Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast - Fantasy Scavengers + Upside Players, Who Am I? - Fantasy Football Podcast for 5/29

Episode Date: May 29, 2025

Fantasy Football show for May 29, 2025. Is Jaxon Smith-Njigba worth an early pick in 2025 fantasy football drafts?! Could Jayden Daniels have a sophomore slump? Dynasty trades, keeper values, and lots of offseason questions answered on today’s podcast! Plus, play along during a new game of, “Who Am I?”  Manage your redraft, keeper, and dynasty fantasy football teams with the #1 fantasy football podcast.Get the lowest price on the 2025 UDK at UltimateDraftKit.com - Instant access to the Dynasty Pass with the UDK+(00:00) Introduction(06:15) Who Am I?(15:00) NFL News(23:00) Mailbag(23:15) Bucky Irving & 1.10 for Ashton Jeanty(27:10) Jayden Daniels or JJ McCarthy keeper question(28:20) Jayden Daniels outlook / sophomore slump(31:55) Jaxon Smith-Njigba in the third?(37:10) Jauan Jennings or Ricky Pearsall?(40:20) Too many mouths to feed in Chicago?(43:35) Jayden Reed or Chris Olave?(49:20) Auction draft opinion(50:40) Is Josh Downs a sleeper?Connect with the show:Subscribe on YouTubeVisit us on the WebSupport the ShowFollow on XFollow on InstagramJoin our Discord

The time is coming swiftly. The middle rounds are now close for the unskilled. Yet here you are, unprepared. You fools! This season you will find all kinds of foes eager to watch your draft crumble with wasted picks. There can only be one ultimate draft kit. Only one that can bend them to its will, and it does not share power. You must wield the UDK and send your opponents back to the shadows. You shall not pass on this chance to send your leap mates into the deep. Fly you fools to ultimate draft kit dot com.

Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore and Mike Wright. Welcome in. I hate it. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. We do have a show. Yeah, we do. Mike was terrible. Mike was so genuinely upset because it's part of the intro. I know there's like there's an emptiness There's a void when you're on the black of space 1751 there's there's expectations for what it sounds like. I'm sorry We'll get there. It doesn't help that we're recording a hundred plus player profile videos on top of episodes this week

Oh because of you. Just trying to get the voice all the way back to 100. Look, I would love to give the people another effort. Because they all want you to fail. They all remember the horrible, yeah, the intro that I tried to give them. But I know, sometimes you know. So you just.

That's why people are. Aw, welcome here. to give them but I know sometimes you know so you just wait oh so give me that Thursday May 29th Annie Mike and Jason the fantasy footballers you've got some who am I we're gonna play today we We've got an NFL news to talk about. We have some mail bag to dig into, your questions. I have been very busy dismantling my dynasty team. I think this is an important thing to get out into the public sphere that I am a changed man. You really are. And I think you believe it now.

Well, I have to believe it. You've destroyed your team. I mean, you are playing for 2028, brother. I still wonder if you go out and you start 2-0 by accident, you're going to be like, I've got assets to sell. I'm in. We'll find out. Look, I know you.

My team is naked. My team has nothing. Your house was like a, it was built in like the late 80s. Okay. And now you're, it's a full reno. He's torn down to one wall. Yeah, you gotta keep one wall up everyone

because then it is not a new build. Let me explain about that. Learn your construction law. His one wall is Kyle Pitts. Oh gross, gross. And it is. It's gross and it is. The foundation of your team is Kyle Pitts. Oh, gross, gross. And it is. It's gross, and it is. The foundation of your team is Kyle Pitts.

I want to say this. No, Jaden Reed, my goodness. Hold out Kyle Pitts. Kyle Pitts is what I got, a ton of Pitts. But it was time to tear it down. It's been, what, 10 or 11 years of this dynasty league. I've been an all-in what, 10 or 11 years of this dynasty league. I've been an all in competitor for 10 or 11 years. I don't know what the math is on total wins

over that stretch. I would imagine. You're up there. I'd imagine I'm near the top, got a couple titles. Should have been more, disappointed. That's the way it goes in dynasty. I've always enjoyed the trope that I never have a draft pick.

It's been fun. I'd like to keep that going. You wanna know why I'm not? I could have won this year. I could have competed with the team that I had. Here's what I want to say that is actually prescriptive for people in dynasty leagues. I love going all in. I love trading picks. People value picks way more than they value players in dynasty leagues. I've seen that evolve in our league. It's the competition. That's why is the other teams in the league are,

several of them have become elite, to the point where I felt like I had a stranglehold on getting to the title game. On being really good. Yeah, on being a top two, top three team, which is all you can do. That's all you can do to try to get an opportunity for a title, but I feel like there's a handful of,

I made the decision because there's a handful of teams in the league that are just clearly better than mine. I can compete, but they're much better. And if I don't sell it now, you know, and go all in, it's not gonna happen. I was gonna run out of assets. The Mike Evans's of the world aren't getting much a year from now.

So it was time, turning over a new leaf. Can't wait for 2028. 2028, I'm really looking forward to it. So, um, yeah, there you go. UltimateDraftKit.com. Head over there right now. Three days. Is it the last show until it comes out?

Three days. Sunday, June 1st. Nearly time. So check it out. Also sound effect I can't do right now, Mike, what you just did. But we're super excited. A lot of hard work has gone into this product and we'll continue to go into this product all the way through kickoff. And so if you're not familiar, go check out all of the different resources that are now a part of the ultimate draft get at ultimate

draft kid calm here's our quick question of the day we're gonna play a little game and I have a button for that we're all playing the game in the new video. Mike is reacting to a new, a new, we're all what? Jigsaw? It looked like it. We really have no control over this company. No, but Jigsaw is the guy. Who's the, who's the little puppet? Come on nerds. Oh God. I thought it was Jigsaw. No, he's the mastermind. The little marionette puppets got to have a different name, right? All right Billy the puppet. Thank you. Yeah, Billy the puppet. All right. Hold on. Hold on hold on

The saw series the saw series where you like if you're not familiar some of the most devastating If you're not familiar, some of the most devastating... Violent. Yeah, movies. Horrific. Horror movies that we have out there. And the plan is being executed. By John Jigsaw Kramer. And then he sends his friend Billy the Puppet

to terrify people. So to be fair, he was never referred to as Billy in any of the movies. That's just what the cast and crew kind of dug to him. Okay, okay, we're okay now. All better? I was just like, if this is seriously in the canon, you're like, it's me, Billy.

Oh, Billy. That's the thing that can't happen. All right, we're gonna play some Who Am I? I'm gonna read you a clue one at a time. And you guys try to figure out who it is. You can lock in. Jason has proven that that rule is, he's completely exempt.

Bro, I'm already locked in right now. Of locking in the guests, and we'll see. Clue number one, you ready for this? See if you can figure out who this is. I have never topped 1,000 receiving yards in a season in my NFL career. Okay, my initial guess is still good. I was gonna say, there's still a lot.

Jalen Hurts. Oh my gosh, you literally wrote down Hurts. I was making a joke. That was his guess? How did you, what? What? How did you do that? We're in sync, Mike, that was absurd.

All right, clue number two. You ready for it? Yep. I have been a top 24 fantasy wide receiver. I'm out, I'm out, guys. Every year of my NFL career, so never a thousand yards receiving. Okay. But a top 24 fantasy wide receiver every year of their career.

Okay. What, you gonna ask me a question? These are clues, they're capped. Yeah, okay. Tell me more. Continue, all right, continue on. So wide receiver, hasn't hit a thousand, has always been a top 24 guy.

Yep, yep, you got it. Because of clue three here. Clue three, 33% of my career fantasy points have come from touchdowns. Well, duh. I mean, that's, if you haven't gotten a thousand yards, but you have always been a top 24 guy, there's only one path for that.

That clue, that should be a fake clue Um, I had ten total touchdowns in each of my last two seasons Okay So each eight ten in each not a Combined there was there was one name that was starting to percolate like I was like could Cortland Sutton fit this Yeah, I don't buy he said but he's not a not. He's had 1,000, hasn't he? And it's just, he's also not been a top 24 fantasy wide receiver every year. So it can't be him.

Okay? Okay, clue four. Clue number four. I will have a different starting quarterback than I had last year. Did that just eliminate one of your guesses, Jason? Yep, I was writing someone down that I thought maybe would have been their different starting quarterback. For the new year, are you having anybody come to mind, Mike? I'm just looking at the NFL teams right now trying to pull the new quarterbacks.

Like quarterback swamps going on? I mean there's always quite a few. There's not a ton this year. The new quarterbacks. Like quarterback swamps going on. I mean, there's always quite a few. There's not a ton this year. Okay, keep going. Do we know how many years this player? We don't know that yet. No, it's not been in a clue yet. Okay, so I've only got one guess floating around my mind.

Matt Kaft's been over 1,000. Has to have been over 1,000. He has to have been, right? He was the wide receiver seven. Cause that one came to mind too. Okay, you want the fifth clue? Or do you got your guess? I've got my guess, I don't know. Well, throw it out. My guess is Jordan Addison. Okay. You want the fifth clue? Or do you got your guess? I've got my guess. I don't know.

Well, throw it out. My guess is Jordan Addison. Okay. Touchdown machine. I think that's a very good guess. Oh, I like that. Not enough years playing to where he's top 24. Well, let's see if clue five helps.

Because Garrett's been over a thousand. Oh, I think you're right. Because the fifth clue is I am not the wide receiver one on my team. Oh, I'm going to lock in last round on Jordan Addison. Jordan Addison is the answer. Jordan Addison last year finished as the. I was holding out hope for her. Jalen Hurth, yeah.

875 yards last year, nine touchdowns. I think he had what, 10 or 11 in his rookie season? He had 10 both years. But he had a rushing touchdown last year So that that says nine receiving on the on the graphic is that is Al more voice of God today? That was that was pretty that was good volume. Yeah, look at you It only took thousands of shows for you to get your radio voice you broke in You were in complete control of what you wanted to say, which is a huge step in the right direction.

I am the captain now. Wow. Wow. All right. That was great. The owl is flying today. Yeah. So Jordan Addison, what is the 12 points of game last year? You got another quarterback that'll probably make Addison a value

because you don't know what to expect from JJ McCarthy. I think what's really- The touchdowns is difficult. Valuable from last year. Yeah, you don't know what to expect from J.J. McCarthy. I think what's really The touchdowns is difficult. valuable from last year. Yeah, you don't like players who have a large share of their fantasy points coming from touchdowns. Too large of a share. You don't like it because the only two

to have a higher percentage than Addison were Gabe Davis and Nick Westrook-Akine. Yes, it is not a great sign for, you know, that's not a sticky stat. Touchdowns takes a lot of things to go right. Even great players who can get 13 touchdowns one year can turn around the next year and get six. It doesn't mean they're not a good player. It's just what happened to happen on the field. But I do think that back-to-back quality seasons, even though they came via touchdowns for fantasy, what Jordan

Addison proved last year was that he is a good wide receiver. He was a my guy his rookie year because I believe from college this guy is really, really good. What he proved last year is he is really, really good. Now, so going forward, I think he'll be of value because he's never gonna be the number one on his team. Like you said, Andy, the unknown of JJ McCarthy.

And so if you wanna just bet on a guy who is a good football player, that's a bet I like making. I did that with Devontae Smith year after year after year, to usual success. He's had some injuries, but it's just like, if you know that they're a really good player at their position, it's a great place to start. There are so many wide receiver ones, like locked in wide receiver ones on their team, that will be tempting to take above Jordan Addison. So Calvin Ridley in Tennessee with Cam Ward, do you like that?

Or do you like Jordan Addison? He falls into just where I was going to bring up of betting on the touchdowns for Jordan Addison. Like the, the rookie record for passing touchdowns is Justin Herbert at 31. Bo Nicks hit number two last year at 29. And like, well, I mean, Sam Darnold was incredible. Sam Darnold was what? 35? Let me double check.

Yeah. 35 passing touchdowns for Darnold. It's like, I can't, as much as I like JJ McCarthy and think everything will be good for Minnesota, I'm not going to project 35 passing touchdowns for a guy who's never taken a snap. If he were to throw 35 passing touchdowns, Justin Herbert would retain the most passing touchdowns for a rookie because JJ McCarthy is not one. I see your point and I will object it on theorem. Where's the boomshakalaka? Very fair. That is very fair. And Mike doesn't even know

what a rookie is. What an idiot. I did also say someone who's never taken a snap. But yes, he is not technically a rookie, but he was also not really getting into a ton of practices. So much egg on his face. How embarrassing. All right, do we have another player? No. Oh, there's just one? Who am I? Yeah. Oh, that's not. What, you need more? I thought there would be three rounds or something. Get some points. It's not you want to play either way. I won. All right, play games. All right, that's fair. We're moving on. News and notes from around the league. News and notes from around the league.

All right, we got some insight into the availability of a new free agent, Stephon Diggs. Um, the news coming out that he may be reasonably ready by week four. Gotta love that word. Reasonably. I saw him. I saw him in a video. He looked very... Which one? On the boat? Yeah, on the boat. He saw him. I saw him in a video. He looked very one on the boat. Yeah, on the boat. He looked pretty boat video. He looked pretty healthy. Yeah, it was just like a New York Giants boat video. It's close. It's the kind of video.

It's the kind of video you film when they pay you in advance on that new contract. It's the kind of video that when your head coach is Mike variable, you have to stand at the press conference to get asked about it. Yeah, he's having a good time. Yeah. Really, really good time. Is he supposed to be in camp right now?

It's funny, I thought when you were saying the video that you were gonna say, I saw some video of him running or doing some stuff and it looked all right. Well, there was some talk about him being without a brace and looking good, but he is, at least in this piece of news, it said like, hey, the hope basically was that Drake May would have a target in Stefon Diggs by week four. But that really changes the way that I looked at

Stefon Diggs is, you know, his total outlook. There's such opportunity for targets with Drake May in that offense, and he still will be one of those players that, I mean, we'll talk about him in week three on the Waverwire show or whatever. But I have a hard time without, I mean, if you have an IR spot and he ends up on the pop and you want to tuck him away. I'm not into it.

It's just not, like what are you going to spend on it? If you can spend your last pick, tuck him on IR, sign a free agent after the draft, that's fine. I'd do that. Yeah, I often look with my last pick at guys that are on IR because it literally just, if I'm in the last round, I'm going to pick someone up off a free agency for free. It also changes my view of Drake May.

Because if you are taking a flyer on Drake May really late in the draft, I know you're doing it on rushing prowess. But he can't take the step forward without a premier target. And that was a big linchpin of like, that'll be a differentiator for me between Drake May and some of the other late-round quarterbacks I could take a flyer on. So because he might not start well I mean they're probably favored in a game. For you Jay, you were I think you're the most

bullish Drake May sleeper opportunity. Yeah. How when you went in you know you're tweaking the the UDK stats and everything, because this is a pretty strong signal that we won't even be playing the game, is Diggs ready for week one. What are you, who are you putting your bet on for the best opportunity? As far as in the wide receiver core?

Yeah. You know. Because if he misses an entire month, someone could step up. At the end of the year last year, and if you look at the progression of Drake May and the wide receivers, the decline of second round pick Jalen Polk, who just became irrelevant. But the second half of the year, Kaishan Booty

was actually doing work, and he was doing work with Drake May. That's the guy that I want to be the one to step up. Like, Pop Douglas is, I think Pop Douglas is a good player, but if he's the primary receiver, he doesn't do enough with it. You know, that's, I just don't think he's got the talent. I also would love if Kyle Williams.

Kyle Williams, what about him? The unknown rookie that they drafted pretty highly this year. Third rounder. Yeah, a day two pick. If he steps up, that could help Drake May. You need someone to level up. And so I see Kaishan Booty, Kyle Williams as the two guys that I want to be there to fill the void because those guys could surprise.

And that's what you need. They have to level up. They can't just, Keishon Booty can't just do what he did last year and then have that result in Drake May being great. But I do think for fantasy purposes, for fantasy football, Drake May is a good late round pick. He was, he's not viewed in the same tier

as some of these other 600 yard rushing quarterbacks, but he is a 600 yard rushing quarterback. His 17 game pace from the game started last year was like 580 yards on the ground. Yeah, it's a tough one. It's a tough one when you don't have the weapons. And they obviously needed digs. That's why they paid him way too much money. Yeah.

All right. I didn't love reading this. Giants head coach Brian Dable said Malik neighbors won't do much this spring. He's rehabbing a toe injury that has lingered since LSU. He said he did not have a procedure but he is being smart. Just the toe. You don't think he needs it? Yeah, let's get it out. Which toe are we talking about? Yeah, that is the question. How bad if it's like ring finger toe? Yeah, get that thing out of there. It has to be the least valuable toe. Do you think the ring finger toe is the...

I think so. Oh, not the middle toe. Not the middle. No, no. You need the middle and the outsides. I don't think you need the outside at all. Oh, you got to have a pinky. You do not have to have a pinky.

Oh, you got to, yeah, for cutting, you got to have a pinky. The second toe takes the place of the... It's the new pinky when that happens. Oh, but if you get rid of the second toe, then the pinky stays the pinky. You can't the second toe takes the place of the it's the new pinky when that happens Get rid of the second toe then the pinky stays. You can't cut that toe All right, I would prefer all my wide receivers to have ten toes for the record But if I could pick which one to get rid of it would be the that's what if you if you had to trade a toe in You're not trading your pinky in no trading the pink

No, you think I'm a fool? I think you're a fool. I think you're going to tip over. For sure. Like if I'm pushing him on one side? After a week, my foot won't know the difference. One week, huh? He's a tough guy.

I think I'd still be limping. You know, Mack Jones wouldn't be limping. Oh no, other guys might. He has no toes. He's fine. Tommy Trimble, back surgery, not expected to be ready for the start of camp for the Panthers, okay. Kyle Pitts didn't show up, there were rumors

about a contract situation for Kyle Pitts, but. Not bloody likely. They said he is dealing with a foot injury, also much, I mean that's likely. Oh yeah. But it could be a little bit of a, you never know, it could be a message for a, hey, let's have a conversation. It's funny, Kyle Pitts is still so young.

It's one of those things where it will always be a surprising age because of how young he came in. He's 24 years old and Andy is selling. And he's got Kyle Pitts. Is he older or younger than R.J. Harvey? Oh, that's a great question. He's gotta be 24.6, I'm on it. Pull up Pitts's stats from last year

Oh, RJ Harvey looks like he's a couple months younger Oh, man incoming rookie running back, but anyways, and so I went to make a trade-off or a bad garbage I wanted to send you whatever like a you know, 2082 third round pick or so you did It was awful. Yeah, and I was just so surprised that he has played four full seasons. Four. I mean, he's been terrible for three straight years. Like that rookie year, 1,000 yards, there was promise. I mean, there was more than the...

Yes, of course. It wasn't even hope. If you're a rookie tied in at 1,000 yards, there is for sure. It was guarantee. And then three solid years of not even getting seven fantasy points, just worthless. All right, and then more news on the contract situation for James Cook of the Bills.

The quote from Sean McDermott was, James will be here when he's ready to be here. What a brilliant. Hey, that's just a quote for everything. I feel that way. I'll be there when I'm ready to be there. Papa Josh does that every morning. way. I'll be there when I'm ready to be there. Papa Josh does that every morning. Yeah, yeah.

I'll be there when I'm ready to be there. I'm like, are you coming to work today? He's like, I'll be there when I'm ready. And I, you know, I'm scared of him, so. All right, we'll take a break. We'll come back with some mailbag. ["Sailor Moon"] All right, you guys ready to answer some questions? Yes, sir.

Mailbag. Yeah. All right, lots of off season questions coming in from the foot clan and join the foot.com. If you have a question, you can go to the website as well. The fantasy footballers. calm click that submit a question button or dial the voicemail hotline 302-464 tff be We got some voicemails guys. Let's jump into one of those

Ballers this is Brian from New York. I traded round one pick 10 and Bucky Irving or the number one overall pick for this year. Let me know what you guys think Good I think so Dynasty trade of Bucky Irving in the 110 and you got Ashton Gentile. I Think that's Probably going to be the cheapest Acquisition of AshtonGente that we will see forever.

For context, right now the ADP 10th player off the board in rookie drafts is a player I like. It's a wide receiver, a Mecha Iguca, or if you go for the next run... Probably looking at the tight ends too. If you're going for the next running back, it's Kam Skatibu. So R.J. Harvey, what's his ADP? R.J. Harvey's... It's gonna be close to... See that was the only thing I wanted to bring up which by the way I think this is brilliant a great move if I had an applause button I would have hit it but if it's R.J. Harvey if you did sub in R.J. Harvey for 110. Oh and it's R.J. Harvey plus Bucky. I would

rather have Gentie. I would too. Yeah, I mean I think you have to go that way, but that would be the only situation that I could see working well for both sides. Even if you make that trade, if RJ Harvey's a thing and Bucky Irving continue, like this is the best use of Bucky Irving possible. Yeah. Right? Yes. We're in the middle of these video profiles about Bucky Irving. You look at the numbers from last year dynamic player Outstanding, but he's being drafted at the ceiling like if you if you take his best games when he was getting the majority of the work and

you look at those over the course of a year that would put him around RB nine and So and it's hard to expect an undersized back to get 20 opportunities a game 20 plus opportunities So and stay healthy and stay healthy. So you're looking at that and saying hey, what's the best use of Bucky Irving? There are Bucky believers everywhere and they you should be a believer in you are a I am a lucky believer You are 100% like coming into this offseason. I had a little bit more skepticism than you You've been all in on Bucky But the truth is he's being drafted as the running back six right now. And it seems like his ceiling in the current setup is probably like eight. Yeah, I mean, I think he's ranked at six for me in Fantasy Finish, or six or seven.

So you're drafting him, needing him to stay healthy, do everything he did, don't be disrupted by Rashad White and Sean Tucker, don't get hurt, everything has to happen right. But you make this trade and you get Ash and Gentie. A workhorse back for 10 plus years, built to be a workhorse back. It's just a home run. Yeah, I love it.

Bill, my goodness. I saw another trade this morning. That dude is carved from stone. Yeah, not metal. Can you carve metal? Tell me metal expert. As the metal expert. No, you cannot carve metal.

Okay, sorry, that was ridiculous. That was a trick question. So he's carved from stone. Making sure you knew. How do they make a bronze statue then? Let's keep it on fantasy football, all right? Let's just focus here for the audience. I saw a trade this morning, somebody wrote in,

they traded away AJ Brown. Okay. And James Cook in dynasty. This was off of our advice or conversations. They received back Chuba Hubbard. Okay. And Malik Nabors. Oh, oh yeah.

Oh, nice, nice. Absolutely. And I felt like that was a perfect execution of the 16 touchdown James Cook season, where I look at James Cook and Chuba Hubbard very similarly from an output standpoint. Even from a dynasty standpoint, with the new contract that Chuba has,

they're not that far apart in age. And then you turn Brown into Nabors? Yeah, that's fantastic. So I'm a big fan. All right, we got another voicemail Hey footballers John from Chicago keeper question Would you rather keep JJ McCarthy with the 16th round pick or is it that much more valuable to keep? Jaden Daniels with the sixth round pick you find it is a two quarterfax league Thanks on the show.

It's a two-QB league, and it's Jaden Daniels. It's 100,000% Jaden Daniels. JJ McCarthy, we're all believers here in the talent. I think he's going to do great things for the Vikings. I believe he could surprise and be an excellent top-tier pocket passer this year that's adding 200 yards on the ground, maybe, but he's coming off of a knee injury. The gap in fantasy points that JJ McCarthy will score

and Jaden Daniels because of how he plays is not overcomeable from what you're giving up in the sixth round for Jaden. What round would I have if Jaden, it was trading Jaden for a one? Would you take Jaden in the 16th? I don't think so. In a two quarterback lead. In a two QB,

I think I probably would do that I feel like in a two quarterback lead Jayden Daniels is worth. I don't know he'd be a top five pick Yeah, yeah, you're right. No close there, man Which we do have a follow-up Jayden Daniels related question Sophomore slump question which we saw with CJ Stroud Had a Stroud slump last year But see him writes in over on X, any concern for Jaden Daniels in year two of the Kingsbury system? Not many added weapons

and the league adjustments that happened in Arizona. Just have me curious if this might repeat. Arizona was, it wasn't a great ride with Cliff Kingsbury in the offense. There were times when we were pulling our hair out, out here in Arizona with the run it up the middle approach and the lack of innovative play calling it worked really well last year with Jaden Daniels Now what is a slump so I present for Jaden two things one I think a sophomore slump absolutely can happen with Jaden Daniels, but the question of what that means I don't think he can slump the way that CJ Stroud slumped for fantasy purposes because of the rushing upside. If you're someone that can rush for 800 to 1,000 rushing yards, if you don't throw

as many touchdowns and you throw more interceptions, you're still going to be a good fantasy asset. You might not be a great fantasy asset because now you're being drafted high and then you disappoint. So okay, a little disappointing. There are also a few things stacked against him, namely the schedule. He had one of the easiest schedules last year in the league, and now that, the gap between what he had rookie season going to sophomore year is massive. However, I don't have massive worries.

The Cliff Kingsbury thing, Cliff and Kyler came together, right? Yeah, so as much crap as... I think Cliff and Jayden came together. No I know but I'm saying Kyler's best season was his sophomore year when he was the quarterback too. As much crap as we give Cliff for his performance in Arizona it like the first three years was improved just non-stop improvements from five wins to eight to eleven you know the the passing yards ranked 24th to to to 17th to 10th like the passing offense for Arizona improved each of the first three years that that Cliff Kingsbury was in charge it was they got to a point where

everything totally fell apart and it felt like okay the no the the ceiling is there Cliff can't get to the Super Bowl so that's why they made the change. And the thing about Jayden Daniels that just, from an intangible standpoint is, you know, the schedule doesn't intimidate me very much with Jayden Daniels. He was the same player on the road that he was at home, fantasy-wise.

He was the same player in losses as he was in wins, fantasy-wise. He actually, he throws for more yards in losses. He, you know, more more attempts more opportunities for the air Just need him to turn up the speed on the VR All for the make sure you're sharp Yeah, I don't I have I don't have any concerns no personally and and and when you say they didn't add offensive weapons I I don't think Debo is the same as he was two or three years ago

But that's a that's a pretty big addition considering what you had as your wide receiver team, which was Jack Squat. And then I would also... I thought that was a person. Like Jack Squat. Yeah, Jack Squat is over on, lining up on the wide, and now it's going to be Debo Samuel. Friggin' Jack Squat, he lined up wrong on the play. Got Jack Squat, we got Do Nothing over here. This is a who's on first situation?

Yeah, it really is. And also, do not forget the inevitable halfway pivot of Zach Ertz catch or fall down into Ben Senate, the senator, who will. You're saying for this year? Yes. Ah. He will do his Trey McBride going forward.

And then it's only one way to guarantee 10 touchdowns for Zach Ertz, so Mike just did it. Yeah, and additionally, they added Laramie Tunsel. That's a huge improvement for just the offense as a whole. YouTube question from Arthur14, do you think taking JSN in the third round is a good price to pay? Are we in on the offense? And Sam Darnold.

Man, I'm gonna be vulnerable here. Oh. Yeah. Mike, you have me scared about JSN. Like, I was bullish on JSN. I know. I came into the year really, this is a guy who, you know, in his second year, he was, you know, quote, drafted to be great. First round pick, first wide receiver off the board. In his second year, he was the wide receiver 10.

Now you get rid of DK Metcalf, you get rid of Tyler Lockett. Like, JSN should be in the conversation to be a top five guy on volume. I think Sam Darnold, I I was so hyped for JSN, and you made me feel the fool with your data, and I love a good data nugget, so why don't you explain what it is that scared me? It just is a reminder of what the data study was, was that guys who break out in year two,

the market often overreacts. And then for fantasy purposes, and their ADP gets juiced up to a point where there it's historically has not been a good bet. It's not every single player fails it's just that the we move that your expectation from a year to breakout goes a bit high like this like JSN into the third like it everything makes sense that it should work. But while you're running through those things, Jay, it's like there's, yeah, okay.

DK and Tyler Lockett are gone. It's a brand new quarterback. It's a brand new offensive coordinator. It's like a lot of stuff has changed for JSN. He's clearly the one. He's a very talented wide receiver but you know like last year with just over 1,100 yards a hair under 12 points per game can he really can he elevate that multiple points per game I just I'm not sure that that can happen

what would that mean to your fantasy team taking him in the third round let me go looks who's going around there. Like when you talk about having hesitancy, I mean like I think JSN will be solid this year. I think it'll be very solid. It's just a matter of like, depending on the pick, if you went top end, tight end or quarterback early or something of that nature,

JSN's gonna need to be your one. I think JSN will end up being drafted even higher than the third, the third round will be usually the old guys, it'll be the old great guys, it'll be Tyreek Hill, it'll be Mike Evans, it'll be Devonte Adams, like those guys will be the third. On underdog right now, he's actually,

he's going as the wide receiver 18. Wow. So behind, that is directly behind Rashid Rice, Terry McLaurin, Tyreek. That's really surprising, because on Sleeper, I'm looking at Sleeper's ADP, so more of the home leagues. He is the wide receiver 12 in the second round. Yeah, wide receiver 18, I'm in on that.

Yeah, I mean, just to be clear, if you're new to fantasy football or new to the show, when we say ADP, because we reference it so much in the offseason, that just stands for average draft position, and that is a marker of where players are going and mock drafts throughout the offseason on different platforms. So we use that as a guide of like you know is this a value is this not a value. That's a pretty big disparity between those two platforms and what you expect from the players so

you know wide receiver 18 out the board I'm very cozy with that. Yeah, I think that's okay. It's just like, how well will Sam Darnold actually do? Like, I think that the Darnold variable is gigantic. I think the question was posed, are you in on JSN with Sam Darnold? I don't know what it's like to be in on Sam Darnold permanently, right? Yeah, I mean, that's a tough commitment. Like, I'm not... Last year we got there... Is his wife wearing a ring all the time? But at the same time, like when she goes to the games... Like, is it a full-time commit? I mean, I just feel like that's a tough one with Donald. Yeah, I mean the question, did Donald level up or did Donald get put in an amazing system?

And while JSN, I think, is a great wide receiver, he is nowhere near what Justin Jefferson is to allow a quarterback to look better than he might. Well, it's like the most common go-to guys of earlier on in their career, when you're watching, you're going, did you know in those first few years that DJ Moore was a great player? Watching Terry McLaurin going, is that a great player? And those guys were super capped in terms of it felt like they would be you know a perennial low-end wide receiver too forever despite watching

going that's a great player now you can your evaluation might be JSN is clearly I think he's a better prospect so really good so really good argument so just look how you feel about those previous players and use that in your evaluation. Further debate to come here with this question, Instagram from L. Kramer. Joanne Jennings or Ricky Pearsall, we have, in our rankings, in our rankings so far in the UDK, the disparity in where Mike has Joanne Jennings

and I have Joanne Jennings, and then Jason's right in the middle, but it is like 20 spots. And I'll give you my perspective on him. I think Juan Jennings is, what is the type of animal that eats the remains on a carcass when all the meat? A vulture.

No, but a- There's another word for that. Scavenger. Scavenger. Scavenger. Yay, Papa Josh. Papa Josh coming through, biology degree over there. To me, Juan Jennings is that. Scavenger. Scavenger. Hey, Papa Josh. Papa Josh coming through, biology degree over there. To me, Juan Jennings is a fantasy scavenger.

Okay. And so I have concerns because I think Ricky Pearsall takes a step forward, George Kittle is the primary target. Brandon and I will come back at some point this year and all the time, Juan Jennings was eating last year and they were good meals, by the way. Yeah, they were. There was no Christian McCaffrey on the field.

And so to me, Juan Jennings is a super super solid capable wide receiver but I don't have the same ceiling case for him that Mike does and so I would take the shot on Ricky Pearsall for what how I build my team archetype wise I just wanted I want a shot at something that you know is great not good. Yeah that even like, if Ricky Pearsall was great, he could be a better target than George Kittle. Yeah. He could be the one.

Receiving target. And I just want that shot at it, where I feel like Jennings, I'm getting floor and injury help, but. You're saying that like Jennings, I think has a realistic outlook of scoring 11 fantasy points a game, and that's really good.

For where he's going to drafts, that's fantastic. I don't think he has any shot of ending the season scoring 14 fantasy points per game in half PPR. But Ricky Pearsall, while he might project to score nine fantasy points a game, be below Jon Jennings, he has a shot. He has a chance to go out there and be that dude and show why he was a first round draft pick with his hands and speed, all

that stuff. And so I agree with Andy. I would rather have Pearsall on my roster than Jennings, but I am in between you guys statistically. I think Jennings is a value in drafts. He just doesn't have a ceiling. I will agree that the... like, Piersol, if it worked out, that I think the ceiling would be higher. But I disagree that Jennings doesn't have a ceiling. Like, he was multiple games of 10 plus targets, 10 or more, like, this guy was absolutely commanding volume.

In the beginning of the year, when they had a actual, healthy, functional brain in IUK, Jennings was still commanding targets at that point. So I love Jennings in draft and he's, I think, being very overlooked. While the ceiling is not top 12, I think that he will easily be the number one wide receiver for San Francisco. All right, we'll take a break and jump into some more questions. All right, this question, it's a good one from Instagram.

It is a concern that I have. Zach Robinson writes in, are there too many mouths to feed in Chicago when you talk about fantasy players being drafted? DJ Moore, Roma Dunze, DeAndre Swift, Colston Loveland, Flyers on Roshan late in the draft, Col Comet is going to be, I'm telling you he will be a touchdown vulture. They just paid him a bunch of money. Scavenger. And he's not, you're right, sorry. And he he's not he's just a good player, and it's it's annoying Luther burden the third there were wide receiver so Too many mouths to feed is really good for Caleb

It's not necessarily good for identity identifying value and fantasy Yeah, they're too way too many mouths for everybody to be full They I think you can have you can have two Yeah, there are way too many mouths for everybody to be full. I think you can have two pass catching options, and it would seem the most likely outcome. He was a top 10 pick last year, and now he's the wide receiver too. It seems like Rome should be the second best option in terms of a pass catcher. But for me, I don't know if that's locked in because of the surrounding talent.

Where- Keenan had 121 targets in this offense last year and I don't think anybody would expect Burden to approach that at least in the wide receiver room. No, the question really is like this year's top 10 pick, number 10 overall, Colston Loveland, a pass catching tight end. My argument against Colston Loveland versus Tyler Warren has simply been in this offense,

because of the mouths to feed, he can't be the number two target. I just don't see that as a realistic outcome with DJ Moore and Roma Dunze on the roster. So he's going to be at best the third target, and that's if Luther Burden is not very involved, and they're split in that area of the field. Passing yardage, Caleb Williams totals in your UDK projections right now. Okay, I will look it up. Does he get to the first 4,000 yard season ever? I'll tell you where I have them after you tell me.

I have them doing it and doing it well. Really? I have them at 4,300. I got them at 4,200. I do not. I have them at 3,993. OK. Oh, you did.

3,993 is the knife twist in Chicago fans. Oh, man. Yeah. Sorry. Sorry. Did you have anything to add there? I was just curious. If if you gotta distribute 39.93 across those. Right, exactly.

That's what really makes it difficult with those weapons if he does spread the ball around. And there's a good chance he doesn't. One of the things I really like about Ben Johnson coming in is I do feel like he does what really good coordinators do, which is design plays for people. Every play has a first read or whatever, but a lot of times, you see this with Shanahan, you see this with McVeigh. Scheme somebody open.

You're scheming someone open. They did that a lot in Detroit, and I hope they do that here so that they can focus on DJ Moore or Roma Dunze, because I want one of those two guys to really excel for fantasy. Mike, Instagram question from Nate. One of the wild cards. Wild card!

Jaden Reed or a shot on Chris Olave this year? or a shot on Chris Olave this year? I would I'd go Jaden Reed. I if it were Derek Carr that would be an easy as fun as it is to poke fun at Derek Carr. I would much rather have him throwing the ball to Chris Olave than Spencer Rattler or Tyler Shuck, which is who it will be. The quarterback production is going to be very low for the New Orleans Saints. And maybe whoever comes in is like, okay, we're going to do the Malik neighbor situation of Olave is going to get up, you know, like 30 plus percent of the targets. And then everything can be okay.

But I don't think that'll happen. So I will take the, the part-time player, which both very talented, Jayden Reed, limited by his team, but he's still, I think he's still the wide receiver one. Chris Olave, I think part of the discussion here. He freaks me out this year. I don't think we've taken a second

to reflect on his game log from last year. I know we had the concussion twice. But before that, you're talking about a player that was out there on the field, and you know, look, what was the truth last year? You lost Derek Carr at times, and you saw what Olave looked like without Derek Carr. Like in week eight where he had 14 targets,

eight receptions, and 107 yards with Spencer Rattler? Like that? That's what I'm saying, the targets. Mr. Moore. targets eight receptions and 107 yards with Spencer Rattler like that that's that's what I'm saying that the targets mr. Moore you know it mr. Moore you're more you're literally proving my point you just 41 week out of out of 11 or out of 9 41% great okay if it's Spencer Rattler and we're gonna get a 41% target share averaged out oh Spencer you're snake, man. Oh, Spencer, you're back. If we can average that out for the, that he's hitting 41%.

He's not been a touchdown guy either. Who else are they throwing it to? Five touchdowns, oh, Rashid Shahid? Yeah. And? Brandon Cooks? Alvin Kamara? I want John, also, also, also clearly the other team. This is, uh. Clearly.

Oh, please, Jamis this. Make them have to throw it more. Oh, Jamis should be the starter. Oh, I would love... Oh my goodness. The Saints would love it. But you do have an injury risk with Olave too that Mike... I don't think you mentioned that.

No, I'm just talking about... Like Jayden Reed, part-time player, better quarterback, but then Olave, if he gets concussed, which receivers do, you're done for the year. You could be done for the year. I'm saying to put them both on the field for 17 games and I'll bet on Jordan Love. If there was, if they were both on the field 17 games, if I knew for a fact they're both playing 17 games,

I would bring a, I would back up a Brinks truck on the Olave side. Okay. Olave has always, even with other backup quarterbacks, his issue is concussion. I mean, that is, it is a massive, you could say, but he's literally, his last 17 rolling games, including games where he's completely been not actually in

because he got knocked out with a concussion, he's an A in consistency. He's not a guy that goes out there and scores 25 points. So you're not excited about him, but he's a guy that always has the targets, the volumes, the yards, and scores, you know, the 10 to 14 fantasy points. They're very similar in points per game production in their career. Yeah, but not in consistency points per game. That's where Chris Olave, if I put him in

my lineup, week after week after week after week, he's helping me. And then Jaden Reed is like, the two thirds of his games are going to actively hurt me in my fantasy production. He might help me win one out of every three. Olave has played, he's played with competent quarterbacks. Like before Derek Carr, it was, I mean you had those couple games of Jameis,

but then you had Andy Dalton. Andy Dalton is a competent starter. He's like, look, he is where he is at this point of his career. But if I'm relying on a quarterback for fantasy, man, you put Andy Dalton on this team right now compared to those guys, this season is much better. Your future is not

but so they're rattling. Chuck freak me out. It's a good question and if you take yeah I don't know if you give me a guaranteed 17 weeks of a Lave as the one and the snap counts that are 10 15 percent higher than Jayden Reed maybe that's the way I'd go to. Yeah but I don't necessarily guarantee and I think I mean Jayden Reed is going to score more touchdowns than a lot of this year. Yes I don't necessarily guarantee, and I think, I mean, Jayden Reid's gonna score more touchdowns than Elavi this year. Yes. That will happen. That will happen. And he will, and he's not vulnerable

to getting shucked on a weekly basis. Yeah, I mean. Which we know is not positive. No, we know that is, I mean, you thought it might be positive. I'm still not sure, man. Yeah, I mean, the reason I picked that one game out last year of the game log is because that is literally the only single game that he played without Derek Carr.

As far as he got injured and played like 3% of snaps and a different one scored negative. But the only game he was active for was that game and he got 14 targets because he's open and he's the first read in the offense and he's good. And he's on the field, which is my favorite part. The other 10 games with Derek Carr, competent quarterback, not really a good performance. He had a game here or there but not very good. Certainly. And this is year four. Over the

normal bar to help you. If you, which leads you back. I don't know if he plays for the Saints after this year. I don't think he's on the Saints. A lot of it? I don't think he's on the Saints. If you're going to force feed him 40 plus percent of the targets, 14 targets a game, that leads into further of, oh, this is the Malik neighbors of last year. This is like, yeah, we got exactly what we wanted. And then Malik broke down, where he was like, the guy, you can't get hit that many times.

Stevie wants to know on Instagram, what is your take on auction drafts? Auction drafts are fun. I would dare say they are probably even superior to a snake draft for the simple fact that anyone can get whatever player they want when you are in a snake draft. If you're, when you get your spot you know I'm in the back of the first, you can instantly cross off five players from your, I'm gonna target, I'm gonna draft them. I cannot get them in a snake draft.

You can in an auction. Like if you want to go spend up for those elite players, you are free to do so. It's like, this is why we say Fab is the best, for your waiver system, Fab is so much more superior than a rolling list of rolling priority list. The problem is those drafts take hours and hours, and they're just, the snake draft is much faster, it's much easier to talk about, so it's fine. You wanna play auction? Go ahead, go do it. Yeah, I mean, it's fun.

We've played auction leagues before. It's a great way to go. We're all about fun. If that's the most fun for you and your friends, play that way. We have auction rankings. I mean, in the UDK, we have, you can go in and dig into auction.

We accommodate that. So Instagram question, is Josh Downs a sleeper this year? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes, I would say, yeah. How about you, Jay? Yeah. You love Josh Downs.

No, I do like Josh Downs. He's a good player. He's the wide receiver too there. I think he's a sleeper. For where he's going in drafts right now, he should outperform that. The issue is like, he's one of those guys where out producing where he is drafted might not

really matter. That can't just be the sole barometer when we're trying to win a championship in fantasy football leagues because it's like, oh great, he was projected to, where that wide receiver is usually scores 6.8 fantasy points and he scored 7.2 fantasy points per game. It's like, well that still didn't help you even though you out produced. I don't know that the ceiling can be that high for any of the pass catchers for the Colts. He was better on a points per game basis than Mr. Pitman last year. And he is going ahead of Mr. Pitman this year. So I think it's a good way to, I mean, he may be the one. He might be. He's just, he's a good player. He was at 10 and 1 half fantasy points a game last year. I think Pittman's at 8 and 1 half. It hasn't like Pittman's benefited

from those massive volume years before, but I think Downs is definitely a sleeper. I think that's a value, depending on how you want to. He definitely has more like yards after catch juice than Michael Pittman, which that's probably how, the way that the Colts are gonna have to function. Yeah. No, and he has short area.

That's what I mean. Yeah, no, I think he's a better player. I do, I think he's a better player. And I think if you can get a top option, even that late in the drafts, ninth round, eight late, late eighth round, slot him in, get 10 points a week, I can live with that.

Yeah, when the, we've been in fantasy football long enough to know that there are certain situations every single year that get avoided like the plague because all of us project and predict that it's going to be the worst possible case scenario and it becomes accepted by everybody. They're like this is gross I want nothing to do with it and then guess what is not gross? Like it's Daniel Jones goes in week one and has himself a great year. Like these

things happen. You have to leave margin to be super wrong on things. To have Sam Darnold to be good. Yeah. Now it feels like, well, yeah, I mean, he was a joke. He was a washout for all the teen teams. That's a perfect example. Then he goes in there and is like, oh, no, he was a, you know. Or Baker in Tampa when he started there and nobody believed in him.

Yeah. So yeah, it does happen every year. Maybe that's a point in your shut corner. I will be betting against the Colts offense. That's what I will be doing, but when you're in these late, late rounds, just have some humility and be like, yeah, okay, I'll take Josh down to a couple spots. Since you brought up Shuck, I just wanted to go- He's been writing on this board for like six minutes. I was just curious.

I'm not wanting to throw a question his way. He's not talking to the audience right now. He is looking directly into the mirror and talking to himself. You know what, though, but that's a valuable process to help me be able to talk to people later. I was looking at Chris Olave without Derek Carr the previous season, because Carr missed games then,

and there were six games. 7.2 fantasy points, 18.8, 4.1, 13.1, 9.2, 13.1, average over 10 and a half fantasy points a game. I don't know who the quarterbacks were. That was gonna be the next question. Probably Jameis. I didn't look into, was Jameis there last year? Jameis is everywhere, man.

If it was Jameis, it would have been 28.4 fans points, 38.6 fans points, 55. You would not hear a single digit game out of him. Yeah. Who's got? Someone start Jameis. Who has Olave in dynasty? Shut up.

But we will never know. The Derek Carr, wait, in 2023? 2023. OK, so 2023. Carr, at least what I'm seeing, started, at least started, 17. But you do have some appearances by Jameis. Oh, maybe it was 22? 22. Oh, that's Jameis.

That's the Jameis Andy Dalton year. Yeah. I know the general managers are listening, or at least some of them. Please. You know that they're listening. Please. The Giants don't need him. They don't need him.

Plenty of teams need him. You do need him. The Giants GM's listening for sure. Well yeah, so cut him, let him go. He is looking for hard knocks. He's looking for insight. And we are here for you. One of you needs to start Jamus, not for you, but for us.

For the fantasy football fans across the world, he needs to be, there for you, but for us. For the fantasy football fans across the world, he needs to be, there aren't, like I was talking with some buddies about how crazy it is that there aren't 32 good human beings on the planet that can play this position at the highest level. You got a third of the league that puts out trash football. And it is a travesty. At least entertain your fans. Is a travesty that you're putting trash out there when you can have the fun of Jameson

Rudolph is starting games in this league. You could be starting James. Yeah case and point who cares about W's He should be traded for eight to ten times a year. Yes, it should be on the fly I'm telling you he should the NFL should make a rule where if your starter gets injured It's allowed to James just sits in Kansas every Sunday morning. Just real centrally located. That's my central location in the United States. And he's got a private jet. He's got a charter ready.

He's ready. He's got all the jerseys, every team. He's in pads, but just waiting to throw that jersey. He doesn't even wear a number. It's just his face. Yeah. Let's make it happen. Let's do it, NFL. I guess that'll do it for today's episode, it's just his face. Yeah, let's make it happen. Let's do it NFL.

I guess that'll do it for today's episode. It's a great idea. We'll see if we can get it done. Pick up the UDK, it comes out on Sunday. We'd love to have you check it out, ultimatedrivegate.com. 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.