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8 Players Fantasy Football Projections LOVE | Draft Values for 2026 (Ep. 2116)

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

57 min
Duration
Estimated from transcript
Aug 7, 2026
Published
Fri, August 7, 2026
14
Player insights
14
Players mentioned
Topics
Carnell TateColston LovelandEmeka EgbukaHarold FanninJavonte WilliamsJonathon BrooksJosh JacobsLadd McConkeyLuther BurdenQuentin JohnstonRashee RiceRome OdunzeTre HarrisWan'Dale Robinson
Player analysis

Player insights

14

Carnell Tate

NegativeProjection80:47

Pat Fitzmaurice and Jake Seeley discuss Carnell Tate, with Seeley projecting over 1,000 yards and six touchdowns. Fitzmaurice worries the yardage projection is overly optimistic while the touchdown projection is conservative, and both note potential target competition from Wan'Dale Robinson.

Insight page

Colston Loveland

PositiveBreakout45:22

Pat Fitzmaurice identifies Loveland as the 'real guy' in the Bears' passing attack, noting that the offense will likely funnel targets between him, Burden, and Odunze, with Loveland potentially serving as the top option at tight end.

Insight page

Emeka Egbuka

NegativeProjection80:14

Pat Fitzmaurice notes that discord users are naming Emeka Egbuka as a breakout candidate, but suggests that the community might view him as a low-end WR2, prompting a need for more discussion to get people on board.

Insight page

Harold Fannin

PositiveUsage50:37

Jake Ciely and Pat Fitzmaurice are high on Fanning, projecting him to lead the team in targets with over 120, potentially reaching 81 receptions. Despite a poor Browns offense, Fanning is viewed as a high-end TE1 candidate who could be a 'super duper star' based on his massive college production.

Insight page

Javonte Williams

PositiveValue85:29

Jake Seeley defends Javonte Williams against low projections, ranking him as his RB13. Despite concerns about his pass-catching ability, Seeley views him as a safe, low-end RB1 who will benefit from a stable offensive line and a healthy Dak Prescott.

Insight page

Jonathon Brooks

PositiveDepth Chart80:33

Pat Fitzmaurice is bullish on Jonathan Brooks, stating he is comfortable with optimistic projections and expects Brooks to eventually surpass Chuba Hubbard on the depth chart.

Insight page

Josh Jacobs

PositiveProjection2:18

Pat Fitzmaurice notes that projections for Jacobs are strong at 289 carries, 1161 yards, and 13.2 total touchdowns, provided he stays healthy. Despite concerns about his age-28 mileage and a questionable offensive line, Jacobs remains a high-volume back in a Matt LaFleur offense that consistently maximizes run game efficiency.

Insight page

Ladd McConkey

PositiveProjection75:15

Pat Fitzmaurice notes that while Ladd McConkey underperformed last season, it was due to a poor offensive system and line issues. He expects McConkey to bounce back and put up expected numbers this year, contrasting this optimism with the skepticism often directed at Quentin Johnston.

Insight page

Luther Burden

PositiveRole40:06

Pat Fitzmaurice and Jim Coventry suggest preferring Burden over Odunze due to Bears head coach Ben Johnson's vocal praise for Burden, which is viewed as a reliable indicator of his role in the offense.

Insight page

Quentin Johnston

PositiveProjection70:08

Jake Seeley is bullish on Quentin Johnston, projecting him for nearly 900 yards and nine touchdowns, noting that current projections are too static compared to last year. Seeley argues that with a healthy offensive line and Mike McDaniel's scheme, Johnston could secure an 18-21% target share as the clear WR2.

Insight page

Rashee Rice

PositiveBust15:29

Pat Fitzmaurice is fading the current projections for Rasheed Rice, which rank him as WR7. Concerns include his injury history, recent off-field legal issues, and the fact that the Chiefs' passing offense has statistically declined since Rice became the primary receiver. Fitzmaurice also notes potential target competition from Xavier Worthy and Kenneth Walker.

Insight page

Rome Odunze

PositiveProjection37:37

FantasyPros projections are bullish on Odunze, ranking him as the WR23 with 63 catches, 980 yards, and 8.1 touchdowns, which places him ahead of Ladd McConkey, Jaylen Waddle, and Luther Burden in their model.

Insight page

Tre Harris

NegativeDepth Chart78:20

Pat Fitzmaurice expresses hesitation regarding Quentin Johnston's outlook, specifically questioning whether Johnston is definitively better than Trey Harris, which serves as his primary reservation about drafting Johnston.

Insight page

Wan'Dale Robinson

PositiveRole80:47

Pat Fitzmaurice suggests that Wan'Dale Robinson could potentially emerge as the target leader for the Titans, posing a threat to the high expectations surrounding Carnell Tate.

Insight page
Full transcript

Episode Transcript

650
0:00This is an iHeartPodcasts. Guaranteed Human. Welcome into Fantasy Pros.
0:03This is the Fantasy Football Podcast. Tara Roberts here with Pat Fitzmaurice and Jake Seeley.
0:08And today we are talking 8 fantasy players that fantasy football projections love.
0:12These players are guys that Pat and Jake and quite frankly me too as well because they picked a fantastic group of players.
0:19Spoiler alert on that one. These are players that they think have more favorable fantasy pros projections than their half PPR ADPs might actually suggest.
0:26And they are giving you a very nice variety.
0:29Multiple players here being taken before round one according to a half PPR ADP.
0:33And players being taken in the mid rounds and double digit round players as well.
0:38So we are doing a broad spectrum here in terms of finding value for you guys.
0:43Now Pat, how are you doing? I know this is a big week for us.
0:47We're finally getting actual football. It may not be the actual football that we want, but we're getting it.
0:53How are you doing? I'm doing great. Yeah, we're getting football.
0:56We're getting the pads. And you know, Hard Knocks debuted last night.
1:00First episode with the Seahawks. That was a lot of fun.
1:03So I feel like once Hard Knocks premieres, like you're into training camp now.
1:08We're knee deep. So I'm ready. How about you, Jake?
1:11I'm ready for all the hot takes to change our opinions after one game in the preseason where we saw 15 plays from a player.
1:18That's all that matters, right? Right. I've already seen the Jonathan Brooks RB one season because he is not playing in the Hall of Fame game there.
1:26So we've already got it. The hype is happening here.
1:29But let's go ahead and dive in because we've got a ton of players to cover for you guys.
1:35We'll start off here with Pat's number one player.
1:38It's Josh Jacobs with an ADP of RB 14 overall 21 here.
1:42Pat, talk to us about Josh Jacobs. Yeah, the projections really seem to like him, Tara.
1:46They've got him for 289 carries, 1161 yards, 12 touchdowns, and then another 36 catches for 284 yards and 1.2 touchdowns receiving.
1:53If he's healthy, I do think there's an excellent chance for Jacobs to hit those projections.
1:58And I can't wait to hear what Jake is going to say about this because I think Jake likes more than Josh likes Josh Jacobs more than consensus.
2:06I mean, it was Josh Jacobs being banged up over the second half of the 2025 season that kind of took some of the luster off last year.
2:15Like he was dealing with this bone bruise in his knee and a thigh contusion after landing hard on that infernal turf
2:22and MetLife Stadium in a mid-November game against the Giants.
2:25But look, Jacobs has averaged 18.9 touches a game since coming to Green Bay.
2:29Like Matt LaFleur leans up him hard. He scored 30 touchdowns in 32 regular season games with the Packers, almost won a game.
2:36So I get the projection we have of 13.2 total touchdowns.
2:39Seems spot on if he stays healthy. I mean, he's one of the best inside runners in the league.
2:45Matt LaFleur is a very good run game designer.
2:48I don't love the Packers offensive line. I mean, the newly renamed Zach Baco Bewele, formerly Zach Tom.
2:53He's probably the only above average offensive lineman the Packers have.
2:57But Packers offensive line has always been better than the sum of its parts while Matt LaFleur has been there.
3:03So while I have Josh Jacobs ranked a little lower than this, I can kind of get on board with these projections.
3:09Just a matter of Jacobs staying healthy, which, you know, he can't totally take for granted with a high mileage back in his age 28 season.
3:17But if he can just stay upright, I think he has a good chance to match these projections.
3:23Yeah, you mentioned that offensive line. That is a concern.
3:26Hopefully it works out very well. It's funny. The injury played such a major role last season.
3:31I mean, before the injury, he was literally the safest anytime touchdown bet that you could possibly make there.
3:37Jake, you love Josh Jacobs too? I want to say that my projections love him for some reason, a little bit lower
3:43than I have him in the rankings. But I do love the upside.
3:47I think the real reason that he's ranked where he is and where the ADP is, is because we don't know what's going on off the field.
3:56Even as bad as last year was, he was still top 10 in points per game.
4:01We're talking about somebody that if you look at, of course, his entire career, the only season he hasn't had at least
4:0713 fancy points per game and a half point PPR was that last season with the Raiders.
4:12So if you look at Jacobs, just like Pat said it, being healthy, this offense, even with a questionable offensive line will still be the Packers offense.
4:21He's still going to get the goal line touches.
4:23He's still one of the best at getting into the end zone with those ways, which is why he has double digit
4:30touchdowns half the seasons he's been in the NFL, even went to him with the Raiders.
4:35So I think that we're just looking for the off the field stuff.
4:39Like, don't diminish it at all. But if he plays 17 games, even 15 games, he's going to be in the RB1
4:46conversation just because he's as productive as he is.
4:48Yeah. Touchdowns carry him through three down back there.
4:51Before we move on to our next player here, to Jake's player, just a quick reminder, if you want the chance to
4:58win a Colston Loveland signed Bears jersey, courtesy of our friends at Pristine Auction, then this is your shot right here.
5:04All you have to do is subscribe to the Fantasy Pros YouTube channel right now.
5:09Drop a comment below on any of our videos.
5:11This one right here. Tell us which players that you love their projections for.
5:16And that is it. We will be announcing the winner right here on the channel.
5:20So make sure that you turn on those notifications so you can be alerted when new videos are up and to claim your prize.
5:27Now, Jake's next player here is another one that I love here.
5:31Again, guys, I said spoiler alert. This is a great list here.
5:35Emeka Abuka, ADP currently wide receiver 18 with an overall ADP of 41.
5:39Jake, talk to us about Emeka Abuka. The upside of the projections is showing it that he's even higher than ADP is
5:45the fact that he's stepping into the Mike Evans role.
5:48We already saw him last year. And you can look at it two ways.
5:53You can make the argument already that people will make.
5:56I've even brought him up. I did a breakout column for every single position and let off the wide receivers with Abuka,
6:02not surprisingly, and made the same comment that those first six games were without Mike Evans or Chris Guy.
6:08When one of the other were out for all the first six games.
6:12But at the same time, after the downturn, when we all know it happened, he was hurt.
6:17The offensive line was hurt. Baker Mayfield was hurt.
6:20This entire team played the second half of the season.
6:23Well, the entire offense played hurt. So I think we're still looking at Abuka and the ability.
6:28And the comparison I made for him coming out of college was kind of like a Keenan Allen type where some of
6:35the volume might have to offset a little bit of the average depth of target or the potential touchdown upside.
6:41But even so, we're talking about Keenan Allen, who for years was a wide receiver one.
6:46Like that's not a slight on Abuka. It's just the fact of what somebody might think that he was in a Jamar Chase world.
6:53I want to go that far. But to be a Keenan Allen, to be a back end wide receiver one, which is
7:00kind of where the projections have him versus the ADP.
7:03I actually thought this would be more on lockstep.
7:06It seems a lot of people want to get on the Abuka train and I'm there for it.
7:11I have him as a fringe wide receiver one, too, but have him in a lot of leagues so far.
7:17And it seems like I know that you were talking about with Pat and he pinged the audience, so to speak.
7:24And there's a lot of people that seem to be on Abuka.
7:27I'm surprised. Like I said, I would have thought the ADP was higher because it seems everybody loves them.
7:33But somehow the sites are reflecting that yet. Yeah, that's the beauty of it right there.
7:38Everybody is in. It's not rising. Maybe there's a certain point to which it can't rise.
7:43I feel like there's that stigma of what the Bucs offense was last year and Baker Mayfield and knowing that that, you
7:49know, that beautiful 41 touchdown season that he had definitely was an outlier year.
7:54But he can still be productive. Do you have any concerns around what if Chris Godwin stays healthy?
7:59You know, is it possible that he could be the wide receiver one of this offense?
8:04It's an overall fantastic group. I don't think at this point I have Chris Godwin a decent amount of shares, mostly because
8:11he talked about himself saying that, like, this is the first like the first offseason since the injury where he feels like he's getting back to 100 percent.
8:19Wasn't even close to that midseason last year and still didn't feel that at the end of the season.
8:25So Chris Godwin being alongside of him. No, I mean, even let's just even say Chris Godwin was peak Chris Godwin.
8:31This is still an offense that has supported Mike Evans and Chris Godwin before and with Baker Mayfield.
8:37So I'm not concerned at all. There's plenty of offenses out there support two wide receivers even more.
8:42And the Zach Robinson kind of implementation of his offense here would be a third wide receiver is going to be used
8:49anyway with a lot of three wide sets. And we know Cade Otten's basically a non-factor.
8:54So I have zero concerns, really. I think that a healthy Chris Godwin only just helps the offense.
8:59Not that he's the quarterback because Baker is the one with the tide that rises all the ships.
9:05But I think that Godwin would just help the offense click even more with less coverage for Ibuka.
9:10Yeah, that's a great point. Poor Cade Otten there.
9:13No relevancy unless everybody, every receiver goes down apparently there.
9:16So it is good. We are deep there at wide receiver.
9:19Moving on to our next player here. And again, guys, we are doing early round ones right here.
9:25Guys that are being taken before round six, according to our half PPR overall ADP.
9:29And the next player here is Rasheed Rice, ADP wide receiver 11.
9:33Moving on up there as we get a little bit more comfortable with the thought that he will be hopefully on the field for the entire season here.
9:42And overall ADP 29. Pat, talk to us about Rasheed Rice.
9:45Our projections have Rasheed Rice for 99 catches, 1099 yards, 9.7 touchdowns.
9:49That would put him wide receiver 7 in our projections ahead of Justin Jefferson, A.J.
9:53Brown, George Pickens, Nico Collins. There are just so many ways this type of season, these types of numbers could be short circuited with Rasheed Rice.
10:01I mean, let's start with the fact that Rasheed Rice has only played 12 games the last two years due to injuries and suspension.
10:08Recently spent time in jail for violating his probation, which he had received for causing a multi-car crash with injuries because he
10:15was street racing and then fled the scene. But Rasheed Rice then had to recover from a cleanup knee surgery in jail.
10:22And there was footage from training camp of him kind of lumbering around, not exactly looking spry.
10:27And hey, it's early in training camp. I wasn't too worried about that, but nor was it reassuring.
10:32So will Rice stay healthy all year? Will he stay out of trouble all year?
10:37Magic eight ball says reply hazy. We ask again later.
10:40And let's be honest here. The Chiefs offense has kind of sucked in the Rasheed Rice era, at least relative to what
10:47it was in the pre-Rasheed Rice era. In his first five seasons as a starter, Patrick Mahomes averaged just shy of 4,800
10:53yards a season, 38.4 touchdown passes a year, 8.1 yards per attempt.
10:57In the three seasons since Rasheed Rice joined the team, Mahomes has averaged about 1,000 fewer yards per year, hasn't thrown more
11:04than 27 touchdown passes in any season. And he's averaged like 7.1 yards, a full yard fewer per attempt.
11:10I'm not blaming Rasheed Rice for that, like not at all.
11:13But the fact remains that the Chiefs passing game has been much worse with Rasheed Rice as the number one receiver than
11:20it was with Tyreek Hill as the number one receiver.
11:23So maybe Andy Reid looks for new answers. Maybe Xavier Worthy has a bigger role.
11:27Maybe Cyrus Allen turns into something. And maybe some of the screen passes that have been going to Rasheed Rice, and he's
11:34been getting a lot of his catches and yardage on screens.
11:37Maybe some of those screens start going to new edition Kenneth Walker.
11:41So I'm fading the heck out of these Rasheed Rice projections.
11:44I just there's so many ways this could go wrong.
11:47Apologies to the excellent data scientists at Fantasy Pros.
11:50But yeah, I'm not with these projections. You know, it's interesting.
11:53I was looking at Patrick Mahomes last season, obviously.
11:56You know, he got off to an incredible start there without Rasheed Rice.
12:00But it was all driven by the legs there.
12:03The receiving core has been just so underwhelming. I mean, to your point, hopefully they can find something.
12:08And, you know, maybe Xavier Worthy can finally become that deep threat that they've been missing since Tyreek Hill.
12:14Not that he'll ever be Tyreek Hill, but they've got to give something downfield.
12:18Maybe Cyrus Allen, once he comes back from his injury.
12:21But at the end of the day, you know, there has to be something in terms of pushing the ball downfield.
12:28But I want to ask you, you know, is it possible that we could see an uptick in production overall if this
12:34injury from Patrick Mahomes maybe keeps everything a little bit shorter?
12:38And so he continues to have to be forced to keep everything to the lower AD or lower ADOT players, which is, you know, Rasheed Rice.
12:46So, you know, under five yard ADOT there. So could the injury maybe be a factor in helping push these projections up?
12:52Possibly. I mean, maybe he just has to throw more.
12:55You know, and the Chiefs maybe have gotten a little weaker defensively with losing their cornerbacks.
13:00Maybe they have to get into more shootouts. That would certainly help Rasheed Rice.
13:04I think one thing that I'm curious about is like whether the presence of Kenneth Walker can start pulling some of these
13:11defenses out of too high safety looks against the Chiefs.
13:14Because Mahomes has been going against too high safety at a really high rate.
13:18And maybe that helps boost this offense a little bit.
13:21I don't know if it helps boost Rasheed so much as it could maybe help Worthy or some of the vertical threats in this offense.
13:29But interesting thought. Like, I'm really eager to see the Chiefs offense this year.
13:33Jake, where do you have Rasheed Rice ranked? Ranked or projection?
13:37Well, ranked. He's outside of the top 10. And even I think he's not even a wide receiver one for me at the top of my head.
13:45I have my projections pulled up. He checked in as wide receiver 17 in projections.
13:49And it really comes down to, I think, what Tara was alluding to there is that the projections on Fantasy Pros has him almost at 100 receptions.
13:58And I think that's like you see it. He doesn't even have 1,100 yards.
14:02So they're obviously accounting for not a lot downfield.
14:05A shout-out to a friend of ours, Ian Harditz, who tweeted out, I think it was yesterday, the day before.
14:11He's like, every Rasheed Rice, big play reception, air yards, 25-plus downfield.
14:14It was one highlight. So there you go. Just to prove the point here is that Rasheed Rice, this is who we know.
14:21And I think he'd be a little bit different if he was better.
14:25He's not terrible. Let me make that clear. I was just going to say, similar to Tyreek Hill in the day, better after the catch.
14:33That was the thing was Tyreek was over the middle too, but he was also racking up 20 yards after the catch here and there.
14:41So it's not that Rasheed Rice is bad. I just agree a lot with what Fitz is saying, especially because we did
14:47another show and I referenced it and they talked about it.
14:51I know you guys have seen it as well, is that the team is designing the passing game style for Kenneth Walker out of the backfield.
14:58So like Fitz said, maybe some of those targets to Rasheed Rice actually get lost to Kenneth Walker, even if they do stay short.
15:06Jake, talk to us about your next player here.
15:09Ashton Gentty, ADP RB6 overall 10. So we went high here, high here.
15:12We did. And I thought I was going to be the one to throw you the curveball is that like the projections love them, but I don't.
15:21But Fitz knows and that's why he's already smiling because we did another show where we argued ad nauseum about Gentty.
15:27But look, he got the more time on screen, get to talk up Gentty.
15:31I'm going to go the opposite way and talk down Gentty.
15:35Just not a lot. Like if you want to watch the other show too, I agree with a lot of what Fitz was talking about on that show.
15:43So but this really came down to and now mind you, the projections and the ranks have changed since I've put it
15:50because the rank adjusted one spot and the projections want to spot the other direction.
15:54Because I know this because I went through all the projections, all the rankings, and I look for a gap of at least four or more.
16:02Now it's only two, two spots between projections and rankings.
16:05So Gentty's collapsed a little bit, which is interesting because the projections went up and the ranking went down the spot.
16:12I don't know if I have that power, Fitz, is that I pulled a lot of people off Gentty in one day.
16:18But it really comes down to the projections aren't terrible.
16:21The projections are back end RB1. But that was my argument.
16:25That was my argument to Fitz is that I see him more as a back end RB1 than I do as top six, seven.
16:32And he was at six at the time of this.
16:35And the projections, their rankings, the ADP were lower.
16:38I think it was I think it was six and ten, because like I said, it was a four position gap or larger that I was looking for.
16:46And I was more in line with that. And I think that if you look at it or the ADP was six,
16:53the projections ten and the projections still love them.
16:56But the projections pointing out the fact that like that 10 spot is about 14 and a half per game.
17:02It's a decent season. But that fills you in as most seasons as RB10, 11, 12, which is really good because we
17:09just got a terrible season where he was a low end RB2.
17:12And my argument back to Fitz was he would say that he has the upside.
17:17And I'm not saying I'm right and he's wrong, but I'm just bringing up what we talked about on the other show.
17:24As Fitz was saying, he sees the upside of potential top six.
17:27And my pushback was he would need six points per game more than last year.
17:32If you want to tell me three or four and gets into the back end RB1 conversation.
17:37Sure. I have him as a back end RB1.
17:40I have him right there with Saquon Barkley and the rest.
17:43But even the projections are showing that that jump that we're expecting with a better offense, a better offensive line.
17:49I agree with him about the health of the offensive line being a big factor.
17:54The changes in what was one of the most miserable cold offenses we've seen in some time to hoping that Kubiak fixes everything.
18:01And but the quarterback situation is still a question mark and all that kind of stuff that where I say, you know what?
18:0814 points per game. It's a hell of a jump for what we just saw, how bad it was.
18:13That's still not enough to get me to RB6, whereas the ADP agrees with Fitz.
18:18I am actually on the side of the projections on this one, which is lower.
18:23But you know what? Let's debate it out here because we're looking at the projections.
18:27It's very interesting because basically what it's telling us is, hey, we're getting roughly the same receiving volume.
18:33They have been projected for two less touchdowns, 58 receptions, about the same 400 ish yards, about the same.
18:38But the increase here in the projections is we're going to get more carries on the ground, hopefully some closer games, better
18:45coaching, as you said, and a little bit uptick in terms of yardage as well.
18:50But you're right. It's not a dramatic jump in terms of the projections here.
18:54So let's debate it because we got you guys on two sides.
18:57I'm undecided either way here. I have not clicked Ashton Gentry's name thus far because I'm very pro.
19:03You guys know I'm pro HN. I'm pro Barkley.
19:06So it's the same range. You know, Chase Brown, I could click any name there.
19:10And I don't find myself clicking Ashton Gentry a ton there.
19:14So, Pat, what's your argument for him? That the offensive line is going to be so much better.
19:19That it's not going to look like Ashton Gentry.
19:22It's in a Bruce Lee movie every time he gets the ball with guys running at him from every direction behind the line of scrimmage.
19:29And so Tyler Linderbaum, they add the best center arguably in the league.
19:33They get Colton Miller healthy. They get Jackson Powers Johnson healthy again.
19:37They get Clint Kubiak who always seems to design his offenses that, like Matt LaFleur and I was saying earlier with Josh
19:44Jacobs, like some of the offensive line is always better than the parts with Clint Kubiak offense.
19:49So I think that's going to be better. More first downs, fewer three and outs.
19:53These are all going to lead to greater play volume for Ashton Gentry.
19:57There's no one behind him. And I didn't even like Mike Washington very much as a prospect.
20:03I mean, I really think there's nothing behind him and that Gentry and Brock Bowers are going to account for a massive
20:09percentage of the yardage and touchdowns in this offense because wide receiver, that room is also pretty barren with talent.
20:15So I think it's going to be great. I mean, he was a pretty dazzling prospect with a pretty immaculate prospect profile.
20:22I still think he's that guy and I just think the ecosystem is going to be so much better this year.
20:28Yeah. I'm just glad you didn't. I was going to say that he didn't bring up the best shape ever that he put on muscle and slimmed down.
20:37I was surprised you didn't bring that up. It's trying to avoid that sort of training camp as best I can, Jake.
20:44Everyone's in the best shape ever. Even Depot came in looking good.
20:47I'm joking. Well, not really. He didn't. He came in looking better than we thought there.
20:52But before we move on to the next player here, support for today's show comes from Square, the system powering so many of the places we go.
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22:34All right, moving on to our next group here.
22:37We're going to jump out of the early round players.
22:40I'm going to hit the mid rounds, which honestly, guys, is often the one that people struggle with the most there because
22:46there's such a wide range of outcomes. So we're going to talk about players being taken according to ADP between rounds 6 and 10 here.
22:54And Pat's going to start us off with Rome Odunze.
22:57Wide receiver 28 in ADP. Overall, 64. There is the constant online debate here, Pat, about is it Luther Burden?
23:03Is it Rome Adunze? Where's the hype going? So talk to us about Rome Odunze.
23:08Yeah, Tara. Everyone is trying to read those tea leaves on how the targets are going to be split up in Chicago
23:14among Rome Odunze, Luther Burden, and Colston Loveland. I'm not really sure what to think about it, but our projections seem pretty rosy for Roma Adunze.
23:22You said what was it? Wide receiver 28 ADP?
23:25Yeah, wide receiver 23 in our projections with 63 catches for 980 yards and 8.1 touchdowns.
23:30That puts him ahead in our projections of Lad McConkie, Jalen Waddell, and Luther Burden.
23:34So a couple of weekends ago, I was at the Fantasy Football Expo, and I was talking to Jim Coventry of Roto-Wire.
23:41Jim is a Chicago guy, a Bears fan. I asked him what he thought about the Bears receivers, and Jim correctly pointed
23:48out that Bears head coach Ben Johnson tends to speak his mind, say what he thinks, isn't coy about his feelings.
23:54I mean, Tara, you know Ben Johnson hates Matt LaFleur and the Packers.
23:58He makes no effort to hide it, no real effort to disguise his hatred with fake conviviality.
24:03Talks openly about his disdain for the Packers. Cool, cool.
24:06But Ben Johnson also seems to be pretty honest with the media when he talks about his players, and he has been gushing, just gushing about Luther Burden.
24:15Jim Coventry believes that's a reason to prefer Burden over O'Dunzane Fantasy this season, and I kind of agree with Jim on this.
24:22But our projections do slightly prefer Burden. I'm curious what you guys think about this.
24:26Yeah, it's interesting because I think you can tell by the 63 receptions, nearly 1,000 yards, 8 touchdowns.
24:32You know, projections kind of show there that, again, we think it's coming through.
24:36It's the opposite of Rasheed Rice, right? Whether he's roughly the same productions, about 40 difference in receptions there.
24:42We think it's coming through big plays here. Jake, what side are you on here with Romadunze versus Luther Burden?
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27:15I have 20 more fantasy points for the season for Luther Burden in my projections, so I agree that Luther Burden is
27:22the guy, but I think the real, real guy is Colston Loughlin, which we've talked about before.
27:27The real thing here is, I think the difference is, is my projections are almost lockstep with fantasy pros on this one,
27:33but I still have Burden, not significantly. 20 points isn't the biggest gap, but significantly in the ranks where you're talking about
27:40wide receiver like 18, 19, 20 versus wide receiver 30, 31, because I just think that maybe the projections are accounting for
27:47more factors in the passing game than I have, and that's what it is.
27:51And I think there's going to be a lot of funneled in this offense.
27:55I think it's going to be between the big three, Loveland, Burden, and Adunze.
28:00I don't see a lot of the ancillary pieces getting involved here.
28:03I mean, DeAndre Swift out of the backfield, I'm talking about pure pass catchers.
28:08And I think that's, that might be, that's what I'm assuming might be the biggest difference.
28:12But I think that's why I go back to also just, if you really believe that things are going to take off
28:19this year is why you buy Caleb Williams. The risk here was that I think that we all agree Luther Burden, it
28:26seems like a lot of these shows, I say these as the fantasy proto shows are on Luther Burden well ahead of
28:32Roma Dunze because of everything Fitz said, including Ben Johnson speaks about his guys and loves his guys when he's like, tell us the truth.
28:40Um, it's just because the risk is that it feels like it's Colston Loveland end.
28:45And maybe if Luther Burden gets off to a slow start and Adunze looks anything like he did at the beginning of
28:51last year and his foot does actually feel great, like he says it does in the best shape of his life, um,
28:58that there's games where you get those inconsistencies and maybe both of them finishes like a wide receiver, 24, 26 range while
29:05Bert or Loveland continues just to be the guy, the top option at that tight end position.
29:10So I think that's the little bit of the risk here.
29:13Yeah, I think that makes a lot of sense.
29:16Maybe projections are on point here when it comes to Roma Dunze, but maybe underestimating Burden a little bit because yeah, we've got that.
29:23We've got the exit of multiple bodies there. Chicago did a whole bunch of subtraction there as opposed to other teams that
29:30did a whole bunch of addition there. So right.
29:33Targeting funnels down to the big three here, big things for Caleb Williams.
29:37So yeah, that makes a ton of sense there.
29:39But Jake, talk to us about player number three here.
29:4225 in ADP overall 64 there. Yeah. And this is another one where it went up a little bit in the projections
29:49that he actually was behind, I think Laporta at the time of this.
29:53So there was a little bit bigger gap. Um, projections still love him, but the ADP was ahead and I'm more in ADP in this one.
30:01And I think the projection should still arise even with the quarterback situation, because I know we don't know if it's Watson
30:08Sanders, heck Dylan Gabriel is getting talk that he's looking the best at camp in this limited sample.
30:13But I mean, what team is he playing with at that point?
30:17Um, as in the second unit and everything like that.
30:20But the biggest takeaway here is that whether it's conception on who I'm a big fan of and it looks good through
30:26camp, whether it's Judy in a bounce back, whoever, blah, blah, blah.
30:30Zach Jackson, the athletic multiple beat reporters are saying the same thing that look for fan in to lead this team and
30:37targets that he's going to be the one similar to, you know, a Bowers and McBride and not in the fact that
30:43he's going to get 140 targets or that there'll be as efficient of those guys, but that he's the number one.
30:50And they're just trying to figure out who the wide receivers are alongside of them.
30:54So for that case at six to have these projections are not far off from mine.
30:59Mine are a little bit more aggressive because I am accounting for him being the number one target getter, but the touchdowns
31:06aren't that different because no, I don't have a lot of faith in the Browns offense scoring a lot of touchdowns this year.
31:13I wouldn't be surprised if we're talking about 20 on the season as being a high bar in the passing game.
31:19But all that being said is that to get that kind of volume where you're talking about 120 plus targets, and then
31:26you're looking at this is at one of the highest reception leaders at 78.
31:30And those projections, I have them just over 80.
31:33I think I like 81. That's the real appeal about fan.
31:36And if you miss on that top group, the Loveland Bowers McBride, I'm happy so far waiting on fanning because it seems
31:43like people are taking those shots and Laporta bouncing back, Warren being the guy if Daniel Jones is healthy.
31:49And I wait two or three rounds and I just take Harold Fanning.
31:53I think it's very reasonable in the projections. You know, 78 receptions, 100 or 812 yards, five touchdowns, you know, reasonably conservative,
31:59just a little tiny uptick compared to what he did in his rookie season.
32:04And, you know, as we've talked about with multiple other players here, you know, the one thing that Cleveland has going for
32:10them, you know, as they try to figure out what on earth they're doing at quarterback is the fact that they did
32:17actively make moves to upgrade the offensive line. Now, whether or not it will pan out to truly turn it around to
32:24an elite level or just an average level, it has to be better than what the output was last year because that
32:31was literally one of the worst by far in the league there.
32:34So at least they've made those changes. So regardless of who's starting at quarterback, they'll at least be behind a better line to help there.
32:42I do love the potential there for the rookies and both Casey Concepcion and Denzel Boston there.
32:47But at the end of the day, I kind of see them more so as pushing Jerry Judy out the way there eventually.
32:54And again, talking about a core three here of the rookies there and Harold Fanning Jr.
32:59as the strong veteran second year there makes a lot of sense.
33:02Pat, how do you feel about Harold Fanning Jr.?
33:05I'm pretty excited to know that Jake is high on Fanning.
33:09And like, that's the one player Jake and I have done a lot of shows together in the off season.
33:15I don't think Fanning has ever come up on one of those shows.
33:19I didn't know where Jake stood. I've had trouble figuring out how to rank Fanning vis-a-vis Kyle Pitts and Sam Laporta.
33:25And I started with Fanning ahead of those two.
33:28I recently slid him behind those two. Now I think I'm going to move him back ahead.
33:33Like I'm encouraged. What what I what I'm sandwiched.
33:36Do you? Makes you feel any better. I go a little poor.
33:39I go a little poor to Fanning pits. Yeah, I mean, I almost think you could argue those three in sort of any order.
33:47But what appeals to me about Fanning Fanning? Like he might just be so much better than we have come to grips
33:53with in his final college season at Bowling Green.
33:56He leads all FBS patch pass catchers, wide receivers and tight ends with 117 catches and 1555 yards in 13 games.
34:02I mean, he was the Bowling Green offense. Then he comes to the NFL.
34:07No one expecting him to have any sort of rookie or impact.
34:1072 catches for 731 yards and six touchdowns in a lousy offense.
34:14Like this guy might just be a complete super duper star.
34:17And we're not fully grasping that yet. So, yeah, I mean, like the upside case for him, even in this kind of putrid offense is still pretty.
34:25There's a case that, you know, he could be an upper half, upper half TE1, high end TE1.
34:31Makes sense there. I, too, have them kind of sandwiches.
34:34It's a range where you kind of feel good about, you know, multiple tight ends in general, the value that they're getting.
34:41I move them back and forth quite frequently, but it's such a nice range of mid-round tight ends there.
34:46Moving on to our next player here. We're going to jump here to players being taken after round 10.
34:52So we are searching for the double digit round value here, whether or not we believe it in or we're fading it on that one.
35:00Now I want to know what Pat's opinion is on Tyler Shuck here, because looking at these projections, they were they were very fancy projections here.
35:08QB 21 in ADP overall 139 here. Just a note there, real time ADP has him at 165.
35:13I wanted to note that because that was a pretty dramatic difference in terms of what I was looking at.
35:19You can see real time ADP on fantasypros.com as well.
35:22So, Pat, talk to us about Tyler Shuck here.
35:25I think fancy is a great way to describe the projections for Tyler Shuck, Tara.
35:30Almost 4,000 passing yards. He's projected for 3,977, 22.1 touchdown passes, 329 rushing yards, 4.1 TD runs.
35:35So the projections put him at QB 17 ahead of Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, Jordan Love.
35:40I've got Shuck at QB 21. He was impressive last year.
35:43Like, he challenged defenses downfield, which is something Spencer Rattler had not been doing for the Saints early in the season.
35:49Shuck fully unlocked Chris Alave, who had gotten off to kind of a sluggish start.
35:54And Shuck adds some rushing value, too. There is a lot to like here.
35:58My concern is that Shuck was not exactly facing a murderer's row of defenses when he was cooking down the stretch last season.
36:05Makes his first start against the Rams in Week 9.
36:08Kind of just meh in that game. 176 passing yards, one touchdown, one interception.
36:12Then the rest of his starts, when he really got it going, were against the Panthers, Falcons, Dolphins, Buccaneers, the Panthers again,
36:19the Jets, the Titans, and the Falcons again. So, no fearsome defenses in any of those last eight starts.
36:25I'm cautiously optimistic about Shuck, but I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a little bit of statistical recoil in his second season.
36:32You know, that's the advantage of the NFC South there.
36:35Those defenses who are unfortunately falling apart there even further with all of the injuries that we have here in training camp,
36:42season-ending injuries there on defense for both the Panthers and the Falcons there, unfortunately.
36:46I won't lie, Pat, I do like Tyler Shuck.
36:49Not that I'm trusting him as my QB1 in one QB, but he's been a fun super flex target for me, especially if that rushing upside continues through.
36:57That's a little fancy part there that I was throwing in.
37:01That's 78 attempts. That's a good little amount there.
37:03So they think he's going to keep running despite the upgraded rush attack here with the addition of Travis Etienne, maybe hopefully
37:10a healthy Alvin Kamara in terms of checkdowns there and then all the added weapons as well.
37:15So, you know, I hear what you're saying, but I am feeling him a little bit, although I will say 4,000 feels pretty optimistic.
37:22But at the end of the day, it is a Kellan Moore run offense, and we do know that he loves to
37:29push pace and chuck the ball there. So perhaps he can get there.
37:33Jake, do you have any pros and cons on Tyler Shuck there?
37:37No, I just think part of it is perception and the fact of how bad it was to start last year to
37:43go from somebody who throws it five yards at a time to somebody who knows how to throw it 20 yards downfield was the biggest thing.
37:51And then Chris Alave's ascension and everything like that is just it was kind of a like I said, his perception of how bad it was.
37:59And then it was actually OK. Like, even to Fisk's point, and I'm not dismissing his point to make this clear, but
38:06even dismissing the fact of the strength of schedule, it was just a better half of the second half of the season
38:13because of how bad the first half was. And then you look at Shuck and his ability, and yeah, he can throw and he can run.
38:20I think the big question is we're talking about somebody who's still in.
38:24Yes, I love the addition of Jordan Tyson as much as anybody, but somebody who didn't throw very many touchdowns at starts.
38:31I think it was 10 and nine had a few games with zero had a few games.
38:36We were struggling to get 200 yards. And I'm not saying he can't make a leap forward in year two.
38:42I just say the leap forward in year two for me gets into that mid QB two conversation with like a Baker Mayfield rebound season hoping to happen.
38:51Kyler Murray with the Vikings because you brought up the other aspect of it.
38:55Yeah, he will run. I think that you're looking at somebody who'll get three, 400 on the ground.
39:01That's why I bring up Baker Mayfield is like two years ago, Baker on the ground.
39:05Do I think he gets 4,000 plus yards and 40 touchdowns?
39:09Absolutely not. I think that there's a good chance that you might see mid three, upper 3,000, like a 37, 3800, like a Caleb Williams.
39:16I think we might see like a Caleb Williams with a little bit more rushing from two years ago, which would put him as a mid QB two.
39:25And maybe we're thinking more about him. Okay, year three can make that jump into.
39:29So QB one territory, maybe, but I just think he's going to be a QB two.
39:34Jake, do you agree with Tara? Like, are you in a super flex draft?
39:39Are you comfortable with Shuck as your QB two or do you want better?
39:43I want better. I want at least so I want at least two top 18s.
39:47It depends if I go super early on a QB.
39:50I want a top 15 with him because I don't want to throw away that advantage.
39:55But my 18th cutoff is actually funny enough. It's Baker Mayfield.
39:59After that, I have like the Jordan, like Jordan Love, Tyler Shuck, I think could have very similar seasons.
40:04And I think that for the value, that's why you take Shuck.
40:08But I wouldn't be super comfortable. If I have Shuck as my two, I'm definitely being one of the six teams that comes out with a third starter.
40:17Yeah. Very interesting on that one. I like that more, more aggressive on quarterback in super flex this season before that cut
40:23off into the kind of later round low end QB twos.
40:27Before we move on to our next player here, today's show is brought to you by our presenting sponsor, Hard Rock Bet Sportsbook.
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42:04All right, moving on to our final player here in the double-digit round, Values.
42:08I hope you don't break my heart on this one, Jake.
42:12It is Quentin Johnston here with a wide receiver, 42 ADP overall, 106.
42:16And just a note there again on real-time ADP, that ADP is continuously on the rise there.
42:21Talk to us about Quentin Johnston, Jake. Well, so I'll give you the projections because you've usually been giving them for us.
42:27And I'll give them the fact that it's 53, 755, and 6.
42:31So I'll give you a second line for Quentin Johnston.
42:3451, 735, and 8. That was last year in 14 games.
42:37So you're telling me, and kudos to the projections team, like I do my own, it's a very hard thing to do.
42:44But we're telling them with all the excitement of Mike McDaniel, the all excitement of Justin Herbert behind a healthy offensive line
42:51that everybody keeps going on and on and on about that, like look at how good he was before the offensive line started falling apart.
42:58And all these factors that we love about the Chargers, and we're projecting a full season to be exactly what we just
43:05saw essentially from last year from Quentin Johnston, actually two fewer touchdowns than he had last year.
43:10Look, I know the risk, and I've brought it up before.
43:14I know the risk is Trey Harris shows more in year two.
43:17That Brennan Thompson, who's getting a lot, like Brennan Thompson's a rookie.
43:21That was later in the draft. Like, I don't think he's a threat, but I'm just putting out there, like people think it might be a threat.
43:29Arande Gasson could take off in year two. And I do like Gasson, and then maybe like all these factors mean that
43:36Ladd McConkie is the only one we want, and everybody else is just the sum of the parts.
43:41But the upside potential is that what we've seen from McDaniel before, and I know it's a completely different team and different
43:48offense, but is when you talk about your top two targets in his passing game, and that's potentially Quentin Johnston is the two.
43:55There's risk, but at this point where he's being drafted, he doesn't end up hitting in the first two or three weeks, you drop him.
44:03But where he's going into year four, he's somebody that's a first-round draft pick that we knew had concerns coming out of
44:09college, and then he shows those concerns in the NFL, and everybody's like, ah, I don't want Quentin Johnston.
44:15Well, he was exactly who he thought he was, to use that quote a little bit.
44:20And then he started to show development finally last year, even more than the year before.
44:25Actually, there was some flashes in 2024, too. But he's starting to see that and really made that turn last year to
44:31some consistency on top of it, including his hands.
44:34And now Mike McDaniel is going to help everybody on this team except Quentin Johnston.
44:39I don't buy it. I am in on Quentin Johnston.
44:42I have him higher. I have him over 800 yards.
44:45But I actually have him approaching 900 yards, and I have him approaching nine touchdowns because I have fractions of touchdowns on my projections.
44:52So I think there's a lot of upside where that could even be underscoring what Quentin Johnston does if, and again, this
44:59is an admitted if, he is the clear number two in sitting in like an 18 to 21 target share this year.
45:05I can breathe now. I can breathe because, yes, 100%.
45:09Thank you so much on that one. You know, when I look at the projections, I'm like, yeah, that's a baseline projection
45:15that is very similar to previous years. But we make the excuses when we look at, you know, Ladd McConkie, who, you
45:22know, Quentin Johnson did outperform in terms of fantasy points last season.
45:26When we look at Ladd McConkie, we make the excuse like, hey, what he did last season, that was not him.
45:32That was not on him. Obviously the offense in terms of the system just doesn't benefit the pass game whatsoever.
45:38We know the offensive line was an issue. So we know that Ladd McConkie is better than that.
45:43And he'll put up the numbers that we expect this year, but we don't say that about Quentin Johnston.
45:49We're treating it as if it's going to be the exact same thing, despite the fact that we have upgrades across the board in health and scheme there.
45:58So I am 100% on board with you with that.
46:01And I'm actually going to clip this and use this as my personal Jake Seeley defense for the remainder of the draft
46:08season there as I put out my defense of Quentin Johnson.
46:11So thank you so much. Pat, are you on board with us on this one?
46:15I think I'm getting more on board after hearing you guys talk about him.
46:20I'm loud and opinionated, but Quentin Johnson is, Johnson is strangely one of the guys I don't have a strong opinion on this year.
46:27I've, I've been, I didn't completely abandon him when he had the drop issues and I'm not to the point of being a Quentin Johnston apologist either.
46:35And I do think it's kind of strange that the projections are pretty static with him from last year to this year,
46:42when we've now got the enthusiasm about the Mike McDaniel offense and a offensive line that isn't going to be left the,
46:49letting the pocket crumple on Justin Herbert after two seconds on some of these drop backs.
46:53So there is reason to be excited. I guess the one bit of hesitation I have, like I'm not a hundred percent
47:00sure that Quentin Johnston is better than Trey Harris.
47:03That's my only reservation. That's fair, fair assessment there for sure.
47:06Before we move on to our, our, actually before we close out the show here, um, we have a listener Q and a section here for you guys.
47:15Um, we turned to you, the listeners, Pat asked in discord, which players do you guys think will have much bigger seasons
47:21than their ADP would suggest and outperform their projections.
47:24And y'all hit us with the, with some fantastic answers.
47:27Quite frankly, you hit us with stuff that we have literally already talked about here.
47:32Um, we had responses of Tyler Shuck, Jonathan Brooks, Javante Williams, Emeka Ibuka, of course.
47:36Um, we've already talked about that one there. Um, he was obviously the most popular answer, which is funny because again, we
47:43were talking about the fact that the ADP has not risen to an egregious level.
47:48So we're still getting value on him, despite the fact that everybody and their mother is in on him.
47:53And then the other player mentioned there was Carnell Tate, which I thought was very interesting because I don't feel like this one gets discussed enough here.
48:02Uh, Pat, I'll start off with you here in this list of players that we got from the listeners here.
48:08Again, guys, thank you so much for responding. Um, we, you know, what is your, what's your outlook on these guys?
48:14I, so I'm interested that Ibuka was, uh, named by so many of our discord peeps, uh, as a player.
48:20So maybe that means they think that the projections are too rosy for Ibuka and they regard him as more of a
48:27low end wide receiver too, which is interesting. So maybe we'll have to start talking up Emeka Ibuka even more on this
48:33show to, uh, get people on board. Um, I'm bullish on Jonathan Brooks.
48:37So I'm, I'm cool with any optimistic projections on him.
48:40I do think he's going to pass Chuba Hubbard at some point.
48:44Tyler Shuck talked about Carnell Tate's an interesting one for me.
48:47I just, I worry that maybe Wondell Robinson is the target leader for the Titans this year and not Carnell Tate as so many people are assuming.
48:56And our projections are sort of conservative with his touchdowns only 4.5 for a guy who, uh, was fantastic on deep balls
49:02last year and had some, you know, a lot of, a lot of big plays for the Buckeyes.
49:08Um, but you know, pretty bullish to have Carnell Tate for over 900 yards.
49:12I feel like the yardage might be overly optimistic and the touchdowns a little conservative.
49:17Yeah, that, that one is the interesting one for me, uh, particularly because his ADP is very reasonable.
49:22It comes in that range of guys where you start questioning like, okay, what role are we going to have?
49:28Are they going to bounce back? They've maybe had one or two struggle years there guys that are, you know, maybe a
49:35little bit older dealing with injury issues. So it's a very interesting range once you get to that kind of wide receiver
49:4230 ish, um, plus five or six there. So that one, I agree with you on the fact that Wondell Robinson could very well be a factor here.
49:50It's, I guess it's just a matter of how much do we trust Kim Ward to progress forward?
49:56Because he did look fantastic at the end of the season.
49:59Someone who was deserving of being the overall number one pick there.
50:03How much can Brian Dable get this offense progressing forward here?
50:06So that's also one that I'm watching to see because the projections are aggressive potential rookie of the year there.
50:12So we'll see how that one pans out. Jake, um, what are your thoughts on this list?
50:17Yeah. To talk about Tate, since we're talking about, um, I did an article a few years ago on the athletic of
50:24the hit rate of rookie wide receivers that were taken in round one and within the first year, uh, for them.
50:30And my bar was top 36 overall or in fancy points per game, because you want to account for some of these guys injuries and stuff like that.
50:39And the hit rate was exactly 50%. It was half and half over the past 10 years.
50:44So you look at the first round for this year and you assume that we're going to see two ish, maybe three.
50:51And with Cardinal Tate, it feels like a good spot.
50:54I'm with you guys in the fact that I don't necessarily think Wanda leads, but I think they're close enough, but I
51:00know that Tate will do more on a per reception basis.
51:04Well, I don't want to say a no, but like I would assume given Tate's ability, but there's the risk factor there.
51:10I just said it's a good position to be in, um, which is why I'm kind of okay with this.
51:16My projections are too far off. I do have it for over a thousand yards and six touchdowns.
51:22It really hinges on cam Ward. Uh, but the bigger one here is the kind of skip past it fits, but you did mention it.
51:29Um, I'm assuming the readers are as flabbergasted by Javante Williams as I am as somebody who is just 11th overall 12th
51:36in fantasy points per game at running back. And the projections down ticked them across the board.
51:41And what changed for the Cowboys? Well, a healthy Dak Prescott, we're assuming for a full season as of today, I would
51:48know that's always a risk, but also Jaden blue year two question.
51:52Like what are we doing? Why is Javante Williams getting so much hate down at 18, 18 and running back in projections.
51:58I am at 13, like on the heels of a Marion Hampton, Kenneth Walker, Ashton Jenty.
52:03I will not let the slander for Javante Williams stand.
52:06There we go. I'm glad you did not skip over that one.
52:10You know, perhaps Jaden blue, it's always, you know, sometimes people get, you know, the rookie prospects that they get very attached
52:17to and they want to believe in the hype is going to happen there.
52:21And maybe Jaden blue was one of those guys, but I agree with you.
52:25There's, there's zero logical reason. If anything, maybe we see an improvement as the Cowboys continue to try and retool the offensive
52:32line and hopefully get that defense back on track.
52:35So games are closer. Perhaps they can maybe lean on the ground game a little bit more there, but he feels like such a safe option.
52:42So I do feel that the projections are kind of underselling him there a little bit.
52:47Yes. Safe. I guess my one concern is that he was like objectively pretty bad as a pass catcher last year, like really bad.
52:55And, um, no, he could, uh, he could, uh, he could, uh, he could get better.
52:59He could, I'm saying he doesn't need to. Oh yeah.
53:03Right. He doesn't, he was so good as a runner.
53:06I agree. Although, um, you know, like a little better at, at first, um, tailed off a bit with the efficiency metrics down the stretch.
53:13And I feel like he ran pretty pure with touchdowns last year, but then again, like it's, it's true who is going to challenge him.
53:21I don't think Jaden blue ever cuts into his, at least not his early down workload in what should be a really good offense with an offensive line.
53:29That's good and stable. Not a lot of turnover in that offensive line.
53:33So I see the point. I do think he looks like a pretty safe option at running back.
53:39I just feel like it feels like I'm walking into a trap with Javante Williams for some reason.
53:44Like I wound up with him in a lot of leagues last year, just because he was going so late.
53:50I just, I worry about the, he's not as appealing in the fourth round this year as he was in the eighth round last year.
53:58That's true. No longer a discount. I did have the dumbest amount of Javante Williams shares last season for that exact reason.
54:05Um, passing upside does keep him out of that top five, but you know, still low end RB one very much in the realm of logical outcomes here.
54:13If these projections, if these projections change how you value any of these players, make sure your rankings reflect it and go
54:20to the cheat sheet creator where you can build your custom rankings straight from projections, move projection backed values up your board
54:26and adjust everything for your league settings. And draft strategy is a great tool guys.
54:31You need to take advantage of it and go to fantasypros.com slash sheet or download the fantasy pros app and build your custom cheat sheet today.
54:39That wraps things up for the show. Thank you guys for being here before we head out, make sure that you like
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54:59the fantasy pros tools to put your fantasy teams in the best position for 2026.
55:04For Pat Fitzmaurice, for Jake Seeley, I'm Tara Roberts.
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