Week 16 Fantasy Football Wide Receiver Rankings & Tiers: Studs, Sleepers, and Must-Starts (Ep. 1904)

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 sixteen, or the semi finals
of your Fantasy Playoffs. Wide Receiver Ranks episode. I'm Chris Welsh.
We've got Pat Fitzmorris and Andrew Erickson here where we
are going to be going through the top thirty six
wide receivers, the plays, the starts and ericson. Hopefully most

(00:21):
of these wide receivers can keep the quarterback that they
usually have, not having quarterback changes, you know, like two
hours ago with a guy that has no career starts
or anything like that and completely ruining value. Not that
I'm talking about a very specific wide receiver Erickson, but
we hope they can at least keep the same pass throwers.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (00:39):
We want consistency that gives us the most confidence as
we rank these players on a week to week basis,
because when you incorporate more variants into a certain player's outlook,
it creates a very tough ranking of that particular player
for the upcoming week.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
Yeah. Or you know, if the guy's name is Justin Jefferson,
just in general, FITZI doesn't matter. Titanic, Remember all the
Titanic we are going down with the ship and he's
he's at least in the twenties this week fits. I
don't know if you feel any different. We don't really
have him on the list to talk about because what's
there to talk about. Oh, look, there's a super talented

(01:16):
wide receiver. Here's the worst defense in the league. Something's
got to give. Yeah, it's always catches to Justin Jefferson.
So maybe this will be the week. But I don't
know how you feel about him this week. Fitzy not great,
not great?

Speaker 4 (01:27):
Well, I mean, you would think he would at least
be out performing Jordan Addison and Jaalen Naylor. And we
can't even used JJ McCarthy as an excuse anymore because
McCarthy has actually had two pretty decent games in a row.

Speaker 5 (01:38):
Pretty cool. This is the state.

Speaker 1 (01:40):
This is the state if hopefully we're gonna be talking
about the players that you do have questions about for
your playoff run. We did. I did a poll on
the Tuesday stream we do over on our twitch by
the way, you guys should hang out with us Twitch
dot tv Slash Fantasy pros, And I asked him like,
how many people are in your first ever playoffs, so
those are.

Speaker 5 (01:56):
Probably like new people.

Speaker 1 (01:57):
And then how many people like, what's your most amount
of leagues? And it was shocking the amount of hands
raised in the live stream of people that were first
time playing and making the playoffs. And then when you
saw the amount of playoffs the more regulars had. We
had people that are like, I'm in like five of
seven leagues and seven of ten leagues. And the reason
I bring it up is it puts into perspective when

(02:18):
you start to talk about some of the players, because
everybody on the planet's like, well, there's no chunce you're
in the playoffs anymore. If you had Justin Jefferson dot
it out and you're like, you'd be surprised. You'd be
surprised at a lot of the team construction and some
of the players that feel like they've been big disappointments
but can still be viable for your coming week. So
we're going to talk about those players, just not Justin Jefferson,
and a whole lot more. Before we do, we always

(02:41):
celebrate the Ranks contest ECR is where you can check
the expert Consensus ranks, and each week we've got winners
on that and this is leading up to the end
of the year contests where you know the top ten
who are the most accurate rankers throughout the season. Week fifteen,
a star was born. Gentlemen, We're gonna work our way

(03:01):
up because coming in at three was Justin Jackson from
Doctor Rodo. Hopefully I said that correctly, Christopher the what
was it again, Ericson, I screwed it up? Jamino Jamino
Jamino from Rodo Grinders and great first name. Christopher Jamino
was number two. Apologies for the pronunciation, but number one
this week. It's not Andrew Erickson. It's not Pitts Fat

(03:24):
Pat fitz Morris, It's not I can't speak.

Speaker 5 (03:28):
It's not me.

Speaker 1 (03:28):
Of course, the one and only Derek Brown, with the
number one overall rank finished this week the King of Bros.

Speaker 5 (03:37):
Debro.

Speaker 1 (03:37):
He's not here to celebrate, but Ericson, are you proud
of your baby boy?

Speaker 3 (03:42):
Yeah? I couldn't be more proud for Derrick Brown. For
my money's worth, I think that he's one of He's
the hardest working person in fantasy sports. In fantasy football,
you guys don't know what he has to go through
to put out the primer every single week where the
guy doesn't sleep nights during the week, so I think
it's more than well deserved. Puts the word and it
shows up especially here in week fifteen when we needed

(04:04):
the most. And I know that one guy in particularly
Derek Brown was telling everybody start on Thursday night was
Mike Evans, and that really shifted things in his perspective
and won people a lot of leagues last week because
it's always kind of scary, was those guys coming back
from injuries. But he was very bullish on Mike Evans,
and now we're going to talk about Evans as well.
ECRs catching up to Mike Evans this week. But Darrek Brown,

(04:24):
as he always is, was ahead of the curve last week.

Speaker 1 (04:26):
I believe Fitzi Deeper was also a Kyle Pitts guy,
if I'm remembering correctly. I think he was pretty I mean,
I'm not sure that people weren't starting him or anything
like that, but I'm pretty sure he was high on him.
Deeper did not rank well at quarterback, but who cares
because check this out for the week he was fourth
and running back, third and wide receiver, and twelfth and
tight end, so he is a starter in the three

(04:49):
big skill positions outside of quarterback, and that's what got
him to the number one spot.

Speaker 2 (04:53):
FITZI, Yeah, he killed it.

Speaker 4 (04:55):
I believe it was Deebro's second to second number one
finish this year.

Speaker 2 (05:00):
He did it once before. There was a.

Speaker 4 (05:03):
Week where it was a clean Fantasy Pro sweep much
earlier in the season. But h and quarterback was hard
for everyone was one hundred. I was like one hundred
and fifty fourth at quarterback this last week. I had
no idea what I was doing a quarterback.

Speaker 1 (05:17):
But we are proud, and you know, you might be like,
you guys are spending more time on It's like, well, yeah, Internally,
we love to see our guys succeed. And Debro is
one of the hardest workers. Literally, whatever you think goes
into the primer you're wrong, more goes into it. So
Debro is one of the hardest workers. I can promise
you that. But we got a couple other great dudes
in here. I mean, Fitzy's one of the greatest dudes
on the planet. But he knows he had a bad

(05:38):
week when I finish higher than him. So FITZI, you'll
you'll get him next time. But Mike Mayer with a
sixteenth overall finish, and Andrew Erickson with a seventeenth overall finish,
so top twenty. Stupid Mayor but wonderful Ericson.

Speaker 3 (05:53):
Ericson in the top ten, Tovim by one spot, so
not happy with it.

Speaker 1 (05:58):
What was the what got you you the high rank
this week?

Speaker 5 (06:01):
What do you think? Who are you hire?

Speaker 3 (06:02):
Koy Krosky Merritt moved him up significantly after we got this,
Chris Rug. He was actually a reason why I won
one of my matchups Bench Breese Hall put JCM in
and Bill came through for me. So that was a
big win for me at the running back position. I
know that was one of the things that kind of
shifted in my favor.

Speaker 1 (06:19):
Corey Krosky cash money Baby love it all right, So
there you go. You guys want to check it out,
but a fantasypros dot Com slash rankings to see the
overall but you can also check out the accuracy which
shows the full season and then it shows the week fifteen.
A lot of other great rankers are in there. We
always celebrate the top three in any shout outs to
any big finishes from our peoples in here. All right,

(06:39):
we're going to.

Speaker 5 (06:40):
Get to the ranks.

Speaker 1 (06:41):
Last thing to do though, it's a little giveaway and
if you want a chance to win a Bijon Robinson
and Drake London signed mini helmet four free courtesy of
our friends over at pristineauction dot com, go to Fantasypros
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(07:02):
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If you're watching on YouTube, make sure you're subscribe, turn
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up and you can claim the prize. Uniquely cool one
of the cooler ones we've done. I mean we always
do like cool helmet or jersey. This is a duel

(07:22):
sign Drake London and Bijon Robinson.

Speaker 5 (07:24):
So absolutely love that. Thank you to appreciate.

Speaker 1 (07:27):
Pristine Auction and thank you to you guys for hanging
with us. It's rank time Finnishypros dot Com Sash Rankings
to follow along wide receivers.

Speaker 5 (07:35):
Here is the big board.

Speaker 1 (07:37):
Our top twelve for the week comes in with Pooka
Nakoua at number one, Jamar Chase, Jackson Smith and Jigba Amana,
Saint Brown, Nicocollins and ceedeelam Is your top six coming in,
It's seven Michael Wilson, Mike Evans, aj Brown, Jamison Williams,
Rashi Rice and Chris o'lave. Core players, But bigger decisions
are to be had. Two I think really important ones

(07:58):
we should talk about in this range. And I think
a lot of people were woken up to this via
the live streams that I did earlier in the week
and then seeing where Mike Evans ends up being ranked.
A lot of people were like, would you do Mike Evans?
Or this would you do Mike Evans? Or that ECR
is telling us Mike Evans is the must of must
plays with wide receiver eight this week. Both of you

(08:19):
are slightly lower. Erickson's at nine fitsy, you're at eleven.
You guys both still have as a wide receiver one fitsy.
Why don't you hit us with some Mike Evans love?

Speaker 2 (08:28):
Yeah, So twelve targets six catches.

Speaker 4 (08:32):
One hundred and thirty two yards in his first came back,
and Mike Evans looked like Mike Evans.

Speaker 2 (08:37):
No issues there.

Speaker 4 (08:39):
I guess the reason I don't have Evans ranked in
the top ten is well, there are actually two reasons. First,
Evans had twelve targets last week, and a mechag Buka
and Chris Godwin combined for twelve targets. So evans target
share against the Falcons was thirty five point three percent.
Since he plays with two other good receivers, probably shouldn't

(09:00):
count on many more thirty five percent target chairs. And Second,
Baker Mayfield threw for two hundred and seventy seven yards
in that game. It's actually the first time in more
than a month that Baker Mayfield has thrown for more
than two hundred yards in a game. It was his
highest yardage total since Week five. He had been in
a slump. Maybe Evans's return is a slumpbuster for Mayfield,

(09:25):
gets him out of that slump for good. I'm just
not one hundred percent sure Mayfield is out of it yet.

Speaker 5 (09:30):
Six and you got him a little bit higher.

Speaker 1 (09:32):
I mean, I think the thing that kind of floats
out to everybody is like all the pass catchers are back,
you know, so there's potentially the ball can kind of
fly around a little bit more. But we saw the
concerted effort for the ball to get to Evans. We
know he's going to be a red zone option. You
got him at nine, So you're kind of in agreement
with the aggressive ECR rank for Week sixteen on Mike Evans.

Speaker 3 (09:49):
Yeah, because I think that when we got the reports
that he was going to be on a snap count,
that wasn't totally wrong. He wasn't playing all the snaps,
but every time he was on the field, Baker Mayfield
was like, where's Mike Evans? So I'm throwing the football too,
And I'm actually lower on Godwin this week. I think
that he's the one that's kind of feeling the target
squeeze because he ran the most routes, he played the
most snaps, and he was the least of out involved.

Speaker 2 (10:11):
He bailed out.

Speaker 3 (10:12):
Fantasy managers last week because he scored that touchdown, or
we're gonna go two weeks in a row, or Mike
Evans doesn't score a touchdown. So even if he doesn't
see that thirty five percent target chair, you know that
Baker Mayfield is looking for him when they get into
the red zone. These Carolina Buccaneers games can get kind
of wacky in terms of if both teams are just looking, hey,
we're gonna stop the run. We're just gonna throw the
ball forty times on each side, So this could be

(10:33):
a high scoring game. And Mike Evans, look, he's missed
so much time. He's fresh, like his body's not beat up.
He is ready to go against these teams. I've played
sixteen seventeen weeks of NFL football, and Mike Evans looked
like spring Chicken on Thursday Night football against the Atlanta Falcons.
So I think Evans is, look, it's probably not gonna

(10:54):
get to you a thousand yards, but he's gonna try.
So they're gonna try to get as many yards as
he can get. So I think that doesn't go unnoticed here.
So Mike Evans top ten guy.

Speaker 1 (11:03):
I must start, also not unnoticed. But it just clicked
to me ericson one hundred percent. Looks like you look
like you're in a boy band.

Speaker 5 (11:11):
I did not.

Speaker 1 (11:12):
He's got the If you're listening on the podcast, it's
like this brown hoodie with a green jacket. You've got
the matching green beanie with the hair coming out.

Speaker 3 (11:22):
I wore the beanie because I'm to channel Derek Brown's
ranking prowess, because he's rocking these beanies on the shows
and in the waiver shorts that he does, and you
have to try to channel that type of that beanie energy.

Speaker 5 (11:38):
You're kind of a boy band.

Speaker 1 (11:39):
So Ericson, tell me why is Rashie Rice wide receiver
eleven this week? When he doesn't have a quarterback? That's
the big question. I think Rachie Rice is actually way
more than Mike Evans does horrible singing, by the way,
more than Mike Evans. Rahi Rice is going to be
the one that I think is going a lot of
people are going to feel compelled to get out of

(12:00):
the lineup with Gardiner Minshew. I kind of disagree a
little bit. And maybe both of your ranks are kind
of telling the same story because you guys are both
around ECR. But he's definitely less enticing. So wide receiver eleven, Ericson,
you've got him at twelve, Fitzy, he's got him at thirteen?

Speaker 3 (12:14):
To me, what.

Speaker 5 (12:17):
You Eerckson? Tell me?

Speaker 3 (12:18):
Why? Well? I am then the boy band, So of
course I'm what's going to lead us off here and
then I'll shake it to FITZI. So with Rice, I
think that loss to do with the matchup right to pacing.
The Tennessee Titans one of the worst defenses in the
NFL that lost three safeties last week and an additional cornerback,
so their secondary is kind of viscerated with injuries. And look, yes,
Garda Minshew is a obvious downgrade from Patrick Mahomes, But

(12:42):
I don't think that the changing quarterback means the Chiefs
are just gonna stop throwing the football. Like this team
has the highest pass rate over expectation under Andy Reid,
and I don't think that they're going to look at
the next three weeks and think, you know what, let's
just get cream, hunt the ball thirty times and just
get out of here, right, let's just end the same.
I just don't think that's the case here. I think that, hey,
some of these guys are going to try to play

(13:04):
for some pride here as they try to finish the
season strong. Garter Minshew like the guy likes to sling,
Like the guy likes to have fun. He's a fun quarterback.
So I think that, yes, the downgrade is significant, but
you have to value that the efficiency might not fall
off that much considering the matchup against the Tennessee Titans
and Chiefs offensive line all banged up. What does that

(13:25):
mean more quick hitters to guys like Rashie Rice. Like
Xavier Worthy is the guy I'm like, I mean, we
could barely start him with Mahomes as the quarterback, so
like not touching him in any capacity near a fantasy lineup.
But I think guys like Rice and Kelsey, I don't
think that you're like valuing them so significantly different without
Mahomes in the lineup in this particular game, because it
is the Tennessee Titans.

Speaker 1 (13:46):
Our og boy band Pat Fitzmorris, the leader of the
rank street Boys here. What do you think about Rashii Rice?
I kind of agree. I think like it's gonna be
a lot of volume from Minshew. Maybe it's not going
to be super sexy so full PPR. He might be
a little bit more icing than half. But where are
you at on Rashie Rice?

Speaker 2 (14:03):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (14:03):
I mean Minshew has not been a complete train wreck
as a quarterback in past extended stints as a starter.
He has been at least a guy. If you're not
actually starting Minshew himself in fantasy, you at least felt
okay about starting his top pass catchers with Minshew at quarterback,
So I think he can keep the Chiefs offense on

(14:25):
the rails, especially in this soft matchup against.

Speaker 2 (14:28):
The injury riddle Titans.

Speaker 4 (14:30):
And you know Rice's average nine point eight targets, six
point six catches seventy one point four yards a game
this season, with six touchdowns in eight games. Now, the
touchdown outlock may well be diminished with Gardner Minshew at quarterback,
but I think the volume is there. And Ericson made
the great point you fear for Xavier Worthy in this matchup,

(14:52):
you don't fear as much for Rashi Rice with the
easier completions.

Speaker 2 (14:55):
I think so. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (14:57):
I mean maybe if you're in a guillotine league and
you have three other top ten options at wide receiver,
then maybe you consider starting Rice because of the QB switch,
But in most leagues you're playing him, and I think
you should feel okay about.

Speaker 1 (15:11):
It all, right.

Speaker 5 (15:11):
Wide receiver twos.

Speaker 1 (15:13):
These are the thirteen through twenty four ranked wide outs.
We've got George Pickens coming in at thirteen. Kind of
a dud. That might be one of those interesting if
you had George Pickens and you started him, are you
still in the playoff situation? So he comes in at thirteen.
Jalen Wattle at fourteen, That is who we're gonna talk
about first and might be on a free fall Tack Metcalf,
Jawan Jennings, Tedoro McMillan, Zey Flowers, Courtland Sutton at nineteen,

(15:33):
Terry McLaurin at twenty, followed by DeVonta Smith, Lad McConkie,
Justin Jefferson, and Jacobe Myers. Jalen Wattle is the wide
receiver of the hour to talk about because it was
announced that Tua tungue viola is out quin Youwers.

Speaker 2 (15:48):
Is in.

Speaker 1 (15:49):
You. That doesn't feel good. So it is a theoretically
good matchup, but it's Quinn yours.

Speaker 5 (15:56):
So yuck.

Speaker 1 (15:57):
He's wide receiver fourteen. Fitzy, you got him at seventeen
and let's save Ericson's rank for super surprise after you
did this, So you're lower than consensus. Do you think
you're going to go a little bit lower? And do
you think the ECR is going to start to tumble.

Speaker 4 (16:12):
Yeah, I mean, so I do think the ECR is
going to start to tumble, while Shita might tumble passed
where I have Tua at seventeen. But my case is
that can things really be that much worse with quinn Ewers?
And I don't think quin Ewers is a good quarterback,
don't think he was a good QB prospect coming out

(16:33):
of Texas. But Waddles had fifty two or fewer receiving
yards in four straight games, and Tua has. He's thrown
fewer than thirty passes in five straight games, and in
four of those games he threw twenty three or fewer passes.
They have been a really buttoned down offense. They've been
just trying to run the heck out of the ball

(16:53):
with Devon ah Chan pretty much lately, So maybe things
open up a little bit. Look, Wattle is the only
game in town at wide receiver for the Dolphins pretty much.
I mean, they've got Darren Waller, who is basically a
glorified wide receiver in a tight end designation. Malik Washington
like kind of a non factor, So if he throws

(17:17):
to a wide receiver, it's probably gonna be Wattle. And
I don't feel significantly worse about Wattle with quinn yours
than I did about Wattle with to a tongue of
a tongue of Vailoa.

Speaker 5 (17:28):
His name's getting those both know?

Speaker 1 (17:30):
Can things get worse? Ericson says, hold my chocolate martini
because it can coming in at twenty three or twenty nine.
I'm sorry twenty nine at wide receiver. Big outs on
Jalen Wattle for Rickson, you don't like my chocolate martini
reference thought i'd get a smart cut either, so kind
of flew over.

Speaker 5 (17:49):
Flew Okay, Yeah, I get to be honest insight, So I.

Speaker 3 (17:53):
Guess I'm not as optimistic and I don't want to
paint the picture that fits is oh yeah, yours massive
upgrade for or Jalen Waddle. I guess for me, it's
just kind of zooming out. Seventh round rookie quarterback making
his first start in the NFL. Do we want to
play his wide receivers in an offense that yes, Tua
has been bad over the last month plus, I mean

(18:14):
most of this year, to be totally honest, but a
lot of that's just due to a lack of passing volume,
and that's because Miami knows its offense functions at its
best when they're running the football. What do you do
against the Bengals? You run the ball against the Cincinnati Bengals.
So in yours making his first start, is it, yeah,
we're gonna dial up thirty five pass attempts for this
rookie quarterback. I don't think that really changes here. So yes,

(18:37):
maybe they take a couple more shots downfield, because it
seemed like that was never going to be the case
with Tua. I don't know with Tua. Jalen Wattle has
been good for the most part, and historically speaking, we've
seen him play without Tua since twenty twenty two eleven
games one time he went over fifty three yards receiving
and eleven games played, so we have a pretty large

(18:58):
sample size of him playing without it and it being
significantly worse for his fantasy outlook. Rookie quarterback making his
first start again, not a first round rookie quarterback, now
a second round rookie quarterback, a seventh round rookie quarterback
making his first start. And then you look at the matchup.
Bengals are bad against running backs, bad against tight ends.
Fifth fewest points allowed, to wide receivers all year. We've

(19:18):
been talking about DJ Turner just locks down the number
one guy and then Bengals just get beat by everyone
else on the opposing offense. So I think that McDaniel
might think, sure, take waddle away and I'll destroy you
with Darren Waller and Devon a Chan. So for a
lot of those reasons, I'm looking at Wattle. I'm trying
to find other options. I think that he's a low
upside play this week.

Speaker 1 (19:38):
A solid option looks like it's going to be Juwan Jennings.
Dwan Jennings ECR wide receiver sixteen probably on a lot
of teams is going to have been their wide receiver
three or four. But he's seen in the wide receiver
to market helped by I mean we called it ericson
with no good stat driven stuff. We were just all
vibes were like Ricky Pierso is going to come out,
He's going to bang off the bye week. We were

(19:59):
one hundred percent right, but now he's rehurt and we're
not going to see him so all for just one week.
But what that does do is that puts Juwan Jennings
kind of back propped back up the irunic think about
the forty nine ers offense is it also has the
potential to not change anything because you can then just
flow like Kendrick Bourne into one of those spots. To
Marcus Robbinson, what I'm getting at is it doesn't necessarily

(20:20):
indicate that Juwan Jennings is going to have an uptick
in volume, but he has been a red zone target.

Speaker 5 (20:25):
You know, he's good for four or five.

Speaker 1 (20:26):
This is also a solid matchup against a secondary with
the Colts that's lesser than and you guys kind of
both agree. So Eric Fitzy's a tiny bit higher. But Erckson,
you got him at sixteen. Juwan Jennings is going to
be not just like a solid pivot, but kind of
a must play this week. He's a smash type of play.

Speaker 3 (20:44):
I could see moving him up even higher, just depends
the amount of volume that he gets. You know, like
Kittle source touchdowns, mcaffick score touchdowns, but Juwan Jennings has
been on a touchdown streak as well, especially in the
red zone. No slick Rick and no Sauce Carter for
Indianapolis Colts. So yeah, you're starting to.

Speaker 1 (21:00):
Jennings, FITZI same thing. You are a tiny bit higher
at fifteen. Do you think there's room to be even
more optimistic about Juwan Jennings or just like solid hardcore
wide receiver two.

Speaker 4 (21:12):
Solid hardcore wide receiver two, but upper end. He has
been on a heater with touchdowns four touchdowns in his
last three games, six in his last six and the
yardage totals have been pretty modest. Only once in his
last ten games as Juwan Jennings had more than fifty
four receiving yards. But if Piercel is out, and it

(21:32):
seems like he probably will be, Jennings is going to
have an enhanced target outlook against the Colts defense that
won't have Servarius Ward, who's on IR.

Speaker 1 (21:40):
Due to multiple control former Niner, former.

Speaker 4 (21:43):
Niner, and may or may not get Sauce Gardner back
this week from what was a pretty significant calf injury.
So not a bad matchup at all, and Jennings is
going to be the wide receiver one, just a matter
of how much he has to share with as you said, Wells,
you know Born DeMarcus Robinson, George Kettle.

Speaker 1 (22:02):
Yeah, they get annoying sometimes where it's like stop doing
the mahomes thing, like I don't need nine different.

Speaker 5 (22:07):
Guys to catch a ball. It's like, just give me
the two or.

Speaker 1 (22:09):
Three and then it'll be like DeMarcus Robinson is involved,
you know, just be dumb stuff they do.

Speaker 5 (22:13):
But I don't know.

Speaker 1 (22:14):
I'm going to be on the betting side. I'm going
to be staring at Juan Jennings. I'm assuming it'll be
four and a half receptions. I might be peeking around
at a five or whatnot. All right, let's jump we
got two more wide receivers in this range. Probably, I
think these are going to be two tougher options for.

Speaker 5 (22:28):
People to deal with.

Speaker 1 (22:29):
And starting with Courtland Sutton, who comes in at nineteen
going up against the Jaguars, This defensive matchup isn't fantastic.
The consistency isn't really fantastic, though Sutton is kind of
the top guy comes in at nineteen. You guys are
on different ends of this, not dramatically. Erickson a little
bit higher fits your lower. You've got him as a
low end wide receiver too, so fits. Why don't you

(22:49):
kick us off with maybe any concerns about Courtland Sutton
this week?

Speaker 4 (22:53):
Yeah, no real concerns, Walsh. It's just that I'm trying
to keep an even keel with my ranking of Courtland
Sutton because he's kind of been up and down there.

Speaker 5 (23:00):
Season.

Speaker 4 (23:00):
Got off to a really fast start with three touchdowns
in his first four games and had more than eighty
receiving yards in three straight games. Then he had a
seven game stretch with only one touchdown and no one
hundred yard games. Now he's had two touchdowns in his
last three games and just had seven catches for one
hundred and thirteen in a touchdown against the Packers. Sutton
has also had ten targets in each of his last

(23:22):
two games. So cautiously optimistic about the way things are
trending and that he's going to have another good game
against the Jaguars, and that he's not usurped by Troy
Franklin or one of the Broncos other receivers. But there
have been lulls to his season, so I just don't
want to get too high on him based on recent results.

Speaker 1 (23:44):
Derek, you gotta have been eighteen a little bit higher.
There is something to say like bo Nicks kind of
bucked the trend last week and being able to throw
for a bunch of touchdowns. If this gets into a
little bit of a fire fire off here. Courtland Sutton
is probably going to be the beneficiaries. Bonix plays a
little bit better. Is that kind of maybe part of
the and not that much higher rank It's like one
spot higher than ECR but like he is the number

(24:04):
one option as the Broncos or specifically bo Nicks is
kind of clicking.

Speaker 3 (24:08):
Love what I've seen from Sutton after their bye week,
kind of doing what he did last year. Right where
at the beginning of the season for the bye week,
Courtland Sutton, where are you? And then he finishes the
year as a wide receiver one just goes on an
absolute tear and we're kind of seeing that play out
here again. Ten plus targets in back to back weeks.
How do you attack the Jaguars defense? You throw on them.
They're a pass final defense. So bow Knicks look fantastic

(24:32):
last week, one of his best games as an NFL pro.
I think they're going to attack this Jags defense with
its weakness and that's in their secondary, especially given that R. J. Harvey,
their lead running back, is banged up. Do they really
want to feed Julia McLoughlin into one of the best
run defenses fifteen to twenty carries to beat the Jacksonville Jaguars.
I don't think so. I think Bow based on how
well he played last week, given Sean Baiton more competently, Like, hey,

(24:55):
we can let sling it a little bit here with
our second year quarterback. And who's his number one guy
that you can always trust, especially in the red zone.
It's not Troy Franklin, not Pab Bryant. It's Courtland Sutton,
and we've seen that in the last couple of weeks,
So I think that he is a really strong play
this week.

Speaker 1 (25:10):
The final one in this range is a what do
I do with Lad McConkie, Lad McConkie in the charger
with I mean with Herbert situation usage? And then this
is like the Justin Jefferson thing, all these negatives. But
then look it's Dallas Cowboys. You know you got the
Dallas Cowboys. Secondary there five star rated matchup according to

(25:31):
Fantasy Pros, the only five star of any of the
top twenty four wide receivers is this. But we know
some of the inefficiencies that are out there, So once
again you two are on opposite ends. Not necessarily dramatic,
but FITZI is outside of a wide receiver too, ericson,
you are in the wide receiver two range, two spots
higher than ECR on Lad. So why don't you start

(25:53):
with the positive take of Lad against Cowboys?

Speaker 3 (25:56):
Well, it is the Dallas Cowboys, yea. And where does
line up in the slot more often than not? Where
does Jalen Naylor line up in the slot? And who
got two touchdowns against the Dallas Cowboys last week, mister
Jalen Naylor. So I think that's how you're playing this.
It's upside. We know that Laddi McConkey, when he sees volume,
he can put up monster performances. Still not sure if

(26:17):
Quint Johnson's going to play in this game. I think
it's going to go down to the wire whether he's
available for the Chargers this week. I think that matters.
It takes one piece out of this offense. And if
there's a situation where the Chargers are trailing in this game,
which is always very possible anytime you're facing the Dallas Cowboys.
This game has the highest total on the slate, So
I get the Chargers defense, it'spit really really well. I

(26:38):
think facing Dallas's offense that's one of the toughest offenses
they've drawn this season. So I think this game could
be a shootout. And when you ask me Lat mcconka
or Jalen Waddell, like, who has more upside this week?
I think it's Lad, even though the floor seems like
it's much shakier. Though he's not the clear cut number
one because they like to spread the ball out, I
think Ladd has a much better chance of hitting a

(26:59):
third point type of game given the matchup and given
the talent of the player.

Speaker 1 (27:04):
It's a really interesting way to look at it.

Speaker 5 (27:06):
If it's a year lower, You've got.

Speaker 1 (27:07):
Mconky at twenty five, so that's the top start of
the wide receiver threes. Obviously, talk about the concerns you've
got with Ladd, but also what do you think about
that Lad versus Wattle combo.

Speaker 4 (27:20):
I will as of now, I would go with Wattle.
It's it's maybe close, though I have to think about it,
and I think Ericson talked me into dropping Wattle farther
in the rankings than I had him. He's probably gonna
be outside the top twenty shortly after we finished this podcast.
But so the idea of a thirty point game for

(27:42):
Ladd McConkie does seem a little bit high in the
sky right now, considering that over his last four games
he's not scored thirty Fantasy points in PPR. He's got
ten catches for eighty four yards and one touchdown over
his last four games and eighteen targets. That's four and
a half targets a game. Two and a half catch
is a game, twenty one yards per game. He's wide

(28:02):
receiver seventy in PPR scoring over that stretch. And yet
we know this isn't Lad McConkie's fault. Like the Chargers
offensive line is being held together with duct tape right now.
Justin Herbert has thrown for two hundred and twenty or
fewer yards in.

Speaker 2 (28:18):
Five straight games.

Speaker 4 (28:19):
There's just not a lot of time for him to
throw these days, and the Chargers are becoming run heavier
as a result. But we know how good a player
Ladd is, and he is a matchup against the Dallas
defense that's given up more Fantasy points to wide receivers
this year than any other. So I know there are
a lot of people facing really tough start sit decisions
on Ladd McConkie, and based on our rankings, a lot

(28:40):
of the start SITT decisions we're going to be asked
in the coming days involving Ladd McConkie will result in
us telling people that we would start LAD.

Speaker 2 (28:48):
You know, Ladd mcconki or Jade Reid. Someone asked me
that the other.

Speaker 4 (28:51):
Day, I'd start LAD, And we're going to talk about
Jayden Reed in a minute. Ladd mcconki or Jacoby Myers
against the Broncos, I'd still start LAD. Ladiminconki or Chris Godwin,
I'd start LAD. So But look, the Lad McConkie stakeholders
who are still alive are going to have to do
their own calculations with this and decide how they feel

(29:11):
about an undeniably terrific receiver who's been in a month
long slump due to reasons mostly beyond his control.

Speaker 1 (29:18):
Yeah, and how many LAD owners are still in it?
That's a very good question.

Speaker 5 (29:22):
Wide.

Speaker 1 (29:22):
Receiver three is coming up here in just a second.
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Speaker 1 (30:47):
Wide receiver threes gentlemen coming in at twenty five. We've
got Wandel Robinson, followed by the aforementioned Jayden Reid, Chris Godwin,
Brian Thomas, Michael Pittman Junior A Mecca at Buka at thirty,
followed by Stefan Deebo, Samuel DJ Moore, Jordan Aison at
Ni Mitchell, and Luther Burden. Jayden Reid. Wide receiver twenty six.
You guys are more dramatically. This is probably I keep

(31:11):
saying that like you guys are on opposite ends. There's
a real opposite ends here. Wide receiver twenty six. Fitz
He's at thirty one, Ericson you're at twenty three. So
the difference between a low and wide receiver three and
a wide receiver two. Ericson why don't you kick it
off with your positive take on Jayden Reid.

Speaker 3 (31:29):
Christian Watson may not play in this game. It's another
weapon that the Packers are losing, and that's thrusting Jayden
Reid and I think to a potential bigger role, and
not necessarily in terms of snaps in playing time, but
in terms of targets. Right, Matthew Golden still is he
in the trust tree for Jordan Love still kind of
to be determined. Romeo Dobbs, you've seen his production really
tail off since Christian Watson has returned to the lineup. Now,

(31:52):
maybe those guys are really the way you want to
attack the Bears, but the Bears have been the worst
defense in the NFL's year against slot wide receivers. And
we saw this match play out two weeks ago when
Jayden Reid played the Chicago Bears in his first game
back after missing so much time, and he was immediately
involved from the get go, like saw targets and carries
on the opening drive. Now, he's been a floor play

(32:12):
over the last couple of games, but this is how
you find ceiling, right, Not to make it a complete comparison,
But Kyle Pitts right, he's putting up a bunch of
high floor games. Drake London is out, a matchup looks
positive and then he just blows up in a massive spot.
We've seen Jadan Reed have blow up games before in
the past, So if there are Packers are down multiple

(32:32):
wide receivers, we've seen him already see establish a decent
sized floor. And you have a divine matchup against the Bears,
who have been the worst defense against slot receivers. Kyler
Gordon placed on injured reserve. He's their slot cornerback. He
hasn't really played most of the season. That's why they've
been so bad at stopping slot wide receivers. So we've
already seen Jordan Left carve up this Bears defense not

(32:53):
that long ago. I think we can have a big
game here, so that's why I have him above consensus
year wide receiver twenty three.

Speaker 1 (33:00):
All right, Fitzi lad over Jayden Reid. You've got some
pessimism at least in your rank at thirty one. What's
you take low end wide receiver three on Jayden Reed?

Speaker 6 (33:10):
Here?

Speaker 4 (33:10):
I think we do like the matchup Jadan Reid against
the Kyler Gordon list Chicago Bears defense, he do get
burned by slot receivers, So yeah, that's good. But the
reason I want to tap the brakes Jade Reed has
played forty career games if you include the playoffs, and
he has seen more than six targets in only seven

(33:31):
of those forty games, and it's only happened once since
his rookie year in twenty twenty three. And by the way,
Christian Watson has been hurt for a bunch of those
games where he was getting six or fewer targets. Read
Just typically does not play in two receiver sets for
the Packers. He is usually only on the field in
three receiver or four receiver sets, which means a snap

(33:52):
counts are snap shares typically around sixty percent, right around
sixty percent. And even if Christian Watson is out this
week and there's a chance he could play, Reid is
still unlikely to be on the field in two receiver sets.
It's going to be Romeo Dobbs with either Matthew Golden
or Dontavian Wicks. So while I do like the matchup,

(34:13):
I just I worry a little bit that the usage
might not be what we're hoping for. I don't think
people should count on double digit targets when Jade Reid
has had exactly one game in his career with double
digit targets.

Speaker 1 (34:27):
All right, DJ Moore, we were surprised by Djitmore doing
anything is kind of a surprise. But we obviously had
a dounzag out and DJ Moore was able to thrive
a little bit more doesn't really do a lot for
his rank here, obviously. I think the status of a
Dunsay maybe changes a tiny bit. You also got Burden
that's a little bit banged up and ranked lower in
ECR here.

Speaker 5 (34:47):
ECR thirty three fitsy.

Speaker 1 (34:49):
You got him in thirty five erics and you got
him in thirty so you have him as the same
type of wide receiver. You're just on the opposite ends
of ECR FITZI, why don't you talk to us? Thirty
five is barely scraping in fluky two touchdown game, nothing
to really read of. Even if Odonsay is out for
DJ Moore, you think there might be a little bit more.

Speaker 4 (35:07):
I don't know, man, I'm the grinch on all these
rankings this week.

Speaker 2 (35:12):
I've got I should have worn my Grinch T shirt.

Speaker 4 (35:17):
Yeah. I mean, we've been getting some signs of life
from DJ Moore, which is great. One touchdown in his
first ten games, and now DJ Moore has had a
pair of two touchdown games over the last four weeks,
so that's a plus, but still hasn't had more than
five catches or seventy three receiving yards in a game
all season, and he's only averaging three point one catches

(35:40):
and forty point five yards a game. And the Bears
have been really run heavy over the last two months
because they're running the heck out of the ball.

Speaker 2 (35:48):
They've been great at it lately.

Speaker 4 (35:50):
So I would expect them to continue to be run
heavy against the Packers this week, as they were a
couple of weeks ago when they played Green Bay. So
it's just really hard for me to confidently start DJ
Moore based on what we've seen this season.

Speaker 1 (36:05):
You're a mean one, mister fits Andrew lou Who what
do you think about DJ Moore? Here you wrapping up
for Christmas.

Speaker 3 (36:12):
I guess I am more optimistic just based on the
fact that I don't think Donday iss Gona. I don't
think Ja is gonna come back to like the playoffs,
so I think that he's out, and I mean Luther
Burden didn't practice on Tuesday. Again, the Bears play on Saturday,
so it's one less day they have to get all
their guys back. Also, co Comett is also kind of
banged up too, So look, DJ Moore is not one
of these I think from a real life skill point talent.

(36:35):
It's not like, oh, this JABBRONI wide receiver. Now he's
in the wide receiver one chair. This guy's gonna do
absolutely nothing like DJ Moore like has been a really
good NFL player for most of his no this year
has been down obviously last year disappointment as well. But
I don't think that he's just some slouch of an
NFL player. I think that he has a lot of talent,
just really hasn't been the focal point of this offense.
But given the injuries, I mean last week, five targets,

(36:56):
four for sixty nine because those guys didn't play and
Burden got her in that game, so they had to
turn to DJ Moore. And although he was terrible in
the previous matchup against the Packers, he had one catch
for negative four yards on three targets. This is from
the Coach Speak Index discord. Shout out to Greg he
talked about or Ben Johnson talked about in that discord

(37:16):
how they actually had a lot of plays designed for
DJ Moore heading into that game against the Packers and
they just didn't come to fruition. So Ben Johnson might
be pulling out some of those plays that he had
in the bag already that he didn't get to use
in the previous matchup that he may have to use
now based on some of those injuries. So that's why
I'm a little bit more optimistic it'll change if Burdon
ends up playing because he has been the target leader

(37:38):
over the last two games. But Burden is out, and
it's just like DJ Moore and Colston Lovelin, they are
like the main two guys I think more can be
a wide receivers weree final one we're going to talk
about here at wide receiver thirty five at A nine.

Speaker 5 (37:52):
Mitchell eighty has been kind of.

Speaker 1 (37:54):
Dicey, but he's played a version of a wide receiver
one quarterback play. Are we going to get Cook and
Chuck in this matchup? What a Week sixteen game we're
going to get? But it comes into thirty five on
this list. It's not a horrifically bad matchup, and there
might be some wide receiver hungry teams out there that
it might have been scouring waiver wires are looking and saying,

(38:16):
is this the time that I could potentially put him
in a lineup per usual, You guys are on some
opposite ends ericson. It looks as if your rank says
you do think he is startable at thirty one.

Speaker 3 (38:29):
Seeing volume six plus targets in five straight games with
three different quarterbacks, so he look eighty. Mitchell is good
like he is a good wide receiver. It's just a
matter of does he squeeze the football right because he
deals with drops it sometimes. But he's so talented and
when you combine, he's seeing opportunities. Talented wide receiver two,

(38:49):
top twenty finishes over the last three weeks, twenty six
percent target share in his last five games. I think
that he's clearly establised himself as the wide receiver one
in the Jets off ahead of John Metchi. So I
think Mitchell he has upside. I don't think that Cook
was so terrible last week, where okay, he showed in

(39:09):
one game, Hey I can facilitate a fantasy viable weapon.
You're getting dome conditions, so you're not dealing with any
type of weather playing in New Orleans, and if they're losing,
you're expecting negative game script and Mitchell should see more volume.
So I think that he is a decent wide receiver
three play. So that's why I haven't met where I am.

Speaker 1 (39:28):
FITZI, you do not. You've got him at forty one.
I think we could pretty easily look at the quarterback
and be like yuck. We could also look at his
hands and be like yuck. What is your level of
yuck for at Ni Mitchell? Not as a wide receiver
three for you this week.

Speaker 4 (39:43):
I'm just worried about playing receivers tied to Brady Cook.
And I know it worked out last week with six
catches for fifty eight yards and a touchdown on nine targets,
but that was still only six point four yards per
target for at Ni Mitchell, and I just worry about
what his stat line could look like if Ady Mitchell

(40:04):
doesn't score a touchdown and if his catch rate is
fifty percent or worse instead of sixty seven percent, which
it was last week and for the season. Ady Mitchell's
catch rate is forty five percent, so there's definitely downside
here that concerns me.

Speaker 1 (40:21):
All right, you guys got more questions, We got you covered.
If we didn't hit the specific wide receiver you need
an answer for in the playoffs with the live streams Thursday,
three pm Eastern, we got you covered, start and sick
questions whatever you have, and I think because we're not
doing one next week because of Christmas, so you want
to get it in here real quick for even any
of your rest of season stuff, So make sure YouTube

(40:42):
dot com slash Fantasy pro subscribe get notified. Don't miss that.
If we didn't hit it, but hopefully we did, that
is going to do it. My friends for the week
sixteen wide receivers, good luck and we will talk to
you next time. For Fitzie and ericson I'm Welsh.

Speaker 5 (40:55):
You have a good one. Pea.

Speaker 1 (40:57):
Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football.

Speaker 6 (41:00):
If you love the show, the best freeway to support
us is by leaving a positive review on Apple podcasts
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Speaker 4 (41:10):
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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 16 Fantasy Football Wide Receiver Rankings & Tiers: Studs, Sleepers, and Must-Starts (Ep. 1904)