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Forget the "Studs" - Who are this szns Puka/Tank Dell? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Soulfly3
- Start date
Leroy Hoard
Footballguy
Not sure if he's enough of a long shot for you, but I really liked what I saw from Roman Wilson. Like his QB he wasn't fully used in a run first offense.
Max Power
Footballguy
Jamari Thrash (WR-Louisville) is on my radar for a late round dart throw. He flashed against ND who has pro-level corners. I followed him a little more after that and he put together a decent season. All of his metrics are extremely average and he probably goes pretty late in the draft, but I think the kid is a football player.
Scoresman
Footballguy
It may be too early to tell, at least for some guys. I think a lot of it has to do with situations entering the season. Like how Puka's opportunity came right when Kupp got hurt, etc. We can discuss who has the talent to do this all day, but a lot of times it comes down to a perfect situation that develops at the time.
Leroy Hoard
Footballguy
Yes location and QB mean a ton.
socrates
Footballguy
Based on current consensus draft projections, I think there are a few good candidates.
Javon Baker was a 5-star recruit. He has good size at 6-1, 205. He is an advanced route runner, has excellent hands, wins on contested balls, and he was 2nd in the nation in yards per reception in 2023. He is currently projected as a 3rd-round pick.
Ricky Pearsall is also currently being projected as a third-round pick. He is considered one of the more pro-ready receivers in the Draft.
Brenden Rice and Roman Wilson are currently being projected as late Round 2 picks. I suspect their stocks will rise in the draft process, but this is a deep receiver class.
A couple of even-later prospects who could fit the bill? How about Luke McCaffrey out of Rice. Sure-handed and, yep, part of that McCaffrey family. He is a projected 5th-round pick. Malik Washington (Virginia) is a projected 4th-round pick who could be a mismatch out of the slot. And here are a few diamonds in the rough to keep an eye on: Jalen Coker (Rd. 7), Tahj Washington (Rd. 7), Ryan Flournoy (UDFA), and Zakhari Franklin (UDFA).
Javon Baker was a 5-star recruit. He has good size at 6-1, 205. He is an advanced route runner, has excellent hands, wins on contested balls, and he was 2nd in the nation in yards per reception in 2023. He is currently projected as a 3rd-round pick.
Ricky Pearsall is also currently being projected as a third-round pick. He is considered one of the more pro-ready receivers in the Draft.
Brenden Rice and Roman Wilson are currently being projected as late Round 2 picks. I suspect their stocks will rise in the draft process, but this is a deep receiver class.
A couple of even-later prospects who could fit the bill? How about Luke McCaffrey out of Rice. Sure-handed and, yep, part of that McCaffrey family. He is a projected 5th-round pick. Malik Washington (Virginia) is a projected 4th-round pick who could be a mismatch out of the slot. And here are a few diamonds in the rough to keep an eye on: Jalen Coker (Rd. 7), Tahj Washington (Rd. 7), Ryan Flournoy (UDFA), and Zakhari Franklin (UDFA).
This is a great call. He's more in the Dell than Puka range as he'll be a day 2 pick.
Zakhari Franklin might be more in the Puka range. He was a prolific WR at Texas-San Antonio, going for 80-1022-12 in 2021, and 93-1128-15 in 2022. Then he transferred to Mississippi last year, hurt his knee before the season, never really played, and seemed to be in Lane Kiffin's doghouse. He's 6-1 and at least before the knee injury ran a 4.4.
Seems like a no legit like 15-20 viable candidates to choose from this early in the process.
My three favorites are probably Roman Wilson, Malik Washington and Pearsall though I must say Wilson in particular I think could be a round two guy so not quite sure these players will be a round in round 3. Like I was saying with so many viable candidates hard to know right now.
My three favorites are probably Roman Wilson, Malik Washington and Pearsall though I must say Wilson in particular I think could be a round two guy so not quite sure these players will be a round in round 3. Like I was saying with so many viable candidates hard to know right now.
Soulfly3
Footballguy
PFF COMBINED CONSENSUS RANKING OF ALL STABLE METRICS SINCE 2022
Rank Wide receiver
1 Malachi Corley, Western Kentucky
2 Tahj Washington, USC
3 Troy Franklin, Oregon
4 Malik Nabers, LSU
5 Jamari Thrash, Lousiville
6 Rome Odunze, Washington
7 Roman Wilson, Michigan
8 Joshua Cephus, UTSA
9 Malik Washington, Virginia
10 Marvin Harrison Jr., Ohio State
There's a few names on here I really need to dig into.
Rank Wide receiver
1 Malachi Corley, Western Kentucky
2 Tahj Washington, USC
3 Troy Franklin, Oregon
4 Malik Nabers, LSU
5 Jamari Thrash, Lousiville
6 Rome Odunze, Washington
7 Roman Wilson, Michigan
8 Joshua Cephus, UTSA
9 Malik Washington, Virginia
10 Marvin Harrison Jr., Ohio State
There's a few names on here I really need to dig into.
Ministry of Pain
Footballguy
Depends on where many of them land and the needs of teams with strong QBs in place already
-Look at RB as well. Achance wan't drafted high but he lands on a good offensive team.
103 carries, 27 catches, 130 touches total and couldn't really stay healthy for long during the season, you never knew when he was going off.
almost 1,000 combined yds, 11 TDs, the team that is drafting is pretty important IMHO.
-Look at RB as well. Achance wan't drafted high but he lands on a good offensive team.
103 carries, 27 catches, 130 touches total and couldn't really stay healthy for long during the season, you never knew when he was going off.
almost 1,000 combined yds, 11 TDs, the team that is drafting is pretty important IMHO.
Chaos34
Footballguy
I like Tahj, but then I'm also defending Worthy. Maybe I just don't worry about size like others do. 5-10 175 isn't that small. Like Puka this dude will block. I thought he looked better than Rice many times last season. Serious nose for the end zone and makes big plays for contested balls. Like Puka he doesn't post impressive speed, but he sure gets open. Clever route runner with some refined skills like waiting for the last second to grab the ball.
I'm a little limited to the west coast for players I watched alot, but another one of my little guys who looked really good is Jacob Cowing. 5-8 168. Identical to Dell but ran faster 4.38. I watched him score 4 tds on USC's defense. But they were bad. That D did not help Caleb. I don't have it in front of me, but I know he put up 150+ yard double digit catch games in his last two efforts. One was against the big rival Arizona St in his last regular season. The other was against Oklahoma in his bowl game. I like what I saw. Interested to follow his progress through camp somewhere.
A sneaky west coaster is Jalen McMillan from Washington. Two years ago he and Odunze were WR 1a and 1b. Not much separated them, seriously. He was running ahead of Odunze to start last season. Caught 8 balls in both their first two games while Odunze caught 7 in both. Had 3 tds to Odunze's 2. Yardage was close. Hurt his knee missed more than half the season. Came back too soon and left a couple games early. Was never right again, but he should be fine for next season.
Washington didn't miss him because of JaLynn Polk who stepped in seamlessly, 1200 yards and 10 tds. Like Daniels, Penix had great receivers.
Boone22
Footballguy
Someone mentioned this earlier but to me it’s all about the situation these guys get drafted into. I picked up Puka after our rookie draft solely based on the idea that that Rams had a solid QB situation and no real competition at WR 2 on the Rams. I didn’t see Van Jefferson as any kind of hurdle. So when I picked him up I was hoping for a decent depth fantasy WR. Once Kupp went down his value obviously jumped significantly.
Chaos34
Footballguy
Yup. Let's pay close attention to beat writers once OTAs start. They were telling us about Puka and Tank. Nacua was dominating in Rams camp. Tank was impressing too. Kupps preseason hammy really helped Puka get going early. That first game, sheesh. Tank had to wait for Woods or Brown to go down, but he took off when the opportunity arrived.
I followed those camp stories. I should have drafted both early and often but I decided to just choose one. Take him with my last pick. Hmmm, Puka sounds like a pro surfer, I want the little Tank. I drafted Dell in every league and whiffed on Puka in every league. Moral of the story: Listen to the beat writer's in July, not the attention seeking fantasy "gurus".
Boone22
Footballguy
Good idea if you draft later in the year. For me, our draft is right after the NFL draft so the only guys available later, during camp, are guys that go undrafted in the rookie draft. So I have to focus more on situation in the later rounds of our rookie draft.
jtd13
Footballguy
I was going to mention his teammate Cornelius Johnson. He kind of reminds me of a Nico Collins as a big athletic WR that never really got showcased at Michigan, who does better as a pro than in college. That said, Nico was better in college and Johnson probably doesn't get the same draft capital as Nico.
jtd13
Footballguy
Speaking from experience, that's also a great way to get overweight on the Kenbrell Thompkins of the world
But still solid advice.
Soulfly3
Footballguy
I'll accept it, but meant moreso in the draft.
But sure, anyone works as long as they boom
Ilov80s
Footballguy
Interesting- even with Tee franchised? I mean I hope you are right because he’s on the end of my dynasty bench but I’m skeptical
What kind of criteria you looking at?
Ilov80s
Footballguy
Day 3 pick that becomes a top 10 dynasty WR
ETA: Tyreek also got there pretty quickly
Da Franchise
Footballguy
Thanks, was looking for a real draft range, a rookie draft range, how fast it took them to hit kind of thing and that explains it.
I actually forgot about Tyreek.
I was going to say some guys like Kupp but the day three thing takes him out. Was thinking of Nico but also not a day three guy and he's a tough example because not many held onto him so if we are thinking more guys that you knew you had something tangibly good worth holding onto after their rookie season he was not it.
So in the end I got nothing, nothing recent at least. Kind of surprising how little have hit in that range. If we go back a little longer we get AB, Thielen and I guess Edelman but most of them were like Nico after year one, you did not know what you were sitting on if even if you were savvy enough to roster them as rookies.
I think I was quite literally just saying.
Hot Sauce Guy
Footballguy
Still Puka & Dell. heh
Hot Sauce Guy
Footballguy
I might have bought it if Higgins moved on. At the moment there are too many mouths to feed.
He’s a dude i like & have shares of, but I don’t see him having a Puka season. Not close.
Hot Sauce Guy
Footballguy
Puka was a 5th round dude when i was drafting both of my dynasty leagues where I picked him. I never saw him go before the 5th across my 3 leagues, or a vast number of drafts posted at FBG,
Dell got a little shine as we got closer to the season on reporting that he & Stroud had a connection, which bumped his rookie draft stock, but people remained skeptical of Puka. Maybe he moved to the 3rd or 4th as training camp news came out, I dunno.
rockaction
Footballguy
Yeah. It's not happening this year. And probably never will. Such is the life of a 5th or 6th rounder.
Chaos34
Footballguy
He's just an injury away.
Ilov80s
Footballguy
And even Diggs wasn’t an immediate smash. His first 3 years were solid but not spectacular and it was no sure thing he was going to become a fantasy star. It actually took Thielen and Diggs both 4 years to hit 1000 yards. Like you said even with AB, he barely saw the field his rookie year. I remember when I drafted ARSB in the 2nd round of a dynasty rookie draft and having some convos on Twitter about him. The sentiment was pretty overwhelming that it was a wasted pick because WRs taken that late never do anything and that I was dumb for taking him over the 1st round pick Kadarius Toney. Maybe I was smart, maybe I was lucky? Is there any insight to take from why Puka and Amon Ra hit so big?
Boone22
Footballguy
As to your last sentence I strong believe it comes down to OPPORTUNITY. As mentioned above, most late round NFL drafted players never get a chance. So when your sitting there in the 3rd through 5th round of your rookie draft look more at situation then at talent.
Ilov80s
Footballguy
Yeah both guys had open doors to seeing the field and proving themselves. That’s for sure
Hot Sauce Guy
Footballguy
But to be “the next Puka” that injury would have to happen in game 1.
Big Nate
Footballguy
This is a good point, he had an opportunity but also the coach and the system knew what they wanted and used him. Same with Dell. Stroud wanted Dell and the team made the effort to get him involved in year one.
I think it is too early to tell as it has to be a talented WR but also in the right system with a coach and QB who will give them targets.
Someone above mentioned Roman Wilson - this is a decent bet as he looks to be talented but not in a pass first offense. Could be a value in the rookie draft if he goes to a good system/fit.
Last year I totally avoided Dell due to his size. I wasn't concerned about his talent I just didn't want to take him where he was going. Maybe I should have tho! I did make a trade to get an extra draft pick and drafted Puka when he was still on the board. Win some, lose some.
I'm feeling though that I might need more mid/late picks this year....
Boone22
Footballguy
I’d argue that in Puka’s situation he didn’t need the Kupp injury. He only needed to beat out Van Jefferson. That’s what I meant by opportunity. The Kupp injury just allowed him to explode beyond anything any of us expected. If Kupp stayed healthy I bet Puka would have still overtaken Jefferson and been the #2 in targets and put up “decent” stats. And for a late round rookie pick that’s all you’re really hoping for… some added WR depth on your roster. Maybe a WR 4/5. We just got lucky and he went nuts!
Hot Sauce Guy
Footballguy
Yep - sorry, I wasn’t that implying he did.
I’m just saying Iosivas would need 17 games of production to be “the next Puka”.
