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Fantasy Football - Ice & Fire Show + We're Baaaaaaack! - Podcast for 8/3

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Fantasy Football - Ice & Fire Show + We're Baaaaaaack! - Podcast for 8/3

The podcast opens with hosts Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright welcoming listeners to August, emphasizing the start of a five-day-a-week show and the availability of the Ultimate Draft Kit for fantasy football preparation. They announce the 2026 Listener League, where fans can submit creative entries for one week only, encouraging personality over pure skill. The news segment covers key NFL updates: Ricky Pearsall’s season-ending PCL injury, leading to Deebo Samuel’s one-year deal with the 49ers; Chris Olave’s lucrative four-year extension despite injury concerns; and various player updates including Tucker Craft’s return and Chiefs’ rookie Cyrus Allen’s minor injury. The hosts debate the fantasy relevance of Deebo and Olave, with differing opinions on receiver tandems. The Ice and Fire segment begins with Andy selecting Travis Kelce as his "Ice" pick, citing concerns about his age, conditioning (including an unflattering photo), and ranking him lower than his co-hosts. The conversation includes a humorous tangent about AI image editing, where the team subtly altered a coworker’s hairline in a poster as a prank. Overall, the episode blends draft preparation, league announcements, injury news, and spirited fantasy debates, setting the tone for the upcoming season.

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Speaker 1Foot Clan welcome to August we are five days a week for the show drafts are right around the corner and if you want to dominate your draft get the ultimate draft kit come on this ride with us be an ultimate foot clan member you can get every tool and resource that you need to win your draft
Speaker 2at ultimate draft kit.com welcome to the fantasy footballers podcast with your host Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright
Speaker 3welcome in oh baby welcome to August the fantasy footballers are here Jason Moore, Mike the fantasy hitman I'm Andy Holloway and it's go time my kids my kids that they're in school now that's right get out of my life you get rid of the kids you bring the football in get out of my life it is hey no I mean that dad's got drafts dad's got drafts welcome to August welcome back to the show Monday August 3rd five days a week from here through the end of the season we are thrilled to have you with us we've got big announcements we've got news and we've got ice and fire on the show so we're kicking off August the right way I'm already salivating in anticipation for the drop and we are thrilled to have the foot clan back with us for another season of hopeful domination this is the fun time of year you build that draft strategy you get ready to rumble the draft kit as Jason said at the top it's available at ultimate draft kit.com it is better than ever new features every year including a mock draft tool this year and so excited to have you with us if you want to help the shot if you've been with us a long time there are a couple quick things you can do completely free that just help the podcast in the month of August and we'll see you next time on the draft kit and we'll see you next time on the August which is a big month subscribe to the show on YouTube Apple podcast Spotify click that subscribe button if you are a subscriber but you haven't been back to the show in a little while Apple's like doing this new thing where they just turn off your automatic downloads yeah and so if you're back in business click that button that says turn on automatic download so
Speaker 4you have do it the new do it now don't let so you have the new episode don't don't let this big business corporation try and tell you what you want to listen to if you want to downloads at
Speaker 3one point in time and now now they're saying you don't want them they don't know you tell
Speaker 4them what to do do it oh man are you doing is that the buff I don't think it is I think that's
Speaker 3a new thing that's a new thing I'm my own thing and then we have a big announcement and I hope you're listening because this will be your only chance to listen to this announcement the listener league for 2026 the entries you can send them in right now one week only this is the one time we announce it we never talk about it again listener league at fantasyfootballers.com what but Andy yes voice of public opinion
Speaker 4what what does that mean what do you what do I submit you are submitting your entry
Speaker 3it could be a video it could be anything that you want to get our attention it can't be anything you want it can be anything you want okay we know from years past that they have taken that
Speaker 4literally and that's okay well I'm saying don't if you send a wall of text we don't read well
Speaker 3that's yeah you know how long it takes to read yeah we don't reads a lot but if you want to send us something to catch our eye we will review the listener league submissions we will pick a number of of lucky individuals to join us in the 2026 listener league show us
Speaker 4like show us the personality because the list the listener league is not the oh I'm so good at fantasy football I could all beat you guys I promise we did we want we want a league that has fun people with fun interaction throughout the year yes you're good at fantasy football we know we know you listen yeah you're listening to the show but we just the list league
Speaker 1is always about good vibes and good people yeah I mean this is where we met Brooks this is where we met the biggest loser what an idiot that guy is but we met you know close people now um that we obviously love and adore through the listener league it's a great time it's great league come
Speaker 3play with us or or try to so I will say it one more time listener league at fantasy footballers dot com that is where you send your listener league entries if you send them to our support people they will delete your email if you send me a dm and you say hey has anybody listened to our support people they will delete your email if you send me a dm and you say hey has anybody listened to our support people they will delete your email if you send me a dm and you say hey has anybody listened to our support people they will delete your email if you send me a dm and you say hey has anybody looked at it yet I promise every single one of them gets looked at that's one of the cool things yes our team we review them we see every entry and we will respond to every person in time but it takes a while so there you go we'd love to play with you let's talk some news
Speaker 2news and notes from around the league
Speaker 3don't you feel the energy Mike don't you feel the energy right now man I'm nervous yeah do it Ricky Pierce all there's the energy out of this out of the building oh man oh is that the electrical substation oh no it's getting everybody I just yes and no Ricky Pierce all placed on season ending it's coming for you Mike Evans electro PCL reconstruction surgery for Ricky Pierce all dude
Speaker 4big time bummer uh like I don't know I don't know if I'm gonna be able to do it but I'm gonna do it like I don't know if I'm gonna be able to do it but I'm gonna do it but I'm gonna do it but I'm gonna do it Pierce like Pierce all if if if you want to buy in anything to the substation Pierce all was not an injury guy in college he goes to San Francisco immediately an injury guy and uh getting shot
Speaker 1yeah at first he got shot yes that's what that is fair that wasn't the substation was it we will never know it's a bad neighborhood around you know listen substations every
Speaker 3player in the NFL has a story and unfortunately the story of Ricky Pierce all is one of the one of injury now that's the story for him whether he comes back it's a bummer man I mean this is a
Speaker 1tough one to come back from like we I know you see a lot of ACL injuries and a PCL reconstruction is is worse and so he's already lost the beginning of his career basically now he's got to the team is going to move forward they just have to yes and then he's got to come back and somehow earn his way back on I hope he can I hope he does someday but it's it's an uphill battle from here
Speaker 3one of the best ways to come back and be relevant at some point is when you have Mike Evans and Deebo Samuel on your roster who are older and may move on at some point but Deebo Samuel was also added to the roster one year deal
Speaker 4Ricky will be Ricky's turning 26 real soon so he will be 27 and like dynasty manager the team shed a tear San Francisco has to do something would you trade him away for a third look how
Speaker 3sad the dynasty look how sad the falcon no I would not he's so sad oh the Niners fan Dejohn Stribling also held out of practice that would be the 49ers they should up and coming wide receiver yeah
Speaker 1hamstring they should hold him out of the rest of all the practices all players practice off they
Speaker 3can't get injured if they're not practicing I mean they this is not the only injury I mean they have like a handful already the rookie defensive end uh not to bypass it Deebo Samuel signed to a one-year deal everything the team is saying that this was going to be something that happened regardless of the Pierce law situation he said he they're going to use him in kick returns punt returns all over the field Debo if he's going to be successful again this is a good place to try to do that where they know his strengths and weaknesses they can use him in the offense and
Speaker 1there's a need because everybody's hurt all the time yeah I I think this is a good landing spot for him and it's good for the Niners I don't know that it's very fantasy relevant I expect at this point he's going to be used a lot you know close to the line of scrimmage special teams that type of stuff TBD but obviously I like Mike Evans a variant on Mike Evans but you're holding your breath I'm holding my breath because of electrical substation yeah I mean that hamstring is like beef jerky at this point and you know it's just one wrong cut and all of a sudden you know Deebo's
Speaker 3more needed I think I initially have Deebo ranked right now at wide receiver 44 which is probably higher than Mike has him probably higher than you have him but that's not super relevant Chris Olave baby oh get dashed for money we got that drop for Chris Olave this is the opposite of the Ricky Pearsall story this is an injury plagued yeah we like this one terrifying future situation that has turned into a four-year 132 million dollar extension for Chris Olave 90 million dollars guaranteed that's how the team feels about the injury risk
Speaker 1yeah they are they are bullish on Olave I've always loved I mean we've we've always loved Olave since he came out and he just became scared yeah I mean you know you look like you are one head injury away from the career being over but they are invested they believe in him he was awesome last year I had someone be like well when's he played a full season last year he week 18 he took off as all players should and all fantasy managers should um yeah I know it was it was take it off He had a blood clot. He sure did. He took it off for a blood clot. Okay. Mike, what are you doing? I'm saying that he played without injury. He didn't get injured. His soft tissue issues, his concussion. He did get injured. He had a blood clot. Would you call that an injury? Yes. For real? Yes. Not a football-related injury. Just an injury. I guess I wouldn't call that an injury. I see Al shaking his head no. He wouldn't call that an injury.
Speaker 2That's just a medical condition.
Speaker 1Yeah. Would you call diabetes an injury if you had low blood sugar or something and you're like, I can't play? I don't know. Regardless. That's a fair point. Regardless. For a medical reason, taking the day off. That's a fair counterpoint. Okay.
Speaker 4If someone's like, I can't go to work today because I'm having severe issues with my diabetes. Yeah. Would you say, oh, you're taking the day off?
Speaker 1Yes. Okay. Out with illness. The point here for the fact that they are. They are all in on Olave. They paid the money because he had such a successful season and really, his career when he's been on the field has been awesome. Jordan Tyson, also very healthy. We had all the hamstring issues coming in at the draft and even early camps. It was like, is he going to be a ... These two guys, I know you're in on Tyler Shuck. Oh, yes. These two guys, I'm starting to realize.
Speaker 4Oh, very much.
Speaker 1They're a top ... They are already, I believe, today, a top five tandem in the NFL. Oh, come on. No, for real. Top five's crazy. No, I don't. I think it goes ... So, you got Jamar and Tee Higgins.
Speaker 4Yeah, so Cowboys and Bengals are top two.
Speaker 1Cowboys, Lamb and Pickens. Lamb and Pickens, they're done. I think Puka and Devontae Adams, they're above them. Okay. I think Amin Ra and Jamison Williams, they're above them. That's where ... Okay, now you go ... The fifth is where they could go. Jefferson and Addison, okay, sure. Maybe you put them ahead.
Speaker 3You can't give Tyson that level of respect without a snap of the hand on the field.
Speaker 1Sure can. I mean, you can, and I think it's deserved. I think he is an absolute maniacal stud. I don't even know if he's better than Olave. That's new. It's August.
Speaker 4You got to bring out the new stuff.
Speaker 1Jordan Tyson, is there ... I mean, then you're going, I mean, Waddle Sutton?
Speaker 4Look, Andy can have them outside the top five while we are here, and then he's going to have to scramble to catch up, but it'll be too late.
Speaker 1Yeah, I think that they are there. They are at that tier of ... In that fifth tier. Personally. Okay.
Speaker 3So, that's why we have the show. Tucker Craft, activated from the PUP list. Realistic, he'll take part in joint practices.
Speaker 1He's running very well when it's straight.
Speaker 3It's awesome that Tucker Craft is in the practice consideration right now after the injury. Chris Brazell, season-ending IR. That's a bummer. Kyle Menungai returned to practice after missing three practices. It was a soft tissue issue. Xavier Worthy avoided a serious shoulder injury. He had been carted off. And rookie wide receiver who was making waves, Cyrus Allen, he was carted off, but it's a shin bruise, and he had been making plays.
Speaker 1What a wild Twitter rollercoaster that was. If you were on the football Twitters, Cyrus Allen was almost Offensive Player of the Year in 2026. He was pretty much the most important player in all of football projected for a day or two. Then it was carted off. His career is over, and it was a shin bruise. So, TBD.
Speaker 4Man. The Chiefs, every year, the Chiefs always have a guy where you're like, holy crap, this really late drafted player is about to come into the NFL and set it on fire.
Speaker 3I mean, I'll say this, that like Rashi Rice running downfield looked awful. His knee is not ready. And I know you said maybe he's warming up. That's not a warm-up run. That was a full-on run. Are you sure? Yeah, I'm positive. It was a full, I agree, it was a full run. It was what he's at right now.
Speaker 1I will say this. We are still months away from the season, and you would expect him coming off of this injury to not be at 100% right now, but he was clearly not at 100%.
Speaker 3And the reason that the Chiefs have somebody every offseason is because it's been a long time since Tyreek Hill existed. And we are trying to find somebody to believe in each and every offseason, whether it's Jalen Royals for an offseason. Skymore. I mean, we know that Mahomes could supply somebody with a lot of fantasy value. And I still think- With it being Cyrus Allen, they're not high. No.
Speaker 1And it's- Cyrus Allen is just a great name to know for Dynasty Leagues. I assume by this point in time, he's been picked up in all Dynasty Leagues. But there's some out there that maybe he's sitting on the waivers, and you should scoop him up immediately.
Speaker 3And to the Rashi Rice point, it's just that he is recovering from an actual injury. Absolutely. There was a ton of offseason, you know, off-the-field issues and jail time and things of that nature. But you also want to know that this player is back at full strength and going to be a focal point of the offense. And he's a really tough player because I don't think Rashi Rice, and we've said this before, I think you guys agree, in a different offense, in a different environment, he's not the fantasy player that he is in Kansas City. They use him around the goal line, on touch passes, and into rounds, and screens, and short area targets, and he scores a lot of touchdowns, and he's a go-to guy in this offense. There are question marks around his effectiveness because of injury, because of Kelsey's effectiveness, who I think draws interior coverage. If he's not as good, does Rice- Does Rice get as much work or have as much success? Probably, because of Patrick Mahomes. But they're still, this is a limited player. This is not a player that's running, you know, 25-yard digs, and I mean, maybe that's in his repertoire, but we haven't seen it. He's been a closer-to-the-line-of-scrimmage catch-and-run guy. Which, the funniest- And the running part is the part I'm worried about.
Speaker 4The funniest part, or the funniest thing I said about that was, well, he doesn't get passes that far down the field anyways. So what are you worried about? With the run? Yeah, no, I mean- I was like, that's not his eight-odd over there. It isn't, so.
Speaker 3Unless we have any other news, unless the 49ers and the substation have attacked again-
Speaker 4I'll let you know. We'll break in.
Speaker 3We're going to go ahead and take a break and get into Ice and Fire. Are we ready for this?
Speaker 2Ice and Fire. Ice and Fire.
Speaker 3Well, this is always a very fun segment. It's one of my favorites. We've done this for live shows before, but we each have picked an Ice and Fire player to talk about for the upcoming season. I'm going to come clean right at the top of this segment. Okay. Today's going to be a hard day for me. Okay. Because I know the names that are coming up. You don't necessarily love them. I'm not in agreement with a couple of them, and it's going to be really tough for me.
Speaker 1Well, that's great. I mean, we shouldn't always be in agreement, but it gives us a chance to sway you.
Speaker 3Yeah, no, I- You're who we're talking to. Let me put it this way. I am all ears. I would like to know where my brain is diverging from your brain, and I'm excited to hear it. We're going to start off- With- I mean, it's a perfect segue. We just talked about this team. I want to talk about Travis Kelsey.
Speaker 4Travis Kelsey is- You want to talk about screenshots? If you're talking about the Rasheed Rice route. You're talking about dad bod? The Travis Kelsey photo is not flattering. I don't know. That's the problem now. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know anymore. Now I feel like- And angles of everything and where the shirt may- Or jersey may have just bloused out, but- Yeah, him and Debo got-
Speaker 1I hope they got AI'd. Debo's always been bigger, and it's fine.
Speaker 3Yeah, Debo's been thick boy forever. I mean, we had thick boy Debo in Washington, and he still had-
Speaker 4Never forget fat Keenan Allen season, too.
Speaker 3Oh, yeah, he dominated. Well, let's just say this. It's a really tough thing in the AI world, because you know what people are doing? It's funny if you're like, hey, let's make Victor Wiminyama 30 feet tall. I could tell that's AI. Right. But now they're doing this thing where it's like, make the legs a little. A little bit longer. Just a little bit, so it looks just a little bit weird.
Speaker 1Give him eight pounds.
Speaker 3Yeah, what are we doing? That should be what's banned in AI. I don't care about all the rest. Just don't let people do subtle changes to appearance.
Speaker 4Just learn how to do a joke. Right.
Speaker 3Yeah, we did do that with one of our employees, though, huh? Oh, we did. It was so good. We changed his hairline just a little bit.
Speaker 1We got to tell this story. This is great.
Speaker 4But that's the joke for that one. Yeah, so- We know how to tell jokes.
Speaker 3We play a bunch of games in the office. People are champions of that game and take unreasonable amounts of pride in winning these stupid little games. He had one. He printed a poster of himself. A large poster. We're talking 24 by 36 framed poster. Someone should grab it and bring it. Above his desk.
Speaker 4Nah, leave it.
Speaker 3No. And then he went on vacation. And he's a young man. He's the youngest man in this office. He's a very handsome man. Handsome, strong, virile. You know, whatever a young person is. And doesn't have the best hairline. The hairline, though, is going. That's his issue. We all have our issues. That's his. Yeah, it's his Achilles heel. And quite a heel. Yeah. It was worse than mine. We took the photo down. We scanned the photo. We moved his hairline back. Just a little bit. We reprinted the photo and we hung it up above his desk.
Speaker 1To see how long until he would notice that his hairline is worse. Right above his head.
Speaker 3The problem, one of the problems was, his name is Jake Pitner, and we changed his name to Jork Diddler. and that really let him know that the poster was wrong and that's where we went off but mike is just so ashamed that i shared that part um but the hairline we subtly moved it and and uh he noticed so listen travis kelsey and the and the ai dad bod or not i mean look you're going to get one when you're entering the near 40 age range he's 36.8 years old we're going to talk about travis kelsey but he is my ice chili okay that don't ruin my thing all right that sounds like you like ice um travis kelsey i know mike you've talked more positively about him as kind of like maybe he's a great floor tight end yes uh i am very i'm very concerned uh on a number of levels it's not surprising i have him the lowest of the three of us by a lot mike's got him at nine jason at 11 i got him at 17. you know i i feel like part of the argument is the obvious stuff everything's going down in terms of the production the snap percentage the target share the targets per outrun the receptions the red zone targets i mean it is gone down significantly i think the red zone targets is one to bring up specifically we're like 26 down to 11 that's a big difference so then you're like is he just less valuable do they use them less is he losing a step well the chiefs were like when they targeted the tight end position travis kelsey 20th in yards per attempt 22nd and past success rate 32nd in percentage of inaccurate targets he's not where he used to be that's the point if you are 32nd in inaccurate target numbers about to be 37 which i will forgive crap how is he that old i will forgive it if he's not playing football you can be 37 yeah you just can't do it on a field and have seven years of experience success and 41 of his routes at this point now are the old guy routes the short stuff you don't get the big plays that you used to get from kelsey his fantasy points per game are in decline 15 11 9 9.1 i i agree that there's a world where travis kelsey is fine as a floor play tight end but do you want i mean jason you've talked so much about the tight end position yeah if you're not going for a big top five i think it's a top five you know but if you're not going for a big bowers mcbride loveland warren fannin oh you put fannin in okay i put fannin that's fine you don't
Speaker 4have to four and a half whatever you don't want to put last year's top five tight end travis kelsey
Speaker 3in there well i mean it's a it is a product of availability not performance it is um he he is he has been out there i just think it might be worth taking a shot at a high upside athletic tight end like isaiah likely in new york britain strange in the offense that we're going to love in jacksonville i mean they could be a super bowl contender um i just find it to be like there's a world where you draft kelsey high enough to where you lock him in as your tight end and he performs bad enough for you to be really not able to make
Speaker 1the moves you need to make that's where i think i disagree is where he's being drafted is not high i mean he's double digit rounds we've done mocks where he's undrafted if you know he if he's not one of the top 12 that you're when i draft i'm either getting one of those top guys or i'm waiting till the very last pick and there's been times where at that last pick i'm basically waiting to see if i want kelsey or kincaid and and i do i will say this i usually go the other way i'm trying to swing for the fences to have someone that is a higher upside however you know kelsey will be involved in the offense we'll get you know if you're in a people especially a full ppr league you should have a safe floor and it costs you nothing the question is could he score
Speaker 3more around the goal line i was going to ask mike do you you know if you're in a ppr league you know outside of the availability argument in the nine you know eight or nine points game is there a world in your mind that travis kelsey and a year older is making a jump up that's kind of the decision is it not a meaning like above those top five names i gave no no no no or tucker
Speaker 4craft uh no kyle pitts kyle pitts maybe okay uh you know for all the what we're talking about here last year kyle pitts even with the greatest game that a fantasy tight end has ever given us 9.8 points per game and travis kelsey was just over nine like this is not a a wide margin between the two where kyle pitts could absolutely be like he he still has a ceiling that we don't know if it's there or if it's not it won't be there for the the upside play for him is he's so late in the draft and the the addition of kenneth walker makes this offense better and you actually when when you get into the you know inside the five we used to get all those like the fun the bowling ball throw to travis kelsey because the defense actually had to worry about is the running back going to get the ball so yeah ken walker makes it much better so that that's where i'm not going to push back a ton and say like i love
Speaker 3travis kelsey or i'm really curious about what third downs look like for the chiefs this year because to me the third down magic last year was mahomes's lakes he would get out of situations and pick up a third down if it's third and six seven and he's running down the field spraying with water i barely spray him with water i'll get you next time you know is kelsey going to be able to be open for those third down conversions you know how do they do that without mahomes legs so there you go my eyes not a surprising one but also one i think to me i'm aiming elsewhere i'm going elsewhere i'm going to not appropriate too much the name and expect too much from him travis kelsey i know i like
Speaker 4the if you're talking about you know the the younger guys of like isaiah likely okonkwo guys that they're they probably will not pan out but they're at least at an at an age for for football players that something good could happen that we're not really seeing yet all right who's who's
Speaker 1up next the suspense is building all right i'll i'll go next i'm going to go from a player who is in the double digit rounds to a player who's very very very high in drafts a player that we all love and by we i don't just mean the three of us i mean the world uh the player i loved coming out i'm also however getting cold oh ice it's devon a chan is my ice pick for 2026 and this is i'm closer and closer to agreeing look it's sad you both are both are there and i am unhappy so let me talk to you and you think we're happy about these things you currently have him as your running back four i get it he was awesome last year uh he was so consistent he had more than 11 fantasy points in every single game there's only four running backs that have ever done that priest holmes back in 2003 demarco murray christian mccaffrey once and last year's devon a chance so and obviously the dolphins were bad last year so the argument is like well if the argument is that he's not going to win he's going to win he's going to win he's on a bad team and he's still on a bad team however he's on a much worse team i mean that's so here's here is my argument when i say he's on a much worse team i'm saying how many total points are the miami dolphins going to score because without waddle and without tua and with no wide receiver weapons without mike mcdaniel without exactly without mike mcdaniel they are most likely going to score fewer points than the miami dolphins they're going to score fewer points than last year now if we look at the vegas lines they are projected for the 29th most total nfl points that is really really bad if you look at the wins they are projected for a grand total of five and a half wins no no no it was at four and a half kyle what is what is that three two can i get a two four and a half four and a half wins and so obviously we we talk about we want players from running back position from good teams that win games that doesn't mean they can't come from a bad team and be good but where is he being drafted is he being drafted at a value or is he not and right now he's being drafted at like the one two turn he is being drafted as a clear-cut rb1 very high he's costing you a lot in fantasy and very similar to how i had ashen genti as my bust pick last year i look at the situation i go it's it's not going to return you're going to return you're going to make a mistake if you're taking them that high it's going to work out poor for you you have first of all over the last two years he played with the quarterback that targeted the running back position more than any quarterback in the nfl that is his superpower a target is worth so much more than a carry for fantasy football and those targets will certainly go down not only does he lose to a but he goes all the way to a quarterback that we don't know his tendencies because we haven't seen him much but malik willis has wheels and might scramble instead of checking it down here or there that makes sense that sucks but you know can it work for a team that wins four and a half games to have a running back really give you value at that one two turn in fantasy football how rare his adp is is crazy listen to this since 2014 there's only three running backs who were drafted in the top three rounds with a win total of five and a half or fewer isaiah crowell back in 2017 david johnson in 2019 and this year devon achan being drafted not just the top three but a borderline first round his adp he's uh like 202 last i saw this morning
Speaker 3so what running back is that because i think it was i know i'm above i think it was running back
Speaker 1here's a study and this i think you'll you'll like hearing you won't like hearing this but uh brandon gadula that's the opposite yeah yeah i'm saying you need to hear this okay i'm saying open your ears here's this thing that you'll like here's this thing that you're not gonna like it it's like having your vegetables you don't like it but you really need it and you need to hear this among running backs drafted in the first three rounds since 2014 only 27 were on teams projected for fewer than seven wins and remember a chance at four and a half 30 of that group outperformed their adp in terms of fantasy points per game there's just you to be outrageously perfect have crazy high touchdown the 44 of those fell shy of their
Speaker 4expectation by at least two points per game yeah two ppr points so there's a weird thing going on
Speaker 3this year i'm trying to be very open-minded to this argument i hate it because i think devon hn is in the gibbs category of talent he's a great player and so we we look at this and i'm looking at the adp in the top like all right but john is bijan's 7.5 wins for atlanta that's sub 500 it's not that same level but then like you know the raiders the raiders are going to be at five and a half six and a half depending on the book you're looking at dolphins are at the bottom of that list but it's interesting because all three of those names are your top in your top seven top eight yeah and so push is going to come to shove i know you love ashen genti yes and so it's hard for me to swallow devon hn going from the singular most consistent running back so his ability his special talent last year to me was overcoming how horrendous the dolphins were that was his gift his gift was just somehow they're down by a million points he still ends up with big performances if i i hate doubting the talent of devon hn and that's what it feels like you're doing yeah all your numbers not what i'm doing your numbers make sense but you're playing the
Speaker 1odds not the player i am playing the odds not the player i think that's where we odds are that devon hn is a very bad bet if you want to pick him at where he's going currently and hopefully after this show maybe he gets down into that you know middle of the third round it's like oh that's a value you know scoop him up it just feels like he's going to have to be and i know you agree
Speaker 4mike and i i hear what you're saying it makes sense you have mike mcdaniel being gone is on that's the the biggest red flag for me and then malik willis we know you know look guys that you just you you get fewer checkdowns it does happen it's just to play slightly devil's advocate
Speaker 3argument just to get your response to this we also know that the absence of weapons lends itself towards a heavier involvement this is a guy that got paid huge amounts of money this offseason the offense is devon hn he came out yesterday and in in training camp he's focused on winning the rushing record for the season i mean that's the goal for him is to be the rushing leader so for me that's one where i drew the line on talent over situation that's the bet when you take i feel like we've done with bijan for a number of you when you take him at adp that
Speaker 4is 100 the bet uh it's like what what does it look like what does this offense look like when hn is everything and i know he was like yeah he's a focal point i admit that you have an argument but it's like you still had waddle last year who is an a an elite player and then adp wise it's like what i'm seeing right now you know barkley he's right around where hn is going and then right after hn is hampton chase brown kenneth walker derrick henry all running backs that you will
Speaker 3not be able to draft yeah i mean i i could see an argument for walker over him hampton over him um chase brown over him i i don't see i don't i don't see i don't see saquon or henry you don't
Speaker 1okay yeah yeah no i mean he will get the ball a lot my issue is i think it'll be more on the ground we here's what we know we know that every uh second and long they will mistakenly hand the
Speaker 3ball to hn because bobby sloak is there i was so yeah i mean third and long is gonna absolutely rip i feel like part of this argument is you are you're you're building an idiocy by the dolphins because the only an idiot would not give the ball to this man no i think they will give it to the
Speaker 1target is worth so much more in fantasy football what is the average 6.1 to carry something like that man he's a great player what is the average per target and half point on top of that i'm
Speaker 3saying fantasy points too if it's not him i don't know yeah i mean that's that's where a long list of no i told you it's gonna be hard for me to follow i wanted to have the conversation and the the numbers are compelling the numbers of your odds are not great um i'm not sure the adp is too expensive or not that's the hard part but you bring up some names where like i'm getting really toasty about ken walker you know it's like seems like he's gonna be the chief's offense we have all these discussions around rice and cyrus allen and kelsey it just feels like the chiefs
Speaker 4are gonna be ken walker in the defense hn is so that's a tough one he's and then he's in this category of i don't know if i want him at his adp but if he's on my opponent's team i'm gonna be like all right what you got mike all right well speaking of jalen waddle let's get right to it fire absolute fire new denver broncos superstar jalen waddle yes i have a jalen waddle problem but i think we finally have a solution guys we got him over to bo nicks and sean payton and the denver broncos he's going right now about the back of the fourth wide receiver 23 so a fringe wide receiver two and just remember what happened so jalen waddle he's still in prime age you know he'll he will be turning 23 and he's still in prime age and he's still in prime age and he's still we're okay with that uh these are still some prime years for the wide receiver position the broncos traded a first a future third and fourth to go get jalen waddle they looked at what they had last year uh in terms of of pass catchers and weapons and sean payton and crew decided this is not enough you know bo nicks what is it bo nicks threw the ball more than anyone in the nfl last year and it doesn't feel like it because you didn't get the production because you have a true elite player the the the superlatives coming from sean payton about jalen waddle are already just top tier saying he walks on water with his traits talk about the great speed okay sean hey perhaps a little blasphemous but it's gonna be good for your fantasy football team great speed and and and stop so like that that start stop stuff it's really important and that's that's how waddle can win last year you know in totality it didn't fully work for for jalen waddle and crew but on a per route basis look man still elite you know we're talking to a player who is a 2.42 yards per route run a 26 targets per route run this is a guy that gets the ball he because he demands the ball because he gets open per ryan heath over the last four years waddle was targeted on 29 of his routes and averaged 2.85 yards per route run this is a guy that gets the ball because he demands the ball when tyree kill was not on the field so this is a player that he can be a true number one it the beginning of jalen waddle's career was he was banished to siberia aka the miami dolphins only to give us a wide receiver 16 season as a rookie then a wide receiver seven and we thought man the wheels are absolutely up but then they bring in tyree kill and you it's understandable that tyree kill is going to come in he's going to take it and take over and and be the true wide receiver one on the team but now he gets to be the wide receiver one for the denver broncos davis webb the new play caller for the broncos uh we're gonna we will get low a dots we will get screens that to jalen waddle and i think he will absolutely succeed nicks led the nfl in screen attempts over the last two years you're if you're going to do them a bunch you might as well go get yourself a player who can be elite and give you production with those things so i just i'm very in on jalen waddle being barely priced as a wide receiver too i think that he can yeah i mean we always want sure known target volume you know when we're we're taking these players jay we always like man i just want someone who's gonna i need 150 targets yeah and it's like jalen waddle can 100 do that for you uh so you know i don't have extreme numbers for him but i think he can get over 1100 yards around six touchdowns and i think there's even a a a ceiling that i do not have projected into my numbers and my numbers still put him way ahead of the market i i uh there's there's two things that get me a little
Speaker 1hot and bothered for waddle because when the trade happened i was like pretty much out on one i'm like okay he's coming to a team with courtland sutton that spreads the ball around they have a great defense they don't need to get in shootouts so i was pretty out on waddle just like hey it's good for the the broncos more time has gone on two things have happened one and i've i've mentioned this before i went back and i watched the tape on bo nicks again a especially all of his deep shots, and it just was a screaming need. He didn't have a weapon to utilize how he wants to play ball. And then you combine that with the fact that, well, they saw that. They went out and got him. But recently, you talk about what Sean Payton has said and cute little sound bites like he walks on water. But I saw an interview yesterday with Sean Payton where he was genuinely talking to these people about, you have no idea how much we're going to use Jalen Waddell. He was like, you can use him long, you can use him short, I can move him in the slot, I can move him out wide. And he talked about fantasy football. Specifically, he said, it's easier to project a running back or a tight end because you can manufacture those touches. It's hard with a wide receiver because you don't know where the ball's going. And then he's like, but not with Waddell. We are going to be getting Waddell the ball a ton. And so that's made me update my – belief in the target share. I still don't think this is an offense that's going to be in the top 10 in total points. Not that they couldn't be, but because of their defense. I don't think they will actually end up there. However, I do think that the slice of pie Waddell gets from this offense is far larger than I thought early this offseason.
Speaker 3Yeah, I mean, Payton always gives me a little bit – I mean, I like the pick. I like Waddell. He's moved up in my rankings. I like the idea that this is a superstar, that we finally have where all the other receivers sort of blend together, don't they? They kind of blend into this. You just have wide receivers. That's what you have with Mims and Pat Bryant and Sutton and, you know, Franklin. Hey, yeah, thank you.
Speaker 4I know. That's the – you know, Jason likes Franklin. I like Pat Bryant. But it's like they have been searching. They've been searching and not finding.
Speaker 3I just hope that they found because, like, Waddell's best season was in 2022.
Speaker 4Yes.
Speaker 3And we are – we're a few years away from that. Like, I won't – will you be happy with 10.1 fancy points per game in Denver? Probably not for Jalen Waddell. No, I don't think so. And I was trying to look up where that would put him as a wide receiver. That's where he was last year. Obviously, it seems like he's more hurt than his numbers say. Yeah, that part is true. It looks like he plays about 15, 16 games, but he only plays, like, half of them. But, no, I like the pick. I think he needs to come up in my rankings. I like all the comments from Payton about high expectations. He said, I don't follow fancy football, but, shoot, I'd try to have him. I think he's going to do well. But I also think that Sean Payton is kind of a very – he's one of the least predictable head coaches because he's willing to throw the ball to anybody, anytime, hand the ball to anybody, anytime. That would be the back of my head fear.
Speaker 1Remember back in the day, though, when Michael Thomas was part of the Sean Payton system and they had that guy who could win on both areas of the field. Yeah, yeah. That's what the hope is. Get him the ball every play.
Speaker 3All right. We'll take a break. We'll come back with three more picks. All right. Ice and Fire continues. I'm not going to leave you in suspense here. My fire pick is Emeka Ibuka. Fire. Yes. Emeka. Big, big boo. Let me get you there. Emeka, a big boo. I'd be so sick if it was on the back of my head. I'd be so sick if it was on the back of his jersey. We have spent a lot of time this offseason talking about Ibuka, about the end of the season and the bad scars and taste in your mouth because he was so terrible at the end of the year. If you want to know part of that equation, it was the fact that 27% of his targets were inaccurate at the end of the year. That's the worst of any player in the National Football League. So do we hold Ibuka to be the only one to blame for that? I think if your targets are inaccurate, they're harder to catch. That's my analysis of the situation. I'm not a professional. Right. But that sounds pretty good. Did you ever catch any of my targets in flag football when they weren't near you?
Speaker 4No.
Speaker 3No. See, that's where my market research was.
Speaker 1The uncatchable targets are very difficult to catch. Right.
Speaker 3Nearly. Almost. Because of the un. Yeah. So he had 127 targets last year. Only 81 of those targets were catchable. So he was heavily targeted. We had such the, you know, so much excitement over the first. This is the second most fantasy points scored ever to start a career by a wide receiver. So everybody got on board. Everybody's excited for the Hall of Fame career commencing. And then we got a really, really bad end of the season. Reasons being he hurt his hamstring in week six. That lingered. Mike Evans got knocked out. He got moved to the X position, which was tougher for him to execute on. I think that's what went into some of the uncatchable targets. And then we know that Baker Mayfield was absolutely damaged. Mm-hmm. You know, injury was the right word for Baker Mayfield. A couple of them. This offseason, you're going to see Emeka Ibuka with the absence of Mike Evans blossom into the do-everything wide receiver that this team needs. I think they have a top-tier quarterback in Baker Mayfield. His skill set, he's going to be the Z receiver. He's lining up off the line. He's being moved all over the place. Zach Robinson is coming in, you know, last year, like I said, lined up at the X for the majority of the snaps. He is much more. He's going to be more versatile. You're going to have Chris Godwin in the slot. You're going to have McMillan and Ted Hurst at the X spot. And then Ibuka is going to be your go-to player all over the field. And so I'm just so excited for the upside and potential for Ibuka to really solidify himself as a top-12 receiver all year long. Yep, not impossible. We've seen enough from him in those games to see what kind of a route runner he is. He understands. He knows everything about this offense. He knows how to track the ball. I'm just very, very excited for the future of Emeka Ibuka. And I think you do inherit in fantasy. One of the reasons I pivoted to him, I was thinking about going A.J. Brown here. I like A.J. Brown in New England. But I wanted to go with Ibuka because I think you have a little bit of a discount here. You have a discount, and it's the, you know, I don't know what he is discount. And so I think you should draw your conclusions. I think you should draw your conclusions from half a year of being one of the most successful rookies in the history of the game. That's a tremendously difficult thing to do. You'll listen to this show the last 12 years. Most of the time we say, hey, watch out for the second half of the year for rookie wide receivers to get acclimated. This is what took place for a lot of players.
Speaker 4What we meant for Ibuka was, though, watch out. Right.
Speaker 3In this situation. It's going to get you. Watch out for the second half of the year. You're going to start him a bunch of times that you wish you hadn't. But I don't think this guy stopped being a talented wide receiver. Everything from camp, healthy baker. I'm really in on Ibuka. I think this is an opportunity being drafted as the wide receiver 19 where you, you have top seven potential for Mecca Ibuka this year. So I want to jump back on that bandwagon, forgive the second half and expect big things from an offense. I actually like, I mean, the offensive line is going to be a little bit better. Bucky Irving is going to be back play action. I think Ibuka could come out and be a dominator to start the year.
Speaker 4I'm trying to remember where he was being drafted last year. Like. I don't think we're that far off, you know, where we, you weren't first, you weren't sure, you know, he's a first round in the pedigree and all that. He was, I think like a six round pick. And now you have at least some proof of concept. No, he's, he could be that player. We thought he was, and he's still going in the fourth. I liked the 80.
Speaker 3It just seems like, I don't think that ADP is going to change much.
Speaker 4I don't, it, it shouldn't.
Speaker 3And, um, what was it? You know, the first half of the year last year. This was, uh, up over 15 fantasy points a game. Yeah.
Speaker 1And, and the, the changes that happened mid season with the injuries around him, shifted him around, he's coming in this year, being placed in the role that he is supposed to be playing, that they drafted him to play and that he was really special. I, we all love the talent. I think we all forgive the injuries and expect the offense to be much better. And you mentioned it, Andy, but I think it bears mentioning again, the offense of a lot. And I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing.
Speaker 3I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing.
Speaker 4I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing.
Speaker 3I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing.
Speaker 4I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing.
Speaker 3I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing.
Speaker 1I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing.
Speaker 4I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. oh no this is this one's good this one won't like these numbers oh i'm fight fight i'm really
Speaker 3fine with you not liking him because he's on the browns i'm not going to be fine with what you say
Speaker 4next uh well these are just statistics so you can get mad at that uh so rush success rate where i'm going to start with that and that sometimes it can get a little bit lost where you're like what is that exactly so rush success rate is based off of the down and distance how many of the yards did the running back get so uh whether a play gains at least 40 of the yards required on first down 60 of the yards on second down and then of course you need all the yards on a third or fourth down and this is why we say you know yards per carry it's not everything things happen you know you you get a bunch of carries inside also
Speaker 3historically not a valuable metric to look at for rookies right
Speaker 4sometimes you're inside the five and you get some carries and it's like oh my yards per carry was down a little bit there but here's the thing rush success rate is like this is based off of the flow of the game so like if you know you like i said 40 of the yards are first down if you look at rush success rate out of 55 running backs you got it is that the number judkins ranked
Speaker 355 you think this man it cares about rush success he's trying to survive in cleveland this is the open plains mike this this is survival it's bad like to not be like to have
Speaker 4truly a lack of success on your carries you'll get a you'll get a big one every once in a while and you'll score some touchdowns but we're talking about overall efficiency like you're you're absolutely just killing the offense you can have players with a low yards per carry like so emmanuel wilson under four but a 58 rush success basal tootin 3.7 that's real bad but a 58 uh rush success even the much maligned zach charbonnet where we're like why do they keep putting in charms 48 and here's quinn sean judkins at the very bottom at 41 of the time he's having a what you would call a successful rush as a receiver 33 percent only devin singletary was worse among qualified rookie running backs over the last decade efficiency wise he was lacking as the rookie and i just don't see it changing for them the cleveland browns was shockingly to me the cleveland browns are a six and a half win total team which is somehow better than the miami dolphins significantly better they are 30th in average the cleveland browns are 30th in average implied total as in in terms of the the total points that will be scored in their games cleveland is favored in only two games this year and none after their week 11 by and the offensive line in consensus offering offensive line rankings around everywhere cleveland is dead last in terms of what people are expecting from this offensive line there was
Speaker 3a point in your adoration for kenneth walker in which there were a lot of these numbers for you but you believed in the player and i admit it's going to be tough sliding for it for that offense i think the browns are going to be a better team than people expect
Speaker 4losing miles garrett that's in the defense like last year is the defense the defense was number
Speaker 3eight last year in fantasy point they will not be they will they will still be a very good defense they intercepted a lot of passes they caused a lot of forced fumbles i know miles garrett dominates so much they didn't get nobody back for him you know what i mean yeah yeah i mean you get uh quinn coming in and and i think that they're going to be a better team than people expect i do you know i think they're going to be a better team than people expect i do well i that part jason will disagree i think they will but every every year you get surprised by
Speaker 4some teams i think they will be basement dwellers plenty bad and here's plenty bad the difference between uh hn and judkins adp of course you know risk being baked into cost but hn is an elite pass catcher it is nice is judkins an elite pass catcher no no they've talked about him being three
Speaker 3downs look this is a belief in the talent of the player the running back coach said he thinks he
Speaker 4could be a
Speaker 3three down running back i mean it's better than him not saying that i mean sure this offense also has absolutely actual like if you look at what happened last year there's no one to throw the ball to like adding conception on adding boston having fan and coming in here they have some actual weapons they actually have good players on this team he's not going to be alone spencer
Speaker 1fano uh tackle with the ninth pick overall so that offensive line hopefully is better than it was last year even if it's yeah this one just hurts my heart i totally get it i i actually am more on any side solely because i think he is a good player a lot of those a lot of those statistics and the yards per carry and stuff i think if you go back and you watch the film he was impressive and if this offensive line is a little better if shadur is better and he should be in year two i i'm i'm not going to be shocked his adp let's just have that he is in the fifth round running back 22 i mean i'm just i'm all up in that yeah at that point for a guy who can be a three down back
Speaker 3i knew it'd be a tough day if you look at last year i knew that what was going on today last
Speaker 1year his rookie season quinch on judkins he got injured early in camp didn't play week one got worked back in a little bit in week two from that point until the game where he got unfortunately injured he was playing a a workhorse role he was on pace for 300 rushing attempts and yes it was
Speaker 3inefficient but over a thousand rushing yards my as a rookie i mean if he's being drafted at running back 22 he's going to be a tough day man if you look at last year i knew that what was going on 22 and you have them as ice you probably have them below his adp i do so then we can bet like a top
Speaker 424 running back uh that should be easy you know i mean what you want you're happy if you get a top 24 out of quinch on judkins who's being drafted as running back 22 i'll go let's go where my mark is right now 28 i'm confused now that seems even better now yeah no i did it backwards yeah you did all right fine go top 24
Speaker 3i did it backwards i should have this is where jason would have taken that bad i saw it right
Speaker 4away i was like here's where my mind is here's where my mind is at because and the hey ryan heath gets another i would have given you top 20 uh ryan heath another shout out to him because we love todd monken's offenses absolutely they produce uh fantasy points for us a different in todd monken offenses though a different player has led in rush attempts per game yeah and targets per game yeah they have capable pass catchers and they have capable pass catchers and they have that aren't quinch on judkins like dylan samson and one of the wild ones about this is uh hey you know doug martin you know all the unfortunate stuff with doug martin but as a player r.i.p yeah uh in 2016 doug martin was averaging 16 uh rushing attempts per game and charles sims led the running back position at 4.6 targets per game doug martin had a season of 70 targets this wasn't like he couldn't do it they just changed and then you've had so martin and sims peyton barber and and jacquez rogers nick chubb and kareem hunt gus edwards and justice hill and then of course derrick henry and justice hill this is a team that's going to be losing a bunch of games and dylan samson more than him uh i'm just thinking
Speaker 3yeah i do like there's a handful of guys that are probably in the not catching a ton of passes
Speaker 4category i was just curious where you might slot him so it's like if they are losing samson's probably going to be on the field and samson is just he was a better pass catcher than i think you're right than he was last year so that like there's just so many problems of how many touchdown opportunities losing games those types of things and then opportunity cost the way i look at it right now running backs going right behind judkins david montgomery i'll take judkins i'll probably i'll take judkins there that that's okay but then it's tootin deandre swift and jadarian price all going after quinshawn judkins you would take price over judkins i think yeah i mean that's that's one i would easily go judkins oh i'll i'll take i'll take where are you jay um
Speaker 1i think i would go judkins in in most of those situations i i like the player i like the talent
Speaker 3and it doesn't cost much yeah you get you do get discounts when they play for the browns
Speaker 1yeah well let's talk uh let's heat it up in here and talk about someone that i think we all like a dog absolute dog fire tyler warren uh tyler warren wolf wolf yeah i mean we you know some of these some of these tight ends out there they don't got that dog in them but tyler warren is a yak master a yards after cats catch machine he breaks tackles he's a first read in their offense coming into year two i believe he's the centerpiece of the colts offense out you know it's jonathan taylor as as in the running game but in the passing game you know right now the hotness is not tyler warren it's colston loveland it's the other year two tyler warren it's the other year two tyler warren it's the other year two tyler warren it's the other however statistically like the better rookie season was tyler warren i know loveland got off to a slow start and had the playoffs that looked great but tyler warren was awesome especially when he had daniel jones and now coming into early in the offseason it seemed like well we're not sure if daniel jones will be ready for week one if we'll start the season on the pup daniel jones is full go 11 on 11 from day one of training camp and while he might not be as mobile and running for his own future he's going to be a great player and he's going to be a great fantasy value as a passer, Daniel Jones for this offense, like Tyler Warren. should be even used more there's all the arguments of you know Andy is very in love with Alec Pierce because you have a lot of missing targets from Michael Pittman I like Josh Downs and a lot of dollars but Tyler Warren is better than those guys the argument over on the the you know for the Bears is like well is it Luther Burden is it is it Rome and it's probably Mr. Loveland but I think if I'm competing with targets Loveland and Rome is greater sign than Josh Downs and Alec Pierce I mean I agree with that yeah so so you have less competition and this is playing for a team in Shane Steichen who designs plays for players Daniel Jones threw to his first read 77 percent of the time well I'm saying that my point is I know what you mean you're saying
Speaker 3he's he's gonna build stuff specific to Tyler Warren yes it just sounded funny like the other
Speaker 1guys are drawing up plays for fans I'm saying like specifically for a single player they like this play design is to go to only this guy which you saw I mean by far the like highest first read targets was Daniel Jones last year and if you look at those games with Daniel Jones and the splits with Tyler Warren up until week 13 of his rookie season he was the tight end three in fantasy football he was he was great he was 10.7 a game at tight end as a we were at the point where we
Speaker 3were like we're gonna do it again like three straight years of the numbers we had we had Laporta Bowers we're like Warren might be number one which I think that's the biggest question for people on your fire pick is can Warren be number one I think on the year because I think that that
Speaker 1so I believe that says something I believe Warren can be in the mix for number one the reason I maybe don't think he can be number one is not anything to do with Warren it's it's Brock Brock Bowers I think Brock Bowers is going nuclear this year and no one will be able to catch him and it'll be a difference maker of like Travis Kelsey of old where he's four points ahead of next but I think Tyler Warren can be number two I think Tyler Warren can go out and get 150 targets and there's very few tight ends in the league you're talking about Bowers you're talking about McBride and I think Tyler Warren is in that realm of the league and I think Tyler Warren is in that realm of the the leader of the offense could be Tyler Warren last year you know he was one of only four rookie tight ends with 70 catches and 800 yards that was Bowers Laporta and Jeremy Shockey back in the day and the end of the season was so bad because he's playing with Philip Rivers grandpa Rivers and the the collapse of the Colts that were not hot and bothered the way that when the Bears go into the playoffs and all of a sudden you see the continued trajectory of Loveland now everyone's like oh Loveland. So to me Tyler Warren who's being drafted last in this elite tier he is the cheapest you can grab a first round pick a second round pick a third round target in all those drafts because you just take I always I love I love grabbing him I think he will be fire for fantasy this year
Speaker 5I don't disagree what what's what's going on back there are we doing good now we're good
Speaker 2yeah I was just chuckling at Jason saying I love grabbing him oh we're children yes I am a child
Speaker 1the people hate children tit see every once in a while I mean I see when Jerry gets the giggles it's almost always some something like that inappropriate joke I just wanted to make sure
Speaker 3I was doing everything right over here you're doing clearly I was doing fine yeah no more throwing to the deuces I'm sorry about that yeah it hasn't worked out um all right top 10 quarterback rankings favorite late round picks coming up on tomorrow's show Wednesday we got tight end rankings Thursday mock draft a lot coming this week again make sure you click subscribe follow the show we're over on x at the ff ballers instagram.com slash fantasy footballers do it as Jason said do it do it we'll catch you next time goodbye
Speaker 2thank you for listening to another episode of the fantasy footballers podcast join our fantasy football community on join the foot.com and follow us on twitter at the ff ballers © transcript Emily Beynon

Podcast Summary

Key Points:

  1. The Fantasy Footballers podcast kicks off August, announcing a five-day-a-week schedule and promoting the Ultimate Draft Kit at ultimate draftkit.com.
  2. The 2026 Listener League submissions are open for one week only at fantasyfootballers.com, inviting fans to send creative entries to join the league.
  3. News: Ricky Pearsall (49ers) placed on season-ending IR after PCL reconstruction surgery; Deebo Samuel signed a one-year deal with San Francisco.
  4. Chris Olave (Saints) signed a four-year, $132 million extension with $90 million guaranteed, signaling team commitment despite injury history.
  5. Other updates
  6. Ice and Fire segment begins; Andy picks Travis Kelce as his "Ice" player, expressing concern about his age (36.8), conditioning, and ranking him lower than co-hosts.
  7. A humorous office story about AI-altering a coworker’s photo (moving his hairline and changing his name to "Jork Diddler") ties into discussions about AI image manipulation.

Summary:

The podcast opens with hosts Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright welcoming listeners to August, emphasizing the start of a five-day-a-week show and the availability of the Ultimate Draft Kit for fantasy football preparation. They announce the 2026 Listener League, where fans can submit creative entries for one week only, encouraging personality over pure skill. The news segment covers key NFL updates: Ricky Pearsall’s season-ending PCL injury, leading to Deebo Samuel’s one-year deal with the 49ers; Chris Olave’s lucrative four-year extension despite injury concerns; and various player updates including Tucker Craft’s return and Chiefs’ rookie Cyrus Allen’s minor injury.

The hosts debate the fantasy relevance of Deebo and Olave, with differing opinions on receiver tandems. The Ice and Fire segment begins with Andy selecting Travis Kelce as his "Ice" pick, citing concerns about his age, conditioning (including an unflattering photo), and ranking him lower than his co-hosts. The conversation includes a humorous tangent about AI image editing, where the team subtly altered a coworker’s hairline in a poster as a prank.

Overall, the episode blends draft preparation, league announcements, injury news, and spirited fantasy debates, setting the tone for the upcoming season.

FAQs

You can get the Ultimate Draft Kit at ultimate draftkit.com, which includes tools like a mock draft tool to help you win your draft.

Submit your entry at listener league at fantasyfootballers.com. It can be a video or anything to catch their attention, and they review every submission.

Ricky Pearsall was placed on season-ending IR after undergoing PCL reconstruction surgery, which is a tough injury to recover from.

The 49ers signed Deebo Samuel to a one-year deal to add depth and versatility, using him in kick returns, punt returns, and close to the line of scrimmage, especially with injuries on the roster.

Chris Olave signed a four-year, $132 million extension with $90 million guaranteed, showing the team's commitment despite his injury history.

Tucker Craft was activated from the PUP list and is expected to participate in joint practices, running well in straight lines.

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