Fantasy Football - Rookie Review + Worrisome Wideouts - Podcast for 2/17

9:14Mike Wright:that i'm most nervous for a wide receiver this is not going to be a surprise i think a lot of people are annoyed nervous all of that but i for the first time this morning i actually thought

9:22Andy Holloway:about maybe a an unfortunate comp i before you give the name i think it's the the the connection here of being nervous about Emeka Ibuka and being like your guy, you're going to name. You can name if you want. Okay, it's Marv. It's Marvin Harrison. Spoiler alert. Why would you do that? I'm so sorry. But it's like, hey, year two. First round wide receiver. Ohio. This is wide receiver. Nothing. He will be just fine and then marv was not you're saying abuka's one year behind on that same path yes potentially

10:05Mike Wright:look here here's the comp i i started thinking about with marvin and what people are gonna have to reconcile and the nervousness it's across the board who's the quarterback new head coach michael wilson's emergence trey mcbride is the true number one and will remain the true number one and if michael wilson gets more work because i don't know if i'm michael floor and i turn on the tape i saw a lot from michael wilson i didn't see much from marvin harrison he had three weeks in his first 29 games as a top 12 fantasy wide receiver mike there is a player that plays for pittsburgh who you begrudgingly kind of got on board with at the very very end but mostly hated all offseason and his name is mike calf dk mike calf i would like to follow motion to remove your name from his name motion denied oh there's a reality for marvin harrison where he never ever ever meets any of your expectations for superstardom but settles into the worst version of dk metcalf that you could find yeah that is yeah that's what i yeah when i watch marvin harrison like everything i saw from michael wilson was better than what i've seen from marvin harrison Marvin Harrison has more often than not, not made the big play, not made the difficult play.

11:22Mike Wright:He has made a handful in two years of plays where I was like, oh, and the rest have been very pedestrian. Even the production, it's plays any wide receiver should make. It's Michael Pittman, which is not disrespect to Michael Pittman, but it's a good wide receiver. It's like, dude.

11:41Andy Holloway:That's not who Marv was drafted to be.

11:43Mike Wright:You spent too much draft capital to get Michael Pittman or the worst version of Metcalf. You were searching after his pop-up.

11:51Jason Moore:Yeah, you were searching after a world-class wide receiver. I still believe, and there is enough on tape. I know you're saying that Michael Wilson, honestly, Michael Wilson on tape definitely looked better than Marvin Harrison. Were you watching Ohio State tape? I remember the Ohio State tape. But, I mean, in the first nine weeks of the season before he got injured, 55 % of his games, he was a wide receiver two or better. Like, that's a good clip for.

12:24Andy Holloway:Two? Wide receiver two? Yeah. That's a real.

12:27Jason Moore:Yeah. Okay. How about the same exact thing? So, half the time he was a wide receiver two or better?

12:32Mike Wright:I think you're making my point.

12:33Jason Moore:I don't think you understand. I think Mike is, too. I don't think you understand the percentages of, I mean, outside the top like four or five wide receivers who are up there 80-90 % of the time, that's not a bad rate for a wide receiver at all. But we want top 12. Okay.

12:50Mike Wright:So you're telling, let me put it this way, 45 % of the time he wasn't even a wide receiver too. Correct. On a week. Sure. Yes. Okay.

12:58Jason Moore:You can't get him with the, whoopie!

13:03Jason Moore:What are these facts? Get out of here.

13:05Mike Wright:Let me read you DK Metcalf's fantasy finishes in his career. 32-7, 12-18, 16-31, 26. I hope that's not what we're reading off in five years. That's all I'm saying about Marv. Do I want him to succeed? Of course. But his play is so inconsistent right now, whether those numbers are, you know, those numbers notwithstanding, his play on a play-to-play basis is inconsistent. the great ones don't do that the great ones they don't go ping-ponging between what what are you doing on that play and oh that was nice you know that's that's my point and i'm really nervous i'm really nervous because who's playing quarterback for arizona yeah i mean that

13:51Jason Moore:how long is the journey going to be from here to relevance that the the quarterback issue is

13:56Andy Holloway:probably the the biggest issue with mark yeah all right i think it's kyler uh my guy that i'm nervous about it is another first round wide receiver another top 10 wide receiver is roma dunze of the chicago bears and the like a buka the first month it's such a good name the first month of the season was great for fantasy because mr rome put up five touchdowns in four games Five touchdowns in four games will absolutely keep you afloat. So Rome appeared in – he got hurt at the end of the year. He missed five of the regular season games, but he played two games in the playoffs. So you're talking 15 – I'm sorry, 14 games.

14:45Andy Holloway:He was over – do you guys know the average to get to 1 ,000 yards now with 17 games? It's like 57. 59 yards. Yeah. He was – which that's – for fantasy, that's garbage. If you're telling me you're averaging 59 yards a week, that's not going to get it done. And even that mark, he hit it five times. Five? Five. I'm counting the playoff games too, which maybe you're like, hey, I'm not going to count the playoff games because he was coming off the injury. I'm going to count them because the issue is Colston Loveland, Mr. Loveland, Luther Burden. DJ Moore is already not even in the equation anymore, at least in my opinion, for fantasy of who can be.

15:28Jason Moore:Not fantasy, correct.

15:29Andy Holloway:in the financial equation oh yes he's very much he's a chicago bear i'm saying he won't like we aren't worried about dj moore or saying hey guys i think the number one target for chicago is still might be dj moore i think that that is not happening but you have two other guys who are top contenders to be that for the chicago bears mr loveland was not even really he wasn't part of the equation when rome was having the good games at the beginning of the year i'm very concerned for him, especially considering the investment into Rome. It's like Marv, where Ibuka kind of fell a little bit in rookie drafts compared to a first-round wide receiver normally.

16:13Andy Holloway:But people were in on Rome. People were very in on Rome. And I'm just like, I don't know that there is a path for him to ever become anything close to what he was drafted to be.

16:25Mike Wright:These three names, I think at one point if you threw them all on a dynasty roster, you'd be. Oh, you'd be. Oh, my gosh.

16:32Andy Holloway:Maybe like three weeks into last year. I've got the future of the National Football League on my roster. I will have a dynasty in our dynasty league. Yeah. And now you're hoping like, oh, tell me one of them works out.

16:44Mike Wright:So put them in order of nerves for you, Jason. Like most nervous to least nervous about. Because it sounds like Marv is your least nervous probably.

16:53Jason Moore:Yeah, I think I'm most nervous about Rome. Not based on what I've seen from him specifically, more based on what I saw from Loveland and even Luther Burden. The fact that the Bears, I think, are going to be able to spread the ball around. And Rome, to me, profiles now as a touchdown-dependent player. He is not going to be the alpha. He can be good at that. Yeah, yeah, oh, absolutely. He could have a season where he only has 60 receptions but has over 1 ,000 yards and nine touchdowns and is really good for fantasy. That's fine, but his pathway, like if the touchdowns don't come, he might be the third wide receiver on his team.

17:38Mike Wright:Can we just spread the production from Caleb Williams into all the quarters of the game, please, so we can just see normalcy? I'm probably the most nervous about Abuka in that bunch. sure i i and i probably i would probably be i'd probably be the least nervous about marv too of those three i think that's my because he is the abuka could be the one two three four or five pass catching option rome could be three or four marv it's going to be two or three my list would

18:10Andy Holloway:be i'm most nervous about rome second would be marv i'm least concerned about abuka yeah okay

18:16Mike Wright:Well, that makes me happy, Mike. Persuade me. No, not now. Throughout the entire offseason, just persuade me, keep saying nice games.

18:26Andy Holloway:He's going to need a constant drip of positivity. That's it. I mean, Mike Evans is the first shoe that has to drop.

18:34Mike Wright:Yes. Off the team and into the Hall of Fame.

18:37Andy Holloway:Let's do it. Let's do it. Fourth ballot Hall of Fame. Yeah. Wide receiver.

18:41Jason Moore:I am curious about current best ball ADP on these three players. If you haven't seen it, what order do you think they're being drafted in?

18:49Mike Wright:Oh, this is awesome. Wow. We're in basketball? I'm going to guess. Okay. Upside. I'm going to guess that a Dunzey is going ahead of Marv. And I'm going to guess that a Buka is going behind both.

19:03Jason Moore:Okay. You're correct on one, incorrect on another. I'll tell you in a second. Oh, man. We're playing Mastermind right now. Okay. Yeah.

19:12Andy Holloway:Crap. I think the first person would be... That's impossible. There's only three names. I'll go Marv Abuka-Rome.

19:27Jason Moore:It is Marv last as the wide receiver 33. Two years. Rome, wide receiver 28. And Abuka is still being drafted pretty hot and heavy. Wide receiver 23. Okay, okay, okay. Luther Burden wide receiver 22 yeah that's right baby that's right that feels dumb

19:50Andy Holloway:I don't know if we can actually hit but he is so good here's the thing

20:00Jason Moore:both Luther Burden and Roma Dunze I think they're both super talented and they share the exact same problem which is Colston Lovell

20:10Mike Wright:yeah there was a switch in the nfl headquarters that said what is happening and mike turned it to what i want to happen yeah that is literally click but luther burden is going to siphon off

20:22Jason Moore:both these guys and then each one of those two they'll take turns sure be like oh this luther is so good look oh rome sucks and then rome will get two touchdowns in a row you'll be like ah luther's done now rome's stepping up it's just gonna be like that forever all right we're gonna

20:36Mike Wright:to take a break. We're skipping news. We're pre-recording this show by a couple of days, and we're jumping into a rookie review.

20:46Jason Moore:See you Sunday on Paramount Plus, your streaming home for the NFL on CBS all season long. That's right, football fans. Stream your live local CBS games every NFL Sunday all the way through the AFC Championship game. Follow the league's biggest stars, the can't-miss matchups, the season's biggest storylines and catch additional coverage with NFL today, NFL today plus CBS sports HQ, fantasy football today, and more. So sign up and sign in to Paramount plus today, and we'll see you Sunday for another thrilling season of NFL on CBS streaming live on Paramount plus football season has arrived.

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21:45Mike Wright:The creditor and issuer of this card is U.S. Bank National Association, pursuant to a license from Visa USA, Inc. Some restrictions may apply.

21:57Mike Wright:All right, here we go.

22:03Jason Moore:Rookie Review

22:07Mike Wright:Alright, we're going to take a little walk through the positional groups for the rookies in 2025 and compare them historically and we're going to start with the quarterback position. So we want to see how this quarterback rookie class compared to previous years over the last decade we only had four years where multiple rookie quarterbacks average 17 plus fantasy points per game in their starts. Hard to do for rookie quarterbacks. So four times in 10 years or about as many times as Marv is a wide receiver.

22:42Jason Moore:And 17 points per game, the reason we're using that metric, that's basically what the quarterback 12 is on average over any given season.

22:50Mike Wright:So this year there were multiple. There were two rookie quarterbacks who hit that mark. Cam Ward. Nope. Oh. No, no, no. It's Jackson Dart and Tyler Shuck. Now, what's interesting is neither of them really had this, like, it wasn't like the whole season. Right? Tyler Shuck came on at the end. Jackson Dart had a nice run, injury. What's going on? Good run, injury. Yeah, so.

23:16Jason Moore:Nice individual run, injury.

23:18Mike Wright:Yeah, so it's interesting. Jackson Dart, Tyler Shuck, I mean, they were the most exciting rookie quarterbacks, both from an NFL and a fantasy perspective. It wasn't Cam Ward, although he played better over the second half of the year. He did. probably had the least total at his disposal, I would say, in terms of weapons, offensive line, all of it. For sure? For sure. Yes.

23:41Jason Moore:I would say for sure. I mean, I love Chris Olave, but there was not much else to work with.

23:47Andy Holloway:Chris Olave is a great player. Juwan Johnson is a serviceable tight end.

23:54Jason Moore:I think if you switch the quarterbacks, you'd be saying, Calvin Ridley still had it. And you had Epic Isle Manor and you had Chico Conquo. I would disagree.

24:05Andy Holloway:Watching them, they were not good. And then I'm also including that coaching. Sure, coaching. Dart is the ceiling play. He is the far scarier player who keeps running headfirst into the ground and into defenders and sometimes his offensive line. and I am a little bit nervous about Matt Nagy being the mastermind of the offense for the Giants you know I would we talked about the Callahan stuff he's the he's a the what the passing game coordinator it's not as he's not as high on the level as as Nagy is who Nagy has like two years of success and those were with Mahomes and then he had years of not being great with Mahomes and then he had his own team and it was awful and they didn't they didn't you know he's not taking a better role right somewhere else and then so but but dart is the the player who he runs so for fantasy football that's what we want Tyler Shuck might end up being the guy because he can make all the throws he does run enough or you know to to boost the floor and his coach, his coach gives his, like Kellen Moore, I mean, you know, we get hot and bothered by a lot of different coaches and people might be like, I'm tired of hearing about it.

25:30Andy Holloway:Wherever Kellen Moore has gone, there has been fantasy goodness because of how he runs his offense, you know, specifically fast-paced. When you are playing multiple, when you get multiple snaps more per game over the course of the season, it really, really adds up. So while Dart is the one I prefer, no risk it, no biscuit, I think it could easily end up being Tyler Shuck who's just this real steady top eight, like top six to eight quarterback for fantasy.

26:01Mike Wright:I think one of the best things Kellen Moore did was entrust Tyler Shuck to throw the football and make bigger plays and give him responsibility. Sometimes these offensive coordinators can just try to do too much protecting uh the young player and then you don't you have you don't get to see enough i

26:19Jason Moore:think they protected him in the right way which was via spencer rattler sure they gave him time to not by comparison look how good truck is um but having spencer rattler win the job starting week one and and letting shuck have the time on the bench that could have been helpful for him even though he played 20 years of college.

26:42Mike Wright:So fantasy-wise, looking at, I mean, those are two guys over 17 fantasy points per game in their starts. And Jackson Dart, by the way, fifth best among rookie quarterbacks ever, averaging 41 rushing yards per game in those starts. But among the quarterbacks that have done that, have gone over 17 fantasy points per game in year one, 50 % of them were a top-five quarterback within the next two years. That's wild. So shoot your shot, right? I mean, year two jumps for Lamar Jackson, Justin Herbert, Kyler Murray, fantasy-wise.

27:13Jason Moore:I agree with Mike. If you have to call one of these guys being top five, which is a real fantasy asset, it's got to be Jackson Dart with the incredible amount of rushing that he does. He did all that without Malik. Yeah, I mean, you want to talk about the worst receiving core, Wandale. I think Wandale's good. No, Wandale's good, but I'm saying that's his best. He's not as good as Chris Olave. Agreed. So maybe Dart. I mean, all three of these guys did not have a ton to work with.

27:48Mike Wright:There you go. So, you know, look at those other quarterbacks who hit 17-plus fancy points per game. There was some regression in year two. Baker Mayfield, C.J. Stroud, Bo Nix, those are players that their fancy points per game decreased by three fancy points per game. we might have been having that conversation about jay daniels had he gotten more of the season too like jason brought up frequently how nice their schedule was in his rookie season year two we didn't see like when we did the true series and we talked about jayden for a minute like we just didn't see the peak games in the upper you know in the few that he got but um yeah and we'll see where cam ward falls in next year with i mean maybe uh an extremely talented wide receiver being added to the roster and some offensive line improvements.

28:37Mike Wright:They got to do something. And spending a lot of that capital, new head coach, new offense coordinator Brian Dable. Like, there is a lot of reasons. I mean.

28:47Jason Moore:Being drafted at the one-on-one buys him time. I mean, Bryce Young is still playing because if Bryce Young was drafted in the second round, he would have been moved on from already. And that's where Cam Ward can compete with Tyler Shuck and Dart from – not so much start but shuck you know if if things go wrong the rug can get pulled if things go wrong for cam ward it won't get pulled but he'll probably i would still definitely bet on both

29:12Mike Wright:dart and shuck over do you do you realize i mean when you look behind the scenes i know the fantasy numbers weren't prolific or anything and again his weapons sucked but i'm looking at cam ward's game log right here right he started the year and he threw four touchdowns and what looks like one, two, three, four, five, six interceptions you come out of the bye week and I know we said the coaching change happened but also the bye week and getting into the speed of the league you realize from the bye week on he threw two, four, six, eight ten touchdowns and one pick he threw one interception from week ten on if the entire season on a team that was constantly losing ballgames and had to throw the football I think that that is what you – we all said, well, he looks better.

30:02Mike Wright:I think that was a big part of the equation was like you're now running the offense. They were coming back in some of these games. So, I mean, I didn't know that either. I didn't know the touchdown-to-interception ratio was that good in the second half of the year.

30:16Andy Holloway:But I don't think people should be out on Cam Ward. He needs to have some time to develop, have competent coaches around him. it's just the he is he's more of a pocket passer you know what those after the bye week he had right out the gate two games with 30 plus rushing yards okay that's like we would definitely take that that's really solid but then the the remaining what six games he surpassed 10 rushing or he hit and surpassed 10 rushing yards twice. So it's just it doesn't – it won't be there for fantasy because he'll be a pocket passer. What pick do they have?

31:00Mike Wright:Four or five?

31:01Andy Holloway:Yeah, around there.

31:03Mike Wright:I mean, they're probably the top, at least one of the highly mocked teams to go, Jordan Tyson, Mekhi Lemon, Carnell Tate. If they get one of those guys, that'll be exciting.

31:15Andy Holloway:They need to give him one of those guys. As the archetype of the pocket passer, he'll just fluctuate. Oh, for sure. So the dart and shuck, because they're running more, it's just better for our game.

31:29Mike Wright:All right, let's look at the running back position. Over the last decade, on average, we have had three rookies finish as top 24 running backs, either looking at points per game or total points. So rookie running backs, at least three on average. so you look at this year and this is perfect timing because we just on the thursday show last week talked about how there were five rookie running backs that finished in the top 24 in fancy points per game and that's i mean we we've only seen that in 2020 but only points per game

32:03Jason Moore:because they didn't play all their games basically this is a weird season travion hampton harvey

32:10Mike Wright:judkins but we also talked about how they were the literal five lowest efficiency running backs as well so from a yards per carry standpoint i thought that that was kind of interesting but we got five we got five of those names but i don't necessarily think that any of them felt like that bucky irving level team addition because of the injuries because of the inconsistency of when you knew you were going to get it from them. I think Travion had his nice window for sure, and Gentry did too at the end of the season. Judkins seemed really impressive.

32:45Jason Moore:Yeah, I think all these rookies showed enough in the rookie season in bursts and stretches for extreme excitement for most all of them going forward. TBD on the Judkins injury recovery process outside of that, then it's really... Harvey's at the bottom of my list of those five.

33:06Mike Wright:Is he at the bottom of the list for you guys?

33:08Jason Moore:Probably at the bottom of the list. I fully expect J.K. Dobbins to resign and be back with the Broncos, and that'll be a full-time share. You're hoping that there is a year-two leap in workload and trust for now somewhat of a veteran running back. Hampton, they shouldn't have Najee there anymore. I think Hampton is very, very exciting going forward. He showed enough and will be the guy from day one.

33:41Mike Wright:It'll be interesting. You want to see the efficiency get better for all of them, but here's the numbers behind the numbers here. Among the running backs who were top 24 in year one, so there's five of those guys this year, 79%. 79 % of them were top 12 the next year.

33:59Andy Holloway:Yes, it is an incredibly good bet to make. But it's like, so the example is, you know, McCaffrey, Kamara, Jameer Gibbs, pass catchers. Like, you have to be a pass catcher to get into the top 12 unless you're Derrick Henry and you're getting, you know, 12-plus touchdowns.

34:19Mike Wright:It sort of feels like Judkins is the only one not in that category of these five.

34:22Andy Holloway:Which is not fair to Judkins. Like, Judkins had, Judkins can catch. In college, he caught at least my memory.

34:33Mike Wright:Can he catch or can he like Ken Walker catch?

34:37Andy Holloway:It's just can you be reliable in that part of the game? And it's like Judkins. His last two years in college, 22 receptions in both of them. It feels like he's the one. That's part of his profile. They're just using him wrong.

34:54Mike Wright:Yeah, and it's also what else do you have around? Like Travion is going to be. Yeah, I know. The Cleveland Browns, exactly. What else do they have around them? Dylan Sampson was a very capable pass catcher for them. Sure. I'm just saying, like, Harvey's the pass catcher. Travion's the pass catcher. Gentry's the pass catcher.

35:09Jason Moore:No, Travion should be the pass catcher. Unfortunately, Ramondre got a ton of passes.

35:14Mike Wright:That's true. Yeah, that's true.

35:15Jason Moore:But Travion is the most interesting to me because what he showed is that when he was all alone, he was a dominant force that made the offense better.

35:25Andy Holloway:Right, Gentry was already alone.

35:26Jason Moore:And then when Ramondre came back, they still said, Ramondre's our starter. And then you go into the playoffs and you had teams where –

35:37Mike Wright:Him and Harvey feel the same, Mish, except we're more explosive for Travion. I agree. I mean – What's the ADP – I see Gentry's at 11, Hampton's at 15 or 16. Where is – where are the other names? You're going to have Scadaboo coming back, who we don't get to talk about.

35:54Andy Holloway:but really, Scadaboo is being drafted in front of Hendo, Harvey, and Judkins.

35:59Mike Wright:And that's the order? Hendo, Harvey, Judkins?

36:01Andy Holloway:Yeah. Yes.

36:03Jason Moore:Dude, that's a tough one. We will need health information on Scadaboo and Judkins before we know where we should be drafting them. I mean, if I knew Cam Scadaboo was fully healthy, he'd be right up there with Hampton to me.

36:17Mike Wright:There were big-time flops in that same category, only 33 % of them, but in year two, losing about 2.6 fantasy points per game, Damian Pierce, Javante Williams, Bucky Irving, Clyde Edwards-Alaire, who was a top 25 back as a rookie. By the way, that was the other five running back here. You ready for the names? So 2020. Jonathan Taylor? Yes. Yeah, you're still good. James Robinson.

36:41Andy Holloway:Oh, yeah.

36:43Mike Wright:Antonio. Draft capital matters. Gibson. Yep. DeAndre Swift. Hanging around. And then CEH. Whoops. So let's take a break and we'll talk wideouts and tight ends. What's up, Foot Clan? You are confident and disciplined and focused on details, just like everyone here at the Fancy Footballers, right? Those are words you use to describe us. In other words, you were made to drive the 2026 Sierra 1500 Denali, a full-size pickup combining capability with elevated design and advanced technology. You can seek out the exceptional with the Denali. their standard 5.3 liter v8 engine and 10 speed automatic transmission it's got a bold design we like bold designs they got the signature denali grill papa josh you know the signature grill the chrome header patterned aluminum trim inside you've got all that comfort uh you know jason's a comfort guy we like the comfort comfort reins with leather seating surfaces and 12-way power front seats with power lumbar.

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38:30Mike Wright:all right let's look at the wide receiver position since 2019 did you have something

38:34Jason Moore:you wanted to add uh you know later why'd you raise your hand then well no i'm just i'm excited I'd like to say something at the end of the show. Call on me in about three to five minutes.

38:49Andy Holloway:I need to say something in about 15 minutes.

38:52Jason Moore:I can essentially lay this out. Since we're between running backs and wide receivers, I think it is worth looking at the overarching view of how the draft class was expected to play out versus how it did play out and how that compares from 2025 to this incoming class of 2026 because they are inverse. Last year was a running back heavy draft class where everyone was like, man, it's so deep. There are so many great running backs. There's super high-end talent. And then the next tier are guys that can be real difference makers. Wide receivers, there's like a guy or two we like, and then it's pretty weak.

39:32Jason Moore:And that totally played out. It was just true. And we'll talk about that in a second when we look at what usually happens with wide receivers versus what actually happened with wide receivers. But this year, the expectation going in is the exact opposite. It's a very deep wide receiver draft class. There isn't a definite Malik neighbors, Jamar Chase. Yeah, I know. But it's – You don't feel that way? I love Tyson. I think he is – Is he your – He's my number one. He is currently right now. Is your guys' both? Yeah, right now he is. I didn't know he was your one. Yeah. I love it. But the wide receivers, there's a lot.

40:10Jason Moore:There could be five or six wide receivers drafted in the first round this year. That's great. Running backs, yeah, you've got Love, who if you don't know the rookies yet, you'll know him. And then, okay, there's a guy or two you can like. And then it's pretty weak, man. So I expect this year to play out opposite of last year. I think you want to invest in rookie wide receivers and probably avoid the middle tier rookie running backs.

40:39Mike Wright:Probably, yeah, definitely a good thing to mention as we get towards this next crop of, you know, you're in the dynasty past. You're looking at where we have our pre-draft rookie rankings. You know, it changes, ebbs and flows year to year. And a lot of, you know, we were talking about this with the NIL and with the collegiate level. A lot of players are going back. You know, we had some quarterbacks we thought were coming out. They're not going to come out. you might have a one or two year delay until you start getting maybe even better draft classes than ever before because you've stayed in college for a couple more years it's just you got to catch up

41:09Jason Moore:to that if guys are going back and taking the nil money right yeah it is worth noting i mean we don't know how many guys are going to go back to college in 2028 but right now i know it's early but you know for the dynasty players out there 2027 draft class looks really good all right wide receivers

41:26Mike Wright:Since 2019, we've had at least four rookie wide receivers finish inside the top 36 every single year. Last year, it was BTJ and Neighbors and McConkie and Marv and Xavier Worthy. In 2025, we had two. Exactly. And one of them sucked. And they weren't big fantasy. Like one was the rookie of the year, Tedderall McMillan, and his fantasy finish was 17. and the other was Emeka Abuka and he finished at 20. So, and then Luther Burden is sitting there and he didn't contribute over a long enough period of time to matter.

42:05Andy Holloway:He was hurt at the beginning.

42:06Mike Wright:And it's exciting, but yeah, it was definitely, I mean, Brian Thomas was the number four wide receiver last year. Malik Neighbors was seven. McConkie was 12. We had three top 12. This year we had two top 20 and they were barely in there. This was the fewest receiving yards of any wide receiver rookie class since 2018 so yeah to your point what we thought was going to happen happened um and i know

42:31Jason Moore:that there was more excitement when the packers stupidly took matthew golden in the first round um because it's like oh good another first round wide receiver but the expectation he end up not doing much he didn't do a first round caliber i think he did exactly what most people thought

42:49Mike Wright:you do but not the packers you mean scoring the playoffs yeah for the first time that was that was too funny um yeah i mean fewest wide receiver uh yards of any class is 2018 so you know travis hunter it seemed like there was an emergence about to happen there was like one game right

43:09Andy Holloway:yeah uh it was it was that big game and now london and now all of a sudden because the emergence of

43:15Jason Moore:the other wide receivers parker washington looking good uh yeah he had the 14 targets eight catches

43:21Mike Wright:101 and a touchdown and then it's like went into the bye we can got hurt over the bye yeah and and

43:26Jason Moore:but now it's there's talk about maybe they focus him more on cornerbacks since they kind of don't

43:31Mike Wright:need him at wide receiver which yeah yeah that could delete yeah you just delete a player and jayden higgins you know he had his moments but he's mixed in with jaylen noel and some of it

43:43Andy Holloway:was injured an equal collins hated like jaden higgins was a name i i thought about talking about for our opening segment but it's like he doesn't have the not important yeah the he doesn't carry the weight with the name the fact that oh as games got more important the rookies played less for the houston texans was very concerning that is the complete opposite of what should happen if a team is confident that you're developing. Can I make a counterargument to that? Yes.

44:15Jason Moore:In 15 minutes. Yeah, talk to me later. I'm preparing it right now. What Higgins did when he was on the field was very good. He wasn't on the field as much, and I think that that is more coaching rather than him not stepping up and just taking it over. Right, but the question is, but why? But going into next year, he's not a rookie anymore, and I think the coaches are going to say, okay now is the time to trust and blah blah blah i i guess my only counter counterpoint okay

44:43Mike Wright:would be that i didn't you're making it now i saw a solid receiver play from higgins but not not the stuff i saw from tet or abuka at his peak oh so burden so it just seemed like is this guy going to be kind of locked into like wide receiver two three territory receivers should get stronger

45:01Andy Holloway:as the season goes you should not see less playing time that's a red flag that maybe maybe it goes away because Higgins was an interesting prospect. What a second round pick. I'm okay with the player, but hate the ending.

45:17Mike Wright:I think you're more likely to see one of these names emerge than Jaden Higgins as a fantasy value in the next three years, which is I'm going to give you some names. You pick your favorite. Just give me your favorite. They're all Mike's favorite. Literally, they actually might all be his favorite. Kyle Williams, Isaac Dislaw, Pat Bryant, Jalen Knoll, Chimray Dike, do not forget for goodness sakes about tory horton sure uh because cooper cups time it's right it's ending and tory horton was flashing five touchdowns and then forgotten about because and super bowl champ he had 13 receptions and five touchdowns and then tez johnson kind of opportunistically but is there a name in there that you think like if you had to bet on one of those guys being you know a wide receiver two perennially is there a name the the one i would

46:06Andy Holloway:expect to be the most productive next year is Pat Bryant, but it's a, because of the, the opportunity, like the way I saw it anyways, playing out was that Pat Bryant was kind of solidifying himself as the, as the number two guy behind Courtland Sutton. But then he just got hurt like every single game, you know, Williams, that it's tough. He had 10 catches, He had three touchdowns. He showed the big playability. I don't know what Vrabel's plan will be for Kyle Williams. Will he just continue to be that type of a field-stretching gadget player? And then Tesla is, oh, gosh. If we ever got to unleash Tesla, it would be incredibly fun.

46:50Andy Holloway:But Amon Ross St. Brown and Jameson Williams in front of you. And Sam Laporta. And Laporta. It's like you – he needs the runway to clear before he even gets a chance. Better make your big plays. Yes.

47:02Mike Wright:Horton is the one that I think is going to be – he's pretty interesting to me and maybe more forgotten about yeah and i would throw tim ray

47:09Jason Moore:dk out there as interesting because he probably did the most this year of all of these wide receivers that you just named and then if you look at how good he was on special teams it just showed when he was on the nfl field against nfl defenders he belongs he he is good he is electric and so if he gets more involved as a wide receiver obviously the new coaching staff and all that he showed enough to break out. And then I will not stand for despite him playing every game and doing nothing for the entire season. I still love Trey Harris. Oh, dude, I'm in.

47:41Mike Wright:I'm in on Trey Harris. Trey Harris is a perfect sleeper candidate. You're going to have Mike, Mick, Dan, Yule. Nice. First try.

47:52Jason Moore:I thought we were calling him Mickey D's. Oh, you don't want to put the D's on there.

47:57Andy Holloway:But it's like a wholesome.

48:00Mike Wright:You know. Anyways. Well, yeah, Trey Harris is definitely interesting. At the tight end position, looking at the Ricky review.

48:10Andy Holloway:And we're getting a photo of the old school Michael McDonald. Okay. Oh, forget. Oh, my. Not in love anymore. Oh, yeah. Dude, Michael McDonald rips. Yacht Rock? Dude, he rips, man. Yacht Rock. Yeah. Is that what that was called? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

48:28Jason Moore:It makes so much sense.

48:33Mike Wright:Apparently, Brooks was hoping you'd do an impression of Michael McDonald. You know I can't. Rock for uppity rich people. We were definitely jamming on that in the office at one point. I remember that.

48:44Andy Holloway:I mean, it's regulators, dude. That's how much it rips. Warren G was like, dude, Michael McDonald rips. Let's go. Oh, my goodness.

48:55Mike Wright:All right, tight end position as we close out our rookie review. Thank you. I was hoping. 2025 gave us the most targets, receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns by rookie tight ends ever. Makes sense. Targets, receptions, receiving yards, receiving touchdowns. Loveland, Fannin, Warren. Let's go.

49:14Jason Moore:Yeah, and I believe it's bright futures for all three of them. And then there are still, behind those three excellent wide receivers, there are still guys that could – I mean, I don't think Terrence Ferguson is done. They use Meowson Taylor.

49:30Andy Holloway:Oh, I thought you were saying Ferguson.

49:33Jason Moore:Sorry. No, no, no. Oh, I was just saying another rookie. But my favorite of all the tight ends behind is Rondae Gadsden, who looked outstanding in stretches this season. What a great tight end draft class. This year, not a very deep tight end.

49:50Mike Wright:Not very deep, but you could still have – I mean, Sadiq is going to go very, very high.

49:54Andy Holloway:Sadiq will be interesting.

49:55Mike Wright:And then some people are more in on, what, Stowers?

49:59Andy Holloway:Yeah, there's some. Claire? Yeah, there's some names. And if you want to hear more about the rookie tight end class, we kind of previewed the guys at the top on this week, or last week's Dynasty pod, and I dropped. I already got it. It's not going to surprise you, Andy. There's already a tight end who I really, really like. Oh, my gosh.

50:20Mike Wright:Ben Sennett's brothers in this class? Mike has a tight.

50:23Jason Moore:Yes, I do. He wants a big tight end that just mows people down.

50:27Andy Holloway:Punish people. You're like, what crime am I guilty of? I am bigger than you. That is the crime, and you will be punished. And that's why he did not like Meowson Taylor. Correct.

50:41Mike Wright:Still waiting to break a tackle? Is that what we're? Oh, we are still waiting. Can we get rid of the old refrain that rookie tight ends take a while to develop considering the last four years, three years, they didn't need to develop anymore?

50:53Jason Moore:I think that the only thing that you still hold on to is you don't assume that when a rookie tight end doesn't have a breakout season that it can't still happen. I hear what you're saying. That's a Gadsden.

51:08Andy Holloway:No, no, no. No, the new starter for Washington. Year three. Oh, yeah. Tight end breakout.

51:14Mike Wright:I'm not going to doubt, Mike, until this year is definitively over with something horrible happening to one of his predictions.

51:20Andy Holloway:Unleash the senator.

51:21Mike Wright:We're not in love anymore.

51:24Andy Holloway:We got to get this show over so we can just blast some Michael McDonald.

51:27Mike Wright:That is correct. But yeah, Loveland, Warren, you talked about some of the other names. I think Ferguson's interesting. Yes. So you two, as is Gunner Helm.

51:38Andy Holloway:Oh, Gunner Helm is sneaky, dude. Literally everyone. Gunner Helm is very sneaky. Everyone, Loveland, Warren, Ferguson, Arroyo. Not so much. Okay, not all of them. Maybe. There's two, Arroyo and Mason Taylor. I am not very interested in. Because you're a Barnerman? Everyone else has a place on a Dynasty roster.

51:58Jason Moore:And I know we've talked about the trifecta several times already this offseason. But I just want to confirm, for fantasy purposes, you guys, do you both have Loveland as the one you would draft first?

52:14Mike Wright:Of the three? I won't have to draft him, though. You know what I mean? he'll already be on my team. Because he'll be a keeper. For my future title team. I just want to remind the listeners that our keeper situation is

52:29Jason Moore:you're not keeping him at a pick. You're keeping your best three players. So he will be one of your keepers? Yeah. So it's like drafting him in the first three rounds. Would you do that? He's trying to make this bad for me.

52:43Mike Wright:Sir. He's trying to make this bad? Speaking of the first three rounds,

52:47Andy Holloway:how many picks do you have in the first three rounds? You can't let go of your hatred of Loveland. No.

52:53Jason Moore:I don't hate Loveland.

52:54Andy Holloway:Yes, you do.

52:54Jason Moore:I'm mocking keeping him. He's not going to go in the top three rounds.

52:59Andy Holloway:Where would he go? Fourth round?

53:01Jason Moore:I think Loveland will be a fourth or fifth rounder, yeah. He won't be in the fifth.

53:05Mike Wright:Our situation is positional. We force positional diversity as well. So it's not like we just keep our best players. We have some rule sets in there. But I like you trying to shame my picks. it's what I would do if I didn't have any picks I would try to make other people's players seem worse hit it

53:26Jason Moore:hit that button alright we're gonna say goodbye

53:28Mike Wright:yeah we're out of here mock draft first round next episode don't miss it ultimatedraftkit.com if you just need more good rookie chat check it out goodbye

53:44Jason Moore:thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Join our fantasy football community on jointhefoot.com and follow us on Twitter at the FFBallers.

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