The Lineup Show - JJ Zachariason and the 6 Players Who Will BREAK Fantasy Football in 2026
STACKED extracted the fantasy-relevant player signal from this podcast and kept the full transcript here for context.
31 min
Duration
Estimated from transcript
Aug 10, 2026
Published
Mon, August 10, 2026
8
Player insights
7
Players mentioned
Topics
Luther BurdenBlake CorumEmeka EgbukaJaylen WaddleKyren WilliamsMalik NabersTrevor Lawrence
Player analysis
Player insights
Blake Corum
PositiveValue20:35
Blake Corum is an undervalued 'flex with benefits' option currently priced at his floor (RB35). JJ Zachariason notes that Corum's usage and production in the final six games of last season—where he averaged 12.7 fantasy points per game—suggest he can easily outperform his current ADP. While Kyron Williams remains the starter, Corum is a high-priority handcuff who would become a top-12 weekly starter if Williams were unavailable.
Insight pageEmeka Egbuka
PositiveBreakout13:58
JJ Zachariason is bullish on Emeka Egbuka as a league-winner, noting he was a WR3 through five weeks as a rookie before a hamstring injury derailed his season. With Mike Evans gone, Egbuka has cemented himself as Baker Mayfield's primary target. Zachariason points out that in games without Evans last year, Egbuka saw a 28% target share and 1.92 YPRR, compared to significantly lower numbers when Evans was active. He is currently priced as the WR20, which Zachariason considers far too cheap.
Insight pageJaylen Waddle
PositiveBreakout3:20
JJ Zachariason highlights Jaylen Waddle as a must-draft player entering year six, citing his 2.19 yards per route run and 24% targets per route run rate. Zachariason notes that in favorable offensive environments (2022-2023), Waddle produced elite efficiency (2.59 and 2.63 YPRR) comparable to Justin Jefferson. Now in Denver, Waddle is expected to play the 'Z' role, potentially replacing Troy Franklin's high-target volume, and benefits from a significant quarterback upgrade in Bo Nix compared to his previous situations.
Insight pageKyren Williams
NegativeUsage23:13
JJ Zachariason notes that while Kyron Williams remains a good player, his snap share and backfield dominance shifted downward last year, moving from the 70-90% range to 60-70%. Despite this, Williams still commanded the high-leverage, goal-line, and passing-down work, which remains a concern for Blake Corum's immediate fantasy outlook unless that usage split changes.
Insight pageLuther Burden
PositiveBreakout20:07
Luther Burden is a high-upside target who, despite volatility, possesses elite per-route efficiency metrics comparable to successful NFL veterans. While his ADP is rising due to camp hype, he remains a valuable pick in the fourth or fifth round. JJ Zachariason highlights that Burden's ceiling as the clear-cut WR1 in a Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams-led offense offers significantly more league-winning upside than safer, more insulated options like Tee Higgins.
Insight pagePositiveBreakout20:49
JJ Zachariason views Luther Burden as a major breakout candidate, noting his 2.69 YPRR on limited routes last year was the third-best for a rookie since 2011. Zachariason believes the Chicago coaching staff, led by Ben Johnson, intends to use Burden in an Amon-Ra St. Brown-esque role. Despite a slow rookie start due to injury and low route share, Burden's elite prospect profile and post-catch ability make him a high-upside target, with historical market score comps including Keenan Allen and Calvin Ridley.
Insight pageMalik Nabers
PositiveValue26:15
Malik Nabers is a must-draft player whose ADP is currently suppressed due to injury concerns, making him a value in early August drafts. JJ Zachariason notes that while Nabers may not be 100% for Week 1, his elite target-earning ability—evidenced by his 34.91% target share as a rookie—makes him a high-upside target. Zachariason suggests drafting him in the range of Drake London, Nico Collins, or Rasheed Rice.
Insight pageTrevor Lawrence
PositiveValue8:26
JJ Zachariason identifies Trevor Lawrence as a high-value target, noting he was the QB1 overall from Week 9 onwards last year and finished as the QB4 overall. Despite a current ADP around the ninth round (QB11), Zachariason argues that the presence of offensive coordinator Liam Cohen—who previously helped Baker Mayfield reach QB4 status—provides stability. While acknowledging Lawrence is unlikely to repeat nine rushing touchdowns, Zachariason believes his physical usage in the red zone is sustainable under Cohen.
Insight pageFull transcript
Episode Transcript
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1:21All right, guys, it's time to break down six must draft players for 2026 drafts.
1:25Including one sneakier name your league mates aren't talking about.
1:28Let's go. Welcome into the lineup fantasy football show.
1:31I'm Mitch Anderson. I'm Justin Mello. And we are joined by a very, very, very special guest today.
1:36I'm going to go ahead and just introduce you, even though you are a man who needs no introduction.
1:41We've got JJ Zachariason in here. Unbelievable episode incoming.
1:44What's going on, JJ? What's going on, guys? Thanks for having me.
1:47Very excited to talk some ball. Dude, we're so pumped.
1:50It is time to talk about some fantasy football.
1:53JJ, as the guest, we are always going to let you go first.
1:56Give us your first guy that you can't leave a draft without.
2:00I'm going to go with Jalen Waddell. You know, he's coming off a really strong yards per outrun season, especially given the environment that he was in.
2:082.19 yards. He had a 24% targets per outrun rate, which is really strong.
2:12Second best first downs per outrun mark of his entire career.
2:15He's in year six, which historically has been peak production for wide receiver production.
2:19That's very exciting. Now you go to Denver. Denver's been an above average team in past attempts with Bo Nix.
2:24They've consistently been above average in EPA per play as well.
2:28And Waddell has actually only played two seasons in his NFL career because his offenses he's played in have not been very
2:34good, where his offenses EPA per play have been positive, have been favorable.
2:38That was in 2022 and in 2023. And in those two seasons, he had a 2.59 yards per outrun rate and a
2:442.63 yards per outrun rate, which honestly, that's like non-JJ McCarthy, Justin Jefferson type numbers.
2:48You know, like, you know, let's just throw out last year what happened with J.
2:52Jeff. And in those two seasons with Tyreek Hill as somebody who's competing for targets with, he did score 15.3 and 14.2 PPR points per game.
3:00Now you get him in Denver where, you know, I think they're going to throw him in the Z and let him move around the formation a lot.
3:08Troy Franklin played that role a little bit last year.
3:11And if you guys remember, there was like a five week stretch where Franklin was out targeting Cortland Sutton.
3:16And that's Troy Franklin. You know, Troy Franklin is not Jalen Waddell.
3:20Jalen Waddell is a borderline elite talent. He's a very good player.
3:23Obviously, he's had a little bit of trouble staying on the field.
3:26I think that's somewhat of a question mark. But if you can get past that, I think he's in a very, very
3:33good spot this year to just go absolutely berserk.
3:35I love that couple of weeks where you were basically betting your mortgage in fab on Troy Franklin.
3:40Yeah. This is as a couple of bow leavers on this show.
3:44Like I could not agree more with this pick.
3:46Like he goes to this Denver team that was fourth in passing rate last year.
3:51Like you mentioned, top 12 in yards per outrun targets per outrun.
3:54First downs per outrun. Separation score. I think there was such a stink around Miami last year and Miami this year that
4:00people don't want to believe that Jalen Waddell is still so talented and going into a system with an incredible opportunity.
4:06So this guy's been standing out to me too.
4:09I'm so glad you brought him up. I've been growing on him a ton too.
4:13Like early off season, I think I was your typical like bitter, fatigued fantasy player who's just so sick of Jalen Waddell.
4:20But I've come all the way back around for all the reasons you mentioned.
4:24And like when you really look at his metrics, he has never like he has not been the problem in Miami.
4:30It's been especially the last probably two or three years to say what you want about Bo Nix being boring or, you
4:36know, not the flashiest or most elite of quarterbacks.
4:38That is a significant upgrade from what he was playing with prior with Tua.
4:42You mentioned the Broncos. Like I think people just default to thinking they aren't a pass heavy team because they have such a good defense.
4:50When statistically that is not the case, Sean Payton continues to air out the football.
4:54Jalen Waddell is going to be the number one guy.
4:57And all of a sudden I find myself drafting a ton of Jalen Waddell, especially the last few weeks.
5:02Well, I'm going to transition now to a quarterback that I also cannot stop drafting.
5:06And that is Trevor Lawrence. I've just fully embraced the fact that the answer to who you want in this offense, when
5:13we talk about all these Jags weapons and how we're hyping them all up, the answer is Trevor Lawrence.
5:18Like if we really believe in all of these different pieces, it feels like the guy who should be drafting is the quarterback, Trevor Lawrence.
5:25And hand up. I used to have Trevor Lawrence arrangement syndrome.
5:29It's something I've worked through. I thought he totally sucked.
5:31I'm recovering. So thankful that I am. And I'm just all the way back in on Trevor Lawrence, who was the quarterback
5:38one overall from week nine on last year. Let me say that again.
5:41The quarterback one overall, the back half of the season and even season long, he was the quarterback four.
5:47So he was very good last year. And now you can get him for the low, low price of the quarterback 11 going in around the ninth round.
5:55It clearly worked out with Liam Cohen. I think that's a huge piece of it for Lawrence.
6:00And now he gets another full season with all of these weapons that we talk about fully healthy.
6:05He has a full season to get more comfortable in this Liam Cohen offense.
6:09And that's really what gives me so much confidence that this wasn't just a fluke because he does have Liam Cohen going forward.
6:15We saw prior to Lawrence's breakout last year to see earlier Cohen in Tampa Bay with another first overall pick quarterback in
6:22Baker Mayfield, who was the quarterback four in 2024.
6:24So we know Cohen's in the lead offensive mind.
6:27We know he can design these offenses to produce high fantasy outputs for his players.
6:31And I think the one legitimate counterpoint I've heard in regard to Trevor Lawrence, besides the fact that he just cut his
6:37hair and some people didn't like that. Besides that, it's just the fact that he will not have nine rushing touchdowns again, to which I absolutely agree.
6:45It's very unlikely he'll do it. But my counterpoint to that would be two things.
6:49One, that's just fully baked into his ADP. The fact that he probably won't have nine rushing touchdowns again.
6:55And secondly, a lot of his touchdowns came on design runs down by the goal line where he was being used in
7:01Josh Allen-esque ways on powers and draws down by the goal line.
7:05And I think Liam Cohen's the first person in Jacksonville to realize they have a 6'6 specimen at quarterback who can run the ball of physicality.
7:12And they used him in that way. And I think they will still do that to a certain extent.
7:17So I'm someone who's waiting on quarterback this year more than ever.
7:21And he's one of my absolute favorite late guys to grab because he is going so late as one of the last QB1s off the board.
7:28And he has such league winning upside. Yeah, I mean, TJ, we make the joke on our show all the time that we're statting out all these receivers.
7:36We're like, oh, we love Parker Washington. We love Brian Thomas Jr.
7:40Jacoby Myers is going to have a role. Travis Hunter will work in.
7:43Next thing we know, Trevor Lawrence is passing for 7,000 yards and 80 touchdowns.
7:47So maybe the guy to draft is just Trevor Lawrence.
7:50Yeah, no, I love Trevor Lawrence this year. The other thing to keep in mind, too, with Liam Cohen is that when
7:57he was the OC in Tampa Bay right before he went to Jacksonville, Baker Mayfield not only had the best year of
8:03his career, but he also got a lot done with his legs that he hadn't done previously.
8:08Like he started running the ball a lot more, had a lot more points per game via rushing.
8:13And then, you know, obviously we saw that with T-Law last year where he had 5.3 points per game via the ground.
8:19Obviously, like you said, a lot of that certainly had to do with the touchdown equity that he got on the ground.
8:25But I do think that, you know, there is a backbone of this happening frequently in these Liam Cohen offenses that should
8:32give us more confidence in Trevor Lawrence. Absolutely. All right, guys, for our next person, I am going to take you on
8:38a journey or dare I say an odyssey because I feel like it's been forever since I talked about this next guy.
8:44Like Calypso's had me on her island eating lotus flower or in this case talking about Carnell Tate for about seven long months.
8:51And I am coming home to talk about one of my true loves, Emeka Ibuka.
8:55And guys, I refuse to listen to the siren songs of Jalen McMillan.
8:59And now I have returned to the wide receiver 20 off the board in ADP, who I believe will be the star
9:05of this bounce back Tampa Bay Buccaneers offense. All the talk this past month has been about Baker Mayfield and quarterback.
9:11We've seen they had a sprained PCL and MCL that he suffered in week two.
9:16That really kind of set off that domino effect for the wheels just coming off of what looked like a genuine MVP candidate year for him.
9:23But the injury we don't talk about enough is the hamstring injury that first popped up in week six for Ibuka last year.
9:30Before that injury, we saw him as the wide receiver three through five weeks as a rookie.
9:34And then week six through 17, the wide receiver 43, which is, I think, the bad taste that's left in a lot of people's mouths.
9:42We're now seeing Ibuka at camp working with Baker.
9:44And I'm not even losing my mind over the one handed catches and the hype videos that everybody's dropping because they're so excited.
9:51What I do care about is the fact that by all accounts, he seems to have cemented himself as Baker's number one target.
9:57And for me, at a wide receiver 20 price tag, that's just far too cheap for a guy that talented in a role this good.
10:04And so with Ibuka back fully healthy, Baker back fully healthy, Mike Evans is in San Francisco, and I have arrived back in Ithaca or Tampa Bay.
10:12And I'm stringing my bow to target Emeka Ibuka in every single draft.
10:16I just bought tickets to see the Odyssey. I think I might cancel.
10:20I don't think I need to go anymore. Sorry.
10:22I know it's only been out for 3,000 years, but apologies for the spoilers.
10:26No, I mean, you know, you don't have to convince me on Ibuka.
10:30I just kind of like his floor as long as he and Baker can both stay healthy in this Tampa Bay offense.
10:36I just like the environment. But more than his floor, just the league winning upside.
10:40We already saw the league winning upside the first month or so of last season.
10:45If he can have a full season of that, which I think is most certainly in the cards, like I said, as
10:51long as this team stays healthy, he's a league winner, like a true league winner in my mind.
10:56Yeah, I'm all about some Emeka Ibuka this year.
10:59If you look at what happened after week five, so week six onwards, you mentioned that injury.
11:04He ranked 100th out of 103 qualified wide receivers and catchable targets rate.
11:07And that wasn't just an Emeka Ibuka problem because sometimes that kind of statistic can give us a little noise just based
11:14on how things were charted and how things look.
11:16But that was certainly a Baker Mayfield thing because Mike Evans had a really low catchable targets rate last year as well.
11:22They both ranked outside the top 100 when you're looking at things from like a season long perspective.
11:28But Mike Evans also isn't in Tampa Bay anymore.
11:30And in games without Evans last year, Ibuka had a 28% target share, 1.92 yards per route run rate.
11:36And then in games where Mike Evans did play, his target share dropped by about nine percentage points.
11:41His yards per route run was 1.59. So Evans not being there opens things up.
11:45I like this offense and it running through Ibuka with Zach Robinson.
11:48We've seen him use that sort of like Z move player.
11:52Cooper Cup technically played that role during his monster season that he had.
11:55You even saw Drake London kind of move all over the formation in Atlanta.
11:59So I am very, very bullish on Ibuka. Love them as a prospect.
12:03Loved what he was doing at least the first, you know, part of the season last year.
12:08Think that that can continue here in 2026. What's going on guys?
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12:45But guys, let's get back to the video. My next guy is Luther Burden.
12:49Here we go. I know he's getting a lot of steam right now, but I actually thought that Burden was an elite prospect last year.
12:56I have the ZAP model it's called. And if you look at how Burden scored in that ZAP model despite his draft
13:02capital, because draft capital is a big input within that model.
13:05He had second round draft capital or some of these other wide receivers like a T-Mac or an Abuka who we just talked about.
13:12Their draft capital was a lot stronger in round one.
13:15But despite that, Luther Burden was grouped up with them from a ZAP score perspective last year.
13:20He had a really good age-adjusted production. I said it last year, his sophomore season in college was the best analytical season
13:26of any wide receiver in last year's class. And then we see what happened last year where things got off to a slow start.
13:33He's a little bit banged up in that July-August range.
13:36I think that certainly played some role in him not having a phenomenal role to start the season.
13:41And look, he didn't have a 70% route share in a single game last year.
13:45So there's obviously some volatility to this profile overall.
13:48He only ran 242 routes. But on those routes, he had 2.69 yards per outrun rate.
13:53That was the third best of any qualified rookie since 2011.
13:56Only OBJ and Martavis Bryant were better. He can play an inside-out role.
13:59He did that in college. I think that when you look at Ben Johnson and what he did in Detroit, I do
14:06genuinely think that they're viewing Luther Burden as an Amon Ross St.
14:09Brown type piece to this offense. And it is crazy when you sort of overlay the talent and the profiles that they
14:15have in the Chicago team versus what they had in that Detroit team.
14:19Where a Dunze can maybe play that perimeter role like a JMO did.
14:23You have Colston Loveland as a Sam Laporta. And I think Luther Burden is going to end up playing the ARSB role,
14:29which certainly gives him some easier outs, some quick throws, closer to the line of scrimmage.
14:34A lot of in-breaking routes that's going to help him create those giant plays because he's really, really good after the catch.
14:40I think Amon Ross St. Brown's a better, just pure route runner.
14:43And we've seen it come to fruition in the NFL.
14:46But Luther Burden is unbelievable after the catch. We also have a metric at late-round fantasy football called market score, which essentially looks at a player's ADP.
14:54It looks at previous season metrics. And it comes up with a score to essentially say, OK, here's what ADP's saying.
15:00But this player's either a little bit better or a little bit worse than where he's listed in ADP.
15:05And you can look at historical comps with market score and some of Luther Burden's comps.
15:10You get Keenan Allen's 2015, where he scored 20 points per game.
15:13Calvin Ridley's 2020, he had over 19 points per game.
15:16It really all comes together. You know, I don't think this is a situation where, like, the hype train's just out of
15:23control and there's no backbone because Luther Burden only ran 240 routes last year.
15:27To me, it's a player who was always good.
15:29He had an unbelievable prospect profile coming into the NFL.
15:32Not everyone believed in it, but there is that backbone.
15:35It's not a player who just came out of nowhere from day three of the NFL draft to then have a strong yards per hour run rate.
15:43It's that Burden has been building and building and building.
15:46And everything points to him having a breakout season this year.
15:49I'll admit I've been scared. I've been scared of the price.
15:52I actually saw an analyst I really respect on Twitter recently tweeted something about how, if you like Burden, you're not wrong.
15:58If you don't like the cost, you're not wrong.
16:01There are many possible outcomes. JJ something on Twitter.
16:03Go check him out. I forget his name. But I've been on the scared side of that price.
16:08But I'll admit, I'm also scared that I'm being scared of the price when I shouldn't be because of the upside you talk about.
16:15And I've heard all offseason long, Aminra comparisons, Aminra comparisons because of Ben Johnson and the fact that he comes from Detroit.
16:22And I've been like, yeah, that's probably fair. I don't know.
16:25Like, Aminra had really a very unique career trajectory as a day three pick.
16:29But now you hear Ben Johnson comparing him to Aminra, St.
16:32Brown. And I'm like, I don't know. And then you hear Roma Doonze and this stuff with his foot, which I don't know how to feel about.
16:40And the other thing, too, I'll say about Luther Burden and his defense and something that I am starting to think about more as I go into drafts.
16:48Like, yeah, we talk about Aminra and how unique his career was as a day three pick.
16:52Burden was a higher pick, obviously, second round pick, like you said.
16:56And the other interesting thing is if he had come out a year earlier, he would have been probably a top 10 pick in the draft.
17:03It was one down year at Missouri where their whole season was kind of a disaster that hurt Luther Burden's stock.
17:09But he's a guy we already projected at a point in time to be a very, very high pick in the NFL
17:16draft because of the talent he has. We certainly saw it down the stretch last year.
17:20Now DJ Moore is gone. Now Olamide Zaccheaus is gone, which shouldn't have mattered to begin with, but it really did at points last year in Chicago.
17:28So the stars are aligning for somebody who could be a huge breakout here in year two.
17:33There are two wolves inside of me, and one of them is a massive coward and is really worried about the small sample size of production last year.
17:41And the other one is the one that has to admit that maybe I've been wrong about Luther Burden.
17:46And I think it all kind of domino effect kicked off when we first got that news that Roma Dunze was saying,
17:52what, this is his new normal after the foot injury.
17:55And it was like, OK, maybe I need to adjust the way I'm projecting their roles in this offense.
18:01And now the drumbeat from Ben Johnson himself is something that you truly can't ignore anymore.
18:05And Mello, you took the words right out of my mouth.
18:08I keep hearing the ARSB comparison. For him to say it himself for me has really gotten me in on this bandwagon.
18:15And so I think a month or two ago, had you brought him up on the show, I would have pushed back pretty hard.
18:22But I think I might be in. It goes against all my morals.
18:25Yeah, one thing I'll say, too, about Burden is that a lot of people will cite the fact that, like, you know,
18:32we don't see a lot of hits from wide receivers who scored, like, fewer than 10 PPR points per game in their rookie season, right?
18:39Like, rookie season production is very, very predictive. But my pushback would be we also don't see many round two wide receivers.
18:45Even the ZAP model database, he's a top five ever round two or three wide receiver.
18:50And the guys who have been, you know, it's like Tyler Boyd and like Juju Smith-Schuster, guys who had like peak seasons
18:56in the in the Keenan Allen was another one who've had like peak seasons and good seasons in the NFL and good careers in the NFL.
19:03And then not many of these guys who have fewer than 10 PPR points per game have a yard per route run
19:10rate the way and were as good per route run as Luther Burden was.
19:14So I think that, like, in my opinion, yes, there's a lot of volatility here.
19:18Like, again, I understand if people are not that interested because you are paying for this to a degree.
19:23You know, his ADP is not getting like so, so out of control despite the camp hype just because there's so many good wide receivers in that range.
19:31Right. And so it's kind of hard for him to get like so crazy out of control.
19:36But I do think that there's a chance that he's a special player.
19:40And if I lose out on a fourth round pick or a fifth round in the home league, whatever the case may
19:46be, I don't think it's going to sink my fantasy team.
19:49But the upside is certainly there for him to just smash.
19:53Yeah, I think we always talk about we always say like we play for rings here at the lineup and I'm looking
19:59at like real time ADP right now. You've got him in the wide receiver range going around like a T Higgins, a Garrett Wilson, like a Zay Flowers.
20:07And to me, like like you said, yeah, maybe the floor is not there of somebody like a T Higgins who's so insulated in this offense.
20:14But like the upside that exists for Luther Burden is nowhere close to the upside that exists for T Higgins.
20:20And those are the shots you want to take to genuinely win your league.
20:24Yeah. Yeah. Just to put it like more simply, the upside is he is the number one clear cut receiver on a Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams offense.
20:32That whole thing should get you excited. All right.
20:35Well, I'm going to somebody a little bit less exciting here, but somebody I'm still excited to draft.
20:40And that is Blake Corum. And I want to start this out by saying something very important.
20:45This is not an anti-Kyron Williams take for me because a lot of pro-Corum people, I think, like to talk negatively about Kyron Williams.
20:51And I wouldn't do that because I like Kyron a lot.
20:55I think Kyron's a very good player. I think he's still probably disrespected maybe because of the draft capital or whatever, but Kyron's good.
21:01And the beautiful thing is you don't need to be out on Kyron to be in on Blake Corum.
21:07Corum is going as the running back 35 in drafts right now, which is, I think, just about his floor.
21:13He was the running back 40 in PPR last year, 37 in half point PPR.
21:17If his usage goes up a bit, or even if it just stays pretty steady with what it was the back half
21:23of last season, I think he should be able to easily hit on that ADP.
21:27To illustrate what I mean by that, over his final six regular season games last year, he went from averaging 17 and
21:34a half snaps per game to 23.3, seven and a half carries per game to 10 and a half, and most importantly,
21:404.2 fantasy points per game to 12.7. That was good enough for him to go from the running back 59 over the
21:46first 12 weeks of this season to the running back 19 over the final six games.
21:51So if his usage and success just mirrors what it was last year down the stretch, which I think it theoretically should
21:57be that or even better, after yet another full off season to solidify trust with Sean McVay and his coaching staff.
22:03I almost see this as like the Lions, how we treated them for a couple years, where yes, of course, Jameer Gibbs,
22:09but even David Montgomery was going well higher than Blake Corum is now because this is an offensive environment that can support two running backs.
22:17But the beautiful thing is that Corum is a flex with benefits because if William should ever go down for some reason,
22:23or if he is ever unavailable, Corum instantly becomes comfortably a top 12 running back week in and week out for me,
22:29every single week as the lead back in this Rams offense.
22:32So with all that said, it feels like you're drafting a guy that his cost reflects his floor, even if he remains in his current role.
22:40But the upside is he doesn't remain in that role and his value increases exponentially to the point where he's a true league winner.
22:47If anything happens to Kyron, that's the kind of guy I want to draft late in fantasy drafts.
22:52Yeah, this is a great flex with benefits guy.
22:54And it all comes down to the cost that you said, like you're paying an RB 35 price tag, which I think
23:01you put it perfectly, I think is much closer to his floor than his ceiling.
23:05We've talked a lot about the Blake Kyron situation here, though.
23:08I'd love to get JJ's thoughts on this. Yeah, I mean, look, I think that, you know, as someone who has been
23:14kind of weary of Kyron, even when even like last year and a little bit the year before that, even and, you
23:21know, it's kind of burned me a little bit, but we did start to see that shift happen last year where, you
23:27know, his snap shares were consistently in the 60 to 70 percent range versus the 70.
23:3270 to 90 percent range. And his, you know, his backfield share was certainly suffering as well.
23:36When you look at his his his running back rush share.
23:40The only thing that would probably scare me with Corum in general is, you know, last year we did still see Kyron
23:46get more of the high leverage stuff that matters most in fantasy football, right?
23:50Where like Corum was getting more of like the empty calorie stuff, the between the 20 stuff.
23:55And if you look at the splits, whenever Corum started getting used a little bit more, you know, his route share was still like sub 20 percent.
24:02You know, his his, you know, his usage of the goal line was still favoring and teetering towards Kyron a lot more than Corum.
24:09So I think we probably need to see that change at least a little bit this year.
24:14But given what we've heard and given what like is very possible, I think that we could see that happen this year.
24:20And if that does happen, then all of a sudden Corum is going to easily pay off at this cost.
24:26Yeah, absolutely. No, I 100 percent agree with that.
24:29But and just going back to like the flex with benefits, like you're right, Corum in some ways was almost like the
24:35Ken Walker of Target brand Ken Walker last year.
24:38It was all between the 20s. But even that, at least down the stretch, was enough to support him as a flex option.
24:44And then you're right. If we see a more dramatic flipper, if we see some.
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26:09Something happened to Kyron. That's where the real upside is.
26:12Yep. All right, guys, let's get into our sixth must-draft player.
26:15We're going to be talking Oppenheimer this time. I'm just kidding.
26:18No movie comp. We're just going to be talking about Malik Neighbors.
26:21I feel insane. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills, but we have somehow brought Malik Neighbors into a must-draft episode because he is back at training camp.
26:29He looks really good, and it feels like nobody even cares because his ADP is still in the third round, and I
26:36will admit I think that's going to continue rising through August, but we talked about this in a recent episode that a
26:42lot of times when we start getting news about a player so late in the offseason, that ADP rise lags a little
26:48bit, and you can get a really good value, especially in your home league.
26:52So I don't want to be rash here, but I'm starting to think that a celebrity softball game was not the ideal
26:59way to measure how healthy a player is. Just last year before the injury, albeit a small sample size, he was the wide receiver two through two weeks.
27:07He had that explosive 37-point performance in that overtime game against Dallas.
27:10It was the sixth best performance by any wide receiver in all of 2025.
27:14But if you turn back the clock to his rookie season, which is what I really want to talk about, he was
27:20the wide receiver six overall as a rookie, commanded the number one target share in the NFL at 34.91%, which is just
27:27outrageous, is the second highest we've seen in the past four years behind only JSN this past season.
27:32He finished that year third in receptions, and now you could argue he has even less target competition with our short king,
27:38Wandale Robinson, headed to greener pastures in Tennessee. And he did all of this with Daniel Jones, Drew Locke, Tommy Cutlets, and
27:44then last year he was producing with Russell Wilson.
27:47I'm just envisioning a world where we see this Jackson Dart breakout that we're all projecting in 2026, and this guy is
27:53just like an absolute slam dunk that should, to me, be going a lot closer to like beginning of the second round,
27:59that one-two turn, than he should be in like the two-three turn.
28:03I'm curious to see if the ADP catches up, because I think it absolutely should now that everything is looking more promising,
28:09like he won't open the year on the pup.
28:12JJ, I'm curious to your thoughts if, both from an injury perspective and then depending on what direction things go with the
28:18injury, where that ADP is going to end up falling.
28:21Yeah, I think there's still some chance that he's not 100% like week one, week two, but obviously, you know, our bread
28:27is buttered, if you will, in the fantasy playoffs.
28:30And that's later in the season where he should be closer to 100%.
28:33My only thing would be like, I've been trying to project where he's going to go and where I might draw the line.
28:40I think given the injury concerns, it's probably around that like Drake London area, right?
28:44Where like that spot where wide receiver becomes a lot, not a lot, but at least a little bit more questionable where
28:51you get into like Nico, Rasheed Rice, you know, maybe a Pickens or something like that, where you can see reasons for
28:57like Nico not having quite as good of a season, just given the competition there, or like Rasheed Rice for obvious reasons,
29:03George Pickens because CeeDee Lamb is healthy. And so like you can, you can see these like reasons as to why those players wouldn't necessarily pan out.
29:11And I think that's where Neighbors probably belongs when you're getting him after that group of wide receivers very frequently at this point.
29:18And look, I was someone that was not very bullish on Neighbors situation a month ago and it changed because we've gotten really favorable reports.
29:25We've gotten to see him. We've heard doctors talk favorably about what's going on with him.
29:29And so I think you bring all that together.
29:32I do think that like that, that Drake London range is where I would probably draw the line with them though.
29:38I think that is 100% fair that, that range where you've got wide receivers in whatever litany of ambiguity in their situations.
29:44I think that's the perfect spot. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's probably if I had to guess, assuming the reports stay consistent
29:50with what they've been in the last week or two, I think that's probably where he'll end up.
29:56But I agree if he goes further than that, that's a little bit too rich for my blood.
30:01If you're drafting early here in August, go steal Malik Neighbors at his price right now.
30:05Guys, thank you so much for tuning in. Those are our six must drop players for 2026.
30:10And of course, a massive thank you to JJ.
30:13Make sure to go check out Late Round Fantasy.
30:15We've got all of his links down in the description, but JJ, do you have anything left to plug?
30:21Uh, yeah, look, we get the Late Round Draft Guide.
30:24You can find all of that over on lateround.com.
30:26Awesome. And Mello, before we get out of here, do you have anything left to plug?
30:31Nothing for me. All right. We'll catch you guys next episode.
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