Best Ball Livestream: Rookie Review + Undervalued Players & Favorite Stacks (Ep. 1575)

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Best Ball is back, and so we myself Tom Strapman
all the way from across the Pond once again alongside
Andrew Erickson for another summer of best ball content. Andrew
Best Ball season really kicked in the gear after the
NFL Draft. How's it been treating you so far?

Speaker 2 (00:16):
It feels like it never really ended. It feels like
it just carried over from last summer into the draft season.
And then obviously I think we were both in the
pre draft best ball streets drafted some of these teams
trying to get that oh sweet closing line value. Even
though it's most of the time it seems like it
it evens out. I know that I'm sitting on a
fat bag of Tyler shuck in fast draft where he's

(00:37):
going in like round five. So that doesn't mean he's
gonna be good, but he's gonna be starting games. So
I feel good about my CLV right there. But we'll
see how things shake out. But I'm excited to be
here and excited it to chop it up talk a
best Ball.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
Yeah, we've got a lot planned for the best Ball season,
but today we're going to run through some rookies who overpriced,
some who are under price in ADP, along with veterans
who are valued in our eyes, and some of our
favorite stacks to draft. All welst answering any of your
questions live here on twitch the first Andrew. Before we
get into that we drafted a bunch of teams together

(01:11):
last year, we're not richer as far as I'm aware.
Any big takeaways from the twenty twenty four Best Ball
season before we dive into twenty twenty five.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
Well, Tom, let's let's give usself some credit here. I
believe that you just moved into a new house, correct,
like you purchased me. So I also just bought my
first house with my wife, So we're not doing too bad.

Speaker 1 (01:31):
I don't be worse.

Speaker 2 (01:32):
It could be worse. And we were right about Jamar
Chase being myde receiver.

Speaker 1 (01:36):
One yes, are you right about that?

Speaker 2 (01:38):
We did that on some of the shows, So we
don't need to get into everything. But Jamar Chase was
a big hit last year, and I think one of
the lessons that I learned is that you can't just
copy and paste what happened the year before. I think
that's probably the biggest mistake that you can make. And
I know that's what we pointed out when we talked
about Jamar Chase and well Ceedee Lamb was going ahead

(01:59):
of him, ry Kilsim's going ahead of them. McCaffrey was
the RB one and most of a lot of the drafts.
But that was just the top three picks from the
previous year that were the best options. So I think
that acknowledging that, Hey, it's a brand new season. Yes,
what happened last year matters to an extent, but it's
is not a copying paste type of scenario. So let's

(02:19):
use that information to make the best decisions moving forward
and expect, Hey, the winners from last year probably aren't
going to be the same winners this year, so let's
try to find those guys. Don't Chase Saquon Barkley from
last year, find this year's Saquon Barkley's kind of like
the big point I'm trying to make. So although I
haven't found this year this year's Jamar Chase quite yet,
I still have him wide receiver one. I'm not really sure.
I don't want to back off back quite yet, like

(02:41):
saik One Barkley for me, like he's not my arby
one this year, Like I didn't have enough again, didn't
fade him last year to do like oblivion, but didn't
have enough of them of course. And the other thing
too is yes, and think you pointed this out on
the sheet, the veteran running backs really bounced back big
last year, but it was accompanied by a very week
rookie running back class. And this year is totally different.

(03:04):
Like this rookie running back class is absolutely stacked. And
you saw it how the veteran running backs didn't get
paid that much in free agency, so where zero RB
basically went to die last year. I think that it's
more in play than ever this year because of the
young bucks we have hit in the league this year.

Speaker 1 (03:20):
Yeah, I absolutely love those points. And if we are
talking your language and you want more of this, more
fantasy football content, more basketball content, hit the subscribe. Subscribe
and it's free through Amazon Prive. And we are going
to start on our first topic of the night, the overpriced,
underpriced rookies to target fade Andrew. I'm going to start
as off from this one, and it's Tyler Warren. Like

(03:42):
Tyler Warren was somebody who got really impressive draft capital.
Yes he wasn't the tight end one in the draft.
He was behind Costin Loveland, who was actually my rookie
tight end one all along. But I just really struggled
with Warren because mainly Anthony Richardson Daniel Jones, Like I
could look at an awful lot of stuff I could

(04:04):
talk about how Warren was a slow star in college.
It only had like fifty receptions in his first three years.
But it just comes down to the fact that the
Colts they have two inaccurate quarterbacks. We're going to see
some ping ponging back and forth between Jones and Anthony Richardson.
I think this year, and I still like Josh Downs,

(04:25):
like we were both quite high on Josh Well. I
think I was hiring Josh Downs last year and you
were hire on Michael Pittman. But I think that those
are guys who can work the intermediate area of the
field as well, and that's going to make it harder
for Tyler Warren to get out there and see huge value.
Like when it comes to drafting Tyler Warren, He's not
going overly high at the minute. He is the tight

(04:48):
end twelve vote in ADP with an ADP of one
hundred and twenty four on Underdog are you buying at
that price or do you think that there are good
reasons to be wary of him?

Speaker 2 (04:58):
I agree with you there. I think that he is
overvalued here. Not every tight end, rookie tight end hits.
Not every rookie tight end is of the Brock Bauers esque.
So I would be careful to just copy and paste
what we saw from Bauers and except back guys like
Colson Lovelin, guys like Tyler Warren to just hit it
from the get go, especially given the circumstances that you

(05:19):
laid out. There's a lot of target competition in Indianapolis.
There's a lot of question marks about the quarterback play.
And Tyler Warren. Yeah, he was also my tight end
too in this class. You pointed out really only one
year of surefire production and what was the issue with
him the other seasons at Penn State. Well, he was
playing behind other NFL tight ends, NFL talented players. Well,

(05:40):
there's a lot of NFL target earners on the Colts,
Josh Downs, Michael Pittman, even ad the Night Mitchell alec
Pearce Like, it's funny, imagine putting a good quarterback into
this offense. It would be so excited for that quarterback
to put up bonkers numbers. But now you have Tyler Warren.
Yes he should be the tight end one. That's not
the hurdle he has to get over, but there are

(06:03):
so many other red flags in his profile. And I
think too the range that he's going in as this
middle tier tight end. This is usually the worst range
to draft tight ends because they're viewed as better than
the quote unquote late round tight ends, but they're realistically
closer to those guys than the ones of the elite,
the guys that are going in the single digit rounds

(06:24):
where you can see the path for upside. What's the
upside of top is you gott to leave the team
in targets? I don't think so.

Speaker 1 (06:30):
This area of the draft, like you look back at
it and the kind of the fringe tight end ones.
For me, these are the guys who are going to
be touchdown dependent. Like you go back last year and
it was guys like Dallas got it, Dolan Schultz, pat
from of Cole Kamett in this range and when those
guys won't getting touchdowns if they just didn't command enough volume.
And yes, that was last year's ADP and that doesn't
mean necessarily this year we're going to see Tyler Warren

(06:53):
fall victims of the same circumstances. But I just can't
believe that Tyler Warren is going to go out there
and see eighty targets fist year. Even that feels like
it would be a massive success for him, even if
he saw you know, I'd be surprised if he ends
up with much more than fifty receptions. But Andrew, let's
move away from my take and go to your first

(07:15):
overpriced rookie.

Speaker 2 (07:16):
Yeah. So I tried to pick guys that are really
expensive because that's kind of how you land on players
that are overpriced. And for me, it's on Marion Hampton
running back for the Los Angeles Chargers from UNC drafted
in the first round by the Chargers, And I just
don't think that we're giving enough credit for Najie Harris
still being part of this backfield, at least in the

(07:37):
temporary plans for the Chargers. We know Greg Roman loves
to run the ball. I don't think it's okay Marion
Hampton's going to get three hundred and fifty carries his
first year in the NFL, especially when you have a
player like Najie Harris, who look, I understand that he's
not the flashiest running back, but then then he is
is very dependable. He's the only act to play in
the NFL have at least a thousand rushing yards each of

(07:59):
the last four seasons. He has been super reliable. He
started and played or he's played in all seventy one
games that he's been eligible to play in during his
career in Pittsburgh. And I know I talked about the
top how the veteran running backs didn't generate a lot
of buzz in free agency this year, Well, the guy
who got paid the most was Najie Harris, so even
though relative to a relative to the other running backs,

(08:22):
he was the most sought after running back on the market.
And again we had this epiphany tom on last year
show where we talked about JK. Dobbins, right, And I
don't remember how we kind of gone to the topic,
but it was like, man like JK Dobbins, Like, I
know they didn't pay him enough money, but I just
don't care, Like I think he can be the best
running back. I don't think the Chargers really care how
much money they're paying Nage Harris, Like, if he's out there,

(08:43):
he's effective, he's picking up first downs, then he's gonna play.
And to the point with JK. Dobbins, I don't think
it's a non zero chance that he returned to the Chargers.
He's generating no buzz anywhere elsewhere. He has a connection
with Greg Roman and the Chargers. Why not bring him back.
He was good for them when he was healthy. In
this way, hey, he's an extra running back that they have,
where last year it was a Gus Edwards show, it

(09:04):
was videll like they had so many injuries that what
if they bringing a third running back? So I do
think that Hampton obviously has upside from a case that
he takes over the backfield during those playoff weeks. He's
spiking and that's when you want him. But at the
same time, there's a lot of running backs that could
spike that are going way after Omarion Hampton. So I
just have some concerns about that, And I think if
Dobbins ends up signing, well, I think Hampton's price is

(09:25):
going to go down. Like that's the other big thing too.

Speaker 1 (09:28):
Yeah, I mean, when you talk about it from a
price perspective, the fact that Omarian Hampton is going around
pick forty four and underdog right now while Najee Harris
goes to pick one hundred and eleven almost seventy picks.
Difference between them feels too much like if Nagie Harris
was going around pick ninety, I'd still be okay with it.
I think that that's kind of fine. I mean, yes,

(09:49):
we're not talking about Jimmia Gibbs David Montgomery like last year,
and you know, perhaps there's that you know, level of
outcomes within their range, and maybe it's only a small percent,
but I still think that this is a team which
we're going to see a lot of good running from
one of the areas where I think if Hampton is
going to separate himself and pay off that cost at

(10:10):
pick forty four, he has to do it in the
receiving game. And that's not something that we necessarily saw
huge amounts from him in North Carolina, Like there was
a lot of scheme touches, a lot of screens bits
like that. Yeah, he kind of got over the twenty
nine receptions mark in both the last two years, but
it never really felt like it was like that, just

(10:32):
you know, like some of the running backs who just
absolute pass catches to the core. I'm not sure I
ever felt completely that with Amarion Hampton, So yeah, I
definitely get that. And in the spirit of keeping things
a little bit higher up the ADP board than Tyler Warren,
who I called overpriced it, you know, ti end twelve,
let's go to RJ. Harvey, who has an ADP a

(10:55):
fifty five point eight currently on Underdog. Like I love J.
I'd planned on drafting plenty of r J. Harvey this year,
but it just it feels a lot harder for me
to do now that you're talking about taking him very
high up in drafts. Like r J. Harvey has led

(11:16):
landed on a team which last year was deeply entrenched
with a committee in the Broncos, and everybody's rushing to
say r J. Harvey is Sean Payn's weapon. We heard
that phrase so many times before the draft. Sean Payton
wants a weapon, Sean Paynon wants a weapon. And now
we've got r J. Harvey going just a couple of

(11:37):
picks behind Joe Mixon, who has very little competition in
with the Texans going right, you know, right around the
same range as Tuba Hubbard, who again could have a
very clear path in Carolina, and five picks ahead of
Kenneth Walker, who, although you know Zach Sharbney continues to
flash at times, it still feels like Kenneth Walker's backfield

(11:58):
in a Seahawks team that could be more run this year.
So whilst I love R. J. Harvey, whilst I think
that the Bronks have got a good offensive line, I
want to generally be buying into what the Broncos doing.
I'm just finding him a hard click through the sort
of sixty or so drafts that I've done so far.

Speaker 2 (12:13):
Yeah, it's really the price that it's just hard to
wrap your mind around. Because we are we gonna do this.
The Sean Payne Shenan against It's gonna be I mean,
I guess.

Speaker 1 (12:24):
Marvin Mems, Oh yeah, what you know. You can say
it's but it's fine investmall, but it's not. I drafted
those players in their rookie seasons, and those were dead
picks for large parts of the season, and they were
probably cheaper than we're paying for our J. Harvey right now.

Speaker 2 (12:38):
Yeah. The issue that I tried to I think about
here is you know what if Okay, So let's say,
like Bucky Irving right last year, an absolute smash at
the end of the season, and obviously we end up
being a Best Ball winner because of everything kind of
played out. But imagine if you just drafted him in
the fourth round of last year and we're just kind
of taking I mean, when he wasn't really doing anything

(12:59):
in the beginning of the season, it kind it would
feel kind of weird that you would take him so early.
So I have concerns about Harvey to start out of
the gates, and I don't think that we're going to
really get any clear coach speak from Sean Payton about
r J. Harvey in his role now. I will say,
in comparison to some of the other running backs that
I guess maybe pre draft, I know I can't speak
for or I speak for myself. I wasn't high enough

(13:20):
on r J. Harvey, but I know a lot of
like deebro obviously loves r J. Harvey, So it's it
wasn't a surprise to him necessarily that they took him
that highly. So seeing him closer to like the Trevion
Henderson's I don't think is as shocking, just because well
they both went in the second round. It's not that stark,
but to get up to this level for a you know,
an older prospect who again has pass pro issues. That's

(13:42):
another big thing. Is like, Okay, if he's struggling pass protection,
is he on the field? Is he catching passes out
of the backfield? This is Marvin Mimms catching passes out
of the backfield. So long story short. If this is
a really easy way to see a pick, just burning
the flames, I think it's okay to look step back
and back. All right, this is probably a player that's overpriced,
and I I think RJ. Harvey's going to and I
don't think it's gonna stop. Like that's the other thing too,

(14:03):
like when is it going to stop going up and
up and up?

Speaker 1 (14:06):
Yeah, So yeah, I know. I'm very much like it's difficult.
And because I find R. J. Harvey is such an
exciting player, I will have exposure to him. I just
don't feel comfortable about it enough that every time I
can do it. About clicking, I'm looking at the structure
of my team, I'm looking at the correlations and bits
like that, and sometimes I'm looking for an excuse not
to click him. But Andrew, let's get one more underpriced, sorry,

(14:29):
one more overpriced rookie running back out of your selections
and then we'll move on to some underpriced players.

Speaker 2 (14:37):
Yeah. So I'm going to go with Quinjohn Judkins for
the Cleveland Browns. And this is a pick that I've
kind of been I was really excited when they first
made it, and then ever since that, I've thought about
more about the Cleveland Browns and their situation and what
Judkins does effectively as a more traditional early down running back.
Now they talked about him using him in the passing game,

(14:57):
not something that he did a lot at the college level.
So I think that it is a real projection. And
do I want the two down running back on the
Cleveland Browns? And that's something that I'm trying to be like,
do I want that guy on my team? Like, is
this gonna be the guy that's gonna have this monster
best ball run in the playoffs because the Cleveland Browns
are gonna be some juggernaut offense. I maybe Joe Flaco

(15:19):
will see but if anything, you're more likely to see
Joe Flacco not in the conversation during the fantasy plaff
because they have all these young quarterbacks that like, hey,
let's have Dylan Gabriel chance. Let's give shit Ar Sanders
a chance, and then you know what's going to happen.
At least with Flacco. You're like, hey, if there's gonna
be forty five dropbacks and you're gonna feel good that
someone's gonna get fantasy production. So for me, Judkins can
be a rookie running back. Then again, I don't want

(15:41):
to fade a lot of these rookie unning backs, but
because you can only get so many in each draft. Like,
if it's Travion versus Arjie Harvey, I'm gonna go with Travion,
like that's the guy I want. And if it's Caleb
Johnson versus quin John Judkins, then I'm just gonna take
the guy that looks like he could be the next
Derek Henry and an Arthur Smith offense, and and hope
that Aaron Rodgers finally signs with the Steelers. So again,
you can't draft every seek a single rookie running back

(16:01):
in one draft. So if I have to pick and choose,
I'm gonna take Johnson over Judkins and Henderson over Harvey,
and their ADP's are pretty in the same range where
you're gonna probably have to make that decision more often
than not. So I'm gonna fade hot take Tom, I'm
gonna fade the twenty twenty five Cleveland Brown's offense.

Speaker 1 (16:18):
Yeah. No, I'm right there with you, and the Ravens
fan within me finds it a little easy. Like I
had plenty of Jerome Ford last year, and I think that,
you know, there will be some points like Jupkins just
feels like a player. If I'm drafting him at pick
seventy two, I need to feel really assured about how
I'm getting that early season production. And maybe by the
end of the season things start to pick up and
it's fine, and maybe they just go ground control and

(16:41):
defense all the way through the season. I guess we
will see on that, But I just want to pick
up on Black Raptors coming in the chat. Hey never
done best ball before? Is there a chance you could
explain what it is? At a very simple level. Best
ball the best form of fantasy football in my opinion.
It takes all the ross decisions out of game once
you get past the draft. Each week the site that

(17:04):
you're playing it through, they automatically choose you the best
possible starting lineup from roster you've drafted. Typically draft eighteen
to twenty players, and then it just comes down a
strategy really, so you're drafting in a microcosm of time,
You're up against the people around you, and it's just
set it and forget it. Football. The ability to get
through a draft in thirty forty minutes, even quicker if

(17:24):
you're playing on Fast Draft, which I know we're going
to cover up points. We're going to talk about all
these different sites throughout the summer. Each week, we'll be
here for Best Ball live streams on Twitch and of
course you can watch myself and Andrew talk about this.
We're both putting in a lot of work to the
Fantasy Pros Best Ball Guide now which will be up
very soon. Lots going live day after day, and I

(17:44):
say we'll be here on Twitch, dot tv, Forward Slash
Fantasy Pros drafting on a whole host side to where
it's Underdog DraftKings, FFPC drafters. Myself and Andrew we like
to draft on them all and we're always happy to
talk about the strategy. We're always happy to talk about
why certain players go higher in Best Ball than they
would in normal fantasy leagues and much more. But Andrew,

(18:07):
let's hit on some underpriced players quickly in Best Ball,
some underpriced rookie players. So the first one who I
put down was Travis Hunter. And this is perhaps a
little bit spicy, because this is a wide receiver who's
going the what forty second pick overall, and he is

(18:28):
going as the wide receiver twenty two, So this isn't
a cheap price for him. But at the same time,
this isn't like Marvin Harrison last year, where Marvin Harrison's
price was so expensive at the end of round one,
but if he failed, it was a really detrimental cost
to your roster. Now you're talking about taking Travis Hunter
with your third fourth pick or so. And so far,

(18:52):
all the pictures I've seen of Travis Hunter out of
Jack's camp him playing wide receiver. The word is that
they want him to play wide receiver. And if we're
looking at a guy who is as good on paper
in the NFL as he was in college, I truly
believe that come the back end of a season that
he could have such upside that I want to be

(19:12):
drafting him on my team. So I wouldn't draft him
past pick thirty, But for me anywhere between pick thirty
and forty, I'm quite happy drafting him.

Speaker 2 (19:22):
Yeah. Man, the Travis Hunter wars are gonna go all
summer long to figure out where to try to figure
out what to do with him. So I'm I think
I'm definitely more on the bear side of things. I'm
gonna I'm gonna pour cold water on the Travis Hunter.
And this is how I thought about him kind of
coming into the year with I knew there was gonna
be a ton of question marks about he's gonna be

(19:44):
on defense, like what's the what's the split's going to
be like? And to the point you made about I
think that he is one of these players in best
ball that you probably can't just like blindly fade entirely
because of his insane range of outcomes. But to your
point about what he could do in the playoffs, I mean, well,
let's say the Jacksonville Jaguars have a bunch of injuries

(20:05):
on defense and he just plays defense in the fantasy
playoff and then he's then he's a total zero. Right,
So I mean he is like the epitome of better
and best ball, Like Travis Hunter is like, he should
be the poster boy for the show because trying to
figure out his weekly usage when we don't even know
Jacksonvill's not gonna tell us. We're not gonna get any
preseason usage about him because they don't ever because they're

(20:26):
coming from the Rams, so they're never gonna give us
about Oh, he's playing in the slide, he's doing this,
he's doing that. So if you again, he's such an
exciting player, and that's part of the fun of Best
Ball is you get the draft players that are fun
that maybe when they score the adr touchdown, I didn't
start in my lineup. Oh, but I have my best
Ball team and we know Travis Hunter has that in
his range of outcomes. But I did feel that entering
the year, if he ended up being really expensive, which

(20:48):
I think that's still round three to four is still
pretty pricey for a guy like Travis Hunter. Again, if
he's still the number two on his offense, attach to
Trevor Lawrence, who technically hasn't been the He's not Matthew
Stafford in terms of oh, I just create Fantasy wide
receiver one. Mac Jones was the guy that fueled Brian
Thomas Junior last year. So I have some reservations about that,
and I have reservation about his workload and him just
he's not a big guy, like he's a smaller receiver,

(21:10):
more slender build, and is he gonna last all the
way to the playoffs if he's playing on both sides
of the ball. So I felt like he was a
player that if people were going to be out on him,
that oh, this is an easy buy. But the fact
that it seems like the fantasy market, at least the
best market, is probably more bullish. To your point, Tom,
like you are that I think that I'll just like
tip my cav Hey, you guys are right about Travis Hunter.
I was wrong. I think this one I'm gonna be.

(21:32):
I'm gonna be sitting now on the sidelines.

Speaker 1 (21:34):
Yeah, I know, I fully understand the arguments against it.
To your point, if the Jags end up with loads
of injuries on defense, and maybe he does end up
playing more over there, but also then they more shootouts
and then they have put more points up, So I'll
be very happy either way. Let's go to your first
underprice player, Andrew.

Speaker 2 (21:53):
So I did mention Caleb Johnson. I just wanted to
talk about him. I think he's one of my favorite
rookie running backs, but by far my favorite rookie running back.
Just when you're considering the price is Bashall Twoton from
Virginia Tech talking about the Jaguars. Look, he is the
cheapest part of this backfield that you can get. He's
a player that was hand selected by the new regime.

(22:14):
And I mean he went to the top of round
four if he was a round three. It's so crazy
how we think that it's such a big difference between
the end of round three and round four when it's
I mean, it was basically no picks in between. But
you just get stuck with that round four draft capital
day three, it's just like, ugh, disgusting, no commitment whatsoever.
But I just think Bachall two and this guy can

(22:36):
ball out. I think that he last year showed how
effective he is creating yards after contact and a lot
of people don't always talk about this, but he battled
through an ankle injury last year. So those that kind
of poked holes in his game about last year and
what he put on tape, I don't think we even
saw the full version of Bashall Twoon at all. Last year.
I think that he was playing through an injury, fully healthy.

(22:56):
I think that his price is going to continue to
go up. I don't know what the law term commitment
is that tra Or, I mean Trevor Etnor. Travis Etn
is only under contract for the rest of the season.
But does he get dealt does he get traded? It
is Trevor Lawrence the only guy in the building that's like, hey,
you got to keep Travis around because we went to
Clemson together, Like, is that the only guy that they're
keeping him around for? And then take Bigsby. I mean

(23:17):
it's it's year three of fade and take Bigsby.

Speaker 1 (23:19):
So yeah, I think, like your point on Ettyn, they
just they don't seem particularly enamored with him. It'd be
very easy to see him moving on at some point.
And obviously there's no klamor for it now because all
the teams are looking at the rookies for we just drafted.
But when I look at two and I look back
at the forty yard dash time of four point three two,
that in itself is enough for me to be interested

(23:40):
because with one players who can break a play in
one play that turns the game, quicker, and that makes
life so much better fantasy. When you spin the game
on its head, you score points. And I think that
two and is going to see enough work this year
to be very useful. I've got one player left in
my underpriced rookies who I'm going to hit on. It
is Jaden Higgins of the Texans, And like for me,

(24:03):
this was one of those situations where Higgins just felt
like the perfect player in the perfect landing spot. And
I know that some people are concerned about Christian Kirk,
but like the Texans, there was a procedural element to
make in that trade. When they did it, they immediately
opened up salary cap space by triggering a bonus within
Kirk's contract, which went so basically, they gave up what

(24:25):
a pick swop in the sixth round to get Christian
Kirk and then all of a sudden opened up like
four million dollars of cap space. There was benefits to
them beyond that for giving up barely anything, and Higgins, like,
I just really like him. You know, you're talking about
a guy who's six foot four, two hundred and fourteen pounds.
We've had so many undersized wide receivers over the last

(24:46):
few years. And yes, there's the comparisons to Nico Collins
and how he plays, in the idea that it could
be tricky for Higgins to coexist against Nico Collins. I
just don't see that. I see the Texans as a
team who are going to have to pass the ball
heavily this year because they're off defensive line is woeful,
and I just think that Higgins could be a really
good value going get picked ninety eight currently.

Speaker 2 (25:07):
So I pushed back on Hunter, I am not pushing
back anything on Jayden Higgins. We talked about this on
an earlier show we did on the Fantasy Pros Football podcast,
talking about potential wide receiver ones, guys you can get
super late dart throws. Jadan Higgins is such an easy
pick to make. I can't believe he's still going this late.
And Tom, how early were we drafting all these Texans

(25:29):
wide receivers last year? We had three guys inside the
top five rounds and now it's Nico basically in round one,
round two, and then we don't want anybody else. It's
still c J. Stroud, It's still the same quarterback. And
I get the offensive line had issues. Again, I don't
think it'd be worse than it was last year. I
know that they've revamped it. They don't have the best personnel,

(25:49):
but just from a culture building standpoint, they're like, hey,
we got to get tougher upfront. So hopefully just the
new players that they've brought in. And something that I
keep remembering about Higgins was, you know, as something I
like to do, like the wager I was wagering on
the NFL Draft, and I remember opening up one of
the sports books and so finding that they had Jayden
and Higgins or they had odds for the Texans picking.
I think it was like the thirty third overall pick

(26:10):
or thirty fourth overall pick, and Jaidan Higgins was like
plastered in there like minus five hundred. I'm like, wait,
like is this going to happen? And then they just
took him. So clearly this was their guy that they
were targeting, and I think that that means a lot.
And attaching yourself to C. J. Stroud long term and
dynasty is great, and especially this year. So I'm trying
to not overweight how Stroud disappointed last year and just

(26:34):
scoop up the value. As we'll talk about when we
talk about some of these team stacks.

Speaker 1 (26:37):
Yeah, absolutely, and let's move on to some other undervalued players.
But let's move away from the rookies for a moment
and talk about some of the players that we just
currently see is undervalued based on their ADP. Andrew, I'm
going to let you go first on this section because
I've got one player who I keep getting pushed back
on when I mentioned him as being of value. But

(26:58):
I'm going to let you go first. And how spicy
your plays are here.

Speaker 2 (27:02):
Yeah, So I will start with Evan Ingram. That's kind
of the guy that I'm planning my flag on as
a tight end that I want to target. We talked
about the Denver Broncos when it comes to RJ. Harvey.
They've brought a lot of new pieces this year, so
it's not just RJ Harvey. They're bringing Evan Ingram as
the tight end one in this offense. They were rumored
to draft the tight end. They did not really do that.
I think they drafted somebody late. But Evan Ingram looks

(27:24):
like he's going to be the guy. And it's funny
at the minute that he signed with Sean Payton and
the Broncos he tweets out the Joker the Joker gift,
and I'm just like, I'm convinced, man, Like, they're going
to use this guy in a really unique way. And
Evan Ingram again, I can't guarantee he's gonna stay healthy.
Nobody can. We don't know what's going to happen in
Drew wise, but when Evan Ingram is healthy, he has
been a guy that's been a PPR machine racking up receptions.

(27:46):
Even last year he averaged over five catches per game
in nine games played. He was still tight end sixteen
points per game, and that was after a year where
he was essentially a top five tight end in full PPR.
You know, every time he's landed with a new team.
So his first year with the Giant, he was a
top six tight end. First year with the Jaguars, he
was a top six tight end. And I think that
if they're going to try to improve this offense with

(28:09):
Bonix in year two, well let's give him another checkdown
option in Van Ingram, because I think that's where Bonick
struggled the most his rookie year, was under pressure, trying
to find an outlet he had. They have Courtland Sutton,
But besides that, it was really a lot of unproven
guys Marvin Man's Troy Franklin. So I think Evan Ingram
can really kind of settle in as bo Nix's number
one checkdown security blanket. I think he's going to rack

(28:30):
up a lot of receptions and then if he just
gets any type of red zone usage, which is something
that has been non existent with him in Jacksonville, then
I think you could see him make a lot of
noise in half PPR.

Speaker 1 (28:39):
Yeah, I think he really is going to have to
make noise in the touchdown departments kind of payoff. And
the reason I'm a bit more hesitant on Evan Ingram
is that just find him such a difficult play to
get involved with because the yards after the catch just
isn't there, And it was really transparent last year that
it just wasn't. It was you know, thine point five

(28:59):
yards after the catch per game played, which ranked twenty
eighth among tight ends. You know, this was behind, well
behind guys like Dallas Godda, Austin Hooper, Brendon Strange, who
is now replacing him in Jacksonville. Brenton'strange average one point
five more yards per catch after the catch per game played,
and I just don't see the kind of dynamic player

(29:21):
that I think people are hoping that he might be.
With Sean paying, I think that there's definitely a path
to being, you know, worthwhile in fantasy, and I think
that he can be a good player. And he's going
to pick one hundred and twelve minutes, so it's not
like you having to pay a huge price for him.
Like when you look at the other tight ends who

(29:42):
are going around that range, it is Tyler Warren who
I mentioned earlier, Colston Loveland, He's going six picks behind
Mark Andrews to me as a Ravens fan to find
out what a lot easier click. But Evan Ingram's going
twelve picks behind Travis Kelcey and then sixteen picks behind
Johnny Smith. Like those a guy who I feel like
I have shown a little more in different ways over

(30:04):
the last couple of years. And even though Mark Andrews
and Travis Kelcey on the older side as well, Mark
Andrews is younger than Evan Ingram by a year, you know,
Travis Kelsey is obviously older by several years. But let's
stick with the tight ends and move over to my
favorite underpriced player, and it's Sam Laporter who goes at

(30:25):
pick sixty eight, and I think that that is still
a little bit too cheap currently in the way the
tight end landscape is playing out. You've got brock Boughs
and Training mc bride who go within the first two rounds,
and then there's just a complete drop off till George
Kittle kind of going around pick fifty. And in my opinion,
the overreaction on Sam Laporter is too much. Yes, Sam

(30:46):
Laporte was incredibly disappointing last season, but it was mainly
at the beginning of the season. You go back and look,
and from week eight onwards, Sam Laporter was for tight
end seven. Over that course, he was averaging eleven PPR
points per game, thirteen point two full PPR points per game,
He had six touchdowns. From week onwards, was averaging forty

(31:07):
eight yards per game. Yes, the Lions were playing to
him in quite the same way as they were before,
but the Lion's defense had improved, like they weren't so
reliant on pass heavy stuff. But it seemed like as
the season went on they figured things out, and like
I want to draft some Laporte in every draft I'm
in at if I'm getting him in anywhere between pick

(31:27):
sixty to seventy.

Speaker 2 (31:29):
To your point about Laporta again, my again, I think
you can probably understand, you know, coming off a not
so great year based on expectations and the fact that
target competition is always something that you talk about with
the Detroit Lions. But one thing that I want to
bring up, and I think we talked about this on
the show last year, was talking about not just the
injuries for certain players, but the team level injuries. And

(31:51):
last year, the Lions offense stayed relatively healthy for the
most part, so you didn't really see guys like Jamesone
was miss game because of suspension, Like he didn't really
miss game because of injury. Laporta, I played through some injuries,
but Ama Ras Saint Brown was healthy for the majority
of the season. That's not usually something that happens year
over year. So if one of these big guys goes
to imagine if AmAm Ras say Brown missed like a

(32:12):
month of the season, like how how like you would
see So it either the Laporta or Javisiwiams, like one
of these guys Whilch is completely skyrocket in terms of
their production, and I think that at the tight end position,
he's the same that's still the same talent as he
was when the market was drafting him so highly last year.
I couldn't get around just the target competition last year.
But it's just his prices adjusted correctly now like he's

(32:36):
I think that he's I think I don't think he's
an amazing value like you do, but I'm much more
open to picking him, especially in the best ball format
where we're talking about Best Ball versus redraft. Somebody to
keep in mind with tight ends is I think that
you should be more open to drafting an elite tight
end because you don't have the waiver That's the other
big difference. There's no waiver wire in best Ball drafts,

(32:57):
so you can't just pick up John News Smith off
the waiver wire or whoever's breaking out that week. Now,
most of these drafts go long enough where you could
end up drafting a guy like Jonas Smith like later
in your drafts. But a lot sometimes these tight ends
like that they don't get picked, like Tucker Craft, someone
that we talked about a lot on the show last
year too. A lot of people were just drafting Luke
Musgrave and he wasn't being drafted. So that's something to

(33:18):
keep in mind that I think that prioritizing a tight
end that you know can be a top scorer is
worth taking the risk, even though they have an elevated
injury rich just because of the position they play. So
Laporta at this new price with a factor of if
the lines don't have as much health luck this year
between Saint Brown and Jamison again, Jameson Williams like, guy's

(33:38):
still bonehead. I think he's really talented, but that guy
still doesn't seem to have everything screwed on right where
he continues to misgames because he makes dumb decisions, Whereas Laporta,
he's good to go. So I do like your bringing
him up.

Speaker 1 (33:51):
Yeah. I just think like when tight ends hit in
a big way, it so consistently helps you separate, particularly
invest ball and some Lapol is probably one of maybe
six guys who I would say I have confidence in
that he's going to have two or more twenty plus
point games throughout this season. Let's go across to another
one of your other undervalued upside players who've you got

(34:14):
for is Andrew.

Speaker 2 (34:15):
I'm going with Justin Fields quarterback for the New York Jets.
So this is something that I've been trying to wrap
my mind around when it comes to the Best Ball quarterbacks.
Is I really want more mobile quarterbacks in Best Ball?
Because what happens in redraft is you start a mobile
quarterback and then he doesn't run for one game and
you're pulling your hair out trying to figure out what
do I do with this guy? Because what he's just passing,

(34:36):
he's not scoring any points Best Ball, there's no sweat,
there's no worry about that because you're just taking the
peaks from these mobile quarterbacks. I think that's what you're
going to get from Justin Field. He's going outside the
top one hundred overall picks. But everything that he's shown
us when he's played, this guy's consistently averaging over twenty
Fantasy points per game. He's going to run the ball.

(34:56):
He has to use his legs or else he's not
gonna be the starting quarterback for the New York Jets. Again,
the concern is if he plays so horribly as a passer,
is he there during the playoff weeks. That's the main
concern I think with drafting justin fields. But if he's
playing well enough, it's to Rod Taylor that's behind him.
I don't think the Jets are necessarily, oh, we got
to get this young player in. It's not that type
of situation. So he would he would have to bust

(35:19):
in a pretty big way to I think just lose
the job outright and you don't have him in the
playoff weeks. But I'm just betting on Hey, I think
he can be at least a big part of getting
me there. While pairing him with another quarterback and where
you get him outside of the top one hundred, I
feel like it's not that big of a price to
pay for his weekly upside is a top eight quarterback.
I have no doubt in my mind that he can

(35:40):
be a top eight scorer every single week. But it's
just a matter of kind of capturing that volatility where
if his passing goes down or the game script works
in a way, works in a way that the Jets
aren't forced to use his legs in a particular match up.

Speaker 1 (35:54):
Yeah. So, I mean you said he's going outside of
the top one hundred, going to pick one hundred and
four currently on Underdog and he is QB ten, which
feels appropriately priced for me. As you say, it's like
we're talking about a guy who is going to rush plenty.
We know that things were a little bit up and
down in Pittsburgh, but Pittsburgh didn't really seem to ever

(36:14):
be on board with the Justin Field experiment. Really, I
think that there's some definite scope for just In Fields
to be more settled around the Jets, who seem to
really like him. And when you come back to Justin Fields,
what always really stands out is that he's one of
the few guys out there who can give you multiple
rushing touchdowns win a game. We saw that what in

(36:36):
two games last year, and he had a career best
in completion rate and interception rate. Last year. He only
had a disappointing five touchdowns in both six games, but
he was rushing the ball in and I'm willing to
pay for that. I think the vibes are going to
be good between him and Garrett Wilson. Garret Wilson knows
what he's getting into, So yeah, I'm completely on board

(36:57):
with Justin Fields. I think it's going to be a
fun year for Hi, him and I'm drafting plenty of him.
I just want to shout out quickly out of space
court and certain going a little too late in my opinion,
be scooping up often. Yeah, really like that shout and
really appreciate out of space subbing to the channel as well.
Make sure you're doing so. And also, Jake's not good
you guys rock if you haven't already made sure that

(37:19):
you do hit the subscribe button. It is free with
Amazon Prime. And we've got so much fancy football content
coman wait, including this Beastball Show each and every week.
I've got one more running back do I want to
kind of hit on in this range. And it's a
guy we talked about a lot last year, Andrew Brian
Robinson Junior, go and pick eighty eight, and look, we

(37:42):
filled our bags heavily. We did a high stakes free
draft team which we had Brian Robinson on, and we
thought all our problems were solved. But Brian Robinson was
going to be excellent. He was going to get a
huge opportunity. But Therjine Daniel's effect would open things up
for him, and it did to an effect, and we
the OUs Neckler would be you know struggling to provide

(38:04):
the kind of like competition for Brian Robinson that some
people thought he might, and we saw that. You know,
Osneckler missed multiple games through the year, and there were
times where Brian Robinson really could have capitalized to a
better tune than he perhaps did. What he struggled with
really was just grasping that opportunity. But here we are again,

(38:25):
pick eighty eight overall, and I just look where Brian
Robinson's going. He's going just ahead of Isaiah Pacheco. That's
an easy click for me, just ahead of Cam Scatterbow,
a few picks behind DeAndre Swift, who, despite what the
Bears are saying, I'm still not sure they actually like him.
And while Brian Robinson didn't do anything to earn a massive,

(38:50):
massive increase in role or anything like that, the commander's
completely ignored for running back position. And I just think
that there's a world where Brian Robinson gets some positive
touchdown regression this year and ends up paying off his
cost quite handsomely, because year after year we do see
running back winners come from this area of the draft.
Are you coming back to the well on Brian Robinson

(39:12):
or has he hurt you once many times.

Speaker 2 (39:14):
See, I don't know, because from what I remember most
of the time from him last year was he was
a pretty good success. I know that things fizzled out
kind of like he pointed out towards the end of
the year, but he was dealing with some injuries. I
mean that whole backfield got battered by injuries, and I
know that he also had some fumble security issues. But
I think that Brian Robinson, I think that he's a

(39:36):
really good price here.

Speaker 1 (39:37):
He played thirteen games last year. In nine of them,
he was a top twenty four running back in PPR.
He just never once hit the PPR on an individual week,
so he was very much averaging that kind of like
fourteen fifteen points in PPR rather than giving you those
blow up weeks. But I think that Brian Romson, because

(39:58):
he's not giving you those performances, that people are a
little down on him. Now. We talked at the top
of the show how this could be an excellent year
for zero RB because you've got the influx of rookies
if you're looking for somebody to pair with some of
these rookie dart throws. But I think Brian Robinson is
going to give you solid production early on in the season.
And if you've got a running back room of six

(40:18):
to seven running backs on a roster, and Brian Robson
is one of those guys that's just going to carry
you towards the back end of the season when the
rookies start taking over on different rosters, then perhaps that
can work out nicely.

Speaker 2 (40:31):
Yeah. I think that's a really good pull, Tom. When
you talk about Brian Robinson and again thinking about who
can be this year's version. I know that everyone wants
to chase who's this year's Bucky Irving. We do it
for the clicks, of course, because that's what everyone wants
to know, But think about who could be this year's
true Hubbard right, kind of like a veteran running back.
He's penciled in as the starter, but we're all kind

(40:54):
of just, oh, who's going to replace him? I mean,
I like Jacorey Krofsky, merit like, but I acknowledge you
to take a seven thrond pick, so I'm trying to
temper expectations. I think he could be a fun guy
if he gets an opportunity, but Brian Robinson would really
have to falter in a big way for them to decide, Okay,
we're going to the seventh round rookie draft pick to
be our starting running back. I think that we've seen

(41:14):
the sales or the ship's sale with Austin Eckler, like
he's getting up there in age. He's dealt with a
lot of injuries as well. And Brian Robinson. No, he's
not the most dynamic running back that there's ever been
in the NFL, but he's still an Alabama pedigree running
back that gets the job done more often than not
and playing attached to Jayden Daniels. Like you said, if
he hits on that positive touchdown regression, well okay, now

(41:37):
he is getting that in the top of my lineup
as a top ten score because he's hitting those touchdowns.
And I mean, we're excited about this Commander's offense, but
Jane Daniels entering year two, if there's anyone that's going
to fight off the sophomore slump, it's Jadan Daniels. So
getting pieces of this offense, especially at this price, makes
a lot of sense to me.

Speaker 1 (41:53):
Yeah, and I'm not concerned. But like Deebo, Samuel's going
to come in there and take a bunch of rushing work,
because if there's one thing I've seen from Deebo Samuel
over the last couple of years, it looks like adding
on huge amounts of Russian production to him isn't necessarily
what he needs. So yeah, very very much on board
with that. De jer saying the pros on twitch finally
able to chop it up and catch one of these. Well,

(42:14):
we will be here at this time throughout this offseason
talking best ball. And if best ball is the language
that you want, then the twenty twenty five Best Ball
Draft Kit is live over at fantasypros dot com forward
Slash best Ball. Myself and Andrew are absolutely cramming articles
into that as much as we can. Submitted to myself
c Afternooniverse, so much stuff it's going to help you crush.

(42:35):
It is your one stop shop for ranking stacks, ADP trends,
rookie breakdowns, roster construction strategy. That's my favorite part to right.
I love getting into the nuances of roster construction strategy.
And it also includes exclusive strategy content for fast Draft,
a new Best Ball app where drafts take just five
minutes and you can win real money. Andrew, I know
you've been doing loads of those, and if people want

(42:57):
to join you on their download fast Draft and use
code Fantasy Pros when signed up to get your first
deposit match up to fifty dollars. That's up to ten
drafts all for three. We got one more segment we're
going to go to and of course if you've got
any questions, feel free to five of them two as
we get to this final kind of chunk of the show, Andrew,

(43:17):
who's your favorite stack to draft right now?

Speaker 2 (43:20):
It's Patriots. It's gotta be my homerism. I love the Patriots.
That's why I want to stack because they're super cheap.
Number one, they're super cheap, and they feature a year
in a row for the second year in a row,
but much more optimistic about this working out and supposed
to last year. I like them from a betting standpoint.
They have the second easy schedule in the NFL. I

(43:42):
think that Drake May showed as a rookie in a
terrible situation, everything that you want to see from a
future top Fantasy scorer. He was throwing touchdowns despite not
having weapons, he was rushing, he was using his legs.
So although the supporting cast is still a working progress.
I'd hardly say that this Patriots offense is who's stopping

(44:03):
this offense status yet, although I do like those graphics
for sure. I just think that this is a really
good spot to buy. The Patriots improving heading into this year,
so I think that they're again. Trevion Henderson, I believe,
is the most expensive guy, and I know that he's
been kind of getting steamed up with reports coming out
about how the Patriots were shopping that pick, but they

(44:25):
were like, no, we want to be defined, we want
to pick our guy, and think Henderson specifically again like
him versus R. J. Harvey, which that might come down
to a decision as har J Harvey's ADP continues to rise.
Trevid Henderson is excellent in pass pro. There are no
concerns about whether he can be a step in and
be a three down back. Now. I don't think that
he will play like every three downs, but the capabilities

(44:46):
of keeping him fresh by using guys like Remandre Antonio
Gibson sprinkling in. But I think he's going to capitalize
on the high value touches and that's the real big
thing with him. He's explosive, he can rip off big plays.
So even if he only touches the ball eight to
ten times, well, it could be to a Tony Pollard level.
Like That's how I comped him out coming out of
Ohio State was Tony Pollard. And we knew how good

(45:07):
Tony Pollard could be when he was a compliment to Zeke,
and then when they gave him all the touches, he
wasn't nearly as good. So I like Travon Henderson in
this offense. And then the receivers are all cheap. Digs
is cheap. Kyle Williams is a rookie receiver that I
really like. He's also cheap. And then talking about tight ends,
if Drake May hits with touchdowns, Hunter Henry is going
to be a great pick because he's a red zone guy.

(45:30):
Last year he was top ten in red zone targets.
He got two touchdowns, and he had comical drops. I
remember watching all those games. It was really bad. So
Hunter Henry, I think, is the perfect guy to stack
with Drake May as that second tight end because they're
going to be heavily correlated because of those touchdowns. And
when you're talking about underdog, I we didn't talk about
this when we mentioned the tight ends, but hitting on

(45:52):
those touchdowns is so key in the half PPR scoring,
like finding those tight end that score and just the
easiest way to do this is like, hey, who's your
quarterback stacking with the tight end and that you really
help your correlation.

Speaker 1 (46:04):
Yeah, I mean to your point, Like you say, Travian
Henderson goes at pick sixty two, and then you've got
Stephen Diggs at pick seventy seven, and that is it
in the top one hundred and twenty. When it comes
to a Patriots hunter, Henry all the way down at
pick one hundred and seventy, that's practically free. He is
retire in twenty three and I was really surprised when
drafts got in the way that he wasn't going slightly
higher because for his excitement around the Drake May effect,

(46:27):
and I think the Drake May can absolutely take a
step forward. The wide receiver position feels very similar to
last year. Like, look, I like Kyle Williams, but we
all like Jalen Polk last year, and we all thought
that Jaalen Polk could be a good player, and that
one definitely did not age particularly well. I did not
have him getting outscored by Kaishan Booty last year. And
to your point that the Patriots look primed to improve,

(46:50):
I was reading an article on The Athletic Today where
their supermodel gives the Patriots forty seven percent chance to
make the playoffs this year, which is only just behind
the Chargers. Like, there are plenty of reasons, both analytically
and not analytically, why you can expect some kind of
improvement from them. And I don't think that the division
is as strong as it was a couple of years ago,

(47:12):
definitely not on paper. There are so many questions about
the Dolphins defense, particularly if they end up trading Jalen
Ramsey away, and all signs seem to point towards that
being a dune thing rather than naturally around the draft
where there was no motivation for him to do so.
The Jets have been incredibly up and down year to year,
and I think that the Patriots could be a really

(47:33):
fun team. So I'm very much with you on that one.
But from there, we talked about your team as your
favorite team to stack, and I'm going to go over
to my team, Ravens, because we have got what forty
eight minutes in the this show and I have talked
about the Ravens far too little, and you know, I
appreciate here on Fantasy Pros you get a healthy dose
of Ravens from myself and Worm. But when I look

(47:55):
at Lamar going pick thirty six zay flowers, you can
stack zay flowers with Lamar. It's a little tricky because
of wherever ADP's lineup, one of them tends to be
on the other side of the board. But if you're
picking up a turn, I don't mind pulling one of
them forward. But then after zay Flowers, you're going all
the way to pick one hundred and six for Mark Andrews. Now,

(48:16):
I know people have fairly strong feelings about Mark Andrews.
This is a tight and you've got eleven touchdowns last season.
And while we have to admit that touchdowns can be
variable year to year, can be tricky, cannot always be
something that we want to bang on, Mark Andrews has
so much history with Lamar Jackson. The two players came

(48:37):
into the league at the same time. Like there's so
much of a bond between them that even with Isaiah
likely taking a step forward, I'm completely fine same there's
enough room for both of them. They added DeAndre Hopkins.
That was the only notable player that they brought in
this year, with Isaiah Likely and Mark Andrews both on
expiring contracts, if they didn't see the need to draft anyone.

(48:58):
Charlie Cola also on it expiring contract, but that doesn't
particularly matter. I think the Ravens are just completely comfortable
with what they've got, and we know the kind of
roles that they have. Say Flowers is going to see
the highest volume. Rachelle Bateman has a good role, but
it's not a role that you possibly want for redraft.
And then both Mark Andrews and Isaiah Likely are going
to have spike weeks. And if I'm getting both those

(49:20):
tight ends outside the top one hundred and five picks,
then I'm completely comfortable with it. The Ravens are going
to face an improved division from at least the Bengals
this year, I would imagine, but the Steelers who knows,
the Browns, who knows. But the Ravens have some really
spicy games out of the division. Their first few weeks
of the season open with games against the Bills, for Chiefs,

(49:41):
for Lions, and I think that they're going to get
teams off to a very strong star in best Wall.

Speaker 2 (49:46):
The Ravens are a team that I really like some
of the late round values like you talked about, like
Isaiah Likely, Like Rashad Bateman, we were doing the Wide
Receiver one show predicting the next wide receiver one, and
there's going to be some fifth year wide receiver that
becomes a wide receiver one for the first time. Seaan Babman,
I don't know how it's going to happen, but he's
got the quarterback and he stayed healthy last year, so

(50:10):
coming off a career year. Rashad baateman Man, I think
that he's probably one of the best picks that you
can make in the double digit rounds or outside the
top one hundred because talking about regression at the team
level for injuries, the Ravens were one of the healthiest
offenses last year. They're probably not going to be as
healthy heading into twenty twenty five. So if guy like
Zay Flowers or Mark Andrews missus his time, well, Isaiah Likely,

(50:32):
we've seen him be a tight end one when he gets
the opportunity. Rashad Baateman, I don't think that it's really
been a question of talent. With Rashad Baden, it's been
health has been an issue and the ecosystem he's in.
It's not like the Ravens are an offense that throw
the ball forty times a game, so he hasn't been
allowed to do that. But a couple of injuries here
and there. We've already saw one of the Ravens safeties
go down with an injury, our Darius Stewart. So is

(50:54):
the injury regression already coming to play? I don't know.
Love this, Hey, it could be good for fantasy. They
may not win as many games as they did last year,
but they still might score a lot of fantasy.

Speaker 1 (51:03):
Well, I mean that defense was satrocious through the first
half of the season. But yeah, I've definitely with you
on that one. I think that it makes a lot
of sense. Let's go over to an of ther picks.
We've got a few minutes left here before we get
out of here. But I want to hell on this
team because the first one that you picked is a
team that really with tale of two halves of the

(51:25):
season last year. Who is that?

Speaker 2 (51:26):
Andrew the Carolina Panthers. Again, I'm looking for value here.
They're one of the cheapest teams. So when I kind
of calculated the ADPs by the teams based on the
top seven players for each team, and the Carolina Panthers
had the fifth lowest ADP when it comes to the
team level, So they're cheap across the board. So again,
they're cheap for a reason because there's obviously people are

(51:48):
concerned about, you know, the Saints or the bottom ADP
because nobody wants the Saints, and that makes sense based
on their current situation. But the Panthers, look, we saw
Rice Young be a quarterback that created fantasy success the defense.
They didn't even use their first pick on a defensive
player in the draft. They drafted a wide receiver. They
had one of the first defenses of the NFL last year,
and they're like, we're getting another wide receiver, so we

(52:11):
love that for fantasy purposes. I think Tetro McMillan is
vastly underrated as a redraft pick, as a best ball pick,
even in fast draft. So a Marion Hampton goes ahead
of him in fast draft, and I would rather have
Tetron McMillan. I think he offers the same type of
playoff upside that or Mayon Hampton does. But Week one,
he's facing the Jacksonville Jaguars. How many catches is he going

(52:33):
to have over Travis Hunter playing defense on him. So
I like the Panthers a decent amount here because they're
all cheap and you can stack them easily. I think
that Rico Doubtles kind of an interesting prospect in terms
of him working as more of a one B to
Chewba Hubbard's one A in that backfield, and Bryce Young
is again another quarterback that's free. But hey, he showed
last year during that final stretch he was scoring fantasy points.

(52:56):
So unless that defense really turns it around, I think
the Carolina Panthers are going to be fun team do
for fantasy football purposes. And that's kind of why I
like stacking off by value.

Speaker 1 (53:05):
Yeah, I mean the Panthers. It's fair to point out
that the Panthers, they didn't really get to put the
iteration of the offense on the field they wanted to
last year. You know, they wanted Jonathan Brooks out there
at certain point, they were Deanna Johnson out there. They
wanted him to be that safety blanket for Bryce Young,
and it kind of gets forgotten about Young as you
kind of mentioned, like he did come on down stretch

(53:27):
from like week thirteen onwards, he had two top eight
Fantasy finishes. And in terms of the overall cheapness, you
are paying up for ten and you are paying up
for Tuba Hubbard with top sixty picks on both of them.
But then there's nobody for another one hundred picks, like
when you get to pick one fifty nine onwards, there's
a glot of Carolina Panthers in Laget Young Feeling, even

(53:51):
Rico Dudel and then Jalen Cocer later than that and
Entertavian Sanders. It's very easy to make them one of
your back door stacks if you're looking at a roster
and saying right now out what I don't have is
a player that can give me a stack week on stacks,
and we know that having like if you I think
it was Micaly only your best bat of Etr wrote

(54:12):
in his Best Ball Manifesto last year, the updated version
that teams with zero stacks on their roster had a
minus thirty percent win rate compared to teams that had
you know, six to nine players stacked experienced a positive
win rate improvement of thirty percent. So we know that
stacking increases your odds are winning. So why would we

(54:32):
not be looking for these little back door stacks. And
one of the back door stacks that I like at
the minute, although you do need to be looking for
one of the pieces early is the Titans, and it's
Calvin Ridley. To me, feels undervalued at pick fifty four.
I understand some people are just really struggling with Calvin
Ridley these days. But then you've got cam Ward all
the way down at pick one sixty, Elkio manor at

(54:54):
pick one ninety eight, Chigo Conquo two hundred. Now, Chigo
Conquo is probably never going to develop into a player
we might have hoped he would have done a few
years ago, and then you've got Tyler Lockett. But chickacong
Quo is somebody who can give you those spike weeks.
We've seen that from him. So I just think that
there's enough there that I want to have some exposure
to the Titans, not as a team that I'm building

(55:17):
my entire roster around. There's a team that I'm saying
this is going to be my second or my third
stack on this team. If I've got three quarterbacks.

Speaker 2 (55:25):
I love the Aconquo call. I think that he's vastly
Hey we I remember we were on a live stream.
We killed someone to start JOHNA. Smith and then immediately
from that point on he was a monster. So we're
out early folks. We're out doing early folks here on
the Best Ball live stream, chickacon quo. Potentially this year's
Johnny Smith. You heard it here first on May nineteenth,

(55:46):
twenty twenty five, Chicka konkquo. Because look, last year, really
strong finish. It's the same coaching staff. I think that
matters so much when you're talking about he's part of
their plans. And yes, you have a bunch of rookie
wide receivers. I don't think the Titans are convinced like, oh,
one of these guys is going to be Cammort's guy.
I think they're like, hey, we took a bunch of shots.
We'll see who sticks. We got Locket as a veteran guy,

(56:07):
while the rookies kind of get acclimented. And we have
Calvin Ridley. He's the number one wide receiver, but you
know what's his ceiling? Like, we haven't seen it from
him ever since he came back from his suspension, it's
been kind of lackluster, even if his usage has been good.
So I think a conquo playing in a contract year. Look,
he's a monster after the catch, and like you said,
like he can make big plays and he doesn't even
necessarily need a lot of blame to get it done,

(56:28):
and there's an opportunity for target. So I think it's
a really good pull.

Speaker 1 (56:31):
We don't need him on this last team quickly. We
don't need a hit on them for much more than
a quick one says. We already talked about more already.
But Andrew, you put the Texans in this section, So
when you're stacking the Texans, is there any particular players
that you find yourself drawn to or is it just
trying to take shots and just sprinkle exposures across the
many pass catching options at CJ. Stroud has right now? Yeah.

Speaker 2 (56:54):
Look, see just Drout is going how many picks after
compared to last year? What he was like a six
to seventh round pick last year and now he's the
QB sixteen.

Speaker 1 (57:02):
One hundred and thirty two in underdog ADP and going
as QB nineteen currently over there.

Speaker 2 (57:08):
Yeah, So with a player like Stroud as a more
pocket passer, not going to win with his legs, you
have to stack with him. And to me, it's I
grab Nico Collins and I'm gonna stack up the Houston Texans.
And we saw Nico Collins get hurt last year too.
What if he misses time? Jayden Higgins, Jalen Knowle, Christian Kirk,
all these guys you can get, and you're getting a
Texans offense that we've seen be prolific with c J.

(57:30):
Stroud when he's healthy and upright, playing in a dome
against the AFC South teams that have terrible defense. I
just think it's such a buy back spot for c J. Stroud.
Like last year it felt man, how do I get?
How do I stack CJ. Stroud with Tank, Dell Digs
and Nico Collins Like you couldn't do it. Now you
can stack them all up. So I think the Texans

(57:52):
they're just vastly under price and I want to buy
the dip on CJ. Shroud.

Speaker 1 (57:55):
Yeah, I'm definitely in on the passing game. And if
you want to see those drafting teams, we will. We'll
be back drafting teams. Two weeks. Today we'll be diving
into our first Best Ball stream of the off season,
and then we will be back every single week all
the way until the season kicks off. Myself Andrew we're
both putting in loads of work to the Fantasy Pro's
Best Ball Kit, and we'll be here talking about the strategy, stacks, sleepers,

(58:16):
and so much more which we think are important to it.
Every couple of weeks. Will be on different platforms drafting,
and if you want to draft along with us, all
you've got to do is be here with us Monday's
four pm Eastern over on Twitch and you'll see us
live for replays of b elsewhere but live. This is
where the hardcore people are. Come and join alongside is
and make sure you're here with us. From myself and Andrew,

(58:38):
appreciate everyone hanging out tonight. We will see you again
in a couple of weeks.

Speaker 2 (58:42):
Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football Podcast.
If you love the show, the best free way to
support us is by leaving a positive review on Apple
Podcasts at Fantasypros dot com, slash review, or on Spotify.
Follow us on x, Instagram, and TikTok at Fantasy Pros
and subscribe to our YouTube channel at YouTube dot com
Slash Fantasy Pros

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Hosts And Creators

Andrew Erickson

Joe Pisapia

Derek Brown

Thor Nystrom

Ryan Wormeli

Pat Fitzmaurice

Matthew Freedman

Popular Podcasts

Dateline NBC

Amy Robach & T.J. Holmes present: Aubrey O’Day, Covering the Diddy Trial

Stuff You Should Know

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Best Ball Livestream: Rookie Review + Undervalued Players & Favorite Stacks (Ep. 1575)