PodcastFrom Fantasy Focus Football

How to CRUSH Your ESPN Knockout League Draft | Fantasy Focus

STACKED extracted the fantasy-relevant player signal from this podcast and kept the full transcript here for context.

1 hr 12 min

Duration

Estimated from transcript

Sep 2, 2026

Published

Wed, September 2, 2026

Player insights

Players mentioned

Topics

Jahmyr GibbsChristian McCaffreyDK MetcalfBijan RobinsonBo NixBreece HallBrock PurdyChris RodriguezChristian WatsonDavid MontgomeryJalen McMillanJameson WilliamsJeremiyah LoveJoe Burrow

Player analysis

Player insights

Bijan Robinson

NegativeMatchup7:19

Mike Clay notes that Robinson has a tricky schedule out of the gate, which makes him less attractive than Christian McCaffrey for early-season fantasy production.

Insight page

Bo Nix

PositiveValue35:11

The source likes Bo Nix as a fantasy pick, noting that while his selection ahead of Lamar Jackson in the draft was surprising, he is a viable option in the knockout league format where managers can pivot if he struggles in a tough Week 1 matchup against Kansas City.

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Breece Hall

NegativeInjury68:51

The source notes that Breece Hall has been dealing with a minor setback, though it appears he will be ready for week one.

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Brock Purdy

PositiveProjection43:17

Brock Purdy is consistently undervalued despite finishing in the top 10 in fantasy points per game for three consecutive years and showing high efficiency down the stretch last season.

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Chris Rodriguez

PositiveRole58:08

The source suggests Chris Rodriguez could potentially serve as the lead rusher and goal-line option for Jacksonville as early as week one.

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Christian McCaffrey

PositiveProjection7:08

Mike Clay selected McCaffrey early, citing an attractive early-season schedule. Clay emphasizes that McCaffrey's schedule is more favorable than those of other top-tier players like Bijan Robinson or Ja'Marr Chase.

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NegativeInjury69:06

The source notes that Christian McCaffrey has a 'Q' tag but is expected to be fine for week one, though they have drafted insurance depth just in case.

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Christian Watson

PositiveValue56:42

Michael F. Florio highlights Christian Watson as his favorite pick of the fifth round for a knockout league. He notes that Watson has more value in this specific format because managers only need to worry about his immediate Week 1 performance rather than his season-long consistency.

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David Montgomery

PositiveMatchup40:33

David Montgomery is a recommended pick due to the Lions' highly favorable early-season schedule. The source highlights that the Lions have the easiest fantasy schedule in the NFL for the first month and throughout most of the season.

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DK Metcalf

PositiveMatchup51:49

DK Metcalf is a preferred target for the source due to the Seahawks' favorable schedule out of the gate, which makes him a strong choice for the knockout league format.

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NegativeValue64:10

The source acknowledges that DK Metcalf is being drafted in the 30s rather than the teens due to quarterback concerns, but remains optimistic about his early-season schedule.

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Jahmyr Gibbs

PositiveProjection5:24

Field Yates ranks Gibbs second overall, citing a favorable Week 1 matchup and the desire to secure shares of the player. Yates notes that Gibbs provides a high floor and is expected to handle 80% of snaps, especially with Isaiah Pacheco on IR.

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PositiveValue36:56

The source identifies Jahmyr Gibbs as a superstar-level player who is a priority target for aggressive spending early in the season to secure elite talent for the championship.

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PositiveProjection66:37

The source chose Jahmyr Gibbs over Bijan Robinson for their team, citing the Lions' week one matchup against the Saints as a favorable factor compared to the Falcons' matchup against the Steelers.

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Jalen McMillan

PositiveRole57:54

The source identifies Jalen McMillan as the likely wide receiver two for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, highlighting his upside as a flex option.

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Jameson Williams

PositiveBreakout44:48

Dan Graziano predicts that Jameson Williams could lead the Lions in receiving, though the source clarifies this is a 'bold' prediction rather than a high-probability outcome.

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Jeremiyah Love

NegativeInjury25:26

Mike Clay notes that Love is questionable for Week 1 and expects a slow start to the season, which is a significant risk in a knockout league format.

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Joe Burrow

NegativeMatchup39:08

The source notes Joe Burrow has a difficult early schedule with road games against Houston and Pittsburgh, making him less desirable than Justin Herbert for the first three weeks.

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Jordan Mason

PositiveUsage50:31

Jordan Mason is gaining momentum as the potential centerpiece of the Vikings backfield, expected to lead in carries and goal-line work, though his passing game usage may be limited.

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Josh Allen

NegativeMatchup11:37

Field Yates and Daniel Dopp highlight that Josh Allen faces a difficult Week 1 matchup against the Houston Texans, noting he scored only 8.1 fantasy points against them last time they played.

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Josh Jacobs

NegativeInjury63:27

The source notes uncertainty regarding Josh Jacobs' availability, suggesting that if he misses significant time, managers must be prepared to survive the stretch.

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Justin Herbert

PositiveMatchup39:21

The source considers Justin Herbert the best quarterback option for the first three weeks of the season due to a favorable schedule featuring home games against Arizona and the Raiders.

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Juwan Johnson

PositiveUsage41:23

Juwan Johnson is viewed as a strong early-season target due to Jordan Travis's injury and his own career-high production last season, where he finished as the TE8.

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Kyler Murray

PositiveValue57:15

The source expresses surprise that Kyler Murray fell as far as he did in the draft, noting that his schedule is not too bad and he was ranked ahead of several quarterbacks taken before him, including Jared Goff, Daniel Jones, Baker Mayfield, and Jordan Love.

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Malik Nabers

NegativeInjury42:29

Malik Nabers is a major question mark for Week 1 due to availability concerns. The source is monitoring reports closely, noting that if he is limited in the season opener, he should not be started in the knockout league format.

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Puka Nacua

NegativeInjury6:47

Field Yates and Daniel Dopp express concern regarding Nacua's health status, noting that drafting him carries risk in a knockout league format where missing even one week can lead to elimination.

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Quentin Johnston

PositiveMatchup49:42

Quentin Johnston is a target for the early season due to the Chargers' favorable schedule in weeks one through three, allowing for short-term utility in knockout formats.

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Quinshon Judkins

PositiveProjection30:13

Mike Clay prefers Judkins over Jeremiah Love for the start of the season, noting that he expects Judkins to have a better start and has drafted him frequently.

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Rashid Shaheed

NegativeProjection58:05

The source ranks Rashid Shaheed ahead of Jalen McMillan, though they opted for McMillan to avoid doubling up on the same offense as Jackson Smith-Njigba.

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Rhamondre Stevenson

PositiveRole48:47

Rhamondre Stevenson is viewed as the leader of the Patriots' backfield. His value is bolstered in the short term by the fact that teammate Travion Henderson is nursing an ankle injury and missed practice, potentially increasing Stevenson's workload.

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Sam LaPorta

PositiveValue55:33

Sam LaPorta is a recommended tight end pick for the knockout league. The source justifies the selection by pointing to the Lions' highly attractive fantasy schedule, which is expected to lead to high scoring output for the team.

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Terrance Ferguson

PositiveUsage59:38

The source notes that Terrence Ferguson is clearly third in line for targets in his offense, making him a viable tight end option for week one if managers are looking for alternatives to Sam LaPorta.

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Travis Kelce

NegativeProjection61:07

The source prefers Travis Kelce early in the season, expressing concern that his performance may decline late in the year as he ages.

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Trevor Lawrence

NegativeMatchup47:07

Trevor Lawrence faces the Browns in Week 1; the source notes the matchup feels less daunting without Myles Garrett, though uncertainty remains regarding his early-season performance.

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Trey McBride

NegativeValue15:10

Mike Clay argues that drafting an elite tight end like McBride in a knockout league provides a positional advantage that allows managers to avoid bidding on the position later in the season.

Insight page

Full transcript

Episode Transcript

1,041

0:00Hey, we've got some game time tips to share.

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0:22Air fried mode for crispy favorites and air sous vide for juicy tender sliders.

0:26Plus, there's slow cook, no preheat, and more. That's the game time MVP combo.

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0:33So whether you're getting ready for kickoff or feeding a full house, Frigidaire has every craving covered.

0:38Available at the Home Depot. How doers get more done.

0:41Only when using stone baked pizza mode, cook time requires preheat and reheat and may vary based on ingredients.

0:46What's good, everybody? Welcome into Fantasy Focus Football alongside Field Yates and Mike Clay My name is Daniel Dopp.

0:52Here on a Wednesday with some muted computers field.

0:54Thank you for that. I did it earlier this week.

0:57I'm just going to blame Mike for that one.

1:00I did it earlier this week. Thank you. We got a very big show planned for today.

1:04We got a knockout league draft. We are diving into an 18 team knockout league.

1:09We'll tell you about that and what it is in just a moment.

1:12But first and foremost, hello, my friends. How are you guys doing on this wonderful Wednesday?

1:17I'm doing great. Fired up for a knockout league draft.

1:20We have 18 teams. We are going to rip through this draft.

1:23And this is like all the friends. It's not just Fantasy Focus.

1:26It's people that you may know now as colleagues of ours.

1:29That's right. From the NFL Networks. We're pumped for this.

1:32I'm excited, too. I'm going to do my best to knock both of you out in the first round here.

1:38Before we get there, before we get there, let's not let that happen.

1:42Maybe we should check out the rules and regulations.

1:44Maybe we do a quick check out of the rules and regulations first, my friends.

1:48Here's how a knockout league works. Welcome to a new format to ESPN Fantasy Football this year.

1:53Knockout style. The knockout format works similarly to a traditional fantasy football league.

1:57We'll draft your players, then set your lineup each week.

2:00But there's one key change. And this is the most fun part of the format.

2:04At the end of each week, the lowest scoring team gets knocked out of the league.

2:08Done for the season. As you try to avoid this fate, each week, you can track your live results in the app.

2:14Including alerts when you're in danger of being knocked out or if you're not in any position to relax.

2:20The team knocked out has all of its players released into the free agent pool.

2:24Available for anyone to claim alongside all of the usual weekly pickups.

2:27Consistent players are paramount. And fab budget management is critical.

2:30One knockout happens each week until season's end when the final team to avoid elimination is crowned league champion.

2:36Can you last long enough to be the last team standing?

2:39There you go, my friends. Going to be a ton of fun.

2:42Here is who we have in the league so far.

2:45Field Yates, David Presley, Matt Bowen, Daniel Dott, Mike Clay.

2:48Well, it is the draft order. So field is one.

2:50I'm four. Mike is five. Nothing like drafting right next to your best friends.

2:54Sixes, Michael Florio, seven, Cynthia Freeland, Eric Carabell, Dan Graziano, and Tyler Fulgham.

2:58That rounds out the top ten. Adam Rank, Kiana Martin, Tristan Cockcroft.

3:01Our producers, Christina and Zach. Joe Fortenbaugh is at 15, Kevin Pulsifer.

3:05Our guy from chat, Eric Moody. Follow him in chat at Eric and Moody.

3:09By the way, big news about Eric Moody. Coming up on tomorrow's show, something very exciting we're going to launch.

3:14And then our friend Liz Loza pulling up the rear field.

3:17You are the number one pick in our knockout league.

3:20We're not going to waste any more time. Let's get into it, baby.

3:24Nobody will be surprised. The conversation centers around Jameer Gibbs and Bijon Robinson.

3:28I'm going to go with Jameer Gibbs, who I actually have ranked second.

3:31Second, very simple reason here. Yep. I like Gibbs' matchup more in week one.

3:35That's reason one. Reason two. I have no shares of Jameer Gibbs so far this year because this is the first time I've gotten the first pick.

3:43There you go. So I now have Jameer Gibbs on at least one of my teams.

3:47There we go. Love that. By the way, one thing I want to note about Michael Florio's pick in six is it's

3:53not Michael Florio from Pro Football Talk. This is Michael F.

3:57Florio, fantasy expert from the NFL Network, who will be involved in this league, excited about this.

4:01No surprises to the first three picks. Gibbs, Bijon, Jamar Chase.

4:04I feel like I'm going to go with JSN.

4:07I'm still just a little bit worried that in a knockout league there is a chance that maybe something happens late with Puka.

4:13Totally. You draft him there and it's just a little bit more of a dice roll.

4:18I'm going to go with JSN there. The good news is we're eight days away from the Rams and Niners game and

4:24nothing has happened yet with Puka, but that's not a guarantee that nothing won't happen.

4:28All right. Mike is on the clock. I'm on the clock and I'm going Christian McCaffrey.

4:33I like the much like you. Looking at the early schedules here, looks pretty attractive to me, at least on the good

4:39side for McCaffrey, which is actually not the case for someone like Bijon Robinson, who has kind of a tricky schedule out of the gate.

4:46Jamar Chase as well. We're not really worried about Jamar Chase, but tough schedule to start the season.

4:51So definitely looking at things like that. I like your Gibbs pick.

4:55I agree with that. I already like him. Number one, not to mention with Isaiah Pacheco on IR.

5:00I mean, I mean, he gives me 80% of the snaps.

5:03Yes. I mean, Jalen Saylor, maybe they do sign Kareem Hunt and he is a little bit of a role.

5:08Yeah. I mean, he's there too. I mean, that's how down this is.

5:12He's going to have to play a lot. Not even Mike knows the first name of their backup.

5:17Is there a chance that Craig Reynolds, pride of Cuts Town University comes back and does I don't know if he went to a practice.

5:24He did. I think he signed for a week or two and then he was cut loose.

5:29Maybe the commanders. All right. Yesterday's CMC conversation was great.

5:32We heard it from a lot of people on social media on both sides of that.

5:36Go check it out in case you haven't seen it.

5:39First six picks that we've got so far. Jameer Gibbs, Bajon Robertson, Jamar Chase, JSN, Christian McCaffrey and Amon Ross St.

5:45Brown. You know, the one thing I noticed about this is two Detroit Lions have gone inside the top six guys.

5:51Yeah. Deservedly. They're the best team in the NFL.

5:53More Lions talk throughout the week. No surprises here though.

5:56Right. So again, just for those that you listened to what Daniel said about knockout leagues, but there is an element of

6:02obviously reaching for the stars while also finding a way to have the highest floor baked in with your star potential.

6:08Right. Which is why Puka, who has as much upside as any player in all fantasy football is still on the board

6:14because if you don't have them for even a week.

6:17Yep. And this is an 18 team league. Yep.

6:20If you're picking third, you don't pick again until 34th.

6:23Your most valuable player on your team in week one might be like Javante Williams.

6:27Yeah. Who's a good player, but he's not the guy that I think is going to get you 30 points in week one.

6:33Whereas Puka, if he plays, could well get you 30 points in week one.

6:37Yeah. The other thing that's going to be in player, I think is, and it hasn't happened yet.

6:42Puka goes seven, by the way, to Cynthia Freeland.

6:45There's a chance that we see quarterbacks go much earlier in this format than they do in a regular league.

6:50Except for maybe the number one quarterback in the game.

6:53I was going to say. That's been the one thing that I've given out as advice and you have too, Mike, and we've talked about this.

7:01Josh Allen, Field, you gave the stat. Last year, Josh Allen, when he played the Houston Texans, how many fantasy points did he score the last time?

7:08I think it was 8.1. 8.1 fantasy points. And that's who Josh Allen gets in week one.

7:13But Drake May, Joe Burrow, Trevor Lawrence. It's tough.

7:15Yep. Out of the gate this year. Drake May gets to Seahawks in week one.

7:20But yeah. By the way, week one rankings will be available, I believe, by the end of this week.

7:25Yes, they will. And yeah, that made the... Mike and I's already in.

7:29Are yours in yet? Mine are in. Yep. Okay.

7:31Got them in this morning. Okay. Rare. I mean, it was rare.

7:35Like this morning, it was disarming. All three of my kids slept until seven o'clock.

7:39Wow. And I'm normally... Like my body clock is like a 6 a.m.

7:42type of guy. And I'm not the kind of person that if my kids are all asleep, I'll stay down.

7:48I was like, let me go get a cup of coffee and enjoy some normalcy for an hour.

7:53It was somehow the longest hour of my life.

7:56It was amazing. I felt like I had a full day before my kids woke up and I got my week one rankings done.

8:02Good for you. I drafted Christian McCaffrey in eight leagues.

8:05Wow. Wow. That's a different one. Field, different one.

8:08I'm saying this to be a little bit of a smart guy, but also it's also for real.

8:13My week 18 projections are in. As in we have weekly projections in there.

8:17Wow. Year round basically now. Last year. Starting last year.

8:20You can see projections in advance for every week of the season already.

8:23If you want to go ahead and just take a look at what things look like.

8:28Love that. Obviously, things will change every week. They're always being tuned and tweaked, but it's a good kind of way to

8:34look ahead and kind of get a feel for things like that.

8:37If you want to look ahead. They used to all be zeros after the upcoming week.

8:42Now they're all there. So it's just part of the offering here at ESPN.

8:46And they're there. I mean, they've been there since before the draft.

8:49I mean, the initial run of projections. All right.

8:52So we've made it through 13 picks. And just to keep things rolling, Daniel.

8:56Jonathan Taylor after Puka. And then what? Then we went CeeDee Lamb to Dan Graziano.

9:00James Cook comes off the board. Justin Jefferson. Saquon Barkley.

9:03And Trey McBride, the first tight end, goes to Tristan H.

9:06Cockroft. Question for you guys. Do you feel like, because I know where I stand on this.

9:10Do you feel like the positional advantage that you're gaining at tight end matters as much in knockout leagues as it would in a regular league?

9:18I think what's interesting is if your plan is to win the league, which is usually your plan, right?

9:23Is that your plan? That's my plan. Let's just go from that premise, Mike.

9:27That is the plan of what we're doing. But in that case, when you get to the end, you want to make

9:33sure you have a top two tight end and a couple top five running backs.

9:37So getting McBride at least locks you in if you make that run to the end to have one of those elite guys.

9:44You don't want to every week be rolling out Kyle Pitts.

9:47Just being set there and not having to bid on tight ends at all, even if Brock Bowers becomes available necessarily.

9:53So I think there's some strategy to that. So I feel you on that, Mike.

9:57I do. I do feel you on that. I also think that there is something like you got to get to the

10:03halfway point because the beauty of the knockout league is not just like it's an every week strategy.

10:08It's that a team that comes out of the gates piping hot can week six just fall flat on its face, either

10:15because of bye weeks or I think we should do this more often.

10:18I want to put this in the ear of the viewers and listeners of the show.

10:23I'd love to start a thing where we do each week the best worst fantasy league, best worst fantasy team of the

10:29week where you submit your submission where you're like, I started Josh Allen, Ashton Gentty, Chase Brown, George Pickens, Terry McLaurin, Colston

10:35Loveland, the Chargers defense and Cameron Dicker. And I scored 41 points.

10:39Yeah, happens every week. So we need that to keep that in your brain.

10:42If you're listening right now, the best worst fantasy team of the week or the worst best fantasy team of the week.

10:49Just to answer the original question of do I feel the need to go out and get a tight end?

10:54Yes. Because of what makes this format so different field, a superstar tight end very well may become available on the waiver wire.

11:01So if I am in the draft and I feel like, boy, I really want to make sure I grab one of my tight ends.

11:08I'm not worried about it as much as I am in other leagues because there is still a chance if I don't

11:14get him in the fourth round, there's a chance I get him in week six.

11:18Which is such a weird thing to say. Yeah, but you can say that about every position.

11:23You can say that about Josh Allen, you can say that about Jameer Gibbs, you can say that about Jamar Chase, right?

11:29Yep. I just think kind of locking, if you lock in McBride or Bowers, you don't have to think about tight end

11:35the rest of the year as long as you're active.

11:38You don't have to spend the money like everyone else is going to bid on one of those guys.

11:43To be able to get him. You can just kind of home in on those other positions.

11:48So I don't know. There could be something to it.

11:51I guess you could say that about every position too.

11:54But there's just, feels like something about you have to get the elite guys at the position.

11:59You have to figure out how to get the elite guys at every single position by the end, basically.

12:04And that's one way to just do it. Just lock in that one spot and then focus on the others.

12:10It does. Now that I've, in thinking through that as you're talking, Mike, it does feel like given what knockout formats are

12:16and the fact that you're, we're specifically kind of talking about island positions.

12:20It will be a lot harder to get island positions on the waiver wire because there are just fewer options than them.

12:26So now that you say that, even though I still don't feel the need to reach because things do come available.

12:32But I definitely like, I get the premise of let's make sure we grab our guys so that we don't have to

12:38fight with 17 other, 15 other teams to be able to grab them off the waiver wire.

12:43A couple of interesting things that have taken place since we last spoke is Josh Allen's off the board.

12:48Josh Allen goes second round, fifth pick, Christina and Zach deciding to land the best quarterback in fantasy.

12:53What's really interesting about Josh Allen though, for knockout leagues, as Daniel said, who's he playing week one?

12:58Houston Texans. And how's that matchup look? Very hard.

13:01Four. Perhaps the hardest. I think I have him, I think seventh in my quarterback rankings for week one.

13:06Yeah. And it's going to be one of those where get used to this phrase because it's going to happen a lot.

13:12The ranking doesn't really matter. It's are you playing the player or not?

13:16Right. That comes up early in the season. Like it doesn't really matter whether you have Josh Allen ranked first or eighth.

13:22Yep. It's are you starting him against Houston or are you not?

13:25Let's say that you've got Josh Allen and Tyler Shuck who's taken on the Detroit Lions injured secondary and how it looks

13:32like, are you like, do you maybe want to throw a shot at a weaker defense, but not as good of a quarterback?

13:38I don't know. That's a great question. I'm going to quickly catch us up here guys while we go through the rest of this.

13:45We're getting back close to the clock. Yeah. Mike, you're on the clock here in five picks here in the second round.

13:51Since we talked about it, Trey McBride came off the board with the 13th pick of the first round.

13:56After that, Omari and Hampton, De'Von Achane, Brock Bowers, Chase Brown, Kenneth Walker, the third and Derrick Henry.

14:01Those two picks were Liz's picks at the turn.

14:04So Liz went running back, running back here at the turn with KW three and Derrick Henry.

14:09The rest of the second round, AJ Brown, Nico Collins, George Pickens, Josh Allen, Drake London, Ashton Gentty, Chris Olave, then Brees

14:15Hall, Zay Flowers and Javante Williams to Eric Carabal.

14:17We now have Cynthia Freeland on the clock, Michael F.

14:20Florio on deck and Michael Lester Clay Jr. in the hole.

14:23By the way, Ashton Gentty was really interesting. Coming off the board?

14:27Yeah. It's looking promising for week one, but it's not a sure thing.

14:30Let's go through some of the quotes recently. There was one.

14:33I saw this. Sorry. I think the more while you look that up, I think the more concerning thing for him where

14:40he's being drafted is the fact that Mike Washington Jr.

14:42looks awesome and there's a lot of chatter about him having a bigger role than maybe we thought this year.

14:48Along those lines, Mike dove into one of the quotes that I was going to mention to you, which is GM John

14:54Spitek for the Raiders spoke yesterday and said that Ashton Gentty, quote, I expect him to be back as quick as he

15:00can, maybe quicker than some people would expect. When that is, we'll see.

15:04So definitely some vague GM speak involved there. A little bit.

15:07Perhaps a chance he is back in week one.

15:10He also noted that the person who stumped for Mike Washington Jr.

15:13for the Raiders in their draft room was Clint Kubiak.

15:16And when Clint Kubiak, the head coach, stumps for a player, it does not mean that that player is going to be

15:22sitting around collecting dust on the side. Wow. I need to say this really quickly.

15:26Second round, 30-second pick overall. Mike decides rather than take his plant my flag guy, Jeremiah Love goes with Rashi Rice.

15:32There's a reason Love is still available, and that reason is that he's questionable for week one.

15:37We don't know if he's going to play, and even if he does, how much will he play in week one is the question.

15:44So still very optimistic about this season. I've been over this.

15:47I do expect a slow start. That's notable, obviously, here in a knockout format where you have a bad week one.

15:53And there's so many teams. There's 18 teams. Like, your depth is short here.

15:57So if he doesn't play in week one, that could burn you pretty bad.

16:01And there he goes. He gone. Wow, who did that?

16:03Who got those onions? Wow, it's like you were not listening when I was talking.

16:08Oh, gosh. I guess I wasn't listening to Mike when he was talking.

16:11Sorry about that. Here's the thing. Mike, it's still a tier thing for me.

16:15Look at the running backs available after Jeremiah Love at this point for me.

16:19Bucky Irving, Basial Tootin, Cam Scadaboo, David Montgomery, Quinchan Judkins.

16:22I recognize the week one. All guys you're not going to be able to start if he doesn't play in week one.

16:28Okay. So when you have Kyle Monungay in there filling in.

16:31I just found myself in a pickle, by the way.

16:34And Daniel, to a degree, Mike, a little bit less so, which is, so picking first obviously means that you pick last

16:40in the second round, first in the third, and you've got to wait a long time.

16:45Yep. My first pick, as you guys know, was Jameer Gibbs.

16:48At some point, this running back crop is going to dry out.

16:51But do I reach, and I mean reach, reach, for running back at pick 36 or 37 when the best available in

16:57our knockout rankings, the likes of Bucky Irving, Mitchell Tootin, Cam Scadaboo, David Montgomery, Quinchan Judkins.

17:02Or do you just keep on stockpiling these premier wide receivers?

17:05So I ended up drafting Teddero McMillan and Devontae Smith and said, let me go for the top wide receivers over the running back.

17:12And I think that one of the realities of Jameer Gibbs or having a top pick affords you is that you're kind

17:18of baking in like a, you know, 20 to 25 point outcome for your number one pick.

17:23You have a bit more security. Like whoever drafted 18th in this exercise took Kenneth Walker III.

17:28Liz got him. Walker, he's going to have a great year.

17:31We're very optimistic about Kenneth Walker III. But if he goes for 12 against the Broncos in week one, that would be

17:37much less surprising than if Jameer Gibbs goes for 12 in week one against the Saints.

17:41Yes. Agree with that. Alrighty. Agree with that field.

17:44Oh, Mike, you're back on the clock. All right.

17:46So I'm going to quickly recap while we do this.

17:49Yeah, keep going. We ended up coming off the board.

17:52We finished with Brees Hall, Zay Flowers, Javante Williams, Cynthia took Travis A.

17:56Chan, Kyron Williams, Rashi Rice by Mike in the second round.

17:59I took Jeremiah Love, then DeAndre Swift, Colston Loveland, and Teddero McMillan, who you took field.

18:03You talked about that. Third round so far, Devontae Smith.

18:06Producer Presley took Lad McConkie. I was really hoping he was going to make it to me.

18:11Matt Bowen took Garrett Wilson. I took Tyler Warren.

18:13And Mike goes with the running back, Quinchon Judkins.

18:16Going to get that second running back, Quinchon Judkins.

18:18I expect him to get off to a better start to the season than Jeremiah Love.

18:23And I like him this year. I've drafted him a lot.

18:26Also, I think we have a big drop in tier here at the running back position.

18:31I did think about Tyler Warren. One of my concerns there was early in the year.

18:35They opened with Baltimore, Kansas City, and Houston, which is going to be a really, really tough slate for that Colts.

18:41Can I use that as a jumping off point to a thing I've seen around the NFL?

18:46I don't know if this was intentional or not.

18:48I don't know if it's just reflective of general strength of the NFL right now.

18:52So many of the teams that we think are going to be really good this year have ridiculous early season schedules.

18:58Let me go read the Rams. People probably know this by now.

19:02I was just going to say that. I said so many.

19:05I didn't say all of them. I was just going to say that.

19:08The Rams, in their first five games, put the 49ers, Giants, Broncos, Eagles, both on the road, and then the Bills.

19:14That Bills game is Monday night football. Lots and lots of prime time for the Rams early.

19:19No surprise there. The Jaguars, a trendy pick to make an even further step from last year.

19:24In their first six games, Browns week one, that feels winnable, obviously.

19:27At Denver, home to the Patriots. At Cincinnati, who I think will be much better this year.

19:32Oh yeah, agreed. Home to the Eagles. Home to the Texans.

19:35Like, that's a tough schedule right there as well.

19:38The Patriots, who of course last year took advantage of a great schedule.

19:41At Seattle. Home to Pittsburgh. At Jacksonville. At Buffalo in their first four games.

19:45Like, this is going to be a fascinating start for so many teams who are banking on progress from last year.

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20:44As you know, managing maintenance, repair, and operations is never easy.

20:47But for the ones who always rise to the challenge, Grainger has your back.

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21:00And because Grainger knows safety is always a priority, they're committed to being your partner in protecting both your people and your facilities.

21:07Call 1-800-GRAINGER, click grainger.com, or just stop by. Quick update on the draft, guys.

21:11As the seventh pick of the third round, Cynthia Freeland goes with quarterback Bo Nix with Lamar Jackson, Drake May, and Jaden Daniels still on the board.

21:18Is this part of that early season schedule where you're trying to look at what someone could be?

21:24They have the Chiefs, right? They do. Yeah, that's a pretty good defense, I think.

21:28I will say the Broncos fall into that category of tough early season schedules.

21:32Take a look at theirs, all right? Like, they might have the toughest six-game schedule, and I'm not talking for fantasy, just just real life.

21:39Real life. With some fantasy, actually, for sure, some tough fantasy matches.

21:42Some of them overlap, yeah. How about this for Denver?

21:45At Kansas City, week one, Monday Night Football. Home to the Jags.

21:48Home to the Rams. At San Francisco. At Los Angeles.

21:51Home to Seattle. Yeah, that's a tough one. How about that for six games to start?

21:56There are a lot of teams that have this.

21:58Yeah. Pretty crazy, I think. Yeah, Lamar Jackson. Nick's going before Jackson.

22:01It's a surprise. Guys, Jackson, I feel like, of the top quarterbacks, let's say the top seven or eight quarterbacks, what are

22:08the easier schedules to open the season from a fantasy standpoint?

22:11So, I think that's a fine enough pick here.

22:13Definitely surprised Nick's went ahead of him, but... This is why, also...

22:17I like Bo Nix, though. It's your team. That's right.

22:19You're just trying to be able to make it to this.

22:23This format is so different than the other one because it really is a weekly format.

22:27I mean, it is just like, I need to just survive this week.

22:31And if Bo does struggle in week one against Kansas City, there are pivot options, right?

22:35Absolutely. Somebody starting quarterback is going to be put into the waiver wire.

22:39There might be quarterbacks that are also available on the waiver wire that surprise us.

22:43We can say this, too, just to make sure that everyone recognizes.

22:46The starting lineup for this is quarterback, two running backs, two wide receivers, a tight end, and a flex.

22:52And then we only have four bench spots because we have 18 teams in the league.

22:56So, we're trying to not completely deplete the player pool as a part of this.

23:01Yeah. It's going pretty status quo, too. Like a normal league, my top four tight ends are gone.

23:06Exactly my top 21 running backs are gone. And of my top 22 receivers, 20 are gone.

23:10The exceptions are Malik Neighbors and Devontae Adams. Neighbors being the obvious one.

23:14But if he's limited in week one, obviously you don't want to be starting him.

23:18The quarterback is the one where it's kind of all over the map.

23:22Allen went, Jackson went, and then, of course, Bo Nix.

23:25That's it so far at quarterback. And there goes Adams.

23:28So, there we go. There we go, guys. Adams and Jalen Waddle off the boards.

23:32So, now we have, okay, so there it is.

23:3423 of my top 24, the only exception. Malik Neighbors.

23:37And your favorite wide receiver in the draft so far this year, Luther Burden.

23:41And third comes off the board to our buddy Pulse.

23:44Hey, hey. All right, quick recap then for those listening since Bo Nix.

23:48It was Emeka Abuka, Bucky Irving, Roma Dunze, Lamar Jackson, Tee Higgins, Terry McLaurin, Devontae Adams, Jalen Waddle, and then Luther Burden III to Pulse's Chop House.

23:55It's so long to wait between picks when you're picking first.

23:58I know. In an 18-team league. I think I made my last pick during Monday's show.

24:03It feels like it. Yeah, it's hard to watch all of these options drying up.

24:07It is. Gosh. Our starting lineups you're going to look at compared to all the other, when we're doing 10 and 12

24:13team leagues, and we're going to be like, oh man, this team's in trouble.

24:17This is a problem. Well, let's take a look at the running back position right now.

24:22We are still not out of the third round.

24:24And again, our running backs available on the board.

24:27Basial Tootin, Jalen Warren, Jadarian Price, Marshawn Lloyd, Tony Pollard, Rico Dowdle.

24:30Yeah. Hey, I like the pick that Moody just made.

24:33David Montgomery. Love the schedule. Early, out of the gate.

24:36Yes, agreed. As far as running backs, or as far as offenses go, they have a really nice schedule.

24:41Who do they have after the Bills in week one?

24:44Do you have a... The Bills, first of all, the defense is, this is not a Sean McDermott defense anymore.

24:49We should point that out. This is a very advantageous matchup.

24:53After that, let's see, we have Buffalo. Then they have Cincinnati, who I'm not, you know, they're a little, they're not as

24:59bad as they were, but it's still a good matchup, I would say.

25:02And then they have Indianapolis. Dallas should be better, but that's manageable.

25:06And then the Titans, and then the Jags, who I don't think are that great.

25:10And then the Giants before they're by. I mean, that whole first half of the season is very interesting from a fantasy standpoint.

25:16Jack's defense is an interesting one. I've seen them get some love.

25:20I think they may have feasted on a couple of things last year.

25:23Some insane turnover production, which is just hard to recreate year to year.

25:27And not the most difficult schedule for opposing quarterbacks.

25:30Yeah. And they also have the best, perhaps the best week one matchup at home against Cleveland.

25:34So you're going to see them drafted quite a bit.

25:37Since you had David Montgomery come off the board, who Mike talked about, we had Drake May and then Cortland Sutton.

25:43Both of those to Liz Loza. So Liz at the turn going with a quarterback and a wide receiver there.

25:49Malik Neighbors, round four, second pick to our guy, Eric Moody.

25:52This is one of the big question marks because of his week one availability.

25:56And we talked about that earlier this week, guys.

25:58We are hawking the Twitter feed of Jordan Renan for the next 10 days.

26:02Yep. Because I thought this was gamesmanship. Yesterday I talked about how, like, yeah, you know, you can't let the Cowboys think you're going to play.

26:10Right. We're 10 days away or 11 days away from the game.

26:13Made a lot of sense. You're like, hey, early on, just get some excitement around everything.

26:17Yeah, the fans are excited. Absolutely. By the way, we're all excited.

26:21Like, John Harbaugh's pumped to be back at camp.

26:23Yep. Down in West Virginia at the, what's it called?

26:26The, um, shoot. What's the place they all do it in West Virginia?

26:30Oh, I don't know. It's a really cool place where they do a lot of training camps there.

26:35I'm so embarrassed. I don't know this right now.

26:37Come on, man. The conference center? The fall, uh, we're talking about the Greenbrier?

26:41Thank you. Yes. The Greenbrier looks awesome. I want to go play golf there one day.

26:46No one cares. All right. I want to go play golfing with me than it does right now.

26:51I will care about you golfing to the Greenbrier when you tell me what breaking news Adam Schefter is going to do

26:57from the seventh hole while you guys are playing.

27:00Okay. That's what, that's what matters to me. I can do that.

27:03I can work on that. I'm trying to think who's eligible for a contract right now.

27:08On the board with, oh, hopefully it's a league neighbors will be a full go in week one.

27:13That's what we want to hear. Basial Tootin comes off the board at the fourth round, as well as Michael Pittman Jr., Jadarian Price, and Marshawn Lloyd.

27:20There's a spicy one. Yep. Yep. That's, uh. Tristan H.

27:23Cockroft. That's a classic knockout. That's a running back.

27:26Yeah. That's a classic knockout pick there too, right?

27:28Yeah. Josh Jacobs probably going to miss some time.

27:31Could miss a lot of time. Yep. Could be, I mean, Josh Jacobs could be done with the Packers.

27:36Yeah. We have no idea. There are a lot of different ways that that one could go.

27:41Yep. There we go. All right. I agree with that.

27:44There we go. Addison took Jalen Hurts, and I've been talking about this all off.

27:48Well, not all off season. No, that was Keanu.

27:50When the schedule came out. Yes. The Eagles have the easiest fantasy schedule during the regular season.

27:55Yeah. And the hardest during the fantasy playoffs. But, again, you could feast on Eagles for the first few months of the season.

28:02Use them a lot, I should say. And then you won't eat them by the time the fantasy.

28:07If you're still alive. It would be weird to feast on an Eagle.

28:10It's against the law. It's a federal crime. Just in case anyone was wondering.

28:14Don't do that. Mike, as always, giving out bad advice on the show, guys.

28:18Are Eagles federally protected? I actually know. Bald Eagles are.

28:21Bald Eagles are, yes. Are you familiar with the chimney swift?

28:24I am. Yeah. Yeah. Chimney swifts, it turns out, are federally protected.

28:27Apparently, chimney swifts are small birds that perch. Yes.

28:30So they have to go into, like, hollow locations.

28:32I know all this, and I know that they're federally protected because we had, like, a whole pack of them fly into

28:39our chimney in the middle of July, and they were there for a month.

28:43You can't do anything about it. You just have to let them be.

28:46They have to let them, they have to find their way out of there naturally.

28:50And I'm telling you, for a month straight, like every 90 minutes, these birds would flutter and make noise, and that wasn't ideal.

28:57It wasn't ideal? It was not ideal. That sounds idyllic is what it sounds like.

29:01You just wake up to the sound of birds right outside your window?

29:05You and I have a different definition of idyllic is what I would say.

29:09You've got three unbelievable, tiny, cute little daughters, and it's just like, it sounds like a princess scenario in your home.

29:15Sure, yeah. I don't think my wife and I are quite as pleased.

29:18That's not how it works that way? Okay, all right.

29:21Well, I understand that. Interesting pick that was just made right now, and we haven't really talked about this one very much.

29:27Yep. Dan Graziano took Ramondre Stevenson with the 10th pick of the 4th round.

29:31Not that I'm super intrigued by Ramondre, but Patriots are eight days away from playing.

29:35Yeah. Travion Henderson wasn't practicing yesterday. Still, because of that ankle injury.

29:39So Ramondre could have more value in a knockout league as a result of Travion still nursing that.

29:44Long ways to go by next week in some ways, but also close enough.

29:48And we already think Ramondre is going to be the guy in this backfield, the leader of this backfield.

29:53Maybe not the guy meaning 80% of the snaps, but again, knockout strategy.

29:57A little bit different than typical strategy. Know that about it?

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31:04And I just made a knockout decision here, looking at guys like Carnell Tate, Marvin Harrison, DK Metcalf, Alec Pierce.

31:09I want Metcalf. Like the schedule. Out of the gate.

31:12Tate's obviously some uncertainty as he builds some chemistry there with his new quarterback.

31:16Harrison, tougher schedule. Pierce obviously may not be a full go.

31:19My team is on the screen. Here's how we started.

31:22Christian McCaffrey and Quinchon Judkins at running back, Rasheed Rice, and DK Metcalf at wide receiver.

31:27Four picks in. We're rolling. We are rolling along.

31:29We are at the end of the fourth round in just a couple of picks.

31:33I totally bled the entirety of that clock there, guys.

31:36I was having a hard time in trying to make a decision between which of these wide receivers did I want.

31:42Carnell Tate, who I'm more excited about for the longevity of the season.

31:46Yep. Or Wandell Robinson as the potential. Like, do I just think that he might have a safer floor in this week one situation?

31:52There we go. I like that thought. I like that thought process because I just followed your lead there, Daniel.

31:58I went, I thought my first three picks were all guys that I think have tons of upside.

32:03Yep. Camille Gibbs, duh. Devontae Smith and Ted O'Reilly McMillan.

32:06Yep. That left me with a gap at both tight end and running back.

32:10And we have reached the point where upside is much harder to find at those two spots.

32:15Correct. So I just, I figured, you know what?

32:17I like Travis Kelsey earlier in the season than later in the season.

32:21He's like my age. And Tony Pollard, same deal.

32:23So my team as it takes, again, picking from the one hole.

32:27Jameer Gibbs as my RB1. Tony Pollard, Ted O'Reilly McMillan, Devontae Smith.

32:30Travis Kelsey is my tight end. So I still need a quarterback and a flex for my starting lineup before we get to our four bench spots.

32:38A couple philosophical questions for you guys. Yeah. Okay.

32:40Because it's the, you know, it's because it does matter.

32:43Like week one, every week is consequential. Are you more likely to fill out your entire starting lineup before you get to the bench or no?

32:50Great question. Because this is the kind of thing where your starting lineup is actually what matters.

32:55Not like bolstering your bench. You can bolster your bench all season long.

32:59I can't tell you how often I see people in season long, regular drafts.

33:03Yes. Fill out the starting lineup. And I'm like, it's really fine if you don't draft.

33:07It's okay if you don't. Yeah. Do you guys feel that's different in a knockout league, especially a knockout league with no kicker or defense?

33:14One million percent. I'm sort of going to answer your question here because I am going to take a tight end to help fill out.

33:21I know there's a little risk on this one, but I'm looking, I don't want to take another Brown because I have

33:28Quinchon Judkins and I don't want to be that reliant on a week one dud and then it's a mess.

33:33So I'm actually going to take a little bit of a risk here with Sam Laporta.

33:38I hope he's healthy and ready to go. What I really, why I think it's worthwhile is the Lions maybe have the

33:44most attractive fantasy schedule out of the gate. Certainly have a great schedule as a team this year.

33:49The easiest in the NFL, the fantasy schedule the first month and throughout most of the season is extremely attractive.

33:55So I'm going to expect them to score a lot of points.

33:58Laporta in the tight end slot. I'd like to say this right now, Michael F.

34:02Florio with my favorite pick of the fifth round so far.

34:05If there was ever a time where I would be in on Christian Watson, it would be in the first week of

34:11a knockout league because I don't have to worry about the whole season long.

34:15I can use him until I need to not use him anymore.

34:19Right, right. I actually think he has a little bit more value in this, by the way, in week one.

34:24So second question, I want to keep talking about, we'll keep talking about the picks, of course, but I want to discuss strategy here as well.

34:32No matter who gets knocked out in week one, there's going to be a high profile player.

34:36Unless that player is hurt, you're going to have, I mean, just read the names of the very top.

34:42Gibbs, Robinson, Jamar, Amonron, McCaffrey, Nakua, Taylor, Lamb, Cook, Jefferson, Saquon.

34:45How do you guys approach the fab process each week in knockout leagues?

34:49Yeah. How aggressive are you right out the gate?

34:51Is it? Yes. Are you the kind of person that, because I remember we played in a knockout league together, I think all of us.

34:58And last year, Eric Moody, I believe Christian McCaffrey's team got knocked out in week one.

35:03Person who had Christian McCaffrey. And I think Moody spent it all.

35:06On CMC? Or a healthy dose of it. And he had a great team.

35:10And it worked out. Big run. I think he may have won the league, actually.

35:14But obviously, if you do that, you are left to pick up just scraps from there on out.

35:19Do you guys generally lean aggressive? Do you generally lean towards patience?

35:23Because you could say, like, yeah, my team, I barely scraped by in week one.

35:27I need to spend big for week two. Or you had a tough week one.

35:31And your team was just unlucky. And, like, your team actually isn't that bad.

35:35So I've got two thoughts. Mike, I'd love to know where you're at on this, too, obviously.

35:40I don't, but we might love it. I see when we see you as alive after.

35:44I could still knock you both out on week one, right?

35:47Did we just do that? Yes, that's true. I wasn't listening.

35:50I heard your voice on the rules thing. I wasn't listening.

35:54You weren't paying attention. Yeah, yeah. I think that for me, I don't necessarily go big right out the gate.

35:59There's a little bit of a, first off, it's so difficult in a league with a thousand dollar fab budget.

36:05And you have no idea what everyone else is going to think.

36:08Someone could come available and you bid $17 and someone else bid $634.

36:12Yes, that's my favorite thing. Because we have no idea what people are doing when they're valuing, like, this is what I need to get this guy, right?

36:20Can you correct me? Is the other one of you know this?

36:23If Keith, I think Keith is listening or watching, probably knows the answer to this.

36:27I believe the waiver report is revealed each week.

36:30Yes. It's obviously new to ESPN, this format. I believe that as well, based on what I've been.

36:35Hey, let's just say, I'm just making this up.

36:37The person who has, whatever, who has Jeremiah Love.

36:40Sorry, Daniel. Yikes. Loses in week one. And Mike wins Jeremiah Love for $278.

36:44We'll be able to, you'll see. You'll see who the number two.

36:47Yield bid $200. Liz bid $150. Adam Rank bid $100.

36:50Mike had the highest bid at $278. So, yes, he won.

36:53He may have, quote unquote, overspent, but only by $78, which in the first week, it's hard to say that $78 too much is really overspending.

37:00Because you just have no idea. I also think the first couple weeks, people might want to be a little bit more

37:07conservative because they don't want to spend it all up front.

37:10Sure. So there's a chance that if you do want to be a little more aggressive, if there is a superstar superstar,

37:16if for some reason, Jameer Gibbs, Bashan Robinson, Puka Nakua, Jamar Chase is available, and you want to go out and be

37:22a little more aggressive, I think it's easier to do earlier on.

37:26Because people don't want to go through and think about not having enough money for the rest of the season.

37:31Yeah. I agree there. Yeah. No doubt about it.

37:34I think it kind of depends who the player is.

37:36Something I don't want to do is continue to spend hundreds of dollars at a time, just getting a little better at

37:43a position when I have the money to make a splash on an elite player.

37:47To my point before, when you get to the championship, you want to have the best guy at the position.

37:53Elite. So if Gibbs, Robinson, CMC, Chase Nakua, JSN, Josh Allen, McBride, Bowers become available, that's where I'm looking hard at.

37:58I think. Everyone has value, but those guys are special level.

38:02My goal is, and this is like threading a needle, obviously you want to be one of the top scoring teams just because it's safest.

38:09But if I can just be in the middle to like bottom third, but still not be the worst and save as

38:15much money as possible, if you can have a bunch of fab by the time that you get to the middle of

38:21the season, the guys that start to get dropped in the middle of the seasons, those teams are more stacked than the

38:27teams at the beginning of the season. My, uh, finish if you have a thought, I was going to change subjects.

38:33I just love the idea of something interesting happening.

38:36Being able to just think about grabbing someone and waiting in the middle of the, you know, you get to week eight

38:42and now all of a sudden the team that gets dropped has six actual superstars on it.

38:47Not a team from week one or week two.

38:49It's tough because their strategy is really all over the place.

38:52I'm not sure there is like one specific thing you can do.

38:56There's just a lot of nuances with the way that you can approach all of these situations.

39:00Yeah, no doubt about it. Um, what I wanted to be subject.

39:04Yeah. Subject change here is the quarterback situation here in this round, early in the round.

39:08Matt Bowen takes Joe Burrow later in the round, the guy I was targeting, but I was uncertain if he would get back to me.

39:15It's a lot of quarterback depth. I was okay waiting, but Tristan Cockroft, no surprise on top of things here.

39:21Get your guy, Justin Herbert. Wow. You're waiting. Early season schedule.

39:24Cincinnati, Tampa Bay in week one. I think they're gonna be better defensively, but that's fine.

39:28But then at Houston, at Pittsburgh for Joe Burrow.

39:31But on the other side, Justin Herbert opens with Arizona at home, Raiders at home.

39:35And then at Buffalo, who I said I still believe is going to be a really good matchup this year for quarterbacks.

39:41So the schedule, again, I think Herbert is the best weeks one, two, three schedule in the league.

39:46So fascinating that Burrow goes before Justin Herbert. This is more of a real life than a fantasy conversation.

39:52But have you guys seen this? Everybody's tweeting about this now.

39:55The stretch that the Chargers have starting in week three schedule-wise.

39:58Again, real life factors here. Real life. At Buffalo.

40:01Yep. At Seattle. Yep. Home to the Broncos. At the Chiefs.

40:04At the Rams. I mean, technically a road game, but literally the same stadium.

40:08Home to the Texans. At Baltimore. That's six straight games.

40:10They play home to the Jets and then home to the Patriots.

40:14Wow. And something to keep in mind there. Remember, after week three, you might not need Herbert anymore.

40:19You might be able to scoop someone up. You might get Bo Nix off waivers.

40:23You might get Brock Purdy off waivers. You might get...

40:26So generally, you're not going to be dropping the number one quarterback in fantasy.

40:30But in this format, you don't have to. When he's going to Seattle or Denver, whoever it may be, you don't have to start him.

40:37You're going to be able to replace these guys as the year goes on.

40:41But the first three weeks, if you could cement yourself as a legit team, that's huge.

40:45Quick recap here of the fifth round that we had.

40:48Field talked about taking Travis Kelsey. After that, Kenny Gainwell.

40:51Joe Burrow. I took Rico Dowdle with the fourth overall pick.

40:54Mike went with Sam Laporta. Then we had Christian Watson.

40:57Harold Fannin Jr. Carnell Tate. Dak Prescott. George Kittle, who did fly to Australia, I believe, Mike.

41:02We talked about that before the show. Not for vacation either.

41:05We don't know that. We don't know that, actually.

41:07You're right. Maybe he did just play to party.

41:10He maybe just had flown there for vacation. He likes to party.

41:13Then Travion Henderson, Chris Godwin Jr., Justin Herbert, Marvin Harrison, Jonathan Brooks, and Josh Downs with Michael Wilson and Matthew Golden.

41:19Rounding out the fifth round to start the sixth to quickly catch us up.

41:23Jawan Johnson. We're in the sixth round, and Jawan Johnson just went at the tight end position.

41:28That's how deep it is when you have an 18-team knockout lead, guys.

41:31I think with Jordan Tyson out for, whatever, we'll say maybe six weeks of the regular season, roughly.

41:36Yeah. By, I believe I said, is week eight, something like that.

41:40Johnson's been viewed as a target right now for the early season.

41:43And in this format, you don't have to start Johnson throughout the whole year, but maybe you take advantage of that.

41:49Smart pick. Schedule early in the year. Coming off a year with career highs across the board for him last year, he was pretty darn good.

41:56So he'll be fine. He was tight end eight.

41:59He's fine. He was tight end eight. Shout out.

42:01Mike says shout out, Liz Loza. Field says it's fine, Liz Loza.

42:05He came out tight end 11. He was drafted.

42:07He was tight end eight last year. Love that.

42:10It's fine. But like, that's the archetype of fantasy football player that like, you don't really get fired up to start that guy on Sunday.

42:17You're not like, yes. I'm explaining why he went ahead of Goddard.

42:20Okay. I'm just saying. Spike Lee. No, no, no.

42:23This is why you're you. You are the machine.

42:25You are the engine. You are the pistons behind the ESPN fantasy operation.

42:29And then people like me are just blabbering. Because it's like, yeah, like it's exciting to start like, you know, Jameer Gibbs.

42:35Yeah. Right. Juwan Johnson is a little different. However, Mike, I appreciate the argument.

42:39Also. You get like 10 points. You're like, all right.

42:42I'm excited about that. You know what? If someone's going to raise an eyebrow who's watching this, I'm going to explain why that may have happened here.

42:50Thank you, Michael. The circumstances are not the same.

42:52You're a man of the people is what you're trying to say here.

42:56That's what it is. Yeah. That's it. People call me.

42:59After that. No one goes to that. After that, we had Juwan Johnson.

43:02Man of the minions. Jackson Dart. Chuba Hubbard. There's so many kids movies.

43:06I've trust me. I watch a lot of minions and such.

43:09Caleb Williams was the fourth pick of the sixth round.

43:12Then Stefan Diggs, J.K. Dobbins, J.K. Ferguson, R.J. Harvey.

43:14Brock Purdy. Another quarterback that just keeps being slept on.

43:17Which one of you had all those Brock Purdy stats?

43:20We're talking about how good he's been over the last couple of years.

43:24Mike, that's you. Top 12 in fantasy points per game.

43:26Three years and running now. I believe it's top 10, actually.

43:29Three years running. Is Brock Purdy. So, yeah. When he's played, he's been effective.

43:33He has missed games at times. But, yeah. He was really good down the stretch last season.

43:38Remember how good he was? 17 plus fantasy points in seven of his nine games.

43:42He had 26 plus in three straight during. 15, 16, 17.

43:4615, 16, 17. Beautiful. Yeah. Top 10 three years in a row in points per game.

43:50So, he's in a good spot. I think he had like 26 and 15.

43:54Like 31 and 16 and 36 and 17 or something like that.

43:57He crushed it. The final three games of the playoffs were unbelievable.

44:01Very pissed because somebody just took my quarterback target.

44:03I was going to look at him, too. Who just took Jared Goff?

44:07Eric Carabell. Damn you, Eric Carabell. Yeah. That is an Eric Carabell pick.

44:11Great pick by Eric Carabell. No surprise. He's always very, very sharp with this quarterback process.

44:15I wanted to mention something. He's in this draft right now.

44:18It's Dan Graziano. If you haven't yet, go on ESPN.com.

44:21And there's a piece that Dan wrote called Graziano's Bold but Realistic Predictions for All 32 NFL Teams.

44:26I don't like this. Don't be surprised if dot, dot, dot.

44:29Yeah, I don't like it. You don't like it?

44:32How come? It says positive things about your squad.

44:34Didn't he say, don't be surprised if Jared Goff gets traded?

44:37The Lions move on from Jared Goff the following season.

44:40Don't be surprised if Jameson Williams. Oh, I was thinking about a different article that he wrote then.

44:45Maybe it's a different article that he wrote. Oh, okay.

44:48His bold prediction was don't be surprised if J-Mo leads the team in receiving.

44:52Ooh. I got to say, though, and I do feel a little bit bad for Graz in a situation like this.

44:58We're in this information and aggregation era now, right?

45:00Where Graz wrote a piece called Bold but Realistic Predictions, right?

45:03I think the bold is the most important part of that conversation.

45:07And like, yeah, he's acknowledging these are bold. Bold to me means probably not super likely.

45:11Exactly. Realistic and super likely are two different things.

45:14Yep. And I've seen aggregators that are like, ESPN's Dan Graziano believes Jameson Williams will lead the Lions in receiving.

45:19That's not what the article was. Do you guys really think Dan Graziano, who's like this incredibly well-respected, educated, smart, talented reporter,

45:26would be like, yeah, you know what's probably going to happen is Jameson Williams will most likely lead the team in receiving.

45:32It's possible. Of course it's possible. Yeah, but the people that write about those articles, that's a bold prediction from Dan, but

45:38the people writing about it, they'll get traffic if they put it that way.

45:42People will click on it. I just wanted to give, I wanted to show some love to him, some sympathy to people

45:48like Graz who get put in this pickle. You're right.

45:51You're right. Hey, we have a bold predictions show coming up.

45:54We do. We sure do. Yeah. We sure do.

45:57I'm going to report Field 8 says that Kyle Juszczyk will lead the 49ers in fantasy points.

46:01Oh, Graz, Graz just texted me, by the way.

46:04I think he and I are aligned on the aggregators, but Graz is the best.

46:08And by the way, you can't repeat what he said.

46:11I'm going to say word for word. Spare Graz that one there.

46:14Fields, you're on the clock back to back here.

46:17While you make your picks, I'm going to quickly recap everyone on what's happened in the sixth round.

46:22We got Jordan Addison off the board of Dan Graziano.

46:25Then EK took Jared Goff, who we talked about.

46:27Mike Evans, Isaiah Likely, Matthew Stafford to Michael Clay NFL.

46:30Then I took Tyler Shuck, Dallas Goddard, Dejon Stribling and Fields.

46:33You went back to back with two quarterbacks, baby.

46:36I did. End of six and beginning of seven.

46:38And I really wanted Jared Goff as my quarterback, like badly.

46:41I'll talk about him on the Bold Prediction show.

46:44No teasers, but they're sort of a teaser right there.

46:47And I ended up with Trevor Lawrence. Trevor Lawrence plays the Browns in week one, which for a long time, that was

46:53considered like a tough matchup for a quarterback. I'm not saying they're a bad defense now, but without Miles Garrett, they definitely

46:59feel like a little less daunting to me. But I wanted to give myself some optionality early in the season because if

47:05I'm not totally certain on T-law based off of the schedule, then at least I have Patrick Mahomes to kind of like

47:11weave my way through the season, whether it's with those two guys as my quarterbacks or until I can accumulate or I

47:18should say acquire a quarterback who's better than either of those guys.

47:21I'm with you on that. Did you already have your flex or does that?

47:25I don't, but the flex options to me, we've reached the point now.

47:29I kind of agree with you. I'm not entirely sure.

47:31We're both looking at the same thing right now.

47:34I'm like, oh no. No, I don't like it.

47:36Are we totally certain that Makai Lemon is better than Jalen Coker or Debo Samuel, right?

47:41Yep. Okay. Okay. Well, I did the same thing the field did.

47:44I went with a second quarterback just in case.

47:47I mean, in part because my first quarterback is Tyler Shuck.

47:50I do like the week one matchup against the Detroit Lions and how banged up that secondary is going to be.

47:56So I think he has a nice week one matchup, but I don't know as though I love him as my only

48:02quarterback for the entirety of a knockout draft. So I would like to be able to have Baker Mayfield.

48:07I do love what Baker potentially brings to the table.

48:10A little bit of that wild card. Daniel, I have a question for you.

48:14Yeah. Think about it. You just mentioned the Lions secondary.

48:17Yeah. If the team still goes 12 and 5, would you be on board with a season in which the Lions have

48:23the highest combined points scored and points allowed by a team in NFL history?

48:27Would I be okay with it? Yes. And we went 12 and 5?

48:31Yes. We made the playoffs? I presume if you go 12 and 5, you're making the playoffs.

48:36Yeah. Okay. Because all I care about is getting in the playoffs.

48:39Once I get to the dance, then you figure it out.

48:42By the way, you would imagine Branch and Walker will be back, I don't know, by midseason.

48:47Worst case, I would imagine. They're back to 100%.

48:49I mean, that's going to make a big difference.

48:52I think their defense is pretty good on paper.

48:54What did I say? Walker. Crazy Walker. Crazy Walker.

48:57Oh, yeah. I think you meant. I knew what you meant, though.

49:00It's not even defense on paper. It's just a matter of getting those star players healthy.

49:05And then, of course, we've been saying that for, what, three years now.

49:08Yeah. We don't care about this, but the sixth rounder that I'm super excited about from last year, Ahmed Hassanin, being able

49:15to come off the edge, it brings a lot of fire.

49:18I'm excited to see what he can do as a pass rusher.

49:21And they loaded up on replacement safeties, too. They did.

49:24I think they're going to be okay. All right.

49:26I'm going to quickly recap again where we're at in the seventh round here.

49:30Field went with Patrick Mahomes for his first pick.

49:33Then Brian Thomas Jr., Jaden Reed. I went with Baker Mayfield.

49:36Mike, you went with Quinton Johnson. Hey, guys, you know how high I've been on Mike McDaniel and the Chargers offense.

49:42That's exactly true. So, yeah, I brought in Quinton Johnson.

49:45Yeah, look, again, I'm trying to take advantage of weeks one, two, three.

49:48The schedule is so appealing. If I can get a couple good games, which we got at him early last year.

49:54Yes, you did. That's going to be huge in this format.

49:57I don't have to start him all season. I keep stressing that, especially in the flex spot.

50:02I'm going to be able to replace that at some point.

50:05It's just funny to me because it's like when you put your money where your mouth is, you agree with me.

50:11When you don't, this is not the same format.

50:14You got to adjust. This is a little different.

50:16You just talked about the schedule after week three.

50:19That's true. It's true. Michael F. Florio after Mike took Quinton Johnston.

50:22He took Jordan Love. Then Cynthia Freeland took Aaron Jones.

50:25EK took Mark Andrews. Then Jordan Mason and Romeo Dobbs.

50:28Next. Did you just say like that on Jordan Mason?

50:31Yeah, I think that's a good pick at this point.

50:33A guy who could potentially get you flex numbers.

50:36It looks like he's going to lead the Vikings backfield.

50:39Certainly in carries and goal line work. There's a lot of chatter about him being the centerpiece there.

50:44So I worry about his passing game usage, which will limit him.

50:47But in this format, we're talking about 30 some running backs off the board already.

50:51And you just got probably the starting running back for Minnesota.

50:54Again, Aaron Jones will play a lot. But Mason, a lot of momentum building there.

50:59And there's not many. Like how many teams potential starting running backs are left?

51:03Washington. Yeah. Maybe. Yes. And end of list. Yes.

51:05That's it. Yeah, that's it. Yeah. Maybe Jacksonville. But yeah, it's it's it is dried up quickly.

51:10So by the way, to answer your earlier question, my starting lineup is filled out.

51:14Oh, I'll bench from here. Hey, why don't we talk?

51:17If we can then, why don't we throw Mike's lineup out there just to be able to see what a full starting lineup looks like?

51:24Barring something new that happens at practice that this will be my week one.

51:28This will be a week one starting lineup. All right.

51:31We'll start out. Start out at the top. Mike can give us your lineup.

51:35Yeah, we're rolling with Matthew Stafford, a little bit tough out of the game with the 49ers, but it clears up then for a couple of weeks.

51:42So I expect a decent game to start for him.

51:45But then running backs, Christian McCaffrey and Quinchon Judkins.

51:48We're going to get a ton of volume out of them.

51:51Rashid Rice. No indications he'll be limited or out in any way for week one.

51:55So I'm happy to take him where I got him.

51:58DK Metcalf. Good with the early schedule there. Quentin Johnson.

52:01Extremely light scheduled open this season. And then we're going to fill it out here with tight end Sam Laporta.

52:06So I think I'm happier with this than I was our draft on Monday, honestly.

52:10And that was a 12-team or so. Are you?

52:13So when you look at this starting lineup, obviously, again, 18-team league.

52:16So it's a little bit thin in certain areas.

52:19First bench spot. Are you most worried about being able to find a second flex just in case?

52:24Are you worried about Sam Laporta maybe not being around week one so you want to target a tight end?

52:30How do you approach? Yeah. I mean, I think it's going to be...

52:33Just give us your strategy right now so we know what you're going to do.

52:37It's such a cop-out. But we'll see who's available.

52:40I mean, it's... Okay. Here's the thing. I'm really far away from picking again.

52:44So this thing could move in a lot of different directions.

52:47But here's the thing. My lineup is... My lineup's filled out.

52:50So I could take some chances now on guys that maybe I don't want to start week one.

52:55But maybe by week two or three, they'll be starting caliber.

52:58In an 18-team league, if you pick fifth, how many...

53:01You're talking about 13 picks between... So are we going like 25, 26 picks between...

53:05That's for Mike. It wasn't a math guy. A little bit more for me.

53:09A little bit more for you. A little bit more, I guess, for me.

53:1335. Here's one of the guys that was on my radar.

53:16Where Christina and Zach just picked Alec Pierce, who would have been...

53:20He kind of stood out way up by... We're aware he's on your radar, Mike.

53:24Yeah. He's a guy that's standing out as best available.

53:27But the problem was, I'm not going to start in week one.

53:30So I wasn't going to touch it. Oh, there's a good pick by Liz right there.

53:35That's right. Mike Washington Jr. Love that. Good one.

53:37Yes. We're down to the last four rounds here.

53:40Any other theory, strategy questions generally that you guys have about...

53:43Or that you guys want to talk about knockout leagues?

53:46Because we're in the seventh round. And the names that we're looking at are gross.

53:50I mean, 18 teams. Yeah. Yes. Right. But that is the point.

53:53If you are going to do an 18-team knockout league, I would just suggest that you kind of refresh your brain on

53:59the names at the bottom of the list. Because we all know the guys at the top.

54:04The top 150 that we've been talking about. But in an 18-team league, and I recognize you may not play them, but

54:10this is also where you could potentially grab some flyer that no one else is going to know is going to turn into something.

54:17So just make sure you refresh your brain on all of the names at the bottom of our player pool in this

54:23league, because you will be tested on them in the draft.

54:26No doubt. We're also going to pick up the pace by shortening up the clock here.

54:31Oh, are we? Yes. Just love that. You know, we're at the point now where these guys all kind of blend together.

54:3730-second picks begin right now. All right. Love that.

54:40We're starting the eighth round. Eighth round. It's already started.

54:42Wow. It's already going fast for Khalil Shakir. TJ Hawkinson, Casey Concepcion, and Greg Dolchich.

54:47Which one do you like, Mike? Concepcion. He was on my radar for the next pick.

54:51I think he's going to be very busy right out of the gate for the Browns.

54:56What I was going to say about knockout leagues is you have to be comfortable, though, especially when you have just four

55:02spots on your bench like we do, which is in part a factor of the 18 teams.

55:07Yep. Is you got to be comfortable with going into the season saying, like, I like the long-term upside of Casey Concepcion.

55:13And then pivoting to potentially dropping him after two weeks.

55:16Yes. Yeah. It's just a reality, right? Like, if he's not making the cut and he's got seven targets through two games

55:22and you really need or you really want to prioritize adding somebody else, he gone.

55:26Yep. The other thing that I would say just about knockout leagues is it's perfect when you can play, I think 17 or 18 is the perfect number.

55:34For the number of people. For the number of people.

55:37Yeah. And the reason I say that is, you know, if you play 17, you play all the way through week 17

55:43and the head-to-head championship is in week 17 when almost every team is still playing for something.

55:48Yep. Week 18, totally understandable. You get action every single week and you're still going to have like good players playing on

55:54both teams, but you're also susceptible to Josh Allen and the Bills are locked into a seed.

55:59So he's not playing in week 18. If you play with like 10 or 12, there are a couple of different ways to go about it.

56:06Um, actually a handful of different ways to go about it.

56:09Like you can cut the league off like at a certain number of weeks.

56:13Um, you could play a playoff, like you get down to four teams and kind of go round Robin for four weeks or something like that too.

56:21I'm in a, I'm in one of these leagues with my buddy, Kevin Paulsifer, our buddy, Kevin Paulsifer.

56:26And he does, uh, more than 18, right? Yes.

56:28More than 18. And it's multiple chops. First two weeks, there are no chops as where you're allowing people to be able to go through.

56:35No one has cut. Um, and then after that, it's like, you will have a couple of weeks where you have more

56:41than one team has cut to be able to let people play.

56:45So there's a lot of different ways that you can set it up to be able to make this work.

56:50Totally. Yeah. Um, there are a lot, certainly a lot of ways to, uh, to, to make this fun and different and interesting.

56:57I do think the ideal number, the most straightforward number is 17 or 18.

57:01These require some maintenance, but, um, that that's sort of the fun of these things is the strategy involved in waivers is

57:07very different than the strategy involved in typical standard leagues.

57:10And that is, I think the most fun. Sorry, Mike.

57:13You didn't like that, Mike. I don't like that one.

57:15What happened? Kyler Murray. No. That would have been my QB too, but I feel like at this point, schedule's not too bad for them.

57:22I'm a little surprised he fell this far. I am.

57:25Kyler? Yeah. I'm surprised he fell this far. A lot of quarterbacks went after him that I've ranked, uh, went before him that I've ranked after him.

57:33Shuck, Goff, Daniel Jones, Baker, Love. Malik Willis just went one spot later.

57:36So. 24 teams for Pulse. What a beast. Yeah.

57:39It is a beast. It is a beast of a league.

57:42For that. Final five in week 17 shootouts. He does.

57:45That's really cool right there too. Nice. Uh, you're back on the clock, Daniel.

57:49Yeah. I'm going to go with, uh, what I believe is the wide receiver two of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

57:54Oh. If you guys let me draft him as my flex.

57:58John McMillan. Nice. I like it. Um, upside, upside, upside.

58:00Damn it. Matt Bowen took. That was the other guy I had in my queue.

58:05Rashid Chahid. I thought, yeah, he was in my queue as well.

58:08Um, I went with Chris Rodriguez, by the way, a little running back depth could be the lead back, the lead rusher

58:14and goal line option for Jacksonville as soon as week one.

58:17I actually have Rashid Chahid ranked ahead of Jalen McMillan, but because my number one wide receiver is Jackson Smith and Jigba,

58:23I decided not to double up on the offense there.

58:26That's why I went with Jalen McMillan. Understandable. So, all right, I just took back to back, uh, wide receivers, Jerry Judy

58:32to potentially fill out my flex and Kashaun Booty, new Houston Texans wide receiver.

58:36So I am now pretty receiver heavy. You are a little bit, but, um, the roster that I have right now, Trevor

58:43Lawrence with my running backs being Jameer Gibbs and Tony Pollard, my wide receivers being Teddero McMillan and Devante Smith with Jerry Judy and Kashaun Booty.

58:50Travis Kelsey is my starting tight end. Patrick Mahomes is the second quarterback that I have again, reminding I waited in quarterback a long time.

58:57So I gave myself what I think is some optionality field.

59:00Yes. Matt Bowen. Yes. Played for what professional football franchise?

59:03Uh, the Chicago bears. And he just took Keaton Mitchell over Kyle Monungay.

59:06Interesting. I'm going to take Kyle Monungay. Do you guys know I like him this year?

59:11I was aware of that. Kyle Monungay. Did you guys know that Matt Bowen's son is like one of the best high school.

59:17He's got four sons. I believe he's got one of the, and one of his sons is one of the best high school players in the country.

59:25Unbelievable. He's amazing. Do you think that a lot of that DNA comes from his mom?

59:30Well, I would probably guess. Okay. It feels weird to say mean things though about Matt Bowen.

59:34Should. Mike went with. High integrity guy. Mike went with Terrence Ferguson.

59:38Money. He was also on my list. Right, Mike?

59:40Hey, if you're wondering about Sam Laporta in week one, is there a nice option there at the tight end spot?

59:46Terrence Ferguson might fit the bill. Can't play safe.

59:49Hey, hey. Right. What's they say about this format?

59:51It's all about first. Is that what they say?

59:54Yeah, you just don't want to get knocked out.

59:56Yeah, look. I was going to say like. I think he's pretty clearly third in line for targets.

60:01I wanted to get him on the team. And I do think Laporta is going to play.

60:06Third in line and targets in the offense. Yeah, exactly.

60:09Yeah, yeah. All right. So I would say that it's the tagline for knockout leagues is if you're not last, you're first.

60:15Yes. That's a great way to put it. Thank you.

60:18Yeah, I like that. I'm going to take a quick look.

60:21If you guys don't mind, I'm going to throw my line up here quick on the screen.

60:26We'll do a quick recap of all of ours.

60:28Now that we have our starting lineups and part of our benches filled out, I've got Tyler Shuck at my quarterback with

60:35Baker Mayfield as my number two QB. Jeremiah Love, Rico Dowdle, Kyle Manungay are my three running backs.

60:40My wide receivers, Jackson Smith and Jigba, Wandale Robinson and Jalen McMillan with Tyler Warren.

60:44A reminder, this is an 18 team knockout league in which the player pool gets thin quickly.

60:49Lastly, let's take a quick look at field team field at the quarterback spot.

60:53You also have two quarterbacks with Trevor Lawrence and Patrick Mahomes.

60:56Yeah. Patrick Mahomes, Trevor Lawrence, you mentioned, Jameer Gibbs, Tony Pollard, Teddero McMillan, Devante Smith, Jerry Judy, Kayshawn Booty.

61:01And then my tight end is Travis Kelsey. Travis Kelsey, who I like him more early in the season than I do

61:07probably late in the season when those legs get heavy.

61:10Were you 37, 35 years old, whatever he is.

61:12Were you trying to put a battery together there?

61:15Yes. You were? Yes, I was. By the way, I forgot to follow up on this, but you made a baseball reference

61:21earlier with On Deck and the hole. Yeah. I was waiting to see if you were paying attention.

61:26That's mostly our theme. That's the theme of the pod this year.

61:30That's right. Everything's baseball. Let's take a look at Mike's lineup real quick.

61:33All right. And that's enough. Go ahead and pull it off the screen.

61:37And we're good. That's it, Fields. Dang it. We already looked at mine.

61:41Good joke. We'll do it one more time. Yeah.

61:43My lineup, we talked about earlier. Stafford, McCaffrey, Judkins, Rice, Metcalf, Laporta, and Johnson.

61:47They're the starters for week one, barring disaster. And then the bench so far is Chris Rodriguez and Terrence Ferguson.

61:53But we're not done yet. We are not done yet.

61:56We have two picks left. How about our guy, Kevin Pulsiver, who's on the clock right now?

62:00Picking 160th. Wow. And he still hasn't taken a quarterback.

62:03Pulse will not make his quarterback pick until either the last or second to last round.

62:08Seems like it. Went with a guy that's not going to play for the first handful of weeks of the season.

62:14But I will say this about Kevin Pulsiver. I thought about him.

62:17I think you'd be hard-pressed to find somebody who plays in as many leagues as Kevin Pulsiver.

62:22I agree with you about that. That man plays in a lot of fantasy football leagues.

62:26It's one of the reasons why it's an amazing fantasy football league.

62:30So let's look at his options. There's a lot of knowledge in that brain.

62:33So CJ Stroud, appealing. A lot of guys left are not guys you want to really be starting.

62:39Maybe even in some super flex leagues. But the schedules are appealing for a lot of these guys early on.

62:44So maybe that's his thought process here. CJ Stroud, great schedule early on.

62:48Sam Darnold. Bryce Young. Cam Ward. Jacoby Brissett. Geno Smith.

62:51Aaron Rodgers. The names you just read don't inspire confidence.

62:53Deshaun Watson. But I realize this game is different.

62:56That's all it's left. Right? You're talking about how this is week one.

63:00We're trying to win one week. Yeah. In a season long, I'm with you.

63:04Even in super flex, I don't feel good about it.

63:06I have CJ Stroud as my quarterback. In our dynasty league, that's a super flex.

63:11I don't like starting him. Yeah. I remember when you had that.

63:14I was like, damn, Daniel's got CJ. I thought for a minute I had something.

63:18But in this league, when it is a knockout league, it's all about one week at a time, guys.

63:24And Joe Fortenbaugh finally made the decision to end the streak.

63:27Wow, Josh Jacobs. Yeah, it's interesting. Again, you got to be prepared to.

63:30Like if your team is on the... If we find out it's going to be eight weeks for Josh Jacobs, then...

63:36If he can survive eight weeks. Yeah, sure. Yeah.

63:39Pulse also ears were burning listening to the podcast, obviously.

63:42Took Sam Darnold at that point because he realized how thin the quarterback position was.

63:46Right. That is also true. That is where we're at.

63:49Gunner Helm comes off the board next. And now...

63:51A lot of tight ends going since I took Ferguson, which makes me happy.

63:55Oh, yeah. You started that run, Mike. Yeah, I take full credit.

63:58Yep. And that's more flex guys I can pick later.

64:01That's right. They can take him back up tight ends.

64:04We got two guys left. Mike, your wide receivers, two of them are very similar to each other in DK Metcalf and Quinton Johnston.

64:11Both field stretchers. Yep. One of them's got a good quarterback.

64:14The other one has Aaron Rodgers. Are you worried about Aaron Rodgers not being able to throw the ball downfield to DK Metcalf?

64:20I mean, look, there's a reason Metcalf is going where he's going in the 30s and not in maybe the teens where

64:27he was in his prime in Seattle. But he was the best guy on the board at that point.

64:32And also, I was comparing schedules. And again, I'm not too intimidated by the early schedule for the Steelers.

64:37I think they'll come out fresh when it's warm and they'll get the ball in his hands.

64:42I'm glad you're here because this is a great reminder.

64:45And you say it every time you make a pick.

64:48Just when you're drafting, looking at the first handful of weeks is what is most important, Mike, and you are continually doing

64:54that as you are making your picks. I'm not too...

64:57I don't think I picked anyone that I'm worried about the schedule.

65:00You can't get a... There's a season-long brain and there's a knockout brain.

65:04And you kind of have to draw a line between them when you decide to do this draft.

65:09I like that. Caleb Johnson comes off the board to Dan Graziano.

65:12We're at some dark throw picks here. Guys that...

65:15I would say all dark throw picks. Absolutely. Caleb Johnson.

65:17I mean, that guy we thought might be out of the league not long ago.

65:22But now he can play a role in Green Bay.

65:25All right. We're down to the nitty-gritty here with our final picks.

65:28And... There's going to be a tough one to close this out.

65:31There's not a lot of guys left. I'm going to quickly recap the 10th round for you guys while we are waiting

65:37to get here with Cynthia Freeland on the clock.

65:40Round 10 with Liz Loza. We went... Liz's picks at the turn were Emmitt Johnson and Jalen Naylor.

65:45Then Malik Washington, Sam Darnold, Josh Jacobs, Gunnar Helm, Jacoby Brissett, Evan Ingram, Ryan Flannoy to Adam Rank, Jacoby Lane, Caleb Johnson,

65:51Denzel Boston, CJ Stroud, and Chris Bell. There we go.

65:54Chris Bell. If you can be patient. Mike Florio.

65:57Michael Florio may have a winner there. We are all about to make our final picks.

66:01We can rip through our teams after we do exactly that.

66:04Mike is down to his... Just made his penultimate pick.

66:07Matt... Daniel on the clock here. I will be first to wrap up because I had the first overall pick in this 11-round draft.

66:14And producer Presley just ahead of me. And I'm going to rip this up.

66:18All right. So my final two picks will be Dylan Sampson and George Holani.

66:22I needed to try and throw a couple of running back darts.

66:25It's up to this point. I am rather under-indexed at running back.

66:28Sure. My team... I don't know if we can pull it up quickly, but hopefully we can.

66:33We can. Absolutely. Absolutely. Again, I had the number one pick in this draft.

66:37I decided between B. John Robinson and Jameer Gibbs.

66:40The schedule played a factor. Yep. Specifically as early as week one, right?

66:43I mean, the Lions getting the Saints versus the Falcons getting the Steelers can be enough to break the tie.

66:49So I went with Jameer Gibbs. Trevor Lawrence is my QB.

66:52Tony Pollard, my RB2. Ted Aromick, Millen, and Devontae Smith, my starting receivers.

66:56Travis Kelsey, a tight end. Jerry Judy, my flex.

66:58And here are my bench guys. Patrick Mahomes, Kayshawn Booty, Dylan Sampson, George Holani.

67:02I need a running back not named Jameer Gibbs and Tony Pollard to find a pulse.

67:07Or I'm going to have to hit the waiver wire really hard.

67:10Yep. I mean, this is... But the great part about this format field, you will be hitting the waiver wire every single

67:16week along with everyone else as new people are added to it.

67:20I'm going to take a quick look at my roster because I just wrapped up my squad starting at the quarterback spot.

67:26I already said... No, I can't get him. Who?

67:28Mike, who are you trying to get? Oh, I got him.

67:31I did it. So I had a moment there where it was like weird.

67:35I put... I searched for Kalen Black and put him in my queue.

67:39And then up at the top, you went. And usually it says who was picked there.

67:43And I thought you took him. And I was like...

67:46And then it just like was weird. And I couldn't get back to him in time to press it.

67:52But anyway... You're good. You're good. Tyler Shuck and Baker Mayfield of the quarterback spot.

67:56Running backs are Jeremiah Love. Little bit of question mark there.

67:59Week one. Rico Dowdle. Kyle Menungai and Zach Charbonnet, who I'm going to throw on IR and just add somebody immediately when the draft is over.

68:06My wide receivers are Jackson Smith and Jigba. Wondell Robinson.

68:09Jalen McMillan. And Trey Harris. My tight end is Tyler Warren.

68:12And I'm going to definitely be working the waiver wire.

68:15I mean, we're all going to be working the waiver wire in this league with all the loose ends that we have on our rosters.

68:22Mike, you have a full roster now as well.

68:25Give us the final team. All right. Final team.

68:27We have good old Matthew Stafford in the quarterback spot.

68:30And then we're going with Christian McCaffrey, Quinchon Judkins, wide receivers, receiver ice, DK Metcalf and Quentin Johnston, Sam Laporta at tight end.

68:36That's your starters. And then the bench, Chris Rodriguez, Terrence Ferguson, Braylon Allen, and Kalen Black.

68:41My last two picks. No wide receivers. No, not on the bench.

68:44Allen is... Look, if Brees Hall is a little setback and isn't ready for week one, remember he was a little beat up.

68:51It looks like he'll play, but if not, I have Allen as a potential flex option.

68:55And then, again, I don't always target the insurance running back for my players.

68:59I don't necessarily do that. But in this case, if you look in the draft room, Christian McCaffrey still has a little cue by his name.

69:06It looks like he'll be fine for week one.

69:09I'm not worried. But again, if something shocks us like two years ago and he doesn't play, at least I have Kalen

69:15Black ready to go, which is so important in this format.

69:18I cannot say, ah, it's okay if he misses one week.

69:21I'll just throw, you know, Chris Rodriguez in there and be fine.

69:25I need to not finish last in week one.

69:27So I have a little security there with Kalen Black.

69:30Here's how the last round is playing out. Just for you sickos that want to know the dart throws that we are throwing.

69:37Round 11, pick one, George Helani, Bryce Young, Fernando Mendoza, Trey Harris, Kalen Black, Jordan James, back-to-back 49ers running backs just in case there, Mike.

69:44Aaron Rodgers, Keenan Allen, Jack Besch, Olamide Zaccheaus, Calvin Ridley, Travis Hunter, Chris Brooks, Pat Bryant.

69:48I think Chris Brooks is a good pick there too.

69:51We have no idea. Obviously, Marshawn Lloyd is the first one in that room, but we're trying to see.

69:56We're throwing darts here now. Pat Bryant, Cam Ward, Geno Smith, Tank Bigsby, and Darnell Mooney.

70:01You know what a lot of those guys are going to be?

70:04Contingent drops in week one. That's exactly true. After week one, when you're placing claims for some superstars, you're going to be

70:10dropping the insurance backs and flyers we're taking in the last round.

70:14All right, before I peace out, I got a B on my draft from the grade.

70:18What'd you get? I got an A-. You don't get any minuses.

70:22I got a B. Okay, Mike? I don't know.

70:24You got to open it. You tell me. Don't you have it there?

70:28I didn't get the email. I didn't get it yet.

70:31I didn't get it. Mike doesn't have functioning internet.

70:33Mike got it. Oh, I don't have it. What'd I get?

70:36Mike and Eric Carabell both got it. Come on!

70:39Oh, there it is. I hate that. I got it.

70:42I got it, A. Oh, it's so beautiful. What a team.

70:45Oh, my gosh. Pulse is chop-housed. I'm first overall.

70:47First overall. I didn't think you even gave out Fs in this group.

70:51No way! Pulse! Quarterback. Pulse got an F! Hey!

70:53Oh, Kevin. Was his quarterback Sam Darnold? That'll do it.

70:56And Geno Smith, who has a great schedule to start, he says.

71:00Yikes. Whoa! I've never seen an F, and I've seen some bad drafts.

71:03I've never seen an F. That's incredible. Respect. Wow.

71:06Wow. The Pulse revenge tour begins right now! That's going to wrap it up for us for here on Focus.

71:11We love you guys. Thank you for hanging out.

71:14It's amazing. Don't forget to love each other. Be kind to yourself.

71:17You deserve it. Field and I will see you tomorrow and Friday.

71:21Going to the beach. Later. Later. See you guys.

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