The Herd with Colin Cowherd - FantasyPros - Projecting the First Round | The Top 12 Fantasy Football Players in 2026 (Ep. 1939)

Episode Date: January 17, 2026

Join Joe Pisapia, Andrew Erickson, and Jake Ciely as they take a crack at projecting the first round of 2026 fantasy football drafts! Timestamps: (May be off due to ads) Intro - 0:00:00 Jake's 1.01 to 1.04 - 0:02:50 Erickson's 1.01 to 1.04 - James Cook -  0:07:35 Joe's 1.01 to 1.04 - 0:12:15 Hard Rock Bet - 0:14:50 Ja'Marr Chase - 0:16:18 Jake's 1.05 to 1.08 - 0:20:27 Christian McCaffrey - 0:26:57 Erickson's 1.05 to 1.08 - 0:32:10 Joe's 1.05 to 1.08 - 0:36:29 Jake's 1.09 to 1.12 - 0:43:15 Erickson's 1.09 to 1.12 - 0:50:10 BettingPros Premium - 0:54:15 Joe's 1.09 to 1.12 - 0:54:42 Players Who Just Missed Out - 0:57:30 Helpful Links: Hard Rock Bet - All lines provided by Hard Rock Bet. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sign up for Hard Rock Bet and make a $5 bet and you'll get $150 in bonus bets if you win. Head over to Hard Rock Bet, sign up and make your first deposit today. Payable in bonus bet(s). Not a cash offer. Offered by the Seminole Tribe of Florida in FL. Offered by Seminole Hard Rock Digital, LLC, in all other states. Must be 21+ and physically present in AZ, CO, FL, IL, IN, MI, NJ, OH, TN or VA to play. Terms and conditions apply. Concerned about gambling? In FL, call 1-833-PLAYWISE. In IN, if you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-9-WITH-IT. GAMBLING PROBLEM? CALL 1-800-GAMBLER (AZ, CO, IL, MI, NJ, OH, TN, VA)  Follow us on Twitch - The team here at FantasyPros is taking questions all week, every week on Twitch. Follow us on Twitch at twitch.tv/fantasypros and never miss a stream! 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 podcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas.

We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you.

you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Welcome in everybody to Fantasy Pros. This is the Fantasy Football Podcast. It's me, Joey P. Joe Pee, Zapia. And today we're going to have a fun exercise.

We'll probably do, I don't know, about 1,000 to 1 times between now and Labor Day. My friends, Jake Sealy from the Athletic and Andrew Erickson for Fantasy Pros here, we're going to try our best to throw out what our first round might look like in 2026. We just had a great show with Jake and Pat Fitzmore. We were talking about kind of the post-mortem from 2025, what we can learn about in 2026. So if you miss that, go watching on our YouTube channel.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel right now, Fantasy Pros, and wherever we get your podcast. But we're going to try to take some of that discussion here and put it into the first round and see if we can make that knowledge work for us. Jake, since that conversation, I actually changed my first round because this is what it is, right? It's constantly moving. It's constantly taking shape.

And I think these kind of conversations here were a couple of of us who, you know, do this day in, day out all year round, having these conversations talking it out is how you get the best product at the end of the day. I would 100% agree because also you know this as well as anybody who's been around me. Our drafts in July don't look like our drafts at the end of August. And it's not just because of ADP and other people shifting. It's we learn more things. People get hurt. Things adjust and we have to adjust to the drafts and what we expected. So yeah, drafting today should look nothing like your drafts. August, but the exercise, because then you can pivot on the spot because you know these names,

you know the information. Yeah. And look, it's tough because you got guys like Malik neighbors, right, big time talents coming off injuries. Do we want to put him in a first round? I got to say, Erickson, after last night catching that IHop commercial that he was in, that was hilarious. It made me almost one.

Was that the first time you saw it? I hadn't seen it. I don't know why. I hadn't seen it. I watch a ton of red zone, so I never see that. And then like the standalone games, I tend to DVR stuff. So I'm blowing through commercials, but last night was watching it live on a Monday night and laugh my ass off. hilarious, brilliant.

Take a little joke at yourself. Andrew Erickson, we were talking about Stefan Diggs returning from the ACL and he hit the ground running. Like, maybe it's not such a bad thing for him in terms of like potentially returning and being a first round pick by the time we get to August. Yeah, I think that there's a buying opportunity when it comes to Malik neighbors because it just takes that one game where, oh, he's back. And then he's evaluated as that top five, top five wide receiver that we were drafting him to be last season and it looked like he was on the way to be super productive in his second year. And that was when we didn't even know about the quarterback. But we feel, or at least I feel that Jackson Dart, hey, he can be a franchise quarterback. He can feel fantasy success.

We saw that with Wandae Robinson, have another girl monster. And Wanda Robinson is also a free agent. So we could go back to Malik neighbors, 170 targets. Love that. Yeah, all right. So obviously, this is very early. Coaches need to be put in place. Coordinators need to be put in place.

Draft picks need to be made. So this is fun, but also kind of the best we can do right now with the data that we've been given. And that's what we're trying to do for today. And make sure you again, subscribe to the channels, as we want you to do, hang out with us all the time. And let's start here with Jake Seeley. We're going to go through the first four picks here in the first round for each of us. Jake, why don't you kick things off with your picks number one through number four? I start with a running back, and you know I love my running backs, Joe, but the next three after that are not.

I actually go Bejohn Robinson, and then my next three are all wide receivers with Pooka and Nakua, Jackson Smith, and Jigba, and Jemar Chase. I don't know if you want additional information, or are we going to go through our four and then come back around, or are you going to, you host, you tell me. You know what, Jake? I'm going to let you walk through your first four, because I think one thing I love about you and you and I have been friends for over a decade. now and we've done hours. Believe me, I'm part of my therapy bill. It's really for you. And all that just damage of working with you all these years. But I think once Jake Sealy gets rolling in a monologue, it's good time. So I want you to go and kick off your one through four in your thought process because I know there's a reason to the grouping. And I think it's not

just like, okay, this guy's my number one, who's your number one? That's not as good conceptually as when Jake Sealy breaks down the reason behind the one through four. So Evan Ingram is a I'm just kidding. Everybody here is going to go back that far. Andrew has no idea what's happening right now. I want to get running backs, but Bejohn Robinson is the only one I would consider even coming off somebody who was champion taking Christian McCaffrey in the middle of the first round, which, by the way, he'll be there around the same this year again, but there's

risk associated. Bejohn Robinson, the age, what he did at the end of the season. I just think when you're going to get that advantage, when you're looking for a Christian McCaffrey type, a Jonathan Taylor. what he did for most of the season until they had the quarterback issues. Bejohn, Gibbs fell off at the end. But like, if you're looking for the one who was consistent, really without warts, quote unquote, even in the games where Charlie Al Jarre did his thing, Bejohn Robinson is the one. And honestly, I don't know that we've seen the ceiling. Like you could argue that's what it was, but I think there's

still another step up. As you mentioned, we're talking about coordinators, coaching changes, and all the sorts. We don't even know necessarily what the quarterback might be if it is Pennix next year. So it remains to be seen, but I feel like his is the safest of the question marks we have it running back. And then that's why I turn to a wide receiver. I go with Pukunakua. I have a feeling. I'm going to sneak preview for everybody out there. Erickson's ranks. I can't imagine that he's down that low except for the fact that every single game. I'm like, oh my God, is Pukunakua hurt? Is he hurt? Is he hurt? Is he hurt? Every game. Every game. And I get that, but that would be my only argument against him not being the first wide receiver

off the board because I guess the other one would be if Matthew Stafford's done. But we played that game this year is Matthew Stafford and Puka Nakua are arguably the best combination we've seen this year. And I don't see why that changes next year whether or not Devante Adams is back. You talk about Target Share. His is in effected by whether it's an elite talent or a subpar talent next to him on the field. So that's why I guess the slight edge for me over Jackson Smith and Jigba. We talked about it. Actually, Erickson and I just talked it on yesterday show for the recap after I talked about you on that show. A lot of Jackson. I'm getting a lot of Jackson Smith and Jigba praise. And I miss some things. But the biggest thing, but the biggest thing, that I looked at was the target share volume, Sam Darnold, be in a comment and do what he did with the

Vikings with the Seahawks. But there's a question there. Is Kubiak going to be gone? Is there going to be a question void at number two wide receiver? Is he still going to get that 35% target share? And I love Smith & Jiggo, but to call him number two, I think, isn't sliding him. But that's what you said. The diatribe here is that Chase at three, if you want Chase one, I'm not going to yell at you. I have these three wide receivers. It's Nekua, Smith and Jigua. Smith, and Jigua. with Chase, if I was doing a tier, it would be that three, done at Y receivers. Those three, if you want to argue for any of them. The only reason Chase comes into third is because if you actually look at his career,

last season, 2024 is the outlier. He's actually been more in these 16, 17 point per game seasons versus the 20. I'm not saying it can't happen again, but with or without Joe Burrow, he's been more in that range. And when Joe Burrow came back, like even if you take out the beginning of the season before Burrow got hurt, if you take just when Burrow came back, he would. still only 15 or 16 fantasy points per game. So he's not even on the level of Nukua unless he gets back to 2024. So that's why he's third for me. I'm not saying you can't argue he's first,

but that's why he's third of the three. See, I knew when Jake Sealy gets going with a good monologue, that things are going to go well. See? And I love it. All right, Andrew Erickson. Let's walk through your one through four here because you also agree with Jake. You are also starting with Bejohn Robinson. Yes, going with Bejon Robinson. And to add more fuel to the fire of Bijan as the 101, title of Al Jir is a free agent. So there's a chance that he might not be back and we get closer to 90% snapshot Bejohn Robinson

in a full-blown Christian McCaffrey of yesteryear where he's seeing every single snap in that backfield. Now, I would expect them even if Al Jir walks in free agency, they probably add somebody else as a lot of decent free agent running backs they could draft somebody. And the coaching change does matter. But I think if Zach Robinson is still hanging around Atlanta, that, whether he's upgraded to head coach, whether he stays as the offensive play caller.

I mean, the thing that they kept telling us over and over and over again was B.J.M. Robinson is the best fan or the best football player on the planet. And we want to feed him as much as humanly possible. That was both Rahim Morris and Zach Robinson saying that. So again, he's in his Uber prime and that's how I feel about Jemir Gibbs, too. So he's my number two player. And I guess I'm open to taking some of these running backs a little bit early than some of these wide receivers. And you just look at just the past season, top four scores that weren't quarterbacks, running back, running back, running back, running make running back. A lot of running backs. And if you look over the last couple of years, so since

2022, if your wide receivers have finished inside the top 12, then running backs for four straight seasons. But before that, we were seeing more of the wide receivers finished ahead of the running back. So I'm starting to push running backs up a little bit more. Now, this will probably change a little bit based on what the second round looks like in terms of running back versus wide receiver. So if you're kind of going for that combination, this can change. But for now, that's why I have more running backs inside my top four than wide receivers. My number one, receiver is Jamar Chase. I just don't want to overthink it. When he has Joe Burrow, he can be the highest scoring fantasy wide receiver. And we've seen it through season after season. And I guess maybe

I shouldn't be more concerned about Joe Matthew Stafford missing time or Joe Burrow missing time, because Joe Burrow is also constantly hurt. So that's always a big question mark, whether he's going to play a full season. But I just, I guess I would push back. When Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase are playing at a high level, I don't think anyone can beat them as a combination versus Matthew Stafford. Pooka Nica. So I would push my chips in on Chase and Burrow, but again, the injury withstanding when it comes to Joe Burrow being healthy for a 16, 17 game season. And then my last running back here, who I believe I'm the lone wolf on here in the top four is James Cook, running back for the Buffalo Bills, the NFL's leading rusher. He's in his prime. I think that he is a

prime time running back. And Joe, give credit to you. Again, this wasn't on the Bull prediction show as I told you so, but you should have brought it up as I told you show. because James Cook, everyone was, I was fading James Hope because like, there's no way he can be as good as he was last year. And then he was. He was better because he rushed for a lot more yards. Again, the touchdowns came down a little bit. But I mean, you were so happy that you drafted James Cook. We talked about it on the AFC East takeaway show where we don't trust any of these pass catchers on Buffalo, whether they're wide receivers or tight ends. Who is the offense? It's Josh Allen and James Cook. Like, this is what makes this offense function at such a higher level. And yeah, I get that the past catching's not been there for him. him and there's not a chance that still doesn't change, but it's not like he doesn't have the skill set to do it. Coming out of Georgia, that was he was praised for was this guy is so great, catching passes out of the backfield. So although it hasn't really been fully unlocked by Joe braiding this offense, Josh Allen's obviously a running quarterback, so that's going to take pass attempts out of James Cook for targets, but in a scenario where this past catching group

continues to struggle, maybe they face Tie Johnson out and they're like, no, we're playing James Cook on third downs now. I could see him being a top three finisher again. So James Cook for me is number four. Look, I love hearing the praise for James Cook. And I don't know if anybody was as high on James Cook coming into this year as me. And it was for what Erickson laid out. There was just nobody else in this offense. Now, I don't think that's going to be the case in 2026.

So I'm projecting in my mind that they're going to be in on AJ Brown. They're going to be in on other wide receivers, maybe via draft or via trade. So I just think that they have to learn the lesson here. You can't keep going this direction two years in a row here, three years in a row, where Stefan Diggs leaves and you haven't replaced that productivity of receiver. You need to replace it with somebody. Keon culminate that guy. So I do imagine when that happens, maybe that Cook productivity comes down a little bit.

But to your point, Andrew, maybe it doesn't. Maybe this is exactly what they think they can do and just kind of run it back again. So Jake has Bijan Puka, J.S.N. and Jamar Chase. Erickson has Robinson, Jamir Gibbs, Jamar Chase, and James Cook. I, at the top of my list, and you're going to see I'm a little bit more heavy on the wide receiver, room, despite the fact that it was a good year for the bell cows. There's no doubt about that. I'm not going to live in the past.

I'm going to continue to be Mr. wide receiver. So one thing that I know, I don't think much is going to change in Seattle. Jackson, Smith, and Jigba are still going to be the guy, and I'm going to put him right at the top of the board. I just see them running it back exactly how it is, especially if they win this round in the playoffs. We'll see how that goes for them.

But when you've had that much success, yeah, maybe you'll add a little bit more. maybe some of the young kids you drafted to take a little step forward. Maybe Tori Horton comes up a little bit too and starts to play a little bit more. But I think for me, it's Jackson Smith and Jigba, who is going to have a huge total because everything just goes to him. You have a quarterback who is healthy. You have a quarterback who is, you know, finally gaining his momentum and his confidence the last two years with Minnesota and then with Seattle and Sam Darnold.

Like Jake, I'm not going to argue if you want Jamar Chase at one because he's my number two and when healthy as Andrew said, there's nobody better than Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase when those two are locked in, healthy and ready to go. The problem is in the last three years, there's been a lot of time where that wasn't the case and that's been very frustrating. Bejohn Robinson is my three. If you want to argue him as one, I'm cool with that. In half PPR, maybe I would go with him as my one, two, and I understand that.

I just want to see who the head coach is first. I want to see how that shows up there because depending on what kind of offensive or defensive mind or what kind of coordinator they bring in. I just want to see how that unfolds first before I put Bijan at number one. So I think the other two situations, we have continuity with the coaching staff, we have continuity with the offense, we know who it's going to be. Nothing's going to really change there unless Kubiak gets a job, which he very well might. But even so, I think the concept stays the same. And then my four is Pukonakua, which is only because style of play, as Jake alluded to, but also I don't think Stafford comes back next year.

I think this is Matthew Stafford, Swanzong, because he couldn't. get up off the table in the training room to start the year. And he had a great season. I think Matthew Stafford realizes only so many times we're going to go through this. And even if he gets to a Super Bowl, doesn't get to a Super Bowl, wins a Super Bowl. I think Matthew Stafford here is at the end of the rope. And if he's not, it's another year older. And I love Puka, but to be the number one, I'm just trying to shade away as many possible

variables as I can get. And I think Puka just brings up between the injuries and Stafford. And even Stafford's potential health. a lot of problems there where I just can't put them in the top three. So those are our picks for the top four. Of course, you can throw your comments below in the YouTube. And of course, don't forget that we have got our sponsor Hard Rock bet, the only legal sportsbook in the state of Florida.

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huge news? We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to a... We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty. Yeah. wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember.

I think it was on a call about what we should call it. We were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers was... This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing,

a bit for the podcast where people could call in and say, hey Jonas. and then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it.

Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and Headwere writer Street or Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between

songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet

lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear.

The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. All right, Seeley, we got through the top of the list. Let's get picks 5 through, walk us through starting with number five on your list, Jemir Gibbs.

I don't get to ask a follow up after all that. Oh, yeah. Sit and wait. By all means. Jake's not used to being this quiet so long. I know. That was way too long. You got to give me credit.

I kept my mouth shut. I was very good. You were a very good boy. You're a very good boy. You get a cookie after the show. You want a treat? Thank you. Thank you.

Who's the follow for me or Erickson? It's both because it's the Jamar Chase conversation. You answered the Nekua one because my pushback was going to be Nekua was almost two points per game more than JSN and I love JASN. But you brought it up. It's the staffer thing, which is that's why I said. It's fine. The Jamar Chase one I wanted to come back to because Erickson said like, you know, with a healthy Joe Burrow. And this is my pushback is that, again, the 20,

season was the anomaly. The other three seasons with Joe Burrow went healthy. And I'm throwing out the fourth season where it was half Jake Browning, which Jake Brownie actually played well that season. I'm throwing that one out the window. But the three seasons this year, when Burrow came back in his other two seasons, he's averaged 16.2, 16.3 fancy points per game, which was what he exactly averaged when he came back with Joe Burrow this year or Joe Burrow came back. So that's my question to you guys is it's 16.2 or three for Chase, which is amazing. But it's not even JSN and it's hell far from Puka Nakua. So the question would be, are you expecting them to get back to the anomaly season or that, and

that's where I'm presenting it? I'm expecting the offensive line to get massive improvements because they cannot go out there again. I think that leads to potential more upside games. And look, I think when you have good offensive line play, you can have some of those bigger splash games like Puka had a 200-yard game. Like, guess what? When you have that many points in one game, it adds to your points per game average.

So Jamar Chase didn't really have those opportunities. He was playing with Joe Flacco a bunch. She was playing with Jake Browning this year who was not good. Burrell obviously up and down at certain times this year. But to me, it is a matter of that what I like about Chase is the consistency and the rapport. And that is something you can just lock in. So yeah, I mean, these guys are playing together since they were in college. So I think there's a certain special vibe between the two of them that makes me feel good about my investment.

because it more than just like being the big splash guy, I also don't want to be wrong with my top four picks. And I think that there's very little that, you know, I feel like, well, that investment going wrong compared to a Puka Nakua where the Stafford age, the Stafford retirement, the Pooka-Dakua style of play, you know, who does take over for Matthew Stafford potentially if he's not there for injury if he does come back because he is another year older. So a lot of that, that what if, what if, I think there's more what-ifs with Puka than Jamar Chase. but I understand Puka over Chase completely because Puka is the offense, right? You want everything to roll through him. There's no doubt who it rolls through. It rolls through Puka. Andrew, do you agree with that sentiment?

Where are you at with that? It rolls through Puka until I get to the red zone sometimes. And then it's DeMonte Adams. And he had 27 end zone targets this year. That's a lot. Just an absolute ludicrous number. Now, we'll see what Adam, again, he's getting older. But I would say from an argument of usage,

Jamar Chase has had a much better red zone role than Pucca de Kua has had. I mean, that was the reason why I was on Chase as the wide receiver one entering last year was because this guy is leaving the NFL red zone targets per game. And if you look at the most common theme between number one finishers at the position, it's usually tied to who has the most red zone targets. So I do like Chase because I think he does have a little bit more touchdown equity. Not to say that Puka can't score touchdowns. Like I don't want to say that. I especially if Devante, Devonte is gone from the offense. But Devonte has got to be gone.

Stafford's got to be back. Is he going to throw for 40 plus touchdowns next year? two, maybe not. So whereas Joe Burrow... Unlikely, I think. I wouldn't blink twice if Joe Burrow throws 45 touchdowns next year if he is healthy. And that means Chase is going to catch 15, 60, maybe 20 touchdowns, which I think gives him a little bit of an edge. Important follow-up. Good on Jake Sealy for asking the follow-up question.

Let's get to Jamir gives a pick number five, walk us through picks five through eight in your thought process. Yeah, I go, Jamir, this is where the running back's coming to play. There's a long list before we get to wide receiver, hand-t hand, by the way. So all four of this are running. back said Jemir Gibbs, which by the way, I'll come back to it. Christian McCaffrey, Jonathan Taylor, Devon A. Chan. So Gibbs, what I was about to say is that we know David Montgomery might not be back, which is already a plus in the column. And we already saw what that was like with the

David Montgomery essentially was getting phased out for most of the season, especially when we saw Dan Campbell take over from Morton over there. The thing I was going to say is if the rumors are true and this is where Mike McDaniel goes to be the OC, Jemir Gibbs 101. Like, look. Leap frogs Bejohn Robinson. I will put Gibbs 101 if Mike McDaniel ends up in Detroit. That's how big of an impact. We're talking about these offensive coronators. I think it would be huge. And I think that if Mike McDaniel somehow with whatever happens in Atlanta ends up going there and Zach Robinson's out the door, that just even locks in Bejohn more. Like that's the impact where we're talking about these coordinators. But we saw Gibbs. The only downside to Gibbs was what happened at the end of the season. That left the sour taste in everybody's mouth who had them on their teams because it was. two bad games and one good game at the end of the season. And everybody forgot what happened for the entire year, just because that was what his recent memory. It could have knocked you out of the playoffs.

But Gibbs was amazing outside that. Gibbs is one of the top three running backs that I would consider. The third being Christian McCaffrey. And I already know what the pushback for everybody's going to be. And there's no convincing you, Joe, Andrew, or the people that are on your side. And there's no convincing the people who are on my side. Andrew's shaking his head.

And I had this list and I didn't bring it up yesterday. But all the pushback lists that everybody keeps throwing out, Now, here's mine for you. How about the fact that Larry Johnson did in a back-to-back seasons? How about the fact that Ricky Williams did it in three straight seasons? This is the 370 plus number. How about Lidaneon-Thompson, seven straight seasons finished as a top five running back with those touches? Chris Johnson did it in two straight seasons.

Tiki freaking barber did it in five straight seasons, finishing everywhere from RB6 to RB1, somehow finishing in front of Ladanian-Thomason one year because that's inexplicable. Clinton Portis did it twice in two separate years of 2004 to 2005, 2007 to 2008. Aaron Foster did it three straight years. Yes, there's an argument, and there's an argument for it. There's also an argument against it. I'm just not going to play the game of Christian McCaffrey because here's where I go with it. Let's throw all those out.

All the names that Joe listed, which he's right about, all the names I listed, which I'm right about. For that full list, by the way, you can go find my Twitter post about it or watch our video. We had a short form, funny video about it on Fantasy Pros on the shorts, or go listen to that show with Pat, where I rattled through all Hallfamers who had 400 plus carries was carries more not even touches just carries and when they all and the ones that did not the next year finish even as an RV one so that I'm not going to go through that list again but it's a long list and it's got littered with Hallfamers to Jake's point but Jake my question back to you with all this real quick too because they're listing those names how many of those guys were 30 when it happened teaky barber was all the way aged through 31 the second time around

Clinton Portis was right there. Aaron Foster was, I think... Because that's the other thing of McCaffrey. It's not just now the total. No. So that's why I was going to say. 30 year old number standing us in the face two. Which my point was, so let's take this because my joke in saying those names is what I started with. I'm not convincing you. You're not convincing me. This is so let's let's throw this out and here's where I look at it. Let's say 20% is a pretty damn aggressive number in my opinion. You take 20% off with Christian McCaffrey just did. He's still RB5. And I could understand it. Like, again, I'm not going to convince anybody because you're, you're right.

I am concerned enough that Christian McCaffrey's not my RB1. Christian McCaffrey's not my RB2. He's not in a top four pick. Absolutely. So you could argue that he should still be the one because if he plays 17 games, if he stays healthy, he has nearly, or has 100 receptions again, he's going to be the RB one again. But we are factoring that risk.

I factor in the risk enough to push him down to six. I see the argument to push him down further. but as my point of chopping off 20% of his production, that still puts him in RB5, still puts him at 18.5 fancy points per game, which is a ridiculous number. So I get all the arguments. And this is where I'm going with the next one. Jonathan Taylor is so quickly everybody forgot that Jonathan Taylor was dominating as the RV one, even with Christian McCaffrey, until Daniel Jones got hurt.

The reason he's at seven is because is Daniel Jones the quarterback next year? What do the Colts look like next year? They have it. They're in flux. I could see an argument for Jonathan Taylor being higher. And I can see an argument for A-chan being hired, depending on who their offensive coordinator and their offense is because we've seen A-chan just knock on that door, actually had 18.1 fancy points per game. It was arguably an awful dolphin season, and he was still 18.1. So that's why they're all here.

My biggest takeaway, I want everybody to know of these four is just like the wide. No, just like the wide receivers, you argue for any of those four. I'm not going to be like, I, you're stupid. They would be in a tier. And there's another name that's in this tier. I know. Now what am I going to do, Andrew? I will save. There's a fifth name that's in the tier, but he's the pick number nine. There's a fifth name that you want to make an argument for any of these five running backs will save who the fifth is. I'm okay with it. It's just this is the order I'd go in. I think my only pushback with McCaffrey, too, well, besides all the massive data from the last 25 years of guys who had 400 plus carries in the season or touches in the season and the next year not finishing as an RB1 or even finishing the season is also the age of 30. But on top of that, it's. something that you actually said, and I think you said it almost like as a as a as a as a caveat of positivity, which is even if you took away how many games was it you said, if he,

or he took away 20%? 20% of his touches. But what if you're taking away 20% of the touches because he's missing 20% of the games? And then when do those games happen? Do they happen in the playoffs? Because he doesn't get you, like he might get you there, but he's not there at the end of the year because he has an injury and something happens. It's that that worries me that to me as a top five pick, I can't get there with McCaffrey. But all the things you're saying out there, look, I was wrong about McCaffrey going into this year. He scared the heck out of me with good reason.

I was very much into him at the 10th overall pick last year. That's where he started this time last year. It was like 10, 11, 12, was like, ooh, right at the turn, okay, I'm in on McCaffrey. But then I got to like five or six, and I just could not get there. Turned out it was wrong. Turned out he was the best guy you could have. Andrew Erickson, who's the best guy you could have at the fifth overall pick? us through picks five through eight because I'm sure there's going to be some overlap with some of the

names here that we've already discussed and some guys that Jake just discussed. Well, before I get to my pick number five, I want to share my Chris McCaffrey staff. Oh, okay. Let's all do it. Because we're all kind of just unloading here on CMC, whether pro-CMC, negative CNC because I don't want to blow your CMC ranking this early, though. Well, I mean, he's not in my top eight, okay? He barely stuck into my first round.

He's a number 12. Spoiler. So for me, the stats that I'm looking at, so, Mine are just specifically to touches, not even necessarily carries. But last 13 running backs with 400 plus touches, only one of them has been a top five running back the next season. So, same one of course. You know, some of the guys that Jake mentioned, you know, like the LTs, like LT is such an anomaly. LLT is the reason we have the third round reversal.

He did it when he was 24 years old. Right. And LT. Like when he was an Uber prime. Again, special offense built around him. Well, Arienne Foster, again, he was a blip on the radar for a couple years. Larry Johnson, same thing, blip on the radar. It's a very different game than it is now.

You don't see running backs use the same way. And you all see also the size speed combination now that you're getting in the NFL of some of the players on defense that you were getting back then. There was some big boys. There were some quick guys. But the combination of the violence of what you see now, I feel like, I'm not saying those guys didn't hit harder. They did because the rules were different.

But I feel like it's just a very different game from the Tiki Barber era around, you know, the year 2000 to what it is now in 2025. There's an argument that you can spin any of this. And that's why I said there's no convincing anybody on this because you could say, arguing back then, it was you take RBs in the first two, even three rounds because everybody. And to not finish five and only finish nine back there was actually you're still top three this year because of how different the game is.

There's the argument for that kind of workload. I mean, look at how many running backs back then were 300 plus touches. And then one of the cost. off's 360 and then you start throwing other names who did do it. What if the cutoff is 390? Like, and I'm not saying like, you know, Erickson said top five. Well, what if you go to top seven? So like the point being is I just, my biggest takeaway is you guys are on the same side. I'm on a different side. But like, we're not convincing each other. Like I just, I was throwing the numbers out to say, this is why I have them here. If you disagree with me, I'm okay with it. But like, it's funny you said that,

Joe, is because I had him as fifth overall last year. And that was still too low as like, To the point being, it's like, so I associated risk as not as much as anybody, but it's factored in as well. I think the best thing about this is like none of us ever talk about you're wrong or right. This is the whole point. It's the process of debate so that everybody else can get out there and make these decisions as they start to put in their brain what the value is. Unless you don't like Evan Ingram. Then you're stupid. Unless you don't like Evan Ingram.

God, I love the inside joke. All right. So, Erickson, walk us through your five through eight picks here. Tell me the reasoning why. I didn't get to share my stats. You guys just took it away with that. I thought you were done. I thought he had a stat.

I said one. No, I said one thing and then you guys immediately took back. You caused way too long on that. Yeah, you got to work harder. See, me and I just suck up all the air for the room. I'll be quick with the last couple ones. No, don't be quick at all.

I thought that was your stat, the one you threw out there. No, I'm going, because I, we're running out of time to get to my top four through, or picks five to eight. So running back's 27 older. Led the NFL and touches. Happened six times. Zero top five finishes. The fall.

season. CMC, we've already done this dance before with. He led the NFL in touches a couple of years ago. He came back, had the calf thing, and it was a disaster for fantasy football purposes. So this specific player has happened to. And then something that's note of recent, George Kittle, Tours Achilles, probably going to miss most of next season, I would bet, because it's usually a nine to 12 month injury. His rushing yards this year, Christian McCaffrey, without George Kittle lineup, he went under

his rushing prop in six of the seven games that George Kittle didn't play in. That's a good stat. So that's another big thing when you come to McAfre has that receiving with him that is always going to be boosting up him versus other running backs. But the rushing fell off substantially. He looked much more like not the same type of explosive running back he has in years past. And that is a big concern. So even from an efficiency standpoint, I think that's something to be concerned about

because there was a massive falloff and how effective he was as a rusher, as a breakaway runner, and it just wasn't the same. I think the visual too, right, Andrew? That goes the other way to, like McCaffrey running between the, the tackles just didn't look at the same guy. When you get him out in space, catch the football, I'll agree with that. But between the tackles, CMC is two years ago,

different guy between the tackles. No, no, two years ago, George Kittal, when he was healthy for all 16 games, Christian McCaffrey actually had a down tick in the receiving game. So it could go both ways, too, with that one. No, but I'm saying is like his rush game this year, just visually. He didn't have the same burst. Nobody does it at this age typically.

Even Derek Henry's not quite the same. Like, he'll have those glimpses, but he's not always the same. It's not what he was three, four, years ago. And I think with CMC, it's visible. And to Andrew's data point, the rushing props, he fell short quite a bit. Well, maybe Vegas is too aggressive. Let's talk about why he hates Puka Nakua. Let's go back. Yeah, let's talk about why Andrew hates Pooka Naku. All right. Now we can finally unveil picks five through eight after our long conversation. All right, that'll do it for us, everybody.

Thanks for tuning in to the show. We really appreciate to hang out. To the Christian McCaffrey show, the Pookman McCaffrey show. You know what? That's going to be the thing that I think at the end of the day, You will see the biggest ranking gap of Christian McCaffrey. The standard deviation on them. People will be people who will be mid-level and people will be too low, too hot. Like, it's going to be all over the map. It's going to be really interesting to see who's right and wrong with us all to settle. Go ahead, Andrew.

We'll all shut up now. Yeah. Christian McCaffrey is not aiming in this tier for me. So it's just really ironic. So I got Jackson Smith and Jigba, Pooka, Jonathan Taylor and C.D. Lamb, rounding out picks five through eight. So JSN, for me, my only, again, I have him as my wide receiver too. so I guess I'm lower than him compared to you guys.

Just I think Kling Kubek's gone. I don't think that he's going to stick around. I think he's going to become a head coach. And look, coordinator changes. There's another opening right now. Mike Tomlin's gone from the Steelers. Whoa.

Why is we're doing this? Whoa. Gone. Like I'm leaving. He said he's stepping down. They're mutually parting ways is what that is. So maybe he's going to TV. Maybe he's taking the year off to find himself going to backpacking here.

There was actually a big rumor about that that he would potentially be interested in that. Well, it's a much easier gig. He's so much more talkable. His beer was getting very ungainly last night. When you get him outside of the press conference room, because the Hampton Road Youth Foundation that he does here, and I've talked to him locally. Like, in that kind of setting, so much more like open and talkative than he gets in those press conferences. It'd be really interesting to see him. Yeah.

Well, what do you say if my aunt had uncle parts? She'd be my uncle. What the hell do you say the other day? He just says the funny. That was what I dropped the F bomb on the other show. Joe. I said if I had wheels, I'd be an effing bike. That's right.

Oh, my God. Wow. So yeah. So, yeah. So Clay Kubiak could be the new head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Well, that's why I brought it up to. Possibly in play. I mean, I'm never going to get to my picks five three.

No. I mean, at this point, Joe, you should just list off your picks because there's no point me to try to do these. So JSN, yeah, the coach, Pooka, Matthew Stafford potential, does he walk off into the sunset? If the Rams win the Super Bowl, does he come back for another year? Or does he just say, hey, I'm done. I want another Super Bowl.

I'm going to win MVP. I mean, it's kind of the perfect runout. I got out before my back got worse, essentially for Matthew Stafford. Because back, as we know as anyone that has a bad back, they don't just go away. It flares up here and there hasn't flared up all year, but maybe next year's a little bit different. Jonathan Taylor to Jake's point. dude, this guy finished top four despite basically tanking the second half of the season. He was so out in such a massive league winner at the start of the year with Daniel Jones that

I want to go right back to him. I just have faith in Shane Steichen to figure this out with whatever quarterback. Again, basically, as long as it's not Anthony Richardson, it seems like we can get this offense to function with a Daniel Jones level S quarterback. I think they can find somebody, whether it is Jones coming off of his injury or they sign somebody who's a bunch of free agent quarterbacks. I think they can find the right move. And then Cididlam.

Again, this is kind of a placeholder, giving credit to Ceding Lamb is a top five fantasy wide receiver when Dack Prescott is healthy. But I do think that George Pickett's coming back to Dallas would probably impact this for me a little bit. And there is also a thing in the back of my mind. Again, not a lot of data driven here, but Dak Prescott tends to kind of go up and down in his odd seasons. It's really actually kind of fun of me. You look at his career game logs where, oh, this past year, odd season, Dak Prescott, top five fantasy quarterback. Even seasons have been really, really bad. bad for Dak Press Scott.

And I think that's part of just due to the fact that he's not a mobile quarterback. You see touchdown regression from year to year. So that would be something that I would look at when it comes to CD land. So he's someone that is probably going to move in my rankings, but for now I have him at eight. If you knew Pickens was coming back, would you keep Lamb at eight? No. Okay. I'd probably move him down.

Yeah, that's a good caveat. All right, Andrew, is there anything else you want to say? Because I feel like we've been unfair to you. Come on. Love you guys. Joe, let's go to your picks. We love you. All right.

I feel bad. I thought Andrew would have made the data point. See what happens when I'm quiet for two people talking? Yeah. Can I just blame Jake? He's the worst. All right. For me,

first of all, you guys are both drunk because this is where you're wrong. Amon Ross St. Brown is not in your top five picks, and you guys are out of your gourd, like just completely out of your gourd. Over the last three years, he's the second most productive fantasy wide receiver.

He shows up every game. He balls out every game. He is the main cog. He is the PPR God. He is the son God. He has touchdown equity. Jameson Williams is still a headcase. He's still not somebody you can count on.

Jemir Gibbs is still all world cool. He's still going to play in that general offense. There's going to be some changes, obviously, again, offensive coordinator-wise. And even with a change this year, he was still awesome. We don't deserve Amandra St. Brown. Okay? We don't. Every single year, we overlook him for the flashy new thing or the other guy.

And typically he'll go somewhere between, oh, picks five and ten. I'm wearing someone just gets, I'm on Ross and Browell. I'll take him. And next year in the Black Book, I can assure you, I'm going to be hyping him up because I think the slander has gone too far that there's not enough respect on his name. Again, the base that he gives you every week of the floor of points is terrific. The upside he has for big splash games that win you a week is terrific. He's always taken good care of himself.

He is always very reliable. The catch rates off the charts for him. He's one of the hardest workers in the NFL, and he doesn't get enough credit. And the fact that neither of you, Yocles, have him in the top five is very upsetting. I just want to put that. You don't have Gibbs in your top five. That's why. Well, Jamir Gibbs is next number six for me.

Okay. Well, apparently you're drunk too because you don't have Gibbs as a top five player fantasy. Well, I can't have him at Amon Ra. I want to give Amman Ra some love here. But then again, Jamir Gibbs thing to that point as well, I love Jamir off the charts. There's a chance, too, if Matthew Stafford retires, what I would do is I would drop Pooka down, I would have Amon Ra go to four and Jemir Gibbs go to five.

So Pooka's at four, hold and steady right now for me, but that's going to change dramatically without Stafford, if that is the case if we get to that point. CD Lamb for me is still pick number seven because I still do believe in CD Lam. We'll see what the picket situation is and how that works itself out. There's still time, yes, do I need to adjust off that

if it does happen if he does return? Sure, I think pickens will return, but we'll see what happens with that one thing at a time. Drake London is my pick number eight, another one too, where I want to see where the head coach is coming from, what that looks like, what that offense is going to run like. But we were really close to the big, like the Drake London, here I am, I'm a fantasy superstar season, and injuries kind of derailed it.

But we were right on the precipice of it, and let's see what happens. Is it Pennix? Is it somebody else? Is it complete reworking? A lot of that, again, the fluctuation here of picks seven and eight for me are real. But as of right now today, that's my confidence level, Lamb in London in that group. but Jemir Gibbs definitely over those other two wide receivers. That's my feeling.

Erickson, why don't you pick apart what I've just done and laid out there too? Go ahead. I want you to have some more time. I don't have Drake London in my round one because I am more bearish about who's the head coach, who's the quarterback going to be. If it is Michael Penix, when is he going to come back? How is he going to look like when he comes back? I mean, this is the fifth time this guy's torn his ACL, right? So how many times are we just going to go back to, okay, Michael Pennex, now to your credit and to your point about Drake London, yeah, like he was the wide receiver three in points per game before Michael Penning's went down.

So those are the reasons why I just have a little bit of hesitance putting Drake London in round one. Because, I mean, this is higher than he was going in drafts last year. And we knew Michael Peddix was healthy entering the season. And again, it was a smaller sample size, but three games with Pennix at the end of his rookie year, Drake London and him were reviving and clicking. I would say too, I could move Drake London up as well if Kyle Pitts just leaves and free agency. And that cements Drake London as like there's really no target competition. I mean, like darn all Mooney, I feel like he's going to be someone that is going to be just be buried in rankings. But I think we need to remember that I'm pretty sure he was injured the entire season.

Like he was probably never healthy. And he's probably much better than what the tape was from this past season, which was absolutely atrocious. So that's something I kind of want to keep in mind. but yeah definitely some movement for London. He's someone that I have high in round two. All right. So obviously this is where we really start kind of deviating for each other. Thank you very much for feeding me the word, Jake.

But yeah, that's, and this is good because I think, again, a lot of this is going to evolve over time. And I think it's a good discussion. I will stand fast though that Amman Ra is a top five guy. I don't care what the combination is. Here's the big difference on that is. I want to lock that dude in. he is in his prime he is good every week he shows up every week he's an iron man he's a ppr monster go ahead seeley i mean i was with you like we were we i was one of the highest on amara st brown

brown last year like i said on the show yesterday with erics and a lot of people saying thank you for this here's how my draft started a lot of people were amal ron st brown jackson smith and jico and jicbook and kua double starts double taps to start when we're talking about how we would do these type of things um so i was with you on that the difference comes down to to, and I don't know if anybody saw on the video, I was counting. You have him as wide receiver four, Erickson and I have him Y receiver five. Like, it comes down to your process in the first round. Like, if we had our Y receivers higher, he would be picked five or six at worst for us. And I think that's just when it comes down to. So it's not that we're so much different than you on my

around St. Brown. But it also comes down to me, and I'm not coming for anybody when I say this. It's just I have a very more, when you see my overall rankings, like I like drafting by positions. I always say if you look at my overall rank, you see mine more in groups. Like, mine don't often usually go R. B. Y receiver, Y, receiver, R. B. R. R. B. I'm like, I'm like four or five guys, same position because they're tiered. They're in the same argument. Right. That's how you're your tears. Yeah. So like if I really want to nitpick and split it up, I could argue a little bit higher, but that's why. So James Cook is at number nine for me. He's the fifth of those running backs Gibbs, McAfrey, Taylor, A. Chan, Cook. You can make argument for any of those. I was going to give you

your flowers to go back to that when I was saving it for now, that I was one of the people that was arguing like, even if you split Cook's touchdowns in half, he would still be top 10. And I still wasn't as high as you were on that. And I was still the wrong approach because he did have more than half. Everybody just kept focusing on the same thing, which is a touchdown aggression, which yes, of course, but the yards went on. That was the big thing. Right. But my whole point I kept waking was making last August was what did they do to give Josh Allen more help and tell me how this offense is going to run through anybody else besides Alan and Cook. And nobody could give me an answer on that, but everybody just hated on James Cook.

So you should have been in the discussion yesterday because a big theme, Erickson knows this, of those shows when we're recapping the NFC was there was three different teams and like, pay attention to what the team was telling you. The Cowboys were telling us, Giovante Williams was the guy. The Bears were telling us DeAndre Swift was the guy. The Bengals were telling us, Chase Brown was the, like, pay attention to what the teams are telling you. To your point here, they told us, hey,

hey, we're confident in James Cook. So anyway, that's why he's in the same group for me. And then I come back to wide receiver. Rishi Rice and Amon-Ront-St. Brown is my double-tap here. If you look at wide receiver, how flat it gets after those top three or four, these two are right around that 15, 16 fancy points per game. The only reason I don't have them a little bit higher

and in that tier one is because the same argument that we're making for all these other teams is there's a big question mark. Like, does Dan Campbell bring somebody in Mike McDaniel? I won't push Amarong St. Brown up. Does he bring somebody in that's going to be a Johnny Morton type of lackey kind of situation where it's like, hey, I'm still kind of calling the play calls. Montrose-Arabis still going to be good. He's just not going to get to that upper crust of the tier. How do you have Rice at 9, Jake?

That's the thing that I don't understand. Between the Mahomes injury, the turnover of that organization, potentially, like, of just, you know, the cap problems they have. Like, all of it just seems like, not to mention Rushie Rice's myriad of issues. Like, how can I, I can understand. understand certain risk. Because he's Drake London on the Chiefs. Yeah. He's,

what good is Drake London on? That's what I was going to say? He's like, he's just, I feel similar. If Mahomes isn't throwing on the football. Like,

I mean, Mahomes is not going back in September. We don't know that. There's a chance he can play week one. Well, okay. There's a chance I can grow a hair back on my head, but I didn't book that trip to Turkey.

There, I'm just telling, Twitter doctors, and I put that in quotes because they're the, and there are some good ones in the fancies landscape, but like you people we trust. But I'm just telling you, like, the opinions out there range. And there's opinions out there where I've seen people talking about more positively Patrick Mahomes than more positively Malik neighbors, which is crazy to me. I'm not a doctor.

So I don't know Jack Didley. But I just, and that's why Malik Neighbors doesn't make my round one is because what's the question there? So you're valid argument. But if Patrick Mahomes isn't, this is with Patrick Mahomes in play. Because like I said, you were talking about eight plus start eight to 12 to 13 targets every single game, 20 fantasy points more often than not. that's really what it comes down to the Rishi Rice. If it's not Patrick Pahombs, week one, even if you, Joe, to push back on this,

if I'll push back on myself, if you said Patrick Pahombs, week five, Rishie Rice is out of the first round. Done. Like, that's, like, I'm okay with that. And that's coming with the argument that Rishie Rice started with a suspension and still was super valuable.

Well, that's a different ball game because it also might not be Patrick Malm's 100% until week eight. What if we're going down the Chris Godwin situation with Patrick Mahomes, the quarterback? So all that being said, that's why he's right there with the Monter, Sam Brown, and then I finish it out with the Marion Hampton.

I know everybody's just got that one touch in that game, but that was also mispractices, mispractices, mispractices, we should have kind of seen that coming. But a Marion Hampton, when the lead, oh, by the way, guess who else is gone? Greg Roman. We might get Belcal Marion Hampton. And when we saw Belcal Marion Hampton, to the point that Andrew made way earlier in the show about the running backs and the drop off of these guys scoring 16, 17, 18 fantasy points at the running back position versus what's happening in a wide receiver.

Marin Hampton was in the 18 points per game range when he was the bell cow. And he'll have both his tackles, hopefully back. And we potentially could just walk into a situation where we get the Ameri Hampton we want us as a rookie, which is better than Ashton Genty because of the teams that they play for. And Ameri Hampton is why he closes out my round one, because that potential to get 18 plus fantasy points per game. Honestly, Joe, I think there's a conversation to be had where if we knew that their

offensive line was healthy and we knew that Hampton was going to get Belkow work. I put that in quotes. You could argue versus Christian McCaffrey for me because now you're talking about youth and Belkow versus the upside and were the floor from before. As wrong as I think you are about Rice is as right as I think you are about Hampton. That's not honestly. That's that's my take on it. And I just, I'm not going to put a top 10 grade or even a top first round grade on Rushy Rice. I can't do it going into next year. Too many uncertainties for me. with Hampton, I think you're spot on. Like, I think Harbaugh is just itching to turn this team into a, let's play the defense

is good. Oh, you know, we saw it on display in the playoffs again. Defense is there. It's good. The health of the offensive line was so bad last year. I felt bad because I felt like it was embarrassing on the, on the pregame, you know, when they show all the names of the players and they were showing the PFF grades. And all of it was like, this guard is 70 of 40.

And I was just like, oh, my God. God, what are we doing here? Why are we doing this poor guys? Don't put the grades if they're that bad. We don't want to do that to these poor guys. They're trying their best. But if you get Alt-healthy, you get Slater healthy, and you have a little bit better luck.

I do agree with you. The best thing about Hampton is you don't have to draft him in the top 10, but I think he is going to finish. I think the 2027 first round is going to have him well in the top 10. So I am with you on that. Erickson. What do you think about Hampton and Rice too? I think those are the controversial picks here.

But I kind of, I like one of them. What are your thoughts? Well, I think the way that you phrased that last section was, who are going to be drafting at the top of 2027 fantasy drafts? I think is a really smart way to try to find the league winners, right? If we'd had that conversation last year at this time, Jake would have been like, we're going to be drafted in JSN as a top five guy in

2006. And then obviously if that happens, well, they were going to end up being a good pick when they come in rounds two and three. Because I really feel like, yes, the first round can be really chalky, but it's like these like early second round picks you know jonathan taylor last year he wasn't a consensus first round pick like he was kind of hanging on the that early second round mid second round pick and he ended up being like one of the best picks that you could make to start the year so i think this

is the area again outside the top eight where it seems things like you got to pick your flavor you kind of shoot your shot here so i love the call on omeran hanton again harbaugh compared this guy to walter payton okay like it's like it's like it's like really good that your head coach Horba also is historically known for saying some stupid things. Like nobody's traded the entire draft to take him in a trade. He's not, he's not calling Kamani Vidal Walter Payton. So no one should be called Walter Payton. He's one of one.

Well, hey. He can get away with that because most people are like, you know, they're too young to know and have seen Walter Payton. I am not. I am an old fart. And I saw Walter Payton at the end. I saw Walter Payton and Walter Payton at the end was still something to behold. That was a special talent. But anyway, all I get to see is Armandhampton.

That's my closest thing to see Walter Payton. That's all you get. All right, Andrew, finally, you're showing some love to Amun Rae St. Brown at pick number nine. Walk us through number nine through 12 here for you. Yeah, despite how the show is gone, I did actually have picks to talk about here. So pick nine, I'm Ammaras St. Brown. Pick 10, Devon A. Chan. Pick 11 is Seekwon Barkley.

So this is another lone wolf situation. The first guy he started watching when he started watching football. And then pick 12, Mr. Christian McCaffrey. So he did sneak into my round one, but at 12, you know, probably not going to get him. Again, don't need to delve divulge more into CMC. But the guy I want to talk about here again, say Brown, again, I could probably flip-flop him with CD Lam. So 8 and 9, he's going to still my wide receiver 5 like Jake talked about. A-chan, I do want to see how this shakes out with who the quarterback is, who is the offensive play caller.

but I can't discount A. Chan out of the round one because of how good he is. And he's got a three-down skill set. And I wouldn't say Miami has been this culture for winning. And we love this so much. And he's been fantastic since his rookie season. He's been an absolute baller. And if he goes to an offense, just that feeds him touches, especially in the passing game. I mean, his targets have been off the charts, especially when two has been the quarterback.

So that's why he's my pick 10. And then, Seek-1, I'm the only one that has him here in my top in my round one. and Jake has talked about this in some of the takeaway shows where, I mean, the Eagles offense entirely was bad this year. They had second halves where they didn't get first downs or do anything that looked like a functional offense. So if they can get back to 2024, not the fact that Obark is getting back to 2000 rushing guards, but go back to Lane Johnson being healthy, the offensive line having cohesion. There's a chance that they have a lot of turnover at the skill positions. Dallas Goddard's a free agent. AJ Brown is gone.

Like he's not coming back to the Philadelphia Eagles. So you have DeVante Smith stepping in as a wide receiver one, Sechon-Barkley, does he see more of a evolve role in the past catching game? Like, he still had 50 targets this past season. He actually had more receptions this year than he did during his 2024. And we know that it's in his repertoire where he has a diverse skill set of catching passes out of the backfield. So I think that Saquan Berkeley, again, I was, didn't draft him on any team last year. It was very strongly fading Saqueline Barkley.

But after being disappointment for a lot of fantasy, managers, could he be 2025's Jonathan Taylor, where Jonathan Taylor was kind of a disappointment 2004 falls to the middle of second round, but is Sequin Berkeley so different? I'm not so convinced. So I like Barclay as a bylaw option this year. I like him as a bylaw too. I like him in this early second round a lot next year, depending on, again, health of offensive line, what we're looking at and what the reshape of the offense looks like and who the new play caller is because you know you're going to new play caller. I was just about to ask him, this was this was assuming that Kevin Petulah's gone? I think we can all assume that's that. Look, A.J. Brown's gone.

Patula's gone. Like, I think that's pretty easy. Before we get to- My one concern, I was going to say my one concern is that Lane Johnson isn't back. I mean, he's now going to be 35-35-36. And Sequin's going to be 29 in a couple weeks, too. And I was like maybe we underrated the loss of Kelsey and how much of an anchor he was for that offensive line between him and Lane Johnson and just the impact. Like, it's, to be honest. He wasn't there last year when Barkley almost went for 2,000 yards. So I don't think that. out of the issue, but maybe the combination. I meant like the two of them together.

Yeah. Yeah. Also, too, I'm pretty sure they're going to get rid of like the tush push. I think that they're going. I think the NFL is sick of it. And they don't like how to play. I'm going to go to 10 yards. I was going to say Josh out going 10 yards was fun.

I don't. I mean, the NFL tried to ban it last year. It didn't pass. I think if they ban it, then okay, now you have an opportunity. Yeah, but that was one of the teams that was against it. And it just worked so well for them this year. So like, do the bills change their course?

It wasn't actually that great for the. It also wasn't that great for the. It also wasn't that great for the Eagles compared to all the other. Actually, it was. It was the, it was the option play to Dallas Goddard that they kept running off. Oh, right. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, Dallas Goddard had 11 touchdowns this past year after he had like 10, like combined. Like his entire NFL career never gets red zone touches. I mean, he just has like 11 randomly. So. All right. I got four more players left for my first round. And remember everybody, BP Premium is here for you. So download the betting pros app today.

If you have not, use the promo code, FP. one month and you'll get a month free of the premium tools. So make sure you do that right away here because this is that time with the NFL playoffs. You got NBA, got everything going on, and we can help you get into those cashing areas. So that's what you want to do. You want to make some bets. You want to win some money.

Don't be a tool. Use the tools at betting pros. All right, here we go. Not on anyone's list here except mine. Justin Jefferson. Why? Because he's an extraordinary talent. And I have seen the D'Andre Hopkins of the world and some extraordinary talent.

and some extraordinary talents make do with lesser quarterback play. I understand this year was a complete S show for the Minnesota Vikings. I get it. I understand J.J. McCarthy. It felt like at times just didn't even know that Justin Jefferson was alive. I get it. I understand all of that. That is not going to be what happens in 2026.

I'm sorry, I just don't, whether it be somebody else a quarterback, or whether it be J.J. McCarthy working his rear end off or Justin Jefferson asking to be somewhere else. one of these things are going to happen, and Justin Jefferson is still a first round talent, still a first round pick. And I think no matter what happens, that situation is only going to improve.

And even last year, it was funny because I can't tell you how many questions we kept taking. Should I play Justin Jefferson this week in round one of the playoffs? Should I take Justin Jefferson in my lineup for week two of the playoffs? So clearly these Justin Jefferson rosters were still making playoffs. Okay? So I get it. It was brutal.

It wasn't nearly a top three pick, a top five pick, a top 10 pick, a first round pick. Okay, but at the end of the day, Justin Jefferson is extraordinarily talented. And I don't want to throw him out of the first round quite yet. I want to see what they do with the quarterback position. I want to see what sort of concepts they have.

Or I want to see if Justin Jefferson makes them noise and be like, you know what, this was fun. I don't think it's going to be a good spot for me going forward. We'll see. Jonathan Taylor does sneak into my top 10 to the point the boys made earlier. Jonathan Taylor was running like crazy man. He was MVP caliber before everything went down. Now, the problem is with Daniel Jones returning, what does that look like?

Does he return? Do we get somebody else a quarterback? I don't know. So some question marks there. That's why he is at 10. James Cook at 11 for me because, again, I do just believe that Buffalo can't do this again. They cannot go into 2026 without some sort of wide receiver one that you can count on. Who that is, I don't know, but it's going to be somebody.

and it's not somebody on their roster currently, and that is going to have some sort of impact, I do believe, on James Cook, but still very close to a first round pick. And then at 12 for me, I've been going back and forth. I had him at 10, I had him at 11. CMC, I'm just listening to my heart here,

and I'm listening to the data of the last 25 years. He's a 30-year-old running back coming off, and he's advancing another round in the playoffs, okay? He wasn't one in the playoffs. He's going to play again against Seattle this coming week here. I can't get there. I can't do it. At the turn, okay, you're forcing my hand.

I'm going to roll the dice, which means I'm probably not going to have a lot of CMC next year. Which brings us to the guys that missed our first round. So no Trey McBride for any of us. And I think that goes to the conversation we had yesterday, which was there's so much good young talent besides McBride where you have Warren, you have Bowers, you have pits who look good last year, but you also have guys like Harold Fannin Jr. You have Tucker Kraft returning from injury. You have Colston Loveland. There's a lot of talent at tight end where you just don't have to do it. it, therefore I'm not.

So he didn't make my top first round. Nico Collins, again, situational. We'll see what happens with him this offseason. Chris Olave was terrific this year. Just missed it. Devon A. Chan for me, missed it. But again, I could see myself taking Achan over CMC potentially, just depending on what's going on with the head coach.

I want to see what coach and what system comes in there before I put ACHAN in the first round. Ashen Genti, I think, is another guy in that conversation for me and Malik Neighbors with a good August. if he looks good and he says, I'm feeling good, I'm ready to go, the way Stefan Diggs looked to me going into the season. And I was like, this guy looks terrific. Look at how he's cutting.

Malik Neighbors is a guy that I would definitely take in the top 10 for me personally if he looks good in August and he gives you the big thumbs up and he looks as sharp as Diggs did going into this past season. Jake, who are the guys that just missed for you that you want to bring up? Well, I'll throw Justin Jefferson out of the list, but I considered it just missed. and for me, he didn't just miss. For me, we'll talk about it. Only the most extraordinary wide receiver talent in the league.

And you just, just go away, JJ. Yes. Nobody cares about you anymore. Because wide receiver 35 and fancy points per game. That matters a lot. So again, your argument is valid, but your argument's also like we're kind of like, we're making our arguments, well, what if this happens? What if that happens?

Let's see who the OC is. Let's see what this is. What if the Vikings run things back to see if they have anything in J.J. McCarthy. So like, you're shaking head. No, because we're all like, they're smart of them. Even if they do, I don't think it can be as bad. I think this is the anomaly. Oh, really? Set up. Oh, absolutely. What? What in Justin Jefferson the last couple of years playing with Sam Darnold and Josh Johnson and then Kirk Cousins and all these other guys? Like, we'll be fun. And he didn't play with J.J. McCarthy. He didn't play with J.J. McCarthy. And that's a big

factor. J.J. McCarthy. The only reason he actually even was Y. Receiver 35 in Fancy points per game is because of one arm wince. If it wasn't for warm arm wins, he'd be outside the top 45. That's how bad it was. So I understand your argument. I'm just saying I'll talk about him. I'm not going to, I'm not going to have any Justin Jefferson until that situation changes. And by that point, it might be too late because I'm not even considering him around two. The people who just missed Drake London, which is, again, this is what we're doing. Like, you know, you want to make your arguments. Who's the quarterback? Who's the O.C.? There's just a lot of questions with the Falcons where, again, this reason why I go back to

Bijon Robinson is because no matter what happens at quarterback, no matter what happens with OC, Bijon's going to be Bijon. It comes down to what are those pieces look like. So, Drake London could get his way back into the first round. Both Cowboys, just because I played the actually think that Pickens gets franchised. And if anything, he's back and then Pickens and Lamb are both just outside the first round. Early second round for me, you want to make argument from the first round. I have no problem with it. But I actually think there's an argument that you can make for Pickens over Lamb if he's back just because of the touchdown equities point that Erickson made earlier. So anyway, those are why those are both there. running back, it really just comes down to, I guess the biggest name missing is going to be the one that Erickson brings up. I don't see, speaking to another situation that it should be better question mark. I don't know how much better it can get to get Ashton Genty into the first round. Like, we already had them at the end of the first round this year. Like, I don't know how you can get it back into the first, but I'll let Erickson, because we cut them all so many times, talk more about why I know Ashton Genty into the first round.

Yeah, so Gentie to me, it's, look, if the situation can just get better, right? That's the only thing because he did everything else that we wanted. on him to do. He caught passes. He played on all three downs. He basically was seeing 90% snapshot. Rahe moistered's a free agent. So, and he looked explosive and he was breaking tackles. So really, it was all about just the Raiders in 2025 being so terrible that really held Ashen Gently. Furnty Beck and still put over 1,300 yards from scrimmage. Like, objectively, a really good rookie season. But the fact that he was drafted in the first down of fantasy drafts made him kind of like a bust, which was just unfortunate. So we'll see what

the Raiders can do, I could see a scenario where, however they address the quarterback position, just, I mean, if they can just get the offensive line figured out a little bit here, getting Colton Miller back and healthy, if they can do those types of things, you can see this go from a weakness to a strength, their interior offensive line, because we know that Eschen Genti is going to get touches. He was six in touches this past season as a rookie. Like, he can handle a full workload, and he's really explosive. So I can see him moving up, but obviously that depends on what the Raiders do on their

obviously. And again, I agree with Jake where right now you've got to take Hampton over Gentie. And it's a similar type of bet except we're way more confident that the charters already have the guys that are good on the office of line. They just have to come back and get healthy where the Raiders theoretically need to get these players somehow, some way, whether to the draft or, you know, free agency making trades. So Hampton, to me, I think definitely is the guy that I want to move up the most after we kind of talked about the first round, which is, again, another great exercise, you know, picking your guys's brains and figuring out, well, maybe I am a little bit too low and I'm on, I'm on, at St. Brown. I guess I can push them ahead of CDOM. So I'm already kind of making some updates here, because now my rankings are already coming into form here on January 13th. That will definitely never change at any point. You know, I want to, one thing that I've learned, though, from this

process, I want to pick at the turn in every draft. I want to start Ashton Genti, Malik neighbors. I want to start James Cook and, you know, and Jonathan Taylor, if I can, or whatever, ends up getting out like that. I think the turn is where the massive value is. going into 2026 because this is a very deep group and, you know, or Justin Jefferson, who wasn't even these guys rightards at all, you're going to give them to me in the second round, the beginning of the second round? Okay, cool. Like, and you know there's a lot of people that will take Trade McBride first round or late, first round, early second round. And guess what? That's another guy that will bump some other talent into that back, the, the front end of

the second round, too, that will be huge values potentially. Omari and Hampton being one of those guys too. Like that sweet spot, 1011, 12, I think, at 2026. last question then we get out of here because we went long today because we're having a good conversation. Will any rookies crack the first round in 2026 in our fantasy drafts? I say hard no, not with this class. Andrew, what do you say? I don't think after what Ash and Gentie did last year that people are going to be like, all right, let's put this other rookie running back here in the first round.

I think that, and I don't think that that's like the right reason to do it to the point about Gentie. It was about him just being on the Raiders. That was the reason he was a bus, not because he was a rookie per se. But I would also agree with you that it's a no for me. Jake? Yeah, and that's where I say that it could possibly be a yes, because we have another gentie talent level in Jeremiah Love. So Jeremiah Love ends up on the Chiefs, the Cowboys,

as they go away from Giovanni Williams again. Like, again, we're talking about landing spots. But, you know, if Love goes to the Saints in the first round, then no. Like, it really just comes down to it. So that's where I'm not going to definitively, I'm definitely not definitively saying no. I'm also not definitively saying yes because it's going to depend on where love goes. But love would be the only name I think can enter this conversation because he is of the ilk of

Ashta Genti, a Sequin Barclay and down the list of all these names, talent-wise, if he hits in the right spot. I don't know. I feel like Norlands isn't a bad spot, to be honest with you. Rico Dattles going there. All right, so I'm sure nothing will change with this show from now until September 1st. But what did you take here? I'm going to repost it August. Where would you take CNC?

Where would you take all the above players here? What's your first round? Drop your first round. Your 1 through 12 in the YouTube comments. I want to see them there because I think this is a fun conversation. And hopefully we all had some food for thought here. Some of the players were too high on too low on. So let us know.

Subscribe to the channel. And of course, where we get your podcast as well, that'll do it for us. But the story of the game goes on for Andrew Erickson and Jake Sealy from The Athletic. I'm Joey P. We'll see you next time, kids. Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pro's fantasy football podcast. If you love the show, the best free way to support us is by leaving a positive review on Apple Podcasts at Fantasypros.com slash review or on Spotify. Follow us on X, Instagram,

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