Fantasy Football 2017 - Top 10 Wide Receivers + Preseason Hype

Over the course of 63 games, you've got 10 games that he's played without Andrew Luck. And now, I'm not saying Andrew Luck's not playing, but if Andrew Luck misses a week or two, that's very much in the cards, at least. I mean, he's not throwing the ball right now or a month away from games. He's five, I mean, this makes sense, but he's five points worse per game in PPR without Andrew Luck. So those two.

Things combined make me a little worried. And I'm sure he'll start to drop as we get closer to the season with Andrew Luck. If Andrew Luck continues to be sketchy, yes. Yeah. But he'll need to drop for me to draft him for where he's going right now. All right. One of the more highly debated players, Des Bryant comes in at number nine on our rankings. I have him the lowest. I'm going to tell you why. I've met 11. Jason at 9. Mike, you've got him the highest at number 7. When you look at that metric I brought up about Michael Thomas and the catch percentage.

The polar opposite in all of football was Des Bryant. Des Bryant caught 52% of his targets. That's fifth worst. So Hopkins Fuller, so Brock Brock. Alan Robinson, Bortles, and Brandon Marshall, Fitzpatrick, the worst passer rating in the league. They all had terrible quarterbacks with terrible quarterback play that put those players at the lowest percentage of their targets caught. You could blame the quarterback. And yet...

My concerns have been this same page equation with Des Bryant and with Dak Prescott. Des still performed. But that was due to massive efficiency. He was tied with Devante Adams, every 6.3 receptions he scored. That's massive efficiency. It's been hard for me to say, hey, let's just take Des Bryant. Let's go look at what he did with Tony Romo when this offense was revolving around a passing game. And let's just translate that into present day.

My concerns with Bryant is that the total targets and those things won't be there. So if you don't get that massive 6.3 receptions per touchdown efficiency, he doesn't belong in that wide receiver one consideration. And I would disagree with when you're talking about when they were a passing team. Yeah, Des Brian benefited from that. No, he was good with DeMarco that one year. But the DeMarco year, he's just efficiency. That's the name of Des.

Brian's game. That's who he is. He's never going to be the high reception guy. He's going to give you, you know, six, seven receptions a game, but they're always huge, huge gains. And he's, and he's a touchdown monster. He had, what, would he have eight touchdowns in his limited work? 50 catches, eight touchdowns. When he was on the field last year, he was very consistent. I mean, let me ask you, how do you explain, look, when that.

gets back to pass. If he throws it to Cole Beasley, 76% of the time he's catching. Now, but Beasley's running in the flats. So maybe that's the biggest thing. But when he's throwing the ball to Des, it's 50%. So you've got this, when you go-to situation, do you think it can improve between Dak and Dez to the point where, you know, you're not counting on touchdown or bus situations? I mean, it's, I think that, I don't think that that's going to change. I mean, does.

is who he is. His role in that offense is already solidified, but we've seen from years in the past that it can be unbelievable. Now, the past couple of years, Des Bryant has had the injury bug. And that's why I feel like people are hesitant to get back in with Des Bryant. And I don't blame you. When you haven't seen a guy perform in three years, it's pretty tough to go all in on him. But I think that he's just such an outstanding talent.

and so efficient. And I think that the Cowboys are going to have to throw more with their secondary was already bad last year. Now it's been depleted even more. Actually, this is a little bit breaking news. They don't have a secondary this year. They are not fielding 11 anymore. They're playing seven guys. Unless they can work some trades. I mean, that's what I'm getting report out of Dallas is that they are not going to play. That's interesting. I've not seen that report. No cornerbacks.

This is a situation where I'm trusting in what Des Bryant has done in the past, and I'm projecting DAC to improve. And this is where Jason launches into his schedule, which is also really hard to argue against. Yeah, I mean, Des Bryant, he's been one of those guys that has fared much better against lower rated cornerbacks and has been shut down by higher. And has been really shut down by higher.

rated cornerbacks, and this upcoming schedule is terrible for him. I think Andy bringing up the 50% accuracy or reception percentage is good because that to me shows room to grow. I don't expect him to stay around 50. He's always been a 60% receiver plus. I mean, years was 66%. So that could go up. There's just, he's got a wide range of outcomes. He does. That's all it is for him. His talent is as good as anyone in the league. He's a full.

legit superstar wide receiver. That's why I like him. You know, he was on pace last year for 11 touchdowns with DAC with the 50% catch rate. So that could go up. But then you look and go, okay, that pace. And I'm taking out games 13 where he didn't play the whole game and 14, 15, 16. So, you know, better numbers for him. It's still only 67 receptions. Hard to take a guy with that low of volume. It reminds me of Vincent Jackson.

years ago in San Diego because every year Vincent Jackson you wanted him he was great he scored and he was in that 70 reception range that would be scary but yeah I mean you you basically have to place your bets on Des Bryant yeah he's a DFS play on a weekly basis yeah and it's you know he's a he's a second round pick and I think there are guys that I personally would take ahead of him like if you just are giving me Des or Hilton I'm going to take Hilton yeah I get it

But let's talk about the number 10 before we close out the show. Amari Cooper, number 10. I feel like Amari Cooper's career has been kind of a, you know, he's climbing the stairs to elite, and it's just put another two steps. You know, he takes another step up and another step up. Two steps forward, one step back. Yeah, it's just kind of. It's like a meal you're enjoying, but it's not quite your favorite meal. It's like opposites are a.

They attract. 131 targets is great. 80 plus receptions is great. 1100 plus yards is great. Five touchdowns is not so great on 131 targets. Amari Cooper went opposite Mike Evans. His first eight games, he was averaging 98 yards a game. It was the wide receiver eight in that time. The final eight games, he was averaging 46 yards per game.

I understand what people are seeing in Amari Cooper. He has, he can take that step. Well, you give those the same receptions to Des and it's 13 touchdowns. Right. So Amari, it was five. And also we didn't talk about, but Amari Cooper has not been practicing either. I believe he's missed five or six straight practices. And so Amari Cooper.

this high, which he was still a wide receiver won come the end of the year. But that second half of the year, you just kept playing him and playing him. And he was killing you. I've got to ask a question. Go ahead. No, I was just going to say he can absolutely destroy your team. He is not a consistent player. He was a guy that would disappear. And you felt the need.

to start him. You don't have no choice. You don't have enough track record, and there's nothing that there's nothing definitive that says when he will, you know, with Des Bryant, you can look at the cornerback and kind of make a good choice with Emmanuel Sanders. You can look at home road splits and say, I can make a good choice when to start him. There's a trend, but you can't really figure it out yet with Cooper when he just disappears. And so that makes it difficult, but his upside. If you look at where, you know, the guy's going behind him are, you know, you've got T. Y. Hilton, Doug Baldwin.

and Brandon Cook's, the upside, if all of them hit, I think you'd have to go Cooper as the highest. Maybe Cooks, if we're just talking upside. I've got to ask you a question, and it's a crazy one. So hypothetically, you know, we talked about it. Omari Cooper's missed his fifth straight practice. If Cooper was out.

How high do you move Michael Crabtree? Like if he was out for the year hypothetically? Yeah, just hypothetical. I'm not trying to say he's going to be out or anything like that. I'm just curious. I've never asked this question. If he's, if Michael Crabtree alone is the one, do you think it helps or hurts him? Is that what you're asking? Oh, I think it helps him. It has to help him from a just a.

locked and loaded guaranteed target share. I just wonder how high you'd rank him. If you're sitting here, is he 10? Would he take over a Mario Cooper? Yeah, on these rankings? I think he would. I think he'd be right at the 2-3 turn. If you're, you know, pretty much the only show in town for that offense and you've got a good rapport and a good track. Seth Roberts says, come on now. Now, all that being said. Cordero, Patterson says, dude. Look at me. Different alternate reality that does not exist. No, no. I just was curious what you would do.

Yeah, I mean, they finished back to back in the rankings last year, and Cooper helped you or Crabtree did not hurt you as much as Cooper did. And to be fair, I have Crabtree at 10. Whoa! He's been there for a while for me. He is ahead of Amarie Cooper in my rankings. Melt my face. I did not have that helmet on. Yeah, your brain exploded? My brain exploded. I apologize. Well.

Look, we're going to give you some quick reaction to some of the preseason matchups tonight. We'll do that on tomorrow's show. Is there something, before I close out, is there something you're looking for from the preseason games tonight, the player you're excited about over a week one? Yeah, I'm excited to see Dalvin Cook. He's a player at college you watched. It was, Dalvin Cook was full on eye test. And I know that the eye, the tape people and the metrics people, we can't seem to all get along, which.

Yeah, that's why Aryan Foster wasn't drafted. I mean, like, we get along on this show. Yeah. But Dalvin Cook bombed the combine, but looked like an electric player. All reports are that he's going to be the one. He looks fantastic in practice. So he's the running back. I'm excited to see it. I want to see the eye test on mixing compared to the other backs. I want to see Marshawn Lynch, see if he looks spry. Those are a couple of eyes. Is Lynch even going to play? Yeah, I would doubt it, but maybe he'll play a series. Some.

watching the other players play. The first one that came to mind for me, they're not playing on the Thursday night slate. And also, if you're not aware, there are a ton of games tonight. So make sure you're, you know, doing what you can to see football. But the one I'm looking forward to, because I'm the most curious and confused about it, would be the Tennessee wide receiver.

core who who is out you know where is richard matthews where is eric decker those two guys oh where do they line up not only where do they line up but when do they line up what sets are i mean i don't know that we'll get enough series with them all to to see but while cori davis is not there i you know what formation are they are they in confirm marchion is suiting up for tonight i don't know how many snaps he'll get or any of that nature but he is suiting up for tonight's game

Tomorrow we'll go through more of the running back, some of that preseason reaction. Yeah, we'll go with the wide receivers, actually. And reminder, the tickets for Ballers Live, the Fantasy Footballers Live, they will go on sale tomorrow. Tomorrow at BallersLive.com, we are doing a live show. The podcast is going live in Phoenix. In Phoenix. Do it a lot. On Labor Day, and those tickets will go on sale. I will remind you tomorrow, but get ready. Get them that digital line.

Get your tickets because they're going to be limited. All right. Hey, check out Playdraft.com slash ballers. If you want to play best ball with us each and every week. We're starting leagues with the listeners. A lot of fun during the offseason. Playdraft.com slash ballers. See you later. Goodbye. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers podcast. Join our fantasy football community on join the foot.com. And follow us on Twitter at the FF ballers. The perpetual pen tapper.

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