We are going to be publishing a series of articles 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. 

*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 2023 situations. For example, Walter was lower on Nick Chubb than consensus rankings (ranked 6.7 spots further back than his Underdog ADP). Nick Chubb massively underperformed his ADP after suffering a season ending injury in Week 2. It would not be fair to take credit for fading Chubb when there is no significant sample of work for us to evaluate. 

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

All of that being said - here are some of the wide receivers that Walter was correctly above consensus on in 2023!

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Top of the Draft Highlight: CeeDee Lamb

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CeeDee Lamb: 

Underdog ADP: WR6

Walter's Rank: WR5

Overall ADP: 12.2

Overall Walter Rank: 7

Difference: 5.2

 Overall Finish: WR1

PPG Finish: WR2

The importance of nailing picks in this range is so high in fantasy football that a differentiation of 5 slots in the rankings can make or break your season. Those that trusted Walter and took CeeDee in the back half of the first - over Bijan Robinson, Saquon Barkley, and Travis Kelce - saw massive swings in their season. 

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

Tyreek Hill (2.5) 👍👍

Stefon Diggs (2.4) 👎

AJ Brown (3) 👍

Amon-Ra St. Brown (4.9) 👍👍

Garrett Wilson (5) 🚑

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Middle Rounds Highlight: Mike Evans

Mike Evans: 

Underdog ADP: WR33

Walter's Rank: WR28

Overall ADP: 76

Overall Walter Rank: 56

Difference: 20

 Overall Finish: WR7

PPG Finish: WR8

Healthy skepticism about Evans' age and Baker Mayfield led to him being one of the absolute best values in fantasy football this season. Many of the receivers in this range were inconsistent or disappointing. Evans wasn't the only WR that Walter was above consensus on, but if you took him up to two rounds earlier than his ADP you saw a tremendous return. 

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

Chris Godwin (22.9) 👎👎

Mike Williams (28.9) 🚑

Christian Kirk (14.9) 👍

Marquise Brown (30.9) 👎

Amari Cooper (13.8) 👍👍

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Best Sleeper Pick: Nico Collins

Nico Collins: 

Underdog ADP: WR58

Walter's Rank: WR64

Overall ADP: 182.9

Overall Walter Rank: 123

Difference: 59.9

 Overall Finish: WR18

PPG Finish: WR16

The values once we get to this range vary wildly from consensus. Any player that is usable in fantasy football becomes a good pick - but guys in this range who boom like Collins are league winners if you're stacking them on a solid foundation. 

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

Jakobi Meyers (46) 👍

Rondale Moore (72.1) 👎

Rashid Shaheed (69.8) 👍

Jayden Reed (75.5) 👍👍

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