10 Fantasy Football Questions That Will Define 2026: Sleepers, Breakouts & Draft Values (Ep. 2173)

This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human. The Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football Podcast is brought to you by Grainger. If you're an operations manager at a manufacturing plant, you're calling plays every day to keep production on schedule. It's why you count on Grainger's deep roster of products, from spare parts like bearings and motors, to safety equipment like insulated gloves, eye protection, and everything in between. It's this extensive on-hand inventory that helps you get the products you need same or next day, helping you stay in the game. Call 1-800-GRAINGER, click grainger.com, or stop by. Grainger, for the ones who get it done. Hello, everybody. Welcome into the Fantasy Pros Football Podcast. I'm Ryan, warmly joined by Pat Fitzmaurice and by Derek Brown. And we are talking some key questions ahead of the 2026 fantasy football season. Guys, this is one of my favorite shows that we do every week in season on Fridays. Our matchup previews, sort of key questions of every matchup. Series that we've been doing for the last few years with the three of us. And last year, we decided to sort of run it back ahead of the season as a season-long key questions. We're doing it again this year. Really excited for this episode. Always fun doing these questions and sort of talking through our different thoughts with each other. Debra, how you doing? Doing good, man. We got a lot of good topics on the ledger. So shout out to you for coming up these questions. And a lot of teams we're going to discuss. And I'm not going to say I have some polarizing takes, but I think some interesting ones along the way. I'm very excited to hear those. Fitz, are you looking forward to today's program? I am. We're just at a fun point here on the precipice of the season, about to find out how very, very wrong we were about so many things going in. Hopefully, we were right about a few of them. But, you know, we've always got this unwavering confidence in how we're assessing players coming in. And then week one just sends so many of these ideas crashing down. So hopefully not too many. Let's find out where we are a week before the regular season or so. Less than a week. This is, I think, for me, the last sort of big picture episode we're doing. Because next week, we're just into week one coverage. And it's kind of nice to flip that switch from the macro level to more micro and just thinking about individual matchups and week-to-week stuff. Yeah, I think we're all kind of ready for that. It's a long draft season. This is sort of the final bow on our season-long macro level thoughts here. By the way, as you guys know, I went to all three Orioles-Rockies games this week. So I am losing my voice a bit. Apologies for anybody listening. Doing my best to power through here. The Orioles were one miracle catch away from getting swept by the terrible Rockies. So not feeling great about that. Let's go ahead and dive in here. Just a reminder for everybody, all of our 2026 consensus rankings and tiers can be found at fantasypros.com slash rankings. You can, of course, navigate to weekly rankings there as you start to get into lineup setting season. Number one key question here. We've got 10 of them for you. Which young new play caller ends up being the biggest boost to his players' fantasy value this season? And I'm highlighting three here. Declan Doyle, Sean Mannion, or David Blau? Fitz, I'll start with you. Who are you most interested in seeing what they can do for their new offense's fantasy value? I think it's Sean Mannion. The Philly offense just looks so drab and ineffective under Kevin Petillo last year. I just feel like there's going to be a bounce with some new blood and hopefully things are a little less stale. Like, for instance, in the final preseason game, the Eagles wanted to play Makai Lemon, even though they were basically resting all of their starters. They just wanted to get Lemon on the field after he missed pretty much most of training camp and all of the preseason at that point with a hamstring injury. So Lemon played 15 snaps. We think Makai Lemon is going to play in the slot a lot this year. He played nine snaps of his 15 outside in week three. And, like, just the possibility that it's going to be Makai Lemon and Devontae Smith sort of operating interchangeably, like between the slot and out wide as the Z receiver, like that's kind of cool. That could be a way to maximize both of these guys, get them into some favorable matchups. I'm just excited that we are going to see something different because that offense was just so dull and underachieving last year. So, Debo, I saw you react to this pick by Fitz. I wasn't sure who Fitz was going to pick. I was really sure who you were going to pick here. So, obviously, you can go ahead and jump on that. And just so everybody's aware, Fitzy and I did not compare notes before this. So, I love that he went with Sean Mannion because I'm absolutely in on this, man. And I've got numbers to back this up because I know everybody's got their takes about Jalen Hurts and his ability or inability supposedly to throw over the middle and stuff. But to Fitzy's point about an unimaginative, vanilla, horrible offense last year, the Philadelphia Eagles, 29th in motion rate, 29th in play action, 31st in yak per reception. So, any easy button throws or anything that can help out the quarterback, the Philadelphia Eagles said, eh, we're good. Eh, we don't need any of that. With Sean Mannion, I think you're going to get all of the above. You're going to get yak. You're going to get motion. You're going to get play action. And you're going to get Hurts throwing over the middle of the field, which if anybody's actually been paying attention to the training camp stuff, he's doing. And he's doing well. And I've got numbers to back this up, boys. Over the last two years amongst 32 qualifying quarterbacks, when Jalen Hurts has targeted the short middle area of the field amongst those 32 quarterbacks, Jalen Hurts. First to completion rate, six in yards per attempt, fourth in pass rating, second in passing success rate, and he has the eighth lowest off-target rate. But I've been told, boys, by the masses, that Jalen Hurts cannot throw over the middle of the field and he's not good at it. Yeah. I think the Eagles offense is going to cook. I think the Eagles offense is going to cook this year. I didn't find myself drafting a ton of Eagles early in the summer and draft season. The last few drafts, I have really felt just like when I'm on the clock that quite often the best value is an Eagle. Sometimes that's a late tight end with Dallas Goddard. Sometimes that's an early receiver with Devontae Smith, who's been my wide receiver one in a couple of drafts I've done recently where I focused at other positions in the first two rounds. Sometimes that's Jalen Hurts at quarterback, even though he's not my typical favorite quarterback target. He's somebody that I do think is a value as well. And even Saquon. I do think there are a lot of reasons to be really interested in this offense this year. I don't want to ignore the other two, though. I mean, Declan Doyle, obviously coming from Ben Johnson and Sean Payton, steps into a very talented offense, right? He gets Lamar Jackson. He gets Derrick Henry. So it's hard to say that he's going to boost those guys' fantasy value so much. I do wonder if the receivers maybe get a boost. Guys like Zay Flowers, if Rashad Bateman's on the field, Jacoby Lane's causing a lot of excitement. I wonder if those guys maybe are a little bit more, valuable than they have been. I know Zay Flowers is a favorite of our colleague, Andrew Erickson, who has talked a lot about him as a league winner. If he gets more red zone usages this year, I'm curious to see how that plays out. And then David Blau, I feel like, is the one that gets discussed maybe the least of these three. I feel like I hear a lot of people, and part of that is just the expectations are a little higher for Philly and Baltimore than they are for Washington. But I'm really curious to see what the offense looks like now that they have a couple of pass catchers in Terry McLaurin and Stephon Diggs, brought in Chigakakwo. Obviously, there's some uncertainty in this backfield, here. Debro, do you have any expectations for Blau, either positive or negative, in terms of what you think is going to happen for fantasy this year with this offense? I think Blau can help them field a much more competent offense, and we're going to see bells and whistles, as opposed to Cliff Kingsbury doesn't even move his wide receivers around. There is no motion, lots of check down. There's a reason that the joke is real, and the cliche has been real over the last few years for a Kingsbury offense being the horizontal raid. So my worry and the reason I didn't go with Blau here, is because I worry about the composition of the commander's offensive line limiting a lot of what they want to do with outside zone running, with their tackles, with all this kind of stuff. And I know other teams like LeFleur and Shanahan and those offenses with 49ers and the Packers and stuff like that haven't fielded top tier offensive lines, and it hasn't really impacted them a ton. Putting that type of respect on David Blau is a step, I think, a little bit too far when he's really an unproven commodity. I hope I'm wrong, but I have more questions about the composition of the offensive line for the commanders limiting what they want to do on offense. Fitz, is there one player, let's say on either Washington or Baltimore, that you're most interested to see what their new play caller does with them? Yeah, Zay Flowers, for sure, with Declan Doyle, just to see if there's any greater red zone use. Because he has not been fully utilized there. But just to see him fully untapped. He had a 1,200-yard season last year with the Ravens throwing fewer passes than any other NFL team has attempted over the last three seasons. So Flowers is a really good player. I just can't wait to see how Doyle uses him. And like Debra, I worry that Blau is going to get thwarted by this offensive line because when the commanders were having a joint practice, I believe it was against your Ravens. The beat writer, the commander's beat writer for the Athletic, I think the word she used was inoperable. Inoperable, yes. For the commander's offensive line. That's not a word you want to hear used in conjunction with your offensive line. Let's go to question number two here. This one, a lot of these are pretty open-ended. Who is one player that you feel like you personally have not really talked about on shows very much this draft season that you want to weigh in on? Debra, I'll start with you. I don't want to just stay fully Eagles-centric, trick here, but Dontavian wicks, I really wanna bring up. because he's risen in drafts he's still a great late round flyer but looking again like to your point earlier Worm looking at various points of the draft and saying okay all these Eagles guys are the best value on the board I think Dontabian Wicks could be one of those like standout players this year and Fitzy knows this as well as all of us that like Wicks the problem has not been his ability from a route running and separation standpoint he's been a darling in deeper metrics of last two years amongst 109 qualifying wide receivers and back-to-back seasons a player that's been third and 24th in separation sixth and seventh in route win rate if and even on a per route basis last year for the Packers when he was on the field amongst that same 109 qualifying wide receivers he was 41st in target per route run rate and 25th in first downs per route run if there is a reason that Makai Lemon has I'm not going to say like a failure to launch season but this looks very similar to Luther Burden's rookie season where he's a part-time player he looks really freaking good on the field but maybe he's not a full-time player considering how much 12 and 21 that the Eagles want to run that it could be Dontabian Wicks because to Fitzy's point earlier if Smith and Makai Lemon are rotating slot and Z but if Wicks is the consistent X on every single play he's not coming off the field so he could be a guy that really pops this year being a full-time player getting out of the money ball wide receiver room for the Packers and his talent fully has a chance to shine and all the camp reports have been amazing so Wicks is a player that I haven't I haven't talked about a ton this offseason and after I got through the top 200 and I wrote him up I'm like oh dude I love him like I'm gonna be drafting him in late rounds in so many drafts I mean he's totally free he's wide receiver 70 in real-time ADP on fantasypros.com right now an early 17th round pick like a lot of people are like oh my god he's going to be a lot of leagues don't have 17 rounds in their draft can I weigh on in on him real quickly and I just got I just got him in a draft last night um yeah so Wicks has always been really good at getting open his problem has been at the catch point yeah he's had bad hands but yeah the guy Matt LaFleur used to compare him to when Wicks was in Green Bay was Devante Adams like he said his game reminded him of Devante Adams and people might forget because Devante has now been a great receiver in the league for a long time but his first couple of years he had major issues with drops um you would not have thought he was going to become a star based on his first couple of years because like Packers fans didn't like him early on because he dropped so many passes and we saw what he's become Quentin Johnston was another guy struggled with drops early on overcame him so if like Wicks can put that problem behind him yeah there's something here the three names going after Wicks in real-time ADP at the position right now a limited day two rookie Travis Hunter who's not a full-time wide receiver and Tyree Kill who's not on a team those are the three names going immediately after him yeah so just just keep drafting Dontavion Wicks instead of taking a kicker or defense in your final round just do it yes uh Fitz who's one player that you have not weighed in on very much this year would like the chance to yeah Worm I'm gonna make a movie reference it's an older movie so you probably haven't seen it uh Stripes have you ever I've seen it once I don't know that I would recognize a Stripes one time many years ago yeah it's a classic comedy Bill Murray joins the army and Bill Murray's platoon um they screw around and they are not ready for the drills they have to do in their graduation ceremony so they stay up all night the night before practicing practicing practicing then they fall asleep wake up and realize they're missing their graduation and sprint wildly to get there um that's kind of like me with Jordan Mason during draft season like I have been out on him or just sort of disinterested and thinking he was going to be a committee back the whole time now all of a sudden it's just it kind of dawned on me the drumbeat got louder and louder that he was maybe going to be the lead guy uh in Minnesota and just looking at this sounds like they're going to run a lot more outside zone and a lot of people think that's going to be a great fit for Mason and what he does um I know he does not catch a lot of passes and that could be a problem it makes me like him a little bit less in full point people think he's going to be a great fit for Mason and what he does and what he does and what he does but we saw Aaron Jones start to lose effectiveness maybe that was part of my reluctance on Jordan Mason just because I'm you know as a Packers fan Aaron Jones has been terrific over the years I also liked him on Claiborne as a prospect but like Claiborne was in a legitimate fight to win a roster spot and just barely made it so I do think Mason is going to be the guy and I've like sort of vaulted him up my rankings to the point where I think he's uh really I don't know I don't know he's been a draft steal because like I know even in the week one rankings like people have him in like RB4 range this is a guy who could get 20 carries against Green Bay in week one and he's being ranked as an RB4 he it's funny his is ranking has actually snuck inside the top 36 in ECR it's RB35 but his real-time ADP is still as an RB4 he's just outside that top 36 um he's in real-time ADP like Ja'Cory Krosky Merritt Josh Jacobs obviously a lot going on there uh you know RJ Harvey's a few spots behind him Blake Corm a few spots ahead um so it's an interesting kind of range of running backs in the mid-30s there Debro where is Jordan Mason ranked for you uh and is he somebody that you have been targeting damn it Fitzy I love you so much because I almost brought out Jordan Mason in this segment I swear I did I've really come around on him because to your points I think the Vikings offense is going to be a lot of fun I think the Vikings offense is going to be fundamentally change because it has to with Kyler Murray he cannot run an offense that utilizes the middle of the field and it's timing based on all that kind of stuff what they're going to have to do with Kyler Murray is I think in Minnesota we're going to see kind of a yesteryear Russell Wilson type offense it is run heavy it is based off of boot action and play action and deep shots and things of that nature I think their neutral rushing rate is going to go up I think Jordan I think they're going to lean on him and use Aaron Jones as the Swiss army knife piece so to your point I've been bumping Mason up in my ranks consistently right now uh worm like you pointed out like in real-time ADP Jordan Mason is 94th overall I've bumped Jordan Mason up to 87th in my rankings in the overall standings and I can make a case to bump him even higher like I think that he is going to get a crap ton of work and for people that are looking at catching up at RB or going zero RB this year yeah sure Marshawn Lloyd okay fine like go with him in the sixth round I would be absolutely circling Jordan Mason and drafting him like about a round or at least a half round ahead of where he's at on every side just a great example of like a boring vet right like nobody is going to be congratulating you in your draft when you select Jordan Mason nobody's gonna say oh I can't believe you snaked me on him but he's the type of guy that will probably bring a lot of value here assuming he stays healthy because there's just such a lot of value in him and a real opportunity in what will be a different offense to your point um all right uh let's get to another question here who will be this year's high octane offense bad defense circus team for fantasy goodness Fitz who are you going to highlight here oh it's the Chicago Bears that's who I thought it was going to be I was I almost said Fitz co-sign all three of us and uh and I ended up being right yep co-sign like I thought they would have been their defense would have been um even were they not plagued by injury problems and they are now plagued by injury problems Kobe Bryant the safety they brought in and paid a lot of money to help shore up the secondary which they needed badly um injured and is going to miss like almost all the regular season possibly all of it uh Kyler Gordon they're very good slot cornerback mysterious calf injury they have like I've heard the Bears beat writers saying they have no idea when he's going to be back none whatsoever like there's been no timetable on his return uh Austin Booker promising young edge rusher who they were expecting a big leap from this year described as week to week with an injury he's dealing with so there are some major problems on this defense and then on the other side you've got the high flying Ben Johnson offense with some exciting pieces Caleb Williams Roma Dunes a Luther Burden Colston and Loveland DeAndre Swift yeah I it seems like we are going to get connected to the defense we're going to get connected to the defense we're going to get consistent Vegas totals of around 50 in Chicago Bears games this is one that fits you've talked about a lot earlier this summer which is why I was pretty confident you were going to pick it D bro this was your pick as well is that what you're saying hell yes this is my pick this is the standout pick this is the Dallas Cowboys of last year this is the Cincinnati Bengals of the last two years and for everybody and I'm sorry Bears fans also on top of everything of Fitzy just handed out you traded Gervon Dexter away and you think the defense is going to be good defense is going to get any freaking better considering last year sure you can point to the fact that they led the NFL in interceptions and percentage of drives ending in turnovers outside of that Bears fans just cover your ears for a second they also allowed the 11th most passing yards the fifth highest shards per attempt the sixth most rushing yards and the highest rushing success rate but sure nothing to see here Dennis Allen Bears defense be totally fine this year it's all good no no worries yeah I look so let me ask you a question what do you think about 'cause we're all very much in agreement on the bears here. Um, prototype of this has been in the last couple of years, the Bengals and the Cowboys. There's been a lot of talk about how the Cowboys are, you know, sort of mirror images of the Bengals and they're both these like great offenses, bad defenses. Do you guys think that those teams will still fit into this category, even if the Bears are the more clear choice for this year? Or do you think the defensive improvements are enough, both in Dallas and Cincinnati, Dexter Lawrence, Caleb Downs, everything else that you don't think that they will totally fit into this category, D bro? No, I think both these teams are out of this category this year. I think the Bengals and the Cowboys are going to field really good defenses. If people head over to my defensive rankings inside the top 200, I have both the Bengals and the Dallas Cowboys as top 12 fantasy defenses and spoiler, they're both my picks to make the Superbowl this year. And yes, I'm not picking the Rams because I'm kind of worried about their top heavy nature and it just feels like all the hype and hope for the Rams and stuff like that. I'm just so scared that something derails them like a Puka suspension injury, Adams injury, Matthew Stafford. Anything like that. And they were like, okay, nevermind season has capsized. So I think the Bengals and the Cowboys are going to have a really, really good seasons and their defenses are going to be transformative considering everything they added, man. Like the Bengals reworked their entire freaking defensive line. They still have DJ Turner, who is a shutdown corner. Dallas reworked a ton of their defensive line. Their biggest question is, can they, do they have the corners in house to run the scheme that Parker wants? To run and they don't get burned in that way, but they've got a lot of talent, man. If their pass rush comes alive, it's going to help their secondary out a ton. That's interesting. So I'm more with you on the Cowboys than I am the Bengals. I can't quite get there. And since he's defense, like I, you know, Dexter Lawrence is getting older. It wasn't quite his, you know, same high level self last year that I've been previously. I DJ Turner is very good. There's pieces that I like here. The Cowboys, I am more on board with. I actually really like the Cowboys this year in terms of like their wind total over. I think they're a really intriguing bet to make the Superbowl. I really liked that call by you, D bro. So I'm, so I'm half with you between the two fits. What do you think about those two? Do they fit into this category for you this year? Yeah, I do think both are going to be better. If not top 12, I think they're both capable of at least being average or only slightly below average defenses. So like there's going to be improvement. I'll tell you who I think is the sneaky dark horse team in this category. And it's also in the NFC North. It's the Detroit. We know the offense is, is terrific and high flying the defense, man. It's going to be a while before Brian branch comes back. Kirby Joseph. I mean, it's sounding like his knee issues are degenerative. Like those are two pro bowl caliber safeties. And without those guys on the field, um, you know, the, the secondary is just not very good at all. I think Detroit's going to be in a lot of track meets. They play a lot of indoor games. I think we're going to get some high scoring games with the lions too. Also, you don't think Anzalone also, they don't still do not have a pass rush part, right? Braid Hutchinson. Like it's funny fits your, your spot on with the lions. But when you said NFC North, I was like, until Michael Parsons comes back, I think this could be a version of the green Bay as well. I've been saying all summer, I think they're going to throw more this year, especially with the Josh Jacobs stuff. And that defense was not very good without Michael Parsons. So until he's on the field, I think they could fit into this category. Could be. And I mean, moving from Ashley to Jonathan Gannon could be a massive downgrade. We'll see. We, we'll see. Yeah. We'll see. If you want a chance to win a Kyron Williams signed Rams mini helmets, then this is your shot. All you have to do is leave a review on either Apple podcasts or Spotify, then screenshot that review and email it to mailbag at fantasy pros.com. We will be announcing the winner right here on the show. So make sure to turn on those YouTube notifications or follow the podcast, wherever you listen to us. So you can know when new episodes are up and to claim your prize. All right, guys, let's look at sort of the other side of, you know, a very exciting fantasy offense. Who will be this year's most disappointing NFL team for fantasy. And I'm giving the caveat of non-injury reasons, because obviously that could make anybody disappointing. Who will disappoint for in reasons other than injury, D bro. I almost went with the chargers on this, but we'll get to them later in this show. The team that I'm the most worried about because their two top offensive pieces are being drafted at first and 12th amongst their respective positions. And they are literally it. For the offense. I'm really worried about the Raiders, man. Like I just, if all of the parts and pieces and things that the Raiders did this off season, don't coalesce. This offensive line is improved, but it's not great. If Kirk cousins looks like garbage, if the wide receivers and none of them can get open and literally it's like every defense, every single weeks understands like, okay, all you got is Brock Bowers and Ashton Gentry. We know that, you know, that there's nothing else for us to worry about. So we're going to stack the box. We're going to double Brock Bowers. Good luck, Kirk cousins. Good luck for an Anna Mendoza. It, it could be tough sledding, man. And I'm not saying that like Genti can't get a crap ton of volume and Brock Bowers can't be awesome. I'm just saying I'm concerned because with all of the volume and their talent is expected to win out. They are the two pieces that are stand above the rest for the Raiders and the rest of it is garbage. So if it does look. Like garbage and the offensive line cannot stand up, they can't impose their will on the ground and defenses just say, look, we take away these two guys. What you got? Nothing. Okay. Then it could be tough. I think it's a, it's in good call. There were two teams that came to mind when I put together this question and the Raiders weren't one of them, but I think they're a worthy inclusion here. I'm curious if Fitz, you're going to go with one of the two teams I was thinking of. I'll share them if you, if you don't say who they are, but who did you go with? By the way? I'm, I'm a little less worried about the Raiders just cause I trust Clint Kubiak and, um, like there were not a lot of other options in the Seattle passing game last year besides Jackson Smith and Jake, but who had that crazy target share and yet teams still couldn't figure out a way to stop Jackson Smith and Jake, but that at least eases my concerns about Bowers for sure. Um, my team is, and I hate to fade Liam Cohen, but I do wonder if the Jaguars are going to maybe collectively getting too much fantasy steam this year. My concern is just that basically like our things can be chopped up too many ways, both among the running backs and the pass catchers. Like we've been trying to read the tea leaves on the backfield all off season. And, um, you know, a lot of people like Basial Tootin are, are excited about him, like super fast, um, some encouraging things in his metrics from his rookie season, just cuts down on the fumbles. Maybe it's wheels. But then again, you've got Chris Rodriguez who did have 1300 rushing yards for Liam Cohen at the university of Kentucky and, uh, did pretty well in terms of rushing success rate last year and has been an effective banger between the tackles and, you know, with the receivers, Brian Thomas, Jr. Parker Washington, who's been everyone's preseason, you know, draft season, darling. Um, and the always, uh, very professional, um, oh my God, I'm blanking on the name of, uh, number three, Jacobi Myers, Jacobi Myers. Thank you. Goodness. So yeah. And then Travis Hunter, like as the wild card, a guy who possibly, we know he's not going to play 80% of the offensive snaps, but are there going to be weeks where he plays maybe 50% and, you know, kicks Parker Washington out of the slot or Jacobi Myers out of the slot and take some of those snaps. And unless they're playing four wide out, maybe some of those guys are on the bench. So, um, yeah, I'm just a little worried that there just aren't enough targets to go around for Thomas Washington, Myers and Travis Hunter. And, uh, the other concern, they're not a good offensive line. Like there was someone who put out, um, composite offensive line rankings based on the grades that they got from like the rankings of like 10 or 12 different sources. Jaguars were 23rd in those composite offensive line rankings. And, you know, some people had them as low as like 29, 30. So those are my two issues with the Jaguars. And I've drafted a fair amount of Parker Washington. I've drafted some Jacobi Myers, drafted some Basial Tootin, but I'm a little nervous. When you're teeing off and your clients are watching, it's on. When the game goes to overtime and your squad is right there with you, it's on. When you swap out that other nicotine pouch for something softer and feel the difference right away, it's on. On plus nicotine. Nicotine pouches with Nico Silk Mesh. 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An analysis, a tracker, a deck outline, a prototype, or a workflow you can keep shaping. It can also use approved apps, connected tools, files, and browser contexts to help move the work forward. And you stay in control. You give direction, review drafts, approve actions, redirect the work, and choose the final output. So you spend less time sorting through busy work and more time making progress on the work that matters. Put ChatGPT to work on your most ambitious ideas and projects. Get started at ChatGPT.com by selecting Work Mode. Available on Plus and Pro plans. That's an interesting one. It wasn't one of the two I was thinking of, but it's a good point where we're thinking specifically from a fantasy perspective. If there are just too many mouths to feed. Debra, I'm curious. Do you think, because Trevor Lawrence's second half last year was a legitimate step forward to the point that he can sort of raise the tide? Here and keep everybody afloat for fantasy value, even if there are a lot of mouths to feed? Or do you worry about any sort of regression from what we saw to finish last year? Because he ran so hot at the end of the season. So I'm worried on a few different levels. Very similar in some areas to Fitz. Very different. But like the Jaguars. Yeah, like I've cooled on Basial Tootin. I am worried that Chris Rodriguez and I mean, do they're even talking about Amir Abdullah like playing on passing downs and stuff like that? Like I'm worried that that backfield. It could just be a total stay away freaking mess, but to Fitz's point, the thing that makes me so concerned about Trevor Lawrence and specifically Brian Thomas Junior and Jacoby Myers. I'm still all in on Parker Washington. The schedule is God awful. Like if we want to talk about the schedule, I think Brian to Brian Thomas Junior could be one of the most drop players to begin the season and be one of the poster boys. Like when we're at midseason as a buy low and I'll just walk this schedule real fast, guys. It is shadow realm hell for Brian Thomas Junior. And it's honestly just awful for him and Jacoby Myers playing on the on the perimeter more week one Cleveland Browns Denzel Ward says hi week to Denver Patrick Sertain will be in Brian Thomas Junior's back pocket week three. Christian Gonzalez week for DJ Turner week five Quinn Young Mitchell and Tariq Woolen week six who Derek Stingley Kamari Lassiter by week and week seven week eight sauce Gardner and Chavarius Ward. And the Baltimore Ravens. Oh, look at that. We are halfway through the fantasy season before they get the Tennessee Titans. Dear Lord. And that's rough, guys. It's horrible. Let me just throw out the two teams that I referenced that I was thinking about with this question. One is Seattle, actually. And you mentioned it fits a lot of faith in Clint Kubiak. He's not there anymore. We have seen Mike McDonald make a not so great offensive play caller higher before in year one with Brian Grubb and maybe Flores. Flory will be closer to Clint Kubiak or maybe he'll be closer to what Grubb was. And we need to see. So, like, I actually have not been taking a lot of JSN where he's been going because I've just been a little nervous about that. Number two. And this was the main one I was thinking of is the Falcons. For as much as everybody is already in consensus that this quarterback situation is really scary. Bijad Robinson is still the consensus number two pick. Drake London is a consensus top ten receiver. He's going as wide receiver nine in real time ADP, a second round pick. Kyle Pitts is a lot of one of some people's favorite mid-round tight end. And that. Tight end six, seven, eight range. If the quarterback is really bad. And I know that Kevin Stefanski has a pretty good reputation. The Browns, when they won games, you know, the few times they did under his tenure, it was because of the defense. He was not really lifting really poor quarterback play above, you know, where it could have been. So, yeah, I, I, I'm very nervous about the Falcons and I have drafted some Bijan. I have drafted some Drake London. I have drafted some Kyle Pitts and it makes me really nervous. Whatever this quarterback room is going to look like. That to me seems like a really straightforward path to a disappointing season. I don't disagree with you worm and I'll, I'll throw this out here and, and I don't, this is not me trying to be hot takey and stuff like that, but this is how bad I think their quarterback room is. And I kind of have some hope for this player. I think Jack Strand is going to make some starts this year. I don't have any faith in Pennix and Tua, none. That's I, I don't even know that that's hot takey. Just given what we've seen, like what was the quote Tua has made it impossible for him to win this quarterback competition. Like it's, it's rough. All right, let's get to the next question. Fitz pick one tight end outside of tier one, who will be a consensus tier one tight end this time next year. Harold Fannin. He's just so good, man. Like he led FBS in receptions and receiving yards in his final college season at Bowling Green in 2024. Then he goes to the Browns team with one of the worst offenses, one of the worst passing games in the league and had 72. Two catches, 731 yards, six touchdowns led the Browns in all three of those stat categories. And now consider a year from now, it's probably not going to be Deshaun Watson as the opening day starter for the Browns. I can. Can you imagine if it was? Yeah, it is not going to be Deshaun Watson. It's going to be more like Dante Moore or Arch Manning. Like there's going to be a quarterback upgrade for the Browns. So I think we're going to be a lot more excited about Fannin, who is. Underrated right now. People should realize just how good this dude is and what he overcame last year to put up some pretty good numbers. He's going to have to overcome the quarterback play again this year to get there because he's not going to jump into tier one. Just like if he has a down season based on bad quarterback play this year, just getting a new quarterback. I think he'll still be more like that tight end. He's going to have to perform, which I'm not saying he can't, but he'll have to overcome it again this year. Debra, what do you think? All right. So I'm going to give the caveat. I just want this player to play more. I just want him to run more freaking routes. And if he does that, we're going to see the talent that he's had the entire time in the NFL. And this is Dalton Kincaid. And for everybody that doesn't understand the talent of Dalton Kincaid to be a tier one tight end amongst 53 qualifying tight ends last year. Dalton Kincaid first in separation. First in yards per route run. First in target per route run. First in route win rate. First in first downs per route run. First in fantasy points per route run. There is not a category that exists that I care about for tight ends that Dalton Kincaid on a per route basis did not lead all tight ends last year. If his route share goes to the 65, 70% range, he could be a top five tight end this year. And it's not crazy to say he just has to be on the field running routes. And if we get that this year, it's going to be a tier one guy. Next year fits where you're at on Kincaid. I've come around to him. My concern with him is he's got this. I think it's a PCL injury that he has not had surgery for and will not have surgery for. And like I was concerned that Brandon being said sort of early in the offseason, the Bills GM mentioned that like they might have to manage his snaps. I'm hoping that's not the case because the other thing is like the efficiency numbers. We're so insanely good last year. What was it? 2.70 yards per route run for Kincaid for a tight end. That's nuts. That's like high end wide receiver one yards per route run numbers. I feel like there's nowhere to go but down. So, you know, even with that crazy efficiency, Kincaid wasn't like a tight end one last year. Maybe we just barely snuck in as a low end tight end one and fantasy scoring. So we know the efficiency is probably coming down because there's no way it can go even. Higher than that. He's going to have to play a lot more snaps. And will he play a lot more snaps if they're talking about managing this, his workload with the PCL entry? And we know they like playing Dawson Knox and Jackson Hawes. So that's kind of an issue. It's funny. There are for as much as I don't feel great about tight end this year. I do that. There are a lot of names that you can at least squint and make a case for for this to happen. So the tier one is Bowers, McBride, Loveland. And Warren based on our expert consensus rankings. So you're looking at anybody besides them. I think Tucker Craft could have been here this year if he didn't get hurt last year. If he comes back healthy, I think he could be there. Harold Fannin, Fitz made the case for. Pitts, if the quarterback situation is okay. He was tight end two last year. Sam Laporta has been a tight end one before. Kincaid obviously making the case. Isaiah Likely, if he gets this new opportunity and hits his high end of expectations, I think could be there. I think looking further down, a guy like Terrence Ferguson that Fitz and I have talked a bunch about as an intriguing dark horse here. And there's other names to like, like, there's a lot of tight ends that you could see the case happening. Picking which one does have that breakout is where it gets tricky and fun. But I think there is a number of names that could make the tier one of the position look different next year. And that's bearing in mind the fact that the guys who are in there are young and theoretically will still have a good chance of being there themselves next year. So it's a really fun kind of position to look at, I think. For all the names you gave there, Worm, I also give an honorable mention to Isaiah Likely. If he could prove that he's the number two pass catcher for the Giants. This year, definitely could be that he could be there the next year, too. All right, let's go to the next question. Who is the single best value at any position in drafts this season? Debro, I've said it before and I'll say it again. And I know I threw cold water on Brian Thomas Jr. And everybody, the upside swing to take in every single one is Parker Washington. Like, I just I'm not going to get off of him. Like, if he signs an extension before week one, I think everybody is going to auto correct and bump him even further up. Ranks is saying he is the clear wide receiver. One, Travis Hunter is playing as a full time. corner now in camp I'm not worried about him stealing routes if and the thing that I want to highlight here is we see guys break out and then a lot of different years people are like oh that that's not going to reproduce like after Amon Ross St. Brown's rookie season after Rasheed Rice's rookie season they come back and they produce and they're awesome and it's like oh that small snippet we saw is absolutely real I think that could be the case for Parker Washington and again going to the schedule I'm worried about Brian Thomas Jr. I'm worried about Jacoby Myers winning on the outside versus that laundry list of corners Parker Washington in the slot and with the the wide receiver one role that he coveted last year down the back half of the season in week 16 through 19 was absolutely amazing so Parker Washington like as a wide receiver three that I can draft dude if he produces as what he did last year even a muted version of that that's like I'm not expecting 22.3 PPR points per game like he was producing in those four games he's at 17 dude he's still a wide receiver one like that's that's insane yeah I think he's the best value wide receiver 29 in real-time ADP mid-sixth round pick right now is Parker Washington I got him in a salary cap draft last night for four dollars two hundred dollar budget for four dollars geez man yeah that's robbery that's insanity wow one um yeah I mean this is something you've been talking about all all season or all summer here Debro so uh very unsurprising to hear you highlight Washington um Fitz who to you is the best value on the board to me I and I almost would have agreed with Debro at least for the first three quarters of fantasy draft season and then it seems like just lately the Parker Washington has been getting some steam and it's kind of baked the value out of him I still think he's a solid value at his current wide receiver 29 ADP um I'm gonna go up one spot in the wide receiver rankings to the guy who's been consistently a value all draft season Christian Wilson yes and I know I know Debro's got my back on this one um yes it's just people are terrified of the injury history and um you know he came back early from a torn ACL last season made it through the rest of the year 10 games did have kind of a scare I think he had to be hospitalized after a play where um Patrick Sertan Jr. kind of crash landed on him in Denver and uh went to the hospital they feared like he had some sort of rib issue but like turned out to be okay he played the next week and um I just think he's so poised for a good season with the reduced traffic in the Green Bay receiving core no Romeo Dobbs no Dontavion I don't think he's going to be able to do that he's going to be in Wicks um the last two years the Packers have been 31st and 22nd pass rate over expected I think that's going to change for a variety of reasons one the Josh Jacobs uh absence number two the Micah Parsons absence which you know reduces the caliber of the defense and maybe thrust Green Bay into more shootouts um I I just think things are pointed up and we saw Christian Watson play excellent he produced after coming back last year at a 1,000-point lead and he's going to be able to do that he's going to be able to do that he's going yard 10 touchdown pace and his efficiency numbers like yards per catch yards per route run yards per target all fantastic he's just a really good player he's big he's fast and he gets open and he's good at the catch point like i think he could be a star just needs health to cooperate but everyone is sort of drafting him with the anticipation he's going to get hurt at some point fitzy i specifically didn't grab him for this because i was hoping with every fiber of my soul that you grabbed him but to your point i looked this up the other day in the last two years with josh jacobs he has been a cancer for that offense considering just nerfing jordan love because they don't want to freaking throw the ball josh jacobs in the in the green bay packers offense the last two year they have been seventh and both both years in red zone rushing rate they've been first and third in neutral rushing rate you just want to kindly remind everybody the last year we saw jordan love without josh jacobs in this offense jordan love was oh qb5 and fantasy points per game this offense in that season in 2023 12th and red zone passing rate no biggie you know just draft the the green bay wide receiver one clear wide receiver one as a wide receiver three it's all good more for us my favorite teams that i've drafted by a mile are the teams we've drafted in the last two years i just want to kindly remind you i've got a running back and sometimes tight end early and then getting two of christian watson uh parker washington roma dunes he has wide receiver 27 right ahead of these guys like getting some combo of those with an early running back my favorite builds by a mile so i'm obviously super on board here d bro where did you have watson in your draft rankings at wide receiver bro i've had him as a top 20 wide receiver the entire draft season he's wide receiver 19 i've got him right sandwiched in between garrett wilson and dj moore and dude i can make a case for him as high as like wide receiver 14 if malik neighbors it starts out slow if kyler doesn't hit in in minnesota if the offensive line capsizes terry mcclearn and washington i i can make it a case for watson to go even higher in the ranks yeah i've got him wide receiver 22 and i feel like that's me trying to be conservative same i feel like i'm like i'm so far ahead of adp and ecr and stuff like that where i'm just like i don't have to bump him up even higher even though like i want to it's like people are still going to draft a crap ton of him just following our ranks fitzy where like i want to bump him up but i'm like everybody's going to draft a crap ton of him if they're following our ranks so it's like i didn't feel like i had to you know yeah quick psa before your next draft check out the fantasy pros draft assistant it gives you expert recommendations for every pick real-time alerts and even predicts which players could make it back to you and with fantasy pros premium and i'll see you in the next one premium you'll get help all season long with lineups waivers trades and more start your free trial today at fantasypros.com free that's fantasypros.com free we can go quickly on this one it was a weak nfl draft class but there are always rookies who pop every season which rookie are you most interested in drafting at cost this season fits tie between mckay lemon and jonah coleman i just think there's i think there's a pretty decent chance we look back on this rookie class and uh say that mckay lemon and not carnell tate or jordan tyson or casey concepcion was the best rookie in the class i just man like lemon was in college better than three yards per target against both man and zone um gets open easily with his his quickness and his crisp route running vacuum is in every throw that comes his way has amazing hands causes problems after the throw and after the catch like he's really hard to tackle i i just and all of a sudden he joins an eagles offense that no longer has aj brown like i i wouldn't be surprised if the gap between devante smith and mckay lemon this year was smaller than some people think and then jonah coleman just seems like the perfect sean payton back and you know we kind of saw weird to say it of a guy who scored 12 touchdowns last year but rj harvey just wasn't good after jk dobbins got hurt the denver running game by the time the playoffs came the denver running game was just in the tank i just wonder fancy we've talked about rj harvey on other shows so i don't need to like push back too much here but um i do wonder if like if jonah coleman usurps anybody if it's dobbins it just feels like maybe that's the role of in this backfield that he is more likely to take over rather than harvey's role um i don't disagree with you about maybe harvey's ceiling not being that good and he just wasn't that good of a runner last year but i wonder if that role is a little more solidified even with the coleman addition it's also just a sean payton offense it's hard to tell like right it's kind of guesswork anyway it's just kind of possible that coleman is just better than dobbins and harvey at everything and winds up as sort of the lead guy they're they're all going to be involved because we know sean payton loves to use two or three running backs he does it every year but i i think colton is going to or uh coleman is going to be one of those running backs i have drafted basically no jk dobbins i have drafted a lot of harvey when he falls and coleman because he almost always falls those are the two i've definitely targeted in the backfield um d bro for you obviously you do a lot of work with the draft stuff um which rookie are you most interested in at cost this season his cost is has continued to rise it's still not high enough i'm just drafting casey concepcion everywhere like i i understand that the cleveland browns quarterback situation i get all of that i'm able to get him at wide receiver 46 in real-time adp right now as a clear wide receiver one for the cleveland browns he's going to get the design stuff he's going to get the underneath targets he's also going to get some rushing attempts we saw this in the preseason man and for everybody like reversing all their stuff about like draft takes about him he's been catching everything in camp after people just tried to bury him in the pre-draft process i love the talent he was my wide receiver to pre-draft and post-draft i'm a big believer in the talent and if the browns suck he's going to get a crap ton of volume so i i'd love casey concepcion at cost i almost went to john stripling but his cost has risen up a ton like of like just investing in like what could be a top five offense but if everybody does stay healthy striplings like what the third or fourth maybe fifth option in the passing attack when i when i you juxtadipose that like versus like taking casey concepcion um like a round after stribling as a wide receiver four but he could get like legit 120 targets in his rookie season that that feels kind of foolish for me to go stribling so now you guys picked him can i just get a very quick temperature check from you both on carnell tate because historically in a vacuum taking a receiver who went with a top five pick and is being drafted as wide receiver 32 in real time adp the 75th overall player that feels like a very smart bet to make just in a vacuum but it's obviously not been a great preseason both for him and for the offense as a whole um so if it's just a quick temperature check on tate for you right now i cost i'm a little concerned i haven't moved him down too far in my rankings and he's sort of like one of those last guys i i want to draft at wide receiver before like it's kind of a jumble and i'm not feeling as urgent a need to get him so i've gotten him on a few teams i just i do worry though that if the downfield passing game is kind of a mess if if cam ward hasn't made strides that then maybe the guy to have in tennessee is wandell robinson who can at least get those easy button completions uh in the shorter areas of the field because tate is a downfield ball winner man but someone has to at least be able to get it in the area code of where carnell tate is debra yeah i've dropped tate a little bit of my ranks and this has nothing to do with carnell tate like i've watched all the all 22 from his preseason i'm not worried about his ability to run routes separate any of that that that is not my concern about carnell tate um i am at consensus because real-time adp is wide receiver 32 he's wide receiver 32 in my ranks so i at least wanted to stay at consensus because the upside can still be there my big concern for carnell tate is everything around cam ward he looked lost in the preseason and the big thing about cam ward is it's he came out and talked about this on the next netflix documentary stuff it is like what dude the preseason defenses are vanilla as hell and he's having struggles like going through reads they did safety rotations and you could tell based off of pre and post snap reads when that happened even in the preseason cam ward's head was spinning dude and so like i worry if he doesn't take a leap or hell if he's even a functional quarterback this year if all of that doesn't happen tate is gonna suffer that entire offense is gonna suffer so this is not a an indictment on carnell tate's talent or his ability at all my worry because there's not a qb2 that's on the tennessee roster that's coming to save the day with catchable targets so if cam ward sucks that entire offense could get capsized all right next question here consensus is that this is a great year to wait and draft a quarterback late who are your guys's favorite quarterback targets this season fits starting with you uh it's very boring i'm gonna put you to sleep with this it's jared goff uh who has dropped at least four 4400 passing yards and 29 touchdown passes uh each of the last four years he's averaged 4552 passing yards 32 and a half touchdowns uh over those four seasons that basically works out to 267.7 passing yards and 1.9 td passes a game and the lions played a ton of indoor games this year have one of the easiest schedules in the league don't face a lot of top defenses and their defense just might stink um i mean the last four years goff has been qb 10 qb 7 qb 6 qb 8 in fantasy points per game or maybe just fantasy scoring um yeah so like really nice four-year run the lions offense looks as good as ever and their defense looks worse so i i love goff and you know you bypass a quarterback to load up on other positions in the early rounds and then just take a steady quarterback an 11th round pick in real-time adp yeah so i i love goff and i've he is my most drafted quarterback like stylistically guys what's the difference between how they score their fantasy points and the offensive firepower of joe burrow dak prescott and jared golf right what's the difference and i like running quarterbacks but if the if the passing stats are like if the floor is this high for a quarterback with his pure passing numbers like come in well it's a great call to like this is a good example of check your league settings because when you look at adp whether it's fantasy real-time adp or whatever on the site that's not usually designating for the differences in how passing touchdowns are scored but if it's a six point per touchdown league versus a four point like in a four-point right running quarterbacks maybe more effective and if you're a four-point valuable if it's a six point that adp is going to look even better for a guy like jared goff so um definitely keep an eye on the settings here qb 16 in real-time adp right now uh bro who's who's picked for you uh i mean the low-hanging fruit for me is apparently in the year 2026 the konami code died but none of us got the email or the memo malik willis at qb 21 is absolute insanity to me like i do not understand it he's gonna run that's all you freaking need to know he's gonna run so i think he's gonna produce his qb one in fantasy because he's going to freaking run this is justin fields of previous years and if any of these rookie wide receivers step forward and they're actually freaking good and this dolphin's offensive line and then receiver surprise malik willis is going to be a wonderful pick in fantasy this year but just to kind of go around the horn and shout out a few other names for people to just kind of earmark late we've talked again hearkening back to yesteryear qb5 the last time we didn't see josh jacobs like pulling down this entire all passing attack and then baker mayfield if he has a bounce back year tyler shuck at qb 20 produced as a qb a qb1 during the back half of last season chris alabe is fully healthy if jordan tyson comes back and he gives them a bump like i believe in kellen moore and i believe in what they can do jordan love would have been a shout from me too so i love that you say him it's funny because like my favorite quarterbacks that i am like really excited about taking like another step forward this year are guys like caleb justin herbert trevor lawrence and that qb like seven to ten range like those are the guys that get most enthusiastic about getting but i'm not drafting a lot of them because i'm like i can wait five six seven more rounds and get a guy i can get goth and love i can get love and willis in rounds 12 and 14 like it is insane in a one qb how much you can wait at this position and so like not only am i am i not taking the allens lamar's maze of the world because i'm like a quarterback so deep i'm not even taking the guys ranked ninth and tenth despite loving them yeah because there's guys you could still wait even further on and so yeah i i it is it is a remarkable position this season to your point i mean in our fp staff league that i drafted i think like a week or two ago i legit just waited 16 teamer i just waited on quarterback and i drafted malik willis and jared golf for pennies and i'm like okay i'm content it's a 16 team league and i accidentally i misclicked in the draft room and i took jordan love in like round nine and i was i was planning to continue to wait at quarterback and i was trying to pick somebody else and uh but even then i was like you know what like in a 16 team league that late like i think love's good i don't hate this i'll just i'll just i didn't even bother like getting it changed or anything i was like i'll accept this it's just ridiculous how late how late you can get quarterbacks uh all right two more questions here guys uh this one speaking of quarterbacks and i really like herbert i have been talking up the chargers offense with mike mcdaniel as much as anyone this summer are they going to live up to the hype this year deborah you already referenced this a little bit earlier it sounds like maybe you're not thinking they will i've got my worries and my questions guys and this is not me full fading their offense and it's not full like but i've got worries about this because for everybody i feel like everybody talks about the offensive line for the chargers and they glaze over the fact that joe alt is still not a hundred percent with the stuff coming out of training camp where sean slater is still splitting snaps and he's not a hundred percent they just lost tower be outish for the whole freaking year and everybody's still like wheels up don't worry about amari and hampton draft lab mcconkey as a wide receiver too it's all good no big deal as well and i and i know that the might be daniel stands i pulled this off of fantasy points data suite i know the might be daniel stands will automatically say this is a tua split i just want to also throw this out here we have seen the kansas city chiefs struggle as a passing attack since losing tyree kill i don't know if we are giving tyree kill enough credit to be an absolute demon and somebody that reffle revolutionized the kansas city chiefs revolutionized the entire damn nfl the splits during mike mcdaniel's tenure in miami so 2022 to 2025 with tyree kill on the field epa per play seventh best epa per drop back sixth best offensive success rate 10th without tyree kill on the field and this is a four-year stretch by the way epa per play 27th epa per drop back 27th. Offense's success rate, 28th. 23rd people can wish that away and say that's a to a problem what if it's not what if this is really telling about mike mcdaniel was propped up much like andy reed during that whole entire time for tyreek hill it's concerning it really is i don't know the degree to which i am like oh that what a compelling case i agree with that but i think it's a wonderful what if it is very much a question worth asking i think d bro and fitz i'm curious your opinion on this specifically the tyree i mean everything but the tyree kill of it all too yeah i've heard those uh i've heard those numbers before and that is a pretty stark difference and it kind of is a reminder of just how good tyreek hill was when he was at the height of his powers and maybe it does kind of take some of the lost air away from mike mcdaniel's reputation i still think he's um a very good offensive designer and play caller and i'm optimistic but yeah i too am worried about the tyler beatage injury because like that was such a big the the inside of the chargers offensive line was so bad last year just completely wrecked the offense and like i want to see justin herbert with time to throw um losing beatage a major major blown if the tackles can't stay healthy like i'm going to be very afraid of what this offense might look like and how much it might let us down the thing that's hard for me to just forget about when if i'm trying to make the case against the chargers it's just like he got tua to lead the league in passing yards what is he going to do with justin herbert and i i understand all the reasons against it the tyree kill of it all i was like but what if that's a tyree kill style i know i and i get it but i'm just like i can't stop thinking about like one of the worst physical talent in terms of quarterback uh you know position into uh was able to have success under this guy what is one of the freakiest you know arms and processor is going to do with mcdaniel and um but i think you ask your questions and i think it's worth maybe dialing down a little bit i think especially with a guy like a marion hampton because right like some of these other guys you can get later lad mcconkey is like a fourth round pick quentin johnson's going late herbert you can wait on a quarterback hampton's the one where it's like you got to spend a mid second round pick to get him yeah that's where it makes me a little bit more nervous and i like hampton a lot but that's where i start to get nervous like it's just all of this in this conversation it it's throwing a little bit of cold water and having questions about a situation where everybody the entire like for most people in the fantasy space for the entirety of the offseason has been just like wheels up for the chargers mcdaniel let's go vibes all of it and i'm like i don't know man i don't know one last question here and don't worry it's a quick one give me one player each who will define the 2026 fantasy season deborah i'll start with you i'm just gonna go with the low-hanging fruit here at puka nakua i think he could define season define the season if he hits the ceiling of what i'm projecting right now in the healthy uh games that he had last year so take out week seven obviously he missed that but week six he hurt his ankle he averaged 27.4 ppr points per game if we simply just do the napkin math of you flip the touchdowns he got the 14 adams got the set got the 10 puka nakua average 26 ppr points per game and just for everybody at home that would make him the first wide receiver to average 26 or more ppr points per game and i went all the way back to 2013 only two wide receivers in that stretch have had over 25 ppr points per game that's the type of ceiling that puka has to be a season defining player much like cooper cup was much like cmc has done in previous years so in some drafts people worried about the commissioner's exempt lists and all this kind of stuff you'll see chase you'll see other guys go ahead of him i'm still drafting puka nakua where he goes if i have the 103 i am drafting puka be damned the risk because if he hits the upside he could be a season defining player like legit the highest point per game producer in fantasy this year deeper do you remember who you picked last year for this i actually don't i remember who fitz picked for this question last year because it's also how we wrapped last year's episode i'm gonna try and look it up while fitz gives his answer because i do remember did i pick last year i'm glad you remember because i do not well i remember i remember last year you were very high on brock bowers and was your choice last year and it's funny because i could the way you've talked about him i could see you picking him again this year i don't know who you did pick but i did oh you did i did he's like it ain't wrong i'm just certainly i mean last year it's it was injury right it's not that you're wrong about the player or anything but yeah he was your pick i'll try to find yours debro too but go ahead on brock bowers fitz it was injury and the offense was just so bad i mean like i kind of underestimated how much uh you know like it was just a bad regime bad coaching bad quarterbacking the offensive line fell apart now much improved offensive line or at least it should be with better health colton miller healthier they brought in tyler linderbaum they've got what should be capable quarterbacking kirk cousins might not be able to do that but they're capable of doing that they're capable of doing that not be a good quarterback but man he has floated some tight ends over the years going way back to jordan reed in washington t.j hockinson with some fine years in minnesota we saw him fuel that kyle pitts uh 166 yard three touchdown game last year that helped out so many fantasy teams in the playoffs so um and then eventually it's going to be fernando mendoza so i just think bowers is so freaking athlete and so talented and now he's got a functional system and good coaching i feel like he's capable of putting up high-end wide receiver one numbers and that a year from now we might be looking back on him and saying why wasn't he a top 10 pick in fantasy d bro your player who was going to defy 2025 was actually a rookie it was tedaroa mcmillan oh okay that was your pick all right i was so worried about what name you were going to bring up i was like oh no this is gonna be like my tony mcmillan oh no not quite that that low i mean obviously tedaroa good year not a season defining year but good rookie season so top 24 wide receiver yeah i hope everybody is excited for uh this show next year when fitz picks brock bowers for the third straight season 2027 we might as well lock it in now um but yeah puka and bowers two pretty talented players here to think that they're gonna they're really defined things this year we'll go ahead and wrap things up there hope everybody enjoyed our biggest key questions ahead of the 2026 season for fitz and d bro i'm ryan warmly we'll see you again next time thanks for listening to the fantasy pros fantasy football podcast if you love the show the best free way to support us is by leaving a positive review on apple podcasts at fantasypros.com slash review or on spotify follow us on x instagram and tiktok at fantasy pros and subscribe to our youtube channel at youtube.com slash fantasy pros when you're teeing off and your clients are watching it's on when the game goes to overtime and your squad is right there with you it's on when you swap out that other nicotine pouch for something softer and you're ready to play it's on when the game goes to overtime and your squad is and feel the difference right away it's on on plus nicotine pouches with nico silk mesh no corners no rough edges just the softest pouch on the planet when there's nothing between you and what's next it's on with on plus nicotine pouches not all varieties available in all geographies warning this 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