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    Fantasy Football Today's Beyond the Boxscore: Discussing WR breakouts and rankings with Reception Perception creator Matt Harmon

    Few analysts dive deeper into WR research than Matt Harmon and Jacob Gibbs. Find their detailed analysis on Christian Watson, Jerry Jeudy, Brandon Aiyuk, Drake London, and more!

    Michael Pittman increased his target total to a career-high 141 in 2022, but it was hardly the Year 3 breakout that so many expected as his yardage total fell from 1,082 to 925. In 2023, Pittman will be on his fourth different starting quarterback in as many seasons, and we really have no way of feeling confident in what to expect from him.

    Christian Watson spent five years at North Dakota State but only finished with a season-high of 801 receiving yards. He only topped 100 receiving yards in four of his 48 games at the collegiate level, and then proceeded to reach that mark in three of his nine healthy games as an NFL rookie. In 2023, Watson will catch passes from a new quarterback who has 83 career NFL pass attempts, and we really have no way of feeling confident in what to expect from him.

    What do these two receivers have in common, outside of the fact that we really have no way of feeling confident in what to expect from them? They have been the two single most-discussed wide receivers on Fantasy Football Today's new podcast series, Beyond the Boxscore. Christian Watson has been brought up during literally every episode, even the one about the incoming rookies.

    Beyond the Boxscore is a project launching on Fantasy Football Today this summer with a pursuit of adding context to the Fantasy football space and elevating the football experience for anyone who has curiosity to peek under the hood and gain a better understanding of how the engine runs. Spearheaded by CBS Fantasy experts Adam Aizer, Dan Schneier, and Jacob Gibbs, Beyond the Boxscore can be found on Fantasy Football Today's YouTube channel, and you can stream it on Fantasy Football Today wherever you listen to podcasts.

    Here are Beyond the Boxscore's summer discussion topics:

    • 2023 Rookie Gems -- Adam, Dan, and Jacob dive into the rookie profiles that you may not be as familiar with. This episode is full of fantastic information for Dynasty players and Fantasy managers looking to gain an edge in deep leagues.
    • Contextualizing yards per route run and other advanced metrics -- Guest analysts Matthew Freedman and Pat Fitzmaurice joined BTB to discuss our favorite advanced metrics for evaluating the WR position.
    • Examining how coverage type influences Fantasy football -- Guest analyst Matt Harmon joined BTB for a detailed discussion about the young talent at the WR position and which players have caught our attention with their ability to beat different coverage schemes.
    • Understanding the importance and pitfalls of using projections for Fantasy football -- Guest analysts JJ Zachariason and Ben Gretch will join BTB to share insight from their experience building projections and discuss which team and player situations stand out when comparing 2023 projections and Fantasy football average draft position.
    • Regression candidates for 2023 -- Guest analyst Jared Smola will join BTB to highlight outliers from the 2022 season that are unlikely to repeat in 2023 and which players may be over or undervalued as a result. (Coming on June 28)
    • Applying per-route data to Dynasty Fantasy football evaluation -- Guest analyst Dwain McFarland will join Jacob and Heath Cummings on FFT Dynasty for a discussion about how per-route data has highlighted impending breakouts such as Deebo Samuel and Tyreek Hill in the past and which players stand out according to this data heading into 2023. (Coming on July 4)
    • Film meets data, a two-part Dynasty RB evaluation series -- Dan Schneier will conduct a deep film dive into the RB position and share what he learned with BTB. Episode one will be recorded with Heath and Jacob (Coming on July 11), while episode two will be recorded with Heath and Graham Barfield. (Coming on July 18)
    • Dynasty WR value check: 2023 prove-it years at the WR position -- Guest analyst Matt Harmon will join FFT Dynasty to discuss the WR position with Jacob Gibbs and Heath. (Coming on July 25)

    Hey, I'm Jacob Gibbs, by the way. And I really do believe that this stuff is important -- for anyone who is in any way invested in the football space, at least -- and I'm hoping that you'll also find it interesting and entertaining to engage with. There is a lot more that goes into the final results that we get in the boxscore, and if you're interested in the secret sauce, we have it.

    Did you forget that this conversation initially was about Christian Watson and Michael Pittman? I almost did. Among other reasons (there many, as you can see), Beyond the Boxscore exists to address players like Pittman and Watson. The Kadarius Toney, Kyle Pitts, George Pickens-type enigmas that the Fantasy community can't seem to wrap its collective head around are the players at the heart of Beyond the Boxscore.

    And when discussing the wide receiver position, there aren't many people in the world more qualified to go beyond the boxscore than Matt Harmon of Yahoo Fantasy and ReceptionPerception.com. Matt joined FFT (find the full episode here) to discuss man, zone, and press coverage use and how different defensive schemes impact the wide receiver position specifically. In addition to Watson and Pittman, we also discussed 2023 breakout wide receivers, ranked the sophomore wide receiver class, and examined Ja'Marr Chase's extremely encouraging second season.

    While we covered a ton of ground in that episode, we weren't able to get to every discussion topic that we had planned to. So, Matt is set to join FFT again on July 25. In this article, I dive into concepts discussed on the show in even more depth to give actionable player-specific takeaways. It can be difficult to fully articulate your thought process when recording a live podcast, but I have all the time in the world to find my words when writing a recap article -- I hope that you find it helpful!

    So which receivers are Matt Harmon and Jacob Gibbs expecting to break out in 2023? And is Ja'Marr Chase about to set Fantasy football on fire? If so, what will that mean for the Fantasy value of Tee Higgins?  ... Join SportsLine here to see the complete WR analysis from experts Jacob Gibbs and Matt Harmon!

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    Jacob Gibbs
    Jacob GibbsDFS Guru

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