The Herd with Colin Cowherd - FantasyPros - Fantasy Football Depth Chart Dilemmas | Sorting Through the Messiest WR Rooms (Ep. 1630)

Episode Date: July 28, 2025

Know which WR fantasy football positional battles to pay attention to as NFL training camps officially open for business! Join Seth Woolcock, Pat Fitzmaurice and Derek Brown as they sort out the messiest wide receiver rooms from across the league! Could a dark horse emerge as the Green Bay Packers' WR1? Can Buffalo Bills WR Keon Coleman take a step forward in year two? Plus, should you be targeting Kansas Chiefs WR Rashee Rice or Xavier Worthy in drafts? The Pros put themselves inside the facilities to find the next breakout pass-catchers! Timestamps: (May be off due to ads) Introduction - 0:00:00San Francisco 49ers - 0:02:34Autographed James Cook Buffalo Bills Jersey Giveaway - 0:12:01Green Bay Packers - 0:12:26Buffalo Bills - 0:20:18FantasyPros Twitch Livestreams - 0:26:43Chicago Bears - 0:27:13Kansas City Chiefs - 0:37:00Outro - 0:46:56 Helpful Links: Draft Assistant - Get live support during your fantasy football draft with the Draft Assistant. Connect the Draft Assistant to your draft and get real-time suggestions based on expert rankings, team needs, and positional scarcity. Get the most value out of every pick in your fantasy football draft with the Draft Assistant. Learn more at fantasypros.com/assistant or download our Fantasy Football Draft Wizard app on Google Play or App Store. Dynasty Rookie Draft Simulator – Our Dynasty Rookie Draft Simulator lets you complete a mock in minutes with no waiting between picks! Customize your league settings to match your league’s exact format. Premium subscribers can test trade scenarios by mocking with their traded draft picks. Prepare for rookie drafts AND dynasty startup drafts in one place! Use the Dynasty Rookie Draft Simulator to dominate your rookie draft today at fantasypros.com/simulator! 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 IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas.

We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you.

you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. All right. And welcome into the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football podcast. We've got part two of depth chart dilemmas on deck free today, breaking down the murkiest wide receiver rooms from around the NFL in part one. We did cover running back. So make sure you go back. Check out that episode if you haven't already. I'm your host, Seth Wolcock. And today I'm joined by the boys, Pat Fitzmaugh and Derek Brown. D-Bro, as note, it's all about wide receipts. receivers in this particular program. Really the bread of the fancy football sandwich, if you would, meaning it's tough to win

without good ones. Is that a fair analogy? And what's your 101 of sandwiches, my friend? Oh, I think I'm more on the meat side of that. And the 101 of sandwiches has to be a hot dog, right? Oh, don't. Come on. Let's get a grenade in there, baby.

And I'll put the sandwich. Just leave it with that and I'll walk away. Pat, how are you? and do you have any sandwich or bread-related takes to get out of the way at the top here? Oh, man, doing well. And, God, I'm off carbs right now. So now you're just making me hungry, Seth, for like, yeah, just another couple of weeks. But, man, you're making you think of how much I could go for an Italian sub right now.

And, you know, the 102 of sandwiches, maybe a good Rubin. I do like me a good Rubin. I agree. I agree. The crowd on the sandwich is always good for me. Of course. Out here in Western Pierre, We also put coleslaw right on the sandwich.

Have you tried a Permanati Brothers sandwich either of you guys with the Slaw right on? I have not been sent, Slaw and fries, right? Yes. They put it all right on the stuff. Yeah, I have to get to Permanati brothers in Pittsburgh. That is a life goal that I have yet to fulfill.

Come on down. I'm more of a never, never crowd guy. Sorry. Not sorry. I think we all also got into this conversation on a recent live stage. Forget it all. IPAs, toss them all in the same.

It's okay. You'll get those adult paste buds kicking in one of these days. Hey, man, ain't nothing wrong with ketchup, okay? I'm not saying to put it on your freaking eggs and I'm not saying to put it on steak. There ain't an unroll with ketchup. No, no, on a sandwich. That's like a blown. I never said it was a hamburger.

Come on. Okay, okay. All right. Well, we've got a breakdown of the five messiest wide receiver rooms coming your way today. And as always, before we jump in, if you want more fans football takes, if you want more sandwich and food takes, make sure you're tuning in here on the Fancy Pro's YouTube channel or listening on the podcast feed on the Reggie. Thank you so much for the support.

Easiest freeway to support us. Give this video a thumbs up if you enjoy this type of content. Make sure you're subscribing if you're new. Let's go ahead and start, boys, in the Bay Area, where things got a lot more complicated recently. We all expected Brandon I.U. To land on the pup to start camp after coming off that torn ACL last season. However, we now have second year wide receiver Ricky Pearsall,

a popular breakout candidate also placed on the pup to start training camp with a hamstring injury. And then there's Joanne Jennings, who wants a new deal or to be traded from the 49ers after career 77 catch, nearly a thousand yard season, six touchdown scored in 2024 for him. Pat, what looked like an appealing trio of mid-round targets now appears to be a potential disaster. How do you sort it out? Yeah, everyone's either unhappy or hurt, Seth.

And when they are healthy, they're going to be sharing targets with George Kittle and Christian McCaffrey. true. So this is a messy room without question. And it seems like Joanne Jennings is the guy generating some serious heat out in the Twitter streets. Like every year, there are a few players who inspire the fantasy analyst crusades where everyone is grabbing a sword and shield and waiting into battle on one side of the other for one player or a couple players. And Joanne Jennings is one of those guys this year. Now, personally, I don't think he's a bad buy at his current price. His ADP is wide receiver 39.

I think his ECR is one spot higher. Pretty modest investment for a guy who did pop last year when given an opportunity. And I know some people say, well, if he didn't have the 175-yard three touchdown game, his numbers wouldn't look so good. But Jennings says he was not bad at like checking in with a little something every week. I think there were only five games where he finished with under 50 receiving yards. I do have to admit, though, Seth. I am a little skeptical about an age 27 breakout from a former seventh round draft pick

who unquestionably benefited from injuries to other San Francisco wide receivers. We had Ricky Piersaw getting shot and missing time early in the season. We had Brandon Ayyuk with a major knee injury missing time later in the season. Jennings averaged 2.26 yards per route run last year, which is great. But in his other three seasons, he was under 1.40 yards per route run, which is pretty terrible. even with the big yards per route run number last season, he's up to 1.62 for his career. Now, like I know Ricky Pearsall only averaged 1.31 yards per route run last season, not a good number. But Pearsall did miss a lot of time early in the season after being shot, probably needed some time to sort of reintegrate himself into the offense.

Didn't play until week seven, didn't really pop until the last two games, but he popped in a big way. Eight catches, 141 yards, one touchdown in week 17, six for 69. a touchdown in week 18. He's the guy I'm slightly more interested in. I think there's more upside from this former first rounder who's pretty athletic than there is from Jennings. And I'm just not real interested in Iyuk who's probably going to open the regular season on pop, miss the first six weeks and probably need some time to get in after that.

Like just a guy you're probably not comfortably starting until week 10 at the earliest. No thanks. D. Bro, this is almost kind of a fantasy philosophy question in a way, because let's throw Iyuk out for a second. Let's assume Joanne Jennings starts the season as the team's X receiver. Ricky Pearsall will probably more man the flanker in two wide receiver sets in the slot in three wide receiver sets, kind of that Debo Samuel S rule, if you would. So which do you prefer? Jennings at the X at wide receiver 38 in ECR or Pearsall opens on the pub, potentially in that Samuel role,

wide receiver 46 in ECR, I you two spots behind him at 48. I'm taking shots on both Pearsall and Jennings. I think straight up. I mean, some of this kind of depends on what we don't know right now with Pierceall's hamstring injury, assuming, because he could start the camp on the pup and come off at any time. So like this could be, by the time of people are listening to this, because this could be a non-factor.

Like he could be practicing in full and all of that is in the rear view. So for me, I'm not going to bump down Pierceall too much because of the hamstring injury because there's a lot of unknown there. Like severity, how long it's going to keep him out. And I think that's going to affect his ADP and his draft stock and his outlook. So kind of approaching this with a glass half full approach, like saying Pearsall comes back in more short order, I want shots on Jennings and Pearsall. Like I think both them are fantastic values where they're going in that wide receiver three range.

And I've got both them ranked like right next to each other basically in the wide receiver three range. and I want to take shots on both of them. Like, Jennings, to Pat's point, Jennings was fantastic last year. And not including, and in this sample that I'm about to discuss, this isn't including that monster blowup game. And so stating that he was still really freaking good.

So weeks 10 through 18 without Brandon Ayuk in the lineup, you had Jennings commanding a 25.1% target share, averaging 63.4 receiving yards per game, 2.2 yards per route run, a 32.7% first read share and 0.1.1. 113 first downs per route run. To give people context, if he had kept up that pace, the entirety of the season amongst all wide receivers of these 50 targets, he would rank 10th, 23rd, 22nd, 11th, and 14th

in those categories. And this is without the blowup game. And he was averaging 14.1 ppr points per game in that process that would have made him the wide receiver 26 on the season. So at this price tag, it's free money for Joanne Jennings. And I really like Ricky Pearsall. Like this call comes to the 100 foot view. I think the entire San Francisco offense is underpriced this offseason.

Because people don't know what to do with it. It is an ambiguous situation. And they're like, can the 27-year-old breakout keep it up? I mean, he's got a lot in his bag that says that we probably can keep it up. Even if you just look at per route metrics, 34th in separation, 14th and route win rate last year. Those are really strong metrics for Jennings. So I want to take shots on both these guys across multiple leagues.

And Ricky Pearsall, to Pat's point, if I were to tell you, take the name of it out, there was a player that walked into the season with hamstring issues and training camp that set him back, then the guy gets shot, then he comes back to the lineup. He's a former first round pick. One of the wide receivers is hurt. We don't know what we're going to get out of him. Another one's a 27-year-old late breakout. And it's still one of the best projected offenses in.

in the NFL and yet people are drafting him as a wide receiver three. Would that be a player that anybody should be in on? Of course, especially talking about he popped like Pat said. This final two games, almost a 22% target share, 2.84 yards per route run. San Francisco looked at Ricky Pearson and they said, come on, man, step up. Can you be the guy that we can lean on next year? And Ricky Pearson answered the bell emphatically. He was the wide receiver seven and wide receiver 14 and weekly scoring in those two games. So to your point, though, getting back to your original question, Seth, I don't think that Ricky Pearsall is going to play a Debo role. I don't think they have a Debo-esque player on this roster. I think this is going to be, they're going to move these guys around,

play them in multiple positions. Pearsall played a ton on the outside. I do think that he's probably best inside and playing against off coverage. Just I went back and I watched every single route he ran in all 22 last year. The route tree, they asked him to run at the beginning of the of the year. It was a lot of like short area stuff, like whip routes, things like that, where it was just like not design touches, but the underneath stuff. You saw his route tree grow as the year progressed, and I think that is notable. And for a player of his talent, I think he's going to be more of the possession guy in this offense and him and Jennings are going to do that. And then they're going to create explosives in other ways with other guys.

That Pierceall does still have the athleticism to get downtown. So he can be the field stretcher in some aspects too. But I think this all comes back to, I want to draft both these guys. And I'm avoiding Iyuk, no telling when he is a full-time player or what we get out of him. And even in this offense previously, Iuke has been the single high beater. He's been the guy that like when they face a lot of zone coverage, which a lot of teams play zone at above 50%, 60% of the defensive coverages nowadays, you're not seeing as much single high in the NFL these days.

Brandon Iyke has been their go-to versus single high versus zone. and it's been everybody else. It was the Debo and the Kittal show versus Zon over the last two years. And I wrote that up in the primer continuously. I think Jennings and Pearsall are going to be the answer for that. Pat, hypothetical, you're on the clock. You know that probably whoever you don't take of Jennings and Pearsall. Let's say you have Chris Welsh behind you with two picks before your next one.

Are you taking Jennings or are you taking Pearsall? Is it Pearsall for you? I'm taking Pearsall. I'm taking Welsh happy because I know he's a big Jennings disciple. Same. Same for you. Okay. I'm in an agreeance. Hopefully it works out because last year I did the thing where I took Brain and Iuke. I tried to handcuff him with Ricky Pearsall and just get some upside there. Didn't get Jennings off the waiver wire. So and I dropped Pierceall before, you know, the breakout happened. So stressful, tough situation out there in the Bay Area. Hopefully we get some resolution there soon. This month, if you want a chance to win a sign James Cook Buffalo Bills jersey for free, courtesy for free, courtesy of our friends over. at pristine auction.com. All you have to do is subscribe to the Fancy Pro's YouTube channel right now.

Drop a comment below on any video, and that's it. We will be announcing a winner right here on the channel, so make sure you ring that bell so you can know when new videos are up and acclaim your prize if you are that lucky winner. Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers, and guess what? We have some big news.

What's the news, new? Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts.

Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how did we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Oh, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band. Before Jonas Brothers was... This is how you guys remember it going down?

Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing. a bit for the podcast for people could call in and say, Hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it.

Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman helped make you funny. This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and headwriter, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter.

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis, and I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs, and on the Renee Stubbs Tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris. Every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on Clay. Jenchian win.

I mean, she went down in three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lennar Rabakina is arguably the best player in the world right now, and I actually can win on any surface. Because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court-side seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs Tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. It's anyone's guessing Green Bay as the Packers suddenly have one of the deepest wide receiver rooms around. First round rookie, Matthew Golden out of Texas, slot man, Jane Reed, Romeo Dobbs, Don Tavian Wicks, third round rookie and former TCU Hornfrog, Savian Williams, plus Christian Watson, who continues to recover from that torn ACL. D. Bro, what's your projected target share for this group and who are your targeting, if anyone, in fantasy drafts this summer? This might surprise people.

I want to draft a ton of Romeo Dobbs in this passing attack. He pops in a lot of metrics, man. And for LaFleur and his wide receiver by committee approach, dude, Romeo Dobbs was the only guy that had above a 75% route share. last year. He led the team with a 76.7% route share. He led the team in target share. He led the team in first read share. He was solid with 1.9 zero yards per route run. And amongst 85 qualifying wide receivers, Romeo Dobbs also was 25th and first downs per route run. So the underneath metrics, and I know I'm talking about a guy that was wide receiver 47 and fantasy points per game. So people like,

why are you excited to draft this guy? One, he's basically free. You want it like, everybody wants to take shots on Jane Reed and Matthew Golden in this passing attack. I'm just not there, dude. Like, I don't think that Matthew Golden is going to come in and command this giant target share. Like last year of Texas, like he wasn't a thing until basically Isaiah Bond was kind of phased out of it. And you look over his career, 18.7% target per route run rate, 1.8, 5 yards per route run. Outside of the first round draft capital, we'd be excited about any of that. And I'm sorry, I'm calling fraudulent on the 40 yard time. People can go down their own.

I cashed a nice 42 to one ticket that day. I'll take it. Look, I'm not shading your bets. Okay. Good for you. Thank you. I appreciate the kees in your pocket. But this all goes back to like,

Romeo Dobbs is going to be a full-time player in this offense. And I haven't even gotten to the most compelling stat amongst 112 qualifying wide receivers last year, guys. Romeo Dobbs, 11th in separation score. He posted the second best best. win rate of any wide receiver last year. I think the breakout's coming for Romeo Dobbs, man. And I'm not telling you he's going to be a wide receiver two in fantasy.

But if this offense bounces back, Romeo Dobbs is the guy I want to garner from this passing attack. Because again, I've talked about Golden, not high on him. Christian Watson, come on, man. People posted a social media clip. He was running at half speed. And some Green Bay Beat writer was like, look at Christian Watson go. I was like, come on.

He's not making hard cuts. He's jogging on the field. And you're talking about it, well, let's hype it up. He's not coming back any time soon. Green Bay is conservative with guys coming off of injuries, coming off in ACL. They draft another guy. And we haven't even discussed Savion Williams in this wide receiver room. And with Jane Reed, like, I think at this point, we know what we're getting.

When he's on the field, he's a highly productive and efficient player. We know that. But again, he hasn't been a full-time wide receiver. I don't think he's going to be a full-time wide receiver with this wide receiver by committee approach that LaFleur likes to run outside of dubs and Tucker Kraft. It's the only two guys that had over 70% route per dropback rates. I think that probably comes back and it's going to be the same thing again this year. So Jane Reed, 69.3% route per dropback.

That was 64th amongst wide receivers. Unless you run hot on touchdowns and you score 8 to 12 touchdowns, you just can't live in that world and be anything more even in the best ilk as a wide receiver three and that's what jaden reed was 24 wide receiver 26 and fantasy points per game but the wide receiver 43 and expected fantasy points per game i don't even know and i'm curious pat's take on this we have not got to training camp as the report of this like as far as like clip season and hype and stuff like that i think there is a non-zero chance that green bay drafted and i'm not saying jaden reeds direct replacement but I think he's going to make noise.

Tell me that Savion Williams isn't a more souped up Ferrari version of the same exact role that they asked Jane Reed to play every single week. He's big. He's fast. You can use him in the run game. You can use him all over the field in manufacture touches and out of the slot. I'm not telling you that Savian is going to take Jane Reed's job. But if we're sitting in week 16 and that happens, I'm not going to be surprised, dude.

So I'm curious what Pat thinks about Savion. but and honestly this entire like wide receiver room because I know he's got his finger on the pulse of it. Savion is freaky. I mean, he's basically Randy Moss with tennis rackets for hands. Dude, he's the thing. He is Dary Beldevo Samuel. Like, come on. Yeah.

I mean, he is an intriguing guy for sure and he could cut into some of that gadget work that Jaden Reed gets, the jet sweeps, the bubble screens, that sort of stuff. Like a lot of those could go to Savian Williams now. like Jaden Reed does sort of interest me a little bit just in the fact that when he has played with Jordan Love, he scored a lot of touchdowns in those games. And like the touchdown rate kind of fell off late last year, but the Packers were going super run heavy. Love just wasn't healthy all year. He had that sprained MCL early in the season, a groin injury he was playing through later in the season. I just don't know if he was ever 100%. They're going to throw more. I just worry that the targets are chopped up so many ways. I think probably no one ends up with a 20% target share in this offense. Sorry, DeBrah, I don't see it for dubs.

Dubs average three and a half catches in 46 yards per game last year. I kind of think that's the ceiling. The guy who I know Matt LaFleur has compared Dantavian Wix to Devante Adams in the past, Wix is really good at getting open and really terrible at actually making the catch. And yeah, I mean, he was, although Devante Adams did have that same trouble, his first couple of years in the league. So maybe there's a big turnaround coming for Dante and Wix in that category. But man, when you watch that guy play, it's hard to imagine that because he is just focus drops galore. And if there's anyone on him when he's trying to make the catch, he just can't do it.

So he's interesting. Matthew Golden, I think, is probably going to be a big play boomer bust guy in his rookie year. guy who all the film analysts, the Daniel Jeremiah's, the Dane Bruegler, the Melkiper juniors, they all loved and had as a top 15 overall draft pick, but the production profile in college has a lot of the fantasy analysts who do work on college prospects just running up the red flags right and left. So this is a really messy situation. I'm not sure there is like weekly starter upside for any of these guys, quite honestly. Okay. Tucker Kraft. Tucker Kraft is the guy I'm drafting in this group.

Two shots I'm taking on this passing attack. It's dubs and it's craft. Pass that, you can avoid me with all the rest of this outside of some Savion last round bestball targeting. Pat, if you're on the clock and you want to take one of these Packers receivers, would it be Reed over Golden still for you as it stands? Yeah, Jaden Reed, like in basketball. He's the guy I've drafted most often and I've still got, you know, probably no more than 12% Jaden Reed on my best ball teams.

Reed currently wide receiver 45 and ECR. So quite the drop from last year when he was in, you know, the mid wide receiver 20s and Golden coming in at wide receiver 52 and D.Brow's guy, Romeo, all the way down at wide receiver 62. It doesn't get much easier in Buffalo either, gentlemen, where the bills, they're going to be running out. 2024 second rounder Keon Coleman at the X, presumptively. Joshua Palmer, he comes over from the charters, likely going to man that flanker

position. And then the truth, Khalil Shakira, he's back in the slot. They also have former fantasy favorites, Curtis Samuel, Elijah Moore, and Leviska, Chanel Jr. plus seventh round rookie Kane Prather out of Maryland in the room. Pat, where do you see these high value targets from Josh Allen going this season? I have some interest in Khalil Shakir, sort of a high floor, low ceiling guy who can be your wide receiver four flex type. And I have some interest in Keon Coleman as a big,

big play guy probably isn't going to command a lot of targets. I mean, Keon average 19.2 yards per catch and just under 10 yards per target in his rookie year, he just didn't command a lot of targets. He needs to get more consistent and earn more targets. But the bills don't have anything close to an alpha receiver on their roster. And I don't know if Keon Coleman is going to become that this year. I do think there is some target upside. I'm optimistic he can stay a little healthier and take a big step forward.

but yeah, I'm not sure we get. Like the theme in Buffalo, and I think this is kind of a mantra for their offense, everybody eats. Yeah. Like they give the ball to three different running backs. Oh, Ty Johnson, yeah. Yeah, they work in two tight ends and four or five different receivers. So if we're looking for like big breakthrough pass catching upside on the Bill's roster, we're probably not going to get it.

Khalil Shakur, wide receiver 39 and ECR, he finished at 37 overall in points per game last season. So it feels reasonable. Keon Coleman, wide receiver 54. Could have been Ladd-McConkie if maybe they didn't move back that year. And then Joshua Palmer, wide receiver 71. Dbrough, where do you stand on the Buffalo Bills pass catching room? And I think Pat summed it up very well that it might just be kind of a mixed bag where you can start these guys here and there. And outside of Shakur, there might not be one guy.

that you're firing into your lineup each and every single week. Yeah, I think that that's probably how this goes, man. I think you look at Shakir. And I went deep in his numbers. Like, you did see his role grow, like week seven through 17. His target share did bump up from, so in weeks one through six, it was 16.3%. That bumped up to 23%. In week seven through 17, he averaged 57 receiving yards per game,

had almost a 28% first read year. So, like, if he were to run hot and touchdowns in this office, offense. During that stretch, he was the wide receiver 36 and fantasy points per game. Like, if he runs hot with touchdowns, maybe he can scrape closer to like more of a high-end wide receiver three. But I think that's basically all he's going to be because I still think that targets are going to get divvied up to a lot of different players. I think that Buffalo loves because just considering how they run their offense. And it's a good, it's a good NFL thing, but it's bad for us in fantasy that they really play the matchups and they look at all of that. And

the targets are going to go to a lot. of different places and especially like the part that like if you've been playing dFS over the last few years you're playing like your betting touchdowns and stuff whatever it's one of the maddening things about buffalo when they get into the red zone they do all kinds of different stuff they run trick plays they run gadget stuff it's pop passes it's josh allen it's the running backs it's it's the receivers it's the the tight-in four on the freaking debt chart and you're like who is that oh dear lord and that's what happens in buffalo now it's great for them they score a crap done a point This is not very conducive to a lot of fantasy upside.

So Shakir is fine where he goes. I think he's a decent wide receiver three, maybe a little bit of more meat on the bone. I'm out on Keon Coleman. Just looking at his role in this offense. I think that the bills, they drafted Keon Coleman to be their man coverage beater last year. Over the last two seasons, the Buffalo Bills have faced the third most and the highest man coverage rate in the entire NFL.

And you look at what Keon Coleman did. did last year. If you look at versus man coverage, he had a 27% target per route run rate versus man. Now, against zone, do that fell off the table, 14%. Nobody's feed their families in fantasy land with a 14% target per route run rate. And the thing that I worry about with Keon Coleman is he wasn't amazing at beating man coverage last year. He wasn't terrible, especially with the rookie, but like, among 71 qualifying wide receivers, 37th and separation, 44th of route win rate. Maybe he grows in that aspect in his second season. But to that, I think this is exactly why they went out and they signed Joshua Palmer to play this man coverage beating role because Palmer

underneath the surface has been awesome at it. Last year amongst all wide receivers, he was fifth in route win rate and separation against man coverage. So I think Palmer is going to become the guy that they go to when they face man coverage and you're going to see me writing it up in the primer. If they're going to face a lot of man coverage that week, I think it's going to be a Josh Palmer week. So I think, again, this is going to be very matchup dependent. And there's nobody in this passing attack that I'm really high on. I could just tell you, I don't want to draft Keon Coleman. I don't see the upside for him. He's going to be a splash sweet guy. And I think Palmer could take his role in this offense. Shakir is fine where he goes. But again, where is the upside unless

he just runs incredibly hot with touchdowns. Like, could that happen? It's possible. But do all the numbers and stuff lead me to want to draft a lot of Cleo Shakir? No, I'm not going to be heavy on him. I'm just going to mix him in in best ball formats. I'll tell you what. The one thing I kept doing last season was late in that playoff stretch.

I just kept betting the Keon Coleman over one and a half receptions. I hope they don't change that line. They just throw that out week one because I think I'm going right back to it, baby. It's, it's not fun. It's not like a, you know, a high ceiling or anything like that, but it's a good little sweat there. I was bet, dude, I was cashing, uh, Khalil Shakir overs, almost the entire back half of the season. I think like, you go to betting pros and you could see like what was your best thing. I think I was like 70% on Kalil Shakir overs last year. It was nice. Uh, some degenerate stuff right there. Uh, still debating these wide receivers. We'll be taking

questions all week on Twitch at Twitch.tv.TV slash fantasy pros. Erickson and Tom Strachan talk best ball Mondays at 4 Eastern. Myself and D-Bro answer your questions on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 2 Eastern. And then we also have some more Q&A's coming your ways on Thursdays and Fridays at 5 Eastern. Give us a follow and ask questions live on Twitch at twitch. Twitch.tv slash fantasy pros. Let's head to Pat's Neck of the Woods where the Chicago Bears.

are all in on making Caleb Williams work under center with head coach Ben Johnson, now running the show. DJ Moore, he's back, he's broken 1,000 yards, four times in his career, just fell short of that mark a season ago in Williams' rookie year. Roma Dunsday, he also returns after seeing 101 targets as a rookie and Missouri product Luther Bird in the third. He enters the fray after being selected in the second round of the NFL draft. Dbro, what is the target pecking order in your eyes here in? Chaitown and who are you circling if anyone in fancy drafts? This is an utter and absolute mess, dude. Like I just, first of all, I want to give a high, high level look at this.

So with all of the Ben Johnson's team, we're looking at an offense that we haven't even see Caleb Williams support one really good fantasy option yet in his career. And now all of a sudden, we think he's going to support what, three, four, five options. Like everybody's like, oh, I need to draft Colston Loveland. Oh, I need to draft Luther Burton. Oh, DJ Moore.

Oh, maybe it's Roma Dunesay. Like, I need to see Caleb Williams prove that he could support one really good fantasy option, much less three to four. Like, if that happens, this has to be like a top three to five offense. And I just don't know if that happens for Chicago. So I'm lower like on all of these options just in general, like, because all of them have warts, man. Like, I think if I'm going to draft anybody out of this, this passing attack,

it's probably going to be DJ Moore. Um, and you could throw all of the, the per route efficiency stuff, like as far as yards per route run, first down to per route run, throw it all in the garbage can because Caleb Williams was just got awful last year. It was terrible. So that, that tanked the efficiency numbers on a per route basis for basically everybody inside of this passing attack. But the one thing that didn't change for DJ Moore is he does, he didn't lose his ability or

didn't go away his ability to earn targets and volume. I mean, the guy was still 13th in target chair and 10th and first read chair in this offense. So if I'm going to make a bet on volume out of this offense and where volume goes, it's DJ Moore. I think he's fine at his price tag. Rome is a guy I loved as a prospect, but the problem is I cannot analytically, even outside of all of the bad things that Caleb Williams put this offense through and

put up on film last year. can't analytically make the case even in the deeper metrics for Roma Dunezay and me to be really high on him, despite even if I had faith in Caleb Williams this year, like if you filter out, if you only accounted for catchable targets and you exclude screens in a Dunez's sample from last year, that would still only make him 60 first in yards per route run, first downs per run. He was 78th in separation, 54th in route win rate. And I bring up those two metrics because that's agnostic. He's getting open on his routes or he's not getting open on his routes.

That's agnostic of bad quarterback player, good quarterback play. And he was still outside the top 50 wide receivers in both of those metrics. So it's like, how do I get really high or over the moon on Roma Tunes? I love them as a prospect, but it didn't happen. And I don't know if it happens this year. Luther Burton, you just count me out on the archetype of this player. I mean, he is a manufactured touch guy through and through and through. He missed a lot of the offseason so far with injuries.

I don't know when we're going to see him in camp. He's been a manufactured touch guy. And just the archetype of that wide receiver has not played out really well in the NFL. I'll point everybody to Malachi Corley year last year. I'll point everybody to Aliza Moore the year before. Andy Isabella, Rondell Moore, have any of these guys that have been highly manufactured touch guys in college, not guys that have been asked to go out and just line up and route dudes up? they haven't panned out in the NFL.

I would love it. And I hope Luther Burden proves me wrong. But I just, I don't see it. Like it's not like even at his cost, it's just not somebody I want to invest in when we're talking about three to four options that are diluting the target share. And we don't know, like this could be one of those offense, much like a LaFlor offense that's matchup based or Buffalo,

where it's like every single week they're utilizing a different guy based off of what defense they're facing in the holes that Ben Johnson sees in that. And that's going to be maddening. People are like, do I start him? Do I start him? Do I not? Do I start him? Oh, I didn't start him. And he blew up.

Oh, God, what do I do? And for me, I'm just like, nah, I'm just avoiding this headache outside of maybe some shots on DJ Moore. Okay. Yeah. And Burden, you know, just a tough 2024 season form. His production nearly cut in half from a great 2020 three season at Missouri. Obviously, Brady Cook kind of in and out of the lineup, weird offensive scheme down

there in the SEC. but still nonetheless I'm out on burden as well. But Pat, I know you were high on Roman Dunesay as a prospect. And wide receiver 37, that's a high end wide receiver four price tag right now. That feels right, despite all the advanced analytics that the Debrough is rightfully throwing at us, it just makes me want to gravitate towards them. What say you? Yeah, I'm a little above ADP and ECR on him, Seth.

And the funny thing is, someone is always higher on me if I get into an analyst draft with Romo Dunezay. I never get him in those. But I think there's a chance I might get him in a couple of homely drafts because I don't think the public at large is quite as high on Roma Dunezay. And maybe fantasy analysts

are getting too hung up on the draft capital. Yeah. I guess maybe my biggest concern is that O'Donzee, Debrough mentioned it, like the separation numbers were not great. And I don't think elite separation is really what O'Donze is all about. He's the guy who can make, like,

and we saw this when he, he was playing at Washington. He would be wearing a defender like a well-tailed Italian suit. Michael Pennings didn't care. He was shoehorning it in and putting it, you know, in the one spot where the defender couldn't get it and O'Dunesay could get it. And O'Donzee came down with the catch every time. I mean, he was amazing at contested catches at Washington.

And I just don't know if Caleb Williams is that kind of, he might be more of a see-it-throw-it-throw-it-quarterback than a timing guy. So I don't know if it is a love connection between those two, or at least not yet. I mean, they seem to have a really good rapport. Like, we saw it on Hard Knocks last year. I see it with some of like the local news coverage of Bears practices. Roman and Caleb like each other. I just don't know how well their games mesh together yet.

Kind of the same thing with DJ Moore. Like it was weird. And I have a great respect for DJ Moore. I think he's a wonderful player. I'm slightly below ADP and ECR on him because, his body language last year was terrible. Like I felt like DJ Moore was unhappy all year enough. I don't know if it was he and Caleb didn't really click or if it was just the coaching staff that he kind of hate.

Yeah, Shane Waldron, tough look. Yeah, I mean, it very well could have been he was just unhappy with the system he was in. So, you know, I'm not like way below ECR ADP, but I'm a little below on him. and the guy I'm way out in front of ECR and ADP on his Luther Burd. Oh, don't do it for me. No. Because he's a cheap dart throw. I've got him at wide receiver 50 right now and everyone else says him at wide receiver 74.

And I think people are looking for this to use this hamstring injury as an excuse to write off Luther Burton for the entire season, in which case, great. Like I'll swoop in and grab Luther Burton in the final run because what if he is Ben Johnson's version of Amin-Ross, St. Brown in this offense? And it's a plausible what if, because if Luther Burton had come out after his sophomore year at Missouri where he lit the SEC on fire as a 19-year-old, like, I mean, he was crazy and he's so good after the catch. He has those Alan Iverson moves where he just like makes the one cut and leaves a defender grasping at air. So I'm excited about what he could potentially do. I know he had a bad junior year. You mentioned it like Brady Cook wasn't healthy really all season. and things just didn't click, but I don't know, man.

I do. I get it. I think burden is interesting. The only thing is, like, if, if they use Komet and Loveland together in a lot of 12 personnel, then that probably keeps Luther burden off the field too much for him to have any sort of impact. That's where I'm at, Pat. Like, I think they could use a lot of 12 personnel with those tied ends, and then it's going to limit it. Like, is Burden just the, the Jaden Reed of Chicago?

Yeah. But in fairness, at the price that burden is going at right now, you can draft him, drop him in week three, no harm, no fall. I don't disagree with that. And I'm today years old to realize that people are still ranking DJ Moore as a top 24 wide receivers. So maybe I'm not going to get much of him and drafts either. Yeah, wide receiver 19 in ECR. That's wild. So I was just about to say, too, it seems like you're most in on more.

I'm probably most in on more. and then Pat's more in on a burden. So not the most helpful analysis, maybe, but maybe something we're all just kind of avoiding. And, you know, maybe it's one of those situations, Pat, where you buy the cake and not the icing, right? You buy Caleb Williams. Well, maybe, but at the same time, set,

an injury could create value in this wide receiver core. Like one of these guys get hurt, gets hurt, and maybe all of a sudden the other two become significantly more valuable. Okay. Let's go ahead. Let's round out the program with the Super Bowl runner-ups, the Kansas City Chiefs. Rashy Rice, of course, could be facing league disciplinary action after being sentenced to five years probation, 30 days in jail to serve over the course of that parole. That's due to his role in that six-car crash back in Dallas back in 2024. Xavier Worthy was a league winner as a rookie after Rice went down with the torn ACL last season. Of course, we also have Marquis, Hollywood Brown, fourth round pick, Jaylen Royals from Utah State,

Juju Smith-Schuster and Sky Moore still hanging around in the mix as well. Fitz, do you have a feeling on how the targets could shake out and where the fantasy points go with the Chiefs this season? Yeah, I'm a little worried that worthy tops out at like 20% this year, although I think those could be some higher value targets. He's probably going to be running deeper routes with Rishi back, or at least back for, you know, 12 or 10 games or whatever it is. he actually plays. Hollywood is going to be boomer bossed, a couple big plays or whatever, but he is going to draw targets. Here's the thing, like I've been below consensus on Rishi Rice all off season, and I know

like the enthusiasm has just been getting crazy from, and with some really smart people. Like I know, you know, friend of the show, Ryan Heath and fantasy points really likes him. I think Scott Barrett of Fantasy Points also likes him. My buddy Evan Silver from Establish the Run. before the suspension news, I think Evan had Rishi Rice at 13th overall in his rankings. Here's why I am not at all. I thought I was high at wide receiver 13 before the suspension news. But yeah, I mean, people are looking at what Rishie did in his rookie year and then early last season.

Well, early last season, Worthy was not a factor. He was not fully integrated into this offense yet. In the three games where Rishie Rice was going nuts before he got hurt in week four, were the drawn 11 targets in those first three. games. Then towards the end of the season with Rishi out, if you take the last eight games, including the playoffs and excluding Week 18 when Worthy played, I think, one snap in Week 18. They just sat their starters. Worthy at at least five catches in all of those games, 50 catches total over those eight games pacing for a hundred catch season. Now, I don't expect Worthy to have a

hundred catch season this year with Rice back. But when Rice was killing it as a rookie, like Marquez Valdez Scantling started 10 games for the Chiefs. Justin Watson started eight games. Sky Moore started eight games. Their target shares that year, MvS was at a 7% target share. Skymore was at 6.3%. Justin Watson actually had the highest target share of those three guys at 8.8%. Xavier Worthy is going to command, even if he is not in a role similar to the one vacated by Rishie Rice last year post-injury, is going to command targets, even if he's running his routes further downfield at a much higher rate than any of those bums that Rice was sharing targets with in in 2023.

Sorry, I'll do respect. Not calling those guys bombs, but let's just say they were fantasy bombs below replacement level. Solid NFL players, not fantasy producers. Yes. And so, and I think even Hollywood Brown is going to have higher than an 8.8% target share in this offense. So Rice just does not have the same path to targets that he had early last year or in 2023 when he was sensational.

Rice, wide receiver 21 in ACR currently worthy, wide receiver 31, Hollywood Brown, wider receiver 58. Derek, could I make the case that maybe I just miss out on all these guys because it's such a crowd room and just go with Travis Kelsey, maybe in the seventh, eighth round this year? You could. And I don't disagree with people taking that path. for me, this wide receiver room is pretty easy to me. I'm going to take shots on Rice when he falls in drafts.

I'm still in on the talent because I think when he comes back, we know the role that he's going to play. And I don't, I think where people like looking at this offense and this offense, like I've honestly taken a 180 approach on this. Like I've really come around to this offense in the sense of beginning of the offseason. I'm like, how is this all going to work? But I don't know if Patrick Mahomes.

gets the deep ball juice back, man. Like he's been a bottom 10 quarterback for the last two years at throwing the deep ball. So I don't know if that comes back. And if it does, okay, fine, then then light all my analysis on fire here. But if it doesn't, and we keep getting this dink and dunk kind of offense, and they keep doing the dink and dunk offense with Rishi Rice whenever he comes back, now they have Bershard Smith out of the backfield, Travis Kelsey and stuff. the Dinkin'unk offense can be better than what it was last year

and if Pacheco is running the ball better. So like that can, they can run back the same game plan but be much more effective considering the parts of pieces that they have in this passing attack versus last year. And so I look at this passing attack and I'm like, yeah, where Rishie Rice gets back, I want all the Rishie Rice extremely high on him.

Like I bumped him down, but we're all kind of projecting, we're guessing on how long that suspension is. A lot of people said like six games, I think it's going to be two to four games. If it's two games, his ADP literally shouldn't jump down very much, if at all. Like, I've met White Receiver 22 right now.

And I think with Rice, like, I've, Pat, I know you're, you're chomping in a bit. Go ahead and tell me what you think about this with me going to grinning through that before I give my Rice Diatribe here. Can you blame Patrick Mahomes for not wanting to throw deep to MVS and Justin Watson? That's my thing. now he's going to be throwing deep to Xavier worthy and Hollywood Brown. And I know coach speak is coach speak,

but Andy Reid does keep talking about wanting to get more verticality into this passing game this year. No, and my problem with Mahomes, it's not the fact that he's not throwing deep. It's the fact that when he's thrown deep, he's been terrible at it. Like he's been bottom 10 in CPOE, bottom 10 and catchable target rate. That's what he's throwing to too, too, bad targets. I'm not going to say, Patrick Mahomes can't throw the deep ball. The numbers say it. You don't have to say it, Patty.

Who's he throwing it to, Cibro? But those numbers are agnostic of the white receivers. Those are not, those are catchable targets or not. That is not related to guys getting open being good receivers or bad receivers. That is Pat, that is late. Because MVS always brings in catchable targets. I'm not saying that whole frown pan hands catches it. I'm not saying that at all. But what I am saying is like Patrick Rollins has not been good at the deep ball. And so I think we're going to go back to it's going to be a lot of checkdowns, a lot of guys asked to create something after the catch. And so Rice, I know his role. He's going to get fed a ton of targets because that's what we saw last

year. He had a 31.5% target share before he went out with injury. 3.6 yards per route run. 41.2% first read share. Like all of these numbers are elite usage. Now maybe some of that changes and we we nerfs some of that. So he gets a 27% target share. His yards per route run drops into the high twos. Those are still extremely good numbers. So Rice, I still want to be in on at cost. You can just count me out on Hollywood Brown.

No, no, no, heck no. There's just no way. Like I don't trust him to stay healthier through the entirety of a season. I hope that he can, but I can't see it at this point in his career because it's just time after time at a time, this is what happens with Hollywood Brown. And even when he was healthy in the playoffs, dude, like he was not producing.

Like in the postseason, he had a 15% target chair. He had 0.67 yards per route run. He had 0.040 first downs per route. Like that's basically non-existent. So I'm not worried about Hollywood Brown. And to Xavier worthy, I think he's going to go back to being the outside guy and being the field stretcher. And if Mahomes is better as a deep ball passer, that's fine.

but the thing with Worthy is we all lived in like we talk about weeks 13 through 17 when he played the Rishi Rice role and I'll keep going back to this he had a 25.6% design target rate his A dot drop from 12.1 to 6.3 those numbers mirror Rishie Rice almost I mean it's the spider man man and you look at what did Worthy do before he got that usage like we all talk about weeks 13 through 17 when when Worthy was the wide receiver 21 in fantasy points per game in that role. I'm also old enough to remember in weeks one through 12 when he was the wide receiver 51 in fantasy points per game and only commanding a 13.9% target share when he was only 96th in separation, 111th in route win rate amongst 124 wide receivers in that time. So I'm burying

Worthy. I don't really want to draft him. He's going to get a bump with Rice is out. Rice is about the only guy out of this passing attack that I want. Okay. Outside of some late best ball shots on Jalen Royals, because if Hollywood Brown can't stay healthy, Jaylon Royals is going to crack the top starting three wide receivers. And I love Jalen Royals as a prospect. I hate that he went to Kansas City. But his pathway, not for this season, could be cleared up really quickly after this year,

as far as what he could get as far as targets coming up in next season. and I think he's viable as a last round pick and bestball right now because if Hollywood can't stay healthy, if Rice gets the longer suspension, if Worthy can't be the guy that we all want him to be, some roads might lead back to Jaylon Royals. It's an interesting debate, Rashid Rice, Xavier Worthy, let us know down in the comments below, your thoughts on this wide receiver room and all the wide receiver rooms we touched on today. And that will do it for us on the Fantasy Pro's Fantasy Football Podcast. We hope we helped you.

Solve a couple of these depth chart dilemmas. Thanks so much for watching. As always, the best free way to support us. Give this video a thumbs up if you enjoy this type of content. Also, make sure you're subscribing if you're new. For Pat Fitzmores and Derek Brown, I'm Seth Wilcock. Take care, y'all. Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pro's 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. Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast?

Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL, late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel. Help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes.

Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves. their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear.

Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slicalif 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. This is an IHart podcast. Guaranteed human.