Welcome to Part 1 of a series looking back on Walter's pre-draft insights and evaluating their predictive accuracy. The focus will be on where Walter differed from consensus rankings in the pre-season - given that correctly differentiating from consensus is how you create edges in fantasy football. 

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Last year this exercise highlighted guys like: 

CeeDee Lamb (top of draft) 

Mike Evans (middle round)

Nico Collins (sleeper pick)

 Here are some of the wide receivers that Walter was correctly above consensus on in 2024!

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Rounds 1-5 Highlight: Malik Nabers

Sleeper ADP: WR23

Walter's Rank: WR18

Overall ADP: 47

Overall Walter Rank: 32

Difference: 15

Overall Finish: WR6

PPG Finish: WR10

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Any concerns about Daniel Jones that stunted Nabers' ADP felt silly once we had seen him play only a few games. He flashed as a difference maker immediately, and showcased record rookie target volume. His playoff heroics were the cherry on top as Nabers scored 24.2 in Week 15 and 36.1 in Week 17. 

Other WRs in this range that Walter liked more than consensus(number of spots Overall Walter Rank was ahead of Overall ADP): 

Drake London (5.6) 👍👍

Cooper Kupp (14.8) 👎

Jaylen Waddle (12.3) 👎

Devonta Smith (14.1) 👍👍

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Rounds 5-10 Highlight: Brian Thomas Jr.

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Sleeper ADP: WR47

Walter's Rank: WR38

Overall ADP: 107.7

Overall Walter Rank: 74

Difference: 33.7

Overall Finish: WR4

PPG Finish: WR7

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Highly drafted rookie WRs continue to be a fantasy football cheat code. The mid-round prize of this season was certainly Brian Thomas Jr. who exploded in the back half of the year. He was the WR3 from Weeks 13-17 and went on to average 28.2 ppg in the fantasy playoffs - an absolute league winner. 

Other WRs in this range that Walter liked more than consensus(number of spots Overall Walter Rank was ahead of Overall ADP): 

Terry McClaurin (5.7) 👍👍

Chris Godwin (18.8) 👍🚑

Calvin Ridley (15.1) 👍

Diontae Johnson (24) 👎👎

Rashee Rice  (42.6) 👍👍🚑

Deandre Hopkins (28.7) 👎

Courtland Sutton (14.5) 👍

Jaxon Smith-Njigba (16.1) 👍👍

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Best Sleeper Pick: Jerry Jeudy

Sleeper ADP: WR57

Walter's Rank: WR54

Overall ADP: 146.3

Overall Walter Rank: 124

Difference: 22.3

Overall Finish: WR11

PPG Finish: WR18

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Once we get this deep into the draft the values tend to range pretty wildly. Any player that is startable is a massive value on top of a solid foundation, and Jeudy certainly exceeded that. He was the WR5 from Week 8 onward (post Deshuan Watson injury). 

Other sleeper WRs that Walter liked more than consensus(number of spots Overall Walter Rank was ahead of Overall ADP): 

Josh Palmer (51.9) 👎👎

Rashid Shaheed (49.2) 👍🚑

Darnell Mooney (15.9) 👍

*While injuries will always be a part of fantasy football, we will be ignoring major ones when recapping hits and misses. The randomness of most NFL injuries makes them extremely difficult to predict, and with major injuries you lose opportunity to evaluate player usage in their 2024 situations. 

*Overall finishes exclude Week 18 - since most fantasy leagues conclude in Week 17 

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