Week 4 Fantasy Football Wide Receiver Rankings & Tiers: Studs, Sleepers, and Must-Starts (Ep. 1730)

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's the friends, and welcome into Fantasy pros. This is
the Fantasy Football Podcast. I'm Chris Welsh, and today we've
got week four ranks. But it's like Highlander, only one
of our amazing rankers could survive. We're down a ranker
because I've just got Pat fitz Morris. That's gonna be
pretty happy. He's here too, And we talked about the
accuracy contest. No Andrew Erickson this week. Don't worry, he'll

(00:22):
be back next week. Just out. So it's a two
man show today, Pat, we are going to be tackling
all the ranks for week four and maybe doing a
little celebrating of your ranks.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Here in a minute, we voted ericson off the island
well in honor of the start of the new season
of Survivor. No, he's going to be back, and that's
too bad. We had some nice arguments that we could
have had this week. But I'll just I'll pretend to
pose Eric's inside of the argument and then just eviscerate
him with my side.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
Yeah, we'll be citing some of his ranks in here.
We've still got them at warrants the conversation. So we're
gonna be going through a top thirty six wide receivers,
picking out and trying to get into your guys's minds
about some of the biggest questions you're gonna have this
week as well any big discrepancies. There's gonna be some guys.
I'll probably throw in my two sins on some of
my ranks this week, and you know, a little bit

(01:11):
more relevant this week because as we always do, at
the top of each episode, we have our rank accuracy contests.
That's what feeds the Fantasy Pros ranks, which you can
see Fantasypros dot com slash rankings. If you're looking at
the ecr our ranks, are you know, internally fed by
Pat Fitzmorris anddra Rickson, which you're in very good hands
when doing so, and you were never in better hands

(01:31):
this week as we look at the accuracy contest and
we celebrate the top three, the top three are all
Fantasy Pros. I'm not sure this has ever happened before.
You guys can tell me in the time I've been
here for a couple of years. Pat a little bit
before me, Like, I don't know if we've ever seen
Fantasy Pros Fantasy Fantasy Pros. Fantasy Pros in top three.
Ellis Johnson finished number one, Derek Brown, the King of Bros.

(01:56):
Number two, and Pat Fitzmorris number three. Congratulations, you gotta
get your flowers, FITZI mak you had one or two
like top five finishes last year. Maybe I'm selling you
short here, but an absolute Fantasy pro sweep and just
as some extra asides, Andrew Erckson finished almost top twenty five.
He finished twenty sixth. And I know this isn't something

(02:18):
to be like, you know, super happy. I've beished top
thirty six. So this entire show last week had three
rankers inside the top thirty six. Four Week three, we're
down to two, so I've got to fill some shoes.
But Erckson's ranks will still be here. So FITZI top three.
You gotta feel pretty good about that.

Speaker 2 (02:33):
It was a good week. Well, it did feel good
and not a bad advertisement for our weekly waiver article,
which is co written by Alis Johnson, Derek Brown and myself.
Not too shabby, Yeah, not bad at all. It felt
good to get off the deck after I think I
finished one hundred and twelfth in week two, so that

(02:53):
was kind of rough, but it's funny while she's like,
I felt like I was having a pretty decent week
with the rankings going into that Monday night came and
then we got two touchdowns in the big game from
Mark Andrews, who I was pretty well above consensus on
last week, And we talked last week about it was
in the context of Juwan Johnson, and I said I
would start Mark Andrews over Juwan Johnson, and ECR was

(03:17):
very much against that, and I think there were a
few YouTube commenters who weren't keen on that decision. But
the thing is, man like, Mark Andrews has been a
top five Fantasy tight end for more than a half
decade and Juan Johnson has just like his track record
not that great, and so I know we have to balance,

(03:40):
like we can't underreact to some of the things that
happened early. But after two weeks two and I know,
Mark Andrews did nothing for the first two weeks and
Juwan Johnson was putting up some really nice numbers. But
like it's like two job candidates Welsh. You know one
has the superior resume, and you know the the higher

(04:01):
decides to go with the other candidate because he had
a firm handshake, a better handshake, you know, like I
want the guy with the good resume. I don't care
about the firm handshake. Man give me you know, sorry, Juwan,
nice handshake, But I'm going with Mark Andrews there every time.

Speaker 1 (04:17):
Yeah, it's it's also sample size. I try to give
it context when we're doing these shows. Hopefully people understand it.
You know, there's definitely definitely people that will not that
don't have reasoning skills, but like it's small sample sizes
what we're dealing with. So when we're reacting, we're reacting
to one or two games, it's tough. Like we can
feel that the trend is going in this direction, but
you need like three or four to have like a

(04:38):
good idea. And this is a you know, Andrews is
a prime example of that. Where finally broken week three.
So we try so we are in like sample size
zone right now. We've got maybe just enough sample size
to make some pretty concerted efforts towards all of our ranks.
Fun fact two on the rankings, Ericson and I are
both top eleven. I believe in the world in tight

(05:01):
end ranks me and him, you are like top ten.
I think in quarterback and running back, or it's wide
receiver and quarterback something like that. So we've got a
lot of top tens in there. That's the thing that
I've kind of strived with as is ericson, so we'll
try to do it again this week. We've got running
back in tight end coming up, which you can check out.
But this is all wide receivers. And speaking of all

(05:24):
wide receivers, this is your chance to win a sign
Jamar Chase signed Bengals jersey for free, courtesy of our
friends over at Pristineauction dot com. All you've got to
do is head over to Fantasypros dot com slash contest,
complete the form, then you can download the Fantasy Pros app,
leave review for the podcast, follow us on x, Instagram
or TikTok. Guess what all those things that you do

(05:47):
those get you more entries boom. We'll be announcing a
winner on the podcast here near the beginning of next month.
So if you are watching on YouTube, make sure to subscribe,
put on notifications so you can be alerted when new
episodes are up and to claim your prize. If you're
not watching on YouTube, go to YouTube dot com slash
Fantasy Pros get said today and win yourself a Jamar
Chase signed Bengals jersey. You know, we didn't actually have

(06:10):
him marked here, but might be kind of warranted to
give a brief little conversation about with Jamar Chase, who
was the kind of unanimous number one, and things looked
really squirrely in week three, so we'll see what week
six or week four has. Let's look at our big board,
just get right into it. If you guys want to
follow along, you guys can go to fantasypros dot com
slash rankings. Do that, check out the ECR. Give you

(06:34):
a little reminder things change. Every time a ranker drops
a rank, it changes the ECR, So some of the
things we're talking about relative to when you check out
this page might be a little bit different, so just
remember that. So Fantasypros dot Com Slash Rankings. Let's start
with our top twelve on the big board. Coming in
at number one at wide receiver this week so far
is Pookinakua going up against the Colts Jackson Smith and

(06:57):
Jigba At number two, amn Our Saint Brown, Justin Jefferson,
Malik Neighbors still know Jamar Chase because he comes in
at number six, Nico Collins, Garrett Wilson, DeVante Adams, Drake Glundon,
Roma Dunz and aj Brown VICI we did not have
this on the sheet. Let's just do this for half
a second though, because Jamar Chase, you're still starting him,

(07:18):
but I think people feel very squirrely about it. He
is not ranked in the top five. Browning looked bad,
more so looked bad because their offensive line looks horrible
and he had no time to react. So you saw
a ton of like quick first read throws to Noah
Fant and Drew Sample. They were attempting to get the
ball in Jamar Chase's hands. It just doesn't look good

(07:41):
for Bengals wide receivers. So as an aside here, like
I said, because we had not planned to talk about
him on the sheet, and we really hadn't planned to
talk about T Higgins, Like, what's the what's the vibe
check on Jamar Chase for you?

Speaker 3 (07:55):
This week?

Speaker 1 (07:56):
You still got him top ten, he's still starting. Should
we start to be concerned and worried about him and
feel free to throw T Higgins just into this because
we don't have him later.

Speaker 2 (08:05):
Yeah, the vibes aren't great, Welsh. And part of the
reason I think we felt confident with Jamar Chase as
the wide receiver one and T Higgins as this rock
solid wide receiver two were just the Jake Browning when
he was forced in action a couple of years ago,
was fantastic, not fantastic, but like good enough to sustain

(08:29):
the value of Jamar Chase and T. Higgins. But now, man,
I mean, the Bengals offensive line looks like a train
wreck this year, and maybe the carriage turns into a
pumpkin for Jake Browning after his good showing in twenty
twenty three. So their concerns like, you're still starting Jamar
Chase every week, but I don't think we can. We

(08:51):
have to abandon the hopes of the one hundred and
ten catch, fifteen hundred yard, twelve touchdown season we were
hoping for if you took him with a top three
pick in your draft. And Higgins now is like he's
going to be on the start sit borderline like every week, Welsh,

(09:12):
every week.

Speaker 1 (09:12):
Yeah, And I had cited one of the things that
was interesting on the Prop show this past week on
Betting Pros, I like Jamar Chase's receptions because Jake Browning
is a big first read guy. That didn't really change.
But again, coming back to it, their offensive line is
so bad. He had one Mississippi to make a decision
every single time. Every team is going to repeat that.
I mean, maybe its success might be you know, it

(09:34):
might vary, but if they're gonna be able to cross
the line, he's gonna have no time to think, and
it really does have a big impact on how you
know they're gonna be able to take the ball deep
put in scoring positions. So it just makes Jamar Chase
is still just so talented. They didn't end around with him,
so I think you can still feel that level of
comfort if someone's gonna thrive. But t Higgins is a big,
major question, and that's a big shake up at the

(09:55):
top of wide receiver and one of the one of
the end result boltz out of that is not only
like pushing some other players up. I think, you know,
Puka kind of stands out, but JSN jumping into number
two in the ranks this week, that's a big standout.
He's ECR wide receiver two. You have him at two.
Erickson ended having him at eight, so you guys had

(10:16):
a pretty big discrepancy. I think I've got him at
three this week, so you and I are much more lockstep.
He has been an absolute demon for targets. He's going
up against a not great you know, the forty and
or the Cardinals just got burned by the forty nine
ers for over one hundred yards from Ricky Piersoll, So
I think that kind of plays into it, played into
it for me. But tell me about Jasn at number

(10:36):
two this week.

Speaker 2 (10:37):
He's a star. This is not an overreaction to a
three game sample size. This is not a firm handshake
at a job interview. This has been building. Like JSN
did not have a good rookie year, then he got
off to kind of a sluggish start in twenty twenty four,
but then he caught fire at midseason. From week eight on,
he averaged six point three catches and eighty one point

(10:58):
one yards per game. That's almost a fourteen hundred yard pace.
And so far this year, Smith and Jigba ranks fifth
in catches with twenty two. He's second in receiving yardage
with three hundred and twenty three, just ten yards behind
league leader Puka Nakua. And here's the crazy thing, Welsh.
The Seahawks have been the third run heaviest team in
the league, only behind the Eagles and the Colts. Sam

(11:19):
Darnold is averaging twenty four point seven pass attempts per game,
but JSN has a forty point three percent target share,
and he's been really efficient with those targets, averaging eleven
point one yards per target. And get this four point
six one yards per route run. That yards per route
run number unsustainable. It's basically double the career yards per

(11:42):
route run for Justin Jefferson. But it just shows you
how well Jasen is playing. I was kind of worried
that Cooper Cupp's arrival in Seattle might push Smith and
Jigba outside, where he might not be as effective. Well,
he has been pushed outside. He's only lined up in
the slot on twenty three point two percent kind of
his snaps this season, according to Player Profiler. But I

(12:04):
think he's doing just fine, thank you very much. And oh,
by the way, the matchup Welsh the Cardinals. They're going
to be without their best cornerback, Garrett Williams and rookie
cornerback will Johnson. Missed Week three with a groin injury,
hasn't been practicing this week. Looks like he's going to
be out to JSN. Could absolutely smash on Thursday night.

Speaker 1 (12:22):
Yeah, like Charlotte's Web. That'll do, Pig, that'll do. We'll
take that for sure for JSNI four star matchup. By
the way, we have the star matchups on the ECR
if you want to check it out. Ratings on start
and sit, projected fantasy points, and an interesting one average
differential based on projections if a player usually scores higher
or lower than projections, and he's right there as the

(12:44):
third highest in third of the top twelve. But Jason
typically is beating his projections by about two and a
half points, and he has the second highest wide receiver
projection this week, so jsin he's in there. Number two
makes a bunch of sense as we look through the
rest of the wide receiver ones. Again, as we always say,
these are dudes you just starting. There's not many questions
most likely when you guys start your start and sit questions,

(13:07):
whether it's on the Thursday discord with usually me and ericson,
I think it might be you and me this week again,
Pat Over on or I've just signed you up for
the show, the Extra point on Discord or any of
the live streams we do. These are typically guys you
probably don't need to put into your questions, you know, like, hey,
should I data dot one? I think that will this
week on this list is the standout Roma Dunsday, Romandunday's

(13:30):
ECR eleven. You and Ericson both had him at thirteen.
I think I have him slightly higher. He is the
guy here now they spread the ball out quite a
bit more, which I think is something to continue to watch.
Luthor Burden getting more involved, But Roman Dunday's kind of
one of those big first look, He's got a pretty
aggressive rank this week, coming in at eleven up against

(13:51):
the Raiders. The matchup grade is you know, it's fine,
it's like three star a plus like start and sit
or a start and sit. What do you think about
Roma Dunesday and you've got him just outside Wide Receiver
one territory? Is that? I mean due to a multitude
of things at all. Is it due being lower than

(14:11):
ESCR because of some of the other weapons getting involved,
or is it matchup based you tell us Roma Dunza
ECR thirteen for you eleven on actual ECR.

Speaker 2 (14:22):
Yeah, some people are mad I haven't been ranking o'dunsa higher,
and sure maybe I have been a little slow to
come around after Rome's lackluster rookie year, but yeah, it's
pretty clear now that Odunjay is Caleb Williams lead receiver
with DJ Moore is more of a complimentary guy. Rome
is wide receiver three in fantasy scoring right now, behind

(14:42):
only Puka and Amen Ra. But the touchdowns are are
largely driving that. Like it's it's pretty wild that it
only took Rome three games to beat his touchdown total
from his entire rookie year. Like he had three touchdowns
last year, he already has four, with at least one
in every game so far. But like that's largely driving

(15:04):
the wide receiver three showing right now, Oduonsay's outside the
top ten and targets, catches and receiving yard not far
outside the top ten in all those categories. But that's
basically why I've got him outside just outside of wide
receiver one range Welsh. But what's nice is that o'duonsay
does go from one pretty soft matchup right into another.

(15:26):
Last week, it was the Cowboys. This week it's the Raiders,
who ranked twenty sixth and DVOA against the pass and
have given up the fourth most Fantasy points to receivers.

Speaker 1 (15:35):
Nine targets per game on average. Roman Dunsay Scott right, now,
that's not too shabby. He dropped a little bit because
of course I'd bet on him this past week, so
we had to downtick the production. But otherwise his twenty
seven targets so far on the year, so I mean,
he is the dude. It's a pretty good matchup. Roman
dunsa he is going to play. Let's move to our

(15:56):
wide receiver two territories, so these are gonna be wide
receivers thirteen through twenty four. We are going to kick
it off with Zay Flowers coming in at thirteen, Tenoroa McMillan,
a Mecca Agbuka, George Pickens, Tyreek Hill, Lad McConkie, Ricky Piersoll,
Courtland Sutton. There's the top twenty Choby Myers at twenty one,
Brian Thomas at twenty two, Keenan Allen, and Deebo Samuel.
Lots of conversation to be had. Let's start with George Pickens,

(16:18):
ECR sixteen. You and Ericson both have him lower. He's
going to be the number one wide receiver. Now Ceedee
Lamb is going to miss a couple of weeks. Here,
they did get Talbert more involved. Turpin is obviously going
to get involved. Pickens did not have the big, huge
day that from multiple even with Ceedee Lamb there, we

(16:38):
kind of thought like he could have a big day
that just did not happen. So talk to us about
the little bit lower ranking because this is a better
position that he's in the lower rankings only relative to ECR.
We still have him in the teens. What do you
think about George Pickens this week?

Speaker 2 (16:51):
And I'm going to start him in the league where
I have him Welsh, But I think the inclination is
to believe that Ceedee Lamb's absence due to an ankle
injury is gonna spike the target count for George Pickens. Maybe,
Like one of the reasons a lot of people were
enthusiastic about Pickens being traded to the Cowboys was that
he might have been miscast as a lead receiver in

(17:13):
Pittsburgh and that he wouldn't have to play that sort
of role in Dallas with Cede Lamb there, and there
have been times this season where it looks like Dak
Prescott was maybe expecting George Pickens to be in a
certain spot and he wasn't there. Like, Pickens is not
a timing guy. He doesn't run the full route tree
the way Ceedee Lamb does. Like George Pickens is really

(17:36):
great at making tough catches on the sideline, he has
yet to prove that he can excel in really any
other facet. So plus, we're getting a really tough matchup
this week Welsh. The Packers are giving up four point
eight yards per pass attempt this season, which is just insane.
So yeah, maybe we get a little bit of a

(17:56):
target spike for George Pickens this week. But can he
do a lot with it is the question, Like you
need that he's still going to be big play dependant.
I think I just don't see him having like an
eleven catch, one hundred and thirty yard game. He's just
not a possession guy. So I think it could still
be pretty boom or bust even without ceed Lamb. And

(18:19):
by the way, I think Jalen Tolbert might actually be
kind of a sneaky start because maybe he is the
timing guy that Dak needs this week.

Speaker 1 (18:26):
He like he likes him on the well. A prime
example to that was, like right when Seedy got out,
they tries to tried to use Pickens in one of
those like whatever you know, six seven yard just out
runs for a first down, just banked right off of
his hands. Tolbert then slowly after was used in one
of those first down And then where did Pickens thrive?

(18:46):
Later when Joe Milton came in and threw one of
those twenty yard you know, like big slant routes, So
like that's where he thrives. But there is volume, volumes
in his favor, and that's why he ranks up. Another
player that for you is ranking up higher this week
is Ricky Piersall. My boy, Ricky Pearsall comes in at
ECR wide Receiver nineteen. You've got him at twelve. Erickson's

(19:08):
on the other side of the planet at twenty five.
Now there are some questions. It's rock perty gonna play
this week? Looks like it. Mac Jones is a little
bit banged up. This would be his revenge game, but
he's he looks like he's banged up. Party looks like
he's gonna play regardless. Juwan Jennings, there's another question. He
did not end up playing. We kind of just don't
know the status where he's at. What we do know

(19:29):
is Ricky Pearsol eight last week and he has a
connection with whoever the quarterback is on this team, going
over one hundred stretching the ball deep. This looks like
a solid matchup. It is given a four star rating
here up against the Jaguars. You've got him way up.
I'm obviously going to be with you a little bit
of a homerism in me, but also this is just
a really really good position against this bad defense. And

(19:51):
Pearsaw has been the passing part of the offense. So
you've got him at wide receiver one. You're the high
guy on Pearsol. Let's hear it.

Speaker 2 (19:58):
Yeah, Well, maybe I the spread between my ranking for
Pearsall and Erickson's might have to do with the assumptions
we're making, and I'm maybe assuming more things than Erickson is.
About brock Purty and Juwan Jennings. I, as you mentioned,
it seems like brock Purty is trending toward playing, so

(20:19):
I'm kind of assuming he does play, and I'm kind
of making the assumption that Juwan Jennings remains out with
his ankle injury after missing Week three, Like, I don't know, Well,
she you're the forty nine ers guy. They said whether
it's a high ankle yet.

Speaker 1 (20:33):
No, they didn't, they didn't convert. They're kind of I mean,
as niners are, or at least I didn't see it.
It's all a little coy, like it looked like he
was positioned to play this coming week and then he's
just inactive, so they're kind of throwing this at us.
I wonder if this is a setup for him to
get healthy for this game. But even regardless of that,

(20:54):
they do have DeMarcus Robinson back. I know that doesn't
sound like super exciting, but that is a guy that
can stretch the field. He's been with the Tea through
the offseason. You have Robinson even if Juwan Jennings has
been that like that's a reason why Juwan Jennings might
not play, But I also think Robinson can play the
Juwan Jennings.

Speaker 2 (21:09):
Role, right, And the thing is guys with low ankle
sprains typically don't miss any time. So for Jennings to
miss last week, like if he misses this week too.
We probably know it's a high ankle, so you know,
and then I would have to if Jennings played, I'd
have to move Piersall down a little. But with no
Jennings last week, and with George Kittle still out and
with DeMarcus Robinson still suspended, Piersaw at eleven targets against

(21:33):
the Cardinals, finished with eight catches for one hundred and
seventeen yards. He could be pretty busy again this week
in a home matchup against the Jaguars. If there's no
Juwan Jennings.

Speaker 1 (21:42):
What would if Jennings was there, what would you think,
just off handedly, would your rank a Pierce All be.

Speaker 2 (21:48):
Still in wide receiver two range but maybe mid to lower,
like probably down to wide receiver nineteen or something.

Speaker 1 (21:55):
So that's his actual ECR. So that so maybe his
ECR is more relative to the owns for a lot
of people. Let's go, I actually should have put this
guy higher. Actually, you know what, I'm gonna jump to
this Let's stay in the same game and then we'll jump.
I'm kind of jumping around here on wide receivers a
little bit, but in the same game. I think the
biggest thing that is going to catch people's eyes on

(22:15):
this list is Brian Thomas in the absolute crater falling.
He's having down at twenty two. I mean, this is
borderline not starting in some spots, and I think there's
going to be a lot of people that are going
to just be like, we're not going to do this
this week. Not that the forty nine ers deepense is
super great. They got some young corners. They are without
Nick Bosa now so their pass rushes out there. But

(22:36):
regardless of all this, Jags have just stunk and Brian
Thomas has not got involved. Parker Washington got a ton
of the volume and actually those slot receivers end up
killing the forty nine ers. So he's down at Brian
Thomas is down at twenty two. You have got Brian
Thomas at twenty two. Ericson has got him at twelve.
So you guys are just Ricky Pierce on Brian Thomas flipped.

(22:58):
Let's talk about your concerns with Thomas this week and
starting him.

Speaker 2 (23:02):
If you would have told me a month ago that
going into Week four, I'd be ranking Brian Thomas junior
wide receiver twenty two and wondering if that was still
too high, like that would have just seemed insane to me,
and he is still being ranked like a guy who
should probably be starting for fantasy teams, Like I'm going
to keep starting him in the one league where I
have him, but I don't think it's crazy to sit

(23:23):
BTJ this week if you have other good options. Things
are just really off with Brian Thomas Junior right now,
like the chemistry between BTJ and Trevor Lawrence just has
not been there. He's been targeted twenty five times and
has seven catches, crazy twenty eight percent catch rate, Like
Brian Thomas Junior is averaging four point six yards per target,

(23:46):
and it it seems like maybe btj's wrist is giving
him problems, Like people pointed out that he's kind of
shied away from contact on more than one occasion this season.
Not that we should be questioning this guy toughness because
Brian Thomas Junior played through a chest injury last year
that probably would have kept a lot of other guys out,
and he was terrific in those games where he was

(24:08):
playing hurts. But man, things are bad this year and
I wonder if it's related to the rest.

Speaker 1 (24:15):
It kind of looks like it is. They kind of
downplayed it over on PFF just to let you know
they have like great good and then when you get
into fair and down, it kind of works its way
down a little bit. Brian Thomas is not being given
a favorable matchup though forty nine ers twenty fourth of
thirty two against wide receivers, Upton Stout has absolutely been

(24:37):
demolished this year. He ranks eighty nine of one oh two.
But he'll play like he'll play on the outside, He'll
play some slot and that could be in effect for
Parker Washington, which is a plus. But Lenore is forty
three out of one oh two. So it's just an
unfavorable matchup for a guy that is having some quarterback problems.
I don't love Brian Thomas this week. I would not

(24:57):
have him as a wide receiver. And I think based
on some drafting on how you've done, you know, Ricky
Piersaw or Brian Thomas, I think it's clearly Pearsall in
this matchup, and I think there are some scenarios where
you might start sitting him. Don't go into any crazy
panic mode. We are in our sample size zone. I
still think slightly there's a kind of buy thing that's

(25:18):
floating out there. But I am starting to worry about
maybe this risk is part of the problem. Like that
catch rate is insane, and Trevor Lawrence is bad, but like,
is he that bad? I find a wide receiver in
this range to talk about. I told you we're jumping
up and down wide receiver eighteen. Tyreek Hill fits. You
got him at seventeen. Ericson's got him down at twenty four.
So you guys are kind of on different spectrums of it.
You're closer to ECR. Looks like he's just a lot

(25:41):
more set in this lineup. He's healthy out there. They've
got quarterback problems. Talk to us about Tyreek Hill. You've
got him over Brian.

Speaker 2 (25:47):
Thomas and I've actually got him up at wide receiver fourteen.
Welsh now wide receiver seventeen.

Speaker 1 (25:54):
Oh okay, it just said seventeen, but even better keep rolling.

Speaker 2 (25:57):
Oh yeah, So, like things look pretty good for Tyreek
so far. Like he's earning targets a twenty four percent
target chair so far at one hundred yard game against
the Patriots in Week two. We scored a touchdown against
the Bills in Week three and generally, the Miami passing
game has looked pretty decent this year, aside from Tua

(26:17):
throwing some horrible interceptions, like can't explain some of these interceptions,
but otherwise, like, this is a functional passing game again,
And I'm not terrified by the matchup with Sauce Gardner
and the Jets. Like, Tyreek has gone over one hundred
yards in two of his last three games against the Jets.
The one miss was last season's regular season finale, and uh,

(26:37):
maybe Tyreek's heart wasn't completely in that one. So yeah,
decent recent history against the Jets, and I think things
have looked pretty good with Tyreek so far in the
Miami passing game.

Speaker 1 (26:49):
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Speaker 1 (28:26):
Wide receiver threes. Let's kick it off at number twenty
five with Marvin Harrison, Junior, DK Metcalf, Jamison Williams, DeVante Smith,
Quentin Johnston, Chris Olave, Michael Pittman, DJ Moore, T Higgins
all the way down at thirty three, Jaylen Waddle, Khalil Shakir,
and Calvin Ridley. I couldn't even find T. Higgins before
when we were talking about it. I'm like, where is
he here? We got a couple names to throw out,

(28:46):
and let's start with Marvin Harrison. He is it's not
a free fall yet, but it feels like it is
super close to doing that. He really really bombed out
in this last game, ECR twenty five. Rickson has actually
got him at twenty one. You were lower than ECR
this week, Bogman on out of bounds this week, FITZI
was he was breaking up with some people, and one

(29:08):
of his breakups was with Marvin Harrison moving forward, So
what say you, you're lower than consensus? Are you close
to breaking up with Marvin Harrison Junior?

Speaker 2 (29:16):
Yeah, we are. We're at least staying in different bedrooms
right now. It's just like Marvin Harrison Junior has not
seen more than six targets in any of his first
three games, and his target share is sitting at nineteen percent,
not ideal for the fourth overall pick in last year's draft.
And it's not exactly like the Cardinals are burgeoning with

(29:37):
other good wide receivers, like it's Michael Wilson and Zay
Jones for goodness sake, and like I don't know the
chemistry has been off with Kyler Murray, but like it
certainly wasn't Kyler's fault that Marvin Harrison Junior had an
atrocious drop last week on a play that should have
gone for at least a forty yard game. I mean

(29:57):
that drop was one of the worst I've seen, like,
and he did a little jump before trying to catch
the ball. I just didn't understand that. And now he
gets a tough matchup against Seattle. The Seahawks defense is
so underrated. They have alloted the second fewest Fantasy points
to wide receivers, And this is just It's another instance

(30:18):
where I'm not going to talk anyone out of trying
to out of playing someone else over Marvin Harrison Junior,
just like I wouldn't try to talk anyone out of
sitting Brian Thomas Junior if they felt like it. Like
things have been really off for both guys, and I
just man, I had hope of a second year bounce
back for Marvin Harrison Junior, and it is just not happening.

Speaker 1 (30:41):
Just real quick, on what I said at the top
of the show, that you know, we're in that samp
like maybe we're just starting to leave sample sized territory
where we can't like necessarily cite that. I think it's
probably fair to say that if I were to be like, Hey,
Brian Thomas or Marvin Harrison, who you more worried about
in their sample size, You'd probably say Marvin Harrison, maybe
the impact of Brian tom like you would give him
more the benefit of the doubt. Do you think, like

(31:04):
for any of these guys we should be giving a
tiny bit more grace than that. The sample size isn't
quite enough for Marvin Harrison or is that where this
is coming from? Like, hey, listen, we've had three games.
None of it looks good. The volume doesn't look good.
Even if they bounce back a couple, it just doesn't matter.
I'm just curious that, like this, how you're approaching what
we've seen. How much of the season is out there
before you're ready to completely like cater this, Like can

(31:26):
it bounce back? I guess is what I'm looking for.

Speaker 2 (31:29):
Well, the thing is now, it's been like twenty games
for Marvin Harrison. Oh yeah, if you're kind of net
to me last year, yeah, because last year was not
that splendid either. So like I'm more inclined to give
the benefit of the doubt to Brian Thomas Junior. And
I do think it's could be largely injury related. No
such excuse for Marvin Harrison Junior, unless he's dealing with

(31:49):
something we have no clue about. But it does not
seem that way. It just seems like he's out there,
he's not drawing a lot of targets, he's not making
big plays when he's handed them on a silver platter.
It's just kind of alarming.

Speaker 1 (32:06):
Coming in at number. Well, the second guy we're going
to talk about here, number two, but number twenty nine,
Quinton Johnston. He is ECR wide receiver twenty nine. You
and Erickson both have him at thirty. I'm higher than
you guys at twenty five. This isn't necessarily like a hey,
we're all a different rank area and more that like
we should talk about him. He is a wide receiver
three right now, Lad, there's a big question about just

(32:28):
like Lad's production in that offense, Keenan Allen as well.
Do they all eat into each other? More constants have
been Keenan Allen and really Quinton Johnston. I like Quintin
Johnson in this matchup going up against the Giants. I
think he's going to continue to see tons of targets.
I think he is proving through this small sample size
that he kind of deserves to be in this range.

(32:48):
I wanted to get your take on it, and I
thought we should talk about it. Because mid wide receiver
three this week, guys, he is ahead of an ecr
are DJ Moore, T Higgins, Jalen Waddle, Calvin Ridley, and
I think I think probably for the most part, all
of those guys are below between the three of us.
Maybe there's one caveat, but they're probably all below Quinton Johnston.

Speaker 2 (33:09):
Yeah, so it's getting really tricky to rank the three
Chargers wide receivers. Welsh and I'll ask you in a
second where you've got them ranked this week?

Speaker 3 (33:18):
Right now?

Speaker 2 (33:18):
For me, it's ladd It wide receiver nineteen, keenan Allen
wide receiver twenty one, and QJ is at wide receiver thirty.
And I think we can justify ranking three Chargers in
the top thirty since such a large percentage of the
targets are going to those three guys. There's like no
fourth wide receiver in this offense, or like Trey Harris

(33:40):
runs a few routes every week, they don't throw to
their tight ends. Last week was the first time we
saw Omarion Hampton get involved as a pass catcher, So
there are a lot of targets to go around for
this group. But yeah, like I still think we all
believe that Lad McConkie is the best of the three. Yeah,
but thirty three year old Keenan Allen is playing like

(34:02):
twenty five year old Keenan Allen, and Quentin Johnston is
playing like the guy the Chargers thought he was going
to be when they spent a first round draft.

Speaker 1 (34:09):
Pick on him, like a dude with hands, like a.

Speaker 2 (34:12):
Dude with hands, and he is wide receiver five in
Fantasy scoring right now. Keenan Allen is wide receiver seven.
Lad McConkie is wide receiver forty nine.

Speaker 1 (34:22):
So I actually have them a little bit more aggressively
ranked this week, all of them because of the matchup.
So I've got Lad lower than you. I've got Lad
of twenty one, but I've got Keenan at twenty three
and Quentin Johnson at twenty five. And I know that's
a little like they all kind of eat into each
other a tiny bit. It's really about the matchup. But
we talk about roles sometimes and sometimes we'll do it

(34:42):
in like narrative speaking, but literally it's like Ladd on
third downs, Quentin Johnston, big play, red zone, Keenan Allen.
That's like literally how they roll this offense and they're
super efficient. Herbert is as efficient as he's been, so
I think they all can kind of live in that space.
Lad is the most worrisome. I wouldn't you wanted to
like try to, like, you know, win the ranks contest.

(35:04):
I can see people put in Lad below all these
guys because he is awesome. He's just not getting the
target share. I think the separation score on Fantasy Points data,
he's still like eighth or seventh in the NFL, and
his actual separation score he gets it, but they just
don't get him the ball in the targets because there's
other mouths to feed. So it's an interesting situation. But
more than anything, what I think it does speak to

(35:25):
is it speaks to Quentin Johnston being a starter, a
guy that you want to put out there because he
is going to make some big plays.

Speaker 2 (35:33):
One more Oh god, I was just going to say,
your wide receiver twenty five ranking is not hot taky
at all when you consider that Quentin Johnston has had
at least seven targets in every game, He's had at
least seventy one yards in every game. I think he
was one of those guys that fell into like that
cliche of like, oh, like good best ball pick. Not
so much in a managed league totally. He's been very

(35:55):
fine and managed leagues and very easy to manage all
of a sudden.

Speaker 1 (35:59):
Michael Pittman Wide receiver thirty one. You and Erickson are
both higher on him this week. Michael Pittman's going up
against the Rams. You've got him at twenty eight. Ericson's
got him at twenty six. What do you think about
pitt Also, Pierces banged up a tiny bit that might
be a benefit or something. But what do you think
about Michael Pittman.

Speaker 2 (36:14):
Yeah, really unlikely that Alex Pearce Alec Peiris excuse me,
plays with a concussion. I think he's had some concussions
in the past, so he's most likely out this week.
Not a bad matchup this week against the Rams Like
this could be a high scoring affair and you can
definitely do some business against the Rams cornerbacks. Pittman is
having a nice season. He's quietly wide receiver thirteen in

(36:37):
half point PPR fantasy scoring. It seems like he's his
old self after trying to play through a back injury
last year.

Speaker 1 (36:44):
There are a couple wide receivers that did not make
the top thirty six that I just wanted to hit.
Usually we'll do like, hey, you know, like one or
two guys are a guy that we each like. Since
Ericson's not here, I do it a tiny bit different.
I want to get your take real quick on a
couple wide receivers that I think are going to garner
a lot of questions and did not make the top
thirty six. Starting with number thirty seven, Jordan Addison, You
and Ericson bury him in the ranks. I kind of

(37:07):
think it's going to be full steam ahead. But you know,
Carson Wentz is that quarterback, and that's a question. He
did target his tight ends. They didn't go crazy deep.
But Addison is a guy that is going to find
some good separation. Or maybe it's just rusty from the
games not out there you talk to us. Though you've
got him at forty five versus thirty seven on ECR,
people are going to want to start him this week.
You do not seem to want to though.

Speaker 2 (37:28):
Yeah, I went to wait, Well, she like Addison's a
terrific player, but maybe he doesn't play full snaps right away.
Maybe they need him to get his winds back, his
football endurance, and plus Justin Jefferson is there, you know,
one of the best receivers in the game, and TJ. Hockinson,
and we know that Carson Wentz kind of likes throwing

(37:48):
the tight end. So with Wentz playing like he and
Addison just don't have a lot of experience working together.
I just I have Addison myself in a couple of leagues.
I'm just not starting him yet. Like I'm nothing against
the player. I just want to give him one game, all.

Speaker 1 (38:07):
Right, Xavier Worthy, there's another one. I think he was
forty eight. Now I need to find him. I'm not
seeing him on there outdated. He's actually gone lower, and
I think this is because of the conserv People just
don't know if he's going to play. I think the
assumption is he's going to play. Here he was forty eight,
he's down at sixty. You have him at thirty five,
So fair to say thirty five is your rank of

(38:29):
him being active or are you still playing caveats with
thirty five If he is listed as active, let's say
you know tomorrow, will you go higher?

Speaker 2 (38:38):
Caveats for sure? Well, especially with the initial reports that
he is going to play, but the snaps might be
limited and he's going to play with some sort of
shoulder harness, so I might have to drop him a
little bit, like ECR might be. Maybe that's the conservative
approach I should be taking with Worthy, because yeah, he's
going to be it would be hard to trust him

(38:58):
in your lineups in his first week back.

Speaker 1 (39:01):
I agree. I don't have him inside the top forty
right now in my ranks. Last one is Keon Coleman,
and Kean Coleman's relative here because he is ECR forty two,
but you've got him at thirty six, so he would
have made your screenshot on the top thirty six. So
what do you think about Keon Coleman this week? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (39:18):
Uh, I know is a quiet game last week, and
I know some people are worried with the Bills sixteen
and a half point favorites over the Saints that they're
not gonna have to throw a lot, but they are
going to build a lead in some fashion, and I
would imagine that Keon Coleman will be part of it. Like,
I'm still excited about him, even though it hasn't been

(39:38):
like a dream start for him.

Speaker 1 (39:41):
There you go, those are the wide receivers that we're
pointing out for you. You guys want more, go to
fantasypros dot com slash rankings. And maybe we didn't hit
on the wide receiver that you got a big question for. Well,
guess what we got the weekly start and sit live
stream right here on YouTube, where you guys can come
and ask any of your specific start and sit questions
about any of these wide receivers. Who would you? We'll
be here every Thursday at three pm Eastern, So those

(40:03):
on the podcast go to YouTube dot com slash fantasypro subscribe,
click on the bell to get notified of all of
our weekly live streams. That's it. Those are our wide
receiver ranks for week four. Thank you to Pat Fitzmorris.
Shout out to ericson wherever he is out there in
the land. I'm Chris Welsh. Thank you guys for hanging
out with us, and we'll talk to you next time
right here on Fantasy Pros.

Speaker 2 (40:21):
Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football podcast.

Speaker 3 (40:24):
If you love the show, the best freeway to support
us is by leaving a positive review on Apple Podcasts
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Andrew Erickson

Joe Pisapia

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Ryan Wormeli

Pat Fitzmaurice

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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 4 Fantasy Football Wide Receiver Rankings & Tiers: Studs, Sleepers, and Must-Starts (Ep. 1730)