Fantasy Football Today - FFT Express - Fantasy Breakups 💔 Players We’re DONE With in 2026! McCaffrey, Jefferson, Tyreek & More! (02/13 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Starting point is 00:00:00 We've all been there, the unexpected hosting panic. Like when the watch party finally makes it out of the group chat, but you volunteered to host, and suddenly you need snacks, drinks, dips, cups, and all the other party essentials no one else planned for. With Instacart, you can get all those groceries delivered in as fast as 60 minutes. No extra errands for you. One quick order for everyone. That way, everything shows up right on time, making hosting easy and making it look like you had it planned all along. Download the Instacard app today and get no markups at select retailers. Fees and in-store offer exclusions apply. Hey, Ontario, come on down to BetMGM Casino and see what our newest exclusive the Price is Right

Starting point is 00:00:44 Fortune Pick has to offer. Don't miss out. Play exciting casino games based on the iconic game show, only at BetMtmgm. Check out how we've reimagined three of the show's iconic games, like Plinkgo, Cliffhanger, and The Big Wheel into Fun. Casino Game features. Don't forget to download the BetMGM Casino app for exclusive access and excitement on the Price's Right Fortune Pick. Pull up a seat and experience the Price's Right Fortune Pick, only available at BedmGM Casino. BetMGM and GameSense remind you to play responsibly.

Starting point is 00:01:16 19 plus to wager. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connects Ontario at 1866-531-2,2,600, to speak to an advisor, free of charge. BenMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming, Ontario. It's not all sunshine and rainbows and butterflies here on Fantasy Football Teddy Express.

Starting point is 00:01:41 Sometimes we have to break up. We'll do that right now. No, Jamie and I aren't breaking up. The podcast isn't going anywhere. We are talking about fantasy breakups. Players that we, you know, were Facebook status in a relationship with last year during draft season, drafting all the time, loved them. Not anymore.

Starting point is 00:02:04 All right, Jamie, who's on your breakup list? Oh, boy, I hate to say this, but, you know, the age and the numbers are just not in his favor, but I'm going to have a hard time drafting Christian McCaffrey, very similar to how I felt about Sequin Barclay last year. A lot of work. He's older, 30 years old now in June. And everything around McCaffrey, it feels like it could be worse. I mean, at least as we sit here, you know, leading into Valentine's Day weekend, you have George Kittle coming off an Achilles injury. You have Brandon I. You have John

Starting point is 00:02:39 Jennings as a free agent. Ricky Pearsall is their best receiver and he can't stay healthy. And the offensive line needs a lot of work. And so McCaffrey, when he's on the field, he's awesome. I think if you tell me right now he's going to play, guaranteed he's playing 14 plus games. I think he's definitely worth drafting in round one. And I'm still going to have him ranked in round one. But as we've talked about with our early rank list, there are some people still have him number one overall or at least in the top three. I can't get on board with that. So Christian McAfrey, somebody I'm probably going to avoid a lot in fantasy drafts in 2026. Okay, I'll give you a first rounder that I'm breaking up with.

Starting point is 00:03:11 I think he'll probably end up being a early second, maybe creep into the first round pick, but it's Malik neighbors. I just don't like players coming off major injuries. He tore his ACL and he tore his meniscus. Look, I think at this point, it was early enough in this season. I think at this point he's probably going to be ready at some point in training camp. I don't even know that he's going to miss any games. but I'm tired of falling for this.

Starting point is 00:03:36 Guys who have these injuries, when they're back, they're not really back. And I don't expect him to perform as well as he will perform in 2027 when he's full two years removed from the injury. And if I had to pick him with a third round pick or a late second round pick, sure. But I think we're going to have to use a late first round pick or an early second round pick on Malik neighbors. Additionally, I think this team wants to run the ball.

Starting point is 00:04:01 I think they're going to try to be a run-heavy offense. All of their recent coaching moves, I think, suggests that. So, you know, he's still going to dominate targets, obviously. He's a fantastic player, and I love him. But as of right now, I don't see myself drafting a lot of Malik neighbors. Who's next on your breakup list? A former number one overall pick as well. I probably, the earliest I will look to draft this guy is the end of round two.

Starting point is 00:04:29 But I have a hard time even ranking him as a top 20. 12 wide receiver. And that's Justin Jefferson. We'll see what happens with the quarterback situation. Obviously, that will change things. But if it's JJ McCarthy again, it was so bad. It was absolutely atrocious. He barely averaged over 10 ppr points per game in the starts with McCarthy. Now, with Carson Wentz, he was over 16 ppr points per game. So any semblance of a proven quarterback, I think he'll be fine. And I do think McCarthy will be better. So I don't think we're looking at a guy averaging around 11 ppr.mts per game. I think we're talking about a guy that's going to get in that 13, 14 point per game range, which makes him a very, a very, very,

Starting point is 00:05:01 good third round pick. But what I've seen so far in our drafts, it's a very small sample size, what I've seen in the rank list, again, small sample size. Not that everybody's back in on Jefferson, but it just seems like, oh, yeah, he'll be better. Of course will be better. McCarthy will be better. I don't know if that's the case. I'm hopeful, but I don't know if that's the case. So firing the general manager, we'll see what this draft looks like for them. But McCarthy's got to be better for Justin Jefferson to get back to the level of slam dunk, must draft top 10 wide receiver. but right now he's outside my top 10 in the rankings. Yeah, you know what's interesting is neighbors and Jefferson went back to back

Starting point is 00:05:34 in the draft that we did on Wednesday. And they went with the fifth and six picks of round two, neighbors then Jefferson. And that's the point where I'd start considering neighbors. I imagine you'd start considering Jefferson there mid-round two. Start to consider it, yeah. And then Rishi Rice was the next pick. And he's been better than both of them two years in a row.

Starting point is 00:05:57 It's kind of interesting, right? Like, actually, I don't know for, let me see if he was actually better than neighbors this past year. Yeah, he was. And he was better. So he's better than both of them two years in a row. So, I mean, why not take Rishi Rite? Would you take Rishie Rice over them? I would, pending no suspension for what he dealt with with, I believe, the text messages or whatever the case was.

Starting point is 00:06:23 That could be a problem for him. I don't want to speak without knowing. the exact situation. But he had something recently. And obviously, Mahomes. You know, if Mahomes is ready to go week one, that's a big part of it too. Yeah. Okay, let's take a break and get back to our breakup list.

Starting point is 00:06:37 Take a breakup. We'll be right back after this. Hey, speaking of the Chiefs, it's over between me and Isaiah Pacheco. I'm curious to see where he ends up. But yeah, that was bad. It was a bad call. And the Chiefs never got their run game going last year. and they're going to try.

Starting point is 00:06:56 I'm curious to see who ends up being there starting running back there because they know they have to run the ball better. And if they run the ball better, that'll open up their play action game, which they said was not good enough this year. So Pacheco and I were done. Jamie, who's... What if he's a starter someplace else?

Starting point is 00:07:12 Let's say he replaces Brees Hall for the Jets or replaces Travis ETS for the Jaguars or one of those situations where he goes to another good offense and is walking in the door as the starter? I just don't... I don't think that happens. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, maybe if he went to the Jets.

Starting point is 00:07:31 What if he's the Giovante Williams replacement? Yeah, then I'd be interested in him for sure. But I don't know how many places Isaiah Pacheco goes and walks in as the starter. Agreed. Yeah. All right, who's next for you? I'm just trying to think, like Tony Pollard's injury and his recovery is encouraging for Pacheco, right? Like two years after the fact, same injury, I broke a lot.

Starting point is 00:07:58 I don't know if it was the same injury similar similar at least yeah but I don't think Pacheco oh he did have surgery had surgery in the season and then he returned yeah I know he's not he's not like a great running back um he's probably better than Kareem Hunt but he wasn't necessarily last year yeah I don't know I just think it's kind of over with Pacheco he's was he a seventh round pick yes yeah so I think he had his moment and unfortunately it faded um I think he's a NFL caliber running back, but I don't know. I don't imagine him getting drafted in the single-digit rounds. Maybe if he goes to the Cowboys or something, round eight.

Starting point is 00:08:38 All right. Who's next for you? So this one will be pending ADP. And I know right now we're like, I have him ranked, which is right around wide receiver 30, which is not bad, but I don't see myself drafting a lot of Tyree Kill. And, you know, this was clearly a guy that was league winner, difference maker, all those things. we know he's going to be a year older. We know he's coming off of an injury.

Starting point is 00:09:00 He's got a team situation that he's probably not going to return to. So I just don't know if he's going to ever get back to being a different. We've had some of those conversations during the draft. Like it's great value. Sure, if you get him at the right price and, you know, talking about a number three receiver range with upside to still be probably top 20. I don't know if he'll ever get to being top 10 again. But everything according to the reports are positive in terms of his rehab.

Starting point is 00:09:23 It's an injury that's not going to have a lot of long, term negative impact on him. But similar what you said about Malik neighbors, or at least what we said off there, like it's hard to trust guys coming back from the significant injuries. He's a year older. Again, who knows where he's playing. I'm probably just completely out on Tyreek. Okay.

Starting point is 00:09:41 And my last guy was Brian Thomas Jr. He was, I think, the first, he was the first Jaguars receiver drafted in our draft on Wednesday, right? Yep. Yeah, this is going to be an interesting year to test what had been. been a pretty rock solid, I wouldn't really call it a theory, but a research base, which is rookie wide receivers who reach 900 yards. That was really in a 16 game season. So you want to bump it up to close 940, 950. They do that as rookies. They're pretty solid bets to just get better.

Starting point is 00:10:18 And, you know, maybe the worst case scenario kind of career. There are some guys like Michael Clayton, some guys who just ended up being busts. But, you know, Terry McLaurin, D.K. Metcalf, these guys are kind of on the low end of the 900-yard club. And two guys last year were poised for breakout second seasons, and they stunk. And they were Brian Thomas Jr. and Ladd McConkey. And with Brian Thomas Jr., I mean, I'm just stunned at what kind of year he had. And he was hurt for much of the year.

Starting point is 00:10:49 And then they brought in Jacoby Myers and Parker Washington emerged. whatever the case made. Too many excuses for Brian Thomas Jr. He had some drops. Just didn't play well. And I think, I don't think I'm buying back in. I'm much more likely,

Starting point is 00:11:01 I think everyone is, to buy into a Ladd-McConkie bounce back than a Brian Thomas Jr. bounced back. I can't even say I know what went wrong with Brian Thomas Jr. I think at the end of the year he was basically just a downfield target. Wasn't getting a lot of the easy stuff. But too many things went wrong for him. And, you know,

Starting point is 00:11:18 I think I'm just too hesitant. I'll take Brian Thomas Jr. probably round, late round six or later. I'll take a shot on the talent, but not excited to draft him this year. If he's traded, how will you feel? I think you can't ignore how good he was. So I would like to see him get traded.

Starting point is 00:11:40 But let's say he's Josh Allen's number one receiver. Oh, yeah. Then I'm back in. Let's say he's Jane Daniels, number two receiver. Yeah, I'd be pretty interested. I think round five, round six. It's a bad year for wide receivers, so there aren't that many I'm excited about.

Starting point is 00:12:01 San Francisco? It doesn't seem like he's a logical fit there. But yeah, I think that'd be good. He's got to have a good quarterback, and he's got to have an opportunity to be a target hog, I guess, for me to be really. Yeah, listen, I think at this point, obviously you put his pedigree compared to,

Starting point is 00:12:23 Myers and Washington and Travis Hunter he's the best of the four you put what he did as his rookie season I don't know if any of those guys will ever match that you put what he looked like last year and it's hard to say he's not third at best behind Myers and Washington

Starting point is 00:12:41 yeah and remember Travis Hunter they had that big game against the Rams and then I think they had their buy and coming out of it it was supposed to be well they're going to start featuring Travis Hunter more he's going to end up being the number one guy. You got hurt.

Starting point is 00:12:54 Right. We got hurt. We never, right, we never got to see it. So, there's a lot. Now, that was before they acquired Myers and before Washington became a thing. So we'll see what Hunter's role is. But yeah, it's tough to buy into Brian Thomas unless the round range you're talking about because you're just, at that point, you're shooting for upside.

Starting point is 00:13:12 And I think he still has plenty of upside. It's just we saw the downside, which was awful. All right. Thank you, Jamie. Thank you, everybody for watching and listening. Have a wonderful weekend. See you later on FFT. Podcasts.

Fantasy Football Today - FFT Express - Fantasy Breakups 💔 Players We’re DONE With in 2026! McCaffrey, Jefferson, Tyreek & More! (02/13 Fantasy Football Podcast)

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.