Fantasy Football Today - LAST-MINUTE 2026 Fantasy Football Draft Guide | Sleepers, Busts, Breakouts & Cheat Codes! (08/18 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: August 18, 2026

We kick things off with the latest news, including Keenan Allen signing with the Colts (2:00), what Kyle Monangai’s injury means for D’Andre Swift (7:00), and how Jordyn Tyson’s injury impacts Chris Olave (8:50). We dive into our overall QB strategy (23:34). From there, we’ll cover the QBs we typically draft (31:02), along with our favorite sleepers (36:55), breakouts (37:55) and busts (38:40). Next, we’ll move to the RBs (39:20), including our favorite targets (49:02), sleepers (52:03), breakouts (54:20) and busts, before doing the same for wide receivers (55:30) and tight ends (1:02:23). If you’re drafting tonight or getting ready for your final 2026 fantasy football draft, this is your last-minute guide to the players you need to know and the strategies that can help you build a league-winning roster.

This is fantasy football today from CBS Sports. What a play! Can you believe this? It's a no idea. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Up to the races and he stays on his feet. It's just going to go the distance. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath.

I'm headed to have some fun and play some fantasy football. We're all feeling good and then Keenan Allen have to come along and mess things up. Sorry, that's a little bit harsh. But he's a good player who draws a lot of targets and we don't like that for the other guys for his teammates. Welcome to the show. It is Tuesday, August 18th. This is fantasy football today. Adam Azer with Jamie Eisenberg and Dave Richard. And we're going to do a little buy or sell with the news items. So we've got Kyle Monongai with an injury. We've got Jordan Tyson out maybe two months. We got Keenan Allen to the Colts. And we've got a lot to say about a good

morning, Dave. I am now officially a little nervous about all the Colts pass catchers that I was excited about before with Keenan Allen there. And it's not because of Allen's like explosiveness. He doesn't really have any left. But he's going to earn some targets. And I wonder, I really wonder what it means for Alec Pierce and his health. Yeah. Yeah.

Right. I mean, if Alec Pierce is just not healthy, then maybe this isn't a huge deal. Good morning, Jamie. I couldn't be. Good morning. I wouldn't worry about Tyler Warren so much, but certainly the past catchers. And if you look at the last three years for Keenan Allen or the last two years for Keenan Allen.

Ruined DJ Moore, ruined Ladd-McConkie, probably going to ruin Josh Downs. I think DJ Moore still had like 140 targets that year or something like that. But the bears, that was rookie Caleb Williams, bad offensive line, not Ben Johnson. They just stunk. But Keenan Allen, last year, Keenan Allen had a 26.1% target per outrun rate. That ranked 11th among 78 wide receivers with 50 or more targets. And he actually had a 35% slot rate, which is very low for him. Usually he's over 50%.

also he has 25 end zone targets in his last two seasons but also he's 34 and has been pretty bad you know just in terms of yak in terms of yards per catch all that stuff so all right first buy or sell oh by the way the main topic today after we get through the news and notes the main topic is a fantasy draft cheat sheet okay if you miss the position previews you just want a refresher things have changed since we did them with injuries and things like that we're going to give you strategies, sleepers, breakouts, players we avoid, players we usually draft, that kind of stuff for each position

in one tidy little podcast. Hopefully this is a podcast that if you only listen to one, this could be the one. You listen to more, though. This could be the one to help you out going to your drafts. This is the one. This is the best one. This is the best one. Wow. I think it better be.

I mean, feels kind of mean to say that when Heath's not on the show, but it's important show. Anyway, buy or sell, Josh Downs has a big Keenan Allen problem. Uh, buy. It's a problem. I don't know how big of a problem it is. Okay. So where are we drafting Josh Downs now?

Where were we drafting him? Where were we draft him now? Oh, I was drafting Josh Downs like round seven, round eight, you know, depending on how the board fell. Now round 10. Ooh. Whoa. Yeah, I was in round seven.

I docked him one round. Okay. Uh, Jamie, why, uh, so such a, dramatic drop. Well, Keenan Allen, essentially, if you look at it, he had Michael Pittman's year last year. And so I think that's kind of the not role per se he's going to play, but he's going to certainly do some of those things. And the hope was that Josh Downs was going to maybe lead this team or be second on the

team in targets. I don't think leading is probably fair, but that's probably Tyler Warren. So they kind of just negate each other a little bit. Now, the Pierce injury is obviously something to keep an eye on, but assuming everybody's healthy, Pierce is the one that does something different by comparison to these two guys. And so really, I don't want any of them at this point. You know, again, Josh Downs was somebody I was, you know, maybe over-excited about. But at this point, I just will probably either take the last one that's available,

which will most likely be Keenan Allen, or if Pierce gets healthy before week one, he's the one I have ranked the highest because, again, I think the ceiling is the highest for him. So they're all after wide receiver 40 for me. I probably just will take Tyler Warren shares, and that's the only cold. Colts pass catcher, I'll target on drafting. You said Pierce is the highest ranked for you? Pierce is the highest ranked Colts receiver right now. Yes, because I think, you know, first off,

Downs has been in and out of the lineup as well. You know, he's been battling injuries all camp also. And so, you know, again, if Pierce is injured for part of the season, then I'll be back in on downs. If Pierce gets back to practice, then he's the only one that I would consider draft. He's the one I would consider drafting first. But really, again, I just don't really want to target anybody in this receiving corps. I'm sure at their cost, you know, they continue to fall, then I'll be back in on it.

But if it's, you know, all three are on the board, I'm taking Pierce first. Okay. Buy or sell with Kyle Monongai going to miss several weeks, it seems, with a hyper extended knee. DeAndre Swift is a round three pick now, buy or sell. So I sell that. Nogai's out for the season, a different story. Yeah, right. He could be back for week one.

but does this change the value at all for Swift? Makes them more appealing to draft. I think what was ADP before? Round four anyway? About five. Swift, well, I've got them 30. Oh, way, that's non-PPR. Sorry.

Swift, 41st in PPR on CBS. Oh, interesting. And 50th on fantasy pros. Yeah, I don't think. That's kind of more of what I've seen. Right. I don't think it changes that much because it's not a, long-term injury for Monongai.

So I think if you're in that group of running backs, that probably starts with Chivante, if you want to put him ahead of that group, fine. But it's really like Quinchaud Jodkins, Camp Scataboo, Travis A-chan, Swift, maybe Bucky Irving. Like, you can easily make a case he's ahead of all those guys. Yeah, even when he was splitting with Kyle Menongai,

I think he was, I think he scored enough points to be over a full season RB 18 per game, which isn't great. So that's the concern there. But, you know, that's kind of the point in the draft where we're at. Close to it anyway. But without Monongai, you know, he would obviously be a lot better. But Monongai, it's a multi-week injury. It's not a season-ender, and he easily could be back for week one.

Buy or so. Jordan Tyson going to miss maybe up to two months with a hamstring injury. Buy or sell. Adam can't figure out how to feel about Chris Olive. Definitely buy. You have no idea. Yeah, based on the way you said it, sir. I think I'm going to sell it.

So I know exactly, I think I know exactly where I'm going to draft Chris Olavé right now. What I don't know is if he's going to, if he's going to be good enough there. But I think for me, it's like it's early round three. Jimmy, you were talking about it. Early round, I think you're like maybe even round two for Olavee. He's 25 for me right now, my rankings. Yeah, I got him 23rd. Yeah, I'm a little bit lower than that, but I still like Devante Smith better than him.

Because here's the thing with Olavé. He's never had major target competition. The most targets that anyone's ever had other than Olave on the Saints, well, when he's been healthy, because 2024 was a mess. It was 102 targets last year for Joanne Johnson. And last year he was wide receiver seven per game in a bad year for wide receivers. But he's had other years where he's dominated targets and he's been wide receiver 27 per game, wide receiver 21 per game. wide receiver 21 per game, and then he had a really bad 2024. And guess what?

The Saints, you know, oh, you probably think of Olave as this guy like Garrett Wilson, who's been on this bad offense this whole career. Not the case. They have been 16th, 13th, 23rd, and 10th in gross passing yards per game. So he's been on top half of the league passing offenses in three or four seasons. They've been 16th, 8th, 20th, and 26th in touchdown passes. And last year, oddly enough, was the only year he scored any touchdowns, basically. So I definitely, I'm going to take him ahead of Abuca and Flowers and McConkey and Garrett Wilson and T. Higgins and all those guys.

I drop a buca quite a bit. Yeah, I imagine. Yeah, he needs to be dropped. Got the toe injury. Might not be ready for week one. But, you know, I look like he's perfectly ranked right with neighbors and Devante Smith after like the more proven guys, I guess. Yeah, I mean, if you're looking at the screen here, basically the first 11 guys are most likely going to be the first 11 guys drafted. Right.

And then it starts to get questionable. So, you know, neighbors, if he's healthy, may creep into the top 12. Alave is going to be in the top 12 mix. Devante Smith's in the top 12 mix. You ask Keith, Zayflowers in the top 12 mix. You know, touchdown potential. T. Higgins is in the top 12 mix. You know, so it's really just kind of, I think the, that Dave says 23.

So 23 through probably like 27, 28, that group of wide receivers, especially as that next tier of running backs that we hit in round three. of Jacobs and Jeremiah Love specifically, but also Kyron Williams, and even Bruce Hall based on ADP, there's three major injuries right now that we're dealing with there. So it's kind of like, I know we're going to talk about draft strategy. I'm writing a draft strategy piece this week just about like you could segment the draft about how you start. It's very easy with two running backs, four wide receivers, a bunch of running backs.

It's easy to figure out how you're going to start this year. Very easy. Well, but the Lave, though, I think the question is, is he going to be great or just good? Because you could argue, he averaged almost 28 fantasy points per game in the fantasy playoffs. Weeks 15, 16. Well, if you just take the seven games, you talk about target competition. Take the seven games without Rashid Shaheed, right? So, Velae got hurt at the end of that.

It really was just Joanne Johnson. No Camara. And we know Kellan Moore wasn't throwing to his running backs really at all at that point. So it's the Tyler Shuck, period. So put that in one box since Tyler Shuck. starting role basically took as Tyler Shuck as a starter took over at that point Shehid gets traded I think it was a Carolina game

so the last seven games they didn't play week 18 I'm sorry a lot of didn't play week 18 so last seven games he averaged 9.9 targets per game and over 20 ppr points per game so if that's what you're hoping for well that'd be great yeah that's easily a late round two pick you know again with the mix of wide receivers that are in there you know so

Nico Collins George Pickens a J. Brown Rashi Rice maybe neighbors. That's the group you're looking at. And numbers-wise, he could maybe trump all of them. Then you get to, okay, like you said, what his history is, and it's a little bit questionable. And, again, Tyson's not out for the season. Yeah. You know, two months really is a month of the season. Right. Yeah. All right. Well, I think it makes sense where to take him at this point. I mean, you could quibble with neighbors, Devante Smith or whatever, but you got to put him ahead of some of the other guys going in that. And he has been ahead of them all along. And he has been ahead of them all along.

and this only bolsters the case. All right, what are we got? I got a couple more by or sell. I have one for you, too. That'll make both of you happy. You want to go now? No, no. Save for that.

Buy or sell. Well, why don't we stay on Malik Neighbors? Malik Neighbors, who's not running full speed yet, according to Coach Harbaugh, should not be a top 30 pick, By or sell. Sell.

Sell. He's an early round three pick. Buy or sell, Miami. You're getting closer, Jamie. Yeah, I mean, everybody else in round three is I know. That's part of the problem. Right. You can't take a Bucca anymore. Buy or sell Miami-wide receiver Caleb Douglas could be the steal of fantasy drafts. I had such a fun best ball draft last night at Best Ball draft last night,

where I took Malik Willis as my second quarterback and then got both Caleb Douglas and Chris Bell with late-round picks. That's fun. They're easy stacks, if you're looking at it that way. And by all accounts, Malik Willis, again, he's thrown against the Dolphins defense, but has looked good so far. I think in terms of Douglas and Jacoby Lane and Cyrus Allen and Malachi Fields, like, this rookie class is going to give you some good late round options. And so, like, if you, you know, take what I think everybody's approach to be, it's not going to work out for everyone. Like, when you start to build out your bench, these are the players that you're looking for,

high, upside, low floors. If they stink, you cut them. If they hit, you're great. Caleb Douglas is a perfect late-round target. you said 49ers wide receiver Dejean's stribling, right? I think he's kind of elevated past that group. I think he has too, but...

No, I said Caleb Douglas. Yeah, stribling. Right. You got it. I got you. And finally, Jamie's buy or sell. You both sent me emails yesterday about the same thing, and it's going to work out in your favor. So, Dave, you can buy being in the IDP league again,

and Adam, you could sell being out of it. Oh. Hey. Well, I could buy it being out of it. All right. Dave taking my spot in the IDP league. Good stuff. That's the league I've wanted to win my whole career.

I love the IDP league, but why do I not want to be in it? Because I'm in a lot more leagues this year, including. It is my white whale. Some that you can bid on in our draftathon page, which we'll tell you about in a minute. Let's take a quick break here. We'll finish up the news and notes and we'll get into draft strategy at each position. I didn't even ask you if you're drafting Keenan Allen, who had three touchdowns in his first three games last year, and then one. rest of season.

And also a James and Williams update and a Mecca Abuka update, Christian McCaffrey. And a big Parker Washington update too. Oh, what happened to Parker Washington? He's not practicing for a week with an undisclosed contract injury. Oh, all right. That's interesting. Le Quint Allen also out for the rest of camp.

And that's going to be interesting. Yeah, but you know who's taking his place. Who? Oh, my child. Your, Amir Abdullah? Amir Abdullah? Is he taking his place? All right.

He's going to get a chance to take his place. Well, I mean, that's just what one report said that. Amir Abdul just lies into that role. All right. We'll be right back after this on fantasy football today. My companion for this summer season has been Z biotics. Let me tell you why. Just headed out to a concert at Pier 17.

Howlmouth? What a show. I got home at 3 a.m. And I realized 8 a.m. tea time. What am I going to do? I got a big match. No worries at all. I took Z biotics the night before, had a few drinks,

woke up the next day like nothing happened, got to that course at 7 a.m., warmed up, and won my match. Zbiotics, pre-alcohol probiotic drink is the world's first genetically engineered probiotic. It was invented by PhD scientists to break down acetaldehyde, a byproduct of drinking alcohol. Pre-alcohol produces an enzyme that is designed to break down this byproduct. Make pre-alcohol your first drink of the night, drink responsibly, and enjoy your next day activities. Zbiotics has sold more than 14 million bottles and earned the trust of thousands, including us. Try for yourself today, and if you are unsatisfied, they will refund your entire order. No questions asked.

Head to Zbiotics.com backslash FFT. Code FFT for 15% off your first order. We're going to call a little audible here because I appreciate Dave and Jamie. They've given me control of the line of scrimmage. Let me make these audibles on the fly. We're going to do the strategy at each position before the news and notes here because it's too important. Let's get to it. Before that, though, draftathon.

Actually, we're only eight days away from our draftathon show. It's going to be next Wednesday, the 26th is our, I think it's going to be a three-hour show with all the best fantasy analysts in the industry plus us. And if you want to bid to be in the podcast, I don't think we have many or any bids to be in the podcast league. go to tiny URL.com slash FFT Donate, 2026, click on auction house and you're going to see all of the different leagues. There's an eliminated, I go through this every day,

but whatever. Just look at all the different leagues. There's a Superflex podcast league. There's a regular podcast league. Beyond the Box World Dynasty, Eliminator League, all this stuff. You can be in these leagues. You can bid on Zoom calls with us.

And also the tennis match now. You can bid on being on Team Adam or Team Dan. That means you're going to, if the highest bid, you're going to share a team with me or with Dan in the FFT League, the prestigious. Can somebody be on team weather because you guys are going to melt it? Yeah, I'll be fine.

I can't speak for Dan. That's your advantage, you say now. 100%. I don't want to get too much into that because I think people are sick of it based on the comments I'm getting. But if you want to join a league with us, we're doing this for charity.

That's why we keep talking about it. Be on team Adam, be on team Dan. If the highest bid shares an FFT team with us, a team with us in the FFT league, and whoever wins the match gets to do a pick swap, in the third round. Dave, there's something.

How about Dave inadvertently helping Adam? Why? Tomorrow in the future. What are you doing? Well, we're all going out to lunch. Dave suggested the place. We're going to get these greasy burgers. He knows that Dan's going to gorge himself.

Oh, yeah, I'm not eating. Dan's not going to be able to resist the double the bacon cheeseburger at Charm City. What do you talk about, Jamie? I'm getting a turkey burger. I didn't say you're going to eat something differently is your suggestion of the place. Yeah. Yeah, it's great. Oh, I'm trying to help Adam as much as I can.

I appreciate it. I need it. Hold on. I suggest it like a greasy burgers. Dan is coming with me to the healthy alternative. I'm sorry. Right. Dan's coming with me to the giant dolphins joint practice.

So he's going to be out in the sun, watching practice, sweating as you know what's off. On Wednesday. On Thursday. Thursday. Yes. Before he plays you in tennis. And the match is at 4.30 on Thursday. We'll be streaming at YouTube, 4.30 p.m.

Eastern. All right, Dave, tell us about an exciting opportunity in Vegas. This is right along the same lines of Draftathon, donations to St. Jude. I know a lot of people listening are high stakes players, your fantasy sickos. You're going to come out to Vegas for the draft nation party this coming weekend. If you're coming out there, join me out there because I will be there. And I am offering a, for the first time ever, a private war room before your draft. So with a donation to St. Jude, it's a closed door meeting. It's me and whoever else wants to donate to St. Jude, going over your leagues, going over the players that I love, don't love, as much analysis and information as I can give, maybe some surprise phone calls

along the way, and just a chance to kind of mind meld before you go into your drafts. There's also opportunities to do cameos with me from there in Vegas that you can show to the rest of your league. If you're drafting at Draft Nation, I can sit in on your league for the first four rounds of your draft, and just give running commentary and let everybody know who the good picks are, who the bad picks are. Just go to my Twitter page or X page, excuse me. And it's the pin comment. There's a Tiltify link. Donate to St. Jude.

And be there with me, Draft Nation, this weekend in Vegas. Thank you, Dave. That is awesome stuff. Last thing, we have a mock draft tonight, 8 p.m. Eastern YouTube. com slash fantasy football today. Please be there for it. It should be very helpful. And I'm sorry about all the promotion, trying to raise money for St. Jude,

and trying to tell you about all the things we have going on. Now let's get back to the show with our draft day treat cheat sheet, tricker treat. Yeah. Tricker treat draft cheat cheat. Perfect. Thank you, Dave. All right. Quarterback.

Jamie, what's their overall quarterback strategy this year? Remember yesterday I said, as of right now, QBADP is as I guess I'd say advantageous as it's been in years. Wait until you find somebody of good value. If you don't love anybody else in the board, that's a good time to consider quarterback as well. you do not have to reach for a quarterback in the first two rounds. Josh Allen will be the first one that comes off the board. So if you want Alan, you probably should target him early round three or in round three. But you don't have to reach for any of the top five or six quarterbacks unless you just feel like the value is incredible.

And I also think that strategy can bleed a little bit into Superflex and two QB leagues. You don't have to take two quarterbacks with your first two picks. I definitely like the idea of one quarterback with your first two picks. And then it's up to you. I think if you're okay with the depth of the position, you can try and get some good value on that second QB. The longer you wait for that second QB, the more inclined you should be to find a third QB,

just in case the second QB doesn't deliver what you want them to deliver. But anchoring your Superflex teams with a stud quarterback, just get one of them. You don't have to get two. Yeah, I think we need to do a bonus episode soon of like how to win your auction and how to win your Superflex league. David mentioned Superflex, but I know a lot of people, you're in auction leagues, you want one tidy episode. Here's how to win your auction league.

So we're going to have to do that. Maybe we can throw it in. Why don't we do it Friday? Friday, yeah, I mean, we could. We're supposed to do a mock draft on Friday. I'm not opposed to doing three shows on Friday, mock draft mailbag and auction slash superflex. Well, why don't we do the mock draft as a superflex? Then we can just talk through it there.

Oh, that's not a bad idea. And here's the thing. I didn't want to do three shows. I agree, except our mailbag is at like $2.30 or something. Oh, but we also have network on Friday. We have a draft show that way, mock draft show that we're doing. Yeah, yeah. Okay.

In Superflex, like, I'm not taking a quarterback with, if I had 101 in Superflex, personally, I'm taking Gibbs. That's how good I feel about quarterback depth this year. Like, I'm not taking a quarterback until four. Oh, okay. So I'm taking Gibbs, Bejohn, and Chase Over Island. And that's kind of new. I'll take Allen first overall in a super flex.

All right. I have Friday a Superflex draft, where I have the seventh pick, and I'm not planning on taking a quarterback there. So what are you going to do? You're going to go quarterbacks in rounds two and three, three and four? I'm probably going to read the board and see, you know, what's available in round two,

especially what happens in front of me and behind me in terms of the picks. But I'm not planning on a quarterback. You know, so the most likely option will be Lamar Jackson if things go as I expect, because most likely, Alan will be in the first five picks, six picks. So it's four points for passes touchdowns that also matters, you know, so keep an eye on what your scoring is. It's true. And so it could be Lamar Jackson in the first six. Jackson's probably the first quarterback that I'm looking at, though, and I'll probably pass on it.

But again, it depends on who's on the board. Okay. I just want to make a point for this conversation about just overall strategy is that I struggle with Lamar Jackson. If Lamar Jackson is available to me in round five, it's a no-brainer. I struggle passing him up in round four. Lamar Jackson averaged 30 points per game two seasons ago. He was arguably the fantasy MVP. He comes out last year.

He scored 33 or more points, I think, in four of his first five games, certainly in three of his first four games. That included the first game back from injury against Miami. And then it seemed like every week in practice, Lamar Jackson's. and hurt something else in his legs. I think it's pretty obvious why he struggled. It seems like he's really taken to the new offensive system and they keep putting weapons around him. He, to me, is the most obvious bounce back candidate in fantasy football.

And a no-brainer pick in round five for me, but I even think in round four, once you start getting to Scataboo and Judkins and Garrett Wilson and players like that, you know, it's hard for me to pass up on the Marjacks. And I always do because I'm happy to take Drake, Major, Burrow, Jane Daniels in round five. But good, I just, I feel like I need to mention how much I love Lamar Jackson this year. And I want to know if you guys are on board with that.

I am for sure. I started digging into the concepts of their passing offense. And this, take this with a giant box assault because I'm not sure if what we see in the preseason is always what we're going to see in the regular season. But it looked like an aggressive passing scheme. there were a lot of like intermediate and downfield routes that the twos were running for Baltimore. I'm pretty sure they don't have a playbook just for the preseason and that they're running plays that they're going to run in season. But a lot of intermediate dig routes and post concepts on top of that. A couple of tight end leak routes has checked downs.

I think this is going to be a good aggressive type of passing offense for Baltimore. And so instead of asking Lamar to make a bunch of shorter throws, he's going to probably be asked to look downfield. a little bit more. This is also a play caller in Declan Doyle, who's coming from Ben Johnson, who loves going deep and taking shots on second and short type plays. This could be a lot of fun for him as a passer, and we know what he's capable of when the pressure's on and he's got to run and he's going to pick up chunk yardage there too. So I'm with you on that, Adam. I think he's a great round five pick. I think it's kind of unrealistic to expect him to be there in home leagues. But if he's there in round four in home leagues, if you really don't like anybody else that's

on the board at other positions, do not feel bad about taking Lamar Jackson then. So just the last point Dave made, I don't think he's going to be there in round five in most leagues anyway. Right. But you brought up something out in which I think is what fantasy managers struggle with, right? So let's assume that it's round four, round five, whatever the case may be. And so Josh Allen's gone, you're probably, let's say you're on an end, right? So somewhere one, two, three, 10, 11, 12.

And now you're looking at what's in front of you, right? So you have your swing picks. So you mentioned that group of running backs. That's probably back end of round three, beginning around four. We're looking at maybe the four or five swing, if you want to go the other way with some of those players. And you know you still have two picks coming up, but the only quarterback gone is Josh Allen.

Is Lamar Jackson in such a tier by himself that you'll take him because you don't want to settle for Drake May or Joe Burrow or Jane Daniels? Or you just have to have Lamar Jackson, and then you'll take whatever's left over the other positions. Because I think that's where I think people, people struggle with. It is like, I love Lamar Jackson, but, or I think I need a second running back, or I think I need a second receiver, but. So, you know, it's like which, which, which, which are those scenarios frustrates you more? Right. And I don't think he's in a tier of himself,

which is why I pass on Jackson around four and I'll take those other guys in round five, or I'll just keep waiting. But I do think he's in a tier by himself in terms of upside. I think he has clearly the most upside at the position, including Josh Allen, although the way DJ Moore looked in week one, Josh Allen, or preseason week one, you know, maybe Alan gets a little bit more that upside back. But no one has shown that the upside of Lamar Jackson, in my opinion, except early career Mahomes. All right, so that's not even an opinion, by the way. I mean, it's just, it's just fact. So who do you typically draft at quarterback, guys? So for me, it's all over the place. But, uh, Herbert,

and Lawrence are the two that I, you know, if I'm targeting anybody, those are the two I target. Lawrence is someone I've targeted. Mahomes, obviously, and I've taken Mahomes in the double-digit rounds when he's there, even when I take. I've had a draft where I take Josh Allen in round four and Patrick Mahomes in round 12. I don't care if that's too good of value to ignore. But usually I'm waiting for a steal, a quarterback. I really like what Jamie said about waiting for value.

But I want it to be like a screaming value. I want it to be such a steal that I should be arrested for it. And as long as that's the case, the first time I see that in the draft where it's just a steal in my mind, I'm taking that quarterback. That's been Josh Allen in round four, Lamar Jackson in around five, Drake May in round six. And then the quarterbacks that Jamie mentioned, plus when they're there, Caleb Williams, Dak Prescott in like that round 9, 10 range after I've already built up my running backs receivers

throw a tight end in there. That's when I've been finding my quarterback usually. Yeah, we're at the point again with Caleb Williams where, He's now QB7 and ADP. You know, I think he's moved back up since our preview, I think. Going 76th overall on Fantasy Pros. He's QB8 on CBS, going 75th overall. And again, you just have to decide, like, is Caleb Williams that much better than

Brock Purdy 20 picks later, than Jared Gough, 10 picks after that, then Patrick Mahomes in that mix? You know, that's, I guess we probably haven't been taking Caleb that early, right? 75th. No. I haven't done a best ball draft in a while, and I took him last night because I started with,

I ended up getting Love London Burden. So I was like, I'm just going to stack Caleb Williams, and I took him as QB4. But he was QB5 based on ADP. So there's a lot of people that love him. Look, I mean, Ben Johnson comes out and says he wants to lead the NFL scoring, or set the scoring record.

There's not a lot of offense coordinators that can say I'm going to try and do this and have the potential to back it up. And it's not so much about his players, but his players are great. It's about that, you know, he gets a lead. He's not going to stop, you know, and this defense may be not as good as it was a year ago. So he has to score more. It's reason, you know, to go back to your DeAndre Swift, you know, comment.

Like, he may not come off the field in some obvious situations that they feel like he's the best running back at that particular moment or having the best game, you know, so what we saw last year with them rotating drives. But I think in the case of the quarterbacks, you mentioned a few names. and the consensus rankings don't necessarily jive with ADP because Derek Gough is not being drafted as a top 12 quarterback. There are so many good quarterbacks you can get after the top 12. Somebody, I think it was Jimmy in the chat, said Bonex being disrespected.

Bo Nex was basically a top 12 quarterback each of the first two years of his career. Kyler Murray, when he's right, has been a top 12 quarterback. You have Tyler Shuck coming off a strong finish, and every quarterback that Kellan Moore has worked with has scored 20 or more fantasy points if he's had them for a full season. So there's just so many guys that are just going later, Malik Willis could be the best running quarterback this year, and we know what that means for fancy manager. Stafford was the MVP last year and the number one quarterback, and he's going late.

So there's just so many options here that if you don't want to reach for one or take one early, or if you think, hey, that's a steal, like to Dave's point, that's a steal. You know what? Five rounds later, you may have a better steal and you may have a better bargain. So it's just, you know, it's about playing the board. It's about finding the guy you think has upside. It's obviously about tears. All three of us have written tears on the site.

Heath being the third one. Sorry, Adam. But Dave has tears. I have tears. I think Dave and I update ours probably a little bit more than Heath does, but they're on the site constantly. So look at the groupings of quarterbacks, not necessarily the rank list of quarterbacks, because it will help you out a little bit more.

There's bounce back potential for Baker Mayfield. Jordan Love may have finally a great fantasy season. Like there's just so much to love about this position that you do not have to reach for it. But you have to feel the same way we do in order to, go about your draft that way. You might look at this at our tears and go, I don't want Jordan Love and I don't believe in Bo Nix and Justin Herbert's just okay.

Like you've got to want. If you see the list of quarterbacks and you see these names on your screen and then there's six or seven more that you like, then you can definitely do the waiting and stealing approach that we talk about. But if you look at this list on the screen that starts with Josh Allen and ends with Brock Purdy and you go, you know, I'm not really feeling purdy and Matthew Stafford's going to regress. and not buying Trevor Lawrence.

I'm just saying some people might feel this way. The fewer number of names of quarterbacks you really love, the more inclined you should be to not try and wait and not try and seal a quarterback and take a guy that you believe in, but at least do it at a fair value. You don't reach for any of these passers. Shallower rosters, like maybe I always talk about I'm more likely to reach for a tight end in a two-receiver league

than a three-receiver league, but I could make the same argument for quarterback. I'm sitting there in round five, and it's a two-receiver league, I don't need to take that wide receiver there. You know, maybe that's when I... You know what I was saying, guys? Like, you're more likely to take a quarterback if you have to start fewer non-quarterbacks?

It's probably coming down to who you're comparing that second wide receiver too, but sure. Yeah, well, let's say you went two running backs, two receivers with your first two picks, and you're around five. Like, I'm not passing up Mike Evans in a three-receiver league, but I would maybe in a two-receiver league, you know, something like that.

Sure. So you're talking about, say Jane Daniels versus Mike Evans. Yeah, hopefully Burrow, but yeah, or may. But yeah, something like that. All right. Sleeper. I mean, I love what Pop's suggestion is, like, Gough and Malik Willis.

Like, that's fantastic for me. Yeah. All right. They floor, huge upside. Both guys could be top 12. Speaking of sleepers. Yeah, sleeper real quick. Willis is definitely on the list.

If Mahomes is going to go late, then, I mean, it sounds stupid to call him a sleeper, but he's on the list. Heath has made an extremely compelling case for Brock Purdy as a good sleeper. I'm not sure his ADP is necessarily sleeper conducive. And I keep leaning into Jordan Love as a sleeper. Just late round receivers with upside around him. I think the offense is changing enough where it will help him. Questions about the run game.

I could see Jordan Love having a very good year for Green Bay. Okay. Jamie, sleepers? Dave mentioned a few. Gough would be one that I would add. Kyler Murray for sure would be one that I would add. And then Tyler Shuck, you know, I'm a little bit less excited because of the Tyson injury. But, you know, again, all these guys are just available late. So, Bo Nicks, same thing. Like, these guys are all in that category.

Breakouts? Lawrence, hopefully can do it for a full season. You know, 30 fantasy points per game in his last seven or eight, whatever it was, you know, going into the, including the NFL playoffs, just absolutely monstrous. And hopefully Parker Washington's healthy. Brian Thomas is healthy. Like, could be the best talent around him that he's had and can still run. Caleb Williams, hopefully is the first 4,000-yard passer for the Bears.

There's plenty of upside there. And then I guess there's still some breakout potential for Jackson Start. Hopefully does well meshing with, with Malik neighbors. Dave busts. DART is where I would start. Just the ADP I don't like. We've already seen him have to leave to get checked out for a concussion in the preseason. Nervous about Matt Nagy as the play caller, worried about him replicating the nine rushing touchdowns he had just in his games last year and it was in the full season.

Can he make up for those rushing touchdowns with passing touchdowns? Of course, that's possible. But what about the rushing yardage, the edict from the coaching staff that they, They don't want them to run as much. If they try to take those spots off of that leopard, does that make them less effective for fantasy? And seeing him going as QB9 with a top 90 pick feels off to me. Okay. Let's get to running backs.

Jamie, what's your overall running back strategy? Try and get at least one in the first two rounds, if not two. It's very different from years past. but the drop off after what feels like a very strong top 12 at this point is pretty staggering. And so I'm not opposed to, again, to me, the draft is very segmented. First two picks should be the top two running backs unless you really want to take Jamar Chase in a three-receiver league or, you know, heavy PPR league or not heavy people, but just PPR league. I think it should be the first two running backs should be Gibbs and Bijon in some order. First two picks should be Gibbs and Bijon in some order.

then once you get past those four wide receivers, Chase, Puka, JSN, and St. Brown, whatever, already have them. It should be running back for the rest of the first round, maybe throwing CD-Land, maybe throwing Judge Jefferson, and then the early part of the second round should be running backs as well. So I would like to try and get two if I'm at the back end of round one, and I would love to get to if I'm in the middle of round one. It's just not always realistic because of how quickly these guys come off the board.

And it's a methodical reason, too, because NFL defenses, are kind of more open to teams running the ball and saying, all right, if you're going to get offense on us and you're going to move the chains on us, we want you to do it four, five, six yards at a time. We don't want you to do it 15, 20, 30 yards at a time. So defenses are trying to stop those explosive plays from happening. And NFL offenses are saying, cool, we'll just run the ball. We'll get in the red zone.

And then we'll try and make a touchdown happen. And that's kind of playing into why we're seeing a lot of multiple tight-end sets, because multiple tight ends can both block and run routes, so teams can be unpredictable with those types of formations. And running backs, this is the one part that gets me just a little bit squeamish. They've been moderately healthy as a whole over the last two seasons. And I don't know if there's necessarily something we can buy back into on that and why that's happening.

That's a little bit of science that I just haven't put a finger on. But we've had some good fortune as far as running back injuries go. and that's encouraged people to keep taking running backs. There's also this. Because teams are running it more, they're throwing it less. And when teams are throwing it, a lot of teams are spreading the ball around. And so there are fewer stud wide receivers. And Jamie just talked about the four wide receivers he would take picks three through six overall.

After those four guys, I don't know how many more there are with that same type of upside. So getting those types of wide receivers make sense. But once they're gone and you don't necessarily, you're not in love, with C.D. Lamb or Justin Jefferson, of course, you're going to gravitate toward this running back position where there are a lot of dudes that can get you north of 17 PPR points per game. Yeah, look, I think the top 12, which kind of ends at Ken Walker, I think. I'm doing a draft right now where Walker went one pick ahead of Amari in Hampton, but that was the top 12 at running back. It's not a bad idea to have two of them, as Jamie said, but you do come up with this issue here,

and we're going to talk more about this tomorrow when we look at how to draft at each position of all right, the first two running backs are off the board. Well, if I take Jamar Chase or whoever here at three and four, am I going to get one of those 12 in round two? And I tell you that, yeah, I mean, probably, maybe, but I don't know that you should, you shouldn't necessarily take Jonathan Taylor, whoever your RB3 is ahead of those first four wide receivers just because of it. And I'll give you, like, I'm in a 14 team league.

and I had the sixth pick, and I took Jackson Smith and Jigba. McCaffrey was already off the board. And in the second round, I took A.J. Brown Because the top 12 running backs were all gone. So it is what it is. I wasn't going to take a player that I thought was worse in round one just because I was worried about my round two pick.

But, Dave, my question for you is, what do I do now? What does the manager who had to start wide receiver, wide receiver, or doesn't feel great about his running backs after the first two rounds? What do you do after that? And then we'll tell you what to do after we take this break. We'll be right back on fantasy football today.

So if you've gone receiver, receiver, don't panic. There are going to be running backs in rounds three plus that you're going to be okay starting. But just make sure you're okay with them before you commit to taking two receivers with your first two picks in your draft. And this is just something that you need to do when you're about to. to go in your draft room. Are you willing to roll the dice on Josh Jacobs? Are you okay if it's Javante Williams, Kyron Williams, as you're running back one? Sequin Barclay or Derek Henry could be there too, by the way. Those would be outstanding RB ones if you've gone and you've taken two wide receivers with your first two picks. But I'm mostly okay with the first 24 to 25 running backs

in my ranking. So all the way down to the David Montgomery, Bachel Tutin, Jadarion, Price, range with Price back at practice, he might leapfrog Tutin. Let's see what happens with the Jaguar's running backs. But if I'm getting two of those running backs and maybe even three, along with two stud wide receivers, I'm okay with it. I think what it does do if you're taking two wide receivers with your first two picks, it closes the door on taking one of the stud tight ends and it closes the door on taking one of the stud quarterbacks because you need to address the running back.

I don't know. Yeah, I disagree on that. Yeah, like you could go receiver, receiver, then Trey McBride in round three, where as ADP is now and then come back with, you know, Scataboo and Swift, or something like that. Or if that, let's say Swift's off the board, let's say it's Scataboo, Swift, Judkin, somebody like that in round four, and then Bucky Irving in round five, would you be okay with that? So give me those names, just give me a team.

So the first two or two sub receivers, don't give me names. Round three is Jay McBride. Round four is who? You take your pick of Scataboo, Judkin, Swift. Okay, that would be Scataboo. And round five is Bucky Irving. Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay with that.

You're right. Yeah, it's not like bad. And the funny thing is like the rookie running backs were such a letdown last year, but that class, if we get good stuff from Scataboo, Judkins, Treviann Henderson, that could really boost this running back class of this year. I mean, the running back crop. So, yeah, I mean, you'll find value along the way. But those top 12, I think we're highlighting.

It's pretty good. Jamie, who are some players you typically draft at running back? maybe later in the draft? Take a lot of DeAndre Swift, aside from the top 12 guys. DeAndre Swift would be one I take a lot of. Quinchon Judkins is somebody else in the mid-group, mid-tier group, mid-tier number two group.

I end up with a lot of Tony Pollard, which I don't love, but the build that we're talking about here, when you, again, there's like a row of, you know, The first two picks, the three, four, five, six picks, and then seven through 12, like, you start to have to stockpile some of these guys. So it's Tony Pollard, it's Ramandre Stevenson, it's Rico Dattle, Jalen Warren. It's Judarian Price, if you're lucky, Bachel Tutin, if you're lucky. So you start to have to make a choice on Swift, Judkins, Scataboo, and then who you're going to pair them with, depending on how you build out your roster and where you are. Because if you're more in the middle, you don't have the luxury of going Judkins, Scataboo, back to back, or whatever.

you know, two running backs you choose of. I, in PPR, like, love taking chances on Gainwell and Rashad White just because I don't have it in front of me, but the number of running backs, like 40 of the last 60 and 40 last 58 and, like, 60 of the last 75, 40 last 65, I think it is, in the last five years that have gotten 50 or more catches

have scored 13 or more PPR points, and it's like 40 catches in that group has scored 11 or more PPR points. And you can just see an easy path to those guys being heavily involved in the passing game. But for me, it's always about leaving my draft with two or three of Jonah Coleman, Ray Davis, Mike Washington, Kamani Vidal, like these guys that are just high-end handcuffs, Marshaun Lloyd, you know, I'm going to leave out a few. But just any of these guys, like, again, build out your bench with guys that could be league winners if an injury occurs.

you know, so the Blake quorums are on the higher end of that. The strictly backup running backs are at the bottom end of that, but take those guys if you can and just leave them on your bench. And you should do that no matter what your early and middle round draft strategy is. These are the players that if they pop early in the season, you're going to be so glad you've got them on your team ready to go. By the way, there was a name that I forgot in the, when I was asking you about taking Swift, Judkins Scataboo in round four, and it's Travis A-chan.

Yeah, you love him. I do like him quite a bit. I think all the problems that you could have with him exist with all of the other running backs in that range. So I guess I believe in the Saints offense. And I believe in it more so than the Brown's offense. I believe in it more so than the Giants offense. I guess, yeah. He's, listen, he's priced right at this point.

He was a little overpriced after the signing, the first drafts that we've done. You put him in the mix with these guys. He certainly makes more sense. Okay, okay. So, yeah, so again, that's more reason not to panic if you don't love your running backs coming out of the first two rounds. Let's just do real quick. Dave, give me sleepers. Jonah Coleman's my favorite sleeper running back.

Loved what I saw in college at Washington, thought that he would be a good fit in Denver. And then sure enough, in the first preseason game, he gets in there. He makes an adjustment to his vision and patience. And then he just looks like gangbusters. And Sean Payton pulls him out and says, I've seen enough. I love the idea of drafting him, stashing him. Same thing with a lot of the other names that Jamie brought up, the Marshawn Lloyds, Ray Davis's.

I would add Emmett Johnson to that list after what we saw in the first preseason game. And everybody that loves Ken Walker eventually turns and says, well, who do I pair him with? Because I know that Kenneth Walker isn't a lock to finish the season. And right now that name would be Emmett Johnson. And I do think it would be multiple running backs working in Kansas City's run game. but I think Johnson gives them the most juice.

All right. For Sleepers breakouts. Have you not started Coleman with Pittman? Oh. I don't think he's earned it yet. Oh, I mean, he's everybody's favorite sleeper at this point, you know. So Jonah Coleman's performance took away a lot of good late-round value. You know, this is drafting early versus drafting late.

If you're drafting early, you've got a lot of Jonah Coleman. Now I think I saw Jacob posted on Twitter X. He jumped him up like 60 spots in his top 200. Like everybody's excited. about General Coleman. Right. Well, he's got a long way to go. I mean, he's the third running back on the team.

No, but the point would be is, first of, when you're talking sleepers, you're obviously talking about guys with late round value that have the chance to, you know, improve. But when you see what the talk is all about and it finally comes to fruition, like there's reason to buy into it. I'll just add, you know, some, a little bit more on the higher end. Kenneth Gainwell, again, I think he's going to have a pretty significant role catching the ball for the bucks.

and you've heard me say this name a billion times. Jordan Mason. I still think he's going to be the best running back for the Vikings. All right. So the rule now is we're going to have to just do for Sleepers Breakout Bus going forward. Just give me names. And I'll just defer everyone back to a referral. Sure, we'll follow your rules, sir.

Refer everyone back. Yeah, not just my rule. Refer everyone back to the position previews if you want a little bit more in-depth. Jamie Bus, Breakouts, Breakouts, his names. The guys at the top that I think are the most obvious, Ashton Genti, Marienhampton, Ken Walker, I think they're all going to have their best seasons to date. Just great opportunities, big-time roles for them.

Judkins, Scadaboo, those type of players, you know, when you get to the middle-round picks, I think those are just the three or four or five obvious ones. Would you rather have at this point, Bejel Tootin or Jonathan Brooks? Tutton. Tudin based on ranking, I still think Brooks based on cost. Dave Busts. Brees Hall has been on my list now that. that he's hurt. Same thing with Jeremiah Love. I think we have to mention Christian McCaffrey,

all the stuff that we've mentioned for months about workload, mention his age, and now the tightness costing him some time. I know that Jamie and Heath have moved him down their rankings. I will follow suit if he continues to miss time. And it does sound like there is an injury and that it's not a contractual thing. Okay. Let's get to wide receivers, Dave. And you can kick it off with the wide receiver strategy this year. I think this is where you actually start when it comes to figuring out your draft plan, or at least like the genesis of where you might go with your draft plan, is how you feel about the wide receivers, like the first five tiers of wide receivers,

the studs at the top, if you look at the ones after that and you go, I'm not sure about Justin Jefferson, and you feel that all the way looking through Ameca, Bucca and Tetero-McMillan and their breakout candidates, but you're not buying into them. I think the fewer wide receivers that you want to have on your fantasy team, the more you should go after that position. And hopefully you've got to pick in the first half of round one to do it because a lot of those receivers won't be there. I do think the depth at the wide receiver position is really good. You can find a lot of guys that should average north of 11 ppr points per game all the way up with upside to hit 16 plus ppr points per game.

And I really feel like that's it. There are some late round guys, but as I said during the running back talk, I'd rather have a bench full of running backs to begin the year than a bench full of wide receivers. Do you think it's a fair statement to say rounds one and two? I know this is a repeat of what we've done in the past, but that's what the point of the show. It's fair to say rounds one and two, running back feels stronger, rounds three, four, five, wide receiver feels stronger? Yeah, especially. Yeah. Yes.

Yes. There's no doubt. And there's always exceptions. There's always exceptions, but that's not a bad way to at least approach your draft. I mean, we might be at the point where round six is stronger for wide receivers too. It just makes sense. I mean, there are more wide receivers on the field. They do more, you know, they catch passes.

You get points for that in most leagues, whether it's half or full. Jamie, what do you want to add about wide receiver strategy? I think it kind of ties into the running backs, again, depending on where you pick. You know, so if you're picking in the three through seven spots, three through six spots, you should kind of anticipate starting wide receiver, wide receiver. You want to see if the Barclay, Henry Walker, Trio is really the one that falls. Maybe Chase Brown, if you're looking at whatever ADP, maybe it's Hampton. It's great if you can get, you know, Pooka Nakua and Ken Walker to start your team.

Pugua, Sakewon, Barclay, start your team. Love that. But I think you've got to go into the mindset of I'm probably starting wide receiver, wide receiver, and understanding, like we talked about, you don't have to reach for running backs. You can sort of even take a third wide receiver and still be really good. Or McBride, you know,

depending on how you want to build it out. I think if you're picking at the back end of the first round and you want to go running back, running back, you kind of just alluded to it. Rounds three and four, the wide receivers are still going to be great. And so, you know, the injuries are not ideal, but they're pushing some guys down. You know, you're getting Devante Smith now back end of round three.

Mecca Bucca is going to fall into round four. Luther Burden is in round four. You know, so I think that's still really good players that don't have long-term injuries that should be okay. You know, again, Abuka's a little tricky right now. Burden's a little tricky right now. But, you know, as long as they're right, they're still just as much upside. Garrett Wilson's in this range.

T. Higgins falls to round four in a lot of drafts. You know, depending on how you feel about Jalen Waddle, DJ Moore, you know, those guys, you could reach for them a little bit earlier depending on how they go. You know, so it just, for me, like, I don't want to, I'm never going to panic at this position if I start running back, running back this year because of what's available to you, especially where you're picking, the receivers are getting rounds three, four, and even five. I think this is where you could make or break your draft. So I want to ask you which wide receivers make sense to you in round three? When you look at this list, and even if you're just listening to the show, you don't need to see the list because Dave and Jamie will call out the names. Obviously, Chris Olavie, he's not on this list.

He belongs in round three, maybe even late round two. but tell me who on this list belongs in round three, Dave. And by the way, sorry, 12 team league, say half or full PPR. Who belongs in round three? Looking at the list right now, I see Zay Flowers on that list. I think he's more round four than round three. Devante Smith, certainly in round three. I still think, do I think a book is in round three anymore?

No, I don't think so. give me T. Higgins, give me Garrett Wilson, give me Jalen Wadl, and Ladd-McConkie, I think, belongs in full PPR. Maybe half PPR. He does not. And Malik neighbors.

You didn't say Malik neighbors. I didn't say Malik neighbors, but absolutely. Neighbors belongs in round two. Jamie, who belongs in round three? Alave, Neighbors, Smith, Flowers, and Higgins and Wilson.

That's it. Who belongs in round four? McConkey, Abuka, DJ Moore, Waddle, McMill, Macmillan, Abuka now, and Terry McClorn. I hate that Abuka's in round four now. Yeah, you have to be caught. I still think he's got breakout potential. Who's around for him? Sorry, who did I leave out?

No, no, no. You said Abuka actually twice. Dave was piggybacking off. He doubled down on Abuca. Oh, I'm sorry. Luther Burns is a round four pick. Okay. I love the round five value right now of some of the older guys.

I mean, like Terry McLaurin and Devante Adams, and I think Mike Evans is actually a round six pick right now. I think it's great value for those guys. Jameson Williams goes in round five. We don't, we think maybe more of like an early round six, late round five, early round six for James and Williams. He's got a shoulder injury, it seems minor. You got a Dunezay that should be in there.

You have Christian Watson that should be in there. You know, those are two guys. And if he's healthy, I think Parker Washington belongs there too. I agree on Washington. I agree on almost all these names. It's almost easier to ask who doesn't belong. And that's the beauty of this position based on how we see it. And if, you know, there's going to be people out there that are going to be skittish on

McMillan with Bryce Young throwing to him, Ibuka because of the injury, plus it's Tampa and they underperformed after the start that they had last year. Burden with his injury. If you see these names and you're not buying in, okay, that tells you exactly what you need to do, a wide receiver. And that's go after them early. But if you're like us, we see all these names and we feel pretty good about most of them,

you can wait a little bit on maybe your second wide receiver, not necessarily your first. Dave, sleepers, names? I'm rolling down on my rank list. Casey Concepcion had the great preseason game, but I've loved him since the draft process. I still like Jalen Coker as a sleeper, Matthew Golden as a sleeper, DeJohns Stribling, combination of what he showed in the preseason game, what he showed in camp, and all the old guys in San Francisco makes me excited to get him. Let's throw Jaden Higgins, Rashid,

and only in full PPR, Malik Washington with the Dolphins as a sleeper. Excellent. Jamie Breakouts. Zay Flowers, Devante Smith, the high-end guys, I think they have career seasons, so those are two that I think you should gravitate toward. Parker Washington, I think, builds off what he did last year. Christian Watson, I think builds off what he did last year. Burden and Abuka still have breakout potential, but hopefully they're healthy.

I would add Jalen Waddle with a new role, new outlook in Denver, back at practice, very excited about his year. Yeah, just don't reach for him, though. Yeah, I've got him at the three-four turn. You're going to say that that's a reach. Yeah. Yeah. But if he's the best name left on my receiver list and I need a receiver, I don't hesitate.

I'd take him. I'd take McConkey over him. Me too. Yeah, I've got him one spot ahead. One spot ahead? Okay, that's fair. spot. That's it. McConkey, I guess, would be one of my breakouts. I'm about to talk about my all-in team on FFT

Express. Busts, Dave, just names. I'm nervous on Rishi Rice. I don't know what his ADP is. It doesn't matter. I'm nervous on him. James' ADP is starting to come closer to where I would draft him. Carnell Tate. I'm getting cold feet on. D.K. McCaff, I've had cold feet on all offseason. I'm starting tomorrow's show with Rishie Rice. I just, I don't get it. it's just he's not looking good physically. I don't get it.

I don't care about the other stuff. I will happily debate that with you guys. Good. He's falling, which is unreal. Like, you know, we were talking about him at one point when it seemed like everything was okay as a late round one pick. Now you're getting him in some cases in round three.

Like, sign me up for that all day long. Yeah, I'm looking at NFC ADP in the last five days, 54 drafts, and Rishie Rice is going in the early parts of round three. Yeah, that's right. That's right about where I'd draft him. Yeah, I would take him later. I still take him over Alave and neighbors happily. Yeah, I mean, I love A.J. Brown, but I think Rishie Rice has been so much better than

AJ Brown in recent seasons. I do take Brown over him because you guys have gotten in my head that Rishie Rice is a bus, but I'd like to talk it out tomorrow, and we will. Let's go to tight ends. Tight end strategy, Jamie. I think you should look at Brock Bowers, assuming this neat situation that seems to scare some people from yesterday, but there's been nothing reported about it, but showed up with a brace on. Take him in round two. I think he's going to dominate the position in terms of targets and have a

career season. May run away from the field, like what we saw from Chairman McBride last year, but I hope McBride is still just as good. McBride's an early round three pick. Loveland's a late round three pick. Tyler Warren's a round four pick. And then after that, it's kind of pick your poison. You know, so Leporta, Kraft, pits, those are the next three tight ends. they'll come off the board. Then it's kind of fanning on an island by himself. And then you have the likely old duo of Kittle and Kelsey. And I guess basically it's kind of the strategy would be is if you want to get in on somebody

early, you've got to pick which of the first four guys you want to take early. Browers round two, McBride, round three, Lovelland late round three, round four, or Warren, round four, round five. And then it's kind of just, I think, wait. You have to decide whether or not you want to have an advantage at tight end because you have to pay up for that advantage. I think it's worth it if catches count. And I mostly agree with Jamie on basically the general tiers of these tight ends. I'm not ready to walk away from Trey McBride as one of the best tight ends in fantasy.

I don't think much has changed in Arizona to the point where he's going to fall off a cliff. I think the target differential between him and Bowers is going to be a lot closer than it was last year. But I still see him as the best option, especially in the red zone for Arizona. And this is still a team that's going to be chasing. points a lot. Their defense does not look good on paper. And I could see McBride continuing to lead the Cardinals, targets, catches, and touchdowns this year. Yeah, Bauer's going 28th in CBS ADP. I'm not sure I would expect that. He's going. No, I would agree. Yeah, he's going, because Jamie even said round two, 23rd on fantasy pros, last five days on NFC average reposition, 20th for Brock

Bowers. So don't sit there going, I'm just take Brock Bowers in round three. You're probably not going to get the chance. Oh, you know who you'll get, though, is McBride, because there are more people inclined to take Bowers first than McBride, which I think is a small mistake. If I'm getting McBride in round three, I'm thrilled with that. This position's really tough for me this year. I really like it. And if you miss out on both of them, Colson Loveland is right there in late round three to early round four. And I think he's got potential to be the best tight end in fantasy. Yeah, especially with the burden injury and burden might be ready for week one, but I don't know if that's just one of these things where is burden just going to be hampered by it?

Because is it a hamstring? What was the? Groy. Groy. Groy and hamstring, they're different. But you think about A.J. Brown, who had a preseason injury and wasn't the same until the second half of the year. And I just, it helps Loveland, I think. But also, I don't know how many targets he's going to get. Is he going to get 120 targets? because yeah okay i hope so because if you want to average 14 points what every everything that i've

read and heard out of chicago suggests that he's going to be a big differentiator in that offense he had a very good chance he leads that team in targets like all the receiving categories i hope so but but if you want to get 14 ppr points per game you pretty much need to average seven targets per game which is 119 i believe he did that in the second half of last year I mean, the last five games is averaging 10 times. But again, O'Donze, well, Moore was there, but O'Donzee wasn't really there. Burden wasn't playing its full role. So, all right, anyway.

DJ Moore was there. Yeah, he was. And I love what I'm seeing out of the Bears offense this year. I don't love the injury to Burton. That sucks. But I think one's legit. I think what I'm loving is that there are so many spots in the draft where I'm going, I kind of like the tight end.

value here. So it doesn't force me to take somebody early if I don't love the value. It's like, you know, it's not like, oh, man, I feel like I have to take McBride. So, yeah, there's just a lot of good value throughout the draft. It's why I, I'm sorry to interrupt you so many times. It's why I cringe when I see people taking tight end, like 15th overall, 18th overall. Like, that's reaching, in my opinion. Once you get past 20th overall, I think you're good. I was just saying that Dallas Scott are going 85th overall in CBS is not one of those great ADPs. He's, he's good value if he's going in the hundreds, but not 85th. But you know what, though, we may just be swimming upstream on this one because, like, here we are saying, like, if you just think about

the first seven guys, right, McBride should still be very good. Bowers has a chance to be better than he was. Love one has a chance to do what he did last season over a full year. Warren has a chance to do what he did the beginning season over a full year. LaPorteur, New Quarter, coordinator plus. Pitz's new coordinator plus. Tucker Kraft, if healthy, could be awesome. And then you start to get into the question marks. Well, Dallas Goddard got a plus. Yeah, I know. And we're downgrading him. Yeah. Like, you're taking away their best receiver. And we're like, oh, no, he's not a good value. I agree. He shouldn't be going ahead of these other guys. But there's really a strong case for him to be in this mix, for sure. Oh, he, he's definitely a guy I'm

comfortable with as my tight end is I just think he should be something like 12th, not What is he going eighth here? Yeah. Right. But look at the three guys after him. Kittle may not play week one, and we don't know when he's going to be healthy. Likely, just got all kinds of bad news based on what the first preseason game looked like for him. I don't buy it.

I don't believe that. I don't buy it either. But again, you know, we're talking ADP here, right? This is where people are drafting these guys. And Kelsey's 36. And look, he had a great move in practice yesterday. I don't think anybody's excited to draft him. So those four, you could just really flip all over the place, depending on who you like.

Yeah. Okay. But after that, you know, if you don't get a top 12 tight end, you could, I think Juan Johnson certainly comes into the equation here. Definitely does. For early season anyway. Kincaid. Mark Andrews. Jake Ferguson could be good.

But it's like it does seem like, it seems like conveniently there's 12 that, I don't know, does I feel that way to you? There's like 12 guys that you feel comfortable with as your start week one. That's a good way to put it. And there are, in previous years, there's been a bunch of tight ends that we could look at and say, Oh, yeah, you can get one of these guys with a late-round pick. I feel like that list is shorter this year. Shulton Henry were great last year. Johnson was great last year.

You know, Gaston had his moments last year. Ferguson had his moments last year. You know, there's going to be a handful of these guys that, you know, pop up and, you know, Colby Parkinson, AJ Barner, you know, guys that we don't really expect. I think Terrence Ferguson is one worth keeping an eye on because it sounds like he's going to be the third option in the passing game behind the top two receivers and now Puka dealing with their groin injury. Like, that's somebody I think can be really fun.

So which tight ends do you guys draft the most? I take a lot of Leporta and Kelsey and Kettle. Kraft? Okay. And Kraft, yeah. And what round for Leporta and Kraft? If he's still there in round six, it's easy for me for Leporta. Craft is also around six.

But I would take Leportar in round five if I have to. Right. I agree completely. I've found myself getting a lot of McBride and Loveland in that late round three slash early round four range. I can't pass up one of those guys. Okay. And who do you avoid?

Fanon. The case is starting to grow on Fanon as a bust. 100%. To the point where I may stop calling, oh God, Heath is going to have a field day with this, where I might not put pits on the bus list. said Fanon's there because Pitt's ADP is starting to settle into the mid-70s, and that's where I've got, I've got them in the late 70s in my rankings. So it's just a lack of confidence in that Kittle Kelsey Goddard group,

Fannin feasibly losing targets overall to Concepcion in Boston. I think that makes people nervous. Plus the quarterback situation in Cleveland isn't great. He's going to have to make up for it in the red zone. I'm not ready to rule that out for Fanon, but I'm not as excited to draft him as I was a month ago. Sleepers, Jamie? I guess we can't call Goddard that.

Andrews is still, I think somebody's going to be involved. I haven't heard much buzz about it, but Declan Doyle's history is coaching tight ends, and hopefully that matters for Andrews, especially after what still doesn't make sense, letting likely walk and keeping Andrews at their ages. is Joanne Johnson now with the Jordan Tyson injury. Greg Dulchitz could still be a big factor for the dolphins in their passing game.

And then Terrence Ferguson, I think, is somebody you want to put on your list. Breakouts? Oh, sorry. I put Kincaid ahead of Johnson and Dulcich. Oh, yeah. I mean, I was going to leave him for breakouts, but yeah, sure. I would draft Juan Johnson over Kincaid. I get it.

Just if I need someone early, I think full season, it'll probably be Kincaid. But he didn't play that much in preseason week one, is basically what we've always seen from Dalton Kincaid. I hope that changes. I don't know if they're going to play their starters again to the rest of the preseason, but he didn't have that like full-time role. Yeah, I wouldn't expect him to have that full-time role. And he's certainly going to be touchdown dependent like he was last year.

But we know that his game, if they're going to throw more and he's going to see an uptick in targets, even if it's one target per game, that's potential for him to have more games of good fantasy production, call it five for 60 in full PPR, without needing a touchdown to get it done. Dave, breakouts. Well, obviously, you can take the second year tight ends, Loveland and Warren. Fanon, probably not as much as before.

I think Isaiah likely is still prime for a big breakout. That's the list for me. Jamie Busts. Fanon would be one. I don't want to say Goddard as Price, but Goddard is a little concerning. and then Kittle is somebody that could be a little squeamish for some people, but I still think he's fine based on his cost.

Do you think Trey McBride will be a bust? Not at his ADP. You know, as tight-in one, yes, you know, but that's really nitpicking. But if you're getting him in early round three, no, that's the perfect spot for him. Okay. Well, I'm going to end the show here. We'll catch up on news and notes tomorrow. I also want to ask you guys about kicker and DST strategy because people still play with those positions.

So we will talk briefly about that. We'll talk about Rishi Rice tomorrow morning. And that's it. Thanks for watching and listening. Talk to you tomorrow on Fantasy Football Today. On podcasts. Hello and welcome to Pluto Fo. If you know the name of the movie you'd like to see,

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