The Herd with Colin Cowherd - FantasyPros - Week 3 Fantasy Football Wide Receiver Rankings & Tiers: Studs, Sleepers, and Must-Starts (Ep. 1714)

Episode Date: September 19, 2025

Chris Welsh, Pat Fitzmaurice, and Andrew Erickson are breaking down Week 3's biggest wide receiver ranking differences, engaging in debates, and highlighting the expert consensus for Week 3 Don't miss our deep-dive into this week's rankings, must-start options, and value plays to dominate your fantasy matchup! Timestamps: (May be off due to ads) Intro - 0:00:00 Week 2 Rankings Recap - 0:02:21 Signed Ja’Marr Chase Jersey Giveaway - 0:03:56 WRs 1-12 - 0:04:39 Justin Jefferson - 0:05:11 Brian Thomas - 0:09:53 WRs 13-24 - 0:13:59 A.J. Brown - 0:14:17 Rome Odunze - 0:18:06 Tee Higgins - 0:21:55 Hard Rock Bet - 0:27:05 WRs 25-36 - 0:28:16 George Pickens - 0:28:32 Calvin Ridley - 0:31:34 WRs Not in Top 36 That Should Be - 0:36:13 Jaylen Waddle - 0:36:20 Outro - 0:39:25 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) My Playbook - Sync your league instantly to My Playbook to get custom advice on how to manage your team throughout the season. See your league’s top available players, power rankings, and more for free! Check the “Are They Playing” tool each week to get the latest game-day availability odds for all injured players. If you’re premium – you unlock all kinds of helpful waiver, trade, lineup and league analysis tools. You can even auto-start your team’s optimal lineup each week with Auto-Pilot. Sync your league and dominate every week of the season with My Playbook at fantasypros.com/myplaybook or on the FantasyPros App 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 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. What's up, friends, and welcome into Fantasy Pros. This is the Fantasy Football Podcast. Today, we've got wide receiver ranks for week three. I'm Chris Welsh, joined by Andrew Erickson and Pat Fitz-Morris, my rankers extraordinaire, as we're going to be going to be going to the top 36 wide receivers on Fantasy Pro's ECR, so you can go and do that. We're going to be kind of doing some battles of what our expert consensus ranks looks like, where both of these guys have their ranks, talking about some of the biggest decisions this week. Who are you guys starting, oh my. Erickson, there are some big decisions in the wide receiver front and a lot of

changes, a lot of variations that are happening going into week three. Well, that's because all the quarterbacks are hurt, right? It only took two weeks for us to lose, I think, four or five starting quarterback. So that's obviously going to have a lot of implications on their top pass catchers. Fidsey, remember when we had like optimism for fantasy football? We're like, oh, all our guys are going to do really good. This is going to be great. And then we have weeks where it's like Jake Browning versus Carson Wins. Now that's where we're at. And it's only week three.

Funny Erickson and I were just talking about that game before this and reasons why we might want to bet on the Minnesota Vikings and that game. But yeah, it's crazy. I've got a super flex team where my starting quarterbacks were Jane Daniels and Brock Purdy. So maybe I've zero of those guys this week. I'm like chasing Tyrod Taylor on waivers. It's things are getting interesting already. And the interesting thing, too, not getting into it, but like, When you're looking at wide receiver, wide receivers just led the way for waivers this week, too.

There were actually probably a couple really good ones you were able to jump into. I don't know if they're going to hit the top 36 here, but you guys got some running back questions. You guys have got some quarterback questions. Wide receiver, even though there's some variation, there's some deep plays. And there's some guys off of waivers you might got, you may have been able to hit this week. And maybe we'll touch on that. I wish we were talking about Troy Franklin. I want Troy Franklin to be a top 36 wide receiver.

I just don't know if I'm quite. There. Real quick, I Aminer or Franklin in waivers this week, Erickson? I, Eamanor, for me. Yeah, Iiam Anor. I just think he's a better prospect. And, you know, he's only got one fewer target than Calvin Ridley right now. Boy, I hate his name, though. I wish he would just call himself Bill. Like, just give me just Bill. I just butcher that name all the time. But he is awesome. All right, we're going to talk about the top 36.

We're going to go in tiers with our groupings here. but one of the things we like to do at the wide receiver episode here is give a shout out to the people that we're ranking. We have a weekly ranking contest. So when you guys look at the ECR, that is all of our rankers that are in putting their ranks in for that week. And each week we have an accuracy contest. Well, this week, shout out to number one, if I'm saying that correctly, from Roto Baller finishing number one. Patrick Thorman from Establish the Run, finished two. And Jacob Gibbs from Sportsline, finish three. Shout out to those guys. But we've got a couple FP people we've got to give some highlights to. How about Kelly Kirby, top five in the ranks this week? Kelly's a monster. Our bro, D-Bro, finishing top 20 with 16. This isn't a flex at all, but I may have finished higher than both of those fine gentlemen over. I'm not proud of it.

I'm not proud of my rank, but this is probably the only week all season long that I may have finished higher than both of you guys. after you guys were both top 20 last week. So no big deal or anything, Erickson. No big deal. Yeah, I mean, you're going to have to scroll very, very far down to find where my week two rankings were. So I'm just looking to put it behind me and bounce back here in week three. And you referred to us at the top of the show as rankers extraordinaire. I think Erickson and I were rankers ordinary in week two. But you guys just still do this is an off week for you guys or that was. We're going to pick it back up this week. These are the guys that you want to trust. But also, you know, again, shout out to D.

Debrough and Kelly for rocking that. And shout out to all of our rankers that take part in the contest, and we will take a look at what that looks like in next week's show. Before we get started, we are talking wide receivers. So I want to give you guys that are watching a chance to win a signed Jamar Chase Bengals jersey for free, courtesy of our friends over at pristine auction.com. All you've got to do is head to Fantasypros.com slash contest, complete the form.

Then either download the Fantasy Pros app, leave a review for the podcast, or follow us on X Instagram or TikTok at Fantasy Pros. And guess what? The more stuff that you do, the more entries you can get. We'll be announcing a winner on the podcast near the beginning of next month. So if you're watching on YouTube, be sure to subscribe and turn on them noties, there Erickson. So you can be alerted when new episodes are up and claim your prize for that big old wide receiver. I don't know if he's a wide receiver won anymore with Jake Browning there, but we can kind of have that argument.

And that takes us to the top 12 wide receivers, which you guys can follow at fantasypros.com slash rankings. This week, it is not Jamar Chase as we look at the big board at number one. it is C.D. Lamb in the consensus ranks. Jamar Chase is number two, Justin Jefferson, three, followed by Malikina Kua, Nico Collins. That's your top six. Amonra, Jackson, Smith, Injigba, Drake London, Brian Thomas A Flowers, and Devante Adams.

That is your current top 12 as we are doing this. And one of the more interesting takes here is really not Jamar Chase, though. I would love you guys to intertwine this in. You guys picked out Justin Jefferson, who actually moved up one spot. He was wide receiver four in ECR yesterday. He's moved up to three, and you guys both have him at six. And the reason this is interesting is this is one of a handful of these wide receivers

that have like questionable backup quarterbacks that are going to be behind them. Chase has one, and I kind of thought maybe he could fall a little bit further down. But you guys are really honing in on Justin Jefferson. So Fitsy, why don't you kick us off here? Not that he's not startable or anything like that, but like it looks like the confidence is a little bit lower this week in Jefferson with the backup quarterback. Maybe just a smidge, but wouldn't it be sort of funny if Justin Jefferson went off with Carson Wentz at quarterback after two somewhat quiet games with J.J. McCarthy? I mean, Jefferson's amazing. He is capable of having a big day with any quarterback who can throw a spiral.

And I think Carson Wentz can still throw a spiral. But who knows, it's been three years since Wentz started a game that wasn't in the final week of the regular season. He was the Chiefs starting quarterback last season and that 38 to nothing blowout loss to the Broncos in week 18. He threw for 98 yards in that game playing with backups. Can't judge him on that. When started for the Rams in their final game of the 2023 season and threw for like 163 yards, two touchdowns, one interception.

He hasn't made meaningful regular season starts since 2022 when he started seven games for Washington. And he had 300-yard games in, three of those seven games and multiple touchdown passes in three of those seven games. So just kind of hard to tell what the Minnesota offense is going to look like against the Bengals this week with Wentz at the controls. Vikings are down a couple of offensive linemen. So it's pretty hard to confidently predict a big game for Justin Jefferson, but he is Justin Jefferson after all. Erickson, is your like dip in confident.

I'm putting words in your mouth a little bit, like putting him at six. I assume there's like a little bit lack of confidence. Is the maybe lack of production confidence similar to Jamar Chase as it is to Jefferson? Do you think there's a similar like drop off at all? Or do you guys have those, do you have them both like wildly different? Like you're just fine with Browning and Chase and there's a little bit more of a question with Jefferson? I think that you should have more of a question just because we've never seen Carson went to play with Justin Jefferson.

Anytime you're throwing a brand new wide receiver with a brand new quarterback, there's always going to be inherent risk involved because we've never seen these guys play together. At least there's a sample size of Jake Browning with Jamar Chase. And not even just last week, we saw it for a stretch of games at the end of 2003. And we've seen Browning, okay, he can be functional. And even in the last game we saw, I mean, Browning was just like, Chase, Chase, Chase, like every target seemed like was going to Jamar Chase. So he clearly knows where the bread is going to be buttered in this offense.

And his name is Jamar Chase. So I feel a little bit more confident with that in particular. But if you want to try to kind of invite the volatility of Jefferson, well, Why can't Carson Wentz be an upgrade over J.J. McCarthy? You look at the Minnesota passing game through two games, 30 second in passing efficiency with McCarthy under center. It has not been good. Basically, they've had one good quarter of passing,

and there was that one big play that Jefferson made on Sunday night. But besides that, the passing game has been very lackluster. T.J. Hawkinson is on the mail carton. Where are you? T.J. Hawkinson just can't be found with J.J. McCarthy, but with Carson Wentz, I think that maybe we get some juice, a little bit more of a boost overall from this passing.

game. Now it doesn't necessarily mean Jefferson has the massive game, but maybe other guys and they're just more efficient overall. And that's because Carson Winston is a veteran. That one of the reasons why I just had trouble buying into McCarthy right out of the gates was he was an inexperienced quarterback. He didn't take a lot of dropbacks at the college level. And Kevin O'Connell, if you look at all the quarterbacks that have had success in his offense, a lot of them have been older guys, like veteran players that have been in the league for multiple seasons, whether there was Sam Donald, whether there's Kirk Cousins, Nick Mullins, when he was with the Vikings.

Like he was going out, throwing for 300 passing yards per game at the end of the season when Kirk Cousins got banged up. And Jefferson was very productive over that stretch. So given that Wence has familiarity with Josh McCown,

who is the quarterback's coach of the Minnesota Vikings, former teammates in Philadelphia, given that he spent an entire season with the Los Angeles Rams, who that's where Kevin O'Connell comes from, the Sean McVeigh offensive tree,

I wouldn't be surprised if we just see a better overall offensive environment from Minnesota against the Bengals, like we're not afraid of that defense in any capacity. So yeah, I really like the take, by the way, that like I've kind of been baffled. Like, McCarthy hasn't been good.

Like, it's not even a question. So getting a veteran quarterback in there, maybe it can play like Daniel Jones a little bit. So like any like massive drop or concerns people might have with Justin Jefferson, it might not be warranted. But to your guys point, like we just don't know yet. Like that's the big thing we got to find out. This was not on the sheet, but I just want to ask you guys real quick. There was a part of me that looked and there's this like Nico Collins, Drake London, Brian Thomas underperformance thing that's kind of floating out with some people.

I'm starting to see a rising questions. the one of those three guys that stands out. I just want to get a heat check for both of you is Brian Thomas, specifically because Brian Thomas has got Houston this week. And you got a stingly effect in here. It has not been good. There's this little wrist issue. There's a lot of drop balls.

Obviously, there's some volume. Fitsy, is there any hesitation with Brian Todd? Because the other two guys, yeah, they think there's been some underperformance, but I wouldn't like highlight the matchups as a problem. Not only is this a matchup problem. He's underperform. He's dropped. He's got the wrist thing.

Is there some hesitation with Brian Thomas for you at all fits? Not to play him. Well, where I'm ranking him, yes, there's hesitation. Should he be in the top 10 or not? I guess you can make a pretty good case that he should not be. I've got him right now at wide receiver 10 myself. But like I just, he was so good last year. Like I just have a hard time believing that something has fundamentally changed with that.

And I know it's weird that he's kind of like, you know, shied away from contact, as a lot of people have pointed out. And maybe the risk thing is really bothering him for that to be the case. And maybe there's just not the degree of chemistry with Trevor Lawrence that there was with Mack Jones, which is strange. But yeah, I mean, like, I'm starting him in the leagues where I have him. I'm starting him, no question. But like, am I a little bit nervous about it? Yeah. Yeah, I'm not trying to necessarily advocate that like we don't start Brian Thomas. But Erickson, do you think like we should be maybe a little bit more worried than we are because on paper, if you were to put it to like, I know we have this like

uber talented player, but if you took it down a notch to like a maybe a lesser like in the teens or something and then I say, okay, well, hey, this guy has a risk problem. He's pulling up on balls. He's dropping balls and he's got one of the worst matchups you could have this week as far as a cornerback set up. Like, don't you think that's something we should be more concerned about? I think we would probably take a lot of those things as a justification to drop a player, but this is Brian Thomas. So is there any like hesitation or worry going into this? this week for you, Erickson, with Brian Thomas. I also have moved him down a little bit in my rankings just because of all the reasons

you guys outlined. I don't think you can just completely ignore that and just say, well, he's really talented. So he's just going to be 5 to see for 10 this week. I think it's justified to move him down a couple of spots, but not enough to where you're going to outright bench Brian Thomas Jr. And look, he's a good player too. Like, remember, when you face a number one cornerback, like you still get opportunities. Like the last two weeks, it's not like Devonti Adams and they completely shut out.

Like they've been making plays and watching those games closely. Like, Derek Stenley was getting put to the test against Adams and Mike Evans, both guys who are older 30 plus year wide receivers. So I think that this is a big game for Brian Thomas Jr. to show, well, are you the next big thing? Can you beat Derek Stingley? Because he's been going up against 30-year-olds the last two weeks. Like, come on, man. Like, you're supposed to be the next superstar at wide receivers. So it's time to step up.

So I think that they're going to make it a focal point to, hey, Brian Thomas Jr., he's 19 targets. the last two weeks, six catches for 50 yards. Like, eventually something has to give here where he has to generate a big play. He doesn't have anything downfield yet. So, look, Trevor Lawrence has shown the last two weeks. Like, he's not afraid to just, like, chuck it. So I think the volume is going to be there. He knows he needs to step up and make big plays for the Jacksonville offense to be productive.

So, yeah, continue to roll with Brian Thomas Jr. And if he sucks again, then you go by low because it's not going to be Derek Stingley every single week. It will be able to look back and be like, okay, well, it was the Stingley matchup that did limit his production a little bit. But I think that he's still one of the better buy lows to making trades. One of the interesting things, though, is Travis Hunter does have one of the highest design percentages of any wide receiver according to fantasy points out there. So, you know, what are the things that are going to break? You know, do they end up pushing a little bit more into that? They already designed a lot of plays when he's out there, but he's only in like 11-man

format. There's a lot of just weird stuff that are with it. From a ranking perspective, maybe there's more of a worry than there's a start perspective. But I had a feeling some people might have some questions about that. All right. Let's go to. are wide receiver 2s. Wide receiver 2 starting at 13. We have A.J. Brown, followed by Ladd McConkey, D.K. Metcalfe, Garrett Wilson, Marvin Harrison, Mike Evans,

Debo, Samuel, Roma Dunzee comes in at 20, Teteroa McMillan, Amecca, Egbuka, T. Higgins and Jamesson Williams. That's our top 24. Start with A.J. Brown. A.J. Brown here at 13, just missing the cut. But both of you guys have made a commitment that he is still a top 12 wide receiver starting. I hate the lack of passing offense that this team has. this was always my issue with the Eagles.

It's not to say that Brown and Smith aren't like crazy talented. It's just the usage that's out there. It really makes me feel like it's going to be a struggle for AJ Brown to be a top 12 wide receiver. But Erickson, you've jumped in. You've got a wide receiver nine this week. So wax on AJ Brown for us. I think your points about the environment and the lack of passing for the Eagles is definitely the main concern. But I think you have to look at the last two matchups that they've played, you know,

playing against the Dallas Cowboys and playing against the Kansas City Chiefs. who that Chiefs game was a defensive slugfest. It was not a high-flying offensive scoring affair from either side. And Eagles know that when they're not being pushed by the other team, they don't need to be aggressive on offense. They can just feed the ball to Stakel-Marcly, play defense, and win the games. They're playing the Rams this week. The Rams team that probably should have beat them in the playoffs last season,

a team that feels like they can beat the Eagles. So if we're more of a situation where, oh, well, now the Eagles are down 10 points to the Los Angeles Rams, oh, well, now we actually have to use our really talented wide receivers. And I think that last week was at least encouraging from a standpoint of AJ Brown getting more involved. Again, not like week one. He had eight targets, 36% targets here. Now, the numbers are not got. He was just five gatches for 27 yards.

But it's not like AJ Brown looked like he was injured out there. I know that there was some concerns about his hamstring injury. He was dealing with the offseason. He looked healthy to me. And he had over 100 yards in one of the last games. They played against the Rams. He played twice against them. One game, he had 100 yards.

The other game, he was not nearly. much as involved, but he had seven plus targets in both of those contests. And there's still a chance that Dallas Goddard doesn't play. So you're condensing the target share into just A.J. Brown and Devonti Smith. The Rams are down, Akella Witherspoon. He got hurt last week. So they're down another cornerback. So there's a picture where this is a ceiling game for A.J. Brown.

And I'm going to be very frustrated if I leave him on my bench after just two weeks where the Eagles weren't nearly as pushed as they could be here in week three. Yeah, there's kind of a, there's kind of a same thing that goes on with Brian Thomas, where it's like, I don't know how you bench him. That's the frustration. It's like if you own AJ Brown, you're kind of stuck with it. How do you not put him out there? So the comment by Erickson about leaving him on the bench would be frustrating.

I think it is pretty impossible to do that. It's just the lack of production stands out. But you're kind of in the same boat. You don't even quite as high, but you've got them higher than consensus. You've got them at 11. So what do you want to add on AJ Brown? Yeah, I mean, I'm just forging ahead with aggressively ranking a great wide receiver above consensus.

And our friend Jacob Gibbs of CBS at top three ranker last week, he noted that AJ Brown had a league best 38% route win rate last week, according to fantasy points data. And so there are really no issues with AJ Brown himself.

It's just a matter of the Eagles jump starting their passing game. I realize things haven't looked great for the passing game under new offensive coordinator, Kevin Patolo. But it's been two games. And Patillo has been the team's passing game coordinator since 2021.

He was around for AJ Brown's back-to-back 1,400-yard seasons in 2022 and 2022 and 2023. So I'm not saying I know the Eagles passing game is going to be fine. Like I'm kind of alarmed by the lack of play action so far. And the lack of variety in AJ Brown's routes, people pointed out that it's been just a lot of slants so far and not much else. But I'm not ready to pack it in and trade away AJ Brown. Yeah, it's a weird one for me.

because at the end of the day, like, it's literally just usage. It's not like talent or anything like. It's like if they want to do it, they could do it. And he could ball out. It just doesn't seem like they want to do it. But that's also maybe a strategy to early season when you don't necessarily have to. We got a big difference in your guys's ranks. Roma Dunezay, who comes in at wide receiver 20, a little touchdown magnet,

a lot of breakout potential in the draft season about how he could end up becoming potentially like the number one in this. And if I'm looking at this correctly, he is, yeah, he is ranked higher. than DJ more this week. But you guys are on opposite end. So he's ECR, wide receiver 20. Erickson, you have him higher, fits. You've got him lower.

Let's start with the lower fits. You've got him at 27 this week. So you've got him outside of a wide receiver two. What should take on Roma Dunezay? I mean, he's off to a really nice start. 13 catches, 165 yards, three touchdowns on 20 targets. And admittedly, Cowboys Bears in Chicago this Sunday, looks like it could be a really nice setup for O'Donze.

in both of the passing games. Like Dallas has its best quarterback, Duran Bland, he's going to be out. The Dallas pass defense we saw just get torched by Russell Wilson and the Giants. Cowboys Bears has a Vegas total of 49 and a half points that's tied for the second highest total on the board this week behind only Lions Ravens. I guess my issue with ranking O'Donzee in the top 24 at receiver is that I cannot imagine the target split between Roma, Dunezay and DJ Moore continues to be so one-size. You know, Dunezay's favor? So far, Roma has 20 targets, DJ Moore, just 11. And D.J. Moore's been a terrific NFL receiver for a really long time.

I have to think the target split balances out a little bit. I do still have Roma Dunesay ranked ahead of D.J. Moore, but only by two spots. Hey, it's us, the Jonas brothers. And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, huge news? We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed. First people to do podcasts.

Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how do 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. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. 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. 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 Smigel 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. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in.

I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered.

Sports slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live there. them listen to Sports Slice on the iHeart radio app apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast and for more follow timbo slice of life 12 and the ticot podcast network on ticot erkson you are the high man you're the high man on roma dunzee i'm kind of with you a little bit like because he stretches the field a bunch they really like him in the red zone right now uh seems a little odd in the bears but what's your take on roma dunezay uh you've got him at wide receiver 17 for this week i just think the spot for him is just set up so perfectly and i agree with It's, I think I felt like that last week, where I was too afraid to rank him this high last week after he led the team in targets.

But now it's been two weeks in a row where he has been the guy for Caleb Williams. And this is a brand new offense. And I don't think it's just a coincidence that, oh, we have a new play caller with a new office as coordinator and Roman Dunez is now the guy. I mean, he's a top 10 pick in a second year receiver where we see guys breakout all the time. And what has me confident about him this week and just kind of like rest of season, honestly, is he's doing what he had last. year in terms of just gobbling up all the high value opportunities. I mean, he was seeing a ton of air yards last year. He was seeing a ton of end zone targets last year. But the issue was he just wasn't catching in on the air yards. He wasn't cashing in on the air yards. He wasn't converting

his red zone targets into touchdowns. But now that regression is kicking in. And now he's converting on those high value opportunities. He had over 200 air yards last week. So even if the targets are more flat, the targets he's getting are better for fantasy football. So even if we do see DJ Moore a little bit more involved, which I'm honestly not as convinced because I like DJ more, but throughout his NFL career, I don't know if I would ever say DJ Moore, he's an alpha. He's an alpha number one. Like he goes out and just demands targets. I would say that he would not fit that category for me.

Whereas Adunze, he looks like an alpha to me. Like he was an alpha at the college level with two strong other wide receivers in that college offense. And in year one, despite Keenan Allen and DJ Moore being there, he was a rookie and he still commanded a lot of high value opportunities. So I think that we're starting to see a guy just go on a full-fledged breakout. And in this spot against Dallas, just terrible defense, I want him in my lineup. Interesting way you put that too.

It kind of made me think of like someone like Debo Samuel, where it's like DJ Moore reminds me of that. Like it's not someone that commands, but it's someone you want to get the ball in his hands because they do stuff after. But they are not someone like a Jefferson or a chase where it's like, what are we doing? We're not getting the ball. So that's an interesting take. The final wide receiver we're going to talk about in this wide receiver.

2 range. Also wants me to put a reminder in here of these ranks are going to change throughout the week. So, you know, take it with a grain of salt when how we're talking about some of these ranks as these guys can move. I mean, we got a running back. We're going to do the running back show that moved like six spots in one day. Some of these can change. And the reason I'm giving you this little caveat here is you guys have another big difference here on T. Higgins. So this obviously is going to be like quarterback centric in here that has some effect on it. He's ECR wide receiver 23. Fitch, you've got him at 24. You're right in line. Erickson, you are way down. You've got them at wide receiver 35. This is one of those that I kind of think it could like drop. Like I was about to say like you could, there's guys that can creep up and there's guys that can drop. This might be one that continuously kind of falls down as people fall out of love with this bangles situation. Erickson,

is that the situation that you're in here? Now, you kind of talked up the connection with Chase and Browning, but when you look at T. Higgins, are you just fearful that there's not going to be enough to go around with Browning at quarterback for him? Yeah, that's kind of how I feel. just looking back at what Browning did with T. Higgins during that stretch in in 2023, there were four games that they played together when Browning and Jamar Chase were both in the lineup. And T. Higgins had one game with 20 fantasy points.

And then he had three with less than eight and a half fantasy points. So I think that he's going to be extremely boom-abust. Even in last week's appearance from Jake Browning, Teagans had five targets from Browning. He caught one of them. It just happened to be the touchdown. So if he doesn't do that again, like that concerns me about that he could just bottom out. We've seen this before with Higgins being very boom or bust last year. He was a red zone monster, and that's why he was so great in terms of points per game. But what happens when you have a lesser quarterback under center? You have less red zone opportunity.

So whereas Chase, I just think he's going to gobble up all the volume and I think that he's going to be fine. I think Higgins is the one that gets hit the most because of that red zone efficiency. If he's not scoring touchdowns, then what is he doing in your lineup? I think he's going to be hurting you more often than helping you. So for me, it's boom or bust. and then you also have the factor of a Brian Flores defense. They're number one in terms of passing efficiency

on defense this season. Like, this is no easy task for any quarterback facing the Vikings defense when they're trying to throw the football. So for me, that's why Higgins is not someone that I'm gravitating towards. Again, through two games, Higgins is wide receiver 49

an expected fantasy points per game. It's not like he's seeing like this massive target share which you need to start T. Higgins. Like, he's been so good. The peripherals are all there. They're really not all there. Like, if he doesn't score last week,

he would have bombed. So I'm trying to get ahead of it. I really like your red zone take on it. I think that's that's very compelling. Fitz, you tell me if this is theory, though, because something I walked away from last week with T. Higgins is, is that if I'm a defense with Browning a quarterback here, I'm shutting Jamar Chase down. I'm obviously like every team wants to do that. But maybe more than ever, the running game hasn't quite been great. You've got a lesser of a quarterback that's out there. I would feel like a defense more than ever would say, we're going to make you beat us now without Jamar Chase. And that, is maybe like a push for T. Higgins. It's theory. That's all that it is here. Erickson makes some really compelling points of maybe why it just doesn't matter in general. But what's your take on him? You got them at wide receiver 24. So you got him out as wide receiver too. Yeah, I mean, that's the thing. The good thing about having T. Higgins for the Bengals is that we just have not seen defenses really do that with Jumar Chase. Like concentrate on, you know, rolling safety help his way on every snap or doubling him just because T. Higgins can can burn

them too. So yeah, I mean, maybe I'm, I am second guessing this ranking a little bit and I might move him down, probably not as far down as Erickson has him, where he's like back end, wide receiver three territory. But I am worried this is not an easy matchup for the Bengals in Minnesota, especially after the Vikings played such a bad game against the Falcons on Sunday night. And it's like, I can't see them playing two bad games at a row at US Bank Stadium. But I do think Higgins is going to be involved and Erickson made reference to the stint that Jake Browning had as the starter at the end of the 2023 season. Higgins played in five of those games and over that stretch he was wide receiver 25 and half point PPR scoring. Now, Erickson did point out that one of those games, there was no

Jamar Chase and that was one of the bigger games Higgins had over that stretch. So that should probably be accounted for too. But I think Higgins can still work with Browning in the lineup. So I think probably in most cases, people are still going to play Higgins, but I know, maybe if you have the luxury of, like, a lot of high-end firepower at wide receiver, you might be able to sit Higgins. Yeah, and one final expansion on what I was talking about with the theory talk there is that one of the things that differed a little bit from Burrow to Browning was that Browning just threw to Jamar Chase. And that's kind of what I'm getting at. Like, Burrow, you felt like he could go in any spot so that you couldn't have that honed in concentration. It seemed like Browning was just

locked in on Jamar Chase. And I wonder if that's where that's where that, He locks in a little bit where it's like, because you clearly know that he wants to go to one spot, one read, bam, that opens up Higgins. But again, it's just all something that we can monitor. And unfortunately, if he goes off, it might be on your bench this week. We're going to talk about wide receiver threes here in just a second. But as we have told you, we are extremely excited that Hard Rock Bet is a presenting sponsor right here on Fantasy Pros.

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in Florida offered by Seminole Hard Rock Digital LLC and other states must be 21 and physically present in Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, or Virginia to play. Terms and conditions apply. Concerned about gambling in Florida, call 1-888-admit-it in Indiana. If you or some of you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-8009 with it. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler in Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, in New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia. Wide receiver three is gentlemen. Starting at 25, we've got Tyreek Hill. He's back in action. Cortland Sutton, George Pickens, Terry McLaren, Devante Smith, Jacoby Myers. Coming in at 31 is DJ Moore, Ricky Pirsall, Calvin Ridley, Marquise Brown, Joanne Jennings, and Keon Coleman.

Let's start with George Pickens. George Pickens, ECR 25, or actually 27. I missed that. He has moved down a little bit, and that's kind of what I'm talking about in 24-hour spam. These guys can move. boy was I saved by overtime with my bets. Erickson knows my bets on George Pickens this week were saved in overtime. And it's a little bit frustrating sometimes seeing the usage. But you guys are in. You guys both have them high. 22 for Fitz, 24 for Erickson.

Fitzie, why don't you kick it off here? You guys are, you know, getting into a range of being quite a bit higher than consensus right now. So do you think the targets are going to continue to go up and some big plays are going to happen? I do just because I like the offensive environment in this game Welsh. The Bears' best cornerback. Jalen Johnson just reaggravedated a groin injury that caused him to miss week one. Now he's out indefinitely. Slot corner, Kyla Gordon, has been out with a hamstring injury.

The Bears' defense is just kind of a mess. They're not getting much pressure on the quarterback. Dak Prescott, C.D. Lamb, George Pickens. They could really eat this week. And we saw the usage perk up for Pickens. He had that quiet game in week one, three for 30 on four targets. but last week five catches 68 yards and a touchdown on nine targets in that shootout went over the giants and yeah I mean the bears just gave up 334 passing yards and five touchdown passes and 52 points

to Jared Goff and the Lions I think Dallas is going to move the ball through the air this week Erickson is it Pickens week is it Pickens season are we going to just get that big explosive explosive freaking game that we've been waiting for him this week? I think you have to take the chance and hope that it is that week for him because the matchup is there as Fitz kind of outlined just how banged up and how bad this bear's defense has been. I mean, every time I was watching the games on Sunday, it turned to a highlight and it was just another Jared Goff kill shot

to James and Williams downfield against the Chicago Bears. They were just like not stopping, just trying to attack this defense downfield. So the Cowboys are going to see that on tape and be like, yeah, like, let's take advantage of it. Let's have some of these kill shots here with George Pickens. I do want to add one note, though, with Pickens in terms of how his usage really ramped up in the second half and kind of into overtime against the Giants. So Cavante Turpin got hurt in this game and suffered a neck injury and he was seen in a neck brace after the game. And really after he got knocked out is when we actually started to see Pickens get more involved in the game.

So you don't really think that Turpin would affect George Pickens' target share. But Turpin is a guy that shot the officer coordinator or the head coach likes to get involved. he has scheme touches. And every time he gets a touch, it's another opportunity that's not going to a player like George Pickens. So I might dock him a couple spots

if I find out the Turpin is going to be playing in this game. But I think just something like a process standpoint. I mean, if the Dallas Cowboys score 40 points, like you're going to start George Pickens. And it's possible that one of the Dallas receivers or running backs just doesn't eat. But I think that you have to just trust the play here and just hope that, yeah,

Pickens finds the end zone or catches a long ball because all of those circumstantial things are there for him. Let's move over to a wide receiver that I feel like everybody is just kind of like, what do we do? Like at the end of the day, what do we do with Calvin Ridley? Calvin Ridley is ECR 33 this week. You guys have got him in like the general spot. Erickson, you're right on consensus fits. You're a little bit lower.

I like his putting some questions in just overall. I feel like there was more optimism about Calvin Ridley through the first two weeks. I think that's kind of waning. But Erickson, you tell me, should it be waning? Is it justifiable? Is he on a watch? I mean, you don't have like an super aggressive ranking of him, but let's talk about Calvin Ridley this week. Yes, let's talk about Calvin Ridley, who I'm now having more second thoughts about how good Calvin really actually is.

Because in draft season, the theory behind the play was great value. You know, going really late in drafts should be the number one target on his team. Yes, week one's going to be tough against Tertain. Okay. We'll give him a pass. It's a tough matchup. But then week two comes, it kind of seems like more of the same. Just like him not really stepping up, making him not really stepping up,

making big plays, even though he's seeing targets. Meanwhile, you have Eliy Elykei-Manior, the rookie, a day three pick, making, like, highlight reel after highlight reel of catches. So if I'm Cam Ward, who am I gravitating towards going the ball to? Is it the veteran guy that continues to kind of, like, underwhelm, or this really exciting rookie that makes play after play and catches my first touchdown pass after this just insane off-strip play where I'm throwing across my body? Every head coach says, don't throw the ball.

Cam Ward's like, don't care. Throwing it. touchdown. It was like madden. It's just like you throw in a cross field. It's the most madden play I've seen in the NFL in like 10 years. And it almost always gets intercepted. But I mean,

if it was really, probably would have been intercepted. But it wasn't. It was outy man or he ended up catching it. So I think that he just is still in that wide receiver three conversation. I think that we're in a situation where I don't think you need to necessarily play him. I think it's okay to like wait for him to like let's see him start to connect more with Cam Ward.

I think the matchup is kind of like neutral against the Colts. I don't think that their team is, oh, you can't throw on the Colts. I think that they definitely can. hand, but I mean, I don't think the gap between Ridley and I.U. Manor should necessarily be super massive just after two weeks. I mean, the targets have been pretty even across the board. I, you manner seeing a lot of air yards in this offense. In terms of expected fantasy points, Ridley's wide receiver 32. I meaner is wide receiver 42. So I think that he's really's wide receiver

three. I think that maybe you can probably find a more upside type of play, but I think he's going to see targets. He's still the number one on paper, but we'll see if that continues. Even though it was kind of justified, I would like public credit for not putting the 49ers wide receivers on here, even though I think we should have the discussion. So due to me getting all of that credit for not putting on them, Fitz, what is your rank of Ricky Pyrisol, Juan Jennings, and Calvin Ridley? Oh, okay. Let's see. I have... I almost wanted to get your don't look at your rank and see versus what you put on there. Like, what's your instant reaction when I tell you those three names? How would you rank them out? Yeah, I think right now I have.

have them all really close together. I have got Ridley, Ricky Pearsall, wide receiver 34, Calvin Ridley, wide receiver 35, Juan Jennings, wide receiver 37. So all three separated by four spots and Chris Olave jammed in there in the middle. So, you know, and like, Ridley, I'm still optimistic. He has a 25% target share so far, which is good. But Cam Ward isn't exactly force-feeding Ridley, as I thought he might, because Al-Ayei Manor has been really good. He only has one fewer target than Ridley so far. Titan Chigo Conquo only has four fewer targets than Ridley. And I don't really fear the Titans matchup against the Colts this week.

But Cam Ward hasn't a 200-yard passing game yet. He hasn't thrown multiple touchdown passes in a game yet. Like until Ward gets going a little more, I think Ridley is more of a borderline start than a confidence. start. Also, Erickson, I want you to get ready to ring the bell because week three is Juan Jennings Sisson. I am officially, I'm officially announcing that it is officially Juan Jennings week. Erickson knows, as the Sears does, it is, Juan Jennings should be the number one ranked above those three players, just throwing it out there. So I need to hear. No context. I don't need any details or any breakdown. I'm just telling you, it's official.

initially Joanne Jennings is in. He was productive last week. Had a couple big plays. Yeah, that's all I need. Targets are there. He's making plays after the catch. I'm just saying, get ready. Mac Jones loves him.

All right. The final thing to end us out here, wide receiver that is not in the top 36 that you guys think should be someone we should be talking about. Fitzie, why don't you kick it off? Jalen Waddle. I've got him at wide receiver 32.

His ECR is wide receiver 38, I believe. We do have to keep an eye on Waddle's status. He was a limited participant. in Tuesday's practice with a shoulder injury. If he doesn't practice on Wednesday, that might not bode well for him playing in the Thursday night game against the Bills. But I know, Waddle's been held under 50 yards in his last four games against the Bills. But in most cases, I do think you should be starting him this week if the shoulder isn't an issue.

Erickson and I have just been Waddle advocates for a long time. He has a career average of 2.05 yards per route run. And you don't average better than 2 yards per route run over 4 plus NFL seasons unless you're a really good receiver. I hat tip to Turrick Hill, too. I've been kind of writing him off. He looked pretty good. He got back involved. But Erickson, you, I think you're going to tag team with Fitsy here, and you're going to go with Jalen Waddle as well. Yeah, I think that he deserves to be in this spot here, but I have to say that I'm not nearly as confident ranking him here. And I was actually, I mean, I just moved Juan Jennings ahead of J. And the Waddle because I'm trying to almost find guys to play ahead of Waddle

because I'm terrified at playing him on Thursday night. Because to the point, the shoulder injury, Waddle, love the guy, think that he's a really talented player, but he does not play through injuries very well. Like, the minute he gets nicked up, he gets knocked out of the game, and then you're, I'm just,

I can't imagine just like watching the game, and then he gets knocked out and Thursday night, and then I have to sit at zero in my roster heading into the weekend. So that's one of the things I'm concerned about with Walled, the thing about the bills,

he's never, when he's played at Bufel, he's never had more than four catches. So what is the ceiling case for Waddle? And I would argue if last week is the ceiling case, because last week he was teed up. Like, Patriot's defense is terrible. He cooks the Patriots year after year.

We got six, or we got 56 yards and a touchdown. Like, or excuse me, over 63 yards at a touchdown. Like, that was, was that the ceiling game from Waddle with this offense? If that's the case, I think that I'm more afraid of the floor bottoming it out on Thursday night for Waddle than actually buying into the ceiling. Because if last week is like the best we're going to get in this current state that the Dolphins is, now if they trade Tyree Kiel, it's a different conference. conversation. So that's why Waddle for me is scary. I still have in my top 36, but I'm trying to find guys to potentially move ahead of him.

And I'm already bracing for my Thursday night questions of Waddle versus who and really trying to, okay, do I think this other guy has more upside, then I'm probably going to go with that player or even guys that have potentially a higher floor. So like you said, you brought up John Jennings. Sick. I'm going to play John Jennings over Jay and the Waddle. So I don't know Fits if I've voiced any of your concerns as well. Because again, like we both like Waddle a lot.

but I don't know, the optics of this match of going to Buffalo, dolphins dumpster fires, Mike McDaniel are going to make it through half time before getting fired. It just a lot of things could go bad. And like that's where I get concerned with Waddle. Yeah, it's the, what really convinced me, Erickson,

is your scenario of having to dwell on a bad Jalen Waddle game for several days before Sunday. So yeah, that might influence me a bit. Well, you guys can check out all the ranks. We went through 36 and a little bit beyond. You can check the ranks out of Fantasy.

fantasy pros.com slash rankings. ECR is going to change throughout the week all the way up into Sunday if you want to see what the expert consensus are saying. You can also click on a player and you can see where these guys have them. You can individually, you can sort of, there's a bunch of million awesome things you can do with the ranks, but just go and check them out, fantasy pros.com slash rankings for all your wide receivers. And don't forget if maybe we didn't discuss a player that would have answered a question for you,

we've got to start and sit live stream on our YouTube channel where you can come and ask those questions Thursday, 3 p.m. Eastern. and we do it every Thursday at 3 p.m. Eastern. So those on the podcast, go to YouTube.com slash Fantasy Pros, subscribe, click to be notified, and then you can ask your question with the hundreds and thousands of other people that are coming hanging out there. That's going to do it for the wide receiver ranks for week three for Pat Fitzmorest and Andrew Erickson. I'm Chris Welsh. Thank you guys so much for hanging out with us. And we'll talk to you next week right here on Fantasy Pros.

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