Fantasy Points Source

Fantasy Points Fantasy Football artwork

VideoFrom Fantasy Points Fantasy Football

How Much Did the Preseason Change About Fantasy Football in 2026?

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

1 hr 8 min

Duration

Estimated from transcript

Aug 18, 2026

Published

Tue, August 18, 2026

27

Player insights

26

Players mentioned

Topics

Chris OlaveAmon-Ra St. BrownBaker MayfieldBreece HallCaleb DouglasChris BellChristian KirkChristian McCaffreyGeorge KittleIsaiah LikelyIsaiah WilliamsJeremiyah LoveJordyn TysonKyle Pitts

Player analysis

Player insights

27

Amon-Ra St. Brown

NegativeInjury19:54

Brett Whitefield cites Amon-Ra St. Brown as a prime example of the unreliability of NFL injury reporting, noting that St. Brown played through hand, foot, and mouth disease and was literally bleeding from his hands without the condition ever appearing on an official injury report.

Baker Mayfield

NegativeInjury20:01

Brett Whitefield highlights that Baker Mayfield played through a visible injury last year where his entire arm was black and blue, yet he was never listed on the injury report at all that week, illustrating the lack of transparency in injury reporting.

Breece Hall

NegativeUsage16:58

Breece Hall saw a significant increase in preseason usage, playing 93% of first-team snaps compared to 57% last year, but is now dealing with a groin strain. Brett Whitefield notes that while some reports suggest the injury is not serious, there is a risk that the severity is being under-reported.

Caleb Douglas

PositiveBreakout66:41

Brett Whitefield identifies Caleb Douglas as one of the top two performers in Miami's camp, highlighting his size-adjusted separation and contested catch ability. Douglas is positioned for a healthy target load due to a lack of competition in the receiver room, fitting the NFL's shift toward bigger-bodied receivers with route-running ability.

Chris Bell

PositiveValue42:16

Brett Whitefield highlights Chris Bell as a high-upside target available at a 50-pick discount due to a mid-November ACL tear. The team's decision to activate him early is a strong indicator of his status; Whitefield compares him to an AJ Brown clone, noting his physical profile as a run-after-catch threat who excels on in-breaking routes.

Chris Olave

PositiveProjection14:02

Brett Whitefield is moving Chris Olive up in his rankings, admitting he was previously too low on him. Whitefield highlights Olive's past production with Tyler Shuck—8.9 targets per game and 17.8 expected fantasy points per game—as evidence of his WR1 upside.

PositiveProjection14:02

Brett Whitefield is moving Chris Olave up in his rankings, citing his high-end production with Tyler Shuck last year (8.9 targets, 17.8 XFP, and 18.8 fantasy points per game) as evidence of WR1 upside. Whitefield clarifies that the team's desire for him to run 'vertical stems' refers to a high-value intermediate route tree rather than just deep routes.

Christian Kirk

NegativeInjury14:20

Christian Kirk is noted as already dealing with an injury, which negatively impacts his availability and fantasy outlook.

Christian McCaffrey

NegativeInjury3:35

Christian McCaffrey is dealing with an injury, which is part of the broader context of health concerns affecting the 49ers' offensive personnel.

George Kittle

NegativeInjury3:35

George Kittle is dealing with an injury, contributing to the list of health concerns for key 49ers offensive players.

Isaiah Likely

NegativeUsage39:05

Brett Whitefield expresses concern regarding Isaiah Likely's snap share; despite positive reports from beat writers and coaches, his historical usage in Baltimore alongside Mark Andrews and Charlie Kolar suggests a limited fantasy ceiling.

Isaiah Williams

PositiveDepth Chart23:16

Brett Whitefield reports that Isaiah Williams has been starting over Omar Cooper Jr. in camp. Williams is characterized as a reliable route-running slot receiver, though Whitefield notes he lacks dynamicism after the catch and a vertical element to his game.

Jeremiyah Love

PositiveInjury9:40

Jeremiah Love is reported to miss Week 1 with a high ankle sprain, with injury expert Jeff Mueller pessimistic about his availability for the first three weeks. Brett Whitefield was already low on him due to a crowded backfield, poor offensive line, and bad game script, and now views him as a mid-season trade target rather than a draftable asset.

Jordyn Tyson

NegativeInjury13:23

Brett Whitefield is moving Jordan Tyson down in his rankings due to recurring injuries, noting four reinjuries since October and reports that the issue will likely linger into the season. Tyson is currently seeking multiple opinions, confirming pre-draft durability concerns and shifting the team's offensive usage plans away from him as a potential PPR cheat code.

Kyle Pitts

NegativeBust6:45

Scott Barrett notes that Kyle Pitts saw his ADP jump two rounds following a single preseason touchdown, serving as an example of how preseason performance can negatively impact draft value.

Ladd McConkey

PositiveValue18:08

Brett Whitefield is re-evaluating his previously low stance on Ladd McConkey after learning the receiver played through an undisclosed injury in August that hampered him for the entire previous season; Whitefield notes the team was aware of the issue, which explains the poor performance that previously concerned him.

Malik Nabers

PositiveRole38:48

Malik Nabers is established as the clear wide receiver one for the Giants when healthy, with the expectation that he will command a significant target share in the offense.

Malik Washington

PositiveBreakout43:46

Brett Whitefield identifies Malik Washington as a potential PPR cheat code with significant upside, noting he was a force in college who ranked among the top Power Five receivers in missed tackles forced per catch. Whitefield believes Washington has a clear path to 100+ targets and is currently one of the top two performers in Miami's camp.

Malik Willis

PositiveProjection44:51

Brett Whitefield is bullish on Malik Willis as a late-round quarterback target, citing significant improvement in his comfort level and decision-making compared to his time in Tennessee. Whitefield was impressed by Willis's ability to use his eyes to manipulate coverages rather than staring down his first read.

Marquez Callaway

NegativeBust7:03

Scott Barrett identifies Marquez Callaway as his all-time favorite example of a preseason hype train that caused ADP to skyrocket from round 16 to rounds 4-5 by early September, ultimately serving as a negative predictor for fantasy success.

Mike Evans

PositiveProjection3:32

Brett Whitefield is high on Mike Evans for the upcoming season, characterizing him as the 'Davante Adams' of the 49ers offense and a primary target. While Scott Barrett notes that Evans is aging, which provides context for the potential opportunity for younger receivers on the roster, Whitefield maintains confidence in his role, though he notes Evans is not a high-volume YAC receiver.

Olamide Zaccheaus

NegativeDepth Chart39:10

Brett Whitefield describes Olamide Zaccheaus as a solid professional and route runner who successfully kept Luther Burden off the field, using him as a comparison for the current Jets depth chart situation.

Omar Cooper Jr.

NegativeUsage23:16

Brett Whitefield expresses significant concern regarding Omar Cooper Jr.'s usage, noting he was on the field for the Jets' sixth offensive drive in the preseason, which is historically late for a first-round rookie. Whitefield views it as a major red flag if Cooper cannot beat out Isaiah Williams for a starting role and advises dynasty managers to consider moving on.

Patrick Mahomes

PositiveProjection29:44

Patrick Mahomes is used by Brett Whitefield as the gold standard for off-script, out-of-rhythm playmaking. Jackson Dart is compared to him due to his high EPA per drop back on out-of-rhythm plays, though Whitefield acknowledges Mahomes remains a unique, singular talent.

Ricky Pearsall

NegativeInjury3:33

Ricky Pearsall is currently dealing with an injury, which contributes to the broader context of health concerns for key 49ers offensive personnel and creates potential opportunities for other receivers on the depth chart.

TreVeyon Henderson

NegativeBust6:40

Scott Barrett cites TreVeyon Henderson as a cautionary tale of a player whose ADP jumped two rounds due to preseason hype, ultimately resulting in a poor fantasy pick.

Treylon Burks

NegativeUsage36:41

Brett Whitefield uses Treylon Burks' 2022 rookie season as a negative historical comparison for Omar Cooper Jr., noting that Burks was also a first-round rookie who saw late-preseason usage and struggled to earn favor with his coaching staff.

Full transcript

Episode Transcript

678

0:00What takeaways matter for preseason week one? We are here to tell you. This is Fantasy Football Daily with Brett Whitefield and Scott Barrett. Let's dive

0:08right in. And you will be seeing more of us on the Fantasy Football Daily feed because Scott and I are going to be

0:13doing the daily show every day. [music] >> How are you, Scott?

0:25>> Yeah, that's right. I'm excited uh to debate you uh more frequently and because I always win those debates. It's it's very fun and enjoyable for me

0:34because >> as we all know, you don't need to watch film when you have the best analytics in the game and the best analytics mind in

0:41the game myself. So, it's just are you excited for this this near daily beatdown?

0:48>> Yeah, and I'm super excited to to lose arguments to a Sesame Street character.

0:53For sure. For sure.

0:55Which one is that, Brett?

0:57>> I don't know. You're feeling you're giving me Oscar the Grouch vibes today, but sometimes you're Cookie Monster also. So, let's uh

1:02>> Okay.

1:03>> You know, maybe Elmo on your your days you're feeling sweet. But, >> you know, here we are. Let's dive right

1:08in, though. Scott, I know we both kind of have a proper amount of disdain for preseason takes, right? Preseason, as you wrote in the show sheet, is worse

1:18than useless for the most part. However, there are some takeaways that matter.

1:22There are some things teams are telling us through preseason. We're going to try to uncover all of those and dive right

1:28in. First, I kind of want to talk about uh Deshun's dribbling.

1:33>> Well, this is what I put in the the show sheet. I So, talking to my friends across the industry, one of which who I I think you can guess

1:41is, you know, all in on Dejon. Did you watch that game? It was crazy. He was amazing. Uh, I got to move him up six

1:49rounds in my rankings. And listen, I like Dejon Shri. I'm very bullish on Dean Shriveling. There's there's tremendous contingent upside. It's a

2:00Kyle Shanahan offense. He was, you know, drafted really high and like one of these days Kyle Shanahan's got to be right on one of these guys and I'm

2:08wrong. It hasn't happened, but but one of these days. And uh and and and yeah, dude, Mike Evans is old. Ricky Piol's

2:15already hurt. Christian McCaffrey, George KD have a number of in and so like yeah I I really like Dejon Shribling as a as a sleeper of sorts but

2:26um it has nothing to do with this preseason game and like literally yeah I think preseason is when it like actually

2:35if you don't know what you're looking at like I monitoring snapshares and seeing like oh wow this running back we thought

2:42was going to be in a 50/50 committee has an 85% % snap share with the first team offense. That might mean something. I

2:50mean, it it also might not, but it might mean something. But it's like Deon Stribbling going off against a fifth string quarterback who's like interning

3:00with Morgan Stanley while he's at practice. Uh like that doesn't really mean Yeah. Like of course he should beat up against third stringers. Uh but this

3:10happens constantly is so like last year >> I got to throw a flag. I'm sorry. That's not what Stribbling did.

3:17>> What did he do?

3:18>> He The Titans played their starters the whole the whole time Stribbling was on the field. The Titans had their starters

3:23on the field, >> right?

3:24>> He went He was going up against Alante Taylor >> who just signed this massive contract in the offseason. I mean, it's not Come on,

3:30give give him a little credit here. It's not like he went out and, >> you know, he didn't he wasn't Joe

3:34Burrow. He didn't have to play the Lions third and fourth string guys and and still suck. But >> yeah, but also was it like he was he was

3:41getting open and routing this dude up or was it more like, "Hey, Kyle was like, "Hey, let's let's see what the rookies

3:46got. Let's let's pepper him. Let's get him some screens and what?" It's just like and so like maybe this is like a

3:52real thing. Maybe he he looked amazing.

3:54Like that's why you're here. You're the film guy. Um but like I'm just telling you is like this happens every year.

4:00Last year Travon Henderson jumped two rounds in ADP and was a bad pick at that cost. Kyle Kyle Pittz had uh that one

4:08touchdown and he jumped two rounds by ADP. Um you had last year's Tory Horton and Jakori Kroski Merritt. Terrace Marshall was a a preseason superstar

4:19once upon a time. Donovan Peoples Jones the all time my favorite all time was uh Marquez Callaway. Uh where you where you

4:29have Nick >> I fell for that one. Nick Underh Hill tweeted like this is he's a superstar and like he he looked amazing in

4:36preseason up against first string quarterbacks and uh in FFPC leagues he went from like a round 16 pick to like

4:45round four round five by early September. Um and yeah and so it's like really just like one of those things from being in this game long enough is

4:55it it appears to be almost like negatively predictive. M >> uh and so yeah, it's I think we know what matters and again you're you're the

5:05best film guy in the game. So, um yeah, what did you get from Deon Shribbling's preseason? This is definitely a guy I'm

5:14going to be high on, but I I don't know how much of it had to do with this Titans game, but but you you watch the

5:19tape more closely than I did.

5:20>> Yeah. So, I definitely don't go like into the box score and like, oh, he went six for 63. that was a really good game

5:26for him and uh he went off. No, like yeah, we got to add more context than that. And so when I watch dribbling

5:33play, I'm like, what am I looking for?

5:34Here's some key factors. Like contextually, how is he performing? So it was the 49ers second team offense mostly like their offensive line didn't

5:42start, Perty didn't play, CMC didn't play, right? Evans didn't play. So it's really the second team offense versus the Titan starters. And he held his own.

5:50I think contextually that's good. So, the box score looks even better because of the fact that it was a second string

5:55offense, second team offense versus a first team defense. Then I look for like, okay, how are they using him? He's a rookie, right? Like, how much are they

6:02putting on his plate right now? Scott, this is where I was blown away. He had he ran routes from the X. He ran routes

6:09from the Z. He ran routes from the big slot role. that big slot role when he was drafted. I don't know if you

6:13remember you, Theo Griminger and I did a show and I was like, I think they drafted him to play this kind of pseudo

6:20souped up Jawan Jennings role.

6:22Obviously, he can be an exceiver as well, but the fact that they've already put this much on his plate is really

6:27where it like struck me. He's like, okay, the hype actually might be real with this guy because you don't see that

6:32with rookie players a lot, Scott. They usually it's like, cool, your rookie season, you do these three things really well and that's it. just go do these

6:40three things really well and then we'll slowly add to your plate. No, they got him playing the entire offense. X, you

6:46know, YF or sorry, XZF and then some design touches in there as well. A ridiculous downfield catch through traffic with, you know, going falling

6:57out of bounds. We would call that a hero catch here at Fantasy Points Data. Um, he had another play where he bodied

7:02Alante Taylor. He had some run after catch stuff. It's like he put the full thing on display. Now, does that mean

7:07it's going to be how he is every game?

7:08No, but I'm like I'm looking for how do the movement skills translate? We haven't seen him play in the NFL. So, we

7:13saw him at college in this Old Miss offense where he was given all of this free space and then I want to see how

7:20that those movement skills translate to more congested environments, actual NFL quarterbacks and he looked good. He looked apart. He looked like he

7:27belonged. They put a ton on his plate and they, you know, you one thing you said that was definitely true is like

7:32they definitely were targeting him to see what he had for sure. Um, so that I think the target numbers are inflated

7:38because of that. But despite all that, even the plays he didn't get the ball, you felt like the movement skills were

7:42there. There was separation there. When there wasn't separation, there was ball skills and adjustments to off thrown target or offtarget throws. And I I just

7:51was really impressed all around with striping. Am I like gassing him up ADPwise? No. But I feel pretty good about where he's heading as an NFL

7:59player now.

8:00>> Well, where did you have him coming out?

8:02>> I had a day two grade on him. He went a little bit higher than my score suggested he should. But I did have a

8:08day two grade on him, you know, I was I was like mid probably like early early third round is kind of where I saw him

8:14going and he went like a whole round ahead of that. But yeah.

8:18>> Yeah. So, you know, I'm I'm very high on Mike Evans this year, but I was thinking about it and it's like you said, you

8:23know, he was moved all around the formation. he was, you know, a ton of targets and like I love Mike Evans, but

8:29like realistically he's more, you know, the 49ers Devonte Adams. Um, he's not a yak guy. He's not, you know, a real a

8:39guy you really pepper with, you know, short area targets certainly. And then Debo Samuel could be that guy, but he's also maybe fat, you know, and he's

8:48old and he's lost a step.

8:50Christian Kirk's already hurt. And so like yeah, if if Mike Evans is the 49ers Dvonte Adams, maybe there's a chance Dejon Shribbling could be their puka

9:01nua. Um certainly, you know, we want to be invested in Kyle Shanahan offenses and you know, Brock Perie is the best

9:08quarterback Kyle Shannan has ever had.

9:11uh or at least since since uh Matt Ryan back in the day. But uh yeah, so so Dejon Shribbling I think is is a is a

9:19fine sleeper but really had uh you know less to do with his preseason performance than everything else.

9:25>> Um let's let's let's start off with the things that we know really matter.

9:31Everything else we're kind of guessing what might matter. Uh a little bit of tea leaf reading, but what really matters injuries. Jeremiah Love, it's

9:40now reported he can miss week one. Uh, our injury expert, Jeff Mueller, best injury expert in the game, who who skews

9:49a little optimistic, I would say, uh, is is optimistic, but pessimistic weeks one through three. Um, and so I, this is a

9:58player I was already really down on.

10:00It's just like I feel like we're we can be too overly optimistic with these rookies and projecting playing time.

10:09It's also like one of the deepest, best, most crowded running back rooms in the league. It's I it's Tyler Algier, it's

10:18James Connor. And so like yeah, he got a ton of work, but like I think that makes sense. You know what you have in Alier

10:25and James Connor. Let's let's get the rookie some playing time. So, you know, his snapshure doesn't really mean anything to me. And then it's it's also

10:32just not a good offense. It's an offense that's probably playing for Arch Manning in the second half. Could be starting Carson Beck. It's bad game script. It's

10:40a it's a not great offensive line. And so, this is a player I was You looked at my rankings versus ADP. I was I was

10:46really low on him in comparison. And uh now you factor in this injury and yeah, that was a big part of it is like I I

10:53thought Jeremiah Love could be like a great player to have on your team, but more so as a mid-season trade target

11:01than a player you want to draft. I think he's going to be cheaper week five than week one. And so that's the that's the

11:08arbitrage opportunity. And you know, certainly now with this high ankle sprain uh has me more uh convicted in that take.

11:20>> Dude, I just got to say this is really uh just a a gut punch for a rookie class you were already kind of out on, right?

11:29Like Yeah, >> dude. Dude, look at this rookie. Like it was already sus for fantasy because of some landing spots, but you have Mendoza

11:36stuck behind Kurt Cousins. You have Jeremiah Love injured now. You have Carnell Tate stuck with Cam Warden.

11:41We'll get to that whole thing in a in a bit. Jordan Tyson's injured again.

11:45Kenyan Sadique is injured again. Malachi or sorry, Mai Lemon injured. Can't get on the field. Probably going to miss week one and week two. It's looking like

11:54you have Cooper getting mogged by Isaiah Williams. Uh Scott, like we're holding out hope for what a Deshawn Stribbling and Jonah Coleman coming out of nowhere

12:04to save us. This rookie class could be buns this season, dude. like big time buns.

12:10>> Yeah. Yeah. I So, I was saying pre-draft it's like 2016 if you took out Derk Henry. And if you remember like all that

12:17class had really of like the top 10 drafted wide receivers, the top five running back is like all it really had

12:24was Jared Goff, Zeke, and Derk Henry.

12:27And again, there was no alpha RB2. I thought pre-draft, you know, maybe that's Shadarium Price, but uh and so yeah, and now you're taking out too,

12:36>> right? And so now you're taking out Zeke as well. And it's Yeah. Like last year I thought I thought you know one of our

12:43biggest edges was going in on the rookies. I was extremely bullish on Tyler Warren, Coloulston Lovelin, Luther Burden, Beasel Tudin, Cam Scataboo, and

12:53it actually like didn't even really materialize for for what was a great class. You know, all those guys, you know, they're they're really expensive

13:00in drafts today, but they they kind of disappointed. uh if you look at like the full sample of the entire season. Uh and

13:08yeah, this class is awful. And so um yeah, so yeah, not not very optimistic.

13:15We're going to talk about Omar Cooper Jr. later. We're going to talk about Caleb Douglas later, but uh let's stick to what really matters

13:23>> and that's yet another injury to a rookie, Jordan Tyson. And like I said, Jeff Mueller, best injury expert in the

13:31game. Skews a little optimistic. He is straight up black pilling all over uh Jordan Tyson. And I need to fully capitulate in my rankings. I was doing a

13:42show with uh good friend Theo Greinger the other day and uh I was saying the biggest, you know, ideological or logical inconsistency in my rankings was

13:52how low I was on Chris Olive and probably not high enough on Jordan Tyson given how low on Chris Olive I was. And

14:00it's just like reading between the tea leaves of the the press conferences, the code speak, the even like words straight out of Chris Obi's mouth, it really

14:09seemed like they drafted Jordan Tyson to be their PPR cheat code. They wanted Chris Olive to be more of the deep

14:17threat, which we know is like the less valuable skill set for PPR leagues. And lo and behold, he's picked up his four

14:25reinjuries since October. Um, there are reports saying this is very likely to linger into the season. He's now seeking multiple opinions for a guy who the big

14:36knock on him coming out was he can't stay healthy. And so, yeah, I I this is going to be a major capitulation by me.

14:44You're going to see Chris Olive move way up in my rankings. Jordan Tyson, I'm going to have to move down. Um, and

14:50yeah, there's certainly a ton of upside here because you look at what Chris Olive did last year with Tyler Shuck, he

14:58was putting up easy easy uh wide receiver one numbers. I think the the full stats, yeah, with Tyler Shuck, 8.9 targets per game, 17.8 XFP per game,

15:0918.8 fantasy points per game. Those are all top six numbers. And yeah, yeah, it's it's capitulation season for me on this one.

15:18Scott, I in at risk of losing a podcast partner on our first official episode as the the daily hosts. I I I don't know

15:26how much I need to nitpick you, but you keep I've heard this said so many times.

15:29This is one of my issues with the offseason coach speak content wheel that we live in. When a coach says he wants

15:37Chris Olive to be more of the vertical receiver, and that's he doesn't mean it the same way we mean it. We think of

15:43vertical as like 20 plus yards downfield, go routes and post routes.

15:47This is not what he means. He means any route where you're attacking a vertical stem. It still uncovers the entire intermediate route tree. It's a proper

15:56role for a lava and it's the big money role that we want. We want those intermediate intermediate dig routes, those intermediate comebacks, hitches.

16:04Those are the wide receiver one type routes. That's so when we got to do a better job of separating what he says he

16:11doesn't speak the same language as you as a fantasy guy. It's like we got to have a a mending of the worlds here or

16:16joining of the worlds. the union. I guess that's where I'm supposed to live is in this tension and bring us together. But I just want to point that

16:22out. Chris Ave is was getting positioned to run the more valuable skill set, not the other way around.

16:27>> Yeah. Yeah. It was it was a few more things than that with Chris Olavi. It's also like I don't think the

16:33injury I think there needs to be a bigger injury discount on him with his concussion history. Uh and there's a few

16:39other things to that, but no, like I said, I I got to move him up. But I think that's a fair point, Brett, is uh

16:44yeah, the vertical stem as opposed to just, you know, not not a sacrificial X.

16:50>> Yeah.

16:50>> Um so, so yeah. Um so let's talk let's talk about things that might matter.

16:58Things that might matter. I was really encouraged by Bree Hall's usage. Uh, so he played on 10 of 11 of the team's

17:08preseason snaps at the first team offense that you know what is that 93%.

17:13Uh, last year he's at 57%. And this matches the hype. You see it on the screen there. Uh, Connor J. Hughes

17:21saying Jets look like they're, you know, featuring Bree Hall a bit more. you know, again, the code speak they they just gave him this big contract and

17:28they're kind of saying, yeah, Bree Hall is going to be more of the focal point, more of the featured back and then,

17:34yeah, preseason usage, you know, 10 of 11 preseason snaps with the first team offense, up from 57% last year, and then

17:41unfortunately he got hurt. He strained his groin possibly. It's it's not believed to be too serious, but this was just an hour

17:49ago. Um, so we got to monitor yet another injury.

17:54It's kind of the nature of playing running back.

17:57>> Yeah.

17:57>> I mean, it's just all these guys will get banged up before the end of the season.

18:01>> Well, actually, speaking of capitulation, so if you guys watch my debate with Ryan Heath, a big sticking point for me on why I was

18:10so low on Lad Maki was I just had no excuse for how bad he was last year. He was awful. And so I I got to hang out

18:19with Sigman Bloom in uh New Orleans the other day and he was like, "You got to watch my Greg Rosenthal interview." And

18:26I watched it and on it Greg said he kind of like leaked this little secret for us. Uh Lad Maki had an injury in August

18:34that the team was aware of and they knew he they kind of kept it under wraps all year, but they knew he wasn't going to

18:40be close to 100% at any point the entire season. And so that kind of really explains that whole injury, but that

18:47Greg Rosenthal went on to like say like this is really the norm for so many leagues is like they under report

18:54injuries. Every player is more hurt than they let on. There's way more injuries than really were ever made aware of and

19:03it's just kind of like what it is. And so like you it could be the case that oh this is this is not serious for Brace

19:09Hall. He's going to be okay. But really it is. Um, >> also, do you buy it for sure?

19:16>> Is Greg Rosenthal a super worthy person to listen to?

19:19>> Yeah, for LA, I think his track record on LA is really No, he Yeah, go ahead.

19:23>> Here's the thing. He puts the team in an awkward spot because there are rules on reporting injuries, right? And so for

19:29him to say this, >> do they follow it? It's just like, >> well, yeah, they're supposed to. It comes with penalty if you don't. Teams

19:34have been, you know, they get penalties all the time for this stuff. It's like that's a pretty big thing to hide

19:39through your offseason program into training camp and then all through the season. Meanwhile, the other receiver had documented injuries that were

19:46reported the entire season. So, I don't understand.

19:48>> Yeah.

19:49>> I don't know. This is where it's like, ah, I >> dude, watch watch quarterbacks, watch wide receivers. Uh, Alman Ross St. Brown

19:55had hand, foot, and mouth disease. Was literally bleeding from his hands. No mention of it. Last year, Baker Mayfield, you saw his like entire arm

20:04was black and blue. there was he wasn't on the injury report at all that week.

20:07Like it's uh so I I think there's a ton of tr I think it's maybe one of those unwritten rules. There's a great um

20:14podcast Joe Rogan interviewed supposedly the best NFL of all time. Although really I think it's my guy Ed Teach.

20:22Shout out to Ed who's who's retired two years ago but uh all-time goat. Uh and so he interviewed this guy. I forget his

20:29name, but he he shouts out uh our old injury expert Edwin Porus in his book actually, but he basically said like his

20:36entire edge was like injuries and it was like really just like paying sources like paying the

20:45Adam Shfter of the world, but not Adam Shaft. Don't don't see Careful there, Scott. [laughter] >> Exactly. But you know who like whatever

20:52you you you call that title the influence pedlers um and and also team sources for injuries and dude I think about this all the time is like so many

21:02of my worst calls have been like that a guy was hurt you find out about it in January it's like imagine how much

21:10easier my job would be or how much better at my job Chris and I would be if we had like legit perfect access to injury

21:18information. Maybe we should start dishing out some coins, Scott. Come on.

21:22We have connections. We have the right people. We just got to pay them, I guess, to tell us some things.

21:25>> Well, I mean, so like I feel like Fantasy Points is uniquely set up with like maybe like eight teams were we're

21:33excellent with and so we just got to expand our sphere of influence, I guess.

21:38Um, Texans, Giants, Eagles, there's a bunch.

21:42>> Yeah. Yeah. We don't got to list them out.

21:44>> So, let's let's talk um let's stick with the Jets here. Uh, and a rookie, this is a tweet from Kyle D'Vorch. Uh, Omar

21:54Cooper was on the field for the Jets sixth offensive drive tonight. The last time a first round rookie of any non-QB

22:01skill position was on the field that late into a preseason game was Trayon Burks in 2022, which I don't know if you

22:08remember rookie season Trayon Burks, a guy you and I were both very low on, day three grade. Um, Mike Vrabel was just

22:16like anytime he was asked about it, he was just like, I hate this guy. It was like the the what's what's the uh what's

22:23the Johnny Cash spoof movie?

22:26>> Oh god, I don't know. I'm not a film guy.

22:29>> Dewey Cox. It's you know wrong kid died.

22:32That was Danny Kelly's bit for like how much he hated Trayon B. So yeah, it kind of seems like the Jets hate Omar Cooper

22:40Jr. And this kind of matches with where I was at on Omar Cooper Jr. We kind of thought about him, but I did not think

22:46he was anywhere close to a round one caliber talent. And I did not like him from a reddraft perspective. This is a

22:52team that, you know, they drafted a tight end. We're like, we want to play a ton of 12 personnel. And then they

22:56drafted a slot wide receiver, uh, who's probably not going to play in 12 personnel. And, you know, I love Garrett Wilson. You know, I love AD Mitchell,

23:04the Ascod. So it's it's yeah I like this is a guy I oh I have zero interest in baseball reddraft even dynasty

23:16>> you know the irony here too is the guy that is been starting over Omar Cooper Jr. camp is Isaiah Williams. And Isaiah

23:23the the irony there is Isaiah Williams is a preseason darling. Go back what's it two or three years when he was a UDFA

23:30to Detroit. Aaron Glenn at the time was in Detroit. Isaiah Williams dominated preseason. He had like 200 yards receiving over three games and uh and

23:39then AG brings him over to New York and now he might start over the first round pick at wide receiver. Reminds me a lot

23:46of the Luther Burden thing from a year ago where Burden couldn't get on the field in favor of Olid Zakias who is

23:53just a he's a solid pro good route runner doesn't give you a lot beyond that. That's kind of where Isaiah Williams is like a really good route

24:01running slot receiver with no dynamicism after the catch, no vertical element to his game. And if Cooper can't beat him out, that's super red flag, Scott. Like

24:10super duper duper red flag. I' I'd be very concerned moving forward, especially for dynasty players like if you can get off of Cooper, I probably

24:18would if that if that's how it shakes out. But yeah, I just it's it's irony because we're talking about preseason takeaways and the guy he's losing to has

24:24really only played in the preseason.

24:27>> Yeah, if if this happens and he beats out Omar Cooper Jr., it's it's one of two things. One, either Omar Cooper Jr.

24:34is just like absolute dog [ __ ] or two, and it's probably a mix of both. who you got to give props to Aaron Glenn and

24:42Darren Muggi for like having the Stones to do that because like that was a big issue with Adam Thielen early on uh or

24:49Greg Dorch even uh where it's like obvious from like day one that this guy should be starting but the GM doesn't want to

24:59look bad you know he's like oh we drafted this guy who sucks in round two and so we don't want the UDFA making me

25:06look bad making me look dumb so you Props to them for having a true meritocracy. Um, that's something I I I

25:13don't think people talk about enough or think about enough. Um, next next point uh I I want to bring up Jackson Dart. And there's there's two

25:24things we could say. One is oh my god, look at look at him just get lit up there. The the stat I had is he

25:35I don't know if my math is actually correct. My math might have been wrong on this, but he um he's made a trip to

25:42the blue medical tent in six career games, including preeason. Uh and so I don't know how many starts that is, but

25:50when I did the math, it was 43%. Uh and then it went viral and I was like, "Oh, I should have triple checked that one."

25:56But um it's just like is this a sustainable play style? Um, and then then we'll get to the the other thing I

26:04wanted to talk about because like yeah, he's he's he's paying rent to the blue medical tent. He is in there so much.

26:11>> Well, to be fair to him, the play that sent him to the blue medical tent had nothing to do with his play style.

26:16>> Tyrone Tracy just whiffed on a block.

26:18And like listen, >> which is good for for Cam Scaboo, by the way. And also, one one thing I want to

26:23say before the Giants fans get mad, he's only had one documented concussion at least since high school. Uh and so he's

26:30going to the blue medical tent, but he's actually like typically fine and just pops right back out.

26:34>> Yeah, because you know he's taking hits tip players typically just get up from him where he's a quarterback so they're

26:40going to treat him with kid gloves and whatever. But yeah, I I was uh you know talking about things that matter like so

26:46anytime I'm watching a quarterback that had clear deficiencies as a rookie or or in any season and then we get to see him

26:53with the first team offense in preseason I'm like cool let's see if he fixed anything. I actually thought like to answer your question, is Jackson's darts

26:59play style viable? I thought he was a much cleaner player in this limited sample, what 10 dropacks or something like that? But I thought the feet the

27:06feet were the big problem last year.

27:07Happy feet. Uh he was super heel clicky, wasn't really willing to slide and step in the pocket. It was more just all out

27:14scramble right from the onset. And I thought his pocket awareness, the feet, everything calmed down, just seemed to slow down for him. Was it perfect? No,

27:22it wasn't perfect yet, but it was a lot better. And I think when you extrapolate like, cool, he was really productive

27:28despite some really bad habits and tendencies last year. If he cleans up the habits a little bit, even uh production should in theory go up,

27:36right? He's an ascending player in that regard. So like I'm pretty excited about what I saw from Dart to be honest with

27:41you. I thought his the one thing that if I'm going to knock him on is like he does lock onto that first read really

27:47really quickly and often and to the point where they were jumping the first read on a couple plays where it's like

27:52cool we know exactly where he wants to go and we're literally throwing extra bodies directly at that player and Dart wasn't really quick to come off of it.

27:59But I did think he looked more decisive.

28:01The feet were solid. The throwing mechanics look good. Um the touchdown pass he had to Malachi Fields was freaking ridiculous. The catch was

28:09ridiculous, too. But, you know, it was Caleb Williams where he's working against the grain, scrambling to his left side and flinging it up into the

28:15end zone. It was it was a really good play. So, um I I really like what I saw from Dart and I think it is actionable

28:21for fantasy football cuz I do think he's he's getting better.

28:26>> I think you're underelling it. I think Jackson Dart is [laughter] a rare talent. I think he has special upside. I

28:32think anyone with eyes can see it. Uh it's you look at what he did last year or let's let's let's go back even

28:40further. What did Daniel Jones do last year with Shane Stiken before his fractured fibula? He was leading all quarterbacks in passing yards. Uh the

28:50the Colts had the best offense in football by uh EPA per play. He had the best record in football. Uh and what did

28:57Daniel Jones do with his exact same dog supporting cast and head coach and offensive play caller? He did absolutely nothing. He looked awful. He was a

29:06bottom five quarterback. What did Jackson Dart do last year with just 15 total snaps with Malik Neighbors. He went freaking nuclear. He was awesome.

29:16He He was top five in EPA per drop back on non-playaction passes. He uh if you exclude the Vikings game, led all

29:26quarterbacks in fantasy points per start. He runs and he showed rare upside. You can see it on this play right here. the uh Malachi Fields

29:35touchdown is you know the offscript plays. So uh last year only Patrick Mahomes

29:44uh average more EPA per drop back on out of rhythm plays. And this is what I'm saying is like there is some Patrick

29:52Mahomes to his game. It should be illegal to say that you you should be cash rated for for ever comping anyone

29:59to Patrick Mahomes except I'm right and you're wrong. Go screw yourself. Uh it's it like special out of the pocket offscript out of rhythm. You see it here

30:10on this play. And this was the thing that, you know, quarterback after quarterback got overdrafted, overhyped because they saw the shades of Patrick

30:20Mahomes. And time and time again, it was like, no, Patrick Mahomes is one of one, but you see it with Jackson Dart, but

30:25you don't see anywhere near the hype.

30:27And so I Yes, there's things he needs to clean up. Yes, he's really raw, but special upside, rare traits, and he's a

30:37dog. Do you know how hard it was to bite my tongue during that entire monologue?

30:41God, I can't we can't have this debate any like any more than we already have.

30:47But Scott, production doesn't equal >> big blue. Big blue. Big I'm really not a homer. I'm not. He's >> Yeah, I'm not a Homer. I'm just saying a

30:55guy who was terrible on film is amazing and a special rare talent. Yeah, that's not Homerism at all.

31:00>> Who was he throwing to? PPR scam.

31:03Wondelle Robinson and >> Scott, you can contextualize the performance with that, but you can't lie about the performance with that. The the

31:11film wasn't very good. There's a I'm I'm not on an island here. There isn't a film guy out there who is super enthused

31:17by what they saw on tape from Jackson Dart last year. It left more doubts than it did not.

31:22>> And so, >> it's it's impossible for him to put up the numbers he did with the supporting cast he did for that to be true. I

31:29refuse to believe it.

31:30>> Okay.

31:31Well, I I don't know. I mean, okay, it is true. I don't know what to tell you.

31:36I mean, >> it's gonna This is going to be typical in in two years. No one saw Jackson Dart coming and now he's a top five.

31:44>> Scott, I was the biggest Jackson Dart guy that ever walked the planet.

31:47>> That's true. He So, this was Brett's QB1 and I was like, h I don't know about that one, my guy. And now, uh, now we've

31:54kind of flip-flopped here a little bit.

31:56No, I I'm still I arrow pointing up especially what even that play though we just watched the throw to Malachi Fields. There's a there's a big problem

32:03with it. Do you know what it is? Do you want to watch it again so you can see if you can find it?

32:06>> Yeah. What is it?

32:07>> Try throw that back up there. Let's go.

32:11That That wasn't the one. But >> that was nice though. He had a free free runner and you know here we go.

32:19>> What's the problem?

32:20>> Uh so you're going to say that wasn't real pressure. It wasn't wasn't it wasn't not only real pressure, it wasn't

32:26pressure. He build from a completely clean pocket. He literally had multiple turndowns here. And was it as clean as a touchdown? No. And it ends up being a

32:34touchdown. And that's the playmaker, Gene. And if he does a lot of this, you live with some of the turndowns and some

32:39of the bailing from a clean pocket. But like, if I'm going to sit here and criticize Caleb Williams for doing this

32:4430 times a game, I can't not criticize Dart. The result here is good, but I as a as a coach, I would live more in the

32:50realm of process over results.

32:52>> Look at that. just jump out of his hand though. My goodness. Yeah, but to be >> I've never been concerned about the arm

32:57talent. So >> that that is a little bit of the Caleb Williams thing. And hey, for the folks at home who don't know or new to this

33:02channel, if we're ever arguing about film, Brett is right. I [laughter] am I am wrong. Do not listen. Brett is the

33:09best best film guy in the game. I am awful with film, but uh I don't know. I think there's something there with

33:14Jackson Dart.

33:15>> Here's where I want to take the Jackson Dart combo. So because I am optimistic about what I saw, you obviously love

33:20him. You think he's amazing. If he does improve mechanically, if the pocket stuff is more consistent, if he's throwing in rhythm more, what does that

33:28mean for the pass catchers on the Giants in fantasy? What's it mean for Malik Neighbors? What does it mean for even

33:33Malachi Fields who got, you know, starter treatment basically in this game as their I'd say he's their wide receiver, too, probably next to

33:40Neighbors. So, what does it mean for those? What does it mean for Isaiah likely?

33:45>> Yeah. Well, I mean, Malik Neighbors didn't play. Uh, so that's your wide receiver one when he's healthy. Isaiah likely is interesting. I looked at that

33:52snap share and I was really concerned.

33:54It's again it's it's just the first week of preseason teams do weird things. I don't know that this means anything.

34:01>> What? [gasps] It's a it's his entire career so far.

34:05What do you mean it doesn't mean anything?

34:06>> Yeah, but you have every beat writer saying he's going to be a full-time player. You have the coach saying he's

34:10gonna be a full-time player. And you had you had >> I don't [clears throat] know a larger sample. Yeah. Yeah, >> we did a show two weeks ago telling

34:19everyone why beat writers aren't important for what we do.

34:22>> No, I I I know, but it's I I I I need a lot I need a much more robust sample to

34:29shake me off of >> Okay, that's that's fair. But we have the robust sample of him in Baltimore with the same head coach.

34:36>> Yeah. With with way tougher competition and Charlie Kar who just got the bag.

34:40Mark Andrews who was the ascot.

34:42>> There's a lot of people who like Theo Johnson >> and they're wrong. He's a big athletic inline freak. Like he's going to play on

34:48rundowns. It's just obvious.

34:51>> Well, it's also a team that's going to play a [ __ ] ton of 12 personnel.

34:56>> I think >> they should with the wide receiver room they have.

34:59>> All right. So So I just need to see more before I think there's anything to But tell me what you think about Malachi

35:04Fields because this is a player I was not high on at all. I think my comp for him Giants fans might appreciate was uh

35:11if Ramsay's Barden wasn't at all athletic. It was something like that.

35:15But uh >> what [laughter] that is so offthe-wall.

35:18>> Yeah, >> you're hanging out with Dana Kelly too much.

35:22>> I I'll pull up the actual I don't think it was that. But uh yeah, tell me what you think.

35:26>> I you know I really liked Malachi Fields as a prospect, but more from an NFL standpoint than fantasy where it's like

35:31>> I think he provides a clear role. I thought he was one of the better run blockers in the draft. the vertical

35:36contested catch stuff. Um, you know, he's super dynamic at all of that. So, like I thought that could be great. At

35:43the Senior Bowl, though, in Mobile, he he definitely showed a little more route running and separation ability, but just like legitimate top tier, S tier ball

35:53skills and and body control. And I I've said a thousand times at this point, body control is my number one trait for

35:59receiver. If you have that, you can become a good route runner. You can become a dynamic player after the catch.

36:04So, like the fact that he's got that in droves I I I think is is really good for him. And then what's really cool I where

36:12he landed I really like. I like that he has Malik Neighbors as the wide receiver one because that takes some of the

36:16pressure off of him and he he should help Neighbors quite a bit as well. But um I I think he's got a chance to be a

36:22good player. I had I had a day two grade on him. In fact, I had a higher grade on him than I did Deshawn Stribbling. So,

36:28um but they're very similar players, big physical guys who, you know, pretty athletic dudes for their size. So, >> so I had I had two comps for him. Uh,

36:36both, by the way, he ran a 465 40 yard dash.

36:40>> Um, >> you know, that 40 time doesn't just doesn't define athleticism, right?

36:45That's >> I do know that one Alliance player, which you'll appreciate, one of Giants, mine was uh Ramsy's Barton if he was

36:52unathletic, and if you don't remember, that was the only thing Ramsay's Barden had going for him was athleticism. The other one was literally Quintz Cphus.

37:02just just quintess like it's just the same guy.

37:04>> Literally, it's the same exact guy.

37:07>> Um but yeah, maybe something's here be because like you know I like I said I'm I'm well connected in Giants camp and

37:12and I got a lot of people saying hey you're wrong. This guy is just really good and Jackson Dart loves him. Loves

37:20you know the stylistic skill set is perfect for him etc.

37:24>> That's true. That is true.

37:25>> So yeah.

37:26>> Yeah. I didn't think about the play style thing actually. That's a that's a good point. Very very much what he's

37:30used to throwing to. So >> yeah. Hey, could we uh pay the bills here and and talk about our our new

37:35front office tool?

37:36>> Yes, we can.

37:38>> So, let me just say one thing is like if you had a Fantasy Point subscription, it's cuz we had the best projections. We

37:44have the best content. It's not cuz we had the best tools. We had probably the worst League importer draft dominator tool in the game. And now we have the

37:54best. We sp we spent a lot of time, money, energy, effort, and we built it's it's the front office tool we're calling

38:02it. Um, we really built it from the ground up. It's it's a lot more than just an importer. You you bring your

38:07leagues directly into the fantasy points ecosystem. So, you get access to our the best projections in the industry. Shout out Chris Wet. Uh, kicked everyone's ass

38:19last year. uh access to my rankings, our player values, our analysis. Um, and you know, it's August right now, so a big

38:28one is the draft assistant. It's like it's like if you have Scott Barrett over your shoulder drafting your league, it's, you know, impossible to fail

38:36almost. Uh, and so we have live draft assist, uh, great draft prep, custom mock drafts that are like really smart how the the

38:46math and logic that went into that. Um, and so yeah, if you're a Fantasy Basic subscriber, if you're a Fantasy Pro or

38:54Fantasy Bundle subscriber, it's totally included with your subscription, you're not a subscriber, use code FPFO.

39:02F One more time, FPFO for 15% off. Uh, this is good for ESPN, Yahoo, Sleeper,

39:12FFPC, CBS, MFL. Yeah, just about all them.

39:17Shout out to Jay. Shout out to Thomas uh who really put a ton of work into this.

39:21Really really pleased with how everything came out.

39:24>> It was it was a really cool collaborative process building this with with the dev team and Thomas and a lot

39:29of back and forth. Even the you know you content guys, you yourself, Graham Barfield, Joe Dolan, Tom, they all got involved in just putting the final

39:37touches on this. It really is the best product in the industry. It's >> it's also we're not done. Like we we

39:42appreciate your feedback. So, if you're in Discord or there's a feedback button on there, like we're we're making changes to it every day, you know,

39:49subscribers are coming up with good ideas and it's like, hey, you know, we could do that. And in the age of AI,

39:54it's it's kind of easy to to to make those changes on the fly.

39:59>> Word. Let's uh let's hit Miami, guys.

40:01Caleb Douglas, Malik Washington, clearly the top two guys so far. However, we found out today Chris Bell is coming back. This catch by Caleb Williams on

40:10the screen right now or Caleb Douglas is absolutely insane. I immediately texted Stephen Aor and was like, "Bro, did you see that?" Because Caleb Douglas is

40:17Stephen Aor's guy. Um, great.

40:19>> So, tell me, so Caleb Douglas was insanely unheralded throughout the draft process and then like went what was it round three and it kind of caught

40:29everyone off guard because there were other wide receivers, Bell for instance, still on the board that people had hired. I know that was your guy. So, so

40:37sell me on Caleb Douglas. And then if you have to quote Stephen the ass guy uh the director of ass over at a great wide

40:46receiver expert and then tell me your take and then also tell me where you're at on Sky Bell because my guy

40:52>> Skybell or Chris Bell.

40:53>> Sorry, Chris Bell. My guy is Malik Washington. But but go ahead, sell me on your guy or Steve's guy.

40:59>> Yeah. Yeah. So Steve, it's funny because we all do like a piece of this pie. Uh so Steve, you know, went down to Mobile

41:05with me this year to to Senior Bowl. He helped me with some of the wide receiver evaluations in the draft guide. And he

41:10locked on to Caleb Douglas pretty early in the process as one of his guys. And I think for Steve it was like the size

41:16adjusted separation ability and contested catch prowess just means he's always open. So like he can separate against bigger corners and then if he's

41:24a smaller corner, he can go up and be a ball winner on the boundary. I think that's a really attractive skill set and

41:29it's kind of where the NFL's getting back to where we had like a 5year period where everyone was like 5'10, 5'11, 6

41:35foot and shifty. We are getting back to some bigger body guys that have legit route running chops. Caleb Douglas definitely fits the mold there. I felt

41:43like he was limited as an athlete and I I was a little lower on him than Steve.

41:47Not by much, but a little bit just because like what he was asked to do at Texas Tech wasn't great. I thought he'd

41:51have a pretty steep learning curve transitioning from his role in college to his role in the NFL. He seems to be

41:57taking to the game pretty well though.

41:59There's a lot of hype coming out of camp about him. They also don't really have anyone else. So, it's going to be like a

42:04for fantasy a situation where I he could see a really healthy target load just because of you know who else is in the

42:11room with him. And then my guy Chris Bell, they got off like a 50 pick discount on Bell because of the late

42:16season ACL. It's absolutely absurd that they've activated him already. It's a really good sign for him because that was like that was a mid November ACL

42:24tear and they have nothing to play for this year. So there there's a lot of reasons they could have played this

42:28super safe and puffed him and brought him back like week seven, but no, they're like, "Hey, we're we're going to get him in the mix now." I think it's

42:35really cool to see that they might have three young guys. They also drafted um the Missouri kid to play in the slot too

42:41behind Malik Washington. So they have like four, I would call really young receivers that kind of that could take over this room when it's all said and

42:48done. But Bell is the AJ Brown clone to me. Physical freak, run after catch demon, back shoulder, you know, stuff all day long. He he can win vertically,

42:56but he's he's really more of an inbreaker or slant dig kind of guy and just kind of dominate that way. So,

43:02there's parts to like about all these guys, though.

43:06>> Yeah. So, I I think there is sneaky upside here. It's Yeah. You have Malik Well, we got to talk Malik Willis, too,

43:13Brett. Uh but you have Malik Willis, uh a hyper mobile quarterback where you're going to see fewer pass attempts and completions than you would a pure pocket

43:22passer. Uh, and you know, you could bake in like Devon Achan ranking top three at the position and targets and there's

43:31still like project out targets. There's still like a pathway for one of these guys to get 100 plus targets even. Uh,

43:39and to me, the guy with the most upside, I think, is Malik Washington, who, um, his final year of college had 110

43:49catches, 1,426 yards through 12 games. Uh, m miss tackle force machine. Um, the stat I had

43:59was if you ranked all power five wide receivers since 2017 with at least 35 catches, Malik Washington had seasons

44:07ranking second, third, seventh uh, in in miss tackles force per catch. City Lamb, his 2019 season was at top that list.

44:16Uh, and so yeah, there it just seems like there's um, you know, looking for a PPR cheat code in an offense where there's a ton of

44:26targets up for grabs. I think he's the most interesting guy is like a last round FFPC target perhaps. Um, but I

44:33don't know, maybe, you know, the fact that he hasn't done anything through this point in his career. Um, and maybe maybe it's one of these, you know,

44:42exciting rookies we should gravitate towards. Uh, I can give you closing thoughts on that, but I also want to hear your take on how Malik Willis

44:50looked.

44:51>> Yeah, I mean, Willis looked awesome. I mean, it was a really small sample, Scott, but like one of the things I was

44:57really impressed with were his eyes.

44:59Like, his eyes were very deceptive. You know, he he basically was working out coverages while using peripheral vision and not just staring down his first

45:08read. then the back foot would hit, then he would hit the first read and and really lock on and and and deliver an

45:14accurate ball. I thought he looked really good, really decisive. It's preseason, it's vanilla, so you're seeing a lot of like spot. You're seeing

45:20a lot of stick and some some easier concepts to run. Um they they worked in some high low stuff as well. I think I

45:27think they had a flood a flood concept in there that he he worked pretty well, but ultimately like I just thought he

45:32looked really comfortable and that wasn't true for Malik in Tennessee.

45:36Obviously, the reps he had in Green Bay were were really good. That's what got him paid. But, um, just the the comfort

45:42level that you're seeing from Willis is is special. I think he has the physical tools to be an incredible quarterback.

45:48So, for him, it's just always been between the ears, learning how to play the NFL game um, with high level competition and against high level

45:55competition. So, I I'm pretty like I'm really bullish on Malik as my kind of like late round quarterback this year.

46:02>> Not as bullish as I am, Brett.

46:03>> That's probably true. If he's not your Exodia quarterback, you're not as bullish as I. Yeah. And so love to see

46:10this because that's the thing that that really remind like so you remember Justin Field sophomore year I made him the Exodia quarterback. Uh after the

46:19first month of the season, he averaged 25 fantasy points per game, finished the year, you know, top five overall. Um and

46:26I went against you on that. You were like, Justin Field sucks and like you should not be he's going to be

46:31>> not starting in the league in two years, blah blah blah. which is true.

46:35>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And but I was like and that was a hot take and you said that when he was coming out of the

46:39draft and that was a really hot take at the time.

46:42>> Um and so I went against you >> and now with Malik Willis it's the assumption is he's like Justin Fields

46:51and I'm telling you there's a chance like he's really good and it's not priced in. And you're telling me I mean

46:57you love this guy. You had a round one grade on it.

46:59>> Mhm. Yeah. I I mean I've loved him, you know, since I first watched his tape.

47:04Got to meet him in Mobile, which sometimes that's good and bad. Like I really like feeling out a guy's character and his personality, but you

47:11can also develop biases because of that, right? So, but I what I learned about Malik when I got to spend time with him

47:16was like legit awesome dude. Like super hardworking guy, nice guy. Um just kind of >> I'm not trying to have a beer with him,

47:24Brad. I'm trying to win my fantasy.

47:26>> I I know. But what that told me about him was that he'd be a guy who's going to work hard and work on his craft. He

47:30knew he wasn't a finished product and that was okay.

47:33>> Um, and he has done that. He's put in the work. Obviously, linking up with Laflur was probably the best thing that

47:38could ever happen to him. Going from a dysfunctional franchise in Tennessee to Matt Laflur is is quite the change. So, yeah, I've always loved him and now I

47:47I've seen the improvements he's made in his game and uh I'm I'm pretty in love with the situation here. And it's kind

47:53of cool. We have a blank canvas at passcatcher. I know it's it feels nasty for fantasy. It's like Jaylen Tolbert.

47:59Yeah. I don't think he's a factor. I'm looking at these young guys. One of these guys, to your point, is going to

48:04emerge as a 100 plus target guy for sure.

48:06>> Yeah, especially for a team that's like probably trying to draft Arch Manning next year. It's like, >> yeah, they're going to they're going to

48:12want to play their rookies. They're going to So, um or their young guys, you know, because Malik Washington's still rookie contract and yeah,

48:21>> certainly has more upside, I think, than Jaylen Tolbert, who we know is at this stage of his career. I said earlier I

48:27was praising Jackson Dart for averaging 26 Brian Dable adjusted fantasy points per game. [laughter] And so now we got to talk about the

48:38other sophomore quarterback who now has Brian Dable as his offensive coordinatorplay caller. Um, how did Cam Ward look and what does that mean for

48:49our Carnell Tate chairs?

48:52>> Scott, that's what I wanted to ask you at the end of this rant. Uh, Scott, I'm concerned.

48:57>> And I know it's we started the show by telling you preseason doesn't matter, >> but I'm telling you what we saw on tape

49:03in this preseason game on 14 dropbacks is worse than what he put on his rookie tape last year.

49:09>> And I don't know how that's possible.

49:11>> Right. Right.

49:11>> Uh, but bro, I could go playbyplay with you if you want. I I literally wrote my thoughts on every play just because I

49:18was that concerned.

49:19>> Oh boy. But it's um I I would I would say the biggest issue is the pocket awareness is not there. He's not reading

49:27defense is. Um he's really slow to get to his his who his primary should be. So he's throwing the ball late over the

49:35field. He had multiple turnover worthy plays in this game. He took several unnecessary sacks including a sack fumble for minus 16. It's like oh gosh

49:44it's it's really bad. Um, and then on on top of that, the strength of Cam Ward's game coming out of college was his

49:50ability on RPO because he's got this wicked fast release. So, he can delay the mechanics of an RPO throw because he

49:58can ramp up the velocity on a pass in in really short time, right? Despite that, he was making the incorrect read with

50:05the RPOS's all the time and he was turning down, you know, some plus one opportunities in the box for the run to

50:11take a throw into a contested window. Uh there was one on the goal line where he forced the ball to Carell Tate at the

50:17pylon on a RPO. It was an out route to Tate. The corner was playing outside leverage literally taking away the pylon. Ward pick, you know, keeps the

50:27ball and throws it anyways despite a a man. This is the play right there.

50:30Despite the man advantage in the box, he had two two like double overhang defenders. They probably easily run in for a touchdown. Even if they don't get

50:37a touchdown, it's only second and three.

50:39So they probably pick up the first down and then get a fresh set of downs. First and 10. and instead he's forcing the

50:44ball into into tight coverage, almost throwing a pick. Here's the minus 16 sack fumble. Literally bailing from a clean pocket for no reason. Just

50:51completely drifts off of his spot. Um there were out of the 14 dropbacks, Scott, I think I wrote that he did

50:58something good twice. And that's just not good when you're a former first overall quarterback with the raw talent, the physical talent that he has. It's oh

51:06god. Um, I was really discouraged and for a guy who's been just so bullish on Carnell Tate, I'm like I'm a little

51:14nervous about this now, man.

51:16>> Well, so I was already pretty low on Carnell Tate to begin with. And and this was a big reason why. One, I think it's

51:23a little bit uh overly optimistic uh on a guy who is going to be a really good NFL player, but maybe not the most

51:31fantasy friendly skill set, at least based on the analytics. But it was also Cam Ward who like I kind of viewed this

51:38entire offense as dead. Again, I I don't think Brian Dable is that great. Um but it's it's also like how awful this

51:44offense was last year. I I think by like week 14, the highest scoring fantasy player was the kicker by fantasy points

51:53per game. And like that hadn't happened since like 1943.

51:57Um, and Cam Ward had the fewest fantasy points of any uh quarterback to start all 17 games ever. And uh, yeah, they're

52:08the higher highest scoring wide receiver averaged like 7.2. It was just awful. It was just dead and barren. And I I don't know why we

52:17should be all that optimistic. Um, and because this is sort of like the power law effect that you hear me talk about

52:23with players, but it's true for for teams as well. It's like, yeah, it's it's very well could be the case where

52:30I'd rather have four 49ers, four Jaguars than like two Titans. Uh, and so, yeah, I I appreciate this. I think that was an

52:40excellent uh film breakdown.

52:42>> I wanted to talk a few more things. Uh, so so again, these are things I'm going to continue to monitor. And this isn't I

52:50don't want people to think this is like take lock intellectual hubris. It's really like no one no one takes their rankings more seriously than me. I take

53:00them too seriously. And I have a real process where I go back and I look at my track record. I look at my the changes

53:07I've made and why and I I've say this to myself every year and like looking back at the results. It's you want to be slow

53:14to move. You want to be stubborn in August. The more you kind of close your eyes and plug your ears, the better off

53:22you're going to be. And so I don't I need another week before I do anything, but I am watching it. One was Tony Pard

53:29and Taj Spears split basically 5050. I would have assumed, you know, in a real regular season game it'd be like 70 75

53:3725. Uh the other was Cam Scaboo's usage was a little concerning, but I mean he's not 100%. And then Tyrone Tracy is

53:45already in the doghouse. Uh Isaiah likely we mentioned it earlier. Greg Doulich is another one. Steelers, tight ends, I mean, those guys don't really

53:53matter, but uh Pat Pat Friouth uh ran fewer routes than Darnell Washington, which was interesting. Um and so that

54:02that's that's about it on my list. Um >> what was your note on Dulich?

54:08>> It's just uh his his snap share was a little bit lower than I expected it to be. I thought there was a chance, you

54:13know, it could be like, you know, Darren Waller plus from a season ago. Did >> he played every snap of Willis, did he

54:19not?

54:21I thought he did.

54:23>> I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong. I have to go back over.

54:26>> I'll have to look. I I wrote him I had him down for I I thought he played every snap with

54:30Willis, but it's possible I messed that up. It's not like I'm officially charting this, you know. So, um Okay.

54:37>> Well, again, in either case, I need another week uh before it it actually matters to me.

54:43>> I I could have I could, by the way, I could have just wrote the wrong name down or something, but

54:47>> Scataboo pretty much split with Tracy, right?

54:50for first team >> a little less. I think it was a little less than Tracy.

54:54>> Tracy had one more snap, but Tracy was also playing some slot wide stuff.

54:59>> Yeah.

55:00>> Um but then Tracy also blew the >> the protection scheme. And the thing that thing that's really alarming and like people might think we're

55:07overreacting to that, he's supposed to be a third down back >> and he can't handle regular pass pro duties like without having a mental

55:14>> he's he's also an awful fit for the Greg Roman system. We got for sure too. He's basically the run game. Like, so I I'm

55:21still very bullish on Scataboo. If he was fully 100% healthy, I would be doing back flips for this guy. I would be

55:28taking him in round two. And again, I'm not a Giants. I'm not a >> You're You're burying the lead on Scataboo, though.

55:35>> Go ahead.

55:36>> Coming off the ankle, >> he looked good.

55:39>> Yes.

55:40>> Hell yeah. And in fact, he had two two hard cuts off his right ankle, the hurt ankle, where he broke tackles from

55:47linebacker, like people coming down filling gaps. Hard cut off the right ankle. Both, you know, moving to the right. I think they were both on duo

55:54actually, and looked completely fine.

55:57Looked completely comfortable. I was actually shocked at the burst, too, off of the cuts. It was like, whoa. I think he's 100%. Like, I'd be a little more

56:06concerned with Judkins, actually. Um, not that we we have had him on the show sheet, but I thought Judkins looked a

56:12little unsure of himself on when he anytime he was working to his right. So, >> yeah. Uh, Scataboo was just one of my

56:20guys coming out before he was ever even drafted. I'm like, "Hey, this guy's special and he's going to be great for

56:25fantasy. He was top five and fantasy points per snap last year." Um, 20.2 fantasy points per four quarters over his last, you know, basically five full

56:34games. Uh, and so, you know, total heartbreaker for the Exodia running back suffering that injury last year, but still very bullish. Also, Crack Rockck.

56:42I don't know if you know Crack Rockck, but guy with like legit sources.

56:46>> What?

56:46>> You don't know who Crack Rockck is?

56:48>> No. [laughter] >> Shout out Crack Rockck. C R A K R O K on Twitter. Uh, he he hobnobs with like uh

56:56uh the Trump crew and like NFL owners and GMs. And uh yeah, he's saying like Scataboo is like 100% going to be the

57:04bellcow. He's going to be the primary passcatching back, the goal line back.

57:09Um and so yeah, it all really comes down to injury. Jeff Mueller's like somewhat optimistic. He's like, you know, slightly elevated compensatory injury

57:18risk. Uh maybe not at 100% but like good enough. And he wasn't ever a speed guy to begin with.

57:25>> True.

57:25>> Um so I don't know. I not a Giants homer, just just a a big Scataboo fan.

57:30Um, oh, one guy I wanted to ask you about is total hype. Darling, Dynasty Leagues, deep roster formats, Matt

57:40Harmon's guy, Cyrus Allen. Where are you at on Cyrus Allen who who legitimately looked good and kind of looked like he

57:46was being used in the Rashid Rice role a little bit.

57:50>> You're not lying. He did look like that, didn't he? Uh, he was definitely playing some of the Rasheed Rice stuff. He's got

57:55way more verticality to his game than Rashi, too. So, there's there's some more, I guess, multiple type of usage available to him. The thing I'll say

58:03about Cyrus Allen is I wish I wrote him up for the the prospect guide. I didn't get around to it and it I should have

58:08because I had Mike Rener on the show and Rener came on and I asked him I was like, "Who is the one guy in this draft

58:16no one is talking about that you think is going to be excellent?" He said, "Cyrus Allen." Uh he had a I think he

58:22had a round two grade on side. Allen was something like his wide receiver four or something crazy like that. Like >> dude Rener's Rener's nice man. I I

58:30drafted Deontay Johnson in every single dynasty league and I'm in a ton of pre-draft rookie draft dynasty leagues and so I had him everywhere and it's

58:38because that was Rener's guy. He was like >> you know everyone was saying that you know he's like maybe a late day three

58:45guy. He went a lot earlier but uh yeah that was you know Rener was like no that's my wide receiver too in this

58:50class. I'm like I I had a round two grade on on Deontay as well. He was a PFF guy in general. Pretty much everyone

58:54at PFF liked him.

58:56>> Yeah.

58:56>> Um Cyrus has some similarities ironically to to Deontay Johnson for sure. The route running is is insane.

59:02>> Um really really developed skill set already for that. So yeah, [snorts] I mean I dude, you know how I feel about

59:07the Chiefs wide receivers. They're not any good. So he could definitely carve out a role.

59:11>> Well, one of these guys eventually has to be N. You know, the Elijah Moors, the Justin Ross, the Cadarius Tony. One of

59:18these guys has to hit eventually. If you guys want a fun like waste some time study, go check out the amount of day

59:24two draft capital. Andy Reid is flushed down the toilet on skill players throughout his care. It's worse than Kyle Shanahan.

59:30>> Um going back to his time with >> tough to do.

59:33>> It is. He he has some crazy hits in there like Lehan McCoy and Tyreek Hill >> Mlin maybe.

59:39>> Yeah, Mlin was a pretty good prospect.

59:40But yeah, uh >> he was really good. Yeah, but just point being he's there's a lot of just absolute just blanks in there in

59:49round two and three and four. So anyh who um >> you wanted to talk about Javvante Williams.

59:56Yeah, I I did because Scott, like, you know, I'm looking for actionable takeaways and we've we've heard buzz that there's a there's threats to

60:05Javvante's workload and maybe he's not the bell cow he was last year, but then I watch Jaden Blue and in and Phil Mafa

60:12in the preseason game and I just go, these guys aren't football. These guys aren't NFL running backs. Just complete non-starter. I can't do it with either

60:20of them. I think Javvante might have the biggest snapshare discrepancy of any running back not named Christian McCaffrey this year. Like it's that

60:28clear to me.

60:29>> Yeah.

60:30>> Um it's unbelievable Dallas didn't add somebody to this backfield.

60:33>> Yeah.

60:34>> It truly is. Like and I I like Javvante, but like I don't think he's got it like that. He doesn't doesn't deserve that

60:40kind of workload. But for fantasy, he's going to get that kind of workload. I'm telling you, Mafa and especially Jaden Blue. Jaden Blue is not an NFL running

60:46back. He's fast and that's it. So, >> so um so before he suffered a neck injury last year, Javvante Williams was

60:55Fantasy's RB9 by fantasy points per game. That was that was weeks one through 14. Uh so clearly, you know, showy could be productive with a Bellcow

61:04workload in this offense. He's sort of like the nonPPR friendly version of Chase Brown to me where it's like a guaranteed top three offense that sure

61:13it skews pass heavy, but tons of touchdown opportunities. Um and and yeah, look at it. Look at the depth chart. There isn't a single running back

61:22on the team who's ever handled more than 55 touches in a single NFL season, nor a running back drafted before round five.

61:31If you if you like listen to the coach speak, like it's clear they they like Jaden Blue. They're using quotes like we

61:39want more of a thunder and lightning committee this year. Yeah.

61:42>> Or more more of a one-two punch even.

61:45>> But I'm with you. Like I I thought Jaden Blue was like nothing coming out. He went round five and then was in the

61:52doghouse all of last year. They can say they want Jaden Blue, but um they showed us last year if Javvantee is playing

61:59well like they're they're not really going to take him off the field.

62:02>> Yeah. And like I think Blue sure they could give him a couple carries a game that's not going to impact Javvante at

62:07all in fantasy. So I'm I'm really not worried about that. And Phil Mafa is just possibly some pass protection duties at some point. But ultimately I I

62:16just don't think he plays. So um let's hit let's hit DJ Moore and then get out of here. We good at that?

62:22>> Sure.

62:22>> Cool. Uh I want to talk DJ Moore, Scott, because I think there was like well now he's a little banged up, which is

62:30concerning obviously, but from what we saw in preseason week one is like, hey, this is the primary on every one of

62:36their pass concepts now. So, I was really excited because like I think the idea of Josh Allen getting a new Steph

62:44Diggs is really attractive and I think that a lot of people were bullish on DJ Moore because of that. I don't I don't

62:49remember where you were on more. I think you feel like maybe he's cooked a little bit, but I love the role that we saw in

62:54that small sample we got where I'm like, cool, he's definitely going to be the featured component of this pass offense and then Shakir and Concaid will be

63:02ancillary pieces and I think that's the way to build the offense. So, I'm I'm pretty excited for this.

63:07I I I can't agree. I I'm going to be stubborn here. And it's really just like every year we do this, we overreact to a

63:15really small sample where it's maybe like, hey, we're going to interview Ryan Pagnetti, former NFL director of analytics, probably our next episode.

63:23But he talks about this is like the really smart coaches. What they do is they disguise their tendencies or they show you like something that's like not

63:32actually what they're going to be at all. Um, and like we just I don't know that's what they're doing, but like we

63:38have so much more of a robust sample size of Joe Brady preferring to spread the ball around to an insane degree over

63:47the last two years. And it was true when he had Stfan Diggs. It was it was Joe Brady took over halfway through the 2023

63:54season. Stfan Diggs went from over 20 fantasy points per game with Ken Dorsy to 10.3 with Joe Brady. And then the

64:01last two years, the wide receiver one is Khalil Shakir, who never finished better than, I don't know, wide receiver, 40 by

64:07fantasy points per game with a a career-high 71% route share, team high 71. So, he likes these like gross three-way, four-way, wide receiver by

64:17committee situations. And then there's a very real possibility DJ Moore is just totally cooked and totally washed. Uh over the last two years, all wide

64:26receivers with over 125 targets, 56 qualifiers, DJ Moore ranks bottom six in targets per route run, bottom six in yards per route run, bottom six in first

64:36downs per route run. Those are the most predictive stats we had. And that's with Ben Johnson, the goat at scheming guys

64:42open. Uh and so it's it's >> What about before Ben?

64:48>> What about before Ben? That was years ago. This is an old dusty wide receiver.

64:52Ben was there one year. The thing with DJ Moore that skews all those stats.

64:57He's a he's a soldier. He plays through everything.

65:00>> That's you gotta a little bit.

65:03>> You know, and we kind of let off this episode talking about that. That's that's certainly true. Tyler Lockett was like legendary for that where he's like

65:10he he would just play through like injuries he should have been on IR with like weeks ago and he would just suck

65:15for a while and then Baker Mayfield's just like that. And so so that very well might be true, but I I think still even

65:21if you factor that in, it's pretty disappointing. There were reports that the Bears were going to cut DJ Moore.

65:27And [laughter] then I think >> that's more of a salary discussion though. That's not a reflection of the player. You see good players get cut all

65:34the time.

65:34>> Brandon Bean, worst GM in the league, should be on trial for war crimes. The taco of your fantasy league would have

65:39more Super Bowls with Josh Allen than than Brandon Bean. Yeah. Gave him a second round pick. A bunch of money.

65:45Stupid.

65:46>> Listen, I I'm not saying you're wrong, Scott. Like there's a chance DJ's wash.

65:49There's a chance.

65:50>> I mean, I might be wrong. I I need to see more. I need to hear more. I need to see more. I'm I'm open to it, but it's

65:57going to take more for me to punish.

66:01>> It's also like coaches do introspective things sometimes. It's possible. Joe Brady said, "Hey, the pass game has really been limited because we haven't

66:08had a dude.

66:09>> So, let's get a dude and run the offense through him and that will help Concaid.

66:12That will help Shakir be more efficient." Although those guys have, you know, on paper, you know, really solid efficiencies. So, um, anyways, I I

66:20just think I'm really intrigued by the idea of Allen having a true number one.

66:23I I remember what it was like when he had Digs. Obviously, Diggs didn't success didn't come with Joe Joe Brady necessarily, but

66:30>> I mean, the pitch on DJ Moore is is not hard to do. It's like, hey, this is the alpha number one for the best

66:35quarterback in football.

66:36>> Yeah, >> we all saw what Stfan Diggs did back in the day. So, I get it. I get it. on on a

66:41team too, by the way, whose defense is going through a transitional period who might not be that good.

66:45>> Like their their defense hasn't been very good actually, but could really still be, you know, mid or worse this year. And I think that opens up

66:52>> Joe Brady had DJ Moore on his team in 2021. And that year, DJ Moore got outscored by both Robbie Chosen and

67:01Curtis Samuel, his teammates that so he was wide receiver three. Yeah.

67:05>> Is that a fact?

67:06>> Yes, that's fact.

67:06>> Good lord.

67:07>> I know. So, I think there's something to the Joe Brady likes to spread the ball around thing.

67:12>> All right, Trey, cut this. Cut this from the the sheet. Get it off the show sheet. I don't want this in here.

67:16>> That matters more to me than freaking 10 preseason snaps. But >> yeah, no, you're right. You're right. I just know TJ Moore is a really good

67:23player.

67:24>> So, the the reason these was >> I still think he is. I I I've made this argument before. When he was healthy

67:29last year, the tape was really good.

67:30>> Okay.

67:31>> Um so, >> that's that matters.

67:33>> Yeah. For for me it's like I'm not just taking the 10 preseason snaps and be like, "Oh, he's the alpha." I'm like

67:38looking at his career arc like he's been an alpha before and I think they they acquired him and spent what they did on

67:45him to make him an alpha. So it's like I think the stars are aligning there. But I definitely think you could also be

67:50right. He could be Wash. Brady could be a you know a distribution of of targets kind of guy. So anyways, all right. That

67:58was a great episode. Scott, you want to get out of here?

68:00>> Yeah, let's do it.

68:01>> All right, guys. Thank you so much for listening. Be sure to check out the new Fantasy Points website. Check out that

68:06front office tool. Check out the data suite. Thank you for listening. We are out.

68:16>> [music]

More episodes from Fantasy Points Fantasy Football

6

10 Ways To DOMINATE Your League - The #1 Draft Strategy in 2026 Fantasy Football artwork

10 Ways To DOMINATE Your League - The #1 Draft Strategy in 2026 Fantasy Football

Aug 21, 2026

Should We AVOID DRAFTING This First Round RB in 2026 Fantasy Football? artwork

Should We AVOID DRAFTING This First Round RB in 2026 Fantasy Football?

Aug 20, 2026

Win Your League with Scott Barrett's Tight End Rankings and Tiers (2026 Fantasy Football Sleepers) artwork

Win Your League with Scott Barrett's Tight End Rankings and Tiers (2026 Fantasy Football Sleepers)

Aug 19, 2026

Projections Expert Answers Fantasy Football's Biggest Questions artwork

Projections Expert Answers Fantasy Football's Biggest Questions

Aug 14, 2026

Top 10 Fantasy Football Flag Plants to Win Your League in 2026! artwork

Top 10 Fantasy Football Flag Plants to Win Your League in 2026!

Aug 12, 2026

Exploiting ESPN Fantasy Football ADP - Best and Worst Values (2026) artwork

Exploiting ESPN Fantasy Football ADP - Best and Worst Values (2026)

Aug 11, 2026