Lineup Fantasy Football Show - Fantasy Football Superlatives for 2026 with Joe Pisapia

Episode Date: August 17, 2026

Play $5 and Get $50 in Bonus Entries on Underdog with code LINEUP: https://play.underdogsports.com/vgwg/p-lineup Use code LINEUP50 for 50% off Smash Accept Subscriptions for a limited time: https:...//www.smashacceptff.com/ Joe Pisapia joins Mitch and Mello to hand out the biggest Fantasy Football Superlatives for 2026! We break down some storylines to watch including one league winner nobody's talking about yet. Timestamps: 0:00 - Fantasy Football Superlatives 1:06 - Kenneth Walker III 3:53 - Christian McCaffrey 7:20 - Kyler Murray and Justin Jefferson 11:14 - Tucker Kraft 14:35 - Brian Thomas Jr. 16:59 - Jeremiyah Love 22:46 - Josh Downs 24:22 - Amon-Ra St. Brown Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:29 It's a brand new season of fantasy football. let's take a look at the fantasy football class of 2026. Welcome into the lineup fantasy football show. I'm Mitch Anderson. I'm Justin Mello. And Mello, let's kick it off by giving out our first superlative. Most likely to be a returning guest on the lineup fantasy football show. It's Joe Pizapia again.
Starting point is 00:00:52 Let's go! I got a lot of time on my hands, boys. And what a letdown, too. The last bald guy you had on the show was Austin Echler, former NFL star. So this is a big giant downgrade. but I'm just happy that you invited me back to follow up after an NFL star coming on your show. So I'm humbled. I'm happy.
Starting point is 00:01:12 And it's good to see you boys again after a couple weeks of not being on a show with you, which I really enjoyed the last show. It's been far too long. Yeah. We need a fantasy football superstar on the show, Joe. That's what we needed for this episode. I like your heads at mellow. I like it.
Starting point is 00:01:25 All right, boys, let's crack open the yearbook of the class of 2026 and give out our fantasy football superlatives for the year. Of course, as our guest, Joe, you're going to kick things off. Ah, yes. All right, let's start off with Kenneth Walker, who I am deeming most likely to stab you in the back. Oh. End of the season, at least. All right, so let's talk about the reasons why. I think going into this year, Ken Walker is a really good guy to draft. I think you're going to love him the first six weeks of the season. I think you're going to look at Ken Walker and say, look at me. I'm a genius.
Starting point is 00:01:56 He's crushing this. I'm four and two. It's week six, and everything's going great. But here's the thing I'm concerned with. What are the next six weeks? the next eight weeks look like. What does down the stretch look like? Ken Walker historically has had problems with durability. They're going to have to feed him the rock a lot in the beginning of this season. And Patrick Mahomes, so far, I think from everything we've seen, looks like a guy working his way back from a torn ACL.
Starting point is 00:02:19 And there's going to be some limited movement. As he starts to get more comfortable and they start to pull back a little bit from Ken Walker, but also push further a little bit into the passing game again, I think there's some legitimate concerns there. And this happens all the time and all fantasy stuff, where you get very excited about a player, you like the player, you invest in the player, you look like you're a genius, but then you can't get out from under it. To me, Ken Walker is the perfect guy that you want to draft,
Starting point is 00:02:43 and then start to kick the tires on some trades about mid-October before we get to Halloween because I don't know what's going to be after that in terms of workload, in terms of durability. So for me, that's where I'm starting with Ken Walker as we open the yearbook here in Fantasy Football 2026. He's basically the guy that's friends with you at the lunch table for the first eight weeks of the season, and then you try getting up to go to the bathroom in week nine, and all of a sudden you turn around, and he's scoring six points a game for you. Yeah, he's gone, your pudding cups gone,
Starting point is 00:03:09 your girlfriend is now with him. It's a whole thing. It's terrible. Exactly. Oddly specific, and I relate to it oh too well. Partially because of last year, like obviously he didn't have the hot start that we're imagining for this year, but he kind of stabbed his fantasy managers in the back last year when you look at,
Starting point is 00:03:23 I mean, last year was more so the usage he was getting versus, you know, the durability issues, but he has had durability issues throughout his career. And I brought this up to Mitch, I think a few weeks ago, but it's interesting. Like, I like Ken Walker. I love the situation he's in in Kansas City. But isn't it a little weird that we're drafting a guy so high who
Starting point is 00:03:41 his best career finish was way back his rookie year when he was the running back 18 and full point DPR? Like, I know the situation's so much better, but yeah, you're absolutely right. Like, even if we see the hot start, it's no guarantee we see it season long. It's a real, are we in love with Ken Walker or are we in love with the idea of Ken Walker? Yeah, that also hits home for. for Mitch and Mello, too, guys, just so you're listening. You know, some deep, rooted past stuff for both of them coming out here.
Starting point is 00:04:08 It's a little bit of therapy on the show today, which I like. We'll just rename that. This is fantasy football therapy for 2026. Let's get rid of all of our trauma before we enter a new year. I might be crying by the end of this episode. I don't know. I could see it happening. I can tell you it won't be a half-hour show, that's for sure.
Starting point is 00:04:23 Well, this next epilative I have, another emotional one here, and that is most likely to make you pull your hair out. And that's Christian McCaffrey. And it's clear to me that he deserves this superlative, but it's much less clear to me who will be the one actually ripping their hair out. Will it be those who spend a first round pick on him for him to only go on to play four games? Or will it be those who let him fall to like sixth overall, only for him to yet again be the clear cut running back one overall? Since 2018, there have been three seasons where McCaffrey played seven or fewer games, and he obviously just completely sunk your championship hopes if you had him any of those years, given he's,
Starting point is 00:05:01 pretty much every year a first round pick. But in those five other years, however, he played 16 plus games and finished as the RB1 overall in three of them and the RB2 overall in the other two. So he was the definition of a leak winner. Last year is maybe the most interesting to me because his efficiency was way down. Yeah. But it still, it didn't matter. He only averaged 3.8 yards per carry, but still averaged a whole 2.7 points per game
Starting point is 00:05:27 more than the next best running back on this season, thanks to his receiving work and the red zone usage. The problem going into this year is he touched the ball a whopping 413 times last year, 44 more times than any other player. And not only that, but it was his personal career high in touches. We've already seen the toll that high volume can have on his body in subsequent season. So the good news is he's healthy right now, at least allegedly, he's dealing with some tightness or something, which is a little scary. But for the most part, all indications are he is perfectly healthy. And he's about the only healthy 49er weapon right now, Ricky Piers. Pierce Falls done for the year.
Starting point is 00:06:02 Mike Evans, Deshawn Stripling, Christian Kirk, George Kittle, Jordan James, Kaelin Black. They've all had some sort of injuries they've been dealing with in camp. Various severities, some are pretty minor and, you know, nothing serious. But the 49ers are pretty banged up. So CMC could go into this year high volume again. And if he stays healthy and he's the centerpiece again, he could just be the RB1 again. But be careful because if you draft him, if you take that shot in him, you might be the one pulling your hair out.
Starting point is 00:06:28 it's most likely to make me question if I'm a coward or not. That's literally what it comes down to. It's Russian roulette in the first round of your fantasy football draft. Well, I already have no hair on my head, so I'll be a coward gladly. I think he's most likely to be eaten by a substation. That is my superlative for Christian McCaffrey. Dude, I have to say, I was one of the people who was like, okay, the substation memes are out of control.
Starting point is 00:06:53 It's starting to get to me. It's starting to get to me a little. I'm like, what is going on? Considering he's got sordness already, Last time he had soreness, it was 2024, just saying where he was coming out of practices for soreness. I don't love the start of it. Jamie Eisenberg, who is one of the best there is, he has a whole piece talking about the guys
Starting point is 00:07:09 that he's fading, and I was reading it last week. And he makes the great argument against McCaffrey as well at the current ADP. I was in on McCaffrey last year in best ball season at the end of July where he was like at the 12th pick overall. I'm like, yeah, great, cool. But once he started to go up to like, you know, 8, 7, 6 and those kind of territories, I was out. now you're kind of right back there in that middle to upper tier of drafts. And I just don't want to start my team that way.
Starting point is 00:07:32 I understand the upside. I understand that I can still win a fantasy championship without him. I just don't want to take on that risk. I think that's such a good way of putting it. It's like, what's your philosophy and like how you approach fantasy football? And like having CMC could be very funny. It could also be really not fun if that's how you start your draft. All right, let's move on to our third superlative.
Starting point is 00:07:50 The most likely to become best friends, Kyler Murray and Justin Jefferson. Insert that did we just become best friends meme as they just named him the star. of the Minnesota Vikings. Mello, you just named him a my guy in that episode we talked about with Austin Eccler. I think however you feel about Kyler, I want to break down why I think he is going to become Justin Jefferson's new best friend and vice versa. One stat I keep hearing about him is that he's been great for fantasy, but he's never broken 4,000 yards. He's never broken 30 touchdowns. But that reminds me of another quarterback who had never done that before playing for Kevin O'Connell, which is the now Super Bowl champion by the name of Sam Darnold, who back in 2024,
Starting point is 00:08:26 with KOC, pass for 4,300 yards, and 12 touchdowns, and help propel Justin Jefferson to a wide receiver 2 overall finish. And obviously, they are different quarterbacks, and I'm not saying that Kyler Murray is just going to become Sam Darnold. So I also want to look at what Kyler has done in the past when he's had an Alpha No. 1 wide receiver. Back in 2020, when Kyler first got that experience with wide receiver 1, D'Andre Hopkins, he absolutely peppered him with targets,
Starting point is 00:08:52 160, which, last season in a 17-game fantasy football season, would have made him the second most targeted wide receiver in the entire NFL behind only Jamar Chase. And if that's too far back for you, look in 2024 and even last year while he was starting, when he absolutely peppered Trey McBride, their de facto wide receiver won, with the highest target share in the NFL among all tight ends. This guy loves finding a weapon that he knows he can succeed with and just dumping it off to him. And so I think KOC is motivated to get his superstar of the ball. Kyler Murray is motivated to make this thing work and revive his career.
Starting point is 00:09:25 and I think he's about to be a human jugs machine for Justin Jefferson this season. Yeah, I agree 100% with this take. I hope this works out. I hope there's no weird in between, like in stepbrothers where we're a while, like one's trying to bury the other alive. I don't want that.
Starting point is 00:09:39 I want them to just get along the entire time and build bunk beds and bring us to fantasy glory because, like, it's no surprise that Kyle Murray was named the starter. He was brought in to be the starter. Anyone who thought this was a real competition is out of their mind. And this is why I'm investing heavily
Starting point is 00:09:53 in Justin Jefferson, because I think when you have a coach who, I don't want to say he's on the hot seat, but certainly I think there's a little bit more heat on him than there was going into last season for sure. There's also this moment here where it's a fork in the road for Kyla Murray in his career. And he's either going to succeed here and continue to be a starter and they're going to resign him or someone else will come and take him away. Or he's going to be one of these guys that just competes now, like, well, they're going to bring in Kyla Murray to compete for a job with quarterback X and some other organization.
Starting point is 00:10:18 So I'm investing and reinvesting in Justin Jefferson. and just took him the Flex League of my second pick there that I had on the weekend last weekend with Jake Seeley's draft. And, you know, started with Burrow, turned around with Jefferson. That was pretty good start to a team. I felt pretty good about that. I love that. Also, I love the Step Brothers reference because I'm just thinking about it. Imagine how much room for activities there's going to be in the huddle.
Starting point is 00:10:38 So much room for activities. Taking up way less space. Way less space. Yeah. I mean, come on, man. I mean, it was just we knew that was going to be the case and he was going to take over. I think that was, I'm glad that they get it this early, too. So we don't continue to live.
Starting point is 00:10:50 let the media, you know, get in and start to create any sort of distractions, because that's the last thing you want at this time of year in a locker room. It's so funny you say that, though, because, I mean, I've been on this boat. I've been drafting so much, Calgary, investing in so much Calgary. I believe it's the starterer's on a competition. And then it felt like the 24 hours leading up to them naming him the starter, the media hype of J.J. McCarthy's closing the gap. J.J. McCarthy's looking good.
Starting point is 00:11:14 I was like the It's So Jover meme, but then the We're So Back meme, like, instantly right after that. because then they just named him the starter. It's like, okay, we knew this was going to happen all along. Now they have the whole preseason, like you mentioned, Joe. This is going to work. I'm just so confident this is going to work. Yeah, I am as well. So let's go.
Starting point is 00:11:32 Let's hear it for the short king, Kyler Murray. Let's go. We love our short kings here at the lineup. All right, Joe, you want to kick it off with our fourth superlative? All right, let's do it. Most likely to win you a fantasy league, and I'm going to go with Tucker Kraft. Joe, I knew we loved you. Yeah, well, there he go, as if there was any,
Starting point is 00:11:50 doubt before me mentioning Tucker Kraft. Tucker Kraft last year was the top three tight end of fantasy points per game. Tucker Kraft was the go-to guy in the offense for the Green Bay Packers. When he went down and then subsequently a few weeks later, you lose Michael Parsons, and then the whole season just kind of goes to crap for the Packers, right? But I'm old enough to remember how good it was last fall. My memory is good enough to recall that. And it shocks me that people aren't quite that memorable about what Tucker Graff did last year.
Starting point is 00:12:18 And what's so great about Kraft is his ADP, even though it's starting to rise a little bit, and I just did a great show with Theo Greminger, where we talked about Leporta and Kraft, and a lot of the guys that he's targeting in the mid-round. But the conversation, even though that ADP is starting to rise with Tucker Kraft, what you're seeing now is the ability to still draft your big-time skill position players and get a taste of what it could be to have a top two or three tight end, all of which you can have your cake and eat it too, which is the kind of stuff that wins you a fantasy football league.
Starting point is 00:12:48 When you take a Brock Bowers or a Tram McBride in the second round, you're passing on the rest of the elite wide receiver talent and or the RB talent, and then you have to adjust your roster. Easier to do an 10-team team, excuse me, a 10-team league than a 12-team league. Yeah. But at the same time, Kraft kind of gives you the best of both worlds, where you could still get all the upside of the Loveland and the McBrides and the Bowers
Starting point is 00:13:08 and arguably a pretty solid quarterback situation, maybe not spectacular, but pretty solid at the very least. And you know he's the go-to in the offense, which, to be honest, like we're still trying to figure out what some of these offense is going to be and many of them have new coordinators too that we're trying to figure out. Yeah, you literally shed the target leader
Starting point is 00:13:24 in Green Bay in Romeo Dobbs. You get rid of Don Tavian Wix. You've got the guy who we constantly talk about it through week eight, all the games he was healthy, the tight end one in points per game and PPR. It's a tight end seven off the board. What are we doing? Yeah, a tight end won of fantasy points per game,
Starting point is 00:13:39 week one through eight, among all 33 qualifying at tight ends. He was ranked seventh in target share, first in receiving yards per game during that stretch. Seventh in first read share. I mean, he's just the guy that you want, and the fact that he is going past that first tier is great. Sometimes you get him fifth or even sixth sometimes.
Starting point is 00:13:57 I've seen him go as the seventh tight end, depending on the draft and where you are regionally. I did a draft the other day. I can't believe, like you said, Joe, like how people are forgetting just how good he was last year. I don't know if the ACL plays a role in that, but I did a draft the other day. I already had Colston Mubland.
Starting point is 00:14:12 I was not planning on grabbing another tight end. and then Tucker Kraft falls into the 8th. And it's like, I'm going to take him anyways. I don't care. Like, that value is too good not to scoop up. He will probably outperform Mello some of those wide receiver threes that you will take it instead. 100%. Oh, yeah.
Starting point is 00:14:27 I'm all in on Tuckercrast. What's going on, guys? We are officially partnered with Underdog here in August for fantasy football draft season. If you've never used Underdog before and you want to do some fantasy drafts with me and Mello, you can actually sign up right now with a brand new promo using the code lineup, L-I-N-E-U-P. basically just deposit and play with $5 and Underdog is going to give you $50 in bonus entries that you can use on picks, drafts, or anything in the Underdog app. So you can either go into the description, hit the card above, or just download the Underdog app
Starting point is 00:14:57 and use the code lineup, deposit and play $5 and you will get $50 in bonus entries from Underdog. But guys, let's get back to the video. All right, well, my next superlative here, I'm going to be talking about the most likely to leave town. We all graduate high school. somebody is packing their bags and they're never coming back. And this season, it might just be Brian Thomas Jr. Now, this superlative is largely a real-life NFL take, but there are major potential fantasy implications as well.
Starting point is 00:15:27 We already started hearing trade rumors about Brian Thomas at last year's trade deadline. And I think they very well could heat up again here in 2026 because the Jags simply have too much talent at wide receiver, if there is such a thing. I don't know if you can ever have too much talent. But I think Mitch cloned himself a million times over, or maybe you just have a million burner accounts, Mitch. But the way that the NFL environment is talking about Parker Washington, like he's Jerry Rice's long-loss son.
Starting point is 00:15:58 The camp hype is out of control through the roof. And it feels like all of a sudden he is the real wide receiver one in Jacksonville, which sounded, would have sounded so absurd just a year ago to say. And then you have Jacobi Myers, who's quietly still there, was sensational down the stretch last. season. You have Travis Hunter, who is the second overall pick, and supposedly is going to be a part of this offense in some capacity still. And all of this is true while the Jaguars and James Gladstone have been very vocal about how they're going to be deploying more two tight-end sets, which means more two wide receiver sets, fewer wide receivers on the field. So if all of this is true, we could see Brian Thomas Jr., who, by the way, is extraordinarily talented in his own right,
Starting point is 00:16:38 and was the wide receiver four overall as a rookie, we could see him get traded before this year's deadline. So I bring this up from a fantasy perspective to keep in mind that even if he has a slow start, you may want to hold him to see if he gets traded in real life. And similarly, if you believe in the talent, but he's getting big broed by Mitch's letter to Parker Washington through six weeks, find the frustrated BTJ owner in your league and make him an offer in the hopes that Thomas finds a new home in the NFL where he can be a bigger part of the offense. It's a far from a lock to happen. I am by no means guaranteeing you. Brian Thomas gets traded, but it feels like he is one of the most likely guys to be moved in the next few months.
Starting point is 00:17:14 At the very least, one of the most likely, like, high profile guys to get moved. Right, exactly. 100%. Also, if I had a million burners, our show would be a whole lot more successful. I only have, like, 50. Let's jump into our next superlative. I want to talk about the best freshman or the best rookie, Jeremiah Love. And I know this sounds ridiculous because it's like, yeah, the guy who went third overall should be the best rookie.
Starting point is 00:17:37 But I just want to really impress in people's minds the way that I think we're discounting his talent. Third overall in the NFL draft of the Arizona Cardinals, a generational running back prospect that the fantasy world was so excited about until he landed in Arizona with a perceived committee backfield, including old man James Connor and then the new kid in town, Tyler Alger. But I want to explain why he is not only the best rookie, but one of the best picks in the first few rounds relative to his ADP. Mello, you brought up this stat a few weeks ago since 2015. There has been seven running backs drafted in the top 10 and none of finish worse than the RB11. That guy, of course, being Ashton Genty last year.
Starting point is 00:18:14 And I think that's part of why this is happening, is that we as a fantasy community react so dramatically to what happened the year before, except for Tucker Kraft for some reason. But now I'm seeing Jeremiah Love going as, what, the RB13, the RB14. And so we often say we're drafting a guy at his floor, but I actually think we're drafting him below it. Notre Dame last year, we all know this, but he went for 1,372 yards, 6.9 to carry, 18 touchdowns on the ground, also gets involved in the receiving game.
Starting point is 00:18:39 and according to Nathaniel Hackett, we're already seeing him get acclimated with the offense. And he's just too talented for me to not take a shot on a guy that we always see these rookie running backs go so high. And it feels like this is the year to Zig whenever else is zagging. Yeah, I got to tell you what, I love the talent of Jeremiah Love, but I am seeing him go way too early in drafts.
Starting point is 00:19:02 And he is the most talented. But my superlative for Jeremiah Love is the guy, most likely to make you question why you're still playing fantasy football. Why do you hate yourself? Why? Why do we do this to ourselves? Because we're going to watch him in camp. We're going to see him in preseason. We're going to see him break these big runs and be great. But then we're going to realize that James Connor is still there as of right now, as of recording this. And Tyler Alger was just brought in and paid. And the Cardinals historically are organization that can't get their foot out of their mouth or out of their rear end either way. And they also have an offensive coordinator
Starting point is 00:19:37 who I think is probably the worst at his job of anybody, and it's Nathaniel Hackett. Nathaniel hack him, okay? This goes back to the E.J. Manuel era where he was out there working with the Buffalo Bills. We can talk about him being the worst head coach maybe I've ever seen outside of Urban Meyer at the NFL level when he was over there
Starting point is 00:19:55 with the Denver Broncos for that hot minute. His one glorious moment shining was during the end of the Aaron Rogers, I'm still good at football era when he's winning MVPs. And if we're thinking that somehow Nathaniel, It had something to do with that. You're nuts. I think Nathaniel Hack is going to ruin this situation and ruin all your shares of Jeremiah Love,
Starting point is 00:20:14 at least for the first six to eight weeks of the season. And my concern with him is I see him starting to go, you know, somewhere is the, you know, basically at the end of round two in a lot of drafts. Like that's currently where the ADP is. Sometimes even goes earlier in mid-round two. To me, I just, you can't have a guy that's not going to be a full-time contributor
Starting point is 00:20:33 for the first few weeks of the season. And historically, if you look at Jimenez, Mir Gibbs. If you look at David Montgomery and he came into the league, if you look at all these guys, you know, in the last five, six years, when they come into the league, the first six weeks as a rookie are usually pretty tough. And we're doing that same thing we always do. We're over-hire a rookie, and he deserves it. He's amazing. But even Bejohn Robinson, who he loved. And I loved more than anybody, he kind of got screwed by a guy named Tyler Algier last checked. Okay. So here we go again. And Nathaniel Hackett is not a guy that I trust. So for me, I have real concerns,
Starting point is 00:21:02 not about the talent of Jeremiah Love, but about the usage, at least early on. And that you having to dig yourself out of that hole and wanting to dig yourself an early grave, watching Nathaniel Hackett misuse the best talent on his team. As long as Nathaniel Hackett doesn't have to manage the clock, that's one thing we're avoiding here without the MS head coach. I'll leave that for the flirt. Mello, I just want one offensive coordinator job in my life because I feel like I can work for the rest of my life off that job.
Starting point is 00:21:29 There is no better job than fired offensive coordinator in the NFL. You'll get hired six more places before you call it a career. And I mean, right now, I'm a flag football offensive coordinator, and I'm hoping that I can spin that off into the NFL in a couple years. That's what I'm hoping for. I think the chance. Yeah, it's honestly, it's a buddy-buddy league. It's who you know. You just got to recruit a real NFL coach to coach with you and flag and then he'll bring you over to the NFL.
Starting point is 00:21:52 Bro, I just don't understand how that guy's still working. I just don't. This might be against school rules, but I think we might have to do a friendly side bet on Jeremiah Love. I can figure it out after the show. I want to be wrong, Mitch. I want to be wrong. I'll be the mediator here. I'll break up this fight and the playground.
Starting point is 00:22:12 Okay. Yeah, playground fight. Here's my take. Jeremiah Love very well could get off to a slow start because he's a rookie, because he's on the Cardinals, because Tyler Al Jir's there. My takeaway is once that slow start happens, he is a buy for me in the trade market. If you find a frustrating owner who's like, I'm just done with Jeremiah Love, hopefully you can get him a lot cheaper than what his draft capital is right now.
Starting point is 00:22:36 Yeah, but he's going ahead of Kiron Williams. He's going ahead of Chrysolawe right now in ADP. He's going ahead of Zay Flowers. There's other players at Colston Lovelland that I just feel like a better grip on what they're going to do and how they're going to produce in 20206. That's my new problem. And we're still in early August. Like, what happens when we get to September and we keep talking about Jeremiah Love? It's going to be a problem.
Starting point is 00:22:57 Yeah, but Jeremiah Love could be anything. You could even be Kairn Williams. If I should hope he's Kiron Williams in, the first 10 weeks of the season. Let's pray for that. Let's pray. All right. Well, my next guy here is somebody that I'm hoping we're all aligned on.
Starting point is 00:23:15 And that is most changed Josh Downs. He is getting this a prerlative of the most changed man. He has grown up in this Colts organization as a true slot receiver who came off the field in two wide receiver sets. But those days are over as Josh Downs is going to emerge as someone who can play on the outside, win as an X or Z receiver. And the Colts have already kind of told you that they think he can do it with their actions. You look at what they did when they traded A.D. Mitchell last season at the deadline, only to go
Starting point is 00:23:45 ahead and also trade Michael Pittman this offseason. And they'd done absolutely nothing meaningful at all to bring in any new wide receiver talent. And on top of that, Alec Pierce is still rehabbing his ankle from surgery earlier this offseason. He's apparently had more ankle injections than Aaron Rogers has had any type of injection in his life. A lot of people have already believed in his talent, but fantasy managers have just been reluctant to invest high capital in him because of his limited usage and his profile as a slot. But Josh Downs is going to show the world he is a changed man here in 2026. And he's actually already proven it, at least at the collegiate level, where he lined up everywhere. He was a high volume pass catcher.
Starting point is 00:24:21 His final two seasons at UNC, he boasted 202 receptions for 2,483 yards in 22 touchdowns while being Drake May's clear-cut number one weapon. We just haven't really seen it at the NFL level yet. The 5-9 receiver may not hit a literal growth spurt, but I project his usage in stat line 2 here in 2026. So he's going to be a very changed man. I'm imagining him coming to school on the first day, like, goth. And that's what Mello's doing. What's changed player this year? All right, let's kick it to our final superlative.
Starting point is 00:24:52 And this is just the most obvious one that is going to happen. It's most likely to finish as the wide receiver three overall. And that's Amin-Ross, St. Brown. And it's pretty self-explanatory. He's been the wide receiver three in fantasy for three straight season. And you look at the situation, there's nothing to suggest he won't be providing the same level of high level production again. He has the second highest odds to lead the NFL in receiving touchdowns, third highest to lead in receptions, fourth in receiving yards. And yet we still just have him kind of like circulating at the end of the first round.
Starting point is 00:25:21 And I think it's because of his consistency that he's labeled as a guy without a ceiling. But I just don't know how wide receiver three isn't a ceiling outcome. I just, I absolutely love him and I just I want shares of Amman Ra everywhere. Now we're friends again, Mitch. See, now we're back on the same page. You know, I knew it would take very long. Did we just become best friends again? Yep.
Starting point is 00:25:41 But this is the thing I don't understand. I said this last year or two in a lot of my shows where I just said, you know, when do we start giving Amma and Ross St. Brown a little bit more credit? We never discuss him as a top three overall pick. Yeah. He's always somewhere in the middle of the first, or maybe you get him even like the eighth overall guy in some drafts. If you're in the middle of your draft and Amman Ross St. Brown is there at six.
Starting point is 00:26:00 For the love of God, just take Amman Ross St. Brown. You know what you're getting out of this guy. you know it's going to be a solid offense. The continuity of the ecosystem there in Detroit has not changed much in the last three years. And the productivity, despite the fact that you've had several different play callers in the last three years, hasn't changed either. And that should give you a lot of solace in a pick. You talk about the, just to bring this conversation full circle in the show, the Christian McCaffrey uncertainty upside versus the quiet upside of Amman-R-St. Brown basically going at the same overall ADP.
Starting point is 00:26:30 I'll take Amman-R-Saint-Brown, especially in the PVR leagues, and just move on. then I'll find my hero RB somewhere else. But to me, annually, he is the guy that continuously gets overlooked and underappreciated. When I get it, Justin Jefferson is a highlight reel. Jamar Chase is amazing. But we just never talk about Amon Ra on the same breath yet consistently. He is showing up at the top of that board every single season. I had like an epiphany recently.
Starting point is 00:26:55 I was like drafting, we talked about how much I love Justin Jefferson. Like I was taking him over Amid Ra. And then I was just like, what am I doing? I can love Justin Jefferson and still give that. Monra, his credit. And I've finally pushed Dominawa above JJ in my rankings because every year we dropped him too late to your point, Mitch. Like, even if he's the wide receiver three, that's a phenomenal ceiling. Like, we shouldn't, we shouldn't be acting like that's a disappointment. And we just, the three of us just talked about draft strategies a few weeks ago and we talked about
Starting point is 00:27:21 hero wide receiver and like, how nice is it to just lock in a top three receiver and then just go crazy on your running backs in the next few rounds? Yeah, it's a good situation all the way around, I'll tell you. Amman Ross and Brown, please, everybody, start respecting the man. I don't know what more he has to do. 1,000%. All right, boys, that's the bell. School is back in session now that we have named our 2026 fantasy football superlatives. Thank you so much to Joe for joining the show yet again.
Starting point is 00:27:45 You can check him out on fandom NFL. But Joe, before we get out of here, anything left to plug as we kick off August here? Well, first of all, always great hang out with the lineup boys. They do a fantastic program. And yes, check out fandom NFL. We've got a lot of mock draft shows going on. We got some incredible guests lined up, some incredible guests already in the can. We had Theo Greminger on last week, gave Richard on from CBS, we're just crushing it.
Starting point is 00:28:06 No NFL players yet, but we'll see how that goes. And, of course, go get your Fantasy Blackbook and the digital cheat sheets on Amazon right now. Prepare for your draft. It's most up-to-date publication you're going to find. And it's always good talking football with you guys. So always happy to do so. It's the best show. We love having you on Mello, before we get out of here, we miss anything?
Starting point is 00:28:25 I got nothing. All right. We'll catch you guys next episode.

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