Ready to steal value in your 2025 fantasy football draft? These MUST DRAFT breakout WRs — including Ricky Pearsall, Josh Downs, and more — are flying under the radar but have massive upside to explode this season. Whether you're targeting late-round steals or second-year risers, these wideouts could help you crush your draft and win your league.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey, what's going on everybody. I'm Ernie.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
I'm back with the Face Saw Sports Network, and today
we're going to dive into some of my favorite wide
receiver breakouts for this upcoming season. So I got three
of my favorites here. I'm gonna kick it off with
Josh Downs. So I think Josh Downs is one of
the most overlooked players and receivers and fantasy football. You know,
(00:24):
he quietly put together a highly efficient season in twenty
twenty four, even with a consistent quarterback play that obviously
limited his opportunities.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
You know, he's still.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Finished with seventy two receptions, one hundred and two targets,
eight hundred and three yards, and five touchdowns. You know
some of the underlying numbers. He had an eighty five
point one PFF grade and he has he had a
seventy percent separation success rate, which was six best in
the NFL.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
His PFF grade was eleventh best in the NFL. Uh.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
You know, these are elite metrics considering the quarterback play.
And you know, the real eye opener to me was
Joe Flacco. When Joe Flacco took over for that seven
game stretch. In that seven game with Flacco downs averaged
six point three receptions, sixty eight point six yards per game,
ten point nine yards per catch, and three touchdowns. You know,
(01:16):
if you projected those numbers over a full season, in
a seventeen game season, he would have finished with one
hundred and seven receptions, UH, one hundred and sixty six
receiving yards, and seven touchdowns. In PPR scoring, that would
have translated to two hundred and sixty six fantasy points
and that would have made him the wide receiver eight
(01:38):
between Terry mcclaurin and cde Lamb. So this is the
upside I'm talking about here. Like to Josh Down's defense,
we haven't really seen him with a good quarterback, you know,
Like I think a lot of us bought into Anthony
Richardson last year, right, and the upside and obviously, you know,
the athletic profile and the rushing there was a lot
to like, but unfortunately the arm isn't there.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Hopefully stych him, can you know, correct that?
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Right?
Speaker 1 (02:04):
But even so, they brought in Daniel Jones. And it's
disgusting to say, but.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
I think Daniel Jones is the better quarterback, you know,
I think you know, Schefter had an interesting, you know,
it was it was either a video or a tweet,
but it definitely came from him where you know, obviously,
you know the consensus everybody thinks Daniel Jones thinks, and
I understand that, you know, but you know, he came
out and said, like, you know, there was a bidding
(02:29):
war going on for Daniel Jones and there was a
higher market for him than the NFL consensus believes. So
I thought that was very interesting. And then you know,
you look at the cult setup. I think this is
why we all liked AR fifteen is because the offensive
side of the ball is awesome there. You know, it's
very fantasy friendly. They have good wide receivers, they have
(02:49):
a good running game, they have a good offensive line,
and Change stike In is a stud. You know, he
really engineered that twenty twenty two Eagles offense and got
them to the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
So you know, there's a lot to like about you know,
that offense in theory.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
You know, so if they were ever to get a
competent quarterback, things could really take off. In I wouldn't
be surprised, as disgusting as this is to say, if
Daniel Jones wins that job, like you know, I think,
you know, if you told a lot of people last
year that Sam Donald was gonna have a good year.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
They would call you nuts.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
And I get it as well, but I think with
a lot of people, they they kind of downplays how
bad these New York teams are. You know, I'm a
Giants fan, so I watched them every Sunday, like they are.
Their roster is truly terrible, from the offensive line to
the offensive weapons, similar to the Jets when Darnald was there.
So you know, fortunately, how the NFL works is you know,
(03:42):
if your team stinks, quarterback and coach are going to
get the blame, especially in New York. So I think
Daniel Jones could definitely rebound this year with the setup
they have. They have a better offensive line, they have
better weapons, they have the better offensive coach, you know,
and I think that Daniel Jones is either going to
start or he's gonna pull the best out of Anthony Richardson.
(04:05):
In either way, there's gonna be better quarterback play this year,
So I think, you know, and I do think it's
gonna be Daniel Jones, right, I still think you'll see
a lot of high volume because you know, Daniel and
Steichen's offensive featured the slot receiver, so you're gonna see
a high amount of volume go to Josh Downs. I
(04:26):
think he's in for a monster season. I am definitely
a buyer. My second wide receiver is Ricky Piercell, so
I am a big peer Sell fan.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
So he's an underrated young stud. He was a beast
at Florida. You know, I don't know if you guys
ever watched the catch that he made last year. It
was verse Charlotte.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
It was, in my opinion, the best football catch I've
ever seen in my life.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
You know. So he is a stud. He's extremely athletic.
I'll get into that in a little bit.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
But he had an extremely rough start to his career
last year. So he was actually shot, Yes he was.
He was literally shot, and then he was dealing with
nagging injuries.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
So that kind of kept him off the field.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
And as a rookie, you kind of want to be,
you know, doing your learning and you know you want
to you know, be gelling with your team and practicing
with everybody as much as possible, building that connection with
your quarterback, and he didn't really get to do that.
So I think that was the main reason for his
slow start, and you know a lot of people thought
(05:29):
he was a bust, but then the last two games of.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
The year, things really clicked over those.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
In that two game span, he had eighteen targets, fourteen catches,
two hundred and ten receiving yard are two touchdowns. So
that's the kind of upside we're talking about here at Peercell.
You know, on the athletic profile backs that up. You know,
last year's wide receiver class was stacked and he was
ranked really high and some certain like his three combe
(05:54):
was a six point six y four that was first.
His party yard dash was four point four to one,
which is sixth. And you know him and Purty are
starting to build a really good relationship on the field
and actually off the field they're best friends.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
A fun nugget they go golfing together, which I think
is hilarious. So I think, you know, this is.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
A blossoming, a blossoming, uh you know connection here. And
when you look at the Niners offense, it's actually low
key loaded, right you have Jennings, Ayuk, Ricky and Kittle,
so it's actually kind of murky, you know, like the
player it's like almost feel safer to invest in brock Purty.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Even if you're not a brock Purty fan, you know
they have a good offensive setup. So he's gonna, you know,
have some big weeks.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
But you know that we're serious, like a who's because
Jennings is a stud. Ayuk is a stud, right, I
think at their respective ADPs, and you know, just the
value I am betting on Ricky. I think he's the
safer bet, He's the more logical bet. Again, I'll be
happy to be wrong because Juwan Jennings is stud. Brandon
(07:01):
I yuk At when he's healthy is one of the
best separators in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
So this really could go either way.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
I just think, you know, Ricky is young, he's starting
to take all off, you know if he hurt because
he is a little injury prone, right, I think he's
gonna be in for you know, a big season, especially
you know, in the future. So Ricky Piercell to me
is one of you know, my favorite breakouts. My third
and final receiver is Calvin Ridley. Yes, I know he's
(07:28):
a he's an established receiver.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
Everybody knows the name, right, but he had a down
year last year and obviously we could you know, point
out the quarterback play, right, So that's why we're gonna
celebrate because he finally gets a quarterback.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
So cam Ward obviously everybody knows he was the best quarterback.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
In the class.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
You know, the only one close name was Jackson Dart.
Cam Ward has a monster arm. So I think him
and really are going to be a lot of fun.
Ridley is thirty, but he could still ball man. He
has a lot of juice. I think there is a
lot left in the tank, you know, So he when
you look at the Titans roster, he's the only established receiver. Right.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
They play in a really soft division in the AFC South, so.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
There's going to be a lot of ugly games, a
lot of shootouts, you know, as they rebuild. So that
really still ultimately translates to a you know, favorable game
script for you know, fantasy football purposes.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Right, They're always going to be throwing.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
So I think Calvin Ridley is easily going to be
this year's Terry McLaurin. Cam Wood would have to be
an absolute bust for him, not or one of the
rookie wide receivers, like you know, a leaky humanors who
I love, you know, completely breaks out. But I think
he's going to be more of like a Robin to
Ridley's batman, great player, underrated player. But I feel confident
(08:47):
that Ridley is going to step into a monster partner.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Share.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
You have a young, hungry, you know, rookie quarterback that
wants to prove to everybody he's the best. He's going
to have a gunslinger mentality. And who better to you know,
rip the ball to than you know, the established veteran
and Calvin Ridley.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
You know, when you look at Riley's.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Numbers, he still had one thousand yards last year, even
with Will Levis and Mason Rudolph. That's amazing, and he
still had a seventy five PFF grade. I think in
fantasy football it's really rare when you could get a
potential Fantasy football wide receiver one in the sixth or
seventh round of you know, redraft league.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
So I think he is a smash pick at redraft.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
If you're a contender in dynasty and he's on a
rebuilding team, see if you can get him for cheap, right,
maybe a couple of late picks, and go win that championship.
But thank you for joining us, guys, These are my
three favorite wide receiver breakouts for this upcoming season. I
hope you enjoyed, hope that helps you win your leagues. Man,
we'll join you, we'll catch you next time. Have a
good one.
Hey, what's going on everybody. I'm Ernie.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
I'm back with the Face Saw Sports Network, and today
we're going to dive into some of my favorite wide
receiver breakouts for this upcoming season. So I got three
of my favorites here. I'm gonna kick it off with
Josh Downs. So I think Josh Downs is one of
the most overlooked players and receivers and fantasy football. You know,
(00:24):
he quietly put together a highly efficient season in twenty
twenty four, even with a consistent quarterback play that obviously
limited his opportunities.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
You know, he's still.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Finished with seventy two receptions, one hundred and two targets,
eight hundred and three yards, and five touchdowns. You know
some of the underlying numbers. He had an eighty five
point one PFF grade and he has he had a
seventy percent separation success rate, which was six best in
the NFL.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
His PFF grade was eleventh best in the NFL. Uh.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
You know, these are elite metrics considering the quarterback play.
And you know, the real eye opener to me was
Joe Flacco. When Joe Flacco took over for that seven
game stretch. In that seven game with Flacco downs averaged
six point three receptions, sixty eight point six yards per game,
ten point nine yards per catch, and three touchdowns. You know,
(01:16):
if you projected those numbers over a full season, in
a seventeen game season, he would have finished with one
hundred and seven receptions, UH, one hundred and sixty six
receiving yards, and seven touchdowns. In PPR scoring, that would
have translated to two hundred and sixty six fantasy points
and that would have made him the wide receiver eight
(01:38):
between Terry mcclaurin and cde Lamb. So this is the
upside I'm talking about here. Like to Josh Down's defense,
we haven't really seen him with a good quarterback, you know,
Like I think a lot of us bought into Anthony
Richardson last year, right, and the upside and obviously, you know,
the athletic profile and the rushing there was a lot
to like, but unfortunately the arm isn't there.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Hopefully stych him, can you know, correct that?
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Right?
Speaker 1 (02:04):
But even so, they brought in Daniel Jones. And it's
disgusting to say, but.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
I think Daniel Jones is the better quarterback, you know,
I think you know, Schefter had an interesting, you know,
it was it was either a video or a tweet,
but it definitely came from him where you know, obviously,
you know the consensus everybody thinks Daniel Jones thinks, and
I understand that, you know, but you know, he came
out and said, like, you know, there was a bidding
(02:29):
war going on for Daniel Jones and there was a
higher market for him than the NFL consensus believes. So
I thought that was very interesting. And then you know,
you look at the cult setup. I think this is
why we all liked AR fifteen is because the offensive
side of the ball is awesome there. You know, it's
very fantasy friendly. They have good wide receivers, they have
(02:49):
a good running game, they have a good offensive line,
and Change stike In is a stud. You know, he
really engineered that twenty twenty two Eagles offense and got
them to the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
So you know, there's a lot to like about you know,
that offense in theory.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
You know, so if they were ever to get a
competent quarterback, things could really take off. In I wouldn't
be surprised, as disgusting as this is to say, if
Daniel Jones wins that job, like you know, I think,
you know, if you told a lot of people last
year that Sam Donald was gonna have a good year.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
They would call you nuts.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
And I get it as well, but I think with
a lot of people, they they kind of downplays how
bad these New York teams are. You know, I'm a
Giants fan, so I watched them every Sunday, like they are.
Their roster is truly terrible, from the offensive line to
the offensive weapons, similar to the Jets when Darnald was there.
So you know, fortunately, how the NFL works is you know,
(03:42):
if your team stinks, quarterback and coach are going to
get the blame, especially in New York. So I think
Daniel Jones could definitely rebound this year with the setup
they have. They have a better offensive line, they have
better weapons, they have the better offensive coach, you know,
and I think that Daniel Jones is either going to
start or he's gonna pull the best out of Anthony Richardson.
(04:05):
In either way, there's gonna be better quarterback play this year,
So I think, you know, and I do think it's
gonna be Daniel Jones, right, I still think you'll see
a lot of high volume because you know, Daniel and
Steichen's offensive featured the slot receiver, so you're gonna see
a high amount of volume go to Josh Downs. I
(04:26):
think he's in for a monster season. I am definitely
a buyer. My second wide receiver is Ricky Piercell, so
I am a big peer Sell fan.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
So he's an underrated young stud. He was a beast
at Florida. You know, I don't know if you guys
ever watched the catch that he made last year. It
was verse Charlotte.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
It was, in my opinion, the best football catch I've
ever seen in my life.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
You know. So he is a stud. He's extremely athletic.
I'll get into that in a little bit.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
But he had an extremely rough start to his career
last year. So he was actually shot, Yes he was.
He was literally shot, and then he was dealing with
nagging injuries.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
So that kind of kept him off the field.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
And as a rookie, you kind of want to be,
you know, doing your learning and you know you want
to you know, be gelling with your team and practicing
with everybody as much as possible, building that connection with
your quarterback, and he didn't really get to do that.
So I think that was the main reason for his
slow start, and you know a lot of people thought
(05:29):
he was a bust, but then the last two games of.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
The year, things really clicked over those.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
In that two game span, he had eighteen targets, fourteen catches,
two hundred and ten receiving yard are two touchdowns. So
that's the kind of upside we're talking about here at Peercell.
You know, on the athletic profile backs that up. You know,
last year's wide receiver class was stacked and he was
ranked really high and some certain like his three combe
(05:54):
was a six point six y four that was first.
His party yard dash was four point four to one,
which is sixth. And you know him and Purty are
starting to build a really good relationship on the field
and actually off the field they're best friends.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
A fun nugget they go golfing together, which I think
is hilarious. So I think, you know, this is.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
A blossoming, a blossoming, uh you know connection here. And
when you look at the Niners offense, it's actually low
key loaded, right you have Jennings, Ayuk, Ricky and Kittle,
so it's actually kind of murky, you know, like the
player it's like almost feel safer to invest in brock Purty.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Even if you're not a brock Purty fan, you know
they have a good offensive setup. So he's gonna, you know,
have some big weeks.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
But you know that we're serious, like a who's because
Jennings is a stud. Ayuk is a stud, right, I
think at their respective ADPs, and you know, just the
value I am betting on Ricky. I think he's the
safer bet, He's the more logical bet. Again, I'll be
happy to be wrong because Juwan Jennings is stud. Brandon
(07:01):
I yuk At when he's healthy is one of the
best separators in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
So this really could go either way.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
I just think, you know, Ricky is young, he's starting
to take all off, you know if he hurt because
he is a little injury prone, right, I think he's
gonna be in for you know, a big season, especially
you know, in the future. So Ricky Piercell to me
is one of you know, my favorite breakouts. My third
and final receiver is Calvin Ridley. Yes, I know he's
(07:28):
a he's an established receiver.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
Everybody knows the name, right, but he had a down
year last year and obviously we could you know, point
out the quarterback play, right, So that's why we're gonna
celebrate because he finally gets a quarterback.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
So cam Ward obviously everybody knows he was the best quarterback.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
In the class.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
You know, the only one close name was Jackson Dart.
Cam Ward has a monster arm. So I think him
and really are going to be a lot of fun.
Ridley is thirty, but he could still ball man. He
has a lot of juice. I think there is a
lot left in the tank, you know, So he when
you look at the Titans roster, he's the only established receiver. Right.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
They play in a really soft division in the AFC South, so.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
There's going to be a lot of ugly games, a
lot of shootouts, you know, as they rebuild. So that
really still ultimately translates to a you know, favorable game
script for you know, fantasy football purposes.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Right, They're always going to be throwing.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
So I think Calvin Ridley is easily going to be
this year's Terry McLaurin. Cam Wood would have to be
an absolute bust for him, not or one of the
rookie wide receivers, like you know, a leaky humanors who
I love, you know, completely breaks out. But I think
he's going to be more of like a Robin to
Ridley's batman, great player, underrated player. But I feel confident
(08:47):
that Ridley is going to step into a monster partner.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Share.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
You have a young, hungry, you know, rookie quarterback that
wants to prove to everybody he's the best. He's going
to have a gunslinger mentality. And who better to you know,
rip the ball to than you know, the established veteran
and Calvin Ridley.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
You know, when you look at Riley's.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Numbers, he still had one thousand yards last year, even
with Will Levis and Mason Rudolph. That's amazing, and he
still had a seventy five PFF grade. I think in
fantasy football it's really rare when you could get a
potential Fantasy football wide receiver one in the sixth or
seventh round of you know, redraft league.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
So I think he is a smash pick at redraft.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
If you're a contender in dynasty and he's on a
rebuilding team, see if you can get him for cheap, right,
maybe a couple of late picks, and go win that championship.
But thank you for joining us, guys, These are my
three favorite wide receiver breakouts for this upcoming season. I
hope you enjoyed, hope that helps you win your leagues. Man,
we'll join you, we'll catch you next time. Have a
good one.
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