Transcription
This is the range of wide receivers that's going to win fantasy leagues this year. And I'm pretty confident of that because I think the winning strategy this year is going to be to really get running backs early and to get wide receivers either in the third and fourth round or rounds 5 through nine. Most of the league winning wide receivers that you draft in fantasy football come from the mid-ranges where you don't typically find league winning running backs in those ranges.
But looking at this huge tier of wide receivers here, Lad, Devonte Smith, Z Flowers, Jaylen Wadd, Devonte Adams, T. Higgins, T-Mac, Ibuka, Wilson, and Neighbors. How are we ranking these guys? Which ones are our favorite targets? And which ones can you pair with elite running backs to hopefully get wide receiver one production? Because the short of it is all of these guys, all these guys, lad through neighbors, have wide receiver one upside, right? If any one of these guys finishes a low-end wide receiver one, you wouldn't be surprised. The thing is, right now they're all being priced as wide receiver twos with the exception of Dvonte Smith who's actually being priced as like the wide receiver 12 or 13 and we have them like at the wide receiver 14. But all these guys are are wide receiver one upside guys being priced as wide receiver twos. Let's examine the case for each of them and their situation this year and which ones you should draft to try to win your fantasy league.
We'll start with Lad McConkey. Lad's one of my favorites out of this group, right? You have a Mike McDaniel offense. Mike McDaniel takes the job as the Chargers offensive coordinator after leaving the Dolphins head coach where the offense there pretty much every year he was there was very good for fantasy football. Wasn't always the highest rated offense in the league. In a couple of those years, it actually was like a top five offense when when Jaylen Wadd and Tyreek Hill and Devon were all able to produce, but you saw consistently wide receivers were able to produce there when the wide receiver and the quarterback game were both good. You have Justin Herbert in LA should be fine. Running backs were consistently productive there, right? You saw Raheem Moer be productive there. You saw Devon Aan be productive there. You even saw Jeff Wilson be productive there. And so all of these things point towards a very good offense for the Los Angeles Chargers. And I think the one of the biggest beneficiaries that is Lad Mani.
Lad last year struggled from a couple of things. Number one, his rookie year when he was again a borderline wide receiver one, he clearly has that upside because you saw in his first year in the NFL, he was the wide receiver 13 on the season, right? So he was just outside of that wide receiver one mark. Last year he had the same amount of targets, a lot less catchable passes, and his his A dot was way down, his yards per run was way down. You can attribute this to a couple of things. Offensive line play, right? Uh that was a huge one in LA last year. Uh so again, working the intermediate part of the field. Didn't have enough time for routes to develop for Justin Herbert to find him, you know, down the field more like he did his rookie year. I think that was a big part of why lad's a DOT dropped last year and why I think it will go back up this year. You have a healthier offensive line for the Chargers. You get Slater back, for example. You're going to get Joe Alt, who missed part of last season, back. So the offensive line is going to be much better. But also the Mike McDaniel system just runs more two wide receiver sets than what you saw last year with the Chargers where you had QJ and Lad Mcconi and and and then a third guy, Trey Harris, KLS, Keenan Allen on the field all at the same time. And there have been multiple articles that I've read that have basically talked about how when you go down to two wide receiver sets for a wide receiver, that's when they tend to break out and produce more. Lad would be the guy to do that. Lad's an elite route runner. We've looked at his reception perception profile, which measures how good of a separator, how good of a route runner he is. He is an elite route runner. He's a very good receiver. He could be the main beneficiary of a better situation this year in LA. So, we have Lad. Both of us, I think, have Lad ranked near the top of this tier. And he's somebody that again, he's being priced closer to wide receiver ones in fantasy football right now, but you still can take him probably I I want to say anywhere in the early third probably. You're looking at his ADP right now. Lad is uh where is Lad? Lad's a wide receiver 20. That's at 41 and a half. So that's actually that's what that's fourth round, isn't it? >> Mhm. >> That's insane. So this is a perfect example. And actually Lad, when you're looking at consensus ADP across all platforms, uh he's actually going as the wide receiver uh 20. I have him ranked at wide receiver 13. So this is a guy we're higher on and we're going to tell you to draft a lot of this year. Um but we'll continue to work our way down this list and talk about each of these guys. Again, lads one I definitely would target, especially at wide receiver 20 prices across ADP boards right now.
I think Devontto Smith is very interesting this year as well, and a lot of people are expecting him to be super productive now that AJ Brown is out of that offense. And honestly, I'm in full support of that this season because not only is Smith now having less target competition with AJ Brown out, Kyle Lemon is coming in, but he's a rookie wide receiver. is going to have to get ramped up over time. But also, you're looking at a Shawn Manion offense, which is he's coming from the Shawn McVey tree um of of play calling, and they've already made it very clear that they want to line up Jaylen Herz under center. And whether it works out or not, the reality is that offense is going to be throwing the ball a lot more often than what we've used than what we're used to seeing um at least over the last couple of years. And that bodess really well for the lead wide receiver in that offense in Devonte Smith who is the season veteran um who is still decently young. Um there haven't been very many games. I I wanted to look up the splits and see where Dvontto Smith produced with and without AJ Brown on the field. Brown has missed a couple of games the last couple of years. There's only really like four games total where he was off of the field. But there was almost a point and a half game point and a half per game difference um between when Smith or when Brown was on the field versus when he was off. But I think what's most notable is you see the target share go from 25% for Smith up to 29.2%. And you see the targets go up by almost two targets per game as well. Um not to mention the yards per target and the yards per route run increase dramatically. His yards per route run. I think this is the most notable. Smith's yards per route run jumped from 2.1 when Smith when Brown is on the field to 3.84 when Brown is off the field. He's a lot more efficient there. I am curious and interested to see how Mai Lemon fits um Devonte Smith at least schematically in that offense under Shawn Mannion as a play caller. But ultimately we have seen in stretches Dvonte Smith be hyper hyper productive at any given point in time. And if he can string that together over the course of an entire season, you're going to see a season very similar to what we saw in 2022, which was with AJ Brown, by the way, when he finished with o over 130 targets and finished as a wide receiver nine in total points. I think you're looking at another uh potential outlook where where he could finish as high as a top seven, top eight wide receiver. Um if he can stay healthy and if he can just get enough volume and Herz can be just okay enough to get the ball to him consistently.
We already talked about Z Flowers a lot on this channel, but he's going as the wide receiver 14 in consensus ADP right now. On average, he's going at the in the mid to late third. uh on Sleeper, he's been going in the early fourth so with in drafts and so pretty good prices here for Z Flowers. And people are a little bit concerned about Zay Flowers production profile because they're like, "Oh, there's a couple games that really inflated Z Flowers production last year and the rest of his games he was mid." I tend to disagree with that. Like Zay Flowers out of an a 17g game season last year, had approximately three games in single digits, and every other game he scored in double digits. And again, what are you actually aiming for when you're making this a Flowers pick? You're aiming for a guy that gives you consistent production. You're not you're not drafting a first or second round wide receiver. Sure, there were 20 point games that that boosted his stock, right? There were four 20 point games, which again, four out of 17. That's almost 25% of the time that he's hitting the 20 point mark. That's really not all that much. We're not talking about one game skewing his stats here. But even in the rest of the games, like 14, 14, 14, 11, 12, 11, 11, 15, and 13, you'll absolutely take that. And again, that was in 14 out of 17 games, he had like 11 or more points. His floor was 11 to 14 points and he scored 20 points four times. For a guy you're drafting in the late third, early fourth, you have no problem with that. Again, people are saying this like, oh, it's a trap because he actually had games inflating all of his production. It would be a trap if he were going in the second round, but he's going in the at the 3 four turn. Who cares what his production looks like there? And and again, people want to say, well, you know, there it was just boom bust boom bus. It actually wasn't. Again, like this guy was very consistent outside of literally a 3-w week span where he had single digits. Every other game he was 11 plus points a game. You'll take that where you're drafting Zay Flowers. Again, you're you're skipping out on elite wide receivers. You're trying to fill them with guys who can give you week- toeek production. And consistency matters in this range. I already talked about him. We like him a lot this year. I'll be drafting a lot of him. But again, he's one of those guys you can get at the three four turn if you're picking from picks 9 through 12. Load up on those double running back starts and pick Z Flowers either in the third or the fourth. feel pretty good about it. I like Zay this year. Again, he is ranked as the wide receiver 14 right now. I have him ranked at wide receiver 15. So, I have him right there with ADP and I think at price he's a really good pick this year.
Jaylen Wadd is another guy that's going in the mid fourth. In some formats, um or some platforms, he's being drafted as late as like the four five turn. Um and and obviously this isn't a it doesn't have anything to do with what he's been doing production-wise the last three seasons. Jaylen Wadd for the last three years has been the wide receiver 24-46 and 34 in a way way way worse situation that didn't get any better over time under Mike McDaniel alongside Tyreek Hill to Valo looked horrible. Now you're going into a situation in Denver where they paid a first round pick for him heavy investment so they're want to get they're going to want to get him integrated into the offense quickly and often with Bo Nicks throwing the football. Shawn Payeyton calling plays, a team that's just coming off of an AFC Championship birth last year, and the only reason they didn't go to the Super Bowl is because Nicks got injured um heading into that final game, which was really unfortunate. But we've seen in stretches some wide receivers, mainly Courtland Sutton, be very productive in this offense the last couple of years. Um and and he obviously is not what they're looking for as a top alpha option. um they want to get somebody that can really, you know, take the top off of offenses and or off of defenses and uh be more explosive than they have been over the last couple of years. He was the wide receiver 15 in 2024 and the wide receiver 13 last year, way more productive um than I recall in 2025. I I I I recall him being like decently disappointing when in reality in total points, he actually was pretty dang close to what he did in 2024, just a point difference. But the biggest thing with Sutton is what you saw in 2024 in that 10-week stretch from weeks 8 to 18 is he averaged 18 points per game, which was 10th among wide receivers. He had almost nine targets per game, a ridiculous target share, and was hyperproductive, hyper efficient with his opportunities. I think that's what a lot of people, us included, are hoping that Jaylen Wadd can do this season and kind of take that mantle from Sutton, who is aging out and is going to be 30 years old heading into this season. Sutton, while he did get his own, especially after the by-week last year towards like the last third of the season, he started looking like from a target volume perspective how he looked the previous year. Um that that's just not something that I think we can consistently count on this season. And clearly Shawn Peyton doesn't want to count on it either. Hence why they went and got Jaylen Wadd to begin with. So uh the sky is the limit I think for Jaylen Wadd this year. And he's shown it in his career in the past that he can be a wide receiver one. And I think of all the situations where he could do it again, it would be here in Denver.
And again, our algorithm that we built will walk you through how to draft with all of this in mind to grab running backs early and to invest in this middle- range wide receiver range where you can get potential league winners here. If you want access to the algorithm, you can get it down below. It's again every league setting combination, superflex, titan premium, two tightens, three flex spots, zero flex spots, plus any platform. We combine those to give you a personalized plan for your draft. They're based off of our rankings or you can customize your own rankings. and it literally holds your hand as you go through the draft and make your picks. It selects the best strategy for you if you want access. Again, it's worth trying out. It's $34 for the season pass over on Flock. Use code domain when you sign up to get the algorithm. You're also going to get the trade calculator, the rankings, you're going to get free start sit and trade questions to Nate and I. So, it is the best deal in fantasy football. And the algorithm, I promise you, will help you if you want something out of the algorithm. We were even taking requests to just add stuff as we go. So, check it out down below. Again, it's code domain. It's the season pass over on the site with our code to unlock that.
Devonte Adams is a guy I think Nathan and I have higher than pretty much everybody in the industry. Which this one kind of confuses me because if you're looking at the Vegas projections, in fact, let me just pull up the Vegas projections here uh for Devonte Adams. Cuz when you're looking at the Vegas projections for Dvonte Adams, I think this may be one of the biggest disconnects in the industry in the sense that you know, number one, the Rams are projected to have the best offense in the NFL according to Vegas lines, right? And that doesn't come without Puka Aua who's projected 1350 receiving yards and eight and a half receiving touchdowns. Uh which obviously again like Puk is going to get his own there and it's not really concerning to me in terms of how Dvonte Adams get his gets his production. Dvonte Adams uh 799 yards, 800 yards. And just to compare this to what he did last year, last year on an entire season basis, uh you were looking at last year you were looking at 789 yards and 14 touchdowns. He's projected the same amount of yardage according to Vegas. Vegas usually goes a little bit low by the way because it projects injuries as well which he missed three games last year and you know not a touchdown game in 14 touchdowns but nine nine and a half aka Devonte Adams is being projected to lead the NFL. Jamar Chase Aman Raw and Vonte Adams are the three projected NFL leader in touchdowns according to Vegas. And so basically Vegas is saying hey look he could regress a little bit but he's still gonna score a ton of touchdowns and the yardage is probably going to be the same. I agree he could regress a little bit. He's the wide receiver nine. If he scores five less touchdowns this year, he's still like a mid wide receiver, too. If he has those receptions and yardage total, he's only caught 60 passes last year. The bar is extremely low for him to repeat. Not to mention, we have plenty of examples of wide receivers in their 33-y old season going into their 34y old season where they've produced just fine. Reggie Wayne did it in 2011. He actually increased his points per game by four because that was Andrew Luck's rookie year and Luck was again one of the best rookies, the best rookie quarterback we've probably ever seen. RIP us. Uh Larry Fitzgerald 15 to 16 points a game in his 33 to 34 year. Adam Thelen 13 to13, right? So we've seen plenty of examples of guys at this stage in their career. Dante Adam plays on the best offense in the league, the highest scoring offense in the league. Is projected the most touchdowns in the league and he's being drafted right now on an ADP basis at like wide receiver 24 prices. To me, that's mindboggling. I don't understand how we're taking him at wide receiver, low-end wide receiver. That is his absolute floor we're taking him at taking him at here. Maybe there's something I don't know, but when you're talking about wide receiver 24 prizes, and again, you're getting him in the late fourth, early fifth. Oh, it's so good. And again, we have him ranked a lot higher than this, right? I have him ranked at 17. I have him in this tier of wide receivers. Other people do not. I genuinely think people are too low in Devonte Adams this year. I get that there's going to be regression, but there can still be regression, and he's going to outperform his current ADP, and I would bet money on it. And so, I love Devonte Adams this year, and you can get him in the fourth. To me, that's dynamite. He's going to have some ups and downs obviously with him being so touchdown dependent, but at the same time, regression can be baked into this price and he's still going to outperform his current ADP. So, he's a slam dunk pick right now where he's going in most draft platforms.
So long as the Cincinnati Bugles decide to operate their offense and their franchise the way that they have been for the last few years by not investing in defense whatsoever, that's going to result in T. Higgins always being a reliable option when he's on the field. And that's the biggest caveat here. I don't think it's a I don't think it's debatable that when T. Higgins is on the field and when he's healthy, he has week to week game-breaking a match-winning upside for you on your fantasy team. He's going to be going three, four turn and I do think that's a very reasonable price for him when we usually often over the last couple of years have seen him go like two three turn as opposed to a full round later than that when in reality the last couple of years have been some of the best years that we've seen from him from a production perspective when he's been on the field. Um again the the thing with his games missed like you can kind of bake it into his price at this point. and he missed two games in 2025, five games in 2024, five in 2023. Um, he missed three games in 2021 as well. This is a guy that just every single year is going to get a concussion. He's going to tweak his hamstrings, something like that. But the nice thing about T. Higgins is he doesn't require an elite amount of target volume or target share to be productive because his touchdowns are so high. It reminds me so much of like if you were to take uh Devonte Adams and Mike Evans in their prime and just turn them down a notch or two, that would be T. Higgins pretty much every single year where you can lock it in that he's going to finish from a points per game perspective as a high-end wide receiver two if not low-end wide receiver one. He finished as a wide receiver five in points per game in 2024. And again last year with a mix of Joe Flacco um Browning and Joe Burrow, you you saw still consistent production when he was on the field there and actually a tick up when Burrow was healthy. So when Burrow's on the field, you're going to see his floor be raised even more. Uh you saw almost a two point per game jump in production last year when Burrow was on the field the six games that he was playing. Um and again the yards per target, the uh receiving touchdowns, everything just increased significantly. So Higgins not one of those guys on a per route basis is going to be the most efficient player of all time, but he's always going to be on the field. He's always going to capitalize on the limited opportunities he gets because Jamar Chase is the number one there. And yes, this is one of the few scenarios that we've seen historically where two wide receiver ones can produce in the same offense. And you the the the Bugles are the first team that you want to bet on there because if they want to win any football games this year, they have to score 30 plus points every single >> and we'll talk about this in our offensive rankings video, but the Bengals are one of two S tier offenses to invest in to there's so much offensive output and it's so concentrated. The other huge thing for for T. Higgins really is when you look at the splits with and without Burrow, it's him and Burrow staying healthy at the same time. That's the big risk with >> Tig. Yeah. That's why he's going much cheaper than he usually does. So >> because when when Joe Burrow's on the field, this dude's averaging 16 plus points a game. He's real darn good. He if if him if you knew him and Joe Burrow were going to stay healthy, you'd be like, I will draft this guy in the second round. And nobody would bat an eye at that because he has second round production when they're both healthy.
So Tav McMillan's probably one of the biggest boom or bust candidates here. Not that it's really like the the floor is super low for T Mcmillan. I just think there's a a decent possibility that he's similar to what he did last year because when you're looking at the Panthers offensive situation this year, they're projected to be a bottom seven offense in the league this year. You compare that to a T. Higgins, right? a Dvonte Adams, uh, Jaylen Wadd who are in much lad maki much better offensive situations. T Higgins and there's a couple other guys on this list really Garrett Wilson and Malik Neighbors like these guys are in in our opinion objectively worse situations than some other dudes on this list and I think that's why T McMillan's being ranked where he is. T McMillan also is going into his second year. Tedo McMillan is going into his second year um where he could easily just break out this year. He averaged 12 and a half points per game in his rookie year. He's he could easily be one of the best wide receivers in the NFL that is going to have his breakout season this year and that's what some people are betting on. Now I have him ranked as the wide receiver 19 right now. Uh on average when you're looking he's been going as the wide receiver 18. So I have them ranked about where everybody else does. The ADP is all over the place though. Like for example ESPN uh drafts got him like mid third. Um a lot of these have three four turns. Some of them have mid fourth. I think I'm more comfortable taking T McMillan in the fourth round this year to be honest with you again because I I worry about Bryce Young and I worry about the Panthers more than I worry about Tap McMillan. But T-Mac is obviously an incredible talent and again he could be the highest reward guy in this range. And so if you are more riskaverse, more uh high reward oriented, then you could draft T-Mac and I would not blame you at all. But there are obvious concerns there and I think it has to be with the offense and the quarterback because again the problem with McMillan last year wasn't necessarily that um he couldn't get his feet on him. He only had one game above 20 points and he was playing the entire year and he was getting decent targets. Not all the targets were catchable, right? That was a big one for for team. Not a lot of these targets were catchable and he he's going to need to have a higher volume of catchable targets this year if he wants to actually turn up and be a wide receiver. one definitely a guy who could easily be he could easily end up as the highest productive guy on this list when it's all said and done. I do think there's a fair amount of risk and the offensive situation doesn't support it as much as it does for some of these other guys, but I'm not going to be out on team this year just because the talent is unbelievable and we could absolutely see the breakout happen this year.
A guy going backto back um with T McMillan pretty consistently across almost all platforms is Acha Ibuka who had one of the most dynamite rookie starts that we have ever seen in the first five weeks of the season. Um where he averaged 20 and a half points per game. He was averaging a touchdown a game. Um a solid amount of target volume. And then you see that script totally flipped from week six to 18 when he suffers a hamstring injury. Baker Mayfield starts getting banged up. And honestly, that's kind of why I wanted to focus on the the night and day difference between Ibuka's first third of the season and the last twothirds is um you did have a lot of injuries happen there. You had pretty much every single week the the receiving core looked different with Godwin being in and out, with Mike Evans being in and out, with Jaylen McMillan coming back towards the end of the season, with Bucky Irving in and out of the offense, Baker Mayfield banged up with a shoulder injury, and then Ibuka with his hamstring. Like, it was just that that offense could never figure it out after the first month of the season when they were at almost full strength. Um, and that that really came true because ultimately achiev volume didn't go down. His receiving touchdowns went to essentially zero. He only had like one more touchdown for the rest of the year. His yards per route run cut in half. His yards per target cut in half. There's got to be some happy medium here with achuka. Could he finish next year in 2026 as a wide receiver three in points per game across the entire season? Maybe. I probably wouldn't bet on that. But for a guy that ended up being from week 6 to 18 56 in points per game at 7.8 points per game, I don't think he's going to be that bad either. there were just too many moving parts, too many moving pieces consistently um in in that offense and in that team as a whole throughout the season that it just was a jackal and hide year for the Tampa Bay Bucks as a whole. Ibuka now has a year of experience in his pocket and the big kicker here is Mike Evans is now out of that offense. Ibuka is going to operate, I think, differently this season than he did last year because Mike Evans is no longer there. And I know Evans didn't play all of last season, so Ibuka was asked to do more things than he usually is, but really what we're expecting from Ibuka this season, and a lot of people are schematically, is that Ibuka might operate more in the role that he did at Ohio State as a prospect um or in college. And that is that he's probably going to take a lot more snaps out of the slot. And what that's going to result in is Ibuka's um success rate by target is probably going to look significantly better than it did last year. Because again in the first five weeks of the season, his production was very dependent on the touchdowns that he was scoring on a weekly basis. But when you look at his catchable target rate, it was 94th among wide receivers. That that is unbelievably bad. And when you look at again where he's getting his targets and where he's getting his opportunities, it just wasn't good and it wasn't it wasn't sustainable for a full body of um elite level production for the entire year. So, if you change where he operates out of the slot this year in Tampa's offense with Mike Evans now out, maybe they have uh there there's been a lot of talk about Ted Hurst now being like the the sacrificial X. It doesn't mean he's going to play Mike Evans role. It's just going to be that they don't want IUA to line up as the ex wide receiver as much as they did last season. They're going to have receivers there that are going to operate more as decoys. And I think the focal points are going to be Ibuka primarily and honestly probably Chris Godwin as well. But Ibuka is the one that has the upside because he's young. He's shown how incredibly productive he can be just as a rookie. So, this is a this is a shot called um if you draft him here in the mid fourth, but it could absolutely pay off.
Garrett Wilson's another guy that's not on a good offense at all, but at the same time, when you're looking at Garrett Wilson's production the last couple years, he's actually been more productive than you would think. When he was healthy last year, he averaged 16 points a game. Now, I know small sample size, right? We had five games. But Garrett Wilson, when Justin Fields was playing last year, had some disgusting plays. A lot of those were touchdowns, right? And so, you're looking he had a touchdown in every game but one last year. That's obviously not sustainable across a whole season. But last year he did have like a 35% plus target share in like four of his games. And so absolutely ridiculous from Garrett Wilson. Right now ADP-wise for Garrett Wilson, he's going anywhere from it really depends on the platform. He's going anywhere from early fourth to uh late fourth. So really solidified in the fourth round here. And I think it could end up being a really good pick. Again, like if Gary Wilson comes out and averages 15 a game this year, you hit on that pick. It's just so hard to tell because you have Frank Reich there as the offensive coordinator. Frank Reich, I mean, it's not like you haven't seen productive wide receivers and Frank Reich offenses before. It's more just the overall scheme that he tends to run has kind of aged out and it doesn't necessarily translate well. Not to mention, you have a wild card in Gino Smith. You have no idea what you're getting there. I'm not worried about their new draft picks, Omar Cooper and Kenyan Sadi. Garrett Wilson will get his own before they get anything in my opinion. But at the same time, how willing are you to invest in an offense that when you're looking at projections for this year is projected to be the second worst offense in the NFL at 18.7 points per game projected by Vegas. Personally, I don't love investing in that. I think that's why Garrett Wilson Frost is going to be at the bottom of this tier. Again, he's a guy in terms of like I I will say this as well. This is a take for you. In terms of guys on this list, ranking them in terms of their talent, Garrett Wilson is outside maybe Malik Neighbors. Those are the two best wide receivers on this list. They just have two of the biggest questions, right? But Garrett Wilson and Neighbors who he's going to talk about, these are Garrett Wilson's probably the best guy on this list. He's probably the best wide receiver and if he were on another team, he would outscore all these guys. He wouldn't be drafted here. He'd be drafted in the top top eight every year. He is that good. He's that good. He's stuck in New York and it sucks and we have to kind of evaluate him independently because of that. But again, if he comes out and averages 14 a game like he did in a sample size last year, a limited sample size last year, who knows what you could get and you're getting him again anytime in the fourth round. He could end up being a decent pick. Definitely prefer grabbing running backs and grabbing a Garrett Wilson though because of the upside that he does bring this year.
Odds are very, very high that from a total points perspective this season, Malik Neighbors is not going to be a wide receiver one. But points per game, depending on when he's back, he absolutely could. It just depends on when he's going to be back healthy. And how much work is he going to get right out the gate once he does come back healthy? That's the biggest question here. I mean, we could talk about when he's going to be back. if we're going to project week four, week six, week eight, if he's going to be back to start the season, like that's all been debated and discussed. And I I think it is worth noting that I I mean, suffering an ACL tear in week four of 2025, usually the timetable is a little bit shorter than what it has been for Malik Neighbors. And the reason that's the case for Neighbors and it being longer is because his surgery was delayed a month. This is according to Jesse Morse, by the way, um on Twitter. Um it was delayed a month and then his meniscus also needed to be repaired as well. Um, so he was set back from weightbearing and like doing rehab for four to six weeks after his surgery. Then if you guys remember this off season, he had a setback with his rehab and had to have a second cleanup surgery to clean up scar tissue. So he doesn't even look comfortable walking right now. It's going to be a while until Malik Neighbors comes back and is a full go as we expect. But again, same discussion here. when when when Malik Neighbors is back and when he's playing in this offense, he could absolutely explode again. He's the only guy there. I think it's kind of been blown over that Wel Robinson just left New York to go to Tennessee, which is a ton of target volume that's just left wide open for the remaining wide receivers there to I guess take um while Malik Neighbors isn't healthy. Or maybe there's just not going to be any volume at all because Greg Roman is um not calling plays, but Matt Matt Naggie is Greg Roman is doing a lot of the run game coordinating. Look, John Harbaugh wants to prioritize running the football this year, which is another huge risk for Malik Neighbors this season. And again, that's the reason that Neighbors is even in the same conversation as the guys in this tier. But it's undeniable that if Malik Neighbors were healthy and if we knew exactly when he was going to come back and when he was going to be a full go, the dude would be going at least in the second round of your fantasy drafts. And that's something that's going to rain true. Even though Matt Negi offenses aren't super friendly from a fantasy perspective for every asset in their offense, um, just historically, there have still been very productive wide receivers and very productive running backs and sometimes on occasions productive quarterbacks as well. But you can hyperfocus target volume to one elite wide receiver, be very productive there as a wide receiver while the offense as a whole isn't as good as you would want it to be with like complimentary pieces, wide receiver twos, um, handcuffed running backs, etc. But neighbors absolutely capable of commanding a 30 plus% target share in an offense that isn't expected to throw the ballon. It just comes down to the question of when you expect him to come back, when we expect him to come back. And right now it's looking like it's going to be closer to the midpoint of the season than the beginning of the season.
Okay. So, let's just have a quick rankings discussion between the two of us here and they can listen in on on how we have these guys ranked. I haven't looked at your rankings. Who do you have out of these guys ranked the highest? Because mine's actually kind of flip-flopped a little bit here. Um, but I have Devonte Smith at 13. I have all these guys in the same tier, but I have Smith, Lad, and Z Flowers as my top three. What of these guys that we've talked about, who are your top three that we've talked about so far?
Uh, my top three of these guys would be Lad Mani, who I have at wide receiver 13, um, and Devonte Adams at wide receiver 14, and then Z Flowers at wide receiver 15. Back to back to back.
So, where do you have Smitty at?
Um, right after, uh, T. Higgins who goes right after Flowers. I've got him at 16 and 17.
Okay. I've put Yeah, I've moved Smitty up to again the top of this tier because I think he has the most I don't know. I I also wrestle with this and again these guys are in the same tier for us. I have Wadd at 16 or 16 overall. You have our wide receiver 16. You have him close to there, right?
I have Adams now. I can't Adams I go back and forth with. I have I have him towards the top of the tier there obviously right there with lad at the top of that tier but I could see myself eventually moving him down because I do think ultimately his upside is probably lower than what like Higgins and Smith and even Teeta offer.
That's exactly why I moved him down.
But I do think he's the safest because he's >> in the best offense >> in the best offense in the NFL >> in the best red zone target there.
Exactly. So I moved him to 19 because I had him higher and I put I put T and T above him just because and I do have Auga behind him. Are Garrett Wilson and Neighbors the two last guys in this year for you?
Yes.
Yeah. I have Garrett Wilson and Neighbors again situation injuries >> waddle waddle towards the back as well just because he hasn't done anything though anything for the last three years. So
Yeah. So you can kind of get kind of a glimpse of the guys we really like to target in this range and we're different a little bit here but you get the idea. The point of this video is this is the wide receiver range this year where if you pick the right guys and again you've got our rankings here and you know who our favorites are. You pick the right ones out of this out of this group, you might end up winning your league because of it. It's going to be probably the most important range of any position in in fantasy football this year. So if you enjoyed the video, enjoyed the discussion, drop a like. Make sure you're subscribed as well. Those two things easy, they're free and they help us continue to put out videos. So we really appreciate you guys doing that. We're going to have more fantasy content. We're ramping up now. We're going to have four videos next week. So get ready, guys, because it is really starting to pick up here. Thanks for watching. We appreciate you guys. We're going to see you here soon.
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