Fantasy Football Podcast 2017 - The Rookie Show, Fantasy Outlook, Draft Day Foods

great in reception, um, obviously played at a lower level of competition, um, but he smashed all the success rate versus coverage scores, which is what you want to see from a lower level, uh, competition player. Also was above average and contested catch conversion rate despite being a smaller player at 76%, but really what makes him special is his ability in space. Uh, he broke multiple tackles on 39% of his in space attempts, which I chart as plays that a player has an opportunity to break a tackle. 39% beats the second place.

score of 22% by miles and miles. So you can see he's just special in the open field like that. If a team like Carolina that has a lot of opportunity in the receiving court takes Carlos Henderson in the second and third round, that's great. Really any team that takes him, I think he has an opportunity to get on the field right away, which if you're not a first round pick, that's just how you ingratiate yourself to a team very quickly, make yourself an asset right away and get a lot of rope at that point. So he's somebody that I think all about every team should be monitoring.

And how about Mr. Juju, Juju Smith, Schuster, out of USC? There's a lot of the people on the Twitters. They want him on their fantasy teams. Are you trying to look to draft him if you're in a rookie draft? So he's that player that I mentioned as kind of like. We found him. Yeah, exactly how I feel about, like, how I felt about Tyler Boyd last year. And I wrote about this extensively in Juju Smith's evaluation for you guys was.

That, you know, I don't ever pitch reception as like the end-all be-all metric. Like if somebody, if a player fails in my metrics, that means he's going to be bad. I mean, I think that would be ridiculous. And I'd caution your readers against, or your listeners against following anybody that claims that about their methodology. What reception perception does, I think, is contextualize a player's play. So much like Tyler Boyd last year, Juju Smith shows up really well on metrics that do like age-adjusted production or really production heavy type of metrics, especially because he's, like I said, he's not.

I don't even think he's going to be 21 until like November of this football season. So he's a super young player. But his reception is really poor, much like Tyler Boyd's was last year. So I think that what that goes to show you is that it's just about, again, expectations. And I think these players, both Boyd and Juju will be successful NFL assets. But.

I don't know that they have the ceilings of being like top two wide receivers in their offense or being a player that any team should want to funnel 120 targets to. And therefore, I don't really ever see them being fantasy assets unless their teams are kind of in a tough spot and have to force opportunity their way. All right. Zay Jones, Cooper Cup, Ishmael Zamora, rank those three. I mean, the best.

The best talent of all of them is Zamora, and I think it's pretty clear, but he has off-field concerns that will likely slip him to day three or out of the draft altogether. So who knows there, but if you talk about just his contested catch conversion rate is great. He's great after the catch. He's someone that could be like a Martavis Bryant that, you know, obviously is a rocky off-field persona, but.

great if he gets to the right spot on the third day of the NFL draft. And then I like Zay Jones a bit more than Cooper Cup. You know, as Jay Jones, I talked about being super confusing to me because his combine was great. He's had a great pre-draft process. But at East Carolina, he was really only used on like three routes, slant, screen, digs, and curls, just short intermediate area routes. I think he's like a big slot receiver that.

Can play a little bit of flanker, but more so is just a complimentary asset. And then Cooper Cup, I've kind of, now that I think that the tide has turned and his stock is kind of no longer out of control, I like him a little bit better as probably the guy with the best hands in the class, whether it's in contested spaces or just regular catching the pass. But also below average against press and man coverage, I think he is definitely kind of like a.

poor man's Jarvis Landry, Jordan Matthews type player. So take that for what you will. All right. And we'll get you out of here on this last question. Is there a particular day three prospect that our listeners should just keep an ear out? Because I mean, not everyone's heavily following the draft on day three, but that name that once it goes across perk up and see where he landed. Yeah, I'll give you two. Excellent. Taywon Taylor, he might go, you know, round three.

I think, but he's someone that we should be watching as a player that had a strong contested catch conversion rate despite being under six feet and also was above the class average. Had a top five score in this class against man coverage and also against press coverage too. So he's someone we should be paying attention to. And then a guy Ryan Switzer out of UNC. And this one's especially pertinent for your listeners because obviously they're here for fantasy football. Switzer is much like a Jameson Crowder from...

from a couple of years ago in the draft that he's a good player um he's just he's just not someone that is ever going to be highly valued because he's an undersized slot receiver um but switzer above average against man coverage great score against zone coverage is much like like i said it with crowder is a slot receiver but can win in the intermediate route so

If much like Crowder, he goes to a team on the third day of the NFL draft, because like I said, these guys just always fall. If he goes to a team that has a high volume passing offense with a stable quarterback and a stable coaching staff, he could easily be somebody by his second year or the year that is catching 60 to 70 passes that you get at a stupid discount in your rookie draft or in redraft a few years from now. So that's someone to certainly keep in mind.

Well, we will not have much longer to speculate. We appreciate you coming on, Matt. You can find Matt on Twitter at Matt Harmon underscore BYB for all the hot takes, many of them vegetable-related. Oh, those are the best. Those are the best takes. Not the most delicious takes. No, no, no. Well, that is a matter of opinion. Very subjective, yeah. You should, the vegetable perception route. We won't get into that, but.

Thank you very much for joining us, Matt. And you can read about all of these guys, and I think there's 15 full profiles on the fantasy footballers.com. You can click on the reception perception button and get in there and dig deep into the charts and everything that Matt has broken down for us. And like we said earlier, all of his reception charting of the NFL, top 50 wide receivers will be in the ultimate draft kit. So Matt, thanks a lot for coming on.

Oh, my pleasure, guys. And thank you for giving me the opportunity to not only talk about these players here, but at a big platform with your guys' site. This has been an awesome partnership so far. And looking forward to the draft kit, because it's going to be a lot of cool stuff for people to dig into. It's definitely going to be a fun year. Take care. Enjoy the draft. Thanks, fellas. All right, thanks to Matt Harmon, or as Mike said during one point in the interview for no good reason, Matt Harmer.

Yeah, when we're in the interview. Did you even notice that you? Oh, no. Oh, no. I noticed you two laughing in my face. We were laughing hysterically. And I had no idea what I had messed up. Matt Harmon. Matt. NFL.com's Matt Harmer. All right, guys. Wide receivers. Sorry, Matt. Exhaustive wide receiver information. Love it. You're going to get the full breakdown of all the NFL whiteouts from Matt Harmon in the...

Ultimate draft kit, the 2017 ultimate draft kit. Right now we're talking tight-ins. Tight-ins. Some very, very exciting tight-in prospects to me. Great draft class for tight-ins. I mean, this is the best draft class in all memory. I mean, I can't remember a draft class that had several really legitimate fantasy football prospects. So I'm just going to throw the three big names out there.

and let you guys talk about him because, look, 15 minutes doesn't go by in this office where Jason isn't watching film or talking about David Injoku. But O.J. Howard, the big name, David Injoku out of Miami. And then. Are you? Yeah, and then Evan Ingram. Evan Ingram, who's a just athletic monster. You know, O.J. Howard has the most notoriety of this group. Odd usage in Alabama.

But I think everybody has seen through that usage and knows what exists with O.J. Howard. I've heard in the fantasy community all over the place, people really like envisioning Howard with different jerseys on and what he might be able to do, whether it's New York, you know, all over the place. So who's your favorite? Is it Howard, Mike? As far as a guy that you know this.

Howard's coming in the league. Howard is playing for 10 plus years. He's ridiculous. I mean, the size is unbelievable. He's 6-6-251. He ran a 40-yard dash in 4.5 seconds at 251 pounds. That's a four-net beating time. Or the same time as four-net. Identify. But much, much heavier. Oh, I know. He is a big boy. Absolutely outrageous.

You mentioned it was unfortunate that we didn't really get to see him unleashed. Unleashed the beast in Alabama's offense. But he's so well-rounded. So it's exciting that the ceiling exists for him to be a dominant pass-catching tied in. But you also know you have longevity here if you're looking at taking him at the back of the first. Yeah. That vertical number right? The 30?

The 30 inch? Yeah, I think so. That's significantly smaller than Ninjoku or Ingram. Obviously, he's got the height advantage at 6-6. Yeah, I mean, we're coming to Thursday's NFL draft, and you're going to be watching it. And if you have a team that you root for, which I assume you do, you want O.J. Howard on your NFL team. He will be a difference maker for your roster. For me, he's not my number one fantasy football tight-in because while he has the talent to

completely dominant he's got great hands like if if he goes to a team that uses him runs him on routes he can be like you said his ceiling super high but he's such a good blocker that it's hard to say hey you should just be running routes for us you know he he needs to be helping the team so for me that's where i think his ceiling might be high but my expectation is that he will not be the same

fantasy football. You know, to be fair. He only had three touchdowns. I realized they had other weapons. I didn't use him. But still, he only had three touchdowns in his entire senior year. Seven total for four years. Right. So you compare that to my guy, David Njoku. And when I watch, look, David and Joku, I think is a fine blocker. Some people say he's not a good blocker. I think that's only because they're comparing him to O.J. Howard, who malls guys all the way down the field. David and Joku, he's got.

Such a great character, his story, his family. He comes from like a hundred brothers and sisters that are all doctors and scientists. It's unbelievable. So he's a smart dude. He's an athletic freak. And when I watch him run routes, he's so hard to take down after the catch. I mean, play after play, I watch him. He'll get a screen and a guy comes and tries to tackle him. He rips his leg out and goes for a touchdown. Rips it right out. Lips his...

out of the grip, not out of the socket. Okay. No, I mean, either way. I think David and Joku, I mean, if he goes to the Giants, I love that. We mentioned Evan Ingram, and I'm throwing in Bucky Hodges here as well. Out of Virginia Tech. These guys are off the charts athletically. Evan Ingram, the comp to him is Jordan Reed, which is a tremendous comp.

because the guy is only 6.3, 234. That's not the normal size for a tight end. Oh, I thought you meant like they have the same health insurance. No, no, no, no. Okay. Their premiums are really, really high. Uh, no, it's, his, his size is not the typical tight end. His blocking doesn't exist. No, it's, it's, it's horrendously bad. I will call it.

Not the best. Yeah, you wrote down that you thought it was okay, and I just tried to see it be okay, and I could not. I mean, he's a wide receiver. But they, that's how they used him. I mean, 65 receptions, his senior year, and they line him up in the slot frequently, and he's running these Jordan Reed type routes where it's, it's not just fly. He's running a dig route at eight yards in. So he just, he reminds me of a guy who.

If you want to make him part of the focal point of the passing attack, he has that built into him. But I know when we were breaking it down, Jason, you preferred Bucky. Yeah, I mean, if I was in an NFL franchise, I would be grabbing Bucky Hodges over Evan Ingram. I think he had everything except for the speed that Evan Ingram had. He's a little bit more raw, but he also has, I mean, Bucky Hodges is 6-6-257. And...