PodcastFrom Yahoo Fantasy Forecast

2026 Fantasy predictions: Who is this year’s Drake Maye (Late round QB that finishes top 5)?

STACKED extracted the fantasy-relevant player signal from this podcast and kept the full transcript here for context.

1 hr 5 min

Duration

Estimated from transcript

Jun 10, 2026

Published

Wed, June 10, 2026

Player insights

Players mentioned

Topics

Drake MayeCam WardCarson BeckMalik WillisTyler ShoughBo NixBryce YoungC.J. StroudFernando MendozaJ.J. McCarthyJayden DanielsKyler MurrayLamar Jackson

Player analysis

Player insights

Bo Nix

PositiveSleeper0:25

Bo Nix finished as the QB 8 last year and has added Jalen Waddle to his receiving corps, yet his ADP remains at QB 15. He has a real shot to outperform this ADP due to his solid production and the offensive environment.

Insight page

Bryce Young

NegativeBust0:52

Bryce Young has struggled to score consistently in fantasy, failing to reach 14 points per game in any season, raising concerns about his future potential.

Insight page

C.J. Stroud

PositiveProjection0:52

CJ Stroud's current ADP is QB 24, and while he has shown potential, concerns about his performance and the offensive line persist.

Insight page

Cam Ward

PositiveRole0:39

Cam Ward had a disappointing rookie season but showed flashes of potential, especially with the new coaching staff and improved weapons around him.

Insight page

PositiveBreakout0:39

There is hope for Cam Ward to become a better fantasy asset this season, especially with the addition of weapons like Carnell Tate and Wondell Robinson.

Insight page

Carson Beck

PositiveDepth Chart0:56

Carson Beck, who has joined Arizona, may get a chance to start this season, but his potential impact remains uncertain.

Insight page

PositiveRole0:57

Carson Beck is expected to get a chance to start this season to evaluate his potential, but his role remains uncertain.

Insight page

Drake Maye

PositiveBreakout0:04

Drake May had a standout season last year, finishing as the second highest scoring fantasy quarterback overall, showcasing his potential to exceed expectations in fantasy football.

Insight page

PositiveProjection0:20

Drake May had a 6.3% touchdown rate last year, which is significant, but regression is expected this season. However, he still has the potential to be a top five quarterback due to his rushing ability and improved offensive personnel.

Insight page

PositiveProjection0:34

With the addition of AJ Brown and Romeo Dobbs, Drake May's situation appears even better this year, suggesting he could continue to perform at a high level.

Insight page

Fernando Mendoza

PositiveDepth Chart0:56

Fernando Mendoza, the number one overall pick, is currently being drafted as QB 27, but it's uncertain how much he will contribute this season.

Insight page

J.J. McCarthy

NegativeBust0:16

JJ McCarthy represents the downside of year two quarterbacks, as he underperformed expectations significantly compared to his peers.

Insight page

Jayden Daniels

PositiveUsage0:07

Jaden Daniels is noted for his dual-threat capability, which has made him a valuable fantasy asset, especially in the late rounds.

Insight page

Kyler Murray

PositiveValue0:44

Kyler Murray is currently being drafted as QB 17, which is seen as a significant value given his history of success and the new environment in Minnesota.

Insight page

Lamar Jackson

PositiveProjection0:30

Lamar Jackson's ability to provide both rushing and passing production makes him a top fantasy asset, especially in seasons where he excels through the air.

Insight page

Malik Willis

PositiveBreakout0:01

Malik Willis has significant upside as a quarterback, making him an intriguing option in drafts despite being a different archetype than other top prospects.

Insight page

PositiveSleeper0:45

Malik Willis, going off the board as QB 21, presents a high upside option due to his rushing ability, despite concerns about the receiving corps in Miami.

Insight page

Tyler Shough

PositiveValue0:01

Tyler Shough is viewed as a strong candidate for a breakout season, potentially offering significant value in drafts compared to other quarterbacks.

Insight page

PositiveBreakout0:57

Tyler Shough is being compared to a potential breakout player, with expectations that he could finish the season strong.

Insight page

Full transcript

Episode Transcript

752

0:00Big show for you today Boone June hits full swing I'm taking over hosting duties from Harmon while he's out on vacation

0:06and we've lined up some amazing guests for the next couple weeks starting today with JJ Zacharies and Mr.

0:11Late round quarterback himself he's gonna help us as we continue our flip the script series this time we're taking a look

0:18at who could be this year's Drake Maye so a quarterback who's currently going outside of the top 12 QBs in ADP

0:24but who might just be able to finish inside the top 5 at the position when it's all said and done we

0:30also talked through some general quarterback draft strategy including a little bit of super flex discussion which I know you'll love tons

0:36of great stuff coming your way let's get to it no better time to watch the NFL than during the playoffs but

0:42what's even better than that going to see a live NFL playoff game connecting with other fans being in such an electric

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2:02app today what is up everybody welcome to the Yahoo Fantasy Forecast I'm Justin Boone stepping into the host chair this week

2:08I am filling in for Matt Harmon who is on let's face it a well-deserved vacation we basically had to pry him

2:14away from his desk get him out into the world based on some of the pictures I've seen so far it looks

2:20like he's definitely enjoying himself I also hope that he's using some of that sunscreen that he recommended for me on last

2:26week show because yes we are not just a fantasy football show we also give skincare advice apparently I had a bunch

2:32of people message me about that I think Harmon did too but this week we are moving forward it is still a

2:38hell of a day to talk ball and while Harmon is out here I've called in some favors got some of the

2:45best analysts in the analysts in the industry joining me over the next couple of weeks and that begins today with one

2:51of the top minds in the industry one of my favorites JJ Zachary center of late round dot com JJ how you

2:57doing man how you been I'm good man it's good to see your smiling face you know I don't think we've had

3:03a show together this offseason so good to see you man we did about what like a decade's worth of annual shows

3:09we didn't have one I don't think last year and of course not this year we did get to see each other

3:15and meet in Canton last year at the fantasy expo which was awesome we got to have a chat in person and

3:21I can confirm everyone we all know JJ's work is excellent also just an awesome dude just love how he carries himself

3:27just a great guy and a friend of the show of course I don't think this is your first time on the

3:34show here yes yes yes I mean I'd say very good things about you I won't say the same about Matthew Harmon

3:40of course how dare he leave us here as the football season is approaching yeah yeah what a jerk that guy is

3:46I hope he's listening Harmon we'll be fine without you buddy enjoy yourself come back rested and we will do it all

3:52up this summer but JJ we got a lot to talk about on the show today we're gonna go over the quarterback

3:58position we're continuing our flip the script series we looked last week at the next George Pickens I think we landed on

4:04a very good name if you didn't listen to that show go back check that one out this time around we are

4:10trying to identify this year's Drake May and we say this every episode in this series there probably won't be a guy

4:16that's exactly the George Pickens or the Drake May people talk like this every year but it's a fun exercise to do

4:23just to kind of talk through some of the candidates and figure out how we feel about them and who we could

4:29potentially go after and who might have a chance to have similar success right and for May last year it was going

4:35from being a quarterback taken outside of the top 12 at his position to finishing as the second highest scoring fantasy quarterback

4:41overall by the end of the season the third highest scoring when you're looking at fantasy points per game which is what

4:47I normally look at when we're talking about that sort of stuff I think that's a little more predictive and a little

4:53more accurate it's probably not going to happen exactly like it did for May for any of these guys but I do

4:59think some of the guys we're going to talk about today have a really good chance to have great fantasy seasons and

5:05I don't know about you JJ but for a couple years it seemed like the market had kind of figured out the

5:12late round quarterback thing like I remember the year that Jalen Hurts was going to be that next guy and ended up

5:18being the guy and his ADP just was driven up to the point where he wasn't even a late round quarterback that

5:24year right everybody was on to him and that kind of made me for at least a couple seasons lean a little

5:30more towards like elite quarterback not be scared to say take some of the top guys like you know Josh Allen or

5:36Lamar Jackson or whatnot but this year I kind of think there's a lot of quality options in the late round area

5:42I don't know about you but I think you know we had Jaden Daniels a couple years ago he popped off we

5:48had May last year I think we could certainly get someone else from that range turning out to be a very good

5:54fantasy starter this year do you feel the same?

5:57Yeah you know like I think that when you look at the late round quarterback strategy and what we've seen over the

6:03last I don't know five or six years there have been years where you know it made sense especially in hindsight to

6:09go that direction at the quarterback position I always say that if you're going to get a quarterback early make sure you're

6:15doing so in an environment where you know there are fewer teams that you're playing against like you know like an 18

6:21or 10 team league as opposed to like a 16 team league because that opportunity cost is a lot easier to take

6:28on you know if you're in a shallower league so that's one way where you can get your exposure to Josh Allen

6:34and such where you know if you're in an 18 league you need your lineup to be optimal it needs to be

6:40great all over that lineup and so it's a little bit easier to take that on but when you look at the

6:46landscape this year I think it's it's a fairly obvious year to kind of wait on the position and the reason for

6:52that is because we've gotten really good dual threat quarterbacks entering the mold and entering the player pool if you will over

6:58the last few years you know Jane Daniels came in a couple years ago and obviously you know last year was was

7:04injury filled and he wasn't able to live up to expectation but he's seemingly back and healthy obviously Drake May Caleb Williams

7:11you know there's players that just have entered that have legit passing upside because their environments and just who they are but

7:17also the rushing upside is there which you know for at this point I think the majority of people especially if you're

7:23listening in June you know you're more of a diehard than the average fantasy manager you know the importance of quarterback rushing

7:29and fantasy football right and that's really what we you know are attracted to and aiming towards getting you know in this

7:35landscape is the guys who are dual threat and are able to you know give you points you know I think that

7:41folks kind of misinterpret what that means from a fantasy perspective it's really that the rushing production gives a player a floor

7:47and it's the passing that gives that player the ceiling you know it's the fact that that Lamar Jackson would be a

7:53great fantasy asset but it's when he has those monster seasons through the air where he's insane fantasy asset right like you

8:00we were we were drafting mobile quarterbacks back in like the 2013 to 2016 range in the late rounds who were horrible

8:06passers I mean we're talking like like we were excited about Terrell Pryor as a quarterback right or or Tim Tebow right

8:12those this year I don't want to spoil it there might be one of those this year that we're talking about a

8:18little bit later yeah yeah but we have unicorns now we have guys like Josh Allen and even Jalen Hurts like Hurts

8:24has put up way better passing numbers than most mobile quarterbacks did back in the day and you know even when you

8:30look at like a Cam Newton from 10 years ago his best seasons came whenever he gave you that extra juice through

8:36the air so I think that's one thing to keep in mind is that when you're looking at these mobile quarterbacks specifically

8:42late there's a lot of data to suggest that late round quarterbacks who are mobile right and you can look at previous

8:49season rushing points per game if you want to to kind of get an idea of if they're mobile or not those

8:55players historically have performed just as well as top six immobile quarterbacks so if you get a late round I'm talking like

9:01after QB 12 quarterback who's mobile he outperforms slash is just as good as a top six quarterback who's immobile so keep

9:07that in mind you know as we're going through all these late round picks because it's a very very important aspect of

9:13these guys game I also think it's important to and most people I think at this point do it most fantasy managers

9:19is like separating real life from fantasy when it comes to fantasy quarterbacks and the mobile quarterbacks it's really important and I'm

9:25sure we'll get to this when we talk about that specific player a little later but yes the rushing thing the guy

9:31could basically be a bad QB but if the rushing is there you can pretty much play him normally and the production

9:38will be enough that they could sneak into potentially the top 12 and be that fantasy starter for you now that's for

9:44one quarterback leagues which obviously is like the standard that's what most people play I don't know what you JJ I get

9:50a ton of questions about two quarterback about super flex and it's probably because I actually don't put out super flex rankings

9:56for redraft I do it for dynasty I think there's value in that I have my dynasty trade value charts of course

10:02I have it there when it comes to redraft though I don't really find the value in it because for me when

10:08I go into a super flex draft I've seen it vary so much right you could go into a super flex draft

10:14and there's like eight to ten quarterbacks that go off the board maybe more in the first round or two and you

10:20go into some others and it's the complete opposite and you might see guys bump up you know around ahead of their

10:27normal ADP and one QB leagues but a lot of people wait on them in those so because it varies so much

10:33I don't want to put out a set ranking for super flex and have people just follow that and go with that

10:39and miss out on all the value I want them to kind of figure out adapt on the fly do you feel

10:45the same I don't even know do you put out super flex you might actually put out super flex rankings but I

10:51want people to adapt on the fly to always use my quarterback rankings as that guide but still you got to figure

10:57out where the values and where the pockets you can attack are in these drafts yeah I mean it's against my will

11:03I wish I didn't have to do the super flex rankings but people have asked me so frequently to to do them

11:09that I do do them but I agree with you wholeheartedly I mean I talk about this with you know members and

11:16subscribers all all the time that uh your individual super flex draft is going to look very very different than someone else's

11:22super flex draft right I can give you a general idea of where things might go and might be headed but I

11:28don't think that's nearly as useful as kind of understanding the ebbs and flows of those drafts and how to really attack

11:34and find the the values and the pockets of value as you know as you were noting so I think it is

11:40different in dynasty because in dynasty we are worried about the market component right like that's that's the piece that uh you

11:46know like we care about where quarterbacks are being ranked in dynasty because we not only want production from that player but

11:52we want the value within the market of that player we want to see how other people are valuing that guy so

11:58we know that we can either flip him or or see where you know things rise and fall from that perspective not

12:05just a production standpoint but in redraft I mean we're really just drafting and we're we're worried about just this one year

12:11and so the the the value component really isn't nearly as important so I do do super flex rankings I hate doing

12:17super super flex rankings for for all of these you know reasons that we're talking about yeah and there are a lot

12:23of different strategies a lot of the same ones that we can apply to other positions you can go with a hero

12:29qb approach and super flex you can double dip early at the position you know you can go with a zero qb

12:35approach which based on what we're talking about today you might be able to even pull that off this year and do

12:41it very well but I don't think you should lock yourself into almost any strategy when you're entering drafts and that goes

12:47for dynasty and for redraft right just go in figure the room out as you go and build and find the values

12:54along the way I think that's the smartest way to play I think sometimes people spend too much time worrying about it

13:00beforehand they have this one set strategy that they want to employ and then you go into the room the board just

13:06breaks a completely different way and next thing you know you are losing out on a ton of value here and there

13:12and you might get caught at the end of a bunch of runs and that sort of thing so for me I'm

13:18adapting on the fly it sounds like you're the same and I think that's the best way to go but I agree

13:24with you in dynasty I normally build my teams around quarterback and receiver in dynasty and we're talking about super flex because

13:30I just feel like you get the most runway with those guys and then I can kind of fill in tight end

13:36I always find values at tight end and dynasty and then running back you can sort of if you get lucky if

13:43you hit on somebody great but if not you can go buy that value you can go buy the older veteran guys

13:49and try to use them to help you get over the top when you're a contender at least that's normally I do

13:55have some shares of bishon robinson and some other guys don't get me wrong but still I think in general that's normally

14:01my approach with dynasty is trying to get those quarterbacks locked down trying to get a couple solid young receivers that I

14:07can keep for a while and then go from there how about yourself yeah I mean look to me strategy is about

14:13flexibility it's not about just like taking whatever that strategy is and deploying it and using it no matter what right it's

14:19about when you understand the various ways you can attack a fantasy draft that means that when the draft is going down

14:25you're able to be flexible and really extract as much value as you possibly can right it goes for literally any strategy

14:32that we talk about whether it's zero RB hero RB you know hero QB I do think that if you were to

14:38kind of take the the the the middle of the road approach here the safest approach it would be more of that

14:44like hero QB approach because what you're doing and doing that is you're at least getting some stability at your QB one

14:50spot and then you can just kind of play what the market's doing for your QB two spot and attack when you

14:56need to attack and then you know get a couple of guys really late and stream them you know via your bench

15:02obviously not the waiver wire but just play by matchups and such and that way because like what you run into is

15:08if you if you go very heavy quarterback in a super flex redraft league you run into the to the the the

15:14scary thing that can happen where the rest of your league ends up waiting and then you're just devaluing those early round

15:21quarterback picks that you ended up taking but then obviously if you go late QB then you could just be screwed because

15:27everyone's taking their third quarterback before you're taking your first you know so I think the easiest like middle of the road

15:33if you want a strategy that will be safe you know that that will probably be fine it would be like a

15:39hero quarterback where you're getting one in the first couple rounds and you get someone that's very stable you know even if

15:45it's like a Brock Purdy type you know just someone who's like fine and we feel good about him being like a

15:51low end QB one you know most seasons and then with your QB two spot that's where you're just throwing a handful

15:57of darts your couple darts to to play by matchup each week.

16:01I agree and I promise everybody we're gonna get to some of these deeper quarterback picks we're gonna talk about a bunch

16:07of these candidates who could be the next Drake May but quickly I want to hit on Drake May and what he

16:13did last season and maybe lessons that we could learn from that that we could apply to some of these undervalued quarterbacks

16:19in 2026 was there anything specific to May that you think fantasy managers should note going into this year when they're trying

16:25to nail down that late round quarterback that they might draft.

16:28Yeah I mean look I said it at the top where where mobility is just incredibly important and if you know there's

16:34going to be some mobility from a quarterback then he should at least be on your radar as as a later round

16:41pick but then on top of that you know some of the trends that I've looked at for my draft guide every

16:47year one of them this past year that I that I really dug into and I do it every year but it

16:53was like more obvious last year just given the class from the previous season year two quarterbacks are generally good bets to give us upside.

17:00Now the one caveat with that is that they also give us a lot of downside.

17:04Okay so so it's a it's a very it's a highly volatile career year for these quarterbacks where in my opinion though

17:10when we're looking at single quarterback leagues we should only be chasing upside in the late rounds you know obviously you should

17:16just be chasing upside in the late rounds for any position but if you're in a super flex league it's a little

17:23bit different if you're spending a fourth or fifth round pick where the opportunity cost is going to be more significant on a more volatile year two player.

17:30It's a little bit of a different kind of like a you know thing to think about in formula to walk through

17:36right but generally speaking if you're looking at players who exceed so I look at average draft position expectation so every player

17:43at a certain ADP based on what's happened historically has some sort of expected points per game at that pick right.

17:48And if you look at year two quarterbacks they exceed that expected points per game by by two or more and four

17:55or more points better than any other career year.

17:57So they're doing it at the highest rate but they're also underperforming by four and two points per game at the highest rate.

18:03So you're looking at a situation where you know and last year I think it's like the best example where you have

18:10Drake May and JJ McCarthy right where it's like like you can you can get really excited like you see the upside

18:16with Drake May and then you see how I can go south with a player like JJ McCarthy.

18:21I you know like we have that was just a an easier example because last year's class was so good right and

18:27or two years ago's class was so good for those year two guys.

18:31Most years is not going to be as obvious and as interesting and fun.

18:34You know Caleb obviously last year took a step and you know we were hoping probably a little bit more from Bo Nix obviously Jane Daniels gets hurt.

18:42But again the downside exists with JJ McCarthy. I think most years you won't even see as much upside as we got from last year's class.

18:49But that's certainly something that you should be looking at is just where they are in their career because the market itself hates ambiguity.

18:56The market cannot stand when they don't know what a fantasy manager hates when they don't have concrete information about a player.

19:02But that's when we should really pounce. That's when we should be going after this especially in the late rounds because there's

19:08a there's a decreased cost with those players when the market's like nah.

19:12I'm not going to go after this guy because I don't know anything about him.

19:16Well, that's when we should be going after them because their costs are a lot cheaper.

19:21Yeah, I might have been left with a few JJ McCarthy shares last year after buying into that you know that offense

19:27and what they had done with some veteran quarterbacks in the past.

19:30And yeah, unfortunately that one didn't come through but may did and now this year.

19:34I mean are you even more excited about him this year?

19:37Do you think there's a chance that he could take a step back?

19:41I mean getting AJ Brown getting Romeo Dobbs like by all accounts.

19:44It kind of seems like his situation's even better this year.

19:47So it's really interesting going back to the ADP expectation stuff.

19:50If you look at touchdown rate, which is one of the most easy to understand metrics out there, just touchdowns divided by attempts.

19:57How frequently a player is scoring a touchdown, you know, on the number of passes he's throwing.

20:02Drake May last year had a 6.3% touchdown rate, which is actually pretty significant.

20:05Like it's not, you know, anything over six, you generally expect regression the following year.

20:10You know, there are going to be players that are just really good slash they're in the right ecosystem like a Brock

20:16Purdy who kind of just beats this, you know, year over year for the most part.

20:20But I don't think you can make that assumption for most players.

20:24So the assumption going in should probably be that Drake May is not going to see as high of a touchdown rate as he did last year.

20:31But it should still be pretty significant. Now, the very interesting part about touchdown rate is that when you look at ADP

20:37expectation, it's actually the players who have low touchdown rates the previous season who outperform expectation.

20:42And then the players who had high touchdown rates the previous season, they underperform versus expectation.

20:46And the reason for that is a player is coming off a really big touchdown season and fantasy managers are like, yeah,

20:52sure, I'll draft him as a top six quarterback because he was really good last year.

20:57Well, touchdowns regress, right? And that's why they have higher costs.

21:00And so it's harder for that player to really exceed expectation in general.

21:03It's the guys who are lower down the list because they had a little they were just unlucky the previous season with

21:10how they ended up scoring their touchdowns. The one thing that can combat that is the rushing stuff, right?

21:15And he has that. He's giving and generating a good number of points per game via the rush and via his legs.

21:21And that's going to be able to combat any of that touchdown rate regression more than likely.

21:26And then on top of that, I think he's just going to throw the ball a little bit more like the the

21:32Patriots likely, you know, won't have as as clean of game scripts as they had last year.

21:37You know, they have better personnel to be able to throw the ball a little bit more.

21:41So I think that can help also. You know, we saw that a little bit with like Jared Goff last year to a degree.

21:48I mean, Goff still saw like a two point per game drop in his points per game last year.

21:53And that was coming because of touchdown rate. You could literally just look at that metric and see that coming.

21:59But his touchdown rate was still like not bad, but it was lower.

22:02But he threw the ball more. And that was helpful for him to combat the obvious regression that was coming.

22:08So even if Drake may maybe seize like a five and a half percent touchdown rate, which would be higher than league

22:14average and still really, really strong, you know, given the fact that he got A.J.

22:18Brown and, you know, it's another year in this system and we feel better about it.

22:23I do think that that he can combat all of this and he should still be a pretty firm top five quarterback.

22:29Just just given what we saw last year, what we know he can do and the weapons around him.

22:34I agree. And I think it's interesting because there's like a lot of quarterbacks in my mind that would be kind of

22:40in that sort of tier with him. Like I could see Jaden Daniels coming back and having like a monster season and

22:46getting back closer to what he did two years ago.

22:49Joe Burrow's always in the mix as long as he could stay healthy.

22:53I think Justin Herbert's in position to really blow up this season based on all the moves that they've made for the Chargers offense.

22:59Jalen Hurts, even though he's losing A.J. Brown, we know he has the rushing upside.

23:04They brought in some other guys like I think I could make a pretty strong case for all of those guys.

23:10But you can even make a case in my mind for like what I would say, like the next year below them.

23:16Like it would shock you if Caleb Williams takes another step forward.

23:19If a guy like Jackson Dart blows up, we saw him do it for stretches and we're going to talk about him

23:25a little later, not to spoil that. But, you know, Dak Prescott has shown us that he could be a top five, top six fantasy quarterback.

23:32Trevor Lawrence last season ended the year so strong.

23:35So did Brock Purdy, you know, Bo Nix kind of hovering in that low end QB one fantasy range.

23:40Can he take a step forward now that they have Jalen Waddle?

23:43They're like there are a ton of quality quarterbacks when you're looking at the top 12, top 15.

23:49And I think it goes even further than that.

23:51So I am very comfortable waiting on quarterback this year.

23:54And that's kind of what we're going to talk about today.

23:57But we've got to take our first break here.

23:59When we come back, we're finally going to go over these candidates to be this year's Drake May right after this.

24:05We are back with JJ Zachary in the late round dot com.

24:09And it is finally time to discuss who could be this year's Drake Maye in fantasy.

24:13So welcome to Flip the Script. And just to go over the criteria again here, this needs to be a quarterback currently going outside of QB one territory.

24:21So I normally consider that the top 12. We're going to cheat a little bit today and say the top 10 because

24:27I want to sneak a couple other guys in there that are just outside of that.

24:31But it's fine. This is our show. We can do whatever we want.

24:35Harmon's not here, JJ. We can basically set any rules that we want for this one.

24:39The goal here, though, is we just want to tell a story, right?

24:43We just want to figure out can they become an elite fantasy option and be drafted where they're going very, very late at the moment.

24:50And for May last year, he was the QB 16 in preseason ADP.

24:54But like we said off the top, he finished as the QB 2 overall and the QB 3 in fantasy points per game.

25:00It was a great season for him. By all accounts, it was a great season, except for the fact that it went to Super Bowl.

25:07But they made it there. I don't know if we're going to find somebody on this list that has similar success.

25:13But we want a guy who's going to go from being essentially like a not entirely known commodity to being, you know, tabbed as that like ascending quarterback.

25:21And for this exercise, you know, we're going to discuss a bunch of players here.

25:25I think based on the criteria, we can throw out players like Brock Purdy, Matthew Stafford, Jared Goff.

25:30I think Jordan Love, they've all had pretty good seasons within the last couple of years.

25:34So I don't think we need to consider them for this.

25:37You know, they're not really going to be the next Drake May.

25:41But let's dive into some of the other options here, JJ.

25:44And the first name is another one that's probably too obvious.

25:47We already brought him up a little bit earlier, but I figure we should mention him off the top.

25:52And that's Bo Nix. He was the QB 10 of fantasy points per game during that rookie year.

25:57I think he surprised a lot of people, including myself.

26:00I had to move on from my pre-draft takes on him, which weren't that I thought he was going to be that good as a rookie.

26:07Then he comes back the sophomore year. You figure maybe they'll figure him out.

26:11They do not. QB 8 last year. And yeah, it hasn't necessarily always been pretty.

26:15But for fantasy, he has been good. Now he gets Jalen Waddle added to that wide receiver core.

26:20And yet his ADP JJ is still quarterback 15.

26:23Can you make sense of that? I think it's just competition at the position.

26:27You know, like I am higher, you know, than that mark.

26:30But I do think that a lot of it comes down to what we've been saying all show is that there's just

26:36so many good quarterbacks to choose from. And someone's got to be ranked somewhere, you know, and that's just where he ends up falling.

26:43I'll also say that I was a little bit disappointed that we didn't see a little bit more rushing production from him last year.

26:49You know, just a little bit more would have would have given me a little bit more comfort about him year over year.

26:56You know, the Broncos are also like they threw the ball a lot last year.

27:00And I wonder if that comes down slightly just based on I know that the common theme and the way that people

27:06think about this is like, how would it possibly come down if they add Jalen Waddle?

27:10Well, it's just the way that regression and math generally works in the way the game scripts work.

27:15So there is a little bit of that. But if we're looking at this objectively, I think Bo Nix is a player

27:22who has a very real shot to outperform ADP, to jump a tier or two.

27:26Do I think that he's going to end up being a top six option?

27:30Generally, when we see those kinds of jumps, it's either an outlier touchdown rate season, like we saw with Matthew Stafford last

27:36year, where it's just like almost impossible for that to repeat year over year.

27:40So that can happen with, you know, more of a pocket passer or it's someone like I said earlier, you know, with

27:46Drake May, we had no idea what that player was about.

27:49We do have two years of Bo Nix now.

27:51Not to say that that's a ton of time for him to for us to know exactly who he is.

27:57But it's more than, you know, what we see from those like really, really massive jumps.

28:01I'm giving you the bear case more so. But I do think that that is what the bear case would say with a player like Nix.

28:09The environment's really, really good for him. Obviously, we feel pretty comfortable about the coaching staff and what the offense should be able to do.

28:16So I think he's a really solid pick. I just think that there's actually some other higher upside.

28:21If you're only looking at upside players that we might be able to get late this year.

28:25I guess there's also the injury situation, kind of the weird injury at the end of last year.

28:30I think he's going to be fine. I haven't really been too worried about that.

28:34But something else that we'll keep an eye on here throughout the summer to make sure that that's not going to slow

28:41him down at all or potentially impact any sort of rushing upside that he could have, anything like that.

28:46So would you agree? I don't think we I don't think he belongs really as one of the candidates, one of the

28:52finalists here to be this year's Drake May. But he's somebody that I definitely think we should mention just because where his ADP is sitting there.

28:59Yeah. And look, I think that because we were talking about super flex earlier, like he's a great super flex pick because

29:05he's someone that I think will will beat ADP.

29:08And then you have the comfort in knowing that he's likely not going to like lose his job or anything.

29:13Whereas there are some other guys that I think in single quarterback leagues have that like higher upside.

29:18But there is a risk that they can just go so far south that you're streaming because they don't have their jobs anymore.

29:25All right. So after next, we're going to get into the sophomore quarterbacks here.

29:29And I quite like this group, JJ. I think it's very intriguing.

29:32We're looking at Jackson Dart, who's the QB 12 and ADP.

29:35Tyler Shuck, the QB 19 and Cam Ward, the QB 22.

29:38Let's start with Jackson Dart. I already said a little bit earlier, he's somebody that I'm interested in.

29:43He's somebody that I'm already looking at as like a low end QB one who I think has some upside, though.

29:49It's not guaranteed by any means. A lot of changes in New York this offseason.

29:53What expectations do you have for him after we saw some good things?

29:57But, you know, we could see we need some improvement for sure based on what we saw from him as a rookie.

30:03I think the fear that I have with Dart and I like Dart.

30:07I mean, I hope that that this fear doesn't come to fruition for my for my dynasty leagues.

30:12But with Dart, the fear is that he's not throwing himself around like he did last year and that new coaching staff, brand new coaching staff, new coordinator.

30:19Like this is a scenario where they really bring it back, given the fact that he was banged up last year multiple times.

30:26They bring it back a little bit and they're able to coach him in a way where, you know, they are relying,

30:32you know, they don't care about how much he's running from a fantasy perspective.

30:36They would want him to just do it in a smarter way from a real football perspective, you know, an EPA perspective, extending drives perspective, etc.

30:43And so my fear with Dart is that like I think he's a solid pick because if this doesn't change, I mean,

30:49the dude was averaging a ton of points per game via rushing last year.

30:53And it's something that we only see from like I mean, nowadays we see it from like four or five quarterbacks a year.

31:00But typically, you know, five years ago, we would only see it from like one or two quarterbacks per year in terms

31:06of how many rushing points per game he was generating.

31:08If we just see that continue, that's amazing. And he's going to he's going to blow by where he's being drafted right

31:15now, which is, again, why I think he's one of those like, yeah, if he falls in a draft or if there's,

31:21you know, people are just bearish because of the injury stuff or what have you.

31:25Then he's a great single quarterback pick because of that.

31:28Right. Because we're only shooting for upside. We're only worried about that upside.

31:31I just, you know, again, if I were. So I think that from that perspective, second year guy mobility.

31:37What if he takes a step forward as a passer?

31:39That's that's the Drake may mold. Right. Like that that makes a ton of sense.

31:44But I do just from an analysis standpoint, I think that we should be concerned that they bring it in a little

31:50bit and he's not as wild and crazy as he was when he first got that gig.

31:54I think from like a designed run standpoint, I think that's almost guaranteed that they probably will.

31:59Like they were kind of setting him out there and just like letting him run wild.

32:04But I wonder, like to me, he just seems like a gamer.

32:07And I know that's not like great analysis, but I've even seen some of the beat writers mentioned that in practice and

32:13OTAs right now, they've had a very quick whistle where some of the passing plays break down.

32:18And in games, that's when Dart would have just taken off with the ball on his own to make a play.

32:24And yet they don't want him doing that in practice.

32:26There's not a lot of tackling or anything going on this time of year, so he's not at huge risk, but that

32:33they're blowing those plays dead, that people in practice aren't seeing him kind of take off for these runs and pick up yards that way.

32:40And yet when the games start, I think he just naturally is going to make plays and do that because that's in his bag.

32:46So for me, I'm really excited about him. We mentioned kind of what he did last year, like from the time he

32:52took over his starter in week four, he was the QB eight and fantasy points per game.

32:57He averaged over 20 fantasy points per game. He also had top 12 finishes in seven of his last 11 games on the season.

33:04So he was producing at that level over a large chunk of the season already.

33:08And there's a couple of guys that we're going to talk about to kind of have a bit of a history already

33:14of showing us at least that they could be a top 12 quarterback.

33:18I really like that aspect of it when we're not just completely projecting a guy out of nowhere, which let's face it,

33:24maybe that's a lesson that I learned from JJ McCarthy last year when I made a bold prediction about him.

33:29But yeah, having a guy who just has never done it, but you look at the environment and you look at what

33:36you think the talent's going to be and what that could become versus some of these guys that we're talking about right

33:42now that have actually shown us that they can do it over a stretch of time.

33:46So I have missed my QB nine overall. Like we said, he's being drafted at QB 12.

33:51I think you're getting some value there. And even if Malik neighbors isn't ready at the start of the season, which right

33:57now I'm projecting it as he's not going to be.

34:00I've changed my projections in that respect. They've brought in a bunch of guys and I think dart is more than capable

34:06of kind of lifting up that offense, spreading the ball around course, new coaching staff.

34:10He's going to have to get used to that, but they have a little more talent there.

34:15And then eventually when neighbors does come back, even if he's not a hundred percent, you add him to that mix.

34:21And I continue to tell people like when dart did this last year, neighbors was basically hurt the whole time.

34:26Like he wasn't out there inflating darts production. So it will be great to see them hopefully on the field together and

34:32healthy at some point this season and producing. Yeah, totally agree.

34:35And also, I mean, his best buddy, Cam Scadaboo, it would be nice to see Scadaboo out there.

34:40He was only there for part of the year last year and he adds something to the passing attack as well.

34:46So that would be exciting. I also do my strength to schedule matrix every year.

34:50And you can look at dart last year, having the worst fantasy quarterback slate to this season, the seventh easiest.

34:56So that's just kind of another little data point that I would add towards me really liking him this season.

35:02What about Tyler Shuck? And I will say, JJ, I will give Harmon props.

35:05He was early on the Tyler Shuck bandwagon last year, not from the pre-draft period, but during the season when we saw

35:12him start, when we saw him actually start to produce and have some good games.

35:16Harmon was very quick to recognize the things he was doing well and then kind of brought me along.

35:21Now we are both on that hype train. What do you think about Tyler Shuck?

35:25Could he be that Drake made type guy this year?

35:28I think if you're looking at the, you know, I guess dart technically as, as the sophomore quarterback is, is the, the

35:34easier bet, but he's also going a lot earlier than, than where Tyler Shuck is going.

35:39You know, if you're really looking for a late round option, it's really hard to not go after Shuck and to look

35:45at Shuck as just like a very obvious place to start.

35:48Right. In a Kellen Moore offense that, that pushes the pace.

35:51Kellen Moore offenses continuously rank in the top five and plays per game year in and year out, even when you adjust for game scripts.

35:58So it's going to be a fast paced offense, even if they want to be run heavy.

36:03Number one, they might not be able to just based on game script.

36:06But number two, even if they are relatively run heavy from like a pass rate over expected standpoint, they're not going to

36:12be like, it's still going to give us enough volume just based on the pace of play that Kellen Moore runs with.

36:18Right. They go out, they add Jordan Tyson, who I think works very, very well with Chris Alave.

36:23I think Tyson can be a very good underneath, you know, zone beater.

36:27And Alave has been great against man and getting down the field throughout his career.

36:31So that, that meshes really well together. Juwan Johnson's been obviously a pretty solid pass catching tight end.

36:36Devon Vele works well in the slot. You know, I think that, that he's at least a solid enough player there.

36:42Then they add Travis Etienne or A-chan, however you want to say it, you know, this offseason.

36:47So it's, it's a good ecosystem for him to be in.

36:50And then you look at last season, he finishes a top 12 quarterback, a QB one in half of his games.

36:56Like he was, he, he was fantastic from a, from a fantasy perspective.

36:59Some of this stuff, not amazingly sustainable, but like he's giving us rushing production, which is what we want.

37:05Like he, I remember that game against Tampa Bay last year.

37:08We had a couple of rushing scores. Like there's, there's definitely that upside.

37:11And then if he takes a step forward as a passer, I mean, the things that I'm saying right now are not

37:17unlike what we were saying about Drake May last year, where you have this really clean rushing floor and you're just waiting

37:24for them to take a step forward as a passer.

37:26And when you look in the context of rookie season passing numbers, what Tyler Shuck did last year was not bad at all.

37:33You know, it really wasn't, you know, it wasn't great within the context of every NFL quarterback, but you got to look

37:39at him as a rookie and say, wow, this really wasn't that bad.

37:42I think the fear with Shuck is that obviously he's an older prospect.

37:46And will that development really come and move forward?

37:49Whereas May last year had the opposite, right? Where it was just like a, a toolsy thing.

37:53Like we felt really optimistic about him moving forward and progressing in his career.

37:57Tyler Shuck might not be there because he's already, you know, the age of, of some veteran quarterbacks.

38:02So I think that would be the downside, but given the ecosystem and what he's working with, I think he's a great pick right now.

38:09Yeah. Tyler Shuck might be dealing with like the Bo Nix kind of thing, where in general, I think a lot of

38:15the community might still think about how they felt about that player pre-draft and hasn't really adapted to kind of what the

38:21situation is now where we've seen the production. We've seen them actually show that they appear to be a decent NFL starting quarterback.

38:28I think Shuck still has a ways to go with that.

38:31Nix has shown us a little more over the two seasons, but you mentioned it.

38:35He averaged the 12th most fantasy points per game during those nine starts.

38:39Like he can be a usable fantasy option. Would I rather have him as a QB two super flex guy?

38:44Of course, but I think there's a chance we could see him sneak into that top 12.

38:49Maybe not top 10. That might be a little bit rich for my liking, but I think there is a higher ceiling.

38:55There still have a ways to go, but the environment for him, you went over it, all the additions that they've made

39:01there, the coaching staff, how fast they play. It's setting up in my mind for him to outproduce QB 19 seems very low in my mind.

39:09I have him a few spots higher in my rankings and I could really see a path towards him becoming a lot better in fantasy.

39:16What about Cam Ward? This is the one that like, I'm kind of hung up on a little bit and you know, first overall pick last year.

39:23I think expectations were high and he comes out, doesn't get a lot of help.

39:27Like let's face it, like in that offense around him, they could have done a much better job of getting him some

39:33pieces to have a little bit more success in his rookie season, but doesn't have the best rookie year.

39:39I think what you saw a little bit on film was better, let's say, than what some of the stats and some of the results ended up being.

39:46So he flashed. There's some hope, especially when you factor in now everything that they've done this off season, the change in

39:53coaching staff, bringing in Brian Dable, which I think is an upgraded offensive coordinator there.

39:57And then actually going out and getting him some weapons and Carnell Tate, a first round receiver and Wando Robinson, who is

40:03somebody that I personally like and I think is going to be a solid number two there.

40:08What do you think about Ward? Could he be that guy?

40:11Maybe it doesn't quite have the rushing production of these other guys, but could he be that guy that ends up being

40:17a much better fantasy asset than people think? I think he has more mobility than what he showed off last year.

40:23I think that's part of the allure. Now, we've said that before with other quarterbacks and fans like Justin Herbert, for instance,

40:29where if you looked at him side by side with Josh Allen, you're like, why can't Justin Herbert do what Josh Allen's doing?

40:35And obviously, Josh Allen just plays the game in a much different way and uses his athletic ability in a different way.

40:41The thing with Dable, though, is pretty interesting because he coached Josh Allen.

40:45He coached Jackson Dart. Like there's some parallels with what they do on the ground to what Cam Ward might be able

40:51to do and unlocking that and using that a little bit more.

40:54I love the Carnell Tate match with Cam Ward.

40:57I like Carnell Tate match with Wondell, too. I mean, it makes sense just intuitively that he's a down the field perimeter

41:03receiver who's going to unlock a lot for that offense.

41:06And Cam Ward, obviously, a big armed quarterback. But, you know, I think the difference between Shuck and Ward is number one we've seen.

41:12I like the environment for Shuck more. You know, the mobility was there for Shuck last year.

41:17Like we at least saw it happen. Right. Right.

41:20So so and then on top of that, like the passing numbers for Shuck were better than what we saw from Cam

41:26Ward, where if you look at history and you look at the kind of passing numbers that like I understand the environment was bad.

41:33I understand the weapons weren't there. But objectively, if you just look at the data, Cam Ward and the probability of him

41:39becoming something significant, it's just really, really low based on what he did year one.

41:43I'm willing to give it an excuse, you know, give him give him somewhat of an excuse and just let it slide to a degree.

41:50But I still have that in the back of my head.

41:53And that's why I think, you know, he deserves to be ranked below a Tyler Shuck at this point for fantasy football this year.

42:00But I recognize the upside. You know, I think that he's a he's an interesting later round dart.

42:05And then again, going back to like Superflex stuff, you know, I do think that that he's not at risk of like losing his job this year.

42:12Right. Like they're going to give him the year to see what they have in him.

42:17And that's always a risk when you're looking at guys who are ranked in the low end QB two range is like,

42:23all right, well, is this guy good enough to hold on to that gig all year?

42:27Because and Superflex, when you lose that quarterback because he lost his job, it's bad news.

42:32Not fun. Well, it doesn't seem like fantasy managers are really taking notice of the Ward potential breakout here.

42:37I did write up my quarterback breakouts earlier in the week.

42:40I got a couple comments on it saying, where's Cam Ward?

42:43Because I didn't include him in there. But we ran a poll this week and we put, you know, who could be

42:49the next Drake May and Ward only getting 13 percent of the vote compared to, you know, the other sophomore QBs are 32 percent for dart.

42:5627 percent for Tyler Shuck. So we're definitely trailing there.

42:59And I wonder, too, it's just after what we saw last year, he doesn't seem like as exciting of a fantasy option.

43:05And with the kind of not as high of a rushing ceiling there as well.

43:09I wonder what his overall fantasy ceiling is and does he just kind of project more as a QB2 that would need

43:16a lot of things to go his way in order to land in the low end QB1 ranks versus some of these

43:22other guys that, you know, the rushing production, I think, could push them right up there.

43:26That's where it is to me. But I will say, I really like this group.

43:30I don't know if there's anyone here that you want to throw in as a potential finalist already, JJ, in terms of the Drake May.

43:37We normally pick three guys to put as finalists before we make our decision in the end.

43:42To me, Jackson Dart, as long as we're allowing the QB12 in there, I think he makes sense.

43:47And to me, I think Tyler Shuck also makes sense.

43:50Yeah, you know, there's some other guys that are being drafted late, but other guys that we talked about there, you know,

43:56I think I think Dart and Shuck would be the obvious one.

43:59And I'd probably go, you know, if you yes, those two would be the two that we will fit the Drake May mold best.

44:06Yes, we'll put them in in pencil for now, and we will revisit it after we talk about some of these other guys.

44:12But we got to take another break here. When we come back, we're going to run through some of the deeper late

44:18round quarterback options as we try to find this year's Drake May for your fantasy teams.

44:23Lots more coming up. So stick around. All right, we are back.

44:26JJ, I got six more quarterbacks that I want to talk about here.

44:30And like I said earlier, I don't think one of them actually qualifies for this, but I don't think we could have

44:36done this episode without bringing him up as a potential late round guy, because he's somebody that I've already drafted a bunch

44:42and I think has a chance to really have a great season.

44:45And that is Kyler Murray. I never really thought that I would be someone on the Kyler Murray bandwagon based on what I said about JJ McCarthy earlier.

44:53Maybe this is another mistake and I'm believing too much in Kevin O'Connell and that Minnesota environment and what could actually happen there.

45:00But I did mention before that, you know, the veterans that they've had come in have done quite well in that offense.

45:06McCarthy didn't have that experience. Maybe that's one thing that really worked against them.

45:10But Kyler going off the board is the QB 17.

45:12The other guy in this tier in terms of quarterbacks who are on new teams, who have a lot of rushing upside.

45:19The other guy would be Malik Willis on the Dolphins.

45:21He's going off the board is the QB 21.

45:24Let's start with Willis because of what I said about Kyler.

45:27Let's push him to the side for a second.

45:29Willis definitely fits the bill here of stepping up and being a great fantasy option.

45:34But he is so unproven. We've seen him have some pretty decent starts, especially for fantasy when he was in relief duty

45:40for the Packers over the last couple of years.

45:42Miami not doing him any favors with that receiving core, though.

45:45It looks very, very rough. And you already worry about the volume in the passing game.

45:50You worry about can he be really an efficient quality passer?

45:53Is there enough to get behind him as a potential fantasy breakout when so much of it is just on the rushing?

45:59I'm going to say yes. I think that in a maybe this is controversial, but I think in a single quarterback league

46:05and in your typical home league and your typical office league where making up for a mistake, a quarterback is not the most difficult thing in the world.

46:13You know, I do a podcast during the season called Living the Stream, and we have been keeping track of our quarterback Frankenstein for over a decade.

46:20And it's gotten harder to stream because the market's gotten smarter and we have more of these unicorns, you know, in the

46:27in the in the in the player pool at quarterback.

46:29And so but but even still, you know, back in 2015, 2016, we were streaming to like the QB five QB six

46:35and points per game like it was that easy to get guys off the waiver wire.

46:40Nowadays, it's like low end QB one territory. OK, but we also don't have the benefit of picking up a player in a given week.

46:47And if he hits, then we can just use that guy the rest of the season.

46:51We're picking guys who are, you know, under like the 30 percent range or so over on Yahoo to be able to

46:57to use as part of our Frankenstein. And so with Malik Willis, I would argue there is no better season long single

47:04quarterback click right now than Malik Willis because of the upside.

47:07Like, yes, situationally horrific. The wide receivers there are are I mean, it's crazy that this is their room.

47:12Right. But it's it's also crazy how broken fantasy football is in the way that we score it.

47:17Right. He's had four starts with 15 or more pass attempts and two of them.

47:21He had 20 or more in those two games where he had 20 or more pass attempts.

47:26He scored 25 and 31 fantasy points. Now, that was in Green Bay.

47:29That's that's in a good offense, an offense that consistently ranks in the top half of the league and touchdowns per game

47:36and way better weapons than what he's going to have here.

47:39But I don't see why we wouldn't throw that dart and just chase the upside.

47:43And if you're in a league where, you know, there's not going to be quarterbacks available, you know, on the waiver wire.

47:49I think it's fine to draft two quarterbacks, which is not something that I always enforce to do or always tell people to do.

47:56But we just talked about plenty of other late round quarterback options and how quarterback is so deep.

48:01I think Malik Willis is fine to throw a dart at as a QB two option if you want to go that route.

48:07Like if you want to get Brock Purdy and then get Malik Willis, that's fine.

48:11Right. I just see no reason to not be a little like at least a little bit above the market and ahead

48:17of the market on Willis when we know rushing is so important.

48:21When you know what he's done on the ground in his limited action tells us that there is a chance that he

48:27could be a have a Lamar Jackson type impact on the ground, not through the air.

48:31Right. In fantasy football. I'm not saying that he's going to be able to match the 7% touchdown rates that Lamar Jackson

48:37has posted because Lamar is a special, special kind of player.

48:40But what I am saying is, guys, fantasy football is broken in the way that we score this game.

48:46And Malik Willis is going to give us so much rushing production in this offense.

48:50So if he's all we're really saying is what if he hits as a thrower, as a passer?

48:55We don't know for sure. He is such a small sample of what he's done so far.

49:00It might go south, but if it goes south, you have the backbone of streaming.

49:04You have the backbone of potentially having a Brock Purdy type, which is certainly not a bad thing to rely on and go to.

49:11So to me, this is a very clear situation where we should be attacking it because, again, the ambiguity of Malik Willis

49:17is pushing down his costs in the market. Yeah.

49:19Hit as a passer doesn't mean he has to throw for 300 yards a game, right?

49:24Hit as a passer, if he's going to rush for those kind of totals, could be 200 yards a game.

49:29201 is all we need a game. Yeah. 200 passing yards and even one passing touchdown.

49:34Yeah. Doesn't need that much through the air. So, yeah, I'm intrigued for sure.

49:38And we saw you mentioned it, you know, on some of those relief starts for the Packers.

49:42There was three actual starts that he had. He rushed for 41, 60 and 73 yards on the ground.

49:48And as you mentioned, he finished as a top seven fantasy quarterback in two of those three games.

49:53Of course, all the caveats that you threw out there, the better weapons and all that.

49:57But to be going at QB 21 seems like a massive value.

50:00And I also think Kyler Murray at QB 17 is just a huge value.

50:04And again, he has had success in the league.

50:07And that's why I think we're cheating by putting him on this list.

50:10I don't think he can actually be a candidate to be the next Drake May because he's already had really good fantasy seasons.

50:17If you go back before the disappointing season last year where he wasn't good in those first five games, he never even

50:23finished as a top 15 fantasy quarterback in any of those weeks.

50:26Then he gets hurt and misses the rest of the season.

50:29But prior to that, he was a top 12 fantasy quarterback on a per game basis in his first six seasons.

50:35Every single one of them, he came through like that.

50:38And to varying degrees, I use as high as like QB four.

50:41One year was down, put up a couple of QB 12s, but I'm going to count those because for me, I count

50:47the top 12 and I'm talking about QB one seasons, man, he can get it done.

50:52And now we're going to put him in Minnesota with some of the weapons that they have there with the great coaching there.

50:58And I think they're just going to be so refreshed to have a veteran under center.

51:03I mean, we saw Carson Wentz get out there and the offense look a little better last year.

51:08Now you have Kyler Murray coming in, even with the flaws that he has.

51:12I think we have to look at him as someone that could definitely finish inside the top 12 and maybe even higher.

51:18Oh, a hundred percent. I think Kyler Murray is one of the easiest bets right now too, at his price.

51:23He's never been below a 4.7 point per game via rushing mark, which again, over four is when you start to get

51:30into like more of the mobile territory over five is when you feel really confident about their mobility.

51:35And he's only been below five, I think one or two times throughout his career as well.

51:39Um, but you look at what Minnesota has done with the quarterbacks there.

51:43They've been top half of the league and EPA per drop back basically every year with that.

51:48Kevin O'Connell has been there outside of last year.

51:50It was just last year. It was just a, a bad, you know, season.

51:54And I do wonder, you know, obviously they wouldn't be changing quarterback if they had a good year at quarterback last season.

52:00But I do wonder what that's doing for Kyler Murray within the fantasy football market.

52:04Like what JJ McCarthy's really bad season and them not having a good season through the air, how that's really impacting Kyler.

52:10And I think it's impacting him negatively. You know, I don't think that people are viewing the Kevin O'Connell and the system

52:17in general the way that they probably should be.

52:19Um, and so all of that combined to me makes them a pretty obvious pick.

52:23And not that I have made excuses for what happened with that quarterback room last year, but there was also a lot

52:29of injuries on that offensive line for the Vikings.

52:32So hopefully a little better injury luck there. And all of a sudden we could see that offense really rebound and Kyler have a great season.

52:39We also have a couple of quarterbacks from the 2023 class that we should talk about here.

52:44And they're really entering like make or break seasons.

52:46And we're talking about CJ Stroud, who's ADP right now is QB 24.

52:50And then Bryce Young, QB 26. And for Stroud, it has been a minute since that pretty dynamite rookie season that he

52:56had in fantasy and in real life. And that's another one where we can make excuses all day about the offensive line

53:02and some of the injuries at receiver. But to me, he just hasn't looked like the same quarterback.

53:07Do you see potentially with this receiver room looking, I think a lot better this year?

53:12Do you see a path for him to maybe get back on track?

53:15I'll say this. I see it more than I see it with Bryce Young at this point from a fantasy perspective.

53:21And the reason I say that just to kind of lump them together, I did a quick query, actually, because I was

53:27interested because Bryce Young's in a minus two point per interception league has never scored 14 points per game in a season,

53:33which is crazy because that is a very, very unbelievably replacement level type type mark.

53:38Right. If you look since 2011 at players who did not reach that 15 mark in their first three years, there's only

53:44been two quarterbacks who overcame that to score 17 points per game later on in their career.

53:48It was Geno Smith and Sam Darnold. And neither of them, aside from Darnold, I guess, in the Minnesota year, have been like dominant, dominant fantasy forces.

53:56Right. I just am. And that's only two guys out of many that would that would qualify for this.

54:01Right. And so I'm concerned about Young, even though they have the weapons around him.

54:05I think, you know, I'm a big Jalen Coker guy.

54:08I think T-Mac had an unbelievable rookie year. The line should be good.

54:12Like the situation is not bad. And I like Canalis, too.

54:15It's just that I don't know if Bryce Young is ever going to get there, whereas at least CJ Stroud has shown

54:21us that there was something there at one point, you know, and and I would argue weaponry wise just as good, if not better in Houston right now.

54:29The line is really the biggest question mark, I think, with Stroud.

54:32And if we do see some improvement from that offensive line, which if we're being real, kind of hard for it to

54:38be much worse than it's been over the last year and a half, two years for Stroud.

54:43So if we do see that improvement, I could see a scenario where Stroud's like QB 16 or something, you know, where

54:49he's he's he's at least usable from that perspective.

54:52It's just it's a lot more difficult for me for me to see it with Bryce Young, just given the way that he started his career.

54:59And one of the excuses we could go back to for Stroud is his buddy Tank Dell getting hurt, really, you know, catastrophic injury that he had.

55:06He's trying to come back from that. He's back out there on the practice field.

55:11There's a chance that he can get back into the offense this year.

55:14But even if he can't, like you have Nico Collins, you have Jaden Higgins, you have Jalen Noel, who I think is

55:20could be a really good player in that offense as well.

55:23Competent veteran tight end in Dalton Schultz. David Montgomery arriving there is, I think, huge for them after everything that happened with

55:30Joe Mixon and that running back room, really not giving them that much last year.

55:34So I think all of that for sure points me in the same direction that I would rather have Stroud.

55:39But we're getting to the point now where we've seen enough of these guys over the last couple seasons where it's very

55:45concerning from a real life and from a fantasy standpoint.

55:48And you start to wonder, like, will we actually see them reach the heights that we had hoped when they were coming

55:54out that their team certainly hoped when they were coming out?

55:57And I think with Stroud after that rookie season, you think back to like how he was valued in Dynasty, JJ, like

56:04he was just cranked right up and he has fallen way back down, unfortunately, after that.

56:08So it's a tough situation. I don't think either of these guys to me really belong as finalists in this conversation, but

56:14they're at least interesting to talk about. And I think they could be good super flex options for sure here, but that

56:20is going to do it for us in the Yahoo Sports Network.

56:24We're going to continue this conversation after a quick break here.

56:27And we are back to wrap things up with our buddy, JJ Zacharies and a late round dot com.

56:32And JJ, we've talked about a bunch of great late round options who could be that next Drake May.

56:37There's two more guys that I want to mention.

56:40And in part, this is because if you think back to last year around this time, a couple of rookies, Jackson Dart

56:46and Tyler Shuck for a variety of reasons. I mean, for Dart, it was that he wasn't the starter.

56:51Russell Wilson was. I think we very quickly forget that based on how Dart played and his kind of personality took over

56:57that team and changed the culture there a little bit throughout the season.

57:01Tyler Shuck. I don't know if we had high hopes going into the year, but he eventually took over as starter as well.

57:07Those guys were going so late in drafts, really out of the conversation in redrafts.

57:11And ended up factoring in, especially in the second half of the season.

57:15Could we see any of the rookies this year do that?

57:18The two guys that I'm looking at are Fernando Mendoza.

57:21Of course, the number one overall pick goes to the Raiders.

57:24He's going off the board as ADP is QB 27.

57:27And then the other one, and I don't love this guy as a prospect, but Carson back ending up in Arizona.

57:33We've seen Jacoby Brissett and he hasn't been with the team.

57:36You know, he's returning now. He's unhappy with the contract.

57:38You're really figured that at some point this season, Carson back is probably going to get a chance to start so they

57:45can see what they have in him. And with the weapons that they have there, maybe we could see him have like

57:51a Tyler Shuck style finish to the season where we see him produce a little bit better.

57:55Anything about these two guys that you think needs to be mentioned?

57:59Do they deserve to be in the conversation as a potential Drake may this year?

58:03Are we really reaching at this point? I'd be shocked if they were, you know, people, players that were even relying on,

58:09to be honest with you down the stretch, like in a, in a really significant way.

58:14I think Mendoza is interesting just because, you know, you have Kubiak there who, who had the, you know, who did what

58:20he did with the Seattle offense last season. And really, you know, he's, he's been a strong coordinator and an offensive coach,

58:26you know, over the last handful of stops that he's had in general.

58:29And obviously, you know, you have Brock Bowers and you have some questionable wide receivers, but there's, you know, Ashton Gentry back there.

58:36I think we're going to see a lot of 12 personnel from the, from the Raiders offense in general.

58:41But yeah, I mean, like maybe there's something to Mendoza down the stretch.

58:45The thing with Beck that, you know, I do think there is sort of that like parallel to Chuck is that you

58:51have a really experienced, uh, a quarterback from a, from just a, uh, from a collegiate standpoint that would be stepping in,

58:57you know, halfway through the year or whenever that were to happen.

59:00And, you know, while I don't know if for sure we're going to see the same type of system and environment that

59:06is so fantasy friendly as what we've seen with Kellen Moore, it's at least a different one in Arizona where, where there's

59:13some ambiguity and there's really good weapons there. So maybe he's a little bit better than we expect.

59:18Obviously, if you're drafting, I don't think it's necessary to go after those guys, even in super flex league leagues.

59:23I would say go after them only if you have relatively decent deep benches, you know, from just a size perspective, just

59:29because you don't want to be holding on, especially a Beck, right?

59:33Like, I think that we feel pretty good about Mendoza getting a start at some point.

59:37Beck is still somewhat up in the air. Like it's just not as, as concrete.

59:41And so, you know, you don't want to have to be holding onto these players throughout the entire season when waivers are

59:47going on and you're not able to, you know, you don't know who to drop and stuff.

59:52They might be one of the first players you end up dropping if you're in a league with a shallower bench.

59:58So at least think of it that way too.

60:01Obviously in a single quarterback league, you don't really have to go after them.

60:04Yeah, I feel the exact same way. And I last year wrote our waiver wire column.

60:09I hope to do it again this season. I expect that I'll be writing about these guys at some point throughout the

60:15year, but I'm definitely not drafting them anywhere in redraft.

60:18I don't think you really need to worry too much about it.

60:21I think you broke that down nicely. So we are not going to put them in the conversation here.

60:26We can't get to the finalists though, JJ, and it might've been fairly obvious on the first two.

60:31I think we're looking probably at Jackson dart as one of them, Tyler shock as the other.

60:36Would you agree? Yeah, I'd say so. All right.

60:39And then that third spot is the one that is kind of up for grabs.

60:43I think based on the way we were both talking about him, probably Malik Willis.

60:47Yeah. Yeah. I mean, obviously a different kind of archetype than, than may.

60:51Like I think the other guys like fit it a little bit better, but, uh, I just, the upside's crazy if things,

60:57if things were to hit and that's all I care about when I'm drafting a QB 21.

61:01All right. Well, you are the guest here, sir.

61:04I'm going to put the ball in your court.

61:06I think dart and Chuck seem a little bit higher than Willis if we are going to rank them, but rank them

61:13and let us know who would be your choice here to be that guy, to be the next Drake may 2026.

61:18I would say that it's, it's likely dart Chuck.

61:21I'm going to go, I'm going to just, I'm going to say Tyler Chuck is my dude for, for, for this year's

61:27Drake may that that's, that's how I'm going to end it.

61:30It's going to be Tyler Chuck. I knew you were going to say that.

61:34I think personally, I'd probably slightly lean towards dart, but based on how we've talked about Tyler Chuck over the last like

61:40six months on this show, I think it makes complete sense for him to actually be the guy.

61:45And I think if Harmon was here, he would probably be making the same argument.

61:49And he would probably want to take Tyler Chuck as that guy too.

61:53And I think in terms of the value you're getting, where you're getting him in drafts and where he could actually end

61:59up, there could be a much bigger jump than what we might see from dart in my mind.

62:04So yes, Tyler Chuck, I am with you. We're going to award it to him.

62:08I think that's very exciting. I think he is headed for a great year.

62:12I think in general, that saints offense seems like people are coming around and really jumping on board, but I think there's

62:18still a lot of value in that saints offense.

62:21We could see a lot of quality fantasy weeks from them.

62:24So that is very exciting. And JJ, it's always exciting to do the show with you, man.

62:29It was sad that we took like a year and a half off of being able to share the mic together, though

62:35we did get that chance to see each other in person.

62:38So that sort of made up for it a little, but thanks for doing this, man.

62:42Always appreciate chatting with you. Yeah, man. Thanks for having me.

62:45Greatly appreciate it. Yeah. And let everybody know anything new going on over at late round.com.

62:50I know you got a beautiful new website over there.

62:53I don't know if you want to talk about that at all or anything that you're working on content, the podcast, just so much stuff.

63:00So many irons in the fire over there. So much stuff.

63:03Yeah. We got a new website, late round.com. Check that out for sure.

63:06New like members hub and such. I'm working on a draft guide.

63:10That's going to be out in early July. If you're into like game theory stuff and strategy, that's what the guide is really, really focused on.

63:17It's helping you make better decisions, not just handing you a sheet and saying, go for it.

63:22So there's that. And then the late round podcast in the podcast feed, you get bite sized episodes early in the week, but then there's also conversational episodes.

63:29There's I started up becoming a best ball bro again recently where I'm doing a lot of best ball stuff.

63:35So yeah, check it all out. Late round.com. Ton of great stuff.

63:38And like I said, off the top of fantastic analyst and just a great dude.

63:42One of the best people that I've met in the industry, hands down.

63:46Before we go though, I do have to say the all new 2026 soccer pick them is here just in time for the world's biggest soccer tournament.

63:54Make picks each round, earn points and climb the leaderboard, play solo, create a private group with friends, join a public group

64:00to play with other fans, or even join our Yahoo sports group to see if you can beat us.

64:05You can join at yahoo fantasy.com slash soccer. Pick them.

64:08I have entered my picks in there. I will not be surprised if you beat me.

64:12I'm extremely competitive, but this is one spot where I don't have a ton of expertise.

64:17Still, it is so much fun to play. So go do that.

64:20Also a reminder. We are one pod a week through mid July pods.

64:24You're going to hit your feed on Wednesday afternoon.

64:26Harmon is sipping drinks on a beach somewhere. Boon June is going to continue.

64:30But until next time we are out.

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