7 Chaotic Wide Receiver Position Battles You MUST Figure Out Before Draft Day (Ep. 2104)
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Jul 29, 2026
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Wed, July 29, 2026
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Episode Transcript
0:00This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed Human. The variety is available in all geographies.
0:04Warning, this product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical.
0:07Hello everybody, welcome into the FantasyPros - Fantasy Football Podcast.
0:09I'm Ryan warmly joined by Andrew Erickson and by Scott Bogman.
0:12We are talking wide receiver position battles to know for your fantasy drafts.
0:16Tara Roberts and myself did sort of running back version of this last week.
0:20Hope everybody enjoyed that. If you didn't, go check it out on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcast.
0:25We're doing the wide receiver version today. We're going a little bit deeper here.
0:29That's why we have three of us on the show.
0:32Obviously more names to get to. So we will dive right in.
0:35Just a reminder for everybody that all of our 2026 consensus rankings and tiers can be found at FantasyPros.com slash rankings.
0:41If I reference any players ranking amongst wide receivers or overall during today's show, I'm likely referencing their half PPR ranking on the site.
0:47We're going to start with, I think, the most obvious place to start, which is the Jacksonville Jaguars.
0:52Erickson kind of mentioned this when we were putting the show sheet together like this is kind of the fun one, right?
0:58It's the one that everybody keeps talking about. These guys are largely ranked very close.
1:02They're close to each other in the rankings. And also just like logically, if you look at them, you go, oh, I
1:08don't know what to do with this. How are you parsing through Brian Thomas, Jr., Jacoby Myers, Parker Washington, and then you throw in Travis Hunter as well.
1:16So it's four really interesting names for different reasons.
1:19Erickson, I'll start with you. Where do you want to go with this receiver room?
1:23Is there a name that stands out that you want to be targeting?
1:26Is there a name that stands out you want to be avoiding?
1:30Do you want to take multiple shots at this across different drafts?
1:33Do you want to avoid it entirely? How are you handling this mess?
1:36I think for me, it's I want to be taking multiple shots on this wide receiver room because I do think that
1:42there is a lot of upside attached to this Trevor Lawrence offense.
1:46Second year under Liam Cohen, because we saw the second half of last year, Trevor Lawrence was outscoring every single fantasy quarterback.
1:52So there's fantasy juice to be squeezed here, I think, in this Jaguars pass catching crew.
1:56Brian Thomas, Jr. is the most expensive guy. It's not by a ton, but for those reasons, that's why I think I'm
2:02the most out on him compared to the rest of the receivers.
2:05And that's not even to say that his price is egregious, right?
2:09Going as a back and fantasy wide receiver three after he did his rookie year.
2:13But I'm trying to look at the sample size of what matters the most to me and Brian Thomas, Jr., his rookie
2:19breakout in that second half of the season. That happened with a different quarterback in a different offense.
2:24Whereas I look at Parker Washington and with the same quarterback in the same offense, that's what I want to attach myself to a little bit more.
2:31So I'm buying more of the Parker Washington breakout into his fourth season.
2:35I'm actually writing right now an article about wide receivers finishing top 12 for the first time in their NFL career.
2:40I went in and I came out more bullish on Parker Washington because he checks up a lot of the boxes in
2:46terms of how do you find these year four breakouts?
2:49Breakouts. We look at Parker Washington. Year three is actually the most common year you see wide receivers become wide receiver ones
2:55for the first time in their careers. Parker Washington through three seasons has only started 16 games in his NFL career.
3:01So he's not really a typical year four player because he didn't come in with draft capital.
3:06He was a six round pick out of Penn State.
3:08And I think that that's part of his ranking and part of why we're not as bullish in believing him, even though
3:14when you just watched him last year, him and Trevor Lawrence were clicking on all cylinders.
3:19So that's the direction I'm ultimately going into Parker Washington.
3:22And I will say, too, because I got to give a shout out to Jacoby Myers.
3:26He is maybe not the right answer among all these Jag receivers, but I feel very confident he's not the wrong answer
3:32because he is just the most underrated wide receiver every single season.
3:35The Jaguars last 10 games who led the team in routes run and catches and targets?
3:40Jacoby Myers. Who did the Jaguars trade for last year where they needed wide receiver help?
3:44Jacoby Myers. Who immediately signed a contract extension? Jacoby Myers.
3:47And who's basically zero time to establish chemistry with Trevor Lawrence.
3:50Any guesses, guys? Oh, yeah. Jacoby Myers. Not Brian Thomas.
3:52Not Brian Thomas. Bogman, I have more follow up questions here for both of you guys, but I want to get your
3:58initial thoughts on this wide receiver room, too, because there's so many directions you can go.
4:03Yeah, I mean, I think the correct answer, Erickson said it off the top.
4:07It's Trevor Lawrence. That's the part of the Jaguars offense that you want because there's really no questions there.
4:12You know, we saw the Jaguars draft two tight ends this year, plus extend Brenton Strange.
4:16We assume they're going to run at least way more 12 personnel, but a lot of 13 personnel as well.
4:22So I think there's going to be a lot of tight ends.
4:25It's copycat league. We saw what the Rams did with the 13 personnel.
4:29They've said in that formation that Brian Thomas is going to be their one wide receiver on the field.
4:34We saw Jacoby Myers come in here last year and take more snaps and a higher snap percentage than Parker Washington when
4:40he did come in and he got extended. But there is all this hype around Parker Washington.
4:44He might be the best wide receiver on this team.
4:47And by the way, Travis Hunter might still be the best wide receiver on this team currently, but he is going to
4:53play more on the defensive side here. So I really, you know, at cost Jacoby Myers is my guy in this situation.
4:59He's the only one I have above ECR or at ECR here.
5:03So I really don't want to mess with Parker Washington because I feel like the hype has grown a little too loud on him.
5:09And I think he's going to go higher than where I want.
5:12I'm going to be comfortable taking him. I think he's already close to that, but it's going to increase as the closer we get to the season.
5:20And Brian Thomas Jr. is probably still a little bit overrated as well.
5:23So Jacoby Myers is really the only one that I'm looking for.
5:27And I don't know that I'm really looking for any of these guys.
5:30Someone is going to break out here, but it seems pretty impossible to pick out the right one.
5:35You guys both mentioned Trevor Lawrence Erickson. Is there any thought in the back of your head that's a little concerned with,
5:41hey, he just ran really hot at the end of last season.
5:44That isn't actually like a step forward. It was just, hey, he had an awesome hot streak.
5:49We know he's talented. He was always capable of that.
5:52And that this year might look something closer to what he's been the rest of his career.
5:56And therefore, none of these guys turn out to be right options because not that Lawrence will be terrible.
6:02I don't think anybody would expect that, but that he's not quite on that, like leading the position in scoring the way he was to end last season.
6:09I'm buying more of that being a reality with him.
6:12He's only 27 years old. I know it's weird to look in retrospect of Trevor Lawrence and be like, man, this guy's
6:18been in the NFL for so long. I mean, he's almost the same age as Tyler Schock, who's entering his second season.
6:24Again, not trying to throw shots at Tyler Schock, but we always have fun on the show talking about how old certain players are.
6:31But again, and you look at his career trajectory, he's been playing with like bonehead coaches left and right.
6:36Again, his entire rookie year with Urban Meyer. Like you got to throw all that out.
6:40Now he finally has a competent high-end offensive play caller with Liam Cohen, who we really saw him take off with.
6:46So it's worth buying. And the fact that he did it last year when Jacoby Myers wasn't on the team the entire year.
6:52Brian Thomas Jr. was injured. They had to throw Parker Washington into that slot role after Travis Hunter was operating out of
6:58that role to start the year and he got injured.
7:01So I'm buying Trevor Lawrence. Like he's one of my favorite long shot MVP bets at north of 20 to one.
7:07And I think that all of his receivers are underrated to make a comparison.
7:11You know, Caleb Williams is another player that a lot of people like as an MVP.
7:15All of his receivers are super, super expensive. The Bears third pass catcher is more expensive than any of these Jacks players.
7:21All of them. It's true. So when you're looking at, again, Brian Thomas Jr.
7:25is my least favorite guy and he's the guy I get the least amount.
7:29But there's a scenario where they all beat their ADP.
7:31Like that would not surprise me. I want to stick with you, Erickson, because I was going to ask this exact thing on Thomas specifically.
7:38Like, you know, Bogman mentioned that he feels as though Brian Thomas Jr.
7:42is like maybe still a little overpriced, you know, in a certain lens.
7:45He's still wide receiver 33. And all of the names in that range that I would be really interested in taking a
7:51swing on instead of Brian Thomas Jr. are already ranked ahead of him.
7:55You look at the guys ranked behind him and it's like DK Metcalf paired with Aaron Rodgers.
8:00You know, Corlin Sutton. Now there's Jalen Waddell there.
8:02Parker Washington, who we already talked about. Chris Godwin, another injury.
8:05You know, Jordan Tyson has never done it in an NFL and has his own injury history.
8:10I'm like, at that point, I start to feel like, well, maybe Brian Thomas Jr.
8:14at wide receiver 33 isn't the worst bet. And I feel like on all these shows that I keep doing, and maybe
8:20I'm just in my own bubble here. But I feel like every time we talk about the Jags, I hear people downplay Brian Thomas Jr.
8:27And then the ranking still stays higher than those other Jags guys.
8:30And still in a range where I feel like the upside, if he can get back to what he was, I know
8:36with a different quarterback and offensive system. But if he can get back to what he was, which was like a league-defining
8:42rookie just two years ago, then that's going to look really nice at wide receiver 33.
8:47So do you think there's a chance, Eric, and setting aside Travis Hunter, because we know what his talent is, but he's
8:53not going to play all on the offensive side of the ball.
8:56Is Thomas just the highest upside guy where if everything does hit right, he will be better than those other guys?
9:02Is he the highest upside guy? I think it's close between him and Parker.
9:05I mean, Parker Washington's upside at the second half of last year was right on par with Brian Thomas Jr.
9:11showed during his rookie year. So, like, that's the thing that I'm looking at and coming back to.
9:16It's what matters more, right, that Brian Thomas Jr.
9:18had an insane rookie season under a different quarterback head coaching pairing, or the fact that we have a guy entering his
9:24fourth season, which is a very popular year where guys become wide receiver once for the first time.
9:29Three guys did that last year. Three guys were wide receiver once for the very first time in their fourth season.
9:35Again, if Parker Washington was a second-round pick, would we even think twice about this?
9:39But because he was a sixth-round pick, there is a little bit of that, okay, we got to be slaves to the
9:45draft cap, but a little bit like, how good is he really?
9:48When you actually go back, I look back at my prospect profile at Parker Washington, like, this guy was an early breakout.
9:54Like, a slot machine in the college level. And right now, what role is he projected to play?
9:59The Chris Godwin-Leam Cohen role, where Chris Godwin put up bonkers numbers in this type of offense.
10:04So, again, please go check out the article when it drops about finding and identifying new wide receiver ones.
10:09I went into it still a little bit bearish on Parker Washington.
10:12I agree that it's not like this, oh, it's such an obvious case.
10:16But as I dove more into it, this is just the exact type of receiver that Trevor Lawrence thrives with.
10:22Christian Kirk was a wide receiver one. He's not an alpha in any way, shape, or form, but he was a wide
10:28receiver one with Trevor Lawrence before him. Evan Ingram.
10:30Again, these underneath slot guys, that is just where Trevor Lawrence has had a ton of success, and less so with the Brian Thomas Jr.
10:37archetype. So, for me, again, you can really only have one.
10:40It was a very touchy subject when you brought it up at the Fantasy Football Expo.
10:44I was like, so are you a Parker Washington guy?
10:47You're Brian Thomas Jr. guy. Because you can't be both.
10:50Because their ECRs are, like, right next to each other.
10:52So, like, that's the thing. You've got to make a choice.
10:55And right now, if you're asking me on July 28th, who am I picking?
10:59I pick a Parker Washington. That's so funny. I was going to ask you what the scuttlebutt was at the Expo, because
11:05this is, like, one of those talking points that every show has done their conversation on it.
11:10And I was curious, sort of outside the Fantasy Pros bubble, what you had been hearing.
11:14So, that's funny that it was a bit of a back and forth there.
11:18Bogman, when you look at, like, Brian Thomas Jr., the names around him, Alec Pierce, DK Metcalf, Cortland Sutton.
11:23For Parker Washington, it's Cortland Sutton, Chris Godwin, Jordan Tyson, Michael Pittman.
11:27For Jacoby Myers, it's Makai Lemon, Jordan Addison, Wandale, Ricky Pearsall.
11:30And then down for Travis Hunter, it's, like, Denzel Boston, Omar Cooper, Trey Tucker.
11:34Are you willing to take multiple swings, not just across your drafts, but in the same draft on these guys, given some
11:40of the names that are around them? Like, are you willing to say, I'm going to take one of Parker Washington and Brian Thomas Jr.
11:46you know, as a wide receiver, back in wide receiver three, and then also go take Jacoby Myers two rounds later, or
11:52also go take Travis Hunter with my last pick?
11:55Or do you just want to take one in any individual draft?
11:58No, I don't. I kind of don't really want any of them.
12:01But I'm definitely not going to take multiple of them.
12:04That's for sure. And, you know, our guy, Pat Fitzmaurice, likes to point out that when Brian Thomas had his best season
12:10and a lot of that success was when Trevor Lawrence was hurt and Mac Jones came in in the back end of
12:16the season and, you know, provided a lot of value towards Brian Thomas Jr.
12:20because he throws the outside more. And Trevor Lawrence really does like to stick in the middle.
12:25My answer is probably nobody. You know, you mentioned a lot of weird scenarios in there with Cortland Sutton and DK Metcalf
12:31and Alec Pierce coming off an injury and stuff like that.
12:34I think their situations are, their ceiling might not be as high, but their situations are just as muddy or less muddy than this Jacksonville Jaguars one.
12:41So my answer is really probably Jacoby Myers at cost.
12:44But, you know, even when the Bears situation, you have the three guys in DeAndre Swift.
12:48In this situation, you have the three guys, Travis Hunter, Brenton Strange, Borkutcher is going to be on the field.
12:54Which running back are they going to throw to?
12:56Right. So there is more involved than just the wide receivers.
12:59There's just a glut of wide receivers, including the other pass catchers in this offense.
13:03So I think it's going to be a real big mix.
13:06But my answer to all of it is draft Trevor Lawrence.
13:09We went a little long on the Jags. I think for good reason.
13:13It's a really fascinating room. We'll go a little quicker on the other ones because we've got a lot of names to get through.
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13:45All right, next team, guys. The Los Angeles Chargers.
13:47I will admit when I was writing down the show sheet, the first thing I wrote down was the San Diego Chargers.
13:53Even all these years later, it still creeps into the back of my mind every now and then.
13:58But I did fix it right away. Los Angeles Chargers.
14:01Lad McConkie. Quentin Johnson. Trey Harris. You could even throw in like Brendan Thompson.
14:05Keiondre Lambert-Smith down the depth chart. But obviously those first couple are really the names you want to focus on for Fantasy.
14:11See, I have said, Bogman, previously that I just want to invest in the Chargers as much as I can this year.
14:17I'm totally bought into a healthier offensive line and pseudo-elite quarterback in Justin Herbert and an elite play caller in Mike McDaniel.
14:23I'm just very, very – I want to be as invested as I possibly can in the Chargers wherever they are going.
14:29That includes the guy who's going earliest in Lad McConkie.
14:32That includes the guys going really late in a deeper league, you know, Trey Harris and Brendan Thompson, whoever.
14:37Do you feel similarly? Is this more of an offense you want to invest in than, for example, the Jags?
14:42You said you want to kind of mostly avoid at cost or is it something in the middle?
14:47No, absolutely. I want to invest in the Chargers.
14:50So, Marian Hampton, I think, is a three-down back.
14:52Going to be a lot of fun to watch this season.
14:55Lad McConkie is one of my favorites. I'm not as high on the rest of the offense outside of Herbert, probably.
15:01Even the backups. Like, I know Keaton Mitchell has the speed and that's what Mike McDaniel wants.
15:06But I just don't think he's as good a back as Kamani Vidal overall.
15:10Gadsden had like two massive gains where a quarter of his production came from and then kind of dipped off after that.
15:16So, it's Lad for me. QJ and Trey Harris are also interesting shots I wouldn't mind taking.
15:20But I think the thing that we love about Mike McDaniel is that he plays to the strength of his players.
15:26He is not a, you fit in my system or you don't fit in my system.
15:30He goes, okay, what do I have and how does it work?
15:34And I think when you have guys like Hampton, when you have guys like Lad, that are these elite prospects, you know,
15:40high picks, I think he's going to get them involved.
15:42And I think we're going to see a massive separation between QJ and Lad this year.
15:47I think Lad is going to be the absolute stud here.
15:50So, and I'm somehow below ECR. I did not think I would be.
15:53I think his ECR is 19. I have him at 20.
15:56So, I'm right there. But there's a lot of good wide receivers up there.
16:00But I would be more than happy to take Lad in many situations.
16:04Yeah, it's funny. You put together for us, Bogman, a sheet before the show of some of the projections for these guys.
16:10And if you look at the Jags, for example, those first three names are all in the 800s.
16:15So, it's like very close to each other. With this one, Lad does kind of separate himself in terms of what the projections are showing.
16:22Quentin Johnson, not that far behind though. And there is a gap in their rankings.
16:26Erickson, for me, like I do like Lad the best, obviously, as pretty much anybody would of this group.
16:31But I think wide receiver 19 is a really fair price for him compared to what I thought it could be given what we saw his rookie season.
16:39Particularly how he ended his rookie season in that playoff game where he was awesome.
16:43And now he gets again this hopefully offensive line upgrade with health and obvious play calling upgrade with Mike McDaniel.
16:48But then I still look down and I'm like, even though I like Lad the best, Quentin Johnson is wide receiver 41.
16:54I'm like, that seems like a totally reasonable place to take another swing on this offense.
16:59Even a Trey Harris, again, if you want to take a lottery ticket, he's going behind Travis Hunter.
17:03He's not even a full-time offensive player. So, like even if you want to be heavily invested in this offense beyond Lad,
17:09there are ways to do it that are really not going to cost you much.
17:14So, again, I'm very all in on pretty much every one of these guys at their ADP.
17:18What say you on both Lad and the rest of this group?
17:22Yeah, I feel like this ECR ADP projection is not going to be close to what the actual reality is.
17:27And I'm not even saying that confidently that I know exactly how it's going to shake out.
17:32I think with Lad McConkie, you look at what he did as a rookie.
17:3517 games, 91 catches for nearly 1,350 yards and eight touchdowns.
17:39Five guys hit that number last year. So, I understand that Lad doesn't give off this profile.
17:43And I know he's dealt with some injuries even last year.
17:46He doesn't give off this profile of this guy is just a dominant alpha number one wide receiver.
17:51But he's still a player that at the college level, at the NFL level, has been super, super efficient.
17:56And what did Mike McDaniel get the most out of Jalen Waddle and Tyreek Hill?
18:00Just breaking yards per route run. Like all over.
18:03Tyreek Hill was over three yards per route run, which was a bonkers number that no one had ever even come close.
18:09Like being over two yards per route run is really good.
18:12And Tyreek Hill is pushing over three yards per route run in this Mike McDaniel offense.
18:16So, no, I don't want to be out on Lad McConkie because I saw what he did his rookie season.
18:22And if we're just kind of like breaking it down to the simplest form, what was the biggest change?
18:27Besides the offensive line injuries, besides Greg Roman, the offensive coordinator, this guy named Keenan Allen was on the team last year.
18:33He was not on the team at Lad McConkie's rookie year.
18:36118 targets. Exactly. And he was eating up all those third down targets, which is where Lad dominated his rookie year.
18:42So, for those reasons, yes, I want to be in on Lad McConkie.
18:45Trey Harris is the other one that I also really like in just terms of, again, he's free.
18:50And I think that when you look at the way that Harbaugh has talked about this receiver room, he has said that
18:56Lad, Quinton Johnson, and Trey Harris are all elite in their own ways.
19:00Now, that doesn't necessarily mean that that's going to be how it shakes out.
19:04But the fact that Trey Harris got on the field as a rookie as a second-round pick last year because they are
19:10really happy with what he does as a run blocker.
19:12Yeah, that can mean nothing. It means, oh, yeah, he's just going to run block.
19:17That's all he's going to do. And he's tight in heavy sets.
19:20But it also means like, well, maybe Trey Harris is they isolate a wide receiver in some of these heavy packages.
19:26And now he's getting on the field with big play upside.
19:29We just talked about yards per route run. Who was breaking yards per route run at the college level?
19:34Trey Harris. Yeah. Again, it was like five, six yards per route run.
19:37Just like absolutely video game numbers. So he's absolutely free.
19:40So I want him on the back of my rosters in redraft.
19:43I love him in a best ball because he's a cheap way access point to this Chargers offense.
19:48Quinton Johnston is the one that I struggle the most with because I definitely understand the upside with him.
19:53He has been very boomer bust throughout his NFL career, but we've seen the ceilings.
19:58And I think it's not just me. We have this just like burned into our memories of him just like dropping these
20:04like really easy passes like all the time and getting super frustrated with that.
20:07Dude, could this guy ever be consistent? And yet when you look at back at, okay, the season as a whole, man,
20:13like when he was healthy last year and Debra was really in a good job of like pointing this out, especially at the expo.
20:20He's like, dude, you got to get Quinton Johnson.
20:23You got to bump up the ranks. You got rookie ranks on this guy.
20:26I mean, when he was healthy last year, you know, he was putting up top 15, top 20 wide receiver numbers.
20:32And QJ is also kind of a guy that analysts and fans like kind of love to hate a little bit because he has been so boomer bust.
20:40And you want to be the first one to kind of throw a punch at QJ.
20:44And I'm trying to be open to the possibilities that this could still be a career year for him.
20:49Could be a career year for all of these wide receivers.
20:52So I am a lower on QJ just because I do like a little bit more of the other receivers.
20:58Boggs, I know you're also lower on QJ. Do you struggle with that?
21:01Are you just like, no, this guy can't play.
21:04Like I've seen his hand. He's got stone hands.
21:06Like where do you kind of settle on him?
21:09Because I'm still kind of torn. It's just the wild inconsistency.
21:12As you mentioned, when he was healthy, the first four games of the season, fully healthy, right?
21:16Two wide receiver one finishes, two wide receiver two finishes.
21:19After that, he finished as a wide receiver two twice and a wide receiver one once.
21:24You know, there is opportunity here for him. But like I said, I think when you're maxing out absolute, you know, efficiency
21:30here, it's Omarion Hampton is going to be number one on your pecking order.
21:33And Ladd is number two by a lot. Number three is up in the air because Trey Harris is a I think
21:39he can become a better version of what QJ is right.
21:42More of a deep thread and all that. But I think he might be better than QJ right now.
21:48Doesn't mean that it's going to pan out. Doesn't mean that it's going to work.
21:52Doesn't mean that he is I'm just saying he can be.
21:55So I really think that it's far and away Ladd for me.
21:58I'll take a lottery ticket on Trey Harris as well.
22:01I really don't want any part of QJ. And maybe that is incorrect.
22:04You know, he is going to go at a deal.
22:07He's a guy that gets pushed down in a lot of drafts because of that.
22:11And every player gets to a certain point where I'm like, OK, well, Jesus, you know, QJ still on the board.
22:17Let's just go ahead and take him here. But I haven't found myself doing that many times with him this year.
22:23So I probably it's Ladd, Hampton, and then the lottery ticket on Trey Harris out of this offense for me.
22:28Johnston is the one who if you look at ECR, there are names behind him that I would be interested in ahead of him.
22:35Like I do think wide receiver 41 is a good price on Johnston.
22:38But wide receiver 42 in ECR is Ricky Pearsall.
22:41Wide receiver 43 is Makai Lemon. Wide receiver 45 is Jordan Addison.
22:44Like there are other names that I think are really worthy in that range.
22:48Ironically, Xavier Worthy, a couple spots behind that. He's like the anti-Jacoby Myers pick.
22:52He's just always bad and overrated. But but like, you know, Trey Harris, again, he's going so late that there's nobody behind him, really.
22:58And then even like like Ladd, he's wide receiver 19 behind him.
23:02Jalen Waddell, who I know Erickson always loves. But it's like Malik Neighbors with the injury stuff.
23:06Terry McLaurin, like, you know, I know it was up and down year last year.
23:10There was some injury stuff there, too. Devontae Adams is another year older.
23:14Luther Burden's a small sample size. Those are the names you're passing on to take Ladd at wide receiver 19.
23:19So like, I'm really comfortable with that. The other thing you didn't mention on Ladd, too, Erickson, is like in terms of
23:25his fit in the offense, Ladd ran a 4-3-9 40-yard dash time.
23:29He has speed, which we know Mike McDaniel craves above all else.
23:32Like it's, you know, obviously like, you know, the white wide receiver.
23:35People always make jokes about like a sneaky fast or whatever.
23:38Like he is very athletic, very fast. In addition to just being a good receiver.
23:42And McDaniel like is going to take advantage of that.
23:45So I really like Ladd. I want to get him in as many leagues as possible this season.
23:50But even with that, I still want to take swings elsewhere.
23:53I do think between QJ and Trey Harris, you might as well go for the guy who's going 26 receivers later in the rankings and take that swing.
24:01That's going to cost you a little bit less.
24:03All right, we'll move on to the New York Giants here.
24:06Just mentioned Malik Nabors, the range he's going. Obviously, that's very injury driven.
24:10He's not, I think as of right now, the last I saw starting on PUP.
24:14I'm not really sure what how that's going to kind of play out over the course of the rest of the summer as training camp gets underway here.
24:22We know what he is talent wise. Obviously, there's the health stuff.
24:25Lots of other names, really. You know, Malachi Fields is a player that I liked, you know, in rookie drafts this year.
24:31Darius Slayton, they brought back Odell Beckham Jr. I mean, there's like so many directors he could go here.
24:36Yeah, Juju. Juju, I didn't even write. I wrote down six names in the sheet just to have some talking points.
24:42And that didn't even include a guy like Juju.
24:44Like there is a lot of people in this wide receiver room right now.
24:48Erickson behind Nabors. So let's just say for the sake of argument, we assume Nabors, he misses a month.
24:53I mean, we don't know what's going to happen.
24:56But just in that month, if that were to happen, where are you going?
25:00Who are you turning to first as this is the guy I want to play?
25:04Like because somebody is going to be fantasy viable in this offense.
25:07Who is it going to be if not Nabors?
25:09Yeah. So Pat Fitzmorris and I were drafting together in the Kings Classic.
25:13And we ended up taking Malik Nabors in the snake draft at the beginning of the fourth round, 14 team league.
25:19So that was 43rd overall. And that was based on the one positive report we got about Nabors basically all offseason.
25:25Oh, he's not going to be on the pump.
25:27But it was like it was so funny because Fitzy and I were looking at each other.
25:32We're like, man, OK, like who's highest in your rankings?
25:34He's like Nabors. I'm like, dang it. So Nabors is also the highest in my rankings.
25:39It's one of those clicks that you never you don't feel good about.
25:42Right. Because you're a guy coming off a devastating injury.
25:45But there is a price where, OK, like I think here is is OK, especially in a 14 team league where you
25:51got to take big swings in an expert's format.
25:54OK, maybe he does come back a little bit sooner.
25:56So we felt good about the value there. But then as the draft continued on, we thought a lot about, OK, well,
26:02if he's not back, how do we take advantage of this?
26:05Like, how do we kind of like check ourselves a little bit?
26:09So Isaiah likely was an option that we looked at really strongly.
26:12I think that he could see a boosted target.
26:14I know that he's not a receiver, but he's the next highest drafted Giants pass catcher is Isaiah likely.
26:20So I just want to point that out, that he would be the guy that would benefit the most, obviously, from elite
26:26neighbors, either missing games entirely or being slow to come back.
26:29I like Malachi Fields, to your point, Worm. He was a guy that we actually ended up drafting with one of our
26:35last round picks because of the fact that, yes, he's a big play specialist from Notre Dame, six foot five.
26:40And so far, some of the reports have been pretty positive about him.
26:44And you could see him carving in a bigger role.
26:46I think Darius Slayton is just a guy, right?
26:49Like we've done this song and dance with him so many times, and he just never takes that next step forward.
26:55I will say from the veteran side of things, I think Darnell Mooney is just being like dramatically undervalued because- He, just
27:01to interject real quick, he is the highest ranked non-Neighbors Giants receiver.
27:04He's down at wide receiver 76, which speaks to the massive gap between neighbors and everybody else.
27:09But he is the highest ranked of all of these guys other than the neighbors.
27:13And I agree with that. I also have him ranked ahead of ECR again at a bullish wide receiver 67.
27:18So again, it's not like I'm going out on a limb here saying Mooney is the guy that's going to go to the moon in this offense.
27:26But he does have a relationship with Matt Nagy, who coached him with the Chicago Bears.
27:30When you just look at these guys' resumes, Darnell Mooney has, two or two very close to a thousand yard receiving campaigns
27:36on his career, which is well beyond anything that Darius Slayton has ever put on the field from a season long perspective.
27:42I'm convinced that Mooney was literally never healthy last year.
27:45He got hurt really early in the offseason program.
27:47And I don't think he was ever right. And we know that Falcons offense last year was pretty dysfunctional with Pennix, with Kirk Cousins across the board.
27:55He was a bad fit, especially when Kirk Cousins took over.
27:58He's like, this guy can't push the ball down the field.
28:01And that's where Darnell Mooney obviously thrives as a deep specialist.
28:04So I think Mooney is kind of the guy I gravitate to most is the veteran side of things.
28:09But with some of these talented rookies, again, Malachi Fields would not surprise me at all.
28:13Like a couple of weeks in the season, like he's a guy that we're talking about as, oh, this hot waiver wire pickup.
28:19Is it real? Is it not? And then we just kind of have these debates about, well, what happens when Neighbors comes back?
28:26Is Fields just going to like disappear into the rest of the offense?
28:29But those are guys I like the most, probably Mooney and Fields as some of these last round flyers to see more work with Neighbors potentially missing time.
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30:05So Bogman, let me go on the other side of it then.
30:08Let's say Neighbors is on the field, whether that's right away or after a few weeks.
30:13Does one of these guys to you seem like somebody who could be a good fit next to him and that you'd
30:19be interested in fantasy, like in this offense with Jackson Dard as a quarterback and Matt Nagy calling plays and just everything
30:25that we know about what this offense is going to look like?
30:28Do you think there can be a viable wide receiver too for fantasy purposes behind neighbors, whether that is Fields or Mooney or whoever?
30:35Wide receiver, no. But I've been very vocal on my love for Isaiah Likely this season.
30:39He gets away from your guy Mark Andrews. Mark Andrews gets away from him.
30:43I think it's good for both of them, right?
30:45And we do need another pass catcher here. I just don't know.
30:49Is it going to be Mooney, right? Like Mooney was good under Matt Nagy with Chicago.
30:53So there's some familiarity there, obviously. So he's probably number two here.
30:56But I think Malachi Fields is already the second best wide receiver on this team.
31:00I just don't know. What is he going to look like with this glut of guys that have gone through camp before
31:06know what to do to win a spot? Obviously, they've done it a million times.
31:11Right? Even Odell and Juju. So I think there's just a lot of veterans in front of him, which will slow his
31:17production early unless he just looks way better than all of them in camp, which I can't imagine that that's the case.
31:23So we'll see. But it's probably Mooney at wide receiver as the second guy here.
31:27I think maybe even Calvin Austin fits well as a Wondell replacement.
31:30But, you know, you're not drafting him. He's a waiver pickup.
31:33These guys are all completely free. You have to spend up on anybody.
31:37This is our philosophical part of the podcast here, right?
31:39Is because we don't know what this is going to be at all.
31:43It could be a very weird glut of guys.
31:45But I do think Darnell Mooney is the number two here to start.
31:49But again, he's either a last round pick or a waiver pickup.
31:52It is, you know, Malik Nabors and Isaiah likely are bust as far as pass catchers go for the Giants for me.
31:58For me, it's fields. If I am even in a league deep enough where it makes sense to take him.
32:04Otherwise, he's kind of like a priority early season waiver wire guy if he starts to look good.
32:09And just because like rookie receivers tend like those are good assets.
32:12Like they tend to be worthy investments. But I think the overall conversation takeaway is it's less the receiver and more after
32:18discussing the receivers, maybe bump Isaiah likely up your rankings a bit because the ball is going to have to go somewhere.
32:24And if neighbors is hurt and these guys aren't capable of stepping up in the long term, he's going to get a
32:30lot of catches and maybe has the talent to take advantage.
32:33But yeah, everybody here besides likely and neighbors is free.
32:36I don't think I really want neighbors in a normal league.
32:39I think the type of league that Erickson described that, you know, with fits makes a lot of sense for a big
32:45swing on a guy like neighbors, but in a kind of a more standard league, I think I'll probably just go in a different direction.
32:52And if I want to take a swing on this offense, it's going to be a guy like Fields late.
32:57I think that's kind of where I'm going to be.
33:00How great would it be if it's Odell and Juju lining up for the first play?
33:04I mean, dude, dude, I mean, don't tempt Matt Nagy.
33:07Don't tempt Matt Nagy with a good time. Don't tempt John Harbaugh.
33:10That dude loves veterans. He will defer to the veterans as much as he possibly can.
33:15I mean, Matt Nagy was there when Juju was on the cheese.
33:18Right. Just like going out there. Oh, God. Man.
33:20I don't know. If you don't want to navigate messy wide receiver position battles with rankings you didn't think about, use the Fantasy Pros Cheat Sheet Creator.
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33:37I would say I'm going to mark Fields as a target, but I don't think I'm in any leagues quite that deep.
33:43So again, more of a waiver wire target early in the season.
33:46Let's go to the Green Bay Packers. This is an interesting one, just that this has often been, Bogman, an offense that
33:52doesn't have the clear cut number one. And it's not that there's a ton of high level mouths to feed.
33:57There's just a lot of capable names. This has always been like the team of wide receiver twos without having that number
34:03one guy to the kind of gravitational force everybody else orbits around.
34:07You know, kind of the big three names right now, Christian Watson, Matthew Golden, obviously your boy from Texas going into year
34:13two off of a terrible year one. And Jaden Reed.
34:15Is this another one where you just kind of say, like Trevor Lawrence, I just want to get Jordan Love if I
34:21want to be a part of this offense? Or do you have a favorite of these three?
34:26I mean, I'm guessing it would likely be Christian Watson based on the rankings.
34:30Is it maybe Jaden Reed or somebody else? No, I like I think I like Jaden Reed probably the most out of this situation.
34:36Right. Watson and Watson has the most upside. That is not debatable.
34:40Like he clearly has the most upside. But in 11 games, he was wide receiver one four times.
34:45He was wide receiver four or worse four times.
34:47He had one wide receiver three finish and zero wide receiver two finishes.
34:51So he is clearly boom or bust. There's some injury capacity there.
34:54He didn't cross over with Tucker Kraft outside of I think maybe the game.
34:58He was coming back. And then the game that Tucker Kraft got hurt.
35:01So they never played a full game of snaps together last season as everything was rolling.
35:06Like Watson had these boom games without Kraft. Kraft had these boom games without Watson.
35:10Josh Jacobs is probably not getting suspended this year, which I know I've heard Erickson talk a lot about how we just
35:16want Jordan Love to throw the ball more for this offense to make some of these pieces better.
35:21Right. But I, you know, Jaden Reed only played four games last year.
35:24Probably wasn't very healthy for really any of them.
35:27It was it was a weird mix of a year.
35:30There's no doubt that Christian Watson has the most upside of any of these guys.
35:34But currently going at cost, we don't know what we're getting out of Golden.
35:38I think there's upside there, too. I still want to roster him.
35:41But it's Jaden Reed for me because I think he is the most cost efficient of all of these guys.
35:46They, you know, Watson and Reed both have injury stuff.
35:49Matthew Golden is unproven and Tucker Kraft is coming back.
35:52So I think there's there are little knocks to have on everybody here.
35:55Like you said, maybe not anyone of super high value on this offense.
35:59But Watson definitely has the most upside. But I'm going to let him be somebody else's issue.
36:04I'm not going to be drafting Christian Watson. You know, I feel like Erickson, Christian Watson, like I don't really mind the
36:10boomer bus nature because all receivers to a degree are have an element of boomer bus to them outside the very, very elite guys.
36:16And when Christian Watson is on, he can help win you weeks.
36:19And if you look, you know, Bogman laid out like those last the 11 games he played last year.
36:25If you take out the first three, which you could argue, you know, sort of shaking off the rust from the long,
36:31like incredible return from an injury as quickly as he did with his leg injury was surprising, very surprising.
36:36And then if you so if you take out those three weeks, you just look at the back eight, four of them
36:42or see me the back seven weeks, four of them.
36:45He was a wide receiver one, three of them.
36:47He was wide receiver seven or better on the week.
36:50Now, the other weeks he was wide receiver 34, 62 and 85.
36:53So there were, of course, down weeks in there as well.
36:56Again, it's sort of the nature of the position to be a bit boomer bus.
37:00Plus, I'm a little more concerned about what he mentioned, Erickson, in terms of Bogman mentioning Tucker Craft and how that sort
37:06of changes things when he comes back. But as far as the wide receiver room is concerned, like I do think Watson
37:12has the most talent here, at least that we've seen displayed on an NFL field.
37:16I wish the gap wasn't quite as large, though, because he's wide receiver 27 in ECR.
37:21Jaden Reed is much closer to Matthew Gould. Jaden Reed's wide receiver 48, Gould is wide receiver 54.
37:26So there is a very sizable gap between where they're ranked.
37:29I wish Watson was like five spots lower amongst receivers, and then I would feel awesome about it.
37:34I still don't feel bad about where he's at, but I wish he was just a little bit lower.
37:39How do you see this wide receiver room playing out?
37:42I think Christian Watson can be a wide receiver one this season.
37:45Again, going back to the article that I wrote about guys coming into their own as a top 12 option for the
37:51first year, Christian Watson checks off a lot of those boxes, especially when you look at the amount of time that he has missed because of injuries.
37:58Although it's his fifth year that he's entering in the NFL, it's more like his fourth year because of he's only played 48 games through four seasons.
38:06And we saw three guys become wide receiver once for the very first time last year.
38:10One of those being Jameson Williams, who I do think has followed a very similar career path to Christian Watson, where it missed times because of injuries, suspensions.
38:18And what has he been throughout that roller coaster ride is a boomer bust wide receiver.
38:22So I look at Christian Watson and the thing too, that compares me again to Jameson Williams was what did the Lions
38:28do before the start of last season? Gave him a new contract after a strong second half finish to the 2024 season.
38:34And what that ended up happening was even though Jameson Williams didn't carry over immediately, eventually they got things going.
38:40And Jameson Williams put up a back end fantasy wide receiver one season alongside another wide receiver in his own offense, Amon Ross St.
38:46Brown. So although Christian Watson has not put it all together, and this is not the first time we've ranked him as
38:52a top 30 wide receiver, despite the fact that he's never actually done it.
38:56I mean, I don't think that's like looking at last year, come coming off that he tore his ACL at the end
39:02of 2024, came back in week eight and went on an absolute tear.
39:06I thought this guy was undraftable last year, like 20 round drafts.
39:09I'm not touching Christian Watson. Want no part of him.
39:12He's not going to play. He immediately comes back from this devastating injury.
39:15He supplants Romeo Dobbs as a wide receiver one in the Packers offense.
39:19In 11 games, he saw over a thousand air yards.
39:22The thing with me is when I'm projecting this offense moving forward, what if Christian Watson isn't the deep threat anymore?
39:27What if they put Matthew Golden in that role to really stretch the field and they let Christian Watson run around a
39:33little bit more underneath where he doesn't have a 17 average depth of target and you're getting more layups like you saw
39:39with Jameson Williams where, oh, wow, they're going to run this guy on a drag who's super explosive across the field.
39:45Like, go figure. So I think for those reasons, again, Christian Watson, again, it always comes down to injuries.
39:50But one of the other things I've noticed while doing this article was some of the biggest breakouts, top 12 finishers for
39:56the first time that were discounted because they had been dealing with injuries.
40:00So I think Christian Watson stays healthy this year.
40:02He's going to be top 12 guy. I mean, even last year, again, if you take out those first three weeks, he
40:08was wide receiver nine, like throughout that end stretch of the season.
40:12Smaller sample size, of course, but like he showed you what that could look like over the course of a full season.
40:18And even if you include those first three games where he didn't really do much, he was wide receiver 20 when coming back.
40:24That's higher than he is going right now. He's wide receiver 27.
40:27So the upside, I think, is definitely there. Just quickly, any interest in Jaden Reed or Matthew Golden, either of you guys as like a late round flyer?
40:35Absolutely. I like both of them. Either of them, I think, are good options.
40:39Yeah, I agree. Again, because Watson, again, he misses time.
40:41So if he's not back or he misses, you see Reed or Golden.
40:45I mean, Golden is going to be better than he was last year.
40:49It's just a matter of like how much better he is based on, you know, where he kind of falls.
40:54So I think it's funny because me, Boggs and ECR all have him at 54.
40:58So it's like if he's there on the board, it's like fine pick.
41:02Like don't love it. Don't hate it. But it's a good pick where it is.
41:06Jaden Reed, I'm just so like hurt from all the years of being so high on him.
41:10And the dude just never gets to run more than 60 percent of the route.
41:15So I'm kind of again, I like him in best ball.
41:18You're stacking with Jordan Love. Sure, a wide receiver flyer.
41:20But unlike past years where I really feel like I've been flag planting on Jaden Reed, I'm just dude, like he just
41:26can't get out of this slot role that he's been in, which is annoying.
41:30There's just no way this is frustrating again. Right, Erickson?
41:33Someone is definitely breaking out. Right. For sure. It's not.
41:36It's definitely not a gray glob of nonsense. One more year.
41:39Right. Well, maybe I'll just pick a different Packers receiver.
41:41Yeah. You're a big Savion Williams guy this year.
41:44Because like there's because you look at just like vacated targets again.
41:47Romeo Dobbs and Don Davion Wicks. Third most vacated area.
41:50But Tucker Craft is coming back. And fourth most vacated.
41:53No, but that's just with those two guys. Even with Tucker Craft coming back.
41:56Erickson, you're a big Tucker Craft guy. Would you rather him or Christian Watson if you can only have one on your team at cost?
42:03I think I'm going Christian Watson. Okay. All right.
42:06We've got three teams left. We're going to go quickly here because we're kind of up against it on the clock.
42:12But I think the first four teams we talked about were the ones that kind of had the most angles to it.
42:18So we will go a little quicker here naturally.
42:20Anyway, Washington Commanders. We know Terry McLaurin is number one here.
42:23Who in the heck is wide receiver two? I mean, Antonio Williams, a third round rookie.
42:27You know, we've seen guys like Luke McCaffrey on the field before.
42:31Is it Stephon Diggs or Brandon Ayuk who somehow is still tweeting and posting on Instagram as if he's going to be
42:37joining the Commanders even though people are starting to think this is not going to happen.
42:41I don't know. He did an autograph signing in Virginia yesterday.
42:44It's crazy. I'm honest. I don't even. We don't.
42:47We definitely do not have time to get into the Brandon Ayuk saga.
42:50Imagine if he shows up in the training camp and he's like in the stands as like a fan.
42:55I think there's like a non-zero chance that happens.
42:58I think there's like a 50% chance that happens.
43:00He shows up in the autograph. He's like, can I get your autograph?
43:04Everybody with Jane Daniels. It's one of the most like really jaw-dropping displays I've ever seen of somebody who got paid.
43:10It's not even like he's trying to get his big cut.
43:13Like, I don't know what's going on. But is this Erickson, a guy like Diggs, or Ayuk is the answer in Washington?
43:19Is it Antonio Williams? Is it somebody else behind Terry McLaurin?
43:22Yeah, right now I'm pretty sure it's Diggs. And he's not even on the roster.
43:26So that's who I would bet on right now.
43:28I think that the tea leaves are kind of projecting into pointing us in that direction.
43:33I've been drafting a lot of Stephon Diggs, some of these best ball drafts, just kind of waiting for the news to
43:39drop when he decides to sign with the commanders.
43:41Unless, of course, the commanders are going through training camp and they start to really see something from one of these other
43:47players, Burks McCaffrey, Diamey Brown coming back from his one-year stint with the Jaguars.
43:51I like Antonio Williams coming out of Clemson. I thought that he really fit well with what they could potentially see from
43:57a slot receiver, but he's still a third round rookie.
44:00So you don't necessarily want to put a ton on his shoulders.
44:03And they got to make sure like they need weapons for Jane Daniels because if McLaurin were to go down again, like
44:09this passing game is kind of screwed with just Chig kind of coming in as that other tight end.
44:14I like Chig a lot too. But again, I'm ready to kind of like adjust my priors on him if they sign
44:20a player like Diggs who even last year still showed that he could earn targets at a high level, was still very
44:26efficient even, you know, at 32 years old. Until Diggs signs, Antonio Williams at wide receiver 84 is just like the easiest draft selection ever.
44:33I mean, I do like Chig a Conquo a lot, but somebody is going to need to catch passes.
44:38And this is a very good quarterback. Like we expect Jane Daniels to be healthier this year.
44:43This is an offense, you know, I know we don't know what's going to happen with David Blau as a play caller,
44:49but like we should want to be investing in, especially when it's as cheap as Antonio Williams is.
44:54Maybe that changes once Diggs is signed. But Bachman, I saw you nodding your head when Erickson said the answer is Diggs.
45:00At what point is it too late in the offseason?
45:03Not for them to sign him, but to the point where you go, well, Antonio Williams has been here learning the playbook,
45:09like been involved with the offense this whole time.
45:11Like we are in the last couple of days of July.
45:14There's really not that much time left in the season.
45:17Diggs is a veteran, right? It won't take him that long to catch up.
45:21But if we're another two and a half weeks from now, are you still just saying comfortable saying Diggs can be the
45:27wide receiver too, stepping in once he signs? I mean, once he signs, I really don't care when that is.
45:32I think he's the number two, just a drop in and plug and play, right?
45:36I think as of right now, Antonio Williams is the risk he would take if you're taking a swing on another wide receiver here.
45:43In terms of pass catchers, it's probably Chigakonkwo number two currently.
45:46I think Rashad White's going to catch a lot of passes in this offense though as well out of the backfield.
45:52So he might be the number two pass receiver on this team right now, pass catcher on this team right now.
45:57But I do think they add Diggs. It's just he's got to get rid of all this legal nonsense off the field,
46:03settle whatever that is and then go. Also, he's a veteran coming off an injury.
46:08You know, the training camp is not fun for those guys.
46:11They'll wait until a little bit deeper into it to sign.
46:14But I think all the tea leaves, even though Brandon Ayuk is, you know, in the community and potentially in the stands here very soon.
46:20I think Diggs is going to be the number two here because just like Erickson said, you lose Terry McLaurin and you
46:26got to go down to like Miami Dolphins, New York Giants levels of who was left on this roster.
46:32So you have to have somebody else here. So I do think there's a veteran coming in, even if it's not Diggs.
46:38But I would say it's most likely Diggs. And Erickson, do you lower T-Mac if they do sign Diggs?
46:43Because you have him at 22 right now. Or you just is it better for him?
46:47No, I probably wouldn't move him. I think it just kind of nukes the other ancillary pieces.
46:52I'd agree with that. The defender's offense. OK. The one thing I would just quickly say on Diggs, and I brought this
46:58up on shows before, is when he was coming out of the draft, there was a lot of talk like he obviously went to University of Maryland.
47:05There was a lot of talk of like he has some pretty bad influences in the area and Baltimore and Washington specifically
47:11didn't want to draft him because they felt it would be better if he got away from the DMV.
47:17That was like a decade ago. So who knows if that's all.
47:20They're all Minnesota now. But yeah, when I think about Diggs and especially the fact that he's going through off-field issues right
47:26now, if those influences are still there in his hometown, if that A, keeps him away from the commanders or B, gets
47:32in the way if he does sign there, that's just in the back of my mind.
47:36Again, a decade ago. The commander's just signed Keenan Allen at this point?
47:40Is it trying to find the cleanest guy that's out there on the streets?
47:44It's like, we need a veteran slot guy. Throw Keenan.
47:46It is crazy that it's like, oh, who do we get to choose between?
47:50The guy with off-field issues and Diggs or the guy who's losing his mind in Ayuk?
47:55And then the only other guy that makes sense is Debo, but they already got rid of him.
48:00So I was like, oh, but we're going down the list.
48:03It's like, oh no, we're running out of guys.
48:05Yeah. All right, let's get to the Chicago Bears.
48:07Obviously, in terms of the wide receiver room, it's really just Roma Dunze and Luther Burden.
48:12Erickson, you wanted to talk about this room because you were throwing in Colson Loveland.
48:16Is there kind of enough room, enough targets for all three of these guys?
48:20Are they going in the right area? Yeah, they all can be fantasy viable, but maybe are we ranking them too highly?
48:26Just to say the rankings, Luther Burden, wide receiver 24, Roma Dunze, wide receiver 29.
48:30I do think it's interesting that Burden is ahead.
48:32And then Loveland, of course, is a tier one tight end.
48:35He's tight end three in the consensus ranking. So Erickson, how do you see this shaking out in Caleb Williams' second season
48:41with Ben Johnson as his play caller? I don't disagree with the order of the receivers.
48:46I just don't know if it's going to end up being correct when it's all said and done.
48:51And Burden is a player I highlighted in my Players to Avoid article because he is the most hyped up receiver without
48:57actually any solid proven production besides his really hards per route run last year.
49:01So I get it. I get the excitement. His head coach is literally buying stock in this player, which again, based on
49:07if you ask Arizona Cardinals, maybe that's not a good thing to do is be gambling on these certain players and certain
49:13outcomes of games and things like that. So, you know, for another day, maybe a betting pros conversation.
49:18But I would say it's the thing that I agree with it.
49:21And I think most people agree with is that Loveland is the guy like he is the locked and loaded actual number one player.
49:27And then you have two other receivers in the same offense, both going as top 30 options.
49:32Again, you're getting the most expensive wide receiver two and the most expensive wide receiver three.
49:36So I'm like looking at where they're ranked. I'm like, yeah, like, like how far I guess like it's like how high
49:42is too high for just these bears just like doesn't matter.
49:46Bears going to go burr. Defense is not good.
49:48Not going to stop anybody. And it's just going to be shoot after shootout.
49:52And it's like, OK, I can get there, especially your three players like Odunze.
49:56They're the king of fantasy wide receiver one breakouts for the very first time.
49:5933% of wide receiver ones had their first wide receiver one season since 2012 in their third year.
50:04So part of me doesn't want to write off from Odunze, but I can't just ignore the fact that Ben Johnson drafted
50:10Loveland, drafted Burden immediately when he stepped in as the head coach.
50:14So for me, I find myself looking at other directions most of the time, especially with Burden because he's just way overpriced.
50:20Odunze, I struggle with because I have a rank next to Marvin Harrison Jr.
50:24And they seem like they're always on the clock at the same time.
50:27And I don't know who to pick. And I usually just pick like Jordan Tyson or somebody else because I just like can't make a decision on them.
50:35So that's kind of just my. I actually think that's crazy.
50:38I would so much rather have Roma Odunze than Marvin Harrison Jr.
50:41If for no other reason than one of these offenses has Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson.
50:45I do have Odunze ranked ahead, but again, it's.
50:48Yeah. To me, that's an easy one. It's because of environmental factors, like you said.
50:52Yeah. Yeah. Bogman, how do you see the shaking out?
50:55I mean, I would say like Luther Burden is the first pick of the fifth round.
50:59If you look at the overall rankings on ECR, Roma Odunze is in the sixth round.
51:04I would just rather wait the extra round and take Odunze if I want to invest in one of these two guys
51:10or to Erickson's point, take Colson Loveland, who is going, although he's going around earlier than Luther Burden.
51:14But, you know, I think has the chance to beat tight end one this year, tight end two.
51:19So what do you think about these three guys?
51:22I'm willing to take in any of them at their draft cost here.
51:25I do like I have Burden ahead of Odunze because I think I play in a lot of PPR leagues.
51:31There's more receptions there for Burden, I think, underneath.
51:33He's a guy that's great with the ball in his hands.
51:36So I think he has more receptions. I think maybe Odunze is more of a lock for touchdowns, but touchdowns are a little more finicky than receptions.
51:44So for splitting hairs, give me the guy that gets the catches and burden.
51:48I think our projections that we have that we've looked at here all have Burden with slightly more receptions.
51:53But I do think they're all going to be pretty good.
51:56And Caleb Williams is the driver here. And really, there's no one else to even bother them on the roster, right?
52:02Like DeAndre Swift's going to catch some passes out of the backfield.
52:05But his Khalif Raymond, we're not worrying about him having like a blow up game.
52:09I mean, I guess he did it like once a year with the Lions.
52:13But, you know, Zavion Thomas is a kick returner.
52:15Scotty Miller's the other guy here. Like there's no one else to really bother these guys.
52:20So, yes, it's going to be different on week to week based on coverage and all that.
52:24But I think they're all really good options. So I really like the top three here.
52:29I think, like Erickson said, my most likely to be drafted is probably Loveland because I want to get one of those top three tight ends this year.
52:36But I'll take any pass catcher for the Bears right now.
52:39Any of these three guys. I just have to say quickly, I know we have to get going, but like Roma Dunze,
52:45he was a wide receiver one last year before the injury stuff.
52:49If you look at just the first 10 weeks of the season, he was wide receiver 10 tied for it in points per game.
52:55And I think he was a wide receiver 13 in total.
52:58Like and that's with one of those games being a zero where he had no catches at all.
53:03I think the upside is still really high for a Dunze as long as the foot is OK, because that was all happening with DJ Moore there.
53:11So like even if Burden takes a step forward, I think Roma Dunze like is going to catch a lot of touchdowns.
53:17I think he's going to catch enough patches to make us happy with the yardage.
53:21I think he's a really good bet at wide receiver 29.
53:24If you are not overly worried about the foot health stuff that he's talked about and kind of having to learn to run a little differently now.
53:31If that's OK, I think a Dunze is one of the best picks.
53:35Honestly, you could make this year at his current cost.
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55:23Bogman has to get going. So very quickly, thoughts on the Browns.
55:26I did want to include even though who the heck cares about this offense.
55:30There's just so many names, right? Like who is going to be the number one here?
55:34We've had a couple of rookies that we like.
55:37Jerry Judy is still here. Cedric Tillman has had breakout moments where he flashed before.
55:41So Bogman, very quickly, on the Browns, what are you doing?
55:44I mean, just don't take Jerry Judy again. I think Erickson and I have the same strategy.
55:48We're not doing that again, so take a risk, right?
55:51Like it seems like Watson is going to start the year.
55:54I don't think he's any good at football anymore.
55:57I think Shador Sanders is going to play most of these games, which should make Harold Fannin fairly safe.
56:02We saw a good connection there last season. But I think Casey Concepcion is worthy of a pick, specifically where he's going.
56:08He could be the number one on this team right now.
56:11He's going as a wide receiver five. Same deal for Denzel Boston is going as a wide receiver six.
56:16I think throwing a dart on him is great as well.
56:19I'm just done with Jerry Judy. That's basically what it is.
56:22I'll take a flyer on either one of the rookies.
56:25I'll draft Harold Fannin if I don't get one of the top three tight ends that I like here.
56:30But a rough offense. I don't want to have too much investment here.
56:33So it's probably like if Concepcion falls, I'll snap him up.
56:36And if not, I might take Boston at the end.
56:39So this is how I see this. You don't want pieces of a bad offense.
56:43But taking a risk on one to break out and be the number one is a decent – it's worth the risk at their current cost.
56:50In the movie Draft Day, it's Vontae Mack no matter what.
56:53For us, it's Jerry Judy. No. And you can just cut off the – Right.
56:58What? Erickson, any final thoughts here on the Browns?
57:00And interest in any of these guys at their cost?
57:03Kevin Concepcion would be my favorite, the rookie wide receiver.
57:06Again, if he's playing in the Zay Flowers role in this offense, I think that that means he could rack up a lot of receptions.
57:12And for all the Jerry Judy slander, Fitz and I were forced to draft him in the Kings Classic where you have
57:18to start a million – No, dude. You were not forced.
57:21When there's a – no, when there's a million flex position and you need a guy that's just out there, like, yeah, you got to draft him sometimes.
57:29So we took him as like wide receiver 70.
57:32We know – That's actually a good deal based on ECR.
57:35He's wide receiver 58. Yeah, that's what I mean.
57:37It was – again, we weren't like, run up the card, baby, Jerry Judy.
57:41We got him. Maybe too many drinks at the fest, you and Fitz there.
57:45Yeah. You came away with Jerry Judy, but wide receivers 70.
57:48Not bad. I think the correct answer of these wide receivers is just take Harold Fannin.
57:52Yes, also correct. No lies. All right, we'll go ahead and wrap things up there.
57:56Thanks, everybody, for listening to all of those different names we hit on, a lot of them for our wide receiver position
58:02battles to know for your drafts in 2026. For Erickson and Bogman, I'm Ryan Warmly.
58:06We'll see you again next time. Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football Podcast.
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