The Dominator - The TE Whisperer - Andrew Cooper
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Jul 2, 2026
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Thu, July 2, 2026
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Episode Transcript
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1:16It's The Dominator. I'm your fantasy conciliary, Dan Williamson, the overhyped sleeper.
1:20You can find me on X at Overhyped Sleeper.
1:23Just drop that final E from Sleeper. And joining me today is one of my very favorite guests from the old goat district.
1:30He's the OG of Titan Whisperers. Andrew Cooper is going to be on.
1:34You can catch him on the X at Coop-A-Fiasco.
1:37But now it's time for a deep dive into a position we all love to hate.
1:41It is time to dominate. What's up, Andrew? What is up, brother?
1:45I'm doing great, man. Love getting on here with you, man.
1:48As I kind of mentioned, the first show I was ever a guest on in this industry was the goat district with
1:55you, J.D., Theo, way back in the day. Made many appearances, but we go way back, man.
2:00And folks out there, Dan Williamson, certified member of the Brotherhood of Titan Whisperers.
2:05You know, there's some folks out there, Howard Bender, Dan, that, you know, I lean on for this stuff.
2:10And I check in with and that's the crew.
2:13He knows the secret handshake. We don't teach it to Theo.
2:17We don't teach it to J.D. or any other guys.
2:20I mean, it's a pretty tight-knit group, dude. But this show, I'm firing up for it because we're going to get to
2:26the bottom of the position and give you everything you need to crush at, as Dan said, one of the most frustrating positions at times.
2:34Yeah, definitely. And, you know, as you know, I love to talk tight end anytime, anywhere.
2:39But, you know, Coop, your yearly article on the position should be the Bible for everybody.
2:44I'm 100% convinced of that. You know, and it's so different than any other article because, you know what, it's very readable.
2:50It's entertaining. And it's packed full of actionable information.
2:53And what a rare combo. I mean, you know, obviously you're an award winner with the FSWA.
2:58So, you know, that's pretty rare stuff. So let people know where they can find that article, all the rest of your
3:05stuff, when the article is coming out. I mean, let them know.
3:09So I appreciate it, yeah. And it's funny, my SEO guy, our SEO guy, you know, he does an incredible job, right?
3:15And he goes through and he kind of tells us, like, what's moving the needle for SEO and stuff.
3:21And he actually mentioned to me, he was like, you know, he's like, these GIFs and these memes, he's like, they kind
3:28of take up a lot of space. They're not really doing anything.
3:31I was like, look, brother, I get what you're doing.
3:35They're not going anywhere. I was like, if you write 10,000 words on tight ends, you're going to have to mix in
3:41one joke, one SpongeBob meme somewhere in there to keep people reading.
3:45So, yeah, check that out. If you Google what makes an elite tight end, the most recent version of it comes up.
3:52What I do is I just update it every year with new stats and new data and new little pieces of information that could affect the position.
4:00Not a crazy amount has been added to it, but we're always trying to stay on the cutting edge of what makes
4:07an elite tight end in fantasy because, you know, the landscape shifts in all the time.
4:11Yeah, it definitely is. I mean, you know, the players that you absolutely want last year might be the players you really
4:18don't want much of a part of this year and, you know, or vice versa.
4:23So start us off. What kind of markers are we looking for in a tight end that can finish in the top three or four?
4:30Yeah, so basically there's a couple that are like full-on barriers to entry, and then the rest are kind of assets, right?
4:37Like, so for me, it's the way I look at it is like the first two here, that's entry into the stadium.
4:44Like, you need to get through the gates. Without these, we have virtually no hits, right?
4:49And then once you're inside, you know, it's like how close can you get to the stadium?
4:54What kind of seats you have? Like, how close can you get to the field?
4:58So for me, the first two, number one is some sort of path to being a top two target on the team.
5:05That is crucial. Well, historically speaking, the odds of three guys on the same team all getting 100 targets is low.
5:11The odds of three guys on the same team all getting 100 targets while everyone's healthy the whole time is even lower.
5:18You know, like last year, you look at Jake Ferguson.
5:21Yes, he ended up getting 100 targets. But in the five games that CeeDee Lamb either left or missed completely, he averaged 17.7 PPR points.
5:29In the other games, he averaged 9.4. So we're talking in the games Lamb was out, he was tight end two in points per game.
5:36In the other games, he was tight end 20, right?
5:39So being a top two target is crucial. That is, if you can't create that kind of path, it's very hard to have top five upside.
5:47You can be a back end tight end one, but those guys aren't that important to us in a typical league where you start one tight end.
5:56The other one, which is kind of sneaky, is blocking on 15% of your pass plays.
6:00If anyone blocks on 15% or more of their pass plays, the hit rate is legitimately brutal.
6:06And Dan, you know this. There's a couple guys that have been able to do it, but the circumstances are you basically
6:12got to be George Kittle, who's he's done it once with freakish, you know, long speed.
6:17And then the other guys that do it did it on did it on touchdowns.
6:22It was only two guys. One was Rob Gronkowski scored 11 touchdowns in 11 games, finished top five.
6:27The other was Julius Thomas, and he scored 13 touchdowns in the year that Peyton Manning threw 55.
6:33So you just, you can't, you cannot be asked to stay in and block.
6:37It's the same as being off the field, right?
6:40So those are the top two with a bullet for me.
6:43The other ones, you can live without them, but they're very helpful.
6:47Running at least 50% of your routes from a wide receiver spot.
6:50Last year, only one tight end finished top 12, not running 50% of his routes from a wide receiver spot.
6:57That was Dalton Schultz, and he ran 43%, so he was right there.
7:00Create for yourself versus man-to-man. Also, breaking tackles is nice, testing catches.
7:04Guys that can do more on their own, obviously, you know, turn into the Tucker Crafts and the George Kittles, you know.
7:11So red zone prowess is tough to measure, but, you know, guys are getting red zone targets like Mark Andrews, high A-dot guys.
7:18And kind of the last one, you know, everyone knows that high volume offense is highly consolidated offense.
7:23One thing that's really underrated is the fed-in position, and you and I talk about this in Dynasty all the time, is speed.
7:30True speed is such a difference maker. And the part that people struggle with is that speed, pure speed is overrated at wide receiver and running back.
7:39It truly is, right? Like, those guys get overdrafted.
7:41Some of the best wide receivers like DeAndre Hopkins and Keenan Allen are not fast.
7:46You know, Anquan Bolden was legitimately slow, like flat-out slow.
7:49But with tight end, because the targets are fewer, doing more with less is a massive difference maker.
7:54Guys like George Kittle and Kyle Pitts that have 95th percentile speed and can break off a 40, 50, 60, in Kittle's case, 70, 80-yard touchdowns.
8:02I mean, that is massive. When, you know, last year Jake Ferguson finished tight end five with 600 yards, right?
8:08If you can break off a 60-yard, you know, Tucker Craft has like three different plays of 59 or more yards.
8:15That makes up a huge chunk of what your scoring is.
8:18So true speed to outrun linebackers and safeties matters to me.
8:22Yeah, definitely. And the other thing is once they get up to that speed, you know, with that much weight, I mean,
8:28that is a huge amount of momentum. And that's where you start seeing tacklers bouncing off and everything else.
8:34Because, you know, trying to bring down a, you know, 190-pound, 200-pound wide receiver is a very, very different thing than trying
8:41to bring down a 240, 250-pound tight end. Fact.
8:43Yeah. Fact. And I see Pete Nova in the chat saying Julius Thomas wasn't a good blocker.
8:49That was Adam Gase's fault. Adam Gase was like the tight end devil.
8:53He actually made Mike Gusecki block on 18% of his pass plays one year.
8:57He finished his like tight end 50. The very next year when he was out and Changhe and them were in, Gusecki
9:04blocked on 2% of his pass plays and finished like tight end six.
9:08So, like, that's pass blocking can absolutely murder you.
9:10And some coaches, that's just the way they do it.
9:13Their scheme makes the tight end block no matter who it is.
9:17Yeah. Yeah. And I think it also matters, you know, like, you know, I had a friend who, fellow high stakes player,
9:24he's like, you know, I keep hearing about these F and Y tight ends.
9:28What does that even mean? Is it important for fantasy production or not?
9:32Should I pay attention to it? What are your thoughts on that?
9:36Yeah. So, for me, it doesn't matter. The number one thing, and this gets lost in the sauce with this discussion so
9:42badly, the number one thing is that your tight end needs to be the best pass catching tight end on the team.
9:49Like, let's start there. If you have another tight end on the team that is even playing like 30, 40% of the snaps and he's playing.
9:57So, just to answer the actual question, why tight end means an inline tight end, right?
10:02And you can remember that because you can say, why are we drafting this guy?
10:06F tight end is kind of your big slot move tight end.
10:10And he kind of moves around and even can play split end at times, but also slot.
10:15Then there's a third version that we don't see as much anymore.
10:19Who is the last true H back? The H tight end.
10:22Like, Chris Cooley, maybe? I mean, how far back to him?
10:26I mean, you know, Johnny Smith played a little bit of H back sometimes.
10:30Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
10:33So, the H back basically, if you have a tight end that Aaron Hernandez actually played, probably like the best fantasy relevant H back.
10:40But like, you're playing actual like, so the H back is somebody who lines, is like basically a winger.
10:46Lines right off the tackle, right off the tight end, but also plays fullback, also moves around in there, right?
10:52There are some of those guys. Drew Sample does a decent amount of H back work in the pass game as a blocker, right?
10:59So, but basically the way I look at it is this.
11:02If a team uses three wide receiver sets and they don't have another kind of big slot tight end, then you can be the wide tight end.
11:11Or if a team like the 49ers just uses a fullback instead, and then you have two wide receivers and an inline
11:17wide tight end, then you can be fine. Tucker Craft is a wide tight end.
11:22George Kittle is a wide tight end. Kate Otten, Brenton Strange.
11:25These guys, they can operate in fantasy from an inline role because they're still the best pass catcher on the team.
11:32You run into problems when there's another tight end in the team that is even just as good as a pass catcher,
11:38but he gets to play that slot role. We saw it with Dallas Goddard for years.
11:43Zach Ertz got to play slot. He had to be inline.
11:47Dawson Knox deals with it. Dalton Kincaid doesn't even play that many snaps.
11:51Just 40% of the snaps will kill the inline tight end.
11:54Cole Komet ended up there. Michael Mayer ended up there.
11:57Those guys, and that's why we want to look for wide receiver snaps because that indicates to us who the best pass
12:04catcher tight end on the team is. So now we're seeing pretty much every team using a mix of both.
12:10The inline guys end up running lower ADOT routes.
12:12They end up being asked to stay in to block more.
12:16They end up, sometimes teams will just absolutely crush them with the defensive end and they can't even get off the line to run their route.
12:24Like lining up at wide receiver is just much more appealing for a tight end.
12:28Wow, Jermaine Wiggins in the chat. Nice. Yes. Nice shout out by Joe Carlton.
12:33Love that. Yep, nailed that one too. Yeah. So, yeah.
12:36And so basically what it comes down to is essentially we want to have that tight end who's playing in the slot as much as possible.
12:44But if there is no slot tight end, then that wide tight end can be viable.
12:48Like if you're running out of 11 formation and, you know, your third wide receiver is essentially a, you know, a sacrificial
12:55wide receiver in some way or another. So that the tight end is getting more targets than at least the third wide
13:02receiver and hopefully than the second wide receiver. Then they can matter.
13:06A good example last year would be Tyler Warren, right?
13:09Because you had Alec Pierce was a field stretching player that played well, but that guy doesn't need 150 targets like C.B.
13:15Lamb, right? And Michael Pittman was playing on the outside and played really well while Daniel Jones was playing.
13:21And then Josh Downs was kind of just a part-time guy.
13:24And that allowed Tyler Warren to be a full-time guy that was operating as a focal point wide tight end.
13:31And it's kind of – the more you listen to Dan and I talking about it, you can see how the path
13:37for inline wide tight ends is much more difficult than these guys that play slot.
13:42Because one of the other huge benefits of having a slot tight end, especially when you have another inline tight end, is
13:48it takes a wide receiver out of the game, right?
13:52Like, the more wide receivers that come out of the game, the better.
13:55That's why we love these schemes that use the inline tight ends, that use the fullbacks, because you're not taking the running back out, the lineman, the quarterback.
14:04It's going to be the wide receivers, sometimes two of them.
14:07And that's good, nice consolidation with those schemes. Yeah, definitely.
14:10It's also good consolidation for the wide receivers, too.
14:13They get a nice healthy benefit as well. But let's circle back to your yin-yang tight end theory.
14:19Just give us the – kind of what's the nuts and bolts of it, and give us a good example of each yin and a yang tight end.
14:27Yeah, so the idea is this. If you can get one of the top tight ends, which I call standalone tight ends, that means you're just drafting one.
14:36You don't need to draft another one. Like, if I get Colston Loveland, I've already spent enough draft capital on my tight end.
14:43Unless we're doing, like, a 20-round FFPC tight end premium league.
14:46But let's just talk about, for the people out there that play, like, a normal 10-12 team league, if you spend up
14:53on a tight end in that range, you're just worried about his bye weeks or injuries.
14:58You're just drafting one. If we wait on tight end, though, and this was something that kind of helped put us on
15:04the map, was that for a long time, people said just draft one tight end no matter what.
15:10And that strategy has proven to be a little antiquated.
15:13Like, I last year won Kings Classic running the same strategy out.
15:17What I do is I wait on tight end and then I draft two.
15:21Somebody that I can actually trust to start right away, which is your yin tight end, and then the yang tight end
15:28is a bench spot you use on the highest risk, highest reward possible player.
15:32We do not care about floor in the slightest.
15:35Right? Because the reason you draft the first one, and again, you can get really aggressive and draft two of the yang
15:41tight ends and just play it by ear. But the reason we draft someone we can start is that a lot of
15:48these breakout tight ends aren't startable early on. I mean, Trey McBride, for instance, the year he broke out, he was a
15:55backup behind Zach Ertz for seven weeks. Evan Ingram, when he had his first year with the Jaguars, he was unstartable for the first like four weeks.
16:03Two of those weeks, he had either one or zero catches.
16:06Logan Thomas was tight end 26 through the first six weeks the year he broke out.
16:11He finished his tight end three. Like, you will lose a lot of weeks if you just go into it with just pure risk.
16:18And we know that from other positions, but it works for the tight end as well.
16:23So an example for this year that I think would maybe not the guys I'm drafting the most, but a perfect example
16:30would be a yin tight end, a pairing of Travis Kelsey and Kenyon Sebi.
16:34Right? Travis Kelsey, he has a pretty good floor.
16:37Right? Last year he finished technically as a tight end three.
16:40He's lost a lot of the juice to break off chunk plays, but he can give you a floor.
16:46But he also this year has the first bye week of any team.
16:50He has bye week five. So you can draft Kelsey and you got four weeks to start him while you look for
16:57your second tight end, your breakout tight end. And a guy you throw on the bench, maybe Kenyon Sadiq.
17:03I mean, this guy's got a lot of the things we look for.
17:07Absolute freak athlete. Right? We expect him to line up at wide receiver a ton because Mason Taylor is the inline tight end.
17:14You know, Garrett Wilson is going to be the number one target, but it's him versus Omar Cooper versus Adonai Mitchell versus Brees Hall.
17:21He can easily be a top two target on the team.
17:24He could be a big breakout tight end. A breakout tight end.
17:28He could also be a complete zero. Like he could be a guy that we can't even start at all.
17:34We've seen it happen all the time. I mean, people were excited about Elijah Arroyo and Terrence Ferguson.
17:39These guys are second round picks last year and they were unstartable.
17:43So that's the kind of setup that you do is you draft Kelsey and know your cup.
17:48And again, with Kelsey this year, you can wait.
17:51You can draft eight, nine running backs first. Right?
17:54You take eight or nine running backs and then you take your, your, get a quarterback somewhere along the way and then take two tight ends.
18:02And that's your path to upside. You, you, the key really is that you don't want to be content taking a late
18:08round tight end and not continuing to look for upside.
18:11That's a killer. Dan, you've seen it a million times.
18:14It's one of the ways, right? All the time cruising into third place.
18:18Yep, exactly. And that's, that's the thing too. You know, it is when you're using the strategy, you know, you, you're taking
18:25your best shot on a gang tight end, you know, that you're going to put on your, your bench right away.
18:32You know, you know, that's coming out of the draft if you're, you know, drafting two tight ends, but then you want
18:38to be looking actively, you know, is this guy fulfilling that gang potential?
18:42You know, is he getting the targets, whether the targets are mattering or not for the first couple of weeks probably matters
18:49less than whether there, are they just getting the targets and then be looking around at every other tight end that's on the wire.
18:56You know, what, are there any tight ends here where I'm looking at them and I'm going, okay, yeah, this guy's getting
19:03a lot of targets and I could see how this could continue.
19:07You know, and this guy might end up being the second most targeted player on the team.
19:12Bingo. That's what you look for. And it's, and it's, it's just like, it really is just like zero RB, right?
19:18Whereas when you do a zero RB build, you're, you got to start somebody, right?
19:23So you're grabbing like, even if you got to grab like a Samajay B Ryan or whatever, you throw them in there.
19:29But the, I'm glad you pointed that out, Dan.
19:32It doesn't end at the draft. It just, it starts at the draft, right?
19:36Like it's, we start zero RB at the draft and then we got it.
19:41We got a hit to create that leverage, but that's what we're doing with tight end.
19:46We're creating that leverage. And every year, basically going back for the last 15 years, there's been a guy coming outside the
19:52top 15 to finish in ADP to finish top five.
19:55You know, it was Everett Ingram twice, Mark Andrews, Darren Waller going all the way back to Heath Miller.
20:01I mean, we saw Robert Tunyon, Dalton Schultz, Johnnie Smith.
20:04I mean, Harold Fannin last year, like the, the, these guys, the tight, the reason we do this.
20:10And, and the reason that guys like Dan are so valuable to have in your back pocket is that the tight end
20:16position is one of the few ones where guys routinely come from the deep rounds to be difference makers, which doesn't always happen at other positions.
20:24Last year you had a wide receiver last year, you basically had for guys going outside the top 180 P that, that
20:31were like really difference makers, you know, that finished on a big percentage of championship teams.
20:36You know, according to the research done by ESPN on their own roster ship, you was basically Michael Wilson as an undrafted
20:43guy or Wanda Robinson in terms of guys in the top 50, like wide receiver is one of the harder spots to find breakout guys.
20:50Tight end much, much, much easier. Yeah, exactly. And the thing is, you know, if you, if you're playing zero RB, you
20:57know, that any RB who, who happens to pop at all, you know, on the waiver wire the next week, everybody is
21:04bidding on them, you know, and with a tight end, that's not always the case.
21:08It is starting to change a little bit. I've noticed over the last couple of years, but you know, like Johnny Smith,
21:15when he popped for the, for the dolphins, you know, I, I went out there and I got them everywhere because nobody was fighting me for them.
21:23You know, and it's like, you know, it's a lot easier to have a, you know, to pick up that tight end
21:30that can really carry your team off of the waiver wire.
21:33You know, hopefully you don't have to, because hopefully you nailed the gang on your first try, you know, and in the
21:40draft and you got them for free basically. But if not, just keep trying that waiver wire and they'll come a lot,
21:47lot cheaper than the wide receivers and the running backs for sure.
21:50No doubt. All right. We're going to take a quick break.
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24:34All right, and we're back. So, Coop, a lot of teams seem to be embracing heavy formations this year.
24:40You know, we're hearing a lot about, you know, 12 personnel, 13 personnel, you know, where you're going to see two tight
24:46ends, three tight ends on the field. Does that mean it's going to be easier to find a difference maker at tight end?
24:53I'll say yes and no. I think it's going to confuse a lot of people for sure because I think the general
25:00consensus from a surface level is just more tight ends means more shots at tight ends, right?
25:05But we know from a lot of these teams that that's not the case.
25:09Like, this isn't – just because more teams are doing it doesn't mean we haven't seen it a lot.
25:15Like, we've seen teams, you know, it just – it doesn't pop to you when it looks like the Bengals using two
25:22wide receivers and Drew Sample and Mike Gusecki and Tanner Hudson.
25:25You know, but they do rotate a lot of tight ends in there.
25:29The rotation is what kills you. If you can have a every down pass catching tight end be on the field and
25:36then have another guy come in and play in line, that is incredible for fantasy.
25:41Look at Travis Kelsey. People underestimate one of the biggest values for Travis Kelsey has been the number of snaps that Noah Gray plays, right?
25:48So, like, Noah Gray coming in and playing 60% of the snaps means the wide receiver is missing all those snaps.
25:55So, it's massive to have other guys taking those snaps away from the wide receivers.
25:59And, I mean, I see somebody in the chat saying, I thought you guys were at Dynasty.
26:04These concepts are absolutely applied to Dynasty. The idea in Dynasty is just target athletic players, talented players, and try and identify
26:11when the windows for those players are going to open.
26:14All these concepts apply equally, right? So, for some of these teams, you say something, Dan?
26:19No, no, go ahead. Keep going. So, for some of these teams, like, you have to figure out whether the group of
26:26tight ends, A, somebody can emerge in a big enough role as a pass catcher to be a guy.
26:31And, B, can they surpass the top pass catching wide receivers on the team, right?
26:36Like, if a team has two wide receivers that are both getting 125-plus targets, it's very difficult, even for an every down
26:43pass catching tight end, to have fantasy relevance. I mentioned it earlier.
26:46Jake Ferguson in the games where C.V. Lamb and George Pickens were healthy was the tight end 20 in PPR points per game.
26:53It was really – his season was entirely boosted by the five games that C.V.
26:58Lamb missed. Same goes for Mike Gusecki. There's a reason why he's not really popping with two wide receivers on the team.
27:05You know, those guys have contingent upside if someone gets hurt, right?
27:08Which is why we're interested in guys like maybe Terrence Ferguson in your Dynasty League in case one of Devontae Adams or Puka Nakua gets hurt.
27:16But having more tight ends on the field only really helps if the top pass catching guy is a meaningful focal point of the offense.
27:24If he is, you know, coming out and playing a ton of wide receiver snaps.
27:28An example of how it can really help, though, would be the Dolphins over the last few years, right?
27:34Because they used Alec Engold as a fullback. They used Julian Hill as an inline tight end.
27:39And they had two wide receivers. But the tight end, the top pass catching tight end, in both years ran 70% of
27:46his routes from a wide receiver spot. Johnny Smith and Darren Waller.
27:50The scheme dictated multiple tight end usage. And one of those tight ends was essentially going to play as a big wide receiver.
27:57That is when it helps us. It doesn't help us when it's a big rotation of guys and nobody is really getting a lot of looks.
28:05And the guy playing the most snaps is a blocker.
28:08That actually hurts us more than anything and caps the upside of everybody.
28:12Yeah, totally makes sense. So let's take a look at just an example team for this year that people have questions about.
28:18How about the Chargers? Their tight end room looks awfully confusing.
28:22What do you see in there? Perfect example, man.
28:24Because that's Mike McDaniel coming over. And here's the thing.
28:28When Mike McDaniel first came over, and they showed they were going to implement his scheme.
28:32Because they let him bring Alec Engle, his fullback.
28:35And they signed Charlie Kohler, an inline tight end.
28:38To me, I was very excited in that moment about a Rondé guest.
28:42Because you were going to have two wide receiver sets with a fullback and a blocking tight end.
28:47And at some times, only one wide receiver set.
28:50Like we've seen a lot with the Ravens and with their fullback and tight end usage.
28:55And we've seen it with the 49ers. Like that gives the tight end a chance.
29:00The signing of Johnnie Smith really is what pours.
29:02Sorry, David Njoku is what pours cold water on that.
29:05Because now we don't know who's going to be the focal point pass catching tight end.
29:10What if David Njoku just beats him out? I mean, we saw a very...
29:14And I'm a Rondé Gadsden fan. But we saw a very small sample size of him.
29:19A lot of those points did come in garbage time situations.
29:23But on the flip side, what if Gadsden just proves that at this stage, he is a big wide receiver like his dad was.
29:30And he deserves those snaps. And he's going to be basically the third wide receiver on the team.
29:35This year is massive for the dynasty and future value of Rondé Gadsden.
29:39And you can say that for a lot of these tight ends going into their second or third year.
29:45If they can't take the step forward and clarify themselves as a top target on the team, the way guys like Trey
29:52McBride and Brock Bowers did, then their value gets crushed.
29:55Especially as a second-year guy. Because they're still under contract for two more years.
29:59I look at Harold Fannin, too. What's your read on the Browns, brother?
30:03Because you look at Harold Bannon, and it felt good last year.
30:07Now they draft a first and second round wide receiver, man.
30:10How are you feeling about that situation over there?
30:13Yeah, I think that's a difficult situation for Fannin.
30:16I've been, for the most part, off of him in drafts unless he really falls because of the fact that I don't
30:22see the path for targets being near as easy for him this year.
30:26It sounds like Denzel Boston was pretty much crushing in many camps.
30:30Concepcion, they're talking about all the different ways they want to get him the ball.
30:35And this is going to be, I think, a team that primarily runs the ball as much as they can.
30:41I mean, I think they want to, you know, they're looking for short games.
30:45And they're trying to, you know, find those one or two leverage plays where they can win the game.
30:51And that doesn't really help a guy like Fannin.
30:53You know, Fannin was in the perfect situation last year.
30:57But when the situation changes, we have to change, you know, how we're viewing things.
31:01I used Fannin in Dynasty as a chip to help get me up to Loveland, you know, which to me made perfect
31:08sense, you know, because I'm moving into a tight end.
31:11I feel like he's going to be on the field all the time and getting a ton of those, you know, routes out of the slot.
31:19He's going to be getting a ton of targets.
31:22He could be the top target earner on that team.
31:25I think it's almost certain he'll probably be second.
31:27So I use Fannin plus another player, jump myself up to Loveland, and I'm off the Fannin problem and I'm on to a good situation.
31:35Right. I love that because that's the thing with Fannin is that the value for Fannin, I mean, it could collapse, right?
31:42Like if, God forbid, both Conception and Boston come out and get 100 targets this year, then those three guys are on
31:48the team for the next three years minimum. All of them, right?
31:52Like now you're waiting for Fannin to leave if those guys completely surpass him.
31:56That's the scary situation, right? So if, you know, if that happens this year or if it's one of those guys in
32:03Judy, now he's not a top two target on the team, at least for the short term.
32:08So you want a team to do what the Chiefs did for many years, which is say, hey, we got our guy.
32:15We don't need to go out and draft more guys because we're going to run the offense through Travis Kelsey and one other wide receiver.
32:22The Ravens did that for many years, they said.
32:25They've only ever extended two wide receivers they've drafted in the history of the team.
32:30One was some special teams guy back in the 90s.
32:33The other was Rashad Bateman because they said we're going to run through Mark Andrews.
32:37The Browns, you were hoping that they would say we're going to run through Fannin and Judy and maybe one other guy.
32:44But they didn't do that. So that makes me really nervous.
32:47Yeah, definitely. Definitely. So a couple of years ago, we were all talking about RBs at dead zones, you know, as a
32:54running back dead zone, all that kind of stuff.
32:57Do you think there's such a thing as a tight end dead zone?
33:01I do. And it usually falls in the back half of the tight end one range.
33:06And, you know, because one of our last remaining advantages in fantasy is the psychology of drafts, right?
33:11Like, and the stigma around players and the intangible things that go on with your draft.
33:16And one thing we see every year is that panic move where four tight ends go, five tight ends go, six tight ends go.
33:23And now a contingent of people, a lot of times casual drafters say, oh, I got to get my tight end up
33:30because I got to get one of the top 10 or top 12 tight ends because I have to have one of them.
33:37Right. But the reality to us is you don't have to have one of those guys.
33:42The hit rate for tight ends from seven to 12 isn't necessarily all that much greater than the range from 13 to 20.
33:49It's just the guys going in 13 to 20 a lot of times are risky and we don't want to take those risks.
33:56You know, Mark Andrews, when he had his breakout year and scored 10 touchdowns in his second year, he was going tight end 15 off the board.
34:04And Darren Waller in the same year was going towards 20 or so because people didn't want to take that risk.
34:11They just took the guys you're supposed to take.
34:13But a lot of times that that range is populated by guys who benefited last year from injuries or guys who we
34:20believe are talented but don't have a path. Like Dallas Goddard has been like the flag for the dead zone tight end range.
34:27He has always been the guy that you just take because you're supposed to take him.
34:32You know, it's a Dallas Goddard. He's good, right?
34:35Got to take him. But he's never finished higher than what tight end seven literally ever.
34:40So, I mean, maybe this year now that AJ Brown's gone, he can do that.
34:44But for many years, that was the guy where you just said, OK, I got to take a tight end.
34:50Oh, Dallas Goddard. He's fine. Now I don't need to think about it.
34:54And you get that range of tight ends every year, which right now, you know, a guy like Jake Ferguson goes in
35:01there and I'm like, what are you drafting? You're drafting the games that CeeD Lamb was heard in last year.
35:07That's not appealing to me. So there is that range.
35:10Not that guys can't come from within that range to be good, just like running backs do come from the dead zone
35:17every once in a while to be good. But a lot of times that range is populated by the more boring picks.
35:23Do you feel that way as well, Dan? Yeah, I do.
35:27I think, you know, the guys who tend to intrigue me most in that range are the ones who are there that
35:34haven't done it before because that says that, you know, the community thinks that there's a reason why these guys might be worth spending up for.
35:41You know, if you happen to be right about that, you know, like Sam LaPorta a couple years ago, you know, Brock
35:48Bowers, you know, you spend up for that and it comes true.
35:52I mean, it juices your team in a big way.
35:55But, you know, the worst thing you can do, I think, is exactly what you said.
36:00You know, you're drafting one of those tight ends because, oh, I got to have one.
36:05And basically what you're doing is you're saying, you know what, I'm going to settle for having a totally average tight end.
36:11And I'm not going to put any more thought into the position.
36:15And this is why a lot of people hate the tight end position because they're like, oh, man, I thought Dallas Goddard was a really good player.
36:23I thought Jake Ferguson was a really good player.
36:26And they're not really looking at the totality of their situation from year to year.
36:30And so you end up with a player who is not a difference maker whatsoever because you get past tight end six, maybe tight end seven.
36:38You're looking at players, you know, like the next 15 players are all within about a point of each other.
36:45And at that point, you might as well just basically be, you know, just shuttling in them in and out of your
36:51lineup and on and off of your roster and just playing the best matchup.
36:55Because that's the only way you're going to get anything out of that unless you go to the yin-yang strategy and you
37:02get one of those gang tight ends and he hits for you.
37:06And that's the way to play it. It's a terrible mindset, Dan, that get it over with mindset at any position.
37:12And I will say in FFPC, I will go as far as to say that even applies to kicker and defense.
37:19Like you don't want to draft them early, but they do matter.
37:22You know what I mean? Like Brandon Aubrey is winning people a lot of money on some of these platforms where, you know, you're competing against big fields.
37:31Like don't just get it over with. Make every one of your picks with care.
37:35And one thing I always tell people is yin and yang tight ends, it's not homework.
37:40What it is is it's a license to go crazy at wide receiver and running back, which is what we all want to do, right?
37:48Like I'm telling you guys out there, I've got a strategy that lets you draft nine straight wide receivers and running backs.
37:55And then we circle back at one of the easier position to find breakouts and one of the cheaper positions off the
38:01waiver wire and just plug that last hole and create a crazy amount of leverage and win a bunch of leagues.
38:08And when you actually get the word across to them that way, then it's much more appealing.
38:13When I initially always talk about it, people think, oh, I got to do all this work at tight end.
38:19No, no, no, no. Just follow Dan and I.
38:22Dan and I, we have already committed to doing this.
38:25Like we're contractually obligated to try and help you.
38:27We'll help you with this one position so you can spend all your draft capital and all your fun picks on the fun positions, right?
38:35Running back. I love drafting running backs and wide receivers.
38:38We all do. So we'll figure out tight end later.
38:41Yep. And it's a perfect gear for it because there's a lot of late round quarterbacks as well.
38:47So you can just, you know, sit and load up on the running backs and wide receivers early in the draft and
38:53worry about the quarterback tight end positions later. That's what I did last year in the Kings Classic, man.
38:59Kings Classic is an expert league drafted live at the Expo with guys like J.J.
39:04Zacharison and Rich Rebar and Matt Harmon and a bunch of guys in it.
39:08And what I did was I drafted nine straight running backs and wide receivers.
39:12Ten, actually. It's a 14-team league. I drafted ten.
39:15And then I took two tight ends and two quarterbacks.
39:18I took Hunter Henry as my safe guy. Kyle Pitts is my upside guy.
39:22Pitts hit and crushed. And then I took two quarterbacks that were going outside the top last year, outside the top 14.
39:29I took Justin Herbert and Trevor Lawrence. And I had no problem at quarterback.
39:33I mean, by the end of the year, Trevor Lawrence was my guy.
39:37But I could have, you know, there were weeks where I started Justin Herbert instead.
39:42And I kept them both. You know, I tried to trade one, but nobody really wanted to trade for QB.
39:48But at that point, I already had all my running backs and wide receivers were all set.
39:53I didn't need to worry about it. I could use an extra bench spot on that.
39:58So different ways to play this game, man, that can create the same kind of leverage that Zero RB does.
40:04Yeah. Yeah. I totally agree. And I think, you know, if you're looking to just draft one of the top tight ends,
40:11you know, that's definitely a workable strategy, too. You know, if you just want to say, you know what, I'm just going
40:17to take Bowers or I'm going to take McBride or I'm going to take Loveland and, you know, kind of forget about the position.
40:25You know, yeah, you can definitely do that. But I think in tourneys, that's probably the wrong way to go about it.
40:32Because basically what you're doing is you're sacrificing a chance at a wide receiver or running back who generally has, if you
40:38hit on the right wide receiver or running back, they're going to influence the outcome of the tourney more so than a top tight end.
40:46Because everybody kind of knows who the top tight ends are.
40:49They're more, you know, basically fairly valued, I would say.
40:52Whereas you get that extra shot at the wide receiver, the extra shot at the running back, and you might end up with that difference maker.
41:00And if you get your tight ends late, now you've got another position where, you know, if your Yang tight end comes
41:07through or you can find that one off the waiver wire, now you've got two positions instead of just one where you
41:14can absolutely go out and nail it. Right. Exactly.
41:16I mean, you talk about drafting a tight end earlier.
41:19Let's forget tight end premium for a second because tight end premium is different.
41:24But let's just take a regular PPR league, right?
41:26The guys that Dan's talking about when he says, like, difference makers, these guys are scoring 375 to 400 PPR points, right?
41:33Christian McCaffrey scored 417 PPR points last year. We've seen Cooper Cupp score 400.
41:37CeeDee Lamb score 400. Jamar Chase score 400. All these guys scoring 375.
41:41The top ever PPR tight end season ever is Rob Gronkowski with 330.
41:45Even that doesn't make up the positional scarcity does not make up 70 pure points.
41:50It doesn't. And we're talking about a top, the best season ever.
41:53If you draft a tight end in the first or second round of a regular PPR league, you're betting on that player
42:00to have a top five all-time season, which is 300 PPR points.
42:04I mean, two years ago, the top tight end in fantasy, Sam Laporta, scored 240 PPR points.
42:09CeeDee Lamb scored 160 more points than that. If you drafted Laporta in the second round that year and he still finished
42:16as a tight end one, he wasn't worth that pick.
42:19That's what we're battling against here. Positional scarcity can only take us so far.
42:23And so if you're drafted a tight end that early, you better damn believe that that guy's about to have a historic season.
42:30And you know what? Bowers and McBride and Loveland, they could.
42:33That's why we say it's not a crazy move.
42:36Just know what you're betting on. You're not betting on them to be the tight end one.
42:41You're betting on them to be one of the best tight ends in fantasy of all time.
42:46Yep, totally. So let's get into some specific takes then.
42:50Let's talk players. Colston Colston Loveland, we've mentioned a couple of times.
42:53Is he going to break fantasy like some people, including maybe even me, might be saying?
42:58He could, man. He could. Like if this guy, put it this way.
43:02If he were in a setup like Brock Bowers where the wide receivers were dog water, we would be ranking him probably one or two.
43:10You know what I mean? Or no, we'd rank him one because he would have Caleb Williams instead of Kirk Cousins and Fernando Mendoza.
43:17So the only problem is the existence of Roma Dunze and Luther Byrne.
43:21Roma Dunze was on pace for 125 targets. I don't think his role is going to go massively up or downwards either way.
43:28Maybe a little up with DJ Morgan. It really boils down to Loveland and Burden and how well they can share and compete for targets there.
43:36But this team kind of set themselves up to not really have a super meaningful wide receiver three anyway.
43:42Like they're going to use Cole Komet in line.
43:44That's going to consolidate those targets. It basically makes Loveland the de facto third target on the team.
43:50And as we've seen, technically you don't need 100 targets.
43:53Every tight end to finish top five in fantasy going all the way back to Randy McMichael in 2003 has gotten either 90 targets or double digit touchdowns.
44:01And we don't really chase touchdowns. We chase the targets.
44:04If Cole Komet in level gets 90 targets, which I mean, it feels like that feels like a lock to me.
44:11Even if the other guys get 100, then he has top five upside.
44:15So Loveland is my tight end three just like you.
44:18I'm more likely to draft Loveland at ADP than I am to draft Bowers or McBride in the second round or early third round.
44:25So to me, Loveland is the first tight end that I'm willing to draft.
44:29Yeah. I think that makes a lot of sense.
44:32So what about, you know, we talked about Kelsey already, but George Kittle, we're getting a, you know, a big injury discount on Kittle this year.
44:40You know, without that injury at the end of last year, Kittle would probably be going, what, tight end four, five at worst probably.
44:47Yeah. And the thing about fantasy football would, and this is something that makes it so great is that there will always be things that are unknowns.
44:56And if anybody out there like, you know, Dan and the folks on this channel, a lot of level headed people, even Matt Kelly at times.
45:04Shout out to Matt, dude. Matt Blue Mania. Not Chuck Bass though.
45:07Don't listen to Chuck. But real analysts that take it very seriously will admit when there are things that we can't possibly know.
45:14And knowing what you can't know is kind of one of the wisest things that you can do.
45:20So we know that George Kittle is good. We know the scheme is good for him.
45:25We know that with Mike Evans and Ricky Parasol and Dazon Scribbling and Christian Kirk there, there's definitely, there's probably not a guy getting 150 targets.
45:33And he could easily be a top two target on the team.
45:36In 2022, he was one of the rare guys to actually finish.
45:40Or 2021, once in his career, he actually did not finish as a top two target on the team, but was still
45:47top five because he was ripping off 70-yard touchdowns.
45:49Right? So we know all that is good. The one thing we can't possibly know is how he's going to recover from
45:56Scribbling and how he's going to look. And you just, you can't know it.
46:00Until I see like full, and he's not going to play in the preseason, so you're not going to see it there.
46:07But until we see like full speed clips where we can go kind of frame by frame and be like, look, this guy looks exactly the same.
46:15You can't possibly know. And that's why he goes where he does in drafts.
46:19And I have no problem picking him in that range.
46:23But you got to have that mindset of like, I might need someone else.
46:27You got to be thinking to yourself, I might need help.
46:30And you know what? Same with Tucker Craft. I have no problem drafting those guys.
46:35Just know that there's a world where you got to go to the wire and pick somebody up and plug them and play them.
46:42And if you're talking about a league that has six or more bench spots, I would just draft a second tight end anyway.
46:49Just to be safe. Yep. That's exactly what I do when I take Kittle.
46:53I'm taking, you know, one of the cheap yen tight ends.
46:57You know, like Dalton Schultz is kind of a favorite of mine.
47:00Yeah. Just because, you know, he finished on a nice tear where he was basically a tight end one, like 11 out
47:07of the last 12 weeks or something like that.
47:10You know, so big part of that Houston offense that looks likely that things are going to be much the same there.
47:16So he's somebody that I feel like I can trust.
47:20I can get him for a cheap price. I can pair him up with Kittle.
47:24And you know what? If Kittle is just a monster from the start, boom, I can, you know, I can even drop
47:31Schultz and I can pick up another Yang tight end.
47:34You know, I can try to really play bully tight end at that point if Kittle is really moving.
47:40So it gives a lot of interesting strategy if you take Kittle.
47:43You just have to play it right. It's like the old Yang Yin you got to do with Kittle and Kraft.
47:50Yep, exactly. Yeah. And so there's kind of a bunch of tight ends, especially in FFPC, Fanon, Pitts, Kraft, Laporta.
47:56They're all in redraft kind of going right in the same range.
47:59Are you in on any of these? Are you looking at those basically as, hey, that's the tight end dead zone?
48:06Not really that interested. This is rare for me, Dan, believe it or not.
48:10There is a tight end I will reach on.
48:13In the history of you and me doing this together, do you remember me ever reaching for a tight end in the top like 10?
48:20No. I don't think so. I can think of right off the top of my head.
48:25Maybe Andrews like five years ago. But Kyle Pitts, man.
48:28I mean, the conditions haven't really changed. He checks virtually every box.
48:32Plays a ton of wide receiver snaps. The coach that came in uses a big slot tight end.
48:38He brought in Austin Hooper to go along with Charlie Warner as the inline guys.
48:42They brought in tiny little Zachariah Branch and John Dotson as the other wide receivers.
48:47You know, it's London, it's Bijon, it's Pitts. And the fact that this guy runs like a 98th percentile 40, and last
48:53year he did finish as the tight end too.
48:56I know obviously a very big game was a big part of that.
49:00Like, I'll go to the loony bin drafting guys like that.
49:03It's as simple as that. There you go. Yeah.
49:06Yeah. The main thing he's got to get over is the fact that, you know, if Drake London is healthy, his record has been terrible.
49:14You know, he just not, he has been a below average tight end when Drake London is healthy.
49:19And the problem with that was the scheme. Zach Robinson's scheme wasn't great for him.
49:24He was playing a lot of inline tight end, way too much.
49:27And they finally went out and said, let's get a guy who runs the right scheme.
49:32That's what you're betting on. But you're right, Dan.
49:35The floor isn't perfect. The floor isn't perfect because I don't want to hear the numbers, Dan.
49:40I don't want to hear. I don't want to tell them to you either.
49:45Let's just say, let's just say when Drake London was healthy, he was not the tight end to advance.
49:50Yes. Yes, definitely. So circling back, this is something I've heard on Kittle as well.
49:55You know, Mike Evans is going to change the math for Kittle.
49:59And this is stuff I've definitely thought about too, especially in the red zone.
50:03San Francisco hasn't had an Evans-sized wide receiver back there.
50:06And, you know, I think that's a fair point to make.
50:09I guess the way I look at that is, you know, Mike Evans has also been pretty injury prone.
50:15So, you know, honestly, if you could get a Kittle Evans stack or something like that, you might be jamming every week.
50:22I don't know. What are your thoughts on that?
50:24Yeah, I mean, because Brock Purdy, I mean, this offense is so efficient.
50:28It's crazy. Shanahan really has devised something that is really great for fantasy because of the fullback and extra tight end usage.
50:35One year, Charlie Warner and Kyle Juszczyk both played.
50:38They combined for over 800 snaps. So they combined to play more snaps than Brandon Ayuk, Debo Samuel.
50:43They combined for 25 targets. That is like, for fantasy football, it doesn't get better than just having guys out there doing nothing, right?
50:51Like, it's the best. So the fact that Juszczyk is back and they've got all these guys, Luke Farrell and Jake Tonjes,
50:57like, it's going to be two wide receivers. It's going to be Evans and one of Pearsall or Stribbling or Kirk and whoever it is.
51:05If one guy can really take that role full time, they've got upside too.
51:09But I think you should be fine there. Again, Kittle, to me, I only have three versions of tight ends, really, when it comes to ADP.
51:17Guys that I'm not picking at all at ADP, Jake Ferguson.
51:21Guys that I'm willing to take if they slide a little behind ADP.
51:24And then guys that I'm willing to reach for.
51:27And there's probably only, like, three or four guys I'm willing to reach for.
51:31Especially when it comes to best ball. Like, you can piece it together.
51:35George Kittle, to me right now, is yellow on the sheet.
51:39He's a guy that, you know what, if he's falling a little bit and I'm sitting there, I'll say, yeah, I'll take Kittle.
51:46If he's going to fall, I'll take him. But definitely not a player I'm reaching for.
51:51Yeah, totally makes sense. So, then kind of next up, you get Mark Andrews, Goddard, Jake Ferguson.
51:56They all go in a tight bunch. I think you've probably made your feelings clear on Ferguson.
52:01For years. As far as Andrews or Goddard, are you in on any of those old reliables or not really?
52:07But there's a reason that when you go to player profiler, shout out to the site here, that Turd Ferguson is the picture there.
52:14And that's from a conversation I had with Matt Kelly a couple of years back.
52:19I mean, the guy runs a 4-8-2. Like, last year, he was the first tight end that runs a 4-8 or slower
52:26to finish top five in fantasy since Heath Miller in 2012.
52:29And he basically did it on a handful of games that CeeDee Lane was out on.
52:34And he only did it with 600 yards. We don't draft tight ends that slow.
52:39And to be honest, Isaiah Likely also is that slow.
52:42He has a little wiggle as a basketball player, but he's not particularly fast.
52:46Every guy you named is in my yin column.
52:49I will take Kelsey. I'll take Andrews. I don't draft Ferguson.
52:52I will consider Likely. But when I draft Isaiah Likely, I don't sit here and say my job is done.
52:58I think Isaiah Likely is that kind of guy that needs to get peppered with targets.
53:03You look at a good example of what Isaiah Likely could be is Zach Ertz, right?
53:08Where people will say, oh, that's great. Well, the thing about Zach Ertz is, despite all those seasons where he got crazy
53:14targets, he only had one season with 1,000 yards.
53:17And he needed 156 targets to get there. If he runs a 4-7-4, he's faster than Likely.
53:22So if Likely can get absolutely crushed with targets, and he can't, and I think he might be able to, then he can definitely have upside.
53:30But this is not the kind of guy that can, in my opinion, can get like 90 targets flat and have big
53:37upside because he can't do the things that Kittle can do.
53:40Or even Tucker Craft. Like this guy's not going to be ripping off like a 60-yard touchdown.
53:46People are just going to chase him down and catch him because he doesn't have a straight line speed.
53:51So if I draft Likely, Likely to me is a really good yin for a yin and yang tight end.
53:57Like if you want to really push the limits, you go Likely and then draft another guy after him, which, you know, I mean, you can take 12.
54:06Likely goes what? Round 11, 12 in most drafts?
54:09Yeah, in most drafts. And FFPC goes a good bit earlier than that.
54:13Yeah, well, tight end premium. Now he's, I think tight end premium changes the formula because those guys are viable in slot.
54:19And there's two slot spots on FFPC. Hey, it's Bill from the Bill Simmons Podcast.
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55:15Yeah, and to me, the issue with Likely is just the fact that he was never really able to earn that many targets with Baltimore.
55:22And so it makes me nervous that we're going to have to count on him getting more than 90 targets.
55:29He probably needs to get over 100 targets to really come through and pay off his cost.
55:34And he just hasn't shown to be that high of a target on him.
55:38So, you know, maybe in the first few weeks, you know, he gets off to a hot start or something like that.
55:45But he'd be a player I'd be very, very leery about trying to hold on to throughout the entire NFL season.
55:51Just because, you know, we get neighbors back and all of that.
55:55You know, it's now going to be a situation where Likely's targets are likely to go down.
56:00And if that happens, then he's just not viable.
56:03Don't look. Do yourself a favor, folks. If you're not an Isaiah Likely fan, don't go look at his stats over the
56:09last couple of years next to the stats of someone like Austin Hooper, who is also like the tight end, too, on
56:16his own team behind Hunter Henry, because they're not that different.
56:19Like, you're really betting on this guy to go, you know, to really become a true focal point because he never was.
56:26Yep, totally makes sense. Any rookie tight ends likely to give us a tight end one season?
56:31So, again, your opportunity is king for rookies. And that goes for wide receivers, too.
56:36So because we've seen CeeDee Lamb and JSN as rookies in a part-time role not even pop.
56:41And so those guys aren't going to pop because of the role and because of where their spot is on the target
56:48pecking order behind guys like Michael Gallup and Tyler Lockett.
56:51Then tight ends, it's even harder. That's why for many years rookie tight end was hard to find breakouts.
56:57Kyle Pitts kind of changed that. And then, you know, Bowers and these guys have gotten the opportunity.
57:02But even the great Trey McBride was stuck. So I look at Sadiq.
57:06I mean, again, you know, he has the opportunity.
57:09It's him versus Omar Cooper versus Adonai Mitchell versus Brees Hall behind Garrett Wilson.
57:13So Sadiq has a chance. If you squint your eyes very like this, right?
57:17Squint them down to like where you could you could put you could blind yourself with dental floss.
57:23Squint that far. And you can see a path for Eli Stowers to potentially be a Zach Ertz type guy next to Dallas Goddard.
57:30Now he's competing with Makai Lemon to be the second target after Devontae Smith.
57:34It is a thin path, but we'll know very early in the season if he's actually going to get that role or not.
57:41More than likely, he's probably just going to be a part-time guy like Mike Gusecki early on.
57:47And if he earns more work, then he's going to get more work.
57:51And then after that, man, it gets very tough.
57:53Like Oscar Delp. Eli Raritan's kind of buried. I like him in Dynasty.
57:57Oscar Delp is behind Juwan Johnson. I like him in Dynasty.
58:01But the path is just there's not many guys that were drafted to be the starter right away.
58:06They're, you know, one guy in Sadiq. So way she goes.
58:09Yep. And that makes sense. And this year, you don't have to pay that much for Sadiq.
58:15And I think that's for obvious reasons. I mean, people aren't expecting a lot of the Jets passing game.
58:20You know, he does have some serious competition for the number two target.
58:24But, you know, again, as he said, he's got the physique.
58:28He's got the, you know, the raw ability. To make that happen.
58:31So it's definitely a bet worth making. With Stowers, he's a guy I just haven't really been drafting.
58:37Because I think he's probably one that's going to take a few weeks to pop.
58:41You know, just with Goddard on the team and Lemon, you know, being the first round pick and everything kind of running
58:48in the same area of the field. You know, Stowers is a guy that I think is probably going to end up
58:55getting dropped from a lot of teams within the first three or four weeks.
58:59So he's a guy I'm just kind of putting that bookmark on, you know.
59:03And I'll wait and see. I'm not going to take him myself.
59:07But I'll wait for other people to drop him.
59:10And then if all of a sudden I start seeing the targets coming a little bit more, boom.
59:15I'm going to get on him and get him onto my bench and then see what happens.
59:20Right. Rostrum and Dynasty. You hold athletic guys in Dynasty, right?
59:24And then maybe the very last round of a best ball draft if you're doing a three tight end build.
59:30But I'm talking like if you have Jalen Hurts and it's your last pick, you know, and you're looking for some sort of contingent upside down the stretch.
59:38I do the same thing with Terrence Ferguson. If I have Matthew Stafford and I look at it and I say, okay, I'll draft this guy.
59:46What happens if one of the wide receivers gets hurt?
59:49Now they look around and say, okay, our next best pass catcher is actually this tight end.
59:55So we're going to elevate him. We saw it with Ferguson last year where, you know, he was very inconsistent.
60:01But the game week 16 that Devontae Adams missed, he ran 37 routes, was the second most routes behind only Puka Nakua.
60:07Like these are contingent upside guys that will add off the waivers if something happens or will draft in the very last round of a best ball draft.
60:16But without the conditions of that contingency coming to fruition, where's, you know, how they have a very difficult time getting there naturally.
60:23Yep. Totally makes sense. So after tight end 20 or so, you know, for those of us in deeper leagues, do you
60:30have some favorite tight ends that you keep clicking on?
60:33Or are you just pretty much done with tight end by that point?
60:37No, there are guys. So just before tight end 20, depending on where you're picking, Chig Okonkwo was a name we're keeping an eye on.
60:44But the thing with Chig is that he's not out of the forest, not even close, because that team has $43 million
60:51in cap space and the Brandon Ayuk and Stefan Diggs and Debo Samuel.
60:55Like I think with that team, the odds of them adding a wide receiver of some kind are pretty high.
61:01I think they want Ayuk. And if they don't get Ayuk, they might consider Diggs.
61:06But with Debo Samuel having been on the team in the past, still kind of floating around, like the odds of them bringing somebody in is pretty good.
61:14And even if it's Keenan Allen, like Keenan Allen led the Chargers and targets last year.
61:19Like if they add somebody that's going to pour cold water on Chig.
61:23The guy that I find myself picking most from that deep range, and I'm willing to get a hurt again, brother, Greg Dulcich.
61:30Greg Dulcich. There we go. Let's go. I mean, because here's the thing.
61:34That team does not have a lot of money.
61:37They could potentially bring in one more wide receiver.
61:39They got $20 million in from the June 2 Bradley Chubb money.
61:43They spent half of it paying their rookies. That's how strapped for cap they were.
61:48They had to wait until June 2 to pay their rookies.
61:51But they still have like $12 million for this year that they could via moves stretch to like $15 million.
61:57Debo Samuel and Brandon Ayuk both played for Bobby Sloick in 2023 with the 49ers.
62:02So still not safe yet. But even if they were to bring in Debo Samuel, why can't Greg Dulcich be a top
62:08two target on the team even then? It's Malik Washington and Tutu Atwell and Jalen Tolbert and Terrence Marshall.
62:14Literally Island of Misfit Toys. And you know what?
62:17Bobby Sloick runs a very similar scheme to McDaniel and all these other guys.
62:21He used the fullback in 2023 when he was with him in Houston.
62:25They have a fullback over there. And you know, Dulcich could be a top two target on the team.
62:31So really my most rostered player may be of any player in best ball game.
62:35Wow. There you go. Scary. Scary. Because he just goes so right.
62:39That's a good endorsement though. I was taking him because the thing is all May and June, I was taking him with
62:46the 18th pick in, you know, sites like Underdog.
62:49And I've had PC, you know, he goes even earlier and it's 20 round draft.
62:53But now he's going around 17, 16 a little earlier.
62:56So I'm not getting him every draft. But there was a period where I was taking him as my last pick in every single draft.
63:04Every draft. Because I was looking, I was doing the math.
63:07I was like, this team has, is like, they're not going to get money until June.
63:12And if they add somebody, then, you know, we can fade away from this guy.
63:17But he's only going to go up. That was my opinion on it.
63:21So I don't take him every draft now. But I, which is a good thing because I don't like having guys at 50% exposure.
63:28And I think I'm literally at like 43%, which is obviously anyone that plays basketball seriously knows that.
63:33Yeah. But the thing is, you know, when you know that the price of the brick is going up, you know, you
63:40just, you take it while it's cheap. And you just realize that, you know, hey, when the price does go up, as
63:47I expect it to do, then I don't have to follow it up.
63:51I've already got my shares. I will settle in probably.
63:54Last year, I don't think I had a single player over 31%.
63:57I think I had Michael Pittman at 31% was my highest roster player, which for 13 weeks was great.
64:03He was like, you know, we're 12 weeks or however long we had it.
64:07He was like, wide receiver 13. And then over the back, once Daniel Jones got hurt, he was like, wide receiver 50
64:14over the back half of the season. But yeah, that's, I don't like being much higher than 30%.
64:20Do you, with your, because I know you do a lot of high stakes and all that too.
64:25Are there any guys that you ever just like go run pure on and draft in like 60, 50% of leagues?
64:32Or do you try and portfolio it? No, I've kind of learned the hard way that it's generally not a good idea,
64:38especially for guys in the early rounds. In the later rounds, I'll let guys creep up 30, 35%.
64:44I don't have a big problem with that, especially in managed leagues where, you know, I can just dump them and move on.
64:51You know, whereas in best ball, I think you got to keep a little bit tighter control over, you know, how much of somebody you're going to have.
64:59Because, you know, they're not getting off your team and you're not going to be able to put anybody else on there.
65:06You know, like every choice is, you know, it's not only the choice you make, but it's all the choices that you don't make.
65:13And, you know, it's the choices that you don't make that scare me more in best ball than the choices I do make.
65:20Right. Like the 2024, and again, this is a perfect example of why I don't do high exposures, is that 2024, I
65:27think I had like my highest exposure wide receiver was Chris Godwin.
65:31And he was the wide receiver two in fantasy, but only for six weeks until he broke his ankle.
65:36And then those teams were pretty much cooked, you know?
65:39Like, I think he scored so many points in that span, it helped a little bit.
65:44But like, really, that's out of your control. The quarterback getting hurt, the player getting hurt, certain things are out of your control.
65:51So that's why you shouldn't go that high on exposures, just because you never quite know what's going to happen.
65:57Yeah, exactly. You know, we all get super overconfident as we go through drafting season, you know, and we talk about the pluses and minuses of each player.
66:06And, you know, and what each offense is capable of and how each coach wants to run the offense and everything else.
66:13And we just get so confident about it. And then it's like, you know, week one comes along and it's like a
66:19giant 50-car pileup on the interstate, you know? It is, man.
66:23I say it every year, dude. Fantasy football is great until football comes along and ruins it.
66:28Exactly. And then it's like, you know, you just, you got to pick up the pieces.
66:33And, you know, in best ball, there are no pieces to pick up.
66:37So, you know, your managed leagues, at least you can use the waiver wire and try to fix things a little bit.
66:43But in best ball, it is what it is.
66:46And you just got to hope that whatever you were planning on eventually comes around for you.
66:51Yeah. That's why it's one of the great games, man.
66:54It's like fantasy football and poker go hand in hand where what you should be doing is study the game, try to
67:01become as good of a player as you can, and then do your best to enjoy the ride along the way and hope the chips fall your way.
67:10Because part of the fun is that you don't know what's going to happen.
67:14All the games that are solved, Connect Four, right?
67:17Like tic-tac-toe, those games aren't fun anymore because we figure them out.
67:20Fantasy football, because of the human nature of it, will never be figured out.
67:25And that's a good thing. I love that about it.
67:28Yep. Yeah, me too. That's what always brings me back.
67:31You know, at the end of every year, you know, I feel kind of exhausted by all the waivers and everything else.
67:37And I'm like, I don't know. I got to cut back.
67:41And then as you get into it, you know, it's harder and harder to cut back.
67:46I'm still holding strong on cutting back from last year where I just spent way too much time on waivers.
67:52I had to say, I have a second kid coming in August, so I had to make a rule.
67:58My official rule this year is I will join your league if it is a redraft best ball charity league.
68:04There you go. So I will join that if I can do the draft and donate to charity and bring, you know, bring attention to a good cause.
68:12But I cannot have any more managed leagues this year.
68:15That could change for next year. But my daughter, this is now two for two on having daughters born at the, my first daughter was born July 30th.
68:24And this one's due August 10th. Talk about the worst possible time for the job that I do, you know.
68:30Yep. But, you know, that's something we don't have total control over.
68:33So, you know, we just, we deal with it.
68:36You know, it's just like everything else in football.
68:39You just roll with the punches. Before we get you out of your coop, you are a big Patriots fan, so I
68:46just got a couple quick questions for you. We'll go lightning round on these.
68:50But Travion or Ramondre Stevenson, if you could only take one at cost, which one are you taking?
68:55So, this goes against everything I've stood for for many years because typically I would lean into the starting back.
69:01Historically speaking, they give us more RB1 weeks, more RB2 weeks.
69:05With Travion, though, and I know, I know all the downsides, guys.
69:08His pass blocking, terrible. Ramondre is awesome, right? Like, Ramondre better between the tackles.
69:13There's a possibility that this guy is special. And I've watched, you know, Jameer Gibbs as a rookie was terrible at pass blocking.
69:20One of the worst in the league. Graded out awfully.
69:23And David Montgomery got a bunch of those snaps.
69:26Jameer Gibbs just proved to be too good with the ball in his hands to take off the field in certain situations.
69:32There's a possibility that Travion can do that. Whereas Ramondre, we kind of know who he is at this point.
69:38So, the upside for Travion is higher in any sort of, especially tournament-type formats, I'll take Travion.
69:44That doesn't mean that if someone else takes Travion, I wouldn't take Mondre.
69:47Because, you know, there are conditions where Mondre is just, once again, the starter.
69:52And he's the better goal linebacker. And he's the better pass blocking back.
69:56And, you know, Ramondre was actually catching. He was one of only two backs in the league to catch a pass.
70:02Two passes 20 yards downfield. Him and Tyrone Tracy.
70:05Like, you know, Ramondre, I think both of them are good at cost.
70:09But if I could only have one, the upside for Travion is hypothetically higher.
70:13You know, and we kind of know that to be the case.
70:17Yeah, definitely. I just wish he was going about a rounder so cheaper.
70:21Me too, bro. Me too. I don't get him that much.
70:24I don't. That's the thing. I do have more Mondre in my best ball portfolio, right?
70:29He's expensive. But the thing is, you're paying for that possibility.
70:32You're paying for that possibility that this guy just has a level of talent that is impossible to ignore.
70:38And that maybe he learns the pass blocking scheme a little better.
70:42Yeah, exactly. I mean, you know, as somebody was saying, it's, you know, it was kind of a surprise that his past
70:48pro was supposed to be such a strength coming out of college and ended up being very substandard in the pros.
70:55And he fumbled, right? It's like the things that he doesn't do, you know, it's tough to bank on that, right?
71:01Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So, but, you know, players do get better for sure.
71:05And then the last question, AJ Brown, what do you think as a Patriot?
71:09What's he going to do? I think people are, one thing a lot of Patriots fans are doing is they're looking at
71:16Stephon Diggs last year and they're looking at the stats for AJ Brown last year and they're saying, why did we pay for this guy?
71:24You're getting the same thing for both guys. They're not the same guy.
71:28Stephon Diggs. Because when AJ Brown just turned 29, I think within the last couple of days, when Stephon Diggs was 29
71:34years old, he was going for 1400 yards and like double digit touchdowns.
71:38You know what I mean? Like AJ Brown has the possibility to come out here and rip faces off.
71:44That's why I just recently moved him ahead of Drake London after, you know, the same six guys go in the same
71:51six wide receivers go in the first round every time.
71:54Is that not true? Yes. AJ Brown is the next wide receiver I'm willing to take because there's a real possibility he
72:01comes out as the top target for last year's MVP runner up and just gets 140, 150 targets.
72:06And this guy is great with the ball in his hands.
72:09He stays grounded. He's, he's awesome at, at, at back shoulders and everything you like to see in the red zone.
72:16And one thing that we don't get when a player doesn't get traded, he went through the x-ray machine and he did
72:23the CT scans and the knee is fine. Right.
72:25Like from year to year, you don't get, I wish every player had to go through it.
72:31Right. And put them on a scale too. Well, right.
72:34Make them on the 40. Right. Like, that'd be nice.
72:37Yes. Like they, they brought them in and did the check and we've seen it.
72:41Max, Max Crosby didn't pass his, but AJ Brown passed his physical.
72:45That means that his knee is in good enough shape that I'm not worried about it one bit.
72:50Yeah. Love that take. Yeah. And, and, you know, Drake London, if you had better quarterbacks, he'd definitely be going ahead of
72:57AJ Brown for me, but I'm in the same place you are.
73:01It's like, you know what? Looking at the, the totality of the situation, I don't know how you don't take AJ Brown
73:07because basically if he doesn't get injured, I think he's absolutely finishing above London.
73:12And if anyone takes AJ Brown, I'll take Drake London immediately.
73:15Right. That's fantasy. That's fantasy. Right. But you can only get one.
73:19That's the second round is really a brutal place.
73:21Right. Cause it's like the, the, the lines between these guys are much more blurred, but you still only get one.
73:28You've got to make a call. It's the second round is, is my, probably my least favorite place in fantasy football alone.
73:34Yeah. Yeah. This year for sure. Some years it's a, it's a very easy place to live.
73:40And this year, I think it's a much harder place.
73:43If you have a guy that you really love.
73:45Yeah. At least in the third round though, you can have that hope in the back of your mind that maybe he'll be there next round.
73:53You know, it's like, it's, it's irrational and it almost never works, but like, at least you can say to yourself, well, maybe he'll be there next round.
74:02In the second round, you know, you're not getting AJ Brown if you don't take him.
74:07So it puts you in that spot, man. But that's a, those are the calls you got to make, man.
74:13And if you listen to Dan Williamson, you're listening to this channel, then you're just going to be better at making calls like that.
74:20So that's, that's the plan. All right, Coop, we got to get you out of here.
74:25Uh, appreciate you staying a little bit late as it was, but, uh, and, and, uh, always enjoy chopping it up with you, man.
74:32Uh, you know, just, it, it's been too long.
74:35No doubt about it. Uh, just really enjoyed this time.
74:38And so remind people again, what you got coming and, uh, where to find you.
74:43I don't want to break your 70 minute rule by too far.
74:46I know I said I was going to come out here and set the record.
74:51So I'll tell you, follow me on, on, on Twitter and, uh, blue sky at coop a fiasco.
74:56And then, uh, all my work is at fantasy alarm and we got the series XM show six to 8 PM on channel 87.
75:04So, uh, easy to find. And thank you so much for having me on dude.
75:08Always good to chop it up with a tight end whisperer, man.
75:12Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Appreciate it. And for the audience, uh, thanks for watching or listening.
75:17Uh, make sure you hit the like button. It's free and it's really easy to do.
75:21If you can leave us a review wherever you're consuming the show.
75:25Uh, you know, just a quick shout out out on, uh, X also works wonders.
75:30So just do that. Keep tuning in tomorrow. I'm going to have a Sam Schneider from player profiler on to talk ball.
75:36And then after that, the hits just keep on coming next week.
75:40I'm going to have Jim Coventry and future weeks.
75:43I've got Jared Smola, Dwayne McFarlane, Scott Pianowski, some shark pie stakes players coming in.
75:47So make sure you're subscribed to the player profile or network on YouTube and on your podcast provider.
75:53You don't want to miss a single show and that's it for this week.
75:57So until next week, get out there and dominate your drafts.
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