Fantasy Football Today - Sophomore WRs: Who is #3? Who are the Breakouts? (02/28 Fantasy Football Podcast)
Episode Date: February 28, 2022Kicking it off with a round of WR trivia! Then we'll debate who should be ranked third (4:00) behind Ja'Marr Chase and Jaylen Waddle. Is it DeVonta Smith? Amon-Ra St. Brown? Elijah Moore? ... How good... can Chase and Waddle be (9:05)? Does Waddle have Top 5 upside? After those two, who has the most upside in this class (14:30)? Who might have the most downside based on ADP (17:40)? Also we give you a sleeper, breakout and bust (20:15) ... Thoughts on more 2021 rookies (27:15) like Kadarius Toney, Rashod Bateman, Rondale Moore, Terrace Marshall and even more. Then we've got your news and notes (37:40) ... Your emails at fantasyfootball@cbsi.com Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs, @BenSchragg 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 You can listen to Fantasy Football Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast." To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports.
On his way to the end zone.
Tell you what, that was a spectacular play.
It's time to dominate your fantasy league.
What a play.
Off to the races.
Touchdown.
Oh, he's done it again.
Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, Heath, and Beck.
Well, we had two top 12 wide receivers in full PPR.
One of them was top five. Jamar Chase was outstanding.
Jalen Waddell, huge season for him.
He wasn't top 12 in non-PPR or half PPR, but he did make the cut in full PPR.
Other than that, it was a little bit disappointing for the rookie wide receivers,
but we do see a lot of promise and a lot of potential.
Welcome to the show on this Monday. Getting a new week started. Almost getting a new month started.
I'm Adam with Jamie. What's up, Jamie?
How we doing?
What's up, buddy? It's good to have you back.
Yes, it's good to be back. Thank you for holding down the fort. Appreciate that on Thursday's show.
I love talking about the young running backs. I missed that opportunity, but let's talk about the young wide receivers. And three of them went over 900 yards,
which is always a good thing,
but it did take 17 games for Devante Smith to do that.
I do have some trivia I'd like to start with
if you're interested.
Absolutely.
Okay, I'm calling it 2021 rookie wide receiver
unconfirmed trivia.
And that means I don't-
Something game that you would do.
Yeah, I don't know if these answers are true or correct,
but we'll try anyway.
Okay, here we go.
Of these four, this one's definitely correct.
Of these four, who had the highest percentage of his team's receiving yards?
Jamar Chase, Jalen Waddell, Devante Smith, or Amandra St. Brown?
Who had the highest percentage of his team's receiving yards?
I'm going to go with Amandra St. Brown? Who had the highest percentage of his team's receiving yards? I'm going to go with
Amandra St. Brown.
You, sir, are
incorrect. I have to get the very mean and
loud wrong buzzer up
to make you feel inferior.
The one I was torn on was
Devante Smith.
You know, I thought it was going to be Devante
Smith. It was actually Jabari Chase.
He ran away with it.
He had 30% of his team's receiving yards.
The others were close.
Waddle, 25.8%.
Devontae Smith, 25.6%.
St. Brown, 23.4%.
Okay, this one I think is right.
But we'll see.
How many rookie wide...
Take your time on this one.
How many rookie wide receivers led their team in receiving yards?
How many rookie wide receivers led their team receiving yards?
I'm going to say four.
Okay.
Who do you think?
Elijah Moore.
Yeah.
Brown.
How did you get Elijah Moore?
He had like 500 yards.
Yes.
He led the team.
Mara St. Brown. Jalen W and Brown. How did you get Elijah Moore? He had like 500 yards. Yes, he led the team. Monrath and St. Brown.
Mm-hmm.
Jalen Waddell.
Mm-hmm.
Jamar Chase.
Oh, no, five.
Jamar Chase and Devante Smith.
Hey, good job.
Yes, five.
I was, it was stunning to see Elijah Moore
led the Jets in receiving,
but he did, and St. Brown as well.
Okay, Jamar Chase had a 201 yard game and a 266 yard game.
Which rookie had the next most yards in a single game?
I should say I'm not sure about this one, but I think I got it.
Was it Waddle?
No.
Elijah Moore?
No.
Mara St. Brown?
No.
Single game. Come on. You're. Brown? No. Single game.
Come on.
You're going to be so mad at yourself.
Who was it?
Kadarius Toney.
Oh, right, right, right.
I forgot about him.
Right.
That's got to be right.
189 yards.
Yeah.
All right.
Two more.
Who had more 80-yard games, 80-yard receiving?
Rashad Bateman or Devontae Smith?
Or was it a tie?
It was a tie.
It was a tie, correct.
They both had three.
And true or false,
Josh Palmer caught a touchdown in all three games
in which he played 60% or more of the snaps.
True.
It is true.
I thought that was one of my favorite stats.
He played one game without Keenan Allen,
he caught a touchdown.
One game without Mike Williams,
caught a touchdown.
Yeah, I know you do.
I know you're excited about him.
So I did a Twitter poll here
as we'll run through these guys,
these rookies now,
sophomore wide receivers.
Looking at the 2021 rookies,
we're going to put Chase and Waddle
as the top two in next season's fantasy rankings.
Who should be wide receiver three?
And I know from talking to you yesterday on FFT and Five, you're torn between St. Brown, Smith, and Elijah Moore.
Early, early poll results, 130 votes.
Devontae Smith, 38.5%.
St. Brown, 31.5%.
Elijah Moore, 24.6%. Other, 5.4%. St. Brown, 31.5%. Elijah Moore, 24.6%.
Other, 5.4%.
Where are you?
Who's number three in this class behind Chase and Waddle?
Right now, it's St. Brown for me.
As I told you, like you said, FFT and five,
that I want to see, obviously, what the offseason brings
for all three of these guys
because they all could be facing some significant changes.
If the Lions and the Jets bring in other receivers,
that could certainly change some things.
I think we expect the Lions to bring at least one more guy.
Jets could potentially as well.
And for the Eagles, you know, is it going to be two things?
Who's the quarterback?
At this point, it's seemingly going to be Jalen Hurts,
but you never know if they get into the Russell Wilson or Deshaun Watson
or maybe even Aaron Rodgers sweepstakes. And then the other
part of it is philosophically, you know, what are they going to do? Is it going to be more of Nick
Sirianni just saying, we're going to run, run and run some more. And then you're going to see,
you know, minimal targets for Devante Smith. He can still be successful with those minimal
targets, but that's the concern because he was trending in the right direction at the start of
the season when they were throwing the ball a lot more and then he started to tail off and was very frustrating as the season unfolded so
love the potential for davante smith not a surprise that he's winning the poll uh hopefully
he's going to be the third guy because of where a lot of fantasy managers drafted him in dynasty
leagues and keeper leagues and whatnot uh but you got to be a little bit concerned about where the
upside lies if this offense continues in the path that it was headed at the middle to the end
of last season yeah last in the nfl and pass attempts that's just that's tough to overcome
and let me tell you let me ask you if this matters to you when you look at elijah moore who
really flashed his last six games of the season i'll give you the numbers real quick last six
games yeah but then context a lot not the last six games of his have to put that in context, though. Not the last six games. Of his season. His last six games. His season, yeah.
Sorry.
34 catches, 459 yards, five touchdowns on 51 targets.
That's a 17-game pace of 96 catches, 1,300 yards, 14 touchdowns on 144 targets.
It's outstanding, especially when you consider he faced three teams that were top 10 against wide receivers,
two teams that were top three, the Bills and the Eagles.
He did well enough against both of them.
He only faced one team that was an easy matchup.
And this, though, I want to get your thoughts.
In that stretch, or basically all season,
Elijah Moore did not have any good games
with both Zach Wilson and Corey Davis.
Most of his good games came without Wilson.
And the Jets quarterbacks in the four games that Elijah Moore went off
and Zach Wilson missed, they threw 47 times per game for 356 yards per game.
So great passing numbers.
Then Wilson came back and was awful, right?
And then Corey Davis was missed most of that time too.
So I don't know.
Does that matter to you at all?
I mean, a little bit.
It's kind of like what we talked about with the running backs.
Michael Carter's best games came without Zach Wilson on the field as well.
So I jokingly posed the question, I think, to Chris Towers.
I asked him, it's a key question about each running back situation and i said should the jets go with mike white as their
quarterback you know because he was good for the fantasy assets there at least the non-zack wilson
quarterbacks were good for the fantasy assets there we didn't see this jets offense as a whole
really for the majority of the season because elijah moore missed some time earlier in the year
and cory davis then he missed time. And then Michael Carter missed time.
And then Zach Wilson this time, that's their four key components there. When you talk about the
receiving core and the running backs and the quarterback. So I'm hopeful that Zach Wilson
takes that next step that Elijah Moore and Zach Wilson got on the same page. That's the duo that
we're going to see for, you know, hopefully many years to come. If in fact they're good,
Corey Davis is not necessarily a long-term solution there for the Jets,
at least not in my opinion.
So we'll see.
You know, I'm hopeful for Elijah Moore.
You know, he was one of my favorite guys coming out of this class.
I know Dave and Heath had, you know, similar feelings as well.
You know, I'll go back to the story that I think it was in The Athletic
that he wrote on his mirror.
You know, I always think of Rocky with this, but he wrote on his mirror
the name of the five guys that were drafted ahead of him and he looked at that every day you know i think
of the picture you know that apollo used to put a rocky and rocky did a drago um you know so uh
those kind of you know quirky things always catch my eye uh but in any event i i'm excited for elijah
more which is why i say i go back and forth between him and St. Brown with Smith right now in the third spot of the three that you mentioned.
Okay.
How good can Jamar Chase and Jalen Waddle be?
What are their ceilings?
I mean, I hate to think that we've seen their ceilings,
but you've seen certainly the highs of what Jamar Chase can be.
You referenced it, the two 200-yard games.
I mean, he's just such a difference maker.
And as the season went on, it wasn't just the plays down the field.
You know,
we started to see him do other things.
I mean,
it's,
it's pretty remarkable when you think he took a year off of football and
was still that good.
And so the sky's the limit for him to be,
you know,
the number one wide receiver,
I think in fantasy and,
and maybe for many years to come because he's with his quarterback who is
also,
also trending in the right direction.
So Jamar Chase can be an absolute star.
And then for Waddle, I think, you know,
the addition of Mike McDaniel and the system that they're going to put in,
you know, you, you've talked about this a lot, Adam.
We've mentioned this with the coaching hire yards after catch so big in San
Francisco.
And so will he help and will Tua Tungavailoa also help, you know,
just getting Jalen Waddell in space?
You know, does he have the potential maybe to be like a Debo Samuel
in terms of getting some touches in the back foot as well?
You know, I know you talked about this a lot.
And obviously anybody who watched Jalen Waddell in Alabama,
the explosiveness, we really didn't see that with the Dolphins
because of how they used him.
And so better offensive line, more time for Tua to throw,
getting, you know, Waddell just different opportunities,
different ways to get the ball in his hands.
He's a top 10 guy for me coming in in PPR, top 15 in non-PPR.
I love the upside, love the potential.
So both those guys, I think, can be really special talents.
Chase could be the number one receiver to answer your question
in terms of his ceiling.
And then for Waddle, I think he could be maybe top eight, top six, top five,
even if things are really great in PPR. Yeah. Well, yeah well yeah i mean so that's kind of what i wanted to get you think
he could be top waddle could be top five chase could be number one it's weird it's chase just
had 1455 yards and 13 touchdowns he ended up as wide receiver five now he could definitely be
better than debo because debo had all that rushing production. You know, he was not better than Kup,
who had this historic season with 1,947 yards.
He was not better than Adams,
who played one fewer game than Chase,
although Chase barely played in Week 18.
Still had more yards than Chase, but fewer touchdowns.
He was not better than Justin Jefferson.
The big thing that you got to see the increase in,
and you probably will, is catches.
It's hard for a rookie to have 81 catches,
which is what Jamar Chase had,
but Justin Jefferson had around that in his rookie year.
He was up to 108 in an extra game in his second year.
You'll see more catches.
You'll see more PPR production from that standpoint.
Obviously, Chase, the pedigree, the rookie production,
it's incredible, and yeah, his wide receiver one
is not out of the question.
Where do you have him ranked overall at wide receiver right now he's fourth right now but you know
davante adams situation is clearly pending so if adams ends up a with a bad quarterback in green
bay obviously if rogers leaves and it's jordan love or somebody else b if he goes someplace else
as a free agent doesn't have the same type of quarterback situation or offensive situation and you know goes uh goes the route
that we're not hoping to see you know with with uh you know just a complete downturn in in
unbelievable production for him then he'll move up um i do think you know there was there was story
coming out of minnesota last week i think it was after we did our show maybe it was thursday
afternoon or friday afternoon, of the new offensive
coordinator there who's escaping me, I apologize.
It's going to be on Kevin O'Connell's staff
saying that they're not going to
be tied to
a run first team. They're going to be
more balanced. He said they're not getting
away from the run. This isn't a
bad situation necessarily for Dalvin
Cook because of what his role will be in the passing
game, but could really just unleash Justin Jefferson.
And I think that's the decision.
A lot of people have to make is Jefferson versus chase.
Uh,
for me,
it's Jefferson still,
uh,
but chase could easily go past them for sure.
And I think we could see a situation on a lot of people's draft boards.
If Adams,
again,
bad situation cup.
And then those two guys,
Jefferson chase two and three in some,
some order.
Uh, by the way i don't
know how you west phillips is a household name i didn't have i didn't google it uh he's just you
know it's just something that everybody knows now west phillips is now the vikings offensive
coordinator uh if anyone's interested i don't know that that you will well you might be interested
it might not make a difference to you. I went back the last six seasons,
and I looked at all of the instances of two wide receivers on the same team
finishing in the top 15 in PPR.
There were 11 instances of teammates finishing top 15 in full PPR
in the same season.
None of them finished as wide receiver one.
Now, that's in full PPR.
It did happen in non-PPR.
Devontae Adams, six years ago,
he was the best one that I found.
Devontae Adams was wide receiver two
in full PPR, wide receiver one.
No, no, it wasn't Adams.
It was Nelson, and Adams was wide receiver 10.
Jordy Nelson was wide receiver two
in non-PPR, wide receiver one.
In full PPR, Adams was wide receiver 10.
Other than that, the highest finish I found for a wide receiver who had a teammate
finished top 15 was wide receiver four for Cooper cup in 2019,
which was not a great year for receivers as I recall.
And so there out of 11,
only one finished higher than fourth.
And why am I bringing that up?
Because there's,
there is T H Higgins,
who I think a lot of people are going to have in the top 15.
It's just something to keep in mind.
But it probably doesn't matter.
Chase is that good.
Right.
All right.
Who has the most upside in this class other than Jamar Chase?
Is it easily Waddle?
I think so.
But just to go a different route,
since we know those are going to be the first two drafted,
I think you can look at a lot of scenarios,
but I guess the one that makes the most sense to me would be Elijah Moore,
just because we saw that sample size of what he could be.
And again, I was excited about him coming into the season.
Look, Amara St. Brown, if they don't change things dramatically
and you get that over a you know, a full season,
you know, clearly he was, he was turning into something pretty special. Obviously fantasy
managers, you know, recognize that. And, uh, you know how I felt about him coming out last,
last season, you know, once we got past the draft, he was kind of the under the radar guy of the
non-obvious ones that I was looking at just because there's landing spot, you know, it really
wasn't anything more than that, that he went to a situation in Detroit that they didn't have a lot
of talent. And it's why we like, you know,
TC Hawkinson and DeAndre Swift last year.
And it played itself out, you know, for, you know,
at least two of those guys.
And so Amara St.
Brown, if he does that, my gosh, you know, he's going to be a star,
you know, and can be a top 10 wide receiver.
I don't expect him to, but certainly can do that.
So I think it's probably those four, you know, Chase, Waddle,
Elijah Moore and, and St. Brown probably those four, you know, chase model, Elijah Moore and,
and St.
Brown.
And then,
you know,
look,
if the Eagles swing a trade for,
let's just say it's the Sean Watson and okay.
Now we just don't have to run the ball and run the ball and run the ball.
Then maybe Devante Smith gets unleashed and we know about his potential,
what he was expected to do coming into the league.
Yeah.
I'm still gonna,
I'm still gonna take Smith just because I, just going to buy into the pedigree.
The answer is who has the most upside
other than Chase, the question is.
And I guess you eliminated Waddle.
He said that was the answer.
I guess Waddle, you have to give it to him.
But I just look at the Eagles
and maybe they just can't run that type of offense again.
Just look at the Ravens and they just can't run that type of offense again. I mean, right.
Just look at the Ravens,
right.
And how things went so sideways for them.
They became more of a passing team.
The Vikings,
more of a passing team that we had seen in the past. So if that keeps happening,
then,
um,
yeah,
I'm sorry.
I got distracted because we have,
we have someone else coming on the show to join us.
It's Dave, the utility backup guy.
Hey, utility backup guy.
Can you hear me?
No, not yet.
All right.
I'm going to remove Dave for now.
We'll get him back on.
Yeah, anyway, I know he's going to dominate targets for the Eagles.
I think that's what it is for me.
And I just want to see Devontae Smith get unleashed a little bit.
I think based on if you want a piece of this class and the upside,
he's the best value.
You could say Rashad Bateman.
You could say Rondell Moore. I certainly wouldn't disagree on that.
But Smith is going to be drafted fifth most likely of that group.
He's going to be behind Chase, behind Waddle, behind Moore, and behind St. Brown.
Dave, you there?
No, not yet?
Maybe.
This is fun for the YouTube audience.
This is like Marla Hooch getting it out of the batter's box.
Who might have the most downside
just based on where they'll be drafted?
I mean, the obvious answer is Chase.
I think probably the next one.
Huh?
He's got no downside, dude.
Well, injury.
Injury to Burrow.
Forget injury.
Injury aside, who's got the most downside?
I just said he has no downside.
That is a dangerous comment to make, but go ahead.
Probably it's St. Brown, you know,
because, again, he was so fantastic
at the end of the season.
And, I mean, you know, the Lions could draft somebody day two, day three, and you're saying,
okay, not going to be much of an impact. And then he has the Amon Ross St. Brown factor,
you know, or they bring in, you know, I'm not saying this because I don't think there's going
to be a reunion of Marvin Jones in Detroit, but a Marvin Jones type of guy, you know, that type of,
you know, second tier free agent type of guy, you know, not like an Allen Robinson or
somebody who's had, you know, really significant success, but someone who's had some success
and can come in and then just, you know, fall in line with, you know, Jared Goff and those two
start to connect and Hawkinson back and Swift, you know, playing because obviously a lot of
St. Brown's production came when those two guys were dealing with injuries. So, you know, I think
you're going to see him probably drafted you know maybe around
four in ppr you know probably no later than round five in both formats or all formats maybe around
six you know so top six round pick you know if he doesn't deliver based on those expectations
you're going to be a little bit disappointed it's terrifying if you have to if i had to take
the mono st brown around four and fullPR, I just couldn't do it.
I just think that at wide receiver,
you really want to attach yourself to good offenses,
at least with your early picks.
And that's the danger.
I mean, you just talked about it,
but that just scares me for a round four pick.
I think if you're taking him in round four,
we're going to start to see, I think,
even more of a shift of the modified RB drafting,
you know,
of one running back and then,
you know,
probably people leaning heavy receiver.
So once you get into,
you know,
that number three receiver range,
that's going to potentially be around four for a lot of teams,
a lot of leagues.
Okay.
So I've given this stat before.
I'll give it again.
This is just looking at top 12 wide receiver.
So you can say, well, I'm not drafting him in round four
to be a top 12 wide receiver.
That might be more like wide receiver 18 or 20.
But I think if you draft somebody in round four,
you at least want to have the hope that he can be a top 12 receiver.
Over the last six seasons,
72 wide receivers have finished top 12 in PPR.
Only 11 of them were on offenses that ranked 20th or worse in scoring. That's 15%
of top 12 wide receivers were on offenses that were 20th or worse in scoring in the last six
seasons. Okay, so let's go to some more questions here. Give me a sleeper in this class, a sleeper.
I mean, Josh Palmer for me, you know, especially if Mike Williams is gone,
you mentioned it, you know, when his playing time was up, the touchdowns were there.
Obviously you're attaching yourself to a good offense because of the great quarterback that
they have in Justin Herbert.
He's not going to do the exact same things that Mike Williams did, but, you know, he's
not going to see, you know, certainly the focal point of the coverage when you have
a guy like Austin Eckler and a guy like Keenan Allen and whatever else they do, you know,
to surround this, this group, you know, maybe an upgraded tight end over Jared Cook.
So I just like the opportunity for him again.
It's just something that I'll always look for is a guy stepping into a good situation
with a good quarterback and a good system.
And I think Josh Palmer showed you some things last year when he had that opportunity.
I think he'll continue to build on that.
So another guy that I liked, just not as highly as, let's say, like St. Brown or Elijah Moore,
but in a really good spot because of the opportunity if Mike Williams is gone and nobody of significance
is brought back in return.
Okay, Josh Palmer is your sleeper.
Who's a breakout?
I'll go back to Elijah Moore.
You know, just again, the sample size was impressive.
Hopefully Zach Wilson continues to grow with him
and those two get on the same page
and the rapport is excellent.
But, you know, just ton of potential,
ton of opportunity, and
should easily be the number one receiver on his offense
even with Corey Davis still there.
Bust. I hate to say it, but
it's probably Chase. If you're going to look at
it, I agree with everything you say.
He seems foolproof,
but what if
Higgins is better? What if Boyd still has
a lot to offer? What if
Joe Burrow spreads the ball around a little bit more? What if he's, you know, a prediction about
the Bengals that they are too efficient and we don't see a lot of the big plays for Jamar Chase.
So it's just based on draft capital. I would, I'm taking Chase in the first round. I'm not,
I'm not scared of it, but he's, he's the guy, you know, I guess the next guy would be clearly
St. Brown, you know, just based on everything that we talked about. But those are the two,
you know, based on just the capital that you're going to St. Brown, you know, just based on everything that we talked about. But those are the two, you know, based on just the capital you're going to spend that would, you know, I think fall into that category.
Yeah. And I think you and I are not looking at Jamar Chase as a boss.
You and I are fine taking it. I think most people are going to be fine taking him in the first round or early second round.
St. Brown's going to make people nervous because it was only six games.
It was incredible. But and also, I mean, you're talking about last year, I don't know how much this is going to matter to people.
It'll matter differently to different people.
You had this great, great class of wide receivers.
You had three guys picked in the top 11, I believe.
What was Smith?
11th, 10th, 11th, 12th, something like that.
Smith was 10th.
10th, okay.
Three guys in the top, right.
The Giants had 11.
Three in the top 10, and that was Justin Fields
went 11 to the Bears.
You had two more in the first round. Then you had all these second round guys we liked. And Sam Brown was in the top ten, and that was Justin Fields went 11 to the Bears. You had two more in the first round.
Then you had all these second-round guys we liked.
And Sam Brown was in the fourth round.
So people might be a little nervous just buying into him,
depending on where he goes in fantasy drafts.
But I think Devontae Smith could be a bust too,
as much as I think he has huge upside.
But if they do come out and run the same offense,
he wasn't even a top 40 wide receiver last year. So if you told me right now they were out and run the same offense, he wasn't even a top 40 wide receiver last year.
If you told me right now they were
going to run the same offense, they were going to be last in the NFL
in pass attempts, or let's say
30th in pass attempts.
I don't think I'd take Devontae Smith until round
seven or something like that, if
you guaranteed me that.
I just don't know if he's getting drafted before that now
anyway. You don't think so?
Maybe around six. Again, if it's a heavy wide receiver draft,
I think people are just frustrated with it.
And knowing that there's going to be a lack of targets,
a lack of big plays, a lack of – not actually a lack of big plays,
but a lack of consistent production.
And that's not something that you're looking for.
I just want to go back because I found the tweet from Mike Clay
in regards to – Mike Clay of ESPN does a great job of about Amon Ross St.
Brown.
So this is the list of players with eight plus catches in five straight games
going back to 1950 and the names that Amon Ross St.
Brown is on the list with Michael Thomas, Antonio Brown, Travis Kelsey,
Anquan Bolden, Wes Welker, Andre Johnson, Marvin Harrison twice, Isaac Bruce,
Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson,
and then TJ Hushmanzada, Eric Moulds, and Moussa Mohamed.
So Thomas Brown, Kelsey, Welker, Johnson, Bolden, Harrison, Bruce, Fitzgerald,
Calvin Johnson, just absolutely ridiculous that Amon Ronstadt-Brown is with those guys.
Yeah, that's pretty good.
And is Dave on that list?
I didn't hear Dave Richard on that list.
I heard Hushmanzada.
That's enough for me.
Oh, okay.
Hey, Dave.
Any list that's got Houshmand Zada on it is a good list to be on.
So Chris was supposed to be on the show today.
He's unfortunately sick.
So Dave is pinch hitting late in the show.
Would you like to play just one round of unconfirmed trivia?
Sure.
Okay.
I've never played this game before.
How does this go?
It's just trivia that i think i
know the answer to that i've been about sure yeah azure trivia how many rookie wide receivers led
their team in receiving yards jamie got this one right i was very impressed how many rookie wide
receivers led their team in receiving yards this past year yeah ever yeah this past year ever that'd be a bigger number uh top of
the dome guess is three top of the dome guess is terrible it's five would you believe elijah moore
led his team and receive oh wow so did chase so did waddle. So did Devante Smith. So did Amandra St. Brown.
Yeah, that's your five.
Ah, four would have been a better guess.
I never would have put Elijah in there.
All right, so we've talked.
Yeah, I know.
It was crazy.
I mean, for him to.
My first guess.
I know.
It was your first guess.
Wow.
But he had.
What did he have?
Like 530 receiving yards?
538.
All right.
So the rest of this segment,
I'm going to give you guys a wide receiver.
I'm going to give you a name,
and then you can just give me some quick thoughts on them,
some guys that we haven't talked too much about.
I'd say so far we've talked enough about Chase, Waddle, Smith,
and Elijah Moore for sure, and Amandra St. Brown.
We'll try to cover the other guys.
We're going to do that after we take a quick break
right here on Fantasy Football today.
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Welcome back.
Time for some quick thoughts on these rookie, now sophomore,
or soon-to-be sophomore wide receivers.
All right, Dave.
Kadarius, Tony, go.
Should be
utilized more in
a more creative offense in
New York. And Jamie?
Like him.
Jamie? Kadarius Tony?
Oh, the next DeFondix.
Yeah, I agree with Dave.
Hopefully, Brian Dable unleashes him,
but more importantly, hopefully he stays healthy
because I think if he's healthy, he'll produce.
Kadarius Toney was 15th among wide receivers
in missed tackles forced after the catch,
and he did that with, I think, 39 catches.
So he forced 12 missed tackles think 39 catches. So, he
forced 12 missed
tackles on 39 catches.
Devontae Adams forced
13 missed tackles on 132
catches. Tyreek Hill
forced 15 on 134 catches.
That includes the postseason for both those guys.
Tony forced 12
on 39 catches.
So, he's very elusive.
Alright, next up, Dave.
He's got the same thing by himself.
Probably. Rashad Bateman.
He's the guy that I think
the fantasy industry
wants to have
as a breakout, but
I have a feeling that this Ravens
offense is going to look like it did back in 2020
and 2019.
And he's someone I'm probably avoiding unless he falls in drafts.
Marquise Brown goes and plays video games for a living.
And Rashad Bateman becomes a startable fantasy wide receiver in all leagues.
Rondale Moore, who also was very good at forcing missed tackles.
He was 12th among wide receivers and missed tackles forced on only 59 catches, I think, for Rondell Moore.
Dave, Rondell Moore.
Going to be a popular PPR and half PPR pick.
Opportunity is definitely possible because you know about Christian Kirk, A.J. Green.
Don't know if they're going to be back in Arizona.
Don't know who the running backs are going to be.
Don't know if Zach Ertz is going to be there.
Don't know who the quarterback is going going to be. Don't know if Zach Ertz is going to be there. Don't know who the quarterback's going to be either.
But, yeah, it'll probably be. Oh, we do now.
Yeah, it seems like it's going to be Kyler, yeah.
They'd be dumb to move on from him at this point.
I think he might be worth taking ahead of Bateman
in full PPR drafts right now.
Jamie?
Yeah, I agree.
I think he's going to be popular.
I mean, look, they're bringing in somebody
or bringing back somebody.
They just can't go with the group that they have,
especially Hopkins coming off an injury.
But Rondell Moore's in a great spot,
and we're going to see a lot of the copycat San Francisco,
Debo Samuel, even if you throw Cordero Patterson in there,
especially after the report of Arthur Blank
wanting him back in Atlanta.
A lot of these teams are going to try
and I think do these hybrid type of players,
and Rondell Moore fits that bill.
Yeah, you know, Rondell Moore,
again, I don't know how much this stuff matters to you.
By the way, he had 54 catches on 64 targets.
His ADOT was 1.4 yards.
Yeah, it was terrible.
And in eight games, he played 14.
In eight of them, he had a negative ADOT.
So he just wasn't...
We didn't see him as really a wide receiver.
We just saw him as a gimmick player.
He had one game all year with an ADOT higher than 5.3 yards.
What's ADOT? It's average depth of target.
So basically, they were throwing him the ball at the
line of scrimmage or behind the line of scrimmage in
most games. And in that one game, by the way,
where he had more than 5.3
yards average depth of target,
he only had four targets.
I don't know what to make of that. He has shown
us absolutely nothing.
What does that make him? A pick
after round 10? Does he go after
pick 120? Is he before that?
Today, he probably goes after that.
If they don't address the receiver position significantly,
he's going to go before them.
All right, let's get some more names here.
Terrace Marshall.
What an absolute disaster he was.
Absolute disaster.
I hope that they realize DJore should be in the slot and terence marshall
should be outside they do too much of and dj moore's been good clearly he's been very productive
um as an outside receiver but he's just so good with the ball in his hands and would be so much
better if he got more opportunities playing closer to the line scrimmage and not necessarily having
to just run down the field
and make plays because it shows you what he can do
while he's doing that.
But I think he'd be an absolute stud
if he was in the slot a little bit more.
And then Terrace Marshall,
much more of a big play receiver on the outside
than he is in the slot.
They tried to make him this big slot receiver,
just didn't work.
And so flip those two, give DJ Moore 190 targets
and we'll see how he does.
But obviously Terrace Marshall,
if he's going to be their slot receiver again, it's a
complete failure. And we'll see if Robbie Anderson's part
of the team too.
I'll disagree a little bit. I think that Marshall
and Moore should just
rotate in and out of the slot. We've seen Marshall
play well in the slot in college.
I almost want to discount everything that
we saw last year from
Carolina and maybe the last several years.
They need a quarterback more than they need anything else.
And when they do, I think we could see,
I think we'd see multiple receivers really do well.
And I know that's not really saying a whole lot because two years ago,
multiple receivers did do very well in Carolina,
but we all want DJ more to play great.
We're all going to draft them higher than probably what,
where he should get drafted,
but it's with the hope that he sees uptick in red zone production maybe he plays a lot more in the slot
and a little bit less outside marshall just needs to get in where he fits in and once he does i
think he can push robbie off the field or they go to just more three receiver sets but to me they've
got they gotta get the old line taken care, and they need a quarterback solution that's better than what they've had
the last two years.
All right, so other guys, Dwayne Eskridge, Tutu Atwell,
Deami Brown, Amari Rogers, Nico Collins, Anthony Schwartz,
Dez Fitzpatrick, all drafted ahead of Amandra St. Brown.
I don't know if there's any other deep sleepers that you guys like, but...
Nico Collins.
Yeah?
Yep, that's one. Who? I don't know if there's any other deep sleepers that you guys like, but yeah, yep.
That's one who he goes.
Nico Collins definitely has a shot to be a top two target getter for the Texans.
He's,
he's going to be interesting.
Big guy,
physical guy,
not a,
not a burner,
but he's interesting.
And then Anthony Schwartz could end up having a significant role for the
Browns.
If they move on from Jarvis Landry and they don't do much to replace anybody in the receiving core.
Donovan Peoples-Jones is going to be popular.
Schwartz could be right behind him, could be a good late-round pick.
Again, quarterback issue there.
Quarterback issue in both places, but guy who might see more work
than what anybody's really thinking about right now
could end up being helpful at least to speculate on to begin the season.
I think Diami Brown and your guy, Adam, Amari Rogers,
could be in good spots too.
We'll see what the Washington football – Washington Commanders, excuse me,
what their receiving core ends up looking like.
I mean, you've got to be hopeful that they do the Debo Samuel route
with Curtis Samuel because he was doing that before Debo Samuel was doing it
in Carolina, just not the same success. So if's healthy you know clearly he's going to be a part
of their of their wide receiver core but I think Dami Brown could also be you know either the two
or the three but if he's you know more of a traditional receiver than Curtis Samuel is he's
somebody that you should put on your radar with a late round pick and then Amari Rogers obviously
you know if the Packers they're most likely losing Valdez Gantling,
we'll see if they lose Lazard.
You know,
obviously there's a chance they lose Devante Adams.
So we could be looking at a total overhaul of their receiving
core and maybe a reset button on what their offense looks like.
But with a late round pick,
Amari Rogers could be in a really good spot,
even if it's Jordan Love or,
you know,
somebody of that,
you know,
caliber thrown in passes.
Yeah.
So let me update everybody on our poll question of the
day. Looking at the 2021
rookie wide receivers, we'll put Chase and
Waddle as the top two in next
season's fantasy rankings. Who should be wide
receiver three? Very, very
different results depending on the platform.
Okay, it is
very tight on Twitter. Amandra St.
Brown has pulled ahead of Devontae Smith at
36.2%. Devontae Smith is at pulled ahead of Devante Smith at 36.2%.
Devante Smith is at 35.4%.
Elijah Moore, 25.2%.
On Facebook, it is an Amandra St. Brown, I guess, getting close to a landslide.
He has 86 votes.
Elijah Moore has 53 votes.
And Devante Smith has 32 votes.
So Amandra St. Brown has 54 more votes than Devante Smith.
So it's interesting. Dave, who's number three for you in this class?
It's Elijah Moore. I'm expecting him to be more of a full-time player for the Jets. I think that
Jets offense can be significantly better with Wilson in his second year offensive line,
coming back healthy, if not being bulked up even more.
And I love the talent.
I really do.
With St. Brown, there were some amazing weeks toward the end of the year.
Everybody knows that.
Those weeks came without TJ Hawkinson on the field.
Most of those weeks came without DeAndre Swift on the field.
And their receivers coach, Antoine Randall-El,
everybody remembers that name who's been playing fantasy for a long time.
He's already said he wants the Lions to draft two wide receivers
and sign another in free agency.
So there's going to be some serious target competition for St. Brown.
I have a hard time believing he's going to get nine-plus targets per game.
Yeah.
While I'm on Facebook, guys, it is three friends' birthdays.
Should I write on their wall?
What do you think?
How close of friends are they?
None are close.
One girl, we went to high school together and college together.
I like her.
She's very –
One of the forerunner girls?
No, no, no.
No?
You didn't take her to South Beach?
No, she wasn't in that group.
She the one that got away?
No.
Just a friend.
I like her.
I'm going to write on her wall. I'm going to skip the other two.
I don't really... Wow.
I don't know if you should do that now.
You're like public
place saying that you're not going to wish them
a happy birthday. All you have to do is write happy birthday.
I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to do it.
They didn't write on my freaking wall.
Yeah, so maybe you should consider being friends with them on Facebook. I'm not going to lie. I I'm not going to do it. They didn't write on my freaking wall. Yeah, so maybe you should consider being friends with them on Facebook.
I'm not going to lie.
I don't know who one of them is.
I'll just click on the profile.
Oh, I know who this is.
Yeah, they're all fine.
I'm going to write on her wall, happy birthday, you are cool.
Okay.
It's not a middle school yearbook well i mean we went to high
school together it is kind of a yearbook all right so anyway uh let's read some neat summer
news and notes and then your and your emails a bunch of reports out there mike florio of pro
football focus said the dolphins were before the brian flores lawsuit i guess threw things
you know into chaos.
They were trying to trade for Sean Payton
and sign Tom Brady.
That would have been a lot of fun.
Kyler Murray.
Yeah, yeah.
Kyler Murray.
Hey, I'm sure the Giants wanted to do that too.
Kyler Murray wants to stay with the Cardinals
as long as it gets a long-term contract extension.
So it looks like fences are being mended there.
He's playing definitely there in 2022.
We'll see what happens after that.
Tampa Bay left guard.
I'm scared for him to play anywhere else.
I want him in Arizona.
I want him in that offense.
Tampa Bay left guard Ali Marpet retired.
Surprising.
Yeah, that's wild.
So their offense probably won't be as good as it was last year.
I think the Marpet loss is the biggest one there.
Seattle expected to re-sign
left tackle Dwayne Brown.
San Francisco could
keep Jimmy Garoppolo. Let's talk about the Niners,
Jamie. Schefter saying they could
keep Garoppolo, and also
Raheem
Mostert's agent says he's been
in contact with the Niners about
a reunion.
Let's just bring the band back together.
What do you think?
The Mostert situation would not surprise me at all because, you know,
I can see a scenario of, you know, he's been good for them when healthy,
obviously provides a veteran presence.
You know, Trace Herman did not, you know,
fit the bill for them last year and what they were hoping for.
Elijah Mitchell was a star, but he missed a lot of time, missed six games.
So with Wilson also a free agent, I could see Mostert coming back on a cheap deal. and what they were hoping for. Elijah Mitchell was a star, but he missed a lot of time, missed six games.
So with Wilson also a free agent, I could see Mostert coming back on a cheap deal and being just a pain in the butt for us because he'll get probably enough work
that it'll make things tough on Elijah Mitchell.
The Garoppolo thing is probably more of a smokescreen to drum up interest.
I'd be very surprised if he's back.
But again, this is where we've been hearing throughout the course of the 2021 season.
We talked about this last week that one faction wanted to draft a quarterback.
One either wanted a different quarterback or not to draft a quarterback at all.
And that's the GM and the coach.
And so I'm sure that question is going to be asked.
I will be standing right in front of either Kyle Shanahan or John Lynch.
I forget when they're speaking, either Tuesday or Wednesday at the combine,
but you know,
I'm certainly interested to hear what they have to say about that because
we're all excited to see what Trey Lance could offer.
And hopefully he will be the starting quarterback for the 49ers from a
fantasy perspective.
Dave,
it could be Jameis Winston back in new Orleans,
according to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN,
many around the league expect the saints to bring back Jameis Winston.
How would you feel about that? I'd be
mildly interested. I mean, we know the receiving core
should be better because Michael Thomas should be healthy and back and participating.
Worried about the left tackle situation there because I think Teron Armstead's going to go.
The rest of the offensive line's okay. We're going to find out just how
vital Sean Payton was
to that offense in New Orleans.
And I'm thinking that he was a pretty, pretty big part
of the success there,
especially when Winston had some of his big games.
I'm sure a lot of it was coming up with a game plan
that just ended up being perfectly right
and Winston paid off.
He'll have some boom weeks,
but he's not somebody that I plan on targeting
in typical one- one quarterback drafts.
I'm going to look him up in super flex drafts for sure.
Absolutely going to be on my radar there.
But I'm going to take the second year quarterbacks ahead of him for sure, just on their upside of being potentially awesome for fantasy.
Washington, according to ESPN's John Kime, has not made much progress on a long-term deal for right guard brandon scherf so he could be one of the top linemen on the move this offseason
and this was interesting here's some less interesting stuff eric biannimi is returning
as kansas city's offensive coordinator sean mcveigh is not retiring that's great and this
more interesting we'll talk about this one here uh Michael Sean Duggar of The Athletic,
hope I pronounced that right.
He's a Seahawks writer,
and he wrote a very,
I mean, on what used to be Roto World,
I don't know what,
NBC Sports Edge now,
just said, you know,
the athletic beat writer Michael Sean Duggar
said that Chris Carson should be
Seattle's lead back if healthy,
and he did say that,
but you should read the whole article if you can.
A lot of it is salary-based.
Carson's going to make more money than Penny
if they bring back Penny.
And a lot of it is health-based as well.
But Penny was so good down the stretch.
But he did say that Carson,
this is the Seahawks beat writer for the Athletics,
should be the lead back.
Carson should be the lead back if healthy.
Jamie, what do you think?
If both Carson and Penny are back,
do you think we get like a 60-40 split?
What do you think it looks like?
Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised that that's the ratio.
You know, I mean, we've been hearing, though,
basically for the last, you know, two plus years
of they want Penny to take the job.
They want him to be the guy.
You know, I don't know how much of that is
because of the investment that they made
and they don't want to look stupid.
But, you know, talent, I'm sure, matters.
And, you know, one guy was a first-round pick. One guy was, I think, a seventh round pick or sixth
round pick. You know, Carson was a, you know, late round selection. So I would love to see
Penny come back healthy for a full season and be the guy that we saw. That would be fun. But,
you know, don't discount what Chris Carson's been. He's been a very good fantasy running back. He's
been good for them. You know, he showed you he can catch passes. We saw that at the beginning of last season.
We saw it at times in 2019 as
well. But this neck injury is scary.
You've heard some
things that it could be
something that's long-term and maybe more
significant than they are letting on.
We'll find out in the next couple
weeks what offer they make to Penny. If Penny
decides to come back, I think that'll be telling
because, like you said, what carson's salary is right now um but wouldn't
be surprising if that's a position that they address because we know p carroll still wants
to run the ball and run the ball and run the ball which gets very frustrating for us well what's not
frustrating for us are your emails we appreciate i want to go back to something real quick just on
the bucks you know you mentioned that they're going to look different. This is what they're potentially
having to replace from
last year if everybody
leaves that are free agents. Their
quarterback, their top two running
backs, arguably the
top receiver, but certainly 1A.
Their top two tight ends, their left
guard, their center, their right guard,
one of their defensive ends,
I'm sorry, both their defensive ends, one of their outside linebackers, one of their cornerbacks, one of their defensive ends. I'm sorry, both their defensive ends.
One of their outside linebackers, one of their cornerbacks,
one of their safeties.
That's what's potentially gone of their start.
Of their starting 22.
Of their starting 22.
The only ones that are back are one, two, three, four, five, six, seven,
nine of their top 22 guys if they all come back.
Don't worry. Don't worry.
Don't worry.
They've got Blaine Gabbert.
They've got Scotty Miller.
Everything's going to be all right.
They returned every starter from their Super Bowl team.
They had their window to win another one,
and they will not return every starter this year.
All right.
Time for your emails.
Fantasyfootball.cbsi.com.
This is from Brian.
Where's Brian from?
Pensacola, Florida.
This is the first time that we've been allowing keepers in our league.
It's a super flex league.
PPR, two running backs, three receivers.
I can keep Javante Williams for a fifth rounder,
Jalen Waddell in the ninth,
or Travis Etienne in the twelfth.
So what do you think here? Jalen Waddell, probably not going to be Etienne in the 12th? So what do you think here?
Jalen Waddell, probably not going to be Etienne, I'm guessing,
but Javante in the 5th, Waddell in the 9th,
or Etienne in the 12th, PPR?
Waddell.
Well, it's Waddell unless Javante is clearly the only main back in Denver,
and Denver improves on its quarterback situation.
This is from Matt.
And Matt is from?
Zizek, California.
What round is too early to draft Gabriel Davis
in a dynasty startup, super flex, 12 team,
full PPR, tight end premium league.
Round one is too early.
Gabriel Davis, go.
Round two is too early.
Round three is too early.
Round four is too early.
I think round five is too early, too.
Five or six probably makes sense.
Well, we just did a Superflex Startup Dynasty mock draft
last week or something like that.
It was not tight end premium.
But let me see where
Gabriel Davis went in this draft. I will
check on that and get back to you. This is from
Shannon. Where's Shannon from, Dave?
Shannon is
from
French Lick, Indiana. I love this question.
I think this is tough.
Four keeper options.
He needs three.
It is a two wide receiver,
two running back league.
It is non-PPR.
Pick three.
Chase, Jonathan Taylor,
Cooper Cup, Nick Chubb.
Who the heck are you throwing back?
You got Jonathan Taylor, Nick Chubb,
Jamar Chase,
and Cooper Cup,
and you have to throw back one in non PPR.
Chubb.
It's either Chubb or Chase.
And I think it's better if you,
you stick with Chase for the long-term deal.
Gabriel Davis.
Round nine.
Round nine.
That's, that's, that's great. Right after. Round nine. That's great.
Right after Chase Claypool and Brandon Cooks.
And just before Kadarius Toney.
Who would you rather have, Gabriel Davis or Kadarius Toney?
Today it's Davis.
Yeah.
And last one is from Jacob.
Nobody wants to tell us where they're from anymore, Dave.
Where's Jacob from? one is from Jacob. Nobody wants to tell us where they're from anymore, Dave. Where's Jacob from?
Jacob is from Vancouver.
That's in Canada.
Canada, yeah.
Full PPR, 10-team Superflex League.
Should I trade Deontay Johnson and pick 107, or 1.7,
for Jalen Waddell and a 2023 third round rookie pick.
So give up Deontay Johnson and the seventh pick of the draft rookie draft
for Jalen Waddle and a 2023 third round pick.
Now he also has pick 1.2 this year.
So he still has a first rounder.
I'm going to keep Johnson in the rookie pick
I love Waddle
love his potential
full PPR in a 10 team league
Deontay Johnson I think can still have
some really good value in a PPR league
so you're giving up on him
and you're giving up on what should be a pretty good
rookie at 107
I'd like to see what the Steelers quarterback situation is first.
So if he can wait, I would wait.
Okay. If he
can't wait, the deadline is tomorrow.
I would hold.
It's not a leap year, is it?
No. No. Tomorrow's
March. Tomorrow's March. That's great.
Hey, fun show, Dave. Thanks for coming
on. It was my pleasure, guys.
Always happy to hang out. The utility backup guy.
Good stuff.
Jamie, thanks to you as always.
Thank you, Adam.
Thank you.
I will write on your wall for your birthday.
Pretty confident in that.
And thanks to everybody for watching and listening.
We're back tomorrow to talk about the rookie tight ends,
which is, you know, basically just one guy.
But we'll talk about the rookie tight ends.
There's two guys. Hey, I don't think you've ever written on my wall on facebook birthday or not jerk i'm gonna go right on your wall right now oh god yeah okay i think that happened um make it
good so i can post it how is michigan state by the way uh cold was cold, but some incredible experience experiences, uh, mad props to Sam
Sklar who, uh, covers the Spartans football team and hockey team for their student newspaper.
He was awesome. Spent a lot of time with us on his 21st birthday. No less.
There might be a story about this coming out in a future read
for a beverage
that we promote.
How did it go for your son, though? Does he like it?
I think he likes it. I'm not sure
if he's going to stay with it, though.
Well, good. I hope it was a good experience.
Looking at colleges must be fun.
We'll talk to you all tomorrow
on the Kyle Pitts Show.
Thinking about getting a second job.
Yeah, as long as I'm not paying for it,
I'm sure looking would be very fun.
Right.
See you later, Arizona.