Week 14 Fantasy Football Wide Receiver Rankings & Tiers: Studs, Sleepers, and Must-Starts (Ep. 1876)

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's up, friends, and welcome into Fantasy Pros. This is
the Fantasy Football Podcast Week fourteen, Wide Receiver Ranks Episode.
I am Chris Welsh. We got Pat Fitzmorris and Andrew
Erickson back after the holidays, but ready to lock you
guys in before your fantasy playoffs. Not universally, but pretty
close to it. This is the final regular season game

(00:21):
for fantasy football for the most part for most people,
so you're gonna have to get it all in here
make your final playoff run. Pat, will you be making
many playoff runs across your gajillion team so far this year?

Speaker 2 (00:34):
I guess my share in a few. You know, I'm
probably going to be one for two in Fantasy pros
leagues as far as making the playoffs.

Speaker 3 (00:43):
And the home leagues are. That might be a clean
sweep of getting in.

Speaker 2 (00:48):
But man, I had some tough losses in industry leagues
last week where you know, losing a game where I
was going against the Seattle defense and lost by two
points when Seattle scored thirty on me.

Speaker 3 (00:59):
That was painful.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
So yeah, I mean there are some leagues where I'm
gonna be the riff raft who gets thrown out after
Week fourteen.

Speaker 1 (01:08):
Our Fantasy pros leagues, I'm gonna go too, and one
are one of them. It was our Content Team one.
I'm the worst, absolute worst. I snuck in in our
Insiders league and then I just took down took down
Ryan Wormley in the guillotine. So I am the guillotine
champ taking that down. Thank you to wide receiver JSN
for absolutely fumbling Week fourteen ericson what's it looking like

(01:32):
for you?

Speaker 4 (01:32):
Well, our content team. The playoffs start this week, so
not exactly sure who made the settings that way, but
shout out to me. I'm the number one seed. I
have Drake Man. He's on a buy It doesn't matter
because I'm on a BUYE two. So I'm locked and
loaded ready for Week fifteen. FITZI, if you beat Joey
this week, you'll be facing me. It's a road match
for you, so good luck to you in week fifteen.

(01:54):
I'll be cheering for you to face off against me,
and I will have Drake May back in the starting lineup.
So giving everyone else bye week essentially this week because
I have been the powerhouse of the Content team from
that draft that we should all go back and watch
after I was ridicule for drafting two tight ends, and
despite losing Tucker Craft halfway through the season, we continued
to roll.

Speaker 1 (02:13):
I mean, it's poetic too that you could go against
VIZI with Drake May. It's very very poetic.

Speaker 3 (02:18):
That is beautiful.

Speaker 1 (02:19):
So we'll throw in our slight little updates here and there.
Excited to hear from you guys as well, and a
lot of our live streams, you guys have been popping
in about, you know, the turnarounds you've had in your season,
the playoff runs you're going to make, and hopefully we
will be able to help you guys out in making
those as the Rank Show continues on through the playoffs.
So we're going to jum into the wide receiver ranks,
but before we do, let's give a shout out. We

(02:40):
do the ranks accuracy contest. We did not get to
do it last week, or at least talk about it
last week on the show because we did a little
bit early to Thanksgiving. Do you want to give a
shout out to Tom Strachan who finished third the previous week,
who I do the live stream with. That was pretty awesome.
But this week we've got a top three for the
week thirteen ranks, and coming in at one is tal Matchowski.

(03:02):
Hopefully I said that correctly. Malchofsky from the Fantasy Scout
finishing number one, Jacob Piccolo from True RGM, and Joshua
Kimmel from Fantasy Now Plus those are your top three
most accurate rankers from week thirteen. We do have some
shout outs Mike Mayer fourteen, go away mayor good Lord.

(03:23):
Every single week it's just locked in top fifteen. I
believe he's ten on the season, so we're gonna have
to get him on this show next year. Shout out
to Kelly Kirby who also finished at twenty one. And
I'm gonna give the shout out to our boy Andrew
Rickson on this show, who've yes finished thirty one, which
is still pretty good. I finished top fifty, so little
shout out to me. But you finished thirty one, but

(03:44):
fourth in wide receiver, so pretty important spot for you.
Ericson for this week in wide Receivers, FITZI here our man.

Speaker 3 (03:51):
Bad week, bad week.

Speaker 1 (03:52):
It's bad week is all it was was a bad week.
But you know you're still the top dog of us.
I think I've only finished higher than you twice this
entire season, and so it's not two incredibly anything to
be proud of. But those are your big rankers. You
guys can check them out fantasypros dot com Slash Rankings
if you want to check out the ECR. And then
we have the Accuracy Contest that we put an article

(04:12):
out every single week if you want to see who's
finished and where. And these two guys are near the
tippy top of the list as well, So make sure
you're locked in all right before the last thing before
we get to the ranks giveaways, so you know there's
a good reason to not go straight into the ranks.
We are going to announce the Justin Jefferson winner, and
then we are going to have a brand new and
the brand the new one is sick, all right, So

(04:33):
we're announcing the winner the Justin Jefferson Vikings Jersey giveaway.
The winner is Travis. That's all they gave me. Just
if your name is Travis in the world, you might
be a winner, which Travis, I don't know, but we'll
be contacting you to get you that price, so be
on the lookout. Congratulations to all the Travis's in the world,

(04:54):
but one specifically, we'll be taking the Justin Jefferson Jersey
home and you can put it to better use than
he is right now. So next prize though, check this
out if you want a chance to win a Bijon
Robinson and Drake London sign mini helmet. Both of those
guys sign mini helmet for free courtesy of our friends

(05:14):
at Pristine Auction dot com. You have got a head
over to Fantasypros dot com slash contest. Complete the form,
download the Fantasy Pros app, leave a review on the podcast,
follow us on ex Instagram, TikTok at Fantasy Pros, as thesocial.
You can do all of those and each one gets
you an entry. We'll be announcing a winner right here
on the podcast, so if you're watching on YouTube, make
sure you subscribe, put on notifications so you can claim

(05:36):
that prize. Bijon Robinson and Drake London signed many helmet
is pretty pretty sweet, so we'll be announcing that. So
good luck to all, even the Travises. If you're maybe
we'll have another Travis thatt one all right ranks fantasypros
dot Com slash Rankings if you want to follow along, gentlemen,
let's jump in to the Big Board. Our Big Board
wide Receiver top twelve ranks for Week fourteen starts with

(05:57):
Jackson Smith Injigba. He said, two, CD Lamb, Rashi Rice, Pukinakua,
and George Pickens. That's your top six. So I thought
we might see some George Pickens over CD Lamb. We're
still not quite seeing that. At seven, DeVante Adams, Jamison Williams,
Nico Collins, AJ Brown, Chris Olave and Jalen Waddle. These
are chock plays, gentlemen, as you know, not sure. There's

(06:18):
a ton of discussion to be had, but one really
interesting one is Rashi Rice. Rashi Rice is coming in
at four on this list, ahead of Pookinakoua, ahead of
George Pickens, who's going in Detroit. And the reason we
highlight it is it's a pretty tough, tough Texans defense.
His ECR is for FITZI, you're kind of in agreement.
You've got him higher at three and Ericson you've got

(06:40):
a little bit lower. So Fitzy, why don't you kick
us off here? What's got you positive on Rashi Rice
in this Texans matchup?

Speaker 2 (06:47):
It is a tough matchup on paper, the Texans probably
of the best defense in the NFL.

Speaker 3 (06:52):
They have a lot of.

Speaker 2 (06:52):
The fourth fewest fantasy points to wide receivers, but the
Texans are kind of a slot funnel in terms of
the fan to see points the defenses have allowed to
slot receivers. As a percentage of the total fantasy points
they've allowed the receivers, the Texans are fourth highest, behind
only the forty nine Ers, Bills and Colts had tipped

(07:13):
to my buddies over at ras Ball for those numbers,
and Rashid Rice just shows up week after week. He's
averaging seven catches in eighty one receiving yards a game.
He scored six touchdowns. In the six games since he
came back from suspension, Rashid Rice has at least eighteen
point six PPR points in every game except for the
game against the Broncos, where he had nine point eight

(07:34):
points on six catches for thirty eight yards. Texans will
be the best defense the Chiefs have faced since that
game against the Broncos, So maybe we should temper expectations
for Rice a little bit. But because of that slot
funnel thing going on with the Texans, I would still expect.

Speaker 1 (07:49):
Rashi Rice to be pretty heavily involved, Srixon, you got
at seven. It's not a negative or anything, just a
couple of spots, Olawer, But do you think we should
temper those expectations on Rice just slightly.

Speaker 4 (08:00):
To the point that fits made. This is the best
defense the Chiefs have faced all season, and last week
it was shootout, shootout, shootout scoring bonanza in the Dome
against the Dallas Cowboys. Roshie Rice I think was wide
receiver one on the week. That's not gonna happen this
week against the Houston Texas. Like both these teams, the
Texans love to play unders like no other team that

(08:22):
plays in the NFL. And we look at the Chiefs
that I played at home, They've had one game that's
gone over the projected total at home the season, one
in five over under towards the total. Look at the total,
it's forty one and a half points. So we're not
expecting at least those in Vegas and not expecting, hey,
this is going to be a shootout. We see offenses
look and really come back down to earth after facing
the Dallas Cowboys defense, So we get all on board.

(08:43):
Mahomes QB one four touchdowns last week? Would Amy be
surprised if he throws none this week, because I mean
that wouldn't be super super shocking. So for me, it's
just a matter of is this the Rice ceialing week
I'm going to lean towards now last week was the
Rice sealing week, So I think that and it's not
a reason to not start him in any capacity, of course,

(09:04):
And that's why he's still going to be ranked. You know,
I have him seven in the ECR rankings, and to
the point that fits made, he's still going to see
plenty of volume as the Texans funnel targets towards the slot.
But I just don't think that this is like the
ceiling spot for him. And when I'm looking at my rankings,
a guy one spot ahead because I think he could
finish as the wide receiver one on the week is
Jamison Williams. Like if i' mom Rob Brown saying doesn't

(09:24):
play him this week, Like dude, he's facing Dallas. Like
Jamison Williams has been a top six receiver in three
of his last four games. I just when I'm looking
for searching for ceiling, it's I'm taking jam over Rice
this week.

Speaker 1 (09:40):
Let me ask you just real quick on this too.
I was gonna ask do you because there's a big
separator between where Rashi Rice is and like Nico Collins.
So this is a two part of question. First off,
do you think that Nico Collins and Rice are in
the same tier or there? I would say the ranks
are kind of telling us that they're separated, but just
you don't have to go into a bunch of analysis.
But ericson start with you. Do you think Nico and

(10:02):
Rice are way closer than the ranks are telling us,
or they should have this type of gap.

Speaker 4 (10:07):
I think they should have a gap because I think
that the thing with Rice is he can have a
bad game in terms of yardage, but he has the
most touchdown equity in the Chiefs offense, and the Chiefs
love to throw the football, so if they can't run
the ball with Kareem Hunt, he could still catch, you know,
multiple touchdowns like that. That's how this would beat me. Probably.
I just don't expect Rice is gonna get a hundred
yards in this game. He's gonna catch ten twelve balls.

(10:29):
Maybe that's not really the case here, rip off, like
a lot of explosive plays, I feel pretty confident saying
that either Rice, Kelsey or Hunt is probably gonna disappoint.
I mean, I can't imagine all three are going to
hit against the Texans defense. So I would lean towards
Hunt being the guy that's left out of the out
of the party, just because he's definitely the most touchdown dependent.

(10:50):
So that's kind of the way I see it.

Speaker 1 (10:52):
Okay, then let me just assume rere quick fits. You
agree with that that they're kind of separated.

Speaker 2 (10:58):
Yeah, Nico's head four or fewer receptions in six of
his eleven games this year. Rashid Rice has only had
one game in six with four catches.

Speaker 1 (11:09):
Okay, so this is an agreement then, So then the
other question is and fits. You'll ask you this, do
you think in this top end wide receiver tier here,
do you think that the gap starts between nine and
ten or at eleven? And what I'm getting at is
a bunch of great core players you mentioned Jamison Williams
kind of belongs in there. But do you think the
tier starts to change where there might be questions starting

(11:30):
at AJ Brown or when Olave and Jalen Waddle become
wide receiver ones. Are they kind of the something is
not like the other and is it Olave and waddle
or would you throw aj Brown in their fits?

Speaker 2 (11:41):
I think I'm going to have a tier break when
I do my tiers article this week between Jamison Williams
and Nicocollins. I think that's going to be a tier
break for me.

Speaker 1 (11:51):
Okay, so Niko'll probably follow in there. All right, let's
go to this second tier. A lot more discussion to
be had here. These are the wide Receiver twos Wide
Receiver thirteen through twenty four. We kick it off with
Lad mcconki at thirteen, a Mecca Egbuka, Justin Jefferson, DeVonta Smith,
Christian Watson, Zay Flowers, Terry McLaurin comes in at nineteen.
At twenty is Michael Wilson. We've got Michael Pittman, Cortland Sutton,

(12:12):
Jacoby Myers, and Khalil Shakir. Let's talk about the elephant
in the room that is Justin Jefferson. ECR is fifteen.
You guys have a bit of a separation on your valuation.
I think everybody is struggling. Big topic of discussion. We
did it on out of bounds between Trojan horsing Justin

(12:32):
Jefferson to a piece of PA called it a Titanic
wide receiver, which as you go down with the ship,
the quarterback stink. There's incredible matchups in front of him.
I mean, at least it's not Brosmer, but something's got
to give at some point, or at least you're hoping
it is. And ECR is really not telling the story

(12:54):
that I think a lot of just like the public
is feeling. I think a lot of people who are
ranking just can't let go of the matchups and maybe
having McCarthy back coming in at fifteen. As said, you
guys are both different, FITZI, let's get the pessimistic look
because you are lower on him than ECR, where Ericson
is actually a little bit higher.

Speaker 2 (13:12):
And I have tried to be the crewmen on the
Titanic and go down with the ship. With recent rankings
of kind of yeah, I've been like in the movie
Titanic where the band is playing on deck while the
ship is going down. I've kind of been that guy
with Justin Jefferson. But I'm sort of done with that,

(13:33):
Like we just keep waiting for the big Justin Jefferson game.
But you know, receivers rely on their quarterbacks to a
large degree, and the Vikings have gotten the worst quarterbacking
of any NFL team this season. So Jefferson has two
touchdowns on the air one touchdown over his last eleven games.
He's had under fifty receiving yards in four of his

(13:54):
last five. He hasn't hit eighty receiving yards in a
game since Week five. I know the Commander's pass defense
is shaky, and that's the hope here that a great
receiver can pop against a shaky secondary. I mean, I'm
still ranking him inside the top twenty a receiver. I'm
starting him in the aforementioned Fantasy pros Content league in

(14:15):
that wildcard game against Joe Pisapia.

Speaker 3 (14:18):
But I just can't get any higher than.

Speaker 2 (14:20):
Wide receiver nineteen, knowing that JJ McCarthy is the target
delivery mechanism for Justin Jefferson.

Speaker 1 (14:25):
Yeah, I love the matchup, but you know, nineteen late
teens does kind of start to create a situation where
there is viable questions. You know, someone had picked off
Terry mcclaurin off the scrap heap, or you know Devanta
Smith or Christian Watson ranking higher people really might have
questions where you don't start Jefferson, but we're not talking
about Jefferson in the space that I feel like some

(14:47):
are thinking, like, hey, guys, should I start Kobe Myers
over Justin Jefferson. It's a great matchup. Quarterback plays a
slight improvement. I guess with McCarthy there ericson. You've got
him at fourteen, you're one spot higher. So is this
about going against the Commanders, or is this about JJ
McCarthy back here, or is this just blind optimism.

Speaker 4 (15:06):
It's not just blind optimism.

Speaker 1 (15:09):
Mine is blind optimism I've been having.

Speaker 4 (15:11):
But I think that this is just a significantly better
spot for Justin Jefferson. Look at the last two weeks
on the road against the Packers, on the road against
the Seahawks, with the undrafted rookie quarterback making his first
start behind an injured offensive line. Like in both those games,
the offensive line got extremely banged up. Deris Selz expected
to come back for this matchup for the Minnesota Vikings,
as is Ryan Kelly the starting center. So I just

(15:33):
think that the optics are significantly better. You're back at
home in the Dome where you can play a little
bit more controlled behind an offensive line that has struggled
at times this season. You look at McCarthy, he's foreign.
He's eighty percent towards the over on his receiving yards
this year at home, so he's been much better playing indoors.
And you look at the Washingtonmmanders, they're terrible on defense
fifth or excuse me, top five and yards allowed two

(15:54):
wide receivers this season. So I think that Jefferson bounces
back here. Now does that mean he finishes as a
top five wide receiver? Probably not, because he hasn't done
that all season long. The pure upside play with Jefferson
just really been non existing with Jim McCarthy. But to
fits his point, he's only caught two touchdowns. Those were
in games where McCarthy started both of them after missing
time with an injury. So third times, to charm right,

(16:15):
he's gonna score fine paydirt against the Commanders who suck
on defense. This is where my blind optimism is coming in,
where I'm making these really really scretched narratives where Jefferson's
going to find the paint here. So still I think
the matchup is still just too good. And I think
after he hit rock I mean, we do this all
the time, right, It's like we're ready to bury the guy.
We have the shovel, we have the tombstone all picked out,

(16:36):
ready to go, and then of course he bounces back
because it's justin Jefferson at the end of the day.
So as much as I would like to kind of
go back to okay, because I feel like I was
the one pushing back on Jefferson the last couple weeks
where Fitz was a little bit more positive, I'm kind
of like reversing that now. I'm like, Nope, now I'm
kind of back in a little bit here because I
love the matchup. He's actually on my prediction show, I

(16:57):
predicted Jefferson would be back in that top twenty one
receiver territory. And I mean, guys, you want his receiving
arts prop this week is any guesses?

Speaker 1 (17:06):
And I guess it's fifty four.

Speaker 3 (17:08):
It's about what I would have guessed too.

Speaker 4 (17:10):
It's sixty yards.

Speaker 1 (17:12):
Okay, Well give me to fifty I'll be excited. Can
we for our editors, can you cut me in Erickson's
head off and then put us on the band members
of the Titanic and then and then we sink into
the ship. Please, thank you very much. All right, let's
go to the next wide receiver, Christian Watson. Christian Watson
is in the teens now here wide receiver seventeen on ECR.

(17:34):
You guys are a little bit split, one higher, one lower,
as we kind of like to see going up against
the Chicago Bears. This is actually one of only two
four star rated matchups in this wide receiver thirteen through
twenty four range, by the way, number one justin Jefferson.
So these are the two best in this entire spot.
Ericson you were the high man, though, so let's start

(17:54):
with you. Then Christian Watson. You've got at sixteen, so
it's one spot higher. But you are saying that not
only is he the Green Bay wide receiver to trust,
but you're putting some serious trust in as a like
mid wide receiver too. Here.

Speaker 4 (18:08):
He's been really good the last couple of weeks. He's
dominated the targets in the last two games. Since Week eight,
he's wide receiver twenty four in points per game, and
he's obviously outpacing his expected points per game, which is
wide receiver thirty five. Because we know that nobody really
gets the wide receiver one treatment in this Packers offense,
although the last two weeks he has really taken the

(18:28):
lion's share of targets. Now, I think that the concern
with him, and it's similar to what we've seen with
Michael Wilson and Stefon Diggs, is okay, Well, what happens
when guys come back into the offense, like is Jayden
reeganna play this week? I think that potentially matters for
Christian Watson because we saw with Romeo Dobbs like his
production has fallen off a cliff since Christian Watson came
back to the lineup. So that is the thing that

(18:49):
probably concerns me the most about having him as a
top twenty guy and even up here at sixteen. But
he's just so explosive. He's looked fantastic and even missed
out on some opportunities last week with Jordan Love But
I think Love is kind of dialed in a little
bit here. He's been playing a little bit better and
they're just not afraid to check the ball. I think
Jordan Love, Lee's the NFL and yards per attempted this
season because they know they can just dial up these

(19:10):
explosive plays. I get the Chicago Bears got some of
their cornerbacks back last week with Jalen Johnson and Kyler Gordon,
but we seen Christian Watson last year against Jalen Johnson,
he had a lot of success against him. They like
to play a lot of man coverage. We saw that
against the Philadelphia Eagles. The Bears play more man coverage
with their cornerbacks back. Christian Watson's the man coverage beater.
So the thing that's fringing about it is, okay, very

(19:33):
realistic that Watson could get like five targets. You're like, okay,
like kind of threading the needle here. But if he
does come down with one of those big plays, scores
a touchdown, which he has basically kind of been doing
since he came back in Week eight, and you feel
pretty good about starting him. But I do acknowledge that
there is a bit of a shakier floor with Christian
Watson just because of some of those guys that could

(19:53):
potentially coming back, Matthew Golden as well, who have been injured.

Speaker 1 (19:58):
The thing I really liked was because the Packers will
always do this, it'll and fits. He knows better than anybody,
you know, they'll be just like a random wide receiver
like this week's is dobbed, this week is Wis, And
they keep doing this and we had Wis obviously have
the breakout, but Watson was still able to get volume
and he is the big blit play threat, which that
kind of makes me feel a little bit more floor ish.

(20:19):
You definitely are still in You're just lower than ecr fits.
You've got him at twenty one, so he's still a
wide receiver too. But any type of you know, pessimism
or what's going on with your take on Christian Watson
in this Packers offense.

Speaker 2 (20:31):
No, I mean, the funny thing is there's some separation
between Ericson's ranking of Christian Watson and my ranking of him.
But Ericson framed it perfectly. What the production profile.

Speaker 3 (20:43):
Is for Christian Watson this year.

Speaker 2 (20:44):
He's got a high ceiling because he lives on these
big plays. He's got probably a little lower floor than
some of the other guys in wide receiver two range
because we can't totally count on the targets. I mean,
he had four targets in each of his first three
games back from the knee injury, then five, seven and
ten targets in his last three games, so the trend

(21:05):
is upward, which we like. But it wouldn't be shocking
if Watson had only four or five targets in any
given week because, as Ericson said, Jordan Love does spread
the ball around, and the Packers could get one or
both of Matthew Golden and Jayden Reid back this week.
So and as far as that matchup against the Bears,
the numbers say it's a good one, and I think

(21:27):
the four stars is kind of going on the overall
season for the Bears, but yeah, they'd played most of
the year without Jalen Johnson and Kyler Gordon.

Speaker 3 (21:36):
And I know Christian Watson did.

Speaker 2 (21:37):
Some work against Jalen Johnson last year, but Jalen Johnson
is still a pretty good cover corner. I think he's
probably a top ten or fifteen cover corner in the league.
So not maybe as easy a matchup as the numbers
would suggest.

Speaker 1 (21:52):
Number three on this list is I think this is
going to be a highly asked about player. It's Terry McLaurin.
Terry McLaurin came back. We were kind of give like, hey,
this is gonna be a snap thing and we'll see
what type of volume is there and then all of
a sudden, you know, big explosive game. Now, it did
come with fifty Mariyotah past attempts, which we're not gonna

(22:13):
get every single week. But Terry McLaurin definitely kind of popped.
But we are continuing this trent a little bit where
Ericson's are Pollyanna and FITZI you're gonna bring us down
to earth little bit? So Fitz, why don't you bring
us down to earth on Terry McLaurin and Mariyo Tah.

Speaker 2 (22:30):
Yeah, the grumpy old man stance is that. So McLaurin
came back from his quad injury, his quad re injury
since he had tried to come back in Week eight
and reaggravated it, and had his best season against our
best game of the season against an excellent Denver defense.
Seven catches, ninety six yards and a touchdown on fourteen targets.

(22:52):
He played limited snaps in that game. He was on
the field for forty six plays. He earned targets on
thirty percent of his snaps, which is kind of crazy
possible now that the Commanders get Jayden Daniels back, this week,
which would be an upgrade, and I am sort of
ranking McLaurin on the assumption that it's Daniels a quarterback
for Washington and not mary O tah I do like

(23:14):
McLaurin this week. I'm just not counting on another fourteen
targets obviously. You know, the Commanders of Deebo Samuel and
some other credible pass catchers, including Traylon Burke's apparently, and
the Commanders have actually been the eighth run heaviest team
in the league this season, so it's not like the
It's certainly not the norm for any Commander's quarterback to

(23:36):
be dropping back fifty times. So yeah, mclaurin's just a
really hard guy to peg. I mean, you had the
great season in twenty twenty four, got off to a
really slow start this year, then got hurts. I have
no issues at all with a mid range wide receiver
to ranking and ECR. I just for me, it's just
a matter of being above consensus on a few other

(23:57):
guys I've ranked directly ahead of mclaurins, An Sutton, T.
Higgins I'm projecting a come back from the concussion, and
Michael Wilson since I'm kind of projecting Marvin Harrison to
be out after limping around pretty badly last week.

Speaker 1 (24:11):
Interesting thing you said in there too. I'm on the opposite.
I'm projecting Jane Daniels is not going to play. But
if that is, if he does, it's still amazing if
it happens, I kind of think we're still going to
slow pace it. But I just thought that was interesting
that you threw in that we might see Daniels. Eric. Oh,
you go ahead, fitsy, if you have a.

Speaker 2 (24:28):
I was just going to say he was close last week,
and I know a lot of people thinking is why
would you bring him back in a lost season?

Speaker 3 (24:35):
But players play, man.

Speaker 2 (24:37):
It might be different if it were week sixteen, week seventeen,
but these guys just play, and you know, they make
a lot of money to play football.

Speaker 1 (24:45):
Yeah, one hundred percent. And I'm not sure he's the
type of guy that needs any special stuff. It's just
been limited practices. He hasn't even been cleared for contact yet,
so that's where I'm a little You know, if he
or at least that was a couple of days ago.
But if that does happen, that's a big boost for
zach Ertz. By the way, Erickson. You're a little bit
more positive on Terry mclaurrin. You have them inside the
top twenty one spot higher than ACR what you think

(25:09):
in and doesn't matter which quarterback is as behind center.

Speaker 4 (25:12):
It probably does matter which quarterback it is, But I'm
still not sure which stance I want to be on,
just because these backup quarterbacks are just helping so many
of these wide receivers at times. When Mariota has played
the last couple times with McLaurin, mclaurin's actually been pretty solid.
So McLaurin didn't even play a full a lot Mano
snaps and he's being hyper targeted by Mariota. So I

(25:36):
think that there's upside here against the Vikings, right. The
Vikings as a whole, we know is a good defense, right,
but sometimes they can get beat because of how aggressive
they are. They just the second happiest blitz team this season,
actually the highest. They blitz on fifty percent of their
defensive plays, right, right, So they're always bringing the heat.
And Mariota has played really well against the blitzer s

(25:58):
he'son actually better than Jayden Daniels. So if the vibes
are good between Mariota and Terry McLaurin. I kind of
want to stay in the flames here a little bit
and not necessarily put another quarterback back in. We know
that Daniels and McLaurin because of the holdout and Daniel's injury, like,
they haven't had a lot of time really on the
practice field together this year now, not to say they
don't have chemistry, like we saw that all of twenty

(26:19):
twenty four. So I think it's really just an upside
play with Terry McLaurin. He came in established himself back
as the alph and this offense. I think Deebo and
zach Ertz, I think those are the guys. I mean,
how many catches did zach Ertz have when the Commanders
through fifty times last week. That's probably going to regress
with a guy like zach Ertz, who, Okay, we're not

(26:39):
building the offense. We're not building the ship around a
thirty six year old tight end on the road against
the Vikings. Like that's just not the game script. So
and I would say too from the Commanders can think about, yeah,
we want to run the football against the Vikings. We've
seen teams take advantage of the Minnesota defense on the
ground this year, but considering it's their second game off
of overtime, really emotional obviously a lot. Despite playing really

(27:01):
really really well against the Broncos, now on the road
against the Vikings, if they give up points early on,
we know their defense is not that good. Maybe they
are in more of a trailing game script which causes
more passing volume, even if they do want to establish
to run with their identity on offense. So I think
McLaurin is still I think he's how much, say, a lock,
but I think he's good for like eight to ten
targets in this game, and I like that to upside

(27:22):
against a very boomer bus defense with flores that can
give up big plays if the blitz doesn't hit.

Speaker 1 (27:28):
Let's do one more quick one in this one. And
it's it's almost going to be kind of about the
other player, but I just want to talk about Shaoby Myers.
He's twenty three on this list going up against the
Colts ECR. You guys are both about like on target,
but really I would love for you to also speak
on Brian Thomas and Ericson. Let's start with you, Chacoby Myers.
Like Brian Thomas's downfall is you know his benefit do

(27:52):
how much do you buy him as a wide receiver?

Speaker 3 (27:54):
Two?

Speaker 1 (27:54):
And how much is this indicative of Brian Thomas not
being startable?

Speaker 4 (27:59):
So lowly question, well, not very very well, but just
trying to think about the best way to answer it.
I'm not even sure this is answering your exact question.
I just kind of kind of read my notes. Here
is Trevor Lawrence has found his new Christian Kirk and
his name is Jacoby Myers. Right. This was something that
I definitely overlooked, and I think a lot of us
overlooked in the offseason, was that Brian Thomas Junior stylistically

(28:19):
doesn't fit what Trevor Lawrence likes and what he does
successfully on the football field. You look at the successful
receivers in Trevor Lawrence's career with Jacksonville, Christian Kirk, Evan Ingram.
So we're not really we shouldn't be surprised that it's
ret and strange and Jacoby Myers that who just showed
up like three weeks ago and immediately when's the last
time Brian Tomas caught all his targets in a game?

(28:40):
Jacoby Myers did it last week, six for ninety and
a touchdown on six targets, perfect one hundred percent catch rate.
I know Brian Thomas Junior's catch rate is nowhere near
one hundred percent. It is not even close this season.
So I'm not trying to knock on the player a
BTJ because I think that he's an uber talented player.
What we saw when he did as a rookie that
that is so impressive. But when Trevor Lawrence is his quarterback,

(29:03):
he is not a fantasy asset I want to start.
I don't care who they're playing, even though there's going
to be no Sauce Gardner in this game, Like, it
doesn't matter to me because he can't take advantage of
Trevor Lawrence as the quarterback. So Jacoby Myers for all
intensive purposes, the wide receiver one in this Jaguars offense. Again,
it took us three weeks for him to establish compashry
with Trevor Lawrence. We're still trying to get there with

(29:24):
Brian Thomas Junior, who's been on the team all year
and last year too, So I don't think we need
to overthink it here. This year, Myers is the guy
I'd rather have rest of season than Brian Thomas Junior
as the jaguars number one wide receiver. And that's why
he's a guy that I would start and not Brian
Thomas Jr.

Speaker 1 (29:40):
Yeah, so it's the same thing like Meyer's comfortable wide
receiver two and Brian Thomas is not startable, yeay or nay.

Speaker 2 (29:48):
I'm gonna say nay to that just because so Parker
Washington left last week's game with a hip injury. If
he doesn't play, I think you could say that Brian
Tommy Junior is still startable, Like I've got him ranked
as a high end wide receiver three, but I do
have Jacoby Myers ranked higher. And you know, Ericson brings

(30:09):
up the keyword chemistry, and we have not seen any
chemistry at all between Trevor Lawrence and Brian Thomas Junior.
And then Jacoby Myers shows up a month ago in Jacksonville,
and the chemistry between Tee law and Jacoby Myers has
been incredible. It's like Walter White and Jesse Pinkman together.
And in four games with the Jaguars, Jacoby Myers has

(30:31):
an eighty five point seven percent catch rate and is
averaging eleven point seven yards per target, and Myers, he
only played twenty seven snaps in his first game with
the Jags, had forty one yards in the three games since.
He's averaging sixty eight receiving yards touchdown catch in two
of his last each of his last two games. So yeah,

(30:51):
I mean it all looks great with Jacoby Myers. I
think he is basically already Trevor Lawrence's favorite receiver.

Speaker 1 (30:59):
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Terms and conditions apply. Concerned about gambling called one eight
hundred gambler wide receiver threes, We've got at twenty five
deebo Samuel. We've got dk Metcalf, Romadunze, Alec Pierce, Troy Franklin,
Chris Godwin. Coming in at thirty one is Brian Thomas.
We talked about at Ni Mitchell. At thirty two, Quentin Johnson,

(32:45):
Romeo Dobbs, Jayden Higgins and Xavier Worthy. All right, gentlemen,
we've got four names, so we'll try to hit these
as quick as possible so we can get to all
of these as the show teeters toward the end here.
But these are just two good of names that we've
got to hit. Roma Dunsay I love this one simply
because can we even trust Roma dunesa moving forward? He

(33:06):
is easyr twenty seven, the lowest and probably I don't
even know how long at the point of this season,
maybe the lowest at any point of this season. You
guys are both in agreement. He's going up against the
Green Bay Packers. FITZI kick it off. What level of
trust is there really in Roma dunesday when you list
him as a wide receiver three.

Speaker 2 (33:23):
It's a pretty low level of trust. It's been a
tale of two seasons.

Speaker 3 (33:27):
He was.

Speaker 2 (33:30):
He scored five touchdowns over the first four weeks of
the season and was wide receiver twelve in PPR points
per game over the first eight weeks of the season,
but since his one hundred and fourteen yard game against
the Ravens in Week eight, Roma Dunesay has thirteen catches
for one hundred and eighty eight yards and a touchdown
over his last five games. He's wide receiver sixty in

(33:50):
PPR Fantasy points per game over that stretch, so thirty
eight point two percent catch rate over his last five games.

Speaker 3 (33:57):
It's it's been ugly.

Speaker 2 (33:58):
I guess I'm just still hoping that we see a
return of the Romo Dunes was really productive for the
first two months.

Speaker 1 (34:06):
Same thing ericson what level of trust do you have
in Roma Dunes say your rank is at ECR at
twenty seven. I mean, I mean you got a lot
of names that are going to be above Like, are
you in the semi advocating range that he is maybe
someone you want to try to not start.

Speaker 4 (34:20):
I think that's probably what my lean is. He's in
wide receiver three territories, so potentially in the two or
start two wide receiver league. He's someone that you're probably
looking at as like a flex play, and it's probably
someone that you can probably just try to go into
another direction. Hasn't been good for him last couple of weeks.
He's a forty nine percent catch rate the season, and
we've seen this. This isn't any earth shaking analysis where

(34:41):
the Bear's passing game, we still know it's kind of
a work in progress. Like the run game looks unstoppable
against any opponent that they play their identity on offenses.
We want to run the football with our two stop
running backs and it's just a tough spot going to
Lambeau for second year quarterback and Odunzey who's just been inconsistent. Right,
He's had opportunities to score points, but there have been
times when him and Kaleb Waves just have been on

(35:02):
the same page that haven't connected. So I think there
is a chance that he still scores a touchdown, right
because they do like use him in the red zone.
But you know what is the ceiling for the Spars
passing game against the Packers on the road at Lambeau Field, Right, Like,
it's just not this is not a great look for
quarterback that has been kind of struggling as a passer
for the most part this season and recently, so I

(35:24):
think he's someone that you could probably try to get
away from.

Speaker 1 (35:27):
Chris Godwin. Is he somebody we want to maybe start
investing back into ECR thirty You guys are actually both
a little bit lower, but we're starting to see the
targets creep back in. There's also the news that popped
out that the windows opening up for Mike Evans, that
Mike Evans Mike be I don't think it's necessarily this
week or even next, but looming in there. Chris Godwin

(35:48):
thirty two ericson you don't seem as optimistic and kind
of in that same room, Roma Dune. Is he in
the same tiers? Roma Dunesay, is there any I mean,
I guess you have them lower? So there's no optimism.
You tell us talk to us about Chris Godwin.

Speaker 4 (36:02):
It's not really about him more as it's about the matchup.
Saints a lot on the second fewest points per game
to slot wide receivers the season, So yes, Godwin led
the team of receiving yards last week. A lot of
that came on one really big play. He also dropped
the touchdown, So yes, if they look to him in
the red zone again, okay, he can bounce back. You
can score a touchdown, so can roll Dunsay, right, So
if you're just betting on touchdown, and then who can

(36:23):
also pile up the yards as well. I think that's
why I have a Dunsay ahead of Godwin. Again, I
don't particularly like either of them in their particular matchups.
And and Chris Godwin, look, maybe he's getting his legs
underneath him. I think that he's looked a little bit
better since, you know, first coming back from his injury,
but he's an older wide receiver. He still with a
ton of injuries over the last couple of years. I
think Godunsay has just more juice frankly, than Chris Godwin

(36:45):
does at this point. And like I said, the matchup
is not ideal, so I think he's he's fine, but
again not someone that It's more like, Okay, I gotta
play Chris Godwin this week, not like, oh I get
to play Chris Godwin this week. I'm just like, not
like amped up play and Week fourteen, well, FITZI minsiga matchup.

Speaker 1 (37:05):
It's a good matchup. He started to see the targets
boost up a little bit. I mean you could argue
week to week if he's getting healthier. We know that
Baker Mayfield likes to get him the ball, but you
also are really just kind of not buying into it.

Speaker 2 (37:18):
Yeah, I don't think he's a fool proof play because
of how good the Saints have been against the slot.
But I do think Godwin is still like a reasonable
wide receiver three or flex type option like he did
look well. Other than that egregious drop of what should
have been a touchdown, it could have been a really
big game for Chris Godwin, even though we only had

(37:38):
five targets three catches, but those catches went for twenty five,
thirty one, and twenty two yards, so he hit on
some big plays and almost scored a touchdown. So viable
for Week fourteen for sure. But something tells me we're
going to be getting a lot of Chris Godwin starts
hit questions on the Sunday live streams.

Speaker 1 (37:59):
Something tells me we're going to get four bajillion at
Nim Mitchell questions and let's hit it right here. So
if we can try to get to that he is
ECR wide receiver thirty two, he probably the top waiver claim. Also,
I've noted this on a couple of different shows. But
nobody had more air yards over the last two weeks,

(38:19):
and at Ni Mitchell, in fact, no one had even
within fifty or sixty or seventy. He had eighty more
air yards. But it also equated into a massive, big
breakout game. He's also averaged nine and a half targets
over the last two games. He's a great route runner.
He just has stonehands like and he was able to
fix that this past week and actually catch the ball.

(38:40):
So everybody kind of got to see that talent on display.
People are picking him up on waivers and now people
are going on to no, do I start at Ni
Mitchell Rickson, Let's start with you. He's thirty two. You
are a little bit higher. Fitz, he's a little bit lower.
You guys both have him as a wide receiver three,
but you have that I Mitchell over Chris Godwin, so Ericson,

(39:03):
are you going to be a heavy advocate of ad
Ni Mitchell starts in week fourteen?

Speaker 4 (39:08):
I think I am. And the more I look at
it again, the names that we've talked about in this tier,
it's like Adonza Godwin, We're gonna talk about Jaden Higgins,
Ada Night. Mitchell is the one to me, it's like
shoot your shot, Like let's go, Like, why can't add
a Ni Mitchell be the best receiver from this group here.
We've seen it the last couple of weeks, like you said,
the first two weeks with him with the New York

(39:29):
Jets again justin fields. In the first game against the Patriots,
he's dropping passes. The next game, first game with Tarrod
Taylor seeing all the air yards again but inefficient. And
then it finally all comes together because we know that
this guy's super talented, Like we just know he's kind
of a knucklehead where he has that monster game for
the Indianapolis Colts way back, I think like week four,
week five against the Rams, he drops the touchdown and

(39:50):
then that's it. His career in Indianapolis is essentially over. He
gets traded to the Jets as part of the Sauce
Garter trade as a quote unquote throw in which the
Jets have pushed back on saying that oh we wanted
Ad then I Mitchell because we know he's a super
talented guy. Again, he was looked at as a first
round pick out of Texas, like people thought that he
should have been drafted ahead of Zavier Worthy, and I mean,

(40:10):
who's better, right? I think both guys have a lot
of talent, But you look at all the separation metrics,
he's an elite separator. It's just a matter of he
just got to squeeze the football man, like you just
got to finish the play. And last week he finally
did that and he came through big in the Jets
win Jetrifacing the Dolphins this week, they're a live to
win this game. And remember it's only this will be
his third game with Tarrod Taylor as the quarterback on

(40:33):
the team, So I think it took some time for Hey,
let's get our timing down. We know that Taylor likes
to throw the ball downfield. He's done that throughout his
entire career. He's got a really nice deep ball. Remember
all those John Brown years. Just a ton of fun
with Tyrod Taylor as the Bills quarterback. So I think
stylistically he fits really well with his quarterback. What they're
gonna do, I think the matchup is fighting. It's the Dolphins.
I know that if you look at fantasy points per game,

(40:53):
like Dolphins aren't necessarily like giving it up to a
lot of wide receivers, but that's just because teams have
just elected to like run the football all over them.
I don't think there's any corners on the Dolphins where
I'm thinking, I don't know, I don't know if I
can start adding to Mitchell against this Miami Dolphins cornerback
Brisseill Douglas, like I'm really afraid of him. So I
think Mitchell is a super talented player. He's getting the targets,
and I think for the first time all year, he's

(41:16):
entering a game with a lot of confidence. Right where No.
I finally delivered a breakout game because I do believe
that I'm a good wide receiver and the separation metchs
are now translating to actual production. So it Awesolyou was
surprised me. If he continues to stay hot, here be
the number one target for the New York Jets as
long as Garrett Wilson is out, and I think Taylor's
going to continue to pepper him with targets. Again, We're

(41:36):
talking about Taylor as like a streaming quarterback this week. Well,
if he's gonna get it done, I think Mitchell's gonna
be along for the ride. So I'm gonna move him
up inside my top thirty for sure.

Speaker 1 (41:46):
Betzy, you've got him in thirty five. So you do
have him as a wide receiver three. But he's just
teetering in there. Is your level of excitement in the
same as Ericsson? Or are you just a little you
have a little bit more hesitation because you know he's volatile,
he's not catching the ball as a wide receiver. It's
also the Jets offense, but it is a good matchup.
What do you think about a Ni Mitchell?

Speaker 2 (42:06):
Yeah, I mean Ericson mentioned how erratic or you know,
if he has kind of a knucklehead or whatever. We
said the same thing about George Pickens when he was
with the Steelers, and George Pickens is having a pretty
good season, and man, when you watch him, like Erickson
was talking about that play where he dropped the ball
at the goal line for the Colts, but the rest
of that play where he snatches a contested catch away

(42:27):
from Emmanuel Forbes and then outraces Emmanuel Forbes to the
end zone and Emmanuel Forbes ran a four to three
five at the combine, Like, this guy is a freak athlete.

Speaker 3 (42:38):
Ady Mitchell is.

Speaker 2 (42:40):
There's a reason he was talked about as a potential
first round pick even though he never had a thousand
yard season in college. And right now, the Jets kind
of have a pretty tidy little operation as far as
fantasy goes, where it's just Breis hall owns the backfield
and the targets.

Speaker 3 (42:59):
They're basically three.

Speaker 2 (43:00):
It's Mitchell, it's Matchie, It's Mason Taylor, and that's about it.
No one else really gets meaningful snaps or targets. Alan
Lazard gets a couple of games, that's about it. And
so yeah, right now, I've got Troy Franklin ahead of him.
I need to drop Troy Franklin. He got a snaps
cut last week. He played twelve fewer snaps than Pat Bryant.

(43:21):
And I mean Troy Franklin was kind of splashing on
the touchdown deodorant anyway this season. So I don't know,
I think Mitchell's a better play this week, and I've
I should maybe considering, maybe consider moving Ady Mitchell ahead
of guys like Romeo Dobbs and Chris Godwin.

Speaker 3 (43:39):
Are there?

Speaker 4 (43:39):
You go?

Speaker 1 (43:40):
Those are your wide receiver threes Top thirty six wide
receivers for the week. You guys want to follow along
Fantasypros dot com slash rankings. You can see how the
rankings kind of evolve throughout the week. You will probably
see someone like Admi Mitchell moving up a bit, and
we know that's going to create more questions for you. Well,
guess what we got to start and sit live stream
on YouTube where you can come and ask any of
those specific start and said questions. Thursday's three pm Eastern,

(44:02):
So if you're on the podcast, go to YouTube dot
com slash Fantasy pro subscribe, turn on notifications, don't miss it.
That's gonna do it for Ericson and Pat Fitzmorris. I'm
Chris Welsh. We'll talk to you next time.

Speaker 4 (44:13):
Go bye.

Speaker 2 (44:14):
Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football Podcast.

Speaker 1 (44:17):
If you love the show, the best freeway to support
us is by leaving a positive review on Apple podcasts
at Fantasypros dot com slash review, or on Spotify.

Speaker 2 (44:27):
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Episode Transcript

Hosts And Creators

Andrew Erickson

Joe Pisapia

Derek Brown

Thor Nystrom

Ryan Wormeli

Pat Fitzmaurice

Matthew Freedman

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Week 14 Fantasy Football Wide Receiver Rankings & Tiers: Studs, Sleepers, and Must-Starts (Ep. 1876)