Fantasy Football Daily - Top 3rd & 4th Round Fantasy Football Picks to CRUSH Your 2025 Draft w/ Mike Schopp

Episode Date: July 23, 2025

Use code SCOREMORE10 at checkout for 10% OFF any subscription. Dominate your league. Win more bets. Level up your game In this episode of Fantasy Football Daily, we dive deep into the 3rd and 4th rounds of 2025 fantasy football drafts — the sweet spot where championships are won and lost. Host Theo Gremminger breaks down the most critical decisions you'll face in this range: Is James Cook set to smash his ADP? Who wins the Chase Brown vs. Josh Jacobs vs. Kyren Williams debate? Tyreek Hill, Garrett Wilson, Tee Higgins, or JSN — who’s worth your pick? Why Sam LaPorta could be a TE premium cheat code Are you in or out on Breece Hall, Alvin Kamara, and Kenneth Walker? Theo’s thoughts on drafting Marvin Harrison Jr. in Round 4 Plus, we revisit past league-winners from this draft range — from Keenan Allen to Cooper Kupp — and identify which players could follow that same path in 2025. Also: An under-the-radar offense poised to produce multiple ADP winners, Bills WR Khalil Shakir's breakout potential, and a strategic debate on elite QB value (Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Jayden Daniels). Where to find us: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://twitter.com/TheOGFantasy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠http://twitter.com/schopptalk ⁠ Join the Discord here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.fantasypoints.com/media/discord#/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe to Fantasy Points for FREE: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.fantasypoints.com/plans#/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Podcast Transcription Here: https://podsqueeze.com/embedded/transcript/R6Pr9Zy65zTj7dTdaWAc7L Fantasy Points Website - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.fantasypoints.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ NEW! Data Suite - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://data.fantasypoints.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Twitter - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/FantasyPts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Facebook - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/FantasyPts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/FantasyPts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ TikTok - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@fantasypts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ #FantasyFootball #2025Rankings #DaveKluge #RB1 #WR1 #QB1 #TE1 #FantasyFootballAdvice #NFL Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is bedtime a nightmare? If you fear the chance of accidental leakage and skin irritation, you need to try tennis sensitive care overnight pads. Its skin comfort formula acts as a barrier to help protect your skin. Try them now and have a smooth night. Who are the best values inside of round three and round four? How to win your league in the third and fourth round this year? Theo Greminger, Fantasy Football Daily here on the Fantasy Points Podcast Network,

joined today by my friend Mike Shope. Mike is like, Mike, you're like wearing multiple hats this offseason. The fantasy football community knows you from the great work you've been doing for years on the deep end and most recently on ADP chasing. But regionally, you are like the voice of the Buffalo Bills and certainly my go-to source for Buffalo Bills information. Let me know about the radio show you host and everything else. else you're doing this offseason. Thanks. It's very kind. I've been hosting afternoons in Buffalo on WGR Sports Radio 550 since 2002. And we talk about the bills almost every day, if not literally every day. We're coming up on training camp. I think it's a week from today, Wednesday next week,

is when camp opens here. So yeah, I've been doing that a long time. You can find it from out of town on the Odyssey app. And ADP chasing has been a lucky situation for me. It's been really fun. getting with those guys every week and learning a lot about trends, just the kind of things we're going to be talking about. Yeah, no, for sure. Highly recommend everything that Mike is putting out. And Mike, you're also in the streets. You're drafting a lot.

I'm going to miss you this year in FFPC drafts in Vegas, but you'll certainly be in a lot of FFPC drafts, doing a lot of underdog drafts. You're in the best ball streets continually. So you're not just talking content. You're actually drafting pretty much every day. Every day. Yeah.

Life on the clock. It's a great lifestyle. But, you know, you're, let's start out with the Buffalo Bill because I think one player that last year was certainly a huge, massive win for drafters inside of this round three, four, three, four range was James Cook. And last year he was sort of a, there was mixed opinions about him heading into the season. And he tore it up. He had 18 touchdowns. He was a player that sort of gave analytics folks a lot of like headaches. it's sort of a he can't keep getting away with this type mentality because the snapshot

was never there for Cook. But, you know, touchdowns are the main driver of fantasy football success as, as like interesting as we want to be. Touchdowns still remain one of the main drivers. And he had this unbelievable season where he ran hot, average 16.7 points per game. And people have been sort of lukewarm about him this off season. There was so, of course, we have the contract dispute, like, you know, they haven't extended them yet in Buffalo. We don't have the lack of long-term clarity. But in terms of this year specifically, is he a player you're looking at exposure to in the late third, early fourth?

Not really. I'm just too stubborn to come around in a guy like Cook. And when, whether it's him or, well, Derek Henry probably most notably over the years, somebody kind of beats the odds. And this isn't really true of Henry. I mean, Henry is great. But Cook and his touchdowns, like you laid out, were not expected really at all, that kind of number. And it happened.

And maybe this doesn't work out for me, but I come back to next year and just try to double down on my position. I mean, sometimes you have to be careful and be open to, you know, being wrong. But I would be shocked if he came close to that kind of number again. Touchdowns are so important, but also the hardest to predict. And really, like, the bills just, what a smooth ride they had last year, you know, a pretty easy division again. And that could happen again. 30 rushing touchdowns is insane. They average 30 points a game.

But he's still, like you alluded to it, the snapshot, 44 percent, I believe last year for Cook. And I don't see that necessarily changing. I don't think they want him on the field more than that. He's not big to be able to handle more work. and they also have a third downback in Ty Johnson that they really like. Josh Allen has called them the best in the league. I mean, I don't know if that's true. But I don't think that's going away.

Offensive line has been really good. It's also been really healthy for the bills. And that's also not something I want to assume is just going to happen every year. So it's not super expensive, Cook, as you said, but I like other guys more. I'm into Kenneth Walker in that kind of range or an elite quarterback. I mean, that's a little early for Cook, for Cook maybe. but, you know, another wide receiver there worthy, somebody like that is usually where I'm headed. Yeah, it's sort of been an opportunity cost thing for me with Cook, where last year I was

taking a ton of him. Whenever he fell, I was taking him. And I also was using him as a correlation play with Josh Allen, which actually worked really well for me in a number of leagues. I still think that he could hit this year. But this year, it's just, it's an opportunity costing where I think the touchdowns could regress down to 10. It's the past catching, though, where with his profile, we'd like to think that James Cook is this dynamic threat. But like you said, Ty Johnson's just not going away. And also Ray Davis is a player that is kind of easy to bet on as like a high-end handcuff type.

Maybe Ray Davis sees his touches go up. Even a 10, 15% bump for Ray Davis on a weekly basis would be detrimental to James Cook. And just selfishly, maybe Buffalo wants to see can Ray Davis? has handled the exact same role on a super cheap contract in 2026 if we let James Cook walk. So with you on that one, and certainly not a player that's being drafted inside of round three or round four and far from it. But I think there's been a lot of discussion this offseason on Dalton Kincaid, a lot of offseason discussion this year on like Keon Coleman.

Can he take a little bit of a step forward? But the guy who certainly just sits there and doesn't really move. ADP is Khalil Shakir. He's an eighth round pick right now in leagues like the FFPC, the NFFC, a little bit higher on underdog. Had a solid year last year, really like was strong in yak numbers, has that valuable slot role. Buffalo extended him with a new contract. Do you think that he has potential to really, really beat his ADP? Or is he just sort of a, you're not that excited about it? He's going to be similar type role this year. Yeah, again, you go back to touchdowns, right?

I mean, Shakir and Kincaid have both been players. I mean, Shakir was productive, but neither guy, not everybody can score 16 touchdowns or whatever in a season. So, you know, it's limited. But he had four last year. He did get a really nice contract extension from the bills. They thought to pay him. And I think he's the kind of player that last year he was, I think maybe 76 for 820 and 4, stat-wise. And I kind of think they would take that every year from him.

Just not somebody, Red Zone, who is sort of an alpha in that way. He is their slot receiver, and I don't see that changing, which I think is bad for Kincaid with Dawson Knox still on the field on a team that ran the ball great. So, yeah, I mean, I think, again, that's the range in the draft where you don't really lose too much if you get burned. And I don't think Shakir is a player that should burn you because they like him and he's very relevant in their offense. And I don't think that's going to go the other way. I think the only way it does is if there's an injury or something.

But I don't either think there's a huge ceiling here waiting to happen. Yeah, I think it's really a game flow ceiling where if we think that Buffalo is going to be in a lot more close games, potentially trailing a little bit more, Shakir could go from being like a 76 catch player to a 90 catch. player. And it would just take a little bit of a game flow bet. But I agree. He's sort of a, it's a limited ceiling player when you're picking him. He makes sense, I think, structurally for best ball, because Josh Allen's really easy to kind of like correlate with him in a, in a reasonable range. But as a standalone player, if I don't have Josh Allen, just not that excited. Let's take a step

back, bird's eye view. The second round, the second round this year, I had Faraz Siddiqui of upper hand, fantasy on last week right here on this show. And we broke down the second round. And Mike, in the second round, it just feels like the easiest year ever. There are so many great picks inside a round two. So many picks that like could put up top five, top six fantasy scoring numbers.

You have a couple like dark horse wide receiver one overall candidates. You have in regular PPR leagues, you have Brock Bowers falling there, certainly on underdog as well. and then you have running backs like Derek Henry, Devon A. Chan, starting to see a little Ashton Genty in round two over in the FFPC streets. And then Jonathan Taylor sort of that fail safe volume bet at the end of the round. The round three and round four I get excited about, but there's more pitfalls to be had, more landmines you can step on. Is that generally your thought when approaching round three and round four? Like really good picks, but a little bit trickier. It can be.

I find the cutoff for me is right around at McConkey in the middle of the second round. I do like taking McBride after that. But I'm usually rooting against early draft slots because I don't like that late second as much as maybe others. Tyreek Hill, T. Higgins, Jacobs, I don't know. And part of this, too, Theo, is that round three, I think, by the back of the third, third round. I'm still, I still like a lot of my options. That can be Breece Hall. That's all the quarterbacks, you know, pick your favorite, Alan Jackson, Daniels, even Hertz. I mean, Hertz goes a little later. But I like that sort of range. I think JSN is fine. Garrett Wilson in the

mid-third. If you get that sort of luxury is great, I think. Although that's also a guy who's sort of ADP-wise earlier in the third round. I like taking him if I'm in one of those early slots. So, I mean, I think the third round is hugely important, three and four, because there are going to be stars in there. And I think Hall is one that, you know, for me, has the upside to really pay off for you. If you pick them there, of course, the quarterbacks do too if you want to go that route. I don't love McLaurin as much. But, yeah, the third round has a lot to offer. I think especially the value can be in the back.

Yeah. And for me, I think I'm a little bit more open. Like, I know you'll obviously draft from any single slot and be able to put together a dangerous build. I've been a little bit excited recently when I get an early pick just because I think that it's very flat from like the end of the second until like the middle of the third. And I have access to a bunch of wide receivers I like if I want to start my draft out with like a Bijan or Jamir Gibbs.

So I'm sort of open mind with everything, but you do make a lot of sense. And we're going to dive into Bruce Hall. We're going to dive into those early quarterbacks. We're going to dive into pretty much every player that Mike and I like inside of round three and round four after this. What's up? I'm John Hansen. Best Ball is back and it's only at Draft Kings. And there's 15 million reasons to be excited. A $15 million dollar guaranteed prize pool with two millionaires being crowned for first and second place. Draft Kings is offering everyone a draft one get one special. Your $20 entry fee scores you a bonus ticket. Download the draft king's app and use the code PS. That's code PS for all customers who enter the NFL Best Ball 15 million millionaire contest.

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Enter the Best Ball 15 million headliner contest by 9-4-25 to get one bonus entry, $20 entry fee required. Reward expires in 30 days. See terms at draftkings.com slash NFL dash best dash ball. Welcome back, Fantasy Football Daily, Theo Greminger with Mike Schoep. Make sure you're checking out Mike on ADP

chasing, especially this time of year. This is peak, this is like prime ADP chasing season, as they say, Mike. A lot of people come out of the woodwork, August 1. We're in the streets pretty much since Memorial Day on, drafting teams. And getting back to the third and fourth

round just to kind of give a little bit of an oral history for the third and fourth round. This has been a great source of fantasy production and finding league winning values. Last year, even in very, very high stakes drafts, Derek Henry was continually going inside of round three. Malik Neighbors was going inside of round three. Nico Collins on a per game basis last year was just outstanding. Average over 17 points per game. He was going in this range.

Josh Jacobs, of course, was going inside of this range. Pretty much every single draft ended up having a ridiculously good season. James Cook as well. Go back to 2023. You found some really league winning types where Bruce Hall was going inside of this range and he ends up being the RB2 overall. Travis ETN also inside of this range. In 2023, ETN gave you that top five scoring season.

Really, really good year from him. And Keenan Allen was going in the, the range of a lot of these wide receivers that we're going to talk about today. Keenan Allen was like the 30th to like 32nd type pick and he ended up giving you a 20 point per game season in 2023. And of course, Mike, we can all remember the legendary Cooper Cup year. He was going inside of like the fourth round and FFPC and FFC type drafts behind Robert Woods.

We can sift through. We can find some of the, hopefully we find a couple of players today that can help managers just like that. And let's start out with it. When when we're talking about this third round, we've got to start talking about the running backs that are available to you at the two, three turn. These guys are not always available inside a round three. But if you're picking at like the 302 and Chase Brown, Josh Jacobs, and let's throw Kyron Williams in the mix, are all sitting there on the board. Are you going to adjust and take one of these backs? Do you find them as a great value or sort of a players you're avoiding in this range?

Usually, if I'm there, I will take Chase Brown. Sometimes maybe even Bucky Irving can happen, like that two, three turn. And, you know, at 211, you're trying to figure out what's going to be available at 302. I mean, depending on ADP. So I think Irving is a great pick. I think Brown is a fine pick. I'm not into Jacob so much because of his age compared to those other two. or Williams is not old, but so much workload already.

And I don't think that's a great bet for me. So I like Brown. I like McBride in that kind of two, three turn area too. And otherwise, I'm probably on Garrett Wilson or even like Tyree Kill. Because I'd rather get that wide receiver locked down in round one. I mean, as great as Bejohn Robinson and Barclay and Gibbs might be, I usually would prefer to start with the receiver at the top. and that, you know, opens up because I wouldn't want to start with two running backs.

And so if it's Jefferson or Land that opens up Irving or Chase Brown like that, I'd rather build like that. Yeah, I agree with you like completely on Bucky Irving. I think Bucky Irving is almost an auto pick for me when I get access to him in that 301, 302 range. It doesn't usually fall further than that. So it's sort of like you're used to seeing him go at like the 208, 209, 210 range on FFPC. So when he falls a few spots, it's not like he ever falls to like the 307.

You never see that with Bucky Irving. I think Irving, you have that combination of really solid floor because he's just good. And that's going to be a good productive offense and really strong ceiling. If they can, if Rishad White is phased out a little bit as a pass catcher, I think Bucky Irving could have just a top five scoring season, the running back position. So I agree with you on him. I think Chase Brown, I still feel a little bit dangerous when I add him in the early third because I think he's a combination back. It's a great offense. I think his past catching could actually go up this year. He might be a capped player when it comes down to like the actual carries numbers. I think like 225 is about what he can handle. And I don't think that they want to get him up to like a 250, 275 range. But I think him taking a step forward as a receiver just in being comfortable in this offense. and their trust factor with him and the whole off season.

Jacobs, I agree. Jacobs, like, I'm sprinkling in some Jacobs on underdog, but when it comes to regular old redraft, it just feels like the kind of player I want to avoid. And it feels like we're paying for last year's stats. And I think Green Bay could mix in a second back in certain situations this year. I don't think they want to completely lean on Jacobs. And I think we want to get to be a little bit more balanced.

So the touchdown numbers could come down. The offense could be more balanced this year. I'm just not into him. and Kyron Williams, like, it could burn me, but I think I'm not going to have a whole lot of Kyron this year as well. You mentioned Trey McBride, Mike. Trey McBride is a player that I love, and I have got him in the third round on like underdog.

He even fell to me in an NFFC online championship draft, which is non-tight-end premium. I think he's exceptional there. George Kittle, though, curious about your take on Kittle this year. We're seeing him more and more often in FFPC drafts. going inside of round two. He's almost been living there. I'm in a big gorilla right now, which is their redraft contest, the 350.

And I saw a kiddle at 13 overall. But he does fall to the third round sometimes still. Are you in on kiddle this year as sort of the arbitrage tight end one overall type selection when you're in this range, especially in FFPC leagues? Yes. I like that bet a lot. McBride has six career touchdown. I mean, there's so much potential upside there if he could just become, you know, a red zone target consistently for Arizona.

So I feel like the odds are good there. Kittle, it's hard not to like what you get from Kittal, especially in best ball with the huge weeks he can put down. Debo Samuel is gone. The offense runs so officially McCaffrey back. The Niners are always that team where it's like, which one is it going to be on a given week? They've been that. But they're a little different now. there's going to be some drama with Joanne Jennings. We really don't know how good

Pearsall is. And with McCaffrey back, I just think it's one way or another going to be a good offense, if not great. And Kittle should be central to that. So it's reasonable to think he could end up, I don't know, tight end one is possible, but I think he's very much worth the price early fourth. Yeah, I think like tight end one could be really, really high scoring this year, especially with the two younger players that are going to be 155, 160 target guys in McBride and Bowers. But with Kittle, he's just so efficient. And I do think there's a chance that we see an out of like non-normal target ceiling type season for Kittle, which he doesn't have the room to run for like the McGrides, the Bowers.

But if we could get Kittle up to 115 targets, he's usually this good with like 90, 95 targets. He's just incredibly efficient in that offense. But if we see him get maybe 20 more targets, 25 more targets, I don't think that's an insane ask. You're talking about like one and a half more targets per game. Then we could see Kittles numbers really move. I think he's a 17 point per game type in regular PPR if he stays healthy. And it's the least amount of wide receiver competition and wide receiver clarity that we've ever seen for him. So I completely agree with you on that one. There's also the wild card where what do they do to replace the Debo Samuel touches around the line of scrimmage? If they're trying to emulate that sort of physicality, maybe it's getting

the ball in George Kittles' hands, giving him an opportunity to earn yards with yak on lower a dot looks, just a few times a game to keep defense as honest. I think that's usually been, the discussion's been the Debo usage goes to McCaffrey as a runner. People have made the Garando argument. People have made Purcell. Certainly Joanne. But Kittle, seeing some of those touches could be an interesting one just in the physicality department. Go ahead. Just add, it's a little bit off topic.

But, you know, what happens to me in these drafts, I love taking Bowers, McBride, Kittle, but then you get into those mid rounds and there are still some really attractive, tight end options there, like Ferguson and Kraft and these guys, Engram a little bit earlier. And I'll sometimes be a little not disappointed that I, I spent the early draft capital on one of those tight ends because I think it still is a good investment. But I also kind of want when those guys fall a little bit to be able to add them, you certainly can do both. But I end up sometimes feeling like I'm wanting to invest a little bit more in tight end than I should. I do want, I know Scott Barrett has talked about, you know, loading up on tight ends toward the end, just waiting as much as he might like the top guys waiting to do it.

But I'm usually too tempted by the top names to have the patience for that strategy. Yeah, and I agree with Scott to an extent. I certainly think in best ball taking shots on multiple tight ends sort of in the aggregate, especially in tight end premium, can work out because I think a lot of times we have difficulty ranking the low end tight end one to like the high end tight end three. Oftentimes, guys like the Jonu Smith last year, Dalton Schultz a few years ago, where they really, really beat ADP coming from a cheap, cheap range of the draft. But there's something to be said for you avoid a landmine when you take Kittle because

guys, the running backs and wide receivers around him, you know, there's some guys who could fail. Kittle, if he stays healthy, it's really hard to imagine him falling off that much after an 1,100 yards season last year. You also don't have to play that tight end game where I'm able to take shots on running backs. I'm also able to take fewer tight ends in a tight end premium. format like FFPC, if it's a 20 round draft, and I can take Kittle and maybe one more tight end and call it a day. Being a little more fragile at the position volume-wise allows me to open up myself to a million other builds. Whereas if I miss on tight end and I have to draft like four or five of

them, then I could be missing out on like that handcuff running back, maybe that QB2. So completely with you, I like Kittle. And I think all three of the elite tight ends are very interesting this year. sticking with tight end, a player that we've seen drop in ADP significantly from last season was Sam Leporta. Leporta had the tight end one overall year as a rookie. And then last year, steamed up to it. He was like a one two turn pick in FFPC drafts. Now you're starting to get him sometimes in round four and sometimes he falls to the beginning of round five. So do you think Sam Leporta is a value to you?

And this is specifically the tight end premium managers. If you're drafting on like NFFC, you're able to get Leporta in like round six, round seven. So ignore this one. But this is to our tight end premium managers. Is Sam Leporta an edge pick to you at the very end of the fourth round? Or are you still not clicking that button that often? Yeah, I'm mostly out. I think, you know, on Kettle for a moment, you can really only draft one tight end in that format, I think.

And, you know, what's the difference by the end of those drafts between who's last, and then what we're going to find out plus waivers, you know, into the season. But I would say that past Kittle, you really can't afford that. And Leporta, I'm worried about Detroit a little bit. They have set such a high ceiling, but new coordinator and, you know, just what Jameson Williams is going to be. The offense might be different. They've been so good.

But usually I'm breaking ties against their top guys, Gibbs, St. Brown, and then ultimately Leporta, too. I'd rather be drafting those other tight ends I brought up. We talked about a minute ago, a few rounds later. You know, in round two, when I had Farras on, we talked about how wide receiver drafters in round two, like leagues could be decided by the biggest hit between like a Drake London, a lad McCocky, and an A.J. Brown, all going so close to one another. In round three, we're also seeing a cluster of wide receivers in the first half of round three. and occasionally some of these guys sneak into the end of round two. Tyree Kill, Jackson Smith & Jigba, T. Higgins, Garrett Wilson.

We're going to talk about who the best value is in this group of wide receivers right after this. Black Friday is here at IKEA and the clock is ticking on savings you won't want to miss. Join IKEA family for free today and unlock deals on everything from holiday must-haves to cozy at-home essentials. All the little and big things you need to make. this season shine. But don't wait. Like leftovers at midnight, our Black Friday offers won't last. Shop now at IKEA.ca.ca slash Black Friday. Ikea. Bring home to life. All right, Mike. So we prefaced it before. They're all appealing. Like, these are really appealing wide receivers. But we got to pick one of them here. And I know you, in a regular, you know,

first of all, we're high volume players. So there's, we're going to have exposure to a few of these guys. but if you had a single draft, you had one bullet this year, and you were OTC, and you were going to take Tyreek, JSN, T. Higgins, or Garrett Wilson, which way would you lean? Wilson. Hill with his age, Smith and Jigba, I think, is just like a tier below. And you said Higgins, too, maybe. Yeah, Higgins in there. Yeah, even Marvin Harrison can end up in that kind of realm too. But I would take Wilson over all of them. I just, you know, you got to love the talent. He just got a contract that the team is invested. And it's kind of incredible what he's done statistically with the Jets, given what the Jets have been at quarterback in these last three years.

Like Wilson is still giving you 1,000 yards and touchdowns every year anyway. I think there's a higher ceiling. I don't know if it comes from Justin Fields, but I kind of feel like what Wilson's seasons have been are the floor for him if he's healthy and that's just my favorite pick to make say you know 27 or 28 overall yeah i can make an argument and i i think wilson might be the one that i have the most exposure to because i think we're going to start seeing the uh 80p shift a little bit and see him come up a little bit more to this range predominantly but i was drafting him a lot whenever he fell to like the like the second

half of the third round i certainly have a ton of garratt wilson bags and dynasty everything's just sort of shaping up for a really, really strong season for Wilson this year, where I think he leads the NFL in Target chair. They have such limited options at tight end, wide receiver two, where Wilson, even if it's a low volume passing attack, I think he'll still hit on his usual 150 targets. And I think the Jets offense could be a little better than some people think. I really like Tanner Engstrand. I think we're seeing some really positive vibes there, back-to-back years of using very high draft picks on offensive linemen. I think we'll start seeing that this year.

And just the competency of just this new regime, I have pretty good vibes. So I'm really in on Wilson. Go ahead. And I mean, Justin Fields for all his detractors, he can throw the ball. Like, it's not about whether he has the arm talent. It's about how long it takes him to figure out what's happening on the field. And I don't know. Like, that could be an offense where it's really simple.

because of how their talent breaks down, as you said, with Brees Hall. And I think Braylon Allen will be relevant. And then receiver-wise, it's Wilson and Josh Reynolds or Mason Taylor, a rookie. So Wilson is so good, contested catches. That can simplify things in, I think, maybe a very positive way for fields. So Tyree Kill, when I first did my rankings in May, I had them down there. I really wanted to avoid Tyreek this year. the kind of guy I usually fade when we see a guy of his age drop that much in production,

the off the field sort of annoying things with Tyreek. And I didn't want to chase like yesteryear where I think we get ourselves in trouble with that. But Mike, I got to say the vibes with Tyreek lately have been incredible. I moved them up to inside my top 35 and my top 50 rankings and fantasy points. Didn't want to do it. So I'm about starting to become about in line with ADP in terms of where I have him ranked. He's lost over 10 pounds.

We're seeing him just trying to display his speed whenever he can, going and participating in like races. You have the beat reporters, the coaching staff, everybody's sort of saying the right thing. If we get back a little bit towards the Mike McDaniel magic of 2023, Tyreek can end up being a real value. And he doesn't have to hit 23 points a game again. He could hit 17 points per game and be a massive win here.

Are you starting to sprinkle in some Tyreek? me, it's like I don't want to, I don't want to not have exposure to him. And I feel like I have to play catch up a little bit. Yeah, I feel the same. I wasn't so much avoiding him early like you're saying that you were, but he's somebody that you don't want to get stuck without any shares of, I think, because the upside is so incredible. I just sort of maybe it's a little bit too along the lines of what the consensus

sounds like, but I'm worried about that team. I don't know. It's a lot to get back to where they were two years ago. They've had structural problems. You talk about the Tyree Kill vibes. I don't know about the team vibes, though, when it comes to Miami. All this doesn't really have to be, you know, a deal breaker when it comes to fantasy. But I'm sort of thinking Miami could have a rough year.

They're trading guys and just doesn't sound great overall. And if it does go south, where does that maybe? leave Tyreeke Hill. Maybe he ends up being traded at some point if it does go that way. You love about the dolphins what it, what it is when it's right with H.N. Hill and Waddle. I mean, that's awesome. It's almost like the best with when they're when they're really clicking. But I don't know. Like I don't want to get left out on Tyree just like you, but I'm not going to be overweight. Yeah, I think you make some really, really strong points. And we have Miami's offensive line ranked as a bottom five unit. Scott D. Benedetto, our offensive line guru, did his rankings article, which is just

tremendous. He came and joined me on School of Scott podcast, and we broke it down. And I think internally, there's some optimism about some of the linemen that they have. But again, that might just be sort of trying to talk it right and have a little positive talk there, because they did lose a lot over the last few years on that O line. And the offensive line cannot be awful this year, or it sort of kills the narrative on a Tyree Kill smash season because it's going to turn out to be a lot of low A dot looks for like Devon A Chan. Maybe we see Jalen Waddle return to a little bit more of a lower A dot look like we saw early in his career to help him bounce back. So Tyreek can absolutely beat everybody this year. Like if he's Tyreek and it's one more year and he's chasing

that next contract and he gets you a 20 point per game season here, he's the one. But I agree with you, there's just a little bit more safety with Garrett Wilson a few picks later. Talk about JSN because it sounded like you're really out on JSN. I've been optimistic about JSN, 100 catch season last year. He's 23 years old. I think that the moving DK Metcalf and not having Tyler lock it around for the first time, it's been like JSN's wide receiver room. And I think that the Cooper Cup edition, forcing him to play outside, could actually get him

some higher a dot looks, a chance for like more spike weeks and not just this sort of slot merchant role. I think he's got a little bit of room to run from this ADP, but I understand the hesitation. Is this because of the quarterback situation, the role, like where are you at with JSN? Yeah, I'm not out. When I when I said earlier a tier below, I mean, it's slight talking about guys like Wilson as we were. All of that is the, that's the pros column when it comes to Smith and Jigba, love the player. I don't know if that offense holds up with Darnold if the line isn't good. I don't know where Seattle ranked on your colleagues, you know, rankings of offensive line.

Not great, Mike. Not great. Yeah, it sounded to me like it could be bad. And Sam Darnold in those, in that environment, look out. So it's not so much about JSN in a negative way. I pick him. I mean, I still think late third when he gets that far, he's, fine. But I think that could also be a team that cracks and, you know, that can be,

I can go either way. We talked about Wilson who still put up great seasons on a team like that with the Jets. But I'm a little bit less than optimistic about Darnold in an offense if they can't, you know, make things really smooth for him. And that's, I would have to say, probably my expectation. Two players that are falling just slightly below this tier. I mean, it's, it's splitting hairs. It's Marvin Harrison Jr. and Devante Adams. So these guys are going usually after JSN, occasionally before. Devante Adams, of course, it was 17 points per game last year, comes over to L.A. There's a lot of positive buzz. I know there's some people just really, really flag planting Devante Adams this year. I like him a lot. And then Marvin Harrison,

Jr., where we talked about Tyree Kill, we talked about Sam Laporta. Marvin Harrison Jr. would certainly be in that really fell a lot from last year's ADP price tag. You're taking him about 22 spots later than you did when he was a rookie. Of course, had the, I mean, it's just crazy to think about. I think if we were predicting, if we did the show last year and we were predicting the 20, 25 first round in 2024, like July 2024, we would have said, oh, Marvin Harrison, Jr. He's the seventh pick in this year. You know, he had a great rookie year, all this kind of stuff. Where are you at on these two values? You click on the button on these guys. Are there any third round picks this year that were not once wide receivers at Ohio State?

Are they all former Ohio State Buckeye wide receivers, including McLaurin, by the way? The worry I have about Harrison is another team-centric concern where, like, there is the upside. It's the same with Miami a little bit where you can imagine Kyler Murray is running again, and Harrison takes a big step, and McBride is getting these touchdowns, and, you know, Connor is Connor. but I have my doubts about Murray. I just don't know that there's the potential for even somebody as talented as Harrison to like really skyrocket. So again, like that's near Garrett Wilson. That's near Chase Brown.

You know, other guys that I think are safer picks. And Adams for me is definitely, I'm definitely interested. Like that he has just not fallen off as a player. He's bigger than a guy like Tyree Kill, which is, I think historically, better for longevity to be able to trust that a little more. You've got to love him with McVeigh and with Puka. I think that that has, I mean, the touchdowns you get from Devante Adams back to that. Just like, that's exciting.

So mid-third, I'm fine to do it in the Hardway draft. I'm not sure if you were in that. You might have been in that, FFPC. Yeah, of course. Adam Crowlerst and I took Adams at 301, which was quite early at that time to do that. So we made our bet that night. Yeah, no, I love the enthusiasm on Adams. And I'm glad you brought up the touchdowns because I love Puka to Cua this year,

but that's sort of never been Puka. And Devante Adams being like the main cog inside the red zone. You could also just see him thriving on these huge spike weeks where in a Sean McVeigh offense, you'll see these games where he'll hyper-target somebody and somebody gets like 19, 20 targets because that's what the defense is giving them. The presence of Pukonakua certainly helps Devante Adams this year. They were hyper-concentrated target-wise last year when it was Cup and Adams during those weeks where Kyron Williams really wasn't scoring too many points.

So I think we'll see that from the jump this year with those two guys. Harrison Jr., I'm sort of with you. I've mixed in my exposure to him. We took him, Dan Williamson and I took him at like the 402 in an FFPC main event. And that price felt about right, but I'm certainly not reaching and taking him like alongside like a Tyree kill. And then there's a lot of people really pounding the table saying that we're going to get the Marvin Harrison Jr. year that we wanted last year. I think it's in the range of outcomes. But Trey McBride is such a clear top target to me.

And we haven't really seen Kyler Murray elevate a wide receiver, like truly elevate one since the Yondry Hopkins. And it's a very different sort of bet than a nuance. veteran like Hopkins and the way they used Marvin Harrison Jr. He had no manufactured looks like no no like there's not like a single screen pass. They ran for him. They're not running smoke along the line of scrimmage. Like they're not getting him those easy button targets that we're used to seeing with like the true alphas like Devante Adams is going to get some of those easy button targets this year.

So that I think there are pitfalls with Harrison Jr. But I'm not out. I'm just not reaching whatsoever. Yeah. Let's 4.02. 402 is a great price. I think that's fourth round is one thing, but underdog ADP is 28. And I, unless I have a Cincinnati, Arizona week 17 thing going, which happens, I'd probably pick someone else.

Yeah, you might as well sit out the main event this year, Mike, because I have an Ashton Genti 2. I have an Ashton Jenty 202. I have a Christian McCaffrey 201. So like, you know, I'm mixing in some good prices. Yeah, yeah, it sounds like it. Yeah. And main event season, end of the month is going to be awesome, all, really much much all month long. Right now we are in peak best ball season.

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Mike, sticking with the wide receiver conversation, let's talk about another group of wide receivers that are sort of clustered together in the tail end of round four and just pick one here. Terry McLaren, Mike Evans, D.K. McCaff, DJ Moore. And then let's push Tett McMillan in this conversation in case he rises up there, which I think he could with a really strong training camp kind of buzz. All we need is like one video highlight of Ted doing something ridiculous with a one-hand catch and a couple of beat reporters saying some good things and he's right there. So do you have a preferred target from this group of wide receivers? It would be McMillan won Metcalf 2 from that list.

McMillan is often a fourth round pick on Underdog. I love it when that happens. I just really like the direction that offense has been heading, how last year went. And to add this player is, I think, very exciting. So I'm there. I can see maybe more than most a really good season from Metcalf in Pittsburgh. I know with Pittsburgh, it's always such a drag. It's like, you know, Arthur Smith, this and that, and running the ball constantly. You know, they made an investment at running back with Harris leaving. But, you know, the pickings trade, it's there if Rogers is upright and they're, you know, kind of efficient. Maybe it's not a huge receptions year for Metcalf, but I think they'd have big impact with him.

So I like him in the fourth round when that happens, which is, you know, typical. So McMillan will be at the top. McLaurin, I don't know. You got the big touchdown spike, but again, that's the kind of thing that I try to bet against usually. That kind of, you know, thing happening again the very next year. And Evans, more or less exciting. Evans, I mean, he probably deserves more respect than I'm giving him because he's had such an amazing career. But the age is where I would break the tie there versus, say, McMillan.

Yeah, I love McMillan as well. I've really, really liked clicking the button on him. And I do think, again, I think he's going to come up. I think that we could have a low-end wide receiver one type production out of Tet McMillan, and I don't think that's being hyperbolic, him hitting 15, 16 points per game. They're just screaming for a value like him at wide receiver. And I understand the people saying, you know, Adam Thielen's still there. He was good down the stretch.

Xavier, that's going to be a little bit more well-used. But with Bryce Young, we've seen him hyper-target a top option multiple times. Adam Thielen was the beneficiary. It's just easy for me to see Ted McMillan coming in there. and being better than Thielen was at the end of last year. Really, really, really good player. Highest drafted wide receiver in franchise history. And I love your DK call because in that same Hardway draft,

which we do every single year, I took DK. McCaff at the 502, and I got him as the wide receiver 25. I love that price tag. And I remember at the time, like the guys, the FFPC guys, like Dave Terpiole and all those guys, like being like, hey, what do you think of that, DK? And I'm like, I kind of made the same argument you made.

I think he's the focal point of the offense. They're going to run a lot of play action. And Mike, just from a like, this is non-analytical. This is just vibes. Every year we see a wide receiver who's traded and then finishes as a wide receiver one. Last year we sell with Jerry Judy, year before with DJ Moore. And then you can just rattle off the names, AJ Brown, DeAndre Hopkins, Stefan Diggs. Like every single year we're seeing one, D.K. Metcalf, they gave an early second round pick for and they paid him an absolute fortune.

So I'm with you. I think DK is a really strong click right now in multiple formats. Pivot over to Brees Hall. You mentioned him as a target of yours. The enthusiasm level you have with Brees right now, just talk about it a bit. Well, I, you know, I still think maybe there's an upside for that offense that we're not necessarily counting on because I have a little bit more of the mind that fields can maybe do it if the offensive line is good and they've invested in that.

and it's just, again, more simplified because he can throw. But, you know, Hall is a high-end talent. I mean, there have been naysayers. Scott's talked about this bouncer or somebody that he heard from that you reported in on, you know, I saw Brise Hall every day or whatever it is, Scott Barrett brought up about him. Hoboken, club leaks, man. Hoboken, right. But, you know, you said that you like the regime change there.

And I do, too. offensive coordinator, serious head coach, you know, maybe it really pops. And, you know, like maybe a lot of guys, I'm often in that mid to late third round position starting with two receivers. They're just so good when you're picking late, when you can have Brian Thomas and neighbors and Collins and St. Brown and some combination of A.J. Brown, even, McConkey even, some combination of those two guys, then I'm thirsty for the running back there. And Hall is the one.

I'm not, I like Kenneth Walker later if it ends up not being a running back in round three or even someone like Camara or Connor once we get a little dusty there. But I think the upside is there for Brise Hall team wise individually to have like a great, as Pat Crane might put it, a legendary season. Maybe that's a little too lofty, but late third I'm in. Yeah. And it's just for me, it's like he's never averaged fewer than 15 points per game. and when you start projecting the Jets,

Brice Hall, I think, is the number two target earner, which is huge for the running back. You talk about all those years with Kamara being like the leading target, the second leading target. Last year, Camara led the Saints in targets. I think that Bruce Hall, like after Garrett Wilson, you could get back to a 75 catch season for Breece Hall. And it doesn't matter if they give Braylon Allen 10 carries a game.

If Bruce Hall gets 75 receptions and then has his, has a bump in rushing proficiency because of the threat of the scrambling quarterback. Like we've never seen Breece Hall play alongside a really hyper-mobile quarterback like Justin Field. So I'm with you. I think Bruce Hall, like he's one that I wanted to be a little lower on. But I've been drafting him during round four.

And now that he's come back to the very end of round three, I'm not stopping. And I agree with you on, especially an underdog. I've loved getting that sort of value. but in FFPC, I think I'll mix in some as well. Very quickly, Mike, your preferred option among, and I guess you kind of are, you have to say one name here. I don't know like contractually,

but of the high end QBs, what's the best way to play it? If you want to take a Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, or wait a few picks for Jaden Daniels, and just for this conversation, let's throw Jalen Hertz in there because he's starting to go inside of round four

a little bit more often in FFPC. are you into like grabbing the first one and plan a flag? Are you a, I'm going to wait and take the fourth one if I go, Elite QB, like, where are you out on this one? I'm definitely the latter of those two. I'll take Hall or Smith and Jigba or whoever it is that I think maybe is the, if there's a slight faller, 309, 310, and then see what the guys behind me do. And I'll take who they don't.

If I'm going to take a quarterback there, I'll take who they don't. I don't usually want to take one of those quarterbacks because I feel like maybe I can capitalize. A lot of drafts quarterbacks fall even like two rounds. And if I have the stack opportunities, which are not easy to come by with some of the top guys this year, I think compared to previous years are a little bit tougher. I'm okay with passing on all of them. There just always seems to be one that falls. Sometimes you get stuck.

But I definitely want to let the guys at 10, 11, 12, because they're not going to take two. of them. I mean, two or three even could go, but nobody's going to double up there usually. I'll just see who I get. And if I get Daniels, if he's the third one off the board, great. That's what I end up doing. So I think that's, that's fine. Yeah, I think if we're talking about like a structure and sort of game theory, when you get that opportunity to take QB2 at the like the 401, 402, 403, 404 range when they fall, that is going to become a pretty good number because I think that that might be the edge pick in that situation. But like you said, there's something to be said about QB3 and QB4.

If I want to get that access to the hyper mobile rushing upside quarterback, Jaden Daniels sometimes falls to like the end of the fourth. Jalen Hertz sometimes falls into the mid-fifth. So getting those two guys is very interesting. I think Jaden Daniels ultimately might be the best value at the quarterback position. I don't love the Terry McLaren stuff, but I think he's going to be even more efficient with his legs. Mike, I know I got to get you out of here.

This was a lot of fun. I'm going to continue discussing multiple rounds. So again, check out the Faraz Sadiqi episode. We broke down round two. Mike, you were awesome covering round three and round four. I'll be back for like a round five through seven. I guess I can't really call that mid, I guess it's kind of mid rounds.

I'll call it a mid round one. So we'll have a guest on for that one. Highly recommend everything Mike's doing. But Mike, before we get you out of here, I'm going to ask all my guests from now until kickoff. Give us a bold prediction for the fantasy football season. Oh, wow. on the spot. You can go two. Go two if you want.

Well, who would it be is hard to say, but, man, I want so badly this year for, with all the hype the draft class got it running back for a couple of those guys that are just like last round picks, second to last round picks, your Bruchard Smith's, Jarrez Hunter, players like this to be the man. And for that to happen, you know, even if. If it's more than that, for that to happen, we're going to have to get the injuries that last year got us beat because it didn't happen if you're drafting sort of this way. But I think Jacori Kroski Merritt, which was who is he going back, you know, a month before the draft is somebody that people all say, if he makes the team watch out in Washington. So it's hard to know which one of those guys it'll be, but I'm hoping it's a year, not to say I'm hoping for injuries, but that we, you know, we end up being.

and right if we want to fade the veteran running backs who last year were annoying because they stayed on the field constantly. Is that bold enough? Is that specific? No, it's, I mean, that strategy seems like a good strategy and we didn't, we, we haven't really been paid off as well as maybe it's time that we are. Year of the running back, year of the handcuff and the year of chaos and sort of a revenge of the wide receiver type year would all sort of occur with these outcomes. I love that you brought up Jacori-Crossi-Marie. I was on just a quick side. I was on a Washington Commanders podcast.

I was a guest on really good show. It was the Big Doug and Carmi show where they have a fantasy football show every Friday. And the guy was like, which commanders are you drafting? Who do you think people should draft? I gave the Jaden Daniels talk. And I said, my next favorite commander to draft is Jacori Kroski Merritt. And this guy, Mike, he's very much in the mix with a team. He's been saying that he thinks JCP could end up starting a bunch of games for them this year and having a really strong season.

So pack your JCP bags, pack your Jarkoese Hunter bags, and pack your Mike Shope bags, because you've got to be consuming Mike's content all throughout August. It's going to help you win in fantasy this season. And Fantasy Points is going to help you as well. Fantasy Football Daily, I'm going to be back with Ryan Heath. Make sure you're checking out School of Scott. Make sure you're checking out Dynasty Life.

All of my articles and rankings over at FantasyPoint.com. We're everywhere here at Fantasy Points. We're going to help you crush your leagues this season.