Fantasy Football Daily - Kenyon Sadiq, KC Concepcion, Carnell Tate | Top 16 Must-Know Rookies for 2026 Fantasy Football

Episode Date: February 10, 2026

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Who are the rookies in the 2026 NFL draft class that fantasy managers need to know? Theo Greminger, Fantasy Football Daily on the Fantasy Points Podcast Network and Fantasy Points YouTube, joined today by my co-host of the 26 NFL draft show, Brett Whitefield. Brett, we've been talking about this 2026 draft class, like, it seems like forever. But we haven't done it on fantasy football daily. Really, really excited to chop it up with you. And I feel like the fantasy football daily audience is a mixed bag here. A lot of listeners are redraft-focused listeners that might still be learning about this 2026 NFL draft class.

Other listeners, you're deep in the dynasty streets. You already know this, the lay of the land here. And some of you early bestball drafters are having to learn this rookie class very, very quickly. So we're speaking to a wide range of audience here today, Brett. Really excited to do this one with you. Heck yeah. this time of year we get like a million reps together. That's the best.

Yeah, 100%. We just did an NFL mock draft with Alex Dunlap of Roster Watch on the 2026 NFL draft podcast. We're dropping one episode a week. That might ramp up to two episodes a week. So if you're an NFL draft fan or you want to learn more in depth about which way teams are going to go, make sure you're tuning into that podcast. It's been a lot of fun doing that one.

And then certainly on Dynasty Life, the two of us were recently joined. by Jagger May. We did a dynasty rookie mock draft where we talked about a number of these players. So if you want a little bit extra, we've got you covered right here on fantasy points YouTube, as well as fantasy points. Dynasty YouTube, our newest YouTube channel, also doing a rookie mock draft next week with Cody Carpenteer on Dynasty Life. So this is not just Dynasty.

We're talking about all levels of fantasy football here. And the 26th draft class, Brett, like, Where are you out on this one in enthusiasm level? We're hearing a lot of people from a fantasy lens saying down class. This is not a great class. Where are you at on that? Yeah, I always think stuff like that's ridiculous. People are always, they're geared to like look towards the future, right?

I even saw a bunch of this yesterday. The 2027 class is so much better. I never buy into that, Theo. The NFL is going to find the best players. That's just what it comes down to. And so for me, I think this any, unlike any other draft, this draft has strengths and weaknesses. I think it's a weak quarterback, week-ish quarterback classes,

and you have one guy. I think it's weak-ish at running back, but it's loaded at wide receiver, and it's another potentially transformative year at tight end. So there's a ton of good fantasy assets available in this draft. Don't just punt all your dynasty picks towards the future because there's a lot of value to scoop up here. Yeah, and I think a lot of the hatred for this class

is coming from the lack of quarterbacks. And if we went to last summer, Brett, when we, before the college football season started, a lot of people thought this could be a transformative quarterback year. You had more quarterbacks hurting themselves than helping themselves. Some got injured, but there was a bunch of names that were sort of tossed around that all these guys could be top five picks. And then it was just like, Kate Klubnick, nope, Drew Alar, injured, nope. Arch Manning, back to Texas. Probably would have been a top 10 pick if he would have come out.

Fernando Mendoza is the one that really, really helped himself. Fernando Mendoza is the first quarterback we're going to talk about. And really the only quarterback, I've got about it 16 guys I want to cover today. Mendoza is the only quarterback. Heisman Trophy winning season for the national title winning Indiana Hoosiers. Mendoza looks like a lock to be selected at the 101 to the Las Vegas Raiders. We're now going to have him in a Clint Kubiak offense potentially. separate the landing spot, separate Kubiak from the equation,

look at Fernando Mendoza the prospect. Any potential comps for you? Your outlook for him as what level of NFL quarterback can he get to? Is he going to be a potential top 10 starter in the league, a top 15 starter in the league? Where are you at with Fernando Mendoza? As far as like NFL goes, I think he's got a chance to be a top five quarterback in the league for sure.

He's that good. He has all of the, the chobes. you want out of a franchise quarterback, whether that's what's going on between the ears with processing, you know, getting through his progressions, making the right throws. He's got an NFL caliber arm. He's got a really, really fantastic arm. It's not like a Justin Herbert Matthew Stafford arm, but it's a really good arm that's accurate. He can throw the ball downfield deep outside the numbers. Pretty much make all the throws. And he's got a little bit of athleticism, a little bit of juice. So I think from the way he handles the game perspective, it resembles that of a. Gough, Peyton Manning type, Tom Brady, but he's got a little bit more juice on the legs than that. So if everything comes together for him, yeah, he could be a top five quarterback in the entire NFL. For fantasy, I don't know that it'll ever be a top five guy, right, unless he has one of those Joe Burrow-esque, fluky seasons where he can do it all through the air and nothing on the ground. But we'll see.

Yeah, I think we'll separate the fantasy football production from effective long-term starter. Obviously, there's going to be a lot of emphasis for Vegas to get. had a strong return on their investment, doing so with an offensive-minded head coach like Clint Kubiak, I love Mendoza's ability to throw on the move. And I think when we look at some of these guys like the quote-unquote like pocket passer types that have really, really been effective for fantasy football, guys like Joe Burrow. Fernando Mendoza had a lot of, hey, you squint hard at the TV, you see some Joe Burrow there. Jared Gough has been a sort of player-level comparison that you've made several times. And I've sort of

gotten behind that one as well. I think that's where we're at with for Fernando Mendoza. For early bestball drafters, he's settled in as QB21. And I think that's about where his ADP is going to stay in redraft. For dynasty managers, he's going to go somewhere in your Superflex leagues in that two through five range. And you say, Theo and Brett, there's two, two, you're saying this quarterback's going two through five in your dynasty rookie draft. What are you guys doing you're talking superflex and that's because we have jeremiah love running back notar dame who's r 101 in every dynasty rookie draft we've done regardless of format uh jeremiah love is a tremendous prospect how are you ranking him when i use the word can't miss am i allowed to say

can't miss fantasy football asset and jeremiah love barring injury yeah you know me i hate i hate like hard statements like that. But if we're going to throw out the term can't miss, this feels like as close of it can't miss as you can get. Just to put it in perspective, I've been doing this. I think it's my 12th draft class I've done. And, you know,

so I've evaluated how many running backs over the last 12 years. He's the fourth best running back prospect I've ever evaluated just behind, you know, sorry, he's the third best. CMC and Bejohn Robinson are the only two with higher scores for me than Jeremiah I love. You, we have, so I have him ahead of like Sequin Barclay and Ashton Genty from a year ago, just to put in perspective of like how elite of a prospect, Jeremiah, I love is to me. I think that kind of speaks volumes.

Yeah. And when we talk about love, he's going to weigh in somewhere in that 210 to 215 pound range, would be my guess. He's really, really, really explosive and very, very fast. And he can catch the football. So not to get like too, you know, not getting too detail oriented here. These are traits that have checked off with a number of our big time fantasy football scores. I think that the dream is probably Jemir Gibbs and his run in Detroit.

And when we look at love and we look at Gibbs, they both have that home run hitting ability to rip off those big explosive plays that the NFL is really, really valuing now, those 40 plus yard plays. Brett, Jeremiah Love had three touchdowns at Notre Dame that went for over 90 yards. This is like a really explosive player. It does not compute with the explosiveness. Yeah, and you know what?

You mentioned Jemir Gibbs. I think Love will be better on the early down stuff than Jemir is. So I think that's a big plus for him. Yeah, and with Gibbs, when we were doing this years ago, we thought maybe you'd have more of these high-end receiving seasons like we saw for Gibbs this past year, Love, I think can end up being a 55-60 catch player as a rookie as a three-down back.

Do you agree with that? Is that something that we're, and again, we don't know the landing spot. We don't know how these teams are going to use them, but when you watch Jeremiah Love catch the football, I'm thinking 55 to 60 is a reasonable year-one target. Yeah, totally, assuming he lanes in a good spot. But yeah, he has those receiving chops in his body for sure.

I mean, you see the route running the natural hands. It's, it's all pretty. Well, let's, let's quickly rip through some landing spots. How do we like Jeremiah love if the New York Giants take them at five? I think I like it quite a bit. I love it. Scott Harbaugh.

Yeah. Scott Barrett won't love it. Scott Barrett won't love that one because of, he likes the W.W.E. wrestler. He has. Cam Scataboo, but,

but Cam Scataboo bag holders right now in Dynasty, hate me saying that. Let's keep going down the list. And again, maybe, maybe Tennessee at four, but I said that one before to a couple guys, and I know people are not really loving that.

So let's go down the list a little bit. Let's go Washington commanders at seven. How do we like that landing spot? Another great. I mean, that's a fantastic landing spot because that dude would never see a stacked box with Jaden Daniels basically giving Jeremiah, I love the plus one on every single run.

That's fantastic. Eight overall to the New Orleans Saints. Also would love it. Kellen Moore, obviously, was the architect behind Sakelon Barclays. you know, historic season. So we'd love that as well. Ninth overall to the Kansas City Chiefs,

the one that fantasy managers, I think, would go crazy for. I would hate that. I would hate that. The running back in Andy Reed offense is typically disappoint. I know we have the LaShawn McCoy years, Brian Westbrook years back, you know, 25 years ago at this point.

But no, they don't run the ball enough. They're a pass heavy team. Even with no receivers, they only pass. Well, there you go. And then there's Cincinnati certainly at 10 is probably not going to take them, but there's a number of teams drafting between picks 10 and 20, Dallas Cowboys, Minnesota Vikings. There's so many teams there that you could see trying to trade up to acquire Jeremiah Love.

And when you look at big boards, whether it's Brett Whitefield's big board or Dane Bruegler or whoever the guy that you like looking at their big board, Jeremiah Love is one of the highest ranked players when people are looking at it from a pure talent standpoint, not necessarily where they think they'll get drafted. So we fully expect Jeremiah Love to be a top 10 pick. And he's a player that you should be investing in in all formats of fantasy football. He settled in as a second round value in like early FFPC and underdog bestball drafts. I think he's a great click right there. I actually think it's the market is being a little bit punitive on the rookie running back

because Ashton Genty didn't hit quite at the level for fantasy that maybe some of us had hoped for. So Jeremiah Love, go ahead and get some. We're going to talk about a trio of wide receivers that the fantasy community is going pretty crazy for right now, Brett, right after this. Welcome back, Fantasy Football Daily. If you want access to all of my dynasty rankings, all of Brett's NFL draft content, all of the amazing tools, all of the amazing articles we have, as well as our award-winning projections and rankings, some of the best in the absolute business. make sure you check out FantasyPoints.com. Early Bird Special right now. Get ahead of your league mates.

You're going to get 20% off any single package. So much cool stuff coming out all off season long, all up into the summer of redraft season. Scott Barrett's articles, Ryan Heast articles, so many great things out there. And make sure you're checking out Brett and I every single week, 2026 NFL draft podcast, our latest podcast venture from Fantasy Points.

Really, really fun stuff doing that with Brett every week. Let's talk about, Carnell Tate. First wide receiver we're going to talk about is Carnell Tate. I would argue that he was one of the biggest risers this year in college football from like a fantasy football lens. Heading into the season, I think most fantasy managers that exclusively follow the NFL draft all had Carnell Tate with like a first round value. But Carnell Tate has earned himself into the discussion for being like a top five pick in the NFL draft. a lot of fantasy traits here. Brett, you've said the word, we both have said the word, AJ Green.

Yeah. When I invoke the words AJ Green, it's just this smoothest silk approach to his game where the route running is just so easy looking, yet he's extremely explosive at the same time. And that's typically a combo you don't see a lot. He's coming off one of the most efficient seasons in college football history, Theo.

Some of the metrics, whether it's the, you know, know, yards per route run, pass a rating when targeted. But more importantly, like touchdowns to first down to catch ratio was off the charge insane. So then I know people are going to poo poohm for that because he played with Jeremiah Smith. Maybe he's helping Jeremiah Smith as much as Jeremiah Smith is helping him. So I'm a huge fan of Cardinal.

He was on my radar. When I did summer scouting, Theo, I was like, holy crap, this guy can play. And then he backed it up with a fantastic season. Yeah, he doesn't drop the ball. He makes plays downfield. He's a great route runner. He's got that six foot three size. Carnell Tate checks off a ton of boxes.

And again, he's going to test very, very well athletically. Big wingspan guy, too, Brett. I know that there's a lot of, like, a lot of analysts like yourself that'll put a lot of credence into like wingspan for tight ends and wide receivers. Tate's going to be a player that is going to measure well wingspan-wise. I'm sure we have some wingspan numbers from Ohio State. but at the NFL combine, I think will be a real help to Carnell Tate. Yeah, I mean, you see it when he plays.

There's not a ball he can't get to. I mean, his catch rate was absurdly high, especially considering the fact he is like one of the highest A dots in the country. So everything's downfield and there isn't a ball he can't get to. Yeah, and there's enthusiasm for him in early best ball drafts as well. I think he's moving up there. I think that people kind of know what they're talking about. But I still think there's a little bit of value if you're an early

best ball drafter to investing in Carnell Tate at wide receiver 28 because once the NFL draft happens, naturally he'll move up. People love drafting those guys going inside the top 10. Another player who there's a ton of enthusiasm for in terms of fantasy circles at the wide receiver position, it's Jordan Tyson of Arizona State. Tyson, a really interesting player. One thing that's interesting with Jordan Tyson, though, is there's been a number of injuries. And I always bring that one up because do NFL teams, does anybody give him a potentially negative physical? I don't think so. He's got significant injuries, but none of them overlap. But I just want to throw that one out there. But when I look at Jordan Tyson, I get very,

very excited. Another very good size player, he's about six foot two, six one, six two, really great body control, route running ability. And Brett, I love the versatility where he looks like the receiver that can get moved around the field to me. Do you agree on that? Sort of how are the way you're evaluating Tyson? Yeah, I mean, he's just a pure playmaker. And right now, I think the thing, the reason I have Tate clearly above Tyson, and there's another receiver too I have above Tyson that we'll talk about later. The main thing is Tyson's just a little bit on the raw side. He's in that Quentin Johnston, Xavier Leggett spectrum. I don't want that to scare you guys. Tyson's a better prospect than both those guys.

I'm not saying he don't use don't do it don't do it Brett but George Tyson we like we like Jordan Tyson but the thing is we liked Quentin Johnson too and it took a while because he's a little bit raw Tyson is also very raw he does there's not a lot of detail in his route running what he was asked to do Arizona State does not resemble that of an NFL wide receiver it's a lot of just finding space playing in space catch and run he's a tremendous playmaker though and landing spot will determine everything for how his rookie season goes but for you best ball play I'm just cautioning you a little bit. Heavy investments in a guy that will need developmental runway.

It's just, it's a risky proposition anyway you slice it. I don't think anyone was happy with what they got out of Quentin Johnson in year one. And I think that could be a similar path for Tyson, you know? Yeah, I'm going to stay more bullish on Tyson. I think that Tyson's going to make more of an impact as a rookie than like a QJ. And again, Brett, like the landing spot's going to matter. But I do think it's with this draft class and the lack of, of lack of quarterbacks, unless Tyson has a bad physical, I think you're looking at a player

that could go somewhere in that six through 21 range. So I think he's locked in to that sort of range. And I know I'm giving a sort of a wide range here, but where do we look at that's right. Quentin Johnston went like 21, right? 21, right there at the end of your range there. So there you go. But I'll say Jordan Tyson's interesting because I think Carnell Tate, when we start talking about landing spots. You start talking about Tennessee at four, New York at five, Cleveland at six, Washington at seven, could land in one of those really high-end spots. There could be a little bit of a gravitational pull for a guy like Jordan Tyson, like we saw last year where, and I think Tederoa McMillan better prospect, not saying he's the same prospect, but I think he could end up

in that 10 overall type range like we saw Tederoa and McMillan go last year. The other wide receiver to talk about that, and this one's probably the player that we were furthest apart on when we first started revealing ranks to one another. There is a hive right now in the fantasy football community from Mackay Lemon of USC. And the drum beats are so loud with so many people I talk about. But Brett, you've talked about sort of the downside risks associated with Mackay Lemon. I'll say a couple of the things I like about Mackay Lemon. Okay.

and then you can talk about some of the things you don't like about Mackay Lemon. I think Mackay Lemon, when you look at some of the wide receivers that have been so effective in fantasy football, guys like Jackson Smith and Jigba, guys like Pukkah, there's some traits there that Lemon looks like where those easy button targets are going to be there for him, the ability to dominate in the slot. He's got great hands.

He's a great route runner. He can separate. There's some of the highlight reel this past year from USC was absolutely ridiculous. A ton of production at USC. Had a number of just unbelievable plays. And Brett, I like the yak ability. So again, he's a little smaller than the two guys we just talked about.

I'd say McKay Lemon, 510, 511, and sub 200. Is that about what you're thinking is 1.95, 200 pounds? Yeah, 195. Okay, so not like a, not like slight, but he's not quite the size of the, of the Tate and the Tyson. but I'm very high on Lemon as a fantasy football prospect. Your thoughts on Mackay Lemon. I would like you to show me plays where you see Mackay Lemon separating. I'm going to get after it.

I'm going to send you a couple today. No, so it's funny. We teed this up like I'm a Mackay Lemon hater. He's still scoring as a top 25 player in the draft for me. So, you know, take that for what it's worth. I just like a couple of guys better than him. And I'm a little lower on him than consensus, I guess. So for Mackay, I see just limited.

upside as a route runner is mostly the big issue for me. You mentioned the guys you invoke like JSN, Amunrah, Puka, especially Amunra and JASN, they are elite caliber route runners. And it's because of, you know, they have the super flexible frame. The ability to, you know, sink and explode is uncanny. Their attention to detail is ridiculous. They're explosive out of their brakes. You just don't really see that from Mikey Lemon.

So I do agree with you on the yak ability, though. he's got fantastic ball skills as well for a 5-11 wide receiver. So I think Puka is actually a pretty good comp for him. And Puka's not the biggest guy either, right? He weighed like 200 at the combine. So it's not like he just plays way above his weight class as all. I think that's probably the best play style comp is Puka because he plays. Like, McCoy Lemon plays like every plays his last play.

I love that about him. Phenomenal after the catch. So, yeah, I agree to an extent that slot, you know, yak demon hybrid with maybe some developmental upside if he does become a better route runner. He's for sure a good player. I think that there's a landing spot out there that is an interesting one. A number of the Rams beat reporters have said that if he's on the board at 13 overall, that could be a consider.

And probably a little bit with like, you know, a little bit of a, hey, Matt Stafford, just let us know you're back for another year or two. And then maybe we can invest this pick. 13 overall Mackay Lemon put him on the field with Pooka Nakua and Devante Adams and then eventually Devante Adams moves into the sunset and you've got a Mackay Lemon Pooka Nakuwa wide receiver duo. I think that would get people excited having him in a McVeigh offense, no? That's exciting for sure. Do you think there's a chance they don't re-sign Puka? No, I think they'll pay Puka. I think Puka's too good and he's sort of becoming an invaluable

player for them. This past year was just insane. I don't know. You always can sort of galaxy brain next man in. A lot of times these wide receivers that we think could potentially move on. The teams eventually just make up and they stay for a longer period of time. We have seen some really high-level players, though. Stefan Diggs and Buffalo moved on. Tyreeke Hill as a Kansas city chief moved on. So never say never when it comes to the wide receiver position. But Mackay Lemon continue to stay tuned in. Brett Whitefield, every show you're saying something nicer about Mackay Lemon. So today you

did say some Pukinakua stuff. You said he's in your top 25. I've always been nice to him. The thing is, the first time we ever talked about him, you presented him as a top two receiver in the class. And I just vehemently disagree with that. So that's all. I think Scott Barrett's going to be into Mackay Lemon too. Just bird's eye view. I think he's going to be into him. So I look

forward to the Scott Barrett, Brett Whitefield, Mikhail Lemon discussions in the upcoming weeks and months heading into the NFL draft right here over at fantasy points. Let's talk about a tight end. This past year was such a awesome year for rookie tight ends. Tyler Warren right out the gate was phenomenal and still is a great player. Colston Loveland ends the season on this absolute heater and it has a smash game in the NFL playoffs. Harold Fanon Jr. leads Cleveland in receptions, targets, receiving yards. Ronde Gadsden flashed for L.A.

I mean, the list goes on. This year we've got another tight end that we view as a first round lock in Kenyon Sadiq. And when we look at athleticism and fantasy football and we say, what's the position where we want to see dynamite athletes? It's the tight end position. Sort of lower level, slower wide receivers have excelled. Running back, like, we don't want to see slow guys. we don't need them to be the fastest guy on the field. Tight end, we love seeing exceptional athleticism.

And some of the numbers that Oregon has associated with Kenyon Sadiq, they're saying he could be a mid four, five speed, the vertical leap is way up there. Sadiq, there's a lot to like younger prospect. Originally from Idaho, goes to Oregon, really, really an explosive player at the tight end position. He's awesome. My favorite thing about him, too, that you didn't even mention,

is he's a phenomenal run blocker. And we'll time out real quick. Fantasy football people, explain why the blocking matters so much for fantasy football for some of these tight ends. Well, it's as simple as your tight end on your fantasy roster can't be targeted if he's not on the field. So I know we like to think that teams run on every first and second down, but it's just not true, especially in the new NFL where it's so much 12 and 13 personnel, tons of play action looks.

You need a guy that a team can trust on every down. But you basically need every down players for your fantasy tight ends. And Sadiq, Kenyon Sadiq, you know, he obviously projects as a project as an every down player to me. Just like Ty Warren did, just like Colson Loveland did. He keeps that caliber of run blocker. And you wouldn't think it because he's what, six three, two, 45 or something. But he is phenomenal in the run game, especially as a move guy that, you know, is split zone or climbing. into the second level, digging out linebackers and safety.

He is fantastic coming off double teams. So I really do think a team drafts him and he can be your day one starter for that team, not just a past game package guy. Look at the issues we've had with Dalton Kincaid, right? First round, tight end selection. He can't get on the field for more than 50% of the snaps, Theo, and it's because he's not a good run blocker. And it's killed his fantasy value.

Well, Kenyon Sadiq will not have that problem. And when you look at that sort of size from a fantasy football lens, names that jump to mind to me, Sam Leporta, it's very similar size there. Harold, Harold Fannie Jr., Trey McBride, Evan Engram, not this similar size there. So that checks off boxes. How about the production profile for Sadiq?

There's been some people pushing back on me. When Sadiq declared for the draft, I said that I'm going to have him as a top 12 tight end in Dynasty right out the gate. He's going to go in the first round. I love the traits, even though there's a number of tight ends that are interesting, right now. I'm going to rank him as a tight end one in Dynasty, and I had some pushback on that one. People push pointing at things, some of the metrics for him, some of the production for him.

Where are you at with the people saying those sort of things regarding Kenyon Sadiq? Yeah, if you want to nerd out on a real deep analytical level, for those that are building analytical models project prospects, yeah, it just flat out doesn't check out like a guy like a Ty Warren or a Colson Loveland. It's just, it's not the same caliber prospect. I use a production model in my scoring system, Theo. And so if you actually look at my big board right now, I think I have Kenyon Sadiq 18th overall. And I view him in a much higher light than that personally.

But my model is my model. I do factor that product. It accounts for 10% of my scores, that production value, which is a, it's an analytical model. So there is some truth of that. The production was disappointing,

considering the caliber of player, considering where we're talking about drafting him in the draft. typically guys with his production metrics are more second round pick type guys. Let's take a quick break. When we come back, we're going to talk about a wide receiver who has exploded up Brett Whitefield's big board and is a player that we think is going to be a impact player for fantasy football right after this. All right, welcome back. Brett, I remember when we first talked about Casey Concepcion throughout the season, it was a player that I was pretty high on. and I said to you, I think this guy could end up being

a Zay Flowers type. I think that he has a lot of big time traits for fantasy football. I think he's going to be a first round pick. And I invoked the word Zay Flowers when I'm talking about his comp. And you came at me and you were like, you were like, listen, Theo. Like this guy is going to be way better than Zay Flowers. And that for me was like the wake up call. Casey Concepcion has been a player that we've consistently mocked higher than consensus.

We just talked about him with Alex. Dunlap of roster watch, who's also high on KC. Casey Concepcion, interesting story here, goes from NC State to Texas A&M, becomes the focal point for the Aggies this year, and you love his potential as an NFL player. Yeah, I think this is one of the most fun wide receiver evaluations I've done in a long time where, Theo, I'm not kidding, man, like every single discernible box of film score that I give out to a receiver. Like he has every skill you could ever want on a wide receiver already developed.

He really lacks nothing except for size. He's 511, 190 is what he's listed at. Hopefully that actually sticks at the combine. He's not smaller than that. That's only knock is that he's not six foot plus. I don't even care. This guy is awesome. And I'll give you credit.

You kind of made me go back to the tape on him a little bit because I had exposure to him when I was watching Texas A&MQB Marcel Reed in preparation for him declaring for the draft. And he would catch my eye. Like, well, dang, that guy, who is that guy? Oh, that's the, that's the North Carolina State kid. But I never, like, thought about him as an elite prospect. And then you kept gassing him up to me. So I was like, all right, I'm going to go do his, do his film. I couldn't stop watching. I watched all three seasons of him every single snap and one afternoon, just completely blown away. He, he's a top 10 player for me in this draft. I think he's the modern receiver. He's got the juice, the speed, the route running, the run after catch, the contested

catchability, the body control, the ball tracking. And he's the best punt returner I think I've ever seen at the college level, or I should say modern. You know, obviously we have like Charles Woodson's of yesteryear, but he's awesome. He's awesome. And when you mention the punt and kick returning ability, I'll give a shout out to Evan Silva of Establish the Run, who's talked about this for about 20 years, 15 years at this point, about how there's been a great success rate of guys who have elite return skills at the college level and how that translates to being a skill position player at the NFL level.

So I think that's important for Casey Concepcion. I'll just throw out Tyree Kill. Tyree Kill, a hell of a return man in college. Not a bad NFL player. But Casey Concepcion, I think, is a locked-in first-round pick. And I'll say if you're an early bestball drafter, Draft Casey Concepcion right now, he's wide receiver 57 on Underdog Brett.

They're giving it away right now. If you win money on Underdog, reinvest some of that into a fantasy point subscription for us giving you Casey Concepcion as the value at Wide Receiver 57 over on Underdog. Tremendous, there. You said Cardinal Tate was wide receiver 28? Yeah. In Conception 67. 57. 57.

That's still, that's an ocean between them. I would have him on every single team I did right now if I was doing those drafts. I should. Yeah, and I think Casey Concepcion, if you're a dime. dynasty manager and you're looking for a player that could potentially get us really excited at the 106 where a lot of times in Superflex right now they're talking about a top five is kind of locked in Casey Concepcion at the 106 could end up being a guy that is a life preserver for those 106 bag holders. Brett, give us a realistic landing spot that would get you really excited for Concepcion.

Oh, I love these questions when I'm on the spot. Realistic. Realistic. I'm going to go, well, let's just assume the NFL is not quite as bullish as me. What about 11 at Miami? Their wide receiver room is trash. Jeff Halfley comes in, takes over. A lot of times what you see is a guy that he specializes in one side of the ball. They typically spend the first draft attacking the other side of the ball

because he feels like he can elevate the other side a little bit more on his own. So I can see them adding a receiver at 11. Tyree Kill might be done there. Jaylon Waddle, I think, is proven good receiver, not a number one, right? so let's go get a guy that we can, you know, really elevate the offense with. I think that's a great fit. Another one I'll throw at you. And this one might be a little bit of far-fetched, but what about Baltimore at 14?

I mean, imagine him with. Yeah, Baltimore 14, we've talked about, yeah, I love the Baltimore one. I'll say there's a bunch of landing spots that could get you really excited about a KC. Concepcion. I'll say that when we go a little further down the list, I think Pittsburgh at 21, needs a wide receiver one, a long-term answer there. That makes sense. Cleveland at 24, Buffalo at 26, San Francisco at 27, and that's if he slides.

So I think there's a bunch of landing spots that could get us really, really excited about Casey Concepcion, certainly Baltimore at 14 would. Well, I'll say the Jets at 16, Brett, they could use another wide receiver as well. So I think there's a bunch of teams there right in that wheelhouse for Casey Concepcion. Talk about another wide receiver that we are projecting to be. inside the first round talking about another big bodied wide receiver from the university of Washington in Denzel Boston. Your thoughts on Boston and the impact he could make. Yeah, I like Boston. He's, gosh, he's, he's what, six, four, two, ten, really long frame, huge catch radius. I think he's really good after the catch, too. I hate, we keep throwing

around Puka, not you and I, but like the community keeps throwing around Puka Coms. He does remind me a little bit of puka though in the way that he plays real hair on fire mentality always fighting to move the chains i think people were disappointed with the season he had but was an absolute dumpster fire this year he still put up almost 900 yards and 11 touchdowns um i think he's got some developed route running chops as well i kind of see him like he's six four and can definitely play on the outside but i'm fascinated with him as like a power slot type of wide receiver yeah putting denzil boston as like a big slot would be great i think it's another like we talked about Tate, it's another player that big catch radius, able to win those 50-50 balls.

I think Boston, like for me, projects as a wide receiver one at the next level. Obviously, he could be a strong wide receiver two. There's a ton of places where he could land. But when we're chasing fantasy football assets for we love these guys that are potentially wide receiver ones. I think Boston, there's a bunch of landing spots that could get us really, really excited. I keep mentioning the Buffalo Bills, San Francisco 49ers. Those are sort of those sweet spots towards the end of the first round.

But I think Boston's going to be gone before that. I think Pittsburgh at 21 makes a lot of sense for him. I think there's a lot of teams that are going to really value his skill set. Where would you say they had to guess the draft capital? Well, I do think conception will go higher when it's all sudden done. I think, like I think we're early on conception. I think the community comes to that. realization pretty soon here.

So let's just for argument's sake, I think 21's a good spot for him, like as a, as a, you know, ceiling. Like in that 21 to 30, 31 range, somewhere in there. Those 10 picks, you know, New England at 31, 32. They need a receiver. Denver needs a receiver.

Buffalo, obviously. San Francisco needs a receiver. Shoot, even Philadelphia is in play, depending on what they do, Brown. So, yeah. Yeah, a lot of steam out there from some of the beat reporters, even this week about a potential A.J. Brown trade from Philadelphia. We'll continue to cover A.J. Brown and all potentially traded NFL players, as well as the free agent class right here on Fantasy Football Daily. Brett, I'll go dealer's choice here. You want to keep talking wide receiver?

Or do you want to talk about the position nobody wants to talk about with this class running back? Well, if you're asking me, I'll go wide receiver. Okay, so we'll keep it, keep it nice and clean for you. There's two players from the national championship team, and you say, wow, I'm watching for Dana Mendoza and both of these receivers, actually three wide receivers, are awesome. This guy's got all sorts of receiving talent, and we think the NFL is going to very much agree. We've got Elijah Surratt, and then we've got Omar Cooper. You've got two wide receivers at Indiana.

Surat's a really interesting one. We've been on him for months. big, big bodied outside wide receiver. This is a player that went from St. Francis of PA. All the way to James Madison, then all the way to the Big Ten, consistently dominant player. And it's one where I think the fantasy community

going into the year looked at him as a guy who could be a high day two pick. Now there's a chance I think Sirrat's played himself into the end of the first round discussion. Probably if I had to bet money on it is going to still end up being a second rounder. But Omar Cooper starts the year out probably as a day three selection for a lot of managers and now looks like I'd say a lock to go on day two. And there's an Omar Cooper hive developing in the fantasy football community.

There's a lot of people that are dynasty rankings people out there that are trying to push Cooper up and up and up because he translates well for fantasy football. So let's first of all talk about Elijah Surat, a player you've been very, very high on for a while. And then let's talk about Omar Cooper, a player who gained a lot of steam this year. Yeah, Surat is like a junkyard dog type wide receiver. Kind of does everything well. But he's not like, I would say the one elite trade he has his body control. I mean, this dude has 45 career touchdowns in college. How many wide receiver prospects can you even say that about or even close?

That's insane. 45. It's insane. And again, the pathway up and up and up to be able to do it at the like a very kind of low level FCS, sorry if I was St. Francis fan out there. And then James Madison goes into the sunbelt and is like really, really good there. Then goes to the Big Ten and does it. I mean, this guy is just a freight train the way he's moving up.

Yeah. And if for those that discount the small school stuff, well, he's had 23, 23. So half of those touchdowns the last two years in the Big Ten. So I'm a huge fan of this guy. You know that. So the body control stands out, the route running, the ability to separate. He's not going to test as a great athlete. For those reasons, I think the NFL, other guys will pass him up in the process.

And maybe he goes late second round. He kind of reminds me of Jaden Higgins a little bit, like very similar play style. Higgins is a good athlete, not a great athlete. I think Surrett might be even a tier below that as far as athleticism. But we know that doesn't necessarily matter for this position. But I'm just totally enamored with this guy. I think he's a phenomenal football player. Probably, you know, if you have him as your wide receiver too,

I think you're doing really good as a team, kind of a T. Higgins type role I foresee for him in the future. Yeah, and Cooper was not a transfer to Indiana. Was that Indiana his whole career and just continued to get better and better and better? Is it safe to say that he's a lock to be picked on day two? Because I think a lot of the early best ball drafters, a lot of the dynasty, you know, early dynasty rankers, a lot of their, their esteem and enthusiasm for him is,

this is a potential second round draft pick. Do you think that he's going to be 100% drafted by the end of day, day two? Oh, yeah, absolutely. The confusion there was like, I was thinking he could technically get at the end of the first round. So that's interesting because I haven't heard anybody making that sort of jump. How do you think before you get into Cooper, how do you think NFL teams are going to rank these two? I think they'll have Cooper ahead of Surat.

I have them on purpose on my big board. They offer very different things. Cooper might be the best run after catch receiver in this draft. He's ridiculous in the open field. Yeah. I mean, some of the highlight, the highlight reel is crazy for him. The yak ability.

It's sort of looks like, it's like Zayflower's Boston College, some of those plays. Yeah, it is except that Cooper is thick. He's a thick boy, right? So Flowers is like a tiny dude doing it. Cooper is big. Like he's 205 pounds at six foot, really dense build. I mean, there's other good ones, Casey Conception,

Mackay Lemon, but like Cooper is like a demon after the catch. Like not a guy. Teams are going to enjoy tackling in the open field. So I think that's going to really elevate him because he has that elite skill set. He also has like three or four alien catches on tape where you're just. Penn State game. Penn State games. Completely levitating, you know, laying out one-handed ball.

just ridiculous stuff. So, and, you know, I've hit this on a few different shows, but like, if I go back and try to draw a straight line through every wide receiver prospect that has hit, the one consistent trait in my scoring model is body control. And Omar Cooper has that in absolute droves. So I think, you know, I think teams will end up liking this guy. I think there is a chance he gets him in the first round.

He didn't get a first round grade for me, but he's close. So, but yeah, so to answer your question in a very long way, there's no chance he makes it to day three. Well, both of those Indiana wide receivers are locked in, players you really need to know about. And Brett, you've really enjoyed our wide receiver discussion. So I'm going to make you talk about running backs right after this. Let's go.

All right, welcome back. And I'll say, Brett, there's so much hatred towards the 2026 running back class. Would you say that this is that we're, it's Jeremiah Love plus the 2024 class. And just to give a little refresher, 2024 was Jonathan Brooks, Blake Corum, Trey Benson, Marshawn Lloyd, a few players like that where we didn't have anybody in round one.

We got Brooks in round two, and we had a couple of these guys land in round three. Are we there? Is this class a better group? When we take Jeremiah Love out, is this a better running back group than like the Blake Corum, Jonathan Brooks group?

Yeah, I think it is. So like I like Blake quorum as a prospect as a late day two guy. And I think there's a bunch of those in this class. Like I didn't like Marshawn Lloyd was like my RB two in the class and I thought he was a massive gamble. Trey Benson, same thing. RB three in that class. He was a massive gamble. So I think you have way more security with the RB's two through.

I'll call it seven or eight in this class where I think, yeah, like you have probably five or six Blake Corum caliber prospects to go with a Jeremiah love. So it's not it's not elite like it was. last year, but there's some really solid players here that if they lay in the right spot, you're going to get fantasy production. I'm not nearly as doom and gloom on this RB class, I guess, as some people. I do think it's a light class and that there's not a lot of premium talent, but as far as like guys that could make a difference at some point, there's way better than the 24 class. And I'm with you. And I think that a lot of times you get in this hive mentality where people just start repeating the same narratives, I think we'll be more open-minded here.

And I think some of the people with the doom and gloom draft capital predictions saying it's going to be Jeremiah 11 round one and then maybe you'll get like two guys on day two. That's not going to happen. You're going to see a few of these players selected on day two. But what we really want to root for from a fantasy football lens is some of these players landing in round two. And I'll start out with one that the two of us both think could end up being like a top 50 draft. half capital player. And that's Jonah Coleman of Washington, who is built very thick.

He's sort of like a Doug Martin type body. He's going to be 225 plus at the NFL level. He's like 5-8, 5-9. Has the ability to catch the football, Brett, and I think he's got the ability to take on a pretty high volume of touches. I've said David Montgomery level prospect. I think that's kind of a fair way of like, David Montgomery coming out of Iowa State, Jonah Coleman coming out of Washington,

sort of not dissimilar in the levels of prospect where Montgomery ends up going round three, been a very, very effective fantasy asset. I think Coleman could get drafted earlier. Where are you at in terms of Jonah Coleman, your enthusiasm level, and some traits you think translate for fantasy football success? He's a really interesting study because he's this massive bowling ball type guy at 5-8-5-9-2-30. And he doesn't necessarily play that big.

However, his feel and his feel and expertise in the past game is wild for a guy with this build. He's a really good natural hands catcher. He's a good route runner. I mean, some of his targets at Washington are 20 plus yards downfield. You don't see that a lot as a running back. He's really good in pass protection. And just so much of the.

past game in the NFL is, is field. This is one of the reasons David Montgomery to add to your comp is is so good in the NFL as a pass down player, despite his lack of juice and, you know, awkward build for that is the field. He's just awesome at knowing when to set his routes down, when to check and release, how to get out of a chip block into a route. That stuff takes legit, timing, pace, reps. And Jonah Coleman has that down already. I would like him to play as a runner a little bit more to his size, though. That's my only, that's like the one thing separating him from being like a fantastic prospect

to just being a really good prospect to me. But he, yeah, a team's going to like him for sure. I mean, he's in every down back. That's how he profiles and teams want guys they can leave on the field for the whole game. Yeah, and I think Coleman, when we talk about the speed for him, I think if he

can run in the four, fives, I think that's going to be a win. I think we're, Brett, I would guess he's going to be four, five, eight kind of guy, not necessarily like in the four, six, fives. But we want to see him in the four, five range. I think that would check off an athleticism box. One player that I'm not worried about the speed at all, a running back who can

absolutely fly is Jedarian Price of Notre Dame, who's an early entrant and played in the same backfield as Jeremiah Love, but really could be the RB2 in this class from a dynasty lens and from a fantasy football lens, especially if you're not into Jonah Coleman. But Judarian Price has a lot to like. Again, he's got the explosiveness, home run hitting ability. You talk about the return game. He's got some history there. I think he's got the ability to catch the ball out of the backfield, fumble the ball a little

bit. There's been some people questioning the ball security for Price. But, God, there's just so many traits that I love. I think that I'm a very optimistic. outlook with Judarian Price. He's a player that I want to have a lot of exposure to in Dynasty. We've seen this before, Brett, where a college can produce multiple backs in the same year. You go back to the sort of the dream, Felix Jones, Cadillac Williams, Auburn. There was the Michael Carter, Giovante Williams, UNC. There's been multiple years with this.

Oh, and certainly last year, how can we forget with the Quinn Sean Judkins, Travion, Henderson, Ohio State. So you have two Notre Dame backs. Are you where I'm at on Judarian Price? Do you want to really like him from a fantasy football lens? Do you have question marks on him? Where are you at? I do want to really like him, especially in a league that's chasing explosive plays. Like we know from an efficiency standpoint, from like an EPA standpoint as a team, when you can get those explosive runs, it increases your likelihood of scoring points quite significantly. So, yeah, he's super explosive. blows of it's crazy he was a backup running back

he's got 23 total touchdowns the last two seasons as a backup running back I mean that just shows you how good he is it also shows you how freaking good Jeremiah love is yeah I'm a big fan my biggest question we're going to miss the past game stuff right he had what 15 career catches I think

like I would love to see more he scored he scored three touchdowns on those 15 career catches which is yeah and I think that that's it's sort of the there was multiple mouse to feed there at Notre Dame and the fact that he's taking a backseat to a almost generational type prospect in Jeremiah Love.

I think it would have been really interesting if Chedarian Price would have gone back to Notre Dame this year. I think he would have been in the mix to be one of the highest selected backs next year still, despite the 2027 class being much deeper and more talented overall than this draft class. So Generian Price comes out this year. I think he's going to settle in as a second round pick. So I'm at first round top 10 pick, and I'm at two second round picks.

So I'm doing okay. Let's talk about Emmett Johnson of Nebraska. You mentioned the receiving ability. Emmett Johnson checks off that box. There's now sort of a collective hive where a lot of people are getting really, really into Emmett Johnson, the prospect. Again, coming out of Nebraska, but he's got, he's got like a lot of juice. with the ball in his hands as a receiver. And he looks very good as a runner.

Where are you at on Emmett Johnson, the prospect? You think he's a really, really good player. Everything I said about Judarian with the explosive ability. Emmett's got that. He's got a ton of juice, the burst, acceleration, the long speed. It's all there. Really accomplished past game player, too. He's got, what, 85 catches, I think, the last two seasons.

So he's a big part of that offense. Anytime a running back and put up, like, 1,500 yards in the Big 10, that's saying something. this guy had almost 1,500 yards, 12 rushing touchdowns, and then added a bunch as a receiver. So I think he's a really, really good prospect. You know, the only knock on him is he's just, he's not big, but like the NFL's changed a lot.

I think if he can weigh in like, oh, you know, over 200 pounds at the combine, it's exactly what you want for a guy that's going to play the type of role he's going to have in the NFL. Yeah, and when you look at the, like, you're talking about 1,400 rushing yards this past year, with 12 touchdowns, and he ends up adding, like, as a receiver throughout his career, has been very effective.

So, like, has a 39 catch season, follows it up with a 46 catch season. So he's checking off so many boxes for us fantasy-wise. But like you said, I think that the combine's going to be important for Emmett Johnson, especially when we want to see him as a day two guy instead of a day three guy. And do you care about that as much? I've seen some people saying, like, they don't really care about fourth round versus third round anymore. Do you? I do a little bit.

It's still a premium. Like, there's still a premium on round three picks over, over, you know, round four picks. So I care a little bit. We've got the Penn State duo of Nick Singleton, who's now injured, is going to miss the combine, which stinks for him because he would have been a guy who tests extremely well. But I think the NFL already knows Nick Singleton is. super athletic. And then you've got Ketron Allen. So you've got the two

Penn State backs who went back to school who, if anything, I think probably would have gotten drafted in the same range and with Nick Singleton might have gotten drafted earlier if they would have come out in the 2025 class. Penn State this year one of the most disappointing

teams in the NFL. But both these players check off a number of boxes athletically. Your quick thoughts on Ketron Allen and Nick Singleton. Yeah, Ketron I think projects really well as an early down grinder in the NFL. I mean, really strong tackle or runner between the tackles. He's he was kind of the guy they did a lot of different scheme diversity with.

Like would, you know, be a heavy gap scheme power counter type stuff. They'd come back with some outside zone inside zone where Nicholas Singleton was more of just the zone runner-ish guy. Ketron Allen's also like the all-time leading Russia in Penn State history. It's insane. that speaks volumes to me. They've had a rich history of running backs there. So, yeah, if he lanes in the right landing spot, Theo, I think all gas for fantasy purposes.

It's going to take a good landing spot, though. That's true for every running back, though, we keep saying that, but it is true. Running backs are really landing spot dependent in general, not just, you know, rookies. So the one knock on Ketron is just the past game stuff. It doesn't look natural to him. The hands don't look natural.

The route running looks stiff. Pass pro reps are really suspect that best. I think to flip that over to Nicholas Singleton now, Singleton is a pass-down specialist where he's a really good route runner, really good natural hands, fantastic in pass protection, kind of like your pro,

you know, third down change of pace, two-minute type running back. So again, in the right landing spot, that could yield really nice results for fantasy. But ultimate, I think I'm probably higher on Catron

for fantasy purposes because I do think he's a candidate to be a 200 plus touch kind of guy early on. Yeah, Nick Singleton, we've talked about the prospect fatigue in the community. Certainly him not being able to test the combine hurts, but it doesn't bury him. Nick Singleton, you talk about the all-time leading touchdown scores in Penn State history. Nick Singleton has 45 touchdowns. Ketron Allen has 39. And then from a rushing yards perspective, Nick Singleton is, I believe, fourth behind Sequin Barkley.

So you've got KTron Allen at the very top, but Nick Singleton also had nearly 3,500 rushing yards in his time at Penn State. So both these guys, these were big-time producers at a very high level of college football. And I think the Dynasty community could have a little bit of correction right after the NFL draft.

Let's go rapid fire here, Brett, and try to cover a couple of more of these prospects. Chris Brazel, Tennessee, are people doing some helmet scouting when they want to fade Chris Brasel. You've had a bunch of Tennessee guys fail to deliver that had a lot of hype. Dylan Samson, we haven't closed the book on.

He could end up having a strong year with Judkins a little bit banged up. But you look at Jalen Hyatt, big time bust. Jalen Wright hasn't delivered after two years in Miami. We're out on Chris Brazzell. The next Tennessee volunteer, got some good size to him, Brett. I'm ashamed to admit that I initially

I was one of those people. I saw when I, so I build my watch list based on the official entry of, you know, players into the NFL draft. So I take that list. I saw a Tennessee receiver on there. I knew he was. I've obviously watched college football. But I was like, oh,

God, I don't want to watch another Tennessee wide receiver. That was my initial reaction, right? Then I start watching. I'm like, whoa, this guy's a little different. Not just a vertical linear player. Like that's, that was his role in the Tennessee offense. of course, but you could see the, you know, sink and explode ability, which you don't see

from God. He's like 6.5, 6.5, 2, 20, like really big, long frame for him to be able to sink the way he does and get in and out of breaks is kind of unbelievable. And I end up getting like really enamored with this guy. I watched all of his tape at Tennessee and then went back to the two lane tape. And the two lane tape is actually more impressive because they allowed him to run routes. He was running actual NFL routes, especially. down in the red zone, a lot of like whip routes where it's like you really, you really requires you to sink, explode and not get stuck in your break. He looks phenomenal doing that stuff.

A couple 83 routes too that are just phenomenal. Like really good route runner for this, you know, size adjusted route running is just fantastic. So then at that size you have elite ball skills. I think he's a really good athlete. He's not going to blow up the combine like a Dante Thornton did last year, but you don't need him to. like he's got actual receiving ability. So, yeah, I think he's good. I think he reminds me a little bit of Drake London, actually, like from a play style com.

Yeah, I mean, that says a great deal. I think Chris Brasel is a very polarizing player in the fantasy community right now. But I think a lot of that has to do with, again, Tennessee, the way that they run their offense. There's another big body wide receiver who maybe, you know, two weeks ago had way less steam. but there was arguably no bigger fantasy football winner at the Senior Bowl than Malachi Fields of Notre Dame. Malachi Fields ends up having two 800 plus yard seasons at UVA. Transfers to Notre Dame this past year. Brett, he's every bit 6-4, 220, 225.

And Brett, like when you look at him on the field at the Senior Bowl, he looked like a tight end. He is a tight end size wide receiver. but the ability to get downfield, the athleticism, there's a lot to like athletically here. And I think that we've seen it every year where these guys that go and have really, really big senior bowl weeks, these guys are going to move up in the draft.

So Malachi Fields, you're starting to see people mentioning as a potential round one prospect. Look at two years ago, Ladd-McConkie ends up being a top five pick in the second round, I guess that was three years ago. Last year it was Jaden Higgins.

huge senior bowl week. Go back the year before, Ricky Purcell. I mean, multiple guys have these big senior bowl weeks, and it translates to the NFL draft. Are we going to see that with Malachi Fields? Hold 100% we will. He was the best player in Mobile on offense by far. Like, wasn't even close.

He was awesome. He dominated every practice. He's every, you said every bit of 6-4-225-ish. And he plays like it. Physical, strong. They were asking guys to compress him, and that was just a mistake. They were getting bodied by him the whole.

But what I was really impressed with, similar to Braswell is like for that size, a really good route runner, really good route, especially go watch the Virginia tape where he wasn't only a linear vertical type receiver. Like he was really good.

He's also a coach's best friend type though, where it's like he's going to get after it in the run game, phenomenal tape of him run blocking, and really good on scramble drills. Like he kind of just does all the little things really well. That's what I said about Jaden Higgins last year too, ironically.

And then he ends up going, way higher than anyone thought. So I think Malachi Fields is for sure a round two candidate at this point. I'll throw out young D.K. Metcalfe. Is that too much to ask athletically? I don't think he's that explosive. Not that explosive. D.K. is also ridiculously stiff.

Like Fields has way more route running potential than D.K. Metcalf ever had. Is there a comp for you? Yeah. I think he's like a... I want to like he plays bigger than even T. Higgins. Yeah. Like he's got that in him, you know, but he's like bigger T. Higgins. Well, there you go.

People are going to love that one. Shouldn't have even said D.K. Meckoff. I should have said bigger T. Higgins. That gets people, that gets people going, Brett. The poor one out, though, the wide receiver that I think we would have talked about about a half an hour ago if he didn't get injured was Chris Bell of Louisville. Chris Bell is a player that. that throughout the year, I mean, I'm texting with you about certain prospects throughout the year.

And I'm like, this is A.J. Brown. And you had me slow my role a little bit. But Chris Bell had some A.J. Brown-like film in some of those games for Louisville was on an absolute heater in about the middle of the year when like Louisville beat Miami. And there was a bunch of games in a row where Bell was just unbelievable, like 150 plus year receiving yards every game. He had five straight games against top 25 ranked opponents. And he was at. averaging like 160 yards in those. It's ridiculous. Ridiculous. Yeah, AJ Brown's not a terrible comp. I just don't think he's that explosive. But play style-wise, they're very similar. So, um, how is the NFL going to treat him with this injury? That's my question for you. Yeah, at first it made me real skittish. Like, okay, he's for sure going to fall. But then I remember James and Torres, Torr's ACL right at the end of the Alabama season that

year. Wasn't he even in the playoff game or the, the, the, their bowl game? I think it was. It was super and then he exceeded everybody's, you know, when there was the draft projections, Jameson Williams went like 10 spots higher than most people had him. Yeah, he was my wide receiver one in that class and he ended up going 12th overall despite the ACL. So maybe there is a chance Chris Bell

still gets into that top 40 range. And then from a dynasty lens, you know, let's say that this coming year is very much a question mark. Is he still a player that dynasty managers should absolutely invest in? Are you going to let the NFL answer that for you with the draft capital? I, well, you know, I play dynasty a little more unorthodox. Like, I go after my guys.

And like we, you know, you talk to like Thomas Tipple, he thinks that's a bad strategy because, well, I'm paying above market value for him. I'd rather pay above market value for him and then just make sure I have him. But to Thomas's point, if you do wait and he doesn't get the draft capital, then you can acquire him for really cheap. And then it's, you know, there's a tug and pull there. I'm just pretty comfortable just going after my guys usually.

So I'm probably going to go ahead and draft them as often as I can. One wide receiver that's projected, I think he'll end up being a second round pick. Jeremy Bernard of Alabama, your thoughts on Bernard. I know it's been a player that I've been a little higher on than you. Yeah, I'm not super high on Bernard. I think he's a good player. He's kind of like a jack of all trades, master of none. Really reminds me of John Metchie.

I hate that John Metchie also play the Alabama. for that reason. And people forget Alabama John Mechie. Like he was a different guy obviously than he is now. He was awesome from the standpoint of like, you could count on him to do everything. Could run some routes. Pretty good body control, pretty good at the catch point. Pretty actually really good after the catch, inside out versatility. It's kind of how I viewed Jeremy Bernard, like really high upside wide receiver two for an NFL offense. What that translates to in fantasy will really depend on where he gets drafted. Eli Stowers, tight end Vanderbilt.

We talked about Kenyon Sadiq earlier, and I think Kenyon Sadiq is going to be the locked-in first-round pick, tight end. But I would say Eli Stowers is going to go somewhere in that top 40 with a chance to creep into the end of the first round, because Brett, I think he's extremely athletic, and he's one of these tight ends that you can plug inside of the slot and sort of move him around. he's sort of a classic move tight end.

And ridiculous athleticism was a former quarterback who converted over to tight end at Vanderbilt. Yeah, he's a far more accomplished pass catcher than like a Kenyan Sadiq, who we talked about about 45 minutes ago. The one knock is he's just not, doesn't project as an every down player right away. He's going to need to put a little meat on the frame. He's got to get better at the point of attack as a run blocker. That said, there's never been a better time to draft a guy like Eli Stowers in the NFL with the advent of 12 and 13 personnel. Everybody's playing it.

So you can get away with him as like an Arronday Gadsden type where he is a tight end, but he's playing slot receiver for like 60% of the time. He's on the field. So you don't necessarily need him to be elite. He doesn't have to go block defensive ends if he lands in a scheme like that. He'll be blocking linebackers and safety. So the math is a little bit different. think because the way the NFL is now, he'll go way higher than he would have, say, five, six years ago. Yeah, and if you want a more extensive dive into the tight end position,

Brett and I are going to be revealing our full tight end rankings. Got to make sure you got to go to the NFL, 2026 NFL draft podcast for that. But when you get past Stoers and Sadiq, there's a couple of other move tight ends for you to take a note down. Michael Trigg of Baylor, Justin Jolly of NC State. And then a type of end that helped himself the senior bowl that I know you were into was Sam Roush of Stanford. It's a deep group of tight ends. I think that there's going to be quite a few selected on day two. We'll dive into that on the other pod. Brett, we got to quickly rip through a quarterback two. Doesn't get people excited. Do you think Ty Simpson's going to end up being a first round pick in the NFL draft?

Ty Simpson's my QB, too. Is that what you asked me? Sorry. Yeah. Well, I think he's my QB2 right now as well. Will he end up being a first round pick? Is the question fantasy managers want to know? I'm going to say probably not. I think, you know, we would love to see that happen just for fantasy purposes. But, you know, I don't think he's quite on the level Jackson Dart was at who got, you know, that late first round capital. I'll trade in.

It's tough for me to say that there's such a scarcity at quarterback right now in the NFL where, and there's a bunch of teams that need one. There's not many available. So yeah, you could see it happening. But as far as pedigree goes, it would be very tendency breaking for the NFL to draft the guy like this in the first round. Really, I mean, one year of college production, there's holes in his game.

He's been banged up towards end of the season. Some of his worst games were in the biggest games of the season down the stretch. Like, there's a lot of things I like about Ty Simpson. I just think the NFL will probably punt and take him in the second round-ish area. And I'll say Ty Simpson, a lot of the quarterbacks who have failed big time are quarterbacks with a very small sample size of collegiate starts. Ty Simpson played behind Jalen Milro this past year at Alabama, or two seasons ago at Alabama starts this year.

But when you look at quarterbacks with fewer than 20 college starts over the last few draft classes, guys that were drafted early, it's a very poor hit list. start talking about guys like Tray Lance, Anthony Richardson, a couple of these quarterbacks who have not been strong out the gate in terms of winning NFL games. Ty Simpson has that going against him. But I do think that he's got enough traits that someone's going to pull the trigger. Does he end up getting Jackson Dart draft capital or does he end up falling into round two? Big question mark.

There's a chance that he could go as high as 16 to the Jets, 13 to the Rams, if someone falls in love and there starts being some steam. The other quarterback that we need to mention everyone, Trinidad Chambliss of Ole Miss. Brett, we are recording this on a Friday. Trinidad Chambliss lost his appeal with the NCAA. We still don't have clarity if he's going to be in the NFL draft. If he is in the NFL draft, I'm very intrigued on Trinidad Chambliss as a day two player. I think he's got fantasy football upside.

He's absolutely electric on the NFL field, not a big quarterback. but your very quick thoughts on Trinidad Chamblis. Yeah, I scored him as if he's in the draft for, you know, if I have to remove him, that's fine. But he's my QB3 right now. And I don't love saying, I don't, there's a lot of things I don't like about his game. He does have a gaming, you know, he's like a gamer, right? Like when everything's on the line, he plays his best ball, which is a great trait to have. But he's one of these guys just holds the ball for an eternity.

He doesn't make a lot of big time throws downfield. It's really more just this creative playmaking element that you like from him. but he doesn't really run an offense at all, like really, really bad in that, from that standpoint. So it's, again, it is a weaker QB class. So the fact that he's my QB3 is that in itself speaks volumes. So I'm not a huge fan, to be honest. Yeah, I think I'll be a little higher on Chambleau than you are one more running back

to wrap it up with a running back who had a really good week at the Senior Bowl. Mike Washington Jr. of Arkansas like 6-2, like 230, 225 to 23, to 230 range. Played at Buffalo, played at New Mexico State, and then extilled this past year at Arkansas, a lot to like. What did you see down in Mobile with him?

A big guy who runs angry. This is the David Montgomery comp, by the way. Very physical runner, but then has a feel for the past game. That's just exceptional. Just exceptional. So really good hands, good route runner at the Senior Bowl.

He acquitted himself very well in pass protection and as a receiver. I really like Mike Washington. He's creeping up. I think talking about a player that we had a dynasty rookie draft weeks and weeks ago was going in round three. I think he'll ultimately settle in as a round two dynasty rookie draft selection. And this is the kind of guy, Brett, that if he goes in round four ends in the right spot, he could end up giving you some really good fantasy football utility and buy some weeks here.

You could just see it happening where Washington ends up being an. impactful player for a short sample size next year. I like him a lot. I think he's a really intriguing prospect that can help a number of NFL teams in 26. We covered so many prospects here, Brett. We went way, way too long. If there's prospects that you want to hear Brett and I discuss, put it in the YouTube

comments, and we're going to talk about those players in the upcoming weeks. The 2026 NFL draft podcast, Brett Whitefield and I, every single week over at the Fantasy Points podcast network. and a big shout out to all the fantasy football daily listeners. We're going to also be covering a number of these prospects right here. We've got you covered everything you need to know for the NFL draft over at fantasy points. We'll see you soon. Martha listens to her favorite band all the time.

Jim. Even sleeping. So when they finally went on tour, Martha bundled her flight and hotel on Expedia to see them live. She saved so much she got to see close enough to actually see and hear them. Sort of. You were made to scream from the front row. We were made to quietly save you more. Expedia, made to travel. Savings vary and subject to availability.