Press Coverage - 2026 Fantasy Football's Biggest Storylines
STACKED extracted the fantasy-relevant player signal from this podcast and kept the full transcript here for context.
28 min
Duration
Estimated from transcript
Sep 10, 2026
Published
Thu, September 10, 2026
18
Player insights
17
Players mentioned
Topics
Terrance FergusonBrian Thomas Jr.Brock BowersCam WardCharlie KolarChuba HubbardColston LovelandFernando MendozaGunnar HelmHarold FanninJonathon BrooksKirk CousinsKyler MurrayOronde Gadsden
Player analysis
Player insights
Brian Thomas Jr.
NegativeRole3:24
Brian Thomas Jr. struggled in his second year after a strong rookie campaign, dealing with injuries and off-field issues. The source notes that attempts to move him into a slot/middle-of-field role failed, and while he is more effective working outside, his usage has become inconsistent and boom-bust.
Insight pageBrock Bowers
PositiveUsage14:09
Brock Bowers enters year three as a superstar tight end for the Raiders. Despite injury issues in year two, he remains a focal point of the offense and a key piece of the team's potential breakout under Clint Kubiak.
Insight pageCam Ward
NegativeBust25:31
Cam Ward had a rough rookie season, characterized by poor decision-making and holding the ball too long. While he has arm talent, the source expresses concern that his development may have been 'broken' by the awful surroundings in his rookie year, making him a risky prospect for 2026 despite some roster improvements.
Insight pageCharlie Kolar
NegativeUsage20:20
The source notes that expectations for Charlie Colar's playing time are a key factor in evaluating the fantasy value of his teammates, though he is not explicitly recommended as a starter.
Insight pageChuba Hubbard
NegativeUsage20:46
Chuba Hubbard remains a solid, reliable NFL running back for the Panthers, but the source notes he lacks the explosive play-making ability the team desires. He will likely share the backfield with Jonathan Brooks, and his role will depend on whether Brooks proves healthy and effective.
Insight pageColston Loveland
PositiveBreakout25:46
Colson Loveland is a prime breakout candidate for the Bears in year two. After a strong 2025 playoff performance, he is expected to be a primary target in a condensed offense alongside Burden and Adunze. The source suggests he could lead the team in targets.
Insight pageFernando Mendoza
PositiveBreakout12:21
As the number one overall pick, Fernando Mendoza is expected to take over the Raiders' starting quarterback job early in the 2026 season. The source views him as a high-upside prospect who will likely displace Kirk Cousins quickly.
Insight pageGunnar Helm
PositiveSleeper22:02
Gunnar Helm is a sleeper candidate for 2026. His rookie season was hindered by a poor Titans offense and bad quarterback play, and his combine testing was skewed by an ankle injury. He has a path to becoming the third option in the Titans' passing attack, especially if the team is playing from behind, making him a player to monitor for best ball and potential redraft value.
Insight pageHarold Fannin
NegativeUsage29:01
Harold Fannin is a talented target earner for the Browns, but his fantasy ceiling is capped by poor team offense and quarterback play. Despite the addition of Casey Concepcion and Denzel Boston, Fannin is expected to maintain a 22-25% target share.
Insight pageJonathon Brooks
NegativeUsage20:24
Jonathan Brooks is expected to share the Panthers' backfield with Chuba Hubbard in a 50-50 split to start 2026. While the team clearly values his pass-catching and explosive potential, his health following two ACL surgeries remains the primary variable in his ability to seize a larger role.
Insight pageKirk Cousins
NegativeDepth Chart12:16
Kirk Cousins is the Raiders' starter, but the source expects rookie Fernando Mendoza to take over the starting job early in the season. Cousins is viewed as a temporary stopgap rather than a long-term solution.
Insight pageKyler Murray
PositiveValue7:15
Kyler Murray is in the best situation of his career with the Vikings, paired with Kevin O'Connell. Despite persistent flaws in throwing over the middle, the source argues Murray was significantly undervalued in summer drafts and has the potential to be a top-tier fantasy quarterback if the coaching staff successfully highlights his strengths.
Insight pageOronde Gadsden
NegativeUsage30:50
Rondé Gadsden is a rotational tight end for the Chargers whose ceiling is limited by the team's commitment to multiple tight ends, including Charlie Colar. While he showed flashes in 2025, he is a better best-ball asset than a reliable redraft starter.
Insight pageParker Washington
PositiveBreakout2:01
Parker Washington is the clear breakout candidate for the Jaguars after an ascending 2025 season where he was the team's best wide receiver by a wide margin. The source notes consistent, nonstop positive drumbeat from camp and expectations of a contract extension.
Insight pageTerrance Ferguson
PositiveRole20:37
Terrence Ferguson displayed a unique role in 2025 as a deep threat out of heavy personnel, averaging over 18 yards per reception. While his college profile was as an after-the-catch specialist, his ability to stretch the field makes his potential 'endless.' The Rams view him as a WR3/tight end hybrid, and he is considered a fantastic pick due to his high-leverage opportunities in a high-scoring offense.
Insight pageNegativeRole33:57
Terrence Ferguson had a unique 2025 role as the Rams' deep threat out of heavy personnel, averaging over 18 yards per reception. This high aDOT role is atypical for a tight end and makes him a fascinating player to watch in 2026.
Insight pageTravis Hunter
NegativeUsage5:36
Travis Hunter's offensive usage is a major 2026 storyline. While he showed breakout potential before a 2025 injury, the Jaguars' current receiver depth makes his offensive role uncertain. It remains to be seen if he will have a set offensive package or if he requires teammate injuries to see significant snaps.
Insight pageTyler Warren
PositiveBreakout27:31
Tyler Warren is a breakout candidate for year two, having performed at a high level in 2025 before his quarterback's injury. With Michael Pittman gone, Warren is positioned to be a primary target earner in the Colts' offense.
Insight pageFull transcript
Episode Transcript
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0:38Welcome on into another episode of Press Coverage. We help you gain an edge in fantasy football.
0:43I'm your host as always, Wyatt Bertalone. And today, we're talking about some of the biggest storylines heading into the 2026 season.
0:50The season is here. I'm recording this on Tuesday of the first week of the NFL season.
0:55Tomorrow, there's a real NFL game for the regular season.
0:58The first one, I'm super excited. And I just want to talk about some of the things that I'm watching for in
1:05this season to really shape the NFL season in 2026 and the fantasy football season and beyond.
1:10And I think the big thing that I want to start off with is the Jaguars wide receivers because I think it's
1:17been one of the most talked about topics in fantasy football this offseason.
1:21Number one, we've got Parker Washington who's been kind of the bell of the ball after his great end to the 2025 season.
1:28Coming into the offseason, it's just been all hype for him all the way up leading up to the season.
1:34The drumbeat has been consistent and nonstop for him coming out of Jaguars camp.
1:38Sounds like we're going to get an extension for him at some point by the Jaguars.
1:43It's really exciting to see what he can do.
1:46He's just been ascending ever since he's been drafted by the Jaguars.
1:50Kind of culminating in that end of season run he had at the end of 2025 where he was easily the best
1:56wide receiver the Jaguars had and it wasn't particularly close.
2:00No one was putting up numbers close to him coming into the season.
2:04Can he keep that going? And then we've got Brian Thomas Jr.
2:07He has the incredible rookie season and then flops in year two.
2:11He had a lot of stuff going on. He dealt with dealing with some injuries.
2:15There was some off the field stuff. It seemed like maybe he wasn't quite fitting into where they thought he could be in his second year.
2:23Liam Cohn in the Jags offense tried to like make him into a little bit more of over the cross the middle
2:30of the field working in a little bit more.
2:33It wasn't really working out. You kind of put him back just straight outside working down the field mostly and that did
2:40really work for him, but he wasn't getting as much work in that role.
2:44It was a little bit more consistent a little bit more boom bust.
2:48Is he going to be that is he gonna be his rookie season is gonna be somewhere in between gotta be watching for that Jacoby Myers.
2:56They trade for him mid 2025 season after Travis Hunter goes down.
2:59He's really productive for them once he gets there gets a contract extension in season, but then kind of takes a step
3:06back to Parker Washington at the end of the season coming into 2026.
3:10You know, it's not really even talked about like you rarely even hear Jacoby Myers name in NFL circles or fancy football
3:17circles going to the season and he's Jacoby Myers.
3:20I mean, this is just kind of who he's been through his entire NFL career.
3:24No one's ever really talking about him. He just kind of goes out there and gets the job done whenever he's called upon.
3:31How much will he get called upon in 2026 though with these other wide receivers around him?
3:36And then of course Travis Hunter. How much is he gonna play on offense?
3:41You know, before he got his injury in 2025, he started to break out the game directly before his injury was his
3:47signature game goes for over 100 yards has this great game, but then he gets injured.
3:52We don't see him again. And that's when we get the Jacoby Myers trade.
3:57We get Parker Washington ascending and then you know going into this offseason.
4:01It seems like well Jaguars aren't hurting for wide receiver help.
4:04They got plenty of talent there. So they don't really need Travis Hunter play on that side of the ball too much,
4:11but Travis Hunter wants to play on both sides of the ball.
4:14Jaguars want him to play on both sides of the ball, but how much on offense does he really play?
4:20Does he require an injury or two before he's really doing anything on offense or they're gonna have a set amount of
4:27plays designed for him every game and he's actually gonna be a factor.
4:31This is something that I'm really interested to see in 2026.
4:35The next topic I want to talk about is Kyler Murray joining the Vikings and what's that gonna look like in 2026?
4:41Because Kyler Murray has been a quarterback who when he got to the NFL, it looked like he was gonna be one
4:48of the next great quarterbacks in the NFL. He had dual threat ability despite his size.
4:53He had really good arm strength and some really good arm talent.
4:57And he was really good for a rookie and directly after that he was even better, but he didn't get any better than that.
5:04All the flaws that he had earlier his career, he still has.
5:08He still has trouble seeing over the middle of field.
5:11Some of that has to do with his height.
5:13There's no way around it, but he's struggled to find a way to make it work across the middle of field and
5:20being able to throw in the middle of field is really important, especially in today's NFL.
5:25So he still has some of these flaws that he's always had.
5:29And that's kind of made some people sour on Kyler Murray a little bit.
5:33Like what is his ceiling really in the NFL?
5:36How good of a quarterback can he really be if he can't get past these things?
5:41But now he's with Minnesota where I would say it's the best situation of his career with what he's got around him.
5:47Plus coaching. Can he get back on track with the Vikings?
5:51Can he be what he was earlier in his career?
5:54Because that was better than what we've seen from him lately.
5:57Can he be better than that with Vikings? You know, if he could be even better, we're not just talking about like a really good NFL QB.
6:05We're talking about one of the better fantasy QBs and he was not being drafted that way at all.
6:11Even if you get just back to like what we're kind of used to seeing in Arizona, like he was really undervalued this summer.
6:18I'm really interested to see how he's able to fit in with the Vikings.
6:23And if he's able to correct any of the problems he's had in his past, if those problems persist, if it matters
6:29if they persist, is Kevin O'Connell able to coach around those problems that Kyler Murray has had?
6:35Because I think that's part of the equation here too, is that Kevin O'Connell's been a very good coach at putting his players in a position to win.
6:43So is he going to play around Kyler Murray's problems and kind of craft an offense to just highlight his strengths and then help Kyler Murray succeed?
6:52You know, Murray's just there on a one year deal.
6:55He's going to be looking for a contract extension or moving on from the Vikings to get that bigger contract somewhere else.
7:01So he's surely going to be trying his best.
7:04You know, we like to say like NFL players shouldn't need any motivation, but sometimes they do need that little extra motivation.
7:11And maybe that's it for Kyler Murray this season, but I'm really interested to see how that's going to go.
7:17Third topic of the day is what's going to go on with the Raiders?
7:21How good are they going to be under Clint Kubiak now there as head coach?
7:26I don't think we can really say enough how much Clint Kubiak matters for a team.
7:31We really saw last year with the Seahawks what he can do for an NFL offense.
7:36So what can he do for the Raiders? You know, they're going to have Kirk Cousins starting the season, but Fernando Mendoza is going to get in there.
7:44I think sooner rather than later wouldn't be surprised me if he's in within a couple games.
7:49Number one overall pick was a good prospect for the number one overall pick too.
7:54So like would not surprise me at all if he's in pretty early.
7:58I would say in almost all other scenarios, he's definitely just starting week one.
8:02It's just a little bit of a unique situation with their with the Raiders with Tom Brady kind of run the show a bit there.
8:10He kind of wants the mentoring to happen. But, you know, this is a team where.
8:15Kirk Cousins isn't the best, you know, stopgap in between him and Kirk Cousins.
8:19So I don't think Kirk Cousins are between him and Mendoza.
8:22So I don't think Cousins is going to be able to hold off Mendoza for too long.
8:28So I expect to see Mendoza early. Can Ashen Gentie get, you know, back on track to what we were hoping for
8:34from him coming out of college with this offensive line, getting a little bit healthier, getting some additions with Clint Kubiak's offense,
8:41you know, helping put them in a better situation.
8:44Can this offensive line get back on track and really help Gentie and the passing game?
8:49What will Brock Bowers do in year three after spending spending a lot of year two injured, but still looking really good whenever you're playing?
8:56You know, there's a lot of potential here in this offense, even if with the week wide receiver core, because of we've got a superstar tight end.
9:04We've got a really good running back. The quarterback was a good prospect.
9:08What can happen here with Clint Kubiak at the helm?
9:12There's a lot of potential and really excited to see if they're able to create some fantasy values for us and what
9:18they can be on offense and how they're going to trend or send into 2027 and beyond.
9:23Like, is this an offense? We're going to be looking at like a potential breakout offense in 2027.
9:29Are they a breakout offense in 2026? I'm really interested to see what they're going to do, but we're going to take
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11:59PrizePix, run your game. Welcome back to Press Coverage where we're talking about some of the biggest storylines heading into the 2026 NFL season.
12:07If you haven't liked and subscribed yet, please do so.
12:10If you're listening on your favorite podcast platform, rate us five stars.
12:13Leave a comment everywhere. Let me know what you're thinking about these storylines or maybe some of the things that you're watching
12:20the most going into this season and what you're really looking for.
12:24I'd love to hear from you. But the next thing I want to talk about is the Jonathan Brooks comeback or projected comeback.
12:31Now from two ACL tears in the same knee, missed all of 2025.
12:35But going into the 2026 offseason, you really seem like the Panthers moves were kind of showing us that they think that
12:42Jonathan Brooks was going to be a big part of their offense in 2026.
12:46You know, Rico Dowdle has this really exciting period of time as their starter while Chuba Hubbard was struggling, has multiple 200
12:53yard games and let him walk in free agency.
12:55And to me, that meant they expect Jonathan Brooks back and they expect him to be a big part of their offense.
13:02And really, that's come true throughout the offseason. They didn't make a big moves.
13:06There's kept Chuba Hubbard, Jonathan Brooks basically at the helm expecting those two to run this backfield.
13:12Chuba Hubbard spent some time on the sideline, allowing Jonathan Brooks to get more snaps of the first team offense.
13:18They utilized him in the preseason game showing like this is what they're excited about.
13:22The drumbeat has been very loud for Jonathan Brooks, talking a lot about his performance.
13:27Pass catchings where he really separates himself from Chuba Hubbard, where Chuba Hubbard is not a good pass catcher.
13:33Jonathan Brooks, that was one of the hallmarks of his profile coming into the NFL.
13:37Additionally, Jonathan Brooks was someone who created a lot of explosive runs in college, and we thought that that could transfer to the NFL.
13:45It's yet to be seen, and we don't know how he'll be able to do that as well coming off of two ACL surgeries.
13:52But Chuba Hubbard, while he was a fast and explosive running back in college, has been completely unable to really create explosives in the NFL.
14:00He's had some, but for the type of profile he was, he certainly isn't creating enough, and he's not creating enough for an NFL run game.
14:07Like offenses are really trying to find ways to create explosives, and Chuba Hubbard isn't quite doing that.
14:13So you can see why they're really hoping for Jonathan Brooks to break out.
14:17But the question remains, how healthy is he? You know, what does he look like compared to what he was coming into the NFL?
14:25And how much of this backfield can he actually take from Chuba Hubbard?
14:29You know, as much as I haven't praised Chuba Hubbard so far, I mean, he is a solid NFL running back.
14:35And you can use him wherever, however, you know, he is no slouch, right?
14:39And he is a running back where you do actually have to take the opportunities from him.
14:44He's not just giving them away by being bad.
14:47So Jonathan Brooks has to come in and impress and actually take some.
14:51I think to start the season, we're going to be looking at somewhat of a 50-50 split.
14:56And it's up to Jonathan Brooks and how well he plays to decide where it goes from there.
15:02Because a lot of things are on the table.
15:05Jonathan Brooks could come out, look healthy, be explosive, be a good pass catcher, and start taking more of the backfield opportunities.
15:11And they start to become, you know, 60-40 split, leaning Brooks' way.
15:15But he could come out, look like a shell of his former self, and, you know, maybe they go back to relying
15:22on Chuba Hubbard a little bit more because they know what they can get out of him and they don't want to count on Jonathan Brooks.
15:30So a lot of things could happen here in this backfield.
15:33I'm really interested to see which way it's going to go.
15:36Next, I want to talk about second-year tight ends because we got a really good class in 2025.
15:42And I'm really interested to see what they're going to do in 2026.
15:46First, we've got Colson Loveland who went on this awesome run to end the 2026 season into the playoffs.
15:52The signature moment for me was in the playoffs against the Packers.
15:55Tight game. They have to have a two-point conversion.
15:58And the play they draw up is to isolate Colson Loveland and get the ball to him.
16:03And he routes up his defender, catches the two-point conversion, and they're able to go on and win that game.
16:09When all the chips were on the line, they said, that's our guy.
16:13So I'm really excited to see what Colson Loveland can do in year two for the Bears, especially with the Bears kind
16:20of condensing the offense down a little bit this offseason with letting DJ Moore go via trade and not really placing him.
16:27They said, this is going to be Loveland, Burden, Adunze.
16:30That's what we're working with. That's who we care about.
16:33I think Loveland could lead this team in targets.
16:36It would not surprise me at all. He is already, for some people in the conversation of being in the same tier as Brock Bowers and Trey McBride.
16:44He's not quite there for me yet, but I think that he easily could be by the end of the season.
16:51I was really excited for that. We've got Tyler Warren, who was on a tear through most of the season.
16:57And, you know, it wasn't even until the end of the season that Colson Loveland became like the best tight end for this class.
17:04It was Tyler Warren for most of it until Daniel Jones got hurt and that offense cratered.
17:09And Tyler Warren wasn't able to do much at the end of the season.
17:14But before that, he was having an amazing rookie season.
17:17And like, if Daniel Jones doesn't get hurt, we might be talking about him as being in that same tier as Brock Bowers and Trey McBride.
17:25Now in this second season, Michael Pittman's moved on.
17:27Josh Downs is still there. Alec Pierce gets the big contract, but he's coming back from being injured.
17:33Another situation where like the targets are probably going to condense around those three.
17:37And would it be a surprise if Tyler Warren leads them in targets?
17:41I don't think so. Then we've got Harold Fannin came in immediately pushed David Njoku to the side, became the starting tight
17:48end for the Browns and had a really great season.
17:51He was held down a little bit by the Browns bad offense and bad QB play, but he still went on to have a really good rookie season.
18:00It's kind of just more of the same going into year two.
18:03Like he's obviously really talented. He's obviously a good target earner and amazing after the catch and all those things, but he's obviously.
18:10Bad Browns offense with bad QB play. Like, will that continue to hold him down?
18:15Can he continue to send through it? And then also the addition of Casey Concepcion and Denzel Boston.
18:20How much of the offense do they take? And will they take from Harold Fannin?
18:25I think there's a possibility that, you know, those three are just again, they're the main people in the offense and the targets kind of condensed around them.
18:33I think they could all coexist because there's plenty of useless targets that were going to other players that can now go
18:40to Casey Concepcion and Denzel Boston and Harold Fannin could continue to be a 22 to 25% target share player.
18:46So I think there's plenty of success available to him in 2026.
18:50We've got a Rondé Gadsden who had one of the best, you know, four game sample sizes that happened in this 2025 season among the rookie tight ends.
18:59He went on a tear there for a minute, but that's his kind of problem is that he is essentially just a big wide receiver.
19:06So he's not going to play as many snaps as other, those other guys.
19:10And there's a lot changing around him going into the 2026 season with Mike, but Daniel coming over as offensive coordinator.
19:17And then they sign Charlie Corleur to a nice contract.
19:20They pick up David Njoku later in the off season to a okay contract enough that it makes you think that he's
19:27going to at least be involved somewhat. And they bring in a fullback.
19:31This is a team that likes to run multiple tight ends though.
19:34So it's like, basically there's a lot of players who are expected to play it relevant snaps on this team.
19:40Can Rondé Gadsden continue to have some receiving role in this offense?
19:44I think, you know, the addition of Charlie Colar limited the overall ceiling for Gadsden just because it showed that the charters
19:51have a plan to make sure that he is still a rotational tight end.
19:55It's just, is he the rotating tight end who gets the majority of the opportunities for that room or not?
20:01And how inconsistent will it be? I kind of stood by that.
20:05I thought Rondé Gadsden was still a pretty good best ball pick throughout the off season as his ADP to continue to get higher and higher and higher.
20:13And he felt he fell in drafts. I thought there was a possibility that he could still end up being a good
20:20pick at the new prices, even with the new information of how much we expect Charlie Colar to play.
20:26He's a little bit tougher in redraft where it's hard to really put him in your starting lineup.
20:31But I'm really interested to see what his opportunities and his snaps look like for the chargers in 2026.
20:37Then we've got Terrence Ferguson, who had a very unique role for a tight end in 2025, where he was essentially the
20:44Rams deep threat out of heavy personnel. He had a very high a dot.
20:48He averaged over 18 yards of reception. It's a role we don't see for tight ends ever.
20:53And that's really fascinating and really interesting going into the next season, because that's not his profile coming into the NFL.
21:00You know, he's more of like a ball in hand after the catch tight end in college.
21:05So we know he can do that other stuff.
21:08But then he showed us that he can do this down the field stuff that most other tight ends can't do.
21:14So it kind of makes me feel like, well, the possibilities are endless for Terrence Ferguson.
21:19But we've also still got other tight ends there.
21:22We still got Puka Nakua, Devante Adams. So what's his role in the offense really going to be?
21:27How much of it can it be? The Rams have been talking like he's essentially their wide receiver three and part of the tight end rotation.
21:35So there's a possibility that Terrence Ferguson has a really unique role in the offense and does enough that we're thinking about starting him in redraft every week.
21:44And best of all, I thought he was a fantastic pick because of this potential and a really high scoring offense.
21:50And because he's going to be getting some, you know, high leverage opportunities in the offense.
21:55So really excited for that. And then lastly, I want to talk about here for these second year tight ends is Gunnar
22:02Helm, who a little bit of under the radar rookie season for the Titans, mostly because the Titans offense was so bad and Cam Ward wasn't good.
22:10Gunnar Helm, I think people don't realize how good of a prospect he was coming in the NFL because he had basically
22:17botched the combine testing because he twisted his ankle on his very first 40 yard dash attempt and then continued doing all the drills anyways.
22:25So all his testing was pretty bad, even though he's a better athlete than that.
22:29And really what it's about for Gunnar Helm is there's a path to opportunity there with the Titans.
22:35I mean, we've got Colonel Tate and Wandel Robinson who expect to be the top two targets in the team, but I
22:41could see him being the third option on the offense as a team that's probably playing from behind.
22:47So they might have to pass more than they plan to.
22:50If anything happens to Colonel Tate or Wandel Robinson, I imagine he'd have to step into a bigger role.
22:56So he's someone that I've been watching and thinking like, I think there's could be something here, you know, three tight end bills in best ball this offseason.
23:05I was really interested going into redraft season is not really draftable, but someone who's like, I'm kind of already thinking about
23:11watching, seeing what happens in an offense, how much role he has, because there's at least a possibility that we're thinking about screaming.
23:18Gunnar Helm in 2026. And then my last topic for the day before I'm out of here is I want to talk
23:25about the year two QBs as we've had an up and down class from that perspective.
23:30I would say, I think this class was better than expected, but not in the ways that a lot of people thought
23:37it was going to be as Jackson Dart, second QB off the board, ended up having a pretty darn good rookie season.
23:43He was running a lot, which we love for fantasy football.
23:47I think he showed more as a passer than people were expecting.
23:50He still has a lot of work to do and we'd like him to not spend so much time in the blue
23:57tent, but he's got some really good physical tools.
24:00And with how little he had to work with in 2025 as a rookie because didn't have leaked neighbors since neighbors was hurt.
24:07I think the sky's kind of limit for Jackson Dart, really.
24:10So I'm really excited to see what happens there.
24:13Tyler Shook impressed basically everybody. No one really saw the rookie season he had coming because he was so old coming into
24:20the NFL after spending a lot of time in college.
24:23When those type of players entered the NFL, even though we had some good physical tools, the fear is that those players
24:30have already reached their ceiling because they're already so old coming into the NFL.
24:34And I think he showed us more than we really expected during his time during his rookie season that once he got
24:41his opportunity to get in there and start, I showed more as a runner.
24:45I think especially than people were expecting. And in the Kellen Moore offense, another one of these really good offensive play callers likes running a high pace.
24:53He was producing at a high level fantasy. So he could continue to do that in 2026, potentially even without even being that good of an NFL quarterback.
25:02I mean, Saints were still losing games last year, right?
25:05Like how good are they going to be? How good is he going to be?
25:09But with this Kellen Moore offense and the running that we saw from Tyler Shook, he might actually be a pretty darn good fancy QB.
25:17He was a popular pick for breakouts for a lot of fancy analysts this offseason.
25:22I was pretty excited about what he could do in year two.
25:25Very interested to see what happens there. And lastly, the first quarterback that was drafted in 2025, Cam Ward.
25:31Really rough, really rough rookie season, but awful surroundings.
25:34So it was a little bit like, yeah, you know, what what can you really expect from him?
25:39And there were some flashes where you see the arm talent.
25:43You're like, OK, I can tell myself a story here of how things can come together in 2026.
25:48If they do enough around him, he could progress a little bit.
25:52Next thing you know, we're like, oh, there's the number one overall pick.
25:56And I do like a lot of the moves the Titans made to help things around him.
26:01The preseason kind of made us think about last season, how he played as a rookie.
26:06Just a lot of bonehead plays. I guess you can call him holding on to the ball a little bit too long,
26:13making some throws that he probably shouldn't. And you'd like to see those things get worked out of him a little bit
26:19and, you know, start to take some of the.
26:22I need to just throw the ball out of bounds here.
26:25I just need to, you know, check the ball down here.
26:29Like we just need Cam Ward to progress a little bit.
26:32I'm worried that he got broken as a rookie.
26:35We've seen this with quarterbacks before. We're in their bad situation.
26:38They kind of just get broken by the awful surroundings around them.
26:42And they're hard to ever come back from that.
26:45I'm hoping Cam Ward can because you've got some exciting players on offense.
26:49I'm really excited to see what they can all do there.
26:52But I'll be honest. I'm a little bit worried about what Cam Ward's going to be able to do in 2026.
26:59But that is going to do it for this episode of Press Coverage.
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