The Fumblerooski Podcast - The Receiving End -Ep 32 The Fumblerooski Podcast

Episode Date: July 14, 2021

We give our takes on the Hard Knocks football reality TV show choosing the Cowboys to document in 2021 and then continue our player rankings by counting down the top ten Wide Receivers going into the 2021 NFL season.

Good evening, you are listening to the Fumble Rooski podcast by Power 88 Deem Radio. I'm your host, Adam Wright, along with co-host Justin Tucker. Now we are on to our second week, our second to last week actually, rather, of our player rankings. And we're going to be going to wide receivers later on in this episode. We're going to get into the latest news in just one second, but I will give you, right now I'm just going to give you our next couple of episodes, sort of our outlook for the rest of this summer. So we have receivers this week, and then for our little sort of finale, if you will, for the player rankings, it'll be the the quarterbacks so we're going to have plenty of

where there's going to be plenty of bloodshed there justin and i have plenty of we have our disagreements absolutely about who we who who is the greatest of all time and who isn't or or who is this has been in all time this isn't the ranking. Yeah, it's going into next year. But still, we disagree on a lot of things. And after that, we're going to have some power rankings. So we'll do the top 10 teams going into the 2021 season. And we're also going to have some player predictions, some Super Bowl predictions as well. So awards, MVP, comeback player of the year, all that kind of stuff. It's going to be a fun week and

that's going to lead us right into preseason. We'll have plenty to talk about then. We're going to have training camp coming on and then next thing you know before we know it it's opening day so sit tight ladies and gentlemen nfl fans alike we're getting through this summer i know it's tough being being going this long without football trust me i know it's only mid-july but we're gonna get there and we're gonna get you there all right now as for the latest news uh so the hit series uh hard knocks which has gone on for about 15 seasons on hbo is um they've chosen their team to cover for this upcoming season and that will be the dallas cow. Now, Justin, I know this is a show that you actually like to watch. Now, Justin, I'll let you lead off with your thoughts on this. Well, this is going to be an interesting season,

mainly because it's the Cowboys. I always love watching Hard Knocks, basically, because it's not always about the stars of the shows. It's usually sometimes about the people that go unnoticed and whether or not they make the roster. But I'm not going to lie, I'm kind of interested in some of the storylines that are coming out of this season of Far Rock Knox. We got Dak and his recovery from his injury

and his contract that will be a topic of discussion. We have Ezekiel Elliott hopefully returning back to his greatness or returning back to form. We have C.D. Lamb in his second year trying to get better. We have a rookie in Micah Parsons. That's his name. Trying to learn the Cowboys defense. And we got a lot of unknowns on the team.

And we also have Jerry Jones, the hype machine himself, on this team. So if I know the Cowboys, they will make this entertaining. I can't wait for this. So you talk about a team that has so many different question marks, a team that's always been, even throughout a lot of their mediocrity over the past couple of decades, has had no shortage of publicity. Not to say whether it's good or bad publicity, but they've gotten publicity. And a team with just so many question marks. Everywhere you look, that defense, is it going to improve? Mike McCarthy in his second year, is he going to take a step forward?

Is he going to get more of a feel for this roster, for these players? Dak Prescott with his ankle, is he going to be the same again? How is this offense going to be in year two? Whereas last season, that offense with Dak Prescott healthy was high flying they were scoring points left and right so you look at everywhere running back Ezekiel Elliott is he going to return to form is this is he more of um one of those players where he suffered from the loss of Dak Prescott because he was putting up numbers last year before Dak Prescott went out so all of these different question marks Mike McCarthy on the hot

seat Jerry Jones the man himself you know this is going to be an interesting one they they chose the right team to go in with this this isn't just like a slam dunk uh team where we know what we're going to expect this isn't a team where we're just going to sit back and look look and say well they kind of suck so i don't care like this is a team that could be really good could be pretty really bad or that it could just be a big bleep show where it's just a soap like a soap opera all right it could be all these different words they you know exactly exactly my point so this is just going to be this was actually a pretty good choice i'm intrigued by the dallas cowboys going into the season there's a lot of teams in that in that division in the a um in the nfc East where you kind of look at –

they're kind of all intriguing, like all of them. Look at every single team in that division, and there's a lot of question marks there. It just remains to be seen what all these teams are going to be like. Yeah. My thing is the Cowboys have so many question marks, so many things around them, and fans will still come up to you and say, you know, we're going to win the division, we're going to win the conference,

and then we're going to win the Super Bowl. And with a straight face too, it's amazing. Yeah, Cowboys fans always think they're winning the Super Bowl, and I just want to know what's going on in their heads. I really do. Like, they haven't been, they've been contenders every here and there, every now and then, but it was more so out of thin air. Like, 2014, nobody expected that team to be as good as they were.

To go 12-4, they made it this close to getting to the NFC Championship. And they blew it. But that's a team we didn't expect them to make it. 2016 Cowboys. Tony Romo gets hurt. Dak Prescott leads the team along with fellow rookie Ezekiel Elliott. They make it to, well, they didn't make it far in the playoffs, but they had the number one seed, and they were 13-3,

and that team was rolling. But you didn't expect it. So this idea that, oh, we expect them to win every year. Oh, we them boys, the Cowboys. I don't know where it comes from. How about damn Cowboys? Like, give me a break. We done boys.

That team, it's been a quarter of a decade since they've won their last Super Bowl. Think about that for a second. They're America's team. Ain't that right? It's getting to a point where it's like imagine the red socks imagine red socks fans before they both i hate to turn this into baseball but imagine red socks fans before they won in the world series in 2004 oh we won five championships when they they did it back in 1918 i know it's i I know that 86 years is a lot different than just a quarter of a decade, 25 years.

But, I mean, it could get to that point. By the way that Cowboys fans are talking, after a quarter of a century, you never know. But, all right. Are you ready to get into these rankings, wide receivers? Oh, I'm ready. I'm ready. I was doing these rankings yesterday, and I had fun doing these. I really liked ranking offensive players.

This is going to be a fun time. All right? All right. Let's go. So, yeah, we're going to get on to it. It's same as always. Split it into fives. Bottom five first. Top five second. So we're going to we'll save the best for last. All right. So the top five. But the bottom five. Don't sleep on the bottom five. All right. So stay tuned. You are not going to want to miss this. You are listening to the Fumble Rooski podcast. Welcome back. Here we go. We have our bottom five wide receivers, the top 10 wide receivers going into the 2021 season. This is going to be interesting. Justin, lead me off with your number 10 wide receiver going into the 2021 season? Well, I just want to remind everybody that this list was not easy to make. There was too many wide receivers to choose from.

As a matter of fact, my number 11th one was about to make it, but I was like, I can't leave number 10 off. Yeah, I changed mine too. Yeah, I was like... Just before this episode. I was struggling with it. And my number 10 guy is Mike Evans. Mike Evans.

Wow. He made your top 10. Elaborate just, just a little bit before I, before I completely trash on your opinion. I, the thing is everybody thinks, Oh mike evans isn't a top 10 receiver he is he sacrificed his stats in order to help the team win he didn't care about his

like overall stats even though he was still a thousand yard receiver and contributed in scoring touchdowns he was a big part of the reason why the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were able to make it to the Super Bowl and win that Super Bowl. Even though he may not have had a huge amount of production, I still value his willingness to sacrifice for team unity and team

cohesiveness. At the end of the day, he still won a Super Bowl. And he's still a 1,000-yard receiver. He was the first receiver in NFL history to have seven straight 1,000-yard seasons to start his career, which is, you can't hate on him for that. So respect to him. I think he had a down year.

And hopefully he'll bounce back to have an even better 2021 than he did a 2020. So that's an interesting one. He's definitely – he did better than I expected going in, going into the 2020 season because Tom Brady, he had during his days in new England, he was, he did a lot of short passes. Now, when he did have his deep ball, his deep ball guys, he was hitting them. But I thought Mike Evans, he, he thrives on the deep ball. He's a deep threat. He, he won as well with Tom Brady rather than Jameis Winston. I was dead wrong. Tom Brady actually did a lot better with the deep ball than we thought he would. And Mike Evans was a benefactor.

He was probably a big part of why Brady was so good with the deep ball last year. But still, he doesn't quite make my top 10. He had some injuries last year. He's playing with Chris Godwin, who's arguably just as good. Some people try to make the case he's better than Godwin. I don't agree with that. However, my number 10 is Julio Jones. And the reason why I have Julio Jones lower than he would otherwise, because number one,

he sustained some injuries going into the 2020 season or in the 2020 season. Uh, so we missed a lot of time and now he's on the Titans. He's on a new team where he's, I mean, who do you think is better? Ryan Tannehill or Matt Ryan? I think it's Matt Ryan by quite a bit, by a little bit. I think they're even in different ways. I think they'll even out, but you might have the edge with Matt Ryan. But he's on a new team, and honestly, I think A.J. Brown is going to be the number one receiver on that team. I think Julio Jones, and it was a soft tissue injury for julio jones it wasn't just some like he was some regular it was it's something that has has bothered players in the past and has affected their play and aj brown

he's a younger guy he's he's speedy and he has a good rapport with ryan tanne. He knows that system. And his play has only gotten better in just two seasons in the NFL. And Julio Jones, he's still going to be good. I still have him at number 10. He's not going to be a top five anymore. I disagree because one could argue he may have more one-on-one opportunities but i understand where you're coming from it's a new offense and he's coming back from injury i i after you explain it i'm not gonna just be upset at your number 10 i can respect it all right that's that's i'm i'm glad that you respect my my opinion but give me your number eight my number nine yeah number nine my bad i'm i want to skip over him but unfortunately i can't my number nine is aj brown

okay aj so you have so i'm i'm guessing by your reaction by by julio jones yes he is higher so you have julio jones higher than aj brown yes okay all right i disagree with you i might respect it understandable i might not i took him we'll get we'll get to a leo we'll we'll get there but i i like aj brown he he came off a strong rookie year to have an even stronger sophomore year. Had a phenomenal connection with Matt Ryan and was able to take advantage of the plays where – Ryan Tannehill. Or Ryan Tannehill. We got them mixed up.

I love the connection he has with Ryan Tannehill, and I love the opportunities he makes when Derrick Henry doesn't get the ball and when he has one-on-ones with defenders, even though he does shove. I get very upset when he does do that, especially against my Ravens, but he's a respectable wide receiver, and he will be a top five wide receiver sooner or later. It's just a matter of time. I just think the offense is what's holding him back right now. So the offense is holding back AJ because it's a run first offense.

I think that's the main reason that his numbers look the same way he does. He doesn't get like 10 targets a game. If he got like 10 targets a game, I think he'd have much better stats. But Eric Henry is there. So do you think now that with Julio Jones added to the mix that this will become more of a balanced attack rather than just Derrick Henry just pounding the ball away 30 times a game? If they're smart, that's what they should do. I think instead of him running for 2,000, I think 1,300 or 1,400 would suffice

and then give Tannehill more opportunities to throw. Yeah, if this was more of a balanced attack, I still think their defense is suspect as a team. Their defense is so they're not completely balanced, but their offense could be a lot more balanced, especially with the acquisition of Julio Jones, as I mentioned in the last at who had who's at my number 10 spot you know they replaced cory davis with julio jones it's a pretty good replacement all right if julio jones cory davis wouldn't have made my top 10 so spoiler spoiler

spoil not not much of a spoiler but a spoiler i guess we're telling you who's not there but i i feel like people unless unless they didn't have any respect for me they're like well adam by your logic you'd have him at number at in your top 10 look if you're a jets fan you'd have him at number one then brian mucker all. Who's your number nine? My number nine is Allen Robinson. And I have Allen Robinson a little on the lower side because I have a lot of players here who had very strong campaigns last year who I think are only going to get better. And I do think Allen Robinson is going to get better than what he has been this past season, which has been nothing short of incredible.

With Mitch Trubisky and Nick Foles throwing to him, this guy has been able to compile yards. He's been able to score touchdowns, and for all you fantasy owners out there, he's been able to score there too. And this guy, now that he has Justin Fields, he has a new quarterback out there he's been able to score there too and this guy now that he has justin fields he has a new quarterback out there he's going he's eventually he's going to get better now the question is how much better and this is an issue because first of all justin fields is in his first year and quarterbacks they're not sometimes it takes them time to develop as a passer in the NFL. And second of all, we don't even know if he's going to be starting right away.

There's a very strong possibility that Andy Dalton, the red rifle, is going to be throwing to him. And how efficient can Allen Robinson be early on in this season with Allen Robinson remains to be throwing to him. And how efficient can Allen Robinson be early on in this season with Allen Robinson remains to be seen. Allen Robinson with Allen Robinson? Who did I... Andy Dalton remains to be seen.

However, he was able to be productive with Mitch Trubisky and Nick Foles at quarterback last year. And it wasn't just predictable. It was back and forth, Mitch Trubisky, Nick Foles, Mitch Trubisky, Nick Foles. And he had to make adjustments, he he made the adjustments um the question is how long he can do that and how long he's willing to tolerate that we don't even he won't he there was a report earlier today uh he won't accept he doesn't want to come back he won't doesn't want to sign a

contract extension which tells me he might have one foot out the door already. So this is a player, he's due for another great year. It's just a matter of how great. I agree. I agree. I share a lot of those same sentiments. I mean, yeah. I'm sure a lot of people have him higher than I have,

but he's a big question mark for me. Because, I mean, he was productive this year. He was productive this past year with lower-tier quarterbacks, but not in past years before that. He has struggled, which, I mean, I don't blame him, but he struggled. I get it. I understand. I share a lot of those same sentiments, which is why he's my number eight guy. Good transition.

The same things you say about him is the same things I will say here. He had a phenomenal year last year, considering what he was playing with and who he was surrounded by. I think he had a phenomenal season. And I think with the quarterback play he'll have next year, which is unfortunately an upgrade, which says a lot about the Chicago quarterback situation for these past couple of years, which will be an upgrade, which will only help increases or you would hope increases play on the field for receptions, touchdowns, this and the third. My problem is if they're going to start with a rookie, they're probably going to start with a rookie-friendly offense, which probably will involve a lot of run first plays, a lot of first

down runs, a lot of second down runs, just to ease them into the playbook not really throw too many plays at him all at once so it might lower his production value all the same so as much as i like alan robinson on this team depending on who he has his production might be different no don't get me wrong i still think he'll have a very good season and i think he'll be very productive but i'm not sure if he'll have it the same way as he did last year. Yeah, again, we see eye to eye on this, so I'm not going to add much to that, but I'm going to give you my number eight guy, who is Justin Jefferson. We're going to talk about this. And Justin Jefferson, he had the best rookie season since Randy Moss.

Yeah. This is a guy who was nothing short of incredible this past season. He scored touchdowns. He scored yards. The only thing that is something to keep an eye on is whether or not he can score. He can get short yardage, sort of be able to get yards after the catch, catch short passes kind of, rather than just being a deep threat because most of his receptions were just big, chunky yards,

which there's nothing wrong with that, but I'd like him to be able to do everything and i like justin jefferson this year i think he's going to get he's going to take another step forward um i my issue is kurt cousins i just think and the vikings i just think they screw everything up they They're just always mediocre. And anytime they have something good, they always screw it up. And I think Justin Jefferson is going to have a great year. I just have him at number eight. I respect it. My problem is I didn't have him on the list. You didn't have Justin Jefferson at all?

When I tell you it was between him and mike evans i was being dead serious so you chose yes i did show you chose i chose mike evans over over justin jefferson yes i did i chose i chose a ring over my uh justin jefferson yes the difference between mike evans and justin jefferson last last year was Mike Evans had the greatest of all time getting him to a Super Bowl. The other one had Kirk freaking Cousins. And still put up 1,400 yards. I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear it.

He still put up 1,400 yards with Kirk Cousins. Yes, in spite of Kirk Cousins. In spite? You just make Kirk Cousins sound like a bum. You just make him sound. He's a top 15 quarterback in the league, and I will not hear otherwise. Maybe top 20. Different day.

Next week, we will address this. He is not top 10. We're not going to address it next week because Kirk Cousins isn't a top 10 quarterback. I will look over this, and I will make sure he's not a top 10. If he is, he will be on my list. How about we do an honorable mentions just so that I can crap all over, take a big steaming dump all over Kirk Cousins. Talk about how flirty the quarterback he is.

If that's what you want to do, that's fine. But next week, I like Justin Jefferson. I like him a lot. And i do think he'll take another step in the right direction i just it was really a nip and tuck pull with me here with mike evans and justin jefferson i wanted to but i was like this island of misfit toys would reject Kirk Cousins? Stop it. They would welcome him with open arms.

He's a misfit of the misfits. Oh, stop it. He is perfectly fine. You just don't like him right now. He's, I don't know. Would a top 15 quarterback take a team to 7-9? Yes. Again, a lot of people have Aaron Rodgers at number two,

and he's finished with plenty of sub-500 seasons. That's a lie, but we're going to – this is not a quarterback debate. All right. Give me – yeah. Number seven. You can hear number seven. Julio Jones. So you have him real – that's kind of fair.

Yeah, I think that's fair. He's not top five. He's coming off injury and he's going to a new team. But I do think Julio Jones has the potential to still be a top five potential wide receiver in the game. I think that's why I have him at seven. He's just coming off injury and going to a new team. But I like everything I've seen thus far. I think he's still a legit freak of nature. I think he'll still run in like the four, four, four fives despite the injury. And I think he'll be a true nightmare in one-on-one because what are you going to do? Put eight in the box and just double team a.j

brown and leave julio jones with a 101 that's that's a touchdown all day i like my chances with that so the way i see it he'll have plenty of one-on-one opportunities and he'll be able to feast with them i could see like a tampa bay style offense with not 2020 more of 2019 but with better decision making with like derrick henry having like 1400 yards and then julio jones and aj brown taking most of the receiving yards seeing a new i could see that happening next season where he's he's had another year in the titan system and maybe he's healthier as well but But I have him a little lower. But who I have as my number seven guy is Keenan Allen. And Keenan Allen, in a rookie season with Justin Herbert, first year with him, those two connected.

And they connected well. And now the only reason I don't have him higher and this guy balled out last year is because of injuries. He's had a little bit of an injury history. Uh, he had a little, his career got a little sidetracked after his early years in the NFL. And he's had a bit of, he, he's had a career Renaissance ever since then. And Justin Herbert has really rejuvenated that renaissance, so to speak. Kind of, yeah, electrified it. However, I have Keenan Allen. Keenan Allen is a player who I have as, he's a sleeper.

I know I reference fantasy football a lot. He's a bit of a sleeper of a guy who can be one of the best wide receivers in the game next year. The only issue is the injury risk. Everything else, Justin Herbert's going to get better. And with Justin Herbert getting better, Keenan Allen's going to get better. And the only thing that could possibly hold him back is the injuries. Other than that, Keenan Allen, he's going to rock and roll this year. He's higher on my list, but I agree with all the sentiments you say.

But we'll get into Slayer later. I don't even call him Keenan Allen. I just call him Slayer by his nickname. Slayer. Yep. Interesting. But give me your six. My number six guy is Stefan Diggs. Stefan. Wow. Yes. Wow. That's low. That's not low. I don't think you understand how good my receivers are.

And I'm starting to think you may not have a guy on here who I ranked high. We'll get into it soon. The reason I have Stephon Diggs low, well, I don't qualify as well. Lower than I want. Yeah, lower than you. He had a great year last year coming from the Minnesota Vikings and helping Josh Allen take that step to be a true franchise quarterback, helping the Buffalo Bills make it to the AFC championship game and making you believe that this upcoming year

they have a great chance to make it to the Super Bowl. The only problem with him is he's not as good as the other five. It's just that simple. I respect his game. I respect his hustle. I respect his grind. It's just that he's not as good as the other five on this. And you just got to, like, nitpick after a certain point.

Yeah, I like the other five more than I like Stephon Diggs. Nothing against him. He had a phenomenal year last year. I think he just wasn't as good as the other five more than I like Stephon Diggs. Nothing against him. He had a phenomenal year last year. I think he just wasn't as good as the other five. So I have at number – I'm not even going to address. But at number six, I have A.J. Brown. Okay. And I have A.J. Brown higher because I think he's going to take another massive step forward.

He hasn't had too much trouble with injuries. He missed a couple of games early on in the season, but he proved that wasn't an issue by coming back. And it was just all business going from there. And he has a strong rapport with Ryan T tannahill that's going to continue to go forward and with julio jones added to the equation it only makes it better teams are going to start to put some focus over to julio jones rather than i'm not this isn't to this isn't to disrespect cory davis in any way he was a solid number two, but Julio Jones is a better number two. And now A.J. Brown is going to flourish and people are going to look at the teams. Opposing

defenses are going to look at the name Julio Jones and going to say, we got to cover that guy. We got to cover that guy. And they're going to forget about A.J. Brown. And therefore, that is why I have A.J. Brown as the number one option in that passing offense. And A.J. Brown. Therefore, that is why I have A.J. Brown as the number one option in that passing offense. A.J. Brown is going to be one of the best wide receivers in the game next year. I respect it. I respect that pick. I had him in number nine because of Julio Jones, but you have him higher because of the addition of Julio. Not a bad spot for him. we you kind of you have your

titans receivers ranked fairly low but i have i have aj brown ranked pretty high that's a guy who i think is going to absolutely explode even more than he did last year um but we're going to get into our top five coming right up we suspect that this is gonna get a little this is gonna get a little heated but you're gonna want to listen to it so stay tuned you're listening to the fumble ruski podcast all right let's go top five wide receivers going into the 2021 NFL season. Without further ado, how about you give me, Justin, your number five receiver going into next year? Well, my number five guy is Keenan Allen, a.k.a. Slayer. That man right there, doesn't matter if it's a quarterback,

doesn't matter if it's a rookie, doesn't matter if it's Tyrod, doesn't matter if it's a rookie doesn't matter if it's Tyrod doesn't matter if it was Phillip last year if you give him a competent quarterback he can make plays and all it comes down to is simple his feet and his route running will make any cornerback in the league look stupid it is ridiculous and a lot of times I watch him on his routes and he just makes a cornerback look silly at the line and just gets past them and gets the ball easy and it looks like he's wide open in space every time i watch him it's like watching like poetry in motion and i respect his game the only one that even comes close to him in the route running aspect is devontae adams who we will talk about later but i think he's the best

route runner in the game and I believe it when Justin Herbert takes that step in the right direction that we're all hoping for knock on wood look I believe Keenan Allen's game will only go up from there and what's that yeah and injuries is a little bit of a problem because against the game against the Saints, he got me a touchdown. But if he got me another one, I would have won fantasy that week. But because he got injured, I lost.

But that's not the era there. Hopefully he stays 100% healthy and can contribute to the Chargers making it to the playoffs as the seventh seed. We reference fantasy football way too much when we talk about offense when we rank it but I mean we talk about fantasy football yeah everybody loves fantasy football but I agree with everything that you say about Keenan Allen I love Keenan Allen going into this year. The only thing that holds me back and why he's lower is his injury troubles. He does have some issues

with injuries in the past. And I hope that he can get through a full campaign. And if he does, that he's able to stay the same, that he's able to do it at 100%. But my number five is DeAndre Hopkins. Five.

Five. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. No way. Five. There's no, no, no, no, no. There's no way there's four wide receivers on earth right now better than that, man. I'm going to give you all of them in a little bit. All right, we'll get to that.

He's five. No. DeAndre Hopkins, when he first came to the Arizona Cardinals, he put up very good numbers. He still put up very good numbers. He still did. He still did. He still did, but they weren't quite as efficient as his numbers in his best

days with the Houston Texans. And he still doesn't have much behind him. Larry Fitzgerald, he was respect your elders, great, but he's not his best days are behind him Christian Kirk

he's I don't care for him he's not he's not that good oh my gosh who do they have AJ Green who's also washed up but they just don't have anything besides him. And opposing defenses are just going to game plan for him, and eventually he's not going to be able to help quite as much as he was once able to do when he was in Houston. Now that's something that's not necessarily in his control, but he's not going to put up the same numbers. He's not going to be able to make the same impact. And there's other wide receivers who can still make an – he can still make an impact, but he's just not going to have –

he's just not going to be the same as he was in Houston as long as they don't have another guy to go along with him. Man, he's. Oh, man. He's fine. No. No. Let me... I know Stefan Diggs is higher than him. I can already see that, but you're telling me there's

four other guys? No. Hell no. Respectfully, hell no. Alright, well, where do you... Who's your number... So, go to your number four guy well well this will all come to a head this is where i think we might have the disagreement here number four is michael thomas okay so michael thomas didn't make my list that's where i was like okay

where is he where is he on your list? He was number 10 for me. But then I took him out for Julio Jones. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Yeah. No, no, no. You don't believe that. You don't believe that.

Michael Thomas with Drew Brees was very good. Michael Thomas now with who? Jameis Winston, Taysom Hill. I don't care. Give him the ball. I don't care how you give it to him. Give him the ball. If it's a slant route, maybe. I call him slant boy as a joke, but he's not as bad as you guys think. He is a top five minimum receiver. At minimum, he's top five. If he didn't have injury issues, I would have put him in my top ten. Probably high up in the top ten. But he's had injury issues and his quarterback play has gone down. And all he does is, he doesn't have – there's not much to him.

Oh, my God. The guy, even last year when Drew Brees was out for five games, he still was productive. It's not like he was a bum with Teddy Bridgewater. He was still productive with Teddy Bridgewater. I think this year was just a down year. I think next year he'll have a bounce back and remind everybody, I am that dude in New Orleans.

I think he will remind everybody of that. Oh, my. He didn't make your top. If you said he was 10 based off last season, I'd be like, okay, that's fine. You said he didn't make the list. I sure hope he'll be better. I hope I'm wrong. I don't root for players to play for.

This guy. Unless. What's your number four? My number four is Calvin Ridley. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Now, Calvin Ridley last year with Julio Jones playing and the year before with Julio Jones playing, still put up great numbers. Now Julio Jones is gone.

And Julio Jones and Calvin Ridley, he still has Russell Gage at his disposal, and he still has Kyle Pitts. So it's not like defenses can just game plan for him. So this is going to be the Calvin Ridley show in this offense, and he's going to just, he's going to erupt in this offense. And this is going to be the year of Calvin Ridley. He's going to take

a massive step forward. It's going to be incredible. It's all fun and games until he gets that Jair Alexander treatment. Oh my god. Yeah, but everybody gets the Jair Alexander treatment. I can't. I can't I can't this oh yes it hurts you won't be laughing next year when we're doing these player rankings and

Calvin Ridley is going to be a popular choice for top three listen we'll do this next year and he'll be top 10 at best I'm not sure he'll be top five. Because if he has to face Jair Alexander again, I think he'll have PTSD after what Jair did to him. That man had zero yards. And I abuse Brian because of that. Oh, we all do. Because he's Brian. He has some Calvin Ridley in his pants. He had Braxton Berrios in his pants, and that didn't do well for him either.

He had those two. Braxton Berrios in his pants, and that didn't do well for him either. He had those two players. Braxton Berrios. Oh, yeah. He tried to start Braxton Berrios. And for those of you who don't know, for those of you listening who don't know who Braxton Berrios is, exactly. Exactly my point. He's a wide receiver for the New York Jets. The only reason I knew who he was was because he was a Patriots guy on their practice squad, by the way, who was cut from their practice squad, and he went to the Jets who won two games obviously Berrios did not make a big a big impact for them but Brian decided let's start him anyways put up a massive goose egg in fantasy football

now now that our audience has heard plenty about our fantasy football stories um how about you give me your number three? My number three is Tyreek Hill. Speed kills, and who has more speed than the cheetah? That guy is fast. It's my number three too. Yep. We can just talk about him at the same time. If he's even,

he's leaving. All Patrick Mahomes has to do is throw it up and he'll go and get it. There's not a cornerback fast enough to stay with him, maybe in all of football. There might be one guy that might run a 4-2-8. Sorry, I don't think he can stay with him. He has ridiculous speed. And he's not just a track star. He is a legit football player. Once he has ridiculous speed and he's not just a track star he is a legit football player once he has the ball in his hands good luck trying to stop him a play that usually gets like two to three yards gets like 10 to 12 with him if it's just a simple end around his speed changes a dimension of an offense and makes it that much more lethal it it's ridiculous what he can do with the ball in his hands his speed his route running his ability and now i the big knock on him before was he was more of just a deep ball guy like an all or nothing guy and if he wasn't doing anything. And over the past – what is that?

A motorcycle. Jeez. And he was just never able to catch short passes. It was all just huck it up deep to Tyreek Hill. If he catches it, great. If he doesn't, he's not making an impact on this team. And over the years, he's kind of become more of he can do everything now. My only issue is he just doesn't – he's not much of a jump ball guy.

He's not all that tall. He's a little bit undersized. Other than that, he can do literally everything. But, yeah, enough drooling over him how about we go to our our number two wide receiver in the league give me your number two my number two is deandre hopkins let's just get into this almost how how is he top how is he five at least we have him top five if he was still in if he was putting up houston numbers his numbers that he did in Houston, I'd say put him at number two. He's still putting up similar numbers.

Not quite as good. With the amount of passes he gets, he only had one drop pass this year, which is impressive considering the amount of targets and receptions he gets. That guy is legit a freak of nature when it comes to getting the ball in his hands. When the ball touches his hands, it doesn't usually drop. So he's a red zone threat and he's a deep ball threat. He's an all-around talent. And when the ball's up in the air, you don't usually fight DeAndre Hopkins for the ball because you know he's coming down with it. It's just that simple. It doesn't matter who's on him. It doesn't matter how he's on him. I think the one receiver Jalen Ramsey gave up 100 yards to was that man himself, DeAndre Hopkins. So that's all it really

correlates to. That man doesn't matter the corner or the scheme or the offense or the defense you're playing against him with. He's going to put up numbers regardless of the situation. That's why he's my number two guy. Very good wide receiver. He had a very good year last year. He was inconsistent last year. And the reason that I have Stephon Diggs at number two this year is because Stephon Diggs, Diggs, when he was the year

in years prior, when he was with Minnesota in a run first offense, he was underutilized. He was complaining. He didn't want to be there and he was upset. He felt like he wanted, he, he could play a bigger role. And once he, once he was traded to buffalo and he got more targets and he became the focal point of that offense he never disappointed he i don't i can't name a a game where he had a where he had a down where he had a down he just had a bad game i can't name i i can name maybe one there was there was a game against um there was one game early on i forgot who was against but they he only had a few catches but other than that he was mr reliable he was dynamic and he finally elevated from the status of being a very good wide receiver to an elite among the best

wide receivers in the game he could do it all all. He could score. He could get yardage. He could get short yardage. He could do literally everything. And that is why I have Stephon Diggs at number two. And why I have him as being continuing to be an elite wide receiver next year. It's only going to get better from here. I certainly hope so since you have him number two over DeAndre Hopkins. But I just can't with you.

I just can't. Stephon Diggs is going to be better than DeAndre Hopkins next year. No. Stop it. Stop it. He's going to be better. I'm going to hold you to this. As a matter of fact, our fans will hold you to this.

We'll make a bet. I'll draft him in fantasy football this year you can draft deandre hopkins that depends if we have the opportunity to we'll see if brian if brian doesn't get to him but despite all that i believe we have the same number one guy and that is davante adams yep yep that's my guy davante adams yep the hero he can do everything he always he always scores he always racks up yardage doesn't matter the doesn't matter the opponent doesn't matter the defense that he's facing he always comes through for you you always you you have him on fantasy football this has turned into a fantasy

football wide receiver rankings but you start you start davante adams if you don't it's a it's on you and davante adams he's a baller he can do everything and i i can't he he was a monster last year, and it was with – it was all on a team where they didn't have many other options to throw, many other elite options. Like you consistently say, they don't have a legitimate number two. They have Alan Lazard. They have Marquez Valdez-Scantling, who drops the ball 50% of the time. You call him Mr. 50? And Lazard is never healthy, and even when he is healthy, he's nothing too special. Robert Tunyon is a product of just elite Aaron Rodgers.

And there's Aaron Jones, who's a very good running back, but he also gets hurt every now and then. Devontae Adams is the focal point of that offense, and Devontae Adams is going to continue to as long as he doesn't get into any trouble with injuries. So Devontae Adams, congratulations for being our unanimous number one wide receiver according to the Fumble Ruski podcast yep congratulations this should be a tremendous honor for you very very tremendous we're one of the best podcasts out there of course oh no doubt people just don't know it yet they will they will they will they're eventually going to know we're going to go we're going to go big we're going to get popular. We're going to get popular. And people are going to be like, oh my god, did you hear what Justin said?

Oh my god, did you hear the dumb crap that Adam said? It's going to be great. Did you hear the hot take Justin said? Did you hear what Adam said about the Patriots? Did you hear the hot take that Justin said? Gave me the hots for him. All the girls will come flocking over to you. Just watch.

Let's not get crazy now, Adam. Let's not get crazy. You know what? This top 10 was so crazy, we didn't even mention DK Metcalf in it. Yeah, I don't have him in my top 10, and I don't plan on having him in there. He might be a top ten.

It's tough. It's arguable, but he was a little soft. He didn't show up at big moments, and it felt like it was easy. It felt like it was easy for teams to lock. If teams had the personnel to lock him down on defense, they did it. It wasn't that hard. Jalen Ramsey didn't give him problems. Yeah, Jalen Ramsey gave him issues.

It was maybe Stephon Gilmore is the one guy who got – and he always has issues. As a Patriots fan, I can tell you he always has issues early on in the season. Then he gets good and and it's just lockdown Gilmore. Anyways, I'm going to reiterate what our plans are for the next three weeks. Finale

for players, quarterbacks. After that, we're going to do some team rankings for the top 10 teams going into the 2021 season. Then some award predictions. Some Super Bowl predictions. Maybe a little playoffs here and there.

We'll figure out how we format it. We'll let you guys know. But this is going to be our outlook for the rest of the summer. Just sit tight. We are getting you guys through this summer. I know summers without football are brutal. But we're getting you through it. We are getting you guys through this summer. I know summers without football are brutal, but we're getting you through it. We're giving you plenty of entertainment. We will just leave it to Justin and I to entertain you. Anyways, that'll do it for us tonight. Thank

you for listening to us. Make sure you subscribe to our YouTube channel. Check us out on Spotify and Google Play. Also, be sure to follow our Instagram at FumbleRuski underscore podcast to keep up with our podcast and the latest coverage on the NFL. Otherwise, we will see you next week. Over and out.