16 Must-Have Players (Ep. 739)

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's time to plant the flags. Let's talk to the pros.
Welcome in everybody to Fantasy Pros. This is the Fantasy

(00:21):
Football Podcast. It is be Joey b Joe Pizzavia, That
of course is Dan Harrison, Kyle Yates, and it's you
and today it's all about the must haves. That's right.
Everyone's got their guys and we're gonna talk about our
guys on the show that we just can't go into
the twenty twenty one NFL season without. We're gonna go
through the running backs, the wide receiver, as the tight end.

(00:41):
I'm sure fourteen of these fifteen players will be Trey
Lance whenever Kyle Yates gets to them. But before we do,
I just want to remind everybody that we've got a
brand new giveaway here Fantasy pros to be very excited about.
We already gave away the Clyde Edwards a Layre Helmett.
It's gone, you missed it, but we'll announce that winner
in just a day or two. We have a new

(01:02):
thing here to give away, and that is a football
autographed by Kyler Murray. Could this be the MVP Kyler
Murray season? It's possible and If you want to get
a piece of history with an autograph ball by Kyler
Murray thanks to our friends at Pristine Auction, there's only
one way to get it, and that's going to Fantasypros
dot com slash contest. And don't forget, you got a
three times entry if you subscribe to our YouTube channel.

(01:23):
That's YouTube dot com slash Fantasy Pros. So subscribe to
the YouTube channel, click that little bell for the notifications,
then go to Fantasy Pros dot com slash Contest. You
drop your review on Apple Podcasts or cast box. Next thing,
you know that Kyler Murray autograph football can be yours.
It's a new month, it's a fresh start with lots
of fun things to do here. And speaking of fun things,

(01:44):
Dan Harris back on the show. We missed you a
couple of days. I know you've been working feverishly trying
to get everything together. How are you, my friend? I'm
doing all right. Yes, I apologize for my absence on
the podcast. It is generally because I try to make
sure that our podcasts are at the highest possible level
at this point, and I generally bring it down. So

(02:05):
I've made an exception for this one. I'm here. Thank
you Yates for acknowledging I'm here, though, ready because everybody
wants to know who my guys are so they can
make sure to avoid them. I'm fine, I'm here for you.
I'm ready to go for this one. Let's do it.
That's right, And Yates, you and I have talked quite
a bit about the players we like, but I feel
like this is kind of that last stamp, that flag
that we're going to plant as we go into the

(02:26):
weekend and there's gonna be a ton of drafts. So
we've had a long time to think about this, We've
had a long time to evaluate, and our guys are
our guys, Like, we're just not going to come up
with different names now just because, but there might be
one or two that maybe we're gonna highlight a little
bit more today that maybe we haven't talked about enough. So, Yates,
this is that final draft weekend. How excited are you
for football? Man? It's so exciting. I've got an in

(02:48):
person draft this weekend with a bunch of buddies from church,
and I just cannot wait for that. Right, Like all
my drafts at this point have been online, but there's
just something about an in person draft, having that and
getting all together, and especially now after last year, right
twenty so being able to get together in person football
is here. We've got college football in the TV tonight.
Oh my word, I cannot wait for Week one. I've

(03:10):
got a huge salary cap Guillotine League on Saturday morning drafting.
That is going to be a good time. I'm looking
forward to that. But you're right, yeah, it's it's that
in person drafts being back. I had back to back weekends.
It doesn't get better than that. I got to meet
a bunch of really cool people too, at one that
I didn't know, even including Rown Mike Mayer. I got
to finally hang out with in persons. So it's a

(03:30):
beautiful thing Fantasy football bringing us together, which is perfect.
And we want to bring together these guys for your team.
So pay close attention, boys and girls, because this is
where the rubber meets the road. These are our must have,
our people that we don't want to go into twenty
twenty one without Dan Harris. Let's start with you give
me a running back in your opinion that ye just

(03:51):
can't live without. That is your guy, your must have.
So we do a bunch of drafts, obviously, salary cap drafts,
regular drafts. We're in a bunch of leagues. There's always
one play, right, There's one player that you're always like,
this guy is kind of ending up with my team everywhere,
and for me, that's Austin Eckler. Let's just very briefly
talk about why. Just clicking at the running backs. Okay,

(04:11):
I have him seventh and half PPR our expert consensus
ranking has him tenth. He has an ADP just among
running backs consensus of nine point seven. Overall he is thirteenth,
and ECR he is thirteenth, and consensus ADP I have
him seventh. So if I am drafting in the back
end of the first round, he is a guy that
I am taking. So why am I higher on him

(04:32):
than the consensus? I mean in standard. First of all,
I will admit that like, maybe not, but obviously if
you have half or full, that's where you're kind of going.
We got nervous last year with that first game with
to Rod Taylor, right, but then once Justin Herbert came in,
it was awesome. Eight targets a game, six and a
half receptions a game, eleven and a half carries per game,
over one hundred yards total yards on average per game.

(04:53):
The offensive line is better now. They drafted Rishawn Slater,
they signed Corey Lindsley. And as a pure runner. By
the way, Eckler is good in his career four point
seven yards per carry on average, at a nineteen percent
broken tackle rate last year. Everything is really good with him.
But what does the offense look like? Anthony Lynn obviously
is gone. Who is in as the offensive coordinator? It's
Joe Lombardi. That's good. He's been with the Saints a

(05:14):
lot in his career. We know how the Saints used,
obviously Alvin Kamara, but what about one Lombardi was the
actual offensive coordinator of the Lions, you know, a decade
ago or whatever. What did he do the running backs?
They saw more than ten targets per game, They had
more than seven catches per game. They had more than
sixty receiving yards per game. His philosophy is gonna mesh
very well with Austin Eckler. So if you were in

(05:35):
any league that gives you any sort of points for
a reception, he's a guy that you have to get
if you are past that top five in running back.
At that point, the door is open if you want
to take Austin Eckler, and if you're in the back
end of the first round, I think you absolutely have
to target him. He can be a very clearly for
me a league winner this year. All right, Yates, who's
the running back that you're opening the door for you
and putting him right onto your roster. Yeah, it's Joe Mixon.

(05:59):
I started off the offseason talking a lot about Joe
Mixon and then it kind of tailed off as we
talked about a lot of other guys. But I can't
I'm still ending up with Joe Mixon everywhere on my rosters.
And it's a little bit different now because his ADP
was around RB sixteen, RB seventeen in like June, July,
even into August. But now it's all the way up
at RB thirteen, so people are starting to catch back

(06:19):
onto the workload here. For Joe Mixon, I still think
that's a little bit too low. I've got him at
RB ten on the year. So Mixon, Yes, he has
the injury history quote unquote hanging over his head, but
for a guy who if we I've talked about it
several times, if he would have been put on ir
to right when that injury happened last year and would
have come back right. You would have just been able
to rest up come back fully healthy. We would be

(06:41):
viewing Mixon in a completely different light. But because Zach
Taylor played this is he gonna play isn't he gonna
play game last year, we have a different perception of
Joe Mixon in our minds. When he is on the field,
the workload is going to be insane. I've got him
projected with a thirteen percent target share and a sixty
five percent carry's share carry split in this backfield, like
you're going to see some GP Ryan factor in here

(07:02):
or there. Chris Evans has showed out in the preseason,
but he's still a guy who has very little work
to his name even in college. He needs some time
to sit and develop. So this is Joe Mixon's backfield.
And if you're getting him at RB thirteen, you don't
have to have him as your RB one on your roster.
So if you can get him as an RB two
and he has guys, Joe Mixon has true RB one
in Fantasy football upside because of the workload that he's

(07:23):
going to get in his talent. And if Joe Burrow
comes back and plays like ninety percent with the Joe
Burrow that we saw last year even to begin the season,
this offense is going to be pretty good and they're
gonna be putting points up on the board. So Joe Mixon,
where he is going RB thirteen in DP, RB thirteen
in ECR. I've got him at RB ten on the year.
I think that's the best point you make because you
don't have to have him as your RB one, And

(07:44):
I feel better not having him as my RB one,
especial because I do have a little concern not just
because of last year's injury, but other years where he's
had some injury issues. So, yeah, is your RB two man,
That is a really good pairing. Now I want to
talk about somebody, and I'm going to stay on brand
because that's what I do. Everybody knows Joey p stays
on brand. That's right, Dan Harris, get ready club, I'm

(08:05):
leaving this podcast. Well, you've already said it, so I
don't even have to end the gates. If that's all
I've got to do, you get rid of Dan. If
it's all I've got to do to get rid of Dan,
then let's I mean, that's easy. I put a pole
up yesterday, by the way, uh, and it said, if
we add Chubb club shirts to the Fantasy Pro shop,
would you buy one? Just so you know? Fifty eight
point four percent said yes, and forty one point six

(08:28):
said of course, So there you go. Nobody said no.
Of course it wasn't as choices are good. So everyone's excited.
But you know, everyone's already heard me talk about Chubb
quite a bit. And last night I was actually on
a show with Jake Celi Are good for him from
the athletic We were in a draft just yesterday for
the CBS Draft a thon together, and he took Nick

(08:49):
Chubb and he talked about it last night when they
asked us about the draft, and he said the same
thing I keep saying about Chubb. You can get your
first pick wrong. Everything about Nick Chubb is right. If
you go back and look at the stats. Let's not
forget that in twenty nineteen he almost had fifteen hundred yards. Okay,
that is an incredible rushing total. Last year he had

(09:09):
five point six yards per carry. That was greater. In fact,
he finishes RB nine with just twelve games played last year.
That's stunning. He still had a well over a thousand
yards rushing. And Jake also made a good point because
even after the show, of course, because we're friends, were
texting talking about Jubb and he was talking about, you know,
there's not a lot of running backs that get forty
plus receptions anyway. Even if he can hover around thirty

(09:30):
or something like that over the season, that's great because
he's got the upside for somewhere around fifteen touchdowns and
somewhere around fifteen hundred yards. That is tremendous. That is
a great value. And when you're trying to just build
a team and get it right, especially with a focal
point running back where you know he is the offense,
just like Derrick Henry a couple years ago. I don't
see why Nick Chubb doesn't get enough love. And as

(09:53):
Dan said, we'll be adding that shirt to Fantasy pros
very soon. Go ahead and check out the shop and
wait for that one. It's gonna be a big seller.
Dan Harris, give me another running back that you want
to talk about that you must have this year. I
must be exhausted because I don't remember saying any of
that regarding the form before the show and the whole thing.
I had just signed it because I knew you were tired.
Took advantage of tired Dan Harris. Yet that's pretty much

(10:16):
the way you need to be right now. Gus Edwards
is the second guy who What's interesting, guys, is that
I have so many shares of Gus Edwards from early drafts,
just because I thought it was a value there. Anyway,
everybody wanted the Tony Pollards and those high end insurance policies,
but guess Edwards was my favorite type, which I've talked about,
which is the high end insurance policy as well as

(10:37):
the guy who's going to have standalone value. Now he
vaults up for me ADP is obviously, I can't really
judge it even recently, guys, I feel like fantasy managers
still aren't kind of adapting yet because even the ADP
over the last several days doesn't really pull it in.
But in our expert consensus rankings, he's twenty three. I'd
actually after this be interested to know where you guys

(10:57):
have him. I have him eighteenth. So every time i'm
there in you know, the fourth round, I'm just pulling
the trigger on him, and I'm fine. Now I don't
have him as high as I had JK. Dobbins. I
had Dobbins fourteenth overall, and again that's pretty much because
he lacks, in my opinion, the pass catching chops that
Dobbins would have, even though it wouldn't be a ton
with the Ravens, but jj Zacharieson was on earlier this

(11:18):
week said something that was, you know, kind of kind
of really the point which is the difference is that JK.
Dobbins had to deal with Gus Edwards as the backup, right,
Gus Edwards does not have to deal with the caliber
of running back like himself as the backup. So I
do think he's gonna kind of balance the lack of
pass catching stuff, not you know, not total, but just
the less that he would have versus j K Dobbins

(11:40):
with a little bit more volume. Now, I don't expect
him to be the bell cow back or anything like that,
but I think when we think about it, think about
the red zone. Right, Lamar Jackson takes a lot of
the touchdowns, but Ravens running backs last year scored seventeen touchdowns,
JK Dobbins nine Gus Edwards six and mark Ingram too.
And remember down the stretch Dobbins was just a touchdown
machine than over the final six games. So Edwards is

(12:02):
always one of the highest graded running backs by PFF
throughout his career last year in particular, and again he
does you know, it's not huge in pass catching, but
he has caught eighteen of his twenty two targets in
his career. He's not like a dud, you know, he
doesn't have stonehands or anything like that. Remember we've got
Rashod Bateman on IR, we've got Miles Boykin on IR.
So to begin the season least, it's going to be

(12:23):
something where they're going to need to lean on him.
And again, this is just something where I think, especially
if you're drafting this weekend, I just don't think everyone
has caught on to exactly what this means for Gus Edwards.
So I think he's still a value in drafts. I
had him everywhere before this, I'm getting him everywhere now.
So he rivals Austin Neckler as the player who I
have the most shares of all right, so he's RB

(12:43):
twenty seven for me, Gates. I also got a lot
of recent shares of Tyson Williams because he looked very
sharp in the preseason. I liked him a lot, So
that's another guy I think you want to circle as
your later picks. But where do you have Gus Edwards
before we talk about your next guy? Yeah, I've got
Gus Edwards at RB twenty on the year, and I
want I think it's going to be really interesting too,
because you mentioned you know, the ADP not necessarily reflecting it,

(13:05):
and I think a large portion of that is because
the majority of fantasy football platforms are relying on the
ADP to then feed what happens, you know, in future drafts. Right,
So when people are drafting, they're not typically using cheat sheets.
They're looking at the next best available players based on ADP.
So then when you're getting to that RB twenty range,
you're not seeing Gus Edwards in the list, right, you

(13:27):
have to scroll down a little bit because he's still
down there. So you have him at RB eighteen, I
have him at RB twenty, and that means that based
on where you know, how late this happened, his ADP
hasn't had the chance to skyrocket, so that means that
you can get him as your RB three on the year, right,
you don't have to draft him there. That's the benefit.
So Gus Edwards RB twenty for me is absolutely a
guy that I think you want to be able to get.

(13:48):
And the best part about it is because of that
little little quirk there in fantasy football platforms, you don't
have to draft him there. By the way, is this
allows me to do a very natural but completely real
plug here for our draft assistant, because what you can
do and what you should do in every draft is
you should use the Draft Assistant because you can sink
it and you can put in your own cheat sheet.

(14:09):
You can have if you want, the three of our
rankings with you and that will show you and you
can go based off that. With that, you're not gonna
miss Gus Edwards in your draft. You're not going to
forget about him. You're not gonna see him later. You're
gonna know exactly where we have him. By the way,
it also updates whenever we update our rankings. So if
you do that, if you choose Us Yates, Yates, you guys,

(14:30):
I'm sure like update my rankings every day as I
find tune Yates and I said, we're gonna do a
huge sweep sort of today now with all the cuts
and stuff like that. If you create a cheat sheet
with our rankings, it will automatically update for you as
we update our rankings. So that's really a good way.
And again we work here. Okay, so like, of course
we want to hype the tools, but your tag just

(14:50):
talk about it all the time. Salary cap draft, regular draft.
I don't do a single draft anymore without the assistant
up ever, because it really is something that makes a
huge difference. And don't forget boys and girls. Go to
fans spros dot com slash offers and just make a
ten dollars deposit on Underdog on Yahoo, on DK any
of our partners there, and you can upgrade to that
Hall of Fame subscription for just ten bucks. Basically for

(15:11):
six months, you get the Hall of Fame and that
allows you to get the draft assistant that he's talking about. Well, okay, seamless,
we never even talked about this. It's just synchroticity, that's
what it's. It's almost as if our tools and our
offers are awesome and sort of they just naturally slip
in the conversation because they're awesome. All right, let's get
away from the sham will commercial. Let's talk to Yates

(15:32):
about his other running back that's a must have for you.
There are the guys that once I plant my flag
on him, I apparently just go against the rest of consensus.
And I am just going to continue to stand firm
on my guys. Did that last year with several and
I'm going to do it this year with Darrell Henderson.
Darryl Henderson, the Sony Michelle trade was a move that
was made for them to have a veteran presence, specifically

(15:54):
now that they know that Xavier Jones was going to
be waived. Right, He's no longer on the team, So
now you have Darryl Henderson, Michelle, and Jake Funk as
your running backs on this roster. Raymond calais also gone,
so they needed to make a move and they brought
in a veteran running back who is going to be
able to step in and carry the workload if something
does happen to Daryl Henderson and Sony Michelle will have

(16:14):
standalone value, like he's going to be someone that you
can plug in. He's going to see enough work where
you can plug him in as a flex option on
bye weeks and stuff like that. But just like Darryl
Henderson was going to with Cam Akers, So Sony Michelle
is not moving me off of Darryl Henderson. And where
I had him ranks, I've got him Darryl Henderson now
after our projection, so we've at RB sixteen on the year.

(16:35):
I still love Darryl Henderson, adp is RB twenty one,
ECRs RB twenty one. I am way above consensus here
with Darrel Henderson. And the best part about it is, again,
you do not have to draft him. There there are
people that are very skeptical about Darryl Henderson, and I'm
in the room with two of them right now. So
you guys are not going to be drafting Daryl Henderson
in any leagues that we do. I will be taking

(16:55):
him at a little bit of a discount because I
do still believe that this is the starting running back
a top five scoring offense this year, and he's going
to see enough work with his talent to absolutely return
value on where he is being drafted. Plus I think
that he has upside over that. So Darryl Henderson one
of my guys this year. Absolutely Daryl Henderson is very explosive,

(17:15):
He's fast. My struggle with Henderson always was watching him run,
which is he seemed unaware of times where he was
supposed to be going in terms of you know, the
awareness and that factor you hope over time is something
he can fix. If he fixes that this season, and
one would imagine more repetition can possibly do that, then yeah,
he absolutely can hit the upside that you're talking about,

(17:36):
and I totally understand it and kind of the dance
earlier point. You know, we're in some of these drafts, right,
you know, sometimes these guys go a little later because
people still are unaware. And if you can get him
as an RB three, it's a great investment, just like Edwards.
So go ahead, I want to put back on that
show because what you're talking about his running back vision, right,
and so yeah, cam Akers had the same concerns Like

(17:57):
cam Akers, vision wise, had a lot of development still
left to do. He was valuable for fantasy football because
of the offense he was in and the workload he
was going to get. So if we had those same
concerns with cam Acres, which is evident on tape, and
he developed, he started to progress, I was going to
say when he started, Patriots really started to look much
better in that, whereas Henderson I still struggled with that,

(18:18):
Like I still didn't see it. There were times where
it's still cropped up, and you're not wrong. Acres definitely
still had that. You still put that on him a
little bit sure, So I mean, but cam Acres for
him to be in that scoring offense and to still
have those concerns where he still had to develop. We
were ranking it as a top he was top twelve
and consensus ADP. But then now we've got Daryl Henderson
eleven spots lower, ten spots lower. So why that's my

(18:39):
question here is because I do believe that Daryl Henderson
is not going to get the type of workload the
cam Acres is. So yes, that not as down a
little bit, right, but he's still going to have every
opportunity to score in this offense, like he is going
to be the guy who can breakaway long runs to
with his speed and breakaway playability. So I just that's
the That's the other part of this is there was
such a different friends here with cam Akers and Daryl

(19:01):
Henderson in ADP. Now where I'm just saying this is
still a value. Don't get scared off of Darrell Henderson,
Dan yourself. Yeah yeah, so yeah. So first of all,
where do you where did you say you have him
ranked RB sixteen? Okay, so I to be clear, I'm
not fading Darryl Henderson. I didn't even know where expert
consensus was there. It's at twenty two at running back.
That's where I have him. So I'm just in line

(19:23):
with the consensus. A couple of points. One is you
mentioned the fact that Xavier Jones got injured and they
needed depth and stuff like that. I think they traded
for Michelle before that Jones and I can't right, I
think it was I'm almost positive they remember which one came.
I'm pretty sure theyell before they did. Right, he got injured, right,
so that Junk made the roster as were correct, and
that's something that that did factor. And between outlook adding

(19:43):
depth is we expected them to add depth. We did
not really think that it was wise for them to
go into the season, which as Davia Jones and Jake
Funk really as a backup. So adding son of Michelle
is fine, but it is worth noting that they had
both those guys healthy. It's before the injury when they
added for Michelle. Part of my worry there's a couple
of things. Number One, he does still have this very
vague thumb injury, which I guess we're all just assuming
it's totally fine, he's going to be one hundred percent,

(20:05):
but you know, I think it could indicate that they're
a little worried about him and they're a little worried
about his long term durability, in which case I probably
should be worried about that too as a fantasy manager.
And second, Sony Michelle is, in my opinion, much better
than people think. I think he doesn't get the credit
quite that he should as either a pass catcher generally
because I know it isn't factor in, but also as

(20:26):
someone who can factor in around the goal line. So
for me, YEA, it's like I'm not completely on the
other end of the spectrum here. I'm not fading him
because of the fact that Sony Michelle is there, but
it is something where his presence and the fact that
they went out and traded for him given their situation,
given Henderson's just sort of you know, vague injury and
everything like that, does scare me off enough that I'm

(20:46):
really more of like a low end RB two as
opposed to you is seems more like a strong RB two. Yeah,
I think I kind of echo Dan sentiments there, so
I'm not going to belabor that point. Let's get to
another running back here. Let's get to my other must
have guy, and it's Trey Sermon. That's right, because I'm
looking into the future. I'm not just talking about the
first few weeks of the season. I'm talking about trying

(21:08):
to project and maybe in the first six weeks you're
gonna get Raheem Mostert splitting carries with Trey Sermon. It
seems like that's going to be from the start, and
we're already starting there with the history of Raheem Mostert's injuries,
with the history of him bouncing around from team to
team and all that stuff. I'm betting on talent, just
the same way you bet on Jonathan Taylor's talent last year.
I think this is another kind of situation where you're

(21:29):
betting on the last eight weeks of the season being
better than the first eight weeks of the season. I
think if you do that here with Trey Sermon, you
will be rewarded now it might help to certainly get
some veteran running backs, and maybe you a little underappreciated
to get some guys in there just for the sheer
volume for the first few months. But I do believe
that Trey Sermon, as the season goes on, could potentially
be a league winner. His schedule is so good. We've

(21:51):
pointed out towards the end here when you're looking into
the fantasy playoffs. I know it's dangerous to look ahead,
but you know what, I'm looking ahead, and I think
that Tray Sermon is a guy that is going to
get better and be one of those difference maker guys.
And if you look in terms of ranking two right now,
he's going easily as an RB three and he's got
the upside to finish. Potentially he's a high end RB
two when all said and done. So give me Trey Sermon.

(22:13):
That's the guy that I want. I took him yesterday
is my RB two, and I feel pretty good about
that now. I want can I ask you about about
Sermon and versus most because we had the draft Joe
with that aser and you took Sermon right before Mostart
and then you've talked about how much you hate most
and then my next pick was Mostart. So it was
pretty it was good comedy. But I do want to
know Yeate's break down the raheemost and Tray Sermon feelings.

(22:35):
I will go with Trace Sermon over Raheemoster. It is
I mean, I think Raheemoster is probably gonna have more
fantasy value to begin this season, especially against Detroit week one,
like Raheemoster one hundred and fifty yards and two touch. Yeah,
you're gonna get some hate. It's gonna get we were talking,
you'll get some hate comments after week one. It's happening.
Like Raheemostert is absolutely gonna go off on the fine.
But then the issue that becomes his durability and what

(22:55):
how does he end the season? Right as far as
ranking versus Tray Sermon, Trace and I think he's got
his own injury history and injury concerns, which durability could
play a role in that too. There's a conversation. But
when you look at the depth chart now they moved
on from Wayne Goldman. Wayne Golman is not on this
lobster and it's Elijah Mitchell, who I don't know if
you guys ended up watching like the snaps in that
third preseason game. Elijah Mitchell needs a lot of work

(23:17):
as a running back like he threw off Trey Lance
a couple of times and needs a lot of work
there as far as the refined aspects of the position.
So we're not going to see him on the field
for quite a while. He's not going to play a
huge role. And then you've got Jamichael Hasty, who we
kind of know who Jamichael Hasty is at this point,
like he's just a kind of a depth piece and
camp produce if he's given the opportunity. But if Raheemster

(23:38):
not maybe not even if when Raheem Moster goes down
with jury, then we've got Trey Sermon as an absolute
league winner this year. Because you mentioned the schedule, Joe,
and for those who haven't, you know, they might be
tuned in. This might be one of the episodes that
they've listening to here. I mean Week eleven on Jacksonville, Minnesota, Seattle, Cincinnati, Atlanta, Tennessee,

(23:58):
and Houston to end the year. Those are fantastic matchups
for Trey Sermon if he is playing and is the
starting running back at that point, of the season to
absolutely smash so as RB thirty one in ADP right
now RB thirty in ECR. Yeah, he's a home run pick.
All right, So there you go. There's the tray sermon,
love from Yates and now now I feel even better

(24:18):
about planting my flag. All right, let's talk about the
wide receivers. But before we do, let's tell you about
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(25:47):
Fantracks the home of fantasy sports. Dan Harris. Let's talk
about a wide receiver you want to give a home
on all your fantasy teams too. It's Deante Johnson, and
I'll say that this is one of these times, and
I feel like Gates, we run into this all the time,
and I feel like people get annoyed when I say it.
But the margin, when you're looking at wide receivers in
this range, the difference in projections, it's like razor thin, right,

(26:10):
So it's not like a huge I'm not like, oh God,
you gotta go get him. But he's twenty one in ECR,
he's twenty one point three in ADP in terms of
just at wide receiver, not overall. I am sixteenth, okay,
So I'm when you get to that range and I'm
looking at the expert consensus rankings and you're looking at
the DJ Moore, Julio Jones, Cooper Cup, Tyler Lockett, I'm
holding the trigger on Deandy Johnson before all of them

(26:31):
because I just want him on my team. And I
found myself doing that. So he's basically a top ten receiver.
Last year, when he was healthy, averaged roughly seven catches
seventy five yards half a touchdown per game. When he
was healthy, sees a ton of games with double digit
targets one hundred and thirty nine targets on the season.
That was fifth most among wide receivers, and that includes
that he missed a game and he basically was removed

(26:53):
super early in three other games. It's clear they did
not go into this off season expecting or planning around
the fact that jujusis shoes there was going to be
a big part of the offense eight to You have
mentioned that several times. I think you're correct now, and
if Juju does backer, and that's gonna hurt Chase Claypool
more than Deanta Johnson. Deanta Johnson doesn't leave the field.
We've seen in the preseason, and I get that they're
gonna pass last Okay, that's just what's gonna happen. I

(27:15):
agree with that. Naji Harris is there, but Ben looks good.
He looks good. I think another year, right, Joe, we
talked about it with baseball, right, you have the big
elbow reconstruction. That first year is like discussing, and the
second year you're kind of back to normal. So he
looks good. I think the offense as a whole is
going to improve. And again, the big thing with him
is the drops. I think he had fourteen last year.
I just don't see that as something that's very repeatable.

(27:35):
So for me, I just feel like this is going
to be a big Deantay Johnson year. And when I'm
at that range and I'm taking the wide receiver in
that range, I just moved him to the head of
the line. So he's one of my guys. Drafted him yesterday.
I feel real good actually at him is my wide
receiver three on that team. If you could believe that,
that's all we loving that in the full PPR NO list.
All right, Yate's give me a wide receiver that you
are looking forward to having all the shares of that

(27:56):
you must have in twenty one. It was part of
my bold predictions, and it's Robert Woods finishing the year
as a top five wide receiver. So I'll back it
up here and say Robert Woods is one of these
guys that I have everywhere, like in Dynasty, and I've
got him everywhere in Rediftlee because this year too, Robert
Woods just the definition of consistency, even with Jared Goff
as his quarterback. I mean, the past three years, finishing
with eighty six receptions, ninety receptions, ninety receptions and then

(28:20):
twelve hundred nineteen yards eleven hundred and thirty four yards
nine hundred and thirty six yards. Like he is just
one of the most consistent and underrated wide receivers in
the entire NFL. Now you add Matthew Stafford to the
fold here in this offense, and we could just see
this offense take off. I mean, Robert Woods can finish
with those reception totals, maybe even a tick above that.
The yardage numbers may go up, and then the touchdown

(28:40):
totals could even go up to like ten this year.
So Robert Woods one of these guys that I loved
earlier on in the offseason because he was wide receiver nineteen,
Wide receiver twenty, and ADP. Not anymore. He's at wide
receiver fifteen, Wide receiver fourteen, and ECR. I've still got
him one tick above that. I've got him at wide
receiver thirteen. So Robert Woods is a high end wide

(29:01):
receiver too. I'm even comfortable if I load up on
running back in the first two rounds and I can
grab Robert Woods as my wide receiver one. I am
perfectly comfortable with that this year. Yeah, I can understand. Actually,
if case you miss it, yesterday, Derek Brown had a
fascinating case for the other side of Cooper Cup instead
of Robert Woods. And it was a great debate, really
smart guys talking football there, slinging the Yang, which is great,

(29:22):
but I tend to kind of go with yateside, which
again that hurts me just to say those words out loud,
but I kind of lean towards Robert Woods as well.
In this one. I'm going to talk about one of
my guys at wide receiver here, and of course it's
Jerry Judy. I think he's got top twenty upside when
all is said and done, He's one of my guys.
I'm not going to live in the past with Courtland Sutton.
Courtland Sutton had a very good year a few years

(29:42):
ago at a very good value, and I think people
are hung up on that a little bit. Courtland Sutton
had some wartz in that good year. Even though you
look at him healthy this year and you're saying, okay,
we're going to add him back into this offense. I
think what I'm looking for is talent winning out. Jerry
Judy was a rookie last year. Jerry Judy led the league.
We talked about this million times, uncatchable balls throwing his way,
and then he dropped a bunch too, give him some time.

(30:05):
Talent wins out. Second year wide receivers tend to really
make a jump. There's a lot of good ones this
year in this class because last year's wide receiver class
was outstanding. Not everybody's justin Jefferson out of the gate,
but Jerry Judy, I think, is going to remind everybody
why he was arguably the best talent in that draft class. Then, yes,
it's Teddy Bridgewater, it's not Patrick Mahomes throwing him the football. However,

(30:25):
I think Jerry Judy, with that talent, can do enough
this year to really outperform his ADP. And if you
take a look at that ADP right now at Jerry Judy,
it's still in a place that it's very friendly for you.
So I would be taking that leap. He is wide
receiver twenty nine in ADP and half point PPR right now.
So I'm good for Jerry Judy. I want him on
all my teams and I've drafted him on all my
teams because I walked the walk, Dan Harris, who are

(30:47):
you walking onto your roster at wide receiver? Next? We've
been talking about a lot of high end players here
let's go a little lower lower, but still a guy
who if you listen to me last year, you know
a guy I have an irrational love for and I
don't apologize for it, and that is Emmanuel Sanders. So
let's just let's just very briefly talk about where Emmanuel

(31:08):
Senders is and all the ways you can potentially exploit
the Oh, allan, I have to redo my evaluation. Okay,
So Emmanuel Senders I am fifty ninth at wide receiver.
He is seventy first in our expert consensus rankings, and
he is sixty fifth in consensus ADP. In terms, again,
this is just wide receiver sixty fifth, but that is

(31:28):
pulled up a lot by Yahoo, where he is somehow
going as the fifty first wide receiver. Even Dan Harris
cannot justify that. But in fantracks he's the seventy third
receiver in ADP sleeper seventy six. He's outside the top
seventy five in FC and that is, by the way,
a good lesson to you. If you do like Emmanuel
Sanders like I do, and you're drafting on Yahoo, you
probably need to be prepared for the fact that he

(31:50):
is going to go earlier than you expect. That's why
I love our consensus ADP where you can see the
cross sites. But anyway, let's talk about Emmanuel Sanders. Yeah,
you mentioned with Tom Brady that you are willing to
what was it, ride the wave straight to hell? Yes,
all right, so yeah you might be riding the Tom
Brady like tsunami waves straight to hell. I'm riding like
the emmanual centers baby wave that like knocks out. There's

(32:13):
the back end of the wave pool, you know, like
the front of the wave carressed the big waves, and
then you get to where like the toddlers are hanging out,
like right, yeah, that's the toddler. I'll ride to Todder
wave straight to Hell. Um. Look, upside is great when
you're drafting a wide receiver late. Obviously you're not drafting
manual centers to start for your fantasy team. But when
we go late, everybody wants the home run plays, and

(32:33):
I think for a lot of times that's fine. But again,
we're in a year where COVID is probably going to
play a factor in people randomly missing games, and sometimes
what you need is just a receiver that you know
you can put in there and you're going to get
decent production out of weekend and weekend, and I think
that is going to be senders. Even last year when
it was not a good year for senders, he still

(32:54):
finished forty third in half PPR at wide receiver. That's five.
And again I talk about that yards per route run.
That's something that I like, you know how I'm saying, Oh,
I'm pronouncing it right now. It's one point. I'm working
on it very hard. One point nine nine yards per
route run. That is very very good, especially for a
receiver as you know, aged as he is. It was

(33:15):
twenty first among receivers who ran who had at least
sixty targets. And again, that's a notoriously sticky set. He
is old, but he's still relatively explosive. And again John
Brown is gone. He had more than seven targets per
game last year. Sanders can work on the outside. He
can also work in the slot. And I think, you know,
I think we have to assume that there is a
chance that Cole Beasley is going to miss some time

(33:35):
this year, necessarily just because of the protocols or whatever.
So Sanders basically can go everywhere. He is free in drafts,
He's a guy who I'm basically drafting with one of
my last picks everywhere, because again, I am more willing
this year to take the late receiver that maybe isn't
going to be a league winner, but is going to
give me a feeling given the fact that we are
in a year where I think people are going to
be randomly scratched more often than not. Dan, if you're

(33:57):
high on Sanders and again I'm choosing my words carefully,
are you also then low on Gabriel Davis or Cole Beasley?
Like I'm just trying to gauge because we almost step
on Diggs as an entity unto himself. But how do
you rate the other two? Because you know I'm a
big Gabriel Davis fan, But if you kind of knock
them down because you like Sanders so much, potentially, yes,
I am low on both. I'm not drafting Cole Beasley

(34:19):
anywhere at all, and it's not about his talent. It's
just about the fact that we can read the writing
on the wall. This is probably going to be a
year where there's going to be protocol issues and there's
gonna be stuff like that, and it's just not where
I'm going. Davis is a guy who I've slowly kind
of moved down to be fair, when I started the
rankings process, in my projections process, I had Sanders as
a complete afterthought. But as I've gotten into it and again,

(34:42):
he finally kind of He was obviously dealing with a
foot injury. He's always dealing with something, but you know,
he looked fine in this last preseason game. And the
other thing, by the way that I harp on is, yeah,
this is not like when we hired Yates and like
he had to beat down our door and ask to
be hired like every day for like a year before
we finally relented. Like the Bills went out. I'm terrible

(35:03):
the Bills went out and targeted Emmanuel Sanders, not just
this year, but four years. They want him on this team.
They see him as somebody who can contribute on this team.
So when I mixed it all up, yeah, in the end,
I am fading Davis. Actually I don't know what his
ECR is. If somebody wants to look that up, I
have him, okay, sure, all right, so I am seventieth

(35:24):
uh three sixties, Okay, so he's I am fading Gabriel
Davis then in that sense, I do expect there to
be two wide receivers who you can I mean obviously
Stefan Diggs. This only other one that I think is
really worth rostering for me is Emmanuel Sanders Gabriel Davis.
Fifty one difference there? Yeah, what about you? Sounds him

(35:44):
a lot higher than that. I just went through and
did projections a projections sweeping Gabriel Davis. Um, I'm in
on Gabriel Davis as well. Join me? What what's much
higher than what he has? Looking? Yeah, I can't count
like that. Soavis, where to go? Nine? Where did you

(36:07):
have him fifty one? So I have him at forty six?
All right? Evaluate my love. Now, I would like you
both to know that you're incorrect. So just I'll put
that out there, all right, Yates, give me a wide
receiver that you're correct about that you're playing the flag
on in twenty one. This is one that Dan is
way off on. Michael Pittman Junior ending up with MPG

(36:29):
on every single one of my rosters this year. I mean,
there was the there was hype for Michael Pittman Junior
coming into the year, but it was relative right. He
was still going in like the wide receiver forty range
and but there was some optimism. But then with the
Carson wentz foot injury, like he his ADP came crashing down.
It was in the fifties. And since then, we've got
Carson wentz Now back at practice after the COVID nineteen

(36:52):
close contact. So now he's back at practice, he's gonna
be playing week one. And Michael Pittman Junior has yet
to rise dramatically upboards. And now we have the t
Y Hilton news that he landed on IR short term
i RS probably is out a minimum of three weeks.
Who else is going to be in this offense receiving
the ball? Like it's you got Paris Campbell, who we
don't know what his role is on this offense. Zach Pascal,

(37:14):
like he's just a guy at this point, You've got
Mike Strake strike in strike, I don't even know how
to say his name. You could say the guy on
Denver that one, you can say, right, Albert Kuwabanon. Yeah, No,
the ball has to go somewhere in this offense, and
it's Michael Pittman Junior. He is the unquestioned wide receiver
one for where he is going in drafts right now

(37:35):
is the wide receiver forty six and ADP. He's wide
receiver forty seven in ECR. Once you get outside the
top thirty six receivers in ADP, you are going to
be hard pressed to find a receiver who's going to
see more than one hundred targets on the year. Michael
Pittman Junior, I've got him with one hundred and twenty
five targets on the year, guys. So this is a
screaming value in drafts right now. I am getting Michael

(37:55):
Pittman Junior gars my wide receiver for everywhere. I love it.
Why not? I mean, Dane hasn't met wide receiver sixties,
so I don't know what he's doing. This is a lie.
This is a bold lie. I hold on, I'm a
fifty six. I don't I don't go crazy because now

(38:16):
you know, I guess that's my thing. Because it's not
an indictment on Michael Pittman so much as I'm just
really concerned about this cold steam getting off on the
right foot and and again once again no pun intended
there with the foot. But we have the Carson Wentz thing.
He's missing time he should be in the offense. I
think Pitpan eventually will win out. I'm just worried about
by the time we get to a situation where things
are really kind of rolling for this offense. I don't

(38:37):
want to start off my season two and four, and
I think a Pittman selection if you get and you
don't have to, and that's why it's still a good investment.
There's just other guys that I personally like more. That's all. Yeah,
it's where do you actually have him ranked? Now? Pittman?
I have Pittman at thirty six. Okay, so you're really like, oh,
you'll roll with them maybe as a wide receiver three

(38:58):
you have to Yeah, Okay, So look, here is my
general take on Pittman Number one. I like Michael Pittman
Junior very much as a player, Okay, and I hope
you're right. And I think that that is within the
range of outcomes. Okay. I do think that it's within
the range of outcomes that Pittman explodes is here. But
I do have hesitation number one. First of all, I
do think it is short term ir as you mentioned
for t Y Hilton and everything I've I've read said

(39:21):
we expect him back basically as soon as he's eligible.
So by week four, number two, I didn't want a
piece of this passing game when ty Hilton was healthy.
So it's not like, oh, wait, now that t Y
Hilton's gone for three games, gimme, gimme one of these
wide receivers, because I just I don't I don't expect
all that much from it. Carson Wentz Joe, as you mentioned,

(39:41):
he's missed a lot of opasy right now. And look,
we had we had doctor Chowan, you know, a couple
of weeks ago whatever, and I asked him about Wentz
and he says, look, Ersay said that he's not going
to play unless he's one hundred percent by week one.
So he's either not playing week one or Ersay is
just going to basically throw that out the window because
there's no chance that he's going to be back to

(40:02):
one hundred percent by week one. So what you have
at the beginning of the season when Pittman has a
chance to shine is a limited Carson Wentz who has
had minimal sort of interaction with this offense. At this point,
there's just enough hesitation for me. Again, I have forty
seven eights and we were talking right before we came
on about what are your projections, Like I'm doing a
sweep of their projections today. It's possible I'll move him

(40:22):
up good with him as a wide receiver for where
you are as a borderline wide receiver, I mean at
thirty six, it's like for me, thirty six for me
is like Devanta Smith, Tyler Boyd, Lobskushal Like that's that's
a different tier from I've got Pittman one spot above
loves Kishenol. So that that's just that we we see
it different. And again you love Pittman. Last year. You
have your guys, yep, you and you should. I'd rather

(40:43):
be an On than Emmanuel Saider, So you'll probably have
our guys. We have reasons for our guys, and we
back up those reasons and then it all comes down
to the performance on the field. That's the whole point.
Before I get to my wide receiver, I want to
remind everybody about Christine Auction. That's where you get all
the cool stuff this fantasy football season for your draft
room and all that cool things. You want to impress
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(41:05):
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Who knows, maybe we'll have Saturday games again and more.
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(41:26):
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n E Auction dot com. Get your cool swag, indulge
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(41:48):
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I'm gonna talk about another one of my wide receivers here,
and it's Jalen Waddle, who sometimes I have as a
wide receiver four of my teams, sometimes even a wide
receiver five. In fact, yesterday and that analyst draft, I
got him as my wide receiver five. Oh we I

(42:09):
can't believe he lasted that long. Everything other than wide
receivers in that league. But pretty much, well, I mean,
I'll run it down. Nobody cares about my fantasy team.
Oh well, yeah, So Josh Allen's the quarterback, Derrick Henry's
the running back. This is from the five spot. Trey
Sermon is my RB two. So yes, a little bit
of concern there. But here's the wide receivers. You're ready,
boys and girls. DeAndre Hopkins, Ceedee Lamb, Deonte Johnson, Robbie

(42:33):
Anderson is the flex and Jalen Waddle on the bench.
How you doing? You like that? Also, Gabriel Davis and
Russell Gage as wide receivers on that full PPR team.
You like that, Harris? I do? Actually? Well, that not bad? Right, Well,
that's kind of just like I took some shots on
the Connors and Tyson Williams and Laever. Those guys are fine.
But I want to talk about Jaylen Waddle. I want
to talk about Jayalen Waddle. Because this is the guy

(42:54):
who's going to be earmarked for a ton of volume
to what looks like he is progressing as we all
hoped he would in year two, healthier full OTA's full
practice time, preseason, all that stuff that a young quarterback
needs to be successful. And the other thing he needs
is a talented wide receiver, and he's got one. In fact,
they've got more than one now because they added Will Fuller.
But here's the point. The point is Jalen Waddle's yards

(43:16):
after catcher I think are gonna be huge this year.
His playmaking ability is huge. Had Jalen Waddle played more
last year healthy for Alabama, I think we'd be talking
a lot more about Jalen Waddle. But instead we were
all talking about Davonte Smith, who's a great talent, Heisman
Trophy winner, we get it. But now we're in the NFL.
Jalen Waddle I think could be a difference maker. He
is a wide receiver five sometimes in drafts. I just

(43:36):
showed you one with some of the best fantasy football
mines in the planet, right and I still got him
as a wide receiver five. It's doable. But even as
a four. I love Jalen Waddle love the upside, give
me all the Waddle. I've got him onout all my
teams already, So please stay healthy, Jaalen. That's all I'm
saying to you. All right, let's go to another position here,
Dan Harris, give me that must half tight end for

(43:57):
you at this juncture in draft season. So we went
We went really low with Sanders, are going to go
really high here with tight end, and we'll go with
Darren Waller. And obviously, look, I don't have to sell
you on Darren Waller being a stud tight end. We've
got the big three with Kelsey, Waller and Kittle. But
I overall I have Darren Waller nineteenth in my overall rankings.

(44:17):
He's twenty fourth overall in ADP, He's twenty third in ECR.
So Joe, we did the draft with Aser where he
had the first pick, and he did what I always
say I like to do, which is on that turn
after you start with McCaffrey, you hit Waller, you hit
a receiver. That's usually how it goes. But I'm now
at the point where I'm willing to take him earlier
than that because I've just been thinking so much about

(44:37):
what our optimal strategy should be when it comes to
the tight end position. So very briefly, a couple of
stats about Darren Waller why he's great. Obviously ty Travis
Kelsey for the most targets by tight end with one
hundred forty five last year led the position, and receptions
with one hundred and seven, led the position with twenty
seven red zone targets twenty one red zone receptions. Mentioned
route run two point two eight yards per route run.
That is absolutely elite. And again we Brian Edwards like

(45:00):
as a sleeper for sure, like maybe Henry Ruggs is
going to do something is not there anymore? John Well
the like this offense has to run through Waller like
it just does. It did last year. I was trying
to basically like how do I even say this? It
just has to because whatever we think about the Raiders
coaching staff, like, it has to when he's incredible. He
battled the injury obviously this preseason. The first time I

(45:24):
saw him a practice, I was like, oh my god,
Like he's just a complete monster. So for me, I
really think that with Waller kittled to a little bit
lesser extent, I have a tiny bit of a gap
now between them, but for the most part, this is
something where I'm no longer like, all right, cool if
it's just at the turn like this is something where
if I'm looking at that group of the DK Metcalf,

(45:45):
the Justin Jefferson, the A. J. Brown, I think I'm
going with Waller before those guys. Even so, this is
something where I'm gonna wind up with him on a
lot of my teams because I have him ranked before
most people do, and it's just going to be a monster.
And again we've talked about it, and Jamie Osberg said
a great or eight for sure, but I am going
great more often than not. All right, tight end, Kyle Yates,

(46:06):
you must have You've got more than one candidate here,
because I know I've done enough shows with you. There
might be a name war two. But who's the guy
you landed on that your must have tight end? For
those who listen who take a shot every time that
I say Johnny Smith, drink up. No, I will go,
obviously Johnny Smith. But then can you imagine somebody, by
the way, who's watching this for the first time and

(46:27):
has no idea that like you are the John U.
Smith and that's impossible at this point. Tyler Higby is
the other guy that I will talk about. I've got
John Nuw Smith at tight end six in the year,
I've got Tyler Higby right behind him at tight end seven.
So Higby in this offense, I've talked about it a
lot with Robert Woods that this offense is just going
to be insane this year. And you look at the
receiving options that the Rams have here, and you've got

(46:50):
Cooper cup who is a big slot receiver, but then
the rest of this offense is kind of a little
bit undersized right as far as a guy who can
be a red zone presence, which either if you are
chasing volume at the tight end position, that's what we want,
right volume, which is why we've got George Kittle, Darren Waller,
Travis Kelsey up in that top tier. If you're not
able to find that, which it kind of drops off
a cliff after that, after those top three, then you're

(47:11):
chasing touchdown upside. And so Tyler Higby absolutely has it
where I think he's going to be an integral part
of this offense. He's not going to push the target
totals that the top three guys will, but he can
easily finish with as many receiving touchdowns as those top
tier guys. So Tyler Higbee tight end seven on the
year outside of John Nuw Smith, he is the guy
that I'm ending up with him on every single one
of my rosters that I can. Yeah, you know it's funny, Dan,

(47:33):
I had this terrible image that you made a peer
in my head of you know, Kyle Yates in a
thunderstorm in his basement writing a letter to Johnny Smith,
like that M and M video where he's like, Hey,
what's up, John nu it's me Kyle. I'll be following
your career for a very long while. I wondered him.
I really hope John Nuw Smith at some point learns
about this. I'm sure he doesn't care, he learns about

(47:56):
the fact that basically, and by the way, I mean,
I am like the non John new Smith guy of
the and still and I still love John new Smith.
I just don't have him. You know, Yates has him
tight end six. Higbee by the way, fantastic call. He's
eleventh in ECR n ADP at the tight end position.
You can get him every single time. Logan Thomas is

(48:17):
my guy, as you guys. But Logan Thomas is going there.
He's going seventh and he's ranked seventh. But Higbee, there
is that delta between in my opinion that sounds like
all our opinion where he should be going and where
he actually is going. And this plays out in real drafts.
We've done drafts, We've dun MoOx. This is where he goes.
He is like that last tight end, so happy to
grab him in pretty much every league. Co sign everything

(48:39):
Yates said, Dan, do we have Yates do a video
for the YouTube channel of him writing that letter, And
I mean, I'll help write some bars for I will
get all set up to Johnny Smith. I'll consider it.
I'll consider it. I think that would get some huge,
huge numbers. He's very good on the TikTok. Yates is
very good on the TikTok. He really is. I think
this is like that, Yates. If you want to make
this a TikTok, by all means, do it the letter

(49:01):
to Johnny Smith. I think you should do it. You should,
all right? So yeah, the greater or late tight end.
We've been talking a lot about that this whole season
and as draft season has gone on and a couple
of tight end situations have got muddier. You know. We
have the Eagle situation now where Zach Ertz. Everybody was,
you know, reminded that he's still alive and playing football,
and he looks like he's going to be playing for

(49:22):
the Eagles at least right now as of today us
recording this on nine two. And you have the earth
Smith injury, another tight end that's kind of gone and
everybody knows it. Love me some, John lu Smith, but
I'm starting to do something new, and I'm starting to
buy into the Kyle Pitts, somebody that I hadn't really
bought into a lot, but recently I'm starting to make
that reach. In fact, on Saturday, I think in that
salary cap league, I'm going to make a pretty strong

(49:44):
bid for him. And here's why, I keep coming back
to Darren Waller's rookie season right where he first took
over as a tight end after being a converted wide receiver.
So I think that's a very similar path that you
can look and say, well, what is the real upside
for Kyle Pitts. And if you go back ninety receptions
one hundred and seventeen targets for eleven forty five and
just three touchdowns. Now, despite having just three touchdowns, he

(50:07):
finishes tight end four that year. Last year, Darren Waller
was tight end too. So I'm going to go back
to that tight end for twenty nineteen season. And I'm
looking at Kyle Pitts and how he's going to be
used in this offense. And I'm looking at the touchdown
equity that I think he brings because he's such a
matchup disaster in the red zone right because of that
catch radius that he has and the way he's going
to be used, especially with Julio now vacating targets. And

(50:29):
I know right now our projections on Fantasy pros have
him somewhere around eight hundred yards receiving. I think that
might be low. I think Kyle Pitts might be that
guy to buck that trend because I think he is
a hybrid. I think he's something new. He doesn't fit
that mold of what a tight end is, and it
is not because of the one play. I don't go
crazy about the preseason splash play kind of stuff. Okay,
this is going back to the college tape. This is

(50:49):
also going back to the data about the Falcons, and
let's not forget how bad the Falcons defense is going
to be yet again this year. This is a secondary
that hasn't tackled since twenty fourteen, and I'm telling you
right now this not gonna change. They're gonna still have
to throw the ball quite a bit, and I think
Kyle Pitts is gonna be a huge part of that,
not just Calvin Ridleys. So if you are unable to
get George Kittle, if you're unable to get Darren Waller,

(51:11):
and if you didn't want to spend a first round
pick on Travis Kelsey, when you get to that fourth, fifth,
maybe even sixth round in the ten team league and
Kyle Pitts is there, I think we're gonna start taking
the plunge. I think he's one of my must guys
this year. So damn. I don't think I've talked to
you quite a bit about Kyle Pitts. Do you have
any thoughts on that. I have a very difficult time
with Kyle Pitts for the simple reason that I generally

(51:34):
fade rookies, and it was to my last year. Ye
not my final, not my finest, notest, just Jefferson Jersey,
I sent you did it make it there? Bro Christine,
I absolutely own that that that was. Like, what's funny
is that last year I had like the actual reason too, right,
we got no breezy games, Like it's going to totally wrong.

(51:57):
Good reason too. I'm wrong about many things that I
see you did, which is timing and you're not having
that timing in that lockup time. That could be a
real struggle. But right, somehow A buck the trend anyway,
because that's how good this talent is that's getting to
the NFL. Yeah, and so so generally like a little
bit of a fade rookies type of guy. Not not always,
but generally and certainly with the tight end position. When

(52:18):
you look back historically, it's almost impossible for a tight
end to succeed in his rookie season. But you don't
get a Kyle Pitts. He just doesn't come along, you know,
every year or every five years or every ten years.
And so I'm really running into that right now. I
believe I have him as tight end five. Generally speaking,

(52:39):
I pulled the trigger on him in the sixth round.
That's not usually going to get him. Okay, at this point, understaid,
I'm debating Joe. I'm having trouble with it because my
projections have him like right in the mix with you know,
Hakinson and Andrews. But I am debating whether or not
I can push him up in this last round of
what I'm doing. So the bottom line is this, I
probably will have no shares of Kyle Pitts. I feel

(53:00):
like I'm probably going to regret it. But realistically, unless
I do the Yates where I'm going to the one
hundred percent pile of my potential outcomes right, I just
can't justify doing it where he's gonna wind up going
in drafts. I can understand that in the ten team
league he is going to make it to the sixth round.
I can almost guarantee you and a lot of people
do play in those ten team leagues. Or if you
don't want to wait for him in a ten team league,

(53:22):
you can take him in the fourth because the wide
receiver supply and demand is gonna be out there in
a ten team league, who you can make it up
with the Waddles and the Judy's and the Robbie Anderson,
the guys are gonna probably slip past some people, Yates,
what are your thoughts on Pits? It's the difference here.
I've got Kyle Pitts at tight end five in my rankings,
but it's the difference in where he is going. Where
he's going in conjunction with the other in comparison to

(53:42):
the others tight ends versus the overall adp where you
have to spend a fourth or fifth round pick to
get Kyle Pitts on your roster. I can't do that
because at that point time, I'm taking him over some
very very talented wide receivers who have a higher percentage
range of like hitting right they're going, they have a
better chance of hitting than Kyle Pitts, who is a
rookie tight end. For as talented as he is, he's

(54:02):
still a rookie tight end. So I think if he
falls to the sixth round, then that's the point where
I'm willing to take him. But he's that's not happening.
People are going well reach in your mom and pop
leagues for Kyle Pitts because he's so dynamic, and you know,
he's the highest hyped tight end, highest drafted tight end
in NFL history wid overall forty seven right now in

(54:24):
ADP tight end four overall forty seven. These are the
names going around him, right I can't do that all
that's fine. I'll I know you're gonna take Darrel Henderson
over him, that's fine. Miles Gaskin, Tyler Lockett, Adam Feelin,
Kareem Hunt, Mike Davis. I don't think any of those
guys necessarily gonna win you a league. I think Kyle
Pitts can. And that's the point I'm gonna make here

(54:46):
about Kyle Pitts. Now Deontay Johnson is going after him.
I would rather have Deontay Johnson, especially on full PPR.
That's that's not even a question. But I'm looking at
trying to win a league and the one thing that
we can always make up ground with. We keep talking
about how much we love the wide receivers, late, the
the Jacoby Meyers, and we can go on and on,
Gabriel David, There's so many names that we love. They
can make up ground at wide receiver. I'm starting to

(55:06):
buy in because I think that Darren Waller rookie season
is within his grasp. Even if he doesn't reach a
thousand yards. I don't see any way that he doesn't
have double the amount of touchdowns. I'm sorry, Matt Ryan
is just a much better quarterback than what Derek Carr
was a couple of years ago. So I'm going to
automatically just think that six touchdowns and nine hundred yards
are well within his grasp and I think there's upside
for more. And if they're talking about winning leagues, I

(55:29):
think it's worth the risk. I can't advocate for fading
Kyle Pits like even if you take him in the
And this is great because we haven't talked about him much. No,
it's funny because I'm almost glad we haven't talked about
him because it's very difficult for me to crystallize exactly
how to express how I feel about him, which is like,
I'm not going to be the one to take him,
but you probably shouldn't be the one to take him. Well,
I took him in our fourteen team league that we

(55:52):
had in house this past week too, And you know
what it's because when you start getting into a fourteen
team league at tight end, it is ugly out there.
I tell you, really, I think a big part of
why I rarely go after him, generally speaking, is number
one again. It forces me to go out of my
comfort zone, which is very much like I like to
go with like the most likely outcome as opposed to like, man,

(56:14):
this could really go crazy. But also what Yates mentioned,
which is you can get Tyler Higbee so late, and
I'm so excited about Tyler Higbee at this point. As
I've gone through this process, I become more and more
enamored with what is that. Do you think Tyler Higbee
wins you a league? No, I don't think Tyler Higbee
wins me a league. But I do think that if
I do not spend a fourth round pick on Kyle Pitts,

(56:36):
I can win the league. In other ways. I'm also
very much by the way I will say this, in
the way I build my teams, I forgot at one
point I have my Twitter profile, I'm like, I'm very
boring and risk averse. That's generally what I am. But
I do think even in the way I dropped like,
I am more than happy to win leagues as I
have done many times, being boring and risk averse, just

(56:57):
stacking my team with quality quality, And I get that.
You get the Tom Brady Randy Moss combo year where
it's like, well, if you have those guys who won
year league, or you get the you know, Patrick Mahomes
year or the Lamar Jackson year, or it's like all right,
this is over. But yes, bottom line is this, I'm
probably not ending up with Kyle Pitts. The high end
of my range of projections is wow, holy cow, what

(57:17):
are we looking at right here? But I'm probably going
to play it straight. I have no problem that somebody
wants to take that leap and take him in the
fourth and fifth. I'm not moving till at least the
sixth really quick. With Kyle Pitts. I've got him projected
four over nine hundred receiving yards, five touchdowns. Okay, that's
where my projections landed for Kyle Pitts. That puts him
with one hundred and sixty two Fantasy points on the year. Okay,

(57:40):
and he's essentially tied with Mark Andrews. So if you
want to put him at tight end four, then I
have no issue with it. But then you flip over
to the wide receiver projections, and in my system, I've
got Jalen Waddle at wide receiver thirty six. From a
projection standpoint, with one hundred and sixty five Fantasy points
on the year. So you are taking Kyle, it's like,
can he be a league winner because he puts you

(58:02):
at like he gets a top four finish at the
tight end position. Sure, but he's got to put like
twelve hundred yards six seven touchdowns to be classified as
a true league winner because you can get a even
though you might not like Tyler Lockett as much, like
you're not going to take him there, I've still got
Tyler Lockett with a you know, a lot more Fantasy
points projected at that range. So it's all about where

(58:23):
he's going in overall eight versus where he's got on
the tight It's also what the player pool looks like.
And you literally just made my argument because I can
get Jalen Waddle the next round or two. And Jalen
Waddle is exactly the kind of guy that I'm looking for,
who can make a jump, who is being undervalued at
wide receiver. What I'm saying is you can make Kyle
Pitts worth. That makes that makes Jalen Waddle the league winner,

(58:44):
not Kyle pitts No, because because when you're talking about
the relative position value of tight end potentially what happens
is if Mark Andrews underwelves that Tyler Higbee doesn't hit,
if Johnny Smith deals with injuries again, the production from
tight end, typically speaking on a weekly basis is bad.
It's just bad. And there's that one team that's got
Travis Kelsey and the one team that hopefully has Kittle healthy,
and then the team's got Waller and then nobody else.

(59:05):
So if you're trying out there Kyle Pitts and he
can be that guy on a weekly basis, you have
just raised your potential for points on a weekly basis
from that one roster spot. And then you have guys
that you can either play matchups with at wide receiver
or you have hit on a guy like Jay and
Waddle something like that. But it's the Kyle Pitts selection
that really moves the needle more because there's more options

(59:25):
at wide receiver as opposed to titen. So in this
what if scenario, you're saying, what if Johnny Smith struggles
with injury again, what if Tyler Higby doesn't hit? What
if Kyle Pitts doesn't hit? What if Kyle Pitts is
can't buck the trend? Of a lay. It was safe.
Kyle not wrong, You're not wrong, but it's something that
I am coming to peace with. And once again I
wouldn't say it. Sure, I don't do it, and I

(59:47):
did it. Yes, you're in a fourteen team league. I
think it's calculated risk with Kyle Pitts, where you see
the value on the board and you're looking around. He's saying,
if I take this pick here in this fourteen team league,
for instance, Kyle Pitts is a difference maker in a
fourteen team league, and I think there's certain spots where
you can look for him and you could take that risk,
especially if you like how the first three or even
four rounds have gone for you and you feel great,

(01:00:09):
then you've already got a really strong base of points.
Dan Harris, I know you were itching to get in
on this argument. I loved it. I didn't want to
get in. I just don't want to end the show
before I say I'm gonna I'm gonna quantify it this way, Okay,
I don't ye two and I have talked about it,
like I don't blindly rely on whatever my projections spit
out in terms of rankings, like I move guys around
based on how I feel. But I will say this,
I want to give my projections for Pits and I

(01:00:30):
want to give my projections for kyleig For Tyler Higbee,
what round is he going? Yeah? Okay, if you were,
if there was a Kyle Higby, I'd be going first round. Um, okay.
I have Pits with seventy four receptions, eight hundred forty
six receiving yards, and five touchdowns. One hundred. That's fine,
that's one hundred fifty one point six half PPR points.

(01:00:53):
I have Tyler Higbee for fifty nine receptions, six hundred
fifty five yards and six touchdowns. That's a hundred and
thirty one points. That is roughly twenty fantasy points over
the course of a full season, or one fantasy point
per game. Now, can Kyle Pitts do way more than
I've projected? Form of course? Can Tyler Higbee do less

(01:01:13):
than I've projected? Form of course? But that is generally
how I feel about those guys. That's what I think
is the most likely outcome. And because of that, because
the difference is one fantasy point per game, not insignificant.
By the way, when we're talking about the tight end position,
but still one fantasy point per game. That is why
I can't pull the trigger earlier than I think it's
necessary for Pitts. Despite the upside, given the fact that

(01:01:34):
I can get Tyler Higbee several rounds later as kind
of an afterthought and draft, we can't end in a
better place than this. This was a fantastically fun conversation
with lots of good points of view, steel, sharp and steel.
That's what this show is all about here. I love it.
A lot of good, respectful arguing and that's what you
want to have. And now we have armed you to
go make these decisions, so hopefully you can get as
many of these guys on your teams. Oh and spoiler alert,

(01:01:57):
if there was a quarterback we talked about, Yates was
gonna say, lads, that's his guy. Don't ruin it for
anybody who hasn't listened to other shows yet, But seriously,
great stuff as always, Guys who want to remind everybody
to do not forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel
YouTube dot com slash Fantasy Pros and when you do,
you get that three times entry for our contest at
Fantasypros dot com slash Contest this month in September, it's

(01:02:20):
the autographed Kyler Murray ball that we're given away thanks
to our friends at Pristine Auction. Pristine Auction dot com.
That's pri sti Nyauction dot com. When you sign up there,
you got a five dollar credit on us with the
code Fantasy Pros. And if you're starting new leagues or
moving leagues over to fantracks that's the home of all
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(01:02:40):
all your leagues. And if you sign up with fantracks
dot com slash Fantasy Pros, you will get an opportunity
to maybe go with all your league mates to an
NFL game this year with six k in your pocket.
That's fantracks dot com Slash Fantasy Pros. Those are our
must haves, and of course we can't have a show
without you, so your must have. At the end of
the day, thank you all for listening and watching so

(01:03:02):
much this month. You really just crush it. You've made
us feel so good about the content we keep putting
out there. You're what drives us. I want to thank
all of our listeners and watchers. It's been an up
and down rough month. For us, but the fact that
you have been with us so consistently means the world
to us. We've got a great mock draft episode coming
at you tomorrow, so that'll do it for us, But
the story of the game goes on for Yates and

(01:03:24):
Dan Harris. I'm JOEYP. We will see you next time. Kids.
Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros Football Podcast. Follow
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to our YouTube channel at YouTube dot com slash Fantasy Prosa.

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