8 Fantasy Hot Takes with Daniel Dopp
STACKED extracted the fantasy-relevant player signal from this podcast and kept the full transcript here for context.
52 min
Duration
Estimated from transcript
Aug 21, 2026
Published
Fri, August 21, 2026
21
Player insights
18
Players mentioned
Topics
Christian WatsonChristian McCaffreyA.J. BrownBrock PurdyDalton SchultzDavante AdamsGeorge KittleJa'Marr ChaseJadarian PriceJayden HigginsMatthew StaffordMichael PittmanMike EvansNico Collins
Player analysis
Player insights
A.J. Brown
PositiveProjection30:35
Matthew Berry predicts AJ Brown will have the best season of his career with the Patriots, arguing that Drake Maye is the best passing quarterback Brown has played with. Berry highlights that no player has more touchdowns of 15+ air yards than Brown over the last four years.
Insight pageBrock Purdy
PositiveProjection22:34
Matthew Berry projects Brock Purdy as a top-five fantasy quarterback, citing that he is the only QB over the last two seasons to rank top-five in passing yards per game and top-12 in rushing yards per game. Since his first start in 2022, he ranks as the QB6 in points per game.
Insight pageChristian McCaffrey
PositiveValue20:12
Matthew Berry recommends targeting Christian McCaffrey in best ball formats to capitalize on his massive upside, noting that he led the NFL in red zone touches (91) last year and remains a focal point of the Kyle Shanahan offense regardless of efficiency concerns.
Insight pageNegativeBust26:53
Daniel Dopp predicts Christian McCaffrey will finish outside the top 10 running backs in 2026. The reasoning is based on his massive 450-touch workload from last season and his age (30), citing historical trends of players falling off after such heavy usage. Dopp ranks him at RB10.
Insight pageChristian Watson
PositiveInjury39:28
Daniel Dopp is out on Christian Watson due to recurring injury issues, noting he has never played a full season and has never exceeded a 19% target share. Dopp feels he has too much 'scar tissue' from Watson's availability issues to trust him in fantasy lineups.
Insight pagePositiveProjection39:55
Matthew Berry acknowledges Christian Watson's elite talent and ability to stretch the field, noting that when healthy, his long stride allows him to accumulate fantasy points quickly.
Insight pagePositiveValue41:08
Matthew Berry is in on Christian Watson, arguing that his seventh-round ADP (68) already bakes in the injury concerns. Berry highlights that Watson was the WR15 over the final seven games of last season and commanded a 42% end zone target share, the seventh-highest rate among wide receivers.
Insight pageDalton Schultz
PositiveValue16:47
Dalton Schultz is back on the fantasy radar as a potential TE2 following the injury to Jaden Higgins. While not a league-winner, he could serve as a viable bye-week fill-in in deeper formats, with an ADP of 167 on ESPN.
Insight pageDavante Adams
NegativeProjection43:12
Matthew Berry predicts Davante Adams will finish outside the top 30 wide receivers. Berry cites Adams' age (34), a reliance on touchdown production that is likely to regress alongside Matthew Stafford, and a 2025 season where he averaged under 60 receiving yards per game.
Insight pageGeorge Kittle
PositiveInjury25:04
George Kittle received a positive medical report from his surgeon, raising the possibility of a Week 1 return. Matthew Berry views a healthy Kittle as a top-five fantasy tight end and considers him an incredible value in drafts, even if he misses the first week or two.
Insight pageJa'Marr Chase
PositiveProjection49:26
Matthew Berry ranks Ja'Marr Chase as a 1A/1B option alongside Puka Nacua, expressing high confidence in his elite status for the upcoming season.
Insight pageJadarian Price
PositiveSleeper32:34
Daniel Dopp identifies Jadarian Price as a top-15 running back and a favorite RB2 target in the ninth round of ESPN drafts. Despite college usage concerns, Price is the lead back in a run-heavy Seattle offense, and Zach Charbonnet's injury status remains a significant question mark.
Insight pageJayden Higgins
NegativeInjury11:37
Jaden Higgins is out for the season with a torn ACL. While he was not expected to have a massive role, his absence leaves a significant hole in the Texans' wide receiver depth chart.
Insight pageMatthew Stafford
NegativeProjection44:16
Matthew Berry and Daniel Dopp both expect regression from Matthew Stafford, noting that the previous five quarterbacks who led the NFL in touchdown rate all regressed the following year. Berry argues that repeating a 40-plus touchdown season at this stage of his career is unlikely.
Insight pageMichael Pittman
NegativeProjection25:30
Matthew Berry is lower on Michael Pittman Jr. than consensus, ranking him as WR34 in half-PPR. Berry notes Pittman has averaged under 50 receiving yards per game over the last two seasons, lacks touchdown upside, and faces a crowded Steelers offense with multiple tight ends and Jalen Warren.
Insight pageMike Evans
PositiveBreakout23:59
Matthew Berry expects a big year from Mike Evans, comparing his potential impact to Davante Adams.
Insight pageNico Collins
PositiveProjection15:40
Matthew Berry ranks Nico Collins as his WR9, noting that Collins is expected to command a tremendous amount of target share in the Texans' offense following the injury to Jaden Higgins.
Insight pagePuka Nacua
PositiveProjection49:09
Matthew Berry remains 'all in' on Puka Nacua, ranking him alongside Ja'Marr Chase as a top-tier wide receiver. Berry is not concerned about potential suspension risks, viewing Nacua as elite enough to draft regardless.
Insight pageTank Dell
PositiveValue13:35
Matthew Berry and Daniel Dopp view Tank Dell as a viable late-round flyer for upside. Despite concerns about his slight frame and recovery from a 2024 knee injury, Dell has proven production with over 12 fantasy points per game in his first two seasons. Berry ranks him at WR62, preferring him over Jalen Noel.
Insight pageTerrance Ferguson
PositiveSleeper48:38
Daniel Dopp identifies Terrence Ferguson as a deep-league sleeper at tight end, noting that the Rams' roster construction suggests they will utilize multiple tight-end sets, making Ferguson a viable late-round target if other options miss time.
Insight pageZach Charbonnet
NegativeInjury35:00
Matthew Berry and Daniel Dopp express skepticism regarding Zach Charbonnet's return to form, noting that even if he returns from injury, there is a major difference between returning to play and returning to performance.
Insight pageFull transcript
Episode Transcript
0:00It is noon on YouTube, but it is 5 o'clock somewhere, so that means drinks up, especially because it is a Friday.
0:06The Happy Hour bar is open. As always, I am Matthew Berry, your friendly bartender here.
0:11And Fantasy Football Happy Hour, this is our fifth season.
0:14This is our fifth season. And, you know, I've been podcasting now for, gosh, I think, I literally think it's, I have
0:20to think about this, but the first year I, it was 2007.
0:24So I am coming up on almost 20 years of podcasting.
0:27And for the majority of those 20 years, almost 20 years, so, you know, probably like, I don't know, call it a
0:34decade of those 20, like at least half. And I have to thank you for the staff, my producer, my friend, my
0:40co-host, my partner in crime, Daniel Dopp, at Daniel Dopp on Twitter, at something to break on Instagram.
0:45Daniel, of course, I, I have to say the secret squirrel before you get here, before we even talk into anything, I
0:52have to make sure we pay the bills here because you're coming to us courtesy of ESPN.
0:57It's a small company, people haven't heard of it, but check them out.
1:01They're on the rise. You were, you were coming to us, not only from ESPN, but the annual Fantasy Football Marathon, and
1:07I did many of those, starts Monday, August 24th.
1:10So this Monday, seven o'clock on ESPN2. So you're starting on the deuce, you'll head to ESPN.
1:15It'll, the next day, you guys will do the mock draft with everything.
1:18And so a lot of fun. The marathon's always a great time.
1:22So I look forward to checking that out. Monday, the 24th, starting at seven o'clock on ESPN2.
1:27How are you, my friend? I'm good, buddy. Every time I want you to know, every time I walk the halls of
1:33ESPN, I go over to DC2 and in that little like hallway that you walk, that little riser, there is a photo
1:40of me and you doing the Fantasy Football Marathon when you were hosting with the other Matt Berry.
1:45Yeah, yeah. And every time I look at it, and I just have great memories of being able to do that with you.
1:52So I have been waiting, honestly, to be able to do this show with you for years, my friend.
1:57It has been too long coming. I'm so pumped that I get to be here with you today.
2:03Well, one of the exciting things, and we're going to get to it, you and I both have some very hot takes,
2:09some bold takes, and there's some news, and we want to get into what, you know, the preseason games last night as well.
2:16But just to take a quick stroll down memory lane.
2:19Yeah, you know, when I was at NBC, I just, I don't think there was, that ESPN really wanted to, you know,
2:25let anyone come on to the show or anything like that.
2:28It's probably felt they, I guess maybe they felt it was a little bit more competitive.
2:33There were other people in charge. But we have new people in charge over at ESPN.
2:38Our friend Scott Clark, All Biz, you know, All Biz is in charge.
2:42And so All Biz is like, yeah, yeah, of course, Daniel can do it.
2:46So shout out to Scott Clark. We're in a draft right now, Scott Clark and I, and I think we've got another one coming up.
2:53So hopefully he doesn't Scott Clark me coming up.
2:56But anyway, shout out to All Biz. And yeah, so it's great to see you.
3:00I wish we could have done this sooner, but it's one of the positives of being on my own is that ESPN
3:07is like, well, we're not worried about Barry anymore.
3:09So at any rate, so you guys just did the live show last night.
3:13The first time I'm happy to hear, I'm happy to hear that ESPN has not taken down photos of me because there
3:20were a deep, you know, if you walk through ESPN, there's a ton of photos of, of talent.
3:25And it's, it's not just current talent, but it's, you know, some of the legends with Stuart Scott, you know, you know,
3:31people that were, you know, Bob Lee, right? Exactly.
3:34And so, so I'm glad that like there's a couple of photos of, of us.
3:38I think there's, there's no, there's no photos of me, you and straw man, unfortunately, but no, no, yeah, but I'm glad to know they're, they're still there.
3:47So you guys just did your live show in New York last night.
3:50How'd that go? It was great. It was a ton of fun live shows.
3:55As you know, being able to go out there and kiss some hands and shake some babies is always a good time.
4:01So it's a, it's a good time being able to just meet the fans and the people that allow you to do
4:07this unbelievably silly job where we get to put on makeup and talk about fake football, Matthew Barry.
4:13I feel like I stole that line from you, but that's, that's what our job is.
4:17So it's always great to meet the people that help support us.
4:21You didn't steal that line from me, but it's true.
4:24We're very lucky. I hope that this show gets big enough that, you know, I could do a live show one day.
4:30Cause it is, there's so much fun and they're great.
4:33We're getting there. We're, we're trying to build something here.
4:36Did my name come up? Be honest. Did anyone ask, Hey, where's Matthew?
4:40Oh yeah. Every time that we do live shows, people ask about you.
4:44There's no way to do a live show without having someone ask about Matthew Barry.
4:48Absolutely. I appreciate that. Thank you to whoever asked that, you know, it's a, well, no, but people, I will tell you
4:55to this day, it has been five years since I've been at ESPN.
4:58And to this day, people come up to me and either say, I love you on ESPN or I miss you on ESPN.
5:05ESPN comes up way more than anything else. You know, sometimes I'll get Avengers.
5:09Sometimes I'll get NBC. Sometimes I'll get, you know, love, hate or happy.
5:13But ESPN comes up just in general. Yeah. So as a Dabby daddy says, let's go getting the band back together.
5:19That's fully getting the band back together. But I will say this about that Dabby that look, we've already had, you know,
5:26Jay, Connor and Lawrence on the show and they'll be back at some point.
5:30We we're figuring out the dates, but Field Yates and Mike Clay will be making appearances on the show.
5:35We've gotten approval from all biz on that as well.
5:38So appreciate again, Scott and Daniel. Hopefully if we don't screw this up, we'll get to have you back on after today.
5:45So a lot of people asking where the puppets are.
5:48It's a good question. It is a great question.
5:50Where are where are the puppets? If I thought about it, I should have seen if straw man was available for today.
5:57If I thought about it, you know, straw man or the bitterberry or the bear.
6:01Anyway, maybe next time, maybe next time we'll try to do a.
6:05I'd love to see the bear make an appearance behind you in that bar right there.
6:09I'm sure he's got a set going on here in probably 15 or 20 minutes anyways.
6:14Right. At the Chuckle Hut. Pretty much. I mean, when you own your own show, you can you can drink on the job.
6:21Tim, the spit says, has anyone ever seen Daniel Dopp and TJ Hawkinson in the same room?
6:26It's a good question. That's a great question. Hair down.
6:29It gets tough. And the answer is no, by the way.
6:32No, I've never seen you in the same room.
6:34No, no. And if I put a helmet on, it would kind of look.
6:39I mean, it's only because you can't see me in person.
6:42TJ is just a slightly larger human being than I am.
6:45But I appreciate someone thinking that I'm a six foot five, 250 pounds.
6:49That makes me feel good about myself. Let's be clear, Daniel.
6:52He's slightly larger than you and only some places.
6:55All right. Let's move on to the news, Daniel.
6:57Let's move on to the news. Jaden Higgins out for the season with a torn ACL.
7:02Now, this happened when I was on my show live on Wednesday and we didn't really get a chance to go.
7:08Yesterday was my ride or die day. So we didn't really get a chance to obviously do that because yesterday was all about ride or die.
7:16So today's show is the first time that we actually get a chance to talk about Jaden Higgins.
7:21And while, you know, it's interesting because I don't know that anyone expected Higgins to have a massive role on the Texans
7:27this year, but it does leave Houston's offense with a pretty big hole.
7:31Our buddy, Adam Levitan, friend of the podcast, Adam Levitan, had this tweet here.
7:35Do you see this? Texans wide receiver room, one, Nico Collins, two, Jaden Higgins, ACL out for the year, three, Xavier Hutchinson,
7:42career 0.76 yards per route run, Tank Dill, still working his way back from that devastating 24 knee injury, Jalen Noel, missed
7:48most of camp with a hamstring finger, and then Lewis Bond, who is a round six rookie.
7:53Daniel, your thoughts on this Texans passing attack? Um, Matthew, it doesn't inspire confidence necessarily.
7:58I don't think that there's going to be someone that just slots right into a wide receiver two that we're like, that's
8:04a guy I got to go out and target in the middle rounds in fantasy.
8:08We were barely doing that with Jaden Higgins as it was.
8:12He was more of a middle to rate line target.
8:15Anyways, I think the easy conversation would be Tank Dill if you wanted to take a shot on one of these guys has left.
8:22We've seen him do it, right? And it's always great to know that you've seen a kid perform in the league.
8:28You know that he has the ability. Personally, it's so difficult for me with the devastating injury that you talked about.
8:34He still weighs 165 pounds. It's hard for me to draft wide receivers that have such a slight frame with how aggressive and physical this game is.
8:42And so I'm a proponent, if you want to do a late round flyer or the last pick of your draft, you
8:48want to throw it on Jalen Noel. I loved that kid coming out of college.
8:534'3", 40, 41 and a half inch vertical. He's going to play that short area of the field more than that Nico
8:59Collins deep role, which, by the way, with this Texans offensive line, CJ Stroud kind of needs to get the ball out
9:05pretty quickly more often than not anyway. So I'm looking for what would be that new Christian Kirk role potentially in this offense.
9:12And I think Jalen Noel, I don't think you even need to draft him.
9:16He's just a name I want to have on my radar as we get into waiver seasons.
9:21Yeah, we'll see. You know, we'll see about that.
9:24I mean, I have Noel at 74. I have Tank Dell at 62.
9:28So I sort of agree with you that if I like I have Dell, like again, because at that point in the draft, you're just drafting for upside.
9:36Like you're not starting any of these guys. You know, I moved Nico Collins.
9:40He's wide receiver nine. So I think obviously Nico's going to get a tremendous amount of target share here.
9:46But I think at that part of the draft, you just want upside.
9:49And to your point, the first two NFL seasons, Tank Dell over 12 fantasy points per game.
9:54Again, to your point, Daniel, we've seen him do it.
9:57And so I prefer the flyer on Dell at that stage of the draft than Jalen Noel, who I agree with you, is just a flyer.
10:05But weirdly, I wonder, is the second best pass catch on the Texans Dalton Schultz?
10:09He's not even being I'm looking at the fantasylife.com ADP tool and Dalton Schultz is not even being drafted on ESPN.
10:15I mean, his ADP is 167 and standard ESPN leagues only go through around 16.
10:20So basically, right, as a wisey Pab says, wheels up for Dalton Schultz.
10:24I don't know about wheels up, but wheels slightly elevated, maybe.
10:27Let's not get crazy, but yeah, slightly elevated. I could be elevated on Dalton Schultz a little bit.
10:32I'm not sure that it's going to do enough to elevate him more than be a tight end two role for me.
10:39But who knows what that offense is going to develop into?
10:42Because that defense, again, is going to be an unbelievable defense as it is year in and year out.
10:47So they just brought in David Montgomery. They want to run the ball and pound the rock and do all that good stuff.
10:54So yeah, you could have a guy like Dalton Schultz be a weekly or excuse me, a bi-week fill-in for you given what that offense could be needed.
11:02Yeah, I think you're right. I think he's a tight end two, but potentially in a deeper league, 12-er team, deeper league,
11:09if you wait on tight end, like he's going to be like a solid 10 points, like more of a waiver tight
11:15end than a guy that you feel great about.
11:18Yeah. Suddenly, I will just say this. I think Dalton Schultz is back on fantasy radar now.
11:23Yeah. I think he's got a chance of being fantasy relevant, whereas before this, I don't think he did.
11:28Good point. Let's move over to San Francisco now, Secret Squirrel.
11:32And how is it too soon to put Dazon Stribling in the Hall of Fame?
11:36Do we just, should we just send a, should we just send his jersey right there?
11:41Another impressive performance last night, a 50% target share.
11:43On the first drive of the game with Purdy in there, three receptions, 25 yards.
11:48In this preseason, he's been targeted on 56% of his routes, 11 for 109.
11:52Now, this is the second game. It's the first one he played with Purdy.
11:56It's worth noting a couple of different things. He didn't play with Purdy in the first preseason game.
12:01He, this game, no Mike Evans, no George Kittle, no Chris McCaffrey, all guys that we expect to get, you know, decent target share in the regular season.
12:09But still, really impressive for Dazon Stribling. Where, like, we've seen him rise up ADP.
12:14Are you buying into the hype or do you think this is just ads?
12:18It's ADP and he was the only guy. It's preseason and he was the only guy out there.
12:23I'm buying enough into the hype that I'm taking a chance on him in drafts, for sure.
12:28This is not a, listen, it's tough because I know you went to school with a lot of these guys.
12:34You know, Mike Evans is old. George Kittle, also old.
12:37Christian McCaffrey, also old. Yeah. So this is like the young kid.
12:40I went to school with their dads. I went to school with Ed McCaffrey.
12:45That's it. That's it. But honestly, this receiving core, like, it feels like we say this every single time we talk about the 49ers situation.
12:52Like, there's always somebody banged up. Mike Evans still banged up.
12:55George Kittle still banged up. John Jennings no longer there.
12:58They're in a situation. They brought in Debo Samuel because they basically had nobody.
13:02John Stripling is in a spot where if what he's doing right now in the preseason can carry over to the regular
13:09season, we're seeing what the kid can do right now.
13:11He's in a spot where he will massively outperform the ADP that he is getting.
13:16I don't want to get, I don't want to hype it too much, but I absolutely think he's worth investing in fantasy drafts right now.
13:23Current ADP is wide receiver 64. I'm at wide receiver 50.
13:26I think both. Move that up. Both, yeah, both numbers.
13:29Like, that's not an accurate ADP. That's not, if you were in a draft tonight, he would go much earlier than that.
13:36And he'd probably go much earlier than wide receiver 50.
13:39I agree with your take that I think, I think he's got a chance to be what we thought Ricky Pearsall might be in this offense.
13:46Again, second, I always had Evans higher than Pearsall.
13:49As Martin's World says, Dijon is pronounced A-Chan, which fair, it's a good point.
13:53That's fair. Yeah, Secret Tool, I will tell you that you probably haven't had a chance to check out the audience.
13:59I don't know what it's like over at Focus these days, but I will tell you that the regulars here at the Happy Hour Bar are unbelievable.
14:07Are unbelievable. I see this. The Strib Club is always open.
14:10I like that. Cameron, we may do that. Cameron, 3,005.
14:13I like that. The Strib Club for Dijon Stribling.
14:16You know what? That's sold. Done. Done and done and done.
14:19You know, sorry. New segment. Yeah, somebody's saying, I love the Stribbler.
14:23I understand. But no, the Strib Club is always open to Dijon Stribling.
14:26That is it. Done. Sold. 10 out of 10.
14:29No notes. Well done there. So he'll be rising up.
14:32But I think he's more in the wide receiver four with upside range for me.
14:36Right? Sure. Like I said, I currently have a wide receiver 50.
14:40I'll move him up into the, you know, probably the high 40s.
14:43Now with this, we don't want to get too crazy.
14:46But this allows us to sort of talk about the 49ers.
14:50A couple of different things that I thought were really interesting here about the 49ers.
14:54First off, I saw this on X yesterday. I apologize.
14:57I forget who I saw it from. But it was from a reputable reporter insider.
15:01But that George Kittle, it might have been Schefter.
15:04But that George Kittle saw his orthopedist or saw his surgeon, had a very good report, very good medical report.
15:10And that there's now the potential for George Kittle to play week one.
15:14Like that he's on track. Now, I personally, again, that's the Australian game.
15:17I don't think they're going to put George Kittle on a plane for 20 hours.
15:22My suspicion is that he doesn't play week one.
15:24But the fact that it's in consideration, the fact that it's within the realm of possibility, when that injury we thought happened,
15:31you were like, is this guy retiring? Is this guy not coming back to week 10?
15:36The fact that Kittle, you know, we might see him week two.
15:39We might see him week three. Number one is I think he becomes an incredible value in drafts.
15:44If I have to miss a week or two of George Kittle, I'm all in.
15:49Because I think a healthy George Kittle is easily a top five fantasy tight end this year.
15:54But the other thing is, is that you just feel good about this entire 49ers offense.
15:58Except, except Daniel Dopp, as we get into our hot takes, we get into our hot takes, our boldest predictions.
16:04Now, these are bold. The idea of this is we're trying to go bold predictions, not like obvious stuff.
16:10Yeah. But Daniel Dopp, your first bold prediction is around Chris McCaffrey.
16:13Yeah. Yeah. Christian McCaffrey, in fact, not finishing as a top 10 running back in fantasy football, Matthew Berry.
16:19This is about the workload. It's not about the unicorn that he is.
16:23It's not about how good he's been in fantasy in the past.
16:26I'm not taking away anything from Christian McCaffrey, other than I just don't believe 2026 is going to be that same season.
16:33Last year, he had 450 touches across the regular season and the playoffs.
16:36That's the most of his career. He is 30 years old.
16:40I know that he came back and people were worried about where he was going to be last year.
16:45I was in on him last year. I was more in on CMC and I was out on Saquon Barkley because Saquon
16:52had a similar situation the year before where he touched the ball over 400 times.
16:56An unbelievable workload. So I'm out on CMC because even though I think he could repeat, he is a unicorn.
17:02He's one of the few guys in the NFL that can do things that other people can't.
17:07But with where he's being drafted, Matthew Berry, I don't think I'm going to lose my league if I decide to go
17:13with one of the other superstars at three or four or five in the draft.
17:18But I am very much saying I do not think that Christian McCaffrey is going to have the same efficiency.
17:24And we have seen these guys fall off a cliff the following season after such a heavy workload.
17:29I it's like I got to say it with my chest.
17:32And so I decided rather than say it with a little whimper, Matthew, say it with my chest.
17:37That's why I put him at RB10. I'm probably not getting him anywhere this year.
17:42Well, that's what I would, you know, as as Lakers, Lakers since since the 80s says CMC hate train rolling again.
17:48You know, big caboose saying Miss CMC mysterious injury again.
17:51But what's interesting here is, guys, the the anti CMC argument has always been like, well, I think he's hurt.
17:57You know, I'm worried about injury. I'm not willing to take that risk that early on because we've seen massive injuries and it's already dealing with something.
18:05But what you're saying is, is that no, no, no.
18:07My ranking is not based on injury risk or maybe it's baked in there somewhere.
18:12But it's also about like, no, I just I think the guy is hitting a wall.
18:17And I would my argument back to you. I mean, I am at running back three.
18:21So two things. Number one is you're absolutely right.
18:24You're not getting him in any any draft this year.
18:27Right. Because because even though even if there are other people that there's going to be at least one person that believes in every draft.
18:34If I had an RB five, maybe I could get him because someone else might think the same thing.
18:40But yeah, he's not getting to me at 10.
18:42No way. Right. Before I react to that, I have a question for you, though.
18:47You do a lot of drafts. You know, you're somebody that does a lot of different drafts, a lot of different formats.
18:53I think I'm in I think I'm in three different leagues with you personally.
18:57At least. Yeah. At least. At least. We're in three different.
19:00Well, yeah. Fantasy Show Alumni League, our Dynasty League.
19:03We'll do a guillotine league again. Yeah. And I think there's and I feel like there's there's one more.
19:09I feel like there's another one. There's another one as well.
19:12But whatever. So you and I are in a lot of leagues together.
19:16But but my question to you is you're somebody who does a ton of different leagues.
19:20I know you do a lot of best ball as well.
19:24But for somebody that's like they've got one league, they do two leagues.
19:27You know, I got my league with my buddies and I got my work league and that's it.
19:33My only two leagues. Is this more about like, hey, I just don't want any exposure to McCaffrey overall?
19:38You know, would your would your attitude change if you you were a different type of player, meaning you were only in one or two leagues?
19:46Do you understand what I'm saying? Definitely. You can when you're a lot of leagues, you can take a lot of different shots and you can be more.
19:54Definitely. Yeah. I think if I was in one or two leagues, there is a chance that I would feel differently because I want to.
20:01And it would depend on my personality. Some people want to just have the same players in both leagues so they can
20:08have the same rooting interest and not feel like they're rooting against their own rooting interests.
20:12The spot where I would draft Christian McCaffrey this year, because it's probably not in redraft.
20:17I'm probably in across the board. I'm just not going to draft him.
20:21But in best ball, I think that's a spot where I would diversify my portfolio, regardless of the injury risk, given what
20:27the upside of the situation would be. Because in best ball, I am just straight up looking at upside when it comes to a lot of these guys.
20:36I don't have to worry or I'm not thinking about what happens if he doesn't.
20:40I'm thinking about what happens if he does. So that's where that's where I would take Christian McCaffrey for sure is in best ball.
20:47Yep, that makes a ton of sense. For me, again, I'm at running back three.
20:51I think you're absolutely right in terms of the efficiency, the underlying numbers.
20:55He's clearly not the same player, right? He's clearly not.
20:58And now he's another year older. But I guess my counter argument is, I'm not sure it matters.
21:03I mean, even though he wasn't nearly as efficient last year, he was still awesome.
21:08And if he's on the field, if he's on the field, he's going to have the ball in his hands.
21:14Like he is somebody that touches the ball and he touches it in the blows.
21:18You know, last year he led the NFL in red zone touches.
21:22He had 91. And that was 15 more than any other running back.
21:25He's such a big part of the passing game that like, I don't think it matters.
21:30As long as he is on the field in a Kyle Shanahan offense, he is going to score a ton of fantasy points.
21:37So it literally just is about like, do you believe he stays healthy or not?
21:41Yeah. I totally get it. I will say that I was just in a, what's weird is while I get it, I
21:48was literally just in a best ball draft. I'm doing this, it's called Flex, Fantasy League of Experts.
21:53My buddy Jake Seeley runs it. And so I am the defending champ two of the last three years.
21:58Take that, guys. Oh, congratulations. Just saying that, just throwing that in there, just dropping those names.
22:03But so I'm in this draft. I pick three.
22:06It's a 14-team best ball league. And I pick three.
22:09And obviously the two running backs went first. I went chase over McCaffrey just because I was a little bit nervous.
22:15It's also a three-wide receiver, two running back league.
22:18So I always, I tend to, when there's, you know, a 14-teamer.
22:21And I figured, and this is, I thought I would be able to stack him with Burrow later.
22:27I love the Burrow chase stack this year, especially in best ball.
22:30And so I was able, I did able to, was able to do that.
22:34Hey, speaking of the 49ers, Secret Squirrel, here's my bold take.
22:37Um, Brock Purdy finishes as a top five fantasy quarterback this year.
22:41Okay. Here's the argument. Okay. Over the past two seasons, he is the only quarterback.
22:45This was in 100 Facts, which is available for free on fantasylife.com.
22:49I'm a company man. Over the past two seasons, Brock Purdy is the only quarterback to rank both top five in passing
22:55yards per game and top 12 in rushing yards per game.
22:59He gets you more rushing yards than you think.
23:01Like, again, he's not Josh Allen Lamar Jackson, but he's also not a statue back there.
23:06He gets you a little bit more, um, uh, um, gets you a little bit more points with his, with his legs than you would think.
23:13Um, since his first career start in week 14, he leads all quarterbacks in yards per pass attempt.
23:19He's second in fantasy points per pass attempt. Um, he's, he struggled with health a little bit, but, um, again, we've, you
23:25know, with the, the, the being, the strip club always being open.
23:29Um, what about Daniel? What do you think by the way?
23:32Uh, strip club always open or the landing strip?
23:35What do you think? I love me a landing strip.
23:37I'm having a, the, I think the audio is cutting out, Matthew.
23:41I'm having a hard time just hearing this part of the show.
23:44That's right. I'm sorry. I forget. I forget. You still work for Disney.
23:48It's all good. It's all good, brother. Um, uh, I totally get that.
23:52All right. I'm, I, I kind of like the landing strip, but I'm going to say the, the strip club, the strip
23:59club always being open with, I think Mike Evans has a, as a, has a big year.
24:04I'm big on Evans this year. Um, I think he is this year's Devante Adams.
24:08The fact that Kittle's coming back and we just heard me talk about Chris McCaffrey.
24:12I think a big year is coming for Brock Purdy.
24:15And here's the other secret. I'm going to let you know in secret scroll, just because you and I go so far back.
24:22Um, I don't think it's actually that bold to take, right?
24:25His current ADP is QB 12. And you're like, whoa, Brock Purdy is a top five fantasy quarterback.
24:30Well, get this since his first career start in week 14 of 2022.
24:34Okay. Brock Purdy is quarterback six on a points per game basis.
24:38No way. It's one of those takes, honestly, that sounds bold, but I actually don't think at all.
24:43It really is. If Brock Purdy can stay healthy, I think he's going to be in the range of a, of a
24:49top five quarterback on a points per game basis because he has been literally since he became a starter.
24:55In 2022. Um, oh, look at this one. Uh, kill a chinchilla.
24:59They're all Purdy at the strip club. Come on.
25:01Come on. Shut it down. We're done. We're done.
25:04The show's over. Doesn't matter. We're done. Secret scroll.
25:06Let's just go up for drinks. Screw it. That's the next week.
25:10Leave the list half hour done. It's over. I got news for you.
25:14Regulars. That's the comment to be. That's it. That's that is the comment to beat.
25:18That's the one. That's the that's the winner. Good job.
25:21Good job, my friend. All right. Uh, secret scroll.
25:24Your next bold prediction. All right. We'll keep the show going.
25:27Your prediction. Prediction is, um, uh, about Michael Pittman.
25:30Yeah. Anytime you can talk about someone attached to an Aaron Rogers led offense, you gotta, you gotta take the shot, right?
25:36Because he's, he has been difficult recently, Matthew, but that's the part that I'm talking about.
25:41I like you respecting your elders. Secrets for all.
25:43I like you respecting your elders. Thank you. Yes.
25:46So I love Michael Pittman Jr. in part because of Aaron Rogers.
25:50And I will tell you why. Michael Pittman Jr.
25:52I think is perennially underrated. Like he's just not a sexy name.
25:56He catches a ton of balls year in and year out 111 targets each of the last five seasons.
26:01The dude is a monster when you get him the football, especially in the middle of the field, the guy works the slot so well.
26:09And last year, his quarterback, Aaron Rogers, his new quarterback is last year he was in Indianapolis.
26:14His new quarterback averaged 5.8 air yards per throw, which was quarterback 33 dead last in the NFL.
26:19No one had fewer air yards per attempt than Aaron Rogers.
26:22I do not like DK Metcalf in this offense.
26:25I do not want to try to have Aaron Rogers finding him 35 yards downfield.
26:29I don't think Aaron Rogers can throw the ball 35 yards downfield the way that he used to.
26:34I want the guy that's going to be that short to intermediate target.
26:38There is no Kenny Gainwell there. He lost that safety blanket at that running back spot that he really loved.
26:44Bold prediction. I think Michael Pittman Jr. just soaks up a ton of targets in this Steelers offense and outperforms where he is being drafted right now.
26:52I've got him as my wide receiver 25. So I understand.
26:55Here's what's weird, Daniel, is that I agree with the entirety of the logic of your argument, right?
27:00I mean, I'm with you on Aaron Rogers. He is, he is, he's got the crazy low A dot.
27:06He does not want to get hit. It is cold in Pittsburgh.
27:09He wants to get the ball out quick. You know, he's obviously got a very, you know, so he sees anyone coming.
27:16Boom. Great. Let's move on. All right. Matthew agrees with me.
27:19Okay, great. Okay. Okay. So while I agree with the argument of you, I don't agree with sort of like the end result.
27:26And I'll say this, and I think this is important.
27:29The default, the default setting on ESPN is PPR.
27:31Yes. And by the way, I'm also like, just, I continue to, I have more leagues on ESPN, more redraft leagues on ESPN than any other platform.
27:39I still think it is the best platform to play season long fantasy football for me personally.
27:44Like, you know, I'm not, I'm no longer a company man, but I will say that.
27:49So I still, I still do that. I, you know, obviously if you're going to play guillotine, I prefer guillotine leagues.com, but
27:55for season long redraft, uh, I'm in on ESPN and your standard, the standard scoring on ESPN is PPR.
28:01My ranks are half PPR. So that's our default on fantasy life.com is half PPR.
28:05But, um, you know, we, we have all the, all, whatever scoring you need, it, it, our rankings.
28:11It's one of the things that's nice about fantasy life.com is that like, whatever your scoring is, you can just input it
28:17into our rankings and it will pump it out.
28:20Like you're in a three wide receiver league, your half point PPR, your tight end premium, super flex, you know, dynasty, rookie,
28:26whatever, whatever you're playing guillotine, whatever, uh, format you're playing, you can just input your settings and we get your ranks for that.
28:33But here's my thought on, um, on Michael Pittman and right.
28:36Pittman at 46 is absolutely criminal. Matthew come on, man says Scotty, Scotty McClory.
28:40I haven't, I haven't at 46. Um, his ADP is wide receiver 40.
28:44So I'm lower on him. Here's the thing over the past two seasons, he's averaging under 50 receiving yards per game, uh, and half PPR scoring.
28:52Again, that's how I'm doing my ranks. That's where my rank is.
28:55He's wide receiver 34. And that's, he's averaging under nine points per game.
28:59He has never been a big touchdown scorer in his career.
29:02He's had under 11 yards per reception in three of the past four years.
29:06So the argument on Pittman is volume quarterback with low a dot.
29:10Who's just going to pepper him with targets. So I get that.
29:13My only issue is, is that it's not like they're going to ignore DK Metcalf.
29:18I kind of like Jimmy Bernard roll tide. I like Jimmy Bernard as, as a slot receiver, as a rookie.
29:24Um, I know you mentioned no Kenny gain. Well, but they're going to use doubt.
29:28They're going to use, um, they're going to obviously use Jalen Warren.
29:31Who's good in passing, passing game as well. They've got two tight ends.
29:35They're going to use those guys. I just, and I feel like it's not going to be a high scoring offense.
29:41They're not going to need to be, it's going to be a pretty good defense.
29:46They're in a deep, they're in a division with the Browns, Bengals, and Ravens, all of whom are going to have good
29:52defenses as bad as the Browns are going to be.
29:55It's still an elite defense and the Bengals, the Bengals quietly in the off season loaded up defensively.
30:00So I, I just, I don't know. I just don't want to invest in the Steelers offense.
30:05I don't mind either the running backs. And like I said, I like Bernard.
30:10I have been dynasty, um, in a couple of my dynasty leagues.
30:13Um, and I think he could be interesting in a deep league because on a McCarthy offense, they do like to throw to the slot a lot.
30:21I just, just don't think there's a ton of upside for Michael Pittman is would be my, would be my argument there.
30:27Um, uh, we're having too much fun. So I just want to roll on here.
30:32Yeah, let's keep going, man. So, um, here's my next bold prediction.
30:35AJ Brown has the best season of his NFL career.
30:38He's had a lot of great seasons in his year, uh, in his career.
30:42Right. But, um, I'm going to argue that, uh, AJ Brown with the Patriots, in addition to the, he's got a chip
30:49on his shoulder reunited with Mike Rabel, all of that.
30:52AJ Brown is going to play with the best passing quarterback of his career.
30:56And I don't think it's particularly close to be honest.
30:59Like again, we love Jalen Hurts in fantasy. He was a former ride or die, but from a pure NFL standpoint, you
31:05ask any talent evaluator, you ask any scout, who's the best passing quarterback that AJ Brown will have played in his career.
31:12Well, I'll do, I'm not convinced Hurts was better than Tannehill, but, um, uh, he's definitely not better than Drake may as a passer.
31:19So it's going to be the best passing quarterback of his career, fantasy friendly offense.
31:23This is somebody who, um, you know, doesn't have a ton of target competition.
31:27I'll do respect to Kayshawn Booty and pop Douglas.
31:30Um, he's going to get a massive target share.
31:32And this, this is again, facts that I put in my hundred facts column.
31:36Whereas Drake may one of the league leaders in touchdowns thrown 15 or more air yards down the field over the last
31:43four years, no one's had more touchdowns of 15 or more air yards than AJ Brown.
31:48So best fantasy season of his career coming for AJ Brown.
31:51I love that. I am totally with you, Matthew.
31:53Those skillsets marry each other. So well, I said, uh, last year at the very end of the season, as a bold
32:00prediction, partly to troll our friend, Mike Clay, that I felt like AJ Brown was going to have 1700 receiving yards for
32:06the first time in his career for someone not named the Philadelphia Eagles.
32:10I am so glad he went to new England because there is a shot that he could do it with Drake may
32:17with the way that they're marrying the two, the, the skillsets that they both have with Drake may deep passing and the
32:23way that AJ Brown can track that ball. So I love it.
32:27I think that's a great call. I am in on that bold take Matthew, but I want to ask you about how you feel about Jadarian price.
32:34Okay. Cause I've been in on him a bunch this year.
32:38Jadarian Price is one of those guys that is my favorite RB two to draft in fantasy leagues because in ESPN leagues,
32:44he's coming off the board in the ninth round.
32:47I understand all the concerns about taking a guy that never was the number one back on his own team in college,
32:53even though he's a first round pick, he clearly was behind Jeremiah Love with everything that they did, but the Seattle Seahawks don't have Ken Walker.
33:01The third Zach Charbonnet is still a question mark.
33:03We're figuring out. We don't know he will be there, but we don't know when he will be there.
33:09They had 17 rushing touchdowns last year. They were the run heaviest team in the NFL.
33:14They had the third most carries of any squad last season.
33:17And now they don't have either of their two starting running backs and you can get Jadarian price in the ninth round of ESPN fantasy leagues.
33:25If you think about what your draft can be with the way that you can load up everywhere else by grabbing him
33:31as your RB two, and then maybe grabbing a couple of other running backs to, to be in a situation to have
33:37a really nice, uh, uh, RB three or RB four behind him.
33:41I think price is in a spot where they want to keep running the ball.
33:45They're not going to stop running the ball. He is the lead guy in that offense.
33:50He is the first man that they are going to put out there.
33:54I'm not worried about any of the guys behind him.
33:57I'm not worried about the fact that he has not caught a lot of passes in college.
34:02The dude looks fantastic so far. I love the offense.
34:05Give me Jadarian price as a top 15 running back, Matthew Berry.
34:08So what you're telling me, Daniel is the price is right.
34:11Oh, the price is right. My friend. Thank you.
34:14God bless. Two shows on Saturday. I'll be here all week.
34:17Tip your waitresses. Try the curly fries. I see.
34:20Aloha bricks has the same joke as me. Nice job.
34:23Aloha bricks, but I had it before you did.
34:25Well, you know what? I think we're sort of on that.
34:29You're a little bit higher than I am. You haven't running back 19.
34:32I'm at 25, which is right around where he's going.
34:35He's going at running back 26 on ADP. I don't mind it.
34:39Like I joke all puns aside that price could easily take this job and wait for it.
34:44Run away with it. Right. He's going to get the first shot.
34:47I'm not worried about, you know, George Helani or any of the other guys in that Seattle backfield.
34:53It is going to be him. He's going to get the first shot.
34:56We don't know when Charbonnet is going to come back.
34:59You know, the Albert Breer report of like that he might be back for week one was a little surprising.
35:05I feel like Charbonnet is going to take a little bit longer to get back on the field.
35:11And then the other question is, is that even if Charbonnet is back out there, is he still effective?
35:16We've seen there was a serious injury. And so is he going to have the same explosiveness?
35:21Right. You know, he could be out there. I mean, we saw it with Saquon.
35:25Saquon came back the next year, but he wasn't.
35:28It took him a year before he became Saquon again.
35:31Right. And so, yeah. Our close friend, Stefania Bell, often says there is a major difference between return to play and return to performance.
35:38Zach Charbonnet might be able to get back on the field, but is he going to be the same guy that he
35:44was last year when he was smashing for the Seahawks down the stretch?
35:48That's the thing that I have some question marks on.
35:51Shout out to Stefania Bell, wherever you're at. We miss you, Starfania.
35:55Love you, kid. But anyway, so these are bold takes.
35:58Again, I'm only six off of your ranking, and so I don't mind it because I absolutely could see a scenario where
36:04Price has the kind of season you're talking about, especially because knowing they're running the same offense.
36:09Even though Kubiak's in Las Vegas, they're running the same offense.
36:12They're going to want to be run heavy, set up play action.
36:16So it's all the same. So here's my next one.
36:19Rookie wide receiver. The highest scoring. Here's my next bold take.
36:22The highest scoring rookie wide receiver this year is Casey Concepcion.
36:25Matthew! No! That's a Cleveland Brown! Gigamags! Let's go.
36:28Here's the argument. Here's the argument. First off, think about the other wide receivers.
36:32Yep. I'm not, you know, Carnell Tate, but I'm not.
36:35First off, I think there's a very good chance that Wando Robinson leads that team in targets.
36:40And so, you know, it's early in the preseason, but Cam Ward did not look great in his first preseason game.
36:46Obviously, Jordan Tyson's going to miss a decent amount of time.
36:49And then you start thinking about some of the other ones.
36:52Again, you know, I get it. The Stribb club is always open.
36:56But he's going to have increased target competition. Mekhi Lemon has a bunch of competition.
37:00Mekhi Lemon is dealing with a hammy. You know, Jacoby Lane is dealing with Zay Flowers.
37:05Like, Casey Concepcion very easily could be the leading wide receiver on his team, right?
37:09And you can't say that with a lot of the rookies.
37:13And you just think about this monk in offense that loves to, like, you know, create space, you know, do gadget plays,
37:19you know, create a lot of yards after contact opportunities.
37:22This is somebody in his first preseason game, Concepcion, targeted on 27% of his routes.
37:26He got the 14-yard rushing touchdown, already hinting that, you know, they're going to use sweeps.
37:31They're going to try a bunch of different ways to get the ball in his hands, similar to what Munkin did with Zay Flowers in Baltimore.
37:39And everything out of camp is that, you know, he's having an incredible camp.
37:43Obviously, the draft capital is there as well. And so my take on the Cleveland Browns is that they are going to be competent adjacent.
37:50Like, everyone's thinking, like, this is going to be a disaster of an offense.
37:54I don't think it's going to be great, but I think it is going to be competent adjacent.
37:59I love that term. I don't think it's going to be the best offense in the world or even a middle-of-packed offense,
38:06but I don't think it's going to be an unmitigated disaster.
38:09I think they will be able to move the ball.
38:12I think Munkin is a good enough play caller.
38:15And so, and you're like, all right, well, if they're going to move the ball somewhat, you know, here comes Casey Concepcion,
38:21or as Brandon Garrett says, Immaculate Concepcion. Not bad.
38:24Not as good as they're all purdy in the Stribb club, but it's pretty good.
38:28But yeah, so I have him at 48. His current ADP is 52, but my bold prediction, again, is that Casey Concepcion
38:35leads all rookie wide receivers in fantasy points per game.
38:38I like that. I mean, we've seen him splash so far in the preseason.
38:42I mean, just week one, he had a lot of excitement, and the guys that he's got to beat out, like you
38:48just mentioned, they don't really scare me a whole lot.
38:51I do want to ask you really quickly, Matthew.
38:54I got one more player I want to bring to the table, and it's Christian Watson.
38:58Because Christian Watson, many people don't know this, but when Christian Watson was born, they actually installed his hamstrings backwards when he was a baby.
39:06They didn't mean to, but the doctor did it by accident.
39:09And so he's been dealing with that his entire career, right?
39:12What are you going to do in that situation?
39:15He's really overcome a lot of – they should make a 30 for 30 about him.
39:19Yes, they should. Yes. Here's the thing about Christian Watson.
39:22You know what the best thing about Christian Watson is?
39:25Can I interrupt you for a second? Tell me.
39:28Tell me. The best thing about Christian Watson is that his dad will argue on Twitter with his internet doctors.
39:34That's true. By the way, I'm team Christian Watson's dad in that particular skirmish, by the way.
39:39That's so funny. But anyway, go ahead. All right, so go ahead.
39:42I interrupted you. Christian Watson. No, you're good. You're good.
39:45All right. No, no. There's no doubt. You were crapping all over his hamstrings when I interrupted you.
39:50Go ahead. There's no doubt that Christian Watson is an unbelievably talented wide receiver.
39:55When he's on the field and he is healthy, the way that he stretches the field, him and Jordan Love, like he's got that long stride, man.
40:02It doesn't take a lot for Christian Watson to really pile up in the box score.
40:07But just like we always have reservations on certain players, Christian Watson for me is the player that has just burned me
40:14too many times and wanting to be able to trust him and not even knowing when I'll be able to use him
40:20week in and week out in my fantasy season.
40:23Played 14 games his first year, nine games his second year, 15 games his third year, 10 games his last year.
40:29Like he's never had a full season. It seems like he's always getting hurt.
40:33He's never had a target share over 20%. 19% is his highest target share.
40:37Now he can do a lot with the wear or the spot that he's getting those targets on the field.
40:43But just given the, this is one of those situations, Matthew, you know how in fantasy, fantasy is an emotional game.
40:49We just have some scar tissue around some guys where you're like, you know what?
40:53I'm just out. I'm just out. Christian Watson is an unbelievable talent when he's healthy and he's on the field.
40:59He is awesome. I'm just out. I'd rather let him be someone else's problem.
41:03It's fair enough. I'm in on Christian Watson. I have a lot of him this year.
41:08So it's going to know in the leagues that you and I are in on, I'm not going to have to fight you for him.
41:15Tell me why you're on him. His ADP is 68.
41:18He's going to basically in seventh round. And so my argument is that those injury concerns are baked into the price already.
41:25I have him at wide receiver 27. You have him at 42.
41:28So we are way apart on Christian Watson. Over his final seven games last year, the 15th best wide receiver in fantasy football.
41:35The 15th best wide receiver in fantasy football over the final seven games last year, week 11 to 18.
41:4142% of the team's end zone targets last year.
41:43That was the seventh highest rate among wide receivers.
41:46And so to me, that's the question. That's the only art, the only to me, the only anti-argument for Christian Watson is the hindries.
41:53Because he's going to be the number one wide receiver, I believe, and it'll be a pretty good offense.
41:58Right? I understand that, you know, people are excited about Matthew Gold.
42:02And I actually really like Jaden Reed as a player.
42:05But again, one of the anti-Packer wide receiver argument was always like, well, they got too many guys.
42:10Right? Well, now Dontavian Wicks is in Philadelphia. Romeo Dobbs is in New England.
42:14Right? So it's less of a target competition. Tucker Craft is back.
42:18I get it. But still, he is going to be the number one target for one of the better than average offense.
42:24And I would argue that the seventh round price has baked in his injury concerns.
42:29And so if I get 9, 10, 11 games of Watson, amazing.
42:32And then hopefully you get the full season there.
42:35So I'm in on Christian Watson. I will say, if you do that, Matthew, I think you're in a good spot because
42:41at least it's a wide receiver if he gets hurt.
42:44It's not like you're drafting a running back that has potential injury that's harder to be able to replace if he doesn't play down the stretch.
42:52You can find another wide receiver in your lineup to fill him in if you do need.
42:57So that does give – that's a fair for your point there as well.
43:01I thank you. I appreciate that acknowledgement. You're gracious and generous with your praise.
43:05All right. Here's my last one. As long as we're talking Packer wide receivers.
43:09How about a former Packer wide receiver? Last bold take.
43:12Devontae Adams will not finish as a top 30 wide receiver.
43:15This is somebody that turned 34 in December. You know, again, missed three games with a hamstring injury.
43:20You want to talk about hammies. This is a guy who missed three games with a hamstring injury last year and turned 34.
43:27Like, last year, his end zone usage, right, was such a – the target volume was so insane because they were desperately
43:34trying to get Matthew Stafford, the MVP. And they were patting the stats.
43:37But it was a historical outlier. Traditionally, when they've gotten in close, they like to go to Kyron Williams.
43:43They like to run the ball. This is somebody, Devontae Adams, who was 29th, literally 29th among wide receivers in receiving yards per game last year, right?
43:51He averaged under 60 receiving yards a game. So it was all about the touchdown.
43:55So he's very touchdown dependent in terms of where he would be ranked with his – for his fantasy value here, Daniel.
44:02And every single year, this is another thing that I had in my 100 facts.
44:06But, you know, last year, Matthew Stafford led the NFL in, you know, he led it in a lot of different things.
44:13But especially in touchdown rate, right? A lot of different stats.
44:16But touchdown rate. And in the previous five quarterbacks that led the NFL in touchdown rate, they all regressed the following year, right?
44:22And so for me to say that Matthew Stafford will regress in terms of his touchdown passes this year, I don't think is a crazy bold take.
44:30I think most people expect that. I think if you ask Matthew Stafford, he might expect that.
44:35Again, they're gearing up for a Super Bowl, right?
44:38And so I think for him to get to over 40 touchdowns again is unlikely.
44:42And certainly the fantasy community agrees because that's – Stafford's ADP is nowhere near where he finished last year.
44:48Most people expect Stafford to regress. So if he's going to regress touchdown-wise, well, obviously that means Devontae Adams likely to regress touchdown-wise.
44:55And that's if Adams stays healthy the entire year.
44:57So I just think he is way too touchdown dependent.
45:00I think Stafford and Adams both regress touchdown-wise. So, I mean, I have met wide receiver 24, you know, but this is bold take.
45:07So I'm going to say I think there's a decent chance he's 10 spots behind that and he finishes as wide receiver
45:1434 or somewhere outside the top 30. I don't disagree with you, Matthew.
45:18I'm in on – unfortunately, I don't want to say in on – but I think Matthew Stafford has major regression this year.
45:24It is so unbelievably difficult to throw 4,700 yards and 40-plus touchdowns.
45:28He was the QB2 last season. You know what he was the season before that?
45:32He was quarterback 27. The year before that, he was quarterback 16.
45:36The year before that, he was quarterback 31. He doesn't run the football.
45:39All he does is throw. And as a part of that, you're right.
45:43Throwing 40 touchdowns for a consecutive season at this age is going to be so unbelievably difficult.
45:48And Devontae Adams, he had a 54% end zone target share for his team last year.
45:53That led the NFL. No one else got as many targets in the end zone as he did.
45:58He kind of felt like Jimmy Graham where it's like they didn't even throw the ball to him in between the rest of the field.
46:06It was like we're just going to throw it like inside the 20s.
46:09That's it. We're trying to find Devontae in the end zone.
46:13So if there was a guy that I feel like, unfortunately, because even though Devontae has been unbelievable, he kind of hits an age wall.
46:20Plus that, you know, skill starts to drop off and the offense with his quarterback loses a little bit.
46:25Like you never want to project it. But this is this kind of feels like the season where some of these things are kind of lining up.
46:33Yeah. And by the way, as Ruben G2G says or 2G2 says, sorry, don't forget.
46:38He also has Taco Bell in his house. That's not healthy.
46:41No, it's not. We love Taco Bell. I eat a lot of Taco Bell.
46:45I drive through a lot of Taco Bell. I have twin daughters that love them some Bell.
46:50But I have to be honest with you, you know, Taco Bell, not the necessarily healthiest for an NFL wide receiver who's 34.
46:57Medici, Jonathan Medici says Barry's 2026 hot takes are showing regression.
47:00I don't even know what that means, Medici. I'm not sure why they threw that one up.
47:05Are they? Is he saying my hot takes are not showing?
47:08He's taking a shot at you? Yeah, I think he is.
47:11Is it not? Are my takes not hot enough?
47:14I don't know. I think Casey Concepcion as the highest scoring fantasy writers.
47:18That's a hot take, my friend. That's I love it, by the way.
47:22Yeah. Raise the flags asking hot fire or Diablo.
47:24I'm a wimp. I get mild. You know what I mean?
47:28My kids will do hot, but I'm a mild man in so many aspects of my life.
47:32Raise the flags. Not just at Taco Bell. Yeah.
47:35Yes. Not just at Taco Bell. Not just at the Bell.
47:38At any rate, but, you know, somebody else was, I think it was Brandon Garrett was asking what happens if Puka gets suspended.
47:45By the way, Stumpman Chuck, don't have Taco Bell and then go to the Strib Club.
47:50That's a great advice, by the way. That's one for the kids out there.
47:54Just skip the bell. Skip the bell if you're heading to the Strib Club.
47:58Well done, Stumpman Chuck. But, yeah, Brandon Garrett was asking, and this is a good question, is this like, that's the one
48:04positive in favor of Adams in theory was what happens if Puka gets suspended, which there's a chance, right?
48:10You know, there is a chance. But I guess, you know, obviously there'd be a big uptick, whatever, however long Puka was out.
48:17But hard to see Puka getting suspended for like six games.
48:20Feels like if he were to get suspended and if it were to happen this year, two games, whatever, I don't know.
48:26I just, I wouldn't want to draft Devontae Adams hoping for that, I guess is my point.
48:31I agree with you there. I also get the vibe that they just want to run a bunch of multi-tight end sets,
48:38two tight end, three tight end sets. They have so many tight ends in their roster right now, Matthew.
48:43Like, this is a situation where they're going to be doing that a bunch.
48:47Terrence Ferguson is a guy that if you wanted to grab at the very end of your draft, I think he is free.
48:54He's not a sexy name. But he's a guy in the Stafford offense that I think if you're talking about anyone missing
49:01time as a tight end could be someone to think about.
49:04But yeah, I am interested if, where are you, where do you have Puka right now?
49:09Because we've talked a lot about, are you mitigating the risk in case of suspension?
49:13Or are you going all in with him either as your wide receiver one or wide receiver two still?
49:18I'm all in. I'm all in on Puka. I just think, I think, you know, I mean, it's him and Chase right there for me, obviously.
49:26Yeah, 1A, 1B. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. So I'm right there with Puka and Chase.
49:30Like, proud Fantasy Life investor Jamar Chase, by the way.
49:33I have to always bring that. Yeah, so I guess I'm not worried about the suspension or that I think he's elite
49:40enough that, you know, go for it. I will say that I have a decent amount of Chase this year.
49:46I don't have any Puka so far, just because the way drafts have sort of fallen to me so far.
49:52And I always, again, you know, it's dumb, but Jamar Chase is legitimately an investor in my company and fantasy life.
49:58And, you know, I know him. I know people around him.
50:01So I always want to like, you know, you know, I always want to, you know, support my guy, right?
50:07I always just feel it's good karma. But Rip Flair, hair, does Daniel have a ride or die this year?
50:13We got two minutes left, Daniel, but do you have a ride or die this year?
50:17Ride or die this year would probably be Omari and Hampton.
50:21I have him as RB5. I don't have to draft him as RB5.
50:24I can still get him in the second round.
50:27But I love Hampton coming over. He was an unbelievable pass catcher when he was healthy last year.
50:32He's the goal line guy. Mike McDaniel coming over, all the things that he did with Devon Achan and that offense.
50:38I think being able to have him not only as a goal line back, but as a really nice pass catcher in what should be an ascending offense.
50:47Taking another step with Justin Herbert. I love the Chargers.
50:50I love Omari and Hampton. He would be my guy this year that I'm planting my flag on.
50:55Well, he was my ride or die last year.
50:57So I hope you're right. You know, again, I'm never wrong.
51:01I'm just early. Just early. That's it. Sometimes I'm early.
51:04So if Hampton pulls that off, then he would do that.
51:07So one remind everyone, Daniel Dopp, that the ESPN Fantasy Focus Marathon.
51:10I'm sorry, not Fantasy Focus. Let me read this correctly.
51:13The ESPN Fantasy Football Marathon, August 24th and 25th.
51:16Begins live on August 24th from 7 to 9 p.m.
51:19on ESPN2 Fantasy Focus Countdown. That'll then continue from 9 to 11 on ESPN.
51:23August 25th, Daniel, you and all the other ESPN Fantasy Football experts will do the 2026 Fantasy Football Draft from 9 to 11 on ESPN.
51:30Co-streamed on the NFL on ESPN YouTube channel. Everyone go check it out and follow my buddy at Daniel Dopp on Twitter.
51:37Brother, I love you. Thank you so much for doing this.
51:40I'm so excited that you are here to do this.
51:43Me too. And hopefully I can come back and do this again.
51:46It's been too long. I love your face. I love being able to see you, man.
51:51Thank you so much for having me. Awesome. All right.
51:54Well, Daniel Dopp, on Monday, Dwayne McFarlane from FantasyLife.com will talk about all the preseason utilization from this weekend.
52:00Another great show. So please like and subscribe if you haven't already to any of the channels.
52:05I think that's what the kids say. It's closing time, which means you don't have to go home, but you can stay here.
52:11For Daniel, I'm Matthew. Peace out. There are so many more fans than the P Fu VIIIowym do go home, but you can stay here.
52:19You can be ready for 아무 Tip and apply no gameplay, but I'll work out.
52:23I mean, you're Stan г beauw pup.
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