2026 Guillotine Draft Strategy: Safe Veterans & Boom-Bust Picks | CHOP

(upbeat music) - Hey everybody, welcome to another edition of Chop. The Gia Teen Leagues Show presented by my Tarder I Am Marcus Grant. Glad to be back with you for yet another week as we creep very steadily. Closer to the start of the 2026, 2027 NFL and accordingly fantasy football season. Taking you through the format that is sweeping the nation where it comes to fantasy football and talking about all the things that will help you not get chopped in any given week of your fantasy football season. But me doing this by myself would be boring. You'd probably click away the next few minutes. So to do that, to help you stay engaged, I'm bringing in my friend and co-conspirator the one and only tip major who tip you and I got to see each other, IRL as the kids would say. Actually sitting next to each other in person and not in a couple of boxes on your screen in Katen, Ohio. One, how are you today and two, how was your weekend in Ohio? - First of all Marcus, it was an absolute blast hanging out in Ohio, hanging out with you, hanging out with all of the great people out there at the fantasy football expo. God to meet some new faces, that's good to see. You wanna see new faces when you go to these events. I love seeing the old faces, love seeing everybody that's been there before but I rented to several people who have been there for the first time and I gotta tell you man, it was just a joyous occasion. I had a blast out there. I wish we could get a couple more days out of it but man, I need some sleep too, I get to go there. - Yeah, then on the one hand, yeah, I'd be fine if it was like another day or two longer, bro. On the other hand, my body's like, bro, you need to lay down, man. So, I would go to a teaser point. It's a great event, shout out to Bob Long and his staff, most of which is his family that helped put this thing on every single year. It's been great to see it grow and thrive over the last few years and as you've said, great to connect with old friends, great to meet people who were there for the first time and hopefully they keep coming back year after year and for those of you who haven't been. I said it last week, I'll say it again this week if you've never been. Make plans to go late July next year. It's already on the books, so get ready for that. In the meantime, let us turn our attention to the real reason we are here and that's the kind of help you get prepared for your guillotine league season. There are already drafts going on all over the place. I have done one, maybe getting in a second one. You know, we have to get a bit. As much as I love this, I also at the end of the day want to still have a family. So I got to kind of temper how many of these I'm doing on a regular basis. But as we dive into this, wanna start with some interesting kind of news that we've seen kind of progress over the last couple of weeks. That is with Patrick Mahomes, the guy who has consensious been among the elite fantasy quarterbacks, the elite real quarterbacks over the last several years. Suffering a major injury late last season has vowed that he would be ready to go four week one for the Kansas City Chiefs. Now, when it happened, I think a lot of us were sort of skeptical about it. But the news on Patrick Mahomes is that he has been medically cleared for training camp. I myself with my own two eyeballs have seen video of him rolling out to the left and throwing a football. Now Tim, it's not like actual game speed, which you wouldn't expect at this point in the summer. But it does look like he is on track to be ready when the ball kicks off for real in week one. So I'm gonna ask you the first question. What is your confidence level that we are going to see the gunslinger himself, Patrick Mahomes, out there for week one? - Yeah, and I saw in the same video where he rolled out. I just saw it not too long ago and I was like, okay, that looks good, but you're right. It's, this is just the beginning of training camp. We haven't even gone through the rigors of it yet. So I'm pretty sure they are gonna test his knee at some point. So I'm closely monitoring the situation, but I have had a report that him himself, Patrick Mahomes and the team are gonna possibly run less this year because they got Kenneth Walker III and they've got some other opportunities that will stop or hopefully help him from not running so much. And that's the key. So if they can do that, that's something I'm closely monitoring. I know they're gonna be cautious with him. - I know, I think that's an interesting balance there too, right? Because part of why he ran so much last year was kind of out of necessity. We went a long stretch of the season where Kansas City's leading rusher was Patrick Mahomes, which is not a great thing. We're not talking about Lamar Jackson leading the Ravens in rushing where if that happened, you'd be like, all right, I gotta get that, that makes sense. Patrick Mahomes being Kansas City's leading rusher was probably a bad sign. That is why they went out and got the Super Bowl MVP in Kenneth Walker III. And I do think the hope is that he runs less, but we also like those hidden rushing yards from Mahomes. He's not gonna, we're not gonna confuse him with say a Jaden Daniels or anything like that, but the fact that he could get you consistently 300, 400 rushing yards was always a positive. So that's gonna be the balance I think we're gonna have to find when it comes to Mahomes this year. But the begs the question, because it's one thing to draft Mahomes sort of in the middle to late rounds where he's going and use him as your quarterback in a redraf league where you can a little bit afford to wait for him to get ready to go and guillotine if things go bad in week one, that could be the end of your guillotine lead for this year. So as you talk about him getting used to the rigors of training camp and being closely monitored, what is your confidence level of taking him as your only quarterback in a guillotine lead? - You know, the one, the great Barrington Levy once said, "Live in dangerously." He had a great song about it. And I don't know if I wanna live that dangerous because I'm gonna tell you right now, that in the injuries are super tricky. They can have a moment where they flare up at any time. You just never know. He could be great one week and then right in the middle of that week during practice, you see him or hear that he's sitting out this week. I'm expecting him to sit out quite a few practices anyway this year. So don't be too alarmed, but you gotta be alarmed about some of the flare ups that can happen with these knees. So if Patrick Mahomes, if you don't stand pat, I gotta say that. Get that other quarterback on your roster. Make sure that you don't just go out there and just say, "Hey, I'm just gonna roll with Patrick Mahomes." You're gonna have to have another option just in case something funky starts to happen. - Yeah, and I think that puts us in a different spot with Mahomes than we previously have been in his career where if you're drafting him, first off, if you're drafting him, you're spending a relatively high draft pick to get him in past years, but it was a situation where you spent the kind of draft capital where it was a set it and forget an option. You drafted Mahomes, he was your guy, right? And when the by-week came, you'd figured out for that one week. This is different. This feels more like drafting your typical sort of later around quarterback where you get Mahomes, but you're gonna get a guy right after him, maybe a couple of rounds later that encased things, as you mentioned, go a little bit sideways between now and the start of the season that you can feel good about. So maybe it is that you draft a Patrick Mahomes and you follow it up with like a bonix or somebody of that ilk just to give yourself a little bit of insurance by the time the season kicks off and maybe he's ready, maybe he's not. You don't really wanna roll the dice on that in the first week of the season. Looking a little bit further at this though because what happens with Mahomes is gonna impact the rest of the guys on that roster and certainly in regular leagues, we're looking at a Rashee rice. You're looking at a Travis Kelsey. Kenneth Walker's gonna get some opportunity. He's gonna get drafted in this format, right? Knowing that one week is kind of all your guaranteed does it impact how you're drafting other chiefs because of maybe some concerns you have about their quarterback? - Yeah, so I looked at, you know, you named off the premier players that we're all gonna be looking at. And then there's some players that, you know, Xavier Worthy, is he gonna step up? Is he gonna not get run over by Travis Kelsey and get beat up? Like, so you gotta look at that guy as well. One player I'll look at is Tyrone Thornton. But this is like super late. I mean, they did have a chemistry. They did develop a some sort of chemistry. Him and Patrick Mahomes later on in the season. You know Patrick Mahomes likes a Thor deep. If you're in a redraftly and you have Tyque Van Thornton on your radar, you may need to reconsider playing fantasy football or fantasy sports or go to another fantasy sport. But I think I could actually work in this one as a later pick up later down the road or even if you just wanna stash that guy and just have him on your roster. It could be one of those players that does work out for you because someone on the Chiefs of the YDRC Rules gonna have to show up other than Rashee Rice and occasionally Xavier Worthy. So I think Tyque Van Thornton, he can make some noise. - Yeah, it's gotta be interesting too because that YDRCV room is, you know, they're still trying to settle some things. And I think a thing that we haven't really talked about is Will Rashee Rice getting a discipline from the NFL office after his offseason arrests and that sort of thing, whether or not he's gonna be found in violation of the personal conduct policy and what that could mean. So not only for at least when you talk about Rashee Rice, not only do you have the issue of his quarterback getting back to health, but now you've got whether or not Rice is going to miss some actual time because of suspension. So that's a thing to keep in mind and maybe just maybe in the short term that works out to the benefit of somebody like Tyque Van Thornton, be warm still turns when it comes to what's going on in Kansas City and we await some more answers to be a little bit closer. But now that we've said that, this feels like a good time to talk about some safe veterans, some older players, some experienced players, that you can trust when it comes to guillotine league and feel like they're gonna have some stable steady floors with some potential high ceilings. If you were looking at some guys who have spent some time in this league that you wouldn't mind having on your guillotine roster. Who's the name that you're looking at? - Yeah, and it's crazy to say, but Chase Brown's only 26 years old. I feel like he's been playing in Malik forever. I don't know, he's been in here for a minute. It feels like, but Chase Brown, 232 carries, Samaj P. Ryan, 800 or eight, no boy, that would be something. Eight of four carries. And then people are gonna say something like, oh, what about Taj Brooks? Taj Brooks, this, Taj Brooks had two more carries than Joe Burrow had and Joe Burrow missed half the season. So I'm not worried about it. Chase Brown is locked and locked and loaded. And then also this offense is gonna be better. I think that this offense can get better than even what it was. Obviously last year when Joe Burrow was out, but even when we seen it at full strength, I think that this is gonna be the year that that Bangle's offense, the defense is gonna be better too. So there may be more rushing attempts available for Chase Brown. They always like to monitor it. Monitor soon is rushing attempts. But I like the way they utilize them, especially in the passing game. So Chase Brown for me. - I remember this time last year talking about Chase Brown and he was finding himself into a lot of people's top 10 running back rankings. And like, and I first thought about that, I'm like, that's crazy. And then I started going through the running backs in my head. And I got, you know, like, oh yeah, six, seven. And I'm like, huh, you know what? You might be right. You know what I think, especially because you look at a guy like Joe Burrow, who we know when he's healthy and he's on, he's elite and he completely elevates that offense. But we've also seen the drop off when it's not Joe Burrow under center, but that has benefited Chase Brown because they're not going to let whoever the backup is going to be throw the ball as many times as they do with Burrow. So they could need some more rushing opportunities. I think we've seen him really elevate himself and cement his role in this offense. So I'm not really worried about anybody else. I do think that's a good one. Side note to all of this, Chase Brown is a full sentence, just his name alone. For me, it's David Montgomery. And I've been a Montgomery fan for years, even when he was paired up with Jimi or Gibbs. Last year, I was sort of out on it. I felt like last year was going to be a heavy Gibbs year and it turned out to be. But in those previous couple of years when they were together, I felt like the production would be similar. Monty's draft price was always better. So I always went that way. He's a really good talented player. Now he gets to go down to Houston, where they were struggling to find a consistent running game all year long. One of the biggest mysteries of the 2025, 26 season was, where is Joe Mixon? I mean, he was in the shadow realm all season long when you hear quotes from the Houston front office about what's going on with Joe Mixon. I'm paraphrasing here, but their response is basically, oh, I mean, that was kind of what the answer was. With Joe Mixon. So now they get David Montgomery in there. They know they have a quality veteran presence in the back field. A guy who can run the ball between the tackles, he's going to be durable. As much as I like Woody Marx, I'm not foolish enough to think that he's somehow going to elbow Monty out of the way for opportunities. And on an offense that just needs some consistency. We know how good their defense can be. They need something consistent on offense. They need to be able to run the football, especially late in close games. I think David Montgomery is in a great situation where he can go back to being an RB1. So I absolutely love him, especially where he's going kind of in the middle of drafts. Very confident, very comfortable having Monty on my roster. I mean, you down there in Htown. Is there excitement? What's the feeling on David Montgomery? There is an excitement. There's a buzz. He came into camp looking a little bit more swelled, like a little bit thinner. Like he dropped some weight, too. So that's something to monitor. It looks like that. And CJ's around, too. It looks like he lost a little bit of weight. So it's something to monitor. What are they doing out there? It's hot as hell, first of all. So it's easy to lose some weight. You know, out here, all you got to do is go out for a walk. And you're probably going to lose 10 pounds. But I'll tell you, David Montgomery, seeing him in the Texas uniform, I think that this is that year that he is going to really solidify himself in not only fantasy, but with the Texans as the lead back for that team. I spent some time in Houston in the summer. I love taking multiple showers a day. It's great with the best. Another guy, maybe, though, tip, when it comes to veterans on your guillotine roster, that you would have some interest in. Yeah, it's a little low hanging fruit. But he had some big news happen over the weekend. As a matter of fact, I was on one of the panels doing a mock draft and the news broke right before the mock draft that Jacobi Brissette had signed his contract with the Arizona Cardinals. So then I was like, OK, I'm back on the trademark bride train. So trademark bride is there. So now that he signed, I'm going with this. It's easy to trust, guys. The quarterback situation, Jacobi Brissette's going to feed a trademark bride. Last few seasons, the trademark bride's averaging 158 targets per game, or per season. So the biggest knock was a touchdown. He came and answered that last year. Look, we're not expecting 11 touchdowns, but somewhere around six to eight touchdowns. But you don't even worry about that with trademark. Because you know you're going to get a bunch of catches. You know you're going to get a bunch of yards. Those touchdowns are just the icing on the cake. They're good icing on the cake. But that's what you're going to get with trademark bride. I think he's really safe and a great option in guillotine. Wow, that's awesome. I would ask you, well, first off, one thing. You said it's low hanging fruit. Here's my feeling on that. Low hanging fruit tastes just as good as a fruit at the top of the tree. You don't have to work as hard to get it. So we shouldn't be ashamed of going after low hanging fruit. That's just my opinion. My other question-- my other question to you, those-- does Carson Beck worry you at all? Because there's definitely some talk. And he's going to get some opportunity this year. I know they, as you mentioned, they just signed Jacobi Berset. Does the Carson Beck factor worry you at all? No, to first of all, I'll tell you. College-- I don't watch enough college football to know about-- love about Carson, but I have seen. I have seen some of the reports and some of the things they say, those are Chris Ball. They say that. But it's still-- it's a learning curve. It's a learning curve. And I think that Jacobi Berset signing shows that, hey, OK, they're going to give him an opportunity. I'm not worried about Carson Beck right now. I want to see how Carson Beck develops these last these next couple of weeks and into preseason. But I think this is going to be Jacobi Berset's team. The Cardinals are not going anywhere, Marcus. You're either the vision you're 49ers. You fan? You know they're not going anywhere. Why would they go out there and risk another guy when they went ahead and paid him? I think it's Jacobi Berset team unless he gets injured. And then they like the chips fall where they fall. And then next year, we might be getting a third quarterback on this team or another quarterback. So yeah, I think it's going to be Jacobi Berset at least start out. So I'm not worried about Carson Beck. Well, and I think, again, I think it also plays into the whole guillotine sort of one week season, series of one week seasons here, right? Like Carson Beck, if he starts, it's going to be down the road. And so that's not really a thing that you're worried about in guillotine because you're just trying to make it through the next week. So I think you are probably right when it comes to that. Also, the NFC West. You've got three teams that are legitimate playoff teams. At least two of them have legitimate Super Bowl aspirations. And then you have the cargels. So that. Anyway, we talked about-- I saw how you-- wait, I saw how you said two of them have. You got to put your guys. You got to put your card in the hat, too. I mean, look, they have a Super Bowl window. There's an outside shot at it. But I'm going to tell you, I mean, you got the Seahawks who are the defending champions. You have the Rams who, at least on paper, have the best team in the NFL. And could be getting Aaron Donald back. I think the Niners are very much in the mix where they play off spot. And if things maybe break right, and they get a little bit of luck, maybe they win the division. But I'm not sure that this team is built for a long run of into January and into February. So that's just me. I'm just trying to be realistic about it. I'm just that's kind of where I am about this whole thing right now. So anyway, we started the show talking about the Fantasy Football Expo in Canton, Ohio. And a big part of that is the King's Classic draft, which has really grown into a series of drafts. It's multiple divisions in the King's Classic. There's the Queen's Classic. There's Gary Davenport in his Insano IDP league that I think they start drafting at Sun Up and finish probably right around dusk. But I did want to give some takeaways from this, because I was in the Brown division of it. And mostly kind of from the Snake issue, right? Because there's a snake draft. There's an auction draft. It's hard to sort of equate auction to guillotine leagues. But snake drafts, at least you can kind of get some takeaways from it. And I want to get your feelings on this, because one of the things-- and I know we talked about this, I believe last week-- and it bored so far out in the Brown and Blended divisions this past weekend. Early running backs are popular in 2026. In fact, both those divisions in the first two rounds, 14 team leagues, so 28 picks, of those 28 picks, 15 were running backs. So let me, Jenny, you had some wide receiver sprinkled in. You had a couple of tight ends sprinkled in in there. But early round running backs are starting to become fashionable again. And I got questions tip over the weekend about the viability of 0RB. One is it a smart strategy in 2026? And even more, is it something you can rely on in guillotine leagues where you need that safe floor from most of your guys? Yeah, first of all, know your rules. I mean, if you get bonus points with wide receivers or different positional players, know that. But I'm down on 0RB. I think you have to have one of those either hero RB philosophies or even bully RB, which I'm doing. I'm going to RB's in the first three rounds. No questions asked. That's what I've been doing my last few drafts. And I come out of the draft feeling really good. I'm like, okay, I got two really good solid running backs. I got a pretty decent wide receiver, borderline wide receiver one really high in wide receiver two. So I'm really high on that strategy. So I'm kind of kicking the kick in the zero RB theory to the curb this time, especially in Guietin because it's so hit or miss with some of these wide receivers, especially as wide receiver twos that can end up on your team. Like you go out there and get your running backs, get your good stable of running backs, know that you're gonna get that solid foundation or that floor that Marcus was talking about. And I, you know, like I talked to you earlier, I was an expert in my draft. And all of the several, there were several experts that were on the panel and they kept saying the same thing. You wanna have, you know, if you don't get one of those 15, try to be that guy that gets two of those 15 running backs, those top 15 running backs. And that's gonna be something that really can take your team to the next level earlier in the season. - Yeah, it's funny 'cause so in the King's Classic draft, I actually started my draft by going a wide receiver tied in. I went JSN and Tremac Brie, but it's not a thing that I would do in a Guietin league. And for most of my drafts, I'm kind of where you are where I'm making sure to get two in the first three rounds. There've been plenty of drafts where I've gone running back, running back right off the top. And then at that point, I can go sort of hammer all the other positions. I think it's a thing in redraft leagues, you can still sort of play around with it, but even then I just don't love it because there's such a big fall off after maybe the third or fourth round when it comes to the running back position. In Guietin league, it feels like a no-go for me because I don't necessarily wanna go into the season where my running backs are Jalen Warren and Tyrone Tracy. Like I just would not feel good about that in a Guietin league situation. That feels like asking to get chopped in week one. So I'm kind of with you. I don't know that it works in Guietin leagues and even in redraft leagues. I think it's a little bit sketchy here in 2026. Another thing, and you know this, when you do some of these expert leagues or some of these more high stakes leagues, it's like a game of chicken when it comes to drafting quarterbacks. It's who's going to blink first? Who's gonna be the guy or girl to rip off that bandaid? And then get the quarterback run going. In the blended division, that happened in the fourth round in the Brown division where I was. It didn't happen until the fifth round when you had the Drogameport take Josh Allen. And then a couple picks later, you had some more quarterbacks go. Can you afford to wait on a quarterback in a Guietin league, Tyrone? - Yeah, I think so. We talked last week about Josh Allen's week one matchup. And if you were in Guietin and you had drew Davenport's team and you had, yes, you got DJ Moore and you got Josh Allen on there. You're setting yourself over a little bit of maybe biting your nubs, biting your nails a little bit on week one because if Josh Allen doesn't do anything, most likely DJ Moore's not gonna do anything. So I think what I would do is I would go after somebody like Baker Mayfield who has a nice matchup to open up the season. He's going to get the bangles. I know the bangles defense is a little bit better than what it should be a little bit better than what it was last year. But then after that, he gets a chance to stick it to Cleveland again. And I'm just big on Baker Mayfield this year. So I'm waiting at QB. - Sorry about Josh Allen. I know at some point in the summer before the season starts we're gonna start talking about guys and with good week one schedules guys with bad week one schedules. I don't know if you've seen the bills start to the season but their first five games are brutal. They start on the road in Houston, as you mentioned. They do have the next three at home, but it's the Lions who are very much in line for a playoff spot. It's the Chargers who a lot of people are picking to win the AFC West and it's the Patriots who are the defending AFC champs. Then they follow that up with the trip to Los Angeles to take on the Rams. I don't think the bills are gonna start O and five, but it's not unbelievable that the bills could start O and five with the teams they have. I don't know how many people have dialed into that and I don't know if it changes minds a little bit but I think Josh Allen, you know, he's still gonna go high, but man in Guitin it might be a little scarier than maybe you think it is in that situation. What's my level of price is right? If you don't mind. (imitating guitar) I was looking at some rankings when it comes to Guitin League. Some ADPs for Guitin League versus where the consensus is on some of these players in redraft leagues. I kind of want to get your feeling on whether or not the price is right for Guitin in any situation. So I want to start with Michael Pitman who leaves Indianapolis, goes over to Pittsburgh, joins that offense with Aaron Rodgers at quarterback DK Metcalfe at the other wide receiver position in Guitin. Pitman is going at about 90.4. His ADP is right around, you know, Pit 90 which is about 10 spots earlier than he is going in redraft. Do you like the price on that one for Michael Pitman, Jr.? I think the redraft people got it right on this one, man. I rather wait. So Michael Pitman, Guitin format, there's other players like Wando Robison, there's other players like Romeo Dobbs that are being drafted just a little bit less or a little bit behind him that I would wait, I would whether have. I'm not going to deal with Aaron Rodgers, 43.42. However, all he is dealing with his arm and now they're talking about DK Metcalfe moving all over the field. I got to worry about Mike McCarthy and him mismanaging the game in the time. And I didn't know, I don't have time for that. And you don't have time for that in Guitin. Though with the, go with the more upside play, I understand Wando Robison, maybe not a team that you're looking at, but I think with the return of, or with Brian Debel, and him and Brian Debel connecting back together, I think that that's going to be one of those plays that a lot of people are going to overlook. And if Romeo Dobbs, what are they just going to ignore AJ Brown or they're going to ignore Hunter Henry? No, Romeo Dobbs is going to get a piece in this office. And those are two players that I would have had a Michael Pittman and Guillate. - I mean, generally speaking, I just, I'm sort of out on the Steelers for the most part anyway. So I'm kind of with you on that one. Millic neighbors has been an interesting one because everybody loves the talent. They know what he can be. The return from injury has I think made a little, has made people a little bit squeamish about drafting him. His ADP in Guillatean leagues is 50.4. That is 12 spots later than he's going in redraft. So the redraft folks seem way more optimistic about Millic neighbors than the Guillatean league folks do. Which side of the ledger do you fall on here? - Yeah, you gotta go with the redraft folks just because of the knee situation. I mean, he's, he's not even a year removed yet, guys, from this. And I love that he's cleared. I'm willing to take a chance on him in redraft. But when it comes to Guillatean, I'm not gonna just sacrifice a third, fourth round pick, which is where he's been going mainly. And now I got a situation where maybe the knee doesn't look as good or maybe he's, like I talked about earlier where Patrick and Holmes where it flares up on him or it swells up. And he misses a couple practices and maybe is a game time decision. I don't have time for that and we don't. And so I would be willing to take a chance on him in redraft. But Guillatean, I'm gonna stay safe on this one. - I mean, I think also the way the Giants have approached the off season tells you that they are sorta hedging their bets, right? I mean, they go, they get Darnell Mooney. I mean, look, I'm not gonna sit here and pretend that they went and loaded up on big time wide receivers, right? I mean, they get Darnell Mooney, they get Juju Smith Schuster. They dig Odell Beckham Jr. out of Mothballs and bring him in there. So it's not like they're just like high powered at wide receiver, but the fact that they keep adding at that position and adding to that wide receiver room sorta suggests that they are hopeful, they're optimistic that he'll be there, but they're also sorta hedging their bets a little bit just in case something happens with Malik neighbors. One other one, we sort of talk about him just a little bit earlier in the show, but David Montgomery in Guillatean, he's going right around the 40th pick. That is 13 spots earlier than where he is going in redraft. You said there is some buzz in Htown about Monty being down there. Are you buzzing enough to take in 13 spots of his redraft price? - You know, if he's, and you gotta be careful, so I looked at it because I was like, this is not a 12 team league, this is an 18 team league. - I'm not feeling it. - So you gotta be careful. Like that really is a second round pick and that's that, I liked David Montgomery's value. I love it. I think that he is going to be great in redraft. However, again, this is one of those things you wanna monitor. I think the Texas are gonna run the hell out of the ball. I think they're gonna play great defense. Maybe even in week one against Josh Allen, we'll see David Montgomery do some really nasty work, but I gotta tell you, I'm keeping hope alive for your boy Woody Marcher, fellow Trojan. I'm keeping hope alive for him. I think that he is gonna actually get some opportunities in the passing game. I think Montgomery's solidified. He's gonna run the ball, but I think Woody March gets some passing work done and I think that could eat into David Montgomery. Now I wanna wait and see. That's kind of an approach I'm at. I really wanna wait and see it. - I mean, I think for Mark's, that is the path for him getting on the field as being a pass catcher sort of in third downs in a two minute situation. That was what he did really, really well in college. And it's something that I don't think the Texans quite tapped into with him last year. So we'll see if that happens this year. I am excited about David Montgomery. I'm with you. I guess late second, early third is where I'm feeling it necessarily, but I'm really excited. I do think there's some stability there that makes a good in-ass for wordy marks. Again, as I always say, it's fight on forever around these parts with wordy marks. And that's where guy. You know, a lot can change in five years. The price of your internet will not with Xfinity's five-year price guarantee. Now, sports are unpredictable. Your internet price shouldn't be. Get a reliable price for a reliable connection. Five years are the most reliable, fiber-powered Y5 with our best equipment. Now, all in means all in. Get everything you need. Included data, equipment, and the most reliable Y5. Lock in five years of predictability. Five years, the same price, no contracts, or commitments. You can learn more at xfinity.com, restrictions apply, select plans only. So, boomer bust. That is a thing that you kind of can live with in redraft. It's a thing that you don't mind at all, investible. It is a thing that can blow up in your face in guillotine leagues. But sometimes, there are guys that, you know, you really sort of want to get on board with. And I say this because there was a story about Terry McClaurin that came out earlier in the week. He was asked about his fellow wide receivers there in Washington. And his opinion was that somebody's going to step up. Now, it is not the deepest, greatest looking wide receiver room there in Washington. Without a doubt, scary Terry is the number one option in the passing game there. But when you look around, he's wide receiver 26 in guillotine rankings. I guess my first question is, are you cool with that with Terry McClaurin at wide receiver 26? I'm not. I'm not cool with it at all. I mean, I think it's just blatant disrespect, to be honest. I mean, he does have Traylon Berks there. He's got Antonio Williams. You said that somebody is going to step up. Well, who? I mean, Chica's on McClank-Woe. Is he going to step up to. Like, I think that this is Terry's room to start. And he's the veteran. He knows what it. So I think it's a start. I mean, I think it is, too, right? And like, I know, again, he says somebody's going to step up. It was funny to me that you said. They got Traylon Berks there. And that was the same thing that Tennessee Titan said when they moved on from AJ Brown and look how that worked out. I mean, it falls on the category if somebody else has to catch the ball. They can't just live on Terry McClaren targets alone. But I think they're going to live very heavily on Terry McClaren targets. So I've been willing to take him at that price and say thank you for it. Because I think he's going to far outperform where his ADP is right now. Anybody else, he's sort of touched on some names. You mentioned Berks, you mentioned Antonio Williams. Anybody out of that group that particularly catches your eye? Yeah, Williams has caught my eye a little bit. Like I said, I don't watch a lot of college football, but I do go back and watch some tape and some film study on him. And they said that, you know, a monoray anytime you get compared to a player like a monorace Brown, you got my eyes open and you got my ears open as well. So I took a look at it and the guys got some movement. I wouldn't quite say a monorace say brown, but he does have some movement. Hopefully he stays healthy. Will they bring in another veteran wide receiver? We already know that the whole Brennan Ayukesaga that is not going to happen. But there are some other wide receivers out there that need homes. So that would definitely help. And I think that the defensive focus that will be on scary Terry, because he's a really good route runner and he's really crafty and slick. I think the defensive focus that'll be on him could actually open up things for Antonio Williams later in the season. How have they allowed you to stay in the state of Texas and not watch college football? Like I figured they would have like run you out to, they would like drop you off of the New Mexico state line and said like stay here. Right. Oklahoma state line. Like go. Oh yeah, the Mexico. Yeah, Oklahoma will run you out there because you got to go. They go ex-sound me to Mexico, dude. I'm just going to have to go and watch. Yeah, I don't know. It's just it's just that college football. I love college football. It's just so hard for me to keep up. There's so many teams. I'm just like, oh my god. And but I you know what? I'm going to make a vow. I'm going to make a vow for you, Marcus. Okay. I am going to make a vow to watch one college football game every Saturday. I'm going to do it. All right, good for you. I'm going to hold me to it. I mean, like, I, you know, I might be getting you in some trouble here. Don't watch Texas. Don't just don't be a Texas fan. I might still I might still have Vince Young, you know, PTSD. Maybe that's what I have from from the Rose Bowl. Just don't be a Texas fan. No, no, no, no. If anything, it would be all Ohio state fake because that's one of my enough you goes. Uh, okay. I'll allow that, I guess. Anyway, the point of this though is to talk about some boomer bus players, right? Terry McClure and certainly falls in that category. I'm excited about Terry McClure and it seems like other people maybe are not. But when you're looking at guys who have the really high C-Lease, but potentially really scary floors, what's the name that jumps into your mind? Yeah, it's Jonathan Brooks and and we really haven't seen anything from him in the NFL. But I'm going based off of what Dave Canalis and the coaching staff has said and they've said that he is bringing it this this off season in OTAs and I can't wait to see what he'd go do in training camp in preseason as well. They said he's got his speed back. They say that he has just been an absolute animal on the field. So that's a guy I'm willing to take because look in a guillotine league, I'm most likely have had two, maybe three running backs at that point. And if I want to take a shot on somebody like Jonathan Brooks on an offense that I don't think is is terrible. And I like Dave Canalis. I like the way he runs his offenses. So I'm going to go with Jonathan Brooks for me. You know what? I love them coming out of college. My only fear is the one that everybody has, right? A guy who's had two really major injuries to the same knee. That scares me a little bit. I, you know, I could kind of get down with the ADP. He's in the 100s. So you're not really spending a lot of draft capital. And so it's the kind of thing where I know we talk about this being a one week season and wanting those steady floors from everybody. But the reality is you can only start so many guys that are on your roster. So, you know, if you have a strong enough roster and you feel like you're good to go for a week or two, maybe it's worth drafting a guy like Brooks and sticking him on the bench and hoping that what they say is what happens. But I, you know, I don't think anybody's going to be foolish enough to go and stick him in their line up week one. If you do, you sort of get what you deserve or deserve what you get at that point. So I do feel I see the vision. I absolutely see the vision. Just to understand that you might have to wait a couple weeks, survive a couple weeks before you get to get any real payoff with that. I'm going to go Christian Watson who in his career has been the definition of boom or bust, right? It's just like it's early in his career. You just never knew week to week what you were going to get from him. Then unfortunately had some injuries that kept him off the field for a while. But we saw last year when he was healthy and ready to go how much of a playmaker he could be. And we spent the last couple of seasons trying to figure out that Packer's wide receiver room. You know, you have the head coach basically saying we don't have a number one wide receiver and makes me queasy to even talk about stuff like that. And we're like, come on, man. Like, you do have a guy that you want to get the football in their hands. Well, it turns out the Christian Watson was that guy. And he and Jordan Love were very much on the same page last year. We saw plenty of big plays from them when they connected in the passing game. And this year, I think I hope I believe I wish that they would start to turn the offens more over to Jordan Love. And we've seen him be a really talented thrower of the football. I'd like to see him get more opportunities. And if that happens, then that does mean you're going to see more Christian Watson targets. So yeah, I get it that sometimes he can leave you wanting on any given week. But man, when things are right in Green Bay. And also, I think a little unspoken factor to this is with no micro Parsons early in the year, you do wonder if that defense gives up some points and forces Green Bay into a few more track meets early in the season. But either way, for my money, Christian Watson is the number one wide receiver. And he's the guy that I'm going to take a chance with and hope that he hits that ceiling more often than he sits on the floor. Yeah, I know a good call on you, especially the good call about Michael Parsons. That defense could give up some points. They could find themselves in some early shootouts. In good weather. Yes, right. Yeah, before he gets all snowy and nasty there in Green Bay, absolutely could be the case. One more Boomer Bus Guide that you got for me. Yeah, so another one is Rashad White. And it's funny. A lot of people, I don't know if they would categorize him as Boomer Bus. A lot of people would categorize him as inefficient. And I understand if inefficiencies when it comes to the running aspect of his game. But this guy here has never averaged under eight points in any of his games in any of his seasons. So I think that he is one of those players that is just going to be that steady, any guy that just pulls you through. He's on the flex. He gets you eight to 12 touches. A lot of people are, for a lack of a better term, not drafting as much as because they're seeing that he changed his teams. He's not with the same form. I got something to tell you. David Blomow will have this guy catching passes out of the backfill. And we talked about the receivers earlier. The Traylon Berks, Antonio Williams, anyone? No, go ahead and give me a little bit of Rashad White out of the backfill, please. You know, I think there's something to be said, right? We always make a big deal of when guys play with college teammates and that sort of thing. Where are we talking about the fight? Did you got an NSU connection? There were Jay Daniels and Rashad White. Forks up. See another, another reason why I should watch more college football. There it is, man. Forks up there in DC. We'll see if that works out with Rashad White coming up this season. But you're right. I think a lot of people, because of what they saw from him in Tampa, are fading him this year. And maybe we're sleeping a little too much on white in that Washington backfield. Time to do a little bit ahead of the class. We've done it each of the last couple of weeks. We started with the quarterback position. Last week we did running backs. This week, time to talk some wide receivers. Of course, these are based on the safety scores. You can find @phanacylife.com. Our panel of rankers has put all the ADPs together, put their rankings together, and it's sort of combined to give you a score of how much you can trust the guy having him on your fantasy roster. So we will start with the A students, the guys that our rankers feel like are gonna leave you in very good stead. Now mind you, these are sort of the lower end of the A's. Like I'm not gonna sit here and ask you how much you like Pukin' Akua versus Jamar Chase. I mean, you don't really need eyes to see that sort of thing. But maybe some of these guys are a little bit lower. Now, in the A group, we got Jalen Waddle, who has changed teams. It is now in Denver. You got Teteromic Millen. You mentioned how much you like Dave Canales, either way he runs that offense. Malik neighbors who we touched on a little bit earlier and his injury situation. And then Chris Olave in an offense that I think is emerging down there in New Orleans. So of those four Waddle, Macmillan neighbors and Olave, who is the safest for you? - I believe in that second year offense with Kellyn Moore in New Orleans. Like you just talked about Marcus. I really do believe in this offense. And I think that Chris Olave is the safest of this group. I would easily have Malik neighbors in here if he wasn't nursing or coming back from an injury easily, easily. But 2025, I'm going to take you back now, Shere. Weeks 12 through 17, he averaged just under 20 points per game, Chris Olave did. So I think that he is just going to build on this offense. He's going to continue to get a steady, steady opportunities. And I'm not worried about Jordan Tyson. I think that Jordan Tyson and him, I think they can complement each other very well because Jordan Tyson will do the deep routes and Chris Olave will do all the other stuff and possibly get deep too if he needs to. So I'm really in on Chris Olave and out of these groups. - No, I'm with you as well. And I mean, this is the guy who finished as the wide receiver six. No, as you mentioned, a lot of that came in the back half of the season when he had a lot of blow up games there. But I think it sort of speaks to Tyler Shuck getting more comfortable in the offense and finding a target that he can trust there. So I'm very much with you that a guy who finished as a top six receiver is somehow being drafted outside the top 10 receivers in fantasy right now. It makes my brain itch a little bit, but I'm totally in on Chris Olave. Where I said I'm not in on the Steelers offense, I'm very intrigued by the Saints offense. So it means Olave that means Travis HN, even a little bit of Jordan Tyson a little bit later on too. So I'm very much with you there when it comes to Chris Olave. Over to the B students. Again, get to the bottom part of the Bs here. Got DK Medcalf, part of that Steelers offense that I have waved away. Jaden Reed, AKA Dairyland Debo with how they claim they wanna use him there in Green Bay. I've never really seen it actually happen, but that's how they claim they wanna use him. Then a couple of Arizona Cardinals, Michael Wilson, who I was a big fan of, especially in a latter half of the last season. And Marvin Harrison Jr., who arrived in the league with as much or more hype than anybody we had seen in recent years. And to this point, Tip has not really lived up to it. So of Medcalf, Reed, Wilson or Harrison, who is the guy you feel most comfortable with in that group? Yeah, it's Wilson for me. And I hope our backstage guy, Mike, I hope he could get this video up because this is something I think that a lot of people, if they haven't seen it, need to see. It's Michael Wilson from Media Man. Look at this, look at this video. Look at this mark. This is Jacobi Brissette throwing to Marvin Harrison. And the ball goes, all of a sudden goes behind him. I don't know if he can get himself out of his head. I don't know if, like this is the type of year that you should be coming in just complete. We've seen video or pictures of him yoked up, but still you can't be making passes like this. This is, you need to be on point locked in. I think that Michael Wilson is the safest of this. We've seen what Jacobi Brissette and him have done. We saw what he did last year. He had several games with double digit targets, like massive double digit targets. And I think that there is a, there's a, a, a comfortability level because they played so much. Michael Wilson and Jacobi Brissette and Jacobi Brissette is going to sling the ball. So I'm thinking that this is the safest for me and apparently, apparently over the weekend, why we were at the fantasy football expo. Yours truly are truly Marvierre, San Julien, apparently suffered an injury that took him out of 11 on 11 drills. So now he's not only not as he is not catching, he's also like just not on the field. Like what's going on? I'm done with them. Yeah, you know, here's the thing. I started to re-believe. I once believed in the third year wide receiver breakout. And we started to see that the last couple of years. And I still think there's a path, right? I'm not fully ready to write off Marvin Harrison, Jr. I'm also not drafting him. If I'm going down to Arizona, I've taken Jacobi Brissette in the late round. I took him in the King's class and draft. I took him on my very last pick, partially because I had Tray McBride and Michael Wilson. And I'm like, "Yeah, it might be fun to play around with a cardinal stack," which is not words I thought I would say out loud in the year of our football, or 2026, but here we are. I think there's a path for Marvin Harrison to start to take off. And I think having a new coaching staff, they've talked about moving him around the formation, basically trying to play to his strengths, which is not something that Drew Petsing did in past years. That sounds wonderful. I don't want to be a part of it. And I'm willing, I'm willing to take the L on Marvin Harrison if he has a great year. But give me Michael Wilson out of this group because I know what I saw with him in Jacobi Berset last year. I don't think a lot of things have changed in Arizona in the sense that they're still going to be bad. They're still going to be playing from behind. And I wouldn't be surprised if Berset is throwing the ball 35 to 40 times a week like he did last year. And honestly, I'm not even really worried about Carson Beck if he comes in later in the season because they're still going to be bad and they're still going to throw the football a lot. So out of that group, give me Michael Wilson completely. The C students, we got DJ Moore, who now collects his mail in Buffalo. Quentin Johnston, who is getting a lot of hype with the chargeers. We have Ricky Peersol, who, you know, they say sometimes your best ability is your availability and he has struggled in that category so far in his NFL career. And then Luther Burton, whose hype train, it's the Chicago's, it's Chicago to the hype L, I guess, is pretty much riding off the rails there in the Chicago land area of those four. More, the former bear, a burden, the current bear, Johnston and Peersol, who do you like the most? Yeah, this one was a tough one. And it was two players that really, really set it apart for me in DJ Moore and Luther Burton. And I just want with DJ Moore just because I feel like he's going to be the option, the number one option for Josh Allen. I know that Kylosha Kier is there. I know Skyler Bell is there. I get it, but some of these players are not going to be doing what DJ Moore has done or is going to do this season. I think out of this grouping, DJ Moore's going to be the safest bet for me. I wanted to go with, I was even like, look, I can live dangerously and go after Quentin Johnson. But that's equivalent to putting on a meat suit and being drafted in the shark infested waters. And I just something, I don't know if I want to do with him, especially in a guillotine league. Shark Week, fun on TV, not on your fantasy roster. Yeah, well, the Quentin Johnson thing is interesting because I do see a lot of hype. I've seen in some drafts where he even goes ahead of Lad Maconkey. I'm not built that way. I liked what I saw early in the season. But Quentin Johnson sort of ghosted a lot of folks in the back half of last year. And that's the part that worries me a little bit with him. I don't know, I feel like people are sort of underestimating or underrating DJ Moore. And I get it that we saw last year in Chicago we saw the Luther Burton excitement as the season went on. Romo Dunes, they obviously was hurt and didn't play his best football. DJ Moore's really good football player. And I feel like part of what has hurt him is that the last thing we saw from him was him either slowing down on a rattle, whatever that last class that Caleb Williams threw, they got picked off against the Rams. And a lot of folks said that Moore either quit on the route or didn't know where he was supposed to be. Whatever it is, I feel like that's the last thing we saw of him. And that's what people are remembering when it comes to drafts. And I don't think that accurately represents who DJ Moore is. Now he goes to Buffalo where they were very much in the wide receiver one. I think he fills that bill. I'm very curious to see how he and Josh Allen connect early in the season. But I think for people who draft DJ Moore, I think you're going to get a lot more than you're expecting in a very good way. So I'm surprised that he has fallen this far. Ricky Peersall, I like the talent. I just need you stay on the field. And now with Mike Evans there, you are very clearly the number two option. And then when George Kittle is back and healthy, again, Ricky Peersall probably very much the number three option in the San Francisco passing game. So yeah, a lot to sort of sort through there. I also think it's interesting, by the way, a tip that these are the names that are in the C category. Because these are names that on the redraft side, I think have a lot more interest. I think in a situation where we're talking about them in kind of a one week format sort of deal. baby they don't have the level of excitement here. But it does feel like there's there's some options tip when it comes to wide receiver and the later parts of your draft. So how about for a treat we get you some D students as well right not normally the sort of students you're gravitating toward to try and build a roster but you know we like diversity of thought here on this on this show so I have four for the D students here for you a couple of Jacksonville Jaguars, Parker Washington and Brian Thomas Jr. and you want to talk about life comes at you fast wouldn't that long ago we're looking at Brian Thomas is a late first round pick now we have him in the D category a couple others you got Jerry Judy and Khalil Shakir so when you are looking at that quartet of guys which is the one that floats your boat the most yeah I'm actually gonna go back to the well I'm gonna go with Brian Thomas Jr. on this one I think last year there was a compilation of things that happened now of course he got injured he was playing with the heavy heart he had lost a friend earlier in the season I think that a lot of things he you know he's a young player he's still a second year in NFL I think he was really trying to figure some things out through the mental aspect of a hard season I think this year minds clear he's healthy the him and Trevor Lawrence have been working together a lot this all season they gain that that chemistry and Trevor Lawrence and him will gain that chemistry and I think it's gonna happen this year so I'm going back with Brian Thomas Jr. on this one I think that he's gonna be the safer the bad although I do like Parker Washington I just think that Parker Washington does a lot of things that some of the other wide receivers on that team can do namely Jacobi Myers former Raiders so I look I'm gonna go with Brian Thomas Jr. I think this office is going to evolve another thing too that I'll leave you with Marcus and everyone is that Liam Cohen who I criticised I made fun of at the beginning of last year dude did a phenomenal job but I'll tell you this Liam Cohen said that last year they left a lot of meat on the bone and this year they so that tells me that they are going to is try to take this office to another level so that way they don't leave that meat on the bone so I think that this is gonna be that year that this Jacksonville Jaguar offense and Brian Thomas Jr. have a bounce back I'm very curious about it too because it is a crowded wide receiver room you mentioned Myers we know Thomas Parker Washington the other guy that's getting a lot of run in fantasy drafts I'm sort of curious about that because it felt like there were times last year when Trevor Lawrence had never met Brian Thomas Jr. you're trying to figure out what it is the other part the other part of this that we didn't even mention too is Travis Hunter is back in healthy and for what it's worth the Jaguar is coaching staff in front of us say they still want him to be a two-way player and they still want to use him on offense so that's another mouth potentially to feed if he really does do what the Jaguar say they want him to do so definitely something to keep in mind I think because of where their ADP's are you're not giving up a whole lot of draft capital so I think it's worth taking a swing at one of them when why not Brian Thomas because he was drafted to be sort of that alpha in the Jacksonville wide receiver room and you know so we'll see if that comes the pass again these are guys that you're taking leader in draft maybe not necessarily counting on to carry your team but you hope they do offer at least a semi-stable floor with some upside Brian Thomas definitely fits into that category so there you go we'll be back with some more head of the class in the week I say weeks to come but week to come because we only have tight ends left though we talk about this whole thing so there you go that we'll wrap it up for this edition of chop we appreciate you hanging in with us thanks to our man Nick for production assistance as well but be sure to hang out with us next week we'll be back helping you through this crazy fantasy format that there is for tip major I'm Marcus Grant this has been chop we'll see you again next world