Week 8 WR Rankings & Tiers: Fantasy Football Starts, Sleepers & Breakout Picks (Ep. 2300)

0:00 What's up, friends, and welcome to Fantasy Pros. This is the Week 8 Wide Receiver Ranks episode. I'm Chris Welsh. We've got Andrew Erickson. We've got Pat Fitzmorris, and we've got 36-plus wide receivers. We're going to be looking at wide receiver 1s, 2s, and 3s, 36, and a couple deeper names as well that we're digging into this week.

0:17 There's going to be some differences that these guys are going to have. There's going to be some questionable starts and a whole bunch more. If you guys would like to follow along with us, go to fantasypros.com slash NFL slash rankings. That's where you can see the half PPR. You could also see standard, full, everything that we do as far as ranks go. You can check that out.

0:33 That is your reference point for this episode. Know that whenever you're listening to it, though, as more industry rankers put theirs in, that will start to change the ECR, the expert consensus rank. So just don't freak out if we're like, hey, this guy is 18. And you're like, but no, he's 15 now. Well, guess what? Since you've listened, that guy has moved. So it's a good reference point.

0:54 We usually would just jump right into this, but we have a little bit of wide receiver news that I don't, I gotta be honest with you. I don't recall if we speculated this both off air or on air, but we were talking about the Colts. It was probably off air. And we had literally been talking about Josh Downs as maybe another player that could be moved. And guess what?

1:13 News came down like 20 minutes ago that Josh Downs has requested a trade. So that sparked up a conversation off air for the three of us of what would make sense, who would trade him. And then here's another interesting thing. He's not rank worthy here. He doesn't make the top 36 wide receivers of what we're going to talk about today. And I had to look through that.

1:34 So the question is, Erickson, we'll start with you. What is a good destination for Josh Downs to go to? And would that destination get him back to viability? Because this was a guy that was in the 30s or late 20s at this point, and he does not register even in week eight as a top 36 wide receiver.

1:54 Yeah, it has not been a fun ride for the Josh Downs investors. With Keenan Allen involved, Daniel Jones playing very, very poorly. There's a reason why Josh Downs wants out because I believe it's a contract year for him. And he's looking at this offense and saying, I can't put up numbers or get paid in the offseason if I stay on this team. So get me out of here.

2:12 I think that a great spot for him would be the Kansas City Chiefs, right? They're a team that needs wide receivers. We don't know when Raji Rice, if he's ever going to come back. And we know that there's no long-term investment with Raji Rice. I think this is the last year we're going to see Rice play in Kansas City because he's also going to be a free agent at the end of the year. So someone that can get open, that can beat man coverage, work over the slot. I think Rice makes a lot of sense for the Chiefs who have been rumored to be in the market for a wide receiver. So I think that he makes a lot of sense. Fitzy.

2:38 Oh, and real quick. So then if he were to be traded to the chiefs, what does that make him to you? Like, what, what do you think? Like, how would you approach him? Would he be like a top third? I know, obviously you got to like, see how they use him and stuff, but like Josh downs chiefs, wide receiver is what to you. And you know, let's hypothetical situation week nine. What is he a top 30 top 25, still not top 36. Like how would you approach him?

3:01 I don't think in his first game that he'd play with the Chiefs, I'd rank him that high. But I think that he could definitely get there as soon as he gets kind of.

3:08 Yeah, that's more of what I mean of like what he becomes.

3:11 I'm just looking and see where I have. I mean, right now he was like touching the 40s in my rest of season rankings. Obviously, he'd moved down a lot. So. I think that he'd probably be at least a wide receiver three rest of the season. But again, we don't know if Rice, if Rice never comes back, like I wouldn't shock me to see him leave the team, at least receiver wise and targets. Now, how often are they going to throw the football when Ken Walker is the engine of the offense? That's a question mark. But going from Daniel Jones, the way that he's been playing two Patrick Mahomes tight, that that is a night and day difference.

3:40 So that's a big win for Josh Downs.

3:42 Fitzy, what do you think? Destination that would make sense and what destination or does that destination make him fantasy viable again?

3:51 What about the Rams?

3:53 Remember how during the run up to the NFL draft, everyone was mocking Makai Lemon to the Rams in the middle of the first round with that pick they had from, I believe, the Falcons. And then they wind up taking Ty Simpson, and now they probably wish they had drafted a wide receiver because of the Devontae Adams injury. They're kind of up a creek at wide receiver a little bit.

4:15 And I think if Downs went to the Rams, I could see having him as a wide receiver three the rest of the way.

4:21 And look, the Rams are pretty desperate.

4:22 I mean, they do not have a lot of cushion left as far as how many games they could lose and.

4:27 Still make the playoffs.

4:28 They're holding on for dear life until Miles Garrett comes back. And I could see them. It's the Rams, man. F them draft picks.

4:39 I actually like this one the most because what are the other trades that have already happened? Seahawks, Nelson, Buckner, 49ers. The division is making trades. I think that one makes the most sense. I kind of stick with the– I think they would trade him probably out of the AFC. I mean maybe they don't really care at the end of the day, which if you open it up, I think– I mean, you could look at a team like the Steelers, the Bills. That could be another one of those teams.

5:04 But if I don't get the Rams, because I don't get the Rams, what about even the Giants at this point? They've talked about trying to make moves and trying to be aggressive. Their wide receiver core is a little odd. How about having a really solid slot wide receiver-like downs for at least good separation for a young quarterback and then let Malik kind of take the top off? So that might be kind of an odd one. At the end of the day, it's like where and what places actually make him viable is what matters. I think Kansas City and the Rams, those two, I think those make him the most fantasy viable. If traded into the right destination, Downs could end up becoming like a top 30 wide receiver again. And maybe there's even more here, but that's

5:44 the latest rumor. We're speculating. The thing we did hear was Adam Schefter, I think it was, on McAfee had said that he expects him to be traded. So Josh Downs should be traded. So that there might be some effect. Luckily, we're not going to talk about him outside of this in the ranks if he were to not be playing, but just having a little bit of fun. You guys can drop the comments below where you think not only can you trade it, but what makes him viable. Let's jump into the wide receiver ranks, though. Again, fantasypros.com slash NFL slash rankings if you want to play along. Our top 12 starts with Jackson, Smith, and Jigba. Coming in at number two is Puka Nakua, Jamar Chase, CeeDee Lambs, Zay Flowers, and Amonra St. Brown as your top half.

6:22 Bottom half, Drake London, Christian Watson, Justin Jefferson, Parker Washington at 10, T. Higgins, and Matthew Golden. Pretty standard stuff. This is like the... Second or third week, we've seen two Green Bay wide receivers come in at the top 12. So as wide receiver ones, maybe a conversation to have is you get there's kind of a gap. It's still a wide receiver one gap. You guys got a gap on Christian Watson, but maybe it can be a conversation around both of the wide receivers and then both existing. Fitzy, you are the high man. You have Christian Watson at seven.

6:54 I don't know where you have Matthew Golden. Erickson is the lower person here because you've got Christian Watson at 12. But Fitzy, why don't you kick us off? Christian Watson still high at seven. Do you think him and Matthew Golden continue to be able to vibe as wide receiver ones going up against Carolina Panthers?

7:11 They could because the Panthers have a ton of injuries at cornerback. Their best cover man, J.C. Horn, still out with the torn quad. Mike Jackson, their second best corner on his way back from a groin injury, but I don't believe he's expected to play this week. And Caleb Evans, their probably number three cornerback banged up, might not play this week. So I have Watson at wide receiver 7 and Golden wide receiver 13. The usage for both has been really good, maybe even better for Golden, but I just think Watson's a better player. Like, Golden's had some issues with the catch point lately. Watson had six touchdowns in his first five games, has not scored neither of his last two, and has been held to 64 and

7:54 57 receiving yards the last two weeks. But Watson's just too good to be kept in check for long, especially against a team with cornerback issues. I mean, Watson up against backup cornerbacks, that could be a long night for Carolina.

8:06 Yeah, I think our defensive match grade might not be accounting with something we might need to hit them with. The cornerbacks being injured, because this grade is a one-star matchup. But I'm not sure it's grading out that the cornerbacks for Carolina are banked up. Erickson, you've got Watson at 12.

8:23 So is this a... full move is this Watson moves down and Golden moves down or is there some world where maybe you have Golden above Watson talk to us about the Christian Watson x uh Golden matchup for the week.

8:35 No I have both guys just slightly moved down versus consensus and I would say that Watson would move back up closer to ECR if Matthew Golden doesn't play because I know that he's actually dealing with an injury right now so that's something that I wanted to bring up so that would leave room for Watson because over the last three games Watson's target share has dropped three consecutive times.

8:55 And we've talked about this on the show where he is not the number one wide receiver in terms of target volume. Now he's been the more productive of the two receivers. He's more efficient than Matthew Golden. So obviously that's why he's still on the top 10 consideration. But I also keep in the back of my mind that look, LaFleur traditionally has always liked to run the football. And when you see that Carolina Panthers run defense and what happened to it last week, when the Buccaneers put up 40 points, when their quarterback attempted 11 passes and You got Josh Jacobs back. He's got one game under his belt.

9:27 I get that last week was still a pass-heavy approach, but it was a different script because you're going into forward field. You know you're going to have to throw the football. Both those teams, just looking at how aggressive they're going on front and fourth down, like we're not kicking field goals. Like we don't care. Like we're going to be aggressive as possible. I don't think that's the same type of mindset in this game against the Panthers run defense. So that is why I'm just a couple of ranks and spots down compared to the consensus system is trying to consider the fact that look this could be the spot where they load up josh jacobs 25 carries and let him run wild against a terrible panthers

10:00 run defense so again the panthers secondary is not good but their run defense might just be worse so it just depends on how the packers elect to attack this defense and i'm just leaving the door open the possibility that they do go a little bit more run heavy.

10:13 Can I add something real quick?

10:16 Part of the ranking for us, the one-star rating for the matchup, is that the Panthers have been a major run funnel for the last few years.

10:25 I totally get that.

10:26 Against a team that has really had issues running the ball, and even last week with Jacobs back, you saw the Packers try to get the running game going with Jacobs, but then it's like it mixed success there and so they started throwing jacobs the ball and you do not normally see him that involved as a pass catcher i mean they had him running like wheel roths last week he almost hauled in what would have been like the go-ahead touchdown late in the game and just couldn't quite haul it in at the goal line but i just i don't know if you're going to see the packers take a run heavy approach with the offensive line they're throwing out there and now they've got their center sean ryan who's going to miss time. They had a guy

11:06 snapping last week who had never snapped in an NFL game before. So I just don't know if this is the team that can afford to be run heavy against Carolina.

11:13 I just want a quick response on this one, just as one more little thing to hit. I'm just curious about, is this the game where Justin Jefferson can finally get going? I just wanted to point out, he has only one top 12 finish at wide receiver in All season. And that was week one where he finished a wide receiver three. Otherwise, here are his finishes. 41, 72, 15, and then 36 this past week. But it's against Detroit. You know, he's at nine. I think everyone's just a little bit squirrely here.

11:47 This team, one of the best in the NFL right now. Fitzy, just as a quick response, is this the get right classic Justin Jefferson game or do the issues kind of continue with Murray and him?

11:58 I've got him wide receiver 11. I wouldn't bet on it.

12:01 And I don't know if the Detroit secondary is going to be as much of a pushover from this point on because they've got Brian Branch back. And like a lot of that's against tight ends who Brian Branch is going to cover. But he is also going to like, I mean, Brian Branch will knock your lights out. And like he's going to be a factor against everyone running routes against the Lions, knowing he is back there ready to tee off on you.

12:27 Erickson, what do you think? Is this the get-right spot against Detroit in Detroit, or do the issues kind of continue with Jefferson?

12:34 Well, I mean, Jefferson's been efficient this year. Like, the counting stats have obviously been lackluster, but I think that has to do with more of the game scripts, right, that the Vikings have played. Have the Vikings been pushed in any of these games to have them drop back to throw a lot of times? I don't really think so.

12:50 I mean, it's like when you're facing the Colts and Daniel Jones, you're like, Kyler Murray, like be conservative, like when you're facing the Saints and the Dolphins and the Buccaneers. I just think that he needs a game script to get nutty for him to really go off. And I've said it once. I've said it again. I said it many times when games played at Ford Field, they get wacky.

13:08 So if Jefferson's ever going to have a ceiling type of outcome performance, it would come in the dome in a game where. Kyler, you got to start throwing the ball downfield. Like you have to start being aggressive. Now remains to be seen if he can connect with Jefferson. But for the most part, I think when Kyler Murray has targeted Justin Jefferson, it's been OK. Now, definitely not as bad as it was with McCarthy and Jefferson last year.

13:29 So I think that's what you really need for Jefferson, because I don't think it's really a him problem. It's more of a Vikings have been playing really conservative on offense because they can because their defense is locking down everybody. Will they be able to lock down the Lions on the road? I'm a little bit more suspect on that.

13:44 I'll just point out neither Watson nor Golden went off for the Packers, and they actually have a good quarterback, unlike Justin Jefferson.

13:52 Well, I mean, if Golden caught three or four more of his pass, he would have had a nuclear game.

13:57 All right, wide receiver twos we're going to hit here in a second, but first... If you're not sure who you should be starting, well, you can get fast and free start or sit advice with Fantasy Pros Who Should I Start tool. Compare your players and get instant recommendations powered by more than 150 experts. Set your best lineups at fantasypros.com slash start. That's fantasypros.com slash start. Wide receiver twos on the big board here. We got Tedaroa McMillan coming in at 13. George Pickens, Jalen Coker, A.J. Brown, Garrett Wilson, Luther Burden. The back half, Michael Wilson coming in at 19, DJ Moore, DK Metcalf, Stepon Diggs, Jameson Williams, and Colonel Tate. Let's talk about AJ Brown. You guys are,

14:39 you kind of split the uprights a little bit. He comes in at ECR 16 going up against the Dolphins. The matchup grade is very funny there with the Dolphins. Um, it says it's like a really bad matchup, but Dolphins have been, I guess they've honed it in a little bit, but they've been like pretty bad this season. Um, Erickson, you're at 14. Fitzy, you are at 17. Erickson, why don't you start us off here? A.J. Brown just hasn't been there since the return. It's not quite there. Is it going to get there this week?

15:08 I think it will. I was definitely too over my skis last week with A.J. Brown. I thought that what I saw from him in Week 6 against the Jets would carry over in a positive way onto Thursday night. Little did I know that betting on a guy coming off a high ankle sprain to play in a game four days later after missing a month of football, that was not going to end well. Now, a different situation here, though, is now he's had 10 days between his last game that he played. And although he did not put up the production that we wanted him to do against the Chicago Bears, look, if he doesn't get interfered with on that one call down the sideline, no one's complaining about his final box score because he's going to have five

15:44 catches for 70 plus yards. He didn't score, but I don't think you're as upset. So I went back and rewatched all of his routes from the bears game, from the jets game, and he looked better in the jets game. So I do think that it was a legitimate thing where playing on the short week off the high ankle sprain.

16:02 was not good for him. So I think with the extended rest with the mini bye week from when the Patriots played last Thursday night, it's going to be good for him against the Miami Dolphins defense that yes, they may not be giving up a ton of fantasy points per game to wide receivers, but the secondary is not good.

16:17 They rank dead last in EPA per pass face this year. They are bottom five. Anyway, you slice this past defense, deep passes, short passes, quick passes, long passes. It doesn't matter. It's a bad secondary that Drake may should be able to tear apart because That's the thing that gives me hope about A.J. Brown is he's attached to one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. I think he's going to get to turn it around. He's still so clearly the alpha in the passing game. So I'm not going to jump ship now. Again, I'm not going to rank him as a wide receiver one like I did last week.

16:47 I was too aggressive. But look, minus 16 points under expectation in the last two weeks. I think that regression is going to kind of come into play here since he's been having some extended rest. The targets are there. The volume is there. The efficiency in the matchup is going to be there for him. So start A.J.

17:03 Brown.

17:04 All right, Fitzy, where are you at?

17:05 You're a little bit lower. I mean, one spot lower at 17. So you guys are in the general range. But do you share the optimism that that Erickson's got on A.J. Brown this week?

17:14 Not really.

17:15 No, I need a prove it game from Brown before I rank him at or above consensus.

17:21 And maybe this is the get right game for him. It could be.

17:24 I don't think he's suddenly bad at football, but he hasn't been good so far.

17:30 He's not really separating.

17:31 Anytime he's targeted, you couldn't slide a credit card between him and the defender. He's not making contested catches, which is normally his forte. He's averaging 5.3 yards per target and 1.29 yards per route run this season. I know it's a really small sample size, and he doesn't stink all of a sudden. He's tied to this great quarterback, but I need to see it before I come up on him in the ranks.

17:58 Let's go talk about Michael Wilson. Michael Wilson's going up against Dallas this week. Ever since Marvin Harrison's gone out, we've been waiting for Wilson to get the big workload, but we've had a lot of defenses that be more hyper-focused. This is another one of those where Erickson's like a little bit higher, but it's more at ECR, but then Fitz. Fitz, you just have him on the precipice of a wide receiver too. Like he almost moves out of it at 23.

18:23 You're four spots lower than ECR and Erickson. What's going on with you with Michael Wilson?

18:28 Yeah, the appeal of Michael Wilson is that he is supposed to be hyper-targeted by Jacoby Rosette. And he was being hyper-targeted early in the season. Over his first four games, he was averaging 11 targets and had a 27% target share. Over his last three games, Wilson is averaging 7.3 targets and has a 16% target share. Michael Wilson is actually being targeted less since the departure of Marvin Harrison Jr.

18:53 I think Harrison's presence was good for Michael Wilson initially. And he's just kind of struggled since. And he himself has not been very good. 6.1 yards per target, 1.39 yards per outrun. Those are bad numbers. Maybe the target total spikes against Dallas this week. I mean, they lost number three receiver Jalen Brooks to a season-ending injury. And beyond Wilson, it's just Kendrick Bourne, Devin Duvernay, Simi Fajoko, Reggie Virgil.

19:21 It's a good matchup, too.

19:22 I just don't feel wildly confident in Michael Wilson or Jacoby Brissett.

19:27 All right, where are you at, Erickson? Michael Wilson lacks the targets. They're trying to figure out what this offense looks like, and it just has not been built really around him. And then I'm just completely forgetting, who's the wide receiver they brought in this week, too? Because they've been running, didn't they bring somebody in? Because Jalen Brooks has been running the Marvin Harrison route, Kendrick Bourne is running the end, and then they brought somebody in that could be pseudo annoying I'll look it up while you're talking but talk to us about Michael Wilson.

19:55 Three straight games of four catches on seven targets the yardage has increased three consecutive weeks so technically it is trending in a slight positive direction for Michael Wilson and if you can't play him against Dallas then I mean, you're never going to play this guy, right? I mean, next week he plays at Seattle, so you're definitely not going to want to play him in that matchup. So I think that this is a spot where you just got to have to trust in the high value opportunities.

20:20 I mean, he saw three goal line looks last week and didn't convert them. So the high value opportunities are there for him in this offense and in a game where if Jacoby Brissett drops back to throw 50 times, Michael Wilson doesn't even need to be efficient potentially for him to get there. It may take 15, 16, 17 targets for him to get to 10 catches, 100 yards or a touchdown. But we've seen that before with Jacoby Percet in past matchups, even earlier this season when Michael Wilson did dabble in a couple double digit target games.

20:48 So I think that you got to play him as the top 20 guy, kind of plug your nose and just slide them into your flex or your wide receiver three spot, because this has got to be it. It's make or break for Michael Wilson, because if it's not going to happen this week, it's not happening. Yeah.

21:04 The move was this, by the way, because I was right. I couldn't, at first I looked at the depth chart and I'm like, okay, I just went crazy. They signed Zay Jones, but that was because they had placed Jalen Brooks on the IR and Zay will come in, but Zay will come in and play the Jalen Brooks ex Marvin Harrison role, which is just run and take a bite, run away from the offense. and take a body with you, and that's what Zay.

21:25 Will be in.

21:25 But I feel like Jalen Brooks was actually getting targets, though. Yeah. He was seeing red zone opportunities, so I know it feels weird to look at the Jalen Brooks absence and think, dude, this is a big boost for Michael Wilson, but if you look at the splits before Jalen Brooks was on the offense, Michael Wilson was pretty good.

21:42 Maybe a Kendrick Bourne thing. This one wasn't originally on here. I just wanted to ask you this because I don't even have your guys' rank. DK Metcalf comes in at 21. And my question to you, should he be? Does he belong? Does he even belong here? Now, he does have two top 20 finishes over the last month, and those came in week four and week six. But here are his other finishes, 53, 65, 30, 62. And last week he finished 33. So two top 20 finishes on the season.

22:09 So that is also two top inside the 30 finishes. My real question is, is like, why? Like, Fitzy, let's start with you then. Does DK Metcalf really truly belong in the wide receiver two category range? I know like the theory and thought of DK Metcalf does, but the performance and the output doesn't feel like he should be.

22:37 So should he really be in this range?

22:40 We talked about him on this show the last time the Steelers faced the Browns and we both had him pretty buried in the rankings. I think Erickson had him like wide receiver 103 that week. And, um, But part of it was fear of Denzel Ward locking down DK Metcalf. But they were actually pretty clever in the way they used him, motioning him around in that game, getting him some different matchups against cornerbacks other than Denzel Ward. And he wound up having a big game. He went over 100 yards in that game and, you know, made us look silly. So I just I would imagine the Steelers are going to take a similar tack. this game, try to motion him around a little bit, make sure he sees some different coverages. And, uh, cause he's pretty essential

23:23 to their passing game. I mean, it's DK Metcalf and Jeremy Bernard, and that's pretty much it at wide receiver.

23:30 Like they have to keep DK involved.

23:33 Yeah.

23:33 He was wide receiver 18 that week. Um, that was his best yards performance. It wasn't his best, um, reception performance. I was a week six where he caught 11 balls, but otherwise, you know, Five and 11, those are the top two reception games he's put out there. I get the explosion. I guess I just talk about it and think about it from a trustworthy perspective. It's very, very boom or bust. He did boom against the Browns last time, Erickson.

24:00 Just any thoughts? I guess I'm a lot more skeptical now. about his rank based on how he's performed this season. I get the Browns thing. I would imagine there's going to be some adjustments, so he's not able to do what he did last time, but that's more speculation. What do you think about Metcalf?

24:17 I think from a game script approach, if the Steelers lean more into their running backs, then you could see a scenario like last week where Metcalf only got six targets last week because the Steelers were able to run the ball effectively on a bad Saints run defense. We just saw the Cleveland Browns run defense, give up three rushing touchdowns to the lonely Tennessee Titans and Tony Pollard.

24:40 So that's kind of think where you would be right. Being lower on Metcalf is just the sheer passing volume from the Steelers. Cause I think the Steelers have to acknowledge like they can't be a top three passing team rest of the season with Aaron Rogers as their quarterback, right? He, I think is tied actually in this game, you have the quarterbacks with the most sacks, Aaron Rogers and Sean Watson going head to head. So, uh, Get ready to take a look at the under in this game for quarterbacks taking a ton of sacks. So that's, I think, how this would hit. But the fact that Metcalf is so explosive, he can sometimes get there on the line.

25:11 He had two catches last week, 56 yards and still wide receiver 33. Right. So even if like even in that Browns game last time we talked about it, through the first three quarters, I'm thinking I'm so sharp, man. Like he is doing absolutely nothing in this game. And he just blows up in the fourth quarter. I'm just like crying because I took the under on his receiving yards thinking I was just like ready to go to the bank and cash in. But he beat me to the punch because he makes explosive plays. And to Fitz's point, it's him and Jeremy Bernard that are really like the only show in town when it comes to the wide receivers, because Pittman's hurt when Wilson's not involved. Even some of their ancillary guys are banged up, too. So I think

25:47 that's why I feel like he needs to kind of be in this 20 range. But I agree, Welsh, it doesn't feel like a really confident click.

25:55 Sounds like a team that could maybe use a solid slot receiver who could find some separation and is good with targets.

26:01 I mean, they did trade for Pittman already. That's true.

26:05 Get his buddy in there.

26:06 They could clear it out. All right.

26:08 Final one in this range is Stefan Diggs. He comes in at 22, obviously they're without Terry McLaurin moving forward. You guys are like right around ECR. I think there's also a discussion to be had.

26:19 There was an.

26:19 Original thing on this sheet about Antonio Williams. He had moved off the top 36 and what his viability is. But overall, how, and also I'd be really curious to your guys' take because like, who is the guy that moves? Antonio Williams and Stefan Diggs, I think could play like similar roles in the slot. And like, who's going to be the one that takes over if anybody, if either one of these guys takes over the McLaurin role. Because I think if Stefan Diggs goes in the McLaurin role, that's even a more plus for Antonio Williams going into the slot. But I'm just not sure. So, Fitzy, why don't you try to light some clarity on this situation?

26:54 You've got Stefan Diggs at 21, 22 on the list. How do you sparse this all out?

27:00 That's it.

27:00 You have to figure Diggs is going to be prominently involved with McLaurin out.

27:04 I just.

27:06 I don't know who is going to be the primary slot guy now that Antonio Williams figures to be on the field a lot more often. Because Diggs is lined up in the slot on 63% of his snaps this season, according to Fantasy Points data. Antonio Williams in the slot on 49% of his snaps. It just seems like Williams is the more natural slot guy and almost has.

27:26 To play there.

27:28 But they both have inside-outside versatility. Maybe they're just considered interchangeable in David Blau's offense.

27:36 We don't really know.

27:37 So we want the slot guy against the Eagles though, because the Eagles defense has been a slot funnel. And if Diggs is lining up outside, he's probably going to see a lot of the Eagles best cornerback, Quinion Mitchell. So I do think though, Diggs is probably going to see a healthy dose of targets going forward. He's had at least six in every game this season. And I would expect that he's probably going to be in the eight to 10 range in the rest of the way.

28:02 And a way that that also could work out is maybe Antonio Williams sees more snaps, but not much changes. And maybe Traylon Burks is the guy that is more of the top off guy and nothing changes for Diggs outside of seeing more targets, which gets back to the hyper focus of like why he is a lot more viable. Erickson, you got him at 23. What are your thoughts on Stefan Diggs?

28:21 I think he's a strong wide receiver to play. No McLaurin. And he actually had one of his best games of the season in week one. against the Philadelphia Eagles. This is a rematch of a matchup we already saw play out. He had four catches for 55 yards and a touchdown on nine targets, but should be noted that Antonio Williams played in that game, had more yards than Stephon Diggs.

28:41 He had four catches for 64 yards on four receptions, caught all four of his targets, and he also scored a touchdown. So I agree with you guys where Antonio Williams is going to actually see the biggest roll bump in terms of just raw routes run. He ran the most routes back in week four when Terry McLaurin did not play against the Indianapolis Colts. And he ran the most routes in this last game that Terry McLaurin left with the injury early on in the game. Now, that doesn't mean that he will outscore Diggs because Diggs might end up running more routes from the slot in a more favorable spot. And he's also been more of the red zone touchdown guy, especially with Jayden Daniels at the under center. But that's not to say Antonio Williams can't

29:17 also benefit from the slot because I think that both guys are going to see ample usage inside against Cooper Dejean, who just has not been the same guy he was to start his career. He's just been a guy that teams have been targeting. in this Eagle secondary. He just given up a ton of production. So we have proof of concept that both these guys can deliver against this Eagle secondary. And that's when we thought this defense was good.

29:38 They are just reeling right now specifically in their secondary. So I think both guys are actually strong starts.

29:43 All right, let's go to our wide receiver threes here. 25 through 36. We've got Omar Cooper coming in at 25. Trey Tucker at 26. Casey Concepcion, Jeremy Bernard, Ladd McConkie, Denzel Boston at 30. Back half is Keenan Allen at 31. What do you do with Omar Cooper? Everyone was worried last week about Adnai Mitchell coming back and Omar Cooper just kind of squashed that. He comes in as a, I think this is like the general space we were talking about him. It's like, maybe he's just like a solid wide receiver three. Maybe he could dip his toe into wide receiver two general ranges. He kind of does that here when he's ECR 25. You guys are both slightly lower at 27, but that still I think is a, you know, an admission of confidence and that like he

30:30 can be a wide receiver three, a high end wide receiver three. So Erickson, why don't you kick us off with Omar Cooper?

30:36 He's been really good against man coverage this year. If you look at his 23 yards per route run against man, the most by any player in a game last week since 2018, 23 yards per route run. He's averaging over 19 yards per target, not per reception, per target, because he's caught all but one of his targets thrown his way.

30:55 12 catches for 248 yards and two touchdowns. So eventually these numbers are going to regress in some way, shape or form. He's not going to catch 95% of his passes thrown his way. But against this Raiders defense that one of the biggest struggles that they have had is giving up explosive plays. So I understand the hesitance of going into buying back into Amari Cooper when it seems like, well, his targets went down, his snaps went down, his routes went down when Adonai Mitchell came back to the lineup and it didn't matter. And I think that in another matchup, maybe against a better defense, I would say, okay, I think we can kind of press pause a little bit on Omar Cooper, just because he's probably not going to

31:33 be the alpha in the target order. Garrett Wilson is going to get more involved. He's got bit of a squeaky wheel kind of narrative going, but Omar Cooper has shown that dude, this guy only needs like four or five targets to deliver because of how explosive he has looked. And that has been the Raiders biggest weakness so far, especially cause they've been playing a lot of man coverage.

31:50 So over the last four games, when the Raiders defense has been terrible, They moved up their man coverage to the seventh highest rate in the NFL, allowing a 54.5% success rate against man coverage, third highest in the league. And of course, because Gino Smith has Omar Cooper, he's averaging 9.4 yards per attempt against man coverage, which is the second highest among all quarterbacks, six touchdowns and zero interceptions.

32:13 So it feels like you're kind of riding high here, maybe kind of threading the needle with Omar Cooper, but I think it's going to keep going for at least one more week.

32:21 It's going to be a good test too because you're going to bring back in Brees Hall, obviously a different position, but Brees kind of dominates in the reception side, them wanting to get him the ball. What does this look like when all– my main point is all the pieces are there. What does that end up looking like? What does it look like for you, Fitzy, Omar Cooper? You got a 27, so I have to imagine you're probably sharing some of the same sentiment around him. Can low target shares still equal really good output?

32:45 Yeah, Omar Cooper, his talent is legitimate. legitimate, maybe not 19.1 yards per target legitimate, but I know Erickson and I were both very pro Omar Cooper in prospect season. So I just, I do have some concerns about how consistent the production is going to be because it's Gino Smith.

33:06 At quarterback for the Jets.

33:08 It's not Joe Burrow or Dak Prescott, guys who've proven they can support more than one consistently fantasy relevant wide receiver.

33:18 I don't know if Geno can do that.

33:21 When Omar Cooper came off injured reserve in Week 6, he played 82% of the offensive snaps that week. Last week, the Jets got Adnai Mitchell back from a finger injury and Cooper's snap share dropped to 64%. And Garrett Wilson is obviously going to get his fair share of targets. So this just isn't a totally consolidated passing game. Jets have three good receivers and they have two pretty talented tight ends in Kenyon Sadiq and Mason Taylor. I just there might be some weeks where Omar Cooper gets three targets.

33:50 That's my main hang up with him.

33:52 Casey Concepcion comes in at 27 going up against Pittsburgh. You guys are kind of split a little bit.

33:59 Erickson, you are.

34:00 The high man. Fitzy, you're a little bit lower than ECR. I want to go to Erickson on this one because you've bumped him up positionally. You have him as a wide receiver too this week. I always feel like I want him to be a wide receiver too, by the way. He just seems like he's the, just the most fun guy, whether they want to have short passes deep, they want to run the ball. Like he seems like the guy you got to get the ball eight to 10 times a game. Watson is obviously there've been some struggles there as of recent, but wide receiver two for conception. That's really what I wanted you to hit on Erickson. You you've bumped him up.

34:31 Eight catches on 10 targets for 129 yards last week. Also added three carries for 23 yards, kind of showcasing his versatility and why he was such a fun player to, to prospect coming out of college because this guy was just so dynamic with the ball in his hands. And Todd Monka was in his bag, dude. Like the way that he's been able to kind of orchestrate this offense with the Cleveland Browns, with Deshaun Watson, he's making it work with a lot of young pieces and he's making it a lot of fun. So Concepcion had been seeing a lot of volume like throughout the season, every single week, but it was okay. Just like wide receiver, 40 wide receiver, 40 wide receiver, 35, like not putting up those ceiling games.

35:07 And we finally get the ceiling spot here. And honestly, Again, he's faced the Steelers already this season, and he had one of these type of floor games. He had five catches on eight targets for 64 yards. But if this ceiling game that he just had is more of a sign of things to come, I don't want to be behind the eight ball when it comes to that. If this was, oh, no, Concepcion has arrived. He is here.

35:30 We knew he was good. And now he's finally starting to turn all these opportunities into actual production. I think it's more likely to continue. So I'm not necessarily afraid of the matchup here against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He's probably going to draw a lot of coverage from Jalen Ramsey. Ramsey's played the most snaps at nickel cornerback this season.

35:45 And Kevsepchian has played around 50% of his snaps from the slot. He's allowed the fourth highest completion rate in time for the third most touchdowns allowed from the slot this season. So I think Kevsepchian breakout was real last week. And I think it's going to continue because I think that he leads the Browns and targets this season. Like he has been the most heavily involved guy. So if the volume's there, we know the talent's there. And I think the matchup is OK. So I think that he continued to be a top 24 wide receiver, too.

36:10 But you're slightly lower. Is there more hesitation? Maybe do the matchup or offense overall. But talk to us about your thoughts on Concepcion. I believe you have him at 29.

36:20 It's a little bit matchup.

36:22 I mean, Jalen Ramsey, well, the Steelers have a lot of the seventh fewest PPR points per game to slot receivers. Maybe their teams just aren't challenging Ramsey that much. I agree with 90% of what Erickson just said about Casey Concepcion. And I'm hoping that the big game last week is a harbinger of things to come for him. But Erickson called the game against the Steelers when he had five catches for 64 yards, a floor game.

36:49 That wasn't a floor game. That was his second best game of the season.

36:52 I mean, take away his 129-yard game last week, he's averaged 31 receiving yards in his other six games. And that's with the 64-yard game against the Steelers. So there have been some pretty ugly floor games for him, and that's what I'm worried about. But I do think it's possible this is sort of the new normal for Concepcion.

37:13 Not 129 yards, but where he's consistently getting, I don't know, at least 6 to 10 targets a game.

37:21 Let's talk about Ladd. Ladd McConkie at wide receiver 29. The trust is just out the window for obvious reasons. going up against the Rams, but both of you guys are higher. Both of you guys have him at 25, just on the brink. You both want to almost make him a wide receiver too, but he doesn't get there, but that's four spots higher than consensus. Bitsy, why don't you kick off? Where do you think Ladd can have the bounce back on the back half of this season?

37:45 He's one of the hardest receivers to rank, and this dude has just been through the ringer this season. Injured his ribs in week one, hurt his foot in week four. Got a concussion against the Chiefs in Week 6, although he's expected to be back and cleared for this week's game against the Rams. McConkie had five catches for 82 yards and a touchdown against the Cardinals in Week 1.

38:05 Everything seemed fine. Has not done much since, but possibly because of all the injuries. You would think that McConkie has to play a substantial role this week for the Chargers. Quentin Johnston has not done anything this year. Trey Harris has been dealing with a hamstring injury. Not sure if he's going to play or not. Rondé Gadsden Jr. hasn't done anything. The Chargers running game is completely broken. If Ladd makes it through this game intact, and that's kind of a big if, I would imagine he finishes with at least seven or eight targets.

38:38 Erickson, you have Omar Cooper one spot higher than Ladd, but where are you at on Ladd making it through the game and being, I don't know, fantasy viable at all?

38:49 I have Ladd ahead of Omar Cooper. Do I not?

38:51 I thought you had, maybe I just made that up. Don't you have?

38:54 No, I have Ladd, wide receiver 20. And I feel so dumb.

38:57 Concepcion, you have higher.

38:58 That's my bad.

38:59 Yeah, because I feel more confident about Concepcion and the volume that he's going to get. And Ladd, I think fits a spot on here. This is the hardest guy to rank because he has played one game with over 50% of the snaps this season. So part of it is just banking on, okay, can this guy play all four quarters, right?

39:16 And like, what does that look like? And I think that there's some upside with him. You're playing against a high powered Rams offense on the other side. That's going to put up points. You're playing in a dome setting where there are no actual Los Angeles fans. So we don't always. actually going to this game. But I think that if the Chargers office is ever going to do anything, it would have to be this week. You've had an entire bye week to hopefully get guys healthy. I don't know what the status of Joe Alt is, but there's a chance that he could come back and that matters a lot, right? it's easy to us just right off the charters every single week. But if they do get guys back in healthy, then we do need to kind

39:48 of readjust a little bit of the expectations of, okay, well, the outside line is in a little bit better of a shape. Maybe Justin Herbert can have a little more time to throw in. The only thing that has actually worked at all this year is actually when Lama Conkey has been on the field, right? He's averaging over 2.2 yards per route run this season, which is really good.

40:04 It just, you completely forget about it because he's barely been on the field because he's been banged up so much. So I think that there's a chance where Ladd could turn out like a top 15 finish this week. And we're all like, oh, how did this happen? It's like, well, he just played the whole game, right? And that's why he was a top 15 guy. So it feels really hard to make the confident play with Ladd McConkie. But I do think that this could be a decent setup for him as just this is where all the targets are going. No one else in this office is commanding any type of volume. And I think that when McDaniel and Harbaugh look back at the offense and what worked, The only thing that worked was going to Ladd-McConkie when

40:40 he was healthy on the field. So I think that they just re-emphasized that, and it's just a matter of can he survive the game.

40:46 We'll see.

40:48 Deep plays.

40:49 These are guys that didn't make the top 36 on ECR, but you guys like. Fitzy, why don't you give us your deeper play wide receiver for Week 8?

40:57 It's a conditional one, Welsh.

40:59 It's Jacoby Lane for the Ravens, conditional upon the return of Lamar Jackson from his ankle injury. And if Lamar does come back, Jacoby Lane becomes a very viable play in a shootout game against the Bills. Jacoby Lane routinely making highlight reel catches for the Ravens in training camp. So I just want to see what he can do in an extended run with Lamar at quarterback.

41:19 Erickson, deep play for you. I think we talked about this guy and you got a pretty good aggressive rank on him, but he does not in the top 36 on ECR.

41:27 Yeah, I think that ECR is lagging. Antonio Williams, wide receiver 30. I think that he can benefit just like Stephon Diggs can in this particular matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles. We see this all the time with rookies after their team's by weeks, you get a usage bump. So Dan Quinn has already stated that into any moments is going to play more in the offense without Terry McLaurin. So I think that he is set up really, really well here. Again, if you look at the last time he played without Terry in the lineup, he had eight targets, which trailed only Stefan digs, but in that game, he had an 87-yard touchdown that was called back due to a penalty.

42:02 So I think that if we all just kind of go back and remember, oh, wait, he actually did produce in this game, he would be ranked much higher. But when you look at the final box score of the last time we saw him without Terry McLaurin, it's three catches for 21 yards. So you think, oh, like he didn't really do that much, but... You factor in the 87 yard touchdown. You're like, oh, wow. Like this guy actually has upside with Stefan Diggs, where Diggs hasn't gone over 55 yards in a game this season. Like that's his high. So I think Diggs has the higher floor just because he's been more consistent. But from a ceiling perspective, dude, Williams can boogie. Like I think that he could generate a lot of big explosive plays against this Eagles defense,

42:38 especially when he does get lined up in the slot. So I think that he's a really fun play this week. All right.

42:42 Lots of plays. ECR is going to continue to kind of move. That gives you guys a general space of where these guys are at, some of their favorite plays, some of the biggest questions. But if you guys want to track it through the week, go to fantasypros.com slash NFL slash rankings. So you can check out where all the wide receivers are as more and more experts put in their rankings. You can do that all the way up to game time. Do that for sure. Thank you guys for hanging out with us. Those are the wide receiver ranks for week eight. We got quarterback and tight end coming up. So make sure you check that out as well. For Pat Fitzmorris and Andrew Erickson, I'm Chris Welsh.

43:12 You guys have a great one. Win your weeks. We'll talk to you next time right here on Fantasy Pros.

43:16 Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football Podcast.

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