Top 24 Players for 2021 + Wild Card Weekend Reactions - Fantasy Football Podcast for 1/12

Because here's why. We saw this with Philip Lindsay, the undrafted rookie free agent who burst onto the scene was a top 12 guy, his rookie year. And the fact that there's no investment in him, and there will be a massive investment, obviously, the number one pick into Trevor Lawrence. They just kept giving him the ball over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over to infinity. They're not going to do that this year. They're still going to, I think he projects to be their starter.

But I don't actually think that they're going to have that same offense. They're going to try to install a new offense for Trevor Lawrence and a new offense for an undrafted rookie. Like I've got, you know, DeAndre Swift and Miles Sanders and Josh Jacobs and Gibson, all these guys ahead of James Robinson. But I will say this, the one player when I made my rankings that I hated the most as far as where I put them is James Robinson.

All he did this year is ball out be a top five running back, and then I put him at running back 19. It's sad. All right. I'm sticking with wide receivers. Okay, perfect. I am taking Michael Thomas. He's right behind DeAndre Hopkins in my rankings. Yeah. He's as good as it gets, obviously, the number one wide receiver two years ago, the number one coming into this season's draft. I did not realize. It's not exciting, though. It's not exciting. I didn't realize. I heard the broadcasters, I believe I'm going to.

say this stat correctly, that he had only caught nine passes on the season from Drew Breeze. Yeah, that makes sense. I mean, I didn't realize it was that low of the amount that those two played together. So, yeah, he could have a bounce back. If Breeze is back, this could be the best value in the draft. He certainly could bounce back. Now, when I made my running back rankings, I did not have the information.

that Doug Peterson is gone. Doug Peterson is gone, and he was just a wart on every time you felt like you could be happy and play Miles Sanders. Because you would get the super random, Cory Clement has not seen the field today. Yeah, but we're on the goal line. We should put Corey in over Miles Sanders. Just absolute crazy stuff that would happen.

and committee the situation way more than you want to. So I'm not going to take miles here, but he's going to be very interesting now depending on who the team brings in and the offensive philosophy of the new regime in Philadelphia. That could be very exciting or very.

worse. Yeah, it could get worse. It could get worse because that's not the, you know, the coaching staff that brought him in that drafted him. But it does seem there was a clear division between coach and GM. They obviously work together, but Hugh Lorry is going to want his picks to play well. I've got him. Dr. House?

Yes, Hugh Lorry, general manager of the Philadelphia Eagles, House will solve the ail. Well, I mean, that makes sense, right? The patient always gets worse before they get better. That's true. And so this was, you know, maybe they found the actual cause of the illness, and it was Doug Peterson. Good job, Hugh Lurie, diagnosing the Philadelphia Eagles. You did it again, Dr. House. All right, I'm still on the clock. I'm not taking miles. This is where I will take Clyde.

I'll take in Clyde here. Clyde Edwards O'Lear. You Lori? All right. You're taking Clyde Edwards All right. Okay. I get it. I'm on the clock. I'm going to go with Mr. Still Disrespected. He was basically a top three back over the last part of the season. I don't know what to do with this guy. I didn't know what to do with him either. But this is the point in the draft where I'll say, you know what? Maybe he stays on the streak he was on. I'm going to take David Montgomery.

who looked awesome in his second half of the sophomore year. Remember, he started the year with that groin injury. Maybe that slowed him down a little bit. But, yeah, I mean, at some point, you've got to take a guy who was that good. And this is the point for me. He was running back four on the season. I get it. I mean, those first three weeks, though, he was averaging three targets a game. And then you saw that jump all the way up to five targets a game with the absence of Tareke Cohen.

We'll see what they do. They have a quarterback problem as well. But like, let's compare. So James Robinson and David Montgomery, right? James Robinson was the guy and projects to be the guy next year, whereas David Montgomery was the guy, but we don't know if the passing work will go down. But David Montgomery finishes the running back four. He has capital invested in him. He is a centerpiece of that offense next year. We know for sure. Whereas James Robinson,

who finished worse than him this year and has all these question marks. You know, every time I kept going James Robinson versus this guy, I would always go with the other. Yeah, that's super tough. Where are we at? So I took, oh, you took David Montgomery. All right. Only four picks left. Four picks left. And there's so many guys I want drafted. Okay. Well, there's only four picks left.

This one, I mean, we're back to this discussion of, is it the old vet or is it the new wily wide receiver? Is he actually the number one on the team? That's going to be a very fun conversation this entire off season. And I'm siding right now. I'm taking the young gun. I'm going to take Calvin Ridley from the Atlanta Falcons. I'm going to draft him above Julio Jones. And if he doesn't like it, I don't care.

There is... I'm taking Calvin. There is 0.0% chance I would ever draft Julio over Calvin Ridley. Really? You're that far over. Absolutely. You know, another year older, more injuries, more leg issues, which has been a repeating theme for Julio for the last several years. And then the true breakout of Ridley. Ridley is the player I have slotted in here as well. So, yeah, I would do the same as you. I think Ridley...

is the future. I don't want to be caught hold in the back. I want the future, not the past. All right. So this next spot, you have two picks left, Jason. I've got two picks. I know the two guys I want to draft, but I don't think I'm going to get either one of them because they're just outside these rankings. Interesting. I've got George Kittle here, but I don't want to draft George Kittle.

Do you have Kittle over Waller? I do, yeah. I've got Kittle over Waller. I'm not drafting another tight end. It's not going to be George Kittal here. I am going with J.K. Dobbins. J.K. Dobbins will be my pick here. I believe what we saw the.

end of this season is the role he's going to inherit for one of the best running teams in the history of football. He's, you know, been a top 10 guy and he's only going to be better next year. So he should be locked and loaded as a safe pick that has hopeful high upside. I will say this. Looking at my rankings here, I was talking about two running backs, James Robinson, and I didn't name the other player. The other player was going to be J.K. Dobbins.

And then I simply forgot about J.K. Dobbins, because I would have drafted him where I took Clyde Edwards O'Lear. But that's how the draft goes. Sometimes you look at your sheet funny, and it doesn't work. All right. Next. Now you are at the point of the draft where you're hoping that you're running back hits, but there are elite wide receivers like Julio, Keenan, Jefferson available on the board. Metcalf.

AJ Brown. Metcalf is much lower on the list for me. I am soured by the end of the season and then you have the lemon squeeze on the wounds of saying like, yeah, that's what we're going to do next year. Metcalf will have incredible games, but I would rather get someone who's consistent like Justin Jefferson. I have Mike Evans ranked ahead of D.K. Metcalfe right now.

And that's where we are. So do you take the, yeah, I'm just going to take the elite wide receiver. I'm going to take Keenan Allen here. I know. I'm taking the targets. I'm feeling good about it. I like, I get big herb tied to me. All right. So I'm taking the last pick, the last pick. And there are so many worthy options to get in. But I'm going to choose the player that I want to make this list.

And that is Justin Jefferson. If you're talking about young superstar, you say I'm going to take the superstar wide receiver and then you went Keenan. I'm thinking, I think it's Justin Jefferson. I mean, the dude was unfathomably good this year. Yes. He was a rookie. And I mean, he didn't even really participate in the first two weeks of the season that.

you know, that much. He certainly didn't make a big impact, I believe, three targets in each of those first two games. But he finished the season as the wide receiver six. And I think he's, you know, he is only going to get better as a wide receiver. It doesn't mean he's going to be better than the wide receiver fantasy finish. But I can't see him finishing outside of the top.

15 wide receivers. That seems impossible. So I'm going to make him the 24th player in our 2,021 top 24 players. All right. That is very fair. And then because I am in charge and his name just has to be on this list, even though he's not in my top 24. But pick number 25, just put him on here, Brooks. It's Antonio Gibson, everybody, from Washington. Just because I want him to be on there. And you see the reports, Jay?

I didn't. Okay. Let's see if you remember. Offseason reports of a player's weight. Which direction do I like weight to go for wide receivers? For wide receivers, you like more weight and less weight for running back. That is 100% correct. I like when my running back say they're going to slim down.

Antonio Gibson, we're already in it, baby. The narrative, he's slimming down. He's going to maintain his speed and his strength, but he will be quicker. Oh, I'm very excited next year for Antonio Gibson. I just really hope they find him a quarterback. Yeah, that is the issue when I was ranking him was just, how much can I trust this Washington football team offense? Who knows? Maybe that's where Philip Rivers ends up, you know? I mean,

Sure. Oh, oh, man, I would take that. Those Philip Rivers checkdowns? Yeah, that would be excellent for the Gibbs season. Do you have a name that you wanted to be on the list that didn't make it, or was that just Justin Jefferson? You got them in at the end. It really was Justin Jefferson. I actually have A.J. Brown one spot ahead of Justin Jefferson. So it was kind of weird, but when I look at that, I...

Justin Jefferson deserves that spot, but AJ Brown would be the clear next name. I mean, all the dude is done in now two seasons is Dominate every time he's on the field. He's probably going to be a great value this year because he missed that first chunk of the season and that carries disproportional weight because right now everybody listening, right? Everybody listening to this podcast right now at the one hour mark in the fantasy football off season.

You know how good A.J. Brown was. But there are so many people who check out when their team starts losing, check out certainly by this point. And what they remember is when they were in it. And that was the first month of the fantasy football season. And A.J. Brown was a huge disappointment. I don't disagree. That's going to wrap up our way too early top 24 rankings.

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