2026 WR Preview Part 2! ADP Preview, & WR Strategy! Draft Prep Guide (08/07 Fantasy Football Podcast)

This episode is the second half of CBS's positional wide receiver preview, running round-by-round through ADP from round three through the deep sleeper range. The hosts' central argument is that the WR position offers unusually strong depth this year, especially rounds 3-6, and managers should feel comfortable building rosters that lean into WR volume early rather than reflexively prioritizing running backs.

The arguments

Round three's Olave/Nabors/Devonta Smith trio all carry top-10 upside, but with real downside risk attached. Heath ranks them Olave, Devonta Smith, Nabors; Dave prefers Nabors first, betting the Giants' camp passing issues resolve by the season opener. Heath argues Devonta Smith is close to a lock given his career-long 17.1 PPG average whenever A.J. Brown plays and another top target-getter is out, while Dave flags Olave's target share risk now that Jordan Addison-level competition (Tyson, Vele, Jawaan Johnson) crowds the target pool that once fed him 9+ per game under Derek Carr.

Round four is unusually deep, and the hosts explicitly say to avoid forcing early picks at other positions to get a receiver there. Dave's flag-plant pick is Emeka Egbuka, betting he inherits the vacated Mike Evans red-zone role alongside Chris Godwin; Heath's is Zay Flowers. Heath explicitly downgrades Garrett Wilson as the one player in this range he'd avoid, citing a full point-per-game gap versus the rest of the tier, while both agree McMillan/Egbuka/Higgins/Flowers are close enough in projection that reaching for any one isn't necessary since several should still be there at pick 36.

Ladd McConkie's brutal sophomore season is blamed on Keenan Allen's presence, not a talent or role decline, making him a buy in year three. Heath's efficiency dig shows McConkie's target share barely dropped (112 to 106 targets) but his yards-per-target collapsed from 10.3 to 7.4 and catch rate fell from 73% to 63%, which he attributes to Allen absorbing Justin Herbert's checkdown trust rather than any McConkie regression. Both hosts project him back toward 7+ targets per game and a top-20 finish, though Dave separately ranks him behind Jalen Waddle in this tier.

Luther Burden is the hosts' consensus breakout believer despite minimal rookie-year target volume. Heath cites Burden's rookie yards-per-route-run as second only to Odell Beckham in the last 20 years, plus Ben Johnson's public "buying stock" comments and camp buzz, to argue Burden is Chicago's true WR1 ahead of Rome Odunze even though Heath projects all three Bears pass catchers (Loveland, Burden, Odunze) at an identical 22% target share on paper.

The "old guy" tier (Adams, McLaurin, Moore, Evans, Jameson Williams) is being underrated relative to the flashier round-six youth tier. Dave is in on McLaurin and Moore in round five but out on Evans and Jameson Williams; Heath counters that DJ Moore's year-to-year unpredictability makes him unrankable, and that Devonta Adams (a top-10 finisher last year) deserved mention as an upside name the hosts nearly forgot. Both prefer the round-six youth names (Odunze, Watson, Marvin Harrison Jr.) for third-receiver bench upside despite lower floors, though Heath notes he's warming to Harrison after seeing him win outside the numbers in camp.

Deep-round targets should be picked based on projected target volume, particularly the "7 targets per game" threshold the hosts say predicts almost all round-seven-or-later WR hits. They flag Chris Godwin (round 8-9, buy-low after injury concerns, "worth the risk" given his 2024 WR3 pace) and Josh Downs (a "most wanted" name, small-body touchdown risk aside, given a healthy Daniel Jones report and his number-one role in Indy's camp) as their favorite value plays in this range, while dismissing Jordan Tyson's round-eight price as too rich given hamstring durability concerns and unclear target-share ceiling behind a crowded Saints WR room.

What it means for your roster

• Round 3: Feel fine anchoring here with Olave, Devonta Smith, or Nabors — all three graded as potential top-10 finishers, but track Giants camp passing reports before trusting Nabors' ADP floor.
• Round 4: Don't force a non-WR pick to "save" a name you love from this tier (Flowers, Egbuka, McMillan, Higgins) — ADP suggests enough overlap that a run rarely clears out all of them. Actively fade Garrett Wilson at his current price.
• Round 5: Treat McLaurin and DJ Moore as the safer picks of the "older" tier; both hosts pass on Mike Evans and Jameson Williams at this price point.
• Round 6: If your WR2 is already set, prioritize boom/bust upside here (Odunze, Watson, Harrison Jr.) over round-5 safety for your WR3 slot — Harrison Jr. has moved off Heath's bust list after camp reports of him winning outside the numbers.
• Round 8-9 buy-lows: Target Chris Godwin and Josh Downs as value plays the hosts are actively drafting; both are being priced as if hurt or capped when recent reports (Godwin "100%," Daniel Jones "back to old self") argue for more optimism.
• Fade/avoid: Jordan Tyson at his round-8 price given hamstring history and crowded Saints target competition; Khalil Shakir, given DJ Moore's presence in Buffalo.