0:00It's getting close to fantasy draft time for a lot of you with your leagues and we're here to help you dominate those drafts.
0:06I'm Jamie Eisenberg, that's Dan Schneier, that's Adam Aizer, not the usual trio that you're used to seeing, but we got a
0:12lot of fun for you today on Fantasy Football Today.
0:14Real quick, we're going to talk about this a lot on our mailbag.
0:18How are you feeling after the big tennis match last night?
0:20Feeling pretty good, you know, came down with another win.
0:23A little unhappy with myself. I was not the most gracious winner, so I gotta work on that.
0:27We agree you have to win two sets to win the match, so technically nobody won.
0:32Okay, and by the way, our colleague Heath Cummings who set the lines on this is declaring this a no contest because it did not finish.
0:38We're gonna be joined by Heath, hopefully he's doing a draft in Memphis as part of the St.
0:43Jude Draftathon that we're doing raising money for St.
0:45Jude. So we appreciate everybody who has donated so far and continue to donate.
0:49We are hoping to raise over $200,000 for the St.
0:51Jude Children's Resource Hospital. So a lot of drafts are happening this weekend, guys.
0:55We want to make sure everybody's up to date on a lot of the latest player news because a lot of injuries.
1:00The guys that are going in their first four or five rounds, starting with Puka Nakua all the way through the tight
1:06ends, three major tight end injuries that we're dealing with, with Sam Laporta, George Kittle, and Tyler Warren.
1:10But let's start with Puka Nakua at the top.
1:13So if you're drafting this weekend, it's kind of just what do you do with some of these guys if you have your draft this weekend.
1:19So Puka Adam is one of these wide receivers that's in the top four guys going in the first, basically six overall
1:25picks, six or seven overall picks based on the CBS Sports average draft position.
1:28So if you see the first three guys come off the board, which I think is going to be pretty consensus, Jameer
1:34Gibbs, Bijan Robinson, Jamar Chase, are you taking Puka at four?
1:37Not anymore because there still could be a suspension.
1:39I think for the most part with injuries, unless we have an actual timeline with somebody like a Jeremiah Love or a
1:45Brees Hall, I'm one week away from moving guys down.
1:47But with Puka, I am going to go with JSN ahead of him and move him to fifth overall and wide receiver
1:53three as opposed to fourth overall and wide receiver two.
1:55Yeah, I mean, we've seen him fall a little bit in drafts.
1:58I just hope that if he's healthy and isn't suspended, he could be wide receiver one.
2:02We saw that last year. Christian McCaffrey still has this undisclosed tightness that he's dealing with.
2:07Kyle Shanahan, understandably so, being optimistic about McCaffrey. At what point in the first round, if you're still taking him in the
2:12first round, are you comfortable with CMC? I think I'm still taking him at five or six overall between those two positions.
2:18It's him or JSN for me there. And I may move up Amon Ross-A-Brown if it's full PPR.
2:22I mean, you don't love to hear Kyle Shanahan say the exact same quote he said two years ago.
2:27Word for word. I don't know if he was trolling us, but at the same time, there have been murmurs that it
2:33is contract related, which I can understand as well.
2:35And if that's the case, I'm less concerned. So he's still the guy who can win you leagues in full PPR league or half PPR.
2:41So the upside is worth it. Yeah, I'm very concerned personally just because the last two times over 400 total touches next
2:47season missed significant time due to injury. So hopefully everything's okay with McCaffrey.
2:50And there's the optimistic view of it taking him in the middle of the first round.
2:54Emeka Ibuka is dealing with this toe injury. Adam, we have somewhat of a timeline that he should be ready for week one.
3:00Does that make you okay with Abuka in round three?
3:03Absolutely. Yeah, I think more late round three because you just never know if these are going to linger or not.
3:08And this is a guy now who's got a lot of injuries so far earlier in his career.
3:13So after Chris Olave, Devante Smith, and Malik Neighbors, he comes into play there.
3:16I think you could argue McConkie, Zay Flowers, guys could go ahead of him.
3:20But I'm definitely going to take Abuka ahead of Garrett Wilson, ahead of Ted Rowe and McMillan and players like that.
3:25But it's a 3-4 turn kind of play if possible.
3:28Maybe as early as, let's say, 32nd overall, I'd consider Abuka.
3:30And one of the themes of our show today is talking about players you may have forgotten about.
3:35Chris Godwin seems to be somebody that fantasy managers overlook a little bit.
3:38We'll talk about Godwin when we get to the wide receivers later in the show.
3:42Dan, you've got Josh Jacobs, another player that could face a suspension dealing with this groin injury.
3:46Got back into practice a little bit late in the week, but still dealing with this potential injury and suspended situation.
3:52When are you looking at Jacobs? I still think Jacobs is one of the guys that I'm taking.
3:56If everything falls a certain way and I'm at the point in round three, I think, middle of round three, probably more comfortable taking him there.
4:03The suspension is an issue. And this groin injury, or is it a groin for Jacobs?
4:07Yes. I think it's less of an issue. I think this was always the plan to ease him into training camp.
4:12I think he could be one of the best picks in fantasy.
4:15Could be, yeah. We just don't know. I mean, it might be worth the risk, especially in a 10-team league where you
4:21have a little bit more roster depth. I mean, Josh Jacobs, if he plays 17 games or even plays 15 games, he's
4:27probably going to be a top 12 running back.
4:29He would clearly be in that. Instead of a top 12 that we have this year, he'd be a top 13 guy.
4:34You know, and you could get him around later than you had to.
4:38Let me ask you this, though, because last year we didn't really have a direct handcuff for him.
4:42It seems like that's emerging right now. Does that make it easier to take?
4:46Yes. Yeah. I mean, I was going to make that point, too.
4:49I mean, Marshawn Lloyd, the way they used him in the preseason, he played every single snap with the starters.
4:54He's basically, look, he's probably going to get hurt, but he looks like a pretty good handcuff right now.
4:59And if you draft Josh Jacobs, I do think you should pay up a little bit to get Marshawn Lloyd.
5:04And then you just lock up that backfield. Yep, and you could do the same thing with McCaffrey if you want to
5:10get Kalon Black, who's looking like the backup there.
5:12For the Jets, though, maybe Braylon Allen's going to be that guy.
5:15He's another player dealing with a groin injury. A lot of different views on Brie Saul because last year was bad.
5:20Jets still not a great team, but seemingly looking like he could be the guy once again if he's healthy.
5:25Brie Saul's per game and per touch stats are really unbelievable if you look at it.
5:29He's been one of the more efficient backs both in the pass and the run game.
5:33And he's done it without great quarterback play. It really, for me, depends on do you believe in Geno Smith to move
5:39this offense a little bit more and score more?
5:41Without that, if you're not confident there, I think he could be one of these dead zone trap backs.
5:46So he's been somebody I've avoided for most of the drafts.
5:49I can get that. You know, I think if he's fallen to round four, I'm all in.
5:53And that's where I have him ranked now is round four because of this injury.
5:57Round three was always a little bit too pricey for me, especially with Jacobs there, Kyron Williams there, some of these other running backs.
6:03Jeremiah Love was there, Adam, before the high ankle sprain.
6:06What are we doing with the Cardinals running back now?
6:08Yeah, high ankle sprain is one that can linger and can affect people really.
6:12But you look at like Saquon Barkley had a midseason high ankle sprain, and he basically had the same yards per carry before and after.
6:18Jonathan Taylor had a midseason high ankle sprain, missed three weeks, and he averaged I think 4.7 yards per carry after.
6:23CeeDee Lamb week three or four last year, whatever it was against the Bears, high ankle sprain.
6:28And he was great. I mean, he was super efficient when he came back.
6:31So I'm not that worried about it. He's a mid to late round three pick to me, and he is going to
6:37get – I think he's going to get a lot of touches.
6:40I think he's going to get a lot of catches.
6:43So I kind of like this injury. I hope it makes Jeremiah Love fall a little bit, and I will snag him mid to late round three.
6:49I'll just clarify, you don't like the injury. You like the value that has come as a result of injury.
6:54I love that he's hurt. I just, you know, it's fantastic that he's got that ankle.
6:59I'm going to go out and get a high ankle sprain this afternoon.
7:02I love it. I want to just cover the tight ends because I want to get to your visit with the Giants and the Dolphins yesterday.
7:08So we have three tight ends that are dealing with injuries here.
7:12We got Sam Laporta's got this hip injury. Line's sort of downplaying a little bit.
7:15Tyler Warren expected to be out about a week with a groin injury.
7:19Feels like groin is the new ACL at this point.
7:21And then you have George Kittle coming back from the Achilles injury.
7:24We had this conversation on our podcast today. Does this make you more inclined to take one of the top three tight
7:30ends because you just know that they're safe right now and the production could be amazing?
7:34I don't think so. I think this year specifically taking one of those top three tight ends is really passing up on
7:39a really good player at running back and receiver, specifically at the running back position, which is deeper than it has been.
7:45For me at this point in time, I'm pretty much leaning toward late round tight end again.
7:49And I know it's like greater late, but I'm kind of off the great and I'm just on the late right now.
7:55How about you, Adam, with these three guys? Like, do you scared with these injuries or is it maybe driven the cost
8:01down to make them a little bit better to take?
8:03I hope it does with Warren. Kind of same thing I'll talk about with Jeremiah Love because I'm not that worried about Tyler Warren.
8:09They don't seem to be worried about it. So I think round five would be a great spot for Warren.
8:14I'm not quite ready to go round four with him.
8:17This is all good news for George Kittle, right?
8:19So I think round eight for Kittle, talking about a guy who's been a top three tight end per game in seven of the last eight seasons.
8:26I'd love to get him in round eight. Laporta, I'm not going to draft, I don't think, just because I like him.
8:32I just think people like him a little bit more than I do.
8:35I'd take him in round seven if he falls there with the injury.
8:38It doesn't make me more likely to take the top three guys.
8:41I'm fine taking them at value. I do like the last three guys, likely Kelsey Goddard, I think, more.
8:46As soon as it's like Fantasy Pro's Goddard ADP and not CBS Goddard ADP, which is round seven or eight, which is too early.
8:52Yep. So we'll see how – I do think Laporta's ADP sort of falls to a spot now that he goes behind
8:58Pitts and Kraft and maybe he becomes a great value pick.
9:01All right, Dan, so you went to the Dolphins-Giants joint practice yesterday.
9:04I want to ask you just a couple points on each team.
9:07Let's start with the Giants. We know Malik Nabors was not there, but a lot of questions about the backfield.
9:12So you have Najee Harris now part of the group.
9:14We saw Tyrone Tracy have the missed block, and, you know, everybody putting it on him like it's his fault.
9:19I think it's probably a combination of both. But how do you view the backfield now with Cam Scadaboo, Tracy, the Devin Singletary, and Najee Harris?
9:26It's a really interesting backfield, specifically the way they've played this thing out in training camp and in practice because reality is they're rotating guys in.
9:33And yesterday I saw all three guys, Scadaboo, Tracy, and Singletary, get reps with the first-team offense in Jackson Dart.
9:38More specifically, when they ran the two-minute huddle drill at the end of practice to get into field goal range, you know,
9:43both teams ran it, it was Singletary in the no-huddle offense.
9:46And we saw in the preseason game Singletary made a big play in the passing game with Jameis.
9:51One star had to come out with the injury and go to the medical tent.
9:54So I'm very intrigued. And then Najee Harris worked with the second team but had two of the most explosive runs of
10:00the whole practice, including a red zone touchdown. So it's interesting.
10:03After practice, actually, Dave Richard asked Harbaugh about the backfield and the depth of it, and he seemed kind of iffy on
10:08naming anybody a starter or kind of being full-fledged in supporting any player there.
10:12I think the clarity that I have is that I don't think Tyrone Tracy is a good draft pick anymore.
10:17If you're going, I want to handcuff Cam Scadaboo, because if Scadaboo gets hurt, I don't think anyone runs away with this job.
10:23I think Tracy could be kind of useless. The question is really about Scadaboo.
10:26I think the Giants would be pretty stupid to not make him their workhorse unless they just don't think he's physically there.
10:32He had a very gruesome injury. But he should be, hopefully, so much better than the other guys.
10:37If he's not, then he's just not that great of a running back.
10:40He doesn't have breakaway speed, but he's super tough, and I think he's an absolute weapon near the goal line.
10:45It'd be a crime if he's not their goal line back.
10:48So I think Scadaboo, big part of his appeal, he was on pace for 60 catches in the games of the normal snapshot last year.
10:54I think that's going to be more like 40 to 45 catches, so I don't think he's going to be quite as good.
11:00For me, once Brees Hall is off the board, we're talking mid-round four, I hope, Scadaboo comes into play.
11:05But I think he's a late-round four pick for me because there are some concerns here.
11:09He won't have the same type of role in the passing game, but the Giants would be pretty stupid to use Devin
11:14Singletary or Najee Harris ahead of him, in my opinion.
11:17He's fallen into round five for me. I am concerned just because there's a lot of running backs in that range.
11:22David Montgomery, Bucky Irving, Quinshawn Judkins. You know, there's just a lot of guys, I think, that can have similar upside and also similar downside.
11:29Let's go to the Dolphins. I think everybody's going to draft Devon Etienne in their first 15 picks, seemingly getting the full workload.
11:35But the passing game, did anything stand out to you that, okay, I want to get Malik Willis as a late-round quarterback, I want to target Caleb Douglas.
11:42Is there anybody that you can look at and say, I want one of these Dolphins?
11:46Well, it's interesting because the Dolphins offense was completely overwhelmed by the Giants defense.
11:49I think after practice, we asked Brian Burns, it looked like he had six sacks out there.
11:54He's like, six? It was more than that. And they were just plays blown dead over and over again.
11:58With that said, it doesn't necessarily dissuade me from Malik Willis because he's going to scramble more and he's going to run
12:04more and he's going to have a good chance to be one of the highest rushing yards per game quarterback in this
12:10year in fantasy football if he starts all 17 games.
12:12So I'm in on Willis. I'm in on A-chan because there wasn't any backup running backs rotating in.
12:17It really does seem like he's one of the last true workhorses we have left in the NFL.
12:21Passing game, a little iffy. It was actually Greg Dolchich who seemed to get most of the targets there during the practice.
12:27Yeah, another late-round tight end I think that you could look at.
12:30And so we'll see if Malik Willis could be one of these quarterbacks that a lot of fantasy managers gravitate toward.
12:35We're going to take a break right now. We're going to come back and talk about some quarterbacks that you may be forgetting.
12:41Are we overlooking Dak Prescott? What about Baker Mayfield, Jordan Love?
12:44Can these quarterbacks be starters for you? That's next here on Fantasy Football Today.
12:47As a young adult, finding the right path to your future can feel overwhelming.
12:51It starts with Year Up United's tuition-free job training program, Career Pathways.
12:54If you're without a bachelor's degree but have a high school diploma or GED, you can get skills-first training to succeed in
13:00the industries you're passionate about, all while earning a weekly educational stipend to offset basic expenses.
13:04From there, you'll have access to internships and hands-on experiences with Fortune 500 companies.
13:07And with Year Up United's job placement services and personalized coaching and mentorship, you can put your knowledge, skills, and most importantly, confidence into practice.
13:14Apply to Year Up United today and take the first step toward achieving the career you want.
13:18Visit yearup.org to learn more. Drafts are happening, and drafts are happening to help raise money for St.
13:23Jude. Our own Heath Cummings is currently in Memphis, as you're seeing here live.
13:26And you can follow along with this draft on the St.
13:29Jude Twitch stream. They are doing a draft to raise money for the St.
13:32Jude Children's Research Hospital. Heath does this draft with them.
13:35I think it's like four or five years in a row.
13:38So usually we try to get a hold of Heath, but we're having a little technical difficulties connecting because they're just having so much fun.
13:44And so this draft will go on past our show, so make sure you check it out.
13:48They always do crazy things. They have people pick their draft picks for them, people that are watching the stream.
13:54But really, it's all for the same cause, and that's to raise money for the St.
13:58Jude Children's Research Hospital. There you see Heath on camera there.
14:00And you can still donate for our draft-a-thon. Go to tinyurl.com slash FFTdonate2026.
14:04You can still bid to be in leagues with us.
14:06It's, again, the goal is to raise over $200,000.
14:09We did a great job with the tennis match.
14:11Kudos to these two guys yesterday. And Heath is doing his part to help St.
14:15Jude as well. So check out the TikTok stream, the St.
14:17Jude Twitch stream, to follow the draft there. Do you think Dan can sing a song that has the word Memphis in it?
14:23No, of course not. Dan, sing a song that has the word Memphis in it.
14:27Is this right? You expect me to just know any song with the word Memphis?
14:31You don't know. There's one of the most famous songs in the world that has the word Memphis in it.
14:36He might be Georgia. I thought he was going to get that one.
14:39You went Georgia. All right. That's the only one I can think of.
14:43All right. Let's talk about quarterbacks. So the theme of the show today, we got you some news on the players to open the show.
14:49The theme of the show today is don't forget about these guys.
14:52Let's start with a couple quarterbacks. Talk about some quarterbacks.
14:55There it is. Somebody told him 100%. It feels like we don't talk about Dak Prescott enough because we talk about the
15:00top five quarterbacks, which for the most part are going to be in some order.
15:04Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Drake May, Joe Burrow, Jaden Daniels.
15:06Then I think it goes Jalen Hurts, probably QB six.
15:09And then this is where Dak Prescott comes into play.
15:12He's in that conversation, I think, with Justin Herbert, Caleb Williams, a lot of those, you know, third tier, fourth tier quarterbacks, depending on how you tier quarterbacks.
15:19Where are we on Dak Prescott, Adam? Because when he's healthy, has not played back-to-back healthy seasons since 2019.
15:23But when he's healthy, he's amazing. He's 33 years old.
15:26You worry a little bit about the rushing. Last year, the rushing number, the attempts per game came back up from a
15:32down year in 2024, but the yards per carry came down.
15:34That's a good thing because I think the yards per carry could easily come back up and he can get back over
15:40at 200, 250 rushing art pace, something like that.
15:42We could use that. But keep in mind, this guy could lead the NFL in passing yards.
15:47And if you look at his 17-game pace from week seven through 17, because he played half of week 18, that's when
15:52CeeDee Lamb came back, week seven through 17. He's on pace for over 4,800 yards.
15:56That means he has massive upside. I mean, he has QB three upside.
15:59He could have that Matthew Stafford kind of season, right?
16:02He could just destroy it. He needs to get his touchdown rate up a little bit.
16:06It was 5% last year. Needs to be closer to 6%.
16:09There's really no reason why that can't happen. I have not drafted Dak Prescott once, and I regret it.
16:14That needs to change. I'm going to make it a point.
16:16It's been mostly mocks, thankfully. I'm going to make it a point to get some Dak Prescott because I don't care.
16:22Their defense will be a little bit better. They're going to be super pass-heavy.
16:25He's going to be among the league leaders in passing yards.
16:28I'm a little less bullish on Prescott, and it's mostly because, and we talked about this like four years ago on the
16:34show, I knew post-injury, the injury that he had, the major injury, the lower, was it a leg?
16:38Ankle. Ankle injury. The rushing would come down, the red zone rushers.
16:41That, I think, is out of his game at this point, and I actually think the Cowboys' defense is going to take
16:47a big jump forward with Quinn and Williams playing a full season, and obviously Caleb Downs added to that defense.
16:52But they're still going to throw. They're going to throw.
16:54They've had, I mean, they used to have good defenses with Dan Quinn, and they still threw the ball a ton.
17:00For sure. It's his offense. It is still his offense, and I do think Prescott is one of, if not the best
17:05processing quarterbacks in the NFL, so he will be able to move the ball through the air.
17:10The problem is, I feel like I can get an arbitrage play with Jared Goff a few, multiple rounds later, and I'm not losing too much there.
17:17I have similar weapons, similar processing style quarterbacks, similar upside from a touchdown standpoint.
17:20I'm not losing that much in my mind in the rushing department.
17:23You're losing about 200, at least 200 rushing yards.
17:25Maybe. If not 250 with Goff. But you're right.
17:28Goff was negative one last year with rushing yards.
17:30Like, you don't get that at all from him.
17:32But it is a great comparison, because you are talking about guys that should be high volume passers, great receiving cores, and
17:38the schedule, if you look at it, really favors the Lions and Goff.
17:41So the value there is, that's a great call.
17:44Let's talk about Jordan Love. You drafted him in the Superflex league that we did, Superflex mock draft that we did on our podcast this morning.
17:50Jordan Love, looking like he's going to have a little bit of a bounce back year, a resurgent year.
17:55He's always been a good quarterback. He just hasn't been a great fantasy quarterback.
17:59Do we get that? Probably not. He had a sort of great year three seasons ago.
18:03I think he was QB eight or nine per game.
18:05He averaged a little bit more than 22 fantasy points per game in six points per pass and touchdown leagues.
18:10And I think that's his ceiling. But what's happened since then, he hasn't been a worse quarterback.
18:15He's had some games where he's left early with injuries.
18:17That's hurt him on a per-game basis. But it's Josh Jacobs.
18:20Once they got Josh Jacobs, midway through Jacobs' first season there, they've been one of the most run-heavy teams in the NFL.
18:25Love is not a big-time rushing quarterback. He's kind of like a little bit better than Dak Prescott maybe.
18:30But if they get back to throwing the ball, if they're a middle-of-the-pack pass rate team, we could have a top 12 quarterback here.
18:36Not a top five, but a top 12. He's probably going to be more like QB 17 per game if they're super run-heavy again.
18:42But he is really good. And if Jacobs isn't as good or is suspended, we'll have a better year for Love.
18:48He'll outperform his ADP. It's a tricky one for me because I really like him as a player.
18:52I heard Matt LaFleur say this offseason, it's really clicking for him from a mental standpoint, which could mean LaFleur feels more comfortable with a more pass-heavy approach.
18:59The issue being, LaFleur's career as a play caller, it's been very slow-paced and it's been very run-heavy, like you said.
19:05Simply in the red zone, that's where it's been the trickiest.
19:08So without the rushing upside, with the history of the play caller and obviously if Josh Jacobs plays the full season, it's
19:13hard for me to buy in when I have players going around him like Malik Willis that I like more.
19:18Even Daniel Jones, a player who I think fantasy managers are really sleeping on this offseason.
19:22So I just don't really like the range he's being drafted in.
19:25We'll talk about Jones in a second. The thing that I like for Love, you guys mentioned the Cowboys defense.
19:31No Michael Parsons potentially for the first six weeks of the season.
19:34This is not the same NFC North. You have some really great offenses in this division, the Lions and now the Bears.
19:39What they do, I think pushes the pace of what maybe the Packers have to do and they may see a little bit more volume.
19:45The downside though, which is, this is a tricky one, because you have Tucker Craft coming off a pretty significant injury and
19:51Christian Watson who has struggled to stay healthy. If he loses any of those, either of those two guys to me, he's done.
19:57I don't care how good Matthew Golden is. I don't care how good Jaden Reed could be.
20:01He needs both those guys, I think, to elevate himself.
20:04I don't think it kills him as a fantasy quarterback because he can still get numbers.
20:08Yeah. But I think if you're talking about top end production, having those two guys on the field certainly matters.
20:13Can I give you, I'm sorry, one stat. They gave up, they allowed 20 or more points in eight games last year.
20:19That's pretty good. He scored 21.7 or more fantasy points in six of those eight games.
20:23So without Parsons, if they give up more points, you could have a really nice player here.
20:27Yeah. So get off to a good start. You know, maybe one of these quarterbacks that you pair with like a Malik
20:33Willis or maybe if you just wait enough, you go a Jordan Love, Baker Mayfield combo.
20:37Not a lot of people would like that, but we're making a transition here.
20:40Yeah. So Baker Mayfield, Dan, two years ago, unreal fantasy quarterback.
20:43Last year, however, everything fell apart. You had injuries to Mike Evans, injuries to Chris Godwin, offensive line was banged up, and then Baker was really hurt.
20:50Another offense coordinator. Two years ago, we had Liam Cohen.
20:52We see what Liam Cohen's done for the Jaguars.
20:55Now he's got Zach Robinson. Do we like Baker Mayfield as one of these late round guys?
20:59Love Baker Mayfield this year as one of these late round guys.
21:02You said it best. I mean, last year they had their center playing left tackle.
21:06Now their left tackle, their star is Tristan Wurst back.
21:08You can move the center back, and he was amazing there.
21:11So this offensive line, I think, is going to rebound as one of the five best in the NFL.
21:16You have Vic Buga going into year two. I really like Ted Hurst, the rookie they got, and he's come along strong so far in training camp.
21:23And Baker himself, you saw how injured he actually was.
21:25He couldn't really throw the ball in some of the weeks.
21:28So if he's fully healthy, now you have to ask yourself how much of that production was Liam Cohen because that was
21:34a career year for him, and it's really an outlier versus the Russians' career.
21:37Yes. So I'm not sold on that, but Zach Robinson has a really good track record, I think, as a play caller.
21:43It's simply getting players like Drake London involved, and I think Ibuka will be that player.
21:47So as far as late round quarterbacks go, Baker's definitely one of the guys I like a lot.
21:52I love it. It's a great call. And the first six games of the year, Baker Mayfield averaged 24.9 fantasy points per
21:57game and six points per pass in touchdown leagues.
21:59Remember that number, 24.9, because he had a 28-game stretch from week 13 or 14 of 2023 to week 6 of 2025, where he averaged 24.7.
22:06That's who he was late in that first year with the Bucs, all throughout 2024, and first six games of 2025.
22:11He dealt with injuries. That's exactly when Ibuka got hurt, I think, was week 6.
22:15He wasn't the same player. Mike Evans was in and out of the lineup, and Evans not being there, I think, hurts
22:21his upside because that's his touchdown guy, but there are so many reasons.
22:24The offensive line, all the injuries that he had last year, the fact that he did it for 28 games from 2023
22:30to 2025, he's a great bounce-back candidate. Absolutely. And just one other underrated thing, Jalen McMillan healthy too.
22:34I mean, he didn't have McMillan for a majority of that season too.
22:38That's kind of when Baker took off those last part of the season.
22:41You know, remember because Evans and Godwin were hurt in 2023, and McMillan had that seven-touchdown performance in the last five games of the year.
22:47So Hurst and McMillan adding to Ibuka and Godwin, it's a pretty solid receiving core.
22:51I didn't realize that both of you, Giants guys, love Daniel Jones.
22:54I know he loves Daniel Jones. I love Daniel.
22:56No, no, no, no, no, no, no. You brought up Daniel Jones on almost every podcast.
23:00He's looked great. He's doing this. He's doing that.
23:03You said you love Daniel Jones overlooked. The floor is yours.
23:05Go ahead. You want to start? First of all, I love how much Dan hates being in the middle.
23:10He hates them. I'm not about it. I don't know where to look.
23:14I like middling conversations and dinner parties, but not this situation.
23:16Not a middle on this show. I would just say that I love him in that, hey, if you want a late-round
23:22pick, a late-round flyer, he's in that conversation now with Baker Mayfield, with Malik Willis, with Tyler Shuck, whatever.
23:27We had to see it, and I haven't actually seen it with my own eyes, but the reports are that Daniel Jones
23:32is looking great, and the point I would make is that if you're going, I know he's coming off a torn Achilles,
23:38it is obviously a big deal, but last year was the best year of his career, and he barely ran.
23:43Right. And he played some of that with a broken leg.
23:46The two worst games he had were with the broken leg, before the Achilles.
23:49Yeah, but he ended up as QB 14 per game with a broken leg and a partial game where he barely played
23:55and tore his Achilles, so he doesn't need to be a rusher.
23:58He just needs to be mobile. Hopefully he is, and he could be a top-12 quarterback.
24:02I mean, you see it right here on the screen.
24:05Look at his first eight games. I don't really understand the ADP.
24:08It's almost as if people just think he's injured now or he's just...
24:11I think the position is just loaded. Yeah, every position is loaded, but he was a QB 1 when healthy last year.
24:17He loses Michael Pittman, but outside of Pittman, they're returning everybody else to that offense.
24:20We hope. Well, we hope. Yeah, about Pierce. We don't know with Pierce, right.
24:24But Keenan Allen, it could be a good state to have.
24:27I just think the value is really good, and I don't really understand the ADP.
24:31Yeah, I think it's just, you know, the Colts are not a sexy team.
24:34Yeah. It feels like it's a run-heavy team because of Jonathan Taylor.
24:37And then again, I think the position is just absolutely loaded, plus he's coming off an injury.
24:42So a lot of things that he has to work against, but you've said this quite a bit.
24:46If he gets off to a good start, he's going to be one of the more added quarterbacks because of what he accomplished last year.
24:52All right, we're going to take a break. When we come back, we're going to talk about some running back guys.
24:58Some running back guys. Some running backs that we like that are being overlooked a little bit.
25:02David Montgomery, we don't talk about him enough. Bucky Irving, same thing.
25:05We'll talk running backs next here on FFT. Welcome back to Fantasy Football.
25:08Today, we're talking running backs that you may have forgotten or just forgot about or just overlooking in drafts or maybe just we haven't talked about them enough.
25:16Let's start with David Montgomery, guys. So this is a player who the Lions forgot about at the end of last season.
25:21They went to Jameer Gibbs. Montgomery was this sort of RB2 flex that a lot of fantasy managers drafted and then he
25:27was just unplayable at the end of the season.
25:29So now, Dan, he goes to Houston and the reports have been great.
25:32I mean, it looks like he's going to be their guy.
25:35I know Woody Marks had a big run last night and he's going to be a factor.
25:39I think it makes more sense to play Montgomery first and second down.
25:43Woody Marks, great track record catching the ball in college.
25:45But how do you view the Texans backfield but more specifically, how do you view Montgomery when you're drafting Montgomery?
25:50I love Montgomery. I mean, first of all, last year he had an 86% catch rate.
25:54I think it goes on overlooked a lot what he can do in the passing.
25:58He's not a bad receiver. He's going to get more opportunities there this year.
26:02I think it's 33 touchdowns over the last three seasons which is insane, really, for a guy that we're getting as late as you can get him.
26:09I think it's easy to project 10 plus touchdowns.
26:11The game script will be great with that defense.
26:13Their offensive line is a work in progress. That's the part that concerns me the most.
26:17But I was a big fan of Jennings Dunger who they drafted in the first round.
26:21I thought he was the best run-blocking lineman in the class.
26:24He's going to start on their interior most likely.
26:27So I'm pretty high on Montgomery this year. He's one of my backs I like to target.
26:31Yeah, he's pretty good value in round five. He's a bridge running back I think for us because after David Montgomery you're
26:36looking at guys like Basil Tootin and Jadarian Price and the Steelers guys and Tony Pollard and Travion Henderson.
26:41You're looking at guys who are definitely sharing. Probably more than Montgomery is sharing.
26:45And a lot of guys that we don't even know if they're going to be the goal line back I think David
26:50Montgomery is going to get the vast majority of the goal line carries.
26:54I project it that way. I don't have any basis for that.
26:57I expect that to be the case. And I think he's a pretty good running back.
27:01He's not a dynamic guy. He's not going to catch a ton of passes although they've been pretty and the coaches are raving about his route running.
27:08So yeah, he could be like a 40 catch guy.
27:10I think he's really interesting to compare to Cam Scadaboo.
27:13I mean, I feel like ADP has drilled it in our head that we have to take Cam Scadaboo over David Montgomery
27:18but I don't know that we do. Neither of them have breakaway speed.
27:22Scadaboo's longest run was like 23 yards. I think he averaged about 4.1 yards per carry.
27:26Can David Montgomery do that? Absolutely. Whose offense is going to be better?
27:29That's a toss up. Youth I think is why people gravitate towards Scadaboo.
27:32Yeah, he's 29 years old Dave Montgomery. That's the problem and I would go with Scadaboo for that very reason but Montgomery's a slightly worse version.
27:39Oh, we get another week of the rotation that you saw.
27:42I'm taking Montgomery over Scadaboo. They're already close right now.
27:44I think I have Scadaboo 21 and Montgomery 22.
27:47The hope would be is and we saw this they gave us a blueprint under D'Amico Ryans in this front office.
27:52Joe Mixon discarded and they turned David Montgomery they turned him into still a really good fan.
27:56Different players but again the path is there for them.
27:59Another guy that sort of is in this bridge range is Bucky Irving Adams.
28:02So last year got off to a great start had the injuries came back was not the same guy they signed Kenneth
28:08Gainwell they still have Sean Tucker how do you view Bucky Irving?
28:11More optimistically actually one of the reasons why is Dan made a really good case about him about a month ago and
28:17You mean you guys agree on something? Yeah, we agree on more than we disagree I don't know about that but we
28:22agree on a lot more than you might think but Bucky Irving it really comes down to Sean Tucker and not so much Gainwell.
28:28If he just as long as Sean Tucker is not the exclusive goal linebacker I think Bucky's going to be pretty good value in round five.
28:35If Sean Tucker is basically Zach Charbonnet last year then Bucky's going to be Kenneth Walker who is I think RB 28
28:40per game but consider this Bucky Irving in the first four games of the year was on pace for 81 catches and
28:46he didn't have a single target on third down.
28:48This is a guy that if he's playing he's going to get targeted on first and second down.
28:5381's too much to expect but 55 catches I think even if he's not the third down back is realistic because he's so good in the passing game.
29:00You watch his tape last year as long as Sean Tucker is not completely vulturing the touchdowns I like Bucky Irving a little bit better than Montgomery.
29:07We talk about this a lot but back to back seasons with Irving top 10 in yards per out run as a
29:12running back I think he's one of the better pass game options.
29:15They're going to use him that way as an extension of the run game and I talk about this a lot with
29:21Jacob Gibbs on Beyond the Box score like there are offenses you want to target year after year.
29:26Last year was Jaguars and Bears. These are the undervalued offenses that help you win fantasy leagues if you target a lot of players for them.
29:32The Bucs are profiles really one of those teams with the offensive line getting healthier Baker getting healthier and also they have
29:38really big issues at corner which could lead to shootouts in these games so I'm really excited about pretty much everyone on that Bucs offense.
29:44Yeah I wonder though to your point about the passes the receptions in the first part of the season that was when
29:50Evans and Godwin were sort of in and out of the lineup no McMillan and now if you're going to use Gainwell
29:55who also could mix in on first and second down how much of that do we see from so I think it's
30:01a little bit more than just a Sean Tucker problem I think it is a Gainwell problem also especially they gave him
30:07enough of a contract that I think it matters not like the Rashad White contract you know one year sort of throwaway
30:12deal they gave him enough money where I think Gainwell could be too much of a problem but we'll see how it plays out.
30:18I do think Bucs value is fantastic again sort of in that post-scadaboo before the Patriots you know Steelers right at the
30:24bridge I just want to add one more thing something Dan talked about with Baker Mayfield when I watched the tape of
30:29Bucs Irving I watched every carry from last year I thought the offensive line was horrible horrible and you expected to be
30:35much better this year so that could really help.
30:37Healthy Tristan Werff changes a lot of things alright let's talk about Ja'Cory Kroski America last year this time this was the
30:43guy getting a ton of buzz and now it feels like his situation is probably better but not necessarily getting the hype
30:49is he a good mid-round pick or is he somebody that you're staying away from?
30:52He's someone I'm really scared of following the Larry Tunsil injury I'll just be honest that injury really scares me for everyone
30:58in Washington right now because they're going to move back the kid from Auburn who I'm blanking on Coleman back to Brandon
31:04Coleman back to left tackle he struggled mightily there which is why he was moved out of there right tackle is Josh
31:09Connerly who also struggled a lot in his rookie season so they have big issues at tackle that scare me there new
31:15offensive coordinator who we have some hope for so I just feel very concerned now with Bill because if Rashad White is
31:20getting the passing down work and last year if you look at it Rashad White proved to give you a red zone
31:26back he was essentially a red zone back for Tampa then it's like what are we getting out of Jaquery outside of
31:31some big plays here and there so it's a scary pick for me at this point I'm kind of with you and
31:37Coleman was a guard right that they're moving to tackle so not only are you worse at tackle you're worse at guard
31:43now too I haven't really been drafting him you call it mid-round it has to be like the end of the mid-round
31:48picks I usually segment the drafts in like first four rounds or early rounds five through eight I consider mid-rounds I think
31:54he's like eight nine oh I would have taken him before then you know I think when you start to get to
31:59that post you know you listed that group the Steelers guys the Patriots guys you know I would take Jordan Mason over
32:05him for example another guy we're going to talk about JK Dobbins I would take over Krosky Merrick because I think there's
32:11more upside if he hits but that's the group that we're talking about here like RB 32 through 40 is where he
32:16comes into play you also have just for what it's worth Rashad White is dealing with a hamstring injury now and you
32:22got the report a couple weeks ago that they're using him more David Bloud the offense coordinator using him more in the
32:27passing so I think that benefits Krosky Merrick the thing that we also saw last year was his best stretch of games
32:33came at the end of the season no Jay Daniels so now you have the opportunity to play off Daniels as we
32:39see with mobile quarterbacks so I don't think he's somebody to run away from but it is just interesting like last year
32:44seventh round pick everybody was trying to get Jakari Krosky Merrick now he's most likely the starter and nobody wants to touch him let's talk about J.K.
32:51Dobbins so Jonah Coleman guy getting a lot of hype R.J.
32:54Harvey last year finished the season really strong Dobbins though the first 10 games of the season was pretty solid three-headed monster
32:59now most likely do we still like J.K. Dobbins or do we want to just say if he's there I'll take him
33:05but not somebody I'm targeting he's been a beyond the box score favorite on film I mean one of the best processing
33:11backs in the NFL if you look at it going into last year I don't know if this still holds he was
33:16one of the only running backs in the NFL who averaged over five yards per carry in his career not sure if
33:22it held through last year but that's the type of talent he is when he's healthy issue being Jonah Coleman has really
33:27stepped up and had an amazing camp and I listened to Davis Webb their new offensive coordinator talk about Coleman yesterday and
33:33he was essentially just glowingly speaking about this guy we don't want to really give him any more precision touches because we
33:39don't want to get him hurt he looks that good so three-headed monster on a team that didn't run the ball the
33:44way they should have given their offensive line last year threw a lot it's a tricky situation I'm probably avoiding I wouldn't
33:50say I'm avoiding it I think round nine or ten for J.K.
33:53Dobbins hopefully in a half PPR league but he was RB 27 per game in full PPR a little bit better than
33:58that in half and nine he didn't score that many touchdowns he had four touchdowns in ten games so he could easily
34:04get more touchdowns he averaged five yards per carry on the nose Dan so he's still averaging five yards per carry you
34:10know he's not going to catch a lot of balls but I think yeah I'm fine drafting him as my RB three
34:15I guess but if I do that I'm probably taking my RB four pretty quickly after because I know I can't rely
34:21on him for full season just to wrap this up the two things that kind of hold for him almost every year
34:26one the major thing is the injuries yeah but the other thing is we always overlook him in drafts and he always
34:32outperforms the Chargers year last year with the Broncos everybody was oh R.J.
34:35Harvey R.J. Harvey myself included and there's J.K. Dobbins and I love the fact that he got hurt and he was like
34:41no no no I'm coming right back I'm not doing this again came right back to practice so hopefully he stays healthy
34:46and maybe could be a surprise once again all right we're gonna take a break we come back and talk about some
34:52wide receivers you may be forgetting we're always talking about Abuka and Flowers Devante Smith what about T Higgins what about Chris
34:58Godwin we'll talk about some wide receivers that might matter to you a little bit more than you expect on FFT welcome
35:03back to fantasy football today we're talking about some wide receivers you may be forgetting about on draft day not necessarily forgetting
35:09but maybe overlooking and T Higgins is one of those guys for me because we get to that 2-3 turn and that's
35:14kind of where that wide receiver run starts and I think it's gonna be Malik Neighbors and Chris Olave Devante Smith's Day
35:20Flowers all these guys T Higgins has scored 21 touchdowns in his last 27 games and a lot of those were without
35:26right Joe Burrow you talk about this a lot we don't know how to predict touchdowns except when guys score touchdowns yeah
35:31he's one of these guys that scores touchdowns when you take it to Higgins I feel like we do know how to
35:37predict touchdowns people say we don't but I'm not so sure that's true and even greater stat with him wide receiver four
35:42in fantasy over his last 16 games with Joe Burrow just a crazy stat he's one of my targeted players when are
35:48we taking him I like to take him after there's usually a range of the draft where the big running backs I
35:53love like a Marion Hampton and Ken Walker are all coming off the board and I'm kind of in that range where
35:59it's just Jacobs Javante Williams that's when I'm taking T Higgins that's typically like a mid round two range late round two
36:05round two I'm sorry mid round three late round three sorry about that and the problem is I can say the same
36:10exact thing about Lad McConkie and Zay Flowers guys like that and and I don't know how to rank Higgins with those
36:16guys I am hoping that the ADP is true and I can get maybe both of them because Higgins ADP is in
36:21round four I think he's a clear round three player I have to bring up his downside though because he was only
36:27on pace for 109 targets last year in five healthy games with Joe Burrow he has one of the lowest target per
36:33out run rates of any wide receiver we'd be considering in the first round not one of the lowest however two years
36:38ago we had a pretty high target per out run rate and he was a top five receiver per game so if
36:44the targets go up he's going to kill he needs the touchdowns I think he'll get them I think he's very safe
36:49you got a lot of risky guys that haven't necessarily proven it over a full season in that range he's done it
36:55multiple times he's super safe I love T Higgins I would love to get him in round four but if I have
37:01to take him in round three I will and non-PPR when you're comparing him to Zay Flowers you know even in DeMonte
37:06Smith but guys that don't have the lengthy touchdown history that he has it's easy to gravitate toward Higgins Chris Godwin we're
37:12getting a lot of buzz about Emeka Buka understandably so you mentioned Ted Hurst not that you're taking him over Godwin but
37:17Godwin feels like the reports have been fantastic yeah and when he's right Adam yeah he's pretty awesome not only is he
37:23awesome when he's right he's a guy who destroys ADP like you said JK Dobbins we overlook him he does better Chris
37:29Godwin I mean this is a guy who's been twice in his career on a per game basis a top five wide
37:34receiver last year I thought he would struggle coming off a really gruesome injury in 2024 and his tape was really bad
37:40he looks slow out there in my opinion but if he's back to being let's say 80% he's 30 now right he's
37:4580% of what he was he's a great pick in round seven or later and I think if you're in a receiver
37:51heavy league and you start in three receivers you could justify him in round six Godwin's been a guy that I started
37:56off really liking then I was like I don't know he's too old too injured now I'm back in the reports are
38:02good enough Abuka's got a toe injury Godwin could could be a smash hit it's been a total reversal for me he
38:08was a guy who's completely out on avoiding because I thought he was more named than game based on the tape from
38:13last year now that he's looked good in camp I'm back in because I want on in this Bucs offense and if
38:19he is the player he once was or any version of that we're going to be looking at a good target share
38:24and a lot of receptions yeah I'm not going to be surprised if he's better than Abuka just because it's possible just
38:30because of where he lines up he's going to play in the slot where he's always been better Abuka now with the
38:36toe injury like he's one of my favorite targets in any format just love Chris Godwin all right last receiver we're going
38:41to talk about here is the situation in Green Bay because finally we have some defined roles but here's Matthew Golden getting
38:47this hype and oh there's Jaden Reid's healthy we haven't heard much about Christian Watson and I think the upside for Christian
38:52Watson could be top 12 wide receiver he's that good is he going to get enough targets can he outperform the other
38:58two where you out with Christian Watson people are very high on Watson this year he's one of the fantasy analysts like
39:04prime picks and I think I understand it it's based on the role we saw him play when he came back from
39:09the injury last year the only difference is their roles are all different going into this year they have like you said
39:15very defined roles and they're really going to use a three-man steady rotation with Reid Golden and Watson so I gravitate more
39:20towards the later guys you can get Reid and Golden because you can get them so much cheaper in an offense we're
39:26not so sure it's going to be that pass heavy so Watson to me is drafted in a range of receivers that
39:31I think I'm not comfortable taking him in I'm nervous that he's going to be one of these guys that's so much
39:37better in real life than fantasy because he'll never get the targets because we talked about how run heavy this team has
39:43been right and Jaden Reed was never really himself I think last year and Matthew Golden hopefully takes that step up losing
39:48Romeo Dobbs and Don Tavion with the team of Wicks doesn't really matter but losing those 135 targets right yeah and and
39:54we never saw Christian Watson and Tucker Kraft at the same time so I've actually like watching that one preseason drive where
39:59Jaden Reed was looking like Jaden Reed it did make me a little bit nervous about Christian Watson in round five I
40:05think round six is okay because he doesn't need that many targets to be great he's like Jamison Williams give him a
40:11hundred 105 targets from Christian Watson I think he'll probably be a top 24 wide receiver it's gonna be interesting to see
40:16how these guys all operate together and I think that's the best approach is if you like this offense enough take the
40:22one that goes last of these receivers I think by the time we get to another week or so it's probably gonna
40:27be Jaden Reed which I love because when he's been healthy he's been awesome but Christian Watson round six I think is
40:33the right spot for him all right we're gonna take a break we come back it's just all your questions that's all
40:39we have left is your questions you can send them to us on Twitter X whatever we're calling it these days you
40:44can hashtag ask FFT and we'll answer your draft needs next here on the show please turn it into our mailbag today
40:50it's coming up at 2 30 Eastern it's gonna be a lot of fun these guys are already fighting all right Mike
40:55wants to know how much is too much to give for Jamar Chase in Dynasty defending champion you're looking to dominate would
41:01you give up two 20 27 first one early one late and Garrett Wilson to acquire Chase no no I wouldn't 20
41:0727 draft it's too early to say for sure but it looks like a really stacked class so I don't want to
41:12be trading those picks away yeah I think that's a little too much but listen try and get Jamar Chase if you
41:18can all right next question Ash wants to know Gentie Walker Hampton what's the order got the fourth pick in a 10
41:23team league looking at second round options so Adam how do you rank Ashton Gentie Ken Walker the third and Omari Hampton
41:29differently than most people Hampton Walker Gentie same here differently than most people I'm Walker Hampton Gentie but Gentie is the clear
41:34last for me yeah Gentie's first for me I go Gentie Walker Hampton in the order that is listed here so all
41:40three should be awesome in round two next question Zach wants to know Dan is telling me 90 mile per hour serves
41:46and now wants to challenge me in tennis I watch the match there's no zip on the serve it's a dead ball
41:51that's maxing like 50 I would embarrass him and haven't played in 10 years how's the best way to do this and
41:57benefit Terry this is probably somebody located in South Florida Dan you're here for a couple more days we could raise money for St.
42:03Jude would you go out and play Zach Zach I'll play you anytime we got into it last night me and Zach
42:09he made me really mad on Twitter which is very easy to do it was not topping out at 50 miles per
42:14hour maybe last night I was serving really poorly last night but if you look back at our past matches and I
42:20have some data on this that my brother has a tracker it's gotten into the 75 80 mile per hour range so
42:25go ahead let's play Zach you'll see it looks so much slower on the it does look so much slower on the
42:31stream to everyone always says that it looks so bad but if you actually were there but the serve was bad last
42:37night I was pretty embarrassed with all my play last night I'm not gonna lie but Zach for charity let's set this
42:42up I'd love to play you because you think you'd embarrass me we'll see Dave's serve was like 65 miles long Tommy
42:48wants to know our commissioner is looking to spice up the league what change do you think is best making it super
42:53flex with one flex or adding two flexes and removing the tight end the kicker super flex oh yeah absolutely super flex
42:59and two flexes don't remove tight end but remove kicker and DST I liked everything you said there no kicker no DST
43:04super flex is a must and if you really want to spice it up go to auction the best way to play
43:10fantasy football you could also throw in an IDP spot or two just to you know make sure you're checking out the
43:16entirety of what the NFL has to offer yep next question Wendy wants to know what are your thoughts on Tank Dell
43:21will he be fantasy relevant so we know that Jaden Higgins out for the season with an ACL tear is Tank Dell
43:27worth a late round pick yeah I think he is I think I would have been pretty hesitant before the Higgins injury
43:32but I don't expect this one to pay off quickly you might have to be patient but if especially if you have
43:38more than five bench spots I think Tank Dell is worth it all right last question thank you Raul difference in strategy
43:44in a 12 14 and 18 team league so once you take 12 you take 14 I'll take 18 12 is not
43:49much of a difference in strategy so I would say play that similar to how you play a 10 team but in
43:5510 team it's probably more valuable to get a good quarterback and a tight end because you don't lose out too much
44:00on the running backs receivers 14 team leagues I tend to value running backs a little bit more because the waiver wire
44:06is so thin I like to have three running backs on my team that I feel like I could start confidently any
44:12given week other than that nothing changes the 18 team league it's yeah look there's there's take the best player available you
44:17know your strategy will sort of shake out after the first couple of rounds but you can if you want to get
44:23a positional advantage take a tight end early just because I think you get Bowers or McBride or one of those guys
44:28you can hopefully dominate that position easily but it's similar to 14 team league I think the running back position does dry
44:34up but it's it's tough I play in a couple 20 team leagues and it's not easy all right great job Adam
44:39great job Dan great job to our production staff as always make sure you're donating to the draft-a-thon to benefit St.
44:45Jude check out Heath on the twitch stream for St.
44:47Jude and make sure you check out our fantasy football day podcast wherever podcasts are found we have the best male podcast
44:53host in the world thanks for watching that