Fantasy Football Today - Wide Receiver Rankings Debates (04/29 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: April 29, 2020

Ranking the rookies is tough, but we'll give it a shot (2:24) as we spend some time on the top rookie WRs and wonder who has the chance to get 100 targets, which is not easy for a rookie WR ... News and notes from around the NFL (12:00). Is Philadelphia going to open up the offense and throw downfield? What do the San Francisco and Baltimore backfields look like right now and what will they look like by the end of the season? We also talk about the 49ers receiving corps which may be deeper than you realize ... Going through our Top 50 WR rankings (19:50), any reason to consider Davante Adams over Michael Thomas? And as we go through the Top 20 we reveal a strategy that could work beautifully in drafts. Moving along to 20-50 (37:30), we get some rookies in this range, discuss Brandin Cooks and a few others who have big upside ... Email us at [e-mail] 'Fantasy Football Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox, and wherever else you listen to podcasts. Follow the new FFT Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/FFToday Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @YardsPerGretch, @BenSchragg Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCviK78rIWXhZdFzJ1Woi7Fg/videos 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

This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports. Here we go! Email us at fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. Here we go! It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Let's go! Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. Rankings week continues on.

Wide receiver rankings. We're going to take a look at consensus rankings. One of the three analysts on the show today was thinking about actually removing Michael Thomas from the number one spot. Maybe I'm wrong about that. We'll talk about it a little bit. We'll obviously discuss the rookie wide receivers. Welcome to the show. It is Wednesday, April 29th. We actually have two shows today, tight ends later, which you'll hear on Thursday. I'm Adam Azer. Hey, Dave Richard. Happy Wednesday.

What's up, Adam? How are you? I'm great. I had a lot of my wife's birthday yesterday. I had a lot of dessert. A lot of dessert. What'd you get? What'd you get? My mom sent us a Mrs. Fields cookie cake, which was just amazing. My wife baked these pretty average cupcakes. You made her bake on her own birthday?

She wanted to do it herself. Oh my god, you're the worst. I was twitching, and she was baking last night. Not only did she bake, Jamie, but they were just pretty average. Yeah, well, you could ask her. So the thing is, up here, the grocery stores, if you get delivery, you can't really get what you want. Everything is gluten-free.

Every time I try to get pancake mix, anything like that, the cupcake mix, always gluten-free. So it just – it wasn't really that good. Sorry to the gluten-free crew, but it wasn't quite as good. Sorry, Keith. Keith's gluten-free? Okay, that's good to know. Not Heath. Heath, what's up, man?

Huh? What's up, man? Huh? What's up? That was a really wonderful intro. We're 15 minutes in, and I know what you're eating for breakfast now, so that's good. I had a bagel for breakfast. Has not been a healthy week. Cinnamon Raisin Bagel, obviously, because raisins are the best. Okay, thank you, everybody, for joining us on Twitch last night.

It was very fun. We talked about a lot of football, obviously. What the Patriots are doing and what aren't they doing, basically. What they're not doing. And our favorite video games. We had a lot of fun. We'll keep you updated whenever we're doing these Twitch streams.

So twitch.com slash FF today if you want to go ahead and follow us. Guys, give me your top three rookie wide receivers for 2020. And before you answer, isn't this kind of a hard question? Yep. It is.

Okay, good. I don't feel that stupid then. It's a tough one. Give me your top three rookie wide receivers for 2020. Heath, for some reason I can't see you because your camera is pointing at the ceiling. Who are your top three? Yeah. It is a tough question For some reason, I can't see you because your camera is pointing at the ceiling. Who are your top three? There you are. Yeah, it is a tough question because none of them are particularly exciting.

There's no floor that exists for this class in their rookie year. But for me, I will go with Jerry Judy at one, CeeDee Lamb at two, and then the wild card that won't make anyone else's top three, I don't think, but Denzel Mims at three. Okay, Judy, Lamb, Mims for Heath. Jamie? I have probably changed this a hundred times since the draft already, but right now it's Lamb, Judy, and Rager.

Lamb, Judy, Rager. Okay, so top two are same players but reversed and then you go Rager three I think I know who number one is for Dave Dave uh-huh I think everybody who listens regularly knows who number one is for me it's Rager because I think he's got the clearest path to get the most targets it's pretty much the only reason why oh and he's he's got a pretty good quarterback too not to say that Dak Prescott isn't a good quarterback he is is, but we know that CeeDee Lamb's got company. Judy's right behind Rager. Lamb's right behind Judy.

Anytime I've got three rookies in a row like that, I feel like I'm being lazy, but I really just have a hard time putting any of them ahead of Debo or Marquise Brown. And I have an easy time putting them ahead of Brandon Cooks, Marvin Jones, Will Fuller. I think they're going to be pretty good, assuming there's a training camp and all that stuff. If there's not, I'd move them down, but I think I'd be keeping them in that order until further notice. I'm sorry.

Can you give me the order one more time? Rager, Judy, Lamb. All right. So everybody's got Judy and Lamb in their top three. For Heath, it's Judy, Lamb, Mims. For Jamie, it's Lamb, Judy, Rager. For Dave, it's Rager, Judy, Lamb in their top three. For Heath, it's Judy, Lamb, Mims. For Jamie, it's Lamb, Judy, Rager. For Dave, it's Rager, Judy, Lamb. I almost think, though, like with Mims,

like he's not going to get drafted in these. I'll put Ruggs in there, too, in the first four. And like Dave said, Rager has the clearest path to targets. He might if Jeffrey's hurt to miss the start of the season. Otherwise, I think it's a little bit clouded. But I almost think like with Mims, with Pittman, with Chenault, with maybe Antonio Gandy-Golden. Like those guys may have the clearer path to targets. Not clearer path, but just as clear a path to targets.

Because they could all be secondary receivers on their teams. And you could debate quarterbacks and all those things and systems and whatever. But just in terms of opportunity, those guys could all be stepping into very similar opportunities as those other guys. Again, not the same talent, not the same scenario, but maybe similar scenario. So if you want to get a piece of this rookie receiver class and you don't want to invest, like we saw Rager going round seven,

and he very well could be in that range if Jeffrey is out, I think, in the draft we did Tuesday. Last pick of round seven, yeah. Right, and then Judy was the first pick of round eight. Lamb went in round eight, and Ruggs went in round eight. I think that's kind of the range where you're going to see those other three guys go Rager will kind of you know probably shuffle up and down

Depending on the scenario but like if you want a piece Of this rookie class you kind of maybe just wait out Mims, Janal, Pittman Again That group Would you be interested in playing an impromptu game everybody Always Okay first of all I was not the one to take

Rager with the last pick in round 7 and I was really mad about it. I didn't want to take him in the middle of round 7 when I was up. Okay, let's go through 10 rookie receivers. You tell me over or under 100 targets for the year. Because I wrote a story on this. I kind of went into

each play caller's background about how they utilize their receivers. Real quick. Jerry Judy, over or under 100 targets? Under. I say over. Slightly over, I would say. I'm trying to get to my—just a second. I'm trying to get to my—okay, I've got Judy at 103, so over.

Okay. CD land. Yeah, I'd have him in the 90s, like where Diggs was last year. Got it. CD land. Wait, wait. You said Jerry Judy, right? Diggs had 34 in 15 games.

But that's not—okay. But Justinfferson is on the vikings not judy where we'll get to justin i know that okay like that was the number all right it was just it seemed like a yeah okay all right all right so darian lamb this is the area under under There he is, man. Under. Under. Heath? Under. I got him over. I don't think it's going to be over by a lot, but I think he goes over. Push. I've got Lamb at 100 even.

There it is. That's over. That's not over. That's not really over. All right. You know where I'm going to come out on Rager. Over or under 100 targets for Jalen Rager? Under.

Under. Yeah, I think under. And I also think I really would like to do some research to how many rookie wide receivers get 100 targets. I bet it's pretty low. Well, I will tell you this fun fact. Last year, A.J. Brown finishes a top 24 receiver as a rookie. Obviously, he did not have 100 targets. The year before, Calvin Ridley finishes a top 24 receiver.

He also did not have 100 targets the year before. Calvin Ridley finishes a top 24 receiver. He also did not have 100 targets. But most receivers that do finish in the top 24 have over 100 targets. And the ones that finish in the top 12, they've got over 120. But we're only looking for 100 targets here. T. Higgins. No. Way under.

He may be under 50. I think he's got a chance. LaVisca Chanel. For 100 targets? Yeah. That offense is going to throw a lot. AJ Green gets hurt. But there's just not, I mean, there just aren't that many rookie wide receivers that get there.

To think that the number three guy on Cincinnati is going to get there. He could be the number four guy. Yeah. John Ross, he could be. I mean. Tyler Boyd last year, 9.3 targets per game. John Ross in eight games, seven targets per game. Audd last year, 9.3 targets per game. John Ross in eight games, seven targets per game. But AJ Green didn't play.

Auden, Tate, 6.7 targets per game. That's fine. So even the third, I just named three receivers in Cincinnati that averaged more than 6.3 targets per game last year. Three different guys. What's 16 times 6.3? 6.3 gets you to 100 over 16. I'm not sure that Tate would have averaged 6.3 if Ross had played all year.

I don't think that Boyd would have averaged over 9 if Ross had played all year. And certainly if Green had played all year. Next one, Chenault, Chenault, Chenault. I've got him under, but I've got him with the fourth most targets at 90. Yeah, I think he's 90-ish. I feel better about Chenault getting over 100 targets

than I do Higgins getting over 100 targets. Because I think Jacksonville's going to play from behind. I think he's their number two receiver. And I think Jay Gruden sees a better version of Pierre Garçon when he sees Chenault. And Garçon was routinely getting over 6.3 targets per game. Henry Ruggs. Under.

Under. Yeah, under. By the way, that was the last one, Dave. Justin Jefferson? Yeah. Under. Under. That one's got a chance.

I'm more optimistic about him. I'll say under, though. The one you didn't do was Mims, and I've got him for the third most at 94. I was saving Mims for last. Okay. Yeah, I'm going to take the under on basically all of them. It just doesn't really happen very often.

Like, McLaurin was the unquestioned number one receiver for them. He had 93 targets. Did he miss a couple games? He missed at least one. He missed two games, and he had 93 targets. So that's pretty good. So he was on pace. He was on pace.

And they had an offense that in the second half rivaled the Baltimore Ravens in terms of run-pass split. DK Metcalf had 100. Nobody's going to get 120. That's most likely. So 100 targets for a rookie would be pretty, pretty, pretty good. And you usually don't get more than one or two top 24 rookie wide receivers, typically. But we're hopeful. This is a deep rookie class.

I want to ask one more question about this rookie class. Rugs and the way they were drafted in yesterday's draft, PPR, three receivers. Jamie mentioned it. Rager, seventh round, 12th pick. Judy, very next pick, first pick of round eight. Lamb, four picks later. Ruggs, three picks later. Jefferson, three picks later.

So Judy, Lamb, Ruggs, and Jefferson all in round eight, and Rager basically in round eight, last pick of round seven. Do you think Ruggs and Derek Carr is just a really bad mix? Because if you compare Ruggs to Tyree Kill, that's the comp he gets a lot. I don't know that there's a worse quarterback in football for him, at least the way Derek Carr has been playing recently. Extremely conservative, very few air yards. Maybe that changes.

But is that a concern for you? he a just a bad fit for Derek Carr I think so I would agree um you know his efficiency throwing downfield is good but like you said he doesn't do it very much so it's a matter of will he take more shots with you know really a second deep threat because Tyrell Williams could still get down the field pretty good. But Ruggs is just on a different level if things go right. But yeah, I think it's not the best marriage that you would have envisioned for where Ruggs would end up. But I don't think he's going to be just completely neutered in that regard.

He's also not exclusively just a deep ball guy. You can throw him the ball at the line of scrimmage on a bubble screen, and hopefully Ruggs can take it to the house. He's a decent right runner, yeah. All right, let's do some news and notes. We'll come back to the consensus rankings, go over some things around the NFL. Jameis Winston, one-year deal to the Saints. He has signed it. It is official.

Pittsburgh's offensive coordinator was talking about Chase Claypool, their rookie wide receiver. He's going to primarily play out wide. Just stop me if there's anything that needs to be discussed here. Arizona plans to play Isaiah Simmons, mostly at linebacker. This needs to be discussed. The Eagles, according to their GM, Howie Roseman, they want to throw the ball downfield more. Let me give you this one-game sample size, everybody. Week one against Washington, It needs to be discussed. The Eagles, according to their GM, Howie Roseman, they want to throw the ball downfield more. Let me give you this one-game sample size, everybody. Week one against Washington. Carson Wentz, 313 yards, three touchdowns. Two of them, 50-plus yards to Deshaun Jackson,

who had 154 yards and two touchdowns. Zach Ertz had seven targets. Alshon Jeffrey had seven targets. Dallas Goddard had only three targets. And that was the only game that Deshaun Jackson would play other than just a few snaps and a couple of other games. So can you buy it, Heath? Are they going to change things up? If you extrapolate that out, that's 128 catches for 2,464 yards and 32 touchdowns.

I think that would make him the best wide receiver in fantasy probably this year. Maybe that's why someone was considering dropping Michael Thomas from number one because they saw this stat in the notes and just did some math. Probably. But the question is really, and this could apply to the Raiders situation too. Did the Eagles throw to their tight ends all the time because of personnel or because that's their strategy? No, the Eagles have done that for as long as Doug Peterson has been there and as long as Carson Wentz has been there. They have always been amongst the top two or three in tight end targets. And even before last year, they were below 50% of their targets to wide receivers. So their strategy

could change, but it wasn't just something they did last year because of a problem. It's what they've done the last four years. Okay. Their wide receivers have been basically Alshon Jeffrey and Nelson Aguilar all three years. Torrey Smith was, I think, 2017. There was a year where Jordan Matthews led them.

The rookie, Wentz's rookie year, Jordan Matthews led them in targets. Oh, okay. All right. So, oh, his rookie year. But Matthews led them in targets. Oh, okay. All right. Oh, his rookie year. But that was before Doug Peterson, right? Or was it Doug Peterson? I don't recall.

Doug Peterson won in his first year there? It was before. He played his rookie year as Woodship Kelly. Right. Okay, okay. So let's go. More news and notes. A note from NBC Sports Bay Area Matt Mayaco.

He thinks Raheem Moser and Tevin Coleman are likely to share the load on base downs. And he also thinks Jarek McKinnon could have a role on passing downs. Makes sense. Yeah. Jamie tweeted this from ESPN's Jamison Hensley, Ravens reporter. Quote, Dobbins, who is 21, could end up being on the field just as much as Ingram by the end of the season. Did you read the story or did you just see what I tweeted? I skimmed the story because I saw it right before we went on.

It was basically just about the youth movement for the Ravens and how they got a lot faster. And that was basically the gist of it, that they drafted for speed that duvarne was a track guy college or high school i forget where but um that prochet is not known for speed he had x amount of plays over 20 yards you know so he was just kind of noting with marquise brown and um you know dobbins with his explosiveness well, that this was a big point of emphasis for the Ravens. And he quoted Eric DaCosta, the general manager, talking about how, you know, you get faster essentially with youth.

And so I don't think this puts Mark Ingram on notice, but it puts Mark Ingram on notice. You know, the fact that if not necessarily he's struggling, but they're going to try, I think, to get a little bit more speed on the field. How about San Francisco? Note about last year's rookie wide receiver, Jalen Hurd. He missed the year with a stress fracture in his back. He's been cleared. They also have slot wide receiver, Trent Taylor, who had five surgeries on his foot, according to reports.

But they're both expected back in 2020. Does that, Dave, does that matter, Jalen Hurd and Trent Taylor potentially being back for the 49ers? Does that matter when it comes to Debo Samuel and even Brandon Ayuk or even maybe George Kittle? They could matter. I mean, we know that Taylor is a good slot receiver. We know that Jalen Hurd has a huge size and good speed. It really will come down to how they can assimilate into the offense once these guys get together

and start practicing. We'll finish up. Cincinnati wide receiver T. Higgins is expected to be a starter to begin this season. That's over John Ross, right? That's the implication? Or it could be all them playing. It depends

on how much they're taking from LSU's playbook. They could be trading Andy Dalton and A.J. Green to the Patriots. Maybe. That would be awesome. Baltimore signed offensive guard D.J. Fluker, recently cut by Seattle. A reminder to send in your rookie ranking questions or any questions you have via Apple Podcast Review.

We will answer them all during our mailbag on Friday. We have a lot of emails too. Fantasyfootballatcbsi.com And your team just drafted and signed upwards of 10 new players. It's time to get to know them. The 24-7 Sports Podcast team has been putting out draft preview and reaction pods for NFL

fans like you to meet their new players. So who better to tell you about your rookies than the reporters who covered them during their college careers? The 24-7 Sports Network of College Team-Based Reporters has been covering these guys for years. So if you want to go deeper on your new rookies, check out the 24-7 Sports NFL Draft playlist on Spotify to learn all about

your new favorite players. Dave, it's time for your revelation of the day. I have a revelation of the day. Yeah, you IM'd it to me earlier. Oh. Yes. This is another mini quiz for Adam and, or Adam, you already know this,

for Jamie and Heath. What is Miles Sanders' middle name? Adam. Heath. Hazer. One of you is right. One of you is wrong. It's Jamie who's right.

Miles Adam Sanders. Love it. Reminds me of Adam Sandler. It's Kismet. It's what? It was meant to be Lorraine. You missed one thing in the news, Adam. Is it about Miles Sanders' middle name?

Because we just covered that. Today is Willie Nelson's birthday. Hey. How old is Willie Nelson now? I'd guess 86. You know, he was in an episode of Monk, which is one of my favorite shows. Mr. Monk and the Red-Headed Stranger. Very good episode.

That's how you know Willie Nelson? That's the only way I know Willie Nelson, yeah. Are you going to celebrate today? He's 87. I am not going to celebrate. I did a lot of celebrating yesterday. Had a lot of cookie cake and some mediocre cupcakes. For the rest of the day, he will be on my mind.

He will always be on my mind. Let's get... Crazy? what did you just text me jamie i didn't text you anything i am me something important uh since 2015 only four rookie wide receivers have had over at least 100 targets that's interesting amari cooper michael thomas sterling Shepard, and DK Metcalf. And Metcalf is 100 on the dot. It doesn't happen. It's really interesting.

I mean, McLaurin was on pace for it, but, you know, some guys miss games, right? Okay, so anyway, let's get to the wide receiver rankings. We talked about the rookies. That's the most important stuff right now. But consensus rankings. We'll go five at a time just like last time and y'all can chime in. Tell me what you agree with strongly disagree with whatever

one through five PPR Michael Thomas Devante Adams Julio Jones Tyree kill DeAndre Hopkins Michael Thomas Devante Adams Julio Jones Tyree kill DeAndre Hopkins. Cool. All good. Jamie, you want to talk about your Michael Thomas dilemma?

Sorry, Heath. It's not really a dilemma. It's just I think that the more I think about it, we expect Thomas to come down from his production from a season ago. To whatever level you can certainly have a conversation about. But he's going to come down. He's not going to catch many passes.

They had Emmanuel Sanders. We'll see what they do with Taysom Hill again, this crazy concoction that they like to do. He had a record season. It's going to come down. You mentioned the concoction of Taysom Hill. Yeah. And I didn't mean to interrupt you.

I'm sorry about that. Do you know exactly how many snaps he played at wide receiver and tight end last year? Off the top of my head, no. It's like 200. And he lined up a quarterback 41 times. Like, they list him as a quarterback. He really doesn't play quarterback. They just paid him a ton of money. I wonder if they're going to use him a lot more than we're giving him credit for maybe so but you know i i think just in terms of what thomas uh is going to do he's going to be great but you know two years ago he was great he just wasn't record setting and adams was better than him and so i just wonder if with what we saw from adams how he closed the season with the lack of adding a pass-catching presence at all that Adams could be better than

Thomas. I'm debating moving Adams ahead of Thomas. It would be... I'm sorry, Heath. No, that's okay. What's up? Nothing. I'm good. I didn't know you were talking. Go. Talk.

I know. You were going to talk about what Jamie was saying. And I thought we were talking, I was going to talk about the top five. And I, the only thing I think Thomas and Adams are close enough. We all agree on the top four. I don't have Hopkins in my top five though. Where do you have him? I think he's sixth in PPR and 10th and none.

He's not in my top five either, but he's sixth for both. So who do you guys have ahead of DeAndre Hopkins? Tyreek and Godwin. Okay. So Thomas, Adams, Julio, Tyreek, DeAndre Hopkins. Chris Godwin is sixth. We'll go sixth through ten. Also, I think when you reflect on what we're seeing here, right,

the last few years seem like there were, I would say, about eight wide receivers that we felt great about. Now, last year it blew up in our face, but you had this group of veteran wide receivers. You had Mike Evans in there probably. You had A.J. Green, certainly. Obviously, Hopkins, Julio, Devante Adams, Michael Thompson. They're all in there I guess what I'm trying to say is feels like 6-10 newer names and

I feel less I don't feel as good about it I feel a little nervous about it wide receivers turning over a little bit the names are changing it's kind of like first base in fantasy baseball. Guys like Miguel Cabrera, they got old, right?

And all the other guys I can't think of right now. The position got old. And I think that maybe was starting to happen with wide receiver a little bit. And it might still be happening with guys like Julio Jones and DeAndre Hopkins. Maybe they're on the decline and they shouldn't be this high.

But I don't know. Wide receiver doesn't feel as great to me at the top, at least 6 through 10, which is Godwin, Cup, Moore, Thielen, and Ridley. How do you guys feel about what I just said? Godwin, Cup, Moore, Thielen, and Ridley. I mean, do you feel like that's not such a strong group of five? By comparison to the top five, it's not.

And there's plenty of running backs and a couple of tight ends that I'd rather have. Yeah. Heath, your take? Yeah. I mean, I think it's like I don't have two of those guys in my PP. I think this is a place where we diverge a little bit. Probably. We all have, I think think the top six in some order

um but i'm not sure that any of the the rest of the top 10 are in all three of ours tops 10 so yeah i think it probably is a little bit weaker there's a big big tier here that may go to 15 or all the way down to like 18 where you could make the argument for the guy to be as high as 10th. But there's some unprovenness. There's some concerns over what happened to Cup in the second half last year. There's some concerns about DJ Moore's touchdowns, I suppose, or Adam Thielen's offense and age. But there's a lot of upside in this group also. Okay, so what's the biggest gripe you guys would have with these consensus rankings?

Godwin 6, Cup 7, DJ Moore 8, Adam Thielen 9, Calvin Ridley 10? I think he said it best. This is a tier that's just extremely deep. So I think all these guys belong in this range. It's probably personal preference yeah the biggest difference i have in terms of my ranking is i think i have calvin ridley 16th in ppr but in the projections i have him 12 points behind my number 10 so it's not like it's a it's a huge difference i it's it's a it's a touchdown here or five catches here. How did he end up at 10, Calvin Ridley?

Who's so high on him that he's 10th in consensus? I've got him 11th. I'm 12th. Hmm. Yeah, interesting. So 11, 12, and 16, but we've got so many other different names ahead of him that it pushes him up.

I don't know how Juju would... Like, I have Juju 9th. I have Juju 10th. How is Juju 9th? I've got Juju 19th. There you go. It's Dave's fault. There you go.

Okay. Why do you have Juju 19th? Because I think we don't know anything about what the Steelers' offense is going to look like this year. We don't? Nothing. We don't know how Roethlisberger is going to look. We know that they added Ebron and Chase Claypool. We know that Deontaybron and Chase Claypool. We know that

Deontay Johnson could take a step up. We know the Steelers aren't hot to give Juju a contract extension. We don't know how effective the run game will be. We don't know nothing. I get that. So you have 19th. So right, again, it's nine plus 10 plus 19, I guess, comes out lower than like wherever Calvin Ridley was 11, 12, 16 or something like that. So 11 through 15 in the consensus rankings, Juju, Kenny Galladay, Tyler Lockett, Alan Robinson and Mike Evans all the way down at 15. So it's Juju, Kenny Galladay, Tyler Lockett, Allen Robinson, and Mike Evans. Your take there, guys.

Two of my top 10 are in this group, Juju and Allen Robinson. I'm the reason that Mike Evans and Kenny Galladay aren't higher, I believe. So I'll take the blame for that. And I do have Galladay top 10 in non-PPR. I just worry about the total volume there with marvin jones healthy and amandola back and hawkinson coming but um i think you could make

a very reasonable argument and maybe all three of us have one of these guys in that spot any of these five guys could be ranked in the top 10 and it wouldn't seem weird i'm one of those guys with galladay i've got him top 10 i love last year that how led the nfl in touchdowns he was top 10 in yards he was 25th in targets so what happens if he gets even a 10 bump in targets and he gets to 130 he could have an even bigger year than he had last year well the way you give out targets he probably should get i'm telling i'm like s like Santa Claus when it comes to targets. He's going to have 250 targets this year. Well, he's not going to be a great catch guy.

Target Claus. You're the Target Claus. He reminds me of T.Y. Hilton with more touchdowns. Catches are going to be an issue for Kenny Galladay, it seems. He had 65 of them in eight games with Matthew Stafford. He was on pace for 70 catches, 1,280 yards, but 14 targets. But his yards per catch is ridiculous. 17, 15.2, and 18.3 in three seasons.

So he might be a guy that changes a lot depending on format, and then you just have to sort of decide how many touchdowns you think he's going to score. He scored 11 last year, Kenny Galladay. Yeah, he gets high leverage opportunities. The deep ball, the red zone. You know I've been a fan of his since he came into the league. So maybe that's playing into my ranking a little bit. Where are you guys on Allen Robinson compared to Heath?

Robinson was 11th in non-PPR, 8th in PPR last year, 98 catches, 1,147 yards, 7 touchdowns on 154 targets. He played a full season. Heath has Robinson in his top 10. Dave and Jamie, how about you? Just behind. 15th for me. Okay.

He's the Betty White of stud fantasy ppr receivers because he's not sexy he's not someone you're going to get completely excited about but he's still going to deliver um a good performance more often than not 16 through 20 is robert woods keenan allen odell beckham amari cooper at 19 and and A.J. Brown at 20. Okay. Now, this is an interesting group. Robert Woods, Keenan Allen, Odell Beckham, Amari Cooper, and A.J. Brown. Too bad you don't have Gretchen in the consensus because Brown would be a lot higher.

I don't know about that in PPR. He's another guy who's not going to catch a lot of passes. But I don't know. I mean, you are looking at Allen, Beckham, and Cooper. Based on years past, deserve to be higher than 17, 18, 19. Woods, yeah, Woods is, I don't know, pretty safe, right? Woods is just like Robinson. Yeah. He's the Estelle Getty of fantasy receivers.

And then A.J. Brown at 20. Okay, what do you guys want to talk about here? I want to talk about all of it, especially Cooper, and especially Beckham, but especially all of it. I think, again, I'll go back to what he said a few minutes ago. You can put these guys 10 spots higher, and I don't think a lot of people would blink. Like you said, years past, they've been good. We don't know how it's going to considerably

impact Keenan Allen one way or the other with the new quarterbacks that he's going to deal with. It could be better for him. I doubt it, but you never know. Woods was still good last year, just a lack of touchdowns. And I think he'll be pretty consistent.

Beckham makes me nervous because there's another mouth to feed in the offense now after he wasn't great last year. Has he been great the last three years? Yeah. He was great at the end of his Giants tenure on a per-game basis. Sure. Then he got hurt.

I don't know, man. There are things that scare me about Odell. He played the whole year hurt. He played the whole year with a sports hernia he's played most of his career hurt honestly he gets hurt the last three years especially uh i actually think though that there's there's there's some sneaky upside with beckham just because um like i haven't heard anything i I don't think, in the last three weeks. But the last time I heard Jarvis Landry's name, it wasn't sounding real positive about his chances to be ready for camp. We don't know for sure that he's going to be ready for the start of the season,

I don't think. I think he's supposed to be ready for camp. Last time I saw it, he's supposed to be ready for camp. Yeah, but it's like, like okay So you take Landry Maybe he misses the first few games Maybe he gets put on the pop list And that gets Beckham off to a hot start What happens when Landry comes back

Is his touchdown potential still good The fact that you have Hooper there And a full season of Najoku So whatever that means For the offense, they'll run two tight end sets, probably more than we expect.

I think Beckham at the right price is perfect. Anything in the first three rounds to me is a waste for him. Let me tell you what I'm sort of thinking right now. Strategy. Strategy talk time. the sixth pick in the PPR draft Heath said it a couple weeks ago might be the best pick you're guaranteed one of the five top running backs or Michael Thomas so Andrew Ballmer yesterday in the our three receiver PPR league draft this was his team sixth overall his first four picks tell you what it was and I'll

tell you what Based on this conversation What I think a lot of you could do And would be happy doing He took Alvin Kamara in round one DJ Moore in round two Lamar Jackson in round three And Robert Woods in round four Now what you could do based on this

Is go Alvin Kamara in round one Your choice of Derrick Henry, Joe Mixon, Kenyon Drake in round two. Dave, give me one. Who's your favorite there? Mixon. Okay. Alvin Kamara. Wait, wait, wait. PPR, right? PPR. Mixon. Alvin Kamara and Joe Mixon.

Round three, Kenny Galladay. Round four, Robert Woods or Odell Beckham. I think based on what we've been saying about the wide receivers that rank from 11 to 20 and how they're not that much different than 6 through 10 I think that makes more sense than taking DJ Moore in round two and then like if he had taken a running back instead of Lamar Jackson in round three it would have been Le'Veon Bell or Leonard Fournette or something

like that so if you're not going to get one of the top five wide receivers, if you don't want to do that in round one and you can't get them in round two, then I think running back, running back, receiver, receiver is a really good way to start as long as you can get yourself two guys in the 10 through 20 range at wide receiver. What do you guys think? I agree. It's a good strategy.

Receiver's deep enough to do it. Heath, compliment me and say that was a good idea. I don't think it was bad. I'll take that. I'll take that from you. And Amari Cooper, so why 19 in the consensus? Well, you may have heard. Did you ask somebody?

Who you don't think is going to get 100 targets. And Randall Cobb got 83 last year. And Jason Witten got 83 last year. It's not like I said Cooper's bad. I just don't think he's ahead of this group. 19's kind of low. It's kind of low. Well, I mean, he was on a great start last year and then got banged up.

He's never been consistently great. He's been good. Okay. All right. All right. Cool. Dave, you know what's consistently great? What's consistent?

I don't know, Adam. Come on. Coors Light, man. Our new sponsor. Not that new anymore. But Coors Light. Let's talk about Coors Light, man, our new sponsor. Not that new anymore, but Coors Light. Let's talk about Coors Light. One thing we get to do on Twitch that we don't do on the podcast is have a beer while we're doing the show.

Dave and Ben Gretsch were rocking the Coors Light last night. Is that right? It's true. Felt like I could use a beer. I was going to kick back and relax with my homies on Twitch and talk a little fantasy football. I know they call it work. Technically, I was working. But we were just shooting the breeze.

We were chatting with people. And I had a cold course of light. It was what I decided to have while in a moment of chill. And, you know, how lucky am I that I can have a moment of chill while i'm working on twitch talking fantasy football with with all of our with all of our listeners and and uh the folks out there uh it wasn't necessarily a panicked moment of course i didn't need to reset i had reset earlier in the day and so i'm just you can picture me in the backyard chilling with a tall glass of cold cores light doing the twitch the Twitch, getting my haircut live on Twitch. That's true.

It was pretty incredible. And so I don't mind telling people that when you're not working and you're just having a moment of chill at home, maybe you're Zooming with your buddies or whatever, grab a Coors Light and enjoy the moment of chill. That's the story, man. Coors Light, awesome. Don't forget to celebrate responsibly. Coors Brewing Company, Golden, Colorado. And no gross aftertaste, which is also a huge bonus. No gross aftertaste.

You are constantly reminded of that, though. Every time I think about it our super bowl trip when you had some beer it was not Coors Light and uh you you you were complaining about it in the car on the way home is that surprise he was not complaining about it he well he's enjoying himself he did that to me on purpose he gave me a beer that he knew was going to linger in the back of my throat thanks Adam, you had eight different beers. I'm sorry one of them left a bad aftertaste. Let's go through the rest

of the rankings here. T.Y. Hilton's 21, Terry McLaurin 22, A.J. Green 23, D.K. Metcalf 24, and Cortland Sutton 25. 21 through 25 are T.Y. Hilton, Terry McLaurin, A.J. Green, D.K. Metcalf, Cortland Sutton.

Of those receivers, who's got top 12 potential? Yes. McLaurin and Metcalf. All of them. Probably all of them. I think all of them. I don't think Sutton does, but I think the others do. I love the value of these receivers. I don't think Sutton does, but I think the others do. I love the value of these receivers.

I don't. Gosh, it is so hard to know what to expect from A.J. Green. Okay, well, it's tough to assume that he's going to stay healthy for 16 games. I get that. Well, he's getting 200 targets, right? 220, actually. Yeah. Second to Kenny Galladay. And you know what?

A very high percentage of them are going to be catchable targets because Joe Burrow is an upgraded quarterback over Andy Dalton. Q Heath coming at me. Bro. But I think we're going to see A.J. Green be motivated to play for the Bengals. I think he'll like catching passes from Burrow. I think the Bengals' offense throws a bunch. And I think A.J. Green, what are we talking about?

Late round four here? I think that's tremendous value. I would rather wait for this group of receivers than take Odell Beckham in round three. And I currently have Odell higher. I think I'm probably going to change that. I think I'm going to take a lot of these guys ahead of Odell. Let's go to 26 through 30. I think I'm probably going to change that. I think I'm going to take a lot of these guys ahead of Odell.

Let's go to 26 through 30. DJ Chark, Stefan Diggs, Devante Parker, Julian Edelman, and Jarvis Landry. DJ Chark, Stefan Diggs, Devante Parker, Julian Edelman, Jarvis Landry. Water starts to get a little bit murky around here. This is almost exactly the order I have and exactly the guys I have in this range. I can't think of anything interesting to say. It's going to be interesting to see how Diggs performs with Josh Allen and, you know, does he get a significant boost in targets? I think Brown was 109 to lead the team last year. They had two guys over 100 targets with Beasley. So, you know, those two guys are going to suffer. Does Diggs all of a sudden come in and command the target lead

by a significant margin? I think we've said this since the trade, that he just feels like he'll perform the same statistically as he did in Minnesota. At least that's what I feel. As he did last year in Minnesota? Yeah, I think so. Okay. He'll be a little better Minnesota? Yeah, I think so. Okay.

Can we talk about his targets, though? Huh? Talking for real on his targets, and I'm not going to make up a number like 70 or 170. What type of target share? Is he going to have the same? Is he going to average around 6.5 per game like he did in Minnesota last year?

I would probably give him a slight boost, but not by much. I think he'll just be in that range. I've got him at 121. I was going to say 120 would be the number I'd look at. That's a decent boost. That's like almost one more target per game. But I don't think he's likely to be near as efficient. Right.

Not because of him, because of the quarterback. Right. Okay, number 31 through 35. Tyler Boyd, Michael Gallup, Marvin Jones, Marquise Brown, and Debo Samuel. Tyler Boyd, Michael Gallup, Marvin Jones, Marquise Brown, Debo Samuel. That's a lot of interesting scenarios here. So, like, with Boyd, if T. Higgins is on the field, I think A.J. Green and Boyd lose with Higgins joining the team. To me, Green was a loser coming out of the NFL draft because of Higgins' addition.

I think the touchdowns are going to be spread too much. I don't think Burrow is going to have a monster season as a rookie because we just don't see that from rookie quarterbacks. So I could see Green coming down. I could see Boyd coming down. And if Ross stays healthy, I think they all suffer. Follow-ups? My favorite in this group is actually Michael Gallup, and I think he was viewed as a major loser.

But the more I look at this Dallas situation and the way they distributed targets last year, I've got the three Cowboys wide receivers with Amari Cooper at 129, Michael Gallup at 129, and CeeDee Lamb at 100. And that's 358 targets for wide receivers. And I think last year they had 356 targets

that went to wide receivers. So I think that Amari Cooper can be a top 15 guy michael gallup can be a top 30 guy and cd lamb can be a uh a low end flex i can't tell you how bad the history is i can tell you for number two wide receivers with rookie quarterbacks that's really we're talking about tyler boyd here. And again, I mean, I think I've said this before, but I'll say it again. I've looked at the last eight quarterbacks selected number one overall. That's since 2009.

It's guys like Matthew Stafford and Cam Newton, Andrew Luck, guys like Sam Bradford, Jared Goff, who didn't play all that much as a rookie. I don't think like seven games. But number one receivers, they have gotten close to 1,000 yards six of eight times, 976 yards or more, six of eight times. That's pretty good. But only Steve Smith had more than five touchdown catches. In terms of number two receivers,

only T.Y. Hilton, he was the number two receiver that year with Andrew Luck. He was the only one who had more than 800 receiving yards. There was one guy who was on pace for more than 800 yards. There may have been more, but the one I noticed was Vincent Jackson. He played only 10 games. He was on pace for 864 receiving yards. Wide receivers don't do well with rookie quarterbacks,

even the ones taking number one overall, typically. And there's that, and then there's like, how could their passing offense be worse than it was last year? This is why I don't want to take this as a death sentence for Tyler Boyd. Plus, he could catch the ball a lot and just kind of PPR his way to production. You know what I mean? But it just has stood out to me how disappointing wide receivers are in year one with rookie quarterbacks.

Yeah, I think one thing I would say is there's like, and maybe you guys will say this percentage is too high, but a 40% chance, maybe it's too low, that Tyler Boyd is the number one wide receiver for Joe Burrow. I wouldn't be shocked if Green's not 100%. If Green's 100%, it's hard to overlook just what his talent level is by comparison.

I just think it's... Where Boyd... I've seen Boyd go. I'm not touching Boyd, and I'm probably not touching AJ Green either. I think there's just too many miles to feed now after Higgins joining the roster. All right. 36-40. Jamison Crowder, Brandon Cooks at 37. CeeDee Lamb I think there's just too many mouths to feed now after Higgins joining the roster. All right, 36 through 40.

Jamison Crowder, Brandon Cooks at 37. CeeDee Lamb, 38. Jerry Judy. Here we go. We got some rookies coming off the board. CeeDee Lamb, 38. Jerry Judy, 39. Will Fuller, 40.

So Brandon Cooks and Will Fuller are within three spots. You got Jamison Crowder, Brandon Cooks, CeeDee Lamb, Jerry Judy, and Will Fuller. And your thoughts there, Dave? A lot of receivers who I would be happier to get in round eight or later. I take a lot of Jamison Crowder, and I will continue to take a lot of Jamison Crowder. I just think if he stays healthy, he's going to lead the Jets in targets and receptions. Now that's one that I think we can look at and say easily over a hundred targets. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I've got cooks at 40, but I think Crowder is the only other one in this group that's in my top 40. He's my favorite of the group at 36. Um, this is the point to where like you could legitimately have a guy that one of us has at 35 and the other one has at 50,

and it's really hard to argue too much about it because it's just a big bunch of maybe. But Brandon Cooks really stands out here because I don't really get what happened last year. He had a couple of concussions. He started last year just fine. Yeah, he did, but I think he kind of – it's not like he got hurt and came back and was bad. I think he was bad before he got hurt, right? He started to struggle.

And the thing is, in his career, he's been one of the most consistent wide receivers in football based on four straight seasons as a top 15 wide receiver. Don't know what happened last year exactly, and furthermore, he's usually getting about a 20% target share. DeAndre Hopkins with Houston had been getting about a 30% target share. So I don't think Brandon Cooks is going to get 30, but I do think he could have the highest target share of his career. He's never been a big target share guy. And I wonder, I don't think he's

ever gotten to 130. If he's the number one guy for Houston, why can't he get to 130, 140 targets, be a huge steal, 37th overall in our consensus rankings? If he stays healthy, he's going to shatter his ADP. I agree. And that's why his ADP is what it is. I took him and Will Fuller back-to-back in the draft yesterday, round seven and round eight, and I was thrilled to do it. That's not a bad way to go about it.

Do we think, though, with... And we don't know what the offseason's... I mean, we still don't know what training camp's going to look like. But, like, right now, if I told you that Brandon Cooks and Will Fuller both played 16 games, first off, wow. But second, do we think that Brandonon cooks gets like a definitively bigger share of the targets than will fuller considering fuller's played with watson the last three years no but i would say i think that might i'll say the same thing you said about cooks i'm sorry he

if fuller plays 16 games he's going to shatter shatter his adp and watson might too but okay guys let's do 10 more let's go to 50 Christian Kirk Sterling Shepard I know you guys wanted to talk about the Giants wide receiver Sterling Shepard's 42 Darius Slayton's 52 Golden Tate's 55 but 41 through 50 is Kirk Shepard Deontay Johnson John Brown

Alan Lazard Anthony Miller Jalen Rager Sammy Watkins Justin Jefferson Jefferson, and Mike Williams of the Chargers all the way down at 50. Kirk Shepard, Deontay Johnson, John Brown, Lazard, Anthony Miller, Rager, Watkins, Jefferson, and Williams. Take it away. A lot of bench receivers, maybe fringe number three receivers, but there's certainly some upside here. Slayton, I think, has the most upside of any Giants receiver. Deontay Johnson, I think, has the most upside. I can't say of any Steelers receiver, but he's got a lot of upside.

Okay. And you know how I feel about Rager. I'm just not going to talk about him. Lazard is my favorite in this group. Yeah, mine too. Are the Packers about to become the Ravens slash 49ers? The Titans. I think they're about to become the Titans based on, which is preposterous.

Like, I don't understand why they would do that unless they really think Aaron Rodgers is shot. I don't think there's enough evidence to suggest that that's happening, but it's not up to us, obviously. It's them they're the ones pulling the strings i get that lazard is going to potentially play a lot how often are they going to be in games where they're throwing 35 plus times and he's going to be getting a huge share of those 35 um targets i'm i'm nervous

i think that they really want to try and run the ball a lot. I think Adams is going to clearly be the number one. I don't think there's any debate here. I don't know if Lazard's good enough to hang on to that number two job all year long. And so I'm nervous to take Lazard this high. Who's taking the number two job? I don't know if they add somebody or if one of these receivers that they

gave a chance to before gets another shot. Devin Funchess. Why not Devin Funchess? Why not Devin Funches? Why not Devin Funches? I didn't mean it like it's guaranteed. He's locked into that two spot. Guttenkos spent the entire

press conference the other day defending the draft saying we have all these guys. Marcus Valdez-Gantling still talking about Jake Kummerow. He still keeps saying these same names that have oh, okay, this guy's got a shot. Doesn't do it. This guy's got a shot. Doesn't do it.

So Lazard is seemingly the leader of the pack right now, no pun intended. But I look at the team this way. I don't think their defense got better this offseason. I feel like it got slightly worse or at least the same. And what I mean by that is you can run on the Packers. We saw it last got slightly worse or at least the same. And what I mean by that is you can run on the Packers. We saw it last year. We saw in the playoff game. And I don't know if their run defense got short. So if if they're going to be in these games where they're trying to, you know, ball control and be more run dominant, then it's just going to be

not good for the entire passing game. But if they're chasing points, like we saw for a couple of occasions last year, rarely, but we saw it, I think his targets could come up a little bit. I think he could have a chance to be a little bit better. And I think we're going to hear a lot about this. What's the power struggle going to be in that building between Rodgers and LaFleur?

Is it still the quarterback's team or is it the coach's team? They are so stupid to be going through that. Like you're right all along. I can't believe it's gotten to that point. I go back to a conversation I had with both Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram before the 2018 – or at the 2017 Super Bowl. And it was – was it the Super bowl it was somewhere where i talked to maybe it was mark ingram going into the 2017 season and he said that drew breeze was at the

point in his career where he has done everything statistically he has solidified his hall of fame plaque bust whatever um place and he just wants to win and so kamara and ingram that was the year that they had that dominant season and breezes numbers were down and i wonder if rogers is okay i just want another super bowl i'm okay with this like we're all bitching about the packer situation have we heard aaron rogers say one thing well but we can't i would be surprised to hear him say one thing well he doesn't bite his tongue though he but but last year he said like they were talking about how bad the passing offense was how disappointing was he's like yeah all the way to the number one seed or all the way to the to the he didn't get the number one seed but at the time they were they

were in the mix you know he was like we're doing just fine with this he wants he once told p prisco that he would rather have a dominant defense than a great receiving core because that's what helps you stay on the field. It helps you be successful. He's got neither. I mean, it's not like

they have a bad defense, but I think they get exposed. No, no, but what I'm getting at is like, you know, and he's not one to, you know, he has a gunslinger mentality to a certain extent. Like Pete and Rogers,

they have a great relationship. They got into a back and forth. Pete said, you got to throw more interceptions because it means you're taking more chances. And he'sgers, they have a great relationship. They got into a back and forth. Pete said, you got to throw more interceptions because it means you're taking more chances. And he's like, no, I'm good. Pete's ridiculous with that. It's so funny.

He's like, yeah, he throws interceptions. That's good. Well, I know his philosophy. His theory's right. You're taking more shots, more chances, being more aggressive.

And so Rodgers may be okay with going 20 you know, 20 touchdowns and six interceptions if the team is 13-3 again. It's really the touchdown. His touchdown rate is going to determine so much because I think it's going to determine how good he is and then how good Aaron Jones is, right? You know, because are they just going to get it?

Or A.J. Dillon, yeah. That pick just, yeah, I don't know. Crazy. Interesting. I think it means something. For Dillon, yeah. That pick just, yeah, I don't know. Crazy. Interesting. I think it means something. For next year. Maybe. I think it means something for this year.

Well, sir, but they could. But this is Jones' last year under contract, right? Aaron Jones. He's a free agent after this? I believe so, yes. Pretty sure, so. Okay, thank you, guys. Good talk about wide receivers here.

Good stuff from Dave's dog there at the very end. Sorry we had to wait so long to hear from Dave's dog. From Alvin. From Alvin. And we will talk to you on Thursday with tight ends, and then Friday with your questions via Apple Podcasts. Don't forget to watch us on CBS Sports HQ. Way to plug it.

Thanks, bud. You know, everybody already knows. Yeah, noon Eastern all week long. Thanks thanks a lot we'll talk to you on Thursday