August 14, 2025 • 16 mins
Join Ryan Wormeli, Andrew Erickson, and Jake Ciely as they highlight four absolute must-have wide receivers who are going to help you win your fantasy football leagues in 2025!
Timestamps: (May be off due to ads)
Intro - 0:00:09
Jaylen Waddle - 0:00:36
Calvin Ridley - 0:04:06
Renegade Fantasy - 0:08:10
Tet McMillan - 0:08:52
Ricky Pearsall - 0:12:08
FantasyPros Draft Assistant - 0:14:49
Outro - 0:15:21
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, everybody, well committed fantasy pros.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I am Ryan Warmley, joined by Andrew Erickson and Jake
Seeley from The Athletic. We are talking in this video
about some must have wide receivers this draft season. We
are into draft season, Bellas. These are the receivers that
we are targeting based on where they are going in drafts.
We're going to do wide receivers that you need to
leave your draft with, kind of guys that we're really
really targeting, and then also guys that are kind of
(00:25):
ADP climbers that are sorry to move up. There's some
helium with them in rankings that we are willing to
still reach for even as their value goes up. So
we'll give you one of each of those in those categories. Erickson,
let's start with you.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Who is the wide receiver that you need to leave
your draft with?
Speaker 3 (00:39):
So I'm going to start with Jalen Wattle as my
wide receiver that you need to leave your draft with.
The vibes out of Miami are much pro Waddle and
not necessarily pro Tyreek Hill. You think about the factor
of his quarterback, talking about how Tyry Hill needs to
rebuild his relationship with him and the offense and all
of his teammates after last year's outburnt when he basically
(01:00):
quit on the team, whereas Jalen Wattle is being praised
for being really consistent, taking on a larger leadership role
in this offense and for the Miami Dolphins as a
potential captain candidate. So I just think this is the
year where Waddle gets back to what we saw the
first two years of his NFL career, where he was
essentially a fantasy wide receiver one doing it in different ways.
His rookie year he did it through volume, the second
(01:22):
year it was through efficiency. We've seen him be really
efficient in this Mike McDaniel offense with Tonyola as his quarterback.
So I'm just buying in onto the fact that Wattle
can be the Dolphins number one wide receiver this year
and not be Tyreek Hill, because we've seen Tyreek Hill
last year it fell off a little bit his efficiency
because of the offense. But I just think that I'd
rather bet on the twenty six year old who started
(01:43):
his career with three straight one thousand seasons attached to
his former college quarterback and NFL quarterback. He's played a
number of seasons with I think that we're going to
see Wattle take on that focal point. And I got
more confidence betting on Jalen Wattle after they trade away
John Smith. That's one hundred eleven vacated targets from this offense.
It opens up another option that they can go to underneath.
(02:04):
Wattle doesn't have to just be stuck in a vertical
role becaud, which is what happened last year where he
wasn't seeing enough volume. I think with John Hugunn, it
also opens up opportunities in the red zone. Johnny Smith
led the Dolphins and targets inside the ten yard line
last season, so that gives an opportunity for Jamalen Wattle
to see more red zone opportunities and score more touchdowns.
And Waddle, don't forget he finished the end of last
(02:25):
season really strong, nine plus target in three of his
last four games, two ninety nine yard outings over thirteen
points per game over that span. So Jalen Waddle going
outside the top thirty wide receivers in ADP. I'm just
going to bet on the talent twenty six years old
and bet on the downfall of tyry Kill to continue
and that's going to benefit Wattle the most.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Jake, what do you think about Waddle?
Speaker 2 (02:45):
This is somebody that I'm not surprised ericsonpick just because
he has been a big Wattle fan for a number
of years in a row. I don't know that I've
talked to you as much about him. What do you
make of Wattle this year?
Speaker 4 (02:55):
Yeah, and the wattle talent undeniable. The potential in this
offense undeniable. But I will say the third thing that's
undeniable is the risk, and it's the risk of injury
with Tua and wattle, and the Wattle one is starting
to get annoying just because it's multiple soft tissues, multiple legs,
multiple situations where it's like, oh my god, is this
going to keep happening? But we're not paying that top
(03:19):
twenty cost like we were last year or the year before,
even like, oh my god, because we know Wattle has
wide receiver top fifteen potential if everything is right, it's
just because of the cost that it is. Yeah, I'm
one hundred percent willing to divest. It's my concern would
be if he gets kind of more closer to the
top twenty twenty five, just because if Tua is out,
(03:40):
there's gonna be a drop off across the board, as
we've seen. If Wattle is hurt again, does it and
it's kind of like the Wattle's kind of getting down
that Julio route is like even if he plays, does
he play the full game one?
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Two?
Speaker 4 (03:52):
Is it even one hundred percent Wattle because he's playing
through something yet again? But at this price for somebody
that if you were talking about in the wide receiver thirties,
who has a top twenties ceiling, He's one of the
first names I.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Bring up, Jake, let's stick with you. Who's the wide
receiver you need to leave your draft with?
Speaker 4 (04:10):
Calvin Ridley. I have so much Calvin Ridley. I'm going
to continue to have so much Calvin Ridley until Calvin Ridley,
as I said his name, for the fourth time, his
name hits the top twenty and ADP, which it might
happen because finally enough people are starting to talk about him.
I brought up this tweet. I tweeted it out a
couple weeks ago, or exed it out, whatever the heck
you want to call it. I put it out a
few weeks ago. One hundred and twenty targets last year,
(04:33):
was a top thirty wide receiver with what we're arguing
against the Saints and the Browns and miserable quarterback play
last year. Miserable miserable quarterback play. Mind you who he had?
Do you want to know how many en zone targets?
Speaker 2 (04:45):
One?
Speaker 4 (04:46):
He had four red zone targets and one end zone
target last year and he was a top thirty wide
receiver one hundred and twenty targets. And now you get
cam Ward, who everybody's glowing about what he's been looking
like in the preseason. We saw his first game preseason action.
But it's the same cam Ward we saw from college,
which is somebody who's going to throw the ball down field.
We're talking about double digit not only yards per attempt,
(05:09):
yards per completion. And I know college is different than
the NFL, but it's the cam Ward's ability to hit
the short to intermediate and also deep. Biggest plays that
we've seen so far in the preseason from cam Ward,
one of them from cam Ward to Calvin Ridley. I
just don't understand why there's not more excitement when everybody
always wants to talk about And we did the other
(05:29):
show and Rickson brought this up from last year. It's like, well,
the rookie quarterback's going to improve Terry McLaurin. The rookie
quarterback's going to improve Courtland Sutton. The rookie quarterback is
going to improve Calvin Ridley. Why are we not talking
about the same guy. So I just think that you're
looking at what Calvin Ridley could do way back in
the day with the falcons and checkbox potential, top twenty,
top fifteen. Even this year, he is going to be
(05:49):
those names that Rickson brought up, and I love because
he stole it from me, But those were the two
names that was going to say the same thing if
we saw it happen last year. Who's the name that
stands out this year isn't happening for? And this is
Calvin Ridley.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
I could not lift Calvin Ridley more at his current cost. Ericson,
I know you like Ridley as well. Like we just
did an episode about wide receiver tiers and we talked
about how he was a tier too low. He is
moving up a little, but he's still outside the top
thirty receivers. That is just like frankly incorrect in my opinion,
so really, I think is an awesome call here ericson
do you want to weigh in any more?
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Do you just agree with Jake?
Speaker 4 (06:23):
No?
Speaker 3 (06:24):
I mean I pretty much agree all the way with Jake.
Calvin Ridley has just been one of the best value
wide receivers on the board and something that I was
looking about or thinking about with Calvin Ridley and Jake
talked about how the price that would be the only
thing that would kind of stop him if it got
too expensive. And I think there's an opportunity with Calvin Ridley.
And because I'm always looking at some of these early
season schedules, the Tennessee Titans play at Denver in Week one.
(06:47):
That's a pretty bad matchup for Calvin Ridley. So if
you don't draft Calvin Ridley, I can guarantee he's gonna
be the number one guy you should trade for after
Week one, after he bombs against the Denver bron Because
I'm doing it, why don't we do the trade show together?
I'm telling you right now, Calvin Ridle is probably been
my number one by low because he's probably gonna have
a terrible week against the Broncos on the road. Rookie
quarterback again but if you expect him to do bad,
(07:09):
then it makes it really easy to then Oh yeah, Kevin, really,
I guess he wasn't the guy that was going to
be that good. All right, just go buy him week two?
You know he plays the Rams inside in a dome
bad secondary.
Speaker 4 (07:18):
Oh but like you want to keep going Colts, Texans, Cardinals, Raiders,
Like it doesn't really get that bad. I will say
on the flip side ericson, could you imagine if he
comes out week one with one hundred and a touchdown
against the Broncos. Door closed.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
We should just tape that Calvin Ridley segment right now.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
And see if it holds over on the show, and.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
We like dub in you just saying whatever his actual
stat line is against the Broncos.
Speaker 4 (07:47):
No, you should make it really obvious. You should do
it and then have me dub in the actual stat
line like not even close.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
I'll say, I'll say against the Broncos, he goes two
for twenty four.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Okay, oh wow, official predictions to put it right now,
I'm gona say three for fifty one. Okay, everybody in
the comments, let us know what you think Calvinharthy stat
line is gonna be against the Broncos. Aek. What are
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All right, eightyp climbers that we are willing to reach for,
even as they are rising up in the rankings.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Ericson who do you have?
Speaker 3 (08:53):
Tetora McMillan, wide receiver for the Carolina Panthers. You looked
pretty good in the preseason game. Made a nice over
the shoulder catch on the sidelineerl though he did drop
a touchdown as well.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
On the red zone.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
But I think that most people took away from that
game that, oh, McMillan looks like legit deal, top ten
overall pick at wide receiver for the Panthers. I just
think that Bryce Young has shown last two seasons, even
though he's been bad as a real life fantasy quarterback
for the majority of that time, he's been shown that
he could support a fantasy viable weapon. Adam Feelin, as
(09:23):
a I think he was thirty four years old, was
looking at one hundred catches over one thousand receiving yards
during Bryce Young's rookie season. Last year, the wide receiver
one between Deontay Johnson and Adam feln was pacing for
over eleven hundred yards on a seventeen game sample size
with a thirty three percent first re target share. This
is my long way of saying that Dave Canalis, when
(09:44):
he's had a wide receiver one in his offense, that
guy has been really good for fantasy purposes. Whoever that
player is. And I know that it's changed between whether
it's the slock guy or the guy in the X.
I just think that the way they've talked about McMillan,
the way they've deployed him. He's a full time player.
What we saw in the preseason, He's just going to
be their alpha in this passing game. There's a reason
why a team that needed defense so badly still elected
(10:05):
to draft Tetron McMillan eighth overall despite all their needs
on the defensive side of the football. And if you
just look at top ten wide receivers overall over the
last four seasons, they've averaged eighty catches, one thy fifty
receiving yards in six point three touchdowns as rookies. If
you extrapolate that or over a half PPR fantasy production,
that's back or that's wide receiver two territory. So when
(10:28):
you can get him at the end of that wide
receiver too, you're getting him, i think, closer to his
floor as a top ten overall pick versus the ceiling,
which again, if he hits in a big way, he
could have a Malik Neighbors Brian Thomas junior esque rookie year.
And that's why I want to make the bet on him.
I'm willing to chase him up the board because I
think of the upside.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Ted is somebody that we talked about in that wide
receiver Tiars episode Jake, So I know that you're not
quite as high on him as Ericson and I are,
because I'm fully in agreement with erickson On on tat McMillan.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
But you can still see the upside case here.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
Yeah, it's funny because he said that, and I actually
the projections that I have for him is around eighty
and around one thy fifty and right around six touchdowns,
which is kind of right in that range. But like,
I think my concern more is it's not McMillan, and
I do think there is upside for more than that
as somebody who does believe in Bryce Young and the
potential he has. But I think that I'm associating a
(11:22):
little bit more risk at what if Bryce Young isn't better?
What if Bryce Young reverts back a little bit? What
if Bryce Young continues just to struggle and that inconsistencies
in the NFL and even so still having them for
those numbers. It's the names in front of McMillan, Like
I have no problem with him, and I have no
problem as current costs, but like the question being more
of like continues to rise, I'd probably be out just
(11:44):
because it's hard for me too, Draftmic Bilian in front
of the names that are going in front of them,
like a Courtland Sutton, like the other names we mentioned,
the other more like DJ Moore's and even Xavier Worthy
assuming the suspension is what happens, and down the list
from there, like just brought up my name. So I
think that's more of my issue than McMillan in his
own right. It's just the names that are directly in
(12:04):
front of him.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
When we think about ADP climbers Jake, who's the first
guy that stands out for you.
Speaker 4 (12:10):
And he's going to continue to climb as things continue
to happen with Juwan Jennings. But that's Ricky Pearsill. There's
been a lot of talk both positive and negative about
Piersoll's rookie season, from the fact that he didn't do
anything till the end. But I mean, we're also talking
about somebody who's coming off a gunshot similarly to Brian
Robinson at running back, and that's going to be a factor.
But I just talked about Piersill as a talent. Is
(12:32):
I think that Piersill has some similarities to Darius Slayton,
but I think he's better in the short to intermediate game.
This Slaighton is and that's the upside for him, where
if he can be even the number two, I think
the number two has enough upside And the fact that
I'm concerned that Brian and Ayuk comes back, and even
if Jenny's on the field, Jennings is killed, is killed
(12:53):
like that's that he's the one that loses the job
to Auk and not Pierscell. Piersill stays on the field
no matter what. So that that's why I'm drafting Piersoll.
That's why I'm going to continue to see him on
my teams as it rises. But if it gets into
the top thirty, I think that would be too much
at that point because I still think the real answer
here is that we talked about on other shows. It's
George Kittle. George Kittle is the answer. But after George Kittle,
(13:15):
I want a hell of a lot of Ricky Pierson.
And if the price continues to go up on Piersoll,
well then I'll just pivot to debo that I think
formally on this team, I think a lot of the
season was lost to injury, and you had two hundred
targets after Terry McLaurin, not including zach Ertz going to
Jabbroni wide receivers last year, and if Diebo is anything
(13:35):
close to one hundred percent, and he even gets one
hundred and thirty of those two hundred targets, then I
think Diebo's looking like a potential top thirty five wide receiver.
Once again, it's been a while since we've seen that.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
Erickson, what do you think?
Speaker 3 (13:48):
Yeah, I like Ricky Piersoll a lot. I think that
when you look at the price, it's just I don't
see a reason why you don't always take him in
every draft in because he goes so late. But the
upside case for him is so clear year as a
player entering his second season and last year, given the circumstances,
I think that he almost exceeded expectations for a player
that suffered a gun shot wound in the end of
(14:09):
August where he misses basically all of the ramp up period.
He's missing months of the season, and he still was
able to show out at the end of the year
for the forty nine ers. And there's just so much
opportunity in this offense without Deebo Samuel, with Brandanue coming
back from the ACL injury, which Royn Jennings dealing with
a calf injury and dealing with his trade request, and
(14:30):
by all accounts the training from training camp from the
forty nine ers. It's been that Piersall's been the guy
for Rock Purty and they've been able to build a
lot of chemistry that they weren't able to build last
year because Piersoll was recovering from a gunshot wound so
he wasn't out there and also dealing with some hamstring injuries.
So I think that he's a really easy click. He's
just going too cheap and there's a really easy path
for upside for him.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
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and wrap things up there for Ericson and Jake and
Jake's video issues, I'm Ryan Warmley.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Thanks for tuning in. We'll see you next time.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
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Fantasypros sh
Hello, everybody, well committed fantasy pros.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I am Ryan Warmley, joined by Andrew Erickson and Jake
Seeley from The Athletic. We are talking in this video
about some must have wide receivers this draft season. We
are into draft season, Bellas. These are the receivers that
we are targeting based on where they are going in drafts.
We're going to do wide receivers that you need to
leave your draft with, kind of guys that we're really
really targeting, and then also guys that are kind of
(00:25):
ADP climbers that are sorry to move up. There's some
helium with them in rankings that we are willing to
still reach for even as their value goes up. So
we'll give you one of each of those in those categories. Erickson,
let's start with you.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Who is the wide receiver that you need to leave
your draft with?
Speaker 3 (00:39):
So I'm going to start with Jalen Wattle as my
wide receiver that you need to leave your draft with.
The vibes out of Miami are much pro Waddle and
not necessarily pro Tyreek Hill. You think about the factor
of his quarterback, talking about how Tyry Hill needs to
rebuild his relationship with him and the offense and all
of his teammates after last year's outburnt when he basically
(01:00):
quit on the team, whereas Jalen Wattle is being praised
for being really consistent, taking on a larger leadership role
in this offense and for the Miami Dolphins as a
potential captain candidate. So I just think this is the
year where Waddle gets back to what we saw the
first two years of his NFL career, where he was
essentially a fantasy wide receiver one doing it in different ways.
His rookie year he did it through volume, the second
(01:22):
year it was through efficiency. We've seen him be really
efficient in this Mike McDaniel offense with Tonyola as his quarterback.
So I'm just buying in onto the fact that Wattle
can be the Dolphins number one wide receiver this year
and not be Tyreek Hill, because we've seen Tyreek Hill
last year it fell off a little bit his efficiency
because of the offense. But I just think that I'd
rather bet on the twenty six year old who started
(01:43):
his career with three straight one thousand seasons attached to
his former college quarterback and NFL quarterback. He's played a
number of seasons with I think that we're going to
see Wattle take on that focal point. And I got
more confidence betting on Jalen Wattle after they trade away
John Smith. That's one hundred eleven vacated targets from this offense.
It opens up another option that they can go to underneath.
(02:04):
Wattle doesn't have to just be stuck in a vertical
role becaud, which is what happened last year where he
wasn't seeing enough volume. I think with John Hugunn, it
also opens up opportunities in the red zone. Johnny Smith
led the Dolphins and targets inside the ten yard line
last season, so that gives an opportunity for Jamalen Wattle
to see more red zone opportunities and score more touchdowns.
And Waddle, don't forget he finished the end of last
(02:25):
season really strong, nine plus target in three of his
last four games, two ninety nine yard outings over thirteen
points per game over that span. So Jalen Waddle going
outside the top thirty wide receivers in ADP. I'm just
going to bet on the talent twenty six years old
and bet on the downfall of tyry Kill to continue
and that's going to benefit Wattle the most.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Jake, what do you think about Waddle?
Speaker 2 (02:45):
This is somebody that I'm not surprised ericsonpick just because
he has been a big Wattle fan for a number
of years in a row. I don't know that I've
talked to you as much about him. What do you
make of Wattle this year?
Speaker 4 (02:55):
Yeah, and the wattle talent undeniable. The potential in this
offense undeniable. But I will say the third thing that's
undeniable is the risk, and it's the risk of injury
with Tua and wattle, and the Wattle one is starting
to get annoying just because it's multiple soft tissues, multiple legs,
multiple situations where it's like, oh my god, is this
going to keep happening? But we're not paying that top
(03:19):
twenty cost like we were last year or the year before,
even like, oh my god, because we know Wattle has
wide receiver top fifteen potential if everything is right, it's
just because of the cost that it is. Yeah, I'm
one hundred percent willing to divest. It's my concern would
be if he gets kind of more closer to the
top twenty twenty five, just because if Tua is out,
(03:40):
there's gonna be a drop off across the board, as
we've seen. If Wattle is hurt again, does it and
it's kind of like the Wattle's kind of getting down
that Julio route is like even if he plays, does
he play the full game one?
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Two?
Speaker 4 (03:52):
Is it even one hundred percent Wattle because he's playing
through something yet again? But at this price for somebody
that if you were talking about in the wide receiver thirties,
who has a top twenties ceiling, He's one of the
first names I.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Bring up, Jake, let's stick with you. Who's the wide
receiver you need to leave your draft with?
Speaker 4 (04:10):
Calvin Ridley. I have so much Calvin Ridley. I'm going
to continue to have so much Calvin Ridley until Calvin Ridley,
as I said his name, for the fourth time, his
name hits the top twenty and ADP, which it might
happen because finally enough people are starting to talk about him.
I brought up this tweet. I tweeted it out a
couple weeks ago, or exed it out, whatever the heck
you want to call it. I put it out a
few weeks ago. One hundred and twenty targets last year,
(04:33):
was a top thirty wide receiver with what we're arguing
against the Saints and the Browns and miserable quarterback play
last year. Miserable miserable quarterback play. Mind you who he had?
Do you want to know how many en zone targets?
Speaker 2 (04:45):
One?
Speaker 4 (04:46):
He had four red zone targets and one end zone
target last year and he was a top thirty wide
receiver one hundred and twenty targets. And now you get
cam Ward, who everybody's glowing about what he's been looking
like in the preseason. We saw his first game preseason action.
But it's the same cam Ward we saw from college,
which is somebody who's going to throw the ball down field.
We're talking about double digit not only yards per attempt,
(05:09):
yards per completion. And I know college is different than
the NFL, but it's the cam Ward's ability to hit
the short to intermediate and also deep. Biggest plays that
we've seen so far in the preseason from cam Ward,
one of them from cam Ward to Calvin Ridley. I
just don't understand why there's not more excitement when everybody
always wants to talk about And we did the other
(05:29):
show and Rickson brought this up from last year. It's like, well,
the rookie quarterback's going to improve Terry McLaurin. The rookie
quarterback's going to improve Courtland Sutton. The rookie quarterback is
going to improve Calvin Ridley. Why are we not talking
about the same guy. So I just think that you're
looking at what Calvin Ridley could do way back in
the day with the falcons and checkbox potential, top twenty,
top fifteen. Even this year, he is going to be
(05:49):
those names that Rickson brought up, and I love because
he stole it from me, But those were the two
names that was going to say the same thing if
we saw it happen last year. Who's the name that
stands out this year isn't happening for? And this is
Calvin Ridley.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
I could not lift Calvin Ridley more at his current cost. Ericson,
I know you like Ridley as well. Like we just
did an episode about wide receiver tiers and we talked
about how he was a tier too low. He is
moving up a little, but he's still outside the top
thirty receivers. That is just like frankly incorrect in my opinion,
so really, I think is an awesome call here ericson
do you want to weigh in any more?
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Do you just agree with Jake?
Speaker 4 (06:23):
No?
Speaker 3 (06:24):
I mean I pretty much agree all the way with Jake.
Calvin Ridley has just been one of the best value
wide receivers on the board and something that I was
looking about or thinking about with Calvin Ridley and Jake
talked about how the price that would be the only
thing that would kind of stop him if it got
too expensive. And I think there's an opportunity with Calvin Ridley.
And because I'm always looking at some of these early
season schedules, the Tennessee Titans play at Denver in Week one.
(06:47):
That's a pretty bad matchup for Calvin Ridley. So if
you don't draft Calvin Ridley, I can guarantee he's gonna
be the number one guy you should trade for after
Week one, after he bombs against the Denver bron Because
I'm doing it, why don't we do the trade show together?
I'm telling you right now, Calvin Ridle is probably been
my number one by low because he's probably gonna have
a terrible week against the Broncos on the road. Rookie
quarterback again but if you expect him to do bad,
(07:09):
then it makes it really easy to then Oh yeah, Kevin, really,
I guess he wasn't the guy that was going to
be that good. All right, just go buy him week two?
You know he plays the Rams inside in a dome
bad secondary.
Speaker 4 (07:18):
Oh but like you want to keep going Colts, Texans, Cardinals, Raiders,
Like it doesn't really get that bad. I will say
on the flip side ericson, could you imagine if he
comes out week one with one hundred and a touchdown
against the Broncos. Door closed.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
We should just tape that Calvin Ridley segment right now.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
And see if it holds over on the show, and.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
We like dub in you just saying whatever his actual
stat line is against the Broncos.
Speaker 4 (07:47):
No, you should make it really obvious. You should do
it and then have me dub in the actual stat
line like not even close.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
I'll say, I'll say against the Broncos, he goes two
for twenty four.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Okay, oh wow, official predictions to put it right now,
I'm gona say three for fifty one. Okay, everybody in
the comments, let us know what you think Calvinharthy stat
line is gonna be against the Broncos. Aek. What are
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(08:18):
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All right, eightyp climbers that we are willing to reach for,
even as they are rising up in the rankings.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Ericson who do you have?
Speaker 3 (08:53):
Tetora McMillan, wide receiver for the Carolina Panthers. You looked
pretty good in the preseason game. Made a nice over
the shoulder catch on the sidelineerl though he did drop
a touchdown as well.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
On the red zone.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
But I think that most people took away from that
game that, oh, McMillan looks like legit deal, top ten
overall pick at wide receiver for the Panthers. I just
think that Bryce Young has shown last two seasons, even
though he's been bad as a real life fantasy quarterback
for the majority of that time, he's been shown that
he could support a fantasy viable weapon. Adam Feelin, as
(09:23):
a I think he was thirty four years old, was
looking at one hundred catches over one thousand receiving yards
during Bryce Young's rookie season. Last year, the wide receiver
one between Deontay Johnson and Adam feln was pacing for
over eleven hundred yards on a seventeen game sample size
with a thirty three percent first re target share. This
is my long way of saying that Dave Canalis, when
(09:44):
he's had a wide receiver one in his offense, that
guy has been really good for fantasy purposes. Whoever that
player is. And I know that it's changed between whether
it's the slock guy or the guy in the X.
I just think that the way they've talked about McMillan,
the way they've deployed him. He's a full time player.
What we saw in the preseason, He's just going to
be their alpha in this passing game. There's a reason
why a team that needed defense so badly still elected
(10:05):
to draft Tetron McMillan eighth overall despite all their needs
on the defensive side of the football. And if you
just look at top ten wide receivers overall over the
last four seasons, they've averaged eighty catches, one thy fifty
receiving yards in six point three touchdowns as rookies. If
you extrapolate that or over a half PPR fantasy production,
that's back or that's wide receiver two territory. So when
(10:28):
you can get him at the end of that wide
receiver too, you're getting him, i think, closer to his
floor as a top ten overall pick versus the ceiling,
which again, if he hits in a big way, he
could have a Malik Neighbors Brian Thomas junior esque rookie year.
And that's why I want to make the bet on him.
I'm willing to chase him up the board because I
think of the upside.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Ted is somebody that we talked about in that wide
receiver Tiars episode Jake, So I know that you're not
quite as high on him as Ericson and I are,
because I'm fully in agreement with erickson On on tat McMillan.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
But you can still see the upside case here.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
Yeah, it's funny because he said that, and I actually
the projections that I have for him is around eighty
and around one thy fifty and right around six touchdowns,
which is kind of right in that range. But like,
I think my concern more is it's not McMillan, and
I do think there is upside for more than that
as somebody who does believe in Bryce Young and the
potential he has. But I think that I'm associating a
(11:22):
little bit more risk at what if Bryce Young isn't better?
What if Bryce Young reverts back a little bit? What
if Bryce Young continues just to struggle and that inconsistencies
in the NFL and even so still having them for
those numbers. It's the names in front of McMillan, Like
I have no problem with him, and I have no
problem as current costs, but like the question being more
of like continues to rise, I'd probably be out just
(11:44):
because it's hard for me too, Draftmic Bilian in front
of the names that are going in front of them,
like a Courtland Sutton, like the other names we mentioned,
the other more like DJ Moore's and even Xavier Worthy
assuming the suspension is what happens, and down the list
from there, like just brought up my name. So I
think that's more of my issue than McMillan in his
own right. It's just the names that are directly in
(12:04):
front of him.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
When we think about ADP climbers Jake, who's the first
guy that stands out for you.
Speaker 4 (12:10):
And he's going to continue to climb as things continue
to happen with Juwan Jennings. But that's Ricky Pearsill. There's
been a lot of talk both positive and negative about
Piersoll's rookie season, from the fact that he didn't do
anything till the end. But I mean, we're also talking
about somebody who's coming off a gunshot similarly to Brian
Robinson at running back, and that's going to be a factor.
But I just talked about Piersill as a talent. Is
(12:32):
I think that Piersill has some similarities to Darius Slayton,
but I think he's better in the short to intermediate game.
This Slaighton is and that's the upside for him, where
if he can be even the number two, I think
the number two has enough upside And the fact that
I'm concerned that Brian and Ayuk comes back, and even
if Jenny's on the field, Jennings is killed, is killed
(12:53):
like that's that he's the one that loses the job
to Auk and not Pierscell. Piersill stays on the field
no matter what. So that that's why I'm drafting Piersoll.
That's why I'm going to continue to see him on
my teams as it rises. But if it gets into
the top thirty, I think that would be too much
at that point because I still think the real answer
here is that we talked about on other shows. It's
George Kittle. George Kittle is the answer. But after George Kittle,
(13:15):
I want a hell of a lot of Ricky Pierson.
And if the price continues to go up on Piersoll,
well then I'll just pivot to debo that I think
formally on this team, I think a lot of the
season was lost to injury, and you had two hundred
targets after Terry McLaurin, not including zach Ertz going to
Jabbroni wide receivers last year, and if Diebo is anything
(13:35):
close to one hundred percent, and he even gets one
hundred and thirty of those two hundred targets, then I
think Diebo's looking like a potential top thirty five wide receiver.
Once again, it's been a while since we've seen that.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
Erickson, what do you think?
Speaker 3 (13:48):
Yeah, I like Ricky Piersoll a lot. I think that
when you look at the price, it's just I don't
see a reason why you don't always take him in
every draft in because he goes so late. But the
upside case for him is so clear year as a
player entering his second season and last year, given the circumstances,
I think that he almost exceeded expectations for a player
that suffered a gun shot wound in the end of
(14:09):
August where he misses basically all of the ramp up period.
He's missing months of the season, and he still was
able to show out at the end of the year
for the forty nine ers. And there's just so much
opportunity in this offense without Deebo Samuel, with Brandanue coming
back from the ACL injury, which Royn Jennings dealing with
a calf injury and dealing with his trade request, and
(14:30):
by all accounts the training from training camp from the
forty nine ers. It's been that Piersall's been the guy
for Rock Purty and they've been able to build a
lot of chemistry that they weren't able to build last
year because Piersoll was recovering from a gunshot wound so
he wasn't out there and also dealing with some hamstring injuries.
So I think that he's a really easy click. He's
just going too cheap and there's a really easy path
for upside for him.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Draft Assistant connects directly to your draft and provides both
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(15:10):
drafts Assistant at fantasypros dot com, slash Assistant or on
the Fantasy Pros app. Try it for free during your
draft by claiming your three day trial a Fantasypros Premium
at Fantasypros dot com Slash Premium. Guys will go ahead
and wrap things up there for Ericson and Jake and
Jake's video issues, I'm Ryan Warmley.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Thanks for tuning in. We'll see you next time.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football Podcast.
If you love the show, the best freeway to support
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Hosts And Creators
Andrew Erickson
Joe Pisapia
Derek Brown
Thor Nystrom
Ryan Wormeli
Pat Fitzmaurice
Matthew Freedman
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