0:16

Welcome everyone to the Pff Fantasy Podcast!

0:19

I'm a House John Macri Fantasy analyst

0:21

year at Pff and Prospects Season rolls

0:23

on. Last week we covered the incoming

0:26

quarterback class and and and a lot

0:28

of fun discussion around those players. You

0:30

can check that out now if you

0:32

haven't already. and now today we get

0:35

to talk about a very fun, very

0:37

interesting wide receiver group with a bunch

0:39

of potential first rounders Were. Maybe.

0:42

Three of which go in the top ten.

0:44

Ah, it's going be a fine discussion here

0:46

to dive into, and naturally I couldn't do

0:48

this on my own. So who better to

0:50

break it all down with me? That. The.

0:53

Great keep my juke as usual I'm

0:55

looking forward caped it to your thoughts

0:57

on this this rookie wide receiver class.

0:59

So how you doing today? Ready to

1:01

talk some more prospects? Are ready to

1:03

attack them are prospects he teased at.

1:05

This is in excellent wide receiver class.

1:08

Were undoubtedly it like going to get

1:10

three wide receivers here in the top

1:12

ten packs and. For. Very good

1:14

reason this is going to be. A

1:17

very fine episode And I am!

1:19

I'm super excited because like. The.

1:22

Running backs it interesting class

1:24

but not a time of.

1:27

You. Know like top and prospects to like

1:30

They're all top and prospects when it

1:32

comes to the side receiver. So really

1:34

this is a in interesting group because

1:36

you really are kind of. Nit.

1:38

Picking a lot between some of

1:41

these, these, you know, tear too.

1:43

wide receivers that. Could. Have a

1:45

very big impact on our fantasy teams for

1:47

the years to come. Yeah.

1:49

No, I am with you

1:52

that second. Third, Fourth,

1:54

Tier like a tinker with a time

1:56

like I feel pretty good obviously of

1:58

about the top guys. But what will

2:00

get into a we'll talk our rankings and

2:02

everything like that? And yeah, it's always one.

2:04

I'm talking rookies, right? Like I have no

2:06

doubt that you know that I'll be the

2:08

case with this year's wide receiver class. We're

2:10

going to cover our eight wide receivers that

2:13

we picked out for for today. So obviously.

2:15

There are a ton more that we can probably

2:17

cover as well because the it is a pretty

2:20

be class but I will look at at another

2:22

way to potentially cover those guys on on a

2:24

later episode as while socks be on the lookout

2:26

for that if you are watching on the you

2:28

tubes I don't forget to like and subscribe. We'd

2:31

greatly appreciate that support if I if you're willing

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2:42

at let us know the you're interested in in

2:44

this continent. Enjoy the rookie content. And we will

2:46

keep it rolling all draft season long. Ah,

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speaking of which, before we get into the

2:50

players themselves, I also want to let you

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Thirty M D S. Aren't.

3:44

Let's get into it here. Be

3:46

wide receiver position as we mentioned

3:48

is chock full of interesting prospects

3:50

and some very good ones to

3:52

boot. but we have to stop.

3:54

Starts at the top here with

3:56

Ohio State's Marvin Harrison Junior. Take

3:58

you thought that. everyone's top

4:01

ranked wide receiver, but he

4:03

is many people's wide receiver one. And, and

4:05

with that being said, maybe let's

4:07

start with a spoiler for our rankings coming

4:09

later. Um, like we did last episode with

4:11

Caleb Williams is Marvin Harrison Jr.

4:14

Your wide receiver one. Yes, he is. Next.

4:18

Like that, that, this wasn't

4:20

even a question for me. I mean,

4:22

21 years old, three years at Ohio

4:24

state, six, three and a quarter inch,

4:27

209 pounds, like back to

4:29

back seasons with 1200 receiving

4:32

yards, 14 touchdowns, the

4:35

2023 Fred, Belecganoff winner. Like

4:38

what can't Marvin Harrison Jr.

4:40

Do at his size? I

4:42

don't know that there's really

4:44

anything. Yeah,

4:47

no, it like it's everything that he does.

4:49

Right. Like you said, it just can't

4:52

get over just kind of how

4:55

much of a natural he is really in

4:57

like all aspects of his position. And yeah,

4:59

maybe, you know, that shouldn't come as a

5:01

surprise considering he's the son of a hall

5:03

of fame wide receiver in Marvin Harrison senior,

5:05

right? But it's still so

5:07

impressive to watch him, you know, break

5:09

his routes at the exact right moments,

5:11

send corners in the wrong direction, fight

5:13

through contact versus press and use his

5:15

weight and momentum to just make space

5:17

at the right time to come down

5:19

with the ball cleanly, like everything

5:21

that he does. It looks effortless. His adjustments

5:24

on the ball as well. And there's,

5:26

there are definitely times where he has

5:28

to adjust. A lot of times I

5:30

found actually at least relative

5:32

to the top two guys, he's not, or

5:34

the top, the other top two guys, he's

5:36

not getting, you know, kind of the same

5:38

level of quarterback play that a neighbors or,

5:40

or even Oduinze is getting, which,

5:43

you know, when watching him, I know one

5:45

of the knocks on him has been that

5:47

kind of yak ability and it's on the

5:49

lower end, sure. That 32nd percentile among prospects

5:51

since 2019. But I think

5:53

part of it is that he's not always getting

5:56

the ball in stride either or nearly as often

5:58

as some of these other wide. who

6:00

we'll talk about in a bit that

6:02

are getting much better quarterback play. So

6:05

that played into it with me and

6:07

I mean, we can get into some of

6:09

the production numbers from him as

6:12

well. But like just elite,

6:14

absolutely ridiculous production for

6:16

his position. 2.98

6:18

career yards per run, 93rd

6:20

percentile since 2019. 91.3

6:23

career receiving grade was 94th percentile. 2.87

6:27

yards per run lined up in the slot or

6:30

lined up wide, which was 86 percentile. 3.63

6:33

yards per run from the slot, which was 92nd percentile. 45.8%

6:37

explosive play rate, 94th percentile. 94.5 receiving grade versus

6:39

single coverage was 98th percentile. 4.63

6:47

yards per run versus single coverage, 89th percentile. And

6:49

a 17% first down and touchdown rate is

6:51

98th percentile. So every

6:54

ridiculous at an elite level,

6:56

right? Everything he

6:58

does is at an elite level. And

7:00

I really like what you mentioned about

7:02

just everything looking so

7:05

natural and so easy. And

7:07

I will say for a player of his

7:10

size, that's not always the case. Like what

7:13

you love about him, he's a threat at every level

7:15

level of the field. He's got quicker

7:17

feet than you would guess for a

7:19

guy with that long a frame. He's

7:21

a smooth route runner again for a

7:23

man of any size, but especially for

7:25

a guy of his frame, elite

7:28

body control. And really the

7:30

only knock I think you can come up

7:32

with is the yards after

7:34

the catchability. But like, for instance,

7:36

in the 2023 season ranked in

7:39

the 37th percentile and catchable target

7:41

rate, that does

7:44

have a sincere impact

7:47

on your ability to relaying

7:49

yards after the catch. Because that

7:52

elite ball placement can maximize so

7:54

much for what you're able to

7:57

do after the catch point. It's

8:00

something that Marvin Harrison Jr. in comparison

8:02

to a Malik neighbors didn't really have

8:04

the benefit of Yeah,

8:07

absolutely. It makes a huge difference Right

8:09

and like you consider that catchable pass

8:11

rate and he's still putting this level

8:13

of production up like it's just unbelievable

8:16

Yeah, so I mean the

8:18

guy is he's a true like alpha wide

8:20

receiver, right in every sense of the word

8:23

I think he's landing spot proof He's gonna

8:25

step into an offensive and be the clear

8:27

wide receiver one that there's not many that

8:29

are gonna steal targets from him Yeah, I

8:31

think he's gonna elevate whoever his NFL quarterback

8:33

ends up being as well Like

8:36

let's just say Marvin Harrison jr. Is

8:38

him right like he's so

8:41

him He could probably change his

8:43

name to Mar him Harris him

8:45

Wow And

8:48

that's it for today's PFF We Gotta

8:53

end there we gotta end there on a high note I

8:55

don't know Yeah, I like I think what

8:57

like what isn't there to be said for

9:00

Marvin Harrison jr He's as pro ready as

9:02

it comes like you love

9:04

the pedigree You love the fact that he's

9:06

been mentored by a Hall of Fame wide

9:08

receiver literally says birth I mean, yeah, they

9:12

I you know for me. I know

9:14

for a lot of NFL teams right

9:16

now Malik neighbors is Their

9:18

top-end wide receiver, but I honestly

9:20

think it's because Marvin Harrison jr.

9:22

Is so good at everything. It's

9:25

almost boring and That's

9:27

not that's not any like For

9:30

as much flash as Malik neighbors

9:32

has I think Marvin Harrison jr.

9:35

Has as Much

9:37

flash but because he's so good at

9:39

everything it It

9:42

sometimes like, you know when you're

9:44

you're so good at everything it

9:46

doesn't Feel as meaningful or

9:48

impactful and I feel like that's the only thing we

9:51

can come up with Marvin Harrison jr He's

9:53

so far my wide receiver one. It's

9:55

absolutely ridiculous Yeah, no,

9:58

I'm with you. And yes, it's sure It

10:00

seems, you know too good to be true type

10:02

thing, you know Whatever the case is that they

10:04

they wouldn't have him as wide receiver one, but

10:07

I'm all in he's wide receiver one for

10:09

me as well I'd be taking him first

10:11

overall in rookie drafts any chance

10:13

I get But

10:16

yeah, we touched on Malik neighbors here just

10:18

briefly but let's get into him a little

10:20

bit more out of LSU another

10:23

potential top ten pick here so

10:27

with neighbors one

10:29

of the first things that kind of

10:31

stood out to me watching him is

10:33

that he is like Incredible

10:36

with the ball in his hands, right?

10:38

And and you know for a smaller

10:40

wide receiver sure you'd expect some shift

10:42

e-ness and speed to their game But

10:45

with neighbors one of the things That

10:48

is most impressive about him is just

10:50

how difficult he is to take down

10:52

like just constantly slipping out of tackles

10:55

bouncing off defenders fighting for extra

10:57

yardage He had six point

10:59

six yards after catch per reception for his

11:01

his career That's clearly the best of those

11:03

top three guys and like you mentioned quarterback

11:05

play does play a part in that as

11:07

well But he's great at

11:10

creating after the catch He has

11:12

an ability to take off in space with

11:14

speed and and make guys miss like you

11:16

look at his miss tackles force per reception

11:18

for his career zero point three one

11:21

Which is not just the best for

11:23

this entire wide receiver class But 99th

11:25

percentile among all prospects since 2019 like

11:28

he's he's electric with the ball in

11:30

his hand So he's another

11:32

guy that it's hard not

11:34

to get excited about like I could

11:36

see for sure Why people have him

11:38

as wide receiver one? So how

11:40

about you? What do you what do you like about neighbors? I

11:43

mean so so explosive. He is an elite

11:45

separator. He is Fast

11:47

he's an insane vertical threat so

11:50

much speed. He is Much

11:52

more dynamic after the catch then

11:55

for instance a Marvin Harrison jr.

11:57

Now obviously Jaden Daniels does play

11:59

a part in that into that because you

12:01

know the ball placement has been impeccable.

12:04

Not a ton of concerns

12:07

for him either like you know for

12:09

Marvin Harrison Jr. it was like yards

12:11

after the catch. Really

12:13

not necessarily much to talk about

12:15

with neighbors either like you know

12:18

a little bit smaller than Marvin Harrison Jr. and

12:21

to that point physicality isn't

12:24

always the way

12:27

that he's going to win and you

12:30

know good thing is he doesn't

12:32

really need to because usually he's faster than a

12:34

lot of the guys on the football field. So

12:37

I do think while I think

12:39

you know Marvin Harrison Jr. again

12:42

my wide receiver one I understand

12:45

the appeal with neighbors he's flashier at 1,569

12:47

receiving yards 14 touchdowns this season

12:51

with LSU and I was playing alongside

12:54

brain Thomas who was also very productive.

12:56

I mean this was an

12:58

explosive offense top to bottom and

13:01

like all of these physical traits

13:04

that that you attribute in terms

13:06

of athleticism burst he's

13:09

got them all. He

13:11

does yeah and he's got the production to

13:13

back it up as well right like there's

13:15

just it's just an ideal profile for what

13:17

you're looking for from a first round wide

13:19

receiver a potential top 10 wide receiver everything

13:22

about him too like there's just very little

13:24

red flags for him on tape

13:26

and in his data as well right like

13:28

87 percentile career yards per out run 93rd

13:31

percentile career receiving grade 96

13:33

percentile career receiving grade versus

13:36

single coverage like again everything you'd

13:38

want out of a wide receiver prospect and

13:40

a super smooth route runner whether he's working

13:42

out of the slot or out wide as

13:44

well like there's just so much

13:46

to like and and yeah it I have

13:48

no concerns about neighbors in the NFL whether

13:51

he's you know the first wide receiver off

13:53

the board second third it makes

13:55

no difference to me I'd be

13:57

very excited to get him In

14:00

fantasy drafts, I think again, another guy that

14:02

I think can hit the ground running in

14:04

the NFL and be an immediate fantasy contributor

14:06

as well, wherever he lands.

14:09

So definitely a very exciting

14:11

player there in Malik Neighbors. All

14:15

right, let's go to another potential

14:17

top 10 pick at the wide

14:20

receiver position in this year's draft

14:22

because two wasn't enough. Washington's Rome

14:24

O'Dunze enters the conversation. So how

14:26

are you feeling about O'Dunze out

14:29

of Washington? I'm going to give

14:31

you a little spoiler here for my

14:33

rankings here at the end of the show. Rome

14:36

O'Dunze is actually my wide receiver too

14:38

in this class over Malik Neighbors and

14:41

might be a spicy take,

14:43

but 21 years old coming

14:45

out of Washington has just

14:47

kind of this perfect height,

14:50

size, speed, combination

14:53

for a guy tested well at

14:55

the combine does so many

14:57

of the little things right, kind of

14:59

like a Marvin Harrison Jr. He's just

15:02

super, super well rounded. Led

15:04

the NCAA with 1640 receiving yards in

15:06

2023, 13 receiving touchdowns, averaged 17.8 yards

15:08

per perception, had year over year growth.

15:15

Each of the past three seasons,

15:17

saw jumps in his target share

15:19

yards per reception average, touchdown total,

15:21

just plays with a ton of

15:24

play strength. He's a tough dude, but

15:26

he's a tough dude that has, I think a

15:28

lot of finesse that just

15:30

has me absolutely enamored. I think he shows

15:32

a lot of lower body strength in particular.

15:35

Like there are times where he'll just like,

15:37

you know, players on a

15:39

tackle attempt are just dragged down

15:41

the field. Like

15:44

19.3 breakout age, that's

15:46

in the 84th percentile

15:48

over the past two seasons,

15:51

95th percentile and receiving grade,

15:53

78th percentile in terms of

15:55

separation percentage, 84th in yards per route

15:57

run. Again, not like a yard.

16:00

after the catch Maestro, but again, just one

16:02

of these guys that I think is

16:05

probably, you know, outside of Marvin

16:07

Harrison Jr. the safest overall wide

16:09

receiver prospect in this class. Yeah,

16:13

he's he's another one. Like again, like you

16:15

just you see watch him. It's very clear

16:17

why he's going to be a top 10,

16:20

a potential top 10 overall pick

16:22

here and Washington's offense to

16:24

like they had, they have, I

16:27

should say, I guess had a really nice offense there in

16:29

2023, but they

16:31

built a lot of that around getting the

16:33

ball into the hands of O'Doonze and letting

16:35

him to go to work, right? Like there's

16:37

there's a ton of wide receiver screens for

16:39

him on tape where, you know, he's getting

16:41

offensive linemen out in front of him blocking

16:43

for him, creating those yak opportunities, but

16:46

also a go route specialist. 30% of

16:48

his routes in 2023 were

16:50

go routes. And not surprising,

16:52

considering that size speed combo, like you said,

16:54

which is going to be key for him

16:56

in the NFL as well. And just some

16:59

really nice plays on tape where basically, you

17:01

know, when you're watching him on those go

17:03

routes, he's the man that can do both

17:05

right on those deep routes, he can shake

17:07

defenders and get open, but also come down

17:10

with those contested catches and win

17:12

against tight coverage. So very

17:14

exciting player. I mean, you know, the

17:16

other thing with O'Doonze, he was fed

17:18

the ball a ton, like I said,

17:20

in Washington's offense, but there were other

17:22

guys there that were legitimate target competition

17:24

between Jalen Polk and Jalen McMillan. So

17:26

not too much of a surprise to

17:28

see like his yard per outrun figure

17:30

below that of Harrison or neighbors and

17:32

was actually ninth among the power five

17:34

wide receivers in this year's class. So

17:36

it's not like an overly exciting number,

17:38

but I wrote up an article this

17:40

past week looking at like personnel adjusted

17:43

yards per outrun for wide receivers,

17:45

essentially looking at offenses that utilize

17:47

more wide receivers on the field,

17:49

how would that makes it more

17:51

difficult for each individual wide receiver

17:53

to command a higher yards per

17:55

outrun total. And O'Doonze's

17:57

actual yards per outrun deviation,

18:00

was among the best in this year's class

18:03

when taking that into account indicating that his

18:06

yards per run total is actually yards

18:08

per run total that is, was actually

18:10

more impressive when considering those less favorable

18:12

situations. So all that

18:14

to say, Odunze really is an elite

18:16

wide receiver prospect, absolutely deserving

18:18

of that top 10 pick. And he's, like

18:20

you said, between two and three, him

18:23

or neighbors, it feels like

18:25

Devontae Smith or Jalen Waddle for me in

18:27

2021, where I'm just happy with

18:29

either one there. I don't care if it's as

18:32

long as I'm getting one, I'm extremely happy.

18:34

So yeah, I think honestly,

18:36

from a dynasty perspective,

18:39

like you're, you end up

18:41

with any of these three wide receivers, especially,

18:44

you know, long term, I don't

18:46

think you're gonna have any complaints. Depending

18:48

on landing spot, I also think each

18:51

three of these could make an immediate

18:53

impact in redraft league. So like, really

18:56

just kind of depends on, you know, your

18:58

where you're going to split hairs with these

19:00

guys, maybe you kind of what you value.

19:03

I think neighbors definitely a

19:05

flashier overall wide receiver. I

19:08

just think Odunze, generally speaking,

19:10

I like the,

19:12

you know, I think he's just a

19:14

little bit more play strength, which is

19:16

a style that I kind of

19:18

prefer in my wide receivers. But like,

19:20

again, with these top

19:22

prospects, we're splitting hairs. Yeah. Yeah,

19:25

definitely splitting hairs landing spot for sure. Gonna

19:27

play a part, right? Like there's, there's talk

19:30

of Odunze potentially going at nine to Chicago,

19:32

right? So it's a little bit more crowded

19:34

in that offense with Keenan Allen and DJ

19:36

more there. So you could see him becoming

19:39

more of that consensus wide receiver three in

19:42

redraft, at least for these rookies, if that were

19:44

to be the case, but there's also going to

19:46

be opportunity for him in other

19:48

potential landing spots to come in and be the

19:50

wide receiver one or wide receiver two at worst.

19:52

So it's going to be fun. It's going to

19:55

be really fun to see how these, this top

19:57

10 shakes out and where these three wide receivers

19:59

go. And yet will get

20:01

into the rest of them here in just a second.

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at Me topic.com/fantasy of Me: fabric.com/fantasy An easy

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fabric.com Fi fantasy pulses issued by Western Southern

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my friends company not available in certain states

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post subject underwriting and health questions. Are,

20:52

let's talk another Alice

20:54

you wide receiver and

20:56

another likely first rounder

20:58

as well. It's Mister

21:00

Bryant Thomas Junior Seau

21:02

Thomas. I found. Really

21:05

one of the more interesting players I

21:07

think like and. I'll. Be curious

21:09

where you're at with them because I

21:11

constantly go back and forth on Thomas

21:13

here and and where I should rank

21:15

him. you know, kind of pre draft

21:17

without a landing spot and will get

21:19

to where I landed later but also

21:21

with the positive for him because you

21:23

know you watch him. On tape.

21:26

I find it hard said. basically not

21:28

envision the upside that he'd have in

21:30

the Nfl considering the size and speed

21:33

that he brings to the table. Right

21:35

for three, three, forty time, ninety fourth

21:37

percentile, he's got good height at nearly

21:39

six Three had a nine, nine, seven

21:42

relative athletic score as well. I'm like

21:44

the upside is absolutely there to work

21:46

out for him in the Nfl. You

21:48

to see him joining a high and

21:51

passing offense as their vertical threat and

21:53

being a weekly like big play weapon.

21:56

and i can also see him joining

21:58

a team whose offense isn't as ideal

22:00

unable to, you know, utilize

22:02

him as effectively, especially early in his

22:04

NFL career, and, and then him not

22:06

be that weekly fantasy option that we

22:09

typically hope for out of a first

22:11

round pick. But yeah,

22:14

I don't know. I mean, almost his entire route

22:16

tree right last year, which was his

22:18

one year as a starter, it was go

22:20

routes and hitches. That's, that's pretty much it.

22:22

Like, he had the occasional crossing route in

22:24

there. But we're talking far from

22:26

like a diverse route tree. And it's why part of

22:28

me is worried that he's going to be kind of

22:30

the one trick pony in the

22:33

NFL and only have boom bust fantasy

22:35

potential. So I, I

22:38

definitely see the upside, I can get excited for

22:40

him at times. And then there's other times where

22:42

I get down on him. So I'm curious, where

22:44

are you at with Thomas before, you know, I

22:46

get into some of his numbers here? I'm

22:50

in a similar boat to you. So

22:52

like, I think there's a lot to

22:54

get enamored with, right? You have the

22:57

height we the height weight speed combination

22:59

there, you mentioned it like just under

23:02

six three. And I mean, to have

23:04

that kind of length, and

23:06

that kind of speed, just, I

23:09

mean, it's done, like put them on

23:11

the outside and let them run, let them

23:13

run a go route, you see why he ran so many of them.

23:15

But like, generally, just a

23:17

natural wide receiver, a big catch

23:20

radius, 89th percentile with his wingspan,

23:23

72nd percentile in arm length. You

23:25

know, I think generally what

23:28

we saw out of him, a lot

23:31

of burst, he's a great athlete.

23:33

But again, like the route tree

23:35

kind of concerning, not a

23:38

refined route runner, you know, I

23:40

think probably got away with more

23:42

because of that supreme athleticism

23:45

that that burst, you know, 1.5

23:47

second 10 yard split tells you

23:49

everything you need to know about

23:52

the kind of burst he has.

23:54

And I do think that

23:56

helped him in a lot of situations. So do I I

24:00

see all of these physical

24:02

traits that are really exciting for a

24:05

wide receiver. Yes. But

24:07

do I see somebody that's like pro

24:09

ready as, as, you know, these other

24:11

wide receiver prospects that we just reviewed

24:14

know, and that is why there's such

24:16

a massive tier break here leading

24:18

into Brian Thomas as you know, the

24:21

consensus wide receiver for in this class.

24:25

Yeah. I'm with you. Like I could see

24:27

why he'd be ranked as high as four.

24:29

Um, like on our big board specifically as

24:31

well. Right. And then you look at, you

24:34

know, some of the reasons why he'd be

24:36

ranked a lot lower. And his production profile

24:38

is just kind of riddled with red flags,

24:40

right? Like 1.9, five career yards

24:42

per route run is 28th percentile. 71.5

24:47

career receiving grade is 21st percentile

24:49

is yards per route run. When lined up wide is 1.97.

24:53

That's just 36 percentile. Um,

24:55

even explosive play rate, just 32.3% is 34th percentile. Right.

24:59

So I

25:02

know, you know, he had Malik neighbors to

25:04

contend with there. So maybe we could fit,

25:06

you know, forgive some of the

25:08

per route numbers a little bit. And

25:11

like you said, he's nowhere near finished

25:13

product so we can expect him to

25:15

kind of continue developing and hopefully get

25:17

better, but it is at least concerning

25:19

that he performed so poorly. I think

25:21

relative to prospects passed in, in these

25:23

key metrics. And as much

25:25

as I love the speed and I think

25:27

he can absolutely get better in the NFL.

25:29

I'm not convinced that it's worth the first

25:31

round pick, which is where he's

25:33

expected to go in most mocks and you know,

25:35

his mock draft simulator

25:37

ADP right now is I think 23rd

25:40

overall. So he's in

25:42

that range and it is, you know, his

25:44

production profile. Sure. It puts him closer to

25:46

probably like a fourth rounder, but obviously taking

25:49

to into account the athletic ability. He's much

25:51

better than that. But I don't

25:53

think I'd be looking at him until the second round.

25:55

If I'm an NFL team, to be honest, I don't

25:58

know. You're getting

26:00

a number of years if you're one of these

26:02

teams taking him in the first round is the

26:05

potential the upside the athlete

26:08

and almost reminds me of

26:10

like a Christian Watson coming out where you knew he

26:12

had all of the physical

26:14

traits to be a top-end wide

26:16

receiver but doesn't necessarily

26:18

have the refinement as a route runner

26:21

as a um,

26:23

you know in the NFL player

26:25

yet and you know TBD

26:28

I'm not necessarily using Christian Watson as a

26:30

comp for him. I'm not saying that that's

26:33

Christian Watson is the range of outcomes for a

26:35

player like him, but You

26:38

know even maybe similar to like a Quentin

26:40

Johnston where you know had a lot of

26:42

traits that you really like but You

26:46

might not necessarily expect a ton

26:48

out of him immediately coming out

26:50

of the gate, right? Yeah,

26:52

I think I think Christian Watson is a good

26:54

example though Like you said like how the NFL

26:56

does fall in love with traits and values them

26:58

very highly I mean if you want, you know

27:00

to separate the Comp even from

27:02

the position like look just look a couple

27:04

years ago Trayvon Walker going first overall, right?

27:07

Like the NFL Fell in love

27:09

with that upside and that athletic ability and I think

27:11

it's going to be the same here with with Brian

27:13

Thomas obviously not going to go first overall but He's

27:16

going to be drafted highly and it's because a

27:18

team is going to fall in love with those

27:20

traits and That for that reason you can see

27:22

the upside but I think there's still some Work

27:25

in progress there with with him as

27:27

an NFL player. So I do worry

27:29

about potential year one production from from

27:32

Brian Thomas, basically Yeah, probably

27:34

a better, uh, you know long-term

27:36

dynasty asset than he's going to be here,

27:39

but you know potentially he you know

27:41

if he lands in a role with

27:43

a quarterback that can

27:46

deliver the ball downfield and and

27:49

Get him on those go routes and open up

27:51

an offense like maybe maybe there's some room there

27:54

I just can't envision in year one

27:56

having a consistent sort of every down

27:58

role in an offense Yeah,

28:01

I'm with you 100%. All

28:03

right, let's head to Texas for

28:05

a couple of interesting names coming

28:08

out actually. And we'll start with

28:10

another speed freak and an RAS

28:13

stud in Adonae Mitchell.

28:15

Kate, tell us about

28:17

this potential first round wide receiver. You

28:20

mentioned the relative athletic score

28:22

ranked fifth among wide receivers.

28:24

Fifth, like ever. Fifth,

28:27

since what I think 1987

28:30

dating back, like you

28:32

are getting an absolute freak athlete

28:34

in Ady Mitchell. And what's so

28:36

exciting about him is he

28:39

does like it. This feels like just

28:41

a very common thread with this class

28:43

in general is that

28:45

unique combination of height, weight,

28:49

speed. He's got

28:51

it all. And you talk about

28:53

elite size, body control. You know,

28:57

it's, it's something that's very

28:59

special. And what you like about him,

29:01

like, because of that size,

29:03

he can make catches outside of his

29:05

body, he's got an above average wingspan.

29:08

He's a pretty solid route runner for

29:10

his size as well. You know, want

29:12

to kind of shout out his,

29:15

his overall profile, his production profile

29:17

in particular, not necessarily the efficiency

29:19

metrics, but that's

29:21

going to be the biggest hangup in

29:23

his final season at Texas. So posted

29:25

55 receptions, 845 receiving

29:28

yards, 11 touchdowns after

29:30

transferring from Georgia, had

29:33

two seasons there, sophomore season at

29:35

Georgia was one to

29:38

forget, but one that was kind

29:40

of marred by ankle

29:42

injuries and missed, you know,

29:44

had this ankle sprain and in week

29:46

two of the second season, missed

29:49

most of the year, kind of came back

29:51

late and didn't see a

29:53

whole lot before he eventually transferred to

29:55

Texas and then had to

29:57

make his way into this Texas offense where

30:00

Xavier Worthy had already kind of established

30:02

him as this wide receiver

30:04

one for the offense. So, you

30:06

know, never surpass that 845

30:08

receiving yard mark, but not

30:11

necessarily going to ding him there

30:14

for that second season at Georgia

30:16

because of, of, you

30:18

know, his overall health. Now

30:21

for as much as I like

30:23

him, some weaknesses, not necessarily like, despite

30:25

the fact that he's, he's big and,

30:27

you know, six, two and a quarter

30:30

inch, 205 pounds, doesn't have as much

30:34

play strength as you would think. 43.3%

30:38

contested catch percentage over the course of

30:40

his collegiate career. That ranks

30:42

below average. The yards

30:44

after the catch ability, probably the biggest

30:47

red flag when it

30:49

comes to AD Mitchell over the past

30:51

three seasons, averaged three yards after the

30:53

catch perception at ranked 353rd out of

30:55

356 qualifying wide receivers. Yeah,

31:02

it's, that was a, that was a big

31:05

red flag that I had written as well.

31:07

It's just first percentile among prospects since 2019.

31:10

Right. And then look at, you know, in

31:12

a similar vein as Brian Thomas is

31:14

Adonie Mitchell, we have these kind of

31:16

lanky athletic speedsters, right? Who have this

31:19

untapped potential as far as kind of

31:21

what they can be in the NFL

31:23

and how teams can utilize them to

31:25

become like true offensive weapons. And

31:28

I think the upside is absolutely there with

31:30

Mitchell as much as it is with Thomas.

31:33

You know, the, the problem for me was

31:35

as well, like you mentioned, you know, the

31:37

production profile as far as efficiency

31:40

metrics go, it's pretty

31:42

poor, you know, to say the least. And

31:44

definitely some of that has to do with,

31:46

with different offenses and dealing with injuries as

31:49

well. But 1.68 career

31:51

yards per out run being 13th percentile

31:54

among prospects since 2019. Like

31:57

even his best career season in terms of yards

31:59

per out run. run at 1.72 is just third percentile

32:01

since 2019. And

32:08

then like receiving grade yards for outrun

32:10

from different alignments. They're all well below

32:13

average career missed tackles forced per reception,

32:15

just 15th percentile. So even with that,

32:17

that yak ability being really low too,

32:19

like there's reasons why that is. He's

32:22

not making guys miss in the open

32:24

field. So I did,

32:26

I struggled to find like a lot

32:28

of positives in his actual like college

32:30

production with basically the shining light of

32:33

his profile being in his adjusted separation

32:35

rate. So open target rate on throws

32:37

10 plus yards down field. Basically

32:40

he ranked 82nd percentile among prospects there

32:42

and finished with a 76th percentile explosive

32:44

play rate, which you would hope to

32:47

see from these kind of speedsters. And

32:49

he was better than Thomas in that

32:51

regard as well. So his

32:53

route tree was also a bit more

32:55

diverse than a Brian Thomas,

32:58

even though it is still very heavy on the

33:00

go routes and the hitches, like most vertical threats

33:02

are, but there is a bit

33:04

more to his game as far as kind of

33:06

the underneath stuff, like slants, crossing routes, those ins

33:08

and outs as well. Which was nice to see,

33:10

but yeah, I did. I found

33:12

more red flags for him as well, kind

33:15

of when doing the personnel

33:17

adjusted yards per outrun, like he

33:19

was put in more favorable situations

33:22

with fewer wide receivers on the

33:24

field at once, but failed

33:26

to kind of deliver at a rate

33:28

that you'd hope to see from potential

33:30

first round wide receivers. And as highlighted

33:32

in the article, which you could check

33:34

out for free on pff.com now, that

33:37

success rate for those lower

33:39

performers in yards per outrun

33:41

over expected is actually quite

33:43

low. So those things were

33:45

definitely concerning for me. But again,

33:48

like you see the upside, you see

33:50

why this class is considered so deep

33:53

is that they have these guys, like

33:55

these athletics, speedsters, like Donnie

33:57

Mitchell, like Brian Thomas, that...

34:00

can absolutely work out once they get to

34:02

the NFL. And, you know, again, they're not

34:05

finished products coming out of college. So there's

34:07

still work to be done there. And it's

34:10

hard to shut the door on them

34:12

completely because of poor production profiles, basically.

34:15

Yeah, very, very fair. Yeah.

34:20

Okay, let's move on to the

34:22

other Texas wide receiver now and

34:24

another absolute speed freak who ran

34:26

a four to 140 time at the

34:29

combine, it's Xavier Worthy. He

34:32

was not one of the top

34:34

eight wide receivers on the PFF

34:36

big board, but a combine

34:38

riser for a lot of people.

34:40

So definitely worth kind of discussing

34:42

here among so many wide receivers

34:45

that are worth discussing who we weren't able to

34:47

cover, we weren't, aren't able to cover them all

34:49

here today, but he is smaller

34:51

than AD Mitchell, 511, 165, very

34:57

small for a wide receiver. So I think

34:59

right there, you find some of the concerns

35:01

right away when translating to the NFL, but

35:03

that being said, you know, he was used a lot outside

35:06

a lot more at Texas, but I'd imagine,

35:08

you know, he fits better in the slot

35:11

in the NFL and can still serve as

35:13

like a vertical threat. Also

35:15

has a more nuanced route tree relative to

35:18

like a Brian Thomas, for example, just with

35:20

a ton more wide receiver

35:22

screens too, right? Like those screens do

35:25

speak to the team, I think wanting

35:27

to get the ball in his hands

35:29

because with that speed and quickness comes

35:31

a ton of playmaking potential as well.

35:33

And I wouldn't be surprised to

35:35

see him used in a similar way in

35:37

the NFL. He's probably

35:40

not a guy that teams will be spending

35:42

a first round pick on even with that

35:44

elite athletic ability. There's just, you know, some

35:46

of the size concerns and then maybe not

35:49

to the extent of Thomas and AD Mitchell

35:51

production profile concerns, but they are still there

35:53

for him in a way in that he's

35:55

just kind of closer to average and profiles

35:58

probably closer to like a late date. to

36:00

type pick in the draft without factoring in,

36:02

you know, much of his athleticism. He's probably

36:04

going to go earlier than that. So, um,

36:08

yeah, where were you at with, with worthy? Did well, we

36:10

won't give it away. I was going to say, do you

36:12

like him better than Mitchell, but let's, let's save that. I'll

36:14

just see very, where you're at with the word. We can

36:16

save that. Yeah. We can say that. I

36:18

mean, like, look, there's a lot of things

36:20

to like about Xavier worthy, like speed and

36:22

separation, that is the name of the game

36:25

for Xavier worthy. And like,

36:27

no surprise, he ran a four to one

36:29

40 yard dash, like past three seasons

36:31

ranks 93rd percentile with an 83.9% open target rate, um, just fast.

36:38

He can be utilized all over the field. He

36:40

could be kind of a gadget player. Once

36:43

you get the ball in his hands and let him

36:45

make plays after the catch, that's where he is

36:48

going to win. And, you know,

36:50

in terms of production profile, not

36:52

necessarily leave, but there is one

36:54

metric that analytics fans are going

36:56

to really, really like about Xavier

36:58

worthy. And it's this 18.4 breakout

37:00

age, which ranks in the 97th

37:02

percentile for wide receivers as

37:05

a true freshmen in 2021 at Texas ranked 77th

37:07

percentile or better in yards

37:10

per route run yards after the

37:12

catch perception and separation percentage. I

37:15

think, you know, generally speaking, you're going

37:17

to be maybe a little bit more

37:20

disappointed that we didn't see a higher

37:22

ceiling for him, especially in 2023. We

37:25

saw AD Mitchell utilized, um,

37:27

a lot more, you know, then

37:29

maybe we would have liked considering Xavier

37:31

worthy was already established in that offense,

37:34

but. Was still

37:36

the wide receiver one just didn't necessarily

37:38

see a ton of like year over

37:40

year growth, like what we saw as

37:42

a true freshmen was kind of what

37:44

we ended up getting, um, in for

37:47

most of his career. But

37:49

I do want to shout out just the

37:51

fact that I think he's a really good

37:53

solid wide receiver,

37:55

the biggest question for me is just going

37:57

to be the play strength 11th percentile. and

38:00

Kentucky catch rate over his three seasons at Texas.

38:02

He plays like he's 165 pounds in the worst

38:04

way. Yeah,

38:09

that and that becomes a lot harder to

38:11

do at the NFL level as well, right?

38:13

So yeah, you mentioned it. I

38:15

mean, you wish to see higher,

38:18

at least efficiency marks

38:20

for him, but they're not like terrible. They're

38:22

just closer to average, I guess, for the

38:24

prospects coming out over the past few years,

38:26

right? And if you're watching on YouTube, you

38:29

can see the graphic there, 51st

38:31

percentile career yards per run, as well

38:33

as 51st percentile career receiving

38:35

grade, even explosive play rate for

38:38

a guy with that speed, 49th

38:40

percentile. Yeah,

38:43

missed tackles force per reception, 47th

38:45

percentile yards per out run versus

38:47

single coverage, 55th percentile. So you

38:50

mentioned it too, like he did a nice

38:52

job separating, and then you look at adjusted

38:54

separation rate, which is 10 plus yards downfield,

38:56

38% open target rate in that regard, which

39:00

was 78th percentile and really good, you

39:02

know, yards after catch per reception as

39:04

well, which you'd hope to see with

39:07

all those wide receiver screens as well.

39:09

He was 80th percentile there. So I

39:12

think there's definitely a role for

39:14

him in the NFL as a wide receiver that you

39:16

can involve in the offense at

39:18

a high rate, get the ball in his

39:20

hands around the line of scrimmage, let him

39:22

go to work kind of thing, as well

39:24

as the occasional vertical threat. But I

39:27

think that, you know, the

39:29

NFL team that drafts him is going

39:31

to have to be a creative one

39:33

to make him like a consistent fantasy

39:35

asset, basically. So for worthy, I

39:38

felt like I found myself getting

39:40

kind of hung up on potential landing spot for him.

39:42

I think that's going to be particularly important here for

39:44

him. But yeah,

39:47

I, again, like, I

39:49

like all these wide receivers, which is it, I

39:52

feel like I have to point out some of

39:54

the negatives just to kind of separate these guys

39:56

a little bit. But really, like, again, you look

39:58

in, you're looking at upside and stuff with these

40:00

guys and it is a very exciting class

40:02

and as far as potential goes. And

40:05

I do want to say Xavier worthy like he

40:07

he has time right he has time to put

40:09

on a little bit

40:11

of monthly five eleven it like that's not

40:14

that's not great for a wide receiver but it's not

40:16

the end of the world he's the 165 pounds it's a

40:19

lot to get over but also again

40:23

twenty years old he's going to turn

40:25

21 just ahead of the

40:28

NFL draft here and I do

40:30

think like that that gives him some

40:32

some time to put on muscle conceivably

40:35

over the next couple of seasons once

40:37

he's actually conditioned

40:39

for the NFL and and you know

40:41

maybe makes an effort to put on

40:43

some of that muscle I

40:46

can foresee that happening and I do

40:48

think landing spot is going to be key

40:50

like I don't

40:52

want him seeing I don't want to see

40:54

him going to like the AFC North where

40:57

they're going to play a physical brand of

40:59

defensive football I don't want to see that

41:01

I it's like I think that you know I

41:04

don't want to see him going to a place

41:06

with you know that where he's going to be

41:08

able to you know get bullied by his common

41:10

opponents like I I want a situation

41:12

where maybe he doesn't necessarily have to

41:14

be the number one and he can

41:16

just play his brand of speed

41:19

and separation and and we don't

41:21

have to worry about these contested

41:23

catch situations that he's not necessarily

41:25

going to excel in yeah

41:28

yeah I'm with you I think yeah

41:30

landing spot again I think it's going

41:32

to be particularly important for somebody like

41:34

Xavier Worthy um all right a couple

41:37

wide receivers left for today we got

41:39

Ladd McConkie up next uh the productive

41:41

little guy out of Georgia Kate McConkie

41:44

is fun to say but was he

41:46

fun to watch in your opinion so

41:48

fun to watch Ladd McConkie probably one

41:51

of my favorite prospects and watching

41:53

him I got like these little tinglies the

41:55

same way that I got like about tank

41:57

del where you look at the

42:00

situation, you look at the type of player he is

42:02

and you wonder like, can he

42:04

really be productive for fantasy? And

42:06

you know, you don't know,

42:08

but like from a

42:11

pure football standpoint, you see why

42:13

lad mcconkey has first round potential

42:16

in the NFL draft, because there are going to be

42:18

a lot of teams that are kind of enamored with

42:21

the traits that he has. He's a

42:23

good athlete ran in the four threes.

42:26

Small, yes. You

42:29

know, just under six foot, 186 pounds, but like

42:31

a, he's got, you know, still some

42:35

muscle for him. He's not all

42:38

all lanky. You know, small hands,

42:41

short arms, like just not from

42:43

a size, he's just he's a

42:45

compact human, but offers a ton

42:48

of burst. Now, I

42:50

do think, you know, from a production

42:53

standpoint, people are going to see his college

42:55

stats. They're probably going to

42:57

be a little bit nervous. Now, final

42:59

season at Georgia, you know, played in,

43:01

you know, had a redshirt freshman year

43:03

came in 2021, posted a solid 447

43:06

yards, five touchdowns, 2022 built on that

43:08

762 yards, seven

43:16

touchdowns, and then all things went

43:19

south in 2023, which I

43:21

think we could have had a really solid year, missed

43:23

the first four games of the 2023 season

43:26

with a back injury, then an

43:28

ankle injury forced him out of the game

43:30

mid season against Tennessee, missed the following week,

43:33

just wasn't fully healthy in

43:35

2023. But what there

43:38

is to like about him, he is one

43:40

of the best route runners in this class,

43:42

he can put a defensive back on their

43:44

butt, because of

43:47

just the manipulation mid route.

43:49

And I

43:51

think that just generally speaking

43:53

showed up a lot on

43:55

tape. And in terms

43:57

of the analytics that misforce tackles

43:59

per perception. Everything

44:02

about Lad McConkie, I think you

44:04

saw translate pretty well

44:06

both between the tape and the

44:08

statistical profile in terms of advanced

44:11

metrics. It's really just those,

44:13

those face value stats, like

44:16

the actual box score that's going to

44:18

have you hesitating,

44:21

but generally speaking, I think it's kind

44:23

of meaningless when you consider the

44:26

circumstances. I'm with you and also contending

44:28

with the player that's actually pictured on

44:30

the YouTube screen in Brock Bowers. That's

44:33

not Lad McConkie. I just realized that's

44:35

my fault for not picking up on

44:37

that earlier. But yeah, he's,

44:40

he is absolutely a fun player, right? Like you said,

44:42

he's on the smaller side, 511, 186,

44:45

so a bit thicker than Xavier Worthy,

44:48

though probably another slot type wide receiver here,

44:50

which we know can be

44:52

fine in the NFL. It was definitely

44:54

more productive working out of the slot

44:56

for his college career as well. 2.84 yards per

44:59

out run from the slot, which was

45:02

76 percentile versus the 2.37 out wide,

45:04

which was 65th percentile. And

45:09

you mentioned it, he's an excellent route

45:11

runner as well. And that shows in

45:13

how Georgia, Georgia utilized him

45:15

in a variety of different ways, whether

45:18

it was deep routes, a bunch of

45:20

his acrosser and underneath and those ins

45:22

and outs slants on top of a

45:24

bunch of wide receiver screens as well,

45:26

because they want to get the ball in his hands. So

45:29

again, just a fun player that you

45:31

can utilize in any kind of offense.

45:33

He's a good separator downfield as well.

45:35

38% open

45:37

target rate on those 10 plus a dot

45:39

throws, which was 78 percentile, just

45:42

has a really great feel for finding

45:44

the holes and zone coverages as well

45:47

as how to win one on one

45:49

with leverage and with quick breaks on

45:51

his routes. So I'm with

45:53

you. I loved lad McConkie.

45:55

You know, you Mentioned the miss tackles

45:57

forest, the yards after catch, things like that, that he

45:59

can do. Once the balls in his hands

46:01

and you could just I think use

46:03

him in so many different ways and

46:05

I think that helps them fit the

46:07

so many Nfl off answers that I

46:09

feel fairly confident in him as as

46:11

a potential fantasy starters starter regardless of

46:14

kind of where he lands that you

46:16

know I'm for the most part and

46:18

obviously you know the injury suffered. It

46:20

is a bit of a concern as

46:22

well, but. There's. Yeah,

46:24

I I just came way feeling excited

46:26

about him about his potential in in

46:28

the Nfl, especially as a potential first

46:30

round pick and he added there's gonna

46:32

be some lower per wrote numbers for

46:34

him I think as well because you

46:36

know again he has to contend with.

46:38

but the generational Brock Powers for targets

46:40

and and yardage in Georgia softens. But

46:42

I think factoring that in and knowing

46:44

that is not likely to be a

46:46

number one wide receiver in the Nfl

46:48

anyways and just seeing that he can

46:51

still be productive with and a at

46:53

now for Target. Earner in an office

46:55

is is still a very encouraging

46:57

sign. So yeah, I came away

46:59

feeling pretty excited about Lad Mccarthy.

47:02

I'm in L. I'm I'm probably

47:04

a problem that just a few

47:06

are question marks. In terms of

47:09

the translation to fantasy, that's like

47:11

let me save face value. Fantasy

47:13

aside, and of this is the

47:15

Fantasy podcast. Best. Like. From a

47:18

a Nfl readiness standpoint, from a

47:20

skills the employee from the ability

47:22

to play the wide receiver, I'd

47:24

make the argument that Lad Mcconkey

47:26

is probably the fourth best wide

47:28

receiver in this class. I

47:30

know there's like the size concerns he can

47:32

put on some more muscle at the next

47:35

level. It again like a little bit older

47:37

than some of the other wide receivers that

47:39

we talked about harrys twenty two or turned

47:41

twenty three November but still, time to put

47:43

on a little bit of both. But. From.

47:46

A skill perspective from a like

47:48

a tools perspective of just playing

47:51

the wide receiver position. I'd argue

47:53

he's wide receiver for in this

47:55

class like it doesn't have. maybe

47:58

the flash and the by. and

48:00

the you know top-end speed that like

48:03

a Brian Thomas has but you

48:05

know a much more diverse skill set

48:07

I think that's gonna translate to a

48:09

lot of different NFL teams that you

48:12

know it again you can kind of plug

48:14

and play him in any type of offense because he

48:17

can play he can

48:19

play out wide he can play in the slot

48:21

I want to see him get to a place

48:23

where you know he's gonna

48:25

have some PPR upside though I think

48:28

he's capable of being

48:30

a a volume guy at

48:32

the next level I just want I want him to

48:34

land in a spot where he doesn't get you know

48:39

put into a situation where he's like

48:41

the third option on on a roster

48:43

and because I think this dude deserves

48:46

volume and I think he's got the

48:48

skill set to handle it yeah

48:50

absolutely good way to

48:52

put it all right last

48:54

but certainly not least at least

48:56

as far as I'm concerned he's

48:58

the number seven ranked wide receiver

49:00

on the PFF big board out

49:02

of Oregon it is Troy freaking

49:04

Franklin so one

49:07

of the lightest wide receivers in this class

49:09

as well like he's lanky as hell but

49:11

man he is exciting like

49:13

I keep going back to

49:15

his tape and I keep

49:18

finding more things to love

49:20

so to me he stands

49:22

out as another one

49:24

of those wide receivers who just has

49:26

such like a strong feel for the

49:29

game and the field and in how

49:31

he's able to get open and optimize

49:34

himself as a target he

49:36

can separate as a deep threat as well as in

49:39

those intermediate areas of the field where

49:41

he's you know just constantly making himself

49:44

like a QB friendly target by working

49:46

back to the ball or feeling where

49:48

a defender is and just creating that

49:50

little adjustment for a little bit more

49:52

space he's also not afraid to catch

49:54

those passes in the middle of the field where

49:56

contact is coming in just despite the thinner frame

49:58

he's able to hang in there make contested

50:00

catches or make adjustments on the ball deep

50:03

downfield, which I noticed he had to do

50:05

quite a bit. You know, we touched on

50:07

Bonyx's deep ball accuracy last week and that

50:09

it wasn't necessarily the best, but Franklin

50:12

helps his case there by working back

50:14

to the ball and fighting through contact

50:17

not necessarily as a nuance of a route

50:19

tree as someone like a lad McConkey, for

50:21

example, but it's not terrible in

50:24

that he, you know, he isn't just a

50:26

deep threat. He's able to earn targets kind

50:28

of regardless of where or regardless

50:31

of what he's running on the field. And

50:33

that's particularly encouraging. I found for him as

50:36

a potential number one wide

50:38

receiver in the NFL at some point as

50:40

he kind of continues to develop and like

50:43

his production profile also super

50:45

positive 89th percentile

50:48

profile just behind Romo Dunes a career

50:50

yards per route run is 2.63, which

50:53

is slightly better than O'Dunes in the

50:55

80th percentile, a 2.64 yards

50:57

per out run when lined up wide 79th percentile, 40.6% explosive play

50:59

rate, 75th percentile, 5.1 career yards per

51:07

out run versus single coverage is 94th percentile.

51:11

And then a 45% adjusted separation rate

51:13

is 92nd percentile. I,

51:16

yeah, I, I love Troy Franklin

51:18

spoilers. He's ranked fairly high for

51:20

me. I think, you know, there's

51:23

even some untapped potential there with him that

51:25

would just make him all the more dangerous

51:27

at the NFL level as well. Like if

51:29

he can pack on some weight, obviously get

51:31

a little stronger. I think, you know, his

51:33

game and production can definitely still translate since

51:36

he has such a strong feel for the

51:38

game and he has some speed to spare

51:40

as well. So I love Troy Franklin. I'll

51:42

be curious to see where you at. You're

51:44

at with him because I know he's not

51:46

everybody's cup of tea. I'm

51:49

not, I'm not nearly as high, but you made an

51:52

excellent case. I mean, definitely

51:54

want to see him put on a little

51:56

bit of weight, 176 pounds on a 6.2 Free.

52:00

Him He's light on rate of

52:02

for for one forty yard-which you

52:04

love use explosive. Thirty nine inch

52:07

vertical jump like a I think

52:09

they're the biggest concerns for me.

52:11

Definitely lie in the the overall

52:14

frame. Of Troy franco

52:16

much again can. Can. Build

52:18

on but. It. Is

52:20

a stark contrast. Even like lot

52:22

of lad, Mcconkey has a i

52:24

think a lot more bulk, less

52:26

lanky, just overall more compact Live

52:28

Mcconkey is. For. Franklin's just.

52:31

A lanky and in it's hard.

52:33

I mean it's a good for

52:36

good thing is like it's not

52:38

necessarily a length problems the lake

52:40

is the length is is excellent.

52:42

Ah. Il

52:44

things generally speaking. You.

52:47

Like to see the the way that

52:49

he moves for the size which again

52:51

just a very common theme in this

52:53

draft class but probably the biggest concern

52:55

from. We is the route tree.

52:58

And and have limited that

53:00

is it makes me just

53:02

curious. Like for how excellent

53:04

the production profile is. As

53:07

how's that going to translate in the Nfl

53:09

when he asked to do. A.

53:12

Lot more on a in. Is he

53:14

ready it like it is he ready

53:16

to be asked more of of. It's.

53:19

Hard for me to say

53:21

and that's probably my biggest

53:23

pence point for for his

53:25

production. In the next level

53:27

is how refined is he

53:29

really. I'm not sure I. I.

53:32

Feel confident enough. Answering

53:35

Not at this point? i

53:38

think that's fair and and look get lucky

53:40

like we said you know if it is

53:42

a lotta go roads for him on on

53:44

t with not merely the refined wrote tree

53:46

that i think you know you're kind of

53:48

hoping for from a potential first round pick

53:50

either so i definitely get it i think

53:52

just for me you know kind of watching

53:54

him and just seeing again that that kind

53:57

of feel for the game and and a

53:59

bill to still run those routes, even though

54:01

he doesn't do it often, you definitely see

54:03

the, I think, the potential for him to

54:05

be able to develop there if he was

54:07

asked to do it a little bit more.

54:09

So I feel more

54:11

confident than you, I

54:13

guess, for Franklin. And that's okay. Like, there's

54:15

a reason that he's, you

54:17

know, considered like a later first round pick at

54:20

best here as opposed to, you know, early on

54:22

in the draft. And because

54:24

he's not a perfect prospect, but

54:26

I came away feeling

54:28

very excited about about Troy

54:30

Franklin here. And yeah, 28th overall, the Buffalo

54:33

Bills are picking, I would love to see

54:35

Troy Franklin there. Obviously, I think they're going

54:37

to trade up to potentially grab somebody a

54:40

little bit earlier, not probably not

54:42

too high, but I

54:44

would be excited about that fit, for example. All

54:48

right, rankings time. I know

54:51

that we were pretty perfectly aligned

54:53

with our quarterback rankings last episode,

54:56

but I imagine we'll have some

54:58

differences among our top eight wide

55:00

receivers here in where they land

55:02

just because, you know, it's

55:04

a mixed bag of options. And even at

55:07

the very top, we have an argument for

55:09

any of those three guys to be number

55:11

one. So Kate, we'll start at the top.

55:13

We actually, you already mentioned it, Marvin Harrison

55:15

Jr. is wide receiver one for you. He

55:19

is as well for me. Yep.

55:21

I think where things get interesting,

55:24

I mentioned Romadonze, my wide receiver

55:26

two. Again, it's kind of

55:28

like 1A1B with Malik neighbors, but I'm just

55:30

going to give my slight preference to Romadonze.

55:32

How egregious do you think this is? Because

55:35

I'm going to guess you have neighbors as

55:37

your wide receiver crew. Yeah,

55:39

I have neighbors wide receiver two. But

55:42

I don't think it's egregious. Like I said, I would

55:44

be very happy with either one of these guys. Like

55:47

these are the top end of consolation

55:49

prizes. You know, if you're not getting

55:51

Marvin Harrison or if you're not getting,

55:53

you know, number two on your

55:55

board versus number three. So these guys

55:58

are very, very good. I think there's absolutely. day

56:01

one potential for them is as fantasy

56:03

assets as well. So I'm with you.

56:05

I got them as basically like a

56:07

two way to be type situation but

56:09

I do give the edge to neighbors

56:11

for me with Marvin Harrison, number one.

56:13

So that first tier

56:16

is still locked in. Like there's,

56:18

I don't think anybody else entering

56:20

that conversation. So where

56:22

it does get more interesting is outside of that

56:24

tier. So who do you have at

56:27

number four? I've got Brian

56:29

Thomas Jr. who I think is pretty

56:31

much like consensus wide receiver four at

56:33

this point. I did mention

56:35

that like fantasy aside, Ladma Conkey

56:37

is like my true NFL wide

56:40

receiver four at this point. But

56:43

I do it just because of like

56:45

maybe fantasy upside and

56:48

looking at some of those athletic

56:50

traits and kind of

56:52

projecting that forward the size, all

56:55

of that put together paired

56:58

with maybe some higher draft capital for

57:00

Brian Thomas, I think probably

57:02

gives him the edge for me. Is he your

57:04

wide receiver four as well? He's

57:07

not. That is where I

57:09

put in Troy Franklin. Yeah,

57:12

I moved Troy Franklin to my wide

57:15

receiver four after

57:17

all things considered, right? Like between

57:19

the tape and the production profile,

57:22

I love Troy Franklin. So it was hard for

57:24

me to put anybody else outside of the big

57:27

three there ahead of him.

57:29

And I know like the

57:32

skinny lankiness of him

57:34

is going to be a concern for sure.

57:36

But I just I don't know. I

57:38

have faith that he can still translate to the NFL.

57:40

I think there's still a lot to like about his

57:42

game. And yeah, the

57:44

production profile as well, like added on

57:46

to what I'd liked from him on

57:48

tape was just everything I needed

57:50

to kind of put him at the

57:53

top of this second tier for me. I

57:55

think that's fair. Now is Brian Thomas

57:57

your wider theater five? So

58:00

Brian Thomas roll down the list. Let's go

58:02

from your wide receiver for Troy Franklin

58:05

Let's roll down the rest of your list and

58:07

then we'll close out with the rest of my

58:09

list It seems like we're gonna have some shake-ups

58:11

and some differences here. We got some

58:13

differences. Yeah, so I do not have Brian Thomas's

58:15

number five I have lad

58:17

mcconkey out of Georgia as number five

58:21

Yeah, so I again another guy

58:23

that I really liked again,

58:26

you know tape wise I know he's on the

58:28

smaller side but his Potential

58:31

as like a full-time slot wide receiver

58:33

in the NFL with his route running

58:35

ability with his past production with his

58:37

ability to still earn targets in that

58:40

Georgia offense, you know competing with Brock

58:42

Bowers and a lot of offensive weapons

58:44

there like I'm

58:46

feeling pretty confident about lad mcconkey. I think

58:48

you know first round As

58:50

far as first round wide receivers go he's kind

58:52

of the I have I have five guys that

58:54

I would take in the first round and he's

58:57

the he's the last of the bunch there, so

58:59

that's where kind of the tier break happens for

59:01

me is after mcconkey and Yeah,

59:03

and at number six is where I had Brian Thomas jr. So

59:07

This third tier for me was

59:09

super close. It had Brian Thomas At

59:12

six a Donnie Mitchell at seven and

59:14

Xavier worthy at eight These

59:17

guys again, I moved around a ton.

59:20

There was a time where I had Brian

59:22

Thomas in the second Tier

59:24

as well, but I just fell less in

59:26

love with him I guess as far as

59:28

you know what he's shown so

59:31

far and and understanding that I think he's

59:33

gonna take some time but Yeah,

59:35

Brian Thomas. I still like the upside. I like

59:38

the production profile a little bit better than a

59:40

Donnie Mitchell But that was

59:42

kind of the tiebreaker for me was that production

59:44

profile the one for Mitchell does scare me a

59:46

little bit So I've cooled on him. He's at

59:48

seven and then Xavier worthy at eight. I Think

59:51

that's all very fair lad mcconkey is

59:54

one that like I

59:56

keep wanting to move

59:58

further further up my draft board. And

1:00:01

I'm going to be honest, this next year,

1:00:03

I have shuffled around, left

1:00:06

and right. And it depends

1:00:08

on which way the wind is blowing.

1:00:10

So based on the trajectory of where

1:00:13

the wind is blowing right now here

1:00:15

in Houston, Texas, as

1:00:17

we're recording this, I'm gonna go

1:00:20

with Lad McConkie, I think you're right. At

1:00:22

wide receiver five, I'll be bold here. I'm

1:00:25

actually gonna go with Xavier Worthy as

1:00:27

wide receiver six, who I think is

1:00:29

just a better overall

1:00:31

wide receiver, obviously frame concerns,

1:00:34

like size concerns. But in

1:00:36

terms of like, you know, just his

1:00:39

natural ability as a wide receiver, I'll

1:00:41

take him over a guy

1:00:43

like Troy Franklin or AD Mitchell.

1:00:47

Then I'll take Troy Franklin, then I'll take

1:00:49

AD Mitchell. So for me, it's

1:00:51

Marvin Harrison Jr. Roma Dunsey, Malik

1:00:53

neighbors in that first year. Then

1:00:56

I've got Brian Thomas, Lad

1:00:59

McConkie, Xavier Worthy, Troy

1:01:01

Franklin, and finally AD Mitchell

1:01:04

at wide receiver eight. Nice. Yeah,

1:01:06

so that I definitely understand

1:01:08

that for sure. I've had that kind of

1:01:10

similar order already with these guys before this

1:01:12

is where I am. All right, tomorrow, it'll

1:01:14

be totally different. Yeah, exactly. I'm gonna write

1:01:17

up rankings at some point. And I'm sure

1:01:19

there's going to be some changes. But yeah,

1:01:21

I got Marvin Harrison one Malik neighbors to

1:01:23

Roma Dunsey three, then a tier break for

1:01:25

Troy Franklin for Lad McConkie five another tier

1:01:27

break Brian Thomas, Adani Mitchell, Xavier Worthy for

1:01:30

me. So there's plenty

1:01:32

of wide receivers in this

1:01:34

class that are going to be worthy of

1:01:37

that top eight top 10. However you want to look

1:01:39

at it. I mean, we might have to get into

1:01:41

the wide receiver position again at some point here. But

1:01:44

yeah, that is going to do it for

1:01:46

today's episode at least. Thank you all very

1:01:48

much for tuning in and

1:01:51

following along here. And next week, I'm

1:01:53

sure we're going to go into another

1:01:55

position probably running backs, I'm gonna guess

1:01:57

we'll see how it goes. But Kate.

1:02:00

As always, thank you very much for

1:02:02

coming on here and lending your thoughts

1:02:04

and expertise on these prospects. I really

1:02:06

do look forward to doing this every

1:02:08

week and look forward to doing it

1:02:10

again with you as well. Thanks

1:02:12

for having me. Give me a follow on Twitter

1:02:15

at Kate Majuk and follow along

1:02:17

with my wide receiver

1:02:19

ranking shuffle all offseason long. I

1:02:21

have a feeling I'm

1:02:23

just going to be tinkering. And that's where we're

1:02:26

at with this class because there's

1:02:28

a lot to love about so many

1:02:30

of these different prospects. And they

1:02:32

all have like very different things that I

1:02:34

think they offer. So we're going to have

1:02:36

a lot of things to talk about. I

1:02:38

think especially after the draft, once we have

1:02:40

some landing spots here, because again,

1:02:43

you know, size, speed,

1:02:45

athleticism, that's like the name of

1:02:48

the game for this class. And

1:02:50

I'm going to say NFL teams and our

1:02:53

fantasy football team is probably going to be

1:02:55

pretty spoiled here in the season to come. Yeah,

1:02:58

no, absolutely. It's going to be exciting. We're

1:03:00

definitely going to have to, you know, sort

1:03:02

it out again after the draft, once all

1:03:05

these landing spots kind of come to fruition

1:03:07

and we see where guys end up and

1:03:09

which offenses because there's a ton of potential

1:03:11

here for fantasy purposes. But

1:03:13

we'll get into all that at some point as well down

1:03:16

the road. And yeah, as far

1:03:18

as this podcast goes, if you're looking for

1:03:20

more draft talk or prospect talk on the

1:03:22

defensive side of the ball, whether

1:03:25

it's IDP or just want to know more

1:03:27

about these defensive prospects, we will have another

1:03:29

episode here later in the week talking rookie

1:03:31

edge defenders, which is going to be

1:03:33

a lot of fun. We got my guy Joseph Hagan, aka

1:03:35

Joey, the tooth from football guys joining

1:03:37

me. So be sure to check that

1:03:39

out as well. Don't forget to use

1:03:41

the promo code 30 MDS and check

1:03:43

out the PFF draft guide, get 30%

1:03:46

off an annual subscription, all of that fun stuff

1:03:48

in the mock draft simulator as well. But

1:03:51

yeah, other than that, we got a ton of

1:03:53

draft content up on the site on pff.com. I've

1:03:56

written up the analytical strengths and weaknesses at

1:03:58

the top of the. quarterback wide receiver

1:04:00

tight end at running back classes as well as

1:04:03

some Analytics sleepers for wide

1:04:05

receiver and running back rode up that

1:04:07

personnel adjusted yards per row run piece

1:04:09

as well for the wide receivers Well,

1:04:12

yeah, check it all out. It's draft season

1:04:14

again stay locked in We will continue to

1:04:16

keep you covered here on PFF and

1:04:18

at the PFF fantasy podcast and until next

1:04:20

time you