Fantasy Football Today - Consensus PPR Top 12 (Part Two)! Nabers vs. Nacua, Jeanty Vs. Achane, Nico vs. St. Brown (06/24 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: June 24, 2025

Continuing our PPR consensus rankings debates with players #7-12! First, Dave and Jamey talk about what inspires them to adjust their rankings and then Dave provides some great context on what to expect from Saquon Barkley this season (6:00). We also have some news and notes (10:30) ... Running through players 7-12 in our consensus PPR rankings beginning with Malik Nabers vs. Puka Nacua (11:15). Nabers is getting the huge quarterback upgrade, but Nacua's metrics suggest he is one of the very best wide receivers in the NFL. After those two WRs, we look at a couple of running backs and debate Ashton Jeanty vs. De'Von Achane (26:40). How much does Tua Tagovailoa's injury history factor into this? ... We finish with Nico Collins vs. Amon-Ra St. Brown (45:05). The public loves St. Brown and so do we, but you can't ignore the drop in targets in 2024 ... Email us at [e-mail] 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 Fan 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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This is fantasy football today from CBS Sports. What a play! Can you believe this? No I can't. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Off to the races and he stays at his feet. This is gonna go the distance. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie and Heath.

Good morning everybody. Welcome to this show. It is Tuesday, June 24th and we are talking about players seven through 12 in the consensus PPR rankings. That would be Malik neighbors at seven. Pukka Nakuwa eight. Number nine is Devon Achan, number 10 Ashton Genti, Nico Collins 11,

and Amanra St. Brown 12. A little bit different than what we told you yesterday because the rankings have changed. So Christian McCaffrey was 12th, he's now 13th, Nico Collins has moved up to 11th from 13th, I believe. So again, it is neighbors, Puka, Achan, Gentie, Nico, Amanra St. Brown. All right.

Good morning. Wait, what? So tomorrow's show is what? Will be 13 through 18. 13 through 18? And then 19 through 24 is Thursday? Very good, Jamie. I just want, are you gonna show 13 through 24 is Thursday. Very good, Jamie. I just want, are you going to show 13 through 24 tomorrow?

No. Just 13 through 18? Yeah. I was going to really like screw my rankings up just to have fun on Thursday. I was curious, you know, it's yesterday was June 23rd, right? And Dave, you moved Nikko Collins up and I'm sure this happens more than I realize

where you guys are just making a slight rank. What inspires that in the middle of June? Research, thinking about obviously what the players can do, what their upside is. And then like in the case of Nico, like I don't even know if I'm gonna keep more or keep them because I do think that Devon HN is more upside than Nico Collins, but I believe that there's only seven receivers on the top tier.

Nico is in that top seven. And the way that I think about it is, okay, if I'm picking 11th, these six other receivers are gone. Look at all these running backs that are left. I know I'll get one of these running backs in round two. I don't want to lose my chance on getting one of the top seven receivers. I'll take Nico Collins. Those are the types of things.

It's kind of like, you know, the decisions that you make with taking chase or Bijan. I mentioned that yesterday. What you might want to do in round two could be the tiebreaker between those two studs in round one. I, these are the types of things that I think about in June and, uh, hopefully lock in so I don't have to bother with it again in August. I do it when I, when I do drafts.

So like, if I come upon a decision that I'm like, Oh, you know, I don't really love this if I'm following my rankings. So like I had a, Oh, such a great best Paul draft last night. Um, I, uh, you know, I'll go through a draft and I'll be like, you know, this, this doesn't feel right. Doesn't look right. If I'm doing this myself, why would I encourage other people to do it? So it's typically when I'm doing those type of exercises, I'll, I'll change my rankings when it's, you know, nothing tangible or actionable has happened. Do you, we want to hear how big of a nerd I am, Adam?

Yeah, I already know it, but sure. Sometimes I like to do mock drafts by myself and I pick every position and that helps me set my top 200. Okay. That's great. Some people like to go out and like see concerts or movies, watch TV shows, coach little league. I'm alone in my kitchen in my robe and underwear doing one person mock drafts on a Saturday. Thank you. And I always felt like I could do a hundred mock drafts. We don't we don't do that many, but it feels like it. The second I start doing a real draft, my feet are to the fire and I have to make a

pick that's actually going to impact a fantasy team. That's when I get more clarity about who I like better. It's so easy to be whatever I'll take Drake London here. But then when I actually in a mock draft, it's actually a real team. I get this moment of clarity. Oh, wow, actually, I like this guy better. So I'm sure once the real draft start, that's when we'll see how you really love Christian McCaffrey. Well, someone said to me, you know, because I put my top six on Twitter yesterday, it was so much different, pretty fairly different than yours. Chase, Bijan, McCaffrey, Pooka, Lam, Jefferson.

And someone said to me, you're treating McCaffrey like he's healthy. Why not just make him number one? That's actually a pretty good point, you know, but I don't think I'd do that, but maybe two. Chase is definitely gonna be number one for me, but I could see McCaffrey two for me. And honestly, I could see McCaffrey two for everyone by the time it's all said and done. More and more glowing reports

about Christian McCaffrey and his health. We'll see how high he goes, how high he rises, but he'll rise, I'm confident. Dave, Saquon Barkley, you have a good Saquon Barkley stat, let's hear it. So this was something I wanted to get around to doing and just yesterday and today I had the time to do it, so I thought I would.

We know and we talk a lot about, well, Saquon had, you know, a ton of touches last year. It was like 480 something touches. I should know the number. So I wanted to go back and look over the last 15 years, Saquon was actually the 17th running back to get at least 400 touches in a season. Of the prior 16, with 400 or more touches, only three of them outperformed their 400 touch year. Only four more were close enough to their 400 touch year. The other nine running backs, they all fell short. They either sat out, which is Leveon Bell when he held out of his contract because he's a knucklehead, got hurt. And that includes Christian McCaffrey in 2020, Derek Henry

played half a year in 2021, or saw at least a 20% drop in their per game average. Three of those running backs, by the way, saw a 40% drop. So roughly a little less than half of the running backs were at least decent compared to how they did in their 400-touch year. Why did that research? One of the running backs that kept why I did that research, one of the running backs that kept playing well year after year, I mean, not for a long time, let's call it 3 years, was Ray Rice. He had like 3 years of 400-plus touches. He was doing great. I went and looked at his catches. He had at least 65 catches in each year, had under 350 carries in each of those years. And I'm including the postseason and all of this data. So I thought I'd go back and look at 400 or more carries because that's certainly something that's a little bit more impactful. Saquon Barkley didn't really catch the ball very much last year, much more of a carry guy. He had a ton of carries. I want to say it was around 430. And I went deeper. I went over the

last 35 years. How many running backs over the last 35 years have had at least 400 carries in a season? The answer is 25. That includes Saquon. Of the prior 24 running backs with 400 or more carries, only three of those guys out from their 400 touch year. That includes players who got hurt and four more were close enough to their 400 plus carrier and PPR average where you would say, okay, they weren't as good, but they were like 85% of themselves. So not that many running backs by comparison to 400 plus touches. The other

17 running backs who fell short the year after they had 400 plus carries either got hurt. That includes Jamal Lewis, who missed an entire season, uh, or they saw at least a 25% drop in their PR per game average. That makes me, that takes Saquon completely out of the RB one guy conversation for me. And it should be that way for you, because if you're drafting him as your top RB, you're expecting him to get in the neighborhood of 20 PPR points. He just had a year, reed 22 and change. If he's going to fall off by 25%, that's four points off. It doesn't mean he's not a first round pick, but I would wait to take Saquon Barkley.

I would not make him my first. I'm not even going to make him my second running back. I'm gonna take a step back from this 28 year old who had a monster year and is coming off such a huge workload. The odds are based on the track record of running backs who have done what he did, the odds are against him being anywhere close

to as good as he was in 2024. Okay, so the big headline here, since 1990, 24 running backs before Saquon Barkley had hit 400 or more carries in a season, including the playoffs. Of those 24, 17 of them saw their fantasy points per game drop by 25% or more the next season. Or they were just out for the year.

Or they were. Jamal Lewis got hurt in the pre-season didn't play in a single game. Okay. That is a huge, that is a great stat. Well done, sir. Great research and take from that what you will. All right. FFT dynasty, Tuesdays and Fridays.

You can see that in its own feed, the fantasy football dynasty feed, or the episodes do drop in the FFT feed. I don't think it's going to be that way during the season, but it is for now. I'm not sure how much longer that will be going, but feel free to give a subscribe to that podcast. We have some news and notes. James Boyd of the athletic thinks that Daniel Jones has a significant lead in the Colts quarterback competition. Obviously you have the shoulder injury for Richardson, but Richardson said he will be good to go for training camp. Russell Wilson said he chose the Giants

because of Malik neighbors. That's cool. Can't wait to have the neighbors versus Puka discussion in a moment. Andrew DeCicco of InsideTheBirds.com, and this is just more about Saquon Barkley, suggests there will be more variance in the Eagles offense this year. They were so run-heavy I think it's a given that there's gonna be more variance in the Eagles offense this year.

Zach Kiefer of the Athletic expects the Chiefs to be more or to try to be more explosive offensively. They were 27th in big plays last year by TrueMedia that's defined as a play of 20 or more yards 27th and they were 27th in big plays last year. By true media, that's defined as a play of 20 or more yards. 27th, and they were 27th in past plays of 20 or more yards last year. That's the Chiefs. All right, seven through 12 in the consensus rankings. Seven and eight are wide receivers.

Nine and 10 are running backs. 11 and 12 are wide receivers. Seven and eight are Malik neighbors and Puka Nakuwa. And there was a pretty good little debate amongst the YouTube audience in our comments yesterday because we did talk about neighbors versus Nakuwa. Just feel like there was a little bit of a lean toward neighbors.

I don't have the Twitter poll or the YouTube poll from yesterday, but I currently have a Twitter poll going right now. Who do you prefer in PPR, Neighbors or Nakuwa? 214 votes at the moment and it's 56% for Nakuwa, 44% for Neighbors. Looking at the consensus rankings, and it's the same for you guys

in your individual rankings. You both have Neighbors 7 and Nakuwa 8. Heath has Nakuwa 9ua nine and neighbors 11 actually. So he likes Nakua better than neighbors, but he's lower on both of them than consensus. Okay, you guys go ahead. Obviously it's close. So I don't wanna make you argue vociferously here

about neighbors over Nakua, but why neighbors one spot ahead Dave? I think he's got the upside to be the wide receiver 1 in the National Football League. And that's based on talent. There aren't many guys that can accelerate like him. And on top of that, he's just an amazing wide receiver. We were all witness to that last year. I think Dable deserves a little bit of credit for getting what he did out of neighbors as a rookie with crap at quarterback. And so the play calling, the play designs, the scheme, I don't think that that's a negative whatsoever against Malik neighbors. And the opportunity was huge for him last year. 11.3 targets per game. That was the best, I believe, among everybody in the universe. So having

a huge target share, being really good at football, really explosive, really tough to defend, and working in an offense that has a semblance of an upgrade at quarterback, certainly makes me feel like Nevers has the highest upside of these running backs. But his floor isn't bad either, because last year, he averaged over 18 PPR points per game. He had a couple of stinkers in there. And so I still believe that he's got the opportunity to put up huge numbers. I want to have a player like that on my team. And Jamie, your argument for neighbors over Nakua? I think they're both awesome. Um, you know, going back to yesterday, you have the opportunity

to, you know, I, I think sort of positive and negative pros and cons for both of these guys and you know, make your own decision on you know, Nakuwa's you know, you said it Nakuwa is rookie year is better than neighbors rookie year and you know, he took a step forward in his second year as well, you know, in terms of points per game. So will neighbors do the same thing? I think the bottom line is didn't the which situation got better for each player? And it's hard to say that neighbor situation didn't get better for, the situation for neighbors didn't get better and the situation for Nakuha got slightly worse. So you know, again, they're both top eight, top 10 players.

However you look at it, they should both be first round picks no matter what. And you're hoping that they continue the trajectory that they should both be first round picks no matter what. And you're hoping that they continue the trajectory that they're on. Now again, can Nakua improve his numbers in year three? I think if he stays healthy and you look at what he did without Cooper Cup producing down the stretch and hope that, you know, Devontae Adams is not that same level of production that he was last year

and commands more targets than Nakua because Adams has clearly been the target leader more times than not throughout his career. For neighbors, I think Heath has sort of been hammering this home, which is hard to argue against. The quarterback room is dramatically better for the Giants, dramatically better, whether you like Russell Wilson or not, Wilson, Dart, Winston is so much better than Jones, Boyle, DeVito, Locke, it's just, it's not even close. And so if those guys can just continue to help him,

forget about what they do for themselves, nobody's looking at Russell Wilson and Dart and Winston as maybe Winston, but as league winners for fantasy managers are helping the Giants become Super Bowl contenders we're hoping that they're going to make Malik neighbors the star that he's started to show that he can be. Oh yeah all right I'm gonna give some some numbers on Nakuwa and make the case there just for devil's advocate. After this quick break update on the Twitter poll. 57% Nekua, 43% neighbors. All right, we'll be right back to continue this discussion on FFT. Discover the magic of BetMGM Casino, where the excitement is always on deck. Pull up a seat and

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Of TV's number one show. These people are dangerous. I'm doing this alone. Not at all. Every Batman gotta have their router. Coulter! Justin Hartley stars. I made a promise.

I would never stop looking. In Tracker, all episodes now streaming on Paramount Plus and returning CBS fall. Now, by the way, I looked up the word vociferous during that segment just to make sure I had used it correctly. I was a little nervous there and I did. Thank you.

It was a big word for me. It was kind of a big moment. Thank you. Okay. Anyway, Pukiniku, I just want to throw this out. Look straight ahead into the camera, spell it. V-O-C-I-F-E-R-O-U-S. You look like you're going to be a little bit of a weirdo. into the camera, spell it. V-O-C-I-F-E-R-O-U-S.

You look down, nope, done. Okay, I just, you know, we love Bleak Neighbors. He was number one in the ESPN open metric and their advanced analytics, so he got open better than anyone in the NFL. We think he's a superstar, could be in the discussion as the best wide receiver in the NFL just based on talent, right? I don't think people necessarily feel that way about Pukinakua, but I'm going to just

say Pukinakua might be better than Malik Neighbors, which is crazy because I think Malik Neighbors is unbelievable. Pukinakua does it in a different style. But you know, I said it yesterday, I think twice. So say it now again, second highest yards per out run rate in the last 12 years for Pukinakua last season. The only guy who had a better season in the last 12 years was Tyree Hill. If you compare their rookie numbers, it's not even close. Jamie alluded to that Pukinakua had an unbelievable rookie season, one of the best we've ever seen. He was better than neighbors and he did that with Cooper Cup. Now in the 12 games he played with Cup,

12 or 13, he was wide receiver 12 per game as a rookie in 2023. This year, he, this past year, he usurped Cooper Cup. But I think what I would say is that even though he's not a flashy receiver, Pukinakua might be in that argument to be the best receiver in football. He averages over six yards after the catch per reception in both of his seasons. That blows away what Malik Neighbors did last year. His explosive play rate, you don't think of him as an explosive player. His explosive play rate was terrific. So that's, you know, that's the thing. If you're going, well, neighbors is so much more talented. I would, I would pump the brakes on that. And also I think, I think the Rams offense, their passing offense could be even

better. They threw for 4096 yards and 22 touchdowns last year. So while we do project a ton of improvement for the Giants who threw for 3521 yards and the fewest touchdowns in the NFL last year, 15, I think the Rams have some ability to improve on that too. Why can't they throw 30 touchdowns this year? It's very possible with Stafford. So I'm going to tell you the one thing that concerns me with Puka. And it's that the Rams, the split for Matthew Stafford last year in wins and losses, I don't know if I have this in my notes, but the pass attempts, they were dramatically different. They became so run heavy late in the year and they won and they just kept on winning. I think he threw more than 32 passes in one of his last seven games and that was the only

game they lost in that stretch was game against the Eagles. When they won, he was throwing probably fewer than 30 times a game. They were very, very run heavy, crazy splits and wins and losses last year for the Rams. They have this young defense that is loaded with talent, right? They could have one of the better defenses in the NFL this year. So that concerns me with Puka. If they are just league average or top 20 in pass attempts, I'm confident he'll be better than neighbors. Yeah, somewhat confident. Obviously, they're very close. But yeah, I think I just wanted to bring that up. He is incredible. Go ahead, Jamie. Does that concern you with Puka because of Adams now being there?

Because obviously Puka was still putting up good stats while they weren't throwing as much last year. No, I mean, not really. I think the Cooper Cup had a very underrated season until the last three weeks. I mean, again, we could just reference those last three games because again, Puka's numbers were still very good and they were winning. Yeah, and Kupa had three targets. I'm just trying to get an idea of your correlation

of the lack of throwing to how it impacts Puka. I mean, if they go into being like the Packers and the Eagles last year, where they are one of the most run heavy teams, then Puka is probably going to be disappointing because Adams is there. But if again, if they just- That's what I'm getting at.

Is it because of Adams being there on top of them? Yeah, I think Adams is a slight upgrade over what Cup did last year. Cup was was a lot better than people realize. But no, it's more just it's more just I don't want to see them become one of the most run heavy teams in football, which they were down the stretch last year. Right, but even still doing that Pouca's numbers were good. I think the one thing that benefits him and even Adams and

it was the same thing with cup is like the targets are so concentrated. And so, you know, do they potentially both these guys lose a little bit if it's a big if if McVay sticks to what he said and he's usually a pretty honest coach because at the owner's meetings, they just signed to two at well to this somewhat ridiculous deal, $10 million deal for one. And he said, I didn't do a good enough job of giving him more opportunities. So does he get the DeMarcus Robinson numbers? Does he get maybe a little bit more?

You know, I, and again, I don't think it's going to happen, but you never know. Do they incorporate Tyler Higbee who was coming back from the ACL tear and had a strong finish into the playoffs? And maybe it's the Higbee Ferguson combination was coming back from the ACL tear and had a strong finish into the playoffs? And maybe it's the Higbee-Ferguson combination of the tight ends getting a little bit more. And then in terms of Puka, like you mentioned it, is Devontae Adams on the same level of what Cooper Cup did early in the season when he was producing at that level? Still still Cooper Cup? Or is he better than Cooper Cup?

You know, and again, age, he really hasn't shown that he's declining tremendously in terms of the way that he does get his, his, his production fantasy and reality. So, I mean, these are all things that could be working against Nakua, but I think, you know, again, like, I don't think this is a neighbor's Nakua argument because again, that's sort of depending on I think who you prefer. I think it's just a Nakua argument. Like I don't think there's reason to doubt him because of what Stafford has shown in

relying on him. And then it goes back to we talked about this on Express yesterday in regards to like Justin Jefferson, like McVeigh finds so many ways to get these guys open, you know, to your point about what he does with his hands. And it's just so fantastic. Like, you know, I think if you're tying it back to neighbors, like offense and quarterback, if you are flipping a coin between these guys, those things are not close in favor of what Nakuha has.

Yeah. And also Puku Nukuwa, let's see, in two years, where did he finish per game? He's been like top six per game, I think, at wide receiver both years, and he has nine touchdowns in his career. Yeah. Receiving touchdowns.

Yeah, right. He did a Russian touchdown last year. He did a Russian touchdown. But imagine if he starts getting more end zone, imagine if he starts catching touchdowns. He, I did have a Russian touchdown last year. He did have a Russian touchdown. But imagine if he starts getting more end zone time, he starts catching touchdowns. He gets eight this year. I could be huge for him. Right. That's that's one of the drawbacks and Akua said he's never been a real red zone threat for LA. Let me give you another neighbor's argument, Davis. See

what you think about this. Pro neighbors. He, he scored 23 or more fantasy points in three of the four games that he played with. Maybe the most important player on offense for the Giants, Andrew Thomas, their left tackle. Thomas only played six games last year, only four with neighbors. Meanwhile, the Rams, they might lose their left tackle for the season, unfortunately, with Larrick Jackson having blood clots. So Andrew Thomas is just a massive piece of the offense for the Giants. And in theory, you'll have more Thomas games for neighbors this year. I'm not gonna I'm not gonna make that a tiebreaker between the two. That's just too far down the rabbit hole. Listen, I appreciate a good offensive line and I agree that an offensive line is very important to how real football works.

That's obvious, but I'm not going to say, well, the reason I'm going to take Nakua over neighbors is because of the offensive line issues and what might happen if one of the offensive linemen get hurt, I think that's too far down the rabbit hole. You look at the players' opportunities, you look at who they're catching footballs from, Jamie's right, Russell Wilson by nearly every single metric was better than the slop that the Giants had a quarterback last year. And he also takes chances downfield.

That's going to help the ADOT, the receiving average for Malik neighbors. I think neighbors end zone targets go up. He didn't even average, uh average the most end or red zone targets per game last year in New York. Wendell Robinson did. What the hell's that? 140 targets for Wendell. I'm talking about just in the red. I know. I know. But isn't that crazy? Because that's the

thing. So I, I think that we're gonna see more of a of an uptick and ascension for neighbors than we will for Nakua Provided that everybody stays healthy in LA goes as if Devante Adams is pushed off the age-cliff Then we know that Pooka is gonna see more than nine targets per game. That'll make him better than Malik neighbors All right. Let's go to our next group here. So it's eight or nine and ten part of me in the consensus right, let's go to our next group here. So it's eight or nine and 10, pardon me, in the consensus rankings.

It's Devon Achan and Ashton Genti. So we can compare these two guys. But first, Jamie, is there anything that makes you put the neighbors in Nakuwa ahead of these two running backs, Achan or Genti, or do you think they're more or less interchangeable dealers choice kind of deal? In terms of who you take first, in terms of neighbors, Nakua, HN, Gentee, you know, does it

matter? Are you adamant that the wide receiver should go ahead of those two running backs? I am I don't have a 10 as a first round pick. So yes, I would definitely take the receivers over HN. He's 13th for me. So just outside of it. But you know, again, you know, David touched on this, like, I think when you start to get to the back end of round one, and certainly depending on where you're picking in the beginning part of round one, like you're seeing there's a much more robust group of running backs that should be available to you, comparatively to the wide receivers.

And so it's going to come down to format, it's going to come down to how you like to draft, how you like to build your team, what you think could be available to you compared to the wide receivers. And so it's gonna come down to formats, gonna come down to how you like to draft, how you like to build your team, what you think could be available to you in the three, four range, especially if you're picking in this part of the first round. For me, I'm gonna take the receiver. So neighbors, Nakua, Collins and St. Brown

should, in my opinion, go ahead of these guys. Dave, how do you feel about that? I agree. And a lot of it has to do with supply and demand at the elite tier of wide receiver. And getting in on that. HN last year, 17.6 PPR points per game, really good for his second season. Actually, it's not. He was 17.3 as a rookie. So year over year about the same guy, but obviously it was better when two was playing. I are you, we going to buy into a Chan getting more work and the offense not changing in Miami when they really didn't do anything with

their offensive line to suggest, okay, we've fortified it. Like you saw the bears fortify their offensive line. Okay. They knew they had a weakness there and they're, they're going to do what they can to better protect their quarterback. Dolphins didn't really do the same thing. And so does that mean that they're content with Tua just getting the ball out as fast as possible? Is he going to play hot potato with the football? And if he does, then that's obviously going to be good for HN and full PPR because he's going to get a lot of those little dink and dunk targets that he can go and make a play with.

When when tool wasn't in there, he didn't even average 10 PPR points per game. That's over a six game span and I can't count on to offer for 17 games. I know we did two years ago. I'm nervous about it. I'm also nervous about that offense changing a little bit and trying to push the ball downfield. Why can't they get screens to waddle in Tyreek, especially if Tyreek's wrist is healthy now? So I think there's a little bit of risk with A-chan. There's obviously upside, too. But I'd rather have one of those wide receivers that you can almost pencil in a floor of do you pencil on the floor of

what they did last year that was 18 PPR points maybe take a point off that as a floor knowing that the ceiling is still in that 20 PPR point range. What do you have? Yeah, well, I left the room briefly to get a drink because it is so freaking hot and I was like losing it a little bit so I needed water. But I opened the fridge. I just, I have a hard time opening the fridge and not eating something.

So I ate this, they're like, they're supposed to be sort of energy. It's like an energy ball. It's oatmeal, peanut butter, honey, flaxseed. I don't know. It was okay. Flaxseed. Flaxseed is a great thing to throw in.

It has very little taste unless you put a ton in and it's super healthy. So you can just throw it into things, especially if you have kids, you want them to eat healthier, just throw some flaxseed in there. Awesome, I'm gonna put it in my next Hot Fudge Sunday. Exactly.

Yeah, I know you have this argument, but you mentioned it. I didn't hear everything you said. I'm sorry. So I was getting water and an energy. Yeah, you knew I would talk a long time. No, I appreciate that. But you mentioned that HM was a lot better with Tua. I mean, he was close to 22, 23 points per game with Tua. Five PPR points per game better with Tua. So that's much better than what neighbors in Nakua did. So, Jamie, you don't even have HN ranked in the first round or 13th. So how does that factor in what we saw with Tua

and what we saw without Tua? I mean, he's awesome. And I do think like you look at the last two years of this offense and two years ago, they produced the touchdown leader from the running back position with Raheem Mostert and last year what HN did when Tua was healthy was in the same range of Saquon Barkley, Jameer Gibbs and Bijan Robinson and so it's hard to overlook that clearly. So the question

for me is the offensive line because we know it's going through another change and how will that perform. The quarterback situation will to us stay healthy. And I do think, look, that whatever you think of Zach Wilson, I'm hoping is better than what they had last year just in terms of backup production. So maybe that keeps HN from a five-point difference to maybe a three-point difference, or a two-point difference, or the same in terms of the production in the games that two of them may miss. Dave hit the nail on the head in terms of the offense.

Hopefully they do get a little bit more downfield, but I don't know that's necessarily negative for A-chan. It clearly will impact his receptions, but maybe leads to more scoring opportunities that helped most dirt the year before when he had 18 rushing touchdowns. I'm just curious what they're going to do to supplement A-chan, you know, because the backups now are really interesting, not exciting, but they're interesting, you know, just to see what they're going to do to supplement HN. You know, because the backups now are really interesting, not exciting, but they're interesting, you know, just to see what they're going to do.

Because Jalen writes and explodes the player, didn't do anything in his rookie campaign. We know that Alexander Madison has had his moments and, you know, can clearly come in and be a different sort of option from what HN does. And then I think the wild card is, you know, Olly Gordon and, you know, if he can get back to his 2023 production

when he was, you know, really looking like a, a high end draft pick and then struggled in 2024 collegiately, you know, so all these things sort of are, are going to have to be sort of for me parsed out in, um, in training camp. But again, you know, whether you like him ninth overall, 12th overall, 15th overall, you know, I know his ADP on fantasy pros, I think is, you know, mid round two, early round two, but he should go in the first 15 overall picks. He's just, he's got so much stud potential that if two of play 17 games, we could be looking at the RB one here.

Right. I'm surprised he's not in the top 12 for you. He must be super high for someone if he's 13th for you and ninth. So this is a Chan he's fourth for Heath Heath has him fourth overall, Dave has him 11th and Jamie has a Chan 13th. So do you both have Gentie? No, Dave does not have Gentie over him. Jamie does. Alright, so let's have that discussion then. Gentie versus a Chan Dave, you're taking a Chan here. Genti, you have 13th. Love the talent with Genti.

Um, I'm not really worried about Pete Carroll's comment about using multiple running backs and you know, most cert is not a reason to pass on Ashton Genti, but the overall offense in Las Vegas might be the offensive line where we seem to be talking a lot about offensive lines today. And as a whole, I think they're more important than just one guy. I worry about that line being good for Gentie. I was thrown off a little bit by how Gentie played against some of the top college programs last year and includes his last game against Penn State.

That was a, he didn't have his best offensive line in front of him. It's a Boise State offensive line against Penn State with Abdul Carter. So it almost didn't seem fair, but there's going to be games this year where that Raiders offensive line is mismatched. And I just I I'm wondering just how much work he'll really get. Is he going to be a candidate for 350 touches? Is he going to get, you know, 17 touches? Is he gonna average 17 PPR points per game

when he's coming off of a heavy workload year at Boise State and he hasn't played NFL football yet? I don't want to, I don't wanna draft him too close to the ceiling. And I was doing that earlier this off season. And it was through one of those, you know, lame loser nerdy exercises that I do where I went, You know, why am I taking Ashton Gentry over some of these established receivers that have awesome upside? And then I started like weighing them against A-chan and some other running

backs, and I settled for putting them on the 1-2 turn. And that's where I think I'd be most comfortable taking Gentie who again, super talented. He's going to get the ball a lot. It is a Chip Kelly offense. That's a good thing, but I'm just not sure. I'm just not sure he's going to deliver close enough to his ceiling to warrant a top five or even a top 10 pick. So just to give you a peek behind the consensus rankings, it would have been great if Heath were on this show because he has H& fourth and he has Genty fifth.

You guys have H& and Genty 11th and 13th. For Dave, it's H& 11th and Genty 13th. For Jamie, it's the opposite. It's Genty 11th and H& 13th. For Jamie, it's the opposite. It's Genti 11th and H-Han 13th. I just did a Twitter poll here. Who's your favorite in PPR? And I did these four guys, Genti, H-Han, Nico, Aman, Rasayn, Brown. They're the last four in our consensus rankings discussion for today. So we'll see what people have to say about that. Jamie, I'm going to get your thoughts on Genti versus H-Han, Gentie overall. And we're going to do

that after this break on FFT. We'll be right back. This episode is brought to you by Dazon. For the first time ever, the 32 best soccer clubs from across the world are coming together to decide who the undisputed champions of the world are in the FIFA Club World Cup. The world's best players, Messi, Holland, Kane and more are all taking part. And you can watch every match for free on Dazone, starting on June 14th and running until July 13th. Sign up now at dazone.com slash FIFA. That's D-A-Z-N dot com slash FIFA.

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so it's easy to find a solution that works for you. Visit canadalife.com slash employee benefits to learn more. Canada Life, insurance, investments, advice. Okay, take it away on Genti. I think both guys in terms of Genti, to me it's a three player debate because I think if you're going wide receiver,

you're going wide receiver. I think it's Genti, H-Han and McCaffrey is the debate that a lot of people are gonna have to decide on if you're going running back there and To your point Adam if McCaffrey's healthy He probably will be the choice Gentie's the shiny new toy and A-chan I don't think people again realize how good he was in the two games and just the opportunity that he has in front of him For me, I like Gentie the best of that trio right now has in front of him. For me, I like Genti the best of that trio right now simply because I think he's, Dave said it, I don't think he's going to have a lot of competition for

touches despite what Pete Carroll said. Especially when you're looking at the guys he's competing with. I mean, Mostert is probably the best of the trio and he's 32. When you're talking about a guy that couldn't finish the season last year who's bounced around the league and said injury concerns almost everywhere he's been. Um, since Sierra McCormick and you know, Zameer Wyatt, like these are just guys, you know, Gentie's such a star if he lives up to the billing and superstar, if he, you know, can play like he did collegiately. I think Chip Kelly being there is huge.

I do think the offensive line is somewhat underrated and I think it's definitely better than Miami's. And so I don't think this is a team that when they get behind is going to get away from leaning on him in whatever capacity that he's on the field. Now again, HN is going to be in the same conversation and obviously McCaffrey is as well. So it's really a matter of do you think Gentie can be this, you know, standout rookie, Saquon Barkley, Ezekiel Elliott type of guy, or is he going to be more along the lines of what I don't want to even say running back, like Marvin Harrison, you know, just

the, you know, another overhyped rookie that, you know, we all thought was walking into a great situation and lets us down despite the fact that his rookie numbers are probably decent, but just the overall fantasy production is terrible. And so how about Bijon as a rookie? Uh, Bijon is, yeah, great call. You know, you know, these, these guys that have, you know, a lot of hype and they just don't live up to it. So let's start, it could be a case. So, um, again, it's going to come down to, you know, do you, do you trust the opportunity of what Gentie is getting, uh, the team that

he's on all these things that sort of factor into it. And I trust the, the, the, the coach and the play caller. We know people, I mean, how many times we said this said this in Pete Carroll's tenure, he wants to run the ball, he wants to run the ball, he wants to run the ball. And what did they do in his first draft? They went out and they got the best running back available. It sets up all too perfectly. Chip Kelly's history with running backs is great. Just looking at what he did with the two guys that he had at Ohio State.

Now you smush Judkins and Trevion Henderson together and you have Ashton Gentry. And so, you know, there's just, you know, so much upside here for him that it's hard to overlook. Now to Dave's point, you know, as he said, you know, you don't want to draft him as a ceiling. We don't really know what a ceiling is, you know, given the fact of how good he could be. I think back into round one makes sense. So, you know, whether he's, you know, 10 plus, I think that's where he should come into play. I don't think you should be taking him in the first, you know, 10 plus, I think that's where he should come into into play. I don't think you should be taking him in the first, you know, six or seven picks personally, but, um, you know, when you're, when you're looking back end of round one and, and upside and, you know, starting to, you know, separate these players,

you, you could go running back, running back if you want to, I don't recommend it, but I mean, imagine if, if McCaffrey is right and Gentie hits, like that's a huge start to your team. If you take those two players, imagine if, if McCaffrey's right and Gentie hits, like that's a huge start to your team. If you take those two players, you know, 12 and 13. I think it needs to be said that if it's half PPR or non PPR, Gentie is easily a first round pick. Um, that's just common sense, obviously, because the catches don't count.

So I wanted to just put that in there. Um, I mean, he's going seventh overall in fantasy pros. He's a first round pick. I think that there will be at least a couple of people in every single draft in August and September that will target him. They'll know they don't have a top five pick and they'll say, man, I just want to have some fun. This dude was awesome for two years in college.

Now he's on the Raiders, Pete Carroll, Chip Kelly, blah, blah, blah. They're not going to care about the offensive line. They're not going to care about distribution of the football to other people. They're just going to get Gentie. They're not going to care what we have to say. And they're just going to get him. And so I would guess that that 80, what'd you say his, his AP, he's like seven? That's where he's going to end up going. Well, I don't like it. I wouldn't take him there, but that's where he's gonna go. I don't think that people that PPR half PPR thing should make a difference. Not non PPR. Yes, absolutely.

You want to focus on running backs, but I don't necessarily think you should be taking wide receivers ahead of these elite running backs in PPR unless you're talking about a low catch running back because if Genti is a 50 catch running back, I definitely think that's in the cards here for a great pass catching running back like him, he has the potential to be that,

then you're getting a bigger advantage at the running back position in full PPR than you are in even half PPR. You could argue that any running back is gonna catch 50 or more balls is more valuable in full PPR than half PPR than you are in even half PPR. You could argue that any running back is going to catch 50 or more balls is more valuable in full PPR than half PPR. So I think full PPR might actually boost Gentie's value. I don't know how much they're going to throw to him. We just had that report yesterday that most of it would be the third down back. We'll see about that. You know, could start that way. But you know what I'm saying? I mean, he has

a bigger edge. If he catches 50 passes, he has a bigger edge over other running backs than he does in full PPR than he does in half PPR. So, yeah. Sure. But I don't think he's got that edge against the wide receivers that we're taking. But I don't, I mean, he's obviously not going to catch as many passes as a wide receiver, but I don't think that really has to be the deciding factor here. If you're in the first round, you're going, well, I'm on right. St. Brown's going to catch a hundred something passes and, and Gentie's only going to catch 50. I don't think that means you have to take St. Brown over Gentie.

Ten touchdowns, Adam. What do you mean? What's 10 touchdowns? Oh, a hundred and 10 catches versus 50 catches and fantasy points. That's 60 fantasy points. But we just heard from Heath yesterday running backs usually get more yards than wide receivers. And they get more touchdowns in general as well. Exactly.

So is is is gente going to get enough of that compared to somebody like Saint Brown to make up that difference. St. Brown has had double digit touchdowns each of the last two years. Well, St. Brown averaged 18 and a half PPR fantasy points per game last year. And he did that with a hundred and fifteen catches in 17 games. Could if Genti catches 50, if Genti has 50 catches, I think he could

average 18.5 PPR fantasy points. Can Gent be 1500 total yards, 10 touchdowns and 50 catches? I think that's low the yardage because you know, you look at a Chan, a Chan with, with Tua was, uh, was on pace for like 1800 total yards. So I think Gent could definitely be in the 1700 total yard category. I was using that as a baseline. Yeah, no, 1500 total yards in a full season is very good. Well, it's 10 touchdowns and 50 catches that position though.

How many points per game is... All right, let's go 1600 total yards. Okay, plus 50, plus 10 touchdowns is 60 divided by 17. That's 15.9 PPR fantasy points per game. So he's gonna have to do better than that. He's gonna have to get to probably 12 touchdowns and 1700 total yards. Okay, or 60 catches. 170 plus 50 plus, what did I say, 12 touchdowns?

Times six is 72 divided by 17. That's 17.2 PPR fantasy points. So you see it's not easy for a running back to average 17 PPR fantasy points per game. 12 touchdowns, 50 catches and 1700 total yards. Not even counting any fumbles is 17.2 PPR fantasy points per game. It's a great season. And Amon Ra is coming off not even his best year, and he had 115 catches, 1263 yards, and 12 touchdowns. I think the catches make a difference, Adam. I think that's kind of a big deal. They are a big deal. Okay. So, and let's transition

to this Twitter poll I did here, because I said, who's your favorite in PPR? I got 149 votes. I'd be shocked if it's not St. Brown. It is St. Brown in a runaway. So I did Gentie, HN, Nico and St. Brown. St. Brown is the lowest in our consensus rankings. Is that Heath's fault? Heath has them 16th. You guys both have St. Brown 9th. So you obviously are higher on St. Brown than Consensus, which is 12th. In our Consensus rankings, it is Neighbor 7, Puka 8, H&N 9, Genty 10, Nico 11, Amanra St. Brown 12. And Heath is really influencing the rankings so much today. He's super high on Genty at H&N. He's pretty low on St. Brown with St. Brown's 16th overall.

He has Nico Collins 14th overall. So it's just, this would have been the show for him to be on. But- He's coming for Dave's Monica as the running back guy. I guess so. All right, so St. Brown, he finished his wide receivers- Try to keep up with your big words.

There you go, Monica. There's a K in there, right? No C, it's just, is M-O-N-I-K-E-R? You just have to look it up afterwards there, buddy. Let's go. St. Brown wide receiver seven per game last year. Maybe not quite as good as you might remember him to have been.

He was wide receiver four per game the year before. And the big difference would really be 1500 yards in 2023, 1263 yards in 2024. Yeah, so that's kind of a big deal. The yards per catch went way down. Okay, anyway, why are you guys higher on St. Brown than consensus here? He's tried and true.

I mean, you know, again, if you have legitimate concerns, and this is Heath's argument, you have legitimate concerns about the Lions having significant regression because last year everything went somewhat perfect for them. They lose their offense coordinator, they lose their center, and how much of a step back do they take offensively with an improved defense? Because that was a big part of the spike at the end of the season was they had to outscore people.

They had to be in these shootouts. And again, you know, you'd like to think all offenses performing that level no matter what's happening on the other side of the ball, but they had no choice. So it, uh, it does sort of lend itself to a lot of things taking a step back and a lot of players taking a step back. But you know, he did that the year before he was better. I think what you got from last year is probably something that's replicable. Um, even if there is more for Jameson Williams and potentially more for Sam Laporta, I don't think that St. Brown's going to have a significant dip in production.

So I said this last year, I wrote the whole magazine story on who's the best wide receiver in fantasy because we had the whole debate about Lamb versus Tyreek versus Chase versus Jefferson. There were so many different players and it kept coming back to the same thing. St. Brown is just the safest one and I don't think anything really has changed. Maybe Puka is safer because of what he's now done two years in his first two years in the league. So if you want to put that moniker on him as being the safer of the two receivers. I think just in terms of St. Brown, what he's built toward in the beginning part of

his career to where he's at now, like he just feels like one of the safest picks in round one and clearly he's coming off of knee surgery and he did miss a game last year from not mistaken. Um, had the wrist injury at least St. Brown. No, he, uh, the year before then it was the wrist injury. Um, you know, he, he's, he's just so good, so consistent, such a big part of one of the best offenses in football. I don't think Ben Johnson's departure is going to change that as long as Jared Goff is healthy. So I don't know, you get to the back end around one, like he just feels like an easy auto select when he comes on on the draft board. I'm cool taking them in the middle part of round one. Just to have that safe type of player locked into your team.

You know, with neighbors, there is a little bit of downside. What if Russell Wilson regresses and Jackson Dart totally botches it? And now Malik is back to where he was last year, and maybe he doesn't average as many fantasy points per game. Nkuo, if, what if he scores only four total touchdowns again this year? I have a tough time believing that St. Brown's going to score double-digit touchdowns. But I also have a hard time believing that this version of the Lions offense is going to get so exotic with John Morton, that they're going to get away, away, that the targets per game will take another step back with St. Brown. He lost two targets per game year over year. He had 10.3 targets per game in 2023.

It went down to 8.3. What did that do for his fantasy numbers? His touchdowns went up, his fantasy points per game went down by two PPR points per game. And I don't think that there's another step down from there. So I agree with you, Jamie, what he did last year is totally replicable. And when John Morton's feeling the heat in the second half of games, when the Lions are tied or down seven, he's calling plays for St. Brown. That dude's going to get a lot of work. And he also gets a ton of red zone targets.

Okay. Nakua neighbors, those guys averaged one red zone target per game. St. Brown averaged nearly two. He had a hammer lock on that on the lions. I don't think that's changing either. Safe pick in round one. Kind of like your, uh, your James Cook argument.

I was just about to say that. Yeah. You want the top receiver on this passing offense, pass catcher on this passing offense. You know, you want the top running back on the Bill's offense. Yeah, I do think we calling him the safest of among who? He's not safe.

I think he might be the safest player of everybody we've talked about on this show today. Okay, neighbors, Nakua, HN, Gentie, Nico, St. Brown. Yeah. Saying St. Brown's the safest of that group. What about, I mean, really, like, once you start to get past Jason, like he's probably the safest. What about just the fact that he had 142 targets in 17 games?

Because that's the lowest. Or eight targets per game. You still love to see that. 142 targets in 17 games because that's the lowest. Or eight targets per game. You still love to see that, but that's why he's not going, you know, ahead of Jefferson or lamb, but it's not as good as neighbors or Nekua or Nico based on when Nico was healthy, you know? Yeah. I mean, the, the upside, the upside for some of those

guys is probably better. Right. So he did have a higher catch rate than Nico Collins, but in terms of yards per catch, yards per target, Nico is as good as it gets. Nico, let's talk about him right now because that's what we love about Nico Collins, his efficiency. Nico Collins, I think there's a very easy comp for Nico Collins. To me, it's AJ Brown in terms of what kind of player they are. They are big physical outside receivers. They are so good. And in terms of yards per outrun, yards per target, yards per catch, Nikko Collins and AJ Brown are the creme de la creme basically. They are among the very, very best in the NFL. For Nikko, it's been two years in a row.

For AJ Brown, it's been his entire career. Nico, you might say, will probably get more targets than AJ Brown. I think that would be the guess. Although I would look at the recent history with AJ Brown before this past year. He was a 150 target guy two years in a row, basically, close to that. But yeah, this is the difference between Nico and St. Brown. Nico is going to do more with his targets, probably. I don't know if you guys disagree with that, you feel free. But more with yards. Catches, no.

Yards, he should be better on a per target basis. Touchdowns, maybe we'll call that a toss-up. So is there an argument to be made that in a half PPR league you should take Nico ahead of St. Brown? Yeah. In half PPR? Yeah. I mean, you can make K's in full PPR.

I would take him over St. Brown in full PPR personally. This is one of the biggest stumbling blocks for me is who I keep flipping flopping in my rankings of Nico and St. Brown. Because I do think that there's more upside with Nico because of everything that we've discussed with the Lions and some of the potential pitfalls. I do think that there's a higher floor for St. Brown.

Look, you got a quarterback in Houston that's maybe dealing with a shoulder injury. We don't know how potentially impactful it could be. Seems like it's nothing, but not ideal that he's dealing with it in the off season. He took a step back last year, the offensive line, if you're going to, you know, nitpick Frank Ragnow leaving me, my God, they got rid of Laramie Tunsell and overhauling that entire group almost, you know, so another coordinator change for them, you know, so right. And they, yes, the Texans. Yeah. Right. Um, you know, so there's, and then new, new, new, uh,

running mates coming in, you know, so Christian Kirk and Higgins body of work over the season may be better than what Tank Del the six games of Stefan Diggs and everything else that sort of had to go into play there with the, uh, the Texas receiving core as the year went on. So, I mean, look, he may completely dominate targets. He may lose more than we thought because these other guys are bigger pieces of the puzzle and guys that Stroud may rely on a little bit more. So I don't really have a lot of concerns, but there are some for for Nico comparatively to what St. Brown is dealing with here. The first four games of the season, Diggs played all four, Tankdale played three of them.

Nico Collins averaged 22.7 PPR fantasy points per game. He was unbelievable. He had eight, 10, 10, and 15 targets. The 15 target game came without Tankdale. Then he hurt his hamstring, two catches for 78 yards and a touchdown on two targets against the Bills, hurt his hamstring. I am of the belief-

Like the first quarter, right? Yeah. I am of the belief that he was not the same player when he came back from the hamstring injury. The stats, the advanced stats, it just was not the Nico Collins we were used to seeing. And he still was solid, but he wasn't great. But when he's been healthy the last couple of years on a per route basis, all that stuff, he's as good as anyone. I'm fired up for him because I think, and I like, you know, you talk about Malik neighbors getting a quarterback upgrade.

Sometimes when you see wide receivers have a big season, it's because they're a quarterback, even if it's the same guy, bounces back. So CJ Stroud, you've talked about it, Jamie, CJ Stroud was pretty good the first four games. He struggled. For six. Yeah, right. I only had him in the first four games. He was very good on pace for almost 4,500 yards, 26 touchdowns. He could bounce back. He was so good as a rookie. What if he just has a better year that I think could elevate Nico as well? It certainly could happen. I mean, again, you're looking at a very talented guy that should, despite what I said about

Kirk and Higgins, he should dominate targets, dominate targets. And that's the allure here of what he could be, this elite talent that we talked about the first couple of years of his career. And then he gets CJ Stroud in a coaching change and bam, he became this stud that we're talking about for the last couple stud that we're talking about for the last couple of seasons and now talking about as a borderline first round pick. So he's the one that's probably going to get pushed out of the first round if I had to guess, of the players that we've talked about because of whether it's McCaffrey or

H-Ann or Gentie or St. Brown, the guys that are at the back tier of our consensus rankings. It's just you could be back tier of our consensus rankings. Um, it's just, you know, I, you could be getting a top three wide receiver, you know, he's got that much upside, you know, so he could be better than like, think about all the things we're saying about neighbors. And I know neighbors, like you said, Adam, you know, it could be the best receiver in football right now, you know, just based on some of the expectations from like Nico situation could be better by far. All of these guys are that good, right? So good. Sure. And could you picture Nico Collins bottoming out and being like 19th or 20th among wide receivers and PPR? No way. None of them. Right. Can't see them. Here's another wide receiver. This is why he's in the top tier.

Yeah. Who's got a high floor and a high ceiling. I don't think he's got the same type of ceiling as the other receivers we've talked about, but I think he's real close. I mean, he's real close last year, just in PPR points per game. Let me read this comment here from Corey. Nico is way too high, 80 something catches and he's top 12 in PPR. If he gets 84 catches, he better get 13 or more touchdowns. So he played 18% or fewer of the snaps in both week five and week 18.

I don't think you should fight me on removing those games. 18% of the fewer or fewer of the snaps is not, you know, get rid of those games. His pace in the other 10 games that he played, Nico Collins, can you hear this lawnmower right next to my room by the way? I'm sorry if I can. Okay, Nico Collins was on pace for 104 catches, 1,513 yards and nine touchdowns on 156 targets.

And that was playing most of that time after the hamstring injury. So a little bit of context there is necessary. About half the season, Stefan Diggs was there and Tank Del was on and off the field along the way. This just goes right to Jamie's point. If we're taking Diggs and Dell out of the Texans and we're replacing them with Christian Kirk and, and the two cyclone rookies, how does this guy not get at least a 25% target share?

Oh yeah. There were games last year. I looked this up today. When Diggs and Tank Del were not on the field, this can include parts of games where they were healthy, just not on the field. Nico Collins had a 36.4 target per route run rate. It's ridiculous. No one's going to get that. You know who's better than that? Who is better than that? Pukka Nakua, baby. 39%. No, all season, I think. That was a target per outrun rate.

I think it was 39% or maybe that was the last... That seems... 38.3% target per outrun rate. Pick your jaw up off the floor. Yeah, there it is. 38.3. Yeah. That's incredible. That wasn't even top 10. Yes, it was.

Among all players among wide receivers with 50 or more routes. It was number one. Yes, it was. Come on, son. All right, we got to go. Someone mentioned in the chat that flaxseed is lowers your testosterone. I think this is fake news. I think this is fake, but I was actually hoping it was real. I was hoping it was true because then I would have an excuse for my softball performance, but I don't. So it's considered temporary and can potentially be reversed. It's hard to factor that in because you saved right before the show.

Okay. to factor that in because you shaved right before the show. Okay, so last week I told you I lined a ball up the middle and the runner at first base got kind of a bad read and got thrown out at second. You gave me a fielder's choice for this instead of a hit, which was I thought a little harsh. Yesterday I gave you a filter instead of him, a hit instead of a hit. Oh, instead of a hit. Yeah. Yeah. Yesterday I hit the ball off the end of the bat. I popped it up in between second base and center field. Second baseman is going back,

gets off the tip of his glove and falls in. Give me a single or an error? Single. Yeah. All right. I'll take it. So I always think first off, we used to work with a guy who used to do the scoring for the Marlins. Games really? The mayor? Yeah, it works. It and he had like, you know, that like

official score for the for the Mars, like no, no joke, like not just go there with his book for fun in the stands Like he was the guy in the in the scores booth like everything came down to him hit or error So like we had some co-workers Our buddy Eric Mack used to always say hey, what'd you give him there? You know, so he would ask him the next day why he scored something the way they did I'm always because I I do some scoring for you know, my kids teams Like you always want to make the your team feel better, right?

So I hope they didn't give you an error on that. I mean, no one's keeping track. I feel like the error has to be obvious in order to score it an error. So I had two things with my own son in our little run that we're on here. One, there was a line drive over the shortstop. That's very similar. Kid jumped full extension, bolted off his glove. The guy who was scoring for us gave an error. I was like, that's an error. I mean, look, I don't know where his perspective was on

the Eric. That's ridiculous. Yeah. All right. And then the previous tournament, you're talking about how hot it is. Uh, the umpire, the home plate umpire, all the gear, little heavy set, older guy, um, had to leave the game. They had called the paramedics. It was a little scary. Oh man.

Um, so the other umpire just started calling so we can keep things moving, called the game from behind the mound and there was, so second and third. I'm coaching third. My son hits a line drive into center field. Kid comes running in, looks like he makes a dive and catch. I'm more worried about the kid at third base tagging up. Everybody's screaming at me. He dropped, he dropped, he dropped it.

Empire calls him out. Afterwards, the Empire walks over to me and goes, did you think he caught it? You know, just trying to be honest. And I said, I said, I really couldn't tell. It looked like he made the catch. I was more worried about the kid tagging up. My son was so pissed at me that I didn't challenge it. You know, cost him a hit. He's looking at stats. But went back and looked at the

video and yes, he did drop it. So, scores are not going to get everything right, unfortunately. No, I have big feelings about, about official scoring. First of all, the whole idea that you can't assume a double play. You can assume so many things in baseball when you're doing scoring, but for some reason you can't assume a double play that is preposterous. And then the whole, oh, high fly ball at a center field, he loses it in the sun and it drops and they score that a hit. There's this rule of thumb that if a ball doesn't hit the player's glove, then it has to be a hit. That's clearly rule of thumb that if the ball doesn't hit the player's glove, then it has to be a hit. That's clearly an error.

I don't know why baseball has these stupid traditions. We know they're so dumb. They don't touch it, yeah. I mean, come on, you can't give a hit. That's not on the pitcher. That you're punishing the pitcher. We kind of have this rule of thumb, like when we're scoring our own team hitting,

would our fielders make that play? I mean, it's different for Little League because I don't know the standards, you know, but in Major League Baseball, a high fly ball that just drops because someone loses it in the sun or miscommunication and that gets scored a hit when obviously that should not affect the pitcher negatively.

Also, I ranted and raved about this when I was hosting the Fantasy Baseball podcast. We have ERA, right? Because if you give up an honor and run, it shouldn't affect your ERA. Why don't we have EWIP? Why ERA, right? Because if you give up an unearned run, it shouldn't affect your ERA. Why don't we have EWIP? Why should it, right? Why should a player get on base but re-enter or affect your WIP? You're right. Yeah. Not bad point. All right. For more, follow me on Twitter. Now.

All right. We'll talk to you tomorrow with players 13 through 18, wherever they may be in the consensus rankings on FFTC. See you later, everybody. Now streaming... When people go missing, I get hired to help find them. When lives are on the line... Coulter, please find my daughter. He's the man for the job. I'm gonna do everything I can. Don't miss a moment...

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