VideoFrom Ron Stewart
10 Players I'm Planting My Flag On in 2026 Fantasy Football
STACKED extracted the fantasy-relevant player signal from this video and kept the full transcript here for context.
28 min
Duration
Estimated from transcript
No date
Published
19
Player insights
19
Players mentioned
Topics
Amon-Ra St. BrownBreece HallBrian Thomas Jr.Chris RodriguezCole KmetColston LovelandD'Andre SwiftGarrett WilsonGus EdwardsIsiah PachecoJahmyr GibbsJaylen WarrenKenneth Walker IIILuther Burden
Player analysis
Player insights
Amon-Ra St. Brown
PositiveProjection0:33
Ron Stewart identifies St. Brown as a foundational fantasy pillar and blue-chip stock, noting he has been a top-six wide receiver in points per game for three consecutive years. His 19.4 points per game over the last three seasons trails only Puka Nacua and Ja'Marr Chase. He is a target in the back half of the first round (ADP 1.08) in an offense projected by Vegas to be the third-highest scoring.
Insight pageBreece Hall
PositiveValue8:46
Breece Hall is the source's flag-plant player for the third round, though he can be taken as early as the 2.09 or 2.10 in running-back-hungry formats. Hall is currently being drafted at his floor (RB15), and his receiving upside—which was suppressed by poor quarterback play from Justin Fields, Tyrod Taylor, and Brady Cook—is expected to bounce back. With improved passing projections for the Jets, Hall is expected to return to a 60+ catch pace, potentially elevating his scoring from 15.3 points per game to 17+. The source emphasizes that play-caller Frank Reich has explicitly labeled Hall as the team's bellcow, making him a smash pick.
Insight pageBrian Thomas Jr.
PositiveUsage15:36
Brian Thomas Jr. is viewed as a boom-bust flex play in the seventh round. While talented, he is expected to serve as the 'vertical X' receiver, which limits his fantasy ceiling compared to the slot role. Additionally, potential competition from Travis Hunter at the X position and his lower production relative to Parker Washington make him a less favorable target.
Insight pageChris Rodriguez
PositiveValue25:29
Chris Rodriguez is Ron Stewart's most drafted running back across all managed redraft teams, with an ADP 20 spots higher than consensus. He is a highly efficient runner, ranking second in both yards after contact per rush and success rate since entering the NFL. His upside case is compared to the 2023 Gus Edwards season, where he could reach 800 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns, crushing his RB43 price tag.
Insight pageCole Kmet
NegativeUsage20:06
Although Colston Loveland must split time with Cole Kmet, the source notes that Loveland is being featured in 12-personnel sets to ensure he remains on the field, as evidenced by preseason snap counts.
Insight pageColston Loveland
PositiveBreakout15:40
Colston Loveland is a high-upside target for fantasy drafts, with the source recommending him at the 3/4 turn despite a consensus ADP of 4.03. Loveland is expected to have a monster year, benefiting from Ben Johnson's high-powered offense and the historical trend of tight ends breaking out in their second season.
Insight pageD'Andre Swift
PositiveValue13:06
Despite being labeled a 'dead-zone' running back, the source is actively drafting D'Andre Swift in home leagues and considers him a target for the fourth round due to a desire to invest in the Bears' offensive production.
Insight pageGarrett Wilson
PositiveRole15:22
The source notes that play-caller Frank Reich has explicitly identified Garrett Wilson as a bellcow player around whom the offense will be run, signaling high usage expectations.
Insight pageGus Edwards
NegativeProjection26:47
Ron Stewart compares Chris Rodriguez's potential upside to the 2023 season of Gus Edwards, suggesting Rodriguez could reach 800 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns if the Jaguars' offense performs well.
Insight pageIsiah Pacheco
NegativeValue6:41
Ron Stewart expresses skepticism regarding Isiah Pacheco's current market value, labeling his RB14 consensus ADP as 'crazy' given the team's historical struggles to find consistent production at the position prior to acquiring Kenneth Walker.
Insight pageJahmyr Gibbs
PositiveProjection0:38
Ron Stewart uses Jahmyr Gibbs as a benchmark for elite running back production, noting that Kenneth Walker's late-season performance in 2024 would have placed him in the same tier as Gibbs.
Insight pageJaylen Warren
NegativeValue18:44
Jaylen Warren is ranked slightly ahead of Rico Dowdle, but Dowdle is considered a better value because he can be drafted a round and a half later.
Insight pageKenneth Walker III
PositiveValue2:14
Ron Stewart ranks Kenneth Walker as his RB7, significantly higher than his consensus RB12 ADP (2.07). Stewart views him as his primary second-round target, citing his elite efficiency metrics—second in explosive run rate and first in missed tackles forced per attempt—and his potential to serve as a bellcow in the Chiefs' offense. Stewart projects a top-six finish, noting Walker's three-down profile and potential to dominate the screen game in an offense lacking elite pass-catching depth. Stewart dismisses ankle injury concerns as minor swelling and is drafting him in the second round with high confidence.
Insight pageLuther Burden
PositiveSleeper13:21
Luther Burden is a high-conviction fifth-round flag plant (WR21) who is fully healthy following a groin injury. He is a high-upside home run swing with rookie yards per route run metrics (2.69) comparable to stars like Justin Jefferson and Ja'Marr Chase, and he is expected to be used in a high-value, 'easy button' role involving motion and slot work.
Insight pageParker Washington
PositiveSleeper15:16
Parker Washington is a 'flag plant' target who is currently undervalued in drafts. The source ranks him as WR28 and prefers him over Brian Thomas Jr. in the Jaguars' offense, citing his superior production with Trevor Lawrence (three 100-yard games in his last four) and elite efficiency metrics (29.4% targets per route run, 3.2 yards per route run) since week eight of last year.
Insight pageRico Dowdle
PositiveValue17:58
Rico Dowdle is a preferred RB2 target in hero RB builds, ranked as the RB29 (consensus RB30). He offers significant upside with seven RB1 finishes over the last two years and potential to be the 1A in the backfield under Mike McCarthy. He is recommended as a high-floor tandem partner for RJ Harvey.
Insight pageRJ Harvey
PositiveBreakout21:02
RJ Harvey is a recommended eighth-round flag plant (RB34) for hero RB builds. Despite poor rushing efficiency last year, he excelled as a receiver, ranking top-12 in yards per route run and receiving touchdowns. He is expected to benefit from Sean Payton's history of utilizing pass-catching backs and an elite offensive line, with potential for a year-two leap similar to Christian McCaffrey or Joe Mixon.
Insight pageRome Odunze
PositiveValue21:41
The source indicates they have been actively drafting Rome Odunze, suggesting a positive outlook on his fantasy potential within the Bears' offense.
Insight pageZay Flowers
NegativeProjection24:46
While Zay Flowers finished as a WR3 in his rookie year under Todd Monken, the Ravens remain a low-volume passing attack. His ceiling is limited by the offense's nature and his own history as a non-prolific touchdown scorer.
Insight pageFull transcript
Episode Transcript
0:00What's going on, man? Welcome back to the basement. I'm Ron and today we're going to break down my 10 flag plant
0:05players for 2026 fantasy football. We are going to give you my one gold star target in each of the first 10 rounds of
0:12your fantasy draft because week one is exactly one week away and it's time to submit our final answers to the test. It
0:19is pencils down. This is going to be one of the videos you look back on and judge my 2026 season on. So, with that being
0:27said, we're going to lock in. If you enjoy, leave a like, subscribe if you're new. And the first player we are going
0:32to touch on is Amon-Ra St. Brown. Now, you can't really have a flag plant in the first round. If I could, I would put
0:38Jahmyr Gibbs here, but it just felt wrong to plant my flag on the first overall pick. So, let's talk about Amon-Ra St. Brown, the guy that I took
0:45in the first round of your everyday league mates, the content creator league I'm in with BDGE and Snapback. This was the foundational piece for my fantasy
0:55football team and he's the perfect pillar to build around. He goes at the 1.08. He's my 1.08. He's somebody in a
1:00running back hungry league you can get in the back half of the draft when it comes to that first round one-two turn.
1:06And he is just the perfect building block. This is somebody who has been a top six wide receiver in points per game
1:11in three straight years. And if you look over the last three seasons, his 19.4 points per game is behind only Puka
1:17Nacua and Ja'Marr Chase. He is a blue chip stock in an awesome offense that is projected by Vegas to be the third
1:25highest scoring offense with the Lions.
1:26Their defense isn't all that good.
1:28They're going to play a lot of dome games. Amon-Ra St. Brown is just an awesome way to lock in a top five wide
1:34receiver in points per game, health permitting. Now, let's move on to the real flag plants in this video. We have Kenneth Walker. He is my 2.01 as my RB7.
1:44He gets drafted as the 2.07 as the RB12.
1:47So, we are five running back spots higher than consensus, six overall rankings spots higher than consensus.
1:53And of course, if you want access to my rankings so you can see all of my targets and see my rankings versus
1:58consensus ADP, you can find that over on the basement draft guide.com. You get my top 200 for full PPR, half PPR, super
2:06flex, my target rounds for every player, my player notes. You get the ADP edge tool where you can compare Kenneth Walker's ranking and my ranking versus
2:14the Sleeper default rankings, the ESPN default rankings, the Yahoo default rankings. It's all there. If you have a draft coming up, make sure you check it
2:21out the basementdraftguide.com in the link in the description and the comment section below. Now, as you guys know, I love Saquon Barkley,
2:30but with him getting his consensus ADP bumped up to the 112, Kenneth Walker is now my number one running back target in
2:37the second round of your drafts and here is why. He is somebody that was on this video last year and we whiffed, but we
2:44are going back for more. Often times the guy who busts in the year before ends up being an awesome pick in the next year,
2:50similar to Saquon Barkley in 2026. But with Kenneth Walker, this is a very talented player. He is second in explosive run rate last year, first in
2:59his cycles forced per attempt, and he got marginalized by the Seahawks. Then Charbonnet goes down and during that playoff run, he averaged 21.9 points per
3:07game, which would have had him in that tier of Bijan, of Gibbs last season in the regular season. And it seems like he
3:14goes to the Chiefs to get away from Charbonnet, to be the featured running back and that's what it seems like the plan is
3:21for him in Kansas City. We already have reports like this from Josh Norris here quoting Pete Sweeney saying that they believe Kenneth Walker is a
3:29franchise-altering player. This is a team that once upon a time we were feening for the Kansas City Chiefs running back attached to Andy Reid
3:40because he has had Duce Staley, Brian Westbrook, LeSean McCoy, Jamaal Charles, Kareem Hunt as a rookie was amazing and then the second year he was amazing
3:47before the off-the-field stuff. And then since then, they just haven't had talent at the position. I think it's crazy to look at the Chiefs and not be excited
3:55about Kenneth Walker because Damien Williams, Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Jerick McKinnon, Isaiah Pacheco, and dusty Kareem Hunt couldn't perform. Even still, Isaiah Pacheco being the RB14 is
4:07crazy. You're drafting Kenneth Walker as the RB12. I'm drafting him as the RB7. I think he can finish as a top six running
4:12back in this offense. A big part of this is I think that they're going to flow the offense through Kenneth Walker. This
4:18is a team that has Mahomes coming off an ACL tear. Their pass catchers are a Rashee Rice knee rehabilitation project. You have
4:28Travis Kelce, who is super old at this point. Skyy Moore is out at the wide receiver four. Zay Flowers can't stay
4:34healthy. And they go out there and they hand pick Kenneth Walker. This is a really good nugget from Ryan Heath showing
4:41that Rashee Rice had 6.5 fantasy points per game on screens last year, nearly doubling the next closest wide receiver.
4:48I think we see a lot of that screen game usage flow through Kenneth Walker, who is seen as a between the tackles
4:54grinder, but he was on pace for 70 plus catches in 2024 and has a real three-down profile. This is the bell-cow
5:01runner on a Chiefs offense that is projected for the 11th most points by Vegas and has the seventh best offensive line by Establish the Run. I am not
5:09concerned about the ankle whatsoever. We have this report here noting that it was simply some swelling because of his shoe. It was nothing
5:18crazy. Jeff Mueller here said that he is going to be absolutely fine. I am drafting Kenneth Walker in the second round with the utmost confidence. Now,
5:26our flag plant player for the third round of your draft is Breece Hall.
5:30Anywhere in the third round, if you need a running back, Breece Hall makes a lot of sense. And even if you are at the
5:361.03 or 1.04, which has been really tricky this year, right? That's Ja'Marr Chase. That's Puka Nacua. If the running backs truly get wiped and you're in a
5:42running back hungry half PPR two wide receiver one flex league, you could absolutely take Breece Hall at the 210 or the 209 just to make sure that you
5:51get a running back locked in on a Puka team or a Ja'Marr Chase team. And here's why. Breece Hall last year, it was a
5:58disaster.
5:59His superpower is his receiving upside.
6:02Last year, his receptions went from a 65 reception per season pace down to 38.
6:08And that was mainly because we had terrible quarterback play with the Jets.
6:12You had Justin Fields, Tyrod Taylor, you had Brady Cook. From Ryan Heath here, they ranked 159th of 160 teams over the
6:19past 5 years by total passing yards. If you simply just wipe away last year, he has a 17-game pace of 16.3 points per
6:28game of 65 catches over a 17-game season. And he also has a pace of 86 targets, which would have been only
6:36behind Gibbs, Bijan, and McCaffrey in 2025. This is somebody where this should bounce back in 2026. Even if you're not crazy about Geno Smith, this is Mike
6:48Clay's projections here. They go from having the 29th most completions last year, 32nd in passing yards last year, 32nd in passing
6:57touchdowns to being projected for the eighth most completions, which if you have the eighth most completions on the 19th most attempts, that means Geno's
7:04going to be checking it down a ton to a guy like Breece Hall. The 21st most passing yards would be a huge step up.
7:10The 22nd most passing touchdowns would be a huge step up. We also don't even mind the interceptions here because that means that we're going to have a lot of
7:18fun game scripts where it's going to be bad Jets defense, some turnovers. You're going to get some wonky game scripts where all of a sudden
7:25there could be more possessions, more plays, and all of that becomes a lot of fun for Breece Hall. Now, if you look at
7:31last year, even in a down year for Geno Smith, his per-game average would have had him on pace for 3,429 passing yards. And again, you compare
7:39that 2,781, it's a huge upgrade. On top of that, Breece Hall was still a special runner last year. He had the 10th highest
7:49missed tackles forced per attempt last year, fourth in explosive run rate, and I believe that they are going to get back to featuring him in the receiving
7:56game. Again, that is the missing piece here. Last year, he goes from a 65 reception pace to a 38 reception pace. I
8:03refuse to believe that that is a tendency that's going to stick. I think again it's because of the low passing volume nature of Justin Fields, Tyrod
8:11Taylor, Brady Cook, just with incompetent passers. And then on top of that, Justin Fields and Tyrod Taylor are scrambling quarterbacks who aren't going
8:17to pass the ball to the RB. We already saw last year with Ashton Jeanty, Geno Smith has no problem doing that. We can
8:23also see some efficiency between the tackles. Again, really good explosive run rate, really good tackle evasion metrics, and then the Jets offensive
8:31line is ranked 15th by Establish the Run heading into this season. Also, over Breece Hall's entire career, the Jets have ranked 31st in EPA per play dating
8:40back to 2022. Even in that terrible offense, he has averaged 15.3 points per game. You're drafting him as the RB 15
8:47this year. 15.3 points per game would be the RB 11 in 2025. So, Breece Hall is already getting drafted at his floor,
8:54and his receiving ceiling of a 60-plus catch season makes it so he can go from 15 points per game to the 16, 17-plus
9:02we've seen in the past. It just comes down to this offense being in the 20s when it comes to the passing metrics.
9:09And we're already seeing yes, Aaron Glenn has come out and say, "Oh, well, he loves Breece Hall and this three-headed monster." Well, the guy
9:14who's calling the plays continues to bang down the door that Breece Hall is a bellcow. This is from Frank Reich. He's not even getting
9:21asked about Breece Hall. He just kind of goes into this almost like ramble of, "Yeah, Breece Hall is a bellcow, Garrett
9:27Wilson is a bellcow. He is going to run the offense through them." And I believe him. They just went out and they paid
9:32Breece Hall after this weird saga of if he's going to get traded or not get traded. I think Breece Hall is a smash
9:38pick in the third round of your fantasy draft. Then we move on to the fourth round. And we have Colston Loveland, who
9:45I actually would take at the 311, so like a 3-4 turn pick, but his consensus ADP is the 403. And he's somebody that I
9:50really want to make a big-time target here as the clock strike zero on fantasy draft season, because I really want these young Bears pass-catchers.
10:02We know that Ben Johnson is going to have a high-powered Ben Johnson has had 4 years in the NFL as a play-caller. He
10:09has had three of them as the Lions OC, one of them as the Bears head coach, and last year on the Bears, he had his
10:16lowest output in terms of yards.
10:19He was sixth in yards. Sixth in the NFL in total offensive yards is his lowest ranking in 4 years as a play-caller. He
10:26also had his lowest ranking in points scored, finishing ninth. Every year that he's called plays, he has finished top 10 in yards and touchdowns. I want the
10:34young pass-catchers in his offense, and we look at the age curves for tight ends. This is an old Ryan Heath article.
10:41It shows the biggest jump in production happens from year one to year two. It is the breakout year for tight ends. I
10:47think Colston Loveland is really in store for a monster year after what he put on display on a per route basis last year. This is the
10:54Rookie Receiver Report. 10.3 points per game, but on a per route basis, 21% targets per route run and 9% first downs
11:00per route run are on pace with a guy like Tyquan Thornton Mcmillan. 1.86 yards per route run is behind only Luther Burden last year, and he led the
11:08entire class in PFF grade in the Rookie Receiver Report as a young part-time player. Now, the really exciting part is that when he was used as a full-time
11:19player down the stretch, he first reached 80% of the snaps in week eight.
11:22This is a tweet from Hayden Winks here.
11:24You can see down the stretch of the season, after week eight, including the playoffs, he had the highest expected points per game, so volume, and the
11:32highest production fantasy points per game as a focal point of this offense, a truly special player, a chess piece in this offense. We have more stats here as
11:41well from Chris O'Brien. When he runs 70% or more of the routes, he has 20 plus PPR points in four of those six
11:49games. Pass rating when targeted as the first read, 130 with 56 first read targets. He is going to be I believe the
11:57focal point of this passing game. He's a 13.9 points per game over a 13 game sample from week eight through the
12:03playoffs. That is behind only McBride, Bowers, and Kittle last year. And even though he has to split time with Cole Kmet, he is going to be a featured part
12:11of this offense as shown in the preseason. He played eight of nine snaps despite Cole Kmet playing five of nine.
12:16So, we're going to see more 12 personnel to make sure Cole Kmet is on the field. And I really do think that
12:21he is just the chess piece to really unlock things with the Bears offense. I like Caleb Williams heading into year two as well with Ben
12:29Johnson, of course, in year three of his And then I also like the other year two receiver on this team, Luther Burden. He
12:36is our fifth-round flag plant. He goes at the 505 by consensus ADP. Consensus ADP, by the way, is the average of the Yahoo default rankings, the ESPN
12:46default rankings, and then the Sleeper ADP because that's what their site is ranked by. So, just in a given draft room, he's going around the fifth round.
12:54I have him as a three-four turn pick as my wide receiver 21. We are all in on Luther Burden. We are all in on this
12:59Bears offense. I even like I've been drafting a little bit of Roman Dunze. I will say De'Andre Swift almost made this list as my round four target.
13:06I drafted De'Andre Swift in my home league. I've been taking more and more De'Andre Swift as well, even though he's technically a dead zone running back. I
13:13just want pieces of this Bears passing game, or really just offense in general when we're talking about the running back, of course. But, with Luther
13:20Burden, this is somebody who seems like he's going to be fully healthy. We've gotten kind of a discount here because of the groin injury. He's practicing. He
13:27also has a quote from Ben Johnson saying he looks 100% to me. And I just want to be all in on Luther Burden if he's going
13:32to be healthy and ready to go. He is a home run swing, but I think in this part of the draft, this is where you take the
13:37home run swing in round five or even in round four on Luther Burden. There's just a lot to like about the profile.
13:43This is from JJ Zachariason showing that 2.69 yards per route run as a rookie is between OBJ, AJ Brown, Justin Jefferson,
13:49Puka Nacua, Ja'Marr Chase. It is ridiculous. Now, of course, you can also see Brian Thomas and Rondale Moore on this list. It's not bulletproof, but
13:56it's a pretty good sign that he's a damn good player. Now, even if you include the playoffs, you're talking 2.34. But
14:02even if you want to kind of shrink down the sample and say, "Oh, well, he didn't run that many routes." Which is fair. We
14:07have this from Rich Rebar showing that 200-plus route players with over 2 yards per route run on fewer than 50% of the
14:13team dropbacks. Is Luther Burden leading this list, then Christian Watson, then Tank Dell, then Tyreek Hill, Robert Foster, Chris Godwin. Tyreek Hill and
14:21Chris Godwin obviously being massive hits. It's a little bit more of a mixed bag, but the upside is certainly still there. And I just really like the role
14:28he's going to potentially have. You could talk me into the idea that Rome Odunze is a better real-life player than Luther Burden. But in the
14:35ways that matter for fantasy football, I think Luther Burden is going to be used in a very fun way where he's going to
14:40get used in motion. He's going to get the easy button targets. This is somebody that was fourth in YAC per reception, top 10 in missed tackles
14:47forced per reception at wide receiver.
14:49Outside of him, the Bears didn't have a single receiver inside the top 36 as it pertains to YAC. So, in terms of
14:55explosive playability, splash plays, screen game, all of the fun stuff, Luther Burden fits that profile. He's somewhere when it comes to a Ben Johnson
15:05coaching style, a cross between Jameson Williams and the fun stuff you can do with him, and then also the slot target
15:11hog stuff you can do with Amon-Ra St.
15:12Brown. So, I think Luther Burden can really really have a massive 2026. And then we'll also talk about Parker Washington.
15:20Somebody that is going way too cheap in your home leagues. He's our sixth round flag play, but I take him as high as the
15:25506 in my rankings here. He's my wide receiver 28. And I think in the past I would be more stubborn on being like Brian Thomas had
15:35an awesome year one, year two it wasn't there. There's some whispers that he was banged up. It depends on who you
15:41believe.
15:43Usually I would have the view that Brian Thomas was too good of a prospect, too good of a year one player to now all of
15:48a sudden be dust. And I still have Brian Thomas as a guy that I'm drafting. But Parker Washington I have fully
15:54capitulated to. I have fully moved up Parker Washington as the wide receiver one in this offense. I'm a full believer. You just have to accept the
16:00new reality. If you look at the 24 career games that Brian Thomas has played with Trevor Lawrence, he has just one 100 yard receiving game. Parker
16:08Washington has three 100 yard receiving games in his last four games with Trevor Lawrence. Let that sink in. Brian Thomas Jr. is really good.
16:17But in this offense he's going to be used as the vertical X receiver. I wouldn't call him the sacrificial X, but
16:22he's going to be used more vertically.
16:23And kind of a similar idea to Roma Dunzo versus Luther Burden where I think Roma Dunzo is a really good real life player.
16:28I think Brian Thomas is a really good real life player, but the fun fantasy football easy button stuff is going to go to the
16:35slot. You also have Liam Cohen here who has a history with Chris Godwin and I want to say he was on the Rams staff
16:41when you had the Cooper Kupp year. He You could even maybe squint and go back to Kentucky and he might have had
16:46Wan'Dale Robinson there. Liam Cohen has been all around really using the slot receiver. And we saw that come to fruition last year and that's when this
16:53offense finally clicked. So I think you just kind of have to accept this is the new normal. I also hate to say it, but
16:58there's been reports here that the only position that Travis Hunter is actively learning when it comes to wide receiver is the X wide receiver position. Meaning
17:05that if Travis Hunter was going to work into this rotation, it would be at the expense of Brian Thomas. So Brian Thomas
17:10to me is more of a boom bust flex play that I have in the seventh round. Parker Washington is the guy that I'm fully
17:16bought into. You look at his per out metrics since week eight last year from NFL fantasy football when he shared the
17:22field with Quez Watkins, Brian Thomas, he had a 29.4% targets per out run and a 3.2 yards per out run, both ridiculous
17:30numbers. Parker Washington, I'm fully bought into. Then our seventh round flag plant player, and you'll notice four of these players so far
17:39Amon-Ra St. Brown Luther Burden, Parker Washington, Rico Dowdle are all players on my Year of the League Mate's team. I'm happy to say
17:46that we took essentially guys that I really like. And I will be honest with you guys, I don't think that we've
17:50talked much about Rico Dowdle this off season, so I was really excited to talk about him here. He's my 7.01 as my RB29.
17:56He goes by consensus as the 7.10 as the RB30. And I continue to draft him a lot.
18:01I took him in Year of the League Mate's.
18:02I've taken him in a lot of the high stakes drafts that we stream on this channel. Of course, I'll plug that. If
18:07you want to see me draft teams, whether that's high stakes redraft manage leagues or underdog leagues, it's all here. I take a lot of Rico Dowdle. He
18:15just falls to a spot where all the receivers I like are gone.
18:19In a hero RB build, I think he makes a lot of sense as your RB2.
18:22And he's just the perfect RB2 in a hero RB build. You look here.
18:26The Steelers last year had two top 20 running backs in points per game. I think they only team to have two of them last year. Now,
18:34of course, Kenneth Gainwell scammed his way there with 70-plus receptions.
18:38But I think it means a lot still. Aaron Rodgers checks the ball down so much.
18:43There's going to be a lot of fantasy points to the running backs to go around here. And yes, Jaylen Warren is there,
18:48and I have Jaylen Warren ranked ahead of Rico Dowdle, but you can get Rico Dowdle I have them essentially back-to-back, and you can get Rico Dowdle a round and
18:55a half later than Jaylen Warren. This is somebody that has back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing seasons, back-to-back top 24 point per game finishes. You're
19:02drafting him as the RB30. And there's just a lot to like here. You're even getting buzz here from Zane Dinani where
19:07he's covering all of the beat reports where they almost think that Rico Dowdle could be the 1A in this backfield because of his history with Mike
19:15McCarthy. Of course, Jaylen Warren has history with Aaron Rodgers, so they both have the things to bet on or hang your hat on. Also, Rico
19:22Dowdle here from Michael Leone, who does the projections over at Establish the Run, has said that he can't get out of
19:27his head that he is one of five players with multiple 200-plus yards from scrimmage games. It is Rico Dowdle, Bijan, Achane, Jahmyr Gibbs, and James
19:36Cook. Say whatever you want about the competition Rico Dowdle did it against he did it against Miami last year.
19:42But just showing up and showing that kind of upside and game-breaking single-game spike-week potential as an RB2, I think it really shows a lot of
19:52upside. He has more 20-plus PPR point games over the last two seasons than Travis Etienne and Javonte Williams.
19:59Rico Dowdle, that's the kind of upside you get when you put him in your lineup.
20:02And I think with the Steelers trading away Caleb Johnson, there's going to be enough volume to go around for Jaylen Warren and Rico Dowdle where I think the
20:10Steelers again are going to have two top-24 point-per-game running backs on this team. You also have McCarthy coming in here to replace Arthur Smith, so
20:17there should be more plays in general in terms of play volume. Mike McCarthy, in terms of plays per game, is ranked
20:22fifth, second, eighth, second, second on Dallas. Now, of course, you can say that's a Dak Prescott stat, but even on Green Bay with Aaron Rodgers, eighth,
20:2920th, 13th, and ninth are all way ahead the 28th that they were last year. And then on top of that, they should be more
20:35pass-heavy. Now, of course, Rico Dowdle isn't catching a ton of passes, but he is a capable passing down back. But I'm
20:41also just saying I think this is going to be a more modern offense for the Steelers here with Mike McCarthy where
20:47we see more pass attempts, we see more up-tempo. This offensive line is also ranked 18th by Establish the Run.
20:52They're sort of rounding into form here.
20:55He's an exciting player, man. He has seven RB1 finishes over the last 2 years. That's a ton for a guy you're
21:00drafting RB30. I'll also say our next flag plant player in the eighth round is RJ Harvey. I think a like a tandem of R.J. Harvey and
21:09Rico Dowdle in a hero RB build is perfect. Dowdle is kind of a nice high floor play and R.J. Harvey has all the
21:15upside in the world. He's my 710 as my RB31, but he goes in the eighth round of your league. This is somebody who was a
21:21top 24 running back last season. You're drafting him as the RB34 heading into his second season when we know running backs take a step forward here. This is
21:29a chart from Ryan Heath showing that from year one to year two running backs have the biggest jump in performance again. He finished as the RB24 last year
21:36and if he was to improve on that, he crushes RB34. Now, it's not that simple.
21:40They of course have J.K. Dobbins coming back from injury. They of course draft Jona Coleman, but this is a guy in Sean Payton who has
21:47made a living finding roles for RB7 in points per game Darren Sproles, RB10 in points per game Reggie Bush. You had
21:54Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara in the same year finish as top 12 running backs in points per game. It wouldn't be crazy if
22:00he found a role for R.J. Harvey. Last year R.J. Harvey was one of the worst rushers in the league, third worst
22:06fourth worst rushing yards over expected per attempt, but as a receiver, he was amazing. He was top 12 in yards per
22:11route run, receiving touchdowns, pass rating when targeted, first downs, receptions, receiving yards. All of that. And if there was ever a time for
22:17him to marry his receiving prowess to being a respectable runner, it would be from year one to year two when we saw
22:24jumps with McCaffrey and Joe Mixon and Le'Veon Bell. And this is a guy who has the best offensive line in the NFL by
22:30Establish the Run. You have Bo Nix and Sean Payton who both love targeting the running back out of the backfield. You
22:37already saw in the preseason a really fun wheel route touchdown for R.J.
22:40Harvey. There's a chance that he is the main featured back on a down-to-down basis and could really break out this season at an RB34 price tag. Now, my
22:51ninth round flag plant is Casey Concepsion.
22:55We're cheating a little bit, but my ninth round flag plant is you should be reaching on Casey Concepsion. My 808 is
23:00my wide receiver 38. He goes in the 10th of your home league. Don't let him fall that far. Take him in the ninth round.
23:06Kayshon Boutte is a really, really good wide receiver prospect. This is from my prospect model. His top four comparable players, of course, it it includes Jaylen Nowell
23:15and Matthew Golden, who we don't know how good Matthew Golden is at this point, but Luther Burden and Amon-Ra St.
23:20Brown are two awesome players to be compared to. He broke out early in his college career. He is somebody who had a
23:25ton of rushing production on the ground.
23:27He's just a special player with the ball in his hands you can get end arounds and screens and all the fun stuff we talk
23:33about Luther Burden and Parker Washington. It applies to Boutte.
23:36Now, of course, we're talking about the Browns offense, but still we can see guys in bad offenses emerge. We want these rookie receivers because they tend
23:44to backload their production. Elijah Moore is on this list. We look at wide receivers from week nine on having the most points per game over that stretch.
23:53Elijah Moore was a 20-plus point per game guy down the stretch on a 2021 Jets team that sucked. You also had Amon-Ra
23:59St. Brown. That Detroit team was not very good. You of course had Braxton Berrios attached to Mac Jones, who Mac Jones has kind of revived
24:07himself with the Niners, but at that time he was left for dead. You also had Jaylen Waddle as a rookie produce with
24:13Tua and Jacoby Brissett on the Dolphins before either of those guys were starting caliber quarterbacks in the NFL. There's just a lot of ways for this
24:22to work out despite him being on the Browns. He's going to get spammed targets around the line of scrimmage.
24:27This is somebody who also, yes, he's electric with the ball in his hands, but he's also an awesome separator from Matt
24:32Harmon. Here we actually just talked about Kayshon Boutte on the other day.
24:35He was among this class number one in success rate versus man, number three versus zone, number one versus press, number four in contested catch rate,
24:42number nine in rate of plays in space with a broken tackle. Just a special player with the ball in his hands, then
24:47also a special separator at every level.
24:50Todd Monken had Zay Flowers finish as a wide receiver three in his rookie year.
24:54Of Of yes, the Ravens are a better offense, but they're a low-volume passing offense. So, you can kind of trade off There's going to be much less
25:01touchdowns for the Browns, but it's not like Zay Flowers has ever made his bread scoring touchdowns, and there's going to be a little bit more PPR opportunity for
25:08Casey Conceição this year. As a guy that was hand-picked by Todd Monken this offseason, I think he can be a league-winner down the stretch this
25:16season. And then we have our final flag plant, who I haven't even talked about really at all this year, and I love Bijan
25:23Robinson. I want to be drafting Bijan Robinson, but I keep getting sniped on him. He's going super early.
25:29Chris Rodriguez, at this point, through all of the managed redraft teams we've done on stream, is my most drafted running back at this point. He continues
25:37to fall into my lap when I need running back help. I'm 20 spots higher than consensus, and this is somebody who is a steady
25:45runner. This is from Jacob Gibbs here.
25:46He is, since entering the NFL, second in yards after contact per rush, and second in success rate. He is a very steady
25:53between the tackles grinder for a good team in the Jaguars, a good offense on the Jaguars. As much as I love Bijan
26:00Robinson, he's not a sure thing. If he doesn't break out this year, Chris Rodriguez, if you squint, his upside case is the 2023 Gus Edwards
26:09season, where this Jaguars team scores a lot of touchdowns, and then all of a sudden Chris Rodriguez has like 800 rushing yards and 10
26:16rushing touchdowns as like the running back 24 in fantasy, and crushes his RB43 price tag. But, that's going to do it
26:26for us today. That is my 10 players that I'm flag planting this season. It's sort of similar to my players I'm betting my
26:32season on that we did last week, but you guys know, in these drafts I continue to get like the 12th overall
26:38pick. So, that has kind of affected my exposures.
26:41Of course, those are guys that I'm drafting a lot of, but these are the guys that uh on top of those players I
26:46want to stamp my flag on and say, "These are my guys, my targets for the 2026 season."
26:52Of course, all of these players are targets in the basement draft guide so that as you're crossing names off and drafting your team, you can see oh, Ron
26:59has this guy as a target and you can kind of collect these players on your fantasy football team. We of course have
27:04full PPR, half PPR, superflex, everything you need, target rounds, player notes for all the players. You can even sync it to your sleeper draft
27:11so it crosses off players as you go. It is amazing. The basement draft guide.com. Make sure you check it out.
27:17Of course, we also have a in-season product on the Patreon, patreon.com/ronstewart. This is for the draft day. If you want my weekly
27:25rankings, my rest of season rankings, my waiver wire article every week, my start/sit streams every week, my dynasty content, if you want to be in subscriber
27:31leagues moving forward, all of that is on the Patreon, patreon.com/ronstewart.
27:35When you sign up for the Patreon, you get the draft guide half off. If you sign up for the Patreon annually, you
27:40get the draft guide for free. All that can be found down below in the description and the comment section. As always, if you enjoyed, leave a like,
27:47subscribe if you're new, and I'll see y'all in the next one.
27:52>> Oh, yeah.
27:54This is my kind [music and singing] of Oh, yeah.
28:01>> [singing] >> Maybe [music] I stunts like this froze.
28:05Ice cold.
28:06Oh, oh.
28:08Ice all on my body like I'm froze up.
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