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Time now for Fantasy Football Weekly from iHeartRadio, your weekly source for the nation's best fantasy football advice, speculation, and whatever stupid stuff they decide to drop into the show. Now here's your host, Paul Charchion.
Welcome to Fantasy Football Weekly. I'm Paul Charchion, my guest, as he has been for many of the last shows, and we'll be for a few more thor nice strow, Hey buddy, Hey, how you doing it? Is certainly your time of year, isn't it? Ah? The best, the best? And I know you're super busy. We love you find time to get us up to speed on the rookies every year, this time of year and this is this
is high demand thor season right here. I mean, this is like you know, for me, when I'm in like late August early September and everybody's getting ready for their guillotine drafts, that's my busy, busiest time of the year. This is this month is just nuts for you or are you all prepped up to the point that now it's just easy? I mean, nothing's your evaluation of players doesn't change much at this point. Right as we get into April.
I would love to say the latter, but you know you're going deeper into the position. You know, when you do a five hundred player big board like I do with the five hundred comps, like I mean, it becomes a real discussion down the board draftable grades and then down the board and then you know who's who's gonna be on there, who's gonna miss it? But yeah, like there's there's a lot of guys to watch and to dig into to get to a five hundred player bard.
So now we will we will be going right up to the draft.
I love it. Okay, So we've got what rookie wide receivers today, then next week tight ends week after that quarterbacks and and it's quarterback has seen Well, we'll talk more about it when we get to that episode. Feels like it's been fairly stable other than cam Ward now moving to the presumed one to one from where this was a while ago. But let's let's talk wide receivers.
Just overall, we had had over the past four or five years, we had had just these really deep classes of rookie wide receivers that were good at the top, middle end of the draft. This one, to me doesn't feel like as strong a class. So just talk to me before we get into specific guys, talk to me about this rookie class of wide receivers.
Yeah, it's like we talked about with the running back class from the other direction. These things are cyclical, and after we had a couple bad running back classes in a row, now we have one of the best that we've seen in the last fifteen twenty years. Whereas with wide receivers, like you mentioned, we had some stacked wide receiver classes here in the recent past, and that everything
is cyclical. You can't have an awesome position class every year. Yeah, you know you're going to get it on the other side of the variants at some point, and that's what we have that with this receiver class. This receiver class is way way down from what we have seen in
the past couple of years. There are interesting prospects though, there's a couple in here that absolutely should go in the first round, and there's some interesting sleepers, but overall, as far as class quality, this receiver class does not stack up well against the last couple.
All right, let's talk about Travis Hunter as his own unique situation here, I think the fantasy utility on Travis Hunter will be capped by just the snap count. But talk to me about him. Where would if Travis Hunter were only playing wide receiver and he, you know, was going to be on the field as a full time
wide receiver. Where would Travis Hunter fit into this? And do you just disagree with my understanding that he's just not going to be on the field enough for him to be somebody you can reliably count on from a fantasy standpoint to the first.
Question, he would be wide receiver one, yeah, bullet and he and of course he'd be one with the bullet as well, So you're talking about a unicorn prospect there that I do have a slightly different take as far as the fantasy utility with Okay, I think this kid starts out as a rookiet. Of course you're going to be playing all the snaps on defense, but I think it's going to be My ballpark is roughly forty percent and could be up to fifty percent of the snaps
on offense. Whatever team takes him, you cannot afford not to have him taking offensive snaps. In addition, for you to the cornerback that you know that he's going to be playing right away. You just have to get him out there, and Travis Hunter, that's what he wants to do. Travis Hunter wants to be the sho Heyo Tani of the NFL. He's going to get that opportunity. That's something that he's put out there. He does not want to be a one way player. He wants to play both ways.
You can't put him out there one hundred percent of the snaps on both right away, because you know we are starting to walk at that point, you're in unprecedented territory and your medical staff is going to tell you that you are elevating his injury risk above where they are comfortable. I think there's going to be discussions about that between the medical staff, between your analytics department, and then of course the coaching staff in the front off
is going to get involved with this as well. They're going to come up with some sort of snapshare for offense in his rookie season that people are comfortable with starting and then you just see from there. But those snaps when he is on the field, you are going to be getting the ball to Travis Hunter. I think the team and it has him, you will have one non Travis Hunter playbook. You will have one Travis Hunter Playboff he's on the field, they will be looking to
get him the ball. He's not gonna be out there many running plays. They're not gonna ask him to block, right. I mean that you're trying to keep him out of the collisions as much as you can when you don't when that ball is not in his hands. But I do think he's gonna get enough snaps to be Fantasy relevant as a rookie, especially because he's this classic best receiver.
And I think the catch with Travis Hunter is you have to be playing in a format where it's okay if he I think he's gonna have some two catch twenty yard games because he's just not on the field as much as every down players. And then there's gonna be other games where he's gonna have five catches and he's gonna do something special on three of them, and
he's gonna have explosive games. And so to me, you know, when I when I look at him as a potentially part time player, I think you just have to bake in the understanding that Travis Hunter is gonna have some games where the volume just isn't there is that fair?
That is fair? And I think we're getting deeper into the weeds or more inside baseball here, because when I say forty percent, I'm talking about over the ocean of snaps in a season, assuming his health. And I'm gonna knock on when I say that. Yeah, But the way that you get there in games where the game script gets away one way or the other, I think that's where you save the snaps, right, I mean, because you only want him out there when he is juicing your
opportunity to win the football game. If we're down by two touchdowns, all right, Travis, you know what, You're finishing out the game on defense. But we can probably save some hits for you here. Whereas games where they're closer throughout, I think you will see him out there on the field more than that forty percent, and they will probably trying to look to get him the ball even more because he can swing games.
You've got Travis Hunter. I'm looking at your most current mock draft at fantasylife dot com. You've got Travis Hunter going third to the Giants. Yeah, that's a you know, it's Russell Wilson or Jameis Winston throwing him the ball, which, honestly, from a fantasy standpoint, I take Winston because we don't care as much about the interceptions as we do the long arm the you know, so he'll have funk quasi
functional quarterbacking. I don't you know, I don't love the quarterbacking spot there for Travis Hunter, but that's okay, and that I think that would make sense for him to drop to the Giants. He's arguably the best player in this class, right so him going third overall wouldn't be a stretch.
At all, one thousand percent, and he would be a perfect fit for the Giants as far as the dude takes over CB one right away and then that you know, we'll say the forty percent of snaps as a rookie on offense. Can you think of a more awesome second banana for Elik Neighbors? Right, Like Elik Neighbors, He's gonna be doing his thing on one side of the field
and then Hunter on the other side. And neither of those guys, of course, has Tetoa McMillan size or you know, somebody like that, but both of them not only can slice and dice you a short and intermediate by manufacturing stuff you hit him on the hands in space. They also can both win downfield, right and and Travis Hunter is incredible downfield because his best thing as both a defender and a receiver is his ball skills. And you don't have to take my word for it, ask any
of the coaches that have ever worked with Tim. It's like, I've never seen a guy with these kind of ball scales and down the field. Obviously he has all the athleticism that he needs to get there, and he he has like this gumbyl like contortionism to him as well. So he's going to get the best of it with this with his body control when the balls on the doorstep.
But the other thing that's kind of unique about him beyond that is, uh, you know, and beyond you know, just the sort of the rope ball skills is physically he has longer arms than he should with his frame. In fact, his arms are I believe just one inch shell.
I'm looking it up to to make sure I don't yeah one inch shell or actually yeah, almost exactly one inch sheth of teterol McMillan's wow the arm arm mu Yeah, yeah, so you're you're you're talking about to do with with super long arms and that manifest down the field there. You know, as far as extending that catch radius, he has more athleticism than you, so you know, again he's usually getting the step and then he can obviously get
off the carpet and get in the air. And with those long arms, he has the ability to get higher than most of the guys that are defending him, certainly in college, but that's going to be the case in the NFL as well. He doesn't drop anything, So I mean that's you're getting a home run hitter there. It's also a guy of course, you know you hit him on the hands in intermediate in space like I mentioned,
but talking about it, awesome second banana next to Moleague neighbors. Yeah, the Giants you obviously would have you for the first time since Eli Manning retired, you would have an interesting passing offense.
There's that's Trevis Hunter and I do want to we will dive into the next set of of wide receivers and especially when I want to hit you with like Day one and two receivers, guys that could go in the first three rounds. When I look at teams that could for make a wide receiver in the first two days of the draft. I think Buffalo's in or really just Khalil Shakir. New England is always in play at receiver.
They never do much about it and they haven't really been able to start a gold there, but they certainly need one. The Jets fall off a cliff after Garrett Wilson. Yes, Tennessee has Van Jefferson as a starter right now, so you know that is a team that needs wide receiver help. Las Vegas. We love Jacobe Myers on this show, but they need a number one wide receiver. Washington, they just landed de Ball on that one year deal, but it's only a one year deal, and Luke McCaffrey barely even
got on the field last year. You and I differed on him a little bit at this time last season, and maybe his best days are still ahead of him. But I feel like that's a team that, looking ahead, could use the receiver. Green Bay's got all those, you know, that gaggle of good receivers, but not that great receiver that they've been searching for, and nobody's really emerged from
that group yet. Carolina spent that late first rounder on Xavier lyget Lie last year, but they and so they probably don't spend high equity on receiver again, but still pretty telling that Adam Thielen was their best receiver last year at age thirty four. And I'll hit you with two more teams that I think are in play. New Orleans. They've got Chris Olave but like the rest of the
receiver room is coming off ACL surgery. And then the Rams, right, so they added Devonte Adams obviously at his age, that's a stopgap measure and they ultimately need somebody opposite pokin Akua. They could be an interesting team later in the draft. And then Seattle, who signed Cooper Cup to a three year deal, which I do not understand at his age and given the metric drop offs that we've seen, but he's not a long term solution. And they lost DK Metcalf, So I think Seattle is in play as well.
I would the ones I would add, did you say Jaguars and Cowboys.
I did not say Jaguars or Cowboys. Tell me why you think they're they're in play here at receiver.
Well, with the Jaguars, you have Brian Thomas and you like you, like Brian Thomas a lot outside. They need guys that can advance the ball for them, and I think they're a sneaky you know, everyone now is putting Mason Graham to the Jay and I have plenty, but I think they're If there's going to be a surprise in the top five, I think it's Lee and Coleen to commandeering that war room and saying I need I
need a dude who can advance the ball for me. Now, this probably is more for our tight end conversation because I think Tyler Warren could end up being that guy. Yes, teterol McMillan, that might be. I like Tet, but might
be just slight slightly over where you should be. But like Tyler Warren, it would be hard to argue against him there, right, Like, that's a guy who is one of the better way we'll talk about this in the tight end prospect, but that's one of the best prospects to come out at that position, particularly just with the idea of moving that football forward.
Yeah, that makes sense, That makes sense. Yeah, I think I think the Jaguars like Brent Strange, and I think they're you know, I think that's part of why they let Ingram go. So you know, I don't know if they love Strange enough right now that they would pass on potentially a different game changing tight end. Let's dive into your wide receivers. You're number one ranked wide receiver and again not counting Travis Hunters will put an asterisk
on that. That's Ted McMillan. You've already referred to your comp on him as T Higgins, and the ball skills on Ted McMillan are just sick.
That's the thing. And like T Higgins, I think Ted's destiny if he's defined the right situation, it would be as an awesome wide receiver too. He kep you know, in the same way that Drake London's a wide receiver. Ted's also very similar to Drake London. But I you know, if you're talking like a very dangerous offense and a dangerous sort of contender, that's the role that I would prefer Ted end. His tench ball scials are insane because he has one of the biggest catch ratierses you'll see.
You know, obviously he's stretched out at a little over sixty four and then he's got to long arms as well, and his insure hands as well, Like he has some highlight reels out there on YouTube, and you know, like in the facility where he's you know, jumping up, catching the ball between his legs and then putting the ball through his legs before he lands, like all this sort of he can do all sorts of ridiculous things, but
he's awesome in contested situations. Nineteen for thirty one last season, he was number two and contested catches in this class the year before that. This is also the thing people nitpick him for, though, is his work against man coverage, where it's it's not that he couldn't create separations that
sometimes it doesn't appear that he's even trying. It's it's he is one of those guys with man coverage he wants to It's sort of like a child who's afraid in the dark and they're with their parent and they want to sort of feel that their parent is next to them. That's sort of what he's like with his
man defender. He wants to know where that do it because his ball skills are so good and he positions his body so so it's like when when he going down on you know, along that stem, he sort of wants to know, get his bearings with where is that guy? And then it's the equation when the ball's on the doorstep, what he's going to do with his body in his hands. But his his separation rate against man coverage was very,
very low. Interestingly though, he was at the top of the class in separation rate quote unquote against zone coverage. And he has a very good zone coverage barometer or calculator in his head. Like right after the snap, those
couple beats you see the movement of the defenders. Tet's one of those guys that immediately knows where they are headed, which means that he knows where the open spot of grass is before it appears right And those are the guys where it's like they're always available to the quarterback and the balls right there. You would see Noah Fafida, the underside scrambling quarterback for Arizona, when he saw the drop zone his eye. You'd see it every time on film.
He's going right to tat because you know tech going to be open right like and you know and and and then he can even throw an Aaron ball and it is going to be speared by those long arms. But Te's a very good receiver. It's not I would say, an Alfa Alpha wide receiver one in the NFL, but it certainly an acceptable Drake London like wide receiver one if that's what he ends up going to an offense like that. But like I said, his destiny, I would
prefer that he get in a situation. Not everyone can play across from a Jamar Chase or a Justin Jefferson or someone like that. But if he could get into that situation, you could just allow him to do tet things while the other guy is rampaging on the other side of the field.
You've got tet right now. Going to Dallas, had picked number twelve, he's Is he the best contested catch receiver in this in this draft class?
Yeah? Probably yes, Yeah, in terms of contested catches for sure.
Yeah, it feels that way, and that you know, Ceedee, Lamb's already awesome at that. But that is a team where the drop off after Lamb it goes to what Tolbert and then it's I don't know, are they going to actually play Jonathan Mingo in one of the worst trades that nobody talks about, that fourth rounder that they gave up for Alison Mingo.
Let's just say they they need to draft a receiver real quick because right now on their projected depth chart, Mingo is the wide receiver three and they need to knock him down. Maybe even wide receiver four is a little bit above Jonathan Mingo's import as to what he actually is. So they need some help.
All right, Let's go on our next receiver. Matthew Golden. This is the speedster from Texas. You've comped him to Chris Olave and you've got him going in the first round.
Yeah. The thing that evokes Olave is Olave. So I always think of it as like a jet ski, you know, just because I'm from northern Minnesota with you know, but like the throttle ford, throttle back, throttle forward, throttle back, the speed change temple guys. And that's like Matthew Goh, you just think of him out there on the jet ski throttles forward but then throttle back, throttle forward. He changes his speed so well that that's how he ends
up creating separation because he keeps guys off of him. Right. So, so along the stem you're able to keep the defense off you, and once you get to the route break, you got a little more room to maneuver, and he certainly has the footwork and agility through there. He's a
good route runner. And then I think that's a part of the reason why no one was seeing that four two nine come in, because he does not play full throttle all the time, certainly along the routestem by design, right, I mean, that's what leads to the separation rate that he has, very very good with that. This is also a guy even though he is quote unquote undersize at that combine five ten, one nine one, I know that
he can play on the boundary. He can absolutely be drafted by a team that's like you are one of our starting bowery wide receivers going forward. Because gold improved the concept of that in college. Yeah, first two years was at Houston, and then last year at Texas he did it, you know. I mean he was the dude down the stretch there when they were making a run
trying to get to the national championship. And in part because Matthew Golden got injured right before Treveon Henderson did his seventy five yard touch and run delayed screen right before halftime. Those two things in conjunction took all the wind owt of the Longhorns' sales, and the rest was history as far as Ohio State goes. But Golden can interchangeably play between the slot or the boundary, so creative offensive staffs you can move him around to try to
get matchup advantages for you. This is a guy and probably the only other dude in the class besides Tep McMillan that you know, if we're not counting Hunter, you know, the wide receivers only that proved that he could win at all three levels consistently at the field during his career. I'm a big fan of his game, and he absolutely should go in the first round.
All right, Matthew Golden, And I'm pulling up your mock draft right now. You've got him going to Seattle, which makes which makes a ton of sense at pick number eighteen.
Yeah, Seattle. The best case scenario for Seattle would be if Teed McMillan had the free fall. And you know there are scenarios, right this is that would be more of the Lloyd Christmas. You're saying there's a chance point zero. But if Ted got there, you know, because like you were talking about, you know, with Cooper Cup and then it's JSN. It's two guys that probably should be playing mostly in the slot. Obviously it's JSN going to be playing the boundary this year a lot more. But that's
why they can't take a book. I'd be fun to to reunite Buka with js N, you know, but you can't do that. You have too many guys with similar skill sets. You're trying to build a basketball team with your pass catching group, and you would have a bunch of small forwards at that time, or point guards or however you want to you know, look at that or whatever. But Matthew Golden, like I said, a guy that you can project to take over a boundary spot on day one and he can win downfield. And of course that
team has experience with the undersized U boundary receivers. They've they've done that for for a little bit now, right locket and yeah, Golden Tape back in the day played some out there. So yeah, I think I think Golden would be a good fit.
When you're on a jet ski, it's awesome. Jet skis are a blast. You know, you're powering through the water, You're you know, you're doing big cuts of waves, you know, and you open it up, you throttle open, You're going Thi down the lake. Everybody hates you. Everybody on that lake freaking hates you. It's so loud and noisy, you know, you know, like it's a pristine day. The water's calm. You can hear loon in the background. And then.
And then Thor comes out of nowhere dressed like Kenny Powers. Remember in Kenny Park, you ever watch He's bonding down and Kenny Powers out there on the jet ski. He's like dressed, you know, it's like dressed like a suit and he's got a beer and every day like, yeah, that's that. That's me coming out. Someone's dropping their morning coffee on their.
Decks exactly exactly. It's like it's it's it's awesome for you and it's bad for everybody around you. That is that's the jet ski. Let's go to your number three ranked receiver and if I I'm gonna you and I are terrible with names, let's hope we get this right. A mecha Eggbuka. Yeah, perfect, thank you. I've been I've been working on that. Thank you very much. Your comp
here is the aforementioned Jackson Smith and Jigba. He is a true slot receiver and you know whatever team, whatever team takes him, is going to is going to need to use him that way.
That's right. Yeah, I mean he is your slot dude, but what and he's not going to give you the explosive plays he will give you. He will improve your offensive your offensive efficiency right away. I mean, he's the paper cut guy. He's going to pay per cut your paper cut, your paper cut you. And the more space that he has the work with, the more he's going to abuse this single coverage. They're very, very good route runner. He just understands what he's doing. And it's not like
this guy's a bumba an athlete. He was a former five star recruit who was at the top of his receiver class when he was coming out. Yeah, he went into a receiver room that I believe had four other first round wide receivers. Every time he got there, it was a Lave Wilson, Marvin Harrison Junior, and JSN and then him. He's going to be the fifth one from the receiving Yeah, absolutely ridiculous. But the other you know, I was talking about this with Ted Buka is even
better with his own coverage thing. It is just a media He only needs like a half step from the defense and he's like, okay, this is where they're going, right, Like he just sees the whole chess board and he's always available to his quarterback. You know, on those zone concepts, he doesn't drop the ball five point five percent career drop rate on two hundred five career receptions. And then this is also a guy who is very good in
contested situations for a slot guy. And what that is is on money downs when it was third and four, third and six, whatever, they love to just try to fit balls into windows too, Igbuga because they know he's going to catch it his career. In his career, he was twenty five of forty six in contested situations. And it wasn't because he could not create separation. He absolutely can. His separation rate was one of the highest in the nation these past couple of years. It's because he is
so reliable. The quarterback will try to fit it into a window when you just need those five yards and he is going to convert for you. So he's going to make an offense really happy.
All right, that's how much do you think he was just aiighted by the rest of Ohio State's receiver room, right, you know, over the here he is running from the slot. They've got these amazing boundary receivers who demand their own coverage. And so I've had some people at least ask openly, was Agbuka a product of Ohio State's amazing roster and how much of that would it? You know, would that same level of productivity automatically transfer to the NFL? Do you think that's a fair concern.
I think it helped him in the same way that it helped JSN because those two guys, the better the boundary receivers are around them, the more space you get, and they're going to destroy you in space. But it didn't make either of them right, Like Egbuka was the number one receiver in his class, and then we haven't gotten the testing metrics on him. I don't really care about that, though. There are numerous reports that he was
running in the four fourds in high school. And by the way, real Analytics that does the in game data on the chips, I've been looking at those a lot more in my value, because the NFL has begun to look at them a lot more in their evaluations, Eggbuka had a ninety six point zero in game athleticism score. So that's a combination of your your max speed, your max acceleration, your max deceleration, your agility, you know, all these sort of different things. Ninety six point zero means
he's a ninety six percentile athlete for that position. So this is a guy who is a really good athlete for the role that he plays in as all the athleticism he needs, the apolish that he has as a receiver, it speaks for hisself and so does the pedigree.
All right, when we when we come back from a breakthrough, let's hit him four or five more wide receivers that you think are going to be taken day one, day two in that kind of range, including the next guy we're going to talk about, a polarizing player, Luther Burden, when we come back. Welcome back Fantasy Football Weekly. Paul charchiin Thorn Eistrom with you. Thanks for hanging out over the break Luther Burden from Missouri. You've comped him to
Percy Harvin, but you know, I've seen a lot. I've seen a lot of different opinions on him. People who love the athleticism, the strength, and other people who see some who see maybe at best a Deebo Samuel, an inconsistent player who's got to get the ball behind the line of scrimmage. You hope he breaks the tackle. What do you think about Luther Burden and where do you think he's going to go in this draft?
Church? Is it the rorshack test when they say your response it says more about you than it does. Yeah, that's that's Luther Burden, Because I feel like Luther Burden has one of the more straightforward evaluations of any guy oka, especially in this receiverse. He just is what he is. He's the manufactured touch slot who is an absolute Ferrari
with the ball in his hands. But the limitation, of course is, for whatever reason, that level of movement it is not apparent with his route running, and so you don't want him running down the field that there's not a lot of the way I put it as salesman ship, like he just doesn't have a good idea of putting himself in the driver's seat of the other car and thinking through like, oh, you know, if I was to try to fool that guy, how would I do it? Like there's just not a lot of that with his game.
He's not very sudden with that. But with the ball in his hands, it's a different thing. And that's where you know the Percy Harvin thing. It's the same sort of a deal that propulsion going forward. You have the noss button where you hit it and then all of a sudden you're at top speed immediately, and just like Percy Harvin, you get an element of power there right where it becomes the acceleration times the forest time, you know whatever that equation is from Einstein where he all
of a sudden he equals him squared right here. That's that is exactly right. Yeah, it's it's it's the thing of you know, he's only two hundred and six pounds, but the speed. You know, usually we talk about speed to power conversion from edge defenders. The same principle applies here and you get the contact balance with some tackle
breaking power from Luther Burden because of that. But it was really fun watching his tape because you got to see, you know, both how good of an athlete he is, but then also how creative Missouri's staff was, where all these kinds of different concepts designed to get him the ball in space like one of them. They'd have the four receivers, and then they would have Burden lineup in the backfield as the running back, so they technically have five receivers on the field. They have three receivers on
one side. They would spray down the field just clear out routes, and then they would leak Burden out of the backfield exactly. Yeah, and you put him into basically the whole playbook for Missouri the last couple of years. The whole idea of it was get Luther the ball in a situation where he just has to break one tackle and we get an explosive play. So basically their whole playbook was designed like that. The manufacturer touched off
the other thing. Every time you saw the defense going to a drop zone, you were about to see a four to five yard hitch route run from Luther Burden and the ball coming right then. And for people out there,
hitch routes just a mini hook. You know, a hook is like at ten eleven yards depth hitches four to five, and you almost always see it with drop zones because the wide receiver one on that team has been told, yeah, just you see them all drop back, it's four or five yards, turn around, the balls come in, and that's what it was for Luther Burden. You get a free
catch and run opportunity. But yeah, I mean eighty four of his career catches Luther Burden out of one hundred and ninety two came behind the line of scrimmage, speaking to how many of these touches were manufactured. And I think charge with the debate of Luther Burden, you have people that are in on Luther Burden, people out on Luther Burden, even though again it's a straightforward evaluation. So it's like, where are these these disagreements and these discrepancies
coming from. I think this has more to do with the one is sort of the pratfalls of having a job like mine that people don't understand, which is you rank out a board as a media member. You don't have an offensive scheme, you don't have an offensive coordinator that's saying, hey, this is the scheme, this is the position I need, this is the sort of player type that I need for that position, right or advice of
on defense. And so because of that, you're just trying to rank everyone in a vacuum, and the people that don't like Luthor Burden. They're the ones saying, well, this guy's not a wide receiver one in the NFL. He's a manufactured touch guy. And how am I going to put that value with you know, a guy that like Tad or you know, one of these different Matthew gold and whatever. But like, whereas the people that love him are like, this guy's clearly the best with the ball
in his hands. He is going to manufacture yards and if he finds the right situation, he's going to put up Ludacris numbers. And both sides are right, you know what I mean, It's just we don't know what situation he's going into. This is a situation specific player right where he needs to get into that thing in the best one for him would be the team that has the best boundary receiver. That's right, Yes, that's what it is,
because you will naturally create that space. I was talking about that with like Buka, he wins before the catch. Luther Burden is winning after the catch, and the more space that is provided for him, now it can be a thing where you're in you just have that one tackle to break and then you get the explosive play but that's Luther Burden.
Let me give you the ideal landing spot for Luther Burden. Yeah, Bengals.
Bengals would be good. Bengals would be really good. That is Larry David. That would be pretty pretty good.
It would be. My worry on Luther Burden is just this. It's all these short catches. You noted forty four percent of his catches were behind the line of scrimmage. We've seen this with Deebo Samuel where he'll have a four catch game and you know, most of those catches are added near the line of scrimmage, and if he doesn't break a tackle, he gets tackled near the line of scrimmage and you've got a you know, this is just a fantasy standpoint. You've got a four catch, thirty yard
game on your hands, and that's that. You know, that's not saying, but we all know that Deebo Samuel can also be incredibly special and when he you know, when he does break a tackle, cyon are a highlight time and we remember those things. I think there's going to be just good and bad games for Luther Burden, depending
a lot, of course on landing spot. Do you uh do you see, like Percy Harvin went in the he fell to the middle of the second round when he was drafted in part because of personality concerns and character concerns and stuff like that, much of which ended up being actually pretty valid. Where do you have Luther Burden going not in the first round. I don't believe.
Well, Percy actually was twenty second overall.
Oh was he okay? Thanks Zicher, I had misremembered.
Yeah. I think Luther he's right, you know, right on that line. Whether it is at the very end of Thursday night or whether it is right away on Friday night, I think it's gonna be one of the two. I think Luther Burden is a top forty pick, but I'm not definitely not saying Locke for the first round. But but if he gets out of it, like I said, I think you're gonna see teams trying to move up for him, because you're gonna have the teams where like you saw last year at Missouri, the reason his stats
were down is because the offense wasn't his gut. It didn't have anything to do with Luther Burden. It had to do with the fact that defenses could collapse on him because Missouri didn't have a running game anymore, and they the other receivers weren't great, and the quarterback play was atrocia. So he got ganged up on and he got frustrated by that, et cetera. But it shows again you need to get this guy into a situation where he's an awesome for instant third banana, which is what
it would be with the Bengals. Yeah, that's how his game plays up. He is not a Michael Jordan. He's uh, you know my basketball metaphor sting Scottie Piper a little or or you know, a Dennis Rodman.
I guess if I were to put Burden on the team based in if he is going to go early second round, it's not very exciting, but I could see Tennessee going cam Ward and then second round Luther Bird.
Kim Ward loves thrown into the slot, just as every strippo about that.
All right, well there you go. That's so I'll go to war with that prediction. Uh, your fifth rank running back, Sorry, wide receiver Jaden Higgins from Iowa State. This is not Iowa State had two really good wide receivers. It turns out yeah, highly productive. Your comp here is Kenny Galladay, which makes people go, oh, but how about this rass nine point nine to two holy cow?
Yeah yeah, and incredible at that size. The six' four and change two fourteen runs the four four seven has the thirty nine inch Vertical and this, guy this guy has the wingspan of an offensive. Tackle we're at the eighty with. Him so he's got the super duper long arms and he's a he's a smooth operator out. There the movement is really really smooth with. Him the thing he doesn't Have it wasn't a surprise to see him duck the three cone and the shuttle the side decide
agility isn't, great but the north south stuff. Is and you can build a route tree around him where you can leverage his. Strengths just have him going north south, right like you don't the rout breaks with, You like you don't want him running the whip route for. You you have another guy doing. That but this is a guy that can win. Downtown he can also win short and.
INTERMEDIATE i mean that's more stuff like the slants and the. Drags, yeah but he doesn't he doesn't drop in, thing and he's got the catch, radius LIKE i, said is absolutely. Enormous but his career drop rate over four seasons and three hundred and fifty targets three point zero.
Perds that's.
It that is. Absurd that's a drop a year thor it's absolutely. Insane and then three consecutive seasons with two point two percent drop rate or. Less it's only at three percent because he dropped a couple more his true freshman season when he was in THE. Fcs so he does not drop. Balls and that includes in contested situations deep forty five of eighty one career contested catch situations For higgins in this bad receiver, CLASS i just really
like what he brings to the. Table this is the guy who's going to be a really good wide receiver two boundary guy in THE nfl for a long long.
Time so, okay if he's gonna be vertical downfield is where he's gonna be really. Helpful how about that we talked about The. Cowboys how about this is Your cowboys landing. Spot it picked forty four where you, KNOW cd can do a lot of, things all the amazing separation and, everything but, see he's not a deep downfield. Burner this would. Give this would feel like a natural compliment To Ceedee lamb for me If Jayden higgins found his way To.
Dallas, Yes, Jayden, YEAH i mean he's actually the guy that they want a mingo to, be AND i guess The panthers want a mingo to be. Before but this is actually that that guy that is gonna win for you on the boundary.
Consistently all, right let's go to your number six rank wide, Receiver Elick iomanor DID I i THINK i got that? Right is it IOMANOR iomannera? Nice i'm two for two on tricky. Names it's like it's.
Like lord of the manor But? Iomanner?
OH i like? It all, right your comp Here's Brailan. Edwards When Braylon edwards came, OUT i thought he was gonna be, great AND i really ended up being a very, middling underproductive career and that was kind of a. Bummer he hid national prominence a couple of years ago when he Roasted Travis. Hunter, right had almost three hundred yards in that, game and all of a, sudden people are taking are Following Elick.
Iomanor, YEAH i mean this is a big boundary receiver six two two oh, six and he has the downtown wheels and he knows what he's doing down the, field the ball skills and then pinning people behind that big muscular frame of. His but this is a former track. STAR i don't think people realize how athletic he, was but at that size he ran a four four four and thirty eight and a half vertical is spectacular at that. Size you see that propulsion off the, snap but it's
it's a there's rawness to his. Game this is a kid who came From canada and so he picked up the sport late and then when he went to, college it was At stanford and they have an abysmal passing, attack so they they sort of used them and in sort of this sort of limited way where it was it was leveraging the downfield. Stuff but he is really
really good down the. Field As Travis hunter learned first hand in that game in twenty twenty, three you don't get a, lot you, know of the yak with With iomanner because a lot of those those plays where you're getting value from, him it is further down the, field so so that that's where you see that the speed, leverage but it needs a little bit of. Work it's
not a finished package right. Now you're gonna have to work on the routes a little, bit especially if you want to try to get him winning in the intermediate section. More and then the release package is a little bit raw as. Well but they're the physical package. Here and
the ceiling is one of the highest in the. Class so when you just look at it like, That so who is gonna take a swing On Io manners upside walk to see on that there is a lower floor than some of these other, guys but one of the higher ceilings in the receiver.
Class i've Got iomanner going sixty two To. Buffalo buffalo needs the receiver. HELP i feel like end of second round does end the second round feel about right for?
Him, YEAH i mean it's gonna. Be it's gonna be somewhere there in the second, round and we'll have to see where the other wide receivers end up. Going but, YEAH i would probably IF i had to, say, RIGHT
i probably put it middle. Second but would it be a surprise felt in the Second, no it wouldn't at, All like because again there is the rawness to his, game And i'm curious the sort of situational assumptions that teams are, making you, know that are shopping for receivers there on day two of like this isn't a great receiver, class and then should we buy the Floor we're about to talk about more of a floor prospect or should
we get a ceiling on a guy Like Io. Manner it's going to be really interesting to see that as.
Well, yeah and Maybe Kean coleman ends up being great in his second season and The bills don't go this, direction BUT i think they could Use they could use some depth of the. POSITION i want to hit two more guys and let's do. Them we'll have to do them a little bit more. Quickly Trey harris from Ole. Miss your comp here Is Alan. Robbinson he was highly, productive went healthy at Ole, miss but some worry that that production was a byproduct of a first repassing scheme
From Jackson. DART i Like Trey.
Harris he's been producing for a long. Time he got on the field early when he went To louisiana tack and then he transferred up a course into The Lane kiffin offense and he was the wide receiver. One and the biggest criticis About jackson darts evaluation as he locked into the first rue through the first read all the, time that was Tray. Harris, yeah, right SO i mean this guy's. Good he is. Reliable but, yeah and just speaking to that last, year five point one five yards
per route. Run, NO i did not. Speak that is. Gigantic, holy that is like It it's like you're two and a half is really?
Good right, right you're.
Double it is absolutely. Absurd and those games where he was, healthy he averaged almost one hundred and thirty yards per game, Receiving so, LIKE i, mean that is legit doing that in THE. Sec but you, know to the point of sort of the empty calorie. Stats he had seventy nine targets last. Year forty of them came on either hitch routes we talked about hitch routs before or wide receiver. Screens that's as empty calory as it. Gets and then
With harris that the other stuff he would. Do you have the downtown, stuff and he is a good down the field, receiver but you'd have, that and then you'd have the slants right, there there Wasn't this isn't a, guy it's another. Guy he ain't gonna do any whip routes for, you you, know the agility, thing and now we snap off the clean break and it's our kami and now we're going To he's not going to do that stuff for, you but if you can par that route treat down for. Him the hands are. Reliable he
has that big. Frame he's athletic in that big. Frame so that's what you're gonna get from. Him but, yeah just keep in mind with those, stats how much of it was empty?
Calorie all, Right last, GUY i want to hit, On Jaalen, noel who is somebody That i've seen a lot of people falling in love, with and there's a lot of people that like. Him you comped him to one of my favorite, Guys Khalil, shakier so you, Know i'm automatically super interested. Here and this is Another iowa state guy who This Jaylen noel playing in the Slot Jaden higgins on the.
Outside, Yeah Jalen noel is just so. Reliable this is you talk about high. Floors this is one of the higher floor receivers in this entire. Class this, ceiling, though of, course is cap by the frame and then the fact that he is only going to be playing in the, slot but he's going to be starting from day one for whoever, pay and he is your long term starting slot. GUY i mean that that's just what it's going to. Be he's also you, know what's interesting about him is
he can win down the. Field he you, know he's smaller and he has a small. Wingspan, yeah so it's not a big catch, radius but he knows what he's doing running routes and that includes getting being able to stack guys when he's going down the. Field so for a slot, guy you get some more of.
That.
Uh this is the guy where earlier in his career he had some issues with concentration. Drops he seems to have solved that last year four zero point eight percent drop rate on a bunch of different. Targets take. That heel not bad at. All and this is the guy thirty nine career contested, opportunities he converted fifty one percent of. Them so it's like it's not, again it's a guy who can get down the. Field it's also a guy in congested quarters who can make the catch as. Well
and he proved this pre draft. Process first of, all nobody could cover him in the one on ones in mobile and then he tested absolutely incredibly of the four to three nine he had a six eight two three cone way above, average four to one seven shut away, average forty one and a half inch vertical absolutely. Elite as broad jump was over eleven. Feet that was a lead to nine seven to three ras and he did all the. Tests So Jalen noah is a guy that fantasy owners need to keep a close eye.
On he ran a four to three and he's gonna be a slot. Receiver i'm trying to think of how many other four to three guys are running from the slot in THE.
Nfl and a guy who gets the top speed real. QUICK i mean you saw his tenure split a one five to. One was was you, know amongst the top ten of the receiver. Class it's it's a guy with and you KNOW i Mentioned. Shakir that's what he reminded me of down there in the one on. Ones that the frame is fairly. Similar of, course the way they'll be deployed as. Similar It's noel is a bit better
of an. Athlete so that's the, one like you, know you sort of, say LIKE i don't want to say Rich man's that's probably taking a little bit, far but like you're getting a little bit more athletic juice out of a guy who the rest of his skill set it's rock, solid Like, Shakir are.
We talking third For?
NOEL i Think noel goes in the second especially in this receiver class that. Stinks, Yeah LIKE I i think he deserves to go in round. Two well we'll end up seeing but if THE nfl agrees with, me BUT i think he should be around to pick in this, class all, Right.
Well we'll see how that plays itself. Out we've got, uh that's. UH i think we managed to hit on if you Include Travis. HUNTER i think we hit on nine or ten, guys which is not too. Bad we got to your top eight Plus Travis. Hunter we encourage people to check out all your work at fantasylife dot. Com you've got a lot more detail on a lot more receivers than the guys that we've covered. Here but great to get prepped up and ready to go at
the receiver. Position and next week we get to break down tight ends at a Much is this one of the deepest classes of tight end in? Years it feels that.
Way this is this is a good tight end. Class this is a really good tight, End it really.
IS i, mean Brock bauer is obviously amazing last, year but we've got really highly productive college tight ends that are going to hit the. Here and it's you, know it's reasonable to talk about a bunch of, them whereas you know most of yours, past we're, like, well there's like, two maybe three guys that are gonna have a fantasy. Impact we GOTTA i think we've got the potential of like five or, six don't you think for tight ends that could be meaningful?
Here, yes, yes and that's the. Number. YEAH i, LIKE i think we have five or six guys that are going to be contributing fairly early TO nfl passing.
Offenses love. It we'll break down tight ends next. Week thanks for, listening, Everybody Fantasy Football. Weekly Fantasy Football weekly is a production Of. iHeartRadio for more podcasts From, iHeartRadio visit The iHeartRadio, App Apple, podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite. Shows