Fantasy Football Today - The Best Wide Receivers in the NFL Draft (04/22 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: April 23, 2022

Josh Edwards gives his Top 6 wide receivers with Drake London perhaps a little lower than you might expect. How do the top two guys compare to DeVonta Smith and Jaylen Waddle? Which projected first rounder has the most bust potential? You can also follow the full-length Fantasy Football Today podcast here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-podcast/id261735167 Get 20% off Fantasy Football Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-football-today%20?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-football-collection 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. We could have some big impact wide receivers in their rookie seasons. We're hoping for a lot of them to go in the first round.

Let's talk about it right now with Josh Edwards. Welcome to the show. Josh was here yesterday to break down the running backs. Now we're going to talk about the wide receivers, his favorite ones for the upcoming NFL draft. All right, I asked you this question for running backs. I'll ask you again for wide receivers. You're an NFL GM.

Give me your top two. My top two would be Ohio State's Garrett Wilson and Alabama's Jamison Williams, who is formerly of Ohio State. They were teammates in Columbus. Those would be my top two wide receivers because of their ability to make plays after the catch. And how do they compare with, not Jamar Chase. I know there's no Jamar Chase. How do they compare with, let's say, Jalen Waddell and Devontae Smith, who were the next two last year?

Yeah, Devontae was just such a clean route runner, and that's what we saw in his first league in the NFL. Jalen, we saw his ability to make plays at and around the line of scrimmage. I think that's kind of more of the pond that you're fishing in with these type of wide receivers in this year's class. I don't think we have the Jamar Chase where, you know, they're a great combination of size and physicality and speed. But I think you're going to get some difference makers. Garrett Wilson is a guy that has as good of body control as I've seen from a wide receiver prospect in recent years. And then Jamison Williams, before his injury,

was one of the most dynamic players in all of college football. So you're talking about a league where we put a lot of value into a player's ability to make, to gain yardage after the catch. And these guys bring it to the table tenfold. You've got the same in Chris Olave from Ohio State. Trelon Burks from Arkansas is a guy that lined up in the slot. He lined up out wide. He was in the backfield.

I mean, he was all over the formation. And I think that's kind of what you're hoping for at the next level is a guy that can be lined up anywhere and is a mismatch in every facet. How many go in the first round? Well, the number is 5.5 right now. I'm leaning towards the over because I think that run is really going to hit before we get to Green Bay at number 22. And I think we all know that Green Bay and Kansas City are probably in the market for a wide receiver. So if that run starts to happen before the Packers come on the clock, then one of them might get desperate and be the team that takes a sixth or even a seventh off the board.

So how much separation is there from Garrett Wilson and Jamison Williams to, uh, let's say Drake London out of USC, who I think a lot of people really like some as their number one wide receiver. Um, you know, what's, what's the difference between those top two guys and Drake London? Well, they're all top 32 players for me. Drake London is I think actually sixth, um, on my board right now, but, um, the gap is not that significant. It's a matter of what you're looking for at the position, I think, actually sixth on my board right now, but the gap is not that significant. It's a matter of what you're looking for at the position. Drake London, six foot four, just an entirely different body type, a guy that has a basketball background and can use that basketball background in his frame to create separation at the catch point. You know, he boxes out as if he were a power forward. He skies and gets the rebound as if he's that same power forward. So you see those aspects translate to the football field. So

it's just a matter of taste. I mean, what you're looking for in the position, I think teams that, you know, utilize a wide zone blocking scheme like San Francisco or Green Bay or the Jets or the Browns, you know, those type of teams may be looking for more of a jumbo slot receiver that is going to be able to block a little bit in space in addition to what they give you down the field. All right. So you've got Wilson and Williams, one, two, you said you have London six. So who's three, four, five for you? Yeah. So that next group would be, uh, Trelon Burks from Arkansas, Ohio state's Chris Olave. Um, I've got George Pickens from Georgia in there because I just love his upside, what we had seen prior to his injury in 2020. I mean, he is just a guy that

can make plays down the field vertically. Those guys come in a little bit ahead of London for me. And honestly, it may not even be London's fault. I mean, you kind of got to look at the quarterback situation at USC as well. I mean, he wasn't done a ton of favors. We talk about separation, but sometimes it was just the ball arriving late. So you're really looking at a lot of guys in this class that are very talented and certainly capable of coming in and making an impact on day one. Do any of them have bust potential? Could you see one of them being on the risky side? Well, I think Chris Olave, I don't want to use the word bust, but I think he's a little bit more risky because of his lack of ideal size. Historically speaking, we just don't see

wide receivers of that build have a lot of success in the NFL. It was a similar conversation as to what we had with Devontae Smith last year. I think it's becoming less of a strong point in arguments because of the way that the game is played today. It's not as much press man coverage as what we had seen, you know, 10, 20 years ago, you know, where guys are getting jammed at the line of scrimmage and you just can't get off the ball. But Chris Olave just, you know, I still think he's fighting uphill in that, you know,

traditional argument of not having the size to be able to contend as a wide receiver in the NFL. All right, Josh, thank you very much for your time. Great information. You can follow him at Edwards CBS. Have a great weekend, everybody. We'll talk to you next week. It's draft week on fantasy football today in five. We'll get you ready for it. Thanks for tuning in. See you later.