Becoming a Best Ball Bro: Fade Jonathan Taylor?
STACKED extracted the fantasy-relevant player signal from this podcast and kept the full transcript here for context.
1 hr 2 min
Duration
Estimated from transcript
Jul 1, 2026
Published
Wed, July 1, 2026
1
Player insights
1
Players mentioned
Topics
Jonathan Taylor
Player analysis
Player insights
Jonathan Taylor
NegativeBust7:28
JJ Zachariason's episode title frames Jonathan Taylor as a fade candidate in best ball formats, suggesting downside risk or reduced upside relative to draft capital expectations.
Insight pageFull transcript
Episode Transcript
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0:55Get yours now at Topgolf.com slash Fun Pass. Rich, I got a question for you.
1:00What's the most romantic thing that you've done for your wife?
1:03This is hella corny, but I studied abroad in Florence, Italy.
1:06And when I was there, I said whoever I was going to marry, I was going to bring there and propose to them there.
1:13So I brought my now wife on a Euro trip.
1:16We went to London, Paris, and ended in Florence where I proposed to her.
1:20So, yes, that is the most romantic thing that I've done.
1:23Wow, that's got me beat because I did the most romantic thing for my wife last weekend.
1:28It was our 11th wedding anniversary. And I took her to the live drafts for the Scott Fish Bowl in Charlotte.
1:34I'm JJ, and over the last couple of years, I've been doing everything I can to be a best ball bro.
1:40And last season, things finally fell into place. I got 40th in the DraftKings Millie contest, taking home $20,000.
1:46Maybe I became a best ball bro, but I'm still looking to learn more about this game.
1:50And I still want others to come on this ride with me.
1:54So even if you consider me a best ball bro, this could be your year.
1:58This could be the year that you officially become a best ball bro.
2:02This episode is sponsored by DraftKings. We've partnered up with DraftKings again this year for best ball, and we've got a can't-miss
2:08offer on their biggest best ball contest ever. $20 million in total prizes.
2:12It's draft one, get one. Draft your team once, no weekly lineup management, and your top scorers start automatically each week, all season long.
2:19Download the DraftKings Daily Fantasy app and sign up with promo code LATEROUND.
2:23Enter a lineup in the $20 million best ball contest for $25 and get a bonus ticket for a second entry.
2:29Two shots at the title. Draft one, get one, only on DraftKings.
2:32The crown is yours. Welcome into another episode of Becoming a Best Ball Bro.
2:36I'm JJ Zacharyarysen, and joined as always by Rich Ryan.
2:39Rich, what's going on, man? Doing good, man. You buried the lead.
2:43You went to a barcade after you played video games with your wife.
2:46To be fair, it was not only the Scott Fishbowl that I went to with my wife.
2:51I went to the Charlotte event. Scott was actually there, so I got to hang out with him for a little bit,
2:58which was one of the main reasons that I went.
3:01You know, I got to say hi to my guy.
3:03And then, yeah, we went to a barcade after, which was a lot of fun.
3:08And then we went to dinner. I mean, it wasn't just like a, you know, just a one and done thing.
3:14That would have been pretty bad if I just went to the Scott Fishbowl live event, hung out there for two hours, and then just went home.
3:22What did you order at cookout? Is that a hush puppies or?
3:25Yeah, yeah. No, we went to a great taco place, actually.
3:28It was delicious. Yeah, yeah. Nice little hole in the wall type place.
3:32But yeah, man, it was a great day celebrating.
3:35It was also like, you know, 11 years is very random.
3:38Like, it's not like we did. We went to Charleston last summer for our 10th anniversary.
3:42But, you know, 11 is just another year. You know, I celebrate my anniversary every day with my wife.
3:48Isn't that right? Isn't that how we say it?
3:50Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, I'm in the middle of updating rankings.
3:53So by the time this comes out, hopefully those rankings are updated on late round dot com.
3:58I do it every month for like Dynasty. And then now that it's July, we'll have like a weekly cadence and stuff for season long.
4:05And I've been updating the season long ones periodically, whatever.
4:08But, you know, in the midst of it all, I'm trying to finish this draft guide.
4:13But the ranking stuff got me thinking a little bit about rankings for best ball, because I get people all the time asking for rankings and best ball.
4:21And I want to ask you, Rich, as someone who, you know, you're not necessarily going to draft 200 teams or anything like that.
4:28But, you know, you'll play. You'll draft a decent number.
4:31You know, probably you're you're you are sort of like the demographic of this show in a way.
4:36Yeah. And the people listening, I'm the extension of the audience.
4:39Yeah, right. Exactly. So I want to ask you, like, how important do you think rankings are?
4:44Like, do you look at rankings as this thing that you've got to follow when you're drafting, given the amount of volume that you're playing?
4:51So to me, they kind of feel like the you theory in in auction drafts in that I feel like rankings are
4:58important at the beginning of the draft. And I think they're important at the end of draft to kind of select players
5:04that are relevant and are not going to give you zeros.
5:07But in that middle part of the draft where you're filling out your stacks and you're also reacting to the draft room
5:13you are in and what is falling to you.
5:16I feel like a lot of it is just about intuition and playing the game.
5:20Right. If you are just a slave to these linear Excel sheets that are telling you a list of players in order,
5:27then I think you're going to be doing yourself a disservice as opposed to doing what's most optimal in that draft slot at that time.
5:34And that's really what makes this game really fun is that there is so much depth to these picks that we're making
5:40in straddling the micro ecosystem we're battling in in the draft room, but also the macro ecosystem of the entire prize pool
5:47and trying to score the most points in week 17.
5:49And I think you have to be reactionary and make picks based on who you've selected previously and who the people around you are selecting.
5:57Yeah, like I think that being like, I mean a common like theme throughout the draft guide every year and it's no
6:03different this year is just about being reactive to what's going on in your draft and understanding where there's like pockets of
6:09value and stuff within your within your draft. But I think that it's even a bigger deal in best ball than it
6:16is in your regular season long league because in best ball you're doing more structurally than you would be doing in your regular season long league.
6:23You can realistically just pick whoever you think is the best value in season long and go along with it and you're good to go.
6:30But in best ball you can't necessarily do that.
6:33And there's some examples that I want to get to in a second, but I find myself sorting by ADP far more frequently than I'm sorting by ranking.
6:41Now I will say maybe people are asking for rankings simply because they want to see who I might be higher or
6:47lower on and you know within my rankings, which I think is is a fair thing to wonder and to see.
6:54And hopefully that's the main gist of it and like the main reason for it.
6:58But generally speaking, if you're doing 50 plus 100 plus drafts, right, you're not going to want to really just be picking
7:04off what you think is the best value at that time based on your own rankings.
7:09You're going to want to pick off what the best value is by what the market is generally giving you right and what ADP generally says.
7:16And then on top of that, you want to look at what's going on within your draft and you want to build structurally, right?
7:23Like, like you said, like if you want to see that I like Amin Ross St.
7:28Brown more than Jonathan Taylor or that I know I don't even think that you would be able to see this necessarily.
7:34But like, you know, I've taken Ashton Gentry over Jonathan Taylor at times throughout, you know, this month.
7:39And so, you know, you can't really see that because I'm not I don't think it's ranked that way necessarily, but tier wise it would be.
7:47But I don't think that rankings are necessarily going to help you out the way that you think it might help you
7:53out, because really what best ball is, is understanding things that from a bird's eye view, a high level and then being
8:00reactionary to what the draft is giving you. Let me give you an example, because there was a live stream that was
8:06going on earlier today on the late round YouTube channel where in that draft.
8:10So we've talked about quarterback basically every episode of the show, because I think it's the biggest storyline of what's different or
8:16what, you know, we started to see it last year.
8:19I remember we talked about it like the way that the QB twos were creeping up pretty consistently, but we're seeing it
8:25just full blown this year just happening every single draft.
8:28And so in this draft that I was doing, I had a real I loved the team that I drafted, by the
8:35way, if you want to go look at it, we're recording this June 30th.
8:39So it was on June 30th that I drafted this team and I started with Bijan.
8:43And then in round two, I had Nico. And then in round three, I got George Pickens.
8:48Round four was Terry McLaurin. Round five was Jalen Waddell.
8:51And then in round six and seven, I double tapped running back and got Ramondre and Jalen Warren, who are two of
8:58my favorite like middle round running backs. If you are going hero or zero RB, like I like both those guys.
9:04You'd agree. The inflection point pretty much of your entire draft was the waddle pick, right?
9:08Knowing that you weren't going to pick for another, you know, 20 some slots like the your entire draft pivoted on that wide receiver selection.
9:15Yeah, because I could have gotten David Montgomery was available, for instance, and I could have gotten Dave Montgomery to pair him with Nico Collins.
9:23I just don't really care for like, I think he's more of like the traditional dead zone back than than anything else.
9:29So I'm underweight and I will be underweight more than likely with David Montgomery.
9:33But so I'm sitting there and after I made the pick of Jalen, Jalen Warren, I knew that in the next round, we'll see what quarterback falls.
9:41We'll see what the landscape kind of looks like.
9:43But one of the ways that you can sort of see the direction that the quarterback board might go is if there
9:50are other teams in your league that have drafted multiple quarterbacks in those earlier rounds, because what that means is that there's
9:56going to be fewer quarterbacks available for other teams to draft.
9:59And when there's fewer quarterbacks for other teams to draft, that means that they're going to be very needy and they're going
10:06to push quarterbacks up the board more than likely.
10:08Right. And so I looked and before my my late eighth round pick, my 8-11 pick, I had seen that there was
10:14a team that already had three quarterbacks and there was a team that already had two quarterbacks through their their eight picks.
10:21And because of that, I knew that I probably had to reach.
10:24Right. That's the reactive piece to what I'm talking about here, where if you were to look at my rankings, you're probably
10:31not getting a quarterback in either of those next spots.
10:34Right. Either of the the the round late round eight, early round nine spots.
10:38So I took Jackson Dart because he was one of those quarterbacks that you could draft naked.
10:42Right. And then you also have to worry about then the what I'll just say are naked quarterbacks.
10:48Right. The guys that people will draft when they don't have pass catchers already because they know they can get pass catchers late like Dak Prescott.
10:55He's not really one that you draft naked that people don't draft.
10:59I mean, you know, you're going to get crazy people all the time in these drafts where they're just like, sure, I'll
11:05draft Dak Prescott after, you know, in the fourth round whenever I don't even have CeeDee Lamb or George Pickens.
11:11But, you know, generally speaking, the team that drafts Dak Prescott is going to have either CeeDee Lamb or George Pickens.
11:17And because his ADP is where it's at, it doesn't really stray away because you're afraid that the other team is going to do it.
11:24So it doesn't really stray away from ADP that frequently.
11:27With that being said, there are a lot of quarterbacks like Jackson Dart that you don't need Malik neighbors to get Jackson Dart because you get Isaiah Likely.
11:35You get a lot of I mean, pick your poison, you know, with any of the wide receivers that you could get late.
11:42I ended up getting Darnell Mooney in this draft.
11:44You know, Theo Johnson, I think, is still an interesting 20th round dart if you want to go that direction.
11:50So you don't need a pass catcher for Jackson Dart.
11:53So I took Jackson Dart at 811, a little bit ahead of ADP.
11:57And then in the next round, I said to myself, I know I'm not going to be able to get a stackable
12:03quarterback in the 10th round if I don't just do it right now.
12:07And so I took Bo Nix and I took Nix, what, 15 spots ahead of ADP and totally like a round ahead of ADP.
12:14And do I feel like amazing about it? No, not necessarily from like a like a clear CLV perspective.
12:19I don't like I don't think that I'm going to like look back at this draft and say, man, I got a
12:25great value with with Bo Nix because he's going to rise so much over the next couple of months.
12:31I think Bo Nix is undervalued. I'll say that.
12:33But, you know, I draft him because I had Jalen Waddle and, you know, Jaden Daniels was already gone.
12:39I had Terry McLaurin. I wasn't going to draft CJ Stroud there to complete that stack.
12:44And so and Dak Prescott had already been drafted.
12:46And so my logic was I'm reading the board.
12:49I'm seeing that there are already teams with three quarterbacks.
12:52Chances are, if I don't take one right here, when one come when my pick is coming back, there is at least
12:58a chance that I'm not going to have a legitimate shot at a good quarterback here.
13:03Right now, I think in hindsight and looking at it, I was probably both right and wrong.
13:08Like it wasn't as extreme as it could have been, but it wasn't, you know, there was like a Baker type quarterback that was available.
13:15And then I did get CJ Stroud. He fell a little bit a couple rounds later.
13:19But regardless, I think that's that's one of the main reasons to me that rankings really don't matter as much as you
13:26might think in best ball, you know, where you really have to be super reactive.
13:30Rankings to me are better are far more important and logical in a season long league where you're not structurally drafting, where,
13:36you know, the supply of certain positions literally does not dry up.
13:40You know, like like you're not drafting 30 quarterbacks in your regular season long league, so you don't have to worry about
13:46that wall happening at quarterback and really straying away from what your rankings are saying.
13:50And tight end, same deal. Right. It's just you're drafting way more of those players in these drafts, and then you can't use the waiver wire.
13:58Whereas if you're in your season long league and you just screw up a quarterback and you're like, oh, man, I just
14:04completely forgot to draft when it's round 15. Not only could you maybe still get like a Tyler Shuck this year, you
14:11know, in some leagues, but on top of that, it's OK.
14:14Like you can look at a week one matchup and see who the Steelers are playing or who the Jets are playing
14:20or whomever and maybe use a Rogers or G.
14:23I don't know the week one schedule enough right now or and say to yourself, I could use them in week one and I can start streaming.
14:31So this is the main reason, in my opinion, that you don't need to be super strict with rankings and best ball.
14:37Yeah, there's a there's a lot to unpack there.
14:39First, the direct example of linear rankings not being so important is Brock Purdy was ranked ahead of Jackson Dart when you made the Jackson Dart selection.
14:47But yes, Iuke, who knows off the board, Pierce Hall off the board, Kittle off the board.
14:52What's the point of taking a naked Brock Purdy?
14:55Right. Right. So that is one part where you're deviating from linear rankings there and taking the naked quarterback who has more
15:01stackable pieces that we can draft later. And then the Bo Nix piece on top of everything of what you said is
15:07this is something you've talked about for such a long time is opportunity cost.
15:12And we know that while more important in best ball because we can't take zeros, the opportunity cost of 15 selections in
15:18rounds nine and 10 is not the same as 15 selections earlier in the draft.
15:22So taking some flex worthy, let's hope cross our fingers player at that spot, as opposed to getting a stackable quarterback with
15:29a wide receiver that you made probably the most pivotal selection in your draft on.
15:33Right. You made a bet that Jalen Waddle is going to have a good year stacking him with that quarterback.
15:39Just make sense in this game environment. The chat graded that draft between like seven to eight and a half or so.
15:45I always have chat. If you guys haven't caught the live streams before, I always have chat graded out of 10, whatever
15:51my draft did, you know, how I performed and what they think of the draft.
15:56I thought it was like one. I love that team when I walked away.
16:00I didn't get crazy, crazy ADP value throughout that draft, but I just like the way that it was constructed.
16:05I like the individual players that I drafted and it came together, in my opinion, from from the standpoint of like just general best ball team construction.
16:13Right. And and I think part of that was my willingness to draft Bo Nix where I drafted him.
16:19You know, I think we get really bogged down and caught up in this idea that you have to because it's true,
16:25like better CLV teams and better teams that have good ADP value will perform better than teams that don't.
16:31Right. And so I think that we get caught up in that sometimes and think that like every single pick has to be a crazy ADP value.
16:38But it goes back to the very first episode of the show is maybe the second episode of the show a couple
16:45of years ago when Pat Corrine was talking about Joe Burrow versus Jalen Hurts.
16:49And there are times where you take Burrow over Hurts when you have a team that you are stacking Jamar Chase and Tee Higgins, right?
16:56Where you have to do what's best for your individual team and pass up on that value.
17:01For instance, when when I drafted Bo Nix, Jaden Reed was still on the board.
17:05I like Jaden Reed. I think that he's a fun pick.
17:08You know, I'm not like, oh, like unbelievably overweight, but I I certainly am investing in the in the Green Bay offense.
17:15And I like Reed as a player and he was a value based on ADP at that pick.
17:20But I knew what I needed to do for my individual team.
17:23And when you look back on your draft, you can say to yourself, oh, man, because I knew that Jordan Love was going to get drafted.
17:31Right. Like I was gonna be able to get Jaden Reed and then stack him because Jordan Love was because of the way that quarterbacks were falling.
17:39And so if you do what's best for your team, you know, obviously don't stray too far away from ADP.
17:44That's not what I'm saying. You can get other ADP values elsewhere.
17:48If it's one pick, it's not that big of a deal.
17:51I made the comment on stream where a couple rounds later because I got Isaiah likely then in the 10th.
17:57I had to had to reach a little bit for him.
18:00And then in the 11th, I got Romeo Dobbs.
18:03I'm not I'm not a big Romeo Dobbs guy.
18:05It's just he's a bring back for the Denver game, right?
18:08Yeah. For week 17. And I had Ramondre. So I have like I like to at least stack one week 17 game
18:15like heavily, even if I just get one bring back for another game, whatever.
18:19But this one, I got two New England Patriots.
18:21I had multi. I think I had four Denver Broncos in the end.
18:25When I drafted Romeo Dobbs, my example was, OK, look, I could have had Jaden Reed and then risked it at quarterback
18:31in some way and not had Bo Nix. Right.
18:34The tradeoff then became, oh, I still got Romeo Dobbs as my wide receiver five instead of Jaden Reed as my wide receiver five.
18:41And straight up, I like Jaden Reed more than Romeo Dobbs.
18:44Don't get me wrong. But in the in a best ball environment.
18:47OK. Number one, Romeo Dobbs has a chance to just be better than Jaden Reed this year.
18:52That's that's certainly in his range of outcomes. I think that we what would we put it at like 60, 40, 65, 35, something like that.
19:00Like if that I mean, some people are probably screaming, saying, no, Jaden Reed's a slot guy.
19:05He's not gonna be on the field enough. Right.
19:07And so let's just let's just say it's 65, 35.
19:10But in best ball, you're also looking at when these spiked weeks are hypothetically happening and the importance of when they happen.
19:17And for that individual team, Romeo Dobbs straight up might even just make more sense than Jaden Reed, like like in a
19:23vacuum, like without even factoring in cost. And so when you put all that together from a structural drafting standpoint, it did
19:29make a lot of sense to get Bo Nix and start that stack and then get Romeo Dobbs and kind of go from there.
19:36So overall, I'm very happy with how that ended up working out.
19:40But I think it just plays in this idea that rankings are probably a little bit overrated in best ball.
19:45I, by the way, I said, Brandon, I meant obviously Mike Evans.
19:49And you now have a four player game stack as opposed to just Jaden Reed hanging out by himself and in week 17.
19:56Although, to be fair, technically, I had Nico. So there was a you know, you had you had at least a little
20:02mini one going on with with that. Yeah. And the to your point about the the quote unquote reaching reaching there would
20:08have been taking CJ shroud because you took Nico earlier.
20:11Right. Yeah. That would have been a true reach.
20:14Like, I think with quarterback, if you are at risk, if there is more than like a 50 percent chance or even
20:20like 30 percent chance that that quarterback is not going to make it back to you in your next pick, then you can make the pick.
20:28You know, like that's that's sort of the way that I think that whereas like with CJ Stroud, there was about a
20:3490, 95 percent chance he was going to make it back.
20:37And he made it back plus some because I didn't even take him the next two picks.
20:42And I got on the next one for my for my third quarterback.
20:46So, yeah, I thought that that example, you know, played into the rankings discussion and is also a way for me to
20:52say, hey, guys, go to late round dot com and check out the rankings.
20:56You know, well, anyway, we have we have a guest today.
20:59Nez Nez takes on Twitter part of the badge bros.
21:02He's a big basketball player. He's also a Pittsburgh Pirates fan.
21:05So, you know, he's he's a man after my heart.
21:08We are struggling these days as pirate fans. It is not the easiest way to live.
21:13It's one of the worst bullpens I've ever seen in my life, but I digress.
21:17I had a great conversation with Nez. We talked about his most common builds on DraftKings this year.
21:22Early round fades that he's had. He has a really, really fun take that I agree with injured players and how he
21:29kind of attacks injured players and so much more.
21:31So without further ado, here is my conversation with Nez.
21:34All right. As my first question for you, what's been the most common build for you this year over on DraftKings?
21:40Yeah, right now it's been in this kind of hurts me because I am like a contrarian by nature, but I am doing a lot of hyper fragile.
21:48The four to five running back builds right now.
21:51It just makes so much sense in the current meta to do that.
21:55And especially on DraftKings, a PPR website where you can really just backfill those wide receiver spots with volume and just, you know, get lucky.
22:02Catch one of these guys on a game where they catch a touchdown.
22:06It just makes so much more sense than taking bets on those late round running backs that really need contingency value to pay off for the most part.
22:14I mean, maybe some of these guys have their own standalone role that we haven't really seen yet.
22:19You know, there's some rookies. There's Marshawn Lloyd back there.
22:22But really, really feel more comfortable drafting the wide receivers late and tight ends late as opposed to the running backs.
22:28But I would love for it to be a zero RB year because everybody's convinced that it's not.
22:33It's just pretty hard to do so right now, but I'm still trying.
22:37I'm still trying. That's how I feel too. Like I'm still throwing out some zero RB teams because I don't want to miss it.
22:44Because like realistically, I've been doing a lot of research for my draft guide.
22:48The last two years at running back have been sort of the most predictive years that we've seen at the position over the last like 15 years.
22:55Like it's been very, very strong, whether that's due to injury.
22:59But I also think like the NFL meta is playing into that a little bit with just it being more run.
23:05It has also been the most run heavy years over that time frame as well, which kind of like allows for.
23:11Yes, like there might not be as much target share going to running backs because it's feeding into tight ends.
23:17But they at least are seeing more work on the ground to kind of combat that.
23:21Whereas wide receiver, they're just not. And so you get sort of like a flatness at wide receiver.
23:26And so, yeah, I mean, I'm in the same boat.
23:29We're like, it just you feel so uncomfortable this year more than ever going zero RB.
23:34And I think maybe the market's a little bit sharper, too.
23:37Have you have you noticed that? Do you think that the running back market is slightly sharper with like the player takes that we're seeing out there?
23:45And just like, you know, like a backfield where you have like a Ramondre and Travion, like two guys that are middle round picks.
23:52It feels like a Ramondre historically might have been ahead of where Travion is going, but it's just not happening this year.
23:58Yeah, no, I think you absolutely have to admit that the field is getting sharper.
24:02You know, as best ball goes on, you are clearly seeing adaptations to the draft boards right now.
24:08And the running backs are a prime example of it.
24:10I think guys are very appropriately priced in terms of roles that they have or have had in recent memory.
24:16Plus factoring in how many high value touches a guy has in an offense and baking in that uncertainty of the situation, like very appropriately, in my opinion.
24:24Like that late second round just loaded with running backs that all have like different forms of upside in terms of touchdown
24:31equity versus their role, especially as a pass catcher on draft kings as well.
24:35I think the field's gotten pretty sharp at identifying who the strong running backs are and how to how to value them appropriately, like across across the board.
24:43And it feels like like do you have a I mean, I'm sure you have like some like favorites in like the,
24:49you know, round nine to 11 to 12 or whatever the case may be.
24:53You know, like we'll just dub them like later ish type picks.
24:57But at the same time, does it not feel like once those like year two guys are off the board, especially in
25:03like round five, you know, like the Tootons, the Travions, if you want to throw them in there, though, I've I've personally been drafting more Romandre than Travion.
25:11But like those types of players, it feels like there's just a big like drop in projected production after those guys.
25:17Do you feel that, too? A hundred percent. Like you are you are buying points for like you're able to buy points
25:23at those picks is, you know, not like I.
25:26I came up with that term myself, but that's how I that's how I think of it.
25:31Right. When I'm drafting running backs in that range, I know I'm going to get some points from those running backs once
25:37you get past and like Alvin Kamara is like shooting up draft boards right now, which like I would agree with.
25:43It does sound like he's going to have a good role in that offense, which would be great for PPR.
25:49As soon as you get past him, like in round like 14 on at that point, you're just like buying hope.
25:55And the hope that like these guys have something that happens to their to their running mate that allows them to ascend to RB one status.
26:03And there are some decent bets there, some that are certainly better than others that can.
26:07I think have that. I have the confidence in them, assuming that strong RB one role if that situation takes place.
26:13But at that point, though, like, yeah, these guys are not guaranteed to score points.
26:18And for me, that means something. Right. I think there is definitely something to that where, you know, the probabilities are not
26:24in your favor for those guys to hit. But we are well aware of the upside if that does take place.
26:30Yeah. Yeah. A hundred percent. If we're looking at the early rounds, do you have any guys that you've been generally fading
26:36this year or are you sort of like spreading out exposure?
26:40Like, I guess you could also talk about how you've approached that historically, because I think a lot of people are always
26:46curious about like, you know, do you want that 4% blanket for everybody, you know, in the first couple of rounds?
26:52Because it's a more comfortable way to sort of approach things.
26:55Yeah. No, I've always taken pretty strong stance in the first two rounds of drafts.
26:59Last year, just to kind of toot my own horn, pat my back here, I faded Brian Thomas Jr.
27:05pretty heavily. I faded Bucky Irving pretty heavily in favor of guys like Derrick Henry and Jonathan Taylor, just thinking like, wow,
27:11these guys have like really, really strong profiles as running backs.
27:14And I can I can build out teams that I think give me better expected value than if I took some of
27:21these other some of these other risks this year.
27:23I'm doing the same thing. I'm taking some some some fades here.
27:27The two fades that that are the strongest for me, and I think this might come off as spicy is Jonathan Taylor and Saquon Barkley this year.
27:35These guys, to me, I think have some some concerns, different concerns for each.
27:39Saquon, for me, the concern is, is that explosiveness still there that we saw two years ago that really just did not show itself last year?
27:46Can we fully put that on the on the old OC?
27:49I'm not entirely convinced on top of the fact that he's going to lose a lot of these goal line touchdowns.
27:55That that is so massive that like him compared to Derrick Henry, Derrick Henry is getting that rock.
28:01Yeah, Saquon's not man. And that that to me really, really hurts the ceiling there.
28:05And the JT Bear case for me is just are we 100% certain that Daniel Jones can not only come back at
28:11full health, but do what he did last year?
28:14Right. I've been a Daniel Jones defender. I thought that he had some some pretty good seasons in New York.
28:20But the truth of the matter is that he's pretty inconsistent.
28:23And if he can't read if he can't do what he did last year, it's a cascading effect on that offense.
28:29And it starts with Jonathan Taylor's ability to be who he was last year, even though he has obviously such amazing skill
28:35and can break long runs, even no matter who's a quarterback.
28:38But Daniel, it's hard to deny that Daniel Jones was a big reason why he was so successful last year.
28:44Yeah, I mean, I agree. I mean, you can even look at the splits right after after Jones went down.
28:50It was disastrous. I mean, everyone who had Jonathan Taylor, they were like, oh, I got the league winner.
28:55And then it just it just went to the crapper because the offense just just was horrible.
29:00Right. And that's I definitely more so for me with the Taylor take the Saquon take.
29:05I've still been taking Saquon, not I'm not overexposed, but like still drafting him.
29:09But the the the difference, too, is that like there's a difference in cost.
29:13Like even though there is four or five picks is significant because with Jonathan Taylor, I think Aminra only just started to
29:19officially go ahead of him in ADP. And to me, like St.
29:23Brown, I'm taking him over over Jonathan Taylor all day, all day based on based on what his floor ceiling combo looks like.
29:29And I mean, he just also just projects really well.
29:32I'm around St. Brown does. But the JT stuff, it's hard for me to really see a significant gap in projection from
29:39him to the bottom of that round two tier with with some of those like a Derrick Henry, let's say.
29:44Right. Like, is there is there truly, truly? Yeah.
29:47JT will probably catch a few more passes and be more of a plus in the in the passing game.
29:53And yes, you know, there's there's less competition for him on that team.
29:56But like, realistically, we know Derrick Henry's in the better environment, like locked in better environment.
30:01You know, like you said, you had to you have to you have to play into this Daniel Jones thing a little
30:07bit to really buy into Jonathan Taylor. And so to me, it's like that tier almost starts to begin with Jonathan Taylor.
30:14And you just don't want to be drafting at the top of that tier in the end.
30:19A hundred percent. That's really where I'm at is like he is sneaky in that tier.
30:23And because there's a gap between him and the next RB in that range, it feels like he's not.
30:29And it feels like you're supposed to take Jonathan Taylor.
30:32But in reality, the projections are not that different.
30:34And I think that's where stands can really come into play.
30:37It's risky. But at the end of the day, like if you're if you're playing DFS and you have a guy that
30:44is more expensive, but projects the same as a guy that is cheaper in cost.
30:48You're probably going to take the guy that's cheaper in cost.
30:51So you can really make some outside bets, outsized bets in best ball using those those principles.
30:56And that that's what I like to do. I like to take some risks and flesh things through like that.
31:02Yeah, makes a ton of sense. The other sort of like pocket, you know, we kind of talked about those running backs in that area.
31:09The other one of the interesting pockets for me this year, and I'd love to hear your take if you agree or not.
31:16But is that like late third, you know, through the fourth round into the into the early fifth at wide receiver?
31:22There's just so many interesting upside profiles there, in my opinion.
31:25You know, I've been throwing a lot of darts in there.
31:28So my first question about this pocket is, are you attacking wide outs there?
31:32And then if you are, which wide outs are you sort of gravitating towards?
31:36Yeah, 100 percent. I am in this range, especially, you know, if you're talking about the three, four turn.
31:42That's you know, that that's where that pocket of running backs is.
31:45So I'm almost certainly making up for a wide receiver in that range.
31:49My favorites right now is like Rishi Rice used to be in that range.
31:53I was just a gift. But that's that's that's long gone.
31:56But my my my two favorites in that range right now are Zay Flowers and T Higgins.
32:01I was never much of a Zay Flowers guy last year.
32:04The efficiency just shot up like crazy. And I really don't see how that changes much this year.
32:09I don't think the target competition around him is very strong.
32:13And I think Lamar Jackson's play style has changed like in Zay Flowers favor as well, where he's not running as much.
32:19And Zay Flowers is been been tremendous. And I think that that target share really has nowhere to go but but up, if not sustain.
32:26And if it does sustain, then he pays off price as well.
32:30I've just been really impressed with him as a pass catcher.
32:33So taking some Zay Flowers and then T Higgins.
32:35I'm so in on this Bengals offense, which does hurt me to say as a Steelers fan.
32:40I think that T Higgins is just borderline or I'll just say straight up underrated as a pass catcher because we look at the box scores.
32:48We look at the historicals and we're zoomed out big time and we see the year the yearly results for T Higgins.
32:54And, you know, wow, he doesn't have a thousand yards in the last two seasons.
32:58And, you know, are we, you know, he's just getting mogged by Jamar Chase.
33:02But when that team is healthy and clicking, T Higgins has one of the best ceilings.
33:07Yeah. Point blank period week to week for any wide receiver.
33:10And if they can finally click, there's just always something going on with that Bengals.
33:15Either T Higgins is hurt or Joe Burrow gets hurt.
33:17If that offense clicks and stays healthy, they are going to be a wrecking machine.
33:22And T Higgins, I think has upside for like that Devontae Adams type of season last year where he's just touchdown after touchdown after touchdown.
33:29And that's something that I want a part of.
33:32Doesn't it feel like people don't give T Higgins the benefit of the doubt for contingent upside as well?
33:37Like it's like 100 percent. There's like there's like never discussion about like T Higgins would would be seeing 26, 27 percent
33:43of the team's targets if Jamar Chase went down, if not more.
33:47Right. And like there's there's really nice contingent upside there, too.
33:50And then the Zay Flowers thing, I think at this point, given the way that round that early round three looks, because
33:56like early round three to me is not that much different than like early round four.
34:01It's not point. Right. And so like I, I think that you could, especially like if we get late in the season
34:07and I want to hear if this is the right game theory as me being a, you know, an ascending best ball bro.
34:14Sure. We can't say that I am officially necessarily.
34:17But like from a game theory perspective for me, it feels like maybe don't do it now because, you know, the Millie,
34:23you know, obviously we got a month and a half until like things are really closed and settled.
34:28But if we get into August and Zay Flowers is still comfortably almost every draft going late third or mid to late
34:34third, it feels like he would be the kind of player to take in the early third to differentiate your lineup a little bit.
34:41Because there really isn't that dramatic of a gap, in my opinion, between him and I mean, look, I published market score, new metric for late round.
34:49And one of his top comps is JSN's 2025.
34:52And I'm like, I'm like, I don't want to miss out on this.
34:56I wasn't in on Zay last year. No. You know, similar to you.
34:59And like, I do think that like the way that people look at his end of season numbers, maybe a little bit
35:06skewed just because it happened late when we weren't even using him.
35:09I think it was like a week 18 game where he like went bonkers.
35:13But obviously, you know, the Lamar Jackson injury happened.
35:16And, you know, he's been more of that like floor play than ceiling play.
35:20But we've seen the ceiling and there's new offensive coordinator.
35:23And there's all these like factors where you can tell a story of him like having a pretty sick season.
35:28And in my opinion, in that early third, if he does stay back right in that into that in that late third
35:35range, and then we get into August and he's still there.
35:38That's a way to differentiate your builds to say, oh, I'm getting Derrick Henry at the 210.
35:43I can stack that and then even get Lamar.
35:45I mean, Lamar goes late fifth often, which is crazy.
35:48Yeah. So you can get him in the early fifth easily and just stack the entire team.
35:53Yeah, no, no. You're spot on. And I think people hear what you're saying and think about beating the field in that regard.
36:00Like, oh, like I'm going to have unique Gibbs and Bijon combos.
36:03And while that's true, I think it's more so important for like a personal portfolio standpoint.
36:08You don't want all of your best premium picks to be paired with the same players over and over and over.
36:14And if we think that projection is flat for those wide receivers, you should absolutely pull him up.
36:19I've done that. I've already begun doing stuff like that with Zay Flowers.
36:23Yeah, he's just so set up to smash. I love the JSN comp for the market score just because he has such
36:29an outsized like shot of just dominating targets in that offense.
36:32There's very little threat to him as a pass catcher.
36:35Yeah, yeah, 100%. And then in that range, though, too, this is where I've struggled a lot because I really like look, I like Luther Burden.
36:43I like I'll take some swings at Colston Loveland at times.
36:46I really like Jalen Waddle and Terry McLaurin. Like there's so many good wide in like the the market score stuff loves Teddero McMillan.
36:53I'm still a little bit worried about like situation and stuff like that.
36:57But like I don't want to completely ignore what market score saying about him.
37:01But there's so many talented wide receivers in that range.
37:04And what I've noticed from a portfolio standpoint is that now it just naturally fades the running backs there.
37:09The Travis ETNs, the Javante Williams, Cam Scadaboo. So how are you handling that?
37:13Like, how are you handling those guys? Are you just like if you're going heavy wide receiver there, are you just comfortable
37:19with being underweight on those running backs? Or are you still attacking those running backs?
37:24I am quite comfortable fading ETN and Javante Williams.
37:26I think there's big systemic risk in New Orleans.
37:29And I say that as somebody that really came around on Tyler Shuck and think that he is good.
37:34But I am well aware of the outcomes that he might have tricked me.
37:38And he might not actually be good. And what if Jordan Tyson can't stay healthy?
37:43What if Chris Olave has another? Like there's a lot of fragility in that offense that I think would really cascade and have pretty strong effects.
37:50On top of the fact that Alvin Kamara is likely to stay and take that pass catching role from ETN.
37:56That was what made him so, so valuable last year.
37:59And the ZTN, I mean, he's fine. But is he a slam dunk?
38:03Whereas like some of these wide receivers are? To me, no.
38:06And Javante, shout out to Javante last year, really made me look like a fool.
38:10Had to draft Miles Sanders. Couldn't draft Javante. I'm not drafting Javante again at these prices.
38:15He signed the big contract. But he needs such a large workload, in my opinion, to pay off.
38:20And I don't know necessarily that that is sustainable for him.
38:23He's been injured a lot in his career. So I'm totally fine with fading Javante.
38:27There could be some other running backs emerging in that offense as well.
38:31But Cam Scadaboo, not fading, sir. Absolutely no shot am I fading Cam Scadaboo.
38:35And it's not 100% because of the backflip, but the backflip did a lot for me.
38:40The backflip did a lot for me. That is a lot of force on that leg.
38:44And yeah, that was really all I needed to see.
38:47I don't think there's an outsized bet like Cam Scadaboo in that ring.
38:51Like David Montgomery, I don't think has Cam Scadaboo upside.
38:54Josh Jacobs does not have Cam Scadaboo upside. He has such the perfect blend of high-value touches that he can just dominate fantasy.
39:01He can catch, he can get 80 targets. He can run for 10 touchdowns.
39:05That is such a ridiculous profile that if he wasn't injured, we're taking Cam Scadaboo in the second round.
39:10And I feel like uber confident in that. Yeah, I would agree.
39:14That is the one. And not only that, he just checks a lot of like the market trend boxes that I've studied,
39:20you know, historically of guys who smash ADP and do really well against ADP expectation.
39:24And like your two backs in general are really good bets, right?
39:28And then he's got a great pass catching profile.
39:30And that's the thing that I think people don't fully understand about him is that like even him as a prospect coming
39:37out, like the problem for him was, you know, does he have the burst?
39:41Does he have the long speed to be able to generate big plays?
39:44The answer to that is actually no. Like he didn't even show that last year, right?
39:49But it didn't matter. Like if he can gain, you know, five to six yards and get these like, you know, 10
39:55yard chunks every now and again, that's fine. And then also like Tyrone Tracy being back there.
40:00And I was a Tracy truther when he came out.
40:03But I have to be honest, like he has not been an efficient pass catcher at the NFL level, right?
40:09And so there's a very real chance that Scadaboo, like you said, is taking those high value touches.
40:14And I've been clicking his. He is the one running back even because I've mostly faded David Montgomery, too.
40:20Like I, I find, I find David Montgomery and Javante Williams to be kind of traditional dead zone backs.
40:25If we were to reference like what that, you know, the dead zone is kind of just an archetype zone at the end of the day.
40:33But, but like they're the guys that you're buying into just based on projected volume.
40:37Like there, it's not like Javante Williams wasn't just bad as a receiver last year.
40:41He was horrific as, you know, like, like, like, like so, so bad.
40:45And it scares me that they're already, you know, I'm not saying that Jaden blue himself is going to be standalone value type guy.
40:52But I do think that he could play a justice Hill type role on that team.
40:57And if that's the case, that lowers Javante Williams ceiling.
40:59And then all of a sudden on a full PPR site, you're also not, you're not getting as much of that receiving
41:06work, but then you're also just banging, banking on touchdowns and banking on him having another, you know, like, like, like at
41:12his price, you would need probably like realistically, like a 12, 13.
41:1613 touchdown season, I think for him to, to really pay off.
41:19Exactly. You are, he he's being drafted very close to a ceiling in terms of the workload that he needs to receive.
41:25And I just don't think he has the skill to absolutely like command that workload.
41:30He needs things to happen to his run. Like Jaden blue just has to be atrocious.
41:34Like he was last year to do that. But Jaden blue year two guy, you know, maybe he's got, you know, a little more maturity about him.
41:42Another year in the building. Yeah. I just don't like the Javante.
41:46And I also like, we sit here in late June and we are talking about Jaden blue in that way.
41:51Right. And like, we, we sit here and we're like, there's definitely tons of people listening to this right now that are
41:58saying you're, you're really not going to draft Javante Williams because of Jaden blue.
42:02You really guys like, like historically, this is, this is the game.
42:05Like, it's a lot easier to make the case with like David Montgomery.
42:09Cause Woody marks at least showed us something last year, at least, I mean, he wasn't like phenomenal, but he at least
42:15like was able to command some volume and do something right as a rookie.
42:19And I understand that you look at like the Dallas Cowboys depth chart and you're like, well, what could change?
42:25Like what could go wrong? Well, number one, we'll see what happens with any sort of guys that gets cut or if
42:31they want to make a move or something like that.
42:34But also this is exactly what gets you into a trap often with these running backs is that you're going off a projected ball.
42:41And of course some of them could hit like Javante Williams might hit.
42:45I'm not saying that it's, it's guaranteed. Right. But like, that's the kind of player that generally, you know, seven times out
42:51of 10, if you want to play probability will, will burn you, you know, because you're, you're getting them off.
42:57I feel that way. I probably have drafted more Javante actually than Travis ETN, if I'm being honest, which is kind of
43:03wild because I think that the ETN bowl case is a little bit easier to make.
43:08But the thing that has gotten me is, is Alvin Kamara.
43:11Like he's there, he's, he's not going to do nothing.
43:14And I, I just, I think ETN belongs like around later.
43:17I think Javante belongs like around later than where they're, they're being drafted right now.
43:22And those wide receivers just make it so much easier to, to take the wide outs, you know?
43:27Yeah. Yeah. Very well said. All right. So we have Scadaboo who you're into, right?
43:31Coming off that, that pretty rough injury. Quinshot Judkins is also coming off of, of an injury and we could even throw,
43:37let's throw Malik neighbors in there as well as just this general, like, how do you approach injuries?
43:43Is it a blanket thing that you sort of go by and you say, I'm not drafting these dudes because I don't
43:49want to deal with their, them being banged up.
43:52And I know, or, or is it just, just case by case with these dudes?
43:56Yeah, it's, it's, it's case by case for sure.
43:58It's because of how different the situations are. Like Malik neighbors is such a, its own thing and its own beast.
44:05And I'm not drafting Malik neighbors. I am of the belief that he will end up on pup and miss the first four games of the season.
44:12And if we get, depending on when we get that news, I will take the discounted shares when that news hits, cause it will definitely affect the price.
44:20Right. And if I'm wrong, all right, I'm wrong on Malik neighbors and he looks good in camp or it, or is
44:27not going to open up on pup, you know, the, the rosiest scenario you can paint about Malik neighbors.
44:32How high does he rise? Yeah. I've thought that too.
44:35Yeah. How also, also doesn't it feel like the wide outs that you would be taking where he's going right now could
44:41easily just be 80%, 90% of what Malik neighbors would generate anyway.
44:45A hundred percent. I mean, Malik neighbors, we love them as a talent.
44:49There's a lot going on here. That is scary.
44:51Yeah. It could take a while to come on and maybe he goes OBJ mode when he comes back and we're just like, Oh, right.
44:58Here we go. But no, I am, I'm waiting to take those, to take those bites at, at neighbors, but Judkins, I'm not so worried about the injury.
45:07It's just, wow, this offense and this team could be very bad.
45:10This is somebody that I think thrives on positive game script because he has Samson in the backfield.
45:15That's doing that pass catching work. Could they surprise us?
45:18Could, you know, Watson have a good season with these pass catchers like around him and he's, you know, at least competent enough that they can score touchdowns.
45:26I suppose, you know, maybe any quarterback in that backfield could do that.
45:30But I have a lot of trouble taking Judkins over somebody like Tootin, somebody like Henderson.
45:35Yeah. I I'm not drafting Judkins, but that's, that's more so of the situation and the profile as opposed to like his injury.
45:41Yeah. I would agree with the Judkins stake. Like I, I, uh, the one time that I've gotten him is that sometimes he'll fall to the early sixth.
45:49And that's when I'm like, yeah, you know, like, I'm like, okay, well, all those guys are gone.
45:54And now the opportunity cost is maybe like, maybe a Jags wide out or something like that, but I can get exposure to those guys and other drafts.
46:02So like, I'll get some, but I would guess my Judkins exposure is going to be in like the 3% range by
46:09the end of the season, you know, the, the off season.
46:12So I'm definitely with you. And I also look at things in more of a case by case with these injuries.
46:18Um, one really interesting thing that I want to pick your brain on is quarterback ADP and what, what it's doing there,
46:24where some of these QB twos are seeing this uptick in cost.
46:28But do you think that there's a reason for this?
46:31Like, is there something that you can point to, to say, this is why we're seeing like, you know, CJ Stroud go
46:37only a couple rounds sometimes after like Brock Purdy, who we know, you know, is in a good environment produces, et cetera, et cetera.
46:44Yeah. I think it's a bit of like a rising tide effect with quarterback where the quarterback run starts and drafters on
46:50draft Kings just do not want to be left with a bad quarterback.
46:54So they just, they, they run to the podium and draft these guys.
46:58As soon as that, that big window starts, it just doesn't stop until, until they're all gone.
47:03And I, I, I kind of, I get it.
47:05You know, when you're in, when you're at that range, there is a better chance of somebody like CJ Stroud hitting your
47:12lineup than Travis Hunter in that range. So like there is, there's that safety element that people naturally lean towards.
47:17And there's also just a lot of really good data out there right now that is very, very, very hard to ignore
47:24that says three quarterbacks is a profitable strategy and it earns you money more often than taking two quarterbacks does in, in, in this current landscape.
47:31So I think that has just kind of bled over and a draft Kings is really just kind of taking that to
47:38the next level over here where everybody's just going early and often, but it's, it's, I think it's correct.
47:43You know, I think it's just smart. Yeah. Yeah.
47:46So here's the thing though. Like, are you in those, like given the environment, given like you've done so many drafts, you
47:52know what a typical draft sort of like, like how it goes.
47:56Yeah. Does that make you then? Cause like, I feel gross when I, I, I skip over a quarterback in round nine or 10.
48:02Right. And I'm like, Oh, I got to get, I don't know, Kenneth Gainwell or someone random like that.
48:08Right. And then I look back and I'm like, why did I do that when clearly a Brock Purdy outcome is going
48:14to be better than a, you know, from just, just the majority of the time, it's going to look better, especially like
48:21Bryce young, you know, like it's crazy to me that there are times where you are forced to make those decisions and
48:27having to choose a Brock or a Bryce young type player in like round 12, because if you don't, there's going to
48:33be crazy drafters around you that are going to take them in that range.
48:37You're almost to your point forced to do that.
48:40Now, are you playing into that when that happens?
48:43Because you have to play into that. Or are you just like the majority of the time, just trying to get ahead
48:49of that in your drafts and just get those like, you know, round six to round nine quarterbacks to make sure you at least have some substance there.
48:57Yeah, no, I, I certainly play ball with the field and, and do my fair share of three quarterback drafting, but I'm not shy about doing two quarterbacks.
49:05They just have to be good. Yeah. I can't do good and okay.
49:09They have to be, they have to be good where I'm not worried about venture risk at all, no matter what happens.
49:15And just, just leaning into those guys being good and hopefully, you know, well stacked.
49:19So that way the bet on those two quarterbacks makes sense, but no, I am doing a three quarterback thing.
49:25And there's times where, you know, in, in, on my way to getting my third quarterback, I'll have my second quarterback before I even have my flex player.
49:33You know, I, you just have to do these sorts of things, uh, in, on, on draft things with the scoring system and the, in the ADPs.
49:41So yeah, I, I, I play ball with the field, man.
49:44But let me ask you this. Let me go through a little exercise here.
49:48And this is something that was not, you know, show sheet related, but I think it's an interesting like thing to like
49:55exercise to walk through given, given this quarterback landscape.
49:57So let's assume that you got Jalen hurts as your QB one.
50:01Okay. I mean, I love Jalen hurts. I think that he's underpriced this year, but you got, let's just say that you
50:07got Jalen hurts as your QB one guy. And then I want to ask you different quarterbacks and for you to say,
50:13if you would stop at two quarterbacks and be comfortable with that, or if you would need a third.
50:19Okay. We'll start, we'll start easy. Okay. We'll go, we'll go Jalen hurts as one and, and Trevor Lawrence as your, as
50:25your two, would you, would you be comfortable stopping there?
50:28Yeah. Easy to. Okay. How about Jalen hurts and Jackson dart?
50:31You know, is it partially a Jackson dart take for you?
50:34It's a Jackson dart thing because I am, I am just kind of worried about that, that New York giants often.
50:40So I'll say three. Okay. How about Brock Purdy as the other one?
50:44Two, two. How about, how about Bo Nix is the other one?
50:48Two. He seems really underpriced by the way. Bo Nix is a stud.
50:51The Broncos are going to rock. Yeah. It's crazy that how about Kyler as your two, three, three.
50:57And then since we talked about it, how about Tyler Shuck as your two?
51:01Would you need three there? That's, that's, that's going to be a three for me.
51:05I, I am, I, I love Shuck, but I can't act like it's, it's a slam dunk.
51:10And then we'll go two more Jordan love and then Baker Mayfield.
51:13Jordan love. I would go to, I would take the two risk on love and then Baker, I'd go three.
51:19Okay. I think that's right. We're, we're pretty aligned with a lot of that stuff.
51:23But I think, I think it's a really interesting conversation because we had, like I had Liam on and Liam is a very much a two quarterback guy.
51:32Like he is very, but, but again, I think his point was very reasonable saying that three quarterbacks will probably help you
51:38advance, but two quarterbacks might be able to help you maybe in the playoffs a little bit more, just based on the
51:44fact that you would get that additional flex. You know, I, I, I personally anecdotally, like I went heavy three last year
51:51and I had the most success that I've had in best ball.
51:54You know, so I, I, you know, I'm probably like, I stick to three 90 to 90, like 90% of the time probably.
52:01But yeah, I, I think it's a really interesting conversation to, to just generally have.
52:05Let's go to tight end. Are you more of an elite tight end guy or are you a late round tight end guy?
52:12I mean, neither really. Uh, I, I, I love, love, love the middle range of tight end, starting with Tucker craft.
52:18I will, he, he has a chance to be my highest drafted player.
52:21This, this best ball season does Tucker craft, uh, love the way that he's trending, uh, off the office injury and the
52:28moves that they made in green Bay to me signal so much confidence and Tucker craft being like an engine in that
52:34offense because Christian Watson doesn't handle a lot of volume.
52:37Maybe he will this year. I think he's a fun bet.
52:40Jaden Reed doesn't play 50% of snaps. Uh, and then Matthew golden, uh, boy, hope he's okay.
52:45Could be, could be a terrible pick. Wasn't a good prospect.
52:48Maybe he's not good at football. Right. And then enter Tucker craft, who was just a monster last year when he was healthy.
52:55Uh, just like, like I said, the way that he's trending off this injury has me very confident in him.
53:01I'll still do three tight ends when I draft Tucker craft, because it's a PPR site.
53:05You can flex one of those guys. And that, that range is just so solid, but that Tucker craft Laporta fan and pits range.
53:12I just, that is, that is the sweet spot for me.
53:15Do you have any, any late round guys that you've targeted?
53:18Yeah. Uh, two, two guys that have targeted one, uh, Mount Washington, Darnell Washington for the Steelers, uh, very, very into him.
53:25I don't, this is a, this is a hot take, but I think we're going to be a good guy.
53:31I think there's a chance that he plays a decent amount and 11 personnel for the Steelers where you don't, if you
53:37have Darnell Washington out in 11, you have three out wide, obviously it doesn't necessarily signal a pass.
53:42Cause he's like, he's another lineman, but he can, but he has pass catching chops as well.
53:47I would not be shocked if he kind of steals some of a Fryer Moose lunch there in that offense.
53:53And then the other guy that I like is, uh, is Theo Johnson.
53:57I think Theo Johnson's out at the wayside right now.
53:59He was a decent prospect out of Penn state.
54:02Uh, I liked him a lot last year and really kind of burned me.
54:06I mean, as for as much as an 18th round tight end can burn you last year, but he's last rounds right
54:12now because Isaiah likely is there good receiver. Isaiah likely.
54:15But is he enough to totally dust Theo Johnson?
54:18Is this offense going to run, you know, one tight end sets all that often?
54:22I, I, I, I don't know. That's not the way the NFL is trending.
54:26So I think Theo Johnson's a decent shot, uh, for, for a tight end of the last round.
54:31I love that call out. I mean, I think both are really, really important to, to what the current meta is in the NFL too, right?
54:39Like I've kind of railed against this throughout the off season, but the way that like, even the way that the Jags
54:45and like Gladstone talked about the heavy personnel usage across the league kind of annoyed me post draft because he was basically
54:52just saying like, this is the way teams are doing things.
54:55Therefore we're going to do things this way too.
54:57And, and, and drafting the tight ends that they drafted and obviously, uh, reaching for, for one that was more of a
55:04blocker, you know, in like round two and such.
55:06And the real, I think benefit of being heavy is the versatility of what these tight ends can do.
55:12Right? Like that's the important part. This is why the Rams can do it.
55:16Yes. They have guys like, and this is why I think Terrence Ferguson's interesting because he's someone who can literally line up
55:22out wide and play that role and be like a Darren Waller type.
55:26But then they also have a Colby Parkinson who's more of like the traditional tight end.
55:31Max Clare is sort of a more traditional tight end type player.
55:34I mean, he's, he's a good prospect, but like more in like the, not the Terrence Ferguson, you know, athleticism side of things.
55:41Right. Like, I think they were just looking like long-term like, Oh, Max Clare and Terrence Ferguson together is actually an awesome pairing.
55:47Right. You can be really interesting with them and be versatile with them.
55:51Whereas you don't just like, it's not just like, let's just throw tight ends out there.
55:56And then you have to look at personnel, which is why I think the Theo Johnson thing makes a lot of sense.
56:02It's like, we don't know for sure what Isaiah likely is.
56:05I'm still drafting some likely don't get me wrong, but like.
56:08Like, like Theo Johnson could easily just be very involved in this offense.
56:12When you look at the remaining pass catchers on that team, especially if Malik neighbors is banged up.
56:17Like, yeah, it's rough. Yeah. I can really see a path to Theo Johnson mattering given all those factors.
56:23Yeah. All right. Last thing before I let you go, I do this with everybody.
56:27Give me a hot take, a bold take for this 2026 best ball or NFL season.
56:32Yeah, this is, this is sort of a bummer, man.
56:35And I kind of touched on this a lot is that I think a lot of these offenses that people are painting
56:41with, you know, rose colored outlooks, I think are just not going to pay off.
56:45So I'm really worried about the Colts. They have a lot of expensive pieces.
56:49I'm worried about the saints. They have a lot of expensive pieces.
56:53And I just really think that these offenses have a chance to, to, to fail and they're just very fragile and that's not fun.
57:00But I think that is something that I think we're going to see.
57:03And then, and then more happy, like, Oh, here's what could happen is I think the Cardinals, I think just could be a good offense.
57:11There's a chance that the Cardinals team isn't good, but the, the, the, some of their parts is so strong.
57:16What if they're just good? What if they just score a bunch of points and they are just the dream fantasy matchup
57:23weekend week out because they can put up points.
57:25They can't stop points being put up. And then it turns out Jeremiah love was a smash.
57:30Marvin Harrison breaks out in year three because, Oh wow.
57:33He was a great prospect. I guess we should have just took him at his cheapest price.
57:38And then just one last rose colored one. JSN, I think could absolutely repeat what he did last year and end up
57:44as wide receiver one in the event that the Seahawks defense takes a step back and they don't really have that much
57:51of a run game at the moment with price, the rookie and Halani and Emmanuel Wilson there.
57:56What if they just throw more? They didn't throw a lot last year, but they were incredibly efficient.
58:01If they throw more and JSN is still this efficient receiver, he could have a bonkers season.
58:06So yeah. Yeah. I like that market score really.
58:08So, I mean, spoiler for anyone who's getting the draft guy, but market score actually has Puka and JSN ahead of Jamar chase right now.
58:15It just, it just like the, the inputs that go into that, like it just likes, you know, part of it is
58:22like, you know, teammate competition and stuff like that, but like, it just, it just likes them more.
58:27And the JSN thing that I've been toying with as well is that is exactly what you said.
58:32Like we know statistically that, that hyper-efficient defenses regress year over year.
58:36Like it just happens all the time. And, you know, assuming that the, that the Seahawks are going to be as dominant,
58:42like they're going to be really good still, but like as dominant defensively, it's probably not the strongest bet to make.
58:48And so yeah, leaning into JSN then makes sense, obviously.
58:51Yeah. So I had to finish with some good news as far as like what, what, what I think, but yeah, no,
58:57those are, those are my hot takes. I love it.
59:00I love it. All right, man. This was, this was awesome.
59:03Love. This is actually like we were saying before the show, this is our first time potting together and doing a show together, which is great.
59:11Yeah. I'm looking forward to this for a couple of, a couple of pirates fans just trying to get through right now.
59:17Yeah. I mean, yeah. Pray, pray for us, pray for us.
59:20We're going through it weekend night in, night out.
59:23Could be the best night of our lives. Could be the worst night of our lives.
59:28Just depends on what happened all the time. Let everyone know where they can find you, what you're working on and all that good stuff.
59:35Yeah. Thanks, man. I am Nez takes on X.
59:37I am talking about the pirates a lot. I'm also talking about fantasy football a lot.
59:42I cover all the sports. So if you are somebody that likes sports, you will find a ton of takes from me over on X.
59:49And then on YouTube, I stream every single day.
59:52John Warner and I, AKA Roto Run on YouTube.
59:54Find us at the Badge Bros. Again, talking every sport.
59:57We do cover football. So obviously it's a football show.
60:00You can find us over there doing some basketball drafts over there every day on YouTube.
60:05JJ, thanks so much, dude. This is a blast.
60:07Of course. I love both of you guys. You guys do awesome work.
60:11So I couldn't recommend you guys more. And of course, everybody, make sure you are checking out LATEROUND.com.
60:16The draft guide will be live in, by the time you listen to this, basically 10 days, which is frightening for me, but it'll be joyous for you.
60:24Go check that out. LATEROUND.com. Pre-order it. Make sure you subscribe.
60:28Check out the YouTube channel, youtube.com slash at LATEROUNDFF.
60:30But otherwise, everyone, thanks for tuning in. When Kohler, global design leader in luxurious kitchen and bath products, asked me to be
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