WR Rankings Part Two + Buy/Sell, Sam Bowie'd - Fantasy Football Podcast for 8/12

I can't promise you, you won't get it. I got it. And everyone's like, whoa, okay. Now I know someone who got it. And hearing Anthony Lynn really talk about getting the virus saying, you know, I'm used to fixing the problem. And then I got infected. And now I'm part of the problem. So it was like seeing the man, Anthony Lynn. It's just, it was refreshing. It's always refreshing to see these players as human beings. Oh, that's my favorite part. But your thoughts are way deeper than mine.

Because my favorite part was watching these. Per the usual, Jason. Because my favorite part was watching these just unbelievable men. Unbelievable. These guys are the strongest. Did you see Aaron Donald with his shirt off? Well, no. Yeah. Oh my goodness. That is that's not allowed. My problem or my point here is.

watching them get the tests and worry about the needles and worry about the Q-tips and the notes. And they're all worth. Wait, I want to see him go first. I love it. I love watching these. You can relate. Superhuman. Well, because I am like, you know, I know you guys look at me and go, that's a man. That's a 1% athlete. It just, it makes me feel good knowing that I'm not the only.

superhuman. We'll use the word superhuman that also has fears of things like needles and spiders. Now, yesterday was the day that you jumped and hurt yourself because of an ice cream wrapper. That is correct. Yeah, it's going to be interesting. I mean, the NFL or the NHL and the NBA has proven this incredible fact.

that if you don't have the virus, you can't get the virus. Right. What's all about? In either of those leagues, you've had negative tests after negative tests. So if players are responsible, if more teams do these bubbles, you're going to have a situation where, yeah, I mean, they're colliding into each other on the NBA court and they're not catching the virus because they don't have it. So hopefully that's the case that we get in the NFL. Wide receivers.

But obviously wear your masks in the car. That is when you're driving by yourself. I don't judge people who want a mask up in the car. That's fine. They're just so comfortable. I judge them. All right. Number 11, Adam Thielen. Our consensus. Where are we going, Brooks? Top 24 today, maybe? Yeah. Yeah, right. All right. Number 11, Adam Thielen. 15 on my list. 11 on Jason's 13 on mics.

Injury plagued season. No more Stefan Diggs coming off of a number 10 and number seven finish in 2017 and 2018. And, you know, this is a team that made a huge transition last year to being a very low passing volume team. This is Dalvin Cook's team last season. Thielen finished at 61. Like I said, injuries throughout the year.

Really hurt fantasy owners, really left some burns because he tried to come back in week nine against Kansas City and scored zero points. A lot of people started him there. He tried to come back in weeks 15 and 16 when he finished 63rd and 112. Maybe you gave up by then. Fewer people started him by then. Yes. Learned your lesson. But you guys are both pretty optimistic about Adam Thielen having a bounce back in 2020. He was great.

Up until the first injury through those first six games, he had 391 yards and six touchdowns. And look, it's a low volume offense, but 63 receptions and over 1,100 yards. That's what Stefan Diggs had last year. That's what Adam Thieland does not have to compete with anymore. Now it's either first round pick Justin Jefferson or someone else.

It's not 1A, 1B, who's the man for the Minnesota Vikings? It's Adam Thielen. And he, if you're watching him playing those first few games, he hadn't lost anything. He just, he suffered an injury and couldn't make it back to health. So I'm still in on Thielen that, that I really, I would love to draft Thielen in the third round. Yeah, I'm, I am in on Thielen, here's why. Three years ago, he was a top 10 wide receiver.

Two years ago, he was a top 10 wide receiver. But then last year they changed to being a run heavy team that passes the ball far less. And before he got injured through the first six weeks, he was a top 10 wide receiver. So the only time we've seen him healthy on the field, he's been a top 10 wide receiver. He's not over the hill. I think last year's numbers were more deceptive, though. You're saying that because of the touchdowns. But what I would argue is that.

The volume coming down and being a defense and run first team is going to make the efficiency. You're passing maybe near the goal line. More touchdown opportunities per pass than what it was. But here's the slight argument I would change from the just efficiency only. Minnesota's defense has to be good to run the ball.

They have to be in, you know, I mean, that's just, you can't just run the ball highest in the league when you're down. It's, it's impossible. Minnesota's defense is no longer great. I believe that this year, Minnesota's defense is going to stink. I base that on the fact that they've lost a lot of their good players. And at the second half of last year, they stunk. And if you look at the pace between Kirk Cousins' first half and second half of the season, he was on pace for a hundred more targets in the second half than in the first half.

Because he had to. And that's my thing with the Vikings. I know they want to be defense and run, and they're going to do everything in their power to run the ball. And I think they'll be good at it because of Coops. But at some point, I don't think they throw as little as they did last year.

Yeah, the Adam Thielen pace on receptions, which is why I brought up the deceiving numbers. He was only on pace for 60 receptions through the first seven weeks. So those weeks, even though he was putting up fantasy finishes, he scored in all but two of those weeks, which was a little bit like the end of the year for Cooper Cup when you didn't see the passing volume. Sure. And so I think he's a little bit more touchdown dependent than we think, and there's a little bit more risk. That's why I'm a little bit lower. But he is the guy.

He's the guy. I don't think 130 targets are going to come his way again myself. That's fair because I, you know, when he was living the huge target life, that was a different offense. But I think at the end of the day, he's still a great wide receiver who's the clear one for a team that is going to have a pretty good offense. And so that's, you know, for those reasons, Shark Tank, I'm in. Okay. Cooper Cup. Okay. Cooper Cup at number 12.

Just brought him up. Last year, 94 for 1161 and 10 on 134 targets. He was outstanding. But the end of the year, we've talked about it a lot. The numbers came down for Cooper Cup. His good weeks were touchdown dependent. He wasn't on the field as much as Robert Woods, and the team was running some two tight-in sets quite frequently. It was funny on...

uh hard knocks last night there was a scene when they were running the hurry up and mcvay's shouting stay in the 12 stay in 12 and i'm like oh oh no well and you brought up yesterday on the show too cooper cups had some struggles getting um off of press coverage cooper cup is a slot wide receiver yeah and the thing for cooper cup is he is a he is the go-to target for this team inside the red zone so again hard to predict

touchdown totals year over year, but Cooper Cup is one of those players that I'd put in the top five with the double-digit touchdown capability year over year, and a passing offense that passes the ball 200 more times than Kirk Cousins does. So if you look at Cooper Cup, you look at Adam Thielen, I like 200 more attempts, I like Sean McVeigh. That's why I have Cooper Cup significantly higher than Adam Thielen. When you look at Brandon Cook's leaving, regardless of the confidence and 12 personnel,

Where are you with Cooper Cup, Mike? Because you have him way down the list. Yeah, I do. I'm not confident at all. Over those, you know, that stretch you talked about at the end of the season, he was averaging 5 for 56, but he did score in all of them. So he, I mean, he salvaged his fantasy day. I just have, I don't know what the Rams offense is going to be.

I lean more that they trading away Brandon Cook's, the emergence of Higbee, and the hope for Gerald Everett, that they will be running the 12 personnel a bit more. And that not that that means that Cooper Cup is completely Houdinied for fantasy purposes, but he won't return on where he's being drafted in my projections. And maybe it was the ACL recovery at the end of the year. Maybe it was a lot of things.

It did happen. And it was very, very bizarre. The numbers you're talking about, Andy, for in reception perception, the numbers available, if you want to look at all of these things where when I bring up reception perception, it's available in the ultimate draft kit. And it's Cooper Cup has never finished above the 12th percentile in success versus man or press coverage. Like this, he succeeds because McVeigh puts him in great positions. He's six to.

That's not the normal height of a slot-wide receiver. That's why it works for him. But if there's no slot, I have... That's similar to what Juju has seen success doing. Size-wise, too. And Juju is a slot-wide receiver. Again, I'm not saying calling someone a slot-wide receiver as a dirty word. It's just this is where you fit in the offense. Jarvis Landry says thanks. I love Jarvis. So I have my concerns. I probably won't be drafting.

Cooper Cup, but I know you guys are all about it. Yeah, in the fourth round right now, I do like Cooper Cup. I believe in McVeigh. I believe in Cup. I know that he has bad reception, perception, numbers against press. But like you said, what has McVeigh been great at doing with Cooper Cup? Putting him in a position to win. McVeigh is, you know, I will say that I believe McVeigh is smarter at football than me. I'm going to put myself out. You're willing to say that? I'm willing to go that far. That's, I'm proud of you. Well, he's very smart.

How's he with needles and with the test? I'm sure he's afraid of them too, Andy. Okay. We're all human. So, but the reality is I trust the offense. And while we saw the back half of the year, the lower passing for him, the lower targets, receptions, yardage, that was also where he was basically splitting time with Brandon Cooks. I think the absence of Brandon Cooks means that the, you know, the 12 personnel will basically, you're going to have four players of,

fantasy relevance receiving players. I think both tight-ins will be relevant, and I think Woods and Cup are going to eat. I'm not too worried about the press on the outside. Cooper Cup hasn't been asked to do that a lot. Now, if that's what he's going to do, I think that's what he's going to work on. He's averaged a touchdown every 9.3 catches over a three-year span. Last year, it was the wide receiver 4 for the first half, and then wide receiver 33 over the second half.

He's going to be fun to watch. I mean, I think Robert Woods and Cooper Cup, I have both guys in my top 10, so I am planting a flag with that offense. Sure, and I've been asked on other podcasts, like, is there a player you have ranked low that you are concerned is going to make you look foolish? And my answer is always Cooper Cup. I don't feel, I don't feel like complete and total conviction that Cooper Cup is going to be a bust. That's just...

I'm concerned and I'm not drafting him. All right. Alan Robinson and number 13, perennially undervalued. Yeah. Also perennially stuck with the wrong quarterback. That's very true. And we have some disparity here as well. I'm at 11. Mike's at 9. Jason's at 21. His current average draft position. By the way, I should have given that for Cooper Cup. He's being drafted as the wide receiver 15. Alan Robinson's up at wide receiver 12.

So this is year seven for Alan Robinson. Lost the year right in the middle with the injury. But seven years of Blake Bortles and Mitch Trubisky for Alan Robinson. So he doesn't get a lot of sleep. Thoughts and prayers go out to you, Alan. Could be buoyed. That's right. Buoyed by Nick Foles. Is that a Sam Bowie reference?

Sam, no, not Sam Bowie. Oh, I don't get your reference. Who makes a Sam Bowie reference, first of all? I don't know. You're talking about like going back to Jordan's draftier? No, it wasn't a Sam Bowie reference. The things that float on the water that lift, you know. That's like a, that's a turn of phrase. Really? I believe it is. Okay. Yeah. Well, we all learn things every day. I know what a buoy is out on the water, but I've never.