Lineup Fantasy Football Show - Top 12 Wide Receivers Rankings & Tiers 2026 Fantasy Football

Episode Date: February 16, 2026

We rank our Top 12 Wide Receivers for the 2026 Fantasy Football Season! Analysis and thoughts on the 2026 Fantasy Football season's biggest sleepers, breakouts, and busts for wide receivers. 0:38 - Ja'Marr Chase 3:03 - Puka Nacua 6:38 - Jaxon Smith-Njigba 10:08 - CeeDee Lamb 12:50 - Amon-Ra St-Brown 16:55 - Malik Nabers 20:05 - Rashee Rice 24:40 - Drake London 29:07 - Nico Collins 32:40 - Justin Jefferson 36:18 - George Pickens 40:11 - Tetairoa McMillan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we are ranking our top 12 wide receivers and tiering them for the 2026 fantasy football season. All right, welcome into the lineup football show. I'm Mitch Anderson. I'm Justin Mello. And last week we hit our top 12 running backs of 2026. Today we are jumping into our top 12 wide receivers of 20206. Before we jump in, make sure to drop a like, hit that subscribe button and throw out the whole video. If you don't agree with any of our picks, make sure to comment down below who you'd take in their spot. All right, Mello, let's jump into our number one. We were completely on the same page on this. I know it was not the best year for his managers last year,

but let's talk to Mar Chase. Yeah, I think a lot of people after last year no longer have him as their top receiver. I still do. I still have them as my 1.1 and full point PPR, half point PPR. I know we're not quite aligned there. But for me, he has the best combination of floor and ceiling of any receiver in the NFL. He's debatably the best receiver in the NFL. And even though we look at last year and think of it as a down year,

which I suppose maybe it was for his standards, he still was the wide receiver four in half-point PBR. I was blown away when I read that. I was like, oh, I was going to try to do the thing where I was like, it wasn't that bad. And I was like, it really wasn't that bad. No, it was not bad at all. He was the wide receiver four.

And he did it while not scoring a ton of touchdowns, at least relative to the guys ahead of him. He had two fewer than both JSN and Pukanakua, three fewer than Amuneraw St. Brown. So you would think the touchdowns will come next year. He's still got Joe Burrow, who should hopefully be healthy. We'll see. Defense still sucks. Like, it's just such a perfect fantasy situation for such an elite talent that I feel so confident in the floor and so excited about the ceiling that I have to keep him at 1.1 personally.

I think the only people that don't have Jemar Chase in, as is their number. or one wide receiver right now are people who are stuck in those Jake Browning weeks. And like, I think the lows were so low that I get it. But wide receiver three in points per game, he ended up missing week, Y receiver four overall. Like we look at it as some like cataclysmic year when it's like all things considered, it is absolutely unbelievable how good of a year Jemar Chase had. And now going into next season,

all of the pieces are aligned to be exactly what you thought going into this year. So for you as someone who has him at the 101, like overall, if you had him there last year, why wouldn't you have him here this year? Literally. It's literally just the recency bias. I think you're right. Like, it's just the Jake Browning Weeks, like in people's minds. But I feel so confident in Jamar Chase going to next year. I would be very happy to take him first overall. 100%. I feel like we're probably, there's not much else to talk about.

No, yeah. It's great offense, great quarterback, awful defense, fantasy gold. Jamar Chase. All right, at number two, here's the first pick that we were actually disagreeing on. You had him at number two. I had him at number three. And that's Puka Nakua. I'll let you go first since he got him higher. I love Puka Nakua with all my heart. I actually felt physical pain not putting him one. I mean, for all the reasons we talked about with Jammar, I had to keep Puka down at two. But it hurt my soul because I think Puka Nakua is probably my favorite non-patriot in the NFL. Not even probably, definitely. and part of that's emotion, but also just, like, logically, he's so incredible. He last year led the league with 129 receptions, and that's despite him missing a game. And he also led all wide receivers with 666 yards after the catch.

So he let the league in both receptions and yards after the catch, which is just like an insane combo, volume and run after the catch. So elite player, elite quarterback with Stafford, who should be back next year. The injury stuff I think is like maybe where I get a little nervous. And I think a lot... As the kids are saying he's blue tent maxing. Yeah, he is blue tent maxing with his buddies Jalen Waddell and Woody Marks. Don't forget Woody Marks. Oh, no, Woody Mark.

It's actually Woody Marks is home. Puka just visits quite frequently. I don't believe in injury luck. He has spare keys for Puka and Jalen Waddle. Yeah. Oh, 100. They're basically roommates at this point. But, I mean, it scares me.

Even though, like, as much as we talk about, like, injuries can happen to anyone, just, like, every car collision tackle that Pooka Nakua goes through, it's just not fun when you think he's not going to get back up. But aside from that, like, there's very little to complain about when it comes to Pukonakua. Completely. And me putting him at three, it is so razor thin to me. And to just, like, explain how razor thin it was. If you look back at 2025,

the difference between Puka and I'll just spoil it now, JSN, who's going to be coming at number three, was a four point difference. And granted Puka missed a game, but, like, I really do think that if you're, like, drafting here at, like, the, was this probably, like, the fourth or fifth pick? Because you're probably going, like,

Jamar, Bejohn Gibbs, or some combination of those guys. Like, this is really just a bet on who you think is more talented. And like, for me, I think Puka's probably more talented. But I just think that that system and the way they're feeding JSN and like, I have to admit, the injury stuff gets in my head just a little bit with Puka. And a lot of the times we say that because of an injury history. That's not like entirely the case with Puka. It's just how reckless he plays and the car collision plays that he makes.

But then on the flip side, that's exactly what makes him so exciting and so fun to watch. He's like the Jackson Dart of receivers. Now, Puga's a way better receiver than. Jackson Guard is a quarterback, but just like the hits he takes every time you're like... Behaviorally. Yeah. He has no regard for his own well-being, which is part of the reason he's so good, but it's also terrifying as somebody who's rooting for him on your fantasy team.

Well, like, that's why he's willing to make plays that not a lot of other receivers are. Yeah. And it's especially effective, but also scary because he's so freaking big. It's like the Gronk effect. Like, Gronk was obviously a physical type. end was able to break so many tackles, run through so many defenders, but you also get hurt that way,

especially when you're a bigger guy like that. So it's kind of a double-edged sword. For sure. Let's jump to number three. I would say we can agree this is the last guy in Tier 1. Absolutely. That is the Emerald City route artist, Jackson Smith and Jigba, JISN.

I think from a fantasy perspective, 2025 is going to be remembered as the JSN year. Yeah. I think like we have those years where like whoever was the big explosive talent, like the Todd Gurley year. And I know Christian McCaffrey was like, he scored more and he was really the fantasy MVP. But Christian McCaffrey's had so many years.

And so to me it's like, I leave this year being like, man, that must have been a fun year for JSN managers. Offensive player of the year, Super Bowl champion. An interesting thing, both him and Pookar are 24. Like on paper, and neither one has even hit their prime yet. Yeah. And the last point I'm going to make for JSN, he was so unbelievably consistent. His only game was single digits outside of this one game. I think his lowest game was 13 points.

It was that week 13 game against the Vikings. He had 4.3 points because Max Brosmer, like, diarrhea down his leg, and that Seahawks didn't even possess the ball at all, or at least didn't possess it in a position to try to score more points. So to me, like, I think JSN every single week is like liable to go nuclear. Same thing with Puka. I'm going to hang my hat on the JSN side, but I think these guys are razor thin close. Yeah, I don't have a problem with that take it all. Like, I can't argue till I'm right in the face, Puka over JSN for Fantasy.

I think I prefer Puka a little bit as a receiver in real life and just a talent. And then also I prefer the quarterback situation a bit more. No disrespect to top 10 quarterback Sam Darnold. So I think that's why I lean Puka. But let me ask you this. If there's one reason for concern, and I'm sort of like splitting hairs here, maybe being a little bit picky, but are we worried at all about Kubiak being? gone. That's fair, and that is a fair concern. We talk about, in the hindsight, things changing and not to

like downplay big systemic changes on a team. So that is probably something to monitor throughout the offseason is like, are you more comfortable taking Puka who is going into just about the exact same situation? Or do you want to take the shot that one of the ascending superstars in the NFL ascends even more? Yeah. And truthfully, even as someone who prefers Puka, I'm not really too concerned with it. I think JSN is so talented and he has the same quarterback who obviously has a great rapport with it. So I'm not overly worried, but it is something I'm thinking about. Like, it's not a guarantee that the offense will just pick up right where they left off when they have a new play collar. We see it all the time. Like, O.C. Like at Philadelphia. Yeah, Philadelphia is a great

example. This year, like a disaster. Tampa Bay. And obviously Tampa Bay this year started hot and then kind of tailed off and some of that was injuries. But, I mean, similar, we saw Cohen leave and then This year with, who was it, like, Grazard or whatever his name was, like it did not work out. And you just never know when these new OCs come in. Just a preview, we're going to be doing quarterbacks next episode. If you had told me in week five of last year

that I would have like no idea where to rank Baker Mayfield, I would have thought you were insane. But like, what a bizarre situation in Tampa from like week five to now. He was like the MVP after five weeks. He was the MVP favorite. It's just, it's insane. Yeah, crazy. You never know.

With all that said, I agree. I think JSN's a super safe pick with still a super high ceiling. So he's got to be a top three receiver off the board. For sure. I think when we drop down here to four, it's a pretty clean tier break at our fourth receiver, first guy in tier two. And that's CD Lamb,

who comes in at number four for both of us. I am burning the tape. I feel like that's my saying of the summer. That's February, but my saying of the summer is burn the tape. He missed three full game. basically four because he got hurt immediately in that game that he busted his ankle. But the fun thing with C.D. Lamb, he also only had one game played under 10 points, and it was 9.6 in week 17.

I think, and you're completely with me on this, this ranking is so contingent on what happens with George Pickens. 100%. But same thing we said about Jamar Chase. Great passing offense. Good QB. I'm not going to give Doc great QVie like I gave Joe. Awful defense is just fantasy gold. And then another guy that like sound the alarms, perfect situation where he definitely burned one of your leaguemates. And so they're probably not going after CD-Lam. And another one of your leaguemates probably had George Pickens and loved him so much that he thought that was all George Pickens in that offense. And I'm not touching CD-Lam.

Yeah, he definitely burns people. But I agree, we can kind of burn the tape and buy the dip. Like we talk about all the time buying the dip. This is a guy that just a couple years ago was the wide receiver one. last year we were drafting him as like the second, maybe third receiver off the board. And assuming George Pickens is gone, which we should probably talk about that a little bit. So I'll circle back to that later. But assuming George Pickens is gone, it's the same situation we thought last year.

And sure, Dak isn't maybe a great quarterback. He's a great quarterback at supporting fantasy receivers because he's a true pocket passer, someone who likes to throw the ball a lot, bad defense. Like it's this perfect situation you have an elite talent like C.D. he is going to get so much volume assuming, again, George Pickens is gone. That will see,

it sounds like Pickens is going to get franchise tagged. We don't know that for sure, but that's been just about every report. What's a little bit less certain is it sounds like it could be a tag and trade situation so the Cowboys can recoup some draft capital without letting them walk in free agency.

But we'll see. I think at worst, I probably still would only move CD down a couple spots if Pickens is there, but without Pickens there, I like him as my wide receiver four. I think I would just move him below our next guy. I think that's all I would move him. I think I'm probably the same.

I'd have to think about it more, but I think I'm probably on the same page there. Should we jump to our next guy? Let's do it. It's a perfect segue. Our second guy in Tier 2, Mr. Consistency, he has finished as the wide receiver three in all three of the last three seasons. Say that three times fast. Number five for both of us,

Amin Rae St. Brown. When I was going through the numbers and realized he was Y-Receiver 3 in the last three seasons, are we too low on Amin-Raw? Should he just be the wide receiver 3? I had the exact same thing in my notes. Wide receiver 3 every year in the last three years. We have him at 5.

It's kind of disrespectful when you think about it. It's kind of disrespectful, I agree. And not only the wide receiver 3, three years in a row, all five years of his career so far, he has outperformed his ADP, every single year. And that's hard to do. For a guy who goes in the first round

the last couple years, he still outperforms his ADP every single year. You're like bound to get overvalued some summer, it feels like, and he just never does. We're just always sleeping on him.

Yeah, I feel like I'm a part of the problem, but at the same time, like I just can't in good faith look at you in the eye and tell you like I take him over any of the guy. Like maybe CD. I think taking him over CD is fine. That's what I mean. That's where I can see it.

Right. You're telling me I'm looking at Ammon Ra and JSN or Puka. I can't. I can't. No, I can't do it. I can't. I want to give you two crazy stats. The first one, did you know Amin Ra had 10 drops last season? That seems ridiculous. I would have guessed

he had zero his whole career. I remembered a few, and I was like, yeah, I did feel like he had a few extra drops this year. Ten is bizarre. That is not dissuading me at all from drafting him, but almost an interesting thing to say, like, he could have had 10 more catches. Yeah. And he honestly...

Already was, I think, first or second in receptions for wide receivers, maybe second. So that's crazy to think. Want to know why that is? Why is that? Last year, Amin Ra had 34 red zone targets. What the literal fuck is that? Red zone threat. How do you get 34 red zone targets? Absolutely red zone merchant. Yeah, literally. I think he was, he might have led the league in receiving touchdowns, for receivers at least. Or second. He was second among all receivers with 11. Yeah. So a lot of receiving touchdowns. Maybe that number comes down and maybe that's where we'll see like sort of a equilibrium is the

sounds come down, but a little bit more, you know, more receptions without the drops. This is pro-JMO propaganda. I refuse to buy into pro-JMO propaganda. I won't even get into that today. But yeah, I mean, Amun Ruz been such a good bet every year. You could convince me to take him as the fourth guy off the board. And I think a lot of the reason we're hesitant to is it feels like there's this narrative that he's a high floor guy, but the ceiling isn't the same, which is fair to a certain extent. Like, every guy we've talked about so far until now has had a top two finish at some point in their career in fantasy and Amunera never has. He's just been three, three times. Yeah, what an idiot. Yeah, he sucks. He can't even crack the top two. But it's also not even

fair to say, like, the ceiling isn't high because on a week-to-week basis, he's had some eruption games, like just where he's gone absolutely nuclear. So, like, the ceiling is still very high. I agree and I almost think he's a guy that gets knocked for having too good of a floor Yeah almost Like week to week I think because I think everyone just says like Oh I'm gonna get 15 out of Amin Ra

As if he doesn't have the potential I'll also give you 35 No and he's done it before Part of it might be the draft capital We're so far removed from him being drafted That it feels like we shouldn't even bring it up But like being a fourth round pick I don't know if that has something to do with it

But like he's proven It's also like, you say, you know, like, oh, we're so far moving. Look at like the Brock Purdy situation. We're still hating on Brock Purdy, like unfairly, I think, this deep into his career just because of his draft capital. Yeah, we still talk about Tom Brady as some, like, merchant. Bomb. Yeah.

Not going to be a Hall of Famer, just like Bill Belichick. So draft capital sticks with you. I'd like to see a few more championships before I can start crowning Brady. Yeah, I think that's totally fair. All right, let's move on to number six. I'm going to go out on a limb and say this guy is barely in tier two. It's close, but he's somebody that fires me up, deserves an Emmy for best eye hop commercial. That's Malik Neighbors.

Number six for me, number seven for Mello. I love Malik Neighbors. I think he's so awesome. I think I just talked about with CD. Like, CD is a guy that kind of burns people and people might be avoiding. I think people are so excited for Malik Neighbors that the fear here is you might actually have to reach up to go and get him because if he hadn't been injured,

he was on pace to do some crazy numbers last year. With Russell Wilson for two games. With Russell Wilson. Now granted, week two is against the Cowboys and that horrible defense. But yeah, I think everyone is rightfully very excited for Malik Neighbors. We talked about Ashton Genty last week as an obvious breakout. Malik Neighbors is another very obvious breakout to me. I do have him in Tier 3.

I definitely feel confident that I'd much rather have Aben Ra. So for me, that's a little bit of a tier break. But still, neighbor ceiling is super high. The talent is extraordinary. And the IHOP commercial that you mentioned is one of the greatest commercials of all time. He gets bonus points. Yeah. I would see Tier 3 here because I think I'm on the fence.

And if you feel confident one way, then I'm down to roll with that. Crazy stat from 2024, he led the league in Target Share. with 34.91%, which to put in a perspective in the last four years is second to only JSN this season. That is absurd. And the 35% of the time that they're passing the ball is going to Malik Neighbors. And we don't know that, Wondale, by the way, who is a thousand-yard receiver in this same offense last year, who is nowhere close to his he does Malik Neighbors. He might not even be there next year.

He's going to be a free agent. So Malik neighbors could truly like own this receiving room and just get all of the volume. I know. I think he is he's your guy that if you want to take a shot at like genuine wide receiver one potential in like the late first round,

he's the guy that I like taking the shot on. It's basically the same thing we were saying last year but obviously he just got hurt. But like if he just stays healthy this year. He could be exactly what we thought. He could be last year. And the good thing about this year is, we have confidence in a quarterback situation. We absolutely did not the quarter. I actually think it's, I actually think it's dramatically different. You're going in with like the hope of Jackson Dart and now Harbon. It's like, okay, are we building something here versus last year when it was Daible and Russell Wilson.

Yeah. And I'm so glad the Russell Wilson experiment is over. It seems like half the league has tried it over the last half decade. I'm glad that now it's finally over and we can get Malik neighbors a legitimate franchise quarterback. Knock on wood, hopefully. Man, that underdog notification that Russell Wilson's just signed with the Cleveland Browns is going to go crazy. I might not watch a single Browns game. It doesn't even have to happen and I probably won't watch a single Browns game. That's fair. That's actually a really good point. All right, let's move on to number seven.

Rishi Rice, number six for Mello, number nine for me. I think this is our biggest discrepancy so far. Unlike Rish Rice, I will not be racing to draft him quite like you are. We'll talk about this a little bit next episode, but I have concerns about Mahomes coming back 100%. My addition for Rishie Rice is Matt Nagy's gone, which is honestly a knock for Malik neighbors. But my fear with him is,

I don't know if the team feels as confident Rishie Rice to be their wide receiver one as a lot of people seem to. and I'm curious to see what kind of moves they make this offseason because they have looked broken, to be honest, like last year and like, I know they went to the Super Bowl the year before, but like we were all calling it out that something looks wrong with the offense. Now we don't even know if Travis Kelsey is going to be here,

so I think also we've decided that the Hollywood Brown experiment is just like not a thing that's going to work. I would rather they bring in a real alpha like Nicole Hardman or somebody like that. Super Bowl winning. touchdown catcher. Super Bowl touchdown winning, whatever. I'm not out

on Rishi Rice, but I do think at his price, I'm just not as high as him. As high as people are in him. I think you're more in line with the majority of people. I mean, the fantasy pros consensus rankings right now, I think have them

right where you do. I'm pretty bullish on him. And I've decided that I'm just going to kind of plant my foot in the ground and say, you can't change my mind. I am all over Rishi Rice. Now, Mahomes obviously recovering from that torn ACL. That is the one thing that could change it for me.

If he's not rehabbing and trending in the right direction and it seems like he's not going to be 100% to start the season or not even be available, okay. At that point, I'll accept the fee and I'll move him down my rankings. But if Mahomes is good to go, which I think right now, granted it's early, I feel pretty good about. I love Rishy Rise. I think the team is very confident in him as their number one receiver.

I know the team as a whole was disappointing last year. The offense seemed broken at times. But I think a lot of that was the offensive line play, which they need to address. And admittedly, other receiving options, the depth they do need to fix. But I think they feel really good about Rishie Rice. They give him so many manufactured touches when he plays. Last season came off suspension just instantly in his.

eight games with Mahomes average 9.75 targets per game over that eight game stretch, six total touchdowns. They give him running plays. They so much pre-stap movement where they try to get more favorable matchups, manufacture touches for him. They like, it's not obviously the exact same role because he plays a different position, but to me, it's super similar to what Kelsey was in his prime for this offense. Just like the mismatch nightmare they tried to exploit short to intermediate throws, get Travis Kelsey the ball. That's kind of what they use Rishi Rice for. Obviously, being tied to Patrick Mahomes,

I think is beautiful from a fantasy perspective. Right. So because of all that, I'm in. I think he has an incredibly high floor. The ceiling is still good. Rishi Rice is somebody I probably will be drafting a lot of. For me, I think it's not that I don't believe in the system. Obviously, the Mahomes injury plays in,

but I think I'm also just not as bullish on his talent as you are. And I think maybe I'm in a minority with that. But I think just from what I've seen, I'm not as excited about him taking the next step. I think to a large extent that's fair. Like even though I have him as my sixth ranked receiver right now, I don't think he's a top six receiver in the NFL in terms of real talent. I don't even think I'd necessarily put him in the top 10.

I would put him far outside of that though. I think he is legitimately very, very good. Another guy that wasn't a high draft pick, that might be part of the reason where hesitant to give him more credit. But what really excites me is that he is clearly by far the best receiver in this offense,

and this offense is led by Patrick Mahomes. That really excites me. That part I can't argue with. And like, if they put it together now that Matt Nagy's gone, which I honestly genuinely think was like a huge problem with that offense, there is potential, like, look at what

where she Rice did last year, like when he was healthy, like, I get it. But for me, there's just, there's a few guys in the mix that I like better. And we can move on to the next one at number eight. I'm very excited about Drake London. He's number seven for me, number eight for you.

He's my second favorite Drake. Drake May, Drake London, Kenyon Drake. Shout out Kenyon Drake. Shout out Kenyon Drake. Drake London last year had a top five target share at 30%. we just talked about Malik neighbors and like 35 and how insane that is. Like Drake London was getting targeted like crazy.

The problem is not as high volume of a passing offense. And sometimes like when we're looking for issues with a guy like that does jump out. And you do say like you're getting a big slice of the pie, but it's like a hostess pie. And then we're going to talk about the next guy. But I have the two guys that we have here back to back because I think there are elite talents that aren't locks to get that volume week in and week out for the exact reason I said, but their big plays waiting to happen. Yeah, I really like Drake London a lot. I have him a spot lower, but that's mainly just because Rishi Rice, we talked about,

I'm super bullish on. Something that excites me about Drake London going to next year is that we know Kirk Cousins will not be on the team. That is really, really good for Drake London. Penix obviously has not solidified himself as the franchise quarterback quite yet, and he may never, we don't know. Obviously, the knee injury is a history of those. That's all really concerning.

But still, Michael Pennix has been so valuable for Drake London and fantasy. I did a deep dive on some of these stats because we talked about the splits between cousins and Pennix for London's sake. So I pulled the data myself, did some quick Excel calculations, and to put in perspective how much better Michael Pennock, or Drake London is, with Michael Pennex. Over the last two seasons, Kirk Cousins has played 17 games with Drake London and Michael Penix has played 13, so four fewer games.

In those games, with Cousins, Drake London averages 5.1 receptions per game, 6.8 with Pennix. He averages 60.5 yards per game with Cousins, 96.8 with Pennix. 0.47 touchdowns per game with Cousins, 0.67 touchdowns per game with Pettix, meaning he basically scores two touchdowns every three games,

touchdowns every three games with Pennix and scores less than one touchdown per every two games with Cousins. And then finally, and this is a big one, top 12 fantasy finish percentage. So the amount or the percentage of time that Pennix or London rather is finishing as a top 12 receiver, just about 18% of the time with Cousins at quarterback and 46% of the time with Pennix at quarterback. That is an outrageous stat. Huge difference. Being able to say while Michael Penix is healthy and Drake London's playing, that you're getting a top 12 fanage almost half the time, that's outrageous. Exactly. And we don't know if that needs to be ready for week one or how healthy he'll be. And obviously he's not, he's far from an elite quarterback. So I'm not trying to say he is.

But what he's done for London historically, we should be excited if London can actually play a full season with Pennix behind center. So there's a lot of potential there. Yeah. I think we're like, slowly watching Drake London emerge, and it wasn't the, like, immediate, huge step up. But, like, if you saw what he did this season, like, he's getting better and better every year. And, like, those splits are absolutely nuts. I think also the thing that jumped out with me there was, like, 100 yards a game. I didn't realize he was doing that with Pennix.

Yeah, so much better. And something we haven't even talked about yet. I think Stathansky should probably be a good thing for this offense, right? I mean, Kevin Stavansky is a great offensive play caller. So I do like Drake London a lot. obviously I'm a little concerned with Penix's health. Penix was never great to begin with. Also, Bijon, it seems like, the true alpha of the offense.

All of that is legitimate reason for concern, but there's also so much reason to be excited about Drake London going to next year. Yeah, I couldn't agree more. I think he's going to be an interesting guy to monitor over the off season because this whole range of guys we have is like a little fluid right now. All right, moving on to number nine. This is the guy set out. We have them back to back because I view them so similarly.

I would say this is probably my favorite non-patriot. It's close. Nico Collins, I have them at number eight. Mello hasn't met number nine. Last year, he was eighth in total receiving yards and number one in A-DOT among the top 18 receivers, which I know that's a little bit of a cherry-picked stat, but I thought it was pretty crazy. That's awesome, man. He is an absolute nuclear play waiting to happen.

QB concerns, I think we were both going to bring it. up. Obviously, the last time we saw C.J. Stroud was a complete implosion. But I think we talked about this in the Sleepers episode. It should get better. It should get at least somewhat better. And a big part of that is they're going to have the 26th easiest, or sorry, 26th is the most difficult strength of schedule for 2026. My one caveat with Nico Collins, I love him for redraft. I love him for dynasty. But where I really love him is best ball, because if you don't have to figure out when to start him and you can just get those like huge boom weeks, like that's where you really hit big with Nico Collins. Absolutely. I love Nico Collins as well.

Just a great story. It's not too often we see a third round receiver do nothing his first couple years in the league and then just go absolutely crazy as third year and fully break out. And it's legitimate. It wasn't like a one year wonder thing. We've seen it three years in a row now. I think we'll continue to see it next year. I think, yeah, that's, Stroud playoff game is fresh on our minds and because of that some people are like, Stroud sucks. He's a problem. Stroud's not great. But I'm not really worried about him like long term. I think he's a fine starting quarterback. There's clearly a strong rapport with him and Nico Collins. So I do feel pretty good about that. There are still some offense concerns I have for this situation. The offensive line needs to get better. They need to address that so badly this off season. Because when Stroud doesn't have time to throw, he clearly has. shown he is not good with quick pressure in his face. He needs more time to throw. They need to fix that. Also, this one doesn't scare me too much, but Nico Collins has really been the big time

alpha of this offense. And part of me wonders if that could start to shift. He'll still be the number one. I'm not concerned about that at all. But Jaden Higgins, who I know you love. Like he's starting to come on strong. They're going to get Jailin-Nuel more involved. There are other receiver they took last year. Tank Dell is coming back, who I don't think he's going to be a big threat to any sort of serious volume early on. But Stroud and Stroud loves tanked out. Like eventually he'll start getting involved too. So the slice of Nico Collins' pie might shrink

a little bit compared to what it's been. But overall, we've seen how good he's been in this offense with Stroud. I still think he's going to have a great 2026. I think that's a fantastic argument because of so much of what Nico Collins is doing is like relying on being the alpha

number one guy. And specifically where I think it could affect him is if we see a higher target share, go to Jaden Higgins. in the red zone. We already saw it creeping up in the back half of last year. And like, that's kind of where Nico Collins makes his money. So it's something to think about when you're considering him. Yeah. And Janet Higgins is super similar to Nico, like stylistically. So he could, he's not going to take Neil Collins his job or anything, but he could play that similar role like you mentioned in the red zone. So that's something to think about. You talk about thin margins.

And I think in this area of the draft, like even if he's taken a little bit away, that's still not good. Yeah, 100%. I think for me though, Nico is probably, at least in my opinion, the last guy in this tier before we drop off to another one. Absolutely. Absolutely.

Let's talk about someone I really don't feel like talking about, but you have to because I guess he's the most talented wide receiver in the NFL, and that's Justin Jefferson. Number 10 for you, number 12 for me. I'm standing on business. I'm out at his price. He was wide receiver 35 in a fully healthy season.

And I just don't, like, how does this get better? Maybe you have the blueprint. I just don't. They need to bring in a veteran quarterback. There's some early rumblings that any veteran who could potentially hit the market wants to go to Minnesota, wants to play with Justin Jefferson. I don't know if that's something the Vikings would entertain. I don't know if Kevin O'Connell wants to continue with this J.J. McCarthy experiment.

We've seen some reclamation projects. Who knows? maybe J.D. McCarthy figures it out and becomes really good. I'm not betting on that. Bring back Rogers. Complete the Brett Farr of Arc, then go and bezzle some money from welfare in Missouri. Just do the whole thing, Rogers. That hadn't even crossed my mind. That would make me very, very excited. Oh, yeah, I would move Justin Jefferson up. I'm not even kidding. We talked about where would move CD. I actually think Jefferson would move to four if you put Aaron Rogers there and I'm not an Aaron Rogers guy.

That's not a crazy thing to say because even with the shell of Carson Wentz at quarterback last season, which we can both agree, Carson Wentz in the year 2025. Like, way past his prime, way past like the one year he was good. Carson Wentz is a significantly worse quarterback than lower end starters in the NFL. But when Jefferson was playing with Carson Wentz in 2025, he averaged 96 yards per game and had two top 12 weekly finishes through those five weeks. nothing spectacular, but pretty damn good considering Carson Wentz was his quarterback. And those two top 12 finishes I mentioned, he only had three the whole year.

So when he was playing with anyone but Carson Wentz, predominantly J.J. McCarthy, he had one top 12 finish. And that was in a meaningless week 18 contest that made no difference to the Vikings or the Lions, the two teams in that game. So they can just get him somewhat of a decent, pocking passing quarterback. I'll start instantly feeling so much better about this. Justin Jefferson is a top three receiver in the league. You could make a very strong argument he is the best wide receiver in the NFL. Yeah.

He's just playing with J.J. McCarthy. I think if I had to play with J.J. McCarthy, I would have pulled Nantoneo Brown by now. And just ran off the field. Yeah. Yeah. So I give. And they were always, they're always getting like, oh, Justin Jefferson, like, bad body language. And like, he's so frustrated.

It's like, who the fuck wouldn't be? I would be so frustrated. Oh, and it's tough too because it's like Kevin O'Connell's your play caller. You have a good depth too behind Jefferson. You got Jordan Addison, who's a great number two receiver. You got T.J. Hawkinson, who's had a great career as a pass-catching tight end.

And it's just like, it feels all wasted on J.J. McCarthy. Imagine like going to work every day and like you were the best at your job. And then one day some like 22-year-old comes in and he sucks. And now you literally can't do your job. and everyone's like mad at you. Yeah, that's, and the guy who used to have that 22-year-old job just got promoted somewhere else and is making a ton of money and is super famous. Yeah, just absolutely horrible.

Yeah, I'm going to stop diving into this because now I'm just getting sad for Justin Jefferson. Yeah, you and me both. All right, let's move on. Number 11, this is a really tough guy to rank. I had him at 10, you had him at 11. That's George Pickens. give me your thoughts because I'm all over the place with Pickens. Yeah, this, we're really going from one guy who's hard to rain to the next.

Pickens is tough. Obviously, situation matters. Like, that's common sense. We'll see where he ends up. I mentioned earlier, the rumor now is he'll get tags, maybe tagged and traded. I think the trade makes sense because the Cowboys have the third least cap space in the NFL right now. I don't know that they can afford to pay him. try to make it work.

It'll be tough though. So I still think it'd be a big win for the Cowboys if they're able to tag, trade him, get like a second round pick out of it. They basically just got like a free year of George Pickens last year. Yeah. I still think Pickens will be great.

Probably almost anywhere he could go. You figure if a team is willing to trade for him, that means they're willing to give him a second contract. So it's going to be a team who gives up draft capital, gives him a second big contract. They're all in on him. That's a good sign. But you never know.

Where do you move Rishie Rice and George Pickens if he goes to Kansas City? Oh, don't do this to me. I don't even think they could do that with the cap. I'm just trying to think of like receiver needy teams. They couldn't, but they both go down for me. And I know it's playing with Mahomes. So like that feels weird, but they both definitely move down for me. I don't know.

I think he could go somewhere to be Yvonne King. It's scary though because like if he's a lot of, obviously not going to go to Pittsburgh, but if he went to a place like what Pittsburgh was when he was there, we have to move him down significantly because we saw what he was in Pittsburgh. Like if he goes somewhere where he's going to be a volume king but on a shitty team with a shitty quarterback, who cares, you know? So absolutely. He's super fluid to me.

He can move around a ton, but he proved last year he's incredible. And he's so much fun to watch play. Like he's a guy that every Sunday you want to park your ass on the couch and watch him score points for your fantasy team. So I can't ball people to take to him. he's the 4.30 window, which the 430 window just always kind of sucks. But if you have George Pickens, like, that's awesome. And you've got someone to look forward to in the afternoon. Everything he does before, during, after the catch, on the sideline, after the game,

everything he does is entertaining. How would you feel if he does end up staying in Dallas and they make it work? We talked about moving CD down a spot or two. What do you think that would do for Pickens? I think it would move him up. I have him down. He's, year with the idea that he goes somewhere else and we don't know what it's going to look like. If it looks like how it looked last year, like, he's a wide receiver six in points per game. I know that was without CD for four games, but like, how about the other 13? He was absolutely phenomenal. I think he got this reputation in Pittsburgh of being like so inconsistent and a big play guy,

but you don't know what to expect, best ball pick. Last season, he only had three single digit weeks. And his production was honestly like very consistent. So I think if he stays in Dallas, Pickens moves up to maybe, like, I'd probably move him above Justin Jefferson. I would. And I probably move CD below Amin Ra and then maybe I go Pickens above Nico.

I think I'd still probably have Nico, but it'd be close. And I would move him over Justin Jefferson. Yeah. Yeah. All right, shall we move on to our last one? Number 12, baby. This is a fun one.

There was like four guys we could have put, here. Let me list off our honorable mentions. We had Garrett Wilson, AJ Brown, and Chris Olave, who you had at outside the top 15, which was outrageous. I had him at 16. I felt bad. I wrote him off last season. He proved me wrong. I like Chris Olabe. I just don't love his ceiling compared to some of those other guys you mentioned. That's fair. Talk about a volume merchant. Yeah. Let's talk about who we really have here, though, and that is Teteroa McMillan. Oh, my God. Teteroa McMillan. You better get right, or his mom will kill you. I, sorry, T-MAC, 12 for Mello, 15 for Mitch.

Coming off of a rookie year that I think was a little bit of a disappointment from a fantasy perspective, and I think a big success from a real-life football if you're a Panthers fan perspective, I think you're getting great value on a second-year receiver. I don't think the second-year receiver Gold Rush is going to look like last year, and yet T-Mack absolutely fits the exact archetype of guys that you were paying up for last year. So at like the wide receiver 12, you're getting him probably back half of the second, early third. There's always the chance of a sophomore slump, and this isn't an offense, I'm super excited to buy stock in. But at this price, 100% willing to take a shot on him. Yeah, you summed up

my thoughts exactly pretty much. We've talked about previously, like the second year receiver thing, we push him up too high. And maybe we will by draft season. And then all of a sudden, I'm not feeling good about it. But as of right now, he's so reasonably priced. And he's, And his upside is incredible, super high ceiling. He's going to get so much volume. The one problem really was the drops for the most part. I mean, the quarterback play and consistency and all that. But from a production standpoint on his end, the drops were an issue.

I think that's fixable. He was the wide receiver 15 last year. Didn't feel like it. Like you said, like it felt like kind of a disappointing fantasy season because it was so inconsistent. And you never felt fully confident in him. But he finished as the wide receiver 15, barring it. an injury, I don't see a scenario that is worse next year. Like, I think that's kind of his floor. His best ball price is wide receiver 14.

Do you think he can literally move up one spot this year? I think he would assume. I would think he almost certainly will. If he can stay healthy, he's going to take another step up. They're going to make him the true focal point of this offense. Bryce Young scares me, but I have faith in T-Max talent. I have faith in this coaching staff. I wouldn't be that surprised if he's the wide receiver three or five. I wouldn't be that surprised if he's the wide receiver three or this year. And I'm not obviously taking that bet. Like, I know that's super high phrase, because his range of outcomes is so much bigger than those guys at the top where you expect them to be at the top. So I wouldn't take him anywhere near like a JSN or a CD or anything. But,

I mean, JSN's a good example. JSN was going right around where TMAQ will be next year and JSN was a wide receiver too. TMAQ could be that next year. It would not shock me. I do think if there's two guys on this list that you're really trying to have fun and hit a lot on offensive player of the year, it's Malik Neighbors and it's Tetaroa McMillan. Yeah, and you probably would get a lot better value on Tederoa and McMillan. Oh yeah. I can't even imagine. I think actually Malik Neighbors and Brian Thomas sucking last year, obviously with Malik, it was the injury, really has done wonders for the price tag on McMillan going to next year. And Ladd-McConkie, yeah.

Don't forget about him. Like, I couldn't agree more. I'm actually loving these second year receivers because last year and I'll give you credit I was like hot and bothered by Malik and Brian Thomas Jr. And you were the one who was kind of like I feel like we're like letting this get out of control.

This is exact like it's almost like post-type sleepers but for draft strategies. Yeah. It's you know what it is? It's what we talk about. Buy the dip. Because there's a dip on second year receivers. No, literally.

Talking about the dip so much. Love the dip. Love the dip. All right. Well, that was our top 12 wide receivers. If you like the video, make sure drop a like, hit that subscribe button and drop a comment to let us know what you thought of the list. And we will catch you guys on Thursday for our top 12 QBs.