NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - 4 Fantasy Football Trends That Are Completely Wrong with Josh Norris

Episode Date: August 21, 2026

Gregg Rosenthal and Josh Norris are her to get you ready for your fantasy football drafts! Would you take Christian McCaffrey over Saquon Barkley? Is there more value in the wide receiver position than the running back position? Should you avoid Ashton Jeanty? Are Zay Flowers and Jaylen Waddle primed for big seasons? All those answers and more! NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. The entire draft room groans because you just took the guy they wanted. There's no better feeling than crushing your fantasy football league. I'm J.J. Zachary Eisen, host of the award-winning late-round podcast. Before your draft, our players to target and players to avoid episodes tell you exactly who to circle and who to cross off. Listen to the late-round fantasy football podcast on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

Welcome to NFL Daily, where running backs matter. But maybe not at every price. I'm Greg Rosenthal. I'm here in the Chris Wesleying podcast studio. What a week of guess we've had. Mina Kimes followed up by Josh Norris, my old friend, way back in the day from Roderworld,

but now he's with Yahoo Sports. You know him, you love them from the YouTube feed. Hayden and Josh, Although I think your name goes first, doesn't it, Josh? We're keeping it that way for now. Hidden Winks is great. And you guys make a great combo. And they're not just a YouTube channel.

Although I love the content and how you present everything there. It's a podcast. You've got a new home. And that means today, Josh, we're exclusively talking fantasy football on the show for the first time this month. That's how I started in the business. We knew each other back then. And I think even if you're not a huge,

fantasy head, there are going to be takeaways just in terms of real football because we're going to get into some specific individual projections, what we think are going to happen this season in a way that we don't tend to do when we do the big team previews. I think there's going to be something for everyone. And I'm doing this show as an homage

to you, Josh, because I like your content so much. I really appreciate this. Look, a lot of the shows that I guest on, I get like a rundown exactly what we're talking about. Greg, I have no idea what I signed up for today. And that makes me excited. I am unprepared, yet hopefully fully prepared for this. As a frequent guest on other podcasts,

my favorite ones are the ones where the host says, I've got something for you. You just respond to me. So what I have for you, Josh, because your whole life is prep. There's no need. I think I really do think we prep too much as podcasters. And I'm a victim to that because everything we do is prep. So you're living in the fantasy world, drafts are happening, all sorts of different drafts. A lot of times you guys have advice for redrafts. That's what I'm going to be doing soon. I run a kids league that my son is in. I'm the commissioner. I'm not in that one too. That's coming up soon. And so today's show is going to be four things that fantasy football is getting completely wrong in 2026 drafts. And this is a takeoff of the type of snappy titles that you guys have on your

YouTube account, some of which are almost, I almost ripped it exactly like this. It's a lot of completely wrong. Why are so many people getting so many things completely wrong, Josh? Well, because by the end of the season, you know, you draft your rosters in August and September, and then Greg, you know, by week 15, you have what, two or three players left that you actually drafted. So I actually can't wait for this episode. Okay. Because, as you know, once best ball leagues open in, you know, March or May or, you know, when we really start this fantasy prep in June or July, it's group think, right? Yes. You can't move someone too far away from ADP or what the consensus feels about them. And so as an outsider, as you are now from our fantasy football bubble,

you can look at us and tell us how wrong we are. And there aren't that many things. And I don't want to, you know, we're going to do another fantasy. Yeah, there's only four. So there's only four, four things that are completely wrong. But the fourth one is so. expansive, mind-bending, that it could be the whole show. And we're going to spend a lot of time on that because it involves a lot. That's what you call a tease of the business.

The first thing people are getting wrong, Josh, is they're drafting Christian McCaffrey at all, much less fifth overall or sixth overall. What are we doing? You didn't like, you missed two seasons ago? Oh, yeah, it might be a contract. It's like, oh, it might be a contract. trick thing. Or he might have

completely devastating injuries and terrible seasons literally every time that he led the league in touches. And I watched the football last year, Josh Norris. Was he that good at football? Like running the ball? I mean, I think he was an effective football players, but they were not effective. It was the worst running

game I've ever seen. That one-two punch would make me stay away from him for the first three rounds, much less than the top five or six picks. Wow. Okay. There's a lot to hit on here. This time last summer, Christian McCaffrey was like my flag plant player because, as you know, us in the fantasy bubble are very reactive to what happened the previous year when everyone drafted him first overall and he barely played. Right.

And then we get to last summer. And despite him finally being healthy for an entire offseason and ready to go, no one wanted to draft him. So, Greg, this one hurts me because I was sitting here last year saying, yeah, let's draft him. And guess what? He finishes the running back one with 22 points per game. And as you know, anything above that 20 point mark per contest is like glory land. Right. That's exactly what we search for.

But I hear what you're saying. That was one, the easiest schedule in the league other than the Patriots, right? Two, they truly missed every single skill position player outside of CMC. So they were willing to feed him the rock in situations where he wasn't really an efficient runner or an explosive runner anymore. And so while they have gone through this massive sweeper, change at the wide receiver spot, which I'm sure we'll talk about at some point. You would hope that maybe some nut juice comes back. But as you're saying, with his age, I mean, he's 37th in the rate of runs to gain 10 and

more yards 32nd and runs that failed to gain yardage 36 and yards after contact the rush. Those are horrible underlying metrics for anyone that we're drafting like sixth overall or seventh overall right now. But it shouldn't hurt you, Josh, because you're a visionary. You're a seer. and last year was the year to get him. Sometimes it's not that much more complicated than buy, low, sell high, and then plus the tape and all the other context that you give to it.

Like, you have to watch the games, you have to know all the information. The fact that he's out of training camp is extremely concerning to me. Maybe it is contract related, but very possibly it is not, or it's a combination of things where he doesn't want to play through some tightness and the fact that his team specifically lies about injuries and covers injuries up more than any team in the NFL. If I'm power ranking lying about injuries, Kyle Shanahan is my number one overall picket head coach.

Okay, let me ask you this question, Greg. I always have a difficult time answering this from myself. Yeah. Are we in the business as fantasy, you know, prognosticators to predict injuries, you know, or are we in the business of, hey, if this works out, if he plays all 17 games, we are predicting the best outcome here. Because when CMC has played, you know, at least 10 games in the season, he has finished top three in points per game as a running back score. And so I am hoping in my head that he plays at least 10 games this year.

And if he does, he's going to, I still think, be a tremendous asset, albeit again, the middle of the first round here. The answer is I is everything. Yes, I think you're predicting injuries in certain situations. When a player is getting drafted this high and he's at a position where he's not been healthy four out of the last eight years. Yeah. And very directly, when he's led the league and touches,

he's been hurt the following seasons. And he's coming off a great season. That's the thing is last season was the year to get him because he was coming in fresh and he was a little cheaper and you're getting no discount. It seems like a total disaster. I just think the ceiling is actually a little lower, maybe even than people would realize.

And that, you know, I just, there's so many other players that are so good. There are. We're going to get to it comparing kind of running backs and wide receivers later. We're starting with some just like quick hit running back takes before we get to the meat of the show. My producer suggests that this has not been quick so far.

But like McAfrey to me is you're just making the same mistake people made before. Give up the ghost. You were right last year. Make your flagpoint, my flag point, and then show that you can play both sides that you're just like emotionless. Don't hold on to last year's win. Okay. Let me ask you this question then.

The last two top scoring running backs in each season have been Sequin Barkley and Chris McCaffrey. Which one are you drafting earlier this year? That's my number two point. It's as if we coordinated this. Number two, I hate when people say don't do something without providing another answer. I would take Sequin like top five or six if you want.

If you have five picks, yeah, there we go. I mean, that's the thing. This is the year to take him. He's going to have his Christian McCaffrey 2025 season right now. Yes. And I'm loving the reports. And I do believe in the camp report. from the Eagles beatwriters that are there and just like, oh yeah, you see it this year.

Like he looks back to the Sequin that we love to see. So much of this offseason has been about what is Sean Manion going to pluck out of Jalen Hertz? Right? Like these new passing concepts under center. What is Devonte Smith going to do when he steps into AJ Brown's wide receiver run role? You know, Mackay Lemon as a rookie wide receiver? Greg, none of that matters. none of it matters unless they get the running game back, right?

Because one, that is the baseline for this offense. And two, that changes the math to make the passing game easier, right? If you get Saquan back to not only being an efficient runner, but also an explosive runner, then that forces single high coverage. That makes it easier for Jaylon Hurst to hit more of these downfield passes and all of that stuff. And I agree. Again, we are so reactive to just what happened last year. So if Saquan in your league was the running back one, two, or three,

we know he finished much, much, much later, but it's quite easy to say why that happened, right? It was an injured offensive line that right now is healthy. I know we don't have Jeff Stoutland, and that's a big deal. But just if we get some cohesiveness back into it, Greg, the underlying metrics for Saquan as an individual were not bad last year. It was just the entire environment and package that we got from the Eagles was bad.

So if that elevates back up to where it was even close to a couple of years ago, I mean, I've Sequin ranked top nine. And he's going at like the third or fourth pick in the second round on way too many platforms. Outrageous. That's outrageous. Two years ago, I drafted him about 11th or 12th, I think. And everyone that did that, he was a league winner.

And I wasn't that confident in it when I took him there. And that is outrageous to me when you look at the lack of surefire picks at running back. It's something I want to get to like in terms of. The depth just isn't there near the top, but I know you like actionable info and you like to have your ears on the ground. Here's something. Maybe you could even go listen to this.

On the P.H.L.Y podcast on Wednesday. My guys. Bo Wolf. E.J. Smith. Yes. They were talking. They were standing next to, I think it was like someone with the Patriots, that when Seekwon is ripping them for a handful of 30-yard-plus games

in that joint practice. which reportedly was the best-looking thing about that entire Eagles team in the joint practice was the running game. And it's going to be a totally new running game. And they've got really talented, you know, some future Hall of Fame players to execute it was like, oh my God. We're glad that Sequin was here because Sequin just exposed us. And in a couple of them were just like, my God, that guy, like we don't get a look like that normally. And everyone was just like, that's the best player on the field. So can I ask you this?

Yeah. Okay. again, we like to focus in on young players, not me, but just we as a fantasy football community versus guys, you know that I've already scored as the running back one overall very, very recently. Ashton Genty in consensus rankings out there. Oh my God. Is running back six and Sequin Barclay is running back eight. Aren't you drafting Ash and Genty with the hopes that he is Sequin Barclay on a team that is projected for 19 points per game compared to the Eagles that are projected for 20 points per game compared to the Eagles that are projected for 20. 24 points per game versus a guy that already did and scored as a running back one overall two

years ago. Like, why not just draft Sequin Barclay here? I totally agree. I would take Seekua and Barclay as my running back three after Gibbs and Bejohn. Love it. And so if I have the six or seventh pick and I am in a league, like I will draft Sequin there. I'm not, I'm not going to be afraid. And the only consideration I would have would be receivers there. After that, Jonathan Taylor, I'm fine with that. James Cook, love him and would be, would be happy with him. I'm not going to like get in the way. It's insane to me that Ashton Gentius going that high.

What are we doing here? We have no clue. It's exactly where he finished last year, by the way. I don't care. I mean, it's crazy to me that he finishes running back 17. Yeah, but that's only because he Oh, 17. He finished healthy yet. Yes. But he's being drafted

as the 13th overall player. I've been as the 18th overall player. And I think like that's doing a service to him of considering so many awful pieces around are getting to average in terms of coach, offensive line, all this type of stuff. But going from, you know, running back 17 last year to the 13th overall player this year, that has been my biggest

pushback is why the heck are people taking Genti over Seque 1? Just take Sekegon over Genti. It's that simple. You have to incorporate are we sure this guy is good? It's a really important part of fantasy football that I feel gets lost.

Is just who's good at football and who is not. Really makes a big difference. Ash and Gentie might have a solid fantasy football career. He might have a great NFL career, but I don't know about it. I don't think he showed us that yet. I don't think it was all about the situation. And I like the looks of Mike Washington too.

Like, I just don't see it. To me, I've changed how I think about fantasy in terms of I, you know, everyone's got a price. And sure, Ash and Gentry would have a price for me. Right. But I think I'd be closer to like how Bill Belichick and Scott Piola used to do drafts now and just have a much smaller draft boards. Like, there's only a handful of running backs in the first and second round I would consider.

I would not consider Ashen Genti in the first 35 picks or so because I just think there are there are going to be receivers and some running backs. But basically there's no point where I feel better about Ashen Genti than like Devonte Smith or something. I'm just like, no, I'll just take, I'll just take like a wide receiver that. I don't want Ashen Gentie at all, period. One of our slogans that we use in the channel all the time on YouTube is, is just take good players and good teams.

Yeah. At times, Greg, like, you know, the good team scored the most points and then the points turn out to be fancy points for you and all that type of stuff. I don't follow it all the time, but I do most of the time. Right. I want to push back at one thing you said, though. Okay.

You said you don't love, like, this glut of running backs. I absolutely love this glut of running backs at the end of round one to like halfway through of round two. So we talked about Seik-on, we talked about Genti. After that, you have Devani A-chan, Chase Brown. Hidn Walker the 3rd, Derek Henry, Omar, and Hampton. I mean, Greg, lining up at the 110, 111, 112, so often, I just want to start running back, running back, and then hammer wide receiver for the next few rounds after that.

You are, you are hinting and previewing at our big topic there. I don't disagree with the larger point that you are making. A. Chan, specifically, high ceiling, high, like low floor. Yeah. He's a little risky. But I don't think it's crazy to take him there. he could be incredible. That could go pretty sideways.

I'm with you at Chase Brown. I'm with you on Kyron Williams. Kenneth Walker for the Price Hampton. You're right. I think the quality of those players sets up a cliff at running back that worries me. My final very small point is just stop taking Trayvion Henderson over Ramondri.

You know, two rounds apart. It's just like, I just think, Ramon, this gets back to the good football player. Trayvon Henderson is a very good football player at what he does, but there's no indication to believe that the Patriots believe he's a better football player than Remandre. So it's just he's just going to be more. I just probably don't want either of them until late.

But Remandre is a fine mid-round pick. But like as a Patriots fan, I bet Remandre is going to have a better season. I think it's a pretty useful exercise to sometimes go through teammates that have somewhat similar ADPs and being like, hey, do we just have this wrong? Like, is this backwards? You know, a few years ago, that was the case with Cooper Cup and Pucku-Duku. I'll be those ADPs were very far apart. I think another one this year is actually Matthew Golden versus Jane Reed. Like Matthew Golden is being drafted after Jane Reed all the time.

And I have Matthew Golden straight up ranked ahead. Where are they getting drafted? This is where my lack of intelligence. And Yahoo, by the way, great, great ADP using that ADP. I love it. It's a great ADP because, you know, us experts get funneled into that. Uh, Jaden Reed is like wide receiver 45, 117 overall. And then around later, Matthew Golden is 127 overall as a wide receiver 48.

I mean, I actually love Christian Watson. I'm sure we won't get to him. He's one of my favorite picks on the board. Okay. This year. But, um, there are those associated, you know, teammates. And I'm agree with you with remandre, whereas maybe sometimes we get a bit week one brained with this.

And we know like on the first series and the first carry in the first snap, Ramondry Stevens is going to be out there. And while I, am a Trevion Henderson optimist, I think it's very obvious that Remandre Stevenson for as long as he can is going to be the quote unquote leadback for the Patriot. I think they'll be fine, both of them, fantasy and reality, like middle ceiling, middle four. Didn't you have a show with Ali Connolly halfway through the summer where you drafted like Trevion and Henderson extremely high?

That's fair. That's a fair point. For fantasy. I'm a listener. Yeah. For fantasy, I just think they kind of cancel each other out. They're both fine. I'm glad you brought up Matthew going,

I have so many takes, Josh. I think it's actually an amazing thing that just jump into fantasy, almost sight unseen in mid-August. It's like the cold tub, the cold bath. You ever take a cold bath? I'm telling you. No.

Oh, it's good. I'm into it. The cold plunge? Well, when I go to Japan, this is going to make me sound privilege. But it's like, my in-laws live there. And one of the most popular cultural things

that you do there you go to the baths, the own sense. Yes. Yeah, they're not really spot. It's just like, you know, it's the nice water, so they're hot tubs. But with, you know, but with the great local water. But they also there often have, you know,

the cold tub there. You go from one to the other. I'm all about the cold tub. Makes you, makes you feel alive. So that's how I feel. And what is that to do with Matthew Golden? It's more about, and I'm glad you brought up golden

because I would have forgot it. It's more about how I'm jumping into the fantasy season and how refreshing it is. It shocked your system. Matthew Golden, I won on every team possible. I'd go a step further, and I would rather have him over Watson, certainly for the price. Wow. And I just want Matthew Golden.

That's another one. I'm going to keep my wide receiver list relatively short, but if you've got him in the top 45, I'd have to actually make my list, but I'm guessing he would be in my top 35. I just want him. I can absolutely see a scenario where he has a thousand yard season, where he's wide receiver one, I think the floor is actually going to be pretty high for him. Way better than Jayden Reed. Way better.

So I'm totally agreeing with you on that take. And him versus Watson, you know, because of Watson's up and down career. Like, to me, those are, we'll see. I think Golden could be a total big time breakout league winner type of guy. Interesting. I'm really into Watson this year. But I'm drafting Golden because he's going way, way, way, way.

I would like Watson too. I bet I would like Watson two for the value. Okay. We've teased. Whoa, whoa, Greg, real quick. before like you're just unleashing all these takes. Yeah. Can I ask you where you're going to take these up and coming rookies?

Because that's like a big part of our fantasy prognostication. Right. So I guess just in and out, right? In or out. Are you in or out on Deshaun Stribling? Are you in or out on Casey Concepcion? That's so funny. The Strip Club, by the way. I was going to end the show with just giving you a chance to hang out in the Strip Club.

Um, you are the first. foremost. I'm the founding member of the strip club. You might be the only member. No, I'm sure people have jumped on board. I'm in on both. Not a place you want to be alone. No, I'm in. For fantasy, I'm in on both. I'm in on both. I mean, Concepcion was my, I didn't, he was my wide receiver two for reality, like coming into the draft. And I, it was like a one A, one B. Like, I wanted to almost make. I, I believe in him.

I kind of like him a little less from a fantasy perspective, but I still like him, uh, just because, you know, there's a lot of mouse to feed and it's the brown. But stribling seems surprisingly undervalued when I went to look. Because I saw the, like I've heard, there's fantasy hype around him, and I went to go check it out. And I was like, not enough. I'm with you. Make the case. Both 12-round picks right now.

Wow. Both are 12-round picks. I'd rather have stribling in fantasy, even though I think there's more variance. I just think in fantasy, he's shown enough for me to believe in him. I think Concepcion's a better player, but it doesn't matter. for fantasy, I think even stribling would be better. No, it really doesn't matter. I mean, you know this, that the draft and, let's say,

dynasty community has kind of anchored the opinion on Deshaun's Rubin. Like, think about it, right? If the 33rd overall pick in any other year was attached to a play caller, the quality of Kyle Shanahan that, you know, is so consistent and scores as many points in San Francisco 49ers, wouldn't everyone be freaking out, you know, and wanting to draft this guy? And yet, because,

of biases and pre-jacked opinions on Deshaun Sripling, they don't care. Like, it's just not doing anything for them. So I think we found out your strategy here, Greg, is to maybe load up on running backs early. And then in rounds 10, 11, 12, you get Matthew Golden, Casey, Concepcion de Sean Sribling. I don't even, yeah, Concepcion. I have a lot of stock in, in reality. He's an easy button for Todd Monkin. Like, I think that's a big deal here, right?

At least, like, any given week, you can get five, six receptions out of him as we saw in the preseason game where you got two manufactured touches on carries. You got the rub route, downfield route that he got too. And to me, that drastically lowers the value of someone like Harold Fanon, who was the easy button for Kevin Zafansky

in the offense last year. There's gonna be a section of that playbook for Monkin where he's like, okay, we are struggling. And there's gonna be a lot of struggles this year for the Browns that if we need a first down, if we need some juice, let's just get the ball in number one's hands and Casey Concepcion and there's your handful of touches

every single game. Yeah, Concepcion with the Browns, and you've convinced me. I want to live in a world as a big Concepcion fan where 780 yards and three touchdowns is a really good rookie season for Casey Concepcion,

considering he's on the Browns. But for fantasy, that's like not that exciting. But yes, Dejaun's stribling, just for people who are just kind of tuning in, like a second round pick for the 49ers. Mike Evans has been a little in and out of practice.

There's just, it's a position for Kyle Shanahan that he, loads up. Debo Samuel is heavily involved. It's asking for it. You very generously teased what is going to be the fourth and most important thing that fantasy footballers are getting wrong. We'll do that after the break. How about that? I'm Ruby Carr, the host of the podcast, Oncourt.

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There's no better feeling than crushing your fantasy football league. I'm JJ Zacharyason, host of the late round fantasy football podcast. Before your draft, our players to target and players to avoid episodes tell you exactly who to circle and who to cross off. We've got data-driven analysis, historical trends, and the strategies that separate winners from the rest. And your dominance doesn't stop with the draft. All season long, we have our 15 transactions, 10 trends, sleepers, and the mailback.

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This is fun. But I hope what I am about to say to you doesn't just completely change your board in a way that makes you question what you've been doing in the last six months. My fourth thing is that people just need to stop taking running backs, period. What? In the third and fourth round of these drafts. It's over. Third and fourth, maybe even fifth. Just there's not going to be any point to it.

and just take these wide receivers. We will go through these running backs and the wide receivers one-on-one, one-by-one, and explain the overall strategy. But when I saw this list, Josh, it shocked me. Josh Jacobs, yeah, good luck with that. Like, suspension, injury, up and down,

bad vibe, you know, accused of domestic violence. I don't want that on my team either. Jeremiah Love, I love him as a... High ankle sprain. Yeah. High ankle sprain. Love him as a player. Confusing. Briseau, nah. I'm not going to go crazy. But, eh. Kim Scadaboo is an insane one. We'll dive into that. Giovante Williams, eh, but like still too early. Bucky Irving, what? Did you watch last season? DeAndreux,

you could convince me at some point. I like that. I like that. Travis E.T. You know, Travis A. Chan and, and, look, I love Bachel, too. And we talk Trevi and Henderson. But are you crazy? When you were comparing those guys, and I'm going to give the list of the wide receivers going in the same area. It is a joke like comparing these guys, not just as football players, but as fantasy football assets to the wide receivers that it's available. I know which team I'm taking.

I'm just taking all the receivers if I'm drafted a team, all the receivers. It's why this year, again, I love drafting at the turn. And in previous years, you know, I would never, ever say that. But again, getting two of the running backs, whether it be JT, James Cook, Sequin, all the other guys that we mentioned, at the top of the show and then hammering wide receivers from there. Because as you're saying, the wider receivers feel like so much better clicks than the running backs there.

And that's been termed the dead zone recently in the fantasy football community. The dead zone kind of didn't exist last year in a lot of ways. But maybe it's back. Like how many running backs are being selected in the, you know, top 40 overall is about 17 right now. That's a lot. That's a lot. So, and you can pick holes in every single one of the profiles, as you say.

said and even like their top end outcomes might be exactly where you are drafting them. Those guys are fifth, sixth round, seventh round running backs to me. Like such big question marks. I don't, I don't like almost any of them. And then big picture, I'm just going to list off the names. And then we'll kind of go through some of these players that we find the most injuries. But here are the wide receivers going in the roughly the same area. Like at the end of the second round third round turn. Sometimes it's George Pickens and AJ Brown compared to those guys. Chris Olavay coming off that season that he just had in that offense. Say flowers. Give it, give it all to him. Like Tetaroa McMillan, like put my mortgage on that. I mean, it's insane how

long, how late he is going. T. Higgins, fine. Devonti Smith like cash. T. Higgins is a great pick. He's fine. Let me, let me just give you all the names. Let me give me the names. Ladd McConkey later. in the fourth. Jalen Waddle, Garrett Wilson, even maybe DJ Moore. Like, these guys are all just great bets. I like every single one of those names, two varying levels,

better than every single one of the running back names I mentioned. I would not be taking those backs until like five or six and they're gone. Okay. What's going to happen now is in your redraft league that you play, hopefully you still play one, you were going to be destined to pick

in the third or fourth spot. So that gives you Jamar Chase Pooka Nakua and then once you get back to the end of round two, Greg, there's going to be no running backs here to take either. Then that's like the Nico Collins Brock Howard. I would maybe take Sequin like third. I wouldn't care. Wow. I don't say, like I would at least think about it. Like if I'm, if I'm that, if I'm thinking ahead, I would probably make sure I get one running back of the first two. I don't think that's crazy. I would think about it. Like, well, what is this? To me, there's not that big of a difference between I mean, I love Jamar Chase,

but like whoever I'm going to get in the second round at receiver, it's not that much of a difference. Whereas at running back, I feel like I want a real deal dude. And it, some of these are crazy. Zay Collins being that low and Tetorohm and McMillan actually stand out to me as the guys who I am most shocked are going late.

But give me your case on T. Higgins. Well, I mean, the T. Higgins one is pretty simple. I mean, the last time he played 17 games with Joe Burrow, he was the wide receiver four and points per game,

you know? He went from six catches and 76 yards per contest from playing with Joe Burrow down to four catches for 56 yards last year. And that's because he got, you know, eight games of Burroughs, six games of Flacco and three with Jake Browning. So T. Higgins is one of these guys who's kind of viewed as this high variance, boom or bust, all that type of stuff. But Greg, you know that these under center play action looks at the Cincinnati Bengals are throwing out. That's going to mean a lot of two-man routes down the field. And only two people are really going to catch the ball. And that's Jamar Chase and T. Higgins.

So while, you know, it's been kind of inconsistent and they're trying to plow through it and make sure it works, I think it will in the end. And if it doesn't, they'll just abandon it and go back to what worked the last couple of years too. Yeah, I think he's fine. I just like the other guys more. And I, you know, he's a little heavy reliant on touchdowns, but he has been extremely consistent at that. But I'd rather just like catches yards. It's more that I like the other guys. I got no problem with T. Higgins whatsoever there.

Really the only two receivers if there were people. paying super close attention and going through the ADP that I don't like that are getting taken in the third round are neighbors just because I don't want

the risk of it all and Rishi Rice. I'm the opposite of you on neighbors. I'm the opposite. In fact, after this recording, I am doing an episode where I go through

like the 14 players I'm betting my entire fantasy season on. See, that's a great YouTube headline right there. That's you guys know how to do it. Yeah. I mean,

I try to do it. But man, he's my favorite round three pick right now. And I have him 22nd overall. So I would take him at the end part of round two. Like there's been so much negative buzz around players returning from injury. So for this preseason, but for him, it has only been positive. Oh, I don't know. I was listening to.

Really? You don't think so? I was listening. Well, I don't care about what people are saying as much as what he is doing, which is not even close to playing football yet. And so at this point, that concerns me. The Giants Nation podcast, I heard Jordan Raynon talk about it a little bit. Like it was his first day even going up against other defenders, but you can't touch him and everything.

And he thought he was like, is that just how he moves? Or is he like jumping off the wrong foot limping around? I am worried when I don't think he's shown yet that he's particularly close to being 100%. People get over their skis a little bit like he's not on PUP. He's not doing this. Like maybe he will be playing week one. my guess is like he's not going to be full Malik neighbors for the start of the season, like even if he's out there.

And so when there's, it's more about the other options that are there when you're telling me that I could have McMillan or I like Zayflowers that much. I like Devante Smith that much. I like waddled that much where I just like go for it because I have a feeling we'll see the best of Malik neighbors in 2027 because that was a next level injury. That wasn't like a normal. It was. Yeah.

It was for sure. Just one final thing. One reason why. And look, whatever happened last year, we tried to recreate it with someone this year. And Jackson Smith and Jigba last year, you know, in these heavier personnel looks, which the league is taking on at a ridiculous rate based on the NFL draft, he scored and had 51% of his production on 38% of these heavier personnel looks. Okay. Malik Neighbors now has Matt Nagy and Greg Roman building this offense, right? Both of those teams that those two, you know, play callers or coordinators work for,

want to have these heavier personal bodies on the field. So you have Theo Johnson, you have Isaiah likely, you have Chris Mannhirts, you have Patrick Ricard. And what that does is we love that out of passing looks because that just means the ball is going to be funneled to the best players. And the best player by far is as Malik neighbors. So you could be right at the same time if he does miss week one or whatever, you're not taking a zero for that in your Fancy League too. like I will put on my shoulders to start Deshawns stripling or Matthew Golden in his place, for example. So I love all those wide receivers though. Like this is why a salary cap or an auction league is so great because I would love to spend a lot on the top running backs.

And then exit with like four of those wide receivers, all that you mentioned from Olavay to Zayflowers to Wad to Ladle to Lad. All that group is fantastic in my mind. I mean, even Pickens and Brown sometimes falling, it looks like you're seeing like the third round is a little. wild to me. I am easily influenced by what I just saw and what I saw at the joint practices was AJ Brown hitting that turbo boost past Quina and Mitchell. I was like, okay, like it's coming together. It's happening. Olavi, like, it already happened. We saw it down the stretch. Zayflowers is one where if I had the choice, Zayflowers or Tethroa and McMillan, I'm going to take McMillan. I think McMillan is not like a crazy, like I probably would. I probably would.

wouldn't end up taking him in the middle of the second round, but I don't think, like, to me, that's closer to his value is, like, a top 20 fantasy pick. I think there's a real possibility that either one of those guys, but McMillan, to me, is just a better player than Zay Flowers is. There is a real opportunity, and we're not, you know, we're not allowed to gamble or play fantasy for money here at NFL Daily, Josh.

But we're allowed to talk about these odds and stuff. Of course. Whatever the long odds of those two guys, one of them leading the league in receiving is, I don't think that's a crazy notion that Zay or McMillan like have 1,500 yards, that they that they're league winner types, which is

the type of guy that, you know, I want to be drafting. Are league winner types, crazy huge ceilings. And I think the floor is quite high for, for both of them. What do you think about those two specifically? Zay, I think this is a great potential reset

season for him. Not that he necessarily needs it from his, you know, true fantasy production. as he scored basically in the spot last year, but from a play caller standpoint. And the real way that Zayflowers not becomes like a little win like you're talking about,

but a massive win is red zone targets. So he had just 10 red zone targets last season, only 17 over the last two years. Olamaday Zakias had more red zone targets and Zayflowers had last season and red zone touchdowns. Okay. Zayflower, like touchdowns really matter at the end of the day.

That is the big barometer of if you had a good fantasy season or not. And Zay has never scored more than six touchdowns in a season, yet was the wide receiver 13 and points per game last year. But we have a new play caller in the fold, right? We have Declan Doyle, who, by the way, was a coach on the staff for Alameda Zakias last year. And I look at and the size and, you know, the natural biology of the two might be a little bit different. But Zay Flowers versus Amon-Ross St. Brown, right?

And maybe, just maybe, Zay can be utilized in that condensed area like ARSB is, who, by the way, led the NFL with 34 red zone targets last year, had 66 over the last two seasons. So you get him some manufactured space. You get him in, you know, these stacked formations in this condensed field. And maybe that can at least get him to know five red zone touchdowns rather than 10. And that would be just a huge, huge win for Zay Flowers this season. Well, here's what he hasn't done as a pro. missed the game, had less than 108 targets in a season. And I put something into the contract that they gave him.

I mean, they believe in him. And this is something where he's not for everyone, but he is for them. Like, they love him. Lamar Jackson loves him. And this is one where I just love the fantasy situation more than the reality, because it's a cliff after him in terms of, like, Jacoby Lane, sure, maybe it's a fun late. round pick like Bateman. Like there's other people there.

Mark Andrews decline, all that type of stuff. But we just know he's going to be there. And if they have, you know, you're talking about like the receiver who's on the field in heavy formations, it's going to be safe flowers. So, uh, you're a Panthers guy. But I want to hear T-Mac. I want to hear your T-Mac. Well, I'm kind of hedging with this one. I got to be

honest with you. Because everyone is over the moon about Tedderonk-Millan and I understand it, right? There's a lot of talk about getting him in the slot and that jumping from like 15% to 30% and we know when you're in the slot, you get the football. it's again, you have more manufactured space for you. I also want to bring up that for basically the first half of last season,

Jalen Coker was not on the field, right? And since Jalen Coker took over in the back half or like the final six games of last season, he and Tedero-O-Millan had the same target share and the number of targets. And Jailen Coker was just more productive and all that. Now, that's not to say that he's a better wide receiver. It's more, Greg, that I'm a little bit nervous that everyone is high. typing up Tedra-McMillan, and then if he doesn't perform this year, then everyone's just going to get in Bryce Young's case and be like, that guy freaking sucks.

Well, yeah, you're a Panthers guy. So you're, yeah, you're trying to protect your heart. I would ask you, are people getting that excited about that Thereroa Macmillan? But they're not. Like, this is one where- drafts, they're not, but like the fantasy conversations. Okay. This is one where I could be your consultant, you know, like your fantasy, just every August, jump in and try to give you my bird's eye kind of McKinsey-like view here. And one of them would be like, oh, I don't think people are that excited about Tetharo and McMill. I think his profile and his ability and his like rookie season and thinking that he can get a lot

better year two and just who he's going to be over the next four years. That like I was quite surprised that he wasn't up there with A.J. Brown and with like A.J. Brown and Pickens at like the two three turn. That's like where I expected a guy with his profile. Because to me, he has a real chance to just be a top 10 fantasy alpha, alpha, reality alpha for the next, you know, wild. So I actually thought like this is great value. Like the fact that he's near you know, Abuka and guys like that, it's like, yeah. I buy that. I mean, he is truly, truly, truly sensational. And I actually think a,

the transition to Brad Edzick calling plays has gone under the radar here where I believe that Brad Edzick is going to open things up from week one. Like it is on my radar that over the last two years, the Panthers have started slow offensively each time. And they were like trying to figure out exactly what worked in the passing game.

But by the time we get to the second half of the season, you look at the underlying numbers and Bryce Young's one of the best like downfield throwers in the league. What if they just. started in week one with that. And both T. Mack and Jalen Coker would be huge beneficiaries of that. And look, I know you were, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, one of the Cokeds back in the day, right?

You got to be a little careful with the cocaids in the strip club and yeah, like, yes, yes, I know. But at some point, the play on words, uh, and the bit goes a bit too far. Yeah, things could get dangerous there. But for people that are, you know, forgetting where we are in the show, we are in the fourth point that fantasy footballers are getting completely wrong. And if there's one takeaway from this show, at least what I want them to take away from me is you need to get all the receivers that you can out of this bucket.

Pickens, A.J. Brown, Alave, Zay Flowers, T. Mack. I'll throw Higgins in there, Devante Smith. And since we've mentioned some of them, I did just want to get who stands out to you of the four more that I'm going to include in this group of guys I would really like to get in drafts. And I'm just going to keep drafting this bucket until they're gone. Ladd-McConkey,

I think, you know, Bilo's so high. It doesn't get that complicated. I think the signs are all really good for Ladd-McConkey this year versus last year. Jalen Waddle, very happy if I end up with him. Garrett Wilson. And I think I'm going to throw DJ more in there, too, from a fantasy perspective.

Just some thoughts on those guys and who stands out to you out of them. If your viewers and listeners promise to go watch my YouTube video after this again with the 14 players that I'm putting my fantasy season on. Jalen Wada was one of those names. He's my favorite round four pick for a number of reasons. Like you can look at the again, the nerd metrics that we like with the

over yard, four yards per route run off play action last year, which was a down season for the Dolphins. The Broncos had the third most passes off play action in the NFL last year. And then you know, he was wide receiver 18 and points per game on an offense that was 31st in place and now he goes to one that is

fifth in place. Like there is such a difference. Cortland Sutton ran 664 routes last year, Greg. Jalen Waddle only ran 442. Wow. A difference of 220 routes between the two guys. And those are just going to be given to Jalen Waddle with the hope that he doesn't hobble off and find the blue tent every other game, which has kind of been his history. But at the same time, like, this is exactly the player that Sean Payton spent a first round pick on to change what this passing game is going to be, to take it to the next level. And when you think about this offense, it's crossing routes, it screens, it's vertical routes.

Like, that is Jalen Waddle's game, right? So it's like a hand-in-hand fit. And I think there's a real chance that we look back and say he should have been a second round pick. Love that. I agree. You convince me of the group I gave you, he would be my favorite. I think he's got a higher ceiling than anyone in that tier. I think he's got a higher ceiling than T. Higgins.

Like, he absolutely could be a hundred catch like monster yardage season. I like them all, though. I think they're good picks. A little bit of a little bit of a lot. injury risks, I guess with McConkey and Waddle, like, they're similar. But this season, you know, being at Chargers Camp and just what I've read and seen, I think McConkey's in a better place. Okay, so the reason I put all those names up there is I like each and every one of them better than each and every one of the running backs that I mentioned. And that's how we're going to close the show is going through some of

the running backs. Oh, no. And why I wanted to stay away from them. Cam, Cam Scadam was actually the craziest one to me. Granted, his injury is, one that, you know, the broken leg that you can come back from and look 100% and so far he looks good. He's playing in the preseason. Like, I just think it's crazy to take him that high, even if you're throwing the injury of it all aside. Size, total ability, whether that backfield gets crowded, whether his running style can really work in the NFL. I'm, this is where we get back to good player. Like he's obviously a good, he's good at playing football. But is he going to be like a highly effective NFL player over his career and even over this season? I got my doubt. I got my doubts about

that. I do not think he's going to be the supernova statistically that he was a year ago at all. So if you ask me to be negative Norris here, I can do what Kim's got to do. Okay. So you mentioned the injury. This is a dislocated right ankle, fractured fibula and ruptured his deltoid ligament. on top of it. I forgot about the ligament part. Yeah. So there were four players in recent memory that did that. And it was Tony Pollard, Mark Andrews, Chris Godwin, and Isaiah Pacheco.

And all declined drastically, massively in their fantasy points the next season. Now, they were on the field. You just didn't see it in your fantasy scores. The other part of this is if you put your ear to the ground starting in March, the giants were on the look for like a big time asset at running back. Right. There were the Ken Walker mentions, the Travis Achan mentions the Jeremiah Love and the NFL draft, all that. And then even the beat riders two weeks ago were saying that, hey, they're going to make a move for a running back prior to the season starting. And I guess that move is Najee Harris.

And while some people might laugh at that, we also need to think of, you know, he spent the season, albeit maybe six weeks with Greg Roman until he had his injury. But that means something to Cam Scataboo who needs just about, I think, everything in this. offense. Now, they're going to run the football a lot. But touchdowns are going to matter so much for him here that even if two or three or four go in the direction of Najee Harris, that would be a sizable shift, I think, in the output for a season. Totally. And they have some similarities in terms of their skill set. I don't think they trust necessarily that Kim Skadaboo's running style and size are going to hold up over the season. So they need other options. And I think it'll be spread round more than people expect. And I actually think they'll be a good running team. And so that's a,

that's a plus for him. But that's, to me, it's crazy town taking him in the third round or wherever he's going. Like he, he to me is like a sixth, seventh round type of running back. Wow. So the, the wide receivers I mentioned, like I said, just to make it clean, I'm saying I would take them all over this tier. But you said negative Norris. If we want negative Norris out, let's not include Jeremiah I love who I do have questions about the role. His rookie debut was extremely impressive. He's one of those. Was it?

Greg. Was it? Yeah. I mean, for this reason. Yeah. I have my doubts about that. Oh, interesting. Okay.

To me, I love the angle routes that he was getting versus, you know, just manufactured receptions three yards behind the line of scrimmage. Instead, those were five yards beyond the line of scrimmage with all the wide receivers pushing down the field. So that's an easy one. but and you have a different opinion on this, but that's fine. His usage and how he looked made me move him up, but then the injury basically made me reset exactly back to where I already was ranking him.

I'm conflicted. I had, I loved him as a prospect. I do love him as a player. I just like him less in fantasy. Just watching that game, I just thought he looked like a rookie in his first game where he was like a little tentative. And he warmed up. as it went. And he's going to, like, have some jaw-dropping plays. He's going to be an incredible

pro, I think. But I think at that price, like second, third round, comparing him to what else is out there, I think it's a little crazy. Because I think Al Jir, I think other running backs are going to get the ball there. They're going to be careful with him. He might be a little tentative. And then a high ankle sprained. They're projected for the lowest points. I mean, their schedule up until week 11 is an absolute nightmare. And then the high ankle sprain going into the season, like I get you, we're not trying to like overreact injuries and stuff, but there are so many players that don't have high ankle sprains going into the season that you can draft.

So it's like once you already know that, then I don't want to deal with it. It's one thing to be coming off of it the previous year. It's a very different thing to have it right now, whereas to me, I would move him way down. Of the rest of this group, I mean, Josh Jacobs, yuck.

I want no part of him. I think he's like not draftable, like anywhere near where you would need to take him. Brees Hall. Devante Williams, I'm not going to be as angry, but I still want the receivers more. Bucky Irving,

DeAndre Swift, we're getting deeper. Travis H. In, like, of these guys, where do you want to bring out the negative Norse?

And where do you want to tell me I'm wrong, too? Well, we can finish the show with a little back and forth on these guys. The one I actually like the most of that group is Breece Hall.

Yeah, me too. Me too. If anyone told you that Bruce Hall is coming off a career high in Russia, yards, you would think they're ridiculous, but it's true. He is. Now, that only equaled

to running back 20 and scoring last year in points per game. And once again, it's back to because he only had five touchdowns. So I am not a Frank Wright guy. That's pretty clear. I'm really nervous about how he's going to be able to handle all these pieces. But at the very least, every word around Jets training camp prior to this groin strain or whatever it is, is that, hey, we're going to get Belkow workload from Brees Hall. The Jets last year were 29th in touchdowns per game, 29th in red zone drives per game, 31st and red zone touchdown success rate.

I just hope that they can inch slightly closer to league average. Like Greg, we talk about, you know, a team being 20th in scoring versus 26th versus 16th and all this stuff. Really, you just don't want to draft someone that is in a bottom three scoring offense. Yeah. And I don't think the Jets are going to be a bottom three scoring offense like they were last year. I trust your guy Gino enough to do this. And most importantly, I trust the offensive line to be really good and above average.

And if that's the case, that is a good enough ecosystem to have this thing be the 23rd, 24th scoring offense. And that's a great environment for Breece Hall to, I think, outproduce where he's going as the 11th pick of the third round. The groin strain worries me a little bit. The question with him coming into the draft, like, oh, would he be like a bell cow back? now do you look at his first three years and ultimately take away like he kind of has been I mean he's been as consistent as it gets in terms of total touches year after year so you have to give him credit maybe I'm overreacting a little to the groin strain like he's not on a do not draft list for me like it's not crazy town to take him in the fourth round and like even late in

the third I just still like my receivers better so that's the one you disagree the most let's wrap with like of those guys, Javante, Bucky, A. Chan, like, is there, is there one your, you agree with me is getting taken too much? Well,

it's probably Javante. And, you know, I, I do the show with Hayden. And to me, Javent is just like hitting a double. Yeah.

Like, hey, if, if I can draft the running back 13 at a running back 16 price tag, I'll do that every single time. I get that line every single show. We talk about Javent. Lloyd. Um,

To me, Greg, maybe I'm dumb enough, but I think I'm smart enough to say to myself, hey, in the third round, I could potentially draft a player that winds up top five at his position, right? Because that's what wins leagues is when you draft someone 15th of their position that actually winds up as fifth, or you draft someone 35th of that position that winds up 15th, right? It's not these small wins or small gains. And I just don't see how Javante Williams does that, right? If they have the number one offense in the league.

He scores, you know, James Cook level touchdown. 14 touchdowns, yes. That's kind of the route. That's the route. But that is, I think, the only route. Like, it's not, hey, if they actually wind up a little bit worse, then he can go out there and have a whole bunch of receiving yards. He's not that back anymore.

So I just think, and this might be my bias standing in front here, that I remember the prospect he was coming out of UNC, and he's just like not even close to that player anymore. I'll bet he's gotten a little bit better than he was during the Broncos days. he's just a volume sponge and I don't really want to take a volume sponge at that spot. You've kind of convinced me off him. Not that I was going to take him because again,

I'm not taking running backs in the third or fourth round. But of those guys, I was closer to Hayden on that like, yeah, I think he's at least a double. But if I listen to myself and think how great is he actually as an NFL player plus buy low, so high, you are buying a little high on Giovante.

To me, I just don't hate him as much. Bucky Irving to me is a disastrous pick. that seems totally insane to me in that backfield. Does he even finish second or third in fantasy points on that team? I feel like that's possible. I'm not sure how good Bucky Irvine is. I'm not sure how good that running game is going to be with Zach Robinson and everything. Like, I don't like that pick whatsoever, just like I don't like the Scataboo pick.

The way that you put that together, though, of like how fantasy is one, it's not by getting the RB12 balance. you out of RB15. That's, uh, that's why you're the man. Like, that's why people, people love the show. You're one of the best at what you do. Appreciate you, Josh. Of course, Greg. And now, most people listen to the show, you know, go into it saying that they are on Hayden's side and then they end it by saying they're on my side, just like you do. So I, I appreciate that. I love that you're taking shots at your co-host. What he's not even here to defend him. We'll have to have hated on next time, too. We should. All right. That's not the last fantasy preview. I didn't, you know, look at this one as like the full scale, everything you need to know.

This is more, you know, just a few things. It's getting your takes off, Greg. This one's getting your takes off. Exactly. Well, and we got your takes along the way. And I think those were probably more valuable. So that's it. It's been a great week here at NFL Daily.

We will be back. One of my favorite shows of the year is the preseason week two recap show. We are doing it live. Nick Shook and I, 8 p.m. Eastern, 5 p.m. Pacific. Check us out on YouTube. It's all 16 games. It's the preseason week that matters the most. There's going to be a lot of fun takeaways.

We are so close to Rio football. We will see you then. The entire draft room groans because you just took the guy they wanted. There's no better feeling than crushing your fantasy football league. I'm JJ Zachary Eisen, host of the award-winning late-round podcast. Before your draft, our players to target and players to avoid episodes tell you exactly who to circle and who to cross off. Listen to the late round fantasy football podcast on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.