The Herd with Colin Cowherd - FantasyPros - 12 Draft Picks With MASSIVE UPSIDE You Should Be Targeting in 2025 (Ep. 1603)
Episode Date: July 5, 2025Join Chris Welsh, Pat Fitzmaurice, and special guest Joe Dolan, Owner and Editor-In-Chief of Fantasy Points, to break down 12 players with massive upside that you should be targeting in your 2025 fant...asy football drafts! Timestamps: (May be off due to ads) Intro - 0:00:00 Darren Waller Trade - 0:02:29 De’Von Achane - 0:07:34 Tee Higgins - 0:12:30 Signed James Cook Jersey Giveaway - 0:19:25 Rashee Rice - 0:20:37 Kenneth Walker - 0:24:38 DraftKings Sportsbook - 0:28:50 Jordan Addison - 0:30:25 Stefon Diggs - 0:34:12 Rugiet Ready - 0:36:17 Darnell Mooney - 0:37:57 Drake Maye - 0:41:02 Isaiah Likely - 0:45:44 Luther Burden - 0:49:06 DeVaughn Vele - 0:51:29 Javonte Williams - 0:56:06 Outro - 1:00:53 Helpful Links: DraftKings Pick6 – Download the DraftKings Pick6 app NOW on Google Play or the App Store and use code FANTASYPROS. This offer is for new customers to play $5, get $50 in Pick6 credits. Only on DraftKings Pick6. The crown is yours. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. Help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-789-7777, or visit ccpg.org in Connecticut. Must be eighteen plus, age and eligibility restrictions vary by jurisdiction. Pick6 not available everywhere, including New York and Ontario. Void where prohibited. One per new customer. Bonus awarded as non-withdrawable Pick6 Credits that expire in thirty days. Limited time offer. See terms at https://pick6.draftkings.com/promos. Rugiet - Connect with a provider at rugiet.com/FANTASYPROS to see if a RugietReady prescription is right for you. You can use code FANTASYPROS to get 15%off today. That’s R U G I E T dot com / FANTASYPROS and use promo codeFANTASYPROS to get 15% off today. Dynasty Rookie Draft Simulator - Our Dynasty Rookie Draft Simulator lets you complete a mock in minutes with no waiting between picks! Customize your league settings to match your league’s exact format. Premium subscribers can test trade scenarios by mocking with their traded draft picks. Prepare for rookie drafts AND dynasty startup drafts in one place! Use the Dynasty Rookie Draft Simulator to dominate your rookie draft today at fantasypros.com/simulator! Discord - Join our FantasyPros Discord Community! Chat with other fans and get access to exclusive AMAs that wind up on our podcast feed. Come get your questions answered and BE ON THE SHOW at fantasypros.com/chat Leave a Review – If you enjoy our show and find our insight to be valuable, we’d love to hear from you! Your reviews fuel our passion and help us tailor content specifically for YOU. Head to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts and leave an honest review. Let’s make this show the ultimate destination for fantasy football enthusiasts like us. Thank you for watching and for showing your support – https://fantasypros.com/review/ BettingPros Podcast – For advice on the best picks and props across both the NFL and college football each and every week, check out the BettingPros Podcast at bettingpros.com/podcast, our BettingPros YouTube channel at youtube.com/bettingpros, or wherever you listen to podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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What's up, friends, and welcome in to Fantasy Pros. This is the Fantasy Football Podcast,
and today we have got massive upside. That's right. We have got 12 players in the fantasy
football drafts that you need to be targeting that have got all the upside in the world.
And joining me on the podcast today, of course we've got the great and powerful Pat Fitzmores
and joining us on the show is Mr. Joe Dolan, owner and editor-in.
Chief over at Fantasy Point, post a football game day over on Sirius XM.
Mr. Joe Dolan, how are you, my friend?
I'm doing well, guys.
How about you?
They're currently, we're maybe pressing our luck a little bit here.
They started demolishing my master bathroom today.
I've had a leak for like three months.
Just a massive undertaking and a massive amount out of my wallet.
So hopefully the podcast, or hopefully the takes I have on this podcast are going to help
pay me back at best ball.
later this year. But there's always that like universal thing where if like you are giving a take on an
upside guy and then all of a sudden we hear like,
jid, jid, jid, jid, jid, maybe that'll be like a warning sign that maybe that's not the
guy we want to. We'll take that for either way. Yeah, we'll go on either one. Pat,
uh, getting and locking in these upside players. Did you find it difficult? Because we're going
to be going through kind of the gambit of higher and upside guys. We're going to get some deep plays.
This almost toes the line of the like, what's a sleeper and what's a breakout?
what's an upside? What is your just real quick approach when you were tackling these massive upside
players that we're going to talk about? I mean, there are a few guys I've kind of felt this way about
for the entirety of the off season. And a few of these guys have kind of evolved into sort of new
favorites of mine where just the last month or so I've had kind of a rethink on these guys and
maybe like them a little more or a lot more than I did two months ago. So we might have lost some
upside over the last 48 hours in a big trade that happened in football where
John Hsu Smith, who upside play, whatever, you know, huge season, but his new destination
with the Pittsburgh Steelers has really chopped off, at least most of us think, a ton of his
fantasy value.
Well, the dolphins are out there in the market looking for a tied in.
We've all started to speculate who could they bring in?
Because there's a potential upside.
if you look at what John who did in the Dolphins offense, who could come in?
Who could bring that big upside?
Well, ladies and gentlemen, apparently it's Darren Waller.
And we got that weird trade that just went down.
Just as we're recording this, Darren Waller coming out of retirement and being traded by the Giants
is the tight end that goes to the Dolphins.
So a weird place to bring this in talking about Darren Waller of all guys with upside.
But just to touch on it because this is fresh and new.
There's going to be the big positive takes and the big negative takes.
Mr. Joe Dolan, let's start with you.
Is there any actual fantasy relevance?
Is there any upside?
I'm not talking massive upside.
Is there any upside with Darren Waller returning?
And coming back with someone that he had worked with with a couple years where he had been very fantasy relevant, going to this dolphin's offense, is there any smoke to this fire?
Well, my first thought when this trade broke was he foolishly fumbled the Kelsey Plumbag.
with their divorce and need some money.
That's why he's coming back.
There was a clip that Graham Barfield from Fantasy Points was throwing around on Twitter,
essentially of Darren Waller saying that he knew he was going to retire in October of 2023
because the Giants had him run blocking and lining up at fullback.
Maybe a year off has helped his body.
Obviously, he's had a lot of injuries.
But I just do not see anything that's going to appeal to me here.
It feels like to me and Pat, and you guys can say this if you disagree.
It just feels like to me that this is going to be a guy in Darren Waller who other people are going to click in your draft and they're going to think that they're pulling a fast one on the entire draft.
And ultimately, I just don't think it's going to matter.
We ran our projections at fantasy points immediately after the trade and he came out as tight end 33.
That's somebody who is barely draftable in a best ball.
all 18 round, you know, kind of underdog style draft.
You know, your tight end premiums like FFPC, sure, take a shot.
I put in some claims in my dynasty leagues as well because the high end outcome is maybe
he produces in the first half of the season and I can flip him for an asset.
I'm just not expecting that to happen.
Pat, our resident sicko, Andrew Erickson put out a poll right as this happened and said,
who would you rather this season, Darren Waller or Kyle Pitts?
What do you say, Pat?
where are you at on the Darren Waller stuff and how sick is it to click Kyle Pitts is
picking someone over another tight end? I mean, I have not totally quit on Kyle Pitts just yet because
he had his last decent season more recently than Darren Waller did. Like this Darren Waller thing
to me feels a lot like the Josh Gordon thing where people were like chasing the ghost for five
years after his best season or like his last really good season. Darren Waller's last really
good season was, I believe, 20-20. So now he's 33. You know, I don't know where he's going to rank
in that target pecking order in Miami, obviously behind Tyreek Hill, Jalen Waddle, Devon A. Chan,
possibly Malik, Washington, or Nick Westbrook Aquene also. So I'm just like not interested in going
there. When I plugged him into the rankings this morning, I think it was a tight end 40. So I'm kind of
glad to hear that Joe and the fantasy points guys are in the same general ballpark. I think
guy at him between like Tyler Higbee and Ben Sinit. Yeah, I mean, it's funny that when we were going
through the projections, Chris Wackt, who runs the projections for us initially had him tight end 40.
So it's funny you mentioned that. And he bumped up his value a little bit just to be like,
all right, let's let's say if this does work out on some level and we still only got him to
tight end 33. Look, here's the thing. I know absence makes the heart grow fonder. But I was out on
Darren Waller when he was traded to the Giants two years ago. Why would I be in on him now
with the exception that he's just significantly cheaper or is perceived to be significantly cheaper?
Yeah. And I'd say, ask yourself, would you rather draft Darren Waller or put one of his rap
songs on a loop on YouTube for one hour? Which decision? And when you say the rap song, I think that
tells you what we're dealing with. Can I choose getting my toenails pulled out?
You can if you want. I mean, still going to take that over Waller. So that's where we're at here.
But you guys can decide in the comments below,
are you drafting Darren Waller this season?
Are you going to jump into that pool?
It's making Kyle Pitts seem a lot better.
All right, we're going to talk about real upside.
That's fake upside.
We've got real upside.
12 players with massive upside.
And we are going to be kind of covering
the gambit of different spots, as I mentioned.
We've got a couple players in each.
Each one of these fine gentlemen have picked six.
So we've got 12 total.
And if you guys want to check out the ranks that we'll be referring to,
you can go to Fantasypros.com slash ranks.
And you can check out
using half PPR on this one. You can check out all the great stuff that we've got on the ranks from
full to Superflex to Dynasty to Half to Standard. Those are the references with all of the amazing
rankers out there creating the expert consensus ranks. Gentlemen, let's jump into this. We are starting.
These are our early ceiling picks, top 75 overall. You each have got two players that we're going to be
talking about. Joe, we are going to start with you. Massive, massive upside on whom
which player are you picking for the first massive upside?
So I don't want this to become a dolphin-centric show
because I actually could have gone with two dolphins here.
And I also don't want this to misrepresent my actual feelings
of the Miami Dolphins this year.
I don't know what their plan is.
I locked in a five-unit bet under eight and a half wins
a couple of months ago.
And I don't even, I'm more thrilled about that
after this series of trades.
But I really like Devon A.
Chan, I got to tell you.
He is the expert consensus RB6.
He's going in the second round.
But with Jonu Smith gone, I think there's massive upside for Achan in the passing game.
One of the things that we chart at Fantasy Points data is designed targets.
Devon A. Chan was one of the leaders in the NFL in design targets last year.
Before John News Smith had a significant role in the offense last year, he, he, he, he, he, he,
basically garnered 40% of the Dolphins targets behind the line of scrimmage. So we have Devon A. Chan, who had a massive role in the passing game last year on design targets. Now with a design target hound and Johnu Smith gone. Devon A. Chan had 36 targets designed specifically for him last year. That was 42.4% of his targets. I wouldn't be shocked if he goes over 40 design targets this year. He is going to be a scrambling.
master and in the second round of drafts, especially if I get a running back in the first,
Devon A-chan is an easy click for me.
And Pat, one thing I really love too is, like, as mentioned here, with John O'Smith leaving,
we've seen, and a lot of people are putting it out here, you've seen the usage numbers.
The usage numbers pop when Johnu is out and Devon A-chan being like a 22% target share,
I believe, was the number that I saw with John who out is huge.
He comes in at ECR6 as far as running.
backing backs and half point PPR. Do you think you're going to be, I don't know where you have him
relative to this, but I'm curious about the massive upside that Joe just mentioned. Just as a quick take
here. And do you think we're going to see him move up and rank a little bit as rankers start to put
updates in because of Jono being gone? I think we will. I moved him up a spot, I think in my
ranks after the Janu trade. And I don't know if I moved him up far enough. And so I, too,
I'm confused about the Miami offense and what it's going to look like this year. And I, too,
bat the under on Miami's win total. Glad to hear Joe was on that. I, you know, tried to talk my wife
into, you know, just shoving in the whole college fund. I'm so confident in that one. But, yeah,
like, what I want to see is if Miami returns the verticality to their passing game because
Tuotunga Vailoa averaged 5.7 intended air yards per pass attempt last year. He was at 9.5.5.5.5. He was
it 9.5 two years ago.
And is that going to come back?
Like they had this to a preservation plan in place after he came back from his
concussion last year where so many of the throws were going to
Janu and A. Chan behind ats close to the line of scrimmage.
I'd like to think they're going to bring some of the verticality back and there's
going to be more for Tyreek and Jalen Waddle this year.
But at the same time, if it's really only A. Chan getting those near the
line of scrimmage behind the line of scrimmage targets and not john new anymore like yeah that is a
big boost for a chance value and want to mention as well uh joe talked about you know some of the great
stuff over at fantasy points we love fantasy points over here at fantasy pros so make sure you check out
because it is incredible the stuff they've got but mr joe dolin also does a ton on the podcast
radio side and we're talking beforehand i forgot to mention this a little bit ago here but joe isn't there
a little bit of breaking news on the radio side?
So I'm not 100% certain when this podcast is being released,
but by the time you listen to it,
you might actually already have an opportunity to go click on your Sirius XM app.
And Fantasy Football Morning, presented by Fantasy Points,
will be back on Monday, July 7th from 7 to 8 a.m.
I know the people were sad to see us go after the Super Bowl.
Well, they brought us back.
So not only will I be hosting on the weekends with Paul Kelly,
or at least that's in the plan on Sundays during the NFL slate,
but also myself, Paul Kelly, Tom Brawley,
will be back Monday through Friday, 7 to 8 a.m.
Eastern on Sirius XM Fantasy Sports Radio,
which is Sirius XM Channel 87.
So I hope you all tune in.
It's coming back, and that means football seasons here, guys.
That's a massive and a perfect, you know,
just move from Devon A. Chan on the massive upside to the massive upside
of what you guys are going to provide over at Sirius XM in that show.
All right, let's jump into number two on the list.
This is Pat Fitzmorest's first player, and this is a wide receiver.
I think you and I've talked about some, but you think there is a lot more upside versus
his wide receiver 13 ECR.
Yeah, it's T. Higgins.
And I had kind of a T. Higgins epiphany a few weeks ago when I was sprucing up my
wide receiver rankings.
It just sort of dawned on me that there are very few receivers with the sort of upside Higgins has.
He's currently what wide receiver 13, as you just mentioned, Welsh, 29 overall.
I had him ranked as sort of a mid-range wide receiver two for most of the off-season,
but now I've got him ranked as a low-end wide receiver one.
He's my wide receiver 12, number 24 overall.
I think the hesitation some people have with Higgins is sort of, well, two prongs.
One, they don't like spending such an early pick on someone who isn't even the top receiver on his own team,
obviously on the Bengals that honor belongs to Jamar Chase.
Two, Higgins has missed five games each of the last two years.
he's had some hamstring issues over his career.
But here's why T. Higgins has such vast upside and why I think he should
proactively draft him.
The Cincinnati passing game is a machine.
The lowest yardage total for Joe Burrow in any of his full seasons is 4,475 yards.
Fewest passing touchdowns for Joe Burrow in any full season, 34.
Now consider that the Bengals defense is going to be just wretched this year.
The one spot where Cincinnati might have a bunch of,
the average defensive personnel is on the edge, but the Bengals somehow find a way to repel
their most talented defensive players. They've got these contract standoffs with Trey Hendrickson,
their star pass rusher. Shemar Stewart, the pass rusher they drafted in the first round.
The Bengals basically bumbled through their relationships with edge rushers the way I bumbled
through my relationships with girls in high school and college. So the Bengals are probably
going to have to win games 38 to 35 this year.
They're going to be in shootouts on a weekly basis.
If I see a Bengals game with a Vegas total below 50, I am auto-betting the over.
I fully expect Joe Burrow to be top three in pass attempts.
And I hope I don't have to sell anyone on T. Higgins being good at football, like nine yards per target for his career, almost two yards per route run.
10 touchdowns in 12 games last year.
Like I won't waste any more time making that case that people consuming this show actually watch football.
And one last point.
a healthy T. Higgins is going to put up big numbers this season even with Jemar Chase around.
But if Chase were to miss any time, over the last three years in the five games,
Jamar Chase has missed.
T. Higgins has had 31 catches for 511 yards and three touchdowns at 20 ppr points per game.
So let me ask the two of you, are you taking Ladd-McConkie over T. Higgins this year?
Like right now I've Ladd ranked just ahead of T,
but I'm starting to wonder if T might not be the better pick.
I'm taking McConkey.
I really like McConkey.
I think he's a borderline first rounder.
He's kind of in the,
he's in the Brian Thomas,
Drake London pocket for me.
But I'm kind of with you, Pat,
and I don't want to step on Welsh's toes here.
We have Joe Burrow projected
to lead the NFL in pass attempts
at fantasy points.
And Joe Burrow is,
what do we love about him?
He throws the ball to his good receivers.
You know, he's not Sean Payton
getting Lil Jordan Humphrey involved.
You know, he is throwing the ball to Higgins.
He's throwing the ball to Higgins.
ball to chase and occasionally Gisicki and Yoshivas every now and again will make a big play.
But I like Higgins in the back end of the second, early third round.
He's my most clicked receiver in that range, but I do still have him behind McConkey.
I do have my, I'm like, I'm a cry baby if I don't get McConkey like in the second round.
I just cry.
I did it in the mock.
I cry about it.
I love McConkey's route running ability.
I think he's going to get all the targets.
He showed off some deep play stuff.
The T. Higgins thing is really interesting because that was kind of what I was asked.
I don't want to spend too much more time on this, but like you kind of, you brought up the first thing I think that a lot of people ask about.
And then we kind of glossed over it.
It's like, can a number two on a team have a massive, massive upside when there is someone blocking, regardless of how much the team throws?
It's not to say, can he be good?
Like, we know he can be good?
He's massively talented.
But can he have the huge, huge upside where he can keep going further?
And I think that's kind of open for debate.
I will say that, you know, it's interesting.
his final eight games, he had eight touchdowns over those eight games. He did have three and one.
Twelve games played, he had six times where he had ten targets or more. I mean, that's what you're
looking for. So I guess this is the only thing I want to throw out, even though you know, you praised
him a little bit, Joe, is like, do you think a number two at the end of the day, not can be good
and not can be massively valuable, but do you think he can have the upside to jump over number
ones? You know, we threw out Ladd, you want Ladd over him, but you start to throw out those other
names that T. Higgins, I think, is already priced, I think, at a really appropriate range.
Can he jump London? Can he jump Nico Collins? Can he jump a Monrois St. Brown? Can that happen
with a number two? Well, I mean, I think it's, I think it's a viable question, right? I think
that's why he's priced where he is, but I have all of those guys ranked ahead of him because they are
number ones. But again, not all number two's are created equal, not just in terms of talent,
which T. Higgins has where he's, he might be the number one on half the teams in the NFL at this point.
But also opportunity.
Again, Pat hit on all the defensive issues for the Bengals.
We have Joe Burrow projected to lead the NFL in pass attempts.
So if the Chargers play big, dumb Jim Harbaugh football, the way Jim Harbaugh wants to run the football.
They drafted to Marrienne Hampton in the first round.
They eschewed offensive playmakers in last year's draft to take Joe Alt.
So obviously, this is a team that is built a certain way.
And would I be shocked if T. Higgins has a number two has more.
production, then Ladmanconki is the number one? No, I wouldn't. You know, Drake London. We have a good
sample of him, a small sample, but a good sample of him with Michael Penix. Well, what if Michael
Pennox is small sample, not to make a phallic joke here, but what if his small sample is really
small? And it ends up being, and it ends up being kind of fools gold. So there are some questions
there. We know what Joe Burrough and T. Higgins can do. Yeah, just to piggyback on Joe's point there,
that would be my possible case for T. Higgins. And again, right now,
I still have Ladd ahead of T. Higgins.
But there's no question Latt is going to have a bigger target share percentage than T. Higgins will.
But it's just the percentage of what size pie.
With T. Higgins, I think we're talking about a big Costco-sized pie that can feed a family of 10.
And with, you know, Ladd-McConkie in the way they want to run, it might be like one of those McDonald's hot apple pies you get in a little sleeve.
Got a lot of innuendo here and a lot of examples. I like it. All right.
We got one more each from these guys in this kind of like higher tier.
But we have been talking about giveaways.
We've always got the giveaways for you guys.
We're actually going to announce a winner and a brand new giveaway.
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Very awesome.
All right, player number three, massive upside.
We are going back to the wide receivers.
This is ECR wide receiver 19 according to fantasy pros and half PPR.
Mr. Joe Dolan, who is your massive upside player?
It's Rishi Rice.
And look, he was a guy we were pounding the table for at fantasy points last year because
the evidence at that point showed that Rishie Rice wasn't going to be suspended for 2024.
A lot of that coming from my friend Drew Davenport, who also does phenomenal work as a lawyer,
and he's always analyzing these NFL legal situations.
Part of our job that we wish we didn't have to do, but unfortunately we do.
And his analysis is it looks like at this point, Rishie Rice's criminal case is,
is going to be pushed to the end of the 2025 season, if not into 2026.
And the NFL is not going to suspend him until we get answers from that case.
And now if Rhee Rice is coming back from that injury, a serious injury,
he would have been honestly one of the, if not the league winning pick last year,
if he didn't get hurt.
Now, the injury is a big deal.
There's no doubt about that.
But in 13 games in his career in which he's played or run a route on 60% or more of the
Chief's passing plays,
is the equivalent of wide receiver 12.
You're already getting a discount in ADP.
You're getting a discount in expert consensus ranking.
I think he's got an opportunity to finish as a real wide receiver one with Patrick Mahomes this year.
And I think that Chief's offense is going to be more explosive this year than it has been in recent years.
I think he's got a huge opportunity here to buck the trend.
Ever since Patrick Mahomes has taken over his starter, and I think even before then, it's like a 10-year run of either Travis Kelsey or Tyree Kill leading the Chiefs
targets. I think that changes this year. I think Rishie Rice gets it done. And it's really weird because the
team, you know, the volume kind of moves around and they get to a lot of players. And the only reason
I'm bringing this up because I think Rishi Rice kind of bucks that trend. Like he is that new volume
player. But what did we do all season, Pat? We talked about Xavier Worthy in the Rishie Rice role. So
Xavier Worthy maybe kind of opens this up. Do you think Worthy at all caps some of?
of this or do you think Rashid Rice can just jump back into that role that we've seen before,
which is probably going to be a higher end wide receiver one if he gets that type of volume?
Or do you think Worthy maybe caps him a tiny bit?
I've wrestled with this.
So when Worthy was smashing late last year and smashing, I mean, he had 50 catches over the
Chief's last eight games, playoffs included.
So that's a 100 catch pace.
But yes, that was because he was into that Rishie Rice role, which, you know,
doubt Rishi Rice is going to have back now. And it's going to be Xavier Worthy running routes deeper
downfield. But he's going to get targeted on some of those routes. Like Xavier Worthy has shown he's
pretty good. So I do feel like we're not going to get the same Rishi Rice who was just
crushing it and was the wide receiver one or two and PPR scoring through three weeks last year.
Like I don't I don't think he's getting that sort of target volume now that the Zayor
savior worthy genie is out of the bottle.
But I do still feel like Rice is going to be really impactful.
So I just don't know where.
And, you know, if he, a lot of people are talking him up and he's going to go in the second
round to some drafts.
And I don't know if I want him in the second round, but I do want some Rishi Rice exposure
this year.
So it's going to be kind of a hard, tightrope for me to walk.
I definitely want some exposure to Rishie Rice because if we do get that volume back, I mean,
nine targets in two of the first three games last season.
You know, first, give me some first catch bets on a first drive to Rishi Rice.
Just get him the ball.
And I like seven to eight catches per game.
I actually really like this play.
But I think worthy is somebody that is floating out there that is going to make some people think.
All right.
Player number four, we're going back to running backs.
We've got ECRRB 15 for you, Pat.
Who's your upside play?
It's Kenneth Walker, the third.
And, yeah, his ECRR.
41st overall. I think that rankings sort of factors in what most people would consider to be a
higher than average injury risk for Kenneth Walker. He missed six games last year. He missed two games
the year before that. I have Walker ranked RB 14, 36 overall. So I'm not way above consensus.
But I don't know. Right now I have Kenneth Walker ranked right below Breeze Hall, a fellow member of that
2022 draft class. And I'm wondering if I should maybe have Walker ranked higher. So what is it that
has to go right for Kenneth Walker to return a nice profit on his mid fourth round cost.
Obviously, stay healthy.
Give us 16 or 17 games if he does that.
I think he's going to finish as a top 12 running back.
And it's great that we have Joe here because I'm going to spotlight some of the great work
that people can find it at Joe's outfit, fantasy points.
Joe's colleague, Ryan Heath, wrote a really insightful article last month on rushing scheme
fits.
And Ryan pointed out that the Seahawks are switching to primacy.
primarily an outside zone running scheme under new offensive coordinator, Clint Kubiak.
And Kenneth Walker has thrived on outside zone runs throughout his career. He averages 4.54 yards per carry on such runs,
which is 13 percent better than he averages on other types of runs. And in addition to Clint Kubiak,
the Seahawks also hired Rick Denison as their running game coordinator. Denison used to work with
Clint Kubiak's dad, Gary, in Denver back in the 90s and 2000s. And the Broncos had some
some incredible rushing seasons back then with Terrell Davis and Clinton Portis.
Yes, those guys were great backs.
But the Broncos also got big rushing seasons out of dudes like Rubin drones, Mike Anderson,
Tatum Bell, back when Gary Kubiak and Rick Denison were working together.
So, and when Clint Kubiak was the Vikings OC in 2021, Dalvin Cook had almost 1,200 rushing yards in 13 games.
The scheme just works.
So Walker is getting plugged into a historically successful.
scheme that really fits what he does best, get to the edge and make people miss.
And oh, by the way, Walker also turned into a pretty prolific pass catcher last season with
a career high 46 catches and only 11 games. So yeah, I think Walker is big time upside this
year. It's a really compelling argument too just because I think Walker has fallen for a lot
of people in just to this territory of like disinterest because like Charbonnet is there. But
this idea of more outside zone running, that literally plays to Ken Walker. So what do you think
about this one, Joe. Well, he already took all the fantasy points data stuff that I was going to
reference. So let me throw out, let me build on a point that Pat made there at his improvement as a
receiver. Did you know that Kenneth Walker was fifth in Target share among running backs last year?
The only guys who were ahead of him were Alvin Camara. All right, Christian McCaffrey,
Devon A-chan, who we just talked about, and Bree Saul. Those are the only four running backs ahead of him
in Target share last year. So I see a potential Bell Cow profile getting
drafted in like the fifth sixth round. He is my most drafted running back on underdog. He is going to
continue to be my most drafted running back on underdog. He could be your number one if you go wide
receiver heavy early and have kind of a modified-ish zero RB. I know there's a big debate about what
actually constitute zero RB. But I think he could be a borderline hero RB that you can get for
borderline zero RB price. I love Kenneth Walker this year. This is the only one by the way. Pat sent the
names that he was considering before the podcast. He said, if there's any overlap,
let me know. This was the guy I was going to have. So I pivoted a little bit to Rishie Rice,
but I love this Kenneth Walker one. I'm really honest. So I stole from Joe, but I have to send
Ryan Heath a royalty check for that. Yeah, that's the, that's the tradeoff. Fun fact in this as well,
Ken Walker in full PPR is also 15 at RB. So there's no bump up. So maybe even a little bit more
value. We're talking about Target share in the passing game. There might be even more upside
massive upside in full. We're looking at half-pPR when we're doing this, but just a full look here.
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We are going to player number five now moving to our mid breakout.
So we're kind of moving down the ECR ranks here on the overall.
And Joe, we're going to start with you.
You've got a wide receiver.
He is ECR wide receiver 35.
Hit us with him.
Yeah.
So this was like a breakout category.
But apparently the experts in ADP expects this guy to break back in.
Because Jordan Addison is way underpriced to me.
Over the last two combined seasons in half PPR and Underdog, he's the wide receiver 20.
He's wide receiver 35 by expert consensus ranking.
And look, obviously the concern is that J.J. McCarthy isn't good.
Well, what did we know before last season?
We knew Sam Darnold wasn't good.
Or at least that's what we thought we knew.
And then Jordan Addison comes out and has a fantastic year.
Kevin O'Connell seems to be a quarterback whisperer.
We've got great seasons from Jordan Addison with both.
both Kirk Cousins and Sam Darnold.
We have great seasons or great games from him with the likes of Nick Mullins.
You know, you remember Nick Mullins just air in the ball.
It looks like he's throwing a water balloon out there.
You know, like it's just, it's just barely moving, and he's thrown for 400 yards.
I just think this Kevin O'Connell offense is so well designed that it's essentially
quarterback proof.
It is the offense I would pick to go into if I were a quarterback trying to recoup my value
on the free agent market.
I think J.J. McCarthy is set up.
very well. And I just think Jordan Addison is way too underpriced. The 35th in the ranking for a guy who's
been the 20th wide receiver over the last two years, easy, easy, easy click for me and an easy stack
with J.J. McCarthy. You know, it kind of reminds me of. You know, that conversation we'll have where
you see like two wide receivers, like wide receivers ranked 18 and a wide receiver ranked 23, but then
the quarterback is like ranked 25. And we're like, hey, by the way, how does the quarterback value not
kind of match up with there? There's a similar thing going on where most people are talking about just
Justin Jefferson and he's number two overall player, number two wide receiver, maybe in some respects, number one, we're going to be okay.
But Jordan Addison is not getting that same respect.
It's only Justin Jefferson right now.
And it's a really compelling argument that Joe's making as far as the rank goes.
And we're giving the benefit of it out to Jefferson, but we're not at all to Jordan Addison.
You know, Addison can step back significantly and still be worth his ADP.
So like when you consider that, like he can have the worst season of his career and still pay off this ADP.
So I agree with you.
And that's why J.J. McCarthy additionally, if you want to just throw a little extra analysis in here,
it's going to be one of my most drafted quarterbacks because he also has the benefit of being able to run.
Pat, do you have any take on the Jordan Addison, like kind of bringing up that same thing where it's like Justin Jefferson.
I mean, I guess you could also argue like he's a little quarterback proof.
But you see a pretty big gap between those guys from what he was scoring to where he's sitting now under J.J. McCarthy.
And just it really there's a little bit of oddness to it.
What do you think about that?
Yeah, I mean, I think it's similar to the T. Higgins thing where people do sort of have this aversion to taking the number twos in an offense where the number one is a great receiver.
But like Jordan Addison is phenomenal in his own right, like a first round pick.
And I know like his final college season when he transferred to USC wasn't great, but as a sophomore at Pitt, I had to look this up while Joe was talking, 100 catches, 14 games for Addison as a sophomore at pit.
100 catches 1,583 yards, 17 touchdowns.
Like this guy was a college star.
And like he has continued to produce at the NFL level.
And I've no doubt he'll eventually get decoupled from Justin Jefferson and be an alpha receiver somewhere else where like he's going to be a number one at some point.
But still, he can give you good numbers as a number two receiver.
Well, we're going to stick with receivers.
This is number six on the upside players that you've got to target.
wide receiver ECR 43 for you Pat let's hear it Stefan Diggs and I've got him at
wide receiver 37 the overall is where there's a bigger difference I think in
ECR he's 101 overall I've got him at 79 and I guess there's a recurring theme with
the first few guys on my high upside list they're all perceived injury risks so
diggs is obviously coming off the torn ACL but Dr. Depak Chona friend of the show
and a well-regarded injury expert he thinks there's a two-term
third's chance that Diggs is going to be good to go for week one. And he thinks Diggs will be at 90%
of full capacity about a month into the season. So full capacity, Stefan Diggs has been pretty
amazing, like six straight thousand yards seasons before he got hurt midway through 2024, four straight
100 catch seasons before last year, an average of just under 10 touchdowns per season over the
last three years up until 2024. If we get 90% of that sort of production, and we can get
in the ninth round of drafts, like sign me up.
Especially, yeah, the ninth round, that's a big important thing.
You could take them as your fourth or fifth receiver,
potentially off the board and could end up working by week six
as your wide receiver two or three.
There's some inherent risk with the injury.
Does that shy you away from there being a lot of upside, Joe?
Are you all in on this?
Yeah, I haven't really clicked Stefan Digg's name a whole lot.
My favorite Patriot receiver to draft has actually been Hunter Henry,
the tight end.
But this is one where maybe I need to see through my own biases.
here because the Patriots receivers have screwed us for so long since Brady left.
But is that if Drake May takes the leap that we're expecting,
somebody's going to have to come through, right?
And I guess other people have said Kyle Williams is that guy.
Demario Douglas, my guy, Andrew Callahan and the Boston Herald says,
Kyle Williams at this point is way behind DeMario Douglas on the food chain.
So are there other names out there besides Stefan Diggs?
I mean, I could see Pat's point here.
He just hasn't been a name I've been terribly excited to draft to this point.
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review. Please visit the Ruggiet website for full safety information. All right, let's move to number
seven. These are the last two in this mid-territorial. This is actually one of my favorites on this
list. This is a guy that I am trying to click as much as possible because of the equity and the
upside. And it kind of lives in a similar Jordan Addison type of world. So,
Mr. Joe Dolan, ECR wide receiver, 49 and a half PPR. Let's talk about your guy.
So there is a receiver who's going at the one-two turn who averaged just basically six yards per receiving per game more than his own teammate who is going at essentially round 10, round 11.
The first receiver is Drake London. Then second is Darnel Mooney. Darnedle Mooney averaged 62 yards per game last year in games that Drake.
London played. London averaged a 67.8 in that in that same time frame. So we're really expecting
Drake London to take a huge leap forward with Michael Pennix, what he showed at the end of last year,
and Darnell Mooney, who was the wide receiver 35 last year, to take a significant step backwards.
And I'm not sure that should be the case. I actually like both of these guys. London, London at the
one-two turn, well, I've been preferring Brian Thomas and Nico Collins, but I see why people
like Drake London there. But I just think Darnell Mooney's too cheap. And because of that cost,
I have been drafting him a lot. You mentioned wide receiver four, wide receiver five.
Man, if he's my wide receiver five and a best ball draft guys, I might just a shoe wide receiver
until the last two or three rounds and take some dart throws because I feel like I'm going to
have a really good foundation there. So Pat, you know, we didn't see Darnell Mooney get some of that
target share early on once Pennix was there like, you know, he was getting before. But we've just
seen huge big play ability. We saw some early touchdown equity. And if this team is going to be
comfortable with throwing the ball more and getting the ball in the air, obviously Bijon and
Drake London are going to get their targets. And I guess you're kind of a Kyle Pitts guy, but I just,
it seems like a foregone conclusion that Darnell Mooney is going to have like that sneaky
wide receiver three upside here. And he's going as like a wide receiver five. But that's a little
bit of my take. What do you think on Darnell Mooney? It's a skinny target tree in Atlanta. So,
So, you know, there is room for London pits and Mooney to all return a profit, I think, at their current prices.
And if you hate pits, like a lot of people do, then you should really like Mooney.
I think what I like most about Mooney, he had a 92.9% snapshot last year.
Like, he is on the field all the time.
And, like, who of the Falcons added at wide receiver in the off season?
It's going to be like Ray Ray McLeod is the number three again.
Maybe Nick Nash, an undrafted free agent who I.
I kind of like, but he's not going to threaten Mooney's snapshot.
And like, I really like Panix.
And Pennix is great at throwing to the boundaries.
Like, he is already above average compared to all other starting quarterbacks at throwing
outside.
And like, that's where Mooney does some of his best work.
So, yes, I love this call.
So you are going to be pairing as we move into player number eight.
We're just before we get to our deep shots, Pat, you're going to be pairing.
your Stefan Diggs with a quarterback. This is I think our first quarterback that's in play here.
You think there's massive upside with Drake May. I'm stealing it a little bit because I kind of
already gave that away. But QB 16 pretty low on the list. You think, and we've done a show or two
before where you've talked kind of about Drake May, but you think there's massive upside at
QB 16 with Drake May. Yes, I'm going for the Patriots stack here. I've been beating the Drake
May drum like John Bonham all offseason. And look, I know that some of our viewers and
are just coming out of their fantasy hibernations. A lot of people don't really come out of
their caves for fantasy until right after, right around the 4th of July. So for those people,
I want to reiterate the case for Drake May and why I consider him to have such vast upside.
I have him at QB8, and that is really aggressive. But the quarterbacks with sky high fantasy
the upside are almost always the guys who run.
So the thing is that most of the running quarterbacks are really expensive.
Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Jaden Daniels, Jalen Hertz,
I think Drake May might have as much or almost as much rushing upside as those guys have,
and you can get him so much cheaper.
Like May started 12 games as a rookie,
but if we exclude Week 18 when he only played one series before he was pulled,
may average 38.3 rushing yards a game over a full season.
that projects to 651 rushing yards.
I think May could get to 800 rushing yards based on how aggressively he ran in college.
So, it was a sophomore at North Carolina.
May had 698 rushing yards in 14 games.
And let's not forget the college quarterbacks have their sack yardage deducted
from their rushing yardage.
May lost about 200 yards in sacks that year.
So he was really closer to 850 rushing yards in 14 games.
May had only two rushing touchdowns last year in two.
seasons as a college starter. He had 16 runs for touchdowns in 26 games. I just think there's
big time rushing upside with Drake May. And he was surprisingly good as a passer last year,
despite having a terrible offensive line and terrible wide receivers. The Patriots have
upgraded both of those areas in the offseason. So I think Drake May is going to give us a QB1
fantasy finish this year. Joe, it's interesting that there's like a quarterback. Everybody's
got a quarterback that's inside the top 10 that is a running guy. If it's not Drake May,
Justin Fields is the popular one, ECR quarterback 15. Caleb Williams would be another one of those
that he's QB12. We've seen some in the top 10. I'm not surprised that Pat did this. Pat,
you are the highest ranker in the world on ECR of Drake May. You are number one in the rankings,
but there are people that are behind you. What do you think about Drake May, Joe? And what do you
also think about making that bet on any of these running quarterbacks? Like if you're not a
Big May guy, have you translated or moved it to maybe Justin Fields is your guy or one of these
guys with high rushing equity? I've had my fair share of a good bit of these guys. May has just
been one of those guys I'm in on, but I haven't really had the opportunity to click his name as
much as I would like. J.J. McCarthy, as I had mentioned, has been more that kind of rushing upside
middle round guy. But here's another reason for optimism. Pat mentioned his legs, but I have numbers on
that. So let's look at Drake May. In his in his games last year, he, he,
led, he was second to only Jaden Daniels. He was even ahead of Jalen Hertz and Lamar Jackson
in rushing yards on scrambles per game. So meaning non-designed rush attempts. He was at 31.3
rushing yards per game on scrambles. He had virtually no role as a designed runner. We had him
charted as averaging 0.1 fantasy points per game on design runs, essentially one yard per game
on design runs when he played.
That is minuscule.
I already mentioned my friend Andrew Callahan from the Boston Herald.
I talked to him last week.
He told me, design runs are going to be a part of what the Patriots do with Drake May.
There's significant untow potential there.
Huge, huge upside potential there, especially as people are going to be pushing up guys.
Again, I'm coming back to Justin Fields.
You know, our boy, Dibro loves Justin Fields.
He gets pushed up into the top 10 of season goes on.
That's where even more value starts to be created with a guy.
like Drake May, where others are starting to get that push.
And those quarterbacks I mentioned all had higher ECRs than Drake May.
So I like it a lot.
All right, we are now into our deep shots.
These are kind of league winning plays because they're so far out.
We love the upside here.
And number nine on the list, Joe, you've picked a tight end.
ECR 21.
This guy is currently.
So let's hear it.
It's Isaiah likely.
And look, we just saw Mark Andrews come off a really inconsistent season.
had 11 touchdown receptions, but everybody's going to remember what happened in the playoffs,
you know, with the drop on the two-point conversion. He had some fumbles. He had some drops
during the regular season. And we have a really interesting comment from John Harbaugh this
offseason. Here it is. This is from pro football talk, which is probably aggregating it
from somewhere else, but nonetheless, Harbaal. I want to see him be an all pro on Issa.
Isaiah likely. That would be my goal for him. He's capable of it. Now look, how many tight ends getting drafted
around tight end 21 have their coach saying they're capable of being an all pro? Maybe some lip service
for some of the rookies like a Mason Taylor or a Terrence Ferguson, but not somebody like Isaiah
likely who we have seen flash that potential. Remember, he had the nine catches for 111 yards
and a touchdown in the opener last year. And then of course was a massive waiver wire.
pickup and then didn't really do anything the rest of the season.
But what if that potential shows up a little bit more?
And then you get the advantage of Isaiah likely in this offense with a two-time MVP and
Lamar Jackson.
Maybe you got Mark Andrews taking a step back as he ages.
There still isn't the alpha number one receiver here.
I like Rashad Bateman a lot.
I actually like Zayflowers a lot at cost this year simply because they're cheap.
But I like likely at his price way more than I like Mark Andrews.
and I can see him taking a step forward into being a 60 catch tight end who,
if you can get him in the last round of your draft and you get a weekly starter out of that position,
I'm going to take the gamble that Mark Andrews maybe takes a little bit of a step back.
Give me Isaiah likely at his point.
This is the tight end that you go with, not like I'm sneaky and I'm going to take Darren Waller now because he's with the dolphins.
Go to Isaiah like that huge, huge upside.
And I think a lot of people maybe, maybe I'm just underestimating the average fantasy player.
But I think people are going to be like, I'm going to take Darren Waller before I say
likely now.
I'm not doing that.
That's why I said it.
I think you're going to start having comparisons of even Johnoo versus what.
Like the Waller stuff is going to get pretty high up there.
I jokingly kind of say it.
But Pat, I know if you want to comment on the Waller versus likely, but just overall,
what do you think about taking likely later in drafts?
Yeah, likely by a mile.
We just need to get Mark Andrews out of the way.
Ryan Wormley and I were talking about this the other day because if you look at the games where
Mark Andrews hasn't played,
likely's numbers in those games, like pro-rated, projected over a full season workout to like
850 yards and 11 touchdowns.
So, yes, we just need to get Mark Andrews out of the way.
And, you know, maybe there's room for likely to be impactful even with Andrews there.
But if there's some sort of role reduction or Andrews gets hurt, yeah, likely could absolutely
be a league winning type guy.
Mark Andrews, pride of my high school, by the way.
All right. We have gone this entire upside conversation without a rookie. How did we do it? How did we talk about massive upside? Part of the reason is because the rookie prices, they're not super friendly to upside sometimes. But this guy, you are saying, is Mr. Pat Fitzmorest.
Wide receiver, ECR 53 is number 10 on the upside plays in our first rookie of the show. Luther Burton. So I've got him wide receiver 50, but I've got him about around.
a half ahead of ECR overall.
My question is, what if Luther Burden plays the Amun-Ross, St. Brown role in Ben Johnson's
offense?
Like, DJ Moore and Roma do-Dunes are going to be primarily outside.
And I would hope that Luther Burton can beat out Alameda Zakeu's for the slot role.
Burton is just, he is so quick and explosive, absolutely electric after the catch.
And he is surprisingly good contact balance for a smaller receiver.
He didn't have a great season for Missouri last year, but that was largely.
because Missouri quarterback Brady Cook was hurt pretty much all year, wasn't himself.
When Burton was a 19-year-old sophomore, he had 83 catches, 1,200 yards, and nine touchdowns,
and 13 games playing in the toughest conference in the country, the SEC.
If Luther Burton is the bear's primary slot man and things start to click for Caleb Williams,
like Burton could dramatically outkick his ADP.
Joe, do you think it's ifs and butts that require Luther Burden?
to be a big upside play, or do you think there's a floor for what this offense could create with
those other wide receivers that there's upside regardless? Or do you think ifs and butts have to be
involved? I mean, I think there's upside regardless with him. But I will throw in an if and a but
here. DJ Moore was just staggeringly productive on designed targets last year. And that's
notable because this is a new offensive staff. Do they design the same high percentage of targets?
Do they open it up more? Obviously, I think a lot of
of that was the coaching staff last year needed to get easy throws out there for Caleb Williams.
So does Ben Johnson, with developing Caleb Williams more, does he unlock DJ Moore to go
downfield a little bit more work outside the way Pat mentioned? And in a twist of irony, does that
mean DJ Moore isn't as productive for fantasy? He's been a guy I haven't really been clicking
his name as good as I think DJ Moore is. I felt like he's a little bit overpriced. And I've been
pivoting to somebody like Burden who might take some more of those design targets as DJ Moore
as the veteran they trust him to run more difficult routes well you're about to throw us the
deepest of deep names on this list with upside ECR wide receiver 82 number 11 on our list
Joe Dolan this is your last one so hit us with the deepest of deep upside names now everybody
thinks the the drafting and I agree the drafting of
Pat Bryant out of Illinois signals that Sean Payton still loves that big slot receiver.
As a matter of fact, I think he brought up Marcus Colston's name and Michael Thomas's name when he talks about Pat Bryant.
But what if Pat Bryant doesn't have that role right away?
There's a second year player out of Utah who I think might have that role from the offset.
His name is Devon Valle.
Now, here's the problem with Devon Velae.
He's in his second year in the NFL, but he's going to be 28 this season.
So even though he's in his second year, I'm not telling me this is some great dynasty asset.
And if he is, you might want to trade him as soon as he breaks out.
But over the last two years, these are the only rookies we've charted as having a higher first downs per route run than Devon Velae from rookies.
Pooka Nukua, Rishi, Ladmikonkaki, Tankdale, Dantavian Wicks, Malik neighbors, and Brian Thomas.
All right, five of those names are going inside the first two.
rounds of fantasy drafts. One of them
is not going to play this year in Tankdale.
And the other is Don Tavian Wicks,
who might be one of the best receivers in football
if he could actually catch the ball, which he is
can't do. Devon Valle has great hands.
He's been drawing absolute rave
reviews from Broncos camp.
Longtime beat writer Troy Rank,
Troy ranked this June.
He said he's turning heads in OTAs, one of my least
favorite phrases, but nonetheless, let's just
give it. He says he appears
poised for a breakout season.
Cody Rourke, who
covers the Broncos for Mile High Report.
Devon Veilay looks like he'll be a pillar player at wide receiver alongside Cortland Sutton,
noticeably more muscle mass to him this offseason compared to Laf Shear, and the key,
he's free.
He's an 18th round pick on Underdog.
People are taking Pat Bryan ahead of him.
This is, I just think Devon Veil is poised to be the starting slot receiver for the Broncos,
and I wouldn't be shocked if he has a Joanne Jennings-ish season for them.
Oh, you know that just sparked me up with you. Pat, you knew,
as soon as you heard Joanne Jennings and me, I just got jumped up a little bit. I love Vele.
The Broncos offense maddens me, though, because they're like a lower volume chiefs where it's just like spread the ball around.
Yeah.
And you got to get the, you try to got to hit the cheap Sean Payton guy. Alvin Kamara was great when he was a rookie because he was like an 11th round pick.
So I'm going to take the cheap Sean Payton guy because he's always out there trying to prove to you how smart he is.
Pat, what would be your strategy to a guy like Vele who's so low ranked? Is it?
watch early in, is it your draft at the end of your draft? Is he a best ball only type of guy? Is he a
guy to put on the radar as soon as the season goes? Like, how would you approach someone with the,
you know, ECR 80? Well, in my typical 12-man league with 16 or 18 player rosters, you know, he's
probably on the speed dial for waiver wire. But I do play in some leagues that are like 16 teams,
20 rounds where we draft
everyone and like Velae is
an interesting dart throwback then because
yeah like I wonder about Pat
Bryant I mean there are some probably some
offensive linemen in the NFL who run faster
than Pat Bryant does and Vailay is a legit
like 447
guy I want to say
now like Marvin Mims has
kind of been my favorite under the radar
Broncos past catcher
guy but I'm also resigned
to the possibility that Marvin Mims is just
a designated gadget guy punt return
Yeah, they're different receivers, Pat.
Yeah, totally, right.
Yeah.
Yeah, like that's the thing with Velae.
You know, you mentioned Velae, well, he was a seventh round pick last year.
Well, the reason he was the seventh round pick is because he was 27 years old.
If he was 22, he's probably a day two pick.
And Velae, I think, had bigger snapshares than Marvin Mims.
Like, Marvin Mims, even when he was like kicking butt at the end of last season and making
all these big plays, he was getting snapshers under 50%.
And I think Velae was probably over 50%.
So, Veylay definitely showed up a couple times on the bedside.
pros prop show that Erickson and I did.
I picked Valey a couple times.
He was a fun player to get with those low, low uses.
I mean, you're playing with fire a little bit.
Right.
13 and a half yards, though, or some of those lines.
And, you know, sometimes those are the right lines to target.
I know.
Give me beginning of the season right now.
There's a little betting marker.
Give me a low line for Velae to start the season.
And let's have Joe Dolan be right and just absolutely break out with Vela.
All right, Pat, you're going to take us home with a former Bronco, not someone I thought we'd
see on this list, but hey, you know what? The usage is potentially going to be there. This is
ECR RB 36, but low in the overall. Number 12 is who? So it's Javante Williams, and I am actually
slightly behind ECR on Javante. I have M.R. 39. But I do want some exposure to Javante this season
because the upside case for him is pretty simple. Like what if he still wasn't 100% last year after
that gnarly knee injury in 2022, torn ACL, torn MCL, and he's finally 100% this year.
Like, 2021 does seem like a long time ago, so it's easy to forget just how exciting
Giovante Williams was as a rookie that year, 1,200 yards from scrimmage and seven touchdowns,
even though he was splitting work 50-50 with Melvin Gordon.
And Javante averaged almost three and a half yards after contact per carry that season.
He had 43 receptions, a pretty compelling stuff from him that year.
He just wasn't the same guy in 2023 or 2024 post injury.
But Javante is still only 25 years old.
And it seems like he's going to get the first crack at being the lead guy for Dallas this year.
So if we get the old Javante, he could give people a pretty huge return on investment.
It's interesting.
I was to say real quick, guys, that he's coming from the school of Todd Gurley.
He seems like Javante Williams, the school of Todd Gurley in that, you know, he feels like he's 30.
years old and he's only 25.
But I thought this name was going to be Jaden Blue when I saw Cowboys running back in here for
the upside, not Javante Williams.
So what do you think, Joe?
By the way, I actually believe Todd Girl is younger than Derek Henry, like in real life,
which is like it's kind of amazing.
I don't have really much to add to what Pat said because obviously this could be a valuable
role if Javante Williams runs away with it.
But I just, the thing that sucks about Javante Williams is that we have to talk about him
like he's this scrub, you know, but Pat brought it up.
Remember the war crimes of Nathaniel Hackett when Melvin Gordon was fumbling every time he touched the ball and he still couldn't get Giovante Williams on the field?
And then Giovante blew his knee out and they cut Gordon after that.
Just like there is a world where Javante Williams right now, an alternate universe where we're talking about him being drafted in like the Bijon Robinson range.
You know, like, and I don't know if, well, I mean, if I thought we were going to see that, I'd have a lot more Javante Williams than I'd.
do now, but sometimes fate is just really cruel to these players.
It is hard to speak ill of Melvin Gordon.
I mean, I'm wearing a Wisconsin Badger t-shirt here, but like, yeah, remember how
anxious everyone was for Melvin Gordon to get the heck out of the way, so Javonte could
have that backfield to himself and then gets hurt early the next season.
It was very important.
You know, the Broncos have a great history of Wisconsin running backs, you know, Monty Ball.
I was in on Monty Ball those years ago, man.
One overall.
Monty Ball, you mean?
Oh, we all remember.
12 draft picks with massive upside.
Just running through them again.
Devon H.N. T. Higgins, Rishi Rice, Ken Walker,
Jordan Addison, Stefan Diggs, Darnel Mooney, Drake, May,
Isaiah likely, Luther Burden, Devon, Velae, and Giovante Williams.
Those are your 12 that these guys have picked out that you've got to be making sure you're locking into drafts.
One of the best in the business, Joe Doyle, with one of the greatest places.
I mean, Fantasy Points is an absolute staple of fantasy pros, owner and editor-in-chief.
Also, Series X-N, why don't you remind everybody again the new news on the Series XM show?
Yeah, Series X-M Fantasy Football Morning presented by Fantasy Points.
We'll be back with myself and Paul Kelly Monday through Friday, 7 to 8 a.m.
Eastern on Sirius XM Fantasy Sports Radio, Series XM Channel 87.
I'll host Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays with Paul.
Tom Broley will host with Paul on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
So with me, you'll get the more fantasy kind of impact.
And Tom is degenerate better.
So you'll get that angle as well on the show.
So we're looking forward to being back.
And you can follow him.
You can follow Joe at FG underscore Dolan if you want to follow on the X.
Mr. Pat Fitzmorest, you just locked out a ton of stuff on the draft guide.
So do you want to remind everybody what's going on?
We've got the Fantasy Pros draft guide that is live.
And we got a crazy amount of stuff on there.
And you are at the center of it.
Yeah, the Fantasy Pros redraft kit now up. Go to Fantasypros.com and check it out.
And yeah, you know, I've got some positional primers where it's not just talking about some of the players, although there's some of that too, but just kind of a tactical approach to every position.
Lots of other great stuff from our other writers too. So hope people check that out.
Check it out. And you can follow Fitsy at Fitz. Fitts underscore FF. You guys want to check out the rankings that we were referring to and talking to.
Go to Fantasyprose.com slash rankings. Check out all the different formats.
Check out where the rankers and how many people we got on the ECR, it's a ton of fun.
You can just peruse through it and make your fantasy football season even better.
You can find me on Twitter at Is It the Welsh.
Thank you guys so much for hanging out with us and good luck in all your massive draft picks for the season.
We'll talk to you next time right here on Fantasy Pros.
It's the Football Podcast.
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