Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast - Rookie Review Show! + Second-Year Outlooks, Mystery Boxes - Fantasy Football Podcast for 2/15

Episode Date: February 15, 2024

Who will take a step forward in Year 2? On today’s fantasy football podcast, a review of the entire 2023 rookie class! Is there hope for Bryce Young and Quentin Johnston? What’s the ceiling for Jayden Reed, Tank Dell, and Rashee Rice? Plus, the best time to trade rookie picks in Dynasty leagues! Manage your redraft, keeper, and dynasty fantasy football teams with the #1 fantasy football podcast. -- Fantasy Football Podcast for February 15th, 2024. Get the lowest price on the 2024 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 Twitter Follow on Instagram Join our Discord Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

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

Welcome in. What? Oh. Man. Jason wasn't paying attention. That's why that happened. That happened because I was afraid of what Jason was going to pipe and that it was going to ruin the intro to the show.

So somehow it made me forced. So I ruined the intro to the show. Somehow it made me forced. I ruined the intro to the show by you being afraid that I would ruin the intro to the show because of what I was typing. We're here. We've got a show we're going to do. We're all excited for it.

I hit the button. The show starts going. Then I just see you staring at your computer with a smirk. We had a conversation before the show. Yeah. Because we were talking about the Super Bowl still. Oh, that's it. And we were talking about the halftime show with Usher,

which in my opinion was fantastic. You liked it? We were having a huge dance party at my house. And then he had some guests come out, and then he had a guest come out in what I can only describe as some kind of pilgrim schoolboy outfit. And we were laughing about it because, of course, the internet saw that and had a good time. And then I remembered the Starburst Berries and Cream commercial. Yeah, we've been watching.

Where the main actor gets very excited about the flavor of a Starburst. Yeah, it looks similar. He gets very excited. By the way, that was not the only. Yeah, and everyone thought it was CeeLo Green, but like miniaturized. You know who else had a very, very entertaining whoops, they noticed me moment right from the super bowl which jj watt no did you not catch jj watt going back to his um oh yeah the microphone

the hair oh okay the blonde tips looking like he's coming from the 90s. Yes. And he tweeted out, he said, you ever switch up your hair and wonder if anyone will notice? And then he said, they notice. And it's just picture after picture of. He went throwback. He went throwback. The messy spiked hair with bleach tips. I had that in high school.

Yeah. Yeah. It's a look, man. It's a look. Oh, my goodness. But he handled it the right way. Oh, my goodness. We're sharing the pictures right now.

Yeah. So, there you go. That's what we were laughing about. Welcome into the show. Yeah. He's in O-Town. Yeah. It's a look.

I can't imagine going through that conversation ahead of your Super Bowl coverage, though. Just play it safe, man. Just probably what will now have been the most viewed program in American history. Oh, man. And you're like, I got a big plan for this. Yeah, it's a look. Jason, maybe you bring it back. I don't have his body to get away with his hair.

If I had that hair, then I've got real problems in my life. If you're J.J. Watt, if you are a superhuman, just like you were born and your work ethic have created this just greater than everyone else human, you know? Like if you're one of those dudes, you're Hemsworth or whatever, you can do whatever you want. There is no haircut. Now Guy Fieri just popped up in our... It's not that far off. It looks pretty similar. And to bring it all together, I don't know if you guys watched the puppy bowl.

No. No. I missed that action. My kids were... I mean, nine in the morning. Dad, you got to get Max on. We're trying to watch the puppy bowl. It was a huge deal, so I watched it. And then all of a sudden out of nowhere.

There was Guy Fieri part of the, see, how does he do this? I don't know, but he, he was talking about flavor town. That guy's got an empire. This is a Thursday episode of the fantasy footballers.

We welcome you in. We got a rookie review on today's show. Some mailbag. If we have time for it, good, quick question to dive into. I see two hats and a bald head at inducer's alley so we're not testing any new hairstyles out today thankfully although kratos over there yeah if you thought about just like bleaching

like bleaching your scalp parts of it though just so like if there were, if they were tips, just like look like a leopard. Yeah. Okay. All right. I don't like that. We've got a rookie review. Like I said, a reminder, you know,

a reminder, alternate draft, get.com order by March 1st for a chance to win a listener league spot. Come play with us in the listener league. It's the lowest possible price. Pick up the UDK Plus. Get a bunch of bonuses. And you get instant access to the Dynasty Pass.

UltimateDraftKit.com Yeah. We're doing real good today. It's definitely the preseason. 2024 preseason. We're ready for this show we're super

super here with you thank you follow us on X at the F dev yeah follow us we're somewhere you know where we are here's the quick question the dynasty question comes in from YouTube how do you Yeah, follow us. You know where we are. Here's a quick question. It's a Dynasty question.

Comes in from YouTube. How do you maximize the value of rookie draft picks? Do you trade them at the draft? Do you make the picks and trade them on offseason hype, right? Like every rookie hasn't played. They could be great. Or just keep the rookies on your team and hope they live up to their potential. I've got two big answers for me personally. One is the life cycle of the value of a rookie pick.

We've talked about this before, but it really changes. I mean, in the middle of a season when games are being played and your start-sit decisions are what's on your mind, rookie picks do not have that much value. People don't care that much about their rookie pick. If you want to trade for a rookie pick, that's the time of the year that you want to do it. It's not going to cost you an arm and a leg to to acquire a first rounder whereas when you get near when you get near i can't look at my screen because you this is this is so wonderful i don't know what's the worst podcast we have ever done yes without a doubt and i I blame other people. Our slack.

I'm sitting here trying. I'm trying to just say the point and not look at my monitor, but I can see all these pictures popping into our show doc as we are communicating here. And you two, the camera was just on me. I'm sorry. So you couldn't see, but you two are just cracking up to my side. So we're actually in Vegas right now for the FSGA conference. So we are recording a little bit early.

If you noticed a strange tweet from Andy on Monday afternoon, that's what we're laughing at. Wait a minute. Andy tweeted this out? What? You tweeted that oh this is this is a long a long con joke wow well okay go back uh go back to monday's uh timeline and see so i i don't know anything that jason said but my answer is rookie picks peak in value right before the trade deadline for contenders to come in and make moves. And then at the NFL draft, that's when people are the most excited and landing spots are happening. So it's kind of in real time.

You can see them going up. So if you're trying, the honest truth is if you're trying to maximize the value of a rookie pick, if you don't have like the 101 or the 102 is probably trading it because it's always, rookie picks are always what's in the box. It could be a boat instead of getting a player who you know is in a good situation and they're a good player right now. Because when you hear rookie, like, oh, 10 years on my dynasty team, this guy's going to be a stalwart blue chip player for me. And the truth is that's just that so rarely happens. What is difficult is that we've talked about it before.

There's a pressure sometimes to, like, follow a with rookie drafts and so if you don't have like super strong conviction about a player that is even more in that what you know the advice that mike just gave if you're really you know if you really you know see let's say last year cj stroud would be an example right sure and you you want to C.J. Stroud because you believe in him, like, great. But I have seen a lot of people take players that they don't want to take because they think that this is the consensus number four pick and you shouldn't do it. Quentin Johnston was that player last year where all the things that are true

signal for the odds that this player is going to hit our first round pick. Quinn Johnston had that a pedigree. I mean, he kind of disappeared in the national championship game, but, but he was in the national championship game. He had a monster season, uh, production, and then the chargers drafted him. He was immediately linked to Justin Herbert for five years, and the excitement of that landing spot is extremely hard to look away or to shake that off, even if he felt like there's a lot of red flags about Quentin Johnston, but the draft capital and the spot made it so appealing.

There's been so many jokes about Cuge. He honestly could turn it around. Historically, the odds are now against him. Well, we're going to be talking about him on this episode. Yeah, we absolutely will. But that's the point of what Andy was saying of the consensus. If you were in that 105 to 107 range, it's like you're probably drafting Quinn Justin.

I did. I was guilty of it because some things are just so appealing of the unknown versus had I shopped, I could have shopped the pick. I didn't. I made the pick immediately. Look, it's just like the same thing happens at the NFL level, right? If you shoot your shot and you change the order of what people think and you miss that or the player you passed on in Cuge,

you pass on Cuge because of conviction, he blows up, those emotions get wrapped up into it. The other thing that I would recommend so that the timeline and and is one thing the reality that veterans are probably a better asset than than the potential rookies when you just factor in complete bust rate um and then the third thing is and and we're here to try to help you with this you're listening right now you probably are the people doing what i'm about to say um and especially with our with this. You're listening right now. You probably are the people doing what I'm about to say, and especially with our Dynasty podcast, if you're listening there.

But it is when you get an earlier look into the upcoming draft class, not everybody learns on the same day how many players are great. And the earlier you get in and have an expectation of this upcoming draft class you're just more ahead of the game if you you know like right now we were going through um some potential trades on on some episode and you know we realized that there's there's a big three wide receivers there's a lot of good wide receivers this year right um but there's like three potential seemingly previous to destinations, like superstar. Marvin Harrison Jr., Roman Dunze, and Malik Maynard.

Yep, those three guys are a cut above. And that's not to say that the next one is going to be bad, but it is to say that's a tear break when you're actually looking at the value of actual picks. You know, the 105 isn't always worth the same thing. Some years that might be an incredible pick. Some years that might be like, man, I really wish I had a top four pick because that's where the break is.

So just getting in earlier on that expectation, I think, is how you maximize those picks. Yeah, and you can see all of the team opportunity pages too in the Dynasty Pass to see what teams are, have maybe the biggest opportunity for a rookie to make an impact in year one in the UDK plus. All right. We we're going to dig into some of last year's rookie class.

I mean, it's perfect. We've been talking about huge already, so let's jump in. Rookie Review. All right. We are looking at last year's rookie class today and who can maybe step up and make a huge difference in fantasy football next season.

When you start at the quarterback position, you don't get to start with the best story. You get to start with the worst one. And I think there are some reasonable excuses that you could hand this quarterback. However, when you're taking it one-on-one, talking about Bryce Young, Carolina's rookie, where they just traded away their future,

they traded away the pick that ends up this year's number one for Chicago, it was as bad as it really can get for Bryce Young. Among 44 first-round quarterbacks with nine-plus starts. So that's a lot. 44 of them. His 2.1% touchdown rate is the 4th worst. It's fair to say he did not have anything close to elite weapons. Sure. Thank you.

I think you could actually argue against that narrative. Because I know when you're looking at Bryce Young, there are plenty of excuses you can make. One of them is the wide receiver court. I think if we looked at what these teams, the Carolina Panthers and the Houston Texans, had available as weapons, what they had done to give their incoming rookie receivers, I think we probably would have been on the Carolina side. A big contract for Adam Thielen, a veteran. They spent a high draft pick, higher than Tank Dell's draft pick, on Jonathan Mingo. You know, it's like, in hindsight, now it's like,

well, Nico Collins and Tank Dell, they're awesome. But it's like, that wasn't how Tank Dell was viewed. Okay, I think that's fair. I mean, yeah. They gave Miles Sanders a bunch of money. Yeah, yeah. I guess they added Schultz in Houston, but but it's not that different it's not that different but you know you you lost the head coach frank reich was brought in to be the quarterback whisperer and they lost

him in the middle of the year um hayden hearst came out and said he believed that bryce young had too many voices in his ear um it's hard when you do have a lot of change, when you don't have – I don't know. I don't know if he can redeem it. Like, we've seen quarterbacks that are drafted this high, and there's a shell shocking that happens the first season, and they're not the same. Yeah.

The best example of overcoming it that I can remember is Trevor Lawrence who his rookie season was abysmally bad it looked like uh some of the numbers that he that he had were numbers you didn't think you would really bounce back from but he had the Urban Meyer crazy insane organizational struggles there they had the Urban Meyer, crazy, insane organizational struggles there. They had the quarter. Which is, I mean, that's similar. You lose a quarterback after one year, or your head coach. Second lowest PFF grade under pressure, but was under pressure 42% of the time.

Didn't have separators on the outside. Didn't flash a lot. Had opportunities to make plays, didn't make them. It will be hard to trust any wide receiver in Carolina for a while. Yeah. You've got to make your call on players on what you believe in them when you're playing fantasy. The reasonable take here is to say that Bryce Young still has a chance to be good, but if you have to make your

call on whether that will happen or not so that you can trade for him or trade him away or or you know bypass him in a startup draft or draft him I do not think it's going to happen for Bryce Young Trevor Lawrence still hasn't been that great as a 101 bouncing back, and he has actual traits and things. He's got a great athleticism, a rocket arm, things that Bryce Young just doesn't have. What Bryce Young was supposed to have is incredible accuracy and just the intellect of seeing the field, and those things didn't happen in year one.

When we were doing our Dynasty startup rankings, which you can grab in the UDK Plus, I had a really difficult time with Bryce Young because this feels very Zach Wilson, where rookie year, you can watch Zach Wilson. It was, this isn't going to work. Like, this will not work. But then trying not to be too quick to bury the number one overall pick,

which Zach Wilson, he wasn't. I get it. But, like, Jason, I think you're saying it. You got to make the call because right now he's in startup is number 19 for us. And I don't, is that being just too cautious and saying, no, you just, we got to dump it. Move on, move on for fantasy. I always want to see flashes like we did with Lawrence,

even in his bad season. Like we did with Will Levis this last year. Correct. Yeah, which will – I mean, C.J. Stroud, Anthony Richardson, Will Levis are the next three names we'll talk about here reviewing the quarterback position. I mean, you go from the lowest of lows in Bryce Young. The contrast between Bryce Young and C.J. Stroud is so profound that like on a normal year, you know, if you took CJ Stroud out of the picture,

okay, Bryce Young struggled. Anthony Richardson got hurt quick. Not a factor. Will Levis flashed a little bit. Wasn't good after that. Like Bryce Young in that landscape, we're not, it doesn't feel as bad. Carolina fans aren't, angry. But C.J. Stroud put up a top 12 fantasy performance, one of the best rookie quarterback performances ever. He supported two top 15 wide receivers in PPR leagues, or rather in points per game in PPR leagues. But Collins was the wide receiver six Tank Dell was 15 and he impressed on every single game even when he didn't win even when he had

struggles moving the ball there would be a drive here or a drive there where he made a play escaping the pocket getting away from pressure, throwing on the run, throwing back across his body sometimes, showing the arm strength downfield. Accuracy was there for him on the move. I mean, I can remember Bryce Young blatantly missing Jonathan Mingo on a couple of – there wasn't pressure in his face. He stepped up.

He threw it. Overthrew him. This didn't happen to Stroud very often. And, you know, he threw the ball a ton. He led the league in yardage. This was – the contrast was so vast. Yeah, I'm curious. I don't have your guys' rankings pulled up.

But, like, Will Levis or Bryce Young, who do you have – who would you rather – I'd still go Bryce. I'm on the Will Levis side for fantasy purposes. The draft capital will obviously give Bryce Young many years of being allowed to try. Is this for a startup? Yeah. If you were startup dynasty. Yeah, I'd still bet on Bryce.

I think I have Bryce higher. I could be stuck in his first overall pick. Yeah, I've still bet on Bryce. But I think I have Bryce higher. I could be stuck in his first overall pick. Yeah, I've got Bryce higher. And I just feel like there's more security there. New head coach coming into Tennessee. Levis could fall out of favor quick and you never see him again. Yeah, it's close. Richardson, we only got to see him for four games.

I know Mike has been an early adopter, an early member of the fan club. Just excited about how awesome it was for fantasy of what we saw in the brief appearances. Again, the shoulder industry is booming right now. Especially from him when they had to repair his throwing shoulder. So that shouldn't be taken lightly.

I did see him throwing though. But yeah. We'll see some real NFL throws here soon. It's not a lot of games. That's the truth. Yes. It is not. You know you played Jacksonville was one of the big games, and the Rams were the other big game.

And the Rams had a ton of young defensive players that didn't do anything until the second half of the year. That's my only hesitation is it's like you had two games. Yeah, and I don't mind that at all. I don't mind people being hesitant. But in full games, we saw 10 carries in each of those full games, QB4, QB2. That's what's exciting, where C.J. Stroud, I think, will easily be the better

of real-life quarterback over Anthony Richardson, but with the pace of play that the Colts put up, which they still kept doing it with Gardner Minshew under center, and him running, I'm making the presumption that Michael Pittman will be back. That could be at my own peril, but that's how I see it happening. And Richardson was, and I think can be, a real impact player where Stroud will be in that Joe Burrow camp where sometimes he's going to go out there

in games and he's going to have 300 yards and three touchdowns and it's going to feel like you're at the top of the world. And then there'll be games where he's at 250 and one, where Anthony Richardson, as long as he's giving, if he's giving you 10 carries every single game, he will be an actual difference maker for fantasy. Yeah, I think the question will be an actual difference maker for fantasy. Yeah, I think the question will be what is Richardson's tier if he's a running quarterback?

Are you going to the ceiling level of Lamar Jackson from a few years back? Are you getting Justin Fields where he's not as effective in the passing game so the variability is higher, but when it's good, it's really good. I think those are all questions we'll get answered. And we have a lot of confidence in the offense, the head coach, pace of play. Athleticism. Yeah, I mean, the injuries are a problem. I mean, they could be.

They could be a problem. They could also be a great – this could be a Henry Rowengardner situation where his throwing accuracy wasn't his strong suit now he gets this shoulder that's good analysis shoulder industry yeah uh building up a brand new a brand new shoulder for him and people are real big fans of this tweet real big fans the tweet from last monday um the tweet from earlier this week yes so the What we saw of Richardson was actually – and you can rewind the clock. I'm not running from it. I was very hesitant on Richardson making the transition

to be a professional quarterback. I was the most outspoken of the show. I didn't think it was going to work. But then his first game, yeah, he's playing Jacksonville, but he's playing a professional football team. He throws the ball 37 times. He completes 65% of his passes. Then the next full game, 25 attempts, only completed 44%. So that was kind of the Richardson on tape of incredible play that few quarterbacks can make, then just absolute boneheaded mistake of how did you airmail that ball.

Richardson is risky business, but I think the reward is actual game-changing quarterback the way that Josh Allen is a game-changing quarterback, where C.J. Stroud will be really solid, but I think

you don't see a top three, or I don't see a top three finish possible for Stroud. Unless everyone gets hurt, which that can happen. Alright, let's take a quick break. Come back with the running backs. Alright, let's jump into the 2023 rookie running Back review. We had three rookie running backs finish inside the top 24 this year.

That would be Bijan Gibbs and A-Chan. At least two have finished inside the top 24 every single year since 2012. That's a long run. And I know, Jason, at the top here, before we break down these names, I know you're not overly enthusiastic about the draft class, Jonathan Brooks, Braylon Allen. I know you guys like Benson, Trey Benson. But these could be picks that happen in the second or third or, you know,

first pick could be third round for all we know for running backs. It'll be interesting to see how we project to finishing in that, which two could be in that top 24. Yeah, I mean, it will happen again. It happens every year. Whether it's the guys you expect or not, like I remember 2014, I believe that was the Bishop Sankey year, where the top end was really, really bad.

But you still had guys that came like undrafted Isaiah Crowell. And, you know, you just never know where it's going to come from. But rookie running backs are a good investment in fantasy in their first season. And, you know, we'll continue advocating for you to draft rookie running backs. It doesn't always work out. Zach Charbonnet was clearly and utterly behind Kenneth Walker, but at the same time, we're just looking at hit rates and good bets to make. Rookie running backs are usually a solid bet.

Let's start there because we talked extensively about B. John and Jameer Gibbs on the Running Back Truth episodes because of where they finished the RB9 and 10. So we know, I think everybody out there who played Fantasy this year knows what Bijan was about. Knows the limited opportunities.

We're all looking forward to the fact that his head coach brought his name up first and foremost and the players he's looking forward to coaching and giving opportunities to. Although if you watch Bijan react to that, first thing he does is bring up Tyler Algier. Just so you know. Stop it, Bijan!

But Jameer Gibbs as well took over in the second half of the year, was the RB3 from week 7 through 16. But I do want to get your one-year mark on Zach Charbonnet because this was a player that both of you guys were just in love with. He didn't have a ton of opportunities at all. I mean, this was Kenneth Walker's backfield. He had 7.8 opportunities per game. It was a ninth round pick that we thought, hey, maybe you'd get to do what Kenneth Walker did a few years ago and make a huge mark on a fantasy team. It didn't happen. And you kept waiting for it. So what's your, you know, where are you with Charbonnet? It certainly is a bad look going forward in the sense that you've got a new

coaching staff that didn't necessarily go out there and participate in the second round draft capital that they gave up for Zach Charbonnet Walker dominated the first season so I don't I don't think I've changed much on my belief in the talent of Charbonnet um you know he had the one week where you know a couple of weeks where he had two weeks where he was 85 or more percent of the snaps yeah exactly and and during this stretch where kenneth walker was gone he was a uh you know a running back two or better uh in two of those so i i think the talent is there but i don't expect him to get opportunities to be very relevant um is this a player walker established in year two that like he is the star of that of that running back room we know pete carroll where his focus was oftentimes on this team

will zach charbonnet be drafted later than he was this past year he's a ninth round draft pick i imagine he will go later. I definitely think he'll go later. Yeah. Because at the time there was unknown upside. I mean, thankfully he's being drafted as a pure insurance running back. Yeah, I think, I think so. And thankfully this last year didn't cost you much. I mean, a ninth round pick, most of the ninth round is going to be burnt anyways. Uh, so I don't mind taking the shot on him but yeah he'll he'll be a double digit round player I actually think the guy who was drafted after him now is the better bet to make uh in Kendra Miller who did also show a lot of flashes but didn't he just wasn't healthy he didn't have the opportunities, and Jamal Williams is – I mean, he just seems like he's done.

Yeah, I would not – I don't know if a lot of flashes is the word I'd use for how limited his season was, but at the end of the year, he definitely – Percentage-wise. Right. That's what I mean. He didn't get very many opportunities, and yet you still saw some nice plays. 13 for 73 in a touchdown in week 18. I believe he had a highlight real

preseason catch. He did. So bookending the season with a few big plays. I am intrigued at the kind of opportunity he might get next year. Kamara was great in the passing game again, but he was not

great on the ground. And so you could see that split up a little bit. I think it's a gamble. I mean, I think it just comes down to what the expectation is for the team and Camara. He's got two years left on his contract and a cap hit of 29 million in 2025, so I doubt he plays that season. I would agree with Jason in this upcoming year. Between the two of them, it certainly feels like Kendra Miller is more likely to just naturally get more work, get played in. He has the older running back in front of him who,

guys never want to leave the field, but I'm sure Alvin Kamara would be like, yeah, sure, I'll take a rest here or there, where Kenneth Walker is still young enough that you can put him on the field all the time and have the gas tank to do it. What will this Saints team be is difficult, but I still believe in Kendrick Miller, the talents.

That final week, the final one, it's one play, but again, one play out of how many carries did Kendrick Miller actually get? 40 or something? 41. But it was a great touchdown run where he essentially broke the equivalent of five tackles of juked a few guys and then carried a couple guys into the end zone. It was just nice to see where I don't know that –

I can't even think of a Charbonnet play where it was – oh, there he is. There's the guy who I was scouting as a college running back. How many times in 13 games did Alvin Kamara rush over 70 yards? Zero? One. One game. Yeah, eat it, loser.

Oh, man. One game. I'm such a loser. He was 3.9 a carry. One game over 70 yards. Man. You know, 3.9 is not the end of the world if you're bringing what you did in with 75 receptions

but let me ask you this how many games did kendray miller rush for more than 70 yards one one yeah so i i do see the possibility of that backfield maybe transforming sooner yeah yeah the the age of camara mixed with the washed nature of jamal will. Jamal Williams still had 126 opportunities, so I don't think he stays ahead of him on the depth chart. A lot of people want to know what to expect from Tajay Spears. I'm one of them. Third-round pick, finishes the RB35, 100 carries. You want to know what to expect?

Yeah. So you're the right man for this job. I mean, look, you don't anticipate Derrick Henry's going to be back. 52 receptions last year. Yeah, he's a very good receiving back. They have no one else there on the depth chart, so we'll see what they do this offseason. But you could have a situation where he is just the guy.

Feels a little like we were waiting for Rashad White not to have the job. That is exactly the name. But we all expected Tampa to get a running back. Bring back Fournette. Take one in the draft. Take one in free agency. No, no, no. Of the receptions, Tajay is one of 15 rookie running backs since 2013

with 50 or more receptions, and that was kind of like one of those highlight stats for Rashad White saying it might be a value in the draft, whether or not he is a good player, which I think Tajay Spears is a good running back. He just has a knee problem, so long-term it's not great. But they already trusted him. This guy was out there 50-plus or more percent of the snaps in 12 of 17 games, 4.5 yards per carry, over 50 receptions as a rookie.

It's a really good signal here that Tajay Spears, if he gets the job, that he'll be all right for fantasy. At a team level, it's going to be rough. But that might lend itself to help him even more. It could. As a pass catching back. Yeah, I mean, no Vrabel, no Henry, and quarterback situation is a mess. Yeah, how many rushing touchdowns did Derrick Henry have?

I'm going to pull that up real quick. More than two. Well, look, I wouldn't be betting on that. 12. But I'm just saying, in this current season, there's plenty of those touchdowns that Spears could have converted. I think that's your ceiling. Your ceiling would be a Rashad White type of season.

Well, that would be an incredible ceiling. Yeah. I mean, but it's possible if he was the only guy there. Your floor is ceiling. Yeah. I mean, but it's possible if he was the only guy there. Your floor is bad. Yes. Your floor is they draft somebody, they bring somebody in, the offensive philosophy changes, the team never scores any touchdowns. Tajay Spears is the Michael Carter.

That's your bad scenario. Yeah. Because Michael Carter had a pretty okay rookie season, and the Jets are the Jets. And usually you want to bet against sub-200-pound running backs. Tajay Spears is not a big guy, so you would expect them to say, oh, maybe he's a good complementary back. But if he was the plan to succeed Derrick Henry in the short term,

he'll be great. And you've got to make that bet because it's very risky. The floor is low. The ceiling is high. I'm betting on Tajay Spears. I liked enough of what I saw both in the NFL scouting time and on the field where I'm in on Tajay. If I could trade him in a dynasty, I would.

You would try to capitalize? I would try to capitalize on him being alone right now. Sure. I mean, yeah. I'm pretty afraid. I was speaking more in redraft of like this coming season, how do I view him? Because Mike is right.

If you're talking dynasty, he still has the concerns of his longevity with his knee. He's going to burn bright and then probably be a light that goes out. Devon A. Chan. It's quite the story. It was a fun story. It was a weird one. Lightning bolt, you know, 100 carries, 800 yards, eight touchdowns.

Those numbers don't really make sense together. Like 100 carries shouldn't be 800 yards. 7.8 yards per carry. 37 targets, 27 catches, three touchdowns through the receiving game, so he was double digits, but missed multiple times this year with injury. You know, we knew that the end couldn't be as good as the beginning was for the season. The first three, you know, three, four, five weeks, three, four, five were amazing. Slowed down a little bit, right? If he didn't hit the big play, you were disappointed.

Yeah, but he hit the big play a lot looking at this, you know, long run of the game, 67 yards, 55 yards, 76 yards, 45 yards. He had a lot of home runs and that's just, that's the ability that he has. And also matched with this specific offense and the system McDaniel and the speed of, of waddle and Tyreek. It's just really, really hard to always be able to bottle up a player like this. But even without those big giant breakaway plays it seemed like most times he touched the ball was just like guys couldn't get to him fast enough and at his current age he's 22 years old i i i think you know you're you're not yet to his prime so i i am in love. Okay. So we've got a sliding scale, Mike.

There is love on one end of it. He didn't read any of the lower weeks in terms of production, which he did have, but we all know he's one play away. Mostard will be back. What round is A-chan drafted in this coming season? Third, second, third? Yeah, round the second, third. Two, three turn.

Here's my one comment. I wouldn't want A-chan as my running back one. That's my thought. Not the archetype that I want for my one comment. I wouldn't want HN as my running back one. That's my thought. Not the archetype that I want for my RB1. I don't want a player that can go out there and get seven carries, nine carries, seven carries in a game, eight carries in a game. Now, I'm not saying I wouldn't want him as my two. That'd be awesome.

Little freaked out as my one. Yeah. I would love him as my fourth. All right. You're real funny. Thank you. How are you going to do that? I'll trade for a lot of running backs.

I thought there was like a secret plan. He's just making fun of the fact that I'm like, if you pick your perfect world. I think you're going to have to take him. I mean, if you go RBRB, he can be your two. There you go. Yeah. There's your world. I'm in, though.

I'm in with Jason. So he finished at what was he in points per game I'll try and figure it out he'll be a good discussion next year but it's players that have those kind of breakaway runs

you know is he Chris Johnson is he CJ Spiller is he Javid Best that'll be interesting he was fourth in points per game behind his teammate Raheem Mostert uh Raheem Mostert was third at 17 points per game Devon Achan was 16.1 points per game and while yes that does include the 49-point explosion, it also includes two games where he scored one fantasy point.

I think it'd be fair to say 7.8 per carry is not going to happen, right? I'm not sure why you'd say that. But after that run, he was at 5.3, and that can happen. 5.3 is Jamal Charles, right? Which is a good comp for him. Yeah, if he can happen. 5.3 is Jamal Charles. Right? Which is a good comp for him. Yeah.

If he can stay healthy too. That's the risk. It wasn't a good season that way. Preseason, two in-season injuries. That doesn't concern you? For your love? It concerns me a little bit because of his size. But at the same

time, it's like every single one of these players can get hurt. Nick Chubb's a big bruising back and unfortunately got hurt. Christian McCaffrey spent two years just being an injury prone. You can't ever rely on him. He's great when he's on the field, but he's injured. I'm not taking him with the one I wanted. Not missing any time and leading the NFL in rushing and being up there and carry. So, I mean, obviously different body.

That sounds like a guy with some love glasses on. This is a 5'9", 180-pound running back that you just compared to McCaffrey and Chubb. I mean, yes, anybody can get hurt on any play, but come on. He's not built to get 20 carries a game. That archetype will not happen. I let it off with saying his size concerns me a little bit with the injuries. I mean, that was the not coming in. Is he big enough?

Yeah, I mean, what was the answer? The answer was he was awesome. To me, that was my takeaway from this season. If you said, was Devon Achan good? Yeah, he was. He was awesome. Yeah, he was my takeaway from this season. If you said, was Devon A. Chan good? Yeah, he was. He was awesome. Yeah, he was very good. He was. All right, Tank Bigsby wasn't.

Oh, man. Oh, Tank Bigsby. So if you came into this season and you expected Tank Bigsby or Sean Tucker to do anything or to disrupt the people in front of them, you were misdirected. These were not like – The team thought he was going to. The Jacksonville?

No, no, I don't know about that. Well, they spoke a third. That's, I think, the point. Yeah, that's what I'm saying is drafting a running back on day two. Well, I mean, Charbonnet was the second-round pick, right? He didn't get a lot of opportunity. No, but I don't know that I've ever seen, outside of, like, Kadarius Toney, I don't know if I've seen a player hurt their team more than Tank Bixby.

It was like when he got in the game, he just fumbled it right to the other team. It was like he might as well just hand the ball over. He did it so many times. He'd get down to the goal line. They'd finally give him an opportunity. It was like mistake after as well just hand the ball over. He did it so many times. You get down to the goal line, they'd finally give him an opportunity. It was like mistake after mistake. A tip pass. Yeah, it wasn't always like it won't show up on the box score always,

but eventually they just said. It's like that interception, that was on Trevor. So he had 50 carries. He averaged 2.6 yards on those 50 carries. Impressive. He had one reception, and yards on those 50 carries. Impressive. He had one reception. And I remember a lot of talk about Mr. Hands over there. Yeah.

I mean, this is. This is not good. This was a disaster. Yeah. It's a disaster that feels like it almost makes Travis Etienne feel even safer next year. Probably is. Because you're like, well, we just spent a third on safer next year. Probably is. Because you're like, well, we just spent a third on a running back.

Not that teams won't because the Rams have shown that they will do that over and over, but I can't imagine. It's hard to see a day two pick coming in at running back for Jacksonville. Yeah, and obviously Etienne's a first- guy so that's it's a wild season i think we all even our the least bullish tank bigsby person was shocked by the lack of success 100 and had he been able to come out and have success early probably would have earned that role but it just it just all went sideways and he dominated in preseason too it was like everything was looking good well and you ended up getting much more work for like Dearness Johnson and other backs than Tank Bigsby.

Because having Tank on the field was a negative for your team. Stank Bigsby? Yeah, it was this year. Yeah, got him. Yeah, that's not a good nickname. We don't want that. He earned it, though. Okay.

I mean, you know, you get what you deserve. Hey, Stank. Get over here. Last one we'll talk about at running back is Roshon Johnson, who had opportunities this year. 81 for 352 and 240 targets, 34 receptions. That backfield is up in the air. I would certainly rather have Roshon than Tank Bigsby moving forward.

What about him versus Kendra Miller and the opportunities you see for both of them? That's a really interesting comp because there's no world where Kendra Miller usurps Alvin Kamara as the starter and just becomes like, hey, you are the running back one for this team. Whereas Roshan could easily be the lead back next season. You know, there's a lot of question marks in Chicago. I don't think we have enough information right now in February to say who is going to be, we don't know the quarterback. We don't know this running back room they ended up hating Deonta Foreman after good performances yeah something weird that was super weird so we don't we don't know but what I do like about Roshan is that there isn't already

someone spectacular ahead of him and he did show flashes from time to time where it was like okay that was that was a good NFL game. Herbert will be there. I'm not saying you're wrong saying that Khalil Herbert isn't sensational, but basically everything you just said about Roshan, you could say the exact same thing about Khalil Herbert. 100%. I'm just saying that's not Alvin Kamara level to overcome.

Yeah, it's more like Ty Chandler and Madison going into a season where both guys have an opportunity. They could secure the favor of the team. Roshan was good through the air, 4.3 a carry. Didn't see a ton of him. But we'll take a break. We'll come back. We'll talk about wide receivers. All right, let's jump in here. Rookie wide receivers. This was, um, it was an

interesting year. You had, we've had an average of 3.7 rookie wide receivers per year finish in the top 36 for fantasy. This past year, we had Zay Flowers, Rashi Rice, Jaden Reed, Jordan Addison, and then, of course, Puka Nakua. I love him. See, your love is in the air. Those two guys, man. Puka and HN.

Maybe it's because I drafted them. I think it might be because you drafted them. I think maybe that does have something to do with it. Yeah. Jackson Smith and Jigbo was the first off the board. A lot of people were bemoaning the fact that he went to Seattle. Yeah.

In part because you were like, oh, they just got another great weapon. But also, what does this mean for Metcalf? Lockett, he only had 52% of the snaps for the first month of the year. He was dealing with, I believe, wrist, hand injury. Yep. And, I mean, give me the review of Jackson, Smith, and Jigba. This was the wide receiver 48. Did not really come on

in a meaningful way for fantasy towards the end of the year. It started to see them use him more, but it was a really nasty offense. He feels like everything just was held. Status quo of his value.

Whatever you thought about JSN coming into the NFL, you probably still think that. If you felt he was clearly the number one wide receiver, I don't think that he – he didn't cement it because he didn't come out and have a huge season, but I didn't see anything on the field that took away from how I felt about JSN in the pre-draft process. So you're still in a wishful thinking, though,

that things are going to change for Seattle with Lockett and Metcalf still under contract next year. Something could happen with Lockett, but as of right now, you would think that JSN is just a slot wide receiver. Let me ask you this, though, because JSN was 63 for 6, 28, and 4. It was 10 a catch. Quentin Johnston was 38 for 4, 31,

and 2. 11.3 a catch. So it was not up to what Jackson, Smith, and Jigba produced. Those aren't vastly different numbers, though. Right, and they were used differently. I guess I'm just curious. I think a lot of people look at the rookie season for Quentin Johnson

and say that's a death knell, right? Rookie wide receivers that don't produce, it doesn't always go their way moving forward. I wonder if that is – if your opinion hasn't changed about JSN, is it going to not change again if this happens again next year no if this is what happens next year then yeah you would certainly have to adjust but he was they lock it and crude they stayed you know pretty healthy so it wasn't a a ton of opportunity for jsn to really be the number two guy and it just his season in totality i you know

over 600 yards for fantasy purposes that's bad but for a rookie wide receiver it's fine it and it's not like where quentin johnston was the number two guy like that mike williams injury was very early huge was thrust into an opportunity that maybe he wasn't ready for but he he he failed in his opportunity where JSN to me didn't really fully get the 29 opportunity yet 29 of his 63 receptions were behind the line yeah that's when you noted his yards per catch I was going to say they were using him that's almost 50% of all receptions were behind the line of scrimmage. It's unacceptable for fantasy purposes.

Obviously, there's going to be a change at coordinator. And the change at coordinator, if you haven't seen the clip of JSN talking about, someone was asking for Bears fans, like, hey, what do you think?

We're grabbing your coordinator. Should they be happy? Yeah yeah and Jason was like uh is this live right now he's like um well he's a good guy yeah it was like whoa he did not like the offensive scheming there and I think that's a big part of it he didn't look bad to me so I'd agree with with Mike in the sense that like when what he did was okay however I've cooled a little bit on him I thought you know he was a superstar and I don't know if he is or not yet but I'm less bullish on you know on that declaration because my worry coming into this season was he wasn't going to get enough snaps and yeah the scheme was dumb and they used them behind the line of scrimmage and hopefully that changes.

But he still got a ton of snaps. Averaged 64% of the snaps. There were, let's see here, there were six games where he was over 70% of the snaps. And here was his fantasy points playing 70 plus percent of snaps. 5.9 points, 6.8 points, 9.3, 6.8, 5.1, and 4.5. Like, that's really, really, really, really, really disappointing. Yeah, and you don't know who the quarterback is. Is it Geno?

We'll know in a few days. Right. Is it Justin Fields? Because Seattle's in a few days. Is it Justin Fields? Because Seattle's a top trade candidate for Justin Fields. How would you feel if Justin Fields landed in Seattle? I don't think you're feeling very good. Because you wouldn't feel

good about any of those guys. I'd feel good about Justin Fields. If Justin Fields got traded to Seattle for DK metcalf and tyra lockett i'd be i'd be fine with it that would make a difference quentin johnston um wouldn't that be the ultimate trade move to make as a gm you want to prove that like the quarterback isn't good that fields isn't going to have it trade for the wide receivers oh you're saying

give fields nobody yeah take away his weapons in the trade just to prove that he's not going to come on and be this great quarterback like oh i i would trade him to seattle but they've got these great wide receivers who look so good well we talked about that's very funny that is very funny uh it kind of felt yeah yeah it felt like that what What was the Russell Wilson trade with Denver? They lost Noah Fant, right, when he went over there? Yeah. It felt like condemnation for Metcalf and Lockett when that happened. Quentin Johnston, 38 for 431 and 2.

First round wide receivers with zero top 24 finishes as a rookie since 2014. This is the list. The list is Josh Dotson. You can say the word bust after these. Okay. Josh Dotson. So you want me to weigh in and say, were they an NFL bust? Yeah.

Okay. So Josh Dotson. That's a bust. Laquan Treadwell. That's a bust. Mike Williams. That's not a bust. Not a bust.

John Ross. Bust. Nikhil Harry. Bust. Jalen Rager. Mike Williams? That's not a bust. Not a bust. John Ross? Bust. Nikhil Harry? Bust. Jalen Rager? Bust. Say the next one. Quentin Johnston. I'll say this, though. Guess what? Mr. Jackson Smith and Jigba wasn't far off of this.

He had a QB. He had one I think he had two wide receiver 24 finishes and a wide receiver 12. 16. He had a 16, a 24, and a 24. Yeah. So, I mean, he was not. He's sliding in there. Just saying. Three is better than zero.

Well, yeah. I mean, I guess by the skin of his teeth, right? How far off was Quentin? What were his big games? I will pull that up for you. Let's see. I'm just speaking to – Quentin Johnston's –

28, 25, and 31. That's not far from J.S. Smith. No, that's not far. So, look, dynasty-wise – But that's as a full-time player. That's the difference. Dynasty-wise, yeah, full-time player with backup quarterbacks, though, Mike. Justin Herbert was gone.

When did Herbert get hurt? During the year. Also, you say Herbert was hurt in week 14. I would maybe be trying to move on from Jason is all I'm saying. Yeah. If you want to do that, I think you can still get tremendous value. Yeah, that would be the time to. So Herbert would have been around for the Detroit game, the 38-41 loss.

I'm not saying. If you look at weeks four through 13, okay, that's post-Mike Williams and including Herbert, right? All right. I think those are the important games where you go, okay, what was his opportunity and what did he do with it? He played 66% of those snaps, and his season-long pace. It's as bad as it gets.

Would have been a grand total of 408 yards on the season from Justin Herbert. Yeah. Fewer than 40 receptions. It was awful. It was as bad as you can get. It's terrible. You can't trade him. You have to hold him and hope it's better.

That's your philosophy. You can't get... Can you get anything for him? For Cuge? You cannot. No. No, it's not actually... Not allowed?

Not allowed. The platforms aren't... I believe Laquan Treadwell is the only trade candidate that you can get. But he does have Herbert moving forward. But if you try real hard, you could get a second. You just have to keep at it? Yeah.

Yeah. Would you trade Quentin Johnston for a second rounder? I think the way you could do that is if you say, would you trade him for a third? And then when I say yes, you go, that was a second, right? Right. And then if I i say yes you go that it was a second right right and then if you say yes what you do is you you you message the person not in the system and say a third they say yes deal then you send the trade offer over yeah with the two in there there will be no problems no problems

and then when they accept and later they go wait wait i thought it was a three you said oh no i didn't like that compensation so i sent sent that offer. You saw it. That's how you do it. Would you rather have, I mean, Cuge will have Justin Herbert. Jason will have competition and no quarterback right now. So it's just worth a thought. Zay Flowers, 77 for 858 and five. Definitely showed flashes.

Yeah, he had some stretches. Week 12 through 17, the wide receiver 11 points per game. But Andrews was gone, and we saw him step in. He was capable and able to step into that role. I don't know where Zay Flowers is going to settle in long-term in fantasy. He was the wide receiver 27 this year. He's certainly their most capable player outside of Mark Andrews. I can't – like I was never a huge Bateman fan like in the pre-draft process,

but I still can't wrap my head around how bad he's... Like, Bateman is awful. Well, if you go watch the tape from the divisional game, dude was getting open all the time. Yeah, he was. He was not getting targets. There was a disconnect with Bateman and Lamar. There was.

And, like, if you had to take Zay Flowers, here's the question for you. The next three years of Zay Flowers, and then average out where you think he finishes, where do you settle in with Zay Flowers? I settle in as like the wide receiver 25, 24, something like that. Yeah, I'm the same. Okay, so not much different than this past year. Nope.

So you're talking maybe a guy that's more PPR-oriented, 80 receptions a thousand yards he'll have but not scoring a ton yeah not scoring a ton and he'll have a couple weeks where you saw it with the the broken play in the playoffs of zay and and the week before against san francisco like if i'm remembering that right but zay flowers is very he's capable of hitting the big play but it will be just a few spike weeks here and there. I brought him up on the Dynasty podcast about a month ago of someone that I'm willing to listen to offers for Zay Flowers. And it's not because he's going to be bad.

Wide receiver 25-ish is in a Dynasty league. That's very useful for your team. Yeah, you're going to be bad. Wide receiver 25-ish is in a dynasty league. That's very useful for your team. Yeah, you're going to start that player. It's just, what is the opinion of other managers in your league about, say, Flowers? Do they see what he did and see the growth potential

from a year one player? Which, that is possible for Flowers to be this good as a rookie and keep getting better, but he feels like a player who will be locked into that wide receiver two, wide receiver three fringe, and his value could be higher than that right now. Would you rather have Jordan Addison?

I would rather have Jordan Addison. Addison was 70 for 9-11 and and 10 so 10 touchdowns um finish at wide receiver 21 that's that's how I lean I'd rather have Addison than Zay Flowers uh we talked about him on the wide receiver truth part two episode if you want to go back and listen to that in a little bit more detail but he showed obviously a ton of flashes when you're scoring double-digit times and TBD on the quarterback situation, but Jordan Addison certainly had a great rookie season. Jonathan Mingo caught 43 of 85 targets.

Jonathan Mingo is so disappointed. He didn't score. He was drafted very highly, second-round round pick and it didn't work no chicken, egg they always say the chicken or the egg maybe both just suck sometimes

it's not mutually exclusive this is just both I think that the general manager of the Panthers had a bad draft. Yeah. Jaden Reed finished at wide receiver 23, 64 for 793 and 8. Became a go-to wide receiver for this team.

Ran the football, scored twice on the ground. From week 10 on, he was the wide receiver 9. I love Jaden Reed. There was a question for the mailbag show that we didn't get to on Tuesday that said pick a pair of pickled Packer wide receivers or something. That's what it was. It's Jaden Reed and something else. That's my answer for sure.

It doesn't mean he's like everything. You know, he's limited in his skill set, but he is just, he's going to be part of the game plan for that head coach for as long as he's there. Like Debo is in San Francisco, you're going to build game plans around Jaden Reid who makes plays. Yeah. So my, my concern with Reed, first of all, he looked really good. He proved he is an NFL player. He's here to stay. He's going to be valuable for the Packers. And for fantasy purposes, we know he can get it done. But he did get it done almost always when Christian Watson wasn't there. In the games, you know, he was –

Christian Watson was out for seven games, in for nine games, and you go from 7.1 targets to 4.8 targets, down from 60 yards a game to 40 yards per game. And obviously, this is a rookie season, so, you know, he's still figuring it out. But it did seem like, you you know when all three guys are healthy maybe that's a you know a fool's errand to think Christian Watson's ever going to be healthy but when all three guys were healthy it's it's hard for me to believe that any of them will be consistent Watson or Reed or Dobbs or Wicks.

I would rather have Jaden Reed than Zay Flowers moving forward. Like that's pretty hot. He's a bet. I know you. And obviously he finished in the top 24 as a rookie, establishing himself in a depth chart that goes well beyond three. I mean, Dontavian Wicks is part of that conversation. Yeah.

And you saw other players that come in and make a mark, and you had Musgrave and Kraft. And to me, Jaden Reed is just going to be built into your game plan. If you asked me the same question that we did about Flowers, and you said, why does he have 20? You know, why does he have 18? I don't think he's a top 12 type of finish guy. I mean, he looked good.

He finished the season strong, which is always what you want to see. You want to see as the rookies go along, are they getting better down the stretch? You saw that with Amon Ross St. Brown, his rookie season, just catching fire at the end. And there's questions as to whether or not it was because his opportunities were higher without Christian Watson or whether he just leveled up

but I know that I can speak to while watching games with Andy the amount of times Andy just gushed over what he saw from Jaden Reed yeah and he's not on any of my teams. So my love is unbiased. This is our day after Valentine's show, and so this episode's about love. Jaden Reed is extremely difficult because he was despite all his greatness, he was still a slot

wide receiver. Two wide receivers, it's not going to be him. It will be Dobbs and it'll be Christian Watson. You saw it play out in the playoff game where Jaden Reed, I think Jaden Reed was catchless in the first playoff game. I'll double check that. So that's why it's so difficult because when he plays, he's an excellent player and can be a focal point but then there's just times where like the focal point is actually he's not on the field because he's not in this package sure yeah and he dealt

with that stupid chest injury over and over again at the end of the year that he was playing through rashi rice uh tank dell dude rice is extremely difficult to super. Super Bowl champion? Yes, he is. He took advantage of every opportunity that he was given, so he didn't fail at any point, right? Like, there wasn't – it wasn't like huge where it's like, okay, step up, and then you disappear. Like, he became their primary receiving option. The hardest part with Rice is whether you go sell that to enticed two-time Super Bowl fans of Patrick Mahomes, realizing that this team is going to potentially make a significant splash

at the wide receiver position. I wonder what Rashi Rice's future is going to be if I told you it's Pittman or Evans or those type of guys getting here. He's Kansas City. He's a screen guy too. He's a yak guy. Yeah, he's a yak guy. Where that could –

He didn't show up in the Super Bowl really. It's like when you call someone a yak guy, it almost feels insulting because you're taking away, well, you can't do this skill set. But I just – he is – his route tree is not complete, and yet he still managed to have a strong rookie season. You know who he feels like? Who you got? He feels like the way they were using McCall Hardman a few years ago,

but where he catches it. That's what a lot – I mean, literally, if you go back and watch McCall Hardman in Kansas City, some of the screen game plays, but Rice is running them properly. It's like Hardman didn't know he won the Super Bowl. Yeah. Blacked out, he said. Did you not know that?

I did see that. Yeah, that's insane. But Rice, he did everything that was asked of him. The question is merely will they ask more of him in the future or will they be content with this and utilize different outside wide receivers that aren't named? Because they went downfield to MVS. They go downfield to Watson.

They have choices. They have opportunities to put Rice in there, and they're choosing Watson and Hardman and these type of players. Yeah, and they have to have more than one wide receiver on the field, but I don't want to discount the fact that he's a rookie and he can get better. His route tree is not complete. And now that we know Andy Reid is coming back, obviously if they go out, they're going to show us what their actions are.

If they go out and they get Michael Pittman or go out and get Mike Evans or try to make a splash add to the wide receiver room, then, yeah, Rice is, I mean, you will have wished you sold. Given that they didn't spend on Tyree Kill, they don't have, you know, Patrick costs a lot of money and they've just won back-to-back Super Bowls with a hodgepodge of wide receivers, I would be surprised if they do go out and spend top dollar on a free agent. And if Rice comes into his sophomore season with a great head coach,

the best quarterback of all time, and he's better and utilized more. I mean, Tyreek Hill had a great rookie year, but he was nowhere near as good as a route runner and is involved in the offense and those type of things as he was after that rookie season so I I find myself a little bit more bullish on the ability for Rice to become the type of receiver that we would prefer him to be it feels it feels a little bit like without Tyreek Hill this category of wide receiver for Kansas City thus far has been just a scary one, almost like the old Patriots backfield situations where is this offense and the way Andy Reid wants to run things ever going to really allow for one wide receiver to be a dominant alpha? Or is it always going to be a complementary set of players and Kelsey's

involved? I think Reed gets the most out of his players. And so I think he got the most out of Reed. This was all Reed could do this season. He got the least out of Kadarius Toney. Well, I think he got the most out of, I think that was the most you could get out of Kadarius Toney, which is impressively bad. Let's talk about Tank Dell, Marvin Mims, and a handful of other guys before we shut things down. Tank Dell, 75 targets, 47 for 709 and 7. He was the wide receiver three for a four-week span. He finished at 15 in points per game.

The unfortunate, terrible injury while blocking a Damian Pierce rushing attempt. But a third-round pick, someone C.J. Stroud is building a rapport with for the long term. I think we're all really excited about Tank Dell's potential. He's going to get deep shots. He's going to get important third-down targets. He's definitely – the question for people will just be tank dell or nico collins and drafts next year i'm on the tank dell side if the recovery goes well but i think it's close and i don't blame anybody going you know best value or whatever the case may be uh really impressive rookie season

yeah from weeks 9 through 12 he was the the wide receiver. 3 over 20 points a game. A ridiculous almost 11 targets over 90 yards per game in that time. And not behind the line of scrimmage, little Jackson Smith and Jigma targets. He was not used like a tiny little gadget guy. He was used like a

true number one wide receiver. Like Deshaun Jackson. Jackson's a tiny guy. Yeah. Go throw him around and try to cover this little bumblebee. What was really, really surprising, because it doesn't usually happen, but was so awesome, based on his size, his little tiny itty-bitty body, they used him just like Tank Dell in college. I know that's crazy that they would utilize a guy who, you know, in college was 90 for 1,329 yards and 12 touchdowns,

and then his final season, 109 receptions, 1,400 yards and 17 touchdowns. That really does. Deshaun Jackson is a very similar physical situation. He's going to be great, and I think all three of us are super in on Tankdale next year. We are going in order of where these players were drafted. Marvin Mims, you're going to have to just hope and pray right now. Yeah, maybe next year. He showed flashes on special teams.

Jalen Hyatt and Cedric Tillman, third round draft picks. Didn't do much this year. Maybe next year. Yeah, maybe next year. Josh Downs had a small stretch. What a weird season. He just fooled us for a minute. Well, 68 for 771 and then he got injured.

Alright. The ending number of 771 yards is shocking. He seems like he's either going to be a compliment to a returning Michael Pittman or he may have a bigger role. Yeah. I mean, he had a four-game stretch where he was on fire. And he'll have a different quarterback.

Michael Wilson, pretty disappointing for Arizona. Couldn't catch the ball sometimes. Yeah, they'll be bringing in a star wide receiver. Yeah, there were some people on Twitter talking about, oh, go trade for Michael Wilson. I'm like, no, that's not my opinion. I think Michael Wilson is the perfect Juwan Jennings for a team. Sure.

I don't think he has the potential to be like a monster wide receiver too it'll be there'll be a big name coming in this year for arizona and maybe another one in free agency trey tucker was a third round pick he flashed many times for las vegas so you know he was one of those players much better for NFL than for fantasy predictability. Dontavian Wicks. Definitely flashed. 39 for 581. That's crazy.

Four touchdowns. Interesting name moving forward. How upset are the Chargers that they didn't get Dontavian Wicks? Instead of first-round huge? I think they're upset for lots of reasons, to be honest. Who's next? Who's next? Who's next? Parker Washington. Oh, wait.

No, this guy. 5'42". Okay. So, Puka Nakua. Man. Only 105 receptions. Only 1,486 yards. Only six touchdowns.

Just kind of a mediocre wide receiver for finish the the conversation for puka to me honestly is just how high do you take him in a in a startup in a dynasty startup man dynasty startup i can tell you what consensus wise where he is i I've got Puka at my wide receiver six. Yeah, I thought you loved him, Jason. I'm moving him up. I got him at 13. Overall or not wide receiver 13? Or do you have him at wide receiver 13? No, overall.

Oh, okay. Overall, otherwise, I mean, who knows what was going to happen here. Yeah, we're going to have our first fight. Mm-hmm. But it's unbelievable to go from a fifth-round pick to easily, no matter what the argument, I think people would say top 10 wide receivers, just how high up do you go? Yeah, I mean, we've talked so much about him,

especially on Wide Receiver Truth episodes. So other players that flashed briefly, Trey Palmer of Tampa Bay, A.T. Perry from New Orleans. Trey Palmer is an interesting name. It doesn't need a whole bunch of conversation analysis because you need things to shake out right now. But if Mike Evans loses, I see if he leaves, and it feels, no inside information,

but it feels like the team is really disappointed with Chris Godwin at where he is now. Trey Palmer had a ton of college production. Doesn't have draft capital or anything like that, but he is a name to just keep in the back of your head. If you're doing a trade and you can get Palmer as a throw-in, I would do it. Breaking news. I mean, it's not breaking because we recorded this on Monday.

Yeah. But, like, Mitch Trubisky is a free agent, guys. Oh, man. Wow. Wow. Yeah, it's a big deal. Number two overall pick? Well, trade it up.

Trade it up to the number two. I'm so sorry. Demario Douglas was very good. Six-round pick for New England. Pop. Had a good chance. Good opportunity. The quarterback boy.

All right, rookie tight ends. Dalton Kincaid was the first off the board. He had a hot streak week 7 through 11. It was the tight end three during that stretch. This was when Dawson Knox was out. And then when Dawson Knox returned, it slowed back down again. But 73 for 6, 73 and 2. That's a nice year, 91 targets.

For a rookie tight end, that is a fantastic season. He showed enough to have full confidence that he'll be more and more involved. He's going to have a very good career and hopefully breaks out into being a top fantasy tight end so we have another really valuable asset. If he finishes the tight end five next

year, you would be... I would be happy. I would be happy with that. And I think he will. Sam Laporta finishes the number one tight end. Second round draft pick, 86 for 889 and 10. The number one rookie tight end? Yeah. No, Jason.

He broke all the rules. All the rules you've set for them. The number one tight end. Yeah. Outscoring Travis Kelsey. Yeah. And he'll be the number one off the board next year in fantasy. Yes, he will.

So, unbelievable year for Laporta. You heard us talk about him in the truth episode, so we won't dig in too deep. If you want to hear more Laporta breakdown, you can go back to the tight end truth episode. Do not sleep on Michael Mayer. Michael Mayer is a very good player. Las Vegas Raiders.

Las Vegas Raiders rookie tight end. Guitarist. a very good player and just because las vegas raiders las vegas raiders uh look just because sam laporta did what no one else has ever been able to do uh at tight end don't sorry no it's a good it was a good joke yeah okay um but uh but michael mayer is really really talented it is normal for rookie tight ends to not do much i mean look at look at trey mcbride trey mcbride was you know his rookie season was irrelevant michael mayer's rookie season was irrelevant don't don't sleep on them in fact this is where like i don't like drafting rookie tight ends and dynasty but i sure like trading for second year tight ends so go kick the tires on mich Mayer. So are you trading for Luke Musgrave or the Schoonman?

Not the Schoonman. I know he dealt with injury, but I do think that it was kind of established that he is the backup tight end now. Tucker Kraft had a nice run for Green Bay. That's interesting moving forward. Musgrave, Kraft probably ruin

each other. And then Davis Allen. I want to mention him in the fifth round. Had a little stretch for the Rams when Higby was out. Could be the future of the tight end position for Los Angeles. Pay attention to him. Pay attention to Darnell Washington a little bit. In Pittsburgh as well in the third round.

Just a reminder because I had... Oh, Higby got hurt. Yeah, Higby tore his ACL. He's an older tight end. Oh, wait. He tore his ACL and MCO? Okay. He seems

unlikely to be back for this tournament. More ligaments being reported, right? As we see. That's it, though. Check out the ligament tracker. We do have a full injury report though in the UDK. Yeah. We'll close things down by

reminding you to head over to ultimatedraftkit.com. Next week we'll get into some shocking stats from 2023 and some of our classic episodes are coming up like the coaching changes episode as we recap all of the moves that teams have made to try to fix everything with like hiring

somebody but like that always works oh and every hire was so good 10 things to remember episode coming up as well so check it out and make sure you subscribe Spotify Apple YouTube wherever you're listening drop us a review if you can

and we're on Twitter at the FFBallers. Again, ultimatedraftkit.com for the Dynasty Pass. That is it. We made it through. And go back to Monday and go to my profile on Twitter, twitter.com slash Andy Holloway for a live feed image of Jason. Goodbye. Goodbye.

Thank you for listening to another episode of the fantasy footballers podcast. Join our fantasy football community on join the foot.com and follow us on Twitter at the FF ballers.