Fantasy Football Daily - Add These Players BEFORE Week 1! Preseason Waiver Wire Adds You Can’t Miss

Episode Date: September 1, 2025

Use code SCOREMORE10 at checkout for 10% OFF any subscription. Dominate your league. Win more bets. Level up your game Theo Gremminger, Joe Dolan, and Tom Brolley team up for Fantasy Football Daily to deliver your ultimate preseason waiver wire guide. With Week 1 looming, the crew highlights MUST-add stashes across every position—backs like Jacory Croskey-Merritt, Ollie Gordon, and Keaton Mitchell; wideouts such as Isaac TeSlaa, Elic Ayomanor, and Jalen Coker; plus tight end sleepers Harold Fannin Jr. and Mason Taylor. They also dive into QB vibes on Michael Penix, Bryce Young, and Cam Ward. Whether you’re enforcing price in competitive leagues or digging for deeper stashes like Adonai Mitchell or JT Sanders, this episode has the players who can tilt your roster before the season kicks off. Where to find us: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://twitter.com/TheOGFantasy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://twitter.com/⁠⁠TomBrolley http://twitter.com/FGDolan ⁠⁠ Join the Discord here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.fantasypoints.com/media/discord#/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe to Fantasy Points for FREE: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.fantasypoints.com/plans#/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Podcast Transcription Here: https://podsqueeze.com/embedded/transcript/4DPvE8mAcKnT9ZVCbF44vN Fantasy Points Website - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.fantasypoints.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ NEW! Data Suite - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://data.fantasypoints.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Twitter - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/FantasyPts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Facebook - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/FantasyPts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/FantasyPts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ TikTok - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@fantasypts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ #FantasyFootball #2025Rankings #FantasyFootballAdvice #NFL Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When you're flying Emirates business class, relaxing in an exclusive airport lounge, you'll see that your vacation isn't really over until your flight is over. Fly Emirates, fly better. When planning for life's most important moments, sometimes the hardest part is simply knowing where to start. That's why we're here to help. When you pre-plan and prepay a celebration of life with us, every detail will be handled with simplicity and professionalism, giving you the peace of mind that you've done all you can today to remove any burden from your loved ones tomorrow.

We are your local Dignity Memorial provider. Find us at DignityMemorial.ca. The Dignity Memorial brand name is used to identify a network of licensed funeral cremation and cemetery providers owned and operated by affiliates of Service Corporation International. Which players should you add before week one? We're talking preseason waivers. Theo Greminger, Fantasy Football Daily on the Fantasy Points Podcast Network. Join today by Joe Dolan and Tom Brawley. We're going to be doing this every single week reacting to the news and laying out your waiver wire ads for each and every week. But this one's really important, guys. Leagues are starting earlier and earlier.

Leagues are starting as early as May. And every single player that we are going to discuss today is available at least in one of my leagues. So for all of you not in my league, bro, some of these guys are in fact available in my leagues, bro. Let's start it out, though, guys. Jacori Kroski Merritt. This is the biggest name on a lot of people's preseason waiver wires. Joe, we were in some dynasty leagues where he even fell through the cracks. If you're in a standard redraft league, what are we thinking for JCP? And Kroski Merit has steamed up to like round seven, round eight in leagues like the

FFPC and FFC. So we're talking about seventh, eighth round value right now in redraft. What sort of fab bid would you be putting on Jacori Kroski Merritt in like a standard league? You're putting me on a spot here, Theo. I have to say, I'd probably say like 30 to 35%. I'm interested to hear what your opinion is on this. Because, you know, one of the things that I tweeted last week when the Brian Robinson trade went down was I feel like we've missed our window to draft to Corey Kroski-Marrett, right?

because that I think everybody saw the Brian Robinson trade as confirmation that Jacori Cross Camaritan and it might well be confirmation that he is ready to come in and take over this backfield and do an Alfred Morris 2012 and approach the you know be a number one running back as a last round pick and he got kind of juiced up and while everybody just left Austin Echler exactly where he was and left Chris Rodriguez on the waiver wire as well. I feel like I'd be comfortable putting it. out a 35% bid with the assumption that I'm going to get out bid at that. And going to where I think in some league, he's probably going to go for like 60, 65, 70%,

percent, sight unseen for a seventh round rookie, that's a pretty tough sell for me. It might end up being the right move. But for me, sight unseen, that's a pretty tough sell. So I'm probably going a little bit more conservative with the assumption. that I'm probably going to get out bid if I do. So you would say it's a price enforcement, Joe? Yeah, yeah, I think so. Like, I mean, I want the player, but I am just like,

I don't know how comfortable I should be. I had some commanders, I was on a commanders focus fantasy podcast, and those guys were telling me right now, like, the hype is real, but there's also a real chance he opens the season as the number three running back behind Eckler and behind Chris Rodriguez. that is within the range of outcomes. Yeah, I was going to say closer to 45 to 50%, especially, I mean, it all kind of depends on the build of your team.

If you are stacked at running back, obviously, I wouldn't go nearly that high. But maybe you went with more of a wide receiver build earlier in your drafts and are looking for maybe that breakout type of player at running back. I would be a little bit more aggressive. And I think a common mistake, just doing waiver wire content for the last decade or so, I think people need to be more aggressive early in the season with their fab budget. If there's a player that you really want, you know, spend a little bit more. You don't want to be the guy in the middle of the season.

It's week eight or nine and you got, you know, 95% of your budget still left. So there's no guarantee that a player better than Jacori-Krosky Merritt is going to come along on the waiver wire. So I'm a little bit more aggressive early in the season. And I like a lot of what I've seen here from the camper. ports. There's been a constant drumbeat all offseason long here. We don't, you know, Chris Rodriguez feels like a jag. Austin Echler is toward the end of his career. I would be more on the aggressive side here, closer to 50%. Yeah, I'm with you, Tom. And I think like when we try to go with historical comps, like I think, Joe, you nailed it. The Alfred Morris one is the dream for

commanders fans. You know, back when they were the Redskins, Alfred Morris had that unblembrose. believeable rookie year alongside Robert Griffin was the sixth round pick. So it's sort of parallels are there. And then when we look at these sort of waiver wire wonders, James Robinson was sort of in the same bag a few years back for Jacksonville. For me, I think that Jacori Crosky Merritt's rookie year is going to end up looking a little bit more like Philip Lindsay's rookie year. Like not quite the steam of a James Robinson, but a really impactful player that can give us like RB2 numbers. I completely agree with you, Tom, on the Chris Rodriguez is. just a guy. And I think that they like him organizationally. I know Eric Bienemy certainly loved

him. But he's a guy that I think we'll get a couple carries week one, week two, as sort of a veteran's deference. And then they'll move on to JCP. So I'm with you. I think if you want JCP, you have to spend north of 60%. And I think if you are like Joe, I think that in your and you don't necessarily, you know you're probably not going to get them. You still absolutely have to price and force them. And if you end up getting them for 40 percent, that's not going to mess you up. And Tom, like expand on that one because I've talked to a number of really sharp people. And I've always said that week one is usually the most important waiver wire run of the season because we always have so many names. NFL teams lie to us all the time.

They actually tell us the truth in week one. So I think week zero, week one. And then usually week two, we also have some maybe a guy gets a snapshot in week one that we're apprehensive about adding the snapshot holds up for two straight weeks. So talk a little bit about early season waiver wire strategy for you. Yeah, I think it's important to be aggressive. If there's anything that we kind of missed in the preseason, and you got to use that priority, you got to use the fab budget, go out there and get players that look good in week one,

and the usage is there. It's getting more and more difficult with the preseason. We don't get a lot of, you know, views of these players. We don't get to see how they're being used quite as much. A lot of teams are resting players. So, you know, there is a little bit more cloudiness around situations. entering the season than ever before. So I think that's why it's important to be a little bit more aggressive

early in the season. If we get a running back that we weren't expecting to get 60 or 70% of the snaps, that's a spot where you have to go all in and use that top fab, you know, all your fab or, you know, one of the top waiver priority spots. So it's important to be aggressive early in the season. I do want to just comment on that and throw my thought back in here, Theo, because I guess of the three of us, I was the conservative guy on Jacori Kroski-Marrant. But the overall point remains.

Like, I can't believe how many times I get like a tweet or a discord message from somebody in like week 10 who is like, would you be comfortable going 70% of your waiver budget for this guy? And I'm like, dude, it's week 10. When are you going to spend it? Like, you know, how many true league winners have emerged in the middle of the season in the last handful of years? And some of them are handcuffed running backs, okay?

Guys get hurt, you know, in the last couple of weeks. It might be nice to have a few bucks laying around for, you know, when Jamal Williams emerged. I remember that was like 2018 or 19. I think Aaron Jones got hurt and Jamal Williams took over at the end of the season. But Almond Ross St. Brown was a midseason league winner. But most of the true league winners, WaveWire League winners, do emerge in weeks one and two. And that is when you want to. spend your money. And especially like young players, too. If it's like, you know, a rookie or a first or,

you know, a second or third year player, uh, I think it's more important to be aggressive on those players too, early in the season with your bidding. Yeah. And also, like guys, people like back in the day, you'd see guys getting cut. People would get frustrated with the rookie. They'd cut them. Nowadays, like Luther Burden could go out and have three weeks of zeros and no one's cutting him because they know that that's coming. The only guy I could think of like Justin Jefferson was available in some deep leagues when he had his breakout because again, he started out really slowly. But yeah, you're absolutely right.

And if you go down the list, Puka Nakua was a week one guy. It's pretty much week one, week two, and preseason waivers. So you can't take it with you guys. Fab is something where you want to be aggressive with it and not give your leaguemates an opportunity to get a starting running back like Jacori. Kroski Merritt with some upside. Now, let's talk about one more rookie running back who's steamed up. And we're starting to see like this is the late late steam where in FFPC main events, in some NFFC prime times on underdog, Ollie Gordon has steamed up. I've seen him go in the 10th round twice this week.

It sort of reminds me a little bit of the Jordan Mason aggressiveness at the end of last summer where there was people still saying, you know what, I'm drafting Christian McCaffrey. I can get them now at four. I can get them now at five. I was taking them at one overall. And you see the same sort of thing where Miami's saying Devon A. Chan's playing week one. He's going to be fine, but it's a calf injury. It's annoying one. And Ollie Gordon has rushed for over 125 yards in the preseason as a rushing touchdown.

Jalen Wright's now injured. And Jalen Wright rushed for like one and a half yards per carry. So Ollie Gordon 21 years old, had a fantastic season in 2023, was over 2,000 yards from scrimmage at Oklahoma, was like this. looked like he was going to be an early day two pick. Of course, Oklahoma State has this terrible season. Gordon falls all the way down to late day two this past year. But our eyes do not deceive us when it comes to Ollie Gordon. He looks sort of back here, Joe. And now you have a window where he's one injury away from being sort of an every down player for Miami.

Where would you not necessarily put a fab bid, but your enthusiasm levels for Gordon, how aggressive would you be trying to add him? Do you view him as sort of a high-end handcuff. Oh, yeah. And by the way, you said one injury away. Well, Devon A-chan's already dinged up. And they think he's going to be okay week one, but I don't know if we have any proof that Devon A-chan can be a close to 300-touch kind of guy. You know, this is an interesting parallel as well. It did take this particular player time to get going in the NFL. But what the hell do they have in the water in Stillwater, Oklahoma, where they have these guys who are big time running back prospects early in their careers and then become like jags by the end.

I'm of course referring to Chuba Hubbard who was talked about in the same way as Ali Gordon. And then his last college season, he was not very impressive. He comes to the NFL, looks more like the later career Chuba Hubbard. And now all of a sudden he's back to being a bell cow in the NFL. Could Ali Gordon follow some sort of similar career path? Nonetheless, he's doing it on a more accelerated timeline than Chuba hover because he looks better right now.

Olly Gordon's not going to cost you 50% of your fab budget like Jacori Croski Merritt is. He might cost you like 15, 20, but this might be the more realistic player for me to land in my leagues because like I said, Tom, even if you put in like 60% of your fab budget, I think there's a chance you get out bid on Jacori Crosky Merritt. There might be somebody who's going 90% and they're just like, you know, pedal to the medal, let's go. You're not going to have to do that for Ali Gordon. And I think there's a very realistic scenario where Ali Gordon outscores to Cory Cross

Kermit this year. All it takes is Devon A-chan to pull that calf and all of a sudden Ollie Gordon's got his opportunity. Yeah, Joe, go take a look at that Oklahoma State win total this year. Maybe things are just going south all together for Mike Gundy's teams down there. But yeah, and he's going to have some standalone value potentially. There's been a lot of talk about the third downs, you know, short, short, short, you know, yardage situations, goal line situations, that those could be up for grabs. So if you're playing in a format that's non-PPR, you could have some value there. But yeah, this, this H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-S situation, people are getting PTSD from the situation

with Christian McCaffrey last year. We've seen H-H-H-H-H-H-H-D start to fall a little bit here to the back end of the second round. So there's at least a little bit of concern here. We've seen the NBA injuries with the Achilles there. And the depth chart is very thin here. Jalen Wright could be out at least week one, potentially longer than that. And he was a guy that was losing a lot of steam in training camp.

Wasn't really impressing. Bad rookie season as well. They brought in Jeff Wilson for a little bit of depth on the practice squad. So if Devon A-chan goes down, you'd have to think that Ollie Gordon is going to take over most of this work. So, yeah, JCM, Jacori Kroski Merritt, has gotten a lot of the headlines. But Ollie Gordon, maybe for a smaller bid, maybe he can steal him. And he's a great player to stash at the very least. And if this calf injury ends up being something a little bit more,

maybe he becomes an RB2 for you pretty early in the season. Yeah, and Gordon, his ability to sustain volume, he's also a decent pass catcher for a back of his size. and we also have a historical like reference where Mike McDaniel loves using two backs. And he's talked about this, sort of taking the pressure off of Devon Achan. I certainly think with the calf being where it is,

they need Achan to be an explosive play guy. They need to get them out in space. They need to use them as a receiver. You're not going to see Devon Achan on like short yardage situations. You're not going to see him on the goal line. I think that's going to be Olly Gordon right away. So if you have started out, zero RB, here are B. He's a great player to add. And like to sort of echo what Joe said, if your league has

Jacori Crosky Merritt, you're going to get a discount on Ollie Gordon. If your league rostered Jacori Crosky Merritt, Ollie Gordon, I think you want to be a little more aggressive with. We're going to take a quick break. We come back. We're going to talk about a few more handcuff running backs as well as some wide receivers, tight ends, and quarterbacks for you to add before week one's games. What's up? I'm John Hansen. Best ball is back. And it's only at draft Kings and there's 15 million reasons to be excited a 15 million dollar guaranteed prize pool with two millionaires being crowned for first and second place draft kings is offering everyone a draft one get one special your $20 entry fee scores you a bonus ticket download the draft kings app

and use the code PS that's code PS for all customers who enter the NFL best ball 15 million millionaire contest to get a bonus ticket and a shot at being crowned one of two millionaires only on draft kings. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler. In New York, call 8778-8-8-Hope-N-Y or text Hope & Why at 467-369. In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-78-9-77-or or visit ccpg.org. 8-in-over in most eligible states but age varies by jurisdiction.

Eligibility restrictions apply. One per customer. Enter the Best Ball 15 million headliner contest by 9-4-25 to get one bonus entry. $20 entry fee required. Reward expires in 30 days. See terms at draft. Kings.com slash NFL dash best dash ball. Welcome back, Fantasy Football Daily, Theo Greminger, with Joe Dolan, Tom Broly.

Tom, talk about what you do on the site, waiver wire wise, the article that comes out. Yeah, we run a weekly waiver wire article like most fantasy sites, but we go very in depth. We cover, Joe, it's always like 75, 80 players. We try to, you know, have the Yahoo leagues that have like 50% owned, maybe people, People are playing in shallower formats, 18, 10 team leagues. So we cover guys that are owned in a lot of leagues, but maybe in some of those smaller formats are out there. But we go deep too.

You know, if you're playing in a 14 team or a 16 team league, we'll go like 20, 25 players deep at wide receiver and running back positions at times. So, you know, we go really in depth. It's kind of a running article throughout the season. I'll put the first one up starting in week two and always just kind of updating it. And John Hansen likes to jump in there and he'll add some notes and he'll put his top 15 players at the top of the article every Tuesday as well. So, and we're looking forward to talking to you every week here as well talking Waverwire.

We know how important it is. And it's always one of the most read articles on the site every year. So it's a very important one. we get you that first step through the draft here, but maintaining your roster and, you know, just not, you don't want to let it go. And then you look at your bench and you got, you know, three or four players that are doing nothing.

You always want to turn it over and we'll help you do that with the WaverWire article. Yeah, the WaverWire content at Fantasy Points has been fantastic. I'm really, really excited this year to be a part of the team. And I'm going to be doing a second article, which is sort of a deep league. and high stakes waiver wire article. So maybe for the FFPC, NFFC drafter, that's going to come out about the same time,

maybe a little bit later than your call. You can find that all at FantasyPoints.com. And then the three of us, Joe, we're going to get together every single week and we're going to do this podcast, which I think is just going to be really actionable. And Tom, you sort of touched on it. And Joe, I think that when it comes to drafters,

highly successful drafters, they draft their teams different ways. Some people are zero RB, Hero RB, robust RB, some people like to get early quarterback, some people like early tight end, and you could sort of win different ways. But there's one true statement about fantasy football, and it is fantasy managers who are highly successful year and year out continually grind the waiver wire. Yeah, and it's, you just have to look and figure out who are the players who are going to be

added next week, right? Tom is so good at this, by the way. I can't tell you how many times in our 14 team league. It's a college league. It's 50 bucks, but it's still the one we're like the most competitive in that's been going on for 20 years. How many times I have a thought in my head? And I'm like, you know what? That might be pretty smart.

And then I look at the Waverwire and Brawley's already picked up the guy. Like it's just trying to stay a step ahead. Okay. This guy got more snaps last week than he had in weeks previous. What if the starting running back gets hurt now? you know, and kind of rotating those spots and you, those like dead end guys on your bench. I call them the Russell Gages of the world, Theo. And nothing against Russell Gage, but at his peak, Russell Gage was the kind of guy who you

would pick up if you needed a starting wide receiver for the week and you needed four for 40 from that starting just to get some points in your lineup, right? Just to get some calories. It's not a well-cooked meal. But, you know, every now and again, a bag of comments. combos will do the trick if you're on the go. But you don't want to stock your pantry with just a bunch of junk food, right? If you need the junk food, it's out there. Go get it. You want to stock your pantry with really good ingredients. And you know what? If you don't get around to cooking those

ingredients, they do go rotten. But every now and again, you might sit there and say, oh, man, that onion looks really freaking good. I'm going to make some soup. And once that opportunity comes, and then that person really blows up, that that's how you do it. The boring vets, you're going to be able to get those guys in week seven and eight when you have buys. Early in the season, you should constantly be looking for young upside guys. It doesn't matter if you have zeros on your bench. It doesn't because they're on your bench anyway. You should be focusing on having guys who could potentially be 15 or 20 point players.

Joe, I don't think this was the takeaway, but I'm craving some combos right now. But just a little tip here. We'll throw this out in the preseason. But one of my favorite things to do at the end of the week, once injury reports are finalized, players are determined if they're out or if they're playing that week. I'd like to go through all of my teams with IR spots, flip those guys that are out for the week,

put them in the IR spot, and go pick up somebody's handcuff or a player that started to see increased usage the week before. It's a small thing. It's not going to help you that week, but it could help you down the line if you end up picking up that right handcuff. You know, some player gets hurt that week. And you did a little bit of preexisting work.

And then you ended up, you know, with a potential gem of a player from, you know, the waiver wire who, you know, would have been out there the next week if you didn't make that move. So just a little small little tip there heading into the season. Just to remember that every Friday and Saturday. check out who's out for the week and put them on IR and go pick up a player. Yeah, and we don't want to hold roster cloggers. I think that's a great point from Joe. And you talked about having high upside players on your bench.

One of the players who I very much want to roster in a lot of places is Keaton Mitchell. Keaton Mitchell is available in many leagues right now. Baltimore would be one of the teams. If the three of us had to pick, who leads the NFL in scoring this season, Baltimore would probably be in each of our top three. Derek Henry, easily the big dog, one of the highest volume running backs in football. But I would argue that if Derek Henry were to miss a short period of time,

let's call it three, four weeks, Keaton Mitchell would be an incredibly valuable player for us to roster because of how explosive he is, how he can thrive off of high value touches. We saw what he did in 2023 on a smaller sample size. It seems like there's some steam there in Baltimore where Justice Hill seems like the kind of guy that's a roster clogger.

Keaton Mitchell seems like an impactful one. Joe, your thoughts on Keaton Mitchell. Yeah, he's super explosive and he's a different player than Derek Henry, right? But I would think he's going to be the kind of guy who in the event, Derek Henry gets hurt, is going to be more of the leadback than Justice Hill. Like here are some of the games Justice Hill had as a runner last year. We know what he can do as a pass catcher. That role's going to stay.

But here are some of the games he had as a runner, one for three, for two, five for four, two for five, five for 15, two for negative two, three for six, two for seven. Stop a Joe, he's already dead. He started dead. He had a couple where he busted off an explosive run, but the Baltimore Ravens are a run focused team. Justice Hill is not that guy. So if Derek Henry, look, it's the same scenario with Will Shipley in Philly, right? Is the guy who's going to back up the high volume older running back the same player? Absolutely not. but somebody's going to have to stand in there and get those touches. Shipley's a great name to mention as well.

And I'll ask you this, Tom, just when you look at Baltimore, is Keaton Mitchell the fastest Raven on the team right now offensively? I mean, he looked like absolute lightning in the preseason. He might be. They have a bunch of speed on that team, though, Zay Flowers and Lamar Jackson. Derek Henry's not too slow either. I know he's a big guy, but he can absolutely murder,

but yeah, and this is a situation where Derek Henry, We haven't seen any kind of drop off just yet. But what if there is? What if he, you know, he's getting a little bit older. Maybe an injury catches him here. Keaton Mitchell will be put into a big role in this backfield. Justice Hill, I think his role is going to stay exactly the same, no matter, you know, if Derek Henry's in the lineup or out of it.

So Keaton Mitchell would get elevated to that lead runner spot. And we know how potent this offense is. and, you know, Mitchell looked fantastic in the preseason. One of the few takeaways that I really got from the preseason, he looked all the way back. He looked a little sluggish last year coming back from that devastating injury and didn't see a whole lot of playing time. But I would say just looking at the moves or the lack of moves they've made in that backfield, it seems like they have a lot of trust that Keaton Mitchell is close to where he was as a rookie.

Another player sort of fell through the cracks in early draft. was Jerome Ford. Ford had a strong end of the season last year. 2023, he gave us many weeks of RB2 numbers. And this year when Cleveland drafted Quinn Sean Judkins and Dylan Samson in rounds two and rounds four, Ford was a guy that people were sort of like brushing to the side. Ford ended up taking a pay cut. Now, Joe, Jerome Ford, if I need like 10 points, 12 points in week one, Jerome Ford seems like a viable dart throw for drafters sort of start.

struggling at the running back spot. What's your enthusiasm level there? Do you think this is a Dylan Samson's going to kind of do get most of the production in week one? Or do you think that they're going to go with Jerome Ford and what could be a really pass happy game one against the Cincinnati Bengals? You know, it's funny you mentioned Dylan Samson as well because I was going to say Dylan Samson to me seems like kind of the sexy pick, right, in this backfield. But I got to be honest, when you first brought up Jerome Ford Theo, the comparison that was in my mind was Kareem Hunt for the Chiefs last year, just do-do-do-do-do-do, you know,

plotting his way to line scrimmage. I just looked at the numbers, not the case for Jerome Ford. You know, I know yards per carry isn't the end-all be-all, but 5.4 last year. And he also had an explosive run rate of 6.7%. The problem for Jerome Ford is almost all of his rushing yards came from explosive runs, but he can bust over 40% of his rushing yards came from explosive runs,

which we chart as runs of 15%. yards or more. But nonetheless, he gives you a little bit extra burst than I personally thought that he had in his tank. So he could be one of those boring guys early in the season while you wait for maybe an Ali Gordon to assert himself or you wait for like a guy maybe like Woody Marks or we talk about the Houston, I think we'll probably mention the Houston backfield to see how that shakes out because Jerome Ford is a reliable player who they trust. Yeah, he averaged 78 yards from scrimmage last year. Whenever Nick Chub was out of the lineup, they trust him.

Had over four catches per game when Chub was out as well. So very proficient in the past game. As you said, they're playing the Bengals week one, six point underdogs, Joe Flacko's at quarterback. I could see him, at least for PPR, putting up some numbers. And Browns are going to be underdogs quite a bit this season. so early in the year, while this Judkins situation just kind of hangs there. I mean, we've gotten nowhere close to a resolution yet, hopefully in the next couple of weeks,

but we know how the NFL moves with these investigations. And I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if it drags into October. So it's one of those situations where Ford is the most trusted player right there in that backfield right now. I could see Samson getting some opportunities. but Ford could be a reliable guy, at least for the first couple of weeks of the season. Yeah, he's interesting. And it's not necessarily an exciting one,

but it's one that could sort of get us through first two, three weeks of the year if you're really struggling at the RB2 spot or you need sort of a high floor flex play. Let's talk about that Houston backfield. Joe Mixon, a lot of craziness going on, guys. It's one of the weirdest situations. Joe Mixins do not draft list for me,

and I'm sure for many other people listening to this, they have no interest. So let's talk about that backfield. Nick Chubb was drafted in a lot of leagues. We'll leave him alone, sort of a name brand guy. But Woody Marks is available in some of my leagues and Stir the Echoes, Damien Pierce, who a couple of years ago was a red hot name this time of the summer. He's starting to get a little bit of buzz as sort of a, I'm fading Nick Chub, therefore I want this potential Nick Chub replacement. But let's start out with Woody Marks because Joe, you seem pretty excited about this profile. Yeah, that this is like he was a really good receiving back, um, in college of the time. He nearly single-handedly beat Penn State left. Yeah, he was

difficult. He was a difficult tackle in that game. Um, but like Theo, it's simply like, separating the prospect evaluation. It's simply the situation, right? Yeah. Joe Mixon, I mean, I, I, I'd put it at less than 50, 50, 50, even plays this year. Um, my guy down in Houston had told me early in camp, Nick Chubb was not looking particularly good. Uh, and, we know Damien Pierce was on the outs with this staff. Now, Damian Pierce might get a little bit more life given that they're probably going to run some more gap scheme stuff under the new coaching staff. So somebody to keep an eye on.

But I'm just viewing Woody Marks as the youngest, the least flawed back so far, or at least fewest flaws that we've seen because sight unseen is actually appealing to me in this case because I know what we have in Nick Chubb and I know what we have in Damien Pierce and the door number three on let's make a deal because I don't know what's behind it, that's the most exciting one to me. Yeah, and they also traded up to get him. They obviously targeted him. They had to have known a little bit about the mixing situation earlier this spring. They signed Nchob. It was a bizarre time, like right at, you know, right in the beginning of June. So they were kind of starting to realize just how bad the injury was. They traded up for Woody

Marks. Obviously, something in that profile. They really liked. He's running behind Damian Pierce and Nick Chubb, as he said right now, but would anybody be surprised by week four if Woody Marks is the one getting most of the work in that backfield? So we're being a little proactive with, you know, proactive with this one. He's not, he's not a guy I would be playing in the first week or the second week, depending on just how they split up this backfield. But over the long term, he's definitely one of those guys you want to stash at the end to your bench and the mixing situation. I don't think anybody's very optimistic about that one.

Totally with you on that one, Theo. He has been on my do not draft list all summer long. Would not be surprised at all if he does not play this season and potentially for the rest of his career. So, you know, we're looking for that a little bit upside. This is the player they like. Woody Marks could be that guy by October. Yeah.

And it's, if that offensive line is going to be as bad as Scott D. Benedetto is projecting it in our rank. rankings and it's it's pretty low you can check out our offensive line rankings over at fantasy points they're fantastic uh Woody marks might be the best back to roster at some point because they might just go full on passing game the Nick Cayley offense uh Brett White also really likes Woody Marks has made some James White parallels to him over 250 receptions as a collegiate and rushed for over a thousand yards last year in the big 10 it was sort of a big leap forward for him at USC so what he marks would be

the one. If you're in a super deep format, I do think Damien Pierce worth throwing a couple of dollars on. And just to kind of wrap up our running back discussion, if you're want to handcuff your running back, if you drafted Alvin Kamara, looks like it's going to be Kendra Miller. If you drafted DeAndre Swift, with Roshan Johnson's injuries, Kyle Monong guy might have an instant opportunity. If you drafted Chase Brown, Taj Brooks looks to be the back to roster there. And Joe alluded to it early. We like Will Shipley, if you drafted Sequin Barkley, and you want to cuff. Let's take another break, guys. We come back. Should fantasy managers be investing in a Tesla this time of year? All right, welcome back. We're talking preseason waivers.

We're talking about players that you should be adding before week one. Joe, let's start out with this one. Did Brad Holmes strike again? Is there another stud in the Detroit passing game? And I understand target competition. But if it's strictly a bet on talent situation, and Isaac Tesla looked unbelievable this preseason. Yeah, he did. And I'll be completely honest, Theo. I feel like my buying opportunity for Tesla, like Jacori Kroski-Marit is kind of over.

Feels like the train has left the station on this one. But, I mean, you want to talk about a freak athlete. I'm looking at some of the closest comparables for Isaac Tesla, 6-3-8s, 214-4-3-40-yard dash. If you're looking at some of his closest comparables on mock draftable, among them are Alan Robinson, Roma Dunzei, and some guy you might have heard of named Andre Johnson. So physically, physically we're talking about a big time athlete. That being said, maybe I'm going to be the conservative guy again here.

Tom, correct me if I'm wrong, but it feels like the hype on Tesla is really high. And I'm more in tune with what Theo was saying about opportunity, like just the lack of opportunities here because of Amunra St. Brown. and James. Everybody's hyping up James and Williams this year. We have Jamir Gibbs as one of our top three players in fantasy. David Montgomery is going to get the goal line look. Sam Leporta just two years ago was the number one overall tight end. It feels like this is a splash player who is going to be much more functional

from a DFS standpoint in particular coverage matchups or if somebody gets hurt vis-a-vis somebody who I want to be making a lineup decision on every week. Yeah, it definitely feels like there's going to have to be some sort of injury in front of him to really make a consistent impact for fantasy every week. So, but he's one of those type of players playing in this Detroit offense. We've, you know, they, you know, scored the most points per game over the last three seasons, putting up, you know, huge production every week. If there is something that happens, he would be at the top of the waiver wire list.

So we're always, you know, when we're trying to project out for later in the season, you know, picking up these guys that, hey, if there is an injury ahead of them, you know, where would they be on a waiver wire list? And if Jameson Williams misses time, which he has done quite a bit to start his career, I would project Tesla to be the top pickup that week. So that's the type of player you want to pick up late in your draft if you can, maybe off of the waiver wire before the season starts,

put them at the end of your bench if you can afford it. And then if something happens, you have that guy that would be the top waiver wire pickup later in the season. Yeah, we're going to, we're going to draft together, guys. I just took Tesla in the 14th round. I think that's about appropriate. Like Joe said, it's a really, really, really strong offense. They averaged 33 points a game last season as a team. Now James Sam Leporta, Amon-Ross St. Brown. But I love sort of the contingent upside argument. And you talk about roster cloggers. It's sort of like, do I want some guy who's averaging nine points a game on some middling team or Isaac Tesla, who could be one injury away from being an every week wide receiver two,

you bring up Jameson Williams. If Jameson Williams went down with an injury, that's like the kind of the like for like big play guy. But I would argue, guys, Amon Ross St. Brown, dealing with a hamstring injury, I think Jameson, if we're supposed to believe the reports, and Brett Whitefield certainly does, it's they're using Jameson a little bit more in the slot in the preseason, certainly at training camp. And I would argue that based on the physicality of Tesla and based on the lack of tight end twos on the roster, if Laporta missed that time, I think Tesla would be sort of a dart throw flex. So we want players on good teams. We want players with talent. He certainly got it. I'm going to pack some Tesla bags in these last

few days. And I think if you have just a clear zero on your roster, go ahead and add some Tesla. Just see what happens week one. He looked really, really good. Same sort of argument here. but this player has a far less target competition. It's Deontay Thornton of the Las Vegas Raiders, who had one of the preseason's best grown-ass man touchdown catches the other day against Arizona. Joe, unlike Tesla, it's Rock Bowers, maybe 150 plus 160 targets,

however many targets you want to give them. Jacobi Myers, who's a static asset, not going to get traded. Ashton Genty will finish. in the top five in running back touches. And after that, Deontay Thornton looks like a guy who could be a potential dart throw that you should end your drafts with. It's going to be on the field a lot. Is he a cardio guy or is he a guy that actually can make some big plays and affect fantasy?

Well, the thing about Gino Smith is Gino Smith's an aggressive thrower of the football, often to his own detriment. But if he had somebody like Dante Thornton who's going to be out there and competing for the football the way he did in the preseason, I think this is somebody who's going to earn Gino Smith's trust. And I think, see, to me, I understand the Tesla contingent upside because if Tesla gets thrown into an every down role, he's in one of the best offenses in football. I think the Raiders are going to be a much improved offense, but I don't think they're going to be

one of the best in football. But here is where the preseason is important and training camp is important. Because if we were sight unseen on this, and you were talking about Jack Bash, who was a second round pick, we'd be like, oh, man, where's the target competition here? What's going on? Well, Jack Bash, by all accounts, got out played by Dante Thornton in the preseason and in training camp. So now I feel like we have to apply the same kind of arguments for Dante Thornton that we were applying to Jack Bash when Jack Bash got drafted. So this is the guy I've been excited about. I'm actually kind of surprised he hasn't risen up draft boards a little bit more because not to say,

I'm not telling you Jack Bash's career is over, far from it. But, I mean, the Raiders are going to try to win games this year. You don't hire Pete Carroll and trade for Gino Smith if you're not trying to win games right away. They're going to do that with the players they feel are best. And it certainly appears like Thornton is one of those guys. And you mentioned Jacoby Myers, well, he's pissed off right now. Do I think anything's going to happen?

I think a new contract is probably more likely than a trade. But what if he decides, you know what, week one, see you guys. I'm good, you know, Dante Thornton could be their number one perimeter target. and that is a big potential role with a Gino-Smithic quarterback. I think it also says a lot about how much they liked him from the very beginning. They select him in the fifth round, but basically since spring practices, he's been ahead of Jack Besh the entire time. And they've kind of, you know, used Besh in that inside, outside type of role.

And they're keeping him as, you know, basically a handcuffer to Kobe Myers and this offense right now as the fourth wide receiver. but Thornton's been in the lineup since day one, and he does have impressive size, 6-5, can absolutely fly. He probably will be mostly in that NBS type of role early in his career, especially when Brock Bowers and Jacoby Myers were out in the field, but got a huge upgrade of quarterback here with Gino Smith. They're going to be more aggressive down the field than they were last year

with A.N. O'Connell and Gardner Minshue. So I think there's going to be some opportunities. for him to have some splash games. And if one of those receivers goes down, he's going to have to step into a bigger role. So very intriguing player, latent drafts. He looks like Martavis Bryant. And he's a 4-340 guy.

And these sort of profiles, if they're dirt cheap, Joe, these are the kind that I want to add in the preseason and just see where it goes. And do we actually believe sort of the beat reporters? If Deontay Thornton comes out and plays like a full-on snap share in week one, this is exactly the kind of player that I'm I'm interested in. And yeah, like you said, if Jacoby Meyer's shock move happens, which we all don't think is going to happen, then that's another opportunity for Thornton. So really, really interesting player.

Is Jill and Coker the biggest beneficiary of the Adam Thielen trade? Start with you, Tom. Absolutely. I think he basically steps right into Adam Thielen's old role. And it's been very productive over the last two years, number one target for Bryce Young. So, and if you look at, you know, if you watch the games last year. He popped off the tape and watching, watching live much more than Xavier Legat, the guy that they selected in the first round. So if I'm looking at the end of a draft, I'd much rather have Koker right now. I think he's going to play that big slot wide receiver spot. We all think Ted McMillan is obviously going to be the biggest beneficiary here. He's moved up a couple of more spots in our projections. But Koker, which I got a little bit more

of them. I really like him. Holy Cross guy. My friend. went to Holy Cross, so he's been pumping him up to me for the last 18 months. And I wish I got a little bit more of them. But he's still pretty dang affordable because people just look at the projection, the ADP lists, and they look at the site rankings. And he's still buried like 200 picks in. I think about 150, 160 in the drafts, you can start to look at him as a potential like wide receiver 5, wide receiver 6 here.

young player who could be ascending still. And Joe, I'll take that. It's Patriot League bias is what it is. And I'll say, Joe Dolan, if Xavier, if Xavier Liget had gone to Holy Cross and he was the undrafted free agent signing, and Jill and Coker had gone to South Carolina and was the first rounder. And we just looked at the tape from last year. We looked at the production from last year.

Where would Jill and Coker be going in drafts today? Yeah, by the way, it's funny you mentioned this because I remember I was reaching out to our projections, Maven, Chris Wecht. I was just watching some like late season Bryce Young before the NFL draft. And I said, Chris, I know we haven't done first run of projections, but I remember specifically

reaching out to him and saying, don't forget about Jalen Coker. Bryce Young really likes this guy. And then they drafted Tettairoa McMillan and we're like, oh, well, now look, they still have Phelan who's a target earner. they're obviously, I mean, Legett wasn't awful last year. You know, he did show some flashes, so they're obviously going to give him every

opportunity. But now it feels like the pressure is kind of off of Lee Get to be like this big alpha. And they can just go with the best combination of receivers that they have. And now they have three really different guys. You know, you've got your, you've got your big physical target earning X in McMillan. You've got an explosive specimen in Lee Get who, you know, maybe red zone kind of those kind of situations flying down the sideline, getting him in motion. And now you've got the slot receiver. I need a first down.

Who am I going to in Jalen Coker? And I think Jalen Coker is probably the guy who benefited the most from this logjam. And I will draft him in the last couple rounds of all of my drafts. I will happily do that. I just think the Feelein trade unclogged this situation significantly, and it makes everybody more appealing in a way. But Coker is the guy who I would probably focus on for a redraft league over league yet. I think it also speaks that they were willing to trade Adam Feelein,

just how much they like Jalen Coker. You know, they were working on this trade for a week. A lot of teams would have thrown in the towel, but I think that, you know, this is all about wanting to get Jalen Coker on the field more. we have him under contract for the next couple of years. They want to get a good look at this guy and they want to give him a lot of opportunities. Adam Feelein, you know, still playing really great, but he's kind of, you know, clogging up the situation, as you said, Joe. So they unclogged it and now they're going to get a great look at Coker here.

They want to see it. So I think that speaks to what they think about Coker. Yeah. And when it comes to Ligette, you're talking about a player that a lot of the dynasty arguments against him now come into play because he was an outlier in terms of age. One of the oldest wide receivers drafted in last year's draft didn't come off firing, whereas Koker should have taken him a long time because he's coming from a small school. A lot of times those small school guys need to ramp it up. He looked anything but not NFL ready. Koker looks really, really good. So yeah, I think he's a really great way to end your draft if you're drafting

a few days before the season. And if you have a chance to add him, go ahead and do it. One more name, Eelik Ayamanner. Your enthusiasm level quickly on this one, guys, IA manner an ad for you or somebody you're sort of passing. I start with you, Tom. No, I'm definitely adding. Brett Whitefield was all over this guy, dominated out at Stanford. You know,

he got the best of Travis Hunter, put up a school record against him. So I'm all over this guy. Tyler Lockett looked cook last year. So give me Ayah Manor. By the way, where did that Van Jefferson explosive touchdown come from in the priest? He just snatched the defensive back soul on that.

He looked like the greatest wide receiver of all time. He wasn't doing that with the Steelers last year. No, so here's how I look at it, Theo. Calvin Ridley, look, if Calvin Ridley plays 14 games this year, put your life savings on him leading the Titans and targets, okay? But we have to talk about the potential that the least talked about number one overall pick of all time is good. Like, what if Cam Ward is good?

Yeah. There's going to be somebody else here who's going to get targets. And I think that's going to be E like Iyamanner. I think he fits the profile as a true ex. Chemary D.K. was drafted ahead of him. But they were just talking, I think it was, forgive me if it wasn't their head coach Brian Callahan or maybe

their special teams coordinator. But they said he's going to be big on special teams in the return game. They drafted him to fit a specific role. I think Ia Manor was drafted to be an ex receiver. And he's going to get that opportunity this season. Yeah, and he fell because he was banged up. And I think I Ayanor, we had all projected him to be like a second round pick at the time.

Brett Whitefield all over Iamanner. I had him ranked highly as well. And the opportunity's there for him to be, dare I say it, the number two target earner on Tennessee. So yeah, I'm very interested in IMAHNor. And unlike Tesla doesn't have to deal with too many mouse to feed arguments. So really, really fun one. I'll give one quick reminder. Check your waiver wire for DeMario Douglas.

If you're looking for like a nice floor play, I think he's going to catch a buck. bunch of balls. One player I do want to get your guys opinions on, Adonai Mitchell, in or out, do you believe the hype from the preseason? Start with you, Joe. I am more in on him than I would be if Anthony Richardson was the quarterback. Adonai Mitchell is a certified ass man, a great separator. He was, by the way, do we just forget about the fact that he was a second round pick if we're talking draft capital? He flashed last year. I think the problem is for fantasy. and I can't get away from this totally when it comes to the Colts is I view this as like a lesser version of the Packers. You have a worse quarterback and a worse offensive environment with a group of like four or five receivers who all do interesting things,

but none of them stands out above the other. And that can be really frustrating for fans. And the problem with that too, Joe, is it's a lesser passing game. But I also kind of like Josh Downs and Michael Pittman more than some of those Packers, receivers as well. So it's going to be a tough situation for him to break through here. He's going to need an injury or two. But as an ass man here at Fantasy Points data, I have to like AD Mitchell. Yeah, that's for me. It's, it's Ad Mitchell. Like unlike what we talked about with Tesla, Thornton, Coker, he hasn't come up yet. He's still like, you can take him in the 18th round

on Underdog. He's a 20th round guy in FFPC. So like, if there was no Xavier worthy, he would have been the talk of last year's combine. A lead Texas in receiving touchdowns was successful at Georgia. And it's sort of a, I want to see what happens here. I agree with you. Pittman, Downs both look like they could be guys who were valuable to roster. I think Tyler Warren's going to be just fantastic, might lead them in targets. But it's sort of a bet on talent.

And let's see what the usage is week one. So Adonai Mitchell, I think worth a very, very low bid. I think you might get them and just see where this thing goes. when we come back, we're going to talk about tight ends and quarterbacks for you to consider adding before week one. All right, guys, let's go with a quarterback question. And I'll throw these guys all into a bunch here. These guys are available in some of my leagues right now. Would you be most interested in rostering Michael Pennix, Bryce Young, taking a chance that Cam Ward was mispriced in the preseason,

or just stashing a Jackson dart and hoping you get that rushing upside if you're. he takes over for Russell Wilson early in the year. Tom, your favorite of those guys. I think I like Bryce Young a little bit. He, you know, he's run a little bit more than we saw at Alabama. He was pretty prolific at the end of last season as a runner. So that always intrigues me a little bit more. I think I like the receivers. They go out and get Ted McMillan at the top of the draft. You know, we were talking about Jalen Coker earlier in the program and like him a lot. I like the weapons. I like what they're kind of building there in Carolina.

He just seemed more confident at the end of last season. You know, he was getting the ball out quicker processing. And I think some of that confidence is going to spill over to this season. So give me Bryce Young and the rushing upside that I don't think people really realize that he has. It makes him a little intriguing for me. Joe, same question. Yeah, I would say Pennix. I think that there's a chance.

Like if one of these guys is going to throw for like 4,500 yards, it feels like Pennix is going to be the guy. That's obviously an outrageous lofty number. But it feels like, you know, Drake London and Darnal Mooney's okay. There is an opportunity for the Falcons to throw the ball quite a bit this year. The thing about Bryce Young that's interesting to me was how effective he was as a scrambler last year. But the thing that does concern me is he had six touchdown runs on scrambles. That's not on design runs. That is the play breaking down and Bryce Young creating with his legs.

And the next highest in that regard were Justin Fields and Josh, Justin Fields did it in like two games. Justin Fields had three and Josh Allen had three as well. The question I have is, is that just a part of Bryce Young's game that we have to accept is a higher level aspect, knowing when to scramble being able to create? or are those six touchdowns kind of a massive outlier? Nonetheless, I buy Tom's point about Bryce Young being more of an underrated runner than I think we thought he was coming out of college. And I'll call this a tie.

I think you guys are both right. I think if you're not comfortable with your quarterback situation, Michael Pennix and Bryce Young are both worth rostering. We have vibes, good vibes on both offenses. Both players are young. I think that, Joe, you had a real. really good point that I think maybe the ceiling outcome for Pennix might be a little bit higher than young. But that rushing, you can't deny it. Six rushing touchdowns, the comfort level. And for him to be able to come back from adversity where he was benched and then come back and

look much better. Dave Canales is also the quarterback whisperer. I'm in on both of these players. One tight end who's sort of really steaming up. And I think he'll be a very popular waiver wire ad, Harold Fanon Jr., who is, it's usually, guys, it's a terrible bet to make drafting sort of a tight end two. But with Fanon, it seems like he might not leave the field. There is a lack of a wide receiver three in Cleveland. Fanon seems like he's going to be on the field playing wide receiver. They're going to be in two tight end sets a little bit more this year.

And Fanon, according to all the beat reporters, is going to be a very big part of their offense. When we add that with his unbelievable college production, and how excited are you about him? Could this be like a Isaiah likely, but with more passing volume, Tom? Yeah, it certainly could be. I do think we're going to see more two tight end formations from the Browns this season.

You know, they have Jerry, Judy and Cedric Tillman, but that third wide receiver spot's a little weak here. So get him out in the field early in the season. And this is kind of a year where they want to get a good look at a lot of these rookies. We expect Dylan Samson to play quite a bit in the past. backfield. We've got rookie quarterbacks and Dylan Gabriel and Shador Sanders that are probably going to see some action later in the season. They're kind of using this year as, hey, if we lose a lot of games, we don't care. We're going to be picking at the top of the draft. But we also want to

evaluate some of these younger guys. So fan, he lit up Penn State. We're talking about all the guys that lit up Penn State over the last couple of years. And he was tormenting the Penn State secondary, you know, a couple of years ago. like him a lot as a, you know, and we'll see David Injoku, that's a player that maybe they, you know, they maybe they move on from him. Once the trade deadline starts to come around, we've seen the Browns making some deals already. So that's a possibility that is out there that Injoku could be moved at some point this season. I talked to, I set a text to our former serious XM fantasy sports radio colleague who is now the Cleveland Brown's color analyst on on their broadcast, Nathan Zagura.

And I said, this is how I frame the question. I said to Nate, I said, just theoretically, if I'm drafting David and Joku today, how worried should I be about Fanon? And he said, not terribly worried, but he mentioned that Fanon is going to play a ton. And I mentioned to him that on Fantasy Points Data Suite, we had the Browns as a bottom 10 team in 12 personnel this year. This is how he, bottom 10th, last year, rather, 2024. This is how he responded.

quote, we will be top 10 in 12 personnel usage. That is a, they drafted Fanon with a plan. And he is going to play a lot. He's going to play in the backfield. He's going to play in the slot. And he's going to be the big slot to those two receivers. Tom, you mentioned in Judy and Tillman. Yeah, and the contingent upside.

And Joko gets traded at the trade deadline. Fanon is a top eight, tight end, like to end the fantasy season. If Jerry Judy goes down, if Cedric Tillman, goes down. So, and I think they're just going to have to be past happy. We talked about the Judkin situation. So I'm buying it. I'm buying it. The vibes are incredible. It's a player that Scott Barrett's talked about. Brett Whitefield and I talked about him at length. Joe, we were down to the Senior Bowl, like a lot of eyes on Fanon because that production was incredible. The Texas A&M game, the Penn State game like you guys talked about. And he's 21 years old. And it seems

like he's just sort of this outlier talent that the Browns have a plan for. I love the way you put that. let's throw a couple of these other tight ends into one bucket. You're most excited to add one of these players. And Mason Taylor, who's going to have a strong early season weekly role, Theo Johnson, who will also be on the field a ton, some good vibes there, Jatavian Sanders, who could also be a benefit of Adam Thielen being moved, and Elijah Arroyo as a stash, upside athlete with a chance for a role to expand as the season moves along. Of those four guys, Joe, who would be your favorite one to roster?

Mason Taylor, great draft capital, second round, and look at the Jets receiver depth chart. Their number two receiver, Theo, is Josh Reynolds. Their number three receiver, Alan Lazard, I guess, is ready to play. That's what he says. Their number four receivers in Aenea Smith, who, hey, great, great thing for Ania Smith. The problem is, I saw him down at the senior bowl with you. He looked like he was playing volleyball. That's not something you want from a wide receiver. So, no, Mason Taylor's got that. The problem is, of course, Dustin Fields can't throw football. Well, he can physically. He just doesn't know where it's going. But Mason Taylor is my guy of that group. Yeah, I like Theo Johnson. I'm going to go with the Penn State

guy here. I think people don't realize how big of a role he had at the end of, right before the end of his season last year. I suffered a foot injury and missed the last couple of games of the year. but was averaging north of 40 yards per game in his last five or six games. So it was a pretty healthy role. Lake Neighbors is going to be the number one wide receiver there, but it's a similarly weak receiving core behind him. One Dale Robinson and Darius Slayton are still there. But I think Theo Johnson could carve out a pretty sizable role in this passing game.

And we just saw Greg Dulcich get cut. So that kind of clears the path a little bit for him. and I think we're all a little bit excited about seeing Jackson Dart later in the season. So maybe if he comes on, you know, gets a chance to play later in the season and elevates this offense and this passing game a little bit more. Theo Johnson can, I don't think he has tight end one type of upside, top 12 upside. But, you know, I think he could get into, you know, the 15, 16 range here this season. So a player that has a lot of athletic ability too.

So good stash here. All of them are interesting. I agree with Joe. I think Mason Taylor is probably the one, but I think he's probably the most rostered as well. I agree with you, though, on Theo Johnson. It feels like we're going to be talking about Chetavian Sanders and Theo Johnson, maybe after week one's games heading into week two. There's always players that pop at the tight end position. The tight end position is one where there's always a guy that's sort of drafted outside of tight end two range that ends up hitting a number of the guys we laid out. Also check your waiver wires if those guys are unavailable.

Chig Occo. The vibes are good there should be on the field a ton. This was a lot of fun today, guys. Tom, let everybody know once again. Actually, you know what? Guys, I'll throw a curveball at you. Just recorded with Ryan Heath and Graham Barfield. And Scott Barrett and I've also been asking people at the end of our shows, give us one bold prediction for the 2025 fantasy football season. I'll kick it to you on this one, Joe. Oh, I have to be the guy who starts this off.

Off the cuff. Okay. All right. I'm going to do this simply because I have so many bags, just how it's fallen with where I've been in drafts. Nico Collins is the number one wide receiver in fantasy football. I absolutely love it. I love that one. And talk it into being true is always a great way to use your bold takes. Tom, give us a bold take for the 2025 season. Well, I'll stick with somebody that I've drafted a lot this year.

And I'll go with George Kittle as the tight end one. has been selected as the tight end three all summer, third, fourth round pick, depending on where you're selecting. But I think he has huge upside. And that 49ers receiving court is so thin. If he can just stay on the field here, I think he has the chance to outscore both Trey McBride and Brock Bowlers. Absolutely love it.

We're going to be doing this every single week right here on Fantasy Football Daily podcast and on Fantasy Points YouTube channel as well, giving you all the waiver wire ads to, you need to crush your league this season. Make sure you're subscribing to fantasy points.com. Get our waiver wire content all throughout the year. It's going to help you win your fantasy leagues. We're going to see you soon.