Draft Strategies: How Early for a QB, When to Grab a TE & the Case Against Kickers

With the preseason wrapped, the fantasy experts, Marcas Grant, Michael F. Florio, and LaQuan Jones map out how to build a winning roster. They break down smart tactics for the middle rounds (5–12), when and how to go after rookies, the best way to use your final pick, and more tips to squeeze value out of every selection on draft day.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Wow, Hey everybody, It's Monday, August twenty fifth, twenty twenty five.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Welcome to the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. But we're doing
everything under the sun to get ready for Week one.
It's me and your man, MG Marcus grand Joy by
Michael Florio and Lakwan Jones.

Speaker 3 (00:22):
LaQuan, you said an.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Interesting thing right before we started the show. My back hurts, ude,
don't same. Don't think I didn't catch that, right.

Speaker 4 (00:33):
And listen in a in a vacuum.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
It's not a big deal, right, Like we all are
there at some point, right, But as somebody who has,
you know, been pounding the drum for a quarterback with
a hurt back, it just it just seemed ironic.

Speaker 3 (00:52):
It just seemed ironic.

Speaker 5 (00:54):
You know what.

Speaker 6 (00:54):
And just like Stafford, I'm doing everything under the sun
to be able to get up and perform. I am
year in this uncomfortable computer chair with a sore back.

Speaker 2 (01:04):
And the difference is no one's gonna come and hit
you while you're doing this show.

Speaker 6 (01:08):
I mean, I have a nine year old son that
is getting a little heavy handed, and so I had
to put that on hold to see we have.

Speaker 5 (01:16):
Some family in town right now. We gave them our bedroom,
and I'm sleeping in the guest room right now and
my back is killing me. Maybe Stafford was just being
a good host.

Speaker 4 (01:24):
For me, That's what it was.

Speaker 2 (01:27):
He just gave his bedroom to his in laws. Yes,
I feel like he has a pom enough house that
everybody can have a nice His.

Speaker 5 (01:34):
Guest room is probably the size of my house, right,
I'm sure.

Speaker 3 (01:38):
I'm sure that's most likely we got This is the
dead week.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
This is the start of the dead week before the
regular season starts, before we actually get into Week one,
we finished up the preseason, so you know, instead of
trying to like dissect who did well in the preseason.

Speaker 3 (01:56):
We know we talked some draft strategies today.

Speaker 2 (01:58):
We'll do some bold prediction later on in the week,
but figured we'll dive into sort of how we approach
drafts and give you some thoughts and some pointers on
some things to consider when you're getting into your draft.
So that'll be the bulk of the show today. But
I want to get started with a little.

Speaker 3 (02:15):
Bit of news, including big piece of news that happened
earlier on Monday morning. That is Terry McLaurin doing what
we all figured he was going to do, and that's
agreeing to an extension with the Washington commanders three years.
We're up to ninety six million dollars, including a thirty
million dollars signing bonus. I mean, l Q, I think
we were all here.

Speaker 2 (02:36):
I think we were all assuming that this was going
to end with Washington and McLaurin coming to an agreement.
He obviously misses the entirety of the preseason, misses the
entirety of training camp, which maybe is a calculated.

Speaker 3 (02:48):
Move, in which case, hey man, I'm not mad at you.
Good on you, But we've seen guys in the past
hold out and then get off to slow starts. Looking
at you, Brandon Aiyuk. This is then McLaurin holdout.

Speaker 2 (03:01):
Make a difference in where you feel comfortable drafting him.

Speaker 6 (03:04):
Well, this was the week, Like this was like, all right,
if they don't get it done this week, I'm completely
off the terror McLaurin chip because it's like he's going
to be so rusty, Like this man probably hasn't ran
full speed for at least three months. Like it's like
the conditioning of being in yoga.

Speaker 4 (03:18):
Working out, not in yoga that ain't working out, brother, Like.

Speaker 3 (03:22):
That in there.

Speaker 5 (03:23):
He has a field of his own arm.

Speaker 3 (03:25):
Man, have you done? Have you done hot yoga? Man?
That's a workout bro? Yeah right, not those good guys. Well,
this is how I die. This is how it is.

Speaker 6 (03:36):
But I feel comfortable where I've been getting him in
drafts like these last two weeks, a lot of home leagues,
a lot of redraft leagues have been popping off, and
like I was able to grab him as my wide
receiver three in a lot of these leagues. Like, he
looks pretty damn good when you're able to have like
your alpha wide receiver, your wide receiver two. And then
Tarry mclauren. I mean, we've probably seen a ceiling of

(03:56):
last season, but I don't care. He's my wide receiver
three and a lot of the.

Speaker 5 (04:01):
I assume that discount's gone now it never should have
been to begin with. Like I I mean, I've been
pretty like this is going to get settled because it
made too much sense not to like view it from
the commander's eyes, Like you have the lot of cap,
you have a franchise quarterback on a rookie deal. You

(04:21):
have the most excited your fan base has ever been
in probably forty years, thirty maybe not forty, but like
thirty twenty five years, Like, so you got to take
care of that. I have not taken Terry, but I
will say this, I am almost always routinely I feel
like much higher than consensus on Terry. I have him
as my water receiver twelve. Never took him out of

(04:42):
my top twelve. And I think one two things I'm
gonna push back on. People are gonna bring up Brandon Nyuk.
Everyone conveniently forgets that Jamar Chase signed this week last year, right,
like we only remember the negative. We don't remember that
Jamar Chase had one of the greatest seasons ever. And
I'm not saying Terry is chased, but like we've seen
players do this before and not get impacted at all.

(05:03):
But even more than that, a lot of people are
saying Terry's going to regress because he had a career
high in touchdowns, but he had a second fewest targets
of his career. I think the Commanders are gonna throw
the ball a lot more this year. They did in
the second half and in the playoffs. And if they
throw more, even if his touchdown rate isn't what it
was last year, he could still get double digit touchdowns,

(05:24):
he could top his yardage. So I'm all about taking
Terry McLaurin and if he falls, give me that at
a discount.

Speaker 2 (05:31):
I think they throw more in part because I just
think that's sort of the way of second year quarterbacks, right,
And not to say that they're still not going to
have design runs for Jaden Daniels, and not that he's
not going to scramble, but you know, sometimes in that
first year, when the pressure comes, instead of maybe climbing
the pocket and looking to make the throw, your instinct

(05:52):
is to tucket and run. And so I think we'll
see less of that for Daniels because he was obviously
getting more comfortable as the year went along, and I
think he's gonna get more comfortable in year two.

Speaker 3 (06:00):
So I think some of those scrambles will turn into
pass attempts as he learns to sort of navigate the
pocket and.

Speaker 2 (06:06):
Look downfield and find the open guy. So I think
that alone means you're gonna see some pass attempts go up.
Hopefully for Terry McLaurin and Terry McLaurin managers, that means
the target number goes up as well. I mean shocked
lakwan Seene that you're able to get him as a
wide receiver three.

Speaker 3 (06:22):
I didn't think I did think you would fall that much.

Speaker 2 (06:24):
I get a little bit of hesitation, but to have
him fall that much is that that seems like a
vast overreaction.

Speaker 6 (06:32):
I mean that's good. I mean it just makes my
wide receiver cord look even stronger. And you know, I
am the snake this season. I am the year the snake.
I ain't putting all negative and energy brown players that won,
and like my league may stay. Listen to the pod,
fans to the pod, and welcome to the party, folks.
I got Terry McLaurin as my wide receiver three, and
you will suffer on Sundays. Let's do that.

Speaker 2 (06:53):
Yes, that that breaks like the oath of what we
do is a hippocratic oath for this job.

Speaker 5 (06:58):
Like just want to help me? Well you get yeah,
you make it harder on yourself, but you're really part
of the job.

Speaker 6 (07:06):
Man, I'm here to win leagues. Man, I don't care.

Speaker 3 (07:10):
You live a strange life, man, I just.

Speaker 5 (07:12):
Yeah, man, you're just what the listeners just went down
ten more.

Speaker 3 (07:18):
What's gonna happen today?

Speaker 4 (07:19):
Find out why I'm drafting Cooper.

Speaker 2 (07:21):
Cup so like, So, I mean, you know what that means.
That means he's really worried about Matthew Stafford's back.

Speaker 3 (07:27):
That's what it really means.

Speaker 6 (07:29):
Now that watch, they know what I'm serious. They know
what I'm serious when it comes to Stafford.

Speaker 2 (07:35):
More Commander's news. They made a trade over the weekend.
They send Brian Robinson to the San Francisco forty nine
ers for a twenty twenty sixth sixth round.

Speaker 3 (07:44):
Pick a lot of sixes in there.

Speaker 2 (07:48):
I I've heard some folks say, and I don't know
if it's totally wrong, but I'll get your opinion.

Speaker 3 (07:53):
Florio.

Speaker 2 (07:55):
This maybe means I don't know if it's a good
thing for Christian McCaffrey, but maybe.

Speaker 3 (07:59):
It does mean we see less of him.

Speaker 2 (08:03):
Than instead of you know, eighty eighty five percent of
the snaps. Maybe that never drops down to like seventy
five percent of the snaps.

Speaker 3 (08:09):
Does that seem reasonable?

Speaker 5 (08:12):
Yeah? I like, And the thing is, like eighty five
even eighty five is a decline from Pete McCaffrey, like
he's ninety plus, right, Like, so, I yeah, but yes,
because of the injury, because of the age. I don't
think it's going to be the valuable touches that get
taken away, but those those carries, early down carries between

(08:34):
the twenties, like why would you not sprinkle in some
Brian Robinson Junior there? And I put it was hilarious
to me. I put it out on Twitter the other
day like could this mean they use him? And again,
not one hundred percent, but even if it's some of
the time, it caps the upside if they use him
near the goal line. And you could tell who the
CMC supporters are and who aren't by the responses because

(08:55):
everyone was like there's no way they would ever do that,
or they're are doing that, and like there's no in between,
you know. So I don't think they're obviously or like
obviously not doing it. I think it is something that
could be like what if half the time when they're
on like on the one yard line, we know those

(09:16):
are the hits where those running backs take a beating.
They're like, hey, we traded for Brian Robinson Junior. He's
a massive man, let's bring him in here. So it
I already was kind of off CMC as a mid
first round PA. It just felt too risky for me,
and this only adds to the risk in my opinion.

Speaker 3 (09:31):
Yeah, I so I'll say this, I still tend to think.

Speaker 2 (09:34):
That McCaffrey's going to get the majority of those goal
line opportunities. I mean, I know we saw in the
past that you know, maybe they'd sneak debo in there
every once in a while, or you know, they don't
mind throwing the ball or something like that. But remember
remember when Kyle Shanahan like forced the issue to try
to keep McCaffrey's touchdown streak going, where he gave him
the ball like three or four times in a row

(09:55):
on the goal line just to keep that textown streak going.
I don't think, you know, I don't think there's going
to completely abandon him there. But maybe maybe we see
a little bit of of Robinson in there. Back in
Washington though, La Kwan obviously everybody was excited about Cory
Krossky merrit akaa Bill. Do we know why he's Bill?

(10:15):
I don't think I haven't actually bothered to do the research, Yes, but.

Speaker 3 (10:20):
Go ahead.

Speaker 5 (10:21):
He looked like little Bill growing up. That's that's the reason.
All right, It's not deep, but that's all I.

Speaker 2 (10:29):
Need that's all I need. I just didn't bother to
do with the actual work to serve.

Speaker 5 (10:33):
Little Bill still on the air.

Speaker 3 (10:35):
I don't believe I haven't. It's j.

Speaker 6 (10:40):
There.

Speaker 3 (10:41):
The show is in prison.

Speaker 5 (10:42):
So yeah, well, both of you equally just blew my
mind in very different ways. Free Chuck, how is Nick
Junior not a thing? And what did the creator of
Little Bill?

Speaker 3 (10:53):
Do you know who created Little Bill? Right? You know
it's Bill Cosby?

Speaker 5 (10:57):
Oh oh oh, I totally forgot about that, And now
it makes a lot more sense.

Speaker 4 (11:05):
I'm gonna let that must go right by.

Speaker 5 (11:08):
Yeah, man, like I thought it was a regular dude.

Speaker 2 (11:11):
No, he's not coming out anytime soon. Okay, Junior just
you know, I think it just died of slow death,
because you know that's what media properties do nowadays.

Speaker 5 (11:22):
Born and raised on Nick Junior man, Yeah, man.

Speaker 6 (11:24):
The Muppet Babies, man Blues Clues. Those are the all
time favorites right there.

Speaker 3 (11:29):
Yeah, I didn't think we would get a Nick Junior station.

Speaker 4 (11:32):
Yeah, that's what happens on this spot.

Speaker 6 (11:34):
A lot.

Speaker 3 (11:34):
Didn't think that they're gonna happen to day anyway.

Speaker 2 (11:37):
Back back to my original question, La, obviously you know
now no, Brian Robinson there. Everybody's excited about Bill there
in that in DC.

Speaker 3 (11:50):
Do we need to worry about Chris Rodriguez? Is he
going to be a thing or are you ready to
go sort of all in on j CM.

Speaker 6 (11:55):
Is he making the team? I mean like he was
cut release cut, release, snip snap, you know, for the guy.
But it's like, I don't get the Chris Rodriguez like
revolution overnight, Like we didn't hear him all of August
and then that one preseason game. He's supposed to be
the guy to target in drafts, Like, I think it's
completely ignorance by the fantasy streets. Once again, if JCM

(12:16):
has been getting all the hype from the coaching staff,
beat writers, we see video, we have all this evidence
that he's the guy. Sitting the last preseason game. Everything's
indicating to us that it should be wheels up for JCM.
Now where he's going in drafts, Like he's going in
like that seventh round area where folks are completely outraged, like,
oh this seventh round er guy draft capital that. But no,

(12:38):
everything the tea leaves have been pointing us in the
direction that he's the RB one. I think he pushed
the reason for Brian Robinson Junior to be even traded
because the talent is there. He's a downhill runner, very shifty,
and he keeps and maintained speed in lateral speed when
he's juking these linebacker safeties and everything else. He's obviously
the real deal to be the RB one.

Speaker 4 (12:58):
I'm willing to take him.

Speaker 6 (12:59):
He's going in the rounds where Jordan Mason David Montgomery,
those are the only two backs that I'm like, I'm
taking them over JCM. So in the range that he's
going in, he's not even going to be your starter.
He's going in like the RB three, RB four range
where you could just pop him in as a flex
if he pops off week one, so it wheels up.
I'm not worried about no cr Chris rod Chris Rodriguez,

(13:20):
release release guy.

Speaker 2 (13:22):
I mean, all right, I mean it's one thing to
listen to what the fantasy streets are saying. But when
Dan Quinn is out here saying we can like, we
like him in short yardage, we want to use short
yardage back.

Speaker 6 (13:30):
How many short yardage guys have we been Jason? They
have not panned out.

Speaker 3 (13:36):
This is the fantasy streets That's all I'm saying right now.

Speaker 5 (13:38):
I don't think Chris Rodriguez will be Fantasy relevant, but
I think he can prevent Bill from fast thing. Yeah,
and this is the I put it out on Twitter
and everyone was calling me a hater, but I was like,
Bill is free, like literally right after the Brian Robinson trade.
I was like, he is free. All he has to
deal with now is Austin Eckler having passing downs on lock,

(13:58):
Chris Rodriguez potentially being the short yard guy, Jadeen Daniels
potentially being the quarterback that runs the most, and Deebo
Samuel getting sprinkled it into the run. To me, it
is it is a low upside uh position to be
in because if you're not catching passes, that's gonna hurt you.
If you're if so many other guys are getting involved

(14:19):
that Like, I think he's going to be better for
the Commanders, and I agree, like he's gonna be their starter.
I think I think he's gonna be better for the
Commanders than he will be for Fantasy.

Speaker 3 (14:29):
Is this is another Commande Vidal.

Speaker 5 (14:32):
No, No, let's get an opportunity at least hold on.
Oh there, I do, I do have some breaking news though, Okay,
per Tom Pelisaro, I almost called him Tom Rappaport. Per
Tom p and Ian Rappaport, Jacoby Myers has requested a
trade apparently.

Speaker 3 (14:52):
All right, okay, that's interesting. I mean, I guess he
is important.

Speaker 2 (14:59):
Jack Besh, I mean, I guess there's it is interesting
from a Raiders context. I had no interest in Fantasy
and Jacoby Myers.

Speaker 5 (15:09):
Yeah, so okay. All it's gonna do, though, is Dante
Thornton is gonna be going in like the tenth round now,
like he's gotten so much.

Speaker 3 (15:18):
I mean, I just have not gotten excited about the
Raider passing game beyond Rock Bowers. I just I just
haven't had Jack Besh Schroby Myers. I just haven't. I
just haven't found I haven't found it in my heart
to be excited about this passing game and Fantasy at all.

Speaker 5 (15:34):
It's also hard to take trade request serious when all
they are is a negotiating tactic at this point.

Speaker 3 (15:39):
At this point, that's all they are. Now.

Speaker 2 (15:41):
It's it's the new you know, stripping social media of
all your team logos and photos.

Speaker 3 (15:47):
I it's the same thing following your team.

Speaker 5 (15:49):
Yet those poor social media managers.

Speaker 3 (15:55):
It's gotta work over time. It's got to earn that
paycheck man for sure.

Speaker 2 (16:00):
Down in Houston, we've been asking the question what is
going on with Joe Mixon, And to this point, the
Texans have really had an answer, and Debikue Ryans still
doesn't have an update on Joe Mixon. Obviously, they got
to put together their fifty three man roster. We know
that when healthy Mixing.

Speaker 3 (16:18):
Is going to be on it. We just don't know
when he's going to be healthy. Florida, what are you
doing with this Texans backfield?

Speaker 5 (16:30):
I'm not drafting Joe Mixon. I know he's falling. I'm
in a draft right now. I'm on deck and we're
in like the thirteenth round and he is still sitting
on the board and I have no interest in taking
him because this seems very scary. If this isn't like
a he heard himself at practice and he might be

(16:50):
out a couple of weeks, this is a This has
been an issue since May, and the Texans haven't really
been upfront about it, and we still don't know like
if and what and what his timetable is. So to me,
an aging running back someone who has missed a lot
of time in the past. It's look, if he falls
further enough, you want to take him and keep him

(17:11):
on your bench or you have an IR spot. I
get that, But to me, that's all he is, Like,
I'm not taking him as someone that I'm expecting to
be a contributor to my team. If that makes sense.

Speaker 3 (17:22):
Now, I get that. So in that case, Lakwan, Nick Chubb.

Speaker 6 (17:28):
Or what he marks M I like what he marks,
and I think it's a reasonable hype because we're hearing
all the positive things come out of camp from him.
But it's like, maybe maybe what he marks could be
a guy that you can get as your RB four
or five. And and Mark is I'm not quite sure,
why are you doing the peace sign? You're saying fade.

(17:48):
Both of these guys fight on, man, fight on? Oh okay, okay, wait,
what's happening right now? But no, I do think what
he marks is an interesting pickup because where he's going
in draft is basically in that realm where like you're
just trying to fill your bench.

Speaker 3 (18:02):
At this point.

Speaker 6 (18:03):
And I do think that you know, the positive that
he brings to it is PPR upside. So in PPR leagues,
he could be an attractive like late round pick. But
Nick Chubb, I'm completely hands off, Like he didn't look
terrible in preseason. Like, I just think that you're not
going to get the Nick Chubb of the old that
you're probably expecting that you could put in trust in
your starting lineup. So I think it's going to be
a lot of wood he marks in that backfield.

Speaker 4 (18:24):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (18:24):
In my most recent Hyph Trainer smoke screen, Colum, you
can find that on NFL dot com, I mentioned, you know,
demikol Ryan's praising Nick Chubb saying he was looking he's
encouraged by what he saw that he's looking more physical,
and the football fan in me, the person who just
likes watching the game, says, that's cool, right, Like we
want to see Nick Chubb get back to where he is.

(18:44):
The fantasy manager me is like, nah, I cannot, I cannot.

Speaker 3 (18:48):
We're getting a back that's creeping up on thirty years old,
has had a couple of major knee injuries, you know,
has missed some significant time over the last year or so,
and whenever Mixing is healthy, whenever that may be, he
goes back to being the lead there. So I can't.

Speaker 5 (19:07):
I agree. I do think, like, look, if you're in
a pinch, I think, like week one, let's say, if
you need a flex, I'm guessing Chubb is going to
get more volume early on than Woody Marx. But I agree,
I think Marx is the target, and I think he
has more upside and overtakes it. But I don't think
a rookie is gonna lead like they're gonna be like

(19:29):
Nick Chubb, you're the veteran here, We'll give you the
ball fifteen time.

Speaker 6 (19:33):
My two cents on Mixing though, like I'm not completely
fading him like flour. Really, if he's in the thirteenth
round at this point, if I loaded up like four
running backs already through the draft, why not you know,
I just put him on the I R.

Speaker 4 (19:44):
I'll just put him my IR and pick up what
did you.

Speaker 5 (19:46):
Take him over?

Speaker 3 (19:47):
Blue?

Speaker 5 (19:48):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (19:49):
I would, because Jayden Blue can't seem stay healthy at
this point. I mean, how many weeks is he gonna
be banged up?

Speaker 5 (19:54):
Healthy?

Speaker 6 (19:55):
Banged up like it's been like that?

Speaker 3 (19:56):
Supposed to play Week one? He played last week.

Speaker 5 (19:59):
The there and the top running backs in my opinion
are Blue and Mixing, And I'm really hoping mixing Blue
is the one that falls to me. I don't know.

Speaker 6 (20:10):
I might still take mixing because at that point it's like,
if he's healthy, he's the guy.

Speaker 3 (20:14):
Yeah, Blue gets still split. I think I still take mixing,
and Yeah, to the Que's point, if there's an IR spot,
I put him on.

Speaker 6 (20:22):
Irk in the first round. I mean a twenty nine
year old running back that's missed time in the past.
That sounds like Christian McCaffrey.

Speaker 2 (20:29):
But you know, feeling has always been higher than the floor,
has been more stable than Joe mixed, like some.

Speaker 4 (20:37):
Respect on my boy name.

Speaker 6 (20:39):
He has top five potential when healthy.

Speaker 3 (20:41):
Is that a fact or not?

Speaker 5 (20:43):
No, Yes it is.

Speaker 4 (20:45):
He's done it.

Speaker 3 (20:47):
No when like okay, maybe before, but like that, like
and and it's still the roller coaster. It's the you
get the forty point week followed by the eight point
weeks like there's no the floor just doesn't really exist
for Joe Mixing.

Speaker 4 (21:00):
Yes it does, man, he is eight points like.

Speaker 5 (21:05):
He He finished one time in total points in the
top five, never game, and that.

Speaker 6 (21:12):
Was the year everybody was fading him because the Bengals
had a terrible old line in my off. That's when
he was a Bengal. Right, that's that was four years ago.

Speaker 5 (21:19):
He was the RB four. Two years ago, he was
the RB six.

Speaker 6 (21:23):
Okay, let's take that two years ago. Right, That's obviously
he was banged up, and you know, the team kind
of was bad at the offensive line. He still managed
a thousand yards behind that terrible line. So it shows
that he's a reliable player in the fantasy option when
he is healthy.

Speaker 3 (21:38):
Sure line here is is taking Joe Mixon over Christian McCaffrey.

Speaker 4 (21:43):
Stops are going to believe that.

Speaker 5 (21:46):
All right, man, is a lifetime in the NFL.

Speaker 3 (21:50):
You said earlier, throw red herrings out there to make
people draft other things.

Speaker 6 (21:54):
Listen, you're right, But what I'm saying is that how
can we prop up CMC. I don't want to go
back to this conversation because that's gonna be what it is.
But at round thirteen and he's like.

Speaker 3 (22:04):
My four for fifth running, I agree to show I
take Joe Mixon.

Speaker 6 (22:09):
Yeah, that's the only thing I'm refuting here. All right,
let's not get too offside.

Speaker 2 (22:13):
So anyway, I guess that's a look into draft strategies.
We're gonna take a break. Read to dive more into
draft strategies. By the way, Ali Gordon had a good
weekend against the Jaguars. Mike Daniels impressed.

Speaker 3 (22:22):
If you want more on that, go back and listen
to our episode last week with Cam Wolf. He had
a lot of good things to say about the Dolphins
and the Dolphins offense. So I can get some more
Ali Gordon news and information about that.

Speaker 2 (22:34):
All right, take a break, come back, talk to draft
strategies coming up next year in the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast.
So diving into some kind of big picture draft strategies, right,
not necessarily talking about zero RB hero RBA and maybe
that comes up over the course of conversation, but not
looking at anything specific, just more kind of you know,

(22:59):
overarching ideas that we come into a draft with.

Speaker 3 (23:02):
And so go I start with you. I mean, first round,
you're on the clock, doesn't really matter where you are
in the order. What is your goal? What are you
trying to accomplish with your first round pick?

Speaker 6 (23:15):
Set the tone, lock it up. They're going to be
responsible for at least thirty percent of my weekly point.
So I want a guy that's going to be hitting
high ceilings and I don't have to worry about the
what ifs, avoid red flags, Like the first round pick
to me needs to just be hey, this is what
it is, straightforward. Next round, let's start taking for upside,
you know, like the first round pick to me just

(23:35):
needs to be headache free and a guy that's going
to be your captain of your ship.

Speaker 3 (23:39):
I mean, so we talked about you talk about risks
in the first round, right, nobody.

Speaker 5 (23:45):
Wants to here we go for Christian mccaf is what
I do.

Speaker 3 (23:53):
Obviously, this is where this is going.

Speaker 2 (23:55):
That's where this is going because there are guys that
have first round upside that do come with No, you
don't have to draft them there.

Speaker 3 (24:01):
But I'm gonna ask you, Flori.

Speaker 2 (24:02):
I mean, like when you look at a guy like, okay,
let's say Saquon Barkley, right, Like we've all sat around
here and said, saqua in the first round feels risky, right,
how do you manage first round risk? Because you know
where the ceiling is, but you also know that the
bottom could drop out, So like, how do you approach.

Speaker 3 (24:19):
Something like that?

Speaker 5 (24:21):
I I don't take the risk because, like Lakwan, I
want I think the first two or three rounds you
should be building the crux of your team, and then
after that you go for upside and if some of
these guys hit, now you're cooking with fire. But you,
I mean, it's easy to be like, oh, if you

(24:42):
don't win, who cares where you finish? And I think
that is true in a lot of industry leagues and
stuff like this. But for people who are in home leagues,
they don't want to pay their league entry fee to
have their league annihilated in week two, you know, still
like if you lose Christian mccaff free or Saquon goes
down or like that. I know you could say that

(25:03):
about any first round pick, but the guys with heightened
risk you could have, especially because there's similar talent on
the board. That's why I haven't really taken CMC. I
haven't really taken Saquon. I also like going wide receiver
in the first round just a whole lot more so
typically I'm just going with like Ceedee Lamb over over
those guys, or Malik Neighbors over those guys or something

(25:23):
like that. But yeah, I I I don't want to,
like Lakwan said, I don't want to play the risky
game in the first round.

Speaker 3 (25:30):
I mean, for me.

Speaker 2 (25:31):
I've just you know, basically what you guys said, I've
taken it and I kind of distilled it down to
my first round pick has to have the narrowest range
of outcomes, right Like It's like you've got to go
into this knowing that, you know, all things being equal,
this guy is going to produce weekend and week out.
I mean that to me has been the argument for

(25:52):
Jamar Chase at number one. Not necessarily that he's going
to be the top scorer in all of fantasy football.

Speaker 3 (25:59):
Could be maybe, but.

Speaker 2 (26:01):
It's just that you know that week in and week out,
everything is going to be status quo and everything's going
to be good because the targets are going to be there,
the air yard is going to be there, the production
is going to be there, and so that is where
you know, you do sort of run into that headache
about a McCaffrey, a Saquon. I think it's where you
get a little bit nervous about guys sort at the

(26:22):
back end of the first round, you know, especially now
like a Devon a chan when he was there, I
know he's dropping, he's been falling because of this calf injury,
but when he was there, kind of at that late
first early second round turn.

Speaker 3 (26:37):
You know the Dolphins dolphense and what it does is
going to impact him. So that's that's sort of where
I had my concerns. That's all. I wasn't trying to
make this a Christian McCaffrey. It was there. He just
happened to be the example. That's why I switched to
the saquon so you wouldn't get.

Speaker 2 (26:54):
Your tummy all rumbly about it. So, I mean, Floria,
you said you tend to be wide receiver in the
first round. I kind of go back and forth on that.
But if you were to go running back.

Speaker 3 (27:06):
Are you a zero RB hero RB or dare I
say even a robust RB person?

Speaker 5 (27:12):
For me, it's it's almost always hero RB. Like if
I'm grabbing a running back in I'm sorry, a wide
receiver in round one, I like to grab a running
back in round two. I also think there's a there's
a good amount of running backs that could easily be
first round picks next year that go in the second round,
like Chase Brown. I thought Devon a CHANMP before the
calf could be one. Derek Henry was a first round

(27:34):
pick like Value last year, so it's easy to see
him doing that again. But I really love the running
backs that you could get in like the I know
they're getting a little bit more expensive now. It used
to be like the six, seven, eight range. Now it's
like the five six, seven range, but even four sometimes.
But I like the running backs in that range, So
that's where I usually look to go RB two. I

(27:56):
will say this though, I'm talking to a lot as
I'm sure you guys are talking to a lot of
friends and August friends and stuff like that, who are like, hey,
I haven't spoke to you since last August, who should
I draft this year? But you talk to people about
their drafts, and I think sometimes in our drafts, receivers
are going to go way heavier and a lot of
home leagues. I still do think you see like robust

(28:18):
RB being a strategy and stuff, but in hours you're
not going to see it as much.

Speaker 2 (28:21):
Yeah, I mean, I do think there's a vast difference
in your being in either industry leagues or just more
high stakes leagues or really competitive leagues versus your average
homely right where you mentioned, robust RB is still a thing.
Quarterbacks going in the second.

Speaker 6 (28:40):
Round is very you know, first round, Josh allenen in
the first round in my home league.

Speaker 5 (28:46):
Those are still those Yeah, but that league is the
wackiest league we've ever seen.

Speaker 6 (28:50):
No, this is my this is my high school friends league.

Speaker 3 (28:53):
This is.

Speaker 5 (28:57):
Robinson.

Speaker 6 (28:58):
This is the friends and family cousins and their friends
are making terrible mistakes and draft picks. This is my
high school home league that I just had this past weekend.
Josh Allen just went at the one twelve.

Speaker 5 (29:09):
Holy crap.

Speaker 3 (29:10):
I mean, so, here's the thing for us.

Speaker 2 (29:14):
We know that's not necessarily the smartest move, although again
I will argue that if you think a player is
the best at his position, it shouldn't be a strategic
disadvantage to take him early.

Speaker 3 (29:23):
But that's a different conversation for another time.

Speaker 5 (29:25):
Shout out. Are you saying Josh Allen's the best quarterback?
I agree o wholeheartedly.

Speaker 4 (29:30):
The logic behind it was MVP. Man, what do we
talk say?

Speaker 3 (29:36):
I don't want to get them all around. How I
get railed on these things.

Speaker 2 (29:40):
The point being, if you are somebody who doesn't study this,
and you know, starts diving into the theory of positional
value and that sort of thing, the logic is sound right.
It's quarterbacks score the most points. Why wouldn't I take
a quarterback first. It's once you sort of drill down
and you realize is that there are a lot of

(30:00):
quarterbacks and you only start one. You don't have to
get one early, that the argument starts to fall apart.
But on the surface it's a legitimate argument. Like it's like,
hey man, this dude scores a ton of points, Like,
of course I'll take him in the first round. So, like,
I know, for us, we look at it, we kind
of roll our eyes, but like you know, come at

(30:20):
it from the perspective a person who hasn't been looking
at this since the Super Bowl ended.

Speaker 3 (30:25):
You know, that's where you are.

Speaker 6 (30:27):
That's why I love home leagues. They're better, they're fun,
they're fun.

Speaker 2 (30:30):
I tell people all the time, like, hey man, once
you start doing these like these expert leagues or these
advanced leagues, like go back and draft with the casual players, like,
go ahead and do it, because it's a whole different
it's a whole different.

Speaker 5 (30:41):
World, different world. I love almost always love my team's
way more from industry leagues than my home leagues.

Speaker 2 (30:49):
Because it's chaos. Yeah, it's absolutely you know what it is.
It's it's the dude who holds court at the arcade.
I means you some old timey phrases, the guy the
arcade who's like on the street fighter machine and is
just whooping everybody because like everybody's coming with their strategies
and like trying to shoot fireballs and stuff, and like
this dude just hasn't like locked down. The person who

(31:10):
beats them is the button masher because I just don't
know what's coming.

Speaker 3 (31:16):
There's no order to it. They do.

Speaker 2 (31:18):
They do a spinning round ticket. They don't really know
how they did it, but he comes out of nowhere,
right Like that's the person who ends up winning and
being on the machine for a while. It's crazy, that's true.
That's home leagues what it is. LaQuan, Are you into
robust RB?

Speaker 3 (31:35):
Have you? Are you willing to try it somewhere? Have
you done it this year? Uh?

Speaker 6 (31:38):
I've done it in a few leagues now, like how
Floria is saying, now the running backs at a little
bit more expensive, So now you're starting that robust start
at round five, you know, and like I've done it
where round five, six and seven, I've just smashed the
values there. You're coming out with a B checko Apollo
at a swift, you know, in those three rounds and
where you kind of just go heavy wide receiver, like
how I've been approaching most of these redraft and like

(32:00):
I do feel like, you know, there's so much running
back value down there that you forget some of the
names that are there, and you're like, why not take
them another round? Why not back to back?

Speaker 3 (32:09):
Why not double tap?

Speaker 6 (32:10):
So I end up with a bunch of running backs
in the middle rounds, and then that's when I start
addressing the quarterback, the tight end, everything else later. So
robust is not a bad strategy this year, you know,
because you're gonna find great value in the middle rounds.

Speaker 2 (32:22):
You just mentioned getting a quarterback for you. Lookqu one,
how early is too early? I mean, I guess, I
guess the one dot twelve is too early for you.

Speaker 4 (32:29):
But now I'm about to say it depend.

Speaker 3 (32:32):
It is too early for you to get a quarterback
for me.

Speaker 6 (32:37):
Personally, I feel like when folks start dipping into the
third round, they take the Jayden Dames to Josh Allen,
Lamar Jackson, That's not my cup of team, Like I
kind of feel like, no, I want to build other
rosters and strength there where I can end up having
you know, maybe two running backs in those rounds that
end up combining, you know, for like RB one type
of production. And I do feel like in that range,

(32:57):
when you take the quarterback off the board, you're kind
of missing out in guys that have that same shot
to crack that top five or even have the same
type of mobility. Look where Justin Fields is going, like,
I don't need to reach on the Jaden Daniels when
I have Justin Fields in like the tenth round, where
I can have that same ceiling for the rushing upside.
So I do feel like there's other rounds you can
find just as good quarterbacks that can crack that top

(33:18):
five that.

Speaker 5 (33:19):
You're looking for.

Speaker 2 (33:20):
I know, Florida, you're you're one who like instead of
getting you know, Allen or Lamar, you tend to wait
for Jaden Daniels. But even that's only waiting like around.

Speaker 4 (33:30):
That's like a couple of picks, now that's not very long.

Speaker 5 (33:33):
He's my favorite if you want to go after one
of the high end quarterbacks, He's my favorite by far
because you get I think he could he's my MVP pick.
Just putting that out there. I think that he could
be the QB one this year and you do get
like a half round, maybe we'll say discount from the
other two. But I do think it's worth taking one

(33:54):
of the top three if you want to go that route.
I usually don't, but I won't shy away like in
the third round, late third round. If they're there early
fourth I think that is fine because they give you
such an advantage compared to everyone else. After that, though,
where's justin Field's going that? That's where I take a quarterback.
But yeah, he's my most drafted guy. But I like

(34:17):
to wait and what I've been doing this year is
going upside like him or Caleb or something like that,
and then you compare them with like a Jared goff
So or Herbert or take your pick on who your
favorite safe QB two is. I love doing that route
with quarterback this year.

Speaker 2 (34:36):
I've found myself all over the place with quarterbacks this year.
Like before, I was very much like I will, you know,
I mean, I did the whole weight on a quarterback
thing for years, you know, and it's still there's still
value there, right, you talk about getting a Justin Field
or a Dak Prescott who is going shockingly late, like
I don't.

Speaker 3 (34:55):
I still can't wrap my mind around that one. I
did that for a while. Then the last few years,
I've been Okay, I'm gonna take kind of a mid
round quarterback, right.

Speaker 2 (35:05):
I'm not gonna get the elite guys. I'll get sort
of the mid round guys. So I'm I'm looking around,
you know, five six, seven maybe for my quarterback.

Speaker 3 (35:13):
This year, I've been all over the place like this year.

Speaker 2 (35:16):
If I sit around, I look around, like in the
mid to late third round, and I don't like any
of the wide receiver running back options there, I'll take
Lamar if I'm if it falls and I'm in the
fifth or sixth round and you know, there's there are
no wide receiver running backs that I particularly like at
that spot. You know, I'll take one of those quarterbacks

(35:37):
that that kind of go in that range. Maybe ye
know Burrow might still be there, maybe he's probably gone
at that point, but you know somebody like that I
will I will take in that spot. Or you know,
sometimes I just decide that you know, everything's going great,
and I will wait and I'll get, you know, I'll
get a Caleb and pair him up with with somebody
else in the later rounds.

Speaker 3 (35:57):
I haven't had, I think a con quarterback draft approach.

Speaker 2 (36:04):
It really has depended on how the board falls and
what I'm looking at when I'm on the clock in
any given round.

Speaker 6 (36:12):
The thing about Joe Burrow though, like you mentioned Joe Burrow,
like the discount on that is Dak Prescott, Like it's
literally the same same, So it's like you don't have
to reach. That's like the emphasis that we're trying to
give here, like you don't have to reach on these quarterbacks.
Like there's guys way way later that you have that
same upside. Like even with Kyler Murray, Like even though
I'm not on the train, I mean you mentioned he
was a top ten quarterback last season, but he's a

(36:34):
guy that's kind of like in that range in that
eighth and ninth round where I'm like, maybe maybe I
could take it.

Speaker 5 (36:40):
I had a twelve team draft this week. We were
the last team to take a quarterback. I think we
waited into like the twelfth round. We got Kyler and
kalb So like you can wait and still come away
feeling again it was one of these leads where everyone
waits on quarterbacks. We took it the furthest but like
maybe in your league you don't wait till the twelve oh,
but you can wait and still feel good about the

(37:03):
quarterback you get.

Speaker 2 (37:04):
I was gonna say too, that's also a thing where,
you know, we've said this before, Like in a lot
of these industry leagues, it's like a game of chicken, Right,
who's gonna blink first, Who's gonna draft the quarterback first?

Speaker 5 (37:16):
It's gonna start the run?

Speaker 3 (37:17):
Who's gonna start the run?

Speaker 2 (37:18):
Because once one person does it, then I think everybody
else feels like they've got permission to go do it.
But nobody wants to be the one to break the
seal on the quarterbacks.

Speaker 3 (37:26):
It's different.

Speaker 2 (37:27):
I will say this if you were in a home league,
if you're in a league where people tend to go
heavy on quarterbacks, it is.

Speaker 3 (37:33):
Important to watch the board.

Speaker 2 (37:35):
It's important to watch the board because when the run starts,
you don't necessarily want to get left out. Because the
other thing about this, in some of these leagues, people
will take two quarterbacks, right. You know, in a lot
of the higher level leagues, people aren't taking two quarterbacks generally,
but you know, and a lot more casual leagues, it happens,
so it's worth keeping an eye on it. When the

(37:57):
run starts, then you might have to break to and
see and go get your quarterback, just so you're not nobody.
You know, I don't know, you don't want uh, we
like Drake May. I don't want Drake maybe and my
guy starting every week?

Speaker 5 (38:10):
You know. Yeah, I love them as a QB two,
but I wouldn't want to go into week one with
only having him on my roster.

Speaker 3 (38:16):
Right exactly. I know, Flora, we talked about some of
the middle rounds last week.

Speaker 2 (38:21):
We talked about guys we like in the middle rounds,
whether it's you know, we did five through nine, uh,
we did ten through thirteen, what have you. So let's
just kind of mash those together, call it five through twelve,
five through thirteen, whatever you want to call it. Any
specific strategy, not necessarily players, but just your thought process
for how you tackle those rounds.

Speaker 5 (38:42):
Yeah, it's mostly running backs and receivers for me, Like,
I'll if I have three receivers in the first four rounds,
then I'll the middle like the five, six, seven, might
be at least two running backs for me because I
do like them in that range. But uh, Justin Fields
and Tyler Warren are my two big targets in that range.
Trevion if he falls to the fifth would be but

(39:03):
he's starting to go above that. But those are the
guys I try to have on as many teams as possible,
and I just keep pushing more up.

Speaker 2 (39:10):
Man.

Speaker 5 (39:10):
I I might have him that tight end four by
the time we kick off five. Right now, I might.
I might be pushing it because in a league, this
is how I always test my rankings, like what would
I actually do? And I have Hockinson ranked ahead of him,
but I took Warren over Hockinson. So but like, yeah,
for me, it's all about upside too, right, Like I

(39:32):
don't want safe floor players. I'm a big believer that
I think safe floor players. Maybe you want like one
on your team, but I think they hold you back
because you're gonna you're not gonna want to start them,
and when you do, your lineup is already weakened because
you're taking out someone that you've been playing over them,
but you're never gonna want to drop them. In case
of bye weeks, or injuries, so you're not taking upside

(39:53):
shots off the waiver wire and breakouts are what win championships.
So I'm chasing upside in the middle rounds and off
waiver late rounds and off waivers. Like to me, you
have to have a ceiling for me to consider taking.

Speaker 2 (40:07):
Uh, you win more hidden you know, doubles of triples
than singles mean exactly kind of good way to put it.

Speaker 3 (40:12):
Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 2 (40:15):
For you the quand your your middle round strategies, you're
you're things that you're looking for maybe maybe not looking for.

Speaker 3 (40:21):
I guess in the middle rounds.

Speaker 6 (40:22):
Well, in the middle rounds you're strengthening your roster if
you go running back wide receiver early or whatever whatever,
because there's values there. But like Florio said, this is
the range where you might get a Warren in Hockinson,
Like that eighth round range is like to be very
middle of the draft, like where you're making some really
harsh decisions that you're gonna have to pivot from other
positions to fill a position that has the most upside there.

(40:44):
So like there's times where I get in those middle
rounds where I'm like, I'm just gonna strictly target proven players,
Like I'm not going for the hype train guys or
the guys that are just getting recent buzz because of preseason,
Like those are the core rounds that I want to
build and strengthen my rosters at the position to have
proven talent because like when Florio is saying, like, when

(41:04):
you have to put that guy in your roster, you
don't want to be like is this a start and
forget guy or a guy that I just drafted that
just had a lot of hype that I'm hoping for.
And again like we're not playing for week one, but
it's going to be a long fantasy season where you
have that guy that you drafted in those middle rounds
that that's a heavy investment in my eyes, Like anything
within that five to twelve rounds, Like you have to

(41:25):
be very sure of those picks thirteen, et cetera. Like, yeah,
that's when you start taking your upside guys throwing darts
and et cetera, et cetera. So those middle rounds are
just as important as the top five rounds.

Speaker 3 (41:35):
Yeah, I mean, I think I think there's something to
having a safe floor, but I don't think you want
your whole You don't want to make the whole plane
out of safe floors, right, Like you want to be
able to get those guys that maybe they have a
safe floor, but you also can see that there's a
path to something bigger and better for them, right Because
you don't want it to be all upside, but you
don't you don't want it to all be just stable.

Speaker 5 (41:57):
I do think your league size depended. Like I had
a fourteen team where we have three flexes, and I
was like, Khalil Shakir I want because I know weekly
he's gonna get me ten to twelve points and I
don't have to think about that flex spot. But in
a ten team league where one flex, I don't want
Shakir because he's gonna get me ten to twelve points,
you know, Like I want, I want someone who could
be a lot better. So I think the deeper your

(42:18):
league and your rosters are, that's where floor becomes a
little bit more useful.

Speaker 3 (42:22):
Yeah, that's true.

Speaker 2 (42:23):
By the way, Flora, you may have competition on who's
driving the Travon Henderson hype trained because Adam Rank said
on Fantasy Live that he took him in the third round.

Speaker 5 (42:34):
I took him in the third round. Two weeks ago.
There's no competition.

Speaker 4 (42:39):
Go back to the NFL draft.

Speaker 5 (42:40):
I was telling you he's better than a Marion Hampton.

Speaker 3 (42:43):
Adam Rank twenty four hours to respond.

Speaker 6 (42:45):
He's gonna take him in the second round.

Speaker 3 (42:47):
Down there, gonna make pretty soon. He's gonna be like
the I love Rank.

Speaker 5 (42:50):
He can't be the tre young guy because that's my guy.

Speaker 3 (42:54):
All right, we got more to dive ins. We're gona
take a quick break, come back and give you some
more of our draft strategies. Next on the NFL Fantasy.

Speaker 2 (43:00):
Football Podcast, talk a little bit more about our big
picture of draft strategies. I know for a lot of
folks drafts coming up in the next week or two
as we get ready for a Week one of the
regular season. I'm tight end LaQuan always sort of dicey, right,
because there's not really a lot of them to go

(43:21):
around for you.

Speaker 3 (43:24):
When do you prefer targeting the tight end position middle rounds.

Speaker 6 (43:28):
I'm not early round type of guy taking tight ends,
Like I always feel like a man, like there's a
short batch of tight ends, but like you could find
really good values in those middle rounds, Like we just
were touching on it in the last segment where we're
like basically saying Warren and Hockinson they're in that middle
round range. Like I feel so so comfortable because at
that point I have rosters field with my wide receiver

(43:50):
one and two or running back one and two, where
I can start looking at tight ends in those middle rounds.
Once you start picking that the second round McBride or brock, Bowers,
et cetera. Or even Kiddle right now, who's like creeping
up in that early third round where he felt so
good getting in the fourth and fifth round, but now
you're paying a premium price on that first three rounds
where it's like you still have guys that have like

(44:13):
top five potential at the wide receiver position. You have
guys that are like top ten locks at running back position,
so tight end, it's like it's very influx of like
every year, like there's guys that are going to fall
outside the top five. Now there's guys that will be
like never heard or seen before, Chicka Konku top three
tight end, Like I'll die my hair blot. No that's
not this year, but no, that's not this year's craziness.

(44:35):
But what I'm saying is is like you'll always find
the later rounds guys that just pop up out of
nowhere and end up being a top five tight end.
So I'm looking way later, Like, let's address other positions
and be hardcore there.

Speaker 3 (44:46):
God bless you. I hate streaming tight ends. I hate it.
I hate it, I hate I hate being I hate picking.

Speaker 2 (44:51):
A guy basically because I don't want to have to
guess who's going to score a touchdown.

Speaker 4 (44:55):
That's not I I need is ten points man, not all,
but usually.

Speaker 2 (45:00):
You got to get that guy to score a touchdown
because if you're streaming a guy off the waiver wire, like, yeah,
ten points is five catches for fifty yards, which seems okay.
But now if you're digging a guy off deep off
the waiver wire, like you really are praying that he
catches the ball and falls down in the end zone,
and God bless you if you guess right. I just
I don't want to live my life that way.

Speaker 6 (45:20):
I don't just need one, you just need one tight end.

Speaker 2 (45:23):
Because but but for me, it goes back to our
conference about positional value, right like, because there aren't that
many of them that you can count on week to week.

Speaker 3 (45:35):
You only start one, but there's not that many, Like
I will. I will make the move in like the.

Speaker 2 (45:39):
Fourth or fifth round if if, if it's right, because
I just don't want that headache.

Speaker 3 (45:45):
Man like Florida.

Speaker 2 (45:47):
You've said this before, Like there's a group of guys
from like tight end eight to like tight end twenty.
You could throw those names up in the air and
any order they land in you look at and be
like that makes sense.

Speaker 3 (45:57):
Yeah, that's frustrating. That's super We're frustrating. I just can't
handle that.

Speaker 5 (46:02):
So I have very few tight end targets right, Like
like Warren is one. I love t J. Hockinson as
well where he goes. I'm totally fine taking Trey McBride
in the third round if I think he is the
best player still on the board. And then it's like
Evan Ingram mark Andrews to a lesser degree, and after

(46:23):
that I start to feel real gross.

Speaker 2 (46:27):
Yeah, I'm I've I've really come around on Evan Ingram.
I think he's gonna have a good year in Denver.

Speaker 5 (46:33):
That I'm not trying to be the David and Joku
guy in my league. You know, I don't want to
be going to battle with Jake Ferguson or Dalton Kincaid
or name. I like Jim too, and I don't want
him to be my one.

Speaker 6 (46:49):
I got him as my one and strapped, you know,
probably a Chicken koku or a Cole pitch.

Speaker 3 (46:56):
Again, throw him up in the air in whatever order
they land in that.

Speaker 4 (47:02):
Screwg give me Dallas Goddard man.

Speaker 6 (47:04):
I don't care. He averaged ten Fantasy points per game
last year.

Speaker 3 (47:07):
Well, you have fun with that.

Speaker 5 (47:10):
You have fun with that.

Speaker 3 (47:11):
Rookies. I know we talked a lot about rookies, especially
rookie running backs this year. RJ. Harvey and Marie Hampton,
Trevon Henderson, even guys whose name don't begin with H. Kwan.
What is your strategy for going after rookies in drafts.

Speaker 4 (47:24):
I've recently changed my tune.

Speaker 6 (47:25):
Like as recent as like the last like three four years,
I've like kind of like was preaching like, yeah, I'm
not going to win any of these rookie wide receivers
or any of these rookie tight ends. And then the
last couple of years we've been seeing guys that are ADPs,
are in the deep depths of hell, and then they
end up shooting up the draft board the next following
year because they have such great performances. So take the
rookies that actually have opportunity, that are actually going to

(47:48):
be on the field, that had the upside to even
put up Fantasy relevant points. So there's guys like a
Pat Brian that I can carve out and paint, you know,
myself getting in like the fourteenth round. Like I'm going
to be attacking some rookies after we get past that
twelve round mark, where again this is where five through
twelve I take proven players, and then round thirteen, et cetera,
depending on your bench, no spots. I'm taking shots on

(48:11):
rookies at running back tight end like it doesn't matter,
like a Rendez Gatz and like I took him as
my very last pick chargers tight end, Folks, you need
to wake up. This boy can ball. So I'm taking
him my very last pick as my tight end too,
where like I can honestly see him leaping over Mark Andrews,
who I took as my tight end one.

Speaker 2 (48:28):
All right, but outside of the late rounds, Florio, I mean,
you know, like sure, it's great. I love ticking swings
at late round rookies, but like you know, we just
talked about you and Treveon Henderson.

Speaker 3 (48:38):
Right, we know how much Lakwan loves r J.

Speaker 5 (48:40):
Harvey.

Speaker 2 (48:41):
I mean's go approach these early to mid round guys
because we're excited. There's upside, but there is also risk
involved with these guys.

Speaker 5 (48:49):
You have to be confident in your process to go
this route. But I find that in most of my drafts,
I'm probably leaving with the most rookies because if you
look back every year at ADP then versus how players finished,
the ones who always stand out are the rookies. Like,

(49:09):
look at last year's wide receiver ones, you're like neighbors
and BTJ standout. You look at the RB ones, it's
like Bucky Irving, Jayden Daniels at quarterback Brock Bowers right.
So like to me, rookies are league winners now, and
you have to trust your process because a lot of
the times, what I think people do with rookies is
they look at just the opportunity and oh, this guy
could get a path to the field, But if that

(49:31):
guy stinks, it doesn't matter. So you need to know
this guy. To me, it needs to be a sweet spot.
Like this guy I believe in the talent. I think
he has the talent to really greatly exceed his ADP
by a few rounds, and the opportunity is there. It's
why I love Trevion, It's why I love Warren, It's
why I loved like Jaden Daniels and Elik Neighbors last year.

(49:53):
So yeah, I look, I'll take RJ. Harvey. I've taken
Caleb Johnson in drafts like I'm probably going to Maybe
I'm the wrong person, ass, but I'm on every one
of my teams. I'm gonna have at least a couple
of rookies.

Speaker 6 (50:06):
You know what, though, I do still feel nasty about
taking a rookie in the first round. And this is
like an Ashton Gent you know topic right now, because
like I do feel like he's getting pushed up to
the heights of where he's going before Derrick Henry, he's
going like right after following you know, Barkley in some
drafts where I'm like, are we pushing him a little
too high?

Speaker 5 (50:24):
Like how we always do?

Speaker 6 (50:25):
Because you see Marvin Harrison Junior were in the first
round last year. You see Garrett Wilson his rookie year,
Chris o' lobby's rookie year, Miles Sanders. The list goes
on when they start creeping into that back first round.
So I think, me personally, I'm kind of hands off
with rookies in the first round.

Speaker 2 (50:39):
Well, I mean, it's I think GenZ is one we're
drafting at his absolute ceiling. And I've said that from
the beginning, that we're drafting him at a ceiling. But
you know, I think what is that You've had guys
in the past, like Ezekiel Elliott was one, right, Like
that was a big one because when Saquan is another one, right,
But Ezekiel was one where he got drafted and then
everybody was like taking their fantasy folks were talking about
taking him in the first round.

Speaker 3 (50:59):
There was still a lot of still a.

Speaker 2 (51:00):
Lot of resistance at that time. It was like he's
never played it down of NFL football, How can you
do that?

Speaker 3 (51:05):
And then Zeke Boald, right, and so you know you
got Zeke, you got Saquon, and so I think the
hesitance is off. But I do think sometimes we do
push these guys up a lot, but it's it's taking
the swing with the hope that if they do hit,
then you feel okay with the price of it, Right,
it's it's more of an art because to take it's

(51:25):
one person to get that guy off the board. Everybody
else in the league could be like, I'm gonna wait
till the second round. For Jint, it always takes one
to be like, nope, I'm all in. I've got it right,
and then that's where it is.

Speaker 5 (51:37):
I would never take a rookie receiver in the first
round anymore, I don't think. But a running back it
depends on the situation. A running back in like Gentee
situation where he's the clear guy on a team that
probably runs a bunch, I could see it. I'm not
I like him a lot more in round two, but
I could at least see the thinking.

Speaker 2 (51:57):
Yeah, uh, kickers, people are not I want kickers. I
want kickers. Why no, no, no, no no no okay,
no no no okay. Explain to me why you don't
want kickers without saying the phrase we can't predict them.
Give me another reason besides I can't.

Speaker 5 (52:19):
I'll tell you what I told.

Speaker 4 (52:20):
My kickers are on a buy though. I don't want
to go to the why waver wire to pick up
another kicker?

Speaker 3 (52:25):
Why I want to player?

Speaker 5 (52:28):
In fantasy we root for offense, and rooting for a
kicker is rooting for an offense to fail.

Speaker 3 (52:34):
But you're not to say, rooting for the kicker to
come out, but like, you know, it's like it's it's.

Speaker 5 (52:39):
Still part of it. If I have to play a kicker,
I want to see my kicker kicking, you know. And
that's why I don't. I'm always like, well, if they
don't score here, it's good for my kicker. I don't.
I want the touchdown, you know.

Speaker 2 (52:50):
But because I think the way that won the way
to sort of evaluate kickers, because it's not necessary rooting,
but it's like it's knowing that there are offenses out
there that are good enough to get into the red
zone but not good enough to get.

Speaker 3 (53:01):
Into the end zone and sort of taking to that.

Speaker 2 (53:04):
The other part of it is, and the thing that
I will always always defend and die on this hill
is it is a It is a field leveler. It
is a field level So what when when people who
study this all the time playing leagues with casual people,
the kicker is the one leveling element because there's that
randomness that I think makes it fun. I think if

(53:26):
we get to a point where I think if we
get to a point where like, because here I also
think there's this trend in fantasy of like we're just
pairing everything down, right, We'll get rid of kickers. People
like we should get rid of tight ends. I'm like,
if this whole game is just quarterbacks, running backs and
wide receivers, that's not fun because we've gotten very.

Speaker 3 (53:43):
Tight end. Yes, okay, now here's a push fewer worthwhile.

Speaker 2 (53:48):
Tight ends than there are kickers. Why are they're not
tight ends?

Speaker 5 (53:53):
Here's why pushback on that point though, that we can't
predict them. We are way too confident in our abilities
to predict the other positions already. So there's already a
ton of variants in fantasy football. You add the kicker
in and that I once lost a playoff matchup because
the kicker put up like twenty two.

Speaker 4 (54:10):
That was my next point.

Speaker 5 (54:11):
Have you lost? Part?

Speaker 2 (54:13):
No, it's not part I almost did. I almost did
because I remember, Oh who was it?

Speaker 5 (54:19):
It was?

Speaker 2 (54:20):
There was like a Cardinals kicker back in the early
two thousands. I don't think it was Jay Feely, but
I remember leaving my buddy's house on a Sunday afternoon
being like, yeah, the.

Speaker 3 (54:30):
Only way I lose if this dude kicks eight field
goals tonight he kicked seven, Like I was lost that.
It sucks to lose that way, but it's a great story.

Speaker 2 (54:41):
It's what makes this fun, as opposed to oh yeah, no,
I studied all the film and I knew that so
and so was gonna run for one thousand, fifteen hundred yards.

Speaker 3 (54:49):
Like that's not fun.

Speaker 5 (54:50):
It's fun. We in the fantasy community we have a
Hubris about us where we think we can predict what's
gonna happen.

Speaker 3 (54:57):
It is punch that we need every once in a while.

Speaker 5 (54:59):
Writing starting is the most humbling experience every week for
me because I'll be like, on Friday, I'm like, that
guy's gonna play great, that guy's not. And then Sunday
happens and I'm like, do I even know what I'm
talking about? Half the time. I don't need that with
kickers too, you know, we need that.

Speaker 3 (55:15):
I think we collectively need that occasional punch in the mouth.
That's what kickers are.

Speaker 5 (55:19):
Here's my take on kickers. Let your league vote on it.
If the league doesn't want them, you get rid of him.

Speaker 3 (55:24):
If they do, I don't.

Speaker 2 (55:26):
I don't think mandate them across the board. But if
you give it up, if you put up to a vote,
I'm always gonna vote yes.

Speaker 3 (55:32):
I just I want always vote.

Speaker 5 (55:35):
Out. You know what the worst part about kickers are
is if you stream them, having to pick up a
kicker every week, which is usually the vote on me.

Speaker 2 (55:45):
Here's the thing, though, do you really actually stream kickers
every week? Or do you pick a guy who's just like,
this dude seems good enough and you just roll.

Speaker 5 (55:52):
I do that and then I look back, like three
weeks later, and I'm like, this guy's averaging like six
points a game. I gotta drop them. And then I'm like,
that's what it is.

Speaker 3 (56:01):
It's fine, speaking of kickers.

Speaker 5 (56:03):
Jason Sanders sideline four to five weeks.

Speaker 3 (56:06):
All right, well, don't draft him. Oh no, don't draft him.
Draft somebody else. Score a lot of touchdowns anyway, he
just be taking extra point So it's fine. Wait is
he in Miami? He's in Detroit.

Speaker 5 (56:16):
He's in Miami? Now, YEAHAI, you don't.

Speaker 4 (56:18):
Even they don't even know where they are. That's the problem.

Speaker 5 (56:21):
Nobody knows who's what, Like, no get you know, we know,
like like there's a handful of kickers that the public
knows and everyone else is just like this player. You
know one thing. Line, let's go. I play in the
league where you don't draft a specific kicker, you draft
the team's kicker. Okay, I like that better because if
gets hurt, I don't want to have to go pick

(56:43):
someone up the next guy.

Speaker 3 (56:45):
Right right? Dst spot Dan?

Speaker 5 (56:48):
What is That's what? I think? That's the sweet spot
for kicking?

Speaker 3 (56:51):
What is this like?

Speaker 6 (56:52):
Come on, man, Like, I'm cool with defenses, but kickers.

Speaker 5 (56:55):
I have to go to the wire to pick up
a kick.

Speaker 4 (56:57):
I gotta spend fab I gotta spend a dollar on
a kicker.

Speaker 3 (57:00):
No, don't just wait.

Speaker 2 (57:01):
You just wait until after waivers run and then you
see who's there and you go pick him up, just
out of the roster.

Speaker 5 (57:06):
The ironic part is Lakwan is the closest thing to
a kicker on this shows as the resident soccer player.

Speaker 3 (57:12):
I mean, you are wearing a PSG jersey right now.

Speaker 5 (57:14):
Let's go. Let's go. If I was gonna say, if
we if NFL Network was in a pinch and we
needed an emergency kicker.

Speaker 3 (57:24):
You'd be the guy we called for sure. All Right,
this this went longer than I thought it's probably time
to wrap this up. Yeah, there you go.

Speaker 2 (57:32):
Those are our draft strategies. Hopefully you're able to gain
some knowledge, get some signal from all the noise we
just put out for the last hour or so. Back
with You on Wednesday. I think we're actually doing a
video show on Wednesday. That's the rumor.

Speaker 5 (57:46):
I'll be.

Speaker 3 (57:48):
I'll be there live in the building. So maybe we
all sit next to each other and.

Speaker 5 (57:53):
Wait before we say goodbye. There's actually breaking news that
matters per per Shifter. The Texans are not activating Joe
Mixon by Tuesday, so he is ineligible to play in
at least the first four games of the season.

Speaker 3 (58:07):
All right, you guys, so which it seemed to be
trending that way anyway, but now we have a little
more definition on it.

Speaker 6 (58:14):
Marks uh Mars, I didn't go there. I'm doing it.

Speaker 3 (58:19):
There you go, I'm doing Its awkward, It looks awkward
and stuff. That's the way to work. Maybe in the
show Back with You on Wednesday. Stick around for that
as well.

Speaker 2 (58:28):
We appreciate you hanging out with us that I'll do
it for this edition of the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Oh,
before we go, I want to say yeah a fun
goodbye to our producer Susie Benon, who isn't Yes, it's
out there now too late. I've already said it, Susie, sorry,
can edit it out, who has been a big, big
help to us. She is off to bigger and better.
We will absolutely miss you, good luck on the move.

(58:51):
Hopefully we will continue to see your work because you
have been a pleasure to work with. You have been
a huge help. We certainly appreciate you and and we
will miss you when you are no longer here. So
thank you to Susie. That'll do it for this edition
of the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. They happy, save and healthy,
do good and live well. Enjoy the week, everybody. We'll
talk to you on Wednesday.