Fantasy Football Today - NFL Draft: Scouting the Elite WRs (04/02 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: April 2, 2022

Download and follow Fantasy Football Today in 5 for Fantasy advice in just five minutes! You can find Fantasy Football Today in 5 on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else podcasts are found. Who is Emory Hunt's overall #1 WR in the 2022 Draft? Who are some of the top slot receivers? And who are some Day 2 or Day 3 guys who could become Fantasy starters? You can also follow the full-length Fantasy Football Today podcast here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-podcast/id261735167 Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs, @BenSchragg You can listen to Fantasy Football Today in 5 on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today in 5 podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today in 5 podcast." Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter 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

What does possible sound like for your business? It's having the spend to power your scale with no preset spending limit. Redefine possible with Business Platinum. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Terms and conditions apply. Visit amex.ca slash business platinum. More wide receiver talk as we get ready for an exciting position in the NFL draft right now with Emory Hunt. I'm Adam Azer. Join us every week with Emory Hunt here on Fantasy Football Today in 5 as he breaks

down draft prospects and follow him on Twitter at FBallGamePlan, at FBallGamePlan. Yesterday, you gave us your number one split end, Drake London, your number one flanker, Christian Watson, your number one slot receiver, Jamison Williams, who's recovering from a torn ACL, your number one flanker, Christian Watson. Your number one slot receiver, Jamison Williams, who's recovering from a torn ACL. Your number one inside receiver, Garrett Wilson. Who's your number one overall wide receiver? Again, a great question. I would go with Jamison Williams by half a point. And if he hadn't had the ACL injury, he'd be in that 90 club,

which is rare for me to give out. I don't give out a bunch of 90s, but he would have gotten that 90 because he is so dynamic of a football player. Yeah, fantasy managers are going to want to know. They're going to do their rookie dynasty drafts. They're going to want to know which rookie is going to give me the most fantasy value for a long time. When you look at Jamison Williams and compare him to maybe your number one running back in this class, how much of a gap is there between the top wide receiver and the top running back? Oh, there's a significant gap to about four to five point gap. And also it ties

into what we're seeing right now in the NFL, unless the running back comes out like a Saquon Barkley or maybe a Nick Chubb or someone that has that legit home run hitting capability, that explosive speed is going to be hard to put them over a receiver that's going to see the football a lot that has a chance to really ring up that cash register pretty quickly out there on the football field in the NFL. All right. So Jamison Williams is definitely someone we're going to be very excited about when he gets drafted in the first round. Now, I know there was a trio of slot wide receivers that you wanted to talk about. So who are they? Well, it's a quartet, man, because they're so jumbled up. And it's my two, three, four and five slot receivers. You're talking about Calvin Austin. I'm going in order out of Memphis. You also look at Jahad Dotson out of Penn State. You have

Wandel Robinson out of Kentucky, who is ridiculously elusive and fast and trailing Berks out of Arkansas. All three guys can touch the football and affect the game in a multitude of ways. You can put them in the backfield, hand the ball off, they can affect it as a returnman. And someone like Traylon Burks, he's a big physical guy, so he can do a lot after the catch,

despite that having this quote-unquote burner speed that everyone is talking about. But he can do a lot of things with the football that other guys can't. Yeah, I guess, how much does speed matter to you at the wide receiver position? Or what kind of speed are you looking for?

Not just 40 time, right? Game speed. You got to be game fast, man. And everyone loves to bring up Jerry Rice and rightfully so. Let's bring up Jerry Rice, okay? That's someone that, quote unquote, ran a 4.5, but he always was able to outrun defenders and never really get caught from behind. And you want to know what someone that is faster than Jerry Rice looks like out there?

We just brought up Bo Jackson. That was 4-1-9. Randy Moss, that was 4-2. So if you can play fast and also be fast, that's the difference. And if you're playing fast, you're already going to be ahead of the game. But if you're fast and also playing fast, that's a deadly combination. Do you think we'll have two Ohio State wide receivers drafted in the first round? I know Garrett Wilson is a top wide receiver for you. Not the top, but a top wide receiver for you.

But Chris Olave, another one. He is number five on the CBSSports.com draft rankings at wide receiver. Do you think Olave makes it into the first round? Easily. He was my number two split in and a half a point behind someone like Drake London. To me, he is the most polished receiver in the draft class. Everything he does is peerless. It's route running, how confident he is in catching the football, how athletic he is in getting out of his break. So he is someone that has tremendous polish. And that's why I feel like he's going to go in the first round. He may even be the first receiver taken.

Anyone else you want to talk about? Any high-end wide receivers that we haven't touched on? Listen, I am all aboard the George Pickens plane and the train as well because this dude can ball out. You think A.J. Green, that's what he plays like. And I love the athleticism, the go-get-it-tiveness of his game, willing to lay out for a pass. To me, those are the receivers you want. I think he's a bona fide ex, a guy that can step in and start day one. Philly would be the perfect place for someone like George Pickens.

And a sleeper, Jaquez Ezard out of Sam Houston. This dude, I was at the NFL PA Bowl out in Pasadena. Every time you looked up, he's running past someone on a deep ball, catches the football very well deep. He's someone that can touch it as a returner. When he was at Howard, they used him in the wide receiver run game. He was dynamic there. If you're looking for a quote-unquote Debo Samuel light, keep an eye out for Jaquan Ezard.

And, oh, by the way, he got a call up to the senior bowl. First practice there, deep ball, he went down the field, burned a cornerback like he did earlier in the week at the NFLPA game. Man, we're getting some seriously good talent at wide receiver in these recent drafts. I mean, last year was just amazing. This year looks like it's going to be really good.

Hopefully, no offense to these guys, but gone are the days where John Ross and Corey Davis and Corey Coleman were top 10, top 15 picks. And, you know, we got the, it could be refreshing for the position, I think, and really change the landscape and fantasy for a while. Emery, thank you very much for coming on. We'll talk to you next week.