Fantasy Football Today - Eight Facts About AFC Players You Probably Didn't Know (06/03 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: June 3, 2026

TreVeyon Henderson's passing game struggles, DK Metcalf's target per route run rate, Josh Downs' red zone targets and more facts you may not know about AFC players. We're running through some of our p...layer outlooks to help you make informed draft decisions. First, some news and notes (3:25) on Drake London, Aaron Donald and A.J. Brown's knee ... Get the scoop on Josh Downs (14:05), RJ Harvey (19:05), TreVeyon Henderson (21:32) and Jaylen Warren (30:45). Why is Henderson valued higher than Harvey? Is Warren going to be the Steelers lead back? ... Outlooks on Tyler Warren (40:40), Quentin Johnston (47:05), Garrett Wilson (51:15) and DK Metcalf (1:01:30). Is Wilson better than what he has put on paper? Is Metcalf a wasted mid-round pick? Is Johnston the best value pick for the Chargers? ... Email us at fantasyfootball@cbsi.comFantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcastsWatch FFT on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Apple: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dynasty/id1696679179⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠FOLLOW FFT Dynasty on Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/2aHlmMJw1m8FareKybdNfG?si=8487e2f9611b4438&nd=1⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 This is fantasy football today from CBS Sports. What a play! Can you believe this? It's a no idea. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Off to the races and he stays on his feet. It's just going to go the distance. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath.
Starting point is 00:00:18 The whole work assignment was due today. The player outlooks had to write player outlooks for every relevant player in one or two divisions For the OG's, Heath and Dave and Jamie, it was two divisions. For me and Dan, it was one division. We're going to share some of our favorite outlooks with you today on fantasy football. Today, it's Adam Azor, Dave Richard and Heath Cummings. We'll have Jamie Eisenberg joining us shortly. We do have some news items.
Starting point is 00:00:44 Dave just said, oh, can I say what you just said off the air? What did I say off the air? About the AFC East? Yeah, sure. Basically, they weren't a lot of interesting players in the AFC East. What did I say instead? What did I actually say? You had a hard time coming up with, like, interesting players to talk about from your AFCs.
Starting point is 00:01:02 Okay. And so what did I say in the chat? Read it. Oh, in the chat. I don't have anything. I don't see anything. AFC East is kind of a lame-ass div. Oh, you said that in the chat with the fans? No, with you, idiot. Oh. Oh, no. Okay. Sorry. Yes, in our personal, yes, Google chat. Heath, what about your divisions? Oh, I've got the AFC South. So, you know, it's just full. of, I mean, listen, it doesn't have Josh Allen or the defending AFC champions or Devon Achan. What are you talking about, Dave? There's so many great fantasy players in the AFC East. I think Dave's upset because all the interesting players in the AFC East, Dave has talked about a lot and didn't want to repeat ACHAN and Waddle.
Starting point is 00:01:51 When we write our division outlooks, we do guys who were there the previous year. So, like, Jalen Waddle for Dave and Kenneth Gain. well for me in the AFC North and whatnot. All right. So today the eight players we're going to discuss are Josh Downs, R.J. Harvey, Trayvion Henderson, Jalen Warren, Tyler Warren, a couple of Warrens, Quentin Johnston, Garrett Wilson, and D.K. Metcalf. All right.
Starting point is 00:02:16 News and notes real quick. Marvin Harrison, Jr., says he's still recovering from the injuries he had last year. It seems like the heel is really the one. He had appendicitis. He had two heel injuries, and he had a concussion. So he's still getting his feet under him from the heel injuries, but he does not think it will affect his 2026 season. In other related news, their head coach, Arizona's head coach, Michael LaFlor,
Starting point is 00:02:41 said that Marvin Harrison is going to play the ex-receiver role like Devante Adams, and Michael Wilson's going to be in the Z receiver role like Pooka Nakua. So Dave, you know, is that a good thing for more for Wilson than Harrison? What do you think about that if Harrison is playing the Devante role and Wilson the Pooka role? Sounds juicy for Michael Wilson, but who's playing in the Matthew Stafford role? Because I don't think it's going to be anybody as good as Matthew Stafford. LaFleur actually saved me some time because I was going to do a whole deep dive into these receivers and Tray McBride and figure out, well, how could they be utilized based on how the Rams offense has operated over the last three years?
Starting point is 00:03:24 LaFleur has had a big hand in how they've gone about. running their offense, details and play calling, matchups that they've had. There's a lot to dig into there, but he kind of just simplified it by saying that one's going to play in one spot and another's going to play in the other spot. But the thing that stands out about Puka is he's got a great relationship. He's got great timing with Matthew Stafford.
Starting point is 00:03:46 I think there's a lot of option routes between the two of them, and that's why Nakua is always so open on those dig routes, those out routes that we see week after week that he comes through on, where there's just nobody around and when he catches the ball. And he also catches a lot of tight window throws in traffic from Matthew Stafford. I would lean a little bit toward Michael Wilson being able to catch those traffic throws. But I'm not sure if either one of these wide receivers are going to be anywhere in the universe of Pooka Nacour, Devante Adams, in large part because it's Jacoby Presettic quarterback. It could be Carson Beck at some point.
Starting point is 00:04:22 Preset's not there working with the receivers. Marvin Harrison even talked about that when he met with the media. long-winded answer is that I don't feel like either of these guys are going to be anywhere close to must-start fantasy receivers as long as they're both on the field. Next news item, Drake London and the Falcons agreed on a four-year, $140 million contract extension with $100 million guaranteed. This contract extension begins in 2027. Drake London basically scored the same amount of points per game, two straight seasons, 16.5 and 16.8, but one year he was wide receiver 4.4. per game, and then last year he was wide receiver 8 per game. Heath, a couple things.
Starting point is 00:05:03 Over the last two years, what's a good yard per out run rate? You know, anything over two is good, anything approaching three is incredible, yards per outrun. Over the last two seasons, Drake London has been at basically three yards per out run with Michael Pennix Jr., and basically 1.9 yards per outrun with anyone else. Does that matter to you? And from a dynasty standpoint, how do you treat... change anything with a guy who just signs a long-term extension?
Starting point is 00:05:31 Not with a guy like Drake London, who we had no doubt about his ability to earn this type of contract. This is just one where we knew it was going to happen at some point. It happened great. But no, I'm not going to change his dynasty evaluation. Maybe the Michael Pinnock's thing would bother you just a little bit if you're worried they're going to play Tua. But I think The reason I was so happy that they acquired Tua was because Pinnix isn't healthy. Pinnix is at a hard time staying healthy. And I don't think Pinnix is better than Tua. So I do think Tua is probably better than Kirk Cousins at this stage of their career.
Starting point is 00:06:10 And so I think that it helps Drake London's floor. Maybe there will be two quarterbacks that he averages close to three yards per route run with. Well, that'd be nice. Jamie Eisenberg is here. Jamie, our next news item is about A.J. Brown. Jeff McLean of the Philadelphia Inquirer was on a podcast and he said the Rams were interested in Brown but they did not, they weren't satisfied with his medicals.
Starting point is 00:06:32 And that he said that Brown's knee was part of the reason why the Eagles didn't get more for Brown. They got a fifth round pick in this upcoming draft in 2027 and a first rounder in 2008, I believe. So P.S. Mackay Lemon, by the way, the rookie wide receiver has a hamstring injury. That's another news item. But this update on AJ Brown from a beatwriter saying that his medicals were a factor for the Rams and maybe why the Eagles didn't get more, is that make you hesitant with AJ Brown? Not for 2026, but probably more of a dynasty conversation than a redraft conversation. So I think if you're looking at it, we already had one trade this offseason, whether you believe it or not, was overturned because the medicals weren't good on Max Crosby. So I'm guessing if he was able to pass his physical, he played the majority of the season last year, he obviously still fetched a pretty good reward in return, maybe not what the Eagles were hoping for, but still good enough that, you know, they can have some pretty significant draft compensation for, you know, a player I think that could still produce at a high level for at least one, maybe two years.
Starting point is 00:07:41 So if it's a situation where they don't like what's happening in three years, in four years, probably a cause for concern. But really, I think if you're just looking at it, 2026, I think he's going to have an opportunity to play to high level. Okay. And McLean also said the Eagles were maybe concerned about how AJ Brown would age with that knee injury. So that kind of speaks to what you're saying. Jonathan Brooks is not participating in team reps yet. Aaron Donald, it wouldn't really be fair if Aaron Donald came out of retirement, but he could do that for the Rams. I think it's Aaron Donald.
Starting point is 00:08:17 It's one of the receivers that are out there. Don't digs, Tyree kill one of these guys. I mean, it just makes sense at this point. Go get what you can get. But Donald, coming back to the Rams is probably going to happen. I would say Aaron Donald is the best defensive player that I've ever seen. Maybe Miles Garrett. And I'm not counting Lawrence Taylor because I didn't really see Lawrence Taylor.
Starting point is 00:08:37 But Aaron Donald's, for me, is that guy. My kids ask me, hey, dad, who was the best defensive player you ever saw? I would say it was Aaron Donald. It's a pretty good name to throw out there. How about you guys? Sayow, Reggie White. You guys were a little, you know, get more of the 90s. Sayo was up there, man.
Starting point is 00:08:57 He had some monster years. Taylor was a great one. JJ Watt was a problem every single week. Ed Reed. How could I not say Ed Reed for crying out loud? Sean Taylor. Sean Taylor was great, too. I love Sean, but I don't know if he necessarily makes the list.
Starting point is 00:09:15 Donald is up there. There's no doubt, man. He was just so, so tough to deal with. Play after play, week after week. It was really hard to shut him down. Yeah. Well, to be a pass rusher like that in the interior of the defensive line was pretty rare. Jay Watt for that stretch, too.
Starting point is 00:09:34 Yeah, Dave, Dave said JJ Y, right? Yeah. He was amazing. And Caleb Williams is on the Madden cover. So you all can freak out. That's too bad. And, yeah, we'll see if maybe. Dan Schneier wrote the NFC North or the NFC North Outlook.
Starting point is 00:09:50 So maybe he'll change Caleb Williams outlook now. And two big things. How would Dan describe Caleb Williams? We don't have enough time for that. It would be eight minutes. Adam, what do you think? How would it go? How would you describe Caleb Williams?
Starting point is 00:10:06 Yeah. I watched the tape of Caleb Williams. I'm a big fan of Caleb Williams. And let me tell you why. It's really more of a ski. I don't know where I'm going with this. That was great. He actually wrote, I'm reading it right now, it's actually a short outlook.
Starting point is 00:10:20 Like I'm the one that writes the long outlooks when you see those on CBS Sports. It's my fault. Dan wrote a nice short, tight Caleb Williams outlook. I asked Dave for help with one of my outlooks and he's like, let me see if I can shorten it. And he sent something back that was like three sentences longer. Guilty. I'm going to read it today. And two big things.
Starting point is 00:10:40 Oh, reading? I mean, whatever you want to do. I'm going to read mine verbatim. You can do whatever you want. I'll read it. I'll dramatically present it. Two big things happening today. One, I'm getting a haircut.
Starting point is 00:10:53 I apologize for looking. Look at me. Oh my gosh. I look ridiculous. Getting a haircut today. And two, first of four games that the Knicks will win as they sweep the spurs in the NBA finals. Wow, now it's a sweep.
Starting point is 00:11:04 Yeah, they're going to win in three somehow. And you can follow all of it on CBS Sports HQ. What a time to be a sports fan. Game one of the Stanley Cup last night was, Stanley Cup Finals was awesome. You've got baseball in full swing. You've got the NBA Finals. You've got a lot to look forward to in the sports world.
Starting point is 00:11:24 So watch CBS Sports HQ. It's on the CBS Sports app, and it's really phenomenal sports coverage. We'll be right back with our player outlooks, whether we're reading them verbatim or not on fantasy football today. Okay, we're going to start with Josh Downs, written by Heath Cummings.
Starting point is 00:11:38 Josh Downs was wide receiver 47. Oh, sorry. He is currently in Fantasy Pro's ADP, wide receiver 47, 103rd overall. But that's in between Jordan Addison and Wondale Robinson in current Fantasy Pro's PPR ADP. What do you have to say about Josh Downs? Yeah, I'm not reading one.
Starting point is 00:11:58 I think the first thing that got me a little bit more excited about Josh Downs, it was actually kind of surprising. I'm going to just give part of my Tyler Warren's stats also. But when you look at the receiving touchdowns for the Colts last year, it was Michael Pittman and Alec Pierce at the top, Downs and Warren only scored four touchdowns. The strange thing was they were by far and away the leaders on the team in Red Zone targets. Red zone targets last year, Warren had 19, downs had 14,
Starting point is 00:12:36 Pittman had 12 and led the team in touchdowns with seven, and Alec Pierce had eight. I had kind of viewed Josh Downs more like the Zay Flowers type guy who's probably not going to get a lot of touchdown opportunities. It made me more optimistic about his touchdown potential. I talked about this a lot, that his ADOP was much more similar to Michael Pittman's the last couple of years than Alec Pierce's. So I think that gives him more target opportunity. And I think we've given this stat like seven different ways depending on the percentage you want to use.
Starting point is 00:13:09 But what I chose was there's 16 games in his career where he's played at least 70% of the snaps, average 12.6 PPR fantasy points per game. Yeah, and you'd certainly take that 100th overall right around there. He's going 98th overall in CBS's early average draft position. Heath, red zone targets pretty good, but five green zone three end zone targets. Does that put a damper on the red zone stat? It was still more green zone targets than Alec Pierce. Oh, wow. I guess that's not a huge surprise right, everything. You can't,
Starting point is 00:13:43 you can't catch a pass some 10 yards in when you're, when you're Alex first. And just like, I know I'm not supposed to be doing Tyler Warren right now, but Warren had 11 targets
Starting point is 00:13:52 inside the 10-yard line. Wow. I guess that's the reason. Yeah, well, it's not surprising except it's surprising that he scored four touchdowns last year. Oh, Tyler Warren did.
Starting point is 00:14:04 Yes, receiving. Okay, cool. So Josh Downs, I gave you those names, Jordan Addison and Wondale Robinson. How would you rank those three, Heath? Addison Downs, Robinson. Okay, that's the way ADP has it on Fantasy Pros. Jamie, your thoughts on Josh Downs?
Starting point is 00:14:25 I know I feel like someone you like a lot, too. I do like him a lot. I would take him significantly higher than the other two guys, Addison and Robinson. I think just looking at the opportunity that he's stepping into, it's amazing. And 2024, as Heath reference, you know, when he's gotten targets, when he's gotten playing time, when he's been involved in the offense, he's been fairly productive as a fantasy receiver. There was a, I forget who it was, but there was a Colts podcast recently where one of the beat writers suggested it's going to be Downs or Warren.
Starting point is 00:14:54 Didn't even mention Alex Pierce leading the team in targets and receptions. So, you know, the big contract that he just got makes sense, just the type of player that he is. But Downs has just got such a huge opportunity here. hopefully he stays healthy. It wouldn't shock me if he's competing to be a top 24 receiver this year. You know, just if the touchdowns increase, like Josh Downs, targets and catches should be career highs by maybe a significant margin. Where did he finish in 2024, Adam?
Starting point is 00:15:20 I know how many, 13.1 PPR points per game, 7.6 targets per game. Where did that place him in 24? On a per game basis, he was wide receiver 32. 31. That was before the wide receiver market. crash though. Right. And then the that's a great way to put it. So the receiver market crashed in 2025.
Starting point is 00:15:42 Where would 13.1 have been in 25? Probably top 20. Let's see. 13.1 would have been 20th. Michael Wilson had averaged 13 fantasy points per game. He was wide receiver 20. Lordy.
Starting point is 00:15:59 Yeah. Okay. Josh Downs has a good opportunity. And I mentioned this last month, but Josh Downs has averaged 10.8 yards per catch in his first three seasons. Jackson Smith and Jigra in Jigba averaged 10.8 yards per catch in his first two seasons. They averaged about the same amount of yards per target. They both were primarily slot receivers. Can we move Josh Downs outside a little bit more?
Starting point is 00:16:21 And he will be the next J.S.N. He will win your league. I guarantee it. Nixon four. Next up is R.J. Harvey. R.J. Harvey is a Jamie Eisenberg player outlook. because Jamie had the AFC West. Currently, an average draft position, Harvey is RB 30, 79th overall in between Ramandre Stevenson and Tony Pollard.
Starting point is 00:16:43 Jamie, thoughts on RJ Harvey? I mean, I think he needs an injury or maybe two at this point to be a fantasy starter and maybe even a flex. It was bad last year when J.K. Dobbins was healthy. In the first 10 games, when Dobbins was on the field, it was 9.9 p.m.m. points per game was his average. He exploded after that when Dobbin's foot was injured and missed the rest of the season. And you saw that he was a very good fantasy option, but it took a lot of
Starting point is 00:17:08 touchdowns and he was involved in the passing game. He still was not a very good rusher. And that's something that's a problem. So the fact that they drafted Jonah Coleman is going to be, I think, a big issue on two accounts. One, when everybody's healthy, now you're chopping it up three ways, most likely based on what you heard from the draft and what seems to be the case, you know, in the early part of the offseason. The second part of this is we know J.K. Dobbins has a very bad injury track record. Well, now if Dobbins goes down, it's not just RJ Harvey. It's now Harvey and Coleman.
Starting point is 00:17:37 So the potential of, okay, here's a lottery ticket because we saw it last year. And if Dobbins missed his time, it's all of Harvey's, Harvey gets all that work or the majority of that work. I don't know if that's the case right now. So when you look at it, you say RB30, you know, at one point post-draft, he was still going 23, 24, 25 in that range. Like, I'm glad it's starting to fall. I hope it continues to fall a little bit more. I think at some point it'll become a good value because if he does hit and he does get those
Starting point is 00:18:04 receptions and he does, you know, get an opportunity if Dobbins and missed his time, then you're talking about a good value pick. But where he's going right now still is too high for me. I'm a little bit concerned just about how this all is going to work, especially when they add another pass catcher in Jalen Wattle will make the passing game a little bit better. I know they're not going to throw the ball more because they were top five in pass attempt. So that doesn't really change things.
Starting point is 00:18:24 But how the targets are distributed could be changed. And maybe Harvey doesn't get as many opportunities as we saw in the second half of the season or even in the beginning part of the year when that's really where he was making his production, it was catching the ball. So wasn't the full-time third downback even to begin with. I think we're just looking at a guy that could be in a very bad role. Even though he's on what I think is still a good offense, he may not be the type of running back that you're drafting when some of the other guys around.
Starting point is 00:18:45 I'm just looking at the list that you have on the screen here. I'm assuming this is CBS Sports ADP. Yeah. I'd rather have Jalen Warren. I'd rather have Ramandre Stevenson. I think I'd rather have Rico Dottle, too, just with the opportunity of what he could be in Pittsburgh's offense by comparison to what R.J. Harvey is right now in Denver's offense. And, Dave, I think we can lump R.J. Harvey in with the guy that you wanted to talk about,
Starting point is 00:19:04 Trevion Henderson, who's actually going a lot earlier than R.J. Harvey. Travion Henderson is R.B. 21 overall on Fantasy Pros ADP, 51 overall. So that's 21 picks and seven running backs ahead of R.J. Harvey. Henderson's going in between David Montgomery and Bucky Irving. So, you know, Jamie gives a pretty pessimistic outlook of R.J. Harvey, which totally makes sense. Do you give an optimistic or pessimistic? I think you actually give kind of a both in your player outlook, both sides of the coin for Trayvon Henderson. So how do you like to draft? Do you like to draft based on talent or do you like to draft based on opportunity? And if it's talent, Trayvon Henderson's going to be somebody that you're taking before round five ends, if not round four.
Starting point is 00:19:49 because when we've seen it from him, and it was in Flash, this is a rookie, certainly a lot more when he was in college. The dude's fast. He can catch. He's absolutely elusive. He's what you're looking for from an NFL running back,
Starting point is 00:20:02 and he's playing in one of the better offenses in the national football league. But the opportunities evaded him last year. It was only when Remandre Stevenson was hurt when he averaged huge fantasy numbers. I mean, north of 20 p.PR points per game. But with Ramandre Stevenson, on the field, it was down to single digits. It wasn't good at all. And it's tough to look at Treveon Henderson and say,
Starting point is 00:20:30 yeah, it's going to be a second year. He's going to be better. You've got nothing to worry about Hill and see Remandre Stevenson. Remandre is a little bit better than your average NFL running back anyway. That's an argument that can be made. But we clearly saw it last year when Remandre played coaching staff trusted him a lot. And if they're doing that, that limits the. the opportunities for Trayvion Henderson.
Starting point is 00:20:51 Now they're on top of it that they just got A.J. Brown. And if they got A.J. Brown, yeah, that helps in terms of lightning boxes. Defense is going to have to respect the pass. They're not worried about getting beat by Kisham Booty downfield or Stefan Diggs anymore. Now they really got a legit worry about A.J. Brown. And to an extent, Romeo Dobbs, too. It's an upgraded passing game. But the Patriots figured to lean into that.
Starting point is 00:21:13 They've got the quarterback to do it. And that could take away opportunities from both Stevenson and Anderson. So I'm trying to not be too excited about Henderson. If I can get him round four, round five, I'll be okay with it. But I also know that I have to commit a couple of picks after that, not directly after that, but within, let's call it, you know, picks 51 through 99 to at least a couple of other running backs in case it's a year just like last year. Bottom line is he could be one of the best running backs in fantasy
Starting point is 00:21:44 or it can be just as bad of a bus as he was the year before. if you don't like taking risks, you're probably not going to draft Travion Henderson. The thing that really bothered me about Henderson last year was like, I think we were a little unsure how much of the rush work he would take from Andre Stevenson and how long it would take for that to happen. But we were so excited about him as a pass catcher. And it wasn't just that Stevenson got so many more opportunities than he did.
Starting point is 00:22:11 Stevenson averaged 1.34 yards per route run. Henderson was 0.93, which was 33. amongst 43 running backs with at least 30 targets last year. Stevenson averaged 9.3 yards per target. Henderson was 5.3. Like, it's hard to make an argument that they should have given Henderson more work in the passing game than Stevenson, because Stevenson was just awesome at it. He'd been really bad for most of his career, but last year he was very good in the passing
Starting point is 00:22:41 game. Right, but wouldn't you expect him to be more like his career norms than the not? Yes, but I would have expected Henderson to be much better than he was. I just don't get... I mean, so he's going 60... Trayvon Henderson going 60 second on CBS.
Starting point is 00:23:00 That's awesome. Fantasy Pro... Is it? I mean, 50... It's a lot better than 51st to be able to wait a round. If you're taking him a 51st overall, you're making a huge mistake. Right. I mean, I think a lot has to happen for him to even justify 62nd. Exactly.
Starting point is 00:23:14 If you look at the games that both Stevenson and Henderson played. I've got 188 carries for Stevenson, 163 carries for Trevian Henderson,
Starting point is 00:23:30 and how many games? A lot of games. I'm including the playoffs. Okay. Stevenson only missed two games. Yeah, so it's most of the season and including four postseason games. And then the catch is,
Starting point is 00:23:45 so it's, What is, I don't know. The postseason was wild. Like Henderson was barely playing in the post season. It's about 25 more carries and 17 and 19 more catches for Mandre Stevenson. Now, I think you guys probably brought this up throughout the year last year, but correct me if I'm wrong. But Josh McDaniels offenses are very hard for rookie running backs, if I'm not mistaken. Yes, Damien Harris told me that.
Starting point is 00:24:09 That's what it was, right. Damon Harris told you that. And Henderson definitely, I think there was an adjustment in a learning. Hervin, I think he'll, you know, he'll be better in that regard of knowing the offense better in his second year. He's, listen, he's the type of player that you're hoping can be a flex when Stevenson is healthy and is a league winner of Stevenson misses time. Like, that's what you're hoping for. Yeah. Because unless there's just a dramatic change, I don't think you're seeing Stevenson just get benched or get taken off the field for that much of a difference in playing time.
Starting point is 00:24:41 Like Henderson only outsnapped him in two games last season. and I'm guessing that probably had to do with either game floor or injury because it was around the time when Stevenson was missing time. So how much of that is going to change? Look, you know me. I was as excited about anybody as Henderson last year. I was taking around three. Like I thought he's going to be the guy and be this, you know, difference making player. And he's shown that about Dave Ulster.
Starting point is 00:25:04 You know, he showed that ability. So I think when you're drafting, we just got to understand, like, am I taking somebody that I have to wait for the injury? Or am I taking somebody that's going to out? outplay the competition. And again, skill set-wise and just eyeball test, you see Treveon Henderson could do a lot more than Ram Andre Stevenson. Mike Vrable's an old school coach, Josh McDaniels maybe has to make him earn his keep and learn the offense to an extent where they feel so comfortable with him. That was part of the argument for Henderson last year is that we've seen guys in just the past catching role for Josh McDaniels be very fantasy relevant.
Starting point is 00:25:39 James White, for example, you know, where he was never a full-time guy and he was still a flex borderline number two running back. Henderson, just based on his skill set, look like, oh my God, he could be much better than James White maybe ever was, except for that Super Bowl performance. But I think you're just looking at it as the hope would be
Starting point is 00:25:54 is if you're drafting Trevon Henderson in round four, you're expecting him to be the guy right away. And I just don't think that's the case. In round five, you're kind of hopeful. Round six, I think is kind of the sweet spot for him. If you're getting him in that range where, okay, I think if I'm getting 11.3 ppr points per game, if that was his number last year,
Starting point is 00:26:10 then I'm taking him as a flex, and I can live with that, knowing that if Stevenson misses time, I have a potential top 10 guy on my hands. And so that's, I think the, at least that's the approach for me, is I'm not reaching for him in round four or round five. I'm taking him in round six if he's still there. And I like the idea, I'm sorry, Adam. I like the idea of considering him in round five and even early round five,
Starting point is 00:26:32 if I love my first four picks. And that would mean that I'm picking close to, I'm in slot one, slot two, slot three. I've already got a superstar in round one. Say I have the 101 and I've got Gibbs and I come back in rounds two and three and I nail it, two awesome pass catchers. And round four, somebody slips at best player available. I can't believe it.
Starting point is 00:26:53 That's when I might kind of have that mentality of going for broke and saying, all right, I've got four studs on my team already. Let's take the chance with Trayvion Henderson and see if he can hit that home run more often than he did last year in his second season. And one last thing, we're talking about him right now. It's June 3rd. If it's August 3rd and there are reports just about him glowing in camp, you know his ADP is going to go up a lot. He'll go right back up to being like in that round 4 range. And I don't know if it'll be too rich for my blood at that point based on what we're hearing and based on how he may have improved.
Starting point is 00:27:27 What have we learned? That kind of stuff is going to be impactful in August. Okay. All right. Guys, give me just like 10 to 15 seconds from each of you. We'll go Heath, Jamie, Dave. why is Trevion Henderson a better pick than
Starting point is 00:27:41 RJ Harvey? There are obviously similarities in their situations. Why is Trevion Henderson a better pick than RJ Harvey? 10 to 15 seconds, Heath.
Starting point is 00:27:49 We thought Henderson was better coming into the NFL. Henderson, by a lot of metrics, was better last year than Harvey, and there's not a Jonah Coleman in New England. Does that suffice for everyone? Less competition.
Starting point is 00:28:03 Pretty much. Okay. All right. I want to talk about, Jaylen Warren, I wrote the outlook on him, and then I sent it to Dave, and then Dave sent it back to me two or three sentences longer, but very, very good. Because I think he's one of the toughest players to project right now with Jalen Warren. He just don't know who's going to have which role in Pittsburgh. Both he and Rico Dowdle have been the lead running backs for their teams, Dowdle more so. Both he and Rico Dowell have been the third downbacks for their team. And Dave likes to talk about how Mike McCarthy, the new head coach, has a history with Rico Dowdle. And Dowdell's had two good seasons, you know, in a row, not great, but good. So my thought on Warren was he's a round six or seven pick in a 12-team league in full
Starting point is 00:28:49 PPR, probably round eight or so in non-PPR. I think he's going to be their third downback, at least more so than Rico Dowdle. That's, you know, and Kenneth Gainwell was their third downback last year, and he had 73 Catches. Obviously, not all of them were on third down. He played plenty on first and second down. But that's the role that I think is super valuable for the Pittsburgh Steelers because Aaron Rogers at this point in his career, he gets rid of the ball as quickly as just
Starting point is 00:29:17 about any quarterback. He had the lowest A dot in the NFL last year. He loves to throw to his running backs. He's a great history throughout his career of throwing to his running backs. That's the role that you need in Pittsburgh. My bet is on Jalen Warren. I'm also not a huge dowel guy. I look at his production each of the last two years.
Starting point is 00:29:34 and he really beat up on these really terrible run defenses and then kind of fizzled out against the, you know, average or better ones. So I think Warren can just be a better rusher than him. I am kind of bullish on Jalen Warren, but I just want to bring up that he's not that safe. He really could lose a lot of work in both areas to Rico Dowdell. And this is a team Heath where I think we have to pay attention
Starting point is 00:30:00 to the reports to training camp to preseason and see how it looks. Yeah, I think I would probably be, like I've got it kind of as a coin flip right now, I'd probably be closer to where you are if it wasn't for the fact that the new head coach signs the running back who was on his team before and has the experience with Dowdell. And Dowdell has been really involved in the passing game the last couple of years when he's been out on the field. So I think, yes, watch the training camp reports, but all. Also, this could be a hot-hand situation all year long. That's true. Jamie, any thoughts on Jalen Warren slash Rico Dowdle? Who should go first in which format?
Starting point is 00:30:44 I take Warren first just because I think he'll be more involved in the passing game. But I agree with Heath. I think it's coin toss. I think it's kind of similar to the Patriots that both guys are going to get touches and, you know, could be a week-to-week thing. Clearly, the Patriot situation, one guy has more upside if he ever gets to work. I don't think that's the case here. But you have to, you know, lean toward the history.
Starting point is 00:31:03 between Dowell and McCarthy and the fact that, you know, they lose gain well, and this is one of the first signings that they had in McCarthy's tenure. You know, so he's comfortable with Rico Dowell. I think you're right, Adam. You know, last year in particular, he beats up on the dolphins and the Cowboys, you know, and takes advantage of those two defenses when they were at their worst. And so, you know, he's got that opportunity to have some really big spike games, but clearly some down games.
Starting point is 00:31:28 And so, yes, who's going to be in the past catching role is going to really matter here because of Aaron Rogers, but wouldn't be. surprised if they're both getting, you know, as we saw in in Los Angeles last year, down the stretch with the Rams, they're splitting drives. Same thing in Chicago where they're splitting drives, you know, or every other drive. It's the other guy. And then, you know, does one guy have the goal line role? Does one guy have the passing downs role or is just whoever's on the field at that moment? So they're kind of interchangeable. They can both do, I think, each role and probably have success in each role. The wild card in all this is,
Starting point is 00:31:59 does Caleb Johnson get opportunities? I think we'd all say based on what we saw last year, probably not, but he was getting some first team reps in OTAs already. So maybe they want to see if he can bounce back from that crappy rookie season. Then we're looking at three guys in the mix. But I think if you're just talking about the top two guys, it might just be if you want a piece of this back, filled weight to see you still on the board when you're up. Let somebody else take the first one, whether that's Warren or Dattle. Again, for me, I would take Warren first.
Starting point is 00:32:24 They also have a running back on their roster who had 70, who had 51 catches for 941 yards last year. that's the Navy running back Eli Haydenreich who the Steelers took at the seventh round. He probably won't matter, but he's a pretty unique guy. I wonder if, and Dave probably is the one that answers, if we're going to change his eligibility to both positions because the Steelers are listing him at both positions. If the Steelers are listing him at both positions, then we should do. Interesting. That's Eli Haydenreich, which might matter for Dynasty, although it doesn't mean that the Steelers could change it next year and he could lose the eligibility.
Starting point is 00:32:59 He also might not be a stealer next year. Oh, he might be in the Navy? I don't know. Yeah. Okay. Well, that's Jaylon. I'm suggesting that he might not be in the national football league. One little point, just to put a bow on this conversation.
Starting point is 00:33:18 It's been over 15 years since running backs under Mike McCarthy have had a target share of at least 20%. I mentioned that yesterday. His teams, at least in Dallas. I didn't look at Green Bay, but his teams in Dallas had never been. Everywhere. Never been higher than 18th in running back target rate, which is interesting. But that's like immovable object versus unstoppable force because Aaron Rogers just always throws to his running backs.
Starting point is 00:33:43 So if the routes that are in the playbook now, and remember, it's a different playbook. It's Mike McCarthy's playbook. It means there's going to be a lot of inbreaking, come back to the quarterback type routes. And they got Michael Pittman specifically for some of those routes. And rookie Jeremy Bernard can do that too. that theoretically will take target volume away from whoever is that running back. I'm still taking Warren first and full PPR, but half and non, give me doubtle, who has a better rate of success inside the five,
Starting point is 00:34:10 I think over the last two years than Jalen Warren. It's in his outlook. It is funny because if you look at Aaron Jones, I think he played his first two years with Aaron Rogers with McCarthy as the coach. And then McCarthy left in 2019. and Aaron Jones became the big pass-catching guy. Interesting. All right, well, we'll be right back.
Starting point is 00:34:34 He was not when McCarthy was there. I'll tell you about the football game I watched yesterday. And then we'll talk about four more players when we come back on FFT. Went to a restaurant yesterday that had the NFL network on, and it was classic Aaron Rogers, peak Aaron Rogers versus Ben Rothesberger, Packers Steelers game in Pittsburgh.
Starting point is 00:34:53 And those two guys were just playing quarterback at a ridiculous level. It was really cool to watch. Of course, I would have rather have watched, you know, a live game, like the Yankees game or the Stanley Cup finals, but they had the,
Starting point is 00:35:07 they had the Steelers, Steelers Packers from sometime in the last 15, 20 years on. It's good stuff. You could have asked them to change the channel. I did, and they didn't do it. There were eight TVs that I could see, eight TVs, and not one of them had a live event on.
Starting point is 00:35:23 We had that game. We had a Duke Louisville basketball game, I believe. I told you this happened to me in South Carolina when the NCAA, the first day of March Madness. They didn't have a March Madness game on? They did not have a March Madness game. I mean, come on.
Starting point is 00:35:38 Yes, last night they had a Mets game from two years ago on. Like, put a live game. It's Stanley Cup on, dude. Come on. I was at Flanagan's over the weekend after a baseball tournament, whatever it was game. I remember where we were. I think it was our tournament was done.
Starting point is 00:35:54 And I'm sitting with one of my buddies and he's facing the bar TVs. And he's like, he keeps commenting on the Dodgers. And he was like, yeah, they're this, whatever. And then it was like, maybe an hour in. And he's like, I cannot believe what I just have been doing. I've been watching the 2025 playoffs. It's easy to get tricked. Wait, Heath, so did they rectify this mistake and put the games on? They were unable to resolve it by the time that I finished my first refreshment. And so we found another establishment. Ridiculous.
Starting point is 00:36:29 All right, Heath, you talked about Josh Downs. You also wanted to discuss Tyler Warren, who is currently in Fantasy Pros ADP, he's currently tied in four, but he's 21 picks after Colston Loveland, who's tied in three, Loveland's going 42nd. Tyler Warren's 64th.
Starting point is 00:36:44 I like that. Do you like that? I'm starting to like it more. I had Tyler Warren right about where ADP was, and I was really struggling with him and Pitts and Lippen. Porto. We talked earlier about his role
Starting point is 00:37:01 of 19 red zone targets and 11 targets inside the 10 yard line. He was also averaging over 13 fantasy points per game before Daniel Jones got hurt. His, like Josh Downs, his A dot much more similar to Michael Pittman than
Starting point is 00:37:16 Alec Pierce's, so he could get a little bit of a target boost from that. And he actually led amongst tight ends who saw 100 targets last year, his 6.2 yards after catch per reception was the best. Okay. This is a guy who was just horrible after the Daniel Jones injury.
Starting point is 00:37:39 Yes. And really hurt his numbers. Let's see. The last five games he had 133 yards and no touchdowns. I think we probably should not hold that against him at all. that my only hesitation still is, like he was so great with the best nine-game stretch of Daniel Jones' life. None of us expect Daniel Jones to be that good again in 2026.
Starting point is 00:38:11 So what does that mean for Warren? Well, I mean, to be fair, Daniel Jones, it was finally on a good team. No. Hey. The record says he was. Well, it's kind of true, but also there was that one year with Daibel where they were good. Daniel Jones made the playoffs. I think it's interesting what you said there, Heath, because like we have Daniel Jones coming off an Achilles injury.
Starting point is 00:38:38 It's, I'm also, look, should they have gone to Riley Leonard right away? Because he looked much better than Philip Rivers at the end of the season. And is it Riley Leonard? I think it's going to be Riley Leonard. but like could it be Anthony Richardson. So, you know, what do they do if, if Daniel Jones isn't ready or Daniel Jones gets hurt again? So like tying in Josh Downs, because I'm excited about Josh Downs, I think Tyler Warren's the top four tight end. You know, I think a lot of us are excited about Al Pierce.
Starting point is 00:39:08 Like just looking at the Colts, like what happens if it's not Daniel Jones or as you just said, Heath, appropriately, the best of Daniel Jones? And we're talking about crappy quarterback play across the board. So like, are we too much invested in the Colts? The thing I love about the Coltson, I think is a great call of Warren and Downs. Like there's so many, and Pierce, it's like, it's just concentrated targets. Like, they're, we can name it, but can our audience name without looking up who the fourth pass catcher is or most likely fourth path catch? I guess John Taylor, but non-running back, like who the fourth pass catcher is going to be? Well, I am, no.
Starting point is 00:39:46 I don't think, I don't think you and I know who the fourth pass catcher is going to be. I mean, on paper, it's probably Westbrookie Kine. But like, who else? Who else they have? I like their rookie Dionne Burks. Yeah, it could be him too. It's an uphill climb for him to be fourth. And they like Ashton Doolin.
Starting point is 00:40:05 Before I knew the way Adam was structuring this show, I just kind of made some notes about, like one stat about several of the players. And one of the things is kind of related to what Jamie was talking about. Jonathan Taylor last year had a 68% roucher. he'd never been over 50% in his career. So I do think he's fourth, and I do think that's part of the case that if he continues to have the increased role
Starting point is 00:40:31 in the passing game, it's part of the case for why he's maybe a little under-drafted in some of our drafts at the very back of round one. It's amazing when you write these outlooks and have to spend time on these players. There are just stats that you're, oh, I had no idea.
Starting point is 00:40:48 I didn't know that that stat existed about this guy. it's kind of cool to uncover these things. I don't know what the process was for you. He's when you saw that Jonathan Taylor had this route participation rate that he had never had before. I didn't know that all year last year. Well, I think it gave me, because I was, I think, already just a little,
Starting point is 00:41:05 maybe, like we all probably have Taylor about the same place amongst the running backs. I think I was drafting him ahead of the few of the wide receivers. But I do think, like, we have no question about whether Jonathan Taylor is going to be awesome, rushing the football. the big question with him was he saw 55 targets last year and he had 20 to 40 the three years before then.
Starting point is 00:41:28 I'm more hopeful, especially with Pittman gone, that he could maintain that target share from last year. Okay, last question on Tyler Warren, 64th overall on fantasy pros, but 52nd overall on CBS. Would anybody be willing to take Tyler Warren 50 second overall? I'm right there in that range. I think it depends on how quickly the other three guys were off the board.
Starting point is 00:41:52 In between those two. Okay. And compare him to Trayvion, where when we talked about Trayvon, at least I thought that he's one of these crazy high upside players, terrible floor. I think Warren might be the pivot if you're risk averse and you want somebody who, yes, there's risk. We talked about it with Daniel Jones coming back from the Achilles and all that stuff. But Warren really proved to be a good past catcher, good work after the catch, maybe sees it, even, bigger uptick and touchdowns. I think he's a safer pick than somebody like Travion Henderson,
Starting point is 00:42:23 who just has so many different ways that he could go. Last ad here, Tyler Warren had the fourth most screen pass targets among tight ends. Behind, believe it or not, Trey McBride won. Chigo Conquo 2, Janu Smith 3, Tyler Warren, fourth, fourth most screen pass targets. He had 13.
Starting point is 00:42:45 Colson Loveland had zero. zero screen pass targets last year for Colson Loveland. All right. Next player is Quentin Johnston. Quentin Johnston is wide receiver 41. He's a little bit ahead of Josh Downs. So we talked about earlier, Downs is wide receiver 47 in ADP. Quentin Johnson, Fantasy Pro's ADP is wide receiver 41.
Starting point is 00:43:07 That's 96th overall. It's between Chris Godwin and Jaden Reed. This is Jamie's dude. Jamie, what do you think about Quentin Johnson? Jamie's dude in terms of he wrote the outlooks for the AFC West. What do you think about Quentin Johnston? I think in Bestball, I'd rather have Quentin Johnson than Josh Downs. But in redraft, I'd rather have Josh Downs.
Starting point is 00:43:23 But, look, Quinn Johnson is a home run hitter, as we've seen. And clearly they like him, much more, I think so, than the fantasy community. Maybe we're starting to come around on him, or at least the people drafting are. But look, this was a bust in his rookie campaign. And he's worked his way back to the fact where they picked up his fifth-year option. I don't think anybody would have thought that after what we saw in the beginning part of his career. but it's back-to-back years with eight touchdowns. Really the thing for me that I'm excited about is,
Starting point is 00:43:50 and I hope it remains the same, that we don't get a Keenan Allen signing or somebody else joining the roster, is I think we're going to see him on the field a lot, and Mike McDaniel seems to like him very much, comparing him to guys that he's coached in the past. Now it's obviously hyperbole to say that he's Andre Johnson and Julio Jones, but big physical receiver who can make plays.
Starting point is 00:44:10 My favorite stat for him is what he did in the first four games this season when Joe Alt was healthy, and it was 19.9 PPR points per game in that span. So that tells me when Justin Herbert had time to throw, he was connecting with Quentin Johnston, and I think that will be the case. I think Heath said at one point, you wouldn't be surprised if he's in the same target range as Ladin-McConkey,
Starting point is 00:44:29 just given what McConkey showed last year and the step back that he took. I expect McCongy to lead the team targets, but I think Johnston will be second. So they added David Nogh, who will see how much the tight ends play a role here. Obviously, Mike McDaniel has done great things with his tight ends. he's done great things with his running backs. But I think Quinn Johnson is going to get an opportunity to be a significant playmaker for them.
Starting point is 00:44:49 It may lead the team touchdowns. And he may get a double-did touchdown season out of him. So I think just where he's going is great value. I think he's an unbelievable number four receiver to draft on your team. Would not shock me, though, if he's pushing to be in the top 30 if the touchdowns are there, which I think is the thing that's going to put him over the top. Okay. If anybody want to add anything, it was pretty good.
Starting point is 00:45:10 Quinn Johnson? Yeah, very good. I like him a little more than his ADP. Jamie, is he the charger you're drafting the most? No, it's probably Herbert in terms of the drafts I've done so far. But as I said, I almost leave every draft with at least one charger. I think they're just, you know, where you can get them, it's easy to gravitate toward them.
Starting point is 00:45:33 You know, Hampton's early, McConkey sort of at the beginning of the middle. Herbert and Johnston are, I think, appropriately priced. And then if you want to take a chance on one of the last, the tight ends or obviously one of the backup running backs. But I'm just excited about this offense. Really, it comes down to can their offensive lines stay healthy? Because that was such a big part of just one guy being there. Joe Alt being there was such a big difference maker for Justin Herbert.
Starting point is 00:45:56 Again, difference maker for Quentin Johnston. And now you're getting Rashan Slater back, who might be their best offensive line. So, you know, they completely changed their middle. Center and two guards are going to be different from a year ago. But I think just the addition of Mike McDaniel and what he did for the Dolphins' offense. Completely different playmakers, obviously completely different quarterback. You know, see some comments in here about Trey Harris. Yes, Trey Harris would hopefully have a role as well, which is why I don't want to see
Starting point is 00:46:21 Keenan Allen because I think Trey Harris could be that third receiver and be a playmaker as well. But just looking at these guys and what they've done at times in their career, McConkey's rookie season, Quentin Johnston, you know, in some small pockets. Herbert, obviously, in the beginning part of his career, like there's so much upside for all these guys, and Aramarion Hampton showed it last year as well. I'm just excited about everybody on this team and, again, where you can draft them. It's a sleeping giant of an offense. Garrett Wilson is Dave's guy, and Garrett Wilson is currently wide receiver 16.
Starting point is 00:46:50 Now, a few days ago we did the wide receivers 10 through 18 segment or episode. He was wide receiver 19. That was in our consensus rankings. Looking at Fantasy Pro's ADP, Garrett Wilson is wide receiver 16, 37th overall, in between Zay Flowers and T. Higgins. And that was a group, Dave, that wide receiver 10 through 18 episode where we had like Nico Collins, A.J. Brown at the top. And then I think we had a lot of guys who were kind of similar. We had a Bucca, Tetra-McMillans, A. Flowers, T. Higgins. I'm forgetting some of them.
Starting point is 00:47:23 But does Wilson fit right in with that group? I think he's toward the back of that group. And I know that last year, he got off to such a hot start with Justin Fields. And you'll think to yourself, oh, what's the worst that could happen? If he can, if he can average a huge amount of PPR points. I think it was like 19 PPR points per game with Justin Fields. Then of course, he'll do great things with Gino Smith. But I'm nervous about how this offense has changed. Gino Smith, the quarterback, yeah, that's an upgrade over Justin Fields in many regards. But Smith has never led a wide receiver to a PPR average past 15 points per game in any of his six seasons as a full-time starter. So that's a little bit worrisome. We know what the Jets did in the
Starting point is 00:48:06 draft. They've improved their receiving core. Offensive lines better are great. That means that you know, I'll have protection. Something you didn't have last year, it should make them more accurate. Also means that the run game could be a little bit more efficient and lean into a little bit more. I'm nervous about the type of target volume that Garrett Wilson will get relative to last year. That being said, he's still going to be up there in terms of target volume amongst wide receivers. I just don't want to overrate him. I don't want to draft him as a top 30 player again.
Starting point is 00:48:37 I think he's after that range. And if you get them in late round, I guess that would be late round three, early round four. I think that's fine in full PPR. I think that's where he belongs. Heath, I can't get completely over the fact that two straight years, Garrett Wilson has been, 2024 wide receiver 13 per game, 2025 wide receiver 10 per game in the first six games of the season. What happened two years ago? DeBonte Adams was acquired.
Starting point is 00:49:07 And that was the end of that. last year he got injured um so i don't know i look at that maybe that's not good enough and maybe the 13th 10th then we don't have to you know then we can justify him being you know 18th or so off the board uh but what does that mean anything those small sample sizes do they mean anything to you i think it gives us like maybe one of the reasons that we're still hopeful about a guy who four years into his career has really not lived up to the hype and what the i don't know I can't get over, and it's a quarterback thing in a lot of ways, but it's still true. He's played 58 games.
Starting point is 00:49:44 He's got over 500 targets in his career, and he's averaging 6.9 yards per target for the entire career, which is really like, well, the guy it reminds me the most of is Deonté Johnson, who just got all these targets and didn't very often turn them into fantasy points unless there were a bunch of catches. I think Johnson had one great year, if I remember right. I still think that there's hope. I have hope, but as bad as Gino Smith was, it's hard for me to say, well, now he's got a better quarterback. My take on Wilson's low efficiency is that he has never had a good deep ball thrower. In fact, he's had absolutely terrible deep ball throwers. And this is one where I've watched a lot of the deep balls.
Starting point is 00:50:31 I think all of them from the last two seasons. And he's been open. I mean, there have been these opportunities and his quarterbacks have just been Absolutely horrible. He's one of the least successful deep ball guys. We look at 20 or more air yards, you know, since he entered the NFL. How often does he do that? Because his A-DOT's never been over 10.5, and it was 9.1 each of the last two years.
Starting point is 00:50:55 I think he does it enough. I don't know. It's like a lot or a little. I don't think he's an outlier, probably pretty normal, my guess. But I think you're right. I mean, I compared him to Chris Ola. I don't know, he did an episode a couple months ago. We compared him to Chris Olave and George Pickens, I think,
Starting point is 00:51:13 because they were all in the same draft class. Yeah, I think so. They've all had similar situations where Pickens was held back probably by quarterback play, among other things, Olaabe quarterback play, Wilson quarterback play, and finally it clicked for Pickens, and finally all these targets for OLAB. Wilson's metrics are so much worse than those guys.
Starting point is 00:51:33 But do we think he's actually worse than them? Or do we think there's something else there? I mean, I'm sure if you put him with a better quarterback, we would see what he's capable of doing at a high level. And you mentioned that, like, before Devante Adams was there, he was looking like that guy. We saw it last year with Justin Fields, and there was a history with those two guys in college.
Starting point is 00:51:57 So maybe that mattered a little bit. But it's, I just hope he's not one of these guys, like we keep making excuses for year after year after year. And then we never get to see what he's capable of doing. You know, you've heard me references for years like Stefan Diggs in Minnesota, and then he gets set free to Buffalo and looks like a league winner, you know, so plays like a league winner. So will that have to be, will that, is that was going to take for Garrett Wilson to get that type of, you know, reprieve, whether it's, you know, the Jets moving on, which they committed to him with his contract or hopefully finally getting the quarterback right.
Starting point is 00:52:32 I think as he said, like we're counting on Dino Smith to be that guy. Like, that's a hard ask. And then you're factoring in, as Dave alluded to, you know, you bring in the two first-round picks. Like, there's a lot more talent around him. And then you remember what he did when Devante Adams was there and it wasn't great. So I think he just kind of know what Garrett Wilson is. He's, you know, chance to be a good number two fantasy receiver.
Starting point is 00:52:57 If there's some spike weeks in there, again, we don't know how that would have played out last year. if, you know, going back to your question earlier this week, if league neighbors was healthy, what will we be talking about this year? Well, if Garrett Wilson was healthy and it was 19.9 or, you know, 17 point plus for the season, we probably drafting him in round two. So, you know, I think there's that upside still. It's just can we get it? Can we see it?
Starting point is 00:53:21 Adam, you brought up the, the, the, the, film on Garrett Wilson being open, deep downfield, targets of 20 plus air yards. Gino Smith in Las Vegas last year was terrible on those throws, and he didn't really have, he had 44 of them. That's low for him compared to what he did in the three years prior in Seattle. And in those three years, his completion rate was never worse than 42.6%. That's top 30 among all quarterbacks cumulatively over the last four seasons. That includes a top 10 year. His EPA per dropback in those years in Seattle also very, very good.
Starting point is 00:53:55 Well past the point of average. If he's got the protection, maybe he can make those connections deep with Garrett Wilson. Maybe that adds a little bit of hope for upside. Even though we never saw it like manifests itself in a great fantasy season for any of Garrett Wilson's receivers. And for the record, we've rarely seen it in great fantasy seasons for receivers coached up by Frank Reich. And this is a Jets offense that's finished bottom five and points per game.
Starting point is 00:54:28 of the last seven seasons. But other than all that, maybe there is a chance where Gino can connect with Gareth Wilson. And maybe that's just enough to make you feel better about drafting them at all, much less with a pick in late round three, early round four. I would do it. I'm actually, I feel like I'm talking myself into being the Garrett Wilson guy. Okay.
Starting point is 00:54:51 Then let me give you one last counter. Okay. Just because I was thinking. about this. And I think one of the other problems, there's been 27 wide receivers since Garrett Wilson came into the league with at least 200 targets and an ADOP below 10. Here are the guys who have less the ACPA reception for him in those last four years. Stavon Diggs, Michael Pittman, Juan Jennings, Jacoby Myers, Keenan Allen, Adam Thielen. Most of those guys are old dudes. Don't run much.
Starting point is 00:55:27 You know what? I think, Keith, I think I'm just willing to say the stats. That's don't matter, and Garrett Wilson's a lot better than what he's, what's on paper. And I'm a pretty big stats guy at this point in my career, my life, but I don't know. I just feel like I'm willing to throw it out. I've seen the guy play football, he does some things on the field that are really impressive, and I just feel like he was putting it together last year. He was so damn good last year, and I was so wrong on him last year. So I remember going, he's had 140 plus targets all three years of his career,
Starting point is 00:55:57 and he hasn't been that good for fantasy. Is Justin Fields going to be the quarterback that fixes that? And he did it. And I think Gino Smith, as long as Gino Smith can be close to his Seattle days and not his Raiders days when they had the worst, arguably the worst offensive line in football, Dave, those deep balls that you mentioned where Gino Smith was really bad last year, he had the fifth highest pressure rate of all quarterbacks on deep ball attempts.
Starting point is 00:56:20 And I watched all of his deep balls, and he was getting his butt kicked on a lot of them. So I just, I get it, Heath, there is not a statistical argument to make for him. other than the fact that he's been on pace for over 140 targets all four years of his career. And what I learned from Wilson last year was that anyone who gets that kind of target volume, even if their history isn't that good, has upside. And I think Wilson showed it last year. And I think he can do it again. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:56:50 I mean, he did score four touchdowns in five games. He did not even have a hundred-yard game. When are you willing to commit to him? If I can get them in round four, I'm not going to make them around three pick unless it's like, you know, second or last pick. Let's say three, four turn or later. How about you? So about 35th overall? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:57:08 You don't call it that? I'm pretty close to that in full PPR. Yes, full PPR because the targets, the catches. Right. Not PPR is a different. Jamie Heath. How about you guys? Garrett Wilson.
Starting point is 00:57:20 Same range. In the 40s. Okay. So you're not that far. I'll make my last guy quick. here, it's, it's D.K. Metcalf, why receiver 33 overall in ADP? Oh, that was, thought that was your Flare outlook.
Starting point is 00:57:37 I just, when I wrote the outlook, I just can't make an upside case for him. I mean, the best thing about D.K. Metcalf, this is actually pretty cool. He has his lowest ADP since he was a rookie. And by far. I mean, he's been basically picked top 50 every year since a very good rookie season. you're finally able to get him in the 70s. So maybe he can, you know, be a wide receiver 25 to 30 or something like that. But his target per out run rate has not been very good for two or three straight years.
Starting point is 00:58:07 It was pretty low last year. Now they've got Pittman. I don't think he's a great fit for Aaron Rogers. I will pretty much never draft D.K. Metcalfe because there are guys, like he's going in between Jordan Tyson and Parker Washington. And I could see those guys being so much better than D.K. Metcalfe. They could be so much worse than him, but I just, I feel like in the range, D.K.K. McKavs going, Jamie, I feel like he has almost no upside, no league winning upside.
Starting point is 00:58:35 He hasn't been that basically since the second year in the NFL. He's kind of just a name at this point to me. That's probably the safe way to approach it. I think that if you're going to be optimistic about D.K. Metcalfe, it's Mike McCarthy. And the hope is that McCarthy will allow the routes to be there for him that Rogers will hopefully take some shots to him. But again, you're asking Rogers to be different than he was a year ago at his age and Metcalf to sort of relive some of those moments.
Starting point is 00:59:05 So I think he's appropriately priced. I think you're taking him as a low-end number three receiver with the hope that he can be better than that. But for me, it's a big hope. You know, so I don't, I'm kind of with you. I don't really want to draft D.K. Metcalfe unless he falls to the right spot. But I also think, like, there's still a chance. you know, it's Jim Carrey and dumb and dumber chance. But I think there's a chance like he can get back to that top 20 range if the touchdowns are there.
Starting point is 00:59:34 If Aaron Rogers buys into more of Mike McCarthy as opposed to Mike McCarthy buying more into Aaron Rogers, like there is still some paths to success. I just don't want to take a chance on him for the most part. Oh. That was that was a sound bite. All right. That's D.K. Metcalfe. Scott Fish Bowl League are you guys in? I haven't chosen yet.
Starting point is 00:59:59 I am drafting live in Miami. I'll be in the G.T.A. The Grand Theft Auto League, very cool. Or should I say Grand Theft Alvarado, Nixon, 4? Dave, how about you? I'm in the burger time. What the heck is burger time? You don't know what burger time is?
Starting point is 01:00:18 The video game? I don't remember that game. That's when Dave goes to a restaurant and turns a burger into a chicken sandwich. No. I did that. Why would I turn Why would burger time be when I turn a burger into a chicken? This is what you do.
Starting point is 01:00:30 I would turn a chicken sandwich into a burger. I actually did this last night, Jamie. You would be not at all surprised to learn that I ordered a salad and it was supposed to have chicken on it and I turned it into a burger. And it was really good. Wait, what? How did you turn a salad that was supposed to have chicken on it into a burger? I asked the server if the kitchen would put a burger on it instead of chicken.
Starting point is 01:00:53 And she said, yeah, they can do that. And I was like, cool, I'll have it. Wait, just, oh, just like the ground meat part. And I like to think of it more as like a bowl than a burger. So I had a burger bowl. I had a bunless burger. Okay. Okay. It would be funny if Dave had a salad and they just put like a cheeseburger on it. A full cheeseburger with a bun on top. This is very healthy. I would like to see, I would like to see what that looks like. I'm going to have to ask AI to do that for me. I'm going to have a salad tonight.
Starting point is 01:01:22 Big greasy cheeseburger on top. of a salad. Yeah. And then I can tell my wife I had a salad. You'd be like, oh, good for you. I'm proud of you. I'm in the RBI Baseball, by the way. What a game.
Starting point is 01:01:33 Sega Genesis RBI baseball, I think 93. So you know those games, but you don't know Burger Time. What system was Burger Time? I mean, it was before you were born. Oh. It was in the arcades. And then, I mean, I still have it for Nintendo, the original NES. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:01:52 I don't know. This looks horrible. Looking at some images. right now. It looks like a terrible game. Bad pick. That's fun. Bad pick.
Starting point is 01:01:59 Well, thanks for watching, listening to everybody. Talk to you tomorrow on Fantasy Football today. On podcasts. Now streaming on Paramount Plus. Beth and Rip are back in Dutton Ranch. This life here is going to work, is it? We'll make it work. Starring Kelly Riley.
Starting point is 01:02:27 Legacy is a beautiful thing. Let only if it survives. Coalhauser. What's going to work? Ed Harris. Family is the only thing we're fighting for. And Annette Benning. I can make this a lot harder for all y'all.
Starting point is 01:02:38 And peace will have to wait. Dunn Ranch, new series now streaming on Paramount Plus.

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