0:05>> Which teammate should you be drafting in 2026 fantasy football? Talking draft strategy today right here on Rotowire fantasy football with Adam Levitan of
0:14Establish the Run. We're going to go through a couple of important teammate battles not only at the running back position but also at the wide receiver
0:22position. And Adam, let's start out at the wide receiver position. This has been sort of a discourse for months now.
0:28Brian Thomas Jr. or Parker Washington.
0:32Is there a Jacksonville Jaguar wide receiver you much prefer or is both sort of an appropriate answer?
0:40>> I prefer Parker Washington here. Um what we've seen from Brian Thomas Jr. is poor play all of last year and running
0:50deeper routes than the rest of their receivers. This role in the NFL scares me. You know, the Xavier Worthy role. Like kind of this like lid-lifting
1:00role that I think NFL offenses think that they need and are valuable to real-life offenses but maybe not as valuable uh in fantasy or definitely not as
1:08valuable in fantasy. And so given all the options that the Jaguars have, the one guy who does that, who lid-lifts, is
1:16Brian Thomas. And we have not seen him hit on these lid-lifting plays with Trevor Lawrence at all. Like I don't want to call him a Mac Jones merchant
1:23but a much of his production that sent him into a round one-two turn around two pick last year was all through Mac
1:31Jones. So I think it's much safer. I think the floor is much higher on Parker Washington. I think like slot man in
1:38Liam Coen's offense is a thing, too. I just I don't feel overly strong about or great about any of these Jacksonville
1:47receivers cuz like if you start giving Travis Hunter targets from a math perspective, it is really, really hard to get there
1:56where all these guys go. I think Parker Washington, Brian Thomas, even Jacoby Myers to some degree. So, my take on Jacksonville receiver has more been let
2:04me get Trevor Lawrence, let me when some of these guys fall past ADP, I take them. But, yeah, I think that the answer
2:10a lot of times for me is just going to be Trevor Lawrence, especially in redraft where I'm not stacking as much.
2:14I'm happy to take Trevor Lawrence. I think there's a lot of risk in taking Parker Washington, Brian Thomas, Jacoby Myers, Travis Hunter. It's just it's
2:22it's going to be flatter than people think, I think.
2:24>> Yeah.
2:25>> It's an interesting take and you're the second smart guest I've had recently who sort of brought up the the Travis Hunter
2:30threat. Um Packer Rain was talking about that as well. Um do you devil's advocate to your take, if Travis Hunter does get ramped up a little bit,
2:39don't you think that would be maybe more hurtful to potentially Parker Washington with that slot usage you referred to uh than BTJ where at least with BTJ, he's
2:49going to be on the field in two wide sets?
2:51>> Totally agree. Yeah, I mean, totally agree and that's why I'm queasy about both of these guys. But, yes, you know,
2:56Brian Thomas has the skill that the rest of these guys don't run deep down the field and make plays deep down the
3:01field. And honestly, like that that's where you can get burned on a Brian Thomas fade because if he hits, it's going to hit in a big way. You know, I
3:07just think it's really unlikely to hit.
3:09I think sometimes people get confused on what's a guy's ceiling and what are his odds to hit his ceiling. And those are
3:14two, you know, different questions, especially when it comes to Brian Thomas.
3:18>> So, we Jacksonville sort of everybody's talking about the offense there. It's Liam Cohen. But, an interesting offense is the Pittsburgh Steelers just because
3:25everyone is so cheap. We'll talk about running back a little later, but you've got DK Metcalf on who's currently wide receiver 37 and we're referring to
3:34Underdog ADP for this one. Wide receiver 37 for for uh DK Metcalf and then Michael Pittman at wide receiver 47.
3:42It's a little bit closer in some redraft formats right now where those guys have converged even more.
3:48How do you see this thing playing out?
3:50Are you interested in drafting Pittsburgh wide receivers? And if so, who's the better bet to make with this sort of ADP disparity?
3:57>> Yeah, we are in line with market on Michael Pittman, but we are ahead of market on DK Metcalf. And a lot of that
4:04comes just comes down to historical production underlying met numbers. DK Metcalf has been a very good NFL wide receiver. Now, if you're asking me as a
4:12tape bro, as a ball knower, who is a better fit with Aaron Rodgers, who wants to get the ball out quick, not take
4:18sacks, throw the ball shortish over the middle, that that's more Michael Pittman. I don't think that DK Metcalf is a great fit with Aaron Rodgers, but
4:25even saying that, you saw last year some really big games for DK Metcalf. And when you have his kind of size, speed,
4:34natural ability, you have some really, really big games. So, I prefer DK Metcalf uh at cost here, and I think both him and Michael Pittman are a
4:42little bit underrated. Like, a lot of you just want to completely drop the bottom out from the Steelers.
4:47Be like, "I'm not taking any Steelers."
4:50I I don't think that's right. I mean, you can look at their implied team totals for this season going forward. I
4:55think that they're going to play fine enough to support a lot of these guys at ADP. And we're ahead of market
5:01on Rico Dowdle. You know, we're ahead of market on Jeremy Bernard. Like, it's not hard to be ahead of market on these guys cuz
5:07they're all so cheap, as you said.
5:09>> That was going to be my my follow-up question was sort of like for your own personal best ball exposure and you're
5:14drafting a good amount of like pretty high-stakes best ball teams, are you mixing in Jeremy Bernard uh for your own teams? And also, are you potentially
5:22looking at a a maybe a Pat Freiermuth just to get exposure to him cuz he's so cheap?
5:26>> Yeah.
5:27Um Bernard is someone that we are ahead of market on based on kind of historical wide receiver production. We don't count
5:35the Steelers having so many hits on second-round wide receivers in ourself, but it's definitely in the back of my mind. I did
5:41want to take note, though, that a lot of the buzz out of Pittsburgh has been Roman Wilson was ahead of uh Jeremy
5:48Bernard at OTAs. I think that'll continue into camp, maybe even to week one. Like, Jeremy Bernard's going to have to earn it, but if he can't beat
5:55out Roman Wilson, like, what are we even doing here? So, I I think that Jeremy Bernard in the late best ball stuff is
6:01interesting. For Freiermuth, I mean, I think they like Darnell Washington, and when it gets to the red zone, there's going to be Darnell
6:09Washington stuff on Underdog specifically, where it's so touchdown heavy in like lotto stuff, BBM style. I think Darnell Washington, a guy who will
6:17not be 100% owned in BBM, and can score two touchdowns, is an interesting last round pick.
6:25Freiermuth, like, I prefer guys like Gunner Helm, probably Terrance Ferguson for upside. I take Michael Mayer late at tight end. I
6:35think Freiermuth is like, okay if you're desperate for some like early season boring production.
6:40>> Yeah, definitely definitely boring boring pick for sure. Um they're an interesting offense, I agree with you.
6:45And another interesting offense, last year the Indianapolis Colts were like out the gate one of the more fantasy friendly offenses in football.
6:54Uh this year the guys are sort of a little bit less expensive. Michael Pittman's in Pittsburgh, and you've got Jonathan Taylor sort of being his own thing,
7:03Tyler Warren being his own thing. I think that the thing that's giving drafters pause is how to handle Alec Pierce versus Josh Downs. Pierce, when
7:12we started drafting, uh was much higher, but it's been bad vibes. He had the ankle surgery, and with Josh Downs, Downs has sort of came up a little bit,
7:22but you're talking about wide receiver 43 for Josh Downs, Alec Pierce at wide receiver 38.
7:29Obviously, Downs is a little bit more fantasy friendly in terms of like target earning, Alec Pierce with the big yards per reception, and they give him the bad
7:37contract-wise. Which way are you leaning when it comes to Indianapolis Colts pass catchers?
7:42>> Gosh, if it wasn't for this Alec Pierce ankle thing, it would be no doubt Alec Pierce for me. I I mean, the biggest optimism I have on
7:51the ankle thing is they had to know about this, right? Like, you can't be this incompetent that you gave Alec Pierce so much money and then you are
7:58Oh, by the way, we have the surprise ankle thing. So, I hope and I pray that they knew about this. I
8:04don't know that he's going to be ready for training camp though, so we could see Alec Pierce's ADP get lower. And
8:09like, when I'm drafting, that's something that I'm always thinking about. Like, will I have a chance to get Alec Pierce lower in ADP? If the headline comes out
8:17at the start of training camp, Alec Pierce is starting training camp on pup.
8:21Of course, his ADP is going to go down.
8:22You know, like, it's going to so I've been taking more Downs than Pierce lately at cost, but once that report comes and
8:30Alec Pierce gets a little cheaper, I do think Alec Pierce is the better pick and like the biggest question to me is two
8:36big questions, the ankle and then can he actually do what they are paying him to do? Or are they just paying him to run deep down the field
8:44and like clear everything out? That'd be a lot of money to do that. So, I think he I don't know if he's capable of doing
8:51like Michael Pittman type stuff, but I think the Colts want to find out. So, I love Downs, but if Pierce is healthy,
8:57it'll be Pierce for me.
8:59>> Yeah, yeah. I mean, you hear the beat reporters in Indianapolis saying how they think it's going to be all this
9:03expanded role with Alec Pierce. He had a thousand receiving yards on like 47 catches last year.
9:09Um it's it feels kind of like a better in Best Ball type player. Um you know, if there ever was one with Pierce. And I
9:17think I'm with you where if Pierce falls a little bit more dramatically than this one, maybe some bad news, I think he's a
9:23player that I'd like to mix in for sure.
9:26What are you guys doing this like this time of year over at ETR specifically for the Best Ball and also from the
9:32redraft lens?
9:34>> Oh, yeah. So, you know, the Best Ball stuff, we're all playing so much. We're literally tweaking the rankings and looking at every spot every
9:43day.
9:45It's crazy. And so, our own rankings are like the most up-to-date you could possibly find. If you head to establishtherun.com, you can head to the best ball tab and
9:52see everything we have going on there.
9:55The early bird bundle combining in-season combining Draft Kit with in-season is live also. So, that price for a limited time. Check that out. But really, if
10:03you're watching this on YouTube, head to the ETR YouTube. That's totally free and you can get a kind of a look at what
10:08we're working on there through the free YouTube there as well.
10:11>> Yeah, and I'll give you a little promotion for the work you're putting out specifically.
10:16A lot of people enjoyed I put out like an ADP takeaways pod looking at FFPC NFFC ADP from a redraft lens. Adam's
10:24doing that every single week. So, if you like that sort of ADP stuff I was putting out, your ADP market movers is
10:30always sort of a must-listen. I like it too because it's a nice short podcast.
10:34It's like very compact. When is that driving? Obviously, it's a it's a Monday show, but how will you will run that all
10:39throughout the summer?
10:40>> Oh, yeah. We'll go all the way until probably a week before week one with with Market Monday. Yes, people love the
10:45Market Monday for sure. Nobody has the attention span, Theo, for anything more than 12 minutes. 12 minutes of Market Monday.
10:52>> It's a drive to the gym in the morning.
10:53It's not a workout like it's not a workout podcast. It's the drive there. I can listen to Adam on 1.5 speed and I'm
10:59good. What's your most shocking ADP takeaway that you've covered with multiple shows? Who's like the movement, the player that you think is the most
11:07ridiculous?
11:08>> Somebody's going to have to explain the Quentin Johnston thing to me like I'm 5 years old. I honestly don't get it. Like
11:14he's up 40 spots in 2 months with no news. You know, I I I don't get it. And then like I actually
11:20think Trey Harris can play, you know, and and I mean they have three tight ends that can play. And they have three
11:26running backs that can play. And they have Ladd McConkey. And they're going to play kind of slowish under me like and
11:31and Quentin Johnston was like the worst receiver in the NFL 2 years ago, and now we're going to jump him 40 spots to like
11:3875th overall. I I don't Somebody It's not us. Like, we're so far behind. Somebody is driving this. I don't know what's going on.
11:45>> We've seen some like sharp money coming in on QJ with a couple of drafters who like you would know their name in a
11:51couple of the high-stakes places, but yeah, I think with the best ball, a lot of it's the correlation where people are
11:57trying to like cram in as many Chargers as they can, but it's an interesting one. I will say we had Rich Reubar on, and Rich is all
12:05over QJ right now. So, you guys are bumping heads on that one. Let us know in the comments, Adam or Rich on this
12:10one when it comes to QJ exposure. Um, what are you doing with Malik Nabers with your own personal builds, and how's
12:16ETR handling him? Are you being risk-averse, or are you diving in when he's dropping to this sort of range? The vibes are not great.
12:25>> Yeah, I mean, this was one of the biggest edges early in the drafting process. Malik Nabers' ADP was like 17,
12:3016 overall, and we had him at like 40.
12:33And I was like, "Guys, are you sure we want to be this far behind Malik Nabers?" And we looked at it, and we
12:37looked at it, and we looked at all the injury stuff, and we felt good about just like a full fade on Malik Nabers.
12:42We have not really moved off of that, you know, we're at 44 overall right now on Underdog. His ADP is like 37. For me,
12:51personally, I only take when he gets to like 43, 44, 45 because I think it's there's a difference there when you have three
13:01stars that can carry you through, and then hopefully Nabers is healthy come week 6, 7, 8, and smashes from there.
13:09The other reason that I take Nabers at 44, 45 is cuz I really like Jackson Dart. And And, you know, I take Jackson
13:15Dart naked. I take him with Likely. But, obviously, the alpha stack with Dart and Nabers if it really goes off would be
13:21incredible in round four. So, I you know, I know Ron on Jordan who covers the Giants, you know, really well. Um
13:29he has put some stuff out there like he's worried that he's going to start.
13:32Neighbors has a pretty good chance or a coin flip to start the season on PUP, which would obviously rule him out of
13:38the first four games. So, you know, I think that's that's where we're at right now. Like a coin flip to start the
13:43season on pup and and see how it goes.
13:45>> Yeah, I think I mean, I feel like it's the way that I'm handling it is I think we're going to get a cheaper price tag
13:50as we move along with neighbors. So, I'm going to wait and if I get burned on it, I get burned on it. Obviously, it could
13:56be it could change win rates if he has like a positive injury news, but I think we're going to get access to him a
14:02little bit lower. Let's talk about Arizona where you've got Marvin Harrison Jr. and Michael Wilson. You talk about ADPs that are converging. These are
14:11actually moving in the opposite direction. Marvin Harrison Jr. up to wide receiver 34 and Michael Wilson is down to wide receiver 45, which I think
14:21is just so interesting that we're living in a day and age where drafters are are able to sort of fade last season's
14:27production like to this extent. If we this was 10 years ago, Michael Wilson would be going well ahead of Marvin Harrison Jr. like no matter what. Where
14:37are you at on these two guys? Um are you looking to draft either of them? Um and is there an edge to be had with this
14:44Arizona Cardinals wide receiver room?
14:46>> Uh I am not drafting much of either. You know, last year like my biggest fade was Marvin Harrison. I had literally 0%
14:52Marvin Harrison over like 150 drafts or something like that. I'm just not convinced he's good, you know, and I know he had this amazing prospect
14:59profile coming out. I know his dad is Marvin Harrison. I'm concerned he's not good enough. However, and you could say, "Okay, Adam, then you need to take
15:08Michael Wilson." When Marvin Harrison came back, Michael Wilson was going nuts. He was playing unreal. Marvin Harrison comes off the bench,
15:15finally gets healthy, and they put Michael Wilson back in like a bit role. I mean, he got mugged. I don't know what the kids say now,
15:21frame-mogged or something, by by Marvin Harrison immediately. And that scared me because I was like, you know, in DFS, I was
15:28like, man, nobody's going to play Michael Wilson this week because Marvin Harrison's back, and Michael Wilson's going to he's better. He's going to go
15:33nuts. He's got He's been going nuts. And he didn't. The feature was Marvin Harrison. So, I know they have a new
15:38staff, a new offensive coordinator. I mean, I just think the Arizona situation is so different. They are not going to let
15:46Jacoby Brissett or Carson back drop back 50 times a game again. Like, they're just not. So, I've been lower than market on most Cardinals. I do take some
15:55Jeremiah Love, but I've been lower than market on almost all uh Cardinals.
16:01>> Jeremiah Love is a super interesting conversation. You're starting to see him fall um like into the third round consistently in some of the higher
16:08stakes formats. We've seen Jeremiah Love touch into round four. Um I it it was I I think it was an NFFC recently, but he
16:17like the low in FFPC is like the 310, 311. I'm actually really surprised that he's falling that low in redraft. Best
16:24ball it's such an easy argument to sort of click that button. Where are you at on Jeremiah Love when he starts to
16:30appear in like the third round? And I know you're going to be doing some of these high stakes redraft formats coming
16:35up.
16:36>> Yeah, I mean, where would he be going if Ashton Jeanty didn't fail last year, >> That's it. That's it.
16:41>> you know, and so I I get that people really got burned by Ashton Jeanty.
16:44Ashton Jeanty was also going what, 11th overall or 13th overall or something?
16:48You know, now on Underdog, Jeremiah Love's going 24 and a half. Theo's saying that in season long he's going even later.
16:55At that point, I just close my eyes and be like, they took him number three, a running back number three overall in the draft,
17:03in the third round of fantasy, I'm taking him. Like, I'm just going to do it.
17:08>> Yeah, I mean, I think it's interesting it's like super interesting. Um and I think you nailed it. I've said that take
17:12as well. It's sort of like the overcorrection on Jeremiah Love for something that had zero to do with him with Ashton Jeanty and we all loved him
17:20as a prospect like collectively you couldn't find anybody who was down on him in any sort of way and now you're
17:26getting him in this range where it's lower than where we were at for like Jamir Gibbs rookie year.
17:31It's it's very interesting to see a running back drafted this highly in that range. Let's talk about Tampa Bay where Bucky Irving has come down and down and
17:41down. It used to be like when we were started doing best ball content it was Kenneth Gainwell was sort of such an
17:47easy click. He was like round 10 and you had Bucky Irving going much higher.
17:52Now Bucky Irving has fallen down where he's at like running running back 23 but occasionally you see drafts where he falls down to like running back 26
18:02running back 27 and Gainwell has also came up. So there's a little bit of a convergence here.
18:08Where are you at on Bucky Irving? I mean the vibes have been terrible but do you reach a point where you're like I want
18:14to mix in some Bucky Irving and at the same same side of that argument are you also continuing to draft Gainwell when
18:21he reaches like a higher point where you have to take him you know in the higher end running back three land?
18:27>> Yeah. It's really tough spot you know.
18:30Um Bucky's injury last year didn't sit right with me. Like he was out so much longer than he should have been. There
18:39were some rumblings and rumors about like some off field stuff with Bucky around the injury. Then Todd Bowles comes out this summer and he's like yeah
18:48I don't know when Bucky's going to be back. Maybe he'll be back sometime in the fall and then Bucky shows up and
18:53he's at OTAs like working out.
18:56It it's really hard. Like I I'm queasy about the situation and I'm kind of queasy about Josh Jacobs situation similarly where like I think there could
19:05be more than meets the eye there with Josh Jacobs legal situation. More than meets the eye with Bucky's shoulder situation and so I've kind of
19:12been drafting around both of those guys and not taking them for now. Could that look really bad? Maybe. But like Gainwell's definitely going to play on
19:22passing situations and Sean Tucker's definitely going to be a threat at the goal line. So like how can I really get
19:27burned by Bucky by a Bucky fade? I don't know. So Gainwell's getting a little pricey, you know, we are at 111 overall
19:35on Gainwell. He's going around 107. So we're falling a little bit behind market there on Gainwell. I think he's fine, but I'm not like excited about
19:43him either. I I you know, obviously I like Higbucca. I actually think the best click on on Tampa right now is Jalen McMillan. I
19:49know there's like Ted Hurst fans out there.
19:51But Jalen McMillan with Mike Evans gone like and if you think Chris Godwin is kind of toast which I regret to say that
19:59I cuz I love Chris Godwin at Penn State.
20:00I I regret to say it, but if Chris Godwin's toast, like this is an awesome spot for Jalen McMillan at going at like
20:06140 whatever.
20:08>> Yeah, I love Jalen McMillan. I've been drafting a lot of him and I have him higher than consensus in my own personal
20:12rankings. It's really interesting take.
20:14I think with Bucky you sort of nailed it where you're you're not going to get burned to an extent where he could be some sort of
20:21a league winning value from this range because Gainwell takes away the pass catching upside and that's sort of a lot of the argument for Bucky Irving
20:29historically has been he's this well-rounded back, but Gainwell I think at the very least is going to be the passing down back. So I've been
20:36gravitating toward more towards Kenneth Gainwell with my exposure. But again, as he's come up it it there's other guys around him that I think are way more
20:44interesting.
20:45Um one other backfield we'll sort of see in the NFC South here, the Carolina Panthers where you've seen on multiple high stakes redraft formats where
20:55Jonathan Brooks is like completely cleared Chuba Hubbard. It's like 20 spots in FFPC. It's like more than that in NFFC. The the best ball drafters are
21:04still keeping Chuba Hubbard slightly ahead, but I think we might have that flip when we get into August as well.
21:11The vibes are just great with Jonathan Brooks, and I think people really want to believe in Jonathan Brooks and what a
21:17healthy Brooks could look like. And Chuba's always sort of had a there's been sort of a he's a compiler type vibes to to his game.
21:26Where are you at on this backfield? Are you seeing Chuba as he falls as a value, or are you diving into Jonathan Brooks
21:33as well?
21:35>> Yeah, I mean, uh it was either last year or the year before, whenever people were excited about Jonathan Brooks, you know, for the
21:40first time, I was like, man, I'm just going to go for a full fade on this guy.
21:44He plays for the Panthers. He's he's coming off an ACL. Obviously, he comes back for what? Like five carries or something and tears it.
21:50>> Yeah.
21:51>> and tears the ACL again.
21:54I don't know, man. I know the Twitter docs are like, uh oh, actually, it's good, you know, this was just a cleanup.
22:00The second the second ACL tear, there was actually not a problem, and this was, you know, they botched the first one, but this one was right. I mean, you
22:08start talking about three surgeries on the same knee. I know that JK Dobbins has done it. I get queasy about trying
22:15to pinpoint injury outliers or like size outliers. Like, for 10 years, people have been like, Adam, he's the next DeSean Jackson. I know I know he's 160
22:24lbs, but he's the next DeSean Jackson.
22:26Like, probably not, dude, you know, like probably not. So, I was okay with Jonathan Brooks at like 120, 130.
22:35When he starts going in the 90s, for the Panthers, when they paid Chuba Hubbard a bunch of money, and yeah, I
22:40agree with you, Chuba Hubbard's just a guy, but like, so is Kyren Williams. And look and look how far it's gotten him, you know, so I get
22:48the Jonathan Brooks love. I just kind like that it's not the kind of bet that I really uh want to be making, and
22:57I know that people love like the prospect bros are really the ones that love Jonathan Brooks. We love him. We love him, Adam. We love him.
23:02>> Yeah. We love Jonathan Brooks. I mean, I think Jonathan Brooks for me it's the pass-catching upside. I'll still lean into Brooks, but I think it's
23:09interesting like sort of the you know, if you want to get some early scoring, I do think Chuba Hubbard they're not going
23:15to like eliminate him week one. It's a chance for Brooks to kind of have like the Rico Dowdle pathway, but also
23:21provide some like floor with his receiving work. So, I I think Chuba Hubbard especially in Best Ball could be a pretty decent one when he starts
23:30falling and falling and falling.
23:32It's for for structure for sure. Let's talk about you mentioned earlier that you are ahead correct me if I'm wrong. I
23:38think you said you're ahead on Dowdle this year with the Pittsburgh. So, Dowdle versus Jaylen Warren has been another low-key interesting conversation where the
23:49argument being, you know, we saw Aaron Rodgers continually checking down to Gainwell. Wouldn't some of those targets go to Jaylen Warren? Then you have the
23:58Mike McCarthy Rico Dowdle reconnecting after Dowdle had his first 1,000-yard season under McCarthy in Dallas.
24:06It's a It's a tough one, but I think it's an interesting one considering they're both so cheap right now. Which way are you leaning if you
24:14have to kind of pick one? Or do you think this could end up being a headache backfield for redraft managers as well?
24:20>> Yeah, I think it's going to be tough tough in redraft to pinpoint one. I I'm in agreement with everyone. Jaylen Warren's a better
24:28player. Like no doubt. However, we have seen multiple regimes come through Pittsburgh and fail and decline to treat Jaylen Warren as a workhorse. Meanwhile, we've
24:38seen multiple regimes have Rico Dowdle, Dallas, Carolina, and give him a shot to be workhorse even if it was for short
24:45stretches. So, I think like the touch upside for Rico Dowdle is higher, but obviously Jaylen Jaylen Warren's like a much much better player, better
24:55pass-catcher, fits with Aaron Rodgers who's like really running back fantasy friendly, you know? Like setting guys up the goal line to get touchdowns and also
25:02checking down a ton. So, I like both these guys actually. I I take both of them in Best Ball, but I do prefer
25:08Duddle just on if we look back at the end of the season and be like which guy got 300 touches? I think it's way more
25:14likely that Rico Duddle has a chance, not a good chance, but a chance to get that many touches, whereas I'd be shocked if they try to go full
25:22workhorse on Jaylen Warren at any point.
25:25>> You know, question kind of structural drafting for you, and I remember having this conversation with Mike Leone maybe 5 years ago, and Leone was sort of for
25:32it. Um do you ever do like stack cuffing where it's a backfield like Pittsburgh where the price is not prohibitive where
25:41potentially clicking the button on Warren and then following up with Duddle and just making a big bet that it's a productive backfield, but I'm just going
25:48to take both of them. In redraft again, that's really hard to pull off, especially when they're side by side, but in Best Ball, do you believe in
25:55stack cuffing still?
25:56>> Yeah, at the right price, you know, you don't want to do like Jamir Gibbs and Pacheco, you know, because like if
26:01Pacheco has a good year, like Gibbs is not going to be that good if Gibbs stays healthy, Pacheco's not going to be that
26:09good. However, in situations like Duddle, Warren, for sure. For sure. And like I know where you want to talk about Tray Veon and Rhamondre maybe, like
26:17that's a little It's getting to like the border of too expensive for me, or probably is too expensive, but when it's
26:22cheap like this or maybe like some Washington stuff, you know, you could take Roschon Johnson and Keaontay Ingram or something like that or Rashad White
26:29and Roschon Johnson, I think it makes sense. You get the ping-ponging effect in the Best Ball playoffs, and like that is something that people
26:38I think fail to grasp is like the Best Ball playoffs is such a unique structure. The reason to have three quarterbacks is not to admit your your
26:45advance rate better, it's so that in three consecutive Best Ball playoff weeks, you have three different stacks go off. And the idea here with you have
26:53Jaylen Warren go off in week 15, Rico Dowdle in week 16, and maybe you eliminated half of those teams that had
26:59the other guy before. Um so, yeah, I think it makes sense at the right price.
27:04>> One backfield that's not on the show sheet, but do you have a preferred Denver Broncos running back right now?
27:11JK Dobbins, RJ Harvey, and then people are really enthusiastic for Justice Hill late. You're He's He's sort of come down a little bit, but there's
27:22JK Dobbins enthusiasts. He's like running back 47 on Underdog right now, so he's in that kind of handcuff range even though he's
27:29technically the third drafted back.
27:32>> Um you know, credit to the drafters. You know, I thought I'd come into this season with a huge fade on RJ Harvey.
27:37Like there were so many bad signs around him. They poked around at Travis Etienne. They end up with with JK Dobbins back on real money, but credit
27:47to the community like RJ Harvey is so cheap.
27:50>> Especially for a guy who scored 12 touchdowns and caught 40-something balls last year. He's going like 87th uh overall, so
27:58I think that's the right price. Like I came in thinking I was going to be a full fade. I think that's like roughly
28:02right on Harvey. I do think that if JK Dobbins stays healthy and I know that's a big if I mean, he could get 250 carries and be
28:10very very efficient. And they don't trust RJ Harvey on pass downs either. I think they will trust Justice Hill, but I think we'll start the season with
28:17RJ Dobbins the base back and JK Dobbins in pass in passing situations. So, it's hard to get there on Dobbins like
28:25just because everybody assumes he's going to get hurt. I assume he's going to get hurt. But if if he can stay
28:30healthy, I think he will smash his ADP JK Dobbins at 98 overall.
28:35>> Yeah, it feels like a year where like we talked about with Michael Wilson where drafters are getting like sharper and
28:39sharper. Again, like if we saw RJ Harvey as a rookie give you double-digit touchdowns, catch passes like this, people would just be drafting him like
28:48probably in the dead zone if this was even 5-6 years ago. So, Michael Wilson, RJ Harvey, like people are able to see
28:54through things and see situations. So, I guess best ball is getting harder and harder, Adam.
28:59>> The other one that comes to mind is is Matthew Stafford was the QB2 last year and the fantasy MVP and now he's going
29:04as QB14, like which I think is right, you know? It's like I mean it's or actually we're even a little bit ahead,
29:10but people just people are just sharper now, you know? Like that that those edges are not there.
29:14>> Yeah, no, for sure, for sure. Uh interesting non-teammate battle, but these guys sort of both fall in line.
29:20They're both going in very similar ranges. You've got Blake Corum at running back 33 and actually side by side with him now is Kyle Monangai. It's
29:29sort of the younger teammate that we think is good that has sort of stand-alone value.
29:35Which of these players is more likely to overtake the starter in front of them this year and who are you more into at
29:42this cost? Blake Corum or Kyle Monangai?
29:46>> More likely to overtake, I think is Monangai, just cuz the Rams love Kyren.
29:51We hear this every off season. Oh, we're going to reduce the role on Kyren. We're going to take Kyren.
29:56It never actually comes to fruition.
29:57Now, last year they did go to 50/50 on a lot of the rushing stuff late. Kyren has still got decent amount of goal line or
30:05most of the goal line, I would say. And obviously was a much better pass catcher.
30:09Uh I think, you know, we're ahead it just straight up. We have Corum decently ahead of Monangai. A lot of that just
30:16comes down to offensive production. We expect the Rams offense to be one of the best in the league. Bears obviously we
30:22think they're going to be good, but it's a little bit shakier. And the other thing that you get with Corum is this
30:26insane contingent value. If something happens to Kyren Williams, Blake Corum is going to project as like a top-five running back for us each week, no doubt. If something
30:37happens to De'Andre Swift, I think, you You Monangai would certainly project well for us, but it would no be be nowhere near how well
30:44Corum would project. So, I I think that that's part of it, too. Um So, yeah, I think they're both okay. I
30:50think they're both going like a little bit too high for me in that range. I prefer to take receiver through there,
30:55you know, like if I have a choice, I I'd prefer to go running back early and then get on to like the Ricky Pearsall,
31:02Matthew Golden, Josh Downs, Michael Pittman type stuff than taking Corum and Monangai.
31:08>> Are you uh a running back running back start as a preferred uh strategy this year?
31:14Um are you open-minded to hero Have you settled in? Are you Are you mixing in the sort of the strategies draft to
31:22draft?
31:23>> You know, I every year I've been talking about running back running back and two running backs in the first three rounds
31:28in in half PPR and you know, like it sucks now cuz everybody's doing that.
31:33So, now you know, now I'm thinking there has to be some value in some other structures. There There just has to be
31:39because everybody's piling into running back so early. I haven't found the structure that I like more than running back heavy early though. And part of
31:46that is that dynamic I just talked about. Like I like the receivers. There are better receivers this year, I think, in round 8, 9, 10 than last year. And
31:53also in like round 14, 15, 16, 17, I think, there's better receivers this year than than in recent years. And so,
32:00it just sets up so perfectly to be running back heavy early this year. So, yes, I think it's right. Um if I was doing a ton of teams,
32:08I would definitely still have some hero running back and zero running back teams just because no one's doing it and the
32:13prices on some of these guys, you know, some of these later running backs are pretty good.
32:19>> Yeah, I think it's an an interesting conversation. Um you know, years ago we saw where everybody was sort of trying
32:24hero, everyone was trying zero. And now it's everyone saying a lot of smart people like yourself are like running back running back makes the most sense.
32:32Um I'm mixing in some hero builds. I I'll see We'll see kind of see where this goes. And we'll see where Adams
32:37going when you get to like the big money redraft leagues if you stick to that running back running back. Let's talk
32:42about New England. This is one of the most important ones. Travion Henderson Ramondre Stevenson people have very very strong opinions on
32:52this one. Is the answer potentially both?
32:55Travion's like a fifth round pick.
32:57Ramondre's like a seventh round pick. We think the offense is going to score a lot of points. Best ball becomes easier.
33:02So basically best ball strategy with this backfield and then what are you doing with it in redraft?
33:08>> I do not think that Ramondre Stevenson is going to be erased from this offense at any point. Like Travion has made too many mistakes. They
33:16have too much faith in Ramondre. You know, it would take a huge leap from Travion to just ice out Ramondre. So I'm
33:23not playing it like that whatsoever and that's part of the reason that we are behind market on Travion. We're at 62
33:28overall on Travion, 66 overall on Ramondre. Market is closer to 52 Travion, 76 Ramondre. So yeah, we're behind on Travion, ahead of Ramondre. I personally
33:40like playing it like that. I I don't take both. You know, I think it's a little too expensive.
33:46I don't take both, but yeah, I'm more likely to take Ramondre. I think in redraft I'm just taking bigger swings and I'd be
33:53more likely to take Travion. You know, like it's kind of counter intuitive, but I want to be reaching and thinking about
34:01the 10 whatever league winners we're going to have this year and trying to get that on my redraft team. It's way
34:07more important than in best ball where just like getting eight or nine points every week like matters a lot.
34:13So yeah, I think for redraft he'll probably still go too high for me, but I'd rather take Travion in redraft.
34:19>> Yeah, I'm with you on that. Like I Travion's a much more appealing in redraft. Like if you're in an FFPC main
34:24event, NFFC primetime where you start thinking about like trying to win a huge prize Um, get that sort of league winning
34:31value. What guy from round five could give you a 20 point per game season?
34:35It's Rhamondre Stevenson potentially if Rhamondre Stevenson goes down. And I sort of made an argument that it's like a handcuff back, but uh, Henderson also
34:43we could get rational coaching where they want to get him more involved. You might get flex value and then if contingent uh, value comes into play,
34:50you won basically with Rhamondre Stevenson there. And I'll continue to cover that backfield all throughout the summer. I think it's a key decision for
34:57drafters whether to embrace it or to pass it in general because that Patriots offense could print this year in terms of actual NFL scoring. Let's finish off
35:07with this one. You guys were uh, you guys were pretty adamant about the value that Chris Rodriguez presented early in the off season.
35:16I I I heard you and Evan sort of talking about this one. Tyjae Spears up to running back 25. Chris Rodriguez down to
35:22running back 43. The foot procedure for Chris Rodriguez has sort of nuked him down into this range. Do you think it's
35:30becoming a value for Rodriguez or are you thinking that because of the foot thing Tyjae Spears becomes more interesting to you or are you avoiding
35:40this backfield in general now?
35:42>> I think that Chris Rodriguez is a value right now and his ADP will rise as soon as he gets clear from the foot thing
35:49which the Jaguars say he's continue to say he's going to be ready for the start of training camp. If Chris Rodriguez
35:54does not start camp on active /PUP, um, his ADP is going to come up for sure cuz he can score 10 touchdowns, you know,
36:03and like I know people don't want to hear it. I do think that he will be goal line and base back and Tyjae Spears is going
36:11to be uh, you know, is going to be uh, you know, like the lightning and still play at times.
36:17Obviously, these are the kind of players that you want in fantasy like the Tyjae Spears type. We have Tyjae Spears 59 overall
36:24and Rodriguez 123 overall. So, we have a really wide gap there. It is not as wide a gap as the market has. We are below
36:30slightly on Tuten and above slightly on C. Rod and I like playing it like that, you know, just I still want some Tuten.
36:38He obviously has an incredible profile.
36:41I think that the market is a little bit too thirsty and a little bit too scared off by by Chris Rodriguez. But, you
36:48know, you're not going to get burned by Chris Rodriguez. I mean, come on, you know, he he's not going to make big
36:51plays. He's not going to catch passes.
36:53Like, we know the deal. He's not going to have four to 10 touchdowns to really move the needle.
36:57>> Love it. This was really, really fun stuff today. Make sure you check out everything Adam's putting out over on Establish the Run. Make sure you check
37:03out that ADP podcast he's putting out on Mondays. And stick with us here on the Rotowire Fantasy Football podcast. We're going to be having awesome guests like
37:11Adam all off season long. We're going to help you crush your leagues this season.
