March 29, 2024 • 31 mins
It's another insanely deep wide receiver class, with several elite rookie prospects, including Malik Nabers. Thor Nystrom helps break down the big names for dynasty and redraft fantasy use.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Fantasy Football Weekly, a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Time now for Fantasy Football Weekly from iHeartRadio, your weekly
source for the nation's best fantasy football advice, speculation, and
whatever stupid stuff they decided to drop into the show. Now,
here's your host, Paul Chargion.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
It's Fantasy Football Weekly, Wide Receiver Edition. They're gonna break
down the rookies with thor Nystroum. Hey buddy, Hey, how
you doing. Oh god, I'm so excited to be here
talking now. I don't know if you know this from
our previous shows when we did quarterbacks, we broke down
running backs. Over the last couple of weeks, three weeks,
(00:44):
I'm taking copious notes while you're talking. You're feeding directly
into all my talking points as I'm starting to learn
all this stuff. My man, if your takes are bad,
I'm gonna look like a jackass.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
I hope they're not. I hope they're not.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
I have no never you haven't had one wrong yet, right,
I don't think so. Look, we're gonna let's go with
that as our working theory. Never been wrong. Thorn Eistrom, Yeah,
I love it. We've got We've we've got a lot
smarter on the quarterbacks, the running backs. It feels like
we say this nearly every year, awesome wide receiver class coming.
(01:18):
You know, like the last five years, we've had like
three or four of these classes that are just bonkers.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Yeah. Yeah, well with one exception, but yeah, basically yeah,
and this one we got it's roaring back. Yeah. This
receiving class is awesome at the top. Usually we talk
about the top with the top three, but people need
to realize this thing is also crazy deep. It's not
just the top three guys. This thing goes all the
way down. Awesome receiver class.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
We could have five receivers going the first round.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Yeah, maybe even six, Yeah, depending, Yeah, it's gonna be
you know, everybody's right now has got speaking of that
first end of the first round, Yeah, Kansas City, last
pick of the first round, they're getting a star receiver. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
I mean, if I had to pick any one team
with and I had to marry any one team with
any one position in the first round, second half of
the first round, I think I go wide receiver for
Kansas City.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Can we just put Savior Worthy right now?
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Yeaheah, And we're gonna break him down in just a
few minutes, Savior Worthy.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
You want some You.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Want to add a speed dimension, a downfield speed dimension
to a team that has gotten the average depth of
pass for Patrick Mahomes has gone down every year of
his career. They got to open that back up.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
Ye, let's get some speed. I can't wait.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
It's gonna be a lot of fun.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
All right.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Let's start at the top of the wide receiver position.
Marvin Harrison Junior has been slotted as the top receiver
for this class for like two years now. It's all
gonna come to fruition here. Currently most people believe he's
going to go to pick number four Arizona.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
Yeah, he's the prototype ex boundary prospect. He's going to be,
you know, presumably Arizona's wide receiver one from day one.
Elite route runner for his size, he has the high
octane release package, except exceptional footwork, throttle speed at will.
He's violent into and out of his route breaks, very
very good hands, difficult to handle downtown because of his
(03:15):
body control and leaping abilities. I have very very few
nitpicks on him. Speed is only very very good elite,
and when he has the ball in his hands, he
doesn't He's not like a tackle breaking colossus. But that's
really all I got. He is a study stud.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Yeah, outside of quarterbacks, he'll be the first player to
go in the draft.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
Yeah, it's crazy because you know, his dad comes in
Marvin Harrison senior obviously, and he was the undersized, you know,
skinny guy comes out of Syracuse whatever, and he had
to win by being the awesome route runner, you know,
throttling up and down the speeds, keeping the cornerbacks off,
the beat of his scent, everything like that. He taught
everything to his son, who got all the physical gifts
(03:59):
that he did not. How about that?
Speaker 4 (04:02):
Yeah, yeah, I'd like.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
To I'd like to know what mom is like, you know,
did Marvin Harrison wide receiver senior, like, you know, did
he marry I don't know, like a star volleyball player
or something, you know, and and get all you know,
how do you go? How did Marvin Harrison junior get
the physical gifts that his dad didn't have?
Speaker 3 (04:19):
That's crazy, But yeah, he's a giant. He's you know,
stretched out and to catch radius is ridiculous, and a
guy that can win all three levels of the field.
It becomes a spacing thing as well. You know, it's
it's not just him singularly, it's it's it becomes a
spatial thing for the rest of the field where he
helps the receiver on the other side of the field
because you have to keep a high safety on that
(04:41):
side of the field. So you know, he's helping all
of his teammates just because of the spacing, you know,
different stuff like that on the field.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Non super flex leagues. Marvin Harrison Junior's first player going
in Dynasty drafts.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Yeah, yeah, because the the running back class, you know,
like we talked about last week, it's not as good,
it's not as good. Yeah. So I mean Marvin hare
and stands above you know, everybody else as far as
that goes.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Yeah, I you know, some people you might be tempted
to go another direction. I don't think I would. I
don't think Black Bauers is going to be in play
it at the first overall unless you're in some kind
of you know, tight end specialized league. And I don't
think the other receivers are gonna talk about are gonna
hit that either. So let's take that opportunity to try
to move over to Rome. Adunza from Washington highly highly
(05:23):
productive there.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Yeah, Roma Dunza would be wide receiver one in a
normal year. Yeah, you look at the past decade, most
of those classes he would have been wide receiver one.
It's just you know, he happens to come out in
this class, has every single tool that you'd want, and
that is now confirmed with having gone through the NFL
combat Roma Dunza. So he comes in measures in six
foot three, two hundred twelve pounds. His raz was nine
(05:47):
point nine to one. He runs a four four five.
It wasn't even the thing that impressed me the most.
The thing that impressed me the most. People watching the telecast,
Roma Dunsay got a six ' eight eight in the
three cone the telecast at night, he wouldn't leave the
field because he kept running the three cone. He wanted
to run a sub six six three cone because the
(06:09):
kid who ran the fastest was like six six five. Oh,
Donsay wanted a sub sixty six. So he was on
his fourth fifth attemph with the three cone.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
Can you try it as many times as you want?
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Apparently, okay, I don't know how he could do that.
I don't know if they would have countered it if
he did. He kept running it over and over and
over again. He kept knocking over the cone on the
far side. That's why he kept, you know, he wasn't
getting it whatever, and he kept getting kicked off because
he just kept you know, kicking that one over whatever.
But the kid's an absolute dog. I mean, he'd already
gotten a ninety ninth plus percentile RAZ and he wouldn't
(06:42):
leave the field because he didn't have the best three
cone of his entire position group. I compare him to
Julio Jones. You know, you talk about every golf club
in the bag, size, strength, physicality, speed, agility, hops, ball scales.
He's a complete receiver. He was pressed more than any
receiver by the stats in this class last year at Washington.
(07:04):
And the reason that was done is because we talked
about this a few weeks ago in the Quarterback episode.
The way that you take Michael Pennix off his game
is by pressuring him and trying to get him off
his spot, disrupting the timing. How do you do that, Well,
you try to take the best player on the Washington
offense away and you try to press him off the line.
He impressed and oh, dude, say off the line, though
(07:25):
you had to try, but you weren't gonna be able
to do it. He got pressed more or at least
attempted to press more more than two hundred snaps last year,
but nobody could get him off the line. His feet
are two good, he has his dynamic release package, but
he's also too strong, too quick, and then you know
he gets into the route really quick, and then he
adjusts his tempo along the route, so it's just really
(07:46):
difficult to get a beat of his scent. You don't
know when he's going to break that route off or
when he's gonna go downtown whatever. He would have been
a high first round pick last year if he had
entered that class. We know that, and he would have
been a wider one and a lot of those classes
over the last decade. But yeah, he's either going to
be two or three in this one just because of
Marvin Harrison Junior.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
In our show in late February, you comped Malik Neighbors
the LSU wide receiver to Jamar Chase. That's a very
favorable and tantalizing comp. Y. What do you like about it?
Speaker 3 (08:21):
What do you like about his game? And you could
say the same about Neighbors right like where you know,
you look at.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Different a different year, he'd have been number one.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
That's exactly right. Yeah, I mean we have three wide
receiver ones in this class. And you know it's not hyperbole,
it just is what it is. Neighbors is very, very
similar as a prospect to Jamar Chase. You know, and
again I think I mentioned that in that episode. I
didn't even want to make that comp because of the
jersey thing. It felt too easy. But it's the you know,
it's just the closest one that that I could think
(08:50):
of with Neighbors that The thing that really jumps out
about him is the ludicrous stop start ability and the
fact that he loses zero momentum when he's changing direction.
It's just he can change. Everyone loses momentum when they
change direction, but not Moleague Neighbors. It's ridiculous. When he's
running routes, it's at this breakneck speed where they can't
(09:11):
keep up with him because he doesn't lose any momentum
when he's cutting in different and changing directions. Stuff like that.
You can be as fast as Molique Neighbors. Potentially you
might even have world class feet like him, so you
might be feeling good about staying in his hip on
a given rep, but then he can just slam on
the brakes and come back and then all of a sudden,
you're skidding and he's over. But now he's got four
(09:34):
yards of separation, now he's got the ball in space,
and now you're in trouble. So like that, it's what
makes him so difficult. And you know, we talked about this,
you know, earlier on in the previous episode, where the
other part about him that's very unique is his upper
body doesn't move very much when he's moving at full speed,
and it's just this strange quirk about him. But he
(09:56):
doesn't chug his arms very much when he's running on
the routes, so it makes it difficult to denote when
he's going to break those routes off. And it's also
difficult to gauge exactly how fast he's moving. So he
just becomes like a really hard math problem for the
defensive backs.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
That's that's gonna be a matchup problem. All these guys, well,
Harrison Dune's of neighbors, They all guys that can be
impactful like week one of the NFL, you know, like
week one of their rookie year, they can make an impact.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
That fact, all three guys of those guys stars in
the NFL, I will be stunned. Wow.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Okay, so you know landing spot will determine plenty, but
all guys that have clear paths.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
To immediate returns.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
Yes for your dynasty or empire fantasy absolutely, which we love.
Now there it feels like there's a bit of a
break after Neighbors. Yes, and so you know, Harrison to
Dunes and Neighbors all seem to be guys that are
that are going in like the top eleven ish twelvesh
picks of the draft being mocked there and then there
feels like there's a bit of a drop and then
we get into some other names. Brian Thomas goes here,
(11:00):
but you've got Lad McConkie as your next guy, and
I know you love his separation ability.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
I do. Yeah, So you know most people have Brian
Thomas at number four, but I had to put Ladd
up here. And you mentioned the separation last year. Lad
McConkie receiving grade versus single coverage ninety eight percentile separation percentile,
ninety third percentile separation percentile versus single coverage ninety first percentile.
(11:26):
And you know a lot of people talk about him
as a pure slot receiver. He played most of his
percentage percentage of his snaps in college actually on the outside.
Georgia played a predominantly twelve personnel offense, so you know
a lot of the times he was playing on the outside.
Last year it was seventy eight point seven percent on
the outside. He of course can play in the slot,
(11:47):
but he can do both of those things. He goes
and I think this he proved the concept at the
combine eight four five ras and a four to three
four three nine with a thirty six inch vertical and
a ten to four broad. And by the way, he
didn't do the agility drills, which I believe will be
his best test. Most of the guys didn't do the
(12:08):
agility drills Roma Dunsday notwithstanding, because the NFL does it
in a dumb way where they put the agility drills
at the very end of the day, after everyone has
already gassed from doing all the other drills. So most
people defer that until they're pro day. Lad McConkie is
going to destroy those when he does them. But whole
point being Ladi McConkie is ridiculously hard to stay with.
At the Senior Bowl when we were down there on Tuesday,
(12:31):
he dusted everyone. It was very similar to Tank Dell
on the very first day the year before the second
day on Wednesday, people were playing way off him, eight
yards off a Ladd McConkie, just seeding free receptions in
the one on one drills because they didn't want to
get embarrassed in front of the entire NFL. Lad McConkie's
going to come in immediately in the NFL and start.
I don't know if he's a number one receiver in
(12:52):
the NFL, he is going to be a dang good
number two if not.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Yeah, And do you think does he translate? There is
a reception out there that he's gonna be primarily a
slot guy, but you think he can translate to all
of it.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
I remember by the way people.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Were talking about Justin Jefferson getting stuck in the slot.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
At one point. That sounds doesn't it exactly? Come on,
it's the same thing, you know, Like it was a
situational thing at LSU right where they had Jamar Chase
on the one side and they had Terrace Marshall on
the other side that Joe Burrow offense. That's why Justin
Jefferson was in the slots. All of a sudden, It's like, Oh,
he can't play on the outside in the NFL, and
now he's the NFL's best outside receiver. Yeah about that right? Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
I remember asking Rick Spielman the day after he drafted
or the night that he drafted Justin Jefferson about that,
and he was like, No, he's gonna be fine. He's
gonna be able to play all over all. Right, So
let's go to Brian Thomas. Yeah, and I think this
might be more that you like McConkie than you dislike
Brian Thomas. I love the physical play, the contested balls,
(13:51):
the big body of Brian Thomas from LSU.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
Yeah. You know, coming into the NFL, we know a
couple of things about Brian Thomas. Did he is going
to do very very well six foot three, two hundred
and ten pounds, and the freak athleticism that you're talking about.
He ran a four to three three with a nine
eighty six overall ras composite.
Speaker 4 (14:08):
How does a guy with that big of a body
run that fast.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
I don't know. He was flying and you see this
on the field too. I mean, and it's this is
one of my nippicks about him, I will say, but
you know, it can go either way. He ran predominantly
two routes at LSU, you know, the fades and the goes.
But it is so hard to stop him on those,
you know, I mean, you know him and Jayden Daniels
on those, you had neighbors doing you know, all the
(14:33):
different the stops, the starts to run and zipping around whatever. Yeah,
and then you'd have Thomas taking the top off the
defense and you can see why LSU was the greatest
show on turf last year. They also had the most
ransom defense you'll ever say. They were like the last Yeah,
every game was like fifty five to fifty two. But yeah,
Brian Thomas at the bear bear minimum, he's going to
(14:54):
be the the you know, sort of prototypical wide receiver
two pop the top whatever. My my nitpick about Brian
Thomas is, I don't know the other stuff right, like
the you know, the inbreaking stuff, the nuanced stuff, like
is he ever gonna elevate to become like a wide
receiver one in the NFL? That I don't know, but
(15:14):
I do know he's going to threaten deep and he's
going to be the friend of the other receivers on
your team because you have to keep He's one of
those guys. You have to keep the deep safety on
the other side or he's gonna take your lunch money deep.
You can't keep a guy on an island or he's
gonna embarrass him.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Let's take a break when we come back, Xave, you're worthy.
The guy's getting he's getting attached to the Chiefs a lot. Yes,
this could be a lot of fun. Let's let's break
him down when we come back Fantasy Football Weekly. As
mentioned Thorne Eistrom, Xavier Worthy is could bring speed to
a Chiefs team that hasn't had it since Tyreek Hill left. Yes, well, okay,
(15:57):
that's a Mark haz Valdez Scantley's guy like straight line speed.
But that's it and then all and all, you know,
all the negative plays and everything comes with him.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
But you could argue, well not even argue. We just
quantifiably no one in NFL history has the speed of
Xavier Worthy. Just ran him four to two to one.
Forty broke the record at the NFL Combine broke the
record of John Ross. There it was. It was hilarious,
you know. He he ran the first one and was
just over it it. Zavery Worthy was and then asked
(16:26):
to run the sec. Everyone assumed that he wasn't gonna
run it, but zavery Worthy's like, no, no, no, I want
to run the second one because he knew he was
going to break that record, and then he went out
and did it. It was a very very cool moment. Uh,
you know, one four nine ten yards split very good
as well. And then a forty one in vertical which
is obviously fabulous as well. Nine to three four ras
(16:46):
which at the adjusted size thing is incredible at one
hundred and sixty five pounds. That's the nitpick about him.
But he is a little bit on the you know, taller,
certainly taller than Tank Dell. He's he's just under six
feet tall. Xavier the he's an interesting player. Texas pounded
Zavier Worthy with targets two years ago twenty twenty two.
(17:08):
He had some drop issues mitigated a little bit in
terms of the percentage. Last year twenty twenty two, he
had a hand injury, So you can forgive him for
a little bit and last year he had a ton
of targets, so if you look at the drop percentage
was actually within a reasonable sort of area there. But
(17:28):
that's the one sort of nitpick about him is the drops.
He He has a couple on tape that like, for instance,
he had won against Alabama early in that game last
season where he absolutely licks this guy near the goal
line on this whip rout. He goes inside. He gets
this guy in a blender and he's wide open going
towards the boundary. Youwers puts it right, you know, right
(17:49):
where he should, you know, towards the boundary. The pylon
puts it right on his hands, and it clanks off
of Worthy's hands. He's right by himself. But Worthy gets
separation as easy as any receiver. You'll see. It's the
thing that reminds you.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Of Okay, wait, hold on on separation for for Xavier Worthy,
is it just running by guys or does he have
some nuance to his game and his route running to
create separation That isn't just I'm just gonna run past you.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
This is a very good contextual point. It's it's the ladder.
I mean, it's both, but it's you know, including the ladder.
He is a very good route runner. He has both
the agility and the speed, but he also has a
very good understanding of the route running and he can
get that separation at all levels of the field. Like
it's not like a two to two at well thing
where it's just like you know, using the speed and
(18:35):
then everything has to come off of it, right. He
knows how to run the route and he knows how
to set up defenders using that athleticism. He knows he
has one hundred mile prower fastball, and he knows defenders
are sitting back, you know, they have to sit back
on their heels. You're gonna blow it by him. So
he'll play off of that, and he'll also alter his
tempo as well. So he has a really good feel
for that and he naturally gets the separation because of that.
(18:57):
That's why he got pounded with his many targets by
quinn Ewers as he did. You look at it, Donnay Mitchell,
another receiver in this class. You know, he's another physical freak,
six foot four, two hundred pounds whatever. He ran a
four to three. People wonder why did Donna Mitchell, being
a physical freak, why did he get his few targets
as he did. What's because Xavier Worthy's open on everything.
Speaker 4 (19:16):
That's why.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
So I think Xavier Worthy, with that performance, you know,
and with what he put out on tape everything like that,
he has absolutely put himself in contention to go late
in the first round. And I think the chiefs are
you know, that's it's like the siren there. It's like
you have the free space at the front of the
first round with the bears of Caleb Williams that I
think I'm gonna be putting Xavier Worthy there at the
number thirty two spot.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
So here's my worry. All of these Olympic level speed
guys who come to the NFL.
Speaker 4 (19:47):
They never work out.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
I mean like never, you know, when you're this fast,
it almost seems like it's worked against a lot of
these guys going all the way back down like Willie
Galdon stuff. Right, So it fe like a lot of
most of the players that this kind of speed have
our one trick ponies. You know, I run straight and
I run fast, and they haven't developed enough of the
(20:11):
rest of their game to be anything more than almost
trick play guys. You know, they're two catches a game
and you hope to God that you're starting in your
fantasy league and in one that one game every two
months that he catches that deep pass on. Yeah, so
you're telling me that Xavier Worthy's got a much more rounded,
complete game than most of the John Rosses in this world.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
Yeah, because a lot of those guys were straight line guys, right,
like the Darius Hayward Bays or the locally speaking Vikings
fans ear muffs Troy Williamson. Yeah, like you were talking
about guys like that where it was pure pop the top,
you know, run deep guys. Worthy, it's the all three
(20:54):
level thing, right, Like you know that the play, you
know the Alabama play, you know, I'm talking about play
where he dropped, but they were using him at the
goal line, Like he's a small receiver you can use
at the goal line because if there's only one guy
on that side of the field, he will shake him like,
he will fake inside and the guy will bite and
then he can go towards the boundary. He's going to
be by himself. The agility is the thing in conjunction
(21:17):
with the speed with Worthy, and also he's not he
is pine size in terms of the weight and the
bill with that, but he's stretched out with it where
he's six feet tall even though he's one hundred and
sixty five pounds, So you have a little bit more
of the catch right five. Yeah, I mean, he very
very skinny, but you know.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
The build is it's not quite as.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
Like you know, it's more like DeVonta Smith, you know,
than some of those other guys. And again it's not
just the pure downfield type thing. He can win at
all three levels.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
Do you have a comp for Xavier Worthy because he
doesn't seem like a guy who's got a lot.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
Of comps in the NFL. The best one I got
right now is Tank Dell because it's the guy that
can win at all three levels. But he is faster
than Tank Dell and he's taller. I don't have a
perfect one yet, but that's that's a close one I got.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
I struggle to find one based on on the player
we're describing. Yeah, all right, let's transition over to bo
Nix's receiver, Troy Franklin.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
Yeah, Trey Franklin goes to the combine. In the sports books,
they had him with a low four to three forty
with the props and he disappointed a little bit in
running the four to four to one only. I mean
it's it's a fast time.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
But totally NFL serviceable.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
Yeah, but Franklin was one seventy six, so he's a
little bit on the lighter side, although he did he
did come in at six foot two. Explosion is is
the part of his game, you know, explosive plays. But
with the four to four one, he also had a
ten year it split of one six one, which is
a little bit elevated as well. He had the six
nine three cone. The overall raz was eight one eight.
(22:50):
But yeah, he gives you the explosive plays in that
Oregon offense can win at all three levels. He did
there makes people miss. But yeah, the body build is
the thing that concerns you a little bit in conjunction
with with the testing profile. I like his game though
he's a little bit of a contortionist, you know, in
terms of that like around the sidelines. I really like
the body control. I like the ball skills in terms
(23:13):
of like you know, with the with his body type
that you know, the contortionists, the ball skills, everything like that.
I like his game, but that I would have liked
to see him test just a little bit better than
he ended up doing. Uh, that's why I have him
right now at wide receiver seven.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Okay, are we talking about a player who can get
separation from others? So is he got that kind of footwork?
Speaker 3 (23:39):
Yeah, so I had him come to Jamison Williams before
the combine. But the speed isn't quite that good, so
I'm gonna have to I'm gonna have to bring that
back just a little bit. But yeah, that's that was
sort of where I was at before. But yeah, no,
I mean, he can separate, but this is you have
to separate him from Oregon's offense right where it was
like you had a lot of those quick hitting concepts
(23:59):
and then you know, people the defense would start coming
up because we're not gonna let you do the screen
pass right away again, and then he would get the
free one on one shot, you know, deeper down the field.
So yeah, you have to there's some projection that is,
you know, you have to do with this in the
same way you have to do with Bonex, you know,
and and and the other way with it. But I
do I think Troy Franklin's the guy where it projects
(24:21):
more favorably, for instance, than Bonex going to the next level.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
All right, let's go to Florida State's Keon Coleman. I
I've got nothing I can't tell. I couldn't pick him
out of a out of a I don't know, a
lineup with minow Ball and Muggsy Bogs.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
Keon Coleman had a very interesting combine where he runs
a four to six one forty. But he ran the
fastest gauntlet time last year. The guy who ran you
know the the you know where they're running through and
then they're throwing him the passes on both sides and
they have to the guy who you know who ran
the fastest gauntlet last year, and the receivers no, a
guy named Pukina Kua no kiddy. Yeah wow Again. It
(24:57):
was also near the bottom in the forty time. Further so, right,
and Keon Coleman. It must be said, the other tests
that he did was very very good. He had the
thirty eight vert. He his broad was over ten feet
nine to one eight raz overall, he obviously brings the
big size over six three, two hundred and fifteen pounds.
(25:17):
He started at Michigan State, not only on the football team,
he played basketball for tom Izzo. Wow, it was a
very good basketball recruit. That's part where the vertical comes in.
And you see this in his game downfield, you are
not getting higher than Keyon Coleman if you know, you
talk about a rebounder down the field, very good with
the body positioning. But also you know, again you're not
(25:39):
getting higher than him. He's a high point pointer all
day long. I compare him to t Higgins. It's a
lot of the same kind of thing. Another cool thing
where you see the manifestation of his hops. You'll see,
you know, where he gets the ball near the sidelines,
especially shorter, down in the field, whatever where he'll hop.
Guys they try to go low, take out his knees,
(26:01):
he will hurdle them and then they keep trucking down
the field. So he has stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
You know, the one part of his profile you know
that you wonder about.
Speaker 3 (26:10):
He's sort of a raw route runner right now, in
part because the agility is not quite as good. That's
the one part of his athletic profile that's not as good.
But I love the ball skills. I love his hands.
Last year down the stretch, that's where people started to
nitpick his game a little bit. He got hurt in
the middle of November. Then Jordan Travis gets hurt in
(26:32):
the last couple of games of Florida State. They were
playing guys that should not have been on an FBS field.
They were forcing balls at key On Coleman. That here's
a crazy staff where he charged key On Coleman. Last year,
he was targeted eighty seven times by the PFF charting.
Only fifty five of those eighty seven targets were considered catchable.
Speaker 4 (26:50):
Geez, how many catches he have?
Speaker 1 (26:52):
You know, fifty I got fifty of the fifty five
catchable passes.
Speaker 3 (26:56):
So I mean there are people out there that really
nitpick his game last year and he it was disappointing
for you know, he came from Michigan State. A lot
of people over the offseason. This is going to be
his break all year. He's a first round guy, et cetera,
et cetera. He had a down year on a playoff
contending team. But that is the context. He got hurt
early November. He missed the game. Right when he comes back,
(27:17):
Jordan Travis gets hurt. The last month of his season
was basically a wash for this reason the targets he
was getting after he came back where they were not
targets at all. He was getting thrown to by a
kid who was just out of the high school prom
shouldn't have been on the field. Eleven of his fifty
catches last year were touchdowns. Most of the other ones
were first downs. That kid can play absolutely. Like I said,
(27:39):
t Higgins is who I see in the NFL. Like
I like that conference Keon Coleman. One player.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
While we're talking Florida football, Let's go to Florida. Ricky
one player left. Ricky Pearsall. Ricky Pearsall kid. I talked
to him mobile. I really like that kid.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
Super duper nice kid has some of the best set
of hands that you will see in, you know, in
college football. The last couple of years, he was a
staple of the Sports Center Top ten. He had one
catch against Charlotte where he went up, caught the ball
with one hand, then he got crushed. You know, there's
like two guys descending on him. He catches his ball
with one hand. But he was like week after week
(28:13):
he was making these like ludicrous, highlight reel type catches.
But it's not just the highlight reel catches. He's one
of the better route runners in this class. Has a
very good understanding of that, shifting up and down the tempo,
the footwork in and out of the route breaks, everything
like that. He puts himself in the head of the
defender who is across from him, and then he just
(28:33):
puts the guy in a blender. He like, the guy
never knows what he's about to do. It's like a
chess match with him, you know. We had fun talking
about that, different stuff. He's one of those guys who's
constantly like doing little deeks with his upper body, you know,
and then the other guy he has to sort of
respond to it and then he's going the other way.
Different stuff like that. Talking about his hands eighty six
point eight PFF hands grade last season. Regularly spears balls
(28:56):
outside of his frame one handed catches with regularity. Uh.
He's extremely reliable with anything that you put within his frame.
Cleverness on the routes, understands coverage designs, modifies his path
to get himself open uh against his own coverage. Keeps
working on extended plays to freelance himself open. Uh. He's
(29:17):
he doesn't have the most sudden feet. But because of
all those machinations that he does along the route path,
he just constantly finds himself open. Very good spatial awareness,
very good body control, very very smart kid. The thing
we were wondering about going to the combine, It's like,
is this kid just a kid with very good hands,
a hard working kid, you know, very good route runner,
(29:38):
but a yeah, just like an average athlete. He goes
through the combine nine seven eight rasts geez four uh
six six four to three code fabulous three cone. With
the speed as well, this kid's gonna be shooting up
the boards six as well. I think you can project him.
I mean whether you want to play him in the
(29:59):
slow which is where he told me and mobile teams
were talking to him about. But he played on the
outside in college, by the way, played at Arizona State,
which Jayden Daniels. Then he went to Florida started. He
was a wide receiver one for Anthony Richardson, then last
year for Graham Mertz. He has been the wide receiver
one for three different high level quarterbacks. Yeah, he can
go to the NFL and I think start either on
the outside or in the slot. Versatile kid. He is underrated,
(30:22):
and I think he's moving up draft boards.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
Ricky Pearsall, he basically just carved a bust for him
in Canton.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
Yeah, Ricky Piersoll, Baby, where's he go? Where's his draft stock? Like?
Speaker 1 (30:30):
I mean, where where do you expect him to go?
Speaker 3 (30:32):
I think probably right now he'd probably be considered maybe
round three, but wouldn't surprise me if he goes round two.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
Okay, all right, somebody's gonna like that all the all
the things you just described you had. I'm trying to
you know, I'm jotting notes while you're talking, getting smarter
on these guys.
Speaker 4 (30:46):
You didn't say anything bad about it?
Speaker 3 (30:49):
Yeah, what I mean? What does Ricky Pierson need to
do better? Why is he a first round pack? He
had a forty two inch vert two?
Speaker 1 (30:54):
All right? Yeah, we like Ricky Piersall, like Ricky Pierce
sneaky spot for your for maybe your third round of
your dying.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
He doesn't accelerate quickly, that may be. That's that's one
we're gonna add that in.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
Okay, can't accelerate extremely still, don't tell them I said that, Okay,
got it, got it? Great job man. Wow, it's uh
in thirty minutes. We've become a whole lot smarter, which
I love. We'll be back next week more Fantasy Football Weekly.
Thanks for listening, everybody. Fantasy Football Weekly is a production
of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
(31:29):
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Welcome to Fantasy Football Weekly, a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Time now for Fantasy Football Weekly from iHeartRadio, your weekly
source for the nation's best fantasy football advice, speculation, and
whatever stupid stuff they decided to drop into the show. Now,
here's your host, Paul Chargion.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
It's Fantasy Football Weekly, Wide Receiver Edition. They're gonna break
down the rookies with thor Nystroum. Hey buddy, Hey, how
you doing. Oh god, I'm so excited to be here
talking now. I don't know if you know this from
our previous shows when we did quarterbacks, we broke down
running backs. Over the last couple of weeks, three weeks,
(00:44):
I'm taking copious notes while you're talking. You're feeding directly
into all my talking points as I'm starting to learn
all this stuff. My man, if your takes are bad,
I'm gonna look like a jackass.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
I hope they're not. I hope they're not.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
I have no never you haven't had one wrong yet, right,
I don't think so. Look, we're gonna let's go with
that as our working theory. Never been wrong. Thorn Eistrom, Yeah,
I love it. We've got We've we've got a lot
smarter on the quarterbacks, the running backs. It feels like
we say this nearly every year, awesome wide receiver class coming.
(01:18):
You know, like the last five years, we've had like
three or four of these classes that are just bonkers.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Yeah. Yeah, well with one exception, but yeah, basically yeah,
and this one we got it's roaring back. Yeah. This
receiving class is awesome at the top. Usually we talk
about the top with the top three, but people need
to realize this thing is also crazy deep. It's not
just the top three guys. This thing goes all the
way down. Awesome receiver class.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
We could have five receivers going the first round.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Yeah, maybe even six, Yeah, depending, Yeah, it's gonna be
you know, everybody's right now has got speaking of that
first end of the first round, Yeah, Kansas City, last
pick of the first round, they're getting a star receiver. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
I mean, if I had to pick any one team
with and I had to marry any one team with
any one position in the first round, second half of
the first round, I think I go wide receiver for
Kansas City.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Can we just put Savior Worthy right now?
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Yeaheah, And we're gonna break him down in just a
few minutes, Savior Worthy.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
You want some You.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Want to add a speed dimension, a downfield speed dimension
to a team that has gotten the average depth of
pass for Patrick Mahomes has gone down every year of
his career. They got to open that back up.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
Ye, let's get some speed. I can't wait.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
It's gonna be a lot of fun.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
All right.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Let's start at the top of the wide receiver position.
Marvin Harrison Junior has been slotted as the top receiver
for this class for like two years now. It's all
gonna come to fruition here. Currently most people believe he's
going to go to pick number four Arizona.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
Yeah, he's the prototype ex boundary prospect. He's going to be,
you know, presumably Arizona's wide receiver one from day one.
Elite route runner for his size, he has the high
octane release package, except exceptional footwork, throttle speed at will.
He's violent into and out of his route breaks, very
very good hands, difficult to handle downtown because of his
(03:15):
body control and leaping abilities. I have very very few
nitpicks on him. Speed is only very very good elite,
and when he has the ball in his hands, he
doesn't He's not like a tackle breaking colossus. But that's
really all I got. He is a study stud.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Yeah, outside of quarterbacks, he'll be the first player to
go in the draft.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
Yeah, it's crazy because you know, his dad comes in
Marvin Harrison senior obviously, and he was the undersized, you know,
skinny guy comes out of Syracuse whatever, and he had
to win by being the awesome route runner, you know,
throttling up and down the speeds, keeping the cornerbacks off,
the beat of his scent, everything like that. He taught
everything to his son, who got all the physical gifts
(03:59):
that he did not. How about that?
Speaker 4 (04:02):
Yeah, yeah, I'd like.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
To I'd like to know what mom is like, you know,
did Marvin Harrison wide receiver senior, like, you know, did
he marry I don't know, like a star volleyball player
or something, you know, and and get all you know,
how do you go? How did Marvin Harrison junior get
the physical gifts that his dad didn't have?
Speaker 3 (04:19):
That's crazy, But yeah, he's a giant. He's you know,
stretched out and to catch radius is ridiculous, and a
guy that can win all three levels of the field.
It becomes a spacing thing as well. You know, it's
it's not just him singularly, it's it's it becomes a
spatial thing for the rest of the field where he
helps the receiver on the other side of the field
because you have to keep a high safety on that
(04:41):
side of the field. So you know, he's helping all
of his teammates just because of the spacing, you know,
different stuff like that on the field.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Non super flex leagues. Marvin Harrison Junior's first player going
in Dynasty drafts.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Yeah, yeah, because the the running back class, you know,
like we talked about last week, it's not as good,
it's not as good. Yeah. So I mean Marvin hare
and stands above you know, everybody else as far as
that goes.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Yeah, I you know, some people you might be tempted
to go another direction. I don't think I would. I
don't think Black Bauers is going to be in play
it at the first overall unless you're in some kind
of you know, tight end specialized league. And I don't
think the other receivers are gonna talk about are gonna
hit that either. So let's take that opportunity to try
to move over to Rome. Adunza from Washington highly highly
(05:23):
productive there.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Yeah, Roma Dunza would be wide receiver one in a
normal year. Yeah, you look at the past decade, most
of those classes he would have been wide receiver one.
It's just you know, he happens to come out in
this class, has every single tool that you'd want, and
that is now confirmed with having gone through the NFL
combat Roma Dunza. So he comes in measures in six
foot three, two hundred twelve pounds. His raz was nine
(05:47):
point nine to one. He runs a four four five.
It wasn't even the thing that impressed me the most.
The thing that impressed me the most. People watching the telecast,
Roma Dunsay got a six ' eight eight in the
three cone the telecast at night, he wouldn't leave the
field because he kept running the three cone. He wanted
to run a sub six six three cone because the
(06:09):
kid who ran the fastest was like six six five. Oh,
Donsay wanted a sub sixty six. So he was on
his fourth fifth attemph with the three cone.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
Can you try it as many times as you want?
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Apparently, okay, I don't know how he could do that.
I don't know if they would have countered it if
he did. He kept running it over and over and
over again. He kept knocking over the cone on the
far side. That's why he kept, you know, he wasn't
getting it whatever, and he kept getting kicked off because
he just kept you know, kicking that one over whatever.
But the kid's an absolute dog. I mean, he'd already
gotten a ninety ninth plus percentile RAZ and he wouldn't
(06:42):
leave the field because he didn't have the best three
cone of his entire position group. I compare him to
Julio Jones. You know, you talk about every golf club
in the bag, size, strength, physicality, speed, agility, hops, ball scales.
He's a complete receiver. He was pressed more than any
receiver by the stats in this class last year at Washington.
(07:04):
And the reason that was done is because we talked
about this a few weeks ago in the Quarterback episode.
The way that you take Michael Pennix off his game
is by pressuring him and trying to get him off
his spot, disrupting the timing. How do you do that, Well,
you try to take the best player on the Washington
offense away and you try to press him off the line.
He impressed and oh, dude, say off the line, though
(07:25):
you had to try, but you weren't gonna be able
to do it. He got pressed more or at least
attempted to press more more than two hundred snaps last year,
but nobody could get him off the line. His feet
are two good, he has his dynamic release package, but
he's also too strong, too quick, and then you know
he gets into the route really quick, and then he
adjusts his tempo along the route, so it's just really
(07:46):
difficult to get a beat of his scent. You don't
know when he's going to break that route off or
when he's gonna go downtown whatever. He would have been
a high first round pick last year if he had
entered that class. We know that, and he would have
been a wider one and a lot of those classes
over the last decade. But yeah, he's either going to
be two or three in this one just because of
Marvin Harrison Junior.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
In our show in late February, you comped Malik Neighbors
the LSU wide receiver to Jamar Chase. That's a very
favorable and tantalizing comp. Y. What do you like about it?
Speaker 3 (08:21):
What do you like about his game? And you could
say the same about Neighbors right like where you know,
you look at.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Different a different year, he'd have been number one.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
That's exactly right. Yeah, I mean we have three wide
receiver ones in this class. And you know it's not hyperbole,
it just is what it is. Neighbors is very, very
similar as a prospect to Jamar Chase. You know, and
again I think I mentioned that in that episode. I
didn't even want to make that comp because of the
jersey thing. It felt too easy. But it's the you know,
it's just the closest one that that I could think
(08:50):
of with Neighbors that The thing that really jumps out
about him is the ludicrous stop start ability and the
fact that he loses zero momentum when he's changing direction.
It's just he can change. Everyone loses momentum when they
change direction, but not Moleague Neighbors. It's ridiculous. When he's
running routes, it's at this breakneck speed where they can't
(09:11):
keep up with him because he doesn't lose any momentum
when he's cutting in different and changing directions. Stuff like that.
You can be as fast as Molique Neighbors. Potentially you
might even have world class feet like him, so you
might be feeling good about staying in his hip on
a given rep, but then he can just slam on
the brakes and come back and then all of a sudden,
you're skidding and he's over. But now he's got four
(09:34):
yards of separation, now he's got the ball in space,
and now you're in trouble. So like that, it's what
makes him so difficult. And you know, we talked about this,
you know, earlier on in the previous episode, where the
other part about him that's very unique is his upper
body doesn't move very much when he's moving at full speed,
and it's just this strange quirk about him. But he
(09:56):
doesn't chug his arms very much when he's running on
the routes, so it makes it difficult to denote when
he's going to break those routes off. And it's also
difficult to gauge exactly how fast he's moving. So he
just becomes like a really hard math problem for the
defensive backs.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
That's that's gonna be a matchup problem. All these guys, well,
Harrison Dune's of neighbors, They all guys that can be
impactful like week one of the NFL, you know, like
week one of their rookie year, they can make an impact.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
That fact, all three guys of those guys stars in
the NFL, I will be stunned. Wow.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Okay, so you know landing spot will determine plenty, but
all guys that have clear paths.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
To immediate returns.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
Yes for your dynasty or empire fantasy absolutely, which we love.
Now there it feels like there's a bit of a
break after Neighbors. Yes, and so you know, Harrison to
Dunes and Neighbors all seem to be guys that are
that are going in like the top eleven ish twelvesh
picks of the draft being mocked there and then there
feels like there's a bit of a drop and then
we get into some other names. Brian Thomas goes here,
(11:00):
but you've got Lad McConkie as your next guy, and
I know you love his separation ability.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
I do. Yeah, So you know most people have Brian
Thomas at number four, but I had to put Ladd
up here. And you mentioned the separation last year. Lad
McConkie receiving grade versus single coverage ninety eight percentile separation percentile,
ninety third percentile separation percentile versus single coverage ninety first percentile.
(11:26):
And you know a lot of people talk about him
as a pure slot receiver. He played most of his
percentage percentage of his snaps in college actually on the outside.
Georgia played a predominantly twelve personnel offense, so you know
a lot of the times he was playing on the outside.
Last year it was seventy eight point seven percent on
the outside. He of course can play in the slot,
(11:47):
but he can do both of those things. He goes
and I think this he proved the concept at the
combine eight four five ras and a four to three
four three nine with a thirty six inch vertical and
a ten to four broad. And by the way, he
didn't do the agility drills, which I believe will be
his best test. Most of the guys didn't do the
(12:08):
agility drills Roma Dunsday notwithstanding, because the NFL does it
in a dumb way where they put the agility drills
at the very end of the day, after everyone has
already gassed from doing all the other drills. So most
people defer that until they're pro day. Lad McConkie is
going to destroy those when he does them. But whole
point being Ladi McConkie is ridiculously hard to stay with.
At the Senior Bowl when we were down there on Tuesday,
(12:31):
he dusted everyone. It was very similar to Tank Dell
on the very first day the year before the second
day on Wednesday, people were playing way off him, eight
yards off a Ladd McConkie, just seeding free receptions in
the one on one drills because they didn't want to
get embarrassed in front of the entire NFL. Lad McConkie's
going to come in immediately in the NFL and start.
I don't know if he's a number one receiver in
(12:52):
the NFL, he is going to be a dang good
number two if not.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Yeah, And do you think does he translate? There is
a reception out there that he's gonna be primarily a
slot guy, but you think he can translate to all
of it.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
I remember by the way people.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Were talking about Justin Jefferson getting stuck in the slot.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
At one point. That sounds doesn't it exactly? Come on,
it's the same thing, you know, Like it was a
situational thing at LSU right where they had Jamar Chase
on the one side and they had Terrace Marshall on
the other side that Joe Burrow offense. That's why Justin
Jefferson was in the slots. All of a sudden, It's like, Oh,
he can't play on the outside in the NFL, and
now he's the NFL's best outside receiver. Yeah about that right? Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
I remember asking Rick Spielman the day after he drafted
or the night that he drafted Justin Jefferson about that,
and he was like, No, he's gonna be fine. He's
gonna be able to play all over all. Right, So
let's go to Brian Thomas. Yeah, and I think this
might be more that you like McConkie than you dislike
Brian Thomas. I love the physical play, the contested balls,
(13:51):
the big body of Brian Thomas from LSU.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
Yeah. You know, coming into the NFL, we know a
couple of things about Brian Thomas. Did he is going
to do very very well six foot three, two hundred
and ten pounds, and the freak athleticism that you're talking about.
He ran a four to three three with a nine
eighty six overall ras composite.
Speaker 4 (14:08):
How does a guy with that big of a body
run that fast.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
I don't know. He was flying and you see this
on the field too. I mean, and it's this is
one of my nippicks about him, I will say, but
you know, it can go either way. He ran predominantly
two routes at LSU, you know, the fades and the goes.
But it is so hard to stop him on those,
you know, I mean, you know him and Jayden Daniels
on those, you had neighbors doing you know, all the
(14:33):
different the stops, the starts to run and zipping around whatever. Yeah,
and then you'd have Thomas taking the top off the
defense and you can see why LSU was the greatest
show on turf last year. They also had the most
ransom defense you'll ever say. They were like the last Yeah,
every game was like fifty five to fifty two. But yeah,
Brian Thomas at the bear bear minimum, he's going to
(14:54):
be the the you know, sort of prototypical wide receiver
two pop the top whatever. My my nitpick about Brian
Thomas is, I don't know the other stuff right, like
the you know, the inbreaking stuff, the nuanced stuff, like
is he ever gonna elevate to become like a wide
receiver one in the NFL? That I don't know, but
(15:14):
I do know he's going to threaten deep and he's
going to be the friend of the other receivers on
your team because you have to keep He's one of
those guys. You have to keep the deep safety on
the other side or he's gonna take your lunch money deep.
You can't keep a guy on an island or he's
gonna embarrass him.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Let's take a break when we come back, Xave, you're worthy.
The guy's getting he's getting attached to the Chiefs a lot. Yes,
this could be a lot of fun. Let's let's break
him down when we come back Fantasy Football Weekly. As
mentioned Thorne Eistrom, Xavier Worthy is could bring speed to
a Chiefs team that hasn't had it since Tyreek Hill left. Yes, well, okay,
(15:57):
that's a Mark haz Valdez Scantley's guy like straight line speed.
But that's it and then all and all, you know,
all the negative plays and everything comes with him.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
But you could argue, well not even argue. We just
quantifiably no one in NFL history has the speed of
Xavier Worthy. Just ran him four to two to one.
Forty broke the record at the NFL Combine broke the
record of John Ross. There it was. It was hilarious,
you know. He he ran the first one and was
just over it it. Zavery Worthy was and then asked
(16:26):
to run the sec. Everyone assumed that he wasn't gonna
run it, but zavery Worthy's like, no, no, no, I want
to run the second one because he knew he was
going to break that record, and then he went out
and did it. It was a very very cool moment. Uh,
you know, one four nine ten yards split very good
as well. And then a forty one in vertical which
is obviously fabulous as well. Nine to three four ras
(16:46):
which at the adjusted size thing is incredible at one
hundred and sixty five pounds. That's the nitpick about him.
But he is a little bit on the you know, taller,
certainly taller than Tank Dell. He's he's just under six
feet tall. Xavier the he's an interesting player. Texas pounded
Zavier Worthy with targets two years ago twenty twenty two.
(17:08):
He had some drop issues mitigated a little bit in
terms of the percentage. Last year twenty twenty two, he
had a hand injury, So you can forgive him for
a little bit and last year he had a ton
of targets, so if you look at the drop percentage
was actually within a reasonable sort of area there. But
(17:28):
that's the one sort of nitpick about him is the drops.
He He has a couple on tape that like, for instance,
he had won against Alabama early in that game last
season where he absolutely licks this guy near the goal
line on this whip rout. He goes inside. He gets
this guy in a blender and he's wide open going
towards the boundary. Youwers puts it right, you know, right
(17:49):
where he should, you know, towards the boundary. The pylon
puts it right on his hands, and it clanks off
of Worthy's hands. He's right by himself. But Worthy gets
separation as easy as any receiver. You'll see. It's the
thing that reminds you.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Of Okay, wait, hold on on separation for for Xavier Worthy,
is it just running by guys or does he have
some nuance to his game and his route running to
create separation That isn't just I'm just gonna run past you.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
This is a very good contextual point. It's it's the ladder.
I mean, it's both, but it's you know, including the ladder.
He is a very good route runner. He has both
the agility and the speed, but he also has a
very good understanding of the route running and he can
get that separation at all levels of the field. Like
it's not like a two to two at well thing
where it's just like you know, using the speed and
(18:35):
then everything has to come off of it, right. He
knows how to run the route and he knows how
to set up defenders using that athleticism. He knows he
has one hundred mile prower fastball, and he knows defenders
are sitting back, you know, they have to sit back
on their heels. You're gonna blow it by him. So
he'll play off of that, and he'll also alter his
tempo as well. So he has a really good feel
for that and he naturally gets the separation because of that.
(18:57):
That's why he got pounded with his many targets by
quinn Ewers as he did. You look at it, Donnay Mitchell,
another receiver in this class. You know, he's another physical freak,
six foot four, two hundred pounds whatever. He ran a
four to three. People wonder why did Donna Mitchell, being
a physical freak, why did he get his few targets
as he did. What's because Xavier Worthy's open on everything.
Speaker 4 (19:16):
That's why.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
So I think Xavier Worthy, with that performance, you know,
and with what he put out on tape everything like that,
he has absolutely put himself in contention to go late
in the first round. And I think the chiefs are
you know, that's it's like the siren there. It's like
you have the free space at the front of the
first round with the bears of Caleb Williams that I
think I'm gonna be putting Xavier Worthy there at the
number thirty two spot.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
So here's my worry. All of these Olympic level speed
guys who come to the NFL.
Speaker 4 (19:47):
They never work out.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
I mean like never, you know, when you're this fast,
it almost seems like it's worked against a lot of
these guys going all the way back down like Willie
Galdon stuff. Right, So it fe like a lot of
most of the players that this kind of speed have
our one trick ponies. You know, I run straight and
I run fast, and they haven't developed enough of the
(20:11):
rest of their game to be anything more than almost
trick play guys. You know, they're two catches a game
and you hope to God that you're starting in your
fantasy league and in one that one game every two
months that he catches that deep pass on. Yeah, so
you're telling me that Xavier Worthy's got a much more rounded,
complete game than most of the John Rosses in this world.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
Yeah, because a lot of those guys were straight line guys, right,
like the Darius Hayward Bays or the locally speaking Vikings
fans ear muffs Troy Williamson. Yeah, like you were talking
about guys like that where it was pure pop the top,
you know, run deep guys. Worthy, it's the all three
(20:54):
level thing, right, Like you know that the play, you
know the Alabama play, you know, I'm talking about play
where he dropped, but they were using him at the
goal line, Like he's a small receiver you can use
at the goal line because if there's only one guy
on that side of the field, he will shake him like,
he will fake inside and the guy will bite and
then he can go towards the boundary. He's going to
be by himself. The agility is the thing in conjunction
(21:17):
with the speed with Worthy, and also he's not he
is pine size in terms of the weight and the
bill with that, but he's stretched out with it where
he's six feet tall even though he's one hundred and
sixty five pounds, So you have a little bit more
of the catch right five. Yeah, I mean, he very
very skinny, but you know.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
The build is it's not quite as.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
Like you know, it's more like DeVonta Smith, you know,
than some of those other guys. And again it's not
just the pure downfield type thing. He can win at
all three levels.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
Do you have a comp for Xavier Worthy because he
doesn't seem like a guy who's got a lot.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
Of comps in the NFL. The best one I got
right now is Tank Dell because it's the guy that
can win at all three levels. But he is faster
than Tank Dell and he's taller. I don't have a
perfect one yet, but that's that's a close one I got.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
I struggle to find one based on on the player
we're describing. Yeah, all right, let's transition over to bo
Nix's receiver, Troy Franklin.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
Yeah, Trey Franklin goes to the combine. In the sports books,
they had him with a low four to three forty
with the props and he disappointed a little bit in
running the four to four to one only. I mean
it's it's a fast time.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
But totally NFL serviceable.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
Yeah, but Franklin was one seventy six, so he's a
little bit on the lighter side, although he did he
did come in at six foot two. Explosion is is
the part of his game, you know, explosive plays. But
with the four to four one, he also had a
ten year it split of one six one, which is
a little bit elevated as well. He had the six
nine three cone. The overall raz was eight one eight.
(22:50):
But yeah, he gives you the explosive plays in that
Oregon offense can win at all three levels. He did
there makes people miss. But yeah, the body build is
the thing that concerns you a little bit in conjunction
with with the testing profile. I like his game though
he's a little bit of a contortionist, you know, in
terms of that like around the sidelines. I really like
the body control. I like the ball skills in terms
(23:13):
of like you know, with the with his body type
that you know, the contortionists, the ball skills, everything like that.
I like his game, but that I would have liked
to see him test just a little bit better than
he ended up doing. Uh, that's why I have him
right now at wide receiver seven.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Okay, are we talking about a player who can get
separation from others? So is he got that kind of footwork?
Speaker 3 (23:39):
Yeah, so I had him come to Jamison Williams before
the combine. But the speed isn't quite that good, so
I'm gonna have to I'm gonna have to bring that
back just a little bit. But yeah, that's that was
sort of where I was at before. But yeah, no,
I mean, he can separate, but this is you have
to separate him from Oregon's offense right where it was
like you had a lot of those quick hitting concepts
(23:59):
and then you know, people the defense would start coming
up because we're not gonna let you do the screen
pass right away again, and then he would get the
free one on one shot, you know, deeper down the field.
So yeah, you have to there's some projection that is,
you know, you have to do with this in the
same way you have to do with Bonex, you know,
and and and the other way with it. But I
do I think Troy Franklin's the guy where it projects
(24:21):
more favorably, for instance, than Bonex going to the next level.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
All right, let's go to Florida State's Keon Coleman. I
I've got nothing I can't tell. I couldn't pick him
out of a out of a I don't know, a
lineup with minow Ball and Muggsy Bogs.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
Keon Coleman had a very interesting combine where he runs
a four to six one forty. But he ran the
fastest gauntlet time last year. The guy who ran you
know the the you know where they're running through and
then they're throwing him the passes on both sides and
they have to the guy who you know who ran
the fastest gauntlet last year, and the receivers no, a
guy named Pukina Kua no kiddy. Yeah wow Again. It
(24:57):
was also near the bottom in the forty time. Further so, right,
and Keon Coleman. It must be said, the other tests
that he did was very very good. He had the
thirty eight vert. He his broad was over ten feet
nine to one eight raz overall, he obviously brings the
big size over six three, two hundred and fifteen pounds.
(25:17):
He started at Michigan State, not only on the football team,
he played basketball for tom Izzo. Wow, it was a
very good basketball recruit. That's part where the vertical comes in.
And you see this in his game downfield, you are
not getting higher than Keyon Coleman if you know, you
talk about a rebounder down the field, very good with
the body positioning. But also you know, again you're not
(25:39):
getting higher than him. He's a high point pointer all
day long. I compare him to t Higgins. It's a
lot of the same kind of thing. Another cool thing
where you see the manifestation of his hops. You'll see,
you know, where he gets the ball near the sidelines,
especially shorter, down in the field, whatever where he'll hop.
Guys they try to go low, take out his knees,
(26:01):
he will hurdle them and then they keep trucking down
the field. So he has stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
You know, the one part of his profile you know
that you wonder about.
Speaker 3 (26:10):
He's sort of a raw route runner right now, in
part because the agility is not quite as good. That's
the one part of his athletic profile that's not as good.
But I love the ball skills. I love his hands.
Last year down the stretch, that's where people started to
nitpick his game a little bit. He got hurt in
the middle of November. Then Jordan Travis gets hurt in
(26:32):
the last couple of games of Florida State. They were
playing guys that should not have been on an FBS field.
They were forcing balls at key On Coleman. That here's
a crazy staff where he charged key On Coleman. Last year,
he was targeted eighty seven times by the PFF charting.
Only fifty five of those eighty seven targets were considered catchable.
Speaker 4 (26:50):
Geez, how many catches he have?
Speaker 1 (26:52):
You know, fifty I got fifty of the fifty five
catchable passes.
Speaker 3 (26:56):
So I mean there are people out there that really
nitpick his game last year and he it was disappointing
for you know, he came from Michigan State. A lot
of people over the offseason. This is going to be
his break all year. He's a first round guy, et cetera,
et cetera. He had a down year on a playoff
contending team. But that is the context. He got hurt
early November. He missed the game. Right when he comes back,
(27:17):
Jordan Travis gets hurt. The last month of his season
was basically a wash for this reason the targets he
was getting after he came back where they were not
targets at all. He was getting thrown to by a
kid who was just out of the high school prom
shouldn't have been on the field. Eleven of his fifty
catches last year were touchdowns. Most of the other ones
were first downs. That kid can play absolutely. Like I said,
(27:39):
t Higgins is who I see in the NFL. Like
I like that conference Keon Coleman. One player.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
While we're talking Florida football, Let's go to Florida. Ricky
one player left. Ricky Pearsall. Ricky Pearsall kid. I talked
to him mobile. I really like that kid.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
Super duper nice kid has some of the best set
of hands that you will see in, you know, in
college football. The last couple of years, he was a
staple of the Sports Center Top ten. He had one
catch against Charlotte where he went up, caught the ball
with one hand, then he got crushed. You know, there's
like two guys descending on him. He catches his ball
with one hand. But he was like week after week
(28:13):
he was making these like ludicrous, highlight reel type catches.
But it's not just the highlight reel catches. He's one
of the better route runners in this class. Has a
very good understanding of that, shifting up and down the tempo,
the footwork in and out of the route breaks, everything
like that. He puts himself in the head of the
defender who is across from him, and then he just
(28:33):
puts the guy in a blender. He like, the guy
never knows what he's about to do. It's like a
chess match with him, you know. We had fun talking
about that, different stuff. He's one of those guys who's
constantly like doing little deeks with his upper body, you know,
and then the other guy he has to sort of
respond to it and then he's going the other way.
Different stuff like that. Talking about his hands eighty six
point eight PFF hands grade last season. Regularly spears balls
(28:56):
outside of his frame one handed catches with regularity. Uh.
He's extremely reliable with anything that you put within his frame.
Cleverness on the routes, understands coverage designs, modifies his path
to get himself open uh against his own coverage. Keeps
working on extended plays to freelance himself open. Uh. He's
(29:17):
he doesn't have the most sudden feet. But because of
all those machinations that he does along the route path,
he just constantly finds himself open. Very good spatial awareness,
very good body control, very very smart kid. The thing
we were wondering about going to the combine, It's like,
is this kid just a kid with very good hands,
a hard working kid, you know, very good route runner,
(29:38):
but a yeah, just like an average athlete. He goes
through the combine nine seven eight rasts geez four uh
six six four to three code fabulous three cone. With
the speed as well, this kid's gonna be shooting up
the boards six as well. I think you can project him.
I mean whether you want to play him in the
(29:59):
slow which is where he told me and mobile teams
were talking to him about. But he played on the
outside in college, by the way, played at Arizona State,
which Jayden Daniels. Then he went to Florida started. He
was a wide receiver one for Anthony Richardson, then last
year for Graham Mertz. He has been the wide receiver
one for three different high level quarterbacks. Yeah, he can
go to the NFL and I think start either on
the outside or in the slot. Versatile kid. He is underrated,
(30:22):
and I think he's moving up draft boards.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
Ricky Pearsall, he basically just carved a bust for him
in Canton.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
Yeah, Ricky Piersoll, Baby, where's he go? Where's his draft stock? Like?
Speaker 1 (30:30):
I mean, where where do you expect him to go?
Speaker 3 (30:32):
I think probably right now he'd probably be considered maybe
round three, but wouldn't surprise me if he goes round two.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
Okay, all right, somebody's gonna like that all the all
the things you just described you had. I'm trying to
you know, I'm jotting notes while you're talking, getting smarter
on these guys.
Speaker 4 (30:46):
You didn't say anything bad about it?
Speaker 3 (30:49):
Yeah, what I mean? What does Ricky Pierson need to
do better? Why is he a first round pack? He
had a forty two inch vert two?
Speaker 1 (30:54):
All right? Yeah, we like Ricky Piersall, like Ricky Pierce
sneaky spot for your for maybe your third round of
your dying.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
He doesn't accelerate quickly, that may be. That's that's one
we're gonna add that in.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
Okay, can't accelerate extremely still, don't tell them I said that, Okay,
got it, got it? Great job man. Wow, it's uh
in thirty minutes. We've become a whole lot smarter, which
I love. We'll be back next week more Fantasy Football Weekly.
Thanks for listening, everybody. Fantasy Football Weekly is a production
of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
(31:29):
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