PodcastFrom Yahoo Fantasy Forecast

TE Takeover?! Why heavier formations are on the rise in NFL and could impact your fantasy teams + Rashee Rice fantasy REAX

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

1 hr 40 min

Duration

Estimated from transcript

May 20, 2026

Published

Wed, May 20, 2026

Player insights

Players mentioned

Topics

Rashee RiceJosh DownsC.J. StroudChris OlaveColston LovelandDalton KincaidDavid NjokuGrant CalcaterraHunter HenryJulian HillJustin HerbertKeaton MitchellMichael WilsonPuka Nacua

Player analysis

Player insights

C.J. Stroud

PositiveUsage0:45

C.J. Stroud's performance is tied to the Texans' ability to improve their run game, which has struggled since his arrival.

Insight page

Chris Olave

PositiveBreakout1:49

Chris Olave is poised for a significant leap in production this season, benefiting from the Saints' offensive scheme that emphasizes vertical routes and play action.

Insight page

Colston Loveland

PositiveBreakout0:46

Colson Loveland is viewed as a potential star tight end who can play in-line and run vertical routes, making him a valuable asset for the Bears.

Insight page

Dalton Kincaid

PositiveRole0:26

Dalton Kincaid's role as a tight end is often debated, but his inline blocking ability is becoming increasingly relevant in the current NFL landscape.

Insight page

David Njoku

PositiveRole0:25

David Njoku is expected to thrive in the Chargers' offense with the addition of other tight ends, allowing him to focus on being an intermediate threat.

Insight page

Grant Calcaterra

NegativeDepth Chart0:35

Grant Calcaterra's presence as a tight end may signal a high pass rate, but his lack of blocking ability could make him a predictable option for defenses.

Insight page

Hunter Henry

PositiveRole0:56

Hunter Henry is a solid receiver and a fine blocker, but he is not exceptional in either area, which may limit his overall impact in the Patriots' offense.

Insight page

Josh Downs

PositiveRole0:21

Josh Downs is mentioned as a potential key player for the Indianapolis Colts, particularly in the slot receiver role as the team looks to counter nickel packages.

Insight page

PositiveRole0:21

Josh Downs represents the archetype of a jitterbug fast slot receiver, which may see a resurgence as teams adapt to counter heavier defensive packages.

Insight page

Julian Hill

PositiveRole0:56

Julian Hill is an under-the-radar player who may not have high fantasy upside but is expected to contribute as a solid blocker and receive decent snaps.

Insight page

Justin Herbert

PositiveProjection0:30

Justin Herbert is expected to benefit from a more efficient offense this year, potentially leading to explosive plays and increased touchdown opportunities.

Insight page

Keaton Mitchell

PositiveProjection0:41

Keaton Mitchell is expected to play a significant role in the Ravens' offense due to his speed and ability to get to the outside.

Insight page

Michael Wilson

PositiveBreakout1:43

Michael Wilson fits the archetype of a Rams receiver perfectly and could thrive in the Cardinals' new offensive scheme under the new coaching staff.

Insight page

Puka Nacua

PositiveProjection0:48

Puka Nakua is expected to be a significant part of the Rams' offense, especially with the team's tight end depth allowing for more flexibility.

Insight page

Rashee Rice

NegativeProjection0:01

With Rasheed Rice facing uncertainty due to his jail time and recovery from surgery, his projected role and contributions for the upcoming season are now in jeopardy.

Insight page

NegativeInjury0:05

Rasheed Rice is expected to serve 30 days in jail for violating probation and recently underwent knee surgery that will sideline him for two months, complicating his recovery process.

Insight page

NegativeValue0:34

Rasheed Rice was previously considered a sell in dynasty leagues due to his off-field issues and the Chiefs' overall offensive struggles, which diminish his fantasy value.

Insight page

NegativeRole0:42

The Chiefs need Rasheed Rice to be on the field for their offense to work effectively this season, but his off-field issues and injury complications make him unreliable.

Insight page

NegativeUsage0:48

Despite being productive last season, Rasheed Rice's production should be discounted as the Chiefs offense struggled overall, indicating that his role may not be as impactful moving forward.

Insight page

Reggie Gilliam

PositiveRole0:58

Reggie Gilliam's signing as a fullback who can also play tight end adds depth and versatility to the Patriots' offense, supporting their run-heavy approach.

Insight page

Terrance Ferguson

PositiveRole0:36

Terrence Ferguson is described as a fast tight end who can create space for other receivers in the Rams' offense, though he is still a raw player.

Insight page

Trayvon Henderson

PositiveRole1:00

Travon Henderson's effectiveness is expected to improve with the addition of tight ends that can help set the edge for the run game.

Insight page

Full transcript

Episode Transcript

1,315

0:00What's going on everybody? I'm Matt Harmon. Welcome to the Yahoo Fantasy Forecast and it is a hell of a day to

0:06talk ball and joining me to do just that for a big show.

0:10I always say this on the audio side. If you're watching us live on YouTube, I always say it in the little intro.

0:16It's a big show. Every show is a big show.

0:19But this really is going to be a big show because it's quite literally about big people.

0:23And I've got the biggest fan of these big people to talk about this.

0:27It is our guy, Nate Tice. Nate, what's going on, buddy?

0:30It is a big show. I was literally quote tweeting you right now about to say literally big show and then you said it.

0:36So it actually kind of worked out perfectly. No, very excited about today's subject.

0:40I think the entire NFL media world landscape is loving this subject right now, but I'm excited to talk about it with

0:46you, Matt Harmon, because I know we can have a fun little spin on it.

0:50No question. And the subject of today's show is we're dancing around as we're talking about the tight end, heavy personnel revolution

0:56that the NFL is sort of maybe kind of going through right now.

1:00And yes, Nate, not to I'm not to really pat.

1:03I'm not patting ourselves on the back. I'm mostly actually patting you on the back about this because while everybody else is

1:09talking about it right now, you and I have been talking about it on this show.

1:13Mostly thanks to you for like the last two years.

1:16Like I think the first show you did with me on the fantasy forecast feed, I believe was like, hey, why we

1:22might see teams skew into more heavy personnel packages, 12 personnel, like why the blocking tight end talking about like tip Ryman for the Arizona Cardinals.

1:29I was like, why that's going to really matter.

1:31You know, that was, I believe, the first show you did with us when you came on here full time at Yahoo.

1:37So again, shout out to you, pal. You've been.

1:40Yeah. Everyone else is talking about it right now.

1:42You've been talking about it for the last couple of years.

1:45We've certainly hit it hard on this feed, but we're going to hit it extra hard here today.

1:50I appreciate it. I do appreciate that because sometimes I'm like, did I say it out loud?

1:55I know I wrote about it last year. So that was fun.

1:58That was kind of the way I could see where the numbers were trending.

2:02We hit a nadir with tight end usage and, or I should say maybe a peak of receiver usage, however you want to look at it.

2:09And I think in you're seeing this with a few sports going on right now, which is why I love to kind

2:15of cross pollinate ideas and watch other sports. Like even at basketball, it was like three pointers.

2:19Everybody's going to shoot threes. Everyone's shooting threes, but there's going to be a limit to that.

2:24And even this year, you see mid range game coming back in the NBA game because you hit kind of a peak.

2:30You hit where it's not as efficient as it used to be, or there's not enough ways to get to that efficiency

2:36or defenses counter defenses always find a way to counter in every single sport, whether it's, you know, or baseball, it's, they make the offenses.

2:43They change the rules to help them out. But I mean, in basketball and football defenses, find a way they're not going

2:49to just keep, keep getting hit in the face over and over, or just get beat by the same thing.

2:54So I thought the way that that would go and just the, the body types that were happening was that I thought

3:00offenses would get bigger, their offensive line, but also just their personnel usage.

3:04And then I saw some of the smarter teams starting to, you know, trickle that in.

3:08And some of the, maybe even teams that we don't, I mean, maybe me and you do like the Arthur Smiths of

3:14the world, maybe don't think are the smarter guys, but ones that were trying to do something different.

3:19And I could see the benefits of that and copycat league.

3:22And here we are. And I think, I think it just, we hit a limit with receivers or maybe just, you know,

3:28if everyone's trying to do it, then that efficiency of using all receiver packages, like the Rams did in 2017, it hits a, it's a limit.

3:35And so I think tight ends right now that's, and tight ends are run game.

3:39I should say, or now we're kind of getting back to that.

3:42And it's a lot of fun, long winded way to say.

3:45It is a lot of fun. Yeah, it is.

3:48No, it is a lot of fun. And it is going to be a fun show talking about all that.

3:53But before we do that, we have to talk a little fantasy fallout about a less than fun conversation for one person in particular, one team in particular.

4:01And I'm going to, I'm going to pull back the curtain here actually for, for the listeners and the viewers, radical honesty.

4:07We're going to have here at the top of the podcast.

4:10I didn't really want to talk about this Rasheed Rice situation.

4:13Honestly, I was like, we got a big, we got a big show with Nate and tight ends.

4:18This, this damn show could be like three hours long.

4:20I don't want to jam a Rasheed Rice segment onto the top of the pod, but you know what?

4:26The bosses made me do it. Okay. I'm just going to say it.

4:29The boss, the bosses made me do it. All right.

4:32I, I, I have to, we got it. We got to talk about the Rasheed Rice thing, but you know what?

4:38Because that you're going to be fine. Number one, number one, we're probably, well, okay, but we're going to, we're going to

4:44do it the way I want to have the discussion.

4:46That's number one. Number two, we are probably going to, now this is going to be a two hour podcast.

4:52So congratulations, everybody involved. You're going to get a long ass pod because you made me talk about this thing that I

4:58don't really want to talk about off the top.

5:00Cause I don't really know what to say about the fact that Rasheed Rice, who is, is going to serve 30 days

5:06in jail for violating his probation because he tested positive for marijuana.

5:09Also as Adam Schefter reported one week before being ordered to serve 30 days in jail, Kansas city chiefs wide receiver, Rasheed

5:15Rice underwent a cleanup surgery on his right knee to remove loose debris that was causing inflammation.

5:20And now is expected to sideline him two months.

5:22Again, that is the report here, which prompted our buddy, Mike Golick jr to clip from Schefter's article, probably the most insane

5:28thing I've ever read in, in a like, Hey, this guy's going to get a surgery recap article.

5:33This is the direct quote that Mike Golick has from Adam Schefter's article.

5:37Now Rice is in a Dallas County jail and will be unable to get the type of medical attention and rehab that

5:43could have expedited his return from his recent knee surgery.

5:46Rice still is expected to be ready for training camp later this summer, but he also is facing the uncertainty of having to recover while in jail.

5:53I mean, Nate, we've been doing this a long time.

5:56I don't think I've ever read the sentence. He's going to be facing uncertainty of having to recover while in jail.

6:01It's been a while. React. I don't know what to say.

6:04It's been a while. Well, recording football three or one yesterday with, uh, with Bill Barnwell and Greg Rosenthal.

6:10Make everyone make sure to go check that out.

6:12It was a very fun show. Uh, but we, I, I, I, when I drafted Patrick Mahomes, I kind of was like

6:18talking, you know, through this season where it was like the discussion was, all right, how do you value Mahomes in 20,

6:24just talking about him in 2026, as opposed to what he is in his career, which is to me easily QB one.

6:30Well, you know, Josh Allen, Josh Allen, man. Uh, but, but Mahomes, uh, we're talking about talking, talking about, and I was

6:36like, all right, but if you look at the skill guys, yeah, it's not great.

6:40I like how they improve the run game a little bit, you know, Rasheed Rice, as long as he can stay healthy

6:46and out of trouble and not get arrested. And I think we finished recording at 11 PM West coast time.

6:51And, uh, ESPN's tweet of Rasheed Rice was at 12, 17 PM.

6:55I got to look for when Schefter's what time that one was at, but, um, yeah, that's 11 36.

7:00So around 11 30, so about 30 minutes after we finished recording and then about, you know, six, eight hours later, then it came out about the surgery.

7:08And I haven't seen a situation like this where a player repeatedly getting in trouble, but also now we repeatedly get in trouble.

7:14Like also having just this stuff happening, injuries happening as well.

7:17It feels very nineties NFL. It feels like players that of yesteryear, like pre Goodell pre protect the shield days.

7:22And this is kind of the chiefs. They are willing to take risks on, especially on character guys.

7:27That's how they got Tyreek Hill. Tyreek Hill didn't go on day three because of ability.

7:31It was because of off field. And so that's what the chiefs are going to go after.

7:36And that's some of the value that they get.

7:39And they say, Hey, we can help them out.

7:41There have been positive cases of that, but this is just, it's just, it's a repeat stuff happening one after another.

7:47But then even just talking about this, just in a frank matter, if this was just the one thing being in jail

7:53and recovering, you're not rehab is so important, especially right after you get surgery.

7:57Because you don't want scar tissue to build up.

7:59You have to be diligent. Like usually when guys get surgery, they're working with the team trainers on a daily plan that takes hours.

8:05It's like a workout within and on top of your normal workout, if you can.

8:10So this is a guy that's already struggled with injuries.

8:12Some decently major ones. And then now is just having this off field stuff.

8:16So it was just like the one, two punch of all of this was just a succinct way to kind of like sum up Rashid Rice.

8:23And I know how you feel about race. I do think he has a ton of ability.

8:28He's a raw kind of, he's, he's a Mustang.

8:30He's a wild horse kind of a player. I do see the appeal of him of just as a player, but now

8:36this off field stuff kind of just keeps stacking up.

8:39And it's just like, it's not what the chiefs need.

8:42The chiefs needed a calm off season. And of course it's just, and they need rice.

8:46Like for this whole thing to work this year in a wide open AFC, they need rice to be on the field.

8:52And now it's like again. And yeah, so that was just kind of my, I, I, that's my first, that's honestly my

8:58first kind of reaction to all this. Like I haven't really thought I haven't tweeted anything.

9:02I haven't thought of anything. So that was just kind of my blunt reaction to all that.

9:07That it's just very frustrating. I think especially with the chiefs need this season.

9:11Yeah. My first reaction, honestly, Nate was a lot of that, but also like, of course, I mean, this is a player

9:17who's just shown you, you can't count on him for a variety of reasons.

9:21And, you know, I said, like where I said, I wanted to have a conversation like this in the fashion that I

9:27want to have it, you know, and that's like, I don't want to see him be like, okay, well now where does Rasheed Rice slide in ADP?

9:34I have, I don't know. I said, I said on this show like two months ago that he was one of the

9:40biggest cells in dynasty because of stuff like this, but it's not just stuff like this because here's, here's the thing that

9:46I think goes unnoticed a lot in fantasy circles.

9:48And I was tweeting with Jacob Sanderson about this yesterday, like the chiefs offense, even when Rishi rice was active and really productive last season wasn't good.

9:56Like the, this is something that I think from like a macro fantasy take always gets lost in the sauce here when a guy is productive.

10:03And again, this is obviously my opinion. The film doesn't necessarily match the production.

10:07He's a really good zone beater and really good with the ball in his hands, but there are, there are flaws in

10:13his game and the offense isn't successful while like as successful as it should be.

10:17While that player is not, while that player is productive, I think you got to really discount that production because the team

10:23is going to be looking at like, all right, how can we get better?

10:26How can we find a new dimension? Because we weren't what we wanted to be last year, but this kind of brings me back to the Kansas city.

10:34And like the other insane part of this, in addition to how just insane this rice story is, I think it's just

10:40categorically insane that they were going to run this receiver room back again this year.

10:44Plus Cyrus Allen, fifth round pick who I actually really, really like.

10:47I really do like Cyrus. I was going to say, and your guy, Cyrus Allen.

10:51Yeah. Yeah. He's a, but like, he's a, I did a deeper watch.

10:55I did a deeper watch on him and I do understand the appeal.

10:59I understand the appeal. Like I understand that pick, like that one really is marinated in a more positive way as I've

11:05kind of like, as the weeks have gone on.

11:07Like, I liked that one a little bit better.

11:09Maybe it's because I drafted him. Yeah. I said, you, you get, you get two, you get two drinks from me.

11:15I'll tell you that he's the best man coverage beater on the, uh, on the chiefs.

11:20Now at this point, it might be like one and a half drinks.

11:23I don't know. Um, so again, it's just one shot on the back.

11:27That's right. That's all it takes. Uh, like at this point, it's just, this receiver room is, is, I think it's crazy to have run this back.

11:34And now you got to start to ask, like, is another move coming here?

11:38You know, people have speculated about them about getting in the AJ Brown, you know, trade discussion.

11:42I think maybe we'll see to me, like this seems should have signed Stefan digs five days ago.

11:47And I know tigs obviously has had a non clean off season himself, but he, he was, he was found not guilty for whatever, you know, that's worth.

11:55Uh, so he's available to play, to play football games.

11:58Theoretically, he is available on the free agent market.

12:00You don't have to send a first round pick to the Eagles for a receiver.

12:04Who's on the decline. And digs was like fifth in the NFL in yards per outrun last year.

12:09Top 15 better than that in yards per outrun against man coverage on tape still could clearly beat man coverage.

12:15Like that's the thing that should happen right now.

12:17Like they should, they should do it regardless of the rice thing and the fact that their best receiver who is a

12:23flawed player in his own right is going to be in jail rehabbing an injury even more so.

12:28And it's just like, they need race to make this thing go because Kelsey is really falling off.

12:33And I think Kelsey is still an above average, I would say, you know, contributor, but you, you know, it's, you'd prefer

12:39him to be your number three, number, maybe even number four target.

12:42Um, and he's going to really keep eating targets.

12:44He has the chemistry with my home. So that's the thing is they need rice to slot him down.

12:50And now it's like, okay, now we're just building this thing out of receiver threes or target threes.

12:55I should say, you know, a Thornton who's an auxiliary guy.

12:57He's a deep threat only. And he was great at that role.

13:01Him and my home said kind of just one of those.

13:04Sometimes some players just got chemistry with certain guys.

13:06Usually it's with the best quarterbacks, but some guys just have chemistry with certain guys, you know, and Thornton and my homes have chemistry.

13:13So that's one thing, but worthy is a specific player.

13:15Like he has to be used in certain ways.

13:18And again, now if rice is not, you can't rely on him, then okay, worthy has to have a bigger role.

13:24And that's not just kind of what he, where he's at right now.

13:27He has to be used and just like off ball, I think better in motion.

13:31And there's stuff that he, I do think he's good at, but man, you're just hoping to write.

13:36And this thing, rice still might play like, you know, like, but it's just more of a long-term picture of building this whole thing out.

13:43Like, I, I don't know where I feel about the chiefs.

13:46Cause I talked more about my homes yesterday on the show.

13:49And it's just like looking at them right now, they're trying to revamp the defense, get, you know, draft some impact players.

13:55But the Peter Woods pick with the lane in the first round and really just kept addressing defense, giving spags, some toys

14:01to work with, trying to get younger there and let some other guys go.

14:05But the offense was, they're obviously going to be running the ball a little bit more, but it is Andy Reed.

14:10So it's still going to be a lot of quick games, still going to be a lot of things.

14:16So I'm truly really trying to just envision this.

14:18Are they using more B enemy stuff when he comes in?

14:21Sorry. I actually just really want to talk about the chiefs.

14:24So is our using more B enemy stuff here because their personnel, like I'm just trying to envision how this whole thing's going to work.

14:31Are they going to rely a lot on the run game to really until my homes gets there.

14:36And so then if rice does have an injury, does that like, like kind of kind of give them a jet, get a jail out free card.

14:43No, I was trying to think of a different term.

14:46And that was just the only one that came to mind.

14:49So I'm sorry. I know that you see me hesitate.

14:52I was like, come on, think of some different, but that's, that's the only one that came to mind.

14:57But give them kind of like, give them a pass.

14:59Like, okay, maybe this offense we can withstand until my homes is fully healthy, even though they're saying week one and maybe

15:05until rice is fully healthy because they're saying camp ish.

15:08Um, but still you, that's not preferred. Uh, but it's just one of these things.

15:12They're all lined. I think it's going to be really good.

15:15And the walk, I really liked the Walker signing.

15:18Like they got some juice on that offense now with a line that can really build a run game.

15:23Just curious how it's going to, how it's going to work out.

15:26And now, you know, rice is already a guy that needs more polish and now he's just still more unreliable stuff.

15:32But yeah, I'm all over the place with the chiefs.

15:35I I'm very excited to actually keep talking about them because I am kind of more optimistic than I thought I was going to be.

15:41But then this happens. And so now I'm just like, right.

15:44I'm kind of back to square one, you know?

15:47And it's like, all right, all right. I'll talk about you guys in August.

15:51Exactly. I honestly think I've come down maybe a little more pessimistic about them looking at it.

15:55Because I think part of the reason that we, why we can sit here and say, like, I think it was crazy

16:01that they didn't do more to address this wide receiver room.

16:04But they also had a lot to do this offseason.

16:07And part of which on offense is fixing, is fixing this run game.

16:10In addition to everything you need to do on the defensive side of it, which is why I do come down to

16:16what you, what you said, which is, I think part of their answer.

16:20And like, how are we going to be better offensively is we're going to be both more consistent.

16:25They generally were like a pretty decent success rate team with guys like Kareem Hunt and Isaiah Pacheco.

16:30But there was no explosive play element to it.

16:32So I think they want to, and they drafted Emmitt Johnson, too, who could kind of be like a grinder back for them a little bit, too.

16:40Like, maybe be the, you know, to use a tortured analogy because it's Kenneth Walker.

16:44But like, maybe he could be the Zach Charbonnet to Kenneth Walker, you know, coming in here, obviously.

16:49But I think that they can form like a.

16:51Is there a title that like the most frustrating other running back in the backfield?

16:55Is there just like a term for that other than everybody being mad online?

16:59But is there like, is there just like your sacrificial acts, you know, I power slot.

17:03Is there something for that frustrating running back? Yeah, I'm actually more of a Charbonnet fan than most people.

17:08But I think that maybe our work assignment for the summer is come up with a term.

17:13That is that kind of frustrating running back in the backfield that takes 40% of the snaps or half the snaps and that the coaches love.

17:20You know, maybe it's just the teachers. Yeah, I usually call it the coach's pet.

17:24I would just call it like, yeah, he's the coach's pet guy, which but it's got to be a specific type for that.

17:30You know, it's got to be like this, which is Charbonnet.

17:33Is that like generally the yards are there and is the is a good in pass protection?

17:38That whole deal. You know, maybe Emmitt Johnson again.

17:41Could he be that guy? I don't know. It's not a perfect analogy for him.

17:45But anyways, point of all that is that I do think that some of the like, hey, again, just to come back

17:51to an actionable fantasy take here, which is not so much specifically with this position, but more like a big brain thought.

17:57Because I think that they're there. They're again answer to how the offense is going to be better this year is we're

18:03going to be a better running team. We're going to be a little bit more consistent and explosive as a ground game.

18:09Part of that is going to just mathematically eat into the hey, Rasheed Rice kind of scammy targets, the screens, the passes, the drag route, stuff like that.

18:16And to me, again, that's just what my advice to people about this.

18:20It's not this situation specifically, but what this situation makes me think of is if you want to get an edge on

18:26people, it's that like, OK, that production is there.

18:28And even on a per route basis, and I'm not saying Rice sucks like he doesn't suck.

18:33He's obviously a really, really useful, like capital you player.

18:35But he is a very specific thing. I hate him.

18:38It's a very specific look. He's one of my biggest draft misses of all time.

18:42Like he's way out kicked my my expectations. It's been such a different player than I expected.

18:47Correct. Yeah, exactly. Like I, I, I, I evaluated him as like a bad sacrificial X receiver and they took him and

18:53put him into this like power slot role. Yards after catch.

18:56Yeah, exactly. Completely different to what he was doing in college.

18:59So, yeah, like big, big miss on me. So, but, but again, like the production is there on a per route basis

19:05efficient stuff like that, but there's still an element missing in the offense.

19:08Like, I think you just got to look one level deeper at that.

19:12I don't know if Kansas City's looked one level deeper at that, which is why I think they find themselves in this kind of tough predicament right now.

19:20But we are going to take our first quick break.

19:22We come back. We're actually going to get into the topic of the show today.

19:26We're going to talk tight ends and the heavy personnel package revolution.

19:30We're going to get into that right after this.

19:32All right. We're back and we can finally get into the meat of the show here.

19:36The actual discussion we want to have, which is the heavy personnel slash tight end revolution in the NFL.

19:42And again, if you've been living under a rock, you haven't kind of, you know, kind of paid attention to the NFL

19:48in the last, I don't know, 12 months or whatever.

19:50Last year, it was a big talking point as the Rams really were kind of the funhouse mirror version of this and

19:56really leaned into like 13 personnel for a couple of stretch of the season.

20:00Plus the Seattle Seahawks are one of the heavier teams in the NFL on offense.

20:04One, this game that you might have heard of called the Super Bowl.

20:08If you look at just a cross league wide and I put these stats together, the NFL saw a minus like a

20:145.2 percentage point drop in their amount of plays with three plus receivers on the field last year.

20:19So teams are definitely going away from that 11 personnel kind of bread and butter that we were in.

20:24And, you know, when I mean, even just a couple again, the funny part of this is that the Rams a couple

20:30of years ago in 2023 were the only team that were 90 percentage points over 90 percent over 11 personnel.

20:35The Panthers were second at 87 percent last year.

20:38Nobody was over 70 percent. So it is definitely the amount of plays with three plus receivers on the field.

20:43The amount of times you're having that true like slot only guy on the field.

20:47That is all going down at this point. So, Nate, to table set here, this is happening clearly.

20:52We saw this again. If you've been living under the living under a rock, you saw this very clearly in the NFL

20:58draft when from pick 24 in the second round all the way to pick 31 in the third round.

21:03We saw a bunch of inline blocking tight ends go off the board.

21:07Obviously, Eli Stowers was a second round pick, but he doesn't really fit into the sort of trend here.

21:12Also, Matthew Hibner out of SMU went to the Ravens at the fourth round pick 33.

21:16So we could bucket him in here as well.

21:19But Nate Borker to the Jags kicked it off.

21:21And then we just saw a bunch of these inline guys go off the board on day two.

21:26So clearly, again, this yes, it is happening. The question is, Nate, you started to allude to this at the top in the intro.

21:33But let's expand on a little bit. Like, why is this happening?

21:36Yeah. One, I think this draft run, too, is it's kind of a chicken and egg thing because, yes, it's a trend

21:42where more teams do want to add more playable tight ends that they can have on the field.

21:47But also, it was just that there's more playable tight end prospects available in this range.

21:51This is probably the most wide tight ends, inline tight ends, as far as just good ones.

21:56Like, in typical grading terms, a wide tight end that maybe is not a true first round prospect is typically graded as a third rounder.

22:03You know, just the equivalent of one. And that's what happened with a lot of these guys.

22:07Like, I would even include Borker, who I have in my top 100.

22:11I wasn't shocked he went on day two. It was just that he went first.

22:15That was more what was the shocking thing for me.

22:18But then Klein projects as a wide tight end.

22:20Sam Rausch, Oscar Delp, Will Karmick. I'm sorry, Kerkermick.

22:22Merrick. And even Eli Raritan. And there's a couple guys on day three as well.

22:27So all those guys can play in line. And all these multi-tight end looks, I think some people have mis-attributed where you have to emphasize.

22:33I think people are like, well, if you want to go multi-tight end, you want to have a bunch of receiving tight ends.

22:40It's actually the opposite. You need the wide tight end to make the whole thing go.

22:44Because you need at least one valid inline blocker.

22:46Otherwise, you just have three receiving. That's what the Eagles tried to do last year.

22:50Oh, we want two tight ends. But it's Grant Calcaterra and beat up Dallas Goddard just getting steamrolled.

22:55So it's like there's no advantage there. So we can just go nickel five DBs.

22:59We can go dime six DBs because we're not threatened by those guys whatsoever.

23:03And that's the other thing, too, is that if you do have valid blockers and the defense has to emphasize or it

23:09has to focus on that and either go, we go base defense before DBs.

23:13Or we go nickel DBs, sub-personnel, and we use certain formations so we don't get punched in the mouth over and over.

23:19So that's the other thing that is kind of a fun little micro view, especially game breakdown view.

23:24Something we talk about maybe even more on Football 31 is that then you get into certain defensive looks and then you can guarantee coverages.

23:31And that's what the Rams did to a wonderful extent last year was if we get 13 personnel, yeah, they might match with nickel.

23:37But they're matching with nickel with only a couple coverages called.

23:40We make these very defenses that are very – defenses are very complex right now.

23:44And a lot of defenses have big menus with a lot of stuff where they can invert stuff.

23:49They disguise stuff. But if you can get to simplify and get it down to, okay, they have nine looks usually on second and long.

23:56And now we got them down to three looks.

23:59That just makes everyone's lives a little bit easier.

24:01Quarterback, offensive line, et cetera, et cetera. So, yeah, like I said, I alluded at the show is that some of it is that there's been available bodies.

24:09There's more inline guys right now. Some of it is that the looks out of sub personnel, 11 personnel with the defenses

24:15were doing to it kind of got maxed out.

24:17A lot more zone coverages. That's why, again, you're going to get more safeties playing in the slot on defense too.

24:23You got bigger bodies there. So, offenses are trying to answer right now with having a bigger slot guy or a second

24:29tight end to block the Nick Imanowarys of the world, the Brian Branches of the world when he's in the slot, but

24:35the Kyle Hamiltons when he's in the slot. Those guys are 225.

24:38That's a Will Linebacker. I mean, that's just a hybrid thing.

24:41And to me, I'm sorry. I've been excited to kind of talk about this because I've been kind of thinking like, okay,

24:47this is where we're at right now in the football world, where the meta is right now.

24:52You don't want to just get stuck in the meta.

24:54You want to break through. The Rams have been very good.

24:57But Sean McVay has been very good at being at the forefront of what's breaking the meta.

25:02It's Kyle Shanahan too. But what did McVay do?

25:04Okay, we're going to run more duo because defenses are lighter and that's more an at you run game.

25:10And we're going to get bigger bodies on the field.

25:12My other theory is to go super light and super fast.

25:15You want to put three safeties on the field and maybe not the fastest guys, but they're big and burly and can play in the box.

25:22Then go super light with very, very fast guys.

25:25And then go 10 personnel, which is four wide receivers.

25:28That's just a theory of mine. And I'm curious if any team leans into it.

25:32I think it's a specific sub package. You don't base out of it.

25:35But that's been one of my things. It's like, all right, if the Seahawks want to play bigger nickel, well, then let's

25:41just go super fast and just go as fast as possible.

25:44You know, kind of go tempo. We go speed.

25:47And I think more teams might lean into that.

25:49More tempo and more speed on the field. Like Cliff Kingsbury is with the Rams right now.

25:54So that's... So I'm married. If you can tell, I got some theories brewing for whenever we talk about it even a little bit more.

26:00But yeah. Good. Good. No, yeah. Let's put a pin in that because that's what I was going to ask you.

26:06The second part about like what's next or whatever.

26:09But just again, just kind of brass tacks about like, again, back on why this is happening.

26:13Nate did a really good job of talking about this.

26:16And just if you really want to make it simple, it's just like the league is always moves and counter moves.

26:22And as we got like lighter on defense to account for all these spread concepts and 11 personnel, teams were eventually going

26:28to pivot back into the running game and actually maximizing that.

26:31But if you're going to do that, you also need to marry your run and your pass game together.

26:36Which is why like, again, credit to you, Nate.

26:38You've been talking about more of these inline guys like the Tucker Crafts, like the AJ Barners.

26:43And why I think the fantasy space has been behind on this with like obsessing about actually blocking doesn't matter.

26:48Your ability to play in line doesn't matter. Well, then you get Dalton Kincaid, who I know always comes gets like slammed

26:54in these conversations and stuff like that. But it is a part of this.

26:58So we see just again overall like these teams leaning into these things.

27:02But the other part of this too, and this is where I think from an actionable standpoint, we're going to come back

27:08to this at the end of the show. And why even as a wide receiver guy, as you know, we are seeing

27:14fewer of these like slot receivers and stuff like that, that true slot option.

27:17And the guys I, by the way, a lot of players I really like, like Jaden Reed, you know, Curtis Samuel back

27:23in the day, like that archetype of player is kind of getting pushed aside a little bit.

27:28Why I still like this trend because yeah, you're getting these big burly blocking tight ends on the field.

27:33But again, we're trying to marry the run and the pass game together.

27:37When you are able to activate to play action like that, that's where you can get these obnoxiously good wide receiver seasons

27:43to the point that Jackson Smith and Jigba last year, which on the team that did this extremely well, he had a

27:4930, he was targeted on 33.5% of his routes.

27:51He averaged 3.68 yards per outrun. He had a 36% target share of the Seahawks offense, which was the most since 2015.

27:57Like, I mean, well, it's most of the last 10 years.

28:00Most since 2015 to current DeAndre Hopkins in the 2017 season was second with 34%.

28:04Michael Thomas on the 2019 Saints was 33%. So, and again, we'll have more numbers about this later about even how wide receiver efficiency goes up.

28:11So when we're talking about like drafting for fantasy and stuff like that, this matters also at the wide receiver position, not

28:17just like more body types of tight end. Yeah, it really does because they get the thing when you get into two

28:23tight end looks or even three tight end looks is the pass plays off of them are usually deeper attacking.

28:29So it leads to more explosives and bigger chunk plays and opportunities for touchdowns.

28:33And I think JSN is a perfect example of that.

28:35That's the thing. You get more tight ends on the field.

28:38It's juicier opportunities for the guys actually running those routes because the play action concepts off of them, the Titans are going to stay in the block.

28:46And then the two guys running the routes, usually the two receivers, maybe sometimes it's the three guys.

28:51But those are all going to be 15 yards down the field routes, maybe even longer.

28:55A lot of like I can just even envision JSN against the Jaguars this year where it's just like it was just

29:01chunk play after chunk play after chunk play. And it was all too tight end looks.

29:05So that's where there is a lot of benefits.

29:08AJ Brown when he was with the Titans, that's another one like where he was just all these play actions.

29:13That was big, juicy dig routes. That's those are, you know, there's PPR scams out there.

29:17You know, there's the quick game. But if you get bigger, you can typically attack downfield.

29:22My as I'm wearing the sweatshirt, but like my football dogma is a lot of it was based on playing at Wisconsin

29:28and even how my dad has looked at football, too.

29:31But at Wisconsin is, yeah, we ran the ball a ton, but our quarterbacks were hyper efficient, hyper explosive.

29:36Russell Wilson was the highest extent of that because he was he could throw a beautiful deep ball.

29:41But it became all these like if you look at Russell Wilson's like stat lines, he had games where he's like 14 to 15, 280 yards.

29:48It leads to just great opportunity. It's why I'm super excited about Justin Herbert this year.

29:52I'm spoiling when the teams were going to talk about because, yeah, he might not pass as much as we've seen in the past, especially under Joe Lombardi.

30:00But, oh, my God, his wicked to his efficiency in these offenses.

30:03Now, now imagine Justin Herbert ripping off 20 yarder after 20 yarder after 20 yarder with big opportunities to score touchdowns, too, because that's what downfield attacks do.

30:11So that's where there's the trickle down of all this.

30:13And that's why you the perfect role is you can do everything well.

30:17But there is a lot of benefits to having receivers in these offenses from fancy terms.

30:21And, you know, there's gonna be a lot of guys that I think do benefit.

30:25I'm a cocky. You know, 100 percent. Oh, yeah.

30:28No, again, yeah, we'll talk about the charges for sure.

30:30We're going to talk about several teams that are actually going to really lean into this and everything like that.

30:36And, yeah, I mean, it's it's a great way of saying this.

30:39Like these these passing concepts are so much more downfield oriented to the point that, like, yeah, Jackson Smith and Jigbo not

30:45necessarily regarded as this, like, deep threat receiver. But he was the most productive receiver in the NFL on 20 plus yard

30:51passes last year because of the you get the defensive packages you want in there.

30:55And you get a guy who obviously is a great route runner and a three level threat and somebody I always really

31:01liked against man coverage, yada, yada, yada. But you're able to just get more of like those looks for him that he

31:07can become the most explosive player in the NFL at the wide receiver position.

31:11A guy who was in the first year of his career under Shane Waldron, you know, like a PPR scam receiver.

31:17So just bubbles and screens, bubbles and screens like that in little, little, little, you know, cutesy short passes like in this

31:23guy becomes most effective receiver in the NFL. He's always capable of doing more.

31:26But like the scheme really maximizes him. So there is that potential for these wide receivers, especially because this also concentrates the targets.

31:33Again, we'll talk about this more when we get into specific receiver situations.

31:36But before we get into some teams that we think are really going to lean into this, I do.

31:41You touched on a little bit. And whenever we have these like big brain conversations about, oh, this is what the league is doing right now.

31:49I always want to remind people that we are always even if, Nate, we have been talking about this a lot the last couple of years.

31:56We're still generally chasing the league like we won't ever get right on time with the trend.

32:00So there's at least a part of me and maybe it's just the contrarian part of me that at least wants to ask.

32:06And you already started talking about like, what's the next phase?

32:09Is there a chance we're overrating this? Right. Like we're going to spend the next on football, dork Twitter and fantasy Twitter

32:15talking about like, how can we benefit from these heavy personnel teams?

32:19We're going to do that for the next three months.

32:21And then it's really not going to be that big of a deal.

32:25Is there a chance that that does happen this year?

32:28Well, that's the thing. It's not just a magic wand.

32:30It's not like, oh, OK, two tight ends and we're good now.

32:34Like we even look at the Browns, you know, like, yeah, we're good.

32:37Two tight ends. Two tight ends play action. Like you still have to have the guys.

32:42The Falcons are up there. We're showing the screen right here.

32:45Like these teams that really leaned into it last year.

32:47Yeah. You see Rams, Seahawks, Bears. Awesome. OK. Not exactly pinnacle of offensive success the last year.

32:52And sometimes it's limitations of receivers like that. That's why they have to lean into it or vice versa.

32:57But no, I do think that this defenses haven't been threatened enough that they have to change.

33:02So this is the offense's way. So I think this is going to be the year I can kind of maybe tell

33:08more about whether this like what's the maximum of this or what is the limit of this where I do think it trickles back.

33:14I'm curious, too, is that defense offenses are more aggressive on third down now and they run the ball more on third down.

33:20I think last year was the highest run rate on like third and three plus ever in NFL history because fourth down

33:26is live for a lot more teams now. So that opens up more opportunities for two tight end or more looks.

33:32So it kind of third down becomes second down.

33:35Second down becomes another first down kind of thing.

33:37Line of thinking. So I don't think we've reached the maximum of this this year or I will.

33:42I think we'll this year. I think there's stuff to pick at still for offenses.

33:46I think maybe next year, then we start to get to see the next step.

33:50But I do think this year this this will continue.

33:53Maybe we'll get tired of it from a talking point.

33:56But I do think it's going to be very real.

33:58But I did already hinted at it that I do think the next way to go is probably tempo and going more

34:04to not let defenses get into funkier looks and crazy personnel packages and get to more of their offense from a non huddled look.

34:11So I do think that that is, you know, tempo doesn't just always mean go fast, you know, tempo, tempo, my head or tempo.

34:17It just means no huddle. That's maybe that's the best way to put it.

34:21And I do think that maybe more offenses go to that.

34:24That's where I'm curious with where kind of the meta goes.

34:27I also think this is why being a valid blocker, you don't have to be great, but just valid enough for defenses

34:33to to honor you as a blocker is that defenses are really good with tendencies now.

34:38So if they know you're on the field, OK, it's 90 percent pass.

34:41You know, if there's one tight end, if I'm trying to just think of a Grant Calcaterra, that's sorry, he's just my guy for this.

34:48If he's on the field is the only tight end.

34:51I bet you it's like 95 percent pass rate.

34:53So if you're valid enough where you can turn into a 60, 40, 65, 35.

34:57Again, that's why you want this. But why I'm bringing that up is I do think we're running backs are aligned.

35:03This is why teams want to go more to under center.

35:06That is a big tell. If the running back is aligned to the tight end, that's called strong.

35:11If he's aligned normal, it's weak away. And then you can get to certain run concepts.

35:15And I see smart offenses already playing with that right now.

35:18And even in the college level, like Indiana's really was really playing with that to like mess with defenses and their calls.

35:24But I do think there's going to be something to that.

35:27And that's why more teams want to get to under center is that it hides where the running back is aligned because

35:33he's in a home position right behind the quarterback, like in a typical alignment.

35:37So under center, I think, is going to keep increasing.

35:40I think we see more under center drop backs without play action.

35:43So those are some of the trends. I think I'm going to write an article on this.

35:47Depends how lazy I am in June. But those would be kind of some of the bullet points I think of where kind of the next steps are.

35:55Oh, yeah. June is always like, I got this kicking around.

35:58But do I really want to do that? Just last year, teams that were the heaviest under center teams.

36:03Rams were number one. Seahawks, number two. Bills, number three.

36:06Lions, Bears, Niners, Patriots, Vikings, Jacksonville. Those were the teams that were the heaviest under center teams.

36:11So, yeah, you can see a lot of where this which coaching tree is really pushing these buttons and which are not at this point.

36:17You just really quickly, you mentioned like the which teams you can't just like the wave, the magic wand.

36:23A lot of times it's also like, you know, who's your quarterback?

36:26What personnel do you have? You can't just be like, oh, bibbidi-bobbidi, 13 personnel.

36:30We're going to make this offense more efficient. I think a team like Carolina this year, I've been talking about this a

36:36lot, I think could be one of these teams that goes away from the trend because their quarterback is better at it.

36:42He was really good at Empty in 2024. I've talked about those stats a lot.

36:46He had like, I think, 96 attempts out of Empty in 2024 and 88 last year.

36:50And he got frigging benched in 2024. So, yeah, great designs out of it.

36:54They have, I think, four valid receivers in McMillan, Coker, Liggett, and then Chris Brazel who they took this year.

36:59They don't really have like a tight end to kind of, or they don't have a bunch of like big by inline tight ends to lean into this.

37:07So, they'll be an interesting team to monitor in terms of going the other way.

37:11And then, you know, just lastly, you said like the, I do wonder if like the jitterbug fast slot receiver comes back at some point.

37:18Like, because that guy's kind of waning out of like existence right now.

37:21But, you know, your Josh Downs is of the world in Indianapolis.

37:25Like, does that become more of a thing for them this year?

37:28Because they are trying to beat these nickel packages and get layups and things like that.

37:32So, yeah, it's always moves and counter moves, everything like that.

37:35But let's get into teams that are specifically doing this.

37:38So, the first ones I want to talk about are the teams that are the bread and butter teams.

37:43Like, who's already doing this very well? I would say the three that are clearly doing this really well.

37:48And if you have others, please, you know, let me know.

37:51But one, we've already mentioned them. The Seahawks, the Rams, obviously.

37:54And then the Bears are the team that really strike me.

37:57The three that are doing this very well. They're leaning into heavier personnel packages.

38:01Not always necessarily 13. A lot of 12, of course, in Seattle and definitely in Chicago.

38:05But not only did they lean into it, they were effective when they did it.

38:09So, those to me are the teams, like, when we're talking about how do we keep an eye out for this trend, which players can benefit.

38:17I think we have to start with Los Angeles, Seattle, and Chicago.

38:20Yep. Rams even seem like they're leaning even more into it.

38:23Drafting another tight end. That's contract, too. That's the bridge to this year and future years, which seems like a couple of draft picks with Ty Simpson, too.

38:30But it was just that is, you know, with Max Clare from Ohio State.

38:34I mean, I think the Rams have five playable tight ends right now.

38:38Some teams don't even have two. Some teams don't even have one.

38:41They have five guys that are legit. I think Colby Parkinson is the best all-around one.

38:45But his contract ends up after this year. But they're leaning fully into it.

38:49And another thing, too, it's an ability to pivot.

38:52It's a hedge against injuries. You know, if you lean fully into three receivers and one of them gets hurt, okay, now

38:58we have to go two tight ends. Oh, shoot, our second tight end sucks.

39:01That's why we've got three receivers. You know, the Rams have two great receivers.

39:05And then, actually, I think a couple of nice auxiliary guys.

39:08But now, okay, Devontae Adams at 34 years old.

39:11If he gets banged up, which he will because he's gotten banged up.

39:14And well, now we're fine. We can live in 13 tight end or 13 percent.

39:18We can live in 14 personnel if we need to and still have the athletes to spread it out.

39:24You know, Terrence Ferguson is a great athlete who ran a lot of vertical routes last year.

39:28Max Clare, great athlete. Higby, like, yeah, his best days are behind him.

39:32But still can get vertical. Parkinson's a good athlete.

39:34And even Davis is a decent athlete as well.

39:37So they have enough guys that can, yeah, they're not going to run post routes 30 yards down the field.

39:42But that 10 to 20 yard range that Stafford lives in, they can still get to that offense with Puka Nakua pending anything happening with him.

39:49I don't want to jinx any more receivers. You know, so like anything with Puka Nakua.

39:53But I think, yeah, it's all systems go for them.

39:56You know, the Rams are one of the favorites to win the Super Bowl this year.

40:01I don't think that should shock anybody. And I think that they actually have the means to do this.

40:06Sorry, again, with the cross sports analogy, this is when the three-point revolution was happening in 2010.

40:10Everyone started doing it. But then their teams are shooting like 29% from three and 30% from three.

40:15It's like, yeah, you can say you shoot threes, but you got to still make them.

40:20You know, you got to still like be a valid answer.

40:23So the Rams have the personnel and the horses to actually do this and withstand injuries that are going to inevitably come up during NFL season.

40:30Yeah, that's the Terrence Ferguson thing will be really interesting to watch this year because a lot of times last year, like

40:36he definitely threw him the ball downfield. He wasn't always necessarily going to catch it or be in the right place where

40:42he was supposed to be or, you know, whatever, tracking it the whole day.

40:45He's a raw player, of course, but he was a guy that they could split out and, you know, weaponize in that way.

40:52He also is fast enough at the tight end position when you get into this is where, again, we might jump the

40:58shark on the 13 personnel part of it. But 12, I'm totally open, but I do think sometimes like we're overemphasizing on

41:04like which teams are going to run 13 personnel and who's going to be the one wide receiver.

41:09Like that might not happen as often, I think, as we think, mostly because like one of the reasons the Rams could

41:15lean into it on, you know, 40 plus percent of their snaps is like Terrence Ferguson is so fast that he can be like a sacrificial player.

41:22Like he can actually clear out space for the Pukenokua in breakers and like they can run dagger with Terrence Ferguson running the vertical route.

41:29Not a lot of teams could do that with their tight ends.

41:32So that is one where we will see on that one.

41:35But I mean, a team like the other two teams just to hit on here quickly.

41:39I do think Bears and Seahawks, we kind of will it will be fun to talk about the Bears when we get

41:45to like which pass catchers can benefit here because they have three really interesting pass catchers.

41:50We certainly know what's going on with the Rams from a receiver standpoint.

41:53But these two teams, I do expect to lean into it and lean into it well because I mean, well, we'll see

41:59about Brian Flory as the offensive coordinator in Seattle.

42:02But like Ben Johnson, man, I've been I've been I just started Luther Burden for reception perception.

42:06I just did Roma Dunze yesterday. I finished him up to that offense just kicks ass, man.

42:11It is so, so good and so well designed and like it's only going this way.

42:15So the fact that they are on this trend, the fact that they have Ben Johnson, they have all these cool young players.

42:21It's definitely a unit to invest in for sure.

42:24It was one of the most tangibly like the improvement throughout the year was so tangible.

42:28Like it was just so cool to watch as far as like snaps and penalties and operation stuff to like what it

42:34became at the end of the year, which is still like not a complete thing or polished fully polished thing.

42:40So I'm so excited to see this group take that next step.

42:43I mean, all these young guys returning into the same offense.

42:46It's I yeah, very excited about the I'm bullish on the bears.

42:49But no, what's cool about their tight end group because they added Sam Rauch in the third round.

42:54I liked Rauch had him in top 100 was some people had him even higher than I did, but he's a why

43:00he doesn't have the longest arms, but he has strength and he's a good athlete.

43:04So we're talking about these tight ends that are going to get vertical.

43:08That's what's amazing about Colson Loveland. Loveland can play in line and also run routes vertically.

43:12He was ISO. He was running sale routes. He was they use them like an X receiver so they they can go

43:1813 personnel and run 12 personnel looks. That's another thing that was the beauty of the inverse of this of Sean McVay

43:24going fully 11 was he was doing 12 and 13 personnel looks out of 11.

43:28This is the opposite. This is getting to 11 personnel looks out of 13, you know, and that's that's what you're trying to do with the defenses.

43:36We're showing you a different look than you what you prepared for.

43:39Loveland's a star. I think a lot of people are on board with that, but but now you got Colcomat Colson Loveland and Sam Rauch.

43:46All guys can block in line and all are good enough athletes to at least get to the 15 yard range as a route runner.

43:52Not a lot of teams have three wise that can also run routes.

43:56That's cool. Cool. So now we're not even talking about the receivers.

43:59I'm just so excited to see what Ben Johnson does with this.

44:02Like this is I'm really already pre geeking out about it because that's I can't.

44:07It's been a while because I can think of an offense that had this that three guys that in theory can do these things.

44:13I'm not as big on command as other people, but Loveland's awesome and I'm excited to see what they do with Roush.

44:19So this is gonna be a really, really cool matchup.

44:22And then you got in Dunsay who's a great blocker Luther burden.

44:25Who's a great blocker shockingly. And then I mean, it's kind of cool.

44:29And now he's just dropping Khalif Raymond. So there are 13 personnel looks are gonna be dangerous or 12 personnel looks are gonna be dangerous.

44:35And defenses are gonna have to like really pick their poison with them there.

44:39Yeah. Bears offense. Very, very cool. Even if the offense align, you know, still have a couple things.

44:44We'll see. Yeah. It's yeah, but it's gonna be a cool offense.

44:47No, it really is like they have the potential to truly go empty and get into 13 personnel.

44:52And it's like, I think both are really credible formations for this offense.

44:56So like, I keep again, we will, I would, we will talk bears receivers specifically when we get to that section of

45:02the show, because they're one of these teams that clearly could benefit from this from an efficiency perspective with these wideouts.

45:08But this is why my answer to like, who do you draft from the bears past catching group is yes, like draft all these guys.

45:14You mentioned Loveland. Like again, I was just watching this, I believe it was from their divisional round playoff game where, yeah,

45:20I mean, they have Colson Loveland as the farthest in a three by one set.

45:24Like he's either, sometimes he's isolated over there. Other times, like on the three side, he's the X receiver and a dunze and burden are in the slot.

45:32And it's like, that's why this team just blurs the, like everyone's trying to find like, which who's the slot guy.

45:38People are still on the, I'm on Ross St.

45:40Brown rule. Like there's no, there's no roles like that in this offense.

45:44Every, all the lines are blurred. Everybody's playing everywhere, which is just going to create so many headaches.

45:49So I'm couldn't be more excited about the bears offense.

45:51What a thing to say, uh, the year 2026, what a time to be alive.

45:55Okay. We are going to take another quick break.

45:58We come back. We'll talk about some other teams who might be leaning into this.

46:02We will get into that right after this. All right, we're back.

46:05So on the other side of the break, we talked about teams that have already leaned into this.

46:10We'll probably just double down if not triple down on it this year, but let's talk about some teams that, um, we'll lean into it more this year.

46:18Uh, I have five here on my list, Nate, I've got the Baltimore Ravens who were already kind of in a lot

46:24of 12 and heavy personnel packages, but I think Declan Doyle coming over from Chicago.

46:28I'm actually interested in like who are the tight ends would be in this situation, but we'll come back to that.

46:33I think they'll lean into it. I think they'll lean into it this year.

46:37Uh, the Texans are, uh, were one of the least heavy personnel teams last year, but I think are going to flip

46:43the script a little bit this year. The Dolphins as well.

46:46The Jaguars lead it off that led off that run with Nate Borkercher.

46:50And then you mentioned it, the chargers clear signal there.

46:53And maybe we can start with the charters clear signal there.

46:56Not only did they sign Charlie Kolar and Alec Engel tight end and fullback and free agency, then they came back around

47:02after the draft and added David and Joku. They've got a lot of potential to have 13 personnel, 22 personnel, you know, a lot of different personnel packages.

47:09They could run out this year after being one of the most heavy three plus wide receiver teams last year.

47:15Yeah, they, they, I'm all about what they were trying to do there.

47:18Uh, cause that, that's the thing in Joku is he had such a funny career arc because as he came into the league, he was super young.

47:25And you would envision it cause he was such a good athlete.

47:29He'd be a good receiver. And we'll see how he's blocking.

47:32He became a good inline blocker. Um, the Browns were always able to do some of these outside runs cause in Joku was such a good blocker.

47:39He kind of, some of his efforts kind of waned.

47:42I think maybe he'll get a little spark there and maybe injuries, maybe that hinders it too.

47:46But here he doesn't have to be the only guy.

47:49Now they have two guys that can do that.

47:52And in Joku's athletic enough to be at least again, a intermediate threat.

47:55And then Gazzan such a great athlete. So, but now he's freed up where now he can actually never has to worry

48:01about, okay, now, now he doesn't have to be hidden as much.

48:04Um, like they can actually just get to him to an advantage spot as opposed to like, Oh, we just have to put him here.

48:11So opens those things up. I'm all systems go on Hampton this year.

48:15Uh, like I, I think that he might have just a great phenomenal year because he has the speed to excel in this offense.

48:21And I just think that these tight ends are going to allow them to, cause they can actually set the edge.

48:27And that's where it kind of creates a lot of those advantages.

48:30When you have guys that can seal the edge, but get the angles on the outside run game.

48:35And if you have a guy with speed, like Hampton and even, um, Oh, who's the guy this time from the Ravens?

48:41Uh, the smaller guy, uh, Keaton Mitchell. Keaton Mitchell.

48:44Thank you. Another guy actually wrote, yeah, I really liked that sounding too, but another guy was speed.

48:48I can get to the outside. So really liked this with Mike McDaniel.

48:52Yes. The offensive line is always going to be a thing, but at least McDaniel has shown an ability to kind of mitigate that.

48:59And they have now tight ends and tight end depth, uh, two guys that can be why tight ends.

49:04That's that's, I'm pretty excited about that. I think it's gonna be a cool transition to this next year's offense.

49:09Yeah. And again, we'll talk about receivers that have benefit.

49:12I think lad could have a huge year as a result of this, but yeah, I think this offense a hundred percent

49:18is going to lean into it and we'll be better for it.

49:21Last year just got really predictable for Los Angeles.

49:24So, you know, sometimes we, we focus on, especially in fantasy, like how do we get, uh, you know, the, the, how

49:30do we get sort of into the, like a raw volume of it all.

49:33And I am always willing sometimes to sacrifice some raw volume for efficiency.

49:37And we saw that again last year in Seattle where they were, they had a ton of lost volume and going from

49:43Ryan grubs offense to a Clint Kubiak's, but the efficiency and the target concentration, especially in the passing game really helped offset

49:49that in addition to what they just got better in the run game.

49:52So they're one of these examples of a team that could do that.

49:56Um, Jacksonville, I definitely think is good, which my God, what a tough nut to crack, but I think Jacksonville is going to lean into some of this.

50:04I will say Liam Cohen kind of pushed back on this a little bit, uh, where he said that, you know, we've got a lot of wide receivers.

50:11We want to play a lot, even though James Gladstone said, yeah, we're drafting Nate Borker church because this is the trend

50:17of the league, which I don't know. It's, it feels like a band.

50:21Like anytime everybody's talking about them, you've already, you, you, you, they've already hit it big, you know, like we want to be before they hit it big.

50:28Uh, so I don't know. We'll see about that, but their team, I do think we'll lean a little bit more into

50:34it after not really touching it at all last year.

50:37Yeah. I think it's their, um, you know, their run game really tapered off last year, uh, in the second half of

50:43the year, as much as their past game improved after Jacoby Myers trade, they ended up being like a, I'd say in

50:49the last eight weeks, the bottom five run game, as far as just underlying metrics.

50:53And a lot of that was because, you know, Brent strange as good as he is a receiver and he's a feisty blocker.

50:59He's willing to scrap. He just can't hold up, um, in line as much as, as much as you want.

51:05So I think this, this is their way of just kind of against sealing the edge.

51:09This is, that was trying to get that guy that can actually do this outside.

51:13They had Quinn Morris on the roster last year and they kept them back.

51:17Um, but for Kirk, at least a much more valid receiver than Morris.

51:21I think that was some of the thinking. And also like, if you can't improve the offensive line, there is something to

51:27be said about improving the auxiliary blockers. And I think that's maybe some of the Jack's thinking was that this is a

51:33way to kind of kill two birds with one stone.

51:35Um, but again, it's just, I think this is more of just there.

51:39It was kind of what the Rams did maybe two, three years ago.

51:42Like they're kind of, like you said, maybe you want to be ahead of the trend as opposed to behind it.

51:48Um, but it's more, I think they're like, Hey, if a receiver gets hurt now, we're not screwed.

51:53Now we can actually lean into this or this defense is weak against two tight end looks.

51:58Now we have a valid thing to do it.

52:00Um, strange is a very good, a good receiver.

52:03So now they have a guy that can free him up a little bit more.

52:07So I understood their line of thinking. It was just more as a, that they went with poor, poor culture, as opposed

52:13to maybe some of the other guys that I had maybe rated higher, but that that's neither here nor there at this point in time.

52:19I I'm, I'm pretty excited about what the Jags are going to be this year.

52:23Cause just on what based off the last eight, nine, 10 weeks after they traded for Jacoby Myers and what Liam Cohn

52:29and that staff kind of put together without ideal personnel.

52:32Now they get an off season together. It could be, it could be pretty fun.

52:36Yeah. I wish God, I wish I had a strong feeling about which receiver you wanted on this team.

52:41Cause I, I just really don't from like a fantasy.

52:44I don't. And it's, it's just difficult. Cause I think that they're a team that I think will end up being like

52:50the green Bay Packers where it's just of old.

52:53The Packers might not be this way this year, but I think they've got a pretty clear three receiver set and they might actually not be very rotating.

53:00I think this team is going to be very rotating.

53:03And you know, Nate, the other team I think could be this way too, is the Texans.

53:08Because I think they're a team that is going to flip from being a very three plus receiver set team where they

53:14take Marlon Klein in the second round. Dalton Schultz is obviously a pretty valid block Foster Moreau.

53:18They bring in here. And I think they're a team that especially if, uh, if, and I have no idea what tank

53:24Dell is going to be this year, but if he plays at all, like he's going to play a little bit to

53:30the point that like Nico Collins is going to be on the field all the time.

53:34And then like Higgins, Noel and Dell, I think we'll all kind of like cannibalize each other because they're, they're a team

53:40again that I think they've been 31st in rushing success right since they drafted CJ Stroup.

53:45That has to stop. And a big part of that is like actually getting some of these valid blocking tight ends on the field.

53:51Yeah. I, that the last year too, was that if, if Schultz got banged up, they were screwed at tight end.

53:57Uh, like Cade Stover is just not that he's a athlete, not really just like a, a true blocker or anything.

54:03Like he kind of was a lost cause. I mean, that's not his fault.

54:07It's just that he's a, he was like a converted linebacker from college.

54:10Like he's always just been a raw athlete. Um, that's banged up.

54:13So he kind of hasn't kind of honed in on that polish, but you felt that in the playoffs.

54:19Um, I mean, Stroud was thrown to Christian Kirk who Jaden Higgins Schultz got banged up in the first quarter against the Patriots.

54:25And then it was like, you didn't even know who he was throwing to, but that's why their run game is kind

54:31of stunk is like Schultz is like a solid blocker.

54:34Like he is, he scraps, he has good technique and everything's one of the most improved in that area, but their whole

54:40line wasn't good enough to like withstand and help that out.

54:43And their scheme wasn't as well. So I actually kind of like what they have done.

54:47They've given themselves some valid bodies. I like Klein.

54:49Um, he, I had him in my top 75.

54:52Um, I, I did think he was like a Coke zero Kittle is kind of what I tripped him.

54:57He's raw, but he's got some, like some blocking chops.

55:00He's got some strength. He's got some speed, but yeah, I do think that this was a way for, again, an ability to pivot and not be.

55:07So if an injury happens, the whole thing kind of falls apart, give guys just more valid formations about personnel.

55:12And I, I kind of liked, liked how they went about it.

55:16I would agree with that. Okay. That does it for us on the Yahoo sports network.

55:20However, if you're watching with us on YouTube or social stick with us, cause we are going to continue this conversation right after this very quick break.

55:27All right. So we've talked about the teams that have leaned into this previously and are doing that really well.

55:33That was the Seahawks, the bears, the Rams. We've talked about some teams there throughout a few that could be leaning into it more this year.

55:40Ravens, Texans, dolphins, Jags, chargers, but Nate, I'm going to, before we talk about some specific wide receivers who could benefit from

55:46the tight end revolution, I'm just going to give you the floor to go a sicko mode here.

55:51Any other teams that you think actually could benefit here from like, or could lean into this trend a little bit this year?

55:57Yeah. Probably a team that I thought maybe had one of my favorite off seasons.

56:01And I think in the weirdest way, I feel like they're running, going under the radar and that's the Patriots, the defending

56:07AFC champion Patriots with, I think what a quarterback that somehow some way is now getting knocked back as not being very good.

56:13But no, I, I think that this is Josh McDaniel has always wanted to lean into multi-tight end looks.

56:19He's used personnel groupings through two or fewer receivers on 48% of his team snaps since 2013, five seasons over 50%, including last year.

56:25Hunter Henry is a fine blocker. I'll say, okay.

56:28And he's a solid receiver, which I guess you could say is okay as well, but he's not really good in either area.

56:34But they invested with two guys that I actually liked as a free agent.

56:38And I'm surprised the Dolphins didn't keep him and Julian Hill and the guy that was my tight end to a to be depending on what you needed.

56:45And Eli Raritan out of Notre Dame. So two guys that Raritan is not theory either as an inline blocker.

56:51Like he is tape from Notre Dame was him blocking legit D end and outside linebacker edge defenders and holding up and driving and with great technique.

56:58And he also tested like a great athlete. He's got length.

57:01Um, you know, some of his, his knocks was he had two ACLs, but that was his senior high school and his freshman year of college.

57:08He's been healthy since then. I'm very excited about him, especially in dynasty terms.

57:12I think he's a true why, but also I really like Julian Hill.

57:15Julian Hill has been one of these kind of under the radar guys.

57:19He's been kind of one of these football three Oh one guys fancy wise.

57:23Not very. I think he has a cap to his upside, but in real football terms.

57:27Yeah. He's a legit, you know, he's going to be like a Josh Oliver, you know, like he'll get a lot decent

57:33amount of snaps, good blocker, but fancy terms. He's going to cap out 300 yards, you know?

57:38Um, but I do think that I love the signing in real football terms.

57:42And I do think I get the line of thinking of going for him and also with Henry already there, you kind

57:48of get that nice bridge of the current year.

57:50He's a free agent after this year and next year, but McDaniel likes to lean on this anyways.

57:55And I think they now actually have the horses to do that.

57:58And actually some receiving chops too. And also on top of it, Reggie Gilliam, um, that they signed from the bills as

58:04a fullback who can also play some tight end too, but he's another kind of dirty work guy.

58:09So they want to do this. McDaniel is going to be run heavy.

58:13He wants to be in kind of more traditional formations.

58:15Now they actually got the horses to do that as opposed to kind of like older Austin Hooper and older Hunter Henry

58:21trying to kind of do it as well. So Patriots are one I got to lead off with.

58:26I'm pretty, pretty, I'm pretty bullish on, uh, again, on the Patriots, maybe more than other people are.

58:31Yeah. Austin Hooper, God bless him. He's trying at this point, you know, like that was where he was.

58:36Yeah, that was where he was at. Um, but I mean, yeah, dude, Julian Hill, number one.

58:41Yeah. Like none of these kind of inline blocking guys as we, again, revisit the conversation two years ago about like tip

58:47rhyme and none of these guys are going to necessarily become like, oh, this guy's going to be the next breakout fantasy player.

58:53Maybe Eli Raritan is at some point. Cause I know you like long term ability and everything like that.

58:58Yeah. Long term. Like he could be that he could be the Tucker craft or like, you know, AJ Barner type, or

59:04it's a couple, a couple times a year. He's going to give you a little something, something.

59:09Hey, I started AJ Barner. I mean, in the, in the absolute freak show league that we draft at the fantasy football expo.

59:15Uh, cause there's like 14 teams just start a bazillion players.

59:18I started him a lot this year and made it to the divisional round of the, those playoffs.

59:23So it can be done if you play in a freak show type league.

59:27Yeah. He got some touchdowns. Okay. But Julian Hill types, you're not gonna be the next breakout fantasy players, but it's going to increase the offensive ecosystem.

59:34I can't believe it took over an hour for me to use the ecosystem word here, but it's going to get crazy

59:40efficiency of those situations to benefit for the other players around him.

59:44I will say Julian Hill, if you're watching with us on YouTube, like you see the headshot, he literally looks like an offensive lineman.

59:50Okay. Like you could slide him over and he could just be a, one of these offensive linemen simply from a headshot perspective.

59:56But I know I've talked to a lot about pass catchers and everything like that, but this is a team that they're running games stunk last year.

60:04Like they desperately need to run the ball better.

60:06I don't have like a strong take on Travian Henderson or anything like that, but that's, I think that's clearly a big part of it.

60:13Like, yes, we can discuss about receivers that might benefit on the Patriots or whatever, but probably number one for them is

60:19their run game has to be better this year.

60:21And I think signing Gilliam and getting these tight ends in the mix, that's a big part of this year.

60:27Yeah. And Henderson's much better outside the tackles. That's how he was in college and in the NFL so far.

60:32Well, it's a lot easier when you have guys that could set the edge.

60:36It's the same talk that I had about the chargers.

60:39So now you get tight ends that can actually do it like that really is going to help boost him where it's

60:45not just going to be so boom bust. Like there's going to be a little bit more sustainability of not just like

60:51toss plays, but just even outside zone plays something that just might just be a little bit more, you know, aligned with

60:57his skill set a little bit better. So Titans can really help a run game.

61:01They really can. And I, I saw the Patriots try there, what they're trying to do.

61:05And I, I'm digging it. I really am. Okay.

61:08Any other teams you want to throw out here?

61:10Maybe, maybe the team that you wrote down second on the dock with a, with a sigh to it.

61:15Cause I know you can't help yourself. So I'm going to let you lean into it.

61:20Well, it's just the Cardinals, but that's kind of like, they've already been trying to do this, but also it's just the floor is coming over there.

61:27He's a Rams McVay. He's a Shanahan guy as well.

61:30He is a guy that really helped revolutionize, not revolutionize, but evolutionize.

61:33I should say the Rams run game to be a more duocentric.

61:36And that's kind of what, you know, the Cardinals have a kind of a mixed run game of what they try to

61:42did or what they did the last couple of years on their petcing.

61:46But now maybe just being more at you. I think if tip Ryman is healthy, that's going to fit him perfectly.

61:51Even have, you know, keeping McBride off ball, keeping Elijah Higgins off ball, but they have the horses to kind of do it.

61:58But so that's where I just had it. So maybe it's not, they're going to do it more because actually petcing used

62:04two and three tight ends at a decent clip, but just more like, I think they're going to kind of change how they get to it.

62:11I, I like that. Even if I don't know, the Cardinals have some fun things going on.

62:15Like their whole line actually is not that bad.

62:18Like it's kind of like, you know, and I know they kept the old line coach, but I think the floor is

62:24going to be more involved and he kind of knows how to kind of game plan it.

62:28Like that's one of McVay's gifts is how to kind of like work around his old line.

62:33So I don't know. I, I, I know I can't shut up about the fricking Cardinals.

62:37So you get a whole new head coach and a new staff and I'm still like, you know, man, I don't know.

62:43Yeah. Carson Beck might be starting games. Jacoby percent's holding out, but I do.

62:47I could say, I could see a path to something down the road.

62:51And I actually kind of like what they're building right now.

62:54No, I'm listen. I'm with you. Finally, I'm with you.

62:56I wasn't with you on the last Cardinals. But I'm with you on this version, actually, that I do think this, this I could be into.

63:04The Cardinals actually saw a 5.4 percentage point drop in their plays of heavy personnel from 2024 to 2025.

63:09Some of that could be game script induced because they were just in a lot of, you know, they were behind a lot.

63:15They were spreading things out. I mean, like that, but to right tip Ryman was hurt.

63:19Yeah. But Elijah Higgins actually showed something he could.

63:22I'm not saying he's as fast as Terrence Ferguson necessarily, but he could actually be part of that.

63:27Like maybe the, cause he's a former wide receiver.

63:29He wasn't Stanford. Like he could be a guy that splits out and actually clear space in some of these 13 personnel looks.

63:35So they're actually one of those teams where I will be fascinated to see who ends up becoming like the, the ISO

63:41receiver in 13 personnel looks like, is it Marvin Harrison?

63:44Is it Michael Wilson? I think Michael Wilson's probably the scrappier player of the two of them.

63:49So maybe it's an ideal fit for this offense.

63:51Like Wilson's like a perfect fit for this offense.

63:54That's I know. Like, I know you and I would Harrison were fine with them.

63:58I am at least, but Michael Wilson like fits the archetype of like that Rams receiver, like to a T.

64:03So I'm very curious. He really does. He does fit it really well.

64:07I think that Harrison fits the route concepts pretty well too.

64:10Um, and certainly we'll get less like pure X vertical stuff than what he was getting in the petting offense, which is pretty traditional.

64:16I, that's why I just, I like before taking this thing over, um, with you to the offensive line, isn't that bad.

64:22It's just, and Brissette, like, yeah, he, they lost a bunch of games with Brissette and, and it was very, it was

64:28a fantasy scam, the production last year, but he's at least again, like a credible, like you're not, it's not embarrassing to have.

64:34It's a little bit embarrassing to be like this.

64:37We're, we're walking into this season with this guy as a starter, but that's where the Cardinals are right now.

64:42But like, he's not right. He's not a, it's not Desmond Ritter, you know, sorry.

64:46Yeah. Whatever. I mean, it's not, yeah. Who's another one?

64:49Hey, Heineken just allows his retirement. Maybe another one.

64:52Yeah. It's one of those. Okay. There we go.

64:54That's something we can agree on. It's not Sam.

64:56It's not Sam Howell. Like, come on. Like, which actually happened.

64:59Washington actually did walk into the season with like, with a straight face.

65:03Ron Rivera talking about, we're going to, we're going to start Sam Howell.

65:07Okay. Good luck. I'm going to take a bazillion sacks, which is actually what happened.

65:11So yeah, I do think that the Cardinals could end up being an interesting team that ends up kind of benefiting from this.

65:17And we do see some of their players really take a step forward.

65:20I'll just quickly read off some of the other teams that you threw out here that I do think are interesting to watch, to monitor Cowboys Giants.

65:28I think Giants will definitely lean into it with Isaiah Likely and Theo Johnson.

65:32I wish their number one wide receiver was healthy.

65:34He is not. Eagles, Bills, Saints. I really like the Saints taking Oscar Delp because they were, they went the other way

65:40of the trend last year where they, they had a 34% increase in terms of their plays with three plus receivers on the field last year.

65:47I know they want to spread things out. They want to be that kind of up-tempo offense a little bit where you're

65:53talking about away from the trend, but I think they would like to lean into this a little bit more than they

65:59did last year, which was like stone 0% last year.

66:02Cause Jawan Johnson is to use one of your phrases, a Tino, a tight end and name only.

66:07Yeah. Yeah. I know that's Eli Stowers, Jawan Johnson, Mike Gusecki.

66:10You know, there's only a few of theirs right now.

66:12So it's kind of funny to see them actually still have those roles, but no, I think that's what it is again,

66:18they just want to, I think they just were victims of what their personnel was.

66:22They're just like, all right, these are just playable players.

66:25So we've got to go 11, you know, we've got to get these guys on the field.

66:30So again, it's a way for them to pivot pretty excited to see what the Saints do this year.

66:35You know, shock, I think is a nice kind of at the very least a steady horse.

66:40And I, you know, of course with the Jordan Tyson pick, but no, I know a fan too.

66:45No fans, not perfect. Of course he's considered a bus cause he's a first rounder, but for what his role will probably

66:50be, it's going to help them at least just give them more varied looks with Oscar Delp in there too.

66:56And now Delp doesn't have to be a 40 snap guy right away.

66:59He can be a 15, 20 snap guy right away.

67:02So no, I, I'm excited. I want to see what happens with Alvin Kamara because that's such a weird situation, but the

67:08I know the ETN Devin Neal combo really dig it.

67:11I mean, the run game wise. So I did, I think that's another thing too, is they're trying to boost up their

67:17run game and just help out tower shock and just give him, it's not just much weapons, but more just like, okay,

67:23now the run game could be a little bit more varied.

67:26We can get to a little bit more in our offense too, but yeah, I'm glad you brought up the tempo thing

67:32too, because they were on that very early on.

67:34And I, they, we, we talked to some of those guys, but they said it was just like, we were just trying to get simple looks.

67:41We were just trying to, you know, that was, was a rattler in there.

67:45They were just trying to make it simple on ourselves somehow, but they did some cool stuff with it.

67:50So again, they maybe are a team that's, you know, I think they're trying to do some smart things under Kellen Moore.

67:56Yeah. The saints are doing some cool stuff. Yeah.

67:59We like the saints. So we've already kind of that.

68:02We've been hammering that. I think since January that we like, we like this offense.

68:06And this is one that I think is a sneaky one to maybe it's not that sneaky anymore after they took Jordan

68:12Tyson, but a sneaky one to invest in from a fantasy standpoint.

68:15I do like them getting dealt in the mix here.

68:18Whether he becomes, yeah, that long-term tight end sleeper or not.

68:21I do think it's going to allow them to get into more of these heavier personnel looks and just be more varied.

68:27They were very, very static last year. Not, not static from like in the bad way, but just like they just did

68:33the same thing kind of over and over again.

68:35So we'll see what happens there, but let's get into the part of the conversation.

68:39We'll wrap it up here with what I'm really excited to talk about.

68:43And that is which wide receivers end up benefiting from this, because this is why like, yeah, I can as a, as

68:49a, as a straight up football guy. Yeah. Of course I love this.

68:52I love this revolution, the whole deal, of course.

68:55But I said, I think I said this to you at some point over the last few years that, you know, people

69:01always talk about like all the Rams heavier personnel, heavier personnel.

69:04It's like, yeah, they're putting those tight ends on the field to like control the flats while they hammer Puka Nakua with

69:10the bajillion in breakers over and over again. Like this is about the wide receivers here.

69:14And this does bear out in the data. This from Ryan Heath of fantasy points data, who just had a good, really good article on this.

69:21I would encourage people to check it out, but wide receiver efficiency.

69:24When there's two or fewer wide receivers on the field, they see a 16 percentage point increase in their targets per route

69:30run, a 35% increase in their yards per route run and a 32% increase in their fantasy points per route run.

69:36Whereas tight ends two or a few wide receivers on the field versus three or fewer wide receivers on the field.

69:42They only see a 2% increase in targets per route run, 11% increase in yards per route run and 20% of fantasy points per route run.

69:49So again, just really the targets per route yards per route.

69:52The receivers are the ones that benefit from this.

69:54So as we talked about the JSN example with the highest target share of the last 10 years.

69:59So again, we've talked about all these different teams, Nate, give me one wide receiver that you think can real like you,

70:05you think like, okay, this team's going to lean into it.

70:08It's going to be good. We have confidence in it.

70:11It's going to be good. Like which receiver benefits from this?

70:14We've hinted at a few, but give me one that you think here.

70:17Yeah. I wrote down five kind of varied names.

70:20Some have already had hit highs, but I'm going to go Chris Olave.

70:23I know it's kind of one of your dudes too, but Chris Olave, we just talked about the Saints maybe because it's just on my mind.

70:30But if we get into some of these two tight end looks like he has a full route tree available to him

70:36and imagine him on some of those in breakers.

70:39Maybe you don't want him over the middle and getting his head hit another time.

70:43But you also get a lot of outbreakers. You get some corner routes.

70:46So you get some out routes stuff that Tyler Shuck's pretty comfortable throwing as well.

70:51But you can get some more verticalness to his, you know, kind of his receiving profile.

70:55The Saints O-line is dang good. Like that's a top 10 O-line.

70:58I would even say maybe even a little higher than that.

71:01So why I'm bringing that up is if we get some more play action, if we get some more two tight end

71:07looks, what Kellen Moore has done in the past, that creates more vertical opportunities for Olave and Jordan Tyson, of course.

71:13But Olave, of course, obviously is at thousand yard receivings.

71:16But I think maybe it just takes that bigger leap where it's more into that like explosives into racking up big plays and big weeks, week after week.

71:23So I know he's already taking a little bit of a leap.

71:26And I know that's not a new name, yada, yada, yada.

71:29But I think he maybe takes that next big leap because this offense kind of gives him more of those opportunities.

71:35I think, yeah, if you want to go with who's the JSN, like I'm not saying maybe those highs, but like his

71:41route profile fits that type of offense perfectly. So if they can lean into that where he's just intermediate vertical guy.

71:47Yeah, I mean, he's one guy. I know that's kind of a basic name to bring up, but maybe just one that

71:53I could really do is going to fit this perfectly.

71:56But I'm glad you brought that up because I think the instinct for people be like, oh, he's a regression candidate because

72:02he's likely not going to get he's not going to might not get 156 targets again this year.

72:06But the efficiency of those targets might increase, like the verticality of those targets might increase.

72:11That already kind of happened in the back half of the year with Tyler Shuck anyways, whereas with Spencer Rattler is just

72:17like quick out, quick out, quick out, quick out over and over again.

72:20And then they already started hitting him on more of those big in breakers and the deeper out patterns with Tyler Shuck anyway.

72:27So I think that's a good one to sort of like I still have Chris Olave.

72:31Oh, I was going to say to me, I think there's sometimes a miss, you know, misattribution.

72:36I'm butchering words right now, but where a route runner is only the quicker is better for the route runner.

72:41A route runner, you want to let him unfold on his route.

72:44You want to let him break multiple times. And why I'm bringing that up is Olave, I think, is an excellent route runner.

72:51And now you get let him what he did at Ohio State and what he's done in his career and hinted at his career.

72:57Let him break multiple times and that way get to the intermediate areas.

73:01And it's just juicier for him rather than slants and outs and quits.

73:04That's not his game. His game is kind of let him go.

73:07Let him break guys off on routes because I think he's an exquisite route runner.

73:11So that's why I kind of want to break that up and why maybe I brought the JSN comparison is that it's

73:17like let him unfold on the routes because that's what his gift is as a receiver.

73:22Yeah, I mean, the JSN is a great example.

73:24I've said this a lot, but he was the best receiver in the NFL last year at Lion to defensive backs where

73:30he'd be telling them like I'm breaking in, I'm breaking out, I'm breaking out, I'm breaking in with his head in that intermediate area.

73:37And you do need some time to let those routes really unfurl.

73:40That's a good way. Like unfurl is a really good way of saying it by you to the point.

73:45Yeah, it's like that. I would say it's like quick twitch like stuff.

73:49That's great for tick tock. But like I want you really run it.

73:52We're on a routes with intention and don't waste any time at those break points.

73:56So you really let a guy like Chris Olave do that.

73:59We saw JSN. I still have Chris Olave ranked inside my I think my top 12 wide receivers this year.

74:05It's in May. Nobody's accountable to your rankings yet.

74:07I will probably keep that pretty consistent throughout. But two other guys, two other players I think that are worth talking about

74:13in terms of that sort of archetype there of the route runners who you really want to let unfurl.

74:18One, we've said his name a couple of times so far, but I think Ladd Vukanki fits into this exact same archetype

74:24of player where his best stuff to me, Nate, is in that intermediate area.

74:28The digs, the outs. And they tried to like Greg Rowan actually was pretty good at weaponizing him off like motion and

74:34especially on the out cuts and stuff like that.

74:37But you know what is tough when you're that type of receiver when your quarterback doesn't have any pass protection.

74:42That could be a little bit difficult. And you're in these spread looks and you don't have extra blockers in the box to kind of help out.

74:49We'll see about the health of the offensive line.

74:52Of course, that's a big part of this. But I do think structurally and hopefully those tackles are healthy.

74:57They can't be less healthy than they were last year.

75:00So I know that's our buddy Charles McDonald says that's the worst thing to say.

75:04It can't get worse. It could get worse. I guess you never know.

75:07But hopefully if they're healthier along the offensive line structurally, I think this is setting up to be a big, big, big year.

75:14Like I think Ladd McConkie is the most obvious bounce back candidate in the NFL.

75:18I think so, too. And you bring this up all the time, but condensed splits and this offense loves condensed splits.

75:23And for a guy that I think is a, you know, I get why he gets pigeonholed as maybe just a crafty slot guy.

75:30I get it. I know what Ladd McConkie looks like, but he's very good on the outside as well.

75:35And a guy that is a plus plus route runner at the various little plus route runner, you want to give them

75:41the whole field to work with so they can stem.

75:44And I mean, that's where JSN. So a guy that can be valid from the slot or the outside using those condensed

75:50splits when you're in two tight end looks or even three tight end looks, it's going to let them use the whole field as a route runner.

75:57So you kind of it's kind of a hybrid.

76:00You know, it's kind of the slop. It's also kind of the outside when you're using those kind of condensed splits.

76:05And so that's where I think Ladd is just going to cook.

76:09My comparison for him has always been Emmanuel Sanders.

76:11That's what it was as a prospect. That's what is in the NFL.

76:15And I think this offense will let him just flourish.

76:17And even even the auxiliary guys like Quinn Johnson, like actually will fit this offense decently just because they're going to have

76:23him run just on end breakers and just let him go.

76:26And like there's going to be some yak opportunities for him.

76:29So even if he's not always getting the ball, I actually think that personnel works decently.

76:34But yeah, I think Ladd's going to cook in this offense.

76:37Absolutely going to cook. So he's a major one here.

76:39Yeah, no, no pen meter. We are we're going to eat.

76:42We're not eating the pen for Ladd McConkie this year.

76:45He's he's going to smash. No question about that.

76:48That's a good throwback joke to last season. Let's just talk about the Bears guys here.

76:52Okay. Because like you mentioned unfurling as a route runner.

76:55Listen, I do think Roma Junze fits really well in this archetype of player as well.

76:59Like his stuff to me is really he's got to catch the ball.

77:03He's got to have better feel for zone coverage.

77:05I do think it's not like been terrible. The zone coverage stuff.

77:08It's just been like average ish. And I think it can be better.

77:12And he certainly can be better from a contested catch standpoint this year than last year.

77:16There's no question about that. But I mean, this is again is already a proof of concept for this team last year out of 12 personnel.

77:23Luther Burden 21.3 yards per game. Roma Junze 18 yards per game.

77:26Obviously wasn't healthy in the back half. And this is something that I think people again just keep misunderstanding about this Bears.

77:32These two Bears receivers and everything like that. Last year in the games I tracked for reception perception.

77:37Luther Burden was only in the slot on 37% of his snaps.

77:41He was in the backfield. It's like a motion guy at 5.6%.

77:44He was off the line of scrimmage for 54% of his snaps.

77:47So more in that like Z archetype of receiver than a true slot.

77:51A Dunze was 53% on the line of scrimmage in the slot for 29%.

77:55And in the backfield again as that motion guy for like 6% of his snaps.

77:59Like I think we pigeonhole like Burden's the slot guy and a Dunze is the X.

78:03Like yeah, a Dunze kind of was a little bit more X-ish when he returned from the injury.

78:08But he even said to us at the Super Bowl in our interview like he was pretty out of sync because of

78:14all the missed practice and stuff like that. I wonder if they just kind of stuck in there a little bit sacrificial stuff.

78:20But we'll see what that looks like. But from a role perspective early in the year last year like this guy is

78:26moving all across the formation like running routes is the insert player up the line of scrimmage.

78:31That's where some of that backfield snaps come from here.

78:33So I love both these Bears wide receivers. I think they both fit well in like unfurling the routes as you mentioned there.

78:40But so yeah, like both of these guys I think are going to be huge beneficiaries of having more tight ends on the field.

78:46The hardest part is actually a good thing for them is that on Dunze and Burden are good blockers, which I already hinted at earlier.

78:53But that makes it harder for me to predict.

78:55If one of them was an easily better blocker, I would just be like, yeah, him.

79:00That's the one that they're going to put on the field.

79:03But both of them are good. Like they were legit or good.

79:06And Dunze expected to be. Burden is way better.

79:09I mean, I'm telling you, it was one of the most pleasant surprises because I'm like even looking right now as you're

79:15talking, I was looking this up for the lines under Ben Johnson when they were in 13 personnel or when they had one or fewer receiver.

79:22I'm on Ross St. Brown got the most snaps.

79:24Obviously, he's the best receiver, but it like wasn't even close.

79:27It wasn't like, you know, Jameson Williams had a decent amount of snaps, but it was like St.

79:32Brown. We're getting him on the field. Like, you know, and like he's our best receiver and he's our best blocker, you know, but I was curious.

79:39I was like, did he put Khalif Raymond? I remember when they did have a tell when Khalif Raymond was on the field, it was a shot play.

79:47Like it was kind of a, you know, hey, we're getting him on the field for a reason.

79:52Yeah, here we go. He had Khalif Raymond was on the field for 10 snaps of 13 personnel.

79:57He got the ball on four of those. So, yeah, he was kind of in there for a reason.

80:02But I do think both of these guys fit this perfectly.

80:05I think you usually go with the X that can be a power slot type.

80:09To me, that's in Dunze. A burden, I think, is one of these, a Z, a really good one that can play in the slot as well.

80:16They're just different types. But either one is valid, which makes it hard to predict.

80:20And I always go back to your kind of piece of advice sometimes.

80:24And this maybe was the Packers discussion when you can't really predict which guy bet on the quarterback, the guy throwing the

80:30ball to him and reap the benefits from it.

80:32So, like, that's to me, my fantasy advice is like, ah, I'd probably go Loveland and Caleb more than the two receivers, you know, as opposed to that.

80:40But man, it's in a good football sense. Both of these guys are going to fit great in this.

80:45Predicting it. Fantasy terms is really hard. So long way to stall to say, yeah, I'm excited to see you watch it all play out.

80:52Yeah. The funny part is last year in 13 personnel, DJ more 53, 53 snaps at a 13 personnel.

80:57You got the most. So it's like, yeah, he got the most because he was the shot play guy.

81:02He's the vertical. Yes. He was the sacrificial player in this offense, which is why he's not there anymore because they weren't

81:08going to play $20 million to the sacrificial player in the offense.

81:12So the role is. That's true. Bills definitely could get more as somebody that's going to be so fascinating to debate.

81:17And like a reason I haven't really talked about it much on the show is I honestly have no idea what to

81:23really expect from him this year, but they could lean into this for sure.

81:27You know, who's a random one I want to throw out here because we mentioned the team, the giants, Malachi fields.

81:33He's like perfect for talk about it. Yeah, he's what I mentioned.

81:36The X that could be a power slot. That's perfect for that's the ideal guy you want 13 personnel because we mentioned

81:42like, okay, having a guy like Colson Love one that could be a tight end, but also split out receiver.

81:47That's it's the inverse of that with the receiver.

81:50That could be the ISO guy, but also can be a valid blocker if we want to get into funkier looks and invert the guys fields.

81:57I think is great. They're talking them up highly.

81:59If you've noticed, I love him. They love him.

82:02They love him. Did you see the draft call between him and like the draft call between him and John Harbaugh?

82:08Number one, like there was a there was a clip that was going around where Harbaugh said to Joe Shane, which again

82:14shows you who's wearing the pants in that relationship as we all knew.

82:17But like, I think right after they took Francis Malinoa, John Harbaugh said to Joe Shane, like, all right, now we got

82:23to start figuring out how we're going to trade up for Malachi fields.

82:27That wasn't the first that was in the first round.

82:29And then like they did trade up for him on date.

82:32They they did trade up for him and Harbaugh was on the phone with him.

82:36It's like, see, we said God would make this happen.

82:39God. I mean, God is involved here. Nate, God is involved with getting Malachi to the Giants.

82:44And yeah, like obviously we're showing on the screen, we're showing Malik neighbors on the screen.

82:48Neighbors is going to, I mean, he's, we'll see what he looks like.

82:52We'll see what he plays. I don't know. But I totally agree with this.

82:56Like I keep forgetting that they signed Chris Manhurts, who's like literally an extra offensive lineman.

83:00They have two, like Theo Johnson can play in line.

83:03Isaiah likely is the, you know, tight ended name only.

83:05And yeah, man fields. I've really warmed up a lot post.

83:08And then, yeah, they got Pat Ricard. Like I think I liked fields as a receiver.

83:13I think more than a lot of people did, especially in the fantasy space.

83:16Um, he, he's never going to be like a great separator, I think down the field against man coverage, but you see

83:22the former quarterbackness to his game, his high school quarterback in the Charlottesville area.

83:26Uh, and he is a, is a zone. He's so good against zone coverage.

83:30He knows how to read leverage. He knows, especially on curls and stuff like that.

83:34So, and his route tree fits Jackson dart really well, even if it's just like contested catch.

83:39He's so good on the stop routes and dart loves to throw those like stop routes in the boundary.

83:44So yeah, fields. I've really, um, I, I think he, I love that you brought him up here because he does fit

83:50in this sort of, uh, in this sort of zone.

83:53The giants I've really kind of there. I'm very curious to watch them first off, but it's just the field.

83:58I am with you in the fields. I think we were kind of in lockstep on fields, but I think we kind of graded them the same.

84:05We liked some of the aspects. We both thought that he could be a power slot type.

84:10I actually, I think even before the draft, I compared him, maybe like you hope that you can be like a Jawan Jennings type.

84:17Um, I, I think, but I actually have kind of merited more and kind of liked him more.

84:21Maybe it was because I was watching CJ car, their quarterback.

84:24And it's like, when you take like a breath and you're not just focusing, I'm like, man, fields really did, did have some nice plays in this game.

84:32I just didn't like really kind of give them that tip of the cap or I'm watching a couple more in order to aim games.

84:39But I agree. Like, I think he's got some potential to be a real good number two that can do the dirty

84:45work stuff, but also you matches dart a little bit and he just has something to get out of his breaks.

84:51He doesn't like, he just knows how to kind of really run out of them for such a big player.

84:56So there is something to him. Yeah. But anyways, I'm, I like where the giants were kind of getting at with their

85:02run game and what these auxiliary blockers is. I'll call them.

85:05You mentioned the tight ends, man hurts the O Johnson record and all that.

85:09Like we'll see with scataboo if he's healthy, but man, if I like him, if he's healthy, because I think they're going

85:15to pound the rock and they got the means to do so.

85:18And fields is a part of that. Yeah. I love that.

85:21The fields stuff there. And I agree. Their, their run game is one that's really going to be interesting.

85:26If we consider looking at some of these personnel packages, stuff like that.

85:30One more kind of like obvious guy that already is going to be really highly ranked and everybody knows is good.

85:36But I mentioned the Texans earlier. I think Nico Collins is a receiver who could really benefit from this because I'm written down right here.

85:42I think if you, okay, good. Because we already know he's a super efficient wide out.

85:47He's also really good. Disgustingly good really on in the intermediate area, dig routes out routes in the, in that kind of zone.

85:53And I do think they'll lean more into person, like heavier personnel, stuff like that.

85:57And I mean, Jaden Higgins, I think could be like the blocker in those like looks.

86:01And stuff like that. But I, I do think that again, if tank Dell is healthy, which I have no, I think there's like no shot.

86:08He'll ever be the player that he was in 2023.

86:11It's just been too many injuries, whatever, but he's going to have to play a little bit, but he was a perimeter

86:17player in, in the beginning of his career in 23.

86:20He was not a slot guy. I think people have forgotten this because he's 160 something pounds.

86:25He was like an outside vertical screamer receiver. I think he ends up kind of eating into some of the outside snaps.

86:30Higgins is like a guy who can, I actually liked his reps at Z last year, but can also play in the slot.

86:37Just shouldn't really be an X receiver ever. Knowles a really, really good player as well.

86:41Like he needs to see the field. I think all those guys like rotate and kind of like cannibalize and eat the scraps.

86:47But then Nico's that ISO receiver. Who's on the field all the time over 80% of the snaps, 80% of the routes

86:53and gets like a, a really, really high target share in this offense.

86:57So I don't know. It kind of feels like people in fantasy right now are down on Nico Collins based on an

87:03episode we did recently where I said he was a guy that I thought should be going higher.

87:08And people did not like that take. He's like kind of dropping in dynasty rankings.

87:12I think Nico's in line for a big year.

87:14If he can stay healthy. I do too. And it's not, I know they drafted those receivers from Iowa state last year,

87:20Higgins and Noel, but those are meant to be secondary auxiliary players to Nico Collins.

87:24You know, like there's other receivers that are boosting up the talent, but Nico's the ace like, and these offenses, if it's

87:30going to be two receivers, the traditional X skills set becomes more valued because just the thing, I mean, JSN excelled at

87:36it to an extent that's even more that I couldn't believe, but it's so cool to watch, but that's what Nico's kind

87:42of calling card is he's one of the true guys that can do the X stuff.

87:47Like he can do the stuff that's true on ball.

87:49It doesn't need to be emotion. He can do other stuff too, and move them around.

87:54But if you're going to get into these run formations with two tight ends and wing looks and all that, and I'm

88:00trying to just picture what this offense has done in those looks.

88:03All right. Then the X is that static guy on the ball.

88:06Got to win vertically. Nico could do that. Nico easily do that.

88:10I've seen him do that with Bobby Sloan's offense.

88:12So it's like, all right, cool. So the names that I wrote down were Malachi Fields, Chris Olave, Nico Collins, lad McConkie.

88:18And then if we got to it, I was going to say AJ Brown in the hypothetical, because if they get to

88:24the Patriots with the two, you know, I think he has a bounce back year with that and also going with May and stuff.

88:31But I think Nico Collins is an easy one because I can envision it so easily because he's done it before.

88:36And I think that's what this offense is trying to lean into.

88:39So yeah, I'm glad you brought him up because yeah, I agree.

88:43His stock seems way, way down. And I know he's been banged up and I guess, you know, concussions are scary and

88:49stuff, but man, he's, he's a guy I was considering up there with the elite guys just not too long ago.

88:54Same. No, he's a top fivers. I mean, whether you actually sit down and do the rankings, he is a caliber of

89:00top five receiver talent in the league. And like, I don't, I don't even blink when I say something like that.

89:06Like he's legit. That good. So I love the potential for him to consolidate looks and targets in this office.

89:12Okay. I lied. One, one last, one last one, one last question.

89:15Any lean on who the Jags receiver would be in this situation?

89:18I'm, I'm like, I'm actually kind of warming up and wanting to talk about this receiver room, but like, who, who do

89:24you have the four of the four guys plus the tight ends?

89:27Like who's the receiver that you think could benefit if they lean into this sort of world?

89:32I, my head is saying Jacoby Myers. My heart is saying Parker Washington.

89:36That's, that's where I'm at. And, but the thing of my answer there is BTJ is last, even though BTJ should have been one that's good with that.

89:43They probably, when you go into a one receiver looks, you want the receiver out there that you can trust the most,

89:49which is usually your best receiver, but you can tell the Jags coaches don't trust BTJ and who knows maybe this off season.

89:55It's like, he's earned our, he's earned our trust.

89:58I think if I were to handicap this race, I would say Jacoby Myers would be the favorite, but Parker Washington wouldn't

90:04be that much further behind him because he can do dirty work stuff.

90:07He's got some Twitch to him. He can attack vertically.

90:10He can do all the things that you want in those types of looks.

90:14So I would still say Jacoby because of how good he is as a blocker kind of has that traditional Z skillset

90:20that can kind of work in this. If you just go one receiver looks, but in two receiver looks, he's the ideal Z.

90:26He digs out safeties, all that. So yeah, head answer, Jacoby hard answer, Parker Washington.

90:30But I think BTJ is the one that kind of actually kind of gets hurt by this a little bit.

90:36He is. It's weird because he is the prototypical X, right?

90:39Like of this group. Yeah. You know, Washington's a slot first player.

90:42Myers is a Z slot. Like it should, it should be, it should be Brian Thomas Jr.

90:47It should be, but it is, you're a hundred percent.

90:49He should be easy answer. You're a hundred percent right to acknowledge this, that like he could come in this off season.

90:55He's just way more locked in. Cause like I've started charting him last.

90:59It's just so discouraging, man. Like it's just, it really is.

91:02It's, it's tough. Like the player he was, if he's a player, he wasn't his rookie year.

91:06Like, yeah, he's the answer. But so that, like, I think that guy is still in there.

91:11Like you got to leave the light on for that, but you just have no idea.

91:15So I think that's why it's so hard to handicap and pick like which one of these guys should it be not

91:21to mention, like if you're saying your head, your heart, like maybe this is my, like I'm talking out of my butt with this.

91:28But like, I mean, Travis Hunter, I think could even be like the explosive element of this.

91:33Like, Oh, where are we finding plays to put him on offense?

91:36Like, Oh, when we get into 13 or 12 personnel, like we need somebody to rip it in that intermediate area, which

91:42he was starting to really come along in that downfield route running kind of zone at that point before he got hurt last year.

91:48This is where we find the ways to sprinkle him in because I think what we've seen from this weird internet war

91:54about where is he going to play? Like everybody from the team says like his offensive snaps are his corner snaps are going up.

92:01And I do think that we all know that his corner snaps are going up, but they still say he's going to play on offense.

92:08It probably won't be as a full-time player. Like I do think this, what we saw last year with the Packers, that's

92:14the room I keep coming back to. This was the route percentage for the Packers last year, Romeo Dobbs, 74%.

92:19Everybody else is under 50%. I don't think it's going to be that exaggerated in Jacksonville, but because they got to find

92:25ways to get all four of these guys on the field because they want to get these tight ends out there.

92:31It could be one of these rotating situations. Like there is a chance again, that we get into 13 personnel looks heavy personnel packages.

92:37This is where we put Travis Hunter on the field as opposed to like kind of the Mickey Mouse stuff that they

92:43were doing at the beginning of last year that really wasn't working at all for anybody.

92:48No, I, this is where you get into what I mentioned with like Cleve Raymond.

92:52That that's always been another thing with 13 personnel.

92:54And also the Falcons did, and I always blanking on his name.

92:57I feel like this is the third time I've brought this guy up in the last like a year or last like month.

93:04In the 2016, that small speedy receiver for the Falcons.

93:06Taylor Gabriel. Yeah. Thank you, Taylor Gabriel. But when they would get into 13, they would get into heavy personnel looks.

93:12Okay. We're guaranteeing that we're getting base defense and then, and we're getting our team certain coverages and they would run deep

93:18shot plays to whoever the speedy receiver was. That's how Cleve Raymond was used actually in Tennessee as well.

93:23When they had Corey Davis and AJ Brown. So why I'm bringing that up is that that's a great way to spoon

93:29feed package play Travis Hunter and to not make it.

93:32So it's just running choice routes every single time he's on the field.

93:36So it's okay. When we're in 13 personnel, we'll call it 13 personnel, Travis, and I'm dead serious.

93:40This is how teams do it. 13, Travis, 13, Travis.

93:43All right. Travis is out there as the lone receiver and he has like two plays that he has to know.

93:49And that's how you do the package plays. That's how you do it.

93:52And I can envision that pretty easily. So like, yeah.

93:55Yeah. And if you look at their other receivers, none of those guys are, I mean, Thomas in a perfect world would

94:01be that, but Hunter is their guy. That's Cohen's guy.

94:04That's glad he's guy. He's still the best. I mean, listen, listen, people can ignore me, whatever.

94:08When I talk about Travis Hunter, all they want, whatever.

94:11I don't care. He's their best, like just man coverage receiver.

94:14I'm not talking about like separator. I'm not talking about like route running being at the depths of it.

94:19He has a long way to go in terms of like zone coverage and stuff like that, based on what we saw at the beginning of last year.

94:27But if we're just talking about like, there's a guy across from you, like this is, this is a base big ass defense over there.

94:34The guy that's going to separate the best is still the guy they took second overall in last year's draft.

94:39So yeah, I'm with you on that. That, that could be a really interesting way to like actually sprinkle him in as that package player.

94:46I mean, I'm looking even at another, oh, here's a modern comparison.

94:49Maybe Marvin Mims for the Broncos when they go one receiver looks all Marvin Mims shot play guy.

94:54Like, there we go. Launch him to Marvin. But that's a way to use a package player, quote unquote, in a more real receiver sense.

95:01But it's kind of fun actually, because they usually could lead to some big plays.

95:05And I was looking it up just curious as we've been talking.

95:08I was like, all right, one receiver looks like who kind of ran the most routes and weird is typically the best receivers.

95:15I'm trying to get them out there. But Chris Olave, 60% target share on 20 snaps when he, when he was on one receiver looks.

95:21So there was one right there. But no, it's, it's typically some of the best players usually getting those big snaps, but then, yeah.

95:28And then you get some kind of like shot play type of guys, Chamari DK for the Titans, you know, guys like

95:34that, that are just, Hey, you're out here, run post routes, run a deep corner and get off the field.

95:39And that's what we're going to do with that.

95:42Jalen Waddle has had a ton of receivers. Rashid Chied had a ton of receiver snaps where he was the only one

95:48out there because, Hey, you're going to be the vertical guy on this shot play.

95:52So there's a role to that. Yeah. Receivers that had over 60 yards in 13 personnel looks last year, obviously the massive gap here.

95:58Pukanekua, 341. Yeah. Yeah. He was the gap. DK Metcalf, 159.

96:01I feel like one of those had to be just like that one catch and run play.

96:06I don't know. 159. Another gap. Devante Adams, 96.

96:09Rashid Chahid, 87. Michael Wilson, 78. Zay Flowers, somebody we probably should have talked about somewhere along the way.

96:14Zay Flowers has already been, literally already been this guy.

96:16And like now, Declan Doyle's coming in there. Chris Olave, 70.

96:19Marvin Harrison, 66. That's interesting. Darnell Mooney, 65. And then I mentioned it earlier.

96:23DJ Moore, 61. Those are the only guys at the receiver position that ever 60 yards.

96:28And just because I mentioned DJ Moore again, because you keep saying the name Kalief Raymond, I do just want to know,

96:34like we talked about the Bears receivers and those 13 personnel.

96:37Kalief Raymond is literally on the Bears roster. So like there's, he's literally on the roster and they drafted Xavier and Thomas,

96:43who I think is Kalief Raymond 2.0 for Ben Johnson.

96:45So there is a chance that in the great wars that is a Dunzee versus Burden and like, okay, which one's going

96:51to be, it could be one of those two dudes is the 13 personnel receiver, which would just be a hilarious twist.

96:57It kills me that Ben Johnson, who obviously you can see his fingerprints all over who the Bears draft on offense, especially

97:03that he's like, I need my colleague, Freeman. You know what?

97:06Let's get Kalief Raymond. And I'm going to draft another guy that reminds me of Kalief Raymond.

97:11He's like, no, no, I, I went a year without him and I want him on my roster.

97:16I look at it. I look. Yeah. That's a great way to put it.

97:20You know, speaking of our guys, another one that was heavily targeted on 13 or one receiver, fewer looks, Trey Tucker.

97:25I got mentioned Trey Tucker. There you go. Because that's another, another perfect guy that could take the top off on that.

97:31But no, yeah, I'm glad you brought up Kalief Raymond again, being on the Bears, because that could throw a nice little wrench into our whole discussion there.

97:39Just draft Colson Loveland. That's my advice. Just draft Colson Loveland, draft Caleb Williams.

97:43But I'm going to try to pick a Bears receiver.

97:45I mean, listen, you don't, you can like, but I said this yesterday on Twitter.

97:49I've done the research. The reception perception R&D team has been deep in the weeds on this one.

97:54You are actually allowed to like two receivers from one team.

97:57You are actually allowed. You are allowed. You are.

98:00It's like Michael Wilson. I like Marvin Harrison, Jr.

98:02I like both of them. I like multiple Colts receivers.

98:05Shocking. I like both of them. There we go.

98:07There we go. Perfect. Okay. Nate, I think we exhausted this conversation.

98:11Although I have to write an article. I have to write an article about this next week, too.

98:16So we'll talk more. But I'll talk more about these receivers that could benefit in these personnel packages and unpack that a little bit.

98:22But before we go, got to let you guys know that the all new 2026 soccer pick them game is here just

98:28in time for the world's biggest soccer tournament. That's right.

98:31Make picks each round, earn points and climb the leaderboard.

98:34You play solo. You can create a private league with your friends and also join a public group to play with other

98:40fans or even join our Yahoo Sports group to see if you can beat us.

98:44Join at Yahoo Fantasy dot com slash soccer. Pick them.

98:46Nate, hell of a show. Appreciate you joining me.

98:49What else are you working on? Besides, I saw the quarterback show was what, an hour 47, something like that?

98:54Yeah, it was two hours. I would have got longer, too.

98:57I would have pushed that. I would have pushed that to two and a half if I had a choice.

99:03But I need people to lock me down, especially if I'm doing one show a week.

99:07I got a lot of pent up thoughts. No.

99:09So, yeah, thanks for letting me spill on here.

99:12No, but I, yeah, one show a week. You'll be on next week.

99:15Hopefully we're going to do a nice little skill player draft, which I'm excited about.

99:20Yeah. Not just receivers, but running backs and tight ends, too.

99:23And also I'm writing about units like improved units or units of the season, you know, kind of units that can decide the season.

99:29So Chargers tight ends are actually one of the ones I'm talking about.

99:33Patriots tight ends are another Patriot pass catchers are another.

99:35But yeah, kind of prep some thoughts today on this show for that article.

99:39So I appreciate it. Well, somewhere along the way in the hour 40 plus we've been talking.

99:44Hopefully you got something good there for that article.

99:46Hopefully there was something useful for the people out there, too.

99:49I really enjoyed this show. That's going to do it for us today.

99:53Reminder, folks, we are one pod a week through mid-July.

99:55This show is going to hit your feed Wednesday afternoon.

99:58Next Wednesday, Justin Boone is back joining the show live at 2 p.m.

100:02Eastern. We will see you all then. Until then, we are out.

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