The TRUTH: Top Tier Fantasy WRs in 2019

I mean, he crushed you. Yeah. Wide receiver 33 from weeks 6 through 12. And that's only because he had a game where he put up over 200 yards. Against Cincinnati? Yeah. Yeah. So he also had a massive disparity when it came to playing against top 16 and bottom 16 defenses. We're talking about an output of just 9.21 fantasy points against...

upper echelon defenses and an output of 18.74 points against bottom half defenses, something that he happened to play more of in the beginning of the year distorting his fantasy totals. Will he be drafted as a top 10 wide receiver next year? No, I... He shouldn't. Yeah, I don't think you can trust...

the Rams offense to be what we thought it was coming into this season, what it's been the last several years. Is he a good wide receiver? Absolutely. Will he finish and be very important for fantasy next year? Yeah, but a top 10 wide receiver is going to be hard for any one of these Rams because, you know, we'll get to Robert Woods probably the next episode, but he was more consistent than Cooper Cup. So, you know, who would you want going in next year?

Touchdown upside is probably on Cooper Cup, but he really disappeared. And you saw some of these problems even in snap counts where it was like they changed up things to make this thing work. All of a sudden, Tyler Higby's focal point of the offense. Exactly. Now, Cup was one of only what?

three wide or three total pass catchers to reach double digits at the position um touchdown terms of touchdowns yes that is true he had 10 what you know usually you've got those years year after year after year where it's like the number one wide receiver 14 15 touchdowns this year is 11 10 and 10 were the only uh double digit touchdown receivers and one of those was a tight in and mark andrews so yuck yeah and that well i mean normally that is the more difficult to predict

number in terms of output, you know, year to year that's going to fluctuate. He's averaged Cooper Cup, that is, a touchdown every 9.3 catches. It's pretty good. So, you know, maybe a little bit more stable in that department inside the red zone than others. But when you have 10 touchdowns, you end up at consistency rank 14. It is not good. That is a warning sign for future draft capital expenditures. And I think we need to remember.

You know, do our best to remember the good, bad splits. You know, because home road splits, good and bad defensive splits, those are things I think that going into next year, a lot of those times those are sticky. That's the game plan of the offense. That's how certain players perform on the home or on the road. And remember that going into next year's draft. DeAndre Hopkins at number five.

It was actually the fourth most consistent fantasy-wide receiver after a very rough start. Week one, he was the number five overall. And then he went 57, 41, 52, and the world freaked out, panicked. Same thing that they did with Mike Evans. But DeAndre Hopkins, Mike Evans, pretty good players. 104 receptions, 1165 yards, seven touchdowns, 150 targets. You know, when you look at the season as a whole,

Hopkins obviously got it together. He was only great in 27% of his games. That's what I wanted to highlight is the fact that Hopkins was good. Hopkins was very solid. 67% of his games were good. Once he got out of that slump at the beginning of the season where he was busting horrifically, then he was good. But much like the conversation of were you happy?

that you paid up for Julio Jones. Were you happy that you paid up for Hopkins when he was just good? Jay, where are you with Hopkins moving forward? Moving forward, he's, you know, a top three wide receiver still going for. So you don't still be up there for you. Absolutely. I believe the talent, the quarterback, the offense. So like Thomas Julio Hopkins?

Yeah, exactly. I think those are the guys that I'm most interested in going into next year. He proved that he is what we thought he was. But when you get off those first four weeks, having only one good game and then bad, bad, bad, you feel those because that's the time of year. You start the year undefeated. You know, and when you're one in three as a fantasy owner, you're blaming Hopkins. You care far less about the consistency that came after that.

Yeah, I agree with you. The emotional impact of his slow start. And beyond that, through 11 weeks, where you drafted Hopkins, and then you play 11 weeks of fantasy football, and you get two top 10 performances from him in 11 weeks, it wasn't what you hoped they're expected. I would be a little disappointed if I drafted him to be what he was the previous two years, wide receiver two, wide receiver one, end up at five in the end. He might have cost you a little bit this year in that output.

But you're moving forward with him that... Yeah, I mean, he's two years... Drafting him more like the top three guy like Jason? I look at it very similarly to the Matt Ryan, Julio Jones connection. As long as Deshaun Watson and Hopkins are both there, Hopkins is two years younger than Julio Jones. You should get very, very consistent production from Hopkins. What if there is a shakeup and Bill O'Brien is removed? I remain unconcerned due to just target volume. How could that happen?

I mean, they want a playoff game. They won a playoff game. I can't imagine. This is the NFL. Players get, oh. Coaches get fired in the playoffs all the time. They barely won a playoff game, which they were down 16 points at home. And then they blew a 24 point lead. Oh, but they had a 24 point lead. Right. Is that what Bill O'Brien says in the room? Yes. That's 100. No, no, no. Look right here. We got off to a strong start. He, I don't think he'll get fired, but.

For a guy who has been on the hot seat now for what feels like three years, despite having like pretty solid success in the NFL, coaches like that get fired when, you know, the pieces look like they should win. I mean, Jason Garrett didn't make the playoffs. Well, who got, was it Norv? Yes, Norv Turner. For the chargers? Yes, he was excellent. He was a multi, you know, double digit win. Every year. He was shot inheimer before that. Right. But the difference is that.

They had Super Bowl expectations year in, year out, and he couldn't get them further in the playoffs. I don't think there are a Super Bowl expectations. They're close, though. When you put Watson and then Laramie Tunzel, you go spin. Yeah, they went all in this year. He's their GM too. So that's he can't fire himself in that capacity. But when you have Hopkins, Watson, Tunzel.

You acquire Duke Johnson. Yeah. And then you look back. I think they were a Super Bowl or bust. I don't think he's getting fired. But I think that. But next year, if they regress, which is a possibility, could be out the door. All right. Here's where it starts to get very interesting at the position. Let's get weird. Kenny Gallaud is the number six. What? Overall fantasy wide receiver. Kenny Gallaudet. But it didn't. Kenny G. It wasn't as smooth as, I think. Oh. It could have been.

A few bumps. I blame us. Not us three, but... How dare you? But us as fantasy owners. And let me tell you why. Kenny Galliday finished at number six. He was the ninth most consistent. So he wasn't quite as consistent as his fantasy finish. But he still had good games, 63% of the time. He had 31% great games, which was more than DeAndre Hopkins. When I say I blame us, I think it's like...

belief in the fantasy football universe in Kenny Galladay because some of those good games, many of those good games came on the benches of fantasy owners due to Driscoll... Like when David Blow was the QB and he was playing against Chicago? Yes, but we would never have benched. No matter who the quarterback is, you're never benching DeAndre Hopkins or Julio Jones, right? Right. But Galladay wasn't in that category in your mind whatsoever. So these good games, this consistency...

You didn't benefit from it. You didn't, but what we need to do when we're talking about the truth. The truth is he was the number six wide receiver with terrible quarterback play once Stafford was out. And going into next year, that's, you know, we needed this history. The reason we wouldn't binge DeAndre Hopkins or Julio Jones is because we have the history of them being great. We don't have that history with Kenny Gallaudy until now. Now we know, like, he is.

an extremely valuable weapon. He's a great wide receiver. He's got, you know, some of those skills that can't be schemed away like height and speed. You just can't, you can't make him shorter as a diggy fence. And so he can go up and get those jump balls around the end zone. Led the league in receiving touchdowns this year for wide receivers. And next year with Stafford coming back, I will draft Kenny Galladay.

for sure as a top 10 wide receiver for next season. He did all that on 116 targets. That's where it's tough, man. 116 targets, only 65 receptions. This was an old school Vincent Jackson year. It was 1190 and 11. Because if he catches three fewer touchdowns, if you're looking at 65, 1190, and 8, you're not talking about him in this top 10. That's a really big difference. But then, you know, to fill in for some of those unpredictable things like touchdowns.

Getting Matthew Stafford back and not having Blow Driscoll experience is going to help a lot. Driscoll. So Kenny Galladay this year played eight games with Stafford, eight games without Stafford, scored four more fantasy points a game, not surprisingly at all, with Stafford. If he gets the whole season with Stafford, I think he's going to be an excellent family. Are you taking him, is he a top 10 locked and loaded for you next year? So.

The way that I look at it right now is I think so. Now, obviously, as we get into the draft season, we're statting these guys out for the UDK, maybe he drops slightly out of the top 10. I do think he's closer to the 10 side, but he's got the talent, and I think he's got the quarterback to absolutely finish again as a top 10 wide receiver. So I assume he will be there for me. Because you're going to have to pay. You will have to pay up.

For Kenny Gallaudy. I'm looking it up last year. He was being drafted as wide receiver 19 right at the round, like the back of the fourth round. Kenny Gallaudet will be, what, back of the third round. So you better be sure of what you're getting. Here's what I'm sure. Here's what I'm sure of. I'm sure I'm getting a very, very good wide receiver who's going to get his opportunities. And I'm fine with that. All right. Number seven is Devante Parker. Yes, Devonte Parker. Yeah.

Number seven in fantasy finish. Number six. Number one in our hearts. Yeah. Eventually. It took a while, Devante. Number six in consistency. Rosen. He had a Rosen problem. Well, sure, this year, Mike. I'm talking about like the last few years. It took a while. Not thinking about that. He had a B-hole problem. That's true. And there wasn't enough preparation H in the world. No. To get rid of that problem. No, Adam Gaze is a.

A vicious infection. Bring a donut. Yes. Yeah, that's not embarrassing to sit on those at all. 72 for 1202 and 9 on 128 targets. Do work, Parker. It's not fair that he is the consistency rank 6, which is great. It's not fair because the first three weeks were with Rosen. And if you take those out, he was the consistency rank number three.

You're talking about true elite, you know, season here from Devante Parker. He was just phenomenal. So he's in a tougher position predictively because week one was Fitzpatrick. That's true. Just to be fair. Okay. All right. That's fair. So just kind of illustrating his season, he was great, 13% of the time, good 56% of the time, busted 13%. He was better against bottom 16 past defenses, quite a bit better.

16 fantasy points per game versus 10. I have an update. All right, sir. If you take out weeks two and three, leaving in week one, he's consistency rank number three. Oh, yeah. So it's still there, still true. But the consistency is what I'm concerned about. Are you going to get Ryan Fitzpatrick back? Are you going to have the target focus that Devanti Parker received after Preston Williams left the lineup?

Is Miami going to take a step forward? And how do you value Devante Parker with a rookie quarterback? Everything you saw in the field, when you combine the analytics with the eye test and seeing him repeatedly, time after time, make competitive catches down the field, second-most rounds run in the league, fifth-most deep targets, third-most air yards. All those things are normally indicative of long-term success for a wide receiver. If you had just...