Is This Finally The Year Of Kyle Pitts? | Top 10 Early Hot Takes (Ep. 1578) - FantasyPros - Fantasy Football Podcast

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's up, friends, and welcome into Fantasy Pros. This he
is the Fantasy Pros Football Podcast. I am Chris Welsh
and we have got some hot takes for you. How hot, summer, mile,
summer medium, and some are a little too spicy. We
are gonna, you know, test that spice with the two
wonderful gentlemen, Pat fitz Morris and Jake Seeley in the house. Jake,

(00:23):
first off, are you a spice guy?

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Well, which one?

Speaker 1 (00:28):
But you do the spice.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
We're talking about posh or no, no, not the spice girls,
and maybe not even the takes, because we're gonna get
some takes.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
But how about the real life the eating the eating
of the spice.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
I am to a certain degree. There's a certain cutoff
where I like, actually legit have for everybody out there,
and I put my business into the world. I think
I've mentioned it on my podcast, but I do have
a health risk with my UC where I can only
go so far. But I am like love Louisiana chicken.
I use cayenne and a lot of Italian season and
stuff like that, so like, I love it, but I
have to check myself.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
Mister Fitzmorris, would you say, your eating of spice or
your takes are bigger? Which one can you handle?

Speaker 3 (01:07):
Probably now the takes. There used to be a time
when I was more in a spicy food and I
still like crushed red peppers like my favorite condiment, or serracha.
But a long time ago, I used to work part
time at this liquor store, and I had these two
great bosses, two the best bosses I've ever had. These
two brothers used to talk football with these guys for hours.
But in addition to their love of football, they loved

(01:30):
hot sauces. And they were really into the mail order
sauces that you'd get out of a catalog and they
would come. They'd get like shipments of like twenty bottles
of hot sauce, and they would send me to this
like Chinese restaurant down the street and we'd get a
couple orders of fried rice and test out all these
hot sauces on the fried rice. And some of these

(01:50):
things were just I mean, the the only intent of
manufacturing sauces like this was sadism. Like they were so hot,
I mean, they would put you in physical discomfort when
you were at.

Speaker 1 (02:03):
Well, we will see what level of discomfort we can
push people because you're like Welsh, what are you talking about?
Why are you talking about hot sauces? Because we're going
to take the hot takes to the football hot takes.
We are even going to organize them up into mild, medium, hot, spicy,
and extra spicy. We have got a player for each

(02:27):
one of these guys under said take, and that is
our theme for the episode today. We've got ten fantasy
hot takes for you for the twenty twenty five season.
Pat and Jacob put these bad boys together and we
will see how much it burns, how bad it is.
So we've got a lot to get to, so let's
jump right into it, starting with the mild take, A

(02:49):
wonderful mild that pretty much anybody can handle. But you know,
we'll see how hot this ends up going. Jake, let's
start with you your mild hot take for the twenty
twenty five season. Does it burn or is it just right?

Speaker 2 (03:03):
I think it's just right, even like you said, even
maybe a little bit mild. And I'm going to say
that George Kittle unseats brock Bowers is the number one
tight end in fantasy, and it actually finishes as the
number one tight end in Fantasy for the first time
in his career so much so, like why I say
it's mild, It just because if you go on a
points per game basis, last year he was better than
Brock Bawers. And I know everybody's excited about Brock and

(03:24):
what he's going to do in his second, third, fourth year.
I mean, we're looking at just as a reference point.
Somebody asked me in Dynasty, would you trade Brock Bauers.
It was for Marvin Harrison and another really nice player,
and I was like, the value is there, but I
wouldn't because you're essentially thinking of it is Hey, I
get Travis Kelsey at the start of his career. So
that's how much I am behind Bowers. But I think

(03:44):
if we're trying to sit here and we figure it
out on this very podcast, I've been in a couple
of discussions of figuring out Juwan Jennings versus Pear soul
and how much Ayuk is going to be healthy for
this year, and like, what's the one thing we do know.
George Kittle's fine. George Kittle is going to be one
of the top options. And if you go back to
George Kittle, where he kept falling in second and third
place because of Travis Kelce some of those seasons approaching

(04:07):
fourteen points per game, and just to go back the
past fifteen years, I stopped at fifteen because I'm just like,
all right, I've found enough at this point. But fourteen
points per game on average would be no worse than
two and sometimes the number one tight end in fantasy
if you projected out of a full season, and George
Kittle was right there, if you take away Week eighteen,
which he didn't play the full game, Josh Dobbs is

(04:27):
that quarterback. So I think that George Kittle be impossibly
the number one option while we try to figure out
what's going on with the forty nine ers wide receivers.
At worse than number two, you get him back up
to one hundred and fifteen to one hundred and twenty
five targets, and not just in points per game, he'll
be the number one tight end overall. So I really
don't think it's that spicy.

Speaker 1 (04:46):
Yeah. Yeah, when I first was staring at this, I
was like, oh, this might need to be a little
bit hotter. This one might be one of those sneaky,
spicy ones. But the more that you look at it
from a fantasy pro ZCR standpoint, He's in the top
the top four are there singular tier. As far as ranks,
he's ECR tight end three. He also had five top
three finishes last season at tight end, with multiple number

(05:09):
ones in general. Obviously, with the widers, as you mentioned,
with the wide receiver game changing up, there's one constant
and it is George Kittle. But mister Pat Fitzmorris, what
do you think about this? Any of your big brock
Bauer's stan Does this qualify to you? On medium? Is
this a little bit spicier than Jake's giving it credit for?

Speaker 3 (05:26):
Yeah, I think it's right to category categorize it as
a mild, mildly spicy take. And I'm trying not to
frame this in terms of Jake being a brock Bauers hater,
which he definitely is. A free gave me a tongue
lashing for the notion that Brock will take him in

(05:47):
the first Yeah, I'm just kidding. No, But like I
think the Kittle part of it is spot on, and
it's funny because, like I swear for the last three years,
Kittle is never over drafted in fantasy drafts. He's either
drafted where he should be or he's a screaming value.
And I think maybe people are scared that he does

(06:08):
have the games where he disappears, where Kyle Shanahan decides
he wants to use Kittle primarily as a blocker, and
he has bad games like, oh, by the way, every
other tight end who you know, no tight end produces
weekend week out, It's just the nature of the position.
But Kittle has those weeks where he can win you
a game single handedly, and he has a lot of

(06:29):
those weeks every year. You know, like, Kittle is a
big play tight end, and there are not many big
play tight ends, Like I absolutely believe he is capable
of a tight end one finish, no question.

Speaker 2 (06:43):
Yeah you go back, Sorry, like to jump back into
your point. And where I think there is some spice
and I agree with fits, is that you look at
two years ago, the healthy Christian McCaffrey season. I think
that's what's in people's mind. Well, that's only eleven fantasy
points per game. He did have three games of one
hundred plus yards, but he also as fits a saying
he had a lot of single digit performances and I
think that's why people are always a little afraid of

(07:04):
George Kittle.

Speaker 1 (07:05):
So, Pat, when I looked at our spicy takes here,
I had to do a double take because I thought
maybe this one might have belonged in a different territory.
So this is going to be a classic situation of
maybe we all don't hit spice the same here, because
you and your take for the mild category seems quite

(07:27):
a bit hotter than I would have given it credit for.
So you tell me this is only Pat's mild take,
And what is it?

Speaker 4 (07:34):
All right?

Speaker 3 (07:34):
It's that Ashton gent He will finish this season as
the overall running back one for fantasy.

Speaker 1 (07:40):
And that's mild. Just he's the number one overall player
in all of Fantasy, the rookie, and you've got a
big sense of spice.

Speaker 4 (07:48):
Here's why I think it's mild Welsh.

Speaker 3 (07:50):
When a running back goes top twelve in the NFL draft,
at least in recent years, the results have been pretty good.

Speaker 4 (07:57):
I mean, like really good.

Speaker 3 (07:59):
There been six running backs drafted top twelve in the
last ten years, Bijon Robinson and Jumier Gibbs in twenty
twenty three, and full disclosure, I made a top twelve
instead of top ten because I wanted to sneak Gibbs.

Speaker 4 (08:13):
Onto this list.

Speaker 3 (08:15):
Sa Kwon Barkley in twenty eighteen, Christian McCaffrey and Leonard
Fournette in twenty seventeen, and Christian McCaffrey in twenty sixteen. Okay,
so maybe Leonard Fournette didn't quite live up to expectations,
although it's worth remembering that Fournette was running back six
in a half point PPR Fantasy points per game in
his rookie year, only behind peak Todd Gurley, Le'Veon bell

(08:39):
Ezekiel Elliott and Alvin Kamara and Kareem Hunt. So all
the other guys in this list complete smashes. And I
don't think there are many questions about Ashton Gentes bona
fides as a prospect entering his rookie year. He's fast,
his great visions, used to big workloads, catches, passes, and
his contact balance. Man, I mean, you need to hit

(09:01):
Ashton genty with an anvil if you want to knock
him off his feet. The guy is so hard to
bring down. But I think the key to an overall
RB one finish is the pace at which Raiders offensive
coordinator Chip Kelly likes to run his offenses. Like to
say Chip Kelly favors a brisk pace would be an understatement.
When he was head coach of the Eagles for three years,

(09:22):
Philly finished twelfth, first and second in offensive plays per game.
In his first year in Philly, Lashawn McCoy led the
league in carries with three hundred and fourteen and in
rushing yards with sixteen hundred and seven. McCoy then had
three hundred and twelve carries the next year for thirteen
hundred yards. Gent's going to get a lot of touches
this year, and there's every reason to think he'll be

(09:44):
highly effective on a per touch basis. I just I
have no issues with anyone who wants to take Ashton
genty in the top half of the first round in
a twenty twenty five fantasy draft.

Speaker 1 (09:56):
In reality, you know this is the first round guy
we're talking about. So as fun as I'm having with it,
this was a guy, Jake, you came on months ago
and we're talking about Gent being a first round pick
for fantasy. So a first round fantasy running back being
the number one overall RBM Fantasy isn't that crazy or
anything like that. It is a rookie and it kind
of stands out. What do you think is this a
mild take?

Speaker 4 (10:16):
Jake?

Speaker 2 (10:17):
Yes, I actually think this is pretty mild, mostly because
of everything Fits was saying. And if you go back
to Saquon Barkley, I mean, look at last year and
everybody's going to focus on last year, Well, guess what
his rookie season more points per game on about zero
point five point six more points per game than CMC.
Why do I know this off the top of my
head because the Barkley jersey you can't see behind me.
I'm a huge Saquon Barkley fan. My dog is named Barkley,

(10:39):
So there you go. But we're talking about his rookie season.
I mean he outscored and was better on a per
game basis than Christian McCaffrey. He didn't finish one, mostly
because there was another huge name in front of him
as well. But you look at it, the checkdowns, the
opportunities out of the backfield, running routes, the screen passes,
arrow routes, everything involved. That's all stuff that gen can

(11:00):
do a little bit differently, but it's all stuff he
can do. Where you look at last year the Seahawks
over one hundred targets to Kenneth Walker and Charbonnay, which
you know Smith granted a different offensive style that you'll
see with Chip Kelly. That fits brought up. But you're
talking about a potential for ninety to one hundred targets
for Jentt if he's going to be that kind of
a workhorse. Where that's what I'm just going to keep referencing.
You're talking about Saquon Barkley's rookie season over twenty one

(11:22):
fantasy points per game. If he hits twenty one fantasy
points per game, even if he finishes his RB two,
you're not going to be complaining. But that opens up
the world to be the number one running back in
twenty twenty five.

Speaker 1 (11:33):
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Speaker 1 (13:18):
The takes, they're moving up a little bit. We're going
to test the spice that was just mild. It's time
for a little bit of medium. What do you like
it on? Well, today we're going to put those on
some quarterbacks.

Speaker 5 (13:30):
Jake.

Speaker 1 (13:31):
Let's start with you and your medium take for this
bad Boy.

Speaker 2 (13:36):
Yeah, I almost consider putting this up as my mild,
but then I'm like, you know what, we need quite
a few jumps here across the board, and That's where
I'm going to go with this. For Caleb Williams, finishing
as a top three quarterback top ten almost feels like
a cold take at this point, and that version of
things of like, it's not spicy at all. Top five,
I think it's a little bit more, But I say
top three puts it medium spice. It jumps over what

(13:58):
we said before, and it's everything we've known, Like we've
talked about this entire offseason, starting from Ben Johnson down
to drafting of a very talented wide receivers. Now they're
new number three with Burden and then everything up and
down with Lovelin and talking about Loveland getting opportunities, and
you're looking at everything coming down this list, and Caleb
Williams just has to make a little bit of leg
up in every category. And I say every category, in

(14:19):
the fact of does he need to throw for Jared
Goff's forty six hundred yards and thirty five to forty touchdowns, No,
But if he gets just over four thousand yards, if
he jumps from twenty to twenty five passing touchdowns, which
isn't a big.

Speaker 1 (14:32):
Hurdle to cover.

Speaker 2 (14:33):
Hell, if he gets to thirty and he runs in
a few. By the way, I don't think a lot
of people realize how much he did actually run last year,
especially when the when the Thomas Brown situation came over
and he took control, and we even talked last year,
said Kayleb Williams. Stop running around in a circle. Actually
run down field like takes some of those opportunities to run.
Ran for almost five hundred yards but didn't find the

(14:53):
end zone once. And I'm not saying he's going to
all of a sudden turn into Josh Allen or Jalen Hurts.
But you get four or five to downs on the
ground without even an uptick and rushing just all set
on what he should be doing. You get another five
hundred passing yards, you get five passing touchdowns. All those
are pretty mild hurdles. I would say to do all
of them makes it a little bit more of a

(15:14):
medium spice. But you do all those things, and why
I bring them up, and just those minor improvements. He's
the fifth quarterback last year. Just those minor ones. So
if you see him throw for forty four hundred yards
thirty touchdowns, keep running five hundred plus yards and gets
five touchdowns. Now we're talking about a potential top three
quarterback with all the weapons this Ben Johnson offense, and

(15:35):
I think everything's box chicken box checking where it's possible
for it to happen this year.

Speaker 1 (15:39):
Okay, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Jayden Daniels, Jalen Hurts. Those
are your top four tier one quarterbacks. Who gets bumped
down for Caleb and your medium take?

Speaker 2 (15:49):
Well, Hurts was already behind the other two even in
points per game, so I'd say he bumps Jaden and
Jalen as much as that pains me.

Speaker 1 (15:58):
Oh yeah, it's burn It's burning.

Speaker 2 (16:00):
Pass Lamar, Josh Allen, and then Caleb.

Speaker 1 (16:03):
A right, So Jade Daniels gets pushed back for this
medium take. This one just spiced up a little bit.
What do you think about Caleb as a top three quarterback?

Speaker 3 (16:10):
I mean it's a spicy take for sure, but it's plausible.
I mean, look at what he has going for him.

Speaker 2 (16:16):
Now.

Speaker 3 (16:17):
The Bears went out and hired one of the most
respective offensive architects as their head coach and play caller
with Ben Johnson, they totally rebuilt the interior of their
offensive line, which was such a huge problem for them
last year. They went out and drafted Colston Loveland and
Luther Burden. So now he's just Caleb is a wash

(16:39):
in good promising pass catchers with Dj Moore and Roma
Doonz was a top ten pick a year earlier, and
Luther Burden and the two tight ends Loveland and Comet, Like,
it's just everything is there, and if there's not a
major leap forward for Caleb, it's probably because it's an
issue with Caleb and not with his ecosystem. So and

(17:03):
maybe like that could happen because Caleb is you know,
he's usually Bennett's best when playing out of structure, and
I don't think Ben Johnson really wants him to play
out of structure this year, So we'll see if he
can be a more disciplined pocket style passer with rushing
upside of course.

Speaker 4 (17:23):
But yeah, like I think we could see a major
quantum leap forward here.

Speaker 1 (17:30):
Well, you're sticking with quarterbacks here, so your medium take
is on which quarterback and how high could it be
higher than Caleb? I don't know.

Speaker 3 (17:37):
Yeah, I was worried my take might be too spicy
for this level, but then it's very close to Jake's take,
which is, you know, I have an optimistic prediction for
a second year quarterback, and it's that Drake May is
going to finish as a top five fantasy quarterback. We
fantasy gamers want quarterbacks who run like pocket passers have

(17:59):
limited upside. Run quarterbacks Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Jalen Hurts,
jayde and Daniels. The upside is immense. This isn't a
new concept. Cam Newton and Michael Vick. Back in the day,
those guys had sky high fantasy ceilings. I mean Tim
Tebow briefly at fantasy value. And they're probably a dozen
people consuming this show right now who have more arm

(18:20):
talent than Tim Tebow had. The thing is Josh Allen,
Lamar Jackson, Jalen Hurts, Jane Daniels. They're all going to
be really expensive in fantasy drafts this year. Like those
are the top four quarterbacks in ECR, They're all likely
to be off the board by what middle of the
fourth round in home leagues, maybe earlier. One way to
get a leg up on the competition is to get

(18:42):
a running back, a running quarterback at a discount. And
I think Drake May is your guy this year. May
is an ECR of QB eighteen. I have him ranked
QB eight for redraft. Like, I think Drake May is
going to have a breakthrough season and rushing is going
to be a big part of it. May started twelve
games as a rookie, but let's exclude Week eighteen since

(19:03):
he only played three snaps before he got pulled, and
the other eleven starts. May averaged four point nine carries
thirty eight point three rushing yards over a full season.
That works out to six hundred and fifty one rushing yards.
I think there's even more rushing upside than that. As
a sophomore at North Carolina, May had six hundred and
ninety eight rushing yards. That was in just fourteen games.
And bear in mind that in college a quarterback sack

(19:26):
yardage is deducted from his rushing yardage. May lost about
two hundred yards in sacks that year, So Drake May
has He had two TV runs last season. Also, meet
left on the bone there. In his two seasons as
a college starter, May had sixteen touchdown runs in twenty
six games.

Speaker 4 (19:44):
So I don't know.

Speaker 3 (19:45):
May averaged about fifteen point four starts Fantasy points per
start last season. But if you take out that Week
eighteen game and the Week eight game against the Jets
when he was knocked out of the game in the
first quarter with a kncash, he would have averaged seventeen
point four fantasy points per game, and that was with
arguably the worst supporting cast off any QB in the league.

(20:08):
The Patriots have signed Stefan Diggs, They drafted Kyle Williams.
They spent a top five pick on will Campbell to
guard May's blindside. They also signed Morgan Moses and Garrett
Bradberry to improve the protection. Like May is a screaming
value in fantasy drafts, He's gonna have a good season
as a passer in a big season as a runner.

Speaker 4 (20:29):
He's gonna finish top five.

Speaker 1 (20:31):
The trajectory of both of these is pretty big. I
mean QB thirteen for Caleb Williams up to three, QB
eighteen for May, up to five. Jake, are you buying
Drake May has that potential of being a top five
I mean, again, these are hot takes and i's think
it's going to happen, But you buying it?

Speaker 2 (20:47):
I would say, similar to mine, it falls in the
spicy uncomfortableness because I tried to make the capa william
uncomfortable for me, And if you said top five for May,
I'd be uncomfortable, Like I don't hate anything that fifth
said and Honestly, if you were talking about the rushing
value of the two, I would lean towards Drake May
for what he brought up. I actually think there is
more Josh Allen propensity to his game where you could

(21:09):
see seven, eight, ten touchdowns over a season depending on
how he treats things that be in May. And also
the coaching change here, which that actually brings Why the
uneasiness comes from me because if you look at the best,
like probably underneath the rabels Tannehill, and like Tannehill's one
season twenty one fantasy points per game, which push him
knocking in the door of the top five, but that

(21:30):
came with supreme touchdown efficiency. And that's where my hesitation
comes in. Yes they added Digs, Yes they added Kyle Williams,
but you look at May last year and a lot
of one touchdown games, again working with some of the
worst wide receivers as you've ever seen for a quarterback
to have to work with. But at the same time,
like that's going to be a pretty massive leap to
if he's not going to get four thousand yards, especially

(21:51):
in this kind of offense, which I'm projecting in my
mind that it might not be super pass heavy and
probably more of a run balance is the touchdowns are
going to have to come. I do think he'll get
him on the legs. That's where I do think he
has the advantage over Williams. But I'm worried about the
passing game. So it's spicy enough that it makes me uncomfortable,
which I think that's what these are supposed to do.

Speaker 1 (22:09):
Yeah, well and mild and medium, those are the easy
take home. Let's just try it. But now let's move
into hot. We are now getting into our hot territory,
some bigger takes. We are going to test everybody and
how much can you handle these? And Jake, we're going
to just jump right back into you. This is hot
take number one. How hot is it?

Speaker 2 (22:31):
I think this one? I think my top three are
bordering on like you can make an argument for any
of the three, especially starting with this one, because I
think a lot of people are looking at the Dolphins
backfield and they're excited for Devana Chan to get potentially more.
But I think some of that's coach speak. Let's be
honest about his size and if you want to get
him murdered, you okay, yeah, you will give him twenty
touches a game. What works so well for Han two

(22:53):
years ago is sharing that backfield for him Mostert, Well,
everybody where I'm going is not Jalen Wright. Because the
weird thing I thought about Jalen right when they took
him last year was like, that's more a chan than
it is Moster. Well, who did they draft who is
more like Moster in that power, in that role in
when they get to the red zone and they have
the efficiency they had the Dolphins as a whole two

(23:16):
years ago.

Speaker 1 (23:17):
Was it was all because the.

Speaker 2 (23:18):
Touchdowns for Moster. I do not think Ali Gordon's even
close to Moster on the breakaway potential with the speed
and everything. Like even Moster's power. Part of the appeal
the Dolphins.

Speaker 4 (23:27):
Was the speed.

Speaker 2 (23:28):
But if somebody is going to be Mostert in this backfield,
I think it's more likely to be Ali Gordon. Not
the biggest Ali Gordon fan. But saying all that is,
you set up that backfield and they used him like
they did most Are two years ago, and he's going
to be a top twenty running back and it won't
be Jalen Wright.

Speaker 1 (23:46):
Wow, that one. That's a hot one. That's a hot one.
All right, let's hear it. Pat, What do you think
about Gordon as a top twenty RB.

Speaker 3 (23:54):
Yeah, so, I I really don't have any problem with
the notion of Ali Gordon surpassing Jalen Wright on the
depth chart. Like, I'm not the biggest Jalen Wright fan.
I know there are a lot of people who think
there could be a big year two coming. I'm not
really like I thought Dylan Sampson, it's the way more
talented Tennessee running back than Jalen Wright. And I've heard

(24:18):
I forget who, I forget who tweeted it, but someone
said about Jalen Wright when he was coming out of
Tennessee that he runs like he has a blindfold on. So,
you know, an Olie Gordon man like his. I think
it was his sophomore season, like his second to last
college season, whether that was junior or sophomore year. But
he ran for what like close to eighteen hundred yards

(24:41):
that year, and he looked like just a monster. And
then he had a weird final year where he I
think he got a DUI in the summer before his
season and just kind of wasn't the same guy. But like,
if he can tap into that near eighteen hundred yard
season he had, Like, yeah, the juice is there. I
guess my bigger issue and the reason this is such

(25:02):
a spicy take it's the top twenty thing. Like, yeah,
I mean, Jonas Savinea was a nice ad in the draft,
but like, I just can't see this being anything but
a bottom ten offensive line. And it seems like Ali
Gordon is the kind of guy who to really pop
might need a top offensive line to help him make
it happen, and I don't think he's gonna get that
this year. But I'm really intrigued by how things are

(25:25):
going to shake out on the depth chart behind a
Chan this year.

Speaker 2 (25:29):
It's funny you say that because originally I said I
felt like spicy enough would be top thirty, and then
I look last year and I'm looking at dave A.
Montgomery with twelve touchdowns and fourteen games, just cracking over
one thousand yards, three hundred of it coming in the
receiving game, but seven seventy five and twelve on the ground,
and he was RB eighteen. Now that's overall, not points
per game. But I'm just saying, like that's kind of

(25:51):
why I shifted, like I wanted to say top thirty,
but then I'm like, ah, this is supposed to be
my third tier take, and I feel like I have
to push top twenty, especially if I'm going to say
he's going to get double digit touchdowns for it to happen.

Speaker 1 (26:03):
Also, like definitely a representation of we all don't treat
spice the same way spicy takes or spice that this.
You could have put this in any direction. Oli Gordon
is RB sixty three on Fantasy Pros consensus ranks right now,
EIGHTYP sixty nine. So this is a very very fun take,
all right, your hot take number three on the take

(26:24):
me here?

Speaker 2 (26:25):
How do you just let that go? This is a
spicy take, and he's RB sixty nine spicy, Like, how
did you just let that slide? By?

Speaker 1 (26:32):
Nice?

Speaker 4 (26:33):
I know?

Speaker 1 (26:34):
All right? Your hot take is who.

Speaker 3 (26:38):
It's Travis Hunter, and he will amass fewer than six
hundred receiving yards as a rookie and will primarily play
cornerback by twenty twenty six. And this is not I
can assure you about Travis Hunter running some let's say,
esthetically displeasing routes in OTAs or making some body catches

(27:01):
like it's silly to bag on Hunter because of a
few videocap clips posted on Twitter from an Ota, but
I do think it's fair to say that Hunter's technique
could use some refinements. He might not be already made
NFL wide receiver one like Jamar Chase or Justin Jefferson
or Malik Neighbors, or like his teammate Brian Thomas, who's

(27:24):
already one of the best receivers in the league. And
then there's the two way thing to worry about with
Hunter this year, Like he might be a wide receiver first,
that's what the Jaguars are saying, but he's gonna play
some cornerback two and if he pulls double duty, Hunter
isn't going to have a snapshare of ninety percent or
more at wide receiver the way most of the top
receivers do. His snapchare offensively could be closer to seventy percent.

(27:47):
And the Jaguars do not have a good group of cornerbacks.
I think their top four are Jordan Lewis, Tyson Campbell,
Monterrek Brown, and Jerry and Jones. When the Jaguars have
to face the in Week two, with Jamar Chase and
t Higgins, when they have to face the Rams in
Week seven with Pukainaku and Devonte Adams, when they have

(28:08):
to face the Chiefs, the forty nine ers, the two
games against the Texans with c J. Stroud, Nico Collins
and those Iowa State rookies. Are we sure Travis Hunter
is only going to play limited snaps at cornerback? Like,
isn't it going to be tempting to put him on
the field much more than that to help slow down
some of these top receivers and then maybe that affects

(28:29):
his usage on the offensive end. So I mean, like,
Travis Hunter is an athletic freak. I'm not knocking him.
I thought he was the best player in this year's draft,
But I also thought Hunter was better as a cornerback
than as a receiver in college. I just think it's
very possible Hunter plays a lot less wide receiver and
a lot more cornerback than people are expecting in twenty
twenty five. I think there's a chance the Jaguars changed

(28:52):
course and use Hunter primarily as a corner in twenty
twenty six. After Hunter puts up some mediocre receiving numbers
in year one.

Speaker 1 (29:00):
What do you think is the spicier take the lack
of success statistically for Travis Hunter as a wide receiver
or him playing more as a cornerback. And I understand
how those can coincide, but like, what is the bigger
take he is more of a cornerback than wide receiver,
or that he kind of is a little bit of
a fantasy failure as a wide out.

Speaker 2 (29:21):
I think the spicier part is the fantasy failure, mostly
because we talked about this a few weeks ago. I
actually think it was fits and I with somebody who
that maybe even worm is that the coaching change if
it happened, Like we could see the difference, and that
was part of our concern, like if the Browns drafted
him or like, uh, screw it. We have a new
regime coming and in the new regime doesn't see him
as a wide receiver and sees him only as a

(29:42):
quarter Like that was the risk going to the Jaguars.
Obviously that concern is mostly out the window. But I
will say the concern we're going to have in fantasy
is it's kind of like do you open the envelope?
Like Fitz brought it up, Like at what point do
they stop saying like, we can't leave potentially our best
corner from day one, potentially right now best corner on

(30:05):
the sidelines, just because we want to use them at
wide receiver. Fitz and I differ a little bit on Hunter.
I'm a little bit more positive in general, and I
think that's why I lean towards the fantasy would be
more shocking for me too, because I kind of gave
the mish mash of DeVante Smith and Jackson Smith and Jigba.
I called him Devata Smith and Jigba because it works
so well. But even so, even if I throw those

(30:25):
two names out to you and say they only get
eighty percent of the offensive snaps, you can still see
a path the top forty at worst because of what
those wide receivers would bring. And you look down this
depth chart. I'm not scared of anybody else on this
wide receiver crew outside of my boy Brian Thomas, obviously,
but he can be the number two. And they got
rid of Evan Ingram, so we're talking about Brenton Strange

(30:46):
as a nice sleeper for people, but I think he's
clearly the number two. The question is do they let
him play as much as he conceivably can, which I
think as us. I think because Deon Sanders of the
world aren't a thing more, we're kind of like, oh,
it's like baseball two way players. You know, this is
like once you get to college, you make the choice. Welsh,

(31:07):
I think that that's so far in the past that
were kind of like, I can't see it. I don't
know that there's I don't Travis Hunter's ability. I don't
know that it's inconceivable to say he could play eighty
percent of the offense eighty percent of the defense week
in and week out.

Speaker 5 (31:21):
Like why are like this.

Speaker 2 (31:23):
I'm not saying fits is saying this. I'm just saying, like,
why is everybody, just the community in general, saying like
that's just not going to happen. What if it does?
And what if he's good at both? And so that's
why I think that would be more surprise. I could
see a path to them saying forget it, he's just
so shut down a corner. We need to put him
there because that's where more value lies, because it's easier

(31:43):
to replace a wide receiver than it is a corner
of that talent.

Speaker 4 (31:46):
So I'm more with that.

Speaker 2 (31:48):
It's definitely a spicy take because I think he easily
clears six hundred at least and also to my projections
clear six hundred yards receiving. But I do like where
you know we're making reasons for these takes and everything
fits at is a sound reason why this could happen.

Speaker 1 (32:01):
And Travis Hunter takes us to this week's Chasing Challenges,
brought to you by Microsoft. Just like the athletes who
push boundaries and redefine what's possible, business decision makers today
are turning challenges into opportunities. Microsoft meets you where you
are with tools and guidance to help you make an
impact with safe, secure AI solutions. Players and teams are
facing their own challenges, and this segment we spotlight athletes

(32:24):
are teams who are currently undergoing a challenge what this
means from a fantasy or betting standpoint, and examining how
we think they can overcome it. And whatever challenge you're facing,
Microsoft empowers you with the expertise to say bring it on.
This week, we're discussing Travis Hunter because we haven't seen
a two way player in quite some time, especially to

(32:45):
this degree. The capital in which Hunter was drafted screams
wide receiver, but the team could be pressed like we
talked about, by a lack of poor defense and potential
struggles like Pat laid out, which could push the team
to get him to impact on the other side of
the ball. It's to be debated, but no two way
players had more pressure put on them to perform offensively

(33:06):
while being a world class defender. And in the fantasy realm,
he is ranked on Fantasy pro zcr as wide receiver
thirty one. That is a starting wide receiver in most
fantasy spots. That's it for this week's Chasing challenges and
remember Microsoft's AI solutions empower you to take bold steps
and make informed decisions, sparking new ideas to help drive

(33:28):
your business forward. With Microsoft as your trusted partner, you
can navigate your journey with confidence, finding innovative solutions, and
reaching new possibilities. Visit Microsoft dot com Slash challengers to
learn more. Gentlemen, we move on to the two big dogs.
We are getting into Spicy. We go from hot to spicy.

(33:49):
This is the fourth of the hottest takes here and
mister Jake Seely, we are going to jump to you
in the running back world and this one definitely made
me do a double take here, So I like it.
This one burns a little bit because we've had some
high expectations in the past, we've been burned by this player.
So your spicy take is what.

Speaker 2 (34:13):
My spicy take. And one of the words I use
might be shocking to some people, but Travis Etn returns
to being a top five running back. I think people
have quickly forgotten that twenty twenty three Travis Etn was
a top five running back, finished ahead of somebody that
Liam Cohen's running back from last year replaced and Rashad White.

(34:34):
It was two spots behind him, and then Rashad White
got replaced last year. I think that's the concern everybody
has is that Cohen's coming in. He's going to do
a new Bucky Irving Everybody's over Bashal Tutin and taking
over this backfield. And hey, he's replacing the guy that
wasn't his and the replacing the guy that I was
volume reliant and everything, and I get it, and I'm
I actually think this is going to be a headache

(34:55):
of a backfield if I'm being truthful, and I think
there is a path of Tuton winning now. But you know,
don't take too much into OTAs. But some of the
tooton concerns we saw in college have already shown up
in OTAs, and Cohen's been outspoken about it now. Of course,
the fumbling issues and stuff like that, and these are
things that have plenty of time to be fixed before
the season starts. But what do we know about Etn?

(35:16):
We know who ETN is. He was very inefficient last year.
Bigsby looked better at times. There's some talk whether or
not Etn was one hundred percent for part of the season.
But the biggest reason I think this is a possibility
again we are painting pictures here of how this could happen,
is what is Cohen coming from as when he before
he was an offensive coordinator, and then when he was

(35:37):
an offensive coordinator and now he's head coach. Situation is
this is a bell cow running back backfield. Most of
the time when Cohen's involved as an offensive running backs
code like all of his pieces that he's been throughout
the path have been involving bell cow ish running backs.
So we're talking about somebody who's going to touch the
ball eighteen plus times a week. He doesn't very often

(35:58):
employ or work with a committee and I think a
lot of people are scared it's going to be a
full blown committee. Well, if Tuton struggles, keep going, Bigsby
is not a passing game option. Etn for all his flaws,
is good enough, and Blitz pick up.

Speaker 4 (36:14):
He's good.

Speaker 2 (36:15):
He's really good in the passing game. It's getting some
of that efficiency back as a runner. But if you
look at somebody who is cutting ability and his elusiveness
in what could be the Cohen offense, actually thinks fits
better than what they had last year with Jacksonville. So
all that being said is a super spicy take, But
there is a path where et ten gets back to
two hundred and seventy touches plus and leads this backfield

(36:38):
and ends up being the best value. Because everybody's looking
for Bucky Irving to be Tuton and maybe even Bigsby
kind of form a committee between just those two, we
might be staring the answer right in our face and
just dismissing him too quickly.

Speaker 1 (36:51):
Pat, do you think this is a take where you're
going to need to get a big old glass of
milk and just chug this down because this is a
messy situation. You've got three running backs, that are between
like thirty five and fifty. All together, you're looking at
ECR Travis, ETN is RB thirty five and a half
PPR Tank, Bigsby is thirty eight, and Tutin is at

(37:12):
forty nine. And Tuton has obviously been a big buzzy guy.
So this is a messy Arby situation with a guy
that seems to be going in the wrong direction. You
had just thrust into the top five. So how much
does this one burn?

Speaker 3 (37:24):
Yeah, I'll try an Indian food metaphor here, Wilshan, like
you could actually look at this as in a way
as sort of a milder Chicken Tika Massala type take,
because it wasn't that long ago. As Jake pointed out
that ETN was a really prolific fantasy back twenty twenty three.

(37:44):
But the reason I think Jake cranks this take up
to Lamb Vindalou level is that, like it was kind
of a tale of two seasons in twenty twenty three
the first half of the year, I think ETN might
have then RB one or RB two, who's averaging better
than twenty fantasy points a game in PPR, I think

(38:07):
first half, and then over the second half, he was
averaging something Yeah, it was more like thirteen and a
half PPR Fantasy points a game. So he was still like,
you know, not a bad running back, but just not
as not the league winning type guy he was in
the first half of that season. And then I don't
know what happened last year, but like, if you look

(38:28):
at next gen stats and rushing yards over expected per carry,
Travis etn was underwater in that, Like he had a
negative rushing yards over expectation per carry and pretty much
by every measure, whether it's yards after contact per attempt, mistackle,
forced misstackles like Tank Bigsby was just the better running back, like.

Speaker 2 (38:51):
He I'll give I'll give you the numbers while you're
doing this. So through Week eight, he was second behind
McCaffrey at eighteen point eight points per game. After the
bye in Week nine, including a twenty five point game
in Week seventeen, he dropped from eighteen point eight to
eleven point five.

Speaker 4 (39:04):
That was twenty twenty three.

Speaker 3 (39:06):
Yeah, yeah, so there was a drop off, and then
like the downward slide continued this past year, and then
you know, now the fact that he's going into the
last year of his contract they just drafted Bashall Tuton,
They've got a couple of years on Tank Steal left.
It just seems like for a franchise that probably is

(39:27):
not super Bowl bound and doesn't have major Playoff aspirations,
this year just kind of setting the table for twenty
twenty six. And I wonder if Etn is going to
be a part of that when they've got touton and
Big Spy signed on long term.

Speaker 4 (39:41):
So pretty spicy.

Speaker 2 (39:43):
We could light this one on fire, be super spicy
by August when he's not even on the team anymore.

Speaker 1 (39:47):
Now Golden complete opposite direction.

Speaker 3 (39:49):
I mean, that might that might work for Jake if
he winds up on Dallas or that's.

Speaker 4 (39:53):
A good point.

Speaker 1 (39:54):
Yeah, all right, Well I like this because the spicy
take here we're going to go. We've talked a lot
about like these guys moving up. I mean that's obviously
where you know, in the bold prediction world or the
hot takes, there's like a big positive conversation around it. Pat,
You're not going to do that here. Your spicy take
is gonna go.

Speaker 4 (40:12):
Yeah, this is gonna be really negative.

Speaker 3 (40:14):
And I mean it just seems like it's unanimous that
Marvin Harrison is going to take a big step forward
in year two. But I'm going to say that after
finishing wide receiver thirty in PPR Fantasy scoring as a rookie,
Harrison actually has a worse season in year two. So
Harrison is coming off this disappointing rookie season when in

(40:37):
which he had what sixty two catches, eight hundred and
eighty five yards eight touchdowns. Those aren't really bad numbers
at all, certainly not by rookie standards. But you know,
he's no ordinary rookie. This guy's a prodigy, the son
of Hall of Famer Marvin Harrison Senior, the fourth overall
pick in last year's draft. Harrison finished wider thirty despite

(41:01):
having good touchdown locke to finish that high, like, twelve
point nine percent of his catches were touchdowns, six point
nine percent of his targets were touchdowns, Like, those percentages
are pretty high among other receivers. I just I have
some serious concerns about Harrison's usage and his chemistry with
Kyler Murray. Harrison's average depth of target as a rookie
was thirteen point four yards. They were using him as

(41:25):
a vertical receiver and like Jamar Chase, who led all
receivers in Fantasy scoring last year. His average depth of
the target eight point seven yards. Justin Jefferson average depth
of the target ten point nine yards, like Harrison is
just totally miscast.

Speaker 4 (41:40):
Is this take the top off vertical receiver?

Speaker 2 (41:44):
Uh?

Speaker 3 (41:44):
But like, I don't know if that is the fault
of Cardinals offensive coordinator Drew Petsing or Kyler Murray. Like
the book on Kyler is that he is not effective
thrown in to the middle of the field, possibly because
he's small and makes them hard to see over all
those big box he's in front of him. But Jacob
Gibbs of CBS Front of the Show he pointed out

(42:04):
a few months ago that Harrison actually had one of
the best success rates among all wide receivers last year
on routes over the middle. The problem was that he
ran only a quarter of his routes over the middle.
Three quarters were on the perimeter. Marvin Harrison Junior just
isn't a pure perimeter receiver. So I worry that MHJ
isn't going to take the great leap forward that many

(42:27):
people are expecting, and his touchdown luck could be worse
in twenty twenty five, So Trey McBride's still going to
be Kyler Murray's preferred short area target. Marvin Harrison Junior
is actually going to finish worse in PPR Fantasy points
per game this year.

Speaker 1 (42:43):
Jake, Jake, how like, how hot is this one? Is
this negative? Because I do agree, like there's been a
lot of conversation. It's second year, We're going to take
a next big step here, But is him failing to
even meet last year's expectation? Is that spicy enough for you.

Speaker 2 (43:00):
To meet last year? Like, of all the takes, I actually,
if I had to shuffle fits, I would actually put
this one a little cooler, just because I do think
like it's funny. It was either last week or the
week before we talked Marvin Harrison on the podcast that
was on on this show, and my opinion of Marvin
Harrison was the opposite direction, and it was a similar

(43:20):
It wasn't spicy takes. It was kind of like more like, hey,
things that we can see and wide receivers you want
to be on as breakouts next year? And I brought
up Harrison in the fact that like the target volume
should be there, Like I know people are bringing up
Michael Wilson again and all the rest in dorsch Land
and blah blah blah blah blah. But it's really Nick
Bride and Harrison. And one of the things I brought up,
interesting enough is Harrison had double the end zone not

(43:43):
red zone end zone targets a Trey McBride last year.
What if that comfortableness starts to grow with McBride Moore,
which it should have been. And that part was why
I almost had Trey McBride as that knocking off brock
Bowers originally as my take, and I switched it to
George Kittle because I could see all this. But the
concerns I Harrison, I'm glad Fitz said. Some of this
is that, you know, I had him a tier one

(44:03):
with a Donsday and neighbors last year as rookies. A
lot of people had Harrison almost on like a tier
of himself, and I know everybody did, but like there
were some people. But a lot of what Fish just
said is that the concern I had for Harrison is
his inability to always clear coverage. And if you saw
last year looking at separation scores, which is a new
thing that people are starting to bring.

Speaker 5 (44:24):
Up he was the middle of the pack.

Speaker 2 (44:25):
He was like in the fifty percent range, which, as
Fitz brings up, is why you don't want him on
the premimeter all the time. On the flip side, I
referenced the same thing everybody else saw when he was
doing jumping Jackson in the middle of the field, saying
I'm wide open, and Kyler Murray he go back to
that play. I know everybody didn't always look through the
start of the play. Kyler Murray looked at him on
that play. What we all saw was that he didn't

(44:47):
look back to him again. And I brought that up
in my argument to say, there's going to be better
rapport with Murray and Harrison this year, But what if
it's slightly better, the touchdown look isn't as good. There's
still the same issues on the outside and they don't
play him off. So all that being said is I
don't think it's a crazy thing. I would say top
thirty almost feels like his floor at this point because

(45:09):
everything that went wrong last year and he still hit that.
But if he finished forty fourth, I'd be like, you
know what, I'm not shocked, I'm not falling out of
my chair to use your Indian take level. Wait, I
thought you were gonna say this the numbers because I
got the Indian food for the first time ever a
few years ago and I was like, oh, get a three.
That's not that bad, and they're like, whoa, that's actually
kind of uncomfortable for me.

Speaker 5 (45:28):
This feels like a three.

Speaker 2 (45:29):
Like if you said not inside the top forty, I'd
be like, Okay, that's like a five or six, because
I think it goes up to seven.

Speaker 4 (45:34):
Right, Yeah, Like, I think I do agree with Jake.

Speaker 3 (45:37):
This is where you're, you know, at a Chinese restaurant,
ordering the thing with three peppers underneath, thinking you're gonna.

Speaker 1 (45:42):
Get I thought you might go guys might go Sculville
like type of meters. But yeah, if you just use
the like number of peppers, you're like that one's.

Speaker 3 (45:50):
Not right, and then well yeah, then then this one
is a little mild. So this one might be milder
than like the Drake may take.

Speaker 1 (45:57):
Well, I have a promise for you. I have a
promise for everybody. Pat's gonna come in really hot on
the extra spin, really hard. It's the biggest of our
faces are gonna turn red. And just get ready for it.
I promise you we're coming in super hot on the
last one, the extra spicy one. But before we get
to that, I want to remind you guys, you can

(46:18):
level up fantasy football draft prep with Fantasy Pros Mock
Draft Simulator. You can complete realistic mock drafts in minutes
without waiting between picks. You can jump in on some
of these spicy takes. You can test how it looks
in your own roster construction. Tailor your mock drafts to
your league's specific settings include roster configurations and scoring systems.
You'll also receive instant feedback and draft grades to refine

(46:41):
your strategy and gain a competitive edge. Prepare confidently and
dominate your draft with Mock Draft Simulator at Fantasypros dot
com slash mock. That's Fantasypros dot com slash mock. The
final on the Fantasy Pros Hot Takes Meter. Here is
our extra spicy This. This is the top of the
meter for today, the spiciest of spicy takes. Jake, You're

(47:04):
going to kick it off here. What is your extra
spicy biggest take of the day.

Speaker 2 (47:10):
I will say not only is Cooper Cup get comeback
player of the Year. He is outscoring JSN and it
finishes as a top ten as a wide receiver one.
That is yeah. Especially I've seen the comments alone on
the JSN talk. We did break out wide receivers and
all that type of stuff, and like everybody's on board
with JSN for good reason. But here's like we had

(47:33):
to be aggressive, and I feel like this is aggressive one.
What I'm going to go to here and like again,
I'm trying to create the narrative of how this happens,
similar to what we were just talking about. I want
Cooper Cup to play some slot. I don't want him
only playing on the outside. But if we go to
the vikings from last year and we say who's more
like Justin Jefferson, it's actually Cooper Cup. And if you

(47:57):
look at the usage with the RAMS and what Cooper
A Cup has been, it more replicates the usage downfield,
depth of target where he's being targeted then it does JSN.
JSN is an amazing kind of that hybridy big slot
kind of situation, and I think that he'll if one
was going to be Justin Jefferson, I would take Justice
Smith and Jigba. This is why it's a hot take,

(48:17):
But I'm just painting a world where I say, Okay,
well look at what Sam Darnald did with the Vikings.
If he happens to do the same thing, it's going
to come with Cooper Cup in that role for the touchdowns,
more downfield, less over the middle, less short yardage type
of stuff. And that's where I'm going. I think this
is the long shot of long shots. If you want

(48:38):
to make a super long shot. Bet I don't know
any site that would actually even.

Speaker 5 (48:41):
Give you this one because it's insane.

Speaker 2 (48:43):
But again, Sam Darnald, his usage, the similarities between of
how he could likely use these two wide receivers. I
just think there's a chance, a very slim one. But
I think there's a chance that Cooper Cup rebounds they
gave him a three year contract for whatever reason, but
rebounds and actually show some life late in his career

(49:04):
in a different way that he was kind of used
late with the Rams. Now that Puku Nakua took over
and he surpasses Jis and it finishes a top ten
wide receiver. As I say that, I want to hang
my head in shame, but I know fits is gonna
trump me with his so like, I don't feel that bad,
what's coming.

Speaker 1 (49:20):
I've been sitting here uncomfortable in my seat the whole
time that you've been doing. I want to it is
kind of like moving around, like all right, I'm gonna
watch back on video because I felt like like my
butt was clenched and I was like kind of like,
do you guys ever see Jennifer Jennifer Lawrence on hot
Ones where she's just like kind of crying, like why
are you doing this to me? That's that's what these
two are doing for me. I want to remind you

(49:42):
that Cooper Cup is forty seven and half PPR ECR
and Jackson Smith and Jigba is twelve, So this is
a twelve. He's so wide receiver one to a basically
flex What do you think about this?

Speaker 4 (49:56):
Pat?

Speaker 1 (49:56):
I feel like I kind of like I'm scared personally
to get back into the Cooper Cup business. I think
a lot of us got back into it last year.
We're like, man, the value and the usage just didn't
look like the same wide receiver. But do you think
the system can be enough that this extra spicy take
can actually live up?

Speaker 3 (50:15):
I mean, it's definitely spicy because there's a chance Cooper
Cup has just completely washed and that's why he stopped
earning targets, or at least the sort of targets he
had previously earned when he was getting you know, even
some twenty target games with Puka Aku around. But the

(50:35):
thing is, what if maybe that was more about health,
and what if he's fully healthy this year? And what
if Cooper Cup actually plays more slot than JSN and
they mostly make JSN like.

Speaker 4 (50:49):
Their Z receiver.

Speaker 3 (50:51):
Like, if that happens, then I wouldn't be surprised if
Cup actually out targeted and maybe even out produced JSN.

Speaker 4 (51:02):
So like, I can see a path to where this happens.

Speaker 3 (51:07):
But you know, am I going to bet on that
being the most likely outcome?

Speaker 4 (51:11):
Certainly not. This is a pretty spicy take.

Speaker 1 (51:14):
Sure we'll have some comments in the comments section about
this one. I will throw this down to you and
you guys can drop this in the comments outside of
just you know, all the chaos that's going to cause.
How much would you have loved for these gentlemen to
both be having to go through the extra spicy eating
it and trying to give the take, trying to actually

(51:35):
give you the reasoning behind the take while experience the
physical sauce. That is what I want to know. Drop
it in the comments, because this one I would pay
good money to. I would pay good money to not
only get to hear this explanation, but do you have
the soul on spice for this one?

Speaker 4 (51:51):
Pat?

Speaker 1 (51:52):
You're going to finish it off. Your extra spicy take
is going down a road that so many just can't do,
but you're willing to do it. The extra spicy take
is whom ye.

Speaker 3 (52:02):
At the top of the show, I talked about those
hot sauces that my old employers used to order from
the mail order catalog where they would cause physical discomfort.
I know this one's going to cause physical discomfort for
a lot of people.

Speaker 4 (52:16):
And the take is that Kyle.

Speaker 3 (52:18):
Pitts is going to have the best season of his
career and we'll finish the season as a top three
Fantasy tight end. Everyone is totally given up on Kyle
Pitts by now, and if you're opening you know, I'm
just totally opening myself up to ridicule by continuing a
champion Kyle Pitts after all the heartbreak he's caused. But

(52:38):
Falcons offensive coordinator Zach Robinson recently said on a podcast
that he expects Pits to take a big jump in
year two of Robinson's system. And I know there's been
a lot of excuse making for Pits, Like in fairness though,
he was playing in a new system last year and
Kirk Cousins was pretty clearly cooked. Cool Pennix Junior has

(53:01):
crazy arm talent. He can be the rising tide that
lifts all boats in the Atlanta passing game this year.
Pitts is still only twenty four years old. He played
his first NFL game at the age of twenty and
wound up with over a thousand receiving yards as a rookie.

Speaker 4 (53:16):
Sorry, but I'm.

Speaker 3 (53:17):
Not ready to give up on Kyle Pitts yet. Pitts
has averaged eight yards per target in his four NFL seasons.

Speaker 4 (53:24):
Like, that's not bad.

Speaker 3 (53:25):
Travis Kelce has averaged eight point seven per target for
his career.

Speaker 4 (53:29):
TJ.

Speaker 3 (53:30):
Howkinson his average seven point one yards per target for
his career. It's almost a full yard worse than Kyle Pitts.
And yet there are plenty of people willing to bet
on TJ. Howkinson this year. And I mean, wouldn't it
be the epitome of fantasy football for Kyle Pitts to
absolutely crush it this year now that even his most
staunch defenders have abandoned him.

Speaker 4 (53:50):
Yes, yes, it would be, and it's gonna happen.

Speaker 3 (53:53):
Kyle Pitts smashes this year, finishes as a top three
fantasy tight end in twenty twenty five.

Speaker 1 (54:00):
Jake, your cheeks got red. You look like you literally
legitimately ate something like that, like.

Speaker 2 (54:05):
He is still hangover from mine.

Speaker 1 (54:07):
It is an extra spicy take in this world. What
do you think I mean Kyle Pitt's top three? We
know he has the talent. I mean this last year,
two years ago, mild as mild as can be, but
he has continuously not lived up to it. Jake, what
do you think about Kyle Pitts as a top three
tight end?

Speaker 2 (54:26):
So I actually want to harp on your point there
about he has the talent. I actually think his talent
is part of the issue. I don't think he's a
great tight end and I don't think he's I think
he's miscast as a wide receiver. He's in between, and
I think that's the problem with him. I'm not calling
him them, but just think back to like the Devin
Funt just Kevin Benjamin's of the world where they tried
to do but like they just didn't fit at either

(54:48):
and that ended up being their own destruction. I think
part of what we found out about Pitts is year one,
where he was kind of used, took the league a
little bit by surprise. I don't like they didn't know
who the guy was. The usage in year one and
the volume that was there and the opportunity was like, Okay,
you know what, it's pretty good as a wide receiver
slashed tight end two. And then the NFL said, you

(55:09):
know what, he's really easy to stop when we treat
him as blank and they kind of started treating him
as like, let's play contain over him as a tight end,
like let's not let him just burn past our linebackers.
And the NFL has changed too, where Luis Ci like,
linebackers aren't as much as a thing that they were
five ten years ago. And I know he hasn't been
around that long. By my entire point being is I
just don't I think Kyle Pitts ten years ago would

(55:29):
be destroying the league. It's just Kyle Pitts today is
in a different world.

Speaker 1 (55:35):
I hope Fits is right.

Speaker 2 (55:37):
I hope because now he's free, He's beyond free, Like
you just go take a flyer in the fourteenth round
and be like, oh my god, even a top ten
tight end and we're excited.

Speaker 5 (55:45):
Jonas Smith.

Speaker 2 (55:46):
Maybe he turns into Jonas Smith this year. But the
thing is they need to throw to somebody else. Part
of the reason I'm on Darnold Mooney is because I
think people forgot about him and his potential here is like, it.

Speaker 1 (55:55):
Can't all be Drake London.

Speaker 2 (55:57):
If we're on board with Michael Pennix being the thing,
and I'm a Michael Pennox fan, somebody else is involved.
At least two other people have involved, so there is
a world where it could happen. But I think what
you're bringing up and why this makes somebody uncomfortable, and
why Fits put this as is number one is because
we've also seen everything since his rookie season and seen

(56:17):
the problems with Kyle Pitts in the NFL. So maybe
they figure something out, and maybe they figure out the
right way to use them and create the mismatches by
moving them in different places. But this one would shock me.
But I hope he's right, Like, I legitimately hope he's right,
because I'm not giving up. Like, if you're gonna give
him for free, I'll take the flyer.

Speaker 1 (56:36):
Well, if you made it all to the end, all
the way to the end, congratulations for getting through all
these fantasy hot takes. We want to hear what your
favorite hot take was and if you have your own mile, medium, hot,
spicy or extra spicy take, drop it in the comments below.
Let's see how crazy we can get and whether you

(56:57):
like spice or not. Maybe next time we'll actually be
downing some of the hot sauce. I think these top.

Speaker 2 (57:03):
Two are more like Nucar and Testings takes.

Speaker 1 (57:06):
Yeah, I think this one might have affected you in
a way that might have been too much of a problem, Jake,
That might have been a little too worries. So here's
Jake Seeley, Pat Fitzmorris, some Chris Welsh. Thank you guys
so much for hanging out with us here. Make sure
you're subscribe to the channel so you don't miss any
of it. Make sure you go check out the mock
Draft simulator this draft season for all the hot takes
and more. Thank you for hanging out with us. Right

(57:27):
here on Fantasy Pros The Football Podcast. We'll talk to
you next time. Bye for now.

Speaker 3 (57:31):
Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football Podcast.

Speaker 2 (57:34):
If you love the show, the best free way to
support us is by leaving a positive review on Apple
Podcasts at fantasypros dot com slash review or on Spotify.

Speaker 3 (57:43):
Follow us on x, Instagram and TikTok at Fantasy Pros,
and subscribe to our YouTube channel at YouTube dot com
slash Fantasy Pros.

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Is This Finally The Year Of Kyle Pitts? | Top 10 Early Hot Takes (Ep. 1578)

Episode Transcript

Hosts And Creators

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Joe Pisapia

Derek Brown

Thor Nystrom

Ryan Wormeli

Pat Fitzmaurice

Matthew Freedman

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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;}Is This Finally The Year Of Kyle Pitts? | Top 10 Early Hot Takes (Ep. 1578)