Frankly Fantasy Football
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Frankly Fantasy Football
New Faces, New Places: AFC Wide Receiver Impact
The musical chairs of AFC wide receivers this offseason has dramatically shifted the fantasy football landscape, creating both sleeper opportunities and potential draft landmines.
DK Metcalf's arrival in Pittsburgh might be the most fantasy-relevant move of all. With Aaron Rodgers throwing him the ball and minimal target competition, Metcalf stands to see a massive increase from his 108 targets last season. At ADP 52, he represents tremendous value as a potential alpha receiver who could easily surpass 1,000 yards and increase his touchdown production in Arthur Smith's offense.
Stefan Diggs signing with the Patriots requires patience from fantasy managers. His ACL recovery means a likely slow start, but his talent combined with Josh McDaniels' return to the offensive coordinator role could make him a second-half league winner available at a discount (ADP 95). Meanwhile, Christian Kirk faces an uphill battle in Houston's crowded receiver room, Joshua Palmer has a clear path to playing time in Buffalo, and DeAndre Hopkins joins a Baltimore offense with questions about how often they'll employ three-receiver sets.
Veterans Tyler Lockett (Tennessee) and Diontae Johnson (Cleveland) find themselves in difficult situations for fantasy relevance, while several impact receivers like Amari Cooper, Keenan Allen, and Gabe Davis remain unsigned as of this recording. The decisions these players make could dramatically shift target distributions and fantasy values across multiple teams.
As your draft approaches, targeting the right AFC receivers in their new homes could be the difference between fantasy glory and disappointment. Are you willing to bet on DK Metcalf's upside or take a chance on Stefan Diggs' second-half potential? These are the decisions that separate champions from also-rans.
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New faces in new places. We're talking AFC wide receivers today. Guys, let's get it All right. All right, all right. Welcome to the show. This is the Frankly Fantasy Football Podcast. We are your hosts, frankie and Johnny. What's happening, brother?
Speaker 2:What's happening, john? Oh, by the way, fun fact for those listening I'm jumping right in Whoa coming in. Hot Jesus, I haven't had enough coffee. We got football this month, july 31st, we're going to see actual football. So when you're asking me how I'm doing, man, I'm elated baby. I am happy. I'm ready to rock and roll because we. The wait is almost over.
Speaker 1:I know, I know it's July right now, but, guys, we're going to be putting out so much content for you, july and August, getting you ready for your draft, your fantasy draft. I want to hoist that damn trophy this year, frank. Yeah, guys, make sure you go back and watch the rookie reviews. We did all the rookies that are coming into the league, that are going to be on your draft board, going to be on your teams. Frankie does an amazing deep dive, watches tons of film on these guys and give you an idea who they are, who do they look like, who do they remind us of Great information? And, guys, we just did NFC wide receivers. Go back and take a look at that as well. And we've got new faces and new places coming out Quarterbacks, running backs, tight ends. We got receivers today. Let's get right at it, frankie, let's do it. Let's do it All right. We're going to it, frankie, let's do it. Let's do it all right.
Speaker 1:We're gonna do the afc today, guys, with wide receivers. We're gonna start with one here. This is a big one, man. This is a really, really big one. Everybody knows if you've watched the podcast before. This guy's in my boy band. I've got pictures of him with his shirt off. I just, you know, I've gotten real. Real, you know, yeah, just questioning my own sexuality sometimes, that you know, I want to lick this guy's chest. That so bad.
Speaker 2:It's not so bad. I you know it's weird. I was just at your condo the other day and I'm pretty sure I was disappointed. I didn't see a picture up of the boy band in your bathroom. So let's just, that's going to need to be a Christmas gift from from frankly, to frankly.
Speaker 1:So I need yeah, that's right, I need a fat head, one of the big full body cutouts of this guy with a shirt off. I think you know who I'm talking about. Guys, it's DK Metcalf. I love this guy. All right, dk Metcalf has just been kind of okay for fantasy football. It's been a minute since he's been an absolute beast. Traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers from the Seahawks Okay, second round pick and a seventh round pick for DK and a sixth Frankie. This is super interesting. This entire offense is in flux. What does it look like with DK Metcalf being the number one guy in Pittsburgh? Talk to me.
Speaker 2:Guys, john, you mentioned it, Finished receiver 32 last year. And what did he do? 108 targets with Seattle, 66 recept receptions, 992 receiving yards and five touchdowns. Guys, he is a dot. Again, we mentioned it in the prior receiver episode. What is a dot? It's average depth of target, huge metric for that of fantasy football, because you need to know, is this guy doing little dinks and dunks and it's going to be a heavy PPR guy, or is this guy going to be that 50 50 ball, the deep threat of that nature which is really beneficial for standard leagues and that of half PPR leagues? So his ADOT, john, is 9.2, which is big time.
Speaker 2:And what's fascinating is that this was all being done with Geno Smith. They still had JSN, they had Tyler Lockett, right, they had all these guys kind of going on in Seattle. Well, now he's at Pittsburgh, and then what happens is the dominoes start to fall. Is that now Aaron Rodgers is the quarterback at Pittsburgh, and now it starts coming into fruition? There's not really a true receiver too, I think. As of right now, john, for the Pittsburgh Steelers, receiver two is sitting at either Calvin Austin or Bobby Woods man, bobby trees, right. So this is where DK, in my opinion, is the sole number one guy. And yes, we know hot, take hot off the press. John who Smith is now traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers so he will certainly be more in a hybrid tight end slot kind of role as well. But, man, when looking at where he's at, he's receiver 23.
Speaker 2:Dk Metcalf is receiver 23 for this year in fantasy football and his ADP is 52. What does that mean, guys? That means in a 12-man league you're going to have to snag him back and forth. In a 10-man league he may be still there back and forth, but it's probably going to be front part of five, fifth round. And this is really fascinating because you know, people are kind of down on the Pittsburgh Steelers man and us, being Browns fans look, I'm ripping my Ohio State shirt right. I hate the Pittsburgh Steelers, I hate everything about that disgusting fucking golden black dude. It is what it is. But I think they're being slept on, and I really do.
Speaker 2:And I think Aaron Rodgers man we were talking about it in the last episode as well over 3,800 yards, 28 touchdowns, 11 interceptions, and what he did with Devontae Adams man, devontae Adams was receiver 14. And that was with Garrett Wilson. And so what can we see from DK Metcalf man. I'm excited for him. I think that grass is super green here. I think that he's going to be able to be a monster. I see over a thousand yards. I probably see an uptick in touchdowns as well. So I'm actually on the DK bandwagon, knowing you can get him at receiver 23,. John.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, last year with Aaron Rodgers, garrett Wilson had 150 targets, 152 targets, you know. You look at Devante Adams with Aaron Rodgers last year he also had 141 targets. That's crazy. Yeah, dk Metcalf. Last year he wasn't even close to that man. I mean, dk Metcalf was 60, or, I'm sorry, 108 targets. So he had 50 less targets than both of the receivers that Aaron Rodgers had.
Speaker 1:I think you're going to see a huge target increase for DK Metcalf. So he had 50 less targets than both of the receivers that Aaron Rodgers had. I think you're going to see a huge target increase for DK Metcalf. You know he had 100 targets. You could see 40, 50 more targets, you know, for DK Metcalf. So this round four area, that's where he belongs and I think it's going to be a really difficult slot. He's a target monster. I mean, like you mentioned, they have nobody else on this depth chart. Don't be surprised if you're going to see a guy like Keenan Allen or you see a guy like Amari Cooper who are both still not on teams. Don't be surprised if one of these guys shows up opposite of DK Metcalf on the Pittsburgh Steelers, because I do think they need more help. They're going to run a lot of two tight end sets. They're going to be heavy with running the ball with their rookie, caleb Johnson and Jalen Warren, but we know Robert Woods and Calvin Austin and Roman Wilson who we haven't even seen on the field yet. They're not taking targets away from DK. Dk is going to be the man in Pittsburgh and we haven't seen DK be the man really ever in his career. Early, when he started his first couple of years he was kind of the man, but Tyler Lockett was still there. So this is going to be really interesting.
Speaker 1:I think he's going to be a target monster. And the one thing with DK he's an interesting receiver. Yes, he's a 50-50 ball guy. Yes, he's a red zone threat. But DK Metcalf is fast as shit. You forget that because he's so big as well. So I mean it's really it's it's a combination of of Debo Samuel with his size and the speed of, you know, a Tyreek Hill. I mean he really is fast as shit.
Speaker 1:So I think you're going to see DK Metcalf do a lot of different things. He's going to be exploring the entire route tree this year with Aaron Rodgers getting creative and he's going to be smoking people down the sideline. Man, definitely. I'm all about it this year. I just think it will change a bit if they bring on an Amari Cooper. Keenan Allen, I'm not worried about that's going to be a locker room guy. He's going to be playing in the slot and I don't think he's going to be doing a whole lot. But an Amari Cooper could take touchdown opportunity away from DK Metcalf, so it could change. So pay attention to what the Steelers do here, guys.
Speaker 2:And John to that point guys. One thing to know about Arthur Smith's type of offense guys he ran 15% of the time. He ran 13 personnel. What is 13 personnel? That means there is one receiver and three tight ends guys. Okay, and so if they just traded for Janu Smith, they have Friar Muth. Right, they have a few others in the holding tank. So we could truly see, with Caleb Johnson, as you mentioned, man, he's a superstar running back in the making. I really believe that. I think Caleb Johnson is as good as he. He's really in that upper echelon type of tier.
Speaker 1:He's the perfect fit for the Pittsburgh Steelers Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Perfect. And so then you layer on DK Metcalf and a 13 personnel to where he's the only and, by the way, DK blocks very well, and so he's going to be a perfect scenario for that type of personnel. So then it's going to open up the offense more. So I'm really excited to see what Arthur Smith's going to be able to do with DK man.
Speaker 1:I am too. I really am too man. All right, so if we're looking at ADP, you know you've got DK. We said he's right around the 22 area or something. Okay. So when you're on the draft board, frankie, you've got DK Metcalf. You're going to be looking at Marvin Harrison Jr. You're going to be looking at a DJ. I mean new faces in new places. It's a variable that scares people away. So you're looking at Scary Terry. You saw what he did last year DJ Moore being the alpha in Chicago, cortland Sutton emerging as an alpha in Denver. Are you more nervous about DK with those guys who proved it last year with the same teams and same quarterback? Are you more nervous about DK with those guys who proved it last year with the same teams and same quarterback? John, that's a really good question.
Speaker 2:The only one that I'm taking over DK Metcalf out of all of that is DJ Moore. I'm taking DK Metcalf over that of Terry McLaurin because of Debo Samuel and I think that that's going to take away some from that of Terry McLaurin. Also, he's unhappy due to contract. And then also you mentioned Zay Flowers. They just paid Rashad Baden and now they have a guy that we're going to be talking about here very shortly in D-hop. And then you layer on Isaiah Likely, who exploded last year with Mark Andrews. And so for me, man, looking at where DK Metcalf is sitting, kind of being the sole guy outside of, dare I say, janu Smith at this point in time from a receiving perspective I say Janu Smith at this point in time from a receiving perspective I mean I'm really high on him.
Speaker 2:And then when we talk about DJ Moore, I mean shit, you got Ben Johnson coming over. You got like Caleb Williams, season two, right for him. Year two. You got no more Keenan Allen, but they do have Roma Dunzey who's going to be flowing in, and then Luther Burden if he can get on the field or not, we'll see what happens, but that's kind of their JMO. I know you mentioned that when we were talking about rookie review, guys check that out. It was really awesome. Johnny did a really good job breaking that down. But guys, the Luther Burden is totally that JMO kind of ask. So for me I am excited as hell to see DJ more than Ben Johnson offense, and then for me it's DK and then some of the others following that, yeah, dk moves up.
Speaker 1:right now he's at the top of that of that tier for me, and it's solely due to volume, it's due to who's around him, and when you have a potentially 40, 50 target increase in the season, it's going to boost his touchdowns as well. I just think he's poised to really have a good season. Man I, I, I don't see how he can be outside of the top 20.
Speaker 2:I really don't 290 targets between davante adams and garrett wilson.
Speaker 1:Think about that right, those aren't going to fucking tight ends, guys. No, no, all right, we low our dk. Give me that fathead, frankie, I'll lick. I'll lick his abs, I promise you, I will all right, let's move on here.
Speaker 1:We're staying in the AFC guys. The next guy we've got Stefan Diggs. All right, stefan Diggs signed with the Patriots for three-year $63 million. This is not a one-year Debo Samuel contract. Again, this is somebody they're bringing in to give weapons to Drake. May Stephon Diggs with the Patriots? It sounds super weird, doesn't it Finishes wide receiver 67. He only played eight games. He got hurt. We all know that. Frankie, what do we do with Stephon Diggs? He's one of those guys that I just I'm not quite sure yet how I feel about him. Talk to me, change my mind.
Speaker 2:Ooh, yet how I feel about him. Talk to me, change my mind. Oh, I'm so excited for Stefan Diggs. I can't wait to change your mind and those listening and I'll tell you why. In eight games he had 64 targets. Right, guys, there's 17 games in a season now. Okay, in fantasy football there's 16 to 15 games, right, so, 64 targets with a loaded receiver room, nico Collins, tank Dell at the time, right, and yeah, nico Collins got banged up, came back, tank Dell was there and then obviously he got hurt, right, all sorts of things. But it was awesome to see he still commanded that 47 receptions, almost 500 yards receiving and three touchdowns. His ADOT average depth of target again is about 7.75, so that is also pretty damn solid. But the reason this makes me excited, man, is because where you can get him and where he ended up. What do I mean by that? He's sitting at receiver 43 with an ADP of 95. Pause. Adp of 95. Guys, in a 10-man league. That is middle of the ninth round, the ninth round. Okay, we were talking about Cooper cup and if you haven't watched that episode, guys, please go watch it. I want to make sure everybody drafts Cooper cup if they possibly can, because of the value, guys.
Speaker 2:This is very similar here. When you can take a guy of his caliber, who's a true receiver, one Sure he's banged up coming back from that ACL surgery. But if you look at the routes he's running, if one, sure he's banged up coming back from that ACL surgery, but if you look at the routes he's running, if you look at what he's been doing on the off season, he looks damn good. And, by the way, he's got a new chick that's holding him down in Cardi B. He's partying his ass off, having a good time. So let me tell you he is ready to rock and roll.
Speaker 2:And then, john, you layer on. Okay, he's at the Patriots. Okay, what does that mean? Drake May looked freaking good. He looked good last year, man. And then you have Josh McDaniels coming back with Vrabel. This is also an unknown, and we've seen Josh McDaniels' receivers go nuclear.
Speaker 2:You look back at Julian Edelman, the Randy Moshiers, right, some of these other guys. Man, there is good players and Josh McDaniels is excellent at game planning around him. He might not be that good of a head coach, I'll give you that, but from an OC perspective, and that offensive mind dude can make it happen. And so then you look at okay, well, who else do the Patriots have? Okay, well, they have Pop Douglas. I mean kinda right, like I mean he's good, oh, he's good ish.
Speaker 2:You have Kyle Williams, who is the unknown kind of rookie coming in here and you're really waiting to see, like, how he does from Washington state. And so for me, man, once Stefan digs, it might take guys, it might take five weeks, you might have to be patient right Coming off of the ACL tear that he had. But when we start seeing mid-season flow and you have the ability to draft a number one receiver on a team that is, by the way, willing to throw the ball with Drake May and they reinforce their offensive line and they double down on their running back with Travion Henderson to pair that with Ramondre Stevenson, all to alleviate pressure for Drake May, dude, I'm just saying he could be a league type of winner towards the back half of the year.
Speaker 1:All right, I mean, yes, I will give you that. There are so many variables with Stefan Diggs to me that he scares the absolute shit out of me. You're 100% right, though. If everything does go as planned, there is a realm of possibility where he is a league winner for you in the second half. I think you have to know that going into it when you draft, and you have to draft properly in order to do that.
Speaker 1:Because, you're right, I don't think you're going to get much out of him for the first five games or so, if he even plays the first couple of games. He may not. He is banged up, but those variabilities are there for me that scare me a little bit. It's the injury. It's coming back off the injury. It's quite honestly, it's his head. It's quite honestly it's his head. His head scares me way worse than the acl, you know. I mean it really does. So I don't know. And there's the competition's not great. You're right. If he's healthy and he's all right and he's right in the head, he's going to be on the field, he's going to be doing some cool shit. Um, it's just a matter of when is that going to happen? But if you go into it planning that he's the second half guy for you, that it it's going to take at least the first five or six games to really get going and you plan for that on your roster, getting a healthy Stefan Diggs at the right time to be able to plug in as your ex or your wide receiver too yeah, you can't go wrong there. But you have to plan ahead when you're drafting. You got to have enough depth there and don't draft too many guys that you do have to wait on. You have to stagger that. So keep that in mind. All right, let's keep moving on here, frank.
Speaker 1:Let's take a look at another guy. It's kind of a Stefan Diggs light, I guess you know, like an ultra light, like a Mick Ultra. I'm talking about Christian Kirk. Christian Kirk traded to the Texans for a seventh round pick from the Jags. Basically, a pack of cigarettes is what they got them for. Congratulations, texans. Now, this isn't really, it's not a Tank Dell replacement. This is a very different player than Tank Dell, but Tank we're not going to see. Most likely Kirk will be in the slot here with the Texans. What can we expect with what the Texans have done, not just in the draft, but who they have coming back with? Nico Collins? What are we doing with this?
Speaker 2:receiving core. This receiving core is loaded, John. This is a different scenario than what it was last year, and last year was loaded, but the difference is they reloaded with young talent. And so what do I mean by that? Christian Kirk, guys, finished as receiver 95. He only played eight games, right, Because he was banged up and everything. And, if you remember, the Steelers were trying to trade for him and there were a few other people that were trying to trade for him middle of the year and then he got hurt and then everything died. And so when you look at what he did, he had 47 targets, 27 receptions, almost 400 yards in one touchdown, nothing to speak on right. Trevor Lawrence didn't have the super great year last year because he was banged up as well and there was a lot of competition with Gabe Davis, Brian Thomas Jr, so on and so forth. And so what are we looking at now? Well, he's sitting at receiver 56, and his ADP is 133. So, guys, you can pretty much get him almost undrafted. He might go undrafted in quite a few of these leagues. And now he goes to Houston.
Speaker 2:This is a stacked house. You have Nico Collins, who is absolutely the anchor, who's the number one, true number one. Number two, in my personal opinion, is absolutely a rookie there in Jaden Higgins. And, by the way, they have another rookie who was teammates with Jaden Higgins at Ohio State, and Jalen Noel. And so what's fascinating, man, is there is very little wiggle room. Knowing they only traded a pack of cigarettes and a seventh round pick for him, for him to mess something up or to him to get on the field. There is very little wiggle room for him to see the ball.
Speaker 2:So temper expectations with Christian Kirk. My personal opinion on this, John, is he might be worth a flyer, depending on how preseason is, depending on how he develops in training camp, things like that. But man, if we see Jaden Higgins balling out and you start seeing some of these other cats balling out, from the Texans standpoint guys, I don't know if Christian Kirk's even on my board, even from a depth piece respected. I mean sure we've seen Nico Collins get banged up et cetera. So he could be, there could be viability there. But man, oh man, I would rather take a screaming high ceiling type of boom bus cat, Like, like what we used to say with Tyler Lockett in his prime. I'd rather have somebody like that that I can get at the end of the draft versus somebody like a Christian Kirk who's going to be potentially hidden on this depth chart.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that's the problem. I mean, we talked about um, um, uh, Brandon cooks. How he's not going to probably be drafted. He's a boom bus guy, you know he's. You know that big play guy. Christian Kirk's not that guy. He's a slack guy, he's a possession receiver. You know, like his ceiling is not very high anyway, so it's not like you're taking this big chance that he's going to come back with a 150 yards in a two touchdown game.
Speaker 1:That cannot happen without injuries. You need an injury to nico or you need an injury to dalton schultz. Now, if that happens, the tight end gets hurt. You're going to see a lot more play because they're going to need christian kirk as a receiving option in the middle of the field. But yeah, it's not a guy that I'm going to see a lot more play because they're going to need Christian Kirk as a receiving option in the middle of the field. But yeah, it's not a guy that I'm going to draft, but it's a guy that I'm going to pay attention to if I draft Nico Collins or if I draft Jaden Higgins which, by the way, they're identical.
Speaker 1:These are the same built kind of guy. Jaden Higgins is a mirror image of Nico physically is what I'm saying. So they're very similar type players. Christian Kirk, if one of those two gets hurt, then, yes, christian Kirk's stock goes way up, his targets go way up, but not a guy I'm looking to draft. He's just really really buried on this death chart. Man. All right, let's move on here. Let's get to a guy staying in the AFC. We're going to go. Joshua Palmer this is an interesting signing here. Signed a three-year $29 million deal with the Bills Bills trying to get themselves some receiving options here too. Man Finished last year wide receiver 76, just kind of a ho-hum year. What, if any, value does Josh Palmer have, and does this help Josh out?
Speaker 2:John, the answer to your question is yes, guys, there is value with Joshua Palmer. You do not sign a guy three-year, $29 million to just sit there and rock, especially when we looked at what Curtis Samuel did last year. I mean, really, keon Coleman, those guys, they were okay. I mean Keon Coleman was okay. Curtis Samuel was a little bit depressing, if I'm being honest with you. He just didn't perform to the liking of what they were kind of hoping for, especially when you had the offensive coordinator that they had. And so for me, man, looking at this right, he ended up finishing his receiver 76 last year. He had 65 targets, 39 receptions, 584 yards receiving a touchdown. His ADOT was really good with nine yards, and now he's currently sitting at receiver 72, and his ADP is 212.
Speaker 2:For me, I personally think this is a really good situation for him. I think this helps Josh Allen with a really nice safety net. I also think that there's not a shit ton of competition here. When you look at Keon Coleman, as I mentioned, curtis Samuel guys, you can plug in Joshua Palmer and I think they're gonna perfect. He's gonna perform just as good or better than those two.
Speaker 2:Sure, khalil Shakir is the true fire number one guy that's living and breathing in the slot, so they need a guy like that opposite of of him for Josh Palmer, who works well in the X. And so, man, I definitely think, guys, you can get this type of player, josh Palmer. Think of it as, in my personal opinion, his ceiling for this year very similar to that of Demarcus Robinson last year Seven touchdowns, almost 600 yards receiving right, 50, 60 receptionsions. That would be an excellent year for Joshua Palmer. And so, knowing he's walking into this offense with a top five quarterback in Josh Allen, yeah, man, I think that there is something here at play and I do think he makes this offense better.
Speaker 1:This receiver room is so weird, so weird, it's so weird. I'm surprised they didn't make a bigger splash in off season with with receivers here. Um, I mean Khalil Shakir, keon Coleman those are your starters. Josh Palmer, right now, is listed as the starter opposite of Keon Coleman. Uh, then you got Elijah Moore and Curtis Samuel. But Elijah Moore, curtis Samuel, to me they're just lesser versions and older versions of Khalil Shakir. So exactly.
Speaker 1:You know they're not really going to compete with Josh Palmer as far as getting on the field. Really, the only competition for Josh Palmer LaVisca, chenault, which we haven't really seen much of him since his days in Jacksonville. So you know he's going to be on the field, is the point. So I mean it's surprising to me he, he's going to be on the field is the point. So I mean it's it's surprising to me. He was a solid number two with Justin Herbert. I mean he just he was, you know. I mean we kept arguing over him being the number one, cause he was for a while and I was like he's not a one, he's not a one, we know he's not a one, we saw that last year, but he's a two. He's a damn good two. He can beat man-on-man coverage, you know. So he's going to get some play.
Speaker 1:I think this is what I would do with Josh Palmer. You're not drafting him and sitting him out there and starting him. Obviously this is a guy you sit on. There will be some change, there will be some injuries. His target share could drastically increase If something were to happen to Keon Coleman. Then you're getting number one targets from Josh Allen and you're laughing all the way to the bank and fantasy man. So this is a guy I would draft and sit on hold on to him as long as I could until that situation arises. Obviously, if you can't do that, you can't do that Watch your roster. But I think it's a wait and see kind of guy, and I hope that Josh Allen gets him the ball more often than not. So, okay, let's keep going here. All right, this one's interesting Frankie, yeah, going to the dirty birds here, and let's go.
Speaker 1:The rat birds. We got D hop Deandre Hopkins signing with the Baltimore Ravens for a one year $6 million deal. Okay, not a big deal, it's a one year, it's 6 million bucks. They want to shore up their receiver room here. Last year finished as wide receiver 48. What are you thinking about D-hop man? Really interesting situation.
Speaker 2:Honestly, john, I love the situation. I do, and I think it's a perfect match for what they need and what they have today. So, meaning, guys like so what did he do last year with Kansas City? Because we put ourselves in the mindset of an already convoluted receiver room. Rasheed Rice went down, we know that, but they still had Xavier Worthy, they had Hollywood Brown, they had Justin Watson right, they had Travis Kelsey right, they had a cream hunt taking receptions out of the backfield, so there were a lot of mouths to feed. And he still did well 56 receptions, 610 yards receiving and five touchdowns. Guys, he finished, as you mentioned, within the top 50 receivers. That's not nothing. And so for me, man, looking at where he sits, he's at receiver 67 and an adp of 174, so that's also enticing because you can get him for dirt cheap. Now he's walking into a situation to where there's Zay Flowers they just paid Bateman they have Mark Andrews, they have Isaiah. Likely they have Walker, devontae Walker. That's also kind of interesting Young guy, right.
Speaker 2:But, man, I think that there's actually a place for D-Hop on this team to actually play. And knowing how well Lamar threw the ball last year, guys, that's not a fluke, and so Lamar's going to be throwing the ball a bit more. I think that they're going to try to, especially during contract talks with him, to renegotiate the contract, give him another extension, which totally deservably so. But also they're probably not going to want him to run as much right, which he's always going to do that, because that's always what makes him superhuman on the football field. Get a downfield guy to pair with Bateman, and now you're telling me that you have Zay Flowers, who is clean, that's running all over the damn field and is an absolutely incredible route runner. John, this makes a lot of sense, and so for me, I am actually willing to take a flyer on D-Hop and sit on him and just see how this offense pans out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I just wonder. My concern with D-Hop is how many three wide receiver sets are the ravens going to be good? Point that? That's my major concern with him, because I think that's what has to happen in order for him to get on the field. I think you will see a lot of 12 personnel, with mark andrews and isaiah likely on the field. Yeah, so that's my concern.
Speaker 1:And they paid bateman. They did. He was a guy that could have been either way. He could have been a throwaway kind of guy. They paid his ass and he really came on at the end of the season man, and he's a totally different type of receiver. He's going to be the sideline guy. He's going to be the red zone threat. We saw that. You know running the posts and the nines. So I don't know. I think, again, it's a flyer so you can up DeHop. He doesn't get any targets the first couple of weeks. You can drop him to play the waiver wire. But you're right, I also think it's an injury situation too. If something were to happen to Zay Flowers or Bateman, which always has. We saw it last year, we saw it every year for Bateman and Zay last year and Zay as well. Yeah, so for that aspect I think it's a value flyer pick because I think you could see somebody get hurt or miss a few games. He would go immediately up the board.
Speaker 2:John question. So we're looking at Joshua Palmer, whose ADP is 212, right, and then you look at DeHopps, who's 174. Out of curiosity, who would you take between the two? Because that could certainly be something you're looking at towards the end of your draft, and I'm just curious, and then I'll give you my answer.
Speaker 1:I could sell it both ways, man. I mean, you could tell me, johnny, sell me on this and I'll sell it either way. I think for me it would. Right now it would be Josh Palmer Same, because I think there is less in front of him, there's less in the way, less, you know, bullshit and debris in the way for him to actually be a fantasy flex player.
Speaker 1:I think there's just less there, same here, yeah, yeah, and I think it's more of a pass happy offense than we're talking with with Baltimore also. I mean, they're going to run the tits off the running backs. They're going to throw to their tight ends. Lamar's going to get his. He's going to run for 50 yards a game and maybe scoop on him for a touchdown. So, yeah, I don't. I don't think you're going to see quite as many mouths to feed in buffalo than you are in um in baltimore. Yeah, all right, let's keep rolling here. Baby, we got another one. Let's go to tyler lockett, old faithful here. It's nice to see him. It's kind of weird to see him on a new team. Super weird, right. Yeah, some of these guys are like what do they look like in these jerseys? Uh, tyler lockett, super weird careers and they're signing for one year and signing for, you know, single digit, you know millions here. Frankie, what are we doing with him here? What do you think?
Speaker 2:Guys, tyler Lockett is interesting. I mean, you look at him going to Tennessee, he would finish receiver 69. Last year he had 74 targets, 49 receptions, 600 yards and two touchdowns. It's not nothing, especially knowing that right, you still had DK there, you had JSN. Jsn totally took over, but it was the ADOT that was interesting. He still had almost a nine-yard ADOT, so average depth of target, which is pretty incredible for a guy that's kind of towards the end of his career-ish like just getting up there in age. And so he's currently sitting at receiver 78 and his ADP is 223, so you can get him for nothing.
Speaker 2:Okay, now let's talk about the situation. It's going to the Titans. With the Titans you have a rookie quarterback and cam board who, by the way, and everything that I'm seeing and everything that I'm watching dude looks freaking legit. Cam board looks like they. And again, everything changes when pads come on. Everything changes when you have a miles Garrett, a TJ Watt, a Micah Parsons running at you ready to rip your head off.
Speaker 2:But as it stands right now he looks damn good. And so then you look at okay, well, who else do they have? Well, they have Calvin Ridley Love that. Then they have Traylon Burke, who? Where the hell have you been, man? You were a first round pick and it's kind of looking like maybe a big time bust. They have Van Jefferson. They have right, I think it's like James Perchet or something along those lines. And so for me, man, I think that there is viability with Tyler Lockett. I think that he could actually we could see some stuff happen with Cam Ward at the helm and maybe we actually see Tyler Lockett be a bi-week flex option, right, something like that. So again, I don't want to overblow this, but what we've seen from Tyler Lockett is he's a boomer bus guy throughout the years, and I see him being a super light boomer bus guy this year, with a rookie at the helm.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a difficult situation for me. With Tyler Lockett, you got a rookie quarterback. You got a team that really hasn't produced fantasy wide receivers in quite some time.
Speaker 2:I mean Nick.
Speaker 1:Westbrook was the best in a little while. Yeah, and I mean, and you're also asking them to produce two viable fantasy receivers, right, I think Calvin Ridley is in a great position. Great Love him. This year I think he is going to be gobbling the targets from Cam Ward assuming that they're good targets, but he doesn't really have that much competition. Like you said, traylon Burks hurt right now. I don't even know if he's going to see the field much Chig and Conquo at tight end Chig yeah, you know the duo in running backs that catch passes as well.
Speaker 1:You know the alpha with Calvin Ridley and he's kind of that second guy. So, yeah, I think you know he's a guy that you can take as a flyer. It's not somebody I'm going out and targeting, but you know he's a guy that you can take as a flyer. It's not somebody I'm going out and targeting, but you know he's still got some juice and I think he could exactly what you said. I think the best case scenario for him is one of the bipocalypse weeks. He can help you out at receiver and give you a nice safe floor. You know, maybe eight to 12 points for you on a safe floor, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, all right, let's keep mental awareness month. I don't know that it is, I'm just saying.
Speaker 2:It is for this guy. It is always that month for this guy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we talk about, you know, the Pittsburgh receivers, and anytime somebody Pittsburgh gets rid of a receiver, we should be checking to see how they're feeling. You know, let's, let's, let's make sure they don't have any don't, don't let them have any firearms.
Speaker 1:Let's, let's make sure that they're safe, safe at night. We're talking about Deontay Johnson here, guys. Deontay Johnson signs with the Browns, Of course. Why not? Why not? Let's just throw. Let's throw Deontay Johnson in this mix and just see what the fuck happens here. All right, so talk, talk to me. Do we have? Is there any fantasy value here at all, Frankie? I mean really.
Speaker 2:Yes, and I know it sounds crazy, I know and I swear, guys, I'm not being a homer, I'm not being a homer, but there's not many options on this Browns team. Like that's the reality, like, okay, so there's Jerry Judy. Okay, cool, yes, he's locked and loaded as the number one. But do we believe in Tillman? I mean, we had three, good three games and then he hasn't seen the field and didn't do shit before that. And then you look at some of the other receivers what? Mike Woods, god bless us, I mean Lord. And so then, okay, so you bring in Deontay Johnson. He's certainly going to be in the slot. And here's the deal. I think, based on the podcast that he's doing and things like that. He was on a few podcasts and he was talking about it. He got humbled. He got humbled hard when the Browns, who are the worst team in the NFL right now, which, between us and the saints, right, it is what it is. It's disgusting, but it's, it's the reality. Look, john's throwing shit in the bag.
Speaker 1:I got stuff knocking off my desk yeah.
Speaker 2:Just come on, man, so like when you're that bad and you look at the quarterback room, which is kind of we have no idea what's going to happen there. You just need to throw out somebody with some sort of talent. And I think that, knowing the Browns were the only team that offered him and reached out out of all 32 teams they were the only team I think he got humbled. So what if we actually see him turn that into something of a positive? Now, it's a stretch. I'm not going to sit here and give a mantra as to everybody believe, because we shouldn't, based on what we've seen for the last two years from him. But the answer is what if? And? So when you look at the situation, let's say it's Flacco throwing the ball. We've seen Flacco throwing the ball all over the place. He's going to throw for probably 25 touchdowns if he starts for the whole year and he'll probably throw for 20 interceptions, so he's airing out the ball. If it's Kenny Pickett, we've seen what that looks like and it isn't very good. And so we're directly with Deontay Johnson, and it wasn't very good. So that could change things. If it's Shador Sanders, that wasn't very good. So that could change things. If it's Shador Sanders, that could also change things for the better. We've seen Shador work with a slot type of receiver with Horn Jr, as well as that of Travis Hunter at Colorado, so that could also change things a tad.
Speaker 2:But for me, man, I don't know. This is a dart throw. This is a guy that you take in the absolute last pick of your draft and just see if there's something there. This is not a guy you're targeting. This is a guy that you take and the absolute last pick of your draft and just see if there's something there. This is not a guy you're targeting. This is not a guy you're even high on. But due to the incompetence and the disgust of what a team is for the Cleveland Browns, there's an opportunity here that we could see some sort of fantasy value.
Speaker 1:I'm not touching him, man, I'm just not touching him. This is a slot receiver for the Cleveland Browns and we haven't utilized the slot. They just don't. It was Elijah Moore, it was David Bell. We don't utilize the slot on this team. They're going to run 12 and 13 personnel. I got another tight end. They're going to go tight end heavy. They're going to have both running backs in the game. Often this is going to be a run first team until they figure out what the fuck they have. So I don't even think we're going to be in formations to where there is a slot receiver. That often is is really the main point. So it's a guy you could take at the end of your draft and sit on him.
Speaker 1:maybe you're a browns fan, maybe you're a pittsburgh fan and you miss dionte johnson and are hoping for the glory day, but I mean there is a possibility that he does get targets he's. He is a very good receiver. He's a sure handed receiver. He's excellent in the slot. Pick up those third downs as a dots probably three.
Speaker 2:Yeah, literally. I think it was like five yeah.
Speaker 1:Something like that. Yeah, it's not good. Could have some value in a ppr. Yes, just depending on how bad.
Speaker 2:The browns are standard. I'm staying away, guys, just so you know. Standard, you do not draft dionte, even if you're taking a flyer. Go somewhere, big boom, but in full ppr, man, I mean. And maybe you see a floor of five or four and you're like hey super excited.
Speaker 1:I've seen my teams be decimated enough and with the bipocalypse weeks that Deontay Johnson seems like a viable possibility.
Speaker 2:This looks pretty appetizing here. Oh, you mean, like last year when we had, you know, rishi Rice and you go to Brandon Iuke and you go down the line. I mean it was bad. I mean we do so. For those of you Johnny and I were referring to, we actually do a joint league and it's a battle of the brands podcast, so it's where all these big podcasts come to play and it's a really cool league. Shout out to the league and uh, man, did we? Just get wrecked with injury, but we still made it. We still put the limped into the playoffs.
Speaker 1:But if you're in a 14 team deep roster league, you there's days you're going to start Deontay Johnson. I know people turn it off at this point, don't want to listen to it, but I mean, there are leagues that we're in that are super, super deep and you've got to know some of these last-round picks and know if they can give you any value at all and what their situation is. All right, frankie, who's left? Who hasn't we touched on it a bit? All right, frankie, who's left? Who hasn't we touched on it a bit? A couple of receivers still have not signed. And then do you have any honorable mentions of guys that could be flyers for you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, guys. So we have to make sure we are tuning in to what's going on with Gabe Davis, keenan Allen and Amari Cooper. Those are going to be the big three that are going to change the dynamic for a team. So it's absolutely going be either increase value or decrease value depending on where these guys go. So we have to stay up to date. We'll keep you up to date as things kind of go from this perspective.
Speaker 2:Now, honorable mention, let's talk. We're in afc world. There are some interesting guys, and one being dynamite brown, who's now with the jags coming from washington. Right, we have mac hollins, who that's actually kind of interesting man. There's always, he's always hanging around, he's always doing something there and he's now on the pats coming from the Buffalo bills. Justin Watson, from the chiefs going to the Houston Texans. We have Nick Westbrook, who I mentioned, who is now going to Miami. We have Van Jefferson, who's certainly in Tennessee but is also banged up. You have that of Mike Williams that's kind of interesting. Going to the Chargers guys. You want to kind of understand how that unfolds a bit. And then you also have that of the Josh Reynolds at the Jets. So that could also be interesting, depending on where Malachi Corley goes. He looks like he's kind of on the outs. So could Josh Reynolds end up being the third receiver there, who knows? But it's definitely something to see how training camp kind of evolves.
Speaker 1:God, I hope I don't have to start Josh Reynolds God, I had to. Two years ago. It was so bad. I hope I have a better season than that this year.
Speaker 2:What do you mean? I'm trying to package him in trades and trying to talk him up. Oh, it was gross. It was gross.
Speaker 1:That's your move. That's your move. How can I package up this little turd and get something out of it? And of course he's not trying to get just a person, frank. He's trying to take like one of your best people. That's right. I got a. I got a somewhat okay guy and three pieces of shit surrounding it. Do you want all of this? It's not how trades work, man. No, no, no. But every year someone bites. I don't, I know they do, I know they do.
Speaker 1:But thank you for joining us today, guys. That is the new faces and new places wide receivers in the afc. Stay tuned, guys. We've got more shit coming. We've got new faces and new places, running backs, quarterbacks and tight ends, all wrapped up in a beautiful episode for you all at once. So that's what we've got coming next. Please go back Watch. Wide receivers new faces, new places in the NFC. We've also got rookie review. We did receivers, we did running backs and we did quarterbacks and tight ends. So go take a look at those episodes, guys. Get you ready for the draft. What else do we have coming up here, frankie?
Speaker 2:Coming of the draft. What else do we have coming up here, frankie, coming soon? Guys, we have coming down the pike. We're going to be doing some of these mocks, baby. So we're going to be doing these mock drafts with different strategies, as Johnny mentioned and so we talked about in the last episode, but I'm going to bring it up in this episode.
Speaker 2:Guys, shout us out, meaning tell us what pick you want. Do you want us to check out, pick one and pick 14 or pick 12? Johnny and I will pick from those. What kind of strategy do you want to see? We did a lot, guys. We give you guys a lot of kudos. Man, you told us hey, I want to see a hero, rb strategy. Cool, from what pick? Let us know. We'll give that to you. We'll even shout you out on the podcast. But what we found is that super flexes are a lot of fun as well. A lot of people tuning in. So give us some feedback and we will rock and roll. We're dropping a mock draft, guys, gonna be soon and it's gonna be every week leading up until that Labor Day weekend. So a lot of good stuff coming.
Speaker 1:That's right, baby, and don't forget if you like what we're throwing out to you, please like, subscribe and share it with others guys. Let other people get this knowledge as well. Don't be stingy with your fantasy footstrap knowledge. Okay, yeah, there's plenty to go around. Plenty of frankie and johnny to go around, that's right. That's right. May the fantasy gods smile upon you. Bye, outro Music.