Fantasy Football League Winners To Target (Ep. 1673)

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, everybody, Welcome into the Fantasy Pros Football Podcast. I'm Ryan,
warmly joined by Andrew Erickson. We are talking league winners.
We're so to have a guest on the show. He
is feeling under the weather. So we are rolling with
a two man show here today Ericson, which is kind
of a preview for what the end season show is
gonna be on Tuesdays this year. Our trade show is
just gonna be a worm and Ericson a happy hour

(00:22):
every single week, so we get an early preview of
that here on our League Winners episode. What we're gonna
do is we're just gonna run through a bunch of
league winners that you have provided here. I will agree
or disagree. We are also gonna throw out some league
winners that the listeners shared with us on social media,
and we'll kind of react to them see what we think.
I might throw in a few of mine as well.
But this is really one of the most fun and

(00:43):
really one of the most important episodes of the year
because you look at the course of the season and
getting value on draft Day feels good and it's something
you can brag about and it's something that's important. But
league winners, like the guys who literally do reshape the
fantasy season are what it is about at the end
of the day, and that's really where we're trying to
own in on in this episode.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
Yeah, I think two. It goes hand in hand with
league winners. It really does depend where you draft them.
They're not necessarily always the players in the first couple
of rounds because of those players are being drafted that
highly for a reason. Everybody kind of agrees that these
are the top players that you should be taking. And
it's really this guy versus this guy. I like both
of them, whereas it's the players that drastically beat their

(01:27):
ADP that are the big league winners. Are just thinking
about last year Chase Brown, right, he was a massive
hit because he was a guy going in the double
digit rounds, ended up being an RB one down the
stretch and really when it mattered most, that's when Chase
Brown really broke out. Same thing with Brian Thomas Jr. Again,
a rookie wide receiver that was drafted way after a
lot of the other guys that were selected in round one,

(01:49):
and he ended up having a monster second half of
the season and helped with a lot of people win
their league. So although on the other side of the coin,
you could look at Roshie Rice and Chris Godwin, those
guys weren't necessarily league winners because they got hurt. But
to start the year, those guys were on fire and
they were good picks until obviously they got injured. So
it's finding that kind of balance to guys that could

(02:11):
start the season out really hot, while also looking for
players that could finish the season very strong, which we're
going to talk about a lot during the trade show
this year. Is trying to find second half league winners
even after your draft has concluded.

Speaker 1 (02:22):
You know, it's interesting I wanted to sort of talk
about defining what a league winner is because you always
these terms become kind of nebulous over time, like sleeper
versus breakout versus league winner. It's kind of hard to
make a distinction between those. We for the purposes of
this episode, when we were actually going to be highlighting names,
are talking about guys that are really like Round three
is about the earliest we're looking at. We're kind of

(02:44):
not looking in those top twenty four to thirty picks,
But I think you can make the case that those
guys still can be league winners. Like last year, if
you took Saquon in the late first or early second,
that was a league winner for you, even if he
wasn't the single best value you could have drafted. Same
with Jamar Chase. So those were the two most important
players to have in fantasy last season, regardless of the
fact that they weren't like, oh, this mid round breakout

(03:06):
who you know, returned so much value for you. They
just were the guys that were important to have to
be in the best position to win your league and
you are. I do think there's a clear distinction between
like season long league winners and then those guys who
are like they win in the league where you in
December because literally during the playoffs they have, you know,
a really hot final month. But I think those are
early round guys. Again, not that we're really going to

(03:26):
be focusing on them today, I think they do fit
the category of league winner.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
Though I agree with you. I think that the one
thing that makes it a little bit different for me,
and maybe Jamar Chase isn't the best example, but they're
not going where they should have gone. Right Even last year,
Jamar Chase should have been again using hindsight, should have
been everyone's wide receiver one. Sapoh Markley should have been
everybody's RB one, you know, based on hindsight. And the

(03:50):
thing I think with Saquon was anyone could have drafted
him last year just based on where his ADP was
at the beginning of round two. So it's almost like
guys outside round one. And I think that a fun
way to think about this is when we're drafting players
in twenty twenty six, the first round twenty twenty six,
who are we drafting inside the top three? Who's inside
the top five of the twenty twenty six draft, Because

(04:12):
if they're being drafted that highly next year, it means
they were probably a league winner this season.

Speaker 1 (04:17):
I do that is one of my favorite like wayts
to frame thinking about any kind of player debate in
August is who do I expect to be going higher
next August. I think that's a good way to look
at things. Quick reminder for everybody that all of our
twenty twenty five consensus rankings and tiers can be found
at fantasypros dot com slash rankings ericson. Let's dive right in.
So we've got a couple of sort of like, you know,

(04:38):
these are the league winners that are going earlier, not
in the first two rounds, but they're in that kind
of round three to six range, Like guys that people
are aggressively trying to get, but that we think could
take another step forward be going a lot higher a
year from now as league winners. Then we've got a
few more names in kind of the mid round, and
we've got a lot of kind of lottery tickets late
guys that we think are worth spending on late in
your drafts that could take a really big that forward,

(05:00):
return that value, and also serve as league winners either
early or late in the season. Let's start with the
guys going earlier in the draft, though, a couple of
names for us. We're gonna start with, like maybe the
player of the Fantasy Pros podcast this summer, Tetoroha McMillan.
I feel like we've talked about him every episode, but
I don't want to stop talking about him because I
just I think the value is still there. I think

(05:21):
he has extremely high upside. I think, assuming healthy, has
a pretty high floor. Honestly, you were saying before the show,
since we don't have a third person on the episode
that like, oh maybe, like if I really believe it,
not to fake it, but if I really believe it,
I should play a little devil's advocate and push back.
I will not be pushing back on this one because
I am in a strong agreement with you on Tetaroha McMillan.

(05:41):
Why for you? Eric saidy is he a league winner
this year?

Speaker 2 (05:44):
Well, I think part of it has reduced it with
the price. I don't understand why he's going so low.
He's going outside the top twenty four in a lot
of home league ADP. I know that I believe all
the Fantasy pros analysts have him inside their top twenty
overall wide receivers. So he's someone that not only do
I want to wait for, but I'm more than happy
to just pull up the board, especially after that round three,

(06:06):
Round four crop of wide receivers, some of the veteran
guys that maybe I don't love being super aggressive on
test re Mucvillain's kind of in that next tier where
once all those guys are off the board, I'm like, right,
I'm ready to pull up t Mac and grab him
as my wide receiver to or wide receiver three depending
on what I did in the first couple of rounds,
and just think that, don't overthink it. It's a top
ten draft pick. He's going into a situation where he

(06:28):
can clearly be the number one target for Bryce Young, who,
despite his up and downs as an NFL quarterback, has
shown that he can support Fantasy vible weapons. And most
notably it's been Adam Feelin, who is a much older
wide receiver who's been able to be productive when on
the field and win healthy. Adam Feelin's last six games
as the Panthers' number one wide receiver last year almost

(06:48):
fifteen Fantasy points per game. That would have been eighth
among all wide receivers, and he was thirty four years
old and he was producing that way with Bryce Young
as his quarterback. Dave Canalis knows exactly what he's doing
with Tetron McMillan. He drafted him for a reason. He
had a lot of success in Tampa Bay with Mike Evans.
That's been at one of the comps for Tetro McMillan
coming out of Arizona. I just think that he's being

(07:11):
drafted at his floor just based on him being a
top ten NFL draft pick, and he's one of the
most underdiscussed, kind of underrated top ten wide receiver draft
picks that I can remember. And the fact that he's
going in the same range as mylik Neighbors. Again, I
don't think that he's the same talent as Neighbors, but
I think the similar bet to make as dropped this
guy into an offense without any established pass catchers, maybe

(07:34):
like Jalen Cooker, but I mean he was an undrafted
guy who's also been banged up a little bit throughout
the off season. So for me, Tetro McMillan is one
of the easiest clicks you can make for all the
reasons we've already talked about.

Speaker 1 (07:44):
Yeah, I don't we don't need to rehash it too
much because we've talked about him a lot. I will do.
I've made this point a bunch of times this summer,
so for those who haven't heard it yet, here it is.
If you have heard yet, sorry, this will be the
last time I make this point. I have made that
comparison to Neighbors a ton. He is not as talented
as Neighbors, but he is this year's Neighbors in terms
of where he is going in drafts just simply does
not line up with where he will be next year
to our point that we lead this show with, like

(08:06):
this is the cheapest I believe he will ever be
going in drafts. I am really confident that this guy
is going to be a top fifteen wide receiver next year,
if not even higher. Honestly, like I just I can't
understand ranking where he is. What is really surprising me
to me Ericson about him is tedor O. McMillan is
twenty third in our half PPR Expert Consensus Rankings ADP.
His real time ADP, which is a new future that

(08:27):
Fantasy Pros has everybody should check out, is wide receiver
twenty six. This is a top ten pick, a rookie
who's really talented that a lot of people like us
have been talking up for a long time this summer.
And the ADP is lower than his ranking. That's uncommon.
Usually it's flipped, so he is still very attainable. I
just had a salary cap draft over the weekend and

(08:48):
I got him for like seven bucks in a two
hundred dollars budget format. I'm like, this is more of
a home league format that that league was in. But
if you are in one of those leagues, the interest
is not quite I think matching what we think the
upside is. So yes, he's very easily inside my top
twenty at the position. Again real time ADP is wide
receiver twenty six. He's behind Xavier Worthy, Courtland Sutton, who

(09:09):
I really like, DJ Moore, DeVante Smith, George Pickens, DK Metcalf.
Those are a lot of guys either in questionable offenses
or who are not the number one target in their offense.
Like we saw last year Dave Canalis worked his magic
second half on Bryce Young. Bryce some home doesn't need
to six step four. He just needs to be what
he was in the second half, and he can easily
support a very talented top ten draft pick at the position.

(09:31):
And I think some of the reasons that people are
a little maybe not like forgetting about McMillan, but just
like not completely over the moon is because his best
college season wasn't his last college season, but his twenty
twenty three was insanely good, and it's twenty four wasn't
so terrible that it's like, oh, this dude fell off boards.
He was still the eighth pick. So yeah, I mean again,
we've we've talked about it at a time we can

(09:52):
move on because I know we're in agreement, and.

Speaker 2 (09:54):
I do want to say one last thing on him.
You take it from me. When we were at the combine,
you know, with all of the prospects before they were
all drafted, somebody asked Travis Hunter who the best wide
receiver he faced in college football was, and he said
it was Tetro McMillan actually said it was Tea Mac.
That's what he said, because that's what we have to
call him. He's either t Mac or Tetro McMillan. It
is not tet. Do not call that man tet. His

(10:15):
mom will find you.

Speaker 1 (10:16):
I want to call him tet because I just want
to give that I like, I want a one syllable nickname.
It's not even that it's tet. The first part of
his name is just like t Mac is two syllables,
ted a roa is you know, three syllables or four
I can count. But I like the tet just because
it's so simple. But uh, yeah, we'll try and respect
respect her wishes. Yeah, Like I I gen, I'm really
like if I could plant my flag on one player

(10:38):
this year. It's I think that Tetro McMillan is going
to be a top twelve receiver in drafts a year
from now. Like that's I just feel really confident about
that because I think it's really good and the situation
is literally perfect for him. Let's go to your other
kind of round three to six guy, your certified league
winner here.

Speaker 2 (10:55):
I'm going to go with Kenneth Walker, running back for
the Seattle Seahawks. And I know that the discourse with
Kenneth Walker is he's gonna stay healthy, He's gonna get hurt.
Zac Sharpen has taken over the backfield understand those concerns.
I think that it's baked into his ADP now where
you're seeing him fall into round four, going outside of
the top three rounds. But the upside case with Kenneth

(11:16):
Walker is that he is the RB one and belco
of the Seahawks offense, and in Kubiak's scheme. Last year,
we saw Alvin Kamara be number one expected Fantasy points
per game. So when you married the role in this
offense at running back with Ken Walker and how explosive
he is, it is a pass catcher like he showed
last season, a tackle breaking machine like he showed last season,

(11:39):
then you have the recipe and all the ingredients for
a top five fantasy football or running back. If everything hits.
It's a contract year for Kenneth Walker, like he has
to ball out this season, and I think the Seahawks
are prepping him by playing him being very conservative, not
playing in the preseason because they're ready to unleash him
down the stretch. I know sometimes with backfields, we fall

(12:01):
in love with the guy that's behind them because the
other guys can dealing with injuries. Sometimes that's what happens. Right,
maybe it is going to be Sharboney, and that's no
reason you can't draft both players, like you can draft
both players like no one's stopping you if you want
to get Walker and Sharboney as the handcuff. But a
lot of times you also get this wrong where no,
the second running back actually doesn't get involved as much
as we are all projecting, as the coach speak is indicating.

(12:22):
So for me, I'm just looking back at the last
two years what we've seen of these two guys, and
when Walker's been healthy, Walker's always been the guy, and
I would feel different it was a new head coach
in Seattle. It's a new offensive play caller, but Mike
McDonald is still calling the shots. He's still the head coach,
and I still think that he believes that Ken Walker
is their best running back. And I actually found a
quote from last season from head coach Mike McDonald and

(12:46):
it was talking to his running backs coach for the Seahawks, Kennedy, Paulamlu,
and they were looking at the roster. Basically said, every
time we go over the roster, Kennedy, paulmlu, he gives
me a little hint, like, let's feed this guy. He
could be special with ken in reference to Ken Walker.
So obviously last year he was that when he was
on the field. He was a top twelve fantasy running
back when he was healthy. So we're making bets on

(13:08):
Christ McCaffrey to stay healthy. Safe one markets. I mean,
those guys are going in round one. We know what
they're upside is if they can stay healthy through all
seventeen weeks. Ken Walker again, not to that extent, but
now you have to just make that risk in round
four versus round one. I'm willing to take that shot
because I think that if he is healthy on the field.
He's going to vastly outproduce it and be a top
ten fantasy running back just based on this new scheme

(13:31):
that he's in in the talent that Ken Walker.

Speaker 1 (13:33):
Is real time ADP's thirty seventh pick, so basically the
first pick of round four. I think the most important
point you make about Walker is that the ADP hasn't risen,
despite the fact that you know you can paint a
pretty clear picture of what the upside is. He's still
going around for. Because I was really high on Walker
early in the offseason, I have come off it a
little for literally only one reason, and that reason is

(13:56):
I am just tired of seeing like you know, foot
pain and not practic to sing like it. Just it
just makes me that nervous enough to not be like
like as gung ho as I am about Tedo McMillan.
I still really like Walker, I'm just not as like
I am planting my flag. I feel really confident about
this in the same way. But it is strictly an
injury concern thing, because he's had some injury stuff the

(14:16):
last couple of seasons and has been dealing some some
of that foot stuff in practice this August. If you
guaranteed me health. I think this is a first round
pick honestly, like like, I am totally with you on
what the upside is. I don't have any doubts about
the usage when healthy, even though I really like Sharbonay.
I love the way this running game I expect it
to look with Kubiak and just the general kind of

(14:37):
talk around this team in camp. Greys Abel was like
one of my favorite draft picks of the entire draft
in April, and he has looked every bit the part
so far in Argus in August in terms of just
improving the offensive line at guards so like, I love
literally he checks every box for me, especially as a
fourth round pick. I would take him the third, probably
just to make sure I get him, you know, late third,
rather than wait for the fourth. But the does concern

(15:00):
me a little, but that's still kind of baked into
the price.

Speaker 2 (15:02):
To your point, I guess for me, it's just about
looking at the potential bell cows in his range. There
are really none. I mean, Breese Hall is going to
probably be in a committee. James Cook, we know, is
not a bell cow. Then you have some of the
rooi running backs Henderson and Harvey again, those guys aren't
profiling as straight up bell cows. Now. They have appealing
upside cases, But when you're looking at the best case

(15:22):
scenario outcome, I think ken Walker has the case to
be the highest ranked running back in that situation. So
that's why I'm bullish on ken Walker, and I think too,
there was something else I was thinking about with him.
The thought has escaped me though.

Speaker 1 (15:37):
Well. The three names just while you're thinking about that,
the three names going after him in real time ADP
before you get to like Colin Henderson are Kamara, Hubbard,
and Connor. That feels like more of a floor play
versus ceiling guys like Connor and Hubbard, like because they
could have, you know, the usage that we're looking for
in those offenses. I mean, those are some of the
more popular, like boring picks that people are like, Yeah,
these guys are probably going to be value at the

(15:58):
end of the day, but the sea is just different
with Walker.

Speaker 2 (16:01):
Yeah, so I actually remembered I was thinking after week one,
if we had to put, like we had to rearrange
all the guys again, we do in our rest of
the season rankings. Ken Walker's not going to be in
this range anymore, like he's going to be either significantly
higher if he ends up being the bell cut week one,
or he's gonna drop significantly because oh now full blown
committee sharbon az the RB one run for the hills. Like,

(16:23):
I think it's really more of that scenario. So I
think this round four price is really more of a
hedging our bets because we aren't one hundred percent sure
and it is a position where you got to pick
a side, and there are people that are on the
Charbonne side. He's taken over. That's the bet you want
to make, That's fine, But I want to bet on
the guy I think is the more talented guy in
the backfield, and I think that it is Kenneth Walker.
So that's the bet that I will make, and hopefully

(16:45):
when we're talking about him and entering week two, we
can talk about ken Walker baby as a by candidate
for those that maybe still don't believe even if he
balls out in week one.

Speaker 1 (16:54):
I think it's the Ringer guys who kind of coin
like the week one test, like the eyeball test, like
we could be stating there two thirty Eastern week one
and on that first Sunday and it's just like, yeah,
this was a mistake to rank Kenneth walk here. Like
you see two long plays, you see the off the
running game look great for Seattle, and you're just immediately like, yes,
this was clearly done by us all August. What we're doing.

Speaker 2 (17:13):
When you see the when you see them lineup in
the I formation with the full back.

Speaker 1 (17:17):
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Speaker 1 (18:37):
Let's move to our sort of mid round league winners here,
starting off with a wide receiver from the Packers.

Speaker 2 (18:45):
Yeah, so I'm not even sure he even qualifies for
middle rounds anymore because he's ADP has continued to fall
in fall, so he's probably more of a late round guy.
And it's Jane Reed. He's dealing with a foot injury.
It's reached a point where and we were drafted in
the Fantasy Pros League today he fell outside the top
one hundred and twenty overall picks. It's just too far

(19:07):
for Jaden Reid, a player that the last two seasons
as a rookie and second year receiver has been wide
receiver twenty six and wide receiver twenty three. And now
he's going clearly outside the top forty five wide receivers.
I believe the last time I checked real time ADP.

Speaker 1 (19:21):
And this he's wide receiver forty six, by the way,
in real time.

Speaker 2 (19:23):
Yeah, so this is just a bet on talent, right.
I believe in his quarterback. I mean, how many guys
are you can you find attached to a quarterback that
we think is good, that can support fantasy viable weapons.
And Jaden Reid last year still super efficient. He was
nineteen to the NFL in yards per route run. He's
led the Packers in receptions in yards for two straight

(19:44):
seasons weeks one through thirteen. Last year for Jadan Reid,
he was wide receiver eight overall. Top ten wide receiver,
he was wide receiver eighteen in points per game. I
know that the qualm with him, again, this was also
before the foot injury, which we still are trying to
gather more information about. But the hesitance with him is
the usage. But if you just look at a lot

(20:04):
of guys that primarily operate out of the slot, they
see a lot of motion. Those are usually guys that
we want to draft in fantasy because they're getting lay
up targets where they can be super efficient like Jadan
Reid has been through the first two years of his career.
I mean you just look at his operation and how
well he's performed from the slot. Just looking at leaders
in receiving yards per EPA or receptions per EPA from

(20:26):
the slot last year, the top guys in that category
were a Lad McConkey, Jack Smith, and Joba I'mona, ros
Saint Brown and Jade Reid. So everyone else except Reed
was a wide receiver one last season. So again going
back to are the ingredients of a wide receiver breakout
here with this player, and I think they are from
a talent perspective, I think that he has shown through
two years the Flashes that this guy can be a

(20:48):
potential league winner. And now given the price where you're
drafting him as your wide receiver six or even like
wide receiver seven, because he's just absolutely buried, and even
if he misses Week one with his foot injury, he
becomes an IR stash player where you can just pick
him up, draft him late, put him on your IR,
and then add someone else, like a defensive kicker for
your roster. So I just a believer in the Packers

(21:10):
passing game. Again Tucker Kraft, who will also talk about
a little later on, He's still my number one target
in his Packers' offense from the receivers. But Jaden Reid,
as he just continues to fall, I'm just scooping him
up because I believe in the talent.

Speaker 1 (21:22):
So I said, I was gonna agree with you a
lot in this episode. This is one where I did
not feel this way early on. I have really come
around on I think the league winner in this receiving room.
You actually picked two guys in this receiving room. We'll
get to the other one in a second. I actually
think it's neither. I think it might be Matthew Golden.
I've really come around on first round pick. He looks

(21:43):
very good in camp supposedly, you know, according to the
reports and everything, that they have really liked what they've seen.
He's getting good usage. It sounds like and I know
that the college production profile isn't necessarily what we were
looking for, but of a lot of the guys that
like watch film, like Dan Brugler, Daniel Jeremiah, like Fitz
even mentions this in his write up on the site

(22:04):
about Golden. They had him as like a top fifteen
overall prospect, and he goes to an offense that I think, like,
I've a big believer in Matt Lafleur. I know they
spread the ball around, but they've never had this first
round receiver type in the offense to target heavily before.
I'm really high on Jordan Love this year now that
I expected to be fully healthy coming off of like
an injury riddled last season. I just think Golden is

(22:26):
the guy that because he's going he's wide receiver forty
one in real time ADP, so a very similar range
to Jane Reed, just a little bit higher by round.
It's maybe about two rounds higher. Even though it's only
about five spots amongst the position, Golden has moved up
a lot in the last week. He's jumped up thirteen
spots actually on real time ADP. But I just think
the upside is maybe higher there given what we've seen

(22:48):
some of the limited usage from Reid in the past,
and I like investing in this offense, which which is
really at the end of the day, why I'm investing
a lot in Jordan Love because then I don't have
to pick where the ball is going. I'm just picking
the guy that is distributing the ball. But I think
Golden is a great investment too.

Speaker 2 (23:04):
I agree with that. I mean I have Golden ranked
over Jaden Reid or if I don't ad upted my
rankings because I was in again in that Fantasy Pros
draft I was doing, I pulled Matthew Golden up because
I recognized the upside bed he has as a first
round pick. Jadan Reid again, he's hurt right now, so
I'm not going to feel comfortable drafting read over Matthew
Golden when Golden is the healthier receiver and he's probably

(23:28):
a better bet to just lead the Packers in routes
run this season. And I think the thing that stands
the most out about Golden is whenever he was asked
to step up with Texas last year when Isaiah Bond
was out just disappointing left and right and not delivering
on expectations, Matthew Golden did like that was his like
calling guard coming out was he had low expectations and

(23:50):
he just continued to smash them every single time. And
the perfect example that was at the combine when Isaiah
Bond comes out and talks about, Yeah, I'm gonna break
the record, I'm so fast, I'm gonna do this that
Matthew Golden's like, you know, I'm just gonna run do
the best I can. You guys will see. I think
we're gonna run pretty well. But we'll see how things
shake out. And who's the one that just runs the
blazing for you and who disappoints? You know, Matthew Goldman

(24:11):
is the one that shines. Bond disappoints. And then obviously
you see where the draft capital ended up in. Matthew
Goldens is definitely set up for success in the Packers' offense.
So again, you just want to invest in this Packers'
offense because I think that when you're attached to Jordan Love,
we're going to see a league winner come from. Like,
that's probably my most confident take is some of the
Packers receiving game is going to be a league winner,
So draft all of them when you have the opportunity

(24:33):
to do so.

Speaker 1 (24:34):
It's a good point. And also like, like Christian Watson's
going to miss most of the year, right, Like I'm
I'm not as a first round receiver. If you're investing
in Matthew Golden, you're not worried about like Romeo Dobs
or Dntavian Wicks, even although I like those players. Fine,
it's basically Golden or Reid, and Reid is dealing with
his own injury stuff and his own history of maybe
not the usage we're exactly looking for. So I'm like, like,
why wouldn't it be the first round pick who is

(24:54):
impressing in camp and who a lot of film guys
had as this elite prospect in the class. Like, again,
I did not feel this way early. This is something
I have come around on throughout July and August. But
I'm just like, I just think Golden's going way too.
I don't think you should be outside the top forty receivers.
And I think the upside is like significant. I like
there's a lot of rookie receivers. I like this year
we don't have them on the list, but like in
Mecha Buka, I think could have been on this this

(25:17):
conversation today. Again, we already talked about Tedro McMillan. I
think Golden deserves to be in that conversation as a
guy that's going too low amongst the rookie receivers.

Speaker 2 (25:25):
Now, ok, I just want to say. The thing that's
interesting is Golden has not seen this like this crazy
rise like Abuka has. Yeah, where you like the next
thing you look at like, oh well Muka a round
four like that's what you're expecting to see. But Matthew
Golden does not have that around him. And you can
say you thought Buka was a better prospect. I think

(25:45):
I would agree with that. I had him iron my
rookie rankings. But just given the opportunity, I mean, beside
Buka raised because guys are hurt on the Buccaneers. Well,
we just talked about Jayene Reed's injury, John David Wix's
banged up Romeo Dobs. The coach is asking are he's
going to get cut for the team, which I was
a ridiculous question for them to ask.

Speaker 1 (26:03):
Well, so let's let's skip ahead and with this conversation.
And so I apologize to the editors were going a
little bit out of order from the show sheet. But
one of the other mid round guys you have is
Tucker Craft, who's also in this offense. So how does
he fit into this whole conversation for you?

Speaker 2 (26:16):
Well, I think that he's probably my number one. Right.
If you're hey, you can only pick one packer receiver
tight end to be the league winner, it's Tucker Craft
for me. And I think I just like making this
bet based on if Golden or Jaden Reid hit, Okay, great,
I have another wide receiver that I can kind of
add to my stable. But if I get Tucker Kraft
to be this year's Brock Bauers or John new Smith,

(26:36):
that I feel like it's such a significantly better hit
for my fantasy team in the way that I build
things out, like hitting on that late round tight end
is going to be a bigger win for my team
than necessarily hitting on a wide receiver. So that's why
Kraft is a guy I want to invest in priority
Numero uno. And it just goes back to he's really
good at football. Yards out to the catch. Last year

(26:57):
he was number one and guards out to the catch
per reception. And what do we see in this category
twenty twenty three. The top two guys, George Kittle Jonas
Smith both were top four tight ends the following season
after leading the NFL and yards out to the catch
per reception. So, you know, going back to my old
scouting days in terms of looking at prospects and just
kind of find the next tight end breakout, yards out

(27:19):
to the catch tends to be kind of sticky. And
it's because when guys get the ball on their hand,
if they can make plays at tight end, they score points,
they score fantasy points that they break out, and I
think a craft is on the trajectory to break out here,
especially without the Packers' receivers. Again, guys are banged up,
and as fun as Matthew Golden might be, he doesn't
necessarily profile as an alpha receiver in terms he's going

(27:42):
to command like a thirty percent target shair like that
was not his game at Texas, Like, he can be
really efficient, he can catch touchdowns, he can be used downfield,
but is he going to be seeing double digitargets every
single week? I would probably say I'm a little suspect
of that. So that being said, it opens up opportunities
for Craft to see high value opportunities in the red
zone downfield. So that's for me, like all the reasons

(28:03):
why you want to be in on Tucker Craft because
I think the I think that he's the best bet
to leave this team in red zone targets. And if
Jordan Love tosses thirty touchdowns again, then Kraft is going
to be on the receiving end of a lot of them.

Speaker 1 (28:14):
Yeah, And I mean to the conversation we've just had
about this offense as a whole, like read dealing with
the injury Golden maybe not the highest target earner. We're
not worried about guys like Dobbs and and Wicks if
we're comparing to real breakouts here, Like the only the
only knock against Kraft is like what kind of aolume
is he going to get if the opportunity is there
to get real volume. We we love the efficiency, we

(28:35):
love the player overall, talent. He's the best tight end
on this team. Like, yeah, I think it's a great pick,
and we don't. Is he the only tight end we're
talking about today? He might be. I think I don't
think we picked any others, but he's been your favorite.

Speaker 2 (28:49):
He's the strategy of late run tight end. It's him
and then Tyler Warren.

Speaker 1 (28:53):
Or Tyler Ward and those two are back to back
in real time ADP and it's like, just get one.
If you're not getting one of the elite Tier one guys,
just get one of those two. And like it's the
easiest position to give it strategy advice for this year,
and everybody, let's your approach to the position one of
the top three or if they go to early either
either Craft or Warn't done. Don't even think about it.

Speaker 2 (29:09):
Like the amount of how bullish I am on Tucker
Craft is I could draft a tight end among the
big three between Kittle McBride or Rock Bauers, and I'm
still draft from Tucker Craft on those teams just because
I'm so high on this particular player and i just
think that he can be such a big hit that yeah,
I'm not looking at necessarily draft two tight ends but

(29:32):
I'm just such a believer in him accruing value over
the season that maybe it'll give an opportunity to flip
one of them for a running back or wide receiver.
If Tucker Craft really hits in a big way that
I think he can.

Speaker 1 (29:43):
Let's go to Jordan Mason, your next mid round league winner. Here,
this is somebody who I'm curious what you think about
the opportunity if this is somebody that needs an injury
or if you think can be a big, you know,
outperformer of their current cost, even with Aaron Jones staying healthy.

Speaker 2 (30:01):
I think that he can be because we've seen this
kind of script before with these number two running backs
that run really hot on touchdowns and that's kind of
how they find their fantasy success. Saw with Jamal Williams
a couple of years ago, two years ago, it was
Raheem Moster, right, it wasn't just a chan that was
good as rookie like Raheem Moster. It scored over twenty
touchdowns in that Dolphins offense, and he wasn't the number

(30:23):
one running back on that team. So we've seen time
and town again the couple backfields every year produced multip
running backs for fantasy. Every indication has been that Jordan
Mason's going to have a standalone role in this backfield,
specifically at the goal line and in the red zone.
And he was really efficient and great last year behind
Christian McCaffrey filling in. He was second in the NFL
in rushing yards before his injury in Week eight. I

(30:45):
don't think I'm going out in a limb saying that
the leading rusher for the Minnesota Vikings in twenty twenty five,
if he stays healthy, he's going to be Jordan Mason.
That doesn't mean he's going to see the most touches,
because I think that Aaron Jones still going to be
used more in neat passing game, But in games where
the Vikings are up trying to run out the clock
or do things in the second half, I think Jordan
Mason's gonna see a lot of touches. And the Vikings

(31:06):
revamped the interior of their offensive line this offseason. They
have a young quarterback who I don't think that they
just want to have, Hey, let's drop back to the
Let's drop back and throw forty times a game with
Jim McCarthy. When you look at the situation. There's gonna
be no Jordan Adison for the first three weeks of
the season. Justin Jefferson has missed like all of training
camp with a hamstring injury. Jalen Naylor is hurt. They're
trying to trade for Adam Thielen, who has never played

(31:28):
with Jaji McCarthy. So I'm not picturing this like high
flying passing attack coming out of the gates week one.
It's gonna be a lot of Jordan Mason and Aaron Jones.
So just given where they go and drafts Jordan Masons
in round eight, he's kind of where I've talked about.
You know, we get a lot of questions about where
do I draft Corey Crosskey Marriot, Where do I draft him?
Jordan Mason is the cutoff for me. It's like, as

(31:48):
long as Jordan Mason is on the board, I am
drafting him over cross Key Merrick because I'm just way
more confident in his role in the Vikings offense. But
once Jeordan Mason is off the board, feel free to
go get Bill, to do whatever you want to go
get him. So like he's he's kind of where I
draw the line because he's definitely my favorite late round
running back.

Speaker 1 (32:05):
There's always a couple examples every year of guys that
I don't have a lot of on my team, but
that's not a reflection of how I feel about them.
I just haven't gotten a lot of Jordan Mason because
there's always somebody else that kind of beats me to
the punch. But I do really like him. I think
he's a good fit for this GID because if, first
of all, I Jones does go down, then this is
a this is a top eight running back weekend a

(32:26):
week out any week that Aaron Jones, who is an
older running back is not playing. But even if he does,
he's I always call like a flex plus. He's like
he's like a guy that you can still start like
a handcuff plus two wherever you want to phrase it,
Like he's a guy that there is contingent upside, but
there is also right now upside. There is also like
you are going to probably get a value. He's RB

(32:46):
twenty nine in real time ADP. Like there's a lot
of names around him that I just feel better about
Jordan Mason, or at the very least like just as
good about Jordan Mason, to the point where I can
wait on him and maybe focus on other positions elsewhere,
knowing that Jordan Mason is kind of sitting there in
my back pocket. So I don't really have anything to
add to what you said, Like I agree with the
case you laid out here.

Speaker 2 (33:07):
Yeah, I think too, especially in standard half PPR formats,
where touchdowns are felt much more significantly. I think PPR
is probably where maybe you don't need to be as
aggressive trying to go after Jordan Mason. But no, I
think that he's again a long shot, a good bet
to lead the NFL in touchdowns. Like at his odds,
I think it was. I think I got like seventy
five to one. I mean, if this Vikings offense is

(33:28):
a top ten offense, then he's gonna be live.

Speaker 1 (33:31):
I think. I think our former colleague Thornton Eistrom has
been tweeting about that. He is a Vikings fan, but
he's been tweeting about this, like not enough people are
talking about Jordan Mason is about to lead the NFL
in touchdowns this year. Yeah, it'd be awesome to see.
We got one more mid round league winner here. We
wanted to squeeze in a quarterback. This is one where again,
I don't have much to say just because we've talked

(33:51):
about him a lot, but holy cow, do I agree
if there is one quarterback that is outside Tier one
right now that I had to bet to finish his
QB one, not as a Tier one QB because I
think the floor is lower for him than other guys. Like,
I'm not saying he is the single best layer on
QB pick you can make, but if I pick one
guy to finish as literally the QB one overall, it's
Drake May of the guys outside Tier one.

Speaker 2 (34:13):
Yeah, I think that the bet is pretty simple. You're
just looking for a quarterback with a dual threat skill set.
Drake May is a rookie average over thirty rushing yarts
per game, and that was in a terrible situation. You
just look at the seven quarterbacks last year that had
at least thirty rushing yards per game. Five of them
were inside the top six in terms of fantasy points
scored per drop back. So essentially it's the cheeko We

(34:36):
know that Richreebar coined it, the Kwanami code. It exists
with Drake May, and he's still super super cheap in
fantasy drafts. So I think that this is also a
great bet in redraft or essentially any format, because what
I always try to talk about with late round quarterbacks
is you got to make sure that you can start
them to open the year. Like if you draft a
late run quarterback and you look at the week one

(34:57):
Week two matchups and oh no, like this is really bad,
I gotta scream the position now are already not the
case with Drake May because he's playing the Raiders at
home week one and the Dolphins in Week two, two
matchups I feel really good about Again, defenses LI will change,
but basedly on the information we have at our disposal,
I think those are good matches for me. I think
it can be a top twelve quarterback both of those weeks.
And Drake May also his bye week isn't until week fourteen,

(35:21):
so I know that you were talking about worman earlier
about how you really like Jordan love Well. Something that
Jordan love managers need to keep in mind is he's
a week five bye week, so like you have to
hit waivers early on because your quarterback, if you only
draft one, is on a bye week very early in
the season. So that's something. Again, these are very minute
points here, but they are tie rams that I use.

Speaker 1 (35:40):
One QB league, those guys are going as backup, so
you could theoretically have like you could take Love and
and May and I would love that as a as
a duo in a one QB league for sure. I
think like the thing with May is like people always
talk about rushing as a ceiling, it's also a floor,
Like even if the offense is bad around him, if

(36:02):
he rushes the way he did last season, and I
think he will probably run more this year, frankly, when
it's not like, hey, why waste him in this lost season,
Like we don't care about wins last year. This year,
the Patriots could take a step forward, So I think
he'll run more. Obviously, we think it's a much stronger
coaching staff, Rod. We know it's a much stronger coaching
staff around him. Even if it's not the best supporting,

(36:23):
you know, system around him on the field, it is
certainly improved from what it was last year. Like the
floor I just think is really high from a fantasy
production standpoint, and the ceiling is also there. Like I'm
not the first person to make this comparison, but it
just really feels like a poor Man's Josh Allen in
terms of fantasy production and what he can give you
with the rushing, and I like it will surprise me

(36:44):
zero percent if he is a Tier one quarterback in
next year's drafts. And I don't know that that's the
case for everybody. There's a lot of guys in this range.
The reason that I don't have more Drake May is
because there are so many quarterbacks in this range that
I like, and I think it's worth investing in all
of them. But a lot of the other ones, the
guys like Love Caleb Williams, Stroud, Dak Prescott going a
little earlier, Trevor Lawrence, These are all guys that I

(37:06):
think are going too low. May is the one that
I think is going, like multiple tiers too low, like
that if he hits a ceiling and those other guys
could be values, May could be the league winner. And
I think there is a difference.

Speaker 2 (37:18):
There, agreed. I mean, second, your quarterbacks take massive leaps
all the time, and he just has been going back
to who's got the ingredients to be a league winner?
Greg May's got it at a quarterback.

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Let's go to our sort of like final roster spot,
last few round lottery ticket types. These are guys really
like rounds eleven and beyond. We can go a little

(38:53):
bit faster here because we don't really need hiss much
on the downside because these are guys going late anyway.
We're really just kind of focusing purely on upside and
like you know, Jake Seely who's been on a bunch
of shows with us this offseason and will be into
the season as well. It talks a lot about like
don't waste your bench, right like, these are the types
of guys. Don't waste your bench. Draft these sorts of
players because we are only caring about the upside and

(39:13):
guys that could end up if situation breaks right, becoming
league winners.

Speaker 2 (39:18):
For you.

Speaker 1 (39:18):
First name off the bat here for you is Bachelle Tuton.

Speaker 2 (39:22):
Love Bachell Tune. Since the scouting process getting to meet
him at the NFL combine was blown away, he thought
that he was being slept on, and then he just
absolutely buve up the NFL combine testing and then everyone
knew his name, and then it kind of cooled. He
had one fumble and OTAs and everyone was like, well,
we got to write this guy off. He's terrible. He's
never gonna have a role in this backfield. But I

(39:43):
think that's still firmly in play. I don't know what
the leash is with Etn and Tank Bigsby, where those
guys clearly look like they're going to be operating as
the one two to start the year, but how long
will that last. I think that there's reasons to be
skeptical of how involved they're going to be throughout the season.
But what we know is true is the Jaguars new
regime invested draft capital into bea shall Tuton, Like that's

(40:08):
the running back that they won in a completely stacked,
loaded running back class. That's who they decided to pick,
and I think early in the season there was a
lot of steam for him being this year's Bucky Irving.
I still think that's firmly in play again, not just
making the connected dots between Cohen and he's the guy
that drafted Bucky Irving the year before in Tampa Bay.
But when you just look at what Tuton can offer.

(40:29):
He just has absolute killer speed. I think that he
has better speed in both Etn and Tank Bigsby. He
can be used in the passing game. He's a broken
tackle machine. Sports Info Solutions records broken tackle rate. Number
one in twenty twenty three out of that draft class
was Bucky Irving. Number one in last year or this
year's draft class was Beashell Tuton. So I don't think
it's by accident that Liam Cohen decided to pick Tuton

(40:52):
out of the crop after seeing how successful Bucky Irving
was in his offense in twenty twenty four. So I'm
just chasing the upside here with him. Yes, it may
not happen in Week one for him, but the fact
that he's probably gonna be used also as a kick returner.
I think we're going to start to see his expulsiveness
on display and the Jaguars are going to find out
and realize that, hey, we got to get this guy

(41:13):
on the field somehow, some way. And there's still a
possibility that one of these Jaguars running backs gets traded,
whether it's Bigsby or Travis Etn who's playing in the
last year on his contract. That's not to say I
don't like Etn. I think that he can still be
like a decent value in drafts as someone if you're
going late at the position, he can fill in some
of those earlier weeks. But I think down the stretch,
especially when we're talking about second half league winners, I

(41:33):
think Baseell Tuten could end up being that guy emerging
from this backfield.

Speaker 1 (41:37):
You took the words out of him out of my mouth.
I was going to say, like, maybe not the season
long league winner, but the second half league winner type.
Feels like I said from the beginning with this backfield,
like I just want the guy who's going cheapest. I
kind of anticipated that to be Tuton, maybe Tank Bigsby.
It's tutoned by a pretty wide margin. In real time adp.
Etn is about the ninety seventh pick, Tank Biggsby is

(41:59):
about one oh fourth pick, and Tuten is the one
hundred and thirty second pick, So there's like a multiple
round gap between him and those other two in this backfield,
I want the guy who's cheapest and who also has
pretty obvious upside if he does end up getting the
opportunity and taking advantage of it. We can go to
the next player here, Marvin Mims, somebody who we've talked about,
we talked about last year, who other people have talked

(42:21):
about on this show, who I am hesitant to fully
trust Sean Payton even when he you know, Mims is
the reason why the only case to make against r J.
Harvey is well, he kind of did this with Mims
and we saw what happen there. But I do think
like when he's on the field, and he's been on
the field a lot this this preseason, when he's on

(42:41):
the field, he has per touch, you know, fantasy productions
through the roof. So I think it's a pretty obvious
case to make.

Speaker 2 (42:47):
Yeah, Week one, Denver Broncos, Tennessee Dians, all eyes are
going to be on Marvin Mims, and whether he's on
the field, they're not. Like, that's really like the big
thing we're going to be watching for, because that's what
we're trying to figure out if the pre season usage
carries over, which is not necessarily always the case with
Sean Payton, like you just kind of alluded to, but

(43:07):
if Marvin Mins does have a full time role in
this offense, it's really easy to paint the case where Okay,
this is a third year wide receiver breakout, because last
season he showed how efficient he could be. He averaged
sixty two receiving yards per game, let all wide receivers
in yards per route run in the second half of
the season from Week eleven onward, twenty eight percent target
rate that was thirteenth in the NFL. Super young player.

(43:29):
He's only twenty three years old. Again, we were expecting
this Broncos offense to be really good this season. Corlton
Sutton is there as the established alphul wide receiver one,
but behind him you have evman Ingram. He's more of
the underneath target. Troy Franklin has gotten some buzz as
well as a second year guy, but they tradewait de
von Vley, so you would think, Okay, at least that's
a that's got to be some indication that, hey, they
feel good at least about their young wide receivers. Maybe

(43:50):
it's more about Pat Bryant, the rookie they drafted this year,
but I liked Marvin Min's a lot coming out of
college and he's flashed so much at the NFL level
that I can't help. But I got to take a chance.
I need to know if this is going to stick,
and I'm willing to take it as a draft pick,
putting him on my bench for week one and seeing
if this plays out, because we're gonna know because once
week one comes along, and if Sean Payton decides nope,

(44:12):
Marvin Mims back to your twenty seven percent snapshare, then
you can cut him and just move on. In Week
two comes and you're done with Marvin Mims. The experiment
is over. But if he comes out and has a
full time role in this offense, I think that he's
going to draftically beat his ADP outside the top fifty
wide receivers. So I mean last year, Mims was number
one in yards out to the catch perception and he
played twenty seven percent of the snaps on offense last year.

(44:35):
Twenty seven That is so astronomically low that I think
there's only nowhere to go but up here. And if
he's in that seventy seventy five percent range, I think
you're looking at a potential wide receiver three that you
can start potential on a weekly basis.

Speaker 1 (44:49):
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right ericson next kind of lottery ticket league winner type
you got for us.

Speaker 2 (45:30):
Going with Braylan Allen, running back for the New York Jets.
He's been kind of the human hype piece out of
Jets training camp or the talking about how unstoppable he looks.
He's a two hundred and forty pound running back but
just turned twenty one years old. It's an absolute monster.
He's gonna be splitting carries and usage and touches with
Bresee Hall and I'm buying it a little bit here.
I think that he fits pretty well. When you're talking about, Okay,

(45:51):
the Jets want to be ground and pound, why would
you not want to feed this two hundred forty pound
running back. Look at how efficient he was last year
when converting short yard garage. He was the best short
yard is running back from twenty twenty one twenty twenty
four just based on how well he was converting. He
converted eleven of his twelve thirty and one s last season.
That's over ninety one percent. So I think there's a

(46:13):
real opportunity that he's going to see goal line touches
in the Jets backfield and Breese Hall. We know that
his appeal is in the passing game. Yes, they don't
have a lot of targets behind Garrett Wilson, so we
do expect Bristall to see some action there. But how
often is the Jets really going to throw if it's hey,
we're dropping back to throw to Garrett Wilson if he's
not open, maybe justin Field's scramble. I just think that

(46:35):
he fits exactly what the Jets are telling us that
they want to do. Into describing to run the football,
and I think I can't forget about Braylan Allen is
last year. You know, before we saw Breshall kind of
disappoint we all view Bresall and I know I had
him as my highest ranked running back last season, and
that was obviously a big disappointment, big miss on my part.
But part of the reason why I did miss was

(46:57):
Braylan Allen was way more involved I ever thought. I
didn't think for once that a fourth round rookie draft
pick was going to take away touches from Breese Hall,
who I thought could have been the again, the highest
scored running back entering last year. But for over the
first month of the season, you see Allen out there
on the field earning touches from a healthy Breese Hall.
So I think that's a pretty strong indicator that, hey,

(47:17):
Braylan Allen's got some real talent here that again, at
least one coaching staff. Maybe that wasn't the greatest coaching
staff that decided to put him on the field, but
I think it shows a little bit of something and
it reminds me of Chase Brown his rookie year where
he got himself on the field. Even though Joe Mixon
was still healthy and it was only a limited sample
kind of what we saw with Braylan all last year
where he kind of fizzled out in the second half
of the season. But those first couple of games man

(47:37):
as a twenty year old running back, you know, forcing
his way onto the field. I thought it was pretty impressive,
and I don't want to completely write that off. And
he's going laid enough one now where I'm willing to
buy into this hype a little bit.

Speaker 1 (47:47):
Would you rather draft Braylan Allen or Bill Crosskey Merritt.

Speaker 2 (47:51):
I would rather draft Bill Crossby merrit.

Speaker 1 (47:54):
Alan is technically two spots ahead of him. And in fact,
I don't think there's a way for me to throw
this tree question at you without giving away the answer.
So I'm just gonna tell you because it shocked me.
If so again. On Real Time ADP, which we've ran
for Salat on the show, you can see players trends
in the last twenty four hours. You can also see
their trend in the last seven days. So in the
last week. In the last week, Jacory Krossky Merritt is

(48:15):
only the second biggest riser amongst running backs, and it's
a massive rise. Third place is like thirty spots lower
than him in terms of like the degree to which
they've risen in the last week. But he's only second.
Braylan Allen has risen more in the last week in
real time ADP than krossky Merritt has. Krossky merritts at
almost thirty nine spots. Allen is at almost forty spots
up in the last seven days. So the hype you mentioned,

(48:37):
the hype there like literally more hype for him than
krossky Merritt right now.

Speaker 2 (48:42):
Yeah, But the reason I do lean towards Bill as
my pick is who could be a top five offense
since the NFL, It's not probably not the Jets. Like
it's probably not going to be the Jets. Like the Commanders,
I don't think anyone will be surprised if their top
five offense.

Speaker 1 (48:57):
Just with Jade Daniels, I'm kind of worried about the
Commander's offenses. You're I feel like a lot of it.

Speaker 2 (49:02):
Do you think the Jets can outscore the Commanders.

Speaker 1 (49:04):
I think the Jets can have a better running game
than the Commanders. I won't go further than that.

Speaker 2 (49:10):
That's fair.

Speaker 1 (49:11):
Speaking of running games, I love your next pick here,
Dylan Sampson. I was in on him during the draft process.
I was in on him even when he went to
the same team as Quinchawn Judkins. That's looked better as
the summer's gone on. Obviously for some off the field
reasons too, But I was very high at Sampson like
from day one, and I only feel better about that now.
I love him as a lay round pick.

Speaker 2 (49:31):
His ADPs is not adjusted to judkins ADPs continuing to
decline like you'd think that they just be kind of
like ships passing in the night, where you see Judkins
falling and falling and falling rightfully so and Dylan Sampson
cruising up the boards. But he's not. And it doesn't
make a lot of sense to me, because he's a
very talented prospect in his own right. The Browns invested

(49:52):
good draft capital in him round four after they already
drafted quin Should Judkins. But Judkins is nowhere to be found.
We don't know when this got ever going to come back,
and then how long he's going to be suspended for.
He's only really spent the OTAs with the team. He
missed the entire training camp, So I think that Dylan
Sampson with Jerome Ford, who had to take a pay
cut to stay with the Cleveland Browns, like that's his competition.

(50:16):
Jerome Ford, who never really got a chance to start
until Nick Chubb got injured, and even when Nick Chub
came back and did not look good, he took away
the starting job from Jerome Ford. So I don't think
that the Browns view Jerome Ford as this invested so
much in this guy, we think that he's an ower
talented player. If they thought that, then why would they
draft two running backs in this year's draft. So I
think that this is Dylan Sampson's job to win, and

(50:38):
if he does win it, Judgkens have to come back
and take the job away from him, and just given
all the time that he's lost, I don't think that's
going to happen. So I think Sampson is just the
ultimate You get some early season upside with him with
just Jerome Ford as the only guy in his way,
and then if he shows out, I think he might
actually hold this job, depending on when and if Judkins
ever comes back. I think that Sampson, again, he's not

(51:02):
even twenty one years old yet and he had this
monster season. Last year at Tennessee, he broke out thirty
four percent dominator rating. I think that he fits the
scheme really well what the Browns are doing outside zone.
A lot of people talked about at Tennessee how good
that he would project in that type of offense moving forward.
And also he's a pass catcher like another player that
they really talked about during the pre draft process. Very

(51:22):
good hands, he can catch pass out of the backfield.
And we know that Joe Flacko's not running around, so
we know he's going to be able to provide receptions
and targets to his running backs, especially if the Browns
are playing in more you know, back and forth contest,
if they're giving up a lot of points. Again, but
they have to face the Bengals, they got to face
the Ravens. So I think Jill and Samson just checks
off all the boxes of a rookie running back that
you have to be all over, no matter.

Speaker 1 (51:42):
What RB forty six in real time, ADP is going
as a late twelve round pick. I genuinely think I'm
not betting on this to happen. You don't need to
draft him like it's going to happen. I genuinely think
there's a non zero chance he is the best draft
pick you can make this season, because if he does
get this early runway and then just takes the job

(52:03):
because he's that good, which I think is possible, then
you're talking about the lead running back on a run
heavy offense that if Flacco starts for a lot of
the season I think is going to be. It's not
gonna be the best offensive football, but I think it's
gonna score more than maybe we're giving credit to its
scoring this year. So like again, like I'm not saying
reach four rounds to make sure you come away with

(52:24):
Dylan Sampson, right, but in this range that he's going,
I think the upside is as high as literally anybody
going where he is or later.

Speaker 2 (52:34):
I could not agree more. Just kind of think about
what if Judkins doesn't come What if he's a non
factor all year and we were to get a where
would we be drafting Dylan Sampson as a fourth round
rookie with Jerome Ford is his only competition. We would
not be drafting him outside of top forty five running backs,
that's for sure.

Speaker 1 (52:49):
Where where would we be drafting that's actually that's a
great question.

Speaker 2 (52:51):
I mean, like, I mean, where's been where's skam scattabow
been drafted all season long before he got injured. Like,
that's probably in the range, probably inside the top.

Speaker 1 (52:59):
Of the multiple ulipleur rounds higher. Yeah, yeah, I love Samson.
If you've drafted already, though, you can seek your league
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(53:21):
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(53:44):
fantasypros dot com. Slash premium. All right, guys, let's wrap
up here, ericson with a couple of wide receivers. Here,
who do you got?

Speaker 2 (53:52):
So, I've got Bears wide receiver Luther Burden. I think
that his ADP has just kind of fallen a little
bit too far after missing a lot of training camp
in some of the OTAs with an injury, drafted by
the Bears in the second round, and right now currently
on the depth chart, he's behind Lamidae's Akias, which is
definitely not good. But I think that we all know
that that's not going to last. I think that eventually
he's going to take over the starting slot role in

(54:14):
this Bears offense, and I think that makes him kind
of the perfect stash type of wide receiver. Even if
you don't draft him, I think that he could probably
get dropped after Week one or week two because I
don't expect him to do a lot during the opening
part of the season. But if he's ended up playing
the slot role in a Ben Jonson's offense, which has
traditionally been the best that you can have for fantasies
football purposes, I think that he could provide a lot

(54:35):
of upside, especially if one of these Bears receivers are
one of the tight ends goes down with an injury
and Luther Burden has to be stepping into a larger role.
Ben Johnson knows exactly how to use Burden in the
right way out of the slot, putting him in space.
He was a mistackle machine at Missouri. So I think
Luther Burd just based on his ADP wide receiver fifty nine.
He was wide receiver forty six before all this injury

(54:55):
stuff started happening with him during the offseason. So I
think you're getting a severe discount for a player that
I think is pretty boom or bust that I think
is worth stashing kind of see how things play out
for the first month of the year.

Speaker 1 (55:08):
Burden is kind of similar to Golden and that he
was somebody I was actually not that high on early
in the summer, but have have really come round. I
just like that an offensive mind that we respect as
much as we do. Ben Johnson was like, this guy's
a studd and I want to go get him with
an early second carries a lot of it.

Speaker 2 (55:24):
There's a stud.

Speaker 1 (55:25):
Yeah, I'm like, that just carries a lot of weight
for me, and I'm buying into this offense. So yeah,
I like the burden pick. Give me your last receiver here.
This is I know, your favorite, the fifth round receiver
breakout or a fifth year receiver breakoup.

Speaker 2 (55:38):
I refuse to miss the Josh Palmer breakout season, so
that's what I'm going with. Here is my last sleeper
at the wide receiver position. I just think that this
is a good way to spend your draft capital, drafting
wide receivers attached to Josh Allen that go outside the
top seventy wide receivers or wherever he's going, especially when
the number one wide receiver on the Bills is currently

(55:59):
dealing with an injury. Kushaker has missed a lot of
the offseason with the high ankle sprain, which means he
hasn't been practicing, which means you've been seeing Josh Palmer
be able to develop chemistry with his quarterback in Josh Allen.
Josh Palmer's gonna have a full time starting role in
this Bill's offense and is free across every single draft.
I think that he's so worth taking the shot on

(56:20):
in Week one to see if he actually has that
rapport with Josh Allen. I think that he could be
one of the best separators on the Bills, and even
last year again a disappointing season for him, but this
is from debro. Last year he was sixteenth in separation rate,
twelfth in route win rate. So I think that he
actually fills a void for the Bills of a receiver
that hey, he's different from Keyon Coleman. Where Keon Coleman

(56:41):
doesn't really separate, he's winning with contested catches, is a
big red zone threat. Josh Palmer's actually winning with separation,
which the Bills have not had as part of their offense.
I think that he can fill in the role that
they wanted to get from Maury Cooper last year that
did not end up happening. He's only twenty five years old,
and like you alluded to at the top, Worm, you
teas in it the fifth year wide receiver breakout. Look,
these guys get undervalued every single year. Last year was

(57:04):
Jerry Judy again. Why did this team pail this money
to get Jerry Judy? Why did the Browns trade for
Jerry Judy? You look up, oh, Jerry Judy. Fantasy wide
receiver one. Darnell Mooney another guy that maybe got overpaid
in free agency, and what happens he balls out. Jacoby
Myers a couple years before that balls out with the
Las Vegas Raiders in his first season with them. So
I think Josh Palmer and people are sleeping on him.
I think that is going to be the year he

(57:24):
finally breaks out.

Speaker 1 (57:26):
I want to throw out some names that we kind
of solicitated on Twitter to see what our listeners thought
were going to be some of the league winners this season.
We got to get out of here to go take
another show, so we'll go quickly, but I want to
read through them here and get your opinion here, Eric
sent on which of these guys you agree with? I
think they're all pretty good picks, honest. So we've got
some really good responses here, so quickly. Some of the
responses Basehall, Tuton, who already talked about Ricky, Piersall, Traveon Henderson,

(57:47):
Jamison Williams, Calvin Ridley, DJ Moore, and o'maryan Hampton, Courtland Sudden,
who I think we have not talked nearly enough about
on shows this summer, but I think has a ton
of upside too. Which are those states? Sands out to you?
Because I think they're all great picks. Honestly, I think it's.

Speaker 2 (58:03):
The rookie running backs, the guys he listed off, whether
it's Trayvon Henderson Onmaron Hampton, this rookie runing my class
is special, and I think that we're going to see
it from week one. That as hype as we think
that we may be on them, we may not be
high enough on these rookie running backs once we finally
see them hit the field because some of these guys
have just runways where Travan Henderson, he looks like a superstar.

(58:25):
And I get so upset on myself because I think
we did a show a couple maybe like a month
or so ago, where I talked about how he was
overvalued at that time, which couldn't have been more wrong
of a take that I feel so bad about putting
out into the ether because he was appropriately valued now
and maybe he's a little bit overvalued now, but he
just looks like a superstar in the making. He's the
best player on the Patriots offense. And you know, despite

(58:48):
how the Patriots may try to limit his touches in
some way, shape or form, if they want to win
football games like they got to get the ball to
their best player on offense, and it clearly seems like
that guy's Henderson and a Marion Hampton. I mean, we
were all concerned about Najee Harris at the beginning of
the offseason, thinking man Naj's going to be a thorn
in the side of Hampton, and Nauje has been a
zero non factor the entire offseason program because of this

(59:09):
eye injury. So Hampton again, now another running back where
we're excited about. He's got the runway to be the
RB one in this offense and we'll see if Greg
Roman holds him back. But these rookie running backs, I
think that went in doubt click the button on one
of these guys a figure to benefit in the long
run for it.

Speaker 1 (59:27):
I think guys like Ridley and Sutton are definitely good values.
Amongst the submissions that we got here, I think if
I'm defining it like as a true league defining league winner,
like season defining type of player, I think the two
that stand out to me are actually Trevan Henderson is
an obvious one. I think Ricky Piersoll too. I think
there is a world where pier Slid is just like
a top eight receiver this year if the volume is
available because of other injuries and opportunity and what is

(59:49):
typically a very good offense when healthy, he's a very
good player year two. You know, like obviously last years
start off crazy with getting shot in the chest. Like
a very different start to this season for him. Like
I think there's a world war Pier Saw. It takes
step forward and it's just like a clear number one
receiver this season I had to.

Speaker 2 (01:00:05):
Find to camp the season for Ricky Piersoll compared to
the guy I would say that Ricky piers looking to
be this year's JSN Jacksonbith and Jigba, Whereas his rookie
year not really what we wanted to see out of him. Again,
people forget that Jason hurt his wrist last offseason as
a rookie and then entered the year there was a
bunch of other receivers. It was a big kind of
total mess, but pure sal Yeah, man, I think that

(01:00:25):
he's he's slated to tea up here.

Speaker 1 (01:00:27):
Yeah, I love it. I love all these picks. Great
picks by the listeners, great picks by you ericson We
got through it all. Thanks everybody for execut j Reid,
It's okay, Well listen, you know I just like Matthew
Golden a lot. You know, I know you like your
pack yeah, and you like Golden better than Read too.
So even even when we disagree, I'm you know you're
giving me credit here. Ah yeah, but those are our
league winners here, so go out and win your leagues.

(01:00:50):
Hopefully this this episode can help help. That's what it's
all here for, right We're not here to finish in
the third place. We're here to win our fantasy championships.
For ericson, I'm Ryan warmly. Thanks for tuning in. We'll
see again next time.

Speaker 2 (01:01:01):
Back you go home.

Speaker 1 (01:01:02):
Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football podcast.
If you love the show, the best freeway to support
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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Fantasy Football League Winners To Target (Ep. 1673)