WR Rankings Countdown: 20-11 + Puka Panic - Fantasy Football Podcast for 8/6

And maybe we don't let the multiple options in the offense, you know, get in the way of drafting the best player. I'm trying to force my bell curve a little bit ahead because I do think three, four years from now, we're going to look back and be like, yeah, he had a third year breakout. It was a little later than what we're used to, but then he was just a star from then on out. And he's paid like a star now. And this is not an anti-Tank Dell take or podcast. Yeah, I think that Tank Dell is. Tank Dell. Do we like AJ Brown and Devante Smith? Yep. Do we like Chase and Higgins? Do we like Waddle and Tyreek? And so it's like Tank Dell probably represents an even greater value just of where his ADP is and where I think that Tankdale is going to finish. But it's, dude, the, the contract extension is, it speaks so loud to me of this was a team looking at all these, looking at the wide receiver landscape.

And like what's going on with C.D. Lamb and Jamar Chase, it's these guys who have now put up multiple huge seasons. And they're saying, no, I'm not going to, I'm not playing until you open the bank for me. And they got out ahead of that. You know, like it was a, it's a fair move for Nico, 52 million guaranteed. He secures a generational wealth. But like, he could have waited. Well, it's like DJ Moore in Chicago. If Nico has another great year. If he has a year anywhere close to what he put up last year this year, that salary is jeffersoning into the stratosphere. So they got out in front of it, and I commend them for it. This just the end, the Texans have traded for wide receiver Brandon Ayuk to add to the three pack. That's fine. No, that's false news. Fake news, maybe. Maybe it'll happen.

Probably won't happen. Mike Evans at 13. Mike Evans last year was incredible. A revelation, a league winner, an unbelievable value, and one of your my guys. It was very, very special to see him, I mean, 17 weeks, wide receiver 5, crushed as a 30-year-old, got paid, you know, we do have a change in offensive coordinator, but. Again, this is the point I made last offseason with Mike Evans. I will not make it forever, but maybe I will. Nobody has seen more change. Nobody is quarterback, head coach, offense coordinator, all of it, then Mike Evans. And this is a player that from 2014, wide receiver 12, 24, 2, 18, 8, 12, 10, 8, 16, 5. Some say he's the first ballot hall of favor. Some would. And he's wide receiver 15. So you're not paying.

Think about the season Waddle had two years ago, and then he goes up in his ADP 9. Then you look at the season that Mike Evans had, two spots higher last year than where Waddle had finished when he got moved up to 9, and the age keeps him at wide receiver 15. I think it's a very fair price. It's basically where we all have them ranked. I don't think you need to go into it more than that. No, I think it's a fair price. The only concern is touchdowns. And it's not that Mike Evans has not been a touchdown machine. If you look at, you know, the last four seasons, 13 this previous season, six in his down season the year before, 14 the year before that, 13 the year before that. But those were Brady. And then it was a matter of, do you believe Baker can get him to double-digit touchdowns? You did, Andy. You made that case. I didn't. And he did. He got 13. Now.

Can Baker do it again? Yeah. It's like the question is it's still Baker of whether Baker can provide Mike Evans with double-digit touchdowns because I think he's going to need to be around there since he's not. Just get me eight. Eight will make me content in ADP. Anything higher than eight, we're going to beat it. That's that's about my line. Okay. And he's at eight. He had six in 2022 and that knocked him to. Think about that. Wide receiver 16 missed two games and only scored six touchdowns and ended at 16 and his ADP is 20 is 15. Yeah, but I remember that season. No, that one was pain. That was pure pain and most of his points came in that beautiful week 17. Yeah, but again, look, the case for Evans is so much stronger than the case for D.K. Metcalf right now. That, I would, I mean, it's just so much stronger. I don't think that's true.

I mean, that, that blows my mind. Why are you just a Mike Evans hater all this time? No, no, no, I'm not a Mike Evans hater. I'm just saying. 10 years of dominance. A 26-year-old versus a 30-year-old. Are you saying that Baker is significantly better than Gino? Is that what you're saying? I'm saying Mike Evans is better than DK. Yes, that's true. Mike Evans has proven it over time with lots of different quarterbacks. And no, I would take Metcalf behind Evans every day of the week. Okay. Chris Olava. Chris Olava is quite interesting. He's at 12 in our consensus. He's at eight on my ranks. I was staring this down with Jason in the morning yesterday going, Jason, I've got Alave at eight and I don't know what to do with these feelings. Mike's got him in 19. Yeah, because he hurt me. Jason at 11. It's an emotional. Yeah. Hopefully it's not, but Chris Alave. He should.

I don't like my ranking here. He should dominate this season. He should. He should have dominated last year. Yeah, and he kind of did. Kind of. He kind of did. It was, the lows were really low with OLAV. But he's the number one reading this offense. Mike Thomas is gone. Alave is going to hold up everything they do in the passing game. Derek Carter, take it for what you will. It ain't coffee with Cooper Cup. But Derek Carr has spent extensive time this offseason. extra routes, extra reps after practice with Chris Olaave to get on the same page. And Olave is just too talented, I think. There was a very funny Chris Olave interview where they're like, did you see anything this training camp so far? I thought it was like, what play? They're like, have you seen any plays that made you just say, yeah, we're going to be a really good team? And he's like, nah, which is not the answer you want to give. Yeah, that was pretty funny. So.

To me, to me, there's a lot of upside. You talk about upside in the UDK, potential explosive season waiting to happen. And even Nick Underhill, who we love, came out and said the connection looks really good in the preseason. It's just a matter of delivering on the promise. And again, it's going to come down to touchdowns for Oliva, too, where he just didn't get the big plays into the end zone last year and that really hurt him. But he still ended up in the top 20. That's a hard part of what happened last year was there was a lot of.

There was a lot of good games. We never had that one moment where, like, you go into Monday, and everyone is talking about, did you see what Chris Olavay did yesterday on the football field? We got, like, his best game, let's see, 123. So wide receiver 12, 9 for 1, 23 against the Rams. And like in terms of yardage, you know, he ranked higher than when he would score a touchdown. But it's we didn't have that 120 and 2 or like the. And that's, I mean, that's a very high bar. I'm not not saying that that's an easy thing to do. It's a matter of true number ones do that at least a couple times a year. Yeah. And we haven't, we haven't gotten there yet. I do think we'll get there. I believe the best.

Chris Olava season has not been seen yet, right? I don't think he's peaked in his career. And he is not valued the same as Garrett Wilson and Drake London. Like, you know, I, I think he has seen as kind of the third. If you compare Chris Olave to Garrett Wilson, I think everyone says Garrett Wilson is, is better, you know, he's drafted higher. He should be better. So I just want to play a little game. Oh. Let's hear it. This game's called. Chris Olavay or Garrett Wilson. Okay. Well, let's start. I was really hoping that was the name of the game. Let's just start with games. Who's played more games? They came into the, you know, the same time of the career. This is just trying to give one to get. This is a dumb question. It's trying to give one to Garrett Wilson real quick. Yeah, yeah. Garrett Wilson has three more games played. Yeah, all right. Who has more targets in their games? Garrett Wilson.

Yeah, I'll go Garrett Wilson. He's got 315 targets versus Chris Oliva is only at 257. He's laying the sticks across the hole, Mike. He's shuffling. You ready to walk? Go get that meat hanging from the tree branch. All right. Let's just look at the advanced. That's gross. The advanced metrics. Okay. I don't think I will. Targets per route run and yards per route run. Those, you know, who gets got to be. I think it's a lobby. Targets. Targets, I'm going to go Wilson. Yards, I'll go Olave. Both of them are Chris Olave ahead. Okay. Who has more top 12 fantasy finishes? Higher percentage of top 12 fantasy finishes. I think I've been down this road before. I think it's got that. It is a lobby. Yeah. Who has a higher percentage of top 24 finishes? It is Olavee. Who has more total yards? Okay. It is Olave. That one is pretty interesting. So it's like he's he's just not given.

I don't think he's given the respect he deserves. He's been somehow a disappointment, even though he's been really, really good. When you are, when you have basement quarterback in New York and you have mid quarterback in New Orleans, the grace has not been given to Oliva with mid as it has been with like Garrett Wilson gets a free pass. Yeah, because of the other Wilson. Yeah. Put Derek Carr on the New York Jets last year. that team makes the playoffs. Yes. Certainly. Oh, yeah. And Gary Wilson doesn't disappoint. I get, I like Chris Olavi a lot. I was the one, you know, just last off season of that exact thing, same thing of I don't think the gap between Garrett Wilson and Chris Oliva should be as big as it is. The problem is, is ADP is the wide receiver 12. If it was 20, you're talking my guy contention. Sure. But 12 is like, that's not a floor for him.

So there's risk. There's a little bit of Drake London risk. So he's being drafted as a top 12 guy. Can Chris Oliva finish top five? Such a good question. No. I don't think so either. And for the record, I do think Darrell Wilson can. 12 to 6. Yeah. That's the hard part about the ADP. Marvin Harrison is the last name we'll talk about today. Comes in at 11. His ADP is nine guys. We are officially. Not homers. Did you realize that? You're welcome. We are wide receiver 11. Also, I had made some adjustments earlier in the week. He was at 8. He's at 10 for me. Mike at 11. Jason at 15. All three of us, slightly below ADP. As much as I believe in the clear path to not busting that exists for Harrison, which I do believe, it is still a just...

It is the highest sticker price on the lot. Mm-hmm. Right. Like you, you are not waiting for rates to come down. No. You won it. You won it bad and you want it now. This is not a family car. It's exciting. It's flashy. It's a two-seater. This is for dad only. This is a two-seater. And, you know, Al, he ain't putting on the seatbelt. No. That's premium, premium gasoline in there. Yes. So you are paying, you're paying the highest price to have. the sexiest vehicle. And it will be probably pretty fun. I really do think it's going to be a great year. But there's going to be sometimes you're going to be like, man, I wish I had a back seat. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. It could be. Groceries don't fit in here. I should not have left the roof off. It's raining. And if Kyler Murray goes down, enjoy Desmond Ritter supplying Marvin Harrison with with fantasy value. This question is like the one you just asked. It's the best question about Marvin.

for the ADP, which is wide receiver 9, a mid-second round pick. The highest he can finish in year one is what? He can be a top five guy. I do believe that a Jamar Chase rookie season is possible. Or was Chase as a rookie? What was the finish? Wide receiver, I believe it was wide receiver six. Wide receiver five. Beep, bo, beep, beep, beep, beep. Okay. In a half point. You're a way off, Jay. He put up 81 for near, for over 1,400 yards and 13 touchdowns. The 13 touchdowns is doing some real heavy lifting there. Puka was four. So four or five? Is that what you think? Yes. It is absolutely possible. It is a cheek clenching pick to take a rookie, the highest drafted rookie of all time for fantasy football. His margin for error is so low. There's the emotional cost of Marvin Harrison.

If Marv goes out week one and gives you seven for 45 or something like that, you are going to panic in the streets. Let me give a draft strategy thought with Marvin Harrison. There are a lot of wide receivers going in the first round, right? You guys just did a mock draft and somehow Mike ended up with Bijjon at 9 because the big name wide receivers are going and going early, which means that on that turn, For a lot of you, it's do you want to grab your running back or do you want to grab a second wide receiver in Marv? The price for Malik Neighbors is two rounds later. And Malik Neighbors is really, really good. He is. And there's not the risk attached. Not that there's huge risk with Harrison as a floor play, but you're waiting for your running back. And then until, you know, your draft strategy is going to have to become, you know, third round, fourth round running backs. It's just something a little bit scary where he's going.

strategically. Now, if you go running back early, you've got to make, then Marv's your number one. So you've got to go Gibbs or Chiron, and then you've got to come back and say, Marvin's my number one wide receiver. And I think I'm more okay with that than I am with Waddle or Drake London, but it's still a little bit scary. It is, it is, you know, obviously we haven't seen him on the NFL field, but there hasn't been a prospect like him in a long, long time. He is as perfect a prospect as you can be. He has the height, the speed, the...

ball skills, the pedigree, the heritage. I mean, he's got it all. He's the clear one for his depth chart with no real competition. It's been from day one here in Arizona. He is the alpha wide receiver for the team. And he's got a good quarterback and Kyler who has been able to support, you know, fantasy success in the past. Yeah, Hopkins was his first year here. Now, Hopkins was a superstar at the time, of course. But DeAndre Hopkins, year one in Arizona was the number five overall. Fantasy wide. Yeah. So, I mean, it's tough because I could see a world where you are disappointed, and it is a bust of a pick this year. He's not going to be a bust of a player, but if he goes out and has five touchdowns and, you know, his line in, you know, a lot of sports books is right around 1,000 yards. If he goes out and gets 1,000 yards on the dot and six touchdowns, you're going to be super disappointed with this draft slot. But the truth is,

We talk about Chris Olavi does not have the potential to be top five. I do think Marvin Harrison does. And so that's why you're making decisions basically between those type of players. I think the floor is higher for a Chris Olave than it is for a rookie Marvin Harrison. I think the ceiling is higher for Marvin Harrison. So it's just like what is the way you want to play? Well, that'll do it for today's episode. We're coming back with the top 10 wide receivers on tomorrow's show. Reminder to hit that follow button on all your podcast players. Leave us a review if you've got a couple of extra minutes. It helps the show out as we bring you five episodes a week. And that's it. We thank you, Footland. We love you. Cameras over there. Wall is over there. Yeah. It's where it always is. Goodbye.

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