Lineup Fantasy Football Show - Fantasy Football Draft Blueprint For EVERY Pick (1.01-1.12)

Episode Date: July 31, 2026

You can build a league winning fantasy football roster from any draft spot. Mitch and Mello break down the complete fantasy football draft blueprint for every pick from 1.01 through 1.12, including how to adjust your strategy, identify value, and build a balanced roster no matter where you draft. Use code LINEUP50 for 50% off Smash Accept Subscriptions for a limited time: https://www.smashacceptff.com/ Timestamps: 0:00 - Fantasy Football Draft Blueprint 1:10 - 1st Pick 3:59 - 2nd Pick 7:11 - 3rd Pick 10:37 - 4th Pick 13:30 - 5th Pick 16:54 - 6th Pick 20:08 - 7th Pick 23:33 - 8th Pick 25:57 - 9th Pick 29:06 - 10th Pick 31:21 - 11th Pick 34:52 - 12th Pick Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Let's go. Welcome into the lineup fantasy football show. I'm Mitch Anderson. I'm Justin Mello. Before we jump in, though, Mello, if you haven't heard, we are officially part of the Smash Except team here for the 2026 NFL season. And to celebrate for Dynasty and Redraft players, the first 50 lineup viewers who sign up for Smash Except. are going to get 50% off when they use code line up 50. You'll get exclusive draft tools, rankings, and analysis.

You can't get anywhere else from myself, Mello, Dynasty Dad, and Snug. We're going to help you make sharper picks and win your league this season. So once those 50 redemptions are gone, the discount is gone. So click the link in the description or the card above and use code line up 50 and support the show. But Mello, let's now break down the coveted number one overall pick and the perfect draft strategy behind it. The 101. It honestly hasn't been a great. great pick in recent years.

It hasn't had a great track record. But people still want it, as do I. So let's go through my best scenario here with the first overall pick. 1.1. I'm taking Jemir Gibbs and I think there are a few reasonable options you could take there. But for me, I want the guy who's an elite running back and every down

running back on one of the best offenses in the entire league. So that is the direction I would personally go. And then we get to that two three turn. If Brock Bowers is there, I'm taking him. Because I have. I wholeheartedly believe in a nuclear year out of Brock Bowers. He's going to be the focal point of

this Clint Kubiak passing attack. I think he's going to have a generational kind of tight end season. Yeah, I did, yeah. And tight end can get pretty gross, pretty quick. So if I can get Brock Bowers and get that positional advantage, I'm all over it. And then with my other pick at that turn, I'd love to land A.J. Brown if he's available. In this scenario, I already have my elite running back. I have an elite tight end. And now I can get an elite wide receiver who I think legitimately as wide receiver one overall upside playing with Drake May here. So I'd be super pumped to land him in the third. Then we wait a bit for the end of the fourth round where I would love to land Terry McLaurin.

I'm buying the dip on Scary Terry everywhere. He's back healthy as is Jaden Daniels. Not to mention his target chair could just be astronomical in 2026. He could be top five in the league and target share. So that gets us our second receiver. Let's grab a second running back as well at the. the start of the fifth round here. Let's take David Montgomery. Love it. And if you somehow land him here, first immediately start celebrating because you are off to a super hot start.

And the second thing is I need you to change a team name to Sonic and Knuckles because we're reuniting Gibbs with Montgomery here. And my lord, do I love that running back combination, as did Lions fans for many, many years. And then finally, Mitch, with my sixth round pick end of the sixth here. Let's grab Tony Pollard. And now that we've done that, I actually want you to change your team name away from Sonic and Knuckles and make it some sort of old man pun like Unction Function or whatever you prefer because we're grabbing all my favorite vets here, all my favorite seasoned old guys. I know this pick is probably a little bit grosser than some of the other ones on paper,

but Pollard is a sneaky true workhorse. He was last season. I think he will be again. And now of a sudden the Titans are an ascending offense. So if you can get him as, the last workhorse back on the board before there's a little bit of a drop off. He's your RB3. I really love that start. Yeah, this is a great example of the anchor running back strategy we talked about with Joe Pizapia in last episode. And so this, we want this episode to be able to be a little bit of a cheat sheet for you if you're just getting ready for your drafts, if you know what pick you're going to be. And in general, if you just want to prep going into mocks, how you want to approach each of these different draft positions. And to me, the anchor running back strategy is

the absolute number one for the first overall pick. Let's jump into the second overall pick. If you were unfortunately unable to get Jemir Gibbs, that's all right. You can take Bejohn Robinson with the second overall pick. And that's perfectly fine because we're splitting Harris here with these top two guys. Gibbs is getting the huge bump because David Montgomery's out of town. You're getting that same bump for Bejon because now Tyler Alger is in Arizona. And so Bejon Robinson, the most rostered player on fantasy championships last year can be yours with the second overall pick.

Feels like a great value. And Mello, I'm going to take a page out of your book. we're so high on AJ Brown. I would be targeting him in the second round at this spot. We'd like to differentiate how we're approaching these different draft positions, but at the end of the day, value is value, and it's not going to matter what position you're drafting from. These guys are going to be kind of lurking in those ranges wherever you're picking,

and AJ Brown just kind of slots himself right here towards the end of the second round. I think tremendous upside for the wide receiver 11 last year, pairing up with Drake May. Then we've got Devonta Smith. who the former teammate of AJ Brown profiles to me as 2026's Jackson Smith and Jigba commanded a 35% target sharing games without AJB in the last two seasons. Now given the opportunity to line up out wide more, where he ranked third in Yars for Outrun behind only Puka, and you guessed it, Jackson Smith and Jigba. But Mello, no team is set without an incredible quarterback. So let's grab Lamar Jackson

here in the fourth round. You're hoping he falls maybe two spots to this position. if you're looking at Consensus ADP right now, but it is a perfect draft start, right? So the two-time MVP is once again facing debates of, is Lamar even really that good? Well, he was the QB1 in 2024. And no, I don't mean the QB1 in fantasy football. I mean the QB1 in fantasy football of all time just two years ago.

Feels like a steal with an ADP of 46 right now. And then Mello, I'm going to take another one from you. Let's grab David Montgomery here as ADPs around 53. I don't need to belay. belabor the point, but Houston's got a nine-and-a-half win total this year. They've already said that they think David Montgomery has the skill set to be a bell cow for them. I'm absolutely buying the dip on these reports that he's going to be splitting work with Woody Marks in training camp. Not a chance. Yeah, the lion doesn't concern himself with Woody Marks. And then finally,

Mello, no perfect draft start would be complete without my darling, Parker Washington, led the Jaguars and targets last year, PFF's 11th highest grade receiver in the NFL in 2025. We want pieces of this Liam Cohen offense that has unlocked Trevor Lawrence. And to me, this is a wide receiver one you're getting in the sixth round of your draft. Not to mention, reports already coming out that he is the first guy in the building every day, which that gives me Cooper Cup Matthew Stafford Breakfast Club vibes, but like in one man. I was actually just going to end this call if you didn't have Parker Washington and your perfect start. Had to.

So I'm glad you did. And I love that start too. I would be absolutely giddy if that were my start picking from the 1.2. super well-rounded, getting the quarterback in the mark, getting a few incredible receivers. Bijan and Montgomery, two running backs I love. So beautiful start there. Let me see if I can one-up you here, picking from three. Mitch, we're still pretty early in the summer here, all things considered, but I think I might have 1.3 is my favorite pick right now. Here we go. We'll see, we'll see, but here's the start I'm envisioning from 1.3. You miss out on those top two running backs,

no problem. Let's grab Jamar Chase, who honestly has a, as a case to be the first overall pick himself. There's no reason to complain when he falls to you at three. He is the safest floor, the highest ceiling of any receiver. Just one of the very best picks you can make. Then let's move into the second. Let's get our RB1 and Derek Henry, a guy we've talked up so much on this show, a guy who I feel super confident is going to be a top 12 running back in 2026. At least, he was super efficient with Belkow treatment last year, even though the Ravens were a little bit disappointing. I think the Ravens are better, and that efficiency and Belcal usage continues into 2026. Yep. And then let's get crazy match. Josh Allen here in the third. He has an ADP about

26 right now. You can get him in the early third. And congratulations if you do. You just drafted the quarterback one overall. You got him. You know you got him. And you also have a great chance at the wide receiver one overall in Jamar Chase and even a chance at the running back one overall and Derek Henry. That's why I love this start so much. Now let's keep building on it. We go into the round. Let's get a wide receiver two in Jalen Wattle, who I'm starting to heat up on quite a bit. I know it's been a rough couple of years, but now he is the number one receiver on the past happy Broncos. That sounds pretty awesome to me. And if nothing else, I think it's just fun to have the top two receivers from that 2021 draft class, which historically good receiver class.

And you could have the two top drafted ones here with this start. And then let's get our second running back in the fifth round. A guy I know you like Mitch. Let's take Quinn Shaw, Junkids here in the fifth round. Kind of feels like Derek Henry Light, who you already have. Obviously a worse situation in Cleveland, but Judkins is still super talented. He's going to get phenomenal usage. I think he is a wonderful running back too. You hear the Cleveland coaching staff and the Cleveland organization talking him up so much.

And then maybe a pick you won't like as much, Mitch. But in the sixth here, let's take Brian Thomas Jr., the opposite Jaguars receiver. And the reason I like that pick here in this scenario is you've drawn. after a great team to this point, relatively safe team. You feel really good about the floors of the guys you have. Let's inject a little bit of upside here. Let's inject a little bit of crazy variation that could benefit you. We saw Brian Thomas Jr. finishes the wider receiver four as a rookie. Now all of a sudden, he's on this exciting ascending Jaguar's offense. That was so good last year. We could see him be incredible here in 2026. You might have me

convinced. This actually might be one of the more balanced constructions. I've got one coming up in two or three picks I actually think is really good as well. But you said it exactly right at the Josh Allen pick. Jamar Chase, Derek Henry, and Josh Allen. Like, you could genuinely be getting the wide receiver one overall, the QB one overall, and a high end running back one, Derek Henry. And then I'll get into some stats about him later, but Jalen Waddle, I'm rising on him. You know I love Quinn Sean Judkins. And I'll admit, like, I'm a Parker Washington guy, but if you're considering trying to get high upside, I have your wide receiver two in this lineup. Like, Brian Thomas Jr. presents a lot of upside as a guy who was the wide receiver four

two years ago his rookie season. And if we see a bounce back, like, this is an absolute smash team. So I love this at the 103. Let's jump to the 104, though. Jamar's off the board. So who are we taking? It's really between two guys and Mello, we're in agreement. I think we're taking Pooka Nakua. He's going to get the edge over the next guy just because I think the situation hasn't changed at all. I'm fading the off-field stuff and Pooka's locked in and not much to worry about with last year's wide receiver one on the field at least. And then at number two, let's go in the second round with Jeremiah Love, which I know, I know. We're all terrified because of Ashton Genty last year.

But Mello, you've brought this up. Even with all the fear of him going to Arizona, he's currently now the 13th running back off the board, which feels like an overcorrection. Since 2015, there have been seven running backs drafted in the top 10 and none have finished worse in the RB-11. We are drafting Jeremiah Love below his floor. But if you're feeling like that's a little risky, let's move to the third round and take a very safe RB2 in Kairn Williams. He is finished as the RB9, RB7 and RB7 in his last three seasons. In the third round on a Rams team that could be even better, and regression suggests that you might even get more goal line opportunities. This one's a smash hit. And then, Melo, I'm going to copy your homework again. Let's take

Jalen Waddle. And the stats I wanted to bring up was that when we had Derek Brown on the show, He mentioned that Jalen Waddle goes into this Broncos team that was fourth in passing rate last season. And Waddle himself was much better than people realize. He ranked top 12 in yards per route run, targets per route run, first downs per route run, separation score, and route win rate in the entire NFL. Which feels absolutely bananas. Moving on to round five, I love taking a Sean Trevion Henderson here. I think he's a great RB3 shot, insane week-to-week upside. You were probably going to see some duds because of the.

nature of his game and sharing time with Stevenson in the backfield, but any given week he has literal matchup winning potential, and to me that's so valuable past the 50th pick in your draft. And then let's keep getting a little riskier here. We're going to go with Jordan Tyson in the sixth round. I can't believe I haven't talked about a rookie yet, which is insane, especially because this is only my second pick I'm talking about, but this is the perfect spot to target one with extremely high upside, if not the highest upside of the rookie receivers in this class. Jordan Tyson could dominate in a high passing volume, Kellynne Moore offense if, if, if he stays healthy.

And in fantasy, we're going for the highest range of outcomes. And to me, Jordan Tyson presents you with that. I love the upside of this squad you've assembled here. And even the floor I feel good about, like Pook and Nakua, as long as he stays healthy, he's going to finish top five. Kyrin has been so consistent. Even Jeremiah, I love, I think his floor is pretty high because of the draft capital. And then you look at the upside of a guy like Trevium Henderson,

and the upside of a rookie like Jordan Tyson, you're really balancing your floor with your ceiling here, which I absolutely love. I do worry about the shoulder injuries with Puka, not his, obviously, just anybody he parties with. But besides that, I think he's a smash play here at 4. Well, Mitch, let's move on to the fifth pick here. You won't let me have my little chomposaurus Puka Nakua.

So I'll take Jackson Smith and Jigba as my first round pick here. And there's nothing wrong with landing him at 5. He was a wide receiver 2 last year. Sure you missed out on the first. couple of running backs and receivers, but who cares? He was the offensive player of the year last year. He led the league in target chair. I think there's a very good chance he could do it again. I'd like to correct you. He was actually the defensive player of the year, according to the NFL. Good point. The defensive player of the year, Jackson Smith, Jigba. And Mitch, I know you wanted

Jeremiah Love in the second. I'm not letting them get to you. In my perfect draft, he goes here at the fifth pick, or I guess the seventh pick of the second round. You mentioned he's the 13th running back off board. All seven of the last seven running backs to be drafted top 10 in the NFL draft have finished as top 12 fantasy running backs as rookies. I think Jeremiah Love is going to be a lot better than some people are fearing. Yeah. Now we go to the third round, a guy I absolutely love Rishi Rice. Cover your ears, Mitch. I know you're not quite as in, but Rishie Rice on a per game basis has been so elite throughout his career. If he makes it to you at 29, I want you to just tell your league mates, your Venmo, they can pay you immediately pairing him with Jeremiah Love and JSA.

And I mean, the two receivers you drafted to this point, both could easily finish top five, which I love. And then Mitch, I will steal a page out of your book this time, taking Lamar Jackson, who we talk about how deep quarterback is and how we're okay waiting. But at the same time, Lamar is the only quarterback who I think could reasonably dethrone Josh Allen as the quarterback one. And you can get them a full two rounds later than you could just a year ago. So that really is such an absurd discount. So I like them here in the mid to late fourth. then let's grab our second running back in the fifth DeAndre Swift, which if you don't have your RB2 by the fifth round, I think DeAndre Swift is a great guy to take because he's never finished

outside of RB2 territory in his entire career. Always a top 24 back, super safe pick. And then let's get crazy, Mitch. I'm taking Tucker Croft here with my six round pick, finishing my perfect draft from this spot through six rounds. Now, I normally do not advise people to take both a quarterback and a tight end in the first six rounds because then you're probably struggling at running backs and receivers. But with this start, I feel really good about the guys you've already taken if this is your start. And I just love the starting lineup of Lamar, Tucker Kraft, and then those running backs and receivers. So I'd feel super pumped about this start. Yeah, this is an incredibly balanced roster. I think you take a guy in rounds two and three that people have been getting soured on, that they've

been falling on this offseason. And I think that in both cases, you're going to love to hear this for me. we've probably overcorrected on both Rishi Rice and Jeremiah Love. I would say we've over corrected on Lamar Jackson dating back to the middle of last year. I think he's an incredible value. I think we underrate DeAndre Swift. I think we underrate Tucker Kraft and the JSN was the obvious pick at five. So to me, this is a fantastic roster. You've got a great start.

I know what you mean when you're saying, like, don't take two onesie positions in the first six rounds because of your wire receivers and running backs. But at the same time, this is what gives you the flexibility now to just fire off lotto tickets at both of those spots. Yeah, that's the one thing I do like is if you go with this start, a good tight end, they're a good quarterback, you don't necessarily have to take another one the rest of your draft. Mello, neither one of us looked at our starts before we got into this, but we had very similar ideas going into the middle of the draft because here at the 106, we're going to start with Christian McCaffrey, and we've said it before, but we're cowards here at the lineup.

We are. If you think Christian McCaffrey plays 17 games, he should be your RB1 overall. Over Gibbs, over Bejohn. if you don't think he plays 17 games, if you don't think he's healthy enough to do it, maybe he isn't even an RB1. So this spot is basically just hedging your bets, because making this pick is like a roller coaster that goes 10,000 feet in the air because the sky's the limit, but it could also fall entirely off the tracks and kill you.

But at number two, I'm going to go with a guy that I feel so unbelievably confident and is going to hit this year. You mentioned him earlier. That is Brock Bowers in the second round. Anytime you can make a lineup construction with the quote, football robot from heaven, as his new coach, Clint Kubiak described him, I'm taking that opportunity. When you draft CMC, you draft for full on upside, and that's what I'm doing here. I want to have the RB one overall. I want to have the tight end one overall. And then we're going to hit the guy that I think

has the potential to be the wide receiver one overall in the third round in Devonza Smith, who I mentioned earlier. He's a guy that's a Heisman winner, Boletnikoff winner. I already mentioned all the stats earlier. If you want to hear about that, you can go back to, I believe, the second pick. DeVantza Smith is such a clear, clear high upside play. One of my favorite targets in the third round. And then we're going to hit another familiar name here in Lamar Jackson in the fourth round. Who has more upside at the QB position than the guy who finished as the QB1 of all time just two years ago? Move on to round five, another familiar name.

We're going to get safe here because I think we've been getting pretty high upside, low floor. Let's take D'Andre Swift. Like you said, he's a little boring, but who could be more reliable than a guy who has never finished lower? than the RB21 or better in all of the six seasons in the NFL. And then, Mello, this one's going to be spicy for all of our lineup viewers. I'm going to take Jadarian Price here. Who are you? And I know what you're thinking.

Mitch, you have been so against Jadarian Price at cost this year. And yes, that's true. But I think two things in this lineup. One, we're drafting for upside, like I said, and we've got to make sure we're taking guys that could literally hit a home run. And Jadarian Price could. He could end up assuming the RB1 Belcal roll. in the Seahawks offensive Sharbonate doesn't get back up to speed.

The other thing that's true is I think there's a pretty large running back cliff after him. And for me, when you're taking all of these onesie positions in the first six rounds, running back is the position you really need to make sure you solidify. And so here, I'm grabbing my third running back, and then I can feel comfortable getting a little flexible and taking wide receivers. First of all, screw you for making powers a mid-second. So there's no chance of my dream scenario that it gets to the two-three turn. It's a perfect drop.

right? It's the perfect draft. Judarian Price though, I agree because I'm a little bit skeptical about the ADP too, but you bring up a really good point with where he's going. Even though I'm skeptical, it feels like there's such a drop-off after him in ADP that he could be a guy I start drafting a little bit more of, and I wouldn't mind taking some shots on. But this team crazy upside.

You could break your league's records with this team if everything hits the right way. It feels like you're playing the 17-0 game on Sleeper with this. Yeah. You're like trying to get the perfect score. I can never get 17 on that damn game. When you're a mid-sized business, you need every competitive advantage you can get. Like an AI solution that works for you,

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Brand new day Now playing I know Maybe this next team Will do it in my fantasy league Though picking from the 1.7 Honestly not my favorite pick But we can make this work

And we can start Let's do it By taking Who will be the wide receiver three Overall in Amin-Ross St. Brown at pick seven You just know You got a good player

You know you got someone who's gonna hit he was the wide receiver three each of the last three years. And then let's take another receiver here in the second round, Drake London, who I know there are some quarterback questions. We've talked about it on this show. If Tua is ultimately named the starter, maybe I'm not as enthusiastic about taking Drake London in the early to mid-second.

But especially if Penex's, Drake London is a league winner kind of guy, a comically incredible wide receiver two to have on your fantasy team behind Amin-Ross, St. Brown. But now we need a running back. And let me grab Brees Hall here in the third, who after going double receiver, I feel fine snatching Breece Hall as my RB one in the third round

as long as I do get two elite receivers like we did here in this scenario. We've seen the RB2 overall finish before. And I think something that's not getting talked about a ton is a lot of his past success has been predicated on receiving game work. He hasn't had quarterbacks that have been giving him the ball through the air. Gino Smith is going to do that. Gino Smith is going to support that passing game work. That's a great point about Gino.

So hopefully that helps Brise Hall. And then let's really get exciting here. with the receiver's Mitch, because in the fourth, I want Ladd-McConkie here. I know you love Ladd-McConkey. You very controversially built a case for him to be the wide receiver one in 2026. It's not that crazy to say it's in his range of outcomes. He's the number one receiver on this incredible Chargers offense with an incredible quarterback and an incredible play caller. I think he'll be better than he was his rookie year. And his rookie year got everyone super hot and bothered that he was going to be the next great receiver in the league. I think it comes

together here. He's your wide receiver three. And then let's get more upside at the running back two position with Bachel Tootin in the fifth round. I've been high on him. I think I'm starting to get higher. Just the drum in Jacksonville is beating so hard for Bachel Tootin that he is going to be the guy. He is going to be a huge part of this offense. And if you're not getting your running back two to the fifth round, why not swing for the fences and get the guy who could finish as running back one on a really good team with Liam Cohen. So I'm very excited for Bachel Tootin. And then in the sixth, we haven't addressed a onesie position yet. So let's get a quarterback in Jalen Hertz. I again, I'm really okay with waiting on quarterback in this draft. But if Jalen Hertz is there in the sixth round,

I think he's kind of the last quarterback before a tear break, in my opinion. So I think he's a really nice addition to an already loaded roster you've built to this point. You know, it's funny because I think I just mentioned this episode we did with Joe PZapia, but like I've kind of felt like I don't want to be attacking these middle quarterbacks. But I've found in mocks and I've just found in general consensus and talking with people that feels like Jalen Hertz is going to be there in a spot that I really like to grab him. And so I'm finding myself like, he's a lot. He's, he's a lot. He's He's the exception to the rule. I will grab him in the middle rounds.

But looking at this team, I did build the, quote, bold case for Ladd McConkey to be the wide receiver one overall. I think a lot of people didn't read the word bold. This is a very interesting build. It's somewhat robust wide receiver. I guess, in fact, it is robust wide receiver, starting with Amman Ra, Drake London, then you skip it with Hall, but you get back to Lab McConkey. And, man, like two or three years ago, you could not have built, I would even say last

you could not have built this roster just because of the fact that people were grabbing wide receivers so early. So this is a great, great construction if you want to zig when others are zagging. But let's jump into the number eight. We're going to jump from a robust wire receiver strategy to more of a hero wide receiver strategy, but it's got a familiar face in there. Let's start with Justin Jefferson. We're taking him as early as the 108. Both of us are extremely high. Mello, you've made me see the light. It might feel like a reach to you in the moment, but give me him over Jonathan Taylor or Cidie Lamb any day of the week. In his career not playing with J.J. McCarthy, he's finished as the wide receiver 9, 5, 2, and 4 in points

per game. That's including his rookie season. Move on to round two. You've taken a wide receiver. Let's now shore up that running back room. Grab yourself Ken Walker last year's highest-graded rusher in the NFL per PFF. Now give him Andy Reid and the chiefs who are also rumored to be giving him more in the passing game. There's some risk here, but to me he has genuine high-end. to RB1 upside. In the third, we're going to go back to Kyron Williams, RB9, RB7 and the last three years. Easy pick in the third round and one of my favorite guys to target when I start at wide receiver. But here's our wide receiver two. Ladd McConkey, let me give the spark

notes on the bold case. He was the wide receiver 12 as a rookie and circumstances, not talent, caused a disappointing sophomore year, but now you bring in Mike McDaniel, you bring back a healthy Joe Alt and Roshan Slater to all pro tackles to protect Justin Herbert so he does. doesn't take a career high in Sacks, so he doesn't have a career high scramble rate. And you remove Keenan Allen, who was cannibalizing Ladd McConkey's production, and you vacate 122 targets, leaving Ladd McConkey's upside absolutely insane for 2026. Last two picks, let's go D'Andre Swift. We already mentioned him, but PFF's eighth highest grade rusher last year,

fourth and rushing success rate, third in EPA per rush, 10th and yards per carry. And then finally, I'm back to Jalen Hertz. You lose AJB, but you add Mackay Lemon, and in a disastrous year orchestrated by Kevin Petula, finishes the QB8. Now you've removed Petula, you add in Sean Mannion, which to me is a true coughing baby versus atomic bomb kind of trade. And so it's wheels up for Hertz. I think you're getting a discount because your league mates are just grossed out by picking Jalen Hertz, which I think is ridiculous. Pretty aligned here again.

A lot of guys I like, as you know, I'd be pretty stoked with this start. And yes, it's kind of hero receiver, but if you can still land Ladd-Bakonki as your wide receiver too, it feels like you're not super dependent on that hero receiver you're taking in round one. Exactly. I'd be thrilled with that start. And let me go back to what I did last time again, because I want to robust wide receiver again here. And I'm going to start with the same guy you just took Justin Jefferson, who I'm just giddy if he's there at ninth overall for me. So we're going to take him.

I'm just pushing all my chips to the center of the table that this bounce back has happened. Not that it could or it should, that it will. I think he's going to be back to elite numbers now that he has some competent quarterback play. So super excited about Justin Jefferson at the end of the first. And then a guy I'm super excited about in the early second, Sequan Barkley. 100%. They're starting to call this team the all-bounceback team between Justin Jefferson and Sequin Barkley. Buy the Dip, baby.

That's my mantra. By the dip. I think both of these guys in particular are going to be much closer to their 2024 versions than their 2025 versions. And I teased it, but now let's really get back to wide receiver. here. And I'm going to start with Zay Flowers in the third round, too. I think the biggest criticism is just that his ceiling is somewhat limited, low volume passing attack there in Baltimore. But I'm still thrilled to have him as my wide receiver two, taking him in the late third round. I will almost guarantee he's going to outperform his ADP. Even if it isn't by much,

I feel really good about him as a wide receiver too. And now let's get somebody with a higher ceiling than even him, a mecca, a buca in the fourth round. So excited about Abuka. If we can get him a higher ceiling. if we can get him in the early fourth. That's crazy. And to start your draft with three receivers as Justin Jefferson, Zayflowers, and Emeka, Abuka, that is sick and twisted. You should be locked up for that start.

It is that unfair. And I just love pairing these guys because they sort of complement each other in terms of their floor and their ceilings, which I really like. And then let's go crazy Mitch with another wide receiver, Mike Evans, another guy I know you like.

Now, I will say depending on your league settings and your roster sizes, if you're not able to start more than three receivers, I would not do this, but if you're in a two-flex league, a three-receiver league, one-flex, that kind of thing. Yeah, I love Mike Evans in this spot, who we talked about it so much.

He's Brock Purdy's number one receiver. He's Calshanahan's number one receiver, and he's still good, and he was good last year when healthy. So to get him as your wide receiver four is glorious to stay the least. And then Mitch, I am going to seal another pick from you here. Judarian Price, we talked about it, but especially with this draft where you really want heavy receiver and sacrificed running back,

I think getting a guy with upside like Jedarian Price who could be the bell cow on the defending Super Bowl champions makes sense before there's a really big running back cliff after this. Yeah, this is absolutely, this is absolutely robust wide receiver. Like you're going four wide receivers in the first five rounds. I think this is an absolutely perfect spot to hit Jadarian Price. Who would have thought? Look at us. Two separate perfect draft starts, including Jadarian Price. But I'm so high on Sequin.

I love what you mentioned about Zay Flowers being a pretty safe. floor low ceiling guy. You pair him with an abuka and then you pair him with Mike Evans who when healthy is honestly both to me. Really safe floor, really high ceiling. He's one of my favorite picks in fantasy this year. You got me convinced on the 109. I think that's a really high upside team. But let's jump into an honestly pretty similar draft construction here that we didn't realize we did. But it seems like we'd be picking pretty similarly from the 110 and the 109. We're going to start this one off with James Cook though. I teeter on this spot a little between Genty and Cook. And to me, it's literally like, Ash and Genty could be anything. He could even be

James Cook. And so why not just take James Cook, who led the NFL in rushing yards last year. He led the NFL in touchdowns in 2024. And now it's rumored that he could potentially be adding some receiving work in 2026. Like, if he actually combines these things, James Cook is going to be an absolute smash play, finishes a running back one every year. He's just so solid. And then let's go to a guy who's got incredible upside and was just the running back one two years ago in Saquan Barkley again. And I'm going to save everyone some time. It's Seyquan Barkley here. We think he has a bounce back. He's a little bit more efficient, not coming off of 400 carries. Then you grab yourself Zay Flowers because you started

with two running backs. Better take a safe floor kind of receiver as your Y receiver one. Add a mecca Bucke on top of that because you need a little upside along with Zay Flowers. And then here's where we switch it up. We're not going Mike Evans. Let's talk Carnell Tate, who I think is one of the most misprice players in fantasy football this season, truly. Top four draft capital attached to a young ascending first overall pick that introduces an offensive coordinator and Brian Dayball, who spams his number one receiver every time. This is such an easy shot for me for a guy who's going around the 60th pick, and then let's get spicy. I don't want to burden anyone with the next pick, so we're going to go with Roma Dunezay. I am firmly a Rome guy. They've gotten closer in my

rankings, but when you look at the separation of where they're going, it is a 15-pick difference. You look at what Luther Burden's production was last year, and you only really broke out when Roma Dunezay wasn't on the field. And now the guy who is the wide receiver three through four weeks before sustaining a stress fracture in his foot is back. I'm going to take the cheaper piece of this Ben Johnson offense for two guys that I'm ranking relatively close together. Mitch, I think the thing I'm learning most from this whole exercise

is we're spending too much time together because we are... We are... We didn't plan this, clearly. We have very similar drafts, though, but I think in our league we're in together a redraft league. We cannot pick back to back. We'll have to collude. in some way to ensure that that does not happen because we'll be sniping each other's guys.

And I think we're going to see that even more here with my dream draft from the 11 pick. But first, I am going to zag a little bit where you zigged, because I want Ashtagente here at 11. I want the mystery box. I want the boat. I want the guy who I think is going to break out here in year two. I just think it's one of the most obvious breakouts in history of breakouts. He's an incredible player. He now gets a huge upgrade at play caller.

huge upgrade at offensive line. So I'm super bullish on Ashton Genty. And then let's just go back to the Sequon Barkley well again here in the early second. We like him a lot here in the early second clearly. I think this is one of our guys for sure. He's really becoming one of my guys. You pair him with Genty. That is so lethal on so many levels. You are going to win the running back battle so consistently week in and week out. So in round three here, we really need to address other positions. But what if we didn't, Mitch? What if we said screw your conventional wisdom, conventional draft strategy?

Go everything out the window. Let's go robust running back here. We did too much robust receiver. Let's take Javante Williams here in the third, who now is your third running back, who legitimately could have a top 12 finish. And even if Javante doesn't, the thing I like more is his floor.

He's going to run the ball a ton of Cowboys offense. That's a good offense and explosive offense. To have that as your trio of running backs is crazy to say the least. But now we actually need to load up on receiver. So in the fourth, let's take a guy that I think is getting a little disrespected, Tederoa McMillan. I feel fine with him as my wide receiver one if I have to wait to the fourth

round to secure three incredible running backs. I think Tederoa and McMillan would be going earlier if the second year receivers last year actually hit on their ADP. I think people got cold feet because of it. But I think he's the next real-life elite receiver in the NFL, and obviously that is going to translate to fantasy as well. And then I'm going to play copycat twice in a row here, Mitch. Let's take Carnell Tate in the 5th.

You talked about it, how he probably is being a little bit underpriced right now. And he has incredible upside like Tederoa and McNillan. And when you don't take a receiver until the fourth or fifth round, I like grabbing some guys that still could give you a wide receiver, one territory, wide receiver, two territory finish. That is something Carnell Tate can absolutely do as a rookie. And people are just scared because he's unproven and he doesn't have a track record yet in the NFL. And then I'll steal another page for Roma Dunzee here.

You mentioned that he's going over a full round later than Luther Burden. And he has just as good of a chance in my mind of being the number one receiver in this Caleb Williams, Ben Johnson offense. You mentioned how good he was at the start of last season. And that's what excites me about this draft is you can go running back, running back, running back at the top, and still end up with a really exciting, awesome trio of receivers in T-Mack, Tate, and Adunze. Yeah, I think we have a very similar philosophy on Adunze, which is just the fact that we rank them so close together, but their ADP is so far apart. It just feels like a no-brainer. I love this start. Something that you didn't mention here is when you load up on running back, like, it's such a

scarce position. And when the chips start settling by a week five or six and we know who the true running backs are, like, you're going to be getting a whole lot of trade offers. If Gentie, Berkeley and Williams are all in that RB1 range, or even if Williams is what, like the RB14, you're still going to be getting a hell of a lot of trade offers. And I think this team sets up so well. high upside guys, Tederoa McMillan, Carnal Tate, Roma Dunzei.

We've talked about this being the deepest quarterback year in recent memory. And so why not wait on quarterback? And if you miss those elite tight ends, why not wait at tight end too? I love this start at the 111.

And honestly, these late picks are picks I really, really like. So let's wrap it up with the 112 here. This is going to be all but one guy that we've already talked about. We're going to start here with Ashton Genty and James Cook

at the turn. It doesn't matter who you take first, obviously, but if you want to establish a culture in your locker room, I'd pick cook first just to give Gentia chip on his shoulder. We've already discussed both these guys, but I think it's a combination of a guy who's proved it and a guy who's got untapped potential, and so I love that combo. If either guy is gone, supplement with Sequin. You could end up with kind of your build at the 111. But rounds three and four is where we're going to take some big shots that could pay off huge. First one is a mecca, Buka. If you want to hear my

breakdown, you can hit that timestamp to go back to the 110. The other guy is Tederoa McMillan If you want to hear that breakdown, you can listen to Mello talk about him at the 111. But another Tetaro-McMellon stat of the 13 rookie wide receivers with at least 35 targets last year. He led in receptions, yards, touchdowns, and PFFs receiving grade while finishing second in yards per route run. We already saw the mini breakout last year, so let's just see the real one here in year two. And then we're going to wrap things up at the 5-6 turn with a quarterback we have not yet talked about in Jaden Daniels. I am burning the tape on an injury riddled year. I'm reminding myself that this is the guy that led the NFL in rushy PA among quarterbacks,

which led him to finishing second in rushing yards behind Lamar Jackson with 891 as a rookie, and then added in the air 3,500 passing yards and 25 touchdowns. I think he is such, such, such a great bounceback candidate here. And then let's keep this young and fun team hot with you guests at Carnell Tate at the end. I think, Mello, this solidifies that Carnell Tate is truly one of our favorite values in all fantasy football this season. season. Yes, and I've given this PSA before, but I'll give it again. If you draft him, do not trade him even if there is a slow start. Obviously, don't cut him. That would be grounds for removal from fantasy football forever. But rigue receivers have slow starts, hang on to him. And you're right,

he is a value. I think people are scared because of the unproven track record, but he's an incredible talent, high draft capital, going to be the number one receiver on his team. Yeah, I love it. And that is the perfect start for the first six rounds from every single spot in your fantasy football draft. If you have guys that you are loving at a certain spot, let us know down below what one of your favorite mocks have looked like. Also, let us know if there are any players you want to hear us break down more in the next few episodes. But Mello, we have an unbelievable stretch of guests coming up. I'm so excited for these next few episodes. As we mentioned at the beginning of the episode, if you have never checked out Smash Excepts website, please make sure to check it out

down below. Get our exclusive rankings, tools, analysis, stuff you can't find anywhere. else. But Mello, before we get out of here, do we miss anything? Nothing for me. All right, we'll catch you guys next episode.