32BeatWriters - Training Camp Sleepers: Cam Ward QB1 SZN? 2026 Fantasy Football
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41 min
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Jul 28, 2026
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Tue, July 28, 2026
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Episode Transcript
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1:45Hello, everybody. Welcome to another episode of Beyond the Beat or Fantasy Football Intel.
1:50Actually, we changed the name recently. I'm joined by the latest addition to the 32 Beat Writers Company and Network.
1:57This is Dustin Royer. Dustin is going to be our co-host for the show.
2:02He's a fellow fantasy football analyst. I'm very happy to have him on the team.
2:08Dustin, I think I love the way you see the game and interpret the game, which is why I ask for you
2:15personally to be part of the team. I'm very happy for you to be here, man.
2:21Tell them what you're all about. Tell them how you've been.
2:25What are you up to, man? First, I want to say thanks, Sarah.
2:2932 Beat Writers is a website and a page that I've been following since the very beginning.
2:35Honestly, the only reason I ever got onto Twitter was to follow Beat Writers when I really got big into fantasy football back in 2015 into 2017.
2:45A lot of people don't know it, but Sleeper originally was nothing but a news aggregate app.
2:51Whenever they dropped the site, I just found it fascinating that somebody was willing and able to not only find this information,
2:59but get you as close to the source as you can.
3:02I'm super excited to be here with you. If it was my show and I could have chose somebody, it would have been you too, buddy.
3:12Over the years, we've really got to know each other and really seen that our processes come from a different place, but
3:19the results tend to be in a very similar bucket.
3:23For me, I think it's a good pairing, and I think for our audience, we're really going to be able to translate
3:31the beat into winning your fantasy matchups and winning your leagues this season.
3:35100%. I'm ready to rip. Absolutely, and that's what we're here to do today.
3:40We're here to talk about four different players who may have the potential to win your fantasy leagues and that will come
3:48at a relatively cheap cost in your drafts or acquisition through dynasty trades.
3:52The first guy we're talking about today is one of, I think, Dustin's personal favorites, Cam Ward.
3:58Obviously had a very rough 2025 season, came into a very shaky ecosystem of a football team with the Tennessee Titans.
4:06This year, he's got massive upgrades in his coaching staff, massive upgrades in his offensive weapons.
4:11Still relatively cheap to acquire, I think, going for a late first straight up and maybe a late first and some change in dynasty trades.
4:20I believe he can be one of the last QBs on the board in redraft seasonal leagues.
4:26In best ball drafts, he's one of the cheapest QBs to have.
4:30Obviously, very great, very awesome upgrades all around. One of the questions I have for you, Dustin, is that a lot of
4:38people are projecting his offensive line to be worse than it was in 2025, which, you know, while that is not going
4:46to be the ultimate predictor, it does have a huge, I believe, from a schematic standpoint.
4:51It does determine to a large degree how successful he will be in having, you know, a successful completion percentage.
4:58Cam Ward, not a huge rusher, not a huge scrambler.
5:022026, could it be more turbulent for him? Is there upside for him to be a QB1 this year?
5:09What's your take on that? Yeah, so you're definitely right about Cam Ward for me and dynasty for 2026.
5:15Not only there, but I draft a lot of super flex best ball tournaments, and I'm happy to wait to grab Cam in the later rounds.
5:24Right now, he's my highest roster dynasty quarterback. I think I have him on like 45% of my teams, like five out of 11 leagues that I'm in.
5:34But I think that there's a major discount in this offense, specifically with Cam Ward.
5:40I mean, obviously, there's a lot of question marks.
5:43You have a lot of different, like you said, additions to the offense, different coaching staff.
5:48When I'm looking at offense for fantasy, when you have those question marks, I generally want to point towards the quarterback or
5:56the running back if I'm going to invest in that team, because that's where you're going to have a condensed opportunity.
6:03And we kind of forget, like the addition of Wandel Robinson for Cam Ward is major.
6:09I mean, he had us believing that, you know, future undrafted free agent Xavier Restrepo was going to be a thing.
6:16So I'm really excited to see, you know, the positional versatility with Wandel and how he's going to plug and play in
6:24the Brian Dable offense with Carnell Tate. And if you know me, if you've actually ever had interactions with me, you know
6:32I'm a massive Wandel Robinson fan this year. I can't get enough of Wandel Robinson.
6:37I think, you know, for me, when Cam Ward entered the league, I stumbled upon his target preferences.
6:43And obviously Xavier Restrepo is his number one target, but he was also a huge – he targeted the slot at the
6:51second highest rate at the college previous to going to Miami.
6:55So, I mean, I just think that there's – I believe Chimre Dike, once Chimre Dike, who was their full-time slot receiver
7:03with Tennessee last year, once Dike started playing full-time slot snaps, he became the highest targeted player on that team.
7:10So it just kind of – you know, I think this sample size is large enough to where you can feel really
7:18good about drafting Wandel at cost, especially as a, you know, another PPR scam kind of receiver in seasonal – in every format.
7:26You know, and I know we're talking about Cam Ward right now, but yeah, Wandel Robinson, I think, is one of the premier offensive weapons.
7:34I mean, you know, Colonel Tate obviously said to him, but at cost, Wandel Robinson is going to be a huge beneficiary
7:42of what Cam Ward likely to do. And if we're talking about another, you know, another guy that kind of has been
7:50somewhat – somewhat hotly debated this offseason has been Keaton Mitchell, right?
7:54You have a lot of people who are, you know, writing him off because, you know, they either have O'Marrion Hampton in
8:02Dynasty or, you know, they look at his body of work and his injuries and say, you know, it's not going to happen for him.
8:11I'm more inclined to say that there is going to be a larger helping of Keaton Mitchell in this offense.
8:18And I still think O'Marrion Hampton is going to be the lead dog.
8:22I'm not saying that Keaton Mitchell is going to come in and take that job from him.
8:28But when you look at what Keaton Mitchell has done in college, right?
8:33When you look at what Mike McDaniel has done with Devon Achan, right, who is the same body composition as Keaton Mitchell, right?
8:41They are the same as far as I'm concerned, BMI, same player.
8:45Athletically, same kind of player. I think if we're talking probably like nuances and processing, I'm not too sure how they differentiate in that respect yet.
8:54But Keaton Mitchell, people forget that he had a larger body of work than Devon Achan did in college.
9:01Through three years in college, Keaton Mitchell out-carried and out-produced Achan as a rusher, and he matched him as a receiver in college.
9:09So Mitchell can sustain a large enough body of work if needed to.
9:14I think the injuries – it's also important to remember that Keaton Mitchell in college was a very durable running back.
9:21It's not until he entered the NFL where he suffered a disastrous knee injury, right?
9:26I think he injured his PCL, LCL, MCL, ACL.
9:29I'm not even sure if it was LCL. But that really did set him back.
9:35Also, you know, playing behind Derrick Henry, there's not going to be much use for you outside of more, you know, gimmicky packages.
9:43And I think when you look at a guy, what Mike McDaniel does coming from the Shanahan tree, using zone a lot,
9:50using a lot of, you know, crack toss plays where they get Devon Achan in space, Mitchell could have a lot of value this year.
9:59And Phil, you know, as far as we're talking about format, if we're talking about a seasonal league, somebody who could come
10:07in and fill as an RB2, bi-week RB2, injury RB2, a decent flex, somebody who could see about, you know, seven, eight,
10:15ten touches a game depending on what McDaniel wants to do with this guy.
10:20But when you look at what they've – the pieces they've got over there, the fullback that they brought in, I think
10:27Mitchell really – they can do some really creative things with this guy this year.
10:33I'm a big fan of Mitchell. I'm really on board with him, you know, going to this year.
10:39What's your thoughts on Mitchell? I'm kind of agnostic when it comes to the Chargers backfield, to be honest with you.
10:46Right. Starting off with O'Marion Hampton, I'm in the boat that I don't believe he has enough sample size for us to
10:54either, one, say he is better than his college prospects or, B, that his liabilities are going to show through and he's nothing.
11:02And I'm very afraid of the Mike McDaniel double counting that's happening right now in the fantasy football industry.
11:09So there's definitely a wide open opportunity, in my opinion, in this backfield.
11:13I could very easily see it being a Raheem Mostert, H-Han situation.
11:18But, like, it's like an inverted 1A, 1B, whereas, like, the skill set.
11:22So for me, Hampton is a one-cut outside zone guy.
11:26Like, but he's massive. You know, he's what you would think Keaton Mitchell is.
11:31And if you really look at Keaton Mitchell's skill sets, he's probably more of, like, a between-the-tackle slasher, you know, a man
11:38gap, like, blow a hole open and he's gone for 60 yards type guy.
11:43But the problem for me is the fantasy football industrial complex has just shot Keaton Mitchell's ADP to the moon.
11:50So I'm taking shots on Kamani Vidal, mostly invested in the Chargers offense through Lad McConkie, a little bit of a run to Gadsden.
11:59But I'm kind of, when the industry and the majority of people I respect even, I love a lot of these people.
12:06They're great. They have great takes, you know, thousands of viewers.
12:10But if everybody's going all in on one thing, I'm almost always going to make that small bet the other direction just in case.
12:19So it'll be interesting. I mean, Keaton Mitchell's a highlight reel.
12:23You can't really deny that. But we don't know what's going to happen.
12:27I mean, American Hampton could take one snap and his ankle could go again, you know?
12:33Yeah. Yeah, so I get the hype with Mitchell.
12:36It's just such a small sample size. I kind of want to see what happens.
12:41I have a feeling it could end up being like a three-headed dragon, you know, kind of like a Seattle last year
12:49type situation where, you know, it might look good in your lineup, but it's not going to actually play on the field.
12:57I can definitely see that happening in this backfield.
13:00When you look at it, especially when you consider how successful Kamani Vidal was last season.
13:06It seemed like every other game he would be really good and then he'd be off.
13:11Literally. Yeah, it was literally that. But, I mean, he's still, you know, such a large lead.
13:17I think he impressed the coaches, especially coming out for his rookie year where, you know, he barely got any touches.
13:24And when you look at what San Diego has done, you know, they brought in Kolar.
13:30They brought in Njoku. They brought in Alex Ingold.
13:33They, I think they're going to be a very scheme, versatile offense, right?
13:38They're not going to be, it's not going to be easy to read them.
13:43So what a lot of defensive coordinators do is they look at the percentage of the rate of plays, types of plays that you run.
13:52And they have their defensive formations aligned based on the probability that you're going to run that play based out of that look.
14:00And I think that's what Mike McDaniels is going to excel at.
14:04He's going to be, he's going to be able to throw off those probabilities and rates for defensive coordinators to predict what
14:12he's going to do with the insane. He's got to think about Quinn Johnson, Trae Harris, and Ladd McConkie.
14:18And, you know, and the depth behind those guys, right?
14:22They have a lot of pieces they can work with in LA.
14:26And when you throw in this, this beautiful kind of spectrum of, of, of running backs, but you have Vidal, O'Meara Hampton,
14:34Keith Mitchell, along with Alex Ingold in the backfield.
14:37There's a lot of looks you can run through and, you know, and for, for fantasy football, this is going to get, this could be very ugly.
14:46But if you are a football fan who loves watching just good football and good thought process that goes in behind game
14:54planning, it's going to be a beautiful offense to watch.
14:58And I'm really hoping this is going to be blasphemy that it's going to be that because I want to see a
15:05beautiful like evolution in the Shanahan tree with the pieces that he has.
15:10And I think Mike McDaniels has access to those pieces that he didn't necessarily have in Miami.
15:16I think him signing on to LA, they, they, they afforded him and probably said, you know, we're going to give you
15:24what you need to come in here and take the offensive weight off of our, our head coach.
15:30And we want you to carry that load. And as opposed to like going to Miami where he inherited Mike Kosecki with
15:38Mike Kosecki, he could really know what to do with him.
15:42Never really had great tight ends to work with.
15:45But yeah, I'm really excited for it. And yeah, and Keith Mitchell definitely in the sharper, in the sharper rooms.
15:52He is, he is a little bit more expensive, but I think, you know, if we're just, as we flow into redraft
15:59season, I think he is going to be, you know, still relatively cheap.
16:04I don't think he should get that expensive in your redraft leagues, but I mean, yeah, there is more of a price to him in best ball leagues.
16:14Like as far as best ball, this is best ball boy right here.
16:18This is going to be the best ball guy, poster boy.
16:22He's, Keith Mitchell's the kind of guy that I put on the, let somebody else buy him now.
16:29And then buy the dip later when reality hits.
16:32So Jim Harbaugh is probably going to have a press conference.
16:36It's Kamani Vidal played on the team last year.
16:39Harbaugh is probably going to say that's his guy and he's the number two because Harbaugh is the kind of coach.
16:46He's going to give that guy every opportunity to lose the job before he takes it from him.
16:53You know, so we saw a very small piece of that with Najee Harris and a Marion Hampton last year before Harris got hurt.
17:01He was the starter because he was a veteran.
17:04And that's just the way that some of these coaches operate.
17:08So I would have Keaton on speed dial, let somebody else overpay for him now and then let them give him to you for basically free.
17:17Midpoint of the season when injuries start to break, you never know what you have.
17:22Like, like you said, I mean, he could end up being an RB to a flex guy that gets you through a
17:30week on on your way to a championship. So absolutely.
17:34It's gonna be a fascinating team. I've been completely infatuated with the San Diego Los Angeles Chargers this year.
17:40I cannot wait to watch them. Before we begin, before we move on to the next player, I want to bring up
17:48an app that is kind of bringing the fun back into fantasy leagues this year.
17:53It's called a fantasy genius. If you guys haven't heard about it, it's a fantasy companion app that does a lot of what other apps do.
18:03It does acts as a trade analyzer. It predicts future matchups, win losses, but it also adds a little bit more, right?
18:10They do advanced stats. They have a stat called it's, it's the luck.
18:15It's the luck stat that lets you know, it shows you how you've been winning and if there has been a lot of luck involved.
18:24So if there has been, you're not blinded by the fact that you've just been winning and continue to move on in the season with a bad process.
18:33It'll show you how you've been winning intricately with advanced stats.
18:37Not only that, but it also provides write-ups for every single team in the league that week.
18:43It will auto generate write-ups so you can share those write-ups and your teammates can read those write-ups.
18:50I, for one, I would love to read those about my team.
18:54I think that'd be really interesting to see how my team's performing.
18:58To look at, it'll look at your team through a statistical analysis, how it performed, and provide a nice summary of how
19:06your team has performed throughout the season. It has historical context in there.
19:10It'll show how you have performed historically. It'll show how your teammates or how your opponents have performed historically in the league.
19:18I really am curious to watch this, use it for the first year in my seasonal leagues and dinosaur leagues this year.
19:26Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think it's only going to really pair with what we have going on here at 32 Beat Riders.
19:34You know, for us sickos that are recording and watching podcasts on July 23rd, getting hyped for training camp.
19:41I mean, what better way to bring the guys back into the fold, get ready for the season, you know, maybe write
19:48a newsletter, talk some junk about winning a trophy.
19:51So, yeah, man, it sounds really exciting. I can't wait.
19:55I mean, I'm the commissioner of like five different leagues.
19:58So, anything I can find to keep my guys tapped in, I'm definitely all for it.
20:04Awesome. Good stuff. Let's move on to Jaden Reed.
20:07Indeed, man. This guy, I'm very excited about Jaden Reed.
20:11I'm just going to go ahead and say it.
20:14I think he's the best receiver on the Packers.
20:17And I know a lot of people and a lot of Beat Riders are predicting Christian Watson to receive the most volume.
20:25And sure, you know, he's our split end. You know, split ends traditionally receive the most amount of volume.
20:32But Jaden Reed, I think, is the best receiver in all phases of the field.
20:37Everywhere. He's the highest, he's the most versatile weapon they have.
20:41And I think he's the best downfield, intermediate, shallow.
20:44I think he's the best they have on the field.
20:47In his first two seasons in the league, I think he finished as the wide receiver 29 and 26 in PPR leagues.
20:55And that was with limited usage, right? And we spoke to Andy Herman, Beat Rider for the Packers.
21:01And he said that the Packers were going to use a lot more 11-man personnel this year.
21:07And this is also the value that you get when you listen to these interviews about with the Beat Riders.
21:14Because they're going to give you insight into what the teams are doing, which is going to give you an edge into
21:22leaning into future performance and productivity, right? So if we run away with the idea that the Packers are going to be
21:30far more heavier than 11-man personnel usage, and then you account that Jaden Reed is going to be their full-time slot receiver,
21:38that gives him more opportunity, more snaps to be on the field.
21:42I think, you know, my question is, does he have a shot to outproduce those two seasons that I mentioned before, where
21:50he finished just outside of top 20 for a wide receiver?
21:53I believe that he is going to vastly outproduce that.
21:57He's going to finally eclipse the player that we've all wanted him to be.
22:02You know, Dustin, I understand you've been acquiring him in dynasty leagues.
22:06What were your hopes in acquiring him when you began acquiring him?
22:10Are you just, you know, just drafting good players?
22:13Are you just acquiring good players just to have good players?
22:17What was your thought process behind acquiring Jaden Reed in dynasty leagues this year?
22:22So I started poking around on Jaden Reed last year.
22:26So I had a lot of Tucker Craft investment.
22:29And if you look at that offense, there's not really another player that can duplicate the stuff that Tucker Craft adds into the offense.
22:37You know, the quick hitters and hitches over the middle of the field, like the screen passes, outlet passes, heart reads, that type of stuff.
22:46So traditionally, I'm a known sizist, like a BMI guy.
22:50If a player is under a 27 BMI, I don't want him on my roster.
22:55I don't want to go through, you know, a tank Dell situation again, etc.
23:00But I found myself gravitating towards the Wandale Robinsons, the Zay Flowers, the Jaden Reeds of the world.
23:06You know, over the last couple of years, as I've delved into learning these offensive schemes and like the positional versatility that
23:14these coaches in the McShanahan offensive tree are looking for.
23:17Jaden Reed's like the perfect example of like a blind, like it's a blindness that we have.
23:23Like we always talk about the outside wide receiver and OK, we need to move him into the slot, right?
23:30If we can just add the slot reps, the manufacturer touches.
23:34That's how a guy goes atomic for fantasy. But we very rarely talk about the guy that can do all the gadget
23:42stuff, that can do the screen stuff, that can be a running back, simply getting onto the field for the right snap share.
23:50And Reed's an example of a line of guys, like I said, Zay Flowers, Wandale.
23:55The per snap metrics are there. The efficiency is there.
23:59The route running is there. The separation is there.
24:02And, you know, Kraft's coming back off an injury, like I said.
24:06So there's that opportunity in the beginning of season where Jaden Reed can just get the ball rolling.
24:13And then you also had the departure of Romeo Dobbs and Dontavian Wicks and free agency.
24:18So the Packers really don't have a choice. I mean, the only other guy they can put on the field played corner and wide receiver last year.
24:28And he's not named Travis Hunter. So we don't have to worry about that.
24:33But just for the cost, I mean, this is kind of the closing of my dynasty by window right around the start
24:40of training camp, because this is when you're going to see just massive spikes up, down, left, right.
24:47I try to pick and choose. But Jaden Reed, for me, I mean, you saw that he was a high end wide receiver three.
24:55I think this season his floor is going to be like a low end wide receiver two, at worst, a wide receiver three again.
25:04But I agree with you. I mean, Christian Watson, he's a downfield X receiver.
25:08But this offense operates condensed over the middle of the field, five to seven yards at a time.
25:15And then you have those bombs from Jordan Love over the top.
25:19But the meat and potatoes of this offense is it's got to be run through a guy like Jaden Reed.
25:26I think he's going to be a full time Z receiver.
25:30I don't think it's just the slot. I think he's going to push, you know, all this hype about Matthew Golden and
25:38being a first round pick and everything. Matt Harmon will probably be calling him a sacrificial X by the time we get through mid September, in my opinion.
25:47Yeah. And I was going to say to my next point that Golden is still a very unproven asset.
25:54Right. And I, I, I will still maintain to this day that he never deserved first round draft capital.
26:01It just never made sense to me. I mean, from an analytical sense, from a production sense, from a collegiate production sense, it never made sense.
26:10And that's, I guess, what you make. That's what you get when you, you know, you have a team that hasn't drafted
26:18a wide receiver in the first round in over 100 years.
26:22You know, not actually, but like, you know, they don't draft round wide receivers.
26:26It's taken for in. You know, of course they take a guy like Matthew Golden, who from a, from a production standpoint,
26:34from the numbers print standpoint was undeserving of that first round draft capital.
26:39Right. And what I will say in Matthew, I will also play devil's advocate for Matthew Golden and say that I think
26:47he came into a situation that he wasn't ready for.
26:50Right. You had Jaden Reed who got injured very quickly.
26:54Christian Watson, who was coming off injury. And I think Matthew Golden got thrust into a role or an offense where, you
27:01know, obviously first round draft capital, you're, you're going to have more pressure to start.
27:07And he probably wasn't ready to play the roles that was expected of that were expected of him in that offense, maybe brought along more gradually.
27:16There was some disconnect with Christian with God, I'm blanking on their quarterback's name.
27:21What's their quarterback's name? Jordan Love. There was some disconnect on some deep throws of Jordan Love.
27:27So, you know, from a scheme, from a, from a schematic standpoint, I do think Matthew, Matthew Golden got thrown into a
27:34rough tough spot, but still an unproven player. And I do think Jaden Reed is already, you know, Jaden Reed's vastly a
27:42better player than Matthew Golden and should be starting as the Z.
27:46Andy Herman didn't mention or give us any kind of concrete wording into two wide sets.
27:52So, you know, if, if the Packers are like a 70%, you know, plus 11 man player rate, you know, drop back
28:00team, I'm over the moon for Jaden Reed this year.
28:03And I'll be drafting him at cost everywhere. And his price has increased a bit, unfortunately.
28:09So I am sad about that, but he is a fantastic dynasty asset that I don't have any shares of.
28:16And the one league I did have him in folded, but we won't get into that.
28:21Um, yeah, I think a big, a big cheat code this season in, you know, redraft best ball, um, trades in dynasty, whatever it may be.
28:31I mean, the NFL meta is moving forward. Like you and I have been talking about 12 and 13 personnel for two
28:38and a half years now, but getting the teams that play primary, primarily 11 personnel, right.
28:44This year and getting the right wide receiver on those teams, I think is going to be the differentiator that could really push you over the top.
28:53That's where you get those guys from your bench or maybe your flex two spot.
28:59And then that's your wide receiver too, you know, so definitely pay attention.
29:03Yep. Pay attention to scheme. Our last guy we're talking about tonight, Terrence Ferguson.
29:08Um, God, I can't, I've been, I put in a lot of work on target Terrence Ferguson, this, you know, Dustin, I
29:16think, you know, over the past two months because I have been fascinated with the man who started the 13 man personnel
29:24trend that's been leading that led into like a record breaking amount of tight ends that were drafted in this NFL's draft.
29:31Sean McVay, right. Sean McVay started this whole 13 man personnel or it was kind of beginning to ramp up and he
29:39just kind of put it in a max acceleration.
29:42Right. And a lot of coaches saw what he did.
29:46So I wanted to understand what were the tight ends doing on the field?
29:51You know, what, what, what was happening? And it's specifically with Terrence Ferguson in 13 personnel.
29:56Right. And Terrence Ferguson still cheat. There's a lot of, um, there's a lot of smoke around Terrence Ferguson.
30:03People don't know what to do. It's a little vague with Terrence Ferguson.
30:08It can go either way. Right. I still ultimately think there is going to be a progression with his game, but that is an assumption.
30:16And, you know, based on if we're, if, if, if I'm being static with what he did last year, that I am
30:24not going to be hopeful for him because what he did last year, he was, we were talking about sacrificial X's before.
30:32He was their sacrificial X. He had an A dot of 19 yards on his, on his targets.
30:38Right. And the routes that he was running were deep posts, deep goes, deep digs.
30:43Right. Matthew Stafford wasn't targeting those. He was preferring Devante Adams, Puka Nukua.
30:48Right. And when he was targeting Terrence Ferguson on those looks on those routes, it was on early downs versus base defensive looks.
30:56Right. So linebackers, when Terrence Ferguson was matched up against a linebacker, then Stafford would hit him.
31:02Right. More often than not, that's when Stafford would hit him.
31:06And he would, he knew, right. He's like, I did.
31:09I'm going to Ferguson on this one because he's going to get the linebacker matchups.
31:15Um, uh, what was I going to say? It is, it's just, it's just primarily concerning.
31:20And so I went to look at how often Terrence Ferguson was on the field during, against those base looks.
31:27Right. He was never on the field for some reason.
31:31I, they preferred Higby Parkinson and Davis Allen. Right.
31:34They, they wanted those guys on the field. They never had Terrence Ferguson on the field versus early down base looks.
31:41Right. So for, for, for Terrence Ferguson to evolve, right.
31:45And level up his fantasy game. I think he's going to need a way to what, from what I understand from watching
31:53Sean McVay, he's going to need to get on the field early versus those base looks on play action looks versus linebackers where they're expecting a run play.
32:02I need Terrence Ferguson to get on the field in those plays.
32:07Right. Because sure they can split them out into the slot as F tight end.
32:12Right. But still how often is he going to target him when they have Pook and Devante Adams on the field?
32:19Right. So I need him, I need him to fit into this small niche of offensive context plays for Terrence Ferguson to lift off.
32:28Highly gifted athlete, really good inline blocker. He knows how to anchor his weight really well and is willing to move down
32:36the field with the block and finish the block.
32:39He has a high engine. He kind of reminds me of like a Brian Branch, but obviously on the offensive side of the ball.
32:47What do you do with Terrence Ferguson, Dustin? So I was pretty invested in Terrence Ferguson coming into and out of the 2025 rookie drafts.
32:56The one thing with him, though, so on his rookie film, on my evaluation, something I noticed was when he wasn't the
33:04primary on a play, he would give up sometimes blocking down the field.
33:08And then for a guy that's like what he's 6'6", 6'7", 250, 60 pounds.
33:13He just went down on contact. He really didn't have a lot of yak game.
33:18So the Sean McVay tight end system stuff, like it's one of the biggest hits of my career.
33:25Liam Cohen actually in Tampa Bay and what he did with deploying Cade Otten whenever Chris Godwin and Mike Evans got hurt
33:32was the inspiration that Sean McVay started with. There was an interview with him at the end of the season, and he
33:40talked about other guys from his coaching tree, how they were deploying players, positional versatility, etc.
33:46So I was hype. I was hype on Ferguson.
33:49I had him noted in Sleeper as Devontae Adams' retirement plan because I had a feeling that they were going to use
33:57him in a very like Rob Gronkowski, split him out, straight line, seam buster, you know, big posts, stuff like that.
34:04But then with the drafting of Max Clair, I really got interested.
34:08And now we hear these rumors that McVay was in on Dazon Stripling.
34:13So that tells me specifically that he's looking for a player to permanently play that F position.
34:19In walks Max Clair. So what I'm really getting at is I think we have a Michael Mayer-Brock Bowers dynamic going on here.
34:27I'm not saying in any way, shape, or form Max Clair is Brock Bowers.
34:32But I think with Max Clair coming in, it's going to allow these guys to naturally settle into what they're supposed to be.
34:40I think Ferguson is going to end up being their 11 personnel single tight end with that versatility to split out.
34:47But they're going to probably live in 12 a lot more than 13 or 11 this season.
34:53And I think Clair is going to give them that versatility where he can play that fullback position, like we're talking about, that's so important.
35:02He can move to the edge of the line.
35:05He can go out for those screens. And then they can just take advantage of what Ferguson's good at.
35:12His size, his speed, his vertical push on the field, contested catchability.
35:16I just don't think he's the solution for the over-the-middle stuff that we might have thought that he could be as a tight end.
35:25I think Clair might be coming in to fill in for, like you said, be the H-back, be the sniffer kind of
35:32tight end to move in motion, insert on the blocks, and kind of gap-oriented run plays.
35:38That's what Tyler Higbee does on that team right now.
35:41That's his role. He'll align as the H-tight end.
35:45And Parkinson or Allen will align as the Y-tight end or something like that.
35:50And then you've got Ferguson as the F-tight end.
35:53But, yeah, Higbee is their H-tight end. And if you watch that offense, Higbee is their primary lead blocking.
35:59He's like a fullback for that team, right? As well as, like, you know, as well as their, you know, I guess
36:07their Tucker Craft, their guy that kind of goes out for those shallow passes.
36:12Their traditional – their A.J. Barner or whatever, you know, have traditional line 10.
36:17Right. So I think that's what Claire is there to do, like you said.
36:22And that's a very good observation by you. And it's all about – right, it's all about – and we can kind
36:30of predict or we can kind of predict what is going to happen with this team based on the personnel utilization that they go with.
36:38Right. If they're going 11-man personnel, that might not be great for Ferguson because I think they're going to use Higbee a
36:46lot in those packages as an in-line tight end.
36:49Right. If you're going 13-man personnel, when is Ferguson going to be on the field?
36:55When is he going to use – is he going to be used as a route runner on play action?
37:02So it's very – I think the avenue for Ferguson is kind of narrow, right?
37:07And it's kind of – it's kind of slim right now until – you know, McVay does a lot of crazy things.
37:15I'm not an offensive mind. I'm not an NFL head coach.
37:18You know, he can do a lot of things that obviously I've never thought of that a lot of people have never thought of.
37:27So I think he's worth holding. But, I mean, like, if you're thinking this guy is going to come out and be,
37:35you know, a 20% plus target per route run rate guy, I'm just not – I can't – I'll bet money that
37:42that just does not happen with Terrence Ferguson this year.
37:46Do you have any closing thoughts on Ferguson before we sign off for the night?
37:51No, nothing else on Ferguson. Something on Cam Ward I wanted to jump back on real fast.
37:57So I pulled a couple trades, and I wanted to shoot them your way and kind of see where you were leaning.
38:05So I pulled these up on Dynasty Daddy. These are real trades that happened in real sleeper leagues over the last three weeks.
38:13Are you taking Patrick Mahomes or Cam Ward and Basial Tootin in Dynasty?
38:18Yeah, that's a tough trade. That's a fair offer, I think.
38:21I mean, it depends – and, you know, it all depends on how you project Cam Ward.
38:27I think I'd go on the home side for that one.
38:31I think I'd take Mahomes still on that one.
38:34Yeah, I mean, a rebuilder, I'd probably go on the Cam side if I'm contending Mahomes.
38:40But, like you said, I mean, that's dead even.
38:43How about Cam Ward or Sam Laporta in a random 27 second?
38:47Cam Ward. Yeah, I'm Cam Ward all day there.
38:51Here's one for you. It's going to break your brain.
38:54Ready? Cam Ward or Tyler Shuck? Cam Ward. No, it doesn't – no, I think it's – I think, you know, I'm
39:02hopeful for Cam Ward to become a Dynasty QB1.
39:05But, I mean, Tyler Shuck is what? He's already 30 years old pretty much already.
39:10I'm just – I don't – that just makes it – even though there's probably more thought that goes into that, and
39:18I'm a fan of Tyler Shuck going into this season.
39:21But I'm just going to make it easy on my thought process.
39:26And, like, I don't – I'm not taking Cam Ward, who's a first-round pick, over Tyler Shuck, you know, who's a second-round
39:33pick or a day-two pick and is already eclipsing 30 years old.
39:38I'm okay on that. Yeah, I honestly – I needed to hear that because I've been so locked in on the offensive scheme in New Orleans.
39:47Oh, yeah. Rightfully so. Rightfully so, yeah. Cam Ward in the 2026-203 or a random 27 first?
39:53A random 2027 first? If it's random, I can't do random.
39:57I'm going to take Cam Ward. Because you said random, I'm not going to just hope I get a high first-round pick.
40:04I'm going to take Cam Ward. Well, we don't know what they are.
40:09I mean, people guess mid, high, low, whatever, and then, you know, Malik Nabors blows his knee out, and then your team
40:17– But this is the perfect – yeah, and this is the perfect time to do those kinds of trades because nothing
40:24is selling right now as far as 2027. 2027 first have been the hype.
40:29They have been the drug of choice for off-season Dynas Hill leagues.
40:34Right? We'll get into that. Yeah. Yeah. We're going to get into that all season, all season long.
40:40The divide between the 26 draft value, the 27 draft value, and kind of that just massive open area in the middle
40:48for players that produce points this season. Yeah. We're going to get into all of that.
40:53We got training camp coming up here, guys. Please like the video.
40:57Please subscribe to our YouTube channel here, 32beatwriters on YouTube, 32beatwriters.com.
41:01We have a bunch of awesome stuff coming. We're going to be dropping a fantasy football feed so you guys can get
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41:13We're going to be dropping these podcasts every week.
41:16I'm going to be doing solo dynasty content. We got more beat writer interviews.
41:21You're going to be locked in and loaded here with me and Zara, fantasyfootballintel32beatwriters.com.
41:26Thanks, guys. Better, guys. Thanks for watching.
