0:00No one is drafting more fantasy football
0:01teams in 2026 than me. I already have
0:04625 completed drafts and I've noticed
0:06some very interesting things about
0:08fantasy football. One of the most
0:10important being that if you do not get
0:11an early running back, potentially two
0:13early running backs, you're definitely
0:15not going to love your fantasy football
0:16teams. There are also tight ends like
0:18Brock Bowers that we like to draft
0:19early, which has pushed wide receivers
0:21down the board. So, it's become more
0:23important than ever to get wide receiver
0:25one and wide receiver two scores in the
0:2780s, the 90s, the 100s, the eighth
0:30ninth, 10th round. And I found four wide
0:32receivers drafting these thousands of
0:34fantasy football teams in 2026 that
0:36essentially fit any given type of build.
0:40It doesn't matter if you do start wide
0:41receiver heavy, it doesn't matter if you
0:42took Bowers, McBride, Breece Hall,
0:45Jahmyr Gibbs, it doesn't matter. You can
0:47take these four wide receivers in
0:48effectively any fantasy football team
0:51and feel good about what you have got
0:53going on starting at the wide receiver
0:55position. They are Xavier Worthy,
0:57Michael Pittman Jr., Matthew Golden, and
0:59Casey Concepcion. I can already hear you
1:02guys saying, "Oh my gosh, how could we
1:04possibly take Xavier Worthy? This guy
1:06absolutely stinks. He was one of the
1:08worst players last year for the Kansas
1:10City Chiefs." Which I would say, I would
1:12ask you to try and play professional
1:13football with a torn labrum. We've
1:14already had coach Andy Reid say they had
1:17to limit a lot of what Xavier Worthy
1:19could do on the field as a result of his
1:21torn labrum. The Chiefs fired their old
1:23wide receiver coach, brought in Shadow
1:25Shady. Xavier Worthy was actually named
1:27MVP of organized team activities for the
1:30Kansas City Chiefs due to how well he
1:32has been playing and how well he has
1:34recovered from his labrum surgery.
1:36Even with Rashee Rice coming back in the
1:38fold, I expect that Xavier Worthy is
1:40going to be one of the safest, highest
1:42floor wide receiver twos in fantasy
1:44football. Of course, Xavier Worthy not
1:46as bad as we remember either. I mean, I
1:48think that is one of the most
1:48interesting things about him. He had
1:50obviously that phenomenal game in the
1:52losing effort in the Super Bowl against
1:54the Eagles. He closed out his rookie
1:56year with 22 points in week 17 against
1:58Pittsburgh, 20 points against Houston,
2:00opened his career with a 20-point game
2:02with two touchdowns against the
2:03Baltimore Ravens. Of course, his role
2:06grew over the course of that season. He
2:08has really struggled down the field,
2:10which I think is so interesting given,
2:12you know, how fast he is. You would
2:13expect him to be one of the better
2:15downfield wide receivers in the NFL. He
2:17has not found that part of his profile
2:20yet. Part of that also has been on
2:21Patrick Mahomes, but we are talking
2:23about a guy who's entering in the year
2:24three of his NFL career. He is a former
2:27first-round pick. He plays with one of
2:29the best quarterbacks to ever play the
2:31game who has not been good throwing down
2:33the field. It's one of the things I
2:34expect the Chiefs to be much better at
2:36in 2026 than they were in 2025. And he's
2:40the wide receiver 44, 45, kind of
2:42depending where you're drafting. He's
2:43just barely a top 100 overall pick,
2:46depending on where you're drafting. He I
2:47think he's a little bit cheaper than
2:48that on ESPN, CBS, and Yahoo, which is
2:51quite nice.
2:53If that's not the type of guy you like,
2:55however, we have someone who is a little
2:57bit more dependable, right? Which I
2:59think is pretty important because guys
3:00like this can fit many different types
3:02of builds. We have Michael Pittman Jr.,
3:04who has multiple 1,000-yard
3:07seasons in his career. He's now changed
3:09teams from the Indianapolis Colts to the
3:11Pittsburgh Steelers. 202 fantasy points
3:13last year. Had a 250 fantasy point
3:16season in 2023. And changing offenses
3:19from the Pittsburgh from the
3:21Indianapolis Colts to the Pittsburgh
3:22Steelers, I think is going to be
3:24actually quite good for Michael Pittman
3:26Jr. The base projection that I pulled
3:28from Mike Clay for him, 130 targets, 88
3:31receptions, 860 yards, four touchdowns.
3:33I think he is going to have a very low
3:35average depth of target. Again, coming
3:38off a year where he had 1.49 yards per
3:40route run, but still absolutely racked
3:42up the targets. I think he is the
3:44perfect structural and stylistic fit for
3:47Aaron Rodgers and the offense that I
3:49expect the Pittsburgh Steelers to run.
3:50He is going, you know, about 20 picks
3:53after DK Metcalf. Is DK Metcalf a better
3:56player than Michael Pittman Jr.? Of
3:58course, he is. I mean, I don't even
3:59really think this is up for debate.
4:00Metcalf is much more of a space creator,
4:03much more of an advantage creator than
4:05Michael Pittman Jr. But, MPJ is going to
4:07run those optional routes. He is going
4:09to be much closer to the line of
4:10scrimmage. Very similar to how we saw
4:12actually Jaylen Warren and Kenneth
4:15Gainwell really explode in the passing
4:17game last year for the Steelers.
4:18Basically, I think Michael Pittman Jr.
4:20can add in a lot of the stuff that
4:22Kenneth Gainwell was doing. I think he
4:24can take some of the targets that would
4:25be vacated by Johnnu Smith.
4:28It's really not absurd to me at all. I
4:30mean, we could have a 100 reception
4:33season for Michael Pittman Jr. And he
4:34could be the wide receiver four on your
4:36fantasy football team. I mean, if you
4:37start very, very heavy on running back.
4:40Like, for example, if you started Jahmyr
4:42Gibbs, Jeremiah Love, David Montgomery,
4:45and still took a Jaylen Warren or
4:46Ramondre Stevenson, you could start
4:48Michael Pittman Jr. week one. You could
4:50start him week 10. It doesn't matter.
4:52He's going to project, you know, in a
4:53given week for 10, 11, 12 points. The
4:56ceiling, I don't think is that high for
4:58Michael Pittman Jr. because I I think
5:00the touchdown ceiling really would be
5:02limited for him for some degree. But,
5:04man, is he going to be an absolute PPR
5:06scam for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Next
5:09up, we have Matthew Golden who's going
5:11on average as the 50th wide receiver off
5:13the board after pick 100. His projection
5:16is, I think, going to be astounding for
5:18a lot of people who think that, you
5:20know, Mr. Golden is not a very good
5:22player. He certainly did not cover
5:23himself in glory last year for the Green
5:26Bay Packers. But, there are a lot of,
5:28you know, outstanding circumstances
5:30there that I think are very interesting.
5:31105 targets, 67 receptions, 874 yards,
5:35and five touchdowns is his base
5:37projection from one Mr. Mike Clay. And I
5:40just used the Mike Clay ones because
5:42they are free. Uh they We actually do
5:44have a lot of projections up over on
5:45Flock Fantasy, which you can check out
5:47if you sign up over there using code
5:49Davis. Link to that is in the
5:51description. Link to that is also down
5:53in the comments. That's how you can
5:54support me and get access to all my
5:56rankings, dynasty trade calculator, I
5:58mean anything you could want for fantasy
5:59football is up on Flock Fantasy. So,
6:02I think there are a couple interesting
6:03things about Doubs. The first is that he
6:06clearly started the 2025 season as a
6:09starter. 49, 61, 70, 59, and 68% of the
6:13snaps. Then, he moved to the bench,
6:15right? And that was sort of interesting
6:17that they transitioned the offense away
6:19from him once Christian Watson got back.
6:21But, I think the most interesting thing
6:23that the Green Bay Packers did this
6:24offseason is they jettisoned anyone who
6:26could really compete for snaps with
6:28Doubs, Watson, and Reed. They let
6:30Dontayvion Wicks go. They did not resign
6:32Romeo Doubs. They didn't bring in a
6:34tight end to really transition to the 12
6:37personnel that it seems that a lot of
6:38the NFL is doing. In fact, it seemed
6:40like a clear organizational decision
6:43that they're going to stop messing with
6:44the wide receivers' routes. This is well
6:46publicized and covered that for the
6:47Green Bay Packers wide receivers, they
6:49hated being in these rotations. They
6:51hated, you know, only being able to run
6:5362% of the routes. Jayden Reed, I
6:55believe, famously has not played more
6:57than 75% of the Green Bay Packers' snaps
6:59in any game for his entire career, which
7:01is just absurd for someone who is that
7:03good. So, with the narrow route tree and
7:05a narrower target tree for the Green Bay
7:07Packers, I expect Matthew Doubs to
7:09really take a second-year leap. Another
7:11very interesting thing is that he was
7:14this close, so close to being a true
7:16breakout rookie wide receiver. Jordan
7:18Love missed him just by the outstretched
7:20part of his fingertips on what would
7:22have been two touchdowns that would have
7:24been over 90 yards in his rookie season.
7:26One of those was against Washington in
7:28week two. Had that pass been completed
7:30for a 90-yard touchdown, the whole tenor
7:33of the conversation, the whole structure
7:35of his rookie season would be different.
7:37He also had his best career game in
7:39their postseason game against the
7:41Chicago Bears, which I just find to be
7:43very interesting. And I do think that
7:44there's a lot of reason to believe that
7:46Matthew Golden is going to fit our more
7:48historical archetype of a year-two
7:51breakout wide receiver. And then our
7:53final one is Casey Concepcion, who I
7:55find to just be absolutely fascinating.
7:58Generally speaking, someone like
7:59Concepcion would be so much more
8:01expensive in fantasy football.
8:03Historically, we have seen these
8:04first-round wide receivers just be so
8:06much more expensive than, you know,
8:09going into pick 100. It's kind of the
8:10last guy I can remember of this profile
8:13is, I mean, we had we have had guys like
8:15Xavier Legette, but I think a great guy
8:17to point to would be How about Garrett
8:19Wilson? Garrett Wilson got drafted to a
8:21terrible team. He was not, you know,
8:24viewed as a total can't-miss prospect
8:26the way that I sort of think that Casey
8:28Concepcion is a little bit of a
8:30can't-miss prospect. And looking at the
8:33Browns offense this upcoming season, I
8:35mean, 98 targets, 61 receptions, 772
8:38yards, three touchdowns, 35 rushing
8:41yards, by the way, 12.7 yards per
8:43reception, and a 19% target share. All
8:45of that to me actually feels a little
8:47bit low. Concepcion was one of my
8:49favorite prospects coming out of North
8:52Carolina State. He was so good for North
8:54Carolina State before he transferred to
8:56Texas A&M, which I think actually
8:58behooves I think that's very strong for
9:00him that he was able to make that jump
9:02in level of competition for a college
9:04football playoff team, where he was
9:06really, really instrumental in helping
9:08Marcel Reed get that team to the college
9:10football playoff.
9:12Concepcion basically is competing with
9:14Denzel Boston. Like, who is going to end
9:16up winning and being the best rookie
9:17wide receiver there? For my part, I'm
9:20always going to side with the early
9:21declare, the guy who's capable of
9:23playing both close to the line of
9:24scrimmage and down the field.
9:27There are a couple roadblocks to him
9:28being a true dominant target earner. The
9:31first one being, I mean, Harold Landry
9:33Jr. Harold Landry Jr., I expect, is
9:35going to pretty easily lead the
9:37Cleveland Browns in targets, but he's
9:38playing with a groin injury in training
9:40camp right now. It's possible that that
9:42lingers and messes with him in season.
9:44It's also possible that Concepcion is a
9:46similarly talented player where he
9:48immediately makes the jump to the NFL
9:51and is great. The quarterback play is
9:52also going to be quite bad. I mean, I'm
9:54not expecting Deshaun Watson, Shidder
9:56Sanders, Dillon Gabriel. I mean, maybe
9:58Brennan Soursby ends up playing. Like
10:00who knows what the quarterback situation
10:02is going to be? And then we have the
10:03eternal question of Jerry Jeudy. What do
10:06you do with someone like Jerry Jeudy who
10:08basically fantasy footballers have given
10:10up on at this stage? I mean, Jerry Jeudy
10:12finished last season 29th in the NFL in
10:16targets. He had 106 targets, had 145
10:18targets the year before that. Jeudy's
10:21contract is not particularly tradeable,
10:23but it doesn't mean that it is not
10:24tradeable at all. So, there is certainly
10:26a chance that Jerry Jeudy is not on this
10:28team come the start of the season or
10:31come the trade deadline. And I think
10:32that effectively these four wide
10:34receivers Worthy, Pittman Jr., Golden,
10:36and Concepcion allow you to feel that
10:39you just have this soft pillow at wide
10:41receiver later in your drafts. You don't
10:43have to panic. Hey, if you miss on
10:45Jordan Tyson, if you miss on Brian
10:47Thomas Jr., or maybe you're a Parker
10:48Washington guy. If you're feeling that
10:50you are kind of thin either at wide
10:52receiver or at flex, to me these four
10:55guys, Worthy, Michael Pittman Jr.,
10:57Golden, and Concepcion basically allow
10:59you to do whatever start you want at the
11:02beginning of your fantasy football
11:03draft. They allow you I mean, you could
11:05start four straight running backs, slot
11:07in Brian Thomas Jr., Michael Pittman
11:09Jr., and Matthew Golden be like, "Hey,
11:11you know what? I'm ready to go. I'm
11:12going to war against everyone in my
11:15league with these four guys." Make sure
11:17that you like this video. Make sure you
11:18were subscribed to the Maddock Fantasy
11:20Football channel if you found this
11:21helpful, and come check myself out over
11:23on flockfantasy.com.
11:25I'll be back with all of you guys very
11:26soon.
