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10 League-Winning Fantasy Football Players You NEED to Draft in 2026 (Ep. 2143)

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

1 hr 8 min
Duration
Estimated from transcript
Aug 20, 2026
Published
Thu, August 20, 2026
14
Player insights
12
Players mentioned
Topics
Brock BowersLuther BurdenChuba HubbardJameson WilliamsJayden HigginsJeremiyah LoveJonathon BrooksKenneth Walker IIIMakai LemonMalik WillisRome OdunzeTyler Allgeier
Player analysis

Player insights

14

Brock Bowers

PositiveProjection18:31

Fitzmaurice views Brock Bowers as a potential league-winner with the ceiling of an elite wide receiver. He predicts Bowers will outperform Amon-Ra St. Brown in catches, yards, and touchdowns, noting that Bowers is the focal point of the Raiders' passing game. Despite a disappointing, injury-riddled rookie season, Fitzmaurice expects a breakout in year two, especially with Kirk Cousins at quarterback, and sets a personal expectation of well over 1,000 yards and 10 touchdowns if healthy.

Insight page
PositiveProjection23:38

The source views Bowers as a potential league-changer. Projections for a healthy 16-17 game season start at a floor of 1,000 yards, 90 catches, and 10 touchdowns, with the potential to reach 1,400-1,500 yards.

Insight page

Chuba Hubbard

NegativeDepth Chart25:25

The source characterizes Hubbard as a replacement-level running back who is currently injured and questionable for Week 1. Even if healthy, he is expected to lose significant work to Jonathan Brooks.

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Jameson Williams

PositiveBreakout55:47

Fitz ranks Jameson Williams ahead of Luther Burden, citing his strong second-half performance last season where he averaged 4.9 catches and 84.7 yards per game after week 10. Despite concerns about target competition with Sam LaPorta, the source expects Williams to be busier this year in a high-powered offense.

Insight page

Jayden Higgins

NegativeInjury64:11

Jaden Higgins suffered a torn ACL during a joint practice against the Raiders, effectively ending his fantasy outlook for the season.

Insight page

Jeremiyah Love

NegativeInjury41:33

Love is dealing with a high ankle sprain, which typically carries a 5-8 week recovery timeline. The source warns that even upon return, he may not be 100% and could be relegated to a timeshare.

Insight page

Jonathon Brooks

PositiveValue24:34

Brooks is a high-upside target who should be in the RB2 conversation. Despite injury concerns, he is viewed as superior to Chuba Hubbard even at 90% health. He is currently rising rapidly in ADP (RB29, ~78 overall) and could command a near bell-cow role with 15+ touches per week.

Insight page

Kenneth Walker III

PositiveProjection6:48

Fitzmaurice projects Walker to be a league-winner in the Chiefs' offense, citing Andy Reid's history of producing elite fantasy running backs like Brian Westbrook and Jamal Charles. Walker is expected to see a massive workload increase in carries and pass-catching opportunities compared to his time in Seattle. Despite injury concerns, Fitzmaurice notes Walker has averaged 16.1 touches per game since being drafted and argues that injury-proneness is an overblown label, comparing his potential trajectory to Leonard Fournette's career resurgence.

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Luther Burden

PositiveBreakout47:03

Burden is a high-upside slot receiver in a high-powered Bears offense. Despite a groin injury, he is expected to be ready for Week 1. He is a target-volume monster who benefits from playing for coach Ben Johnson.

Insight page
PositiveValue48:05

The source is willing to draft Luther Burden in the fourth round despite an injury, ranking him as WR24 with monstrous upside. He is currently going as WR25 in the back half of the fifth round, making him a target for those willing to reach a round to secure his potential.

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Makai Lemon

PositiveSleeper54:29

The source identifies Makai Lemon as a potential league winner whose price has been suppressed by a hamstring injury. He is highlighted as a high-talent player who could emerge in the second half of the season, with the source imploring drafters to watch his Iowa-USC game tape.

Insight page

Malik Willis

PositiveBreakout16:33

Seeley highlights Malik Willis as a high-upside, late-round quarterback who can outperform his ADP due to elite rushing production. Seeley argues that even with mediocre passing stats (2,800 yards/15 TDs), Willis's rushing floor—projected at 706+ yards—makes him a viable QB1. Fitzmaurice adds that Willis has improved significantly under Matt LaFleur in Green Bay, citing his 78% completion rate and 6 TDs/0 INTs in limited action, and suggests he is a perfect late-round target to pair with a safer veteran.

Insight page

Rome Odunze

PositiveValue51:00

The source views Rome Odunze as a high-upside player who could take a step forward, noting his strong finish last season with five touchdowns in the first four weeks. He is ranked as WR29, just five spots behind Luther Burden, and is considered a viable target in the same range.

Insight page

Tyler Allgeier

PositiveValue41:02

Allgeier is a value pick in double-digit rounds who offers immediate RB2/flex utility while Jeremiah Love recovers from a high ankle sprain. He provides a floor as a starter early in the season with potential for a larger role if Love's recovery is prolonged.

Insight page
Full transcript

Episode Transcript

586
0:00This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed Human. With the Discover Cash Back Card, it's payback time when you earn cash back on everyday purchases.
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0:25Hello everybody. Welcome into the Fantasy Pros Football Podcast.
0:28I'm Ryan Warmly, joined today by Pat Fitzmaurice and by Jake Seeley from The Athletic.
0:33And guys, it is a straightforward show today. We are talking players who could win your league.
0:40We don't have any sort of position restrictions that we're running through.
0:44There's not really an order to this. I don't know if you guys went sort of like lowest to highest in terms
0:52of how confident you are, but there wasn't really an assignment in that way.
0:57It is just strictly 10 players with league winning upside.
1:00Fitz, how are you doing today? Doing well and looking forward to the show.
1:05I think Jake and I, I don't know if we interpreted the assignment differently, but we just attacked it in different ways.
1:13I kind of went with the earlier round picks who I think like can be force multipliers in fantasy football this year.
1:21Jake went with some a little deeper in drafts with guys who could dramatically outkick their ADP.
1:27So it's going to be an interesting show. Getting a nice wide range here today.
1:32Jake, anything you got going on at The Athletic, by the way, as we get into heavy draftsies?
1:39I'm sure there is a lot of stuff. Like yet another update to the Custom Miles for projections.
1:45Like can I go one day without having to wake up and spend two hours updating the projections?
1:51Thank you very much, Alvin Kamara. So that was updated.
1:55By the way, let's talk Travis Etienne. So at Chen, sorry.
1:59No, so that's really what's going on right now.
2:02But I also my one of my favorite articles are free guys that I have coming out.
2:08The ones that are going after 14 rounds of ADP that end up being the very popular early season waiver pickups every single year.
2:17There's a lot of gems in that article every single year.
2:21But yeah, you're right. Fitz, that's kind of where I was looking at.
2:25I actually went through and looked for the biggest outliers in the ADP versus where I'm ranking them.
2:32So that's kind of why I like that we have different lists and I'm not going to talk.
2:38Hey, right off the top worm. I say I know you saw mine.
2:43I'm not talking Jalen Coker. I'm trying to go walk and watch the other shows.
2:48I tried to avoid the names that we brought up so many times already.
2:53Yes. Shouts to Jalen Coker, but not included on the list given how much he's been talked about.
3:00A reminder for everybody before you jump in all of our 2026 consensus rankings and tiers can be found at fantasypros.com slash rankings.
3:08I'd also encourage everybody to check out real time ADP.
3:11I'm going to be referencing that on the show.
3:14Throughout, you know, it just is a little more obviously up to date than, as the name might suggest, than some more standard ADP.
3:23It's a really cool tool at Fantasy Pros. And you can see the trends in the last 24 hours, also the trends
3:31in the last week and see where guys are actually moving, where they're actually going in real time drafts, not just drafts,
3:39you know, getting kind of anchored down by data from earlier in the summer.
3:44So we'll see where, you know, he's not on the list, but guys like Travis Etienne, where he ends up with, you
3:52know, the Camara news, all that fun stuff. I'd highly recommend checking it out.
3:57I will be referencing it on the show today.
4:00Let's start things off. Fitz, who is your first, not first ranking, but first guy that you want to mention league winning player?
4:08Kenneth Walker III. And it's kind of crazy that the Kansas City Chiefs have not had a 1,000-yard rusher in Patrick Mahomes' eight full seasons as a starter.
4:18So, but under Andy Reid, we saw LaShawn McCoy have a couple of 1,000-yard rushing seasons, including a 1,300-yard rushing season with 20 touchdowns.
4:26Earlier in Andy Reid's tenure in Philadelphia, Brian Westbrook had a 1,200-yard rushing season and a 1,300-yard rushing season.
4:33Westbrook had 1,900 yards from scrimmage in 2006, 2,100 yards from scrimmage in 2007, double-digit touchdowns both years.
4:40Jamal Charles had more than 1,000 rushing yards in each of Andy Reid's first three seasons with the Chiefs.
4:46Averaged about 1,700 yards from scrimmage and 13 touchdowns a season over that span.
4:51Finally, Andy Reid has another stud at running back.
4:55The Chiefs' offense has been pretty average, dare I say mid, for the last three years.
5:00Now Patrick Mahomes is coming off this major knee injury.
5:04Walker is going to play a huge role this year, and that's why he left Seattle.
5:10He wanted a bigger role. I expect him to be among the league leaders in carries, and I think he's going to
5:17be used as a pass catcher more than he was in Seattle.
5:22And Walker's shown last season's playoffs that he can eat in an expanded role.
5:27He had more than 100 scrimmage yards in all three of Seattle's playoff games and scored four touchdowns.
5:33I think Walker's in for a big, big year.
5:36He showed he can eat in the small sample size of the playoffs.
5:41I think the folks who are more nervous about Walker fits are those who would say, like, what will he?
5:48Can he live up to that kind of workload healthy all season long?
5:53Do you have any concern about that when you think about it?
5:57I mean, obviously we're talking about upside today, so the upside I think is very apparent.
6:03But do you have concerns about that downside that's been brought up by other people?
6:08It's not like he has been a committee back for the entirety of his time in Seattle.
6:14He's averaged, I think, 16.1 touches a game since the Seahawks drafted him.
6:19Like, I think he'll be fine. And look, anyone can get hurt.
6:23And he's mostly dodged the major injuries. He generally tends to miss a couple of games every year.
6:29I'm not that worried about that. And look, we know there's replacement value on waivers if he misses a game or two.
6:37But what if what if he doesn't miss a game?
6:41You know, anyone can get hurt in the NFL.
6:44I am always reluctant to tag anyone with the injury prone label.
6:48And I don't know if really Kenneth Walker warrants it based on, you know, missing a couple of games every year.
6:56Generally hasn't missed any huge chunks of time. Jake, where are you at on Kenneth Walker, who, by the way, real time
7:04made a PRB nine and about the 15th pick overall.
7:07Can he bring explosiveness back to this Chiefs offense?
7:10I think again, I think the I'm slightly behind that ranking, but I still am as an RB one.
7:17And it's basically the fact that I have them in the same tier.
7:22Mind you, this is a giant tier for me.
7:25It starts with number four, Jonathan Taylor, and goes all the way down to Javante Williams at 14.
7:31So all of those names, it's similar to wide receiver two.
7:35So if you shuffle them up and told me that Kenneth Walker's at the top with a Marion Hampton at four and
7:43five, and somehow a chance all the way at the bottom.
7:47I want to be shocked. That's why they're in one big tier for me.
7:52So that's why I think there's warranted value in taking Walker because there's the upside to finish as the top five running back.
8:00And that's where I agree with Fitz on this part, especially when you hear they're designing the passing game for the running backs around his skill set.
8:10They're not just trying to get him involved. They're like implementing changes to acclimate to his skill set.
8:16So the real thing, and I love what Fitz said there.
8:20Everybody is injury risk until they're not. Leonard Fournette was hurt throughout college, throughout the beginning of his career, and then he wasn't.
8:28And then he was healthy and he was like a league winner, which is kind of like the very similar situation, I
8:36think, to this one is the fact that he finally stayed healthy and Leonard Fournette was a top six, seven running back.
8:44The guys around him are running backs in real time.
8:48It's like the it's Gentian a Chad ahead of him and Chase Brown and Derek Henry and O'Marion Hampton behind him.
8:55So it is this real in real time, 80, 80, a real stretch of running backs.
9:01Do you agree with that being the position you want to go in that like pick 14 to 17 range?
9:08Yeah, I love drafting late this year, like being on the on the turn, being at 11, being late in a 14 team.
9:16Or it's just I love that tier of backs.
9:19And I've got Walker just ahead of Chase Brown, Saquon Barkley, O'Marion Hampton, Devon H.
9:25And like how you want to order those. I'm not going to really pick nits with it.
9:31And I think different people are going to have that order different ways.
9:35But for me, Kenneth Walker, like I'm chasing the ceiling.
9:39I'm excited about him. I've got him RB seven.
9:42Jake, who's the first guy you want to talk about here looking a little bit lower down in ADP?
9:49Yeah, I'll go straight through positions because they weren't in any particular order.
9:53So I'll start at quarterback. And I think this is a name that has been brought up on these shows before.
10:01But I haven't talked about him a lot recently and just or I guess overall Malik Willis at quarterback, because the way
10:09I interpreted similar to what Fitz was saying was that, hey, like these are the guys that, you know, you maybe take middle rounds, later rounds.
10:18But that massively outperform where they're going, as in guys that end up being in every week started that you weren't thinking of.
10:26And with Malik Willis, the simplest version of this, and I referenced Daniel Jones a lot because I referenced his 707 rushing touchdown season.
10:35And the fact that if you look at it, he was not even throwing a touchdown per game that season.
10:42He still was a top 10 quarterback. So I'll just give you the fact that the numbers for everybody.
10:49Let's say Malik Willis for 706, those touchdowns. You add in the numbers for passing wise.
10:54This is all it takes to be a QB one on average.
10:592,800 yards and 15 touchdowns. That is it. You can be a garbage passer with 706 and on average, you'll finish this QB 12.
11:07And I don't think anybody's expecting it to be that bad for Willis.
11:12Like if you talk about 3,200 and 20 touchdowns, now you're talking about somebody that's potentially pushing the top five if he runs for 706.
11:21And honestly, you can make the argument for Willis that that's the low end.
11:26He has Lamar Jackson rushing upside, 900 plus rushing yards, seven, eight touchdowns on the ground where he actually even will run a little bit more.
11:35Or again, if they let him, he'll run a little bit more near the goal line than Lamar ever has for really his career.
11:44He stacks up the yards, but he's not the guy they always go to or let him be the guy.
11:51He doesn't really want to be the guy at the goal line running those areas where Malik Willis could add that dimension.
11:58So it really just comes down to Malik Willis where he's going massive risk.
12:03Do I want him as my only quarterback? Obviously not.
12:07I'll take two chances with quarterbacks that late. But as a quarterback that you could sit there and go, oh my gosh,
12:15I have a top 10 quarterback every single week.
12:18Like that's going to be a difference maker for drafting him that late at quarterback.
12:23Yeah, I've been starting to toy with the idea of sort of planting my flag on like if I want to make
12:31a really bold prediction this year, it's that Malik Willis will break the rushing record.
12:37Because it's just such a – like A, he's a very, very talented runner obviously.
12:42But it's that like they also don't have this great receiving core, right?
12:47Like there's some options there that we're somewhat intrigued by, but we know it's like one of the worst receiving rooms in the NFL.
12:55So I wonder if there will just be more times where he goes, I have to screw it.
13:02I just got to go run and scramble, which is going to just let his athleticism shine through.
13:08I'm pretty confident he's going to be the starter throughout the year, but they're not so tied to him that they'd be like worried about overworking him.
13:18I just wonder if all of those are going to come together for a really terrific just generational rushing season.
13:25Obviously actually breaking the rushing record would be like a huge leap that, you know, that's what would make it a bold prediction.
13:33But like Jake, I'm totally with you just on the upside, like the rushing alone.
13:38And quite frankly, like that raises the floor too.
13:41Like even if he is a bad passer, which may not be true, like it's not just a ceiling raiser.
13:49It is also a floor raiser in fantasy. And like, I think that's a great call that they're the passing numbers that you have to get to.
13:58It's so low. If he has a rush, it's not hard.
14:02Again, that's factoring 706. But I'm with you in the fact that I think that might be the low end where I agree.
14:10Like I don't see anything outside of an injury stopping Malik Willis from the end.
14:16They're not going to turn to, they're not going to get to game 14 and be like, you know what?
14:23We got to evaluate Quinn Ewers to see if he's the answer next year.
14:28They're just going to like play it out. If he gets hurt, that's one thing, but play it out and maybe they're drafting a quarterback next year.
14:37But I've seen early 2027 mock drafts that are obviously there's a wide range of outcomes and it's a huge quarterback class.
14:45But have them, being the Dolphins, taking a wide receiver and just going like a Jeremiah Smith because maybe Malik Willis shows that he can be the guy.
14:55Yeah. Fitz, what do you think? Obviously, you watched Willis closely for a bit in Green Bay.
15:01Do you see the same kind of upside? I do, because Willis is a totally different quarterback coming out of Green Bay
15:09than he was coming out of the Tennessee Titans organization.
15:13And Liberty. Yeah. I mean, he just like he learned how to play quarterback in Green Bay and benefited from his time
15:20with Matt LaFleur and was really good when he got those opportunities when Jordan Love missed a couple of games.
15:28So four total starts, I think he made in Green Bay or maybe it was three, but completed like 78 percent of
15:35his passes, six touchdowns, no interceptions and over six career starts.
15:39Malik Willis, 44 and a half rushing yards a game, four touchdowns, basically eight and a half fantasy points just running.
15:47And there have been rave reviews of his training camp and how well he has thrown the ball.
15:53And even with this amalgam of wide receivers he's working with in Miami, like he's making it work.
16:00And, you know, there's buzz about Caleb Douglas and like it just seems like he's going to throw to whoever's open.
16:07And every year you look at the NFL team passing stats, whoever's dead last still gets about 3000 passing yards in a season and about 20 touchdowns.
16:17So, like, if you give Malik Willis those types of numbers, then add the rushing.
16:22We're talking about a QB one finish. So I love it, man.
16:26I've been taking Malik Willis as my second quarterback in leagues where I generally do not draft two quarterbacks.
16:33I just like having that upside swing there and, you know, wait on the first guy, get a Jared Goff type and then take Malik Willis behind him.
16:43And hopefully I'm cutting Jared Goff after about three weeks because I'm so enchanted by what Malik Willis is doing.
16:50You know, it's funny that you bring up Jared Goff because if you gave him 3000 and like what you just said
16:58in the 25 or 20 touchdowns instead of the numbers you just gave passing wise and added the 706 rushing that I
17:06threw out as a number, he would have finished QB seven in front of Jared Goff last year.
17:12Yeah. Yeah. Wow. He, by the way, QB 21 real time ADP, 157th is the pick.
17:18Like, to me, the QB ranking is almost less relevant than just how late you can get him.
17:24Like, that's like what a 14th round pick. It's totally free with that kind of upside.
17:30And we have seen many times in the last half decade a late round quarterback all of a sudden become one of these superstar fantasy guys.
17:39It's like Drake May last year, you know, a few years ago, like Lamar, Patrick Mahomes back in 2018, 19.
17:46Like, it is a regular thing and has been for a few years that there is usually somebody that really pops here.
17:54So Willis makes as much sense as anybody. Just a PSA for everyone out there.
18:00You need to take a few minutes ahead of your draft to make sure you check out our draft assistant.
18:07The draft assistant provides expert recommendations for every pick, real-time alerts, and predictions for which players will make it back to you.
18:15Get the ultimate cheat code for your fantasy draft at fantasypros.com slash assistant or on the Fantasy Pros app.
18:21Get a three-day free trial so you can use it for your next draft at fantasypros.com slash free.
18:28All right, Fitz, who is your next league winning player?
18:31It's Brock Bowers. And I would not be surprised if a year from now we were talking about Brock Bowers as a
18:39consensus first-round pick and just merely debating where in the first round he should go.
18:45And, in fact, I just took him in the first round of the Data Force charity basketball league that I've been doing for like seven years.
18:54Great league, great people. And I wanted to have Brock Bowers in that league because I think the conversation should be about
19:02Brock Bowers having the potential to produce like an elite wide receiver.
19:06And Worm, we just did a Dynasty show where we were making some bold predictions.
19:11And I predicted that Bowers has more catches, receiving yardage, and touchdowns than Amon Ross St.
19:17Brown this year. And, like, I don't think that's far-fetched at all.
19:21Two years ago as a rookie, coming out of Georgia as, like, arguably the best tight end prospect of all time, Bowers
19:29had 112 catches for 1,194 yards and five touchdowns.
19:32Third among all pass catchers in receptions that season.
19:35Tight ends and wide receivers included sixth in targets, eighth in receiving yardage among all pass catchers.
19:42And his quarterbacks were Gardner Minshew, Aiden O'Connell, and Desmond Ritter.
19:45And they collectively had a lower passer rating than Geno Smith had last year for the Raiders.
19:52Like, Bowers is going to be the focal point of the Raiders passing game this year, which should be better with Fernando Mendoza and Kirk Cousins.
20:01Cousins has been a super tight end friendly quarterback over his career.
20:05So, for the early part of the season, while he keeps the seat warm for Fernando, I think Bowers is still going to put up good numbers.
20:15Like, it was just, we were so excited about what he could have done last year, and then he got that knee injury that cost him games.
20:24Well, it cost him effectiveness in some games. Then they shut him down.
20:29He missed some time. They shut him down at the end of the season because they were in tanking mode.
20:36But the Raiders offense was just wrecked last year.
20:39The offensive line injured and bad, and the quarterback play was pretty terrible.
20:44So, I think we're going to see a whole new Bowers.
20:48I think we're going to see him improve upon his outstanding rookie numbers.
20:52He's just a different species at tight end than we're used to.
20:57And I can't wait to see what the ceiling looks like this year.
21:01I was going to say, Fitz, you, I'm pretty sure, made some similar-ish predictions a year ago about Bowers going into year two.
21:10And I love that you're just like, hey, it was like an injury-riddled season.
21:15We're going to go again. Like, you're going to keep picking Brock Bowers to break fantasy until morale improves.
21:21You're like, I don't, you need to see it not happen for a non-injury reason, I think, to believe it.
21:28Yeah, Jake, I mean, we know that Clint Kubiak, when he has a clear number one pass-catching option on his offense, will
21:36find ways to get that guy the ball at a historic rate.
21:41In this offense, it's certainly going to be Brock Bowers, you would imagine.
21:45Do you see him as a league winner with a real-time ADP of about 21st overall?
21:51So, you know, it's harder to be a league winner when you're in the second round.
21:57Can Brock Bowers do that? He can, especially if, you know, what Fitz just said comes true.
22:03And there's no question about it. Because the biggest pushback I always had for Travis Kelsey back in the day was that
22:10if Travis Kelsey doesn't finish three, four points per game higher than any other tight end, he's not worth the first rounder because you want that gap.
22:20You need that advantage because it's not just the fact that you took the tight ends, what you're sacrificing at running back
22:28or wide receiver, and you pulled yourself back to the pack at tight end, the years that like Darren Waller finished on his heels.
22:36So you gave away that advantage, but you also gave away what you threw away at the other position.
22:43So it's just like a double-edged sword. But that was the argument for Travis Kelsey in the first, mid, late first rounder.
22:51This is at the 2-3 turn. I'm still not loving it only because I'm more on Loveland in the fourth for the discount.
22:59But if you told me, like I said, like we're sitting here and going, hey, you know what?
23:06There's a chance that he finishes with those numbers, by the way, Travis Kelsey in those years that he was Travis Kelsey.
23:13It was almost like every other year back then.
23:17He was usually wide receiver 4-5-6 right in that range.
23:20So if you're telling me Bowers is going to be wide receiver 4-5-6, then there is a conversation to even have him
23:28at the end of the first round because those are the numbers that make the difference.
23:34So to Fitz's point, it's a lot to ask of him.
23:38It's certainly in play. And if it happens, he would be a league changer.
23:43Like even if you want to call him a winner, like he would change the landscape of your league if you have Brock Bowers.
23:51Fitz, what in your mind is like the minimum scoreline you would expect from him?
23:57Like obviously you're talking about like, you know, surpassing a guy like St.
24:01Brown as sort of your bold prediction. But like if Bowers is healthy, plays 16, 17 games, like I feel like 1,000
24:09yards, 90 catches and 10 touchdowns is like borderline going to be my bare minimum, which is like an amazing season for a tight end.
24:18Yep, 17 games. I'd actually be disappointed with 1,000-yard season for Bowers.
24:22Like I mean, I think he's capable of doing 1,400 or 1,500 yards.
24:27I really do. Yeah, yeah, I agree. All right, Jake, let's go to your next league winning player here.
24:34Yeah, this one I want to hammer down because I feel like we're going to run out of time to be able to talk about him for one.
24:44But two, it's not just the injury and it's Jonathan Brooks.
24:48I know I've brought him up at least one time before.
24:51But Jonathan Brooks, where he's still going, I don't think it's accounting for everything we talked about because for a while here
24:59on other shows, we were saying, hey, Jonathan Brooks is somebody that you want to target in the mid to late rounds
25:07because all it takes him in being anything like we knew him coming from Texas.
25:12All it takes is him being a quality running back, let alone potentially a top 10 talent that we knew from Texas.
25:20And all that being said is he could surpass Hubbard without an injury.
25:25We get the injury to Hubbard, who's going to be out for the rest of the preseason, questionable for week one as of today.
25:33And then even if he is back, Hubbard has all this runway to show that he's even 90% of what he was.
25:41And this might sound crazy to some people, but 90%, like if we only got 90% Brooks, he's still better than Hubbard in my opinion.
25:50Hubbard is a replacement level running back in my opinion.
25:54So worst case scenario, I see a split, but we're getting all the upside that if by the time we get to
26:02week one, it might be his job. It might be a near bell cow roll with 15 plus touches per week.
26:09And Hubbard and Dowdle in this offense with 15 plus touches, we're putting up RB2 performances.
26:15So you're talking about somebody that should be in the RB2 conversation right now.
26:20And let alone, like, I have a real hard time.
26:23I was sitting here, we were talking about before this, I'm in the flex, super flex, or best ball league because I
26:31wasn't able to find my way to a spot in all the live drafts.
26:36But I was sitting there on the clock and I legitimately sat there and debated David Montgomery or Jonathan Brooks because it's
26:44first or last and it is best ball. But I was thinking long and hard that Brooks deserves to be in that conversation for me.
26:53If you look at real-time ADP, only one player has risen more in the last 24 hours than Jonathan Brooks, that's Casey
27:01Concepcion, and only one player has risen more in the last week than Jonathan Brooks, that's Dejan Stribling.
27:07But he's number two in both those lists in terms of how much he's risen.
27:13Yeah, he's RB29 in there, about 78, 78 and a half is sort of the average real-time ADP for him overall.
27:20Yeah, he, it's somebody, it's interesting Fitz because like Jake sort of described, we were already talking about him as, hey, this
27:28is like the upside play you want to make this year and then we have the injury stuff going on in that backfield.
27:36So it's hard, it's hard to be anything other than even more enthusiastic to whatever degree you already were interested in him.
27:44Yeah, so that's, at that current ADP, I think that puts him in the seventh round.
27:50I think he gets to the sixth round. Oh, I was going to say fifth.
27:55You think five? Yeah. I mean, he has gone as early in the fifth than some drafts.
28:01I think probably the ADP levels off. There are going to be some homelink people who just won't touch a guy who's
28:09had two ACL tears in the same knee over a span of 13 months, but it has been like 20 plus months
28:17now since the last one and they seem more confident that after a repair that maybe didn't go so well the first
28:24time around, this double bundle technique they used with the second one is going to create a more stable knee that hopefully
28:32is going to hold up for him. It's like Costco.
28:36Yeah, exactly. Really, he's only had one year of like heavy duty since high school because he backed up Bijan Robinson at
28:44the University of Texas and then Bijan leaves and Brooks has a fantastic season and when he came out, Lance Zierlein of
28:52NFL.com comped him to, let's drop the name again, it got dropped earlier, Jamal Charles and that's a pretty impressive comp.
28:59Like he is a playmaker so totally agree with what Jake said about Chuba Hubbard.
29:04I think he's just a guy and like this is going to be Brooks' job to run with and man, just pray for good health.
29:13Are you guys taking it? I mean, you said you could see him maybe getting up into the fifth.
29:20Are you comfortable taking him there or are you waiting until the sixth before you're considering it?
29:26I was talking about my fifth round pick with the David Montgomery thing.
29:31Oh, okay. To give you an idea. So definitely.
29:34Again, also, I don't know if I would do it in a typical redraft but like that's best ball.
29:41Like so, you know, you got to take some swings depending on how your roster construction ends up but I mean, that's,
29:49like I said, I'm thinking about him already in the fifth and I think that if we had, put it this time,
29:56if we're sitting here, all three of us, next week at this time and Brooks runs off for 10 carries and 80
30:04yards in week two, he'll jump to the fifth.
30:07Like that's all it's going to take because admittedly that first game action, I'd say he looked 90%.
30:14He didn't look 100%. So I think if we get a sign that he is close to 100, he's going to rocket.
30:22He's going to continue to ride that rocket to the moon.
30:26He's still in like the mid 30s in terms of running back rankings on Yahoo and Sleeper.
30:32You can see that column on the real-time ADP page.
30:35Like those are just obviously like he's going to go earlier than that you would think the more we get into here.
30:43But a lot of times, you know, especially in more like home leagues or casual stuff, you see people more anchored to those rankings.
30:52So he can end up being a really good value if he kind of still stays there in some of the leagues that you might be playing him.
31:02So don't forget about it. I have been in multiple leagues where I had planned to take him and then somebody took
31:09him like a round or two earlier than I expected and I was like, whoa, I had like not even scrolled down
31:17to add him to the queue yet because I thought I had another round or two.
31:23He thought you had time? Yes. Especially some of the mock drafts we've done too.
31:28So be prepared to go get him and scroll down in your queue.
31:33Sorry, I don't want to spend too much time on him.
31:37But if you're looking at the other names he's going around and I know that LeQuint Allen just got hurt, but Bashal
31:45Tootin's got a timeshare concern even though we might not believe it.
31:49But Stevenson and Henderson timeshare concerns. Jerry Price timeshare concerns.
31:52Scadaboo time cares. So like my point being is that if everything shakes how we expect it to be, Brooks in that
32:00group would be the one that we know is getting 60-65% of the work come week one where all these are still possibly in a 50-50 split.
32:10I think it's worth spending time and we will move on now but I don't mind taking a longer conversation with Brooks
32:18because I do think he's one of the more fascinating guys given the extent of his injury history and the opportunity that's in front of him.
32:27I think he's a player that listeners want to make sure they get right this year so I'm glad we talked about him.
32:35Fitz, let's go to your next guy with league winning upside.
32:39Emeka Ibuka who now has a toe injury that sounds like turf toe so that's not ideal based on what the injury
32:47doctors are saying on Twitter the recovery timetable would probably have him back right around week one.
32:53Maybe he misses a game or two maybe not but Ibuka averaged 20.5 PPR points per game through the first five weeks
33:01of the 2025 season 25 catches for 445 yards and five touchdowns over that period and he was 22 years old at
33:09the time and then he tweaked his hamstring in week six Baker Mayfield got banged up was banged up for much of
33:17the season the offensive line in Tampa had just a plethora of injuries I hate that Ibuka isn't going into the season
33:24fully healthy but I'm not that worried about this toe injury and you know I kind of put my money where my
33:32mouth was Jake I just took Ibuka with the 30th overall pick in your flex best ball draft with Mike Evans gone
33:40Ibuka is going to be the alpha receiver in Tampa like I just don't think Chris Godwin is the same guy anymore
33:48after that gruesome ankle injury he had two seasons ago I think Ibuka is going to have a fantastic year and man
33:56if this toe injury gives me a little bit of a discount it really didn't in Jake's best ball league but if
34:04it does like I'm going to have him in pretty much all my drafts the rest of the way this episode sponsored
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36:28app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts Jake where are you at on Igbuka same thing especially after seeing I
36:36forget who it was I don't want to give credit to the wrong injury doctor on Twitter yesterday but saying the fact
36:44that we had this similar situation with Devontae Adams years ago and he was fine and actually had more fancy points per
36:51game when he came back from the similar injury and we're getting all this leeway and the fact that we don't have
36:59to watch him play we get time to like rest and be ready for week one I know it's a risk because
37:07we've seen toe injuries and that's the biggest thing is we don't know the severity we don't know if it's grade one
37:15two three sprain of the toe and if it was the most severe obviously this is something that could linger the entire
37:23season and affect his ability to cut and all that type of stuff but it sounds like they're optimistic so maybe it's
37:31only grade one all that being said if there's any chance that similar to Adams he can be 100% come week one
37:38I don't even need the better fancy points per game after coming back it's just the fact that Ibuka can step into
37:46the number one role like we all thought we did because Chris Godwin could talk about how he feels great compared to
37:54last year and Jalen McMillan is back which I think is a great free flyer but like let's be honest about this
38:02depth chart it is Ibuka and then a large gap to everybody else fits to your point about the discount I mean
38:10he is down about five spots in the last week about two spots in the last 24 hours on real-time ADP there's
38:18like a huge clump of receivers in this range though so moving down one or two spots like does have a big
38:25impact on the positional ranking in that ADP but yeah still inside the top 20 even with moving down he's wide receiver
38:3319 I haven't moved him you haven't moved him yeah what do you have him at wide receiver Fitz I've got him
38:41at 15 that's right where I have him yeah Fitz would you rather have Ibuka this year or Zay Flowers I've got
38:49Zay Flowers ranked two spots higher okay I didn't same here's the question okay as of today would you go Ibuka or
38:57Neighbors I think I'd go Neighbors Neighbors is a handful of spots higher in ADP yeah Ibuka is still one spot in
39:05front I know we're waxing poetically about the health of Neighbors well everybody in the industry that covers the team I just
39:12I still need to see a little bit more like are we even going to get Neighbors on the field before week
39:20one and what's the difference at least we know Ibuka is 100% just now dealing with the toe we're assuming a lot
39:28for Neighbors in a brand new offense like I just I would take Ibuka as of today as crazy as that might
39:36sound to some people I think I would take Ibuka too I've generally been a little less optimistic on the Neighbors injury
39:44timeline stuff I think the fact that he didn't go on PUP right away just had everybody so excited and I think
39:52maybe overreacted a little bit the injury I think is still going to be a concern for him particularly early on if
39:59Ibuka is good you know relatively early on I will not be surprised and I'll be very excited to have him so
40:07I think I would go Ibuka better ecosystem for Ibuka too oh yes that's a great question yeah if you want the
40:15chance to win a Colston Loveland signed Bears jersey this is your shot all you have to do is subscribe to the
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40:39are up and to claim your prize Loveland maybe could have been an option for this list he's not on it today
40:46Jake who is your next player yeah that's one I feel like I've talked about enough so you want to talk the
40:54opposite direction of the most probably unsexy of all these names on this list right now it's Tyler O'Gier and I say
41:02Lee Whitney upside but here's why here's how I'm going to paint the picture for it for the super unexpiring uninciting running
41:10back is this is somebody that before B. John Robinson was with the Atlanta Falcons finishes an RB1 based on volume so
41:18granted I'm not expecting RB1 I don't even know if I would call it RB2 but like a back-end RB2 with volume
41:26on one of the what we expect to be one of the worst offenses in the league but Jeremiah Love high ankle
41:33sprain we know the timetable of the high ankle sprain optimistically five to six weeks more likely eight we've seen running backs
41:41of the ilk of Saquon Barkley never looked the same after having the high ankle sprain until the next season and that's
41:49why I'm saying all this is because there's two ways you can get the advantage of Algier is first you start the
41:57season of like if you want to play the injury game of stashing somebody like a Jordan Tyson and you don't have
42:05to worry about him in the flex and you can play Algier or something like that or a rookie that you know
42:13that's going to take some time whatever it is Algier can be your answer for the first two three four weeks assuming
42:20Love comes back and assuming Love comes back and is Love there's a world where he comes back and he's a timeshare
42:28piece and they don't force Love the Bull because hey he's already got an ankle sprain he is a rookie and then
42:36the third part of it is what if Love comes back and looks like Saquon Barkley when he came back and doesn't
42:44look like himself and all of a sudden it's like hey you know what Love is just a timeshare piece as we
42:52get him healthy as the season goes on for next season so I'm not saying I want Algier and all my teams
43:00but for Algier to be in the double digit rounds as who's going to be the lead starter to start the year
43:08for the Cardinals by the way Trey Benson still not on the field James Conner still not on the field Van Knight
43:15is currently the number two it's just it's an uninspiring pick but it's somebody that like sometimes these uninspiring picks can be
43:23your RB2 or flex answer depending on how your roster construction goes and worst case scenario he's your answer for three or
43:31four weeks best case scenario you might have an answer for the entire season the thing I like about Algier is that
43:39I feel like even before Love got hurt he was probably a value now much more boring less league winning upside type
43:47of value but he scored eight touchdowns last season we know he's a capable running back pretty good running back I think
43:55and even with Bijan in the same backfield last year like was contributing like at least with the scoring of touchdowns and
44:02had I think like 600 yards or something like that and for a guy going into 12th round like you know the
44:10contingent upside if Love gets hurt which obviously now he has but I thought there was like value there anyway now you
44:18can throw in a bit more of the ceiling and sort of dream a bit on the upside depending on what happens
44:26with the Love injury obviously but you know he's a good player who just like has perpetually been in these backfields with
44:34these elite you know uber prospects and when he gets the opportunity I thought he was pretty good so he's RB44 by
44:42the way like an early 12th round pick in real time ADP Fitz where you at on Algier in terms of just
44:49the upside yeah with this Love injury I think there is upside for Algier in the double digit rounds but for him
44:57to really pop and sort of fit this category of league winner I do think you would be betting sort of on
45:05the worst case scenario for Love which is certainly a concern and Jake points this out like the high ankle sprain is
45:13not a small thing and I'm surprised that there are some fantasy analysts who've sort of brushed it off who I've heard
45:21in the last couple days I'm not brushing it off like I was willing to take Jeremiah Love late seconds just a
45:29week ago no longer there's no way like I won't even think about him until the mid third now and even then
45:36it seems like a pretty dicey move considering some of the wide receivers who are available in the mid third so yeah
45:44it's a much less appealing proposition now for Love but the thing is for Algier to you know really return major value
45:52on even a double digit round pick he has to start games I don't think there's any value because if he is
46:00not if he's just sharing time with Jeremiah Love that's not someone you want in your starting lineup in fantasy like he
46:08has to be have Jeremiah Love out I think which he will be so wouldn't you say that even if you only
46:16got four games as a starter and then time share the rest of the season where are you still going and that's
46:23why I said this isn't season long league winner but this is where you started with four wide receivers in your first
46:31six rounds and like a zero RB approach or something like that he is the most glaring answer for you as you
46:39figure out and find your other RB2 down the road that's that's kind of my perspective it's not the most attractive year
46:47to go zero RB but if you do go zero RB like Algier is almost a must where he's going in drafts
46:55yeah Fitz let's stick with you for your next player on the list yeah let's go with another injured wide receiver I'm
47:03picking Luther Burden who is dealing with a groin injury but reports suggest that Burden should be good to go for week
47:10one he averaged 10.9 yards per target last year and 2.34 yards per route run in his rookie year if you include
47:18playoffs just Burden is one of the quickest guys in the NFL a complete nightmare to cover especially out of the slot
47:26where he is going to be taking most of his snaps Luther Burden is playing for a head coach Ben Johnson whose
47:34offense helped slot receiver Amon Ross St. Braun become a superstar in Detroit and my goodness the way Ben Johnson talks about
47:42Luther Burden Ben Johnson loves this kid the Bears are going to have a high powered offense and their defense could be
47:50among the worst in the league this year Chicago is going to be playing in a lot of okay corral game scripts
47:57this season a lot of shootouts and despite the presence of Colston Loveland and Romo Dunze also strong fantasy assets I'm not
48:05worried about target volume for Burden like I think he's in for a big year where with the injury are you taking
48:13him right now Fitz man so I'm willing to take him in the fourth I do like I'm not totally over my
48:21skis on him in the ranking I've got him with the injury factored in wide receiver 24 but man the upside is
48:29monstrous yeah he's wide receiver 25 and ADP back half of the fifth round pick so you're willing to reach about a
48:37round to make sure you are getting into that upside he's going in between guys like DJ Moore Devante Adams Christian Watson
48:44Roma Dunze those are the two names on either side of him in both directions so his wide receiver teammate in a
48:52Dunze is one of them you know Watson somebody we've talked about as a breakout player DJ Moore in a new landing
49:00spot and then obviously Devante Adams you know the elder statesman there Jake amongst those names where does Luther Burden stack up
49:08for you is he the type of upside you would want to take a swing on in that range or would you
49:16look elsewhere so he's in the same conversation like I have him with the like the waddles a healthy Mike Evans that's
49:24a question right now but like burden is there he's not too far from a Dunze for me mostly there was a
49:32bigger gap before the injury just because I'm not positive that like this doesn't create a slow start out of college that
49:39like people just weren't sure whether or not to believe what they saw with Missouri and all that type of stuff so
49:47I like burden mostly because of what Fitz said too it's the fit and the style of this offense of this is
49:55more of the feature than a Dunzey so if somebody's going to be hurt by Loveland being Loveland what we expect to
50:03possibly be a tier one tight end in the conversation of a Bowers McBride he's more likely to hurt a Dunzey than
50:11he is burden given the skill sets and the designs that you would see in this offense like a Dunzey kind of
50:19falls into the Jameson Williams role despite the fact they aren't the same wide receiver just pointing out the perception of the
50:26Lions versus the Bears so I am very much in a burden like if he wasn't hurt I had him actually as
50:34a top 20 wide receiver I had him in the conversation with like Ted Rowe McMillan or she Rice and stuff like
50:42that do you I'd rather wait and get a Dunzey because he's cheaper than burden or do you like because that gap
50:50is shrinking for you or would you still rather take burden around or two ahead of a Dunzey so I it's more
50:58of the fact like before this even though I had the gap bigger I was taking a little bit more Dunzey because
51:06we do have the uncertainty like there's a world where Fitz and I are wrong on this and then a Dunzey has
51:13more value than burden like we are trying to project what we think is going to happen and these are both very
51:21talented wide receivers like all of a sudden everybody's like I'm not saying Fitz is doing this because he's fine we were
51:29just glossing over how great he was last year potentially and all this offense and the excitement for Dunzey so I that
51:37was close to peak value like you're not gaining a lot of return on investment at that point because you need him
51:45to be the one you need him to outperform a Dunzey so now that he's coming back with his injury I've been
51:53happy because now I'm getting more burden again yeah Fitz you know that just from doing the dynasty show with me that
52:00I am not glossing over a Dunzey upside from his start last season and you know those five touchdowns in the first
52:08four weeks and you know I'm really excited about a Dunzey as a guy I think could take a step forward this
52:16year it's not meant more I've got him down at wide receiver 29 so not too far behind five spots of separation
52:24and they have not yet passed a law in fantasy football 2026 that you have to choose between Luther Burden and Roma
52:32Dunes that you're allowed to like both that is for sure true would you draft both actually like obviously you can like
52:40both but do you feel like in that same range are you know Chase Higgins it's not I was going to say
52:47Adams but Adams isn't going that high this year because everybody is going to be hurt again but the point being you're
52:55not investing two picks inside the first three or four rounds at this point so now I'm more willing to you going
53:03now it's just even if the Bears passing game has a really banging day on any any given week like it's it's
53:11going to be hard for both guys to really pop like I want I want the upside where like two different receivers
53:19can explode for me and then if Caleb gets hurt it just kind of wrecks your season like your season is literally
53:27hanging on the guys or would you not want to have two of those three I would be a little more amenable
53:34to that but generally I do not like clogging my pass catching core with more than one guy on a but such
53:42a price before he might need to be your wide receiver for now he's going where you can start on your bench
53:50you don't need to put him however they did it but they did an overlap of all the quarterbacks and you yeah
53:58that's why he was better once he left the Titans and put on the Eagles so Jalen Hurts will be throwing more
54:06over the middle is somebody who on your bench and I think by the middle of the season you're looking at some
54:14way that could potentially be a top 25 wide receiver filling in is that also a guy not just that's a value
54:21but has league winning upside behind the Houston Texans and Denver Broncos defenses in drafts in real-time ADP yes that is I
54:29am glad that drafters seem to be off the sense with Makai Lemon the guy who Howie Roseman the smartest Wiggum in
54:37the famous Simpsons episode yeah like I'm very excited about Makai Lemon and this hamstring injury has just like kept the price
54:45super low driven the price down I USC like this guy's hands this guy's man I just I would implore anyone who
54:53has any questions about Makai Lemon's talent to go to YouTube and dial up the Iowa USC game from last year like
55:01watch that game and you last year right but like this is somebody that you were looking at as oh in the
55:08second half could be the true league winner like in the fantasy playoffs and everything like that as Jake has described and
55:16so if he 3pm eastern join the fantasy pros crew and special guests for draft strategy rankings and tiers sleepers bus league
55:24winners a mock draft a giveaway and more it's four hours of live draft prep followed by our twitch after party don't
55:32miss fantasy fest on fantasy pros this year that's August 26th at 3pm eastern is when we're kicking things off all right
55:40one more player from each of you here on our league winning list Fitz who do you got Jameson Williams who I
55:48actually have ranked ahead of Luther Burden and I think I'm going to wind up getting Jameson Williams in a lot of
55:56drafts in the coming weeks so he finished with 1117 yards last play only 15 games but Nico actually had 18 more
56:03targets than Jameson Williams and now JMO has last year Jameson Williams had averaged 2.6 catches and 44.4 receiving yards per game
56:11with Morton calling the plays with Campbell calling the plays 4.9 catches 84.7 receiving yards per game the rest of the way
56:19week 10 on when Campbell started calling the plays JMO was wide receiver 9 in half point PPR scoring wide receiver 8 was Amon Ross St.
56:28Brown there was less than a point a game separating them and I realized that JMO's big second half occurred with tight
56:36end Sam Laporta on the shelf with a back injury I yards per targets that is peak efficiency he averaged exactly six
56:44targets a game last season still finished with 1100 yards I think he's going to be busier this year even with Laporta
56:52healthy and again kind of another Bears type situation here the Lions have a shaky secondary that could lead to a lot
57:00of track mates we know that offense is good they play a ton of indoor games this year I'm excited about Jamison
57:07Williams upside like and it seems like people aren't on him at 25 Christian Watson at 26 Roma Dunes at 27 Jameson
57:15Williams at wide receiver 28 and if you look at the overall pick numbers Watson is the 604 Rome is the 605
57:23and Jameson is the 606 so it's a very NFC North wide receiver heavy stretch there in drafts and Jameson Williams is
57:31behind all of those guys Jake for you where is he rank in terms of imagining him as a league winning player
57:39we finally get to disagree yay I have more concerns over Jameson Williams mostly because before Sam Laporta got hurt there was
57:47more games with fewer targets than there were of five plus and that's really what it comes down to is it's not
57:54the fact that I'm deathly afraid of Laporta but I'm also looking at Petz in the way he loves to back over
58:02the play calling just last year with Johnny Morton and all these situations where it's like what are we doing with Jameson
58:10Williams and it goes back to it so like what if he doesn't have control or what if he doesn't have the
58:18entire play call where it's all of a sudden three targets six targets two five like what it was to start last
58:26year and that's my only concern with it it's not that Jameson Williams can't be top 25 it's just the little port
58:34of factor so I'm a little bit more hesitant I'm not really far down on him but I have a Dunze Watson
58:42Burden Parker Washington McLaurin ahead of him which just slots him into 31 it's not severely down but it's down in the
58:49fact that there's names that to taking over play calling duties and getting him there like my thought process has been similar
58:57to Fitz that like even though it's now Drew Petzin there like it must have been a point of emphasis for Campbell
59:05in go routes and nines and outs and stuff like that versus using Jameson's full route tree which he's not the best
59:13route runner in the league but that's more of what I'm saying it's like I think it's not necessarily like oh we've
59:21got to get Jameson six targets I think it's we got to stop using him incorrectly and so he can still be
59:29a beneficiary of that change that's just a target share difference so again it's not that I'm crucifying him and I'm not
59:36burying him as a wide receiver three it just comes to like I which was also without Laporte too true that's fair
59:44let's go to one last player here Jake who are you wrapping us up with if everybody goes back to our rookie
59:52shows like I miss some players all the time but this is one where if everybody remembers I was on the KC
60:00Concepcion should be on a tier of his own conversation and there was one name I kept drawing his conversation too as
60:08who was also not thought as highly of coming out of college and I drew a lot of parallels between these two
60:16wide receivers and I think that Concepcion just showed what the upside is even in what potentially is the worst passing offense
60:23in the league like there's no question about it that Concepcion can not only just do everything that we need as a
60:31wide receiver for this drop drops get overrated when it comes to wide receivers in general and I'm not saying ignore it
60:39completely but it's not going to destroy players unless you're Eric Ebron back in the so I get the excitement for Boston
60:47being the outside guy but I would rather have Boston an outside guy on a team that has a better quarterback situation
60:55has a better offense and I'll bring up something that I brought up with Concepcion too is that past five years it
61:03probably goes past five years I just pulled the past five years as a look and I don't want to spend 24
61:10hours researching these stats but 100 plus targets and the minimum finish for a wide receiver is top 40 except for three
61:18names Elijah Moore Jerry Judy and Elijah Moore did it twice with two different teams Jets and Browns unfortunately Judy and Elijah
61:26Moore are both on the Browns when these things happen so I get the downside risk of Concepcion but even if he's
61:34only a wide receiver four or five you're not paying much more than that you're potentially buying all the upside with Concepcion
61:42Fitz Concepcion has I need to start getting more of him I'm a 42 not much I mean if you follow the
61:50Cleveland Browns beat writers it is pretty clear that they rolled Yahtzee at wide receiver this year with Denzel Boston and Casey
61:57Concepcion and Concepcion just he moves differently man he is like he is a Percy Harvin type of mover and hopefully he's
62:05not made of glass like Percy was because yeah I a fascinating player and unfortunately in real-time ADP he is up 13
62:13spots over the last 7 days and 6 spots 5.9 half around over the last 24 hours so unfortunately now it's like
62:21a fox hunt where it's just this pack chasing Casey Concepcion he needs to run through a stream or something to get
62:29people off the scent because I have to catch up I did not get him in enough best ball drafts in best
62:37ball season I need to get him in some redraft yeah it's interesting and he's a guy even if the Browns do
62:44have quarterback problems this year he's going to be a short area receiver so that's maybe less of a problem than it
62:52would be for Denzel Boston who's going to be getting more downfield targets I want to just kind of wrap up quickly
63:00with asking you guys are there general patterns you look for when trying to identify league winning players I noticed that half
63:08the names we came up with on this list are wide receivers is that a position you typically look at for league
63:16winning upside is there obviously you guys looked at different ranges of the draft in sort of interpreting the prompt here but
63:24are for and that our listeners can look for in trying to identify their own league winning guys fits any sort of
63:31distinctions you would make between these players or similarities you want to point out I don't know if there are necessarily threads
63:39that run through all these guys like certain key things I key in on it's all in whether by injury whether by
63:47the talent winning out and opportunity to be the number two wide receiver whether whatever it is the offense takes another step
63:55forward whatever these answers are the questions are is the answer can they meyers I used to love you for years but
64:03sorry I don't love you anymore Fitz did you say that you were waiting on the news on Jaden Higgins before we
64:11got two minutes ago as of the time we're recording this obviously people will know this by the time this comes out
64:18torn ACL that's brutal man that is brutal yeah rap report tweeted it literally two minutes ago torn ACL yesterday during the
64:26joint practice against the Raiders so Nico Collins had been talking about this I said pick five random names of garbage players
64:34so we don't ruin them oh that's crushing this is and as you can see on Jeremiah Love and Chuba Hubbard and
64:42all the opposites of the names we mentioned oh hey before we sign off by the way happy birthday worm oh thank
64:50you everyone happy birthday it would have been a happier birthday if we got better news on Jaden Higgins I'm sadly not
64:5821 anymore I am in my mid 30s and we'll leave it at that which is I know that would sound young
65:05to Fitz but to me it feels quite old sounds young to me I start with a four now come on I
65:13appreciate that thank you no way I'd rather spend my birthday than doing a show with you guys here talking some fun
65:21upside players you love talking with the unks that's a happier note to end on than Jaden Higgins so we'll wrap up
65:29there for Fitz and Jake I'm Ryan Warmly thanks everybody for tuning in we'll see you again next time thanks for listening
65:37to fantasy football podcast if you love the show the best free way to support us is by leaving a positive review
65:45on Apple podcasts at fantasypros.com slash review or on Spotify follow us on X Instagram and TikTok at fantasypros and subscribe to
65:53our YouTube channel at youtube.com slash fantasypros I'm Nick Turturro you probably know me from NYPD Blue The Longest Yard or Spike
66:00Lee's Black Klansman and on my new podcast Delivering Happiness with Nick Turturro I deliver pizza to a new guest I've shared
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66:32with Nick Turturro and listen now I'm Hoda Kotb host of the podcast Joy 101 with Hoda Kotb you know I'm always
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