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July 14, 2025 • 14 mins

Join Chris Welsh and Pat Fitzmaurice as they highlight six players that Fitz is targeting in all of his 2025 fantasy football drafts!

Timestamps: (May be off due to ads)

Intro - 0:00:00

Chase Brown - 0:00:43

George Kittle - 0:02:25

Tetairoa McMillan - 0:04:52

Jerry Jeudy - 0:06:45

Drake Maye - 0:09:15 

Darnell Mooney - 0:11:15

FantasyPros Draft Kit - 0:12:55

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
What's up, Friends of Welcome into Fantasy Pros the Fantasy
Football Podcast. We got a great one for you because
we are looking at Pat Fitzmorris's must have players. Who
is Pat targeting? Well, we're doing the easy work for
you as you scour all the amazing work that Pat
does in the written in podcast form, We're going to
condense it down to an easy, consumable FITSI target meal.

(00:25):
So Pat Fitzmorris, let's start with it. We are going
to go on the higher end. Two early round draft targets.
We're looking at top fifty players. We're also using half
PPR as our baseline, our consensus when we're looking at ECR,
which is expert consensus ranks. So two early round targets.
Pat hit us with them.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
Let's start with Chase Brown. Well, sha repeat from last
year's must have list. Chase Brown finished as the RB
twelve and a half point PPR fantasy scoring last season,
only average six point three touches a game over the
first three weeks before starting to get more involved in
Week four. Then Zach Moss got hurt in Week eight
and didn't play another game all season. Beginning in week nine,

(01:04):
Chase Brown played at least eighty percent of the Bengals
offensive snaps in every game, and from week nine on,
Chase Brown was RB five and a half point PPR
Fantasy points per game, behind only Saquon Barkley, Jumior Gibbs,
Bijean Robinson, and Josh Shacobs. Chase Brown averaged eighteen point
nine carries, four point eight catches, and one hundred and

(01:24):
sixteen point three yards from scrimmage per game from Week
nine on and had six touchdowns in those eight games. Obviously,
whils Chase Brown won't continue to get snapchares of eighty
or ninety percent every week, but you'd have to imagine
his workload is still going to be pretty zesty. The
other running backs in Cincinnati are Zach Moss, Samaj p
Ryan and Taj Brooks. Moss and p Rn are filler.

(01:46):
Those guys are the basket of bread you get at
a nice restaurant. Taj Brooks is more interesting. He handled
a big workload at Texas Tech and has a well
rounded skill set, but he was a sixth round pick.
No NFL team makes big plans for a sixth round pick,
so Chase Brown is once again poised to have a
big role in one of the best offenses in the league.

(02:07):
He showed us last year he's good and he adds
substantial pass catching value fifty four catches last year, with
thirty eight of them coming in his last eight games.
So yeah, Chase Brown has an early third round ECR.
I don't think he should get past the two to
three turn. And then my other is George Kittle for
the early rounds. He is tight end three in ECR,

(02:29):
thirty fifth overall over the last seven seasons, which is
pretty much everything. After his rookie year, George Kittle has
averaged twelve point two half point PPR Fantasy points per game.
That's what brock Bauers averaged last year, twelve point two
half point PPR Fantasy points. Trey McBride was a twelve
point one. Now, if you think brock Bauers was just

(02:50):
clearing his throat last year and has bigger and better
things ahead, then by all means you can justify drafting
Bowers ahead of George Kittle. And for the record, I
do think Bowers was just getting stuck ard If you
think Trey McBride is on the verge of a touchdown bonanza,
even though he scored eight touchdowns and forty nine NFL games,
and scored very few touchdowns during his college career at

(03:10):
Colorado State. By all means, draft Trey McBride ahead of
George Kittle. I'm not really convinced Trey McBride touchdown avalanche
is coming. I McBride ranked tight end three behind Kittle,
and by the way, I also trust Rock Purty as
a target delivery mechanism more than I trust Kyler Murray.
So Kittle's been fantastic for a long time, ridiculously efficient

(03:33):
throughout his career. Two point two eight yards per route
run in ten point one yards per target over his career.
Those are sensational numbers, and with such crazy efficiency, Kittle
doesn't really need a floot of targets in order to
put up big numbers. And unlike Bowers and McBride, Kittle
is a reliable touchdown scorer. He's averaged seven point a
tds over the last four years, with at least six

(03:54):
touchdowns in each of those years.

Speaker 1 (03:56):
And you know, I love hearing about the Niners early
tight ends pretty popular thing right now. Chase Brown also
allows you to get kind of your early wide receiver,
whether there's a little bit of flexibility, and you were
able to get you a Chase Brown and the third
and maybe a George Kittle in the fourth, pairing it
with two wide receivers. I can see why these are targets.
Or there might be worlds where if you have a
late pick in the second, you got to jump on

(04:18):
Chase Brown and then you're battling if you can get
George Kittle. But these are two great targets. It makes
sense on strategies. So now let's move over to the
mid rounds and if you guys want to follow along,
when we mentioned ECR again, that's Expert Consensus Ranks on
Fantasypro fantasypros dot com slash rankings. You can check out
where Pat, myself and everybody else has got on the
individual ranks, and the ECR is a collective across the board.

(04:41):
So when we're talking about that, we've got ADP data
and ranks data for how these players are values and
how these guys are targets. So we're now moving to
the mid round. So this is like a mid fifty
one to one hundred ranged player. You've got two must
have targets and they're both wide receivers, so pat hit
us with them.

Speaker 3 (04:59):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (04:59):
The first is rookie Tetoa McMillan of the Panthers. His
ECRs wide receiver twenty nine sixty fourth overall. I've got
him wide receiver twenty two to forty seventh overall. I
can understand the hesitation to invest in a rookie wide
receiver tied to a quarterback who has yet to definitively
prove that he's a good enough passer to be long

(05:19):
term NFL starter. But Tetoe McMillan is a terrific prospect.
Drafted eighth overall, more than thirteen hundred receiving yards at
Arizona in each of his last two seasons. He did
it last year despite mediocre quarterback play. McMillan is six'
five with a massive catch radius and, good strong. Hands
he's an advanced route runner with a knack for attacking.

(05:42):
Zone and WHILE i can't Say i'm one hundred percent
convinced That Bryce young is going to become a good
or even an AVERAGE nfl, passer he did take noticeable
strides in that direction down the stretch last, season And
panthers head Coach Dave canalis has been very good at
maximizing the talents of his, Qbs so The panthers don't
have a lot of pass catching talent beyond McMillan the

(06:05):
Ancient Adam, Thielen xavier Get, lagette And Jalen, coker who
haven't totally proven themselves, yet and with The panthers defense
likely to be among the worst in the, League carolina
might be forced to throw the ball at a pretty
high rate this. Season not out of the question That
tetohah McMillan could finish top ten in targets in his
first year in THE.

Speaker 1 (06:24):
Nfl, yeah this another wide receiver you have, TOO i
think is a really interesting pairing if you were to
jump into the wide receiver. MARKET i know you're not
the Biggest travis or the rookie wide receiver. MARKET i
know you're not the Biggest Travis hunter. Guy but whether
you were take, McMillan you're Taking Travis, hunter or you're
taking any kind of like these high upsidey that maybe
lacks some potential. Floor this wide receiver outside of what

(06:46):
you're probably gonna talk. About the quarterback PLAY i think
is built around some floor at their. Cost so who
is your other mid round.

Speaker 2 (06:52):
Target, yeah It's Jerry Judy welsh and as With tetroha,
McMillan there are some ecosystem questions For Jerry. Judy but
last year we did finally get The Jerry judy we've
been waiting for ever since he was drafted fifteenth overall
in twenty. Twenty judy had ninety catches last year For,
oney two hundred and twenty nine yards and four. Touchdowns

(07:12):
And judy put up those crazy numbers even though he
averaged just three catches and thirty eight receiving yards in
the seven Games Deshaun watson started a quarterback for The
browns last. Year in the seven Games Jameis winston, Started
judy averaged seven catches a, game one hundred and twelve
point three, yards and even When Dorian, Thompson robinson And

(07:33):
Bailey zappi combined to make three starts for The browns
down the, Stretch judy averaged six point seven catches and
fifty nine yards in those. Games SO i realize The
browns probably aren't going to have a high flying offense
in twenty twenty. Five there is a very good chance
That Joe flacco is going to open the season As
cleveland STARTING, qb and this late career yolo version Of

(07:56):
Joe flacco that we've seen in the latter stages of
his career has put up some pretty big passing. Numbers
in the eleven Starts he's made over the last two,
Years flacco's averaged two hundred and ninety one point seven
passing yards and two point one touchdown passes per. Game
Jerry judy is above average in two very important categories
for a wide, receiver route running and after the catch.

(08:18):
ABILITY i think he's a really goodbye at an affordable.

Speaker 1 (08:22):
PRICE i completely agree with that. Too not that he's super,
sexy but he's the number one. Target he comes at
a super cheap, cost and there's a lot of different
team constructions that he. Fits he pretty much fits all of.
Them whether it's like you didn't go super early with
wide receiver and maybe you did get one of those
higher tight ends and a running back early. On he's that.
Guy AND i use floor loosely Because i'm saying it

(08:44):
because he's the number one, guy he should get the
sheer force of, targets but he also he just works
on every other. End he took some high upside players
you're looking for that, floor or he can be an
incredible wide receiver four that you end up putting on
a team if you went really wide. Receiver so there's
a lot of use cases why he makes. Sense so
let's move now to our later round. Targets these are

(09:07):
plus one HUNDRED ECR bas, picks so these are much later.
Guys one player you are known for my FRIEND i
really really love the other he is one of. Mine
so you got two picks, here a quarterback and a wide.
Receiver everybody and their mother knows exactly who's coming for this.
Quarterback if there's a late target that is attached To,
pat it's this.

Speaker 2 (09:26):
Guy, yeah It's Drake, may And i've been trying to
sell him all off. Season we know that running quarterbacks
are fantasy cheat, Codes, welsh And Drake may offers far
and away the most bang for the buck of all
the running, quarterbacks since the top ones are all really.
Expensive Josh, Allen Lamar, jackson Jayde, Daniels Jalen. Hurts Drake

(09:47):
may started twelve games as a, rookie but if we
Exclude week, eighteen when he only played three snaps before being,
pulled managed thirty eight point three rushing yards a. Game
over a full, season that projects to six hundred and
fifty one rushing. Yards BUT i Think may could give
us eight hundred nine hundred rushing. Yards as a sophomore
At North, carolina he had six hundred and ninety eight
rushing yards in fourteen, games and that's with college quarterbacks

(10:10):
having sack yardage deducted from their rushing. Yardage So may
lost about two hundred yards in sacks that year and
was really closer to eight hundred and fifty rushing yards
in fourteen games if you factor that. In Drake may
had TWO tv runs last. Season in two college seasons
as a, starter he had sixteen touchdown runs in only
twenty six. Games not only Can may, run but he

(10:32):
was surprisingly pretty good as a passer last year despite
just one of the worst supporting casts in the. League
The patriots have added some pass catchers With Stefan diggs
and Rookie Kyle, williams and they've dramatically overhauled their offensive.
Line so, yeah last, Year Jaden daniels was the best
draft value among the running, quarterbacks and he paid off
big time this. YEAR i Think Drake may is that.

Speaker 1 (10:54):
Guy your final one is one of my favorite. Picks
he's one of those GUYS i keep looking at and
it's like you want to get him. High it's in
an offense where a lot of people are projecting the
number one wide receiver to be maybe the number one in.
Fantasy there's more efficiency as far as what the quarterback
play is out, there and this is a guy who
might just quietly where we're propping up players Like Jordan.

(11:16):
Addison you, know he might be a cheaper version of
that second wide receiver that's not of the T higgins,
ilk but a guy that might just walk into one thousand.
Yards your last one Is Atlanta Falcons Darnell mooney so.

Speaker 2 (11:29):
Hit it might walk into a thousand. Yards while she
just barely missed last, year he finished with nine hundred
and ninety two yards almost certainly what a top one
thousand yard. Mark hetty not missed The falcons final game
of the, season a forty four to thirty eight shootout
overtime loss to The. Panthers that would have been his
second thousand yard. Season he had one in his SECOND
nfl season with The. Bears mooney had seven games last

(11:52):
year with more than eighty receiving. Yards he averaged a
career best nine point four yards per target and one
point eight eight yards per, route And mooney is not
going to come off the field very often this. Year
he'd a ninety two point nine percent snapshare last, season
and The falcons really made no significant addition to a
wide receiver in the. Offseason so after drawing one hundred

(12:13):
and six targets last, Year mooney's once again in pretty good,
line pretty good shape to draw more than one hundred
targets this. Year AND i do believe in the arm
talent Of atlanta's young Quarterback Michael Pennox. Junior there's just
never any buzz Around Darnell, mooney but he is a
really solid. Value in the later, Rounds.

Speaker 1 (12:31):
We've got some must have targets if you're looking for
the top end the early, Rounds Chase brown And George,
kittle that's WHO fitzi. Wants in the mid rounds you've
Got ted McMillan And Jerry, Judy and in the late,
Rounds Drake may And Darnell. Mooney those are some Of
fitzi's must have. Targets but guess what there are More
if you want more must have players From. Fits you

(12:54):
can check out his article in the must Have targets
over on The Fantasy Pros Football draftkit for premium subscribers
actually also just released mind not that you probably, care
but my targets are there as. Well you can Get
fits and a bunch of other other great. Analysts and
if you're not a premium, subscriber that is. Okay our
draftkit still has you covered with full cheat sheets positional

(13:15):
primers that you can access for completely. Free but you
definitely are going to want to sign up for premium
so you can get access to not just these, names
But i'll boatload more From, Fitzie so go To fantasypros dot,
com slash, Kit fantasypros dot com slash, kit And draft
like A pro today For Pat. Fitzmorris I'm Chris. Welsh
thank you guys so much for hanging out with, us

(13:35):
and good luck in your. Drafts we'll talk to you
next time right here On Fantasy pros The Football.

Speaker 3 (13:39):
Podcast 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
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