Fantasy Sleepers, Breakouts and Busts with Field Yates
STACKED extracted the fantasy-relevant player signal from this podcast and kept the full transcript here for context.
54 min
Duration
Estimated from transcript
Sep 3, 2026
Published
Thu, September 3, 2026
16
Player insights
13
Players mentioned
Topics
Ashton JeantyKenneth GainwellBrock BowersChristian WatsonColston LovelandJack BechJalen NailorJonah ColemanJosh JacobsJustin HerbertMarShawn LloydMike Washington Jr.Parker Washington
Player analysis
Player insights
Ashton Jeanty
NegativeBust19:30
Matthew Berry identifies Jenty as a 'chicken player'—someone he is nervous to draft at his current ADP. While there is a path to targets due to a lack of reliable pass catchers outside of Bowers and the potential for check-downs from a non-mobile Kirk Cousins, Berry notes there are more paths to failure for Jenty compared to other running backs in his range.
Insight pageNegativeInjury26:38
Matthew Berry notes that Clint Kubiak is optimistic about Jenty playing in Week 1, though Berry remains cautious regarding the impact of his ankle injury on early-season explosiveness.
Insight pageNegativeBust27:26
Field Yates identifies Ashton Jenty as a bust candidate, citing the league's most difficult running back schedule per Mike Clay and concerns that the offensive line personnel issues remain despite scheme improvements. Yates projects him closer to RB17 than his current RB10-11 range.
Insight pageBrock Bowers
PositiveProjection23:42
Matthew Berry ranks Bowers as his TE1 in preseason rankings, noting that the arrival of Kirk Cousins provides stability and a history of targeting tight ends, which may benefit Bowers' early-season production.
Insight pageChristian Watson
PositiveBreakout33:23
Matthew Berry is high on Christian Watson, noting a shift from the X to the Z receiver role and a more concentrated target share in the Packers' offense. Despite injury concerns, Berry points to Watson's 42% end-zone target share last year and his 16 fantasy points per game average in games with at least a 20% target share. Field Yates agrees, noting that Watson's development down the stretch makes him a prime breakout candidate.
Insight pageColston Loveland
PositiveBreakout28:08
Matthew Berry is all-in on Colston Loveland, predicting he could finish as the TE1. Loveland saw a 25% target share over the final eight games of last season and led the Bears in targets in each of their final four games. Field Yates notes that while Tyler Warren has a safer floor, Loveland's connection with Caleb Williams and his role in Ben Johnson's offense make him a high-upside breakout.
Insight pageJack Bech
PositiveSleeper25:17
Matthew Berry and Field Yates both express interest in Jack Besh in deeper leagues, with Berry noting he has shares of the player and Yates highlighting his high draft board ranking (37th) coming out of TCU last year.
Insight pageJalen Nailor
NegativeSleeper25:17
Matthew Berry mentions holding shares of Jalen Naylor in deeper leagues, suggesting he could become fantasy-relevant in that format.
Insight pageJonah Coleman
NegativeSleeper44:16
Matthew Berry and Field Yates view Jonah Coleman as a high-upside stash for the second half of the season. Berry believes Coleman will eventually overtake J.K. Dobbins and R.J. Harvey as the Broncos' lead back because he can handle all three roles (early downs, passing downs, and goal line). Yates notes that while Coleman's size is a concern, his elusiveness and Sean Payton's tendency to utilize his draft picks make him a valuable late-round stash.
Insight pageJosh Jacobs
NegativeValue51:23
Matthew Berry ranks Josh Jacobs at RB52, advising that he should only be drafted in leagues with 'not available' slots or by managers who have punted the position and need to swing for upside. There is significant uncertainty regarding his availability due to the commissioner's exempt list, with the possibility that he could be cut or miss a substantial portion of the season.
Insight pageJustin Herbert
PositiveBreakout26:31
Field Yates and Matthew Berry are in lockstep on Justin Herbert as a breakout candidate. Yates highlights the addition of head coach Mike McDaniel, a revamped offensive line (Joe Alt, Rashawn Slater), and the potential for 350-400 rushing yards. Berry notes that Herbert is higher than consensus in his rankings and expects him to come out red-hot with a favorable Week 1 matchup against Arizona.
Insight pageKenneth Gainwell
PositiveSleeper36:03
Field Yates identifies Kenneth Gainwell as a sleeper, highlighting his reliability as a pass-catcher (fifth in RB catches last season) and his efficiency as a runner (13% of rushes went for 10+ yards). Matthew Berry adds that Tampa Bay sources are impressed with his ability between the tackles and at the goal line, suggesting he will see more playing time than expected.
Insight pagePositiveUsage38:17
Matthew Berry expects people to be surprised by the high volume of playing time Kenneth Gainwell receives for Tampa Bay this season.
Insight pageMarShawn Lloyd
NegativeRole49:24
Field Yates is excited about Marshawn Lloyd's talent but expresses caution due to his injury history and the uncertainty surrounding Josh Jacobs' status. While Lloyd has received a bump to RB30 in season-long rankings, Yates notes that his fantasy value is entirely dependent on how long Jacobs remains on the commissioner's exempt list.
Insight pageMike Washington Jr.
NegativeDepth Chart27:03
Matthew Berry advises that if managers draft Ashton Jenty, they should ensure they also roster Mike Washington as a handcuff.
Insight pageParker Washington
PositiveBreakout30:48
Matthew Berry and Field Yates both view Parker Washington as a breakout candidate. Washington was a top-20 wide receiver in the second half of last season, averaging 14.9 fantasy points per game from week nine on. Berry argues that Washington is the Jaguars' true WR1, noting his efficiency even when Jacoby Myers was on the field and his 23% target share down the stretch.
Insight pageFull transcript
Episode Transcript
0:00We live! I'm sitting here tweeting out or telling everyone that we are live because it is noon on YouTube, but it
0:06is 5 o'clock somewhere, which means, of course, the Happy Hour Bar is open.
0:10Your friendly neighborhood bartender Matthew Berry here. A favor to ask, will you please not only like and subscribe, but give us five-star reviews?
0:17We need some five-star reviews, my producer telling me we would love to get your support on that.
0:23Before we get to today's show, just a quick announcement.
0:25I forgot yesterday, but you know who drinks free today?
0:28Matt Moran, Charlotte Barton. That's right. My kid got engaged last night.
0:32Look at this. Matt and Charlotte have been together for a long time.
0:36We love her. We love the family. And now I'm about to have a daughter-in-law very soon.
0:40So very exciting. Charlotte, welcome to the family. Matt and Charlotte, congratulations.
0:44My wife and I, I know Dave and Pilar and the entire Barton family, everyone, we're all thrilled for you guys.
0:50So much love. Very excited. So it's an exciting day, not only because of Matt and Charlotte's engagement, but for the first
0:56time since I left ESPN, I get to be on air with my old tag team partner, my buddy and pal, Field Yates.
1:03There he is, of course, the host of Fantasy Focus on ESPN.
1:06And first draft with him, Mel Kuyper and Mike Greenberg.
1:09Of course, he does all things NFL at ESPN.
1:12There he is. What's up, brother? How are you?
1:15Not too much. Congratulations to you and your family.
1:17I did hear, and this is important to note.
1:20We'll get into more of why in just a moment.
1:23But I heard that new decorum is that the father of the groom pays for the weddings.
1:28That's certainly not me, the father of three daughters, suggesting that's how it should be.
1:32That's just what I'm hearing. It's what I read on the internet.
1:35And as we all know, everything you read on the internet is 100% true.
1:39So congratulations to your family and start saving. Listen, why do you think I'm here doing my own thing, man?
1:45I'm out here hustling, man. I'm hustling. So Field, what have you been up to?
1:49Just a couple of fantasy pods here and there.
1:52Here and there. Here and there. Yeah. So no, I saw that you guys just did your live show.
1:58I had Daniel Dopp on my show a little while ago.
2:01We're hopeful to get Mike Clay in here before the season starts as well.
2:05But you've also, you became a father for the third time.
2:08Congratulations. Yeah. It's over a little over two months since my third was born.
2:12It's crazy. Crazy. Yeah, it really is. I mean, like I always point to my daughters.
2:17I say, look, I can prove that I've had sex at least once.
2:20Right? There you go. And you, you have, you have three different, you have, you have proof of at least three times.
2:27So it's, it's, but Ryan Diamond says, finally, the lettuce king.
2:30It is true. Your hair, I feel like since I've left ESPN, and I don't know if it's just because I'm so
2:36follically challenged, but I feel like since I left ESPN, your hair has just gotten bigger and wavier and fuller and crazy.
2:43What's going on with your hair? You know, what's crazy is, so yeah, like probably two years ago, my wife Chapin, who
2:49you know well, the boss, the CEO of the Yates family was like, I think you should try growing your hair out a little bit.
2:56And for, I don't know how many years I had the same haircut.
3:00It was, it was basically wash, rinse, repeat almost literally.
3:03You know, every three weeks they'd go to the barber.
3:06I just, I wouldn't even have to say what I was in for.
3:10He would just start cutting. I'd walk away with the same result that I had three weeks prior.
3:15I started to try something new. And for the better part of the last two years, my hair has been much longer than this.
3:22As a matter of fact, I got my haircut yesterday and it still looks long.
3:26So, you know, trying something different. I have a quick question for you, Phil.
3:30I have a quick question. Quick question. Yeah. Quick, quick question for you.
3:34Do you miss me interrupting you? No. No, I don't.
3:37Is the O6 O2 more efficient these days? That's how you describe efficient, you know?
3:41No, we had so many good times and good memories together.
3:44I still get lots of questions about you from people that I meet out in the fantasy streets.
3:49And, you know, they love the chemistry. And I'm sure there will at least be some people that are happy to have us back together today.
3:57But yeah, it's been cool to see, you know, your various chapters since you departed from ESPN.
4:02And it seems like success has followed you. So I think you feel vindicated in your decision.
4:07And I'm excited for what's on tap now and what I think is coming down the pike in your future as well.
4:13You know what, Phil? I really appreciate that. Look, I really miss my friends at ESPN, including you and, you know, and
4:19Daniel and Mike and everyone in the fantasy department.
4:22Shout out Scott Clark, all biz. And just everyone, you know, our Dynasty League, honestly.
4:26I really miss our Dynasty League. Yeah, it's fun.
4:29I mean, I'm in the Dynasty League, but, like, I miss all the people, you know, seeing them every day as opposed to just over a text chain.
4:37And you and I are literally in two separate drafts together right now.
4:41So I miss seeing everyone every day. Yeah. I definitely miss, you know, I loved being on Focus.
4:46I love being on it with you and everyone.
4:49I truly do miss those times. And but, yeah, I mean, like I've always, as you know, you and I have had a lot of conversations off mic.
4:57Like, well, I've always had an entrepreneurial spirit to me and wanted to do my own thing.
5:02And NBC allowed me to grow Fantasy Life. And now I'm out on my own.
5:06I'm, you know, I mean, what's old is new again.
5:09Right. I mean, I started my career by starting my old Talented Mr.
5:13Roto website, which ultimately sold ESPN. That's how I wound up at ESPN so many years ago.
5:17And so I'm sort of trying that again here with Fantasy Life.
5:21So I appreciate your support. You've always you've been a really good friend to me both on and off air.
5:27So it's meaningful to me. And it's been exciting to me to see how honestly with, you know, once I left ESPN.
5:33And so I think, you know, the company thought, OK, like, hey, we can rethink how we do everything.
5:39It's been awesome to see not only the growth of Focus.
5:42You guys are on TV now. You guys are live on YouTube.
5:45I wish I was live on YouTube when we were doing it.
5:49You know, but also, again, just the stuff that you're doing the NFL draft.
5:53Like you've been, you know, you've been a massive part of ESPN's NFL coverage.
5:57Whereas I felt like when I was there, you were more, you know, they'd have you fill in as a host, you
6:03know, and you you were around the edges more than I feel like now where you are.
6:08You know, I mean, you're literally on the desk for the NFL draft, like get better than that, get bigger than that.
6:14So it's it's been very cool to see. And I assume field it was important for me to get to NBC so
6:21that I could do the Super Bowl last year so that I could beat you to the field, because I assume you
6:27will be part of ESPN Super Bowl coverage this fall.
6:30So I you'll be the second fantasy football analyst to be on the to be as part of Super Bowl coverage.
6:36But I'm excited to see you out there because I'm sure you'll be a big part of the coverage.
6:42I will be entirely honest with you. I don't know the answer to that.
6:46Certainly would love to be a part of it.
6:48But it's funny. Doesn't the Super Bowl feel simultaneously extremely close?
6:51I know it does for ESPN. If you walk around the hallways right now, it's impossible to ignore the buildup to the Super Bowl.
6:58And yet when you and I are talking, we're six days away from the first regular season games.
7:04We have so much to be determined, but I'd love to do it.
7:07And thanks for all the kind words. You know, it's one thing about the sports media world that I try to tell
7:14young people that are preparing to get into it or attempting to get into it is that I can't promise you what
7:20the journey will look like, but I can promise you it's going to be a journey.
7:25I don't know how many people have cookie cutter sports media careers.
7:28The hours are different. The events that we cover every single night are different.
7:32Right. That's part of the brilliance and the beauty of sports is that I actually like the things that I don't expect
7:38to happen as opposed to the things that go as I expect them to.
7:43And don't get me wrong. Like when I say, you know, the hours are unconventional.
7:47I would not prefer to be working banking hours right now, pushing papers.
7:51It's just that sports media is challenging in certain ways, but the journey always makes it worth it.
7:56And I've been fortunate at ESPN to have a lot of different opportunities and responsibilities.
8:00And at least for now, kind of feel settled into this fantasy and draft grind.
8:04Yeah. First off, I don't think you're fortunate. I think you've earned everything you've gotten, to be honest with you.
8:10I think you're too humble. Thank you. I think you have, you are not fortunate at all.
8:15You have made your own path. And I think that's a good piece of advice for the young people.
8:21I think everything you just said is correct, but it's also like when you get a shot, be good.
8:26And if you are good when you get a shot, you will get another shot and be good at that.
8:32And then just keep making, you know, making your boss's lives easier because they're like, oh, that's something I don't have to worry about.
8:39And I would say that, you know, there's a lot of things that we can point to for your success.
8:45But if there's one thing that I think just knowing, talking to so many people at ESPN, I think it's one thing
8:51is that no one ever worries about Field Yates.
8:54Like, oh, if we've got Field Yates on for five minutes, we've got him on for two hours.
8:59We've got him on for 45 seconds on sports.
9:01Whatever it is, I don't have to worry about it.
9:04Hey, Field, I need you to do X. And you know X is going to get done.
9:09It'll get done well. It'll get done on time, professionally, you know, entertainingly.
9:13And I think that's the more concern you can take away from other people, I think that's always a good thing.
9:19It's something that I've been okay at in my career.
9:22I haven't been perfect. Ultimate hype man, by the way.
9:25Like, can I get this clipped off? I just want to put this as, can you now make like avatars on social media profiles videos?
9:32Because if you can, just take that rip from you right there and make it my new profile picture somewhere.
9:38But I appreciate that all very, very much. And I love, by the way, I just love, I get to see it
9:44now firsthand on the show for the first time.
9:47I love the comments populating on the bottom of the screen.
9:50It's great. I, the, we have a, I have a fan base.
9:53Some of, some of whom have followed me from the 06-0-1-0, but the regulars, which is what we call the regulars.
9:59The regulars in the happy hour bar are unbelievable.
10:02They formed their own discord. The discord is on fire 24-7 and they're so good.
10:06And thank you, Ryan Oswald. And by the way, we will be announcing on Friday, since you brought up the regulars, we'll
10:13be announcing on Friday who is in the official happy hour listener league with me.
10:17I haven't decided if producer Damien gets to be in the league or not.
10:21Come on. Yeah, we'll see. Damien's the best. Wait, can I just say one thing that you forgot to mention about your
10:27decision to leave ESPN and continue on this journey now?
10:30Is that you neglected the fact that you now get to drink every day at lunch.
10:35I do. I honestly, like. That would be frowned upon probably at ESPN if I had to guess.
10:40There's a lot of things I get to do that would be frowned upon at ESPN.
10:45Like I said, I loved my time at ESPN.
10:47I have nothing bad to say about it. It was great.
10:51And, you know, listen, you never know. Life's a long journey.
10:54But, but yes, I do very much enjoy being my own boss.
10:57It's very different. I do my own makeup now, Field.
11:00I do my own makeup. You know, it's all, it's all.
11:03It looks good. Thank you. I appreciate it. You've got twin daughters.
11:07Of course it's good. Yeah, there you go. Well, they do like the makeup influencers.
11:11All right, let's get to it. You and I could just, you and I could BS for literally the entire hour.
11:17We'll do another show. Just BSing. Yeah, exactly. Right.
11:20We should do that. We should just do a, a, a complete nonsense episode.
11:24But, but for now we've got drafts. We're, you know, less than a week away from the season starting.
11:29So a little bit of news very quickly here, Field.
11:32And this is, by the way, this is also weird for me that I'm hosting you.
11:37That's, you know what I mean? It's just, I mean, so many years of my life was just me waiting for Field to ask me a question.
11:45And then I would turn it back to Field and Field would give his advice.
11:49And, you know, just, I'm so used to whether it's fantasy football now or fantasy focus or just, you know, a lot
11:55of times you and I would do sports center hits together and NFL live together.
12:00So anyway, it's just, it's a little weird. It's like when Bill Simmons goes on somebody else's podcast.
12:05Yeah. It really, and I know Bill's a good friend of yours.
12:08And I always, he used to do a crossover pod with Zach Lowe.
12:12Then he hired Zach Lowe after Zach was no longer at ESPN.
12:16And it always, there'd be times where like just by default, Bill would start to ask questions of Zach.
12:21And it was like, oh, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, hold on.
12:24I'm the guest on your show. So if I just start peppering you with questions, please know, I'm not trying to hijack the plan.
12:31It's just like muscle memory coming back. Which would be, which would be great.
12:35Listen, take some pressure off of me because having done this now, I have so much more of an appreciation for just how good you are at it.
12:44But if you've read me or listened to me for any amount of time, you know that I have five kids or
12:50as I like to joke, my wife has six.
12:52But the fact is, is that it's a chaotic household and there have been many a night where the fridge is bare,
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13:42Terms apply. See site for details. All right, let's get to, let's get to Las Vegas.
13:46A couple of pieces of news from the Raiders here.
13:49Kirk Cousins named the week one starter, not really fantasy relevant as a quarterback, not even, I think in two quarterback leagues
13:56fields, but I feel like this might be the best situation for the players we do care about in the Raiders.
14:02At least that's probably fine. Yeah, I think that's fine.
14:05Yeah. I was, I was sort of unbothered by this news one way or the other for fantasy.
14:10I think it's less exciting overall for real football.
14:12Like I certainly would rather see Fernando Mendoza than Kirk Cousins play for the Raiders.
14:17I don't feel any different and there was nowhere to go literally for Brock Bowers in my rank.
14:22He is my number one tight end in a preseason ranking.
14:25So there was nowhere for him to go, I guess other than down, but I baked in Kirk Cousins as the likely starter.
14:32A good trivia question. We'll be asking a friend to name three Raiders wide receivers right now, because that is a thin, thin group.
14:39So there was no Raiders wide receiver that was on my radar.
14:42And I don't think that the running game is impacted positively or negatively by the quarterback.
14:47So maybe you're right that like the steadiness that we can anticipate from Kirk Cousins, as opposed to the potential volatility for
14:53Fernando Mendoza, makes you feel slightly more confident for Brock Bowers coming out of the chutes.
14:58But he was already tight end one for me.
15:00I think Kirk Cousins will be fine for a handful of games and that'll be the Fernando Mendoza show.
15:06Yeah, completely agree with that. I mean, Cousins does have a long history of targeting the tight end.
15:11And I do have in some deeper leagues, like really deep leagues, I do have a couple of shares of Jack Besh.
15:17I do have a couple of Jalen Naylor shares.
15:20You know, one of those guys is going to be fantasy relevant, probably, maybe in deeper leagues.
15:25I was a big Jack Besh guy coming out of TCU last year.
15:29He was, he finished 37th on my big board, which was high.
15:32He ended up going like 56th overall. So, you know, I want nothing more than my takes to be proven right.
15:38So if Jack Besh feels like going for, I don't know, a Justin Jefferson type season this year, I certainly wouldn't object.
15:45You and Connor Rogers, my old NBC co-host, who's also similar to you, a guy that grinds the tape and just is unbelievable with all the draft stuff.
15:53And he, similar to you, he also really liked Jack Besh coming out of college last year.
15:58Other piece of news out of Las Vegas, Clint Kubiak optimistic that Ashton Jenty will play in week number one.
16:03I moved him up from 21 to 18th overall.
16:06I'm at RB12. I still am at RB12. As you see the tweet here from Levi Edwards, Clint Kubiak asked if he
16:12was optimistic on Ashton Jenty being able to play week one versus the Dolphins.
16:16His answer, yes, with a sly grin. Look, my take here very simply is that, look, if you've already drafted him, okay.
16:23They're still a little bit nervous. If you do draft him, you want to make sure you grab Mike Washington.
16:29But, Field, I want to ask your opinion on Ashton Jenty, which gets us into our, you know, this, the topic of
16:35today's show is sleepers, breakouts, and busts. And I know you have Ashton Jenty on one of those lists, so I'm curious where that is.
16:42And does this news change it? Big. It does not change things.
16:46But I'm going big here, Matthew. So let's, I'm going to get into my bust for this upcoming season.
16:51And listen, I can give you the guardrails. Yeah, you know, bust, you got to define it.
16:56I'm just a little bit nervous about Ashton Jenty.
16:59You can throw all the caveats at cost relative to other running backs in that same tier.
17:04You know, the Omari and Hamptons and Saquon Barkley's and Derrick Henry's and Chase Brown's of the world.
17:09On Ashton Jenty as I think others in the fantasy community are.
17:12The offensive line is better. No question about it.
17:15Tyler Linderbaum is the richest center by like many, many millions compared to every other center in NFL history.
17:20And the offensive scheme is going to be much better.
17:23Both of those things give me some confidence that Ashton Jenty's pathway to success is going to be clearer and smoother.
17:29I'm not convinced though that this is some dominant running game right now, right?
17:33I think teams are going to say, beat us with your arm if you want.
17:38It's Kirk Cousins and eventually Fernando Mendoza. And I do think that there are still enough offensive linemen that are playing along
17:44this line right now that were playing last year, right?
17:47And we felt like it was part scheme, but also part personnel.
17:50So I don't think that all of the personnel issues have been shored up.
17:54And then to borrow a figure from our guy, Mike Clay, if you read the ESPN, the magazine fantasy preview, Mike has
18:01his projected difficulty of schedule by position and by team.
18:04No team has a more difficult running back schedule based off of Mike's calculations of opposing rush defenses than the Raiders.
18:10So there's going to be some tough sledding for Ashton Jenty, not in week one, because the Dolphins is a great opportunity
18:16for either of those teams that we don't think is going to be very good to start off on a high note and temporarily prove some people wrong.
18:24But I'm a little concerned that this Raiders schedule is going to catch up to Ashton Jenty a little bit and he
18:30might be closer to RB 17 as opposed to RB 10 or 11.
18:34And when you're talking about busts, I think a half a dozen difference in terms of overall finish is a bust when
18:41a player is being drafted, maybe as high as the two, three turn.
18:44Yeah. Yeah. I mean that the gentler as PJC says, yeah, exactly.
18:48I mean, like I look last year, 39th among qualified running backs and fantasy points for touch last season, seven different games
18:54with single digit fantasy points for Ashton Jenty. Right.
18:57You do feel better about the situation, as you mentioned, the line Kubiak, you know, Kirk Cousins is a professional quarterback.
19:03I have him at QB 12. I haven't like, again, I moved him up from 21 to 18.
19:08But yes, does the ankle injury hurt? Is his explosiveness not as much as you would like it early in the season, right?
19:15Is there some sort of limits there? I will tell you, Field, so coming out later today on fantasylife.com is my annual, my 10 list of 10.
19:2210 list of 10. Remember, right. And so one of the lists I always do is I always do my chicken players,
19:29you know, after the Jim Harbaugh famous, you know.
19:31Nervous bird. Yeah. Chicken is a nervous bird. And so players that are going where they should, but to your point, just a little nervous about it.
19:39And I just tend to, I end up drafting players at this, you know, around the different ABP and Jenty is one of my chicken players this year.
19:47Cause I agree with you. There, there are definitely more paths to it going wrong for Jenty than there are other players,
19:54especially running backs that are going in his range.
19:56If there's one saving grace beyond all the things that you mentioned that give you some level of confidence.
20:02It's that hopefully, as we just mentioned, like, you know, Jack Bash, Trey Tucker, you know, other than Bowers, there's not a,
20:08you know, Jalen Naylor, whatever after other than Bowers, there's not a pass catcher that you, that you feel great about.
20:14And so do, does he get a decent amount of targets in the passing game?
20:19Does cousins, especially not particularly mobile Kirk cousins, you know, and if they can get pressure on him, is he just dumping
20:25off to Jenty a decent amount to try to get rid of the ball quickly?
20:29So, you know, those are the, that's the argument for, for Jenty, but I'm with you.
20:34I wouldn't go as far as bust, but like, as I said, he is on my, he's on my chicken players.
20:40Like I, he's just a little bit nervous for me, my guy.
20:43Can I just, before you give your guy, can I just give a quick riff on, you know, sleepers, breakouts, busts, they're all very common fantasy takes.
20:51They're very easy. They're good for SEO. They're good for YouTube optimization.
20:55And I love it when it's like, yeah, like my, my, to be clear, that's what I'm going for here, Field.
21:01I don't, I don't have four letters behind me.
21:03I don't have NBC behind me. It's just me and my plucky little team.
21:07And so like, I'm listen, I'm, I'm clickbaiting the hell out of everything, man.
21:11I'm out here. I'm out here, you know, you know, shoveling plates or whatever you want to call it.
21:17Like I'm, yeah, I'm, you know, I'm juggling, I'm spinning plates.
21:20I'm doing whatever I can. So yeah, absolutely. But I like when it's when it's like, yeah, my, my, my, my bust
21:26pick for this year is JK Dobbins. It's like, Oh really?
21:30Is that right? You know, like where's the optimism here?
21:32Yeah. Okay. And your quarterback bust is Sam Darnold.
21:35Oh, gotcha. Yeah. I was going to take him third overall.
21:38So I'm glad you said that. Um, so I figured that, you know, when you're talking bust, I think there's, I like
21:45going big with a name that has some legitimate stamina and effort and, and momentum behind them going into the season.
21:51So who is your pick for your, it is absolutely a ballsy call and it's not, it's ballsier than my call.
21:57I think I have a pretty big name here as well, but not as big as Ashton Gentty, but mine is Cam Scadaboo.
22:03Um, you know, yeah, I'm nervous about Scadaboo 33% of his points last year came on touchdown.
22:08So he's, I think he's very touchdown dependent. I think people are, I don't think people are paying close enough attention to this Najee Harris signing.
22:16No, they're like, ah, Najee, whatever. He's, you know, off the injury.
22:19Like, like Najee does a lot of the same stuff that Scadaboo does.
22:23Um, you've got veteran coaches, like veteran coaches, uh, head coach and offensive coordinator that are going to trust a veteran like Najee Harris in pass pro.
22:31Maybe at the goal line here, the giants kept four running backs on the roster.
22:35Right. I mean, so you, you, in addition to those two, you've got Tyrone Tracy, you've got Devin Singletary.
22:41So you've got four guys that, you know, Tyrone Tracy, you know, the one bad clip in the preseason, but like he's
22:47somebody that's been productive in the NFL. So does Scadaboo get the kind of workload he got last year?
22:52Does he get the scoring opportunities he got last year, especially because so much of that production came without Malik neighbors on
22:59the field, without Isaiah likely who I think is going to be involved in that offense, you know?
23:04So, and, and, you know, again, whether it's the, you know, some of the, you know, Scadaboo is, is a fun guy to root for, right?
23:12He's, you know, he's, he's, he's blue collared. He's, you know, he's doing backflips and everything like that.
23:17But like, there's a little bit of nuttiness there where I think there's, there's a concern with Scadaboo that you might not
23:23have with some other Scadaboo, whatever that you would have with other, um, players.
23:27And again, because he's such a reckless isn't the wrong word, but just because of his aggressive playing style, maybe he's a
23:34little bit more injury prone than other running backs.
23:36So just, you know, look, he's, he's going at, you know, 43rd overall.
23:40I'm at 50. I have them lower on, you know, in may ADP, uh, in terms of running backs as well.
23:46But that's a guy that I just, I have no shares of this year and I know people that love him, but that's, that's my bust.
23:53Um, you and I see the same thing with Najee Harris.
23:57The money is real as well. Like $3 million guaranteed.
24:00I know that's not, listen, like that, that's not enough to, uh, to convince a quarterback, uh, to get a new deal
24:06done, but for like a depth level running back, like $3 million is not nothing, uh, coming out of the draft.
24:12The reason why Cam Scadaboo went in the fourth round was not because of his talent.
24:17It was because of the questions about how well he would hold up, which I get it.
24:21It was a freak injury last year, but that freak injury now gives you some concern going into upcoming year.
24:27So I, I still have Scadaboo. I want to say like 22 or 23 at my overall running back ranking.
24:33So close to where he is in consensus and close to where he is in your rankings as well.
24:39The hesitations are understood though. Uh, Mike Clay, our guy is, is, is very optimistic on Scadaboo, actually the entirety of the,
24:45uh, the Giants offense, which I told Mike, who's like the most objective individual you'll ever meet in your entire life, right?
24:51You and I can agree. He's like devoid of emotion when it comes to fantasy football.
24:56And I'm just a big sense of general. I think, I think, I think in general, by the way, yeah, I'm just a sensitive guy over here.
25:04Just, you know, whatever. I want to root for all these players.
25:07Um, but Mike and I actually, I took Mike to a Giants and Eagles game last year.
25:12The Eagles are of course his team and the Giants just totally steamrolled them, including Scadaboo Boone being amazing and Jackson dark carving him up.
25:19And I'm convinced ever since then it's changed his perception of the, uh, the Giants.
25:24Last thing I'll say is I know Amari and Hampton was your guy going into last year.
25:28You of course, remember those first two weeks where Najee Harris was this gigantic thorn in the side of Amari and Hampton.
25:35That could be the case with Cam Scadaboo as well.
25:38Yeah. I mean, I'm not, I'm not necessarily sold on their coaching staff either.
25:42The offensive coaching staff, you know, I mean, a lot of cooks in that kitchen.
25:46Yeah. A lot of cooks in that kitchen has Matt.
25:49And I mean, I don't remember the last time Matt Nagy finished a season as a coordinator.
25:54Like anyway, we, um, so this field, by the way, just in terms of like roles being reversed, not only am I
26:00hosting, I also have to tell you, we need to, we need to move quicker.
26:05Okay. Like I'm usually the one, I'm usually the one that's like, oh, we got time.
26:09We got time. And I'm, but now I'm, I'm being told because we've got, we want to get to more names.
26:15So, um, uh, give me your fan. Uh, so you just mentioned, uh, my guy, Omari and Hampton.
26:20I think, you know, I feel like I was semi right on him, obviously the injuries, but when he was out there,
26:27he was really good, but, uh, you, for your fantasy breakout, you're back on the chargers.
26:31Give me a guy. Back on the chargers. Justin Herbert, baby.
26:35The off season of Justin Herbert continues. Some might say that getting engaged to Madison beers is better than being named field.
26:41The eights is breakout for the 2026 season. I disagree.
26:44Yeah. Thank you. I disagree with that. Um, you and I can align on the fact that to a tongue of my
26:50low is not as good as Justin Herbert, right?
26:53Correct. Yes. Okay. Yeah. To also led the NFL in passing yards during his first season with Mike McTiernan.
26:58As his head coach, it was a supercharged offense.
27:01He had three top two finishes that year. And two, it does nothing with his legs.
27:06Like Justin Herbert, who has worse wide receivers. I totally give you that, but Mike McDaniel can make this entire offense supercharged.
27:12Certainly a pun intended. And her most legit athlete, like the possibility of 350 or 400 rushing yards for Justin Herbert, not unfounded whatsoever.
27:19So ever you take a mobile quarterback. Who's got an absolute cannon.
27:22You had Mike McDaniel into the picture. I think this chargers offense is very scary.
27:27They have a gnarly eight game stretch in the middle of the season, but they start off with two absolute layup matchups, Arizona in week one.
27:34I think Justin Herbert comes out red hot and has a really great season.
27:38I agree with everything you just said. We've talked about Herbert a lot.
27:42He was on my love list this year. And by the way, I also, you know, everyone talks about McDaniel, but how
27:48about just getting an offensive line back? You know, just getting Joe Alt back, getting that, you know, getting Slater back, like
27:55just getting that offensive line back along with the weapons, along with the coaching, along with all the weapons and, you know, him using his legs.
28:02So I'm with you. I'm higher on him than consensus as well.
28:06So we are lockstep on Justin Herbert. And I bet you we're in lockstep on this one as well.
28:11But my breakout, Colston Loveland, he was my runner up for my ride or die.
28:15I'm sorry, what? This is bothering me how much we're in lockstep.
28:19It's not like, it's not cool. Yeah, well, we'll find some disagreement later, I'm sure.
28:23But at the moment, like, listen, Colston Loveland is my runner up for ride or die.
28:28And I've talked about him a lot on the show going up to, but like, he's one of the few tight ends
28:34that has a realistic chance of leading his team in targets.
28:37There aren't a lot, you know, McBride is one of them.
28:41Bowers is obviously one of them. And I've Colston Loveland right there at tight number three, final eight games this season, including
28:47the playoffs, almost, you know, over 25% target share.
28:50This is a guy that's, you know, was fourth in fantasy points for target.
28:54And just in general field, you know, and Loveland's the kind of the poster child for me of this.
28:59But I am all in on the Bears offense this year.
29:02I'm a believer in Ben Johnson and year two of his system, you know, give me some burden, give me some Adunze.
29:09I like DeAndre Swift. It costs a lot. I think Caleb Williams has a big year, like all in on all the Bears.
29:15I like Monongai late, you know, just all of it.
29:18So Colston Loveland is my breakout. Like in the 10 list of 10, one of my bold predictions, one of the lists is 10 bold predictions.
29:26And one of my bold predictions is that Colston Loveland finishes the year as the number one tight end in fantasy football.
29:32It's going to be tough there, but it's in the, it's in the range of outcomes for him.
29:37Yeah. I said this on our show with Daniel earlier on that day as in like earlier on today, that I think
29:44of the two next men up at tight end, which are Colston Loveland and Tyler Warren.
29:48I probably think this floor is a little more secure with Tyler Warren because there are fewer bodies that you're concerned about.
29:55And then Indianapolis offense that are good and game changers.
29:57Chicago might have two of them at wide receiver and both burden and Adunze.
30:01But if you told me that one of those two players cracks the top two of scoring tight ends, it would be
30:08Colston Loveland who in the Bears final four games last year, week 17, 18, and then the first two rounds of the
30:14playoffs, 10, 15, 10, and 13 targets in those four games.
30:17High leverage stakes, by the way, like big games.
30:20And each of those games, he led the Bears in targets.
30:23Like it became clear that not only does Caleb Williams trust Colston Loveland, but that Ben Johnson knows the guy that's going
30:30to give defenses the hardest time play in and play out is our ridiculously athletic tight end that we drafted 10th overall last year.
30:36Yeah. And the first guy that Ben Johnson ever drafted once he got to the Bears.
30:41It was the very first guy that Ben Johnson went ahead and grabbed.
30:45All right, field, give me one more breakout. My other breakout pick.
30:48I got to remind myself here because I sent him to Damian.
30:52And of course, I'm now forgetting it. Let's see.
30:54Ah, yes. Well, it's in Jacksonville. Washington. There we go.
30:57Parker Washington. Jeez, that's seeing your moment right there.
31:00You're rubbing off on me. Parker Washington, who down the stretch last season was awesome.
31:04Parker Washington, who from basically week eight on was the best player, best wide receiver on the Jaguars roster and a top
31:1120 wide receiver in the second half of last season.
31:1314.9 fantasy points per game from weeks. I think it was eight through 18 or nine through 18.
31:19Excuse me. For context, that was better than guys like CeeDee Lamb, Zay Flowers, who were being drafted well ahead of him.
31:25And CeeDee Lamb, understandably so. CeeDee Lamb is an absolute rock star.
31:28It was kind of a weird season for CeeDee last year.
31:32But Parker Washington was awesome last season down the stretch.
31:35And he actually was helped when Jacoby Myers was on the field.
31:38So if one of your arguments against Parker Washington is, hey, lots of mouths to feed.
31:43Travis Hunter and Brian Thomas Jr. and Jacoby Myers.
31:45Well, he was a more efficient player when Jacoby Myers was on the field versus off the field as Parker Washington.
31:51On top of it, I think that Travis Hunter for now is just a role player on offense and maybe a small
31:58role player because they think very highly of him as a corner.
32:01I think you should probably play him a lot more wide receiver.
32:05That's neither here nor there. And then Brian Thomas Jr.
32:07We'll see. Like there's not a lot of indications from this specific regime that they feel as though Brian Thomas Jr.
32:14is a clear wide receiver one, which after his rookie season in which he absolutely smashed down the stretch with Mac Jones,
32:20I think the Jaguars would have said as a franchise, we have a potential top five wide receiver in the making.
32:26Parker Washington feels like the Jaguars wide receiver one.
32:29Trevor Lawrence has renewed confidence. Second straight year in a system.
32:32I think Parker has a big year. Completely agree.
32:34I have him ranked the highest among all the Jaguars wide receivers.
32:38And I think it's just because of he didn't come into the league with a lot of fanfare and it's a small market team.
32:45Like Parker, I think the perception is that Parker Washington is just a guy.
32:49This guy can play. He is a legitimate wide receiver.
32:52And I think he's, you know, if you think about what Chris Godwin did under Liam Cohen in Tampa Bay, like it's
32:58basically the same role here for Parker Washington, who from week nine on had a 23% target share on this team.
33:04Again, with Brian Thomas out there, with Jacoby Myers out there.
33:07So he was earning targets with a lot of competition out there.
33:11So I'm with you. I am as a top 30 wide receiver here.
33:14I'm, you know, 64 overall. He's going, you know, many spots lower in consensus ADP where he's going like 69.
33:20So I'm in on Parker Washington this year field.
33:23And another guy that I'm in on in a big way is Christian Watson.
33:27Talked about him yesterday with Dwayne McFarlane. And just like, he's not playing the X anymore.
33:32He's going to play the Z. He's not just this guy who's going to be doing deep, you know, just doing nothing but, you know, deep runs.
33:39Obviously, health is a concern with Watson. But I'm in on the Packers passing game overall, partially because of the question marks
33:46at the running back position, but also because, again, you know, Romeo Dobbs, Dontavian Wicks, they're out.
33:51And so it's much more concentrated. And so as much as we like Matthew Golden, much as we like Jaden Reed, Christian
33:57Watson is the number one wide receiver on what I believe will be an above average passing offense with a good quarterback as well.
34:04Think about last year where he got 42% of the Packers end zone targets last year.
34:08He's had 19 career games with at least a 20% target share.
34:12He's averaging 16 fantasy points per game. And I think him getting to a 20% target share this year won't be tough,
34:18again, given the fact that I think they pass more and I think there's less competition for targets.
34:24So I'm so in on Watson this year. Yeah, our ears were burning collectively when we were preparing for this show, Matt,
34:30because way too much crossover here in shared opinions.
34:32Watson's been one of my guys this preseason as well.
34:35Okay, great. And it just felt like something clicked for him down the stretch last year.
34:40And when you're thinking about breakouts, I think there's sort of two ways to approach it.
34:45Sometimes there's the obvious ones, right? Like year one to year two players, Colston Loveland, Damarian Hampton.
34:50And those are guys that, you know, Ashton Jenty, that is my boss.
34:53But still, like year one to year two is a natural year for a breakout.
34:58Sometimes it's the breakout players for me are the guys where they haven't done it over a prolonged period of time, but
35:04your gut's just sort of telling you it, right?
35:07Like you know the talent is there. They just haven't produced at that level.
35:11And in Christian Watson's case, like he hasn't had a 1,000-yard season.
35:14He hasn't had a 621-yard season. I believe 620 is his career high in receiving yards for a single year.
35:20But every time he catches a touchdown pass, I'm like, God, this guy is so incredibly talented, incredibly fast, obviously, a great vertical threat.
35:27I have Jordan Love as my QB6 team, which is higher than industry ranking as well.
35:31I think this Packers offense is just put much more in the lap of Jordan Love than it was last year.
35:37I'll point to those games against the Bears down the stretch last year, including the playoff game.
35:42They had a big lead, and the foot came off the gas pedal.
35:46They made the game much more of a running game than a Jordan Love game.
35:50I think that's going to shift this season, which benefits the pass catchers.
35:54There's no question about it. All right, Field, we've got 17 minutes left, so let's try to – we can do this.
36:01Fantasy sleepers. And, you know, here are the regulars.
36:03I know a lot of people know him as Kenneth Gainwell, but the regulars call him Kenneth Catchwell.
36:08But I know he's a sleeper for you this year.
36:11He is because he was fifth in the NFL amongst running back catches last season.
36:16Like, the names that you're talking about at the very top of the running back catch leaderboard, like Christian McCaffrey, Jameer Gibbs, B.
36:22John Robinson, Chase Brown. Those guys are all regarded as first-round locks or, like, near first-round players in the case of Chase Brown.
36:29Certainly a top-10 running back this year. Then you have good old Kenny G or Kenny Catchwell, who just is the most
36:35reliable player week in and week out, or was last year for that Pittsburgh offense.
36:40He got named the team MVP. Now, you're not going to have a bunch of rushing output for Kenny G, and I
36:46think it's important to acknowledge that with fantasy, roster construction matters so much.
36:50I use the term sometimes you need the stakes, sometimes you need the sizzle, right?
36:54The sizzle is the guy, like maybe Christian Watson, who, if things go really well for Christian Watson, you could have a
37:00player who well outperforms ADP because his upside is really high.
37:04Sometimes you need the stake. Hey, it's whatever, week seven, and there's six teams on a bye, and you're like, yeah, I
37:10guess Kenny G can be my RB2 this week.
37:13And he may not get you 30 points. He might not get you 20 points.
37:17But you can take a 12 or a 14-point effort from Kenny G.
37:21Maybe it's six catches for 64 yards and a handful of carries as well, as opposed to rolling the dice on a guy, I'll use him again, J.K.
37:29Dobbins, where he might get 19 rushing attempts, but they might go for 62 yards, and you might have one target in that game.
37:36So the pass-catching upside of Kenny G makes him one of the ideal depth-level running backs, and he's going right outside the
37:42top 100 on ESPN ADP as well. Yeah, I think he's a value everywhere.
37:46He's somebody that we've talked about a lot on this show as well.
37:50Crazy stat. Producer Damian, look this up. Crazy stat here.
37:5313%. We all know about Kenneth Gainwell's catches and his ability as a receiver.
37:57But this is 13% of Kenneth Gainwell's rushes last year gained 10 or more yards.
38:01That was the seventh highest. Yeah, that was the seventh highest rate among running backs that had at least 100 carries.
38:07So, and I will tell you, in the offseason, I was talking to a Tampa Bay team source who was telling me,
38:13like, they love him already in Tampa Bay. They obviously paid him significantly.
38:17But more importantly, like, they're, you know, I was talking to this source about how good he is as a pass catcher,
38:24and they're like, oh, and as a runner, like, you should see him between the tackles.
38:28You should see him at the goal line. And that might sort of, you know, my eyes went up.
38:34I'm like, oh, oh, so they're starting to use him that way as well.
38:38And so, you know, I think people are going to be surprised at how much Kenneth Gainwell is on the field for Tampa Bay this year.
38:45My guy, one of my sleepers field moving on is Casey Concepcion.
38:49You know I'm a College Station guy. You know Texas A&M.
38:52Of course. I watch a lot of him. We've talked, yeah, we've talked a lot about him.
38:57But I just, I feel like in terms of, we always talk about fantasy success comes from talent and opportunity.
39:03And I think Casey Concepcion has both of them.
39:05I love the talent. He's a first-round talent. He's somebody that, similar to Zay Flowers, that he can do all the gadgets and stuff.
39:12He can, but he's also a bigger body. Like, this is somebody fielding, you know, you scouted him well before I did.
39:18But this is somebody that can, you know, that can win contested catches.
39:22That is a bigger, that can do all the gadgety stuff that like Zay Flowers did at Munkin's offense in Baltimore, but
39:29also can get down the field, can win those 50-50 balls.
39:32And there's obviously opportunity in Cleveland that needs some wide receivers to step up.
39:36So I think he's going to touch the ball a lot.
39:39They're going to manufacture touches for Casey Concepcion. And unlike my guy, Kenny Catchwell, he is free, right?
39:44Concepcion. Like, I don't know, his ADP is, I guess, almost 120.
39:48So not quite free, right? But you've reached the point where the players, from a certain point in the draft until the
39:54end of the draft, all kind of blend together, right?
39:57Like, you don't exactly know that any of them, none of them are necessarily guarantees, but you're looking for the most upside.
40:03And I have some serious questions about the passing offense in this Browns, for the Browns this year.
40:08But if you're banking on a guy from this passing offense, I would rather shoot for the moon in case things work out well.
40:15And Concepcion, who had 25 receiving touchdowns in three years of college, two punt return touchdowns last year, he's a big play waiting to happen.
40:23So why not see if he can replicate that at the NFL level?
40:26Yeah, I also think given the quarterback questions in Cleveland, I think they will try to manufacture touches for KC Concepcion.
40:32So I really like him as well. You know what, Field?
40:36One of the drafts that you and I are in right now, you and I are in a guillotine league draft, and
40:42I would encourage everyone to try guillotineleagues.com and check out a guillotine league draft.
40:46It's such a fun way to play, and you and I have been in one for a number of years.
40:52So obviously, listen, I own the company, so I do a ton of these drafts.
40:56I've done a ton of specifically guillotine league drafts.
40:59But one player I wind up with a lot in guillotine leagues is Wandel Robinson.
41:03Yeah, you could win some cool trivia bets with this one here.
41:06Over the past two years, did you know? Let me get the exact stat before I screw it up.
41:12That, actually, this is actually just a fun list.
41:15There are five players over the past two years who have 90 or more catches in each of those two seasons.
41:21I'm for the lead of the witness here to answer who one of them is.
41:25But can you name the other four? Because the list is a who's who of NFL superstars.
41:30So it's who's had at least 90 receptions? I'll give them to you.
41:34Okay, go for it. In each of the past two seasons.
41:37No surprises here. Jamar Chase, right? Yeah. Amon Ross St.
41:40Brown. Jackson Smith and Jigba. Oh, yeah. And Trey McBride to go along with Wandel Robinson.
41:44Yeah. Over the past two years. He's got 185 catches, which is seventh in the NFL.
41:49He's got a he's six in the NFL and targets during that time.
41:53I understand that was in different circumstances. He was in New York playing for the Giants.
41:57Obviously, Malik Nabors got hurt last year. But there's at least a chance he's wide receiver one for Tennessee, who, of course,
42:04now coordinated by his old head coach, Brian Dayball.
42:06He's just a darn good player. Probably underappreciated. Probably miscast as just a slot guy.
42:11Remember that week two game? Russell Wilson throws for 400 plus yards against the Dallas Cowboys.
42:15Wandel was a guy down the field making plays for the Giants as well.
42:19So I just think we're going to get to week seven.
42:22You're going to go to the ESPN stats page and Wandel is going to be 12th in catches.
42:28You're going to say, how on earth is this possible?
42:31But he's not being drafted anywhere near to a player who could be a top 10 to 15 target and catch getter.
42:37Getter? Yeah. Target and catch guy this upcoming season.
42:40Yeah. Look, I'm with you. I mean, and you mentioned Dayball.
42:43I mean, like this is somebody that had at least 140 targets each of the last two years under Brian Dayball when they were with the Giants.
42:50And then Brian Dayball was part of the regime that said, hey, here's $70 million to come to Tennessee.
42:56Yeah. 17, right? Yeah. No, 70. I'm saying 70.
42:59Yeah. I'm right. I was just emphasizing. Yeah. Four years, 70.
43:02Yeah. I was like, but you know, I never question you when it comes to contract stuff, you know.
43:07But yeah, four years, $70 million, $38 million guaranteed to come to Tennessee.
43:11And so, I mean, that's a big statement. And as much as everyone's excited about Carnell Tate, I think especially at cost, I'm with you, Field.
43:19I think Wanda Robinson will be the better fantasy value.
43:21I think there's a very decent chance that Wanda Robinson just has the better fantasy season, period, than Carnell Tate.
43:27But I definitely think at cost, I think he absolutely has the better season, you know, especially because, you know, he understands the offense.
43:34He'll understand an offense in a way that, you know, Tate's a rookie and still learning Dayball's playbook.
43:39So, yeah, and he's just so consistent. He's such a targeter.
43:42That's why I love him in guillotine, especially where you're looking more for floor than you are for upside.
43:48And I think there's upside for Wanda. But he's a guy that, again, is going very late in drafts.
43:53He's going like in the 10th, 11th round. And he's somebody that I really like in that range.
43:59Totally. As well. All right. So, hey, you are Mr.
44:02First Draft. You and the legend Mel Kuyper Jr.
44:04You do the First Draft podcast all throughout the year.
44:07You go to the Senior Bowl in mobile. You're part of ESPN's coverage for that and, of course, of the NFL draft.
44:13So I'm curious where you feel about my last sleeper, and that's Broncos running back Jonah Coleman.
44:18I have a ton of Jonah Coleman this year.
44:21I just, again, we know he's going to get in the field, you know, talent and opportunity.
44:26I believe in his talent. I'd love for you to break down his talent.
44:30But more importantly, I think there's going to be an opportunity.
44:33Sean Payton always uses multiple running backs. So I think you're going to see him, Dobbins, and Harvey.
44:38I think they got a look at R.J. Harvey lead running back last year, and they didn't like what they saw.
44:44And again, to your point about, you know, some people going like, my bus is J.K.
44:49Dobbins. Like, the fact is, is, you know, much to the chagrin of my Dynasty team and our league together, J.K.
44:55Dobbins can't stay healthy. And so I do think, I've said this many times in the preseason, I believe over the second
45:01half of the year, Jonah Coleman is the starting running back of the Denver Broncos.
45:06I think he's somebody that Harvey can't be a, you know, first or second down back.
45:10Dobbins doesn't catch passes. Coleman can do all three.
45:13And I think, I think by the second half of the season, the Broncos will realize he is their best option at running back.
45:20What say you, Field Minister Yates? So the first half of this is the evaluation.
45:24This is an incredibly elusive runner. He is a small back that plays big.
45:28He's got some power. He's got certainly some quickness, some lateral agility.
45:32He can make you miss. He's explosive. As a runner, he was so fun to watch during his time at Washington and previously Arizona as well.
45:39Really liked the player. Went on day three in part because of the size.
45:43He's just a, there's just not as much evidence of five foot nine, 206 pound running backs holding out for, you know,
45:50a decade as a running back in their NFL career.
45:52But I did like the player a whole lot.
45:55And you know, Sean Payton's one of those coaches that when he gets a crush on a guy, he makes sure he
46:01gets his hands on that player in the draft and wants to utilize him.
46:05The second and I think more important construct here is that I think there are essentially two types of players in fantasy football.
46:12One is the season long guys. Like if Justin Jefferson is good for five games this upcoming year and then tapers for
46:18eight weeks, kind of like last year, then he's going to be a categorical bust.
46:23We're going to be pulling our hair out over the idea of once again, investing big in Justin Jefferson.
46:28I'm optimistic there, but just as an example, season long players versus pocket players, right?
46:33Like you're not saying you're advocating for Jonah Coleman because you expect him week one to be 30th in your running back rankings.
46:39The idea is, can you draft a Jonah Coleman in the 13th round, wherever it is, 14th round, stash him.
46:45And then week 10, the tides turn and it's no longer the J.K.
46:49Dobbins or the R.J. Harvey show. It's instead Jonah Coleman has taken over as the Broncos lead back.
46:54And it's like finding money, right? Running backs that you get either on the waiver wire or late in your draft before
47:00they can even reach waiver wire status are incredibly valuable to season long roster construction.
47:05So Coleman may prove to be zero value for half the season or all of the season.
47:10But as you go around the NFL and look at depth charts and you look at guys that are sort of ostensibly
47:16the third running back on their roster, Jonah Coleman is probably more valuable than I'm trying to think of another third running
47:22back who might be as valuable as him. And I'm having a hard time coming up with an easy and obvious answer.
47:29Right. Yeah. I mean, you know, yeah, same. Right.
47:31I mean, there's there's just you know, there's there's like the third down backs, the whatever the.
47:36Yeah, they're specialists. Right. You know? Yeah. Yeah. Whatever.
47:39Taj Brooks. But but yeah, to your point, like I always talk about that, you know, we say this slightly different.
47:45It's the same point, but I say it slightly differently.
47:48But like I always say this, like in my draft day manifesto available for free on fantasy life dot com.
47:54I'm still a company man, Phil Yates. But like I talk about the fact that like fantasy is a weekly game.
48:00It's not a yearly game. It is a weekly game that's played over the course of a year.
48:05And so, yes, to your point, you're going to need those Justin Jefferson types, the CD Lambs, the guys that that are
48:11consistent, you know, even though neither was last year, but guys that you can start every week that, you know, no brainers.
48:18But then there's going to be weeks where like, you know, last year there were three weeks where Kamani Vidal was, you
48:24know, very important to anyone that had him on their roster.
48:27Right. And so you need guys like that that will fill in here and there.
48:31And so I think there's a number of and especially because it's not just about players that have spike weeks, but it's
48:38about knowing when to when to start that player, you know, so that you can take advantage that spike week.
48:44And so there are players like, you know, I think Coleman's a cut above.
48:48But you think about whether it's Tank Bigsby or Ray Davis in Buffalo, Emmitt Johnson in Kansas City.
48:53Like there are guys like that that you feel like in a world where the starter wasn't available, they would be somebody
48:59that you would feel very good about starting that week because we like their talent and we certainly like the opportunity that
49:05they would have when we get there. Hey, you know, we've got a few minutes left here.
49:10So I'm just going to ask you because I'm sure you guys have talked about this on Focus.
49:16I just want to get your take on the Green Bay situation.
49:19Just speaking about, you know, again, you know, talent meeting opportunity, certainly big there for Marshawn Lloyd.
49:24How are you approaching the Packers running backs this year?
49:27Yeah, I think it's been interesting to see it through both the guillotine lens, right?
49:31Because I think Lloyd went really early. Had our draft started prior to the Josh Jacob news?
49:36No, it was we're doing a slow draft, you know, over email.
49:40So so the news broke when somebody was on the clock.
49:43So right. And so I think Lloyd ends up going much earlier there.
49:46I am excited about Marshawn Lloyd as a prospect.
49:49He was a very capable runner at South Carolina and then USC.
49:53Good athlete, good size. The Packers have shown some real loyalty to him because he has been a frustrating player during his
49:59first few seasons or two seasons in the NFL.
50:02Injured more often than he has been available. I'm also trying not to get too far in over my skis for two reasons.
50:08One is he's always hurt. And if he's always been hurt when he hasn't been playing, is he really going to hold
50:15up when he is potentially playing in a 15 to 20 opportunity per game role?
50:19We'll see. Second of all, none of us know.
50:21And I mean, none of us, not you, not me, not the most, not Adam Schefter, not the Green Bay Packers.
50:28None of us know how long this Josh Jacobs suspension is going.
50:31I'm not suspension, but this commissioner's exempt list stay is going to last.
50:35There's been some recent examples that make me think that at least a handful, five games is in play here for Josh Jacobs.
50:41But there is a world, and this is incredibly unlikely.
50:44I'm just saying by the letter of, or by the rule of commissioner's exempt list, Josh Jacobs could be off the commissioner's exempt list by tomorrow.
50:52If the NFL concluded its investigation, that's not going to happen.
50:55I think it's going to be a prolonged period of time, but we don't know if it's five weeks, if it's eight weeks, if it's the whole season.
51:03And those are very different outcomes, which Marshawn Lloyd got a big bump to me, right around RB30 for me in my season long rankings.
51:10But I also acknowledge that the minute Josh Jacobs is back, if he is back, Marshawn Lloyd could become totally useless as far as fantasy is concerned.
51:18I'm a little more bullish on the opportunity. I am at running back 25, but you're 100% right.
51:23It's a real question mark here. And I feel like Josh Jacobs, so where I ranked him, I ranked him at running back 52.
51:30And I think the only way you draft Josh Jacobs is in a couple of scenarios.
51:35One is if you play in a league where you have a not available slot.
51:39So you don't have to waste a roster spot on him.
51:42Not IR, but suspended players or whatever are allowed to go there.
51:46So number one is that. I have him ranked after like the tank Bigsby's of the world, after kind of the high value insurance running backs.
51:53So I think if you're in a draft where you just sort of, you know, you kind of punted on the position
52:00and you just, you have some question marks and you're just like, I need to swing for the offenses here.
52:05I just need some upside because I just don't really love how the position played out for me.
52:11Then I don't mind that. Because again, they're, you know, when Josh Jacobs is on the field, he's as good as there is in fantasy football.
52:18But I also think, I think there's a scenario where the Packers could potentially cut him as well.
52:23So it's, you know, what I've said to people is, hey, don't draft him with the understanding that you may not get any games out of him.
52:31You just have to do it. We have less than a minute left field.
52:35Thank you so much. This was a real treat.
52:38So I miss doing shows with you, brother. So this was really fun.
52:42Thanks for, I know you're super busy. I appreciate you making the time.
52:45No, thanks for having me on. It sort of took me down memory lane here.
52:50There's some nostalgia that has been felt over the past hour or so.
52:53And we started with you announcing the news about your son getting engaged.
52:57Let's end right there. A big congratulations to your entire family.
53:00I hope they choose an awesome place to get married.
53:03But most importantly, it sounds like he has chosen the perfect person to spend the rest of his life with.
53:09So mazel tov to the entire family. Thank you, Field.
53:12Thank you. My love to Chapin and your entire beautiful family.
53:15Follow Field on all social media. But if you follow him on Instagram at Field Yates, you'll get to see his beautiful family.
53:22Listen, Field, tomorrow, another reunion show. Star Fania Bell makes her debut on the happy hour.
53:26So Stefania will be here. But it's closing time, which means you don't have to go home, but you can stay here for Field Yates.
53:34I'm Matthew Berry. Peace out.
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