The Herd with Colin Cowherd - FantasyPros - 4 Fantasy Football BOOM or BUST Wide Receivers | WRs to Draft or Fade (Ep. 2068)

Episode Date: June 27, 2026

Four wide receivers. Four very different outlooks. Join Joe Pisapia, Andrew Erickson and Derek Brown as they break down WRs to make or break your season. Emeka Egbuka (WR, TB) was a top-3 WR in fantasy points per game through five weeks before injury struck — with Mike Evans gone, he's the clear WR1 in Tampa. But Jameson Williams (WR, DET) was the definition of boom or bust in 2025, and a new play caller plus Sam LaPorta's (TE, DET) return threatens his consistency. DJ Moore (WR, Bills) finally gets Josh Allen — but can he beat out Khalil Shakir and Dalton Kincaid (TE, BUF) for targets? And Mike Evans (WR, 49ers) in San Francisco with Brock Purdy: touchdown-heavy boom or trade-deadline sell? The boys breaks down all four with the stats, splits, and underlying metrics you need before your 2026 draft. Timestamps: (May be off due to ads) Intro - 0:00:00 Emeka Egbuka - 0:00:49 Jameson Williams - 0:03:20 DJ Moore - 0:05:16 Mike Evans - 0:09:02 FantasyPros Draft Assistant -  0:13:12 Helpful Links: Hard Rock Bet - Sign up for Hard Rock Bet and make a $5 bet and you'll get $150 in bonus bets if you win. Head over to Hard Rock Bet, sign up and make your first deposit today. Payable in bonus bet(s). Not a cash offer. Offered by the Seminole Tribe of Florida in FL. Offered by Seminole Hard Rock Digital, LLC, in all other states. Must be 21+ and physically present in AZ, CO, FL, IL, IN, NJ, OH, TN or VA to play. Terms and conditions apply. Concerned about gambling? In FL, call 1-888-ADMIT-IT. In IN, if you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-9-WITH-IT. GAMBLING PROBLEM? CALL 1-800-GAMBLER (AZ, CO, IL, NJ, OH, TN, VA) Draft Wizard - Dominate your fantasy football draft with Draft Wizard. Run fast mock drafts, test different strategies, build custom cheat sheets, get pick-by-pick draft advice, and learn your leaguemates' tendencies before draft day. Just download the FantasyPros App or head to fantasypros.com/draftwizard Follow us on Twitch - The team here at FantasyPros is taking questions all week, every week on Twitch. Follow us on Twitch at twitch.tv/fantasypros and never miss a stream! Discord – Join our FantasyPros Discord Community! Chat with other fans and get access to exclusive AMAs that wind up on our podcast feed. Come get your questions answered and BE ON THE SHOW at fantasypros.com/chat Leave a Review – If you enjoy our show and find our insight to be valuable, we’d love to hear from you! Your reviews fuel our passion and help us tailor content specifically for YOU. Head to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts and leave an honest review. Let’s make this show the ultimate destination for fantasy football enthusiasts like us. Thank you for watching and for showing your support – https://fantasypros.com/review/ BettingPros Podcast – For advice on the best picks and props across both the NFL and college football each and every week, check out the BettingPros Podcast at bettingpros.com/podcast, our BettingPros YouTube channel at youtube.com/bettingpros, or wherever you listen to podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. It's that time to put on your jersey and wave your flag, whoever you root for. Why do I watch the walk up? That's like asking me, why do I breed? And it's beautiful. The guys are young and cute and fit.

It's not just a game. It's your culture. I like watching it with my dad. It's a connecting force. From Futuro Studios, I'm Fernanda Chavari, and this is American Football, a show about soccer culture in the U.S. and its underdog roots. Listen to American Football on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Boom or bust! Welcome to the Fantasy Bros. Podcast. It's me, Joey P., Joe Pizapia.

And with me is Derek Brown and Andrew Erickson. Today we're going to talk about wide receivers, what could go right and what could go not so right, right here on the podcast. and again, make sure you subscribe to the YouTube channel, Fantasy Pros, and make sure you also ring the bell to the ghost ding. So you never miss a piece of content here on the channel. I hope I have your attention with that boom or bust. I'm sorry to be so dramatic, but look, we live in very, very delicate times. And there's a moment in every person's life when you have to make a decision on a wide receiver and a draft. And I want you all to make the right decision. That's it. That's all I want you to do. So let's start here with the booms. All right? So when I

think about the booms. I think about Derek Brown and his loud Southern voice. So let's talk about the boom wide receiver that you're looking for potentially in 2026. Who is it, Derek Brown? He's either going to be boom or bust, Joey, and it's a mecca, Buka. And we can go back to last year, table two seasons. We all know what happened, weeks one through five, wide receiver three and fantasy points per game. Well, and then he had the hamstring issue in week six through 18, he fell apart, Baker Mayfield fell apart. He was the wide receiver 55 and fantasy points per game. Volume is still there. Just productivity, fantasy points, not so much. So which version of Emeka Abuka are we getting? I'm closer to thinking that he is going to boom. I think that the entire

passing attack is set up to where he is going to be the focal point of it. The question is real. What does Chris Godwin have left in the tank at this point in his career? So I'm more closer to boom for Emeka Abuka, but I'm curious where you guys are. I'm boom as well. I think, of mechabuka is going to have a great season. I think you saw the the beginning pathway to it. Yes, it did help to have Mike Evans there. I also think Chris Godwin, if healthy, is not to be dismissed in this offense. I do think we get a big year at Baker Mayfield here. I think he does show up in a big way and gets back to what he was doing a couple years ago. But I will say this. I understand why people are concerned about the upside of a mechegbuka because the first six weeks

were so great and the rest of the season was not so great. But Andrew, I think I'm going to bet on the talent. This is another wide receiver, you guy. I mean, I think that we've seen enough Ohio State guys really just take this league over at wide receiver to to buy in on the boom of a mecca. How about you, Andrew? I'm buying it on the boom, the breakout potential from Egbucco because he saw the ceiling to start the year when everybody was healthy on the Buccaneers.

The injuries kind of derailed everything, not just him. It was the offensive line. It was Baker Mayfield. nobody was good for the Buccaneers in the second half of the season for the most part. So I like buying into Egbuka because you think back to his prospect profile coming out of Ohio State, he was kind of projected to be this maybe not a ceiling guy, but a really high floor player that is just going to catch 100 balls every single year. So I think that last year was he showed the ceiling.

And that's what I care about the most because I think that his talent is going to raise the floor for him. You have vacated targets without Mike Evans anymore in the lineup. So I like Egbuka a lot. I think that he's going to smash, and he is a second year primed breakout player. All right. Let's talk about boom wide receivers from your perspective. Andrew, who's in the boom boom room? Jameson Williams is definitely on the president's chair of the boom robust wide receiver club

because nobody was more boom or bust than he was last season. He had the highest bus rate among any receiver that finished inside the top 20 last season. First half of the year, weeks one through seven, he was outside the top 50 wide receivers. he was getting dropped in several different leagues. I remember I strategically dropped him and then pick him up because when it changed, right? Dan Campbell took over as the offensive play caller, and that's when we saw James Williams really cook in the second half of the season. What also helped him see more targets in the Lions' offense was Sam Laporta,

was also put on injured reserve midway through the season, and that's when you really saw James and Williams take off. So this is where I get concerned about him as more of a bust potential in 2026 versus a boom, of the two factors I just laid out. Dan Campbell, again, is not calling place. It's Drew Petzing. So he's not John Morton, so it's still possible that he does involve Jameson Williams more on the offense and just the offense overall has better play calling.

So that does work in Jameson Williams' favor. But Sam Laporta, being back in healthy, presuming from this back injury, well, we saw last year the splits with Jameson Williams. His points per game in full PBR fell off by more than four points per game. when Sam LaPorte was in the lineup. And who was really good and drew petzing offense last year with Arizona? This guy talked about,

I guess that I buried on the polarizing players show earlier or make or break show, Trey McBride. So if this is a more tight end-centric offensive passing game, maybe that hurts Jameson Williams and he continues to be really boom-abust. Yes, he's going to have games where he's going to score 30 points, he's going to have monster performances,

but he's also going to have games where he disappears and kills you in your lineup. So for me, just based on those two main factors of a new play caller and Samo Porter being back, I lean towards James William's being more of a bust than a boom in 2006. All right. Let's talk about another wide receiver, DJ Moore, Dibro. Obviously, a very steady veteran wide receiver.

He's playing with Josh Allen, the best quarterback he's ever played with his career by a country mile, in my opinion. So are we looking at him to be a boom or a bust in 2026? I think he is going to be a boom. For what it's worth, I agree wholeheartedly with Erickson, with JMO being a bust, by the way. DJ Moore, I'm closer to him being a boom. And I understand a lot of the counting stats, the fact that he was wide receiver 41 in fantasy points per game, he had a 14.3% target year, 1.3 yards per route run. None of that's good.

I think a lot of that comes back to it's a Caleb Williams conversation, the areas of the field, how many weapons could Caleb support throughout the season? And honestly, if you look at just the totality of that season last year, there wasn't anybody in that offense outside. of the running backs that were consistent in that offense week to week as far as the receiving weapons. But what gives me hope in that DJ Moore can go back to being what we saw at previous stages of his career with Joe Brady as well is the fact that last year amongst 109 qualifying wide receivers, he was 47th, 49th in separation score and route win rate. You look at that sample even zooming in further as an outside perimeter wide receiver, which I think in the Buffalo offense, he's going to be a 70 to 80% outside perimeter wide receiver. In that same sample,

he was 36th in separation, 29th in route win rate. So you look at the deeper metrics while a lot of the surface level stuff doesn't paint a pretty picture for DJ Moore. The deeper stuff says, okay, he's still got talent. He can get open. They don't make the move for DJ more this offseason. If one, they think he's cooked, giving up what they gave up. And two, with this offense needing to go back to they need a guy they can lean on. They need a Stefan Diggs in this offense and they think that D.J. Moore can be that this year and I agree with them. I'm buying in to the D.J.

Moore boom, but it seems like the ECR isn't Andrew. No, it's not floating around. And I'm not sure why. Maybe you have a different take. Maybe you're not pro DJ more. But it feels like the number one wide receiver for an MVP quarterback should be somebody that people want to invest in. And it's funny because nobody wanted to invest in James Cook last year.

except me. And I'm like, well, he's in the bill's offense. They're going to score points. I think we want guys on offenses that score points and move the football with an MVP quarterback. So what am I missing here with DJ Moore? Well, what is his ECR? Because I think it's a little bit different, too, from what his ADP is, because I'm pretty

sure his ADP is around top 20, 21, 22 is ECR. In half PPR, his ECR, which rhymes and is fun to say, it is the 28th wide receiver off the board. So ECR is a little bit lower. So I'm more in line with closer to the ADP. Best ball ADP, by the way, he is wide receiver 23. So best ball drafters are putting more respect on his name, by the way. So, and I think that's chasing the upside case of, okay, don't overthink it.

He's playing with the best quarterback of his career, right? If you just made that simple analysis last year with George Pickens and Dak Prescott, okay, sick. Top high wide receiver. Like, that's the result you got. So I like leaning more into that case with DJ Moore, while also acknowledging that, hey, sometimes this Joe Brady, offense doesn't just funnel through one guy.

I still think if Healthy Dalton, King Cade can also be a big factor of this offense. We know Shakir is going to be involved as a reliable asset for Josh Allen. But I think the floor is high enough with DJ Moore just based on his body of work that worst case scenario, okay, he's a wide receiver three. You know, it's not like a huge loss. If you overdraft that a little bit, but at the chance that he does boom in a big way like D. Bro outline, yeah, I would, I like to say I'm more in on DJ more than out. All right.

Let's talk about a guy who is a little bit higher in the. expert consensus rankings. Mike Evans, another wide receiver finds himself in a new place for the first time ever actually. Now he finds himself with the San Francisco 49ers. So obviously we know what the boom potential is. He's a Hall of Fame wide receiver. He's all time great, right? He's within that conversation, the model of consistency. But he's an older player. He's had some hamstring issues in his career. He's had more of them lately. So is he a boom or a bust? And which way are you going? Are you drafting Mike Evans? Or he passing on him, Andrew? I really think that this, requires the most nuance of all the players we've talked about,

where I think he booms and busts all in the same year, where you want to draft Mike Evans, you want to take advantage of him while he's healthy, scoring a bunch of touchdowns, and then when your trade deadline's coming up, you've got to be like, all right, I know this hamstring is going to pop sooner rather than later,

and then you've got to move on from this particular player because I love buying into the upside case with him. It's so easy to see, okay, this year's Devante Adams, right? He's going to score a boatload of touchdowns. Rock Purdy was second in the NFL and passing touchdowns per game last season, Mike Evans was put on this earth to score touchdowns and go for over a thousand receiving yards. So, and last year when he was healthy on the field, he was a target hog.

28% target rate per out run that was eighth highest at the position, but it was a limited sample size because he missed so many games because of hamstring injury. Also had this weird clavicle injury, which I'm not really worried about long term, but 33 years old, he only had one game last year where he went over 100 yards. He only had one game where he had 60 receiving yards. Ricky Pearsall had more games of 60 or more receiving arts last year than Mike Evans did. So I still think he commands a lot of defensive attention, which is why he is very boom or bust, even when he is healthy, because teams are worried about Mike Evans because he can still ball out.

So they throw a lot of defense attention his way. And sometimes he has games where even in his prime, he would have games where he wouldn't do a lot in a particular week. But he can offer a week winning upside, which is why I like him a lot. But I also want to acknowledge that he comes a lot of risk. And I think it's important to highlight in the projection. we have on the site from Mike Clay, he's wide receiver 38 in the projections, kind of like forecasting what can go wrong with Mike Evans when you're drafting him as a locked and loaded top 24 guy. This may not sustain for the entire 2026 season for a much older player at 33 years old

playing on a new team, right? He's never played with Brock Prairie before. So this is all a new environment for him. So I know that we all like to get excited about greener pastures. Sometimes the grass isn't always greener, especially when you're going from Tampa Bay to Santa Clara. Yeah, he did miss significant time last year. We all know that, but it is... But most of that was the collarbone, not a hamstring. Well, that was the collarbone. You're right.

You're right. But the hamstrings happened every year. He literally misses the game. I understand that, but going back... Talk to me about Evans. Where are you at? Are you some... To Andrew's point, are you drafting and trading him?

Are you drafting him and keeping him, or are you just fading him altogether? I'm drafting him, and I think he's going to boom. I think he's going to boom in this offense. Because the Mike Evans problem was not a Mike Evans problem last year, and it's not because he's washed. It was a Baker-Mayfield problem. If you look at all of the things that Mike Evans could control,

Mike Evans was still freaking awesome last year. Like, he earned a 24.4% target share. He got a 30.6% first read share. He got 0.116 first downs per route run. All of those metrics were 13th best amongst 109 qualifying wide receivers. You look even deeper. He was second best in separation score

and route win rate. The problem for Mike Evans, and to Andrew's point, was the fact that Baker Mayfield couldn't hit the broadside of a damn barn. Evans had a 70.9% catchable target rate amongst those 109 wide receivers. That was 84th. So the things that Mike Evans can control, earning targets, winning in his routes, he was still doing. And by the way, with Mike Evans, for all the injury stuff since 2020, he's played at least

14 games in every single freaking season. So some of the injury stuff also kind of gets overblown when we're talking about. about Mike Evans. All right, fair enough, everybody. What are you doing with Mike Evans? You drafted him, you traded him, you keep him all year. What's your plan? Drop your comments below.

Subscribe to the YouTube channel here, Fantasy Pros. And of course, don't forget, use the tools. Don't be a tool. Draft Assistant is here to make sure that you can get all these players that you want onto your leagues, busts, booms, whatever you think is best for your roster here and how you want to build that roster. Practice building your roster with the draft assistant, with all the tools, with Draft Wizard.

and make sure you go to fantasypros.com slash assistant or just download the fantasy pros app so that way you can track how you're building your rosters. And of course, it'll help you in all of your drafts, sync up to them all to your scoring, give you suggestions, give you all the right moves that you need to make for all of your fantasy leagues. That'll do it for us, but the story of the game goes on for Debrough and Erickson. I'm Joey P. We'll see you next time, kids. Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football Podcast. If you love the show, the best free way to support us is by leaving a positive review on Apple Podcasts at Fantasypros.com slash review or on Spotify. Follow us on X, Instagram, and TikTok at Fantasy Pros and subscribe to our YouTube channel at YouTube.com slash Fantasy Pros.

It's that time to put on your jersey and wave your flag, whoever you root for. Why do I watch the Walk Up? That's like asking me, why do I breed? and it's beautiful. The guys are young and cute and fit. It's not just a game. It's your culture. I like watching it with my dad.

It's a connecting force. From Futuro Studios, I'm Fernando Chavari, and this is American Football, a show about soccer culture in the U.S. and its underdog roots. Listen to American Football on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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