Swing Players For 2026
STACKED extracted the fantasy-relevant player signal from this podcast and kept the full transcript here for context.
1 hr 10 min
Duration
Estimated from transcript
Aug 11, 2026
Published
Tue, August 11, 2026
19
Player insights
17
Players mentioned
Topics
Omarion HamptonAlec PierceChris RodriguezChristian McCaffreyD.J. MooreGeorge PickensJ.K. DobbinsJayden DanielsJonah ColemanJustin JeffersonKeaton MitchellLuther BurdenMalik NabersMatthew Stafford
Player analysis
Player insights
Alec Pierce
NegativeInjury8:14
Alec Pierce is dealing with a lingering ankle issue following March surgery, recently requiring a second platelet-rich plasma injection. Harris notes this creates a risk of him missing significant training camp time, which could impact his conditioning and game readiness. Consequently, Pierce has been downgraded to RB40 in standard and RB43 in PPR formats, making him an eighth-round pick who currently lacks the profile of a reliable fantasy starter.
Insight pageChris Rodriguez
NegativeDepth Chart22:27
Cousin Josh mentions Chris Rodriguez as a potential threat to the backfield, though he notes Rodriguez has been mostly inactive during training camp.
Insight pageChristian McCaffrey
NegativeInjury12:31
Christian McCaffrey sat out Monday's practice due to muscle tightness. Harris characterizes this as a 'nothing burger' for most players, but notes it warrants monitoring given McCaffrey's injury history to ensure it does not become a recurring issue.
Insight pageD.J. Moore
PositiveValue39:16
Brandon identifies DJ Moore as a favorite target following his move to Buffalo, comparing his fit with Josh Allen to Stefon Diggs' successful tenure. He believes Moore is currently undervalued in drafts despite the potential for high-end production.
Insight pageGeorge Pickens
NegativeValue100:29
The host and Cousin Josh discuss the difficulty of drafting both George Pickens and CD Lamb as top-10 wide receivers. The host ranks Pickens 13th, citing concerns about his volatility and the team's target distribution, though he acknowledges the potential for a high-volume passing offense.
Insight pageJ.K. Dobbins
NegativeInjury13:32
J.K. Dobbins limped off the field Monday with a soft tissue injury. While Sean Payton claims he will be fine, Harris remains skeptical given Dobbins' extensive injury history, which includes a ruptured foot ligament, ACL, and Achilles tears. Harris ranks Dobbins as the best player in the Denver backfield when healthy, but notes he is 'held together by orange, navy, and white duct tape' and expects a committee approach.
Insight pageJayden Daniels
NegativeInjury26:39
Cousin Josh expresses concern regarding Jayden Daniels' injury risk compared to Matthew Stafford, specifically citing his playing style as putting him in harm's way.
Insight pageJonah Coleman
NegativeDepth Chart18:26
The Broncos drafted Jonah Coleman in the fourth round. Harris notes that he is part of the Denver running back mix, though he admits he does not have a strong read on the rookie's potential yet.
Insight pageJustin Jefferson
NegativeProjection90:52
The host is lower on Justin Jefferson than the industry consensus, ranking him outside the top 10 wide receivers due to concerns about Kyler Murray's track record of elevating wide receiver performance. While acknowledging Jefferson's talent, the host views the quarterback situation as a significant hurdle to a top-tier finish.
Insight pageKeaton Mitchell
PositiveUsage86:42
Cousin Josh notes that Keaton Mitchell is significantly faster than O'Marion Hampton and could see more usage than drafters of Hampton would prefer, given Mike McDaniel's historical affinity for speed in his backfield.
Insight pageLuther Burden
NegativeInjury29:51
Brandon and Cousin Josh discuss Luther Burden as a 'wish-casting' hype candidate whose value is significantly hampered by a groin injury that threatens his availability for Week 1. They note he struggled to win a starting job as a rookie and has questionable hands.
Insight pageMalik Nabers
NegativeProjection44:04
Brandon and Cousin Josh identify Malik Nabers as a player with significant 'swing' potential in the Giants' offense, noting his high ceiling but acknowledging the volatility surrounding the team's situation.
Insight pageMatthew Stafford
PositiveValue24:26
Cousin Josh views Matthew Stafford as a major value, noting he is being drafted around QB15 despite having top-five potential. He compares the situation to Aaron Rodgers' MVP years where the market doubted him, and argues that Stafford's pocket-passing style makes him safer than mobile quarterbacks like Jayden Daniels.
Insight pageOmarion Hampton
NegativeProjection45:39
Brandon identifies Omarion Hampton as a key 'swing player' for the season, noting he is receiving significant hype but questioning his overall dynamism outside of his passing game contributions.
Insight pageNegativeValue75:35
Cousin Josh and the host agree that O'Marion Hampton is a fade at his current top-10 running back ADP. The host questions his dynamic ability, noting his production was inflated by favorable matchups against the Giants and Cowboys and heavy passing game usage that may not persist with a better offensive line and a less check-down-reliant Justin Herbert.
Insight pageNegativeRole78:24
The host highlights that Mike McDaniel has alluded to a three-headed backfield monster, suggesting Hampton may not be the featured bell cow that his top-10 ADP implies. The presence of Keaton Mitchell and Kimani Vidal further complicates his path to a true workhorse role.
Insight pageRJ Harvey
NegativeRole15:32
R.J. Harvey is part of the Denver backfield rotation. Harris notes that while Harvey received a 'distracting amount of red zone receiving work' last season, he looked poor as a runner compared to J.K. Dobbins. Harris expects a committee approach involving Harvey, Dobbins, and Jonah Coleman.
Insight pageRome Odunze
PositiveBreakout30:34
Brandon expresses a preference for Rome Odunze over Luther Burden as the summer progresses, suggesting Odunze could be the primary receiver to emerge in the Chicago offense.
Insight pageTravis Etienne
NegativeRole22:17
Cousin Josh notes that Travis Etienne leaving Jacksonville is viewed by some as a positive for his fantasy outlook, but he remains skeptical of his role and overall standing, ranking him as RB28.
Insight pageFull transcript
Episode Transcript
0:00It's the Harris Fantasy Football Podcast with your host, Christopher Harris.
0:04Welcome! Hey everybody, welcome in. My name is Chris and this show is 16 Fluid Ounces of Fun.
0:10Hello there you yacht possums. How in the big wide world are ya?
0:14I am fully back in the habit of waking up and making a show and it's really fun.
0:20I'm having a great time doing this every weekday now.
0:24I hope you are too. Getting back in the routine of getting shouted at the moment you start this very stupid show.
0:31Just in the past few days, where have I heard from people?
0:35Switzerland, Germany, several people in Australia, somebody in New Zealand.
0:39Steve in Kenya wrote in. Amazing to hear from you, Steve.
0:42Truly, the tapeworms are everywhere. It is my honor to be talking to you.
0:47And it's my honor to announce the Cousin Josh bribery.
0:50I felt like I had to say this the moment we settled on it and made sure it was possible.
0:57Julie Redd was the one who suggested it. Thank you, Julie.
1:01We're going to do two pound foolish drawings for prizes at the end of today's show.
1:06Today, one of the prizes is a Zoom session with me.
1:10And another prize is a signed copy of one of my books.
1:14But I hope today's winners don't feel sad because they won't have won Friday's drawing.
1:19When Cousin Josh is on the show, I will announce that winner on Friday because that winner is going to do a
1:27mock draft with me and Cousin Josh on our YouTube channel.
1:30Recorded on our channel. We're going to record it this coming Monday evening.
1:35Won't be like recorded live, but yeah, it'll be on the channel.
1:39That's a big one. A big giveaway. A great idea.
1:42Mock drafting with me and Cousin Josh. If that sounds like something you would like to win, all you have to do
1:50is preorder a copy of my forthcoming novel, Pound Foolish.
1:53Send me a screen capture. HeyHarris at HarrisFootball.com. We're up to 400 entries.
1:58We got a bunch yesterday. I sent out a mailing.
2:01You might have gotten it. That's great. And I'm super proud and happy for however many people.
2:07It's all fun. It's all gravy. It's still a very small percentage of the audience.
2:12Very small. So as of right now, I mean, it's not an amazing chance one in 400, but you'll take it.
2:19That's not horrible. And if you find yourself, you know, thinking you'd like to be in a draft with Cousin Josh, who wouldn't?
2:27This is a good moment to do it. Enter now.
2:30You will be entered for Friday. It's a big one.
2:33Also, if you currently can't afford the luxury of a book because you're strapped, you're saving for something big, let me know that too.
2:42Please reach out. We've had several volunteer possums who are springing for books.
2:46Matt and Josh and Nate and James and Isaac.
2:49They've got you. Email me. Let me know. And anyone getting a free copy, you are entered in the bribery as well.
2:56Big prize coming up on Friday. Mock drafting with me and Josh.
3:01Very fun stuff. And I should just say, I haven't said this.
3:05Like if you're on board with the book already or you're considering it, I would love it if every person listening shared Pound Foolish with one other person.
3:14You know, they're someone in your life who's a reader.
3:17They like mysteries. They like sports fiction. That would be so cool.
3:22It would be so great. Obviously, I'm doing this entirely by myself this time around.
3:27I've never done this before and always had somebody, you know, two various publishers.
3:31I need all the help you can give me.
3:34I really do appreciate that. All right. What's going on in this very silly game that we play?
3:41There are joint practices today. Cowboys Rams, Colts Patriots, Buccaneers Jets, Titans 49ers.
3:45These are good days to be paying attention to beat reports.
3:49Not that everything that happens in joint practices or, you know, every little observation isn't going to be actionable.
3:55Most of them are not going to be. But it's a hell of a lot more interesting to me than yet another
4:03seven on seven red zone drill where the beat reporter is guessing why a certain running back was on the field and everybody's then posting about it.
4:12And I just can't do that. You do at least start to get a sense of personnel groupings and there's hitting and there's tackling.
4:20There's legit skill in getting open or making someone miss so much more than practice reports and much more than the actual
4:27exhibition games that they come in advance of. I give some attention to these joint practices.
4:33And for these four, for example, we'll probably talk about them on Thursday show, I would say.
4:38Whatever lessons we thought we learned from the beat reporters.
4:42Because tomorrow, Wednesday, is the Yacht Club. I like to do things like this for the main show.
4:48So you can expect some reviews of what the beat people said about these joint practices on Thursday's podcast.
4:54Other news, the biggest report to my way of thinking from Monday involved Alec Pierce, about whom we spoke last Thursday on
5:02the show as part of the Film Room Heroes episode with JJ.
5:06I had Pierce on my list, not because I was necessarily excited about drafting him given his health, but because over the
5:13course of last season, I think Pierce was the guy who grew the most in my eyes from my previous opinion about him more than any other player.
5:23And I therefore understood why on tape the Colts paid him such a big contract to stick around in Indianapolis.
5:30But what do we always say? The most important stuff in training camp comes when the teams can't stop the negative stuff from leaking out.
5:38And on Monday, they did leak for Alec Pierce.
5:41He had the ankle surgery back in March. He was, according to the GM and the coach, very clearly supposed to be
5:49back doing something at practice by now. And he's not.
5:52And the Athletic reported, surely because the Athletic was told by someone on the team who's trying to mitigate the damage, that
5:59Pierce had a second injection of platelet-rich plasma in his injured ankle recently, which you probably don't do if your ankle is feeling hunky-dory.
6:08Long term, does it change Pierce's career upswing? Not that I know of yet.
6:12But in the immediate term, how can this not lower him in the ranks?
6:17Because now we have inside his range of outcomes the worry that the ankle doesn't get right for weeks or months and that he misses an entire camp.
6:27And for sure, sometimes when these guys miss entire camps, they're not quite in game shape and they maybe get hurt in
6:34addition to the injury they already have. It's just overall not great sounding.
6:38For sure, there's still a chance for this to get undone if he's suddenly fine.
6:43And I might add, there's a chance for Pierce to do nothing in camp and then be absolutely fine and great for the entire season.
6:52And then it turned out he came at tremendous value in our drafts.
6:56But I just don't see how you can assume that.
7:00Pierce dropped to number 40 in my receiver. Ranks standard 43 PPR.
7:04That puts him in the eighth round. So not somebody I can be drafting to be a true fantasy starter just now.
7:11And if the news gets worse, he's got downward mobility from there too.
7:16Not a great way to kick off the new contract.
7:19And I still won't be surprised. Maybe at some point we get the word that possibly Keenan Allen winds up signing there.
7:26That has been a rumor that's been out there for quite a bit.
7:31A couple other camp injuries that so far don't sound like major deals.
7:35But considering who they are, definitely at least worth continuing to check in on.
7:40Harris benches more than Christian McCaffrey. Not anymore. I do not.
7:44I do lighter weights with a quarter pump on each rep.
7:47Thanks to my unbelievable trainer friend and yacht possum, Zach Y.
7:51But indeed, Christian McCaffrey was one of these guys.
7:54CMC sat out Monday's practice with muscle tightness. With anybody else, that's the literal definition of a nothing burger.
8:01And my very, very strong guess is that it's a nothing burger for McCaffrey too.
8:06But we will just note that it happened and make sure it doesn't keep happening with the oft-injured McCaffrey.
8:12And J.K. Dobbins, if anyone gets injured more oft than McCaffrey, it is Dobbins.
8:17And he limped off a practice field on Monday.
8:20Sean Payton told reporters it was a soft tissue injury and Dobbins will be fine.
8:25Insert the meme that says, sure, Jan, here. In fact, a few days ago, Dobbins gave a press conference where he gave
8:33a pinky promise to reporters that he would play the full 17 games this year.
8:38Why? It's almost as if pinky promises don't mean anything anymore.
8:41Once again, not changing ranks based on one thing.
8:44Not freaking out. But certainly going to keep an eye on Dobbins over the next few days as well.
8:51Would you like to hear Dobbins' almanac profile pre-pinky promise?
8:54PPP. Pre-pinky promise. Sure you would. That almanac profile goes a little something like this.
8:59If you're basing everything off cumulative stats from 2025, I'm putting the wrong Broncos running back first.
9:05That other guy will be along on the list very shortly.
9:09If you're basing everything off the likelihood Dobbins stays healthy for a full season, uh, yeah, ditto.
9:15But if you're trying to weigh those factors against how the Denver running backs played and how Sean Payton seemed to want
9:22to deploy them when everybody was upright, I think J.K.
9:25Dobbins deserves to be first among near equals. When he tore a ligament in his left foot in week 10, Dobbins was fantasy's RB15 and rookie R.J.
9:35Harvey was RB24. And watching it game by game, it honestly didn't feel that close.
9:40As I say, we'll discuss Harvey in a second.
9:43But by comparison, Dobbins looked for real. He had a hundred more carries than his counterpart.
9:48First play of the second half, week three against the Chargers, shotgun RPO, and Dobbins flashes legit speed on a 41-yard gain.
9:56Monday night, the next week, against the Bengals, Dobbins was the best player on the Denver offense, dominating with slashes and cuts
10:03between the tackles, and Harvey mostly played Basora time.
10:06In week five's comeback upset in Philly, Dobbins found as much daylight as a good defense would allow and scored a shorty.
10:13At that point in the season, he led all NFL running backs in carries that gained 10-plus yards.
10:20Harvey was getting a distracting amount of red zone receiving work, and both guys had a role.
10:25But Dobbins' role was more repeatable and valuable. Well, but if it's a day that ends in Y, Dobbins can get hurt on it.
10:33His Liz Frank injury happened in the third quarter of week 10 against the Raiders on a hip drop tackle uncalled by Tyree Wilson.
10:42In retrospect, we can see Dobbins fumble once he was down and grab his foot, but he actually stayed in the game
10:49and converted the final first down to lock up a 10-7 win.
10:53Unfortunately, unshockingly, he needed surgery and was out for the rest of the year.
10:58In his stead, Harvey finished RB17 the rest of the way on the shoulders of some touchdowns, but still looked pretty bad as a runner.
11:06This winter, the Broncos drafted Jonah Coleman in the fourth round, but they also decided to re-up Dobbins.
11:12If we could magically grant all these Denver running backs health for the entire 26th season, Dobbins would deserve to be a
11:20lot higher than this in the ranks. But, um, shall we go through the list?
11:25In addition to the ruptured foot ligament, Dobbins has torn a knee meniscus, torn an ACL, sprained a knee, torn an Achilles, and sprained the other knee.
11:34Of a possible 101 professional regular season games, Dobbins has played in 54.
11:39He's held together by orange, navy, and white duct tape.
11:42So, that's how that one goes. Obviously, I was referring to Harvey the six-foot invisible rabbit.
11:47You've got Jonah Coleman the rookie also there. If everyone's healthy, I like Dobbins best.
11:52It is still probably a mix of all three because that's the NFL now.
11:57So far, I think he looks like the best player.
12:01Though, I will also admit, I don't know Jonah Coleman from a hole in the ground.
12:06And R.J. Harvey's a second-year player and they can get better.
12:10So, let's see how this injury goes and see what they keep saying about these guys and their rotation the rest of the year.
12:18You can also, of course, find the almanac, as you can each and every year, at harrisfootball.com.
12:24Today's kickoff. Okay, on today's show, it's the swing list.
12:27We do it every year. A fun topic. Players who have the potential to swing leagues because of their upsides and their downsides.
12:35Not necessarily acid reflux guys. I have some players on my list who I absolutely feel pretty good about taking.
12:42But I also do understand that they're going to require an investment and that their range of outcomes is wider than maybe
12:49I would love given what I'll have to pay.
12:52They have fantasy football main character energy, you might say.
12:55Emailer Daniel Wade says, quote, End quote. Indeed. Indeed.
12:58Good point. And to help me with the swing players, our old friend Brandon Funston from The Athletic will join the show.
13:06I think it'll be really fun. I thank you again so much for listening today.
13:11By now, you've heard me talk about cowboy colostrum, which I myself am drinking each morning.
13:16Already drank it today as part of my routine.
13:19And now that we're a little deeper into my cowboy experiment, I can report my stomach has been feeling better.
13:26And the big change I've made is cowboy. What is colostrum?
13:30It's the first milk produced by the cow. Cowboy collects it after the baby calves have had their fill, makes it into powder.
13:38The latest flavor is cookies and cream. Tastes really good.
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13:45I am way less bloated. And I'm not alone.
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13:5279% said less bloating and inflammation. 72% said improved digestion.
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14:00Try the new cookies and cream flavor for yourself.
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14:08Just head to cowboycolostrum.com slash Harris and use the code Harris at checkout.
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14:17Today's guest. Oh, get to hear that song. Means I get to talk to Brandon Funston from The Athletic.
14:23He is, he makes the whole thing work over there.
14:27Well, makes part of it work certainly over there.
14:30If you're interested in fantasy football, of course we endorse The Athletic.
14:34We love Jake Seeley. Now Andy Behrens does some work over there occasionally.
14:38And the puppet master is Brandon Funston. Hello, Brandon.
14:41Hello. It's like deja vu all over again. Yes.
14:44You're back. I'm back. Yes. Andy Behrens. More Behrens.
14:47More Behrens everywhere. So, yeah. Check him out on your pod, but also on The Athletic.
14:53For sure. And he'll be on tomorrow with me on the Yacht Club.
14:57And we're going to do Players Andy Loves. That'll be fun.
15:01Andy can spread some love on the show tomorrow.
15:04But for today, we're bringing you aboard. You're one of the rare guests who's been on every season of Harris football.
15:11Is that true? How big of a list is that?
15:14I haven't done it. I haven't done it. But, I mean, I think it's four or five.
15:20Okay. It's a one-hand kind of a deal. Oh, it's a one-hand kind of a deal.
15:25Yeah. Yeah. And, I mean, there's a whole story behind why that is.
15:30But, you know, there was attrition from the peak or from other times.
15:34And then just I was slow to get started.
15:37Because when you're behind the concrete wall at ESPN, you don't really know anybody else.
15:42Because you're not allowed to do any other shows.
15:45Right. You know? Yeah. So, like, I didn't know who to get.
15:50It was, you know, Twitter was much more important then in the world.
15:54And it was like whoever had a big Twitter following me, I gave a shot, you know, back then.
16:00And so, you don't feel like you had a wide net that you had created at ESPN so that when you went to your pocket.
16:09I mean. The wider net came after ESPN is what you're saying.
16:13Oh, much, much wider. Yeah, yeah. I met everybody.
16:16I'd never talked to Pat Doherty before. I'd never talked to Denny Carter.
16:20I'd never talked to Gigi Zacharison. Probably I could have had I been someone who goes to these events.
16:27Right. I just tend not to go to those events.
16:30Nothing against them. A lot of the listeners go to them.
16:34I think it's awesome. And, you know, the industry ones, I've been and they're okay.
16:39It's like I, yeah, I just don't really want.
16:42Yeah. The problem with those is you go to one or two and then you're just, you've been there and done that.
16:49Yeah. You're either getting pitched by everybody or you're feeling like you're pitching everybody.
16:54And, yeah, it's not for me. I'd rather just be by myself writing a book or something.
17:00So, no, the answer was like to start with because, you know, you hired me at Yahoo.
17:06You're the first one who ever gave me a job doing this.
17:10And so I was like, okay, well, I know him.
17:13And then, yeah, you left me after a year.
17:16I did. Less than a year. It was like seven months or something.
17:21It was so fast. I was like, dang it.
17:24We had a good thing going on here. I know.
17:27You let me go. That was very nice. I had a contract and you let me go.
17:33But, of course, I got you Andy as a result in recompense.
17:37So, like, I feel like I paid my debt.
17:40Not a bad consolation prize at all. Yeah. I mean, it is clearly a consolation prize but not a bad one.
17:47But, yeah, anyway, so you have been coming on since 2015.
17:51And you've done this list two years ago. And yet still, because you're you, when we logged in, you said, I probably did this wrong.
17:59You're going to yell at me. I think I got the gist of it.
18:04I'm just taking it as sort of lightning rods is my way of kind of looking at it.
18:10Sure. Swing players, lightning rods. In the email, a new way of saying it was like the main characters of fantasy.
18:17Yeah. Like, we expect these guys are going to be the main characters.
18:22And I personally tried not to pick a bunch of injury guys because, like, the conversation becomes, whoa, if he's not hurt, he's going to be great.
18:31And if he's hurt, he's going to suck. Like, it's, you know, it's kind of boring.
18:36If you picked a couple injuries, it doesn't matter.
18:39It's fine. In the end, these lists, as I always say, have been saying for 11, 12 seasons, 12 preseasons, you know,
18:47they're an excuse to talk about players. That's really it.
18:50It's great to have another perspective on, and your perspective is fantastic.
18:54Before we get started, though, I should mention, for anybody in the Seattle-Tacoma area, am I allowed to say this?
19:01It's too late. I'm already saying it. Am I committing you?
19:05I think, we think you're coming to the reading.
19:08Oh, yeah. That's Sunday, August 23rd. Unless, you know, circumstances intervene.
19:11You do have children and stuff, but they're pretty grown now, so they can handle it, whatever it is.
19:18Hopefully, you'll be able to drive down from your manse, from your stately manse in Seattle, and make it to Tacoma, and
19:25cheer me on for the reading there. So, if people are on the fence about coming to that particular reading, get off
19:33the fence, because you'll get to meet Brandon, too.
19:36That's right. If you come within an hour radius of where I live, I'm beholden to reach out and go meet you in person.
19:44So, you did it, and I will follow through on that.
19:48We were trying to remember the last time we saw each other in person, and, I mean, I don't – like, you
19:55reminded me that we – you used to come down to L.A.
19:59more for different gigs and stuff. And so, I guess probably, like – I mean, probably the last time was, like, 2019
20:07or something, the last time we actually saw each other in person, which is wild.
20:12Yeah, I think we had ramen really close to where you live.
20:16Something like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I probably know where we went, because I still live in the same place.
20:23So, I still live aboard the same yacht. All right.
20:26Well, let's do this. Enough of my grab-ass problems.
20:29Things are great, and we're going to do swing players.
20:32It's a pointless countdown, but it's very important to do them in the right order.
20:37Who is your number five swing player for 2026?
20:41Let's go with Basial Tootin. Yeah. You're going to have to pay an expected price on him.
20:46This is a fourth-rounder who had uneven film as a rookie who has – you know, someone who's vying for backfield workload
20:54share that has a history with Liam Cohen, who could be a goal-line gremlin, could be the guy that has early downs.
21:01You've got LaQuint Allen there who could take third downs away.
21:05I mean, we're putting a lot of stock in a fourth-round second-year player who has done really nothing to guarantee that he's the man.
21:13Although, you go into most of the drafts I see, there's one or two just tootin' stands that are going to make
21:20you pay an uncomfortable price to get him. And I don't know that I'm there yet.
21:26I kind of think that this is going to be more of a backfield by committee.
21:31I mean, if you're paying inside the top 25 running backs for him, I think it's too rich for my blood.
21:38But I just think he's a player that a lot of people are buying into with what I see as – there
21:46is the upside there, and I get it, but I can see a clear downside as well.
21:52Yeah. I immediately heard the name, and I thought, oh, yeah, main character energy.
21:56Like, definitely someone that people will be really loud about over the next few weeks and be like, what?
22:03You're missing the boat. He's RB19, dude. What are you talking about?
22:07Here, look at his – again, look at his underwear Olympics stuff.
22:11And then everybody else is going to be like, I'm pretty sure he couldn't get the ball at all.
22:17I think Travis Etienne leaving Jacksonville, of course, that reads, it scans to some people who want to believe the stands, as you say, as trust in Tootin.
22:27Bringing in Chris Rodriguez is potentially a problem, although Rodriguez apparently not done too much in training camp yet.
22:33But, like, you would say, who in theory is a bigger threat to Tootin?
22:38Is it Chris Rodriguez or Travis Etienne? Like, you know, I mean, obviously.
22:42Yeah. And so, like, I see it. I don't either have him in my top 25 running backs, but I have him 28.
22:50I'm not outraged if that winds up being the cost.
22:54I would suspect because of how noisy – we call him your darn Tootin.
22:58I suspect because of how noisy his boosters are, that's going to be an ADP.
23:03We see climb, especially since he's had some good notes in training camp and Rodriguez has been mostly inactive.
23:10Where are you at on the player? I mean, like, generally – RB28.
23:14I – Okay, RB28, but, like, do you like him as a runner, as a potential lead back, or are you more
23:22– this is a complementary back in my mind?
23:25I think he's more of a complementary back. I think if he's thrust into a main role, he could be valuable for
23:32fantasy, and that's what people are kind of making a bet on, on a depth chart and laundry.
23:38We did – Andy and I did a film Futures or whatever it's called on him.
23:44We watched a ton of his tape this winter, and Barron's called him Faster Rico Dowdle, and I called him Faster Damien Pierce.
23:52Ooh, Damien Pierce, ouch. Well, faster. That's true. I mean, that would have helped Damien Pierce out a lot if he was faster.
23:59Yeah. You know, like, the issue comes down – he's definitely fast.
24:03The issue comes down to vision, and he hardly made any big plays.
24:08It's hard for a guy that fast to not make any big plays, and I think it's because he didn't see it very well.
24:16But that can change. You know, second-year player, I understand.
24:19Good conversation. Either way, good conversation. My number five is a much older player, and we probably don't have to have, like,
24:27a super long conversation about him, except to say it may not be the first time that I talk about him in
24:34August on the show, because Matthew Stafford, to me, has main character energy for this year.
24:40Oh, I don't know. He was the MVP last year, and yet every time I bring him up, people go, Chris, you're
24:47not going to believe where Matthew Stafford's going. You're going to be so mad when you see where Matthew Stafford's going.
24:54And, you know, I'm not really looking at ADP now.
24:58I kind of don't believe in it, but, you know, people are saying he's not even a fantasy starter.
25:04I'm in the top five among quarterbacks. I don't get it.
25:08I don't understand. I guess what I'm saying is there's a chance he's a flag player because he'll come so cheap that I'll just be like, awesome.
25:17I guess this is the Aaron Rodgers from back-to-back years where people just didn't believe in him, and he kept winning MVPs.
25:24Yeah, you know, Andy actually just wrote his latest piece for the Athletic just went up.
25:30It was about this. It's like this is the, you know, the odds on favorite to win the Super Bowl, the team
25:37that's expected to win the most, that has probably the highest offensive, you know, projections, who has the number one or number
25:45two fantasy wide receiver, and also Devontae Adams is, you know, in the top 20, and you put all the, you know,
25:52the surrounding elements together, and yet there's Matt Stafford sitting at QB 15.
25:57It doesn't make any sense. And so it makes – That's the first time I've heard that.
26:02Well, yeah, that's about where he's going. But you're right.
26:06Like, he's not going as a starting quarterback in a lot of leagues, and Eric was just, you know, putting up insane
26:13numbers last year, and there's regression potential that still puts him easily in the top 12.
26:19So, you know, he's just an amazing quarterback. And really the only thing that, in my mind, that can hold him back
26:26is just the fear of the injury, which is real, but, you know, they managed it last year, and if he plays
26:34a full season again, I don't see how he misses the top 10 at quarterback.
26:39Who's more likely to get injured? Matthew Stafford or Jaden Daniels?
26:42Yeah. Like, you know, there's no question. At least Matthew Stafford stays in the pocket and, you know, and it's like, I'm
26:50going to get rid of the ball quickly here, and, you know, he keeps himself out of his harm's way as much as possible.
26:58He can't say the same thing for Jaden Daniels.
27:01Right. Utterly foolish. Of course, 46 passing touchdowns? It's not going to happen.
27:05I know it's not going to happen, but I think 33 is.
27:09And guess what? That's easily a fantasy starter. Yeah, I am.
27:13You know, I do not. I intentionally do not look at ADP, and so this is actually Utah.
27:19I mean, I don't mind you telling me, but, like, I'm really glad I brought him up because I did not know
27:27that quarterback 15, I assumed it would be, like, 12 or something.
27:31Yeah, it's just outside. I mean, depending on where you're looking, but you're seeing him, like, 13 to 16 pretty regularly.
27:38Yeah. I'm doing – I'll do ADP next week.
27:41So I think, like, Tuesday of next week, finally I'll dig in and be like – You literally will just look at ADP for the first time.
27:50Are you telling me that? That's what you do?
27:53I have not looked at ADP. That's interesting. I noticed that you haven't, but just by going through your almanac, it's like,
28:01oh, wow, you're so far off ADP on that, but I love it.
28:05That's what I love about your almanac. Like, it's just completely unbiased, un – you know, it's just there's no preconceived notions going into it.
28:13You just write it as you see it, and it's good to have that fresh take instead of the, you know, kind
28:21of everybody falling in line perspective that you see year in and year out.
28:26We are sponsored today by BetterHelp. You've heard me talk about them as a sponsor for a while, and I always say
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29:37We are back with Brandon. We are talking about swing players for 2026.
29:42Brandon was giving me compliments, which we all hopefully took a moment, just bent over and caught our breath.
29:48Who's number four on your list of swing players, Brandon?
29:51Let's go with Luther Burden. I figured one of us would have to bring him up.
29:57He's just, again, this is water cooler hype. Buzz.
30:00Because I'm not sure that Luther Burden is the right Chicago receiver to get all the accolades and all the preseason steam, but so that's what he is.
30:09Is he the wide receiver 21, which is kind of where he settled in on the ADP, or is that, again, like
30:17a basial tootin, you're paying the expectant price for somebody who hasn't done anything for a full season.
30:23Wish casting, basically. It's wish casting, absolutely. I kind of see, I like Luther Burden.
30:28I can easily see him being wide receiver 21.
30:31I could also see him being wide receiver 33.
30:34I could see Roma Dunze being the guy here.
30:37But, you know, in this offense, and if Caleb Williams even takes another step forward, I mean, he could be much better than wide receiver 21.
30:46It's not, I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility.
30:50He could be a top 15 fantasy wide receiver.
30:53So I think there's some range of outcomes on him.
30:56I'm generally not, in the early drafts that I've done, I'm not the biggest Luther Burden fan in the room, and so
31:04I don't know that I'll get a lot of him.
31:07I think I'll get a lot more Roma Dunze as the summer winds down.
31:12But I don't have anything against Luther Burden. And I think he's got the potential to be a very good player.
31:19Yeah, he's interesting. He, again, definitely hasn't done it.
31:22Couldn't win the third receiver job out of his rookie training camp, no question.
31:27The thing that we talked about on Monday's show, off the top was the injury.
31:32And I have to imagine that puts a little bit of a roadblock on Luther Burden.
31:37Like, maybe not. I mean, because again, the people who love the young players or the second year players, they don't let, they don't stop for roadblocks.
31:47But like, he's not going to be in training camp.
31:50He's got a groin injury that's like in a race to make week one.
31:55How is that? How is, go ahead. No, I think you're absolutely right.
31:59I mean, people will just see the reporting that, oh, he's expected to be ready for week one.
32:05But that's a soft tissue injury in preseason. And you don't wish that on any of your players.
32:11Like, if it's a hamstring or groin, that's not like, okay, we just did the three, four weeks and we should be all good now.
32:20Like, those are the, you know, the notoriously recurring kind of injuries that you would not want your fantasy players starting out the season dealing with.
32:29A hundred percent. Like, again, I feel like the right way to think about this stuff is always, is like expected value, percent chance of each outcome.
32:38And Luther Burden just acquired some 11.7% chance of a groin injury that lasts the entire season.
32:43How does that not lower his expected value? Like, it just, that's how you have to think about this stuff.
32:50Absolutely. Um, so yeah, he almost, I guess, you know, for, for, for, for, it's an interesting guy to have brought up
32:58because it's an interesting confluence of a hype guy and an injury guy.
33:02Yeah. He's, he's real fast. He's fun as hell.
33:05He's really quick twitch. He's really fun with the ball in his hand.
33:10When he gets the ball in his hand, like he doesn't have very good hands from what I could see.
33:16And, and you know, like he's pretty small and I, but I don't know if you've heard this, Brandon, he's the Amon Ross St.
33:24Brown and Ben Johnson's offense. Yes. Right. Exactly. I heard that once.
33:28Yeah. It's stuck with me now. Yeah. All right.
33:32My number four is a player near and dear to your heart.
33:36I do think he's got main character energy and he's going to go in the first round.
33:41I think he should go in the first round.
33:44I'm not criticizing him, but Jackson Smith and Jigba has never done it before until last year.
33:50And so, you know, he's going to be surrounded in your wide receiver options.
33:55Very, very high by players who have multiple years of having done it before.
34:00And so there's a swing, I guess like he can't swing up from where he's being drafted because rightly he's being drafted
34:07probably most places middle of the first round, but he's a swing player for me in that.
34:13Yeah, I've definitely like, I, I, I did a little thing for the YouTube channel where I realized that Amon Ross St.
34:20Brown has finished as the number three receiver in fantasy three years in a row.
34:25And the two guys ahead of him, each of the three years have been different each of the three years.
34:32So like CD lamb had one great year and otherwise he's not been all that amazing.
34:38And so what if JSN, you know, just had one amazing, everything came together year.
34:43And as soon as I don't expect this to happen, but I think sort of one of the main stories, the storylines
34:50of the season is, is JSN one of those guys?
34:54Is he, uh, I guess you'd say at this point, Jamar Chase is the only one.
34:59I mean, Puka, but Puka gets hurt and Jefferson, you would have said that last year, but not so much.
35:06Like we're really running out of guys. Like one big story for me is if you take that chance on a quote
35:13unquote one year wonder who, I mean, buddy, there was no bigger booster than me before last year.
35:19Like I was so in and reap the rewards.
35:22So I'm not trying to say I doubt it, but, but it is a big question.
35:28I've been wrong before. I've, I've watched CJ Stroud's rookie year and thought he was really great.
35:33I've watched, you know, I, I, I've definitely been, you know, I can, I can get seduced.
35:39I don't think I have been, but a big, a big old story will be all right.
35:45Every time the Seahawks walk into a town, that defense's first mission will be stopped JSN.
35:50And if they can, then he's going to do a merely good season.
35:55Yeah. I think, and I think this is JSN is a Chris Harris player though, because when you turn on the game,
36:02when you turn on the game film, like there's no way you, you're poking too many holes in his game.
36:09Like he's just, he's just elite. Yeah. So it comes down to what you just, just said is can other defenses take
36:17him away effectively, you know, and Seattle doesn't have a way to, to, you know, to make them pay in a big way.
36:24So, um, the jury's out of that, but I get what you're saying.
36:29It's basically like, he just had a huge career year and you're kind of having to pay for another one.
36:35And, and, and I think he's going to do it again, but it is a big, for me, it is a big
36:43swing moment to be in a draft, to be like, I mean, personally, I would like one of those three, four, however
36:50many you like running backs and then Jamar chase.
36:53And then I go, Oh boy, you know, I'm picking seven here.
36:57Am I really taking a guy who's done this once?
37:01Well, the answer is probably good. Yeah. I was just going to say like, you're sitting there and you are going, you're
37:08chasing for like, how much better was JSN than, and then Amon Ross St.
37:13Brown last year? He was better, but it wasn't like out of this world better, but you just know Amon Ross St.
37:21Brown puts those numbers up year in and year out at this point.
37:25So you take those because you know, it's, they're safe and you're going to get them or are you taking JSN chasing
37:32what probably isn't a whole lot left of a ceiling, you know, for him to advance.
37:38So, and there's probably more. No, but if he does it again, right.
37:42If, if like Chase, he just keeps doing it every year and you just go, this is so safe.
37:49This is so awesome. This is like super elite production.
37:52Plus I don't have any downside. Like, you know, Amon Ross problem, quote unquote problem.
37:57He's fricking amazing is it's, he better score touchdowns.
38:00You know, he, I think he did. Yeah. Was it nine games last year with fewer than 80 yards or 60 yards?
38:08I think it was, was the number like, but, but that's built in.
38:12He does score touchdowns. He's awesome at it. They want him to score.
38:16You know, so I'm not like criticizing him, but JSN, I think JSN had 18 catches on balls of 20 plus area yards.
38:24And I'm on, I had four, like, I'm sorry.
38:27That guy with 18 has more ups, you know, like that's why I'm picking him.
38:32But a hundred percent acknowledge that if I come out of a draft and JSN was my first pick, I'm going to
38:40feel okay, but I'm going to have a little pit in my stomach going like, oh, I really hope it wasn't a one year deal.
38:48Yeah. Well, I saw him go not in a, I saw him go ninth in a, in a single QB in Jake, Jake's flex drafts last, last weekend.
38:58And he went ninth and I was like, wow, that's, I haven't seen that.
39:02I mean, I can understand you. Yeah. It's late.
39:06It's like, I feel like he's top six no matter what, but yeah, some people disagree.
39:11All right. How about your number three? So I went with two guys that so far that getting a lot of buzz
39:18and I'm a little bit pushing back on it.
39:21I think this guy is not getting any buzz and I love him and I just love the fit and that's DJ more going to Buffalo.
39:30I think he's 29 years old now. This is very reminiscent of when Stefan Diggs went kind of sort of later in
39:38his career to Buffalo, had four straight amazing seasons with Josh Allen.
39:42I like the similarities and style between the two.
39:45I think the fit is like one of the, like Josh Allen is ability to buy time.
39:51DJ more, his ability to find open pockets with that time.
39:54I just, I think it's just going to be great.
39:58I think there's, you know, I looked at Diggs.
40:01He had, I think four straight years of a hundred catches, averaged about 1300 receiving yards and was like eight to 10 touchdowns every year.
40:09I think it's very conceivable. DJ more can put up those kinds of numbers.
40:14And right now you're not really being asked to pay for anything close to that in draft.
40:20So I, they've had nothing at wide receiver the last couple of years.
40:24And this is just like, I've always liked DJ more.
40:28And I just love that he landed here. So I don't know if you heard it, even though we're recording and it's
40:35not live, but the entire possum nation just groaned at you because everybody knows how much I love DJ more.
40:42The little badass, we call him. That's his nickname because he's a little badass.
40:46He is. And I don't know if you saw his illustration in the Almanac.
40:51Did you see the little picture of him? No.
40:54I read it. He's in a bilge. Yeah. Yeah.
40:57If you look at the wide receiver, I can't, I think it's in the wide receiver header, but it's in one of the headers, the chapter headers.
41:06He's, he's in a bills uniform and he's going through like a, like a beer pong table.
41:12Cause let's face it. That's what he would do.
41:15Um, yeah, I, I think he has that swing notion to him too, though.
41:20Let's face it. Even though you're excited. I mean, the, I like hearing your takes on these guys, but you know, the
41:27most important thing here is we're picking guys who have that say it a million ways, you know, like wide range of outcomes, uh, main character energy.
41:37They, they are going to represent a significant chunk of the story of fantasy this season.
41:42And of course, DJ Moore's one of them because there's going to be the reason his ADP is going to be lower
41:49than you and I would take him is because people lived through last year and it was horrible and he kind of
41:57wasn't hurt and he was part of a good offense and other players made plays and somehow he just, I mean, he seemed to earn the coach's wrath.
42:06I mean, he really seemed to kind of like, I mean, they traded him like they didn't want him anymore.
42:13Like very clearly he, he kind of wore his welcome there.
42:17Um, I'm with you stylistically. I wrote about that in the Almanac.
42:21Like you dream up the player who will keep alive on a route when Josh Allen's waiting 10 seconds and it's DJ Moore.
42:29Yeah. It just seems like it should be so perfect.
42:32Um, I, it's a great, it's a great, like I know I'm going to wind up being higher cause I always am.
42:40The question is always how much, but, um, he definitely is a swing player for this year.
42:45Yeah. Yeah. All right. Uh, my number three. So Andy last week on the yacht club, uh, we did a topic that
42:53was, um, players who could lose their job by week one and his number one player on the list is my swing player here.
43:01It's cam Scadaboo. Um, obviously Andy has strong feelings about cam Scadaboo that he's, you know, maybe not even going to be
43:08the unquestioned starter by the time we get to week one.
43:12I don't necessarily feel that way. I don't know that.
43:16I feel like the way people are talking about him, like I'm so low on him or anything.
43:22I mean, there is the worry about just stylistic problems and injuries.
43:26I don't want to overweigh that because running back is a dangerous job and you know, they all can get hurt.
43:33They're all, you know, and the way he got hurt actually was his leg, not his head.
43:39So like any, you know, he leads with his head.
43:42That's the big worry. But you know, anybody could have gotten a leg injury.
43:47It was gross. Um, another, I mean, you know, playing in New York and being the, the new stud running back for
43:54the giants already gives you main character energy. And this kid obviously acts like a buffoon and tries to be a cow catcher with his head.
44:03We call him the particle accelerator. Uh, you know, I'm, I, I, if we wake up and he's the RB seven, of course, I understand how it happened.
44:12It's just so the path, the path is very obvious.
44:16He, Mike all starts his way to an incredible year, but you know, Mike all started only had the one year.
44:23So I also, of course, of course can see the downside too.
44:27Yeah. Um, well, Peyton Hillis, um, there you go.
44:30But look, listen, if there, if there was a team, if we had to pick a team that kind of fit this
44:38category, I think it's the New York giants. Cause you got scatterbow, you got Jackson dart, you got Malik neighbors.
44:44These are all like, you know, people that are, that have wild swings and potential outcomes.
44:50And, um, I thought about, thought about going giants.
44:53I just didn't know which one to pick. And I felt like, Oh, we can just throw them all in there and talk about them all.
45:02But, uh, I get, I get the scatterbow thing.
45:05I think the same thing, like I said, could be said about Jackson dart, um, and Malik neighbor.
45:11So the giants are, I think a fascinating team from a fantasy standpoint.
45:15Yeah. I'm, um, I'm going to be out on dart.
45:19Everybody knows that I did not like that tape at all.
45:22He is much more of a, of a fade for me, but the other two guys, I get it.
45:29The other two guys are, they have that swing possibility when your league, lose your league kind of thing.
45:35Uh, how about your number two? My number two is O'Marion Hampton.
45:39My number two is O'Marion Hampton. Nice. Had to be.
45:43I mean, I think he's the, he might be the poster guy for this.
45:47Um, and you know, he is getting a lot of love from some people.
45:52Um, but you know, how dynamic is he? Like other than like, I, I, the passing game sort of saved him last
45:59year from what we saw on fantasy and also like the New York giants and the Dallas Cowboys defenses.
46:06Cause those are like his two big games. And, um, most running backs had good games against those guys.
46:12Um, and it was weird. He had a ton of, he had a ton of utility in the passing game.
46:19I don't know if that sticks. So we'll see if the offensive line's better.
46:24And Justin Herbert's not, not looking, you know, to lean on the, on the running back in the passing game as much.
46:31Got more time to throw. Uh, you know, there's a lot of, a lot of great numbers when Joe Alts in there for Justin Herbert.
46:40So I don't know if we'll see as much, uh, utility in the passing game from Hampton, but you know, this is,
46:47people love the Mike McDaniel, um, signing. They love the offensive line being better.
46:52They think this is going to be a team on the rise and O'Marion Hampton's just automatically like this, you know, the
46:59lead bell cow guy there, but Oh, by the way, Keith Mitchell's there.
47:04Um, you know, Kimani Vidal. And I think I just saw like McDaniel saying, sorry, fantasy managers, but this is going to
47:11often be a three headed monster basically. I mean, to, to sort of, you know, not, not exact quote there, but that's basically what he alluded to.
47:20So like, this may not be a true featured guy like everybody who was drafting him inside the running back top 10 assumes he will be.
47:29A quick break to mention fantasy cares. If your league is maybe looking to add a charitable element, fantasy cares.org is the place to go.
47:38The website makes it really easy and you don't have to donate the whole kitty.
47:43And your fantasy league to charity, just slicing off one entry fee, just even if it's 10 bucks, every little bit really does help.
47:51Fantasy cares is of course the brainchild of our friend Scott fish.
47:55They support dozens of great charities. You can also play in some fish market auctions that are drafting here in the next couple of weeks.
48:03You can do the fantasy cares, pick them the fantasy cares survivor pool.
48:08There's a one and done contest all for minimal contribution.
48:11To fantasy cares. And then you have a fun game.
48:15You can play knowing that the money went to somewhere good.
48:18You can find all this stuff at fantasy cares.org.
48:21Any proceeds you pay will go to charity, including the big one around holiday time.
48:27That's toys for tots. Check out everything Scott has going on at fantasy cares.org.
48:31Okay. We're back with Brandon and we have mutually selected Omarion Hampton because we've known each other for 20 plus years.
48:38Somehow osmosis our way to Omarion Hampton as our number two swing player for 2026.
48:43Um, yeah, you just mentioned his ADP being in the top 10 running backs and I did not know that.
48:50Uh, and again, I don't, I don't care about spoilers.
48:54We're a week away from like really diving in, but, but yeah, at that, at that price, it's a fade for me at that price.
49:02I'm like, I'm out. Um, and so like maybe my answer is a little different than him being a swing player, but then again, I get it.
49:11I understand what can go right. Big fast guy.
49:14Not sure he has any wiggle at all, but like big fast guy, understand how it goes the way it goes, you know?
49:22Yeah. Um, I just, I don't know that anybody proclaiming Omarion Hampton as a top 10 running back has seen him play
49:30because I don't think he's bad or anything, but, and plus you, you, you hinted at it, um, before we went to
49:37break, like that became a completely different offense after a month, you know, they lose both tackles and it just becomes an unworkable situation.
49:45So I don't even know how useful the tape is, but still you have to watch it.
49:51And you know, it's not like, can I, can I say Tyler Algier?
49:55Hmm. Can I, can I say like these? Algier's not as fast though, right?
50:00But similar, similar in style, but, um, a faster Algier.
50:03Yeah. I mean, who are the 220 pound guys with really stiff hips who run well, but not like, I mean, he's
50:11not Saquon Hampton isn't, you know, like name like, like those guys are like Raheem Mostert.
50:16Yeah. Like I, I, they're more, they're more, they're Tevin Coleman, you know, they're, they're not exciting players to me because I
50:24mean, I'll say even though he's not 220 pounds, I think Travion Henderson has some of that, even though I think Travion
50:31can change directions in a way that I don't think Hampton can.
50:35And, um, yeah, I, this is an, oh, this is a pretty good player and probably a starter in an NFL backfield.
50:43And like I say, ad infinitum, uh, every NFL backfield is a platoon.
50:47It just is. There's no, I guess Derek Henry's not in one.
50:51Saquon Barkley's not in one. Christian McCaffrey's not in one.
50:55I mean, you know, Jonathan Taylor, like there's four or five guys, but like Hampton's not one of them.
51:01Right. No one's ranking him in the top five.
51:04So like, you know, I'm not going to punish him because Mike McDaniel says that his scat backs are going to play some.
51:12Cause of course they are. They all play some.
51:15Um, but does Hampton rise to the level of, you know, just trust me when the rubber meets the road, he's the, you know, not really.
51:24At least not yet. Um, and I guess he makes sense as a swing player though, because he didn't get to put
51:31down a ton of tape with his tackles there and it's probably a more exciting offense scheme wise.
51:37And he's was a first year player who got hurt.
51:41And so he could show new things that I didn't get to see yet.
51:45And suddenly he's RB three and I go, oops, I eat it, you know, but that's, that's an argument for the upside.
51:53But I just think if he's a top 10, nobody's really making the argument for the downside.
51:59Yeah, exactly. And you, you mentioned it in your writeup.
52:02Mike McDaniel does have, does have his love for speed.
52:05And you know, that was when Raheem Mostert was out there with, with Achan a couple of years ago.
52:12I mean, who knows? We might see a lot more Keaton Mitchell, uh, than anybody who drafts Hampton would want to see.
52:19I mean, I think I can't remember. I'm not looking at the almanac, but you can quote me or not quote me.
52:27I believe I said like, no matter how fast you think O'Marion Hampton is, you have to trust me that Keith Mitchell is significantly faster.
52:35And he's also very small and injury prone. So I can't tell you he's a reason to stay away from O'Marion Hampton,
52:43but I'm just saying like there is someone else who does that job, you know, of running real fast.
52:49Uh, well, that's funny that we both wound up with Hampton at number two.
52:54Uh, who do you have as your number one swing player for 2026?
52:58Yeah, I kind of just, I guess I could put these in order of how they're sort of going off the draft board.
53:06So I just went with the highest guy that I have my questions about.
53:11I was a guy that was, was like a Mon Ross St.
53:15Brown was, there was never questions about him until last year.
53:19And that was Justin Jefferson. And, and so he was, I don't know, he was like in the mid twenties at wide
53:26receiver last year in terms of production. JJ McCarthy was terrible.
53:30And everybody's like, well, it's going to be Kyler Murray this year.
53:34So we're just going to throw him back at like wide receiver seven.
53:38And I'm like, what? Let's just pump the brakes on that.
53:42Like we're going to move them all the way back to wide receiver seven.
53:47Like the Kyler Murray I know is not, uh, the kind of, not the kind of quarterback that would jive well with
53:54Justin Jefferson playing on schedule, you know, three step drops and hitting Justin Jefferson on a crossing route or like on, on
54:02timing plays like Kyler Murray has a terrible track record of elevating wide receiver performance.
54:07The best he ever did was Deandre Hopkins when Hopkins went there in 2022.
54:11But like there's, there's just not a lot of great fancy wide receiver performances at Arizona in the Kyler Murray era.
54:18Um, and now we're talking late career Kyler Murray, who Arizona basically let walk out of the building.
54:25And, um, and so they're paying him 40, $50 million to not.
54:29Yes, exactly. So like, I, I do agree that Justin Jefferson will be better.
54:33I still think he's great, you know, in a vacuum, but you know, it takes two, it takes two to play the
54:41wide receiver game in fantasy and takes a decent quarterback.
54:44And I don't know that he has one. And I'm, I'm more like, you know, I'm, I'm kind of like, I'm a
54:52few, I'm a few ADP spots below. Um, he's, he's just outside my wide receiver top 10.
54:57So I'm down a little bit on him compared to the industry.
55:02I have him seven. Um, and I'm like six, probably PPR seven standard, six PPR.
55:07Um, so I guess you're telling me that I'm right around where people are.
55:11I'm not going to take him in the first round.
55:15Yeah. So he's definitely a second round pick to me.
55:18If he goes in the first, there's too much Kyler fear there, but he's a wonderful candidate for this list because once
55:26again, I think the story of fantasy this year.
55:29There has to include what happens to Justin Jefferson bouncing back from just the worst thing we've ever seen.
55:35And we're all rooting for it. I mean, I, I don't like really great historic players to have speed bumps in the
55:42middle of their careers because of elements around them.
55:46I always like to see the best players be able to maximize their potential.
55:50And I want to see how they net out in their career numbers and all that.
55:56It's fun that way, but it's, I hate to throw the asterisk in because you have such a lousy quarterback that it
56:03just blew up a year, you know, and I don't want to see it happen again.
56:09He had 15 end zone targets last year. I think that was third among receivers.
56:14Two. And I'll say he later in the year, he dropped a few like in the same game and that is not the quarterback's fault.
56:22But yes, I mean, obviously at some point he had just lost the will to live.
56:28Um, he's yeah, it's a good candidate. Um, probably not too much more needs to be said.
56:33I'm with you that stylistically it's maybe not the greatest fit.
56:37I probably could have said that in starker terms in the almanac.
56:41The only thing I'll say is he at least will be getting NFL quality quarterbacking.
56:46Right. It will be better than JJ McCarthy, who is probably not a starter, at least until his Daniel Jones second act,
56:54you know, that he is not right. A starter.
56:57Um, so yeah, I mean, I'm it's, it's somewhat of a bet on talent.
57:01If you were asking me to line up the two most talented receivers, it's chase and Jefferson, but I'm not ranking Jefferson that high again.
57:10Um, the problem is just the receipt. There was the story of the receivers around him is just as dirty.
57:17Like there's just, it's wide receiver one in the infinite sadness.
57:20Like there's just not a lot to distinguish anybody beyond like the fourth guy on the list.
57:26Yeah. It's always amazing when you, when you throw out the chase and Jefferson thing and just thinking that those guys were on the same team in college.
57:36Same team with Joe Burrell, with Joe Burrell. Did they win?
57:39I was wondering. I think they, I think it worked out well for him.
57:44Yeah. Worked okay. Burrell had like 60 touchdown passes or something like that.
57:49Yeah. So my number one is two guys, but I'll make it be one guy cause I don't want to cheat too badly.
57:56I'll make it be Bernie Pickens. Um, actually that's not true.
58:00If Bernie Pickens shows up, I know exactly what's going to happen.
58:04My actual pick is George Pickens. Bernie is his cousin who doesn't have a head wound.
58:10And so he acts like a normal person and plays great.
58:13Uh, but then every so often George decides to show up and, uh, you know, throws a wrench into things.
58:20But this seemed to me as, since I know both of these receivers are going to be drafted in the top, probably as wide receiver ones.
58:29I'm going to guess maybe they're the only teammates that are going to be drafted as wide receiver ones.
58:35Um, I, I'm also going to guess, you can tell me if I'm wrong.
58:40Lamb is probably still going ahead of Pickens, but there are probably going to be people out there who are like, why?
58:47What, what makes you think that? I mean, I kind of understand it.
58:52I said earlier in the show, like CD Lambs had one historic year.
58:56It was awesome. Otherwise he hasn't been great. He's been very good.
59:00There's always just been something wrong with CD Lambs.
59:03Something always happens. He gets hurt. I mean, last year he gets hurt on a pitch out as a running back.
59:10It's a high ankle sprain. This is a month.
59:14It was a great call by Brian Schottenheimer. Um, you know, he comes back.
59:18They, they're the two of them are puking in a casino in Vegas and get suspended for a quarter.
59:25And then, you know, late in the year, Lamb goes on a crazy streak of drops that are horrible.
59:31And then Pickens loses his mind, decides not to try in like two or three games.
59:37Um, there's a lot of drama there. And you can correct me if I'm, my memory is wrong.
59:43I can't come up with too many times when we, when we took a season where two receivers were awesome for the
59:50same team and decided, all right, it's time to put Tyreek Hill and Jalen, Jalen Waddell.
59:56It's time to put Jamar Chase and T Higgins time to put AJ Brown, Devante Smith, both in the top 10 or 12 or whatever.
60:04Cause by golly, they both can do it. It almost never happens twice.
60:08Um, it strikes me that probably you have to pick a favorite.
60:12I think I'm going to pick Lamb over Pickens, but, um, I get it and I might have it flipped the other way.
60:20And that offense should be relatively prolific again, I guess, insofar as we can predict these things.
60:26And I'll just say, you know, I, I might miss out.
60:30They might be great. They also might be a disaster and, uh, get your popcorn.
60:35Yeah. It's tough to take somebody in the top 10 at wider receiver.
60:39And you're right. He is, he's number 10 right now who is, and the numbers when they were both on the field
60:47did favor Lamb in terms of opportunity share. And like, it's hard to take the number two receiver as a top 10 receiver overall.
60:55Like he just, you don't love that. I like the, I like, you know, the, the alphas that, um, are clear alphas
61:02when you're, when you're drafting that high and most everybody else that you're going to take in that area is clearly the
61:10number one, but then you get to, to pit to Dallas and yeah, these are, it's not, it's not an obvious discrepancy
61:17between Lamb and Pickens, but, um, but yeah, but getting Pickens at number 10, I want to see what feels like, ah,
61:25I'm getting, you know, I've got a little headwind there because it's not the, the true number one for the team.
61:32So, um, as far as you know, but like, as far as I honest, yeah, there were games when Lamb came back
61:39from injury where Pickens was very clearly still featured and you go, all right, well maybe Lamb was still hurt.
61:46Or maybe that was the game where he was throwing up at the, in the casino.
61:51Um, or maybe that was the game where he was like inconsolable on the sideline because he dropped it, drop on the end zone.
62:00And, and Pickens went crazy after that. You know, there certainly were games where, well, the nice thing also is this is
62:07a team that's going to throw a lot. They don't have a, they don't have a huge, you know, they're not spreading the ball around a lot.
62:16It's this consolidation of targets to these guys. And so even if one's, you know, slightly behind the other in terms of,
62:24um, who the guy is, it's still a pretty big pie to be playing with.
62:29Sure. I mean, I have Pickens 13 and I don't, I don't want to have Pickens 13, but I just, once again, I look at, okay, cool.
62:38So, so it's Ted McMillan. Okay, cool. So it's, um, you know, Jamison Williams.
62:43Okay. Awesome. So it's Devante Adams. Like I'm out of guys.
62:46I'm, I go, okay, I guess I'll just take Pickens.
62:50I have, I have a live ahead of him.
62:53I have Zay Flowers ahead of him. Um, Devante Smith ahead of him.
62:57I'm looking to lower him a little bit. Cause I, I think there's so much knucklehead in there, but I also acknowledge
63:05that, I mean, CDM wasn't a slot player last year, really.
63:08So a lot of that security stuff was going to Ryan Flournoy and yeah, I mean, if they're both contesting for outside
63:16routes, I think I give Lamb the benefit of the doubt, but I think anyone who says they're positive what the plan is, is a charlatan.
63:25I don't think they do. They, I, I think the NFL reinvents itself every single year and I, I can't tell you
63:32for sure that in week one, CDL is going to have more targets than George Pickens.
63:37I can't tell you for sure that in September CDL is going to have more targets than George Pickens.
63:44I, I think it's, it might be pretty close and that it, that's why this conversation is relevant because he's a dangerous player.
63:52For sure. What were you going to say? I interrupted you.
63:55Were you, I heard you trying to interrupt me.
63:58No, I was, I was, I was listening to you and, uh, I didn't really have a, I was just going to
64:06say it's, it's whether they're, one has more targets than the other.
64:10I just go back to the fact that they should both have enough to feel good about in fantasy should be, I
64:17mean, healthy amount of targets for both. I guess that's right.
64:21I mean, things change a lot. They definitely are talking up Ryan Flournoy.
64:26I mean, they have a good offensive line. Javante Williams just got a big contract.
64:31Like, uh, you know, I, everything changes from year to year.
64:34This time last year, if we were having this conversation, we would not have had George Pickens as the wide receiver 13 because the pie was so big.
64:44And like, I don't think it has to stay big by definition and that, you know, but, but by the same token,
64:51I'm not disagreeing with you because I haven't ranked 13th.
64:55I'm just saying it's not a done deal. It's not signed, sealed and delivered.
64:59You know, we're going to build up this, this mind palace and decide we know what everybody's offense looks like.
65:06And then one game in, someone's going to throw a sledgehammer at it.
65:11And you know, suddenly everything we thought we knew.
65:14So, and that's why these guys are swing players because we think we know these teams and their plans and their scenarios.
65:21And yet we can see the wild swings that these guys can give us, uh, fun lists and a little overlap with Omari and Hampton.
65:30Um, thank you for doing it. Thank you for being my friend for so long and for coming aboard the show.
65:37And it would be lovely if folks would check out all things athletic fantasy football where Brandon is of course the puppet master of Andy Barron's.
65:45Make sure he knows that I said that. Uh, what a pleasure to have you on my friend.
65:52And I can't wait to see you in person at the reading at the mule tavern in Tacoma, Washington.
65:58Just, I think 12, 12 mere days from today.
66:01Right on. I can't wait. I appreciate you not scoffing at any of my picks today.
66:06I feel like, uh, I, I won in that regard and, uh, we even had a crossover player, which was nice, but
66:14yeah, I look forward to look forward to catching up more in 12 days and that should be a lot of fun.
66:21It should be a lot of fun. I hope if you're in the area, you will join us.
66:27Uh, thank you so much for listening. Let me also thank today's sponsors because without sponsors, there's no show.
66:34Uh, you've heard me talk about better help. And, uh, if that's something that you're currently in the market for, uh, recommend better help fantasy cares, of course.
66:43Fantastic. Cowboy colostrum. I have had, I, I drink, I mean, AG one in cowboy colostrum.
66:49That's now been the morning routine. Um, and it's really making a difference.
66:53It feels, it feels like it is in my stomach.
66:57You can find the full list of current sponsors at harrisfootball.com.
67:00Today's sponsors are in today's show notes. If you have the need, if you have the means and you can support a sponsor.
67:08Fantastic. If you don't, my goodness. So happy to have you listening.
67:12So many of you listen. So many of you are coming back and that's awesome.
67:17I'm so happy to be back doing this again.
67:20It's time to announce today's winners. We've got two of them.
67:24Uh, I'm not sure which is the grand prize, but we'll announce the signed book first.
67:29So I'm going to get in touch with this person and say, Hey, which of my previous books would you like signed?
67:37Is that somewhat of self aggrandizing prize? Maybe a little bit, but, uh, we'll do our best here to also make a connection.
67:45Josh Edwards. I assume you've already gotten an email from me, but, uh, congratulations.
67:49The signed book is yours. And the, is it a, is it a bigger prize?
67:55I don't know. But the zoom session with me, which I'm committed to doing a bunch of these, uh, and they're really fun.
68:02I did one over the weekend with our first zoom winner.
68:06This winner is Jared Henry. And so Jared, by now, maybe you haven't gotten an email from me by the time you've
68:14listened, or maybe you have, but either way you're in and we'll pick a time.
68:19We'll figure it out. Uh, we've got, I'll do, I'll do drawings, uh, tomorrow.
68:23Sure. What the heck on the yacht club? Absolutely.
68:26And then, um, also on Thursday, doing a drawing every day in August for the kind people who are pre-ordering my book.
68:34And the big one, the big one will come on Friday because as I mentioned, cousin Josh and I will mock draft
68:41with you on the YouTube channel on, uh, we're going to announce it on Friday.
68:46That's going to happen on Monday evening. So, uh, stay tuned for that.
68:51Go to Harris football.com, go to pound foolish. You can get entered and, uh, and bump up those numbers for cumulative press.
68:58So coming up tomorrow, I mentioned it briefly with Brandon at the very beginning there, but on the yacht club, uh, Andy's players he loves.
69:07These are, I guess, kind of like his film room heroes, but I'm just going to call it something else.
69:13Uh, he's going to come up with five players that he loves and maybe that's makes them interesting for fantasy, but not necessarily.
69:21I'll also, we'll do some thoughts about these joint practices and maybe a few other things as well.
69:27A little stinky in the poo possibly. And then we'll all be back here on Thursday.
69:33That's another big show because on Thursday, Jamie Eisenberg, as is to his tradition is joining the show and Jamie and I
69:40are going to do post hype sleepers. So you get to hear that walk up music for sure.
69:46Should be pretty fun until then. Thanks again so much for listening.
69:50Your hat is awesome. You're awesome for wearing it.
69:53I will talk to you next time. The Harris football podcast opening theme is under the gun by apex manor.
70:00The closing theme is say yes by the wellspring.
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