Fantasy Football Today - Five Early Fantasy Favorites + Russell Wilson and Stefon Diggs Reactions (03/26 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: March 26, 2025

Dan joins the show today to give us five of his early Fantasy favorites for 2025 and to talk about Russell Wilson and Stefon Diggs. Let's start with the big news (6:45) on the Giants passing game and what it means for Malik Nabers. Then we talk about Diggs (19:45) and why we like him on the Patriots ... Find out why Dan loves Josh Jacobs (25:10) and Tony Pollard (35:45) this season. We're loving the values that we're seeing in early drafts thus far. Is there a safer player in Round 2 or 3 than Jacobs? ... Dan gives us three wide receivers he loves at cost in 2025: Tyreek Hill (42:00), DJ Moore (50:00) and Jauan Jennings (57:10). What will the targets look like for the Dolphins and 49ers? Will Moore be the slot guy for the Bears and does it even matter? ... 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 Fantasy Football Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast." Visit the betting arena on CBSSports.com for all the latest sportsbook reviews and sportsbook To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sick of dreaming smaller? Sick of investing but not seeing your money grow? Sick of feeling like you're leaving money on the table, paying high fees, and not knowing if you're even making the right investments? With Questrade, you get the right tools, stock insights, and proper guidance so you can become a better investor. It's time to get the financial future you deserve. Get yours, Questrade. When you get into an Escape Plug-in Hybrid, you get the perfect mix. You can chill in electric mode, turn it up in gas mode,

or get the best of both in hybrid mode. Choose how you move in the all-in-one Escape. And right now, get a $3,000 rebate on the Escape plug-in hybrid and all 2025 Escape models. For details, visit your Toronto area Ford store or ford.ca. You know that feeling when you find the perfect song? Imagine that, but for your next meal at Tim's. Whether you're craving something meaty, cheesy, or just straight up satisfying, make a meal of it with Tim's new

three-meat hat-trick flatbread pizza loaded with pepperoni, bacon, and sausage crumble. Pair it with our new garlic bread and a refreshing peach lemonade quencher for a meal that just hits. Order on the Tim's app today at participating restaurants in Canada for a limited time.

It's time for Tim's. 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 on his feet. This is going to go the distance.

Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. What's up everyone? Very excited for today's show. We got fancy Dan Schneier here. We got Jamie Isenberg. I'm Adam Azer and welcome. This is a good show to watch on YouTube, YouTube.com slash Fantasy Football Today.

We welcome you to Fantasy Football Today because today we're going to do a little film review with some with some screenshots, some still frames of new Giants quarterback Russell Wilson. Dan, I know Dan really wanted Jamis Winston and really did not want Russell Wilson and now you got both. Yeah, look, in the end, I view it as an insurance policy for the Giants. Neither were signed for too much, not a lot of guaranteed money, both one year

deals, neither preclude the Giants from drafting a quarterback. And if they do, they can get rid of these guys next year, or they can get rid of one of them, Jamis Winston without much dead cap. So it is what it is. I want to see Winston let it fly. I want to see him slinging around the yard. I think Jamie said it best. We had five full days of excitement around what neighbors could be for

fantasy with Jamis Winston. And it was very exciting to think about what we saw with Jerry Judy. It really was. Um, but you know, it's over. Uh, the cam ward treated dream, I think is officially over with this decision by the giants. I think they wouldn't do this. They thought they could get cam ward. And that's probably the most depressing part for me, Adam, cause I really did fall in love with war during the pre-draft process of watching the state. And it just reminds me of that week 17 game against the Colts and why, oh why did we play an injured Malik neighbors who went off for two touchdowns?

You know what, I don't like that argument because you know the Patriots won in week 18. The Patriots could have had the number one pick in the draft. They won week 18. Yeah, they're idiots too. Other teams win. They didn't get a quarterback. It doesn't matter, other teams win.

You play to win the game. You play to win, let me make it clear. I expect the players to play to win. They're playing for their livelihood. I expect the coach. Other teams win. You got you play to win the game. You play to win. Let me make it clear. I expect the players to play the win. They're playing for their livelihood. I expect the coach to coach a win, but I'm just talking about the outcome. What happens after the fact. And after the fact, I did not want them to win that game. Yeah, of course. All right. Russell Wilson, by the way, has produced a top 10 wide receiver in PPR only three times. The best finish overall full season finish for a wide

receiver was DK Metcalf in 2020 when he had 1300 yards and 10 touchdowns. He was number five wide receiver overall and non PPR number six per game. Number seven. I'm sorry. Number six in PPR full full season, number seven per game and non number nine per game in full. That's the best wide receiver season that we've seen from Russell Wilson. Only twice have we seen a wide receiver have more than 83 catches with Russell Wilson. And the,

the record for Russell Wilson wide receiver is about a hundred catches. I want to say it was Tyler Lockett. Let's see if I can find that. Tyler Lockett had a hundred catches on the nose. Doug Baldwin may have had like a hundred and two one year. I don't know. But anyway, we'll get into that.

Jamie, how you doing? I'm doing great. Good. I love the quarterback situation for the Giants. Hey, it's better than it was. We did a couple of debates on Monday's show. Let's get Dan's side and I'll give you the Twitter results. I put them on Twitter.

I'll just, we'll just wrap up Monday's show here. Amanrao St. Brown or Nico Collins in PPR? Nico. You are wrong. You and I are wrong. Amanrao St. Brown, 70%. Not wrong. Oh, I'm guessing what the people would say. No, no, no. Give me your take. But no, the people are against us. 70% St. Brown. Drake London or AJ Brown? AJ Brown.

Yeah. 59 percent AJ Brown. Devante Smith or Chris Olave? Devante Smith. 63 percent Devante Smith. Jamie, you were Olave, right? Yeah. Yeah, me too. And Dave was Devante. Marvin Harrison Jr. or Jameson Williams? Oh, God. Jameson Williams? Ooh, God. Jameson Williams?

This was the biggest blowout of all the Twitter polls. 82.6% Marvin Harrison Jr. I can see it. I just can't see it too at the same time. Listen, we have a lot of emails coming in. Fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. Mailbag tomorrow with this crew, me, Dan, Jamie. Yeah, you're pumped.

I have stories, but we'll save them for that day. I mean, look at your house. Yeah, that is a zone disaster. Look at that thing. I mean. I've got stories, I've got things going on. Got a piano? Well, this is great.

Yeah, see, a lot of construction was going on, as you know, from the house I live in, and it was supposed to take six weeks, started in January, it this is great. Yeah, see I a lot of construction was going on as you know from my the house I live in it was supposed to take six weeks started in January. It's late March So I said F it let's buy this mansion that you see in the background if you're watching on YouTube As everyone knows editors for sports websites make a lot of money. So here we go Just bought it all in cash bought the one room in the mansion. It's yeah, it's a fake background If you guys are curious, but it's a nice little piano back there. You're not supposed to ruin it.

Well, if he moves his hand, he's obviously bobbing in and out of the picture as it blurts. Yeah, exactly. All right, let's get to our news and notes, but mail back tomorrow. So you have 24 hours to submit your questions. Fantasy football at cbsi.com. And again, I want to invite all of you to watch this on YouTube. We're going to look at some, some, uh, some pictures of Russell Wilson with the Steelers last year. So the Giants signed him to a one year deal could be worth up to $21 million, 10 and a half million guaranteed. Remember they signed Jamis Winston to a two year deal, $8 million, but they can get out

of that as Dan was saying if they want. All right, Jamie, what's your take on this with Wilson going to the Giants now joining Jamis Winston? I would be very surprised if they still drafted a quarterback at three. They could obviously still take one later in the draft and who knows how far Sanders may fall if they decide to jump back into the first round and draft him. I did see one mock draft where they took, I think it was Hunter at three, Travis Hunter at three, and then still got Shadr standards at 32.

So obviously making a trade to get back in the first round. So something like that could still unfold for them uh or they take you know obviously one of the uh you know third fourth fifth quarterbacks that are going to be you know rated depending on whoever they like. Uh but in any event it feels like this is what they're going with in 2025 and it's not a horrible strategy just if you don't love Sanders and can't get Cam Ward. So like Dan said, I was more excited about Jameis for the receiving core there for the Giants.

We'll see if they add to the receiving core, because now Travis Hunter is certainly in play. And I would imagine they're probably looking to draft him out or to play him at wide receiver as opposed to corner. It's really all about Malik Nabors at this this point because he's the prize for the Giants when it comes to fantasy managers. Nobody's drafting Russell Wilson in one quarterback leagues.

He's a mid-round pick at best in Superflex and two quarterback leagues, no fallback option. And who knows again how long he'll hold the job for. I do think this is bad for neighbors to a certain extent. So the heights that he could have had with Jameis, I mentioned this on Monday's show that following the signing, I put him at wide receiver four. I dropped him back down to where he was prior to the Jameis was the signing, which is still a late first round pick, early second round pick. I can't imagine his coaching staff does anything to get away from neighbors and still featuring

him. But like you said, Russ has sort of been good for some receivers. He did actually get, which is surprising. I think it's five seasons, certainly four, but it might be five seasons. I'll go back and check of a receiver catching 10 plus touchdowns. We know he did it with Quentin Sutton in Denver. He actually had Doug Baldwin lead the NFL in touchdown reception. I believe it was 2014.

Metcap did it twice. Lockett did it once. So there's still optimism for neighbors to take a step forward in that category, but does he give him 170 targets? Does he get to 110, you know, 10 catches or so, which is what he was around last year? Can he be a 1500 yard receiver? Those are all questions that I think we'll have to sort of see how it plays out. So it's not the most ideal situation for neighbors,

but I don't think it's horrible given what he was dealing with last year with DeVito and Daniel Jones and Tim Boyle and Drew Locke. You know, it was a messy group. So this gives you a little bit more stability from that spot. I would even argue that while it's not anywhere near what Jamus would have been,

it's a pretty solid spot for neighbors. I was looking into some data. This is according to FDN fantasy league neighbors led the NFL with 30 targets off of go routes last season and last year Russell Wilson Average 4.2 targets off go routes in 2024. That was third most in the NFL That's just a drop in the bucket as far as what he did in the D path He had the eighth most completions of 20 plus air yards despite only playing 11 games in the D path. He had the eighth most completions of 20 plus air yards, despite only playing 11 games. His EPA per drop back on 20 plus air yards throws was second in the NFL. Best completion percentage over expected on these 20 plus yard air throws. Number two in the

league in EPA on just 10 to 19 air yard throws. And number two in CPOE, completion percentage over expected in that same category. When it comes down to Wilson, it just depends what he's doing on the field. Last year he had a 10 to 1 touchdown interception ratio when he got the ball out in under 2.5 seconds, 74.3% completion rate. When it was over 2.5 seconds, he dropped to 55.5% with the 33rd EPA. He really struggled when he held onto the ball, when he couldn't confirm what he saw pre snap post snap, when they rotated on him or just wasn't there. That's when things started to break down for him, similar to Daniel Jones. But when he got the ball out early, he really gave those receivers an advantage.

And I think that's going to help Malik neighbors. He can win early on those go routes, isolated on the outside of a backside of a one by three, or just if they move them into the slot. Cause that's something he did with Jayden Daniels at LSU the Giants weren't able to take advantage of last year with Daniel Jones and drew lock so I do think the vertical game is gonna be big for neighbors with Russell yeah and the things out of you know DK Metcalf's best season his second season you know that was obviously a much younger Russell Wilson in a system that he was you know certainly familiar with but Metcalf's best year was year two obviously Malik neighbors entering year two you know, that was obviously a much younger Russell Wilson in a system that he was certainly familiar with.

But Metcalf's best year was year two. Obviously Malik neighbors entering year two, you know, you talk about just physical freaks in terms of just, you know, how they can operate. And then you look at what he did last year with George Pickens in the first six games for those six games, he was north of 16 PPR points, you know, like that's not what we're hoping for with neighbors. We're hoping for 18 to 20. But again, you know, you're looking at a receiver that's a little bit more, I think, polished

as a route runner at a younger age than what Pickens was able to do. So if the vertical game comes into play, which we know has been Russell Wilson's strength, certainly over the last two seasons or three seasons, you know, maybe his entire career, but you know, it's been a little bit more magnified with what he did in Denver and Pittsburgh, I think that makes neighbors a little bit more deadly because it feels like to dance point That's what was missing with the Giants quarterbacks and the ability to take those shots So it's probably something that they will and Josh and and shine looked at and said, okay This is you know something that can enhance our offense

But at 37, you know, he turns 37 in November, you know is that skill set gonna still be there But at 37, you know, he turns 37 in November, you know, is that skill set going to still be there? Looking at like Aaron Rogers, for example, who's sort of lost the the want to at least, you know, coming back from last year, you know, throwing the ball down down the field. I don't think that happens for Russell Wilson, but you just never know as they get older. Yeah, Joe Shane, you had I think you were going to say it right. And then you got cold feet there. I'm with two Giants guys, so I want to make sure I'm getting it right. Yeah, so the issue, I think, for neighbors

is format, I think, right? Because for whatever reason, maybe this will change. Russell Wilson has had, he's been in the league since 2012, he's had almost no season, I would say maybe two seasons where he's thrown the ball a lot. Usually throws about 31 times per game, and it's pretty consistent.

And not only that, he's had, this will be his fifth coach in five years. He's gone from Pete Carroll to Hackett to Payton to Tomlin, now to Dable with different offensive coordinators. And no matter what, they just don't let him throw that much. So that means fewer catches. And you know, that's kind of what concerns me. Like, can neighbors get to 100 catches with Russell Wilson? I mean, sure, but it's just a weird thing with Wilson. You know, remember the let Russ cook thing.

Just throughout his career, he's had, I think two seasons where he's been like more than 34 pass attempts. He's usually in the 31 range. And I just want to say this for Wilson though, in your Superflex leagues, you don't think, like nobody thinks he's been a good quarterback the last four years, basically. Everyone thinks he's been a good quarterback the last four years,

basically. Everyone thinks he's the worst. He's not. He's finished as QB 13, 17, 14, and 15 per game in four points per passing touchdown leagues. 13, 19, 13, and 15 per game in six points per passing touchdown leagues. That's pretty good. I want to take a look, though, at what I don't think he does well, and then we'll move on.

We have to talk about Stefan Diggs. Also today's topic is five players that Dan really likes this year. But I wanna take a look at some shots of, just for fun, of Russell Wilson. I think his biggest issue, he just doesn't see open players. Okay? In the middle of the field, yeah.

Anywhere. So everything you see against the Jets, this is what's concerning. Everything you see against the Jets, this is what's concerning. Everything you see against the Jets is from the first quarter. This is almost every drop back of the first quarter against the Jets. Look at this play. You see George Pickens in the middle of the field. Like that is an open receiver.

He's about to come open. He rolls out. He does complete this pass short to this outlet that around the 33 yard line. I don't know who it is. Can kind of if we zoom in, might be able to see the description of the play. But, I know who it is can kind of, if we zoom in might be able to see the description of the play. But that's one play where he's missed someone.

Let's go to our next one. Look to the left. The guy is wide open. The pocket is clean. I think he ended up scrambling on this play. Okay, let's go to our next play. This is a tough one. You see near the 11 yard line.

I don't know if that's George Pickens, but whoever that is, he has beaten his man. A great throw is probably a touchdown here. There was a little bit of pressure, but an open guy, but that's a tough one. Next play. I mean, come on, look at the right side of the field. This ball goes to George Pickens, top left, blanketed by Sauce Gardner. And he didn't even look to his right. He's got two guys wide open.

And this is what I noticed last year when I was watching his tape from the Broncos. So there was this one play in particular where Jerry Judy is wide open for like this huge gain, probably a touchdown. He doesn't even look at him. How does this ball go to George Pickens? Just look to the right, man.

There are two players that are absolutely wide open. All right, last one. So there's two shots on this play. This is the same play. This is against the Browns. Everything you just saw was in one quarter against the Jets. Pat Fryermuth is about the 29 yard line. Dwayne Washington is at the 15 yard line. So go to the next frame. This is about half a second later. These three defenders for the Browns at the 25 yard line are all about to come in. They've already started. Pat Fryermuth is four yards behind them. This is an 85 yard touchdown to Pat Fryermuth.

Instead, he checks down to Washington at the 15 yard line. This play drove me crazy. And I see this from Russell Wilson now. He just, I don't know if he just doesn't go through his progressions much. Dan, you were talking about what you noticed on tape with him, but that's one quarter against the Jets. And then there's just this one play that stood out

against the Browns. He is just not seeing these players who are wide open. Yeah, he has trouble seeing the field. And I think on all the plays you broke down, I think every single one of them would qualify in what I said before, plays that took over two and a half seconds for him to get trouble seeing the field. And I think on all the plays you broke down, I think every single one of them will qualify in what I said before, plays that took over two and a half seconds for him to get rid of the ball. If he sees it pre-snap and it confirms it post-snap, he gets rid of the ball.

Usually it's going to be a good player. At least the numbers say that. When the opposite happens, he didn't even get into it, Adam, but his sack rate is through the roof compared to where he was in his career earlier. He was never good in that regard, but now it's become a nightmare situation where it's one of the worst in the NFL when it comes to pressure to sack rate. So it's just something that the Giants

can have to deal with. They know what they're getting here, they're not getting a perfect quarterback. But I think from the fantasy standpoint, this actually is good news for Malik neighbors and could potentially bring a player like Slayton back into the mix as well. All right, so Jamie, I'm sorry,

where'd you say you had Malik neighbors? I have Malik neighbors. I think I dropped them back down to like wide receiver seven or eight. Okay, all right, let's take a break. Talk about Stefan Diggs after this. Now streaming. What do you know about the happy face killer?

He's my father. It's so good to see you missing. Experience the thrilling new series. He said he killed another woman. Inspired by a true life story. If I don't deal with him, he will never leave us alone. You don't see how the world's saying to you. Anna Lee Ashford and Dennis Quaid star.

I am not responsible for what my dad did. It's going how you hoped. Happy Face, new series now streaming exclusively on Paramount Plus. in Vegas. That's a feeling you can only get with BetMGM. And no matter your team, your favorite skater or your style, there's something every NHL fan is going to love about BetMGM. Download the app today and discover why BetMGM is your hockey home for the season. Raise your game to the next level this year with BetMGM, a sports book worth a celly and an official sports betting partner of the National Hockey League. BetMGM.com for terms and conditions. Must be 19 years of age or older to wager. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have any questions or concerns about your gambling or

someone close to you, please contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. All right, welcome back. So just a quick note on Cam Ward who had his pro day on Monday. Ryan Wilson, Ryan Wilson has been to a ton of pro days just the last few years, I think, but he said Cam, he went to CJ Stroud, he went to Jaden Daniels. I don't know if he went to Caleb Williams, but he said that Cam Ward's pro day was the best he's ever seen and it may not even be close.

And Ryan Wilson is of course our draft expert for CBSsports.com. We'll have him on the show pretty soon. Kirk Cousins could reportedly wave his no trade clause after the NFL draft. Chris Godwin's making good progress in his return from a dislocated ankle. The NFL could have touchbacks on kickoffs come out to the 35 yard line instead of the 30, which was proposed last year before they settled on the 30, but they want more kickoff returns. Pukin' Akua wants to retire at age 30, don't we all? And now Jamie, let's get to the news. The Patriots signing Stefan Diggs to a three-year $69 million deal with

$26 million guaranteed, reportedly ahead of schedule according to ESPN in his recovery from a torn ACL. Diggs was actually the number 18 wide receiver per game in full PPR last year. And yeah, what do you think about him going to the Patriots here on this three year deal? I think from the team standpoint, it's a smart move. It's basically a one year deal. I would sort of look at it that way. And they probably had to pay up to get him just because of what the market looks like

right now for wide receivers. I'm sure it probably came down just based on reports between him and Amari Cooper. And they probably felt like he's a better fit for their team now as opposed to where Cooper is, which tells you something about Cooper, if that's the case, knowing that digs will be 32 in November coming off the torn ACL. But they needed to get some veteran in there. You know, this is a good signing for Drake May because as we've seen and you know, you said it, Diggs, you look at CJ Stroud, he got off to a shaky start last year,

but he was actually better when Diggs was on the field, Stroud was, than when Diggs left the field. You know, obviously that coincides with Nikko Collins with the, you know, injury he sustained and then losing Tankdale left the field, you know, obviously that coincides with Nico Collins with the injury he sustained and then losing tanked out at the end of the year. So their receiving core really was never whole throughout the course of the season. But I think just in terms of what digs did for Josh Allen as a young quarterback, you know, certainly helped him, you know, elevate his game. Clearly this is not the same receiver at this point in his career, but it does bring some stability to his receiving core, which was just, you know,

Baron, um, at this point. Now I think they're going to be heavily involved in the draft disposition, because they need to add more skilled players around him. I think just bringing in Matt Collins and Stefan Diggs doesn't solve the problem, but it helps. So Drake May, I think, gets a little bit of a boost, not anything you want to just say, okay, now he's a must start quarterback,

but I think it just makes it more attractive to draft him as a late round guy with the hope that he could become you know a solid sleep or maybe in a breakout in terms of digs on his own You know again 32 coming out or 31, you know gonna be 32 coming off the ACL tear He should lead the team and targets. You know, I think there It's gonna be fun to see what happens You know with the Giants at three and the Patriots at four when it comes to Travis Hunter because it'd be very surprising if he gets past those two teams Unless somebody trades up, you know to get in front of them

but if if they do put him at receiver, you know, then Wouldn't shock me if in terms of Patriots at least if hunters the best receiver on on the team So digs for now in pencil, you know should leave the team in targets last year was on pace for a hundred catches Just a little over a thousand yards and six touchdowns So still could be a number three fantasy receiver I would prefer to still draft him as a late number, you know low end number three more of a high end number four Guy just again the circumstances being what they are coming up the ACL terror and his age But probably good value, you know, so around seven, round eight is the earliest I would look for him.

Um, he, you know, I'll be a little bit more optimistic. He's healthier, but you know, I feel about older receivers, especially when they turn 32, uh, I'm not going to be heavily invested in Stefan Diggs, but again, landing spot, you know, if you just looking at the free agents, Devante Adams, probably the best and this might be the second best just in terms of, you know, going to a place where he gets a big opportunity. Yeah, I would be pretty, I think I'd be excited about it, fairly excited, you know, from like a wide receiver two,

three kind of standpoint in fantasy. If you weren't coming off torn ACL. Yes. Yeah, it's just kind of a bummer. That part of it is a bummer. And we have all the data on the players that come back from we saw with Godwin. But what I think about and Jamie broke this down well, I thought really well was if they chose digs over Cooper, was it specifically to fit a role within that offense? Josh McDaniel is coming over. What

we know historically about that specific kind of offense is that the slot is going to be heavily targeted. Cooper, not a lot of experience playing on a slot of offense is that the slot is going to be heavily targeted. Cooper, not a lot of experience playing on a slot can play out of the slot more of an outside X dig started to move into the slot at times the ends with Buffalo and then with Houston and maybe coming off the ACL is no longer a boundary receiver. If he's now that slot guy that they can rely on and that's the reason they brought him in, that's a big role that could lead to a lot of targets next year and a lot of

volume for PPR League. So I do want to see what they do in the draft, what kind of talent they add. I think they need to add O-line over receivers, as crazy as that sounds. I'm most worried about that and if that can derail the whole offense. But I'm intrigued by this fit

because I think there's a lot of target upside here. Yeah, oh for sure. And the slot rate that you mentioned, now they didn't have, True Media didn't calculate slot rate in Diggs's first two seasons, but since then, last year's slot rate was a career high. 41% slot rate for Stefan Diggs.

All right, let's get to some of Dan's favorite, oh wait, let me throw out some Stefan Diggs ors as of right now. Would you rather have Stefan Diggs ors as of right now. Would you rather have Stefan Diggs or a 49ers wide receiver? Right now the 49ers, I have the healthy 49ers receivers ahead of Diggs, Diggs ahead of Ayuk right now.

I think I would go Jennings, Diggs, and then any other 49ers receiver. Would you rather have Jacobi Myers or Stefan Diggs? Diggs. Oh, Myers by a lot. Oh. Diggs for me. Jayden Reed or Diggs?

But again, that's in pencil, that one. That's in Diggs for me. I just see a lot of target upside there. If we're talking PPR. All right, let's go to Dan's favorites. Dan gave us a big, big fun list of his favorites, but we're going to focus on five here. And we'll start with Josh Jacobs. We're going to the Josh Jacobs, Tony

Pollard, Tyreek Hill, DJ Moore, Joanne Jennings. So as we sit here on March 26th, some guys that Dan thinks he's going to be drafting a lot. This is the at cost. So Josh Jacobs was the number six running back per game last year and overall. He's been consistently late second to mid third, I'd say in our drafts. The draft we did last week, he was the fifth pick of round three due Thomas Schaefer. Great pick, Thomas. And someone that you really like, Dan. Yeah, I've seen him exactly what you said, going more toward the end, like a third round range, mid third round, sometimes early third round.

One of the most consistent players thing you can get in that range of the draft. Josh Jacobs has played a lot of games, not a massive injury history, still a younger back and also just found his fit within that offense really well last year. You started to see down the stretch, you started to score more touchdowns than we predicted on the show, the touchdown regression. But I think there's even more room to grow there because I don't think Jordan love played healthy the entire season. I think he's going to take a step forward and Jacob himself talked about that.

I don't think he needs receivers to do it. I think he just needs health and the help of the Packers offense line. So what did they do? They went out and signed one of the biggest ticket offensive linemen in free agency and Aaron Banks. He's going to get in there and the interior offensive line between banks, Jenkins and Sean Ryan. That is one of the most Exciting power interior offensive lines in the NFL

They're gonna create interesting spots for Jacobs big holes up the middle And I think Jacob is gonna cash in on a lot of touchdowns and it's not the same idea But it's similar to the idea of Derek Henry last year It's not the same thing but it's similar that you're buying in on a really good offense, you hope with a lot of touchdown upside. And for Jacobs, it's a lot of upside in my mind, at least for touches. I think the Packers have changed their ways. Maybe that changes.

Maybe they draft someone in this draft. There's so many good backs in this class, and then they could be tempted to do what they've done in the past, but Jacobs does it all for them and can be on the field for all three downs. So I think there's a lot of touchdown upside. I think there's a lot of touch upside. I think this offense will take a leap forward. I'm not going to project more touchdowns because he had 16 touchdowns in 17 games. So that's pretty good. But you know, he just feels like the safest running back in that range, Jamie,

you know, just he's just a workhorse every single year of his career. To be honest, and the workhorse, you know, tag is perfect. I struggle with him and Kyron Williams because they feel very similar in terms of, you know, what you're getting, you know, and they're still in their prime and they're in very good offenses and they don't come off the field very often. Now, the plan was at least on paper, felt like it was going to be Jacobs and sprinkling Marsh on Lloyd. And we didn't get a chance to see that

because of Lloyd's injury. So to Dan's point, did they go back to the draft and add somebody else or do they just sort of bank on Lloyd, being healthy in year two and maybe we see a little bit less work for Jacobs. But we've talked about this so much last year that the problems with Jordan Love

were partly due to the run game being so successful for the Packers and they sort of changed how their offensive approach was from 2023 to 2024. And so did it work? Yes and no. I mean, obviously it got them to the playoffs. It helped the team.

He was a great signing, one of the best free agent signings and certainly at a position that had a lot of them last season, but didn you know, didn't get them ultimately, I think where they want to go. So maybe see a little bit more balance and that might hurt Jacobs a little bit in the run game, but maybe helps him a little bit in the past game, which I think has sort of been an underrated part of his game.

As we saw the first year with Josh McDaniels with the Raiders and we saw it, you know, last year a little bit as well when he's a 36 catch guy, can he be a 40 catch guy? You know, certainly that's, that's, that's right there for him. So, um, I think in terms of Jacobs, I love him in round two. I think if you go receive around one, you want to go hero RB, it's a great, you know, player to target, uh, really outside of the, the big three, which are for me in order of Bijon, Gibbs and Barkley. I know I'm the low guy probably on Barkley in that regard, but, uh,

he's right in the conversation for, I have a a Chan for just because I think there's more upside, especially when you look what a Chan did with Tua. But right after that, Jacobs is next for me, you know, so I go back and forth, you know, between Jacobs and Kyron, Kyron and Jacobs, you know, but Derek Henry is there, you know, James Cook is there. Chase Brown is there. Bucky Irving is there, you know, that group. I think, you know, to me, I sort of, you know, if you're tiering them, I think there's a top three, you know, A-chan to me is a little bit by himself. And then there's the next two guys of Jacobs and Kyron,

just because they're so safe. If they stay healthy, you know what you're getting. Okay. I try to think like, what's the downside? How could things go wrong for Josh Jacobs? So I got a couple of things. First of all, they were so run heavy last year, third highest run rate in the NFL. They're running back rush attempts

over the last four seasons. I know, I have so many stinking notes. Here we go. 391, four seasons I do this because that's when they started the 17 game season. 291 running back rush attempts. 300, sorry, 391, 410, 368, 446. So if it's back closer to 400,

now I'm, like the Marshawn Lloyd thing is interesting and they can mix them in, but actually Emmanuel Wilson had 100 carries last year. So he did have some competition. This team just ran the ball so much. So there could be fewer carries. Also, first six games of the season, he scored one touchdown.

He was not even a top 24 running back per game. So that's the thing with Jacobs. If he doesn't score, you're not getting a lot of catches. You had a 41-catch pace last year in the games that Jordan Love played. You had two games with Malik Willis where he had one target and one catch, but he's like a 40-catch guy.

Maybe if they go back to throwing the ball more, he's more like a 45, 50 catch guy. So that could be a moot point. But if he doesn't score, could be bad. Also, like think about Jacobs is, he's not really an explosive player. He doesn't really have a lot of like long runs. So I think the worst case scenario,

I don't know how realistic this is, is he just struggles? And they go with like the younger, fresher guy and Jacobs is in more of a platoon, which had always been Matt LaFleur's preference. But that could be because Aaron Jones was not a workhorse, you know, Jacobs is. And- That's kind of, you know, to that point, that's what Kevin O'Connell talked about. Right. Coming off the Minnesota office, or going into the off about coming off the Minnesota office or going into the office. Coming off the year that he had just had in Minnesota that they felt that they worked

him too much, which was a career high in touches for Aaron Jones. So who knows? But he was also 30 years old. Kind of back. And I think that's important to note. Like Jacobs and Jones are built different. They can handle different things. And yeah, I agree with you, Adam, that he's not in the most explosive back, most of his

long run scheme with the Raiders. He is a very productive back and efficient back. And I think that's why they signed him. That's what the foreign vision and that's what floor got last year, which you maybe didn't get from Dylan or Jones at all times, not saying that never happened, but Jones was a very explosive back, but Jacob's offer something different, so I don't really see him coming off the field and I don't see how the touchdowns come down.

You, you mentioned all those players earlier. It's interesting to me. Like when I hear it framed like that, Adam, I really do have a tier of backs that I want to get and not miss out on. And it drops off when I get to Bucky Irving and Chase Brown because I don't view them anywhere near those top guys who I think are locked into their roles and locked into the red zone roles and locked into volume and touchdowns. Both Brown and Irving scare me. They're exciting backs, they're electric. People are going to want them for that reason. I also am not sold that both of them are going to get a lot of touches next year.

Are you taking Jacobs over Jonathan Taylor? I'm putting the Wisconsin love to the test. Yeah, I am. Too many injuries for Taylor. I am just passing it. Me, no. Richardson starts the majority of the season, then that doesn't help Jonathan Taylor's upside. And I think Jones helps his upside either though. Well, Jones will throw to him more than Richardson. Jones is gonna be off the field with three and outs all the time there, so.

By the way, Dan, I went to a sports bar on Saturday night with a Wisconsin grad named Dan to watch the Wisconsin game. You really had to bring this up. She's really had to bring this up. He was completely unfazed. He they lost the game. Dan did like Dan Wisconsin. I was devastated. Yeah, I know. They lost the game and he was like, oh, that was a great game.

I was like, are you kidding? I would have been. Dude, we gave up 91 points. They wouldn't miss BYU. That's because BYU is awesome and they are 100 percent going to beat Alabama. The only reason. They wouldn't miss BYU. That's because BYU is awesome. And they are a hundred percent going to beat Alabama. The only reason- They scored 91. I was like, can they miss a shot? The only reason it was close. Any time we got a close, they're just banging threes.

The only reason it was close is that guy elbowed the Wisconsin player and the nerds. I know. We got that weird lucky tack and that put us back in the game, but like- And they ejected him. That guy was killing you. I know. BYU is really good. Did you guys see the graphic of where the top 80 And they ejected him. That guy was killing you. I know. BYU is really good. They are good.

Did you guys see the graphic of where the top eight players in minutes on each of the Sweet 16 teams started their college careers? Nowhere where they are now. Well, Purdue, all eight of them did. But for several schools, none of them did. Yeah. And like, I think like, I. And I think Kentucky had more players who started their career at Arkansas than Arkansas did. Yep.

Well, that's the thing. Well, do you remember the run that FAU had two years ago? Yeah. Do you know there are three of their players, ones at Michigan with Dusty May, one's at Florida, and one's at Arkansas? That's awesome. Let's see.

Florida has three players in their top eight minutes who started at Florida. Yeah, this is funny. It's the reason why, or at least people theorize, it's the reason why we didn't have much madness this year. First year in what, eight years where they didn't have a 13, 14, 15, or 16 seed win. Oh, maybe.

Interesting. Because they're all transferring out of those. See what, uh, you know, the transfer portal opens after the round of 32. Yeah, it's open. And JJ watt had a great tweet. He said, he said, uh, he's like, this would be a free agency started after wildcard round. Yeah.

That's crazy. Uh, Kentucky, I think 750 players entered the portal. Yeah, I'm saying, wow. Kentucky has zero players who's in their top eight in minutes, zero players who started at Kentucky. Whereas Arkansas has three. I think I switched that Arkansas has this factoring in freshmen though.

Probably includes them. More importantly, Jamie, is UF going to win at all? I mean, they definitely have a shot. I hope so. It's been a little scary despite dominating the SEC 20 just days ago. You always I hated seeing Connecticut. I knew Connecticut was gonna be Oklahoma. I hated seeing Connecticut around too. Like that was that was the game that was like, you know, I fear that one now, you know, tough with Maryland. I'm glad St.

John's is out. But Arkansas is no joke. So. Maryland looks like crap. Uh, I think Florida will get to the final four. They wouldn't play Duke until the final, right? Yeah, they play Duke in the final. I play Auburn if they get to the, um, final four. Duke looks quite good. All right. Let's go back to Dan's favorites.

Tony Pollard, number 22 running back overall number 22 per game in full PPR on pace for 276 carries, which isn't great, 44 catches, only five touchdowns, that was a 17 game pace. He did leave one game early with an injury, so maybe it's more like 280 plus carries. But yeah, you like Tony Pollard, huh? And boy, Taji Spears, 84 carries all year,

and 20 of them came in one game without Pollard. Yeah, I was going to say, I mean, if you look at the split, it wasn't what we were projecting or what some were projecting here when it came to Spears versus Pollard. I don't see that changing anytime soon, given what Pollard was able to do last year on a personal basis. And this is despite scoring five touchdowns, which kills your fantasy value on an offense with Will Levis, which is dead in the water or Mason Rudolph. And this year, everything is changing for Tony Pollard in this offense. First of all, they were insanely active in frequency on the offensive line. They brought in Dan Moore, which allows them at left tackle, which allows them to

move Jaycee Latham back to his natural position at right tackle. The things he can do in that run game at right tackle will be phenomenal, especially with Kevin Zeitler, one of the better veteran guards in the NFL also signing with the Titans. They just continue to invest in this offensive line for hall of fame, offensive line coach, Bill Callahan, working for his son, who is in my mind, one of the two or three best offensive line coaches left in the NFL. And the things they're going to do in the run game are going to be explosive. They're going gonna be interesting.

And on top of all that, Cam Ward, most likely going to the Titans at number one overall. Through your creativity that he plays with. I heard him do an interview at his pro day and I was so impressed by how he talked about, like, the first thing he discussed was watching a lot of NFL tape. He sees areas of the field.

The NFL plays a lot of cover two, they play a lot of cover three, they use these zones, they leave these zones open. So I think we're just going to see a creative and explosive offense that takes advantage of the intermediate areas of the field, challenging those areas, opening things in the run game, forcing safeties to play off the ball. It's all going to benefit Pollard this year in my mind. I think he's going to score double digit touchdowns in this offense. Yeah, I do. I think Kim Ward will hit the ground running their offensive line is

going to be fixed. If not one of the better in the NFL was already trending that direction. They have Callahan. And I think this is where we see Callahan, his son who's the head coach, start to really figure it out from an offensive play calling standpoint, there was always talent there. He did a good job in Cincinnati. It's very difficult to work with Will Levis. He's not an NFL quarterback and never should have been. It's even more difficult.

It's probably just as difficult to work with Mason Rudolph. A little easier, he actually has some quarterbacking skills for a pre to post snap processing standpoint, but Cam Ward, it's a whole different ball game. Well, here's the range that Tony Pollard went in in our draft last week. So this was round six.

We had Tyrone Tracy, Jaylen Warren, Isaiah Pacheco, Tony Pollard, Ramondre Stevenson. And again, it was Tracy, Warren, Pacheco, Pollard, Stevenson. Jamie, how do you feel about Pollard in that group? I think that's where he belongs. I don't disagree with a lot of what Dan said. This should be a better year in Tennessee based on if Cam Ward is as good as advertised, or at least just better than what they had last year, which is hard to say that's not going to be the case. Do they scare you from a passing-game perspective even with a better quarterback?

How much are they going to see a lot of stacked boxes? How much is he going to come out the field for Tajay Spears? How much is he still going to, I don't know if he's a feature guy. He's sort of been thrust into that role, but has he ever really been successful in that role? And so he had some good moments last year, but we know he struggled with it in Dallas and part of that I think was the injury. But is he more of just one of these guys that's better as the lead in a tandem as opposed to being a consistent 15 to 20 total touch guy and being successful in that role? And that's the questions I have about Tony Pollard. So I think he's a good number two fantasy running back.

I think he definitely has the opportunity to be a top 15 caliber guy. I don't know if he has the ability to get to, I know Dan's got questions on Bucky Irving and Chase Brown. I don't know if he can be as good as those guys. And those guys certainly showed the ability to be sort of potential superstars, smaller backs, but can still produce and obviously great offenses. And so if the Titans offense takes a step forward, then clearly Tony Pollard is gonna be a big reason why. Helping his quarterback and being the guy that I think Callahan needs and

everything Dan said about the offensive line certainly has the ability to hold true. I think we maybe overvalued that offensive line a little bit last year, especially with Callahan and his dad coming on board, just thinking that everything would be fixed. But I can see it being a 60-40 split and Pollard still being good, just not being great. But I love drafting him in this range.

So a lot of the guys that you mentioned, this is great for Hero know, here are be It's great certainly for zero RB, you know to get one of these guys, you know As your lead running back because you could see the upside for Pacheco I'll be south you see the upside for you know, Jalen Warren if he's the guy in Pittsburgh see the upside for Tony Pollard You know and we saw from Tracy, you know as a rookie with just a terrible environment It was a very successful fantasy option. So all these guys are great values in round six. Pollard may be the best.

There's no question about it. Cool. All right. Let's move on. Let's talk about some wide receivers here. Tyreek Hill is one of your favorites to draft. And let's take a look at where Tyreek Hill went. He went in the third round. Oh, he went in the first round. Oh my gosh. No. Yeah, this was a reach so but

This is not based on this draft. It's based on all the other drafts. We've done my play here All right, where do you want to see Tyree kill being drafted? Well, I've seen him drafted in our drafts much later than what you just said. I've seen him fault around three. Wait a sec We didn't take a break, did we? No. We gotta do that. All right. A little bit of a tease. Let's take a quick commercial break

and then we'll get to Tyree Kill after this. McDonald's new cheesy jalapeno and bacon quarter pounder with 100% Canadian beef is here. So if you crave beefy burgers with a pretty peppery punch and pickled jalapeno peppers pile in a perfect bunch, and if you plead please if a cheesy taste came in threes with cheesy jalapeno pepper sauce poured with ease, and if smoky strips of bacon make burgers better,

you'll love our cheesy jalapeno and bacon quarter pounder. Get this beefy, bold, bacon-y, melty mouthful. Only at McDonald's for a limited time. Are you crushing your bills? Defeating your monthly payments? Sounds like you're at the top of your financial game. Rise to it with the BMO Eclipse Rise Visa Card. The credit card that rewards your good financial habits.

Earn points for paying your credit card bill in full and on time every month. Level up from bill payer to reward Slayer. Terms and conditions apply. Did you know that Tyree kill went in the first round of our draft last week? Holy cow. I probably wouldn't include him on this list if it were just going off of that. But I've seen him go in round three and at the end of round two

for majority of our mock drafting offseason thus far. Is that correct? Yeah, I think that's fair. He was wide receiver, 33 per game last year. He played 17 games. It did not even get to a thousand yards. He is 31 years old, just turned 31 in March and you want to draft some Tyree kill. Oh yeah, I do, especially if, and I think he will drop into that end of round two, round three range, because I think things are going to get better overall for this Dolphins offense. I think we'll see them look a lot more like the 2023 version and the 2022 version than the 2024 version of the Dolphins, just given what they're going to do in the off season, what they have done and the health of these players. I think what is lost is when that

type of season happens with two going down, you're going to lose the rapport. You're going to lose the timing of the offense and you're going to lose the rapport. You're going to lose the timing of the offense and you're going to lose the feel. And that's exactly what happened with this dolphins offense. Now this is a little bit of pie in the sky for me. This is a little bit of market, you know, game theory, but I'm leaning into that. I'm not going to get Tyree kill at this cost. And there's just no player that I'm going to draft in that range. End of round two, early round three, that could win me a league like Tyree kill

can. And all I need to happen is for this offense to look more like it did for the two year sample size we had rather than last year while dealing with injuries, both Hills injury and two is injury. In addition to an offensive line that dealt with injuries of their own. Now I'm not sold on the additions that dolphins are going to make on the offensive line or that getting much better, but it can't get worse than it was last year. And it limited their entire offense. We saw Mick McDaniel have to do things that he never did,

feature John New Smith, go through different areas of the run game and use the running backs in the passing game. That's not how he wants to run this offense. He wants to run it like- Are you sure about that? That's the big question I have. You know, is, I feel like it's a great spot

for a bounce back for Tyreek Hill. But we talked about this a lot, right? The Dolphins said before the 2024 season, we can't be so reliant on the home run on the big play, we need to be able to kind of establish drives to keep our defense off the field, hit singles basically, and it didn't work out. I mean, it kind of worked. They were really much worse offense last year. That's partially because Tuah missed, what, five games? He played 11, he missed six games.

I mean, they basically were the same team. They were a bubble playoff team. They probably make the playoffs if he doesn't get hurt, and they probably lose in the first round. But, you know, I don't know that it didn't work for them. They just threw to A-chan more, and then they threw to John who Smith Moore. So like Tyrekeel went from 171 targets in 16 games

to 123 targets in 17 games. I wanna believe in him. I just, I'm really hoping they get back to featuring him more. Yeah, I think- I think- Go ahead, Jamie. Both can be true.

I think they could still run a similar style of offense and Tyree Kilken have a bounce back season. Now, will he get to what he was in 2023 and 2022? Probably not if this continues. But if you're looking at what his upside is and still what his talent level is and still I think why they're keeping him as opposed to everything He said it, you know his His exit interview if you will, you know in the final game of the season when he was saying he's out And his salary and all those things, you know, and whatever he may have brought in trade which still could possibly happen but I

Just think that if you're looking at a receiver that can get you probably 17 or 18 points per game Which I'm sure is something we would all take at this point for you know where you're drafting him You'd buy in all day long, you know, so I don't think he's gonna challenge for 2,000 yards Like was the storyline in 2023? I don't know if he's ever gonna get back to again that you know, 23 20, you know, 22 23 points per game type of guy. But like in round two, you know, we were talking about this yesterday at our Monday show, Adam, you know, AJ Brown and Drake London, I still would take Tyree killer or both those guys,

you know, so, um, you know, just looking at where, where they're at, like I said, with, with, uh, with Drake London, like it feels like last year was a ceiling, which was very good. You know, I think he's a borderline number one fantasy receiver but I don't know if he has that extra gear that Tyreek has and AJ Brown in his offense you know unless you're just fully buying into Saquon Barkley being a disaster and them having to throw the ball a lot more I don't think AJ Brown gets to that level too not they can't because he's certainly shown it but I just don't think in the Eagles offense he does whereas if Tua and Tyree decide to and Mike

McDaniel decide to like feature him a little bit more to the level that he probably deserves still, he could be that 22-23 point per game type of guy. So he has that, you know, again still in his back pocket, but I think I'll go a little bit lower. I think 16 to 18 as opposed to 17, you know, you're still getting a very good player in a in a round two range at a discount Especially if the dance point he falls to the end around two or beginning around three, you know Then to me that's a steal now, you know, Heath is not here to you know, give his point on this But I said this before which is true when a receiver at this age starts to show you a decline you stay away And so to what, you stay away.

And so to what level you stay away again, just depends on how far he falls in the draft, but you know, comparing him to Mike Evans or Devante Adams, for example, you know, two receivers were older than him. He started to fall off a little bit and those two guys have not. And so I'm going to, you know, sort of talk out of both sides of my mouth here with this one, because Tyrekeil 31, I still think he has that extra extra gear whereas I'm a little bit more skeptical that Mike Evans and DeMonte Adams keep it up I think Adams is definitely falling off I think he's not really what he like he still puts up some good raw numbers, right player versus production Yeah, I think there's there's a conversation behind there like Evans has got me and Evans has been freaking great

Adams is just I think he really benefited from Aaron Rodgers just being completely in love with him. But Tyree Kill, man, like we talked about this on Beyond the Box score. Tyree Kill is still killing people out there. Just didn't get the ball thrown to him. And then I'm reading now just an article from Yahoo, just his wide receivers coach Wes Welker. This article is from December 26th. Tyree Kill is dealing with his wrist.

He's got an ankle injury. There's always stuff as you get older in the league. So we knew about the wrist injury. Then Welker also mentioned the ankle injury. He said, what I see on film as far as execution and doing his job on a play in and play out basis, I think has been really good. Has been really, really good.

From assignment, technique, all those different things, he's been really good play in play out, but he started the year hurt. And then it got, right. Didn't he come in with a wrist injury? And then he got arrested and got worse. It was a rough year for him. Injuries and the quarterback situation.

I just look, it's not gonna be perfect. I don't think he's gonna read, get back to that level of being a top one, two or three overall pick, but I don't think you need him to be with where he's being drafted. You're also, you know, you got to that level of being a top one, two or three overall pick. But I don't think you need him to be with where he's being drafted. You're also, you know, you got to build in age, which is clearly a factor. And look, two was health, you know, so when you're drafting Tyreek, you know,

I don't think Zach Wilson's going to make Tyreek kill that much better as the new backup, you know, so you got to factor that into the equation. If you are going to buy into him that if two of them miss his time, it's going to be a disaster. All right. Let's go to DJ Moore. We got two more here. DJ Moore and Joanne Jennings.

So let's hit DJ Moore here who was wide receiver 27 per game last year. Yeah, we're running low on time. So I want to be quick with these. For me, DJ Moore is a scheme play. It's a play of, wow, look at the offense they're bringing over who most likely likely fits into that Amon Ross St. Brown role? Because I don't think they're going to go too far away from that offense. And I think there's a reason why they have that off like the why they've designed that offense through Amon Ross St. Brown. It allows things to develop differently in the running game and in the vertical passing game. So who's

going to fit that role? Is it Romo Dunze? Highly doubted. He did play some slot, but I believe he's most likely better on the outside. Is it going to be whoever they sign, whoever they draft? Probably not. I think it's going to be DJ Moore. And if DJ Moore is in that similar role, that's a role that has so much volume upside. And that's a role that has explosive play upside. You look at the tape of the Lions and you're like, how is Iman Robb St. Brown so open? Partly because he's really good at getting in and out of his breaks, which DJ Moore is as well. Partly it's by design. When you watch the tape, you see it. There are designs to get him open and it creates a lot of space and they put stretch on defense

in different ways that allows those opportunities for AR, for Amon Robb St. Brown. I think those opportunities will be there for DJ Moore. I think that I like what the Bears have done to upgrade their offensive line. They may even do more in the draft as well there to give Caleb Williams a little bit of time to find this. So I think we could be looking at a big time season for Moore. I think there's two things at play here for DJ Moore and I totally agree. First off, you're spot on. If he's a Monterey St. Brown in terms of opportunity and role, the sky's the limit. Maybe his best year ever, better than what he did in 2023 with Justin Fields

and how much he was featured in that system. But even if he's not, and if you're going to say, OK, this is now Romo Dunze playing the slot, and DJ Moore is now playing the Jameson Williams role, he's not Jameson Williams. and Penn Johnson is going to evolve. He doesn't have the same type of quarterback in Caleb Williams that he had with Jared Goff. They're different.

The offensive line while upgraded is not going to be as good. The run game, even if they get Gentie is not going to be as good, at least initially, so he's going to have to adapt. And this is what we'll find out of Ben Johnson. The offense coordinator can be Ben Johnson the head coach And just how he sort of takes the next evolution of him of his career, but DJ Moore is a proven guy that has sort of been capped more times than not and the hope is That Ben Johnson and a better Caleb Williams and a better offensive line and maybe this dream role opens up everything for him. So

Whether he's in a Ma Ross St. Brown's role or not, he's still gonna be better than what he was a year ago. Again, to what heights, that's what you have to sort of, you know, see, but if he is in that role, we could be looking at a top 10 guy. There's no reason why he can't do it if he's getting fed that much based on his skillset if Caleb Williams takes that step. And even if Caleb Williams doesn't dramatically improve, it's not like Justin Fields was that polished of a passer in 2023 when DJ Moore was north

of 16 points per game. So there is an opportunity here that if Caleb Williams, the prospect becomes Caleb Williams, the player that DJ Moore just benefits in such a tremendous way that he's an easy guy to target For me as early as round three like I love the upside for DJ more this season No, so again to tie in the guys that we talked about on Monday I'm trying to think the all the receiver comps. He's better. He's not Ranked as high as but he's not far behind AJ Brown and Drake London Not ranked as high as, but he's not far behind AJ Brown and Drake London. He's certainly behind St. Brown and Nico Collins, but he's ahead of by far the other two guys.

I mean, Harrison. You're not paying that price, Jamie. That's the key here. This is the play. Like you said you'd be comfortable taking him as early as round three potentially. I would be too because of all of the upside case you broke down and how, yes, there's downside, but there's fatigue that's set in with drafters when it comes to DJ Moore. They were building the breakout for a long time, including last year where he was boosted

back up boards and it didn't happen. And that's going to keep his price in my mind at least down. Now this may change if there's a lot of talk in camp about him playing the Amon Ross Saint Brown role. It's going to, things change fast in fantasy, but as of now, the price tag is just way too cheap for the upside, similar to Hill for me. And just to tie in the chat, you know, real quick, Michael just posted a question about what if the Bears draft another wide receiver that's certainly on the table. I mean, you

know, when you lose Keenan Allen, who's most likely not coming back, they're going to add somebody else. Now, what part of the draft will determine how we feel about not just more, but also Roma Dunze. But if we're talking about backfilling or, I mean, look, this is a franchise that took Vilas Jones Jr. and took him way too soon, as we are certainly finding out, they may not find the Allen replacement. So it could just be somebody that's filling a role. If if these two guys are locked in more and a doonze

I want pieces of that offense as you know, we broke down the mock draft. He took both those guys He took DJ more and room with doonze and as I said, I dropped a Caleb Williams thrilled about that So DJ Moore had a 7.9 yard a dot last year 7.5 that is ridiculous last year, 7.5. That is ridiculous for DJ Moore. That's the kind of thing that, you know, Wondell Robinson, I mean, he's not gonna be that high,

but these like little slot guys should have. DJ Moore should have an ADOT over 10 yards, which he's usually had in his career. From week 10 on, his ADOT was 5.7 yards. And there were some games where his ADOT was almost negative. They used him a lot on wide receiver screens, gimmicky stuff. This offense was not good.

It's gonna be a lot better. The only thing I don't agree with you guys on is I don't really care about this whole slot thing. I think we ran into this mistake with Devante Smith last year, where we said, well, Kellan Moore's got this history with slot receivers. Whoever they use in the slot is gonna be great.

Well, I think it just turns out that Kellen Moore's best receiver on Dallas and his best receiver on the chargers, they happen to be slot receivers. I don't think Amon Ra St. Brown was great because he was a slot receiver in Ben Johnson's system necessarily. I think he's great because he's freaking great.

And he made, you know, Ben. I think he's great because he's great, but I don't think those two things are mutually exclusive. I think from watching that system as much as I've watched it that is designed to create those opportunities for that slot role. Well, I- That was my point.

Like if he's in Jameson Williams role, he's not Jameson Williams. He's much better as a receiver, which will be much better as a fantasy option than Jameson Williams. He'll get more targets than Jameson Williams. He may not have made big plays as Jameson Williams. Clearly be much better as a fantasy option than Jamison Williams. He'll get more targets than Jamison Williams. He may not have as many big plays as Jamison Williams, clearly he's not as explosive,

but he still has the opportunity to be a difference maker, even if he's not in the slot. So I think we're all sort of saying the same thing. Yeah. All right. And then finally, Jawan Jennings. I got to tell you something about Jawan Jennings, man. We've talked about him a lot. Talked about the 49ers receivers a lot.

I spent like, I don't know, hour and a half on Joann Jennings trying to look through some numbers, splits with this guy on the field, that guy on the field, without this guy. I've gotten almost nowhere because they are gonna be a lot different next year, right? I mean, they don't have Debo, they don't have IU. Now, he had that big week three game

where he scored about 45 fantasy points. There was no Debo. There was no Kittle in that game. He had a half in week 18 where he had 10 targets. Josh Dobbs is in that game. No Debo. Josh Dobbs throwing him a ton. I don't know that I really learned much about Juan Jennings.

He's still a bit of a mystery to me, but I will say this about Jennings. He's not that young. He's going to be 28. Not that he's old, but he's going to be 28 in July. He's going into his fifth season. He was a seventh round draft pick compared to maybe Ricky Pearsall who's going into his second season was a first round draft pick. I don't know that I could take Jennings over Pearsall, but I still don't know. I'm curious to hear a case for Jennings because you like him better than Pears all. So go ahead Dan

Yeah, like I'm late years better than Pierce all even though I like years and loved Pierce all coming out of the draft and I think Part of why I love Jennings looking at the price tag. It's really unexplainable right now We're in my mind where he's going in drafts given the health situation of Brandon I you and the loss of Depot Samuel and kind of in my mind at least the uncertainty uncertainty of Ricky Pierce hole within this offense. Sure. He's talented player out of Florida. I liked his tape a lot, but he has not had a massive role in this offense. You know, who has had a massive role in this offense? Joanne Jennings. Last year he made our beyond the box core midweek show, Jacob and I almost every week for his yards per out run and his targets per out run. He runs that out route that they love to run. And those in breakers, those middle of the field in breakers and out routes that are basically the staple of the Shannon

system like I used to run them when I was healthy, even never used to run them. And that report that they have pretty in Jennings is by far best of the current crop receivers, assuming I is not fully healthy. Now I will put things into different perspective. We'll see what happens there. I'm still kind of skeptical of will he be on the team and will he be healthy? I'm operating under the guise of I'm not sure on either of those two things. As far as Jenning goes though, the numbers all look really good behind that, you know, what do they call it? Under the hood, when you look at kind of yards for outrun things of that nature. Yeah. I think he runs.

When you look at yards per catch and yards for target, it's very pedestrian. But if we do like yards per out, yards per outrun better. He was 15th best, I think among 89 receivers with 50 or more time. What's the price tag we're paying for him? So he's been around a seventh round pick. It's crazy to me for potential number one target, maybe. But how many targets is that? Right? Because like that had been about a hundred. You were drafting Ayuk and Debo in rounds two and three when they were healthy in this offense. We know this is an offense that's going to score a lot.

It's going to move the ball for a lot of yards. Debo ran the ball a lot. Jenny's isn't going to do that. I you to me last year, I thought even before the holdout, I had no interest in him because he had this huge year in 2023, but he did it on like 120 targets or something. Yes. So that's- In efficient offense. Yeah, no, it is very efficient,

but it's not gonna be great in PPR. So Jennings was on pace for something like 134 targets after the IUK injury. I can get you that exact number. He was on, no, he was on pace for 98 catches, 1,079 yards, six touchdowns on 145 targets. But in that stretch, she was only wide receiver 29 per game.

So, wasn't really like that great. And I can get into that in a little bit because I had been talking about that, Jamie, like the end of the season wasn't so great for Jennings, but I do think I can make some excuses. Now that's one thing I did learn this morning, but let me go to Jamie, your thoughts for Jennings, but I do think I can make some excuses. Now, that's one thing I did learn this morning. But let me go to Jamie, your thoughts on Jennings, you feeling it like like Dan is?

I want to leave my draft, if possible, with one of Jennings or Pearson. And the one thing that I'll disagree with Dan in terms of we haven't seen it from Pearson, the last two games were pretty special. Yeah. Not with Brock Purdy per se. But we did see I think the upside of what Pierce all has to offer. So to your point Adam in terms of pedigree, you know, Ricky Pierce all may be featured in this offense. The only thing I think that's still keeping Jennings as the potential number one is Dan's

point of him having been experienced in this offense. And they also paid him. So it's not like we're just looking at a guy that's playing out the string here until they find a replacement. I think they're probably comfortable waiting out IU knowing that they have not just Jennings and Pearsall, but also McCaffrey coming back, hopefully 100% and clearly George Kittle. So when all those things are working together, does Jennings have the high end upside to be drafted or worth drafting higher than, you know, the round six, seven range? I have them back to back in terms of Jennings and Pearsall right now as sort of low end number three receivers based on rankings.

But to me, that's, you know, almost borderline number two receivers, you know, just based on how many good receivers are on the NFL. So I don't, I don't think that they can't go into your season as starters, even in a two receiver league. I'd prefer to have them as starters in three receiver leagues with a flex. But I think they both have an opportunity here to be pretty solid options, knowing that to your point, we were drafting Debo and Ayuk very high. Debo's gone.

Ayuk may not be ready to start the season. There's the wild card of what happens you know if Ayuk is ready to go and you know do they sort of still view him or force the ball to him to whatever extent as The number one wide receiver. Kittle is obviously gonna get fed and we know what he's been like whenever Samuel or Ayuk has been missing so he could have a monster season and hopefully McAfee's healthy You know we're still talking about a 60 plus catch capital, you know, to spend on, you know, still adding to this receiving core. Uh, I would love it for Jennings and Pearsolve. They traded Ayuk, you know, so that's still potentially, uh, you know, out

there if a team wants to take on that contract for a guy coming off an ACL tear, so we'll see. Uh, but the upside for those two guys, I think is, is, is pretty special knowing that this is a team that's been in the game for a long time. And I think that's the biggest thing that we've seen in the game. And I think that's the biggest thing you know, out there if a team wants to take on that contract for a guy coming off an ACL tear. So we'll see. But the upside for those two guys, I think is pretty special knowing that this is still going to be a good offense. Brock Perry is going to lean on these two guys and their roles could really be defined, you know, whether Ike is gone or, you know, maybe out for the first month, month and a

half of the season. Yeah, you talk about the last two games for Pearsall and I just want to give a little bit of context. So week 17 was that shootout San Francisco, Detroit and amazing game for fantasy. Unless you had Juwan Jennings, Pearsall had eight catches, 141 yards and a touchdown on 10 targets. He had scored 28.7 fantasy points. Week 18, he scored 18.9 fantasy points at Arizona. Pearsall had six catches, 69 yards and a touchdown on eight targets. But in the first half of the game, Ricky Pearsall had six catches, 69 yards and a touchdown on eight targets. But in the first half of the game, Ricky Pearsall had three targets.

Jawan Jennings had eight. And I would say, no, Jawan Jennings had 10. Now Dobbs is the quarterback. But also, Jennings, one of, one of Pearsall's targets was his touchdown. It came with 21 seconds left in the half and Jennings had already been ejected at that point. So like when Jennings had not been ejected, I'm pretty sure the targets were 10 to 2 in favor of Jennings. I think I take almost nothing out of that because again, Purdy wasn't even playing,

Debo wasn't playing. But just to put things in context, you keep saying Dobbs for Jennings. They played together in college. So people know. Yeah. Even at the very end of the Detroit game when Purdy got hurt, I think they made three or four targets for Jennings on that drive, if I remember correctly. But so for Jennings, Ayuk gets hurt, I think in week seven, maybe week eight. The next week, Jennings doesn't play. Then they have a bye, and then Jennings comes back. He starts off with two huge games, weeks 10 and 11. 91 or more yards, 11 targets in both games. In his last seven games,

Juan Jennings had more than 67 yards in only one of his last seven games. And this had always been bothering me, so I kind of looked into it. What happened here? So one of the games got ejected at halftime. We talked about that. One game Brock Purdy missed and Brandon Allen threw for 94 yards. So I'm not gonna hold that game against

him. One game was the Buffalo game, which was one of the worst weather games of the year. I'm not gonna hold that one against them. The Miami game Brock Purdy threw for 142 yards pretty wild liaisers that yeah, go on. Purdy had a horrible game against Miami 142 yards. Purdy had a wild liaiser stat. Yeah. Purdy had a horrible game against Miami, 142 yards on 31 pass attempts. The two games that stand out. No, no, no, no. It's the Rams game, the Rams game.

He was terrible. The Miami game and the Detroit game. I don't know what happened there. Like Purdy threw for almost 700 yards in those two games and five touchdowns. And Jennings just didn't do anything. But this is the offense though. This is the 49ers offense. And they didn't even have McCaffrey.

But that's the thing though. It could be a three touchdown kill game as we've seen in the past. That's the type of offense that it is. We could see it be a two touchdown game for Pierce Hall and Jennings has four for 48 and four for 68 and solid day for an NFL receiver, just not a great fantasy day.

You know, so that's just the nature of how this 49ers off offense tends to operate when it's working. Yeah. But the other point is like, we have all these targets, but they didn't throw to their running backs last year. McCaffrey is going to take a lot of those targets away. So it's a big mystery. I hope so.

I mean, they only threw for 23 touchdowns last year. They threw 33 the year before. So that's gonna be a lot. That I think comes into play with, again, the offense being more efficient and better and maybe not the target volume that we look for, but the IU type season, you know, where you're still getting excellent production and more yak, which was gone from their offense last year for almost everybody. Yeah. And that comes back because defenses have to play them differently because the run game

is well, they threw the ball downfield a lot more, like a lot higher, eight, less Yak, still very efficient. I think they'll look, they last three years with Purdy Purdy basically started half a season 2022. They've been sixth in scoring, third in scoring, and 14th in scoring. If you had to guess, are they gonna be closer to sixth or 14th?

Sixth. Right. Sixth. Right. Especially Trent Williams. Get a piece of the offense. I just, I haven't quite figured out who it is for me yet. But that's the thing. It's like right now, you know, you're doing, you know,

best ball drafts are going on, you know, you're, you're, you're making trades. Like you want these two receivers. Yeah. Because barring something crazy, they're going to get opportunities. Are you gone? Hurt. No, Debo. Like they're guys, you know, right now. Jennings, again, contract enough to keep him on the roster and in a prominent role, whether he's the two with the three or the one. Piersol, same thing. You know, it's just a matter of will they run more three receiver sets or just keep it sort of top two with those two guys.

All right, we're going to end with this comment from Michael. He said, Dan kind of looks like a mini Luca. So let's take a look at the split screen here. Take the comment out. I think it's a great call. Dan Schneier, Luca Donjic. That's a bad call. It's a great call. I'll take it. I will take it. Yeah, man.

All right. Okay, well, thank you. Let's get rid of- Luca Dancich. Luca Dancich. Yeah, there we go. Love it. It's a new nickname. All right.

Just a little peek behind the curtain. We had to do some time moving because of Thomas' schedule and Dan's construction. And Dan said, don't worry, it'll be a short show. Yeah, exactly. The longest show we've had since the season. I replied with LOL. Not your fault, though. We got some good discussions here. And we did We got in some good discussions here and we did, you know, like this good Russell Wilson film review. So, all right. We had Russell. Thank you. We'll talk to you tomorrow within Mailbag on Fantasy Football.