Fantasy Football Today - Wide Receivers Preview Part One: Strategies, Sleepers, Breakouts, Busts and More (08/07 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: August 7, 2025

Bid on Draft-A-Thon items here! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://tiltify.com/@cbs-sports/fft-draftathon-2025⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Jamey and Heath discuss their overall thoughts on the wide receiver position including their approach to the position and which WRs comprise the elite tier. How many of our Top 30 WRs do we want (9:50)? How many of our Top 40? And this strategy could change quite a bit in a 2-WR vs. 3-WR league ... The guys give a few more strategy tips (18:50) including some good roster builds before telling us which WRs they draft a lot (28:00) and which ones they skip (31:00). They're not drafting a lot of Amon-Ra St. Brown, but Courtland Sutton and Tetairoa McMillan are good values. In fact, there are a lot of really exciting players in the Round 5-6 range ... News and notes, how WR strategy changes in different formats, sleepers (44:00), breakouts (46:00), busts (51:45), auction values (56:10) and comprehensive thoughts on the elite WRs (58:10) ... Email us at [e-mail] Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts Watch FFT on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Shop our store: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠shop.cbssports.com/fantasy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Apple: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dynasty/id1696679179⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ FOLLOW FFT Dynasty on Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/2aHlmMJw1m8FareKybdNfG?si=8487e2f9611b4438&nd=1⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ SUBSCRIBE to FFT DFS on Apple: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dfs/id1579415837⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ FOLLOW FFT DFS on Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/5zU7pBvGK3KPhfb69Q1hNr?si=1c5030a3b1a64be2⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow our FFT team on Twitter:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @FFToday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @AdamAizer⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @JameyEisenberg⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @daverichard⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @heathcummingssr⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow the brand new FFT TikTok account: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@fftoday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join our Facebook group⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Sign up for the FFT newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 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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Off to the races and he stays on his feet. It's just going to go the distance. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. Welcome everybody to Wide Receiver Preview Part 1. This is Fantasy Football today presented by FetMGM, the sports book Born in Vegas. as we break down this awesome position. People just love a lot of great advance. I think it's the best advanced metrics position

in fantasy football history. So we'll get into a lot of the advanced stats. Talk about our favorite player, sleepers, breakouts, bus, why targets matter and how many targets you need, where the value is, why rookies are often very good, and so on and so forth.

According to Fantasy Pros, PPR, ADP, we have six running backs and six wide receivers, drafted in the first round. The average age of the running backs is about 26 years old. The average age of the wide receivers is about 25 years old, but three of the running backs are 28 or older. So you have Gibbs, Gentie, and Bijan, who are very young, but then you have Barclay,

McCaffrey, and Henry, who are on the old side, whereas there's not, Heath, not a single wide receiver being drafted in the first round that is over 26. So I do think it's an interesting decision to make, right? Am I taking a 28-year-old, 29-year-old, 31-year-old wide receiver or a 25-26-year-old, sorry, running back or a 25-26-year-old wide receiver? Does that factor in it all for you? Well, it does for me because I have lowered, I mean, Sequin's the only one of those running backs that I have in the first round.

So I have lowered the older running backs, and that's kind of what I was saying during the running back preview is, I've got a stretch of Bejohn, A. Chan, Barclay, Gentie, Gives that I'm taking over all the wide receivers besides Chase and Lamb. And then it's like six straight wide receivers for me. And Jamie, over the last, I want to say four seasons, there have been 27 running backs drafted in the first round. They've averaged 17.2 points per game in PPR. 17 wide receivers drafted in the first round. they've averaged 19 points per game.

This might be the last three seasons. But anyway, I'll ask you the same question about the age. Do you factor that in? And you're looking at two guys. One of them's 29. One of them's 28. One of them's 31. And then there's the wide receivers who are clearly in their prime.

Big deal for you? I love older players. So I think that forget about the position, forget about anything. The first round should all be players that are 28 years older. older. So like Aaron Rogers should be a first round pick. Javis Kelsey should be

a first round pick. Nick Folk should be a first round pick. We could do this though. We got Barclay Henry Barkley Henry McCaffrey, Tyreek Hill. I'll probably stop there.

Joe Mix. I'll do an older, older player team? Yeah, we'll get off on a little bit of a tangent. Devante Adams, yep. You take Evans. Evans could be,

yeah, there you go. Kelsey. Yeah. This should be one of our bets, by the way. Whoever loses has to draft in all 29 or older team? So you'd have to go...

I think it's tough because you have... So like the other night, I took... I took Gibbs and then got Hill and Adams. You'd have to probably go Henry Hill and Adams to start. Well, you could go later in the draft, but... Also, Josh Allen's 29, so you're probably taking a quarter record. Love it. No, no, it's got to be Rogers.

That's the problem. It's got to be right. Yeah, it can't be quarterback. You've got to be Russ. Jamie, No, no, black off, flackle. Some of the wide receiver position in five words or less. I want a lot of them.

No. That's more than five. No, it's not. I don't know. Do he sum up the position in five words or less? Elite top nine, then blubs. It's funny you say top nine. Who's nine for you?

Well, I'm on Ross St. Brown. Okay, who's eight for you? Brian Thomas. A.J. Brown is in this group, right? AJ Brown is the guy that you're missing. London belongs. Jamie's saying elite top 10, Drake London. Ah, boy.

But London is almost always 9th or 10th. By the way, comment from the chat. Johnny says this is like a bad haiku. It would have been much better if you would have asked us to break down the position with a haiku. We can try to do that. London is always 9th or 10th in drafts. In the flex draft, he went ahead of A.J. Brown, Amara, St. Brown.

And I think that's it. Let me tell you. Do you think that the Falcons go over or under 4,283 passing yards? Over. Really? That is so many passing yards. They were seventh, seventh most passing yards in the NFL last year. $1,3.3.10.

What do you say? 4.310 is what I have. All right, so that is a little bit over. How about 21 touchdowns? Under. Slightly over. Here's my point. Drake London was wide receiver 14 per game in full PPR last year.

The Falcons had the seventh most passing yards in the NFL. 21 touchdowns is a little on the low. So that kind of average. I don't know that we should expect their offense to be that much better. So why should I expect Drake London to be in the elite tier? When did Kirk Cousins hurt his shoulder? I don't know, week nine-ish. And then you played three games after that, four games after that?

Three games with it, as I recall. No, I think it was four because Pennix only played the final three. Honestly, I don't, I'm just guessing. I'm just trying to figure out, like, they were awful. But it doesn't matter. Overall, they had the seventh most passing yards in football. Right. So you have the huge 500-yard game from Cousins.

You know, you want to throw out their best and throw out their worst? No. You know, I mean, that stretch was awful. Yeah, but they had the seventh-most yards in football, and he was wide receiver 14 per game. And I'm just expecting, hopefully, we don't have a four-game stretch where they let their quarterback play with a bad shoulder elbow. All right. also two of the guys who were ahead of him at wide receiver 14 are 32 years old

so we've moved them down evans and adams one of the guys who was ahead of him and per game is currently on pup so we're basically projecting to be what he was last year okay um all right so we'll get into that in just a little bit let's talk about some strategies and whatnot i have a couple of announcements to make getting a lot of emails in the fft Open leagues. And just so, you know, I'm in the leagues right now as kind of the co-commish, but I'm only participating in my division. So if you see emails from me, I'm just overseeing.

But real quick, because I know there are only 20, what is it, 268 of you that are in these. So the drafts, you've been asking about the drafts. I think what we're going to do is slow drafts. Maybe you can figure out, but I think August 20th is a good day to start slow drafts for the FFT Open. And if we do them all at the same time, it'll have kind of a cool Scott Fishy kind of vibe to it.

So I'm just going to throw that out there, slow drafts on August 20th. You guys paid the money and girls. So if you want to try to do a live draft, that's totally up to you. But just maybe give me until the weekend or next week, and I'll really try to sort it out. I need to get through these position previews.

And then I'll look through all the leagues. Not everybody has accepted their invites yet. So please, if you haven't accepted your invites, if you're not in the FFT Open League that you purchased, be on the lookout for it. If you haven't gotten an invitation, please email me or email fantasy football at cbsi.com. That's the letter I.

And if your name is Josh Goldman, I've been emailing you, please. I really want to get you in your league because you donated generously. Just please respond to my emails. Thank you, Josh. I have a question. Yeah.

Since we're doing slow drafts, are you doing decimal points, scoring? Yeah. We should give 0.5 in every playoff round. to the league that finishes first if they make the playoffs. No. Let's start with this.

Why? Have a point. Is wide receiver preview? Let's get to it. Oh, come on. Let's make it fun. No, I want blank. Why are you anti-fun?

I'm just, this is an evergreen episode that people are going to be listening to in three weeks. So I want blank of my top blank wide receiver. You've been anti-fun for 10 years. Me? I'm always fun. I want blank of my top blank wide receivers. Oh, boy.

Two of my top 10. ambitious I don't think the way my ranking set up I'm going to get that so I'll say one of my top 12 okay let me expand it a little bit because I would like

looking at our consensus rankings I would like three of your top 28 29ish be generous and say 30 three top 30 and probably four

I could actually, if I took a running back heavy approach, three top 40 could work. Because you got guys like Chris Olavi, Ricky Pierceaw, Jordan Addison, Debo Samuel Cooper Cup at the end of the top 40. But I think three top 30-ish would work for me. How about you guys, like three of your top what? Like all of our leagues almost now are three wide receiver leagues. And I think the majority when I ask on Twitter of leagues are still two wide receiver leagues. So that's a big, big difference. three of the top 40 in a two wide receiver league's probably fine three of the top 30 feels

better in a three wide receiver league i'm glad you brought that up he because we've done a lot more examples of two receiver drafts than we've ever done before with the mocks that we're doing now so trying to be a little more reflective of that um look there's so many different formats now with people using two flexes and things like that where you can play multiple wide receivers if it's a three receiver league or even two receiver league so it's still i think in your best interest in ppr to start three receivers if you have two receivers and flex um yeah i think that's fair adam i think three of your top 40 would be three of the top 40 would be appropriate it's a matter of which three you're talking about though because i don't want to have chrysalave ricky pearsall and dbo samuel is my top

no no no i of course i meant you know that you're waiting you're just not going to be super strong at wide receiver but hey it's i it's not so bad if if debo samuel chrys olivore a Ricky Pearsall, Jordan Addison, I know he's spent a three guys, is my number three guy in a two-receiver league. So basically what you're saying almost is a hero wide receiver approach. Yeah, I mean, whatever it is. I think we can bring up some different teams that we've drafted in the strategies. But yeah, okay, first of all, we definitely want to have an elite one of the top eight or nine wide receivers, right? Because we feel like there's a substantial drop-off and having one of the elite ones is almost a necessity.

No, it can't be a necessity. I shouldn't have said that. If you have a pick in the top six picks and you draft a running back, there's a very good chance you're not getting one of those guys. Okay, but if you have the opportunity in the second round to secure that top eight receiver, or nine receiver, good idea, right? Must. Yeah, I mean, especially if you pick early, to Heath's point,

you know, if you take Gibbs or McCaffrey or H-HN, whoever your preferred choice may be, and you're looking at Higgins and, and Tyreek and, you know, maybe still McConkey, then you may not be so inclined to have to force it if you don't love those guys. So you may go running back, running back. You may put a tight end there.

You obviously, depending on your league, you can take quarterback. I think the other thing is like, just to reference that draft from Tuesday night, we had one manager start their team with, I think it was C.D. Lamb. And then it was Chase Brown. and Bucky Irving, if you recall.

So it was C.D. Lamb, Chase Brown, Bucky Irving, and then in round four, that manager took Chuba Hubbard. There's a two running back, two receiver, one flex league, full PPR. So it did not take second receiver until round five with Teddaro and McMillan. Like, I'm perfectly fine with that. And let me just see. Do you remember who the third receiver was for that team? The third receiver was Defon Diggs.

Okay, so you're going to war with... And also, I'm sorry, took his fourth running back before his third receiver. So if you're going to war with C.D. Lamb, Teteroa McMillan, who was a round five pick. Then he took Mahomes, then he took Bigsby, and then Stefan Diggs, a mecha, Abuka. That would be pretty risky to me. This is, again, though, two receiver full PPR. So C.D. Lamb, Teteroa, McMillan, Stefan Diggs, a meca, abuca. Right, but in theory, we'll never have to play a wide receiver and a flex spot.

And you're potentially just rotating if everybody's healthy. If McMillan gets off to a slow start or isn't the guy that's as good as advertised, you're rotating McMillan, Diggs, potentially a Bucca. I don't remember who the fourth receiver was. So just to go back to three of your top 40 in this build, right? Like if you're running back heavy and you draft Chase Brown, Bucky Irving, and Chuba Hubbard and Patrick Mahomes, if he did not take Tank Bigsby,

and instead he had taken Zay Flowers, Ricky Pearsall, Chris Godwin, Chris Olavay, Jacoby Myers. Much better. Yeah. Then, yeah, you can absolutely get away with that of taking one wide receiver with your first four picks, and then in rounds five and seven even,

securing two more in the top 40, and this is, again, a two-receiver league. And, yeah, that's a good roster build. That's a really nice roster build. Now, you don't want to do, and again, it was an auto-pick, auto-draft, outside of the first five rounds. from team two.

Team two? Oh, team two. Yeah, we won't talk about Team two. Well, I mean, it's, again, if you're, let's just say it's not only two wide receivers. Let's say it's three or four. So he took Bejohn Robinson, T. Higgins, Jonathan Taylor, James Connor, Cortland Sutton, which is fine at that point, right? And then no wide receivers for the rest of the draft because it was auto pick.

So that's a good build. Just take another one at some point or two. All right, your overall wide receiver strategy, we're going to find out about that in just a little bit. Now, if you haven't signed up for BetMGM, let's use that bonus code fantasy when you sign up. There's a really nice offer attached with that. You're going to get up to a $1,500 first bet offer on your first wager with BetMGM. So download the BetMGM app and sign up using the bonus code fantasy. Deposit at least $10 and place your first wager on any game.

You'll receive up to $1,500 in bonus bets if your bet loses. just make sure you use the bonus code fantasy when you sign up. Guys, I'm excited about what we just talked about. Heath, the blob, as you refer, but the depth of usable, I'm saying they're going to be league winners, but usable, start-worthy wide receivers, if we really think there are about 40 of them,

and you only have to start two. Again, everything changes if it's a three-receiver league. But if you only have to start two, that does free up a little bit to take quarterback, to take a tight end early, right? Right. think the depth of the position is kind of strange because it feels to me like it's a little worse in terms of wide receiver twos and very, very deep in terms of wide receiver threes.

So that's the only downside is in a two wide receiver league. If somebody has one of those top eight and then their number two wide receiver is one of the top three or four number twos, then you could be quite a ways behind in that strategy. All right. We're going to take a quick break and we'll talk about, I mean, we've been really hitting on strategy, but we'll finish up our strategy discussion. I'll ask these guys who they draft a lot of, who they avoid. Later, we'll do sleepers breakouts and bust.

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You saved her life. We're doctors and with detectives. I kind of love it if I'm being honest. Solve the puzzle. Save the patient. Watson, all episodes, now streaming on Paramount Plus. Okay, so maybe we've already answered this, but Heath, what's your overall wide receiver strategy if you have one? Yeah, I don't know that I have an overall wide receiver strategy.

strategy. Um, but it has been, and I'll be to bleed into, uh, what I'm going to say when you ask me who have been drafting a lot of, but it's the young guys is my overall wide receiver strategy. I, I like the young guys. And the exception to that is I am higher on the oldest elite wide receiver, AJ Brown. Jamie, how about you? I mean, I tried to take as many of my top 20 as I can. Like, you know, he said the blob starts at nine for him. Um, for me, blob starts at basically like wide receiver 19-20-ish in that range. So if I can get three of my top 20, I'm usually pretty happy. So generally one in the first two rounds.

And then because I don't really prioritize unless the draft falls the right way, quarterback or tight end early, I try to load up on my top end receivers as much as I can. So usually it's one elite guy, one potentially high-end player, and then one sort of hopeful breakout. And I want to clarify because I was trying to follow Adams' dumb exercise and not use a haiku and use five words instead.

I think the blob actually probably starts about 17 for me. The blob starts at wide receiver 17? Yes, and goes through wide receiver 38-ish. Wow, okay. Maybe we can work on a blob haiku, if you want to think about it. Here's my wide receiver strategy, or just kind of the way I read the position.

You guys can tell me what you think about it. So I have eight guys that I consider elite. Heath has nine. Jamie, I guess, has 10 with Drake London? I mean, I would honestly question if you really consider Drake London to be elite because I don't think he would fetch. I don't think you would bid the same dollar or even close to the same dollar amount on Drake London

that you would on, say, Justin Jefferson. Well, of course not because I have them ranked differently. But, you know, there are different, clearly tiers. I think there are 10 guys that have a chance to finish in the top five range. Keep going. There's 11. There's 11. So T. Higgins should be.

Tyreek. Maybe Tyreek, too. But the point is also, Adam, like, you also wouldn't bid the same on Brian Thomas as you would on Jamar Chase. No, but it'd be close. Well, okay, that's true. Because chase is, all right, fine, fine. Chase is, you're right. You're right.

I just don't really believe. leave that Jamie thinks Drake London's elite, but okay, fine, fine. And somebody said in the chat that I always have a very serious face, look at my face like I'm judging people. I'm reading your chats. Yeah, just reading the chat. Dude, the chat, the chat throws me off. There are sometimes, there have been episodes where I've been in Florida in the studio and I haven't had the chat in front of me and I feel like those have been my best episodes. The chat. Best work in Florida. Wow. That's interesting. The chat just gets me so lost. All right. Sorry. Sorry for questioning your Drake, London take.

You think... Oh, you should question it. That's what your job is. Your job is the question. Just like our job is the question your Caleb Williams take. That'd be, that's an easy one. All right, so anyway, I see it like this.

I have eight wide receivers in some order. I'll just go in order of ADP. Chase, Jefferson, Lamb, St. Brown, who we think is way overvalued wide receiver four. We have them like nine, I think, in our consensus rankings. Not that he's not great, but he shouldn't be four. Puka, Neighbors, Nico, Brian Thomas Jr. That's it for me.

I love to get one of those. A.J. Brown is just behind them. Go ahead. Pause. Pause. How, this is, and this was the research I was doing today, but I don't, I understand why people prefer Nico Collins to A.J. Brown. I don't understand how you could say they're in a different tier.

They're not. You said earlier, they're the same guy. And they've been almost the same guy. Nico's been a half point per game better. and A.J. Brown plays more games every year. Okay. I'd love to have this discussion. I think it's a great discussion. Let me finish my wide receiver strategy. You include A.J. Brown, and then you can.

Those are the eight guys. For tomorrow, Ethan, we talk about players. Those are the eight guys that I really want one of them. And if I don't get one of them, I am prioritizing A.J. Brown, I think, 18th overall. But I will take most, I will take pretty much all of those top eight over Derek Henry. And then I'll take Henry and H.S. I'd already take HN at that point, and then I'll take A.J. Brown. If I don't...

Henry's your cutoff? Henry and A.J. Brown are the last of the elites for me. And if I don't get one of those elite wide receivers, if I have an early pick and I took, you know, Jemir Gibbs or whoever it may be, then I really do love the wide receivers available in rounds two and three. So we're talking about maybe Drake London, he's not going to last that deep into round two. But Tyree Kiel, T. Higgins, we are going to talk about Lab McConkey. Now, I don't know if we still consider him a great. great pick with the Keenan Allen signing.

But those three in particular, if I can get Higgins Hill, McConkey, that's great. Hopefully that could be my second or third round pick. And then I still love some of the players available in round three, you know, at running back in particular. Chase Brown falls there. So if I don't get one of those top eight receivers, I think I'm still going to be fine with my first three picks. And then with my mid-round picks, I like to target James and Ricky Pearsall at like

the end of round five and the end of round six. seven respectively, because good offense, great offenses often produce the mid-round picks that smash their ADP. But we can get into that a little bit later. But, okay, AJ Brown versus Nico Collins. That's what you want to do? I want the justification for Nico being in a different tier than AJ Brown. Because I think that, I think honestly, it's a coin flip between AJ Brown and

Nico Collins. And if you want to just completely disregard Nico's lack of ever playing a full season. I think that's fine. Like, just draft without worrying about injury risk. But that doesn't even put them in a different tier still. So, A.J. Brown has not finished higher than seventh per game at the position since being on the Eagles. It is strictly because the Eagles don't throw the ball enough. Now, they've been 21st, 23rd, and 32nd in pass attempts. If they were 10th in pass attempts, you could be

wide receiver one. The Texans are going to throw more. They're probably going to be middle of the pack in past attempts. Nico Collins and AJ Brown, I said they're the same player because they're basically two of the most efficient players, yards per outrun, yards per target. They're going to be right at the top of the list along with Pooka Nakua. Those would be my three picks, I'd say, for like, the most efficient receivers. They're amazing guys, but AJ Brown, I don't know that he can crack the top six because he hasn't done it yet.

And last year, he was wide receiver 13 per game. Why was he wide receiver 13 per game? Because they were dead last in pass attempts. So that possibility still exists. They are the Eagles. They won the Super Bowl. And once they changed their offense, they did not lose a single game

with a healthy Jalen Hertz and Saquan Barclay. So the possibility of them being 32nd in pass attempts is still there. And that's why A.J. Brown is not in the super elite tier for me. He's the next guy out.

I would just say last year, I think it was 17.5 to 16.7 in favor of Niko. Nico played fewer games, of course. The year before, it was 17.4 to 17. The year before that, A.J. Brown was it best year in Philly at 17.6, and Nico had not yet become a good fantasy player. And I just don't, when they're always within a half, basically a half a point of each other, something has to be different this year for Nico to be in a different tier.

I think Nico Collins, first of all, two years ago, he played with Tankdale. Last year, he played with Stefan Diggs for a while. And then he came back and he just wasn't the same after the hamstring injury. but his first what first five games before you know first four weeks he was on pace for two thousand seventy eight yards on 183 targets so he had a 29 percent target share he just wasn't the same after the injury i really believe nico collins could be wide receiver two or three this year probably not one he probably won't he's not going to have like that 180 target season but i do think he gets i think he has his best year because he's got the least

amount of competition and if he stays healthy all year which i guess is a big if he'll be at he'll be as you know close to as good as he was in those first four weeks and not that good because that was insane but but he'll be really good all right that's my nico collins defense um all right anyway uh that's kind of the lay of land at wide receiver but there are good ones throughout the draft and i've mentioned this there are at least two rookies every year five years in a row i think that have been drafted in round nine or later and finished top 24 so i don't know if this going to be the year. It's not the best rookie season, but there's good value throughout the

draft. I don't think we have to talk about two receiver versus three receiver anymore, do we? We pretty much covered that. All right. So, Jamie, who are some of the wide receivers you draft a lot of? Any of the top 10? The most mid-round receivers that I take the most of are D.K. Metcalfe and Cortland Sutton. The most late-round receivers that I take the most of, or later around receivers are Darnal Mooney DeMario Douglas Cedric Tillman

I'm trying to think who else in that range range of players Luther Bird and Mecca Buka it varies but probably the most exposure I have is to Metcalf, Sutton I'm trying to think I'm missing

Well, let me ask you about those two guys. Are you comfortable taking Metcalf and Sutton in round four of a 12-team league or five? Well, there are several teams I have both of them, so you have to do it in four and five. You cannot do it in five and six. So it's almost impossible doing five and six. Okay. Metcalf's, their ADPs are both in round five. We often see them going round four or late round four.

Okay, so Metcalf and Sutton are the headliners there. Mooney, DeMario Douglas Tillman, Luther Bird, and Emeka, Bucca, other names mentioned for Jamie. Heath, how about you? Yeah, I think the early wide receivers is totally determined by where you're drafting. So, I mean, A.J. Brown, certainly the guy I've drafted the most out of the top 10 wide receivers. After that, it's probably, definitely Jerry Judy, Cooper Cup, Ted Rowan, Debo Samuel, Jacobi Myers is a steal in full PPR leagues, Golden and Nabucca. Matthew Golden.

Matthew Golden getting a lot of buzz, and so is a Mecca-A-A-A-Bucca. I mentioned Jacobi Myers. Jacobi-Meyers has been top 30 per game, three straight years, and he's being drafted around wide receiver 40. Fantasy pros, I'll double-check that. He's wide receiver 41. That's Jacoby Myers. I wonder what Abuka is going to become,

getting a lot of mention of him in the chat with when everybody's healthy. Because if he's as good as potentially advertised, And like you said, the buzz has been great. Who's it going to impact? Because it has to impact somebody. And the obvious choice right now is Godwin because of injury. But like, if he plays to the level that he could, it's bad for all of them. Yeah.

They were actually a pretty, the Bucks were a pretty run-heavy team down the stretch last year, and they did well with it. Their record got a lot better. They didn't throw that much, believe it or not. And maybe that was because Godwin was out and Evans was out for some. some of it. So maybe they just go back to throwing the ball a little bit more, which would be fun. Which wide receivers do you avoid Heath? Definitely, I'm on Ross St. Brown. I have mostly avoided Garrett Wilson. I think I've avoided

Marvin Harrison, Jr. And that's probably a good top three. That's pretty good. All right, give me three, you know, quickly why you're avoiding Amman Ross, St. Brown, Garrett Wilson, and Marvin Harrison, Jr. A little worried about the Lions. I still think he's definitely a top nine wide receiver, but he's nine for me, and he never goes that late for St. Brown. Garrett Wilson, I'm just worried about total pass volume in that offense and the accuracy of the targets a little bit. And Marvin Harrison, Jr., I'm just like, can I please see a highlight of him doing something other than running down the sideline and making a great catch with no safety on the field. And, yeah, pass attempts over the last 12 seasons, there have only been six wide receivers

who have finished top 12 in PPR and half PPR on an offense that's been bottom five in pass attempts. So consider that. Do you think Garrett Wilson's going to be on an offense that's bottom five in past attempts? Let's see. I have Justin Fields. for the second fewest pathagems. Jamie, who are some players you avoid?

Mike Evans. I'm trying to consistently avoid. How about with those elite players? For Heath, it's Amon-Ross-Ain-Brown because he just... I haven't drafted a lot of Justin Jefferson because he... I pushed him down a little bit with the hamstring injury. And so he's now outside of my top six, and he's usually gone by then. So this, like Evans is, I don't know, say go out of my way to avoid him, but he usually goes in a spot where I don't draft him.

So the players, I just haven't been drafting, if that's the better way to frame it. Sure. I have not been drafting a lot of Justin Jefferson lately, have not been drafting a lot of Puka Nakua lately, again, pushing those guys down because of either their own injuries or their quarterback injuries. So those would be the elite guys that I just have not drafted a lot of lately. the Chiefs receivers lately just because it seems as if Rice is clearly Patrick Mahomes guy and will that be worthy? How many games is he going to miss in terms of Rice? It's just kind of been a spot where I've been avoiding those guys.

Well, let me take a look at maybe the last week or so of NFC drafting. Oh, McLaren. I do not draft Terry McClureen, and I will not. be drafting term of corn and anywhere close to where he's been drafted okay i want to see where rishy rice is going because yeah jami you mentioned that the you know he is looking great apparently and he's patchy mohomes number one target he does have a groin issue right now but he is currently wow i mean i nfc adp since august first she rice is is 49th overall that's how I don't know. I'm surprised by that.

Well, again, you're trying to win a tournament. And so if you're trying to win a tournament and he only gets suspended for three games and you have 14 games of that guy, like you want that. So you have to go a little bit earlier. All right. Where are you guys comfortable taking Rishi Rice? Round five. Yeah, it would have to be six or later for me.

Okay. All righty. Quick news and notes. Chris Godwin could miss a couple of weeks. weeks with an ankle injury. A couple of regular season weeks. So we'll see. Yeah, the Bucks situation is tough to crack.

Khalil Shakir has a high ankle sprain. He could be ready for week one. Malik neighbors, he's going to be missing some practices, missing some practice time. He's just maintenance for his toe, which might require surgery in the off season. Cam Scadaboo is out indefinitely with a hamstring injury for the Giants. Tyreek Hill missed practice with an undisclosed injury. Darren Waller could practice next week. Some players who have been getting a lot of buzz, they've been camp standouts.

Remember, every year with rookies, rookies are always amazing. Teteroa McMillan, Matthew Golden, Emeka, Emeka, in particular. Those three have been true standouts. And also Seattle rookie wide receiver Tori Horton has done pretty well, apparently, in camp. Colts receiver Adonai Mitchell has had a very good training camp, according to Nate Atkins of the Indianapolis star, and he should have a role in the offense. I mentioned Rishie Rice has another guy to take targets. That's great. I know.

Rish Rice has a groin injury. Markis Brown dealing with an ankle injury, hopefully on his way back. And tough news for Mason Taylor, he's got an ankle sprain, a high ankle sprain. This is Jets, rookie tight end, Mason Taylor. He's going to miss a few weeks, hopefully back for week one. All right, wide receiver strategy in different formats other than the two receiver three receiver league. Jamie, non, half, full PPR. How much differently are we drafting wide receivers?

In full PPR, you can make a case. You said six are going in the first round. you can make a case for probably eight to go in the first round, you know, that just pushes up the elite guys, as we're going to talk about at some point over the next two days. Like there's, even though we like that blob 20 through 40 to some degree, like there is a pretty clear drop off where it starts to become a lot of questions, you know, the Alave questions, the Godwin questions, the Chiefs Receivers question, like just it becomes a lot of ifs. How many games will Joe Flacco play to impact Jerry Judy and Cedure Tillman?

And, like, just a lot of questions across the board. We'll get into that, I'm sure, tomorrow. But so in PPR, I think you want to try and get receivers early if you can. I think the running back depth is good enough to show that you can wait on that position a little bit more. In half and non, I think it's going to, you know, push those receivers down a little bit more. Half, maybe not as much, but in non-PPR, like I went through and did a pretty big adjustment on my non-PPR rankings last night. And it was just so heavy running back related versus wide receiver related in the first, like, 50 to 80. picks. I don't remember exactly where it started to really shift, but a lot of guys in

PPR that I like much better in that format than none. Not receivers, excuse me. The blob gets much denser. The less catches are worth because receptions are one of the things that separate guys in projections and in fantasy production. And so when receptions are worth almost nothing, wide receivers outside of the top 12 or 13, however many it is for you are worth very, very little. I know touchdowns can be difficult to predict, but when you're talking about non-PPR, are you looking at these receivers and going, well, he's going to score touchdowns? He's not going to score touchdowns. You know, for example, are you putting AJ Brown ahead of Pooka Nekua in non-PPR? NKUA has had a touchdown problem. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Okay. And that is a weird thing

with NKua, because he just doesn't get a lot of end zone targets. He gets a lot of red zone targets. He doesn't get green zone and end zone targets. is not as much for me about the fact that Pooka's not scored touchdowns as the fact that AJ Brown's just so efficient. Right. And so he gets penalized by the lower

targets because of the offense is in and that doesn't hurt him in a non-PPR. Sure. And non-PPR, like, if you think anybody's going to score 10 touchdowns, like they get bumped up tremendously. So Metcalf, Sutton, Evans,

Addison, when he's on the field, Addison, yeah. These guys are so much more valuable in those formats. Question from Scott. Would you guys be okay with someone like Jalen Waddle as your wide receiver two, or is that a disadvantage? If your roster build is strong enough at the other positions,

especially if it's a two-receiver league, so go back to that one team we reference and just take out Tedd-McMillan and put in Jalen Waddle as that guy. So you go C.D. Lamb, Chase Brown, Bucky Irving, Chuba Hubbard, Mahomes. Quarterback. And then it's Jalen Waddle.

Yeah. Or I'm sorry, Waddled and quarterback. Oh, it was, right. It was McMillan, Mahomes. Yeah. Yep. How big of a difference is there between Teteroa McMillan,

Cortland Sutton, those guys that are going to be going round five, Jerry Judy, compared to Jalen Waddle? I don't know if Waddle and Judy's a good comparison because I think you can make a case that they're somewhat similar, different ways, but somewhat similar.

The other guys probably have more upside than Waddle at this point. But Waddle could, I don't want to say break fantasy, but if Tyree Kill is out, like there's so much upside for Jalen Waddle. So I think he's, you know, if you want to talk about tiers, like I think he's in a tier behind McMillan and Sutton, Sutton and McMillan in that order. But I think he's in the same tier with Jerry Judy.

Judy could be amazing, but you take Joe Flacko off that team or out of the starting lineup. And Jerry Jue is going to scare the hell out of me. The other thing is I don't think you, You can, like, it's just so hard to have these. How big of a difference is there between Jalen Waddle and somebody else? Because which Jailen Waddle are you getting? Yeah.

He's a different guy every year. Yeah. And, okay, so Waddle in his career has finished as wide receiver 14, 14, 22, and 56 per game in full PPR. But even the 14, 14, 14 were in completely different ways. Completely different ways. Absolutely. And, okay. The 22 is what you should be expecting if you're,

expecting to have a good season with Tyree Kil Healthy. And H&HN Healthy. But this is an important question. And the reason why is if we say we want three top 40 wide receivers, you know, in a two receiver league, I didn't really say how good the number two receivers should be, right? Because I don't think we want stud wide receiver in round one. And then wide receiver 38 and 39 in the consensus rankings as our next two receivers.

Right? we want to go a little earlier than that. Waddle is wide receiver 31 in your consensus rankings. He is 25th for Heath, but he's closer to 31 for Dave and Jamie. That does feel like waiting a little too long to me anyway for that second wide receiver. Thoughts? I would agree. But again, you know, if you're going to wait until what we keep calling the blob to get that second receiver,

like I think, and this is something I struggle with every time I look at my rankings, because I think where he has Waddle is where he should start to come off the board, maybe even a couple of spots earlier, because there's a lot of buzz. You know, you want to talk about a guy having a good camp, as we discussed last week, I believe it was, or maybe the start of the week. You know, he's going against a lot of maybe crappy cornerbacks from Miami, but he's having a good camp. And now John Smith is gone, so there's a shift in how this all could play out for the

Dolphins receivers, maybe going back to what he's done earlier in his career. I just think that if you're waiting until the bulls, lob, you know, so it could be, I'm trying to think, like, I don't read the consensus receivers 20 through 25. Evans, DJ Moore, Xavier Worthy, Terry McLoran, Jerry Judy, Devante Smith. So I don't think this is a bad second receiver, but it's also, again, for me, this is where the start of the questions come into play. So if you were to say it's Judy, it's McLaren, it's DJ Moore, like there's a lot of issues

there but clearly you should have your stud receiver a lot of good talent at running back or quarterback and wide receiver or tight end and then you have one of these guys that I don't I don't hate that but I agree with you I think if you're talking about it's Justin Jefferson Ricky Pearsall and Romo Dunzee like I don't love that yeah it could work but it could it could absolutely work but I just don't love it right all right I'm going to take a quick break we'll do sleepers, breakouts, and busts, uh, and auction values after this. Book Club on Monday. Gym on Tuesday.

Date night on Wednesday. Out on the town on Thursday. Quiet night in on Friday. It's good to have a routine. And it's good for your eyes too. Because with regular comprehensive eye exams at Specsavers, you'll know just how healthy they are. Visit Spexsavers.

to book your next I-exam. Eye-exams provided by independent optometrists. My favorite sleeper-wide receiver is blank, Heath. I think it has to be a Mecca Booker. He's still in round 10, according to our ADP, maybe creeping up in around 9 and 8 in some drafts, but great chance to start the year hot with Chris Godwin potentially out,

and Godwin's injury history in Evans' age means he may get a chance to be a top two wide receiver on the team for a majority of the season. Okay, and there's obviously downside there, right? Because if Evans and Godwin are themselves and J. Lee McMillan is a factor, then I could see

Abuka having a J.S.N. like rookie season, which just wasn't very good, and he had Metcalfe. Exactly. That's what I was going to say. But I don't, but my follow-up question was, you know, how early would be too early if the buzz keeps picking up for Abuka?

I don't think I'll go past round eight. Okay. You can give more than one sleeper if you want. Up to you. No. Okay. one sleeper it is, a mecca-a-buka, Jamie? I give you 10.

I'll go to Merrill Douglas. You know, I think just the opportunity in Josh McDaniel's offense, and he's still free on draft day, to get what hopefully will be a go-to option for Drake May. Like, Stefan Diggs is obviously going to see some time in the slot,

and I'm sure they're going to mix and match some of these guys. We'll see what Kyle Williams lies up. We'll see what happens with Matt Collins now that he's back. A very funny video, the way on our social sites with Brian McFadden talking about all Matt Collins, quirky habits, walking barefoot, eating with no utensils, all those things.

It's pretty funny. But in any event, I just think for a late round pick, one of your last picks, I don't know how much longer he'll be there, but I take a lot of Demeroyo Douglas. Okay, Jamie, favorite breakout? You're going to hate it, but I'm going to say rookie. Tederoa McMillan. I think just big opportunity here for the Panthers. He said it.

I think it was yesterday, recently one of the shows. we've done. Maybe it was a CBS Sports Network, that we saw it last year with Adam Thielen. When Bryce Young started to get hot, he was focusing on Thielen quite a bit. And Thielen's still there. They're seemingly getting good reports on Xavier Leagueget. And we may see, you know, Bryce Young spread the ball around. But I'm getting more and more excited about McMillan. It seems like he's having a strong camp, picking things up quickly, and drafted to be a significant playmaker right away. So I know we don't like saying rookies as breakouts, but I think you could have a top 20-ish caliber season. Do you anticipate

Moving him ahead of Cortland Sutton or D.K. Meccaf, two guys you mentioned earlier? I don't, but he's getting closer to those guys. So he's in my top 24. He's 23 right now. And I could certainly see him moving past DJ Moore. Moving, no, no, DJ Moore is 22 for me. Moving past DJ Moore, moving past Xavier Worthy, you know, those type of guys. You know, the right situation will dictate the worthy spot. But I think, you know, there's a question in the chat. McMillan's a round five target for me.

It's an interesting round because you have guys. that we think could be breakouts, right? So it's McMillan, Xavier Worthy, Jameson Williams is just getting a lot of hype. How do you rank those three? So you said you might move worthy, you might move them ahead of Worthy, but right now, McMillan Worthy, Jameson, Williams.

How do you rank them? Right now it's Worthy, McMillan, Williams. And again, if you just want to say, number one chiefs receiver McMillan Williams so Worthy will stay ahead of him if Rice is suspended

for more than three games Rice will fly ahead of him if it's three games or less and I will take McMillan over Williams right now I'm getting pretty pumped about McMillan earlier I said I like to get Jamison Williams I might have to change that to Tetaroa McMillan

hmm it's a tough one Heath how do you rank that group Chiefs receivers Jameson, Tett, Eroa. Worthy, Ted Eroa, Jameson. Okay. All right.

So who's your favorite breakout, Heath? I mean, I think in terms of guys, the guy who I have the ranked the highest, that could potentially be a breakout, it would be worthy. And it just comes down to Jamie said it, like, we don't have any idea how long Rashi Rice is going to be suspended.

It was easier with Addison because it was substance related and they've got it pretty specific. terms for that. Rice's situation is a little bit murkier. And so if we get a six-game suspension for Rashi Rice, then Xavier Worthy at Wide Receiver 21 or 22 might be a steal. He was phenomenal down the stretch last year.

He has improved his short area route running as well. So if Rice is out, Worthy can do more of that. And he's the best deep threat on the queen. This really sucks. because I really want all of these players. So you try to take two of them is maybe one of them falls to round six. But the problem is if you do that,

you're not... You do what Jamie said he does with D.K. and Sutton, which I've got both D.K. and Sutton ahead of these guys in round four. But if you want to draft the young, exciting guys, you take one of them in round four, one of them in round five. I don't know if I want to take one of them in round four. You can't draft two of them. Well, you might be able to draft one of them in round six.

because ADP, let's see, McMillan's 66th overall, that's round six. That's going the opposite direction. That's not going to last. Jameson Williams is 62nd. I don't see him moving very much. Where he's 57th. But the other problem is I really want to take RJ Harvey and Trayvion Henderson, and they're going right in that range too.

So I think depending on when you draft, Harvey's ADP is going to follow a bit now with the depth-to-art stupidity. You said Henderson. Henderson will probably hang in this range. I don't think he'll go up too much unless there's a Stevenson injury. A lot of it's going to be dictated by once the, you know, the fantasy world starts drafting. And the quarterbacks get all pushed up in this range. And, you know, Travis Kelsey and Sam LaPorte will get pushed up in this range.

Like, it's going to change a lot. So you might be able to. I just want to go back some because you mentioned Jordan at the suspension. Not that we talked. You mentioned this. He has said he's not going to appeal it. Right. I didn't say that.

So he's going to be out three games. I know we'll talk about this more tomorrow, but I think we should bring it up because we had the podcast on this. He comes back week four. They face the Steelers. No way, shape, or form, is that going to be easy no matter how well McCarthy's playing? Week five at Cleveland. Fine, you may be starting him there.

Week six is there by. You may not have Jordan Addison in your starting lineup until week seven. That's a good point. So, you know, it'll be fun. If I did an auction draft. and I just I got Henderson Harvey Tedderall and McMill

all these guys I was going to make you an offer actually that in the next real draft that we do together I'll just trade you my fourth and fifth round pick so you can have four of these guys and you give me your first

then you get four of the guys you really won you're so nice of you yeah that's really nice of you would you trade your fourth and fifth and eighth

for his first his 10th and his 11th. Yeah. Oh, that's pretty appealing. I don't think I'd do it. Okay, so let's talk about buss. I think you have an awesome team that way, because... It could work, but let's talk about bus.

Like, you come away with, I know we're going off track of you, I don't care. You come away with, well, I'll make it just all receivers. So you go, you want Harvey and Henderson, right? Can we please do the bust now? No, you want Harvey and Henderson, right? yeah okay so round two you go round two you go um

heath uh who's the going to be the biggest bust this year yeah i think it's for me i i hate to say it um but you know amongst the guys being drafted in round one i think it's a monroe st bro i don't think he's actually going to bust it's like jamie calling sake juan barclay a bust on the running back show

and he still thinks you should draft him at the end of round one so he doesn't think he's going to be terrible i don't think st brown's going to be terrible um but i i do think it's the offense even if ben johnson was there i would project to be slightly worse than it was last year because it was historically great um i expect they're going to score probably 10 fewer touchdowns at least and then you've got the loss of their pro pro center and you've got the loss of ben johnson and jamison williams emergence and i just the St. Brown touchdown regression, and I just think that he's going to be a low-end wide receiver one and not a top five guy.

I think that's one of the big takeaways from today's show. Some of them would be you can wait in a two-receiver league and anchor yourself with a kind of a hero, our wide receiver strategy. You can do that in a two-receiver league. We don't recommend that in a three-receiver league. We still think there's some very good wide receivers close to 40th overall in our rankings. we think that drafters are too high on Amon-Raw-St. Brown

because he's wide-receiver 4. And the highest guy amongst the three of Dave Jamie Heath on St. Brown is Dave, who has him his wide receiver 7. We think there are anywhere from 8 to 10 elite wide receivers. We'd like to get one of them,

but we can make it work if we don't. That's kind of it, I think, for some of the major takeaways. But St. Brown, on an individual level, is one that really stands out. And also, I think we like the round five wide receivers. We hope we pick the right one because D.K. Metcalf, Cortland, Sutton, Xavier Worthy, Teteroa, McMillan, James, these are rounds five and six.

We like these guys a lot. Jamie, a bus call for you. Terry McClorn, the history of hold-ins, hold-outs, scares me. The touchdown spike last year compared to his other numbers, his other metrics. Look, he's playing with the best quarterback of his career. and it's going to be a situation that he should still get featured. But you have two things for me working against him, regression, and not practicing. And he's outside my top.

He's in the blob. I got to ask about someone. I'll recap real quick. Jamie said, sleeper, a mecca, Buka, breakout, Tetero, McMillan. No. Sleeper to Mario Douglas. Breakout, Tetero, McMillan, Terry McLaren, bust. For Heath, it was a mecca, Bucca, Sleeper, Xavier Worthy, breakout, Amon-Ross,

we haven't really said Marvin Harrison Jr.'s name. More likely to be a breakout or a bust in round four? Breakout for me. I'm going to say bust, and it has nothing to do with Marvin Harrison, Jr. I'd like some indication that the offense is going to change because the offensive plan for Marvin Harrison last year was not one that's going to lead to a breakout from round four. more likely to be a breakout, a bust, or just return his ADP in round four.

I should have said that. Breakout. I think he's, like, I've got him in round five, so I guess I'd say bust, but I think it's fine and, like, he's great. Is he? I think he is.

I hope so. But I also don't like this whole Kyler-Runningmore thing for him. Yeah. Kyler has had years where he's run a lot, and, you know, DeAndre Hopkins has been great. But he didn't have a tight end that he was throwing the ball to 120 times or 150. 50, right, exactly. All right, um, auction talk real quick. So how much are the elite guys going for for you?

$100 budget, PPR. 25 plus. Yeah, I'll pull up my actual auction values here. and I've got 30 on Chase and Lamb. How much on Brian Thomas Jr.? 26. How much for Teddurole McMillan?

Seven to ten. Eight. So you could get McMillan, worthy, Sutton, and Metcalf for maybe a little more than Chase. Right? Yep.

It's kind of a fun concept there. Auctions are super fun. Just don't be the auctioneer and also be drafting. That did not go well for me last year. Try to get an auctioneer who's not in the league. What do you mean? We did a live auction. What do you mean by auctioneer?

We did a live auction. We didn't use the computers. Okay. And I was like, you know, taking the bid, saying the players, taking the bids, trying to put the stickers on the draft where that didn't work and also trying to draft

a team and it just So my uncle was an actual auctioneer and could do the voice and everything did you attempt to do the voice? The speed thing? Yeah. No, I didn't. We've heard you do the fast reads.

It seems like you could do that. I was at a restaurant. I mean, I'm doing it to my house this year. Why didn't you just do it on the computer? People wanted to do a live auction. No, no, still do it live. The Wi-Fi wasn't ideal it just it just didn't work out that's why we're going to set one of the reasons why

we're going to do it at my house um okay so we got a little time left here do we want to get into some round one players or save that for tomorrow i think let's do round one players yeah okay jamar chase just give me 10 seconds jamie go triple crown winner last year amazing system amazing player has a chance to repeat as wide receiver one. If I were going to give you guys, Jamar Chase, or the next five wide receivers in ADP to finish as wide receiver one, who would you take? So those would be Jefferson, Lamb, St. Brown, and Puka.

And neighbors? And neighbors. I'll take the five. I would take the five because I think Lamb can get there. He's the only one. Who's wide receiver two for you? Lamb. C.D. Lamb has averaged, let's just so you know.

PPR points per game. Chase was at 23.7. Rishie Rice was at 21.6. Chris Godwin, 19.7. But for the ones who actually played closer to full seasons, no one top 19 points per game last year except for Chase. 2023, you had C.D. Lamb at 23.8. You had Tyree Kill, 23.7.

Keenan Allen, 21.1. You actually had five wide receivers at 20 or more. So last year wasn't amazing for the elite wide receivers. It was good. But anyway, CD Lamb has been, I want to say, at least 18 and a half PPR fantasy points per game, and sometimes a lot more than that, with Dak Prescott, three straight years.

Prescott misses a lot of time, if you care, but ranking Lamb 2 basically says you don't think George Pickens is going to affect him, right? Right. No. I think that how many passes do you have them projected for Heath?

610? And that would put them where? 610, exactly. Wow. And that puts them third. I think that's fair. and with a run game that's going to be questionable, a defense that might be questionable. If Dax stays healthy,

offensive lines questionable too, so keep that in mind. If Dax stays healthy, I would be surprised if they all don't have an opportunity, an all meaning lamb, Pickens, and Ferguson have an opportunity to be fairly successful in their respective tiers. They've been top five in past attempts in four of the last five seasons. Go ahead, Heath.

And I think it was 200. 45 passes last year when they threw 637. So 245 passes went to non-CD lamb wide receivers last year. Right. You brought this up recently of the Jalen Tolbert, Brandon Cook's, you know, now Tolbert, I think, is still going to factor in, but I think that's more of a Ferguson Pickens situation,

more so than a lamb situation. Like the way Lamb looks right now in camp, you know, Adam, you brought this up about how we always hear about the rookies. and when you hear something about the veterans, it's either very, very positive or just completely awful. Like, he's dominating. Yeah, I'm not surprised,

but, you know, he's never had a number two receiver like George Pickens. So also, I think, but he wasn't, but okay, yeah, that's true, but he wasn't great at that point. By over the last three years, C.D. Lamb has really broken out.

The number two receiver on the team has been a tight end. so he's never had this since he's broken out and been a stud and he's also finished higher than wide receiver eight once in his career for what it's worth but I'm not going to argue with you all right who's number three for you guys Jefferson Jefferson four

Nico for me this is where it could be just about anybody but I am making the change it's neighbors oh wow I had puka you had puka now it's neighbors Jamie has Nico Heath's lower on Nico because of injuries

Because a little bit of injuries I think it's It's hard to just focus on his per game stuff When he's never played a full season And he generally has one to two Partional games per season But also I'm a little bit scared Just of the Texans offense

With this offensive line in their current running back situation it might just be a really bad offense. But it could be a Cowboys. I mean, here's the thing about the Cowboys. I wasn't going to bring this up, but you did. The first eight weeks of the season, this is Dak Prescott being healthy. They were 20th in scoring. Their offensive line is worse.

And they hired in-house. I really wanted to see them get a new offensive coordinator, get a new philosophy. But they didn't. So, I mean, they have a new offensive coordinator, but they promoted their coordinated head coach. So, you know, Dak Prescott's been kind of bad by his standards in two of the last three seasons.

Is it possible that this is not the Cowboys? The Cowboys have been a bedrock for football, for fantasy football, offensively for, I don't know, most of the last 20 years. You know, there probably still will be, but I at least wanted to bring that up, that they were 20th in points per game last year with Dak,

and they've got, I would say they're on paper and judging by the preseason ratings, their worst offensive line in a long time. Something to think about. I think to your point, though, how much was McCarthy calling plays versus Schottenheimer? Yeah, I don't know.

And I think Pickens is really going to help them too. Okay. So top three are Lamb, Chase, Jefferson for both of you. Number four is Nico for Jamie. It's Nakua for Dave. and it was Puka for Heath, but now it's neighbors. So why the switch there?

Just a little. I mean, I've kind of just stuck my head in the sand on the Matthew Stafford stuff. But at some point, we're probably going to have to stop doing that. And I've loved everything I've heard out of Giants' camp about Russell Wilson and Malik Neighbors. I've been the Russ guy the last couple of years and think he's better than what the perception is of him.

And it's an enormous upgrade. over what the Giants had last year and Neighbors was incredible with those awful quarterbacks. He was pretty damn good. What's a bigger concern for you, though? Leak Neighbors' Toe or Matthew Stafford's Back? I haven't really seen anything

that suggests that Leak Neighbor's Toe is going to keep him from playing this year. I think they're just trying to keep it from being flared up at the start of the season. I think your theory, though, is right, Adam, that if they suck shocker, if that happens, that he shuts it down.

Well, no, okay, that's a possibility. My bigger fear is, if they suck and they have the hardest schedule in the NFL on paper, by the way, they go to Jackson Dart. And if Jackson Dart were the quarterback, I do not think we would have Pooka and a coup of fourth. I think Jackson Dart, my best guess

is that he's a lot better than anybody who played quarterback for him last year. I completely agree. Neighbors was wide receiver eight per game last year with a just dreadful offense. But he did struggle at the end of the year. I mean, the last two games, I think, were great. But he had a stretch where he really struggled.

Because believe it or not, there was a big downgrade from Daniel Jones to Tommy DeVito, Drew Locke, whoever else they had. But he, you know, he had about 11 targets per game. What is it about Russell Wilson? He just doesn't throw that much. Like the last two years, I know they had Arthur, he had an Arthur Smith year, right? but like Sean Payton, he let a rookie, Bo Nix, throw like three more passes per game than Russell Wilson. Russell Wilson's usually 31, 32 passes per game.

I don't know why. I don't get it, but it keeps happening. I don't think Peyton loved that Russ holds the ball as much as he does. Maybe, maybe, but Giants actually did throw a lot of passes last year. Eighth in pass attempts. Okay. So why neighbors over Brian Thomas Jr.? Brian Thomas Jr. had a lot better rates than neighbors last year.

And Brian Thomas Jr.'s quarterback situation could improve a lot, too, because the Jaguars had a horrible passing offense last year. Well, I mean, the quarterback he was really good with isn't going to be the starter, so it might be worse. That's true. I mean, it's... No, I mean, there's a very obvious answer to this. The number two pick in the draft was a wide receiver that joined Brian Thomas Jr.

And Malik Neighbors got three new quarterbacks and no new target. competition i think for the people that are in the neighbors camp they're looking at devante adams going to the rams they're looking at Travis hunter going to the jaguars and they're looking at nobody going to the giants right and that's your case for yeah i mean it's it's easy just to look at it that way i mean i have them back to back i have neighbors five and and thomas six so i'm with you adam like i think there's you know you see if you're looking at the average draft position on fantasy pros neighbors is 10th and thomas is 15th like i i think They should be closer together just because you look at the way Thomas finished last season

and his target share was close to what neighbors was getting, not the same, but it was pretty close. Now, again, there was no hunter, so a fact that it didn't. But also, you know, you're looking at Liam Cohen's system. It's here's two guys. Let's get them the ball as much as we can. You know, that was the case last year with Godwin and Evans healthy and then Evans and McMillan down the stretch.

So there's just a lot to love about Brian Thomas's situation. And again, another guy, right now he's a little bit banged up. I think it's, you know, maintenance, but by all accounts, having a dominant camp. And if you like Thomas, you know, close to as much as you like neighbors or St. Brown or whatever, this does free you up to take a running back in round one if you want and then just say, I'll play the board and hopefully Thomas or Nico falls to me because they're both going about 14th or 15th overall. And then A.J. Brown, you know, in the Heath Camp, he's even a little bit later than that. So we've got St. Brown, who we think should be going toward the end of this group.

Puka, Neighbors, Brian Thomas Jr., Nico Collins, anything you guys want to say about these guys? Who's got the most upside out of Puka, neighbors, Nico, Brian Thomas, Jr. I need the two second-year guys. Not Puka? Because, like, Puka had a better rookie season. Those guys were such great rookies. it was better and last year he was 18.8 points per game or something

like that. Well, I think just based on the way you're framing it, at least in my mind, I think those guys can get to another level. You know, like we just said, if neighbor's target share remains the same and now he's got better quarterback play, like, why can't he get

better? And if Thomas builds off the way that last year ended, Hunter there or not, why can't he be that guy? Like, there's a way for it to happen. Like, I think Nakua is going to be awesome if Stafford's fine. But I see a little bit more downside for him by comparison in terms of just getting to another level.

Like 18 points per game, I think, is where Puka's going to be, which is awesome. Great. I don't mind him back into round one. I'm a little lower on him than overall, but still love him. Just kind of funny. Pooka Nakua has the best rookie season in history. And then he follows it up. He's wide receiver four per game.

And two of the guys ahead of him were Chris Godwin and Rishie. ice. So amongst players who played more than half the season, he's wide receiver two per game. And there are doubters. And honestly, he had the fifth highest explosive play rate among wide receivers. He doesn't do it the same way. He's not making plays downfield on bombs, but he's amazing after the catch. He had the second highest yards per route run in the last 12 years.

I don't think there's doubters of Puka's talent. There's doubters of the fact that his quarterback currently has a slipped or herniated disc. he's 37 years old. But would you have answered Puka before the Stafford News? Because I do feel like people doubt Puckett a little bit. I had Pooka at Wide Receiver 4 just moments ago. Yeah. The upside question, though, would you have said that he had more upside than neighbors?

I don't know. I mean, they all, I think it's splitting hairs, really. All right. Fair enough. We talked about Nico and A.J. Brown earlier. Jamie, you want to weigh in on Nico versus A.J. Brown? I mean, I said where I haven't ranked, you know, so Nico is fourth for me, so I would take Nico over AJ Brown with the sort of, I lean sort of toward where you're coming from, like this could be his best year yet, just clearly has to stay healthy, but if, if he does with everything that's around, like, I know you like Christian Kirk and, you know, Jaden Higgins could be certainly a player and Jalen Noel, you know, could have a good rookie season. Like, there's, there's a lot of ifs there's, there's one certainty, you know, Stefan Diggs coming in with what he is, his resume was, and the relationship that Stroud and Tankdale had, have, but, you know, had on the field.

I don't think it's the same. I think Nico's going to maybe have his best year yet. It is interesting, because I was looking at this, Adam, when you were talking about how many more pass attempts there are in the Texans offense, and it really matters for catch totals, obviously. They threw 570 passes last year. The Eagles threw 448, which is just an insane difference. but the difference in their team passing yards was 332 yards. The Eagles had four more passing touchdowns than the Texans did. Yeah, I would, I would, you're 100% right.

And A.J. Brown missed time last year. I was going to say Nico missed a lot of time. Stefan Diggs missed time. Tankdale missed time. But so did A.J. Brown. So did Devante Smith. So did Dallas Goddard. I do think we need C.J. Stroud to play

somewhere in between years one and year two. He can't be as bad as he was last year. And I also like 400, this might be wrong. And it could be part of the reason that I'm higher on A.J. Brown. But 448 pass attempts for the Eagles last year, I even though, yes, they won the Super Bowl and they're going to stay run heavy, I think I have them projected for the second or third few as pass attempts. I think they're probably going to throw quite a few more.

They were 563 the year before. Yeah. I wouldn't be surprised if they're 480 or 490 I also think if you look at the start of the season when Nico was healthy Straub was playing better too he was playing better my theory is just that Nico Collins was not himself after the hamstring injury I can't really

prove that but his numbers were not as good and we just I don't know we've kind of seen it remember in the playoff last year Tankdale wasn't playing or something like that or two years ago maybe I'm wrong I don't know he had Last year, Tankdale got hurt in the Chiefs game in the regular season. No, but two years ago, did Tankdale miss the playoff game? I can't remember.

Probably. He did, yeah, because he broke his leg, right? At one point. And Nico, like, was the number one guy, and I'm doing this off the top of my head, so I could be wrong. And I'm just going to shut up and end the show. All right. Thank you so much to Jamie and Heath and Thomas for producing this wonderful episode. Thanks so much for watching and listening.

Wide Receivers Part 2. We'll start with round 2. tomorrow's show and we also have a mailbag that we're recording tonight it's going to publish on Saturday but we're going to record it on Thursday night at 10.30 p.m. Eastern. It's going to be a wild one. Have a good one tonight. Their bodies are the scene of the crime. Their symptoms in history are clues. You saved her life.

We're doctors and with detectives. I kind of love it if I'm being honest. Solve the puzzle. Save the patient. Watson. All episodes now streaming on Paramount Plus.