Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast - Early WR Rankings: Top 10 Countdown, Risk vs Reward - Fantasy Football Podcast for 4/11

Episode Date: April 11, 2024

Drake London or Garrett Wilson? Top 10 wide receiver rankings on today’s fantasy football podcast! Find out which potential difference makers are worth the risk in 2024 fantasy football drafts! Plus, the dynasty outlook for the Packers WR corps with Jordan Love. Just two weeks until the NFL Draft! Manage your redraft, keeper, and dynasty fantasy football teams with the #1 fantasy football podcast. -- Fantasy Football Podcast for April 11th, 2024. Get the lowest price on the 2024 UDK at UltimateDraftKit.com - Dynasty Pass content available NOW with the UDK+ Connect with the show: Subscribe on YouTube Visit us on the Web Support the Show Follow on Twitter Follow on Instagram Join our Discord Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This episode is brought to you by McDonald's. Monopoly is back at McDonald's, everybody. This is an alert. It's time to get back to Mickey D's. Monopoly Double Play is back at McDonald's, and it's easy to get into the win. First, you peel on pack, and then again in the app. There are millions of prizes to be won,

including a new chance to win cash every minute in the app. Get into the game with Monopoly Double Play at McDonald's. While supplies last, one in five chances to win game piece prizes at outset, chances to win Double Play prizes based on time of code entry, and draw prizes based on number of entries in each draw. See rules in the app. Get a credit card annual fee waiver and earn C-plus points faster with the Scotiabank Ultimate Package and bank more entertainment. Learn more at scotiabank.com slash banking packages. Conditions apply. Scotiabank. You're richer than you think. Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast with your hosts Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright.

Welcome in. Hey, take it down low. Hey, it's the fantasy footballers Ba-ba-ba-boo Thursday, April 11th That's right, we're back Mike Wright Jason Moore

Andy Holloway The Ducers are here as well. Did you just hiccup, Jason? I heard a sound. A little bit, yeah. Thanks for calling that out. Sorry about that.

Yes, I did. It didn't have to be called out. You did it right into the microphone. But people would have wondered. They wouldn't have known what they heard. It might have gotten edited out if I didn't call it out. People might have been searching their speakers saying, I a problem yeah they would have thought that there's an issue with the wiring yeah yeah ah my car speaker does that sometimes that was his intro

to the show sorry sorry we'll move on um well we just did a early wide receiver rankings episode we counted it down from 20 to 11 so today we will do the early a early wide receiver rankings episode. We counted it down from 20 to 11. So today we will do the early top 10 wide receiver rankings. And we'll talk about a very interesting quick question. It should be a good show. It should be fun. There's a couple of players in particular on the top 10 countdown that I think will be hotly contested today and throughout the

offseason. And you're going to have to plant your flag on what you believe about these players because the cost to acquire them will be pricey. It will be expensive. It will be something where if you're wrong, it is a significant impact to the foundation of your team, in my opinion. Yeah, for sure. You get the top picks wrong, and you're going to have to scrap and claw your way back. I don't think a lot of the early Cooper Cup drafters last year had a great time.

You know, like when you miss it. No, we did not. Oh, man. Yeah. Same with Garrett Wilson last year. When Aaron Rodgers played, what what like four seconds of a game yeah it didn't work you saw all of your plans crumbling if we have extra time we'll jump into the mailbag as well a couple reminders at the top of the episode there is a new dynasty podcast episode out it was yesterday's uh show and it is a mock draft

mayhem episode jason moore matthew betts kyle borginoni how much mayhem actually happened yeah um quite a bit of mayhem and and you know what was really fun it was a great show i highly recommend if you if you haven't given it a listen yet if you're wanting to learn about these these upcoming rookies it was a very very good show i honestly thought that kyle's idea of how we were going to do the mayhem right and this is just like being honest i thought it was so stupid yeah i thought it was like this is not you told me that i did this is gonna go this is not gonna go well and then it not only did it go well what what a great idea. Like it was actually, it was actually super useful from like a fantasy perspective and how you would shift based on what happens to the draft.

So it was a great episode. Check it out. Uh, yeah. Rookie mock draft mayhem, uh, for, from a dynasty perspective.

Uh, we also want to remind you about the ultimate draft kit. Don't we, Mike? Certainly do. That's not a secret. What? The Ultimate Draft Kit? No, the Ultimate Draft Kit. No, it's not a secret. The cat's out of the bag. Yeah, ultimatedraftkit.com

lowest possible price right now and the Dynasty Pass will be getting its third the big bada-boom update will be out shortly after the NFL draft. All right, quick question of the day from YouTube. Thomas writes in, says, well, I guess it's a question. It sounds like a demand.

It's kind of a demand. Rank the Packers wide receivers for Dynasty. Yeah, rank them. What's the gap from one to another? That's not a request. That's a demand. But he is saying it demonstratively and i feel like i should obey so rank the packers jason rank them i i think the real question primarily is at the top who's the one who's the two because i i would i would imagine that all three of us have Christian Watson and Jaden Reed. Yeah, and Jaden Reed.

What was that face you were doing? My face was saying that there is still – I still think the window is cracked open for there to be another number one. Like I do think that there's the possibility that – Like Dobbs? Like Dobbs could still – I mean, that's what makes them so hard. That's why he is demanding this is because you have talent throughout the roster with Jane Reed

Watson. We've seen the big plays and the touchdowns with Romeo Dobbs, reliable. And then even Dontavian Wicks, who I think from a skillset standpoint really stood out last year. Yes, he did. And so,

you know, it's hard because Jane Reed is a little less prototypical. He is great with the ball in his hand. They give him ender rounds. They give him short area targets. He seems to be a go-to receiver at times. And then other times he can fade away from a game plan because of just the nature of his physicality and the type of player that he is.

And it makes it more complicated. I mean, he's 5'11", 187. He's an explosive player, but he can disappear, but yet ended the year with four straight top performances. Yeah, Jaden Reed's a good football player, a good wide receiver. The question for fantasy purposes is can he be the one for this team? He clearly was at the end of the season when they needed him and he came

through big time those four games andy he was on pace over those four games if you extrapolate that over 17 just to give you an idea of how good he was it would have been over 100 receptions just under 1200 yards and 13 touchdowns he was a a monster at the end of the season however he's also dealing with a chest and a toe injury say he scored a touchdown on 13 of his touches and that's great but the nice the nice thing about those numbers is the yards and the receptions were there too so it wasn't just like well all of his production came from touchdowns no i'm not saying it all comes from touchdowns but i'm saying every seven and a half touches for Jaden Reed he scored a touchdown that's not it's certainly not I would I would bet against yeah especially for 187 pound player but

that pace was 13 touchdowns yeah and and not only that oh those games were the games at the end of the year that Christian Watson was not in so when Christian Watson played over 70% of the snaps through the middle of the season, weeks five through 13, how did Jaden Reed do in those games when he wasn't necessarily the focal point of the offensive game plan? Well, he would have had a 17 game pace of 59 receptions for 658 yards and six touchdowns. So I do believe that when the entire wide receiver core is healthy and together, Christian Watson is still the primary focus. He's still the better athlete.

Now, this is debatable. This is just my view. Oh, we will debate. This is my view, and it's really just an educated opinion because there's no way to know. It's hard to extrapolate a rookie season when a player is emerging. It's hard to trust Christian Watson, who is perennially injured. So both of those things complicate matters.

I think Dobbs probably doesn't have the ceiling, which would put him at three for me. But to answer the question or the demand, I would go Reed, Watts, and Dobbs-Wicks. Reed, Watts, and Dobbs-Wicks. That's how I have it as well. Attorneys at law. But the fact that you're debating this and we're all kind of saying, well, I have it this way. This is why I have Romeo Dobbs as an interesting trade for target in dynasty because he is, yeah, he's like,

and Don Tavian Wicks is probably in that category too. It's just, if you want a cheap entry point into the Green Bay Packers wide receiver crew, which you should, because it looks like Jordan Love is the real deal. It looks like the Green Bay Packers got it. They nailed it again, and you're going to have a stable quarterback and a good high-powered offense here. You want pieces of it. Jane Reed, trying to trade for Jane Reed right now in Dynasty is going to be

extremely difficult, and there is still a chance that he just, that was kind of the most efficient and the best that you'll ever see Jayden Reed. He'll be a good player, but maybe he never really comes through for Dynasty. So if I'm going after a Green Bay Packer, it's probably Dobbs or Dontavian Wicks just because they're cheaper

and I really don't know who is going to emerge. I think that Christian Watson is the most talented, the highest ceiling, should he be able to become a more refined wide receiver, and if he can ever have a healthy hamstring. Yeah, I mean, that's the issue. I think even as an unrefined receiver, he can get it done

if he can just get on the field and stay there. He dealt with his hamstring issues. And to be fair, that is an issue. I know we don't try to qualify guys as injury prone, but this is a human being. No, this guy is a problem. That from basically peewee football all the way. He's dealt with injuries his entire career. That being said.

Is he at the top of your list? He's at the top of my list. It goes Christian Watson, Jaden Reed, Dobbs, Wicks. Because of ceiling, and I'm not going to just predict injury, any of these guys could get injured next year. If they're all on the field, I believe Christian Watson is the best one. To me, he's the trade for target. Watson? Christian Watson. I think people are done with him. There are plenty of people out there, at least, that are done with him. And it might just be the people who have had him that are

the most sick of him like yeah i'll take i'll take anything for this he has been extremely touchdown dependent in the games that he was valuable for your fantasy team that has been and it's also true and it can be good and it can be bad and and obviously he's very capable of getting into the end zone and making big plays so it'll be fascinating to watch i think we all believe that green bay is going to have a lot of fantasy value, stability at the coach, quarterback position. It'll be interesting. And then just a real quick bow here for me on talking Dontavian Wicks.

If you've been following the show over the offseason, we're talking about rookies with their targets per route run and yards per route run. He's at a very healthy point of, you know, he had a, from weeks 12 through 18, over 22% of his routes he was targeted. He had 2.21 yards per route run. That's a good, strong number for the sample size. So he is a fascinating second-year player.

And Jordan Love, you know. Maybe just trade for Jordan Love. Right, yeah. Jordan Love was great. Do you realize where he ranked in passing touchdowns last year? What are your guesses? Total touchdowns? Total passing touchdowns.

What was his rank? I would go. Quarterback, what? Wow. See, I don't know what the setup is. I think the setup might be he was good but didn't have that many. I'm going to guess eighth. Eighth?

I was seven, eight was my gut reaction. Number two. Number two, yeah. Dak Prescott threw more and that was it. He threw more than Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes. So impressive. I know. It's like, stupid Packers.

You're not allowed to keep getting away with it. And Deucer's Alley's got a smirky Al Borland over there remembering. He's cheering. He's cheering. Okay. Just real quick, temperature check. Because hearing that and these wide receivers and everything, it's so wild. Jordan Love at his price or C.J. Stroud at his price, Dynasty.

It's got to be Love. Yeah, C.J. Stroud at his price. Dynasty. It's got to be love. Yeah, C.J. Stroud's price is. It's not what it would not. It's your left arm. I want both arms. I want both guys. I want both guys. I want to keep my arms.

I apparently want no arms. You want both arms. I'm willing to give up both of mine to get both those players. I think that's the future of the NFL, those two players. That could be wild because if you drafted Jordan Love and you sat and waited patiently like the Green Bay Packers,

you may not be able to get him. Call me a hopeless romantic, but I believe in love. Boston! Get out of here. You're proud of that one? Oh, yeah. I drink in your groans.

I love them. We don't have any big NFL news to share. The NFL draft is a couple weeks away. We announced yesterday the NFL draft special. Fantasy Footballers draft special we're doing on NFL Plus, so we'd love to have you join us on April 25th at the end of round one on draft night fantasy football reactions in the

moment breaking down the skill position players and their their impact on uh so much i mean it changes depth charts not just for the outlook of the individual players drafted but for you know everybody else on those rosters when you spend high draft capital. Put it in your calendar. The draft should be in your calendar, first of all. You have to let people know that you are not available the night of Thursday, April 25th, and you're not available after the draft.

Yeah, you're just not available. Yeah. Yeah. All right. I think we don't have anything else we're doing. Let's jump back into the wideouts. Wide receivers. All right.

Top 10. The countdown continues. Little stat for you for top 10 wide receivers over the last decade an average of 3.7 players repeated as top 10 wide receivers from the previous year now when i when i read it i was like ah they're gonna say an average of 3.7 dropped out no an average of 3.7 repeated as top 10 wide receivers um the most in the last 10 years to have repeated at all. When things go well, it's 5 of the 10. So injuries always play a part. You're not going to generally make it

through a full season like the way the top 10 finished. Those 10 guys don't generally make it through 17 games healthy. Last year's repeat names, it was Tyreek, it was CeeDee Lamb, it was Amon Ra, it was A.J. Brown, and it was Stephon Diggs. Barely. Barely. He squeaked in there thanks to the first half. I do think it's kind of interesting when you see those five names

that did repeat. I think three of them we're really confident about. Yes. I think there's a fourth think three of them were really confident about i think there's a fourth that maybe maybe some people are really confident about digs is the one that's going to drop out in people's minds but tiny and in truth and in reality probably yeah but i'm leaving the door open for cj stroud to you know top 10 i i'm leaving the door open yeah it's not impossible like it wouldn't shock me i'm not going door open. It's not impossible. It wouldn't shock me. I'm not going to project it.

I'm not going to draft him like he is finishing top 10, but maybe it was a fluke. Maybe the second half was a fluke and was just the scheme. But Hill, Lamb, and Elman Ross, St. Brown, we'll talk about today for sure, and then I don't know what the opinions are on A.J. Brown. That'll be discussed at 10. countdown continues with debo samuel debo is a man he is he is untackleable that's that's just the truth i mean he's he's a good

football player right he's a good wide receiver he's a fine route runner he's a good football player, right? He's a good wide receiver. He's a fine route runner. Whatever. Throw all of it away. He's a man. He's just out there crushing these. Why don't you break down that yards after catch intel? Yes. We were talking about this with another player,

and it was just mind-blowing to see the yards after catch per reception leaders over the last five years, so a minimum of 40 targets a year. Yards after catch. Yards after catch. Now, this is off of the whole NFL, the entire thing, all the wide receivers in the NFL each of the last five years, so hundreds of wide receivers over five years, five of the top yearly finishes, five of the top eight are all Debo Samuel. The last five years,

it goes Debo Samuel was number one in 2020. He was number three in 2021. He was number four in 2022 he was number six in 2023 and number eight in 2019 not like he ranked eighth the eighth best of the last five years was him and he beat himself four times he's he's just you cannot bring that man to the ground easily you try and uh once he's got the ball in the hand in his hands, he's gone. Now can he stay healthy? The wild thing is this year, at least in our initial unstatted reactions, you're the highest on Debo Samuel. I don't know if that is you thinking about Ayuk's departure. It does include that, yeah.

Because we have talked about that in studio. I obviously have always been a big Debo fan. His problem has been staying on the field. It was like an eye test thing immediately. Like the second he played an NFL game, there was something that said, I'm better than you about Debo. It was just a matter of putting it together over the course of a season, health-wise.

And so we've seen him finish at number two at the position before. Really special player. He had a run last year, a four-week stretch, where he finished ninth, second, first, and ninth. So four straight top ten finishes, five touchdowns. But that was only after he broke his shoulder. Right. Yeah, and he finished at number two overall in 2021,

then dipped down to 37, missed four games. If you remember last offseason, he was talking about it. He said the team had success, and he said, it was the worst season of my career. I just played terribly. He said he just played bad football. Then he came back last year and finished at 12 at the position, and he missed two games. So the potential is there.

You also can't take away the rushing opportunities for most wide receivers. Not for most. For all wide receivers outside of Debo Samuel, rushing opportunities are just like a little salt on a steak. You know, it's nice. You're going to be like, oh, I prefer it with that little extra dash salt. For him, this is mashed potatoes on the side of steak oh i was gonna go bernese so oh that's that's better because it's still a topic yeah um but i mean his the way he's utilized in the russian game i just is so valuable for fantasy i just started thinking jason might ask for

mashed potatoes as his sauce for a steak at a restaurant. Well, I use it like a sauce. Do you want the Bernays? Do you want the – I'll take the mashed potato sauce, please. Yes. Sir, mashed potato sauce? It's just mashed potatoes. Just give me mashed potatoes. It's just mashed potatoes.

Just give me mashed potatoes. What would you like for your side? Also, mashed potatoes. Just put some on top and then give me a bowl on the side. I don't even want to see the steak. It's just a plate of mashed potatoes. Let me search for it. And there's a buried treasure of meat.

Yes. Dude, that sounds awesome. That is not even a joke. If I got a plate of mashed potatoes and you're telling me there's a filet somewhere in there, this is a game show? This is a dream come true? All right. Look, I could do this at home.

I know what I'm cooking next i want a picture yeah a mashed potato mountain that's what i'm gonna call it um but the point i was making so he has averaged in his career 1.32 fantasy points per rushing attempt and for context christian mccaffrey averages 0.68. So this is over double every time he touches the ball, more valuable for fantasy because Shanahan utilizes him in the right way. So these are manufactured touches that guarantee him a certain baseline. I am in on Debo Samuel this year.

His touchdown totals in the wide receiver two year, eight of them on the ground. And I remember coming into the next season, we said that's just really hard to repeat yeah but he had five last year and so you know five five is in the cards for Debo every single year on the ground and so yeah very uh explosive player he's not he may be drafted as a wide receiver too but he's the kind of player that can put up wide receiver one weeks um over a long stretch and really impact your team all right let's get to the next player wide receiver nine that andy hates go ahead set it set me up you got cut off set me up again this is great we had to take a quick break andy was uh high on this player before he had a quarterback,

and now Andy has just been talking mad junk about Drake London. He's out. He's out on Drake London. He's going to have no shares of Drake London. Do you ever say sentences and realize how little truth there is in them and then just, like, wish you didn't say them? No, only the beginning part. I still am happy I said them.

Look, I didn't even know how you can extrapolate hatred. He's ranked nine for me. You have him at nine. Yes. No, I'm just speaking of the fact that- Range of outcomes is a question. You did bring up, and I do think fairly the other day, that his ADP, Drake's uh fiery group of supporters has maybe

swung the pendulum too far into superstardom that we haven't yet seen from Drake London so we've got him I've got him at nine and he's got him at nine Mike's got him at 10 we're we're expecting big things for a wide receiver who has not yet done that but has not had the opportunity to do it should he be drafted as a top 10 wide receiver for 2024 i think some of the points that i made garrett wilson had bad quarterback play still put up bigger seasons than drake london did uh kurt cousins hasn't supported a wide receiver one above wide receiver seven all but one time I mean like Jefferson yes Jefferson is very very very very very special but outside of that it's been you know Thielen finished at seven one year but all the years of Diggs and Thielen and Garcon and those number ones for Kirk Cousins in the past

you know there was a time we used to view Kirk Cousins more in the Derek Carr sphere of like maybe he's not going to be able to throw enough touchdowns. Maybe he won't have enough consistency over the course of multiple games. I just think that the range of outcomes for Drake London is much wider than almost every other name in the top 10. I think London could finish at nine where we have him ranked. I don't think, you know, I wouldn't be surprised if he was 22 because there are tons of weapons. Kyle Pitts is a bona fide wide receiver in the offense. They added Darnell Mooney. Bijon is a wide receiver in the offense.

So is there a world where Drake London makes less of an impact than people would like him to? Yes, but it all comes down to draft costs. I loved him before he got a quarterback because I expected them to get somebody and him to take a step up from wide receiver 39. That's not an unreasonable take to say, wow,

he's going to go finish much higher than that regardless of the change, but now the cost is very expensive. He's drafted as the wide receiver 10, so you're having to make, you know, you're having to take him well above Debo. You're having to take them above IU. You're having to take them above DJ Moore. It's just, well, I think where you take them is an interesting conversation because usually it's right around Garrett Wilson and there is a fair debate to be,

which he's at eight in our rankings. If you want to wrap them together. Yeah. So I, I have Drake London one spot ahead of Garrett Wilson. Um, we collectively have Garrett Wilson one spot ahead of Drake London. That's the decision. You're not going to get both those guys in a draft. You're going to be staring down a draft spot, and you're going to say whose range of outcomes is better, whose ceiling is better. What do you believe about the two Achilles quarterbacks coming back off of?

It's absurd that we have such a parallel a situation for both of these quarterbacks both their quarterbacks are old both of them are coming off of an achilles injury now different leg kurt cousins is the plant leg for the achilles tear like is that worse uh or yeah like will that end up being worse in the recovery process but we know that like Drake London for all of the things that have gone wrong so far we at least have like we've seen true ceiling games from him where you know you had the week against Washington 9 for 125 against Tampa Bay 10 for 172 and right now I I'm trying to do a quick scour here of Garrett Wilson and for how great he is. He essentially has one of those types of games in his rookie season,

8 for 162 against Minnesota. Well, he's been a target machine. He's got the most targets through two years basically ever. He has been the centerpiece of the offense, and I do think right now, bringing in Mike Williams, if you want to say what the difference is, because I love both these players, I really debated which one am I going to slot in first, and to me it came down to which quarterback do I think is better right now,

which to me, I would take Kirk Cousins over this age of Aaron Rodgers and I think that the competition is worse with Mike Williams coming in for Garrett Wilson and finally having someone else on the field because he's had like nobody else throw the ball check I look at it as a plus for Mike Williams because he's not a high volume wide receiver he didn't hurt Keenan Allen it's also coming off of an ACL tear. So, yeah, look, it's going to be, like you said, it's going to be a decision between these two players. Mike and I both have Wilson presently ahead of London, but not by much.

I've seen more from Wilson. That makes me believe in his consistent ability to get open and be a go-to guy. But, look, it's going to be fun. Those are both weirdly parallel situations, like you said. And Garrett Wilson has been, look, he's coming off of his season where he's like, that was not fun. That was the worst season of my life.

That was the worst thing to deal with. They didn't have a backup quarterback. So he went out there kind of doing his best, knowing that his best wasn't going to be good enough for that offense. I think Garrett Wilson has a higher potential to be a top five guy, personally. Is that a good discussion? I think that's a good tiebreaker of who has, in your opinion, the clearest path to overperforming because you're paying up that you are really, really hoping that this guy at least maintains value

and is a wide receiver one, but who can make the jump to being truly a top five at the position and a difference maker more than not? I think it's going to be difficult for fantasy players too. What if you can spend a one-round later selection? You can let Garrett Wilson and Drake London and all the mysteries of achilles and quarterbacks in age and new companion wide receivers and you can let it all go and then in the next round you can take your shot on depot uh i mean that that seems like a choice or or lave or uh dj moore or something like

what's the percentage chance that dra London outperforms Olave? Look, that's tough. Yeah. It comes down to Kirk. That's entering a range where I'm willing to take the draft discount, spend a higher pick on a running back. At least with those names, I don't feel like they're lock solid guarantees. I'm looking at ADP, and next to Garrett Wilson on one side is Brees Hall, and the other is Jameer Gibbs. You kidding me?

And next to Drake London, you're talking about Kyron Williams or Jonathan Taylor. So, yeah, I think grabbing one of those type of – Those are no-touch wide receivers right now for me. That range, I would rather have those running backs because I do like some of the uh wide receivers that are around later that's actually obviously we're still really far away from August when things will solidify but as of as of right now well and there is a chance in the draft that the Jets who have been working out different wide receivers they could

take a big name I think you're going to start looking at New York a little bit differently if it was – If Brock Bowers goes in, does that hurt Garrett Wilson? I wouldn't be as – I wouldn't be too freaked. No, not as a rookie. Okay. But if it was – Odunze?

Odunze. Yeah, Odunze at number 10 overall. I think that could have an impact. I think it could happen, too. But to me, if it's not one of those three guys who I see as a true number one, it'll just be a help. If Troy Franklin arrives. Yeah, a helpful addition to the offense. At number seven, the unstoppable Puka Nakua, just 22 years old.

His ADP is wide receiver six right now. I feel like it's probably time, if I'm being honest, right? Like we want to be true to our psychology. I think it's time that I like walk into the throne room, bend the knee, and offer the crown. There you go. Okay. Because I don't think it's in my nature to do it when a player's had one season. And yet this season was 105 receptions for almost 1,500 yards and six touchdowns.

Which means that the only reason I don't want to do it is because Puka Nakua wasn't a first-round draft pick. Right. That's really the truth. If he was drafted like Jamar Chase, if he was a top 10 and then he has this season. Zero dot zero doubts. I would have no problem bending the knee. Yeah, and what was nice about his performance,

now some of it was without Cooper Cupp, so you can debate that. You can say, well, now let's say Cupp plays plays a whole season maybe it's not going to be this good this could end up being the best season of his career which I mean when you've got a season this good it could be any NFL player's best season of their career uh but when you watch the film over and over from week one all the way through the middle of the season to the last game of the year, you're just like, that guy's so good. He's so tough. Nothing's going to change.

Is Matthew Stafford still the quarterback? Yep. Okay. Did Aaron Donald retire? Yep. Okay. So, like, they were put in positions where they were throwing the football a lot last year.

Now you have a lot of work to do with a young defense that doesn't have a linchpin in the middle of it. Nothing's going to change for Puka. He's safe, and I need to just accept it. Well, you're not going to get an argument from me. He's my wide receiver four. I believe that. One in your heart. He is one in my heart, man.

I love Puka. He is absolutely outstanding. He's talented on every level of the field. He can take a screen. He can get a bomb. But when he's working across the middle, he is tough as nails, and Stafford finds him. He looks for him, and you want pieces of a McVay-Stafford offense.

It's been good for fantasy. Whenever Stafford is healthy, there's going to be a ton of fantasy points. And yet, 3.7 fantasy wide receivers repeat year to year that finish inside the top 10. So, Mike, if Cooper Cup plays every game, what is the percentage chance that Puka Nakua finishes outside the top 12? That he's one of the, what is it, 6.8 that drop out or 6.3 that drop out? If Cooper Cup plays every game, the chance that Puka Nakua is not a wide receiver one in dynasty,

or I'm sorry, in redraft, I'd put it low. Because you're telling me that Puka's playing every game basically too? Sure, yeah. Really low, really low odds. Too reliable, too consistent, too many targets. Yeah, like this, with the – the red flag is six touchdowns on 160 targets, only getting six receiving touchdowns. That's a number that you would hope could come up.

Maybe it does. Maybe it doesn't. What was like – where was Robert Woods – what was his highest touchdown year when he was playing that role for? Probably, I'm going to guess eight. I'm trying to pull it up real quick. We got, so five, six, two, six, four. I'm going to guess six.

But my point being of like maybe that role, like is he just new young hotness Robert Woods in this offense? Which is great. Robert Woods was always, like, really strong for fantasy, never this good. But maybe the touchdowns just don't roll to there. So my point in bringing that up is maybe Puka's not someone you're drafting going, I'm getting a top three guy. If everything breaks right, I feel real good about my chance

of having a top three wide receiver. Probably not, but the chance that you're getting a top 12 wide receiver, it seems very, very strong, especially when you're talking about guys like Garrett Wilson and Drake London of just seeing how things could go wrong so quickly. Robert Woods is a great name to bring up because you have to remember, he had a season where he was a top 10 wide receiver for fantasy. And he's – Robert Woods is good, but he's not special.

I was going to say, that actually – that just depresses me. Like, relating them together. I'm talking about the role. Okay. Because Puka's way better than Robert Woods. You watch the speed and the toughness. Like, Robert Woods didn't have some of these abilities that you see on film. Yeah, I mean, huge plays down the sideline.

Yeah. Yeah, Puka can do it all. I just want to aim higher. I would aim at cup. Well, and you're going from Jared Goff to Stafford, so that does move the needle higher. I mean, we talk about, oh, Robert Woods had a top 10 season. Puka already had, he was the wide receiver

four last year. 160 targets as a rookie is bananas. Let's talk about one of the players that repeated as a top 12 wideout. A.J. Brown. Comes in at six on our rankings. I don't know why. Maybe you can explain it to me.

He's like a begrudging pick. I know why. You know why? Yeah. Because after the bye week last year, he finished the season pretty poorly. The last eight games of last season, which is a big chunk. That's half the season. He would have been on pace for sub-1,000 yards. So you saw it. You saw the end of the year. You saw the Eagles really struggling as an offense. You saw this team that was whatever they were, like 10-0, just start collapsing, falling apart, early exit out of the playoffs.

Nothing was clicking. That eight-game stretch, here are his exact numbers if you extrapolate it over a season. 82 receptions, meh. 958 yards, meh. Two touchdowns. Oh. I mean, it's like that's –

One touchdown scored after the Week 10 bye. Yeah, I mean, it was an average of 8.3 fantasy points per game, and that was over the entire second-half stretch. So that's why you feel bad. Will that create some blindness? Will that make him of value? Do you believe in what Jalen Hurts and the Eagles are going to do this year? He's currently being drafted as the wide receiver seven.

That's where I have him. You guys both have him at six. I was going to say ADP does not say that it's making people afraid. He's still a very highly drafted player, and there are obvious ways it goes wrong. Now, the first half of last season, he was unstoppable. He set the record for, what was it, how many consecutive games over 125 yards?

And he was at, what, six? Seven? One, two, three, four, six? Am I missing one? One, two, three, four, five, six. six no you're not okay all right who's it but worth pointing out in that stretch uh tampa bay who we were targeting their secondary the manders the rams the jets the dolphins and then the Manders again. It was a pretty juicy run there of games. The Jets were literally the hardest.

That was included. He still really came through. I believe in A.J. Brown. A.J. Brown is just so pumped that Stephon Diggs did what he did at the second half of last year because otherwise the heat would be all on A.J. Brown. It's on Hurts. It's on Smith. It's on everybody.

I mean, A.J. Brown and Puka basically had identical numbers last year. Targets, catches, yards, touchdowns. A.J. Brown's had double-digit touchdowns a couple of times. I have him ranked higher because I do think he is more of a prototypical touchdown guy. And to me, you know, Cooper cup still represents a threat to Puka in the touchdown numbers. So I have them a little bit higher,

but look, we're at the category of players where we're not needing to tell you like this isn't a show to explain that these guys are good at football. It's just about range of outcomes and what could happen. And so, um, you know, there was a little bit of the is he happy in philadelphia we had you know we're gonna have a new offensive coordinator which i love which could be okay could be good yeah i mean it was uh it was ironically very good for cd lamb when this coordinator departed well it was pretty good forDee Lamb when this coordinator departed.

Well, it was pretty good for CeeDee Lamb when this coordinator was there as well, this coordinator being Kellen Moore. We'll not tell you his name. What you saw this last year for the Eagles, after their Super Bowl trip, they lost their offensive coordinator, they lost their defensive coordinator. They tried to hire from within and just say, hey, we got to the Super Bowl, let's keep this mojo going. And they brought the next men up into roles that they had never done yet as their opportunity.

And both those coordinators failed. I mean, they just did. They were over their heads. And so those guys got fired, and they brought in Vic Fangio, right, and Kellen Moore. So they're taking experience known commodities saying let's go and I really like that it gives me confidence in the Eagles offense always interesting though when those known commodities have switched teams as much as they have I always find that interesting because it's like

it's like a little Doc Rivers situation yeah I think you've got to take everybody on an individual situation like Vic Fangio has he he gets to do whatever he wants. I think he left to take this job. Kellen Moore was searching for a head coaching gig that he felt like he wasn't going to be able to get when he was in Dallas, and obviously the clearing of the house for the Chargers. Yeah, oh, yeah. You can make stories both directions.

I mean, they're all facts. You know, yeah, sure. They're facts. I mean, they're all facts. You know. Yeah, sure. They're facts. I mean, you could have stayed. They're narratives. Jim Harbaugh could have been like, man, this guy's so good. I want to keep him.

That could have happened, right? No. Jim Harbaugh? Why not? Because he wants to Greg Roman run the ball. Okay. All right. I'm just saying.

The offense in Dallas got better. That's what I'm saying. It got better without him. That's a fact. That is also a fact. Let's move on. Top five. Justin Jefferson's sitting at five. Because of you guys. Well, you have him at seven.

I know. I'm just saying he's not in my top five. Sometimes this could go both directions. This could be dumb. He could be the bona fide number one easily. Yeah. And so, you know. Not easily. Not easily. Yeah, really easily.

I mean, to be the number one wide receiver, you've got to have like double digit touchdowns, right? So last year, you've got an Achilles injury to your quarterback and you get 100 targets in 10 games? That's 170 target pace. You get 68 receptions for 1074 and five? I mean, this would have been right at one-ish spot last year with not a – what, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven missed weeks?

Oh, it's like everything is is Kirk Cousins is gone. In the games that we had, Nick Mullins, essentially we had a four-week stretch of him. So, you know, it's a backup quarterback as Sam Darnold is at least at this point. But Nick Mullins was the QB in those four weeks. Two weeks were sensational. Two weeks against Detroit, which was a team that we'd love to target for the secondary and the opportunity for huge games.

But against Cincinnati and Green Bay, he was the wide receiver 26, and then he was the wide receiver 38. Variability will be there without consistency, according to us. But total output could easily be number one overall. Jefferson. I just, I don't see a with Sam Darnold. I don't see a world where,

where Jefferson is the number one guy, but he's just, he's so good and so special that he's still at least in the top five. I think he's the number one wide receiver in the NFL. Most receiving yards in NFL history. Yeah. In a season with 10 games played. I'm talking just fantasy for 2024.

And there is no one coming out of the smoke, like just appearing. It's either Sam Darnold or it's a rookie quarterback that they trade up to get. There's one quarterback that could come out of the smoke. Say it's not Trey Lance. It would not be trey lance okay no the only quarterback the only way that justin jefferson i think finishes 2024 as the wide receiver one because you have to have touchdowns there he'll be great he'll have 100 receptions he'll have 1300 plus to 1700 yards i i just worry about the touchdowns, would be Kyler Murray.

Oh, what, a Kyler trade? No, a Justin Jefferson trade. Stop it. What are you doing? I'm just saying the Cardinals got the money. You draft Marvin Harrison. Give me Justin Jefferson, baby. I'm just speaking it into existence, Mike.

There's been rumors. What are you, Mike. There's been rumors. What are you talking about? There's been rumors. What are you talking about? There have been rumors. From you. No, no, no, no. I mean, I am certainly propagating more rumor.

Please trade Justin Jefferson to the Arizona Cardinals. It's not happening. No, it's not happening. Got any more dreams? Joe Montana to Arizona? Jerry Rice? Okay. I mean, look, I still believe Jefferson

is in the category of easily could be number one. There's only a handful of wideouts that could be number one overall. Jefferson's still in that category for me. Jason hates him. I love him. We do bring up Larry Fitzgerald, obviously first ballot

Hall of Famer for a long stretch maybe the best wide receiver in the NFL when he lost his quarterback in the prime of his career he went from being a fantasy dominator to being a good NFL wide receiver who for fantasy purposes was mediocre now Justin Jefferson's style of play in this modern NFL I think he'll be better I you know I've still got him at wide receiver seven. He's great. I just worry about what the actual tip-top ceiling is because I don't see him having

more than seven touchdowns. So many words for... You could have just said, I hate him. That would have summed it up. That would have been the cliff notes of the sentence that you were going to say, and then we would have been able to move on. I do hate Sam Darnold. You're right.

Quick break back with a player that I think will be very hard for people to take over Justin Jefferson. But maybe not. Alright, at number four, Mike has him at number two. So we'll start there. It won't be hard for Mike to take over.

No, it will not. Amon Ross, St. Brown, last year 119 receptions for 1,500 yards and 10 touchdowns. Finished as the wide receiver three, 10 touchdowns. I don't know if we'll see that again, but Mike thinks so. Amon Ross, clearly a dominator when he had the opportunity to be out there. The offense runs through him. He's a go-to.

Third down wide receiver. What did you see last year that puts him at number two for you? Because that puts him ahead of who? Who's your number one? My number one is Tyree Kill. So you've got Amon Ra ahead of CeeDee Lamb.

I have him at number two. I'm excited to've got amon raw ahead i have him at number two i'm excited to talk about amon raw because i have i have him ranked at two not in rankings are can be difficult because i don't necessarily think that amon raw will finish as the wide receiver too but i think there is a strong chance that he is the second most important fantasy wide receiver, even if he finishes at number five, because he has true boom games, like 12 for 124 with a touchdown. It's in the range of outcomes for him. Finished the year four straight weeks with a touchdown.

112 with a score. 106 with a score. 90 and a score. 144 and a touchdown. He has that built into him. But what is very rare for Amon Raw is to have a week where you go, Where was he? What the heck happened to Amon Raw this week?

AJ Brown, second half. Jamar Chase. These games happen. A ceiling game from Jamar Chase is much higher than a ceiling game from Amon Raw, but it's the consistency with ceiling games built in. I think that he just might be the second most important fantasy wide receiver. Consistency is a huge factor when you're drafting a wide receiver to be your number one and knowing what you're going to get.

And he was an A by our consistency metric. 88% of his games he exceeded 10.5 points. Yeah, we got to add pluses. I mean, just for Amon Ra. It feels insulting to be like you're an A. Oh, that he's just an A? You're an A. It's just like, oh, all your games are pretty valuable. We should add pluses. Why don for amin raw like it feels insulting to be like oh that he's just an a you're an a it's just like oh all your games are we should add pluses why don't you get on that all right like looking at his his game log week two technically he was the wide receiver 36

that's how he finished but he was six receptions for 102 yards that's that's not a game where i look at amin raw and i'm mad about it no No, that's double-digit fantasy points. He has one game. He had one game last year where it was 3-for-21 against Chicago, and that was an absolute disaster. Part of the secret, I think, and why CeeDee Lamb was so great and why Amon Ra is so great from a

fantasy consistency standpoint is these guys get moved around and they play in the slot a ton. 55%. 55%! For Amon Ross St. Brown. And I believe when we looked the other day, wasn't CeeDee Lamb in that same vicinity, like 60%?

I think he was like 51%. Okay, 51%. So, you know, you talk about scheming out a wide receiver. If Jamar Chase is on the outside and you bracket him and the team's decision making can be hey i can do more letting jamar chase draw the defense for a half or something to that uh extent so i get it yeah he it's hard you can't argue against don monroe he has improved each and every year you had 17 points per game. So it's like as a rookie, 90 for five, then 106 for six, then 119 and 10. Maybe he doesn't get to 10 touchdowns,

but he will be so solid and good for your team that you can find a little bit of nitro the next round in the draft. Yeah, and he missed a game. He was on pace for 125 receptions. That's just a baseline that gives you guaranteed production every game. The only guys that are anywhere near there are the other two. It's Tyreek Hill and CeeDee Lamb last year. Well, I was going to give you the top three here all at once,

and then we can debate the differentiators. Jamar Chase comes in at three. Number two, CeeDee Lamb, who was last year's number one overall. And number one, Tyreek Hill. And I think it depends on scoring system obviously. I think Tyreek was number one in some scoring systems. But

Chase, Lamb, Tyreek, the difficult year was Chase. He finished at 13 and had some games where he disappeared. The Tee Higgins. Be looking at the first 10 weeks for Jamar because Burrow went out week 11. But it also took several weeks for Burrow to get going.

The first month of the season, Burrow wasn't himself. He stunk. Because he had the calf injury in training camp. Yes, he was coming in. So, I mean, those first two weeks you uh Jamar Chase with 39 and 31 yards you know Jamar Chase is great you've seen him finish as a top five wide receiver in his rookie season now he's going to have fewer target competition uh you know it passes to go around not even saying they get rid of T Higgins Tyler Boyd is, you know, this is a team that is going to be, you know,

licking their wounds and looking to bounce back from a really down season due to the injury to Burrow. So I love Jamar Chase. I don't have – he's my three. I couldn't imagine taking him over the other two guys. To me, that's a tear break. Like, Tyreek and CeeDee Lamb are they're just unstoppable fantasy forces right now what's crazy is the boom games he had five top 10 games he never finished once

between wide receiver 11 and 26 so you disappear I ain't no wide receiver too no he's like I am either not here or I am winning you your week. That's kind of been the Jamar Chase experience at times where he could put up 254-3 easily. But, yeah, last year it was tough. Had some things go wrong for this team throughout the year. CeeDee Lamb, on the other hand, in the shadow of the dismissal of Kellen Moore, in the furious worries of Mike McCarthy being an old head that just wanted to run the ball,

look, that didn't happen at all. Honestly, we said it multiple times last year. I like what Mike McCarthy was doing in Dallas. And 135 for 1, 1749 and 12. And he's not, you can't scheme him out. I watched enough football last year where it was like, sometimes you just laugh.

You're just like, it's like Tyreek. You're just like, I don't know why, why is he always open? Why, why can he throw it to him on any play he wants to. So,

you know, this was, this was this was a massive season. This was Cooper Cup from 2021 type of year. Yeah, he was unbelievable, and he should be on my Dynasty roster, if not for you two losers. I don't remember saying anything. He's a champ right now, man. I'm so bad at you guys.

If he were on your team right now, he would not be a champ. Oh, yes, he would. Yes, he would. That's the point. That's the point. That's the point. You'd play the long con getting me to trade Jalen Waddle for him. I turned the trade down. It's a fair point, and maybe you're right.

I'll never live that down. You guys got to remind me. Anytime we get asked the question all the time, like, oh, you have any moves you regret or whatever, and I never think of that until we're in the moment, but I regret that forever. You know the truth, though, i regret that you know the truth though right do you know the truth jaylen water would have been the wide receiver one last year if you had made the trade that's how fantasy works that's true that's true um so when

you look at top 10 wide receiver fantasy seasons of all time in points per game. Number one, Cooper Cup from 2021. Number two is sitting there. So I guess this is organized by total fantasy points. Sorry. Cooper Cup was number one. Jerry Rice in 95 was number two. Randy Moss in 2007. We all remember that if you're old. And then CeeDee Lamb comes in at number four.

And total fantasy points put up. So probably not going to repeat that. To be fair, Tyreek comes in at number six all time. He's right there. From last year? Yeah. Wow. Those were like league winning seasons from wideouts.

Pretty impressive. So he's a champion in League of Record. He's a champion in our Dynasty League. He's a champion in our Dynasty League. He's probably a champ in your league too. Just not in the NFL. Good chance. I know. Don't care.

So number one is Tyreek. He's 30 years old. Don't care. He is playing with the least talented quarterback of the three. The big three? Yeah, that's fine by me. He will probably be great and win you a lot of weeks again. Yeah, I mean, he's unstoppable.

And he used to be a giant, big play, low volume guy. And we just talked about he had the same exact reception number that Amon Ra had. And you just don't think about him like that. You think about like Amon Ra is the slot guy, this possession receiver that's like PPR machine. That's not Tyreek. Tyreek's like way down on the other end of the field. Yeah, but he's getting the same amount of targets

or at least receptions. It's just he's he's the number one pick or the number two and after Christian McCaffrey is not apples to apples but it is a counterpoint to the leaving your great quarterbacks going to cost you Tyreek Hill great player goes to a situation nobody expected him to be better, and he's better. Sam Darnold would not be better. Sam Darnold is not better, no. But Tua's not better than Mahomes. No, of course not.

So there is a world where target and talent, targets and talent, makes a pretty significant difference. So I'm just throwing it out there. You want to bring up Larry Fitz, I'm going to bring up Tyreek moving. That's all. Sure. I would say Mike McDaniel because the scheme is so important. Yeah.

McDaniel, they knew what they were doing when they could get him in a trade, and they traded everything to get him and then gave him the cash yeah it's fun to watch mike mcdaniel talk about that like the when he found out there was a chance he could get this guy and just knowing i haven't seen that clip what that represents for the team and like how they'll do anything to like i can put that guy on my team so yeah there you go there's your there's your top 10 countdown i'll run it back. Debo at 10, London at 9, Wilson at 8, Puka at 7, Brown at 6, Jefferson at 5, Aminra at 4, Chase at 3, Lamb at 2, Tyreek at 1. We did it.

Next week, what are we talking about, Al? What's next week's agenda i think we got running backs the countdown is furiously tuesday and thursday that is correct uh you know i try to try to um early running back rankings yeah so we'll have the two-parter next week and looking forward to it i think that's it i think we're're done. We are. Alright. Thanks for joining us. A reminder, head over to ultimatedraftkid.com. Get access to the Dynasty Pass right now.

Goodbye. Goodbye. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Join our fantasy football community on jointhefoot.com and follow us on Twitter at the FFBallers.