Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast - Early Breakouts & Sleepers, The Boyd Void - Fantasy Football Podcast for 6/25

Episode Date: June 25, 2024

Breakout and sleeper picks on today’s fantasy football podcast! Andy, Mike, and Jason each pick players to take a big step forward this season! Plus, reactions to Rhamondre Stevenson’s contract extension, and players to target late in 2024 fantasy football drafts! Manage your redraft, keeper, and dynasty fantasy football teams with the #1 fantasy football podcast. -- Fantasy Football Podcast for June 25th, 2024. 2024 ULTIMATE DRAFT KIT is available now at UltimateDraftKit.com Connect with the show: Subscribe on YouTube Visit us on the Web Support the Show Follow on X Follow on Instagram Join our Discord Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This episode is brought to you by McDonald's. Monopoly is back at McDonald's, everybody. This is an alert. It's time to get back to Mickey D's. Monopoly Double Play is back at McDonald's, and it's easy to get into the win. First, you peel on pack, and then again in the app. There are millions of prizes to be won,

including a new chance to win cash every minute in the app. Get into the game with Monopoly Double Play at McDonald's. While supplies last, one in five chances to win game piece prizes at outset, chances to win Double Play prizes based on time of code entry, and draw prizes based on number of entries in each draw. See rules in the app. Get a credit card annual fee waiver and earn C-plus points faster with the Scotiabank Ultimate Package and bank more entertainment. Learn more at scotiabank.com slash banking packages. Conditions apply. Scotiabank. You're richer than you think. Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast with your hosts Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright.

Welcome in. Andy, Mike, and Jason. Back with you. Tuesday episode of the Fantasy Footballers. Papa Josh has been banished from the office. We got him. And we got a lot of work done now because people aren't talking as much. See that big blank spot in the middle of Deucer's Alley?

That looks good. That looks really nice. He's out of here. That was a good run for him. I mean, it's not a bad gig. He works like 20 hours a week. And he's paid for 40. Right.

Yeah, that's a pretty good situation. Pretty sweet gig. But no, we're back. And yes, he will be back. Yeah. Because you know some people. Yes, I know. So look, he's on vacation.

He's not fired yet. Yes. Yeah. But yeah, we had a week off, each of us. Got some family vacations in. And we're back. We had pre-recorded episodes last week. We got news we've got to cover, things that happened while we were away. So I'm excited to talk about that. We're talking early breakouts and sleepers.

So like the Ultimate Draft Kit, it's out now, ultimatedraftkit.com. We have our consensus, breakout, sleepers, busts, values, all the rankings. I updated pretty significantly a couple days ago. Tons of names. But today's show is about kind of calling our shot on a few individual, a breakout and a sleeper pick for us individually, not necessarily guys that everybody here agrees with and making the case. Right, right. Yeah, in the UDK, we're trying to show the ones that are kind of

consensus ballers beliefs uh we'll we'll highlight if you know one person disagrees you know read the blurbs uh but yeah here's just guys we we really like the draft analyzer which is part of the ultimate draft kit launches on july 1st which is just a week away. And that will allow you to import teams, existing teams, new teams you draft in August or into this month. And you can get a grade. We'll grade all of your position groups. We'll make suggestions to you about where you're weak, where you're strong, improvements you can make.

And that is a really valuable tool all the way up until the season kicks off. There's also some pretty cool valuable age tools for that for dynasty leagues. Like when I use it, I can put in one of my dynasty teams that I already have and get a grade, but also look at kind of the overall landscape of the team as a whole. It's pretty valuable.

Andy put his team in, and it just, his phone turned to dust. Due to the age? Yes. Oh, speaking of which news and notes from around the league you gave him too nice of a segue there mike let's go ahead and talk about this let me see here let me go through the dynasty roster mcafree he's got a contract i got him one of those uh mike

evans signed a deal. Kelsey, new extension. Mostert extension. Who else do I need to... Okay, Patriots running back Ramondre Stevenson has signed a four-year, $36 million contract extension. 26 years old. $17 million guaranteed.

Yes, he's on my dynasty roster. The 36 is whatever. It's the 17. 17 million giving to a 26-year-old. It's an interesting decision to make as a football team. But for this year, I said it whenever on one of our previous shows, I've been trying to make a small case of leaving Marja.

What if Ramondre falls out of favor with the team and Antonio Gibson is here previous shows of I've been trying to make a small case of like leaving Marja. What if Ramondre falls out of favor with the team and Antonio Gibson is here and he comes in? Then they gave him $17 million guaranteed. So that's gone. And you have to have faith that Ramondre will be in a focal point of the offense no more not just talking about it coach speak they went out and they did something about it yeah it's nice when both go the same direction right right like the coaching staff has been talking about how important remandre stevenson is to this offense what a key cog it is and then the and then the organization said

yeah this it's not just words this is an important piece to our offense. So for fantasy football, for dynasty leagues, this is great. But even redraft leagues, I think this should move the needle on Ramondre a little bit, give him more confidence that this season he's going to be really the centerpiece of this offense. Because you look at the wide receiving core with either Jacoby Bursette or a rookie, and you're not sure how that's going to go. So Ramondre is the only known piece of the Patriots that I'm like, okay, I'm fine having Ramondre on my team. He's going to be the seventh

highest per year running back with this contract. Tons of question marks about how the offense will perform, but that is also an opportunity if you believe in the money spent and the fact that he produced a top 12 season before an injury plagued mess last year. It's an opportunity to buy low. When an offense is literally, Mike, you brought up the fact that Vegas and the Sharps over there, they view it as the highest probability of being the worst team. So it's an opportunity to buy low if you believe in Ramondre's talent. A lot's been made of the system changing to the more zone blocking scheme, you know, and whether he's comfortable with it. He did run that at Oklahoma. That was one of the things that he was. And if you go, you can watch Ian Harditz has a pretty good tweet showing every zone blocking play from the past

year watching Ramondre in the system and whether or not you believe he's capable of getting it done. It's a lot of money, and I just do what I can for my guys. I get them paid. A couple more guys on my starting roster I need to take care of, just two. Amari Cooper, I had him hold out a couple days at the end of camp. I'm working on that. I assume, Jason, you think that's going to- Yeah, that money's coming, for sure.

Yeah, and Alvinvin camara a little harder i'm trying right now i'm having him sit out as well and i'm trying him leverage his past for his future is what i'm trying to do your team is so ancient and all of your starters got contract extensions it's really uh it's great management it's so funny it's so funny i mean i gotta lock it on my bench i got him a deal too i'm not even gonna use him if camara actually gets oh man because he should not oh no no no no at least not new money the problem is is the momentum of my dynasty team once a few guys get deals the other guys want deals and i just have to work on a lot of jealousy out there for sure oh that was it was i was so happy to see that

Ramondre deal though because I just traded for him and for those of you out there that had, I had seen, like we had had the conversation on the show before the deal happened. So there were people that did go out there and throw deals out there to pick up Ramondre and ended up feeling a little bit better about the deal. Doesn't mean he's going to be great. Just means they're going to give him a chance

to be great. Perceptually, his value is up. Aiden O'Connell right now according to Jeremy Fowler has a slight edge on Minshew that's going to be a quarterback battle I don't know what I want there I'm going to be honest with you because Aiden O'Connell is like the devil you know in that offense I feel like he's the one you don't know Gardnerner Minshew, we've seen him start enough where you can go, okay, Michael Pittman last year was okay with Gardner Minshew. Devontae Adams is going to be okay. Aiden O'Connell, I think there's at least hope that he's got upside,

like from the franchise, not from me. I think he is who he is. He's a third round journeyman, hopeful journeyman, NFL quarterback. But at least there's, you know, you don't know what his ceiling is yet because he, you know, he's what started 10 games. And so Gardner is like a little bit safer, but the ceiling is irrelevant. It's the devils. It's the devils you would like to not know, probably, for Devontae Adams and Jacoby Myers. I think for the team, it's better to have Gardner there, as in one year. But for the franchise, you're hoping that Adel Cottle, you're crossing your fingers, maybe he turns into our guy.

If I had Adams, and this is going to be probably opposite of what you would want, but I would want O'Connell because I believe that Adams is a very opinionated, loud alpha. And I think that that controls... You're saying he's going to have Aiden O'Connell

under his thumb. That's what I'm saying. And the fact that he'll throw it deep and he'll chuck it. And Minshew's going to be able to manage the fact that he'll throw it deep and he'll chuck it. Minshew's going to be able to manage the game better. It'll be better for the Raiders probably and better for Zemir White. That's just my early thought, but we'll see who wins it. We did get news that Trevor Lawrence signed

a five-year $275 million contract while we were away. Got paid before Dak. Got paid a lot. I mean. Got paid a lot. $200 million guaranteed. Well, yeah.

He's matching Joe Burrow's league-leading contract in total value and average annual salary. You're going to have to do this. You can't let Trevor Lawrence walk. He's the face of your franchise, the former number one overall pick. He is not worth this money. He is not worth this kind of dough I mean he's just this is this is like best quarterback in the league money Lawrence has fewer total touchdown passes than Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers in the last three years Tom Brady and

Aaron Rodgers did not play this last year there have been flashes this was the quarterback eight in 2022 last year he did deal with not just having injuries that caused him to finally miss a game but playing through them for a stretch he had a three-game stretch where he was number one six and five in three consecutive games there is i'm trying to you know certainly hope that he becomes the superstar. And there have been flashes, but you don't usually pay on hope. You're backed into this because you either have to start over or you have to commit to your Jay Cutler. And right now they're committing to their Cutler. And I think I would have just forced him to play out,

franchised him a couple times, seeing what I got. Would have had to pay him a lot more. Have you seen that rumor about them having a separate quarterback salary cap for quarterbacks only? This is why Dallas is messing up again. It's because this is a team that hasn't made it out

of the divisional round since 1995, which is mind-blowing. And they played this Dak game once before and then paid him way more than they would have had to and now they're doing it again what are you going to do when they go out and they win 12 games this year 13 games they're gonna they will win at least 10 and then what are you going to do not pay him it it feels like they want seasons it feels like they want to not pay him by the way that's the one that hurt the most that we forgot the other day.

In the AMA that we should have brought up. What player from the past is the most haunting? I shouldn't have said Gibson. It would have been Lance. Yeah, Trey Lance, that's a rough one. The way they talk about him, sometimes I think they want him to be their starter next year. I don't know if this is just in contract negotiations with Dak, but yeah, they wait too long to pay people. They're going to do their starter next year. I don't know if this is just in contract negotiations with Dak, but yeah, I mean, they wait too long to pay people.

They're going to do it with CD, with Dak. Yeah, CD's not been paid either. Zach Jackson writes, it's his belief the Browns will open the season with Jerry Judy in the slot. Amari Cooper and Cedric Tillman out wide. We're mentioning this with the Browns in part because Cedric Tillman has been getting a lot of buzz. He has. And the fact that he'll have a starting job, or so it seems, very

interesting for deeper leagues. Pay attention to that. I think he's a good player. We all kind of felt like he didn't get an opportunity last year. They had four quarterbacks. But Jerry Judy in the slot, thank goodness. I mean, Elijah Moore. Yeah, that dude. That might be the judy in the slot thank goodness i mean elijah moore yeah i mean that dude that that might be the worst player in the history like a lot thank you like he might he

might be the worst in the history of football why are we so angry at elijah i'm not i'm not saying that there aren't players who are are worse than him as a wide receiver there are they don't get on the field but as far as people that are on the field getting the ball thrown their way. 104 targets. I mean, he has done the least with the most opportunity I can remember. 104 targets, okay, with 59 receptions despite a yards per catch of 10, which means you caught 57% of the balls thrown your way that were close to you.

That were real easy catches. And nobody, I mean, he already got walked out of New York. Yeah, something weird happened. Something doesn't work, man. Yeah. And so they're looking for less of him and more of Jerry Judy. All right. I think that is it by way of news,

unless you guys have anything else you want to bring up. Nope. All right. You guys want to get into these breakouts? Yes, sir. Breakouts. Let's talk for a moment about how we look at this category. We define a breakout when we talk about them in the UDK,

and we list them out there as a fantasy player that's primed to become that fantasy darling that everybody falls in love with, a future fantasy superstar, game changer. Maybe they've flashed, giving you small windows of success but not a full season uh but we think maybe with another year under their belt or a changing situation changing quarterback whatever the case may be this could be the year that they enter a different tier right we break the the udk up in tiers yeah yeah this is is where you're going to tier jump one or two or however many spots it takes to get up in those first two rounds

the following season. And or if you don't get up into those first two rounds the next season, you still made an impact that won championships this year. These are guys that we see a pathway towards superstardom fantasy championships. So do you guys want me to start or do you guys want to go first? I don't care. You go ahead. No, no, it's not Will Levis.

Not exactly Will Levis. It's dependent on Will Levis. For me, it's right now, and it could change. Last summer was the summer of Mike Evans for me, where I had the strongest conviction about Mike Evans, his price in drafts that made him a my guy

that I thought was guaranteed. And right now, the closest contender to that category for me right this minute is Calvin Ridley, who's connected to Will Levis, right this minute is Calvin Ridley, who's connected to Will Levis, who I think is the future Jameis Winston of our dreams. Because Jameis Winston has never been the world's greatest quarterback. But for fantasy, he's on the Mount Rushmore of chuckers.

Because Will Levis loves to throw the ball deep. Calvin Ridley, that's the kind of targets that you like. And this is the reason why. This is not a discussion. This is not a breakout to me if Calvin Ridley is sitting anywhere relative to the top 36 or the top 24. He's being drafted as the wide receiver 40 in the seventh round. I've taken him in every mock draft we've ever done. And I don't think Calvin Ridley, because of the age, because of the Will Levis and Tennessee factor,

I don't think he's moving in drafts. I don't think I could have a whole show on Calvin Ridley. I don't know if he's moving. I don't know if you need preseason highlights or whatever the case may be, but I believe that Calvin Ridley with Will Levis, with what they're handing over offensive-wise, no Derek Henry. I think Calvin Ridley's a guarantee to outperform his ADP. I really do. He was tied for the fifth most 20-plus-yard targets among all wide receivers last year. Will Levis loves to throw the deep ball. Again, zone coverage, 23% of all his attempts

were 20-plus yards down the field. That was number one in the NFL. It's going to be a shotgun offense with a couple of small running backs. He's going to have it. He's going to run a shotgun offense with a couple of small running backs. He's going to have it. He's going to run through the air with those little running backs. He's going to be in his hand all the time. Brian Callahan's coming over.

They're going to have a high pass rate. And I think Calvin really got paid big-time money. Yeah, that's the only reason he's there. And to me, he went out and he made an impression specifically on Tennessee when he played against them last year because he cooked them for 7 for 103-2 and then 6 for 106-1. So they seem to really, really like him. But last year, Calvin Ridley, like what would you say the vibe was when the season ended?

What was last season for Calvin Ridley? Disappointing. Yeah, super disappointing. Because of the variability, right? Yeah, the inconsistency and also because he started you know week one is such a dominant player that people started him for a long time we're very disappointed i i don't know where he finished i would imagine it's probably around wide receiver 15 he's 17 okay and he was drafted at 18 last year. Now he's being drafted at 40, which I think is just wild. I mean, this offense to me, Will Levis is going to have the opportunity.

So I have him the highest of the three of us. I think it's a perfect mix. A deep ball thrower with somebody that I think was really good on the field last year, but at times didn't have the rapport with Lawrence or Lawrence was missing him. We talked about all the misses in the end zone for Calvin Ridley. He had some drops, but they paid him a huge amount of money. He had the most in zone targets. He was tied for CD lamb last year. This is going to be a go-to receiver. If you come here and you say, well,

no, no, Deandre Hopkins is going to Deandre Hopkins is, is sunsetting. Like, I think he's still a decent player, but Calvin Ridley's the bona fide one to me. He had six top 10 performances. It just was not consistent last year, but I really believe in him. I don't know if I stand alone here in the group. I really don't, but I love him this year. I don't love him. I mean, being drafted right now, let's see, best ball, wide receiver 35 on sleeper wide receiver 40 i think he outproduces that uh the watching the videos of the near misses with him in jacksonville it's it's interesting of like who who is actually in the wrong uh trying to figure that out it can be very difficult

so they had some of that derrick carr crystalrysalave problem last year. Right, yeah, yeah. But the ADP is interesting to me, but Hopkins is also going around Calvin Ridley. These are guys who are pretty much afterthoughts, and I wonder if when I'm really drafting is do I bypass Calvin Ridley because I know I can get Hopkins cheaper by at least a little bit. Kyle, can you pull up his numbers for me real quick? So that would be my only argument against Calvin Ridley is that maybe I can get DeAndre Hopkins, get something relatively close in terms of fantasy points output.

Because Ridley was on the field a lot, a lot. To get all the numbers when you're like, well, the end of season, he had the most this, the most that. It's correct, but he was also on the field almost more than anybody in the NFL at the wide receiver position. So that's a question. What does that look like in Tennessee? Is he running just that far ahead?

They're basically back-to-back in ADP. Okay. Well, then if they're right back-to-back, then I don't know, probably I'm going to diversify a little bit. I'll take some Ridley, some Hopkins. Yeah, I was pretty strongly out on Ridley early in the offseason when he signed going to Tennessee seemingly for money being older having a disappointing season but I I have I've I've changed my tune quite a bit and a lot because

of you Andy your confidence in him as the clear one here. Because when I statted these guys out originally, it was really like Hopkins is just as good. And there could be a hard path to getting a target market share from Will Levis to be a superstar, but also where they're going right now in drafts, you're not risking much and i there is the upside there so if you're if you're taking you know what did you say he was like wide receiver 40 or something yeah i'm actually curious what other names are going out around there i'm gonna i'm gonna look at that yeah he's going at 40 right now um so let me see i guess it kind of depends where you're at but like hollywood i would rather have 40 is like a dunes.

A Madison Ridley, Deontay Johnson, Xavier Worthy, Terry McCorin. These are the names that are in that conversation. I think he's a good name to point out there. I, I certainly,

there's a reason he's going that late. The path is murky and it doesn't feel like a home run that he's going to do it, but he can do it. And for where he's going that late. The path is murky, and it doesn't feel like a home run that he's going to do it. But he can do it, and for where he's going, I think the path is better for him than some of those other guys. So Ridley's my pick. We're going to take a quick break and come back with Jason's breakout selection. And I am looking forward to it because I might be with him, your pick,

where you were with Ridley, and i want to hear your argument for him and that was jason's argument for him so uh not convinced so yeah so my breakout player uh for 2024 is none other than isaiah pacheco. There we go. Starting workhorse running back for the Kansas City Chiefs. This swing is, like, that swing noise at the end, it really is. It diminishes the, yeah. It takes away from what this man has done. It's a non-serious sound. Yeah.

Like, we're talking about serious. Maybe that's a touchdown. A serious running back here that sounds like a cartoon character. Yeah, but, you know you know he is I think a really good back we liked him going into 2023 the problem was he had a seventh round NFL draft capital like he this was not a team that had invested a lot in him he wasn't super proven and so you weren't sure what you were going to get and he had a solid season um you know he finished in half PPR I think as the running

back 16, somewhere right around there. And he missed three games. So he had a solid season. But what this team has done is really show that Isaiah Pacheco is their main guy. Through the playoffs last year, they relied on him and their running game with this great defense to win a Super Bowl. He had a touchdown in three of the four playoff weeks, and his involvement in the passing game has been critical. What did they do in this offseason? They did nothing to address the running back position whatsoever. I mean, you're still, they re-signed Clyde Edwards-Alaire. They addressed it.

But, you know, Keontae Ingram is maybe the backup behind there. It is his team now in the running back room is Isaiah Pacheco's. And what I love is if you dive a little deeper on last year, keeping in mind when you came into the season, we weren't sure. Jarek McKinnon, Clyde Edwards-Alaire, how involved will they be? Is this just a three-way timeshare? And to start the season, it was. Isaiah Pacheco. McKinnon was always a problem because of his versatility in the passing game.

Absolutely. And you saw that the first three weeks. McKinnon and CEH combined for more than 50% of the snaps. You had 46% of the snaps going to Isaiah Pacheco. But then from week four on, they flipped it. Instead of 46%, it was 64% of the snaps for Isaiah Pacheco. And during that time, he was a rock solid fantasy asset. How good was he? 14.7 fantasy points per game. And that's the majority of the season. That's not like this tiny little stretch. That's

just getting the first three weeks out when we weren't sure how they were going to utilize them. And it seems they weren't sure how they were going to utilize him. 14.7 fantasy points per game and half PPR scoring would put him right between two players. Brees Hall last year had 14.9, and Jameer Gibbs had 14.4. You look at the touchdown variance last year for the Kansas City Chiefs. They have been scoring so many more points over the previous four seasons than they scored this last year, but the opportunities are still there for him. He gets work inside the red zone. He gets work inside the 10 zone and inside the five zone. And he did well with that. He got 10 carries inside the 10 yard line and he converted five of those into touchdowns. So you know he's capable. And so what could a breakout look like for year

three well we all have him projected for more than 280 plus total touches I've got him right at 300 you two both have him at 289 total touches and so yeah Mike and I talked we decided 289 was the right number just sounded too good 289 is my favorite number um here's a list of year three running backs with 280 plus touches over the last decade. You got Alfred Morris finished as a top 15 running back. Devonta Freeman, number six. Todd Gurley finished number one. Melvin Gordon finished five. Zeke finished five. Christian McCaffrey, number one. Aaron Jones, number two. Dalvin Cook, number five. Leonard Fournette, number nine. Chris Carson, running Carson running back 10 Joe Mixon running back 13

and Najee was running back 21 so the majority of the time when you get a year three back who gives him a large workload you're talking about at least a top 15 if not a high-end top 10 guy so two questions for you one is you know I think this is one of those, it happens every year. There's a handful of guys. Are you willing to trust them to take the step, right? Like that's a Pacheco situation here is it's like, he's not a perennial always been there guy. He's a taking the step guy.

So it's hard to trust. But the other question I have for you was just related to your, you ended up with Patrick Mahomes at number one overall in your ranking. So you're obviously very bullish on a bounce-back passing game there. I guess I wonder how that factors into the entire equation. Like, obviously all chips can rise in an offense, but is it Pacheco's involvement in the passing game that you think will be steady?

Yeah, so if you look at those last 11 games that he played after the first three weeks, he was very involved in the passing game. He was on pace for 57 receptions. That is a great number to add to a guy who could be a double digit touchdown scorer in one of the best offenses in the league. So when I've got Patrick Mahomes, number one, it's because I see the Kansas City Chiefs offense being much better this year than it was last year in total touchdown scoring. And that's going to go, some of those will go to Pacheco. That'll be down near the red zone and he'll get more work there uh but he's also involved in the past game jerek mckinnon is gone clyde edwards alera is dead so it's like

oh no he he really doesn't have metaphorically metaphorically not actually dead he's alive yeah but you but you know you know he's like you know what I'm saying. So I'd say Pacheco's the dude for a great offense. I mean, he's only making like $3 million a year. Do you need me to get on the phone? Yeah, if I had him, I'd trade him to your roster just to make sure. I don't think he's eligible yet. But what happens to you, Jay, if July rolls around and Jarek McKinnon's back on this team?

Jarek McKinnon was on the team last year. It didn't make a difference for him. Once took over the role he was very good and where you're drafting him right now is at his floor where you're drafting him is basically he's gone uh RB12 yeah RB12 I think that's about near his floor maybe he'll fall to RB15 but like it's you're not you're not risking a top two pick McKinnon did miss four of the last seven games of the year. I don't know if it matters. I don't know how much those overlap with the same games that Pacheco missed

because Pacheco actually missed several at the end. I think three of the 14 and 15, he missed those. Okay, those are the two weeks that McKinnon was back and did some stuff. So that's interesting. Definitely not as integral last year, McKinnon, as he was the season before. So Pacheco having a floor at 12, though, feels pretty spicy. Yeah. I mean, I put his floor at 15.

He's being drafted at 12. Can I get 16? No, no way. His floor is 15. All right. Now you heard it here. The floor is the floor. Mike actually got a name in so quick that I was furious with him.

It just means you're in agreement here. I am in agreement, so I'll shut up. It's George Pickens of the Pittsburgh Steelers, who is going as the wide receiver 29 right now on sleeper. That's the second half of the fifth, 28th over on underdog in best ball. And the Pittsburgh Steelers have thus far, they're making a bet on George Pickens because, look, he's their guy. They shipped Deontay Johnson out of town.

Right now the lineup is George Pickens, then you have Van Jefferson slotted as a starter, and then rookie Roman Wilson projects to be the starting slot wide receiver. But it's, George Pickens is really the only proven player. They have Calvin Austin still?

He is, yeah. Hanging around. Yeah, so that's another part. There's a lot of guys, like Scotty Miller's there there quez watkins is there there's a whole bunch of guys but then there's george pickens it's just george pickens is the one who we know who can actually like ball out and make highlight real catches yes he absolutely vanishes a guy who put up 1140 yards and five receiving touchdowns somehow has a consistency score of D on our website. He had 63 catches to get the 1,140 yards. That's crazy.

Because during this season, you had the blockbuster event of week nine versus Tennessee where he had two receptions for negative one yard, and then you have week 16 against the Cincinnati Bengals where he's four for 195-2. Look, it was very inconsistent last year, but the point is the Steelers are in on him, and when we saw him without Deontay Johnson last year, it's only four games, but he jumped from 8.6 half PPR points all the way over 14 from five targets to over eight from 52 yards to 89 yards.

I think that he is ready to make that jump. We can make all the jokes about Russell Wilson if we want to, but Russell Wilson is still better than Kenny Pickett. I don't know about that. Unlimited diarrhea. Unlimited. I can confidently say Russell Wilson is a better quarterback than Kenny Pickett. I'm locking that in.

And you know what? Better than Mason Rudolph, which we had a pretty strong run there at the end for the Steelers when Pickens was actually putting up numbers. But historically speaking, year two is where we see these wide receivers break out. If someone's going to break out into the top 24, the high percentage chances is coming in year two, and then year three is where you see the first true ceiling of that player's career.

And I get that it was inconsistent but 1140 yards and five touchdowns on a really really bad passing offense I like that's a break I'm so in on George that's a breakout campaign to me I've had such a hard difficult time believing in George Pickens I mean we Russell Wilson and and yeah I mean I I love the splits where when you didn't have Deontay Johnson yeah he he was able to show it but I do I am a big believer in Roman Wilson so I don't think they just you know when they lost Deontay Johnson they lost him and they didn't get to just add someone but now in the offseason they've brought in Roman Wilson who I think is going to be the main slot guy I'm a little little bit scared, but when I look at these numbers, it's like exactly what you just said.

1,140 yards as a sophomore. That's great for a bad team. And now he's going into a third year where you do get rid of the primary, you know, target leader last year. So I will say this. I just did an underdog draft. I went, I started with Jamar Chase,

so then I went RB, RB. I needed my wide receiver two, and I was staring down two names. As my wide receiver two, it was – and I know where Andy will be, so this question is for you, Mike. Okay. It was George Pickens or Christian Kirk. Ooh. And I made my decision.

As your wide receiver two? Yes. I mean, if you're playing to win, the pick is George Pickens. Oh, I was not. You were playing to lose? I was playing for second, Mike. If I'm playing to win the underdog tournaments. No, it wasn't a full tournament.

Knowing you, I'm going to peel back the curtain. Jason, when he sees a menu, sometimes he wants a show more than he wants sustenance. 100%. Sometimes he wants a show more than he wants sustenance. 100%. Sometimes he wants a show more than he even wants taste. Correct. And you're sitting here, and George Pickens is the best thing on the menu. They're going to bring it out. It'll probably have some smoke, some fire, table-side preparation.

He's like Fajitas. I mean, Christian Kirk is the – I'll drop some soda water. I love Christian Kirk, but yeah. I'm trying to eat healthier, though, right now. And I feel like if you're just talking about a healthy meal, that's got to be Krisha Kirk. Yes, yes, that's true. Of course, of course.

So, you know, nutritionally speaking, Krisha Kirk's a better wide receiver. Nutritionally speaking, sure. But nobody really enjoys that life. But if you're looking for ceiling. Are you enjoying your life a lot more now that you're eating healthy? Yeah, I am. It's because you're coherent during the show.

One quick last thing. Over the last decade, 13 wide receivers have hit 1,000 yards before turning 23. Then in year three, the 17-game pace of those wide receivers, about 13 points per game which would put you right around wide receiver 18 and again that's on average some were better some were worse but george pickens is being drafted as almost the wide receiver 30 i'd say i i think his 80 the way you feel about calvin ridley's adp i feel like that about george Pickens. Maybe he doesn't get where we think or where we hope and dream he can get. But to be drafted at the wide receiver 30?

We're Pickens pals. Yeah, all right. We're going to the grave. We're having the show at the side of the table. Jason can eat his, like, whatever, his salad that he orders. Pickens basket? No. Were you trying to do like a Yogi Bear thing?

It was a picnic basket. Yeah, it was. Yeah, it didn't work. No? Okay. All right. Keep trying. A pickin' in's basket?

A pickin' in's basket. That's what I thought you were doing. Luckily, I got this button and we can move on. Sleepers. Oh, boy. sleepers oh boy um i got a name for you deep sleeper but oh man i hope i was really thinking he had a good nickname for george pickens i was excited uh not better than that one um i'm gonna go with jermaine burton wide receiver for the cincinnati bangles this year undrafted so i think if it's a sleeper category when you're not sure being drafted third round draft pick right tons of potential went to georgia for a couple years then he came out of alabama

they were extremely excited to be able to land him in the third round do you know how many receptions t Higgins had last year for this roster? I bet you can't even guess it. Not only do I not know, I don't even know where to guess. Like 70? Okay, that's a neat guess. Yeah, I was going to guess around 70. What if I told you it was 42?

Oh, man. That explains things of my team last year. He caught 42 passes for this offense. He's the one that's back. He was injured twice in 2021, once in 2022, three times last year, and they're shipping him out of town after this season is over. Franchise tag. Tyler Boyd, who is gone, who's abandoning targets,

had 67 receptions last year. Tyler Boyd also ran the 14th most routes in the league. So the person that's leaving is actually the more important person in terms of snaps and opportunities last year for the Bengals, not T. Higgins who has his place, but we know what T. Higgins is going to do. 994 yards, 60-something catches, a bunch of good games that mike forgot to play him on and then bad games and mike plays yeah so jermaine burton is this big play waiting to happen with a

20 yard a dot um just guys guys his average depth of target last year was 20 yards he is that is ridiculous i don't think any of us think of tyler boyd as a deep threat do you think of him that way no no how many times have you seen tyler boyd running wild and free with with joe burrow finding him down the field there's been a handful of these times you're going what in the world just happened i think they really really wanted burton they knew that he was the future they knew that higgins was not going to get the contract that he wanted and look the last three seasons with chase and higgins out there boyd's average 91 targets there is a void a boyd void my friends mike knew it was coming and he started laughing before i said it and you know i I think Burton is a really talented player.

Last year we had our Puka and, you know, we've had Amon Ra the year before. Like there's some, there's a handful of rookie wide receivers. Maybe it's Roman Wilson this year in Pittsburgh as well to dissuade our Pickens adoration, but Burton is primed. He's set up great quarterback play. You want to check that box. Great play caller. You want a great opportunity to be a valuable player on this team and to shape the next era of

wide receiver play in Cincinnati, which will be Chase and Burton. It's not going to be Chase and Higgins anymore. So you've got missed games from Chase on the other side of this equation too. It's not just been Higgins missing time. Chase misses time. One of those guys goes down at all. All of a sudden, Jermaine Burton is the number one free agent pickup of the week if it's an extended window, right? If you tell me Higgins is missing six weeks, we're all going to be fighting to get Jermaine Burton onto your roster. So I think he's a perfect sleeper category type of player for Cincinnati this year.

And, Mike, I know you really liked him from the scouting process. So I don't know if you guys have anything to add there. No, I think he's a really good wide receiver, landing in a perfect spot for dynasty purposes. He's very undervalued for where he should be. For redraft purposes, the same. But I do think it would take a little bit more injury ahead of him for this season.

The hardest part about the Burton redraft equation is that you generally, if it's a last pick, you want to see a guy that you know is going to have an opportunity in week one or two. We don't know that for Burton, but it could definitely happen because you could come into the season, you make him your last pick in your draft, and he catches

an 84-yard touchdown in week one, and people are talking about him on the waivers, and he's already on your team um i'm gonna go with burton for my sleeper pick we'll take a quick break and come back with a couple more sleepers all right mr moore what you got my sleeper is rookie running back for the green bay packers marshawn lloyd a couple weeks ago we had a wild card episode where we talked about josh jacobs a lot of the things that i said on there apply um josh jacobs could have a wonderful season this is a this is an offense you want to find the right pieces of it's hard to know exactly who that is, but he could also have a bad season considering he's coming off of one where Josh Jacobs, you know, was trending the

wrong way efficiency-wise. Yards per carry 56 out of 69. Force missed tackle rate 51st out of 69, which used to be his calling card. You know, his 0.57 fantasy points per opportunity is the lowest of his entire career and so that that's obviously the starter here but Marshawn Lloyd was drafted by this team and the team is really really excited he was in the third round he's the fourth running back overall taken number 88 and if you if you look at the running backs taken in that range on day two over the last couple of years, there are some really big hits, whether it's Kenyon Drake, David Montgomery, David Singletary, Tajay Spears, Devon Achan, David Johnson, Kareem Hunt, Rashad White. This is a place in the NFL draft where

quality backs are going. Daniel Jeremiah's number one running back going into the draft was Marshawn Lloyd. This not like just this isn't one of those backs where it's like oh you know Vidal Sassoon we love maybe there's an opportunity I there's no way I'm gonna know his real name anymore I mean and you don't need to Kamani yes Kamani Vidal just Sassoon just delete Kamani just delete Vidal it's just Sassoon but you know it's not some day three pick that's like, you know, we're always hopeful any injury can propel any rookie running back up ahead of him. But Marshawn Lloyd is a really good running back who landed on a really good offense.

And this is an offense that uses a split committee. So even without an injury ahead of him, he's going to get opportunities. And he is the explosive athlete on this team. And you don't have to take my word for it you could take the word of the Packers because they're saying stuff like this here's uh Adam Stenovich talking about him he said I would like to get him out there as much as possible he's got a skill set that's a little bit different than AJ as far as his speed yeah you think wait then AJ Dillon yes uh he's not quite the bruiser he is, obviously, but he's got a different skill set.

So it would be nice to get him the ball in space, see what he could do. I think we're going to add a good explosive element to our offense for sure. He continued on. Said again, I like his speed. That's his calling card. He's 4'4", 6'0", at 220 pounds. I liked his speed a lot. He had some good runs at OTA where you saw his burst.

He's got good vision. So I'm really excited about seeing him out of the backfield. then the GM uh Gutekunst was saying he's got serious speed man I want to make you say GM's name about five times he's very elusive he's got great balance so he's a little bit different this is my favorite part he's very elusive he's got great balance so he's a little bit different than some of the other backs we have on the depth chart right now who could that be I mean just both coaches are like, or the GM and the offensive coordinator are like, yeah, man, he's got speed. And that's different than our running backs.

When I heard you talking about Marshawn Lloyd relative to Josh Jacobs, I had one instant thought to something that happened last summer. And it was because I see the situations as potentially parallel because they can go both directions. I hear the talk about Marshall and Lloyd the way that we were talking about Tank Bigsby and Travis Etienne. And so then I said to myself, where was Tank Bigsby drafted? I would love the same pick.

Same exact pick. Same exact pick. Same exact pick in the draft. So the fear is that the obvious starter that got the money, we have the excitement and the hope for Marshawn Lloyd. I think a lot of it comes down to the starter. Now, the one thing that is different here, though, is that ETN was used as a bell cow. And no running back, not even Aaron Jones, who's been great, is used as a bell cow for Green Bay. That's just not. Yes. I mean, you know, the head coach comes out, says that all the time.

His philosophy is that he doesn't want to overuse any back. So Marshall Lloyd will get on the field. And I think that this is a really smart offensive system. We saw Jordan Love take that step forward. That's why I let off with the Josh Jacobs stuff. Because if Josh Jacobs has not lost anything, if he fat-thored last year and then comes back and is full-thor, yeah, I mean, he is the dude. He's going to be a great draft pick for fantasy and

Marshawn Lloyd will hopefully be what A.J. Dillon was a couple years ago as a backup you don't want fat Thor no no don't want half Thor well I you want full Thor I want fat Thor I want fat Thor back because you want to use your because I want Marshawn Lloyd to do well Marshawn I like look I think Marshawn Lloyd's going to get touches the it's last year's evidence of AJ Dillon continually playing despite having other running backs on the team

and they would keep going to AJ Dillon but I do have one more unfortunate piece of news for you so Marshawn Lloyd pick 88 Tank Bigsby pick 88 there's another running back that was pick 88. Yeah, he's actually one of your dynasty selections. Trey Sermon was also picked.

Is this the cursed pick? All the picks right around that spot are great, but if you're on 88, I don't know, man. That is really bad news, and that's great analysis. We need to make a note that if Marshawn Lloyd is a failure, then I'm out on pick 88. Here's the truth about these opportunities for any of these young running backs that aren't day one you know picks you better make the most of your beginning that's what under that's what took Tank Bigsby and cast him into the abyss he made the most for

the other team out of yeah he fumbled on the goal line and he threw the ball into their hands like if you don't capitalize early your opportunity is over they do have other backs that can come in and if the goal is just to spell josh jacobs they can do that with somebody else he's got to be an early impact player on his touches and if he does that, the rotation changes. So it's definitely an interesting name, ton of talent. Interesting offseason for Green Bay and what they did at the running back position because they just rebuilt it. I mean, that's a high draft capital pick and a lot of money that no one saw going to Josh Jacobs from Green Bay.

They had A.J. Dillon on the field a lot, and they aren't dumb. You know what I mean? They saw it, and they aren't dumb you know what i mean they saw and they're like guys we should do something about this but you want pieces of this offense like this is a this is an ascending offense if you get the right piece then you're gonna be very happy speaking of that i gave you that don tavian wicks is the sleeper i want to talk about look we've we've put off talking about dononteving Wicks as long as we possibly could. But now it just has to happen because the rumblings are too strong for what could be. This is, again, this is a sleeper pick.

He is being drafted in the 70s over on sleeper. Wide receiver 60 currently on underdog. He was a fifth-round pick out of Virginia, so we were already like, well, I mean, at least for the later picks, the fifth-round guys seemed to be the ones that find their way onto the field. But his story is a gigantic year as a junior. There was some of the unfortunate tragedy over at virginia and then things just fell apart for him for his senior year but he was drafted in the fifth uh

round partly because he showed out at the senior bowl if you're new to the the off season and the senior bowl is a huge event for seniors who are graduating. But it really highlights these guys, and the consistency of which when a player balls out at the Senior Bowl, we see it translate into players who just turn into really good NFL players. So when Wicks was there, it was also Puka, Jane Reed, Tank Dell, Rasheed Rice. These are guys who earned themselves money because of their performance on the field, but then also

getting to highlight those things at the Senior Bowl. Last year, what he did, seemingly out of nowhere, was actually very impressive. From weeks 11 through 18, again, fifth round pick, it's going to take him some time to get on the field, plus some injuries. But in that time span, his metrics, like his behind-the-scenes metrics are very, very good on only 101 routes in that time compared to like Romeo Dobbs, 193 routes. But in 101 routes, he saw 23 targets where Romeo Dobbs only saw 30 on 193 routes. And he put up, and Wicks put up 280 yards with those targets, 16 receptions. His targets per route run, his yards per route run are at a point where it's, you really have to pay attention to this guy because if he gets on the field, really good things could happen. Like Jaden Reed, yes, Jaden Reed is the presumed number one wide receiver

for this team. That's what he is in ADP. But the numbers, should Dontavian Wicks get on, which he has a couple paths to me. That's what I was going to ask you for. I actually want the story. Yes. I need you to tell me the tale of the Dontavian Wicks season because I

wanted to put Romeo Dobbs in here too. Right. Great, great offseason for Romeo Dobbs by all accounts. Head coach coming out and talking about it. But I want you to just tell me, see the future for a minute, put on the time machine, put it on. You put them on now? Yeah.

Climb in the time machine and then come back and tell me the story. I have been crushed by the time machine. Tell me the story. Tell me the story. I have been crushed by the time machine. Tell me the story. Tell me the story of the season after you wear the time machine. So I think that he has a couple of paths. Jaden Reed is a. What was that? Sorry, that's my fault.

That was a mishit. I was trying to find a different drop. What other drop are you going to interrupt Mike with? I was going for that and just miss it. My bad. I heard the drop going. You heard Al saying, oh? Yes, I heard him.

Hopefully it comes through the microphone. Where's Josh when you need him? He's gone. But Jayden Reed's spot is safe. But it's like Christian Watson, who's been trying to fix this hamstring, and Romeo Dobbs. To me, those are two paths for Wicks to get on the field.

Also, just that they go with some four-wider seamers. Wait, what were the paths that Watson's hurt or that Dobbs isn't good enough? Yeah, or just takes Christian Watson's job. The team gets tired of it. We're not going to count on you anymore. You're not a reliable player. Availability is an ability, and Watson just can't stay on the field, so I think that that's a path.

Romeo Dobbs, maybe he's capped out. Yeah, he had a good season, and I think that he is actually a very fine sleeper as well, but I just wanted to highlight Wicks that maybe he beats out Romeo Dobson just takes his job the team seems extremely bullish on Dontavian Wicks you can easily find sound clips I mean including the Matt LaFleur comparing him to Devontae Adams like saying I I see you know shades of him in short area quickness I think the sky's the limit for him quite frankly and yes coach speak, but the team seems to really like him, and the fact that when he got on the field – That's not – no, that's not bad. That's not bad.

I know what you're saying. I don't mind that. Okay. But when he got on the field, his numbers were so good. He became a go-to player automatically for Jordan Love. So that's to me is the thing. He has to get on the field, which is why he's a sleeper and not really being drafted very high or drafted at all. But if he gets on the field, I think that magical things will happen. Yeah, I really love this sleeper. It costs you nothing. He's undrafted.

You try to get a piece of this offense, and his actual per-route metrics are outstanding. He's a really good wide receiver, and if you watched the quote, don't just read it, but watch LeFleur talk about him he's very level-minded you know he's he knows he's not trying to compare him to Devonta Adams but he's talking about the specific things that remind you about him and that it's a genuine like it genuinely reminds him of him because of the way he does certain things at the line of scrimmage and more importantly off the field his work ethic and that type of stuff so this is a guy that the coach loves and if he gets on the field he's gonna he's gonna be good for fantasy yeah i think that that

whole offense the hardest part for everybody the uh during the summer right now is just kind of understanding what dominance might look like from specific players in the offense i think we can all pretty easily understand how the offense can function to be successful in general with a bunch of people touching the football. It's just a matter of now you've got a rebuilt running back room. You're going to get back Musgrave.

You've got contributions from Kraft. And now you've got four or five names in the wide receiver room that are like, are you a superstar? Jaden Reed? Maybe. Are you a superstar, Dontamian Wicks? You could be that are like, are you a superstar, Jaden Reed? Maybe. Are you a superstar, Dontamion Wicks? You could be.

Christian Watson, did you fix your running imbalance? Because you were a superstar for a minute. And then, you know, I think we all agree, Dobbs is probably not a superstar, but he's a solid, maybe a two. He's a fine two. Bo Melton. Oh, the butter man. Yeah. I'm all about Bo Melton. Why do I never remember why he calls him the butter man? Because. Bo Melton. Oh, the butter man. Yeah. I'm all about Bo Melton.

Why do I never remember why he calls him the butter man? Because he's Melton. Oh, no. Yeah. It's not complicated. No, it's low-hanging fruit. That was from a podcast. That was a lot of fun.

Bo Melton is the butter man because he's Melton. Also, Jeremy. Oh, this show's good. I got you covered against man coverage. Wicks was the best in football at creating separation open on. Oh, that's why I was just

early. Yeah, you found a 55 step for him. All right. Well, that is going to do it for today's episode of the podcast. What are we doing on Thursday? We're doing some values and busts on Thursday. That's my guess. I don't have it written down. So they tell me. But yeah, very interesting names. The season quickly approaching. The draft analyzer coming out

on July 1st. So you go to ultimatedraftkit.com for that. And look, if you are bored, you're just sitting around. You're saying, hey, this show is running out of time. I've got nothing to do. Why not go over and leave us a delicious five-star review on Apple or Spotify? It's just a click, a little tap, tap-a-roo. Only one good reason not to do that is if you've already done it. Yeah. Thank you, Jason.

That'll do it. YouTube.com slash The Fantasy Footballer. Subscribe. Click the bell over there if you want to watch the show. And like I said, we'll be back on Thursday. Looking forward to it. Goodbye. Goodbye.

Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Join our fantasy football community on jointhefoot.com and follow us on twitter at the ff ballers