Lineup Fantasy Football Show - Ordering Off the Fantasy Football VALUE MENU: 6 BUY LOW Steals

Episode Date: July 10, 2026

Which fantasy football players are too valuable to pass up on? Mitch and Mello go through the fantasy football drive-thru and hand pick 6 buy-low targets for the 2026 Fantasy Football season Timestamps: 0:00 - Fantasy Football Value Menu (Buy Low) 0:58 - Caleb Williams vs Bo Nix (Sonic) 5:25 - Jadarian Price vs Zach Charbonnet (Costco) 9:05 - Travis Etienne vs Tony Pollard (Chic Fil A) 12:43 - Joe Burrow vs Jared Goff (McDonalds) 15:36 - Chris Bell vs Caleb Douglas (Wendy's) 19:37 - Chris Olave vs Wan'Dale Robinson (Taco Bell) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Guys like Giovante Williams and Drake May won fantasy football leagues last year at a fraction of the cost of other stars. We're going through the fantasy football drive-thru and picking out the best value menu players, including one guy who's never failed to outperform his ADP and is being drafted as the running back 50. Let's go. Welcome into the lineup fantasy football show. I'm Mitch Anderson. I'm Justin Mello. And Mello, we love a value here at the lineups. We are breaking down a six-pack of our favorite cheaper value items on the fantasy football.

football menu this season. None of these restaurants are a sponsor. Let's have you kick it off, though. What is your favorite value menu guy going to the fantasy football season? You hungry match? Starving. I know I'm going to be after rehab this whole conversation, but what I definitely am already is thirsty. So I'm going to be talking about some chocolate beverages here. Let's talk about chocolate milkshakes and chocolate milk or in the fantasy football world. That will be Caleb Williams, who's going as the quarterback seven, and Bo Nix, who is going as the quarterback. 14. Bo has not been getting a lot of love on the lineup here this summer, so I'm glad you're hitting

this. He is. I feel like I got to be a little bit of a Bo lever here. And he's my value here as the chocolate milk. I got to get ahead of this and lead off by saying I like chocolate milkshakes, probably more than most people do, probably too much. But Bo Nix is a guy do kind of you as a value. And before I really get into that, let's start with the other side.

Let's start with Caleb Williams, who recently, by the way, I don't know if you saw this, failed to successfully trademark ice man. I did, yeah. Maybe we can start calling him the ice cream man. So much fun. Ice cold has all the fixings like Colson Loveland, Luther Burden, and Roma Dunesay. Ben Johnson is just the cherry on top. But milkshakes are kind of expensive.

Harold's a little bit pricey. And in the case of Caleb Williams, he's going as the quarterback seven off the board, according to fantasy pros. If that's out of your price point and you're still craving a third-year dual threat quarterback. Allow me to suggest a less icy alternative in Bo Nix. He isn't as flashy. Sometimes he leaves you wanting more, but he is a cost-effective treat nonetheless. Last season, he had two more rushing touchdowns than Caleb Williams did, just 63 fewer rushing yards, 350 fewer passing yards, and three fewer touchdowns. In other words, Nix definitely was not as

good, but the difference was not all that significant. Meanwhile, Nix is going as the quarterback 14, seven positional spots behind Williams, despite finishing just two spots lower last year. So that alone kind of demonstrates the difference hasn't been that huge. Bo Nix has actually been the quarterback seven, both of his first two years in the league now. And he's going significantly later than that. And on top of all of this, unlike Williams, who lost weapon and DJ Moore this offseason, Nix gained a new wide receiver one and Jalen Waddle, who very well could be the missing ingredient in this chocolate milk offense, whether that's,

some extra chocolate syrup or whatever you like in your your chocolate milk jeline wattle could be that for the broncos so the situation is actually getting better and don't hear what i'm not saying i so prefer the situation in chicago over the one in denver but it is undeniable that denver situation improved more this off season and also again i need to remind you that chocolate milkshakes are so good holy shit love chocolate milkshakes not putting them down but chocolate milk is pretty damn good too so I guess to actually wrap all this up and clarify my stance, I'm not really anti-Kaleb, and I wouldn't even necessarily say I'm super pro Bo Nix either, but there is objectively a pretty glaring gap between the two. And I think in the middle rounds of my drafts, I prefer to load

up on receiver and running back. And if that means I grab Bo Nix and maybe another quarterback toward the end of my drafts, I'm more than fine drinking that true moon. The opportunity cost of buying the milkshake means you can't get the fries with the chocolate milk. And that's what pisses you off. I love that you were doing the, I love waffles and someone's like, oh, so you hate pancakes and you're trying to get ahead of that. It doesn't mean you don't like milkshakes. You just think the chocolate milk is potentially a better deal.

Back to the football side of things. I think this is a pretty good take. Like, I do think that there's probably too big of a gap here. And Caleb Williams is a guy that I'm really excited for. But if I'm being honest, like in best ball this summer, I haven't drafted as much as I thought I would where he's going just because I like a lot of the skill position guys going around him. And so I think when we get closer to redraft season here, I'm probably in the same boat as you that if I was going to opt for one at cost, it's likely going to be Bo Nix.

It's probably going to be the chocolate milk. And I'm not knocking anyone who likes milkshakes. If you can build a great stack with a milkshake and that cherry on top with Ben Johnson and Rome and Burden and Loveland, I get it. But I think there's great value to be had there with Bo Nix. agree. I think that's really the point of this episode is we're not saying don't get the more expensive item. We're just saying if you're looking for a value, something a little cheaper, that's a good alternative. These are the guys you can be looking for.

Absolutely. Before I jump into my first value menu item, guy, if you want to win your fancy football league or you just want to hang out with us all season long and talk some football, chop it up with us in the comments. Make sure to hit that subscribe button and be notified every time we drop a brand new episode and join the lineup. Mello, let me break down my first, which is Jadarian Price, who's a Costco chicken bake, and Zach Charbonnet, who is a Costco hot dog. That's a sentence, Skorogami. No one's ever said that before. My ancestors had no idea I'd be talking like this. One of these guys is the fresh new hotness that everyone's talking about because it got so

popular in online conversations. Of course, Jadarian Price is the Costco chicken bake, versus a guy who's just so reliable and outperforms his cost every single time. But I want justice, Mello. I want big justice for Zach Charbonnet, who is currently the RB 50 off the board versus Judarian Price, who's the RB26. I understand the excitement for Price.

He's got the first round draft capital. He's taking the place of Kenneth Walker on a Super Bowl-winning Seahawks offense. But they seem to be making it abundantly clear that he's not just going to step in and assume that Ken Walker role immediately. Brady Henderson reported that the Seahawks did not draft Jedarian Price with the thought that he'd be a high-volume starter immediately.

Meanwhile, Zach Charbonnet, who has outperformed his ADP every single season, just like that $1.50 hot dog and Diet Coke combo that hits every time when you're grabbing a 36-pack of toilet paper. Jeremy Fowler from ESPN recently reported that Charbonnet has a late July checkup on his knee, but by all indications he's been progressing well. Mike McDonald even hinted he thinks he could be back for week one, which we'll see. He might not be at full force in week one, but getting him back that early in the fantasy football season, we're separating these guys by 24 positional spots.

And then just to talk a little bit about that $1.50 Costco hot dog and how good it is, last year, Charbonnet was PFF's third highest grade rusher in the NFL. They obviously trust him by the goal line, and you know that if you had Ken Walker last season, and you watch Zach Sharbonnet vulture to the tune of 12 rushing touchdowns, the same amount as guys that we have going in the top 10 running backs like James Cook, So while everyone's losing their mind over the chicken bake, I'm just grabbing those $1.50 hot dogs that stay the same price despite incredible historical production.

I'm a little embarrassed to admit I'd never had a Costco chicken bake before. Oh, chicken bake. Oh, I've had a hot dog before. I'm an American citizen. I was going to say. Yeah, I've never had a hot dog. No, but that's honestly... It's kind of the point here, though, is like,

I've never had that chicken bake and it sounds pretty good, But you know what I know is a pretty reliable staple is that hot dog that hits on the ADP every year. And it's funny. Like, I'm not out on Judarian Price by any means. Like, I like Judarian Price and I like the opportunity he has. But it's funny, you're right. Like we're hearing these reports. He may not step into that quote unquote Ken Walker role right away.

Even if he does, we shouldn't really be that excited about it because Ken Walker, as good and talented as he is, was not very fantasy yelvent at all last year. So, you know, if you want to take the much cheaper alternative, which is what we're doing here, and we're looking at the values, take the guy that has an injury discount and a potentially name fatigue discount. You can get him so late. And he could be a league winner if he just gets that third down and goal line work down the stretch. Yeah, I think this price is such a slam dunk for him. It is a $1.50 hot dog, literally is what you're spending on RB50 Zach Charbonnet.

I'm officially getting hungry. This is a problem. I was hoping it would take like three or five. four rounds of this. But I commend you with starting out with a hearty meal unlike me, because I'm an absolute child and started with the chocolate drinks, the dessert first. So in the interest of being an adult here, let me switch to some real grown-up food and pivot to chicken nuggies and chicken tendies. And I'm going to be talking about Tony Pollard, who is my chicken nuggets, and that is the value compared to Travis A. Chan Jr. or E.T.N. Jr., I don't care. Who is the

chicken tenders. I'll be blunt right out of the gate. The major thing in my eyes that both Pollard and A. Chan have in common is that they're really not that good. But the good news is you don't necessarily have to be that good to get fantasy points. You just need volume. And sure, I'd prefer to get my fill on a nice sirloin steak, but enough chicken tenders or enough chicken nuggets can definitely do the trick. So let's start with A. Chan. It still sounds so right. for me to say that. No, I hate it. I keep thinking I'm talking about Devon A Chan. But he's got that new Cajun seasoning that's so exciting. If he's a chicken tender, he's got to be Popeyes from Louisiana, solid, enjoyable. But still just fast food at the end of the day. Like still nothing all bad gourmet.

And people have the posh audacity to act like he's immensely above a chicken nugget like Tony Pollard. But they're pretty comparable. Last year, they both had a thousand yards rushing. They actually just finished within 30 yards of each other on the ground. They both finished within two rushing touchdowns and three receptions of each other. And they're both non-word course leadbacks on ascending offenses with year two quarterbacks and rookie receivers that were added in the top 10. Super, super similar. That's a lot of parallels, actually.

A ton of parallels. I think some people, I don't think this is the whole thing, I think some people are a little bit worried that Poller has a new competitor. We'll call them Nicholas Singleton Nuggets. but I can assure you that chicken is still raw. I would not worry about it at all. And to my earlier point about Pollard and A. Chan both not being very good. Yes, Pollard had pro football focuses 58th highest Russian grade last year, which is pretty horrible.

A. Chan had just the 42nd. Like also not very good. And I'll absolutely agree A. Chan's better, but he is going as the running back 18 while Pollard is going as the running back 32. Let's not act like chicken tenders are that much. much better than chicken nuggets. Take the value on the Nashville hot chicken nuggets that are Tony Pollard. Yeah, this is kind of like the whole our boneless chicken wings, just chicken nuggets. Yeah, pretty much.

And I feel like Travis A-chan is kind of just a boneless wing. And it's like, uh-oh, you really just have a chicken nugget here, and it's Tony Pollard. Yeah, that's even better than chicken tenders, honestly. He's a boneless wing. You actually have me convinced there, because as someone who's been pretty low on Travis Achan and like, you know, I'm whatever. I think Tony Pollard's actually a pretty good value, but I would have had them pretty far apart. And, you know, when you break it down, like, the situations aren't as crazy of a different situation as you might think. And like, one of the things I would say in Travis Aachan's favor is like, okay, higher passing rate in that offense. And like, okay, is he going to get more passing work than Tony Pollard?

But none of that's a guarantee. like and I think we're just pricing it in like there's like this huge ceiling to him then I don't think the ceiling's all that much higher than Tony Pollard. I was actually really surprised to see how close they're receiving numbers were last year. I mean, ETN or HN was used what felt like pretty heavily in the passing game last year. His numbers weren't all that much better than Pollards and yes like people are talking about the Saints office being pretty house heavy. all right, well, if the Titans are going to run the ball more,

they're going to be running it with Tony Pollard. So how big of a difference are we really going to see there? Let's hit the McDonald's drive-thru here, Mello. Let's talk about Joe Burrow, a sausage McGrittle, versus Jared Goff, a sausage McMuffin. We're talking about a price difference here of $599 versus $2.99, or in fantasy football terms, the QB3 versus the QB16.

And when I'm looking to pinch pennies here, there's a big difference. A McGrittle is awesome, but it's just obviously going to be. to cost you more. And a sausage McMuffin is still excellent, so excellent that's finished as a top 10 quarterback in four straight seasons. So why are we paying up so much for the McGrittle? I love a McGrittle. It's flashier. It's got the aura. But you know what the McMuffin is? It's firm. It's got strong integrity in the bread. It's reliable. And it doesn't break apart like Jared Gough who has not missed an

NFL game in four years. If you have the money for the McGrittle, I say go for it. In fact, If Burrow falls a few spots, maybe you can get the McGrittle on a discount and it's well worth the price. But for what I'm paying at retail, I will take the McMuffin every single time. Analogies aside, though, Burrow has an insane ceiling. And if you can get him with a stack with a guy like Jamar Chase or even T. Higgins and even get him out a little bit of a discount, I 1,000% understand taking the shot. But what I would absolutely say you shouldn't do is reach on a guy who's getting drafted pretty close to his ceiling. versus punting and waiting on a guy who's at quarterback 16

and finished as the QB 10, 7, 6, and 9 in his last four years with Dan Campbell and the Lions. Golf stays disrespectful. So disrespected. It's crazy. I think it's like because people don't think he has the upside of like a top five finish, which like Burrow absolutely does. But at the same time, right now I think the Lions have the highest implied point total on the season for 2026.

last year alone, Goff was second, I think, in passing touchdowns and second in passing yards or definitely second in passing yards. I think he was two

or three in touchdown. So, I mean, we've seen him do it before. He doesn't have Jamar and T, but he's got Aminra

and Jameson and throw in all the other weapons as well. So I do like the value here. I obviously prefer Joe Burroughs straight up. Right. But I think it's funny,

though, you're like, and I think a ton of people have this sentiment of like, yeah, Jared Goff doesn't have top five quarterback upside. Well, he had top six quarterback, top seven quarterback, two separate years in the last three years,

and we're drafting them 13 positional ranks apart. That's just crazy to me. No, I'll take the sausage McMuffin. Nothing wrong with it. Some people don't like to see how the sausage rick muffin gets made. Yeah, I think that's the problem. Well, I got my last one here, Mitch, and I want to reach really deep into my little brown paper bag here for this one. and I'm going to be talking about a couple of teammates,

a couple of rookie teammates who are going super late in drafts, and that is Caleb Douglas, who I will equate to French fries, compared to Chris Bell, who is my baked potato here. You can get a baked potato at Wendy's. And Mitch, I looked up their menu recently. It's Wendy, and I knew, I'm not a huge fast food guy, but I did know they sold baked potatoes. What I didn't know until very recently when I looked it up,

they have like 12 different varieties of baked potatoes. You could get so many. different freaking baked potato i didn't know there's a market i'm i don't know i might have to do some more uh research on that uh but the the reason i'm equating them to to these foods these potato based sides is because these guys are like sort of side pieces or side dishes if you will and they're super cheap they're very very cheap at the ends of drafts chris bell going as the wide receiver 93 in redraw christ or Caleb Douglas rather as a wide receiver 122.

And because of that, this is probably a little bit more of a dynasty take than anything because of how cheap and young they are. But it honestly applies to deeper redraft leagues as well, especially for trying to shoot for the moon later in your draft. Chris Bell, like I said, the baked potato, super affordable. People love them. But they have the tendency to physically fall apart. And that unfortunately happened to Bell at SMU when he tore his ACL last year.

Meanwhile, our salty alternative of Caleb French Fry Douglas is. is even cheaper. And he's cheaper, despite being the receiver that the dolphins themselves took higher just a couple of months ago and the actual NFL draft. The dolphins quite literally picked Douglas over Bell, just like how most people will take the French fries over the baked potato when they go to Wendy's. It's also worth noting that a lot of dolphins existing past catchers are very small in stature. Obviously, Devon A. Chan, not to be confused with Travis A. Chan, and then some of the other receivers in this offense, Malik Washington, Tutuat.

Well, this offense really need size in the passing game. And Chris Bell is 6-2, which certainly bodes very well for him. But you know who's even bigger? 6-4 Caleb Douglas. That's right. He's no small fry, Mitch. He's a large fry. So when I'm washing down a snack with a cold beer on NFL Sunday,

probably not a cold beer, probably a chocolate milkshake or chocolate milk or whatever. But it depends on who you draft. It depends on who I'm drafting. But I'm not only picking fries because they're cheaper. I straight up prefer them over the baked potato. And with that said, Caleb Douglas is one of my favorite dirt cheap sleepers and fantasy football. One of the best values on the menu.

If you're really cash-strapped and you don't want to spend that much money, just get some fries. Who's Wendy's Chili? Is that Greg Dolcich? I don't want to... I've heard great things about Wendy's Chili, but I just feel like on principle it's disrespectful to compare any human being to Wendy's Chili. Tuts feel disrespectful.

This is one of those takes that I feel like I've just, like, had, and I kind of feel like crazy for that I just feel like Caleb Douglas has been getting so unbelievably disrespected because of priors that the entire fantasy football community had. And none of us are listening to the Miami Dolphins who are running the team, who wanted him over Chris Bell. Like, I think this is, like, an obvious one to me. that, and I think it will flip or at least get closer by the time draft season comes around.

Yeah, I think the priors is the big thing, like you said. Yeah. The response that is, oh, Chris Bell has the much better athletic profile. He just slipped a little bit in the draft because of that injury at SMU that I talked about. But it's like, okay, well, he still did slip in the draft. And Douglas still does have this great opportunity. And it's not like he's some bum, like it's not like he doesn't have a good athletic profile. I mean, there's obviously a lot he can work on, but he's big bum.

body, like I said, this offense needs. And he's somebody that's at cost, 100% worth a shot on. Yeah, I'm fully with you. All right, Mello, it's getting late. So as any good late night, we should probably hit Taco Bell to wrap this up. And let's talk about Chris Olave

and Wondale Robinson, who are a Taco Bell CrunchRap Supreme and a stacker. Two wide receiver ones last season who relied heavily on volume, but now have a top 10 draft pick rookie receiver threatening their target share, and one being drafted as the wide receiver 13,

and the other one being drafted as the wide receiver 49. That felt literally fake to me reading that. No. I feel like they seem incredibly different, much like a Taco Bell CrunchRap Supreme and a stacker, but at the end of the day, the only true difference between them is the Tostata in the middle. And in this case, between a Lava and Robinson,

it's 3.2 points per game in 2025. Both of these guys obviously are going to see a little bit less target volume this season. But something that Wandael actually has over Chris Ilave is the yak. Like, he is actually a guy that makes a lot of plays happen once he gets the ball in his hands. And we look at Cam Ward last season, 36% of his passing yards came from short to intermediate passes of 1 to 10 yards. He had the 26th's lowest A-DOT of any quarterback who played 250 or more plays last season. And obviously, we expect to see him take more shots down the field now that Carnell Tate's in the building.

His passes last year traveling over 20 yards were 8.1% of his attempts. But clearly he has a comfortability with taking the easy yards and targeting a guy like, say, Wondale Robinson, who's just going to chip away and get you PPR fantasy points without all the flashiness. The type of guy that you check your phone and he's had eight for 70 in the occasional touchdown. So it's not super exciting, but that's why I think he's a stacker from Taco Bell. Everyone loves a crunch trap. They're always going to mention, oh my God, we got to get the crunch trap. And so do I. I don't want to crunch wraps are incredible.

But sometimes there's a phenomenal deal staring you right in the face. if you're just willing to take the easy win. I'm glad you did this. First of all, I'm actually glad we both went with the Saints, Titans, comparisons here. It didn't even strike me until the middle of that. But I think there's maybe some weird disrespect on the Titans

where people are so much more bullish on the Saints. And to a large extent, I get that. And let me be clear, too. Like, I'd cost aside all a sequel, I'd way rather Chrysolaubay than Wandaeimson. 3.2 points per game is relatively substantial. That's what we saw last year. But I also, with that said, have been thinking, Alave is probably a little bit overpriced right now. And Wondale is probably a decent value right now. So if you're really trying to get that value, you're trying to find the

better guy at cost, it probably is Wondale. One other thing I'll add to, which, I mean, this isn't maybe the biggest thing in the world, but yes, Wondale ends up in Tennessee here and they add a top 10 receiver just like the Saints did. They also let Chigarokko go, who is really good down the stretch last year. So, you know, that'll hopefully open up some targets there. But more importantly, with the Saints, they added a top 10 receiver. They also added, like we talked about earlier, Achan who's supposedly going to get a lot of work in this offense. They didn't really let anyone depart in free agency. So I could see Olave, who was very dependent on target share, seeing that target share dwindle, again, prefer him over Wandole, but at cost.

I don't know. Can I give a little bit of an intrusive thought before we get out of here? I would prefer it, yeah. I'm a little like, we're probing up a lot of saints guys right now in the fantasy community. It's starting to make me feel a little icky here. Like, I like Tyler Shuck and I'm excited for him, but I'm also just kind of like,

but we just think everyone is just going to like smash their ADP. I think there's just a lot of excitement coming out of New Orleans right now. Yeah, they're getting a little bit of like, the early summer hype that I don't know how much of it is warranted. I think there's a chance they take a step forward. They were actually pretty good down the stretch last year. But yeah, some of these pieces are getting up there. Price for sure.

They're not on the value menu. That you're going to like fast casual for these Saints pieces. You're not going to the true, the drive-through. You're getting sloppels with the Saints pieces. Getting some Travis A-chan at Kava. Absolutely. Well, those were our six VASTS. Value menu fantasy football players for 2026.

If you have anybody that didn't make the list, make sure to leave it down below if there's anybody you agree with or disagree with. Also, let us know down below, we respond to pretty much every comment. But Mello, before we get out of here, do we miss anything? I gotta go eat dinner now.

I'm starving. All right, we'll catch you guys next episode.