did in a limited sample at Florida was really, really good. I'm a little lower on Golden. I do like Jayden Higgins quite a bit and I agree he can be that number two outside ex receiver in this class. Very good workout, bigger body in this class. So I think very good workout, bigger body in this class. So I think that top five is gonna look different

than most people's, but as you get to four, five, six, seven, there's gonna be a wide range, a lot of diversity in terms of how people, different analysts, are gonna stack the wide receiver position. I mean, Elijah Badger, that was, I just did not expect that. I know you're really high on him, but I haven't seen Badger very high on rankings lists.

Not to say that that's a prerequisite, but I like that. I was gonna ask you for a sleeper. That's definitely one for you. Florida's Elijah Badger. He's not even, I think probably not even the number one Florida receiver for some people. Chimerae Dike ran a four, three, four, 40, and he might be

the first Gators receiver taken. But we'll talk about Luther Bird and we'll get into that. I wanted to do a quick game called 15 prospects in three minutes. So Dave and Jamie, you guys can email each other or work on your taxes, whatever you're off the air for three minutes, I think. We're just gonna have Chris give us some scouting reports, which I think, you know, we didn't really do enough of that yesterday show. So, all right, let me get CBSsports.com's top wide receivers here. Travis Hunter not listed, but we'll start with him. So just give me some quick scouting reports. And we've got three

minutes. I'm gonna wait till we got the eight minute mark in two, one, Travis Hunter. Go. All right. He is Garrett Wilson, 2.0 tracks the football probably better than Wilson does. A super smooth route runner can be explosive down the field and really good after the catch is miss tackle force rate was close to 28% in his three years in college, so he's already high floor and he has got a high ceiling. Tedaro McMillan out of Arizona, six, four, 219 pounds. So my comparison for him is actually a range.

It's somewhere between T Higgins and Drake London. He's not quite as good and as much of a moose after the catch as Drake London, but catches the football very well in rebounding situations, not super fast, not going to separate. You just are drafting him for his size and how well he uses his body in traffic. Luther Bird in out of Missouri. So my comparison for him is DJ Moore, a little bit of a smaller version of DJ Moore. Mistackle force rate was almost 34%. Once you're getting above 30, you're talking about elite level, yards after the catchability, tracks it really well in the back shoulder game,

ran 4-4-1, and is young. He just turned 21 in December. Next up, that was Luther Burden. We'll go to Matthew Golden out of Texas, 5'11, 191 pounds. He reminds me a lot of Jalen McMillan, who came out of Washington last season and flashed a little in Tampa Bay. Down the stretch, he was probably the most electric receiver

in college football during the college football playoff. I don't think he's a tremendous route runner, and I don't view him, I mean, I guess this is different than Dave, I don't view him as someone that is actually 4'2", 9' fast. Like I think he does not play to that speed. I did love though, at his size with a smaller catch radius, how well he tracked the football near the sideline,

the body control, the hands are certainly there too. I believe Mike Remmer also said he did not see that kind of speed from Matthew Golden. It's true. Yeah. Ameca Bucca out of Ohio State, 6'1", 202 pounds, slot guy. Slot guy who started on the outside and then gradually played more in the slot at Ohio State,

which I think is interesting. Reminded me of A.D. Mitchell, maybe not quite as smooth as A.D. Mitchell, but a bigger body who does run very good routes can get open with intricacy, with nuance. And like pretty much all the Ohio State wide receivers the last five to seven years, tracks it like a center fielder.

You can throw it over the shoulder, contorts his body very well, and he's a really good blocker on film too. Jaden Higgins out of Iowa State. So my comparison for him is Cortland Sutton. He is big like Dave mentioned and there's a lot of fanfare for him because of how well he tested and the routes that he ran. Like he is not just trying to win like Tet Macmillan. He can get open with some separation ability. And because he's so big, he's just naturally a good rebounder down the field. Jack Besh.

I love him. He is puking to Kuwa 2.0 for me. Catches everything. His miss tackle force rate was 30%. And again, if you get in the upper 20s or get into the 30s, that's elite level. Only four drops on 200 targets in his college career. That's very Puka-esque to me.

You see him make a lot of really challenging catches where he reels the football in. Not a crazy route runner, not super explosive, just a really well-rounded wide receiver on the outside. Okay, that was seven receivers. Sorry, I get long winded. No, not at all. It was a stupid game.

I was way too ambitious. You're on the right show to be long winded. You weren't long winded at all. It was perfect. Let's make it an even eight in four minutes. How about Isaiah Bond? Reminds me of Darnell Mooney, who is smaller, downfield guy,

and isn't strictly a vertical threat because there is route running savvy to his game. That's exactly how I view Isaiah Bond. He's not going to reel in the football often in traffic and physicality kind of gives him problems at times, but four, three, nine speed, which I think is legitimate, like he plays to that level of juice and again, has that nuance that you need to be able to sell the post when you're running a corner, things like that.

I just think the yak ability and the contested catches are probably why he's viewed more as a second or third rounder as opposed to a first round pick. All right. We're going to take a break and we're going to come back. We've got you acquainted with some of the top names that are going to be going in rounds one and two, hopefully for most of these guys. And we will, we got a lot more to talk about after this on FFT. Okay, so 15 prospects in three minutes, just going to have to change that to eight and

four minutes. Still pretty good. A nice quick introduction to some of these players. Jamie, looking at teams in the first round or the second round that you want to see grab a wide receiver, what kind of landing spots are we looking at? Um, the chargers come to mind, you know, again, just looking at what they have on their roster. Uh, obviously Quinton Johnston has been a little bit of a failure as we know,

and bringing back Mike Williams, I was just writing this, uh, catching up on the, um, uh, owner's meetings and how Jim Harbaugh said he was asked about, uh, he was asked about Mike Williams and he was like, Justin's excited. It was cool to see Justin get excited. First time I met him was when he signed the contract. Like, interesting. First time I watched him play. So the Chargers come to mind.

Would not be surprised if the Broncos, I mean, it seems like they're going to go running back, but I would not be surprised if they add a receiver just based on what their room looks like, you know, with Marvin Mims and, you know, some other guys there being in the second role behind Cortland Sutton is going to be, I believe, 29 or 30. I'm trying to think of who else in the first round. Packers maybe? The Packers certainly would, but that would go against almost everything that they do especially knowing that you know, Chris true

Christian Watson is not necessarily done for the year Texans. I don't know. Do they have a first-round pick but make some sense Everybody does ever first looking at it. I think we could see This would not be surprising to see a team go back into the first round if they like somebody the Titans, you know Especially looking at what their room looks like we know they're gonna get cam ward most likely at the top spot And obviously the Browns, you know, I think Travis Hunter to Cleveland makes a lot of sense Patriots Travis Hunter to New England makes a lot of sense And even the Giants Travis Hunter there makes a lot of sense to so look at the teams atop Yeah, I think that you look at what the Bengals did drafting burrow and Higgins you look at the teams at the top. Yeah, I think that you look at what the Bengals did drafting Burrow and Higgins, you look at,

listen to this comparison, what the Panthers did drafting Bryce Young and Mingo. There's definitely that desire for teams to give their rookie quarterback somebody to throw to. I do think it would behoove the Titans to do that. They have the third pick of round two, even though they have the first pick of round do that. They have the third pick of round two, even though they have the first pick of round one. So they have the third pick of round two.

Do you think Chris, there's a wide receiver there that could make a big impact in year one? If Luther Burden falls, I think he could be that, because he was that underneath, yards after the catch option at Missouri. He could garner a lot of targets right away from a rookie quarterback that probably is gonna be looking to get the ball out of his hands in a hurry.

Although we talked about yesterday how good Cam Ward is off structure, extending plays and Emeka Egbuka. Those two seem like they could be there in the early portion of the second round and are two pretty polished wide receivers that were productive over multiple seasons at big time schools and big time conferences. Steve, what's your beef with Luther Burden

who's number two for Chris, not in your top five. No, I like the athleticism. I just wonder if that's what he got by on at Mizzou. And a lot of short targets, lowish ADOT, not the lowest of the top receivers in the class. It was at 9.5, Abouka, for example, at 7.94. Travis Hunter's ADOT was 10.6. Not a bad drop rate either.

Just his entire game was not entirely, but a lot of his passes or his targets were short throws, make something happen after the catch. His avoid a tackle rate is insane. It's almost 50 percent. It's crazy how many tackles he avoided. Can he do that at the next level? Is his route running polished enough so that he could be like a number one type guy?

Can he go beyond 10 yards downfield and make plays consistently? We know that we saw that a bunch at Mizzou. I like him, but I don't want to get so attached to him into thinking that he's going to be anymore like that 70 catch threshold that I talked about. How many receivers in this draft class could go over that? Now he certainly could. If he goes to Carolina, he's the number one target, he's going to get eight targets a game. Four of those targets are going to be inside of five yards. Can he overcome that? Can he have some great efficiency on top of that? Can

he score more than the six touchdowns he had last year? I think that remains to be seen. So as far as athleticism goes, he's very, very good. Top five in that regard. But all around game of wide receiver, we know that a lot of receivers that come out of college and all they do is just out hustle guys on the field. They struggle once they get to the NFL. And I'm a little bit nervous that burden could follow in those footsteps. Yeah, it's interesting.

You said that right? Because I look at the Jalen's Jalen Lane out of Virginia Tech, Jalen Noel. And I think about like a guy like James Morales. Yeah, they're right. Jalen Royals out of Utah State. I don't know if he's the same type of player. But I do see these guys who just routinely run by people at college and reminds me of Wanda Robinson. Wanda Robinson did that a lot. And he never does that now in the NFL because he you know, he has his a dot is like negative eight yards but right. But it's also like 180 pounds maybe maybe 190 and I'm selling them short. Well, that's what a lot of those guys are. Jalen Knoll is 194, Jalen Lane is 191 pounds, Ty Felton is 183 pounds. But I don't know what that's a tough thing for me is I watch these guys and they're just

blowing by people in college and getting open deep, you know, and it's like, whoa. But I feel like so many receivers can do that. Doesn't mean they can do it in the NFL. Chris, how do you how do you translate that from college to the NFL? It's a good question. And obviously it's not an easy thing to do because all the corners are fast in the NFL. What I will say about Noel from Iowa State

and Jalen Lane from Virginia Tech, they're nifty underneath too. Like they are dynamic with their suddenness. They can run routes and the missed tackle force rate, especially for Jalen Lane, was very good at middle Tennessee state and then in his final two seasons at Virginia Tech. So those two, I think more so than Ty Felton from Maryland, they can win underneath and at the intermediate level where you don't have to lean on your speed as much.

Ty Felton was a lot more of a goalball wide receiver at Maryland who did test really well. So just looking at the numbers, you're thinking, okay, he can do that in the pros. But if you're a little skeptical of a player's ability to translate that from college to the pros, I think the two Jaylins in the slot and even Jaylin Royals, who's a bigger body

and is actually closer stylistically to Luther Burden, they can win underneath and at the intermediate level. They don't just have to win with their speed. So what's the difference between Luther Burden and Matthew Golden? By the way, one thing about Burden, his 2023 season was so much better than his 2022 season, about 500 more yards. He did not even lead his team in receiving last year, Luther Burden. But Dave, what do you see the difference between Golden and Burden? Well, if you're looking for experience, I think Burden wins there. Golden, to me, really

didn't get going until the second half of this past season. And that's when he broke out and when he started to look like a potential top receiver in the draft class. I kind of had this thought this morning that if he had stayed at Texas, I'm not even sure if he had the eligibility for it, but I think he did. Could he have stayed one more year and then been like the top receiver in the 2026 draft class or one of them? And I'd like to think that the answer to that, yes, but you never know. The problem is when you draft Golden, are you drafting the guy who shined the last,

I don't know, I think it was like week six on, or the guy who struggled to make a huge impact at Texas in all these years before. So, or if he was at Houston the two years before, and then he transferred to Texas, he had a decent time in Houston. And then Texas, he broke out a little bit like I said. But I do think he wins downfield a little bit more than Burden would and burns just a little thicker or a lot thicker and can win on shorter stuff. Chris, your take on that Golden versus Burden?

Yeah, that's the disparity between those two. I don't think either are tremendous route runners and it's always hard. And what I don't love about always pointing to route running ability. I mean, we watch all these players, we watched them for years. I like to have the quantifiable cross check for myself.

You can get that with Mistackles Force. You can get it with Contest to Catch Winrate. Dave, Jamie can look at ADOT to see how far down the field these players were being thrown the football. When it comes to route running ability, it's just all observational. And I'm not going to say that I don't trust my own eye, but I also realize that it's very hard to discern who's a really good route runner and what that really means. I don't think either of those two, you just saw them leaving cornerbacks in the dust repeatedly, but yeah, they're different body types and Golden is someone that gives a little bit more

vertical ability beyond just running 429 compared to 441. I think he is a little bit better down the football field. And I'd like to just add that I thought he improved as he went to Texas and maybe he just got his master's degree in route running and receiving skills, footwork, all that stuff that he just couldn't get at Houston. And that's just what would make Golden, you know, maybe he's just got a little bit more speed than Burden and he's not as physical, but he can still win on all three levels of the field. We don't know if Burden can in the NFL. And Texas, they have a great route running program there, actually. Very hard to get in.

Jamie, I've got Golden in Chris's draft. I've got Golden going 16th to the Cardinals. And I've got Luther Burden going, well, I've got, I don't know why I'm saying that. Chris has Luther Burden going in the second round, falling to the Saints. Which do you like better, Luther Burden going in the second round, falling to the Saints. Which do you like better? Burden in a dynasty draft, let's say. Burden on the Saints or golden on the Cardinals? And in this case, we're talking about a first round pick

and Matthew Golden in the second round pick and Luther Burden. I like Burden as a prospect better, so I probably would lean that way, especially knowing that the hope would be that the Saints are starting to head in the right direction. And this could be their 1A.

I think hopefully he's the 2 because we all like Chris Olave. Golden to me is going to be a very interesting player and going to a team like the Cardinals where we know Kyler Murray has sometimes struggled as fantasy options to support two guys, to support three guys there knowing that he would be at best the third behind, you know, Trey McBride, Marvin Harris, and Marvin Harris, Trey McBride, whoever you want to rank those guys. It would be tough for him to, I think, produce the type of statistics that we look for to make him a starting caliber option, whereas Burton can easily go there and be the two

right away and hopefully have an immediate impact with Carr and maybe whoever the quarterback of the future is there, assuming Kellen Moore is going to be the long-term answer coach. Is it safe to say that Burden has the higher floor and Golden has the higher ceiling? Yeah, I think that's totally fair. Absolutely. I don't know. I don't agree with that. I don't really see Golden.

Wait, you're saying Burden has the higher ceiling? Golden you're saying, you're saying Golden has the higher ceiling. Golden has the higher ceiling, but Birden has the higher floor. Now, look, I have trouble. They both have a pretty high ceiling. I had trouble evaluating these two guys, honestly. I thought they were, I thought especially Birden, I thought was like a little gadgety, but I didn't watch a ton of his 2023, which was so much better. But I think Birden has the higher ceiling.

I think he's more explosive with the ball in his hands. Now, I'm not going to sit here and die on that hill. You know, it's all in the eye of the beholder. But I felt Burden was a little bit more of an athlete than Golden personally, even with Golden running the faster 40. But again, I don't know. I really struggled with those guys. I don But again, I don't know. I really struggled with those guys. I don't know. I don't know. You know, like they don't have great size. And they

end like Golden plays a lot on the outside, right? And I look at him and I feel like he looks like a slot receiver to me. I don't see an outside receiver. I guess he really going to go downfield and out jump guys and high point the ball? I don't I don't really see that from him. So I Honestly really struggled with them and was hoping for some clarity today, which I feel like I'm getting but Chris I think I understand Adam doesn't like receivers that are under six foot two No, definitely not but I but when you have a guy who's five eleven one hundred ninety one pounds I don't that's golden. I don't want him on the outside so much, right? I want that guy on the inside more to me.

And he had a 13.5 yard ADOT, that is a lot. And also he had 987 yards and nine touchdowns. That's a good season. They threw for the fourth most yards in the country, they threw for the second most touchdowns in the country. It's not that great of a season. It was in 16 games, I think, right? Yeah, 16 games, he didn't even crack a thousand yards.

So like a top 15 pick, which Golden might be, he doesn't really have the production for that. So I'm just wondering if he's like, you know, just talking football here, sorry, but if he's like Henry Ruggs or, you know, or if he's really worthy of a top 15 pick, I'm a little skeptical on Golden. Yeah, it just feels like in terms of, again, real football, so I'll be quick on it. And like value wise, if he is, and there's some building momentum that he could even be the first receiver off the board.

You're looking at him compared to maybe Luther Burden that has some perceived character issues as an early second rounder or one of the last picks in round one. I think it's easy a win for the team that drafts Burden and just terms on value and where these players might actually get picked in the draft. But I think also like, you know, we had this whole conversation last week or the week before on Marvin Harrison. The Cardinals is the perfect spot for him. For NFL reasons, not necessarily fantasy reasons. for I hate it for fantasy, but I think for real life, that's the type of player he's going to be.

He's not gonna be a 120 plus target guy. I just don't see that in his profile, unless it's just a team that's terrible and needs him throwing a lot of fourth quarter type of stuff, or just one of those YOLO type of teams that we see from time to time. I just think he's gonna be a good complimentary guy. That's the problem with this class is like, it feels like there's a lot of just they're all good guys.

Yes, it's a really good wide receiver to class. Right? Like, you know, and, and he could have a solid career. He could be productive to certain extent. I just don't know if he's going to go to a team and you're going to say, okay, like Xavier worthy, you know, not to make the same comparison, but obviously his teammate who ran fast and you know, ended up in a great destination, you know, wouldn't be surprising based on what we thought from Worthy if he's the best receiver in Kansas City, you know, no disrespect to Roger Rice, but coming off knee injury, all those things. I think in the case of a guy like Golden, you know, be a speed guy, you know, develop

your outtree, you know, his career could still be very solid and he ends up being productive. You know, I think like a Marquise Brown type of player, you know, somebody who can end up being, you know, very productive, maybe develops into more than just what was perceived to be a speed guy coming into the league and, you know, smaller receiver that could still make some plays. But I don't think you're looking at him and saying, okay, this is now the alpha. It just, I don't see that for him. And you know, somebody just posted in the chat, Houston will be a good fit. know, especially with tanked out situation. I think the Cardinals great fit You know just just knowing those type of scenarios Denver to me would be a good fit, you know opposite of Cortland Sutton type player

You know open up the field a little bit for somebody like bonex. So those type of teams those type of situations Can I give you some numbers on golden Adam? Absolutely. Yes So I don't think he truly got an opportunity to be the number one guy for the Longhorns until the seventh game of the year. I looked it up. All right. So his first six games didn't play nearly as much. He got about 10 more snaps per game and they kind of rode him the rest of the season in

those last 10 games, small sample size, all that stuff. 57 targets, 39 catches, 741 yards, six touchdowns, 2.5 yards per route run on a 19% target share. 19 yards per catch. A dot was 14.3. That's a little worrisome. 5.4 yards after catch per reception. That's not great. Explosion rate of 35%, 10 end zone targets.

All of those stats were, except for yards after catch perception, were first or second best on Texas among wide receivers. The question is, is he an ascending player? Does a team believe that he's ascending? And like, this is when, this is the guy who you're getting, is who you saw in those last 10 games. And you almost have to ignore the first six games of last year and what he did

at Houston, and if a team really believes that, then he is going to get a chance to get over 120 targets per game, but he, he's the one that's got some downside. And this is why I couldn't make them my number one wide receiver, but his downside. I don't think it's as far behind a lot of those 70 catch wide receiver two guys that we either have talked about or will talk about. And I think there will be a team that gambles on him at some point late round one, because that upside is just something that you don't see from a lot of receivers in this class. So this is Matthew Golden we're talking about.

He's only 21 years old, by the way. So he's on the young side. We're gonna talk about, I wanna talk about Ibuka versus Besh in a second. We did Burden versus Matthew Golden. But we've sort of, you said something about, Chris, you said something about Golden maybe being the first ride receiver taken.

I think you're not including Travis Hunter there, right? There's no way to go ahead. Yeah, sorry. I meant after him, yeah. But yeah, like how could he go ahead of McMillan? Do you think they're close? Speed, that's what I don't, yeah. It's just speed.

I mean, the first round is all about traits and just what Dave said. I think it's now, it was across what? Three games instead of one, but I think bowl game bias and what you see the last, like, recency bias for a lot of these evaluators and as coaches come into the scouting process late and that's what they're watching. They're out of the playoffs and they're seeing Matthew Golden play his best football late.

That usually translates to an ascending draft stock, whether you're a receiver, whatever position you're playing. And I think that is what Matthew Golden is really benefiting from what he did late in the season at Texas. One more thing. And again, fantasy versus reality. Guys that do what he does. Teams covet this.

No, they don't take, they should not take. Okay. If you're saying that what Matthew Golden does is stretch the field, you know, and be a deep threat, they should not take that with the 15th pick. I'm not trying to crap on anyone's mind draft. Like, if you're going to take a guy with the 15th pick. I'm not trying to crap on anyone's mind draft. If you're going to take a guy with the 15th pick. Whether they should or what they do.

I mean, again. When do they do that? The Raiders do that. Yeah. But teams don't take that guy 15th. I mean, the Bengals did it at seven with John Ross. This is what happened. Horrible decision.

What did the Jaguars do last year? I'm not saying it's right, Adam. I'm not disagreeing with you. But what happens is when you're, especially if you're an offensive head coach or a GM that has an offensive background, they see, OK, this guy is now our Z receiver. Or he can be our slot guy that stretches the field.

Or it's two or three shot plays a game. Or now he plays on special teams and he's in the return game. There are things that these guys bring to the field or it's two or three shot plays a game or now he plays on special teams and he's in the return game. Like there are things that these guys bring to the field that we can say that sucks, but they say this could change this flip field position. You know, it's just, it's just how helps. You take, you're saying the guy's going to be a special teams contributor team is going to take him with a top 20 pick? I'm not saying that that's their plan going in. Well, it's not. But if they can get value out of it,

that's how they view it. I'm glad you brought up Brian Tom, I'm sorry, go ahead, Jimmy. Right, but that's why situations fail. Just people get enamored with speed. First round, yep. It's just what the NFL does. No, I get it. I would hope that they see more than that out of Golden if they take

that high. I'm not saying that's all he does. I'm not trying to paint that picture. What I'm saying is is that when you see four to anything and, and knowing that he can just, if it's two or three plays a game that he pass interference down the field a return that he may be in that portion of the game he opens up things for guys underneath like that's the way coaches think you know it's like they they're not looking at it and saying okay this is gonna be a hundred catch guy he's going to be a Hall of Famer necessarily because that would be stupid but if they're looking at it and

saying that four to speed can maybe maybe win one game, right? How many times do we have this conversation? Would you spend all your fab on one guy to win you one week, right? They look at it and say, hey, he may win us three or four games just based on two or three plays throughout the course of the game.

Whereas let's say Tep McMillan could be a hundred catch guy. Like, you know, in terms, you know, Chris brought up that people are looking at goal and as the first receiver after after Travis second, so you're off the board. Like that's what teams look at it as. Like, can that guy make two or three plays a game for me, especially in this draft class where it's very, very muddy in terms of a couple of guys at the top and then just a lot of good, maybe good, hopefully good. Like that's the way this draft is sort of unfolding.

Yeah. Nevermind the fact that coaches are blindly optimistic and they'll think, maybe good, hopefully good. Like that's the way this draft is sort of unfolding. Yeah. Nevermind the fact that coaches are blindly optimistic and they'll think, oh yeah, I can turn that guy to a guy that helps us win five or six games. I get it. But if you just thought that he was basically a deep threat, you wouldn't take him with a top 20 pick. You would hope.

But that's the good thing about Matthew Golden is that he can contribute in a number of ways. And I don't think any of us would sit here and say that Brian Thomas Jr. was a complete NFL ready wide receiver last year, but he was a dude who had some unique traits, including deep speed. And he's faster than Golden. And I'm not saying that Golden is the next Brian Thomas Jr. And Brian Thomas Jr. went 23rd overall to a team that needed somebody that could take the top off of defense. And he morphed into being their number one guy and look at where we're taking him now and look at how important he is to Jacksonville's

offense. It would not be crazy to see Golden, assuming he keeps the ascension in that same boat eventually, probably not as fast as Brian Thomas Jr. Well, he's ran a faster 40 days for what it's worth. He ran a faster 40. But I think the bigger thing for me, Brian Thomas Jr. is six foot three. It's what I'm talking about. Like, and golden what six, just under six, one, five 11. I thought, am I wrong here? Five 11. Yeah, I see. Yeah, you're right. Five 11, 191 at the combine. Brian Thomas, six, three, two, oh nine. It's just a different profile. I got to take a break here. Sorry. A lot of golden. We'll,. I got to take a break here. Sorry. A lot of golden.

We'll we'll got more players to talk about. We had a birthday to celebrate. We got a bracket winner to celebrate. We'll be right back on FF. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, the acoustic version. We got a 21st birthday in here.

I'm looking. Thomas, can you find it? There we go. It's Austin. He's watching FT on his 21st birthday. Cheers, fellas. What should he do tonight, guys? He should watch the film of Matthew Golden and listen to who he likes better. I agree with that. Want to give a shout out to John Warner. He won our Bracket Challenge. He gets a year of Paramount Plus, and he gets to be in our podcast league, John Warner. Congratulations, picking the Gators and winning the whole

thing. All right. Let's do one more. Just great back to back comments in the chat space Ricky says good content guys. And then Mr. Popinski goes that was a painful discussion. What? That was a good discussion. I went deep on mef on Matthew Golden. We should. Yeah, for sure. Alright, so let's go deep on a Mecca Bucca versus Jack Besh and who do you like better and are they similar? Chris, like give me

those two guys. Well, I like Basha a lot more and they're different. You can start by how they were utilized. I mentioned earlier that Ibuca started on the outside at Ohio State. He's the all time leader in receptions there, played four seasons, was reasonably high volume, and then gradually moved more in the slot. Jack Bash played most of his snaps,

I think it was like 56% at LSU and TCU on the outside. They both track the football really well. I think Bash gives you more of the acrobatic catch ability like the puka-nakua ability near the sideline. And post-catch in terms of pure speed, Iqbuka's faster. That's just kind of has been par for the course for the Ohio State receivers.

But in terms of contact balance, just making guys miss in tight quarters, that's certainly Jack Bech. So I think Jack Bech is more of the classic outside receiver. Ibuca is more of a player that you want to move around, maybe utilize on slot fades or on post, you know, skinny posts from the slot. They're a little bit different, although they are similarly sized, which I think and they're kind of both projected to be second round picks.

So I think that's it's an apt conversation to talk about these two because of all of those things. But in terms of stylistic play on the field, they're a lot different. Dave, you like these guys? Emeka Abouka out of Ohio State, Jack Besh out of TCU. This is another floor versus ceiling type of discussion. I think Abouka has one of the safest floors in the draft class. Yeah. I mean, you know that you can set your watch to 70 catches.

He's very polished as a route runner. You didn't see the speed all that often from him, partially because he got a lot of short targets at Ohio state, but on the rare occasions that you did, you liked it because he can get up there. He's got some pretty good speed, but he's not nearly as physically like gifted as bash. I would say, and maybe that's not the right term, more physical with the ball in the air. I think bash is just, he plays a little bit stronger than a Bucca does.

I think he's got a little bit more upside. I think if I were really in a, in a, in a GM chair, push comes to shove and I, and I need somebody who can play just wide receiver for us. If I'm Houston, if I'm Carolina, I probably do take a Bucca just because track record of being a great football player all the way back from his days in high school was like all state in Washington. Um, and Chris mentioned just how great he was at Ohio state for four years. Um, I think a book is probably just the safer guy to take the, the upside play is bash who has, has done.

It did really well at TCU was his breakout years last year. Um, but did contribute at LSU at one point ahead of neighbors, ahead of Thomas Jr. He's got great strength. He's got great hands. He can track the ball. He's got good quickness. He just doesn't have the long speed. I don't know if Abouka's long speed is going to be something that's featured on a week-to-week

basis in the NFL. I think he's going to get slammed into the slot pretty quickly. I think if you're looking for draft prospects, you want guys that either played at Ohio State or LSU. I mean those are in two of the best programs. This will make you vomit though if you're thinking about track record. He is one of, Besh is one of four receivers in TCU, I think it's history, that have had a thousand yard receiving in college. He had a thousand and three or four yards last year. Here are the other three. Josh Dotson,

Quinton Johnson, Jaylen Rieger. That's as awful as it gets. There's a whole thing about big 12 wide receivers. It's like they are... What's the track record of Colorado wide receivers? like they are. What's the track record of Colorado wide receivers? Yeah, not a lot, right? But they are pretty much never good. And then, you know, Texas is in the SEC now. So hopefully things change. But once upon a time USC wide receivers were busts all very consistently. And then I think that changed a little bit. I mean, Juju came out. I feel like I'm forgetting some guys.

Obviously had Keyshawn, but there were a lot of- Michael Pittman Jr., Drake London. Yeah, right. You had some good ones. Anyway, I do think about those sometimes. The big 12 wide receivers not doing well. And then there was some systems. There's like Trey Harris's system at Ole Miss, maybe like Tennessee's system.

They don't have anybody this year, but we've seen Jaylen Hyatt and Cedric Tillman, you know, and I don't know, jury's still out, I guess, on Tillman. But anyway, we can talk about that in a second. Would you say that, you see, like, Ibuka and Besh are so different, right, from the previous from Birden and Golden, right? They're not the physical freak, the athletic specimens. They're more solid production receivers. That's why I grouped them together. If we could combine those receivers, then we'd have a top five overall pick. We'd have the speed

of Birden or whatever, and then the skills of Besh. But they're different, right? I just wanted it from a profile standpoint, Chris. Ibuca and Besh, very different from Burden and Golden. Is that fair? Oh, that's fair. But I am always kind of beating the drum on Miss Tackle's force and how good they are after the catch because we talked about it yesterday with tight ends. There's so much schemed up element to today's NFL that I want Jack best to be able to catch a shallow cross on a third and six, make the linebacker miss and then run over the safety. And now it's a 15 yard gain. And I think he's in that Luther Burden mold or caliber in terms of what he can do

after the catch. Ibuca isn't really that type, or at least he wasn't utilized that way at Ohio state. Maybe he has the physical ability and I think Golden would be a step or a tier below those players in terms of what he can do after the catch beyond what his speed affords him in that part of the game. Okay so by the way I put in I wrote in my notes about Jack Besh if you want someone to convert a third and six Besh seems like the kind of guy to do it, which is kind of what you just said. But and then I put him in.

And do that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Bucca is very savvy player. Him and Jaden Higgins. I put, I put Jaden Higgins. So let's talk about Jaden Higgins. I liked what I saw from Jaden Higgins. One thing about him, horrible on deep balls, uh, past attempts of 20 or more area yards, eight catches on 24 targets. I do think his quarterback stunk, but I'm just, just to get two guys in the same discussion here, let's go with Jayden Higgins versus Trey Harris. Who do you like better? Jayden Higgins out of Iowa State

or Trey Harris out of Ole Miss? I have Higgins graded higher, and I'm interested to see obviously how Dave comes down on this because he likes Higgins a lot. Trey Harris, like you mentioned Adam, the scheme was so gimmicky and it's just totally spread. Slants and go routes. I don't think either of those two bigger wide receivers, Higgins or Harris, play to their

size. You just kind of reference the numbers on Higgins. They're not going to go up and get it a ton and come down with the football. Higgins tested better and is a sharper route runner in terms of just how he can make breaks at the top of his route stem. So I'm a lot higher on Jaden Higgins,

but the analytics in terms of yards per route run and all of that with Trey Harris, just because I'm sure his A-dot was through the roof because they just threw him goal balls all the time in that lane Kiffin offense. You know, they did. I don't know about the ADOT. I can find it. They throw a lot of screens too.

Right. Because they throw a lot of plays where it's really weird. Trey Harris at Ole Miss, he will line up out wide and he will not even move. He will stand completely still one-on-one. And like, it's almost like the offensive line sometimes when there's a defensive player jumping and they just like let the play go. He just stands still and then they throw it to him.

So he did pad his stats a little bit on those types of plays and that would lower his A-dot. But, all right, Dave, what do you like? A lot of deep balls too though. Yeah, oh yeah, for sure. And he was good. He was a lot better on deep balls on past attempts of 20 or more air yards.

And this is what I love about Trey Harris. He had a 79% catch rate with a 12 yard a dot. There it is, 12 yard a dot. No wide receiver with an eight out of 12 or higher had a higher catch rate than Harris. Only two wide receivers with an 11 yard a dot or higher had a higher catch rate than Harris. Only two wide receivers with an 11 yard eight otter higher had a higher catch rate than Harris. That's pretty impressive. Dave Harris versus Higgins. Sorry. Who do you like better?

They're both big guys. Neither of them are burners. Although Higgins had the faster 40 time. I don't know if I believe in that 40 time, kind of like I don't believe in Golden. Golden's not a 429, but if we said he was four, four, uh, I think I would believe that, um, Harris has a pretty concerning injury history that would make me nervous to take him. Um, including hip injury in October, um, needed knee surgery in 2023 and he doesn't have a lot of lower body power. And when you look at Jayden Higgins, the dude just big physical guy,

a lot of comparisons to some Michael Pittman because he's big and strong and not necessarily somebody that can win downfield. Doesn't have great agility. I'm not sure if either of them really have great agility, but Higgins is 6'4", 217, huge catch radius, 22 years old. He can, he did line up everywhere at Iowa State, one cut routes he can win on. I kind of lean toward him. I think that he could end up being a little bit better of a prospect and one that doesn't have the same type of injury history. Jamie mock draft here from Chris. We've got two fun destinations, Trey Harris, 44th overall to the Cowboys and Higgins to Seattle, eight picks, six picks later.

So Trey Harris to Dallas, Higgins to Seattle. Love the Higgins call. Another team that really needs wide receiver help clearly. And I do think he's got top five upside in this class. So, you know, it's a strong fit. You know, hopefully Sam Darnold comes in and plays somewhat close, if not as well as he did in Minnesota.

I'm a little skeptical, but obviously knowing that you have an immediate opportunity for targets and the way that this kid could play and be a solid compliment to JSN, I love that call. Yeah, I think Harris to Dallas is certainly interesting. This is a team that's still chasing to find a number two compliment to ZD Lam. He could easily come in and be that guy right away. So another strong fit there. But I mean, Higgins would be, I think a potential first rounder

and nine of Steve Rookie only draft just based on that landing spot. Yes. You wanna hear a fun fact on Harris? Yeah, go ahead. He was Malik Nabors high school quarterback. Oh my lord about that. Let's eliminate someone that that Chris and I were talking before the show don't really like I guess I shouldn't use the word eliminate but you

might see him in top five lists. You know, if you look at other rankings, Ellic I am Ellic I am matter out of Stanford six to 206 pounds, ran a 4'4, 40, which is pretty good. 4'4, 4'4, 40, pretty good for 6'2, 206 pounds. Yeah, what is it? We're not really so big on him. What's your beef with Ellic Iomander?

So I think he's a little bit stiff at that size, 6'2, 206. There was a lot of hype pre-combine and even being down in Indianapolis, like before he worked out, people thought, Hey, he's got like a track background. He's going to blow it up. He's going to run sub four four at that size and kind of shoot up maybe even into the backend of the first round. He didn't run that fast. And at Stanford, I just talked about it with Trey Harris, although it obviously

wasn't Lane Kiffin or Josh Hyple running that offense there In Palo Alto a lot of Alec a Omaners targets were just like go routes down the field There was not a lot of you know The full route tree that we like to kind of tab for those players that are considered high floor You didn't really get that with a Oman. And I don't really think at that size, even though he's thick at 6'2 and almost 2'10, I don't think he's this bulldozer after the catch either. And clearly that's something that I really value at the receiver spot. So I think he's kind of a one trick pony that has build up speed in terms of, or as compared to explosiveness down the field. 14.6% drop rate. That's the other thing with him.

Iow Manor, a lot of drops. What bothers me about him just watching like, well, pretty much all of his targets, he does nothing over the middle. He had six catches between the hash marks all season long. All downfield D-balls. Tet McMillan had 32 catches between the hash marks with lead, which led all receivers.

So yeah, okay. That's Iow Manor. We're not so high on him. Let's go yeah, okay, that's IO Manor. We're not so high on him. Let's go to, let's get two more guys here. Let's go with the speedy Isaiah Bond. Actually, let's come back to him. Let's do the Jalen's. Let's do Jalen, all right, we'll do three of them.

Jalen Royals out of Utah State, Jalen Noll out of Iowa State, Jalen Lane out of Virginia Tech. So that's three guys. And just so it doesn't get confusing, I won't make you compare them all. Just tell me this. Do any of them have a thousand yard potential?

Jalen Royals out of Utah State, 442.40. Jalen Noel out of Iowa State 439 slot receiver Jalen Lane 434 40 take that Jalen Noel and they're both like speedy slot receivers who can play in the return game. All right. Anyway, actually, am I wrong about? Yeah, no, I'm right about it. Okay, go ahead. The jailings.

So I'm going to start with what Jamie says a lot and he's totally spun on about a thousand yard upside all depends on on fit and like where they go. I mean, we, we know that at this point, I think all of them in the right situation, Jaylin, Noel is the probably the better route runner of the three or the best route runner of the three. I think Jaylen Lane is the best all around wide receiver that he gives you the low four, three speed. The three cone was under seven seconds. So that hints at high level, uh, agility side to side, um, wiggle to make those guys miss. He didn't have a lot of volume at middle Tennessee state and Virginia tech, but I

thought, I thought, and, and that I was seeing someone that had an ascending game that with better quarterback play could be that high volume possession slot receiver and a missed tackle forced rate in his college career of almost 28%. So again, getting up there close to 30 is what you want. Which Jalen Royals. Which Jalen was that, that forced all the missed tackles? That's Jalen Lane from Virginia Tech.

He started at middle Tennessee state. Okay. Jalen Royals is, is kind of a light version in my opinion of Luther Burden that he's similarly sized kind of Debo Samuel ask where you see him make a lot of just defenders bounce off of his frame. But then he ran in the low four fours, like you mentioned that kind of surprised people. I didn't necessarily see that on film.

So in the right situation where a team wants to just pepper him with underneath targets, he can maximize run after the catchability, Jalen Royals. Jalen Royals. Okay. Dave, any strong takes on them? Royals would be at the top of the list for me. One of the problems I have with Nolan and I do like Noel, but he's got eight and a half inch hands.

He had dropped 15 passes over 230 targets in three seasons before 2024. He cleaned it up in 2024. If he can overcome that, then he'd be pretty close to on par with Royals, but I think Royals might be a tad better as far as route running goes. And just as far as versatility goes, I think Royals beats him there too. But I like, I like Noel. I haven't watched enough of Lane to have a good opinion on him. I watched him against Miami kicked our butt, but I put, I put in the notes for Jalen Lane. He was great against Miami parentheses. Who wasn't? Yeah. It was a fun year from Miami spec perspective. You know, um, it was, it's good because you get to watch the guys that are prospects, but also you get to watch the other prospects on

different teams, just destroying Miami all the time and making these other guys. McCourt would be the QB one in this draft if we're watching just Miami Williams to All right, Jamie, we got Jalen Noll going to the Jets. We've got Lane going to the Eagles, 96th overall, and we've got Jalen Royals going to the Chiefs. I'm not sure we have any fantasy, I don't know if anybody's getting drafted

in a redraft league there. Again, that's a Royal going, Jalen Royals to the Chiefs, Jalen Lane to the Eagles, I think it was. Yeah. And then Jalen Noel to what was it? I'm sorry. Jets, the Jets in round two. Yeah. That's certainly an interesting one. Just looking at what this team looks like now. They just had the news this morning of restructuring Alan Lazard's deal to basically allow him to stay on the roster. Uh, it sounds like they're going to cut them based on what he

was getting paid. And he basically took a huge the roster. It sounds like they're going to cut him based on what he was getting paid and he basically took a huge pay cut. So knowing that they can use a number two receiver to step in right away opposite Garrett Wilson is just the problem. Is Justin Fields, can he support multiple targets for what we talk about fantasy wise? I think all of these fits aren't going to be ideal statistically, but you certainly see the fits. The Chiefs one is very interesting

knowing that they have two young receivers locked in for the foreseeable future, but behind those two guys it's very thin and so, you know, sort of adding some depth there and maybe a playmaker that can help out at times, not necessarily being a superstar, but hey, Rashid Rice, if he's suspended or has a knee injury and we could see Some impact right away. I think they all make sense, you know, the Eagles are very thin So any injuries to AJ Brown or the Monty Smith helps out? potential rookie situation there as well, but you just don't see a clear path for any of these guys to be Dominant, but I think that's kind of the theme with this draft class is you know?

Ending up as as complementary players more so than the stars. All right, let me get to two more. One more comparison here between two players, and then I'll let Chris freelance at the end, talk about whoever he wants to talk about. Ty Felton out of Maryland, he's 6'1", 183 pounds, he ran a 4'3", 7'40", and Chimera DK out of UF. I think he played actually with Graham Mertz in Wisconsin and then transferred to Florida with Mertz and had 783 yards and two touchdowns in 13 games and he ran a blazing 43440 at 61196 pounds. So we got Ty Felton out of Maryland and Chimerae DK out of Florida. Well, I like Ty Felton a lot more and being the not the Florida guy in the room here, Jamie can certainly talk more about DK as well. I think Felton is a little bit stiff,

but he gives you more legitimate ability down the field. Like he plays to that low four, three speed. He reminds me a lot of, let me see, sorry, Troy Franklin last season at Oregon, that he wasn't a great route runner, he wasn't running intricate routes, but in the vertical game, and we saw Troy Franklin make some plays down the stretch with Bo Nix.

That's kind of the vibe that I get with Ty Felton. He gets pushed around a little bit because he's close to 180 pounds. DK is a little bit better built, like he has more of an NFL caliber frame. But I think he's very raw in terms of after the catch running routes. Reminds me a lot of someone that I watched a lot here in Buffalo, Robert Foster, who had like a little blip in Josh Allen's rookie season of making big plays down the field that ran like

four four one but played super fast. That's how DK I mean he certainly tested well too. You saw him open deep but not really anything underneath or at the intermediate level. Oh my gosh look at this stretch for Robert Foster was uh 2018 five games 94 more yards in four or five games three games with 104 to 108 yards. He was crushing it. That was a lot of fun. Uh, all right. So the floor is yours. Um, who else wants you to bring up the other, uh, Gators receiver who you talked about earlier, Elijah Badger and any other sleepers you want to highlight. Yeah, I love Elijah Badger. We were, I've said it 50 times.

I've kind of listed all the different missed tackle force rates for all these receivers. Not crazy high volume for Elijah Badger, but his missed tackle force rate at Arizona State for two seasons, 22 and 23, and then Florida in 24 was almost 36%. That's the highest of any player that I've talked about today.

I think he's being underrated because he only had 39 catches last season at Florida and there was DK there as well. I talked about the quarterback play was not great. He came down with the football on almost 70% of his contested catch situations. I think he runs pretty good routes. And I liked the fact that 75% of Elijah Badger's snaps in college were on the outside. A lot of these players were like, oh yeah, probably better in the slot. Give him more room.

Badger had to deal with press coverage. I thought his release package was good, very reliable hands. And I liked that even on those 39 catches, Elijah Badger averaged almost 21 yards per catch. And I remember early in the process, reading Lance Zerline from NFL.com's profile, because I was like, am I the only one in the world that likes Elijah Badger? I think one of the first things that Lance Zerline talked about was, or like his first note is a lot of games, this guy looks like he is a varsity player playing against JV guys, like the most talented guy in the field.

Would just like to see more of the consistency, which I certainly can get on board with. But I think Elijah Badger, even if he's a day three selection, has like the polish and the yards after the catchability to well outweigh his draft position. Okay. So some other names we didn't mention.

Kyle Williams out of Washington State, Tory Horton out of Colorado State, Kobe Hudson, UCF, Tess Johnson, Oregon, Savion Williams, TCU, Isaac Tesla, Arkansas, Xavier Restrepo out of Miami. You like any of these guys? Like, you know, like really like them? Like, like?

I'm not as high on Kyle Williams as a lot of people. I saw that Chris Sims had him as like his number two receiver in this draft. I'm not quite as high. I think he's like a bigger Greg Dorch. That's kind of how I view him. Torrey Horton would probably be probably be the one that you mentioned that I like the most. He reminds me a lot of Rashad Bateman and I like that Torrey Horton was like the number one guy for multiple seasons at Coloradoeman. And I like that Torrey Horton was like the number one guy for multiple

seasons at Colorado state. And every defensive coordinator knew Torrey Horton is going to get eight to 15 targets in this game and they couldn't stop him. He had an injury in his final season, but tested very well. He's over six to Adam. So you would like him just by that, uh, in its own right, a little bit under 200 pounds. So he's not a big body, but route running ability is there. I think, I think he's another one day three, maybe late day two that has a well rounded game and I like the production over multiple seasons at Colorado state, just to go back to that. Is Matthew golden going to be an outside receiver or a slot receiver?

You think, I think eventually in the slot, but I don't think like 80 to 90% in the slot. I think he showed at Texas and, uh, Dave and I both referenced it, his ability to contort his body and get his feet down in bounds on, on sideline rounds. That was like a specialty I thought to his game. So I think that in and of itself will keep him probably on the outside, eventually 20 to 30, maybe 40% of the time in the NFL. And Dave, Jamie, have any final thoughts? I'm looking to see how often he played in the slot.

Golden played in the slot last year. If you give me a second, I'll find it. Yeah. Jamie, uh, Macmillan to the Raiders, sixth overall and Chris's mock thoughts. I mean, again, another team that needs receiver help. And it's a it's a it's a good landing spot, you know, for what Gino Smith will do what I think will happen in this offense. I mean, we like Jacobi Myers, but he's certainly not a not a true number one guy, you know, he's better suited to be a complimentary receiver. So

that'd be a fun offense. You know, I think a lot of people are looking at and saying maybe that's a landing spot for Genti. I don't know if you have Genti going before the Raiders, but the idea of them adding two significant pieces offensively. And if you're going to do that to get a receiver and to get a running back, you may miss out on the better talent in Genti if that's the way Chris has it going. But there's obviously a lot more depth at the running back position in terms of, you know, not getting the top guy but getting some potential value and any of these guys behind Genting might be selling Hampton short to say he's not the second best running back. But you know, there's a lot of great talent in

that position. If you feel like McMillan is the second best receiver and you can get him, it's a smart move by the Raiders. Well, it's gonna be a very interesting dynasty discussion because if Hunter goes to the Browns and they're like, well, we're gonna play him on both sides. He's gonna be so difficult. It's gonna be hard for you guys. Yeah, it really is.

He's gonna play with, I don't know, 70% of the wide receiver snaps. Is that enough? Probably not. So we'll see. Dave, do you have our information? Dave Korsunsky Golden played 21% of his snaps in the slot last year. That was higher than Tet Macmillan, who was at 16.9% and Travis Hunter, who was at 4.8%. The guys

that we talked about a lot today that were heavy in the slot burdened, obviously almost all of us snaps 87% in the slot. Abouka 72% Jalen, Noel 61%. Everybody else was under 30%. OK, OK. And a couple of people that we talked about, Jalen Lane. I'll look them up. Yeah, whatever. All right, Chris, thank you. You're dumb. You're you're free from us for a little while. We appreciate it, man. Have

a great week. Thanks for having me on. Yeah, no, it's okay. 83% for lane. Yeah, there you go. Chris, save some time, I think probably Saturday, day three of the draft. It's an annual tradition. When my eyes are bugging out right after all the grades. Yeah, you joined us to tell us about all the players that I've never heard of.

Chris did a great job with that last year. A hundred percent. Yeah, it was awesome. You know, remember when you took the day off? I didn't do it last year. No, you didn't. Oh, it was my wife's 40th birthday. It was her 40th birthday. I couldn't. That was come on. That's a good excuse, right? No, I didn't say it was a, you didn't have a good excuse. You just didn't do it. Of course he did a good job. That's why I didn't do it. I was like, if it was only going to be Jamie, I of course I would have been on. But I knew we had Chris, so we were fine.

All right. Well, we'll talk to you all on Monday on Fantasy Football Today. Enjoy your weekend.