2026 Fantasy Football Draft Strategy: Best Picks, Player Debates, Sleepers & League-Winning Advice (Ep. 2144)

This is an I Heart Podcast, guaranteed human. The Fantasy Pro's Fantasy Football Podcast is brought to you by Granger. 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 Granger'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-GRanger, click Granger.com, or stop by. Granger, for the ones who get it done. What's going on, everybody? Welcome into the Fantasy Pro's Q&A live stream. I'm Alfredo Brown here with Tara Roberts. Tara, this is our second live stream that we're doing. Yeah. The relationship is building, it's growing, to get more comfortable here on air together. We're starting to learn each other's tendencies too. I think we've been able to disagree politely with one another, which is, it's helpful for the people, you know? I think it's going to want to hear two different sides of things, but how are we doing today? I'm doing good. Today was not a busy day. It was a sad injury day, unfortunately, there with Jaden Higgins. I hate to bring up the negative stuff right off the bat there, but that one hurt. It really did. Tara, this is not who I need you to be today. I don't need you to be the bringer of bad news and sadness onto the live stream. Everyone, you heard it. She's had a very easy day today and then she brought sadness into our lives. So now what you have to do is inundate her with questions and the questions we are going to answer are the ones that you guys send with those super chats. Okay? Not just the regular chats. I mean, we like you regular chatting people just as much, but the super chat people, you guys are the ones that are guaranteed to get your questions answered. So please get those in early and often here in the first 20 minutes. We will do our best to get those questions answered. And Tara, we've got a few that are already here in the chat. So, you know what, let's let's let this happen. Let's let these build up a little bit. I want to ask you about Jaden Higgins since you brought him up and you know, you kind of harsh the mood right here out of the gate. How are we feeling? Obviously, with Jaden Higgins out for the year, the repercussions this has on the rest of the team, right? It certainly means potentially more target volume for Nico Collins, if that's even possible to happen, but it could. And then we've got a few other players, Jalen Noel and Tank Dell, both dealing with injuries that should be returning to the practice field soon. What's the outlook here on this wide receiver room? It's a weird one. Perhaps it makes us a little bit more comfortable with Nico Collins because he was someone that I was always bypassing when it comes to those early rounds because of the whole quarterback situation, you have more talent coming into the wide receiver room with Higgins ascending, Tank Dell coming back. We know they're not throwing for extreme volume because somehow their defense only gets better. And so this is a team that can be very balanced. They got David Montgomery in there. They can lean on the run. They're deep at running back, adding in, you know, they've got Woody Marx there as well. So I was looking at it like Nico is not someone who I'm just clamoring to get, right? So that was affecting my draft strategy in terms of the second round, not really looking at him. It's a little bit safer, but now we have to figure out how much do we trust Tank Dell's return? Because we have not seen him on the field in terms of a game wise, right? We know that he's recovered. He's running. They're going to hopefully have him out ready for the beginning of the season, but to what capacity? How much will he be on the field? Are they going to slow ramp him up, give him like 30% of a snap and then try and get him up towards the middle of the season? So there's a lot of question marks that the Texans haven't specifically answered with him. And when we look at Jalen Noel, he's wonderful, but he obviously is a very different player in terms of where he plays on the field than Jaden Higgins. So this is a tough one. I just look at Nico and I'm like, OK, all right, I feel a lot better about you, but we need to figure out if there's any other person we can target in this offense now, are we moving down Shultz up the rankings from a tight end perspective? Does he become one of our safer, late round targets if you're waiting and streaming? I think the guy you mentioned there at the beginning, Tank Dell is the one to get most interested in because he essentially free and drafts. He is the wide receiver 69 in real time ADP on fantasy pros.com. You can always use that to track where players are going in drafts. But Jaden Higgins is a guy that was at around wide receiver 50 roughly a week ago and little by little, that started to go down. Tank Dell plays on the outside, whereas Jalen Noel will likely go into the slot. So if there's someone who could take the Jaden Higgins role and be productive, who we've seen be productive, it's Tank Dell. And I think that just becomes a really fun, dark throw latent drafts that we can be looking at every single time. All right, guys, these questions have started to pile up. So let's hop into them. Going to our first question. Hey, guys, 18 PPR. I have the 103 Puka Nakua or Jamar Chase also is Chase Brown and Barkley a good running back duo. Tara, I'll let you start at first. So first portion of that, especially since it's an 18 league, I mean, you know, all things equal. I want Puka, but our things aren't equal. Fortunately, in terms of the risk that he has off the field now for a potential suspension. So go Jamar on that one, play it safe. And then when it comes to Chase Brown and say, well, Barkley, that's a good duo, 100%. And I know it's an 18 league, so realistically, maybe you could get both of them onto the same roster. So yes, 100%. Love them both. No disrespect, SGP. It's peanut butter and chocolate a good duo. Yeah, man. Yes, these are great running packs. If you can't vote them on the same team, I love that. Actually, an 18 league, who knows who's falling to the throne round and a league like that. So yeah, I'm with you going Jamar Chase there. I think you're looking at probably either or when it comes to Chase Brown or Barkley as your next pick off the board there. Great question there. Let's go to our next one that we have here in the queue. And Shane is asking, drop, Braylon Allen for Najee Harris. So this is a fun one to talk about Tara because we got Najee Harris joining the New York Giants. A lot of people have speculated that because it comes off the heels of the missed block heard round the world, there's a little more to it than that as anyone that was watching the game and kind of see Tara and Tracy was headed out for a route and then kind had a step back to see if he can make the block. So there's some sort of miscommunication there. Also, Najee Harris joining the Giants has been something that's been talked about for weeks, not just because of this game. We can't have Cam Scataboo who has his injury. So can we talk about Najee Harris for a second? What do you see as the outlook for that backfield? And is he worth adding and the player who's handcuffed like Braylon Allen? I would not because we know that 100% for sure that is Braylon Allen is the handcuffed there for Bruce Hall and we do know that Bruce is already dealing with an injury minor one, not a major issue, but heading into the season that always becomes something that we want to pay attention to. When it comes to Najee, I think you pointed out the thing that is very critical. That video of Tyrone Tracy missing the block is blew up, right? And he got blamed for it, but clear miscommunication. Now who the communication was on, you know, we don't know the details on that. But at the end of the day, that was not a poor blocking situation, right? So I'll say this. He's got zero sacks allowed in past protection in his career. Yeah, I don't think that that was the Giants reacting and saying, oh my God, we got to go get Najee. I think it's just coincidental on that end of them wanting to add more depth to the running back room. What I am concerned about is the fact that we did see them use a rotation in their first team reps in the previous season game. So that is my concern. Are they trying to bring in Najee to see if there's more flexibility in terms of how they would organize that committee? That would be my concern there. And if they maybe want to stay for a deep it, running back if they're planning to be run heavy because of the lack of depth they have at pass catcher, that is an entire issue in itself. Najee added to the team does not automatically mean that he would be the direct handcuffed who cams cataboos. So I warn people against dropping someone who we know is in line versus someone who could theoretically be in line, particularly coming off a major injury. Yeah, this is the most Greg Roman of all Greg Roman things to have ever happened. Go and get me the biggest running back you can find and we're going to get four of these guys on the roster together, somehow get them all in the field at the same time. I think what this does do is it definitely lowers Devon Singletary's role to potentially zero. And what it does, I think there is no real handcuffed now to cams catabo. If he goes down, I think you're going to have multiple players that are going to be going out there in this running back platoon. So the reason I say that is to say that Najee Harris doesn't become quite as valuable as we want him to be. I would think of him the way we thought of Gus Edwards after Derek Henry went down where it's going to be Gus Edwards and Justice Hill out there at the same time. The same way we looked at that Ravens running back room before. So Braylon Allen I think remains a little bit more valuable than Najee Harris. So not dropping Braylon Allen for Najee Harris there. Let's go to the next question. On here, should I drop Dejan Stribbling for Keenan Allen? This is interesting. Do we drop the young fun upstart for the old guy who's still kind of productive? Yeah, I get it because I love Keenan Allen, it's one of my favorite players and I do expect him to be productive right off the bat with Alec Pearce probably not starting the season, but no, I can't do it. I mean, we're not overreacting to Stribbling's preseason game, but at the end of the day, that is the most injury risk team that ever existed. Love Mike Evans. The hamstrings are just torn up, Debo, you know, so it's just at the end of the day, even Chris McCaffrey and the injury risk there, Dejan could legitimately be the wide receiver one at some point this season on that team. I can't say the same for Keenan Allen because of the presence of the other bodies there, so Stribbling is the one that you would still want to have. It's so hard because Keenan Allen, 120 plus targets each of the lines. last three years. He's been a wide receiver three or better in fantasy. So it's kind of hard to say, I don't want that guy on my team. I think the problem, it comes down to kind of game philosophy the way you play. Keenan Allen won't lose you a week because he's probably not going to go out there and get you a zero. But he's not winning you many weeks either. You're going to get a lot of those six to eight points per week. And he's just going to sort of tiptoe his way to a wide receiver three or four finished this year. Also, there's a lot of other players on this team that do the same things as Keenan Allen. And I'm talking about Josh Downes, Tyler Warren. So I think as reliable as Allen has been, especially when I'm looking at who am I keeping on my bench. I want a guy like Stribling who can win my league by potentially becoming the wide receiver one in San Francisco. So we are in full agreement here. We need to start arguing this agree or something. Let's do it. Let's do it on the next question. Really? Oh, I mean, of course, of course, we get the softest of soft balls CD live Jefferson Cody. It's not a bad question. But my gosh, this is like, this is the meme of two cakes. Oh my gosh. They're both fantastic. So if you're sitting at the end of round one, each of these guys are up there. Who are you going with? Now, see, this is where I disagree. I think it's a big debate here. I think it's critical. I know a first round debate is like kind of like, but at the end of the day, we're talking about someone who is about as safe as you can get from a pure volume perspective with an extremely safe quarterback in CD lamb with Dak Prescott. You know what Dak is doing. He's 30 touchdowns, 4,000 plus yards easy. It's not a question, right? We're looking at Justin Jefferson. There's a lot more inherent risk. We're trusting Kyler Murray for a bounceback. We know that he has fed a wide receiver one. I feel confident that he can feed a wide receiver one. But it's been a solid like, you know, four years that it's been since that happened with DeAndre Hopkins. And then do we trust Kyler Murray to make it through an entire season? Well, if he doesn't, then there is JJ McCarthy. And we know how that went last season. So yeah, it's a safety versus a risk. I have CD lamb raked one spot higher from a pure safety perspective because you know there's a certain level of volume that'll be there. But he does not have the same ceiling as Justin Jefferson. So it's about how risky you want to get. Say for big CD lamb, go with it. But if you can have the risk tolerance there, shoot for the ceiling with Justin Jefferson. It could be a bounceback to 1,800 yards for him. Sorry, Tara. We're not going to disagree just yet. I am also going CD lamb over Jefferson here. I didn't think they're ceiling with Jefferson. But there's a lot of ifs and buts that have to happen with this Minnesota Vikings team. Kyler Murray has to be good. Kyler Murray has to stay healthy and make it through the season. And then we also have to see how all these other players added to the Vikings are going to take away. I don't want to say take away from Justin Jefferson, but maybe take away the attention of Kyler Murray. We also have a guy that's going to be running more than Justin Jefferson has dealt with in his career. Whereas we kind of have the steady beat with Dallas where we know Dak is going to be giving us when he gives us every year as long as he's healthy. And last year, the big thing for CD lamb was touchdown regression. I highly doubt we're seeing CD lamb with such low touchdown numbers again this year. Some of them were just very uncharacteristic drops. I just finished charting Dak Prescott for reception perception. And they were just weird drops or misses by Dak where I mean, CD lamb could have had five or six more touchdowns alone, just off of some missed throws and some drops, let alone what could happen in a broken play. So I do think CD lamb is the safer pick there in around one. Let's go to our next question on here. And Rue asks, I have the fifth overall pick in my draft. Who are my best options take in the first round? Ah, fifth overall pick for me is just playing it safe and going with JSN. I don't want to dip into the Christian McCaffery territory. I'm uncomfortable with it. I mean, if you want to stay running back, you want to stay strong there. You can go JT but to grab JSN and then come around and get a running back in the second round, that's my preferred route. Absolute safest pick at the 105 for me would be a Monterey St. Brown if he's there. But I can also see the argument for going with one of the running backs like James Cook. James Cook's also extremely safe. JSN, do you think we're going to see a little bit of regression to come back down to earth? So I'll say a Monterey St. Brown or James Cook with that pick. We're going to get to a super chat here. But before we do that, I just want to remind everybody, if you want to get your questions answered, guaranteed to be answered here on this live stream, send in those super chats. We're guaranteeing them here. Anything sent in in the first 20 minutes is guaranteed to be answered here on the stream by myself and Tara. So you want those questions to get answered, send in the super chats. Let's get to this super chat from Blake Miller who asked best strategy at the turn in 12 man half PPR league. So we're at the end of round one, Tara. What's the strategy you're going with here? It is running back running back. I've tried to justify, I mean, like if a, if Justin Jefferson slides to 12, I can go that route there. But running back, running back is the preferred route. And you can go a thousand different directions. That's the beauty of going running back, running back there is that you've got your pick of literally like five players that you could make your choice with. So it's all preference. Exactly. Same thing. I'm taking a look at real time ADP over on fantasy pros and I mean, going with Saquon Barkley, Ashngency Ken Walker. That's my favorite thing to do. By the way, is on that turn is go Saquon Barkley and Ken Walker or Chase Brown, any two of those three running backs there are some of my favorites to go after. Ashngency and I'm already in Hampton as well. So yeah, I love doing that, especially at the turn. Let's get to our next super chat that we have on here. Dana famous one. I moved up from number seven to number five in the draft. All right. We're making moves before the draft. Should I take CMC if Puka is taken in front of me or would you go in other direction? It's the same thing with the number five question we asked. I just, I feel very uncomfortable with CMC this season. I can't lie. I pass over it every single time and I would go with one of the receivers there or even even as you were mentioning, you know, take a chance and go with another running back there. It's just the problem of when a man has over 400 touches, this is not us over reacting. It's just such an egregious level of touches and workload on a body and often that also comes around and affects them in terms of injury risk regression in the next season and the fact that we have seen it two times with him off of those high outlier seasons already. I can't do it. I can't. I'm doing it. You can do it. I can't. The way I try to look at injury here is that everyone in the first round has the same risk of injury, right? We're all starting at zero and I know we want to really jump into this whole like he had a lot of touches thing, but as long as he's been healthy, he's been RB one or two every single year. And we just finished talking about how the Niners don't have a full complement of weapons at their disposal. What happened last year when they didn't have their weapons at their disposal was a lot of throws to Christian McCaffrey out of that backfield. That offensive line is not much better than it was last year. So I'm still willing to take that chance. But once again, if we want to go as safe as possible in the fifth round, to me, this is one of the safest guys, especially in that middle area is going to be a minor same brown. There's no suspension. There's no injury. He doesn't miss games. And he is consistently a top four wide receiver and fantasy football. Now I will ask you that phantom random tightness. That doesn't make you nervous. That's a con that's contract tightness. Maybe we call that tight pockets. That's what we call that. That's not hamstring. That's not no shot. All right. Let's get back into more of these questions here, guys. Just trying to make sure I get to the right ones. Who should I draft at the one on one in a super flex league? Lamar or Amin Ra? I am sorry. This is super flex. I thought he was going to a quarterback or quarterback. Amin Ra's not even being drafted number one in the regular Schmecula leagues. So let's let's first answer his question and talk about what we would do in a super flex league near the top. It's a quarterback. Yeah, I'm not varying. I know we have so many good options in terms of high end running backs in even sense. So I'd go with the running backs before the wide receivers, even if it were the full PPR there. So now it's Josh Allen is the 101. You just can't, I mean, the consistency, the upside. It's just unbeatable. That's my 101. I can't do it. Yeah. My only thoughts about Josh Allen have been that I thought he's going too early in drafts, but that's in redrafts single quarterback. That's not in super flex league. In super flex, he has to be the 101. And then Lamar Jackson is typically the 102. And that's what I'm cool with. So I think at the 101, it's neither Lamar or Ammonraw. It is, it's Josh Allen. So yeah, hopefully Mario, we were able to answer your question there, but I think we're both going Josh Allen on that one. Now guys, before we continue on here, answering more of your questions, I want you all to know that we have a Colson leveling signed bears Jersey giveaway. If you want the chance to win said Jersey, all you have to do is subscribe to the fantasy pros YouTube channel right now. Drop a comment below on any of our videos. Preferably this one goes. You're already here. And that's it. We'll be announcing the winner right here on the channel. So click the bell turn on the notifications. Make sure you're paying attention whenever a new video comes up and you will be able to claim your prize. All right, let's get back to these questions here. Terra, next question. I send a book. I'm just a trade. I'm sending a mecha book. Amari and Hampton and Keaton Mitchell for B. John. Oh, man. Okay. This is this is a lot. Also guys, when you send us these questions about trades, give us the context is this a dynasty lake? Because I think that would maybe change things up a little bit. Is it redraft? Let's let's answer this question from both the redraft and dynasty side. Maybe this person's already done a draft and they're they're sitting on their roster. Yeah, I'm going to From a from a read draft perspective. No, that's a whole lot from a dynasty perspective. Yeah, I could do it I mean, it's it's a lot but at the end of the day we don't have a guarantee on a mecca bouquet could be a Brian Thomas Jr Situations don't you dare? Don't you dare? I'm here. Let me not let me not put that in the air. I love a mecca But you know, you never know. We don't put for fanaties on air live. I never know. I never know There are children watching Oh Already happened Oh, no, don't don't remind me. I'll say as if it's read draft. I'd rather have more players right now Especially more good starters that are high level players a bookus third-round player Hampton is a second-round player I'd rather have more of those I understand having the Arby one in Beijon But it can just take your whole season if one injury happens there Whereas if you have a few more stars, especially early on because the entry risk is so even across the board I'd rather have more good players in Dynasty. I don't know. I think I'm keeping these guys I think I'm keeping a bouquet Hampton, and I don't really care about Keaton Mitchell I mean, maybe he's a nice person. I just need more for like fantasy purposes. I care about him and his life in his career It's a throw-in. It is. Yeah, that's the block key Mitchell Next question on here rock steady fit as Alec Pierce to Romeo dobs and a 2027 late first And late second excuse me late second four a. J. Brown is a no-brainer, right? This is a dynasty league one QB PPR Yeah, I'm okay with it. Late. Yeah, late first. You're okay with it or is it a new brainer? Wait, and you said it and a 2027 late second. I made up first in my own mind. Sorry Reading is not my strong suit. I do audio books and I talk it to a microphone for a living They asked me to come on here and read small comments and little print and just throws me off Yeah, it's Alec Pierce Romeo dobs and a late second round pick in 2027 for a. J. Brown. Yeah, do it go right on If you're making a trade like that, it sounds like you're all in on going after a championship Yeah, to me that yeah, it makes sense especially if you're considering yourself a late second round pick It means your team is good. Yeah, that's a no-brainer. Just go go all in get after that championship this year and you're dying to see the league Next question how early is too early to draft Giderian price or cam scatiboo in a 12-man PPR league? Tara what I will do here is I'm gonna pull up real-time ADP over on fantasy pros.com where cam scatiboo is going in the early fourth I do expect that to drop a little bit as Nigel Harris is now on the team Also Giderian price is going in the late fifth actually at the five six turn So with that being said four and five six Where is how early would you actually be drafted in these running backs and are you even targeting them in the first place? I am yeah, I think the Seahawks are under selling the how much they are going to use price I think they're just using fancy wording and that it is going to be the Giderian price show there I would be okay with reaching around a head if you're maybe you're picking on the turn You're worried that he won't be able to make it back to you when you need to reach or reach one round earlier on that one I'm okay with that. I'm not reaching on scatiboo right now I've been pro scatiboo the offseason ever since we knew that he was back and healthy and whatnot But The preseason game was a gentle reminder that it is Matt naggy and there's a very limited level of trust that we should have It is entirely possible that it could be a committee. It doesn't make sense to me Because we have seen camps scatiboo operate perfectly fine is a three down back catch the ball block well enough Be you know very productive after the catch so I don't see the issue and why they're trying to force it but If they're concerned about not overloading him and they're going to force this into a reduced workload I'm good I'm going to be honest. I am not targeting either of these players I'm The gigerian price thing we have seen Seattle do this year after year after year with Ken Walker was x charbonay It there's a thing when it's a coaching thing or it's systematic and this was not just a Clint kubiak thing It is a systematic thing in how the sea hawks have wanted to run and use their players and of course They drafted a guy in the first round who Was part of a running back committee who never had a full workload Who's not really a past catching back sure he can do it But there's still struggles and past protections So I think we're also expecting x charbonay to come back a little bit sooner rather than later which Listen, even if he comes back week six or a week eight that's still him coming in and ruining the gigerian price show At the most important time of the season. So I think at 80 p let's let's play a quick game gigerian price to try be on Henderson I would go Henderson gigerian price or basal toton I have toton yeah As of right now they're right back for me jitterian price or Jonathan Brooks Okay price All right, I think I'm going all of those other running backs over jitterian price at this moment But they're all going in the same 80 p and then just for the fun of it cam scataboo or deandre swift Uh swift yeah cam scataboo or travesty tien You know that one is a discussion point because there is the alvin camera injury Before hand it would have been a I'll take that risk with scataboo but now I think I'm okay with going with travesty tien over him Yeah, I think we're going to see travesty tien's 80 p sky rocket from the back of the fourth round Probably to the top of the fourth round maybe even flirting with the third if alvin camera is going to be out for quite a while Which it looks like he will be let's go to our next question on here if Christian McCaffrey Jonathan Taylor and almanra are on the board which order are you taking them and who what's your thought process on each Yeah, I mean is it's it's pretty straightforward for me. It's um almanra and then jt depending on your build yeah, you know, I could flip it back and forth But my preference would be to go to almanra first and then jt and then as I said before It is a concern with me for christian McCaffrey so fear I'm skipping over him. I'm not changing it If you I I was a cre I was a cmc drafter in one of the years that he did in fact um Not play the vast majority of the season it was traumatizing. I don't want to do it again It's like fighting from the bottom a grind the entire way to make the playoffs. It's not an enjoyable experience So I just bypass that issue Um, so yeah, that's it for me Um, first of all, I love the what your happens to your voice when you get really concerned about christian McCaffrey It gets very you kind of sound like that This guttural terror Roberts thing going on tell you know. It's real. I'm not it's definitely There's definitely vengeance in your voice from what christian McCaffrey has done to you in previous seasons I think I'm actually going christian McCaffrey a modern saint brown and Jonathan Taylor I actually tailored behind james coke and expect them to touch on regression there and Hire ceiling for coke if he's actually catching passes this year I think we've we've seen the ceiling for Jonathan Taylor from being honest Let's go to our next question on here parkour watchton or christian Watson You bought a sofa you didn't have to assemble a suit someone measured just for you And now you're taking a guy's trip that actually matters You've upgraded a few things in life So why are you still running with rough nicotine pouches on plus nicotine pouches with nico silk mesh No corners no rough edges just the softest pouch on the planet you've evolved and this is what's next on plus nicotine pouches Not all varieties available in all geographies warning this product contains nicotine nicotine isn't addictive chemical This is mat Rogers from lost culture east us with mat Rogers and bow and yang This is bow and yang from lost culture east of mat Rogers and bow and yang You know when people try on new food and suddenly it's like wait That's the reaction a lot of people are having when they first try cubie mayo It's the one with the red cap and the little baby on the bottle you've probably seen it in the grocery store before And if you've ever just walked past it some people would say that's a huge mistake because this mayo is different Most mayonnaise uses whole eggs cubie only uses egg yolks which gives it this rich umami flavor It's smoother deeper and almost buttery once people try it they start putting it on everything Egg sandwiches fries burgers some fans even swear by dipping pizza crust in it once you notice it You start seeing it everywhere chefs use it restaurants use it people who really care about flavor use it never tried it Grab the bottle with the red cap next time you're at the store put it on just about anything Then you'll understand cubie the original Japanese mayonnaise with the discover cash back card It's payback time when you earn cash back on everyday purchases activate and earn 5% cash back at different categories Each quarter on up to $1,500 in purchases. That's 5% cash back at different places each quarter like grocery stores on gas and at restaurants It pays to discover terms apply see discover dot com slash five for details Parker Washington is my preference there just from a pure perspective of I love Christian Watson The ability to make it through the season is the big question mark there So my preference there is Parker Washington We've got more than enough evidence of the involvement that he is going to have at this point and can be the wide receiver one of that offense Um double checking 80p right now because Christian Watson is going in the sixth round And Parker Washington is going at the six seven turn. I hate that I just did that Um There's a real possibility you can get Watson in the sixth and Washington in the seventh now I think if you really want players, you don't just sit around waiting for them you go and you take them You've reached for players whether it's half around or a full round early and that's perfectly fine Um, I'm still going to go Christian Watson here. I think that once I get past a certain level in my drafts The risk sort of goes out the window for me and I think about round six is typically where I'm just like Let's just go fool. Let's full send it. You know, let's let's swing for the fence. this year and go after a Christian Watson who, when he's been healthy, has been a top tier fantasy wide receiver. And to be honest, it's not like he goes out there and puts up duds when he does play. He's actually pretty productive. And in an office where everything's going to be a little more consolidated this year to a few less receivers, Tucker Kraft has been injured. We'll see what this turns into for Christian Watson, but I'm going to lean Watson there. Going to our next question, picking out of the 10 spot, 12 team league with standard scoring. So non PPR league has historically prioritized running back as many are doing this year. Make sure to walk away with a running back in my first pick or take advantage of falling wide receiver value. This is great. I just did an episode on this and I'm curious to see your thoughts on this. Sarah. It depends on what's falling, but if there is a strong high end receiver that would have gone within the first four ish five maybe picks that falls to that spot there for you. I can go with the wide receiver there and then turn around and get your running back in the second round because of the fact that we know that we are about 13 ish deep with running backs that have solid RB1 upside there. So yeah, I would flip it, take advantage of the wide receiver. Yeah, I think it's such a cop out answer, but we have to be very fluid here. Every time I get into a draft, I want to be attacking the running back position early this season because I think that's where the best value is. And you're most likely to see running backs that when you your league early in drafts. And I just did a mock draft where I found myself going I'm on our Saint Brown at the six and then Brock Bowers in the second round. And then the way things fell, I got Malik neighbors in the third round and here I was in the fourth round going, I really like my team, but I don't have any running backs. And I ended up with Travis. It's yet in the fourth round. And I wasn't too upset about that with the album Camara injury. So I think there's a way that you can be fluid and just catch what's falling to you. But I would go into the draft thinking I want to attack running back early and then just be fluid as the draft comes to you. You know, what's the, who was it that said, Bruce Lee? It's like, be like water, my friends. Yes, yes, exactly. That's exactly it. All right. As either Bruce Lee or a beer commercial, I don't know. Next one on here. Would you take CMC at pick five of Pukas gone? I think we already answered this one. So that one's on me. Sorry. Devon HN or Derek Henry as RB one for this draft, or who you going with HN Henry? I think you know my answer on this based off of previous conversations. So I want to put your feet to the fire because my answer is HN. But come on, Mr. Miami. Are you going HN here or is it Derek Henry for you? Are you full fade HN? I mean, between the two of them, I'm still going HN over here. There's a limit. Yeah. Totally a limit. But I'll be honest, I'm not targeting either of these guys. I mean, listen, if I'm sitting at the back of round two and I'm going, man, the drop off at running back is steep because everyone else is gone. And I'm sitting there at one is like the two 12 or the two 11 deciding between Devon HN and Derek Henry. Sure. I'm going to go HN. I still get worried about molecules not being a guy who checks down to the running back. This is an offense who's likely not going to be in the red zone as often as it has been in previous seasons. So you've really got to hope that Devon HN is going to get some big plays. So many of those plays came off the heels of Alec Ingold blocking for him as a lead blocker. We're not going to see that as much this year. There's a new zone running scheme. I'm nervous. I'm just going to say it. But yeah, it's HN over Henry for me there. All right. Before we continue on to our next question, guys, we've got fantasy pros, fantasy fest. So get ready for your fantasy drafts joining us on fantasy fest on Wednesday, August 26th at 3 p.m. Eastern. I just want to make sure I got the date right on that. Of course, of course, it is August 26th at 3 p.m. Eastern. Say it again. Join the fantasy pros crew and special guests for draft strategy rankings and tears sleepers bus league winners a mock draft to give away so much more. It's going to be a lot of fights called fantasy fest. It's not called fantasy hangout for a little bit. This is going to be a big thing. So make sure you are there. It is four hours of live draft prep followed by our twitch after party where I'll be there. You can come hang out with me and ask me all kinds of questions. And don't miss fantasy fest here on the fantasy pros channel. Whoo. Yeah. Oh, it's going to be so much fun. It's fantasy fest. That's right. It feels like the Catalina wine mixer. But it's fantasy football. No line. All right. Hi, Tara, stash two on my bench, Tracy spears Al Jair braille and Alan. It is half ppr as they did not address me. I will not be answering this question in protest. Oh, man. Okay. Well, thank you. It is Al Jair and braille and Alan for me. You know, I loved Tyrone Tracy prior to, you know, but again, concerns that this could be heading into a weird sideways committee with no ultimate handcuff there. I know that braille and Alan is a handcuff. And I know that Tyler Jaldier is a handcuff with potentially immediate usage for you right off the bat there with the injury that Jeremiah love is dealing with. And that is an ambiguous entry like we don't have 100% timelines on high ankle sprains and they can also result in complications. So that's one that I would definitely prioritize there. Yeah. For me, it's highlight. I am going to answer it. It's going to be Tyrese spears and Tyler Al Jair. Al Jair could be a massive win for someone coming off the bench. If Jeremiah love does happen in this time, we've also got to touch down upside there. And Tyrese spears is that nearly half the workload in Tennessee already. He's got the past catching upside. And it's something that we've seen Brian Debel want to use multiple backs it before. So if for any reason, Tony Paul is not able to go and Tyrese spears is the lead back. It could be him and rookie Nick Singleton, who's just not quite ready. If I'm being honest, he's got a lot to learn there. So Tyrese spears would be the main back the one A. So I like both of those guys in this instance. We're going to go a little faster through some of these questions. So let's go to this one 10 team PPR three wide receiver keeper league. Fifth pick keepers are chase brown and the 13th can walker and the third and most likely looking at Amanar Saint Brown for the first round. Who should I be eyeing in the second round wide receiver or running back? Okay. So this is tough obviously because we don't know what players are going to be available. But given the the makeup of the roster currently chase brown and Ken Walker as the two running backs likely going Amanar in the first round. You got two running backs one receiver. I like all three players. So what do you think you're trying to do in that second round based on, you know, what might be left over or format you want to follow? Yeah. I'm going to try and go wide receiver. And again, we don't know exactly who could be there. But perhaps that's a is a flowers kind of area that falls in there. Maybe Garrett Wilson or something. So French guys that could be wide receiver one. So yeah, I would lean wide receiver on that one. That sounds like Malik neighbors territory. I've ever seen it. So yeah, I'm I'm I'm in Malik neighbors. Devante Smith. I'm I'm looking right now at real-time ADP Chris Alave still down there at wide receiver 13. Say flowers at wide receiver 14. There's a lot of good options there at wide receiver. So yeah, that's I think with the way this is set up, I want to hit wide receiver as much as I can. Let's go to our next question. On here, James Cook, JT CMC or Gentie at the 107. You know my answer. Actually, no, you don't. Oh, man, it's CMC or Cook. I who are you going with here, Tara? I know it's not CMC. So we can cross them out immediately. It's JT. I'm in here for JT. I went through the JT experience last season that plummeted with Daniel Jones injury, but he's back. He's Daniel Jones. He's healthy. I'm in on this offense, JT. It's always JT for me. CMC, if he falls to the 107, I got to take him there. My next would be after CMC, it's James Cook. CMC James Cook, JT and Gentie in that order. On here, yo, I'm fifth pick and a PPR super flex. If Chase, Beijan, Josh Allen and Gibbs are off the board. Who are you taking? Puka, JSN or Lamar? Cubes usually fall in this super flex league. So what are you doing here, Tara? Get info there. I would go Lamar on that one. I'm in for the Lamar bounce back season here. Yeah. I mean, if you're saying quarterbacks normally fall, well, my dog, he just did. He should be going 102. So if he fell there, I'm going with him at that spot. Let's get to some of these super chats that have been filling up in the background. Lewis asks, I can either keep, or she writes in the sixth or Tyler Warren in the eighth. This is a full PPR league. What are you doing? Tyler Warren in the eighth. Same. Same. We're keeping it keeping it simple. One does not have any injury nor did present time this off season. You know, there's the only need a lean one direction on that one. Also, the value is just better. Yeah. 12 man PPR, crazy to reach on AJ Brown at the 204. I'm a Pats fan. First of all, just, just have fun. Just have fun with fantasy football. If you're a fan, you want to go get that player. It may not be the best strategy, but you go have fun. This is a game. Dang it. You need to have fun and go off of the players you want. So Tara, is he crazy to reach for AJ Brown at the 204? Well, you know, we just did that show with Erickson and he convinced me that it is okay for AJ Brown in the second round. Yeah. Go ahead and do it, man. Don't don't. Erickson right now is like Voldemort to me. Okay. Like he's he could cannot be named. He's out here spewing AJ Brown, why do you see for one overall stuff on the fantasy pro's channel? That's a pro J Erickson. He's such a what a bad boy. He's like the fancy of fantasy pros that Andrew Erickson. Everyone wants to be Erickson. All right. Mr. Ruthless asks, what round is best to go for quarterback? Also. just talked about this recently. So I'm excited to get your take on this question, Tara. Nice. I, I like to be flexible with quarterback because it's beautiful. We can push it back as far as we need to, but also if everyone in your league has the same concept of we're pushing QB back, you can take advantage and maybe scoop in there a little bit earlier. Grab your nice like to pick from the Justin Herbert, Caleb Williams, Trevor Lawrence, kind of range there. Get it at good value. So that's my kind of starting point. I'll pass over the elite guys because I love them, but it's unnecessary and push it back a little bit. And if those guys go a little bit too early, push it back even further. Get you a bow next or something like that. If anything, I'm the exact opposite. I either want to go with the elite quarterbacks or I want to wait as long as I can. And it all depends on your league and seeing what's happening because sometimes people are drafting quarterbacks earlier. And then there's teams that'll just shock you and draft two quarterbacks and get them both early. I've seen that happen as well. I just did a mock draft this morning. And I ended up with Caleb, I did something uncharacteristic. I went with Caleb Williams because he fell to the ninth round and he used the quarterback 10 off the board. And I was like, man, he's going later than ADP. He's going to full round after what I thought he would be going in. I kind of need to take Caleb. And then when I did that, all of a sudden, I saw Kyler Murray fall to the 14th round. Malik Willis was in the 16th round, Tyler Schuck in the 15th round. There were good quarterbacks just falling. So as much as I kind of tried to grab value there with Caleb, I'm still leaning going with one of the elite guys early. But I'd much rather go for, excuse me, going with the elite guy early would be a second option. What I really want to do is just piece it together with two quarterbacks really, really late. Like a Malik Willis and a Jared Goff to me just feels right if I'm waiting until round 14, 15 to get my quarterbacks situated. It works. It does work. Yeah. We do our best here. All right. Next question. 12 teams, superflex, Giderian price or Jordan Tyson. Oh, and the next part of that is going to be Tedromic Millen or Niko Collins. So let's start with price versus Tyson. This is a 12 team superflex. I don't know if this is dying. Why don't we answer for both Dynasty and Redraft? Let's try that out. Yeah. From both Dynasty and Redraft, I would still lean towards price on that one. Yeah. Yeah. I'm full, Jordan Tyson on Dynasty. Redraft, you have to go price. I'm off-turned-decently draft. I get it. I'm spooked. And maybe this is just an instant reaction here. But we already had those concerns of the repeated over and over and over injury issues. I was going to give you a reprive and just look, hey, let's see in the NFL and right off the bat, you're immediately going to miss the season. Don't know about that one. But in Redraft, brochure. Yeah. We're going price on this one. Don't risk it. And then with Ted and Niko, it's Niko for me. Yeah. I'm saying, especially right now, we're talking Redraft. It's going to be Niko Collins because of the Jaden Higgins injury. I actually wonder if the Texans become an interesting trade destination for a guy like Keishan Booty. I was just thinking that he's been talked about. Yeah, let's get him out of there. I would like to see them anywhere else. Not like the Texan situation is going to be amazing, but it's probably better than being the fourth wide receiver on the Patriots right now. I think that's where I'm at with that one. All right, let's go to our next question on here. Mike Evans or Parker Washington. Where are we going, Der? I have. So this will be a mildly hypocritical answer that I'm going to have to answer with details. I have Mike Evans ranked higher more than likely unless Evans were to fall. Even then, so more than likely, I'm bypassing Evans and I am drafting Parker Washington. Just again, on the principle of when you're in on the field, Mike Evans, I know you're the wide receiver one upside is high, but the hamstrings are just ripping apart at this point. So and he's already dealing with a variety of injuries and training camp. It's just the body aging, unfortunately. I think a lot of what's going to happen to fantasy rankings right now is we rank players all summer based on where will they, where will they finish? What will they be if they are healthy? And then all of a sudden, we start to get these injuries and these ailments piling up throughout the off season and this preseason here where you go, well, I can no longer rank Mike Evans as wide receiver 22 because he's not healthy. Yeah, but if you were, you know, and you have to kind of move some of these guys down. So one of my favorite things that's Sigmund Bloom shout out SIG that he told me is that you don't really know your rankings until you get in your draft. And then when you're sitting at your draft, you'll look at your ranking and you'll be like, that's my wide receiver 23, but I'm going to draft my wide receiver 26 because that's who I really want to get here. Then that's probably where you should have ranked him. And if I'm sitting in a draft, I'm going Parker Washington over Mike Evans right now. Yeah. That's that's just where I'm at. Yeah. All right. Next one on here. I have the third choice of draft pick in a 12 team PPR read draft league thinking about the one of three or the one 10 thoughts, please. Well, you know, I love both of them. Honestly, those are my preference. I will say go one, oh, three, but man, either one is really good. I think lean 103 though. I think I might even say go 102 because I want one of Jamir Gibbs or Beijon. Because then I don't really have to worry about how the board falls in the first two rounds for running back, right? If I'm in the second round, I just wait to see who falls to me. Maybe an HN does fall at the end of the second round or Brock Bowers or one of these receivers because there's now there's some real wide receiver value happening with Chris Alave, Nico Collins, Malik neighbors don't want to miss some of these guys that make sense in the late second. So I'm actually going to go 102 here and or I mean, if 103 is your only option to go 103, but 102 I think would be my preference out of these. Yeah. All right. About running back, running back, would you take Sequan and Henry or stick to a guy like, I don't I mean, it says Heaney, I'm going to assume that is Henry. Oh, look at you. Yes. Two skills. Do a lingo is paying off. Exactly. I really do use do a lingo. I'm learning Italian. Yes. Oh, I had a like 250 day streak for Spanish and then I absolutely killed my duo out because I just trips happened and yeah, he's not happy with me. So okay, sorry, we got a little off track there. I'm not running back, running back, would you take Sequan and Henry or stick to a guy like Gentile Hampton or Brown. It's Sequan for me. I'm in on the bounce back. I mean, new offensive coordinator coming from Brunei, we're going to get that aggressive usage on the ground. So it's it's Sequan for me, but it's close with, you know, I like Gentile. I could lean that direction because I'm not anti Gentile in the context of the Raiders offense, but I really do like Sequan a lot. Give me Sequan Barkley and Chase Brown in this scenario overhand. I think Henry's the odd man out, like honestly, out of these five running backs, he would be sixth for me. Like he's just, I don't think he's in the same conversation this year. Just from a past catching standpoint, he's getting older. Yeah, I'm ready to move on from. All right, next question on here. Did we already answered that question? I'm not doing a good job of getting rid of them. Sorry. Any basic principles for an eight team full PPR to flex league early quarterback and tight end are often suggested, but are they a must? I find when I do this that my flex spots are still pretty weak. So this is more of a game theory thought. Are we going quarterback tight end early when the league is a little bit smaller? Yeah, and the advice typically is yes, because you want the high end options because of the limited teams, but I will say that this season, I do think that you can go early on tight end and you can push quarterback back a little bit or even a decent amount because there are a lot of guys that can put up potential top five production that you can draft later and maybe take advantage of filling up those flex spots because you do have the additional flex spot in there with your team. So yeah, I don't think you have to go quarterback early, but I would lean towards making sure that you share up a reliable tight end in this format. Yeah, I think I'm with you on that. I want to go with Brock Bowers, your Tremac bride in this format. And I'm not looking back after that. I think you can still get some similar. It's exciting to go after a close love on a child or a warm, but I don't think there's going to be enough of a gap between who you could have gotten rounds later. So I think if I have to do this, I'm going Josh Allen Lamar, Jackset quarterback early. And if I can't get those guys, I'm just waiting a little bit more and then same thing Brock Bowers, Tremac bride, or I'm just going to wait. All right, next one's on here, drafting at the 12 spot in a 12 man PPR, two running back, two I just either too flex league. I want to go running back running back at the one to turn, but I'm wondering if it would be a bad decision to pass up on CD lamp or just Jefferson if they're available. Thoughts. My preference is running back running back, but if JJ is there, I'm okay with JJ and a running back if you want to sure up that upside at wide receiver. Yeah, I'm same thing. My preference is going to be running back running back. It really depends, but I just don't know if there is, if I'm willing to say I want to take CD lamp or Justin Jefferson over Chase, like let's play a quick game then. Gentie or the two I receivers. Gentie. Right. So Chase Brown or either of the wide receivers. Wide receivers. I love Chase Brown super safe, but not the top five upside, I'm going Jace Brown. Let's go Ken Walker or the two-eyed receivers. - Mmm, two-eyed receivers. - Ken Walker. - I get it. - If I'm in the second round, I went running back early and I'm looking at CD, JJ, or Walker, I just, I wanna hit that running back spot in the second round. It just dries up so fast. So, all right. - We disagree, but that's okay. Mom and dad fight sometimes. So, okay kids, go ahead. - Question, I have one and I'm choosing Gibbs. I plan on going three-eyed receivers next, depending on who drops. But if Bowers is there, I wanna take him at 24 or 25, which wider receivers do you believe I should target at 24 or 25? - Do it, yeah, I'm good with that. You go Bowers and you could go, I mean, we were talking earlier. That's a spot where you could go neighbors. If you want to, you can go Olavi if you want to. Those are two that I think would be available at the turn that would be very reasonable picks to grab. - Guys, we are at the five minute warning here. Not much time left. So, if you have a question, get it in here. We're gonna try to answer a few of them that are left here in the chat. We're gonna go kind of rapid fire here, Tara. 12 team homely, extended score and keep nine, draft nine. Running back is my focus for my 109 suggestions. This is tough. - They don't know the players. - Cook, genty, sake one. Yeah, that, there's a wide variety. Anyone in that area? - There we go. Next one on here, standard leagues and non-PPR, Derek Henry or Jonathan Taylor first, who you going with? - JT. - JT, I'm with you 100% on that one. Let's go to next question on here. As my running back five, Rashad White or Kyle Manungai? - It was Kyle Manungai. But I might push towards White now. I don't, I'm concerned lingering, hyper-extended, honey, yeah, but maybe Manungai, you're looking at me, yeah, maybe I stick with my guns here and stay with Manungai. That's my higher rank one period. It's Manungai that I have higher ranked. - I'm going, I'm going Rashad White on this. Going Rashad White, guys, we have some news that just came across the desk here, the metaphorical desk, Colts, Titan, Tyler, Warren, growing, went down on a route in 11 and 11. - Oh no, he's now on the sideline not practicing. - Bad things happened during the preseason. - I suppose it is, Keenan Allen season, at least you know he will be there for you. - Oh my God. - The Lord, take it the way, you know? You get Keenan Allen taking the targets from Josh Dahls and they're like, you know what, Josh Dahls, you get your targets back here. - I'm crushed. - This hurts, by the way. - My answer for that element was Rashad White. So, yeah, sorry. - Oh, he's not even cold yet, man, I hope everything's good with Tyler Warren. Guys, and a keeper that you keep for one year, keeps scat about 13th round or Hampton with the fourth. - Hampton, yeah. - Yeah, I'm going Hampton, same thing. - It's tough. - All right, guys, that's going to do it for us today, but I want to let you guys know that coming up after this, there's going to be another stream giving you guys the fantasy football cheat codes and free intel on how your league drafts, it's going to be Andrew Erickson, the bad boy of fantasy pros, the Fonz, he's going to be wearing a leather jacket, there's going to be flames and an eagle and all kinds of crazy rock music going on behind him. He's going to be walking through how to use the draft intel tool on fantasy pros.com in your drafts to dominate your opponents. It's really cool. It's this tool basically figures out and learns what your opponent's tendencies are. So, you are going to know your league better than you ever have. And that's always the first bit of advice that every fantasy analyst gives is to know your league and how they are drafting. That's going to wrap things up for us. But before we head out, guys, make sure to like this video. Make sure you're subscribed to the fantasy pros YouTube channel and the podcast so you don't miss out on any of our fantasy football content that you're checking out. Make sure you check out all of the fantasy pros tools. Use them for your fantasy teams, get yourself in the best position to win here in 2026. Thank you so much for joining us for Terra and myself. We'll see you next time, Adios. Thanks for listening to the fantasy pros, the fantasy football podcast. 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