Fantasy Football Today - Mini Camp Mailbag! Your Biggest Questions, Answered! (06/18 Fantasy Football Podcast)
Episode Date: June 18, 2026Join the FFT crew as they tackle questions from listeners & viewers on some of the hottest topics in fantasy football. The guys start with recapping their 12-team PPR mock draft from yesterday (3:...00) before some news and notes (12:40). Getting into the mailbag, we talk running back rankings (21:50), fantasy punishments (32:04), drop rate impact on QBs (41:30), keeper questions (45:40) and more! Have something you want to ask FFT? Email us at fantasyfootball@cbsi.comFantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcastsWatch FFT on YouTube SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on AppleFOLLOW FFT Dynasty on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2aHlmMJw1m8FareKybdNfG?si=8487e2f9611b4438&nd=1
Transcript
Discussion (0)
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.
It's mailbag time.
Welcome to the show Thursday, June 18th.
And we don't have Dan.
Mailbag without Dan.
Dave, you have to beat Dan today.
Dave, you have to be Dan today?
Dave.
Hey, Jamie.
Hey, man.
We have fake, fake day.
I don't know what he's doing.
What's the, what's the bit here?
You were talking to me, weren't you?
Yes, I was.
Yeah, yeah.
I had a IFB.
You're Dan.
I'm Dan.
Hi, everybody.
You nailed it.
You nailed it.
Good job.
We're off to a roaring start.
No, there's something wrong in my IFB, and I couldn't hear you.
What did you say?
I said, you have to be Dan today.
I thought you were doing some type of bit.
I was. No, I wish I was.
That would have been funny.
But no.
Not, not Dan.
Not yet.
All right.
Yesterday we did a 12-team PPR mock draft.
We'll give one thought from each of us on that draft.
We'll go through the news and notes,
and then we'll read your emails at fantasy football and at cbsi.com.
Fantasy football at cbsi.com.
I don't think is your type and cbsi.com.
We have questions about what it takes to be a number one wide receiver,
sleeper running backs.
Some keeper questions.
Oh, good question about drop rates
for Trevor Lawrence and Bo Nix.
They were among the worst in the NFL.
Not them.
Their teams were among the worst
in the NFL and drop rates.
The only quarterback who had a higher drop rate
than those two guys, Lawrence and Nix,
was J.J. McCarthy.
But let's start with one thought
from yesterday's draft.
Jamie, first of all,
you know, not too many
auto picks.
Fairly smooth sailing.
We started mostly on time.
Kudos to you, Khmish.
But give me a thought from yesterday's draft, something that stood out.
So I'll give you two because of what you just said.
So just because they're funny people.
Jacob and Dan, the esteemed co-hosts of Beyond the Box Corps,
we're very excited to be the first two in the chat for the draft and saying,
look, we're on time.
We're ready to go.
And then Jacob auto picked his first pick.
and Dan, his internet connection crashed out on his second pick.
So they caught back up.
We had to back out a few picks for Jacob.
And he got his first pick in.
And then Dan and I were on the phone a little bit for a second pick.
And he got everything straight out.
But it was just so funny, especially Dan.
They were so like, look, we're here on time.
We're good to go.
No, I don't understand.
This is just my internet?
Why is my internet going out?
I don't understand.
I did everything right.
And then the internet guy come yesterday.
I just don't understand.
Anyway, sorry, go ahead.
What stood out to me is first time that I drafted 12.
And I was curious to see how it was going to work out.
I was actually pretty thrilled.
So I like the way that it played out picking at the end of the first round.
And Jamie took Cook and three receiver league, full PPR.
Cook and Jefferson, Flowers and McMillan,
Lamar Jackson and Tyler Warren.
Who's your RB2?
Chuba Hubbard, Ramandre Stevenson.
Okay.
Chuba in round
8
was kind of ideal.
Yeah, that helped make your team for sure.
I was surprised he went that late.
He fell, yeah.
Last pick of round 7 or first pick of round 8.
You went Chuba and Ramandre Stevenson back to back.
I think if you have that late pick
just based on the ADP right now,
you're in a good spot to get an awesome quarterback.
Jamie took Lamar Jackson, 60th overall.
Joe Burrow went just after that.
I think Jaden Daniels went just after that.
So that's kind of when that next,
that second group of awesome quarterbacks is going.
Well, I don't know.
It's like everyone but Josh Allen, basically.
Dave, one takeaway from the draft for you?
I started running back, running back, big shockeroo.
And when I got to my pick in round four,
I took a Buka as my top wide receiver in round three.
Josh Allen was still there.
And I thought to myself,
oh, this is an awesome value.
best quarterback in fantasy, slam dunk for points,
and I'm getting him in the fourth round
because everybody else is just too,
the two end and not taking a quarterback early.
So I'm the one that started the quarterback run,
except it didn't start a quarterback run,
and there were a bunch of other really good values
at quarterback later on.
And it made me, like on one hand,
I'm like, oh, I should have waited a little bit longer on quarterback.
And when I was up in round four,
I could have had Jaylen Waddle.
I could have had Terry,
Lauren. There were a bunch of running backs there, but what do I need another running back for?
Because I had taken two with my first two picks. And there wasn't really any great tight end there
that I could have taken. So I think I'm okay with Josh Allen there instead of Jalen
Wattelman switching out one of my other wide receivers later. But it made me pivot my strategy
with wide receivers to going after upside. So a lot of the other receivers that I ended up
taking high upside type guys, their floors are low too. Christian Watson.
Watson's on my team. Brian Thomas Jr. is on my team. Xavier Worthy is on the roster.
Maybe a couple of other wide receivers. I usually don't draft a lot of wide receivers,
but I made that pivot, and now I'm looking at my roster, and I feel good at what I got.
I think I got to steal a tight end with Bannon. I think that was round seven.
My running backs are great. Josh Allen is awesome. That's the other side of the coin of this,
is that sure, I may have taken him first, and round four was good value, and I could have gotten
some other quarterbacks later, but Josh Allen, total stuff.
I need a lot of my wide receivers to come through.
And I think if they don't come through,
the team's going to struggle,
but I always feel like I can find a wide receiver off the waiver wire.
So hopefully a couple of those wide receivers that have the high upside make it,
and they are a must-start fantasy receivers.
I actually feel pretty good about Christian Watson being one of those guys.
I took A.J. Brown, what, 16th, 13, 14, 14, 15th,
overall with the second pick of round five.
One of the reasons I took AJ Brown with the second pick of round five.
Dave, you said you went running back, running back.
I didn't want to do that.
I'm not opposed to running back, running back, running back.
But when you go running back, running back, or receiver,
and you get up in round three or round four,
you might feel like I simply cannot take that position again.
And that might be the best value on the board.
So it's not a, I'm not saying it's wrong to do,
but I wanted to avoid going running back, running back there
just in case a great running back fell to me in round three.
So I'm sitting there going, do I take Amari and Ham?
Sequin Barclay, Derek Henry, Rishi Rice.
And I took A.J. Brown.
And I believe in him.
I'm going to show you why with this Twitter thread that I'm going to share here.
Thomas, I'm going to get rid of, thank you.
Okay.
I just drafted.
Oh, by the way, it was met with, like, incredulous, how could you comments?
Basically, people thought I reached for him.
Someone even said, Adam meant to grab Pacheco.
I said, I just drafted A.J. Brown.
Yeah.
17th, and this is why I did it.
Last year, Stefan Diggs was 31 years old coming off a torn ACL.
And because there's this idea, the Patriots spread the ball around so much.
But they didn't, not when Diggs was on the field.
He had a 30.7% target share.
Stefan Diggs was top 12 in yards per outrun.
Top 12 in yards per target.
Top 12 and first downs per target.
He was great.
He was targeted a lot and he was very efficient when he was on the field.
He played 55% of the snaps.
A.J. Brown played 90% of the snaps last year. He's going to play a lot more than Diggs played last year.
We know the history of Josh McDaniels with these older wide receivers trying to kind of revive their career.
And I think it's going to be a big season for him. And I just thought, you know what? Everyone else I might take has question marks too.
So my message to you is if you want to reach, the only time I consider it a reach is if ADP would suggest you can get that player in the next round.
It was not going to happen with AJ Brown.
He wasn't going to be there most likely for my third pick.
Not a chance.
So if you believe in that guy, you go get him.
I figured out yesterday that I really believe in AJ Brown with more conviction than I thought I did.
And I took him 17.
He was wide receiver, what, eight, nine?
I don't know.
Probably about that.
Well, I took Jefferson at 13, 13.
13.
Yes, nine.
Now, Nico went before those guys, so that's a little bit of surprise.
Yeah, he and, I mean, I feel the same way about both of them, you know.
I think, but I think I prefer A.J. Brown.
I just, I guess I don't really, I don't even know what's to.
You prefer Brown to Nico?
Yeah, I do.
Last week I thought.
Do you prefer Brown to Jefferson?
No.
No, I would have taken Jefferson if he were there.
Last week I said I like Rico.
Brown essentially as wide receiver, seven then?
Eight.
Eight.
What would you have taken C.D. Lamb ahead of him?
Yeah.
Okay.
Interesting that you would take lamb ahead of him, but not Pickens.
Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, I got a lot more of a track record with lamb.
Sure.
That's fair.
Sure.
And I like your argument.
You like Brown better than Pickens?
I like Brown better than Pickens.
I think I'm with you too.
And right now I like him better than Rishi Rice.
Rice, if all things were normal, I would like him better than A.J. Brown.
I think the fact that Rice seems to be avoiding a suspension, there could still be one that happens, as we are well aware with him.
But if he's not suspended, I would take Rice over Brown, but I would take Brown over Nico and Pickens as well.
I feel like there's a major shortage of top tier wide receivers this year.
And some people might not see A.J. Brown in that top tier like you do, Adam.
Some people might not see.
People would want to see Rice in that tier.
but if he does have a suspension or something like that,
then obviously he won't.
I'm not sure if everybody's a buyer on George Pickens.
I'm not sure everybody's a buyer on Nico Collins.
And so it just kind of shrinks where we're at
with those surefire number one wide receivers.
And if you feel like you've got to get one of those guys,
and I don't fault you at all if you feel like you've got to get one of those guys,
you're going to have to do it with the top 15 pick.
Well, something in that range.
It wasn't really about AJ Brown versus the other wide receivers.
was about him versus Hampton and Barclay specifically.
And you could throw Henry in there too.
And that was when I just decided I don't want to go
two running backs to start a three receiver PPR league.
But yeah, I would just say,
I would just add that it's a bad idea.
You know, if you view A.J. Brown and those other running backs equally,
fine, take the one you like the best.
But if you think that those running backs are going to be better than A.J. Brown,
but you're worried about position scarcity,
I think you're setting yourself up for some,
failure in your fantasy teams. You always want to take the player that you believe in the most
early on and then worry about position stuff later on. Yeah, I agree with that, but I don't know
that I believe in the other guys like that's fair, you know, more than him. Sure. Um, FFT Dynasty is an
awesome podcast. Check that out. We should, uh, Heath should be, is he back next week? I hope he's back
next week. I have some good emails from the audience specifically related to Heath and some of his recent takes.
enjoy them.
But listen to the FFT Dynasty
podcast.
Watch the FFT Dynasty
podcast on YouTube.
com slash fantasy football
today.
It's in our same YouTube
channel.
Let's do some news and notes
real quick.
Jane Daniels says
he has a long way to go
in the new offense.
And, you know,
I keep mentioning it.
Cam Ward,
Jackson Dart, some
struggles in minicamp.
Jadenynolds has a long way
to go.
And I think it's interesting
with Jane Danos
and Jalen Hertz.
Oh, by the way,
I mentioned Darton and Ward.
They have new offensive
coordinators.
I think it's interesting
though with Daniels
and Hertz that
they are going to be under center more this year.
And I don't know what that's going to look like.
Well,
typically it means like they're lined up against the center.
Oh.
Okay, then never mind.
I have no question.
But yeah,
I mean,
it's a big adjustment for these guys.
So,
yeah,
I don't think fantasy managers are necessarily going to be like,
well,
he's under center more this year.
So this is what I'm doing to his value.
But it's something to keep my.
Can I just say something that I'll say again
for several times between now?
in the middle of August, I guess,
you're going to hear a lot with not just these quarterbacks,
but with almost every quarterback in some way, shape, or form.
They had a bad day at camp.
They had a bad day in practice.
They had a bad day this.
That's because these coaches are trying things,
and they're going to try to have them throw into tight windows.
They're going to have them throw to receivers
that they may not be used to throwing to because somebody's not there.
They're going to be against maybe a great defense
because they play on a great defense.
They play on a team with a great defense.
And so most of it, though, is about them trying throws that they may never, ever, ever, ever make in a game.
And so when you see, oh, he had a three interception day or he had a terrible day or he was missing receivers or blah, blah, blah,
please don't panic.
Please don't make that the deciding factor of what you do when your fantasy drafts if you have conviction about a player, especially in situations like this where there's a change or a new coordinator or something that's just different, different personnel.
So Drake may may look miserable because he's trying to force the ball to AJ Brown.
that's a good thing. That's not a bad thing.
But what if they stack bad days?
Now we're going to be a bad week and now we're getting toward the end of training camp
or near the beginning of week one and there's still reports that,
oh, these guys aren't on the same page or this guy is depressing.
Well, that's when I would start to get a little concerned.
I think it first comes down to what your preconceived notion is about the player.
So if you're in on the player and you're excited about the player.
So let's go, for example, Trevor Lawrence.
right? So Trevor Lawrence is in year two in the system. He's been with this receiving core for the most part since the second half of last season on. And now here comes Travis Hunter back in the mix. And so they're trying to get Travis Hunter X, Y, Z reps and blah, blah, blah. And Trevor Lawrence has two bad days in a row. The first two practices with Travis Hunter, right?
Right. Why did he have the bad day in practice? Was it because he was throwing to Travis Hunter, who's working his way back and maybe did not have the best day of practice himself?
but the report that you're reading is Trevor Lawrence had two interceptions on a Wednesday and three interceptions on a Thursday.
And then you drill down to it and it's because he's trying to get Travis Hunter more reps.
And the defense with the third string quarterback or the four string cornerback that's trying to either earn a starting spot or make the team is obviously overplaying certain things because he knows where the ball is going.
So it's just situations like that.
I think if you know like you, you have a feeling on a player,
you're going to probably ignore those things.
If you have a feeling, a positive feeling on the player,
if you have a negative feeling on the player and you're going to hear these things,
well, it's just another reason to say,
I'm not going to draft that guy.
Yeah, I get it.
But I would say that if you keep hearing the same thing about a player,
whether it's positive or negative,
it's going to stick in your head.
And that's why you're absolutely right, dude,
a bad day, two bad days in a row.
Like, you brush that off like it's nothing.
Almost the same way you would,
this player had a great day in camp and that it comes out of nowhere.
But when you start hearing it over and over again,
whether it's positive or negative,
that's when I think you can buy in a little bit more.
But you're also going to hear a lot more about the guys Adam just brought up.
You know, Cam Ward's going to have a lot of bad days because he's still young
and trying to figure out his own game and now a new offense.
Jackson Dart is now trying to figure out a new offense and getting a lot of different things thrown at him.
Jalen Hertz is going to learn a new offense once again and now be under center.
And so he's clearly one of the most polarizing fantasy options that we have because despite we just had a great post on one of our social sites, I think it was on Instagram.
The players that have finished top 10 at their position for the last three years, Jalen Hertz is one of, I think, three quarterbacks that has finished top 10 in the position in fantasy points.
That being said, we still know how people feel about him very similar to Kyron Williams.
So they're just polarizing guys.
So you're going to maybe hear that, oh, here's Jalen Hertz.
He's learning a new offense.
he's under center.
He doesn't have AJ Brown.
I don't want to draft him.
You might miss out on a top five guy.
Of course.
Well, he went 99th in our draft yesterday, Jalen Hertz.
Yeah, that was a steal.
When I saw that happen, I was so mad about taking Josh Allen when I took Josh Allen.
I would have rather had, everybody would rather had Jalen Hertz at 99.
If you're going to take Josh Allen, you better be prepared to go, oh, man, that quarterback,
it's inevitable.
There's going to be quarterback value later, but you take Josh Allen for a reason.
He's better than Jalen Hertz.
by the way, the guy I remember all the negative press for last year, a lot of it was Caleb Williams.
Second year quarterback getting a new offensive coordinator.
I remember it.
I wrote it.
Yeah, right, exactly.
I was there.
I saw him practice.
And honestly, it probably scared me off of him a little bit.
I didn't really draft a lot of Caleb Williams.
And he was good.
He wasn't amazing, but 21 points per game last year, something like that.
The crazy part about it was his offensive line was so bad.
and there were reports of it going into the joint practice against Buffalo and it was bad against Buffalo.
And now how do we view that offensive line compared to the rest of the league?
Like it's not one of the best offensive lines, but it's pretty damn good.
So as long as they continue on that trajectory, I mean, everybody's kind of assuming that they will and that Caleb will be awesome.
Everyone's drafting Caleb to be a starting fantasy QB.
But that's a great example, Adam.
Rapid Fire news and notes.
George Pickin says he's fine playing on the franchise tag.
Lab McConkey has a strain hamstring, but he expects to be ready for training camp.
Dan Campbell likes what he sees from wide receiver Isaac, Tesla.
Unfortunately, I just don't think we can rely on Tesla for fantasy.
Bo Nix said he could be a full go right now if he wanted to.
Bo Nix, good stuff.
Saints defensive end Cam Jordan resigned one-year deal as could be his last year in the NFL.
Chris Olave scheduled to get off blood thinners for his blood clot on June 29th.
Ross Jackson of Louisiana Sports.net wrote about Oscar Delp, the rookie tight end for the Saints.
He had a standout day at Saints camp.
Remember their wide receivers are hurt, so that helps Oscar Delp get targets.
And now he's going to be used more in the Saints' office than he was.
in the Georgia offense. Georgia offense didn't really use Oscar
El up very much. And Saints running back, Devin Neal,
has a quote, little injury, end quote.
We're going to take a break on fantasy football today. When we come back,
I have your emails at Fantasy Football at CBZad.com. We'll be right back after this.
You forgot one.
What do we got?
RJ Harvey's clear with his shoulder injury.
Okay. Arjave's clear with his shoulder injury. Thank you, Jamie.
Nice job, micro machines, man.
Hey, someone has to be Dan today.
All right, here come the emails from Justin.
Rank these sleeper running backs for me.
Okay.
for decent floors if I punt RB.
It's interesting. You're looking for floor here.
But R.J.
Oh, Rashad White, R.J. Harvey, Chris Rodriguez,
Taij. Spears, and Rico Dowdell.
How would you rank Rashad White, R.J. Harvey, Chris Rodriguez,
Taj Spears, Rico, Dowdowdell.
From a floor standpoint?
I guess so. If he punts R.B.
The first two for me would be Rashad White 1 and Rico Doutle,
two from a floor standpoint.
In that order?
Yes. I'd flip the order, but it's those two for me also.
So I think in the case of Rashad White, you know what you're getting right now.
And the ceiling could be he's the best running back in Washington.
Same thing for Rico Dowdle, but I think the competition is a little bit
stiffer for what he's dealing with.
Austin Echler averaged 2.9 catches per game with Washington in 2024.
for. That's Austin Echler, like the best receiving back of his era, basically, or one of them.
So I did want to, I don't know that the opportunities are really going to be there for White,
the way we, the way we, he was in Tampa Bay.
So the two counters I would have for that is that was Austin Echler at 29 or 30.
And that was also with a different coordinator.
29, yeah. Yeah, it is.
just didn't,
Jane Daniels
isn't going to throw as much
he's going to throw
his right,
might not throw it as well.
Yeah,
and his receiving court
that year was
same.
A little bit better.
Okay.
And Rashad White has
three seasons on his resume,
two for sure.
I think three of 50 catches.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Sure.
He can get there.
I'm just worried
about just how many carries
he can get on top of it.
Though,
50 catches, by the way,
basically.
I mean,
with 17 times three is 51.
That's pretty good.
Yeah.
He's,
he's been good.
in Gap scheme runs, and I think the commanders are going to still stick with that.
That's an Anthony Lynn specialty.
He's still on that staff.
There's a chance that he might just end up being the better fit for that scheme compared to Kroski Merritt.
But I love Dowdell's opportunity.
I love that the coaching staff knows what they've got in him.
He's not a bad pass catcher himself.
I think there's more ceiling with the same floor for Dowdell than there is with Rashad White.
I don't think White has the same type of ceiling that Dowdell has.
Next evening.
Just while we're on the topic,
Pops just asked in the chat,
has there been any buzz on KTron Allen?
Yes, there has.
He's had a strong mini-camp as well.
So I think just the backfield is wide open in Washington.
And that's why I
give a slight edge to Rashad White
because it wouldn't shock me if he's
just given his resume,
which I think is probably the best resume
of anybody in that team right now
in that back-go is potentially
the starter.
Yeah, and Andy's
says White's yards per carry, I can't get over.
I understand he's a past specialist, but he plays running back.
But actually, he's really improved Andy in yards per carry.
He's become a better rusher over the last few years.
Did he be able to a runner?
Was the scheme better for him and was the production just better because the
offensive line was better too?
I don't think the offensive line was better last year.
I mean, they missed their center for the entire.
No, no, I was thinking more at the end of the previous year.
Maybe.
So yards per carry for White, 3.7, 3.6, 4.3, 4.3, 4.4.
three in four years.
Okay.
And he has, yes,
three seasons of 50 or more catches.
Next question is from Steve in New Jersey.
And he says,
Dear Patrick, Walt, Willis, and Jalen.
That's right.
He forgot Jeremy.
He forgot Derek.
Are you talking about Jeremy Lynn?
Because I am wearing my Jeremy Lynn shirt right now.
That's a next shirt you're wearing?
Yeah, I only have two Nick shirts.
One of them is a Jeremy Lynn shirtsy.
What is more important for a fantasy wide receiver one?
Being the clear focal point of the offense or having another talented receiver to prevent defenses from keying on him.
This is an easy one for me, but I'll let you guys answer.
I mean, I feel like it's both.
No, to me, it's definitely being the focal point of the offense.
100%.
And he brought up Pukua with Devante Adams.
I would say that Adams greatly reduced Pukua's touchdown upside.
In fact, I think Nakua had like some crazy stat.
Like half of his end zone targets in the games that Adams didn't play.
And there was like three games.
But also one of the reasons I wasn't that concern,
I remember having the debate with you guys.
Are you concerned about Puka Nakua with Devante Adams?
I was like, no, because if you look, Cooper Cup actually had a huge role in 2024.
So I felt like Adams could step into a big role and Puka could still be fine.
And Adams really didn't get that many targets.
He just got a lot of touchdowns.
But I am all about, in fact, who was number one receiver last year?
Was it Chase?
Puka.
It was Puka.
If you look at number one receivers, like the number one overall receiver,
they almost never have a high target number two guy with them.
And Adams had 114 targets and 14 games, which is a lot, which is a lot per game.
But overall, it's 114 targets, not that many.
When you think about the top
the top four guys last year,
Puka had a running mate
that took a step back
in Adams from a target standpoint
where he's typically been.
Chase with Higgins.
Higgins is usually targeted enough,
but not Uber-targeted like chases.
JSN had nobody.
Right.
So that's a big, you know,
you know, favor for him.
And then
Amon-Rost-St. Brown
you had Leporta missing half the season
and J-M-O not doing much in the first half of the season
when Leporto was there.
Yeah.
So that's, Jamie and I say,
well, Dave at least said both.
So the bottom line is less target competition is better.
Well, I mean, you think about the two of the best players last year
and Chey McBride's targets were fantastic.
And at least for me, that's a question mark for this year
is because if Marvin,
if Marvin Harrison stays healthy,
and Michael Wilson can not do what he did last year when he was playing at his best,
but obviously build off of that to some degree.
Then you have a target crunch, plus you have a much better run game.
I think about that all the time with Tray McBride,
because, you know, I forgot what I said.
It was about 55 routes or something like that late in the season
after Michael Wilson had emerged, where they were all on the field together,
Harrison, Wilson, McBride,
and they all had a 20% target share or something like that.
It's such a small sample size, but I think about that.
I like powers more than McBride this year.
I know, and a lot of people do.
I said yesterday they're basically back-to-back in ADP,
which is insane when you think about what they did last year.
But they led the NFL in past attempts to Cardinals.
They didn't have any games really where all three guys were healthy
and all three guys were established.
But then I go, man, it's been two and a half years of Tray McBride being this,
heavily targeted. Is that really going to change? And I have a big internal struggle with that. Dave,
you're kind of like, I don't think he averages 10 targets per game, but I think he averages over eight.
I think he's just too good of a player. And as long as Presets the quarterback, he's got a track record of
leaning on his tight ends that goes back to 1972. It's going to be there for McBride. I don't mind
that you like Bowers better. I think he's got tons of upside himself. But even in Bowers' Rookier,
where we loved him.
He was awesome.
McBride averaged more
PPR points per game than he did.
It was basically dead even,
but he had a little bit more
and he had almost,
he had a little bit more
in terms of target shares,
nine to like eight and a half,
something like that,
between the two of them.
They're both really good,
whichever one I can get second
is the one I want.
By the way,
the,
you mentioned in 1972.
The dolphins also won the Super Bowl in 72.
Did they?
How many losses of that?
They also won in,
73, right?
They did.
Just saying, the last time the Knicks won the championship, the Dolphins also won the Super
Bowl.
So Dolphins fans, there's some reason to be optimistic.
So the parade is going on right now.
If your team won the championship, would you go to the parade?
Yes, I did.
You did?
Which parade?
You went to the first two Chicago Bulls parades and rallies at grand.
Park in Chicago.
Oh.
I was a kid.
I was thinking of things I'd rather do than go to the parade today.
And I thought, dentist, lobotomy, vasectomy, just many things.
You have another perspective?
Wow.
Snip-snap.
I hate parades.
I would never go to a parade.
Oh, never.
What if your kid wanted to go?
I'll go to the Magic Kingdom parade and watch the fireworks.
Other than that, I'm parking.
just everything about parades is just a mess.
They pass by you for five seconds and then went,
oh, I got a video of it on my phone.
Not for me.
What if you were in the parade,
would you go?
No, I would call it sick.
What's your answer, Jamie?
Are you a parade guy?
I would not go to a parade.
I actually regret because I didn't know it was happening
and I had my whole family with me.
But when Florida won a national championship,
we were in San Antonio,
they went down the river after the game,
like late at night.
And had I known that they were going to do that,
would have gone out there to watch it.
Small. Yeah, that's fun. That's fun. Next question.
Devin, a long-time listener, wants a short segment about possible punishments for a last
place finish. I really like the idea of having the last place guy or girl go to a local
comedy club and have to do a five-minute set on an open mic night.
Did you see the one recently where the person had to go trick-or-treating?
Yeah.
Amazing. Amazing. In June, he's going trick-or-treating. So funny. You imagine somebody's
stood up in your house.
It dressed up.
I forgot who was dressed up as.
It was so funny.
Did he have a sign or anything that says,
lost my fantasy league,
have to go trick or trick.
No, you can't do it like that.
You just got to go show up.
I think he told people if I remember.
But that was so funny.
And it went viral.
I never know if anything's real these days,
but I'm pretty sure that was real.
The open mic night is arguably better.
I love it.
You guys have any other suggestions?
I always default to the one that I heard
about a league in Boston where the last place team has to pay for a bus ride to Omaha, Nebraska,
and then take the bus ride from Boston to Omaha, and then he can get back any way he wants,
but that's the punishment.
Yeah, Schneier likes to have the loser, just take flights around the country all day.
Like, they book connecting flights and just spend a day on an airplane, basically, multiple airplanes.
I mean, my wife has done that to get, like, her mileage.
Oh, really?
Yeah, she flew to California once just to get her.
She had like a certain amount of, because she flies a lot for work.
So she had to get like a certain status.
So she like needed one more trip.
So she, she picked California instead of like Orlando?
I don't know.
No, she had a miles.
She needed miles, bro.
I see.
Come on.
All right.
Next question is from.
She at least get in and out burger while she was there.
I think she just turned, landed, turned around and came out.
I remember what?
This is a long time ago.
Wow.
I mean, her punishment is being married to me.
Yeah, yeah, it is a punishment.
This is from Ace, and he says,
he's thinking about draft day discounts.
He's thinking about Tyrone Tracy.
He loves his ADP with Scadaboo being, you know,
coming back from an injury and, you know,
just being so physical.
And his crazy last pick is Devon Veil.
You got Jordan Tyson, who's had health concerns,
and Chris Olavé, who's had some health issues as well.
So he likes Devon Veil.
What do you guys think,
Jamie, what do you think about?
about valet?
I mean, it's, it's not a bad theory, just going with the idea that both guys are banged up
and clearly Kellynne Moore's receivers have a chance to play well.
He had an opportunity last year and didn't really take advantage of it.
I know he got hurt, but I think anytime you're talking about receivers based on injuries
and hoping that guy step up, you really got to get lucky.
So like, I know he had a good minicamp.
Ryan Flannoy, you know, had gotten some buzz because of maybe, okay, what have the
there's an injury and George Pickens with the contract situation.
That is a similar type scenario.
So you could probably look at a lot of number three receivers and say,
if this happens, if injury happens, you know, Troy Franklin, for example,
if Cortland Sutton or Dalen Wattle get hurt.
You know, Franklin went 100 targets last year and was somebody that had some buzz.
Trey Harris, just somebody mentioned in the chat.
You know, that's somebody that can have a big opportunity if Quinn Johnson or Ladd-McConkey,
and McCocky now dealing with a hamstring injury,
if that materializes.
So there's probably a lot of Devon-Vele types
that we can go through on every roster and say,
okay, this guy's got a chance,
just based on what their opportunity could be
in some pass-friendly offense.
I'll give you the flip side of it,
which didn't work out, really,
but Yoshavas in Cincinnati.
We love that offense.
We love that passing attack.
We see at times T. Higgins misses because of injury.
I think it was two years ago.
Jamar Chase missed a couple of games.
it doesn't always come to pass that that guy steps up or that particular player steps up.
Now, in the case of Velae in this scenario that they're laying out,
it's two receivers missing, so maybe that changes some things.
But I think if you're just talking about like wide receiver handcuffs,
you've got to have a really deep bench to carry somebody like Devon Vey
after a draft in a regular 12th team week.
I would think of him as somebody that I could pick up off the waiver wire.
So why draft him when I can just go get him if he has a good week one?
That obviously makes the most sense.
but clearly if we get to week one
and Olavet is still dealing with the blood clot
situation and Jordan tight
than everybody drafting valet.
Same thing.
I love to draft a Raiders wide receiver
in every single draft.
That's enough on Devon,
Valet.
All right.
No,
I'm not talking about Bailey.
I'm talking about the,
I'm talking about a lot of-
I think in the case of the Raiders,
like that's an easy,
like I took Trey Tucker yesterday,
Jalen Niller when I think around before.
And I've seen Jack Beshe get drafted quite a bit,
say it.
Your Bech.
Your Bech.
I've heard a lot about,
But there's, you know, we're all over the place on these guys.
There's, there's easy, it's, I think it's easy to take a swing at that because there's,
that you could see happening.
I think the same thing, you know, once we get to camp and it's hopefully Chris Bell,
but, you know, Jalen Tolbert's the one that got buzz recently, Malik Washington's got some buzz,
you know, somebody's going to take a chance on a Dolphins receiver.
I would much rather do that on draft day than I would Devon Bailey right now.
Are, our, one of our producers, Sam.
has a punishment.
He says, my league punishment is you have to bowl a 300.
And every hot dog you eat is 10 pins off your score.
You stay until you eat enough hot dogs to bowl a high enough score to leave.
Wow.
That's a punishment?
I would eat, yeah, man, I'd have to eat like 17 hot dogs.
Maybe more.
That's a lot of hot dogs.
Well, I saw Sam's draft yesterday, so we might have to start calling him Oscar Meier.
Nice troll job there.
All right, we're going to take a break.
We have a great question about drops,
and the Jaguars and Broncos letting down Lawrence and Nicks last year.
We'll read it when we come back on fantasy football today.
Question here from Jake, from Clayton, California.
Have you been to Clayton, California, Dave?
No.
Okay, well, now you can add it.
Not knowingly.
You can add it to Clayton, Georgia.
Oh.
How was it?
It's great.
Okay.
Dear John, Jack and Josh.
These are, I will, not, I'll spoil it.
They're former Raiders head coaches.
If drops are...
John Gruden?
Not John Madden.
Oh, probably.
Well, which one was J-O-N?
John Gruden.
If drops are generally considered inconsistent year-to-year,
why aren't we talking more about the unusually high number of drops
that Trevor Lawrence and Bo Nix dealt with last season?
The league average drop rate was 4.22%.
Those guys were like 6, 7%.
They were very high.
Let's see.
Lawrence was 6% and Nix was not 7%.
No, he was 7%.
Trevor Lawrence, 7%.
Trevor Lawrence was 6% the year before.
In fact, that's the end of the question.
Thank you, Jack's.
Jake, Jake from Clayton, California.
You didn't butcher that at all.
Trevor Lawrence has the highest drop rate
in the NFL by far since entering the league five years ago.
His drop rate is 5.9%.
I say it's his drop rate.
It's his receiver's drop rate.
The second highest drop rate belongs to Bo Nix and Ben Rothlisberger at 5.3%.
So Lawrence is at 5.9%.
After that, it's three guys at 5.2%.
Over the last five years, Ryan Tannahill, Jaden Daniels, and Daniel Jones.
Daniel Jones has had a really bad receipts.
receiver drop rate throughout his career. And it was a lot better last year, and he did better last
year. So another guy who had a much, a big improvement in drop rate last year was Aaron Rogers.
2024, Rogers, his receivers had a 6.7% drop rate. Last year, 3.8% and it didn't do anything for his
stats. His completion percentage went up a little, but his yards per temp was exactly the same.
So Dave, what do you make of that? It is a good point. The receivers really let,
Lawrence and Nick's down last year.
What do you make of it?
If there's evidence that it was a one-off year for these quarterbacks,
then sure, we could include that in part of the calculus for how we project them.
But if you're telling me that it's been a high rate for Trevor Lawrence and Bonex really since they've been in the league,
then it's just something I should expect to see continue.
Yeah, I don't know.
I only looked at maybe 15 passes of Trevor Lawrence,
to see what was up.
I guess maybe I would say
some of the short balls
he might put a little more touch on,
but these are really just bad drops.
You know, like some really bad drops.
So I don't know.
It's weird for somebody to have this bad of a drop rate,
especially because his receivers have changed so much
throughout the years.
I don't know what to make of it.
I'm trying to get a look right now
at what the drop rates have been
year over year for Trevor Lawrence.
And it's it's been like right around 6% pretty much every year.
Last year was 7%.
Right.
I think Brian Thomas Jr.
might have had a hand in that,
uh,
unintended.
And Bo Nex was at 4.4 as a rookie and then up to 6% last year.
I think Troy Franklin had a hand in that because Franklin,
if I recall,
had a very high drop rate last year.
Sutton was also up there and drops.
Yeah.
One of those guys just got replaced by Jalen Waddle.
Look, it's a good point.
So I'll help Bo Nix out,
but we're already kind of kind of.
counting that for Nix, that having an improvement at wide receiver will help him.
And we'll see how Trevor does with this receiving core going into its, I don't know,
can we say second year when they were only there?
You know, Washington emerges and Myers was traded there.
I mean, their second year, there's big time improvement there and a chance for that number
to go back down.
All right.
This is from Dave from Chicago.
Here I am.
He says, hey, Christian Weston, Tyler, and Gio.
Christian Weston.
I'd like to think I would have gotten this even if I didn't see the answer.
Christian Pulisic, Weston McKinney, Gio Raina,
and I don't know who Tyler is.
I'm not that big of a fan.
Al Jare.
Tomorrow, three o'clock, USA, let's go.
All right, he's got to keep two as long as you want.
penalty. It is a Superflex
league. Four point per passing
touchdown. Three receivers,
PPR, keep two.
Bijon, JSN,
Drake May.
It's Superflex?
Yeah, four point for passing.
Touchdown.
I'm not giving back
Bijon and JASN.
It's good as May is.
Oh.
Oh, man.
I don't think there's a right answer
here.
Or a wrong one.
All right. I would probably
do Bijon and May.
Yeah, I can't give May back.
I think I'd go May and J.S.N
and throw Bejohn back.
There you go.
Yeah, that's the least helpful answer we've ever given.
All right, question here.
Who's this from?
Who is this from?
I wonder if you could trade two,
if you're allowed trades,
like if you trade two of those for Josh Allen.
And you just keep the third.
Oh, yeah, right, because you can't, you know,
so May and.
But now you're trading a player
that you wouldn't otherwise be allowed to keep.
don't know if that's cool with the commish.
This is...
Adam will probably allow it, but Heath would not.
I don't know.
Well, if you keep...
If you trade a person, if you trade those two players,
then this person who acquire them has to keep them.
And then it's fine, right?
All right, question from Shapiro.
Did I get that wrong?
Did I...
I mean, I personally don't think it's right for you
to be able to trade a player you wouldn't otherwise keep.
Like, you'd have to first declare your keeper.
and then once the keepers are declared, you can trade them away.
Okay.
This is a question from Shapiro.
Which running back duo is more likely to become the closest thing to a true 50-50 split this season?
Kairn Williams and Blake Corum or Diannoye and Kyle Monagai?
Yes.
The Rams duo.
Just give some numbers.
Last 11 games of 2025, that's when the split began for the Rams.
Tyrone Williams, 15 carries per game.
Blake Corum, 10.5.
For the Bears, it was also the last 11 games.
DeAndre Swift, I don't have carries per game,
but he was on pace for 237 carries.
And Menangai was on pace for 187.
Let me do the math.
I have to do that.
187 on a...
So that's, okay.
187 divided by 17.
I got that, Dave.
It's a pretty close, based on last year,
It was Kyron Williams, 15 carries, Blake Corum, 10 and a half.
It was DeAndre Swift, 14 carries, Kyle Menangai, 11 carries.
So similar.
Maybe my worry is that Kyran loses the grip and it flips.
And it's quorum that's getting 15 carries and Kyran's getting 10 and a half.
Which backup running back do you take first, Menangai or Corum?
My non-guy, but it's close.
I believe I have my non-guy higher.
All right.
I do.
Wait, did I take a second break ever?
No, I don't think you have yet.
No.
Oh, boy.
All right, second break.
Let's do it.
We got a question for Professor Chaos when we come back.
What did we think of my butter's impression there?
Weirdly timed.
Well, it's a question from Professor Chaos.
And he says, I know you're bummed about the
theft of greater late. So I give you this gem. Are these players going to take a big jump or a big
dump? Please take credit for this as I don't want it. I don't want it either, Professor Chaos. I don't
really see myself saying that, but you never know. I'll throw it in once or twice. All right,
this question is from Maggie. It's a keeper question. Undrafted players in this league can be kept
in the 10th round. If both players fall into the category, they become rounds 9 and 10 picks. So you'll
more than one player listed as a round 10 pick.
Good.
And managers can only keep players twice.
This is a half-PPR Superflex league.
I can keep two.
Who are you keeping?
Trevor Lawrence in round five,
Jackson Dart in round 10.
Trey McBride in round two.
Amecca, Buka in round six.
Teterole McMillan in round four.
Michael Pittman in round 10.
Kyle Monongai in round 10.
I'm going to go ahead.
It's a super flex?
Yeah, Dart in round 10, right?
Sorry with that?
Yeah, I think so.
Jackson Dart?
Easy, yeah.
Okay, so I'll give you the other options again.
I don't think we're going to do Pitman or Menangai in round 10, I don't think.
But Trevor Lawrence, round five, Tray McBride, round two,
Amecca, round six, Teterole McMill in round four.
The only one of those guys that I think you're getting good value on is Lawrence.
It's either Lawrence or a Bucca, and since it's super flex, I would just take the
two quarterbacks and then load up everywhere.
Yeah.
All right, this is from Josh.
Oh, how about this?
Dear Christian, Tyler, Weston, and Fulleran.
I don't know how to pronounce that guy's name.
What are the odds that either that is the same email?
No.
And you just forgot to take it out or that they actually had the same names.
It's the second thing.
Oh, I took three breaks, I'm being told.
Thanks, guys, for letting me down on that.
remember the second break at all.
You know, the audience has been
asking for more breaks, so
it's nice that we can finally deliver.
All right.
Take a break after this question.
Josh is saying
there's a song called Big Iron.
It's a classic Western ballad sung by the great
Marty Robbins. It tells the story
of a duel between the
outlaw known as Texas Red
and a nameless Arizona Ranger
on a mission to bring Texas Red to
justice. The song includes
these lines. The morning
passed so quickly, it was time
for them to meet. It was
20 past 11 when they walked
out in the street.
In other words, the duel happened at 11.20
a.m. after the morning
had passed. This proves
that Adam is right,
and 11.30 is the
afternoon. No, it doesn't.
Yes, it does. This is
big iron.
The morning passed so quickly, meaning that
the morning is still going on. No, it passed.
and then 1120 came and they dueled.
Come on, what are you going to argue with the great Marty Robbins?
So if I say this show has passed so quickly, is it over?
Yeah.
No.
It is?
Oh, crap.
I think you're right.
All right, this last one is from Justin.
This is in response to something Heath was talking about.
Now, if you said you passed gas, that's over.
That is over.
Exactly.
Oh, maybe.
All right, honest question.
How many times do you fart during the show?
during your show?
Yeah.
Oh, geez.
I mean, today it's zero.
Oh, like, it doesn't have to be every day.
I don't know what the average.
This is horrible.
This is disgusting.
Why is disgusting?
Nobody wants to hear about this.
This is disgusting.
And the answer is less than you.
Oh, I fart all the time.
Yeah, you do.
I know.
I know.
You farted guy.
All right, from Justin.
Subject line is Justin Herbert versus Jalen Hertz.
Because I think her, I think he,
I think Heath was making the case as an NFL quarterback, NFL for Hertz over Herbert.
To give Heath some credit in this argument, people all the time say Jalen Hertz is nowhere near the level of guys like Justin Herbert.
Sure, he doesn't throw as pretty of a ball as Herbert.
However, if Herbert is that much better than Hertz, then shouldn't he need the, then why should he need the same type of situation as Hertz does?
If these guys need great situations like Hertz has to succeed, then they cannot be multiple tiers above Hertz.
who has already shown he could succeed in this league.
Also, I would argue outperforming
the second greatest quarterback of all time
in the Super Bowl should hold more weight
than a 1 PM game against the Raiders
in the regular season.
It's a good way of putting it.
I think the problem
when you look at two guys like this is
you have their prospects
coming into the league
and that sticks with people
in some cases forever.
So, yes, a lot of it
is the aesthetics. When Justin Herbert,
throws the football, he looks better throwing the football of Jalen Hertz. Jalen Hertz has benefited
from being surrounded by a lot of great talent, mostly on his offensive line, where Justin Herbert
has sort of struggled with that. But Jalen Hertz just gets crapped on way too much. It's just,
it's ridiculous. I mean, like, obviously his win-loss record speaks for itself. He's a Super Bowl
champion. He's done everything he's needed to do since coming into the NFL as not a first-round
talent at someone that's had to change schools and prove himself at a different place after being
benched, you know, for a guy who probably has lesser talent overall, but more of a pedigree.
So I think just in the case of what Jalen Hertz has accomplished, it clearly speaks for itself.
He's also in a spot in a city that gets much more scrutiny than Justin Herbert.
You know, you're in a bigger media market.
You're in an East Coast city versus a West Coast.
That's always going to get a little bit more attention, especially if you live on the East Coast.
So there's a lot that just, I think, goes into it.
But, look, Justin Herbert's got still a lot to prove.
And I'm sure if you just, you know, I know he does this a lot.
You know, just the blind resumes of, you know, would you take player A or player B?
Justin Herbert's resume is not as good as Jalen Hertz.
It is.
I hope it gets there.
I think it can't.
But, you know, look, it's just one of those things where people unfortunately look at certain players from where they start,
no matter what happens, you still have those preconceived notions.
It's also two different styles.
Jalen Hertz isn't the same type of quarterback as Justin Herbert.
That goes into what you were saying, Jamie, about who they were coming out.
And it just so happens that in Philadelphia, they've done an amazing job of tailoring their offense to Jalen Hertz's strengths.
And the charges have done the exact same thing, or at least they've tried to, with Justin Herbert.
I would pose this question.
I don't know if this is the best way to judge.
And you're certainly not going to judge them this way.
compared to other quarterbacks.
But if you took Jalen Hertz out of Philadelphia and you put him in L.A.
and you put him in the same system that the charges have been running,
how would he do?
And I would say he probably wouldn't do as well as Justin Herbert.
And if you took Justin Herbert and you put him into the same offense
and the same style that the Eagles are running, how would he do?
I would say that he, I don't think he'd be as good of a runner,
but I think he'd be a little bit better as a pastor.
There would probably be better efficiency there.
And so maybe by that guessing metric, you could say that Herbert's better than Hertz just by switching their teams.
But based on how they are and how they're used and the offense they're in, I think there's no question that Hertz just has that perfect fit.
One stat that really shocks me is that Justin Herbert has a lower career interception rate than Jalen Hertz.
when I think about Hertz,
I think the best thing he does
is he just doesn't turn the ball over.
He's conservative in that sense,
and people criticize him,
I guess, for not taking shots enough,
but he wins games
because he doesn't turn the ball over.
But amazing,
I didn't realize Justin Herbert
has a 1.7% career interception rate.
And that's after last year
when it was actually a career high, 2.5%.
Jalen Hertz is at 1.9% in his career.
And that's after two straight years
where it's 1.4 and 1.3.
And three of the last four,
years, Jalenhurts said, a 1.4
interception rate percent interception rate or lower,
which is amazing. But I
was surprised Justin Herbert really doesn't turn the ball over much either.
At least not with, I don't know about fumbles, but at least not
with interceptions.
I'm going to go back and watch the last
I don't know,
25 episodes
of our show and see if I can figure out your fart face.
You know, it's probably
a little shoulder raise, I would guess.
Well, yeah, we've really
really surprised. Now you know, now you don't
what's happening when I raise the shoulders. Am I getting angry or am I just getting a little more relaxed?
Thanks everybody for watching and listening. Hope you have a great three-day weekend, baby.
Happy Juneteenth, and we'll talk to you on Monday on fantasy football today. See you.
