FantasyPros - Week 3 Fantasy Football Wide Receiver Rankings & Tiers: Studs, Sleepers, and Must-Starts (Ep. 1714) - The Herd with Colin Cowherd

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's up, Friends of Welcome into Fantasy Pros. This is
the Fantasy Football Podcast. Today, We've got wide receiver ranks
for Week three. I'm Chris Welsh, joined by Andrew Erickson
and Pat fitz Morris. My rankers extraordinary as we're going
to be going to the top thirty six wide receivers
on Fantasy Pros ECR, so you can go and do that.
We're going to be kind of doing some battles of
what our expert consensus ranks looks like where both of

(00:22):
these guys have their ranks, talking about some of the
biggest decisions this week. Who are you guys starting, Oh,
my ericson. There are some big decisions in the wide
receiver front and a lot of changes, a lot of
variations that are happening going into Week three.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
Well, that's because all the quarterbacks are hurt, right. It
only took two weeks for us to lose I think
four or five starting quarterbacks, so that's obviously going to
have a lot of implications on their top pass catchers.

Speaker 1 (00:46):
Fitzy, remember when we had like optimism for fantasy football.
We're like, ooh, all our guys are gonna do really good.
This is going to be great, and then we have
weeks where it's like Jake Browning versus Carson Wentz. Now
that's where we're at and it's only week three.

Speaker 3 (00:58):
Funny, Ericson and I were just talking about that game
before this and reasons why we might want to bet
on the Minnesota Vikings in that game. But yeah, it's crazy.
I've got a super flex team where my starting quarterbacks
for Jane Daniels and Brock Party, so maybe I have
zero of those guys. This week, I'm like chasing Tyrod
Taylor on waivers. It's things are getting interesting already.

Speaker 1 (01:20):
And the interesting thing too not getting into it, but
like when you're looking at wide receiver. Wide receivers just
led the way for waivers this week too. There were
actually probably a couple of really good ones you were
able to jump into. I don't know if they're going
to hit the top thirty six here, but you guys
got some running back questions. You guys have got some
quarterback questions wide receiver, even though there is some variation,

(01:41):
there's some deep plays and there's some guys off of
waivers you might got you may have been able to
hit this week, and maybe we'll touch on that. I
wish we were talking about Troy Franklin. I want Troy
Franklin to be a top thirty six wide receiver. I
just don't just don't know if I'm quite there real quick,
imnor Or Franklin in waivers this week, Erickson, I am
an r for me, Yeah, I am Manor.

Speaker 3 (02:03):
I just think he's a better prospect. And you know
he's only got one fewer target than Calvin Ridley right now.

Speaker 1 (02:09):
Boy, I hate his name though. I wish he would
just call himself Bill. Just give me just Bill. I
just butcher that name all the time. But he is awesome.
All Right, we're going to talk about the top thirty six.
We're going to go in tiers with our groupings here.
But one of the things we like to do at
the Wide Receiver episode here is give a shout out
to the people that were ranking. We have a weekly
ranking contest, so when you guys look at the ECR,

(02:30):
that is all of our rankers that are in putting
their ranks in for that week, and each week we
have an accuracy contest. Well, this week, shout out to
number one Jamie Calandro. If I'm saying that correctly from
Rotoballer finishing number one, Patrick Thorman from Established the Run
finish two, and Jacob Gibbs from sports Line finish three.
Shout out to those guys. But we've got a couple

(02:51):
FP people. We've got to give some some highlights too.
How about Kelly Kirby top five in the ranks this week?
Kelly's a mond our Bro Debro finishing top twenty with sixteen.
This isn't a flex at all, but I may have
finished higher than both of those fine gentlemen over. I'm

(03:12):
not proud of it. I'm not proud of my rank
but this is probably the only week all season long
that I may have finished higher than both of you guys.
After you guys are both twenty top twenty last week,
So no big deal or anything. Ericson, No big deal.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
Yeah, I mean you're going to have to scroll very,
very far down to find where my week two rankings were.
So I'm just looking to put it behind me and
bounce back here week.

Speaker 3 (03:31):
And you've referred to us at the top of the
show as rankers extraordinary. I think Ericson and I were
rankers ordinaire in week two.

Speaker 1 (03:39):
But you can just still do. This is an off
week for you guys, or that was, We're going to
pick it back up this week. These are the guys
that you want to trust, but also you know again,
shout out to Debro and Kelly for rocking that, and
shout out to all of our rankers that take part
in the contest, and we will take a look at
what that looks like in next week's show. Before we
get started, we are talking wide receivers, so I want
to give you guys watching a chance to win a

(04:01):
signed Jamar Chase Begles jersey for free, courtesy of our
friends over at Pristine Auction dot com. All you've got
to do is head of Fantasypros dot com slash contest,
complete the form, then either download the Fantasy Pros app,
leave a review for the podcast, or follow us on
ex Instagram or TikTok at Fantasy Pros and guess what.
The more stuff that you do, the more entries you

(04:21):
can get. We'll be announcing a winner on the podcast
near the beginning of next month. So if you're watching
on YouTube, be sure to subscribe and turn on them noties.
They're ericson so you can be alerted when new episodes
are up and claim your prize for that big old
wide receiver. I don't know if he's wide receiver won
anymore with Jake Browning there, but we can kind of
have that argument. And that takes us to the top
twelve wide receivers, which you guys can follow at fantasypros

(04:42):
dot com Slash rankings. This week, it is not Jamar
Chase as we look at the big board at number one,
it is CD Lamb. In the consensus ranks, Jamar Chase
is number two, Justin Jefferson three, followed by Malik Neighbors,
Pooka Nakua, Nico Collins as your top six, Amanra Jackson
Smith and Jigbad Drake London, Brian Thomas, A Flowers, and
DeVante Adams. That is your current top twelve as we

(05:03):
are doing this, and one of the more interesting takes
here is really not Jamar Chase, though I would love
you guys to intertwine this in you guys picked out
Justin Jefferson, who actually moved up one spot. He was
wide receiver four in ECR yesterday he's moved up to
three and you guys both have him at six. And
the reason this is interesting is this is one of
a handful of these wide receivers that have like questionable

(05:26):
backup quarterbacks that are going to be behind them. Chase
has one, and I kind of thought maybe he could
fall a little bit further down. But you guys are
really honing in on Justin Jefferson, So, Fitzy, why don't
you kick us off here? Not that he's not startable
or anything like that, but like it looks like the
confidence is a little bit lower this week in Jefferson
with the backup quarterback.

Speaker 3 (05:44):
Maybe just a smidge. But wouldn't it be sort of
funny if Justin Jefferson went off with Carson Wentz at
quarterback after two somewhat quiet games with JJ McCarthy. I mean,
Jefferson's amazing. He is capable of having a big day
with any quarterback who can throw a spiral, and I
think Carson Wentz can still throw a spiral. But who knows.
It's been three years since Wentz started a game that

(06:06):
wasn't in the final week of the regular season. He
was the Chiefs starting quarterback last season in that thirty
eight to nothing blowout loss to the Broncos in Week eighteen,
he threw for ninety eight yards in that game playing
with backups. Can't judge him on that. Went started for
the Rams in their final game of the twenty twenty
three season and threw for like one hundred and sixty

(06:27):
three yards, two touchdowns, one interception. He hasn't made meaningful
regular seasons starts since twenty twenty two, when he started
seven games for Washington, and he had three hundred yard
games in three of those seven games and multiple touchdown
passes in three of those seven games. So just kind
of hard to tell what the Minnesota offense is going

(06:47):
to look like against the Bengals this week with Wentz
at the controls. The Vikings are down a couple of
offensive linemen, so it's pretty hard to confidently predict a
big game for Justin Jefferson. But he is Justin Efferson,
after all.

Speaker 1 (07:01):
Erickson is your like dip in confidence. I'm putting words
in your mouth a little bit like putting him at six.
I wonder I assume there's like a little bit lack
of confidence. Is the maybe lack of production confidence similar
to Jamar Chase as it is to Jefferson. Do you
think there's a similar like drop off at all, or
do you guys have those do you have them both
like wildly different, Like you're just fine with Browning and Chase,

(07:23):
and there's a little bit more of a question with Jefferson.

Speaker 2 (07:25):
Well, I think that you should have more of a
question just because we've never seen Carson Wentz play with
Justin Jefferson. Anytime you're throwing a brand new wide receiver
with a brand new quarterback, there's always going to be
inherent risk involved because we've never seen these guys play together.
At least there's a sample size of Jake Browning with
Jamar Chase, and not even just last week. We saw
it for a stretch of games at the end of
twenty twenty three, and we've seen Browning Okay, he can

(07:46):
be functional, And even in the last game we saw,
I mean Browning was just like Chase Chase Chase, Like
every target seemed like it was going to Jamar Chase.
So he clearly knows where the bread is going to
be buttered in this offense. And his name is Jamar Chase,
So I feel a little bit more common with that
in particular. But if you want to try to kind
of invite the volatility of Jefferson, Well, why can't Carson

(08:08):
Wentz being upgrade over JJ McCarthy. You look at the
Minnesota passing game through two games, thirty second in passing
efficiency with McCarthy under center, it has not been good. Basically,
they've had one good quarter of passing and there was
that one big play that Jefferson made on Sunday night,
But besides that, the passing game has been very lackluster. TJ.
Hawkinson is on the mail carton where are you? TJ.

(08:28):
Hawkinson just can't be found with JJ McCarthy. But with
Carson Wentz, I think that maybe we get some juice,
a little bit more of a boost overall from this
passing game. That doesn't necessarily mean Jefferson has the massive game,
but maybe other guys and they're just more efficient overall.
And that's because Carson Wentz is a veteran. One of
the reasons why I just had trouble buying into McCarthy
right out of the gates was he was an inexperienced quarterback.

(08:51):
He didn't take a lot of dropbacks at the college level,
and Kevin O'Connell, if you look at all the quarterbacks
have had success in his offense, a lot of them
older guys, like a veteran player that have been in
the league for multiple seasons, whether it was Sam Darnold,
whether there's Kirk Cousins, Nick Mullins when he was with
the Vikings, like he was going out throwing for three
hundred passing yards per game at the end of the
season when Kirk Cousins got banged up, and Jefferson was

(09:12):
very productive over that stretch. So given that Wentz has
familiarity with Josh McCown, who's the quarterbacks coach of the
Minnesota Vikings' former teammates in Philadelphia, given that he spent
an entire season with the Los Angeles Rams, who that's
where Kevin O'Connell comes from, the Sean McVay offensive tree.
I wouldn't be surprised if we just see a better
overall offensive environment from Minnesota against the especially against the Bengals,

(09:34):
Like we're not afraid of that defense at any capacity.

Speaker 1 (09:36):
So yeah, I really like the take by the way
that like I've kind of been baffled, like McCarthy hasn't
been good, Like it's not even a question, So getting
a veteran quarterback in there, maybe it can play like
Daniel Jones a little bit. So like any like massive
drop or concerns people might have with Justin Jefferson, it
might not be warranted. But to Gus's point, like we
just don't know yet, like that's a big thing. We
got to find out. This was not on the sheet.
But I just want to ask you guys real quick.

(09:56):
There was a part of me that looked and there's
this like Nico Collins, Drake, Brian Thomas underperformance thing that's
kind of floating out with some people. I'm starting to
see a rise in questions. The one of those three
guys that stands out. I just want to get a
heat check for both of you is Brian Thomas, specifically
because Brian Thomas got Houston this week and you got
a stinglely effect in here. It has not been good.
There's this little rist issue. There's a lot of drop balls.

(10:18):
Obviously there's some volume. FITZI, is there any hesitation with
Brian Tom because the other two guys, yeah, they think
there's been some underperformance, But I wouldn't like highlight the
matchups as a problem. Not only is this a matchup problem,
he's underperformed, he's drops he's got the risk thing. Is
there some hesitation with Brian Thomas for you at all.

Speaker 3 (10:33):
Fits not to not to play him well sh where
I'm ranking him, Yes, there's hesitation should be in should
he be in the top ten or not. I guess
you can make a pretty good case that he should
not be. I've got him right now at wide receiver
ten myself. But like, I just he was so good
last year. Like, I just have a hard time believing

(10:55):
that something is fundamentally changed with that. And I know
it's weird that he's kind of like, you know, shied
away from contact, as a lot of people have pointed out,
And maybe maybe the risk thing is really bothering him
for that to be the case. And maybe there's just
not the degree of chemistry with Trevor Lawrence that there
was with mac Jones, which is strange. But yeah, I mean,

(11:19):
like I'm starting him in the leagues where I have him.
I'm starting him, no question, But like, am I a
little bit nervous about it?

Speaker 1 (11:25):
Yeah? Yeah, I'm not trying to necessarily advocate that, like
we don't start Brian Thomas. But Ericson, do you think
we should be maybe a little bit more worried than
we are, because on paper, if you were to put
it to like, I know we have this like uber
talented player, but if you took it down a notch
to like a maybe a lesser like in the teams
or something, and then I say, Okay, well, hey, this
guy has a risk problem. He's pulling up on balls,

(11:46):
he's dropping balls, and he's got one of the worst
matchups you could have this week as far as a
cornerback set up, Like, don't you think that's something we
should be more concerned about. I think we would probably
take a lot of those things as a justification to
drop a player, But this is Brian Thomas. Any like
hesitation or worry going into this week for you ericson
with Brian Thomas.

Speaker 2 (12:05):
I also have moved him down a little bit in
my rankings just because of all the reasons you guys outline.
I don't think you can just completely ignore that and
just say, well, he's really talented, so he's just gonna
be wide receiver ten this week. I think it's justified
to move him down a couple spots, but not enough
to where you're gonna outright bench Brian Thomas Junior and Look,
he's a good player too, Like remember when you face
a number one cornerback, like you still get opportunities like

(12:27):
the last two weeks, it's not like Devontae Adams Mike
Evans have been completely shut out, like they've been making
plays and watching those games closely, Like dark Simley was
getting put to the test against Adams and Mike Evans,
both guys who are older thirty plus white year wide receivers.
So I think that this is a big game for
Brian Thomas Junior to show, well, are you the next
big thing? Can you beat dark Stingley because he's been

(12:48):
going up against thirty year olds the last two weeks, Like,
come on, man, like you're supposed to be the next
superstar at wide receiver, so it's time to step up.
So I think that they're going to make it a
focal point to Hey, Brian Domistet his ninetheen targets last
two weeks six catches for fifty yards, like eventually something
has to give here where he has to generate a
big play is and he doesn't have anything downfield yet.

(13:09):
So look, Trevor Lawrence is shown the last two weeks
like he's not afraid to just like chuck it. So
I think the volly he was going to be there,
he knows he needs to step up and make big
plays for the Jacksonville offense to be productive. So yeah,
continue to roll with Brian Thomas Junior, and if he
sucks again, then you go buy low because he's not
going to be dark stingly every single week. It will
be able to look back and be like, Okay, well,
it was the stinging matchup that did limit his production

(13:31):
a little bit, but I think that he's still one
of the better by lows to make in trades.

Speaker 4 (13:36):
One of the.

Speaker 1 (13:36):
Interesting things though, is Travis Hunter does have one of
the highest design percentages of any wide receiver according to
Fantasy Points out there, So you know, what are the
things that are going to break? You know? Do they
end up pushing a little bit more into that They
already designed a lot of plays when he's out there,
but he's only in like eleven man forma. There's a
lot of just weird stuff that are with it. From
a ranking perspective, maybe there's more of a worry than
there's a start perspective. But I had a feeling some

(13:58):
people might have some questions about that all right, let's go.
Oh two are wide receiver twos. Wide receiver twos. Starting
at thirteen, we have AJ Brown, followed by Lad McConkie,
DK Metcalf, Garrett Wilson, Marvin Harrison, Mike Evans, Deebo, Samuel
Romadoonze comes in at twenty, Tedoro McMillan, A Mecca Agbuka T. Higgins,
and Jamison Williams. That's our top twenty four start with
AJ Brown. AJ Brown here at thirteen, just missing the cut,

(14:21):
but both of you guys have made a commitment that
he is still a top twelve wide receiver starting. I
hate the lack of passing offense that this team has.
This was always my issue with the Eagles. It's not
to say that Brown and Smith aren't like crazy talented,
it's just the usage that's out there. It really makes
me feel like it's going to be a struggle for
a J. Brown to be a top twelve wide receiver.

(14:42):
But Ericson, you've jumped in. You've got at wide receiver
nine this week, So wax on AJ Brown for.

Speaker 2 (14:47):
Us, I think your points about the environment and the
lack of passing for the Eagles is definitely the main concern,
but I think you have to look at the last
two matchups that they've played, you know, playing against the
Dallas Cowboys and playing against the Kansasity Chiefs. So that
Chiefs game was a defensive slugfest. It was not a
high flying offensive, scoring a fair from either side. And
Eagles know that when they're not being pushed by the

(15:08):
other team, they don't need to be aggressive on offense.
They can just feed the ball to sacle Markley, play
defense and win the games. They're playing the Rams this week,
the Rams, team that probably should have beat them in
the playoffs last season, a team that feels like they
can beat the Eagles. So if we're more of a
situation where, oh well, now the Eagles are done down
ten points to the Los Angeles Rams, oh well, now

(15:28):
we actually have to use our really talented wide receivers.
And I think that last week was at least encouraging
from a standpoint of A J. Brown getting more involved again,
not like week one.

Speaker 1 (15:36):
He had eight.

Speaker 2 (15:37):
Targets thirty six percent targets. Here. Now the numbers are
not gotty, with just five catches for twenty seven yards,
but it's not like AJ Brown looked like he was
injured out there. I know that there was some concerns
about his hamstring injury he was dealing with the offseason.
He looked healthy to me, and he had over one
hundred yards in one of the last games they played
against the Rams. He played twice against them. One game
he had one hundred yards. The other game he was
not nearly much as involved, but he had seven plus

(15:59):
targets in both of those contests. And there's still a
chance with Dallas Goddard doesn't play, so you're condensing the
target share into just AJ Brown and Devonte Smith. The
Rams are down at Keller Witherspoon. He got hurt last week,
so they're down another cornerback. So there's a picture where
this is a ceiling game for AJ Brown and I'm
going to be very frustrated if I leave him on
my badge after just two weeks where the Eagles weren't

(16:19):
nearly as pushed as they could be. Here in week three.

Speaker 1 (16:22):
Yeah, there's kind of there's kind of the same thing
that goes on with Brian Thomas, where it's like, I
don't know how you bench him. That's the frustration. It's like,
if you own AJ Brown, you're kind of stuck with it.
How do you not put him out there? So the
comment by Ericson about leaving him on the bench would
be frustrating. I think it is pretty impossible to do that.
It's just the lack of production stands out. But you're
you're kind of in the same boat. You know't I'm

(16:43):
quite as high, but you've got him higher than consensus.
You've got him at eleven. So what do you want
to add on AJ Brown?

Speaker 3 (16:48):
Yeah, I mean, I'm just forging ahead with aggressively ranking
a great wide receiver above consensus. And our friend Jacob
Gibbs of CBS at top three ranker last week, he
noted that AJ Brown had a league best thirty eight
percent route win rate last week according to Fantasy Points data.

(17:09):
And so there are really no issues with AJ Brown himself.
It's just a matter of the Eagles jump starting their
passing game. I realized things haven't looked great for the
passing game under new offensive coordinator Kevin Pattolo. But it's
been two games and Patillo has been the team's passing
game coordinator since twenty twenty one. He was around for
AJ Brown's back to back fourteen hundred yard seasons in

(17:30):
twenty twenty two and twenty twenty three. So I'm not
saying I know the Eagles passing game is going to
be fine. Like, I'm kind of alarmed by the lack
of play action so far and the lack of variety
in aj Brown's routes. People pointed out that it's been
just a lot of slants so far and not much else.
But I'm not ready to pack it in and trade
away aj Brown.

Speaker 1 (17:50):
Yeah, it's a weird one for me, like because at
the end of the day, like it's literally just usage.
It's not like talent or anything like that. It's like,
if they want to do it, they could do it.
He could ball out. It just doesn't seem like they
want to do it. But that's also maybe a strategy
to early season when you don't necessarily have to. We
got a big difference in your guys's ranks. Romadonsay, who
comes in at wide receiver twenty little touchdown magnet, a

(18:13):
lot of breakout potential in the draft season about how
he could end up becoming potentially like the number one
in this and if I'm looking at this correctly, he is. Yeah,
he is ranked higher than DJ more this week. But
you guys are on opposite end, so he's ECR wide
receiver twenty ericson. You have him higher fits, you've got
him lower. Let's start with the lower fits. You've got
him at twenty seven this week, so you've got him

(18:33):
outside of a wide receiver too. What's your take on Romaduonsay.

Speaker 3 (18:37):
I mean he's off to a really nice start thirteen catches,
one hundred and sixty five yards, three touchdowns on twenty targets,
and admittedly Cowboys Bears in Chicago this Sunday looks like
it could be a really nice setup for Odoonsay and
both of the passing games. Like Dallas has its best
quarterback to Ron Bland, he's going to be out the

(18:59):
Dallas past we saw just get torched by Russell Wilson
and the Giants. Cowboys Bears is a Vegas total of
forty nine and a half points. That's tied for the
second highest total on the board this week, behind only
Lions Ravens. I guess my issue with ranking Adonsay in
the top twenty four at receiver is that I cannot
imagine the targets split between Roma Dunesday and dj Moore

(19:20):
continues to be so one sided, you know, Dounsay's favor
like so far romas twenty targets, DJ Moore just eleven.
And DJ Moore has been a terrific NFL receiver for
a really long time. I have to think the target
split balances out a little bit. I do still have
Roma Dunsday ranked ahead of DJ Moore, but only by
two spots.

Speaker 1 (19:40):
Erickson, you are the high man. You're the high man
on Romadonsay. I'm kind of with you a little bit,
like because he stretches the field a bunch, they really
like him in the red zone right now. Seems a
little odd in the Bears. But what's your take on
Roma Dunsay. You've got him at wide receiver seventeen for
this week.

Speaker 2 (19:55):
I do you think the spot for him is just
set up so perfectly? And I agree with fits. I
think I felt like that last week where I was
too afraid to rank him this high last week after
he led the team in targets. But now it's been
two weeks in a row where he has been the
guy for Caleb Williams and this is a brand new
offense and I don't think it's just a coincidence that, oh,
we have a new play caller with a new offensives

(20:15):
coordinator and Roman Noonda is now the guy. I mean,
he's a top ten pick picking in second year receiver
where we see guys breakout all the time. And what
has me confident about him this week and just kind
of like rest of season honestly, is he's doing what
he did last year in terms of just a gobbling
up all the high value opportunities. I mean, he was
seeing a ton of air yards last year, he was
seeing a ton of end zone targets last year, but

(20:36):
the issue was he just wasn't catching the football, Like,
he wasn't cashing in on the air yards. He wasn't
converting his red zone targets into touchdowns. But now that
regression is kicking in and now he's converting on of
those high value opportunities. He had over two hundred air
yards last week. So even if the targets are more flat,
the targets he's getting are better for fantasy football. So

(20:56):
even if we do see DJ Moore a little bit
more involved, which I'm honestly not as convinced because I
like DJ Moore, but throughout his NFL career. I don't
know if I would ever say a DJ Moore he's
an alpha, he's an alpha number one, like he goes
out and just demands targets. I would say that he
would not fit that category for me, whereas Odoonza he
looks like an alpha to me, like he was an
alpha at the college level with two strong other wide

(21:20):
receivers in that college offense, and in year one, despite
Keenan Allen Djmore being there, he was a rookie and
he still commanded a lot of high value opportunities. So
I think that we're starting to see a guy just
go on a full fledged breakout and in this spot
against Dallas, just terrible defense. I want him in my lineup.

Speaker 1 (21:37):
Interesting way you put that too, It kind of made
me think of like someone like Deebo Samuel where it's
like DJ Moore reminds me of that, Like it's not
someone that commands, but it's someone who want to get
the ball in his hands because they do stuff after.
But they are not someone like a Jefferson or a
Chase where it's like, what are we doing? We're not
getting the ball. So that's an interesting take. The final
wide receiver we're going to talk about in this wide
receiver two range. Also wants me to put a remind

(22:00):
in here of these ranks are going to change throughout
the week, so you know, take it with a grain
of salt when how we are talking about some of
these ranks. As these guys can move. I mean, we
got a running back We're going to do the running
Back Show that moved like six spots in one day.
Some of these can change. And the reason I'm giving
you this little caveat here is you guys have another
big difference here on T Higgins. So this obviously is
going to be like quarterback centric in here. That has

(22:22):
some effect on it. He's Eserro wide receiver twenty three.
Bit you've got him at twenty four. You're right in
line ericson you're way down. You've got him at wide
receiver thirty five. This is one of those that I
kind of think it could like drop, like I was
about to say, like you could. There's guys that can
creep up and there's guys that can drop. This might
be one that continuously kind of falls down as people
fall out of love with this Bengal situation and Ericson,

(22:42):
Is that the situation that you're in here now? You
kind of talked up the connection with Chase and Browning,
but when you look at T Higgins, are you just
fearful that there just is not going to be enough
to go around with Browning at quarterback for him.

Speaker 2 (22:54):
Yeah, that's kind of how I feel just looking back
at what Browning did with T. Higgins during that stretch
of twenty twenty three. There were four games that they
played together when Browning and Jamar Chase were both in
the lineup, and T. Higgins had one game with twenty
Fantasy points and then he had three with less than
eight and a half fantasy points. So I think that
he's going to be extremely boom or bust. Even in
last week's appearance from Jake Browning, Teiggins had five targets

(23:17):
from Browning. He caught one of them and it just
happened to be the touchdown. So if he doesn't do
that again, like that's concerns me about that he could
just bought him out. We've seen this before, Higgins being
very boomer bust. Last year he was a red zone
monster and that's why he was so great in terms
of points per game. But what happens when you have
a lesser quarterback under center, you have less red zone opportunities.

(23:37):
So whereas Chase, I just think he's going to gobble
up all the volume and I think that he's gonna
be fine. I think Higgins is the one that gets
hit the most because of that red zone efficiency. If
he's not scoring touchdowns, then what is he doing in
your lineup? I think he's gonna be hurting you more
often than helping you. So for me, it's boom er bust.
And then you also have the factor of Brian Flores defense.
They're number one in terms of passing efficiency on defense

(23:57):
this season. Like this is no easy cast for any
quarterback facing the Vikings defense when they're trying to throw
the football. So for me, that's why Higgins is not
someone that I'm gravitating towards. Again, through two games, Higgins
is wide receiver forty nine in expected fantasy points per game.
It's not like he's seeing like this massive target share.
Was like you need to star key Higgins, like he's
been so good. The proferles are all there, They're really
not all there. Like if he doesn't score last week,

(24:20):
you would have bombed, so trying to get ahead of it.

Speaker 1 (24:22):
I really like your red Zone take on it. I
think that's very compelling. Fits you tell me if this
is theory though, because something I walked away from last
week with T Higgins is is that if I'm a
defense with Browning at quarterback here, I'm shutting Jamar Chase down.
I'm obviously like every team wants to do that, but
maybe more than ever, the running game hasn't quite been great.
You've got a lesser of a quarterback that's out there.

(24:45):
I would feel like a defense more than ever would
say we're gonna make you beat us now without Jamar Chase.
And that is maybe like a push for T Higgins.
It's theory, that's all that it is. Here. Ericon makes
some really compelling points, so maybe why it just doesn't
matter in general, But what's your take on him? You
got him at wide receiver twenty four, so you got
him to the wide receiver two.

Speaker 4 (25:05):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (25:06):
I mean that's the thing. The good thing about having
T Higgins for the Bengals is that we just have
not seen defenses really do that with Jamar Chase, like
concentrate on you know, rolling safety, help his way on
every snap or doubling him just because T Higgins can
can burn them too. So yeah, I mean, maybe I
am second guessing this ranking a little bit, and I

(25:27):
might move him down, probably not as far down as
Ericson has him, where he's like back end wide receiver
three territory, But I am worried. This is not an
easy matchup for the Bengals in Minnesota, especially after the
Vikings played such a bad game against the Falcons on
Sunday night, and it's like, I can't see them playing
two bad games at a row at US Bank Stadium.

(25:49):
But I do think Higgins is going to be involved.
And Ericson made reference to the stint that Jake Browning
had as the starter at the end of the twenty
twenty three season. Higgins played in five of those games,
and over that stretch he was wide receiver twenty five
and half point PPR scoring. Now, Erickson did point out
that one of those games there was no Jamar Chase
and that was one of the bigger games Higgins had

(26:10):
over that stretch, so that should probably be accounted for two.
But I think Higgins can still work with Browning in
the lineup, so I think probably in most cases people
are still going to play Higgins. But I know maybe
if you have the luxury of like a lot of
high end firepower at wide receiver, you might be able
to sit Higgins.

Speaker 1 (26:29):
Yeah. And one final expansion on what I was talking
about with the theory talk there is that one of
the things that differed a little bit from Burrow to
Browning was that Browning just threw to Jamar Chase. And
that's kind of what I'm getting at. Like Burrow, you
felt like he could go in any spot so that
you couldn't have that honed in concentration. It seemed like
Browning was just locked in on Jamar Chase. And I
wonder if that's where that theory locks in a little bit,

(26:51):
where it's like, because you clearly know that he wants
to go to one spot, one read, bam, that opens
up Higgins. But again, it's just all something that we
can monitor and unfortunately, if he goes off, it might
be on your bench. This week, we're going to talk
about wide receiver threes here in just a second. But
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Speaker 1 (28:16):
Wide receiver. Threes gentlemen. Starting at twenty five, We've got
Tyreek Hill, He's back in action. Courtland Sutton, George Pickens,
Terry McLaurin, Devonte Smith, Jacobe Myers coming in at thirty
one as DJ Moore, Ricky Piersol, Calvin Ridley, Marquise Brown,
Juwan Jennings, and Keon Coleman. Let's start with George Pickens.
George Pickens ECR. Twenty five or actually twenty seven. I

(28:38):
miss that he has moved down a little bit, and
that's kind of what I'm talking about. In twenty four
hour span. These guys can move. Boy, was I saved
by overtime with my bets ericson? No, my bets on
George Pickens this week were saved in overtime. And it's
a little bit frustrating sometimes seeing the usage. But you
guys are in You guys both have them high twenty
two for fits, twenty four for ericson fits you why
don't you kick it off here? You guys are, you know,

(29:00):
getting into a range of being quite a bit higher
than consensus right now. So do you think the targets
are going to continue to go up and some big
plays are going to happen?

Speaker 3 (29:08):
I do, just because I like the offensive environment in
this game, Welsh. The bears best cornerback Jalen Johnson just
reaggravated a groin injury that caused him to miss Week one.
Now he's out indefinitely. Slot corner KYLEA. Gordon has been
out with a hamstring injury. The Bears defense is just
kind of a mess. They're not getting much pressure on
the quarterback Dak Prescott, Ceedee Lamb, George Pickens. They could

(29:31):
really eat this week, and we saw the usage perk
up for Pickens. Ye had that quiet game in Week
one three for thirty on four targets, but last week
five catches, sixty eight yards and a touchdown on nine targets,
and that shootout went over the Giants. And yeah, I
mean the Bears just gave up three hundred and thirty
four passing Everson, five touchdown passes and fifty two points

(29:53):
to Jared Goff and the Lions. I think Dallas is
going to move the ball through the air this.

Speaker 1 (29:59):
Week, Erickson, Is it Pickens week? Is it Pickens? Sisson?
Are we gonna just get that big, explosive, explosive, fricking
game that we've been waiting for him this week?

Speaker 2 (30:08):
I think you have to take the chance and hope
that it is that week for him, because the matchup
is there, as Fits kind of outlined just how banged
up and how bad this Bears defense has been. I mean,
every time I was watching the games on Sunday, it
turned to a highlight and it was just another Jared
Goff kill shot to Jameis and Williams downfield against the
Chicago Bears. They were just like not stopping, just trying
to attack this defense downfield. So the Cowboys are gonna

(30:31):
see that on tape and be like, yeah, like, let's
take advantage of it. Let's have some of these kill
shots here with George Pickens. I do want to add
one note though, with Pickens, in terms of how his
usage really ramped up in the second half and kind
of into overtime against the Giants. So Cavante Turpin got
hurt in this game, suffered a neck injury and he
was seen in a neck brace after the game, and
really after he got knocked out is when we actually

(30:52):
started to see Pickens get more involved in the game.
So you don't really think that Turpin would affect George
Pickens's target share. But Turpin is a guy that the
offensive coordinate or the head coach likes to get involved.
He has scheme touches, and every time he gets a touch,
it's another opportunity. It's not going to a player like
George Pickens. So I might dock him a couple of
spots if I find out the Turpen is going to

(31:12):
be playing in this game. But I think there's some
like a process standpoint. I mean, if the Dallas Cowboys
score forty points, like you're going to start George Pickens,
and it's possible that one of the Dallas receivers or
running backs like just doesn't eat. But I think that
you have to just trust to play here and just
hope that yeah, Pickts finds the end zone or catches
a long ball, because all of those circumstantial things are

(31:33):
there for him.

Speaker 1 (31:34):
Let's move over to a wide receiver that I feel
like everybody is just kind of like, what do we do,
Like at the end of the day, what do we
do with Calvin Ridley? Calvin Ridley is ECR thirty three
this week. You guys have got him in like the
general spot Erickson your right on consensus fit. Youre a
little bit lower. I like, is putting some questions in.
Just overall, I feel like there was more optimism about

(31:55):
Calvin Ridley through the first two weeks. I think that's
kind of waning. But Ericson, you tell me should it
be waning? Is it justifiable? Is he on a watch?
I mean, you don't have like a super aggressive ranking
of him. But let's talk about Calvin Ridley this week.

Speaker 2 (32:08):
Yes, let's talk about Calvin Ridley, who I'm now having
more second thoughts about how good Calvin Riley actually is
because in draft season, the theory behind the play was
great value, you know, going really late in drafts. Should
be the number one target on his team. Yes, Week
one is gonna be tough against retained Okay, we'll give
him a pass. It's a tough matchup, but then week

(32:29):
two comes, it kind of seems like more of the same,
just like him not really stepping up making big plays
even though he's seeing targets. Meanwhile, you have elik I
amanuor the rookie for a Day three pick making like
highlight reel off to highlight reel catches. So for if
I'm cam Ward, who am I gravitating towards going the
ball too? Is it the veteran guy that continues to

(32:50):
kind of underwhelm or this really exciting rookie that makes
play after play and catches my first touchdown pass after
this just insane offscar play where I'm thrown across my body.
Every head coach says, don't throw the ball. Caimboard's like,
don't care throwing it touchdown.

Speaker 1 (33:03):
It was like Madden. It's just just like you're throwing
across It's the most Madden play I've seen in the
NFL in like ten years.

Speaker 2 (33:09):
And it almost always gets intercepted. But I mean, if
it was really probably wouldn't be intercepted, but it wasn't.
It was Auman already.

Speaker 1 (33:15):
End up catching it.

Speaker 2 (33:15):
So I think that he just is still in that
wide receiver three conversation. I think that we're in a
situation where I don't think you need to necessarily play him.
I think it's okay to like wait for him to like,
let's see him start to connect more with cam Ward.
I think the matchup is kind of like neutral against
the Colts. I don't think that their team is, oh,
you can't throw on the Colts. I think that they
definitely can. But I mean, I think the gap between

(33:36):
really and I you man or should necessarily be super
massive just after two weeks. I mean, the targets have
been pretty even across the board. I you man are
seeing a lot of air yards in this offense in
terms of expected fantasy points. Ridley's wide receiver three two,
I you man or his wide receiver forty two. So
I think that he's Really's wide receiver three. I think
that maybe you can probably find a more upside type
of play. But I think he's gonna see targets. He's

(33:58):
stole the number one on paper, but we'll see if
that continues.

Speaker 1 (34:01):
Even though it was kind of justified, I would like
public credit for not putting the forty nine ers wide
receivers on here, even though I think we should have
the discussion so due to me getting all of that
credit for not putting on them fits. What is your
rank of Ricky piersol Juwan Jennings and Calvin Ridley?

Speaker 3 (34:17):
Oh okay, let's see I have.

Speaker 1 (34:22):
I almost wanted to get your don't look at your
rank and see versus what you put on there? Like like,
what's your instant reaction when I tell you those three names?
How would you rank them out?

Speaker 4 (34:30):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (34:31):
I think right now? I have them all really close together.
I have got Ridley, Ricky piersall wide receiver thirty four,
Calvin Ridley wide receiver thirty five, Juwan Jennings wide receiver
thirty seven, So all three separated by four spots, and
Chris Olave jammed in there in the middle. So you know.

(34:55):
And like Ridley, I'm still optimistic. He has a twenty
five percent target share so far, which is good. But
Kim Word isn't exactly force feeding Ridley as I thought
he might, because Alekiamaner has been really good. He only
has one fewer targets than Ridley so far. Titan Chigo
Konkwo only has four fewer targets than Ridley, and I

(35:17):
don't really fear the Titans matchup against the Colts this week.
But Kim Word hasn't a two hundred yard passing game yet.
He hasn't thrown multiple touchdown passes in a game yet.
Like until Ward gets going a little more, I think
Ridley is more of a borderline start than a confidence start.

Speaker 1 (35:33):
Also, Erickson, I want you to get ready to ring
the bell because Week three is Juwan jennings'sen. I am
officially I'm officially announcing that it is officially Juwan Jennings week.
Ericson knows as the Seuss Slayer does. It is Juwan
Jennings should be the number one ranked above those three players.

(35:55):
Just throwing it out there here. Yeah it's no contact,
I say, didn't any details or any breakdown. I'm just
telling you it's officially Juan Jennings.

Speaker 2 (36:03):
And he was productive last week. Got a couple big plays. Yeah,
that's all I need.

Speaker 1 (36:07):
Targets are there, He's making plays after the catch. I'm
just saying, get ready. Mac Jones loves him, all right.
The final thing to end us out here, wide receiver
that is not in the top thirty six that you
guys think should be someone we should be talking about FITZI,
why don't you kick it.

Speaker 3 (36:20):
Off Jalen Waddle. I've got AMIT wide receiver thirty two,
his ECRs wide receiver thirty eight. I believe we do
have to keep an eye on Wattle's status. Uh. He
was a limited participant in Tuesday's practice with the shoulder injury.
If he doesn't practice on Wednesday, that might not bode
well for him playing in the Thursday night game against
the Bills. But I know Wattle has been held under

(36:43):
fifty yards in his last four games against the Bills.
But in most cases, I do think he should be
starting him this week if the shoulder isn't an issue.
Ericson and I have just been Waddle advocates for a
long time. He has a career average of two point
zero five yards per route run, and you don't average
better than two yards per route run over four four
plus NFL seasons unless you're a really good receiver.

Speaker 1 (37:03):
I hat tip to Tyreek Hill too. I've been kind
of writing him off. He looked pretty good he got
back involved. But Ericson, you, I think you're going to
tag team with the FITZI here, and you're gonna go
with Jalen Wattle as well.

Speaker 2 (37:13):
Yeah, I think that he deserves to be in this
spot here, but I have to say that I'm I'm
not nearly as confident ranking him here, and I was actually,
I mean, I just moved Jan Jennings ahead of Jayalen
Wattle because I'm trying to almost find guys to play
ahead of Wattle, because I'm terrified of playing him on
Thursday night because to the point this shoulder injury. Wattle
love the guy, think that he's really talented player, but

(37:34):
he does not play through injuries very well. Like he
minute he gets nicked up, he gets knocked out of
the game, and then you're I'm just I can't imagine,
just like watching the game and then he gets knocked
out and Thursday night and then I have to sit
at zero my roster heading into the weekend. So that's
one of the things I'm concerned about with Will The
thing about the Bills, He's never when he's played APPLEFL
He's never had more than four catches. So what is

(37:55):
the ceiling case for Wattle? And I would argue if
last week the ceiling case, because last week it was
he was tied up like Patriots defense is terrible he
cooks the Patriots. Year after year we got six or
we got fifty six yards and a touchdown like or
excuse me, over sixty three yards at a touchdown like that? Was?
Was that the ceiling game from Wattle with this offense?

(38:17):
If that's the case, I think that I'm more afraid
of the floor bottoming it out on Thursday night for
Wattle than actually buying into the ceiling, because if last
week is like the best we're gonna get in this
current state that the Dolphins is now if they trade
Tyree Kill at a different conversation. So that's that's why
Wattle for me is scary. I still have my top
thirty six, but I'm trying to find guys to potentially

(38:39):
move ahead of him, and I'm already bracing for my
Thursday night questions of Wattle versus who and really trying
to Okay, do I think this other guy has more
upside than I'm probably gonna go with that player or
even guys that have potentially a higher floor. So, like
you said, you brought up Jwan Jennings, sick, I'm gonna
play Johan Jennings over jaydel the Wattle. So I don't
know fits if I've voiced in of your concerns as well,
because again, like we both like Wadle lot, but I

(39:00):
don't know the optics of this matchup going to Buffalo Dolphins,
dumpster fires, Mike McDaniel, going to make it through halftime
before getting fired. It just a lot of things can
go bad. And like, that's where I get concerned with Wattle.

Speaker 3 (39:13):
Yeah, it's the What really convinced me ericson is your
scenario of having to dwell on a bad Jalen Waddle
game for several days before Sunday. So yeah, that might
influence me a bit.

Speaker 1 (39:25):
Well, you guys can check out all the ranks we
went through thirty six and a little bit beyond. You
can check the ranks out of fantasypros dot com Slash Rankings.
ECR is going to change throughout the week all the
way up into Sunday. If you want to see what
the expert consensus are saying. You can also click on
a player and you can see where these guys have them.
You can individually, you can sort of there's a bunch
of million awesome things you can do with the ranks,
but just go and check them out. Fantasypros dot com

(39:46):
slash rankings for all your wide receivers, and don't forget
if maybe we didn't discuss a player that would have
answered a question for you. We've got to start and
sit live stream on our YouTube channel where you can
come and ask those questions Thursday three pm Eastern and
we do it every Thursday three pm Eastern. So those
on the podcast go to YouTube dot com slash fantasypro subscribe,
click to be notified, and then you can ask your

(40:07):
question with the hundreds and thousands of other people that
are coming hanging out there. That's going to do it
for the wide receiver ranks for week three for Pat
Fitzmorris and Andrew Ericson. I'm Chris Welsh. Thank you guys
so much for hanging out with us, and we'll talk
to you next week right here on Fantasy Pros.

Speaker 3 (40:19):
Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football podcast.

Speaker 4 (40:22):
If you love the show, the best freeway to support
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FantasyPros - Week 3 Fantasy Football Wide Receiver Rankings & Tiers: Studs, Sleepers, and Must-Starts (Ep. 1714)

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