Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast - The TRUTH: Top 10 TEs + SB Lineups, Kupp of Sadness - Fantasy Football Podcast for 2/6

Episode Date: February 6, 2025

The final TRUTH episode of the year! On today’s fantasy football podcast, a deep dive look at the TE position! Consistency scores, boom/bust percentages, and tons more. Who will be a value pick in 2025 fantasy football drafts? Manage your redraft, keeper, and dynasty fantasy football teams with the #1 fantasy football podcast. -- Fantasy Football Podcast for February 6th, 2025. Connect with the show: Subscribe on YouTube Visit us on the Web Support the Show Follow on X Follow on Instagram Join our Discord Check out today's sponsors: Fantasy Faceoff presented by DraftKings Sportsbook Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Visit superstore.ca to get started. Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers podcast with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Oh, welcome in! Everyone's here today. Thursday, February 6th. Last show before the Super Bowl. So we can get our thoughts in about that. We were just talking today about how we were at the Super Bowl the last time that the Chiefs and Eagles squared off. it was out here in Phoenix

actually Glendale But it was exciting at the time and I even before the game like the game was awesome But before the game when we were talking this week of like its Chiefs Its Eagles these two awesome Offenses these two great quarterbacks that I, it was like a dream come true matchup. And now just a few years later, it's Chiefs versus Eagles. And I was like, oh, that sucks. Yeah, I mean, I don't know if we speak for everybody on that.

Obviously we don't speak for Eagles and Chiefs fans. Oh, of course not. But I have found myself slightly looking forward to it more than I was at the beginning of the week. And you know, the storyline, Saquon, the birthday, the opportunity with the just what an unreal season that would be to leave New York and win a Super Bowl. You got the three Pete, which good news, good news.

NFL. They've got a license now. They've negotiated with Pat Riley. Oh, they did. They worked out a deal to be able to use the term three-peat in the event that the Chiefs win. Wow. Pat Riley.

Gonna be cashing checks. Owns those words. Yeah, yeah, that's smart. We gotta get four-peat right now. Does anybody have four-peat? We don't, but we did. What about four score? They're gonna try to say that, aren't they?

We did learn a new word that involves three. Jason, you don't remember your word? Oh, I do, I do, absolutely. Because it's specific to the tight end episode. We're gonna talk about the percentiles and how they come, and they're gonna be broken into turtiles. So that's the word we learned. That's English, that's real.

It's real. I'm not saying something foolish or stupid. No. I'm talking nice math words like turtile. How did we stumble into this? Because I was like, A quartile. A quartile.

We all know it like, oh, you're in the upper quartile, so that means you're in the upper fourth. And I was like, what's the same thing for three? And we, you know, is it the third? You don't hear that very often. No, because it's turtile. Sounds like it's either got a shell or you're taking a dump. Yeah, it's something in between.

It's turtile time. Yeah, so you can be in the upper turtile of something. Of course. Or the bottom turtile. If you're in the bottom turtile, you're in the bowl. So. Hey, we're back. We're back. Yeah, we've got the bottom turtile, you're in the bowl. Hey, we're back. We're back. Yeah, we've got the final truth episode today, the tight end truth.

Super Bowl, this Sunday, if you've been with the show for a while, you know what that means. That means Super Bowl Sunday is your first opportunity to pre-order the 2025 Ultimate Draft Kit, the UDK Plus. We do a very special promotion that launches on Super Bowl Sunday. UltimateDraftKit.com, if you pick it up before March 1st, starting Sunday, you get a chance to win a listener league spot. You get the lowest possible price. We're keeping the price the exact same this year. You get access to the dynasty pass with the UDK Plus.

The dynasty pass, when it launches on Super Bowl Sunday in four days, it will have all of our dynasty startup rankings, all of our rookie rankings, our initial pastor of everything. Obviously those will change, more players will be added in. We'll have several updates post-combine, post-NFL draft, but it's good to start early and get to know these players' names.

All that will be in the UDK Plus. It's launching so soon. Yeah, Sunday. Go get in there, and if you are already an Ultimate Foot Clan member, you got nothing to do but log on and use the content because you already have access. You won. Yeah, you already won the prize the content because you already have access. You won.

Yeah, you already won the prize. And you're already entered into the Listener League entry. Yep. The chance to come and play with us next year. So that is bigtimeultimatedraftkid.com. Go check that out. We do have a little bit of news, a couple of topics, one major topic we want to talk about.

News and notes from around the league. Well, a friend of the show, Cooper Kupp, announced on social media that the Rams are looking to trade him. He turns 32 in June. He disappeared from the... Second half. Yeah, the target pie. It wasn't the whole year. It was the final turtile of the season, really. Yes, it was. The turd-turtile.

The turd-turtile, yeah. For him it was a turd-tile. Yes. I've never seen anything like this that I can remember, where a player announces that the team will be seeking a trade. Like, players. I kind of like him taking control of it

Oh, it's great. I don't I don't blame him for doing that He even came out in his social media posts that he he disagrees with their decision He expects to add some quality football and honestly I think he will be an important piece to a passing game next year in the NFL whether I mean I'm not saying he's going to be a fantasy sensation for being a wide receiver one by any means, but we saw this with Adam Thielen. Let's say you can go Thielen somewhere. Exactly.

But Thielen was a free agent, right? Right, he was a free agent, but he was older and changed teams because the team had kind of moved on from, said they were not gonna give him that contract. I think he was 32 when he moved. And went and was pretty valuable for the Carolina Panthers. So I could see that happening with Cooper Cup. But usually, like, Miles Garrett comes out and says,

I'm requesting a trade. Or the team lets people know, like, we will be looking for a trade. But this was the first time I could remember a player coming out and saying, hey, breaking news, the team wants to trade me. From week 15 through the playoffs, Cup had an 11% target share and an average 29 yards a game. Yeah, so

You know in that regard That's not gonna make a team Excited like they might have been five games before but he did come out on Twitter and say that the team will be Working with me and my family to find the right place to continue competing for championships. I don't agree with the decision and always believed it was going to begin and end

in LA. I saw freezing cold takes found a nice tweet from the Rams organization oh no that showed a picture of Cooper Cup and Pukin Akua and you know it only comes as a package deal only comes as a package deal, only comes as a package set. They're breaking up the set. Let me, you know. Can be sold individually. Apparently they can.

Jordan Whittington. Yep, I was gonna bring him up. Can we talk about, I mean this is a fantasy football show. Cooper Cup, yes, he might find, that'll come with the quarterback to me. If he finds a destination where you've got a quarterback It's Kansas City. It's they lose T Higgins and he goes to Cincinnati something like that would really excite me But what about the Rams whose offense you already know is gonna be very proficient, you know, Pukka Nakua is

Pukka's a stud. The guy but what about Jordan Whittington or you know, I just saw today Why is his name escaping me? One of their other wide receivers. Mark is Robinson? Keep going. 2-2. 2-2. He's going to be gone. So he was a free agent. He's not coming back. So a lot of opportunity. Yeah, so Whittington last year was a six-round pick. He had a good training camp. He was one

of those players where the buzz, like the drum beat, got louder. And then he had a pretty good performance in the preseason, so he was a player that was... I mean, he's a six-round wide receiver who was now on the radar for the dynasty community. And then he had a couple opportunities, you know, like weeks four and five, where he actually played the full allotment of snaps, 97% and 92%. Six for 62 in one of them, seven for 89 in the other one. This is by no means a declaration that Jordan Whittington, that's his job for sure, but it's with the depth chart the way it is, Whittington feels like the most natural to fill in as in Cooper Cups role. So he's

an exciting player that I can't imagine he's on waiver wires or anything like that for dynasty, but he could be someone that you take a little bit of a flyer on because the return- Like trade a third for him right now. You're not going to get, I mean I have Whittington. You won't get that out of his news. You're not gonna get it done for a three. So you'd be having to pay, he's more of a,

if you're making a trade with a team that has Whittington, like, oh, let's get him, let's just toss J-Dubbs in this trade here. Those breakout weeks, they were without Cooper Cup, which is important to know, because obviously he's gone. However, they were also without Puka Nakua. During those weeks three through seven, those are the weeks that Cooper Cup missed.

The target share, Tutu Atwell was the highest at 25%. He's going to be gone. Jordan Whittington was the next highest at 18% in the very beginning of his career. For which, for the? For weeks three through seven. Oh, I wasn't counting weeks three. Weeks three he played 38%. I'm just saying the the weeks that Cooper Kopp was out. I got you. Because in the two weeks where he was a full-time player he was 28% and 22% of

the targets. So he he he seems like a natural replacement unless the Rams make some sort of splash. Well and the Rams would be candidates to draft a wide receiver too. Yeah, I fully expect that. Saying goodbye to Cooper Cup, saying goodbye to Tutu Atwell. I think they're going to go try to find another Robert Woods the same way that they find an average, a Darnell Mooney type of asset on the free-edging market. A veteran? Yeah, a veteran that's not going to cost what Cooper Cup costs.

Travis Kelsey during Radio Row opportunity here during the Super Bowl said he has a lot of good football left in him. They asked about retiring. He said, will I be here in three years? Hopefully still playing football. So it'll be a different period of time for Travis Kelce fantasy-wise. Yeah, I mean, it already is.

Kelce is always the number one tight end. Even last year when he finishes the number two, believe on a per game basis, he was the number one tight end, tied with Laporta. But- Oh, two years ago. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Two years ago. And then of course this last year fell down to Titan six

He is going to be Very frustrating. I think for fantasy football as we've seen it in in this playoffs like you had What I don't remember which round it was I guess their first game because they had to buy and I was like Travis Kelsey has this huge game and I guess their first game because they had to buy. And I was like, Travis Kelce has this huge game. And then Travis Kelce has 16 yards or whatever it was. It was extremely low. So knowing what he's still capable of if they funnel

the offense through him, he could still get a bunch of volume. He had three weeks from weeks 8 to 10, 12 targets, 16, 12 targets where he was the tight end four, two, and one. And then he absolutely disappeared. So it's in there, he can still do it, but it will not be a week to week thing. So we'll see what the ADP shakes out to be. Yeah, he'll be the starting tight end, but you will not know whether to start him all the time. Yes.

Or at least you'll get there. I mean, Antonio Gates had four years at the end of his career where he would give you prolific performances. He'd finish in the top 12, two of those years, but it wasn't the old school numbers. And that just makes sense. And you're gonna get weapons back. Rashi Rice missed most of the year.

He will be difficult, Mike. It will. and this is it just you know thinking overall greatness of that is Travis Kelsey and I heard someone mention the ages because they were like bringing up Gronk you know because Gronk's one of the best of all time. Like do you know how old is Gronk is compared to Travis Kelsey? He's younger isn't he? He is born is Gronk is compared to Travis Kelsey? He's younger, isn't he? He is born, so Gronk born May of 89, Travis Kelsey born October of 89. Wow. Oh, okay.

Like Travis Kelsey, Gronk has been gone forever. Kelsey's still putting up crazy numbers. Yeah, it'll be interesting to see what happens with that offense. I think that's it by way of news. Let's go ahead and jump right into the truth. You want answers? I think I'm entitled. You want answers? I want the truth! You can't handle the truth! All right, our final truth episode, the tight end position, pretty interesting this year. The most receptions by tight ends in NFL history. Really?

Yeah. Yeah, I think they had almost, wasn't it like a quarter? Over 100 million receptions, yes. I think they had a quarter of all the receptions in the league. 24%. almost. Yep. Yep in the that's a big number and It was pretty high last year to just under 23% Thanks Brock powers the last and last year. Thanks Sam Laporta and Traming brides breakout last year and McBride doing it again this year. So

Yeah, I mean if you talk about a trend, we could do it again, right? Warren from Penn State, I mean we could first round tight end opportunity. If it's becoming more and more a part of the offense, you know, we had three tight ends this year finished with 95 or more receptions, Bowers, McBride, and Travis Kelsey. And that would push my thesis to be more of, this isn't a trend of the interval, these are stars who have found themselves into good situations that they can actually shine and be the focal point.

It's nice, it's changing of the guard. We had the studs for a long time and every five or six years, you know, the Gronk and Jimmy Graham changes and then it becomes the... Kelsey and Andrews. Kelsey and Andrews. And now it seems like it's Bowers and McBride. Yeah, and, you know, Laporta will be in the mix and the Kelsey, Andrews, Kittle generation will start to fade.

What's really cool to know about tight ends is the truth of tight end series is that the new generation only comes when the old generation leaves. We can never have good tight ends across the board. Basic math is tight ends suck. Across the league tight and suck and here's the proof for that and this is why turtile came up okay turtile came up because Dallas Goddard who is not that good I think he's he's fine he's fine I think he's a good NFL player I agree with that I agree with that I'm saying for fantasy football where I'm fantasy now. For fantasy football, Dallas Goddard made no difference to you. He helped you a week

or two when there were injuries to AJ Brown and Devontae Smith. Dallas Goddard in our consistency metric is our tight end seven. And that sounds really, really good. And I want you to remember that it's still Dallas Goddard So it's not that great and he he busted 44% of his games almost half of his games were bust That was not the bottom turtle that was the middle turtle And so I just want to give you an example of like we could have just said thirds there But we didn't tight ends as

a whole are very inconsistent not great it does separate those if if you can call your shot and get the right tight end at the top it is a true difference maker for fantasy and then if you don't get one of those guys they all suck don't spend middle round picks on them do Here's a crazy stat. The Ravens tight ends. 18 receiving touchdowns for the Ravens. So overall, tight ends have had a lower percentage of the team's red zone targets, despite those other receptions going up. But the Ravens, not to blame there.

That's as many as the Cowboys, Colts, Giants, Rams, Panthers, Chargers, Jags, and Texans combined. Wow. They could use some wide receivers. Cowboys, Colts, Giants, Rams, Panthers, Chargers, Jags and Texans combined. Wow. They could use some wide receivers. Or maybe that's just not how Lamar's made. No, I think that's Lamar. Maybe Lamar just likes. Because Bateman had what, nine?

Yeah, yeah. So a reminder for our final truth episode, we're looking at weeks one through 17, we're looking at consistency. You just got a little bit of a summary of what we're going to find but Yeah, we're looking at weeks one through 17 Classifying tight end performances above 15 points as great games

above eight as Good games. That's not that many. That's not that good, but it's good enough for tight end Yeah That's not that many points. That's not that good, but it's good enough for tight end. Yeah. The bust games are below 5 and 1 half points. Which means that 44% of the time, Dallas Goddard was under 5 and 1 half points. And not in the bottom turtile. So tight ends are yucky yuck. Number one, though, George Kittle.

Boy, he was good. George Kittle, number one in consistency, number one in fantasy finish, drafted in the fifth round. I don't think we've heard the name George Kittle enough as one of the best deals of the draft. I agree. How was he in the first half? Number one.

How was he in the second half? Number two. He was in a lot of categories for footy awards because he deserved to be, and we can recognize that this was a wonderful draft pick. This was a fifth, sixth round draft pick that was the number one tight end on the season, super consistent, helped people win and he got no votes in any category. It was like he was not even like the runner-up, maybe at the

tight end position, but he has no respect and what's funny is there's a lot of things that will be made made Brandon Iuk's injury, Deebo going away, now George Kittle is gonna be a year older and I I don't feel like George Kittle is going to skyrocket up and be a first or second round tight in next year. He's not on early best ball right now he's the tight in three in the late fourth round. The previous three years for George Kittle, he finished as the tight end five, three, and four. Yeah, I'm with Jason.

I think George Kittle is very exciting if things kind of hold up for the 49ers. The touchdowns, eight, you know, it was the second most of his career. But very consistent. I mean, consistency wise, 86% good, 50% great games, and 7% bust games. So, you know, who are you gonna count on

when you look at the San Francisco offense at this point? Right. Is it Ayuk trying to come back from injury? Is it Ricky Pearsall as a sophomore? I mean, it's George Kittle. Yeah, and George and Brock, and Brock Purdy, like they have a seemingly a real connection when it comes to, you know, the touchdowns.

You had, he was, so Kittle had eight this year, which for Kittle, that's actually a higher number. He's had one outlier season at 11. It was six two years ago, but remember that was... That was a fine for Kittle, that's actually a higher number. He's had one outlier season at 11. It was six two years ago, but remember that was. That was a fine for Kittle. I feel like he spent years with like four touchdowns on a season. Yeah, it's like just him and Birdie seem

to be getting it done. 21 red zone targets. That's crazy. 33% of all routes inside the 20, which was number one among all tight ends. That is, yeah, that's a, it's definitely speaks to a different quarterback being kind of more focused on him. He is 31.2 years old in the final year of his deal. You love that. So don't extend them. Make them work for it. You know what I'm saying? Go get that money, George. Number two, rookie Brock Bowers.

He's not 31, he's 22 years old. He was a seventh round pick. His consistency rank was three. Number two in the first half, six in the second half. Great games, 25%. So half as many as Mr. George Kittle. Good games, 69%. Nice. Bust busts 13% of the time had to deal with a carousel at quarterback a carousel at wide receiver Devante Adams

leaving Jacobi Myers missing time goodbye Gardner Minshew but you knew from like week one that everything everybody said about Brock Bowers was a hundred percent true and you knew it almost instantly. Yeah I mean I was you know I have historically been very anti grabbing rookie tight ends relying on them because for a decade every year people do it and it hasn't worked until the last two. Week one I remember coming in and it was like, okay, what's your early, you were wrong from the whole draft season? And I was right off the bat, like, trade for him.

Brock Bowers is awesome. He is that dude. He's the number one tight end being drafted right now in best ball ahead of Trey McBride, despite not knowing the quarterback situation. And I think it's just I would take him ahead. He doesn't seem like Laporta. Laporta finished as the tight end one, but we knew on the Truth episode last year, we were talking about it wasn't as great a tight end one season as we had recently seen, and he was really inflated by touchdowns. The percentage of his fantasy points that came from touchdowns were very high. You're talking about a number one

rookie season from Brock Bowers, who only had five touchdowns on the season. It did coincide with the loss of Devontae Adams, and he became the de facto number one target for the team, but that's not going to change going into next year. He lined up all over the field. He had more total targets than Travis Kelce has ever had in any season. Is that true? Yeah. I did not know that.

153. Well, that's exciting. And 99 of the 153 were short area targets. So that's zero to nine yards. You know, I don't think that there were a ton of Raiders games being played on national TV this year, because they were not a very good team. You might not have got to watch Brock Bowers to see how it came about. But here's how it came about on a on a regular basis. He finds a spot in the zone that is

perfect, like he is a 10 yearyear vet and gets it, or he just is bigger than them, can take these DBs, these linebackers, and easily shed them off and get some yards after the catch. It was him. He had the same target share as Nico Collins, 24%. The same first read target share as Mike Evans 28 percent, the same first downs per out run as Justin Jefferson at 10.8 percent, and the same yards after the catch per reception as C.D. Lamb. So there's nobody I want more

at my tight end spot than Brock Bowers for probably the next eight years. I was surprised to see he has currently picked 16 on underdog. So that's where the number one tight end is going because he's being drafted as the number one tight end. But it's after the first round. He's not a first rounder, he's middle of the second. How do you guys feel about that?

He'll be a first rounder. I think he'll be like at the one, two, turn. 11, 12. Yeah. Yeah, I think it'll make more of a difference in redraft, I do. And we have, you know, we got Chip Kelly here. Yep. As the new OC, and.

Oh, I forgot about that, heck yeah. And just went back and was trying to remember exactly how it happened, which, you know, brought me down the memory lane of Zach Ertz. Like the career that was Zach Ertz of when he, Ertz was on the Eagles. It felt like forever. We were screaming like, free Ertz, man. Get this dude the ball. He's like, he's such a good player. He's a good tight end. We need to feed him. And it took a bit, but you know, the before the downturn

of Chip Kelly, so this is 2015, it was Zach Ertz with 112 targets. So it's, it's not something that's with Chip Kelly. Yes, this is not something that the Chip Kelly offense is opposed to doing. That's good to know. And if you if you want the differential in my mind mind with I think honestly Brock Bowers and our next guy we're gonna talk about Trey McBride. Their neck and neck in terms of the next few years performance wise it's probably where the touchdowns go but three-year gap amazingly between Brock Bowers and Trey McBride who is still very very young we'll talk about him in just a minute.

very very young we'll talk about them in just a minute so worried about my sister mariam i was sick returning to w network and stack t back these people who is that's what i want starring caley coho co and chris messina the only investigating i'm doing these days we should have That's what I want to know. Starring Kaylee Cuoco and Chris Messina. The only investigating I'm doing these days is who shit their pants.

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Cozy up with the familiar flavors of pistachio or shake up your mood with an iced brown sugar oat shaken espresso. Whatever you choose, your espresso will be handcrafted with care at Starbucks. Number three, Trey McBride, 25 year old Arizona Cardinal tight end, number two inconsistency, number four in the first half, number one in the second half, the most consistent tight end in the second half of the season, multiple number one performances, 73% good games, 33%

great, 13% bust, all with two receiving touchdowns. That's wild. 111 for 1146 and two. What did Brock have? Reception wise? No, touchdown. Brock was at five. Okay.

Which is not crazy. Five receiving? So I guess then that's only one more touchdown then, right? Didn't McBride have, I thought McBride had a rushing touchdown and then the fumble recovery. Yeah, yeah. So they were close. Yeah. And McBride, definitely the first read

in the Arizona offense. It wasn't the season Cardinals fans expected from Marvin Harrison. And it doesn't matter the strides that Harrison makes because we're talking about a situation that is going to be very Reggie Wayne Dallas Drake. Yes. This is going to be a centerpiece.

He's going to get paid. He'll be the highest paid tight end. And Jason just talked about, at number seven, you got 50-50 shot of a complete bust. Like McBride, Bowers, these guys are gonna give you reliable target numbers every week. And that is my favorite thing with the tight end. Just let me know that you've got a high target share. Right.

That you're getting, I mean, the touchdowns are gonna come and go. For these two guys, you're gonna have much better seasons touchdown-wise than you just got. For years it has been when you look at your matchup on a weekly basis and your opponent has Travis Kelce, you just really not, you're like, ah that sucks. I'm already taking like a seven, eight point loss at this position. I got to make it up elsewhere. That's your hopeful. Right, yeah. You're hoping you take a seven eight point loss at this position. I got to make it up elsewhere. That's your hopeful, right?

Yeah, you're hoping you take a seven point loss, but you might get three touchdowns on you And it seems like these two guys at least trey mcbride and brock bowers I think they'll be neck and neck this this coming season depending on who has more touchdowns Um, they're a they're a difference maker. So I will be drafting them very very high right. Right now, as the tight end two, he's going in the middle of the third round, which seems like a wonderful value. Yeah, I love that Andy, you're alluding to it a little bit,

just of the, like, Trey McBride and Brock Bowers, to me, have nothing to worry about competition-wise. Like, George Kittle, I'm excited for George Kittle right now. But we've seen things change. Things over the off season for the 49ers could change drastically. They might stay the same, but there is a chance they can change. And if things change for the Raiders or the Cardinals, it does not matter. It's actually better for them, in my opinion.

Marv gets better. They add another Potential wide receiver weapon for the Cardinals now the offense is better now. They might score more exactly Trey McBride will not lose His spot in the in the pecking order and in the depth chart of where the targets are gonna go He's a a top-tier talent and if you get him on a better offense, just like Bowers, then now we're talking they are lapping the field. And it's the human beings. Like the actual guys, Trey McBride and Brock Bowers,

it was their doing versus, I mean, all of these guys are great. I don't want to take anything away from Sam Laporte. Exceptional tight end, but it wasn't his doing. He is a part of a great offense. I would push back on that. I think it was a scheme that schemed him open that allowed him to take advantage of a great offense that is the number one scoring offense in the league versus the other two guys.

It was all they're doing. You get the ball, you break two tackles, you run for 20 more yards, there's just nothing you can do about that. That's just not what Laporta can do. Yeah, we can agree to disagree in part on that. I mean, Laporta didn't just have one good season. He had two seasons for this team.

You know, 120 targets is earned, targets aren't earned stat. And Trey McBride didn't have years like this his entire career, because you did have to have opportunities to make them a center piece of the offense. He didn't outplay Zach Hertz in previous years. So it was his time, but I don't want to take away from La Porta just because that offense had two amazing running backs, two amazing wide receivers. So La Porta got 90 targets instead of whatever these other guys did. My point is more, like I said, I don't want to take it away from Laporta.

I think you do. No, it's to build these other two guys up, because I never saw Laporta go up and just moss people left and right. You saw that with Trey McBride all the time, his sideline catches that were just like, and hurtling people, which I wish you would stop doing. Right, stop. It's very cool, and especially for a man your size, but stop it. Porta's got a higher yards per catch than McBride does tell you that yeah I think he had a

couple of real long breakaway Reception wasn't his doing no what they put him on a car They put him on a cart and drove him down the sideline No I mean we're actually saying the same thing because it was like those broken plays where he was By himself on half of a field. LaPorte is an amazing athlete and an amazing title. His season's so good, we must be talking about him next.

No, we gotta talk about Johnny Smith first. Oh, well LaPorte will be right after that though, right? No, no, no, a couple more. Right after that though. No, not yet. Ha ha ha ha ha. Good season my butt. Yeah.

All right, Johnny Smith is for somehow Johnny Smith Here's your line here, I don't really look I'm not taking nothing away from Shannon Laporta, but the dudes socks You made me do that last year's number one Porter you brought this on him. Yeah, I like the dude didn't catch a million passes. If Laporta was in the Cardinals offense, he would have caught that amount of passes. Sam Laporta is no John U. Smith. That's what I know. John U. Smith was the number four most consistent

and number four overall. He was 13 in consistency in the first half, third in the second half, 63% good, 25% bust, 31% great. That 31% great number, that's right on par with Trey McBride, I mean that's above Brock Bauer. Dude, the second half was outrageous for John. I mean he was a lead, he had 88 receptions

for 884 yards, 111 targets, and really didn't become the central focus at the tight end position or in the offense until week nine. Yeah, people won championships with John New Smith. I mean, he was the tight end two, three, three, five, two, and then 10, 13, five. But the 10, 13, you're talking about basically double-digit fantasy points those weeks. Those are just- They're not bus games. Not at all. And it is funny, you brought this up a couple times during the season, especially late towards

the playoffs, that maybe Arthur Smith deserved an apology because the entire world was so sick of him using John Smith over Kyle Pitts. Like you've got this highly drafted top 10 pick and you're, but he's a practice going, uh, that guy's better. Yeah. John Smith's a better player than Kyle Pitts. That is 100% correct. But his usage of Drake London, I don't issue any apologies.

Fair. Keep him down, Mike. I like it. This was, you know, Johnny Smith is sort of like what David Njoki did last year to finish the season. You had just a run of games where you're like, this is a guy that's been around and yet is now an elite option. Indicative of Miami's transformation on

offense. They couldn't get the ball, they weren't willing to get the ball down the field as much. Tyreek Hill, we went over that in the truth episode for him. Almost half the receiving yards. And I don't think any of us would have said, if we told you starting the year, he's gonna have half the receiving yards. Who's the beneficiary? You would have said Devon Aitchin. You would have said Jaylen Waddle. You would have said somebody not named Johnny Smith. You would have said Jaylen Waddle. You would have said somebody not named Johnnus Smith. I would have said Malik Washington. Breakout season as a rookie. Absolutely. It would not have been Johnnus Smith. But Johnnus Smith was the quick out relief valve over and over down the stretch for Tuah. Now Johnnus

is- That could run after the catch. Johnn who is under contract next year for the Dolphins I don't see the the scheme style getting the ball out of to his hands to protect him as well Changing that's what I was gonna say. Is this a blip or not? I don't I well, I don't think the second half is going to continue all throughout next year I didn't two three three five two, right? however, I think he is going to be a really valuable fantasy asset next year. He'll certainly be, I think, in the top seven tight ends. Is that fair?

I see him having kind of like- In ADP, you mean? No, no, no, it's fantasy finish. I think at the end of the year, he'll be a- Yeah, seven or eight. Seven or eight, somewhere around there. Kind of what we had for a couple seasons from like Evan Ingram.

Kind of volume your way towards being a very relevant, not bust pick. But you have, that's the question is, are we gonna have a Johnu HN offense, or are we gonna have a Tyree Kill Jalen Waddle offense? Not Tyree Kill. Yeah, it's weird. Two years ago, if you remember, they were dead last

in target share. For the tight end position. Yeah, for the tight end position. This was not a team. And now, chicken or egg, right? Who are they going to throw the ball to type of stuff. The chicken. And John, who emerges. You don't want to throw the ball at eggs. They'll break. I just I

This is a really difficult thing of I get of not Knowing which which which ways they often is gonna point they didn't have John who two years ago, right? He was he was still a smithing it a falcon. So I think part of it is that and part of it is Tyree kill I mean, you know two years ago Tyree Kill was two years younger, and that's a pretty big deal right now when you're at this age. And number five, with 55 receptions. 55!

On just 69 targets. Not nice. 673 yards, but 11 touchdowns is Mark Andrews, which the Mark Andrews, what do you wanna call it? The Journey? The Adventure? The roller coaster. I mean they're building a Mark Andrews

at Six Flags right now. Oh, does it start pretty crappy? It starts crappy but it's gonna, oh it's wild at the end. They take you underwater where you're almost drowning and then right before you drown, it lifts up. And then it rockets you up. Look, Mark Andrews is, it's wild.

This was the, did you know, this is his career high in touchdowns? That was his career high in touchdowns. Was it his career high in games played? Yes. Yeah, that's always been his problem. 11 touchdowns, he's only had one double digit year ever. One of the things that happened back in 2021 is we've got, we got this outrageous outlier season from Andrew's 154

targets, 107 receptions. He's played seven seasons. He's never again surpassed 73 receptions. Andrew's story is never going to be competing with McBride and Bowers on the PPR reception totals. It's always gonna be, if Andrews is on the field and Lamar Jackson's on the field, these two have a special red zone relationship. And it surfaced over the course of the back half of the year. Yeah, and when you say the back half of the year, it really, the first month of the season,

that's when at that point, after week four, people were cutting Mark Andrews in half of your leagues. He had just goose'd back-to-back games. Oh man, oh, the back-to-back goose, and then the discussion of do you play Mark Andrews? Yeah, do you play him and then do you drop him? He was, and we, you know, I think we did our best saying you don't drop Mark Andrews.

People have bad games. I might have been done after the first four. I know I was. Which I don't blame anyone. So here's how bad it was, the truth of his season. The first four weeks, he had a total of 65 yards. And 51 of those came in one of those games. No touchdowns, six total receptions.

So it was worthless. 14 yards in the other three games? Yeah. And then if you think about it, you go, okay, so he finished great. He must have had an amazing stretch run the rest of the way. From weeks five through 18, the rest of the way, if you just take the yardage pace of those games, once you're finally past the car accident month,

remember that narrative, you got in a car accident early, maybe it took them a while to get going. What do you think his yardage was from that point forward? It would have been a 17-game pace of under 800 yards, 795 yards. So to me- Yeah, but what's the touchdown pace? 14.4.

Yeah, okay, all right. But I think it echoes what Andy's saying. He's not going to be a high-volume, high-floor PPR machine anymore. He has huge game upside because of touchdown. Yeah, his consistency rank was below his fantasy finish, Which you're probably gonna see from him with touchdown dependency was number four in the second half number six on the season 17 in the first half 31% bust rate He redeemed

You know all of the if you had him still if you kept him You could play him and you could rely on him because tight end, it's tough in the tight end streets. Mark Andrews delivered with the touchdowns. That's where the value came. But the truth of his season is not, I don't feel like he was the fifth best tight end. No, no. I mean, despite that first month and the fact that you don't feel that way still finished above Sam Laporta. Yeah he did he did. So there's that. He did finish that of Sam Laporta. Oh man. So no no let me just take the logical conclusion. You said verbatim McBride earned it Laporta didn't which

means that if Laporta didn't perform, it's also not his fault. Thank you. Because if it wasn't his fault to be successful, it can't be his fault if he failed. Correct. Yeah, so he's just a product of a system, so he would have been great had they let him be great. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Great. So I mean there's no point on dunking on him, just dunk on the lion. I wasn't dunking on him, Just dunk on the lion. I wasn't dug in him. I was sharing facts Sure, um, my interest finished above stable Porter. That's yeah. No, he did you feel like you'll be in On mark. I think I think Mark Andrews this next year will plummet in draft I guess where's early best ball end of the seventh round right now end of the seventh

So that's gonna be probably ahead of where Johnnu's going. And I think I would rather have Johnnu than Mark Andrews next year. I'd rather have that. Take the one round? Not only the one round discount, if they were in the same round. If I'm on the clock at the beginning of the eighth round

and I'm choosing between Johnnu and Mark Andrews, I think I'd rather have the PPR floor and the consistency that I would expect from the Tua offense rather than just the touchdown upside for Mark Andrews. I mean, 55 receptions over 17 games. You played every game. You averaged 3.23 receptions.

Yeah. That clenches the butt cheeks until you get the touchdown. Which, to be fair. Make sure I never say that exact line again. You got a lot of touchdowns. It was fine. So you unclenched it, yeah, regularly. Yeah, those loose butt cheeks.

Lot of fiber. All right, Kelsey, at number six, was drafted as the tight end one in the third round. Whoops. He's 35 years old, consistency rank of eight in the first half, it was 13, in the second half, it was nine. Not a good pick, just not a good pick no he was the perfect kind of did

enough fish to make you keep playing him because you'd never sit Kelsey right but but maybe you could have maybe you could have shifted from what you got from Kelsey in the second half to a Johnnie Smith. So we've already, if it hasn't become clear, we've already hit the massive tear break of, I know we're talking about Travis Kelce, Hall of Famer, first round fantasy pick forever, but he is obviously no longer an elite option,

a weekly reliable player that you're going to bank on. And I don't think Mark Andrews is either, we just talked about him. So like John who's on that bubble, which he's probably not. I don't think he's in that group. He's probably not in that group. No, he's not in that group for me.

Which means there's only three. And the rest of these are all trash. Well, until next year's number one pick. Sure, maybe it'll be four, but then if that happens, if next year's number one pick, if the rookie comes in and achieves greatness, that only means that George Kittle has to be bad then.

Yeah. Because of the rule of the tight end. It's kind of like Highlander. Yes, there could only be three. There's generally another. So I said kind of. There's normally another John U. Smith. It wouldn't be John U. again.

Right. There'd be somebody else. But we talked a lot about Kelsey already at the top, talking about his age, talking about how he wants to keep playing, talking about how annoying it is going to be just giving you the numbers. 25% great, 50% good, 38% bust. That was the Travis Kelsey story. I'd love to talk Laporta,

but we got to take a break first. All right. Last year's number one tight end. Totally didn't earn it. Number one, didn't earn it. This year, didn't earn it. Number seven, just kind of a mist out there on the field. Sam Laporta, who's drafted as the tight end two in the third round, no question, disaster. Yeah, huge bust. Disaster. He was the eighth most consistent in the second half after a much worse start at number 21, only 7% great,

47% good, 33% bust. Jameson Williams returned this year, made a big impact. We talked about him in the tight end truth. Huge difference maker. Had the dominance from Gibbs Gibbs who ascended Montgomery, who continued. Laporta can be good. He is a very, very serviceable option in this offense,

but all jokes aside, he's not the dominant force that demands to be a centerpiece of the offense he is a great asset to add to an already good offense if unfortunately you are right yeah and so you know the first half of the season when you drafted him as that tight in one or tight in two when you really went in on Sam Laporta I mean you you dropped Sam Sam Laporta was dropped because unlike Mark Andrews where it was one month into the season We're talking nine games into the season where Sam Laporta was behind Zacherts and Mike Kosicki and Dalton Kincaid and Colkommett

He was you know this year's given up you had given up you had moved on and a lot of people would stream Sam Laporta Second half of the season now that turned out good because he he was kind of more integral to the offense later on. And the thing is, is I know that any game that you're out there, Sam Laporta can finish as, even the Titan I on the week, that's nice to know, but you're not gonna have consistency because he's not a, he isn't part of the engine that makes the offense move. He is this year, seven touchdowns on 60 catches.

I mean, you're in the Andrews territory right there. Double those touchdowns. Double? Almost. Your math is bad. I think 12, 11. A part of the situation for Laporta is like. Did you just say that seven times two is 12?

Cause I think that's what you did. I think you said that seven times two is 12? Oh, we had seven, I thought we had six. I think that's what you did. I think you said that. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Not letting you leave there. Okay, that's fair. That one's on me. Is, yeah, like, just remembering the story

of the Detroit Lions. The first half of the year, when the Lions had their defensive pieces, and they were killing people on offense, and then the defense was not allowing people to score, so you weren't getting, while the offense is still strong, it's not as relied upon. And then in the second half of the year,

I'm trying to think about this out loud, like could that have been a source of why, La Porta had a great second half? Because the Lions had whatever, you know, 20 plus guys on IR, including losing a bunch of key defensive pieces. And losing Montgomery for a period of time where he had two good games without Montgomery. Look, Garret Goff threw for 4,637. You would have expected a much better year for Sam La Porta.

Yes, you would have. If he was indeed the focal point, like a McBride or a Bowers or a Kittle. Yeah, he's the fourth receiving option in this office. And we all like Amon Rao forever. We like Jameson Williams. We like Jameer Gibbs, who catches the football. He's not changing that order. Now, could he have a, he could have a top five year

because he catches 11 touchdowns. Yeah, exactly. But that's the category for sure. So fight over. Number eight, Tucker Kraft. Number nine, Zach Ertz. Don't worry about Tucker Kraft. Why are we skipping Tucker Kraft?

I have no idea. I'm going- Who made this executive decision? I made the executive decision. Our note says skip. Yeah, why are we skipping Kraft? So yeah, because we wanted to talk about 12 guys because that's kind of how we fit them in. And I wanted to get to David Njoku. I

wanted to get to David Njoku and Dallas Goddard. Why? Tucker Kraft was better. Well, okay, he was a little bit better. Dallas Goddard was significantly better. He was the tight end seven in our consistency rankings but but missed games and David Najoku is I mean, who are you who are you taking next year David Najoku or Tucker Kraft? Here's the thing throwing the ball in Cleveland Tucker Kraft did not have a good season Did he have more total fantasy points than the guys who missed games? Yes, but he didn't have a good fantasy season I'm not gonna draft them next year's and it's an irrelevant conversation Musgrave was was gone Yeah, Kraft stole his launch money. I mean Zach Hertz. Yeah, these are this is the you didn't play that great This is just the order you're in we don't have to talk about any of these guys

Well, Zach Hertz did it at this thing up did it at 34 and was the ninth most consistent Yeah, I just I think Tucker Kraft was Better than you do, apparently. Well, Tucker Kraft, I mean, if you want to look at the numbers, he had 50 catches for 700 yards and seven touchdowns. This is, I think, Ferguson-y. Dalton Schultz a couple years ago. I guess Dallas turnstile.

I mean, it's just more about, like... What is his career path? Like he was he was a third-round pick. He's 6'5", 259, he's 24 years old he was a third-round pick. Yes. He's not an athletic freak, he is a capable. Well his athleticism is actually... Whoa! Whoa! Athletic-ism? Athletic-ism? Athletic-ism? And then I bailed out and jumped to do a different word. It happens. You've done that.

His athleticism is actually pretty, it's better than you think it is. Like his quickness and explosiveness, he's in the 69th percentile and the 75th percentile for explosive. Like he has good short area speed. But he's a piece. He's a piece of it all. He is. He's only had two games where he had five or more receptions.

You also had Luke Musgrave miss the vast majority of the season. Played a couple weeks, got injured for the whole season, played the couple at the end. Kraft is probably it now, though. Yeah, that's what I think. Probably. I think Kraft is, he's going to be the preferred guy.

And it's 355 yards as a rookie, 707 as a sophomore. Just saying, I would pay attention to the way that his career's unfolding. Mike wants him to get some time on the show. He got some time. You can have as much time as you want for Tucker Craft. That was it. We're done.

He doesn't want to talk about Ertz. We probably don't need to. But he had a great year. Yeah, is he back? The muth? He will be for half a season before Benson it takes over the muth was at 10. Njoku was at 11 but keep an eye on the consistency rank. He was number five. Like you you talked about Johnny Smith. I take no joke over

Jonah Smith. Yes. Unless I am being dealt the worst hand at quarterback I can comprehend. What about Njoku or Laporta? Nujoku. Yeah, of course. Oh my gosh, this can't be a thing. Nujoku's story was he missed so much time. He missed three weeks at the beginning of the year. He missed week 15. He missed two weeks in the championship week and the week after. He missed his quarterback. He had a Marty Cooper trade in midseason. The team is collapsing, but you watch and play football and you say, okay, this is a, a dominator.

I think he's going to be a humongous bounce back candidate and probably the best value of the non best, you know, the non elite tight ends next year, because at the end of the previous season, we weren't sure was it these ancillary pieces or did he level up can he be kind of a center of a top two target in an offense going forward and while at the end of this season it seems like he wasn't because he missed those games got injured throughout had some quarterback changes even James Winston getting pulled and nobody paid attention to the Browns as the

season went on. You kind of forgot about David Najoku. But on a per game basis and watching the film, he was actually the guy that ended the season prior. He didn't go on that kind of a magma stretch because if you remember the season prior, it was somehow their schedule lined up with like eight of the best matchups for tight ends in a row. But my point is, going into this draft season,

there was a question of, is David Najoku that guy or not? And I believe he actually proved he was despite finishing at tight end 11. I can't believe you wanted to talk about Dallas Goddard more than Tucker Craft. Dallas Goddard, we've played the record for eight years. I mean, he finishes at 27, his consistency was 7, his second half was 5, but he missed a ton of time and he did exactly what he always does. He's always willing to give you about a 10 to 12 finish at the position. If he was a video game character,

his nickname would be the opportunist. He's going to take advantage of a certain game here or there, but we've been here, right? I mean, we are. No, I mean, we do not need to talk about Dallas Goddard. There's only one. Seven seasons of Dallas Goddard. There was only one. I got about five more minutes on Tucker Crabs. Look, I'm gonna be honest with you guys.

The tight ends after the top guys are so borderline irrelevant. And what's the truth? The truth, the absolute truth, if I'm being completely honest and no jokes, is the reason that I wanted to talk about the Dallas Gotter was to get Turtile in here. The problem is you guys brought up Turtile really early in the show. Oh, I'm sorry. So we didn't even need. Oh, he was just a Turtile placeholder. Yeah, Tucker Kreff was so I could get Turtile really early in the show. Oh, I'm sorry. So we didn't even need Dallas Carrier. Oh, he was just a turtile placeholder.

Yeah, Tucker Craft was so I could get turtile into this show, guys. That's more important than Tucker Craft. You're that fascinated in the word. I'm that unfascinated with the meandering. I mean, because we could talk about a million of these guys. Are we a turtile? No. A trifecta of...

I mean, I'm in the top turtile of the... There's the roof all over. Well, you are in the top church tile of the- There's three- Well, you are the only Ring of Honor member, so that's true. But I mean, whether we talk about- Congrats on that, by the way. Whether we talk about Kate Auten or Mike Gysicki or Cole Comet, I mean, there are so many of these guys, and it's pretty irrelevant the difference between most of them. So next year year stream the position

or get one of the studs. Oh man. Well that's good because this triumvirate has another segment for you. I cannot wait to be in on Cole Comitt. Yeah maybe. Oh man, it's gonna be fun. He's a talented player.

He is. When you were talking about Tucker Craft, all I could think about was Cole Comitt. Because it's the same, it feels the same. Yeah, but we all agree that Colt Committ is a talented guy. Exactly. And got hosed this year, and now he's got. He will be hosed forever.

He's got Ben Johnson. He's got Ben Johnson, he's the new Laporta. Oh no. Laporta didn't earn it, so he didn't eat it. That's the point. Even better. He just gives it to him. ["Fantasy Face Off"] points. Even better. He just gives it to him.

Fantasy Face Off presented by DraftKings. Well it's the final one of the year. We did not have football last week so we do not have any punishments to dole out but we do have Super Bowl lineups. My lineup is punishment enough everybody. We do have. Hope you got Dallas Goddard in it after all this sweet Dallas Goddard talk. Oh he's in. We're circling back to Super Bowl only captain lineups for the big game.

I'm going with a captain, Saquon Barkley. Well who's your captain, Jay? My captain as well is Saquon Barkley. And who's your captain Jay? My captain as well is Saquon Barkley. And I knew that both of you would go with the captain of Saquon Barkley so it was what in the like how do you pivot this so it is just the ultimate victory and coming in at the bottom of the turtile Mr. Dallas Dallas Gotter will be my captain. Oh, he's your captain? Fantastic. Well, the rest of my lineup.

That was before I even knew that this show was gonna happen this way. You're talking about number seven consistency ranked Dallas Gotter? That's who I'm talking about. My final five names, Barclay, by the way, 18,000 as a captain. All right, why don't you name one name

we'll say if we got him so we know. Is that the best way to do it? Yeah, yeah. Really? I think that sounds confusing. Let's try it out. I have Hollywood. I have Hollywood as well.

At 5,400. I have Hollywood Brown. Okay, so he's irrelevant. I have Goddard in my lineup, not my captain, but 5,800. I have Goddard at 5,800 as well. Mike says captain irrelevant, other than obviously you get more points. If you haven't played this game before, your captain gets extra points like one and a half times the points for whatever they score. But they also their salary costs more. Yes. When you choose them. I have Patrick Mahomes at 10,000. Ooh, I do not. I don't have any Mahomes.

Okay, so I'm. I've got Jalen Hurts. I do not have Hurts. I have Jalen Hurts. All right, so Mike and I are on the Hurts, you're on the Mahomes side. Yeah, I just figured he's gonna hand it to Barkley. That's what I'm gonna go with.

I figure Mahomes is gonna lose. Xavier Worthy at 8,000, and then Noah Gray is the bargain bin at 2,800. I've got Noah Gray at 2,800, and Kareem Hunt at 6,000 and then Noah Gray is the bargain bin at 2,800. I've got Noah Gray at 2,800 and Kareem Hunt at 6,400. Oh, I went with one more ride for the big guy. We've got Travis Kelsey in here at 9,000. I figure he'll show up on the Super Bowl. And then a guy who's surprisingly getting a bunch

of targets inside the end zone, not a bunch of targets nor playing time, but I'm going with Deandre Hopkins at 4,400. Just hope that we get, if anyone has a fluky two touchdown game, I think it's Hopkins. You just heard three lineups. Zero AJ Brown, zero Devonta Smith.

That's true. Yeah. Pretty wild. Yeah, cause Dallas got her. Oh boy, that was fantasy face off presented by DraftKings Sportsbook. It's the last chance to bet on the NFL this season. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app and use the code BALLERS.

That is the code BALLERS. Place any TD bet on Super Bowl 59 and get it matched as a bonus bet in the amount of your original bet. Only on DraftKings Sportsbook, the crown is yours. So do you have a final thought there, Mike? Just a Goddard related, Goddard and Kraft, Goddard and Kraft, you guys.

Wow, I was like, I don't know that song. Focus on those next year for tight end. Dude, this is what I do. I like my nasty boy tight ends. It's good you passed on McBride for Andrews, I'll tell you that, that was smart. Yeah, Marv. That was smart. Yeah. Marv.

Marv! Goodbye everybody. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. In New York, call 877-8HOPENY or text HOPENY467369. In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-789-777777 or visit ccpg.org. Please play responsibly.

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