Fantasy Football - Ice & Fire Show + We're Baaaaaaack! - Podcast for 8/3
64m 22s
The Fantasy Footballers welcome August, emphasizing the start of their five-days-a-week show and the release of their Ultimate Draft Kit. They announce the 2026 listener league, urging fans to submit entries within a one-week window. News covers Ricky Pearsall’s season-ending PCL surgery, Deebo Samuel’s one-year deal with San Francisco, and CeeDee Lamb’s massive extension, alongside updates on players like Tucker Kraft and Rashi Rice’s recovery.
The main segment, "Ice and Fire," presents each host’s bold predictions. Andy’s ice pick is Travis Kelce, citing his age, declining targets, and reduced red-zone usage, though he acknowledges Kelce’s late-round value as a floor play. Jason’s ice pick is Devon Achane, arguing that the Dolphins’ poor projected win total (4.5) and Malik Willis at quarterback will limit his targets, making his high ADP risky. Mike’s ice pick is Quinshon Judkins, highlighting his historically poor rush success rate and the Browns’ weak offensive line, though he admits the talent is there.
For fire picks, Mike champions Jalen Waddle, now Denver’s WR1, with Sean Payton’s praise and Bo Nix’s high volume suggesting a breakout. Andy selects Ameer Abdullah—though corrected to Jalen Waddle—and Jason picks Tyler Warren, the Colts’ tight end, who showed elite rookie production and could become a top-tier option with Daniel Jones healthy. The episode closes with a preview of upcoming content, including quarterback rankings and mock drafts.
Foot 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 at ultimatedraftkit.com. Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers podcast with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore and Mike Wright. Welcome in. Oh, baby. Welcome to August. The Fantasy Footballers are here, Jason Moore. Mike, the fantasy hitman, right? 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, 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 clamp 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 is Jason set at the top. It's available at ultimatedraftkit.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 of quick things you can do completely free that just helped the podcast in the month of 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, apples 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 downloads. So you have do it. The new. Do it now. Don't let. See 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 one point in time and now now they're saying you don't want them. I don't know you. Tell them what to do. Do it. Oh man. Are you doing. Is that the buff? I don't think it is. I think it's like 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. Listen or league at fantasy footballers dot com. What? Brandy? Yes, voice of public opinion. What does what does that mean? What do you want to submit? You are submitting your entry. It 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. We know from years past that they have taken that literally. And that's okay. Well, I'm saying don't if you send a wall of text. We don't read well. That's yeah. You know how long it takes to read? Yeah, we don't read 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 lucky individuals to join us in the 2026 listener league. Show us like 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 promised 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 this show. But we just the list of league is always about good vibes and good people. Yeah, I mean, this is where we met Brooks. This is where we met the. Oh, the biggest loser. What an idiot that guy is. But we met, you know, close people now that we obviously love in a door through the listener league. It's a great time. It's great league. Come play with us or try to. So I will say one more time listener league at fantasy footballers.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 looked at it yet? I promise everything to 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 news and notes from around the league. Don't you feel the energy, Mike? Don't you feel the energy now? I'm nervous. Yeah. Do it. Ricky Peersol. There's the energy out of the building. No, man. Oh, is that the electrical substation? Oh, no, it's getting everybody. I just, yes. And no, Ricky Peersol placed on season ending. It's coming for you, Mike Evans, Electro PCL reconstruction surgery for Ricky Peersol. Dude, big time bummer. Peersol, like Peersol, if you if you want to buy an anything to the substation, Peersol was not an injury guy in college. He goes to San Francisco, immediately an injury guy. And getting shot. Yeah, at first you got shot. Yes, that's what that is fair. I wasn't the substation. Was it? We will never know. It's a bad neighborhood around, you know, listen, substations. Every player in the NFL has the story. And unfortunately, the story of Ricky Peersol is one of injury now. That's the story for him. Whether he comes back from it, it's a bummer, man. I mean, this is a tough one to come back from. Like, I know you see a lot of ACL injuries and a PCL reconstruction 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. Yeah, 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. One of the best ways to come back and be relevant at some point is when you have Mike Evans and Debo Samuel on your roster who are older and may move on at some point. But Debo Samuel was also added to the roster one year deal. Ricky will be Ricky starting 26 real. 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 sad the fall. Yeah. Look how sad the focus. No, I would not. He's so sad. Oh, the Niners fan. The John Stribbling also held out of practice. That would be the 49ers. They should be coming wide receiver hamstring. They should hold him out of the rest of all the practices. All players practice off. They can't get injured if they're not practicing. I mean, this is not the only injury. I mean, they have like a handful already. The rookie defensive end. Not to bypass it. Debo Samuel will sign to a one year deal. Everything the team is saying that this was going to be something that happened regardless of the peer slal 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 there's a need because everybody's heard all the time. Yeah. 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. I'm very in on Mike Evans, but you're holding your breath. I'm holding my breath like electrical substance. 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, Debo's more needed. I think I initially have Debo 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. Crystal Lobby, baby. Oh, get dashed for money. We got that drop for Crystal Lobby. This is the opposite of the Rikki pier saw story. This is an injury plagued. Yeah, we like this one. Terrifying future situation that has turned into a four year $132 million extension for Crystal Lobby. $90 million guaranteed. That's how the team feels about the injury risk. Yeah, they are. They are bullish on a lobby. I've always loved, I mean, we've, we've always loved that lobby since he came out and we just became scared. Yeah, I mean, you look like you were 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, Wednesday played a full season last year. He, he, look week 18. He took off as all players should and all fantasy managers should. Yeah, I know it was it was take it off.
Well, he had a boy. He sure did. He took it off for a blood clot. Okay. Mike, I think that what are you doing? I'm saying that he played without injury. He didn't get injury. His soft tissue issues, his concussion injury. 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 Alex shaking his head now. He wouldn't call it an injury. That's just a medical condition. Yeah. Like, would you call diabetes an injury? If you had to like your 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. He did take the day off. Okay. That's a fair. That's a fair. I count your point. Okay. If 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? Yes. Okay. Out with illness. The point here for the fact that they are all in on a lava. 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 these two guys? I know you're in on Tyler Shuck. Oh, yeah. These two guys are starting to realize they're a top. They are already, I believe, today a top five tandem. Oh, come on. No, for real. Top five's crazy. No, I don't think it goes crazy. So you got Jemar and T Higgins. So Cowboys and Bangles. Cowboys. Lamb and Pickens. Lamb and Pickens are done. I think Puka and Devonta Adams, they're above them. I think Amon Ron, Jameson 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. You can't give Tyson that level of respect without a snap of hand on the field. Sure can. I mean, you can. And I think it's deserved. I think he is an absolute maniacal stud. I don't, I don't even know if he's that's better than a lover. It's August. You got to bring out. Jordan Tyson, is there? I mean, then you're going, I mean, Waddle Sutton. Andy can have him outside the top five while we are here. And then he's going to have to scramble to catch up, but it will be too late. Yeah, I think that they are there. They are at that tier of in that fifth tier. Personally, okay, that's why we have the show Tucker craft activated from the P.U.P. list, realistic. He'll take part in joint practices. So he's running very well when it's straight. It's, it's awesome. That Tucker craft is in the practice consideration right now after the injury. Chris Brazil, season ending I R. Yeah. That's a bomber. Kyle Menungai returned to practice after missing three practices. It was a soft tissue issue. He was very worthy, avoided a serious shoulder injury. He had been carted off and rookie wider see who was making waves. Cyrus Allen. He was carted off, but it's a shin bruise and he had been making plays. What a wild Twitter roller coaster that was if you were on the football Twitter's Cyrus Allen was almost off its a player of the year in 2026. He was pretty much the most important player in all of football projected for a day or two. And it was carted off his careers over and it was a shin bruise. So T.B. Man, the, the chiefs all every year, the chiefs always have a guy where you're like holy crap. This really drafted players about to come into the NFL and set it on fire. I mean, I'll say this that like Rashi Rice running down field looked awful. His knee is not ready. I know you said maybe he's warming up. That's not a warm up run. That was a full on run. That's what are you sure? Yeah. I'm positive. It was, it was a full, I agree. It was a full run. It was what he's at right now. I 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%. And the reason that the chiefs have somebody every off season is because it's been a long time since Tyrieg Hill existed. And we are trying to find somebody to believe in each and every off season, whether it's Jalen Royals for an off season Skymore, I mean, we know we know that my homes could supply somebody with a lot of fantasy value. And I still think the odds of it being Cyrus Allen, they're not high and it's, Cyrus Allen is just a great name to know for dynasty leaks. I assume by this point in time he's been picked up in all dynasty leaks, but there's some out there that maybe he's sitting on the waivers and you should scoop him up immediately. And to the Rashi Rice point, it's just that he is recovering from an actual injury. Absolutely. A ton of off season, 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. I 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. 100%. They use them 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 does Rice get as much work or have as much success probably because of Patrick my homes, but they're still this is a limited player. This is not a player that's running, you know, the 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 running part is the part I'm worried. The funniest part of the funniest thing I saw it said about that was well, he doesn't get passes that far down the field anyways. So what are you worried about? Yeah, with the run. Yeah. No. I mean, you like that's that's not his. No, it isn't. It isn't. So unless we have any other news, unless the 49ers in the substation have attacked again. I'll let you know. We'll break in. Um, we're going to go ahead and take a break and get into ice and fire. Are we ready for this? Well, 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. Well, that's great. I mean, we shouldn't always be in agreement, but it gives us a chance to sway you. Yeah. No, we were talking to you. Let me put it this way. 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, we just talked about this team. I want to talk about Travis Kelsey. Travis Kelsey is you want to talk about screenshots the, uh, if you're, uh, the Rishi rice route, the, uh, the Travis Kelsey photo, it's not flattering. You know, I don't know, I don't know anymore. Now I feel an angles of everything and where the, the, the shirt may, or Jersey may have just bloused out. Yeah. But even Debo got, I hope that Debo's always, yeah, he was a, yeah, he was a, he was a, he was a big boy forever. I mean, we had, we had thick boy, Debo in Washington, and he still had never forget fat keen analysis. Oh, he dominated. Well, let's you 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, Victor, I mean, I'm a 30 feet tall. I could tell that's AI, right. But now they're doing this thing, where it's like the legs a little bit longer, just a little bit. So it looks just a little bit weird. Give him, uh, give him eight pounds. Yeah. What do we do? That should be what's band in AI. Look at about all the rest. Just don't let people do subtle changes to appearance. Just learn how to do a joke. Right. Um, yeah, we did do that with one of our employees. So huh? We just, it was so good. Just a little bit. Yeah, we got it. We got to tell the story. Sorry. This is great. So that's the, that's the joke for that one. Yeah. So we know how to tell jokes. We 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. Of Lord talking 24 by 36 framed posters. There should someone should grab it above his desk. No, I believe it. And, uh, and then he went on vacation and he's a young man. He's the youngest man in this office. He's very handsome. Handsome, strong, virile, you know, whatever a young person is and, um, doesn't have the best hair line. The hairline though is going. That's his issue. We all have our issues. That's it. It's his Achilles heel and, and, and quite a heel. Yeah. Um, it was worse than mine. We took the, we took the photo down, we scanned the photo, we moved his hairline back. We reprinted the photo and we hung it up above his desk to see how long until he would notice that his hairline is worse right above his head. The problem, one of the problems was his name is Jake Pitner and we changed his name to George 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. But the hairline, we subtly moved it and he noticed. So listen, Travis Kelsey and the AI dad bod or not. I mean, look, you're gonna get one when you're entering the near 40 age range. He's 36.8 years old. We're gonna talk about Travis Kelsey, but he is my. - Nice. (air whooshing) - Okay, don't ruin my thing, all right. That sounds like you like ice. Travis Kelsey, I know Mike, you've talked more positively about him as kind of like, maybe he's a great floor titan. - Yes. - I am very concerned on a number of levels. It's not surprising. I am the lowest of the three of us by a lot. Mike's got him in nine, Jason at 11. I got him at 17. 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 target spreader out run, 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 where 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 are like, when they targeted the tight end position in Travis Kelsey, 20th and yards per attempt, 22nd and past success rate, 32nd and percentage of inaccurate targets. He's not where he used to be. That's the point. If you are 32nd in an accurate target number, it's about to be 37. - Which I will forgive. - Holy crap, how was 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 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 were gamer into climb 15, 11, 9, 9.1. 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. If you're not going for a big top five, I think it's a top five. Bowers, McBride, Lovlin, Warren, Fanon. - Oh, you put Fanon in, okay. - I put Fanon in. You don't have to. Four and a half, whatever. - You don't want to put last year's top five tight end Travis Kelsey in there? - Well, I mean, it is a product of availability, not performance. - Yes, it is. - He has been out there. I just think it might be worth taking a shot at a high upside athletic tight end, like I say, a likely in New York. Britain's strange in the offense that we're going to love in Jacksonville. I mean, that could be a Super Bowl contender. 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 the 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 Mox where he's undrafted. 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 'til 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 Concade. 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, especially a full PPR league, you should have a safe floor and it costs you nothing. The question is, could he score more around the goal? - Yeah, I was gonna ask Mike, do you, 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. - It's not a, I mean, like above those top five, he's got names I gave him. - No, no, no, no. - Or Tucker Kraft, or Kyle Pitt. - Kyle Pitt's maybe. - Okay. - You know, for all the, what we're talking about here, last year Kyle Pits, even with the greatest game that a fantasy tight end has ever given us, nine point eight points per game. And Travis Kelsey was just overnight. Like this is not a wide margin between the two, where Kyle Pits could absolutely be, like 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 Kelsey. The upside play for him is he's so late in the draft, and the addition of Kenneth Walker makes this offense better. And you actually, 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 gonna get the ball. - Yeah, I can't walk her makes it much better. - So that's where, I'm not gonna push back a ton and say like I love Travis Kelsey, 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 Maholam's legs. He would get out of situations and pick up a third down. If it's third in six, seven, and he's running down the field, spraying with water. - I'm sorry, I barely spray him with water. - I'll get you next time. - You know, is Kelsey gonna be able to be open for those third down conversions? You know, how do they do that without Maholam's legs? So there you go. I'm not a surprising one, but also one, I think, to me, I'm aiming elsewhere. I'm going elsewhere. I'm gonna not appropriate too much of the name and expect too much from him. Travis Kelsey. - I know, I like the, if you're talking about, you know, the younger guys of the Isaiah-likely O'Conquo, guys that, they probably will not pan out, but they're at least at an age for football players that something good could happen that we're not really seeing yet. - All right, who's up next? The suspense is building, Jason. - All right, I'll go next. I'm gonna 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, the player I love coming out. I'm also, however, getting cold. - Oh, ice. It's Devon Hianne is my ice pick for 2026. And this is closer to agreeing. - Look, I feel like you 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 them as you're running back four. I get it, he was awesome last year. 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 Hianne. And obviously the dolphins were bad last year. So the argument is like, well, if the argument is that 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, hmm. - 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 Toua, and with no wide receiver weapons, without Mike McDaniel. - Exactly, without Mike McDaniel, they are most likely 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. Is it four and a half Kyle? What is, what is, what is that? - Three, three, two, two, two, two, four and a half wins. And so obviously we talk about, we want players from, at the running back, we said 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 to turn. He is being drafted as a clear cut RB1, very high is costing you a lot in fantasy and very similar to how I had Ashen Gentie as my bust pick last year. I look at the situation, I go, it's not going to return. You're going to make a mistake if you're taking him 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 two of, but he goes all the way to a quarterback that we don't know his tendencies 'cause 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 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 to 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 Kurol back in 2017. David Johnson in 2019. And this year, Devon Hianne being drafted, not just in the top three rounds.
at the top three, but a borderline first round. - This is ADP. - He's like 202 last, I saw this morning. - So he was running back, is that? 'Cause I'm not, I know I'm above it. - I think it was running back. - He's six or seven. - Okay, hey. - Here's a study, and this, I think you'll like here, you won't like hearing this. But Brandon Godula. - That's the opposite. - Yeah, yeah. I'm saying you need to hear this. - Okay. - I'm saying open your ears. - There's this thing that you'll like. - Here's this thing that I'm-- - You're not gonna like it. (laughing) - 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. He has to be outrageously perfect. Have crazy high touchdowns. - The 44% of those fell shy of their expectation by at least two points per game. - Yeah. - Two PPR points. - There's a weird thing going on this year. I'm trying to be very open-minded to this argument. I hate it because I think Devon H&N is in the Gibbs category of talent. - He's a great point. - And so we look at this, and I'm looking at the ADP in the top, like, all right. Bajon is, Bajon'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 gonna 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 'cause all three of those names are in your top seven, top eight. - Yeah. - And so push is gonna come to shove. I know you love Ash and Gentie. - Yes. - And so it's hard for me to swallow Devon H&N 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. It's, I hate doubting the talent of Devon H&N, and that's what it feels like you're doing. - Yeah, but it's not what I'm doing. - Your numbers make sense, but you're playing the odds, not the player. I am playing the odds, not the player. I think that's where we odds are that Devon H&N 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 and it's like, "Ooh, 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, Mike. And I hear what you're saying, it makes sense. - You have, Mike McDaniel being gone is honest. That's the biggest red flag for me. And then Malik Willis, we know, you know, look, guys, that's scramble. You just, you get fewer check-downs. It does happen. - It's just to play slightly devil's advocate argument, just to get your response to this. We also know that the absence of weapons, lends itself to a heavier involvement. This is a guy that got paid, huge amounts of money this off season. The offense is Devon H&N. He came out yesterday and 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. - And that's the bet when you take him. - Which I feel like we've done with Beigeon for a number of years. - When you take him at ADP, that is 100% the bet. It's like, what does it look like? What does this offense look like when H&N is everything? And I know he was like. - Yeah, it's, I admit that you have an argument there. But it's like, you still had Waddle last year who isn't an elite player. And then ADP wise, it's like, okay, right here, what I'm seeing right now, you know, Barclay, he's right around where H&N is going. And then right after H&N is Hampton, Chase Brown, Kenneth Walker, Derek Henry, all running backs that you will not be able to draft. - Yeah, I mean, I could see an argument for Walker over him, Hampton over him, Chase Brown over him. - I don't see, I don't see, I don't see, I don't see, I don't see, say, Quon or Henry over him. - You don't, okay. - Yeah. - Yeah, I mean, he will get the ball a lot. My issue is I think it'll be more on the ground. Here's what we know. We know that every second and long, they will mistakenly hand the ball to H&N because Bobby Slough is there. - I mean, third and long is going to absolutely rip. - It feel like part of this argument is you are, you're building an idiotcy by the dolphins. Because only an idiot would not give the ball to this man. - No, I think they will give it to the man, but more in carries than in targets. And a target is where so much more fancy football. - What is the average, 6.1, a 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 saying fantasy points. - Who the gonna throw it too, if it's not him? - I don't know, yeah, I mean. - That's where the target is. - No, I told you, it's gonna be hard for me to fall. I wanted to have the conversation and the numbers are compelling. The numbers of your odds are not great. I'm not sure they 80 PS2 expensive or not. That's the hard part. But you bring up some names where like, I'm getting really toasted about Ken Walker. You know, it seems like he's gonna be the chief's offense. We have all these discussions around Rice and Cyrus Allen and Kelsey just feels like the chiefs are gonna be Ken Walker and the defense. - H&N 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, "Eeeee." - All right, what you got Mike? All right, well, speaking of Jalen Waddle, please 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 Bonix 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 will be turning 28. We're okay with that. 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 in terms of pass catchers and weapons, and Sean Payton and Crew decided that this is not enough. You know, I Bonix through 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 didn't have a true elite player. The superlatives coming from Sean Payton about Jalen Waddle are already just topped here, saying he walks on water with his traits. Talk about the great speed. Okay, Sean. Hey, hey, perhaps a little blasphemous, but it's gonna be good for your fantasy football team. Great speed and stop. So like that start stop stuff, it's really important, and that's how, that's how Waddle can win. Last year, you know, in totality, it didn't fully work for Jalen Waddle and Crew, but on a per route basis, look man, still elite. You know, we're talking 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 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 when Tyree Kill was not on the field. So this is a player that he can be a true number one. 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 it's understandable that Tyree Kill is gonna come in and take over 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 collar for the Broncos. We're gonna, we will get low A dots. We will get screens to Jalen Waddle. And I think he will absolutely succeed. Nix led the NFL and screen attempts over the last two years. If you're gonna do them a bunch, you might as well go get yourself a player who can be elite and give you production with those things. I just, I'm very in on Jalen Waddle being barely priced as a wide receiver two. I think that he can, 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. 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, there's, there's two things that get me a little hot and bothered for Waddle because when the trade happened, I was like pretty much out on Waddle. I'm like, okay, he's coming to a team with Cortland Sutton that spreads 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. The 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 Bonix again.
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 talked 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 gonna use jail in a lot of it is like you can use them long. You can use them sure I can move them in the slot. I can move them out wide. And he talked about fantasy football specifically. He said it's easier to project use them in the rain. It's easier to project a running back or a tight end 'cause 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 Waddle. Like we are going to be getting Waddle the ball a ton. 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 and 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 Pi Waddle gets from this offense is far larger than I thought earlier this off season. Yeah, I mean, Payton always gives me a little bit. I mean, I like the pick. I like Waddle. 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. Yeah, thank you. I 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 it. Because like Waddle, Waddle's best season was in 2022. Yes. And we are, we're a few years away from that. Like I won't, I don't, will you be happy with 10.1 fancy points for game in Denver? Probably not for Jaylin. 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. Yeah, that part is true. It looks like he plays about 15, 16 games, but he only plays like half of 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 Peyton 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 Peyton 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. Remember back in the day, though, when Michael Thomas was part of the Sean Peyton says, I mean, they had that guy who could win on both areas of the field. And that's what the hope is. Get him the ball every play. All 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 a mecca, Booga fire. Yes, I'm mika big big book. Let me get you there. I'm mika, a big bull. I'd be so sick if it was on the back of his jersey. Um, we have spent a lot of time. This obviously isn't talking about a booga 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 a booga to be the only one to blame for that? I think if your targets are inaccurate, they're harder to catch. That's that's my analysis of the situation. I'm no, 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? No, no, see that's that's where my market research was. The un-catchable targets are very difficult to catch, right? Nearly 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 half of the year. This is the second most fancy point 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 into the season. Reasons being he hurt his hamstring in week six. That lingered. Mike Evans got knocked out. He got moved to the exposition, which was tougher for him to execute on. I think that's what went into some of the un-catchable targets. And then we know that Baker Mayfield was absolutely damaged. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. You know, injury was the right word for Baker Mayfield, a couple of them. This offseason, you're going to see a mecca book 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 zero 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 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 a book is going to be your go-to player all over the field. So I'm just so excited for the upside and potential for a book and to really solidify himself as a top 12 receiver all year long. Yep. Not impossible. Um, we, we've seen enough from him in those games to see what kind of a route runner. He is, uh, he understands everything about this offense. He knows how to track the ball. Um, I, I'm just very, very excited for the, for the future of a mecca book. And I think you do inherit in fantasy. One of the reasons I pivoted to him, I, I was thinking about going AJ Brown here. I like AJ Brown in New England, but I wanted to go with a book because I think you're, you have a little bit of a discount here. You have a discount and it's, it's the, you know, I don't know what he is discount. And so 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. We'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 what we meant for a book. It was a watch out right in 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 a book. I think this is an opportunity being drafted as the wide receiver 19 where you, you have top seven potential for a mecca book of 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's going to be a little bit better, but you're everything's going to be back. Play action. I think a book could come out and be a dominator to start the year. His. I'm trying to remember where he was being drafted last year like, I don't think we're that far off. You know, where you weren't first, you weren't sure. You know, he's the 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 like the 80, it just seems like I don't think that ADP is going to change much. I know it, it shouldn't. And what was it? You know, the first half of the year last year, this is up over 15 fantasy points of game. Yeah. And 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. We all love the talent. I think we all forgive the injuries and expect the offense to be much better. You mentioned it, Andy, but I think it bears mentioning again, the offensive line for the Buccaneers are one of the fantasy storylines that really needs to be thought of more because this is a good NFL offensive line that had so many injuries last year that they were a bad. Like you only really look at the outliers, you know, middle of the pack is whatever. This is a top offensive line that was a bottom offensive line, very similar to what we've been talking about with the chargers. And so that changes things for a for a fantasy offense. All right, Mike, why don't you go next and Jason can round us out. All right. You already got my fire pick. I think this is the one that has Andy a little bit flustered ice. My ice player for 2026 is Quincheon Juddkins. Hmm. I haven't, I haven't, I haven't, what are you trying to do over there, Jay? I haven't. You're just hitting a lot of buttons with getting no sound, huh? Is he trying to cheer or is he trying to, I don't know, I, he's just, oh, the people hate it. Well, that's all right. Like John Snow against the horror and I will Jason is booing it too. Or is he just he's he's booing me. I am booing Mike. I think that I am much more on your side here, Andy. Yeah. So I haven't cried in a bunch of years, but I feel like crying right now, and it's, I assume a lot of your arguments, going to be the arguments I made about each and but the ADP is the different so go ahead, Mike, they will be, uh, they are pretty similar. Bad team. Bad team quarterback. Well, let's, let's start with the actual player.
Oh, no. (laughing) This is, this one's good, this one is. - You won't like these numbers. - Oh, I'm fine, I'm really fine with you, not liking 'em 'cause he's on the browns. I'm not gonna be fine with what you say next. - These are just statistics, so you can get mad at that. So, rush success rate, where I'm gonna 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, 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 for carry, it's not everything. Things happen, you know, you get a bunch of carries inside the- - Also, historically not a valuable metric to look at for rookies. - Right, sometimes 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 I said, 40% of the yards are first down. If you look at rush success rate, out of 55 running backs, you got it? - 55! Is that the number? - Judkin's ranked 55. - You think this man, it cares about rush success, he's trying to survive in Cleveland. This is the open plains, Mike. - This is- - This is survival. - It's bad, like, to not be like, to have truly a lack of success on your carries. 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 absolutely just killing the offense. You can have players with a low yards per carry, like, so a manual Wilson under four, but a 58% rush success, basal tootin, 3.7. That's real bad, but a 58% rush success, even the much maligned Zack Sharbenay, where we're like, why do they keep putting in sharps, 48%? And here's Quinshaw and 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%, only Devon 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 Dolce. - Significantly better. - They are 30th in average. The Cleveland Browns are 30th in average, implied total in terms of 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 offensive line rankings around everywhere. Cleveland is dead last in terms of what people are expecting from this offensive line. - There was a 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 gonna be tough sliding for that offense. I think the Browns are going to be a better team than people expect. Losing Miles Garrett. - That's in the defense. Like last year's the defense can keep you in game. - The defense will number eight last year. In fantasy points. - They will still be a very good defense. They intercepted a lot of passes. They caused a lot of force fumbles. I know Miles Garrett dominate so much. - They didn't get nobody back for him. You know what I mean? - Yeah, I mean you get Quinn coming in, and I think that they're going to be a better team than people expect. I do. - Well, I-- - That part Jason will disagree with you. - I think they will be-- - Every year you get surprised by some teams that are supposed to be basement dwellers. - Plenty bad. And here's the difference between H&N and Judkins. ADP of course, risk being baked into cost, but H&N is in elite pass catcher. - But is Judkins in elite pass catcher? - No. - No, they've talked about them being three down. Look, this is a belief in the talent of the player. - The running back coach said he thinks he could be a three down running back catcher. - I mean, it's better than him not saying that. - Sure. - This offense also has-- - Absolutely. - 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 gonna be alone. - Spencer Fano 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 actually am more on 80 side solely because I think he is a good player. 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 Shadour is better, and he should be in year two, I'm not gonna be sure-- - Where's his ADP? Let's just have that conversation. - 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-- - I knew it'd be a tough day. - If you look at last year, I knew that what was going on today. - Last year, 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 workhorse role. He was on pace for 300 rushing attempts, and yes, it was inefficient, but over 1,000 rushing yards as a rookie. - I mean, if he's being drafted running back 22, and you have him as ice, you probably have him below his ADP. - I do. - So then we can bet like a top 24 running back. - That should be easy, you know? - I mean, you wait, you want? You're happy if you get a top 24. You've got a Quinch on Judkins, who's being drafted as running back 22. - Well, let's go, where my mark is right now, 28. - I'm confused now. - That seems even better for me. - No, yeah, no, I did it backwards. - You did. - All right, fine, go top 24. - I did it backwards. - I should've been better. - Jason would have taken that bad. - I saw it right away. I was like, here's where my mind is at. - Deep. - Here's where my mind is at, and the, hey, Ryan Heath gets another shot at him. - I would've given you top 20. - Ryan Heath, another shot out to him. Because we love Todd Monkins' offenses. - Absolutely. - They produce fantasy points for us. In Todd Monkin' offenses, though, a different player has led in Russia-Tense per game and targets per game. - Yeah, they have capable pass catchers that aren't Quinch on Judkins, like Dylan Samson. - And one of the wild ones about this is, hey, you know, Doug Martin, all the unfortunate stuff with Doug Martin, but as a player. - RIP, yeah. In 2016, Doug Martin was averaging 16 Russian-Tense per game. A 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 Jacquoise Rogers, Nick Chubb and Karim Hunt, Gus Edwards and Justice Hill, and then, of course, Derek Henry and Justice Hill. This is a team that's gonna be losing a bunch of games, and Dylan Samson-- - You'd like to say more than him? - I'm just thinking of what I do. - Like, there's a handful of guys that are probably in the not catching a ton of passes category. I was just curious where you might slot him. - So it's like, if they are losing, Samson's probably gonna 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 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 back to one right behind Judkins. David Montgomery. - I'll take Judkins every day. - I'll probably, I'll take Judkins there. That's okay. But then it's Tutan, Deandre Swift and Jadarian Price, all going after Quinshaw and Judkins. - You would take Price over Judkins? - I think, yeah. - I mean, that's one I would easily go Judkins. - Oh, I'll take Price. - What are you, Jay? - I think I would go Judkins in most of those situations. - I like the player, I like the talent, and it doesn't cost much. - Yeah, you do get discounts when they play for the Browns. - Yeah, well, let's talk, let's feed it up in here and talk about someone that I think we all like. A dog, absolute dog. - Fire, Tyler Warren. - Tyler Warren. - Wolf. - Yeah, I mean, 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, you know, it's John of the Taylor 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 tight end. 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 off season, 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 fantasy value, as a passer, Daniel Jones for this offense, like Tyler Warren,
and should be even used more. There's all the arguments of, you know, Andy is very in love with Alec Pierce 'cause you have a lot of missing targets for Michael Pittman. I like Josh Downes and a lot of dollars. But Tyler Warren is better than those guys. The argument over on the, you know, for the Bears is like, well, is it Luther Bird and is it, is it Rome? And it's probably Mr. Loveland. Mr. Loveland, but I think if I'm competing with targets, Loveland and Rome is greater sign than Josh Downes and Alec Pierce. - I agree with that. - Yeah, that's true. So you have less competition. And this is playing for a team in Shane Stuykin who designs plays for players. Daniel Jones threw to his first read 77% of the time. - What do the other coaches do? - Well, I'm saying that, my point is-- - Well, I know you mean you're saying-- - The first read target-- - He's gonna build stuff specific to Tyler Warren. - Yes, it just sounded funny. Like the other guys are drawn up plays for fans? - I'm saying like specifically for a single player. Like this play design is to go to only this guy, which you saw, I mean, by far the 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 great. He was 10.7 a game at tight end as a work. - We were at the point where we were like, we're gonna do it again. Like three straight years of-- - The number one. - 'Cause we had LaPorta, Bowers. We were 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? - On the year, because I think that that-- - So I believe-- - That says something. - I believe Warren can be in the mix for number one. And the reason I maybe don't think he can be number one is not anything to do with Warren, it's-- - Brock Bowers. - Brock Bowers. - Brock Bowers is going nuclear this year. And no one will be able to catch him. It'll be a difference maker of 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 like the leader of the offense could be Tyler Warren. Last year, 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 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 pick. Please target in all those drafts because you just take. I love I love grabbing him. I think he will be fire for fantasy this year. I don't disagree. What's what's what's going on back there? Are we doing good? No, we're good. Yeah, I was just chuckling at Jason saying I love grabbing him. No, we're children. Yes, we're children. I am a child. The people hate children. Yeah. See every once in a while. I mean, I see when Jerry gets the giggles, it's almost always something like that inappropriate joke. I just wanted to make sure I was doing everything right over here. You're doing a great job. I was doing fine. Yeah, no more throwing to the doosters. I'm sorry about that. Yeah. It hasn't worked out. All right. Top 10 quarterback rankings, favorite late round picks coming up on tomorrow's show Wednesday. We got tight in 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 dot com slash fantasy footballers. Do it! As Jason said, do it. Do it. We'll catch you next time. Goodbye. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers podcast. Join our fantasy football community on JoinTheFoot.com. And follow us on Twitter at the FF Ballers. [BLANK_AUDIO]
Podcast Summary
Key Points:
The Fantasy Footballers podcast kicks off August, announcing a five-days-a-week schedule and promoting the Ultimate Draft Kit at ultimatedraftkit.com.
Listener league entries for 2026 are open for one week only at fantasyfootballers.com, with a call for fun, personality-driven submissions.
News highlights include Ricky Pearsall’s season-ending PCL injury, Deebo Samuel signing a one-year deal with the 49ers, and CeeDee Lamb’s four-year, $132 million extension.
The "Ice and Fire" segment features ice picks
Key concerns include Kelce’s declining production, Achane’s poor team context and quarterback change, Judkins’ inefficiency and Browns’ offensive issues, while Waddle and Warren are seen as undervalued with high upside.
Summary:
The Fantasy Footballers welcome August, emphasizing the start of their five-days-a-week show and the release of their Ultimate Draft Kit. They announce the 2026 listener league, urging fans to submit entries within a one-week window. News covers Ricky Pearsall’s season-ending PCL surgery, Deebo Samuel’s one-year deal with San Francisco, and CeeDee Lamb’s massive extension, alongside updates on players like Tucker Kraft and Rashi Rice’s recovery.
The main segment, "Ice and Fire," presents each host’s bold predictions. Andy’s ice pick is Travis Kelce, citing his age, declining targets, and reduced red-zone usage, though he acknowledges Kelce’s late-round value as a floor play. Jason’s ice pick is Devon Achane, arguing that the Dolphins’ poor projected win total (4.5) and Malik Willis at quarterback will limit his targets, making his high ADP risky. Mike’s ice pick is Quinshon Judkins, highlighting his historically poor rush success rate and the Browns’ weak offensive line, though he admits the talent is there.
For fire picks, Mike champions Jalen Waddle, now Denver’s WR1, with Sean Payton’s praise and Bo Nix’s high volume suggesting a breakout. Andy selects Ameer Abdullah—though corrected to Jalen Waddle—and Jason picks Tyler Warren, the Colts’ tight end, who showed elite rookie production and could become a top-tier option with Daniel Jones healthy. The episode closes with a preview of upcoming content, including quarterback rankings and mock drafts.
FAQs
The show starts airing five days a week starting August 3rd and continues through the end of the season.
The ultimate draft kit provides tools and resources to dominate your fantasy draft, including a mock draft tool. You can get it at ultimatedraftkit.com.
You can submit your entry, such as a video, at listener league at fantasyfootballers.com. Entries are reviewed by the team, and selected individuals join the league.
Ricky Pearsall suffered a season-ending injury requiring PCL reconstruction surgery. This is a tough setback, and his future with the 49ers is uncertain, though he may return when he's 27.
Travis Kelce's production has declined, with lower snap percentage, target share, and red zone targets. He's now seen as a floor play rather than a high-upside option, and his age (36.8) raises concerns about his effectiveness.
De'Von Achane is on a much worse Dolphins team projected for only 4.5 wins and fewer total points. His targets may decrease with a new quarterback and no Mike McDaniel, making his high ADP a risky bet.
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