Fantasy Gold: The Top 10 Must-Have Players for 2025 | Post Free Agency (Ep. 1548) - FantasyPros - Fantasy Football Podcast

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
What's up, friends, and welcome into Fantasy Pros, the Fantasy
Football Podcast. I'm Chris Welsh, joined by two magnificent voices
in the fantasy football space, the King of Bros. Derek
Brown and the Athletics own Jake Seely. And what of
my co hosts. I've worked with for many, many years
and as I've said many many times, spent you know,

(00:22):
gelato and overnights with our dear friend bogman Jake Seey,
longtime friend, even saw wrestle Mania together. We have great
memories and we'll make great memories today as we are
talking about the ten must have players, We're already doing this.
So who could they be? And how can we dictate
you have to have these players as we record this

(00:43):
in March, Well, we're going to tell you all about
it here right here on Fantasy Pros. Mister Jake Seely,
how are you, my friend? And how do you figure
out the players that we must have this early into drafts?

Speaker 2 (00:55):
So circling back one, it was Royal Rumble, Get your
facts straight? What did I say? WrestleMania?

Speaker 1 (01:01):
Oh yeah, you're right, I'm sorry.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
Royal Rumble live on Chase Field. Which was it you
were Bogman that took the chair that I couldn't take
home on the plane I came.

Speaker 1 (01:09):
I think I took it. I took the extra chair.
It was very nice, it was padded, it was very beautiful.
We were like three rows from like the ring. It
was incredible.

Speaker 2 (01:18):
Yeah, it was. And the funny thing was we went
to an aw with you know, Ja Felicio and we
saw Stings last match and we sat in those chairs again.
On the way out, I sold one of them for
like one hundred bucks because I did the same. But yeah,
so back from Iceland, as you know today, as we
were recording this, it's also a two year anniversary, you
didn't even give me congratulations.

Speaker 1 (01:38):
Congratulations congratulations right, And.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
I thought about that is because we got gelato in Iceland.
As you saw the picture. Every time it's bittersweet, Nicole,
and I keep getting gelato, and I keep tagging you
because I'm like you, actually you and Boggs actually started that.
It was us three that did that for the but
we got it. We got it. And figuring out my
top ten was figuring out I think Deebro probably agree
with me. He's trying to find values on these like

(02:00):
at this point, like there's no reason, but we both
similarly have guys in these there are ones that are
like very close to what their ADP is and that
doesn't necessarily mean that they can't be must have even
at that cost. Yeah, and Deebro, it's a really interesting
thing too when you're looking at these like ten must
have players, because I think these guys are also probably
going to signify players that a lot of people are

(02:22):
going to focus on and that are going to rise
in ADP and the bigger question. It almost be a
fun exercise to come back for this in like five
months and see are these still must have players based
on their value? But right now, you know, finding and
dictating those players I think is a very interesting process.
Anything you want to add to you know, these guys

(02:42):
that you chose, because there's a couple on here that
I'm like, these guys are going to be there's two
specifically on a rocket ship for ranks by the time
we get into like heavy draft season.

Speaker 3 (02:51):
Yeah, I think looking at this really comes down to
talent situation, and I know some of that's going to
change and shift, especially after the NFL Draft. So some
of these guys were going to give some context too,
But I mean for me, it comes down to when
I'm looking at the board, it's it's a combination of
both talent situation and some of it is value too,
because there's some of the guys we're gonna talk about here.

(03:12):
ECR over Fantasy Pros hasn't even caught up to where
we're ranking some of these guys currently, so we'll see
that kind of catch up both in the aggregate on
ECR and as well as like, if you're doing early
best ball drafts, this is gonna be great for you
because the ev you're gonna beat a lot of draft
rooms where these guys are gonna slip and maybe they
don't get taken where they should be.

Speaker 2 (03:32):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (03:32):
I think actually the best ball side of this is
very interesting early early drafters. This is gonna get you
ahead of the game. If you guys want to check
it out, it will say Fantasypros dot Com Slash Rankings,
Fanspros dot Com slash NFL do slash rankings. You can
check out. We've already got tons of experts that are
getting in not only early redraft ranks, We've got Dynasty,
We've got rookie for drafts, coming up, you can check

(03:54):
out because we're gonna be referencing this to these players.
We're gonna be using ECR on the overall and the
positional and where both of these fine gentlemen have these players.
So that is the setup here. Let's talk about the
ten must have players for twenty twenty five and Deebro. Actually,
funny enough, you guys both have quarterbacks for number five here,

(04:16):
but Debro, let's start with you with number five for you.
So by the way, each of you are doing five
of them, so we'll get to ten. So Deebro number
five must have player is whom.

Speaker 3 (04:27):
This has to be starting off the list. It has
to be justin fields and I kind of alluded to
this when we're talking about ECR right now, he is
QB twenty six in ECR. In my rankings, he is
QB twelve, And I think the proper way to look
at in view fields for this year is he should
be a QB one in your ranks, like, because that's

(04:47):
what he's been every single time he's been a starter.
You look over the last three years, last year as
a starter for the Pittsburgh Steelers QB seven and fantasy
points per game two previous seasons before that QB nine,
QB five, So he will be a assuming he starts
all the games and stays healthy. At this point of
the offseason, I'm not getting cute and projecting anything else.
Justin Fields will be a QB one in fantasy. So

(05:10):
this is a guy that I think, even as rankings
catch up to him, he's still probably not going to
be ranked as a QB one for a lot of
different people, and I think it's wrong. Man. So we
know the rushing equity is there. He showed that last
year and he's gonna continue that. He's not gonna stop
running with the freaking Jets.

Speaker 1 (05:29):
Well, the weapons around him too, are like ultimately fascinating
and like what he is going to be able to do,
not just as like a running quarterback, but a full
on quarterback. With Breis Hall and Garrett Wilson. I mean,
there are some huge playmakers around him that you hope
scheme wise they're going to put it twelve is a
top twelve quarterback. That's pretty pretty aggressive. Jake, let me

(05:50):
ask you this Justin Fields or Anthony.

Speaker 2 (05:54):
Richardson for this coming Justin Fields.

Speaker 3 (05:56):
Yeah, without hesitation, one will definitively be the starter and
one h we'll sleep.

Speaker 2 (06:01):
Well what will definitively be the starter as of day one? Also,
it's just day one, last pat, Like, let's be honest,
that's not an open competition.

Speaker 1 (06:09):
And the reason I say it is like, yeah, well,
and what's funny about it is like Justin Fields seems
like he's floating into the Anthony Richardson of last season's
draft equity and and a lot of the hopes. But
I think you agree with this one, Jake, And I
think even your positional ranks, even though this is Debro's pick,
might even be a tiny bit higher correct.

Speaker 2 (06:28):
So, yes, this is now the second show in a
row that you Fantasy pros boys have stolen people out
of my list before I even got to it. Actually,
the last one was Florial, he's not even with Fantasy
Bro season was the guest last week with me and Worm. Yeah,
this was the top five winners and one of his
The first off the list was Justin Fields, and I
was gonna have Justin Fields, and then guys, do you
have to have I was gonna have Justin Fields and

(06:50):
Deebro already Justin Fields?

Speaker 1 (06:51):
Well, hey, why don't you not go to Iceland. Stop
going to Iceland and amazing it's March Sealley. Do your
fantasy work.

Speaker 2 (07:00):
Actually, who hold on their Internet is amazing? I mean
really coast to coast you get like at least two
bars every like, I don't know they talked about their
infrastructure anyway. I actually have a question for de brow
is like why does he hate justin fields? Because have
him at ten. So let's just put it that. So
I have falling on board with this the past three
years as he was talking about it. Since twenty twenty two.

(07:21):
If you look at his pointsberg game, he ranks only
barely barely behind Joe Burrow, just to give you an idea.
So we're talking about three or four quarterbacks depending of
course there was something that weren't playing in twenty twenty two,
but like, he's in the top five on points per game.
So I'm with him one hundred percent on this. And
he's actually one spot in front of what is going
to be my first name that I'm gonna mention at quarterback,

(07:42):
So he would have been the name and I mentioned first.

Speaker 1 (07:44):
Well, and we're going to talk about that. I will
point out again you know I threw out the Anthony
Richardson thing. If you look at ECR ranks, Richardson his
quarterback seventeen while Justin Fields is currently twenty five. So
you know, it sounds, especially based on your guys's ranks,
it sounds kind of silly. And Justin Field is going
to continue moving up. He actually moved up two spots
in twenty four hours since we did this show, and

(08:05):
it'll keep going up. But that's kind of the general
space of where it is. You said you have also
got a quarterback with one spot higher. I think you
just said. So we're focusing on some quarterbacks at number five.
Your number five must have player Jake Seely.

Speaker 2 (08:19):
Is who yeah a QB fourteen ADP. I have him
QB eleven, So it's not a huge gap over it.
But he's somebody that I would take over a lot
of names that people might say like, no, I just
trust that guy more. But when it comes to quarterback,
if I don't get a top tier or Joe Burrow
I having a tier by himself. If I don't get
one of those, I want somebody who has the potential
for top five. I don't want quarterback eleven. Like if

(08:40):
this quarterback finishes QB eleven. I'm gonna be like, Eh,
that's not that great. I want top five potential, and
I think Caleb Williams has top five potential, not just
because of Ben Johnson, not just because what everybody's talking
about going into the second year and the changes there
comes down to what was the biggest thing they also
did in the off season is they addressed the offensive line.
Caleb Williams, if you go back and look at my
rookie profile for him is like I said, he has

(09:02):
Josh Allen. And now I always profile for fancy purposes
to give people an id in their head, like Derek
does a great job. A lot of people do of
like say this is the player he's similar to stylistically,
and there are some comparisons to Josh Allen, But I say, like,
if you're thinking fantasy, what's like the lining I could expect?
And I said, Josh Allen upsides Sam Howell risk and

(09:22):
I think we saw the Sam Howel risk last year,
but not with the interceptions, which I thought that was
probably the most important takeaway from his rookie year. It
was a struggle at times. It was the bad Sam
Howell decision making but he didn't throw a lot of interceptions,
and I like that from him now going into year two,
I don't even care if Keenan Allen comes back or not.
It's more fact that now you have an offense that
that's going to maximize his value if it's there, and

(09:45):
I want that three four, five, more likely five six
hundred rushing on top of what he can do as
a passer. If we truly believed the talent that we
saw last year, and now having an offensive line, now
having a second year, now having an offensive staff that
understands how to you it was him, I think top
five is in play, and that's why I would take
him well ahead of some of the names like Jared Goff,

(10:06):
the old Ben Josson, Like I would take him over
Jared Golf.

Speaker 1 (10:09):
We have tiers on the Fantasy pros ranks you can
check out, and it's interesting, Caleb is the end of
tier three, and tier three is Kyler, Murray, Jordan Love,
Herbert bo Nicks, Brock Perdy and Caleb Williams and that,
and you know you're saying you take him over Jared
GoF Jared Goff is the end of that tier two.
If you're looking at it, Debro, what do you think
about this pick and Caleb Williams And I'd also be

(10:31):
interested you referencing Caleb versus like justin Fields and where
you have him, and what do you think about those
two because those are right next to each other for Seay,
but Field's is one spot higher? What do you think
about Fields versus Caleb?

Speaker 3 (10:42):
I'm lower on Caleb. I just my question is he
gonna run this year? Because we saw the rushing last
year and we saw it more down the back half
of the season where he averaged thirty one rushing yards
over the back half of the season. I think it
was like week eleven or week twelve on I just
wonder in this new iteration of the offense with Ben Johnson,
are we going to get rushing from Kalo because he

(11:04):
he showed he can do that and does that add
to his fantasy value in twenty twenty five or do
we not get the rushing because I think it's gonna
be a big divide, like saying he's two hunder rushing
yards versus maybe I mean last year for eighty nine.
It could be the difference between being a top twelve
quarterback or he's somewhere in the mid KB two range.

(11:25):
So I'm I think that he could have a much
better second season in the NFL with everything they've done
this offseason. He has plenty of weapons around him. Ben
Johnson in town. I guess, Celia, I'm gonna throw this
back to you, man, Like, how much do you think
he runs? Do you think he gets closer to that
four to five hundred range this year for rushing yards
or do you think that he's a little bit lower

(11:46):
than I'm guessing you're gonna.

Speaker 1 (11:47):
Tell you what he said to Jake. You said like
around five hundred yards.

Speaker 2 (11:50):
So yeah, I'm gonna go back to that, like, look,
Ben Johnson has the job that Ben Johnson has because
he's better than I am. But I'm about to reference
something that I said last year that was why I
believe this for Kayleb Williams. His last year, I was
doing a podcast and I said, if I am in
charge of the offense for the Bears back when they
were having the whole Thomas Brown shift and all that

(12:11):
type of stuff, I said, I would stop going and
meet with Caleb Williams. And this actually references something I
talked about with Jaden daniels Is at the beginning of
the year actually said, what is Cliff Kingsbury doing. He's
not letting him throw downfield? Why? And then I apologize
to Cliff Kingsbury. It's like, hey, again, they know more
than I do. He was making Jada and Daniels do checkboxes,
and I said similarly at the middle of the season,
they're not doing that with Caleb Williams. They just threw

(12:32):
the entire book at him. And I said, they need
to stop, pause and say first read. If it's not there,
run first read, run first raid, run, like, get him
to use his legs. You go back to college. What
happened in his last season when he was trying to
play hero bawl is he stopped running as much and
he tried to run around in the pocket and then
make these crazy throws downfield that often fell incomplete. So

(12:54):
that second half that Deebro's talking about is he was
more comfortable. He was seeing those opportunities and taking and
when you know, plays weren't there. So I do believe
that if you're going to maximize Caleb Williams, if you're
going to maximize this offense, that needs to be a
part of it now, I will admit Derek brings up
what is the risk. What if Ben Johnson comes in
and says, you know what, he's just good enough the pocket,

(13:17):
I don't need him to run. That is a possibility there.
But there was a lot of outside runs that you
saw with the lines at times. I think part of
that does come down to you can use Caleb Williams
in that same aspect. So it's a question that is
part of the reason that he's not higher than he is.
So I will say there is risk, but I'm okay
with that because at QB eleven, if I miss guess what,
I can go grab QB sixteen, who turned into QB

(13:39):
ten next year.

Speaker 1 (13:40):
Yeah, and both of these guys are preaching a little
bit of the late round quarterback. These are quarterbacks that
are on the back half of your overall starters, so
the investment is easier to move through. You snag one
of these guys, maybe you snag a little bit of
a safer guy if that's your play and you move through.
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Speaker 1 (15:35):
We're going to be looking at some running backs. Oh,
how cute are you guys? You got little pairings quarterbacks
and running backs. You guys are so in sync here.
So we've got two running backs that we're going to
pick with here, Debro, number four on your list currently
is strained. Yeah, another steal. You're looking at more of
the flex running back range. But there's a lot of

(15:58):
upside because he's really his competition kind of got out
of town. Who is number four on you Must Have Players?

Speaker 3 (16:04):
It's Jalen Warren and I know that in consensus right
now he is the RB twenty seven. I think it's
people hedging because we haven't had the NFL Draft and
everybody's expecting the Steelers to add a running back and
could they do that, Yes, that could absolutely happen, depending
on where that happens, though that still doesn't mean that
Jalen Warren isn't the starter for the Pittsburgh Steelers in

(16:26):
twenty twenty five. And if he is, then he will
pay off handsomely. Where I have him ranked at RB
sixteen as a strong RB two, and I'll even go
out on a limit and say, if he's the guy
this year, he's an RB two with RB one upside
because what we've seen out of Jalen Warren when he's
been given opportunities and he's been healthy, and I think

(16:46):
that needs to be given context here, because last year
he was not healthy all year. He dealt with knee issues,
hamstring issues, and it really crushed his tackle breaking ability.
But once he was healthy, we saw him go back
to being the uber efficient back that you've come to
love in fantasy. And I want to just be kind
and rewind here people. In twenty twenty three, we are
discussing a running back that is now possibly the starter,

(17:09):
possibly can get workhorse usage. In twenty twenty five that
was top ten in the NFL in yards per touch,
explosive run rate, mistackles forced, Oh, look at that. I
can keep going on. Yards are to contact per attempt,
yards per rout run, everything you want from efficiency from
a running back. This guy is going to possibly be
a workhorse this year, and yet we're ranking him as

(17:33):
an RB three. I'm not doing it, not buying it.

Speaker 1 (17:36):
So here's my question to you real quick, and I
want to get Jake's take on this though, is I
think some of the hesitation on it is a word
that you said is people's fear. Can Jalen Warren be
a workhorse?

Speaker 2 (17:48):
Can he?

Speaker 1 (17:49):
Are they comfortable being a workhorse and giving him that?
And I think that is what is holding a lot
of us back. What do the touches look like to you?
Where he's an RB.

Speaker 3 (17:59):
Six fifteen to seventeen a game like, I think he's
going to split touches with somebody, but I don't even
think he has to get in that twenty something range
for touches. And I want to take this a little
bit further back, we're still discussing a prospect. In his
final year of college, he had two hundred and fifty
six carries. So even if we go back to he

(18:19):
has been able to improve and that he can stand
up to the volume. He just dealt with injuries like
everybody like that's the running back position outside of a
blow apparently last year they get hurt. It happens.

Speaker 1 (18:31):
They play football well in His receiving equity is something
that makes him so valuable. So Jake, obviously you said
this is kind of a steal, so you're gonna agree.
If I asked the question is is he criminally ranked
at twenty twenty seven on the overall You're probably gonna
say yes. But let me ask you this as well.
Can he be a top sixteen running back with fifteen

(18:52):
to seventeen touches?

Speaker 2 (18:54):
So first, I'd like to give a shout out to
thank you for the blockbuster reference. That was actually my
first job, so I have to give a shout out
for Derek for that one. Is funny. Is I am
a twenty one so I'm not quite as high as
Derek as of today? Because to your question, do I
think he ken of fifteen to seventeen probably, but this

(19:15):
is where I'm going to go with it. Actually, as
crazy is this gonna sound, listen to me on this one,
I think it's more likely fifteen to eighteen touches he's
pushing RB one than twenty plus per game. And the
reason why is I'm gonna throw out a name, Lamar Miller.
I always use Lamar Miller because he was the best
example of this. For years, the fantasy community was like,
give him more touches, give him more touches. What the
hell are you doing? Give him more touches? And I've

(19:37):
said timing before and just very on this podcast, teams
and coaches no more than we do. And what happened
when Lamar Miller got more touches, he put up the
same stat line on more touches, he was less efficient.
And that's why I say this. I actually believe that
Jayleen Warren's best game is not touching the ball twenty
plus times a game. And we haven't seen that usage
from the Steelers because they probably understand that and know

(19:58):
that it's Arthur Smith as well, which is why I'm
hedging a little bit to reference with Debro kind of
said before, I don't think I'm hedging a lot. I
have him clearly in tier three with Breeze Hall and
Cuba Hubbard and Naje Harris, his former teammate, like I
have him there with those names, and I would if
as of today, if you told me I'm from the future,
they don't draft anybody in the first two days, all right,

(20:18):
I'll push him up to sixteen with debro yep. I
just I just don't believe Arthur Smith's gonna come out
of the draft with nobody. So maybe it is day three,
maybe it's round six, and I don't really care. But
if it's round three, maybe even round four, because of
this draft class, I'd probably keep him right in this range.
But that's not a slight I still do believe he
does have top fifteen upside.

Speaker 1 (20:37):
Fascinating if the Steelers would have traded for like Jordan
Mason instead of the Vikings, Jordan Mason and Pittsburgh would
have ruined all of that. Jake, speaking of the San
Francisco forty nine Ers, they traded away Jordan Mason. Look
at that they traded away Jordan Mason. They opened up
a spot that's behind Christian McCaffrey, which looks very tantalizing,
and that just happens to be where you're going with

(20:59):
your must have number four player.

Speaker 2 (21:01):
Yeah, he's right now RB fifty two. I have him
at RB forty three, and I would actually love to
put him higher, but there's just some names in front
of him that are actually in split backfields already, like
they're already getting touches. But Isaac Grende going back to
last year and this is I'll victory lap this so
and the fact that I had him in tier two
with like Isaiah Davis and Blake Korum and other running

(21:21):
backs like that. To be fair, I'll come for myself too.
I also had Kamani Vidal and like will Shipley in
that tier, So, like, I wasn't one hundred percent perfect
on that tier, but I really loved him even more
after the draft because Isaac Grendro's play style works perfectly
in a Shanahan system. And I said that as soon
as he was drafted. And that's why I love this
because as soon as they put that tender on Mason,

(21:43):
I'm like, oh, you gotta be kidding me. Maybe they
just really have a thing for Mason, And I'm just
gonna have to hold off for another year on Grendo,
but then the trade happened. I was like, yes, this
is what I wanted. I believed and I held tight.
And Isaac Grendo is rewarded to everybody who held onto him,
especially in Dynasty, because he purely the backup to Christian McCaffrey. Now,
of course we've seen it before forty nine ers. Would

(22:04):
it really be a shock if they came out of
the fourth round with a running back round? It's like,
we're doing this again. But at least as of today,
Christian McCaffrey, who you know, I'm still even drafting Christian
mccaffe as a top five running back because he has
number one upside. Still it's just health, but at this
point that health is getting riskier and riskier and riskier.
And we saw Grendo last year when he was finally healthy.

(22:25):
By the way, the upside he has, which is top
fifteen if he has that backfield. So that's why Grendo's here.
I would love to even put him higher, but it's
just like I said, it's tough with some of the
names in front of him.

Speaker 1 (22:36):
He's like the classic handcuff in the handcuff world. It's
like when he's the guy, it's like just skyrocketing value. Deebro,
what do you think about Grindo being a must own player?

Speaker 3 (22:47):
I love the call. I mean really it's just you know,
it's a it's a hedge against CMC, and it's really
just saying like, look like, if he gets the job,
we've already seen this happen. And Jake's talking about prospect
stuff from last year. If I'm reading this right, I
had him as my RB six in the class last year,
right above Tyrone Tracy and I maybe this is a

(23:09):
flex but also a cell phone right above Tyrone Tracy
and Bucky Irving. So I was very high on Grindo
as well. So I'm a big believer in the talent man.
I mean, his speed and his athleticism are are just fantastic.
I mean we're talking about a running back that could
break and he did this last year when he was
given the opportunities. He can hit home runs. Man, So
like even on limited volume, like we don't need to

(23:29):
see him see volume. If he was their starter again
in twenty twenty five, give him fifteen touches and he's
going to break a home runner two.

Speaker 2 (23:36):
I mean, well Welsh knows it. In forty nine ers
got six feet two twenty and can run almost a
four three. It was low four threes. Like that's just
I don't think people realize that.

Speaker 1 (23:44):
Man, if you got those good tackles, like he you know,
he's not looking to sidestep or like fine, he just
plows into the hole and if they bring a hole up,
then boom, he's gonna break it out, big breakaway speed,
just quickly debro in the world of like, we don't
really handcuff necessarily anymore. Is there a more important spot

(24:05):
to handcuff a running back with Christian McCaffrey, with Grinda?
Is there another player that's like, if I take this
running back, I have to. I'm trying to envision it,
and I kind of don't know if there is someone
that's more important from a value perspective. I'm not sure
there's a bigger gap between Grindo is like the backup
and if he became the number one. But is there
a more important handcuff in football?

Speaker 3 (24:25):
No, I mean, I think the only other guy that, like,
off the top of my head, that I can really
paint you as good of a picture for Grindo is
maybe Zach Sharboney.

Speaker 2 (24:34):
I can't say Blake Korham.

Speaker 3 (24:36):
Well, Blake Koram's another one, you know, I mean like
I think that might be end the list. Yeah, I
mean seriously though, And Grinda's probably gonna go wearing drafts
behind both of those guys, just guessing.

Speaker 1 (24:47):
Yeah, Seey, what do you think Is there a bigger
one or one of those guys more important than Grenda?

Speaker 2 (24:51):
Do you think? I think that's probably the list? Like
I have Grenda in front of Rashad White because I
think the Buccaneers are already starting to tell us, like agreed,
it's not like, oh my God, Chase Edmonds, but like
they don't seem to be sure. This is why we
were like Bucky Irving last year. Is like they don't
seem to love for Shot White and deserve really so
he's a very volume dependent and even more so than
what people want to hate Naje Harris for. So I'm

(25:11):
looking right now. The tier I have Grenda in is
actually right behind Jordan Mason. But that's again because I
actually think Jordan Mason gets more per week. But if
put it this way, if everybody gets hurt that I
have these backups with there to really answer your question.
Grenda would rank the highest. Grenda would rank over Mason,
over Ray Davis, over Blake Korm like, he would be
the top of those, even though they would all kind

(25:32):
of be in a similar conversation.

Speaker 1 (25:34):
Yeah, it's very interesting. Friends. You can join the Fantasy
Pros Discord community today, chat with other fans and get
access to exclusive amas that could wind up on the
podcast feed. We had a bunch of those last year.
You can go and chat in the debro the Derek
Brown ama as well. Here's our current schedule you can
get it, says myself, I think this is a worm

(25:54):
here worm and fits five pm east of the copy here.
It's like I'm not worm Werman fits at five pm
Eastern on the first Tuesday of each month. You get
Fitsen Bogman at five pm Eastern on the third Tuesday
of each month. And you can get your questions answered
and be on the show at Fantasypros dot com slash chat.
Join it today Fantasypros dot com slash Chat and get

(26:15):
in the discord. I got an a m a too,
so actually you can talk with myself, but just not
with fits on that show. Let's go to number three. Boy,
I'm gonna tell you these are my favorites. These are
like number ones for me.

Speaker 2 (26:28):
I just say that. He's already gone three for three
on like stealing names. I was gonna have in my list.

Speaker 1 (26:33):
Just murdering. If this is a mock, gotta get in
expletives and angry.

Speaker 2 (26:40):
But Deepro, we gotta get in. Werman Welsh did the
same thing. They're like, here's what we're doing this week.
I already have the other persons, but the.

Speaker 3 (26:51):
Real look behind the curtainer. Jake I sent Welsh to Slack.
I think it was on Friday, and I said before
I even sent anything, we got this show next because like,
here's my names.

Speaker 2 (27:01):
I was like, I don't you know.

Speaker 3 (27:03):
I was like, so, just so we have this out there, I.

Speaker 2 (27:05):
Was like, I'm gonna look a future show for me now. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (27:08):
Debro's like Deebro's like, listen, I don't care what Jake wants.
You know, this is what I'm doing. Yeah exactly. Yeah,
So Debro, you are sniping left and right is a
great name. This is number three on the Muss Halves.
You've been preaching this since last year and the moves
have made it more apparent. Let's talk about your third
must have player for twenty twenty five, Welsh.

Speaker 3 (27:28):
I'm just playing to the crowd here, baby. I know
you were hosting this so we had to give a
lot of forty nine ers love on this. But seriously, dude,
it's like, can we just toss the rookie season? Most
of it just into the trash for Ricky Piersoll. I mean,
looking at the runway is clear, Dude, you have Brandon
a Yuk entering this year at not one hundred percent.
Deebo Samuel is gone. I love Juwan Jennings just as

(27:50):
much as anybody, but we're talking. We're discussing a first
round drafted wide receiver that is uber freaking talented. And
we also got a snippet of what this could look like.
And I understand people say it's two games, you're cherry
picking things, because I can go back to the previous
three games before that and say, oh, he didn't do anything.
He legit didn't get any catches, any targets, nothing. Okay,

(28:14):
let's discuss that San Francisco featuring him in the final
two weeks of the regular season. In a lost season.
That to me signals more of Okay, we're gonna put
more on his plate and we can discuss everything off
the field, injuries, all of that stuff for days in
what sideline Ricky Piersoll, Maybe we saw this ascension happen

(28:37):
earlier in the season, if all that stuff didn't happen,
But for me, that signals, okay, if we are going
to walk away from Debo in the offseason, we need
to see if we put more on his plate, can
he handle it? Can he be the guy or at
least show flashes of being the guy we thought we
were investing in the first round of the NFL Draft,
and Ricky Pearsall answered the freaking bell dude. In the

(28:59):
final two weeks of the regular season, he was wide
receiver seven and wide receiver fourteen and fantasy scoring, he
got almost a twenty two percent target chair, he got
a thirty point four percent first read chair, so he's
operating or was operating as the wide receiver one for
San Francisco's offense, and he had almost three yards per
route run two point eight four to be specific, All

(29:21):
of those metrics are freaking fantastic. So yes, we always
talk about invest in uber talented wide receivers in their
second year in the NFL. We got a small snippet
of what he could do possibly this year, And look
at this. He is being valued right now in ECR
as the wide receiver forty nine. In my rankings, I

(29:41):
have him as wide receiver twenty seven. I will be
drafting Ricky Pearsall everywhere in twenty twenty five.

Speaker 1 (29:47):
Only question I have on this is do you have
Pearsall over Juwan Jennings.

Speaker 3 (29:52):
That's a great question. I have them in the same
area code. Let me see. I think I have him
right ahead of him. Where is Jawan Chack good? Dawan
Jennings is wide receiver thirty four, and I could start
making the case for him at wide receiver thirty or
thirty thirty one.

Speaker 1 (30:07):
So you have piarsal over Juwan Jennings, And that is
where I disagree with you. I Juwan Jennings to me,
is now Ricky Pearsall is going to be the big
explosive play. He's the type of guy with especially with
how we've seen the forty nine ers run with him,
is play him across the field. Let him he's their
debo version. Let him get the yards after super fast
guy probably four catches eighty five in a score. But

(30:28):
Juwan Jennings is going to be your ten target guy.
Perty loves him. I like Juwan Jennings is the top guy.
They love Juwan Jennings in the red zone as well.
So my only caveat would be, this isn't the old
forty nine ers where it's like, you know, Brandon Ayuk
at eleven and Debo at fourteen. This is maybe them
in the twenties, but to me, it's like Juwan Jennings
at like twenty four and Piarsalt like twenty eight. Jake,

(30:51):
you said three for three. Obviously you agree with Ricky
Pearsall being higher than his wide receiver forty nine rank. Here,
give me your take on the must own and him
versus Juwan Jennings.

Speaker 2 (31:02):
So yeah, I actually am a little bit lower than
he is on Piersal, but not by much. But I
am vastly far lower on Juwan Jennings. And this is
coming from somebody that pounded the table in my waiver column.
You know, you and I were talking last year about
like it was Jewan Jennings Juwan Jennings, but you kind
of brought up an interesting point where I think it's
gonna come down to what is Brandon Ayuk as of

(31:24):
today on the team as of today? Is he out
there week one? If he is, I don't like Jennings
as much because I do agree with your assessment of Jennings.
Where I disagree is I think that Jennings, as what
my point was last year, is a Yuk replaced sment
and Piersill's more of a debo replacement stylistically the fit
with George Cadell. So my concern is that Jennings just

(31:46):
isn't on the field as much. And now I could
be wrong, and I mean maybe just Piersoll can't even
get past him, and Piersil's only out there in three wide,
that's a possibility. I'm leaning more towards I believe in
Piersill being the higher ceiling. And this is coming from
somebody who likes Jennings, So that's really the difference. I
would just look at it this way when it comes
to these kind of situations where we're all, you know,

(32:08):
we're talking about possibilities and I'm admitting I could be
the wrong one here is I'm just gonna take the
cheapest so if it ends up being Jennings is the cheapest,
he'll be the one I draft more So I'll still
take Pearsil, But if Piercell ends up the cheapest, I'm
gonna take him because these are the scenarios where we
can do our best guests to it. We're trying to
guess what Shanahan's going to do, what party is going
to be feel comfortable doing. And you've brought up the

(32:30):
report that he already has with Jennings. But if Piersol's
out there for ninety percent of the routs and Jennings
out there sixty percent, that's gonna be a big thing
that could flip the other way. So I'm on Piersoll,
and I do I have Jennings right now because of
that down in like the Mooney Shaheed range, which just
ends up being like the forty eight, just because of
there's so many freaking wide receivers to pick from. Next year, I.

Speaker 1 (32:51):
Think it'll come to I'm a little bit of the
the Juwan Jennings sooth sayers Andrew Erickson would call me,
but I would be shocked if Jennings wasn't in all
two wide receiver sets. I'd also point out to you
that I think the signing of DeMarcus Robinson might be
a little bit of a tell of what's going to
happen with Brandon Ayuk, whether there's a health issue where
it's half the season or it is a clear they're

(33:13):
going to get rid of him, and Juwan Jennings will
go into the Brandon Ayuk. If Ayuk is gone or
even if if you see you said he's still with
a team but missus half the season, I go back
to what you said, and Jennings would be inside my
top twenty five, Like yeah, and that'll be something to watch.

Speaker 3 (33:28):
I'll say this, and I wanted to get this in here.
Brandon Ayuk could be traded in the NFL Draft, and
the answer to all of this could just be draft both.
It could be Jennings, and.

Speaker 2 (33:37):
I think it is draft both.

Speaker 1 (33:38):
I do think that is today. It is draft both.
And the cheaper cost is a really interesting thing. I
think both of them could come at pretty affordable costs.
But you might see, like I said, the upside is
in favor. I think of like Ricky Piersow on the
big playability. But you could end up seeing both of
these guys in the late twenties and they could both
be draftable. I think that is what you're seeing at

(34:00):
the end of the day, and you know you could
be like DeMarcus Robin. I think it's something to watch for.
We've got the top two for each of these guys
coming up, but first let's talk about this week's Chasing Challenges,
brought to you by Microsoft. Just like athletes who push
boundaries and redefine what's possible, business decision makers today are
turning challenges into opportunities. Microsoft meets you where you are

(34:23):
with tools and guidance that help you make an impact
with safe, secure AI solutions. Players and teams are facing
their own challenges. In this segment, we spotlight athletes or
teams that are currently undergoing a challenge, what this means
from a fantasy or a betting standpoint, and examining how
we think they can overcome it. Whatever challenge you're facing,
Microsoft empowers you with the expertise to say bring it on.

(34:44):
This week, we're discussing Ricky Pirosol overcoming this competition with
Devo out that is one less target, but Juwan Jennings
and the potential return of Brandon Ayuk and the signing
of DeMarcus Robinson. Ricky's path is not completely clear on
what it will be, but it is becoming clear. Deebro
broke down the reasons to get excited. Now he just

(35:05):
needs to overcome the competition that's around him and get
those targets from brock perty. That's it for this week's
Chasing challenges. Remember Microsoft's AI solutions empower you to take
bold steps and make informed decisions, sparking new ideas to
help drive your business forward. With Microsoft as your trusted partner,
you can navigate your journey with confidence, finding innovative solutions,

(35:26):
and reaching new possibilities. Visit Microsoft dot com Slash Challengers
to learn more. Number two, you guys have finally deviated. Well,
well it's not the same position.

Speaker 3 (35:38):
We got to go back to three, baby speaking.

Speaker 1 (35:42):
Third, the challenge was me letting Jake have his third
name here. You are one hundred percent right. I got
I got over zealous for the forty nine ers. Apology
time out to me. There's a there's a false start
the whole thing and a false start fifteen yards. Let's
go back. We did the challengers, but we are gonna

(36:02):
do Probably the highest ranked player on here and boy,
it's hard to disagree with this, but you're gonna have
to spend the first or, if you're lucky, a second
round pick on a must have player. Jake, take it away,
number three. Sorry it's not number two.

Speaker 2 (36:16):
No. I was trying to lean forward because I have
to move my camera because you can see right there,
wonderful football with a on it. I will yes Victory
Lap from last year because the reason I had that
is because I found that before anybody thought he deserved it.
And also when he changed the signature. If you've ever
seen a signature from college Brian Thomas eleven, it's awful.

(36:37):
Kudos to whoever told him to change his signature because
big upgrade there. Big upgrade in the fact that I
had him at Tier one point five last year, and
it's like I kind of want to put him in
Tier one, but like just a little bit of hesitation
on the risk, because you know, I brought up a
couple of reasons. You can go back and look at that.
But Brian Thomas with the Jaguars, I mean, let's just
break down who he played with. I mean, he played

(36:57):
with bad Trevor Lawrence. Like, let's be honest, this point
of his career. Right now, Trevor Lawrence is one of
the biggest busts in NFL history. We're hoping we can
get him back to what he thought he could be
out of college, a similar style of Caleb Williams in
the fact that, like you saw the comfort start to
show up when he ran more, and we need to
get that back, and maybe these changes in the offseason,
maybe everything finally gets him back to what we saw

(37:19):
at of Clemson, because we really haven't seen Clemson Lawrence
really in the NFL at times flashes. But the biggest
thing I bring that up to say is it wasn't
very good play from Trevor Lawrence. And then that very
good play or not very good play, wasn't that big
of a drop off to mac Jones, because Mac Jones
and Trevor Lawrence, sadly to say, aren't that big of
a difference. And yet Brian Thomas, similar to Malik Neighbors

(37:41):
who everybody wants to love, and Brian Thomas just continues
to fall into the shadow. He fell into the shadow
of all the rookie the top three rookies from last year,
and he now falls into the shadow of Malik Neighbors
of being overlooked once again, Which what does this Jaguars
team did this offseason? I mean they kind of got
rumored to be in on some of these wide receivers,
but they just went out there and like, eh, you

(38:02):
know what, We'll just have a bunch of Jabroni's at
number two. Like it's fine. I'm assuming they draft somebody,
if not the first probably the second round. But Brian
Thomas is gonna walk right back into one hundred and
forty targets. They're gonna be better this year, even if
Trevor Lawrence doesn't ascend as much as we want him
to be. And that's why I do have him as
a must own at seven, because if I'm drafting in
the back half of the first round, I'm not leaving

(38:24):
the first round without Brian Thomas, who I actually have
very small tiers at the top of my wide receivers,
and he's in for me. I'll give you an my
tier includes I'm al rating Saint Brown, Malik Neighbors, Brian
Thomas end a list like it's those three after the
big group I think they deserve similar to his draft
prospect for me, kind of a tier of their own,

(38:45):
like a one point five.

Speaker 1 (38:47):
Pretty fascinating too. Like you said, that team is just like, oh,
is there anybody that could catch a ball or compete
against Brian Thomas? Get rid of them? Ingram, you're gone, Kirk,
You're gone. We only have Brian Thomas. It's the only
thing that we're going to have, and maybe we'll just
get some complimentary pieces. Apparently that's all you need, uh
de bro A first round is a must have. It's

(39:07):
a pretty interesting take two that Jake is throwing out
and essentially say, if you're at the back half of
the first round, he's in the player that you need
to take. Yeah, and in a perfect world, it'd be
great if he was like a wheel pick. But what
do you think about, especially the high equity of a
guy like Brian Thomas being a must half.

Speaker 3 (39:24):
I think it's a fantastic call, dude. I've got him
as my ninth overall player. I've got him at wide
receiver six right now. And if you're if you're taking
swings like and we're talking about a must have guy
and we're gonna draft him as a top five to
eight wide receiver, then basically this guy needs to have
top two. Maybe wide receiver one overall upside with him,

(39:46):
and we already saw it last year. He definitively has that.
Like weeks thirteen through eighteen, the only wide receiver in
points per game that was better than Brian Thomas Junior
was fricking Jamar Chase.

Speaker 2 (39:56):
That's it.

Speaker 3 (39:57):
He's wide receiver two in fantasy points per game. So
to tell me this year, with better play calling, maybe
we get better quarterback play. They probably do add somebody
in the draft, but still unquestioned number one option in
this offense is going to be Brian Thomas Junior. He
has wide receiver one overall upside. So considering all those factors,
I have no problem with this call. And I'm right

(40:17):
with Jake on this.

Speaker 1 (40:18):
All right, Well, after the false start and we lost
the yardage, Brian Thomas got us the first down and
we're back. We're going to number two on your guy's list.
As I was saying before the false start. Finally, it's
a different positional pick that you guys have and Debro,
wouldn't you know it? This guy used to be Brian
Thomas's teammate. Number two of the must have players is

(40:41):
who why.

Speaker 3 (40:43):
Are we being so disrespectful to Evan Ingram. I don't
understand a ECR. You gotta make me believe it, Like
why like tight end nine right now? And he's competing
with what in Denver, Courtland Sutton, Marvin Mimmes. These are
the worries that you have, Nah, Nah Man, No way.

(41:03):
In my rankings he is tight end four and he
has top three upside. I'm shooting the moon with Evan Ingram.
All we need is health man. We've seen this play out,
like when he has been the focal point of a
passing attack. He has top five, top three upside. I mean,
just go back to twenty twenty three, he was a
tight end four in fantasy points per game. And again
we've already talked about and kind of shaded Trevor Lawrence

(41:24):
in this entire show so far. So do we think
that we're gonna get better quarterback played from Bo Nicks
in Denver versus I feed to State in Jacksonville. I
think it's possible, man, and he has the target drawing ability.
He plays the role that we want in Denver. We're
not gonna get any kind of foolishness with Adam Troutman
or whoever the hell else is left on that roster.
I'm not worried about that. Evan Ingram is going to

(41:46):
compete weekly for the team lead in targets with Courtland
Sutton and Cortland Sutton. I mean, let's just say what
it is, the de facto wide receiver one last year,
where he's at in his career. I think Evan Ingram
is a fantastic Canadate to just lead Denver in targets,
and I don't think it's gonna be closed because he's
showing the ability to draw a high end target share.
I said he sniffed almost a twenty four percent target

(42:09):
share back in twenty twenty three. He could get upwards
of twenty five twenty six percent this year in Denver
with a play caller scheming up stuff to get him
the freaking ball, because he's the most talented guy on
that roster right now as far as pass catchers go.
So Evan Ingram, Yeah, sign me up, dude. Top three,
Top five Upside.

Speaker 1 (42:27):
We have a live show, we do. We got a
Twitch by the way, Twitch dot Tv, Slash Fantasy Pros.
We got lots of different shows. We have one show myself,
Bogman and Joe Pisapiado called Out of Bounds Live on
Mondays and Devro you were in the chat this week.
It was just me and Piece of Pa and we
talked about Evan Ingram and the signing and something I
had mentioned that bothers me about the Denver broncos is

(42:50):
the weird rotational stuff they do. You got a couple
teams that run big rotations where it's like these wide
receivers in, these wide receivers out, and it kind of
mitigates targets. Cortland Sutton was the constant, and there's the
possibility that a constant could be Evan Ingram on this
and he gets those targets. But I worry about that
target share. I'm looking at the top four tight ends
ECR brock Bowers, Trade McBride, George Kittle, Sam Laporter. You

(43:12):
said Evan Ingram is number four, So who are you
kicking out of that top four?

Speaker 3 (43:16):
The only guys that got above him are brock Bauers,
Trey McBride, and George Kittle. Sam Laporta has to attend
with JMO, and he's going to contend with Amanas sain Brown.
He's not even gonna sniff in that same ilk of
target chair, Johnny Smith has still got to contend with
Tyreek Hill and Jalen Waddle. TJ. Hockinson also has two
really strong pass catchers. Like for me, it's I mean,

(43:37):
it's those top three guys, like it's Bowers, it's McBride,
and it's Kittle. That's the only guys that I can
make the case that can draw as many targets as
Evan Ingram.

Speaker 1 (43:46):
Jake, you did not seem quite as excited about Evan
Ingram on this, So let's hear your take not only
at tight end four for d Bro, but his claim
of must have.

Speaker 2 (43:57):
Yeah, so so far if we are drafting together and
Debros in front of me in these rounds, I'm not
getting anybody, And this time I'm not getting the guy
because he's taken away before I am. This is the
first time we're like kind of on the other sides.
Here's the thing, though, I don't disagree with if the
targets so he brought up twenty twenty three. You go

(44:18):
back to the year with the Giants, he was on
pace for one hundred and thirty five six seven targets
somewhere around there when he got hurt, and he was
on a similar points per game pace that year too.
My concern is that is that emin ingram in half
a full point PPR is always been more appealing than
none because short area, short area, short area. He doesn't
even do a ton after the catch. Is he needs

(44:38):
those targets. He needs one hundred and thirty. He needs
one hundred and forty to hit top five. And if
this is old Jimmy Graham and he's getting one hundred
and thirty, cool. I'm just hesitant on that actually happening.
And there is a world where Derek's exactly right, like
he ends up being the top score. Like if they
don't do anything in the draft, they don't do anything

(44:59):
more wise, which is certainly plausible. I'm with Marvin Mims, fine.
Like the funny thing is is Marvin Mims I got
so much hate for him. I was calling him possession
receiver and they're like, look at him downfield. It's like, yeah,
but you're missing my point. Possesion doesn't mean you only
catch the ball twelve yards out and go down. It
means you catch the ball and go down all the time.
Like he can run straight line downfield fast, it's just

(45:19):
he's not doing anything with it. I don't think Marvin
Mims is the answer. So even as the two, I'd
be in that one hundred and ten one hundred and
fifteen range, which would put him where I have him
back end of this tier. I have a very big
tier two that starts with Mark Andrews and ends with
Tucker Kraft, and he's in that in Djoku Kell I mean,
he's got his name alongside Travis Kelsey at this point
of his career, but Travis Kelcey in those I'm just

(45:43):
hesitant on getting those targets because he needs those targets.
It's kind of similar to the Naje Harris, Like Naje
Harris needs the volume or he's probably not getting there.
Evan Ingram needs the volume. And that's probably the only
difference in what Derek and I think.

Speaker 1 (45:57):
Yeah, I'm probably gonna be splitween where Derek and maybe
ECR is. I like that kind of eight range, And
there are ifs like those ifs are important, like you know,
if he is like the number one red zone target,
if he is getting a slew of targets like those
are the things are going to be exciting for him
all right, not skipping Jake here Number two. Love this

(46:20):
is a guy returning home, and you can question one
way or the other, did this up up or even
maybe take away a little bit of fantasy value if
he could have been a number one somewhere else. Number
two on your list of must own players is who Jake?

Speaker 2 (46:33):
Yeah? Right before the week he got hurt here talking
about last year. I love that Derek brought up the
fact that Brian Thomas and points for a game was
only behind Jamar Chase. Guessho Jamar Chase was actually behind
when he got hurt. That being Chris god with Chris
got people already forgot he was the number one wide
receiver and fantasy. Do I think he's gonna be the
number one wide receiver and fantasy if he was last

(46:53):
year over the course of the entire season. Absolutely not.
But he was the number one on his team. He
was much better than Mike Evans before where he got hurt.
Mike Evans actually was having a tough year, tough ish
by mech Evans standards, until Godwin got hurt. Signs back
back with Baker Mayfield back with this all offense. The
only question we have of today, similar to Christian McCaffrey,

(47:13):
is he one hundred percent? If you tell me he's
one hundred percent by week one? He is a wide
receiver one. I right now have him at sixteen just
because I'm hedging a little bit versus consensus, which I'm
sure is just not catching up. Similar to the Justin
Fields conversation and Jalen Warren conversations we've had. He'll we'll
see him rise, but I have him in front of
Mike Evans. I have him in front of Devonte Adams

(47:33):
and DJ Moore and Garrett Wilson and names like that
because he's back. He's one hundred percent. He took a
team friendly ish deal to come back with this team,
and I think he's right back to being a wide receiver. One.
I don't really need to tell you who Chris Godwin is,
and I don't really need to tell you what they're
going to do with that offense with Chris Godwin. I
just need to tell you hopefully he's one hundred percent,
and if so, even at sixteen, he's.

Speaker 1 (47:52):
Probably a value debro. Is Chris Godwin an easy slam dunk,
top twenty wide receiver to you.

Speaker 3 (47:59):
If he's full healthy and ready to go. Yes, right now,
I will and keeping this a buck, I do have
Chris god When a wide receiver twenty eight right now,
and it's only because of the health. If we if
I got reports that he is one hundred percent, he's
rock and rolling, he's doing full workouts, he is going
to rise in my ranks, and I will be where
Jake is where we're at in the off season. I'm

(48:21):
not there yet, only because of reports. Is if we
got a blurb that came out tomorrow and it says
Chris Godwin's running one hundred percent, he's gonna be a
full go like, no questions at all, I'll be right
where Jake is easily.

Speaker 2 (48:34):
Now.

Speaker 1 (48:34):
I miss taking McMillan overs every single week, and I'm
betting pros.

Speaker 3 (48:39):
Oh Man those reception overs were. So that's the only
thing that's.

Speaker 1 (48:42):
Gonna make me sad is not doing that. But maybe
God to missus a couple of games and we can
just get a call.

Speaker 2 (48:47):
Signings this offseason, I was the happiest and status with
one individual signing at the same time, Like I said,
so many Dynasty tears for Jamie McMillan and at the
same time, I'm like, yeah, that goes Chris scott Win Again.

Speaker 3 (48:58):
I think we all were think we your BTJ Love
is very very happy Godwin didn't go to Jack Ollowe.

Speaker 1 (49:03):
Yes, yes, yeah, very very true. All right, it is
time for number one. Number one on both of these guys' lists.
Debro Let's kick it to you. We're getting back to
wide receivers. Number one on your must own for twenty
twenty five is who.

Speaker 3 (49:19):
I so in a very similar ilk as the case
that Jake made for Brian Thomas Junior, I'm going to
make the case strongly for Drake London and I was
in on him crushing last year, finally getting decent quarterback play.
I think he still has another level that we haven't
seen yet because of the quarterback play he got last year. Look,

(49:41):
we should not have any kind of like false constructs
about our ideas about Kirk Cousins last year. We all
saw it. It happened once Michael Pennox got in there.
And again I understand we're talking about a small sample size.
I fully understand that. But the difference of what Drake
London was doing with Michael Pennocks and so many different
elks I'm gonna lay out here. It was huge, dude.

(50:04):
Like Drake London last year was the wide receiver thirteen
in Fantasy points per game. He was third in red
zone targets. So we know the role in this offense.
He is going to get a bevy of targets and
score a lot of touchdowns.

Speaker 2 (50:15):
Man.

Speaker 3 (50:16):
So looking at just that role on how bountiful that is.
Now you're telling me, Okay, he's gonna get used more
down the field, because that's what happened with Michael Pennocks.
With Pennocks under center last year, Drake London's a dot
climb from ten point seven to twelve point five. His
receiving yards per game jumped from sixty five point six
to one hundred and seventeen, and his yards per route

(50:37):
run increased from two point two to three point seventy four. Now,
all that is to say he's gonna get used more
down the field. It's gonna give him more ceiling and
raise his floor on a weekly basis. And if you
add all of that to this awesome red zone role,
I want to heavily invest in Drake London again this
year because if we're taking a guy this early and

(51:00):
he's wide receiver ten and ECR and he's my wide
receiver seven in my ranks. I am pounding the table
for this guy because I think much less like Jake
laid out with Brian Thomas junior, Drake London has top
three wide receiver upside in twenty twenty five.

Speaker 1 (51:16):
Jake, do you want to start your draft let's say
from the nine hole Brian Thomas and then Drake London
in the first and second round.

Speaker 2 (51:23):
That would be extremely happy about that. Yeah, it comes
down to it, like what we talk about just with Pennix.
So Pennix, I said, you know, let's be honest about
what some people like Crutch do when they compare players.
Is like, it was kind of different for me to
say what a lot of people want to like, I
went a different way Pennix compared to Stafford and Derek Carr, Like,
you know, you get what I'm kind of himptying at

(51:44):
and there, like, oh, well, you can't do that, that
doesn't make sense. But the truth is is like that's
the ability of fitting into tight windows. Some of his
anticipation was off, but he's also a rookie. Oh they're rookie.
But at the same time, like even in those pretty good,
not great Derek Carr and Stafford seasons, like the pretty
good ones. I think that's what you can expect for Penix.
And the biggest thing coming out of it is the

(52:06):
target share that he had for Drake London when he
was under center was forty percent like average, Like you're
right around that range. Like obviously that's not going to
continue over the course of the entire season. But even
if you pulled that back to thirty thirty, two thirty three,
we're talking about one hundred and forty, one hundred and fifty,
hundred and sixty depending on how much they passed, you
could be talking one hundred and seventy targets. And I

(52:29):
only need one hundred and forty to similar what Derek
said for him to be a wide receiver one because
Drake London, even before Kirk Cousins, had terrible quarterback play
and then had terrible Kirk Cousins, so he really hasn't
had a lot of quality play like a Stafford or car.
Even if you told me you get decent car who
you know you bring up the deep throwing And I
say that for Derek Carr, is that like we talked

(52:49):
about it for years. It's like Derek Carr is a
better deep ball of throw than people realize just because
he's middle of the road. He's not awful. I just
need middle of the road Derek Carr. You tell me
that's my thing. Take Derek car from four years ago,
put him boom right now on the Falcons, and everybody's
drafting Drake London pushing top ten And that's I guess
that's really the easiest way to say it.

Speaker 1 (53:10):
Man. We have constructed so far in our must have players,
like legitimately probably a strategic type of roster for you guys.
We've had late quarterbacks, We've had a little bit, you know,
mid to late running backs, heavy wide receivers. We've got
you a tight end. We're going to bring it all
full circle. If you want to look at Brian Thomas,
Drake London and Ricky Pearsol, maybe is your top three
wide receiver. Here is your flex option coming full circle

(53:34):
from Jake's number five pick at quarterback, you're number one
on the must halves, mister Jake seely is.

Speaker 2 (53:40):
Who yes it is a teammate of that quarterback also
in his second season and right now at wide receiver
thirty six. I have him at twenty nine, and depending
on how the draft shakes out, I mean he could
end up pushing top twenty four. Because so quickly people
want to forget just because of what happened in the
rookie season. I'll make the easiest example for everybody, Jackson

(54:01):
Smith and jib by a rookie season versus Jackson Smith
and Jeb was second season we said Jackson Smith and
jib with the smart people were saying, like, hey, chill
out his rookie season. He's going to a team with DK, Metcalf,
Tarral Lockett. Be patient. It might take an entire year,
maybe happens halfway through, but be patient. We go into
last season, say Romo doonsay, he's going to a team
with Keenan Allen and DJ Moore. Be patient. Understand he's

(54:24):
the three. He's probably being overdrafted in your league, and
exactly what we expected to happen happen, and now everybody's like,
well forget it. Don't want to rum with Dunsay. Romo Dunsay,
give you an idea of at least in my opinion,
is bigger Garrett Wilson. That's my That's what I said
about him last year, to you put an extra three
inches and twenty thirty pounds on Garrett Wilson and still

(54:45):
keep your speed, and still keep your ability, and still
keep your separation. Now, I know people saw the highlights
of a Dounsay last year, and I know they saw
some of the decisions and the drops, and I know
his dad did not help out anything by tweeting things
all year long. But like it's now, he's walking into
year two with Caleb Williams. Year two in this offense,
I've already talked about in year two of still been

(55:07):
what everybody There wasn't one person who didn't consider I'm
a Tier one wide receiver going into the draft last year,
and the rookie season happens and people are just so
quick to overreact. And now he's dead. Now he is
a wide receiver of four. They probably need to bring
in another weapon. No, give me all the a Duneesa.
I will have overshares of Dunsay this year.

Speaker 1 (55:27):
Deepro deebro, what do you think about Roma Dunsay as
the must have?

Speaker 3 (55:33):
Yeah, I'm in on investing in talented second year wide receivers,
and I think Jake laid it out perfectly, like, however
we want to slice it up. Caleb was bad last
year the Chicago The entire offense was horrible, horrendous. So
do I want to go back to the well and
invest in a really talented wide receiver that Jake talked about.
I myself was also extremely high on Romadonsay as a prospect.

(55:57):
Hell yeah, man, let's go. Yes, invest in your wide
receivers always, especially the guys with talent.

Speaker 1 (56:04):
Plentiful Here, who is your favorite of the muss has
put it in the comments below? And who's your MUSS
half for twenty twenty five. Let's take a look. Where
does it differ and what did we miss? Make sure
you drop that down here, mister Jake Sealey, What do
you got going on over at the athletic right now?

Speaker 2 (56:19):
You'll like this. It's actually not fantasy football related because
my ranks just came out. Which we're talking about today
is fantasy baseball. I am going to release an article
why fantasy baseball is dying and how do we get
it back?

Speaker 1 (56:31):
So there you go, Oh okay, well I'm gonna have
to read that. Tell me I'm trying to bring it back.
I'm trying to revive it. That is a part of
my goal. If you like Fantasy Baseball, you can check out.
If you like fantasy football, Jake has always got you
covered and we get covered here on Fantasy Baseball as
well on the Fantasy Pros and LB channel. If you
want to check it out, there you go. My friends
ten must have players from the best in the business.

(56:54):
Like I said, we want to hear from you and
make sure you can go and check out all the
ranks over at Fantasypros, Fantasypros dot com, Slash NFL slash Rankings.
You can check out from half PR, full PBR, Rookie Dynasty,
can check out the ECR and positional get all of
that work in and see where you differ, and then
you guys can drop us some of your must halves.
That'll do it. Thank you so much for hanging with us.

(57:15):
I'm Chris Welch, That is Debro and Jake Seey and
we'll talk to you next time right here on Fantasy
Pros the Football Podcast.

Speaker 5 (57:22):
Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football Podcast.
If you love the show, the best freeway 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
fantasyprosspot

Speaker 3 (58:01):
Back us about the PO

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Fantasy Gold: The Top 10 Must-Have Players for 2025 | Post Free Agency (Ep. 1548)

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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 Gold: The Top 10 Must-Have Players for 2025 | Post Free Agency (Ep. 1548)