Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast - AFC West Breakdown + Mock Draft Promises - Fantasy Football Podcast for 7/14

Episode Date: July 14, 2026

Fantasy Football show for July 14, 2026. Omarion Hampton breakout season? Is Bo Nix being undervalued? AFC West preview on today’s podcast. Get a full fantasy football breakdown for the Broncos, Chargers, Chiefs, and Raiders! Manage your redraft, keeper, and dynasty fantasy football teams with the #1 fantasy football podcast. 2026 ULTIMATE DRAFT KIT is available now at UltimateDraftKit.com Get MEGALASHOW tickets at BallersLive.com (00:00) Intro (04:00) NFL News (08:45) AFC West Divisional Breakdown (10:15) Denver Broncos (24:10) Los Angeles Chargers (34:35) Kansas City Chiefs (44:55) Las Vegas Raiders Connect with the show: Subscribe on YouTube Visit us on the Web Support the Show Follow on X Follow on Instagram Join our Discord Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

to the fantasy footballers podcast with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Oh, welcome in. Oh, it's good to be back with you. July 14th of fantasy footballers, Jason Moore, is here. Yes, I am. Mike Wright, present accounted for. Chilo. I'm Andy Holloway, and this is the fantasy footballers podcast.

We got the Ducers Alley back there loaded up with all three of them. Ducers. Papa Josh is back there shining like the sun. Should realign that light. We got Al Borland and the Falcon as well. Apparently we're all in shades of like blue gray over here today. Are you? Let me take another look at that.

Okay. You kind of blend in with the background. Just floating heads. We have another divisional breakdown show finishing up the AFC today. And this is a wild one. I think this is going to be very, very fun. We're talking AFC West. Still hard for me to look at that division and see that record for the Chiefs.

It just feels impossible. Impossible. So we get to talk about, among other topics, like a lot of fantasy football relevant players in this division, tons of them. Tons of them with like unsettled projections, really. I mean, just situations where you're like, you know, guys like Rashi Rice and Arampton. There's gold and then there hills though. Yeah, there is. Oh, man.

And we get to talk about all that. And a lot of these teams like had crazy records when it came to one score games that we'll talk about. And yeah, there's, we're going to have some good debates. I know that for a fact. The Ultimate Draft Kit is available right now. You can download the mobile app. You can get the draft analyzer. You can go to Ultimate DraftKit.com.

It is the number one way to get yourself prepped up. We've been refining and perfecting it for years. on years on years and the newest feature, a mock draft tool. Yes, a proprietary fantasy footballers mock draft tool where you can load in ADP from different platforms so that you can customize your mock drafts is coming probably this week. It is probably up right now when you're listening to it. For real? Yeah.

Okay. So go update your app. Go update your app. I don't think that we have an approved version of the app that we can release. Just go update your app. You have no idea. You don't know. Today's the day.

It'll be there soon. It's been a while since Jason has done this to our company. That's true. Yeah. We've got the Monday, July 13th. The show is always in the lot. The mock draft tool is available. But that's a back date.

You could have just said today. Oh, is this? This is coming out on Tuesday. It came out yesterday. Jason, stop it. That's right. I guarantee it's up today. Oh, no.

The best part is our show, It's broadcast in the lobby where the devs all work and they get to hear this. And the beads of sweat forming and dripping off their faces. I can hear the door. I think they all just walked out. Get your phone. It's coming out next year. Up to your ultimate draft kit and play around with the new mock draft tool.

It is so cool. And it's going to get so much better. People have asked about supporting like keepers and stuff like that. And that's not there at the jump. But we're going to be. This is all we're working on for the next little while. Yeah. The mock draft tool is so fundamental to.

to the way you prepare, and we've always wanted one to create our own. And people have asked for that forever. And it's not a small undertaking, and our team has done an incredible job, and we're really excited about it. And you're going to love it. And, yeah, that's all at Ultimate draftkit.com. Let's jump right into some news, not a lot, but some interesting things to talk about. News and notes from Around the League.

Papa Josh, by the way, who is among, you know, he's one of our producers. but he also is the community manager for the entire footclan. And he's shaking his head because... Do you know what's coming in here, Josh? Oh, I know what's coming. Yeah, because he said, RIP, my inbox, asking where the mock draft tool is. He knows that he is going to be... Get them.

He knows that support at Fantasy Footballers.com is going to get just loaded up. Well, if there's an issue, that's when they will contact support at Fantasy Footballers.com. That's just if there's an issue. Right. So he just knows how loaded up that's going to be. What will be? Support at Fantasy Football. Okay, all right, cool. Shouldn't have shook your head, Josh.

We will pile on you. He does take phone calls at 4-8-9-000. I'm just kidding. Man, that would be so brutal. Oh, man. Give out the real one. The athletics, James Boyd, is reporting that Daniel Jones is cleared to do everything ahead of training camp. We're talking, standing, sitting, running, jumping.

Reading. Reading. Writing. arithmetic. All of it. Colts running back coach DeAndre Smith said the team, quote, definitely needs to find ways to take some of that workload off of Jonathan Taylor. Was he saying this to Chris Ballard? Because it's like, dude, we got to find ways and we're searching because DJ Giddens, Seth McGowan, like, I understand they definitely. Don't they have somebody else? Oh, no. You list, Uly the 4th.

Uly S. Bentley the 4th? Yes. I mean, you know, they do. That's a real person? That is a real person. This was an interesting quote. Oh my gosh, that name is spectacular. I read the whole context and, you know, they admit it's hard to take Jonathan Taylor off the field.

They think he'll be better if they can manage his workload. This is real in the sense that they definitely want to give him less work than they have been giving him. Uly's Bentley the fourth Become something But also It will become Push Comes to shove impossible As irrelevant as the 49ers wanting to take workload

Off of Christian McCaffrey So You're not able to do it It is obviously when you see a report like that It might scare you and you have to make a decision With Jonathan Taylor And I think there are We talked about this division

There are scary things about Jonathan Taylor One is the fact that he's Been dominant and then not and then dominant again. Like you do have variables with how often this team is leading games, whether the offense is moving. He's much better in wins, and that's a tough division.

If they don't win as many games as expected, then it could be a down year for Jonathan Taylor. But when this news came out, I went to the ultimate draft kit, went to my team by team rankings. I wanted to take a look and see, because I believe it. I believe that they do want to look at that workload,

and I looked at what I had Jonathan Taylor down for, which was already less than he had last year. and I couldn't move it at all. I'm like, there's no, I just looked at the depth chart. I'm like, not gonna happen. Yeah, when it's DJ Giddens competing with Seth McGowan to be the backup, and they still don't know who it is.

They're like, someone. Yeah, someone show me something. I'm not putting a bunch into this, but Jonathan Taylor already has red flags. I think I mentioned last week. Who are the biggest free agent running back still of it? Like, Naji. Like, if Naji arrived in Indianapolis, would you care?

Yeah. What off the Achilles? Yeah, I mean, they love that. Daniel Jones, you know. A little bit easier for a quarterback. I don't know who all's. I mean, you could maybe make a move for Camara, not a free agent. I'm trying to think, Karim Hunt, Joe Mixen, Nick Chubb.

Kareem Hunt. I don't really care that much. Kareem Hunt just because he just scores touchdowns. Yeah. So if you take away some goal line work, that's a problem. But there's no one. I don't think there's anyone hanging out who can destroy the depth chart. All right. Well, we want to kick this off right away with the AFC West breakdown. There's a lot to talk about. I want to make sure we don't miss anything. So we'll take a quick early break and come back with the last AFC divisional breakdown.

All right. Let's get into it. Let's get divisional. All right, Broncos, Chargers, chiefs, and Raiders. is a fun division for fantasy and, man, questions to be answered. The Chiefs before last year, six and 11 season, by the way, had gone 35 and 3 against the AFC West in the Mahomes era. That is insane. That record is insane.

You basically had an L if you faced the Chiefs during his entire tenure before last year. Yeah, the NFL taking L's. Yeah, that's true. I mean last year the Broncos 14 and 3 Chargers 11 and 6 and 6th and 11 and the Raiders were 3 and 14 So it was fun

Oh come on guys It was a nice reprieve From like okay a breath of fresh air We get something different that's great Be good again I don't care Sure we got to enjoy last year What's crazy is when I think back of last year The chief season really went

You know it went sour Eventually it felt like they knew they were were not going to make the playoffs. They kind of shut people down. Mahomes got injured and they just kind of forgot the second half of the year. But really, like, I didn't remember until recently when I was preparing for this, it was like, Mahomes only missed the last two games. He played the whole season.

Yeah, we'll talk extensively about what happened and what you think is going to happen. But we get a start respectfully with the division winner, the 14 and 3, Denver Broncos. 11 and 2 in 1 score games, which If you want to talk about the Chiefs again really quickly, last year the Chiefs were 12 and 0, or two years ago, they were 12 and 0 in 1 score games. They went 1 in 9 last year, so it just shows you that is the most volatile of stats.

Now, if you had to ask me what makes you great at 1 score games, I would say a defense, the likes of the Denver Broncos, and a head coach the likes of Sean Pate. Yes. However, a lot of what happened in Denver last year was, you know, there was a lot of makeup put on the face of the offense. Let's put it that way. Like, they were not. They were bad.

Good looking. Because when you look at the metrics, they were dead in, they were in the middle, 15th and points per game. Fake. And fake, you think that number's fake? Yeah, I think that number's fake. I mean, that's just like a number. No, I know, but I'm saying like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's. It's a statistical truth.

I realize that. But like they put up 44 points against the Dallas Cowboys. So it's like, oh, well, yeah, okay. So you're saying like on average. Yeah, I'm saying the average points per game. Their consistency rank would be bad. Yeah, it would be like D plus C minus. Now, the big part that stands out to me, a couple of things on this offense,

and I really, really want to talk about it because there is a temptation for me to make Bo Nix a my guy this year. He's one of the players that when I went into my projections, I really, really look at what's going on. I love Sean Payton. They're the only team who, I don't look. Oh, I don't know. No, hold on.

Hold on. Hold on. I don't think the camera was on me, but my eyes went wide. We got to get that because when he said that, like, clip that. He loved, Andy loves Sean Payton. You heard it here. I have made a horrible mistake. Oh, man.

Fantastic. You have badmouthed this man for the last four years. I hate Sean Peyton, the man. And I love Sean Peyton, the fantasy producing head coach who I trust to make the right play call. Sure, but that's not how I'm going to publish it later. I wouldn't. Yeah. That's not what I heard. Falcon, fly high. So let me, if I can possibly return to my point. The temptation with Bo Nix is that I love the team. I think they're going to be a successful team. I think they're going to threaten for the division. And they're the only team returning 100% of their

carries and targets from 2025. So they're bringing back this offense. And then you just add to the offense, right? You bring back everybody and then you add Jaylon Wado, who is an elite, like, yards after catch guy. And this was an offense that struggled tremendously with getting the ball down the field. They had the lowest yards per attempt in the history of the National Football League for a 14 plus win team. So this is what I'm saying where there was a lot of makeup thrown on the offense. I don't think Sean Payton is satisfied. I do think that there is tremendous risk for Bo Nix. Like if he falls on his face with all these weapons, right, there's not going to be an excuse when you have one of the best offensive lines in the league. Like he was sacked

half as much. Maybe the best. Yeah. I mean, he was sacked half as much as Justin Herbert. half. Like pressures, half. Like, you've been given, like, Sean Payton is not a patient man. It's one of the reasons I hate him. Did you hear that, Jay? I did not. But he is not going to have, you've got the best defense, you've got all these elite weapons, you've got a great offensive line, and if you cannot complete passes in this offense and get it done, I'm telling you, if he falls on his face and start throwing picks all year along, you're going to have a question about Bo Nix. The good thing for him is everything is set up for him. for me, he left a lot on the table last year and you're like, are you ready to come in here

with all of those advantages and deliver? Because if you do, if you go in and throw four or five more touchdowns than you did last year and reduce your turnovers a little bit, you're going to be an elite fantasy option. I would agree with you that the rope seems like it's a done deal as like a future franchise star, but it really could go the other way. Now, obviously that depends on him. If he comes out and proves it, he's good. Great. The first, six weeks of the Broncos season is they start on the road in Kansas City, then the Jacksonville Jaguars, then the Rams, then the Niners, then the Chargers, then the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks. That's reason enough not to make them a my guy. That is six unbelievably

hard games. They're only favored in one, which is wild for a team that just won 14 games. They return everybody plus a couple extra pieces. They really didn't lose much. And to be favored in one of their first six games, it's tough sled. And their defense is crazy. It's unbelievable. So I think they're, I guess my opinion of the Broncos offensively, when I went back and I watched Bo Nicks film, and I watched specifically, you know, you talk about the average depth of target being bad because, you know, he wasn't able to push the ball down the field. It should be the opposite if you can sit in the pocket as long as he did. for sure, but he did not have the weapons. As much as I love my man, Troy Franklin, they needed Waddle. And when I was watching Bo Nix, what I left with was,

daggummit, they need a wide receiver like Wattel. So I do think Waddle could really unlock this offense, but it will be tough sledding for a, you know, if you want to draft players here, you're going to have some tight games that I think this team will rightfully rely on their defense to start the year. So Mike, the question to you is whether you believe Bo Nix will step up into what he should be for fantasy, because despite all of our, the eye test and the issues he had last year and disastrous performances on Thursday night football at home where he completed 100, had 150 yards in a touchdown against the hapless Raiders, he was still the quarterback six in counting stats at the end of the year. Well, he did throw the ball more than anyone in the league,

which is so, so surprised. At 6 and 12 attempts. Well, the, you know, it's, you got to remember what happened with, which also, you know, Bonix is also coming off of, uh, of injury, you know, we do have that. Yeah, you have the, the Davis Webb, the OC is now calling plays like that's an official thing. When J.K. Dobbins got hurt. It was a huge problem for this offense. And they went, like, the past attempts, that's because of, of J.K. Dobbins, because they, you know, You know, he gets hurt. You're hoping that RJ Harvey, a second-round pick, can step up and be the guy.

He could not. RJ Harvey was fine for fantasy because he was scoring a bunch of touchdowns, and he can get it done in the receiving game. But as of right now, where he is in his career, he's nowhere close to Dobbins. And they knew it, and they completely, like, they went to a very pass-heavy offense. I'm with you, Jason, of this team needed someone. And I think the addition of Jalen Wattle is huge. I think that Waddle still has it

last year on a per route basis still elite yards per route run at 2.42 Cortland Sutton who was out there running I mean more routes than almost anyone in the league was at 1.85 yards per route run as your top option that's not good enough that's not good enough

so you go out and you get Waddle I am very interested by the Denver Broncos because I think Everyone is either priced appropriately or out of value. I've talked all off season. J.K. Dobbins is one of my favorite picks. I don't get the discrepancy between Dobbins and R.J. Harvey and ADP. When you can get the starter in the middle of the seventh round around there.

And Waddle in the back of the fourth, not a top 20 wide receiver at the moment, he can easily finish top 15, the way that I see him, the way that he can match up with Bo And then the potential for Bowdox himself to bounce back. Him going at QB15 seems egregiously low for what he is able to do. And not that he's not the cheat code mobile quarterback, but he'll give you. You know, he can give you 400 for sure. 330 rushing yards rookie year 356 last year. I don't know.

Yeah, I don't know from the beginning of he might will hurt him or not. But regardless, he was rookie year quarterback seven. Last year, quarterback six, adds Jalen Waddle, and now he's being drafted as quarterback 15. So he's certainly a value. Waddle, that's just a matter of what do you believe in Waddle. He's appropriately priced. We're all fans of J.K. Dobbins. That seems like a very mispriced running back in the draft.

Love that. The one guy that I can't get myself to draft ever. And when I... It's R.J. Harvey, isn't it? Well, yeah, but no, that wasn't who I was bringing up. No, Coralyn Sutton. Cortland Sutton. You know, Waddle shows up, and it's like, well, I would.

would never. But Corlin Sutton was the wide receiver 13, two years in a row. And he's on. He's the remandre of that team. Yes. Waddle is, that just popped into my head. It was like, you don't know how to draft the guy that is solid, but isn't the spectacular one. Yeah, he's not going to go out there. The thing is, is there's no chance he really wins you a fantasy championship. So do you want to. Okay. That's a great one. I think that's another good question. I think Sutton has more opportunities for touchdowns. interesting Corlin Sutton right now

being drafted around the seventh round wide receiver 35 so I'm looking at trying to get a fresh view here of ADP dude Harvey has plummeted we've done work Is that our fault?

I mean we're not the only ones who are breaking down who watched football last year but like an underdog right now Harvey's 31 oh is he going to get to a place now where we're like it's almost impossible to make the case for like please don't do that here's the problem he had everything in front of him

yeah and now it's like how do you possibly get the amount of work where he wasn't as good as we wanted him to be with Jonah Coleman there if if Dobbins goes down again which he does every year Jonah Coleman is now present I agree and so all of a sudden and I think Coleman becomes the the thumper yeah and the so the best ball case for RJ Harvey Harvey is a tough one now right for what it's worth after those initial six games. It is a juicy stretch for Denver. They get

their favorite in the next eight matchups. And we're talking seven and a half, eight and a half, nine and a half in some of them. So maybe that's the redemption period of the year if they have some hard fought games in the first half. So, you know, we've talked about Waddle. We've talked about

Bo Nix. We can talk about Dobbins and Coleman and R.J. Harvey. I think we know that Peyton is willing to be kind of of fluid at the position and give a lot of guys carries. When Bidde and McLaughlin were getting opportunities on this team, we kind of rolled their eyes in the back of our head, but he's willing to do whatever it takes to get production.

So that could mean Coleman getting more snaps if he gets off to a hot start. It could mean... It could. But Dobbins was... Dobbins was great last year, especially when you factor in where you were drafting him. I mean, the first five weeks of last year, not under 11 fantasy points.

Running back 19 was his worst finish. Has a couple duds after that, but he just, he's a strong player. Here's how they used him. The running back attempts of the running back rush share for Dobbins last year, just his game log. 73%, 70%, 85%, 52, 80, 78, 78, 65, 83, 82. It really was, it was his. role and I do think that that's how they're going to start this year, which is why we all think he's of value right now. But Andy's right. In the past, Peyton has certainly been fine with a

three-headed timeshare. Coleman is very good. He's a rookie that we all really loved, fell a little bit in the draft. Still good draft capital. But, you know, if he gets the opportunity, I think he he is the path for Dobbins to be a bad pick. Sure. I don't, Dobbins isn't a foolproof pick. He just He looks like a very strong value right now. He doesn't get the receiving work to be a league winning type of player. But this could be a top half offense, and Dobbins could get a bunch of rushing touchdowns. And then the trio of, sorry, Jay, the trio of Pat Bryant, Sutton, and Waddle is that, that's a strong wide receiver crew, in my opinion, which if you're in on Bo Nix. Kevin Ingram's there.

Yeah, he's just. he's just there. One finish in the top ten last year. Is there any chance that it's not Bo Nix's fault and it's that stupid Sean Payton's fault? He is dead last in pre-snap motion. Yeah. In the entire NFL, which we just talked about last week.

No, we don't love that. It's a sign of being an old crumagine knee. That's a stick in the mud. Suck face. Nice. I've got so much ground to make up you don't even know. So much ground to make up. Kelly, I'll probably have to make fun of Kevin James

at some point during this show. just by association. Yeah, I mean, it might change with Davis Webb actually calling the plays and being more involved. We'll see. Hopefully they have more pre-snap motion play action with this offensive line. Any other Denver Broncos stuff you want to talk about?

Nope. No, I would say overall, slightly above neutral for me on the fantasy outlook of this team. I don't see any of them. I don't see any of them as real league winners, but I'm fine with just about everybody at cost. the Los Angeles Chargers went 11 and 6 last year here we go baby yeah

I'm hot I think this is this is such a this team it seems like every year we this is the year yeah that's what it feels like I mean how many this this is the year Her bros how many this is the year this is how many

a broken clock is right twice a day I find my conviction waning oh no my optimism is that an all time Mike. Hi. Like, I'm exciting. I mean, I'm excited at the potential when you put Mike McDaniel and Herbert and Harbaugh

and Hampton and Ladd and all these guys together. But it does feel like a team where something just goes wrong on a yearly basis. They were six and two and one score games. They were projected to win nine and a half last year. They beat that. Despite an offense that ranked 18th and yards per game, 24th and points per game, that's why Greg Roman got the boot. G-Row.

Got to go. Got to go. And Mike McDaniel, we know that this is somebody that, you know, we talked about me. He's in the top five, I think, number one or two in pre-snap motion rate. He knows how to get his best players open and get him into situations to succeed. It gives me a lot of optimism that he can do that with, you know, specifically, Omarine Hampton putting him in a position to become an elite running back. And then Ladd-McConkie and Q.

to be really relevant weekly stars for your fantasy team, even in a place where you can kind of say, hey, lad, he let you down, but maybe he can be redeemed by Mike McDaniel in this offense. Jason, I know you are a her bro. Yes. Is this another year of not quite there? Or you think this is a fantasy relevant year for him as a quarterback?

When it comes to Justin Herbert, I believe in the talent of Justin Herbert, he is very good. What he had to deal with last year with the offensive line was a nightmare. He finishes the quarterback nine. I don't look at him specifically as the fantasy piece I want from this team. I look at him as a really good quarterback that can move an offense, get a ton of scoring opportunities. You know, he's not going to go out there and rush for 500 plus yards and get eight rushing touchdowns. He could if he wanted to.

He could. He's got the physical capabilities. But with this offensive line, with a healthy Hampton, Mike McDaniel there, I just, this looks to me like a team that's going to score a lot of points. The offensive line is the biggest thing for me because this is not a small change. In fact, I don't remember any, maybe last year what the Bears did to their offensive line when they brought in Ben Johnson, they completely took their guards and center and just. Well, they opened the vault.

Yeah, they went from one of the worst to one of the best. I expect this year genuinely the Chargers Offensive line to go from one of the worst in the NFL last year. Maybe the worst as far as when they actually played the players who were healthy because their two stars were gone

and then they added one of the best centers in the league this year. So you're telling me you get... I dare you to pronounce his last name. No. I... Professional NFL center. Yes. Tyler B.

But you're talking about like an a high-end top-five left tackle, right tackle, and center that all were not really there last year. So to your point, and Theo Ash tweeted this out, like, even with Rashan Slater, who went out in the off-season, devastating, when Joe Alt was active, they were top five in the NFL and EPA per play. So just having Joe Alt there, it really fell apart after that. He was hit double the amount of times as Bonecks, like I said earlier. I mean, that is, again, we've been here. here with Justin Herbert. I know Mike is, like we've always had a reason why the season didn't go right for him. The chargers are the equivalent. Be a dish. That's the last name.

Biatish. Biatish. I think it's Biatish. Be a oddish. Beaudish. Get it fancy. Be a dish. Be audish. No. No. I'm okay with it. So the Chargers lately are, like, they are the equivalent of final destination. You just, you know. It's, you know. I know. You know. The catastrophe, it's, you will not escape it.

Lightning strikes that team. I will say of, I have, I'm not, I'm not critical of, of Herbert's potential in the player. Just the Herbro's hive of every, this is the. This is the year. Of any of all the years, this is the most optimism I would share with those who are with the Chargers. McDaniel helps a ton for that. To me, Harbaugh is just, he's too old school for me. And so the fact that you get, I mean, you'll get polar opposites. Like, Hard Dog is as high tea as a guest.

Do you think those two guys hear each other when they talk? Or they're just, they just take turns. Daniel and Harbaugh even hear each other? Them. Is it like a foreign language back and forth? Them being matched up together would be interesting television. But I am. I'm optimistic that this is finally the year that things get put together for Herbert.

And we get back to what we saw with, what was that year two of him? Is Hampton going to be an elite running back with the offensive line you talked to this? Yes. That's where I am most. That's where I'm most excited. Like I love Ladd-McConkie. I love Herber and I love Hampton. But I'm not a hundred percent sure that it's going to be Ladd on the field and two wide receiver sets. Which they'll see a ton of 12 personnel. That's taken over the NFL. I see that this is a team that is, I expect them to win more of their close games this year with Harbaugh and this offensive line. So to me, the big winner of the offense that I can personally project is Hampton. I know they brought in Keaton Mitchell and he's an exciting back. And so, Some people are really, really afraid of it. The wanted poster, Jason. Yeah, the wanted poster. But this is a guy who's not going to touch the ball ten times in the game, Keaton Mitchell. I mean, they're talking about getting him eight touches.

That's the type of, and they'll be valuable, they'll be good for the team. But I don't see him as someone that's a reason to be afraid of Hampton. Also, you know, it's really fun to get off to a hot start in fantasy football, right? Good golly, Miss Molly. What if I told you that they opened the season against the Cardinals and Raiders? That's pretty solid. I mean, you're telling me that when you're basically a double-digit favorite, two games in a row, Hampton's not going to get off to a hot start. I really like.

I mean, that is an incredible start to the year. Quentin Johnston will be out there into wide receiver sets. But then it's Road versus the Bills, Road, Seahawks, Denver, Kansas City right after that. Yeah, I mean, all teams in this division will unfortunately have to play the division twice. that's the biggest argument against any of these teams having in great years that you have a tough division with three teams that could easily win the whole thing I mentioned quentin johnson he should be out there all the time even in the 12 personnel sets that is an encouragement for him but there is a lot of optimism around mcconkey yeah and i do trust mcdaniel putting him into a position to succeed i i trust mcdaniel as well lad mcconkey is shaping up as one of the I think the most difficult

Picks of Fantasy. Well, because everything makes sense. Just like everything made sense last year for when a second round pick goes 82 for 1150 and 7. Like, that's a

guy who's on a rocket ship to be a superstar in the NFL. And he's so good. And he is so good if he can just destroy zone. He gets open. He has a really high football IQ. and then they bring in Keenan Allen, and he's, like, essentially benched for Keenan Allen. I mean, that's another point, though, heading into this year, 22% of targets gone with no Keenan Allen.

122 total targets to Keenan Allen that are gone. Now, I will go into the season. They were like, no problem. We're just deleting that because he's back in the fourth round. Yeah, he's being drafted right now as the wide receiver 18. I think that's probably about where he finishes, but he does have the talent and upside an opportunity to smash that. Now, I was just about to say,

until Keenan Allen has a team this year, I'm going to half assume, half worry that he's going to be a charger. He's just going to sign late and then ruin Lad. So if you're doing early drafts right now, I don't know about that. But Quge, I don't think Quge has the same upside as Lad because he doesn't have the same talent, but he's being drafted as a wide receiver like 49. He has the last two years he's been in the 30s as a wide receiver. I'm super happy to take a shot on him late.

Are you still in on Gadsden as a breakout candidate at tight end with the 12 personnel with the fact that Njoku was added but really faded down the stretch last year and seems he's on the backup of his career? Yeah, I was much, I was really bullish on Gadsden as soon as we finished the UDK stats, but it certainly hurts him to have Najoku there. However, as a last round type of pick, that's where I'll go. I mean, we talk about this all the time, or I talk about all the time. I'm not taking those middle tight ends. I just want shots at those late guys, whether it's, we've brought up Dallas Goddard,

we've brought up some other guys. I think Gadsden is one of those where you take a swing and it just might be a really, really talented. I mean, his rookie season was awesome. He should be on the field a ton. He shouldn't be leaving the field. very much. All right, we'll take a break and we'll talk about the six and eleven Kansas City Chiefs. All right, the last season for the Chiefs, that was a rough one. Six and eleven,

they were projected to win 11 and a half games. They went one and nine and one score games. They went 0 and 8 against playoff teams. And then to just put a, you know, be the capstone of the season, you lose your half a billion dollar man to a torn left ACL. late in the season. All the recovery reports right now are very, very positive. But then you also had, you know, Rashi Rice had missed the first six weeks last year with the suspension, then missed three weeks with a concussion.

He had his own sort of drama this offseason again. Like there are a lot of questions about this offense in terms of the weapons for Patrick Mahomes, when Mahomes will be back as a, you know, fully loaded version of himself. last year they only had four offensive plays of 20 plus yards that resulted in a touchdown. That is the fewest in the NFL. It's the most opposite of what we used to have in Kansas City with the likes of Tyreek Hill and the big plays.

There were 20th and points per game, 20th and yards per game. You mentioned it that he only missed two games. This was an offensive just plain didn't work. It was a running game that didn't work at all. No, not at all. And so, you know, you look at the entirety of the Chiefs and there's only one player on that team that I have tremendous, a good amount of confidence with producing this year. And is that Rushi Rice or is that Kenneth Walker?

It's Ken Walker. It's Ken Walker. Yes, it is. I just don't, I think it was a definitive statement by the team to go out and invest in him. And again, that's not me saying he's the number one running back or anything like that. It's just I don't. He'll say that. I see Rashi Rice's production, Mahomes production, Kelsey's production, other ancillary weapons, vacillating all over the place.

I would agree with you other than Russia, Rice. Maybe Rice is the- Rice to me is... Well, he may vacillate between active and inactive. That's true. That's true. Whenever you really always have to lead with when he's on the field, when he's on the field, he's great, when he's on the field. You know, okay, that is an important distinction.

That being said, most of his not being on the field has been suspension over injury, and right now does not seem... They've already suspended him for what he had a problem with. We haven't heard any news or buzz about the fact that his parole came up costing him games. So as of right now, my expectation is that he's there week one. He is coming off of his own injury. However, it always takes remembering how many fantasy points he scores when he is on the field. How many targets he gets from Mahomes?

Mahomes last year was the running game. He would drop back. He couldn't find anybody if Rice wasn't there and he would run. That was really what saved his fantasy production. I don't expect that to happen coming off of a late ACL. He's going to be dumping it to Rushi Rice all the time. Rushie Rice last year and the games played, eight games played all with Mahomes. Who's on pace for 165 targets from Mahomes?

Double-digit touchdowns, 1,200 yards, 112 receptions. That's top three wide receiver type of numbers. Is that what you truly believe he would be over the course of an entire season? Yes, I truly believe over a course of it. If he plays 17 and Mahomes play 17, for this version of the team. We've got an old Kelsey. You can run now.

Ancillary pieces. I think that helps. I do too. I think Walker really, really helps this team. And generally I'm on the team of a running back addition can't really come in and save an offense. They were awful. We mentioned how bad the ground game was. But so last year, as a team, one 20-plus-yard run.

That's what the Kansas City Chiefs had. Ken Bone Walker, even in limited snaps last year, had 10 by himself. Walker is a piece of an offense that this team has not had for a long time. And I think him being a true threat, an explosive threat, where it's not like, oh boy, it's Cream Hunter Pacheco. Okay, fine. They're not, defenses are not,

they're not, they're not worried about those guys breaking off a huge run. Ken Walker is one of the players of every time he goes to the edge. You're like, oh, oh, someone better tackle him. And I really think that opens things up for Rice. And I,

Rishie Rice, the wide receiver, that's just a different conversation of how good is he actually, how good are his routes? I don't care. He has the mind meld with, Mahomes and so I will just lean on that. When I look at, he is obviously a dangerous pick.

His risk rating in the UDK is going to be plenty high because he might just do something in the middle of the season that jails him. Yeah. You know, but if I look at where he's going, it's like, okay, Chris Olavay, George Pickens, Rashi Rice, Tiggins, Tett, there's only one of those guys that could finish like the one, the number one or top three wide receiver. They're all good wide receivers, I mentioned, but if you're really wanting to swing for the fences

and get a fantasy championship, I could see Rushy Rice being at the end of the year, like he was one of the best. Yeah, I can't do. It's wild because, you know, I like Andy Reed and Patrick Mulhals was something to prove after last year. I do like that.

Eric Beanimy is taking over the offense from Matt Nagy, I mean, taking over in the complimentary sense to Andy Reid. No, Bienami, this is great news. Maybe. Was it B. Enemy or was it Tyree kill? Okay, that's a fair question, but we know that the offense with Matt Nagy as the OC over the last couple years. Where the heck to Patrick Mahomes go? What is going on here?

Like the high-flying good times Mahomes, you remember? That's where BNemi was on the staff. Did you guys mention the question for you, Mike? Okay. So coming up here really soon, we're going to be talking to Jackson Dart, Camp Scataboo. Right. We're going to the Fan Fest. How much crap should we talk about Matt Nagy?

to their faces to their faces i mean obviously we're going to talk infinite behind their backs but should we in that moment bring up our disdain or should we just be gentlemen because i keep vasili you have to do oh there he just used you oh man there's so much i i would like you to find a way to ask who was it the uh that json gave the answer about the offensive coordinator walton no chain shane waldron walter yes yes find a way to get an answer like that well but he still on the team. He hasn't. It would be next year when he's going to be able to say that. Last year, Kansas City, 25th in pre-snap motion, 30th in play action rate. You can't play action when you have no threat of the run. Ken Walker gives them a threat of the run. I laugh at the player's subtraction list for the chiefs this here because it is a laundry list of players we talked about like 10 years ago. Karim Hunt, Hollywood Brown, and Juju, three of the names departing along with Pacheco.

They didn't. I will say this. They didn't, they didn't, yeah, a star is set. they didn't really add anybody in like other than Ken Walker they didn't add anybody in free agency in the draft that are offensive weapons it's not something they invested in they are going to be a very good defensive team it lends itself to look can we like Patrick Mahomes coming back from in ACL you want to protect him you want to get the ball out of his hands you want to have a running game that protects him that could be part of the recipe to start the season they have a wonderful first six weeks favored favored favored favored favored favored favored by week favored that's nice to see that's nice to see that. two home games to start the year then you go on the road against Miami, Las Vegas. So, yeah, I mean, I'm excited to see if I can become a Ken Walker fan on a weekly basis.

Brother, this is, like, this is best case scenario for everyone. Doesn't matter what side of the Walker argument you were on. This is, because if he fails this year, though us Walker, truthers, we will be We're going to lock the door.

Step out of the train. We will be done. We will admit we were wrong. But if he goes to this team and dominates, oh, man. Proof! We're never going to hear the end. Proof!

Hey, all are welcome. Michael get a new tattoo. All are welcome on the Express. Do you care about Worthy and Kelsey? Ken Bone Walker. Kelsey more than worthy. I think Worthy Ann Thornton, you know, with with the fact that Ken Bowler.

You guys saw the worthy video, right? Yeah. Yes, the routes. Real tight corners. That looked like some thick grass, man. Why? Why post that? Why was that posting?

Yes. For those who haven't seen it, Worthy was running the most ridiculous. I don't even, you can't call it a route. He's running circles. He's running circles. He's running big, wide circles. And it looks worse than I would expect my kids to do. I don't know.

As not a professional wider seeer, perhaps something's going on there that we don't know about. but optically, why are you posting that? Yeah, I agree. I think the deep threats in Worthy and Thornton will have their games, but it's tough for me to want to draft them because I don't think they will be reliable enough. Kelsey is another one of those guys that, I mean, look, he's at the end of the draft again. Some of these, not a, you can be top five again. Not everybody that we mentioned in this like handful of late round targets at tight end will be there

the end of the draft. But for sure some of them will be because there's enough of those tier of guys where they're just undrafted. And maybe Kelsey goes a little earlier because he's first about Hall of Fame and people hope for the upside. But when he slips in a draft to those double-digit rounds, Leporta for your team or Kelsey? Like I would much rather have Kelsey in the 12th or 10th than Leporta in the 5th. Leportas going in the 5th? No, but I would much rather have I don't know. Where is Leporta going right now? I'd much rather have Kelsey in the 15th. LePorter in the first. I'll tell you that. Yeah. Oh, dude, me too. Me too.

He blew my mind for a second. I bet he's going in the ninth. He's eighth. Okay. The Raiders, last team we get to talk about in the AFC West. Project a win total last year was six and a half. They ended up with the worst record in the league. Despite having according to Jason, the league's best quarterback in Gino Smith. Only comparatively to the last year's

Jet's quarterback. I know. I know. I just am having fun with it. Two and five and one score games. They won week one against the Patriots, which is The Patriots go to the Super Bowl Oh, week one. In Foxborough. Week one. I mean, beyond that, they were two and fourteen. Their win total this year,

five and a half. So they're only favorite in three of their 17 games. They were the worst offense in football last year. They were one of the worst defenses in football, and you have a head coaching change. Because Pete Carroll, goodbye. Yeah, it was fun. But the flavor in that bubble gum,

it's finally gone. Yeah. Clint Kubiak, though. I mean, this was, this was, it was the time to capitalize. You go and you do what you did in Seattle. It was impressive. And he gets to head coaching gig.

They add Kirk Cousins. They obviously drafted Fernando Mendoza at 101. They added an elite edge rusher in Max Crosby. Yeah, that's right. Yes. Through via. From the Ravens. Yeah.

Yeah. Two first round picks. Yeah. Okay. Do you realize, by the way, that like, You know that Mendoza's not under contract? I did not know that. He hasn't?

What? Is that why he's out on Alaska? No. Yes, it is. You're saying he hasn't signed? I do not believe he is. I believe they thought he was going to sign. I see he signed.

One day ago, Marcus Allen talking about the Fernando Mendoza situation, the fact that he is not in the building. He was supposed to. Yes. This is what I'm saying. It's been very underpublicized. It's been under publicized because it will be irrelevant. But it's relevant to your snaps and your OTAs and your chance to get reps on this team and your confidence from your head coach is going on. I would agree the difference.

And I think this is why he was on a cruise with me. Right. From our perspective, everyone expects Kirk Cousins to start the season. And everyone expects Mendoza to finish the season. I believe that's what's going to happen no matter what. But I just, I didn't realize it. I feel like it hasn't been talked about because these are normally. slotted situations.

And the money's pretty set. So then you're talking about things like signing bonus differentials or something. Yeah, there's always weird things. And I'm not the expert on what's going on because this is sort of breaking news the last week. I also looks like their fourth round pick McCoy hadn't signed. Well, they are the Raiders. Yeah. So when you've got certain.

Figure it out. So it is, it is going to be cousins to start this year, which I think it's good. Cousins loves to throw the football to the running back position. That's the thing that jumps out to me. Like if you want to get off to a hot start, I'm already in love with Dashant Gentie this year, but give me a professional quarterback

that's already played and some, like there are just metrics rookie quarterbacks don't hit. They don't hit certain touchdown totals. They don't hit certain yardage totals. The pass attempts per game are going to be lower. I like that it's cousins to start the year. I do too. We've talked a lot about the research that we've done.

Mike's done on the fact that Pass-catching weapons don't usually do well in fantasy with a rookie quarterback. So if you give half a year of cousins and half a year with Mendoza, and specifically the second half of the year with Mendoza, obviously they're going to be better than having to start the season slow. I mean, that's, I was saying there's some risk of Ashton Janty. If you're saying that, like, Mendoza is inevitable. Yes.

It's just at what point, you know, they have, there's been whispers of they want an entire year. of red shirting. That would be great. Would you be able to... You're not going to do that if you're two and... Well, you might. You might. But at what point...

If the season's lost, you also have to make that decision about... What I'm getting to is... I will always be on the side of... I'm worried about rookie quarterbacks. They're skill players. Because rookie quarterbacks just don't produce as much. If you have a switch halfway through, and now it's like...

Bowers... Genties one of your guys, and you're heading into the playoffs. You're like, you want... if he have a down first half and an elite second half, that's so much better. Yeah, I mean, I see what you're saying. I see what you're saying, but I think that when we look at, and maybe we can do a study on second half of the year rookie, you know, and they're receiving options in the second half of the year because it's very, very common where we come in talking about a second year quarterback, and we say let's throw out the first month of their play.

Let's look at the second half of their year and it's significantly better. Makes just all the sense of the world. It's his first half. It's his first half if he's taken over at the back half. I mean, obviously it depends on what week he goes in, but I don't think he makes it all the way to the fantasy playoffs before he gets his first start. I don't like, it is interesting because both of the elite tight ends that you want the most on your team this year do have quarterback change variables built in. Sure. If Bowers gets off to a rock solid start. Bowers is going to be awesome.

He is going to be awesome. But you are going to have, look, we spent the entire time talking about the Cardinals when we broke them down, what the target totals and the numbers look like for Tray McBride with Jacoby Brissette and the Cardinals are a team projected to win almost nothing, there's a chance they take a shot on Carson Beck or somebody the second half of the year or the second, you know, the last third of the year. I would be surprised if Carson Beck doesn't get some starts. So that is something that's built into both these guys.

If Mendoza takes over for the last third of the year, you're going to be underdogs in all those games, you're getting your first snaps, they're going to put pressure on the quarterback. It is going to be a variable there for Bowers. and Tray McBride that are, like, McBride's numbers were so outlandish with Brissette, we're like, oh, well, they'll just be good with somebody else. It's how many touchdowns does Mendoza throw? How many touchdowns does Carson Beck throw for Arizona?

That's the concern. McBride's always been great. It was the touchdowns that destroyed him. I do not, it doesn't stop me from drafting Bowers because who else are you going to take if you want elite production at tight-in? But I know that Caleb Williams is going to be the starter for the entire year for Colson-Levelin. Sure. Daniel Jones, barring injury is going to start the entire.

entire year for the Indianapolis Colts is just something to keep in the back of your head. Yeah, that's fair. I think that the talent of Bowers and McBride just usurp the quarterback issues, especially Bowers, because while Carson Beck, I mean, Carson Beck, if he gets starts, that's going to be really, really tough sledding. Mendoza's the number one overall pick for a reason. Maybe he doesn't throw as many touchdowns, which nerfs the true upside. But the number one target for this team is Bowers. I mean, by the widest margin ever, you don't don't have that same certainty with McBride. Like maybe Marve becomes the number one target this year or whatever.

I did laugh at your statement about that they don't, we did research on how like pass catchers don't do good with rookie quarterbacks. And then the Raiders are like, yeah, so we won't have any. We decided we'll just not have any other than Bowers. We're just not going to not going to worry about a nailer and Tucker and best. I actually love the Raiders here because their defense is bad and their consolidation of talent is perfect.

You have Bowers, you have Gentie, and you have no one else to even, like, consider looking at or... For fantasy? You don't even have someone else, in my opinion, to consider thinking about considering. Like, I'm not going to be worrying about Jalen Naylor. They're a tier below consideration? Correct. So, I really like both Bowers and Genty. They're going to have so much volume and they have so much talent that that just, that combination, when you're that good and you get that much

work. Yeah, it's going to be tough sledding. Yeah, you're going to be playing down and you might not score as many touchdowns, but you're just going to volume your way to fantasy points. Mike, you know where Jason and I stand on our love of Gentie going into the year, but does the upside of Gentie and that workload outweigh the risk to you for a team that's projected to only win five games? So Gentie is like, you know, I'm a few spots behind you guys because I just, I think he's, the situation is risky. I have no problem. Ashton Genty, the player is awesome.

You know, he did handle a huge workload last year, which is somehow it's an ability. I mean, I don't know how to quantify it, but there's just guys that can do it and there's guys that cannot. He, you know, when a play actually gets going, he's electric, he will force a mistackle. I think, you know, they took Mike Washington

junior, just size speed freak. They took him in the fourth round. The way that Coobes handled Charbs and Ken Walker gives me at least a little bit of pause that a backup might be in there more than you want. So I think he is a sketchy, a sketchy pick at ADP, where I can see everything going right and he's just truly, truly a dominant player because he's the talent wins out like do you think you could lead the league in rushing yard no not in rushing okay and if you're saying like yards from scrimmage because maybe he has to catch a whole bunch of passes i got you know what i'm like i will say this you can't you can't lead the league in rushing i don't like that start to the year man chargers on the road

saints on the road chiefs new england and buffalo with their situation and they're going to win i'd be like let's let's say they have a great year they win six games like this the first overall pick to winning six games with a quarterback switch that's a solid season you can't lead the league of rushing with that that would be a nick chub could Kyle that's an interesting trivia question like what's the worst record for a rushes leader yes i wonder if you could get it get that stab for us before the show ends um i don't know if he's that talented i think i think two things uh left to consider we we we saw last year kirk cousins um when he He took over. Drake London was injured for most of those games. Bejean Robinson and Kyle Pitts. Yeah. And Kyle Pitts. Yeah. The tight end and the running back, the consolidation for Kirk Cousins was unbelievable. 106 target pace for Bejohn during those final games. Pits was great. So you've already seen, like when I watched Kirk Cousins film, he has lost it. He does not, he does not have the deep ball. He's not. I love Kirk Cousins. We've always been a big stand of Kirk Couss.

Vikings Day, we felt like he was so under respected, but he is not that guy anymore. But to the tight end and running back, you know, not the deep shots, those aren't going to happen, but he's going to support these two phenomenally. And then the other thing that I don't think we've made enough big a deal about is the offensive change here. Clint Kubiak coming in is not just a good offensive mind coming in. Sure. He's replacing an in. He's replacing an nept situation where you had this weird nepotism with Pete Carroll hiring his two sons as like an offensive assistant and an offensive line coach and then ends up firing other people but not his sons and it was just like it was a really bad situation they were in and they're going

to swing the pendulum to a really good situation they still don't have the talent on the offensive line but I believe that there will be I mean I really like those two players I think I mean I would I have no fears of either one at value you, I think Gentie returns on value this year, and I, and Brock is. So I must stand corrected as there was a player on a six-win team who led the league in rushing. In 2010. In 2010. You want to guess?

Oh, I could never. No, you couldn't. But his name's Ari and Foster, baby. Oh, your dream boat. That's how good Foster was. All right. Thursday's show is a mock draft episode. You do not want to miss that one.

and then we'll start jumping into the NFC on Saturday. Yeah, get into the UDK. Jason is guaranteed a new feature that we're not sure is even going to be there. Update your app immediately and give us feedback. And let us know how those mock drafts are going at Sportat Fantasyfootballers.com. How in the world does a running back have 1,600 rushing yards, 16 rushing touchdowns? So he averaged over 100 yards per game on the ground. And you're 6 and 10.

How was that even possible? I wonder what they were in one score games, Mike. Probably pretty crappy. All right, that is going to do it for today's show. Shout out to Aryan Foster, my main man. Maybe we'll get one of those years from Genty. Goodbye. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers podcast.

Join our fantasy football community on join thefoot.com. And follow us on Twitter at the FF ballers.