The 2025 All-Breakout Team

Marcas Grant, Michael F. Florio and LaQuan Jones react to the latest fantasy-relevant news including Terry McLaurin threatening a holdout from the Washington Commanders, Najee Harris’ eye injury stemming from a firework incident on July 4th and Mike Williams getting added to the PUP list. Then, they weigh in on the Chiefs’ vertical passing attack and Christian McCaffrey’s return from injury. (2:41)

After the break, the guys reveal their top breakout candidates for the upcoming campaign, starting with QB and WR before moving to WR and TE! (21:59)

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:11):
Hey everybody, It's Tuesday, July fifteenth, twenty twenty five. Welcome
to the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast, where we're Team Nicolandria Forever.
It's me and your man, MG Marcus Grand, joined by
Michael F. Floyo and Lakwan Jones. I see the stars
and the blank looks and the shrugs. I assume that
you guys did not get caught up in the drama
that was Love Island this summer Love Island. Oh no,
not at all.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
I avoided that virus.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
I don't want to get too deep into this because
I know people are here for fantasy talk, but like
I was, I was kind of like, you guys are
like whatever, and like Jesse watches it. She watches all
these reality shows and like I'm like, okay, whatever, but
she's like, no, you really do have to watch this,
and so like I made it a point to catch
up to where she was so we could watch like
the last couple of weeks of it together, and like, yeah,

(00:53):
I was sort of like this is trash. It's yeah,
But then you kind of start to get invested in
these folks and you're like, you know, rooting to see,
like you know who connects with who and eventually because
it's like the end, like one couple wins one hundred
thousand dollars, You're like, who's gonna get voted? Who's America
going to vote as their favorite couple one hundred thousand dollars?
You know? So like, yeah, I kind of got caught

(01:14):
up in it and like, honestly, like you have attractive
people wearing very little clothing.

Speaker 3 (01:18):
I'm not judging you because Nile watches like a ton
of reality. I've watched Double Shot at Love before, Like, uh,
I'm not any of this. I just I was invested
in the Spanish version with that guy Montoya in the
earlier I was watching it on Twitter. Oh no, that
one super viral though, Like bro, the last.

Speaker 2 (01:39):
Show I watch was Flavor of Love two. You know
That's where I was at, and I stop.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
I have seen bits and pieces of various love is
blinds because they have it in different countries. So I've
walked the room. I've seen some of that. Uh. And
I will say that ninety day fiance got us through
the pandemic. It kept us together. I turn this together
as a family. Ninety fiance got us through the pandemic.
So you know, I wanted. I can't look down on it,

(02:07):
I cannot judge, but hashtag team Nicolandria here on our side.
So anyway, enough about that, we got fantasy tough to
talk about a figure we do. An all breakout team
was inspired because Bucky Brooks is doing his all breakout teams.
He's doing offense and defense and a couple separate columns
which you can find on NFL dot com. So obviously

(02:31):
we are offensive minded here on this show. So I
figured we'd all pick our breakouts potentially for this season.
So we'll dive into that as well. But first, some
news headlines, a little bit of hype trainer smoke screen
as well, something that we just saw literally moments before
we started recording the show today. Lakwan, you were the
one who pointed this out to us. Seems as though

(02:53):
not all is well in the Beltway. Terry McLaurin right
now threatening to hold out because he has not heard
from the commanders in about a month in regards to
a contract extension. I've so things are a little bit
dicey there, I guess in a similar vein you got
Juwan Jennings on the West Coast with the forty nine

(03:15):
ers saying he needs a new contract or he wants
to be traded. So you got a couple of receivers,
obviously in very different levels of elite nests. I'm not
going to compare one to the other, but you know,
maybe threatening to not be around when their teams break camp.
In just a little bit, let's talk more about McLaurin,
because he's the one that obviously has a lot more impact. Floria,

(03:36):
you are a big Terry McLaurin guy. You are our
resident Jaden Daniels number one stand so here on July fifteenth.
What is your level of concern about McLaurin threatening to
hold out.

Speaker 3 (03:49):
It's higher than I would like it to be. Right, Like,
I've drafted him on a bunch of teams. I have
him ranked as my wide receiver twelve in my early ranks,
So obviously high expectations and stuff. But there's still a
lot of time for them to get this done. Obviously
we'd rather be done today and not have to worry
about this at all. But camp hasn't even opened up yet, really,

(04:10):
so the closer and closer we get to the start
of the season, the more I will be concerned. But
the reason why I'm so high on Terry is because
he put up a career high in Fantasy points last
year on his second fewest targets of his careers, fewest
since his rookie years. So I think the Commanders, as
we saw in the second half of the year, will
throw more. Cliff Kingsbury has always been an offensive a

(04:32):
play caller that tends to throw a good amount, and
he didn't last year. So I still think there's a
lot of room for optimism and upside here and everything.
And listen, Commanders, this is the second most important guy
on your offense behind Jayden Daniels. Take care of him.
I know you got debo. Now you're feeling pretty good.
Just pay Terry and he's worth it. Make it all

(04:53):
good for everyone.

Speaker 1 (04:55):
Yeah, I mean, look, I think eventually this is gonna
get done. You know. Yeah, we get a lot of these, right,
you get players making noises about wanting this or that,
and especially when you're talking about a team like the Commanders,
which you know, they had their first taste of success
in a really long time last year and they look
like they're building towards something. Yeah, I know they're in
the same division as the defending Super Bowl champions, but

(05:17):
they are building towards something big. I don't see how
they don't eventually get something done with Sterry McLaurin, hopefully
sooner than later, and this doesn't drag out. I mean,
you know, look, LaQuan, we saw this in San Francisco
last year with Brandon. I you that didn't.

Speaker 3 (05:33):
Well, you're giving him fuel to the fire mark you no,
like you know, I'm just trying to make him.

Speaker 1 (05:38):
Look you win. Lakwan's happy, the show's better, So let's
do something a little bit, that's all. Yeah, I know
liked you were very excited. You were very excited about this.
Juwan Jennings like, you know, pay me or trade me
sort of thing. I mean, look, he what he did
last year, last couple of years is certainly made him

(06:00):
worth I think getting a bump and salary. I don't
think they trade him, Like.

Speaker 3 (06:05):
Did he literally get one last summer?

Speaker 1 (06:08):
He might have got yeah, because he one runs the
same time as Ayuk.

Speaker 2 (06:10):
And they look at him as the wide receiver one
right now, he's the only one that's healthy. So hold
your leverage, get paid the big bag man, Sure.

Speaker 3 (06:20):
Marcus forty nine players threatening to request the trade, are you,
because it's like every single one of them.

Speaker 1 (06:26):
It's like background noise now, right, It's just like it
is just background noise, and so like, especially at this
point again it's July fifteenth, I'm not as concerned. Like
if we, you know, are a couple of weeks down
the road and this is still happening, then maybe we
turn up the panic meter a little bit. But for now,
I you know, I trust, I trust John Lynch and

(06:46):
Kyle Shanahan will figure something out to keep Jwan semi
happy and keep him there in San Francisco, Santa Clara, whatever.
A couple of Chargers news and notes. Obviously we haven't
been with you guys for a few days because of
the holiday and what have you. I'm sure you guys
have been on the internet. You saw all the rumors

(07:07):
floating around about Najie Harris being involved in a pyrotechnics accident,
and then suddenly his agent came out and confirmed that,
saying he has a superficial eye injury that he suffered
during a Fourth of July events. The expectations that he's
going to be ready to go for training camp and
certainly for the start of the season, Lakwan, I know
you're you're pretty big on Omari and Hampton, your your

(07:29):
feelings about Najie Harris about I guess what this means
for him and what this potentially means for the Chargers
as well well.

Speaker 2 (07:36):
For him, I mean, it's good that he's okay and
his agent basically saying superficial, which means like it's on
the surface, is not that serious, and him expected to
be there for camp and ready to go, and like
if he does miss a little bit of time, this
is a running back that we're talking about haniming the
ball go forward. That's about it. You know, Like I'm
not looking at this is like a concern if he
misses time in training camp, he's not going to know

(07:57):
the playbooks. I still think that Naji's going to be
involved in his offense heavily as much as that we thought,
you know, before Marion Hampton is even drafted, And like
Hampton's ADP, like the folks that are coming back outside
of the fantasy streets and trying to hit these drafts,
like Hampton's ADP is getting to a point where like
I'm uncomfortable and I know he's gonna be this star talent,
this stud he's the future of the backfield, but he's

(08:18):
going in places that I'm not okay with, Like he's
like a top fifteen running back coming off the board
right now, where I kind of want to pivot to
other areas where Naji's his ADP is just gonna simply
just get buried and buried and buried. Where at this
point he's gonna be my RB four ORB five and
the guy that's gonna have a heavy goal line presence
because Naj he's not the greatest on the goal line,
but he's had plenty of opportunities in these last couple

(08:39):
of seasons where he's shown that he can get the
job done if given so many shots.

Speaker 1 (08:44):
Yeah, I mean, I'm with you. I think Naji's going
to be a problem for anybody who's banking on Omari
and Hampton because I just I don't think they bring
him in and make him sit the bench, you know,
to be any emergency option, Like I just don't see
that happen. It's a guy that still has plenty left
in the tank, so I think he's gonna get used.
So I'm with you on Hampton. I don't know that
I've drafted him much, if at all, just because he's

(09:07):
going a lot higher than I'm comfortable with at this point.
So on a personal level, I mean, you know, hope
everything's okay with Nag and then everything yeah, comes out
all right. Let that be lesson kids. Fireworks are dangerous.

Speaker 3 (09:22):
Don't do it. It's never worth it.

Speaker 1 (09:26):
Let that go. Leave that for the neighbor down the street,
because everybody has that one like sort of crazy neighbor
down the street that like will light. We'll like, we'll
run around and light more as other things are going off.
Like you don't have to yea, you don't have to
be that person. Let somebody else be that person and
just stand back and enjoy it for a distance.

Speaker 3 (09:45):
Someone on my block yesterday lit one off at like
eleven am on July fourteenth. I was like, what are
you doing?

Speaker 1 (09:52):
So there's a stillers like side not this they sort
of stopped in my neighborhood. But for people who aren't
maybe familiar, like I don't know if it's like this everywhere,
but in Los Angeles, the fourth of July starts on
like June fifteenth, like at least in my neighborhood, like
they'll start shooting off fireworks in mid June, and then
obviously Fourth of July is like the big huge day

(10:13):
and maybe they got a few leftover, like a couple
days later. Yea fourth of July goes on for a while.

Speaker 2 (10:18):
It's like Thanksgiving, Like when is the leftovers not good
enough anymore? Three days after fourth of July. Let's stop
it because.

Speaker 1 (10:27):
That's because that's just that's just a noise news. It's like, yeah,
leftover and Thanksgiving. You're only hurting yourself, You're not bothering
other people. Yeah, that's it. Other Chargers news, Trey Harris,
the second round wide receiver pick, has not signed his contract.
In fact, he is holding out. Something going on with

(10:48):
the second round picks because as of recently, thirty of
the thirty two had not signed their contracts and Harris
is holding out. Then throw in the fact that Mike
Williams is on the pup list ahead of training camp.
But you can file that under the sun sets in
the West. We recently did a show about Lad McConkie

(11:08):
and his ceiling and Florida. You were very much pro Lad.
Would you like to pound your chest about the ceiling?
Maybe going up for Lad McConkie.

Speaker 4 (11:17):
In light of this news, I'm not gonna pound my
chest because they like one, I'm not taking victory laps
before we even have training camp, like, but I don't think,
like I think maybe the perception has changed, but I
don't think the reality has changed.

Speaker 3 (11:34):
Because Mike Williams, even though he's on I don't even
know what he's on the pup for at this point.

Speaker 1 (11:39):
Like he was healthy last we saw him just tradition.
Now hey man, it's July. I need to go on
the pump. That's it.

Speaker 3 (11:46):
But pretty like he couldn't earn targets with the Jets
or the Steelers last year. And remember how needy of
wide receivers the Steelers were, So I'm not really worried
about him. Trey Harris, I like, I think he is
a good X receiver, but remember back during draft season,
it was like, this guy's really good at running specific routes,

(12:07):
but he needs to like work on his whole route trees.
So I think everyone around Lad McConkie is a complimentary piece,
and Ladi McConkie is the Chargers passing attack. But look,
Bob's higher ups. If you're listening to cover of your ears.
Who else to the second round picks? By the way,
they're like, we're gonna unionize and come together and get

(12:30):
better results for all of us. So I do love that.

Speaker 1 (12:33):
Yeah, man, shout out. Look, this is this is always
a pro labor podcast. We're a pro player podcast on
this show. So shout out to these guys. Yeah, flex,
flex what muscle you got at this point because soon enough,
you know, the whole football social media world is gonna
call you who are the.

Speaker 3 (12:49):
Two who has signed? Because those guys.

Speaker 2 (12:53):
Jadene Higgins is one of them. He got eleven four
million guaranteed, so.

Speaker 3 (12:57):
Jayden's not invited to their party or whatever. Come on.

Speaker 1 (13:00):
But it's also, I mean it's sort of wild because
there's only so much you can negotiate. I mean, everybody's
kind of slotted at this point, right, so there's only
so much you can actually a Carson Sleshinger is the
other one, which.

Speaker 3 (13:12):
Him and Jayden and Higgins are going to be hanging
out in the corner by themselves, but.

Speaker 2 (13:15):
They got their contracts fully guaranteed. I think that's the
bar in argument that guys are trying to by way, Okay, Carson.

Speaker 1 (13:23):
Swashinger, that count on an UCLA Brewin to just destroy
Solidarity man smoking from a true Trojan Bruins man can
never count on them anyway. Come a Hype Trainer smoke screen.
Before we hit the break here Florida, Xavier Worthy expects
the Chiefs offense is going to open up. He says,
Andy Reid told him, get your hamstrings ready. This is

(13:46):
an offense that had been very kind of dink and
dunk the last couple of years. They had not been
the explosive vertical offense we had become used to seeing.
Hype Trainer smoke screen. This is going to be more
of a vertical attack this year.

Speaker 3 (13:57):
Hype Train. And and I'm going to talk about the
Chief receivers a little bit later in the show. But
Patrick Mahomes last year, amongst qualified quarterbacks, had the lowest
air yards per target. Like he's too good to be
asking him to dink and dunk down the field consistently.
I know it worked in the regular season and stuff,
but like they need that big play back and I

(14:19):
think just naturally having all their guys healthy, hopefully they
stay healthy. We'll get back to that. But yeah, you
don't have a Ferrari and drive it only to Trader
Joe's in back. You know, like you got to air
that thing out a bit and let it go. So
please let Mahomes start throwing down field more.

Speaker 1 (14:34):
I mean would love it, especially because of what the
ADP right now is on Patrick Mahomes. If he goes
back to being that same downfield, you know, vertical attack
passer that he was earlier in his career, he's going
well outperformed ADP, well outperformed at this point.

Speaker 2 (14:54):
Smoke Treain, Are we blind? Are we blind?

Speaker 1 (14:58):
I understand they want.

Speaker 2 (14:59):
To get to attack. This has to be executed with
Rashid Rice coming back full strength of what the first
four weeks we saw. For them to be a vertical attack,
Travis Kelcey has not been a vertical attack specialist or
a guy to even be implemented in this offense to
be a vertical attack anymore. Hollywood Brown, come on, we
have to see Hollywood Brown in the Ravens Jersey type

(15:20):
of form to be able to go vertical all down
the field. If it just up do we when's the
last time we've seen this? Like, I need to show me.
I'm from the show me state. Is that even the Cardinals.

Speaker 1 (15:34):
You're not from Missouri.

Speaker 2 (15:39):
You know what I'm trying to say. He has to
show me I'm not fully on board with this Patrick
Mahomes and this Chiefs offense being the vertical attack, because
this is what it was supposed to be for the
last couple of years, but we've just seen decline and
it's because of the variables of injury and health. Like
I'm not banking on Hollywood Brown and Rashid Rice, you know,
as a couple to be able to get this offense

(15:59):
back on track. It's going to take a lot more
from Xavier Worthy to step up.

Speaker 3 (16:03):
I mean, everything went wrong last year.

Speaker 2 (16:06):
Yeah, but Xavier Worthy has to be on a Tyreek
Hill level for me to actually believe like he level
they have this is more helpful to get back, yeah,
but to get back to what Patrick Mahomes was like,
we're talking forty touchdowns and forty five hundred yards like that's.

Speaker 3 (16:24):
The one player is going to replace ty But like
Marki's Brown is he goes a long way in doing that.
And Xavier Worthy, like I'm reading the article, what Worthy
said is he was like early on, they asked me
to do a lot underneath, and that lines up with
how the Chiefs used players, like like they use their
rookies in the simplest ways possible early on and don't

(16:44):
ask them to do too much. Plus Andy Reid is
telling them now to get ready, Like to me, I
think I think that matters, like like and Matt Naggie
has come out this offseason and been vocal on like,
we need to get the deep ball back into this offense.
I I think they're going to really try to do
so if I'm believing it now.

Speaker 1 (17:05):
Whether it's successful, that's a that's a different conversation. But
I do believe they're going to make every effort to
be burgal. And for all the frustrations of their offense
last year, I mean they were fifteen and two in
the regular season. You know they lost game.

Speaker 3 (17:20):
I know most people turn their TV off after Kendrick
Lamar pun intended but sixty yard air throw, airyard throw
to Zave You're worthy in the second half of it,
Like it's still in there.

Speaker 1 (17:32):
Mahome still has that Yeah it happened. It did still
happen for sure. Uh. Kyle Ustchek says he expects Christian
McCaffrey to return to foreman twenty twenty five says he
looks incredible to Kwan hype trainer, smoke screen, smoke screen.

Speaker 2 (17:46):
A man just had a baby. You know the rules.
Here are the rules man, if you get married or
you have a kid in the off season. I'm so
faiting you because all your rule for Christian McCaffrey. Because
last year I said it, the man is a married man,
he just got married.

Speaker 1 (18:01):
This is not this is a red flag fade.

Speaker 2 (18:04):
Now he just had a kid. Congratulations.

Speaker 1 (18:07):
I've never heard the you get married. His sleep is gone,
but the sleep, the sleep might be gone, but now
he has dad's strength. He's got dad strength now, so strength, I.

Speaker 3 (18:21):
Will say, completely different sport. But one year Julius Randall
was pretty bad for the Knicks and he came out
after and he was like, I just had a kid. Man,
I wasn't sleeping. And the next year he played well
and he was like, my sleep is back to normal.
So maybe you're honest. I don't have a kid. I
can't really comment on this, but maybe you're onto.

Speaker 1 (18:38):
Something honestly gone. I mean, I know he's by the
congratulations to Christian and Olivia for for their first child.
He also gets to go away to training camp, right,
Like he's gonna go sleep in a dorm for a
couple of weeks. He's not gonna be at home like
Christian McCaffrey's not gonna be busy with two am feedings.

Speaker 3 (18:54):
He's just they got nannies and oh, pears and words.
I've never heard of taking care of that.

Speaker 1 (19:00):
I'm sure. Yeah. So, like, like Christian McCaffrey, having a
kid is not like you know, any of us having
a kid and having to do dad stuff. It's a
little bit of a different oh Q.

Speaker 3 (19:10):
You don't really sleep anyway as is, and you're you're
bringing it on these pods.

Speaker 2 (19:13):
Yeah, Like it's different, man, It's a different being.

Speaker 1 (19:21):
Here's the thing I will say this, I think I
think people are starting to come around to McCaffrey in
terms of ADP because I thought early on in draft
season I thought he was being undervalued. And I get it.
You know, last year was obviously really frustrating for a
lot of people, and there is the injury history that
people have to be concerned with. But I just think
if you're going to if we're all about drafting guys,
that they're ceiling right. If we're drafting Ashton Johnty at

(19:41):
his ceiling. If we're drafting Omari and Hampton at his ceiling,
why not draft somebody at least close to the ceiling? Right,
Christian mcaffrey's not the RB one anymore, but his ceiling
is still a top five running back, So why wouldn't
we draft him somewhere close to the ceiling so I
couldn't be the.

Speaker 2 (19:56):
RB one still, I think it's like his eighty right now,
it's RB four. He's the seventh pick off the right,
so he's neighbor. Are you going? Are you going CMC
neighbors or POOKA neighbors.

Speaker 1 (20:09):
I think I'm gonna go. It's either CMC or POOKA
for me, just because I think those offenses on the
whole are better. Those are their better offenses than what fair.

Speaker 3 (20:21):
I bumped CMC up to RB seven yesterday.

Speaker 1 (20:23):
Actually, okay, see some people are starting to starting to
come around. People are buying in.

Speaker 3 (20:28):
But not RB four. I don't know. I I like,
I can't take him over Derek Henry.

Speaker 1 (20:32):
You can't.

Speaker 2 (20:33):
That's what I'm saying. People are taking to risk.

Speaker 3 (20:35):
That's a risk I I think Henry has similar like
the upside might be a little bit higher for CMC,
but Henry's floor is way higher.

Speaker 1 (20:46):
Maybe. I mean nineteen hundred yards and sixteen touchdowns. That's
a lot to repeat, right, that's a lot to repeat,
even in that offense. And McCaffrey gets McCaffrey gets you
that that pass catching bonus.

Speaker 3 (20:59):
Yeah, I have GEN ahead of CMC two. And that's
one that I went back and forth on.

Speaker 2 (21:03):
I think Henry just ends up being the steal. He
just ends up being the steal. He's getting forgotten because
of a new shiny toy, and is the return of CMAC.

Speaker 1 (21:11):
Like, come on, I don't even I don't even know
that he's being forgotten or that he's like.

Speaker 2 (21:15):
He's already past that age. I mean, Eric Henry is
Christiano Ronaldo when it comes to conditioning and servicing your body.
He this man takes care of his body on a
Ronaldo doesn't have to worry about linebackers coming at him.

Speaker 1 (21:32):
Wha. I mean that gets a red card version of football.

Speaker 3 (21:36):
He's ran past the hill, but he's still running like
he hasn't realized yet that the hill is is so
he thinks he's still just running like that. That's Derrick
Henry right now.

Speaker 1 (21:45):
Yeah, there it is. Uh. We can debate this too
as we continue on through the summer. For sure, I'll
take a quick break, come back and we'll talk about
our all breakout team, start with quarterbacks and running backs.
That's coming up next on the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast.
So Bucky Brooks is writing his all breakout team for

(22:06):
this season. He posted the offensive team just recently over
on NFL dot Com. You go check that one out.
That's an interesting names. He had Michael Pennix at quarterback,
Tyrone Tracy as his running back. Wide receivers were Keyon Coleman,
Romo Dunes, and the aforementioned Xavier Worthy. His tight end
was Brenton Strange the offensive lineman. Just for your own benefit,

(22:31):
JC Latham and Tennessee, Troy Fautanu and Pittsburgh, Jordan Morgan
in Green Bay, Christian Mahogany in Detroit, and Zach Frasier
with the Steelers. So we decided we should put together
our own fantasy breakout team for the year. So we'll
start at quarterback and Lakwan, seems like you and Bucky
are aligned on something here.

Speaker 2 (22:51):
Yeah, So before I even clicked on Bucky's article. I
just wanted to think of like my own breakouts and
like guys said, I have, you know, high hopes forign expectations,
and it was good to see just aligned right where
we're going to Atlanta. I mean, look when you look
at the Falcons offense and what Michael Penix brings to it,
he brings a vertical attack, and Zach Robinson has smoked
spoken high regard of Penix and wanting him to go

(23:12):
able to attack downfield. That small sample size that we
saw those last three games when he's just started with
Drake London was amazing. Like we saw Drake London George
for reception go from eleven yards to sixteen in a
matter of three games with Penix. And like you have
Zach Robinson in recent reports saying he wants to explore
with Michael Penix in his rushing upside, like he just

(23:33):
wants to see what we can get out of him.
I think what Pennick showed last year was just amazing
in that three game sample, but like growing that momentum,
Like you hear him sit talking about Drake London, like
he was asked if he feels like he's underappreciated. Michael
Penicks responded, like, they won't be at there this season.
So like, I like the confidence, I like the upside,
and I like Zach Robinson on the sticks because he understands, like, hey,

(23:56):
I'm gonna let him air it out because that's what
he was doing in college. He was going out there
just airing the ball out, and those three games span
he also led all quarterbacks in air yards. So you're
telling me you're gonna get Drake London, Darnell Mooney, and
even Raymond McLeod makes a little appearance in this shout
out because again, you have all the pieces in house
to make this vertical attack come executed at a high level.

(24:19):
So I'm all in on Michael Pennis as the quarterback
twenty one. Like this is where two was going, This
where Matthew Stafford is going. You could still get Michael
Penix with that low end QB one upside just based
on this offense.

Speaker 1 (24:30):
So you named Drake London, Uh, you named Darnell Mooney,
you named ray Ray McCloud. I feel like there's a
past catcher in that Atlanta.

Speaker 2 (24:38):
Oh, Cardera Hodges, That's who it is there, It is there.

Speaker 1 (24:42):
No, that's nothing. It is a K. It's something with
a K that you're missing. I don't know, it'll come
to me later. Yeah, maybe Atlanta past catcher name starts
with a K. I don't know. We'll figure it out. Allegedly. Yes, yeah, Florio,
you're I saw the two names you put on here

(25:02):
and it was very much on brand for you. So
I'll say this for your your all breakout quarterback. This
feels like if it's not this year, then then maybe never.
Is that fair? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (25:15):
Yes, agree, it's Justin Fields. And I know some people
might be like, well, Justin Fields has already shown us
he could be really good. But I think that a
career year is coming for Justin Fields because one the
offensive style that he that he is best suited in
is the one that he is now going to be
playing and in my opinion, a lot of outside runs.

(25:38):
I think we're gonna get Justin Fields. I'm trying to
think of a name for it and stuff like prepare
for takeoff or something like that, like we're gonna get
a touch push jexvusion with Justin Fields, and then I
think we're gonna get what the Lions do, like the
Lions I think people think big plays, explosive plays and
stuff like that. They don't throw the ball deep very much,
or at least they haven't under Ben Johnson and Tanner

(26:01):
Engstring in the past. Like they they set up a
lot of short, quick screens and just short, quick, high
efficiency passes which then opens up downfield and you could
catch people off guard downfield. And that's what I expect
for Justin Fields. That's what the Steelers had him do
last year, and he had put up. It was in
six games, but metrically speaking, it was a career year

(26:23):
for him as a passer. So I think Justin Fields,
who if you just take what he did in his
six games as a starter last year and you turned
it into seventeen games, would have been the QB six
and fantasy last year. I think he can finish even
higher than that and potentially be a top four, top
three fantasy quarterback this year. And then I gave honorable
mention to Drake May. I love Drake May as a

(26:46):
NFL player. I think he's got all the playmaking tools
in him. My only concern and the reason why I
would prefer to take him as a two than a one,
is I have some concerns on how much Mike Rabral
and the Patriots are gonna want to air the bam
all out. But I think all the tools are there
for Drake Made to be a big breakout candidate this season.

Speaker 1 (27:05):
Yeah, and I just I'm still hoping. I mean, for
those of us who want Drake May to be a
thing that the Patriots have finally gotten it right at
wide receiver because they have not gotten it right for
a long time now.

Speaker 3 (27:16):
So one is on a boat right now with Cardi b.

Speaker 1 (27:21):
Apparently, you know there are worse ways to be spending
your life. I said, I know that much. For sure,
my breakout quarterback is gonna be Caleb Williams this year.
I know that it wasn't necessarily eye popping in terms
of statistics last year, as he was sort of working

(27:41):
his way back in. It was a Bears offense that
struggled to score points for a long time for long
stretches last season. But one of the things that he
did very well which will serve him going forward, is
he protected the football, did not have a lot of needless,
careless turnovers, which is not only something you could say
for him at college where you know, watching him especially

(28:02):
at USC those last couple of years where he would
play a lot of hero ball and maybe force the
ball downfield. That was something that the Bears were able
to kind of work out of him a little bit.
And look, it definitely helps that he had better wide
receivers in the pros than he did in college. I
mean being able to work with Dj Moore, with Keenan Allen,
you know him and Romo Dunze trying to form a

(28:23):
connection as rookies last year, he definitely had better pass catchers.
Now he gets Ben Johnson coming there and calling up
the plays and dialing up the offense for him. You know,
they go out, they add Luther Burden, they add Colston Lovelin,
so they are committed to building around him. That's of
course obviously with more and Odonza coming back this year.

(28:43):
This time last year, I remember everybody being super hyped
on Caleb and me trying to pump the brakes and saying, look,
you're one will be okay. Year two is what I
expect things to take off. And then I sort of
got peer pressured into just like going big on Caleb,
and like I regretted it a few weeks in. I'm
like I should have just stuck to what I believed
in the first place, but I kind of let I
let the hype kind of take me along. But I

(29:05):
am sticking to the fact that in year two, I
think is when we see Caleb really step up. I
think year two is when the Chicago Bears finally, in
the first time in the long history of their historic franchise,
get a four thousand yard passer. I think I think
it finally happens. I think this year, I think Caleb
gets over four thousand yards. Last year he had twenty touchdowns.

(29:27):
I think you can get him, you know, closer to thirty,
maybe even above thirty this year. So I think I
think we're going to start to see the Caleb Williams
that everybody was hoping for when the Bears drafted him
number one overall in twenty twenty four. So for that reason,
he is my breakout quarterback this year over running backs.

(29:48):
This one was sort of a wild one for me
because I was really struggling to kind of find a name.
So I mean, I'll get to mind in just a
little bit. But I guess speaking of the Chicago Bears, lakwan,
you've got your your breakout running back right now.

Speaker 2 (30:03):
Yeah, I just want to put it out there in
the fantasy streets. This is the first year that I'm
actually campaigning for DeAndre Swift, like I am on board
this year, and it's only because Ben Johnson's on the
sticks and the opportunities that you know are on the
table for him now. Honestly, them not going in the
draft getting the top prospect obviously just indicates like, all right,
Swift is the guy, like Kam Nung guy. He's a

(30:23):
guy right now. He's going to be competing with Roshan
Johnson if anything, but Swift is the guy. And the
last time we've seen a fantasy relevant season from DeAndre
Swift was under Ben Johnson's system, the seventy targets that
I keep pounding the table for and like folks are
thinking they're not gonna have that same type of volume
on the table for him, But there is opportunity for
him because he's shown that his best quality last season

(30:45):
was as a pass catcher. I mean, he was top
five and explosive catcher, you know a stat that I
got from FTN, and he was able to be one
of the top six running backs out there running those routes,
so he's still showing the ability to be out there
as a pass catcher. Now a lot of that volume.
You know, it's gonna get spread out because Caleb last
year three wide receivers had one hundred targets, like not

(31:05):
enough people were talking about that. He also was top
five and second read percentagey, so there's obviously options and
the ability of him extending the plays and getting all
these mouths fed. And I think that, you know, Swift
is a huge factor in this run game, being the
Jamier Gibbs or the sonic of this backfield. So I
definitely think, you know, with last year's scheme, it was terrible,

(31:25):
the offensive line was terrible, and before Ben Johnson let
his name dry ink on that paper, he addressed the trenches.
So I think there's just a huge opportunity here with
Swift to break out this year to get back to
that top fifteen season that he had in twenty twenty
two with Ben Johnson. So it's clear as day he's
coming on my roster as an RB three. Mister RB
three has spoken.

Speaker 1 (31:45):
Mister RB three has spoken. Yeah, Gavin points out by
the way that we did have Chase Edmonds on the pod,
and he was big on DeAndre Swift, saying he'll be
a top ten turn back this year. Look just missed
out on one thousand yards last season. I'm with you
though on these seventy targets. You know, he got those
in Detroit with a pass catching group that wasn't particularly great.
It was aman Ros Saint Brown and like their number

(32:07):
two wide receiver was like, you know, Khalif Raymond. So
that sort of helped in that regard. But but I
do think there are a lot of targets potentially coming.
One more thing I forgot to mention, by the way,
about Kayleb Williams nearly five hundred rushing yards last year.

Speaker 3 (32:21):
Yeah, which is under the.

Speaker 1 (32:22):
Deal, under the radar because he's not I a would
say he's he runs sort of in the way that
Patrick Mahomes runs in the sense of like he's not
just gonna take off. You know, it's not gonna be
a Lamar Jackson Jaden Daniel side sort of thing where
he runs. He will run when he needs to, and
he's mobile enough and athletic enough to pick up big yards.
He pickup. He picks up those back breaking yards, right.
It's it's third and eight and you've got everybody covered

(32:45):
and then Caleb runs for ten. You know, like that's
the sort of thing.

Speaker 3 (32:48):
And that we didn't see him do it last year.
But and you could speak on this better than me,
but when I watched him in college, like he is
like a really good runner near the goal line, and
like exactly how you were saying, like he picks his
spots really well, yeah, and we didn't. Really he didn't
have a rushing touchdown last year, so I think he
could do that.

Speaker 1 (33:05):
So yeah, I mean I think that's that's one more
reason to.

Speaker 2 (33:07):
Players are grown, then they hit harder. That's probably why.

Speaker 1 (33:11):
I mean, look, I mean, look, Caleb understands that that
he's going to make his living throwing the football, not
necessarily running it, so like, you know, just be judicious
about it. I think it's all I think down Yeah,
well probably maybe, but if maybe but if the Russian
touchdowns go up, which there's nowhere else to go butt up, right, Like,
it sort of evens out. Uh, Florida, you have the

(33:33):
only rookie in our running back section here for for breaking.

Speaker 3 (33:37):
I will pig I love DeAndre Swift. I have him
ranked fifteenth in my rankings right now at running back,
and just a couple spots behind him is Trevon Henderson,
who you talk about. You don't love the adp fro
Marion Hampton. Uh at cost, I'm taking Henderson all day,
but I continue to flip flop the like I have
them back to back in my rankings and I flip

(33:57):
fub over which one I'd rather have, and you're getting
a rounder. So discount on Henderson. But Henderson was actually
my RB two when I watched all of these running
backs in the pre drive look, Genty was everyone's number one,
but Henderson for me was number two because I think Hampton,
you can make the argument, is the better like real life,

(34:21):
like a nineteen eighties NFL coach would love Omarion Hampton.
But for what we need in fantasy, I think Travon
Henderson is the guy you really want because what do
we want. We want big plays, and I think he
is the most. I would even say, including Genty, I
think he is the most explosive runner in this class,
speed for days. He's also a phenomenal pass protector, which

(34:46):
is big because that's usually what keeps rookies off the field.
On two minute drills and obvious passing down situations and
stuff like that, and he's a really good he's got
good hands, and he's really good after the catch. So
to me, the what I always want in my running
backs are big plays and pass catching and I think
he is going to thrive in that role. And I

(35:07):
know I've said it a lot on the show in
the past, like of all the rookies, he is the
one that is going there where the new coaching staff
picked him and didn't sign or draft the the RB
two like that is from the old regime, Ramandre Stevenson.
So I think Henderson is going to be the Patriots
RB one. I think he will have some really big games.

(35:28):
I think week to week might be a little inconsistent,
but the floor will be like probably something around like
ten fantasy points. But he's gonna have a huge number
of huge games because he's gonna break out like a
six yard touchdown run or have like a six catch
game or something like that. So I think he could
backdoor his way to an RB one finish probably more
of a high end RB two, but you don't got

(35:49):
to pay that price for him. So every year, when
you look back at ad at the scoring, like which
who stands out? It's usually rookies. So in the middle rounds,
I'm willing to uh bet on some rookies.

Speaker 1 (36:01):
There a couple things about Travon Henderson. One, he is
in that group of second round picks that has not
yet signed, so there are questions about whether it's a
union now. He's a union guy, you know, stands all
with your brothers. Uh. The other part is you're gonna
watch a lot of Patriots games this year, Florio, Yeah,
between Henderson Drake may like watching.

Speaker 3 (36:21):
The Jets with Justin feel like it's weird. I'm bounding
the table for a bunch of division rivals.

Speaker 1 (36:27):
Right except for me, guess sort of works out right
because you're gonna watch the Bills anyway, and they're gonna
play the Patriots twice. You're gonna play the Jets twice. Yeah, Like,
are there any Dolphins you want to cape up for?
You know, Darren Waller, maybe you want to Devon as
my RB four I love all right, Okay, that's fair,
that's fair. So when it came to me picking a

(36:47):
breakout running back, this is struggled. I really struggled with it.
I really really did because my first instinct was just
to go Ashton Johnty, and I'm like, that feels too chalky, right,
Like that just feels too easy because everybody loves Ashton
John c and that is so I yeah, it is spicy,
but I'm gonna go. I think Trey Benson takes a

(37:08):
big step forward this year, and maybe he's not an
RB one, but I also don't think he's gonna be
an afterthought in Arizona. We talked about it a few
weeks ago on this show. He made the comment that
he thinks Arizona has two RB ones. I think we
did under Hype Trainer smoke screen and we're all sort
of like, yeah, it's got a smoke screeny. But I'm like,

(37:29):
you know, maybe we don't count this out right. And
I say this to somebody who loves James Connor and
thinks James Connor is you know, he's one of those
running backs that we sort of take for granted, right
because when he's healthy, he's productive. His last two years
have been arguably the best two years of his career.
But you talk about that age, cliff, right, I mean,
he just turned thirty a couple of months ago. This

(37:52):
is a guy who has an extensive injury history. I mean,
this is the guy who started his career was able
to battle and overcome cancer to get back on the field,
which is absolutely amazing. But you know, all these things
do sort of add up over the years. I think
Trey Benton is a guy that you look at a
lot of the advanced stuff. He was very good in
yards after contact, he was very good when it came

(38:12):
to explosive runs, you know, all the little things that
you sort of like metrics wise from a running back.
Trey Benson does that. And so you know, I still
think James Connor is the lead running back in Arizona,
but I think you're gonna see the gap closed in
terms of usage between these two teams, between two players
rather and again I'm not gonna sit here and try

(38:34):
to sell you some fantasy where Trey Bnson overtakes James
Connor and by the end of the year you're like, oh,
he's R twelve, Like that's not gonna happen. But I
do think if you're going to spend a late round
draft pick on him, I think he's a guy who
can outperform his ADP and maybe end up sort of
in the low end RB two range, the less spicy.

Speaker 3 (38:52):
I hope it has going crazy right now.

Speaker 1 (38:57):
Oh I know. I'm glad do we know this?

Speaker 2 (39:00):
Because I am huge on Trady Benson. I hope this
happens for him though.

Speaker 1 (39:04):
Yeah, I mean, I think there's something there. But I
really did struggle to find, like who's a good breakout
because there's not a lot of spots where you know,
there's not a lot of room for for for you know,
young guys to break in. I mean you mentioned Travon Henderson.
He's one of those few young guys and I think
has a real path towards something big. But a lot
of the guys drafted this year ended up in situations

(39:26):
where they're sharing with veterans or they're just in bad offenses.
I think it's really hard because a lot of the
good running games are guys who were established and just
barring into.

Speaker 2 (39:39):
I was very close with writing down Jordan Mason, but
I think I think we already know how I feel.

Speaker 1 (39:45):
You already know, Like I actually thought you're gonna.

Speaker 3 (39:47):
Put on the Harvey to He is a big HiPE
guy this summer.

Speaker 1 (39:51):
He's a big.

Speaker 2 (39:53):
Look Jordan Mason Jordan James. Man, those are the two names.

Speaker 1 (39:56):
Why don't we already Why don't people like Aaron Jones?
Like for years we wanted to free Aaron Jones, right
he was like now with with the Jamal Williams were
like free Aaron Jones. And now Aaron Jones has a
chance to be free, and everybody's like Jordan Mason. It's like,
I don't understand.

Speaker 3 (40:12):
Us agism that I've seen people be like, well, he's
only going to be the passing down back now, and
I'm like, I don't see a world where Aaron Jones
is healthy and only playing passing.

Speaker 2 (40:23):
Wow, Like what why you gotta be patient?

Speaker 1 (40:25):
He had eleven hundred yards last year on the ground,
Like why would he just suddenly become the passing.

Speaker 2 (40:30):
Obviously, say Dynasty, you jump on Jordan Mason right now,
like you literally go get him.

Speaker 3 (40:35):
But even probably the top handcuff too, I would argue.

Speaker 2 (40:38):
Or one of one of I think I actually have
a handcuff ranking. Oh man, he's definitely up.

Speaker 1 (40:44):
There now, I guess. I mean, I think he's a
good player, but even in Dynasty, like I don't know
that I got I plan my future roster around Georgian.

Speaker 2 (40:51):
So I got a handcuff ranking Jordan Mason, Zach Charbonnet,
Raylan Allen's my top three, and then Dylan Samson number four.

Speaker 1 (40:59):
Really, so Trey Benson's not there.

Speaker 2 (41:01):
Trey Benson's actually further down. He's behind JK. Dobbins.

Speaker 1 (41:05):
Wow, and Ray Davis and Ray Davis.

Speaker 2 (41:09):
Yeah, because Trey Benson has to show us. He didn't
show us anything last year.

Speaker 3 (41:13):
Wow, he's from the show me state.

Speaker 1 (41:16):
Yeah, New Jersey famously didn't mean it like that. Yes,
all right, reason that that's the board to do. We
got wide receivers and tight ends. Take a break. We'll
take a break and then come back with more breakouts
next on the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Because we continue

(41:39):
our fantasy breakouts for twenty twenty five looking at wide receiver.
It feels like there's a lot of places we could
go at wide receiver for breakouts. And Lakwan, you're starting
with a friend of the show. Yeah, yeah, wide receiver breakout.

Speaker 2 (41:52):
Yeah, Yeah, I'm starting with they really get and I
think when we look at this offense with the Panthers,
target out is wide open for him, and I think
last season we saw him be a huge red zone
target for Bryce Young, and I think more so if
he works on his hands. You know, he had a
lot of drop passes. But there's nothing in stone that

(42:13):
Teed McMillan's the wide receiver one here, because like there
could be a debate that Adam Thielen still shows up
and show out like he did last season's finishing as
a top fifteen wide receiver coming from injury. So there's
obviously some chemistry built there with Adam Thielen. But I
think that second target option is available for him. And
I'm not saying xaberly Get is going to break out
to be this wide receiver one. I'm looking at him

(42:34):
more so as a low and wide receiver two as
a flex so he can live outside the top twenty
five wide receivers. This is a great breakout for him
because if he's in the top thirty, that means Teed
McMillan or Adam Thielen they're in that range as well
or even above. And then Bryce Young is having an
offense that's flourishing under him where he's able to distribute
the ball. Because we saw David Moore have some couple

(42:55):
of weeks last year. We saw Adam Thielen old Man,
thelan going out there one hand, Odell Beckingham. We saw
Jalen Koker make some nice plays as well, and I
think you know more so Xavier look Get with his
big body frame, he's able to box you out the
quick slants like he's like a huge gadget player. And
I think there's untapped potential here with Bryce shown being
able to be a little bit mobile in that pocket,

(43:16):
extending the plays, getting the ball to a big target
like Xavier log At, this is opportunity for him to
step up big this year. And like Friend of the Show,
if everybody tapped into the pod, he's actually taking accountability
and working on himself to improve this next season and
understanding the offense a little bit better like the rookie
years under him. Second year Xavier l Get, I'm ready,
let's jump on the raccoon train man. That's what That's

(43:37):
what I'm gonna.

Speaker 1 (43:38):
Call it the right right And sometimes somehow in all
this he found time to be in a Glorilla video.

Speaker 2 (43:44):
So yeah, it's pretty cool.

Speaker 1 (43:46):
Actually shout out to to xavierly Get for that as well. Floria,
you decided to go the group route here, and I don't.
I guess it kind of goes back to what we
were talking about in the hype Trainer smoke screen earlier
the show.

Speaker 3 (43:57):
Yeah, Lakwan's not gonna like this, But I'm in on
the Chiefs receivers. I have Rashid Rice as my wide
receiver thirteen. I think worthyse not too far behind that.
And then I'm definitely the high guy on mark He's Brown,
his ADP's in the sixties. I have him like forty something.
I'm a big believer that last year the Chiefs had
this plan of like bringing speed back into the offense

(44:20):
because remember two years ago, I know they won the
Super Bowl, but like their offense was being led by
like Juju and like a broken down Travis Kelcey and
it was rough. So they tried to get younger and
faster last year, and Marquis Brown got hurt before we
even got to see what they could be with him,
and then a mistake that I'm not saying we're doing it,
but I think that, like the public perception on players

(44:42):
does is like when a player comes back hurt and
isn't the same, we then hold it against them the
next year. But like Markus Brown didn't have a training camp.
He didn't like he was literally getting his reps in
on the field in live time of coming back from
this injury. Pacheco was taken from Rashid Rice was looking
like an absolute top five elite wide receiver, and then

(45:05):
he was taken from us An. Xavier Worthy showed strides
throughout the year in my opinions, so I think that
this passing a game will attempt to throw more downfield,
will attempt to look like the Chiefs of old. I
don't think we're gonna ever see like the twenty eighteen
version of Mahomes again where he like went absolutely nuclear

(45:26):
for sixteen games. But that's still in there, right, Like,
that's in the range of outcomes. And just because of
who Mahomes is and if like these guys are healthy
and they could win downfield, I think it'll lead to
a lot of big games. Plus last year was the
worst offensive line Mahomes has ever had as well, and
I don't know if it's gonna improve or not. But

(45:46):
they did use their first round pick, they signed someone,
they tried to get younger there as well. So last
year was I think the absolute worst case scenario for
the Chiefs, and yeah, it wasn't great for fantasy, but
like I, we're getting a discount on them because of that,
and to me, the upside is still all there.

Speaker 1 (46:07):
I'm curious because I do think I think there's reason
to believe this offense is going to be more explosive
than it has been the last couple of years. I
just don't think Andy Reid wants it to be like that.
I don't think Patrick Mahomes is satisfied with that. I
think we're gonna see them bounce back. I also, as
you were talking, I flashed back to twenty fourteen. Remember
twenty fourteen when the Chiefs did not have a touchdown

(46:28):
catch by a wide receiver in the entire season?

Speaker 3 (46:31):
Was that like Dwayne Bow years?

Speaker 1 (46:32):
That was Dwayne Bow? Who else was there? Albert Wilson,
the Bird Alert as we call him, Albert Wilson, Donnie Avery,
Jason Avant, Junior, him, aj Jenkins. I mean, it was
like a it's very much a who's that of It
was not a who's who? Was a who's.

Speaker 3 (46:48):
That was that post Jamal Charles.

Speaker 1 (46:50):
Jamal Charles was still there. Okay, in fact, that would
have been now She's still he was with the Chiefs
for a few more years after that. I was Travis
Kelcey's second year year, so he had not become like
a stud fantasy tight end at that point.

Speaker 3 (47:05):
He learned how to read.

Speaker 1 (47:07):
He actually led the team in receptions that year, now
that I'm looking at it, he led the team in
receptions and receiving yards. So this might have been the
beginning of Travis Kelcey as a thing in fantasy football
in twenty fourteen. But yeah, they did not have a
wide receiver catch a touchdown great out all that year.
It's just it's a weird statistical anomaly, right, Like you
just think on like broken coverage, the fender falls down something,

(47:29):
you would have just thought somebody catches the touchdown. But nopeh
did not happen. My breakout for this year, and maybe
we saw it a little bit last year, but I'm
I'm in on it this year is Jamison Williams in Detroit.
You know, he's had such a weird start to his career,
right he had injury, you know, coming off an injury
out of college. Then he had this suspension you know

(47:52):
for a year and for part of the year and
missed time. He just really could never consistently get any
momentum within the offense. Last year, he was healthy for
most of the season, played fifteen games during the regular season,
had over a thousand yards, had seven touchdowns, proved that
he could be the big play guy that they wanted
him to be. I think this is the year he

(48:13):
takes a big step forward in this offense. And so
I mean, obviously we're we're drafting Aman rob probably first
round or early second round. We're drafting Sam Laporta. I'm
starting to see Jamison's ADP go up. I personally don't
like it. I want you to stop. But I think
people are starting to see the same thing that this

(48:33):
can still be even without Ben Johnson running the show.
Can still be an explosive offense, and Williams is gonna
be a big part of that. I mean, he's a
home run guy, can take it to the house anytime
he gets his hands on the ball. We know that
Jared Goff can spread the football around, regardless of what
Lakwan may think of him. He's he can deliver the
ball to the guys he needs to get it to.

(48:55):
I wouldn't be surprised, honestly if Williams is the number
two target. You know, if it's I'm on rods the
number one target for sure, then you know it's some
battle between Jamison Williams and Sam Laporter for the number
two target. I just think big, big things are coming.
If we see Williams somewhere in the neighborhood of twelve
thirteen hundred yards, I would not be surprised this year

(49:16):
at all. So needs the catch rate up though, I mean,
fifty eight catches on ninety one targets not particularly great.
So if he can, if he can bump up that
catch rate, that'll go a long way helping him out
finally break out side end, which honestly, you could just
pretty much say a tight end that's not one of
the top five guys, and it's hard to argue against it. Lakwan,
will you be dying your hair blonde at this particular

(49:37):
tight end face in the top five?

Speaker 2 (49:39):
Absolutely not, But I'll be very surprised if that happens, though.
But Chicka Konquo man, I think there's open targets, you know,
on this Tennessee offense, because honestly, the ghost of Tyler
Lockett might be present, you know, I don't know if
he's going to be able to, you know, step up
and be the Tyle Lockett of old, but he's definitely,
you know, there's he's definitely unbearable in this take. But

(50:00):
I think Chicka Conco he's proven to us these last
two seasons he can earn targets seventy targets in back
to back seasons with Ryan Tannehill, Will Levis, Will Levis again,
Mason Rudolph will leve Us again, terrible terrible, terrible, terrible,
terrible ups and downs, but he's proven to us to have,
you know, the ability to step up, very John New likeness,
you know, in his athleticism. So it's like, I definitely

(50:21):
think there's upside here, especially with cam Ward where we've
seen him elevate a tight end last year with Elijah Arroyo.
So I definitely think, you know, with the Tennessee Titans
finished on the eleventh in tight end target share, there's
already a system here that there's obviously some room for
the tight ends to actually get involved in this offense.
So again, I do like elk au Manner, I do

(50:41):
like Tyler Lockett, you know, exaber Ristrabo or with cam
Ward previously there, but Chicka Conco has proven time and
time again he could step up when given opportunity.

Speaker 1 (50:52):
He's been one of those guys the last year or
two where it's like I'm willing to like throw a
little bit of fab on him somewhere mid through the season,
like if the matchup's right, and I feel like he
can perform, so maybe, yeah, maybe this is the year
he finally takes that big step forward. I mean, in
our normal thinking, it does take tit ends a few
years to develop. This is year four. This feels like
this could be the year that maybe.

Speaker 2 (51:12):
The steady quarterback maybe fingers crossed top ten. I'll say
top ten.

Speaker 3 (51:17):
I know this has been like Kyle Brandt's points aul summer,
but like literally there's zero hype around cam Ward right now,
and I.

Speaker 1 (51:23):
Don't get yeah. I mean, I think some of it
is just that cam Ward himself, I think is a
quieter guy. I think some of it's that we don't
really pay attention to the Titans the work. When's the
last time like people were like hyping It's like no
one dumps on the Titans, right just no one talks

(51:44):
about the Titans like I was the opposite of love
isn't hate. The opposite of love is apathy, right because like,
at least if you hate somebody, you still care enough
to think about them in some sort of way. Like
the Titans, Like no one you know, I mean the
apologies all Titans fans out there, a pal are Opal
just th Graver who does a lot of great Titans content.
I mean, they just generally aren't high in the public consciousness.

Speaker 3 (52:07):
The volunteer state, the volunteer.

Speaker 1 (52:10):
State hints hints of the mascot of the University of Tennessee.

Speaker 3 (52:17):
That's right, which brings us back to land of bad
full circle.

Speaker 1 (52:21):
Oh, that's right. I forgot about that. Shout out to
pit that movie man. Let's move on. You're your sight end.
Like I felt like, if you're gonna do rookie tight end,
you only had two options. So Florida, you took one.
I took the other, your rookie breakout tight end.

Speaker 3 (52:37):
I'm in on both of them, but I do prefer
Tyler Warren because one, I I know, Lovelin got drafted higher,
but I had Warren as my tight end one in
the pre draft process as like that was kind of consensus.
And then Ben Johnson shocked the world. But Warren. Look,
I said this in the past, but if you're catching
up or whatever, like everything that people said about are

(52:59):
saying about Tyler Warren right now was being said about
about Rock Bowers last season, like target competition, poor quarterback play,
all of that. But the thing is I went and
looked for both Daniel Jones and Anthony Richardson and they
are at their best when they are throwing short to
intermediate in the middle of the field. That is where
I expect Tyler Warren to just live right like across

(53:21):
the middle, be that safety blanket. And I know this
is a hot take. I've said this in the past
two like, it would not surprise me if he ends
up leading this team in targets even as a rookie,
because he is that much of a weapon after the
catch that I think they are just gonna have a
ton of plays where it's like, get the ball to
Warren right now. So he's These two, though not only

(53:42):
Marcus Is, Warren and Loveland are gonna be probably my
most drafted tight ends. I'm fine with like double dipping
them both because of where they go. You could easily
do so and then just hoping one hits, because that's
to me, there's not a lot of upside at tight end,
especially once you get by like the top seven name
or whatever, and these two guys clearly bring the most

(54:02):
upside in my opinion.

Speaker 1 (54:04):
So I love Tyler Warren as a prospect. I mean,
everything he did in at Penn State offense, and they
asked him to do a lot, he did it successfully
and it was amazing to watch. I thought he was
gonna be the number one tight end off the board.
He wasn't. So that's sort of why I'm pivoting to
Colston Loveland, just because obviously Ben Johnson has a plan
for him right now. If they're gonna make him there

(54:25):
the top drafted side end, you know, I'm not gonna
sit here and pretend that he's going to put up
a Sam Laporta like season in year number one. But
I do think there's going to be opportunities. So I
will admit I have fallen into the Tyler Warren like
the quarterback worries bad offense sort of thing like that
has sort of scared me off a little bit. I
love his talent, don't love the situation for Loveland. I

(54:48):
love the situation. The only concern I have with him
is there's a lot of target competition in Chicago. Right
when you know you've got more, you've got odoons. DeAndre
Swift is gonna get his targets. You know they're got to,
I'm sure figure out some way to work in Luther
Burden after spending a draft pick on him as well.
So there is a lot of target competition in Chicago.

(55:09):
But I just I'm sort of believing in Ben Johnson
and whatever plan they have for him. So that's why
he's my breakout tight end. But you know, if you
if you're saying Tyler Warren, I'm not gonna argue too hard.
I'm not going to push back on that because I
think there's an equal chance of him doing that as well.
So yeah, I you know, I like both these rookie

(55:30):
tight ends. I don't think Chicka Conko is a bad
option either. I think if you're talking after the first,
you know, six or seven tight ends, you can take
all those names, throw them up in the air and
whatever order they land in, Like, sure, yeah, that could happen.

Speaker 2 (55:46):
We're asking us for top ten.

Speaker 3 (55:48):
No one had zach Ertz and Hunter Henry's top twelve
tight ends last year, you.

Speaker 2 (55:53):
Know, or even Dallas Goddard with his limited play in
points per game, Like, I was really surprised to see
Dallas Cotlett numbers, which again is more a statement on
the position than it is individual play. It is true.

Speaker 1 (56:06):
I mean, you know what year was it? There was
a year where uh, like Jason Witten, like late in
his career, was like a top ten tied end and
like all he did is basically just catch the ball
and fall down. You know.

Speaker 3 (56:17):
Oh that was so awful. He'd averaged like eight catches
a game and like thirty.

Speaker 1 (56:21):
Two yards, but he had like once I loved back
in the day, that was just.

Speaker 2 (56:27):
A touchdown machine. That's all he did.

Speaker 3 (56:31):
Kyle Rudolph was the one that I would always chase
my tail on.

Speaker 2 (56:34):
Oh man, I wanted Kyle out away for Earth Smith.
But I've said this before Man.

Speaker 1 (56:40):
On Earth, but I would never I was let Irv
swerve for years. Just never happened, never swerved.

Speaker 2 (56:47):
Unfortunately, justin Jefferson's rookie year was the chance he had
to break.

Speaker 1 (56:51):
Out, but it just didn't work. It didn't happen. So
uh poor went out for for Smith for sure. Uh
poor for the show because it's over. We're back with
you on Thursday. You're not with us though, right you're
you're off you. You decided for some reason Floyo to
go to the Bayou in July, so god speed.

Speaker 4 (57:10):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (57:10):
Well I'm just the best man, you know. I I
just I go where the groom wants to go. But
now there's hurricane warnings, so.

Speaker 1 (57:18):
Wish me luck.

Speaker 2 (57:19):
Oh my gosh, yeah, man, uh be safe.

Speaker 1 (57:25):
Have fun out there though. The New Orleans a fun,
fun town. Bring a flashlight just in case I should.
I should explain, So you know, we get the chance
to talk to a lot of the players here. Steve
Smith is always very entertaining to talk to Steve Smith Senior,
And somehow we ended up in a conversation about the
different cities he's played in throughout his career, and he

(57:46):
was giving us assessments of them, and when it came
to the city of New Orleans, he said it's dark,
and we were like, you mean like vibes, like the atmosphere.
He's like, no, just like physically there's just not enough
lighting in the city of New Orleans. It's just dark. Like, oh,
I mean, I'm.

Speaker 3 (58:03):
Gonna be on the lookout for lights.

Speaker 1 (58:05):
I mean, depending on what part of the French Quarter
you're in. He is absolutely right, it can be very dark,
so bring a lantern or a flashlight or something and
and stay sick.

Speaker 2 (58:14):
A candle.

Speaker 1 (58:16):
In the hurricane.

Speaker 2 (58:18):
Yeah, that's a super company candles.

Speaker 1 (58:21):
Walking down the street with the candles seems really really creepy. Uh. Anyway,
that'll do it for. This is the ship of the
NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. They happy, saving healthy, do good
and live well. Uh stay say Florida, we'll talk to you.
So for the rest of you will have the cheat
sheet on Thursday, We'll talk to you. Then takes a

(59:02):
Alcott