Fantasy Football Today - 21 Early Sleepers for 2025! Hidden Gems and Late-Round Steals (03/31 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: March 31, 2025

Dave and Heath have 21 sleepers for you to consider, with most if not all of them available after Round 8. Let's start with Heath's quarterbacks (6:15) as he likes the mobile guys with upside. At run...ning back (10:50), what is Travis Etienne's 2025 outlook? Which handcuff does Heath have on his sleepers list? ... At wide receiver (20:55), Heath tells us why Jakobi Meyers, Quentin Johnston and Marquise Brown are good values, and then we get Heath's sleeper tight ends (31:00) ... We finish with Dave's sleepers at quarterback (34:30) as he expects a bounceback season from Dak Prescott. He also reveals his sleeper running backs (44:40), wide receivers (48:50) and tight ends (57:30) including Austin Ekeler, Calvin Ridley, Keon Coleman and Jake Ferguson ... Email us at fantasyfootball@cbsi.com Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday Shop our store: shop.cbssports.com/fantasy  SUBSCRIBE to FFT Express on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-express/id1528634304 Follow FFT Express on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6qyGWfETSBFaciPrtvoWCC?si=6529cbee20634da8 SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dynasty/id1696679179 FOLLOW FFT Dynasty on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2aHlmMJw1m8FareKybdNfG?si=8487e2f9611b4438&nd=1 SUBSCRIBE to FFT DFS on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dfs/id1579415837 FOLLOW FFT DFS on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5zU7pBvGK3KPhfb69Q1hNr?si=1c5030a3b1a64be2 Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr Follow the brand new FFT TikTok account: https://www.tiktok.com/@fftoday Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter You can listen to Fantasy Football Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast." Visit the betting arena on CBSSports.com for all the latest sportsbook reviews and sportsbook To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:00 This episode is brought to you by Samsung Galaxy. Ever captured a great night video only for it to be ruined by that one noisy talker? With audio erase on the new Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, you can reduce or remove unwanted noise and relive your favorite moments without the distractions. And that's not all. New Galaxy AI features like NowBrief will give you personalized insights based on your day schedule so that you're prepared no matter what. Buy the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra now at Samsung.com. McDonald's new cheesy jalapeno and bacon quarter pounder with 100% Canadian beef is here. So
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Starting point is 00:01:16 The first one you kill, you let the other ones know you're coming. I want them all. Academy Award winner Rummy Malik and Academy Award nominee Lawrence Fishburne. The amateur. Only in theaters and IMAX, April 11th. Academy Award winner Rummy Malek and Academy Award nominee Lawrence Fishburne the amateur only in theaters and IMAX April 11th Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie and Heath. All right. It's almost April and we don't get to do an April Fool Show, unfortunately. So I'll have to come up with some type of off the air trick, I guess. But welcome. No Vanity Football Today shows on Tuesday. It's just really sad.
Starting point is 00:02:02 Oh, what are you going to do for April full? I was on FFD dynasty. Oh man, I've got Dan the man coming on tomorrow and we're doing our rookie quarterback preview. Oh, you have to. Oh my gosh. In the middle of your segment, you have to tell him that the Giants just acquired the number one pick in the draft. I don't know.
Starting point is 00:02:24 Now, hold on now. He's going to see this, Adam. You think so the draft. I don't know. Now, hold on. Now, he's gonna see this, Adam. You think so? Yes. I don't know. Why do you say that? You are telling on yourself in the worst ways possible. Just stop it.
Starting point is 00:02:37 I don't know that he'll see. This would have been much better to do before we went on the air. Well, I didn't know that. Okay. This was super foolish of you. There will be no such trick being played on fan tomorrow. All right. I will just think of something.
Starting point is 00:02:47 Think of something. If he didn't see this, you know, go before you go. He writes articles on our website based on what we say on the podcast. Not every day. Anyway, before you go on the air, just before you go on the air, just ask him, before you go on the air, just ask him, Hey, did's show about? Before you go on the air, just ask him,
Starting point is 00:03:05 hey, did you catch the show yesterday? And if he says no, then it's a full go. Today's show is about sleepers. We're gonna talk about some more. 100% he's listening, 200%, there'll be a story about it on the site. All right. Today's show is about sleepers.
Starting point is 00:03:19 We're gonna talk about some of Dave and Heath's favorite sleepers for 2025. It's a very early look at the sleepers here on March 31st. All right. Let's see. Real quick humble brag here. I am in six hundred and ninth place in our bracket challenge. So about 50 percent somewhere around there. Here we go.
Starting point is 00:03:41 Pretty good. Andrew Lengel is in first place with 117 points and he has the Florida Gators as his champion. It looks like, I'm not 100% sure about this, but if Duke wins, I think Willie Lutz is going to win. Oh, he has Duke Auburn. So there could be a Duke Florida there actually. So no, I wouldn't say that.
Starting point is 00:04:02 All right, but anyway, congratulations so far to Andrew. Hope you can hang on. And actually I don't because that would mean the Gators would win. This is like the greatest Final Four ever? No, I don't know. It's the second time right that we've had all four ones. I saw yesterday that four of the top 10 teams of the last 10 years in Ken Palm rankings are in this Final Four.
Starting point is 00:04:28 Wow. Oh, I don't know if you remember. Was it two? It was a few years ago. It was Duke, UNC Villanova. It was like, man, who else was in that Final Four? I don't know. It was crazy. The teams that were in that Final Four? I don't know, it was crazy. The teams that were in that Final Four
Starting point is 00:04:47 is like very impressive. All right, anyway, let's get to the news and notes. Shane Steichen, head coach of the Colts, said he plans to split first team reps evenly between Daniel Jones and Anthony Richardson in the off season. Heath has Anthony Richardson as a sleeper. We'll talk about him shortly.
Starting point is 00:05:01 The 49ers, tomorrow, if Brandon Iyuk is on the roster, he gets about a $23 million roster bonus. So if they don't trade him by tomorrow, Tuesday, then he is probably going to stay on the team, according to Adam Schefter. Dolphins head coach, Mike McDaniel, said they're fully planning to move forward with Tyreek Hill.
Starting point is 00:05:17 The Ravens signed head coach, John Harbaugh, to a three-year extension through 2028. The Texans signed linebacker, EJ. Speed to a one year, five million dollar deal. He had 142 tackles last year for the Colts. And now he goes to a division rival, the Texans, E.J. Speed. And the Bills signed Christian Benford, cornerback to a four year, 76 million dollar deal. And that would be the news and notes. I was going to promote FFT dynasty, but we already have promoted FFT dynasty. Dan Schneier coming on the show,
Starting point is 00:05:47 not listening to this show. He's going to get tricked tomorrow during the show. All right, let's get to some sleepers. Heath sent in his list first, so he gets to go first. We got a lot of names here. So your two quarterback sleepers are Justin Fields and Anthony Richardson. I think Dave agrees with one of those two, right?
Starting point is 00:06:05 Who are the names? Justin Fields and Anthony Richardson, I think Dave agrees with one of those two, right? Who are the names? Justin Fields and Anthony Richardson. I sort of agree on Fields. That's about it. I think you even agree that there's sleeper appeal to Richardson, even though he's not your favorite, but this is Heath's time. And I did go look this morning.
Starting point is 00:06:21 I maybe should have looked before I sent my list in because I kind of shot from the hip without ADP on that. And ADP does matter to sleepers more than it does to breakouts. Um, but Richardson with an ADP of 120 fields, 141 in the last two weeks over it, NFC ADP, and I think that probably includes some best ball drafts, but both those guys round 10 or later, close to round 11 for Richardson. Yeah, I mean, that feels kind of right, though. I mean, you're not going to take them in the single digit rounds, are you? More the point that I guess I would illustrate with those two sleepers
Starting point is 00:06:59 is if I'm going to draft a quarterback that late. I want to get one of these guys. I want to go get a quarterback that, yes, we think he maybe he is not very good for winning football games, although they're young enough to where that could change. We think maybe they aren't as accurate of passage as we would like, haven't been at least. But because of their rushing upside, they have the potential, both of them to, I mean, fields can run for a thousand yards, Richardson can run for 15 touchdowns.
Starting point is 00:07:29 And I think either one of those would be that surprising if they played 17 games. Now that's been a problem for Richardson in terms of injuries so far. But if I'm using a pick in the double digit rounds, which regardless of what position or what profile you target in that range, you're looking at someone that you very well may drop as soon as the buy weeks get there or as soon as someone
Starting point is 00:07:49 hot off the waiver wire gets there. I want to shoot for guys that have league-winning potential. And Anthony Richardson at the 10-11 turn, if he's the best version of what we've seen from him, 100% has league-winning potential. Justin Fields has shown us league winning potential, especially at around 12 draft cost. This is, I would also draft probably one of Dave Sleepers also, or one of the less exciting veteran quarterback
Starting point is 00:08:14 options, but I want one of these guys, if I'm, if I'm fading quarterback until the double digit runs. Over the last three seasons, and some of this information you've already gotten, because we talked a lot about Justin Fields a few weeks ago but over the last three seasons this is where Justin Fields has finished on a per-game basis in four point per passing touchdown leagues. QB 10, QB... nope sorry QB 5, QB 10, QB 7 in six point per passing touchdown leagues. QB 6, QB 14, QB 9. Now when I
Starting point is 00:08:42 give the 2024 top nine per game, both formats, that's only in the first six weeks of the season. So take that for what it's worth. And if you look at the complete games that Anthony Richardson's played in the NFL, his per game average is very close to Justin Fields. The complete games, yeah. Haven't been that many, but yeah.
Starting point is 00:09:03 No, not enough. Yeah. But I think 12 in two years. Okay, Dave, anything to say or shall we move on? It's up to you. I don't mind talking about how I feel about both of these quarterbacks, but I don't want to take a lot of time to do it. We have done that a lot recently.
Starting point is 00:09:18 So give me 30 seconds on each. So with Justin Fields, I'll feel a lot better about him. If the Jets don't add another quarterback. It means that they're committing to him basically for this season upcoming. That means that there's a very small chance that he gets benched for poor play. And I think that he's got that potential
Starting point is 00:09:36 that we talked about. He's averaged 20 fantasy points per game. Games he started last year, games he started in Chicago the year before that, and then there was a monster back in 2022. So I can get on board with Justin Fields as a sleeper. And I do think that if the reports are good on Fields, that he won't be a double digit round sleeper and that we're going to start to push him round nine, round eight, people are going to get excited. And that's where he's going to go. The exact same thing will happen with Anthony Richardson. And I might even be on
Starting point is 00:10:03 board with it if the reports are glowing about Anthony Richardson. But the very first thing he's got to do is outplay Daniel Jones. You guys all might chortle at that and say, well, that's not going to be hard for him to do. Well, it's been hard for him to do for the first two years of his career as a thrower. If he improves there, if he stays calm in the pocket, his footwork improves, his accuracy
Starting point is 00:10:25 improves. Heath, there is no chance Anthony Richardson will be a double-digit round pick. In fact, he will probably more of a round six pick if these things happen. If there's excitement built for him, if it's clear that he's blowing away Daniel Jones, then of course he's going to go a lot higher. For now, double-digit round sleeper, you would take him. I'm not convinced yet that he's gonna beat out Daniel Jones, so I'm gonna pass on him,
Starting point is 00:10:48 and I would rather have Justin Fields. But I also think we're going to have the great or late strategy at quarterback in a big way. Sorry for going more than 60 seconds. All right, let's take a look at the quarterback, the running backs, pardon me, running backs on Heath's sleepers list. We got Travis Etienne, Jerome Ford, and Jordan Mason.
Starting point is 00:11:06 Travis Etienne, interesting, we really haven't talked at all about this situation. He was just outside the top 40 on a per game basis last season. He did, I think, he left two games early with injuries, weeks six and nine. Actually left one of them early with injury, the next one was his first game back.
Starting point is 00:11:23 He really didn't play much. I think he hit, I don't know, 12 carries, normally six carries in those two games. Anyway, but ETM wasn't a top 40 running back last year. So you got him, you got Jerome Ford, you got Jordan Mason, go for it. Yeah, Ford and Mason, I think the more traditional sleepers, they have ADPs both outside of the top 150
Starting point is 00:11:44 over the last two weeks. Mason probably needs an injury, but it's okay to need an injury when you're playing behind a 30 year old running back that's had some injury problems in the past. And I think Mason could be a good flex and a good value, even if Aaron Jones stays healthy, just because it's quite possible at this point in their careers, Mason's a better runner between the tackles than Jones is. It's quite possible at any point in the next days, weeks, months, that Aaron Jones is going
Starting point is 00:12:09 to fall off of a cliff, because that's what generally happens to running backs his age. So Mason, just almost a free space in the final rounds of your draft, if he's available. Maybe he creeps up into the round 11, 12 range when they start talking about the fact that he's going to have double digit touches, even when Jones is healthy, but real league winning potential again, I know sleepers win weeks, breakouts win leagues, but if something happens to Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason's the feature back for the Minnesota Vikings, spectacular value there. Is Drumford currently the starting running back for the Cleveland roads?
Starting point is 00:12:46 Yes. They've got a lot of other things that they're spending money on. And they're focusing on, I'm not sure how soon that's going to change. And I'm not sure if they, Nick Chubb finally figures out that no one else is going to give him money and goes back to Cleveland. I'm not sure drum Ford isn't better. He was in the second half of last year. We'll have to see if Chubb can regain what he was before.
Starting point is 00:13:08 Obviously the best of Nick Chubb is much better than Jerome Ford, but that wasn't the case last year. And I think Travis ETN, like you can choose your own adventure with the Jacksonville backfield. If you think Tank Bigsby is the better bet, he is currently going 20 or 30 or picks later than, than ETN. But I anticipate with the new coaching staff that this, there will be a lot of running back
Starting point is 00:13:30 pass catching going on and ETN is far better suited to do that than Bigsby is. And when the, when the initial press conferences were happening, almost universally ETN's name was mentioned before Tank Bigsby as one of the weapons in the offense. So my expectation is that Travis ETN is going to be the one before Tank Bigsby as one of the weapons in the offense. So my expectation is that Travis Etn is going to be the 1A, Tank Bigsby is going to be the 1B, but Etn will have the lion's share of the pass catching work. And so not quite a round 10 pick here, but if he's available in round eight, round nine, that could be just a huge value if this offense is as improved as we expect it to be and the running back target share carries over from Tampa Bay to Jacksonville.
Starting point is 00:14:09 I like what you said about ETN and that would make sense for Jacksonville to hang onto him this year. I believe he's in a contract year. So giving them that role, uh, with the potential to be a feature back again, I don't know if I really would trust it. If that was the case. That's interesting. And I like that. I'd have to double check to see how ETN does in zone running. I think it's good, but I would imagine that that's what we'll see a lot more from
Starting point is 00:14:33 Jacksonville this year. I saw a lot of it from Jacksonville in the past too. I would expect both Jacksonville and Cleveland to add at least one running back in the draft. And if Cleveland would have to trade down to do it, and maybe Jacksonville too, but could they be in the Gentile Derby to try and get that guy in their backfield? They're not gonna take it at two. I'd be surprised if Jacksonville took it at five,
Starting point is 00:14:58 but those two teams certainly could add a running back at some point that'll muddy the outlook for both Ford and ETM, but they almost might have the exact same role, Heath, where they're both playing in that passing downs role. These are roles where they're proven and the coaching staffs probably will learn to trust them in them compared to a rookie who, you know this as well as everybody, Adam you know this, that rookie running backs do not tend to play third downs in a major way right away. I, I think Dave brings up a good point and I should address how I handled this.
Starting point is 00:15:31 Like if you were talking about sleepers, um, three and a half weeks before the NFL draft happens, anyone with an ADB outside of the top 70 or 80 is pretty much at risk of being negatively impacted by the NFL draft. I pretty much just threw the draft out the window because who knows which of these teams are going to do what at this stage? So yes, I think for every one of my non-quarterbacks, there's a significant risk that something happens in the NFL draft and they are not a sleeper anymore. Yeah, right, exactly.
Starting point is 00:16:07 Especially these running backs with this running back class coming in. All right, we're gonna take a quick break. I wanna talk more about Travis Etienne and his journey in the NFL. And as a fantasy starter, he's at times been awesome and at times been unstartable. We'll be right back on fantasy football today.
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Starting point is 00:17:17 So ETN, you know, is the appeal with him just that he's going to catch a lot of passes or that he could maybe regain his form? Average five yards per carry in 2022 and was the number 24 running back per game, but this was a year where they started out with James Robinson and then after they traded James Robinson, he was a lot better. 2023, he was the number seven running back per game. He only averaged 3.8 yards per carry, but he is actually the number four running back per game in the first half of the season. And then he hasn't been the same since, you know,
Starting point is 00:17:49 it just, it's basically like a year and a half of being very good running back, a year and a half being a very bad running back, essentially, that's a simplified way of putting it. But you know, is the appeal that he might be able to regain that form? Absolutely. Yeah, I mean, I think when you're talking about
Starting point is 00:18:02 a 26 year old running back, who's given you a pretty even sample of being very good and being very mediocre to bad. I don't feel strongly that last year and that disastrous situation is more predictive of who ETN is than the good we saw from him earlier. And I do, I guess probably a little bit unique on this show and maybe in the industry, but when I'm looking at player efficiency and trying to put together my projections, I weigh last year more than I do prior years,
Starting point is 00:18:35 but I consider all three years, especially when you're looking over range of what a good guy could be and a guy as young as Travis Etienne. I don't think what Aaron Jones did three years ago matters a whole lot. But when you're talking about someone who's still in their prime, in fact, at a running back position, kind of entering their prime, I think that you should absolutely consider that possibility that he could be that good.
Starting point is 00:18:58 And he was also really good as a pass catcher for the first two years of his career, and then saw that fall off last year as well. Hey, he'd be a 60 catch guy with 500 yards receiving. And then like, how much do you really have to do as a rusher to be a great value in round eight, round nine? Yeah, I do think that a better rushing average and rush EPA in zone runs than, then gap they'll use both. and rush EPA in zone runs than than gap. They'll use both. But if we're talking about a coach calling plays who's from the McVay tree, there should be more zone runs and that would benefit
Starting point is 00:19:33 ETN theoretically. Okay. Yeah. Bigsby Bigsby is interesting. Another guy that we should find time for at some point because he had he averaged five and a half yards per carry in his first 10 games. Then he got hurt and he came back and he averaged like 3.5 yards per carrier or something down the stretch, but he was really, really good and was just kind of relegating ETN to a pretty bad role. But at the same time, his role has been pretty bad. Like even when he was really good, he has 16 targets and 33 career games. He's only caught half of them.
Starting point is 00:20:15 Yeah. Now he's nothing in the passing game. Nothing. Right. So if I'm going to make a bet on one of those guys, unless it's an on PPR league, but in a, in a PPR league, I want to bet on the guy who has the upside of pass catching and doing something as a rusher. I think the only argument for Bigsby would be that he'll score the touchdowns.
Starting point is 00:20:32 He's the goal line guy more likely than not. And ETN hasn't really been great in that area. And what down the stretch, Bigsby scored after he came back from the injury, he scored three touchdowns. ETN didn't score any. They had about the same amount of carries. All right, let's go to your wide receivers. We've got Jacoby Myers. I've been dying to get into Jacoby Myers.
Starting point is 00:20:52 Getting the upgrade with Geno Smith at quarterback. Quentin Johnston, Marquise Brown. And that's your three wide wing. We got two tight ends to get to later. But Jacoby Myers, Quentin Johnston, and Marquise Brown. So I think that Myers, first off, his ADP when I went and looked this morning at the sleepers I'd sent in was by far the highest of the group. He has around eight ADP. If you think that's too early for a sleeper, I wouldn't even argue with you that much. Might be too early for a sleeper, but, and he's definitely one of the guys at the biggest risk of the drafts
Starting point is 00:21:29 harming him, but I'm not sure one wide receiver does it. I would like to interrupt your regularly scheduled programming, Adam, to play a quick game of trivia. And either of you can participate, but I would like for you to name wide receivers currently on the Raiders roster, not named Jacoby Myers. I can do this. I'm going to let Dave do this. I'm not going to embarrass myself. Trey Tucker. There's one.
Starting point is 00:21:53 Yeah, they had him. Oh, did Terrace Marshall end up there? I do not show Terrace Marshall currently on the roster. Tim Brown. No. Oh, I'm looking at their depth chart. There was this one dude who they had last year that like, I always thought had potential. And now I can't remember his name. You're going to say his name.
Starting point is 00:22:08 I'm going to be like, that's him. That's the guy. But he's, was it Alec Bachman or Wilkerson? Yes. That's who it was. I recall Rommel Keaton, Jeff Foreman. It was Wilkerson. It was Wilkerson.
Starting point is 00:22:16 It was Wilkerson. It was Wilkerson. It was Wilkerson. It was Wilkerson. It was Wilkerson. It was Wilkerson. It was Wilkerson. It was Wilkerson.
Starting point is 00:22:24 It was Wilkerson. It was Wilkerson. It was Wilkerson. It was Wilkerson. It was Wilkerson? Yes, that's who it was. Iriek Alker, Rimmel Keaton, Jeff Foreman? It was Wilkerson. Wilkerson, OK. Point being that they've got a quarterback upgrade. We think that they have an offensive system ups, or really they see some upside in their offensive system. And they can go draft a wide receiver and Jacobi Myers could still see a pretty similar target share.
Starting point is 00:22:50 They just have nothing around him at the position. Now Brock Bowers is obviously going to dominate targets, but they also have a ton of holes that they have to fill in the draft. I don't think there's any gear. I think it's more likely they draft Gentian round one than a wide receiver. So I think there's a really good chance that Jacoby Myers is just a borderline number two wide receiver and being underdrafted. You look at his numbers, they're pretty similar to Calvin Ridley's, except he played two fewer games. Right. If we just let's just take a look at the raw numbers 87 catches for Myers Ridley had 64 catches so many more for Myers the yards were about the same
Starting point is 00:23:33 1017 for Ridley 1027 for Myers and they both had four touchdowns Myers had nine more targets So we're gonna talk about really he's one of Dave's sleepers, but just kind of interesting Myers, you know, 14.4 PPR fantasy points per game. Calvin Ridley, 11.8 PPR fantasy points per game. We're talking about wide receiver 24 versus wide receiver 40 per game. And I'm just gonna look at our most recent mock draft and Myers went with the first pick of round eight and Calvin Ridley went 12 picks earlier with the first pick of round seven. By NFC ADP, they are not just at wide receiver, but amongst all players, they are back to back. Interesting, interesting. Yeah. Now I definitely think there's a case for Ridley to be a lot better than he was last year with just awful quarterback play. But yeah, I mean, Myers, first- Myers has an upgrade at quarterback too.
Starting point is 00:24:25 First pick of round eight. I think people probably see him as a low upside play, like a safe low up. Do you see him that way, Jacobi Myers? I don't think he's going to be a top 12 wide receiver. So if that, but I do think he can be a top 24 wide receiver. So I don't know if that's a low upside play in round eight or not.
Starting point is 00:24:44 He's exactly the type of bench receiver that you want where Sunday comes around and one of your starting receivers is inactive and it's a surprise. And you just plop Myers in there. He's an outstanding bi-week replacement. He's going to be good enough to be a number three receiver. He averaged almost 15 PPR points per game last year. And he did average exactly 15 PPR points in 12 games without Devonte Adams last year. This is without another good wide receiver
Starting point is 00:25:11 on the field. This is with bad quarterback play. All these things come into consideration. I think the number that you're looking for with Jacoby and maybe why his numbers were really that much better than Calvin Ridley besides the quarterback play, targets per game, 8.6. Even if that drops a full target per game, a target and a half, let's call it 7.1. So it really had last year. I still think Jacoby Myers can be in the 13 PPR point per game range. That's where he was in 2023. He was just outside of that in 2022.
Starting point is 00:25:39 I think if you draft him with that number in mind, that's a bench receiver, a really good bench receiver in fantasy. I love Gardner Mentschew. So obviously I don't want to disrespect Gardner Mentschew, but was Kelvin Ridley's quarterback situation a lot worse than Jacoby Myers last year? I'd have to dig into it and see just how, what the percentage of catchable targets were. Well, I mean, catchable targets might be higher if he had more downfield targets.
Starting point is 00:26:08 Um, but I, and I also don't know, like, first off, we don't know if the Titans are going to draft cam ward or if they're going to trade that everyone overall pick, but do we think that rookie cam ward is better for a wide receiver than Gino Smith? Uh, no, I would say, I mean, probably not. But if, but Calvin Ridley should have a, I would think a higher target share just because of the presence of Brock Bowers, then Jacoby Myers would, but no, just to like Las Vegas average 242.2 yards passing yards per game, not including sacks, gross passing yards per game. Tennessee had 213, Tennessee was 26th and Las Vegas was 10th, believe it or not.
Starting point is 00:26:53 They threw a lot, they threw a lot. So I will say like to the Brock Bowers argument, he was on the team last year. Oh yes. When you're talking about target share. You noticed. Right, but Myers had a much higher target. I'm not sure what argument we're trying to make here. Meyers probably had a
Starting point is 00:27:08 I thought you were saying Ridley would have a higher target share because Meyers has to deal with Bowers. But did Ridley have a higher Oh, so that's the thing about really we'll get to him like Ridley. He had more than six targets in two of his last eight games. One of them was a revenge game against Jacksonville. One of them was seven targets. So he had more than seven targets in one of his last eight games. I of them was a revenge game against Jacksonville, one of them was seven targets. So he had more than seven targets in one of his last eight games.
Starting point is 00:27:28 I don't know what that was about. His target per out run rate really plummeted. Chigo Conquo started out targeting him in three of the last four games. So no, that was concerning for Calvin Ridley. But you get a competent quarterback, and Mason Rudolph I would say is competent. Will Levis really was just chucking the ball deep.
Starting point is 00:27:46 But I think, whatever, we'll get into Ridley in a minute. But no, I mean, Ridley should have had a better target share than he did last year after Deandre Hopkins left. But yeah, so that really stood out to me. First game, maybe without, one of the first games he had 15 targets, but just never, never really happened consistently. Quentin Johnston and Mark East Brown, those are Heath's wide receiver sleepers also.
Starting point is 00:28:08 Dave, who would you take a shot on Quentin Johnston or Mark East Brown or both? Mark East Brown, who is also on my sleeper list. I would imagine that Heath and I'll have the same notes on, on Hollywood and why he might matter. He's a sleeper pick because he might end up being the number two receiver and maybe some games, the number one receiver for the chiefs. If she rice is suspended to begin the year, I think, I think he's less appealing if there is no suspension for rice or if rice is fully healthy, ready to go, which we expect them to be. But this, this is a faster receiver
Starting point is 00:28:42 missed a ton of the year for Kansas city with his shoulder injury, not expecting him to ever be back to the top, what, like a top 20 ish receiver that he, that we had hopes for once upon a time. But again, another good number three fantasy receiver. That's the kind of potential, uh, especially in the case if one or more of those Kansas city targets are sidelined to begin the year. And I might express just a little bit more optimism. Like we, I think Marquis Brown, because he has been in the NFL for quite a while, it gets viewed a little bit older.
Starting point is 00:29:13 He's still 27 years old. Yep. And now he's got a full year to recover from that injury. And he was heavily targeted when he first came back last year, the chiefs had an intention to get him involved. I don't know if you remember why we got excited about him last off season was because he was spending so much time and developing such a great relationship with Patrick Mahomes. And a lot of these guys, when they're sleepers, you're hoping, well, if this guy gets hurt or if this guy is not quite right, well, the chiefs have two wide receivers
Starting point is 00:29:42 who have potential suspensions and one wide receiver who's coming off of a major knee injury. And so I think there's like, I know Dave doesn't like this term, but there's a real contingent upside and the thing it's contingent on may have already happened. I like the term. Wait, what is the thing it's contingent on that may have already happened? Um, Xavier worthy or Rashi rice may have already done something to get themselves suspension. I think Rashi Rice is currently hurt.
Starting point is 00:30:08 Worthy seems, I mean, they dropped the charges. He seems like not to, you know, whatever, I'm not gonna get into that, but feels less bad. It feels not as bad as it did when the first, when the news first came out in terms of- 100%. I don't think it feels completely over either, but maybe it is. No, I would assume that NFL look into it. All right. So Quentin Johnson is a you want to just give me 30 seconds on him. He's a third year wide receiver who shows
Starting point is 00:30:37 significant significant improvement in his second season. He's a former has first round pick pedigree he's playing with Justin Herbert. And to a former, he has first round pick pedigree. He's playing with Justin Herbert. And to this point, he still likes, looks like he could be Herbert's number two option. Okay. And your two tight end sleepers are Zach Ertz and Brenton Strange. Get excited. Yeah. Again, these guys barely even have ADPs over on sleeper. So we are talking about the last rounds of your draft, but I think the expectation should be that Earth is going to have a similar role. And I wouldn't be surprised if Washington throws the ball more than they did last year because they seem to progressively trust Jaden Daniels more as the season went on and he
Starting point is 00:31:22 gave them no reason not to. So I think the pass volume goes up there. His share of the targets might be pretty similar for as long as he stays healthy. And I project him to be a 10 point per game tight end, which is not exciting at all. But if you can just, nah, I'm not going to draft a tight end until the final round of my draft. And then I'll take Zach Ertz and then maybe I'll catch lightning a bottle later. I think that's a very good plan. I'd much rather do that than draft one of these guys in round seven that's probably going to score 10 fantasy points per game. Man, Zach Ertz scored 12 and a half or more PPR fantasy points, which is really solid in one, two, three, four, five, six, seven of his last 10 games. If you include the playoffs, three playoff games.
Starting point is 00:32:06 So again, Zach Ertz 12 and a half for more PPR fantasy points in seven of his last 10 games. Obviously bringing in Debo Samuel is not a good thing for him. But just, I didn't remember this stat line. 11 catches for 104 yards on 16 targets in the NFC championship game at Philadelphia for Zach Ertz. I remember that with Brenton Strange coming up
Starting point is 00:32:27 with such a great argument for starting Brenton Strange in like one of those fantasy playoff games. And I'm looking at his stat line now and it was either week 16 or 17 and he scored a combined 2.2 fantasy points. Like I remember, he's got he's had more explosive plays than Evan Ingram every time he's every time he's Evan Ingram's been out he's done decently you know I think he's going to score about 10 PPR fantasy point he was so bad in those last two games and then of course he did score 10 points on four targets in week 18 when it didn't count.
Starting point is 00:33:06 Yeah, Ertz is more of a projections sleeper where he's just being drafted so far behind what I think the reasonable expectation for him is. Strange is more of the other kind of projection where you're projecting hopefully that he will be better than he has been so far. But he did have good pedigree coming into the league. He is a third year tight end and a lot of times tight ends are not very good earlier in their career. And he showed us a few flashes last year and Evan Ingram has gone. One note I would make to just caution super excitement about strange is it's
Starting point is 00:33:34 really unlikely that the tight end is going to have the same role in the Jacksonville offense that they have the last few years with Doug Peterson. There few coaches like to design pass plays to tight ends as much as Doug Peterson. Long live Doug Peterson. Great stuff. All right, Dave, let's go over to your sleepers here and you've got a couple of quarterbacks. Might be the last time we hear long live Doug Peterson.
Starting point is 00:33:59 I mean, I don't know if it was all his fault or not, but obviously not all his fault. I don't know if it was all his fault or not, but obviously not all his fault. I don't know how much he was to blame, but I just feel like that was a really underachieving team. But we did talk about ETM, we talked about Brendan Strange. One thing we didn't talk about with the Jaguars, they've had such a bad offensive line
Starting point is 00:34:19 for the last three seasons. And they haven't really, unless I'm missing something, haven't really addressed it. I think that's where their first round pick needs to go because they they have had really just a bad offensive line It's really hurt them All right, Dave quarterback Justin Herbert and Dak Prescott. I always think about Dak Prescott, you know, I see him on the rankings he's pretty low and You know, I get it. They're the Drake Mays and the Caleb Williams of the world. They're more excited, exciting, I guess, than Dak Prescott.
Starting point is 00:34:47 Dak Prescott though, in three of the last six years has averaged like more than 24 fantasy points per game. That's amazing. That's great. So yeah, anyway, you got Dak and Justin Herbert. Who do you like better as a sleeper? I like Herbert better than Dak. And Herbert is probably the bigger
Starting point is 00:35:06 target for me. If I'm going to take a quarterback late, I can't believe how late I've gotten Justin Herbert in some of our mock drafts. So I'm, I'm going to look for him. Uh, who, and he's shown us in 2020, 2021 over 25 fantasy points per game, 2022. Uh, that was a gross year. 2023. He started hot. He had 25 fancy points per game in his first seven. Then he got beat up. Then the rest of the team got beat up. He was terrible to end the year. Last year, the opposite. He started very slowly. 22.7 fantasy points. Did I say PPR points per game earlier? I'm such a new 22.7 fantasy points per game in his last 11, 29.5 in his final three. I think the coaches realized in LA that Justin Herbert is a pretty good guy to build the
Starting point is 00:35:51 offense around. And if we're worried about Najee Harris rendering Herbert useless or fantasy, then I guess we're expecting Najee to play like he's never played before. I don't get it. I still think Justin Herbert will have the offense revolver on him. And then we're talking late-round picks at quarterback to take a chance on to be a starter. To me, he's up there. I would take him before both Fields and Anthony Richardson, because I think he won't get benched. I think he will be fine. I do expect the Chargers to add at least one other wide receiver. And I also expect them to add another offensive lineman, which will make it easier for them to throw from the pocket and make big plays like we saw him play in the middle and in the end of the 2024 season, Herbert, absolutely one of my
Starting point is 00:36:34 favorite quarterback sleepers to go after. And Dak, it's, it's the, the history that you talked about, Adam, uh, the wiping out of last year, forget about it. It was terrible. He got banged up. He left the season a lot earlier than we all had hoped for. Didn't have a lot of big games. And I think Dallas is, I think their team in general takes a step back.
Starting point is 00:36:56 I don't think their defense will be nearly as good for the second year in a row. I think it'll force Dak to throw a little bit more. I still don't think they're, they've made the improvements necessary to make their running game dominant. Maybe that changes after the draft. They're a team that could get Gentie and and do very well with him. But I do think Dallas adds a receiver as well. Obviously, he's got CD Lamb, Dak will have to shoulder the load and a bunch of comeback efforts. I think his past attempts per game will be very high. That will lead to good numbers. And he's absolutely worth someone taking with one of your last three picks on draft day. And I'll, I'll just say like, it's hard to look at ADP right now.
Starting point is 00:37:32 I know in our mock drafts, these guys are available in the last two rounds of the draft because three fourths to the guy and our guys in our draft don't just aren't going to take a quarterback anywhere close to early. Um, when you're looking at current NFC ADP, um, Anthony Richardson's going 20 spots ahead of Justin Fields, just for reference, um, Justin Herbert's going 50 spots ahead of Anthony Richardson. And that's got going 40 spots ahead of them. So these, these are, okay.
Starting point is 00:38:00 So like, I agree for sure on deck. He is a top 10 quarterback in my projections, maybe a top 12 quarterback in my rankings. I'm I've been more skeptical on Justin Herbert and it feels a little bit like the Trevor Lawrence situation where we are just year after year. Look, and Dave's right. Four years ago, Justin Herbert was really good for fantasy. Five years ago, he was exceptional.
Starting point is 00:38:33 We get to the end of the season, the last three years and the general consensus is way, yeah, he's better than that. Like I know he's finished basically QB 10 to 15, 10 to 17 for three straight seasons, but everybody just says, yeah, he's just a lot better than that though. And I just like at some point he's going to have to, and I know he's had like some six game stretches or whatever, but a lot of QB twos have stretches like that. I just, I think he's a, a QB too. You weren't impressed with how he finished last year?
Starting point is 00:39:04 I think, like I said, quarter there's lots of QB too. You weren't impressed with how he finished last year. I think like I said quarter there's lots of QB. I don't think his whatever six game stretch last year is necessarily better than the best stretch we've seen from Anthony. That good. This is the problem. Like it wasn't even that good. It lasts 11 games, which is where I'd say his hot streak started. So 22.7 per game. He's number 11 quarterback per game. Number 12. If you're using that, like it's not that good. 22.7 is your good half season sample. Right. It's just half. Okay. No, I, like we see the talent, right? Right. But I wasn't trying to say something bad about Mr. Herbert or that he's not good. I'm kind of with you.
Starting point is 00:39:48 I'm kind of with you, but, but, but the talent that we, that we have seen, the fact that he started his career with two straight seasons, averaging over 26 fantasy points per game and six point per passing touchdown leagues keeps people excited about Justin Herbert. But he thought what I would bothers me both those years, he threw over 39 passes per game. He's not going to come anywhere. That was the Kellanmore boost. game. He's not gonna come anywhere close. That was the Kellenmore boost. Yeah, he's not gonna come anywhere close to that.
Starting point is 00:40:08 He was at even, okay, so they had their first four games of the year they barely threw. They had a buy in week five. After the week five buy, through 31.8 times per game. So I don't know how- Which isn't even that crazy. Right, no, that's not that good. He's, I think my issue with both of these guys is this,
Starting point is 00:40:25 Dak Prescott and Justin Herbert is this. We'll be right back after this commercial break. I'll tell you my issue with both of these guys. Hit pause on whatever you're listening to and hit play on your next adventure. Stay two nights and get a $50 Best Western gift card. Life's the trip. Make the most of it at Best Western.
Starting point is 00:40:44 Visit bestwestern.com for complete terms and conditions. Are you crushing your bills? Defeating your monthly payments? Sounds like you're at the top of your financial game. Rise to it with the BMO Eclipse Rise Visa Card, the credit card that rewards your good financial habits. Earn points for paying your credit card bill in full and on time every month. Level up from bill payer to reward slayer. Terms and conditions apply. Here's my issue with both of these guys, Dak Prescott and Justin Herbert. They've got one good receiver.
Starting point is 00:41:19 That's kind of how I see it. I think that holds them back a little bit. And Lam is still a much better player than McConkey. So edge there to Dak, but I just don't see enough firepower for the Chargers specifically. And then I gotta bring this up with Dak Prescott. Cause I didn't wanna like ramble too much, but when Heath, you said you had him in the top 12,
Starting point is 00:41:41 I do have to bring this up. He's getting a little older. Last year, the rushing total's cratered. He ran half as much as he usually does, and he had the highest sack percentage of his career. So I am wondering if we're ever gonna get back to like a 250, even that. He used to run for more than that,
Starting point is 00:41:59 but like a 250 rushing our pace, is he even gonna give us that? Because he ran for like 24 yards in his first seven games. Then he ran for 30 yards in the last game that he played last year. But so I got an older Dak who may not be a rushing threat anymore. And I've got two quarterbacks who have one good wide receiver.
Starting point is 00:42:16 That's my issue with these guys. I don't have Dak Prescott. I have Dak Prescott projected for like 150 rushing yards. One rushing touchdown. Wow. And you still have them. One rushing touchdown. Wow. All right. And you still have them in the top 12. Wow.
Starting point is 00:42:27 Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I would put fields in my top 12 before Dak. And if these guys are going 40 plus spots ahead of fields and Richardson, then I don't know if I can call them sleepers either that that that's a ecosystem that I was not aware of. Okay. Well, you know, I think it's only like five drafts
Starting point is 00:42:48 in the NFC. I looked for the last 17 days as a five draft. By the way, we will, after the draft, we will bring back our fantasy football today, fan mock drafts. Oh, the OnlyFans, that's great. Yes. No analysts, OnlyFans of these drafts. Only you guys, so get ready for information on that. We want to
Starting point is 00:43:06 do more of those drafts this year. So get ready. Dak Prescott in the most recent draft we did was the first pick of round 10, which I thought was a little early, but and then like and then Justin Herbert was the was the second pick of round 14. So I don't know that there should have been a four gap difference there. Anthony Richardson was the little I took him with the second to last pick of round 12. And Justin Fields was in round 11. So it went DAC, Fields, Richardson, Herbert.
Starting point is 00:43:36 That's how I drink it. I'd go Herbert, Fields, DAC, Richardson. In a one QB league, I'm taking Richardson first. You know, I think if probably everybody's heard the show, right, said this a thousand times over the last however many years, it's just, it's an upside play. And then I just wait a few rounds to get Herbert,
Starting point is 00:43:56 whatever if I want, but yeah, I mean, two QB league, two QB league, I would go Herbert Fields, Dak Richardson, I guess. Yeah. Okay. All right, let's go to running backs. Dave has Austin Eckler, Trey Benson, and Will Shipley. Austin Eckler of the Commanders, Trey Benson of the Cardinals,
Starting point is 00:44:21 Will Shipley of the Eagles, go. Benson and Shipley are kind of the same. So I'll start with Eckler average 11 PPR points per game. He was around 10 per game when Brian Robinson was on the field. That was for nine games talking about contingency upside. He he averaged 15.4 PPR points per game in the three games without Brian Robinson. There's no way that Echler is going to go back to being the main running back in Washington and Bryan Robinson taking a back seat or getting five carries a game, something like that. But as bench running backs go in full PPR,
Starting point is 00:44:55 Eckler is still going to be able to get the job done and he's got potential to have some four or five catch weeks. That's somebody that I wouldn't mind having on my bench, just with the understanding that the upside really won't be seen until he gets just a major opportunity, which we saw last year. He could still do really, really well with that. With Benson and Shipley, they are behind two running backs, James Connor in Arizona, Saquon Barkley in Philadelphia, that there are concerns about just how well they'll hold up in this upcoming season. I can save my numbers on Saquon for when
Starting point is 00:45:25 you really want to hear them at him, but the track record of him having over 350 touches in a season is not good when you look at what happens after those seasons. He's coming off of a season where he had nearly 500 touches if you include the postseason. So Shipley, the guy behind him, somebody that you just stash in lottery ticket style, you hope that he pays off. Benson's the same exact thing. He's a physical runner that's got a top gear. I'd love to see him play a little bit more to begin with. But I think that Benson would have potential to be a weekly starter in the event that James Connor misses time. It's been rare, I think, that James Connor has played nearly a full season, or let's say a full season in back-to-back years. He's 30 years old coming into 2025.
Starting point is 00:46:08 So I would be a little bit nervous. I'll put it this way, Benson and Hicks who are on my sleeper list, assuming that they're the primary backups, no matter who I take in the first six rounds of my fantasy drafts. So if I get James Connor, great, I'll try and get Benson too, just to lock up that backfield. But I would want to have one or both of those running
Starting point is 00:46:30 back sitting on my bench just in case I think they've got huge contingency upside. All right, as you said, Austin Eckler, Will Shipley and Trey Benson, and we have a question here from index of suspicion. Is Debo Samuel not taking work away from Austin Eckler? I think Debo would take work. He'll take a work away potentially from both those running backs. We don't know for sure if that's the role that he will play in Washington.
Starting point is 00:46:57 Obviously they'd be stupid to not give him at least a couple of carries at the beginning of the year just to see what he can do. But if he's gonna run routes, then I'd be more concerned about him taking work away from Earth's than I would Echler. So let's see. We had week six Echler played without Brian Robinson, Jr.
Starting point is 00:47:14 Faced the best run defense in football, and he got only nine carries, nine carries, 21 yards, four catches, 47 yards. Just want to see what what he would look like without Brian Robinson. Weeks nine and 10 were without Brian Robinson Jr. And we had 11 carries and 13 carries. He did score three touchdowns in those games though. He didn't get like huge work when Brian Robinson Jr. was out,
Starting point is 00:47:39 but he was a bigger factor near the goal line. Three rushing touchdowns. More valuable touches than he would normally get. And he scored over 17 fantasy points in both those games at the Giants and home against the Steelers. Like everyone's not going to stay healthy anyway. So the touch crunch probably works itself out with a 30 plus year old running back and Debo Samuel who's battled injuries. But even if it doesn't, there's about 200 wide receiver targets from last year that didn't go to Terry McClellan.
Starting point is 00:48:10 There's about a hundred rush attempts that didn't go to Jaden Daniels, Brian Robinson or Austin Echler last year. So there's room for a Debo role without nerfing anyone too bad. Okay. Let's get to the wide receivers on Dave's sleepers list here. Calvin Ridley, Christian Kirk, and Keon Coleman. Like the alliteration here, Calvin, Christian, and Keon.
Starting point is 00:48:37 Mm, it's not alliteration. Keon starts with a K instead of a C, but close enough. Calvin Ridley, Christian Kirk, Keon Coleman. And just looking where they went, in our most recent draft, Calvin Ridley went with Kirk, Keon Coleman and just looking where they went in our most recent draft Calvin Ridley went with the first pick of round seven to Dave Richard, one pick ahead of all of the 49ers receivers and Deebo Samuel basically in that same round. So Ridley Christian Kirk went in the middle of round eight and Keon Coleman went just a few picks later. Oh first pick of round nine. Dave you took Keon Coleman also in this draft. So you took Ridley.
Starting point is 00:49:05 Yeah, how about that? Yeah. So with Ridley, this is very much in pencil. Obviously I'm tying him to Cam Ward being the new quarterback in Tennessee. That's what I think is going to happen. If it's not Cam Ward in Tennessee, then A, what are the Titans doing? And B, what does it really mean for Calvin Ridley? It would be bad. I also am hoping,
Starting point is 00:49:27 this is more of a hope than anything else, that the Titans redo the role that Ridley has, because last year the role was crazy. They were running them deep most of the time. That did not work out, especially with the quarterbacks that they had. I think it would be a little bit better for him if he kept that role with Cam Ward, because we've seen Cam Ward make all kinds of improvisational plays at Miami. I think he can absolutely do that in the NFL as well. But Calvin Ridley needs to have that A-dot reeled in quite a bit, give him an opportunity to get more targets. And it's trivia time, boys. Name wide receivers on the Tennessee Titans, not name Calvin Ridley. Traylon Berks.
Starting point is 00:50:06 There's one. He's still on the tight. He is. There you go. Not Nick Westbrook. Akeene is on the Dolphins. He's gone. He's out. And he led the team in red zone targets and end zone targets. He was funny thing. I think Calvin Ridley didn't have a huge role in the second half of the year. We had a guess of Kyle Phillips. But I think the funny thing is that Kyle Phillips is on the Ra half of the year. We had a guess of Kyle Phillips, but I think the funny thing is that Kyle Phillips- He's on the Raiders.
Starting point is 00:50:26 On the Raiders now. I don't know. I can't- I don't blame you for not knowing. And that's fine because the other names are Van Jefferson, James Prochet, Mason Kinsey, Jaquan Jackson. Jackson's actually kind of interesting. He was a draft pick last year.
Starting point is 00:50:43 And then a bunch of other guys that fancy managers don't really need to know about. But the point is, is that there's a huge opportunity for Ridley to continue to suck up a lot of targets and there is no Brock Bowers on this team as of now. So there, there is certainly the whole idea with Calvin Ridley is quarterback play will improve. Targets will still be there. I know he's 31. I know he hasn't met expectations in a while, and I don't think he's going to end up being a top 15 fantasy receiver or anything like that. But if we're drafting him in round 7, I do think he can outperform that ADP a little bit and be a capable week-to-week No. 3 wide out. So that's why he's on the list. We've talked about Christian Kirk a lot this offseason because we figured that he was going to move on from Jacksonville. He
Starting point is 00:51:23 did. In the moment when he left Jacksonville but wasn't signed yet. I was kind of who-pooing Christian Kirk because I was worried about the role that he would have somewhere else. I believe it was Jamie who brought up, well, what if he goes to LA and he's the replacement for Cooper Cup? I said, yeah, that would be great. Well, this isn't exactly that, but being the new slot guy, that's the theory that he'll be in Houston, that's not bad. And that could mean that he ends up getting some good target volume. I look back to how he played in 2023,
Starting point is 00:51:50 he averaged 12 and a half PPR points per game. The year before that, 14.2 PPR points per game. I'd argue that he was a little bit more of a number one wide receiver in 2022 than he was in 2023 or 2024, certainly he was in 24. But I think he has a bounce back year and is another one of these wide outs that can be a good bench receiver. I would rather have Ridley.
Starting point is 00:52:11 I would rather have Jacoby Myers and I would rather have a lot of these 49ers wide receivers that we keep mentioning. And then with Keon Coleman, it's just hoping that he takes the next step in the second year. Buffalo doesn't add another wide out. Buffalo doesn't bring back a Mario Cooper. Brandon Bean talked to that maybe that they would. The door's not closed on it.
Starting point is 00:52:30 Keon Coleman's a guy that they need to get going. And if he does make that leap his second year, then this is the receiver that's got the upside to be a top 20 type for fantasy. But he needs volume and he needs those downfield opportunities. And he absolutely has the profile to be a touchdown magnet for Josh Allen from high red zone on, meaning from outside the 10 yard line.
Starting point is 00:52:52 So from 11 yards, 99 yards, he can be somebody that can pick up some big plays from Josh Allen. He just needs to take that second step. Yeah. So how do you rank them? Ridley Kirk, Ridley Kirk Coleman? For now that's the order, but it's very easy to say, well, Calvin Ridley things might not work out or the Titans add too many other pieces that wide receiver and that pushes
Starting point is 00:53:16 them down and Houston could do the exact same thing. Houston's got a lot of targets to recover after losing digs and tank Del might not play. There's a world where Keon Coleman could be first on this list come August. Oh, I'd like to go back into Adam's discussion of whether or not this is an alliteration. I, yeah, I thought it was the same letter. What?
Starting point is 00:53:37 I thought alliteration was the same letter, not the same sound. Right, no, it's the same sound. I think it's the same. Oh, okay. Because I'm very interested to know the answer. Did you look it up? Yeah, Keon and Calvin, definitely alliteration.
Starting point is 00:53:50 Well, then Christian is too, right? Yeah, or Kirk, or Coleman. Yeah, there were a lot of alliteration definition. I don't understand. Oh, same letter or sound, letter or sound. Yeah, I don't know why I would tell you the rule and you would be like, well, I need to go look it up. Why didn't you tell me the definition? You didn't seem, you didn or sound, letter or sound. Yeah, I don't know why I would tell you the rule and you would be like, well, I need to go look it up. Why didn't you tell me the definition?
Starting point is 00:54:08 You didn't seem, you didn't sound like- I didn't need to go read the definition off the internet, Adam. Well, I did, but I wasn't sure if you were right. All right, well, Dave, great job with the alliteration there. So Christian Kirk is gonna be the slot guy in all likelihood for the Texans, I will point out, Stefan Diggs was the slot guy for the Texans and probably not as high of a slot rate as what we're gonna have Kirk at.
Starting point is 00:54:32 But in the first four games of the year with Nikko Collins, only four games. Diggs was on pace for 106 catches on 140 targets and that was with Tankdell playing. Now CJ Straub was throwing a little more than usual, 34.8 pass attempts per game, but he'll step into that Stefan Diggs short area target slot role and that was a pretty good PPR role last year. That's Christian Kirk. All right, our tight end. Man, I wanna talk more about Ridley.
Starting point is 00:54:59 I wanna talk more about Ridley. I think he might be the only one. From this standpoint. There's obviously a lot of excitement about Cam Ward and the expectation now is that he's going to the Titans. He's separated himself from the rest of this bad quarterback class. But I keep reading these lists of people ranking Cam Ward
Starting point is 00:55:19 with other quarterbacks in recent years. And even as his stock has risen, he's still pretty low on the list. He's still behind, you know, Daniel's Caleb. Yeah. I mean, Daniel's Caleb and Trevor, those three for sure. He's still behind Drake, may still behind CJ Stroud. He's still behind, like he's not behind Kenny Pickett, but he's behind.
Starting point is 00:55:40 I don't think he's behind like Mack Jones on most lists, but he's still not looked at as a great quarterback prospect by a lot of people. So I did want to bring that up. And also he was absolutely terrible throwing the deep ball last year. I mean, this is my biggest issue with Cam Ward. Great throwing the ball over the middle,
Starting point is 00:55:56 great throwing the ball up the seams, terrific in the intermediate area, strong arm, very accurate there, makes the improv plays. Maybe it's because Miami didn't have a great deep ball receiver, but this was not his strength. So Dave, you mentioned you want to see Calvin Ridley's role improve. But I just want to mention, if he is a deep ball guy at this point, he's 30 years old. Can't was not Cam Ward's strength last year.
Starting point is 00:56:17 No. And obviously if that's his role again this year, then it's a waste of a fantasy pick. All right. Titan. And that's something we're just not gonna necessarily know. Once the Titans show us that on draft day, when they take, you know, a wide receiver, there's a bunch of wide receivers in this draft,
Starting point is 00:56:34 great deep speed. They take one of those guys to pair with Ward and Ridley's the veteran that plays a little bit closer to the line of scrimmage. Yeah, and I would say that his's his a dot rid of these a dot was 17.2 yards with Will Levis. Unbelievable. Ridiculous. It was 13.6 yards with Mason Rudolph,
Starting point is 00:56:53 which is a very reasonable on the high side, but reasonable a dot. All right. Tight end sleepers, Tucker Kraft, Isaiah likely, Jake Ferguson. Go. These are three guys that will be incorporated in my greater late strategy at tight end. These are the guys that I'm looking for later on. If I don't get Bowers, McBride, Kittle, you know, and I just want to skip over that next tier of tight end. This is who I'm looking
Starting point is 00:57:20 for. Tucker craft last year. The numbers aren't great. Didn't even average 10 PPR points per game, but he was talked up after the season. Uh, he, he had 9.1 yards after the catch per reception in 2024. That's the most by any tight end in the past three years by one and a half yards, Adam, that might've been a stat you came up with and I lifted, uh, he had seven and a half yards after catch per reception as a rookie. Um, I think that they need to use that guy more. And I think a little floor kind of hinted that that's what they're going to do. I'm curious if the floor drops his name again at the owners meetings this week. That's something we'll have to wait and see, but with Christian Watson, a huge
Starting point is 00:57:57 question mark and the other receivers in green Bay, solid, but not necessarily good, certainly not meeting expectations. I wonder if Tucker craft gets an opportunity to see more targets per game. So I'm, I'm kind of hoping for that. And when I'm taking a tight end as the eighth, ninth, tight end off the board. Great. I'm, I'm, I'm hoping for, for an early jolt and maybe you can carry it over the course of the season.
Starting point is 00:58:21 Same thing with likely. And I know that John Harbaugh said at the owner's meetings this week that Mark Andrews is expected back with the Ravens. That does sting a little bit for Likely, but I do think that Likely has athleticism. And yeah, this would fall into Heath's category of, well, he's never shown it in his first three years, so why would it change now? That's possible. But a late pick on Isaiah Likely, at least it sounds good now. If the Ravens don't
Starting point is 00:58:46 make major additions to the receiving core, maybe they find a way to get likely more reps, and he can earn more targets and do better than the 7.7 PPR points per game that he had last year. And Ferguson was a total bust in 2024. Seven and a half PPR points again, gosh, it's worse than likely. But this is Dak's guy. If the Cowboys don't make that big splash at wide receiver, then I would expect him to go back to being in that seven plus target per game range. Like we've seen him have before in his career, 26 years old. So there's still plenty of credit on the tire.
Starting point is 00:59:20 Could be the number two target getter for Dak in Dallas without a good defense for the Cowboys and without a great running game for the Cowboys. Just makes sense to me that he's somebody that I would throw the dart at with a late pick. Ferguson wasn't really that bad with Dak Prescott. He didn't score any touchdowns, but let me just see. That's bad, that's bad. What was that? That is bad.
Starting point is 00:59:42 Dak's last game was against Atlanta, I believe. He was on pace for 92 catches, 811 yards, no touchdowns on 126 targets. He played seven of those eight games. I mean, if you give me 92 catches and 811 yards and 126 touchdowns and even just a reasonable, give me three or four touchdowns, probably talking about a starting tight end, right?
Starting point is 01:00:07 I would think so. 92 catches? So it is 25 drafts, Adam, over the last two weeks. Oh, it is? Not many at all, but I'm curious what you guys think of this ADP. Hit me. So of the five tight end sleepers that we've given Tucker craft, 116th overall Jake Ferguson, 145th.
Starting point is 01:00:37 Ooh, Isaiah likely 170th. likely a hundred and seventieth. Zach Ertz, a hundred and ninety fifth. And then Brenton Strange is basically in a, but 250, 50 he's only been drafted in about half the dress. I love it. I love it for all of them. And I understand why no one in these drafts is going after Brent Strange. You know, there's not going to be crazy demand for a Jaguars tight end at this point, but, uh, I, and I like Strange as a sleeper. after Brent Strange. There's not going to be crazy demand for a Jaguar's tight end at this point.
Starting point is 01:01:06 And I like Strange as a sleeper. He was on my sleeper list too, before I looked at your list. That's exactly the range we're talking. Right around round 10 or later, if you're going to wait at that position to try and find somebody to be this year's proper, Bauer's ADP was in that range last year. We talk about tight ends every year that come out of this range and they perform much better than expected. This is what we're looking for. You could draft two of these guys, one in round 10, one in round 13 and hope that one of them is your guy for the year. Yeah. I think there could be three, three-ish rookie tight ends that get drafted before all these guys too. So that would make them even probably not before craft I wouldn't think but yeah,
Starting point is 01:01:49 oh, I think it's possible that Warren or Loveland depending on where they land do go before craft. Look, to see the Packers with the third lowest pass rate in football. To see them morph after their bi-week into the Ravens or Eagles was weird. I don't think Kraft can be- An injured quarterback and a great running back. I don't think Kraft can be that good if that happens again.
Starting point is 01:02:11 But if they start throwing the ball more, then it's actually, I like Kraft a lot. And I think, I mean, I think I just made a pretty good case for Ferguson, honestly, because he stunk at the end of the year without Dak Prescott, but he wasn't that bad. He just didn't score any touchdowns. Dak didn't throw that many touchdowns. honestly, because he stunk at the end of the year without Dak Prescott, but he wasn't that bad. He just didn't score any touchdowns.
Starting point is 01:02:26 Dak didn't throw that many touchdowns. Two questions I would have coming out of this is Dallas' offense going to rebound. They don't have the same type of offensive line that they used to have. They had their worst PFF pass blocking grade in a long time last year, and they don't really have great talent on the team quite honestly and they kept it in house by hiring Brian Schottenheimer. I didn't really love that so let's see what they do in the draft but can they have an offensive rebound? Oh basketball term and then will the Packers pass more? That's yeah all right so anybody have final thoughts? Do? You guys all caught up on White Lotus?
Starting point is 01:03:06 I've never watched White Lotus. Frank Reich is going to Stanford as their interim head coach. Interesting. Good for him. Yeah, I didn't apply to Stanford. It was like would have been a safety school for me, you know, it just wasn't really for me. Didn't want to go too far from home. Yeah. Anyway, I don't watch White Lotus either,
Starting point is 01:03:26 Dave, but someone on our show probably should. It's basically the most popular show in America. So let's get on it, guys. We'll talk to you on Wednesday with Breakouts on Fantasy Football.

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