Target These Second Year WRs ✅ 2026 Fantasy Football

For years, the fantasy football cheat code was to draft second-year wide receivers. Then 2025 hit. Vlad Makoni, Brian Thomas Jr., Malik Neighbors, all punches straight to the face. So that means on this show, we have to get it right. And this is a fascinating group, Hayden, because there are three second-year wide receivers drafted in the top 21 overall at the position. And then there's a massive drop down to the wide receiver 49 in drafts where the rest of the eight or so names we're going to discuss here today land. I did feel like there was a a pretty big tier uh break between the top guys and everybody else. I think that there's two guys at the very top that I can see being like top 24 picks as we go into the next off season. I think they have excellent tape, great situations to dominate targets, and then the next group of guys are all fun in different ways.

Well, this closes our second year breakouts week. We already have episodes on the running backs, the quarterbacks, and especially the tight ends. Hopefully you've tuned in to every single one. Appreciate all of you who have, and especially those of you who have hit that subscribe button and left a thumbs up. I mean, just leaving a like on the video helps it spread to more and more people out there. So, we appreciate it on our road to 175,000 subscribers. So, how we're going to do this once again, ADP order of how these guys are being drafted on the dog app underdog at this very moment.

So that leads us off to Tedo McMillan, the beginning of the fourth round, the second pick of the fourth round, which is quite a bit different than, you know, a lot of the year two wide receivers typically we see the end of round one, the start of round two, but he right now is being selected as the wide receiver 18. So he caught 70 of 122 targets last year for over 1,000 yards, seven touchdowns, offensive rookie of the year. When you went back and rewatched his tape, what did you see?

I think he's underrated. Even with those expectations, I think that he has a chance to be one of the best picks in fantasy. He's my wide receiver 12 on rankings. I moved him up after doing the deep dive here. I knew he was good. I did not uh remember him being so good as a route runner. He really had like a veteran feel. His work against off coverage is outstanding. He understands the leverage. If the corner is playing outside leverage, he'll run directly at him then come back to the ball. He can really dance in off coverage as well. He can sink his hips. He's got this huge catch radius. He doesn't have hands issues. And then I do think that he has just enough speed on these kind of crossing routes where he can catch the ball and run. He's got a lot of heart on top of that. I think that he looks very similar to some of the best receivers in the game. Like Drake London is the one pre-draft that we both talked about. I once again will double down on that. There's a little bit of Mike Evans to his game. He's not quite as fast speed as Mike Evans. We're talking about a Hall of Famer. And then even like Jackson Smith and Jig, like some of the the off coverage stuff and the manipulation, there's a little bit of that here as well. And I just think that the Carolina Panthers offense, if you read between the lines in the offseason, they might be doing a little bit more spread passy stuff rather than being so uh balanced on offense. And I think probably the reason why they're doing that is it fits Bryce Young's game. And I think it really is going to fit Tedo McMillan's game. I think he's one of the best receivers in the league.

Yeah. for a guy that is 6'4, like you said, the route manipulation and the defensive back manipulation, it shines out there. I mean, he can twist and turn some of these defensive backs on comebacks, on out routes, and especially on these dig patterns and inside breakers. He's just such an easy mover at his size. And I understand that this wide receiver one label has gotten a bit gray. I kind of still love to use it because, you know, it really is a separator of, hey, guys that you build your passing game around and then some others that kind of shine because of who their play caller is or who their quarterback is. Ted McMillan as a rookie owned 43.3% of the Panthers air yards last year. That was second across the NFL of all veterans and all rookies. I mean, that's just simply insane stuff. Now, what can the year 2 leap be here for T-Mac? And for me, it goes not just into his individual skills, but how actually the usage could impact what he does in year two. I would love for him to be utilized more across the formation. Like last year, it was almost over 80% of his snaps were outside and on the line of scrimmage. That's kind of the most difficult stuff to ask of any wide receiver across the league. And so what you see with the CD Lambs or the Aman Ross St. Browns, you can go further and further down the list with Justin Jefferson, this outside to inside versatility to create mismatches to create leverage advantages and stacks and motions and all that type of stuff then allows this unlock ceiling in terms of production and like real impact in a game-to-game basis. And I think the Panthers are more set up to do that this year than they were last year.

I see the same way. They experimented by putting him in the slot a little bit and they did some really fun things with him. They would throw some like back shoulder kind of slot fades on occasion. They would do like these rub routes where then he would almost run a big wheel route on the back side of it and he had some big uh plays on that. Like you said, so much of it was just like on the line of scrimmage x receiver stuff. uh on a lot of their fourth downs and third and short situations like third and two, fourth and fours, it was explosives to Tedo McMillan down the field because the defense would get really close to the box and then they would send him down the football field and he would come down with that. He had made some great catches on the sideline as well. So, there's always just going to be a tier difference between, you know, Tedoa and the Jamar Chases and Justin Jefferson, CD Lambs, just because he's not quite as gifted as an athlete as those guys, but he can rack up a ton of targets, tons of receptions in this one. I think 927 yards in the picking lobby is really selling him short. He cleared that last year and I do think as we see the Panthers uh maybe get some more shootouts this year and against a a more difficult schedule as we see the offense kind of change no more Rico Dowels type of stuff. I can see him really exploding. So I think the tape is top 15. I I do think he will have a top 15 fantasy wide receiver season after being the wide receiver 24 last year.

Part of why I think it's possible for them to move him around is because of the players that are around him now. Jaylen Coker, after, you know, being named the starter and them trading away Adam Thielen immediately gets injured and misses time. And Jaylen Coker is easily this team's second best wide receiver and kind of unlocks them to utilize both of those players as inside to outside versatility types.

Uh, and then you go and draft Chris Brazzle. Um, >> Tedron McMillan and Jaylen Cooker to some degree were like the vertical threats on this team. Like Jimmy Horn's not doing that. When Hunter Renfro was starting games at the beginning of the season, he's not doing that at all. And so now you add Brazil, who at the very least we know we can be a role player and spread some things out and you can see like these dagger concepts with Brazil going deep and Ted McMillan cutting off of that and Jaylen Cooker's awesome at those inbreaker routes as well. Um, yeah. I mean, the Panthers haven't had 17 straight games of like being on the same page of the play callers and the passer and the pass catchers. And I feel like that's what everything is geared towards right now is getting on the same page from week one and just understanding, hey, this is our group. This is what they do best and these are the concepts. They're going to be successful. And I think they're going to air it out just downfield 15 plus a lot more than they have been in previous seasons.

One thing I want to bring up to you, actually two things. Okay. Apparently, Tedrone McMillan, he said this himself, only played last season at 205 lbs, has said that he has gained anywhere from 15 to 17 pounds. He says of muscle. Uh, I'll leave that to if that's possible in just a few months. Uh, and that might worry some people, but T-Mac says that this is the weight he played at at Arizona and he just could not keep it on during his rookie year. I mean, obviously the length of the rookie season and how much more work you do and all that type of stuff, he just couldn't keep it on. This year, that's his goal. This is what he checked in around the combine at 220 pounds. So, do you think that 15 pounds can impact him on the field at all?

I mean, there's so few reps where he was losing physically that I wouldn't think that's going to matter too much here. Um, he wasn't like teetering on being too slow. So, I do think him adding some weight I I don't find it that concerning. I I do remember at Arizona he was just dunking on everybody and we saw that in glimpses uh as a pro, but it was not like he's just dunking on everybody like a T. Higgins type of player. He was doing I think a little bit more than that overall. I think yeah 210 220 I think that's a proper range for him.

The other part is he's missed most of OTAs so far. Uh he says it's a foot injury that he kind of picked up at the start of this offseason activities. He claims he's not going to have surgery but just you know this time in foot injuries is on people's radars. But if he's out there on the first day of training camp that uh solves it for me.

Yeah. I mean, if you rank him at wide receiver 12 and he's going as wide receiver 18, that's a sizable difference than you are with the market.

Yep. Yeah. I really I trust him right now.

Wow. Maybe some belief in Bryce Young, too. Who knew?

Next, just a couple picks later, is Emecha Ibuka, the fifth pick of the fourth round. He's being selected as wide receiver 20. We know the incredible hot start and we can dive into that in a little bit, but just overall he led the team with 127 targets, 63 catches on those targets for 938 yards and six touchdowns. Uh that's pretty incredible looking at that stat line because if you carried over like the first eight games, he was easily going to clear 1,000 yards, was easily going to clear 10 touchdowns and then it kind of all fell off a cliff. So was it on him? Was it on the offense? Was it the quarterback? Kind of what happened during his rookie season and what do you expect to happen here in year two?

I mean, this could be an hour podcast just here. I'll go over some of the splits. So, through week 11, he was the wide receiver nine on a per game basis. From week 12 to 18, he was the wide receiver 64. So, that was really, really tough. Uh, what the hell happened? I think there's a couple explanations. First, Baker Mayfield picked up some injuries. In week 12, he suffered an AC joint sprain. Uh, that point forward, uh, Amechabuka's catchable ball rate dropped to 50%. That was the lowest in the NFL from week 12 on. Uh that was above 60% in weeks 1 through 11. So I think just in general there were some missed targets later in the season. Also in Mecca Ibuka picked up his own hamstring injury in week six. Benjamin Sock from ESPN, he had a really awesome tweet citing NextGen stats that Ibuka had 11 routes of at least 18 miles per hour through the first five weeks of the season. then hamstring injury. Only 11 routes the remaining 12 weeks from that hamstring injury. So Baker playing injured, Amecha playing injured. And then another split want to throw out there uh once again is without Mike Evans he had a 29% target share. With Mike Evans that was at 19%. That's the difference between being the wide receiver 12 in expected points and the wide receiver 41. Obviously Mike Evans is no longer there. So, I think if AMCA is going to be healthier this year, if Baker Mayfield's going to be healthier this year, and we know for sure Mike Evans is out of the way, I want to believe in what I saw earlier in the season rather than what I saw later in the season. Not to mention the Bucks offensive line was in and out of the lineup the the entire season. We also have a new coaching staff. Lots to go on here before we even get to the tape, which I think is a big part of this as well. And the new coaching staff has already said how they plan to utilize Emecha Ibuka and it's kind of music to our ears where Zack Robinson who was coming from the Atlanta Falcons and spent time with the LA Rams has said that Ibuka is going to be a Z and by that it's in two wide receiver sets obviously we'll play on the outside uh will be more of the movement piece and I would expect him to play some slot off of that movement on top of it. That's awesome. That is music to our ears. I mean, when you think about the Rams offense, some heavy production has come from that spot. And then when you think about the Atlanta Falcons, when they asked Drake London to kind of be that movement piece, and especially when they got that slot work, that was great. Uh, I say all that because to me that was a lot of his best stuff was, you know, when he's an on the ground player and can kind of work in that trash and maximize the free space that is afforded to him because he does, you know, manipulate some defenders out there with his route running. But I wouldn't say that there's a lot of flashness to his game in terms of high-end athleticism or like these crazy storytelling routes that are maybe overanimated at times. He's very sturdy. He's very secure. And if you just get him in a situation that, hey, it's timing and I need to be here at this point and like look back at the quarterback and the ball's going to be in the correct spot, then I Buuca is one of the more like trustworthy young wide receivers across the league. Unfortunately, some other elements around him aren't as trustworthy in this spot.

Right. I think the first thing is the Zack Robinson point. We have to just double down on that. He said he's very similar to Cooper Cup just in terms of the way his brain works with the game of football and natural instincts. Remember in 2022, that's when we're looking at like Cooper Cup as like the triple crown winner. Uh it's the Z role that you mentioned. That's where AMCA is going to be playing. Uh only 1% of uh AMCA's receptions were screens. In 2022, Cooper Cup had 19% of them. So, we're going to see an increase in screen usage. also motion. Uh when I went back to watch the tape, remember at Ohio State kind of inside outside versatility off the line of scrimmage and then like immediately he's just playing x- receiver for the Bucks. Like no motion at all. It was actually just like exceiver post routes for a lot of the season, which is not what I was expecting. And I thought he was pretty damn good at them. I thought he had a little bit more pop uh athletically on some of these go balls than I was necessarily expecting. Um, but based off of his college tape, I knew he was going to be good at the more Cooper Cup stuff here. And if you're going to get him on more motions and stuff, I think you're going to see more of this kind of like make you miss toughness that we didn't necessarily see all that much out of achuka. So, I think all this tied together, I think there's a ceiling here of being a top 10, top five fantasy wide receiver. And to me, like I got really really high on Amecha Igbuka >> after learning more about the Zack Robinson quotes, watching what AMCA Ibuka was uh doing in a much much more difficult situation last year than the one I think he'll be in this next season.

We already saw, you know, top 10 spurts from him, like stretches of the season that he finished in that area. I don't know if I can get there for the entire season as a potential top five outcome player because he's tied to Baker Mayfield. And again, Baker goes on these stretches of looking like one of the best quarterbacks in the league and making some crazy plays. And you even saw it with some of those deep corners and posts that you're talking about where, you know, two defenders would be totally outstretched and it looked like the pass would be knocked down but just goes right through their fingertips and lands and no one is around him and he just runs away. That happened on like two crazy long catches, you know.

Uh but then in the second half of the season when obviously I was dealing with injuries as you said Baker was as well. uh you saw just miscommunications, mistiming, just totally inaccurate passes too and it led to a horrible catch rate at 49.6%. And to me, that's kind of just what Baker is now. Like he'll go on these stretches of being fantastic, as we say, sack avoidance, downfield targets, all that stuff, and then something just catches up to him where then it almost falls off a cliff. And we get again other stretches where he kind of throws games away and throws situations away. But that is not on mechuka. He is dependable. He is an efficient mover. he is consolidated with his movements and everything and so hopefully he can be kind of just a a safety blanket in all of this stuff.

Yeah, I I think Baker Mayfield just gives his receivers chances to deballers and fantasy though just because of how aggressive he is. Like you're going to miss some throws, he's going to have some interceptions. Like I don't care if I'm an Acha uh owner. So yeah, I just think that we're going to see more underneath work and he's going to be more consistent throughout the season even if the Buccaneers are just kind of throwing the ball down the field and just being all willy-nilly like they typically are. I just think that there's going to be more screens, more underneath stuff. And then uh I thought there was some other routes where it would be a Mecha and Chris Godwin running the same route that there's one play where they're both running uh dig routes and it was just pretty obvious. A Mecha's route was looking a whole lot better than Chris Godwin who's going to be 30 years old. Um so I just think there's a huge ceiling that maybe we haven't really given Amecha enough credit for. Um and the Cooper you hear Cooper Cup like I mean that was a super smash and we're talking about a fourth round pick. So he's he's my wider receiver 14. Him and Tedrono McMillan I think have very similar cases just in general. I think T-Mac's game was maybe a little bit more well-rounded than Amecha Igbuka, but I do think Amecha Ibuka is like knocking on the door for being a really great pick, especially if you start with a couple running backs early.

The Seahawks game was awesome. I mean, head nods to create that leverage sitting in zones, confused defensive backs, eyes back to the quarterback in zone windows on top of it. And that's tough to do against the Seahawks defense. some other stats and one that caught my attention, he only caught eight of 28 contested targets this past year. Again, some of that might be the placement accuracy of it, but I also just wouldn't peg that as you game necessarily. Uh, but there's so much to really like here. Uh, and then it's other young wide receivers other than Chris Godwin, like his Jaylen McMillan, and then Ted Hurst is getting some love from Zack Robinson right now as like your downfield fast exce. Sure.

I don't want to put like >> too many eggs in that basket because that's a stratospheric jump that Ted Hurst is having to make from, you know, Georgia State to the NFL.

It'll be Jaylen, Chris Godwin, and then Amecha. Uh, and then the rest of the guys will mix in. I I just think that the debate right now is like, is it sneaky Chris Godwin's the slot and Chris Godwin's Cooper Cup? And I think after watching the AMCA tape, I think it's pretty obvious. Zack Robinson's like, "No, Amecha is the Cooper Cup." And then we'll figure out what the hell Chris Godwin is. And hopefully he's not Allen Robinson.

I mean, this fourth round for wide receivers is >> so stacked. >> It's so amazing. You start with Lad, then you go to T-Mac, then Garrett Wilson, then Mechbuka. It ends with the likes of Terry McLaren and Jaylen Wadd. Uh I mean, this this round of wide receivers is is one of the favorites I've had in in recent years. And smack dab in the middle of it is our next name. Three in a row here basically for second-year wide receivers. in Luther Burton at wide receiver 21, the sixth pick of the fourth round. Um, talk to me because you and I have been on opposite sides of the Luther Burton conversation uh for a year at this point. Uh, so what do you expect in his second year after watching his entire first year?

I think Luther Burton's one of the best yards after the catch threats in the game. I mean, it's it's actually ridiculous what he can do. It's not just that he's bigger than your typical like yards after the catch guy. He uh plays pretty tough with the ball in his hands and he does that start stop stuff that is like what Cadarius Tony was doing but Cadarius had no uh nowhere near the same size that a Luther Burden does and Ben Johnson understood the assignment like there was a bunch of screens throw thrown to him uh 25% of his uh reception or his targets were screens and then he would also get Luther Burden in motion to get him screaming down the football field. Sometimes he would cut off of it for first down. sometimes he would just get a full head of steam and carry this thing over down the field. So Ben Johnson understood the strengths that Luther Burton has. They're very obvious. He's going to be their schemed up guy in this offense. I think in terms of the rest of the game, maybe a little bit more up and down, but better than I thought it was going to be coming out of uh Missouri where I thought he was very up and down down the football field. we at least had some moments settling into zone coverage, catching the ball, and then after he caught the ball 20 yards downfield remains a big pain in the ass to tackle. So, I think Rome and Luther Burton are almost on the exact opposite planes of receivers. And I'm guessing that Ben Johnson is just going to lean into each one of their strengths and not ask the other one to do the other. I can't wait for this second season because while it was a trio at wide receivers and really a quartet in ways because Olam Zakias actually had the most >> slot targets uh on this team last year, Luther Burton and Coulson Lovelin who we just talked about a couple days ago in this episode weren't really fully featured on this team until about week seven or week eight. And again, I understand it, but at the same time just he brings something special. And as we talked about, Coulson Loveland brings something special to this team. like there is this stardust sprinkled on Luther Burton after the catch where he's just different than almost everyone that you see with the ball in their hands. How he can stop and start his acceleration and then what I love the most is that he refuses to go down on first contact. And there are multiple plays where it's further down the field, not just on screens, but like when he catches a pass seven yards or 10 yards down the field where he breaks multiple tackles and then is finally pulled out of bounds by someone and is still up on two feet somehow rather than going to the ground. He's just so dynamic to me that when you attach that dynamism with Ben Johnson, then you get someone that sure isn't a perfect or complete player right now, but is going to be set up for success on every single series and every single game to give you production because this is one of the masters at manufacturing space for his players. And Luther Burton is one of the most lethal and threatening players in space in the league. It is a perfect pairing out there. And I am so glad that now he has this runway to easily step into two wide receiver sets. There is no competition for it. And uh we're going to see some low points because that's just his game and he's not a perfect player out there. But the high points are like game-changing moments and potential like wide receiver one overall weeks because he already did that as a rookie last year, too.

Yeah. he's gonna break so many tackles. Ben Johnson's gonna know what to do with him and then he's going to run way more routes because even like in the the playoff games and down the stretch he was not a full-time player. Uh in the playoffs 63 and 53% of snaps uh when he was out there and there was uh seven contests with Roma Dunay active and Coloulston Lovelin like actually in a full-time role he uh was only averaging 32 yards per game in those like those onoffs splits that there's a million more of them. They're all just going to go up because he's just gonna be on the football field a lot more. I think the danger scheme is doing the per route stuff and just saying like this thing's just gonna carry on forever. And there's some some one a couple things on the per route stuff. It was 2.5 yards uh in the regular season, which put that next to like Odell Beckham and the best receivers uh in NFL history. Uh but then once you include the postseason, then it drops to 2.2. If you uh want to exclude the flee flicker busted coverage, that was a 65 yard play. Now we're down to two. if you want to remove the screens. Now we're done to 1.7. So like the more contes,

Right? But I'm saying that the context is he doesn't he's probably not going to be Odell Beckham just because he plays more snaps here. And then there's also uh onoff splits which all I posted onto Twitter with Colston Lovelin with Roma Dun yada yada yada. This going to be a difficult one to get right. I feel pretty good about his floor because of what he does after the catch. And then if he could round out his game out in the real routes against press man coverage, a little bit more craftiness, not leading to some interceptions in zone coverage. If he can do just be average in that, we're talking about somebody that's going to be a fantasy wide receiver, too. He's just priced like that right now, which makes me like a tad nervous. But like I have him as a wide receiver 28 and >> which is way different than ADP. So like it it if you're drafting by yourself right now, you probably won't wind up with a lot of Luther B. But I understand that you're giving the positives and the negatives of this. He is being drafted aggressively at this point because players of this type get drafted aggressively because they stand out amongst their peers.

Yes, definitely. So yeah. So wide receiver 21, I wrote, "I'm going to bed early. I'm going to miss the party, but like I understand why there's a party brewing right now."

Yeah. Um let me make a case of how this can get even better. Okay.

Okay. Yeah, >> I don't think he's going to have his career at 2.55 yards per round or 2.3 or any of that stuff, right?

Uh at the same time, yeah, he had some drops. There were also plenty of passes that kind of tipped off his totally outstretched hands. So, like if Caleb gets better in those intermediate patterns and is more accurate in that where we know you can line up his statistical just offtarget rate, it's very high across the league. Um, I thought Luther Burton answered a whole bunch of questions that were fair coming out of Missouri just in terms of his legit route running as an outside wide receiver and a lot of that came on intermediate routes and inside breakers and these dig patterns. Um, I thought he was very good at that stuff. So, if you have someone who is already good as an intermediate route runner and then is incredible after the catch, those are two buzzwords in Ben Johnson's offense.

Oh, yeah. >> That makes like a potential special talent here. So, if he already has those two things, then that gives you almost a floor in what he can be here. And maybe that floor is Jame Williams, right? Which is a roller coaster every single week and you have some real splash weeks and then some other ones that he only has two or three catches per contest. But if he also can improve in the other areas, which he missed all of training camp last year, you know, he came from an offense at Missouri that didn't ask him to really do any of this stuff, unlike Ohio State or, you know, a bunch of these other wide receiver prospects that we talk about, and he takes this year two leap and is like really bought in, apparently Ben Johnson's almost favorite player. Then if he improves the other stuff just from like bad to average or from average to good then we are cooking with like what the potential here could be and like pairing that with Coulson Lovelin and I also don't want to give up on Rodun that is uh an incredible trio to keep moving forward with.

Yeah, I feel very good about the Bears man. I mean just everything's coming together. They compliment each other really well. Um I will I will be ranking Coloulston Lovelin ahead of Luther Burden straight up after watching back both of them. But the fact that Luther Burden and Roma Dunay are also in the mix next to Coulson Lovelin is like a very good sign for for everything. So I always I always have this like he's a boom bust prospect and then sometimes I'm like and he's looking like a bust after year one. Like this is like he was a boom bust prospect and he's looking like a boom to me right now. So like he's every bit of an upside wide receiver three in fantasy to me. And then uh some people want to pay the the mid round or mid wide receiver 2 price tag. Like I understand it. Uh, and I I hope it works out because he's a hell of a hell of a guy to watch.

We have a show next week where we basically say wide receivers and running backs that we kind of aren't drafting at this point. I'll just leave this little tease. I think it's an interesting conversation that Luther Burton gets picked six spots ahead of someone like Jaylen Wadd where in the offense they kind of do maybe somewhat similar things and Jaylen Wadd's >> unanimously at the top of that picking order with the Denver Broncos versus maybe where Luther Burton is and some less refined >> uh questions and parts of his game compared to Jaylen.

Yeah. Yeah, I'm surprised that that you were saying that. I think it's very true. I I have Luther Burton is one round too expensive for me. So like I don't want to get over our skis here. And maybe when we get to reddraft get cheaper. He's he's not getting cheaper.

No, he's not. He's not gonna get cheaper. No. And Ben Johnson's like rallying around him and just says like he's the most fun player around. So we're going to see it's just he's going to be a round three, four pick,

Right? This is like saying, "Oh, I love the Killer's first album or something." You know, like you were in very early on them and then you know now they're selling out Madison Square Garden and you're like, "Well, I can't afford it anymore."

Yeah. you know.

Yeah. Very true. Very true.

All right. There is a massive and I mean massive drop off to the next second year wide receiver and on underdog that is Matthew Golden who also found himself in round one in his NFL draft. But he's wide receiver 49. So 28 spots different just at the position and then six rounds different with a third pick of the 10th round. Just caught 29 of 44 targets for 361 yards. zero touchdowns in the regular season, did have one in the postseason. This is a big conversation to have because you and I relentlessly drafted Matthew Golden last offseason. Uh, was that wrong or was this just a weird season he had in year one?

Uh, it was wrong, but I think it's a different conversation of is he for sure bad? I think the answer to that is he's definitely not bad. Like I know the the per game numbers were dreadful. Uh, he was in a rotation. He played about 50% of the snaps. Uh we hopefully won't see that snap rate continue. I actually think that he's very live to be a near full-time player just because Jaden Reed has been pretty pigeonholed into the slot.

If it continues, we're never drafting a Packers wide receiver ever again. Like they have three guys and that's it. Those should be the three.

So it comes down to is Matthew Golden good? Because if he's good, he's going to be in fantasy lineups. I think it's kind of uncertain, but I'm leaning more towards he's good than he's bad. He was operating as a downfield threat for the Packers. He was nearly uh on the receiving end of a couple really long touchdowns where Jordan Love either barely overthrew him, barely underthrew him. There was one where Matthew Golden caught the ball about four or five yards away from the sideline and then just like ran out of bounds. I think he still would have been running uh if he kind of knew where he was. Um, I thought that he was able to kind of stop on a dime and in cut on occasion, but for the most part was kind of like kept in this vertical uh role, which is not that fantasy friendly because we're looking for targets here. And just how balanced the offense is, you're not going to rack up a bunch of targets. I thought he was just moving with definitely a lot of pace on vertical routes. I thought he had some really quality after the catch moments. We just didn't see a whole lot of them. uh because I can see someone start and stop uh at a pretty high level. So, uh I think he has all the ingredients to be labeled as a fantasy football sleeper. Um I want to be drafting him and I think that he should be going really close to to Jaden Reed because I would guess that Matthew Golden's going to play more snaps than Jaden Reed does this year.

Let me just say I'm drafting a lot of where Matthew Golden is being selected right now. Again, this is the front of the 10th round. The other wide receivers selected after him are Romeo Dobs, Casey Conpsion, and Juan Delale Robinson. Um, the, you know, running backs in this territory are Rashad White and Chris Rodriguez and Jonathan Brooks. So, this really isn't pricing in a second leap almost at all.

Yeah, it is saying, "Hey, this might work and it might not." We were drafting him a lot again last year because we thought, "Hey, the Packers finally spent a first round pick on a wide receiver. that means that first round pick will break through the noise and finally play, you know, 80% of snaps. Like you said, we got a taste of that early on. Like in week three, he played 71% of snaps. In week seven, he played 73%. But then like the week nine injury like really derailed him. It was, I believe, a wrist injury and a shoulder injury.

Yep. Yep. >> And he just wasn't the same player ever since. And that also coincided with Christian Watson returning to the team. and Christian Watson now developing into like an every blade of grass player.

He was so good.

Yeah. >> Now, as much as I am drafting Matthew Golden, I do think there's an outcome here where he's just a really good role player as a downfield player as a stretch field stretcher and tied to a quarterback that takes advantage of that more than others in terms of a really ambitious arm, wants to throw it 15, 20, 25 yards down the field. I really didn't like his stuff after the catch. Like there's that one catch against Cincinnati, there's that one play against the Bears. I would say the other 27 catches that he had, he almost every single time got tackled by the first man. Um, that concerns me because I also thought he was an on the ground player frequently, all the time. And they were underthrown balls, as you said, uh, and he did very little, I felt, to make his quarterback right in those situations. like he didn't stop or elevate or go up and get it and like try to turn it into a 3070 contest in those spots. So, I think that stuff is a bit concerning where I don't know now he can be the focal point of this passing game like I thought maybe a first round wide receiver could be because he's just not Christian Watson. Um, now it took Christian Watson multiple years to get there and maybe it's happens from Matthew Golden, but uh I just he gave me problems as a prospect too despite other people ranking him as like, you know, a the number one wide receiver in the class. And I think some of the same concerns I had about him then showed up during his rookie season, too. So, I'm drafting him a lot because I think it's cheap where he is, but I'm not expecting him uh to just pull away from the rest of this wide receiver,

Right? I think last year when he was getting drafted way earlier, we didn't know if Christian Watson was even going to play cuz he tore his freaking ACL in January. And then he Christian Watson not only played earlier than we thought, he was also way better than he ever was before. And now Christian Watson's healthy. So I think like the really high-end outcomes, I think we we've taken a big step back with Matthew Golden. And like you said, yeah, there was not very many yards after catch plays out there. Like there was just not how they were using him. And then I also agreed that there was some times where his lack of size did hurt him a little bit. He did say he's going to put on a little bit more weight. He thought that the wrist and shoulder injuries were partly just because of landing and not having enough uh like mass on him to to kind of protect him. So, we'll see how that goes. I I really did think that he had the athletic traits to be a player that should be utilized a little bit more in different ways than he currently was. Um I think he's going to be the Z wide receiver. I think Jaden Reed's going to be the slot wide receiver in three wide receiver sets. And like you said, Jordan Love wants to throw the ball down the football field in ways that Matthew Golden wins. So, I think he's going to be a better baseball pick. I like his price tag right now. I think the reraft stuff's always going to be frustrating, especially if they're as balanced as they typically are. Uh, I just think that this type of profile, if he had better spreadsheets in college, we're drafting him in like at 75th overall and right now he's 110th overall on

But he didn't have better spreadsheets in college, you know? He had the college football playoff and that was like his entire college profile.

I agree. Like there's definitely some merit to that. I just everyone on underdog thinks the same, you know, and like sometimes that that thinking leads uh leads us astray. Again, this is drafting him with, you know, leaning more towards bad outcomes. At least that's like his price right now. And

I I am not ignorant in believing that, you know, he is going to be just a role player and that that is the only outcome that is possible here. Like there is potentially something more. Uh so yeah, I'm drafting him a lot a lot at this price.

Sweet.

Um anything else you want to say here? I mean, he did finish that playoff game with, you know, four catches for 84 yards and a touchdown. So, you did have like that nice feather in the cap of the ending of the season.

Yeah. Yeah, it was awesome touchdown screen. Kind of ran around a couple guys, leaped over some, shed a tackle, too. So, that was a good play. Um, still wasn't like playing like a ton of snaps out there. Um, I I will mention in OTAs, Laflur has talked him up. We've had beat reporters talk him up. Uh, and then also, um, he's apparently been like the favorite target for Jordan Love. Like, this is really early in camp, but like >> you at least needed some signs of life and them choosing to not uh resign uh Romeo Dobs, them trading away Dantavian Wixs, LaFlor's comment saying like, hey, maybe having six wide receivers rotate not helping us out. like those type of context clues. Maybe they're saying, "Hey, Matthew Golden is probably a little bit better internally than how the external world views them." And then also mentioned like like you said, those injuries like happened in the middle of the season and he wasn't practicing and like that really hurts as well. So hopefully all these little context clues help us point into the direction that hey, they actually think that Matthew Golden has a chance here even if most people don't.

It kind of sounds like we disagree about him, but I think we're coming to the same conclusion.

Yeah, we're probably going to rank him to the exact same spot.

Yeah. And look, the Packers have other yards after catch threats on the team. Like it they have Jaden Reed. They definitely have Tucker Craft when he comes back. So, it's not necessary for him to be be in in that area. Okay, let's keep it moving. Next round, we have Jaden Higgins of the Houston Texans, wide receiver, 53, the fourth pick of the 11th round. Uh dare I say, some of the quietest 68 targets for 525 yards and six touchdowns among this entire rookie class. Typically, you know, when these big, tall wide receivers claim a starting outside job attached to someone like CJ Strad, there's way more buzz heading into their second year than what Jaden Higgins is getting at this moment. But for some reason, we can still draft him in the 11th round. He's a sleeper. I agree on the quiet part. I thought his tape was pretty good. Now, he's not going to be super flashy. He's not going to win any track meets, but I thought he did like more like real wide receiver stuff than almost anybody in the class. Obviously like Teteroa and Amecha were awesome, but like just in terms of pacing, settling down, toe drags near the sideline, toughness on zone catches over the middle, and just getting absolutely annihilated, having a nice frame to work through as well. I thought all that stuff was pretty clean. I would be very surprised if there was like a real breakout here. But is there ways that he can be like a budget version of Michael Pitman, Michael Wilson, Romeo Dobs, Courtland Sutton? Like those are some names that I that I'm seeing with Jaden Higgins tape out there. Obviously, the Texans offense has been brutal to watch and just super slow paced and everything we just don't love about it. But I would be really surprised if

Tankdale, given his injury, or Jaylen Null, are real threats to his playing time. Like, he's just going to be a, the Texans long-term wide receiver, too. He's not Nico Collins. He doesn't need to be. Uh, he looks like the 34th overall pick in the draft. And I think that if we were redrafting today and a team drafted him late round one, that wouldn't be that surprising to me. His floor seems like really locked in.

Yeah. I mean, last year in the, what, opening seven weeks of the season, he played behind Xavier Hutchinson just from a snap count standpoint. But then we talk about it, you know, post-bye, rookie bumps, and as the season goes along, you get more and more opportunities, you earn more and more of it. And that's exactly what happened, I felt, with him. Um, for his size, I think he does have, you know, methodical movements. Like there's not much fat to his game. And I felt the intermediate and downfield portions were even better than the quick-hitting short slants and all that type of stuff. Even if those improved a little bit as the season went along, like against San Francisco, you saw that improved. There was a plan off the line, no wasted movement. And he has already developed, I think, into a, you know, solid wide receiver, too. And maybe even some quarterback inaccuracy from both quarterbacks, uh, led to a lack of production in some of these spots, too.

Yeah. But man, I, I love the press that he has to outside step, uh, on this defensive back and then cuts inside and elevates. Like there are plays where if the timing from CJ Stroud and the route gets into a position in front of a defensive back and you throw it just kind of up and away, those plays are uncoverable. They are indefensible just because of his size and his trusted hands off of his frame and how he positions himself in front of defensive backs. And that is kind of tough to find across the league. And, you know, it's not like CJ's throwing to two different body types. Like he and Nico Collins are very similar. So you can put them in the exact same pinpoint and similar placement. So, uh,

While Jaden Higgins, you know, might never, you know, graduate into a true wide receiver one, he can definitely be a sturdy, dependable player here. And I just hope we get a Houston Texans passing offense that is like top half of the league in terms of scoring because then that goes, you know, the difference between him being the wide receiver 53 and like the wide receiver 39.

Yeah. I think if Stroud goes back to the rookie season, I think that Jaden Higgins would be like a a flex starter in PPR leagues. Like I think we've already seen proof of concept from week eight on, which is when he's got on the field, he was the wide receiver 42 on wide receiver 36 usage. Nico Collins was in and out of the lineup a little bit there. Um, so like there's like a chance and like with at least some proof of concept here. We see the same exact film. Uh, his short area burst is lackluster. I think the long speed, there's a couple plays like down the football field where like he's faster than I remember him at Iowa State. And then I think that he can contort his body so it's not like a super stiff player as well. It's just like not going to be slant and then absolutely burst immediately after the catch. That's why you have Nico Collins out there. And it was kind of fun to play pre-snap when you go to the next play, where's Nico? Where's Jaden Higgins? You kind of get confused and then then you realize, oh, there goes Nico Collins. Uh, that's what a wide receiver one looks like. But I like him at State. Like,

Yeah.

I'm surprised more people aren't being like, hey, well done.

I, I agree. And look, maybe some of his lack of explosiveness off the line will allow some of the best corners in the league just to stick in his hip pocket throughout the entire route. But if he faces off coverage, I think he chews that up. You know, average corners, he will create separation down the field. And again, I, I just want to go to when he has positioning and the ball is off his frame, he has the size to make catches that, you know, defensive backs just have no chance of doing. And so, we just need CJ to be up there. We need Nick C to be up there. And, you know, just score more touchdowns. Don't be one of the worst teams in terms of red zone touchdown success rate. And, uh, you know, there's a massive difference even if his game is exactly the same of Jaden Higgins catching, you know, six touchdowns in a season versus 10 touchdowns in a season or three touchdowns in a season versus nine touchdowns in a season. And that kind of isn't just dependent on him, if that makes sense.

Yeah, completely agree. Uh, last note, Demeco Ryans, uh, was giving him a lot of credit in the offseason podium sessions saying that he's, uh, more chiseled, just looks like he's in better shape. Uh, we love to, we love to see it. I mean, I can't say the same. Uh,

Uh, I wish.

No, us with little ones, that is impossible for us to do right now. So.

Right. And his starting point may be a little bit different than what you and I are working with, too.

Another big conversation. Let's talk about Travis Hunter, who is still being drafted as a wide receiver. In fact, wide receiver 57, the middle of the 12th round right now. I don't even know where to start on this one. Uh, I could go short or I could go long-winded, but I'll keep it short and brief.

Go short.

And just say, uh, what did Travis Hunter flash in his short time out there on the field as a.

His best moments were down the football field. He got about five of them throughout the season, but he made two of the most ridiculous high-point catches out there, which is exactly what he was doing at the University of Colorado. I wanted to first point out that if he did turn into a full-time wide receiver, he is not a choice route slot guy. He should be more than that. At the same time, there were so many frustrations on the Travis Hunter tape just pre-snap, just like getting onto the field. They were calling timeouts. Brian Thomas had a huge long touchdown where he was lined up, uh, in the, uh, offsides. Uh, there was just a bunch of stuff, uh, coming out of breaks. He didn't know the ball was coming to him. So, there was a lot of things like I think mentally going on with Travis Hunter. Uh, also, he was too small at times. Fred Warner had to punch out. That said, he's put on a lot of weight. Unfortunately, he's still not a full-time participant because of that, uh, knee injury, but he looks more, uh, filled out. I think that's going to help him out on both sides of the ball. Uh, unfortunately, just looking at the depth chart, that matters more than anything. They want him at wide receiver. They need him at corner. And there was a, a moment where Liam Coen was talking and talking about all the mental reps because they have this brand new facility where he can reenact a game. And in that, he said, whether it's man coverage, zone coverage, cloud, all, all defensive terms, not very many offensive terms. Uh, so I ultimately think he's a better receiver than getting credit for. And I think he's going to at best play 50% of the snaps unless there's a big injury. I think it's easy to forget the positive trajectory he was on at the start of last year as a receiver. Like early in the season, as you said, basically only a manufactured touch guy. It was a lot of slot and screen stuff. He was very confused on where to line up. Uh, but, you know, when you look at the early season wins that then propelled the Jaguars to the playoffs, like the Jaguars don't beat the San Francisco 49ers without his huge contested catch on a throw over the middle of the field from their own end zone that he elevates over the 49ers to go up and get. The same with the Kansas City Chiefs with another big-time downfield catch. And then obviously he had crazy production in a garbage time loss, uh, against the LA Rams. And then they hit their bye week. And during that bye week, you know, we read Draco, we read John Shipley, every single beat writer said something to the effect of, quote, don't be surprised if he gets wide receiver one treatment the rest of the way. And then that crossroads moment happened where he, in the second week of their bye, to his LCL in practice. And then the Jaguars traded for Jakobi Meyers, and then Parker Washington also broke out after that bye week. And then now, based on their offseason moves, the Jaguars have a bigger need at cornerback than they do at wide receiver. And, you know, a lot of media reports from Ian Rapoport and Cameron Wolfe and these guys back in May stating saying that the focus of Travis Hunter is going to be at quarterback. And I actually agree with that. I won't say it too loudly because he and, you know, other Jaguars fans are going to take offense of that. But overall, how I view it, at least for this season, is what you just said. Travis Hunter is likely to be a part-time player on offense versus if he stayed healthy last year, he might now be a full-time player on offense and like have the passing game built around him. But that's not what happened. We are not playing in what-ifs. And at this point, you think at best, if everyone stays healthy, he is fourth in wide receiver snaps. And yeah.

That is tough to draft.

Yes. I will say this though, his upside is still so clear to me. If something happens, if Brian Thomas goes down and then all of a sudden it's like, okay, we also need you at wide receiver. I think that he can be a total baller. So, I think if you're in a deeper league, he's going to be one of your last picks. I would hold on to him. Like, you just never know how quick this thing could turn around. Uh, and I would like to see him because he's put on more weight, not be pigeonholed into the role that he had on offense where 65% of his snaps on offense were in the slot and he only played in three or four wide receivers.

I think we were getting there during the bye week and it just wasn't going to happen. Like you can almost take,

Jacoby Meyers' production and some of Parker Washington's and give it over to Travis Hunter, I felt. So.

Look, we told you all, at least I did, to draft Travis Hunter last year. And was it a bit of a slow start? It was. Guess what? That happens all the time with these rookies. And do we always talk about post-bye rookie bumps? We do. And what were we getting during the bye week was everything geared towards him being a focal point or the focal point of this passing game. And then the floor fell out from underneath us. And then now the offseason is kind of doing that exact same thing because they have guys that stepped up in his absence.

Yeah. And I think the, the knee injury is a serious one. It's like one of the more rare knee injuries to have. Some players have really struggled coming off of it. Um, he's not at full-time practice yet, so hopefully we get some positive training camp buzz there. I think he's going to be a near full-time corner and then he's going to be a part-time receiver until the depth chart changes. And then the second he's playing more snaps at wide receiver, I want to like go all in because I do think the ceiling is just like really spectacular. And hopefully going into year two, they've kind of, you know, streamlined how much of the playbook he needs to know and those type of things. And I do think some of his like blocking reps on offense, stuff, he would get thrown around. I didn't see it nearly as much at corner. I thought his corner stuff was really damn good. Uh, but there was some times on offense where he was a little bit too small out there. So, I think him being really, like he's like legit jacked now all of a sudden. Um, hopefully that that helps kind of on on the fringes and maybe that encourages the coaching staff to say, you know what, let's get this like 90% snaps on defense and 60% snaps on offense. And maybe if he was at an old weight, we wouldn't even get that. Look, last year Travis Hunter said that he can play both ways and James Gladstone and all those guys said it. Hopefully that's the case and hopefully he does in the future. I just wonder if that's maybe a 2027 thing versus a 2026 thing.

On on top of it. So let me ask you this. Right now he's going in the middle of the 12th round. Other wide receivers in this round, it's Stefon Diggs, who's not on the team right now. Jaylen Coker, Rasheed Shaheed, Omar Cooper. Uh, you know, their next round is like Jauan Jennings and Jaylen McMillan and yeah.

Jaylen Naylor and Trey Tucker. Uh, lots of quarterbacks. The running backs are pretty gross unless you like Keaton Mitchell here.

Is this a fair price? Are you drafting Travis Hunter in this spot or is it like, hey, I really want him to not play in the preseason on offense basically and we maybe get even more of a discount?

I will draft him at this price and if he drops even further, then I would keep drafting. I mean, he's getting priced next to Rasheed Shaheed and Omar Cooper, uh, Jauan Jennings, Jaylen McMillan. All these guys are going to be in three wide receiver sets only. Khalil Shakir goes ahead of them. I just watched Khalil Shakir is the number one and like I'm not scared of that. Now they have DJ Moore. Like his upside, like I mean, in the top 20 percentile outcomes for all these wide receivers, his is like by far the only one that really matters. Like all these guys right next to him, like they beat him on medium projections. Uh, but I do think even as a part-time player, there will be some like garbage time receptions and he will have a couple big plays, uh, as they kind of mix him in there. So, I'm totally fine with this price tag. Um, it's sad that he goes in the 12th round. I think that's somewhat realistic. Um, but I want to be buying. I'm certainly, I, he's, he's a fantasy football sleeper to me. He's got tons of risk, but I mean, he absolutely has a pathway to being a top 25 guy at some points.

But, I mean, I'll throw out that should the risk word even be used for a player that's drafted in the 12th round?

Yeah. They all have, they all suck.

Right? I mean, Aronda Gatson goes in the 12th round and he's the tight end three on his team.

Exactly. Yeah, literally like we can play this game all the way down. Like, yeah, it's crazy.

So, I, every word that you just said, I, I agree with. Um, I just really hate we didn't get that moment of one game after the bye week just to see of what like the proof of outcome could be because it happened at the point when he was going to get more and more and more work. And to me, it's not surprising that he was also brought along slowly. If you go back and listen to everything out of that Colorado program where he wasn't in offensive meetings because he, you know, didn't have the time to basically from at the college level and they would tell him what routes to run from the sideline and then he would just go and run them and he was still freaking good. And so,

Good.

You know, now with a year under his belt and a lot of time in the books, then he probably does have a much better understanding of each of the three alignments on offense, too. So, I really want it to happen. I think it might be 2026, but I'm a little bit nervous that like if this is the season that we have the lowest percentage of his snaps in his career at wide receiver.

Yeah, I can see it. I wish we could trade Jacoby Meyers back to the Raiders. Um, that'd be a lot easier.

But then who's going over the middle? Or then Parker Washington?

Hey, Brian. Brian Thomas in camp.

Not from last year. He didn't go over the middle.

In camp. He's the MVP. I, I've seen more Brian Thomas tweets this week than I did all last year.

No, but they're talking about clear outs. They're not talking about inbreakers.

I'm watching touchdown, man. I'm getting excited again.

Yeah, there's no hitting, so there's no alligator arms there from from Brian Thompson.

All right, many more to talk about here. Isaac Tesla is next. Early 15th round, wide receiver 69. I'll say it, Hayden. On just 16 catches, uh, during his rookie season, he's already laid the foundation for one hell of a career highlight reel.

I mean, like three of the silliest catches by any player last year. Um, yeah, he's a freak athlete, uh, playing in a position that he did not play in college, so you have to give him some credit. And at the same time, he's going to have like a 5% target share. So there's only so much we can even talk about here. Like, this offense is stacked. You don't have to, you don't have to throw it to him. It's cool that like on those two targets per game, he's going to come out with an explosive, but, um, yeah, he's, he's in development. Uh, I think they traded up a lot for him for how many times he's going to get the ball, but he's not going to get the ball enough to matter. Uh, if Jameson Williams goes down, then Sam LaPorta goes to the moon and vice versa. So, I think we're a ways away from him mattering. Um, man, he against an unathletic corner in the red zone, like if they want to throw the first pass up to him and see what, see what they got cooking, like by all means, I'm here for it.

It was a very good comment that you made that he's playing a different receiver spot than he did in college. At Arkansas, he was basically a big slot, like kind of a finesse player, and he would still go up and make these spiraling catches, but, you know, it was from a different alignment. And then you go and his first catch, what, against the Packers or someone, is lined up out wide and just climbing the ladder and toe-tapping the sideline. Like there were so many vertical climb the ladder off-frame catches or working through contact. And then very few crossers over the middle of the field. And then practically no short catches. So I do wonder, kind of what we talked about with Jaden Higgins, like against good corners, can he separate one-on-one on his breaks? I even more have more questions with Isaac Tesla about that, for sure. But man, the big catches are pretty freaking sweet. But then you look at it and like the wide receiver room for this team is even worse than it was last year. Like Khalif Raymond is gone. But, you know, the most snaps that he played last year when everyone was basically healthy, uh, didn't happen until week 14, but that was up to, you know, 77% and 63% and stuff.

But that's also when, you know, Sam LaPorta missed every game from week 11 on. So.

Uh.

You know, it's not just Jameson Williams he's competing with. It's also Sam LaPorta. And they might run 11 personnel 60% of the time, 55% of the time, that type of stuff. So, I like Tesla. He has obvious areas where he wins. It wouldn't surprise me if he does, you know, make a leap or if Jameson Williams gets hurt or whoever else, then he makes good on it, but this is just not someone with how the depth chart is stacking right now that, uh, you can project a major leap for.

Yeah, I was looking at it. He had six touchdowns last year. In his last two seasons at Arkansas, he had five. It's crazy. Yeah, it's a wild season.

Let's talk Trey Harris, LA Chargers. Few picks later, seventh pick of the 15th round, and one wide receiver spot later at wide receiver 70. First catch of the season was a little inbreaker versus the Chiefs for a first down as like an ISO X player. Um, that's important because during his time at Miss, everything was along the sideline, very few inbreakers. But when he did, you and I got really excited. So, I know you went back and watched every single target of Trey Harris. What did you see?

I think more toughness than like downfield speed. That's how the Chargers utilized him. Um, from week six on, which is when he kind of started getting out there, uh, he led the target, the Chargers in targets with zero to two wide receivers on the field. He had a 24% target share in that personnel grouping, but he was fifth in targets in three or four wide receiver sets. Uh, he's a tough player. I didn't see like a lot of sizzle to his game. Um, he had more like kind of inbreaking, like break a tackle or like fight for that first down, uh, on the Chargers tape. And then the Old Miss tape was like totally different, like you said. So he's got a pathway to be the, the third wide receiver on the team because Keenan Allen's not there. And then at the same time, here comes more tight ends, more running backs. And then they drafted Brendan Rice, who's the exact opposite of Trey Harris as a clear-out guy. So, I don't see a pathway to him really mattering in fantasy unless Johnson or LaConca get injured. And then at that point, um, was there enough on tape to get really excited about other than that he's attached to, uh, the Chargers offense and he's like a serviceable player, but maybe you have a stronger tape.

Yeah, I think I saw it slightly different than you, just more optimistic. Like he was almost a sampler platter this year where there was a little bit of everything. Um, which again, was nice to see after his time at Miss, which was the same thing every single game. Yep.

Uh, there was, I thought tight third down wins, like third and three slant passes, he'd be a primary.

Or hey, catch, get down, those types of things. Like he would win in those tight situations. I thought some zone feel. You saw some routes like curls over the middle of the field, short movements to still maintain space from zone, but, you know, on these elongated plays where Justin Herbert was running for his life, he'd still, you know, stay open in those spots. And then I saw some YAC flashes as the season went along. Nothing like that's incredible, but just a broken tackle here and then, yeah, you know, some long strides for some gains after that. Um, like you're saying, though, I think there's only going to be one and a half wide receivers that really matter with the Chargers right now. And I'm putting my eggs in the LaConca basket. Um, QJ's gotten some love for Mike McDaniel, and obviously outproduced LaConca.

QJ's going to go off this year. I'm saving it for a different show. This is a teaser. Quinton Johnson's going to go crazy this year in fantasy.

Okay. Then we also have, you know, all the personnel groupings everywhere else on top of this, too. So Trey Harris was interesting last year with Greg Roman where, as you just talked about, single wide receiver sets, he was the guy out there. I don't think that's going to continue. Is there going to be a downgrade to then like two wide receiver sets? He probably is not going to be out there either. So it's tough because I want to see even more development. I just don't know if he's going to have a whole lot of reps to get this development.

Yeah, I think his floor is like intact. Like he's going to be in the Chargers rotation. Like he's, you know, is he that dissimilar to like Josh Palmer, who had some moments when like the other guys went down, kind of could play different spots. I think that's the, the style player that we're getting with with Trey Harris. Yeah, the, like you said, like there's some yards after catch moments, uh, via toughness and like settling into zone coverage rather than like, there goes Jamar Chase after the catch, which we were expecting obviously, but, um, but he's a fine player.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, again, zone feel versus the Titans, another versus the Cowboys on the extended play. Nice ad-lib touchdown, I felt, versus the Minnesota Vikings to work back to the opposite direction in the red zone to find space. So, if his name's called upon, I think he does enough good things that like it's not just going to be a drop off to the wide receiver two spot on the team. Okay, that's basically it for everyone that's being drafted right now, but there are still, I think, four or five names that we do want to quickly touch on. Um, Pat Bryant's next. Pat Bryant was a channel favorite coming out of Illinois just because no one was talking about him. I actually thought Pat Bryant did a serviceable job filling in for his role on the Broncos last year. But, you know, when the team goes out and trades a first-round pick for Jaylen Waddler, then you kind of drop down here in the pecking order. And probably what Roelly fills in this offense now is the tight window contested catch because he ranked the highest of all these rookies in terms of, uh, converted contested catch opportunities this past season.

We see it the same way. He's more of a glue guy to me. I think that his upside case is like he's Courtland Sutton's long-term replacement because I don't think Troy Franklin, obviously Marvin Mims, like those types aren't going to do anything. They still don't have tight end sorted out yet. So, I do think there's a chance that Pat Bryant will have some moments. His playing time is going to be pretty capped, though, because Courtland Sutton and Jaylen Waddler are going to handle everything. So, I did think that he was good enough on tape where if one of those guys goes down, that in a deeper league, he's immediately worth a waiver wire add. And I do think I like him more than Troy Franklin. Uh, well-roundedness is like, for sure, if I was a GM, he's just not going to get the manufactured touches that those other guys are going to get. So big body, work over the middle, glue guy. Everyone seems to love him. Uh, he's going to be a part of this Sean Payton offense for a very long time. How many fantasy points that means? Probably not too many.

Yep, same thing basically happened with Tory Horton who flashed in his moments in his role, then got injured. The team trades for Rashid Shaheed and then gives Rashid Shaheed another contract. So Tory Horton again flashed in the red zone, some like downfield difficult catches. And if you're talking about downfield now, he probably isn't going to have that opportunity with Rashid Shaheed, uh, just growing in his opportunity for the team.

Yeah, he's Rashid's backup. And then if JSN goes down, that would be like where it actually gets more interesting because I do think that Tory Horton and Shaheed, that would be interesting just to see who would come up with more targets. Uh, Tory Horton was a more utilized underneath at Colorado State and I always thought he was a downfield threat. And I think the Seahawks with Sam Darnold viewed it the same way. So, uh, better in baseball. I don't think you have to draft him, though.

Jack Bash, do you need to draft Jack Bash? Should the Raiders have drafted Jack Bash?

I actually like Jack Bash in baseball more than some of the other names we just talked about. Um,

Okay.

Makes me nervous because he's going to probably play out of position like he did this last year. Uh, he only played in the slot. It was 28% of his snaps. I think both of us liked Jack Bash as a, you know, big slot type. And the problem is that's what Brock Bowers is. Trey Tucker goes in the slot some. Jaylen Naylor's a slot guy, so it's like, okay, we can't have 14 slots on the football field. Um, Jack Bash does not have the vertical speed to matter. I did think that he was tough. I did think he actually settled into zone coverage pretty well. And I do think that he can catch the ball and then, you know, rumble forward for for a first down. And I think that in those terms, he's actually trustworthy. Is there a big ceiling here? Not really, unless Fernando Mendoza breaks out. But I mean, Trey Tucker, Jaylen Naylor, like are those guys for sure better than Jack Bash? Like, I'm not sold. And I know that Bash is better than Thornton.

Is Jack Bash one of your favorite 18th round picks right now?

Uh, I got him ranked in the 180s, so he goes undrafted. Yeah, I think he, I think he's somebody that you can mix in on occasion. Um,

I just don't understand it from.

A spy tech, correct? GM, uh, perspective of drafting Jack Bash when you have Brock Bowers on your team.

Like Jack Bash started his career at LSU as basically a move tight end, a receiving tight end, and then goes to TCU and kind of fulfills the same role while playing a bit more outside as as his career went along. But I mean, in a perfect world, he would be a power slot, and that's exactly how what Brock Bowers is going to like be featured and heavily featured on this team. So,

Yeah.

The overlap to me, the Venn diagram is, uh, almost an eclipse here.

Yeah, I wish he was on a different team because I think that he has enough skills to like be catch a couple passes per game and like keep the chains moving. Um, and I, I just wouldn't rule that out even though his season was so bad. I mean, he had negative 1.7 EPA per target. Per target. That is like, that's like a bad running back. And then his average depth of target was at 7.7, which is amongst the lowest wide receivers. And he was doing that not as a slot screen guy, as an outside wide receiver. So like everything that he was doing was like, and I'm cutting inside real quick and then I'm sitting hitch. So I think he was pretty good at that. Um, but I mean, we have to, you obviously our expectations are pretty low here.

Let's talk Jaylen Null, who also has like a defined role for his game. He was the other Iowa State wide receiver that the Texans took after Jaden Higgins. Uh, let's remember that, you know, they had Christian Kirk in this role for the first part of the season and then Jaylen Null kind of took over afterwards. Uh, he is also not being drafted in every single league right now on Underdog. What did you see when you went back and watched him?

I haven't watched him in like full detail. Uh, but he was going to be a vertical slot wide receiver and that's what Christian Kirk was. So like his pathway to playing time is obviously way up right now. Uh, so aside from like your, um, from your like film analysis, I'd be curious if Tank Dell does come back and matters at some point during the season, like where is Tank Dell going to play? Is that slot stuff? Like how does, how do we sort out that part of it once we get there? I'll even add that I think Jaylen Null should have been in the NFL 10 years ago and we would have been a lot more excited about that, you know, when when he had this profile of a slot wide receiver and they were, you know, heavy 11 personnel getting a lot more opportunities because the Texans also just spent a second round pick on Marlon Klene, a bigger tight end, and then also brought in Fossomaro. So, I think they're going to try to be more multiple with these heavier personnel and bigger bodies, too. And that's just immediately going to take Jaylen Null out of it. Like at Iowa State, he was fun. He was running in two wide receiver sets a lot. I just think his size catches up to him way more often in the NFL and he doesn't separate as well as he did before. But, you know, he's at his best getting vertical, these deep corners, these deep crossers. It kind of brings me back to that rookie season CJ Stroud stuff, but he also got tackled extremely easily after the catch. So, he is almost like the one outlier profile that you look like in this whole wide receiver room where we talk about Nico Collins and Jaden Higgins, Xavier Hutchinson, even, uh, you have Justin Watson who has some size to him as well. So,

And then Tank Dell's rookie season, he played more on the outside as well as like these awesome outside breakers over and over. So, I think Jaylen Null is like the replaceable talent here when they want to change things from a personnel group and see.

Yeah, I, I see it the same way. He's pigeonholed to slot work and they're just not going to have enough of it. And then even when he's out there, you have to go earn a target over Nico Collins. And then we both like Jaden Higgins. So it's just, it's just hard to squeeze this out short term and long term.

It, it's odd. Like I think you and I both compared him to Christian Kirk coming into the league.

And I think that actually has a lot of correctness to it. It's just that mold and that model in a, in the best offense is is kind of getting phased out.

In a way.

It's the defensive structures. Like it's hard to throw the ball deep and over the middle when there's two safeties back there, or previously a lot easier.

I quickly want to mention Jaylen Royals, uh, now not for his tape because he had three targets all season long, but it's because he's drawing a lot of praise in OTAs, a lot of draft Twitter loved him, not this channel, just a lot of other people. And because he's Rashee Rice's probably direct backup. We know Rashee Rice is in jail and also dealing with, you know, knee surgery while in jail. Um, the thing with Jaylen Royals coming out of school, it was screens and crossers and then go balls and that's about it. Uh, I need to see more to really buy into this. I think Rashee Rice is just so good in those skills that the major weaknesses that he has in the other areas of of his game like don't matter because he's so good at those specific routes. Whereas I don't think Jaylen Royals is nearly as good on those routes. So, uh, I think it's going to get hype as the offseason goes along. Um, I'll just be a bit more tentative probably than other people.

Yeah, we saw the tape this same exact way and at a certain extent it's like, okay, you're on the football field with Patrick Mahomes, like you're immediately at least interesting. So, I think it just comes down to, you know, how, how good was the rehab in jail for for Rashee Rice? Um, but apparently he's almost out of jail, which is promising. His Rashee Rice's ADP is gonna go up because of the reports that he's out of jail, which is just gonna be funny to see. But,

Yeah, Rice right now has barely dropped. I mean, he's in the middle of the third round right now as wide receiver 13 overall.

Yeah, I mean, those fourth round wide receivers are so good at football that the risk of these third round wide receivers is like, uh, difficult to kind of.

The Rice, neighbors combo mainly you're talking about.

For sure. But I mean, Chris Godwin is not playing because of blood clots as well. So Zay Flowers is just like in that different offense. So there's a couple guys where like to me it's like I'm getting a ton of fantasy points out of Travis Etienne and Kyren Williams and then Javonte Williams. Like I'm kind of like, all right, give me another one of these running backs in that round or Josh Allen. And then I'll have my my wide receiver fun in the fourth round.

Yeah, some combo of two running backs and then two wide receivers, but namely that being like round one or two wide receiver and then round four wide receiver, uh, is kind of where I'm going. But you can mix in, you know, Colson Loveland there in round four. You can mix in Brock Bowers in round two.

Bowers, Josh Allen.

Some Josh Allen at that three, four turn.

Yeah. And if you, you can go three running backs early if you want. It works sometimes.

It works.

I have been doing it quite a bit and then just not touching it until I get down to I'm super late.

Beyond Blake Corum, even like super late.

All right.

I've been doing some three running backs, throw in Kyle Pitts, four running backs, I'm done.

I love those.

All right, that's it for us. Uh, this was breakouts week. Hopefully, and I mean hopefully, if you made it this far, you already subscribe to the channel. Hopefully, you're also drafting over on Underdog. Again, click the link in the description down below. Play five bucks, get 50 bucks on top of it. Uh, if you're in the app, it's under the games section as well. Uh, Hope and Numei are posting new contests all the freaking time, including on Fridays as well. So, be on the lookout for that. It's like this little window of time that's unique games every single Friday, it feels like. So, uh, yeah, spend your summer, grill out, draft on Underdog. It's that simple. All right, everyone. Shout out to Weaves and Moshow. We'll be back next week with three more episodes at least. Talk to you all then. See.