0:00What's up everybody? Today I'm going through five of the biggest ADP movers in the month of August. Five players who again started off as much more lower,
0:08middle round, even late round targets, but whether it was coach speak preseason performance injuries. For one reason or another, they have been skyrocketing up
0:16the ranks. And today we're going to be trying to figure out whether that was warranted or if we should be fading the
0:21new found public trust. So with that, let's get after it with 49ers rookie wide receiver stribbling. started off guys on August one as the wide receiver
0:3061 pick 148 over underdog fantasy but by August 24th wide receiver 51 pick 114 certainly on the rise but for good
0:40reason. Okay, this was a perfect storm of rookie parasol having the season ending knee injury. Great training camp reports from seemingly everyone they
0:47asked about dribbling in the first place and then also just an objectively awesome preseason from Stribbling himself. So recently we did have the
0:54quote from Brock Perie after the 49ers second preseason game just again hyping him up kind of repeating the same stuff we've heard from Trent Williams, Kyle
1:02Shanahan and everyone else. He's a smart kid. He's come in, learned our offense.
1:06He's got strong hands, great route runner, all the things. The reasons why we drafted him. He's showing it and proving it. And yeah, he seriously is
1:14showing it. Caught 11 of 13 targets for 109 yards on only 22 preseason routes.
1:20That's the craziest part here, guys.
1:22We're talking about pretty much one half of football and the man's already gone for 11 catches and 109 yards about to
1:28put up a Brandon Marshall freaking statline and catch 22 or 23 passes or whatever it was in one single football game. So yeah, he did drop the likely 33
1:38yard touchdown. Absolute dot from M.
1:40Jones by the way on that one. But even that play, it almost kind of gave us another answer to the question. Can he
1:46win downfield? Real nice stutterepcept double move to get that separation in the first place. So, not trying to glaze the man too hard here. All right. I do
1:53think it's a little bit annoying when we say, "Well, yeah, I mean, dropped the touchdown, but that's actually a good thing because the separation, I
1:59understand. But, man, pretty much a lights out preseason from a guy who again was good enough to be picked at the top of round two in the first place.
2:08Why this rise in the ADP streets would make sense, we've seen Kyle Shanahan consistently make more with less in his passing games, okay? And this honestly
2:19was what got me most willing to not spoil everything, but most willing to kind of buy into some of this hype
2:25because man, 2020, we had the COVID Thursday night game where pretty much the entire wide receivers uh wide receiver room in San Francisco was ruled
2:33out. What happened? Richie James, nine catches, 184 yards, a touchdown. We had the original Jawan Jennings breakout game, 175 yards and three touchdowns.
2:43And again, Jennings, good wide receiver.
2:45We've determined that over the years, okay, when he was asked to step in to a bigger voluminous role, he did good
2:52things with it, but that's kind of the point. It wasn't like Jawan Jennings was flashing this tantalizing receiving ability and 49ers fans were crying for
3:00more Juan. Yeah, third and one was cool.
3:02Obviously had the touchdown pass in the Super Bowl and everything. He did okay here and there, but the second that we
3:07had Ayuk go down in 2024 and Debo was playing injured, we weren't maybe getting the same thing out of the rest
3:12of the wide receivers. Jawan was able to seamlessly pick up as we saw with Kendrick Bourne last season.
3:18Back-to-back games with 142 yards, guys.
3:21Even in the wild card when they had over the Eagles, Demarcus Robinson of all people, six catches, 111 yards, and a
3:27touchdown in his own right. So that's five pretty freaking massive games from wide receivers that again really just respectfully had no business doing that.
3:37But because of Kyle Shanahan, Brock Perie, M. Jones for the Kendrick Bourne games, we were still able to get big-time production. So if there was a
3:45system in the NFL that we should expect to be able to prop up lesser talented players, it's this one. And who's to
3:51even say Stribbling's a lesser talented player in the first place? But truly, that would be kind of the last point about why this move makes sense. Brock
3:58Pury number one in the Super Bowl era in yards per attempt and passer rating. Do I think he is the best quarterback the
4:05last 60 years? No. And I'm not going to slander him either and call him assistant quarterback. That dude moves way too well, you know, out of
4:12structure, off script, one that keeps the play extended to be slandered like that. But man, Kyle Shanahan, Brock Pury, and even for a stretch from M.
4:19Jones, we've seen this partnership lead to all kinds of results pretty much regardless of who has been out there catching the ball. Why this rise in the
4:26rank maybe doesn't make sense.
4:28Stribbling still does profile as a number four pass game option pretty definitively when everyone's healthy. Christian McAffrey, Mike Evans,
4:38George KD on Stribbling.
4:41I think an objective person would say in week one we should expect CMC Evans and KD to get more targets. Now, all three
4:49of those guys haven't exactly had the cleanest injury track records over the years. All three of those guys 30 plus years old by week one in KD and Evans
4:59case even older than that. KD's come back from the Achilles injury. Allegedly the not so bad Achilles version. CMC had the tightness allegedly something that
5:08they plan to take off. Definitely, you know, could have mentioned that while he was missing time, but whatever. Mike Evans seemly leaving every other
5:15practice with a new issue. So I reject the idea that Christian McCaffrey is a 10 out of 10 injury prone. And what's a
5:24decent example? Like Chase Brown's a zero out of 10. Okay, I do accept that CMC is more injuryprone, more at risk of
5:31injury than someone like Chase Brown and generally running backs. It's just not this 10 out of 10 or zero out of 10 sort
5:37of binary proposition. And I think similar sentiment is true for Mike Evans and George KD.
5:42Are we absolutely positive dribbling is ahead of guys like Debo Samuel, Christian Kirk, and Demarcus Robinson?
5:48Not a 100 percent, but I'd be pretty pretty damn shocked at this point if that's the case. Even got some word out
5:54of 49ers practice on Sunday saying Jaylen Watkins working ahead of DVO Samuel now with the way that they're kind of doing things. So, Jordan
6:03Watkins, excuse me. I'll get my push-ups in, watch the film, and get better.
6:07Christian Curry's been banged up. Dro, good player.
6:12Ravens fans know, Chiefs fans know. This dude's been on a lot of teams. that double move. Even Rams fans, man, he had
6:17like seven touchdowns that one year.
6:19Double move. And he's got this quick out. It's not even a blaze out. It's like a one step out the goal line. He
6:24scored like four touchdowns on it in 2024. Couldn't believe my freaking eyes, people. Stribbling is the number four pass game option, but
6:33every single person ahead of him, I think we can agree. Sure seems like they carry a little bit more injury risk than
6:40your average running back, wide receiver, and tight end. So, it takes me to my verdict. I am buying Don Stribbling as a borderline wide receiver
6:46three. Okay, I have moved him up to wide receiver 38 in my rankings. That is behind Marvin Harrison Jr., Brian Thomas
6:52Jr., Quinton Johnson, DK Metaf, Jaden Reed, and Chris Goblin. It is ahead of Stefon Diggs, Josh DS, Jordan Addison, Michael Wilson, and also Matthew Golden.
7:01Round seven, eight pick sounds about right for me. I'm sure some people are going to be chasing him up even higher.
7:07And I will say the guys I have him behind still, if you wanted to say you're not scared of them, I don't
7:14really blame you. I'm giving Marv the benefit of the doubt because when he was in Arizona last year on the field with
7:20Michael Wilson, we did see good things.
7:21He unfortunately get to benefit from the improved quarterback play with Jakobi Brassette under center, thirdyear player. I still do truly in my heart of
7:28hearts believe there is a talented wide receiver somewhere in that 6'4 220 lb musclebound frame as we see every
7:36offseason. BTJ 1,200 yards as a rookie that happened was absolutely lights out down the stretch of the season, right? I
7:47understand last year had a little bit of yeps going. It's a little bit of a crowd on offense, but man, that still matters
7:52to me.
7:54DK Mechaf Pitman's in town. It's still Meetaf, man. Boomer bust wide receiver three with upside for even higher as we've seen. He's famous low end wide receiver
8:04too last year. So do Quinton Johnson.
8:06Jaden Reed's the man in an offense that we also love. Chris Godwin first name out of Baker Mayfield's mouth by the
8:12way. Chris Godwin when talking about the wide receivers allegedly looks better.
8:15So I'm going dribbling borderline wide receiver three. For me, it's just seeing again one, not to insult the guys, but
8:26relatively replacement level receiver after another put up all kinds of big numbers when the 49ers needed him to.
8:33And now when they actually put draft capital behind the dude, he checks every single box on the field from what we're
8:40hearing with the coaching staff. And now with the opportunity going his way with injuries to Pieraw with Evans already being banged up. KD coming back maybe
8:48there for week one maybe not.
8:51Wheels up. Deson dribbling. What a time to be alive. Next up we got Panthers running back Jonathan Brooks. August 1st. This was the RB34 going pick 94.
9:00August 24th RB 29 pick 77. Why did he move up? Well, pretty simple. Two factors here. Good news out of training
9:08camp regarding his health. Again, this was someone who we did not get to see play the entirety of the 2025 season.
9:12So, it was kind of a question mark about how healthy is this guy even going to be at this point in time. And then a lack
9:18of health for one Chuba Hubard suffered the unfortunate hamstring injury that has left him week to week. Hopefully will be out there in week one. We did
9:25actually hear from Dave Canal himself.
9:27Quote, "If Chuba is good to go, it will be running back by committee with Brooks in week one." But yeah, no Chuba. Brooks
9:34not only healthy but now getting the chance to potentially take over the situation like we saw Rico Dao do last season and you can see why the public's
9:42been getting very hypy here on Jonathan Brooks and again I do think it makes sense to an extent particularly just the
9:48usage we've gotten from Brooks and that is the big thing for preseason guys if you caught my long- winded preseason pods thank you for checking them out by
9:56the way and also in case you didn't know hey love the YouTube streets I appreciate you guys hanging out but if
10:00you do like the audio podcast you know form better. I do have links to Apple and uh Spotify. Couldn't freaking remember the only two podcast forums we
10:08ever talk about, but whatever. Uh those are in the channel description here with Fantasy Football with Ian Hard. So, just want to throw that out there. And yeah,
10:16appreciate you. The big thing for Jonathan Brooks though, and we'll elaborate on the preseason pods.
10:21Performance is cool. The usage is what we pay attention to the most in the preseason with the first team. That's what we care about. Not these unofficial
10:30deaf charts where we never know what's actually happening, who's setting them.
10:33We get the ores with the first team starters. We care about the first team usage. And man, it has been all Jonathan
10:38Brooks over Trevor Etchen this entire pre-season. So, if Chuba was in there, I'm sure it would be approaching something closer to 50/50. But man, the
10:47fact that we're kind of already at that point is really good relative to where we were at 3, four weeks ago. We figure
10:53it'd be a committee of some shape or size, but some committees are 7030 in favor of the starter and some are 50/50.
10:59It sounds like Chuba and Brooks are leaning towards the latter. And that's great news because again, if we do see Brooks regain the form that made him the
11:10number one running back drafted in the 2024 draft class in the first place, it's going to be exciting, especially when he's going up against Trouba Huard,
11:18who declined last year while playing through injury and is now already injured again. Brooks, reminder, just turned 23 years old in July. This is a
11:27young player who was drafted highly out of Texas after serving his time behind Bejian Robinson and now is set up to
11:33potentially be the lead back running behind the most expensive offensive line in the league at least in terms of 2026 dollars spent.
11:41That's the bull case. Why this doesn't make sense. Chuba is not dead. In fact, we even heard from him as I'm recording
11:50this on Monday, August 24th. Chuba, quote, "To be honest, I feel pretty good. I think the coaches and obviously the training staff are just trying to
11:57take care of me. Obviously, last year I kind of came back a little early and it kind of lingered on for a little bit.
12:02So, I think it's them kind of protecting me from myself a little bit. I would have been out the next day if I could
12:06have, but I feel good. I feel healthy.
12:08Looking forward to week one, obviously.
12:11It's the middle of August. No, late August. Football's almost here, baby.
12:15Let's go.
12:16Panthers are being smart with the guy, just like the 49ers probably were with CMC in the tightness, whether that was a
12:22real thing or not.
12:25Chuba is alive, presumably on track for week one, and we just don't know the exact terms of the committee. There's a
12:31chance nothing has changed other than we've seen Brooks go out there and have a lot of touches, which is good.
12:43Hasn't been that great, though. And I know what I said, usage over production.
12:48I wouldn't mind seeing a highlight or two. We got everyone going over bonkers over him falling into the end zone from
12:54one yard out. Okay, and touchdowns are fun. I get it. The D's converted eight carries and 23 yards and that one short
13:00touchdown and he caught a nine yard pass. It's the preseason.
13:05Doesn't matter. Nothing matters. We live on a rock that floats around a ball of fire. I don't think Brooks's bursts look
13:11that great.
13:14Believe me, if we got a highlight that was really worth highlighting from Brooks, it would be everywhere.
13:21Do you guys remember the first week of August, there was a Panthers beat reporter doing what he's paid to do, just, you know, give us antidotes from
13:30practice and stuff, not slandering him, but he basically said Jonathan Brooks caught the pass, put his foot in the ground, and really got up field fast. It
13:38was like fanfiction, and the fantasy community went nuts.
13:42There are certain players who just get steamed and they tend to be young guys who have a bunch of truthers and the
13:50dynasty streets and the NFL draft streets. We are just itching itching to get off that victory lab tweet to be able to pull back what you
13:59said in March at minute 94 and your running back sleeper podcast and say, "Ha, I told you I was right. You were wrong, etc. It's
14:10the world we live in. Not here. We like to chill out over here. You guys get it.
14:16Jonathan Brooks could be the RB1, but he could also be the clear RB2. We don't know. The only thing that has changed
14:23usage-wise that we now know is that he is clearly the RB2 and Trevor Etchian is not a factor, which is good news for his
14:30handcuff upside. But man, when you do want to go ahead and look at some of the running backs that he is
14:38going way ahead of, you're putting a lot of stock in the idea that he is going to displace Choua Hubard. And based on what we've seen
14:47Brooks do on the field and based on the injury timeline from Chuba Hubard, assuming he's back at 100% by week one,
14:55not a guarantee, but given the fact what we've heard from Chuba, the timeline, it seems reasonable.
15:03If we're going Brooks as high as he's going right now, man, like is there that big of a difference between him and now an injured Cal
15:14Manung guy coming back or the Washington running backs or Kenneth Gamewell or Jordan Mason?
15:23All those running backs could also be better than the Panthers on better offenses than the Panthers.
15:29Panthers could be okay. They haven't been in the last two years though. Dave Canawas hasn't led a top 20 ranked scoring offense with the Buccaneers. He
15:36didn't do it with the Panthers last two years.
15:40Maybe Bryce Young makes the leap.
15:43I wouldn't exactly assume it's going to happen.
15:47Rotoire has this offensive line.
15:51Where do we rank them?
15:53It's not great. 29th.
15:57And a lot of that has to do with the injuries going on. Taylor Motton with the blood clots. Their tackle that had
16:01the season ending late year knee injury.
16:0529th though. And look, I've seen other offensive line judgments around the industry have them higher. Have them a lot higher. They're
16:14one of the more volatile ones I think I've seen of any group. But I'm team Rotoire, so I do like looking at
16:21Rotoire. And I also really trust and respect what Brandon Thorne does over at Estabas Run. He's got 25th.
16:30Rookie Monroe Freeling. He's going to have to be in there early.
16:36It's not a given. We don't necessarily love the offensive line. It's an offense that hardly gets the benefit of doubts scoring. And okay, it could be 50/50.
16:45Maybe he takes over eventually, but we really want to chase that up round five or six potentially.
16:52I think I'm selling this one, guys. He's my RB30. I got Chuba RB 36 and honestly that feels a little low. I feel like I'm
16:59counting out Chuba a little bit. It's kind of like the Courtland Sutton to wide receivers.
17:05I understand the fantasy points are going to be there and the volume to some extent doesn't make it any easier to click. I like to
17:13think fantasy football that we can have fun while making responsible decisions.
17:17It's not fun to click Courtland Sutton.
17:20It's not fun to click Cha Hubard either.
17:23But I don't know that Jonathan Brooks is the answer to that. Way too many good wide receivers where he's going.
17:29Honestly, some pretty awesome quarterbacks there as well. Jonathan Brooks to me.
17:35Round five, six, that's a little steep.
17:39If we can go seven plus, we're not getting chased up over the ambi. That's why it's an ambiguous backfield. It still is.
17:48I admit I think Brooks has a little more takeover ability than definitely does than someone like Blake Corum for instance. But
17:58Pittsburgh, Washington, Minnesota, these situations that we all kind of agree
18:06are fairly wild right now. Like we're we're giving Jonathan Brooks the Bucky Irving or Trayvon Henderson treatment.
18:16I don't think he deserves it. We're given the Bashalt Tutin over Chris Rodriguez treatment.
18:22If any of those, I think it's more likely he's the travon of the equation and Chuba Zurandre.
18:30He's the new shiny thing that we haven't gotten to see. And it will be a great story if Jonathan Brooks returns to full
18:36health and just runs wild this year. I hope he drafted him when he was a little bit cheaper. I can't get behind the
18:41round 56 price tag. throwing out a lot of ranks today everyone. So if you want to check out the full thing for
18:47yourself, head over to rotowire.com and use code Ian35 for 35% off my expert rankings and the rest of our cool tools,
18:55content, and everything over at Rotoire.
18:58I'm grinding out multiple articles per week and we'll be throughout the season.
19:01All right, that's the thing. It is draft season right now and it's important. But guess what? Spoiler, let you guys know a
19:07little, you know, insider tip here. A lot of teams look really good in August.
19:11Okay, before the Well, I guess the injury guys are already just ravaging everyone right now. So, that's not ideal. But every week throughout this season, I'm
19:22going to be doing my she report beyond the box score notes, right? After I watch every single game, I go through I
19:27tell you about the drop touchdowns, the overthrow touchdowns, unrealized area yards. Guys talk about the one yard line, couldn't score. I do find it to be
19:34unique in the industry and I do think it's a great way to help find BO candidates. also gonna be doing quarterback, running back, wide
19:40receiver, tight end, tears and notes, man. Going through the best buy lows, going through the best upcoming schedules, all that in written form in
19:49the year 2026, grinding, grinding, grinding. And with that, man, I'm going to be updating the ranks the whole damn time. So, Wire start set tools. There's
19:57so much more, too. But if you guys trust my content, if you trust my ranks, first of all, thank you. We are out here
20:02grinding day in and day out. If you want to support that, codeen35 rotoire.com.
20:06Check it out. Another player's ADP has been on the rise throughout August. We got Commander RB Jaory Kroski Merritt.
20:13The artist known as Bill started off August as the RB 40 pick 119. By August 24th though, guys, he is up to the RB37
20:20pick 101. Now, he actually has even played in the preseason yet. So, how could this possibly be happening? Well, in these muddled, ambiguous backfields,
20:28particularly in a good offense, or one we think could be good at least, like the Washington Commanders, once we do get clarity, that's when we start seeing
20:34moves like this. So specifically from the athletics band Standig talking about Bill being their RB1. He has kind of released his death chart and said that
20:42but recently he noted the possibility for a running back by committee but crucially stated quote I think Bill's pass blocking has improved enough that
20:49he should see some snaps on passing downs. White will play plenty but I would bet on Bill getting the majority of the reps between the two. There has
20:55been the steady drum beat of Washington be reporters saying Bill looks more explosive and also that he's been getting more going in the past game than
21:01in past years. The explosive note should not be anything crazy. Even as someone who has drafted a lot of Rashad White
21:07this past, you know, six months or so. I think we can all agree that Rashad White is hardly someone that we have crowned
21:13as an awesome explosive rusher of the football over the past four seasons. I like White for what he can do consistency wise and what he can do
21:20catching the football, but let's face it, one year, two million, does he even have a million guaranteed?
21:32Yeah, he does 1.7. But yeah, one year, $2 million contract.
21:38Now, Jakory Crossro was a day three pick. Not like he's making a ton of money year and year out, but the only
21:45competition that was brought in was Rashad Boy and sixrounder Kron Allen. He did some good things at Penn State.
21:51Don't get me wrong. He did eventually lap Nicholas Singleton down the stretch.
21:56But man, as much as Jakori Krosker maybe you can argue didn't I mean I I guess it's true.
22:03He didn't live up to the fantasy hype we put on him in August.
22:08He still had a good rookie year though guys.
22:12This was a seventh round pick and he wound up at over 870 yards from scrimmage and eight touchdowns. He had some huge games. that Chargers won early
22:22on, the Cowboys late, had some ball security stuff going on. Seemed to hit a little bit of a rookie wall. It happens.
22:29If we weren't so freaking crazy wired up about fantasy, we'd just be looking at Jakori Krosky Mered as wow, what a great
22:36seventh round pick by Washington. Hell of a promising rookie year. Good for this dude.
22:43But we're crazy. That's okay. I'm crazy with you guys. Why it makes sense to see Bill rising up the draft board again.
22:50these ambiguous backfields. This is why I want you guys to draft them. I want you to embrace the uncertainty because the second we do find out good things
22:57about them. We see the cream of the crop rise up. And yeah, you're taking a risk, but that's why they're so cheap in the
23:02first place. It's same thing in Minnesota.
23:06Minnesota and Washington, and we saw it last year with the Cowboys and Javvante Williams, and we saw with the Jaguars and Travis Ichien.
23:13Washington ranked fifth in scoring in 2025.
23:17Fifth.
23:19And that wasn't with some loaded cast of weapons that they suddenly don't have.
23:23If anything, their playmakers look better. I'd be more concerned about the Laramie Tonselless offensive line.
23:29Terry Diggs, Chig, Bill White. I understand I'm not describing this electric group of supporting playmakers here, but look at
23:40what it was in 2024.
23:42It was Terry, Diami Brown, Zack Z. Was Noah Brown out there.
23:49Like, it was not that great, guys. You know what was great? Jaden Daniels. And he's back.
23:55Kron Allen has mostly just been leading the backups in the preseason. Now, we do have this undisclosed injury going on with Bill. No reason to believe it's
24:03serious. We'll see what happens. Monitor it. Rashad White's also been out. He had the hamstring. He has returned to practice as I'm recording this on a
24:11Monday.
24:13But we did see in week one at least when Krosky Merritt was healthy him getting starters rest that has been echoed by
24:20the reporters at training camp. It seems like in this muddle backfield in August we have now found out that the two clear
24:26leaders were Bill Crosky Merritt and Rashad White and that's good.
24:31Why this rise in ADP doesn't make sense.
24:33We still don't know what the split really looks like. Shout out Ben Standic. I love when beat reporters actually try to give us the usage notes.
24:41That's all we really want in fantasy football land. It's easier to not do it because there's some [ __ ] amongst
24:46our fantasy community. They go slander people. Please don't be that guy or girl. But you guys know what I'm talking about.
24:54Could Bill be the clear one? Yeah, but it's the same thing with Brooks and Chuba, man. If it's 7030, that's amazing. And crossar, it's a massive
25:02value. If it's 50/50 or if it's 4040 with Kron taking 20, that's not something we're quite as excited about.
25:12They've been throwing the ball more to Bill is adding seven on seven. You know what I'm saying? Rashad White's no joke with
25:19that. Since he entered the NFL, Rashad White, Christian McCaffrey, Alvin Chimera, only three running backs with at least 200 receptions.
25:29He's reliable, too. What we talk about issue with Bill last year, some of the pass pro stuff, some of the ball
25:36security stuff. Last season only had Rashad White, Chris Rodriguez, and Brian Robinson. Those are the only three players with 100 plus combined
25:47carries and targets and zero total drops or fumbles.
25:52Rashad White being on the same list as Chris Rodriguez. And Rodriguez wasn't a pass catcher. I get it. That's what they
25:58used Jeremy McNichols for.
26:01who's still on the team. I don't know if he's going to make it necessarily. They brought in Jerome Ford. They got Robert
26:06Henry Jr. out there, too. But while we don't look at the other competition around Jakori and say, "Wow, yeah, that's really steep." It wasn't
26:15steep last year, and it still didn't exactly help him keep the job for the entirety of the season. In an offense
26:21that doesn't have all that much turnover, David Blau was the assistant to the quarterback coach. assistant quarterback
26:29coach. One of those. Haha.
26:34We don't know what the split will look like. And I'm still fine. Ultimately, verdict. I am fine buying a Washington Commander RB. In fact, I like to do so
26:43in drafts of most shapes and sizes.
26:45Pittsburgh, Washington, and Minnesota to me feel like the three most ambiguous ones. And accordingly, we're not even really getting an overly sought-after
26:56front runner. I know Pittsburgh's a little more expensive out there. I believe that's because we probably feel a little better about Rico and Jaylen
27:05talent-wise. It's geriatric old dude under center. He's going to be feeding them a lot of targets.
27:12But man, these are exactly the backfields we should be targeting guys late because the other thing is they're going around handcuffs pretty much as it
27:20is. And Bill and Rashad still have good handcuff value. If one goes down, the other one's going to be shooting up. So,
27:27even if you draft the wrong Washington RB or the wrong Vikings RB, it's not like you're completely screwed. Yeah, I hope to get the right one. And I will
27:36say right now, I have Bill Ran Tire. I have Bill RB34 and Rashad White RB35.
27:42You know what that means, though? When one of these alleged fancy experts like myself ranks two teammates right next to each other, that's a little code for we
27:49don't really know who's going to lead the way.
27:52I prefer Bill right now. I think he's gonna lead the way in touches. I can see Rashad White being more in that Austin
27:58Eckler role that we saw in 2024 alongside Brian Robinson. Maybe more, but maybe he doesn't get all the pass game stuff if some of the words are to
28:08be be believed out of training camp. So, is the gap that's emerging between Bill and Rashad White warranted? That I don't
28:17know as much. I probably sell that idea, but I still want to be buying Washington Commanders running backs in my fantasy
28:22drafts. Next up, we got Packers RB Marshon Lloyd, August 1, RB 58, pick 195 August 24th, RB50, pick 152. Why has
28:33Lloyd moved up the ranks? It's pretty easy here. He is actually healthy and getting through training camp for once.
28:37We've also seen Josh Jacobs have his own health issues, namely a groin injury and legal situation issues pop up. So, he
28:44has returned to practice, reportedly looks good. my dear friend, lawyer, awesome fantasy football auction professional, awesome dude. Great job
28:55title right there, Ian. All right, he does not think from what he knows now that it's very likely Jacobs gets suspended.
29:04Let's assume he doesn't, but it's out there. It's more than 0%, but let's assume he doesn't. Loy is the clear number two RB and a usually pretty damn
29:14good Packers offense.
29:16that has historically under Matt Laflur leaned into committees more than we've seen over the past two years.
29:23And that's the weird game we have to play here. Josh Jacobs had 337 touches in 2024. He had 270 in 15 games last
29:30season. We previously had not seen Matt Laflur lean on a running back that much.
29:35He split touches between Derrick Henry and freaking Dion Lewis in Tennessee.
29:40Then we had the free Aaron Jones years.
29:42First with Jamal Williams, then with AJ Dylan.
29:46Josh Jacobs wore down at the end of last year.
29:50Is Marshon Lloyd a pure backup or could it be a little 6040 Tony Per, Taj Spears, David Montgomery, Woody Marxish?
30:01Could Lloyd take over the backfield? No.
30:03Please don't turn me off. All right, I was a joke. It's a bad joke. It's not happening. I get it. But Lloyd did look
30:10good. Looked good in that 11 yard touchdown, man. seemed like he was the design first read. Left the linebacker freaking dusted, man. Gave me nightmares
30:19as a former slow linebacker.
30:22Got an explosive passcatching friendly running back that is the only backup show in town pretty much. Chris Brooks was back for preseason week two. 71%
30:32snaps for Lloyd, 29% uh snaps for Brooks.
30:37I don't know that Lloyd would have this 90% snap roll if Jacobs goes down. I ranked him more so around RB 15, I think
30:46was where I landed on when I went through where every RB2 would rank if the RB1 was out of the picture.
30:54But we like the offense. We don't love the offensive line. Rotoire has him 30th dealing with some turnover. But one thing you'll read in that, one thing
31:02you'll read from Mr. Thornne over at ETR.
31:05Great play caller minds like Matt Laflur, like Liam Cohen, Kyle Shanahan, Ben Johnson, they tend to be able to make do. They can scheme around it.
31:17That's why this makes sense. We like the play caller. We like the offense. We got clear-cut RB2 with a skill set archetype
31:23we like.
31:26Why does not make sense? We're probably not really getting standalone value.
31:31Pretty rare that happens that you actually feel good enough about a clear number two running back to put in your flex. We always fantasize about it in
31:41August and then week two comes around, Lloyd has three carries, two targets for nine yards. We feel pretty stupid for having thought that was going to be the
31:50case.
31:53Chris Brooks also, not to put too much into preseason stuff, but I did find this notable. He outnapped Lloyd four to2 on third and fourth downs. He
32:02notably had the only two pass blocking snaps.
32:06I've seen good research from my dear friend Hayden Winkx pointing out that not as many fantasy points as you would expect go to running backs on third down
32:14the first place. We probably overrate that role.
32:19Still nice to have though.
32:21And this was Brook's first game back from his own hamstring injury. How the turntables Lloyd, it was a nice touchdown, but I
32:30will say similar to Jonathan Brooks, hasn't exactly been just killing it.
32:36We've heard good things out of practice, which probably matters more at the end of the day than what he does in the
32:40joint scrimmages and things like that.
32:45Hasn't looked like a god out there. You know, if some if Josh Jacobs got suspended for the whole season, like, do we really
32:51think Green Bay would stand pat, all right, Marshon Lloyd and Chris Brooks, an organization that fancies them? I believe Super Bowl contender
33:00every year.
33:02You don't think they add another RB there? Damen Martinez, RB3, no problem.
33:09This does profile a situation where they could call it James Connor. Maybe they signed Trey Benson who just got cut today. 4-1 out.
33:19I wouldn't put the Packers at the top of the list of backfields. I would expect this to be the case. That list where I
33:26think the current handcuff front runner would likely be displaced by a free agent, Curry Hunt, or someone like James Connor. Chiefs, Colts, Ravens, Cowboys,
33:35Bengals.
33:38Maybe I can name five, six more ahead of the Packers. I don't know if I can name 10 more.
33:44Now, it's not like there's 30 high-end running backs sitting out there need to be worrying about. That's another case.
33:50But Hunt and Connor, man, I want these guys settled so we can stop worrying about this for situations such as this.
33:57So, this doesn't make sense because standalone value is unlikely. And while Lloyd is the next man up for now, it's hardly something that we can be
34:07guaranteed of considering Brooks is there and to a bigger extent the potential for someone like James Connor to come into town.
34:15That said, we've examined both sides of the equation. My verdict, I'm buying, guys.
34:22Year three of standing this dude. You think I'm going to back down now? Not today, Satan. He's my RB46. I have him
34:30right there with Taj Spears, with Woody Marks. Don't get too wild, but man, I said it once, I'll say it again. Every
34:37draft is a great draft to draft Marshon Lloyd. He's the exact sort of late round pick we should prioritize again. And
34:43man, when you can get this dude regularly, round 13 plus sounds good to me, man. In home leagues, I know.
34:54And if you guys are out there again grinding it in FFPC, NFC, all the high stakes streets, respect. I love you. I'm
35:00there, too. I just feel like the bigger majority of dudes are out there now.
35:05ESPN. So, it's always kind of a juggle like, all right, is he really gonna be available that late? But that's where
35:09I'm at with some of the ADP.
35:11Guys, one more big one to break down.
35:14First though, quick word to our friends over at Splash Survivor because we got not one but two fantastic Survivor contests that I do invite you guys to
35:20check out because there is a lot of chance to win a lot of money and also a lot of chance to beat down myself and
35:26Theo Greinger in these Survivor streets.
35:28We got the Rotoire 100k NFL Survivor.
35:31It's a traditional Survivor League with a $15 entry fee. And also the Rotoire 50K Touchdown Survivor. This is playerbased. Essentially an anytime
35:38Touchdown Survivor League, $25 entry fee for that one. So again, $150,000 hairs at stake between the two contests.
35:46If you want to enter them both, it would only be a $40 entry fee. But actually, it could even be less than that because
35:51if you go to splashports.com/rotoire, promo code rotoire will get you a 50% deposit match and a 100% payout boost.
35:59Again, that's splashports.com/rotoire, promo code rotoire for 50% deposit match and 100% payout boost. Shout out to our friends over at Splash Survivor.
36:10Last but not least, actually maybe first, Rams tight end Terren Ferguson, guys. August 180p tight end 27 pick 186 here as we stand on August 24th though
36:20tight end 20 pick 161 hasn't played in the preseason nor has pretty much every player of consequence in Los Angeles. So
36:27the reason why he has been moving up a lot of it is glowing training camp reports we did hear about the Rams
36:32scrimmaging in Dallas Cowboys and Tfer giving the Cowboys hopefully maybe just maybe improved first team defense a lot of work throughout that day. Ferguson
36:41himself and some Shan Shawn McVenus echoed has said that he's been asked to play FZ Y and X being moved all around
36:47the formation and the athletics Nate Atkins has said quote believes tight ends it's not a quote I guess I summarized it but you can imagine he
36:54believes the tight ends will be a committee of Ferguson from the group as a player worthy of an every week game
36:59plan role that's all good things now Sean Mc said a lot of good things about a lot of guys over the years okay you
37:07can find glowing reports about Jarz Hunter last offseason you can find stuff about Terrence Ferguson. I think it was during last season him talking about
37:15Ferguson wanting to give him the ball a little more often. It just wasn't really happening. So, it has changed though. Kron Williams,
37:23Blake Cororm weren't exactly getting much of anything going as rookies.
37:28Kairen had some injuries. Blake was still coming back from that devastating knee he had in college, but weren't getting much going on.
37:36If you look at the roster, it would make sense for Ferguson to take a step up, particularly with this team not having
37:43made a wide receiver move of consequence pretty much all offseason.
37:48It's Puka and Devonte Adams.
37:50With all due respect to Canonado Mumfield, it's just those two guys right now, man.
37:56And they're gonna lean in their multi-tenant formations.
38:00But man, if we could get a leader in this group, there's certainly enough meat on the bone last season. If we had a team tight end
38:09position in fantasy football, the Cardinals will be number one thanks to Trey McBride. The number two highest scoring tight end room in all fantasy
38:17football in total PPR points last year was, you guessed it, the Los Angeles Rams.
38:23Terrence Ferguson led all tight ends in yards per catch at 21 last season.
38:27That's a ridiculous amount for a tight end. 52% of his targets came 20 plus yards downfield. The next closest guy was at 21%.
38:35They were using him as a tight end field stretcher option. Not even a seam stretcher. He was being used down the
38:43field.
38:45He only had, I believe it was nine catches. I'll tell you what, 11 catches, excuse me.
38:52One of the best 11 catch seasons I've ever seen. Isaac Tesla, Mitchell Tinsley, they're kind of in the same group there. But here's my thing with
39:01the tight end being used downfield.
39:05It's not like Ferguson is this respectfully. Aronda Gatston, I he's a wide receiver who's putting his hand in the ground. 65 250 man from Oregon who
39:16slowly but surely, don't look now, is kind of becoming the new tight end. you still want to give what Penn State,
39:23Notre Dame, sure there's other teams who have had very good ones coming out, but Ferguson's like the opposite, the anti- Tyler Warren in terms of the dudes he
39:33was able to keep on the bench when he was out there, man. Kenan Sadique, round one pick.
39:40Who's this guy they got now? Jefferson.
39:46The other tight end they have is already in those way too early mock drafts.
39:52This is really important. I find his name, guys. We got to wait on this.
39:56Jamari Johnson. Remember that name.
40:00Terren Ferguson kept those dudes chilling.
40:05He will carry top 10 upside on a weekly basis with a full-time role in this offense. If we get through week one and
40:12he has [clears throat] a 75 or more% route rate, Terrence Ferguson will be a consensus top 10, if not top six tight
40:19end in fantasy football. That is how we treated Dolan Concincaid going into last, not last season. Maybe it was last season. Concincaid has constantly been
40:28someone we've had up there. Look at what Aronda Gadson did last year with a full-time role when given the opportunity to basically
40:36be tight down one wide receiver three and an offense that we really like passing the football.
40:43There's Puka and there's Adams for sure.
40:45Puka a little banged up. Don't look now.
40:47Matthew Stafford guy. What do you mean?
40:49The MVP. He's pretty good.
40:54Ferguson [snorts] has field stretching ability which is rare at the position.
40:58He's built like an actual true inline tight end. I'm not worried about him doing the underneath stuff. Again, we just heard from him and McVey, they're
41:04using him all over the field.
41:07I'm pretty sure he can run a drag.
41:10I don't know with a lot of other tight ends if they can stretch the field.
41:13That's a concern to me. That's the club in your bag that's a lot harder to come by. We love the skill set. We love the
41:20offense. We love the price and fantasy.
41:22We just got to see if the usage is going to be there. But it could be based on what we're hearing at training camp. It
41:27sounds very promising. Why this price hike doesn't make sense.
41:33It probably still makes sense for the Rams to use a tight end by committee system.
41:37You know who else has been sitting all preseason? Kobe Parkinson, Tyler Higgby, and Davis Allen.
41:46Allen's been a little bit banged up.
41:48We've seen Max Cla out there though.
41:49They felt good about good enough about this dude to use a round day two pick on the guy. I know Max Clare didn't do much
41:55for my Buckeyes last year. Look great at Purdue.
42:01If they like what they have in Max Clare and they legit make five tight ends active on game days, each of which they
42:07trust reasonably enough to catch the football, that could be a problem. Last year, even with Tyler Higgby out for most of the
42:15season, it's not like Ferguson stepped up. That was Kobe Parkinson.
42:20Ferguson played under 50% of the snaps in all but three games last year.
42:24Honestly, just roll one up when Devonte Adams got hurt. That was kind of what did it. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. The
42:32offense is going through Puka and Adams.
42:35Right now, Rotoire projections have Ferguson leading the way among Rams tight ends and targets with 59. That's 30th at the position. I don't think he's
42:45going to keep averaging 21 yards per catch on a more normal role. All that said, my verdict, I'm buying, guys. Terence Ferguson is my
42:54favorite late round tight end click in all of fantasy football. He's my tight end 18. I got him just behind Chica
43:00Conquo, Andrew Johnson. He's ahead of Hunter Henry, Brenton Strange, AJ Barner. I feel like Henry Strange and Barner, we know who they are. And maybe
43:09they spike and they convert, you know, 12 of their 61 catches and touchdowns. They have one of those
43:17season. It's possible.
43:21We know they're going to be in near full-time roles. If they aren't, it's gonna be a surprise if Eli Raridan or,
43:26you know, Elijah Royo step up. It would be a surprise. Chick and Jawan Johnson, we are expecting full-time roles. Aronda Gatson and Terren Ferguson are the two
43:37late round tight ends where if we get a big time shift in what we're expecting in week one usage, it is going to be
43:44huge and fantasy land.
43:48Unlike with Aronda Gassin who we've seen consistently work behind Charlie Kohler and work behind David Njoko in the preseason, we can actually feel good
43:54about Terence Ferguson because we haven't seen it and that uncertainty has helped rise him up to fantasy ranks. So if you are in a situation you miss out
44:01on Brock Powers, you miss out on Coulson Lovelin. My next best thing is to go wait in the late rounds. Please, for the
44:07love of God, don't enter week one with T Ferg as your guy. But whether it's Dallas Goddard, whether it's Chicka Conquo, whether it's Joan Johnson, Jake
44:14Ferguson, get one of those more quote unquote boring options, boring is not not the right word, the higher floor option. And then go get
44:24yourself a lottery ticket that's basically free in the firm of Terren Ferguson. I love it. Sign me up. I love you guys for hanging out. Again, if you
44:32like the show, please like the show. Hit that subscribe button always works out as well. Hope you guys enjoyed this.
44:36Again, just look at some of the changing ADP landscape pieces. going to be back here soon looking at kind of the other
44:41side of the equation. Guys who have been falling in the ranks and if that is also something we should be worried about or
44:46something we should maybe be embracing and looking for opportunity.
44:50More and more goodness though on the way. Going to have my ultimate strategy guide for drafts out on rotoire.com this week. Have my week 2 preseason breakdown
44:57go out and also going to be doing a little DST goodness. All right. As much as I hate kickers, I don't mind DSTs.
45:04Heart of hearts. Yeah, probably still don't want to deal with them. I you know as again a guy who played football more
45:08and more years ago every time I mentioned it was on the defensive side more years than not. So got to show out
45:14for the real football players out there on the field. But anyway guys that's going to do it for me. Appreciate you
45:18for tuning in. As always I'm Ian. Until next time. Take care everybody.