Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast - Mock Draft! Top 12 Picks for 2025 - Fantasy Football Podcast for 2/20

Episode Date: February 20, 2025

Fantasy Football talk for Feb 20, 2025. Top 12 players for 2025! Andy, Mike, and Jason mock draft the 1st round for the 2025 fantasy football season. Find out which early picks carry the most risk, the best draft position, and more! Plus, are elite QBs worth a 2nd round pick in fantasy football drafts? 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 - Order before March 1st for an entry to win a Listener League Spot! 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

Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers podcast with your hosts Andy Holloway, Jason Moore and Mike Wright. Oh, welcome in. Whoa. Oh welcome in whoa what's going on over there coffee boy you know we three cups deep or what it's funny because I was just thinking about what was going on right before the show began and so I think my mind was distracted, so maybe the ah, welcome, it just kept going. Because I'm looking at Deucer's Alley over here

as we start the Fantasy Footballers podcast. It was a fun morning. Is that the word you used? For us, yeah. Well look. I think it brought great entertainment. It's Thursday, it's February 20th, we're pre-recording this show a couple days early

In light of the fact we are at the Fantasy Sports and Gaming Association Conference in Vegas I am on an absolute heater right now Mike. Oh, no people to know why you're listening Mike is I have hit at least six points in a row on the crap stable. Oh, okay. Hopefully you're there Oh, you're going crap. He's got $36 of winnings in his pocket. Well, well, I didn't say that. I lost. It doesn't go that hard. I I lost thousands before the heater. Now, look, I mean, in Deucer's Alley right now, by the way, we have a mock draft, first round mock draft 2025 we're gonna do on today's episode but you'll notice there's a very conspicuous absence. The two.

No, not for the reason that it normally is. No, this person is not using the restroom. In fact, they are not here because Al Borland, you know, he was he was doing what he does. Always here, always available, always ready to go. Certainly eight to ten times more reliable than these guys. Yeah, for sure. Goodness, yes. I'm just happy that... Executive producer for a reason. That proper Josh over there hit record on all the microphones. Are you recording yourself today? Yes.

Okay, because yesterday on the footcast, he didn't even record himself. But Al Borland was involved in a parking lot hit and run this morning. Yeah, it was him. He was hit. He was the one who got hit. He was the one who went into an appointment,

came out from said appointment, and the car was not the same as when he went in. No, no, no. No, no, whoever this person was, they decided they would hit a Tesla, because he drives them out of Hawaii. They would hit a Tesla, which is totally rigged up

with tons of active cameras at all times. They would get out of their vehicle. they would look at the damage done, which was significant, and then get in their truck and drive away. Uh-huh, and just so you know, when you back into a car, your license plate is, like, that's the main show.

That's the nose of the vehicle at that point. So, it was so fun this morning to, you know, it's like he's showing the video and it's like, Oh, okay. So we know exactly who this is. License plate. And then Andy. A seven. No, I'm just kidding. And then the best part was Andy's like, you know, genuinely there is a chance. Cause I

had like a, you know, a trailer hitch. There is a small percentage chance that the person maybe was unaware, despite the damage caused that they backed into the vehicle He just didn't feel it. It's a large truck and then Jeremy proceeds to send a screenshot of later when the person gets out of the vehicle and looks at the damage It is like yeah, I did it. Yeah, so pro tip for you You criminals out there, don't hit a car that's covered in cameras and drive away.

And then don't get out and show your face on camera and then drive away, so. Surprised they didn't go up and like wave at the camera. Hey, you'll never catch me. I mean, I hit Jeremy's car once yeah, and I Handled my business It was a brand new car. It was Jeremy's brand new car left him a nice note I left him a note. I said I did it signed Papa Josh

Welcome in one and all yeah, so Al Borland. Yeah, let gotta do better. Let's be better. We gotta do better than that. Oh man, not what we expected. So no Al Borland this morning, but the other guys got it on lockdown. Just no bathroom breaks back there, please. We got a good quick question of the day. We've got a first round mock draft. Thought it'd be fun to just see

where we have guys slotted in, you know, in February. Yeah. You know, so that'll be fun. We'll do that. Not gonna cover any news on today's show, because like I said, we're pre-recording it by a few days, so we'll just cover any news we missed next Tuesday. There's just, the one bit that we have right now is Clyde Edwars-Alaire did re-sign with the Saints, so it would, dynasty-wise, if you are rostering him,

I would presume he is, like, he will be the backup for Alvin Kamara. It's funny because- He's not totally valueless, is what I'm saying. So what you're saying is this is bad news if you're rostering Clyde Edward DeLair. No! Because now you have to keep rostering Clyde Edward DeLair. I do not believe you have to keep rostering Clyde Edwards-

I do not believe you have to keep rostering him. But I- I would, look, I- Alvin Kamara was over 1,400 all purpose yards last year, despite turning 30 this year. He is going to be the focal point of the offense. Yeah, I'm not arguing that in the slightest, but I'm saying in a dynasty league,

you want as many backup running backs on that roster as you can possibly handle. Yeah, yeah, I mean, this is, Mike, you gotta understand many backup running backs on that roster as you can possibly handle. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, this is Mike. You got to understand Mike is the man who drafted Clyde Edgware in the dynasty. He had the shiny Ferrari. He has now got a, you know, a weathered. I got Jeremy's car. He's got a weathered. It's pretty beat up. One wheels left. It does move a little bit and he's finding a reason to keep him on. Brooks is with me. The roster. Brooks knows, he just stashes many backups,

and then a week or two pops up, you're like, holy crap, I can't believe I have that guy on my roster and I'm gonna play him. Okay, all right. Well, the Ultimate Draft Kit pre-orders available now, ultimatedraftkit.com, get it by March 1st, and you'll be entered to win a listener league spot. You'll get the lowest price on the UDK, UDK Plus,

and some other perks and giveaways. You can check that out at UltimateDraftKit.com. Our quick question of the day. Did you hit Jeremy's? No. Tommy Reed. We don't have to ask. We know.

Yeah, we know. And here's her picture. We know who you are. Are Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen worth second round draft capital next season? That is the question, and while you ponder it, we have a little bit of research on the situation. We've had 21 quarterbacks drafted somewhere

in the first two rounds since 2011. So high draft capital cost for quarterbacks 21 times. Obviously you're passing on other positions right? We call the quarterback position a onesie spot along with the tight end unless you're in a superflex. You're playing one quarterback every week. You're playing two running backs at least. You're playing two wide receivers at least. So you really need them to pay off if you spend up. 11 of the 21, so 52% paid off on their average draft position. So you got a 50-50 shot historically over the last 14 years that they're worth it.

But lately over the last five years, if you just look, because we've gotten better at fantasy football as a community, as an entity, seven of the eight quarterbacks drafted in the first and second rounds have been relative hits. So it's gotten better, but just kind of what you need, if you're spending a first round pick, you need more than 24 Fantasy points per game, you know when you're looking at opportunity cost of its second round pick You need more than twenty two and a half fantasy points per game as like the barometer for did it was it was it a good? pick

And so that's when you're looking at Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson you go Do you expect them to have twenty two and a half fantasy points per game in four point per passing touchdown leagues Yes or no. Yes, I do I expect that to happen for both of them That doesn't mean I will pick them Because there's a side of the equation. Yeah, the other side is you what you're losing right if you are passing on a wide receiver in the second round and if you are passing on a wide receiver in the second round and one that's more assured, one that's more consistent, one that provides, I don't know,

called 17 fantasy points a game or 16 fantasy points a game. And then what I'm getting in return later on is 12 points a game. And I have other quarterbacks that I'm fond of or think could enter that upper stratosphere and maybe only end up a couple points behind Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson. I still wouldn't make that decision.

There is, I mean, there's an emotional piece that comes with knowing you have a starter slotted in every week. It is really nice when you have a top end quarterback that hits. If you knew for sure that they are above that threshold, I am totally happy to quarterback that hits. If you knew for sure that they are above that threshold, I am totally happy to take that pick.

For me, that is a pro Josh Allen and a little bit of an anti Lamar Jackson going into 2025 at that cost. If you look at the last few years, I mean, Josh Allen clears that benchmark of 22 and a half fantasy points every year. Like for the last six, seven years, it's just what he does over and over and over.

Lamar Jackson was amazing this season, but that's not what he has done. Number one most consistent quarterback in history. Yes, number one most consistent. He threw for 41 passing touchdowns. Here is his passing touchdowns in the last five years. 41, amazing. Nice.

24, 17, 16, 26. One of those things ain't like the others. And I don't, I'm not going to say that I expect him to throw 8.6% of his passes for touchdowns next year. That seems like an outlier. And if he doesn't do that, all of those seasons I just read he was under the 22.5 fantasy points benchmark. So obviously we know he can do it, he just did it. I'm going to bet against it on the Lamar side.

It's not just that, it's a, like you need the other quarterbacks to be bad. I mean to keep and maintain your advantage. This is just, we're giving the numbers of like they got to hit this threshold so they are worth the pick. Well, now you gotta look at the field. Is the field, there are years where the field is subpar and there's only the two guys at the very top and if you have those quarterbacks, you have a big point advantage on a weekly basis.

But like last year, Lamar was crazy with the the I'm looking at six point right now Sorry to switch formats, but he's over 30 burrows at 27 Baker's at 26 Allen's at 25 and Jayden's at 24 Goff is at 23 like the discrepancy between Lamar and Goff is huge but like There's there's a handful of guys who are keeping you competitive and then the opportunity cost of the other players uh, the wide receivers the running backs the higher probability of the second round pick hitting it's Second round is too much for for me. If you want to get into a third round discussion Okay, I can see it. I think we're gonna always end up here

On this show because there's also look because it it's because it's supply and demand. Because it's market. In the last 14 years, you've got a 50-50 shot of them delivering anyways. And maybe some of the good fortune in recent history has just been, you know, if an injury happens, right? Where do you need depth more if an injury happens? At positions that you have to start multiples? Correct. Or at the onesie positions?

I mean, I also think it's easier to identify later round quarterbacks personally that I think could deliver higher end totals like a Jaden Daniels who was called out early, early, early, early, early. You could have drafted Derrick Henry in the second round instead of Josh Allen last year and then gone and got a Jaden Daniels or a Joe Burrow later on. Or pounced on Baker off of the waiver wire.

Right. If you want to compare the onesie position, you want to lock down one of your onesie positions, it seems pretty clear that just like you go Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen, maybe Jaden Daniels, they're going to be great. Well, at the tight end position, Trey McBride, Brock Bowers are going to be great. Maybe you want to throw George Kittle in there, maybe not, but that's kind of it. Now you look at like round eight, nine, ten. Yeah, you've got rookies coming in that run like Jaden Daniels and all those guys that were... What late round tight end is going to become elite? I'm not saying like... Yeah exactly you're grabbing your you're you know your unless one of the rookie tight ends sure

But even even you know Brock wasn't a ninth tenth round pick this last year I think he was like tight end so eight or nine. So it was around seventh round then to answer the question succinctly. No Yeah, not a second. Yeah, I don't I say no. I Yeah, I agree. Okay. Alright, so we'll jump right into it. We're going to do it. We could have answered that real quick. Yeah, but we didn't.

We just didn't. This is the data. This is why. Yeah, I'm going to illustrate the point. Remind people why we wait on quarterbacks unless we want to year off of that stress. That is true. Like some leagues, leagues I don't care about, I'll be real honest. Unless we want a year off of that stress, you just want to... That is true. Some leagues, leagues I don't care about, I'll be real honest.

Oh, do you draft early quarterbacks? 100% I draft early quarterbacks and early tight ends in leagues I don't care about. Because I don't... Like if I'm in one of those... Less maintenance? Less maintenance, I'm like, I don't want to scour the wave or what. But if I care about the league, if I'm like, this is my passion, this is who I am about the league. If I'm like this, like this is my passion. This is who I am. You know, the league of record.

I'm not playing the lazy man game. No, no, and that's not to say you won't be tempted when you're in the middle of the draft and you see that name there and you're like, oh, I could, you know, sometimes it's harder to draft a, you know, I don't know what the name might be. Maybe it's Brian Thomas or maybe it's, maybe even go down, maybe say Bucky Irving, right?

Like, but then you got Josh Allen, the MVP sitting there. That can be a tough decision. Yeah, for sure. To go away from the star. I was gonna bring that up. So right before coming into the studio, I mentioned to Mike, I was like, man, maybe we should have done a two round mock

because when I was coming up with my list of the players were drafting in the first round, there were a lot of players that felt like kind of that first round bubble that were the Brian Thomas Jr. and Malik Neighbors and Drake London and, you know, does AJ Brown sneak in? Is he second round or is, you know, the Bowers and Trey McBride and all these names?

Spoilers! Well, those, I mean, I doubt they're in the first, or as you know, the Bowers and Trey McBride and all these names. Spoilers. Well those, I mean, I doubt they're in the first, but my point was going back to, do you take that opportunity to cause it to quarterback? There are so many good players in the second this year. Well, let's jump right in. The Fantasy Footballers Mock Draft.

All right, a little early bird first round 2025 mock draft. Jason, I guess you won the prize. You got the first pick. Woohoo! So what are we doing here? That was a real Pillsbury Doughboy. Yeah it was. Yeah it was.

You happy about that? Self evaluating. Yeah, no, I'm pretty happy with that. He does some great work. Who's in consideration of number one? Yeah, the Doughboy does great consider, does great work. Is that the pick?

I think that was the pick. So in consideration is between two players to me. It's just a matter of do I want a wide receiver or do I want a running back? Because both of these players were exceptional this last year and project to be more of the same next year, which is Jamar Chase and Saquon Barkley. That's my number one wide receiver, my number one running back. It's very difficult for people to repeat exactly what they did last year, but if I look at the variables

around it, we don't know if T Higgins is going to be on this team, he might leave, Saquon is older, Jamar Chase is in his prime, and when you talk about the difference that they made, Saquon was great, but Jamar Chase lapped the field. Second place in half PPR leagues, the second best wide receiver, was like four and a half points per game worse. This was, to me if I've got the first pick, it's Jamar Chase. And when I say I was considering,

I wasn't really considering. It would be between those two people, but it was easy. It was like immediately it was Jamar Chase. Yeah, that's the right pick I think. Cause you can make an argument Saquon shouldn't even be the first running back? Yeah, he won't be.

Oh, okay, there you go. So, but how could you make the argument like for someone else over Jamar Chase after what he just did? Yeah, if this season that he had lapping the field, like if we can pretend for a moment that it was Jefferson that put those numbers up, and Chase put the Jefferson numbers up,

I think you have an argument at that point to say, hey, you like Joe Burrow more, he could be the MVP, he could throw for 45 touchdowns, and Chase just kind of had a down year, and Chase could surpass him. Like if those roles were reversed, but in this situation, because of Joe Burrowrows performance last year,

which was MVP caliber and because of a change at quarterback in expecting a rookie in Minnesota, because of a lot of mouths to feed with an almond raw because of quarterback problems for neighbors. Like there isn't really, you know, CD lamb. Yeah, he could do it again, but you're going to have to have a return for Dak Prescott and success on the offense. So I think Chase would have been my pick at one, but I will go with Bijon Robinson at

pick number two. Ooh, I like it. Wow. I will go with Bijon. This was a very special year for Saquon Barkley. And while his variables haven't changed tremendously, and I don't want to discount his season in any way, it was just a very special 2,000 yard season with a ton of dependency on big, long touchdown runs.

Those are, it's hard to repeat those at the volume that Saquon did. I think what we saw from Bijan in the second half his his youth Michael Pinnock's taken over I'm gonna slightly go with Bijon Robinson here he led all running backs in percentage of carries that went five plus yards he's kind of did it quietly but the beginning of the season wasn't all roses for him yeah I mean it's a Kwan is coming off a tremendous season that you know maybe maybe a lot of people will just reward that with the number one overall pick which I think is fine but he does have an injury history he is older which increases the odds of those

injuries I love that the offensive line and the team is gonna be the same. So I think it's splitting hairs there as opposed to Chase. That part's good. You could also make the argument, you know, he's not, I mean, he can be a prolific pass catcher, but that's not what this system is. No. And he wasn't, even though he was the number one

running back, it was on the basis of total yardage and touchdowns. And we just saw, you know, he almost broke the record. He almost broke the, probably could have broken the all-time rushing record. Last year, the season before, there was a wide receiver that almost broke the receiving yards record but he was a little older and then he played 17 games this year and got about half of that in Tyree Kill. So it's trying to forecast, yeah, the variability there.

Only two running backs since 2007 had 17 plus fantasy points in 10 of their final 11 games. It was McCaffrey in the fantasy breaking season in 2019 and it was this past year's Bijon Robinson. So I'm looking at it from that last 10, 11 games and what we're projecting into the future. So I slightly lean Bijon Robinson and we'll take him with the number two pick.

Cool, I'll take Saquon Barkley. Ah, ah. It's interesting that Bijon is the preferred, because the argument to me is not Bijon in a number It's it's jimmy or gibbs or seqon barkley that that's how that's how eileen and i'm looking at things yeah, the long touchdowns are hard to repeat but if anybody's gonna repeat him it's seqon barkley who

frequently has his longest carry of the season is Taequann Barkley, who frequently has his longest carry of the season, is 40 plus, where Bijan is just, no, I don't know, what was Bijan's longest? Let me hold it up. Now, we looked at this. 37 and 38 as a rookie, which is, that's still great. I mean, home runs at the running back position are not frequent. We can get two wrapped up in, oh, this guy, he's only getting 25 is his longest run.

If you're getting 15 yard carries all the time, then that's fine. I don't care if you're not getting 50 yard runs. But Saquon Barkley, I'm still confident, despite him being 28 years old. I get it. I get the discussion around Gibbs as well, and we'll move on to pick number...

Take one most yards before context since 2016, which I... That's a heck of a performance by the offensive line. It's like look at last year with Deandre Swift. I mean, they were doing the same stuff, but Swift is not... He looked like a good player for a second. The Eagles really... Yeah, he got a lot of money because the Eagles O-line. The Eagles really aren't fair.

I was just going to say, hey, Cardinals, as a Cardinal fan, build the trenches. You know what I mean? Yes. It's so boring though. Their offensive and defensive line. It is boring on draft day. But then I was like, wait, they've got the best defensive line maybe in the league, and they've got maybe the best offensive line in the league.

Okay, that's boring. Top quarterback, top wide receiver. But then they've got two stud wide receivers, a great league and it's like okay that's boring but top quarterback top wide receivers two stud wide receivers a great quarterback they rebuilt their entire cornerback you know secondary in one year i i think they won the super bowl i think you're right we'll take a break we'll be right back Jamar chase at one, Bijon at two, Saquon at three. Jason is now on the clock in our early, early 2025 first round mock draft talking through some of these names. Yeah, I'm in an interesting spot. Very similar to the first time I picked when I was deciding between Jamar chase and Saquon Barkley, a wide receiver or a running back, my number two wide receiver is available, my number two running back is

available. I have Gibbs at number two as well. However- Is your number one Barkley? Oh, you said that. Yeah, yeah. And Bijon's my third. Three. I didn't know you both hated Bijon. I don't hate him so much. I just think he's number three. Absolutely love. It's a bronze medal, Bichon Robinson. Just love three backs.

Not on the same team. Please only use one running back on a team, offensive coordinator for fantasy football purposes. Anyways. And yet you both have Gibbs ahead of Bichon. That sentence is why I have him at three. Yeah, I mean, it's ironic. Mike's reason for the lack of explosive plays,

Bijon having 36 yards as his longest run, when someone breaks fantasy, it's the season. CJ 2K, it's the season where it's just like, they can have four or five 60 yard rushing or receiving touchdowns. That's what Jamar Chase just did. So Saquon Barkley just did. Jameer Gibbs can do that.

I don't know that Bijon has it. He doesn't have that pull away long speed that sticks. He's, you know, constantly breaking tackles. But I'm going to take CD Lamb here. Oh, CD Lamb is my number two wide receiver. This last year in the first 17 weeks of the season, because he didn't play in week 18, and week 18 doesn't matter,

he was the wide receiver five. And he didn't have a quarterback and he didn't have a shoulder. That's coming off of being the number one wide receiver two seasons ago, and going into next year healthy with Dak there, we can mock Schottenheimer, but it's continuity. It's the offensive coordinator that was just running things

where C.D. Lamb is as good a wide receiver as anyone in the National Football League. He is an alpha for the team, his target market share is great. And I think that the Dallas Cowboys with Dak Prescott are a top ten offense easily. So the scoring opportunities go up, we already know he could be the wide receiver one, so I've got him as, I mean I just don't want to forget about him because of what a really lost season it was for the Cowboys. Yeah, I mean I think the fact he was the wide receiver one, two years ago is pretty

compelling. Kyle just gave us some pretty interesting information for the three running backs, because we're talking about length of run. So percentage of carries that went for five or more yards. Barkley was at 39%, Bichon's at at 44, and Jamir Gibbs is at 41%. So that's what we were talking about, where Bijan is consistently getting the smaller chunks, which, like, those add up. Then 10 plus yards, the percentage of carries that have done that.

Barclay was at 13, Gibbs at 17%, which is wild, and Bijan's down at 11. And then the big boy carries, the 15 or more rushing yards per touch. Barclays at 7%, Gibbs at 10%, Bijon down at 4%. You guys know I love Jemir Gibbs. Yeah, yeah. But I mean, when I look at Bijon and Gibbs, and if you take the three games away, where he played by himself without Montgomery,

and you look at the fancy points per game between Bijon and Gibbs, Bijon is at 18.3, Gibbs is at 17.6. So they're neck and neck. I don't want my guy to ever come off the field. I know I'll get 50 more carries from Bijon than I will Jameer Gibbs, and I will be slightly less stressed when I see a quarter where I don't see my player.

So that split the difference. Now, you went CD Lam, I had them at six on my rankings. I'm gonna go- Overall or at wide receiver? Overall. Okay, that makes sense. I'm gonna go with, it's between Jefferson and Gibbs. I'm gonna go Justin Jefferson at four.

Tried and true, reliable, consistent. I'm gonna take the shot on Jefferson knowing exactly what I'm gonna get. It will be a risk. It was a risk last year. Sam Darnold was supposed to be the sacrificial baby. Didn't really matter to Justin Jefferson. He was still excellent.

Became the prodigal son. Yeah, and now we're gonna have a new quarterback, most likely in Mr. McCarthy. So I'll go Jefferson or five. Cool. I'll take Jameer Gibbs. Mike's just getting the leftovers. So I mean, these are fun exercises

because the weight of the first round pick is massive. Yet, if you're a seasoned fantasy football player you know you don't win in the first round not very often but you certainly can set your team way back if you if you whiff on the first rounder so being where we are of getting Gibbs at six looking at these like top six players that's nice and then people ask, where do you want to pick? Where do you want to pick in the first round? And the answer is generally figure out

who the elite, elite players are. And then towards the back of that is where I like to be, because then I just get a slightly better second round player. And so far, we've got six players who I love. This is my line. These six? Yes. And now it changes? Okay. Now it changes for the way I have it ranked, maybe not in Jason's book. Not for me. He's at pick seven. Yeah, my line is coming up,

but I've got a player that's still inside of it. It's actually my fifth overall player and my wide receiver three is still on the board. Pukka Nakua is that dude. He missed the first you know a significant portion of the season. He is my third wide receiver right now. And that really hurts him in overall rankings and is obviously where he finished on the season and... So Jefferson or Lam who's behind him? For me? No, for my... Oh, no, I missed CD.

Pukka's at four. Okay. Sorry. Thank you. I have Jefferson behind Pukka. So for me, Jefferson's by four. That's not anti-Jefferson. It's pro-Pukka.

Pukka Nkua, you know, he missed the beginning of the season, but if you look at when he came back and started playing his normal snaps, which was week 10 when he started getting up over 70% of the snaps, eight games played half the season. He was averaging 18.1 fantasy points per game, which would have been way number, the second best wide receiver. Jamar Chase was up at 20, but on a per point per game- What span was this? Week 10 on. Once, basically once he was at his normal snap percentage. Gotcha. As soon as he was playing healthy games the rest of the season, he was 18.1. This last year, you know, Justin Jefferson was 16.1 and Jamar Chase was at 20. So that's how good

Puka was. Now you, I mean, obviously things could change. We don't know even if Matthew Stafford will be there. This is assuming Stafford is there. And we know Cooper Cup's not going to be there. So I mean, he's going to be, the underdog fantasy guys refer to Matthew Stafford as a kingmaker, which I love. Because if you look back,

the unbelievable seasons from Calvin Johns, obviously he was a king in and of himself, but then the unbelievable fantasy breaking seasons for Cooper Cup, that was Stafford, and now, you even had Kenny Golliday's seasons where it was like, he got that man paid because he is willing to say, I'm gonna go to this guy most of the time.

And if that guy can stay healthy, which is obviously a question mark for Puka, he's gonna be so outlandishly good for fantasy football. Puka already has been, so I love Puka. What if it's Darnold? If it's Darnold, I'll definitely move him down. I mean, I would take Justin Jefferson over, ironically, since that was his quarterback last year, but yeah,

this is under the assumption that he has Matthew Stafford. Pick eight, give me Malik neighbors. I'm gonna take Malik neighbors at pick eight. He's gonna be a high percentage chance to lead the league in targets. Yeah. He is of the chase mold and ability. Explosive plays, big plays, touchdowns, target volume.

I'm going to kind of suppress some of the externals, knowing that those are gonna be variables in play right now and much like the Stafford situationord situation for Puka I think Malik neighbors if he was a top two wide receiver next year that's not gonna shock to me. Ironically and I mean he is just offseason rumor nonsense but you know one of the one of the destinations for Stafford is like maybe he'll find his way to the New York Giants and if he did Malik neighbors would be so it'd be like well it would probably go for me it would probably go he did, Malik neighbors would be like, it would probably go for me, it would probably go Jamar Chase Malik neighbors, then C.D. Lam. There's a lot of discussion around just the fact that that general manager and head coach

in New York, this is like, you got to win now. Like this is where like the best thing for the organization is probably to draft a quarterback and mold that quarterback and create your future. But you don't get that opportunity when you were on the hot seat sometimes to wait. And they've had two or three waiting years in a row. So if they went out and found a veteran, look, if Aaron Rodgers went to New York, if it's Matthew Stafford, if it's Sam Darnold, if it's any sort of competency. I mean, I told you the three games with Daniel Jones, Malik Nabors as a brand new baby in the NFL was on pace for 255 targets.

That's not a real, like. I wonder why he got hurt. And 1800 yards and 17 touchdowns, like that is, like if you just swapped him for Jamar Chase on the Cincinnati Bengals, he's gonna put up Chase numbers. There's not a skillset problem there. It's just a peripheral problem and I'm gonna trust the talent.

I kept watching those Giants games and while they were fun to watch Malik neighbors get those targets, I don't know how many times out loud I said, you're going to get him killed. You're going to murder this man. He cannot take that many hits across the field. So yeah, hopefully there's a little bit more efficiency and the target volume stays there.

I agree with you. If you flipped him in Jamar Chase, he'd put up similar numbers to Chase. Chase, Bijan, Saquon, Sidi, Jefferson, Gibbs, Puka, and Malik, neighbors at eight. I think that we're getting into a category where there's a lot more debate around these picks. Mike, is that nine?

Who you got? And in spite of me giving the warning of in the first round, this, like, you can really hurt your team, if I'm in this range as of right now with the news that I have as this recording, I would take Christian McCaffrey. I would be willing to do it. I would take on the risk. And what's wild about McCaffrey is, last year,

when we finally got to see him after the what of the double Achilles tendonitis coming out of the of the bye week you were like that dude that is not good that is not good Christian McCaffrey and Yet the first game back against the Tampa Bay Bucks, put up nearly 14 fantasy points and a half scoring format, nearly 13 the next week, has the really bad game against Green Bay and then Buffalo in a quarter of the game had 7.7 points and 25% of the snaps and is one shoestring tackle away from a breakaway touchdown that instead turned into his season ending injury he like he will be

the focal points of the San Francisco 49ers you don't have Debo taking away like carries from Debo the short area stuff from Debo I think that those targets go right to Christian McCaffrey. So it's a massive risk because those the burns from last year are third degree that some people may never ever recover from and I don't blame you but at this point of the first I'm running back that could finish overall number one I'm gonna go with it. I not just finished number one, but lap the field at number one. Yeah, I mean, I get it. He's done it before.

He's done it off of injuries before. He's obviously older. You have the kind of older season ACL injury from Adrian Peterson where if you've got that outlier human being, he comes back and he's amazing and you're like, wow, I didn't know when you're older and you have an ACL you could be fine. CMC is 28 he's the same age as Saquon Barkley and we're sitting here probably talking about Derek Henry in the first round so who's 31 so there is uh. I have Derek Henry ahead of Christian McCaffrey in my ring is when I was putting this together CMC. Is that who

you're taking here? No I have a different running back ahead of I've got two more running backs ahead of Derek Henry personally who I'm taking here? No. Okay. I have a different running back ahead of, I've got two more running backs ahead of Derek Henry personally. Who I'm taking here is Kyron Williams. Kyron Williams is still under contract. I'm not doubting the, I'm not letting any narrative get in other than he is their true workhorse back. He'll catch a ton of passes, he'll get the touchdowns,

he's integral to the offense. This is two years in a row where he has been a top fantasy option, and so thankfully this is not a mock where we're drafting teams, because I would not love to have Puka and Kyron on the same team necessarily as a roster construction, but he belongs here to me. I see Kyron Williams the same team necessarily as a roster construction but he belongs here to me. I see Kyron Williams as a first round fantasy.

That's what I mean that is you know four points fewer than Henry per game so that would be a projection of Henry declining. Yeah I mean it's a combination of the age, the system, the Cinderella offensive output from the Ravens, and Derrick Henry, I don't wanna get caught holding the bag, I don't think it's going to. But if there is a young stud running back like Kyron, still available, I'm gonna take him ahead.

You want me to blow your mind here, Jay? Please. Kyron Williams currently in early basketball drafts is going at the back of the third round as the running back 14 behind James Cook. I would not do that. I need to start playing some basketball leagues and draft Kyron everywhere. I mean overexposed. That's amazing. He's much more Bijon than he is Gibbs and Saquon, right? His long run on the season, I'm seeing 30.

One time. Oh yeah, that's not his skill set. 27 once. So I'm just saying from a basketball perspective, I get it. Your performances are not as. The spike weeks. Like you need him to score inside the red zone,

which he does at regularity. He is also, he was also five points per game worse last year than he was the year before, right? When we got the 12 elite games from Kyron. He was like Christian McCaffrey levels that two years ago. He was 19.9 down to 15.9. I'm just laying out the different storylines there from a basketball perspective.

He's had over 30 touchdowns the last two years and his snap percentage I think is secure. So, I'll take Amun Ra at pick 11 in the first round after your Kyron selection, getting towards the end of the round. I'll take the try, you know, it's between him, Henry, Brian Thomas and Nico and I'll just take the guy I know on an offense I know.

So I will go with Amon Ra. I think there's an argument here. When I was putting Amon Ra in my rankings, he would have been my pick as well, there's an argument that he should be, I mean, I was at the point where it's like, Seedy or Amon Ra, Puka or Amon Ra, he is as good as anyone

at wide receiver. None of us have said Brock Bauer's name. I have Bauer's in the second. Yeah, I do too. You can make an argument for a lot of these players. Like Bauer's versus Amon Ra at the back of the first round. Who gives you the better advantage on your team? I could see an argument. Mike, finish us up here. We got Chase, Bijan Saekwan, Sidi, Jefferson Gibbs, Pooka, Neighbors, McCaffrey, Kyron Amon Ra, and?

I know you've got the pressure. I gave you like a lot of time there to just say the name. It's between two players for me. My highest, just because of how fantasy football works, it's gross, but I would take HN over Derrick Henry, despite hating, or not hating is too strong of a word, but just being frustrated with what was going on on the field for the Dolphins. And A-chan, just it felt like he didn't deserve all those

points, but that's how the scoring of fantasy football works. You got to lean into it. And then the wide receiver, I mean, my bro love for Nikko Collins is unending. It started so hot, but it didn't finish very well. I think there are reasons for the fall off of Nikko of just in the Houston Texans over the second half

of the season overall. I would go, if I'm on the clock here for reals. You are. I would, I'm going to go A-chan here. OK, so that's it. Because there's still a few, like, I know that, well, I guess it's 12, so I get another pick. But like with Nico, Brian Thomas, London,

like there's still some really elite wide receivers here. And running back is, not that they aren't great running backs here, they're just a different tier. Makes sense. So there you go. There's your top 12 here, they're just a different tier. Makes sense. So there you go, there's your top 12, very, very early first round mock draft. You can feel free to tell us how we were. To mock the mock.

To mock the mock, yeah, I like that. We'll take a break and we'll jump into some mail back. ["Footclan"] All right, it's time to answer some Foot Clan questions. Mailbag If you've got a question for the show, you can go to the website, thefantasyfootballers.com, click that submit a question button. You can also dial our voicemail hotline, 302-464-TFFB. We'll start with our voicemail hotline, 302-464-TFFB. We'll start with the voicemail.

This is Adam. I'm just curious. What do you guys got happening with Brandon Iuke, whether it's the return in first month of the season, or what's our take on that? I think it's going to be one of the bigger questions for the offseason. Here's what can't be forgotten about Brandon Iuke.

He was awful. Yeah, the beginning of last year. Before he got hurt. Correct. It'd be easy to be like, oh man, once Brandon Iuke gets back, he will be an elite fantasy option. This is a player who was the wide receiver 14 in 2023

with an efficiency that was out of this world. He had 17.9 yards per catch, which helped him put up 1,300 plus yards and just 75 catches. Last year, if you were playing Brandon Iyuk, he was one of the worst picks in fantasy football. Wide receiver, 66, 41, 47, 57. Finally got up and got a wide receiver 10 week and dropped back down to 58 the next week.

So he was. And these aren't just poor wide receiver rankings. These are, he's like. 28 yards, 43 yards. He's maybe hitting seven points if you're lucky. Played seven games. How many touchdowns did he have? Was it zero?

Zero. Oh. Zero touchdowns. When you're not scoring seven points a week, you're not catching touchdowns. No. So I mean, you have a season where he was on pace for like 900 yards.

Yeah, and if you have access to the ultimate draft kit, you can look at our injury tracker there that breaks down all the existing injuries. If you're like, how serious was it? How was it not? How many ligaments do we got? This was the ACL, the MCL, plus meniscus damage, which slows recovery timeline. So he could be available week one, but he's going to be limited throughout the offseason, could start on the pop, will not be full strength.

Personally, when I look at all my rankings, whether it's Dynasty Startup or Redraft, and I compare that for consensus, I'm very low on Brand. Like, I don't want Brandon Iyuk. This year, I just don't want to play the game, and maybe it turns into, you know, Chris Godwin this last year was amazing, and sometimes it bucks the trend, but I'm kind of just out of... Well, Godwin was two years. Well, he was a couple years removed from his injury. I'm just saying, it still felt this past year like it was, you know, he was an injury worry

because it didn't look like he had ever recovered, but I'm not gonna be playing the Brandon Iuk sweepstakes. Sweepstakes? Yeah. Yeah, but you were just doing one. Yeah, it was just one, so is that not a sweepstake? No, it's still a sweepstakes. Yeah. Yeah, but you were just doing one. Yeah, it was just one, so is that not a sweepstake? No, it's still a sweepstakes. Really?

Yeah, one sweepstakes is a sweepstakes. Yeah, that feels wrong. You're either winning or you're cleaning your house. So you have one sweepstakes? Yeah, you have one sweepstakes. Not the way you said it, but yes. I mean, that's the only way you can say it. If you join a sweepstakes, you're not joining multiple.

And there's always like, there's a sweepstakes and you could win the big check. So there's no singular sweepstake? No, no, there's not. I don't believe you. Yeah, there's not. I mean, I feel like we've really faded on sweepstakes in general.

Like that's not a big thing anymore. Yeah. With the big check. The publisher clearinghouse? Yeah. The big checks not going around. The publisher clearing house. Yeah. The big check's not going around. Here's what I'll say about Brandon and you because well the opportunity will be there.

Deebo Samuel will be gone, right? George Kittle a year older, you got paid. If he was healthy quicker he should have the opportunity but we had the who've you fallen in love with, right? Your pre-season crush on the Tuesday episode. Ricky Pearsall's in there. I really think, look, this off season, I doubt he gets shot.

Again, again. Yeah, I'm gonna put the odds low. So, you know, to me, Ricky Pearsall has an opportunity to start the year. Yeah, our AI overlords are telling me that while sweepstakes is often used as a singular noun, technically the singular form is sweepstake. I don't care about technically.

So like I entered the sweepstake? Yeah. No, no, no. That sounds bad. That's not, just because it exists, you said it. People use sweepstakes. Yeah, I didn't say it wrong though. I'm just saying.

I'm gonna go with I'm gonna go with I still think you said it wrong okay you hear that AI you're probably Andy Holloway disagreeing with you I bet you're a Cactus's guy get out of here I'm from Arizona like a Cactus's dude because no you seem like that you know what else is dumb? Deer and fish. Deers. It's fine. Put an S on there.

You're saying because that's not right? A bunch of deer, right? Yes. But you can't say a bunch of deers. Yeah, well, you can't because grammatically it is incorrect. But it should be correct. Look at all those gooses. That's dumb.

But it shouldn't be dumb. No, it should not. Why did we have to do that? So if you ever win a big check, I want you to come out and be like, I won this in a sweepstake. Yeah, I bought a single geese. We had a great thing going in our language.

They're like, hey, there's more of them. Slap an S on there. It's all we needed to do. We got, I mean, it's all we needed. Like, Bregheti and the skit he's talking about you know, yes if you cow is beef right pig is pork and chicken is chicken yeah right. What are we doing? And then talk about a hamburger. Go all the way or

none of the way. All right Instagram question from Connor James. Breeze holler chase Brown next year. This one's for Jason. Oh why are you doing this? Do you want the sweepstakes to answer this question? Oh fantastic. I'm gonna tell my lanta as of this moment not knowing how these teams end up going I

Zach Moss Is under contract? He will be healthy. I don't think Chase Brown retains his entire workload, even though he was amazing. I hope he does. I think he can handle it. But it doesn't matter what we think. It's a matter of what happens from the team.

I'm gonna lean on the Breeze Hall side. Oh, give me Chase Brown. Chase Brown. Yeah. Assuming they don't draft a running back. There is a much higher chance of the Cincinnati Bengals investing in the running back position compared to the Jets. But status quo, it would be Chase Brown.

All right, what do we do with Rico Dowdell ahead of the NFL draft? Corey wants to know. Probably more of a dynasty question. Does the dynasty question? Move them if you can. But you, Corey wants to know. Probably more of a dynasty question. Does the dynasty question? Move them if you can. But you can't? You know.

Like, who is trading anything? I'll give you nothing for it. Yeah. Like, you guys would, in the midst of Rico Dowdell's 1,000 yard rushing season, you guys would not have traded for Rico Dowdell. And now that he is staring down, like we have no idea what's gonna happen with his career.

The best case for Rico is returning to Dallas and being part of a committee with a rookie. Yes. I mean, right now he- And a lower tiered rookie. Right now Rico Dowdle is an unrestricted free agent. I think the amount of guff the Cowboys got this last season over not addressing their running game.

Or as Jerry the Moon Man, the guy who's like, screw you guys. I'll do it again. Don't tell me how to GM. It's one of the best running back classes, top to bottom, that we've had in a long time. There's so many opportunities for them to address it. So I don't know that Rico has any job next year.

Well, I mean, like, I think I have Cam Scataboo at like nine right now. If Cam Scataboo went to Dallas, he erases my interest in Nico. So the ninth best running back off the board would erase my interest in Nico. Rico. Rico.

The... Rico Collins, as I say. Rico is just like, we were, oh, Clyde. He is just like we were who oak Clyde It's just like that of of he should I think he'll get a backup job. I disagree with that Rico won't have a job I think he'll get a backup job. Okay, not a starter He won't have any job that can be fantasy relevant in the league for any team. That's my projection for him He will be a backup, so maybe an injury. He could be this offseason's Zach Moss.

Yeah, I mean maybe an injury in the season next year. Okay, what if he went to Cincinnati to compliment Chase Brown and literally was the Zach Moss of the offseason? Is he fantasy relevant? He is a high value insurance running back. Right, yeah. And that's a high value insurance running back. Right. Yeah. That's what I think he will be. Yeah, in dynasty, you're not going to cut those guys.

No. You can't cut that guy. No. But it's just not going to be someone you start either. One last question here from Connor. What quarterback will be the best value in 2025? I'm looking at the early best ball ADP on underdog, which is you're looking at the early best ball ADP on underdog, which is, you know, you're looking for kind of the big

performances there. Who do you have like after our initial question to start the show, is there a name that just is it Dak, because he's coming back from injury late on a good offense that you like, is it Herbert, whom they may add a quarterback, is it Jordan Love, or wide receiver? Is it Jordan Love,

because you think they'll add a wide receiver? To me the the two targets would be Jordan Love and Dak. It was a disappointing season for Jordan Love but the way that the pendulum swung two years ago it was running backs did not score for the Green Bay Packers then this past year especially over the second half it was Josh Jacobs gets all the touchdowns I think that that that will regress to to the mean at land and maybe even skew a little bit towards the past just because of the way that that offense runs but so between him him and, I think you've got some good late round targets. Laser.

That scared the tarnation out of me. Yeah, laser is my pick. He's QB8 right now. Yeah, I think that that's right in that zone. I'd love to have Baker as the highest up. Jason, are you scared? I'm just holding back, getting the zone, laser zone. I held it back.

No, you didn't. That was burro. No, I did hold it back, you called me out. Holding it back would have been not thinking it at all. Okay, I'll have to suppress thoughts. What are your guys' quick thoughts here on Patrick Mahomes being still the quarterback six? It's fine.

I love it, I love to see it. Get Rashe Rice back, you got Zaverworthy. I'm not gonna draft him there. That's more what I mean. Yeah, but right behind him is Bo Nix. Are you taking Bo Nix over Mahomes? I would take Bo Nix over Mahomes. I'm not doing that, no.

My target would actually be- Patrick Mahomes gets to come back with a chip on his shoulder and the opportunity to have some wide receivers healthy. Yeah, I mean, I hope. Mahomes is the number one quarterback this year. It's good for the NFL. I want him to remember that he can throw the ball down the field. That would be amazing because they play so many games on national television and we want fun football. But my target for fantasy football is Justin Herbert. Justin Herbert started the season doing very little for fantasy football. The first seven weeks of the season he was averaging 16 fantasy points per game. The last 11, he was up to 20 fantasy points per game. So I expect him to add another weapon to this offense, probably

both in the receiving and the running game. It's a good franchise. It's a quarterback we know is good. He's going late in drafts. He actually started running a little bit more this year. So I think he's, depending on where he is drafted after they add weapons to the team, that'll be interesting to me.

All right, that is going gonna do it for today's episode of the Fantasy Footballers. Please click that follow button if you're listening on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you listen. Click that button, leave us a review, we'd appreciate it. We're gonna get into coaching changes, our 10 things to remember episode and more next week. Goodbye.

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