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0:44Exxon. Trust the Tiger. For details, visit ExxonOffer.com. Unexpected rookies break out in camp every single year.
0:49So let's take a look at the biggest breakouts of 2026, including one guy who could be an absolute league winner.
0:55Let's go. Welcome into the Lion Fantasy Football Show.
0:58I'm Chev. I'm Jeremiah. And Mello, obviously, the buzzer on these rookies is huge for Dynasty.
1:03It's huge for Redraft. We're taking a look here at some of the guys that could take a big leap in year one.
1:09But before we jump in, the season pass for Smash Accept is now available for only $39.99 and you can get a bonus 10% off with code LINEUPSEASON10.
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1:35But Mello, let's get into these guys. Who's getting the buzz and who is going to be for real here in year one?
1:41Give me your first player. It should come as no surprise, Mitch, that I'm talking about Dijon Stribbling on this show again.
1:48I'm keeping his name in my mouth in the most positive way possible.
1:52Should have thought that one through a little bit more.
1:54But we did an episode a few weeks ago where we talked about rookies who we think will break out in camp
2:01and have their value increased during camp. And we talked about Dijon Stribbling as our number one guy we believed in.
2:07And lo and behold, it is happening. People like me cannot keep his name out of their mouth.
2:12And first of all, circumstances have changed dramatically since the last time we talked about our guys Stribbling.
2:18The number one thing being that Ricky Parasol was placed on season ending IR due to knee surgery that he needs.
2:24And that has really opened the door for Stribbling to have a much larger role.
2:28And boy, oh boy, has he capitalized. Because if you watch the 49ers first preseason game, you saw Stribbling start with the first team.
2:35You saw him accumulate seven receptions for 63 yards, including making one awesome downfield catch near the sideline.
2:41But it's not just that one preseason game. He has consistently been turning heads at camp.
2:4549ers reporter Grant Cohn went as far as to say, and I quote, he already is the best receiver on the team, full stop.
2:52He is the only wide receiver on the roster who will actually frighten opposing defenses this year.
2:57Sheesh. Incredibly crazy praise. It's almost like people are starting to realize that he was a 33rd overall pick in the draft.
3:04Like we've been talking about this since the draft.
3:06I think people are finally starting to catch on that.
3:09Maybe there's a reason he was a fringe first round pick.
3:13And now he's got this golden opportunity to carve out a significant role in a Kyle Shanahan offense.
3:18He's done everything right so far to take advantage of it.
3:21We've been Stribbling Truther since the draft from a dynasty perspective.
3:24Now from a redraft perspective, I'm starting to think he could be a league winner there as well.
3:30Yeah. And it's another guy that I just, his price is rising.
3:33Sure. It just doesn't feel like it's rising fast enough for like what the potential is that you could see in year one.
3:40I feel like the electric substation has become like a Rorschach test when it comes to Dijon Stribbling.
3:45Like, are you seeing a threat to Dijon Stribbling's health or are you seeing an opportunity opening?
3:50Because he's getting so many chances. And like, believe me, I think it's a little bit crazy to say he's better than Mike Evans already.
3:58But I don't think it's crazy to say that he is the obvious second target earner right now in that wide receiver room.
4:04Outside Mike Evans, of course, you got to deal with CMC and you got to deal with Kittle.
4:10But his price is just not reflecting that right now.
4:12And he's just way too cheap for a guy that, like you said, we were so excited once we saw John Lynch
4:19and Kyle Shanahan spend a very, very high first round pick.
4:22Or sorry, a very, very high second round pick on him.
4:25And now we're seeing it on the field and it feels like nobody wants to believe it still.
4:31I would take a guy that your league mates either don't know about or just simply don't care about right now.
4:37He's immune to the substation. I had no medical evidence of that, but I'm just telling you right now.
4:42As an electrical substation expert, he is immune to it.
4:45All right, on to our next guy, though. Last time we did the rookie talk, like you mentioned, I had broken down
4:52Elijah Surratt and his path to success. He had an awesome first preseason game, six receptions for 66 yards.
4:57But I actually want to talk about Jacoby Lane right now, who is getting so much buzz, not only in the preseason, but in training camp itself.
5:05He had three receptions for 38 yards and an awesome touchdown.
5:09If you watch the game in that first preseason game, he just he looked like a beast.
5:14Like Lamar was praising him during the game when he was talking to Evan Washburn.
5:18He said, man, his aggressiveness to go get the ball.
5:21He's just attacking the ball. I felt like that was perfect.
5:24He looks like a guy who wanted this role.
5:27And we all know it is wide open in Baltimore right now for that wide receiver two spot.
5:32So this is a guy with third round draft capital of USC.
5:36He was already absolutely cooking in training camp. It's just highlight after highlight on my Twitter feed.
5:41But you want to know one of my biggest takeaways from the Jacoby Lane breakout right now?
5:46I'm getting increasingly fired up about Lamar Jackson. And we've been kind of doing the thing where we're like, if you miss out on Josh Allen, just punt.
5:54I'm starting to really buy into the if you miss out on Josh Allen, see if you can get Lamar Jackson at a deal and then punt.
6:02He's kind of entering into that like one A tier for me because we talk about Elijah Surratt's breaking out.
6:08Jacoby Lane could be breaking out. Obviously, you've still got Zay Flowers that they just put a ton of money behind and
6:14they have clear plans to make him a focal point of the offense.
6:18You've still got Derek Henry who's going to help that offense move the ball down the field.
6:23I feel like we could see a huge, huge year out of Lamar.
6:27And especially if you're drafting best ball right now, I feel like they're an unbelievable stack.
6:31I agree. I haven't really been drafting a lot of Lamar and I'm probably stupid for that because you're just getting a discount compared.
6:38Look how expensive he was last year. The only reason he's not going in the same range this year is because he got hurt.
6:45But it's not like he's still hurt. It's just recency bias that makes no sense when you really take a step back and look at it.
6:53And yeah, I'm totally drinking the Jacoby Lane Kool-Aid.
6:56I'm drinking the entire Baltimore offense Kool-Aid right now.
6:58You look at what Lamar's been working with, this offense has been working with as like at the X position, the X receiver.
7:05It's been Rashad Bateman who's just a massive disappointment.
7:08You have a guy like Jacoby Lane who profiles as an X and he's looked great in camp.
7:13But he's got aura for what it's worth. I don't know how much that counts in fantasy, but he's got a ton of aura.
7:20It's worth it. I'm in a half point per aura league.
7:23It's worth something. And I think there's a very good chance he has a very real role in this offense.
7:29And it's a very good offense on paper. Absolutely.
7:32And we talk about this constantly, but we forget that it was two years ago that he was the best quarterback in fantasy football history.
7:39I'm buying into that guy. And, you know, not to make this all about Lamar because also Jacoby Lane I'm buying into as price.
7:46It's still too low. And it'll be interesting to see if he rises past the point that I'm comfortable taking him by like redraft season.
7:54Yeah. I mean, right now he's almost free. So absolutely taking that shot.
7:57Now we'll see how things trend the next couple of weeks.
8:01I don't have another good, exciting offense for you, but I do have another rookie receiver, big bodied X receiver.
8:06And that is Caleb Douglas of the Miami Dolphins.
8:09Mitch, I'm feeling a little cocky, maybe even a little bit arrogant today.
8:13I know I puffed out my chest when we talked shriveling.
8:16I'm going to do the same with Caleb Douglas here because I remember saying after the draft, I'd take him over Chris Bell full stop.
8:23People laughed at me. They thought it was ridiculous.
8:26And here we are. And Caleb Douglas officially has a higher ADP than Chris Bell.
8:31Now I will concede a big part of that is Chris Bell hasn't been playing.
8:35He's been hurt. He was actually just activated today.
8:38So maybe we see it flip again now that he'll actually be on the field.
8:42But people are starting to get excited about Caleb Douglas is really the point I'm trying to make here.
8:48And let me get the bad out of the way first because he did have a very bad play in the Dolphins
8:54first preseason game where he very easily should have gotten both feet and bounce near the sideline.
8:59He did not. Seems like he didn't even realize he was on the sideline, which isn't great.
9:04That was bad. But aside from that, it's been all great.
9:07It's been all very good. In that same preseason game, he made a 28-yard circus catch with one hand while being interfered with by the defender.
9:15Super impressive play. And it wasn't just one impressive play that should have you excited because he's taking advantage of this opportunity that the Dolphins are getting in.
9:23He played with Malik Willis and the starters in that preseason game.
9:27And this is a gross, yucky receiver room. Ton of random bodies.
9:30And it has seemed to this point unclear who will actually start.
9:34Well, now we have pretty good intel that Caleb Douglas will be lining up outside for this team once the regular season rolls around.
9:41And it makes a lot of sense when you look at the other bodies they have.
9:45They have a ton of smaller guys, smaller frames, quicker, shifty, redundant skill sets.
9:50Whereas Douglas offers something very unique with his 6'4 frame.
9:52Super impressive catch radius. He was the highest drafted receiver of the three Miami took this year in the draft.
9:58And it's looking entirely plausible that he ends up as this team's wide receiver one as a rookie.
10:04I know it's a bad team, but if you're any team's wide receiver one, you are fantasy relevant.
10:09Yeah, I think this has been like one of those things where the way you put it, I believe, because that was
10:15our fast food comparisons, was just that like these guys' ADPs had to be closer.
10:20And now we've seen it full on flip. And we're looking at a guy who had the higher draft capital, but people
10:26were so connected to their own priors about Chris Bell.
10:29And so they just, they didn't want to believe it.
10:32And frankly, I think people are still not going to want to believe it.
10:36And you're going to be able to get a guy basically free here that could have a huge impact on a team
10:43that, sure, I know everyone's not excited about Malik Willis as a passer.
10:46And I know that that wide receiver room is yucky, as you said.
10:50But that wide receiver room is yucky and he could be getting a ton of targets in it.
10:56So I absolutely love this pick and a guy that I think is going to not get talked about enough, especially with
11:02Chris Bell starting to get back in the mix and people just wanting to be more excited about him.
11:08Yeah. And the thing you said too, like about him being like basically free or at the end of drafts where he's
11:14affordable, like in most formats you're playing, like a lot of these rookies we're talking about are very close to free.
11:20And the upside that you can get from them, like that is a shot worth taking.
11:25Yeah. I think there is absolutely this disappointment right now around rookie receivers because I think people were so excited about what
11:31we saw, you know, two years ago when we had Brian Thomas Jr.
11:35and Malik Neighbors both finish in the top six.
11:38And it was like, look, last year, T-Mac and Abuka, like they're both good.
11:42T-Mac still beat his ADP, but there was no like absolutely sensational game-breaking fantasy rookie.
11:46And so I think we're seeing their prices just get a little bit suppressed this year.
11:51Yeah. Again, we talked about it earlier, the recency bias of the whole thing.
11:55Like that's something you should capitalize on. This episode is brought to you by Michelob Ultra.
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12:45All right, let's move on to this next guy.
12:48But before we do, if you have not yet, make sure to hit that subscribe button.
12:53We are going to be continuing to give fantasy tips all the way through draft season.
12:57And then, of course, all the way through the NFL season as we help you win your fantasy football league.
13:03But no, let's talk about this next guy that's been making a ton of buzz.
13:08And that's Denzel Boston. First off, I want to give our shout out to our guy, Casey Concepcion, for that touchdown this weekend.
13:14But like I just did with Jacoby Lane, I want to shine some light on his fellow rookie receiver on his own
13:21squad that we really haven't talked about enough. And that's Denzel Boston.
13:24The guy who a brown source just said looks like he can be Drake London for us.
13:29And we talk about a team needing a dominant ex-receiver.
13:32And honestly, as many different concerns as I had about Denzel Boston, he seems to be playing the part so far.
13:38I think for me, there's been one big question mark, and I will admit that question mark is still there.
13:44This quarterback room is horrendous. Yep. And the biggest challenge to me is figuring out, okay, how priced in is that though?
13:51How much are we just not letting this guy's ADP rise because of how bad the quarterback situation is?
13:56And at a certain point, sometimes guys do become values.
13:59So I'm very excited about him as a dynasty asset, but I'm also excited about redraft because I'm thinking that this price
14:06is just not going to rise as much as it should because people are worried about Shador Sanders, because people are worried
14:12about Deshaun Watson, because people are worried about the guy who works at Costco that might also be in the quarterback mix.
14:19And so I just want to be cognizant here of making sure that Buzz doesn't get out of control, because obviously if
14:25Denzel Boston just goes flying up the ranks, then I do need to be worried about Watson Sanders, but if we just
14:32see his price kind of not moving as much as we should, this might be a real plug your nose guy.
14:38I've been taking some late shots on him from a price perspective.
14:41It's like, it's almost a good thing that Casey is also getting plenty of buzz, plenty of hype because it's suppressing Denzel
14:48Boston's price tag to where, I mean, this is a guy who was almost a first round pick and he's almost free at the end of drafts.
14:56Like he's going undrafted in some leagues. He's going with one of the last picks in a lot of leagues.
15:02And I'd say he has probably close to the same odds as Casey Concepcion to be the leading receiver on this team.
15:08And if Deshaun Watson's a starter, I'm certainly not thrilled by it, but I'd feel better about it.
15:13You look like stylistically Denzel Boston in some ways reminds me of a guy like Amari Cooper, who was pretty fantasy relevant.
15:20I would say even pretty spectacular with Deshaun Watson at quarterback in Cleveland, despite Deshaun Watson's individual struggles.
15:25Right. So you could see, I'm not going to sit here and say you're going to get Amari Cooper type of production.
15:32But if he plays that role in this offense and he emerges as the number one, you're getting a crazy steal at the end of drafts.
15:39Yeah. And that's the thing is when you look at like having a quarterback like Watson or Sanders, you are looking at limiting a ceiling.
15:46And so no one's saying Denzel Boston is going to come out and put that some like insane rookie season and you're
15:53playing him as your wide receiver one in the lineup.
15:56But this is a guy that, like you said, is so close to the end of drafts and could be a reliable
16:02flex down the stretch because he just has that important of a role in the Browns offense.
16:07Yeah, you can easily like we've seen this story before with other guys like their rookie years and you could just see it playing out for Denzel Boston.
16:16Those are the types of guys I want to take shots on late in drafts.
16:20All right, let's get into our league winner. I'm going to let you introduce this guy, but this is probably the guy
16:26that we've seen the most buzz for in the fantasy football community.
16:30It'd be wrong if we didn't make this guy our league winner.
16:33And that is Cyrus Allen of the Kansas City Chiefs.
16:36We haven't really talked about him on the show, which is kind of like shame on us because yeah, it's been a little disrespectful.
16:43He is the talk of training camp here. Well-deserved buzz.
16:46He's been getting just so much attention ever since camp started.
16:50Everyone and anyone around the Chiefs organization has been talking about the fifth round rookie, how great he's looked, looks like a polished route runner.
16:57He's quick, shifty, explosive, has made more than a few spectacular catches here and camp.
17:01And he showed off the skills in the first preseason game in a limited sample.
17:06Had two receptions for 20 yards, including a really, really nice high point catch with a defender draped all over him.
17:12And the Chiefs are stunningly weak at wide receiver.
17:15And in case you've forgotten, Patrick freaking Mahomes is the quarterback of this offense.
17:19Okay. So anyone who steps up could be in for a really beautiful fantasy opportunity.
17:23And Cyrus Allen as a fifth round rookie might just be that guy.
17:27Steve Smith Sr. Certainly thinks so. He claimed in his opinion, Cyrus Allen will be the number one receiver in this offense.
17:33Eventually, Balber Xavier worthy. Yeah. Yeah. Steve Smith ball knower.
17:36Doesn't surprise me that he's saying it over a guy like Xavier worthy, who I can't say enough negative things about.
17:42Rashid Rice, who Mitch can't say enough negative things about straight out the jail cell.
17:47So Cyrus Allen all of a sudden has this great opportunity where I don't want to be dramatic.
17:52I don't want to be hyperbolic. But if there is anyone who I think has a chance to be this year's Puka Nakua, I think it's Cyrus Allen.
18:00He is just like dropped into the situation where I, like you said, here I go, man, talk negatively about Rashid Rice.
18:07But I just, I have not been able to buy that Rashid Rice has the talent and that Kansas City thinks he
18:13has the talent to be this dominant wide receiver one.
18:16And I know people do not agree with that take.
18:19Yeah. Watch your tongue. I think there was such a pocket here for a player to step in and, and just take this role.
18:26And so far we've seen Cyrus Allen do it over and over and over again.
18:31And he's impressing. And like Sam McDowell reported, I love this quote.
18:34Cyrus Allen told him my biggest pet peeve is not being open.
18:38I just absolutely love that. But this entire thing through training camp and now into preseason is we've just seen this report keep growing.
18:45We got the reports. Cyrus Allen has undoubtedly been Patrick Mahomes favorite target.
18:49Feels like he's looking Allen's way every time he's out there.
18:52That was from Pete Sweeney, who's a beat reporter for the Chiefs.
18:55And so as everyone's kind of getting up to speed and we're getting into this time in the fantasy football season where
19:02people are jumping in and they haven't been following the training camp hype and they're kind of just want to know a
19:08quick thing or two about who's on each team.
19:11I don't think Cyrus Allen is moving up draft boards enough.
19:14I think he probably is in the dynasty community because you tend to have people who are a lot more serious about this.
19:21But in your casual home leagues or your work leagues, you can get Cyrus Allen for nothing.
19:26And this is a guy that Patrick Mahomes trusts.
19:28This is a guy that Andy Reid has been trusting.
19:31They're finding new creative ways to get him the ball in camp all the time.
19:36He just feels like a breakout that is staring us right in the face.
19:40And as the man who has been so not excited about Rasheed Rice long term, this is the best thing that has ever happened to me.
19:48As the man who has been very excited about Rasheed Rice long term, I'm starting to get a little bit scared.
19:54I'm hoping there's a world where they can both thrive, especially post Travis Kelsey.
19:58But regardless, I am obviously drinking the Cyrus Allen Kool-Aid.
20:01It's just too overwhelming to ignore the hype. And you're right.
20:04It's kind of weird. Like, yes, the dynasty community is really getting hot and bothered.
20:08But even there, like, he's not like with the hype he's getting.
20:12If you're doing your rookie drop this late, you'd think he's going in like the second, third round.
20:17He's still really not. Yeah. And from a redraft perspective, he's free.
20:21Like he is the cheapest player, I think, of anyone we've talked about today in terms of redraft ADP.
20:26And that's probably kind of dumb. That's probably us leaning on our priors a little bit too heavily because he was a
20:33fifth round pick, all of the indications are he's going to be a major part of the Chiefs offense.
20:38The freaking Kansas City Chiefs. Yeah, 100%. This team that just like two years ago, a Patrick Mahomes pass catcher, we'd be
20:45giving an arm and a leg for. But something I'll say about dynasty, and like I've just kind of noticed this in
20:51the human psychology of the game we play, is that like we're all saying we're so excited about Cyrus Allen.
20:57So I think a lot of people are like, I don't want to send the Cyrus Allen manager a trade offer because
21:04he's just going to say no because everyone's valuing him so high.
21:07Okay, just give it a shot because a lot of people are way more bark than bite.
21:12And you might actually be able to get it from a guy who's like wants to capitalize on all this buzz right now.
21:19Dance community is way more bark than bite. Like those Ricky drafts even I'm talking about, like the same guy who's hyping
21:25up Cyrus Allen is going out there and drafting Malachi Fields over him, who I love Malachi Fields.
21:31That's not an anti-Malachi Fields take. But my point is like, where are we drawing that line in the sand?
21:36If we're really that excited, why are we still trusting our prior so much and taking all these other guys over him?
21:43That's why I'm taking Parker Washington as the 101 in every redraft league.
21:47That's the most important lesson of this whole episode.
21:49I'm glad you brought that up. You're welcome. Before we get out of here, I am putting my money where my mouth
21:56is on one of these guys plus two other picks I've been fired up about in the preseason.
22:01If you don't know, you can get $50 in bonus entries instantly when you deposit and make a play with $5 using the code LINEUP.
22:08So here's my play on screen right now that we're rolling with.
22:12We got Jaden Higgins, who has just been an absolute stud with over 574.5 yards.
22:16We got Kyler Murray, who we just mentioned is most likely to be best friends with one of our favorite players this
22:23season, Justin Jefferson, at over 2,925 yards. And then finally, the guy from this video, Denzel Boston, to score four or more
22:29touchdowns on the season, wins you 8.15 times your money.
22:32But Mello, before we get out of here, did we miss anything?
22:36I think we got it all. All right, we'll catch you guys next episode.
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