WR Rankings: 11-20 + Latest Camp Hype, Yikes-o-potamus - Fantasy Football Podcast for 8/10

They added Curtis Samuel, but he's been out this training camp and has a little bit different skill set. So now I look at the ADP and I say we're lower than the consensus with him at 11 and people drafting him at 10. I got him in nine. I still, I still believe. Look, in fantasy, sometimes you have to.

project what's going to change. You obviously cannot just look at what happened last year and say, well, this is how I'm going to draft players. That's why Christian McCaffrey is ranked like number 100. Right, yeah, because he was injured all last year. He was no good. And the career path, the trajectory and the talent of Terry McLaurin give me confidence.

um, in this ranking. There are some players I project to have a breakout and I'm scared of it. Um, this isn't one of them. This is a player where I've never seen anything on the field that he has done that makes me feel like he is not elite. Uh, I have seen plenty on the field when I've watched Terry McLaurin that says, yikes eponymous. It's called the quarterback play. Not being able to hit him, not being able to, I mean, just airmailing him. Um,

And now he's got, at the very least, a competent quarterback who can do wonders for fantasy options in the wide receiver room. We've seen that with countless wide receivers, whether it was Tampa Bay or the New York Jets. Fitzmajoric can get it done here with Terry McLaren. And I think the fact that he is such an alpha wide receiver here, mixed with his talent, mixed with finally having the quarterback and the age.

range and process to his career. You know, this is coming into year three, and he did break out last year. He was the wide receiver 21, and obviously dealt with a lot of garbage, including his own injuries. I think he steps it up, and I'm confident that he is a top 15 wide receiver. I have him at 9. And if you wanted to say, could he, you know, what's his ceiling to me?

To me, because I can see him easily being 160 target type of player, with that talent, the ceiling is like a wide receiver five finish. Yeah, I'm on Jason's side with Terry. He's an incredible player, and the system is great. Like, the volume will be there. If you're worried about Washington being a, you know, ground and pound defensive team, that's not...

That's not the Turner offense. We saw it with North Turner with Rivera and Carolina, and now we see it with Scott Turner and Rivera in Washington. Last year, they had the number four overall defense, and they still had the eighth most pass attempts per game. Because even in a neutral game script, Scott Turner likes to dial up passes. And last year, even with all those attempts, they were 30th in target share to the wide receiver position because you had.

Alex Smith checking everything down. You had Dwayne Haskins and company overtargeting Logan Thomas out there. But now you bring in Ryan Fitzpatrick, who last year had the fourth best adjusted completion percentage on deep throws. And Terry McLaurin can absolutely toast DBs and make them look foolish. Now you get a massive upgrade at the quarterback for deep passes and someone who likes to overtarget the wide receiver position. I think Terry McLaurin is.

He's a, to me, like Jason's talking about, he is a very safe breakout wide receiver. Number 12, Mike Evans. Mike and I have him at 11. Jason has him at 14. His average draft position is 13 right now, so we're right in that range. We have Godwin ranked at 17. So this passing offense, I think we expect big things in Tampa. And Evans is just, I guess, the best example of ho-hum always great.

I mean, 1,000 yards last year, 13 touchdowns. He's humongous, so he's one of those players that projecting double-digit touchdowns for is the right thing to do, not the outlier type of season. 109 targets. I think when all of their wide receivers are uninjured and playing to their talent, Evans is the best one of them.

He offers the most. He's a deep threat. He's a red zone threat. He's a consistency option for Brady in the middle of the field. So you want a track record? How about seven years of a thousand yards? It's absurd. His seven-year average right now. So if you just take it all, it's 135 targets, 76 receptions, 1,100 yards, and 8.7 touchdowns. Top 12 receiver in five of seven years. That's why he's there. He's just sneaking into the top 12,

I think that just comes from his ceilings cut off by having talent around him. He's got Godwin and he's got Antonio Brown, but not a lot to frown about. He's interesting, like a victim of his own success going in the fourth round for Mike Evans. Last year from week nine on, that's when the whole wide receiver crew was there. That's when Antonio Brown was there. Chris Godwin was back to health.

And in that time, Mike Evans was seeing 21% of the targets. He was averaging just under 15 points per game, which on a per game basis, that would have been the wide receiver 6. So everyone was there. It's a small sample. And yeah, absolutely, things could change because, you know, we all know that promises get kind of crazy sometimes. But, but Mike. Oh, the voice of public opinion. But. Yes.

Mike Evans doesn't have upside. He can't. He's too, too much competition for targets. I, do you want me to repeat my argument? Are you? That was the, yeah. That's the consensus against Mike Evans is just that he can't be the number one wide receiver. And I think that is, he can't be.

Yeah, he can't be the number one wide receiver in fantasy. No, I agree. Oh, overall? And I think, yeah, okay, that's fine. I think Mike Evans is a phenomenal draft pick. What did you say he's being drafted as right now? The wide receiver? Wide receiver 13, early fourth round. Okay, so here's just going through this. Here's his fantasy finish on the season for his career. 12, 24, the wide receiver 2, 18, 8, 12, 10. 8, 12, 10 is the last three years. He is today 27 years old.

Like there's really nothing not to love about Mike Evans other than, oh, no, he can't be the number one overall wide receiver and fantasy. Well, almost everybody can't. Literally, almost everybody won't be. There's only one that gets to be the number one. We had it, Jason. Okay. We were tracking. All right. Okay. So seven years in the league, 28 this month. We expect big things from Brady.

There has been boom-bust problems with Evans in the past. Goose weeks disappearing. He can be unnecessary on a given week. The defense is good. You might have a big play from the other wide receivers. I do think consistency for all three Tampa Bay wide receivers is the problem from a redraft perspective.

You're going to have weeks where Godwin disappears. You're going to have weeks where Mike Evans disappears. And you're going to have weeks where Antonio Brown disappears. But they will be the minority and something that we always talk about in the truth of a wide receiver series and that you just don't realize is that outside of like the top two wide receivers on the season, all of them have disappearing acts. They all do. Even the target hogs on their team. So you're just going to have to deal with it. Number 13 is C.D. Lamb.

of the Dallas Cowboys. Mike and I have him at 15, Jason, at 11. Oh. That is aggressive. But I get it. I brought him up on the ice and fire show as my fire pick. So a lot of arguments were made there as to why I believe ranking him that high is appropriate. 15 feels good to me with the risk assessment, with looking at, okay, yes, the upside is why you're drafting him because.

Talent, ability, offense, volume, utilization. The fact he's getting out of the slot this year, the fact that it's year two, the fact that he was the wide receiver 20 is a rookie without DAC. These are all reasons why I think he's a more exciting and a better upside pick. You're trying to win your league, right? Like you don't want to finish third. And while Amari Cooper is still a value in my opinion because his utilization will be high, CD Lam is a pick to win your league.

And so I buy it. And 13 feels pretty good. Yeah, I mean, I don't love having him at wide receiver 11 just because it is scary. But what you just outlined, Danny, I mean, the wide receiver 20 without DAC in his rookie year, he's going to step it up. He's used more in different formations. My big worry with drafting him right now is solely and only the health of Dak Prescott. That's it.

The health of Amari Cooper doesn't really matter because you can argue that, oh, great. You know, if Amari Cooper misses some of the season, then all the better for CD Lamb. It's just DAC needs to be healthy to return on this. If DAC is out, especially without Andy Dalton now, that's going to be very, very scary. As of right now, everything is supposed to be fine. It's just a couple of weeks. They're waiting on deck to just recover, rest and rest alone. He's been throwing a little bit.

Yeah, so I don't think anybody's scared. Obviously, my ranking is not scared, but that to me is the path of failure. You might be disappointed if you draft him where he is and he finishes as the wide receiver 17, but you're going to be fine and you can overcome that in fantasy. The only way that you're super disappointed to me is if DAC is injured. The future of this team is Cooper and Lamb.

at the wide receiver position. Gallup's in the final year of his deal. Gallup will move on. Barring a shock, a shocking re-signing, he'll go be a number one somewhere else. I think he's got that ability. Lockett at 14, Tyler Lockett. Oh, baby. He's being drafted much lower than this, the wide receiver 24. Matt Calfe is ranked at 7, so.

I imagine all of us, the three of us, will get to draft Tyler Lockett whenever we want to in fantasy drafts. Last year was 100 for 10, 54, and 10. That was a very Keenan-esque season. I managed to hit double-digit touchdowns because that just happens with Russell Wilson. Finished at wide receiver 9. The back half of the year was, what did we say? He locketed himself into your lineup in the first half. Yeah.

melted you into a sad puddle over the second half because his bad games weren't, oh, well, you didn't kill me. They were like you didn't play football this week. Yes. So despite finishing in the top 15 for three straight years, the question is more a value proposition of what do I want on my roster? What am I willing to endure at the fantasy wide receiver position? But his draft cost says he's your two.

Yeah, that's the thing is we're saying that the end of year production is going to be the wide receiver 14. That's where we have him consensus ranked. But he's being drafted as the wide receiver 24, which says that even if it comes inconsistently, it's going to be a value for you. When I'm in the fifth round, wherever I am in the fifth round, I'm always upset if title of lock it goes ahead of me because that's just such good value in the fifth. I don't see how he.

doesn't produce at least the wide receiver 24, which is where he's being drafted. I mean, that seems almost impossible. The volume was still there over the second half of the season, and that's what you need to reassure yourself with. I mean, after the monstrous game against Arizona, where he saw 20 targets and 200 yards and three touchdowns, after that is when everything, you know, really imploded, but he was still seeing over seven targets a game.

in that time. And let me ask you guys a philosophical question. My favorite kind. For fantasy football. What happens to Tyler Lockett's ADP if you completely flip the two halves? Let's say he started last year with that, where it was the inconsistent games and he was crushing your roster. And then he just, the second half went absolutely nuclear and is winning people.

he's actively in the lineup when you're winning. Oh, yeah. I mean, he would be drafted around the wide receiver 15 instead of 24. No question. But we've seen that with other players too. And it's a matter of wondering if there's a trend there. I remember that happening with Adam Thielen in past years, too, with the front and back half of the season game. And that caused people to doubt him in years past. But you're right. I mean, if he had finished that way, the team had finished that way,