Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast - Too Hot To Handle + Risk vs Reward - Fantasy Football Podcast for 6/25

Episode Date: June 25, 2026

Fantasy Football show for June 25th, 2026. Rising temperatures and draft costs! Find out which players are “too hot to handle” in 2026 fantasy football drafts! Caleb Williams, Jeremiyah Love, and others discussed. Plus, reactions to contract extensions for Kyle Pitts and Brenton Strange. Manage your redraft, keeper, and dynasty fantasy football teams with the #1 fantasy football podcast. 2026 ULTIMATE DRAFT KIT is available now at UltimateDraftKit.com Get MEGALASHOW tickets at BallersLive.com (00:00) Intro (02:45) NFL News (14:45) Too Hot To Handle (16:00) Caleb Williams (24:30) Jeremiyah Love (35:40) George Pickens (42:05) Colston Loveland Connect with the show: Subscribe on YouTube Visit us on the Web Support the Show Follow on X Follow on Instagram Join our Discord Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

to the fantasy footballers podcast with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Oh, welcome in. Thursday, June 25th, the fantasy footballers, Jason Moore, Mike Wright, Andy Holloway with you today. Closing out the month of June. We'll be into three shows a week here in July soon. And then I think it's 50 to 100 shows a week from August through December. Is it? No, it's every day.

It's every day plus the footcast. Plus we got the Dynasty show. Yeah, Wednesdays. And the DFS show. Yes. And spitballers. Mondays. So many, many, many ballers shows.

Hey, look, five days a week means football is coming. That's what it's going to mean. And when August hits, it's mayhem. And we will see a lot of movement regarding ADP, which is the topic of today's show, because we're doing a too hot to handle, taking a look at a handful of players. Ooh, and they're hot.

Who, yeah. Too hot and a hot too. We might like them, but they may become too expensive. Yeah, it's all opportunity cost. Excessive heat warning. Yeah. Those are going around.

So we do have a few tickets left to the Megalus show. If you want to come visit us. The Fantasy Footballers Live, the Megalus show presented by Series XM and sponsored by GMC and Petsmart, Friday, August 28th at the Van Buren in Phoenix, Arizona. You can go to Ballerslive.com, and that will be a great time. And then if you are prepping up for your draft as we get into three shows a week and then five and mock drafting season and all that good stuff, and you want the number one tool to prepare you, head to Ultimate DraftKit.com.

we have some new features coming out hopefully early July that we'll be able to talk about soon just to uh you know like a cherry on top of everything you get inside the UDK we're going to jump right into news because we do have some news news and notes from around the league well well well the falcons have signed tight in Kyle pits to a three year 54 million extension that includes 36 million and guaranteed money. I mean, at his age, he'll see all of that money, I think. Yes. So that's a $54 million commitment.

It puts him up there with the highest paid tight-ins in per year average, right behind Kettle and McBride, ahead of what likely got this offseason, ahead of what Andrews re-signed for. I mean, if you really, If you had to summarize the Kyle Pitts story so far in his career, I don't know what it is. I think the summary of Kyle Pitts's story is massive disappointment quality player. He is actually a quality player for this team. Obviously, they're giving him a $54 million extension because they need him.

They need another receiving option, and he is not a bad player. For fantasy, we're especially disappointed because he was supposed to be one of the generational, He was supposed to be what Brock Bowers actually turned out to be. And it doesn't seem like he'll ever do that, but he's cool. And yet he had an isolated game or he broke every record. Yes. So those are like almost worse for us because it shows what could be. Yeah, not every tight end could go out and do that.

No, I mean, no tight end has ever done that. He had the highest fantasy point total of any single game in the history of the NFL. Now we like following trends because, you know, finding fantasy football players. That's how you got to do it. Oh, my gosh. Jason, I just went and looked at Kyle Pitts's touchdowns per year. Per year. Oh, all right.

Is it trending? Go ahead, Mike. Year one. Remember that we had the disappointing. It was only one touchdown. It was actually a great year. Yeah, you had 1,000 yards. Year 2, he had 2.

Okay. Year 3, he had 3. Wow. Hold on. Okay. Year 4. Can I guess? Do you, are you sure?

Do you know what the trend is? Okay. Four touchdowns. Yeah. You got it. All right. Year 5. Five.

Wow. How is this possible? He's just getting better. When he turns 30, he'll have a 10 touchdown season. So what you're saying? I mean, if you look at what he did last year, how was it possible? He was the lowest yards per catch by a lot in his career,

but his yardage was back up at 928. I mean, do people realize that he had 88 receptions? Like we hear the number two overall tight-in number, and we dismiss it because it was under 10 points. game. I think a lot of people do that. But this was by far unequivocally his best season ever was last year, which he timed up

wonderfully for his contract situation. Yeah. But 118 targets is insane for a tight end. Just under 1,000 yards, five touchdowns a career high and 88 receptions. Yeah, I mean, he can do it. And none of that is unrepeatable. I would agree with that. He could be the number

or two tight end again on volume, but I think the big issue for me when I look at the season, it's not even the one insane 40-point outlier game where, you know, in the playoffs, no less, 166 of his, you know, 928 yards came from that single game. It's more the fact that almost all of his really good games came without Drake London on the field. It was, it was when Drake London was injured, he stepped up big time, which shows he can step up. So now the hope, I think, is Drake London comes back. And now they've got two guys that are able to go out

there and do something special. I'm skeptical that Pitts will do it special while London's on the field. You don't think he'll do it special? I don't. Uh, Brenton Strange, another tight in. Three year contract extension, 25 million guaranteed. Get paid. Worth up to 48. Britain Strange's season, I was talking to Mike about this a minute ago. Like, his was sort of kind, it was sort of set up to be the kind of situation fantasy managers can take advantage of, which is, if you pace him out over the year he was pretty reasonable as a tight end but he missed five games in the middle of the season

after he came back so weeks 12 through 18 his involvement was again they had some injuries but 63 for 816 and 7 and if you remember me talking about Parker Washington a couple weeks ago everything that I had read from Jacksonville was Parker Washington and Brent and Stranger the contract priorities

for the team they've now fixed one of those. They signed Britain Strange. I mean, he is certainly just a streaming tight end, I think, for all of us, but... He's very capable. He had some good games at the end of last year. He's stuck in the Jacksonville. Who will it be?

Like, he'll definitely have games where he pops. And guys, you're never going to believe this. Brenton Strange, year one. Oh, come on. Wait, wait a minute. Wait a minute. What are you telling me here? We're in year four.

I'm a friend strange and I can tell you without a doubt he will have four receiving touchdowns. He's gone one, two, three? That is correct. What is why are we going so slow? Why not 246, 8? Who do we appreciate? Kyle Pitts big numbers. It's just

stumbling into this right here live on the show with the two guys who got paid. Then I'm going to report Mike on this next Titan and you do the research needed. Let me know. The Athletic is reporting Tucker Kraft. could start training camp on the Pup list, but reports he should be fully go by week one.

You are never going to believe this. No, no. Oh, God. I know that one's not true. How dare you. Tucker Craft's a dog. Yeah, Tucker Kraft was breaking out. Imagine not scoring seven touchdowns your second year.

In an amazing way he was breaking out. Look, the health of two important tight ends, Tucker Kraft and George Kittle, the offseason's been good. I mean, these were situations, injuries, and timelines that we would have assumed maybe you start the year on the pup for both of these guys,

which we did get, you know, craft on the pup for training camp seems the most likely thing. Yes. So there's two different pups. A lot of times people get those confused. If you start the season on the pup, you have to miss four games, you can start training camp,

and lots of players start training camp on the pup. That's just like, it's a free release, just you're not ready to go yet, put him on the pop. That does not mean he will miss any games. But the videos right now, the workouts, the involvement from both Tucker Kraft and George Kittles say that they will be playing football in week one. Now, whether they're at full strength, certainly more skeptical on the Kittles side at his age. I don't know, man.

I'm getting more talked to. I'm already, he's got joined me. He has two and a half months. And I've watched enough of him right now to feel like two and a half more months. How is that dude not out there? I mean, they will both be playing in week one, that's for sure. The question is just, will they be at full production from the get-go?

I'm more, I am joining you, Mike, on the Tucker Craft side. I am, I moved him up this morning before this show. Two dogs. Yeah. Those are two strong, bullish dog of minns. Those are not meows and tailors. Those are Rottweilers. That was three species in one sentence.

Thank you. So we've lost our trend. Just to circle back to Brent and Strange. I did see another article talk about. It kind of sounded the alarm. We did bounce back players with Brian Thomas Jr. Now you sign Britten Strange. You have Jacobi Myers and you have Parker Washington.

Travis Hunter. And the article was like, they're going to get Brian Thomas Jr. involved way down the field. That was the article. Oh, boy. Which is like... That's what they tried to do last year. That's how your catch percentage goes down.

That's how you don't get the 17 screen game opportunities he had the year before. And that's how you get volatility and a lack of consistency in an offense. Brian Thomas Jr. will have big plays. But if he's being, if it's being drawn up for the ball to go to a bunch of different places, and he's just the vertical threat, which is the phrase, it is a little concerning. Which a good friend of the show, Matt Harmon, he has coined the phrase, the sacrificial X. Yeah.

It's just, which it's like, Alec Pierce used to be that for years. Where they're just like, hey, how's your cardio? Is it good? Run. Nice, because you're running a go route 80% of the time. That's the talk around Jalen McMillan-Millan slash Ted Hurst in Tampa Bay to free things up for Abuka is who's going to be out there running straight down the field.

But there you go. What else do we have? Well, the Sorsby stuff. Yeah, we had a brief conversation about Brendan Sorsby, and he had a brief moment where he was going to. play in the NFL and the NFL has now declined. They just declined to hold the supplemental draft. Yeah, they said, nah, we're good. They said they didn't have enough time to investigate a situation. So kick him to 2027 regular draft, which helps fantasy managers, but hurts Brendan

Sorsby. The Sorsby legal team is going after this and going to try to fight it, but more than likely Yeah, you're not going to win in time. I wouldn't take that bet. All of the conversations we had, nice, all the conversations we had about what to do, are irrelevant. He will be in the 2027 draft most likely. And it wouldn't be an offseason news segment without somebody being investigated for allegations of assault. And it's Gino Smith this time. Being further investigated, no other news. The video was posted with some accusations on there. And it seemed like it was all going to be resolved quickly. but now this is popping back up.

So yeah, they'll look into it. Yeah, you know, we haven't had any indication that it's going to impact anything yet, but you'd never really know. Correct. Although more and more stuff is on video. That is for sure. Any other news to jump into?

You guys have anything back there? The only other piece of news I can think of is we posted a very bad video of some of our goals. golf today. Yeah, it had been requested. Yeah. And so the Falcon get a couple swings in there. Falcon managed to get us to pay him for like a whole day's work to get this one video out there.

Yeah, to get him out on a golf course. I feel like, which he's also in there. So I am in the video. I am not in the video. I feel like posting your golf swing on the internet. Is dangerous? Is very dangerous? Yeah, I expect. For me. I expect some serious blowback. It's a, it's a

you're exposing yourself. You feel a little naked. Yeah. Because it's like golf swings. That's what Charles Berkeley's now known for. Yeah, he has that. And it's like some people, you know, especially golfers of our skill level, like, it may not be the most aesthetically pleasing swing, but it can get the job done. Yeah, we may be okay with it.

But then you see it on video. You're like, oh. Yeah. So what was your reaction? Seeing your own swing. My reaction, looking at my swing, which my swing is bad, I was like, I look good. So. Is that why you wear the shirts you do to just kind of distract from the form? Yeah. Just pay attention to the silliness.

We, we, uh, what is that on our Instagram, Matthew? Everything. That's on everything. All right. Instagram.com slash fantasy footballers if you want to, I don't know. If you're a good golfer, probably don't watch it. Yeah. We'll take a break. We'll jump into too hot to handle.

It's more of a comedy piece. I don't think my heart rate was ready for that drop. That thing got going. That wasn't my tempo. All right. Well, things are certainly heating up out here. We almost die every time we go out on the golf course. But today's segment, too hot to handle.

We're talking about average draft position for players where they are now and where they're potentially headed players that you might be excited for. You know, this is a part of. fantasy football that actually is just annoying to me in the sense that there are players I adore and I have to be mature enough to never draft certain players because every year they be certain players become the darling of the fantasy football world and the cost right the opportunity costs can become too high and we certainly see this in the projected breakout quarterbacks a lot of the time where I'd love for these guys to be a late round pick but they are not so we're

going to talk through some names what we think. We'll start with the quarterback. And whether we're passing on him or we would pass on him if you move to this range. It's the ice man. Caleb. Isn't that what they're calling him? That's right. That's right. The iceman. Isn't that it as a Madden cover? He's so he needs sleeves. Give the man a sweater. Fourth and 36.

He's got ice in them veins. All right. Here's the context for Caleb Williams. average 19.3 fantasy points from weeks 1 through 17 last year. Being drafted right now on Underdog is the quarterback 6. When we mentioned Underdog, that is best ball, that is not redraft formatted, that is looking for, you know, explosive performances, players with tremendous upside tend to do better on Underdog. That is true, but I think it is more than just, oh, these are explosive swing for the fences type of players.

it's also this is where the money is. And this time of year, the drafts that are going on on Sleeper are less serious or maybe it's mock draft data. Whereas on Underdog, these are people that are paying money to do these drafts that are taking it serious. So we tend to find that when there is a disparity between an underdog or a best ball, money on the line draft this time of year versus ADP we see in our normal fantasy football platforms, those numbers will get closer to underdogs

come August when push comes to shove. And in this case, he's the quarterback 9 on sleeper, quarterback 6 on underdog, you know, set the bear's all-time passing yard number, wasn't 4,000 yet, had five high-end finishes of 24 plus points. That's the stuff that you paid attention to. Also, the stuff I chased a little bit last year with Caleb.

He had a couple big games. I started playing him. He let me down, you know, very erratic. is a good word. I wonder how many of those five really big games. He was sub ten points going into the fourth quarter. Right. I just felt like, man, some of his best games were complete collapses for three quarters.

You know, I actually think for me personally that I will not draft Caleb Williams as a quarterback six and what that will entail. It's too hot. It's too hot. But at quarterback nine and I look at the names he's around, I don't mind making that selection. If you're the quarterback nine, you're going eighth round around Pierce, Saul and Alec Pierce and J.K. Dobbins and Godwin and Parker, Washington. You'd have to choose them over Trevor Lawrence and Dak.

But I don't think that's too hot to handle. I just think it'll move up. I mean, this is your cover athlete for Madden. Underdog's already showing that. I mean, I know, Mike, you know, the bears are one of those teams for fantasy that are really interesting. Yes. And we, it's kind of the same conversation as the Jaguars. We're like, I don't, who's it going to be, you know?

And we have the Luther Burton v. Rome-Dunzea showdown that we keep having here. And you're like, well, Caleb Williams, he should, he's the one who's going to get all of those yards. It doesn't, if you're on team Caleb, you don't care if it's Rome or Luther, who's the actual breakout. QB6 is QB6 is tough because I completely understand it I can rationalize it my projections don't have him there

but he's a type of player that you want that you're going to bet on in your draft because if he takes a jump it's going to be a big time jump and change fantasy football can I ask you guys to grab your little notepads for a second? All right. And I want you

to tell me what percentage chance you think he finishes QB6 or better? Six or better? Six or better? Just to kind of... Because if you draft them at QB6, to be clear, you're going to have to start them every week. Hold on. Let me...

Just got to remind myself where I have everybody else. QB6 or better? Yeah, I know. It's a tough number. Oh, man. Well, I'll be... I think I'm generous here. I think I'm being generous, too, and it's still really low. Go ahead and reveal your numbers. number Jason. I've got him at 29% chance of finishing in the top. Mike, what you

go is 20. I went 35. Yeah, 35 is generous. Like I do think like everything that is surrounding Caleb, all you need is the erratic play to, to, you know, give way to a more consistent week-in, week-week-out offense and it will be there. Last year, he threw 27 touchdowns. He threw for almost 4,000 yards while having a 58% completion percentage. Disgusting. That is disgusting. And that it works both ways. You can be like, look, this guy is not consistent enough, not accurate enough, or you can

take the look and say, there's a very easy thing that he can fix. That consistency, if he just gets more on the same page with his receivers, keep in mind. His receivers are very young. The receiver that he didn't seem to be on the same page with the most was DJ Moore. He's gone. And now those targets go to young getting better receivers. who have everything you want, the size, the athleticism, the breakaway speed and talent. So you've got the offense, the offense of the line.

You can see how it happens, and if it happens, it's phenomenal. I will say that his rushing yards went down from year one. And I think that if he does take a step forward as a passer, more consistent, it's great for the bears, great for him, still good for fantasy. I do worry that it comes at a sacrifice of the rushing yardage, that maybe he's just better in the pocket does not need to run that much. It's still run for 300 yards. 383 yards last year, which, like, that's

solid. That's not game changing. Right, but it was almost 500 rookie year. Right. Yeah. So is he, is, is QB6 too hot to handle? I think so. Yeah. Because it's why I wanted to go look real quick. You got Alan,

Lamar, Jaden Burrow, Drake May, Jalen Hertz, is like, is he and you know there will be of course the fantasy football oh man this guy you know like last year's jane daniels just got hurt it wasn't happening but to for me in my with my draft capital to make the bet that Caleb is going to be better than all of those guys is it's not a it's not a move i can make right now i will say when you take josh allen Lamar jackson and i won't put jane daniels there uh but

Joe Burrow. You put those three guys. He's not going to beat those guys. I agree. I think that that's just out of the realm of possibility. You included Jaden? No, just the three. Just Josh Allen Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow. Then he is probably in that tier with those next guys, with Jaden Daniels, with Jalen Hertz, with Drake, Jackson Dart, because he rushes so much. And then you look at it and you go, does he belong in that tier?

Probably. So maybe six is not. really that hot to handle. I don't know. I'm excited for the potential breakout here, and if he could just dial in the consistency. If he was, he's my quarterback nine in my rankings. If he were to slip,

I might pull the trigger on him. The issue I have with that is I'm kind of all in on Jackson Dart, who goes later in drafts. And so pull it, some of this is always opportunity cost. So even if he slips, I'm still, once you take a quarterback early,

not that you can't use a pick on a really late quarterback like a Tyler Shuck and a hope that he takes a step forward but I'm probably not going to also grab a Jackson Dart I mean they're pretty close together right now if it didn't move on sleeper Jackson Dart is going ahead of Caleb oh really yeah 711 versus 807 so just not on almost the same pick not on underdog

are you in with Dart thinking about it what about those teams where you get Rome? Oh, sure. If I, if I go Rome. Absolutely. And I think ADP-wise, it makes, it seems like it would make sense you could go Rome and then take Caleb with your next. Yeah, if I had Rome and I'm staring down Dart or Caleb, I would take Caleb. I would want the stack.

All right. Next name up on the too hot to handle list, Jeremiah Love. Whof. Right now the running back 11, 206 on Sleeper was the third overall pick. we've done some digging and this is where things get crazy. So here are the ADPs of any running back drafted in the top 10 of the NFL drafts since 2015. So that is Saquan Barclay. His ADP was the seventh pick.

So that's how I'm going to lay it out, okay? Seventh pick for fantasy. All right? Saquan went number seven in fantasy. Zeke and Bijan went number eight in fantasy. Genty last year went 10. Jeremiah I love sitting at 206. Christian McCaffrey went 212.

Trent Richardson went 302. Fournett went 303. And Todd Gurley went 512. Well, he had the ACOs. Right. But what's wild about that is that all of them, 100% of them, finished as a fantasy football running back one. Mm-hmm.

Even Genty last year. Even Genty last year. Yeah. 2.2, 9, 12, 11, 8, 8, 6. So on the back end, for the most part, if you're not Sequin or Zeke, but keep in mind, Jeremiah Love, other than Barkley going at two overall, that's the highest draft capital spin on a running back other than Trent Richardson of all those names. And to me, you know, put two and two together. Gentie went to a bad team last year, went at 110. in love is now going to a bad team with a higher draft pick that we all like as a prospect more than Gentie and is going at 206.

So to me, this is a very difficult decision. I don't want it to all be hinging on what Genti let people down with because this is a different player and a different situation. But the fact that you're what, you're 10 for 10? Wait, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, okay, 8 for 8 as a quarterback 1 is the risk really that bad. You're younger, you're not getting hurt. These guys didn't get hurt. Yeah, Gentie. And Bejohn was a disappointment based off of where he was running back three and he finished

as the running back nine. Right. So you didn't get a good return. You didn't get a good return, but, I mean, one commonality between all these names is that they played. Right. Which is not necessarily something predictive for running backs very often, but these rookies are playing. They're not missing time.

You look at some of the older. guys that you're taking. Sorry, they average 20 opportunities a game. Sorry. Yeah, I mean, you look at Sequin Barclay in drafts. You look at Christian McCaffrey in drafts. You look at Derek Henry in drafts. If you had to say who's going to get injured between those guys or a Jeremiah Love, the older guys have, you know, more likelihood of not necessarily getting injured, but having a struggle once they get injured at an older age. The situation, though, is my issue. I think that the Cardinals team is better than the, not, sorry, not the team. The Cardinals' offense is better than the Raiders' offense was last year. The Cardinals' offensive line, while

not great, much better than what the Raiders' offensive line was last year. If we're comparing Jeremiah Love here to Ashen Gentie. The issue I have is the running back room. The running back room for the Raiders last year was Ashen Gentie and a pile of pee. It was just, you're going to A pile? A pile. It's a slippery little pool. Moster you're talking about. At this? That's 48-year-old. How do you moster? You just keep in

the same spot. That's not a, that's a puddle. Yeah, well, some, you know, tomato tomato. Get this man checked out if he's piling up his peeve. Yeah. Is it a solid? All right, go on. So, my worry with Jeremiah

I love, and I think he's going to be more of a second half player is, I mean, we've all seen the press conferences, we've watched the coaches talk about it, We've seen the players talk about. We've seen Jeremiah Love himself talk about it. There is no need, desire, or rush for this team to make Jeremiah love the bell cow. The get 350 touches your rookie season.

And I don't think that's going to happen with him. And most of these other situations, there was a little bit more clarity on they are the only dude. This was a team that was desperately in need of a running back. therefore they took them. Cardinals weren't in need of a running back. They had James Connor. They paid for Algier and then they just still took one. So that's my issue. I am not opposed to drafting Jeremy I love where he's going. I do think the first half of the year you're going to be disappointed. I agree with some of what you're saying. I'm finding myself moving further away from any concern.

The irony is we had literally Bijon Robinson going into a situation with the same Tyler Algier. James Connor is of no concern to me whatsoever. I don't even know if he's going to be on the roster when the season begins. But 206 right now is not too hot for me to handle. And the fact that every single one of these guys has been an RB1 and the price for Jeremiah Love is on the lower end of the spectrum of these guys. I mean, I remember people having conversations about Gentile last year and the depth of that running back room and who might play.

I think we always, like you spent the third pick in the draft. and I think three plays in, we're all going to say the same. Like, we were really truly disrespectful to Tyler Alger because of Bejohn. The same way we're disrespectful to David Montgomery because of Gibbs. And to me, it's going to be the same way we're disrespectful to Alger again because of love. The difference in capability and what they bring to an offense, Arizona is playing, I say it every year. They're playing for this year. That is what they're doing.

They're playing to win. brand new head coach delusional owner they play for the year that's ahead of them they have that's what drives a defensive player to come out and when or an offensive player to come out in Arizona

when Miles Garrett is added to the Rams and say he's got a deal with us he's got a deal with us over here Arizona who said that oh the Cardinals did yeah I'm saying who Kyle can Kyle will have it in five seconds

Because I think that... You got to tell us! No, Zona. Mac Wilson. Okay. Watch out, Rams. Yeah. They got to go through us.

It's stupid. But listen, to me, I think Love Will... Maybe a small start. Let me challenge you a little bit on this, because there's three running backs going behind him that I think will score more fantasy points than him this year. So I'm... Name them.

Chase Brown, Josh Jacobs, and Derek Henry. I think those three players score more fantasy points. I think that they might. but I think that those are three really perfect games to be like, well, I could see go in love. I mean, Jacob, if you just want, the Jacob situation is not completely done. We don't have a stamp on it. We don't know. Henry's old.

Henry's older. And when you're, maybe you're in a keeper league or a dynasty league and you're thinking about it that way. And then Chase Brown, like, Chase Brown is a lot about, a lot of it is his situation. Yes, as the offense goes. Yes. Yes. And so I don't mind that. That one might be safer, but at the same time, what's safer than top 12?

That's the part that's kind of getting me here is it's like, are those other three guys guaranteed to be a top 12? I would say probably. The hilarity of, Jay, what you were talking about, of the logic. The God of deal with us. I'm saying, taking the running back team, taking the running back at three. So it's a superstar player. So I was like, they should get as many touches as they possibly can't.

but he's a running back, and the team is not going to compete this year. So you don't want to overload him with work. Right. But then why? That's why I don't think that's a real philosophy for any team. So it's just, it's funny because I agree with it. Like love should be getting the vast majority of the work. But you're also getting, Algiers, like, $12 million.

Every one of these players was drafted by a terrible team. That's something you need to remember. Every one of them was drafted by garbage teams. Right. And every single one of them gave their rookie 20.7. opportunities a game. And if Jeremiah Love wasn't a pass catcher, maybe we have a different conversation.

Yeah, that is, he has a superpower. So. He has a couple of them. Yeah, he is phenomenal. I don't want to swing all the way into the Genty hype. And, you know, even more than that, I mean, I guess the highest anybody's ever been drafted was 107. Sequin is a rookie.

I feel like we really tried to repeat Seekwon with Bejean. And then people left Bejohn's rookie season. feeling like the Gentie season. Yeah, for sure. That's what Mike said. And it was Alger that made you feel that way. So it is possible. I think around the goal line, if he doesn't get the goal line work, you could be disappointed. Officially, I'm going to say it's not too hot to handle where he's going in drafts right now.

You can make an argument for him. Where would be that line? Where would be the line where... Is it just a pick or two higher? Yeah, it's basically in the first round. I'm not taking him in the first round. If he's creeping up there like some of these other backs have been, I don't see... Because I do not think that it's in the realm of possibility for him to finish the years of top six back.

Like that is not, I don't think he's going to have enough touchdowns on this team with the other running backs on the roster, the offensive system, the fact that he's not guaranteed 350 plus touches. He's not going to be a top six back. Yeah, I think you're probably right there because the two guys that actually did that, they weren't like pushing 300. It was 382 for Saquan in opportunities and 362 for Zos. Zeke. Yeah, they came in and they just got everything from moment one. If I remember it right, that was like the Cowboys were good and then they just had a really down year.

Am I remembering that right, Kyle? Because Zeke went, the offensive line was great. Yeah, that was the heart of the team. A top three offensive line. Well, I think that was when Dak came out of nowhere. Yeah. Oh, was it? Yeah, so they found Dak at the same time as finding Zeke, I think.

I think love is a really interesting discussion. I think he'll beat Genties points from last year. Yeah. Which would make him, it's not too hot. But I'm with Jason, if it's like, you know, I'd, like, Chase Brown for sure. I'd rather have him over love.

And then Jacobs, if all the Jacob's stuff, like, if that's locked up and you know it, you know, maybe I should use a different phrase. If it is, if it's in jail. Yes. If it's cleared, if there is no wrongdoing, then I think Jacobs will outscore. So, yeah. We'll take a break and we'll come back with a name that I'm really excited to talk about at the wide receiver position.

All right. The next player for Too Hot to Handle is George Pickens. George Pickens. Oh, gosh. It was weird because I went to make a trade offer for George Pickens today. Oh. And I couldn't figure out where to click in terms of my draft pick offer. I just couldn't.

Oh, I don't know. Compensation? Yeah, because I, and we've talked about Pickens quite a bit, so, you know, we don't have to talk about him forever, but he was so good last year,

92 for 1,4009. We've talked about the splits with and without CD Lamb. Right now he's the wide receiver 10 in the third round. So are we entering the, is Pickens in the same conversation as T. Higgins to you in terms of. Yeah, they're both wide receiver twos for a really good offense with an alpha ahead of them. But our players.

capable of being ones if they need to be. Yep. And George, I think George is better than T. Really? Yeah. See, I would agree with that too. And you know that because I always talk T. down a little bit. And I like, I do like T. Higgins. You know, the conversation of like, what team would T. Higgins be the number one on a lot of them? Like, he's a, T. Higgins is a great player who has, his body doesn't really like to play football. I think George can be a true superstar. One of the reasons why, and he was in my guy for Jason last year, so let's shout that out.

But one of the reasons why we love George Pickens, it wasn't, it wasn't, your basis of the my guy wasn't C.D. Lam's going to get hurt and he's going to do well. The basis for the my guy was what Pickens does well and what DAC does well match up two perfectly in Dallas, and all of that is still true. And you saw with and without C.D. Lamb on the field that what Dak does well. George Pickens excel that. Even when C.D. came back towards the end of the year,

there were two down weeks where Pickens all of a sudden people were up and on him. He's like, oh, he's giving up. And it's just like, all wide receivers have bad weeks. But he was really good. He mixes with Dak well. I think he is a very good player. However, the other part of why I liked Pickens last year

was because he was not a third round pick. Correct. This was a guy. I don't remember where he is. Fifth round. Yeah, I think he was. his fifth, maybe sixth round where I felt like you're just getting a steal on a guy who, as the number two for a good offense, should way outproduce that. But now he's at the top of the third round. Going ahead of wide receivers, I would definitely take ahead of him currently as ADP stands. I mean, that is to be drafted, to be your number one, like in a lot of situations, you would be

slotting George Pickens as your one with that draft. Yeah, if you went running back, running back, George Pickens, that's your number one. And for me, I mean, I expect. ADP will change. Maybe AJ Brown will be ahead of him regularly post-trade. I would much rather have AJ Brown. Yes, I would much rather have AJ Brown. Personally, I'd rather have Teteroa McMillan. I'd rather have Roshy Rice. McMillan was the question. Ooh, that one's tough. McMillan was the one is DAC and one is Bryce Young. Do you believe enough is the ceiling? I think I'd take Devante Smith over him. Yeah. So to me, like right now where he's going, right now where he's going, he's too hot to handle for me. And I feel bad because I really like George Pickens.

I spent last year banging the table for him. But you're not willing to handle it. But it's just like, I don't like where he's put some gloves on and draft George. He's being, so the, you will, huh? The in and out splits. And I will say that they really loves George Pickens. They were, they were better at the end of the year when they were on the field together. But in totality, if you look at the points per game when CED was in the game versus when he was out of the game. George Pickens averaged 21.2 fantasy points per game in the game CD missed and 12.4 when CD played.

12.4 is a really good number. He's not where he's being overdrafted if he's going to score 12.4 fantasy points per game and that's your third round, you know, maybe first wide receiver. Is that too? I mean, I'm looking at points per game from last year and you can tell me if I'm doing this wrong. But 12.4 would put him at wide receiver 11. and right now he is...

And that's his bad number. Right, that's the with CD on the field. Yeah. Which is about where he's being drafted. Yeah, I mean, some of it is whether or not he is worth of, you know, right now I think he's being drafted as the wide receiver 12, which he can absolutely finish inside the top 12. But you can't look at that in a bubble without seeing, well, who else are you giving up drafting when you draft him?

okay so that's my argument is all the guys behind him that i would rather have all those people i named a j brown rashi rice devante smith tatero and macmillan and i'm right on the fence here mike is not too hot to handle for mike no i have i have no problem with it he can be elite the the points per game is i like that he's on it i like that he's on a franchise tag he's not too hot to handle that's my final vote it's like the sample of the points it's it's hard because, I mean, one, when CD was gone, he, like, he was winning people weeks. So that's built in there where it's like, did, how many weeks did Tedaro and McMillan win people a week? And I'm, that's not a trap.

It's a, I don't actually know what the question or the answer is. So we got, he had one number one finish last year. And not, he will get better. Absolutely. He's going to be a year two player. But, like, it's already. there for George. He's already, he can already win you the weekend. And him and C.D can easily coexist and both be wide receiver ones. I will say this on the 12.4 last year, slotting in as the

wide receiver 11. Last year, there was a lot of those injuries guys like CD. Yeah, the scoring was down a little bit. So the year prior, that would have put him as the wide receiver 19 in 2024, 12.4 fantasy points per game. So in that wide receiver two range, I think, is where he'll end. Tederoa McMillan last year, average 10.4 points a game. Yeah, I mean... For McMillan to jump to 12.4, that's a good jump. And George did it when he was bad, George. So I'll take the elite player in the offense

where Dak can throw for almost 5,000 yards if things hit. You want to talk about one more wideout or do you want to talk about a tight end? I go to the tight end. What if it's Colston Loveland? Oh! Colston Loveland and basketball is being... drafting is the tight-in three, gentlemen. Mr. Loveland. And redraft, he's the

tight-in three, gentlemen. But it's the back of the fourth. It's the back of the fourth. Yeah, it's the back of the fourth. That's the best ball. Early fifth. Like, if his best ball is back of the fourth, do you think that redraft will leapfrog that? I believe that people are going to get hotter and hotter for Loveland as we

get close to the season, and people will really want the next breakout tight end. And right now, he's the Like, I think there's no denying that when you just are talking in fantasy circles about the hot players, Colson Loveland is beloved. I think there's a world where... Except for Kyle. Well, right. We need to make sure that the record... The record needs to...

Permanent... Kyle would like everyone to know. Very anti-mistral-loplin. He said, way too hot. Really don't like that guy. Yeah. Never have, never will. Yeah.

He's like, eighth round, too hot. Too hot. in the drafts at all off his board yeah he took him off the board it's weird Kyle Borganoni did yeah I wouldn't spend two dollars a fab that's was that an audio clip yeah that was yeah um man I really thought he'd break in here and defend him he must be mute him don't let him in he knows that if you push back it's gets worse it's so much worse I think that there's a world where Coulson Loveland is not too hot to handle just even if Tyler Warren ends up being better than him. I think it might still be fine. I mean, they're not that far apart in the

draft. No, they usually go. I mean, they're like in the same round. It's, it's really, when I've been in draft, both are going to work. That's what I think. Trey McBride and Brock Bowers go, you know, Mark Bowers at some point earlier in your draft, and then you wait, you know, 10, 12, 15 picks, and then someone will take the next, and then right after the Warren Loveland, those two guys just go next to each other. What about you, Mike? the back of the fourth is not too hot for me. You know, when you're drafting a player of this, you know, like profile and everything, it's just what are the chances that Loveland ends up as not just the number three

tight-in, but becomes, you know, number one or number two, and leaps over, say, you know, Trey McBride, oh, crap, who was, someone had just highlighted it even more. we talked about the pace of play for McBride. Was it Tony Gonzalez who highlighted that? No. No, someone was talking about just the amount of routes. Barbara Walters. Dude, yes.

Oh, man. I knew I get there. Oh, I'm, uh. We do this thing at our lunch table. We do this thing at our lunch table. Yes. Whenever anybody has a pause, when they're trying to think of anybody's name. And usually it's Mike and I that are doing it.

Yes. We just throw out any name possible. It's a good time. It was Barbara Walters, though. I thought I remembered that. I apologize. I mean, it was a friend of the show.

I can't remember who posted, but it was essentially of like, Hugh Down. McBride ran the amount of, like he ran so many games worth of extra routes. Yes. Yes, I did see that. Like games worth of extra routes to put him up to.

Oh, it was Rebes? Did you find it, Kyle? So maybe it was Reeb's. So shout out to him. Oh, man, we were off. I told you, I couldn't remember who was. I apologize to the Mrs. Walters. But the point being of, like, I can easily see Trey McBride, still being a top elite tight end,

but coming down from the scoring he was at last year and how he was, you know, points better than everybody else. I think Colston Lovic can finish as the number one tight end. So the issue. Which is why in the back of the fourth is not hot for me at all. The pushback I would have there. Okay. And maybe this is incorrect. But when I look at Brock Bowers and Trey McBride, they are the clear alpha.

receiver for their team. They don't have a lot of competition. I mean, maybe Marvin Harrison Jr. figures it out and is awesome, but more than likely, he's not that dude that they were praying he was a first ballot hall of favor when they drafted him. And there's no real competition for receiving for Brock Bowers. Whereas with Loveland, I do see the talent. I see the fact that he could easily lead this team in targets, but I don't think the target market share will be as dominant because of Luther Burton and Rome where you're like, I don't think he could have 150 targets

just because of the team makeup. But if he gets to 130, you know, even 120 targets with his athleticism, the way they line him up, the way they use him more down the field, I'm with you that it's not too hot to handle. It's too hot for me to say, I think he could be the number one overall.

I would be very, very special. It's a big swing. Like whenever you're taking a tight end like who's it's not proven it's a huge swing but the especially the playoffs when they gave him 15 targets against green bay and then they followed it up the next week with 10 targets against the Rams yeah there's a world he was the offense yeah there's a world where he is I mean we we sit here and you debate you guys have debated Oduinz A and Berger yeah in at length we we always end up with the conclusion it's probably Loveland yeah and I mean to say that though to

to believe in Caleb, to believe in Ben Johnson, to believe in the offense, and find, I mean, there are risks to O'Donzee, and there are risks to burden. But I think there is a world where Loveland is, he's the dude drafted in the top 12 of the NFL draft. Also, those two games that I cited the playoff games, that was after week 17 and 18, where he had 10 targets and 13 targets. So he had 10 or more targets for a full straight month. like that is that's redonculus

that only happened during their most important time of the year solid point jay um that makes me want to draft love and that's that is why I don't I think his 80p will go up from here till draft day because he was a rookie and on the field I mean seven targets six for 118 and two 10 for 91 and one six for 94 and one

I mean he was he did some dominant things as a rookie let me let me move his ADP. Let's move Colston and Warren because Warren's is going to get warmer as we get into training camp with a healthy Daniel Jones. Let's move them both into the fourth. Let's call them both middle of the fourth round picks.

And then you've got Harold Finn that doesn't move and stays at 605. So 405, 405, 605. Did you hear, at least I heard from the Twitter machine, teams are calling about Shadoer Sanders. Hey, hey,

this is serious, Jason. I was holding the season. Do they even trade pro bowlers? I mean, who would trade a pro bowlers? They're probably just like, how's he doing? They're not UFL. No, they're not UFL teams. Falcon, but probably some.

They're going after those jersey sales. The quarterback competition of Cleveland is just the worst. We also have tailing green there, right? Yeah. Oh, he's not. You know who's the, oh, man. A week 18, green, DFS is going to be awesome. The least, the least, if you, if you're,

could measure players happiness. Zero to 100. Like right now, Kyle Pitts, put him at 100. Sure. Just got paid. Yeah, at least for a month. You want to know who's at a zero? Dylan Gabriel.

Oh. Remember him? If you are in a quarterback competition that you certifiably could never do a thing to win, because that's what he's in. There's nothing he can do to win the job. But they go out and they say, well, everybody's got a shot. He doesn't. He should ask to be released.

He really should. Yes. But he doesn't have the cloud to do that. And there's, if you're the Browns, there's no reason to drop him. I guess the other, the flip side of that is he gets released and then, okay, who's banging down the door? Nobody. UFL teams. But you can at least go maybe be a backup.

They don't let you go back to college to collect a little. I don't know. I doubt it. A little money for your likeness, a little NIL. Yeah, they spent a third rounder on Dylan Gabriel. It was a third? He's got no shot. No.

And then it was a fifth on Shadour? I do think Shador starts. I do. I do too. I think he's going to. Sorry, I derailed you. No, you're fine. We can go back to, by the way,

Miles Garrett and the Rams that God deal with us. Freaking Cardinals. They will have to deal with Jeremiah a lot. They will deal with you. They will deal with you. You have been dealt with it. All right. That is going to do it for today's episode of the show.

We got a mock draft episode coming up on Tuesday. and then we'll do some mailbags and footballers AMA and we'll talk about whatever the latest fantasy football news is. Maybe some of us will pull off some trades in League of Record. We'll see what happens. I've been sending them out. I don't have much draft capital. No.

I have a championship, though. Yeah. Don't need no draft. We'll catch you next week. Goodbye. You've got a deal with us. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers podcast. Join our fantasy football community on join thefoot.com

and follow us on Twitter at the FFollers.