Will McConkey bounce back in McDaniel’s offense?
Matthew Berry continues ranking the 40 best fantasy football receivers, debating if Mike McDaniel will help Ladd McConkey and previewing the fantasy outlooks of DeVonta Smith, DJ Moore, Rome Odunze and Luther Burden III.
Video Transcript
All right.
Oh.
Wide receiver 21 through 30, which has some names that disappointed last year- Yeah, sure starting with Ladd McConkie at the top of that list.
Oh, yeah.
Here's the one right up at- He was not McConkulous.
He was not, or the Laddior.
Yeah.
A.J.
Brown gets traded draft week, Matthew.
He- What happens to DeVonta Smith?
He was Sadd McConkie.
come on.
It's all right.
Screw you guys.
That was better.
No, it's all right.
Come on.
Sadd with two Ds, obviously.
Yes, obviously.
Yes.
The UK spelling.
Yeah.
Given you're so accustomed to what they do there.
I will say, I think that if there is one player who could really explode out of nowhere and have a Cooper Kupp, 2021-type season, a JSN last year, I think Ladd McConkie's a pretty good candidate.
'Cause he had 1,149 receiving yards.
He's still got his place on the wall, even though Lawrence Jackson tried to- Yeah rip it down, after one of his l- slow weeks.
Yeah.
But I just think this guy showed s- so much in his rookie season, and last year, there's just a lot of context to explain why it might have gone bad.
They had no offensive line.
Herbert was under siege.
They had a very strange receiving room.
I just think that he's young enough, he has the pedigree, and what he put, out there statistically and on tape that first year I just think can't be ignored.
Yeah, I agree with that.
You know, last season he got 70 target, 72 targets in the slot.
That was fourth most in the NFL.
Keenan Allen, still a free agent.
You know, he was on a one-year deal last year.
At the moment they haven't brought him back as well.
And you just think about Mike McDaniel, the new offensive coordinator, what he did in Miami with Jaylen Waddle, Tyreek Hill.
Both top 10 in yards per route run when they were under McDaniel.
And so he's so good at, at, at, creating a passing game and getting guys in space, and that's what I think you wanna do with McConkie, is like the middle of the field.
Mm-hmm.
Try to, try to create opportunities for yards after the catch.
And, and so, I agree with you.
I'm, I'm bullish on his talent.
The other one I'll just say, where I thought you were gonna go with the guy that could just explode out of this list- Yeah is the guy right under him, is DeVonta Smith.
I thought that's who you were saying.
Yeah.
Well, but- I thought you were gonna say Luther Burton well, and Luther, like, there's a- We'll get there.
We'll get there we'll get there.
But, with DeVonta Smith, and so, Jimmy, Jimmy Kempski, who covers the, the Eagles, put this out the other day, and this was something that I was just like, I heard the exact same thing.
This was something that was in my combine rumors column, whatever, a month ago, which is that the Eagles feel like as good as DeVonta Smith has been, there's another gear there.
That if he were- For sure if he were ever to get the kinda target share that Jackson, Smith, and Jigba got last year, he could have that kinda season.
That he could have that kind of massive Again, at the moment, A.J.
Brown is still an Eagle.
But the, the thought process, within the Eagles organization, it was interesting that, again, a Eagles beat reporter heard the exact same thing that I did, which is that they believe, they believe DeVonta Smith has Jackson, Smith, and Jigba type upside if he could just get that kinda talent, target share.
I, I think we'll look at DeVonta Smith in a completely different light.
And, and when I say completely different light, not just fantasy.
I, I'm talking about, like, top 10 fantasy receiver and top 10 real life receiver.
We talked about Garrett Wilson's career, best.
DeVonta Smith has already He already had His numbers are better than, Garrett Wilson.
Now, Garrett Wilson done got the quarterback, but, DeVonta Smith has always had A.J.
Brown.
So you, you get a guy who already has a 1,200-yard season, we're talking something crazy here.
Pe- people forget how highly rated DeVonta Smith was out of college.
One of the highest.
The Heisman.
The Heisman.
No, I know.
No, I know, but like- The Heisman No, you're 100% right.
The Slim Reaper.
I mean- He is.
Yeah.
I would be fascinated to see him kinda treated as the alpha receiver, not sharing it.
Or it, really he felt more 1B.
Like A.J.- That's how I always- Yeah.
Yeah, that's how you should think about it.
Like, the, I mean, he was a top 10 overall pick.
It's just that they, at the time, they saw the opportunity to get A.J.
Brown.
DeVonta Smith was on, still on a rookie deal, so- And it worked It worked.
It did work.
Won a Super Bowl.
Oh, yeah.
So.
So it's funny how we talk about the Eagles, 'cause it feels so doomer.
Yeah.
But, like, this team won the Super Bowl not that long ago.
Yeah, and was in the Super Bowl a couple years before that- Right, right.
Yeah as well, almost won that one, too.
Yeah, yeah.
a team that would love to be, and just can't get there- But so close, is the Buffalo Bills.
That's why they acquired D.J.
Moore.
How much does this move the needle?
'Cause D.J.
Moore had a really weird year in Chicago.
Yeah, I think it moves the needle more for D.J.
Moore than it does necessarily for the Bills, who always seem to get it done.
Look, a- I think he's the best wide receiver Josh Allen has had since prime Stefon Diggs.
Yeah.
but he's not the same guy he was.
so but I think where he was gonna get lost in Chicago with Burden and Odunze and Loveland and all those guys, now he goes to Buffalo where he will be the best wide receiver in that room.
You still have Khalil Shakir and you've got the tight ends that'll take up some targets.
But D.J.
Moore has had at least a 26% target share four straight years prior to last year, as well.
I, I, I mean, I think this is, I think he's gonna be the number one wide receiver in Buffalo, but still a, you know, as you can tell by my ranking here, I think he's, you know, a low-end wide receiver two, high-end wide receiver three.
Yeah.
It's just the Billsiest move possible to pay a super high premium for a guy who hasn't really been that good for two years.
And I'll say, I'm, look, I, I'm a man of science, but watching that Broncos/Bills playoff game- Mm-hmm I'm coming to the conclusion the Buffalo Bills are cursed.
There is a curse at work here.
They've- Yeah they've definitely had some bad draws.
It's completely insane- Brutal what is going on.
The fumble from Allen b- before the half, that doesn't happen in normal real life.
Right.
No.
There, there's a curse.
And I think that D.J.
Moore, may well be victim of the curse.
I'm sure he'll be fine.
He'll be the number one option for Josh Allen, even though that hasn't necessarily meant a ton- Right in the past couple of years.
But, and you would hope that for whatever reason he was maybe a little bit checked out in Chicago, and that maybe Buffalo will revitalize him.
But I think that this might just end up being a rich man's version of the Amari Cooper thing that we all thought was gonna be a big thing mid-season a couple years ago.
I wanna- But I just, doesn't, doesn't he give them a deep threat, though?
Like a, like a- Yeah real deep threat that they- Yes that they hoped with Keon Coleman, they hoped with some of the g- mo- moves they make, but they just haven't- Right, and you're not, like, betting on upside.
So much with the Bills pass catchers, you're like, "This is the year for Keon Coleman," or, "Dalton Kincaid's good, but- Right.
You know it's been a little bit of a roller coaster.
Oh, hey, they, they, Josh Palmer's got a big deal.
Okay.
Maybe he's gonna break out.
That's an upside signing.
Yeah.
Right.
So they like the floor.
What you want Josh Allen in those playoffs was, as far as a deep ball threat, the person he was dependent on was- Brandon Cooks Brandon Cooks.
So-I'm, I'm gonna take DJ Moore- And that was a reception, by the way.
That was a reception.
It was, eh, I don't know.
Oh.
No.
I'm not sure.
But what, so what are the expectations?
Like, 70 catches for 850 yards and- Do we th- Oh, we don't think he gets 1,000?
No 1,000?
I think they just spread it around so much.
Yeah.
Right.
I think it's, I think it's, I think it's tough.
I think, but with DJ Moore leaving for Buffalo, suddenly Chicago becomes much more interesting, Connor, with, with Luther Burden, Rome Odunze.
I have them right next to each other.
Yeah, back to back.
I have them back to back.
I have Burden one step higher, but I'm curious how you see this situation.
So it's easy to fall into the trap because he is so good, and the flashes are great, that Burden is far and away the guy you'd rather have than Odunze.
You don't have it that way, Matthew.
You have them back to back.
Right.
I would think by the time we get to drafts, Burden is being drafted a little bit ahead of Ro- Rome Odunze.
Around, a- around ahead of him.
Mm-hmm.
Where I almost wonder, Lawrence, have we officially gone too far for where we're underrating a former top 10 pick in Rome Odunze?
Probably, and it's crazy because you don't even have to go back far because the first five weeks of the season last year when he's having a few 100-yard games, he's scoring the touchdowns.
We're like, "Oh, damn, this is..." It didn't It only took Rome Odunze, then he got hurt.
And so that's the thing, but the thing with Luther Burden and where he'll excel at is getting those receptions in the short area where he can get it quick.
And in fantasy PPR, that counts as points.
Right.
All you have to do is catch the ball at the line of scrimmage and do your thing, but the thing about Burden, Rome Odunze doesn't do that, but Burden can also get deep on you, too.
So that's where he might have the edge a little bit, but I think, I, I think they're even, like how you got them right now, Matthew.
Yeah, I'd put Burden one step higher just because I think they're gonna manufacture touches for Burden.
You know, they'll do- And they should they'll do sweeps and, and, and quick little screens.
So I just, I feel better about his week-to-week consistency 'cause they'll manufacture those touches.
But again, 29 career games for Rome Odunze, 27 end zone targets, and again, no DJ Moore there.
You've got Loveland now that defense is gonna have to deal with, so back to back.
I think we feel pretty good about the Bears offense in general.
I was gonna say, Jay, it just reinforces the point.
I think you want shares of everything Ben Johnson has.
Yeah, absolutely.
The offense, the, the scary thing about the Bears offense is that as much as it was, as it was humming down the stretch, like Caleb Williams is, like, 58% completion percentage, something like that.
Like, this offense still has a lot of room to go up, and DJ Moore is out.
There's no one really coming in that scares you, so I think it's gonna be, it's gonna be three guys, in the passing game.
It's gonna be Odunze, Burden, and Colton Loveland
