0:00This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed Human. Varieties available in all geographies.
0:04Warning, this product can cause mouth cancer. I'm Jake Seeley from The Athletic, Pat Fitzmaurice, my patty cakes, and of course subscribe
0:10here to the YouTube channel Fantasy Pros because this is what we do here.
0:14We talk fantasy football 12 months out of the year, 365 days, and it feels like 365 days sometimes I can tell you that.
0:21I feel like every day is just a gift when I get to hang out with these two and talk ball.
0:28So today, gentlemen, value is always a difficult thing because you struggle with it even at the grocery store, right?
0:34You go to the grocery store and you find something that looks like a good value.
0:38You take home that frozen pizza, next thing you know it's not exactly what you thought it was going to be.
0:45The cardboard's a little, you know, kind of a feeling of taste and the crust is not what you want it to be.
0:51The cheese maybe, eh, not quite as melty. The sauce is not what you expected it to be, maybe a little bland.
0:58So Jake, what is it about values that really stick out to you when you're looking for the fantasy equivalent?
1:04Because sometimes values present themselves, but sometimes they leave a bad taste in your mouth.
1:08And this was the longest I could possibly go for a bad metaphor.
1:12I know you're really stretching that one there. I did, and I feel like I saved it at the end.
1:18It was really bad, but saved it in the last minute there.
1:22Pulled it around a little bit there. So I will say, it's trying to find, it's easy.
1:27The players that have ceilings that there's a gap from where they are being drafted to where that gap is, where that ceiling can hit.
1:34Obviously the risk comes with a lot of these players because we're not talking about first, second, third rounders a lot because
1:41their ceiling to gaps are very small. You know, like, okay, maybe somebody can finish his RB too, but if he's being
1:47drafted at the end of the first round, like, cool.
1:50Yeah, there is a ceiling. But we're looking for those players that whether by what we've talked about on other shows, breakouts,
1:57team changes, offensive changes, whatever it might be, where you're getting rounds different value.
2:01And again, a lot of it comes with risk because they aren't, they're not top three or top three rounds of draft picks because there's risks associated.
2:09There's scenarios that we don't know, but that's what we're really looking for.
2:13Basically to put it in the return on investment, we're looking for the biggest returns on investment we can find.
2:19Fitzy, sometimes they often find that the values lie within the veterans.
2:22You know, often, you know, we get kind of bored with certain players that we know were just good.
2:28And I feel like in a lot of drafts, some of the veteran players can get pushed to the side a little bit and underappreciated.
2:35And that's something that I always pay attention to in redraft leagues too.
2:39You know, everyone's always looking for the big thing, you know, that next thing that's going to crack and win you a league.
2:46But sometimes those things disappoint. But yet there's the veterans just kind of linger every season and the ADP kind of is stagnant a little bit.
2:54And I think it's just because people are bored.
2:56Yeah. What is it that Scott Pianowski calls those guys the Raul Abanez all-stars?
3:01The guys who just dependably give you 25 home runs and 90 RBIs a year.
3:05And there are equivalents in football. Guys who just, you know, punch in, give you their consistent numbers, punch out.
3:11And maybe because they sort of their ceiling is capped.
3:14They are what they are. They're less sexy to people in fantasy drafts.
3:18But there is a value to that sort of high floor baseline production that those guys can give you.
3:24Shout out to the 10% of the people who got that Raul Abanez reference.
3:28Oh, they got it. Well, look, go watch Fantasy Pros MLB.
3:31Go subscribe to that channel if you like some baseball.
3:34By the way, Raul Abanez, we were just talking about him on the show because I was comping a young player to
3:40him that was coming up through the minors. Age 34 was the real like breakout season for him.
3:46So anything's possible for y'all out there too. Just remember Raul Abanez didn't really start becoming great till 34 and he played all the way to lose 42.
3:54That's right. All right, let's get to some of these names.
3:57Remember, again, subscribe to the channel. Drop your comments below.
4:00Ring the bell to let go ding so you never miss a piece of content here on the channel.
4:06Let's start with some early round values. Now this is a little trickier because obviously some of these players are still pretty big names.
4:13But Pat, I want to start with you here because despite the fact it's a crowded backfield in Arizona, you still think
4:20Jeremiah Love is coming at a value. Let's talk about why and maybe also the expectations of when when it comes to
4:26Jeremiah Love because I think that is the question we have after the last four or five years waiting on rookie running backs to hit.
4:34And unfortunately, having to wait most of the time till the second half of a fantasy season for it to happen.
4:40Yeah, it's a crowded backfield, Joe, but I do think it's a crowd of guys standing around the coffee maker waiting to
4:46get Jeremiah Love his coffee and flavor it the way he wants.
4:50Like he's going to be the guy you don't spend a number three pick on him and only to have him share
4:57time with James Connor and Tyler Algier. So and I think the crowd is part of what's keeping his ADP down or his ECR.
5:04Last time I checked in ECR, he was RB 13 and a half point ECR that and the fact that he went to a bad team.
5:11But man, so I just look at the historical precedent here with highly drafted first round running backs.
5:17So from 2015 to 2025, there were eight such running backs guys selected with top 12 overall picks in the draft over those 11 years.
5:24Todd Gurley, Ezekiel Elliott, Leonard Fournette, Christian McCaffrey, Saquon Barkley, B.
5:27John Robinson, Jameer Gibbs and Ashton Chenty. Those eight running backs in their rookie years averaged 1,474 yards from scrimmage and 10.9 touchdowns.
5:34And I think the worst output of any of them was Christian McCaffrey, who had 1,086 scrimmage yards.
5:40Not a lot on the ground his rookie year, but some pretty good pass catching production.
5:44He was RB 11 in half point PPR scoring that year.
5:48And maybe the worst fantasy finish, I think, was Gentty last year, who might have been RB 13, I believe, which is where Love is getting drafted now.
5:56So you're drafting Love, I think, potentially at his floor.
5:59And as far as the argument that the Cardinals were terrible, those eight running backs drafted with top 12 picks from 2015
6:05to 2025, the winning percentage of the team that drafted those guys in the previous year was 320.
6:11So those were terrible teams too, and those running backs did just fine.
6:15So I know there's a fear of rookie running backs because they don't have any established NFL resume right now, but I
6:21think Love is a value where he's being drafted right now.
6:24Yeah, it's a lot of draft capital put into him as well.
6:28By the way, speaking of the coffee creamer situation here, I'm wondering, what do you think Jake Seeley is with the coffee creamer?
6:35You think he's a French vanilla guy, hazelnut? Oh, drink that nasty stuff.
6:39I knew that was going to be the answer.
6:41Like, he doesn't even drink coffee. What's your morning pick-me-up, Jake?
6:45I don't need anything. I'm super. Oh, my God.
6:47You just spring out of bed without any pick-me-ups.
6:50No, I'm not a morning person. I've just never needed, like, I drink water in the morning to rehydrate, and then I
6:57have an energy drink throughout the day, but I've never needed that, like, I need to wake up thing.
7:02Oh, you're one of those Derek Brown people. You're one of the energy drink folks.
7:07No, I know. It's mixed in here with my protein drink and then Gatorade, essentially.
7:11But I don't drink Gatorade, but that's throughout the day.
7:14That's quite a concoction he got there, Seeley. I know.
7:17This has lasted me the entire day. Now get off my lawn.
7:21Jeremiah Love for a moment. Give me your thoughts on him, old man, because to Fitzy's point, I mean, the talent is
7:27there, the draft capital is there, everything presents itself.
7:30It's just a little bit of a crowded situation, and ironically, it's Tyler Algier again who could be the villain in this
7:36situation, just like he was for Bijan in his rookie year.
7:40Yeah, I love the fact that we're actually starting with a disagreement between Fitz and me.
7:44It's not usually normal that we're on upsides. I know.
7:47Now, I actually think his spot is fair at 13, because that's where I would put him, because of all those names
7:54that he mentioned, I think the biggest telltale sign is last year with Gentie.
7:58And I'm not trying to play recency bias, because I will argue with Fitz on this, like with him, is the fact that he's right.
8:05And probably Gentie is what's clouding this a lot, too.
8:08It's not just the backfield, but everybody saw what just happened with Gentie and are like, man, we're going to see this all over again.
8:16But I think that's the real concern is because he was already 17 in points per game, and those are running backs that played at least eight games.
8:24That's not even like, oh, one running back snuck in with like a 20-point performance.
8:29So you have RB 17 in points per game, RB 13 overall, five rushing touchdowns.
8:33The Cardinals offense, I agree with him, is the fact that, yeah, it's not as terrible as people might make it out
8:40to be, but it's still a team that only ran for nine touchdowns last year.
8:44The Raiders only ran for five. Gentie had all of them.
8:47So I just think there's a lot of issues where you just brought up the other part that I was going to
8:54loop in there, is that are all nine touchdowns going to go to love, or is Algier going to snake some of those?
9:01And the second part of it is I just feel like the Cardinals, hopefully, I would say this, this hurts for fantasy,
9:07but I'm hoping they're smart and they don't destroy Jeremiah Love in his rookie season because they aren't contenders.
9:13And they're looking forward to similar what we're hearing from Aaron Glenn with Breece Hall and the full backload committee is because they're looking forward.
9:20Like, you're not contending this year. Don't destroy your best asset in his first season, similar to the Giants with Saquon Barkley.
9:27So I understand everything that Pat is saying. And talent aside, like Jeremiah Love is top 10 talent likely as soon as he steps into the NFL.
9:35But I just think with all those scenarios, I think 13 is fair.
9:39I'm not going to put him down at 17, but I think his 12, 13 range is probably going to keep him there myself.
9:46So I'm not quite as high to start things out.
9:49All right, let's talk about another running back because early round value in your mind is Cam Scadaboo, the New York Giants.
9:55Like he says that he feels really good. He feels like he is back and getting confident again.
10:01But we've also seen, you know, sometimes these injuries do linger into the season for a lot of these players.
10:07So talk about Cam Scadaboo and also talk about the fact that he's not just this bull rushing kind of guy, because
10:13if you watched him in college, he can catch the football for days.
10:17He is a three down back, in my opinion.
10:20And I think sometimes that gets lost in the shuffle of the conversation about Scadaboo, that he's just this guy who runs people over.
10:27He's got a lot more to his game than just that.
10:30He does. And the topic, like the category we were kind of given for this is people that potentially have a higher
10:37ceiling do various scenarios than where they're being drafted.
10:39And we all know that Scadaboo, the ceiling is high.
10:42I, I, the report yesterday where he said, I'm looking to run through dudes even more than before.
10:48I'll look just like banging. We're banging our heads against the wall when he goes to bang his head against defender players
10:54and possibly not play 17 games again. But the real appeal here is the potential for 17 games is what I was going to bring up.
11:02What you just said, Joe, is the potential for 300 touches.
11:05If they treat them as just 55 to 60 percent, he doesn't need to be 70 percent.
11:10I talked to somebody the other day, 70 percent last year, running backs that hit that.
11:15It was only seven guys. That's very uncommon. But for him to get 55, 60 percent, you know, I was playing with
11:22around with my projections to get him 300 touches.
11:24And that puts him at eleven hundred rushing yards, 300 receiving yards, around 10 touchdowns and RB 10.
11:30And I think that's the real point here is that if he stays healthy, big question mark.
11:35If he gets that workload, if healthy is not the question mark.
11:38His talent, as you just said, is not just in the run game.
11:42It is in the passing game as well. All those things being decided, the biggest question we have is health.
11:48But if he plays 17 games, the ceiling is there for him to be an RB one.
11:53The good news is unlike Jeremiah Love and I'm not taking shots at fifths, but like I don't like Jeremiah Love and
12:00all these like genties, like maybe they can bounce back in that offense.
12:03Brees hole. What's the committee? You're not paying RB one cost to get Scadaboo because everybody understands that risk.
12:09Pat, you know, a lot of these players, when they have these injuries, it's about getting physically healthy and usually they physically
12:16can get back to where they want to be.
12:18But it's the mental side where they're overthinking it and they're a little concerned.
12:22I'm not as concerned about that with Cam Scadaboo because I don't think Cam Scadaboo is a guy that overthinks just as a general note.
12:30So I'll put that out there. Me see defender, me run through.
12:33Me run with ball. Me make defender go to ground.
12:36Me triumph in football. But I'm joking, but I'm really not joking because I just don't think that's going to be part
12:43of his recovery process where he's really going to be the kind of player that does really overthink like the what if scenarios.
12:50Like he's just not that type of guy. He's a very aggressive football player.
12:54And I think that aspect is actually not something we should worry about.
12:58Oh, I think that's totally fair. The football phrase business decisions does not apply to Cam Scadaboo.
13:03He is not making business decisions. You know, he just wants to pummel guys.
13:07And, you know, I'm going to unlike Jake, who was so rude to me with a Jeremiah pushback, I'm going to agree with him here.
13:14Like I think Scadaboo is a reasonable value. ECR has got him going, I think, early fifth round right now.
13:20And I think that's totally fair. The leap of faith is with his health because that was no minor injury.
13:26That was an open dislocation, tibia fracture, ligament damage.
13:29So, we have to, the leap of faith we're taking is that he's going to be athletically 95% or better of what he was in his rookie year.
13:37But those six full games we saw him play last year because he didn't really play a lot in his first game
13:44and then he got injured early in the last game.
13:47The six games in between, every high value touch pretty much belonged to Scadaboo.
13:51He was the goal line guy. He was the pass catching back.
13:55He got everything. It was a really valuable workload and he made the most of it.
13:59So, that's what we're hoping for. Something like that again at a discount price.
14:03But, yeah, there is a path to workhorse usage here for sure.
14:07And he's a rhythm value guy, Pat, too. Like, he's one of the guys the more he touches the ball, the better he becomes.
14:14Like, he's just that kind of back. Not every back is like that.
14:18Cam Scadaboo is one of those guys. All right, let's move on to the next guy on your list here, Pat, because yesterday we did a tailgate show.
14:26It's out there right now. Go check it out, Tailgate NFL, our new YouTube channel where we did our little bold predictions.
14:33We talked about Brennan Sorsby. We had a great show.
14:36Lots of fun. Andrew said some things he regrets.
14:39I'm not going to spoil it for you. Just go check out the show.
14:43So, pretty much. Pretty much. But one of my bold predictions was Colson Loveland not only leads the Bears in all receiving
14:49yards and receiving tight ends, but leads all tight ends in receiving yards and receiving touchdowns.
14:54So, I do believe that Colston Loveland is that piece that you can really count on.
14:59And Fitzy, it looks like you're starting to see that same thing that I am too, where Loveland looks like, to me,
15:05the guy where the offense really starts with in Chicago.
15:08What a perfect lead-in, because that fits nicely the two points I was going to make, Joe.
15:13That right now we're seeing Brock Bowers and Trey McBride go mid to late second round.
15:18Well, in best ball drafts, maybe it's a little different depending on the format.
15:22Some of those are tight end premium. But as far as ECR, that's kind of where he settles.
15:28And I've already actually done one redraft draft. And that's where those guys were.
15:32And I got Colson Loveland in the fourth round.
15:34And Colson Loveland's ECR right now is 40th. And I think he could actually be pretty close to McBride and Bowers.
15:41Well, maybe not Bowers. I think Bowers could break fantasy football this year.
15:44But close to McBride. And I think Debro, who's like a noted Trey McBride connoisseur on our staff, he's got Loveland ranked higher for redraft this year.
15:52And that's sort of it. I mean, the key to maybe hitting at the tight end position and getting these guys like
15:59is figuring out if they could be the number two target on their own team.
16:03But I think there are three guys who could conceivably be the number one target on their own teams this year.
16:10McBride, who certainly was last year. Bowers, who certainly was when healthy.
16:13And Loveland. I think Loveland could get possibly more targets than either Burden or Odunze.
16:18So all of those guys are capable of elite production.
16:21And we kind of saw it with Loveland down the stretch last year, where in his final four games, playoffs included, average
16:2712 targets, seven catches, 94 and a half yards a game.
16:31And from like week nine or 10 on, I think he was tight end, too, after only Trey McBride.
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19:06Jake, the thing I like about Loveland more than the other two, like, ours is incredibly talented.
19:11I love Trey McBride. I think Kraft, you can make a great argument for being in this conversation.
19:17Tyler Warren, too, the way things are shaking up with Alec Pierce's health.
19:20But with Loveland, I feel like he's got the, of all those guys, the steadiest quarterback situation going into 2026.
19:26That's my argument. And you're not wrong. And for anybody that saw, I think we did a show last week when we were talking about projections.
19:34It was the three of us. And I was shocked that my projections spat out Loveland as the number one.
19:40But I think that's in play. The only disagreement I would have is to reset.
19:45See, I didn't even need all those spreadsheets. I just knew.
19:48I just knew. You just knew? All those fancy spreadsheets.
19:51You knew after I told you that last week is what you knew.
19:55No, I was. You said the same thing where I said it.
19:58I know. And you're like, well, it's funny you say that, Drew.
20:02I know. Because I've done 74 hours of math and come to the same conclusion that all I had to do was just use my eyeballs.
20:09That's all I did. You got it wrong. It's 74 hours of manipulating the math.
20:14So there you go. That's like, this is my personal touch.
20:17The difference, you know, nitpicking aside is like, I actually don't know if he leads tight ends and receptions.
20:23It's receiving yards. I think he's going to do more on a per reception basis than Bowers and McBride do.
20:29Just because I think he's going to put up more yards on that situation.
20:33But anyway, I mean, nitpicking these differences here. So I have no problem with Loveland being the conversation at tier one.
20:39Like it's the conversation that Fish just had saving something for later, because I actually think there are more than three tight
20:46ends that could lead their teams and target percentage and everything like that.
20:50So save that for later. But Loveland's in play here.
20:53The biggest concern is like, I'm going to feel like a broken record at this point, Joey, because we've done it on
20:59so many shows is the fact that let's remember.
21:02We're talking about it. You're talking about it. Everybody else is talking about Loveland's going to get to some point where he's
21:08going to get boosted so high that everybody like maybe in your leagues, people listening and be like, oh, I got to get Loveland.
21:15And if somebody takes them as the first tight end off the board, you kind of blew up any chance of getting
21:22what we're focused on today, the return on investment.
21:25That is fair. That is fair. All right, Jake, let's talk about one more early round value guy.
21:30Daniel Jones, brilliant rookie season, rookie of the year, you know, breaking the wheel there at QB, rushing, rushing for touchdowns, giving
21:37us what we wanted from the passing game as well.
21:39Year two, obviously marred by injury, went from quarterback five to quarterback 34.
21:43So again, sometimes people's memories are a little bit shorter than they should be.
21:48It's not that long ago where he was top five in fantasy.
21:51And now all of a sudden you're looking at a lot of people who are kind of afraid to reinvest in him, it feels like.
21:59Which is kind of weird to me. Like I get the injury risk, but we've played the injury risk game with Lamar Jackson and other running quarterbacks.
22:07But the upside is undeniable. Like you just brought it up.
22:10The fact he was 20.6 fancy points per game as rookie season.
22:13He's QB five, by the way, 20.6 last year would have tied him with Stafford for number two.
22:19Like that upside is still there. So those is rookie season and it was 3,500 yards and 25 passing touchdowns.
22:25Like that's the whole point about these running quarterbacks that hit eight, nine, even a potential thousand yards.
22:30I don't think he'll necessarily do that because hopefully the commanders kind of keep him in like that 800 realm, which sounds
22:37like they're keeping him in check to a degree.
22:39But they kind of are in that facet. But with David Blau taking over, you're also going to get all the mix of what worked with Kingsbury.
22:47But oh, by the way, let's use some more 11 personnel.
22:50Let's use some more shotgun, pre-snap motion. All these things that work in the NFL that have been proven for the past couple of years.
22:58There's a reason why some of these guys have now head coaching jobs like in New Orleans and with the Raiders and
23:04all this type of stuff, because they're using all these concepts that Blau looks to be implementing for the commanders to maximize Jaden Daniels in this offense.
23:12The biggest question, obviously, is maximizing the passing game with potentially Antonio Williams as your number two.
23:18Still room for that to change. But even so, we only need mid 3000 yards.
23:22We only need mid 20 touchdowns. And if he runs and stays healthy, another big question mark, maybe that'll be the theme of my guys.
23:29Just stay healthy. It's the fact that he still has top five upside.
23:33I would take him as the fifth quarterback off the board because there's still the potential that what we were doing this
23:40time last year, Joe, and I say we as in everybody.
23:43It was, oh, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, and Jalen Hurts was still in the conversation at that point.
23:48But everybody was like, who is the potential that gets the number one spot?
23:53And everybody was like, well, Jaden Daniels could do it if he builds off his rookie season and now nobody wants him.
23:59I just don't get it. Fitzy, where are you at with Jaden Daniels going into this year?
24:04Do you see him as a value or because quarterback is deep?
24:08You're just saying, yeah, I recognize what he could be, which is a top five guy.
24:12But this quarterback group in single QB leagues is deep enough where I don't even need to chase it necessarily.
24:18I think I'm probably going to be doing my shopping in that sort of mid-tier quarterback, the low-end QB1 group, like with
24:25a guy I'm going to talk about next. But I do have Jaden Daniels ranked QB4 ahead of Joe Burrow.
24:31And I know Joe Burrow is ahead of Jaden Daniels in ECR.
24:34It's all about the running. Jake, where do you have Daniels?
24:38How do you have him ranked vis-a-vis Burrow and Drake May?
24:41So it's funny that I have Drake May in front of him.
24:45And in my brain, as I said it, where I said we'd take him five, I meant to say top five.
24:51I actually have him at four. I have Burrow at five.
24:54So I go Allen, May, Jackson, Daniels, Burrow are my top five.
24:58Oh, you've made ahead of Jackson. Okay. I switched those two, but otherwise our top five.
25:02I switched those when A.J. Brown got traded to them.
25:05Yeah, I'm with you. And by the way, I do think the commanders, at some point they're going to bring in someone,
25:12whether it's Iuke or maybe they bring Maryland guy.
25:15Stephan Diggs is still hanging out there. Yep. The Maryland guy.
25:18Bring him back to the region. I think Allen had a pretty good season last year.
25:23And then, like, you know, wear and tear of the year kind of caught up with him.
25:28I want somebody who's a little bit more reliable in and out of the locker room than Stephan Diggs if I'm the commander.
25:34There. I get what you're saying 100% there. Like, I wonder just who has more left between Diggs and Allen would be
25:41my only concern because you already have. No, Diggs probably has more left, but he also has more left in terms of things that can go sideways.
25:49I feel crazy. Debo Samuel out there, too. Stephan Diggs is an experience.
25:53Don't bring back Debo. No, no, no. I don't think that's it.
25:56And that's the same point of Iuke. I think Iuke I put in the same bucket with Diggs, which is just like it feels like a lot.
26:04Give me Keenan Allen, who I know is going to be solid in the locker room, who I know is, you know,
26:11could be a good presence for everybody and for a young quarterback.
26:15God. Can we get – is Tyreek done? Like, or is he going to like – I don't know.
26:20Weeks four to six, he gets to 100%? He's in the same bucket with the other guys, the problem children.
26:26Like, you know, I don't know how much you want to deal with that stuff right now, especially after coming off the
26:33year you are, where everything was a disappointment for the commanders last year.
26:37Erickson – again, I'm talking about Andrew twice in the show.
26:40He's not even on it. But he brought up an interesting point, which was another one of his bold predictions was about
26:46that Aaron Glenn is not the first guy fired, that it might be Dan Quinn this year.
26:51And you look at the schedule of the commanders, man, the first six games are rough and they got an early bye too.
26:58Like, it is a rough start and I don't – I think Dan Quinn is a good football coach, so I don't want that to happen.
27:06I was seeing what the latest news on Tyreek Hill is.
27:09There's two things actually within the last 24 hours is that he's hanging out in Kansas City, which has made people raise their eyebrows.
27:16Not shocking. And then there's an article that says the commanders should take the risk on Tyreek Hill.
27:22Those are legit two things within the past 24 hours.
27:25Did you write one of those two things in the Athletic?
27:28No, I didn't. I don't – you know, we're fantasy.
27:31We don't write those kind of things. Or he's like, I just went online and looked and it turns out there's this
27:37fascinating article in the Athletic that somebody astutely pointed out something.
27:41And it turns out Jake wrote it. You know, it's just the worst.
27:45While we're touting the Athletic, I'll just mention that.
27:47Like they could use more firepower because on the Athletic Football podcast with Robert Mays and his crew, they were ranking the offensive weaponry around each quarterback.
27:55I was in Chicago for that while they were doing that.
27:59The commanders were 16th. See? 16th out of 16 NFC teams.
28:02Yeah. We actually – before they went on the show, I was having a debate with the producer of whether the commanders
28:08or the Panthers were going to be the bottom team because it was talent.
28:13Take the quarterback completely out of the conversation. Just pure talent who has 1 through 16.
28:17And if you're looking at it without the quarterback, it's like pretty much McMillan in question marks and then McLaurin in a big question mark.
28:25So yeah, commanders were last. All right, everybody. Before we move to the mid-round talents, don't forget.
28:30We're talking about draft assistant here as well. So if you're getting ready for all of your leagues, make sure you sync
28:36your leagues for free with Fantasy Pros and use the draft assistant to get real-time pick-by-pick advice during your draft.
28:42You can pair the best players available. You can track all your roster needs, the roster needs of the teams around you.
28:49It's like having that assistant right there in the room helping you crush all your competition.
28:54So go to fantasypros.com slash assistant today and use the draft assistant to make sure that when you're ready, you're going to
29:00make the right pick every single time. All right.
29:03Next up here, the mid-round guys. So, Pat, let's start with yours here.
29:07You got the – actually, you know what? Let's do both of yours because they're kind of tied to each other.
29:13Jacksonville Jaguar guys. Trevor Lawrence, Parker Washington. Now, some people who might remain nameless on this program here on this channel have
29:19said that Trevor Lawrence could be MVP this year.
29:22I'm not that person. I don't think anybody here is.
29:25But one of our colleagues has already said that.
29:28Go find out who on the tailgate show. But Trevor Lawrence obviously finished the year very strong in this offense.
29:34You're taking Travis HN out of this offense. So now the run game I think is a little bit more suspect than
29:40it was heading into last year, which I think was a very key point of success for that Jaguars offense and Trevor Lawrence as well.
29:48And then you had the late season surge of Parker Washington.
29:51And I feel like I'm landing where you are, Fitzy, where people are trying to rehash Brian Thomas a little bit.
29:57People are trying to say, well, Jacoby Myers is the more veteran presence talent.
30:01But I feel like they kind of just showed you their hand last year.
30:05And we just don't want to believe it because that's not the guy that we want it to be.
30:11But it feels like it might just be Parker Washington after all.
30:15Talk to me about these two Jaguars and why you think both of them are potential big values this year.
30:21I think part of it is I now want to put Liam Cohen in the same class of offensive schemers with Sean McVay and Kyle Shanahan.
30:28Like I think he belongs there. That's a big class there.
30:32Yeah. And those guys, McVay and Shanahan, have kind of been cheat codes for quarterback efficiency in recent years.
30:37And we've seen that with Brock Purdy. I mean, my goodness, the former Mr.
30:41Irrelevant in the NFL draft. And look what he's become.
30:44Trevor Lawrence, early on last year, while he was trying to digest the Liam Cohen offense, kind of stunk in the early weeks of the season.
30:52But then over. Yeah. So over his first 10 games, 215 passing yards a game, 1.1 touchdown passes, 6.4 yards per attempt,
30:59which is, you know, the Bryce Young zone. But over his last seven regular season games, 265 passing yards a game, 2.6
31:05touchdown passes a game, 8.4 yards per attempt. A 108.6 passer rating.
31:09Like he just got it. Oh, and by the way, he was providing all this rushing value, 9 touchdown runs last year, some good yardage too.
31:16So by the end of the season, he looked like one of the elites at quarterback.
31:21And who's to say he can't be that over the full season in 2026?
31:25He's got really good pass catching weaponry too with Parker Washington, who I'll get to in a minute.
31:31BTJ. Jacoby Myers. Travis Hunter is a wild card.
31:33Brenton Strange, a pretty good pass catching tight end.
31:36And so, yeah. And as you said, Joe, they might not lean on the running game as much now that they don't
31:43really have a proven go-to guy in the backfield.
31:45So I think things are set up pretty well for Lawrence to smash.
31:49I think he's going to be my most drafted quarterback in redraft leagues this year because he's going like sort of as a back-end QB1.
31:57And I think he's more like a mid-range QB1 with high-end QB1 upside.
32:00I know what you're going to tell me right now, cake Sealy, which is just buy Trevor Lawrence, ignore all the icing.
32:07I know. I know the drill. It's only June.
32:10I've already been trained here on the corner. I mean, you saw the shirt.
32:14It's coming. I know. Well, I like to think that I'm partially responsible for that shirt.
32:19You are. You said make the quarterbacks the candles, and I did.
32:22Yeah. And I like to think that when I see you in a couple months at Flex in New York, that you're
32:29going to hand me an extra large version of that shirt so I can wear it.
32:33That's what I would very much like. Extra large.
32:36Now you're on the clock. Okay. Nah, man. Too swole, bro.
32:39Too swole. Oh, my God. Get no sets in, man.
32:42But let's talk about it. Let's talk about – I just am.
32:46I don't know. I just – whatever. It is what it is at this point.
32:50So talk to me about Parker Washington because I already know your feelings are about Trevor Lawrence, and I think the Washington
32:57one is the – this is the game I feel like every fantasy analyst is going to be playing from now until
33:03Labor Day, which is here's why I'm the smartest person in the room about the Jaguars wide receiver room.
33:09And I'm just curious if you've got to put your money on one of these horses, which one are you putting on?
33:16Parker Washington. Oh, sorry. No. I was going to – yeah, I was echoing.
33:20I already know who you are, Fitzy. Yeah. I already know who you are.
33:24I followed Joe. Is that – He was using that Jedi mind trick.
33:28And he's telling me Parker Washington. Yes. He's coming back around to you on Parker Washington, Fitz.
33:33I caught it. I caught it. So we're on the same page.
33:36Trevor Lawrence, you know what? The MVP thing, I don't think it's absurd.
33:40I wouldn't bet on it. But I mean he was on pace that second half of the season to be Baker Mayfield
33:47from 2024 with more rushing and rushing touchdowns. So if he got 50 combined touchdowns and 4,500 yards plus the rushing, like I could see it.
33:55But that's a lot to ask. Like do you really think Trevor Lawrence can sustain that over 17 games, which is a big question.
34:02But I wanted to bring that up, Joe, because that's part of the Parker Washington thing.
34:06I do have Parker Washington ahead of the other two.
34:09I know they're talking about Brian Thomas Jr. being healthy, which I want to pull my football back up.
34:15It's hidden back here. My Brian Thomas Jr. side of football is so excited when he was a rookie.
34:21But the problem is they're also talking about connecting deep, connecting deep, connecting.
34:25No, I don't want Brian Thomas only running 20 yards downfield.
34:28That's what killed them at the end of last year because of the hit rate of catching those.
34:33And then the opportunities for Trevor Lawrence is he's not even looking there because he's already made his first read to Parker
34:40Washington or a second read to Jacoby Myers. And then hell, Brenton Strange gets mixed in there.
34:45And then Brian Thomas is out there with a 13 percent target share.
34:49Like, I don't want to see that. Hopefully that Brian Thomas is healthy and it comes around.
34:54But that's where I come to it is right now I have Parker Washington.
34:58They're they're tightly grouped together. But I'm also OK with taking the cheapest one.
35:02But let's take it full circle and go back.
35:05What if Trevor Lawrence throws for forty four hundred forty five hundred yards and thirty five touchdowns?
35:10Guess what? All three are benefiting. So it's OK.
35:12And then you just kind of take the cheapest one anyway.
35:16So, Fitzy, I know your guy's Parker Washington because I already started off the segment where we said we tied these guys together.
35:22I want you to make your case for Parker Washington now that Jake kind of like took his little Trevor Lawrence sidebar
35:29and all the other stuff that he's done there.
35:32Is Parker Washington, you know, I think the guy that people just push aside because they don't want it to be him
35:38and they want it to be somebody else? And where are you at here with this?
35:43Because I can't think of another reason why it's not Parker Washington except for that fact.
35:48Yeah, it's people cling to draft capital. Joe and BTJ is the former first rounder and parking.
35:53Parker Washington is the former sixth rounder. But Parker Washington last year, he included the playoff game.
35:58He had almost a thousand yards, 954. And down the stretch, man, final four games of the season for the Jaguars, including
36:04that playoff loss to the Bills, averaged 6.5 catches and 113.5 yards per game with three touchdowns in those four games.
36:11And Parker Washington is just good, man. Not that big a guy, but he was actually, like, I want to say fourth
36:17in contested catches among wide receivers last year. Like, this guy is just good.
36:21And I feel like Trevor Washington or Trevor, Trevor, Trevor Lawrence, Trevor Lawrence.
36:25That's their relationship name. It's like Ben and Trevor.
36:28Trevor Lawrence. I like that. It seems like Trevor Lawrence tends to favor his slot receivers and tight ends more so than his outside receivers.
36:35And although Parker Washington and Jacoby Myers are sort of interchangeable in the slot, Parker Washington did play about half his snaps in the slot last year.
36:43So I just think he's set up really well.
36:46And right now he's got, I think, a mid to late eighth round ECR.
36:50That seems like a steal. What do you like better?
36:53Do you like Trevor Washington or Parker Lawrence? Oh, you hate my smash ups.
36:57Come on, dude. I do. I do. So it's okay when you guys do it?
37:02Parker Lawrence sounds a little more distinguished. Well, because you make them into something that's untenable.
37:06It's like you make it into Park Washington, Lauren.
37:09No, I don't. It's first lane, last name. Yes, you do.
37:12No, I don't. Go look at the article. It's first lane, last name, swapped.
37:17I don't mix them together. Nice try. Joe doesn't read my articles.
37:20I'd rather not. All right, let's go to Jake's guys here.
37:23We got one of the Jaguars out of the way.
37:26Let's talk about two rookies here on Jake's list.
37:29First, Jadarian Price and then Jordan Tyson. So we'll start with Jadarian Price.
37:33Jadarian Tyson? Jadarian Tyson, as you'd like to call him.
37:36So Price, obviously, another guy with first round draft capital, albeit at the very end of the first round.
37:41Certainly a pathway to a lot of playing time.
37:44Do you feel like this is a value now that is going to pass by at some point as people continue to
37:51look at that roster, that team, the identity of that team, and the missing pieces from that running back room?
37:57Or do you think it's actually going to hold as we get closer and closer to draft season on Price?
38:03Yeah, I think it's going to hold or man.
38:05It's going to hold. And I think the problem here is, yeah, the problem is, is like, I don't think people are
38:12understanding that even if the split stays, is what has Kenneth Walker done?
38:16Like last year was actually a disappointment for Kenneth Walker over his first three seasons, especially if you look at it from
38:222022 to 2023, 228 and 219 rushing attempts on the ground, 27 and 29 receptions.
38:27He's not a big receiver for the Seahawks offense.
38:2912.6 fancy points per game, 12.9 fancy points per game.
38:32The biggest thing that really hit him hard last year was all of a sudden.
38:37Zach Charbonnet became the goal line rusher. And that's where the real downturn came from is because you look at Kenneth Walker
38:43in that 7, 8, 9 rushing touchdown range, and it dropped off precipitously.
38:47And it was like Charbonnet at 12. And Charbonnet is probably not playing this year.
38:52Maybe shows up in December, but it's Price and Emmanuel Wilson.
38:55And Emmanuel Wilson is a nice complimentary backup piece.
38:58He's not the lead that Price can be. And I say all that to say is I'm leaning into this role kind
39:04of still staying the same because Price isn't a big pass catcher, but he is Raheem Mostert style.
39:09He is a stretch zone, which works really well here and can just hit those gaps and bust through, especially getting those goal line touches.
39:17So even if he gets 220, 230 touches and only a handful of receptions in the 20 department, if he's going to
39:23be scoring those touchdowns that are still available, I mean, you combine the two of them, Charbonnet and Walker from last year,
39:30you're talking you're pushing almost 20 touchdowns on the rushing department.
39:33I don't think he's going to get those, but if he got 9, 10, I mean, he's going to finish close to
39:40the top 15 running back, if not push the back end of the RB1 tier.
39:44But I wouldn't spend that and I wouldn't call for that.
39:47And I think that's why he should hold and stay right here as a mid low RB2, which is actually a really
39:54nice value for what he can bring with, where there's still plenty of ceiling for it to actually return your investment.
40:00All right. Pretty good argument there. What about you, Fizzy?
40:03Do you think the price is going to stay the same for Price going into this year?
40:08I think it's going to be real sensitive to what the reports are coming up out of training camp.
40:14Yeah, I could see that too. Yeah. So, I mean, if everything is glowing and there's a nice drum beat, I could see him moving way up.
40:22If it's kind of vague and there are reports, oh, it might be as much Emmanuel Wilson as Jadarin Price.
40:28I could see the Price being a little depressed on Price once we get to mid to late August when we have the bulk of our drafts.
40:36So I don't really know. No, I think Jake and I've talked about him on a lot of shows.
40:42And I think the best case for him is that it does seem like Jadarin Price is perfectly suited to the outside
40:48zone stuff that Seattle likes to run. And reportedly, it's going to be a lot of basically the same running scheme as
40:55it was last year under Clint Kubiak. I just, I don't know what the true talent is on Jadarin Price because we
41:01basically got him as a college backup behind Jeremiah Love at Notre Dame.
41:05And I don't know about Charbonnet. All of a sudden, we're getting some, and I know to fade injury optimism, but we're
41:12getting some pretty rosy reports about when Charbonnet could come back.
41:15I mean, there's even someone suggested week one, which just seems preposterous.
41:18Yeah. So yeah, I'm fading that talk, but I do worry that maybe Charbonnet comes back near the end of the regular
41:25season and kneecaps Jadarin Price a little in the most important weeks of the fantasy season.
41:30That's the biggest fear. All right. Let's talk about Jordan Tyson, because obviously this is a player with enormous talent.
41:36He flashed out of the college level, and now it's a matter of converting it over to the NFL.
41:41And look, the Saints are a team that I'm picking to win that division.
41:45I think they're the one this year that kind of surprises people and comes out of nowhere.
41:50And like this year's version of the Patriots, I don't think they get to the Super Bowl necessarily, but I think they
41:57make the playoffs and I think they actually have a good chance to win that division.
42:02I think large in part because of solidifying that run game a little bit.
42:06If you have Olave and then you can add in a guy like Jordan Tyson, that gives Tyler Shuck a lot of weapons to work with, Jake.
42:14Yeah, it really does. And I think that Tyson's actually a really good complement alongside Olave for what they can do in this offense.
42:21Tyson, I brought this up before, I don't remember if it was on this show, but a lot of like some of
42:28the Garrett Wilson similarities and also the Garrett Wilson similarities actually in the negative department coming out of college where they kind
42:34of like, Garrett Wilson started to get a lot better than that recent past two years.
42:39But Tyson, the same thing when Wilson came out, they kind of like get messy in their routes.
42:44They kind of just kind of get squirrely out there because they are so talented that they're not very precise and they
42:51still try to find these gaps, which you add that precision level.
42:54I always bring up Marquise Lee from way back in the day and Marquise Lee took so much time in the NFL
43:01to hit because he just took it lazy. And I don't think Tyson's taking it lazy.
43:06I'm just saying that that's that same kind of the talent is so good that they're not really precise.
43:11But all that being said, if you threw Garrett Wilson alongside Chris Olave in this offense, and I think that's the upside
43:18of Tyson here, is the excitement comes from can Shook just do what he did the second half of last year and
43:24take it 10% better, even maybe 20% better, 20% better.
43:27I mean, and this offense starts passing more of like a 55-60% or 55-56% of the time versus like almost a 50-50 split.
43:34I mean, you can see Shook passing for close to 4,000 yards, 30 touchdowns.
43:38And if so, it's going to benefit not just Olave repeating last year, but that second option that they haven't had for
43:45the past couple of seasons and why they traded for Devon Valle last year and tried to make him a thing is
43:51that Tyson could put up 1,000 yards and six, seven touchdowns, probably leaning more on the reception reliance than Olave.
43:57But I mean, he could be a top 25 receiver.
44:00And that's why, again, this whole theme today being what's the upside potential here, who is somebody who's pretty much been drafted
44:07as the second or sometimes even third rookie wide receiver as a wide receiver three.
44:11Fitzy, talk to me about Jordan Tyson, because I know the knock on him is the injuries, but I always come back to the same point.
44:19Yes, he did have some injuries, one of which was the collarbone that he re-injured.
44:23So maybe just never healed right the first time.
44:26So I just, I think that's a little overrated.
44:29To me, I always like when rookies land in situations like this, where they don't have to be the guy right out of the bat.
44:36I think you will get to make a booker last year in the first six weeks when Mike Evans was healthy and
44:43Baker Mayfield was healthy, how good he was. To me, that's the key a lot of times for success of the young wide receivers.
44:50That's why I like Makai Lemon so much. And that's why Tate, I think, although I think he might be the best
44:56one of the three, it's a little concerning situation for me because there's kind of that need for him to be the alpha out of the gate.
45:04But I don't see that being the case necessarily for Tyson.
45:08Do you see that to be a potential pathway for him to have early success this year?
45:13Yeah, it does seem like it's a really nice spot.
45:16Like you said, Joe, he wanted the Carnell Tate pressure of being the number one guy and maybe Carnell Tate as a
45:22result, see some of the top corners on each team he faces every week, whereas Tyson might not get that.
45:28Tyson gets to be a complimentary guy. He's got another good guy alongside him with Olave.
45:33He's got a terrific play caller and Kellen Moore, a respected play caller who also likes to go at a fast pace,
45:40which doesn't hurt because that sneaks in, you know, a few extra plays every week.
45:44I think it is a really nice setup. I like him a lot.
45:48I don't worry about injuries like the collarbone thing.
45:50There are some reports about his hamstring that are a little troubling that we'll have to monitor.
45:56But if he's full go in training camp, yeah, I totally buy Jake's upside case for him.
46:01All right, let's move on here, boys, to the late round guys.
46:04The guys that could really pop and win you a league in terms of their value and return on investment.
46:10We can not even wait for the waiver wire.
46:13We just drafted him with our last couple picks.
46:15Before we get to it, shout out to our sponsor, and that's Hard Rock Bet.
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47:43All right, let's talk about some of the late round guys here.
47:47Pat, let's start with you on this one here.
47:49Xavier Worthy. I know expectations were high for the big, splashy, explosive plays, but everything just kind of fell apart for the Chiefs last year.
47:57And then eventually the health of Patrick Mahomes was that death knell of that offense.
48:01Rushy Rice, host of problems. We know that. Can Xavier Worthy somehow carve out enough of a role here in 2026 to be a fantasy difference maker?
48:09I think he could be a difference maker if Rice were to miss any time.
48:14And we know Rice has not been the most durable fellow in recent years, and he is coming off this knee injury.
48:20And I think Worthy could be at least flex caliber, even with Rice playing.
48:24And right now, Worthy's ECR is 123rd overall. So he's going outside the first 10 rounds.
48:29Like, we already saw half of an excellent season from Worthy in his rookie year.
48:34And granted, there was no Rushy Rice around for that.
48:37But over a 10-game stretch from week 11 of 2024 through the Super Bowl, and I'm going to leave out the Chiefs
48:43regular season finale that year because they rested their starters.
48:46Worthy played one snap. But over the 10-game stretch besides week 18, Worthy averaged 5.8 catches, 67.9 receiving yards a game, and had six touchdowns.
48:54So he was basically producing at an 1150-yard pace, a 10-touchdown pace over that stretch.
48:58Then last year, he collides with Travis Kelsey, the friendly fire in the season opener against the Chargers.
49:03Dislocates his shoulder. Only missed a couple of games, but some people have suggested he just wasn't right for the whole season.
49:10And I kind of buy that. It's a small dude trying to play with a busted-up shoulder.
49:15So I just think he's getting sort of punished for the season he had last year, when we've already seen, like, the
49:21best of Xavier Worthy, or at least, you know, the best of it for half his rookie season.
49:27And it looked really good. So, man, for that kind of price, I think he's kind of a sneaky value.
49:33Jake, what are your thoughts on Xavier Worthy? We know he has the explosive playmaking ability, but in terms of, like, the
49:39steady target presence or, you know, being able to convert some of that big playability into fantasy points, it's been a little
49:46non-existent, I think, to start his career. Yeah. At the end of the year, they're a wide receiver 30 or 28.
49:52And you knew you were getting this roller coaster, but that's okay because they're wide receiver 3.
49:57Xavier Worthy is not going to be 17 straight games of consistency, and there's very few wide receivers that can do that anyway.
50:04But if you just understand that if he does hit and has that potential and you're along for the ride, you're going
50:10to enjoy those big weeks where he's scoring, like, the 20 points.
50:14You're just going to have to take those four-point weeks on the chin, and they're going to come.
50:19All right. Let's move on to one of your guys, Jake, in the late rounds here.
50:24Player this has talked about a lot on this program already.
50:27And if you're not going to go with one of the big-time tight ends, and there's a lot of them this year,
50:34Isaiah Likely does certainly seem like you can make a case for him being heavily involved in this offense.
50:40So let's hear your case on Isaiah Likely's path to being potentially a league winner in 2026.
50:45This is what I teased way earlier when Fitz said that the three that lead their team in targets being Loveland, Bowers, and McBride.
50:52I think there's three more that could, including Likely, Fannin, and Warren.
50:55And I would say that those other three have, like, the odds are in their favor.
51:00I think there's a legit chance that all three of those, including Likely, could be because we all keep hearing these news about Malik Neighbors.
51:07And then we see them out playing charity games, and it looks like he's walking on a half of a leg.
51:14And so whether he's 100% for week one, week four, week six, whatever it might be, even if Neighbors at some point
51:20gets to 100% and at that point is clearly the number one as he should be, Likely being the number two is likely.
51:27Let's just put it there. Like, there's a reason Harbaugh brought them in, and they've already talked them up, and they've already made plays this offseason.
51:35And everything we've heard, and this is the positive talk.
51:38To go back to something else Fitz said earlier, it's not just best shape ever.
51:42It's not just injury optimism. Everybody's making plays. They're catching versus air, like Andrew says.
51:47It's like everybody's doing great things. But what have we heard from the Giants camp?
51:51Likely looks amazing. Slayton looks iffy. Malakai Fields hasn't done anything yet.
51:55And just going down the list, and the only people they're talking about in the passing game seems to be likely so far.
52:02So if you told me he gets 110, 120 targets, 120 would be amazing.
52:06But even like 105 to 110, and he gets, and I'm throwing out this line for a very specific purpose, 8,806.
52:12You know what? 8,806 gets you at tight end?
52:15An average of the past 10 years of tight end 5.
52:18So that's the upside for Isaiah Likely. Pat, I keep hearing a lot of people talk about, well, Harbaugh brought him with him and all that stuff.
52:26Harbaugh had him for a couple years. And we didn't see a whole lot of Isaiah Likely necessarily.
52:31Or at least as much as we thought we could have seen.
52:35So a lot of Mark Andrews time in and time again and all that stuff and trying to make that work despite
52:41some of his limitations and some of his healthy issues as well.
52:45So I get it. I understand he brought him with him.
52:48But I also remember when they were together in Baltimore and it being, frankly, a little disappointing and underwhelming even when Mark Andrews wasn't available.
52:56Isaiah Likely wasn't exactly running away with that job.
52:58Right. And you would have hoped he would have smashed whenever Andrews was out.
53:02And he did have some good games with Andrews out.
53:05But I'm a little vexed by that too, Joe.
53:08And I'm not sure where to put Likely in my rankings.
53:11I'm curious, Jake. Where do you have him in relation to Travis Kelsey and George Kittle?
53:16Yeah. In front of Travis Kelsey, behind George Kittle.
53:19Okay. All right. Yeah. Right now I've got Likely behind both of those guys.
53:23But I'm not sure if that's the right call.
53:26And of course, the one game I... I'm at tight end 10.
53:29Yeah. I'm at 11. The one game, of course, that I can't get out of my mind and the possibility, like what
53:36if we saw this or something like it over a full season, is that 2024 season opener against the Chiefs when Isaiah
53:42Likely looked like Tony Gonzalez and was just making plays all over the place and almost had another touchdown catch.
53:48I think it would have been, what, his third in that game or second?
53:52Maybe second. Second in that game. Where he couldn't get the second foot inbounds, like last play of the game for the
53:59Ravens to try to win that game. But he was a monster in that game.
54:03What if we see something like that over a full season?
54:07In that case, yeah, he's way undervalued. Fitzy, you know, I actually pulled up the numbers of Likely without Mark Andrews over the years.
54:14And they're not as bad as I maybe wanted to portray.
54:17But then I dug a little deeper into the game log of them.
54:21I found it on StatMuse, which was actually pretty interesting.
54:24A bulk of it came in one game where he was 8 for 13 with 103.
54:29Like, that is a big job. That 103 accounts for four, you know, out of the 453 total yards in nine games.
54:35Was one game was 103. So, again, like, I just feel like I'm hopeful.
54:39I'm with Jake. I think if you miss out on the tight end runs or they're going too early for you and
54:46you don't like the structure of your roster in that situation, you know, with those little guys early because you miss out
54:52on running backs or wide receivers, I think it's an interesting approach.
54:56But I definitely don't think it's a lock either.
54:59But then again, nobody does. That's why it's a late pick.
55:02So I should shut up and move on to the next person.
55:05So let's do that. Let's move on to Jonathan Brooks, another guy who's getting a ton of hype this offseason.
55:11Guys had two ACL tears in the same knee.
55:14That always scares me a bit Fitzy. I know Jonathan Brooks is becoming a very buzzy player right now, but he's still very cheap.
55:21And I do understand Chuba Hubbard's injury last year plus Chuba Hubbard being a guy that's been okay, not exactly a world beater necessarily.
55:28There's certainly a path for Jonathan Brooks to have value in 2026.
55:32There is. And let's talk about those knee surgeries.
55:35And I'll tip my hat to Jeff Mueller, Mueller, I think it's Mueller, Twitter injury doc, sort of.
55:40And he has written about this and how maybe the first repair of Brooks's ACL was not done particularly well and was a little flimsy.
55:47And it sort of took him a long time to recover from that.
55:51And then he gets hurt almost right away after coming back.
55:54But then they brought in a different specialist to do the surgery.
55:58The second time around, they used something called, I guess, a double bundle technique that is supposed to improve the lateral stability
56:05and just make it a stronger overall repair. So it was kind of like not only a repair, but a revision surgery.
56:11And they're pretty confident that they've got it right this time.
56:14And they gave him an extra long time to recover, held him out the entire 2025 season.
56:19Now, by the time the season starts, it's going to be like 20 months since the last time he played.
56:25And I just think based on what we knew about him as a prospect, what we saw from him at the University
56:32of Texas, if we get peaked, Jonathan Brooks, not much doubt in my mind that that's going to be better than what the peak of Chuba Hubbard is.
56:40And Chuba Hubbard is fine. And he had that good season in 2024.
56:44But then, you know, he got usurped and replaced basically by Rico Dowdle last year, averaged 3.8 yards per carry.
56:50I just think Chuba is sort of a replacement level NFL back, just sort of an average guy, whereas Brooks could be a lot more than that.
56:58Right now, I've got Chuba, I think, one spot ahead of Brooks in my rankings.
57:03It's probably only a matter of time before I change that, even if they say Chuba is going to be the starter
57:09to open this season, because I don't think he holds off a healthy Jonathan Brooks.
57:14All right. Jake, would you take Jonathan Brooks or would you try to dabble in the Washington backfield?
57:19Because they're not that far apart from each other in terms of expert consensus ranking.
57:23Both? Why not both? I mean, if given the choice, looking at the pedigrees of all them, I would take Brooks just
57:30straight up if I couldn't have everything there that I wanted, because it is Brooks.
57:34There's a reason there's thought so highly coming out of college.
57:38And yeah, these injuries are frustrating. But we've seen this before.
57:41How Nick Chubb blew up both his knees and has come back.
57:44And I'm not calling him Nick Chubb necessarily that he's going to get to that level.
57:49But I just think the upside of a healthy Brooks, whether or not we even see Chuba 100% or falter in his
57:56own right, whichever way it goes, I think there's enough talent with Brooks that he could take over, period, if it's the
58:02Brooks we used to know, which that's the big question.
58:05Goethe, everybody. Somebody we used to know. There you go.
58:08I knew it was coming. All right. Let's talk about the last guy on the list here.
58:13I don't want to. I don't want to. All right.
58:16That'll do it for us, everybody. Thanks for hanging out with us.
58:20No, we're going to talk about him. We're going to talk about him because the first 10 weeks of last year, he was QB5.
58:27And if you want to take a late QB, why not take a shot at Daniel Jones coming off the surgery?
58:33Because my goodness, it was really good. The Colts were really good.
58:37They were leading the AFC at the time. They were the number one seed before the injury.
58:42All kind of just destroyed everything there. I'd like to see a little bit more wide receiver help.
58:47But then again, Shane Steichen, I think is a good offensive mind.
58:51I think if you're talking about maybe even super flex leagues, Jake, Daniel Jones is a really intriguing value this year.
58:57And that's really what it comes down to is even as your second quarterback as your last pick in your draft, the obvious question is the injury.
59:05The obvious question was the injury going to affect his running.
59:08But the thing is, if he is close to 100% running, I never needed and never will ask and never expect Daniel
59:15Jones to be a very good passing quarterback. That's just not who he is.
59:19And that's okay because he can be good in the short to intermediate part of the game, which Tyler Warren helps.
59:25Josh Downs helps. We saw Alec Pierce when he does unleash the deep ball of how he could connect on that.
59:31And I know Alec Pierce adds another dimension to this of whether or not he's going to be 100% for the start of the season.
59:39But if everybody is healthy, you brought up the numbers with Daniel Jones, and a lot of it has to do the
59:45fact that he's still going to run. Not like he did that one season with the Giants with 707, but he offset
59:52that by a little bit less running and a little bit more throwing better in the offense for the Colts than he was with the Giants.
60:00So you get that balance. I don't expect top five.
60:03I don't even expect top 10. But back end QB1 conversation, if a lot of things break right.
60:08But the thing here is he's free. Like you don't need to worry about it.
60:12And the biggest part is like this disclaimer for this group was who could score 150 points.
60:17And I know I'm kind of cheating by leading towards the quarterbacks.
60:21But the big thing here is that he can score 250 points plus and be QB 12, 13 on the year.
60:27So even if you take a gamble at quarterback and you want to take the second gamble on a single quarterback, I'm okay with that.
60:35Superflex, absolutely. This is how you win Superflex. If Daniel Jones for me and Superflex is the perfect look, I went wide receiver healthy.
60:42I missed the quarterback run or heavy and I missed the quarterback run.
60:46I have to start taking shots. And I understand that Daniel Jones could blow up your entire season.
60:51But if he stays healthy and you waited on quarterback, he's the type of quarterback in Superflex that you end up winning leagues with.
60:58Pretty good argument there. Fitzy, anything to add here on the Daniel Jones wing?
61:02He was a mid-range QB1 when the Colts got off to that 8-2 start.
61:06He wasn't the turnover machine he has been in some years.
61:10He wasn't taking as many sacks. Maybe he could get back to that.
61:14But we always know Daniel Jones' value is sort of tied to his mobility.
61:18What sort of mobility does he have? You know, another storyline to watch closely in the training camp in the preseason.
61:24All right, everybody. I know you're probably sick of me and Jake, but in case you're not sick of Pat Fitzmaurice and
61:31no one can ever be sick of Pat, you can always check out more Pat Fitzmaurice over in our Discord, fantasypros.com slash chat.
61:37He and Worm and Bogman will be doing some fun AMAs over in their channels right now on every Tuesday, the first
61:44Tuesday and third Tuesday of every month. So check that out again on our Discord.
61:48I was in there yesterday. That's right. I saw the notification.
61:52So join the Discord. Get the notifications, all that stuff.
61:55Be part of the show. It's a good time.
61:57Get your questions answered there. Talk to the guys about all your values.
62:01And clearly, here's the good news, Joe. He's excited to say this.
62:05Yeah, I'm traveling. So this is the last show in June.
62:08You will see me. So there you go. You get your reprieve from seeing Jake for the rest of the month.
62:14Thank God. Thank God. Safe travels, Jake Seeley. Pat Fitzmaurice, I always love you the most.
62:19That'll do it for us. But the story of the game goes on.
62:23For Jake and Pat, I'm Joey P. We'll see you next time, kids.
62:27Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football Podcast.
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