Lineup Fantasy Football Show - The BEST Fantasy Football Pick In Every Round with FantasyPros Derek Brown

Episode Date: August 5, 2026

Derek Brown from FantasyPros joins the show to break down the single best pick in every round of your fantasy football draft! From the elite RB1s in Round 1 all the way down to the late-round league-winners nobody's talking about. We debate our favorite value picks round-by-round and call out a few we'd avoid entirely. 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/ Timestamps: 0:00 - Fantasy Football Draft Best Picks 1:14 - James Cook 4:19 - A.J. Brown 8:15 - Devonta Smith 11:24 - Colston Loveland 17:04 - David Montgomery 19:39 - Carnell Tate 21:15 - Jaxson Dart 25:21 - Chris Godwin 27:53 - Brock Purdy 29:16 - Jonathon Brooks 32:24 - Jayden Higgins 36:43 - Baker Mayfield 37:53 - Stefon Diggs 42:15 - Chig Okonkwo 44:49 - Antonio Williams, De'Zhaun Stribling, & Elijah Sarratt Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You know that stretch late in the workday when you've still got work to finish? The coffee's not doing it anymore and another cup just makes you jittery. Rune was built for exactly that. It's a nicotine-free focus pouch, designed to help you stay locked in when your energy starts to fade. I'm the hardest working man in fantasy, and happens to me. That's why I love Rune. Not only is it nicotine-free, it's sugar-free. Each pouch contains 80 milligrams of caffeine.

Rune was created by MIT and Harvard scientists, both MIT and Harvard, who originally built it for themselves naturally. It lasts for six to eight hours. So a single pouch holds focus through a long stretch instead of spiking and fading after the first hour. I like it's convenient because there's no cans brewing. Just tuck that pouch under your lip and lock in. So visit takeroon.com slash player and use promo code player at checkout to get an extra 10% off any subscription for a total savings up to 64%. That's takeroon.com slash player and use code player at check out for up to 64% off. Fantasy football drafts are the best part of the year, boys.

But who are the best players to draft in every round to help you win your fantasy football league? We're going round by round with the single best player to draft for fantasy football this season. Let's go. Welcome into the lineup fantasy football show. I'm Mitch Anderson. I'm Justin Mello.

And Mello, not only are we being visited by a very, very, very special guest today, we're actually being visited by our first ever returning guest here at the line up fantasy football. We have got our guy Derek Brown from Fantasy Pros because we had so much fun last time, but not enough. We needed to have a little bit more. Derek, how's everything going? Doing good, guys. Does that make me the ghost

of Christmas past or present? I'm kind of losing my place here. I think you're the ghost of football future. Oh, well played, sir. Well played. I'm pumped. We're going to talk a little bit about some fantasy football here. The best pick of every round for Fantasy Football in 2020. will be using Fantasy Pro's full PPR ADP as of right now.

But Derek, you're on the clock. Who is the best pick in round one right now at their cost? Simply based off of the value and where you can get him at the back end of the first round, it is a slam dunk for James Cook for me. I love it. You are getting access to a player that I think if he gets the pure runout of this season, he can compete with Bijon Robinson and Jemir Gibbs. and I don't think anybody's talking about him in that light.

I understand why they're not. But just look at the parts of pieces that we need, guys. We need a running back that can handle heavy volume. Check, we got that. We need a running back that's in one of the best offenses in the league. Okay, well, Buffalo has been top six in points per game in Red Zone scoring attempts in each of the last three years. So check that box.

And now in 2026, boys, I think we finally get the passing game ceiling unlocked for James Cook. That gives him that top three upside. because if you look at, and I know this has kind of been passed around, but I really want to tell people, Pete Carmichael's arrival in Buffalo, I think, sends good vibes for James Cook in the passing game. And people say, well, you could use that and that's also a Sean Peyton's stat. But not, uh-uh. In the two years of Pete Corr and Michael was still with the Saints, without Sean Peyton, still top 10 in Target chair to the running back position in both of those seasons.

You look at that juxtapose with Buffalo over the last three years in running back target share, 12, 16, and 23rd. So James Cook, we're getting the rushing volume. You're getting the efficiency. You're getting exposure to one of the best offenses in the NFL. If we get the passing game ceiling for James Cook, he is hands down the best value in round one. Oh, man, you just took it from me. I was ready to jump in and bring up the Pete Carmichael thing.

And then not only did you say it, you actually went more in depth than I've heard most people talking about it. I think this one's a slam dunk. And a great point you brought up. We actually got a comment on our show today about somebody being concerned. about the fact that James Cook got so much work last year. And, you know, obviously he's on the bills.

So they have that run through the playoffs and they get a little bit of extra work there at the end of the season. He's done it year in and year out. And he's clearly a guy who can handle it. So I don't have the same worries about his efficiency as I would with a lot of other guys getting his level of work. Absolutely. And people talk about the size and stuff like that. Okay, James Cook is pretty much the exact same size as Jameer Gibbs. If you look at height and wait when they came out, I don't hear anybody worried.

about the volume piling up for Jumeer Gibbs as the 101 in almost every fantasy draft. But yet we're using that or people are using that as a narrative to slight James Cook. Make it make sense, boys. Make it make sense. And we already have the evidence, too, that he can handle it. I mean, just last year he led the league in rushing the year before, he led the league in touchdowns. It's like you said, just the passing volume or the receiving work that's limited him. And Derek, as you were giving your rant there, I thought it was Mitch for a second, because all I hear Mitch talk about with James Cook is this OC change and how he's going to start

catching the ball. He's not wrong, Mello. He's not wrong. He's not wrong. I'm going to say, I don't think Derek's wrong either. Maybe Mitch is listening to a lot of Derek, but listen, I hear it. I'm with you. And I'm drafting a lot of James Cook myself. If he's there at the one two turn, he is one of my favorite targets. Love it. But moving

on to one of my favorite targets at the two three turn, one of my favorite values here in the second round is A.J. Brown, sometimes falling even into the third, but more often than not going toward the end of the second round. You would think with the way that people are talking about AJ Brown that he was the wide receiver 30 last year. It's just the vibes are so negative. People act like he's washed up and he's a diva and the knee and it's just, it's a lot of negative vibes.

But he was the wide receiver 11 in PPR last year in terms of his season long finish. And that was like I said, with these negative vibes. And when he was on the Eagles who were 27th in pass rate and had Jalen Hertz who was really struggling at quarterback last year, now he gets a new quarterback who's an elite deep ball thrower who somehow miraculously was first in both completion percentage and yards per attempt. Those two stats typically do not go together. And the Patriots will also undoubtedly be throwing the ball a lot more in 2026 when you look at their revamped receiver rim and you look at the fact that their schedule is much tougher. They won't be winning in blowouts. They won't be running the ball late in games as consistently as they were last year.

So to me, this is the best situation AJ Brown has had at a very long time and he's already been very good for a very long time. He's finished as a wide receiver one in each of the four years since his rookie campaign that he played at least 14 games. Now he's going as a wide receiver eight very end of the second round. I just love that value. I love this call so freaking much. I'm going to put you on the spot here, M. L.O., where do you have A.J. Brown ranked right now amongst wide receivers and give you a second to pull this up. I'm just going to tell you right now, bro, I got him at wide receiver five. I'm all in on A.J. Brown. I think that for every point that you made, with that entire run-through,

I'm with you on all of that, and I think it's getting glossed over and people aren't realizing his touchdown upside. Going from a team that was 32nd and 10-zone passing rate to a Patriots team that was 15th, with the addition, and it could be higher this year with the addition to A.J. Brown and Romeo Dobbs,

I think A.J. Brown, as long as assuming health, I think he sees a career high across the board, targets, receptions, receiving yards, and, and boys, touchdowns. I love that. I'm a Patriots fan, so I double love that. Oh, I'm just speaking to a asshole here. Let's go, baby.

Yeah, everything I said is just because I'm, I'm biased. No, I actually have him as my wide receiver six. So you even have them a spot higher, and I love it. I don't blame you for that at all. I could not agree more on A.J. Brown-Mello. We've talked about this disastrous situation last year in Philadelphia, the whole Kevin Petula experiment, still finishes the wide receiver 11. I am not buying into this doom and gloom from the first two days of training camp that everyone else is.

I think A.J. Brown is going to be just fine in New England. Give me all that value. If people are going to shade him and let him fall down the boards, which that's, dude, I saw it all on Axchester. I was like, oh, hey, he's not really separating on the crossing rep. Oh, he's dropping a pass. Okay. Whatever lies, y'all want to tell yourselves is fine with me

because I'm just going to draft more A.J. Brown, boys. This reminds me of when Jamar Chase couldn't catch a football if it didn't have the white stripes on it. I was told that he didn't have the ability, that that left his body when he left LSU. Yeah, I think he's been doing all right, though. It's like maybe, maybe it doesn't matter if there's stripes on the ball. Maybe he's just that good.

What's up guys? Real quick, you know, we're always talking about the guys we love to draft in best ball. And this year, you can actually draft right alongside us as we have officially partnered with Underdog. It's incredibly easy. You can either download the Underdog fantasy app or just go to Underdog.com. When you sign up, use the code lineup. That's L-I-N-E-U-P. And when you deposit and play with $5, Underdog is actually going to give you $50 in bonus entries.

So that's $5 to get $55 to draft. with. Underdog is by far the easiest place to play bestball. That's why we use it year in and year out and you'll have the opportunity to draft in a lobby with us. Plus, Taylor picks all season long once football kicks off. Go to underdog.com or download the Underdog Fantasy app and use code lineup when you sign up. But now, back to the video. Exactly. Let's move on to round three, though, here. Let's talk about AJ Brown's former teammate Devontas Smith. As it currently stands with the ADP right now, Malik Neighbors is here in the third round. And I want to it to take him, but one of two things is going to happen. Either he is going to be ready as it looks

like he's going to be and he's going to rise up the rankings way earlier than the third round where there's no shot you could get him, or he's not ready by the time week one comes around, in which case I don't want to draft him here. So that leaves us with Devontas Smith, who we don't need to blabler this. We've talked a ton about him here at the lineup. We saw him command a 35.1% target share in the last two seasons when AJ Brown wasn't on the field. And even in those two years, we saw him actually playing a lot more in the slot. He's been so much better when lined up out wide and he's going to get that opportunity now. A.J. Brown, like we just said, is in New England. They go and draft Mackay Lemon, who's going to be taking a lot of those slot snaps. And so I expect to see

Devontas Smith lined up outside way more where he achieved a 2.95 yards per outrun last season, tied for third best behind. Another two decent receivers in Jackson Smith and Jigba and Pooka. I love the call. I'm all in on Devonton Smith too. I think, any of the stuff that goes out there about like he can't be a true one is just narrative and BS because any of the time AJ Brown has missed any time. His numbers are fantastic. So it's not based off a substance. It's just based off of bad vibes. A hundred percent. Right. And I think if there's two things I've heard against Devontas Smith and people building a case against him, it's one, the Eagles don't throw the ball a ton and two, Mackay Lemon is there even if he's a favorite. Jay Brown is gone. And to that, I'm like, true, fair. But the counterpoint to that is they've always been low passing volume. And we've still seen both AJ Brown and Devontas Smith perform. And yes, Mackay Lemon is there. But if we're projecting Devontas Smith to play more on the outside and play more of the, you know, quote unquote, A.J. Brown role. We just talked about how good AJ Brown has been.

Yeah. If that's Devontas Smith, he's going to smash at ADP. The only way I'm going to get concerned about Devonza Smith is if he starts reading Inter Excellence on the sideline. then I'm worried about how things are going with Jalen Hertz. Or if he's stabbing the positivity rabbit, that's true. Yeah, if the positivity rabbit goes down, I'm out on DeVantz Smith. That was such a weird time, just for everybody to be kind of rewind to go back. That was such a weird time on social media. I'm like, what?

There's a positive. What is this like a spirit animal? We're living in like a curb your enthusiasm skin. Yes, it felt like very much like a Larry David's skid. It was very, very wild. But I'll sort of throw context on this of the last two years without AJ Brown in the lineup, Devontas Smith. 32.9% target share 2.65 yards per route run.

He is that dude. He's that dude. So leading me or leading us, shall I say, because we're walking hand in hand through this, into round four. And a guy that honestly, I'm putting him in the round four conversation because this is where we sit at ADP.

I think when we're into the full throws of draft season and the heat of it and stuff right before week one, I think this guy is not going to be available in the fourth round. I think he's going to be a third round pick. But right now, why you can get the value, please do. On Colston Loveland, who is going to be, I think, a lead defining pick. I think you're getting a player and not having to pay the price tag of last year's

Trey McBride or this year's Brock Bowers as a player that can compete with Brock Bowers for the tight end one overall mantle. And nobody's talking about it in that way. But, I mean, proof is in the pudding, boys. Last year when we saw Colston Loveland unleashed in a full-time role, When I get it, like, people like, oh, it's such a small sample. Yeah, because Amon Ra breaking out in the back end of his rookie season and that small sample didn't repeat over the next year or years.

Oh, wait, it did. Same thing where Rishi Rice when he's been on the field. That could never repeat. Oh, but it did. And so on and so forth about numerous rookies that are incredibly talented breaking out and everyone who wants to say, but the small sample size, he can't do that over a full season. Until they do, and then you are weeping in your hands about not drafting him.

And it's not going to be me, guys. Because if Colston-in-lawfuling can have that type of production that he had in week 16 through 20 last year, he will break fantasy leagues based off of where you are drafting and the value that you are getting for a player during that stretch, had a 25.6% target here, and I'm just, everybody strap in. I'm going to throw a ton of numbers at you, but there's a reason why here at the end. 25.6% target share. He averaged 81.6 receiving yards per game, 2.49 yards per route run, a 34% first read share, and 0.116 first downs per route run. So every single per route metric that I care about for tight ends at all, in that sample size, Colston Loveland amongst if you would have zoomed out and he said, he did this for the entirety of the whole season amongst all tight ends last year with at least 20 targets. In that sample, zooming out, Colston Loveland would have ranked first, first, fourth, first, fourth, and second.

If you even put that sample size up against 2025, Trey McBride, Colston Loveland in that sample was better than Tray McBride in 2025, and the Titan 1 du jour this year of Brock Bowers put that sample for Colston Loveland up against 2024, Brock Bowers. He beats both of them in every single damn. metric. If he gets this type of usage guys, he is literally the best tight-in value out there, period, bar none, just end of conversation. I feel like a horse that's wearing blinders, and on one side is Brock Bowers and the other one is Tucker Kraft because I just haven't been able to stop drafting the two of them. But when you look at a guy who presents actually a truly elite upside that you get at a tight end in like the fourth round, and when I say truly

obviously upside. Like, we've talked about Tucker Kraft being able to be the tight end one, but the guy that could actually separate and be this next gronk or Travis Kelsey of decades to come, like we were just mentioning our last episode, Mello, like, Colson Loveland fits that mold, and you can't say that about a lot of other guys in this range. I'm afraid I'm going to be the person weeping in my hand because I'm part of the problem. I'm like so scared to click that button because we haven't seen it season. Why? But I shouldn't be, I'm just not as brave as you, Derek.

This is why Derek Brown is one of the best in the business. But if you're waiting to see it, if you're waiting to see it, that's the part where people, you've waited too long. No, you're 100% right. And I'm glad you brought up weeks 16 through 22

because something he doesn't benefit from is the fact that two of his best games were playoff games, which from a fantasy of the law perspective, people just kind of throw it out and they disregard it. But I mean, that actually matters from a real life perspective.

And it should matter from a fantasy perspective, too, if we're looking at the future outlook, when it mattered the most when the Browns, when the Bears were playing in the playoffs, Colston Loveland had 25 targets across two games. If Pook and Kua did that, I'd be like, damn, that's kind of crazy. Colston Loveland did it at the tight end position. So he absolutely has the same upside as those top guys. And you're right.

The discount is really only there because we haven't seen it from a season, you know, start to finish perspective yet. But the upside is undeniably there. The other part about this is, and just to flip this on its head a little bit, it. One, he did this while Cole Commit was also a part of the offense. So everybody that's making a pro-Cole commit conversation, I don't know what the hell you're doing. But number two, boys, just think about it this way. People want to press the brakes or pump the brakes on Colston Loveland and that small sample. Just in your mind's eye, tell me, if Luther

Burton did that crap last year in week 16 through 20, where the hell would he be going in drafts? Please, where? People would. They'd have to inventing him out. 1.0. Yeah, it'd be 1.0. He would be zooming up the ranks and everyone would be like falling over themselves to be like, how high is too high to rank Luther Burton? But then people are like, but I don't know about Colston Loveland.

Oh, really? Because if Luther Burton did this, you would literally crap your pants and be pushing people out of the way to draft him, but because it's a tight end and it's Colston Loveland and Cole commets there, people are like, oh, I don't know. It's the HR meme.

Fair. Pictures are the same, boys. It should elevate them even more because of positional scarcity. Yes. I will completely agree with you. I would take Colston Lovlin at ADP over Luther Borden at ADP 100 times over 100 out of 100. Moving away from Tide end, though, in round five. I'm going to be talking about David Montgomery as my favorite value.

We actually talked about Demont the last time we had Derek on, but I'm going to do it again. You can't stop me. I'm going to keep talking about David Montgomery. I just love this guy too much. he has finished over the last three years as the running back 17, 18, and 27 overall while playing with the football deity that is Jemir Gibbs.

Now he gets an entire backfield to himself. I will not tolerate any Woody Mark's propaganda. Throw that to the side. And he's on a run-heavy team with a good defense that are going to be running the ball a lot late. But he's being drafted as the 23rd running back off the board. That just does not make sense to me. You're going to get at worst a rock solid RB2

who has the upside to finish as a low-end RB1. It's just a no-brainer to be in the fifth round. How has he slipped further? I don't know. I couldn't agree more with all your points. And for everybody that just wants to understand the fever dream run out of this, I just kindly point you back to Joe Mixon's

2024 season was the RV-9 and fantasy points per game. Like, you don't have to squint hard to see the absolute ceiling outcome for David Montgomery and for your points, Mello, like, I just, the narratives about players versus the actuality of where they're at in their careers is hilarious because you go out on X or you know you go to the comment section on YouTube. I was like, yeah, he's washed, he's old. Woody Marks to the moon. I'm like, dude, there's nothing about his profile that's washed. Like we're discussing a player that was 12th in yards of the contact per attempt. He was 12th in first downs per route run on on a per touch basis.

David Montgomery beat Woody Marks in every single category I care about it. I can list them off, but I'm not going to I'm not going to do that. to save people time. This one's interesting. It should be common sense. I don't understand the Woody Marks narrative, honestly. It's people holding in the priors, man. It's people that loved him as a rookie. He broke out.

And people are like, but you can't put that genie back in the bottle. Well, and the genie's kind of ugly and it's very inefficient. You could definitely shove that genie back in the bottle. Oh, here at the lineup, we were trashed on Woody Marks way before Dapin Montgomery was traded to the Texans. Yeah. I don't see. This guy was the running back 26 last year playing next to Jumeer Gibbs,

and now you swap Jemir Gibbs for Woody Marks, and we've moved him up three spots. Like, make that make sense to me. But the Houston offensive line, but Woody Marks. I mean, don't you know, Mitch? I mean, come on. Are you a ball-nower? Hmm.

It's ridiculous, man. I agree with everything here. Let's move on to round six. We just went from the oldest man of all time to one of the young, exciting wide receivers. Let's talk some Carnal Tate. I absolutely love him going off the board here at the 67th pick, which that's one that I'm sure the young folks are going to love all those six, seven heads.

But we just talked ad nauseum about how much we love this guy in our fancy blueprint episode. Favor wide receiver prospect going in the draft, the insane number four overall draft capital on him. Now you attach him to a young ascending first overall pick from last year in Cam Ward. You introduce an offensive coordinator in Brian Dayball who loves to spam his number one receiver. I just, I love taking this shot on a guy who's upside is absolutely reduced. ridiculous versus a lot of the other people in this range. And I looked back to last year, we were drafting T-MAC around pick 56 as the wide receiver 25.

He finished as the wide receiver 15. This is just way too cheap for Carnell Tate to me. We did this last year. I didn't do this. I'll say the Royal Wee. People did this last year with Tedra McMillan. And they said, but he can't do it. And he was too cheap throughout the entirety of draft season.

I'll also point you back to a Brian Dable favorite. boys, people did this when Malik neighbors. Both of these guys crushed their ADP and then, but then people will still look you straight in the face and say, I'm out on Cornell Tate. I don't get it. I really don't. That Malik Neighbors year was so funny.

Marvin Harrison Jr., and this is 50 pounds of muscle ago, he was going as the 16th overall pick in Fancy Football Drafts this year, or that year, which just feels insane to me. Yeah, it's insane, man, but out of Malik neighbors and now I've got to bring up his quarterback here, Jackson Dart, man.

He's my favorite pick of the seventh round, and it's all upside, man. It's upside for days. Like, you look at when Jackson Dart took over as a starter for the Giants. Yeah, he was QB7 and fantasy points per game, but that also needs a lot more context. If you take out the outlier stinker game

of Week 16 versus Minnesota when he only scored one fantasy point, he had 13 freaking passing attempts, he had 33 passing yards, take that damn game out of the game out of the game. the sample. He averaged 22.5 fantasy points per game and just for everybody at home so they understand, that was even better than Josh Allen last year. It would have made him the QB1 in fantasy. So again, I don't want to be like, let's take out the good and take out the bad and then we

can craft these narratives. I mean, I'm literally talking about an outlier game where the guy scored one freaking fantasy point. That's it. Take it out of the sample because it's an outlier and it's garbage. You take that out and if he reproduces any of this, and I get all the worries about Matt Nagy and what have you and about this offense, he's going to run. His floor, not his ceiling, is being priced into where he goes. He's an ascendant second year quarterback. And if, like, if Malik neighbor starts out and he's not slow out the gate, and I understand, like, he probably is and we shall see. They added other players to this offense. The offensive line is probably going to be much improved for last year. I mean, Jackson Dart, you are getting a massively

high floor player at his floor because of how much he runs and will run is top 12. His ceiling is top three. I was taking Jackson Dart MVP bets back in May. And so I don't think there's any issue I have at this one. Mello, you have been the Michael Scott Snips Knapp on Jackson. So I need to know where you are with the Malik Neighbors saga and everything. I'm getting back. I'm getting back in. I've been in and out and in and out. And even when I've been out, it's been, I mean, partially the Malik neighbor stuff, but also partially where he's going, where he's getting ranked. His ADP has fallen recently. I'm curious to see if it goes back up with the Malik neighbor's news. But with where his ADP sits currently, I'm in for the exact reasons that Derek outlined for the upside.

One of my favorite stats I brought up on this show before, since 2015, so an 11-year sample, Ricky quarterbacks who rush for at least 400 yards go on to hit on their ADP in their second year every single time. The only guy who didn't do it in that 11 year sample was just last year, Jaden Daniels. And it was because he was hurt and he was getting drafted as the quarterback three. And something I haven't mentioned about that staff. If you remove Jaden Daniels from that population, those same quarterbacks, the worst any of them

finished was Bo Nix as the quarterback seven last year. Exactly. Or I'd say that's probably the ceiling of where Jackson Darts getting drafted. And depending on where you look, he's getting drafted as later than the quarterback seven. So from that lens, that's the type of reason you take a guy like this. He runs the ball so much. He plays like he's willing to get into a car crash, which maybe from an injury standpoint, you don't like to see. But he runs the ball a ton. We saw it last year. He gets hopefully Malik neighbors back who he didn't even have last year. It's a total worthwhile shot on upside. That's the other part that I love that you brought up here, Mello, is that he did all of that

last year without Malik neighbors. He did all of that last year and there were various points where he didn't even have Darius Slayton. Like he's tossing to like wide receiver fives and sixes and Theo Johnson and backup tight ends Daniel Bellinger's

of the world and it's like he did all of everything he did last year with basically no pass catchers and I'm not in love with everybody outside of Malik Neighbors and Isaiah likely this year but we can all collectively say it's still a better group than he had at any point last year.

Well, he's throwing you as Melo calls him Odell Beckham Senior because he's too old now to be a junior. So that wide receiver room's looking pretty strong going into the year. Fair. We'll see if he makes the team. I do have another old receiver. Don't worry, it's not Odell to talk about here in round eight. It is Chris Godwin.

I keep bringing him up on the show too. I'm getting just more excited about him, too, as we head deeper into the summer here. he was the wide receiver one or two overall, depending on the format you play in 2024 prior to that ankle injury. And it's like people don't care. It's like people just throw it out that he was that good just two years ago. And the Buccaneers gave him a massive contract after the injury, which tells you,

they felt good about him long term. They felt good about his outlook despite the rehab that they already knew he had to go through because he had already had this injury occur. So that tells me I should feel pretty good as we head here into 2020. he's finally fully healthy. I do love a Mecca Abuka as well. We've talked about him on the show. But I think they both can eat in the Zach Robinson offense with a gunslinger like Baker Mayfield at the helm, who by the way, threw for 4,500 yards and 41 touchdowns the last time he was fully healthy for a season in 2024. And even in 2025 prior to him getting banged up, he was awesome.

The first month of the season, I think he was the MVP favorite. So this is an environment. I do like the pass catchers in general. And to me, Godwin, as somebody who has such a secure role in this offense. He has such a safe floor at the 8-9 turn, but not only a safe floor, I think the ceiling is higher than people give him credit for, and we saw it just a couple years ago.

I'm in, and the other part about all this, for anybody that does not watch quarterback like the new season of quarterback on Netflix, I say this ad nauseum every single freaking year. It is take injury reports of the grain of salt. We don't know how healthy players are truly. You're trying to read tea leaves.

Don't listen to practice reports, because nine times out of 10, they're not accurate, like, in so many different ways. If you watch the Netflix series right now, like Baker Mayfield was torn apart, hurt, and much earlier in the season than I think a lot of people, even if we're talking about it in that light of he wasn't healthy, really at any point. Dude, he was, the only reason we didn't know how bad his damn arm was hurt last year and how bruised it was, for anybody that's already watched this, he was wearing a sleeve on it and practice and during the game,

so you couldn't see the fact that his throwing arm was black and blue even before he ended up on the freaking injury report. I have a little bit more to say about Baker Mayfield as a teaser here, but we'll wait a couple rounds about that. Let's talk about a different quarterback quickly here, though. In round nine, Mello, you said that you feel the people are getting tired about listening to Chris Godwin and how great he is. They've got to be tired of hearing me talk about Brock Purdy.

But give me Purdy at the pick 103 here. I am going to have to hit the Apple Genius bar the next morning after my draft because I shattered my mouse pad clicking that button to make sure I get Baker Mayfield here in round nine. This was last year's Brock Ferddy. Do I say Baker Mayfield? Yeah. Trying to get Brock Ferddy, who's last year's quarterback two in points per game.

In the last four seasons, he's finished first in touchdown rate twice, fourth another time. Now you give him Mike Evans, who we've discussed last time with Derek as one of our favorite picks this year. You add in the training camp buzz recipient of the year, Dejean Sribbling. And now you're getting Brock Purdy as the quarterback 12 off the board. It just feels ludicrous to me. And to be able to get a guy with that much upside this late, it just lets you stack like these other positions and get so much depth, maybe even go elite tight end,

grab a Brock Bowers, grab yourself a Colson Loveland. And then you can get a league-winning guy at quarterback as the literal last quarterback one off the board. nobody wants to give him respect for everybody at home listening QB5 QB10 QB6 and fantasy points per game of the last three years yet still we sit he's QB 12 and ADP and you can get him as a QB2 in a lot of different spots so I'm absolutely with this call love it for from one guy that's getting slanderous hate and doesn't get enough respect then I'm going to go to a guy that's going up the boards and Jonathan Brooks as the round 10 pick here and I'm willing to chase him up the boards guys like I have been screaming about Jonathan Brooks for weeks and weeks and weeks. It's finally kind of catching up. Everybody's seeing that, like,

Jonathan Brooks is fully healthy. Carolina is easing him in to a massive workload this year. He has already fully recovered from that second ACL surgery. He has passed all of that. But they are being wise, and for a player that they are going to massively count on this year, they're being wise with his early usage in camp and preseason. They're going to treat him with. kid gloves, but I'm telling you, man, he is going to be the workhorse for the Carolina

Panthers. Everything that we hope to see out of the second round pick for Carolina way back when is going to come to fruition this year and for be kind of rewind and for everybody to understand the type of talent that we're discussing with Jonathan Brooks in his final year in college, 21st in yards under contact per attempt, ninth and elucer rating, and also 21st in yards per route run. Chuba Hubbard was one of the most inefficient running backs in the NFL last year and 130 plus carries. He had zero explosive runs on a per touch basis. He was bottom five in every single metric. He will have a role in this offense. But Jonathan Brooks, I think, will be the preferred passing down back, as well as he will be the workhorse by midseason at the latest. If you

are drafting him as an RB3, when it is all sitting down and we flip over the cards, boys, I think by mid-season you're going to be starting Jonathan Brooks as your strong RB2 in your lineups and you don't have to draft in there. I agree with absolutely everything. It is insane that you got 130 carries and zero explosive runs, Chuba Hubbard.

It is what it is. The numbers don't lie, man. People might run away from hated. The Chuba Hubbard hive can buzz at me all they freaking want to, but the wrong. We've been beating the Jonathan Brooks drum all summer lines ago. I'm actually mad that other people are beating it hard now too

because I was so excited when he was like free. Now he's not free, but he's still a discount because... Yeah. Like, what's his floor? His floor is that he is the third down back and the change of pace back. I mean, that's his absolute worst case scenario floor. And there are guys with similar profiles going in the 10th anyways. Like, you're getting somebody who...

His floor is what you project for other guys going in that range, but his ceiling is that of... guys going in like the third or fourth round. Per real-time ADP on Fantasypros.com, which is tracking, you know, basically ADP, is what it says in real time. Jonathan Brooks is RB36. His floor is as an RB3 in that handcuff, like, touchdown dependent flex tier. But again, that's his floor.

Absolutely. None of the ceiling. None of the, like, that's baking in all the risk. That's not equating for any of the upside for him to smash. 100%. One guy that I'm a little bit less excited about, but I just cannot stop drafting in the 11th round is Jaden Higgins. And it's interesting because if you ask me like my top like 10 players I'm most excited by ADP, I don't know that I'd say Jaden Higgins, but I can't stop drafting him. Like every fantasy pros mock draft I do, I'm grabbing Jaden Higgins. He keeps falling to the late 11 sometimes even into the 12th. And look, I know his rookie year was not all sunshine and lollipops, but he's a 6-4 receiver who ran a 4-4-740,

and the Texans invested a 34th overall pick on him, very close to a first-round pick. And down the stretch last year, he was the clear number two receiver on the Houston Texans. He also had nine end zone targets last year, six of which were caught for touchdowns. So there's a ton of touchdown upside. They like using him down by the goal line. and I think a big part of maybe why people are a little bit scared of Higgins. It's just like the vibe around the Texans right now. People are clowning on C.J. Stroud left and right,

mostly because of his putrid divisional round performance against the Patriots. Also because of his haircut, I think that doesn't help the vibes for the Texans. Well, that and also he looked like every single millennial junior high school kid way back in the day. Yes, literal middle schooler. I mean, it was just low-hanging fruit. Everybody's like, ah, every millennial. myself included, we all watched that video and it's like, dude, that looks like me walking into seventh grade.

No, we literally all know somebody or multiple people we went to school with that reminded us of them. The vibes just can't get any worse than they are for the Texans. But it wasn't too long ago. We were drafting this team's past catchers in the first five or six rounds. I think it was three receivers in the first like five rounds of ADP a couple years ago, which obviously was ridiculous. and I am by no means saying Higgins should go even close to that high.

But in the 11th, like the late 11th, that seems like a discount to me as somebody who could very well have a big year to break out on an offense that I think has the potential to bounce back or at the very least outperform these low expectations from the overreacting masses. I'm totally with you on the Higgins call. Go ahead, go ahead, Mitch. No, I was just going to say, I think he could keep dropping, honestly. I think there's a lot of Tank Dell buzz coming out right now and tank Dell is healthier and more up to speed than people think.

but Mello, we've mentioned it. I just don't see Tank Dell being as big of an issue for Jaden Higgins as people think. Like, I think Jaden Higgins is so talented and he's going to break out regardless of if tankdell's there or not. Well, and the big thing for Tank Dell, even if you want to make this a tank dell slash Jam & Null conversation, which Noel popped up as of recording this. Like he's got a finger injuries. He's going to miss some time guessing it's a broken finger the way that they're framing it.

But with Higgins, we're all talking about him. We're living in this world where I think, the talking point that has just been browbeat upon everybody this offseason is how much 12 and 13 personnel is every team going to run. Yeah. The one thing I could tell you about Jaden Higgins, they go two wide receiver sets. He ain't coming off the field, dude. Tankdale will come off the field. Javidon will come off the field. Jayvindal will come off the field. And I think it kind of goes under the radar because he wasn't a full-time player last year even when he was on the field. So weeks 8 through 18, he wasn't like his route share. He rarely ever had like a 70-80% route chair. But during that stretch in weeks 8 through 18, amongst 119 qualifying wide receivers, just speaking to the talent.

And again, going back to the profile of Higgins as an outside perimeter wide receiver, amongst those 119 qualifying wide receivers, Jaden Higgins, was 38th and yards per route run with 1.93 and 25th best in route win rate amongst, again, 119 qualifying wide receivers. Dude has the chops. We just need C.J. Strow to not look like you forgot how to play quarterback. Yeah, like I think the talent's 100% there. You even look at the rapport he started building with Stroud last year. Like he had by far the second most red zone targets on the team. Obviously, Nico had the most.

But Higgins wasn't that far behind. And then there was like a massive drop off to Dalton Schultz. I think that he's going to be way more involved in this offense than people think. And like the upside in the 11th round is crazy to me for a guy that hasn't fully broken out yet. Agreed. I feel like there's always been a continual believe in second. year breakout wide receivers, but somehow that's getting lost in the sauce for Jane Higgins. Absolutely.

You know that stretch late in the workday when you've still got work to finish? The coffee's not doing it anymore, and another cup just makes you jittery. Rune was built for exactly that. It's a nicotine-free focus pouch, designed to help you stay locked in when your energy starts to fade. I'm the hardest working man in fantasy, and it happens to me. That's why I love Rune. Not only is it nicotine-free, it's sugar-free. Each pouch contains 80 milligrams of caffeine.

Rune was created by MIT and Harvard scientists, both MIT and Harvard, who originally built it for themselves naturally. It lasts for six to eight hours. So a single pouch holds focus through a long stretch instead of spiking and fading after the first hour. I like it's convenient because there's no cans brewing. Just tuck that pouch under your lip and lock in. So visit takeroon.com slash player and use promo code player at checkout to get an extra 10% off any subscription for a total savings. up to 64%. That's takeroon.com slash player and use code player at checkout for up to 64% off. All right, let's move on to round 12. I alluded to it earlier, but let's talk some Baker Mayfield.

And I know this is a little bit crazy because I literally just talked about Brock Purdy, but let's say someone watched this video in your league and they got all hot and bothered by Brock Purdy and he went off the board early and now you're still punting at quarterback. This guy is such a screaming value right now. Like you were saying earlier, Derek, he dealt with a sprained MCL and PCL from week two on last season. If you watched quarterback, you saw how gruesome and rough that injury was. He was still the quarterback 12 last year. He was the quarterback 3 in 2024. And I love saying this, but like the dude is just an absolute junkyard dog. He is so fun to watch on your fantasy team. And he is way, way, way too cheap as the

quarterback 17. We talk about Chris Godwin. We talk about Emeka Abuka. We even talk about Jalen McMillan and we're all so excited for these weapons. And yet, it doesn't seem like we're bringing Baker up. So instead of trying to get pieces of this pie, I'd rather get the Baker that made it. Cool. Well done. Bar. I was things to say.

I mean, when you're on, you're on. And that was very well done, man. I'm going to transition. I don't even have a bar to spit here. I don't know how to follow that up. But round 13 pick. Here we go. Stefan Diggs, man. And I'm taking the low hanging fruit about a guy that I know as soon as he signs, he will not be here. But to that point, if people are doing early redrafts

at this point of the year, best ball, however you're consuming this content and the reason you're consuming it for, the other fact remains of when guys sign later into camp, the ADP never catches up with them. Yes. It happened last year for Keenan Allen. It never got high enough to where I ever got to a point of saying, you know what, I'm going to stop drafting Keenan Allen. because he got way too pricey. The same freaking thing is going to happen with Stefan Diggs. And for everybody, again, we're playing the age game here of ages. And then people are like, oh, but he's too old.

He's probably washed. He's not that good. Coming off of an ACL last year, he was the wide receiver 23 and fantasy points per game. He did that while being the Patriots Christian Watson. And I say that because he only had a 65.4% route share, which out of 109 qualifying wide receivers was ranked 62nd. So if he gets bumped up to a 70, an 80% route chair, wherever he lands, which my prediction right now is the commanders, and he will be like a seventh, eighth round pick, and he should be at this point, the people are not putting enough

respect on Stefan Diggs's name amongst that same 109 qualifying wide receivers, boys. He was 20th in receiving yards per game, 22nd and target per route run rate. He was eighth best in yards per route run and first downs per route run. So, you're just the first downs per route run. So, You're telling me right now, for pennies on the dollar, I can get access to Stefan Diggs. I don't care if you draft him in the 13th round, the 12th, the 10th, the 9th, the 8th, the 7th. Wherever you take him there, he's going to pay off as a value. So juxtapos, like, just put my Stefan Diggs rant at any point in this damn episode that you want to point to, and it still fits.

It's so funny. We talk about it on the show all the time. why do we as a fantasy community price free agents as if they're never going to sign with a team because as soon as they do, even if it's like the team you want them to sign with lease and it's the worst situation, they still go up

in ADP without fail, without fail every single year. So it's like why did we have them price this low to begin with as if they weren't going to be on a team at all? Keenan Allen, I'm glad you brought up, is like the perfect example last year. His ADP started skyrocketing as soon as he signed with the Chargers. You wish you'd

got him before. But even if you didn't, he still was a value. He still didn't get eye enough. And it's so funny we do that as a fantasy community. Stefan Diggs is the perfect example this year. I love what you said at the end too, Derek. And we've talked about this of like, yeah, of course the best value you're going to get right now is in best ball because you can get him before any of these prices rise. But once we're this late, even if he signs with the commanders tomorrow, it's not going to go up as much as it should of. And there's going to be all these question marks around it. And you're going to get Stefan Diggs as an absolute steal. Well, like, just tell me this guy. Stefan Diggs say he signs with

the commanders tomorrow. Where are you putting him at in ranks? Like I, I'm, I'm staring at real-time ADP on fantasy pros right now and I'm like, okay, I'll put Stefan Diggs at wide receiver, comfortably at wide receiver 29 in the same conversation as Roma Dunzee, Brian Thomas Jr., Carnell Tate, another guy we talked about here ahead of Marvin Harrison Jr. And fine, if you want to put Tate above him, but I think that's the right range, late 20s, early 30s, and that's making him a pick that's going in the late 70s or early 80s of drafts, and that's the right spot. But I mean, you, y'all tell me, am I wrong?

Is that too high? Am I just drinking too much of my own Kool-Aid here? No, our audience won't believe this, but my line is Marvin Harrison Jr. I'll put him above Marv at 33. I'll put him above Marv easily, and it's not even close. And the funny thing, too, and I would absolutely too, but the funny thing is, even if you disagree with that and you put him 20 spots lower. Okay, he's still a value.

He's still somebody you have to draft with where he's going. Like he's still going in like the ninth round, but I'm talking about him like he's like he should be going when he signs. He should be going in the seventh round, but he again, we're framing all of this. He won't get to the seventh round. I'm telling you right now, even prior to week one, he will still not be a seventh round pick regardless of everything. No, 100%. In the 14th round, though, I have somebody who I will like a whole lot more if Sipon Diggs does not sign. the commanders.

I made the wet blanket case against Chig. I'm sorry. I apologize, mellow. It's okay because guess what? I still like Chig, even if Stefan Diggs is in Washington. I'll like him more if Stefan Diggs is not there. But I do like him either way.

And before I get deeper into my Chig analysis here, shout up Malik Willis, who's also going in this range. We talked about him the last time. We had Derek on the show as well. Honorable mention here. The reason I didn't go with him is because quarterback just feels so deep this year.

We've already talked about so many of these late-round quarterbacks that we like as well. As Malik Willis, as tight end gets gross. Like late tight end navigating who you want in these double-digit rounds at tight end is really tough. And Craig Dulcich, you. Craig Dulz is good.

He's rising on my board. Hour Gilles. You can get him even cheaper than this. But Chig Oconquo is somebody I especially really like, obviously over a guy like Greg Dulcich or any of these other tight ends that are going later. Among tight ends with at least 50 targets last year, Chig was fourth in yards after the catch, third in contested catch rate, third in average separation. In other words, you can borrow that down to he was good before the catch, he was good during the

catch, and he was good after the catch, even if it didn't feel like it from a fantasy output perspective. Now he gets to play with Jaden Daniels and the same offense that made the ghost of Zachertz put up well above tight end, well above average tight end numbers. The only thing I've seen people point to when you bring that up is it's a new play caller in David Blab when we haven't seen call plays before, but he coached under Cliff Kingsbury on this very same staff. So theoretically you would think

it's going to be a very similar offense that they're going to feed the tight end. And for what it's worth, and tell a guy like Stefan Diggs signs there, there's a lack of pass catcher in Washington. Scary theory is about it. So if Chig Oconquo is going to be second and target share on this team,

he's a screaming value. Yeah, I'm in a Concoe where he goes for all the points that you mentioned. And again, just like you alluded to, even if Stefan Diggs signs there, it's not like he's going to go higher or anything of that nature, he's still going to be a value. He's a massive value right now,

and we don't have a signing yet. So if anything, Stefan Diggs or Keenan out, pick your name of older white receiver that signs with the commanders before week one. If anything, they're just going to bump him down the board and he's going to be an even better value.

Absolutely. All right, let's get into round 15. Do you guys mind if I cheat here? I mean, it shall show. I think you're kind of writing the rules here, man. That's fair. Answer your own question. You he did.

We're going to do a triple play here. I'm going to have you pick your poison between Antonio Williams, Elijah Surat, and Dejohn stribling. And a huge reason why I'm saying pick your poison is because of this looming Stefan Diggs threat that we're talking about right now. But just to break it down the philosophy behind why I want to take a rookie receiver here in this last round, all bets are off. You're looking for upside.

And you're also looking for a guy that you can know their role in weeks one or two. And if they're not good, you cut them. You don't want a roster clogging guy or a. handcuff that you're just going to hold in that roster spot, that bench spot, and they're not going to do anything for you, but you're also going to stop yourself from signing someone. So in order of how I prefer these guys at the current moment, I'm targeting Antonio Williams first, then Dejaun Stribling, and then Sarat, simply because I think that's the order of likelihood that these guys have to take that wide receiver two spot on their respective teams.

Antonio Williams is the clear favorite, according to ADP, at 176, but obviously we're talking right now about this looming Stefan Diggs threat. And if that happens, that of course shakes everything up. So if that hasn't happened by Draft Day in August, it is absolutely wheels up. And I'm 1,000% going with Antonio Williams. That being said, if it does, I really do like these two other guys. And I'm rising so, so high on Dejean Stribling, who continues to be way too cheap. I want to say his ADP right now is still 210, which is ludicrous. Those were the best picks of every single round for fantasy football here in 26. Before we get out of here, a massive thank you to Derek for being our first ever returning guest here at the lineup. Derek, as always, do you have anything left to plug before you get out of

here? I'll give you a few shameless plugs before we close the door on this episode. Yeah, obviously check all my workout at Fantasy Pros. Um, the draft kits live. Uh, we're, I mean, plugging away with a ton of freaking content. Um, right now my perfect draft article is live, which in tandem with this show, you literally can watch this show and read my article. or listen to this show, however you consume content, read my article. I walk through every round of a draft. I give you 80 plus players. So that, as well as my players to target, players to avoid, things are more condensed.

If you just want my high end or like more condensed, guys that I'm really, really going to be overweight on this year. And every year, my labor of love for everybody out there, whether you're doing best ball drafts or 14 team leagues, 16 team leagues, don't worry, I've got you. my top 200 will be live before we get into the midst of draft season. This week is really kind of crunch for me, but I'm shooting for the end of next week to have that live whenever preseason action kicks off. And I know people are going to be drafting teams as early as that. And it is literally what you think it is. It is 200 ride-ups covering quarterback, running back wide receiver tight end and defense

and kicker. And the real thing that I wanted to do is provide people, whether it's the perfect draft article or the top 200, if you want one thing, one thing to have up on a second screen while you're drafting all your freaking teams, whether it's best ball, shallow leagues, deep leagues, whatever, I got you covered. I'm so excited. Just talking about this right now and we're like in August, like fancy football is so back. Before we get out of here, Mello, do you have anything left? I'm about to go run through a wall. Derek just got me so pumped for football. But Besides that, I got nothing.

We're so back, and we'll be back next episode. See you guys then. You know that stretch late in the workday when you've still got work to finish? The coffee's not doing it anymore, and another cup just makes you jittery. Rune was built for exactly that. It's a nicotine-free focus pouch, designed to help you stay locked in when your energy starts to fade. I'm the hardest working man in fantasy, and it happens to me. That's why I love Rune.

Not only is it nicotine-free, it's sugar-free. Each pouch contains 80 milligrams of caffeine. Rune was created by MIT and Harvard scientists, both MIT and Harvard, who originally built it for themselves naturally. It lasts for six to eight hours. So a single pouch holds focus through a long stretch instead of spiking and fading after the first hour. I like it's convenient because there's no cans brewing. Just tuck that pouch under your lip and lock in. So visit takeroon.com slash player and use promo code player at checkout to get an extra 10% off any subscription for a total savings up to 64%.

That's take run.com slash player and use code player at checkout for up to 64% off.