Wide Receiver Prospects with Matt Harmon

Marcas Grant and LaQuan Jones start the show with the latest NFL quarterback news, including Derek Carr’s shoulder injury (2:37), Kyler Murray’s comments on Marvin Harrison Jr. (10:26), and Kenny Pickett’s move to the Browns (17:22).

Then Matt Harmon of Yahoo Sports joins the pod to talk wide receiver prospects. Matt shares his views on Travis Hunter (23:49), Luther Burden III (26:59), Emeka Egbuka (33:26), Tetairoa McMillan (35:31), Tez Johnson (37:22), Jaylin Noel (45:30), and Elic Ayomanor (52:00).

The NFL Fantasy Football Podcast is part of the NFL Podcast Network.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Wow, Wow, everybody, It's Tuesday, April fifteenth, twenty twenty five.
Welcome to the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. We're wondering who
will pay the Travis Hunter tax? To me and your
man named g Marcus Grand joined by Michael al Florio

(00:21):
and Lakwan Jones. You're are we over draft season yet? Fellas?
Do we just do this?

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Yes, let's just do this. It should be a slow draft.
Didn't we talk about this like it should be a
thirty day slow draft?

Speaker 3 (00:32):
Like why, I don't want that at all?

Speaker 1 (00:35):
Just like the best just like a bestball leagues doing
it like an underdog draft. I like, you.

Speaker 3 (00:40):
Dedicate a weekend to it and that's it. Like thirty days, Bro,
it's been thirty days that we knew the Titans were
taking cam Ward. Like, come on, just get this pick
over with.

Speaker 1 (00:51):
I mean, honestly, I remember when the draft was two
days long, when it was just Saturday Sunday and like,
and that was it, and everybody was fine with that.
We were okay, We're okay with that. And now we
have a first round that takes three hours.

Speaker 3 (01:05):
It takes too long. But I do like kind of
putting the spotlight on the first round. I also like
that it's a Thursday night, and like we don't have
to give up off full weekends anymore.

Speaker 1 (01:16):
I never give up my full weekend. Like the Sunday
part of the draft like would be on maybe and
I'm like in and out of the room, and then
once I got the internet, I'm like, oh, I can
just go do other things and check back later. I've
said I may have said this on the show, Like
I think it's sort of dull television because like nothing
happens and it takes ten minutes of time for it

(01:39):
to not happen.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
It's fun to go to the draft, though, I would
say that it's kind of fun.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
Yeah, why hesitation? Well interesting, I think the first I
think the first round of the draft is a lot
of fun. I think when you get to like day
two of the draft, you know because like for most people,
they don't really know of the names even after the
first you know, ten or fifteen picks, like most people
don't know those names, and so like you're in the
crowd and you know, they announced a name, and everybody's

(02:08):
just like yay, who.

Speaker 2 (02:12):
Didn't have a first round pick? For the longest I
was actually there when Cooper Cup got drafted, and.

Speaker 3 (02:17):
I was excited.

Speaker 1 (02:18):
I was like, Hey, you're just happy the Rams are
picking in the first round.

Speaker 3 (02:21):
Exactly, Well, I'm happy we got a first round pick
thanks to last year. Let's revisit this in mid June,
when we're talking about like this team's third string wide
receiver says he's gonna get more snaps in the slot, Like,
at least the draft gives us something to talk about.

Speaker 1 (02:37):
That's true, that's fair. That's fair. By the way, we're
gonna talk about the draft today, we're really dive into
some wide receivers. To do that, I figure I call
up our friend, the one and only, Matt Harmon of Reception,
Perception and Yahoo, because when we're talking about wide receivers,
who better to tap into than that guy. So we'll
get his thoughts on some of the guys playing in
the wide receiver position in the draft, including v one

(02:59):
and only Travis Hunter and his evaluation of the Colorado Star.
But the anytime, a few news headlines to get into,
starting in New Orleans where look. So I was out
at about over the weekend and I see in the
text chain text from Michael lef Florio that basically says,
so how long until Derek Carr is going to be

(03:21):
doing hits for us? And I was like, I mean,
I didn't know what that meant. I thought it was funny,
and then I went onto the interwebs and saw that
he has a shoulder injury and his available ability for
twenty twenty five is in question, And then all of
a sudden, Floria, your text made a whole lot more sense.
So I guess my first question to you, though, Mike,

(03:45):
is I mean, do they have to draft a quarterback?
And whatever happens, how are you feeling now about any
of these Saints skill position guys.

Speaker 3 (03:54):
They don't have to draft a quarterback. I think, look,
if you care about twenty twenty five for the Saint,
you want them to because look at their quarterback room
like Spencer Ratler, Ben Denucci, Like those are guys that
are are in their room right now and you don't
want them starting seventeen games. I get that. And look
the internet, like Dion was tweeting, Everyone was just tweeting,

(04:15):
like the eyes when this news came out, like you
don't watch the door to go there? I personally do not, Like,
if you want Shador Sanders to succeed. The Saints are
the last place you want him to go. I think
if I was the Saints, this would be just like
I'd be honest and I would tell my fans, like, listen,
it's gonna be a rough one. We we need to

(04:36):
reset the cap and everything and just kind of burn
it down and start anew is what I think they
should do, because no team has kicked the can down
the road like the Saints. And every year when when
we look at the oh, the news, they have to
get under the cap. Who is the least cap space? Oh,
the Saints are seventy five million, fifty million under like
over the cap every single year. And you can only

(04:58):
do that for so long. And this, to me feels
like a natural kind of reset point. But yeah, for me,
Crystal Lave, Rashid Shahid, those were the end Kamara, those
are the only Saints that I was really interested in.
But those receivers are best used down field. I have
zero faith in any of the quarterbacks on this roster
right now to consistently get them the ball downfield, to

(05:20):
consistently just put them in positions to succeed. So I
already was low on this Saints offense. Now, I really
want no part of it.

Speaker 1 (05:29):
The Saints and the salary cap are like they're like
me when I get the notification that my cloud storage
is almost right and you're just like going to it.
You're like, well, I only need these old videos of me,
you know, doing my top sleepers for week twelve. Like
I'm just like going through it, like deleting a bunch
of stuff and like trying to figure out, like, oh crap,

(05:50):
here's this photo of me like with my friends from like,
you know, twenty nineteen. I'm like, eh, I don't really
need Yeah, you just like that's that's the Saints to
manage their salary cap is like where can we cut?
What can we do? And like you look at the guys,
look at the guys that are their top cap hits right.
Twenty million dollars for Derek Carr, who may not play

(06:11):
this year, Almost eighteen million for Taysom Hill, who is
going to be thirty five years old, is coming off
a major knee injury. Another twelve for Ryan Ramchek, who
is retiring. I don't know if he's has the officially
retired or is retiring. Either way, you know his time
in the NFL is coming to an end. Ten million

(06:31):
for Alvin Kamara, who's on the wrong side of thirty,
Another nearly ten million for Cam Jordan, who's thirty six
years old. I mean, they just have so much money and.

Speaker 3 (06:41):
A podcast co colleague of out.

Speaker 1 (06:44):
He is one of our colleagues here on the the
NFL iHeart podcast Network. There's just so much money tied
up in guys who are either either will not contribute
or I you know, are just on the backsides of
their career. Now. I don't know, LaQuan, I know you
were already sort of out on the Saints. I would

(07:05):
imagine this just makes it super easy. Just I mean,
it separate satchels like a worse statel than discontentuous. Just
like that's the statuel that's like, yeah, I'm gonna just
I'm gonna put this in the closet and we're just
gonna forget about it for a while.

Speaker 2 (07:23):
Here's the thing, like going back to the need for
quarterback real quick, Like they have options, like they could
get a quarterback from this class, but I don't think
it's going to be the top two that we're thinking.
But my dream scenario to recover all. This is Jaylen
Milroe and I've spoken enough about my excitement about him
and getting with Kellen Moore. It's a similar play type
than Jalen Hurst. He just needs some type of development

(07:46):
in his mechanics and I think that would be a
great fit. That will be like kind of the savior
of most of the just the bad dark cloud right
now and Nola, I.

Speaker 1 (07:55):
Just it's a straight down right because you're not gonna say.

Speaker 2 (07:58):
Jayleen Milroe at nine, No, you trade down and get
more fakes.

Speaker 3 (08:02):
And yes, that's definitely the situation. I was surprised that
Milroe is going to be attending draft day because like
I thought.

Speaker 4 (08:10):
He did a guy.

Speaker 3 (08:11):
If he ain't getting picked, look, I know, come on,
that's evil.

Speaker 4 (08:17):
Bro.

Speaker 1 (08:17):
Will Levi is sitting in the room like what are
we doing?

Speaker 3 (08:20):
As he should as for the reasons, I thought Milroe
would be a second round pick, so to see him go,
I like, look, look, because we're fantasy guys. We all
love Milroe because of what he can do with his legs,
but like there's there's a development project there. First round
would be if the sam could get him in round two,
I'm all about that, which they could.

Speaker 1 (08:41):
That is possible. I don't know.

Speaker 3 (08:43):
I mean, Steelers they need a quarterback.

Speaker 2 (08:45):
They had dinner with Milroe.

Speaker 3 (08:46):
I mean they loved them that That's where I thought
he was go.

Speaker 2 (08:50):
Yeah, But it's more so of like it's going to
be dark. Is it gonna be Milroe? You're reaching for
both in the first round in my opinion, But it's
more so of like we need a need right now,
and these other teams might scoop them up.

Speaker 1 (09:01):
I mean, both those guys, Dart and Milroe are huge reaches.
At nine.

Speaker 3 (09:06):
Yeah, you can't take either one there.

Speaker 4 (09:08):
You got a track down.

Speaker 1 (09:09):
If you could tell me that Jalen Milroe is still
there with what is it the eighth pick, I think
it is in the second round. If Milroe' is still
there at forty for the Saints, I could probably make
a better case for that. I fear it's a little
bit of Anthony Richardson syndrome too, though, where you talk

(09:30):
about having to work on his mechanics, having to, you know,
sort of fix a lot of things as a prospect,
Like it's one of those things that for fantasy we're like,
hey man, we'll just figure it out on the fly,
but we'll draft him and hope for the best, Whereas
if you're the Saints and you're actually trying to win
real football games, it feels like asking a lot.

Speaker 3 (09:49):
If I'm the Saints, I would do that in the
second round or maybe in like round three. Take Tyler
Schuck and just be like, Hey, you've played a lot
of college ball, let's see if you can handle it
at the NFL level, and just expect to have a
I pick next year. My approach so bad football NOLA
next season.

Speaker 1 (10:05):
Well, I mean, it's kind of where we've been in
the last couple of seasons, to be honest with you,
and I think I think there's a good chance that
outside of maybe the top two, but even with the
top two, but I think anything beyond that, if you
draft a guy this year, you may still be in
the market for a quarterback next year. I think that's
still very much in the cards for this year. Speaking

(10:31):
of quarterbacks, last year, Kyler Murray famously told us that
it's not his job to make sure that Marvin Harrison
gets targets, to which the Internet rose up as one
and said, absolutely, it's your job.

Speaker 3 (10:40):
It's your number one job.

Speaker 1 (10:41):
Well, actually, it's one hundred percent year job to make
sure he gets targets this year. Kyler sort of reframing
things saying that quote we will be better when it
talks about his chemistry with Marvin Harrison Junior Lakwan. I
don't know if that means they're playing more call of duty.
I know that's an easy joke to take. I don't care,
I'm taking it anyway. But are you buying into this, Like,

(11:03):
are you buying into this idea that things are going
to be better between Kyler and MHJ? And if so,
does that change where you're willing to take MHJ.

Speaker 2 (11:12):
So, first off, it kind of goes under the radar
of like the maturity that Kyler has gone through these
last couple of years. So I'm kind of taking what
he is saying, you know, for what it is, like
he wants to gain the connection, so it might be
a little bit more call of duty hours, you know,
spending with Marvin Harrison. But you honestly saw on the
back and end of the season them kind of trying
to get it to work. But it's more so like

(11:35):
it was a little too late, you know, like the
playoffs were out of the question. Kyler's plage kind of
just was iffy after that bye week. He had ten touchdowns,
eight interceptions. Most of his interceptions came from targeting Marvin Harrison.
And it's more so of like, okay, let's readjust we
have more time now to really look back at the
tape of last season and get things going. And like,
when you look at this Cardinals offense, they obviously need

(11:56):
a wide receiver too. Trey McBride, he's a lock, he's
always going to be there as they're number one, But
it's more so finding that balance in that offense. So honestly,
I honestly look at Kyler as a maturing quarterback now
and trying to take what he's saying. And this is
coming from a Rams fan. I don't want them to
be anything above, you know, the bottom of the table
of the West. But it's like when you look at
what they have, like they have the pieces to actually

(12:19):
be good. So if they're gonna be good, they have
to make this chemistry work with Marvin Harrison because quietly
had eight touchdowns. Quietly we said this before, like damn.

Speaker 3 (12:28):
He had eight touchdowns. I mean what games were here?

Speaker 2 (12:32):
But there's something there that they can build on for sure.
So like I'm gonna take it as you know, I'll
take Marvin Harrison, you know, if he's available in the
third round, which probably won't be in realistic but in consensus, Like,
if he's in the third round, I'll take him as
my wide receiver too.

Speaker 1 (12:49):
I don't I wouldn't be surprised actually, if he's still
there the third round. I think after last year, people
are sort of wary of him and the offense there
in Arizona, but Florida, I'm I'm at a point right
now where I just maybe because we've seen so many
kind of mid level seasons from Kyler over the last
few years. But you know, last week there's a story

(13:10):
that he says he's gotta run more. Now he's saying
the chemistry with Marvin Harrison Junior is gonna be better.
Like in theory, I should be getting hyped, right, I
should be like, hey, man, maybe there's something there, maybe
we're back in on Kyler. But I feel like at
this point, I just I'm like, all right, man, Like
you know, I hope it works out for you. Like
I just can't. I can't find that energy for Kyler

(13:32):
Murray right now.

Speaker 3 (13:33):
I think Kyler might be a little underrated this year
because last season we all over and I'm guilty of
this as well, like we all overrated Kyler a bit
for fantasy. We were like he's back full first full
year post acl all of that, like he's gonna run wild,
and then he didn't live up to our expectations, and
usually the fantasy community punishes a player for that the

(13:54):
following year. And I've already seen Kyler going as like
a low en QB one and for me, I still
think he's top ten, probably closer to top eight because of
what he can the upside he brings with his legs.
He's one of those qbs that I'm definitely taking another
quarterback though if I take Kyler like he's not my
set it and forget it type guy. But I am

(14:17):
a little worried about Marvin Harrison Junior because he much
more than any of the other like elite wide receivers
maybe him and a doonsday. He wins in one way,
and that was why concern with him as a prospect
was like he can't win after the catch nearly as
well as someone like Milik Neighbors, which is why I
had Neighbors higher than him last year. But Kyler also

(14:40):
isn't the type of QB who is just going to
chuck the ball downfield tomorrow. Like if Marvin Harrison Junior
was playing with like a Mahomes or an Allen or
a really strong m QB, it'd be very easy to
get excited. But like he's gonna be the like again
wide receiver one. Yes for real life purposes, but he's
their number two target behind Trey McBride. And I think

(15:01):
that gets overlooked a bit because yes, he's an X,
but he's not gonna leave that team in targets.

Speaker 1 (15:07):
Yeah, I mean it is. It is. I still hold
out hope that maybe that flips a little bit this year,
but not so much that I you know, like I
don't know. I feel like when it comes to drafting quarterbacks,
I'm either going I'm gonna either get a quarterback before
Murray's spot comes up off the board, or if I don't,

(15:28):
I'm gonna wait until after his spot has has come
and gone.

Speaker 2 (15:32):
But looking at Kyler as a quarterback in general, like
he plays better in comfortability and like I'm talking about
like when he's targeting Tray McBride, and like when you
look at some of his pass catchers last season. Again,
I'm gonna add Greg Dortch in there, because only Greg
Dortch and Trey McBride had the seventy percent catch radius
I mean a catch rates. So you're looking at guys
that are reliable, guys that can get the ball and
get upfield. And when you're forcing him to get this

(15:55):
high wide receiver prospect of what we saw Week one
against the Bills, you're forcing him the ball like it's
just one of those things that you hope this off
season that they get together, get the chemistry, get the timing,
whatever the problem was, and get it fixed. But also
we're also missing this is the same exact offense. This
is the same offensive coordinator Drew Petsy. If you were
telling me this season that they were changing offensive coordinators,

(16:16):
then we could just start fresh and be like, Okay,
I'll be a little bit higher mar Harrison, but we
have to expect somewhat of the same utility, the same
usage that Marvin Harrison, the same role that he's going
to get unless he's flopping out of the in and
out of the slot, or if they're going to change
up some type of offensive tempo and momentum. So it's
one of those things that you know, you just have
to have your expectations in order when you're going to

(16:37):
be drafted.

Speaker 1 (16:38):
Marvin Harrison, Yeah, I don't know. I think ideally, if
Marvin Harrison just shows up with some what a Burger
breakfast every day for Kyler, that maybe we kind of
you know, you know what.

Speaker 3 (16:47):
The funny part to me, though, is this time last
year Marvin Harrison was like, I'm not practicing for drills,
I'm practicing for football, and a bunch of players who
went to the combine wide receivers outperformed him in year one.

Speaker 1 (17:00):
Yeah, yeah, that's wrong. I don't have any real I
don't have any real take on that other than yeah, happened.
That was the thing that happened. I mean I did
love that he did took the whole like Kinney powers,
like I'm you know, I play real sports, not trying
to be the best at exercise, and like that was
so good. That was that was Baxically I Madejay's stance
last year and it ended up being sort of underwhelming

(17:22):
when it was all said and done. My last bit
of news here before he gets a Matt Harmon can you.
Pickett says he plans to start for the Cleveland Browns
is quote quote, I'm not going there to hang out,
all right, all right? I said, I'm not going there
to hang out, which, all right, I mean, good for you.
The thing though, that really made me laugh about the

(17:44):
quote in the story that really got me because I
don't know if he meant to shade Joe Flacco like
this or if it just happened, but the quote was,
I've heard nothing but great things about Joe. I've been
watching him since I was ten years old. Geez.

Speaker 3 (17:57):
Yeah, you know what's funny. The funniest about it is
Joe Flacco was closer in age to Kenny Pickett than
he was last year's quarterback that he shared in Richardson.

Speaker 1 (18:09):
Yeah, that's true, that is true. Is a veteran compared
to Richardson, That's absolutely true. I don't know. I guess
what do either of you expect any pickets to be
the starter? I mean, who's going to be the starter?
And in the end doesn't really matter for us.

Speaker 2 (18:26):
I'm gonna pull my punches being that both these guys
are Jersey natives, like I.

Speaker 3 (18:30):
Love my Jersey hope, but.

Speaker 1 (18:34):
I know he went to Delaware. I know he went
to Delaware. I didn't. I thought he was maybe from
Delaware or I believe, But there you are. You are correct. Yeah,
there you go.

Speaker 3 (18:42):
See a lot of pizzas in his day.

Speaker 1 (18:44):
Yeah, I need.

Speaker 2 (18:45):
To know if he's a Taylor Ham or pork Row guy,
and we will get those rankings of Justin if I
actually running ticket is South Jersey, he's central, He's Central Jersey.
He's he's right there on the cuss he's by the
Jersey shore where he so he knows a little bit
about good pizza and bad pizza. But more so looking
at it doesn't matter who the starter is. I mean
for fantasy, obviously we want Joe flaccol We want pretty flat,

(19:08):
Yeah we do. We don't go went crazy with him
absolutely those two years ago. Though last year Flacco was awful.

Speaker 3 (19:14):
And it was kind of lightning in a bottle at
that half a season in my opinion, And so.

Speaker 2 (19:20):
It was Winston and Cleveland as well. But I just
think more so him already knowing the system and how
things work and how timing and chemistry works with some
of the guys that are still there. When he was there,
Kenny Pickett's going there to learn, He's going to be
hanging out a lot, like I honestly think Joe Flacco
comes out as the starter, or we don't know what

(19:41):
they do at two? What if they take your door?
I mean, honestly, we already talked about this. We don't
want that to happen. But if we had to choose,
I would honestly won Joe Flacco for Jerry Judy's upside,
for daming the Joker's relevance, just saying.

Speaker 1 (19:55):
I just I don't think it matters. It's all no
I do. I think it's all about this same Like, okay,
ask you this. If Joe Flacco wins the job by
the camp, which is not that's not an unreasonable statement.
How many games does he started, Like, let's put the
number at let's put it number at ten. Does he
start more than ten games? I don't think so.

Speaker 2 (20:12):
I think they split less, like I think it will
be less because at that point the offense would be
so bad. Like it's like, all right, just put Kenny
Pickt in tiny, tiny fingers, tiny hands, I'm pulling my
punches again. I love my Jersey folks, but geez, I
just think it's a bad situation as well. I agree,
but I just would rather the veteran.

Speaker 1 (20:34):
You said the man had dolphins, and You're like, I'm
pulling my punches, Like what would what would you? Right? Like,
I can't. My hands are so tiny, Like what would
you have said if you were pulling punches? Uh?

Speaker 3 (20:46):
We can't say all Mike, I'll tell you this though,
I am I'm not good. I'm not doing the Jerry
Judy thing at all, not even because of the quarterbacks.
Because this one good stretch he had last year where
he was dominant one. It came with Jameis Winston, who
loves targeting one wide receiver, but it came with the
why am I drawing a blank on? Uh Dorset Ken Dorsey,

(21:10):
who I could tell you from years of experience does
not care about turnovers and just wants to pepper the
wide receiver one with targets. Once Dorsey left, Judy kind
of became Judy again those final two games. So I'm
out on Judy. I'm out on this offense as a whole. Really,
even even if Travis Hunter goes here, which I'm praying

(21:31):
he doesn't because I want him to go, like, send
him to New England.

Speaker 1 (21:34):
Please, but.

Speaker 3 (21:37):
David and Joko would be the only one. I think
I have any interest on this offense drafting.

Speaker 1 (21:41):
Yeah, I just I don't know. I think I'm out
on the Browns this year. Ohough By the way, I'll
say this, Browns to have a a offensive coordinator, play
caller who doesn't really care about turnovers. Jameis Winston is
the perfect quarterback for you. I mean, it is the
memory who's just gonna just sling it. Yeah, it's perfect,

(22:03):
perfect Pairy, perfect pary. All Right, we're gonna dive into
some wide receivers. We're gonna have Matt Harmon come on
and talk about some of the guys that he has
looked at, his thoughts on some of the top prospects,
and just general his method for what he does. So
let's stick around for that. Coming up next on the
NFL Fantasy Football Show. Super glad to be joined here

(22:24):
on the NFL Fantasy Football Show by one of my
favorite people, both in the industry and just in real
life as well. You probably know him from the myriad
of things he does over at Yahoo, or maybe you
know him from his brainchild known as reception Perception, or
if you are of a certain age. You may remember
him from being on this very own show where he

(22:46):
would sit along with myself and several others and we
would filter in some occasional fantasy football talk with a
whole lot of nonsense. It is our pal, the one
and only Matt Harmon Pale Good to talk to you
is always man.

Speaker 4 (22:58):
Hard things, Marcus, everyone, I appreciate it. Yeah, it's good
to be back. It feels like being in an apartment
used to live in. You know, it doesn't look quite
the same, but generally recognize a few things, especially you, Marcus,
who seems to only get better looking as you age,
which is infuriating for me in a steep decline as
a human being. But nevertheless, it's good to be here

(23:20):
and I'm excited to talk today.

Speaker 1 (23:21):
Absolutely every time I see you, though, you get the
more swole, So you know you got that going for you.

Speaker 4 (23:27):
Everything from the neck up is not as good as
it used to be, so down we've got to continue
to improve that every single year.

Speaker 1 (23:36):
Oh man, Well, good times as always. I want to
get you on as we are a little more than
a week ahead of the NFL Draft that we've been
going position by position of course, when we wanted to
talk wide receivers, you were the first person on my
list to come talk to. With the success of RP
everything you're doing over Yahoo with Nate Tice, Charles McDonald,
everybody over there. I just want to kind of jump

(23:58):
in at the top of this thing just because you know,
Travis Hunter is maybe the most intriguing prospect in this draft.
You know, the debate about whether he's going to play
one side of the ball or the other or maybe both,
that one sort of rages on, But you obviously are
evaluating him just from the wide receiver perspective, And so
from just that perspective alone, what do you see from

(24:22):
Travis Hunter that maybe pretends for him being great at
the next level or maybe not so great.

Speaker 4 (24:27):
I don't know, man, he might be my favorite receiver
I've ever evaluated, not because like I think he's the
best prospect I've ever charged or anything like that, but
I just take it back to kind of the beginning
of my experience with Travis Hunter. You know, I don't
watch college football during the regular season because I'm trying
to say a happily married man enough to justify, like,

(24:48):
let's tank a whole nother day because of football. That
doesn't have to do with my job. But because of that,
I'm aware of who Travis Hunter is. I'm aware he's
a two way player. I'm aware he wins the Heisman,
but I didn't re realized that. I mean, this guy
truly was a full time player on both sides of
the ball. Like so, going in and just seeing the
fact that he played over one hundred snaps in eleven

(25:09):
of thirteen games, it's like outrageous. And I actually still
feel like it's not talked about enough. It's usually a
stupid thing to say, and maybe it's a stupid thing
to say in this situation because everybody's talking all of
the time and there's so much coverage about everything, But
I mean, this is truly a once in a lifetime player.
Like we talk about generational prospects every other year and

(25:30):
usually it's bad. No, this guy actually is a once
cent a generation prospect. And the part of the reason
I think that is because he is an incredible wide receiver.
I mean, if we're just looking at him as a
wide out, he's in the same tier of prospect to
me as the guys that went in the top ten
last year, Marvin Harrison, ramajunse Melik neighbors, and like, it

(25:52):
wouldn't surprise me if he was better than any of
those guys, just because he brings everything you want from
a traits and skills perspective, ninety seventh percentile success rate
versus zone coverage in reception perception, and like, those cornerback
skills show up so well as a wide out in
terms of like, hey, here's how you beat zone and
here's where you settle into things and make yourself a

(26:14):
reliable target over the middle of the field. He's great
against press coverage. I'll be it in you know, the
Big twelve or whatever conference it is now. You know
it's not the best level of competition, but in terms
of prospects that have been pressed on over twenty two
percent of their routes in reception perception AST prospects, he's
got the best success rate versus press. He's got rare
catching ability, he rarely goes down on first contact, like

(26:37):
anything you'd want in a number one wide receiver. He
brings those skills to the table, which is why I
think like Cleveland taking him at two, Andrew Barry's obsessed
with the guy I mean it's been it's been very
obvious anytime he's spoken. I got pictures from somebody that
was at his pro day of Barry just like complete
in the squat, like just watching Dravis go through everything.
He loves him as a wide receiver, and I think

(26:57):
I believe, I will believe. I will not believe it,
like when I see it basically that he doesn't try
to play both ways. I expect him to try to
be a full time player on both sides of the ball.

Speaker 3 (27:07):
Yeah, and a lot like you. He is my favorite
receiver in this class, and I've been saying like I
think he's the only elite option. And people call me
a hot take artist and stuff, but one hot take
we had on this show was myself and Lakwan Jones
went at it a couple of weeks ago over Luther Burden.
I am team Luther Burden, Lakwan is not. So I
want to just hear your thoughts where you land on

(27:28):
Luther Burden and if there's any teams that you think
maybe because I don't think he's the kind of guy
that you could just throw in any single offense, But
do you think there's any that come up to mind
where you're like, oh, he could shine there.

Speaker 1 (27:40):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (27:40):
It's not surprising to me that you guys have like
a wide view on or like a wide range in
terms of who you think Luther Burden is, because I
think he is the number one, like grade to the
Flashes player in this class. If you just grade to
the Flashes, I think he actually looks like the best
wide receiver in the class. The problem is, there are
a lot of other plays there that are not pretty.

(28:01):
I think he's obviously great with the ball in his hands,
there's no question about that. I think even people that
are Burden detractors maybe Lakwan feels differently, but usually we'll
tell you like, yeah, good, he's good once you get
the ball in his hands, and he's good after the catch.
He's bigger than you think, he's faster than you think.
He is definitely someone that I would like you understand
why Missouri designed so many touches for him. He's another

(28:21):
guy that rarely went down on first contact and can
make those big plays. The thing is, though he's got
some real deal flashes against man coverage. You know, he's
got a seventy one percent success rate verse man coverage
in reception perception. Now, he faced zone coverage more more
often than any prospect than the class because of that
slot heavy role that he played. But you see him
win on outbreaking routes against man coverage, real deal, like

(28:43):
big boy routes. Those flashes are just few and far
in between. And then there's a lot of plays where
he's facing all that zone coverage and he's not particularly
good or you know, hetty in terms of where he
needs to settle down. So his success rate verzone is
actually not where you'd want it to be from a
guy that is facing so much own coverage. So it's
just it's a really hard evaluation, man. Plus the fact that,

(29:04):
like he is a guy that has gotten character concerns
throughout the process. Not like he's a bad guy, but
it's like, you know, work ethic, football intelligence stuff, and
like maybe he's just, like you said, not for everybody.
That's beyond the fact the scheme, Like he just might
not be a personality fit for all thirty two teams,
which was the reason that I've basically said with Luther Burton,

(29:25):
like how good is Luther Burton going to be? That's
up to Luther Burton, because I think if he dials
in and he works at it, he could easily be
the best receiver in this class. And a lot of
that will also come down to where he lands in
the right role, because I don't think he is just
a design touches player. I think he can run some
real deal routse. He high points the ball really well,
he adjusts to it in flight at the catch point.

(29:46):
So I'm I'm kind I don't want to say I'm
a believer in Luther Burton, but if some team team
I'm like a let me, I'm a centrist. Okay, Marcus
will not be surprised that I'm going to come down
in the middle here on this issue. I'm like, I
kind of can see both sides of the argument, and
to me, it will just be like again, if he
dials in, he puts the work like there is.

Speaker 1 (30:07):
J J.

Speaker 4 (30:07):
Zackery's had a great comparison for him in his late
Round Prospect guy that we talked about on his show.
It's a Brandon Auk comparison, which I actually think is
so perfect because Ayuk was a guy who was kind
of a design touches yards after catch option in college,
but he flashed the ability to run routes against offman coverage,
which is very similar to the Luther Burdon evaluation. We

(30:29):
know it wasn't always easy in San Francisco. There were
some rocky moments early for Ayuk, but when he dialed in,
he became one of the best separators in the entire league.
That that path is available for Luther Burton again, it
is just up to him to dial in and go
down that path.

Speaker 1 (30:44):
Just real quick too before before you go Lakwandra, you
know you talk about Luther Burden can be as good
as Luther Burden wants to be, and I think that
applies to Brandon Ayuk right Like Brandon I yuks talking
about the rocky moments. It's because you know, for Kyle Shanahan,
you weren't getting enough from Ayuk in the other phases
of the game. If it was him running routes and
trying to get over and get the ball, I kind
of didn't care. Is when he started to care that

(31:05):
he kind of got more love that forty nine er offense.
I'm a sucker for a physically gifted receiver who is
just a head case like those guys get me.

Speaker 2 (31:16):
No, I do hear the arguments, like it's one of
those things that me and Florida were going back and
forth with and like my stance was is like he
has to go to the right location. Like how many
times have we seen his type fail on the NFL level?
And like you smoke about the route running and expanding
and like we hear things like this with labels with
players like they have a limited routree, Like has there

(31:36):
been a player that you evaluated coming out of college
like you mentioned Brandon I you expanding his routree, but
a guy that just been labeled as a one center
guy for the routree being very limited, Like have you
seen him grow, you know, once they got to the
next NFL level?

Speaker 4 (31:50):
Yeah? Yeah. I Mean the easiest and probably most positive
example of this is actually from last year's draft class,
Brian Thomas junior man. I mean that guy ran over
fifty percent of his routes, or just under fifty percent
of his routes. There's going to be sixty seven point
one percent I'm wrong about the sixty seven point one
percent of his charted routes were slant curl or nine.

(32:11):
That was a very limited route tree at LSU in
his final season didn't matter in the NFL, like he
immediately expanded that because he showed that he could. This
is why it's less about what you do and what
you show that you can do, Like what are you
ask to do? That's one thing. The other part of
the evaluation is do you show in other moments that
you can expand upon that? And that was the thing

(32:32):
with Brian Thomas was I actually think the Jaguars and look,
the coaching staffs stunk and like they've all gotten they've
all gotten shipped out of there. We know that. But
one thing they did a good job with is they
didn't overload this guy right away with a with a
big deal role, like they had gave Davis to play
that sacrificial X receiver role, so that Brian Thomas could
move around the formation, play as the flank or play
a little bit as the X, get reps from the

(32:54):
slot and get a lot of like screens and things
of that nature. Then by the time his rookie year
was over, the guy's getting an unbelievable amount of volume
with like mac Jones is this quarterback. So he showed
he could develop, But honestly, his his rookie season was
very similar to his final year in college, where the
more he played, the better he got. So I mean,
for some of these guys, it is they remain a

(33:15):
limited application player. Alec Pierce is a guy that was
all he could run coming into the NFL was slants
and nines and all in posts. And all he does
in the NFL is runs slants nine in posts like
that's it. But it's a reasonably valuable role for an
NFL offense. It just makes you kind of a volatile
player looking at.

Speaker 1 (33:36):
A guy like a Mecca Abuka because obviously you're you're
up on all these guys right In the last few years,
Ohio State has given us Marvin Harrison Junior, JSN chrys Olave,
who else I'm missing, Jarrett Wilson, Jared Wilson. There it is.
That was the one Where does Abuka rank amongst those
guys coming out of there?

Speaker 4 (33:56):
I guess he would probably be the lowest of that
group because I think think, but here's the thing. I
love Buka and he's my clear cut if we I
feel like with every wide receiver conversation, we kind of
have to say, well, he's the best at this, he's
the best at that. If you throw out Travis Hunter.
If you throw at Travis Hunter, he's probably the best
zone beater in the class, and he might have the

(34:17):
best set of hands in the class. And to me,
he is my number three receiver if we include Travis Hunter,
and he's in the same tier as a guy like
Tetro McMillan to me. Because so if we're just hearing
all those Ohio State guys, I thought Marv, Chris Olave,
and Gary Wilson were what I would call tier one
wide receiver prospects, meaning you could take those guys in

(34:38):
the top ten of any draft, and I think they
were ready to start as rookies and eventually become NFL superstars.
And I look, Marvin, we'll see if he becomes an
NFL superstar. But he started day one as a rookie
X receiver and like obviously it was a disappointing year
because everybody was too high on him from a fantasy perspective,
but he had a you know it was again, he
had a pretty decent rookie season as a starting ex receiver.

(35:01):
The other like JSN, the other guy there, I think
he is in the same tier of a prospect as
at Mecha Buka. I probably prefer JSN just by a
little bit because he's a better He's a flashier player.
Guka is more of like a dog. He's more like reliable.
So I really this is the type of skill set
I really like, Like the power slot guys who block,
who catch everything, and who beat zone coverage. Those people

(35:22):
always complain about their upside. Nobody's complaining about the upside
of i'man Ross Saint Brown who has this exact same
skill set and pushes to lead the NFL and catches
every single year.

Speaker 3 (35:33):
Yeah. So you mentioned he's your three if you count
Travis Hunter, is McMillan two.

Speaker 4 (35:38):
Yeah, he would be too.

Speaker 3 (35:40):
So what are your thoughts on McMillan, Because I like
him a lot, but I do think he's one of
these wide receivers that people like see his size and
they're like, just throw the ball up to him. But
to me, I don't think he's that kind of player
at all. I think he's a lot better, like after
the catch and stuff, And I'm just wondering, do you
think he can translate to be that kind of receiver
that people want to make him out to be, and

(36:01):
can he be a one at the NFL.

Speaker 4 (36:03):
Level, I think to answer the last question first, I
think he fits into a group of players that I
think you can get away with as your number one receiver,
but is probably best as a two. My player comparison
for him as Courtland Sutton, who I think perfectly encapsulates
that he's probably better as he's probably better as a
two than a one. But look the Broncos. He was
their easy, clear cut number one receiver, was the only

(36:26):
wide receiver who ran a round on fifty percent of
the dropbacks throughout the course of the season, and he
was a good number one receiver for an offensive outkicked expectations.
And I think McMillan could be that type of player
in the NFL. Again, he's a better separator than you think.
I'm glad you brought up the point about his yards
after catchability. That's really where he is underrated to me.
He breaks contact contact well. He has these like long

(36:47):
strides where he can eat up ground, and the critical
part of that is that he's better on these like
intermediate inbreaking routes like digs and some deeper posts where
he gets into space and then can get those yards
after the catch. The point about him as a ball winner,
I actually think is a good one because he's not
one of these like absolute dunk on you physical specimens

(37:07):
at the catch point. Those guys tend to get a
little overrated anyways, So I actually think he's a better
separator and not as good of a ball winner as
people think, which is kind of why I settled with
him as a tier two prospect. Again, Travis Sunder's my
only Tier one prospect in this class. McMillan, though, I
do think is you can use a first round pick
on him and feel really really good about it. And again,
if you're the right team gets him and he's better

(37:29):
used as a two than a one, I think he'd
be a really good pick there.

Speaker 2 (37:32):
So I want to talk to you about Tesz Johnson.
So we see him go to the combine like he's
a smaller guy, Like, is that a big concern in
like for the three cone drill? Do you think that
like kind of saved his draft stock and what type
of production could we expect with a player of his size.

Speaker 4 (37:47):
Honestly, it's unfortunate for tes but I feel like a
lot of teams see four or five at that weight
and they're just going to cross him off the board,
And I think he can have a use in the
NFL because he's really good at diagnosing zone coverage and
finding like these soft spots and things like that. But
you know, when we're comparing him to the last guy
who was a size outlier in Tank Dell, which is

(38:10):
kind of funny because Tank Dell went from like being
an outlier to like a cautionary tale really quick, like
after his rookie years, like, see, this is why you
got I mean, who cares? How big he how big
he is? Who cares? We got a we had a
really productive receiver in the third round or whatever. And
then by the end of his second season, it's like,
well he can't stay healthy, you know. So this is

(38:33):
one of the size part of it does come back
into equation here. For tes, he's smaller than Tank Dell,
and he is not as good against press coverage as
Tank Dell was. As a prospect, That's where I got
kind of hung up on projecting him as anything more
than a really nice number three. But for the right team,
you know, I certainly think he can end up being
a useful player. I mean, I wouldn't rule out the

(38:53):
Broncos going after He's he is literally bo Nix's like
adopted brother, you know, like Tedz Johnson taken in by
bo Nix's family like they they are. They are truly
like brothers. So I wouldn't be surprised if bo says, Hey,
Sean had a pretty nice rookie year for you, You
got me the Oregon receiver who's not that reliable and
Troy Franks. How about you give me a guy in

(39:13):
Tes Johnson who's gonna be where he's supposed to be
against own coverage.

Speaker 1 (39:16):
Yeah, this would be perfect because we won. This is
a this is a bow Leaver podcast, right, we are
all on bow Knicks here and knowing how Lakwan feels
about Tess Johnson, just pairing the two of them up
basically me and I guess none of us are getting
bow Nicks in any drafts because it would just be
Lakwan pretty much taking him. Take a quick break, will

(39:36):
come back board with Matt Harmon as we talk some
wide receivers and ahead of the draft. Coming up next
on the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast, I'm back talking with
Matt Harmon of Yahoo and Reception Perception as we dive
into some wide receivers that draft in a little more
than a week from today. I want to give you
a chance to be a hater. I know that you

(39:57):
oka just like to put on your your hater hat,
and you can can do that.

Speaker 4 (40:00):
Well.

Speaker 1 (40:02):
Is there somebody out there that you feel like you
were sort of contrarian on not on purpose, just like
in the natural course of study, somebody that maybe you
aren't as high on as a lot of other folks. Yeah, Marcus,
I usually prefer to be a hater offline online. I
try to pretend that I'm a positive, rosy guy. No,
I think for this particular question, to me, it is

(40:23):
Jaden Higgins from Iowa State, who there's a lot of
people that I really like and respect who are big
walk away I just gotta have and walked away after
he and.

Speaker 3 (40:38):
On this one personally, I haven't told.

Speaker 4 (40:41):
But oh man, well, I was gonna say, I'm like
ruining la quants to be a.

Speaker 1 (40:46):
Two persons show going forward apparently.

Speaker 4 (40:49):
But I mean, here's the thing with Higgins, Like, it's
not that I don't like him. I actually think he
is a is a good day to prospect at the
receiver position. Like to me's a. He's a good third rounder.
I feel really comfortable taking h third round. But there
are other people that are just higher. Clearly, freaking Lakwan
has run at one of them. Like a lot of
people that I respect, including Lakwan, view him as like
a potential, like maybe top five, top six receiver in

(41:11):
the class. I'm just a little bit lower than that
because he doesn't separate like just point blank, he does
not separate like I want to see guys get open
at the NFL level if we're projecting him there. He
is one of these players that in reception perception is
sub thirty fifth percentile against press and man coverage. There
are guys that have hit from that. From that list,

(41:32):
they did a whole breakdown on YouTube about this last
year looking at Keon Coleman, and I actually think there's
a lot of similarities between Keon Coleman and Jayden Higgins,
whereas they're a little bit different, like when you actually
just break them down kind of stylistically, because I think
Coleman was a little bit more straight line and powerful,
whereas Higgins does have some real fluidity underneath, but it's
mostly expressed against zone coverage. The guys who have hit

(41:55):
from this list, they've all become big slot receivers. I
mean like jujuswith Hues or Rashi, Rice Cooper Cup, I'm
on rust Saint Brown, who who we were just talking about.
Like all those guys were not great perimeter players in college,
but they shifted into being power slots and they've worked
out really well in that role. I do think if
Higgins can go to a team that sees that vision

(42:16):
for him, you know that there is a potential, high
quality future for him in the NFL. The problem is
a lot of teams see six four over two hundred
and ten pounds with that four to four at the
combine and think like, all right, that's our next X receiver.
And at best I think you get Mike Williams out
of that archetype like at best, and Williams was a
much much better college player than Jayden Higgins was. So

(42:39):
the ball skills are pretty good. He's got good hands.
The problem is, again, he just doesn't separate to the
level that I would want for him to be playing
outside in the NFL.

Speaker 3 (42:46):
It is funny because I'm looking at my notes for him,
and I wrote in the notes, like said a lot
about this about key On Coleman last year as well.
Ha similar things that I'll say. So we're kind of
on the if he goes to the Bills, I'll be
in Look I'll just tell you that.

Speaker 1 (42:59):
But look like.

Speaker 4 (43:00):
Keon Coleman, I think is actually really instructive to kind
of putting a range on these guys because I don't
think ke On Coleman had a bad year for the
Buffalo Bills as a rookie. It just there was never
a point where it's like, yeah, all right, we got
to start feeding Keyon eight ten targets consistently because if
you're gonna be because basically everything I said, like, here's
what I'd love to build, like a team to do

(43:21):
with Keon Coleman, Like I'd love them to move into
the slot. I'd love them to not play a bunch
of X receiver. Well, Buffalo Bills just played him an
ex receiver basically the entire year. I don't mean I
don't have to tell you this for you. You watched
all the games. You know this, like and that. To me,
it's like, okay, well he had his moments where yeah,
he just goes up and he dunks on people. Because
he's bigger, and he has really good contested catchability. But again,
that's those type of players. The NFL has really moved

(43:43):
away from that being your number one read in the
concept that being a guy that you're again throwing ten
targets to every single week or even close to that range,
especially these offenses like Buffalo that have been saying, hey, Josh,
like take the layups, take the layups, take the layups.
And at that point, you just don't get especially if
we'realking about like from a fantasy perspective, we don't really
get that value, that consistent value that we'd want from

(44:04):
a guy if he is to play a perimeter role
in the NFL.

Speaker 3 (44:07):
And to that point, the number one thing I look
for while watching these college receivers is like, can you
consistently separate? And it sounds like you do as well,
But I'm wondering, like, when you're scouting these receivers, separation
seems very high on your list. What else are other
traits that you look for that stand out to you?

Speaker 4 (44:24):
Honestly, to me, it's really just like it all has
to start with what role are we projecting them into?
Because using the Jaden Higgins example, like if we're talking
about him as an X receiver, then there's a lot
of things. Okay, I don't like this, I don't like this,
I don't like this. But again, if he's somebody that
is going to move into the inside, all of a sudden,
other things in the profile start to become important. Number One,
that's success rate versus zone coverage, which for Jaden Higgins

(44:46):
is actually in a pretty solid range. It's not special,
but it's pretty solid. Like again enough to project him
into that slot role. Just how well do you catch
a football, which for Jaden Higgins is actually strength of
his game. No drops in the game's charter for reception
perception got a little He's got to not do the
alligator arm thing at the catch point, Like we don't
need the ninety degree angle, Like let's extend that's a

(45:06):
wingspan to the complete capability. But it's something I think
he could probably improve on. But especially now with the
NFL being a league that wants to limit big plays
and put a put a top on the you know,
put the top on the defense and not allow those
explosive players at the top. Can you be somebody that
when we get the ball in your hands, is going
to do something useful with it, And I actually think

(45:27):
in this class there's a lot of players that present
as pretty interesting yards after catch and tackle breaking receivers.
So what you do in space is more important now
to me than it ever has been.

Speaker 2 (45:39):
So I really want to get your thoughts on a
player like Jalen Nolan, Like, I really love that he's
able to be quick in his routes and his breaks,
But where does he honestly fit best at because we
see him trying to play outside and then I understand
that he will probably be really successful in the slot,
But where would be the best fit team wise? Where
he will be able to succeed in the NFL.

Speaker 4 (46:00):
Team wise is really interesting because, Yeah, Jalen Nole is
my guy. I For as much as I'm skeptical of
Jade Niggins, I'm very very in on Jalen Nole. Let's go,
We're good. Yeah, seventy four point five percent success rate
verse man coverage puts him in the range of like
where Lad McConkey was last year. He actually compares overall
very similar to Josh Downs. In Josh Downs's prospect profile,

(46:21):
I still can't believe the damn NFL allowed Josh Downs
to go to the seventy ninth selection to the Colts
just now producing a bunch of dudes that that went
ahead of him. What a what a joke. And so
that that's sort of the type of player. I think
that Jalen Nole can be probably a slot mostly but
not a slot only player, because he shows you the
ability to beat man coverage and especially it's the way

(46:43):
that he does it, Like he is very much in
the vertical slot archetype. Like there are some guys that
are kind of those I call like pop gun or
bunny hop slot receivers, you know, where you're gonna get
the ball in their hands and like on the short
and underneath stuff. I actually think Nole can get down
the field from the slot. So in terms of teams
that he would fit on, I haven't really I haven't
really found a good one yet, because like it's got

(47:04):
to be a quarterback who can take advantage of the
deep area of the field. And you know, I think
Jacksonville potentially you just lost Christian Kirk. That's somewhat that's
somebody that I could see you know, him fitting there.
Tennessee with cam Ward is going to want to take
those chances, although I think cam Ward, you know, might
push for them to reunite in with Kyle Williams, who's
another really good prospect in this class that used to

(47:25):
play with at Washington State. The office coordinator from Tennessee,
Nichols used to coach Kyle Williams at un LV, So
that's one connection that I think might end up happening.
But yeah, somewhere where it's a we need a slot receiver,
but we're not just like a quick hitting offense who
can actually take advantage of vertical concepts would be the
spot for nol One.

Speaker 1 (47:42):
I love that you've already You've already just put cam
Ward in Tennessee, Like that's just it's settled.

Speaker 4 (47:48):
I know you, I know you guys work for the NFL,
and like we got to just drag this out. It
seems like every insider can't stop reporting about like, oh this,
this prospects visiting here, like chadors take a lot of visits.
We got to keep this interesting. We know who the
first pick is. Let's just get to the event. Already
you would think.

Speaker 1 (48:05):
So, but you know, even still, the Titans are going
to take every last second of the clock before they
handed the card. Roger Goodell like, we're gonna draw this
thing out, but I think it's interally you you mentioned
a quarterback because I'm gonna go sort of off menu
here because I know one of the things that you
and I have talked about is that in the process
of charting wide receivers you also sort of inadvertently get

(48:26):
to evaluate a lot of quarterback play. I know, a
couple of years ago you were sort of that big
on the quarterback play at the college level. What you've
seen in the last year or two, has it gotten better?
Are there guys that we should be you know, sort
of keeping one eye open for. I mean, I just
want Matt harmon State of the Union on quarterback play

(48:46):
in college having watched a lot of it, Oh my god,
it it's so it's not great. I was charting Tye
Felton or yeah, Tye Felton from Maryland earlier this week,
and I was just like, what is going on?

Speaker 4 (49:04):
Like a quarterback? I don't even know, but it wasn't
fun to watch. Now, Honestly, it's less Marcus about the
quarterback play now, and it's more so about the structures
of some of these offenses that's just tough to get through.
I'm talking about a guy, Jalen Jalen Royals from this
class at a Utah State. Dude, I started a Utah

(49:28):
State versus Jmu game. I mean unbelievable stuff Jmu Road
here in Virginia actually, but I mean that offense, like
he is truly lining up on one side of the
field in one position and he is, I swear to God,
running like fifty percent curls and slants. It's just so rudimentary,
like the spacing is weird. So honestly, tell us about

(49:48):
the quarterback play for me now, and it's more about
like which offense is grinding my gears. Utah State is
definitely up there after this process.

Speaker 3 (49:59):
You mentioned Kyle Woyam. I'm talking about cam Ward and
I'm happy you did because I like him a lot.
I think he is one of these receivers who could
win downfield, but like you say, it's so important he
could win after the catch as well. I'm wondering what
caught you'rer with Kyle Williams and where does he kind
of slot in this class for you?

Speaker 4 (50:16):
Yeah, I really like Kyle Williams. He would be like
a priority second round pick to me, somebody that I
actually think he's going to go higher than people think.
I was making this connection yesterday on Football three to
zero one with Nate Tye. I posted the video on
Twitter today where like it's it's on my radar that
as soon as the combine ends, and usually this is

(50:37):
right about you guys know how the sausage is made,
Like everybody says this. The media is always catching up
to what the NFL teams actually think, and it was
on my radar that kind of like right after the combine,
a lot of like big name analysts start being like,
you know, it's really good Kyle Williams. He really Williams
is rising up my board. That usually means like, oh,
teams have liked Kyle Williams all along. So when I

(50:59):
charted him, I think the things that stood out to me.
You mentioned a couple of them. One that he is
a much better tackle breaker than somebody of that size
would indicate. And he plays a lot of outside X receiver,
and he's pretty good against press coverage, especially working on
some of these underneath routes. So I typically have been
honestly too high on this type. So I'm trying not
to get over my skis on Kyle Williams because he's

(51:21):
one of these like smaller separators, and I have defth
like Elijah Moore, Jayden Reid, this is like my type
of receiver that I end up getting a little too
high on. So I'm trying to keep myself measured with Williams.
But he definitely has a lot of uses after the
catch in a way that, like you know, Jayden Reid,
who has been a good round, a good second round
pick for the Packers. People in fantasy are just frustrated
with him because he hasn't consistently been on the field

(51:43):
and you know, maybe he got a little too overhyped
at times. But he's a guy that is really good
with the ball in his hands and can win on
his routes. And that skill set for me with Kyle
Williams is something I think a lot of teams are
going to be really interesting, and especially top of the
second round.

Speaker 3 (51:56):
Man.

Speaker 4 (51:57):
Like I mentioned that Tennessee Titans fit that one stands
out to me New England at the sixth pick in
the second round, like they want somebody with yards after
catchability who can win outside and I do think Williams
checks that box.

Speaker 2 (52:08):
So I want to get your thoughts on a guy
that I recently just found upon eleck Iomanner, and I
feel like, you know, he might be one of the
guys that might surprise from folks. So what are your
thoughts on him and what he could do at the
next level?

Speaker 1 (52:20):
Dude?

Speaker 4 (52:21):
Is he not like a perfect Packers wide receiver? He
is such a Packers receiver number one. He checks their
their size thresholds. He's over two hundred pounds, he's over
six feet. Reid is actually the only guy that they've
reached under those thresholds for recently. And of course like
right after you drafted, like no, I'm one hundred and
ninety pounds, Like well, we've been one eighty five year

(52:42):
entire career. But anyway, so he's he checks the sizes
that they want. He actually does flash the ability to
beat man coverage. He's a great run blocker. He's one
of the better blocking receivers in this class. Problem is
can't catch so has hands in issues. His contestant catchability

(53:02):
is a little bit hit or miss. So to me,
I think he is a good developmental X receiver. It's
he's still kind of growing into football as well. He
you know, came from Canada, Like he's still kind of
yeah right exactly, So I think he's still a developing player.
I would I would think like you might actually get
on the field pretty early.

Speaker 1 (53:21):
Honestly.

Speaker 4 (53:22):
It's pretty similar to like Romeo Dobbs, who was a
reliable player who blocked really well and was gritty, and
he got on the field early for the Packers, and
then by year three it's like, Okay, we've cut out
some of the mistakes with Romeo Dobbs. He's not dropping
as many passes, He's not uh, he's not making as
many mistakes against press coverage off the line. And I
feel like Elic Iomanner might be a guy who gets
an early role and then grows as a target earner

(53:43):
over the first three to four years of his career.

Speaker 1 (53:46):
Love that I when I when I look at him,
when I read about him, I sort of settle on
another former Stanford guy, that being JJ R. Sega Whiteside,
another guy who yeah, but like coming again. Now I
think he's in Canada now, I don't even think he's
playing in the NFL.

Speaker 4 (54:05):
Well he was. I think he went NFL receiver tight
end Canada, which is not a good pipeline.

Speaker 1 (54:10):
I mean because but he was a guy and look,
admittedly you know some of this. You know, you know,
you see things and anecdotally, like I watched him high
point balls against small USC quarters for multiple years and
like thought, man, this dude's really gonna be something. And
he had like odd odd game with the Eagles that
was that was noteworthy. Maybe I omn or is a

(54:31):
little bit better, but that's that's the place that my
mind went immediately. Harman Pal always get to talk to you.
I would think that if anybody is listening to this podcast,
they know where to find you. But yeah, maybe there's
somebody who's never heard of Matthew Harmon before, in which case,
where can they become more acquainted with you.

Speaker 4 (54:50):
Yeah, you can find me Matt Harmon Underscore b YB
on Twitter, you can find me on Blue Sky just
at Matt Harmon. So they shout out to that and
of course think we're doing Yahoo. We've got a draft
show coming up during the NFL Draft night one night too,
So you canscribe subscribe to YouTube to get all that
stuff and reception Perception dot Com if you liked what
I talked about about wide receivers. Today, you will definitely

(55:11):
enjoy your reception perception subscription. The stack, drankings, the profiles,
the sortable data, got it all covered for you there.

Speaker 1 (55:17):
Yeah, man, I love it. I'm a big fan of
a subscriber, long time subscriber. Love the charts.

Speaker 4 (55:22):
Appreciate it, guys.

Speaker 1 (55:23):
By the way, I also saw I don't know if
you saw. I saw our ple JJ zachar reeson who
we had on last week. He resurrected the boy Young
boy meme that that that came up again.

Speaker 4 (55:34):
Oh well, I mean, when you get something good like that,
you gotta you gotta continue to hit it. So I
get JJ's you know, he's he's a good young up
and coming kind of like m in the industry, you
know he does. He's obviously trying to make a name
for himself and and sort of using my fame to
h to kind of ride my coattails. I I do
understand where he's coming from there.

Speaker 1 (55:56):
Yeah, no, completely completely understand it. You know that maybe
maybe one day this lay round quarterback thing we'll catch on.

Speaker 4 (56:02):
Who knows, Yeah, maybe, I don't know. But other but
he seems like a nice guy. I don't know too
much about him.

Speaker 1 (56:10):
Pal is always good to talk to you. I'm sure
you and I will chat via Slack sometime real soon.
But take care, man, we'll talk again soon.

Speaker 4 (56:18):
Yes, I'll be in LA next week, so I hope
to see you.

Speaker 1 (56:21):
Absolutely. Let's make sure we actually break beers in person.
That would be fantastic. As for all of you out there,
we do appreciate you hanging out with us. We back
with you on Thursday. We'll talk some more wide receivers
and continue to get you ready for the actual NFL
Draft coming up in a little more than a week.
But in meantime, that'll do it for this edition of
the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Stay happy, safe and healthy,
do good and live well. Enjoy today everybody. We'll talk

(56:43):
to again on Thursday. Wow, I don't know