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0:43J.J., yesterday we took my five-year-old son on a belated birthday trip to Disneyland.
0:48And we were walking on eggshells a little bit.
0:50Five-year-old on the spectrum. And the last couple times we've gone to the fair or Sesame Place, he's been just kind of
0:57touch and go about some of the rides. But he was fantastic.
1:00In fact, the only scary moment came not when we were faced with a giant snake in Indiana Jones or dynamite was
1:07blasting in front of us on Rolling Thunder. It was when we were halfway through the line at the Jungle Cruise, weaving up and down staircases.
1:14And he looked up at me and said, Daddy, I need to pee.
1:18I'm J.J., and over the last couple of years, I've been doing everything I can to be a best ball bro.
1:24And last season, things finally fell into place. I got 40th in the DraftKings Millie Contest, taking home $20,000.
1:30Maybe I became a best ball bro, but I'm still looking to learn more about this game.
1:35And I still want others to come on this ride with me.
1:38So even if you consider me a best ball bro, this could be your year.
1:43This could be the year that you officially become a best ball bro.
1:47This episode is sponsored by DraftKings. We've partnered up with DraftKings again this year for best ball, and we've got a can't-miss
1:53offer on their biggest best ball contest ever. $20 million in total prizes.
1:57It's draft one, get one. Draft your team once, no weekly lineup management, and your top scorers start automatically each week, all season long.
2:04Download the DraftKings Daily Fantasy app and sign up with promo code LATEROUND.
2:08Enter a lineup in the $20 million best ball contest for $25 and get a bonus ticket for a second entry.
2:14Two shots at the title. Draft one, get one, only on DraftKings.
2:17The crown is yours. Welcome into another episode of Becoming a Best Ball Bro.
2:21I'm JJ Zacharysen, and joined, as always, by Rich Ryan.
2:24Rich, what's going on, buddy? Doing good, man. Recovering from the mouse.
2:28Last night when we got back, we put him down.
2:31That was one of those moments. Sometimes you just crack open a cold one, and it's just like, this is the most
2:37satisfying beer that I could potentially drink right now.
2:40Yeah, yeah. I'm a big, look, I'm a big Disney guy.
2:43I love doing all things Disney. It's fun. I mean, for me, there's some nostalgia to it.
2:48You know, obviously, just, you know, growing up and watching Disney stuff.
2:52But like, I went to Disney a handful of times growing up, too.
2:56So like, I love the vibe. Like, we took my daughter before my son was around to Disney a few years ago,
3:02and it was like one of the best trips of my life.
3:05Because it was just so, you're so stimulated by everything going around you, it just forces you to be so present in the moment.
3:13That's what I love about it. They don't miss a single detail.
3:16And it's crazy just like walking around, even in the new Star Wars land, where nothing is like too tall.
3:22But you forget you're in Anaheim, California, like for the entirety of the day.
3:26To be fair, when I went, it was in May, and I didn't have any slow drafts going.
3:31I feel like if I, you know, had that happening, I might be a little bit more tilting where I'd be sitting there.
3:38Be like, oh, I'm going to rip a Millie real quick.
3:41And then, you know, just be just tilting in the middle of Cinderella's castle or something.
3:46He's literally just about to say, Cinderella, get out of the way.
3:50Someone just took Matt Stafford. Yeah, I'd be going up to all the different characters, asking them who their highest exposed players are and such.
3:57You know, Peter Pan is probably, no, he's got to go.
4:00I bet you Peter Pan's like really into Tank Dell.
4:03Small in stature. Yeah. Yeah, small in stature, like, you know, underdog story.
4:07Yeah, he's got, Peter Pan loves some Tank Dell.
4:09I need some, all right, we need some comps in the comments for Disney character to their highest exposed player.
4:15We need to hear, we need to hear more of that.
4:19That was just off the dome. Yeah, that was, there might be a better Peter Pan one.
4:24Yeah. There might be a better Peter Pan one, but.
4:26All right, I want to first dig into some of the stuff that I've been doing recently in drafts before we get to some risers and fallers.
4:34Because there's some really interesting risers and fallers this week with camp the way that it is and injuries and such.
4:41But first, I want to talk about two things.
4:43The first thing is I'm leveling out exposures. Like I said last week, you know, I'm trying to make sure that, you
4:50know, like I said, like a Bashaw Tootin versus a David Montgomery.
4:53If I like Tootin a little bit more than Montgomery or like in the same tier, which is where I think things
5:00are going to be in my next rankings update.
5:02There's no reason why more than likely I should have an insane stand on Tootin versus Montgomery.
5:07You know, like I'm trying to be realistic and recognize those probability, you know, shifts in the way that I view these guys.
5:14So I've been doing that a little bit more, you know, getting guys like DJ Moore, getting guys like Quinchot Judkins.
5:20So I'm not at 2%, more at like the 4% to 6% range with some of these guys.
5:25But the other thing that I've been really focused on, and this is something I feel like this has been a theme
5:32for me and like an awakening for me this summer is CLV.
5:35And just thinking about that closing line value. And by the way, I got a couple of questions for people of like
5:42what CLV is, just closing line value. So it's just, you know, looking at where you drafted a player versus where that player is generally being drafted.
5:50You'll be able to see that obviously when things at the end of the season are true close, right?
5:55Because the end of the draft season, we'll know exactly where their ADP lands.
6:00But, you know, your goal is to get good CLV, a.k.a.
6:03I drafted Stefan Diggs a whole lot in rounds 12 and 13, and now he's around eight or nine guy.
6:09And so that's really good value, good CLV. I will say, and I talked about this with our guests today, that I
6:15think that CLV is probably a little bit overrated in the best ball streets.
6:19I'm not to say that, you know, you wouldn't want that really strong CLV.
6:23You, of course, do want that. But, you know, if that's the guy you need, that's the guy you need, period.
6:29I don't want to like overstate it and miss out on guys or then all of a sudden have to like fade
6:36a player completely because his cost gets too high.
6:39So if any of you guys like didn't get Stefan Diggs, then go after Stefan Diggs still.
6:44I think it's okay. But if you really want to play the CLV game and you are a little bit concerned about
6:50how little exposure you have to Malik Neighbors or Stefan Diggs, find contests.
6:54And there are contests out there, but find contests that opened recently that have only been around for a week or two at most.
7:01And that way, you know, that no one in that contest was getting Malik Neighbors in round four or Stefan Diggs most
7:07of the time in round 12 or 13. Whereas, you know, the Millie is one that's been going on since May.
7:13And so you have valuations of these players all over the place, you know, and so there's more, you know, higher likelihood of that CLV.
7:21So I've been doing a lot of the other contests on DraftKings.
7:24You know, I've done the new $59 because they opened that one up recently.
7:28You know, there's some other contests, too. I'm doing a lot of slows right now just to, you know, up my general volume of best ball drafts.
7:36But it's something to think about for people who, you know, might be a little bit discouraged after some news happens or
7:43like you got a lot of Ricky Pearsall and you didn't get enough Dazon Stribling.
7:47And just doing that to get that exposure, it's a really easy way to do so.
7:52And it's, to me, a way to mitigate that bankroll a little bit.
7:56Yeah, definitely. Certainly, where it gets difficult is especially early on in the process when people are trying to not predict but
8:02make bets where they're going to have positive CLV.
8:05A lot of that will come down to some of the free agents, right?
8:09There are people that are holding Tyreek Hill and Brandon Ayuk bags.
8:12And there's also people that might be holding rookie bags, guys that they hope to win jobs or crowded backfields where you're
8:19taking late round flyers on players that you would hope to get positive camp news and then close somewhere in the late single digits or something like that.
8:27So, yeah, it's a treacherous game. And to your point, how much are you really getting out of CLV if you get
8:34that round surplus in your bag but that guy is just like an average player on the season?
8:39Right, right. Yeah. You know, if Malik Nabors is actually bad this year for whatever reason or, you know, like doesn't live up to, like, it's possible.
8:47And then all of a sudden, you know, you're sitting there like, oh, I got all this CLV and it really didn't
8:53matter that much in the end, right? It's kind of the way that I felt about Ja'Cory Krosky-Meritt last year, right?
8:59Where I was pumped because I got a lot of JCM in rounds 18 through 20 last year.
9:05And then, you know, all this, you know, Brian Robinson gets traded, all this stuff starts happening.
9:10And then he's like a ninth round pick by the end of the summer.
9:14And I'm like, oh, yeah, this is great. And don't get me wrong.
9:18Like he had big weeks and he had some at the right time too.
9:22But it wasn't like he was this league winning player.
9:25You know, it wasn't like this was a guy that was finding your lineup consistently week in and week out.
9:31And so it didn't matter that much in the end.
9:33So keep that in mind that these guys are not locks to do well just because their ADP is risen.
9:39Yeah, it's a joke in the gambling space, which is where CLV comes from, is that you can't feed your family in CLV.
9:46CLV comes from like, let's say I bet a dog at plus seven and the line moves to six and a half.
9:53Like I have tremendous value in having that plus seven when the line has moved to six and a half.
9:58But I still need them to cover that seven in order to do it.
10:03And that's in a very I mean, we're talking about NFL game scores.
10:06That's like a very narrow, finite level of outcomes where those numbers have a ton more value than in best ball, where
10:13we have just such a wide swath of variance that can hit.
10:16There's 19 other players on your team that are going to impact things.
10:20You know, that's a great that's a great thing to bring up.
10:24Like with a line, it's literally just like, oh, this is one outcome.
10:27One thing is determining whether I win or lose this bet.
10:31Whereas with best ball, the bet is a one out of 20 player on your team.
10:35Right. You know, where even if that player does really well or doesn't do well, it might not even matter because of
10:42what else is going on on that roster. You bring in pod luck and all that.
10:47Like it is such a small data point in the massive data field.
10:50That is the entire outcome. Yeah. All right. Let's talk about some risers and fallers.
10:55I'll just kick it off because you you pulled some data together for this.
10:59And I think Stefan Diggs is the obvious place to start.
11:02This is from the last two weeks, the rising and falling.
11:05This is from the last week. Eight, four. So one week.
11:09OK. OK. Yeah. So about the last week. So Stefan Diggs is the biggest riser.
11:13He's now what? Like around nine type player over on DK.
11:16I still think that that's undervalued. And so if you are trying to get Diggs, I still think it's fine to draft Diggs.
11:23I have him ranked in the you know, this is season long, of course, but it does transfer over.
11:29But like I have Diggs kind of in that like Michael Pittman, Chris Godwin.
11:33I'm higher on Pittman than than than most probably versus DK Metcalf because I think Pittman could just outscore him completely.
11:39But they're all in the same tier for me.
11:41You know, like Chris Godwin goes in round seven.
11:44DK Metcalf goes in round seven on DK. I have Stefan Diggs above.
11:48Well, it's pretty easy to say it now, but like Alec Pierce, Makai Lemon would be drafting Diggs over.
11:53I think that Wondell Robinson, I'd still be taking Diggs over.
11:57And I like Wondell this year. But this is a really good situation for him overall where he can play inside out.
12:03He's going to be the number two target there.
12:06It sucks that Tunsil is now out for the year.
12:09I think that's a huge, huge blow to that offense in general.
12:12But I still think that Diggs is someone that you guys can be targeting.
12:16Yeah. And Diggs, I mean, he's just so talented around the ball.
12:20It reminds me of mid to late DeAndre Hopkins in that just his quality and skill is it's just going to it's kind of timeless, right?
12:27Like the athleticism could dip a little bit, but his ability to be open, catch the football, move the chains is just
12:34going to be one that is valuable for Washington.
12:37So, yeah, I anticipate him playing a pretty big role for that off.
12:40Pat Bryant is getting a lot of steam out of Denver right now.
12:44And that's really what this rise in ADP is showing.
12:47I've liked Pat Bryant more than Troy Franklin. I mean, I liked him more than Franklin even last year, you know, like towards the end of the season.
12:55I was a little bit fearful of Franklin post year one.
12:59Bryant was a fine enough prospect, maybe not elite, but was a solid enough guy who I thought was like the standard Sean Payton, big slot type player.
13:07You know, it's similar to like a guy that came out this year.
13:11Elijah Surratt had a Pat Bryant comp actually. And I was like, you know, I remember texting Matt Harmon, who obviously does
13:17a lot of work with wide receivers saying like, if only Denver needed a big slot because Elijah Surratt could just play that role.
13:24But Pat Bryant's getting a lot of love. There's talk about him moving to the outside more and maybe even, you know,
13:31taking over for Cortland Sutton at some point. I'll say it again.
13:34I said it last week on the show. And, you know, there were some comments about this.
13:39Cortland Sutton to me is just one of the weirdest players that people in fantasy football get attached to.
13:45I will never understand it. It's different in best ball.
13:48So, you know, there's a best ball show. I don't want to take it too far.
13:52Yes, he has spike week ability. Yes, he can score multiple touchdowns in a given week because of his size and stuff.
13:59We're on the wrong side of the age curve with them.
14:02He's never been a consistent like top 20 wide receiver.
14:05You're really not shooting for a ceiling when you're drafting him.
14:08Oh, and by the way, now they have Pat Bryant, but they also traded for Jalen Waddell.
14:13So, you know, I have not really been clicking Cortland Sutton that often.
14:17I've clicked Pat Bryant quite a bit, even with his like, you know, if you're getting him in round, you know, I
14:23mean, this says that he's still like 18 and 80 P, but I'll see him in around 16.
14:29Even I have no problem with that because it's so flat once you get past like round 13 and these drafts.
14:35So if you want to get Pat Bryant, if you want exposure, I don't think it's a bad idea to still click
14:41his name, you know, in round 14 and round 15.
14:44Decent prospect, a lot of steam. He can at least play the slot in that offense.
14:49And, you know, I'm not sold on Cortland Sutton.
14:52I like the offense in general. It's an offense that I think we can buy into.
14:56Pat Bryant up 15 slots, just like Elijah Surratt's fellow rookie AFC North player, Denzel Boston up 15 spots.
15:02I fit that transition in there. Rich, you're killing me.
15:05I thought you were going. I thought for sure you're going to talk about like Jacoby Lane.
15:10And I'm like, wait a second. And then you and then you pivot to AFC North.
15:14My gosh, so many layers there. Like how I did that?
15:18Segway. Segway. Denzel Boston. Yeah. Look, I have seen some drafts where people have reached for Boston above Casey Concepcion.
15:24And to me, that's a big mistake because I think Concepcion is very good, an incredibly good prospect.
15:29Early declare solid enough breakout score got work in different facets of the game, not just as receiver, but as a rusher
15:35as well, which gets a little bit of a boost in the zap model too.
15:40You know, I think Concepcion is just a really good prospect and player.
15:44I've seen the comp thrown around that I think is kind of interesting that like Concepcion and the way that his ADP
15:50is formulating right now reminds them of Garrett Wilson, his rookie season where environmentally it looked horrible.
15:55But the player himself is really good. Garrett Wilson is a better prospect than Casey Concepcion.
16:00So let's at least throw that out there. But I think Concepcion is really good.
16:04Like the zap model, if you guys, you know, read the prospect guide this year, Concepcion was very, very close in zap score to Makai Lemon.
16:12Whereas Carnell Tate and Jordan Tyson were like the clear alphas in this class.
16:16There was a gap to Makai Lemon and Casey Concepcion.
16:19And Jordan Tyson was the, you know, he had a score of like 96 in the model.
16:24The model absolutely adored Jordan Tyson. But yeah, Denzel Boston, I think can be, you know, he is a better and best ball type player for me.
16:32You know, he's definitely a red zone threat. He's going to have some spiked weeks in there.
16:37I think it's fine if you want to draft him.
16:40I'm just saying, hey, caution, don't get silly. And in my opinion, from a process standpoint, start drafting him over Concepcion because
16:46Concepcion is still very good, even though Boston's getting more hype.
16:49Sometimes these players get more hype simply based on what was expected of them going into camp.
16:54And if they're exceeding those expectations by a whole lot, these beats get really, really excited about what they're about, even though
17:01in comparison to what's already there or, you know, the player like Concepcion, who is supposed to be good because he's the
17:07first rounder, even though Boston had a good draft capital, too.
17:10You know, there are some instances where it's just versus like expected and expectation.
17:15So I would still be drafting Concepcion well ahead of Denzel Boston.
17:18But I think Boston's fine once you get into that.
17:21Like, you know, I know that he's more around 13 right now.
17:24It's fine enough. I'd rather be around 14, around 15 with them.
17:28But it's not the end of the world if you want to go that direction.
17:32It's unsurprising based on their archetypes that Boston might be looking better in shorts.
17:37I know padded practices have started, but just that style of player.
17:40Big guy, strong fella. We know Casey butters his bread after the catch.
17:44Very good breaking tackle, stuff like that. So that's the type of skill set that we're just not going to see in August.
17:51Maybe in the preseason, maybe as games start, but not right now.
17:54All right, let's go to, I was going to say the North.
17:58I guess I'm already saying it. The North and the other conference.
18:01Keep your segways going. Yeah, I want to hear how you take Denzel Boston to this next guy.
18:06Let's hear it. North and the other conference. It's the running back playing behind a fella who, according to Adam Schefter recording
18:13this today on Tuesday, might be hit with some sort of suspension.
18:16We'll wait to see. It's Marshawn Lloyd. Yeah, look, when Lloyd came out, you know, this is why I love having the
18:23prospect guides because I can go back and at least read the blurbs and read what I was thinking about these players as they were coming out.
18:31And Marshawn Lloyd had a very complimentary type profile.
18:33He was not a player that profiled as the one A in his backfield as, you know, in a normal backfield.
18:40I think if there's an injury or something like he'd be fine, but he's not someone that more than likely would carry a massive workload.
18:47He's just really explosive and a good complimentary player from that perspective.
18:50And so you have him being healthy. I think that he can still play all three downs and, you know, be a quality player from that perspective.
18:58So I think that where he's going right now, like this is one of those like CLV instances where like, it does
19:05not matter if you did not get Marshawn Lloyd in the 20th round or the 19th round back in June.
19:11And now you have to spend a 15th rounder to get Lloyd.
19:14Well, you waited. I think it was actually kind of smart because you waited enough time to see if he was going
19:21to be healthy to see how things looked in camp.
19:24Because we know that so far in his NFL career, he just walked onto a field and seemingly, you know, pulled a hammy.
19:30And so you see that he's healthy. You see this, the stuff going on with Josh Jacobs, you know, obviously you could
19:37have thrown some darts whenever the stuff was really happening with Josh Jacobs, but he's still around 15 guy.
19:42You know, he's still someone that you can get and acquire very, very easily.
19:47So I am in on Marshawn Lloyd. Not only that, but it's an offense that we know historically with, with Michael floor
19:53has been, uh, or Matt LaFleur, my gosh, now that there's two of them, this is going to be really bad, but
19:59we know that that under LaFleur, they've been a top half offense every year in touchdowns per game.
20:05I always throw that stat out there because it just tells you that it's an offense that we can feel good about.
20:11We are excited about Malik Willis this year because of LaFleur, right?
20:15That guy was left for dead in Tennessee and went to go play in a LaFleur offense and is now a guy
20:21that is making multiple millions of dollars for the dolphins.
20:24And we're excited about this year. So I will definitely believe in LaFleur until I have given evidence to, to not do so.
20:31We talked about some young receivers that were getting some hype, but I think the leader in the hype train so far
20:37this summer might be this guy in Kansas city, Cyrus Allen.
20:41Yeah. It's kind of crazy, man. You know, he was someone that wasn't even in the prospect guide because he wasn't at the combine.
20:48And then, you know, I didn't get to do a writeup on him.
20:51I studied him a little bit after the fact, didn't mind him, but didn't think he was like the obvious day three pick.
20:58But oftentimes with day three guys from an analytical perspective, there's not much rhyme or reason, especially at running back.
21:04I mean, running back for sure, where it's more so about like that year's depth chart than anything else and how those guys perform.
21:11Like look at like Woody Marks last year who, you know, Marks had to find enough profile, had a really good receiving profile.
21:18That's the kind of stuff I look for. But if you were to start doing the matching stuff and trying to find
21:24trends for day three hits in general, it's not the easiest thing in the world to do in this day and age.
21:31If you look at history, there are definitely time.
21:33I mean, like Amin Ross, same Brown or Stefan digs, these players, like you go back and you look and you're like,
21:40how in the world were these guys not drafted on at least day two, you know?
21:45And so I look at Cyrus Allen and I don't see a profile where I'm like, oh, this dude is an absolute monster.
21:51But I will say his breakout score is a little bit better than some of the other wide receivers that you would typically see on day three.
21:59And he does have a profile that I do think would fit with what the Chiefs need, which is a guy who
22:06can get downfield and play all over the formation.
22:08He played a lot in the slot in college, but a lot of people believe that, you know, size could be a limitation for sure.
22:16He's only 180. So maybe he won't be able to play in the perimeter that much.
22:20And obviously Rasheed Rice is already manning the slot in Kansas City, but Rice isn't that much of a down the field threat.
22:27He's more of a yak threat, whereas Cyrus Allen can stretch the field.
22:31And they've had that problem in that offense for years now.
22:34I mean, Mahomes has not been a good deep ball thrower.
22:37Let's just be real about it. Like he's been well below average over the last couple of years.
22:43I think some of it is him for sure.
22:45Some of it's also personnel. Xavier Worthy hasn't worked out yet.
22:48They have, you know, they've been relying on, they relied on Taequan Thornton last year who was actually okay in that role.
22:55But if they can get a guy who can move around the formation a little bit more in Cyrus Allen, I think it does make sense.
23:03So to me, he's fine. It's a click. He's easier.
23:06I think in season long than in best ball, just because you can drop them.
23:10If, if things like, you know, if he's only running, you know, a route on, on 20% of their dropbacks or something
23:16like that, which is very possible to start the year.
23:19But I do think that you can, you can click Allen right now, because again, once you get in that like round
23:2615 range, round 14, even things are really flat at all positions.
23:29You mentioned Makai Lemon briefly earlier and his injury continues to linger, which has seen Duntavian Wicks lift up two rounds in, on draft games.
23:37Yeah. And Makai Lemon has been dropping a lot.
23:39I mean, David Kitchen did a draft where he grabbed him today, I think at like in like round 11 of his draft.
23:46And so I've actually gotten some criticism from people, not criticism is too strong of a word, but like questions about why
23:52I've been lower on Makai Lemon in my rankings.
23:55And part of it is just kind of like math.
23:58Like if you look at projections, you look at the way things would be spread out around this offense.
24:04And, you know, it just doesn't work out as well as you might think from a Kyle Lemon, but also he's been hurt.
24:10And now there's even more, you know, injury related stuff going on with him.
24:14Now there's reports happening where they're saying that, you know, he's not going to start the season as, as a starter, and
24:21that it might take some time for him to get acclimated and yada, yada.
24:25I think that's all very real. We see that every single season where wide receivers, they don't just OBJ themselves back into the starting lineup and start dominating.
24:33You know, they got to get acclimated. They got to understand what that offense is all about.
24:38And so with Philly, they actually have an alternative right now that they haven't had in the past because they haven't had
24:45the depth at all at wide receiver. But Dontavian Wicks is showing up in camp.
24:49He's had some random spiked, like really high efficiency seasons in Green Bay.
24:53It hasn't been totally consistent. And obviously he's had a lot of, of issues with like concentration and being able to haul in balls.
25:00But when it comes to like route running and ability to separate, that hasn't really been a problem for Dontavian Wicks.
25:06And so maybe he just needed a change of scenery and he needed a spot where, you know, he could be a
25:13true number two behind Devante Smith, not necessarily the focal point in his offense.
25:17Wicks is one of my highest rostered or exposed wide receivers right now because I was drafting him earlier this out because
25:23I was taking a lot of Jalen Hurts. Makes sense.
25:26You're a Hurts guy. Yeah, exactly. Right. I had, I had a lot of Jalen Hurts and Makai Lemon.
25:32I wasn't drafting as much as honestly, I probably should have been, but I just wasn't, you know, when he was where,
25:38you know, where, where he was going. It's not like I have none.
25:42I think I'm at like 5% Lemon or something like that.
25:45And then Wicks was just the guy that was, you know, deep in round 19 that nobody wanted, even though there was
25:52a chance that he was going to be a starter.
25:55And so I think that you can still be drafting him.
25:58Like I'm still drafting him. You, I'm getting him in round 16, round 17, round 16 mostly at this point, but, or, or, or 15 even.
26:05But I think it's fine to take him there because I do think he's going to play a role and he's flashed at times in the NFL.
26:13So I'm in on Wicks. The final one, and maybe the most consequential one, because you're starting to see him creep to the top of the fifth round.
26:22It's Parker Washington. Yeah, man. I mean, it's crazy that all these risers I'm, I'm actually kind of fine with like, there's,
26:28there's no one that I'm, I'm sitting here. I'm like, why is this happening?
26:32Yeah. You shouldn't be drafting him as high as he's going because the opportunity cost isn't shifting enough for, in my opinion,
26:39for a lot of these guys, or, you know, like a guy like digs.
26:43I just think that he's still undervalued. Parker Washington is now going where he probably should be going.
26:48You know, like that, that's, that's where I'm at.
26:51If you want to take him in round five, middle of round five, I think it's fine.
26:56There's so many positive, like we're getting confirmation slash we're getting real tangible, you know, ideas at the very least, maybe they're
27:02not concrete and maybe they're not definitively going to happen, but there are legitimate reports out there saying that Parker Washington is
27:09going to be the wide receiver that does not leave the field.
27:12And I'll tell you what he was doing what he was doing last year on like an 80, you know, 70 to 80% route share in that offense.
27:20Not even, and he was still dominating and giving you, you know, great fantasy production.
27:25Imagine a world where that is upped even further, you know, like he he's a, he's a good, good player.
27:31And there's a lot of trends historically that when you look at the, the highly efficient, maybe lower, you know, volume or
27:37point per game players across the season, they tend to do well versus ADP expectation the following year.
27:42That's also a Luther burden and Terry McLaurin thing as well for this year.
27:46But I've had Washington and Brian Thomas. Like if you looked at, you know, my rankings in July or something, I had
27:53always had Washington like one spot ahead. And then over, you know, with, with the camp pipe and the way that I've
27:59thought about this offense more, the way they're talking about this offense more, the more I'm just like, I think Parker Washington
28:06is a really, really legit player, you know, like where it makes sense.
28:10You know, I'm trying to think of what's most rational for these teams and what's most rational for Jacksonville is to keep
28:16Parker Washington on the field and to continue to run that offense the way they ran it during the second half of
28:22last year when they were the third best team in football and touchdowns per game.
28:27You know, like, I don't know why you would want to shift that and change that up when it was working for
28:33you, despite drafting a blocking tight end in round two and, you know, Tanner Coziel in round five or whatever it was.
28:40I don't think this is going to all of a sudden be a heavy 12 team, but even if it is, I
28:46think Parker Washington can still find the field. And then the other thing that does it for me too, is that when
28:53you dig into his profile more, number one, he actually wasn't that bad of a prospect.
28:57I went back. I kind of just, I kind of just like, and I started doing it this year a lot more,
29:04but I just got to hand it to the zap model and let it do its thing because anytime I disagree with
29:10his app model, it bites me in the butt.
29:13And that was what happened with Parker Washington. And that was back in the day when I published draft capital Delta as a pure number form.
29:21I don't do that anymore. I do low risk, high risk, or neutral draft profiles.
29:25So draft capital Delta being how the model views a player versus where his draft capital was right in percentile form.
29:31So back in the day, zap scores were just by percentile.
29:34And then I'd look at the draft capital percentile and the difference between those two things was draft capital Delta.
29:40Parker Washington had a draft capital Delta of plus 14%, which means he was way, way underdrafted.
29:45And then in the profile, I'm like, yeah, the zap model is probably overstating.
29:49It's like, no, I think the zap model was actually just right the whole time about Parker Washington.
29:55You know? And I just, you know, like that's, it's just one of those things where early on, it was a lot
30:01harder to like latch on to, you know, cause I hadn't published that stuff, you know, to the masses before in that way.
30:08And the more I've done it, the more I'm just like, you know what, I'm not even going to question this thing anymore.
30:15The robots know, uh, you know, the algorithm knows what it's doing at this point.
30:19And so I think he was a good prospect too.
30:22In hindsight, sure. But also what the model was saying.
30:25So to me, it's all coming together for, for Washington to be a pretty legit player.
30:30And by the way, I just got to throw it out there.
30:33I know it's a best ball podcast, but in season long leagues, he's like an eighth or ninth round pick on some platforms.
30:40So if you're in a season long league, just make sure you're hyper targeting Parker Washington because he's probably going to be a huge value.
30:47Bill Simmons has the rewatchables. You might have a spring series called like the, the redraftable.
30:52So the re prospectables or something where you crack it open five years later or something.
30:57I think it would be fun to do. Yeah.
30:59To do like a live stream or something and go through prospect guides of, of, of years past and just be like, what was I thinking doing this?
31:07Or like what, cause like there's some where I read the, a Mecca Buka blurb or, you know, profile from last year
31:14and it couldn't have been more right. You know, like, like talking about Mike Evans being gone this year, talking about how
31:20he's not just a slot player, a Mecca Buka.
31:23And like, I'm so proud of that blurb. And then there's some where I'm like, what were, you know, like the Parker
31:29Washington one, what in the world are you thinking writing this?
31:33You know, like, why are you not leaning into the things that you know you should be leaning into?
31:38You got to the W's and the God, you're like, I'm over it.
31:42Yeah. Falls off a cliff. Yeah, exactly. I do think that it's interesting content at least to just like go back, see what you were thinking.
31:50And, you know, and I feel that way about my rankings too, where I'm just like, why was I not more, you
31:56know, I was actually well above market with like Luther Burden and stuff, but like, why was I not more aggressive with that?
32:03Or why was I not more aggressive, you know, in the way that I was ranking these guys based on what the zap model is saying.
32:11And I tried to do it a little bit more this year, but the problem was this year, this class, you couldn't
32:17really do it because there was such a flatness to the wide receivers where like, I'm not going to be surprised if
32:23design scribbling is at the third best wide out in this class.
32:27Or if, you know, if we see Caleb Douglas be okay enough, you know, I just think there weren't many good wide receivers in general.
32:34So I know that we went on a little, little tangent there, but I do think that it's, you know, it's an
32:41interesting topic to think about as it pertains to best ball too.
32:44And we only got two followers cause we already mentioned the rookie receiver, Makai Lemon.
32:49So let's talk about a couple of tight ends.
32:51One, a rookie from my fighting New York jets, Kenyan Sadiq down two rounds after a complication after his hernia surgery, you had been drafting Sadiq.
32:59Where are you at now with this injury? I feel like Wolf of wall street right now.
33:04I'm not leaving. Man, I'm just, I'm just drafting them.
33:07I can't stop drafting Kenyan Sadiq. I don't know, man.
33:10You can tell me if I'm a moron as, cause you're way more tapped into the jets than I am.
33:16But to me, it's just this, a simple equation of very good prospect.
33:19Say what you want. You know, you can look at his flaws.
33:23I get it. I understand. But objectively a very good prospect mid round one pick elite athleticism in an offense that features tight ends.
33:30We know that with Frank Reich. Like, I mean, Frank Reich was, has, has glowed about having a Kenyan Sadiq on his team.
33:37Could this linger? Sure. But I'm trying to not fall into the trap that I fell into last year at times.
33:43You know, I had a good best ball season, but like there were times where like, I got really hyped up about
33:49like Ollie Gordon because Devon H and had this calf strain or whatever.
33:53And it didn't matter at all, you know, and I'm trying to not fall victim to that kind of thing right now.
34:00Luther burden is the same way where it's like, I'm still kind of drafting him at the discount that I'm getting.
34:06You know, I got him in round five earlier.
34:08You know, I'm mostly waiting to round five because I'm at like 20% burden.
34:13He's, he's probably my highest exposed like early round player right now.
34:16And so I am being cautious of that. I don't want to be too overweight, you know, et cetera, et cetera.
34:22But at the same time, I don't want to overstate what these early season injuries might be when the timeline points to them coming back.
34:30Alec Pierce, that whole situation is different in my opinion.
34:33You know, that's like, there's some really weird stuff going on with what's going on with Alec Pierce because they gave us
34:39a timetable that he's missed over and over. It hasn't come to fruition whatsoever.
34:43Right. Whereas the Kenyan Sadiq thing was, okay, he came back.
34:46He came back too quickly, seemingly. And now he's nursing this thing again, this, the sports hernia thing.
34:52And maybe he gets off to a slow start, but to me, there's still a very real scenario where Kenyan Sadiq is
34:58a very reliable player in fantasy as we get into like week four, week five.
35:02And as we get through the season. So if I'm getting a discount on him, I mean, I've gotten him, I know
35:09his ADPs around like round 15 right now or so I've gotten him in round 17 now.
35:14Like that's where he consistently goes. And I'm like, I just have a hard time in a non stacking environment, taking Cade
35:20freaking Otten or Colby Parkinson or something over Kenyan Sadiq.
35:23You know, like if it burns me, it burns me, but I'm also going with a lot of three tight end builds
35:30and that makes it a lot easier. Probably feel a little bit different if it was a two tight end environment, but that's where I'm at with Sadiq.
35:38Tell me that I'm not a moron. Well, and you said this a lot recently on a lot of shows about how
35:44successful first round rookies for rookie tight end specifically have been in recent history.
35:49The way the NFL has been turning. I will say the Jets are treating the D'Angelo Ponds, their rookie cornerback injury, the exact same way.
35:56They're not rushing whatsoever. And if you look at both Sadiq and Ponds, they're both extremely good athletes.
36:01They're both like eight plus RAS athletes. They played in big time college football programs into the college football playoffs.
36:07They feel like they know what they have in these guys and they don't feel any need to rush either of them
36:14onto the practice field when things just simply don't matter until a month from now when real games are being played.
36:20So everything that I've heard from folks inside the building is that there's no worry, right?
36:24Sometimes you get these injuries where guys not playing and you're waiting and you...
36:28Literally Alec Pierce. Yeah. It's like people are concerned as to what is going on.
36:33But these both injuries, I know this is one that's a defensive injury, but these feel like deliberate managed timelines and not like houses on fire.
36:41What are we going to do? I'm fully aware that it can burn me, but that's why he's being drafted around 17.
36:47And that's why, you know, I'm just, I'm just looking at the cost benefit there.
36:51So yeah, this isn't like you said. And now that it's even dipping even further, we're getting to the like completely meaningless.
36:58Just please find a guy that is going to get you points, parts of these trials.
37:03One more guy I want to touch on is Aranda Gadsden, who is falling because there's a lot of negative vibes around
37:09that tight end room and the way they're talking about them.
37:12I mean, they're talking about basically like an eight-way committee at this point with all the tight ends that they have and how they want to deploy them.
37:20On paper, from a process standpoint, and this is why market score had the comps that they, that it did for Gadsden
37:27on paper, he would seem like a smash. Like one of the most, one of the most productive rookie tight end seasons
37:33we've ever seen, like top 20 in NFL history came from Gadsden last year.
37:37One of the best offenses that we're projecting for this year and an offense that doesn't feature tons of 11 personnel.
37:44And so you could see the tight end benefiting in those situations, but it does seem like they are going to, you
37:50know, give David Njoku some run, Charlie Kolar some run, and it's, it's going to hurt Gadsden.
37:55Admittedly, I feel like that he might be a better season long dart than a best ball dart because there feels like
38:02there's a chance that there's just no usability from the tight end room.
38:05And I know that people could say, oh, well, he'll have a spiked week here and there.
38:10I wouldn't disagree, but he's going ahead of some other guys that are definitely going to have spiked weeks.
38:16You know, like, uh, he's still going ahead of Terrence Ferguson, for instance.
38:20And I, I, I don't see why, you know, similar bet from an offense standpoint and environment standpoint.
38:25Uh, of course, you know, you get too high target share players with Devante Adams and Puka Nakuha, but they don't target their running backs in that offense.
38:33We already know that. And they don't have a slot guy.
38:36So like Terrence Ferguson, I mean, look, Ferguson is like a 17% exposure guy for me right now.
38:42So like, I'm, I'm definitely saying this from the perspective of like, I like the dude.
38:46I think he's a really good, talented player, but I don't see the need to like reach for a guy like Gadsden
38:53when there are other bets as well, you know, for, uh, you know, a player like, you know, Terrence Ferguson.
38:59So kind of like off them and best ball for the most part, uh, at that price, unless I can get them
39:05at a two round discount or so, and then I will, you know, be fine with him as like a tight end
39:12to dart throw type in a season long format.
39:14When even somebody like Gisicki, who's like barely being drafted, right?
39:18Like there are guys that, again, when we're getting to some of those later rounds, like buying points, right?
39:23Like it, it just seems like it could be too treacherous with such a crowded room.
39:28Um, and despite him playing so well last year, like you said, the, unfortunately the model can't regress for new OC and
39:34a team that specifically went out and got two guys, right?
39:37Like it's, it's honestly, we talked about this offline as we, we closed last week.
39:42You and I, it's just, it's annoying because it's an offense that we want to buy into.
39:47It's a tight end position in an offense that we specifically want to buy into, but unfortunately for best ball, there is
39:53so much ambiguity that it makes a very, very difficult click.
39:57Yeah. Not a total fade for me, but, um, I don't think you need to like totally go after him at the moment.
40:03So that's it for the risers and fallers. We do have a guest today, Sam Sherman.
40:08He's a huge multimillion dollar winner in best ball on some other platform.
40:12He does best ball breakfast with Pete over Zed.
40:14He does a show with legendary upside and Pat crane called that's fair.
40:18We chatted about Josh Allen and his ADP, the importance of, of getting good CLV.
40:23So I thought that, you know, his insights were really great.
40:26Uh, some of the stuff that we talked about earlier, how he's drafting differently here in August, so much more.
40:32It was a great discussion. So here's my interview with Sam Sherman.
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41:32So we're now finally getting some camp news, which is sweet.
41:35I mean, it's not super sweet if you are holding a lot of Luther burden bags right now or Ricky Pearsall or whoever.
41:42But the question I asked last week, I'm going to ask you, how do you sort of keep a level head this
41:49time of year and sort of like avoid overdrafting zeros?
41:52Because there's a lot of hype with like a lot of these like day three rookies, for instance.
41:57Yeah, I think it's really tricky. And if you, you know, go on X right now, you'll see that basically every single
42:03wide receiver that was drafted this year is having an amazing camp.
42:07Like Malik Benson is lighting up Raiders camp. Caleb Douglas in Miami, so on and so forth.
42:12So I try to like weigh all this news.
42:14Like I'm kind of a spectrum or a scale.
42:17Like I think there are important things like injuries.
42:20Um, I think I'm paying a lot of attention to now again, like be careful of the like player X got carded
42:26off at one practice because oftentimes in preseason, like that can be a big deal and that can mean nothing.
42:32So try not to overreact to that too much in real time and sort of wait for the reporting to come out.
42:39But I think, yeah, like injury news, I think is important.
42:42I think reporting on snaps with the first team.
42:44I think I pay attention to that. I pay less attention to things like just highlight clips or beat road reporter saying,
42:51you know, player X is having an amazing camp.
42:54It's like, okay, are they having an amazing camp with the third team offense or the first team offense?
42:59Like that's what I think really, really matters more.
43:02Yeah. I think there's also going to end up being like this year, especially do you feel like this is totally subjective,
43:08but it feels like we're getting more day three random day two, especially this draft class where there wasn't like a ton
43:15of alphas and like a ton of like obvious profiles.
43:18Like we're just getting so many of them steamed right now.
43:21And I don't remember it being quite like this in the past.
43:24Does it feel that way? And, and I guess like, are you, do you lean into it a little bit?
43:30Like, are you leaning into like Cyrus Allen a little bit or Jacoby lane a little bit?
43:35Like just based on the way that, that some people, you know, some of these beat reporters are talking about them.
43:41Yeah. I think answering your first question, I do feel like it is worse this year.
43:46I was, I was actually, as I do a show with, with Pete over that weekly on his channel.
43:52And I was wondering, like, obviously this isn't the first off season where we've had algorithmic social media.
43:57Like, I think there's something about X like in their algorithm now that like amplifies hype cycles more than we would in
44:03the past because everyone's algorithm is like tailored towards that.
44:06You click on one post of Cyrus Allen and then all of a sudden you get fed 10 or 15 more.
44:12Yeah. And five years ago, that wasn't the case on, on social media, right?
44:17It wasn't algorithmic in that sense. It was kind of more like a timeline of news.
44:21Yeah. So anyways, I do think there's something to that, but to the specific, I think people are probably more interested in the specific players.
44:29I actually have been leaning in a little bit on the Cyrus Allen and Jacoby lane to the extent that I think
44:35they are like draftable in, in the 18th round.
44:38Cause I do think it, it matters in the context of a, those are both offenses that have the ceiling to be,
44:44you know, top five in the NFL and scoring if things, things go right.
44:48And both those teams do have pretty wide open wide receiver rooms, you know, particularly in wide receiver, you know, two, two or three on those teams.
44:56So I have been willing to click those guys a little bit, but again, it's like, yeah, 17th, 18th, 20th round picks
45:03or whatever, not chasing them huge up the board.
45:05Yeah. Which every once in a while you get like that, like 13th round Cyrus Allen and you're like, okay, like could this happen?
45:12Could this work out? Maybe, but I'm not, I'm, I'm certainly not going to pay that kind of price for it.
45:19Now that we're in August, another question I want to ask is, you know, obviously you've been drafting for a long time
45:25now this summer, you know, I have two, are you approaching things differently in your August drafts than you were, let's say in like May and June?
45:33Yeah. I think tying into the, the, the first point, I think now that we know a little bit better now about
45:39what later round rookies and young players are looking good in the later rounds, I'm skewing a little bit more towards drafting
45:46those players as opposed to sort of like the boring veteran types.
45:49Like I think I'm taking, I don't know who's an example.
45:53Calvin, Calvin Ridley is maybe a guy who I was drafting more of in May just because I'm trying to avoid zeros with my last couple of picks.
46:01I know he has a contract. He's going to be on the team.
46:05Whereas some of these guys, Jacoby lane, whoever, you know, you might be taking total zeros there.
46:10So it's a little bit more of like taking some of the funner rookies instead of the boring veterans.
46:15And then I think like structurally I'm a little bit gearing more towards late round running back as I think a couple
46:22of the late round running back targets have become more clear to me.
46:25For me personally, that's like Marshawn Lloyd and Jaden blue.
46:28Yeah. You know, for a while it was like completely barren at running back past like pick, you know, I like there.
46:35So that means maybe a little bit more wide receivers, tight ends in the early rounds instead of running backs and a couple more running backs picked late.
46:43Yeah. I love that. I love that notion. And I felt the same way where it's like, you know, you don't know
46:49back in June, not only like Marshawn Lloyd's a great example, not only like, is he going to be healthy, but like,
46:56where's he sort of sit within the depth chart?
46:59And, you know, it seems like everything's gone in a really favorable way for him.
47:03So you just have more comfortability and confidence that he's the right kind of click to make.
47:08And then obviously there's, you know, stuff going on with Josh Jacobs that may or may not come to fruition, but regardless
47:14of that, you know, it does make sense and it allows you to be really flexible with, with your roster construction as well.
47:21One question I really want to ask is you're seeing some players that have seen a pretty big jump and change in
47:28ADP Malik neighbors being one where he was like a fourth rounder for a while.
47:32And now you're seeing him in like the late second, pretty frequently Stefan digs, obviously a huge, huge gain given that he signed in Washington.
47:39My question for you, cause I'm, I know that there's a lot of people out there who, you know, didn't get a
47:46lot of digs or didn't get a lot of neighbors.
47:49I wish I got more neighbors personally. So I want to hear the answer to this just from, from that perspective, but how do you handle things now?
47:57And you could talk about this in the opposite direction as well, you know, because like guys get hurt.
48:03Kenyon Sadiq is a good example where I thought he was a great click.
48:07I was clicking a lot of them on DK and then all of a sudden it's like, Oh, the sports hernia injury
48:13is actually going to continue and not stop. And so maybe he'll be, he'll be ready in week one, but obviously his ADP is tumbling.
48:20So with all this shifting in ADP, if you missed out at the more favorable ADP, are you doubling down?
48:26Are you saying, Oh, I got enough neighbors. I'm done drafting neighbors.
48:30How do you handle that in total? Yeah, that's, it's a very good question.
48:34I think like before getting into the specifics of maybe those situations, I am someone where I don't worry too much about
48:40like, Oh, I didn't get neighbors at the best possible price at pick 45.
48:45Therefore I'm not going to chase them up to pick 20.
48:48Yeah. Just because, cause I think there's some people that are like, Oh, you'll, if you take neighbors at pick 20 and
48:54say you advance that team to the finals, you're competing against teams that got neighbors at pick 45 and you have a disadvantage.
49:01Therefore you should just like fade neighbors and hope that like, he is not the guy you need.
49:06Right. I pretty strongly like disagree with, with that notion.
49:09I think generally you should just kind of like update your rankings based on no information, new information.
49:14If that player like at its new price is still a good pick, like based on your updated rankings, I'm not worried
49:21about like where the best price was that you could have gotten a month ago.
49:25Sure. There's like, I bet you could come up with some hypothetical scenario where like, say, I don't know, Kyron Williams tears
49:32his ACL and Blake Corum goes to the one, two turn.
49:35Then I think that's like a level of change where like, you might want to consider that dynamic, right?
49:41Like, but I think, I think these are all the digs neighbors examples.
49:44It's not extreme enough where I don't think that matters too much.
49:48So for me, like those, those specific situations, I think both those guys kind of had deserved skyrocketing up the boards.
49:54I think the neighbors information on, on his health, I think really does matter a lot.
49:59So for those two guys specifically, I really have been chasing them up.
50:03And then, yeah, dig, I feel like the digs thing is just like a lesson that I somehow failed to learn every off season.
50:10Is that like when these veteran guys sign, they just like inevitably go up.
50:14Yeah. So I think I missed that one a little bit.
50:17I wasn't taking a lot of digs that said though, it's like he could have signed with, I don't know.
50:23He could have signed with a much worse landing spot.
50:26Yeah. He found the perfect spot. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
50:28Yeah. So it was a little bit of bad luck there.
50:32Yeah. I've kind of like gotten to the point where it's almost like the meme of like, you think about something really
50:38basic and then, you know, you, there's like a nerd, you know, the nerd part where they're like thinking about CLV and
50:45they're, you know, like, and then at the very end, you know, you're the expert and you just think about it, you
50:51know, and just getting the right guy once again.
50:54Right. And like, I feel that way almost with like a neighbors or, you know, like these two examples in particular, it's
51:00like, I think there are too many iterations to a possible lineup to get so worked up about what that CLV could
51:07look like in week 17, you know, like even though, yes, like I think anyone sitting here right now probably wishes they
51:13had 25% neighbors in the fourth round. Right. Just, just given like what ended up happening, I'm sure you'd feel a lot better.
51:20Maybe not 25%, but at least like 20% neighbors at that fourth round price tag.
51:24But even if you're drafting them in round two, I don't think it's a given because all there's so many iterations as
51:31to what could go down in round three and like the guys in round three and four.
51:36One of the things that I talked about on the show last week, cause like I was mostly fading neighbors crossing my
51:42fingers that his ADP would actually get lower if he was placed on pup.
51:46And then that obviously didn't happen. And so I had to react quickly.
51:50Now I think just given the way that like the landscape is and what I've experienced, at least there is a window
51:56usually before things really get out at like things really get like before a player rises to where he should go, you know?
52:03So like I had a week of, of just trying to get a middle third round into late third round neighbors.
52:09And then like, you know, it turned into like two, three turn neighbors and stuff.
52:14And I got to a point where like, I'm properly weighted with neighbors because I was able to react in that way.
52:20And the way that I kind of framed it.
52:23And I, you know, I said this last week, maybe it's a little cope, but like round three and round four to me is really flat in general.
52:31And so like, I don't even feel like the opportunity cost was like so, so significant that like, Oh, it's going to ruin my teams.
52:38If I'm drafting neighbors in round three, it's going to be an interesting question.
52:43I think if you get to like the one, two turn with neighbors and you're like now, you know, these guys that
52:49are like legitimate league winning type running backs and stuff that you're drafting them over.
52:53Or like even like the Drake London line, I think is a really interesting one with, with neighbors just because London has
53:00just as much upside standalone as neighbors does right without the injury concerns.
53:04So like, that's, that's probably the question for me, but again, I don't know.
53:08I'm trying to not like care so, so much about CLV in the end, you know, like not, not get so worked
53:14up about it because if it's the dude like Kenyan Sadiq, I have a lot of Kenyan Sadiq and now he's cheaper.
53:21I'm still drafting cheaper Sadiq because I just think he's a good value in general.
53:25I think that's the right approach. Like you said, the, like, if you try to do as a, I don't know why
53:32you try to do this, but as a hypothetical exercise, like draft a team from the one 12 and then on your
53:38next draft, try to draft the same exact team from the one 12, you're going to, unless you're reaching on every player that right.
53:45Like you're not going to be able to do it.
53:48There's just like so much randomness and how the draft shake out.
53:52There's so much randomness, you know, in the playoff structure of, of these tournaments where you can be paired against stronger or weaker teams in the playoff pools.
54:00Like there's just so much out there. Whereas like, if this was a, you know, we're talking here about sort of generally
54:06playoff best ball, like the structure of the best ball millionaire.
54:09If you're playing like a season long contest where it's like most total points throughout the whole season, that's where maybe the
54:16CLV thing like starts to matter more. But yeah, in these tournament pod structure tournaments, I think it just, it's not my, my primary concern at all.
54:24Yeah. It's a one week thing where like, it doesn't, you know, like neighbors could have a bad week or, you know,
54:30like that, that person that you're that player that you would be taking neighbors over could Drake London.
54:36If you're taking him over Drake London, he could blow up in week 17.
54:40And then all of a sudden, like you, you know, don't have the guy, but also does that mean that you are
54:46not frequently like pulling guys up in ADP to get a differentiated lineup?
54:50So like, if you're, you know, like Nico Collins has been end of round two, early round three, now that neighbors gets pushed up sometimes.
54:57So you'll see him fall at times, but like, are you ever pulling Nico to the other side of the board just to differentiate your lineup?
55:05Or are you more of the mindset of what you just said, where it's like, yeah, these lineups are differentiated enough because
55:11we're, we're drafting, you know, 20 rounds on draft Kings.
55:14And clearly there's going to be very, very many iterations of, of what we could possibly do with this lineup.
55:20Yeah. I am not really someone who focuses a lot on, you know, like flipping the draft board by pulling a player up.
55:27Um, I do think about like, I don't know the one spot where I've like thought about it a little bit this year is like the 12 spot.
55:35Um, so the one, the one, two turn, I guess in the first round, we're like, I don't want the same combination
55:42of two running backs every single time. Like, I don't want all my teams to be genti Barkley or whatever.
55:47So I have been like randomizing that a little bit, but yeah, I don't, as opposed to pulling someone up in the
55:54first couple rounds, I generally have a rule where like if a player in the first couple of rounds just falls four
56:00or five, six, seven picks past ADP, unless it's a guy I like intentionally have a huge fade on.
56:06Yeah. Um, I just like take that value every time.
56:09And I think that kind of achieves the same effect in a lot of ways without like reaching for a player.
56:15So that that's kind of my approach to that.
56:18Yeah. I couldn't agree more. That's, that's how I've approached things as well.
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57:15That's LifeLock.com code football. Again, LifeLock.com code football. One of the questions that I love asking guests this year because it just
57:22reveals a lot and it gets into like a lot of just how you're approaching the position and game theory and roster construction.
57:28Are you drafting Josh Allen? Is he overrated, underrated, or properly rated right now, do you think, on DraftKings?
57:34Yeah. I like to be a contrarian in the fantasy best ball space sometimes.
57:38I know everyone is saying Josh Allen is overrated, but in the case of the DraftKings ADP, I do actually agree with the, I guess, expert consensus.
57:46I do think he's a bit overdrafted at pick 28.
57:49It is a pretty massive gap between where he goes and where the next tier of elite quarterbacks go.
57:55Lamar Jackson, Jaden Daniels, you know, other guys that give you the dual threat ability, but are going 30, I think in Daniel's case, 40 plus picks later.
58:03So I do think with Allen, that's a bit too much to give up.
58:07If I was building, like, I do think it's an interesting debate though, because like year over year, Allen kind of does,
58:13if you do some kind of analysis of like points above replacement, you know, relative to position and then rank Allen versus
58:20other players, he does kind of like pay off this price tag most years.
58:24So from that standpoint, I can't say it's like a terrible pick.
58:27I think there's like a lot of like safety in what you get from Allen and best ball where like year over year, he just crushes every year.
58:36But I do think I just like the two by twos of like taking those slightly later elite quarterbacks, you know, recognizing
58:42they have slightly lower odds than Allen of finishing QB one.
58:45But I think that gap from them to Allen doesn't really reflect like the difference in their odds there.
58:51So on DraftKings, I've been avoiding him with the caveat of what I said earlier, like when guys fall five, six, seven
58:57picks, fast ADP, I just take them. So I'm not taking zero Allen.
59:01Yeah. Yeah. I'm with you. I'm with you. And then my other question is similar.
59:06I mean, it's a onesie position, but what about Brock Bowers, who I think a lot of people would view in a
59:12similar way as Allen being like by far the best at that onesie position.
59:16Are you being aggressive with Bowers this year? Yeah, I'm in on Bowers at his DraftKings price tag mid second round pick.
59:23I think last year you can largely chalk up a lot of his underperformance to injury.
59:27I feel like Kirk Cousins and Mendoza, while they're not anyone's like dream quarterback room, it adds like a base level of
59:34competency here to the offense and the wide receivers remain like, I mean, we're talking about Malik Benson hype in trading camp.
59:40That's what we're talking about from the wide receiver room here.
59:43It's really, really ugly. So I think the target share ceiling on Bowers justifies his price.
59:48I'm pretty in on him. Yeah. Wide receiver this year, to me, I certainly have my stands.
59:53Don't get me wrong, but I also look at like the top 30 at the position.
59:58And I think that that's generally the right, like 30 guys that should be drafted in that range.
60:03So I guess my question to you is like, do you have any fades in the top 30 at wide receiver?
60:09And this could be because like for me, a fade for me is just a guy that like, you know, I'm just
60:16I'm still getting exposure to, you know, like maybe a 3% to 4% exposure to.
60:20It's just not the guy that I'm getting the, you know, 13, 14% exposure to.
60:24For me, I agree with you. I don't have a ton.
60:28The guy I'm fading the most in the top 30 wide receivers would be Rasheed Rice.
60:32And it's, it's a tricky one with Rasheed Rice, because I think if you do any kind of like projections to inform
60:39best ball, and I'm assuming this for you, I don't know this would be the case, but I assume that Rasheed Rice
60:45like projects pretty damn well whenever he's, he's healthy.
60:48He puts up pretty big stats. He's pretty good from a peripheral stats perspective.
60:52It's not like the chiefs added much to their wide receiver room this season.
60:56But I think for me in best ball, like a lot of what I'm trying to avoid is like negative tail outcomes in the first handful of rounds.
61:04And I think Rice just stands out to me like in a weird way.
61:08He kind of reminds me of like a dead zone running back in that you're, you're kind of banking on projectable volume,
61:15but you're, you're kind of relying on like the chiefs to run the office offense a certain way.
61:20It's not like Rasheed Rice is like other, other top 15, you know, wide receivers by, by ADP.
61:26They're all like studs. If they hit the open market, they're, they're getting massive contracts.
61:30Like their team has a ton invest in them.
61:33Rasheed Rice is like, it is much more of like the PPR scam type where like, yeah, I'm not really sure he
61:39makes the chiefs offense that much better. And like, if they decided to go away from using him at the focal point,
61:45I think he could lose a lot of value.
61:48So, and there's also like, I don't know, there's a bit of like an idiot tax thing with Rice.
61:54That's like impossible to model, but you have to, I think, consider with how his off season has gone.
61:59So yeah, he's, he's the answer for me there.
62:02That's, that's a really good one to call out because, and I feel like I haven't even talked about him on, on
62:08many shows this off season in general. Cause I'm not really like keen on like being high on Rasheed Rice this year.
62:15It just doesn't seem like, cause it, cause I agree with you where like, I don't think he's that special of a talent.
62:22I think that by default, he's been getting a lot of work in the way that that offense has flowed, but there's
62:28a chance this year that like this offense just looks a lot different, you know, with, with the Kenneth Walker signing with,
62:34with my homes coming off the ACL and obviously Cyrus Allen, the God coming out of the draft.
62:40No, in all seriousness though, like I, I think that's a good call out to make because you're quite literally having to
62:46take him right now over a Nico Collins oftentimes, or you know, like now neighbors is there even like a Pickens or Devante Smith.
62:53Like you can make the argument that they're, I mean, I would make the argument certainly that they're better real life players.
63:00It's just that they're not in this like environment where they just get fed out of the slot.
63:05And what if that just looks a little bit different?
63:08It is scary. It's, it's at least fragile. And to maybe emphasize that point, like how many in the history of fantasy
63:14football, how many 26 year old wide receivers, you know, being drafted in the top two rounds of fantasy drafts have reporting
63:21that their team isn't like interested in extending them long-term like that, like that's, that's the type of fragility.
63:26Like it's obviously that doesn't mean everything. Don't base your draft pick on that, but it's a weird data point with rice.
63:33And kind of undermines his, his stability that you mostly like.
63:36That's why, you know, like fantasy wide receivers are generally attractive in best balls.
63:40Like to some degree, they're like pretty stable, like can hit the fan, but their talent will shine through.
63:46And rice is just like a little bit different from that standpoint.
63:49Yeah. Yeah. No, I, it's a, it's a really good call out.
63:53Another question I want to ask, I feel like I've been drafting this year and not really thinking about teams that I
63:59am just so in on from, from the perspective of like, just loving that offense and think that they're going to beat the market.
64:06It's more so like being reactive to what the room is giving me and then stacking based on that.
64:12Right. If I get a falling value of Zay flowers or something, and then I get Lamar in the fifth and it's
64:18like, Oh, all of a sudden I have a Baltimore stack or what have you.
64:23Now, obviously that leads to then being overweight or underweight on certain offenses that I'm stacking.
64:27But I guess my question to you is like, as you're drafting, are you kind of going about it the same way?
64:34Or are there teams out there that you think are just like undervalued in general or, or a team that might be
64:40lower key that, that might surprise people. To like the macro point, I like, I'm kind of with you where I let
64:47the skill position, you know, tail wag the quarterback dog in best ball.
64:51We're like, I usually am not like entering a draft being like, Oh, I'd want this to be a, you know, Baker Mayfield team.
64:58So therefore I'm going to draft, you know, a Buka and then go from there.
65:02Yeah. Yeah. I'm not, I don't think I'm going out of my way.
65:06That said, like I do, I think I have an answer to the question of, of what team I'm a little bit
65:12higher on, which would be the Packers. Um, I'm pretty, pretty in on throw the Jacobs thing aside.
65:18I think particularly their, their past catchers and love right now.
65:21I just really like how in years past, you know, they always had this massive rotation.
65:26Even like people talk about Dontavian Wicks and Romeo Dobbs, uh, Malik Heath ran 30% of routes last year.
65:31Like you gotta get the Malik Heath role in there, uh, for, for some reason.
65:36Uh, and those guys are, Dobbs is gone. Wicks is gone.
65:39Heath is gone. It's, it really should just be Watson Reed and golden really consolidating the routes.
65:44No Packers wide receiver last year had more than a 77% route participation that put Romeo Dobbs at 53rd in the league and route participation rate.
65:51So anyways, I think that that could just really consolidate to the top guys.
65:56I think their O line, uh, ranked by Brandon Thorne as, as 29th in the league this year, that's a bit concerning,
66:02but I think could push them to the pass even more if they're sort of unable to establish the ground game with
66:08Jacobs as they have done the past couple of years.
66:11And, you know, we'll see with love. Like he's always been one of those guys that's like very high in EPA per play.
66:18Like, can he scale that efficiency to a larger sample size from a passing standpoint?
66:23I think we'll find out this year, but I just like how concentrated it could be.
66:27And I think that the concentration is not fully reflected in these wide receivers prices just because of how it's been in prior years.
66:34Yeah. I love, I love that call. Uh, LaFleur's offenses in green Bay have never ranked in the bottom half of the league and touchdowns per game either.
66:42I mean, it's a very safe bet that that offense is just going to be good.
66:47And like you said, if they don't rotate their wide receivers in such an infuriating way as they've done in the past,
66:54then all of a sudden you can see all of them pay off.
66:57I mean, and, and, you know, obviously like in the individual draft that you're drafting in, it's like, you know, you make
67:04a bet, you draft Jaden Reed, you make a bet on Jaden Reed.
67:08Maybe that means that you're not getting mad. Maybe you still get Matthew golden, whatever the case may be.
67:13But like, like there are certainly outs where like Matthew golden is just doesn't progress.
67:18And Jaden Reed takes on more of an outside role.
67:21So you can see how he would outplay ADP.
67:23Christian Watson was out of his mind when he came back last year.
67:27You could see how he would outplay ADP and then golden just goes kind of late.
67:32And so, you know, what if he does take that step forward?
67:35And so I like that call quite a bit.
67:38All right. Before I let you go, I need a, I need a bold take a bold prediction for this 2026 fantasy season.
67:45Yeah. So I was trying, trying to cook up something, you know, better than just, you know, wide receiver X will outperform ADP by one round this year.
67:53So I'll, I'll give this a run. I'll say Colson Loveland becomes the first tight end to eclipse 20 PPR points for
67:59game since Travis Kelsey back in 2020. Yeah. So I, yeah, I think why it's definitely bold.
68:04Um, if I can find that line of draftings, uh, not, I'm not doing it, but why it's not crazy.
68:10Let me give you a bit of the case for that in games where he ran 70% of the routes last year.
68:17So using that realizing it's an arbitrary cutoff, but saying, Hey games, he was kind of a full time starter.
68:23He averaged 18 and a half PPR points per game.
68:25So he was right up on that 20 point threshold in that small sample, uh, last year.
68:30And he hit over 21 points in four out of six of those weeks.
68:35I think just like zooming way out, like obviously I wouldn't take him over McBride.
68:39I wouldn't take him over Bowers. Those guys should go ahead.
68:42But if you think about like the true ceiling cases for those three guys, one of them is on the Las Vegas Raiders.
68:49One of them is on the Arizona Cardinals. If you're making a case for one of these three offenses being top five
68:55in the NFL and scoring, it almost has to be the bears over the Cardinals and Raiders.
69:00Like it's not even close, you know, again, talking about concentration of offenses, like we did with the Packers.
69:06I think this thing will be really mega concentrated on a dunes, a Loveland and, and burden in some order.
69:12Like their wide receiver three is going to be Zavian Thomas or Kalief Raymond.
69:16You know, there'll be a ton of snaps with Sam Rausch and Cole Komet on the field.
69:21I think you could see really high target rates for those top three guys.
69:25And, um, I just feel best about Loveland emerging out of the three.
69:29So thank you. Thank you has a real, real ceiling this year in fantasy.
69:33I like it. I've seen a lot of the takes too of just like, oh man, these guys are going so high in drafts.
69:40Like one of them isn't going to pay off at costs.
69:43And I'm kind of like, I mean, I think it's possible that all three can still be like, okay, realistically, because if
69:50they, if it is hyper targeted, like we think it can be not unlike what we've seen with like Detroit with Ben Johnson, right.
69:57Where it was hyper targeted to those three guys, same positions, et cetera, where you don't even have a running back that
70:03you're as worried about as, as you would be with the backfield in Detroit.
70:07Like it depends on what you're saying would be like, you know, like, are they all going to be league winners?
70:13No, that would, that would probably be impossible, but could they all pay off in their own way in best ball?
70:20I still think that it's, it, it could still be the case because of how hyper targeted those guys will be.
70:26I think the most likely outcome is like two of them will be, or, you know, we'll be like the guys like, don't get me wrong.
70:33But I still think that there's like a, still a case that all three can be okay and not totally tank your teams.
70:40You know, if you are getting exposure to all three.
70:43Yeah. A hundred percent. And also it's like, I get, it's a bit of a bet, a projection that Caleb Williams is
70:50going to take another leap in year three. He wasn't amazing last year, even though it was a huge improvement from year one to year two.
70:57But I really do think like to some degree in the NFL these days, it's like it's haves versus have nots in terms of offensive coaching.
71:05And like Ben Johnson is just so firmly in the camp of coaches I'm willing to bet on.
71:10So if you're going to make a projection on a year three leap for a quarterback, which you do need the leap
71:17for the quarterback, I think for this to happen with Loveland and Adunz and Burton, like I do feel okay about that
71:23bet because it's Ben Johnson and it's a quarterback who was, you know, considered one of the best five quarterback prospects of
71:29the last 15 years, something like that. Right. So it's, it's a better malign to make.
71:34Yeah, totally with you. All right, man, this was great.
71:37I really appreciate the time. Let everyone know where they can find you and what you're working on and such.
71:43Yeah, you can find me every week. I'm doing two, two shows, one on Pete Oversett's best ball breakfast stream, and then
71:49on legendary upside doing a weekly show with, with Pat Garain called that's fair.
71:54And then yeah, you can also follow me on, on X at Sherman underscore FFB.
71:58About like 10% of my tweets you should take seriously as a fair warning.
72:02So I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll caveat with that. You can find my, my more straightforward analysis on those prior, prior two streams.
72:09Great, great fall though. We were talking before we started, you know, after you had the big win last year and just
72:15the, the, the sarcasm that came through and so many of the tweets, it was brilliant, brilliantly done.
72:20Great follow on Twitter. Appreciate the time, man. Like I said, check out late round.com late round draft guide.
72:26Make sure you subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast.
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