PodcastFrom Fantasy Focus Football
Expert 12-team PPR Breakdown you NEED to Watch Before Drafting | Fantasy Focus
STACKED extracted the fantasy-relevant player signal from this podcast and kept the full transcript here for context.
59 min
Duration
Estimated from transcript
Aug 24, 2026
Published
Mon, August 24, 2026
43
Player insights
37
Players mentioned
Topics
Josh JacobsGeorge KittleKeaton MitchellMike Washington Jr.Tony PollardAaron JonesAmon-Ra St. BrownBo NixBrock PurdyCarnell TateCeeDee LambChristian McCaffreyDavante AdamsDeshaun Watson
Player analysis
Player insights
Aaron Jones
NegativeRole41:54
Now in his 30s, Aaron Jones is expected to have a reduced role as a rusher but will remain involved in passing situations due to trust. He serves as a veteran floor play for fantasy rosters.
Insight pageAmon-Ra St. Brown
PositiveProjection23:55
Amon-Ra St. Brown is described as potentially the most consistent player in all of fantasy football, making him a high-floor anchor for teams that bypass running backs in the first two rounds.
Insight pageBo Nix
PositiveValue56:41
Nix is a deep-league value option, having finished as QB7 over the last two years and currently available in the 10th round.
Insight pageBrock Purdy
NegativeValue58:19
The speaker selected Brock Purdy as a bench option to hedge against their starting quarterback, Jackson Dart.
Insight pageCarnell Tate
PositiveProjection46:50
Despite concerns about quarterback Cam Ward's efficiency, Carnell Tate is considered a pro-ready prospect who will benefit from high volume due to the Titans' need for an alpha receiver.
Insight pageCeeDee Lamb
PositiveProjection58:36
The speaker feels great about their wide receiver corps, which is anchored by CeeDee Lamb.
Insight pageChristian McCaffrey
NegativeInjury17:18
Christian McCaffrey returned to practice after dealing with 'tightness,' which he described as a scheduled maintenance issue. The analysts view this as a non-issue for 2024, comparing it to similar veteran management from last season.
Insight pageDavante Adams
NegativeValue0:49
The podcast notes a public preference for rookie Ladd McConkey over Davante Adams in a mock draft setting, suggesting some drafters are prioritizing the younger prospect's upside over Adams' established veteran status.
Insight pageDeshaun Watson
NegativeProjection36:44
The Browns' decision to start Deshaun Watson appears to be a final evaluation to see if he can perform or to allow him to 'bury himself' before moving on, leading to low confidence in the team's passing game.
Insight pageGeorge Kittle
PositiveValue37:00
Drafting George Kittle outside the top 80 (late 7th round) provides value even if he performs as a middle-of-the-pack tight end early in the season; he has the potential to be the third-best tight end in fantasy by the second month.
Insight pageNegativeInjury59:14
Kittle is returning from injury and may play in the season opener, but there is skepticism about his ability to handle a full snap count immediately.
Insight pageJadarian Price
NegativeDepth Chart60:03
Jadarian Price is listed as part of the roster drafted from the sixth position.
Insight pageJakobi Meyers
NegativeDepth Chart60:04
Jakobi Meyers is listed as part of the roster drafted from the sixth position.
Insight pageJalen Coker
PositiveBreakout51:34
Jalen Coker finished last season with four top-25 weeks in his final seven games. He is a prime beneficiary if the Carolina offense breaks out this season.
Insight pageJalen McMillan
NegativeDepth Chart60:06
Jalen McMillan is listed as part of the roster drafted from the sixth position.
Insight pageJayden Daniels
PositiveProjection51:41
Ranked inside the top three at his position, Daniels is expected to have a bounce-back year and represents the best value on the board for teams needing a quarterback.
Insight pageJeremiyah Love
NegativeInjury22:20
Jeremiah Love is dealing with an ankle injury and is considered questionable for Week 1. Despite the risk, he remains a target for drafters needing running back depth in the early rounds.
Insight pageJordan Love
PositiveProjection38:32
Jordan Love is considered one of the most underrated players in the NFL. The analysts are significantly higher on him than the general consensus rankings, with one Apple Pay. Apply ranking him as QB16.
Insight pageJordan Mason
PositiveRole41:06
There is a growing drumbeat for Jordan Mason to take on a larger share of carries, though he remains a non-factor in the passing game. He is viewed as a high-floor option to start the season.
Insight pageJosh Jacobs
NegativeValue30:35
Despite potential early-season suspension risk, Jacobs is a high-level talent who has averaged a touchdown per game since joining the Packers; he represents a strong value as a back-end RB1 for drafters who waited on the position.
Insight pageNegativeValue30:38
Josh Jacobs is being targeted by drafters in the third round to address running back holes after starting with wide receivers, though some analysts remain skeptical of his outlook.
Insight pagePositiveValue58:24
The speaker feels good about drafting Josh Jacobs as their third pick, noting he is ranked within their top 20 running backs.
Insight pageKeaton Mitchell
PositiveSleeper49:17
Keaton Mitchell is a spicy late-round target who offers high upside, especially compared to other options like R.J. Harvey, given the injury-prone nature of the backfield.
Insight pagePositiveValue57:54
The speaker expresses comfort in selecting Keaton Mitchell over R.J. Harvey, implying a preference for Mitchell's value or potential.
Insight pageKhalil Shakir
NegativeUsage40:51
Khalil Shakir recorded 96 targets last season, which was impressive given the lack of depth in Buffalo, though the addition of DJ Moore may impact his target share.
Insight pageKyle Pitts
PositiveValue43:57
Despite past disappointment and poor training camp reports regarding Atlanta's quarterback play, Pitts is viewed as a starting-caliber tight end who remains a clear-cut second pass-catcher in the offense.
Insight pageKyren Williams
PositiveValue58:24
The speaker feels good about drafting Kyren Williams as their fourth pick, noting he is ranked within their top 20 running backs.
Insight pageLadd McConkey
PositiveValue0:49
Ladd McConkey is being drafted ahead of Davante Adams by some participants in mock drafts, indicating a strong market sentiment favoring the rookie's potential over the veteran's track record.
Insight pageMarvin Harrison Jr.
PositiveBreakout47:24
Harrison is a strong value in the middle rounds; he showed better production with Jacoby Brissett than Kyler Murray last season and is entering his third year, making a breakout likely.
Insight pageMichael Wilson
NegativeDepth Chart60:07
Michael Wilson is listed as part of the roster drafted from the sixth position.
Insight pageMike Washington Jr.
PositiveRole9:09
Mike Washington Jr. is a potential beneficiary of Ashton Gentry's injury, as he may start for a game or two. While he has 4.3 speed, he struggled with ball security in college (10 fumbles in three seasons). He is currently the RB49 and is viewed as an insurance back rather than a weekly starter.
Insight pagePositiveValue42:16
Drafted at pick 100, Mike Washington offers good value as a player with a potential multiple-week standalone role due to an existing injury in the backfield.
Insight pageNico Collins
NegativeValue28:33
Nico Collins was selected in the third round of a mock draft. While the drafter expressed previous reservations about him, they concluded he provides good value as a WR2 at his current ADP.
Insight pagePuka Nacua
NegativeProjection20:02
Puka Nacua went 8th overall in a 12-team PPR mock draft. His draft stock is currently tied to uncertainty regarding a potential suspension, with clarity expected by the NFL's upcoming cut-down weekend.
Insight pageQuinshon Judkins
NegativeMatchup38:46
Judkins faces tough matchups against the Jaguars and Buccaneers to open the season, but his current ADP provides enough runway to wait for his eventual breakout.
Insight pageRJ Harvey
NegativeValue57:56
The speaker indicates a preference for Keaton Mitchell over R.J. Harvey in their draft process.
Insight pageTerrance Ferguson
PositiveSleeper50:20
Terrence Ferguson is a late-round flyer with potential to be the third option for targets in the Rams' offense. Despite competition from Tyler Higby and Colby Parkinson, his upside makes him an outstanding late-round pick.
Insight pageTony Pollard
PositiveValue53:06
Tony Pollard is an underrated flex option who has cleared 1,200 scrimmage yards in each of his last four seasons. He provides a stable floor while maintaining dynamic upside.
Insight pageNegativeRole58:41
The speaker notes that Tony Pollard is their second flex option and describes him as a bit more volatile than the other receivers on the roster.
Insight pageTravis Etienne
PositiveRole33:29
With uncertainty surrounding Alvin Kamara's injury, Travis Etienne is trending up as a lower-end RB2 with the potential to secure a larger role early in the season.
Insight pageTucker Kraft
PositiveUsage38:06
Tucker Kraft is a strong target who is healthier than Kittle and expected to be on the field for passing situations. Despite early-season limitations, his late-season target volume and the underrated nature of Jordan Love make him a high-upside play.
Insight pageTyler Warren
NegativeValue58:00
The speaker jokingly notes that taking Tyler Warren in the draft caused a minor disagreement between the hosts.
Insight pageZamir White
NegativeDepth Chart32:18
The Saints' trade for Zamir White is likely for depth or preseason usage rather than a significant role, though it highlights the volatility of end-of-roster players during the preseason.
Insight pageFull transcript
Episode Transcript
0:00This message is brought to you by Apple Card, shave ice by the beach, a trip to the state fair, and a throwback flick at the local drive-in.
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0:19Subject to credit approval, Apple Card is issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA Salt Lake City branch.
0:24Terms and more at applecard.com. Fantasy, you in the 0601, oh God.
0:27Shout out to our buddy Eric Moody. Follow him on social media at Eric and Moody.
0:32Jump in our YouTube chat. We love being able to hang out and hear from everyone in our YouTube chat.
0:37Thank you to everyone there. And in case you were not with us this last week, we did a live show in New York, my friends.
0:44If you were not able to be there, here's a little bit of the best of from the weekend.
0:49If you'd rather have Devontae Adams over Ladd McConkie, let me hear you cheer a little bit here for this one.
0:55If you'd rather have Ladd McConkie than Devontae Adams, let me hear it from you.
0:59So people are more in on the young buck than they are on Devontae Adams, more on the list side.
1:05Little cross-town Los Angeles rivalry. This is my favorite part about Mike.
1:08You can ask Mike about the 1972 projections for the San Francisco 49ers.
1:12Bam, I'll rattle him off like this. I didn't know any of this.
1:15You get right outside of his lane and he's like, who is this Luka Doncic?
1:19Yeah. Mike brought the good stuff to the green room upstairs before the show.
1:23He did. Liz, why don't we talk with you about who your other favorite player to draft is?
1:28Also, there are two of us that are in the Fantasy Sportswriters Hall of Fame.
1:32Ooh, yeah. So you're sitting next to the other one.
1:35Yeah. I have, for the record, been named Dad of the Year four times by my four-year-old.
1:40So that's basically Hall of Fame. Is that the Killers?
1:43I don't know. I know them. Like, is that?
1:45It's the only band. It's the only band. It's the only band I know.
1:49I don't know any of their bands. We've made real strides.
1:52Yeah. Killers and Taylor Swift. I got them covered.
1:54On the bright side. Oh, my gosh. I have another one.
1:57That was a Killers reference. Best in the business.
2:00Hall of Fame. Fact or feeling, the Fantasy Focus listeners are the most knowledgeable, most passionate, and best-looking listeners in the entire podosphere.
2:06Yeah. The last one. That's a fact. Absolutely, Liz Loza.
2:09That's a fact. Own cold fact. And you said I was playing to the crowd.
2:13Okay. You're not a listener. Obviously, Mike doesn't listen to the podcast.
2:16Always fun being able to do a live show, meet the people, hang out with everybody.
2:21Awesome. Thank you so much to Racket NYC for allowing us to be there.
2:25But guys, it was a great night. It was a lot of fun.
2:28It was great to be in New York. The energy is always good.
2:32I think I was the only one at this table that had to go home after that.
2:36Three young kids calls me back. But I want to hear about the night out.
2:41I want to hear a full recap, drink by drink, of what took place after the show on Thursday.
2:46We don't have the time. We had a good time.
2:49Oh, okay. We had a good time. Our buddy Daniel came out.
2:52So we spent some time with our friend. Daniel Day came, friend of the show.
2:56Wow. No big deal. Newish fantasy football player. So love Daniel being able to come out.
3:00Yeah. He'll watch the whole marathon for sure. Absolutely.
3:03And he'd probably crush us in fantasy. He's going to mock draft while he watches the marathon at the same time.
3:09He's doing a two-screen thing. You were a little too modest with that.
3:12Like, you know, Hollywood star Daniel Dopp. He's the best.
3:15Fan and friend of the podcast. That's right. Like, hello.
3:18It was very cool to see him there as well.
3:20I was going to say. Yeah. You got to like spruce that one up a little bit.
3:25Trying to be humble. Let the people know. He's trying to be humble.
3:29I want to tell people, but I'm trying to pretend I'm humble.
3:32I get it. You know. It's a Daniel thing.
3:34That's right. And they sat next to each other the whole night.
3:38That's true. That's true. We have a bond. All right.
3:41Well, let's talk about a little bit of news before we dive into this mock draft.
3:45And we'll see how this news plays out live, literally, when we do the mock.
3:49Unfortunately, Ashton Gentry ended up leaving the practice field with a high ankle sprain, it sounds like.
3:54Field, any first thoughts or, I guess, are you deciding to move him in your rankings as of right now with the news that we have?
4:01A little bit, but not much. And this feels a lot better than where we were at, I don't know, probably 24 or so hours ago.
4:08I forget exactly when the news initially broke that Ashton Gentry got hurt at practice.
4:12But some of the reporting included the following things.
4:15Someone got him during a contact drill and the entire team took a knee and prayed around Ashton Gentry.
4:20You're thinking to yourself, all right, if guys are getting on their knee and praying, it certainly makes you feel like this could be nasty.
4:27And this could be one of those things that ends Ashton Gentry's season before it has even begun.
4:32Subsequent reporting from Adam Schefter and Ian Rappaport indicates it is an ankle sprain.
4:36It is not clear what the timetable is, but it sounds like a major injury has been avoided.
4:40Now, worth noting, it feels like this is the longest offseason ever because the NFL starts so late this year.
4:46Yeah. But we're now 20 days from the Raiders season opener.
4:49So if you have an ankle sprain, we're probably talking about the real possibility of missing between one and three games right now.
4:55I think that just seems like a reasonable timetable for a running back.
4:59We talked about Jeremiah Love and having these running backs coming back from a high ankle sprain, missing an average of 4.09 weeks.
5:05I don't know if this is a high ankle sprain for Ashton Gentry, but four weeks from when this injury took place
5:11would be the end of week two. So somewhere between one and three games seems like a reasonable time for Ashton Gentry to miss.
5:18And while he's a really good player, we all have a lot of optimism about him.
5:22There are just too many other running backs in that tier, that second tier of backs to not to discount Ashton Gentry
5:28a little bit if he's going to miss a game or two.
5:32Yeah, no doubt about it. We talked about that tier from like six to 15, roughly.
5:36We're all sort of in agreement on that. I think he moves to the bottom of that, kind of like maybe ahead
5:42of Javante Williams, very much in that sort of vicinity.
5:45That's right. Put him for the moment in case he misses a game or two.
5:49In the meantime, Mike Washington Jr., a guy, maybe a move up a little bit because he may get a chance to start for a game or two.
5:57Now, if this was a longer term injury, if he was going to be out maybe half the season or all of
6:03the season, I would say I would hesitate to move Washington up too far because they'd probably make a move at running back.
6:09You have like Dylan Lowby and guys like that are the depth running backs right now.
6:13They're probably a team that would be looking at, hey, James Conner could be available, something like that.
6:18So I wouldn't get too carried away just yet with Washington.
6:21But if Jenny's in active week one, Washington might be running back 22 or something in our rankings.
6:26Right now, Washington is the 49th running back coming off of fantasy draft boards.
6:30In terms of, and obviously Field can speak to this as well, in terms of skill set, positive, very fast, 4.3 speed, 90% speed percentile.
6:37But also a bit of a ball security issue throughout college.
6:40Over his last three significant seasons of college play, he recorded 10 fumbles, I believe.
6:44So not ideal for a rookie either. Yeah. Yeah.
6:47There was, he went in the fourth round. This is not some like superlative prospect, but a good enough prospect.
6:52And Mike has plenty of data on this. We have seen some day three running backs make their mark earlier in their career.
6:59The most obvious one being Aaron Jones in recent vintage.
7:01But yes, Mike Washington in line to be moving up drafts right now.
7:05Don't think he'll be going as high as like, you know, RB 23 or 24, which might be approximately where you'd be ranking him.
7:11If Ashton Gentry were out week in and week out.
7:14I think the problem for me with as far as draft season and Mike Washington is, am I thinking that I'm just
7:20going to get a week or two? And do I want to really use a late round pick on a guy that
7:26I might get a week or two of value out of rather than someone that maybe I get a season long value of something.
7:33I mean, I think you're also thinking of a chance of re-injury with Gentry though.
7:37Right. If that happens though, how much of the Mike, to Mike's point, are they going to go out and add another back?
7:43Or will Mike Washington Jr. Just be the lead back of this Raiders team, even if they add another?
7:49He might be if he has a re-injury during the season.
7:52I think that's different than right now because James Conner, someone like that, I'm using him as an example.
7:57Sure. It's still available right now. And you know, week three, he might not be if something happens to Gentry.
8:02It's a little different scenario. So that's why I like Washington more as an insurance back, not necessarily as a weekly starter in fantasy.
8:09So up a little bit. It's interesting because I think the market is in agreement because he's going right after Tyler Algier.
8:15And we've just feel just made the analogy, obviously, between Jeremiah Love's injury and Gentry now.
8:19So both of those backups. I'll tell you, last night, though, in like high stakes.
8:23We were sweating, right? Well, no, but I mean in high stakes leagues, like Washington was getting snagged early.
8:29Yeah. And I think some people might regret that after week one or two if Gentry's good to go.
8:34So we'll see. This is one of the perils of doing slow drafts.
8:38If you do slow drafts in the industry, sometimes things like this happen.
8:41Jaden Higgins, unfortunately, you know, Ashton Gentry and it will impact a few things.
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9:33Shave ice by the beach. A trip to the state fair.
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9:57Without further ado, let's see how far Ashton Gentry does fall with this unfortunate new news that we have.
10:02Mock Draft 12 team PPR mock. All of us are in a great spot here.
10:06First pick already off the board, Bajon Robinson. Liz, that was your guy.
10:10Why? Are you sure you're all right with Jameer Gibbs there at number two?
10:14I mean, we have talked. Thank you, Lions fan.
10:16Yes, of course. We've talked about how we're splitting hairs.
10:19I'm perfectly comfortable with Gibbs. Perfectly okay. I feel like mock drafts get interesting now.
10:23Yeah. After that. Right? Like one and two in some order are going to be Jameer Gibbs and Bajon Robinson.
10:29Pick three was Kevin Pulse. He goes with Jamar Chase.
10:31Our guy, Joey GQ. Joey Joya. The great Joe Joya from first draft and other ESPN products and properties takes Christian McCaffrey fourth overall.
10:38That's notable because of the disagreement that we have on this desk about where CMC is ranked.
10:43It's also notable because Christian McCaffrey has returned to the practice field, guys.
10:46He was back on the field yesterday, as was George Kittle, which is ridiculous.
10:50We're talking about Kittle when he goes off the board.
10:53But Christian McCaffrey has been dealing with tightness. Very ambiguous term to describe an injury.
10:57It might not be an injury. Christian McCaffrey said after practice yesterday, hey, this was just kind of a built-in thing that
11:03we had been talking about throughout the offseason. As Mike knows, he's an older running back.
11:07How old is Christian McCaffrey? Almost 30 now? Yeah, he's like 72, I think.
11:11In running back years. You know, in human years.
11:1472 in Mike, yeah. In Mike's years, he's 30.
11:16Or 72, I should say. The fact that he was out because of tightness and it being a scheduled thing, to me,
11:22tells you that the Niners are being smart about this, but this feels, at the moment, closer to 2025 injury concern than 2024 injury concern, right?
11:29Last year, people were like, oh no, it's going to happen.
11:32He's banged up again. And then he becomes the best player in all of fantasy.
11:37Yeah, there was a little bit of like, remember, he's a veteran running back.
11:40It was like, it's okay. We're just going to take it easy on him.
11:44I don't think if it's week four, that's even a concern.
11:47Tightness wasn't the only viewer surrounding it, though. Not worried.
11:50There were other thoughts about why he might be sitting out.
11:53Let's do a quick recap here of the first round.
11:56We have a storyline here. We have a storyline here in the first round.
12:00Yeah, don't miss the name. Puka Nakua. There he is.
12:02Went eight off the board. Nine was Justin Jefferson.
12:05Ten, CeeDee Lamb. Eleven, Mike, you took Devine Achan.
12:07And then James Cook at 12. That big first round, it was probably how far Puka was going to fall is what
12:13we were all sort of looking for. He went to eighth, which is surprising after Amonra, right?
12:18I mean, and not that Amonra's not an amazing player, but I feel like with Puka, the question is, how many games
12:24is he going to miss to begin the season?
12:27Yep. We're getting closer and closer to the start of the season.
12:30As a matter of fact, the Rams and Niners play in two and a half weeks from right now.
12:35They play, of course, over in Australia. I'd guess that if we're going to get clarity on Puka's situation one way or
12:41another, I would guess it's this weekend. The NFL has its cut down weekend this upcoming weekend.
12:46I wouldn't be surprised if Puka Nakua and any other outstanding potential punishments are decided one way or the other by this weekend.
12:52It's not a guarantee because the NFL is not going to rush into a situation if they don't have all the pertinent details.
12:58But I think there's a chance that if we're going to get a Puka suspension, it comes this upcoming weekend.
13:04Yeah. Hope so. But that's a fall. I mean, I don't think I've seen Nakua go eight.
13:09Same. The whole offseason. So that's a value. And I was mad because I wanted him.
13:13Because you wanted him. Missed out. Yeah. So I'm a little mad.
13:16But I'll have to settle for this seedy lamb guy.
13:19Is he any good? He's pretty good, Mike. I think he should still be all right for your squad.
13:24Starting the second round, Derek Henry went with the first pick.
13:27Field, you ended up going with Chase Brown. Drake London came off after that.
13:31Then Saquon Barkley. Omari and Hampton to producer Presley.
13:34Trey McBride and Brees Hall. I'm on the clock with two injured running backs right at the very top of the board, guys.
13:40Ashton Jenty and Jeremiah Love both dealing with ankle injuries.
13:43I don't have a running back yet. The question is, do I want one of them with the potential injury risk?
13:48Or would I rather go with another wide receiver or someone like Kenneth Walker III?
13:53Yeah. You could tell running backs are in demand because Brees Hall just went.
13:56And he's questionable for week one as well. Jenty still sitting there.
14:00Love's still sitting there. Josh Jacobs is still sitting there.
14:03All of these guys have question marks. You could take a look at the best available players, by the way.
14:08Yeah, that's a tough one, guys. Field, what would you do here?
14:11Just asking for a friend. You know, as Mike mentioned, Trace Mack still on the board.
14:16Yes. Probably would consider that. I'm going to go with Jeremiah Love.
14:19Yeah, I can't fault you for that. I would have taken him or Kenneth Walker III.
14:23That value in running back just feels so important here.
14:26Maybe one of the most interesting builds so far is DJ, who's a producer here, who is operating team seven, who was
14:32the person that bypassed Pukun Okua, who are Amon Ross St.
14:35Brown. DJ then went Trey McBride in round two.
14:38Ooh. So we're sitting here espousing the virtues of running backs early.
14:41DJ is 0 for 2 on running backs in the first two rounds, but he's got a real shot at having tight end one.
14:48And Amon Ross St. Brown might be the most consistent player in all of fantasy football.
14:52Yeah. Interesting start there. Liz Loza, you're going to have to really build up quickly on that running back spot because I
14:58believe you've talked to us about how thin the running back position gets after you get outside that top 15.
15:04Outside the top 13, yes. 13. 13. KW3. That's it.
15:06You're like... Yep, that's the line for me. That's the Mendoza line.
15:10All right. I'll see. Do you guys feel like we've reached the point where it's Ashton Gentry is becoming reasonable value?
15:15Not an amazing value, but reasonable value. Third round.
15:18Yes. By all accounts, he might miss a game or two.
15:21It's much like Nakua. These guys can miss a game or two.
15:24Or CMC, we've talked about this. That guy could probably miss four games and still pay off his ADP.
15:29So no doubt, I think we're very much in that window.
15:32And I also started no running backs in the first two picks.
15:36Whoa. I would take that shot if I was up right now.
15:39I still have a little bit of time here.
15:42All right. But I'm going to have to go running back.
15:45Do not let Mike take Ashen Gente. Please don't.
15:47Yeah. That's not... Mike is like, oh, Liz is on the clock.
15:50Liz. And I'm not going to. Wow. He's not making it to me.
15:54I'm at 34. He's not making it to me.
15:56Yeah. Poor Mike. So what is that? The second pick of the third round.
16:00Yeah. Oh, I see. You are taking him. Ashen Gente.
16:03I chose him. It's past tense. Yeah, I see that.
16:06I see that. Yes. Yeah. So I knew I had Gibbs already.
16:09Felt comfortable. I love A.J. Brown as a wide receiver.
16:12One. I think he has top five potential, even though I have him ranked outside of my top five.
16:17And then felt like, yes, if two games are missed, Gente has my RB2 is solid value.
16:22Let me run through this really quickly. Second round ended up being Chase Brown, Drake London, Saquon Barkley, Omarian Hampton, Trey McBride, Brees Hall.
16:28I went Jeremiah Love. KW3 came off the board after that.
16:31Then Brock Bauer. So both of the two top tens off the board through the first two rounds.
16:36Then Liz, you took A.J. Brown with Rashi Rice closing out the second.
16:40We'll start taking a look at some of our teams here now that we've got a few people on them as we are on the clock.
16:47I'm on the clock right now, actually. Oh, Joey G.
16:50I wanted Malik Neighbors so badly. If I could get him here in the third, I absolutely would have done it.
16:55Well, field drafting for you, right? So why don't you just ask him what to do again?
17:00That's fair. You're right. That's right. Dang, that's a tough one.
17:03All right. I've got Jeremiah Love and Jackson Smith and Jigba.
17:06I'm kind of out on Josh Jacobs still. Don't really love Javante Williams.
17:10I'm going to wait a little bit longer at the running back spot.
17:13I've given you guys my fears on Nico Collins, even though as a wide receiver, too, I would be OK with it.
17:19I think I'm going to go with a guy that I think will be.
17:23Yeah, no, I'm going to do it. I'm going to go with Nico Collins.
17:27Look, Daniel's been on vacation. He's just getting up to tune with everything.
17:31So he needs a little time. Did you just make the case against and then take Nico Collins?
17:36No, I said I'm fine with him as a wide receiver, too.
17:39And this is where my brain was at the thing where normally I'm out.
17:43I had to like I what you watched was my brain say, normally I don't draft this guy.
17:48Right. But there is a value here. If he's going to be my wide receiver, too, I feel better with the ADP with where I'm getting him at.
17:55He's not my wide receiver one. I don't have to worry about him being a top 10 guy.
18:00So at that point, I still think it's good enough value to grab there as a number.
18:05Can I ask you a question? Yes. Knowing that you did not have a second running back yet.
18:10Yeah. Why you might not have went down the line a little bit and grab someone like Travis Aishan?
18:15I thought about it. I just feel like there's other you guys have heard me talk about some of the later RB2s.
18:21I'm OK. I think by the time I get to 44.
18:24Yeah, I'll do a gamble. Jadarian Price. Well, maybe not Jadarian Price.
18:28There might be somebody else in there that I like a little bit more.
18:31Yeah. OK. But I think I can wait a little bit longer still.
18:35OK, we'll see how it goes. Mike, after saying he was you that said you didn't love Josh Jacobs.
18:40I will say this. Mike, you explain your Josh Jacobs pick.
18:43And I'll mention a guy that I think is kind of trending in the right direction.
18:48Yeah. So I started receiver receiver. So I have Lamb in London.
18:51I feel outstanding about that. But now I'm in a little bit of a hole at running back.
18:56So I have to take a shot here. And we've talked about Josh Jacobs.
19:00Obviously, there's some risk of early season suspension. But the guy went on the field is still tremendous.
19:05He was playing at a very high level last season.
19:07He's averaging about a touchdown per game since joining the Green Bay Packers.
19:11So I feel like I can still get potentially a back end RB one season.
19:15And again, since I didn't go running back early, he's the best guy on the board.
19:20I'm going to take that shot here. All right.
19:22So this player ended up making it to me.
19:25I don't necessarily need to or love going three running backs in my first four picks, but I'll do it for the content.
19:31Oh, I think Travis H. might be dreading up a little bit right now.
19:35Did you guys see the trade the Saints pulled last night?
19:38I did. The Saints traded linebacker Devin White for running back Zemir White.
19:41So the same last name, Zemir White, who was on the scrap heap all offseason, just randomly gets traded to the Saints.
19:47Now, it's not that I think that Zemir White has a huge role for the Saints.
19:52Maybe they just want an innings eater for the next preseason game.
19:55But perhaps maybe they feel like they saw something.
19:58They have seen something in Zemir White during whatever preseason action he has had, which candidly, I don't know if he's played
20:04a snap for the 49ers this preseason. But maybe this Alvin Kamara injury could linger a little bit longer.
20:09And that could just mean the opportunity for Travis H.
20:12Chan to take that job and run away with it early is more in play.
20:16So I think H. Chan's trending up in that sort of cluster of lower end RB2s.
20:20I like that. Yeah, I think he might. If he makes a team just to...
20:24No, no, no. I didn't like him enough to take him.
20:27Yeah, that's just like I might be active on game day for a couple of weeks till Kamara's back.
20:32But they just signed Zemir White not long ago.
20:35Deion Jones, same thing. Did I say Devin White?
20:37No. I said Devin White, didn't I? Yes, I did.
20:40I said Devin White. Well, yeah. They're kind of irreplaceable.
20:43Those kind of guys, end of roster guys right now.
20:46Veterans are getting tryouts and they're getting placed on IR and then they're getting cut from IR and then they're signing with the new team.
20:53There's a lot of that going on right now.
20:55So, yeah. And those guys might both not make the 53.
20:58All right. Quick recap of the fourth round. Colston Loveland comes off the board with the first pick of the fourth round.
21:04This is Chagrin. Then Travis Achan, Kyron Williams, Cam Skadaboo, Emeka Abuka, Josh Allen, first quarterback off the board, sixth pick of the fourth round.
21:11And then Damian is just, DJ is just doing this for the content.
21:15I think so. DJ is absolutely 100% committed to the bit.
21:18He's like, he's listening. He's like, I'm trying my best field.
21:21God. Quarterback Josh Allen, wide receiver Amon Ross St.
21:23Brown, wide receiver Ted Rill McMillan, tight end Trey McPride.
21:26That's a nasty, and I mean nasty quarterback plus pass catcher start.
21:29Yeah. The problem is right now there's no running back on DJ's team.
21:33So we'll see how that looks once he does fill out his running back room.
21:37But right now he is going zero RB. Well, there's going to be one less on the clock because I don't know
21:43if you guys heard this, but the Browns said Deshaun Watson is their starting quarterback, which means I hope they run the ball a whole lot this year.
21:51I'm going to take Quinchon Judkins because I don't know if hopefully you didn't watch any of the Browns preseason, but if
21:57you did, you wouldn't have any confidence in the passing game whatsoever right now.
22:00Can we talk about that for a second? Yeah, let's do it.
22:04Fantasy, like what are the Browns doing? Like why are you starting Deshaun Watson?
22:08There's only one justification for starting Deshaun Watson. It's basically the veteran plays early.
22:11Yeah. The veteran plays poorly and it takes pressure off of the young guy because when the young guy comes in, if
22:17he isn't playing off the charts, at least we already know that the veteran is no better.
22:22That's the only justification for it, right? Because otherwise, like what are you accomplishing?
22:26Deshaun Watson is not going to be a Brown after this season.
22:29Yeah. Deshaun Watson might not be a quarterback in the NFL next season.
22:33Yeah, it feels like a move where he starts and maybe we get surprised and he plays well and they're like, OK, fine, that works for us.
22:40Or he's just terrible and that's it. It's over.
22:43It's like the Watson-Cleveland era officially ends. We move on because they have other young quarterbacks too.
22:47They can move on too. Yes, it's basically just like their way of saying we're going to serve him up on a platter.
22:54Exactly. To prove once and for all he is not a starting level player.
22:58Yep. But if you're a Browns fan, after what he said this weekend, how pissed are you?
23:02Well, I think that's it. And so that they're allowing him to bury himself, if you will.
23:07And then the fan base will be appeased either way.
23:10If he ends up surprising, they'll be happy because they're winning.
23:13And if not, no one in that city is rooting for him at this point after that press conference.
23:18Cleveland in Jacksonville in week one and then at Tampa Bay too.
23:21Cream that Jaguars defense in week one. But the Florida trip in weeks one and two.
23:26Judkins does open the season with two tough matchups.
23:28He's got the Jags and then he also has the Buccaneers.
23:31So two solid run defenses. Might take a minute.
23:34But I think, Daniel, where you're drafting him, there is enough runway, if you will, built into that ADP to wait for the eventual break.
23:41We are one pick away. Liz is on the clock right now.
23:44But we're one pick away from Ace Researcher. I'm sorry, you're on the clock?
23:48Liz is on the clock. Oh, Liz was on the clock.
23:51Yeah, yeah, yeah. I said it on. Ace Researcher, Kevin Pulsifer.
23:54Also going zero RB right now. Is he really?
23:56So you've got double zero running back drafters. Puls has gone with Jamar Chase, Brock Bowers, Chris Olave, and Terry McLaurin.
24:02Yeah, I ended up going... With Luther Burden III.
24:04Ooh. Ooh. So I started receiver-receiver and still managed Jacobs and Kyron Williams.
24:08And I had a shot at Judkins over Kyron Williams, too.
24:11So you can start with two star receivers and come out with respectable, a couple of respectable running back options, I would say.
24:17Yep. Sure can. Luther Burden III before Roma Dunze is still the opposite of the way that I would approach the draft.
24:23I would agree. Especially because one of them is not healthy right now.
24:27Yeah. And Luther Burden. That's fair, Mike. That's fair.
24:29I was trying to be nicer to Puls than you were, but it's fine.
24:33Yeah. I was thinking about this. Like that comment.
24:36Like I hear you. I would take Roma Dunze over Luther Burden myself, but I don't get too caught up on it.
24:42I've seen a lot of... There was a big debate online recently prior to the injury where Ashton Gentry in a league
24:48went first overall and the entire room just flipped out and they're like, what on earth are you doing?
24:53Right? And so the person who has the first overall pick is going to pick either 16th or 20th or 24th, especially
24:59if it's a 10 or 12 team league, you are highly unlikely to get Ashton Gentry with your second round pick.
25:05Right? And we sit here and we give you reasons why we feel as though Jameer Gibbs or Bijan Robinson should go number one overall.
25:12But like fantasy football, if you want to take Ashton Gentry first overall with your first round pick because you don't think
25:18he's getting there in the second round, like fine, have your process.
25:21We wouldn't do it personally, but I love it.
25:24It's like people get so eclectic about this stuff.
25:26And as we get further and further away from the first pick, like the range or like the discrepancy in player rankings
25:32matters a whole lot less to me. Like if you take Mike's 82nd ranked player, 64th overall, like I think Mike would
25:38be the first to tell you the difference between 64 and 82 is not nearly as wide as the difference between one and 19.
25:45Like that's just, or one and yeah, that's how it goes.
25:48Like draft your team, it's fantasy football. Like so many unpredictable things are going to happen during the upcoming year.
25:53Enjoy your hobby. Speaking of field draft your team, while you draft your team, you're on the clock right now.
25:59I'm going to recap every one of the fifth round of what we just had.
26:03Jalen Waddle, first pick of the fifth round. Liz, you took DJ Moore there with the second.
26:08Luther Burden came with a third pick of the fifth round.
26:11Then Lamar Jackson. I took Jadari and Price. Then Roma Dunze.
26:14Got your guy. I did get my guy. Basial Tootin.
26:16DeAndre Swift. Then David Montgomery. Jamison Williams. And field, you ended up going with your man, Carnell Tate.
26:21You had three running backs in my first four picks.
26:24So I had to sack, had to get a second wide receiver for sure.
26:28And just get my pass catcher allotments back up to speed.
26:31And I'm going to end up taking with my next pick, a player that's trending near the top of my most drafted list.
26:37Dang it. It's Kyle Pitts, who the biggest argument against Kyle Pitts.
26:41There's two. One is that you've drafted him before and been let down and you've got scar tissue still.
26:46But he was good last year. Like, hopefully that scar tissue has faded.
26:49The second argument is probably the one that I'll hear more, which is that every training camp highlight I see from Atlanta looks worse than the last one.
26:57And none of them look good. And I'm talking about the quarterback play right now.
27:01Not that they had great quarterback play last season.
27:04And he was still, I thought, he was still very good with Kyle Pitts.
27:08Second amongst tight ends and fantasy points. I'm going with Kyle Pitts.
27:11The clear cut second pass catcher amongst tight ends and wide receivers in Atlanta.
27:15I think the quarterback play will be just enough for him and Drake London to be good.
27:19Kyle Pitts is at least in that tier. Not at least.
27:22Kyle Pitts is definitely in the tier of a starting caliber tight end that I would like to leave a draft with at this point.
27:29Which last year, I was not necessarily saying that about the player.
27:33What we saw was enough to change the way that I view him.
27:36I think a lot of us in fantasy do.
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28:06Hey, it's Bill Simmons from the Bill Simmons Podcast.
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28:26In ESPN's wild world of college football, every Saturday begins with a ritual.
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28:44Mike, have you seen enough from Marvin Harrison Jr.
28:46to hopefully change the way that you think about him?
28:49You know what? I feel better last week when we talked about what the target and fantasy point distribution looked like when
28:55we had Jacoby Brissett, Marvin Harrison, Trey McBride, and Michael Wilson all together last season in those four games.
29:00Harrison outscored Michael Wilson in all four of those games and was basically delivering wide receiver two numbers.
29:05That was different than what we saw with him and Kyler Murray.
29:09That connection was not very good. It was better with Brissett.
29:12Brissett's still going to be the quarterback for a chunk of the season.
29:15And also, it's year three for Marvin Harrison Jr.
29:18Maybe he makes a leap this year. Breakout year.
29:20You know, maybe this is the year. So at this point in the draft, we're talking the middle of where we at round.
29:26That was my sixth pick in a 12-teamer. The upside's worth it at this point.
29:31This is a guy that you usually don't want to draft guys at their ceiling.
29:35And I feel like that's not where we are.
29:37The guy's going to get the ball. We know that.
29:40So if I can get wide receiver two numbers out of my wide receiver four, because that's what he's going to be.
29:46He's my second flex right now. Well worth the flyer at this point.
29:50Top of the sixth round. If I told you that these names came off the board in this order like two years ago, you would think I'm crazy.
29:57Parker Washington Jr. first. Then Kyle Pitts Sr. Then Marvin Harrison Jr.
30:01comes off the board. Then Michael Pittman Jr. Christian Watson to producer Presley.
30:04Travion Henderson. Nice pick by Presley. I like that there.
30:07DK Metcalf. I ended up taking Drake May, grabbing my quarterback here, my number two quarterback off the board.
30:12Sam Laporta going to Joey G, dealing with a back problem also with a little bit of hip tightness still.
30:18And then Ramond Ray Stevenson to our guy, Kevin Pulsiver.
30:20Is that his first running back there, Fieldhouse? It is.
30:23It's, let me get his full roster right now.
30:26Henderson over Stevenson again, by the way. They continue to go right next to each other.
30:30The two zero RB drafters, Puls and DJ, took the two Patriots running backs.
30:34Okay. Hopefully one of them gets something. But there's a reason why we have them ranked in the low 20s, high 30s
30:40here in this one with the way that they're going to split it.
30:43Liz, you're on the clock. What does your team have?
30:46What do you need? What are you looking at here?
30:49Well, right now I have Jameer Gibbs, Ashton Gentty, AJ Brown, DJ Moore and Tyler Warren.
30:53Okay. So I feel pretty good about that. And if I am articulating my feelings right now, I am looking at Jaden Daniels, who I am very high.
31:01I'm ranked inside my top three at the position I'm expecting a bounce back year.
31:05And that would look really lovely. But I don't have many flex options.
31:09And it is rough at flex if I'm looking at other positions.
31:12Right now, Alec Pierce, don't love that. Harold Fannin already have a tight end.
31:16Mike Evans already have plenty of veteran wide receivers.
31:18Matthew Golden is a little interesting. Then we have the Jaguars conundrum.
31:22So it's getting skinny. But I think ultimately the best value on the board is Jaden Daniels.
31:26And it's a player I believe in. So I have to draft true to my rankings.
31:31That's right, Liz. I like it. I like it.
31:33That fills out your starting lineup, right? Well, I have my two flexes.
31:37Still have your flexes to go. Okay. That's a nice looking starting lineup, though, being able to get your quarterback and your
31:43tight end, Jaden Daniels and Tyler Warren with everyone else you've put with it.
31:47It's a good start. Looking at this board here, guys.
31:49Looking through the rest of what we have here, it's the seventh round.
31:53And again, it's a 12-team draft. There's a lot of quarterbacks still.
31:56We say this every single time we do a mock draft.
31:59Quarterbacks don't last like this in like the normal standard home leagues that we do.
32:03How is it that someone, when they listen to this, can kind of take away the way that we do quarterback values versus how their home league does?
32:11Is it just when you have a guy, take him when you want him?
32:15I don't know that you really can. And I'll tell you why.
32:18Is that if you're playing in a 10-team league and you've heard us talk about 13 or 14 quarterbacks that we think
32:24are really good options this year, maybe even a couple more than that.
32:28That all sounds well and good to say, you know, I'm just going to wait until everybody else has drafted their first quarterback.
32:34And then I'll just pick amongst the remaining options.
32:37I play in a ton of leagues with friends that draft two quarterbacks.
32:40Yeah. And they just do it. Yeah. Right. And that's fine.
32:43Like, again, this is their fantasy team, their decisions.
32:46So on the one hand, I would sit there and say, if you're playing in a 10-team league and 10 are off
32:52the board, 9 are off the board and you're the last one standing, take your pick between the Brock Purdy's or Trevor
32:58Lawrence's, whoever else might be on that list for you.
33:01But just be wary that somebody might have taken Drake May and also paired Drake May with Dak Prescott.
33:06Yeah, I hear you. I think there's two ways to look at it.
33:09One, you're in a league with people that take this super seriously like us and quarterbacks are going to fall.
33:15I think in that case, it's a good strategy to do what you just did is you're going to get a discount
33:21on a guy that could be the number one scoring quarterback.
33:24So you still gave yourself an edge over us at quarterback, but still waited all the way till, was that the sixth
33:30round, seventh round before you just did that? So that's the one side.
33:34The other side is if it's a more common league, like a neighborhood league and quarterbacks are going earlier, you just pick your Mendoza line.
33:41You just use that term. I'll use it like you pick your line, whether it's Mahomes, Herbert, Bo Nix, whatever it is.
33:47If you're like, I need that could be QB, what, 15 or 16?
33:50And you might say, is another one. One hundred percent.
33:53So that might be your line. You say, I need to have someone above that line.
33:57And that tier is deep. So you can still wait a long time.
34:01Bo Nix was QB seven the last two years, and he's going in the 10th round right now.
34:06So just find your line and make sure you get one of those guys, because if it goes past that, maybe it's Kyler Murray, Tyler Shuck.
34:13You might be like, I don't feel as good about Daniel Jones, like those kind of guys.
34:18You don't want to get stuck. So find your line and make sure you pounce at the right time.
34:23You just have to monitor. That's what you do throughout the whole draft.
34:26Can we repurpose the term and rather than call it the Mendoza line, can we just call it the Loza line?
34:32Can we just like do that? The Loza line.
34:35Thank you. There's a Z in it. It sounds good.
34:37It sounds pretty good. All right. Let's talk. Thank you, Mike.
34:40That was so clever. There's a Z in it.
34:43That's what. Look at what just happened. Brian Thomas Jr.
34:46Came off the board. Matthew Golden to Liz's team.
34:48Jalen Hurts to Kevin Pulsifer. Wondell Robinson. Then Jacoby Myers.
34:51Joe Burrow. Mike Evans. Alec Pierce and Justin Herbert.
34:53Starting to see some of those later round quarterbacks coming off the board here in the middle rounds, guys.
34:59See, Herbo getting some respect, by the way. I know Mike would never show him that respect.
35:03Never, never would. He just did. Mike's on the clock and don't you dare do it, Mike.
35:08Mike, who are you looking at? I hate everyone here.
35:11Michael Wilson stands out at wide receiver, but I also have Marvin Harrison.
35:14So I'm not going to do that, especially after what I just talked about.
35:18There's so many good quarterbacks, but when you have a league winner in your head, a potential league winner, sometimes you got to just press the button.
35:26So it might be just a hair early, but I'm going to do it.
35:29Jackson Dart. Yeah. Yeah. That's my guy. We have Dak.
35:32We have Bo Nix. We have Purdy. We have Stafford.
35:35We have Caleb. If you're not super high on if you're not super high on Dart like I am, maybe you wait a little bit.
35:42Especially because I'm picking around the turn here, but I don't want to miss out on Dart.
35:46I think he could win leagues. I had a feeling that Mike might draft this player and he didn't.
35:52So I'm going to do it. Back at practice yesterday.
35:54George Kittle, San Francisco 49ers Wolverine slash tight end.
35:57I'm currently giving Daniel a little bit of a, sorry, a neck and shoulder massage.
36:01That's the guy that I was waiting on. You already took Kyle Pitts.
36:05You didn't need both of them. Don't care. This is perfect.
36:08This is what happens. That's why you can't always just hedge and assume that everything's going to fall your way.
36:13You can trade me. Who was your first round pick again?
36:16My first round pick was Jackson Smith and Jigba.
36:19Kyle Pitts for Jackson Smith and Jigba. I'll think about it.
36:22I'll think about it. We'll have that conversation offline.
36:24But guys, I mean, he's back practicing. And Shefty reporting yesterday.
36:27He had a real shot of playing in the season opener.
36:30You're dubious. I am dubious because it's all the way in Australia and he might play, but I do not see him managing a full snap cap.
36:38Well, here's the good news. I'm not saying you shouldn't take him.
36:41I love the value. He will dominate from weeks two through 18.
36:44But I don't think we should encourage people to draft him expecting George Kittle, old school George Kittle in week one on in an international game.
36:51Okay, two things. Is that like, I'm not putting anything past the guy.
36:55He seems like he is a uniquely built human who can get back faster than most mortals would from an injury like this.
37:01Second of all, the good news about drafting George Kittle where I did, which was the end of the seventh round, pick
37:0711 in the seventh round, outside of the top 80, is that even if George Kittle is just like a middle of
37:13the pack tight end, it's already a value relative to the other players that I think will come off the board at tight end soon thereafter.
37:20So maybe you have a top 10 to 12-ish tight end for the first month of the season, but by the second
37:27month of the season, you might have the third best tight end in fantasy.
37:30Yeah, no doubt. At least possible. Let me tell you what my strategy was there when I was thinking, because I was thinking Kittle there as well.
37:38But what I saw was, okay, Jackson Dart stands out for me, a quarterback.
37:42Yep. Field, look, you and whoever's picking at the turn there is, neither of you had a quarterback.
37:47Yep. So you might have taken a quarterback. However, one does have a tight end.
37:51So I was looking at Kittle or Tucker Craft and thinking, a max of one of them is going at the turn,
37:57but several quarterbacks could have went there. So I figured I'll take Dart, you'd take Kittle.
38:01There was three straight running backs, and then I still get Tucker Craft coming around the corner.
38:06I moved him up, very much like Kittle, much healthier.
38:09It looks like he's going to be good to go.
38:11He may be limited early in the season, but he's certainly going to be out there when they're throwing the football.
38:17Had some big target numbers late last season. I was very low on him throughout the offseason because, much like Kittle, I
38:23thought he was going to miss substantial time this year.
38:26That has changed. Touchdown regression is coming for him, but the target volume he saw late last season is very important.
38:32And also, Jordan Love right now, one of the most underrated football players and one of the most underrated players in the NFL.
38:38So it's a really good spot. I agree on that, by the way.
38:42I'm highest on Love. I'm so high on Jordan Love relative to the rest of the rankers.
38:46I've got quarterback 16. You love Love. I love Love.
38:49Eighth round was a lot of backup running backs here, friends.
38:52First pick of the eighth round, Jonathan Brooks. He's been climbing up boards recently right now.
38:56A little bit of a drumbeat there. Kenny Gainwell coming off the board to your team field after that.
39:02Then Tucker Craft. Then Blake Corum. This guy sniped by Q.
39:05That's right. Trevor Lawrence and Caleb Williams back-to-back there.
39:07Then Dallas Goddard. I took Michael Wilson. Jordan Addison.
39:10Kevin Pulsifer took his second running back in Rico Dowdle.
39:12So his top two running backs, his zero RB team has Ramondre Stevenson and Rico Dowdle as his two starting running backs.
39:18With who else over the rest of the squad?
39:21Well, this is the part that makes it interesting.
39:23You don't need those guys to be great because your pass catchers are going to be great.
39:28When the trio to start your pass catching group is Jamar Chase, Brock Bowers, and Chris Olave.
39:33Those are all pretty good. I have a hard time imagining that trio not building you a nice buffer week in and
39:39week out, which that's the upside of zero running backs is that you hit absolute ceiling plays at your pass catchers and
39:45you can get by with middle of the pack, maybe even below middle of the pack runners filling your two starting running back spots.
39:51This is where if you go that route, you're probably taking a lot more dart throws at running backs for the second
39:58half of your roster rather than wide receivers. He's got just three bench spots left and he hasn't taken any third, you know, no depth running back.
40:05So we'll see how Pulse approaches it, but that would be a logical way to do it is throw a bunch of darts.
40:11All right, guys. Starting the ninth round. Anyone that's still on the board when you look at this that you're like, I
40:17mean, I realize that gives away some picks, but is there anyone that you still feel really excited about or some sleepers that you've got?
40:24Yeah, I would say I would say I would say I would say, again, I hope these guys get to me.
40:30If anybody takes them, we'll be pissed. But like, I'm looking at like Jalen Tolbert, Chris Boswell, Patron Allen.
40:35Liz was looking up expectantly. Evante Turpin. Knowing I'm on the clock.
40:38There's plenty of punters. I don't think any punters have gone there.
40:42I don't think they're taken yet. What are you looking at here, Liz?
40:45I mean, things are thin right now. Khalil Shakir is at the top of the board, but I already have DJ Moore.
40:51Khalil Shakir, by the way, 96 targets last season.
40:54That is a little bit mind-blowing when you think about the lack of depth among wide receivers in Buffalo.
40:59But now, obviously, DJ Moore solves a bit of that problem.
41:02I'm looking at Aaron Jones. I do think that Jordan Mason, there's a drumbeat there.
41:06And I think there is an eclipse moment coming.
41:09But to start the season, you don't want to get too ahead of yourself.
41:13I just think that he is at running back, which is only going to get thinner, probably the highest floor option to
41:19start the season at this point of the draft.
41:21So I'm going to go ahead and select him.
41:24I don't really love any of the other options.
41:26Kyle Menunga was interesting there, too. Maybe I should have done that.
41:29Do you guys think we should have included the Vikings in our difficult-to-figure-out backfields?
41:33Go ahead. The only reason why I would say no is because I think that we have them ranked so low, we
41:39have them figured out, it's that we're not really interested in even one of them.
41:43Yeah, I think, and also, I feel like we kind of know their roles, right?
41:47The drumbeat has been Jordan Mason will take on a larger share of the carries, but he's a non-factor in the passing game.
41:54Aaron Jones is now in his 30s. He's probably going to have a reduced role as a rusher, but still be very
42:00involved in passing situations because he's trusted there. And that's all they have right now.
42:04I don't think anyone else is going to make an impact in that backfield anytime soon.
42:08To close the circle on something that we discussed at the beginning of the show, Joey GQ, Joseph Joya, drafted Mike Washington, pick four, round nine.
42:16That, to me, is a hundredth overall. Good value for a player that might have a multiple-week standalone value role.
42:21Right? Because some of the other running backs that we are seeing come off the board right now may not have any standalone value absent an injury.
42:28Mike Washington wouldn't have any standalone value absent an injury right now, but there is an injury.
42:33But there is one. So, for me, a reasonable roll the dice by Joey G at pick 100 overall.
42:38Yep. And still, all the... What stands out here?
42:41Quarterbacks everywhere. Dax Prescott, Bo Nix, Brock Purdy, Matthew Stafford.
42:44I mean, just loaded with quarterback options. Some guy named Patrick Mahomes.
42:47Still on the board. Is he good? It's unbelievable.
42:49Still sitting there as well. Unreal. Through the ninth round, all right, and we're going to be drafting our first three bench
42:55spots in this one, so that you guys are aware.
42:58We're not going to go all the way with this, but we will do the first three bench spots.
43:03I've got some things planned here. I still don't have a tight end.
43:07Do any of you still have any open starting positions in your roster?
43:11I do not. Offer remains on the table. I know.
43:13Thank you. My Kyle Pitts. Thank you. For your Jackson Smith.
43:16All right. So, to answer your question, I do not.
43:19I'm filled out here. I have two running backs.
43:22I have both flexes are filled with my two receivers.
43:24I have Dart and Crafts on full, so now I can go league winner shopping.
43:28I'm going to go a little early here because I'm worried that the hype's building too quickly and this guy's going to go soon.
43:35I don't know how much longer. It's on stripling.
43:37He knew Mike. Headed to my squad. He looks the part.
43:41I have moved his target share just ahead now of Debo Samuel.
43:44It looks like he's going to be ahead of him.
43:47It looks like he's going to just start the season as a full-timer.
43:50Mike Evans has not looked. He's looked like he's 33 so far, I would say, so far in the offseason.
43:56He's been getting beat up. Remember, he missed a lot of last season as well.
44:00I'm a little concerned. I think there's a shot stripling.
44:03He's very clearly the number one receiver on the Niners this season.
44:06And if he's not, you know, it's not like I'm investing a super early pick.
44:10So, as long as he stays down in this area of drafts, I am happy to take a shot on a guy
44:16who, again, who could be the target leader on what will almost definitely be the most efficient offense in the NFL because that's just what Kyle J.
44:23And especially after the wheels fall off of CMC's wagon.
44:26That's right. I'm not worried about that at all.
44:29Thank you, Liz. There's room for plenty of mouths to feed.
44:32This is one of those situations as you get later in the draft, real talk, even though we love making fun of
44:38Mike, when you see a player that you've identified, sometimes they haven't moved up that draft board enough.
44:43They're buried. So, if you scroll, just because you're scrolling a long ways, don't feel like you can't draft a guy that's
44:49a little bit farther down that list. That's where you can get some sneaky good value, especially in a guy like Stribbling.
44:55And you know what I love, Daniel? A good battery.
44:58Wow. I love a good battery. So, what do I do next?
45:01I offer more of a higher floor replacement for Jackson Dart if he does not work out with good old Brock Purdy.
45:07So, the Purdy, Stribbling battery is ready to go.
45:09And that's my bench. I mean, those two could start all season long.
45:13I'm feeling good about that. They could start all season long.
45:16You're right. Bruce Presley with Juwan Johnson coming off the board.
45:19I still don't have a tight end. I had a lot of guys I wanted to take.
45:24And then you know what happened? They just went in between every single pick.
45:27It was like, oh, I'll wait and grab him next time.
45:30Oh, I'll wait and grab him next time. I got kind of stuck in that tight end spot.
45:35Okay. So, that's a good reason to bring up the point that I mentioned earlier and just reinforce it.
45:41Every time is that, like, the rankings are guideline.
45:43They are a general way to approach your draft.
45:46If you love a player and you're going to be disappointed if you don't get that player with your next pick, don't waste time.
45:52Just do it. Yep. If you were to list, like, four of the most popular or most interesting players in the NFL,
45:58Stafford, Travis Hunter, Patrick Holmes, Travis Kelsey, that's four of the top five available right now.
46:03None of them have gone and we're in the 10th round of the draft right now.
46:07You think Travis Kelsey is now the most famous NFL player?
46:10Probably, right? Yes. Okay. Like game recognition? Yeah, just like a glow-on-the-blow if you asked all of the 8 billion people, do you know who this person is?
46:18Once you're in that pop culture world, yeah. Cross over.
46:21Neil, can I ask you a quick question about a pick you made earlier in the draft?
46:25Yes. Mostly because I want validation. Yeah. So, you talked about Shribling and another rookie, obviously, Carnell Tate.
46:30I'm very high on him. Okay. Mostly because I can't get over the talent, but I'm also very worried about Cam Ward
46:36and those two things are clearly related. You still took Tate.
46:39Yeah. Can you help alleviate my anxiety about the...
46:42I don't expect him to be efficient, right? I feel like the volume will carry him because there's such a need for an alpha in that offense.
46:49Yeah. But is that your calculus as well? A little bit of that.
46:53I would say that I am guilty at times of during the preseason using the things that look good as validation for my takes.
46:59And then when things don't look good and I want them to look good, I remind people that it's just preseason.
47:05Yes. We all do that. So, the Titans offense has looked bad.
47:08Obviously, it's a few starts. The Titans are a work in progress team.
47:12I just think Carnell Tate is going to be ready for prime time once they begin their season and the games that actually matter.
47:19So, I'm remaining bullish on him. I think he's a pro-ready prospect.
47:22I think Cam Ward is much better than what we have seen through the first two preseason games.
47:27I am perhaps talking myself into this a little bit.
47:30Tenth round. Just to be able to recap what we have done so far.
47:33Bo Nix off the board. Then Field took Casey Concepcion.
47:36Mike took Brock Purdy. Jayden Reed to Q Squad.
47:39Then Juwan Johnson. Chris Godwin Jr. Debo Samuel. I took Jalen McMillan.
47:42We got Tyler Algier also off the board. And J.K.
47:45Dobbins to Kevin Pulsifer. Paul's taking some shots at some low-end running backs.
47:48Liz, you are back on the clock here. I'm debating two wide receivers.
47:52Jalen Coker, who I think has some breakout appeal in Carolina.
47:55Or Rasheed Shahid. Who's an interesting prospect. I think, what, Seattle paid him over $50 million for a three-year deal, which potentially
48:01sets him up for a larger role in this offense.
48:04I don't, you know, I think I'm going to go with Shahid because I like, I'm going to follow the money with this pick.
48:10But it could have gone either way and I'm just doing something I haven't done before.
48:15Also, ooh, no Bobo on the score. Yeah. Still in a dark place.
48:18Opening up targets, unfortunately. Yeah. Hopefully a minor setback for a major comeback from the guy Jake Bobo.
48:23By the way, Tori Horton also hurt. So probably a pretty clear one, two, three punch at receiver for Seattle to open the season.
48:30And I would imagine Shahid's the target leader there if something were to happen to JSN.
48:34You have to imagine Shahid jumps ahead of Cooper Cup.
48:37Like, Cooper Cup should be a little bit more, one year later, more of an innings eater sort of player.
48:42And Shahid takes on a larger role. Just different skill sets is why I didn't mention it.
48:47Yeah, no doubt. No doubt about it. But you have to get the ball in his hands if you're going to pay him that much.
48:54They traded for him and then they paid him that much.
48:57Again, very good offense. Some rushing appeal as well.
48:59I like it. Gadget plays. I'm back on the clock.
49:02Last pick here, Liz. It is. RJ Harvey has fallen all the way to the 11th round, which is really interesting.
49:08Jonah Coleman obviously generating quite a drumbeat. But it is odd to see Harvey this low, especially given how injury prone Dobbins is.
49:14Lower, though, is Keaton Mitchell. Hey! And I'm feeling spicy.
49:17And I didn't draft Omari in Hampton this time.
49:20So I'm going to do what I'm going to follow field lead and do what I want to do.
49:25And this is theoretically my team, even though we're not playing it out.
49:28And I'm going to take Mitchell. I love that.
49:31Isn't Harvey interesting? Because like second round pick last year, good offense, hit 12 touchdowns.
49:35And then we're just like, we're just buried. But a reluctance to feed him.
49:39I know. How often do those? But my point is, how often do running backs like that with that resume go this late in drafts?
49:46It's pretty rare. But also, I get it. Like, it makes perfect sense.
49:49I'm nervous, clearly. Even if something happens to Dobbins, they're going to go to Jonah Coleman, who probably has a better rushing
49:55profile than Harvey, who did not run the ball well last year.
49:59Love a power back. I got a couple of tight ends that I'm looking at because the only position I have yet
50:05to fill is my tight end slot. Mark Andrews, no TJ Hawkinson, no Dalton Kincaid, no Kenyon Sadiq, no Hunter Henry, no.
50:11I got two names I'm looking at, guys. Get there.
50:13Terrence Ferguson or Brenton Strange. It's one of those two that I'm going to look at as the starting tight end of my squad.
50:20Terrence Ferguson might be the starting tight end for the Rams.
50:23I'm going to go with it. Rolling the dice.
50:26That's one of my guys this year. Love Terrence Ferguson.
50:28I'm worried with him. I'm worried about the same thing with Strange, sort of which there's a lot of mouse to feed.
50:34And for the Rams, it's actually specific to tight end because they did give Tyler Higby, what did they give him, like
50:4010, 12 million for like one year to come back?
50:43And then Colby Parkinson was really busy down the stretch last season.
50:46And I think we talked about this at the live show and you guys gave me a hard time.
50:52But like Davis Allen is probably going to be out there.
50:55Like they love using multiple tight ends. Max Clare, they took in the second round.
50:59And I'm guessing healthy scratch the first beginning of the season.
51:02And then, of course, you have Adams and Puka Nakua.
51:05Like there's there are and the two running backs.
51:07There's a lot of mouse to feed in this offense.
51:10But Ferguson could end up third in line for targets in this offense.
51:13So for me, late round flyer wise, he's outstanding.
51:16Just to clear the air there, Mike. He could.
51:18This doesn't mean he's a guaranteed sick round. But two years, 6 million for Tyler Higby.
51:23Okay. Up to 8 million total. Up to 8.
51:25That's the number I'm thinking of. Okay. But still, not a nothing burger contract.
51:29Last non-defense or kicker pick. And we're going to spare you the defense and kicker analysis today.
51:34I'm taking a player that finished last season with four top 25 weeks in the last seven games of his year, which was Jalen Coker.
51:41Liz mentioned the potential for a Carolina offensive breakout.
51:43If that happens, I think Coker would be amongst the biggest beneficiaries.
51:46Let's take a look at your whole team here, Fields.
51:49Sure, why not? You've got the whole thing set up now.
51:52I'm going to draft my defense and kicker just because I'm now on the clock.
51:56You're one of those guys. Well, I have no picks left besides Coker.
52:00It's completionist. Yes. All right. Is that a word?
52:02Completionist? It is now. It is. Sweet. Here's my squad.
52:05Quarterback Dak Prescott got him very late. My first two picks were Devon Achan and Chase Brown.
52:10Yeah. Zay Flowers and Carnell Tate. My two starting wide receivers with Kyle Pitts as my tight end.
52:15My flexes right now are Travis Achan Jr. and George Kittle.
52:18Top options off the bench. Kenneth Gainwell, Casey Concepcion, and Jalen Coker.
52:21Went a little bit running back heavy here. That third running back in the fourth round being Achan.
52:26I mentioned at the time, I'm not sure that I would have necessarily in normal circumstances done that, but I wanted to
52:32make the point that I think Achan is trending up.
52:35So quality squad right here. Don't love it as much as some of my other mocks, but I like it.
52:40I saw a lot of pass catch, a lot of receptions at the running back position.
52:45Yes, it is. It's always nice. Yeah. It's not a bad looking squad though, Phil.
52:49Liz, let's look at your team. Okay. How about we see what you did here in the draft?
52:5412-team mock draft. What was the position you were picking from again?
52:57The second position. Second spot overall. So second spot overall.
53:00Talk us through this. Jaden Daniels, Jameer Gibbs, Ashton Gentey, A.J.
53:03Brown, DJ Moore, Tyler Warren, Matthew Golden, and Tony Pollard as my flex.
53:06And then on bench, Aaron Jones, senior Rasheed Shaheed, and some Keaton Mitchell to close things out.
53:11But I'm actually happy with how the quarterback situation felt to me.
53:14And I feel pretty solid with this squad, honestly.
53:17Ashton Gentey, I'm sure, will generate some chat in the chat or some chatter in the chat.
53:22But I've already said my piece and we've discussed how much time we're anticipating him to miss.
53:26And, you know, I'm kind of happy with this Tony Pollard flex situation because I think that's a player that's really going under the radar.
53:33He's cleared over 1,200 scrimmage yards in each of his last four seasons, half of which have obviously been with the Titans.
53:39So is he dynamic? Is there always going to be some Tajay Spears conversation, whispers?
53:43Sure. Has it come to fruition yet? No. Sure.
53:46So, yeah, I mean, Liz, absent Ashton Gentey's injury being really bad and the reporting suggested late last night, you're totally fine.
53:52That's a squad. Right? Because like Tony Pollard or Aaron Jones, senior can be your short-term, you know, maybe it's one to three-week replacement for Ashton Gentey.
53:59Gentey gets back and assuming this ankle doesn't bother him beyond his return, it's a high upside squad right there.
54:05I like him more than mine. I think that's why the unsexy pick of the spectacularly unspectacular Aaron Jones was so valuable
54:11to your squad, even though we have two flexes in this.
54:14Because knowing that you had Ashton Gentey, if he does miss time, you do have that veteran that at least should start
54:20the season as one of the main guys in the offense.
54:23There is talk about whether or not Aaron Jones continues to be that role, but right now to start the season with your Ashton Gentey.
54:30I think we're fine for the first month. You're in a really good spot.
54:34Which is also why I felt more comfortable taking Keaton Mitchell than R.J.
54:37Harvey. I love it. I would say nice things, but you took Tyler Warren, so we're not friends right now.
54:43We're going to throw up a poll to see which of our drafts you like the most right now on the YouTube
54:49chat, so go ahead and check that out. Let's go ahead and check out Mike's lineup.
54:53Oh, check this out. Check out the best one for sure.
54:56Yeah, Jackson Dart at quarterback. Remember, I did hedge with Brock Purdy there as well on my bench.
55:01I have some options there. Picking from the 11 spot here.
55:04Josh Jacobs and Kyron Williams at running back. Now, they were my third and fourth pick, so to get those two guys,
55:10they're in my top 20 at running back, so I feel good about that because at wide receiver, I feel great.
55:16CeeDee Lamb, Drake London, Jamison Williams, and Marvin Harrison Jr.
55:19He's more, Liz, he's a little bit more volatile than your second flex in Tony Pollard, but a little excitement there.
55:24Tucker Crafts at tight end, and then DeJount Stribbling on the bench along with Jordan Mason.
55:29It's a little bit of running back. I love your bench.
55:32It's gorgeous. Good looking bench. It is a good looking bench.
55:35So I have a stack starting lineup and a good bench.
55:38No, no, no. Your bench is really good. Just the bench.
55:41Okay, just the bench. You drafted a really good bench.
55:44I got it. I just took former and current 49ers from the bench.
55:47That is true. You're really in on the 49ers passing game.
55:50Are you out then on the running game? Is that part of it?
55:54No? Nope, I am not. All right. I'm a Kyle Shanahan.
55:57All right. He's back in practice. My squad. Yeah.
55:59I ended up going from the sixth pick. This was my team right here.
56:03Again, with Jadarian Price, Jacoby Myers, Rashad White, Jalen McMillan, and Michael Wilson.
56:07I had like four guys that were sniped from me and I had to pivot.
56:11I would say the sixth spot is the most challenging spot I think to draft from.
56:15I hated this. It's really tough. Drafting in the middle.
56:18Every time I draft from the middle of a draft, it's my least favorite place to draft from because I feel like
56:24I don't get to prognosticate what the people on either side of me are doing as well as I can when I'm at one of the turns.
56:32Also really hard to find a potty break. It's so tough.
56:35You can't ever take a minute. There's no breaks.
56:37So I don't love this squad. However, you know, this is just where we start.
56:41By the way. This half of the table does not like our squad.
56:45No, no, no, no. I would vote for Liz's team, I think, if I was good to go into.
56:50No offense. Well, I'm just eliminated before it even started.
56:53So I know that you're not going to pick my team.
56:56Why would you do that? They stopped the count.
56:58Liz has won with 43% of the vote. Wow.
57:01And the West Coast isn't even up yet, Liz.
57:03Like your people aren't even on this yet. You know what I mean?
57:07That's right. That's right. This is always fun. Just the beginning of the Fantasy Football Marathon here, guys.
57:12We're going to be here for a while. I hope you didn't make any plans this evening because we've got some shows lined up tonight.
57:197 p.m. to 11 p.m. on both ESPN and ESPN2, a four-hour block of the Fantasy Football Marathon.
57:24John, as if I didn't get to see your faces enough, guys.
57:27I can't wait. We're going to dive into a little bit of everything.
57:30Is there any one thing you're looking forward to?
57:33Because for me, I'm always excited to bring back a new segment called Only Dan's.
57:37It is one of my favorite things of the year.
57:40Dan Graziano coming back. Going to have a lot of fun with that.
57:43Make sure you check that out a bit later this evening.
57:46Yeah. Can't wait. We're doing a lot of best ball talk tonight.
57:50A lot of best ball conversation. That's going to be fun.
57:53We have our must-draft players. That's right. We're going to conclude this thing tonight.
57:57But, yeah, we have a lot of good stuff.
57:59Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. So, we have awareness about where people can find us tonight.
58:03You ESPN1? 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on ESPN2, correct?
58:06Correct. 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. on ESPN1. So, we will see you for four hours tonight.
58:10We are pumped about that. We've got a cast of many that are going to be there.
58:15And, of course, we wrap it up tomorrow night with our draft.
58:18Always a fun time. Our draft is always the best.
58:21We will talk about that more tomorrow. But we will be back later.
58:25We'll see you guys later tonight on TV. If you are not there, we will see you on the podcast.
58:30Don't forget to love each other. Be kind to yourself.
58:33We love you guys. See ya. See ya.