Fantasy Football Daily - Bijan Robinson and Zay Flowers | Top 10 Bold Fantasy Football Predictions with Jared Smola

Episode Date: February 13, 2026

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You've only had three backs in NFL history that have reached 1,000, 1,000 plus rushing yards, 1,000 plus receiving yards in the same season. Roger Craig in 1985. Then you had to wait 15 years for Marshall Falk in 1999. Then Christian McCaffrey in 2019. Bejohn Robinson is going to get there this year. He's been unbelievable as both a runner and a receiver. This year it sort of is going to all come together for him.

If I have the 101 right now, Jared, no questions. I'm taking Bejohn Robinson. Bjorne Robinson deserves being that 1,000 and 1,000 club. He's that level of talent. This offense needs to continue to revolve around Bijon. I think he's going to get the work required to get to that 1,000,000, I definitely think it's very possible. And again, I think he deserves to be in that club.

That's him. That's the old sheet. 10 bold predictions for the 2026 fantasy football season. The Super Bowl is in the books and we're dropping the heat. I had to bring back Jared Smola, one of my favorite guests over the years, potted with Jared Smola a ton. You're one of the sharpest guys in the industry, Jared, and you've come on pretty much all of our pods.

School of Scott with Scott Barrett, Dynasty Life, and then right here on Fantasy Football Daily. But we're going to bring the heat. You know, we're giving you what's going to happen in the 2026 fantasy. football season just a few days removed from the Super Bowl. That's how pure we're running here, Jared. So why don't you get us started? What is your first bold prediction for the 2026 fantasy football season? Yeah, these are not only the boldest predictions. They're the first bold, boldest predictions you're going to hear. So we got all bases covered here. I'm going to go, Zay Flowers has his

best fantasy season and finishes as a top 10 fantasy wide receiver. This is, so Flowers, the way, just an early best ball address on Underdog is wide receiver 20 in ADP. So I'm saying he can finish 10 plus spots higher than his current ADP. This for me is largely a bet on just the Ravens offense bouncing back, which to me is an easy bat. I mean, you know, they dealt with a ton of issues last year, most importantly in Lamar Jackson's injuries. But a big thing with Baltimore is they averaged just 57.3 plays per game last year.

That was a bottom six mark. in the NFL. They were at 61.8 or more place per game in each of Lamar Jackson's first six seasons. So beyond anything else, you're probably going to get like four, five, six, seven more place per game from Baltimore's offense this season, which is a big deal for all these guys. Despite all those issues in Baltimore last year, Zayflower has finished wide receiver 11 in PPR points per game. So maybe this prediction isn't even that bold because, you know, I'm saying he's basically going to be just a little better than he was last year when Baltimore had all those issues.

But Zay Flowers to me, still an ascending player. He has actually improved his target share, targets per route, and yards per route in each of his first three NFL seasons now. Last year, 28% target share. That was ninth best among all wide receivers. He was 13th among receivers in targets per route run. He was fourth among receivers in yards per route run. Fantasy points separation score had him as the third best wide receiver in the NFL. He was fifth in fantasy points win rate.

So to me, all these metrics I look at for, you know, wide receiver quality, he already looks like a top 10, top 12 wide receiver in the NFL. He has the quarterback. I like the new offensive coordinator, Declan Doyle, you know, coming over from the Bears in Baltimore. The thing with Flowers is we just, we need more touchdowns. He has five, four, and five touchdowns in his first three NFL seasons. Some of that's been a usage problem. He just hasn't got the, you know, red zone targets and end zone targets that we kind of need.

I'm hoping that changes under this new. coaching staff, but everything else, again, is there for Flowers to be a top 10 fantasy receiver in 2026. Yeah, I love this one. And I've actually, like, when you shared these with me in our chat before the show, I've been sort of singing the praises of Zay Flowers from as a dynasty trade target, as an early 2026 target. All of your like the plays increasing, that makes total sense. He's also got so many outs, Jared, with just the passing volume has to, has to come up slightly. Over the last couple years with Todd Munkin, they've been towards the bottom of the barrel in past attempts. And a couple of years, they were at the very bottom.

With Declan Doyle coming over, you know, if it's the Ben Johnson influence, it's going to be a ton of the run game, but it's going to be a lot more balance over there. We also saw last season Lamar Jackson's rushing yard production go down. Certainly some of that was him being banged up. But even if that trends down slightly, I mean, Zayflower is becoming a little bit more of an offensive focal point. And then Jared, is it too early? Are we going to get banned here? If I'm saying in February, the words positive touchdown regression, because Zayflowers has that in the wheelhouse. The targets could go up.

It's such a great call. And it's a really easy call. And like Jared said, if you're an early best ball drafter, just click that Zayflowers button. Wide Receiver 20 feels kind of like the floor. Your dynasty manager, great player to trade for as well. He's got some room to run. Still a younger player. I absolutely love that one.

I'll go a little hotter here, though. I'm going to go an all-time record is going to be set. Jamar Chase, this is the Jamar Chase Revenge Tour. There's been so much love for Pooka Nakua, deservedly so. So much love for Jackson Smith and Jigba, who just won a Super Bowl and had a remarkably good season. If Malik neighbors can get healthy, there's going to be a lot of people saying this is the ultimate cheat code. Stash him for a couple of weeks, bring them back in the second month of the season. He's going to win your league at a discounted cost.

But I think the answer is right in front of us. It's Jamar Chase. Jamar Chase not only returns to being the wide receiver won overall this year, like we saw two seasons ago when he won the Triple Crown, led the NFL in receptions, touchdowns, receiving yards and targets. But Jamar Chase is going to set the all-time record for targets. This is also a pro Joe Burrow take, I guess, but I think a healthy season of Joe Burrow, the Bengals are not messing around. Pedal to the medal. Right now in NFL history, you have three players, Marvin Harrison, Senior, Calvin Johnson, and Julio Jones that have all crossed the 200 target mark. There's been a couple of guys who've gotten very, very close, but only three guys have crossed

200. Jamar Chase, we saw with 185 targets this past year. So he's been close to it. This year, it goes absolutely nuclear. 225 targets, Jared, sets an NFL record by about 20. Jamar Chase goes nuts. The Bengals make the playoffs. Joe Burrow Revenge Tour. Jamar Chase revenge tour.

Consider taking him at the 101 if you don't want to go running back. He's going to return to being the wide receiver one overall in fantasy football. Yeah, I mean, this to me is similar to Baltimore where the Bengals' offense is just such an easy bounceback with better health from Joe Burrow. You mentioned 185 targets for Chase.

last year. That was, of course, with the burrow injuries, you know, the games he missed and Jamar Chase missing a game. Jamar Chase last year, he missed the game. He still led all receivers in both targets and pass routes. Bengals every single year, they're top two in both pass rate and neutral pass rate. Super easy bat. I, um, our 26, our 2026 rankings and projections are up on draft sharks right now. I didn't quite get Chase to wide receiver one as of now, but he is closer to Puka, who's my receiver 1, than he is to J.S.N at wide receiver 3. So it's kind of like a mini tier up top with Puka and Jemar Chays. I would not be surprised at all if Jamar Chays sends up as the wide receiver 1 in 2026.

Yeah. Let me ask you just a quick question because a lot of people are doing early best balls. Your thoughts on JSN in a post-Clink Kubiak universe, quick thoughts. Yeah, I'm right now below consensus. And that's by like a spot or two. But I mean, that kind of matters up at the top of draft. So just the efficiency from JSN last year is going to be tough to repeat, right? And he's an awesome player. I don't think this offense is going to go in the tank without Clint Kubiak, but it is still going to be a run-leaning offense.

You know, JSN's not going to get to the Puka and Akua, Jamar Chase level just because the raw pass attempts in Seattle. So, you know, I, again, I have JSN kind of in a tier below those top two guys, you know, closer to the Amman Ra, St. Brown types than Puka and Chase. Yeah. And just to be noted, Pat Corain came on school, Scott. we did early best ball ADP reactions and strategy. And he was also sharing your thoughts.

He's got right now JSN behind Jonathan Taylor. So I guess again, JSN would be the 106 for Pat. And Jared, you have him behind Puka and Chase. So just to be noted if your JSN consideration at the wide receiver one overall, two really sharp guys potted with me in the course of a week, both sort of a little bit concerned about how efficient JSN season was. What's your next bold prediction here, Jared? Yeah, I'm going with Brock Bowers, uh, takes the title back as tight on one in

26. Outscore is Tray McBride. They're separated by seven picks in ADP right now, which is a pretty big deal when we're talking at the top of drafts, right? I mean, Trey McBride's going 14th overall. Brock Bowers, 21st overall on underdog. I was below consensus on Bowers last year and it was largely because of just an expected drop in pass volume for the Raiders. The Raiders in in 2024, when Bauer said the huge rookie season, they finished fourth in the NFL in pass attempts with 635 attempts. That sunk to 515 this past season.

So that's 7.1 fewer pass attempts per game. That's a big deal, obviously. I think we could be getting a similar story for Trey McBride looking ahead to 2026 now because last year's Cardinals led the entire NFL with 649 pass attempts. There was 104 more than the league average. And as a result, Tray McBride ran 118 more pass routes than any other tight end last year. That gap was bigger than the gap between the number two and number nine tight ends in pass routes.

That helped McBride get to 169 targets last year. That was the most in NFL history by a tight end. So Tray McBride's awesome. I don't think his efficiency is going to dip much, if at all, this coming season. I just think he's going to run a lot fewer pass routes. and as a result, just see fewer targets. Bowers, on the other hand, obviously he's going to be healthier this season.

He was not healthy after week one all last year. He's getting a coaching upgrade in Clint Kubiak who he talked about. He's getting a quarterback upgrade in Fernando Mendoza. And this is a guy who just a year ago, you know, he thought might be on a path to being the best tight end in NFL history, just based on what he did in college and what he did as a rookie. So I think it's pretty easy for me to see

Brock Bowers outscoring Trey McBride this year. And again, you're getting more than a half-round discount with Bowers in drafts right now. I mean, I love it. It's last year we were all singing the praises of Brock Bowers. Obviously, things did not go as planned. But now you get Clint Kubiak coming over. Fernando Medoza, I think he's going to be,

I think he's going to be fine with Kubiak. And I think that we're going to see, Jared, that our concerns about the offensive line are going to be answered early in free agency. I think we're going to see sort of what we saw in Chicago when Ben Johnson came over. What we saw when Dave Canales came over to Carolina originally is these guys with a new scheme, they're going to invest free agent dollars in the offensive line to really protect their young assets at quarterback. And I think you mentioned Jackson Smith and Jigba.

Brock Bowers essentially being the Jackson Smith and Jigba, but tight end eligibility. There's a chance that Brock Bowers is the least. league winner that like, you know, maybe people like myself were saying last summer, we were just a little bit too early on that one. We're going to take a quick break. And when we come back, I have a Bijjon Robinson prediction that's going to blow everyone's mind right after this. Welcome back, Fantasy Football Daily, Theo Greminger with Jared Smola of Draft Sharks. Make sure you check out our Early Bird special right now. Listeners of this show and people watching on Fantasy Points YouTube, use the code Fantasy and get yourself 10% off any same.

single fantasy point subscription. Jared, what do you guys have cooking over at draft sharks? You guys are very busy this time of year. As I mentioned, we have our full 2026 player projections and rankings up on this. That's literally what I spent the past month doing, you know, digging into all this stuff and projecting all these players. So we have rankings customized to any format. Our draft war room is up and running.

That's kind of your customized cheat sheet where it's going to take those rankings, apply your league rules and settings and kind of spit out, you know, a customized cheat sheet based based on all that stuff. And then we have a ton of dynasty content hitting the site. Now, of course, it's dynasty season right now. Tons of rookie profiles. We have fresh dynasty rankings up. That includes the rookie class.

And we'll have a lot more, including our 2026 rookie guide will be hitting the site in early March. Yeah, I highly recommend all this stuff over at Draft Sharks. Really, really strong content, you guys over there. And look for maybe some crossovers on Dynasty Life. Got to get the Draft Sharks crew over to Dynasty Life to talk about the rookie class. really enjoyed chopping it up in the 2025 class last year with Matt and with Shane and all the great staff you have over at Draft Shark. So check out Jared's work over there. Let's keep this one going.

I went crazy bold with Jamar Chase and I'm going to go very bold with Bejohn Robinson. Bejohn Robinson is my 101 right now in my top 50 PPR rankings available over at fantasy points. I don't need to explain to anybody listening to this that Bejon is awesome and a unbelievable fantasy football asset. But I think he joins a historic club this year. And it's not that much of a leap here. You've only had three backs in NFL history that have reached 1,000, 1,000 plus rushing yards, 1,000 plus receiving yards in the same season. Roger Craig in 1985.

Then you had to wait 15 years for Marshall Falk in 1999. Then Christian McCaffrey in 2019. Bejohn Robinson is going to get there this year. year. He's been unbelievable as both a runner and a receiver. This year, it sort of is going to all come together for him. This past year, he had 79 catches for 820 receiving yards. So I need to get 180 more receiving yards. And I would say 1,000 rushing yards is a virtual lock. He might have that by like week nine or week 10 this year. So Bejohn Robinson becoming the fourth running back in NFL history to go 1,000, 1,000. If I have the 101 right now, Jared, no questions. I'm taking

Bejohn Robinson. Bejohn Robinson deserves being that 1,000, 1,000 club. He's that level of talent. I like the Kevin Stefansky hire. I know the Brown's offenses were disappointing, but I think those personnel much more than Stefanski. And there's quarterback concerns in Atlanta. They are likely, or at least possibly going to lose Kyle Pitt. So I think this, this offense needs to continue to revolve around Bijan. I think he's going to get that the work required to get to that 1,000, 100 level. I definitely think it's very possible.

And again, I think he deserves to be in that club. You've got a really fun running back prediction right now where one of the best ADP values in 2025 at the running back position might get drafters in a little trouble if your prediction comes true. Yeah, I have Bayshall-Tooten outscoring Travis ETN this season. And of course, 2025 teammates. This prediction probably requires E.TN not resigning in Jacksonville. I think that's more likely than not. And this to me is just as much a bet against ETSN as it is a bet on TN in 2026. Like you said, Theo, E.TN was an awesome fantasy pick last year,

especially for, you know, where you got him in drafts. From a real life perspective, though, he wasn't all that impressive. So if we look at 51 running backs last year with 90 plays. less carries. Etienne was 27th among those 51 in yards per carry. He was 33rd in rush yards over expected per attempt. He was 27th in yards after contact per attempt. 32nd in mistackles forced per attempt. So give him credit for being reliable enough to, you know, hold off to and, you know, have that type of volume that he did throughout the season. But again, I think his production was a lot more to do with Liam Cohen's scheme than ETN himself. So,

I'm worried about E.N. outside of Cohen's scheme if he goes elsewhere. So he's a guy I'm fading in early bestball drafts at his RB 18 ADP. And I definitely want to take some shots on Tewan at this point. I know it was a disappointing season from a fantasy perspective last year. You know, ETN stayed healthy, too, and never got a big enough role to be a real fantasy factor. But he flashed enough to me with the combination of power and explosiveness on his, you know, limited touches for me to still be excited about.

him heading it at 2026 to and actually last year beat etienne in both yards after contact and miss tackles forced per attempt. So I still think there's a chance that the Jags let ETN walk and sort of hand the backfield over to two and in 2026. Yeah, I think that the biggest takeaway is the free agent marketplace is going to be absolutely wild at the running back position. There's just the sheer volume of running backs. And that's even if we project Kenneth Walker to be, retained by Seattle, even if people out there are saying, you know, the Jets are going to make it happen with Breece Hall, whether you agree with that or not. It's this group of running backs to Giovante Williams, the Travis ETN, and that's not even factoring in potential cut candidates like

D'Andre Swift. It's just going to be a lot of chaos and carnage. And I think some of these guys that you see drafted in that running back 15 through running back 30 range, the value is going to go all over the place. So paying for last year's stats on Travis Etyn, if he resigns with Jacksonville, you've got a chance. If he goes elsewhere, completely agree with you that a scheme change is not going to benefit him. And we've seen this over the years. We can all remember like Miles Sanders leaving Philadelphia, signing with Carolina, not paying off at all. You think about DeAndre Swift, maybe initial year with Chicago not really paying off. A lot of times the grass is not always greener with running back production, even though we've had this unbelievable

two-year run of free agent running backs crushing. So I love that one. And Tutin, Jared, I remember, like, this was like the thesis for Gladstone getting hired by Jacksonville was like Basial Tutin is this kind of analytical profile. So the big playability in that offense, I think Tutin could be a real breakout candidate. So I love your enthusiasm there. Certainly a lot of people over at fantasy points like Ryan Heath, huge basal Tutin backers as well. I'll keep it going.

maybe not as kind of exciting here. This past year was absolute carnage for drafters who really attacked the year two wide receiver. You saw Malik neighbors who looked like he was heading for a monster year injured and done for the entire season,

a catastrophic draft pick for drafters who steamed him up. Then you had guys who failed to deliver in terms of the big breakout like Marvin Harrison. Then you had guys like Brian Thomas Jr. and Ladd McConkey who were unbelievable as rookies and had huge regression in year two. I think that there's going to be apprehension on the marketplace with some of these year two wide receivers and you're actually going to create some ADP values here. It's the year two wide receiver revenge tour. I think Teteroa McMillan builds on his rookie season and finishes as a top eight.

score at the wide receiver position. And whether it's Bryce Young all season long or they bring in a potential quarterback to challenge him, I think a lot of the offense is going to get funneled towards Tedaroa McMillan. And I think he's just really, really good at football, a true alpha on the outside. I think Luther Burden, who's got a true hive right now, a lot of enthusiasm out there. Luther Burden is going to be a top 15 scorer at the wide receiver position. He's going to challenge for wide receiver one numbers.

The hive is going to get. rewarded. I think we see DJ more playing elsewhere next year in Chicago than in Chicago. And I think a mecca-egbuka is a little bit beat up as an asset right now. The glass half-empty drafter is looking at how Egbuka finished the season when we should be looking at the first half of the year as well when he was just awesome and extremely efficient. There's been a ton of of praise for Egbuka with Zach Robinson, the new offensive coordinator in Tampa Bay. And Mike Evans might be playing elsewhere. I think Igbuka and Burden finished top 15.

I think Tedero-McMillan finishes top eight. And as a bonus, I think Jaden Higgins has a real breakout season in year two. Finishes the top 30 score at the wide receiver position and gives you plenty of wide receiver three slash flex utility all season long. Year two, Revenge Tour at the wide receiver position, Jared. Love this one. I think all those guys are legit talents. So that includes Jaden Higgins.

Burden and Egbukkah are my two favorite targets among these guys in drafts right now. Luther Burden, you look at yards per route, which we know is, you know, one of the most predictive metrics we have on wide receivers. His yards per route last year was the best from a rookie wide receiver since Odell Beckham's rookie year year. I think that was 2014. So super impressive rookie season from Byrd.

I think his role is going to grow in year or two. I love Igbuka at cost right now. Like Bucca obviously got off to the hot start, though. The final two thirds of the season, a lot went wrong. You know, he had the hamstring injury. Baker Mayfield, I think, was playing through some stuff. Just 50% of Egbuka's targets over the final two-thirds of the season were deemed as catchable last year.

So that was his problem. I still believe in him. I think he's coming at a nice price right now. McMillan's the guy I worry about a bit just because of Bryce Young. I just, I don't believe in Bryce Young. I worry that Carolina is going to want to give him one more season. And I just wonder if McMillan's true breakout is going to come, you know, post Bryce Young. But even, I mean, he's going in a range of drafts.

And he's outside the top 12 wide receivers in ADP right now. So he's not a guy. I mind taking some shots on because I definitely believe in him as a player. Yeah, and he showed us the ability to put up some spike weeks with Bryce Young last year. So I'm not a big Bryce Young guy either. I just think it's leaning into the talent, leaning into I trust Dave Canales. And I think this team could take another step forward. So glad to see you're on Burden and Iqbuka.

What do you have as your next bold prediction? I'm going Dalton Kincaid finishes as a top six fantasy tight end in 2026. I feel like people are just kind of fed up with this guy. And I get it. I mean, it seems like he's hurt all the time. He's at all the knee trouble. And he's supposedly going to opt against surgery again this offseason for the PCL. That's been an issue for a couple of years.

Now, I don't love that. But I like taking injury discounts on super talented players. And I think that's what we're getting with Kincaid here. When he was on the field last season, he was incredibly efficient. Maybe one of the most efficient tight ends in football last year. He, Kincaid led all 41 qualifying tight ends in targets per route last year. He also led those 41 tight ends in yards per route at 2.79. That was actually the best yards per route from a tight end with 40 plus targets since George Kittal in 2020.

So super efficient for Kincaid. He just needs to get on the field and stay on the field. his biggest problem last year was the route rate 52%. Part of that's by design. The bills don't want him to be an every down player because of the blocking deficiencies. But even, you just go back to 2004, 61% route rate, 23, 70% route rate. If you can get back to that range, you know, 65, 75% of the routes

with this type of efficiency in this Josh Allen lead offense, that's the path right there for Kincaid to be a top six fantasy tight end. It's pretty easy to get there. Yeah, I love this. one. Dalton Kincolns been a player that we've seen flashes needs to be on the field a lot more. And I think if they just commit to making him a full time on the field player, I think that's going to really help him.

Jared, just to get off topic here, you're a upstate guy. You're an upstate guy or a Western New York guy? You consider it? Western New York. Western. Okay. So I got to, you know, shout out to Mike Schope. Mike Schoep's my guy.

A lot of people that will, you know, you say upstate. some people say Western, but you're pretty high up and you're West. So you're Buffalo Bill's territory. Your thoughts on the Carmichael hire as offensive coordinator and your thoughts on the influence it could have on the Bill's offense this year. Yeah, I like the hire. I think anyone from the Sean Payton Tree is someone I'm a fan of. And I like Joe Brady too. We'll see how he is as a head coach. That's always tough to predict how these guys are going to fare as head coaches. But as far as, you know, offensive scheme and system, I'm go with Joe Brady and the Pete Carmichael. battery there. We'll see, of course, if Brandon Bean, you know, wises up and actually adds a wide receiver for once. They could definitely use that.

But as far as the offensive coaching staff in Buffalo, I think it's all positive for these guys. Yeah, I'm excited about it. I'm interested in seeing if they utilize James Cook a little bit more as a receiver out of the backfield. I think that would be a really fun one. But Dalton Kincaid, good value right now in all formats. Make sure you listen to Jared on that one. Let's take a quick break. We come back. I'm talking about a breakout offense that could break fantasy football with a number of players this year right after this. All right, welcome back. Jared, a little research. I'm not teaching you anything. You know it all.

But over the last couple of years, we've consistently seen teams that finished in the bottom half offensively. And I'm specifically talking about team points per game. Certainly there's other metrics that fantasy managers like to look at when they're looking at offensive consistency and offensive. in production, but let's just go raw numbers. Let's just go team scoring. Last year, we saw the Seattle Seahawks finish as the second highest scoring offense in points per game in the NFL the year before they were in the bottom half of the league. The Jacksonville Jaguars also finished top six, and they were in the bottom half of the league

in 2024 as well. Go back to 2024 season. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers with Liam Cohen as their OC finished fourth over. overall in team points per game and the Washington commanders in Jaden Daniels rookie season with Cliff Kingsbury as the OC finished with the sixth highest team points per game. In 2023, both of those teams were in the bottom half of the league and average sub 22 points per game. This year, it's about the easiest prediction of this entire show. But the LA Chargers this past season were the 24th highest scoring offense. The wheels fell off after all the offensive line injuries. But very simply, Joe Alt, Rayshon Slater, two really, really high-end, elite-type offensive linemen, will both return from injuries. And we get the Mike McDaniel boost. We're also going to have a healthy Omari in Hampton this year.

And a number of young players at the offensive skill positions such as Arronday Gadsden, Quentin Johnston, Ladd McConkey, Tray-Hare. And we have Justin Herbert at quarterback, who we can all agree is one of the most talented players in the NFL at his position. This LA Chargers offense, it's going to be like the tide that rises all boats in terms of ADP. Take a shot on multiple LA Chargers at their current ADP cost. You can make an argument that like four or five of these guys could be big ADP winners. And we've seen this in years past. When you identify a breakout offense, you have essentially given yourself multiple ADP winners with several players and a lot of times at several different positions. So whether you're an Armarie in Hampton backer, whether you're a Gadsden breakout guy, whether you're a Justin Herbert backer, and if you think Ladd-McConkey bounces back this year, maybe Quentin Johnston touchdowns continue to go way up, they're all there for the taking.

The LA Chargers are going to win the AFC West. they're going to finish with a top three scoring offense, and Mike McDaniel will only be in L.A. for one year. The teams are going to be lining up to get them as their head coach next offseason. He'll be one of the hottest candidates in the entire NFL with being hired as a head coach. Bet on the L.A. Chargers as the breakout offense this year. Yeah, how happy is McDaniel going from two to Justin Herbert? You can't really think of two more contrasting quarterbacks there.

So I'm all in on this one, too. The Bears didn't make your list there of breakout offenses to you. but this to me just looks like the 2025 bears all over again where you have the big coaching upgrade. You have the offensive line upgrade. For Chicago, it was adding some pieces in free agency for the Chargers. Like you said, it's just getting those tackles back and healthy. I looked at Herbert's production just in the four games with Joe Alt last year. That was not even with Rishon Slater, obviously.

But in the four games that Alt played over 50% of the snaps, Herbert averaged 22.6 fantasy points per game. That dropped to 18.6 points per game in his others, 12 games. So, you know, four additional points per game just with having his, one of his two stud tackles on the field. So easy bet here. We'll see how high these ADPs get pumped up. I don't think the chargers are sneaking up in anyone, but it's definitely an offense. I don't want to be fading even as these prices continue to climb. You know, Omari and Hampton second round in like early fFCs, early underdogs, that one people, it doesn't even require much context. If he stays healthy, return value there. Arronday Gadsden people are into wide receiver wise if Keenan Allen goes

elsewhere, that's 130 vacated targets. So it's easy to sort of paint a picture that maybe a Trey Harris at cost if he gets that opportunity to run as the team's number three wide receiver, he could have an impact. My real question for you is there's no punishment really with Ladd McConkey right now. Ladd McConkey is being being selected on underdog in these early underdog drafts as like a locked and loaded high-end wide receiver two. We saw a really terrible end of the year for Ladd where like his last seven games including the playoffs, really unusable fantasy numbers. Where are you out on Ladd specifically with your initial liens and your initial research? Is this an easy bounceback candidate or are there red flags for you where you're like,

maybe not. I'm going to kind of split the difference here and then just say Ladd something between and what we saw as a rookie and what we saw last year. I look at his numbers were down across the board last year. Obviously, target share down from 23% to 20% yards per route down from 2.38 to 1.40. You know, his PFF grade was down. His fantasy point separation score was down.

So I'm not sure. I'm again. I think a healthy O line's going to help. I think Mike McDaniel's going to help. I don't know if Ladd is the alpha that it looked like he was as a rookie and people were drafting him as last year. I'm okay with him at cost right now. I'd rather take shots on Quentin Johnson and Trey Harris, though, at, you know, much cheaper price tags.

Yeah, I think I'm sort of there. It doesn't feel like a dangerous click to draft Ladd-McConkie. It feels like you're drafting him at his high end, as opposed to drafting a guy at a floor like we talked about with some of these other values today. So we'll keep an eye on that one all offseason long with Ladd-McConkey and see where the market sort of settles in. But he's definitely benefiting from a Mike McDaniel bump right now.

And no punishment. Unlike the BTJ is completely buried. Marvin Harrison's completely buried. But Ladd is right there for the taking. If you want to use premium draft capital on him. Jared, what is your next? Are we at your, we are at your time flies here. We are at your final bold prediction of the show.

I love this one. I've sort of been, I said something similar like two months ago. absolutely excited. And I know this is an offensive coordinator that you've been high on for years, Jared. Yes, my bold prediction is that Tyler Shuck is going to finish as a top 12 fantasy quarterback this year. His current ADP is quarterback 20. So this would be a huge win if he, you know, cashes in on this bold prediction. And yeah, like you said, Theo, this is a Kellyn Moore bet for me more than anything else.

He's a guy I've loved for a while. He was a guy I was high in a bunch of Saints last year because of Kellan Moore. because of the pace and play volume that he gets out of his offense. As we saw it again in New Orleans, despite the fact that this, you know, wasn't a great offense in terms of, you know, yards per play or total yards or points scored. Saints still last year were 11th in the NFL in place per game. They were first in offensive pace. Moore has now been top four in pace in six of his seven seasons as an offensive coordinator.

So that's something we can really bank on that the Saints are going to play at a fast pace. They're going to run a bunch of plays. the offense was quite a bit better with Shuck last year than it was with Spencer Rattler. And in his nine starts last year, Chuck was quarterback 12 in fantasy points per game. He was better than even I expected as a passer. He was top 15 among 42 qualifying quarterbacks in a lot of metrics, including completion rate, yards per attempt, adjusted completion rate.

And he ran, I guess even more than I expected. I think we knew he had some ability coming out. But Chuck was 12th among quarterbacks. in rushing yards in his nine starts last year. And that includes being fourth among quarterbacks in designed rushing yards. So Colin Moore was calling some stuff to, you know, take advantage of that mobility that Shuck has. And I think that that makes the rushing easier to count on, right?

It wasn't just scrambles. There were some design stuff in there as well. So I think, I think all this combined, the pace, the play volume, and the rushing, I think gives Shuck a good chance to really outproduce his current ADP. Yeah, I love this. one. And New Orleans is invested at the on the offensive line. They also have Chris Olivae, who really established himself in this, in this offense as the player, maybe we were hoping he would be as a rookie when he was drafted in the first round. And I think they're not done yet. I think they're going to add

offensive skill position talent around Tyler Shuck. And let's not forget, Tyler Shuck, he ran a, like a near four six flat 40-yard dash at the combine. Tyler Shuck has wheels. This guy can go. Uh, Love this one. Tyler Shuck, we've talked about him as a dynasty asset. We've talked about him as a best ball target and now a player who can be top 12 in redraft next year. I'll give another quarterback prediction. And this quarterback is going to be playing for parts unknown because he's going to be a free agent. But Malik Willis is going to take advantage of a weak rookie quarterback class. There's going to be a very big market for Malik Willis in the free agent class.

I think a number of teams are going to look at him as a bridge quarterback plus because he's 26 years old, gives you a little bit of hope and optimism that he can establish himself as a starter for several years. And I think the market is going to be bullish on Malik Willis. I think he's a very underrated passer. And we know that the mobility is there, Jared. I'm going to say Malik Willis signs with the Miami Dolphins and ends up, which we've seen this sort of Green Bay to Miami Connection. I think it continues. There's a number of Miami beat reporters sort of speculating that Malik Willis will be a big target of theirs. And I think he's going to have 550 rushing yards this year and seven rushing touchdowns. That's going to be good enough for a top 15 finish. And if the passing yards and the passing touchdowns are higher than expected, then a chance that he joins Tyler Shuck inside the top 12 scores at the quarterback position.

Malik Willis, another player who can really, really run sub 4-640 when he was at Liberty. And I think Malik Willis has a big breakout season, a great dynasty target for you right now. The market is going to be much more expensive for Willis once he signs for another team. But I think he's not expensive enough in any format right now. Big time fantasy production on the way. Yeah, 550 direction yards might be light, honestly, if we get a full 17 game season. and Adam Lake Willis. He's made six starts in the NFL. It's kind of crazy.

He's only made six starts, but he's only made six starts. 44.8 rushing yards per game in those six starts. That's a full season pace. That's Jalen Hertz. Right there. Jalen Hertz career, right? Or Lamar Jackson. Full season pace of 762 yards, which would have led all quarterbacks last year. It was a

down year for quarterback rushing production, but 762 yards, that's going to land you in the top three, at least top five among quarterbacks the vast majority of years. And I just, I generally think right now that these free agent quarterbacks are undervalued in drafts because there are five or six teams out there that like need a quarterback this off season. There is one locked in rookie quarterback that's going a week one starter. That's Mendoza. He's going first overall. That leaves, you know, again, four or five other teams that need a starter. I think Malik Willis is undervalued.

I think Kyler Murray is undervalued where he's going in draft right now. he's going to be starting somewhere next year. And he's like quarterback 20 or 22 in ADP. I even think someone like Marcus Marriota has a good chance to at least start most of next season and as someone you can, you know, tack on as a quarterback three and basketball draft. And I think the draft market is kind of underestimating the projected starts for these free agent quarterbacks in 2026. Yeah, I wrote up Marietta in the, my, I did, I ranked the upcoming free agents for fantasy football.

And I wrote Marietta in like the like the, like the honorable men. which felt gross. But when you look at guys like Ty Simpson, like Cole Payton, like Nussmeyer, like Trinidad Chamliss, none of these guys seem like they would start, potentially all season long.

Ty Simpson might need a true redshirt year, even if he goes in round one. So like the market is going to box out a lot of these players. Really interesting to keep an eye on. Guys like Marietta love that call. Jared, I loved all your calls today. Let everybody know once again where people can find your work

and what you have coming up. Yeah, draft sharks.com for all the rankings, projections, dynasty stuff. And then you can follow me on X at Smola, D.S. Yeah, and make sure if you're watching this on Fantasy Points YouTube, you subscribe to our new Dynasty channel, Fantasy Points Dynasty YouTube. That's where we're going to find all of my dynasty content, including Dynasty Life. Make sure you also are subscribing to my newest podcast, the 2026 NFL Draft podcast. that's Brett Whitefield and I every single week

breaking down this entire draft class. School of Scott, Scott Barrett and I. We're everywhere here at Fantasy Points. Make sure you check out Jared's work over at Draft Sharks, and we'll see you here very soon.