Bengals WR Jermaine Burton Is The BIGGEST Late-Round Value In Rookie Drafts

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It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day.

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Bengals wide receiver, Jermaine Burton PERSON, is one of the biggest steals right now in your

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dynasty rookie drafts. We'll explain why on this episode of the Locked-on Dynasty Football Podcast ORG.

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You are Locked-on Dynasty Football, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Here are your hosts, Marcus Mosher and Kate Madjuk PERSON.

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Welcome back to the Lockdown Dynasty Football Podcast, part of the Lotton Podcast Network, your team every day. We'd like to thank you for making us your first listen of the day. Today's episode is brought to you by GameTime ORG. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use promo code Lockdown NFL for $20 off your first purchase terms apply. I am your host Marcus Mosier PERSON. You can follow me on Twitter at Marcus underscore Mosier ORG.Joining me today, as always, is Kate Majuk PERSON. You can follow her on Twitter at Kate Majuk PERSON. You can also read her at Behind the Steel Curtain and at Pro Football Focus ORG. On today's show, we're going to be taking a look at some big time values in the later stages of your rookie drafts. Kate, I want to start with Jermaine Burton PERSON, who admittedly has kind of risen up a little bitto the point where we-

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He barely made the cut for this show, Marcus PERSON.

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He barely made the cut. To be clear, I just push for him a lot because I still think you can get him in most of your super flex rookie drafts at the end of round two, top of round three. I think he's going to be a star, Kate PERSON. What to say, oh, what do you say?

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I have been admittedly skeptical of Jermaine Burton PERSON throughout this entire pre-draft process. And it's not necessarily because the analytics or the, like, the tape don't back him up. But once we realized, like, you know, you heard about the immaturity concerns, right? And then I realized he was about to turn 23. And suddenly those seemed a little bit more concerning for me. And the fact that he had issues with the coaching staff at Georgia, at Alabama,those things concern me. Now, admittedly, this is probably the best landing spot that he could have found here in the National Football League ORG, maybe aside from the Kansas City Chiefs ORG, because the Bengals ORG have a history of taking some of these players with

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immaturity issues and miscellaneous off the field problems

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and making them contributors. There's also the fact that I have to imagine this is T. Higgins last season with the team. I just don't think there's going to be a feasible scenario where they can pay both Jamar Chase and T. Higgins PERSON, a contract that is amendable to what they are looking for as pro. So the opportunity is there, the good quarterback is there. I get it.But why are you so bullish on Jermaine Burton PERSON? Because I got to say, Marcus PERSON, the track record of players with character concerns coming out of college is not necessarily great. There are a couple of superstars who have made, made the leap into the league and absolutely dominated. But why do you think Jermaine is one of these guys that's going to beat the odds?I think he's really good at football.

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And I think he landed in a spot that fits his skill set really, really well. And listen, I understand the off the field stuff. He was somebody where both coaching staff at Georgia and Alabama weren't necessarily sad to see him go. However, you look at some of the advanced stats courtesy of PFF, 99th percentile receiving grade, 86 percentile separation percentage, 84th percentile contested catch percentage,98th percentile drop rate. Like the guy gets open and he doesn't drop passes. And that's a pretty good thing, especially when you're playing with a quarterback like Joe Burrow PERSON, who's going to be able to deliver the ball accurately to you? Can you catch it? Can you get open?Can you catch it? He can do that at a really high level. You and I were talking pre-show. I think T. Higgins PERSON is the better receiver. He was better prospect. I think Burton might fit to Bengals ORG' offense a little better,especially with Jamar Chase on the other side because Burton PERSON can be the Z receiver. He can play in the slot. He can run the backside digs. He can run all the routes needed against one-on-one coverage. I think this is a fantastic landing spot with a fantastic quarterback.I'm in.

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So is your point just that Jermaine Burton PERSON, in terms of team fit, you feel that he's a little bit more versatile in terms of what the Bengals ORG will be able

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to do with him at the first level? Yes. I think he can win in the short and in the intermediate, which just gives them another route runner that can beat one-on-one coverage. I mean, T. Higgins PERSON can do that. But a lot of his is based off of 50-50 balls down the sideline, contested catch stuff.Burton PERSON can get open. And quarterbacks that are accurate like Joe Burrow PERSON that have the anticipation, they love throwing to these type of receivers. And I just think with Jamar Chase already has the established number one receiver, Burton PERSON's never going to see a double team like ever. He's never going to see the best corner on a team ever.I think he is going to smash number two cornerbacks. He's going to be an awesome number two receiver. You just have to wait a year before we get there. I think that's fair.

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And I mean, to be totally honest, like I have seen, it feels like every rookie draft that I'm in, he's getting drafted higher and higher. So I do think this is like a window where you need to get in on the ground floor because it does feel like everybody's kind of pushing him up the ranks.I think people are catching on to the prospect. And why wouldn't you? We talked about his advanced metrics. He's an outstanding athlete, just over 6 foot, 196 pounds. Like decent size ran 44540 yard dash absolutely off the charts in terms of his vert and broad jumps, 82nd percentile for the vert, 95th percentile with 133-inch broad jump.Like, the athlete is outstanding. But my question for you, and I'm going to, again, challenge you a little bit on this, because before the show I asked you to name me a couple of, you know, outstanding players who, you know, overcame their maturity issues off the field, right? And a couple of names that you gave me, Tyree Kill, which he's kind of the most obvious case, George Pickens PERSON, you know, who had some of his own issues in his own right,also had the torn ACL, which was a factor in his draft capital, still went in the second round. Rashi Rice, you know, Des Bryant PERSON. I will say, Marcus PERSON, that out of all of these players that we mentioned, Tyree Kill PERSON was kind of a weird case because he was at several different colleges and, you know, not just had one year at a true FBS level program at Oklahoma State ORG. But still, like across the board, a lot of these playershave more production coming out of college. You know, let's talk George Pickens PERSON. As a true freshman, 727 yards, eight touchdowns. You look at Rashi Rice PERSON, had a true breakout season. Over 1,300 receiving yards, 10 touchdowns. Des Bryant PERSON had

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almost a 1,500 receiving yard 19 touchdown season. I do think that that's a difference because

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through Maine Burton PERSON is one of these guys that like, yeah, he has character concerns, but we never saw like a full-fledged breakout from him in any of his college seasons. And I do think that's kind of a difference when we're talking about Jermaine Burton PERSON versus some of these other, you know, NFL ORG players who quote unquote defied their off-the-field issue narrative.

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And I think that's why you're getting Burton PERSON significantly cheaper than any of those other receivers, right? Like Burton didn't have first-run draft capital, didn't have top 50 draft capital like a George Pickens or a Des Bryant PERSON or any of those type of receivers. I get it. The production isn't there. Now, a little bit of that has to do with the teams that he was on. His two years with Georgia, one was the COVID short and season. And then in2021, they just hardly threw the ball because they had Brock Bowers and A.D. Mitchell PERSON and Ladd. McConkie and Darnow, Washington ORG, like they were just loaded with talent. So I get it. And then the last two years with Alabama, the numbers were better, but not great. So again, I'm conceding the fact that he does not have the elite production profile that we want from a bona fide, like number one receiver. But that's a good thing.Like we're not expecting him to be a Jamar Chase or a CD Lamb PERSON. We're expecting him to fill in as the number two receiver by 2025. And I think he does that really well because I just think his game fits Jamar Chase, Joe Burrow and Zach Taylor PERSON really,

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really well. I think all of these things are fair. And I'm just kind of pushing back. And honestly, I'm probably going to end up looking like the idiot here in about a year. But these are just like, it's something that I've had trouble getting over in this very deep draft class who I think there's a lot of talent here in this draft class specifically. I think it's a deep one. I think there's a lot of opportunity here to be made for a lot of players that didn'thave those same talent concerns, maybe of a slightly lower ceiling. But I do think the floor for Burton PERSON is quite low if he doesn't overcome and mature.

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And that's probably why I'm having an issue buying in because,

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like I said, every rookie draft, I feel like he's gone just a little bit higher. I participated in a single quarterback rookie mock draft over with the PFF Fantasy Group just yesterday. And he was drafted at the 203 in a single quarterback league, which holy bananas. That is too dang high for a guy that I think does not have a very safe floor.I think his range of outcomes is wider than most of the rookies in that same range.

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I'm just willing to take the chance on the offense in the talent. And again, at that price, if I'm wrong, it's not a huge deal. But I do think he could be somebody who is fantasy relevant pretty quickly into his rookie contract.

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Where's the highest you would be willing to pay for him?

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What's the highest draft capital that you'd be willing to invest?

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A mid-second.

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Okay.

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I think that's fair.

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And right now, depending on what league you're in, late second, early third is where he's going.

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I would pay up, you know, into the late teens, very early 20s.

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He's not the only player that we think is a big value in your rookie drafts. Let's get to a certain tight end from Kansas State ORG next. This episode is brought to you by better help. Sometimes we all need the opportunity to get something off of our chest, big or small. Certain things can really start to get to you. It's important to let that out, especially to someone who is unbiased in your life.So today, I want to tell you how I really feel about something. You might even be thinking the same thing this week. I hate these mini-camp hype videos that every single team tweets out. I saw one yesterday of Malachi Corley at catching a screen and everybody was awing over it. Stop it. It's enough.We don't need these. It's pointless. Just stop it, please. Therapy can be different for everyone. Most of us have much, much bigger problems than our favorite sports teams or hype videos that get us mad on the internet. Trust me, there's much more important things to be upset about than that.But it's important to get things off of your chest every once in a while. If you're thinking of starting therapy, give better help a try. It's done entirely online. It's designed to be flexible and suited to your schedule. All you have to do is visit betterhelp.com slash locked on to get 10% off your first month. That is BetterHelp ORG, H-E-L-P.com slash locked on.Welcome back to the Lockdown Dynasty Football Podcast ORG. Are you watching Fox Sports or ESPN on your TV all day? Are you having to turn down the volume because of all that shouting? Make the switch to Lockdown Sports Today, a free 24-7 sports streaming channel program for you every day to bring you the biggest stories without all that unnecessary screaming. Lockdown Sports today brings you can't miss analysis, opinions, and news streaming 24-7 on YouTube or on the free Amazon Fire TV channels app, part of the Lawdown ORG podcast network,your team every day. All right, Kay PERSON, let's talk about a certain tight end that we think is a little undervalued right now.

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Let's talk about Ben Sinat PERSON, who Marcus, you have dubbed, the next T.J. Hawkinson, which is a astounding player comp here, I think, for Ben Sinat.

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Let's talk about the prospect himself coming out of Kansas State ORG, just a phenomenal freaking athlete, right?

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Like, tested off the charts, just under 6'4, 250 pounds, rate of 468 6, 8, 40-yard dash 40-inch vert. That is 97th percentile, four tight ends.

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At 250 pounds of 40-inch vert, that is insane.

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That is psychotic.

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You weirdo.

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Like, stop being so athletic. Like, it is absolutely phenomenal. But what I think is, like, more exciting in terms of his combine production, whereas three cones, his 20-yard shuttles, which he absolutely dominated, 96 percentile with a 6.82-second three-cone drill, 81st percentile with a 4-2-3-second 20-yard shuttle.That gives me all of the faith in the world, even far beyond the vertical jump, the 40-yard dash, the broad jump, that he has all of the physical attributes to be a premier receiving tight end in this league in terms of the change of direction skills needed to run routes and have a refined route tree at the next level. And Marcus PERSON, you look at the opportunity. He got draft capital, right? He is a second round tight end prospect now drafted to the Washington ORG commanders.And I mean, that tight end room is very much wide open. I don't think they would have invested in Sinat PERSON as early as they did if they didn't have plans to use him early and often.

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Zach Hearst PERSON doesn't scare you at all?

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Who? No. No.

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Do not make your draft decisions regarding Ben Sinat PERSON based on Zachert's.

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So I'm going to start with a negative before I get to the positive because I do really like this player a lot.

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I am a little concerned about him being paired with a rookie quarterback. I know there's this age old adage. Young quarterbacks love a good tight end. It's actually not the case. We've done some studies at PFF ORG to show it's not really true at all. It's because typically when you're throwing the ball to the tight end, that's a more congested area in the middle of the field,making it more difficult to throw to those players. And quarterbacks that are athletic and that like to take off and use their legs, don't throw to the tight end as much. And now that Jaden Daniels is going to be the starting quarterback in Washington ORG, it's a little bit of a concern. Plus we have Cliff Kingsbury PERSON,who has historically made his tight ends block a lot, which that's good for Ben Sinat PERSON because he is a good blocker. He's going to be able to get on the field early, but I'm also not really basing too much on Cliff Kingsbury PERSON. Like I've, I don't.

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Two people not make your decision on for Ben Sannot are Cliff Kingsbury and Zacherts PERSON.

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Do not factor them into your relationship folks.

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Yeah, I'm not.

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But the reason I like him is tight end is a position where athleticism matters a lot.

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Look at our top tight ends in the NFL ORG right now. San Luis Horta, very good athlete, Daukeet PERSON, a good athlete. Kyle Pitts PERSON was an amazing athlete coming out. We know Brock Bowers PERSON is a good athlete. I mean, all of these tight ends in the NFL ORG are like elite athletes. Trey McBride, another special athlete coming out. We know Brock Bowers is a good athlete. I mean, all of these tight ends in the NFL are like elite athletes. Trey McBride,another special athlete coming out of Colorado State ORG. You have to be at that position. And one of the things I really like about Ben PERSON's not is that he's very good after the catch. And he also can create separation. And that's one of the big things for me is like when you're in one-on-one coverage, can you pull away from your defender?And the answer is yes, if you're watching with us on YouTube right now, you can see all of the advanced numbers via pro football focus. 76 percentile receiving grade. 89th percentile separation percentage, 76 percentile yards per route run. 80th percentile contested catch percentage. It's 57th percentile yards afterthe catch per reception. He's just a very good receiver who is highly athletic, who is going to an offense that I expect to be wide open. And one of the things that we've talked about all offseason, Kate, is usually defensive coaches, which Dan Quinn PERSON is, want their offenses to be slower pace so they can run the ball and play good defense. It's not Dan Quinn PERSON.Dan Quinn wants a fast-paced offense, and that's why you hired Cliff Kingsbury PERSON. I think there's going to be a lot of passing attempts in this offense, which is going to give Ben PERSON's not plenty of opportunities to be fantasy relevant.

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Yeah, I just love to see the impact he had over the past two seasons, over almost over 1,100 receiving yards, 10 touchdowns over the last two years. I think there's so much room for him in this offense, maybe not going to make an impact in year one. I think pointing out the fact that, like, yes, rookie quarterback might avoid the middle of the field because those aremaybe some higher risk throws that, you know, we don't necessarily know Jane Daniels PERSON is going to be comfortable making in year one. But again, this is dynasty. I think we need to be thinking long term. And I think when we're looking at both the production profile as a receiver, the talent, athleticism, all of that points to Ben Sinai PERSON as major value for the long haul. Yes, I agree.

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To me, he's my favorite tight end in this class outside of Brock Bowers PERSON because he's really the only one that has the production and the athleticism and the draft capital. I like somebody like Theo Johnson coming out of Penn State, but he's a day three tight end with almost zero production coming out of Penn State ORG. Jatavian Sanders PERSON. His production is good.The athleticism is very average. I think he had like a 56 percentile Rass score. And he went on day three. I think Benzanat, especially if you can get him top of the third, middle of the third of your dynasty drafts, you could have a starting tight end sooner rather than later.Let's go, Ben Sinat PERSON.

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Let's go.

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I'm all in on this dude.

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I think we've kind of hit the trifecta or the quadfecta or whatever facta we're at.

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He's got the production.

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He's got the advanced metrics.

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He's got the athleticism. He's got the tape. Like there's not a ton to dislike about Ben Sinat PERSON. And that's why y'all need to jump on board as soon as possible. All right.

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Let's stick with Washington commanders because not only did they draft a tight end on day two, they also drafted a receiver. We will get to him next. This episode is brought to you by GameTime ORG. Game time is now an authorized ticket marketplace of the NBA ORG, which makes getting playoff tickets even faster and easier.Prices on the GameTime ORG app actually go down the closer that it gets to tip off with killer last minute deals all in prices, views from your seat and their lowest price guarantee. Game time takes the guesswork out of buying NBA ORG tickets. Listen, I love game time. It's what I use when I go buy tickets for NFL games, NBA games, when I go see the Pirates play. You can save up to 60% off buying last minutes for, a last minute tickets for sports, concerts, comedy events, theater events, anything that you want to go to.Save even more with exclusive in-app deals on select seats ahead of the game or the event. Take the guesswork out of buying NBA tickets with Game Time PRODUCT. exclusive in-app deals on select seats ahead of the game or the event. Take the guest work out of buying NBA tickets with GameTime ORG. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use promo code Lockdown NFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account, redeem promo code Lockdown NFL for $20 off.Download game time today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. Welcome back to the Lockdown Dynasty Football Podcast. We are discussing the best late round rookie values. And Kate PERSON, you've got a sleeper here that we want to talk about.

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Luke McCaffrey. What do you got? Let's talk about Luke McCaffrey, who yes, of course, a brother of Christian McCaffrey PERSON. And true to the McCaffrey blood who, yes, of course, a brother of Christian McCaffrey, and true to the McCaffrey bloodlines, he's an excellent athlete coming out of Rice ORG, like probably a little bit of a question mark here in terms of projecting him to the next level. We know he's got the bloodlines, we know he's got the athleticism, but coming out of Rice only had two real seasons of playing as a wide receiver and kind of made this transition from the quarterback position, bounced around a little bit,never found a role. So after I think it became clear that he was not going to be a starting quarterback at any point, made this transition to receiver. And he looked good while doing it. Like let me tell you, Luke McCaffrey, I think, you know,especially given the mid-collegiate career positional change, was a top-end option out of the slot. And he was drafted to the Washington ORG commanders who, I don't know if you remember, lost their primary slot receiver, Curtis Samuel and free agency to the Buffalo Bills ORG.But I think there's a lot to like here in terms of like what we've seen to this point. I think in terms of a projection, like from what we've seen so far, a better route runner than I think you would have probably expected, given this random transition to the wide receiver position. He's got excellent hands. 61.5% contested catch percentage ranked eighth of 229 qualified receivers over the past two seasons. I do think he's going to be one of these guys that, like, we have not yet seen the true ceiling of Luke McCaffrey. And I like what I've seen so far. I think when you'relooking at the depth chart for the Washington ORG commanders, I think given the draft capital, etc. Like, there is a spot for him in day one for this Washington ORG commander's offense out of the slot.

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So you have Terry McLaurin PERSON, obviously. You've got Jahan Dotson, who has been a disappointment in the first two years of his career. And then you have Diami Brown, who has been kind of a spot player for Washington ORG. Then, of course, Ben PERSON's not as it's starting tight end, of course. I struggle with this Luke McCaffrey one because I wasn't super high on him pre-draft. He put up big numbers at Rice ORG, but I thought the way that he did it was a little gimmicky.Like when you saw him play against man-to-man coverage, I don't think he always created a lot of separation. Very good against Zone. Goes to the senior bowl, and in one-on-one drills struggled a little bit. I think that's because he's relatively young as a receiver. I think he's only played the position two years now after making the move from quarterback.

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So I do have some concerns there.

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It's just will this Washington offense be able to support two or three receivers? Because at the best case, he's going to be a third receiver right now and a tight end and a running quarterback. I don't know. So I'm probably a little bit more skeptical than you are, but I understand the argument and the reasoning. Yeah, I just think

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in terms of a third or fourth round rookie pick that maybe could see a little bit of volume year one. Like I think in terms of the fact that we don't necessarily know the ceiling, he's got, I think, a lot to work on. Like I said, better route runner than I think I would have anticipated for how early he is in playing the position. But he is by no means like a, you know, connoisseur of route running.

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Like he's still got a lot, a lot of work to do in terms of that separation,

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which, you know, again, thank goodness he's so good in contested catch scenarios because he's not that great at creating separation at this point. But again, it's a projection, right? And when you're looking at these players, I would kind of rather lean toward a guy that I think maybe we haven't yet quite seen the ceiling for in these ranges. And that has room to grow, has opportunity and an offense to grow. I don't,I don't necessarily know that Jane Daniels will be able to, to support three wide receivers and a tight end. But that's assuming that you think Jahan Dotson PERSON will win out in terms of his long-term value. I've got no idea. Like, no idea.

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I don't, I don't know, but I'm just saying like this depth chart is, I think, wide open.

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I think the pecking order for targets beyond Terry McLaren PERSON pretty wide open.

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I think it's fluid. I think that's probably the best way to describe it.

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Yeah, fluid is a great word. Absolutely.

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And I like the, I like the opportunity.

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I like the opportunity. I like the athlete. I like the guy and the innate traits that are going to make him a good wide receiver, I think, are all there.I just think he needs a little bit more experience at the position, but I mean, the fact that he's got this third round draft capital, Marcus PERSON, I kind of like that because that tells me the commanders are thinkingthey're betting on the traits, right?

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They're betting on the athleticism and they're betting on what they've seen so far that they can develop that into a true NFL ORG wide receiver.

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All right.

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That is it for today's show. We want to thank you for making lockdown dynasty football your first listen every single day on tomorrow's show. We're going to do the flip side of the show. We're going to do the worst late round values and players that you should avoid entirely in your rookie drafts. Make sure you guys tune in for that. Go download the podcast wherever you get your podcast.We are free and available on all platforms. Go follow Kate on Twitter at Kate Moduk PERSON. I'm at Marcus underscore Mosier, and we will see you right back here tomorrow.

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Hey, Prime members. You can listen to this lock. right back here tomorrow.