Early WR Rankings: 11-24 + Andy's Stache, Buy/Sell - Fantasy Football Podcast

wide receiver. If you get him around wide receiver 14 where we've got him ranked, I think you're going to be super happy. But there's risk there. I was a believer last year. Andy, you weren't. I was a believer he could do it without Antonio Brown and that he would, you know, his talent on the field. I don't think any of the three of us have ever watched him and felt like he wasn't a great player. I mean, I.

I think about comparing him to how we look at AJ Brown this last year. And you just watch him on the field and you say he's a man among boys and he's dominant out there. That's how I saw Juju until this last year. And, you know, and if we're throwing this last year out, then, you know, I think he's a bit as good. I still see him that way. Yeah. I just never, I didn't see, I didn't see a world where going into last year where Juju is going to somehow.

beat those target totals in the production that he had. I thought we had seen kind of the ceiling type of numbers from Juju that season. That was my concern. And he obviously does a lot, you know, he was doing a lot that first year from the slot, short distance, take it and go. He's a burner, though. I mean, he does get loose for big plays. I think 14's the right spot for him because of the inherent risk and the fact that, you know, what does this team want to do? Yes, there's stupid rumors about...

whether he walks or wants too much money. But Deonti Johnson's a pretty good player. They brought an Eric Ebron to compete in the goal line arena. So, you know, Juju's not the only option down there. It's going to be a very interesting season for that offense. Yeah, I don't have much to contribute that's different other than saying, I think Deonti Johnson really helps Juju Smith-Schuster. I think that Johnson will emerge as a very, very good wide receiver in the NFL. And maybe Jouju

is just one of those players. Maybe he has to have someone on the other side of the field and can't really become that number one that it looked like he was trending to become. So I'm very happy that Deontay is there. I think that helps next year. Well, Juju ran 66% of the routes from the slot, which was up from the previous two years. So if there is a solid outside receiver that speaks to your point of helping Juju. Sorry, go ahead.

Oh, I mean, that was it. Take, you know, take the top off the defense to open things up underneath the juju. Dei Johnson had four weeks last year inside the top 10 at the wide receiver position. So it'll be very interesting to see his emergence and what it demands. That's the most disappointing thing for juju is it wasn't that Deonti was great for fantasy. Juju had one. And they both had the same quarterback issues on the year. And I know Juju got hurt late. But, you know, that's something that's very.

Juju did not demand the targets from bad quarterbacks that we thought he might. Because they're bad. But Deonti Johnson could. Well, when you're stupid, you do dumb things. They were bad. And they should have thrown it to Juju more. But Juju missed four games and was injured on, you know, coming back and left the game in week 11. So, you know, it's really hard to know. In the beginning of the year, first eight weeks, he had several of his games were absolutely fine. A.J. Brown.

Number 15 on our list. 12 for me. 15 for Jason. 17 for Mike. Obviously a monster from week 12 on last year. Sixth, first, eighth, fourth, four top 10 finishes in the last six weeks. He is a beast on the field. He has the inherent risk that we brought up in our running back episode about Derek Henry and the fact that if things go completely right for this team, sometimes that means Ryan Taney Hill,

and inso facto his wide receiver options are going to have lower production games. They're going to disappear at times. Happened a little bit in the playoffs, low passing volume. But I don't think any of us are going to sit here and debate the talent of A.J. Brown. It's just a matter of what are we going to get? What percentage of those last six weeks is going to be the normal for A.J. Brown? It's certainly not going to be the same percentage that he was getting those last six weeks where every single.

you know, game or 80% of them were just behemoth performances. I think what, you know, the reason I brought up AJ Brown when I was talking about juju is because it had the same feel in their rookie years where you just look and you say, this guy is extremely talented. He's a special player out there and his time is clearly going to come as a superstar. You know, so AJ Brown, I think, is going to.

be the clear number one coming into the year. He was not that this season. You had Corey Davis. I remember Mike and I constantly lamenting through the season about Taj Sharp eating into the snap percentages of AJ Brown. He is gone now. And so I think the opportunity is there for AJ Brown to be a wide receiver one. I think in most drafts, you're going to have to draft him there. You know, we've got him at 15. I don't think he will.

I don't think he'll be there because I don't think there will be for the 15th wide receiver. I agree. I think there's going to be an owner in every league that's going to take the shot that this beast of a man in his rookie year breaks out in year two and makes year not look like a breakout. But it's hard for me to put him there. You know, in his rookie year, he only had 52 receptions.

So, you know, you're projecting a lot and you're saying, well, Ryan Tannahill is the savior, and that's the reason why the Titans were that good. But we brought this up in the quarterback show. The efficiency of that Tennessee offense in the red zone was outlandish. You could say, well, that's good. They showed that they're good, but it's just impossible. You know, one field goal inside the red zone since Ryan Tanna Hill took over and everything else, scoring-wise, was a touchdown.

Yeah, I have him at 17 in this because this is just a confidence thing of the reception total. When AJ Brand went on his tear, he had five receptions once and then eight receptions for these big games. And that's not to say those, the other games weren't gigantic. He's just doing it on three and four receptions. And over the course of a year, is that really sustainable or was this?

Did they just take everyone by surprise? When they made the change to Ryan Tannenhill, how long did it take defenses to catch up? Sometimes teams aren't prepared for this new quarterback, so they didn't know the tendencies of Tanyhill on that team. I think defenses will be more prepared next year. Yeah, it'll be, you know, if Henry runs the way he's run, play action passing and A.J. Brown being able to go from.

nothing to the number three on the week is going to happen from time to time. Yeah, it will. At 16, Adam Thielen. I'm so kind of meh about Adam Thielen that it just, he just feels like he's there in my rankings with very little confidence and conviction. I don't think I'm, I'm not bullish on this passing game. Diggs helps Thielen a lot, in my opinion. And losing him is going to be very interesting.

You know, I believe they're going to continue to run the football. But I don't have Cousins very high. I don't have Thielen very high. I've got him down at 18. And that's more of just respect for what we saw in 2018 when he had 113 receptions, 1,300 yards, 9 touchdowns. But that feels like a long time ago when you talk about the lingering injuries, last year's disappointing performances. I'm just kind of, he's there as the one because he's the one on the Vikings offense. And I think, you know, Cousins is a good quarterback. But.

Tell me why I should be more excited about Thielen's potential this year. So I'll jump in because I have him the highest. I have him at 13. Adam Thielen officially played in 10 games. But when you actually look at snaps and breaking things down, I mean, he played the first six weeks. Then he got hurt right away in week seven. And I know he played, he forced his way back on the field after returning from the injury.

And just he was not Adam Thielen. You could see it, including a goose egg in week 16. But up until that point, so in those first five point, whatever, five point two games, he had nearly 400 yards and six touchdowns in that time. Like Adam Thielen was on his way to having a very, very productive season being a high level wide receiver two. And it's completely evaporated.

because of the injury and on top of that, trying to get back from injury and being very, very disappointing. So I still have faith that Adam Thielen can return to top 15 wide receiver. I don't need massive output from Kirk Cousins. I would project Thielen to be a good fantasy wide receiver and Kurt Cousins to be a below average fantasy quarterback. I agree that Diggs does help, but I don't think that Adam Thielen.

can't get it done without Stefan Diggs. Like, you, when Adam Thielen was having those, the two years ago, when Adam Thielen's first half of the, of the year was just absolute bananas, like,

That's not all just because of Stefan Diggs. That's because Adam Thielen's out there getting open and catching hard passes. Yeah, I love Adam Thielen this year for where he's going to be in the draft. People, you know, he got injured. You know, the Vikings don't want to throw the ball. They want to run the ball. All these things are going to push him down. He's played, you know, he's been available for 16 games his entire career until this last year. So I don't think this is someone that you can look at and say, oh, he's.

You know, is he going to be able to stay on the field? He always has until this last year, but he was injured. And so that's going to push him down. The reality is he's a great wide receiver. Didn't you guys bring up, though, like the back half of the year before when he had his super huge breakout, that was kind of the concern coming into last year. Sure. Was what level of receiver you're really going to get? Yeah, and I guess the way that I see it is when you had both of those guys, yeah, Diggs helps.

Phelan on an efficiency level. But I don't think that, you know, taking Diggs out, Thielen is going to get a ton of targets. You're talking about a player who with Diggs there had 142 targets, 153 targets. I can't imagine if he plays 16 games, him having fewer than 150 targets when he's like the only show in town. So if his efficiency drops, but he gets 150 targets, you're talking about a top wide receiver in fantasy. And this is a pretty good offense. So, you know, I'm.

I'm all about the value on Adam Thielen this season. Yeah, it'll be very interesting to see. Thielen ended up, yeah, I guess, I mean, those first five weeks, it was looking a lot better than we expected. From week nine of the year before, he only had like one top ten finish. So it had been a while. But, yeah, I mean, he should be heavily targeted. If he can stay healthy, it seems like he's very safe. He was a top 10 wide receiver.

in 2017, a top 10 wide receiver in 2018, injured last year, and now he's the only show in town. So to me, I think he's going to be a really good value this year. And it's a bit more competitive. Hilton or Thielen is your one? I think the upside is juicier with Thielen. It's more exciting, but actually more confidence in targets. I feel like it's stealing. Those guys are really close to me despite being five, you know, linear ranks apart. Let's say in.

It's very looking at narrative trying to get inside of someone's head, but they didn't have to trade Stefan Diggs. Like, he was under contract for a very, very long time. They could have kept him there. They were contractually obligated to trade him after he tweeted 50 anonymous tweets. That was part of his contract. If you vague book 50 times, you have to be traded. Was that the Antonio Brown? That is correct. But my point being.

The team clearly felt comfortable moving ahead with Adam Thielen and then whoever they're going to add in during the draft as well. Cortland Sutton is 17, Cooper Cup, 18, Devante Parker, 19, Robert Woods at 20. So two of those four names we've talked about at length, Cooper Cup and Robert Woods. Two we have not. Devante Parker, everybody trying to, I believe, just hedge here. Like, you had a great season. You had a great season.

You're not willing to anoint and give a permanent place in the upper echelon of wide receivers. So he sits here at 19. And look, that's the reasonable approach. If you get Devante Parker from last year, this is the wrong spot for him. If you get the Devante Parker of the remainder of his career or anything close to that, you know, this is too generous. So last year, though, 72 for 1202 and 9.

Pass the film test, past the eye test, looked like a great wide receiver. Will we have Fitzpatrick for the whole season? Will you have two up for part of the year? Will you have somebody else? Yeah, I mean, the whole hedge here to me is the quarterback. If you...