The Late-Round Fantasy Football Podcast artwork

Late-Round Perspectives: Alan Seslowsky

STACKED extracted the fantasy-relevant player signal from this podcast and kept the full transcript here for context.

1 hr 12 min
Duration
Estimated from transcript
Jun 19, 2026
Published
Fri, June 19, 2026
40
Player insights
37
Players mentioned
Topics
Jaylen WaddleDak PrescottAmon-Ra St. BrownBaker MayfieldBreece HallBrian Thomas Jr.Brock PurdyBryce YoungCaleb WilliamsCarnell TateChris OlaveD'Andre SwiftDavante AdamsDavid Montgomery
Player analysis

Player insights

40

Amon-Ra St. Brown

PositiveProjection0:08

St. Brown was expected to go in the late second round of rookie drafts and was a target for Alan in win-now mode before being traded away.

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Baker Mayfield

PositiveValue0:43

Baker Mayfield is highlighted as a late-round option in best ball that can provide spike weeks comparable to higher-drafted quarterbacks, making him a strong value play.

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Breece Hall

PositiveValue29:00

Hall is mentioned as a younger player with a new contract who could be considered in veteran acquisition discussions, though still young enough to be a long-term asset.

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Brian Thomas Jr.

PositiveBreakout0:53

Brian Thomas Jr. is described as having 'stink all over him' compared to Parker Washington, but seems positioned to be one of the best values if he hits this year.

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Brock Purdy

NegativeValue0:41

Brock Purdy is described as 'fine' but not at the level of Josh Allen; if both are taken within the same draft capital range (Purdy in round five vs. Allen in round three), Allen becomes a massive value by comparison.

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Bryce Young

PositiveRole0:13

Alan has Bryce Young as his QB1 in the four-quarterback super flex league after winning the draft.

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Caleb Williams

PositiveRole0:50

Caleb Williams inherited Roma Dunze but Luther Burden and Colston were Ben Johnson's picks, suggesting different levels of chemistry and offensive integration with the two receivers.

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Carnell Tate

PositiveSleeper33:30

Tate is mentioned as a sexy rookie player the speaker drafts on win-now teams to have a quasi first-round pick in the back pocket, providing flexibility and upside.

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Chris Olave

PositiveValue27:30

Alave, at 26 years old coming off a big season, is noted as being super expensive in the trade market, making him a poor acquisition target for dynasty managers.

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D'Andre Swift

PositiveValue31:00

Swift is cited as an example of a player worth acquiring in-season (week nine) when on a heater, using third-round picks as sweeteners to complete trades.

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Dak Prescott

NegativeBust0:10

Alan traded Dak Prescott in a super flex league for IU picks, a move he regretted after regression came to the player.

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PositiveValue0:43

Dak Prescott is mentioned as a quarterback some prefer, but in best ball formats, the difference between him and lower-tier options like Baker Mayfield and Tyler Shook is minimal since you don't have to make start/sit decisions.

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Davante Adams

PositiveValue0:41

Devante Adams is cited as an example of a quality wide receiver that can be found two rounds later than third round, supporting the strategy of waiting on quarterback.

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David Montgomery

PositiveValue29:00

Montgomery is used as an example of a 29-year-old veteran who, if having a touchdown-heavy season like Jamal Williams did, becomes a valuable acquisition target for a first-round pick in a championship run despite his age.

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De'Von Achane

PositiveValue0:07

Despite being in a bad situation, Achane is one of the best running backs in the league and shouldn't be faded based on situation alone.

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Elijah Sarratt

PositiveValue31:00

Surratt is mentioned as an example of a third-round pick that the speaker would not use to draft directly, but rather to sweeten deals for in-season acquisitions.

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Jamaal Williams

PositiveProjection29:00

Williams is referenced as an example of a season where a running back led the league in touchdowns, used to illustrate how a veteran can become valuable in a championship run.

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Jayden Daniels

PositiveValue37:00

Daniels is noted as being available as a second-round pick in some super flex dynasty drafts, representing significant value compared to other quarterback options.

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Jaylen Waddle

PositiveProjection0:06

Waddle's arrow is pointing up due to a better environment in Miami this offseason, hitting every middle-round wide receiver trend and potentially moving from WR27 to WR19 in rankings.

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PositiveValue0:07

Waddle's improved situation and trend alignment make him a potentially big pick this year, with his value boosted significantly due to environmental improvements.

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PositiveValue21:00

Waddle is used as an example in a dynasty trade discussion where market value changes are a key pillar of dynasty success, alongside production.

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Jeremiyah Love

PositiveProjection0:13

In a four-quarterback super flex league, Jeremiah Love was drafted at pick 102 as a rookie running back, an unusually high position that only occurs in this extreme format.

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Jerry Jeudy

NegativeProjection0:56

Jerry Judy's 2024 season is used as a negative comp for Michael Wilson's projected 2025 season, suggesting disappointing production.

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Josh Allen

PositiveValue0:37

Josh Allen can provide significant WARP advantage over other quarterbacks, but drafting him in round two carries opportunity cost by missing elite running backs; his value improves if other elite QBs are taken early, making him a better value in round three if the QB run happens.

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JuJu Smith-Schuster

PositiveBust0:11

Alan traded the farm for JuJu Smith-Schuster in his breakout second year when he was WR1 in dynasty rankings, a move that forced him out of the dynasty league with no return.

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Julio Jones

NegativeBust0:09

Alan traded his late second-round pick for the aging Julio Jones in a win-now move, which turned out to be a poor decision as the pick became Amon-Ra St. Brown.

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Justin Herbert

PositiveValue0:43

Justin Herbert is mentioned as a quarterback some prefer, but in best ball formats, the difference between him and lower-tier options is minimal since you don't have to make start/sit decisions.

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Lamar Jackson

PositiveValue0:38

Lamar Jackson becomes a significantly better value if taken in round nine after Josh Allen goes in round two, representing superior value relative to draft capital spent.

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Luke McCaffrey

NegativeBust0:09

Alan traded a second-round pick to acquire Luke McCaffrey after being talked into him on a podcast, which he later regretted.

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Luther Burden

PositiveBreakout0:49

Luther Burden is favored by the analyst despite Roma Dunze having longer chemistry with Caleb Williams; smart metrics favor Burden, and there's a real chance he becomes a second or third-round pick by August, which concerns even Burden's biggest supporters.

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Marvin Harrison Jr.

PositiveValue0:55

Marvin Harrison Jr. is favored over Michael Wilson despite being inherited by the new Cardinals regime rather than being their pick; his pedigree as a top-4 WR prospect before taking a snap supports the lean, though the analyst has gone back and forth.

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Michael Wilson

NegativeValue0:55

Michael Wilson has been falling in ADP and is compared to 2024 Jerry Judy in terms of season trajectory; the analyst was contrarian taking him ahead of Marvin Harrison Jr. early in draft season but now leans toward Harrison.

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Mike Evans

PositiveValue24:45

Evans, at 32 years old, is cited as a high-producing veteran worth acquiring in dynasty for a pick to accumulate value, even though he's aging.

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Parker Washington

PositiveSleeper0:53

Parker Washington is favored over Brian Thomas Jr. due to his lower draft capital (5th-7th round range), forward momentum, and Trevor Lawrence's apparent preference to target him; analyst is more bullish on Washington's success despite less upside.

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Puka Nacua

PositiveBreakout22:00

Nakua is cited as an outlier who did not go in any first rounds of rookie drafts but is now one of the top five dynasty assets, exemplifying how being too rigid to process can cause managers to miss breakout players.

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Sam Darnold

PositiveProjection0:43

Sam Darnold is cited as an example of a late-round quarterback that can produce spike weeks (27 points) in best ball formats where you don't have to make start/sit decisions.

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Saquon Barkley

NegativeBust0:11

Alan traded away Saquon Barkley as part of a package to acquire JuJu Smith-Schuster, a move that forced him out of the dynasty league.

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Trayvon Henderson

NegativeBust0:51

Travion Henderson's draft capital escalation from fourth round as a rookie to second round in NFFC contests is cited as a cautionary example of FOMO-driven hype, similar to current Luther Burden concerns.

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Trevor Lawrence

PositiveRole0:54

Trevor Lawrence appears to favor targeting Parker Washington, suggesting a positive role for Washington in the Jaguars offense.

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Ty Simpson

PositiveSleeper33:30

Simpson is described as seeming like a dead pick but is drafted on win-now teams as a quasi first-round pick in the back pocket, providing upside and flexibility.

Insight page
Full transcript

Episode Transcript

914
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1:07Alan Soslowski is a fantasy sports video content manager and editor at RotoWire and the host of the Dynasty Hour on SiriusXM Fantasy Radio.
1:13He previously did work at Rosterwatch. He's a high-stakes player, a win-now Dynasty manager, and he once got hacked on Twitter.
1:19These are his late-round perspectives. This episode is sponsored by DraftKings.
1:22We've partnered up with DraftKings again this year for best ball, and we've got a can't-miss offer on their biggest best ball contest ever.
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1:50The crown is yours. I don't like all the intro stuff.
1:53Welcome to my podcast. Hi, everyone. Right. I hate that stuff.
1:56Like, I've always done the cold open because I feel like every show just ends up going, hey, Alan, how are you today?
2:02And then you're like, good. How are you? And then it's, you know, it's just a minute and a half of that,
2:08and no one needs to hear that part. And no one cares how you are.
2:12I produce a lot of the video stuff over at RotoWire, and I tell these guys, no one cares about your golf
2:18trip until they care about, you know, just like, just get right to it.
2:22Like, shock, you know. Our mutual colleague, Sigmund Blum, does this, right?
2:25Like, he comes in, like, with a fantasy question.
2:28He does, yes. Yeah, and I love that. But also, just talking about how intros are bad in your intro is also elite-level intro.
2:35This is, like, next-level stuff right now. Yes, yes.
2:37I always go back to, I don't know if you've ever seen that one video from Pete Overzet from, like, five or six years ago, maybe even longer.
2:45But it's him, his back is to the camera, okay?
2:48And there's this, like, really, like, there's, like, this, like, pretty extreme, like, rap going on in the background, like, intro music,
2:54because that's how fantasy football shows are, right? Like, they have this, like, really intense music.
2:58And then, you know, Overzet's slowly turning his chair around, and then he's staring at the camera, and he's got this, like, really serious look.
3:05Like, we got, you know, this intense music is going on.
3:08And then all of a sudden, he goes, welcome, everybody, to another episode of, you know?
3:12It's almost like an SNL skit of a fantasy football open.
3:15But also, you do a gazillion podcasts. Like, I know you like everybody.
3:19You're a friendly guy. But that chit-chat in the beginning of the podcast, it's uncomfortable, unnecessary.
3:24Let's get to it, man. You know, it's... I agree.
3:26That's what the Late Round podcast was built off.
3:29It was just get people the information they need.
3:31You know, we have other shows in the feed now, like, we do the Late Round show, where we have a little...
3:37But, like, I think that... The other thing, too, is that I think that if your listener becomes aware that how things
3:43are structured, and then, you know, if they want to skip ahead, skip ahead.
3:47Like, it's fine. You know? Like, that's something... I think the bigger problem is when the expectations are not aligned with what
3:53the listener, you know, is expecting as they go into listening to a show of some sort.
3:58And then all of a sudden, you know, they're in the middle of, like, a really intense fantasy football conversation.
4:04And then they just start talking, you know, like you said, about their golf trip or something.
4:08Or, like, you know, about, like, the basketball game that...
4:11You know, this video that we're making is, like, fantasy football related.
4:14It's supposed to be relevant to someone in six weeks from now.
4:18No one's going to care about the NBA big game that you just saw.
4:22I mean, it's good for the moment. Yeah. So, yeah.
4:24But it was sweet. It was sweet. The finals.
4:27Both finals. Both the NBA and NHL finals were great, in my opinion.
4:30And now we're doing it. Now we're talking about something that no one's going to care about in six weeks from now.
4:37We ruined this. All right. Well, let me first bring up...
4:40Because we talked about this whenever you and I were chatting on a show a couple months ago.
4:45But we're in a wild dynasty league together. Where it's 10 analysts.
4:48This was started by some of the football guys, guys.
4:51And there's 10 analysts. And it's a start two, but also additional two super flex leagues.
4:55So you can realistically start four quarterbacks. And then, you know, there's other flex pieces in there for running back wide receiver.
5:01And I remember we had this conversation because we talked before the rookie draft happened.
5:05And I went with more a productive struggle year one.
5:08You won the league. So let's everyone give kudos to Alan here.
5:11Clap, clap, clap. There you go. You won year one, which I was really upset about because now...
5:16You helped me. Yeah. Now... I traded you Jalen Waddle for like a first last year because I knew that I just
5:22needed to start flipping some assets and stuff. Which I...
5:25Unbelieve... Like, you guys want to talk about... Like, I'm not an analyst who like hides from moves or like hides from
5:31the way that I'm approaching things and stuff. I've always been a Jalen Waddle guy.
5:35It's just that you guys know that when you're in a dynasty league and you're in a clear like, I need to
5:41just get some assets to hopefully, you know, like look better the next season and such.
5:46Like, I knew what I was doing year one in terms of the productive struggle.
5:50So I just flipped Jalen Waddle and I wanted some assets.
5:53And with this being a four quarterback league, if you will, I knew that some of those running backs and wide receivers
5:59would fall a little bit more or I would just get a quarterback.
6:03And... But you ended up winning. So I got a bad...
6:06A bad pickup. Yeah, but two things happened there.
6:08When you traded me Jalen Waddle, Jalen Waddle's arrow was pointing down, right?
6:12Like on Miami, hadn't been as good. And because you need to start five wide receivers in this particular league, I was
6:18like, listen, if I'm a top two or three team, at least this is...
6:22You have to push your chips in at some point.
6:25And nobody's giving me anything better than Jalen Waddle at that point.
6:28I didn't think it was such a bad deal for you because remember, even if I win JJ, it's still pick 110.
6:34It's not 112 in a 10-person league. Right. It's 110.
6:37And then hopefully the quarterback class wasn't as putrid as it ended up being.
6:41And just in terms of like... Because it wasn't like we did this in like February or something like that.
6:46The problem for me is that Waddle ends up hitting, in my opinion, hitting the right...
6:51You know, I mean like a 90... In terms of like what happened this offseason, it's probably like a 90th percentile type outcome.
6:57You know, just like a better environment. Every... I'm doing stuff for my draft guide right now.
7:02And every middle round trend, middle round being anyone, any wide receiver after wide receiver 18 is how I generally define that.
7:08He hits like every trend. Like Jalen Waddle to me is a very, very interesting slash potentially like big pick this year.
7:14Right. And so that coming together is what makes me, you know, feel the way that I do right now.
7:19And that's like one of the ways that I'll play Dynasty too.
7:23Like we haven't even seen the result of Jalen Waddle, but Jalen Waddle for some reason goes from like wide receiver 27 to wide receiver 19.
7:30I'm again, I'm making those numbers up. But he has like a 10 spot boost.
7:34And that's what out. So, and I think that's going to be part of our larger conversation today is like, sometimes it's
7:40like not about what they're going to produce on the field.
7:43Some of these guys, it's about what's their value.
7:46What can you turn them into? And you're right.
7:48Jalen Waddle is in a better situation because it's funny.
7:51Like I see a lot of fantasy output on like social media saying how no one's going to draft Devon Achan because he's in a bad situation.
7:58That's like one of the best running backs in the league right now.
8:02So yeah, those situations really do help boost a player's value.
8:05I don't even think the trade was that bad.
8:07It ended up being in net net. Now that we know all the results, you get Eli Stowers in a two tight end league, right?
8:14That's who you ended up drafting. I think that's what I got.
8:18Yeah. Yeah. I'd looked at it before. I figured we were going to figure out we're going to bring this up for some therapy.
8:24And you know, and I get Waddle who's what 27 going on 28.
8:28So it's not terrible in a startup with a two tight end startup.
8:32I think that those guys would probably go in a similar place.
8:35And I know starter price is different than trade price, but it's not, I don't think it's going to be as bad.
8:41I mean, look, I've had, I've had worse trades.
8:43That's for sure. What's the worst one? Give me the worst one you've ever had.
8:48Oh my gosh. I think the worst one, fortunately I'm no longer part.
8:51Like my team was really good, but it was just like becoming overwhelming to be part of the league.
8:56This was when Amon Ross St. Brown came out.
8:59And I remember I knew that there was a chance I would get them in the late second, you know, cause that's
9:05where he was going in a lot of the rookie drafts that year.
9:09But before my pick even came up, I, I was in win now mode and it was like, I don't know about
9:15you, but do you ever like when you're, when you're doing trades sometimes, do you ever have just like this?
9:20I hope I can describe this. Well, this like one day window where you just happen to be like, like specifically high
9:26on that player or in that, on that situation.
9:29And then literally like a day or two later, you're like, I'm not, I don't know why I was so high in
9:35that moment, you know, like dude, it happens to me when I get off podcast with smart guys like yourself.
9:40Like I was on a podcast with Thor Nystrom and he talked me into Luke McCaffrey.
9:45And then I traded like a second round pick to get on before.
9:48Yeah. So it happens all the time. I'm influenced just like anybody else's.
9:52Right. Sure. Sure. And so I, it was, it was like a, it was beginning of the second round.
9:57I knew that there was a chance that Amon Ra would be there.
10:01Maybe even like mid second. I was only like three or four picks away.
10:05And I just ended up trading my late second for the, the, the corpse of Julio Jones.
10:09Oh, and that was the Amon Ra pick. It ended up being the Amon Ra pick.
10:14Yeah. And there was also, I mean, I, in a, in a league that I'm still in, um, that this dino game
10:20theory league, uh, that, that Jack's Falcone, if you will, will, uh, he, he's run.
10:24Uh, I traded, it's a, you know, super flexing.
10:27My team is actually really good, but I, I ended up trading a couple of years ago, Dak in a super flex league, which I love.
10:34I'm, I've been a Dak backer. So that was like a kind of a, a play on, on my portfolio a little
10:40bit, but I ended up flipping him for IU can picks and you know, yeah, I mean, it was just, yeah, it
10:46was also, but that was also a moment where I'm like, there's a three day period where I was high on IU as a player.
10:53And as a situation without like fully looking into my research and knowing regression was going to come to some degree.
10:59I didn't expect this. Of course, you know, this is, this is, then that was a trade with Justin Boone.
11:04So shout out Justin Boone for completely fleecing me in that.
11:07But yeah, I mean like what, what's your, what's your worst that you can remember?
11:11Oh, I, this it's an easy one. I can tell you in a second, but don't you like wake up in the
11:17middle of the night sometimes, like just randomly. And listen, if these are the problems we're waking up thinking about, then things are going well.
11:24Right. But I, I like, it really gets me when I do something like so stupid to like, you know, like in hindsight, because the process is fine.
11:32Of course, by the way, I would say Brandon, you still in a better spot than my Luke McCaffrey, who I, right.
11:38Right. I, um, the worst one I ever did was after Juju Smith Schuster's like, uh, that rookie or not.
11:44It was, it was his second year where he broke out.
11:47Yeah. He was wide receiver one in dynasty rankings.
11:49I traded the farm form and those picks that I ended up trading away were like Barkley.
11:54It was like, yeah, it was, it was all the wrong stuff.
11:57And that one, it forced me out of a dynasty league.
12:00I had no like return from it. And I was like, you know what?
12:04I'll pay for the next guy to come in.
12:07Like, I don't want to rebuild this team, which by the way, you know, people leaving dynasty leagues, which is a epidemic.
12:13I think there is a right way to do it as well.
12:16You win a lot of leagues or you, do you get out of them?
12:20I mean, I've, I've fortunately the last couple of years started to, to like, some of them just have collapsed and some
12:26of them, I'm just like, you know what? This is not nearly as active.
12:30I try to pick and choose like the more active ones to be part of, but yeah, I mean like to me,
12:36if you're going to leave, I try, I'm like, yo, I'll pay the next like three years.
12:41You know, like you pay to get out. I don't want to be, I don't want to be an inconvenience to anyone
12:47because that's just not the way that, you know, I, I roll, but yeah, I mean like, I think that, that there
12:53is a way to not be a, you know, a jerk as you, as you exit.
12:57Yeah. I mean, you see it in the travel time.
13:00Well, my busy and kids like, dude, just say you don't want to be in the league anymore.
13:05Cause I see those guys end up in like three more startups like the next year.
13:09Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, our, our, our league, it was, I was very happy that I got the one Oh two in
13:16that league though, because we were having this discussion where, you know, our league or quarterback.
13:20Yeah. And in the, in the, in the crazy four quarterback league, I was happy to have the one Oh two because
13:26I knew that worst case, I was going to get Mendoza, but I thought Mendoza was going to go one Oh one.
13:32And he did. So I ended up getting Jeremiah love at the one Oh two in that league.
13:37This format where you could start four quarterbacks, which again, nobody plays and I don't recommend it to anybody.
13:42It's a horrible format, but we're playing. Yeah. It's honestly more disgusting than anything that I've done.
13:47Yeah. It's like not fun. It's only fun a little bit for me right now.
13:51Cause I have Bryce young as my Q before, right.
13:54Cause I won, but it's not going to be fun in like a year and a half from now.
13:59But the, yeah, this is the only format where Jeremiah love the rookie running back in Arizona goes second.
14:04Yeah. You get him at two. Cause I, I've been in 38 drafts and it's never happened in anything.
14:10Yeah. Yeah. All right. So before we get into stuff, let's, let's, let's introduce you and your, and your background a little bit.
14:16So folks know what you're all about. Cause this is the first time that you're, you're hopping on perspectives here.
14:22Yeah. You know, uh, I, I'm my Alan says Lowski.
14:24I work over at Rotowire and similar to you, man, I was just like a nut about fantasy.
14:29When I was working a regular desk job, I used to, you know, pretend I was working and just do all my fantasy drafts.
14:36Right. Like I was to do the research. I would do mock draft central back in the day.
14:41And then, you know, uh, I saw like an opening for something at like, I think it was where Jeff Ratcliffe used to work.
14:48Was it PFF back in the day? It was a PFF firm.
14:51And he posted it. And I was like, it's my friend told me, he's like, you should go for that job.
14:57I was like, what, what the hell am I going to do with a job?
15:01You know, it's fantasy. That's not a real job.
15:03So, uh, I asked a colleague of, of the new Jeff, if he could put in a word for me or something like that.
15:10And he goes, no, he goes, once you come work for me over at roster watch, that was Byron Lambert.
15:16Yeah. So I used to be a caller to Byron show and that's how he knew me.
15:20And then he goes, come over. So I just started doing the article grind, the video grind.
15:25And then I do a lot of the video editing and, and all the podcast editing and stuff.
15:30And sure enough, um, I was able to pick up with Rotowire man.
15:34And, uh, as again, as someone interacted with their Sirius XM show and I've been there for about five years now doing
15:40all the video stuff, hosting a Sirius XM show for them, getting some good opportunities.
15:44But yeah, and it's like, I'm like six years into this thing and I'm, I'm like you, man, you own a business doing this thing.
15:51I still like, I'm waiting for someone to take it all away and go back to like, you know, horrible desk jobs.
15:57Like I never feel like it's going to last, you know?
16:00Yeah, no, I, I feel you. I feel you.
16:02It's a, it's a, it's a, you know, very lucky to be able to do this, you know, day in and day
16:08out in our inner, in my case, in Jim, as I say, in Jim Schwartz every day.
16:13Oh my God. So when people ask you like it, you know, a gathering with your kids or whatever dinner part, like
16:19when they say like, what do you do for a living?
16:22Like, do you always have trouble explaining it or like, do you curtail it?
16:26Cause when you say fantasy football, they're like, you know, what do you mean?
16:30Yeah. Yeah. And then I'm like, yeah, I'm like, yeah, I own a fantasy football company.
16:34Right. I, I, uh, I usually tell people that I'm a podcaster first.
16:38And so I say that because that's more, that's become more generally accepted.
16:42And then that way they ask the question of like what it's about.
16:45And then I can form it in the way.
16:48Yeah. And so like, yeah, exactly. Depending on the demographic, like depending on the person I'm talking to and just, if I,
16:54if I broadly know what they might be into or not, then I can kind of curtail my answer based on if
17:00they say, what's it about, you know, then I can get into a lot of detail.
17:04If I know this is a sports person or, you know, not in a lot of detail if not, but yeah, it's always been a pretty weird.
17:12I've gotten more and more comfortable though, as I gotten older, because I think as you get older, you just don't care anymore.
17:18You don't care. And plus you've made a real business out of it.
17:22And it's funny. I have a funny anecdotal story about you, JJ, because you know, when I was just in, and I
17:28listened, I still listen to every single podcast that I consume so much content.
17:32I like to know what other people are thinking too.
17:34I know that a lot of fantasy football content creators, I think you fall into this is that you try to avoid it because you don't want to.
17:42Yeah. Because, and that, and I understand it because you don't want it to like go into your process.
17:47I'm the opposite. I like to hear what everyone else says and kind of just, and by the way, this is not
17:53a process I recommend, but I still enjoy it.
17:56I really still enjoy listening to you, listening to Scott Conner and Jax Valcone and all those guys.
18:01And I just, I put it all together. But when my wife actually discovered your podcast before I did, and when she,
18:07and she plays a lot of fantasy football, she's, you know, she's a casual, she, but she plays every year for the,
18:13and she used to always tell me about you.
18:16So I was like, you know, and I don't want her to be telling me who's good.
18:20So I used to listen. I used to hate, listen to you, JJ, because I was like, this is her thing, you know?
18:27And so I love it. Yeah. I love it.
18:29You are, you are her favorite fantasy football podcaster.
18:32So she was more excited than anyone that I was coming to hang with you for a little bit.
18:37That's awesome. I should have had her as a guest.
18:40I probably more interesting to tell you the truth.
18:42Yeah. So is that, is that how you sort of like frame yourself as an analyst?
18:47Is that like, you're a, you're kind of aggregating and sifting through and kind of approaching things that way.
18:52Totally, man. I was a club. There's people, you know, everyone has needs, thinks they need to have their secret sauce.
18:58Now you have your model, your zap stuff. Like you do that.
19:01Well, other people watch film really well. Like I'm not going to do it better than that.
19:06I'm going to listen to what they say, but also I watch so much NFL football and I play a ton of fantasy leagues.
19:12I play in the high stakes stuff. I play in, you know, like in the sleeper stuff with industry guys and I'm
19:18able to kind of see the angles there. I think that's kind of like my superpower.
19:23Like for example, I know like everyone loves Casey Concepcion, the Browns.
19:26He's high on your model, isn't he? Yeah. He was, he was at least like, like not far off from lemon, but yeah, he was the widest.
19:34He was like comfortably the wide receiver for, yeah.
19:36Right. Everyone likes him. He's like the last pick in this rookie draft before it just goes off the rails for a lot of people.
19:43So I don't need to watch all that, you know, and I'm going to, when I'm consuming all of, you know, the
19:49best guys that do it, but I know if I draft him, I'm going to be able to do something with Casey
19:55Concepcion, especially if he has like, his first game is like six for 80 or something like that.
20:00So that's basically been my process is like you said, is bring it all together.
20:04Trust my observations. Same way. Like when you go to a doctor, you don't do your own, you don't have your own model for a doctor, right?
20:12You listen to all the research. You can get all the facts.
20:15That's what you think. You have your late round medical advice.
20:18Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Late, late round, uh, late round, uh, uh, mole checking.
20:22Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Do you do proctology as well?
20:24Yeah. Let's not go there. All right. All right.
20:27Uh, but the same thing like with, you know, with food or anything else, you, you, you listen to what the people
20:33you trust and then you form opinions on your own observations and, and basically how you know this game goes.
20:39Yeah. I mean, I think that's, that's interesting. And it kind of leads me to this next question of like what you
20:45think dynasty managers do wrong, because I've sort of the way that I've framed what you're saying here really resonates with me
20:51because I've always tried to frame to people that dynasty has sort of two big pillars, one pillar being production, obviously, because you need to score fantasy points.
20:58You need to attempt to win, but the other pillar is what you're talking about with the, the Jalen Waddle thing.
21:04And that is, you know, you just want the market value to change.
21:08And is that, is that something that you think dynasty managers still get wrong?
21:12I mean, that's something that you obviously have focused on a lot, just given all the consumption that you're doing.
21:17Yeah. And I think that you're going to hate this answer because you are like, you are very rigid to your process.
21:23You trust it. And there's, yeah, I always say like, I kind of make the joke.
21:28It's like a game of blackjack, right? Like you would never, if the dealer showing a, for those who play blackjack, the
21:34dealer showing six, and you have to say a five, a 15, right?
21:37Yeah. You would never hit on that. Right. But if I hit on that and follow me here and I get 21, right?
21:44That was the wrong process, but I got the right result.
21:47Sure. Right. So I think that, and again, that's an extreme example, but I don't, I think that what dynasty managers do
21:53incorrectly is they're too rigid to their process rather than sometime measuring result.
21:56Now there's always going to be outliers, right? Like Puka Nakua, Amon Ross St.
22:00Brown. I think he was kind of an outlier in a little bit, right?
22:04Like he didn't go in any first rounds of rookie drafts, right?
22:08He, now he's one of the top five dynasty assets.
22:10So being too rigid to the process, which again, it goes against like your religion over here.
22:15So, I mean, look, I, but, but I think I, like you can, you're not offended.
22:19me at all. Cause I agree. Like, I, I think that like, as I'm talking to people and as I'm producing this
22:26content, it's very much a, Hey, this is the way that I've approached things generally.
22:30And it's led to this, but you know, if you're part of the discord or if you're, you know, like I'm giving,
22:36you know, I'm talking to people all the time about like, I don't want to say like my truer thoughts.
22:41Cause that's not really the case. Like I, I'm just letting them know like, Hey, this is what I just did in the dynasty league.
22:48Let's say. Right. And they might say, Oh, that goes against your rankings.
22:52I'm like, well, there's context. It's necessary, right? Like there's, there are certain things that, you know, whether it is just portfolio management, sure.
22:58But also there are elements to your team that, that you might do something that you wouldn't otherwise do in another team.
23:05I agree. Like, I think that the dynasty community has gotten to a point where they're more interested in having a flashy
23:11team that has a lot of value as opposed to having an actual, I was guilty of that for a long time.
23:17And I, it finally clicked with me a few years ago and things have been like rolling since then.
23:22Right. But it's, I'm really good at, I mean, I've, I've co-managed teams with people and I still do.
23:27And I always say, I'm very good at acquiring value, right?
23:30Cause I, I think I have an edge with rookie drafts.
23:33I think that can make right moves more often than not.
23:36I'm good at acquiring that value. It's really when you, when you push your chips in that, that's the most difficult part for me when dynasty.
23:44Yeah. I actually, what you just said, I actually have a word for it.
23:47I've diagnosed it. It's called SRS sexy roster syndrome.
23:50Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, I mean, we've, you've heard that before, but yeah, people love putting the screenshots
23:56of their all young team on, social media. And by the way, I almost like sometimes then you get the, the, the comment says, what is this?
24:03A six man league. Right. That usually follows as well.
24:06But I think where, what some people do wrong is they don't look at where the redraft rankings and the dynasty rankings
24:12part, because as, as you know, dynasty rankings are very age centric, not skill centric.
24:16And, you know, like it or not, a lot of these dynasty leagues probably have like a three or four year lifespan, right?
24:23It's like an NFL career. They don't last as long as you think you do.
24:27Some of them are going to last 10 or 15.
24:3015 years. Some are going to fold after two years.
24:32So I think there is an edge. And what a lot of dynasty managers make a mistake.
24:37I think you alluded to a little bit here is, uh, undervaluing, uh, veterans that produce for, to accumulate value.
24:43And I do the same thing. I do the same thing, but I'm okay.
24:47You know, giving a pick for a Devante for a 32 year old high producer, Mike Evans, some of these guys.
24:52And look, that's what I did in our league.
24:55Yeah. For you. Is it a, is it more what I've found?
24:58Because I know that, that the, the common thought is like mid season trading.
25:02You as the person getting the veteran would hypothetically be overpaying, right?
25:05For whatever, you know, that's like the general thought in the dynasty world, right?
25:09Is that, you know, if you wait whenever trade deadlines are coming up or whatever the case may be, you're going to overpay for those guys.
25:16My more just like anecdotal experience has not necessarily been that when you're dealing with a dynasty manager who at least has, has been around the block, right?
25:24That, that is, that is more willing to do deals and understands what they need to do.
25:29If they're in the opposite situation that you are similar to where we were last year, right?
25:34Like you coming to me and saying like, Hey, you know, or, you know, Jalen Waddle, whatever.
25:38And then I'm like, you know, I, I like him, but I guess, you know, I need to kind of do something here to, to make a move.
25:46Like I'm, I'm in a lot of leagues with Mike Leone and Leone is the King.
25:50And I give him so much credit. He's a great dynasty player, but he's the King of just getting a deal done,
25:57even if he has a small loss, but he's acquiring, you know, if he's rebuilding, he's acquiring picks and he's able to give up on some of these.
26:04And he understands that he might lose the deal, but in the long run, it's still a better, a more beneficial move
26:10for him to make in that moment for his individual team.
26:13It's similar in like best ball when you get a falling quarterback value, but that quarterback just doesn't fit a stack whatsoever on your team.
26:20You can't just force the issue because that's not going to be good for your team.
26:25You're all you're doing is, is trying to gobble up a certain value when that's really not necessary to do at quarterbacks.
26:31My, my question to you is, is that, you know, as you're, you know, going to win now and, and trying to,
26:37to, to build, you know, a beastly roster to, to get that W for that year.
26:41Have you found that, that statement and that general like idea of guys are way more expensive in season?
26:47Cause the reason I say that is like, if you're going after the veterans, as you say, are you doing that more in season than out of season?
26:54Because obviously if you're doing an out of season, there's a lot more variance to what can happen to your roster, you
27:00know, weeks one through eight, you might not even be competitive by the time, you know, the, the, the, that you would
27:06be hypothetically making that move for the veteran. See JJ, you know, all the topics that get my neck hair to stand
27:13up, man, this is, this is good stuff right here.
27:15Yeah. I mean, it's always cheaper to buy the 31 year old, the 32 year old wide receiver in, in March than
27:21it is in the, in, you know, November, right?
27:24Like facts. So, and, but it's not that much more expensive.
27:27Sure. If you're trying to, to buy the 25 year old, that's off the big season.
27:31I mean, how old is Chris Alave now? Is he 26?
27:34Something like that. Right. That's going to be super expensive.
27:37Right. But you know, Mike, I keep going back to him.
27:40He's been always like the best example because he's always, you know, Derek Henry is another example, right?
27:45Cause he's an outlier is defying what the running back age curve.
27:48So yeah, I mean, those guys are always going to be more expensive, but they're still caught.
27:53You know, if you go after those guys for the championship run, people are also, you remember the other side, the selling
27:59side is going to feel panicked to sell those guys too.
28:02So there's, they're not, if you, if you play it right in the right situation, you know, nobody's going to, you're going
28:08to get a better deal on those guys essentially when they matter most.
28:12If I buy Derek Henry in March, there's a lot of risk leading up to that.
28:16The NFL draft injury. But if I buy him in week 12, you know, like, and he's healthy, here we go.
28:22Right? Like it's, I'm skipping all the risk part.
28:25Yeah. Right. And like, I feel like, sure. Like, let's say that there's an apples to apples comparison where like in March,
28:31you're getting Derek Henry for a second and, and, or, or, you know, two seconds or whatever.
28:36Yeah. Yeah. Whatever the case may be. And then you have to pay a first when, when in season happens.
28:41Right? Like, let's say that's the case. The thing is though, is that you're, if you're just comparing those two deals, you're
28:47missing all of the information that you would, that you're gathering, right?
28:50For, for making the deal later, you now know, Oh, I'm competitive.
28:54My team is healthy. I can get a true boost here where in March, you have no idea if any of that stuff has happened.
29:01And you know, that Derek Henry is, is having the career again.
29:04We're using him as the example. It could be Brees Hall, right?
29:07I'm actually, he's still young too with a new contract.
29:10I'm trying to think of like an older, Hey, well, we use Henry for, for the, for the sake of argument, but
29:16you, you already have skipped all the risk. Right.
29:19And you know that he's locked in and they're on a run.
29:22I'm just looking down like the list right here.
29:24All the, uh, I mean, David Montgomery, David, let's say he's having one of those seasons.
29:29Remember the Jamal Williams season where he just led the league in touchdowns.
29:32Let's say he's having one of those. People are going to look at 29 year old.
29:37They're going to be like, I don't want 30 year old David Montgomery on my roster next year.
29:42Exactly. And right now the thought of buying someone like that for a pick, a first round pick seems ridiculous.
29:47Right. But if he's a top six, top five RB, just based on touchdowns alone.
29:52And also, you know, now that in this stretch run, there's a very good chance that pick's going to be one 10, one 11, exactly.
29:58One 12. Right. Whereas now if things go wrong, that could be like one Oh three.
30:03And then that's, that's a horrible trade. Yeah. I just, I just don't see the benefit generally.
30:08You know, I, you know, I, I'm not going to get rid of this guy no matter what, you know, whatever the case may be.
30:14But I think that if you're in a normal dynasty league, it just, it seems like nine times out of 10, it's
30:21just better to make sure you have all that information.
30:23Maybe it's a more conservative approach, but I also think that it's the smarter approach because the Delta between the two deals
30:29that you would be getting in March versus week 12 just doesn't seem significant enough in the end, you know, cause there's
30:36so much variance to rookie drafts anyway. And it's also going to depend who has the picks a lot of times by
30:42week 11, week 12, just using like that stretch run, maybe, you know, the other managers that are in competition with you
30:48have already burned their first round pick or whatever.
30:50That's why when you get the light, when you're doing a deal and then someone's like, Oh, just give me, or, you
30:56know, I would say just throw me a third back or something like that, or even a fourth, just something to sweeten the deal.
31:03Just in case in a stretch run where I'm competitive with someone for a player, you know, I have that little extra, just like cherry on top.
31:10So yeah, you know, when people, I hear it a lot, third rounders don't matter.
31:14They never hit. I'm not using my third rounder to draft, you know, Elijah Surratt or who, you know, whoever, you know,
31:21I'm using that to sweeten the deal so I can get, you know, a Deandre Swift when he's on a heater in week nine.
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32:37Terms at dkng.co slash audio. As you're doing a startup, and I've gotten a lot of questions about like startup approach and such.
32:44And like, you know, I have my take for sure.
32:46But I'm curious, like last year, for instance, in our league, did you go in saying, I want a win now team?
32:52Or was it more reactive to how others were drafting?
32:55Yeah, it's win now no matter what. Like I said, I'm always under the assumption that the league is probably not going to be around in five years.
33:03And if it is, hopefully I've given my chance to win it once.
33:06And if I'm lucky, maybe twice. I just, I love the idea.
33:10And I've done a ton of videos and articles about productive struggle.
33:13It's such a cool concept, right? But that's taking in the kumbaya realistic world that like this dynasty league is going to be around forever.
33:20And it's fun to do different things, especially different price points.
33:23But if I was like in a thousand dollar entry league, and I know every year a $500 league, and I know
33:29every year I'm going to have to plunk down that money.
33:32I don't want to keep like contributing. So it's win now no matter what.
33:36Now, again, that doesn't mean just be reckless and draft it completely like a redraft team.
33:40I want to give myself a few outs and draft some of the sexy players that people like, you know, like rookies
33:47like Cornell Tate or someone like that, just so I can, you know, even someone like Ty Simpson, who seems like a
33:53dead pick, I'll get that guy on a win now team because it's almost like having a quasi first round pick in your back pocket.
34:00The Rams did that in the real NFL. I know.
34:02It's crazy. Listen, I learned not to question them.
34:05Yeah. I've learned not to question them whatsoever. But yeah, no.
34:08So my theory is, even in our draft, you went quarterback, quarterback, right?
34:11You hammered home. There's nothing worse in a super flex dynasty league than having to deal with the quarterback position.
34:17It's a nightmare. Yeah. At the very least, you know, whenever I do my super flex rankings, which in my opinion is
34:23the hardest type of rankings to do for a customer because every league is just so, especially in redraft.
34:28I mean, season long super flex. I've talked about this on shows, I think even recently, but like super flex redraft leagues,
34:34you're going to get somewhere where 10 quarterbacks are off the board after the first round and a half, and you're going
34:41to get somewhere only three are off the board, you know, it's so, so, so you have to be very reactive from
34:47that perspective, but I think it's different in dynasty because there is this commodity.
34:50It's a commodity. It's this, you know, you're playing the market value of these players.
34:55And if the market says something like, I know that people will sit there and they'll crap on keep trade cut all day long.
35:01And they're like, oh, these values don't guys. If the market is using that website, I care about what the website is saying.
35:08It's like the American dollar, right? If the world is using the American dollar, we got to use the American dollar.
35:13You can say it's, it's fragile. It inflates. It's all this other stuff, but yeah, you're right.
35:18Keep trade cut. Like, again, you may not agree with it, but that's the agreed upon consensus.
35:23Exactly. Even on the Sirius XM show on the dynasty hour that when we were talking, I said consensus rankings.
35:28I don't like, you know, I, I don't want to promote the site without them being a sponsor.
35:33That's the Sirius XM show. But they know what I'm talking about here.
35:37When I say consensus dynasty rankings, that is some, why do you think that's become like the consensus dynasty rankings?
35:42That's a whole conversation. I don't, I don't know.
35:45I think it's just because it's, it's structured and algorithmically different, you know, than like, cause like, yeah.
35:50Cause like DLF, you know, I think probably was that for a lot of people for a while and, and that, but
35:56that was all based off of like startup ADP that they, they, they ran, you know, like a handful of startups that McDowell would do every month.
36:03I think that the difference here is just the, the mechanism in which that's been, that's been built.
36:08Um, you know, but, but again, like when I do my, my dynasty rankings, like I have sites like that in mind,
36:15then I'm checking what the value of these players are.
36:17And that influences my rankings because the value component matters, you know?
36:21And so if my super flex rankings, you know, if I'm like, yeah, sure.
36:24I'll be lower on some guys versus what the market's saying.
36:28But if the market's really, really high, I got to bump them up a little bit because that's just the way that dynasty is played.
36:34You said something a minute ago that I, I've heard you say about how the market, every, every draft is different with where the quarterbacks go.
36:42And I always, I take that with it. I always say, Oh, JJ had this great point.
36:46I think this is one of the smartest points because I intuitively know it, but I wasn't, I never heard it articulated.
36:52Basically I've seen drafts this season super with a dynasty and would redraft where the, the, the whole line is red with quarterbacks, except for Bijan and Gibbs.
37:00And then I've seen ones where it's like two or three guys go.
37:04And then like Jaden Daniels is a second round pick.
37:07Lamar is like a one, two turn pick. So yeah, you're right.
37:10It's, it's not that it's, it's how is the league going to value the quarterbacks?
37:14If the first five guys are just like, Hey, I'm taking quarterbacks.
37:17I want them locked in. Then that's the price, you know?
37:20So I've heard you say it and I use it and I give you credit.
37:24So don't worry. That's awesome. Yeah. Like I, I, I think, I think that like the best players and drafters are the
37:31ones that know how to react, right? They, they know how to look at the board and they know what's about to
37:37come as opposed to what's already happened. And you have to have a feel for that based on just experience for sure,
37:43based on knowing your league, et cetera. And, and, and really based on knowing tears, right?
37:47Like where that tier really dries up and where, you know, you're not going to be able to get a player later,
37:53but in super flex in particular, I look, you can even apply this to single quarterback leagues like in season long, right?
37:59Where you know that Josh Allen can give you X amount of warp.
38:03However you want to measure his advantage over the rest of the position, right?
38:07You know that he can give you that, but here's the thing.
38:10If you draft Josh Allen in the second round of your redraft league, number one, there's an opportunity cost in doing that, right?
38:16Cause you're obviously missing out on some really good running backs, especially this year, some running backs.
38:21But if you do that and then Lamar Jackson goes in round nine, Lamar Jackson is by far the better value in that situation.
38:28And you just didn't know being the first person to take a onesie, especially a quarterback is one of the riskiest things you can actually do.
38:35Whenever everyone says, Oh, it's a safe bet. We know Josh Allen's going to finish here.
38:39Blah, blah, blah, blah. I agree. Josh Allen's a beast.
38:42And he's probably going to be a top two quarterback this year.
38:45Cause he's done that the last like six years.
38:48But the problem is in your particular draft from a cost standpoint, you run the risk and just a, a, a totality, what the league looks like perspective.
38:56You run the risk of devaluing that pick when you're the first person to make that choice.
39:00JJ, I can't believe you've been doing this like 12, 14, 15 years at this point, 10 years, and you still have
39:07the same like vigor in your voice when you talk about it.
39:10I love it. I love it, man. Yes. No, it's what we said at the top.
39:14It's like, this is our job and it's like, like I, if you're not passionate about this stuff, number one, like if
39:20you're not really enthusiastic about fantasy football, someone's going to take your job because this is a competitive space.
39:26Everyone wants to do this and I get it.
39:28Right. But my gosh, I love this game. Like it's so, cause it, it, it, to me, like, as I, especially as
39:34I've gotten older, like critical thinking is such a powerful, important part of like the human existence.
39:39Right. And like, we don't get to do it in, you know, every single thing that we do.
39:44And, you know, if you're, if you're a parent, right?
39:47Like you're, you're, you know, I got a three-year-old, I got a seven-year-old and you know, there's some things where they're like,
39:53you know, I have to critically think about how I'm making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or something.
39:58It's routine. Yeah. Right. And there's a lot of that that you go through without your life.
40:03But like, I feel very lucky that we have a, a job and a, a subject that we're working with where we
40:09can get very, very deep with this stuff if you're willing to do so.
40:13Right. Yeah. But I, again, it's, it's very, your passion's losing out.
40:16It's contagious. And when I, you know, I referee high school basketball and a lot of times like the, the referees are
40:22out there, they're like frowning and they're arguing and they're, you know, they're standoffish that I get coaches always say to me, they say, you're always like smiling.
40:30I said, well, I'm, I'm enjoying this man, you know, it's like, yeah.
40:33So that, and that's, that's the kind of energy I get from you.
40:37Now back to, back to what we were talking about is, uh, you know what the Josh Allen pick makes sense.
40:43It makes sense when you hate everything else on the board.
40:46Right. Exactly. So you get into the third round and you're like, oh, there's a dip.
40:50Yeah. Right. Yeah. I really don't want, I mean, I like Devante Smith, but you're like, I really don't want to take Devante Smith in the third round.
40:58I'll just take Josh Allen. Cause it's 38, it's 28 points, you know, in a game.
41:02You know, it's safe. Right. Right. Versus Devante Smith.
41:05I'm going to find two rounds later, I'm going to get Devante Adams or whoever, you know, the, the really frustrating part
41:11with this is that in a, in a more casual league where, you know, there's going to be some falling values at running back and wide receiver.
41:18Cause there, you know, people aren't doing the same research, you know, et cetera, et cetera.
41:23That's actually when you probably should go earlier around quarterback and like take that shot because, because number one, you know, this
41:29is what's going on in best ball right now too, where the, the backend QB ones, the high end QB twos are going well.
41:36Way earlier than they've gone historically. I mean, it started to happen last year in best ball, but them going earlier means
41:42that the higher end quarterbacks actually become more valuable.
41:44Right. Because if, if you get Josh Allen and you know, the absolute inverse of what I was talking about before, if
41:50you get Josh Allen in round three, and then all of a sudden up until Brock Purdy is gone at the end
41:56of round five, then you got a massive value in drafting Josh Allen there.
42:00Right. Because people are spending almost, you know, very close to the same kind of draft capital and, and allocation on Brock Purdy, who is fine.
42:07He's not Josh Allen as Josh Allen and what you got with Allen.
42:11So like, it's about, you know, it's, it's just like, you want to go into a more casual environment and be like,
42:17Oh, I don't need to get quarterback. Cause it's going to be easy to pick one off late, which I do think
42:23later on quarterback is going to probably be a pretty good strategy this year, but like, you know, it's just a, it's,
42:29it's so it's just, there's a lot of that like context and, and individualized, like thinking about that particular league that needs
42:35to go on for it to dictate what your draft strategy really should be.
42:39Yeah. You just said this and I'm looking at the ADP of the, uh, the quarterbacks and the elite quarterbacks are about
42:45two to three rounds cheaper than they've ever been.
42:48Right. Maybe sometimes in some cases four, but the floor, the price of the depth of the quarterbacks and that's, and that's
42:54a function of after the first three or four quarterbacks that no one's really seeing a difference between, or maybe even deeper.
43:00Like someone says, yeah, I do like Dak. I do like Justin Herbert, but if I can get the spike weeks from
43:06a Baker Mayfield and Tyler shook, it's fine. I, especially in best world where you never have to call the shot, right?
43:12Like that's the worst part about fantasy football and you get a gazillion, uh, start sick questions.
43:17It's like, do I start Jordan love with the great matchup or do I start, you know, Jackson dart, who's playing a tough defense.
43:23You're like, gee, I have no idea. Like, and then you're just kind of guessing and then you give people all these caveats and percentages.
43:30But I think that's what happens when you don't have to call the shot and you just get Sam Darnold's a 27 point game.
43:37You know, I think that's the advantage and that's why.
43:40And also remember, even though we call them onesie positions, tight end and quarterback that in best ball, it essentially is a two quarterback league, right?
43:47Everyone needs minimum. Yeah. I mean like the, the position dries up, right?
43:50Like that, the, the, the panic, the panic in best ball.
43:54Is really, I think what drives the, you know, the, the, the high end to mid range QB two up in price
44:00is that in our season long league, who cares?
44:02Those guys are going to go undrafted like Baker Mayfield in a regular home league this year is not going to get
44:08drafted more than likely, you know, in, in a lot of those leagues.
44:12Now you got to react if like, cause I'm in a, you know, I'm in a home league, a local league here that's 14 teams.
44:19And I know that people are going to take backup quarterbacks.
44:22So I have to at least be a little bit careful about getting too out of control with, you know, not drafting
44:28a quarterback because wave, the waiver wires actually, actually is thin, but in 95% of leagues, like those guys won't go, but
44:34in best ball right now, it's, it's a completely different beast, which is, you know, do you, have you found like, since
44:40you're doing the, the, the radio stuff and you're talking to people and there's, it's just a much different dynamic than what I'm probably experiencing.
44:47Um, have you found that it's been a little bit obnoxious about how best ball has seeped into the way that people
44:53are looking at season long as well? Has that been a thing that you've, or has it, has it been pretty separate?
44:59No, no, you nailed it, man. You nailed it because best ball is, uh, by the way, when you're talking about like,
45:05just like traditional leagues is that Yahoo did a study and even in like seasonal leagues, 1.9 quarterbacks per team on Yahoo leagues.
45:12So again, yeah, I use Yahoo because that's where a lot of like, let's say people that are more casual about it.
45:18Right. Yeah. So yeah. And, and with, uh, best ball is seeped in and best ball is like the greatest way to prepare for your season long draft.
45:25But what I think was, and guys like you were talking about this doing on, on videos and on content is that
45:31it really is two different games, right? It is.
45:34And the, yeah, but I mean, the players go in a similar order, but the roster construction is a little bit different, but you're right, man.
45:41The way we play best ball. See, I, I fell into this about four years ago cause I've always been, you know,
45:47not by the way, when I used to say I played in 50 best ball leagues, that used to be a lot.
45:53Now it's like, uh, yeah, now I'm like, you know, I barely play.
45:57Right. It's funny. Uh, but yeah, no, the way I was playing best ball, I was bringing into redraft and because the
46:03strategy is so different that you can, you have access to the waiver wire and that you have to do start sits.
46:09It was screwing up my redraft leagues and I was losing for a little while until I again, adjusted.
46:14So yes, we are seeing those two types of strategies merge when they really should be talked about as two separate things.
46:20I think it's on us as analysts to make sure we're making that separation for people too.
46:25And I get annoyed like straight up. I'm like, I'll, I'll tell the analysts sometimes too.
46:29I'm like, bro, you're talking about this as if like, this is the strategy that people are, are, are deploying and using in season long.
46:36But it's, it's not the same. It's not the same at all.
46:40Like you can look, I think best ball is really great for understanding, you know, like you said, within the position where
46:46guys should go and like, like, you know, like where guys are generally ranked.
46:50Like you could probably, cause best ball is pretty sharp, especially this time of year.
46:54You could probably use best ball ADP as straight up positional rankings and, and have an edge right.
46:59Right. Over what, you know, your, your buddy from accounting who doesn't do any research is going to show up in August
47:05with some list that is just very generic and doesn't, isn't very helpful.
47:08But yeah, where these guys go overall is really the problem.
47:12Yeah. And I think also I've always adopted that just say like in a contained best ball, cause a lot, when we
47:18talk best ball now, there's also, everyone assumes it's these giant contests where there's hundreds of thousands.
47:22I still do a lot of best ball where it's like, you know, the smaller groups I play in the big tournaments
47:28too, but like where only the top two get a cash or a cash.
47:32And I still think in those types of leagues, you've got to push up the running backs that definitely have jobs because
47:38you don't, the volatile wide receivers, you don't want them in your traditional home league, but it doesn't matter as much as on best.
47:45Exactly. You never have to call the shot. What's the worst, you see, what's the worst part about fantasy football?
47:51I've said it before is deciding, you know, which wide receiver three and four to choose from.
47:55Like when someone says, Hey, should I start Michael Pittman this week or Matthew Golden?
47:59Right. Oh, I have no idea, but I don't have to call that shot, but that's why I'm taking like a breeze
48:05hole in round two in best ball. If I'm picking towards the end of the round, cause I just want running backs.
48:12I know have jobs, three down work rule, you know, that type of stuff.
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49:24All right, I want to go through some scenarios across the league right now where we have teammates that are being drafted relatively close to each other.
49:31And I want to see how you feel one way or another about these guys.
49:35Because I think this is a, you know, this number one, this is a question like every week when I ask for
49:41mailbag questions, it's always scenarios like this where they're, you know, someone's like, which player out of this backfield or which player,
49:47you know, amongst this wide receiver room do you like more?
49:51So we'll start out with probably, you know, one of the bigger ones this year is Luther Burden versus Roma Dunze.
49:56How sick is it going to be when either one of these guys has a good week one?
50:01And because this, this is like split the country, right?
50:04I mean, politics unites us more than the Luther versus Rome thing at this point.
50:08I'm team Rome, you know, and all of the under the hood, smart metrics favor Luther Burden here.
50:13But I don't know. He just had longer chemistry with, with the Roma Dunze.
50:17I'm talking about Caleb Williams, of course. Now he wasn't Ben Johnson's pick.
50:21He inherited him. And I do think that means something, you know, Luther and Colston were his picks.
50:26But I mean, those first four weeks before the injury, they would look good.
50:30What was he about a 15, 18 point? Oh, it was great.
50:33Yeah. So man, I, you know, I'm also a little biased.
50:36I made a bad trade where I acquired Rome.
50:38So I kind of need this to happen or else, you know, a lot of things are going to go wrong for
50:44me, but I'm scared to death to draft Luther Burden.
50:47I'm scared to death not to draft Luther Burden.
50:50That's, I think that's a healthy way to look at it.
50:53Like I, it really like comes down to like, you know, if you're in a, in a shallower league where you start
50:59two wide receivers, two running backs, one tight end, no flex, let's say, you know, just something like really, really shallow.
51:05Although I think that going after players like Luther Burden is, is easier because you're not going to have to rely on
51:11them and you can just shoot for the ceiling.
51:13Like, I mean, I'm a burden guy in general, so like, I'm just going to get them, but there's a very clear downside case here.
51:20Like very, very clear downside case. Are you straight up going Rome over Burden or is this a cost thing?
51:26I don't have to, right? Like I don't, and it's so hard for me to say, oh, if they, if you have
51:32to pick in a vacuum, which one would you pick?
51:34Like, and it's, it's, I just don't have to make that choice.
51:38But I mean, yeah, if I'm forced to, and you're asking me a question, I'm going to say Rome, but I don't
51:44feel good about this pick at all. It's like, it's terrible.
51:47Now this reminds me a lot of Travion Henderson last year, right?
51:50All of a sudden he was a fourth round pick as a rookie.
51:54Then he was a third. And then the NFFC, they were taking him in the second round.
51:59I was like, oh my God, this is crazy.
52:01I was getting scared that people that plunking down $1,500 for drafts are taking him.
52:05Then I saw him go with the one, two turn.
52:08So I'm getting that same FOMO confusion about Luther Burden, but yeah, I guess straight up, I'll take Rome, but I have no confidence in that.
52:15Yeah. I think there's a very real chance by the time August hits, Luther Burden is like a two, three turn type player.
52:21You know what I mean? Like, and that, that scares the crap out of me as, as one of the biggest burden truthers out there.
52:28Cause I love them as a prospect, you know, you know, all of that to be clear.
52:33I don't think that in all of these scenarios, cause like I don't have a player, like I, I still like drafting a dunze.
52:40You know, like I still think that a dunze is a pretty good pick because I recognize all of the different outcomes
52:46that can happen with the bears offense this year, or at least I'm hoping to recognize.
52:50And I think that there is an outcome where a dunze is, is a better player and more productive player than what the market's suggesting.
52:57And you notice JJ, like when you pick Luther Burden in a draft room, you get the hipster high five pick.
53:03You get the good pick. In the chat, when you pick a dunze, it's like, yeah, next nobody's, you know, nobody's going
53:09to congratulate you and say good pick in the chat.
53:12Yeah. Well, do you feel the same way then about Brian Thomas versus Parker Washington?
53:16Is this, is this a very similar situation for you?
53:19This is the same thing except that a BTJ.
53:21Oh yeah, you're right. It really is the same thing except BTJ just has like, you know, stink all over him at this point.
53:28Right. At least a dunze had the split last year.
53:31Right. Right. And Parker Washington also has the anchor pulling him backwards or underneath based on like where he, that he was
53:37what a day three real NFL pick. And that, you know, listen, but all of the, you know, if you, if you're
53:43a coach speak, uh, player, I tend to favor code.
53:46Like when certain coaches say things, it seems like Parker Washington's in, but there's a lot more, I would say it's a
53:52lot more crowded, but there's still a lot of options over in Chicago too.
53:56I think Parker Washington, given that his, was he about a fifth or probably six round pick at this point?
54:01I've seen him go in the 60. I've taken them in the six or maybe seventh.
54:05If I got lucky. I think that that's more like you can swallow that cost a little bit to get burden.
54:11You just said like, there's no way Parker Washington's going up to the two, three turn.
54:16It's not happening. Yeah. So it's a little bit of a different kind of conversation because you have your, your core five
54:22players already set when you draft Parker Washington. So I want to take the gamble on Parker Washington.
54:27I like what I saw. I like all the forward momentum with him and you know who, who likes him Trevor Lawrence to target him.
54:34So I'm more bullish on, on the success of Washington than I would be on burden, even though there's more upside clearly
54:40with Luther burden and Brian Thomas, he seems like he's going to be one of the best values if he hits this year.
54:46So I want to kind of move further down the list, but I do think it's an interesting conversation because there was a little bit of a discussion.
54:54Dwayne McFarland sent a tweet about Michael Wilson versus Parker Washington over the weekend or like late last week.
54:59So we have Marvin Harrison Jr. and Michael Wilson, Michael Wilson is, has been falling a little bit.
55:04So there's a little bit more of a gap than there was like, like two or three months ago and their ADP.
55:10Do you have a strong lean there? And do you feel like the Michael Wilson situation is very like Parker Washington or
55:16do you think there are some differences there? Well, this is a whole new regime in Arizona now, right?
55:22It's like, so that this is similar to where I said about Roma Dunes, where they're happy to have Marvin Harrison, but they didn't take right there.
55:29There is a difference when you inherit someone versus when you made the pick and same obviously for Michael Wilson.
55:34But man, I thought I was being contrarian in early draft season, taking Michael Wilson ahead of Marvin Harrison Jr.
55:40But it seems like that this is another one of those 50-50 splits.
55:44I still think, you know, Marvin Harrison, you have to look at the pedigree.
55:47It just, it can't be this bad. The guy was, you know, I just, it's a lesson learned in Dynasty 2, JJ.
55:54Guy was wide receiver four before he took a snap.
55:56Man, that was a mistake. But I think I would still leave Marv, lean Marv.
56:00But man, have I, I've gone back and forth with these guys too.
56:04And it seems like, you know, you can kind of get them both.
56:08They go similar pricing, but if you're drafting on the hook and you're creating these stacks, you can try to get them both.
56:14But Marv is the answer. Yeah. I get so worried about Michael, my comp for Michael Wilson, not as like a player,
56:20but just like a season comp of what he did in 2025 is 2024 Jerry Judy.
56:25Oh, that's good. That's my fear. Right. That's good.
56:27Because, because we saw the split with Judy and Winston, right?
56:30That year, Jameis Winston. And we saw Judy play, have better numbers when Cedric Tillman was out that year.
56:35Like when, when injuries around him occurred, that's when he saw some more of his spiked weeks.
56:40And the same thing kind of happened with Michael Wilson last year with Marvin Harrison Jr.
56:44Like Michael Wilson with Jacoby. Like, I think the split has always been for people, Michael Wilson with Jacoby Brissett.
56:50But really when Jacoby Brissett was under center and Marvin Harrison ran 80% or more of their routes.
56:55So he was not, you know, didn't have appendicitis and all this other, these other issues.
56:59There was only three games of that happening last year where Marvin Harrison Jr.
57:03Ran 80% or more of their routes with Jacoby Brissett under center.
57:07And then obviously Michael Wilson playing. Michael Wilson didn't score double digit points in any of those games.
57:12Yeah, that's revealing. I do think Michael Wilson is like better than what we expect, you know, what we saw from him
57:18the first handful of years of his career. With that being said, the difference to me with him and Parker Washington, this
57:24is what Dwayne was kind of talking about. Because Dwayne brought up very, very like in a smart way, like he should bring this up.
57:31Is that when we've seen these players who haven't done anything historically and then they have these spiked, you know, chunks of a season.
57:37How do they then perform? And Dwayne was basically saying like, hey guys, these guys usually suck the next year.
57:43You know, like they're usually, it's usually, it usually is a blip.
57:46And my point with Parker Washington was that, because look, this isn't an anti-Brian Thomas take.
57:51But you're pro Parker, right? You're pro Parker Washington?
57:53I think that Parker Washington, the difference between him and Michael Wilson is that his peripherals with Jacoby Myers and Brian Thomas playing last year were excellent.
58:00All like, like I made the, I made the comment that the difference between Parker Washington and Michael Wilson is that they
58:07both needed an injury for something more to happen.
58:09Right. The difference though, is that Parker Washington, the injury to Travis Hunter was what allowed the Jags to realize what they had in Parker Washington.
58:16Whereas the injury to Marvin Harrison Jr. Allowed Michael Wilson to just get gobbles and gobbles of volume.
58:21And he wasn't efficient. His yards per hour run wasn't very strong last year.
58:25You know, it wasn't that, that amazing. Whereas Parker Washington in a really good ecosystem and environment with a good competition was
58:31thriving at times, you know, and he had a really good yards per hour run rate.
58:36And he was really, so like that backbone makes me feel more comfortable with Parker Washington than Michael Wilson.
58:41But it scares me too, because obviously, you know, Michael Wilson showed us that he had a really high ceiling.
58:46It's just that I'm trying to just be as rational as I can with that, that, that Wilson situation.
58:52See, this is goes back to what we talked about in the beginning of this podcast where, you know, you have to
58:58have a process, but be willing like to, when there's nuances involved.
59:01Now, Dwayne made the factual statement that these guys usually just go off the map after they have a spike month.
59:07Right. And you're saying, and then you kind of logic did out where this is why Parker Washington doesn't fit that exact pattern.
59:13Right. So as much, at least, you know, like I can certainly see it.
59:17Like, I think that the answer to a lot of the Jacksonville stuff is to draft Trevor Lawrence, you know, like it, like just capture it that way.
59:25Or if you're playing best ball, get one of these guys and as many drafts as you can or stack them, whatever.
59:31I think it's going to be I'm going to get my exposure and maybe there's a cop out, but I'm going to
59:37get a lot more of my exposure to the Jags wide receiver room and best ball than I will in season long,
59:43because I think it could be a headache week to week.
59:46You don't have to call the shot. Right. Yeah.
59:49Right. Yeah. I'm even getting some of the Travis Hunter stuff, too.
59:52I'm you know, I was getting that's a pick you get laughed at when you meet you just going back to the Cardinals wide receivers.
59:59You're assuming Jacoby Brissett week one started here. Like, I'm not.
60:02I'm not. That's all right. Yeah, that's that's certainly another part of the variance of of that profile.
60:07And I think Carson Beck's going to start at some point this year.
60:10Like, like, I think there's a better chance than not.
60:13Right. What's the under over on game started in JJ Zachary since sports book for Carson Beck starts?
60:18I would say five and a half. I was going to say four and a half.
60:23I'll take I'll take the over on four and a half.
60:26And I'd still take I'd say probably half the season.
60:28Right. Yeah. Around like, I think that there's a very real possibility that happens and you're already running into the issue right
60:35now with the contract stuff with Brissett. So like there's that to me, there's there's, you know, like like that was why
60:41I think even in our in our four quarterback league, I took Carson Beck and like this.
60:45He held it like the second round in that league.
60:48And I, I, I grabbed him because there's going to be an opportunity for him to do something.
60:53And even those players, because like Arizona realistically is probably gonna be bad this year.
60:57Then they'll have a high pick next year and more than likely going to take a quarterback.
61:02Like that's, that's the, like we can all see this.
61:05That's likely. Right. But Tyler shook outcome is like, is, is possible too.
61:08It could, that could happen. Or Carson Beck shows something and now they have a trade asset or something that they could,
61:14they could deal, you know, like dangle and try to try to work with.
61:18So like, yes. And, but like, that would be like, I think Carson Beck is a problem for Marvin Harrison Jr.
61:24And Michael Wilson and Jeremiah Love and what that Arizona offense might do.
61:28I've leaned Marvin Harrison Jr. More comfortably just because at least we can tell a story that they used them poorly.
61:33And he had the backbone, like you said, of just being a really like, you know, he obviously hasn't lived up the expectation.
61:40He's been okay enough. He just, he's been, he's, he's played more like a mid to late first round pick, you know,
61:46as, as a, as a player so far and not the elite, you know, what we expect out of the top five pick.
61:52But, you know, what if they unlock him and what it like, there's, there's at least more of that pedigree that makes
61:58me feel more comfortable about drafting him. Isn't there a 15, 20% chance that Carson Beck is good enough where they, the
62:04Arizona gets the third pick and the quarterbacks go one, two and they take Jeremiah Smith, you know, something possible.
62:10Yeah, it's possible. So there, there, there, there are other outs, which is why I wanted to throw, I mean, in my
62:16super flex league, especially in this and rookie drafts this year where the running backs and wide receivers were just weak.
62:22You know, you get to the second round. I'm, you know, most of these second rounds, especially mid to late second round.
62:28I'm taking car. I have a lot of Carson Beck because I don't think he's going to hit.
62:33It's just, this is the, this is the, the game theory side of things, you know?
62:37Yeah. I think you and I have previously talked about, but I would take Carson back in a rookie draft as high as 112.
62:44Yeah. I, I, I understand. Yeah. I get the logic.
62:47I get the logic. The minute he starts, there's something you could do there.
62:51And Lord forbid, he's got a two 50 and two with no interceptions in that first game.
62:55Now you're talking about a top 20 dynasty quarterback, but there'll be pushback because of Arizona doesn't have a lot of wins.
63:01Then you're right. There's always that threat that he's going to get Josh Rosen.
63:05Yeah. And I think it's very obvious us saying this, like, that's not the likely outcome.
63:10You know, the likely outcome is he sucks or, or he doesn't, you know, he just doesn't do much, but that's, that's
63:16the likely outcome for a lot of the second round wide receivers.
63:19Anyway, and it's a likely outcome for even high pedigree quarterbacks that they're more likely to fail than not like cam Ward.
63:25Like if he wasn't the one-on-one, you'd be like, right now.
63:28Exactly. All right. Let's go to Pittsburgh and look at that backfield.
63:31I'm curious how you look at, at Jalen Warren versus Rico Dotto.
63:35We'll get a couple more of these in. Okay.
63:37Yeah. Super quick is that I'm, I'm nervous about Jalen Warren.
63:40He got, he was supposed to be the alpha guy last year, gets thrown out of the way by Kenny Gamewell, more or less.
63:47Who's an efficiency monster, right? Jalen Warren's a good player.
63:50Like you want him. He's perfectly good, but Rico Dotto, they bring him in.
63:54They don't bring in anybody else of, of note.
63:56Rico Dotto familiarity with Mike McCarthy, trust him. Right.
63:59So I would say that this is probably a classic split and that both guys are solid picks, but in a, you know, I want Rico Dotto here.
64:06And I think that the market mostly agrees. He's more likely to have more touchdowns.
64:10I would say more carries. And again, though, Jalen Warren's a good player, but every time we think it's Jalen Warren season,
64:17it's like, oh yeah, but this happens. Oh yeah, but this happens.
64:20So although Jalen Warren, I know he's got his fans and I'd be happy to have him on my team.
64:25This is Rico Dotto. I think we can, Rico Dotto was like a weak winner last year.
64:30I don't remember ever saying Jalen Warren weak winner.
64:33And then you mentioned Kenneth Gainwell. I think I saw an interesting take from you on social media.
64:38Let's hear that the Bucky Irving versus Kenneth Gainwell.
64:40Yeah. I mean, Kenneth Gainwell was about 4.7 yards every time he touches the football.
64:44Do you remember that game that nobody knew that he was going to be replacing Jalen Warren?
64:49It was an international game. You woke up and Kenneth Gainwell basically broke fantasy, broke DFS.
64:53Bucky Irving was a fourth round pick who had a good year.
64:57Very similar to like Damian Pierce a couple years ago.
64:59I like Bucky Irving, but man, there was questions last year when he was going.
65:04Bucky Irving was going in the second round of fantasy drafts.
65:07Could he hold up? The answer was no. I like to see these guys do it.
65:11Who's Bucky Irving, right? Like he had his best year when Liam Cohn was there.
65:15Look, then Liam Cohn goes to Jacksonville and Trevor Travis Etienne has his good year.
65:19Bucky Irving's great. Good player. But Kenneth Gainwell was given the motherlode contract right here.
65:23Seven million bucks a year. You know what I'm saying?
65:26For a guy of that. But it's more than we thought he was going to get.
65:31I think that Kenneth Gainwell, I'm betting on him to be more productive in fantasy football than Bucky Irving.
65:36And I think that this thing is a 50-50 split where I think that the general market looking at is like a 70-30 Bucky thing.
65:43There's a very real chance that Bucky Irving is a between the 20s guy and that's terrible for fantasy football, right?
65:49Where Kenneth Gainwell is the pass catcher and he obviously played that role last year very well.
65:53And Sean Tucker plays goal line stuff and gets some goal line stuff.
65:57That's a very real possibility too. And then all of a sudden that leaves Bucky Irving.
66:01And not only that, the workload concerns I think are only validated by these injuries that he's gotten over the last year
66:07and that he's coming back from right now. That's only enhanced the feeling that he's not going to necessarily be the bell
66:14cow that he was down the stretch during his rookie year.
66:17Yeah. I mean, when we started doing drafts, JJ, in February, Bucky Irving was like a two, three turn pick and then just falling.
66:23Was he settling in like that late fourth round?
66:26Something like that right now? About this. I mean, on DraftKings, he's falling even more just because of the injury stuff.
66:31Like he's firmly in the fifth. He's, I go down, when I do my draft rankings, I go to, for drafting, I
66:38go down to Bucky Irving and I cross him off.
66:40And I have game well on literally every single team because again, I give them a 50-50 shot to compete here and
66:46the market's treating it like it's not that. So gain well to the moon this year in my, that'll, that'll be, I
66:53guess what we call a flag plant, right? Yes.
66:55Well, that's what I was going to say. You like the last question I want to ask you is a bold take
67:01for what we could see in 2026. Would that be your bold take?
67:05No, that's not bold. So I, you know, it's funny.
67:07I said, I talked a little gain well with somebody that said, oh, that's vanilla ice cream.
67:12I said, vanilla ice cream. That's not a vanilla ice cream take.
67:15So I want to ask you, do you want medium spice?
67:19You want real spice? I mean, I got, give me the real spice.
67:22Okay. The real spice. And I'm not saying this just to like, you know, sensationalize.
67:26I really do believe Tank Dell, the wide receiver who missed all of last year, by all means coming back is set
67:32up to be a top 25 wide receiver in fantasy football.
67:35I would even say maybe higher. He was about a 15 point per game for his catastrophic injury.
67:40I don't think the rookies that the Houston Texans drafted, they looked fine, but they didn't look like they were going to be the future of the franchise.
67:48Nico Collins gets his extension. He's the true alpha, but he showed the Tank Dell showed that he could exist.
67:54Now, if he's even back to even somewhat with what he was, CJ Stroud had a real connection with him.
67:59My hot take is that you could pick the round you want Tank Dell.
68:03He's coming back. Leader of the locker room type of guy.
68:06I'm going Tank Dell is a top 25 wide receiver in 2026 fantasy football.
68:10Yeah, that's spicy. That's spicy. I mean, it really comes down to the recovery though.
68:14So I get it. Makes sense. Alan, this was amazing.
68:17It was really great to have you on. Let everyone know where they can find you, what you're working on and all that good stuff.
68:24I got, I was part of the boomer hack on Twitter where they stole my Twitter account and you were generous enough
68:30to push out my, to let people know. So it's Alan underscore Soslowski.
68:33I'm now part of the dreaded underscore community on Twitter.
68:36And, uh, you know, I had, I didn't have a huge following on Twitter.
68:40I had a few thousand people, but I spent 10 years building that damn account up JJ.
68:45And now I'm starting it from scratch. And yeah, I know you're saying this guy clicked on a link.
68:50These, these hackers, they're getting very clever. How they're getting clever, man.
68:53They're getting good. It's scary out there. I think I was a lesson for you.
68:57You're not clicking on any links at this point.
69:00Oh, I don't click a thing. I get random DMs from people and I'm like, I know what's going on.
69:06Exactly. And then you go and you look at their profile and it's just all crypto stuff.
69:10You're like, yeah, yeah, there's something happening here. So also promote Sirius XM satellite radio.
69:14I'm on channel 87, uh, up until July, do this dynasty show one to three Eastern.
69:19And then after that, we'll be on, uh, in the road to wire slot doing traditional radio.
69:23If you have satellite channel 87 is the fantasy sports channel or anytime on the, on the Twitter.
69:28And, uh, so let me, let's say you just, before we go here, I want your hot take.
69:33Cause I know you're not a hot take artist.
69:36I'm not a hot take. I know. So this is uncomfortable for you.
69:40I think my hot take right now, you know what?
69:42Since we were talking about it, I'll say that, that Jalen Waddle finishes as a top eight.
69:47Is that, is that cool? Say it, say it, say it.
69:50I'll say, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll plant the flag a little bit on Jalen Waddle.
69:55Spoiler. He'll be a, he'll be a player to target in the draft guide this year.
69:59Will you, will you be an extra pain? If the player you traded me for Eli Stowers is a top eight wide receiver?
70:06Process over results. You're, you're what they, what my grandmother would call a mensch, JJ.
70:10That is a very big compliment. You can, anyone out there, you can Google it.
70:14It's Yiddish. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate it.
70:16I appreciate all of you for listening to, uh, make sure you're checking out the new late round.com, becoming a member, checking
70:22out the members hub, taking a look at the late round draft guide.
70:26That will be out July 10th this year. Need a little bit of extra time.
70:30It's usually July 1st, but I needed a little bit extra time just given all the changes going on at late round,
70:36but that will be out on July 10th. Lot of new stuff in there, uh, that I'm very excited about.
70:42So check it out. Late round.com. Otherwise everyone, as usual, thanks for tuning in.
70:46Hey, it's Erin Andrews from Calm Down with Erin and Krissa.
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