Tier Drop Candidates + 2018 Rookie Review: QB & WR

as the first of those three because I believe that the rushing numbers will be great for him and Lamar Jackson, but I believe Josh Allen can stick with it through the year. I just can't imagine if they continue to run Lamar Jackson, how they did in the few games that he got to start that he could play 16. Well, he'll be working on throwing the football this offseason. We'll see what he gets accomplished by that measure because he's going to need to be able to throw the football. DJ Moore.

At the wide receiver position, 24th pick in the draft, 16 games, 55 receptions, 788 yards, two touchdowns on 82 targets, less than 50% of the snaps through the first seven games. But in the last seven weeks, 85% of the snaps. So he earned his way onto the field. His entire season.

We know that wide receivers, rookie wide receivers, it generally takes to the second half of the season before you start seeing anything really come together for these guys. Everything for DJ Morris season is weeks 11 through 14. He was the wide receiver 10 in that span. And after that, Cam Newton, his quarterback, by his own admission, could not even throw the ball 30 yards. So.

That's where I'm looking. I'm looking at that tiny snapshot. I know that's a really small sample to see a rookie wide receiver produce. But the first guy had taken in the draft, the Panthers could have taken literally any wide receiver they wanted. They wanted DJ Moore. I think very big things are coming for DJ Moore next year, assuming that Cam Newton's shoulder is right by training camp. He showed a lot on the field. And, you know, he had the, he's a freak athlete.

The combine was off the charts. And when you've got a guy that's used, how he was being used, I believe he had the second most rookie wide receiving rushing yards in a season. That's nice. You get that baseline of touches for a guy. I agree that DJ Moore is someone to target next year because he has the opportunity to really take over the number one role on the team. He's the most well-rounded receiver they have and he's the most...

The one that has the most big play potential. So I agree with you guys. Devin Funchis is an unrestricted free agent, so that'll be one less mouth to feed there. Right. And Cam Newton is looking good in recovery. So, I mean, there's an opportunity there from hoping. Calvin Ridley, the 26th pick in the draft by the Falcons. He finished at 20th overall. His consistency rank, however, was 39th because he had some big boy games. We talked about him in the wide receiver.

Truth episode. So you've heard about him. The cap that he has, his name is Julio Jones, right? There's a limit to the capability there. And if you took out his week 3 37 point game, it really wasn't a, it was a pretty rocky road for Calvin Ridley. But as a rookie, finishing at number 20, never playing more than 74% of the snaps, he played his part. But what do we expect from Ridley next year? How?

What's his real stealing with Julio? You know, it's funny because a lot of times with rookie wide receivers, you just mentioned this, Mike, and it really is true. The second half of the year is so much better for rookie wide receivers than the first half of the year. But it wasn't the case with Calvin Ridley because he had those two monster games really early in the season. And if you look at from week five on, he was actually the wide receiver 34 behind guys like Zay Jones and DJ Moore and those players. I think his upside is limited.

because he'll never be the number one for this offense, at least not for the next, you know, three or four years while Julio is there. And it's going to be, I think a lot of it's going to be touchdown dependent. Can he go? So I don't see him as the wide receiver 20. You know, the monster weeks he had, I see him much more as a wide receiver 30 or wide receiver 34, what he did for the majority of the season. Can he go up from that? Yes. But I don't think he's going to be a consistent wide receiver. I think he's going to be a frustrating guy that you don't.

He's not the lead target. He's not the first read. And when you're drafting him, if he gets a bump up because that year two, you know, wide receiver, then I'm going to be hesitant to draft him. Muhammad Sunu is 29 years old. He's under contract for the next two full seasons. Doesn't mean he'll be there for those two. But, you know, this year, Mohammed Sunniu out snapped him. So until Sunu gives something up, not to say the snap counts don't go up for Ridley, but.

It seems like there is a world where he's going to be developing behind these guys for another year. He just overperformed so much in the touchdown category. He scored, he caught a touchdown every 9.2 targets, right? That's insane. When you're looking at guys like Michael Thomas, 16.3, his teammate, Julio Jones, every 21 targets, Julio scored a touchdown. To be in that range where you're catching a touchdown for...

For fewer than 10 targets, you're in Tyler Lockett range. You're in Mike Williams range where it's just, it's not a sustainable thing for your fantasy production. Yeah, I, you know, this could be the last year for Sunnew. You could be looking two years down the line. But Cortland Sutton, eighth pick of the second round by the Broncos, 16 games played 704 yards, four touchdowns. He played at least 69% of the snaps in weeks 12 through 16.

This was after 12 out of 16 weeks. Oh, okay. All right. Thanks, Brooks. In 12 out of 16 weeks. So even before Demarius and Emmanuel Sanders had their departures. But overall, I think he was a disappointment by our standards. I'm going to classify Cortland Sutton's season as disappointing. And as of right now, there's not like a...

I feel like the same arguments we made for him to have a nice finish to the season, which he really didn't. No, not all. They're all the same arguments right now. I mean, he's the guy. But he was the guy then. And Case Keenom, well, he's the guy. And he's probably going to be the guy again. Even if they draft the quarterback, Keenom is expensive. And the likelihood that he's a transition quarterback. Now, Elway's come out and said, Case Keenom, he's not the answer, which always feels good.

The case Keenum was bad. And that translated to lack of opportunities for a player that we deem is talented. Now I'm going to make him prove it. He's going to have to go out there and do it. It can't be a flash play here and a drop there. It has to be a consistent week-to-week thing if he's going to have any value in fantasy. So I see the upside. I wouldn't be surprised if, you know, this team focused on the defense and running the football, the way that they found success towards the end of last year before they...

were eliminated from the playoffs. I mean, you have Philip Lindsay, and you have Royce Freeman, and you have Bradley Chubb and Von Miller. So Keenom is not going to be the – him airing it out is not going to be the solution. No, I agree. I mean, you know, Sutton is going to be one of those what-is-what-as-he-cost type of players because I do not believe – if I had to bet, will he turn that corner and be the superstar next year that he was drafted to be that he has the opportunity as the clear-cut number one on that team to be?

I would bet against it because just like you said, Andy, he had all those things at the end of last season. Nothing's going to change really dramatically for him over that other than, you know, he gets another year in the system and that year to leap. So I'm willing to take the shot because I think he's got the talent for it. He was great in college and he showed flashes. So if he's cheap.

You know, if he is in double-digit rounds, then I'll take a shot. I'd rather take a shot on him than other guys that are like, oh, hum, I know what I've got, which is a wide receiver three at the draft. But if come draft season, he's starting to be seen as he's the number one for a team and he's drafted to be, you know, one of the last number one wide receivers, but still in that seventh, eighth, ninth round, I'm probably going to pass. I'm going to bet against him. It's all up to what happens with Manny Sanders.

over this offseason. How does his recovery go? Does the team cut him because they can, they're going to have to give him a ton of money if he plays with the Broncos next year, but they can get out from underneath the contract for pretty little at the dead cap? And then if he has that whole off season and the training camp where he's the number one and they're building the team around him already, then I'm going to be far more interested in Sutton. I would be shocked.

if they keep a manual sales. Yeah, I will be too. If you had to pick right now, would you rather have Robbie Anderson or Cortland Sutton for next year? For next year? Ooh. Those guys are going similarly in draft straight. I think I would go Robbie Anderson. We've just seen him be successful on the field two years in a row. You had a stretch of games as a number one this past year. I lean that way as well. All right. Dante Peders and Christian Kirk. Two more rookies to talk about here. Jason, you're on record.

In love with Dante Pettis, I think his jersey arrived today. Yes, it did. Second round pick by the 49ers, 467 yards, five touchdowns last year with the injuries. Christian Kirk also got injured. Both these guys injured in their rookie seasons missed a decent amount of games. You can't ask Pettis to have done more, given his opportunity. He...

He took advantage of it. As soon as he was more and more involved, the injuries happened. And, you know, late in the season, he was the wide receiver five from weeks 12 to 15. And now he goes into that year to leap. He gets a massive quarterback upgrade in the sense that the starting quarterback comes back. And could those things change and now he's not targeted the same? Sure. But I would always prefer a quarterback upgrade than not having a quarterback upgrade. So I really like Pettus. I hope he doesn't, you know.

rise too much in the draft because he's not someone I'm willing to plant a flag in and say no matter not no matter what I know he's going to be great but his talent is there he showed it he beat NFL corners on the ridge that's why he missed week 17 Jason stuck a flag in him sorry Dante that was my bad Christian Kirk Mike weigh in on Christian Kirk and what what's his potential I mean it

In a lot of ways, when you look at what he did last year, 68 targets, 43 receptions. He was the best looking receiver on the field. He had the best connection with Rosen. So that's the silver lining that you can take away from the season. But there's not a lot to be excited about heading into the season. The talent is there. I love the player. The talent was there. And the hope now is that Cliff Kingsbury comes in.

and gets rid of what looked like the Rams offense from a couple of years ago, just the blandest, most boring, outdated offense in the world. And they utilize the talent that Christian Kirk has. And I could see him being a, you know, a regular producer for fantasy. But I don't think he's got the skill set to be a one, or the ceiling to have a one. Not just next year, but I think.

four or five years down the road. I really like Christian Kirk. I just don't see him as a fantasy number one for your team. Anthony Miller, another intriguing rookie last year with the Bears. He had a couple of games, mostly touchdown depending on games where he had a touchdown on every 4.7 catches. Is that true? Seven touchdowns on 33 catches, yeah. How I highlighted Calvin Ridley, I was waiting for this to come up, but Anthony Miller had seven touchdowns.

Every 7.7 targets was scoring a touchdown. I mean, that's not possible. It's not possible, but you also like the fact that they put him in a position to do that. Yeah. But he needs more volume to be consistent. Some of the other rookies from this draft class, do you guys want to pick out a name or two that you think have a chance to emerge next year? Guys that didn't have a lot of opportunity like James Washington of the Steelers if Antonio Brown was to leave. Treyquan Smith.

He had a couple of boom games and then disappeared. Kiki QT was a target hog when he was on the field, which was almost never. The guy that I would throw out since we talked about Cortland Sutton and his opportunities would be Deshaun Hamilton. Deshaun Hamilton has the exact same opportunities that Cortland Sutton has, except if it's true that Emmanuel Sanders isn't back, and Emmanuel Sanders was the primary guy. I mean, you could argue even two years ago he was the primary guy over Demarius Thomas.

Dayshan is much more of the Emmanuel Sanders type. That seems to be more of the Case Keenham type. I think Deshaun could outproduce Cortland Sutton next year, and he'll certainly be much cheaper in your draft. Case Keenom's type is the closest player to the line of scrimmage. So generally, that's going to be Deshaun Hamilton over Corlin Sutton. That'll be a tough pick for me. I like Michael Gallup. I think Michael Gallup showed me a lot over various weeks, especially, you know, even moving into the playoffs and what you saw.

Dak being able to get him the ball. 500 plus yards, only a couple touchdowns, but I think Michael Gallup has a real opportunity to carve out that number two role, which when you play on a team with Amari Cooper, Cooper's going to disappear a couple games every year. Michael Crabtree is pretty good. Yeah, I think Gallup is very interesting in terms of earning the trust of Dak Prescott. Mike, do you have a name that you want to pick out? Kiki. Kiki. Kiki.