Late-Round Perspectives: Austin Ekeler

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Whether you're a first-time player or a grizzled vet chasing another championship, we give you the advantage and the confidence you need to make every move count. Listen to The NFL Fantasy Football Show on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Austin Neckler is an NFL running back who's the all-time leading rusher for Western Colorado University. He has the second most yards from Scrimmage of any undrafted running back in NFL history. He's a husband, a PPR machine, and he wants to be the commissioner of fantasy football. These are his late-round perspectives. (upbeat music) - Kind of crazy getting ready for football and fantasy season all, all coming together. You know how it goes. - How are you feeling after last year's injury? - Feeling good now, I've had enough time to recover and my mind and the body have fully established themselves as ready to go forward now from the injury, so. - Yeah, I feel like that's gotta be a big. I know they're talking about that. Like, the league neighbors come back and, you know, Kittle obviously had the Achilles as well, and like, I would imagine that, and I know they say it's a lot for running backs in particular, that the larger hurdle isn't even the physical, it's just the mental of being able to go back out there and take hits and do all that, is that true? - It's part of it, you know, there's a lot of pieces to it. I think the biggest thing that you don't really realize when you're in it or when you're not in it is that there's two getbacks. You have to heal and then you have to get back in shape. There's two parts of it, you know, if you weren't an athlete, you could just heal and then be fine. But then, since you're an athlete, you have to also get back in shape and not just shape, but you have to get back in the top shape of your life to be able to compete at the highest level. So, it's really, really particular on being able to get back as much as you can and now that modern medicine's got as good as it is, it's expected that you can come back from it, but it's a lot easier said than done. - Doesn't it feel like that some of these guys are coming back faster this year than like ever be? I mean, like even like, I'm looking at like Zack Sharbinay, who yes was put on PUP, but at the same time, like they're talking about this like, you know, expedited timeline for him or even like kiddle himself, you know, like he's playing this week, you know, and he's ready to go, like do you think that is a modern medicine type deal going on there? I don't want to say that it's like, you know, like 100% tights or anything like that, but obviously there's like a lot of stuff just going on there where we're seeing these, these guys get back and healthier quicker it seems like. - Yeah, I think you see that just in modern medicine in general, you know, we're coming up with more things to help us recover faster, recover from things that maybe weren't thought to be recoverable from. Like now Achilles, if you come back from Achilles, ACL, all these like year injuries, like year ending injuries, you're expected to come back next year. So I would say that alone is a sign that our medicine has gotten so good that yeah, nothing really can stop you from a ligament or tendon standpoint at this point. - Yeah, yeah, it's crazy man. Well, I do want to say, so I was at radio row last year and we interviewed Josh Johnson, part of that commander's team last year. And one of the thing, first off, he was great 'cause he has all the experience that he has, being on all the teams that he has, and I just love the wisdom that he was able to drop just based on that experience and whatnot. But one of the things that I did want to ask you real quick before we kind of dug into you with fantasy, and I want to really ask a lot of nerdy, running back questions too. So David Blow, stepping up, being the OC there, he had a lot, Josh had a lot of good things to say about Blow. I'm curious about what your thoughts are. And then on top of that, one of the big things with Cliff Kingsbury's offenses, a lot of shotgun, right? I mean, like they led the league in shock in the last two years by like a very, very high rate. And so first off, I want to hear your thoughts on Blow if you have any. But then the other thing I want to hear about is, you as a running back, do you prefer playing out of shotgun, playing under center, like is it more comfortable for you one way or another? Obviously, I think you come from a really interesting perspective too because of your past catching background. But I just want to kind of hear what your thoughts are about that commander team with David Blow. Yeah, I think we'll start with the David Blow comment. I think something as a player that we don't always see is the coaching side behind the scenes, because if we're getting installs presented to us, it's usually by our position coach or the coordinator. And so we don't get to see all of the inside of the meeting, like who's coming up with plays, like how they're all being coordinated and things like that. But David Blow, he would every once in a while go up and share a play with us, you know, that he created. And so there's like a little hint of like, oh, okay, maybe he's doing a little bit more behind the scenes. Like we're not in there, staff meetings and stuff like that. So for you to become a, right, a assistant and then go to a coordinator role, there's got to be a ton of trust in that head coach. In that GM as well, because their job is on the line. So you don't just get promoted like that, there's not a ton of trust. So he had obviously shown some sort of growth and some sort of commitment too, that being able to take on that role in the last two years as he was under Cliff Kingsbury. And yeah, with Cliff kind of transitioning to the shotgun question. For me, I prefer being a shotgun and I've never been like a big between the tackles runner. I'm just not a big person. It's harder for me to run through arm tackles, you know, but yeah, I can do it, but the mass of a defense alignment takes a little bit more toll on 195 pounds as opposed to maybe 220, you know, some of these guys out here. So I like being from shotgun. Also, I think it allows me to see better as the quarterback's not in my way. Typically if we're under center, a quarterback's coming straight back. So I got to move to the left or to the right immediately. And so if we're a shotgun, I can see the full picture. A quarterback's already behind me. As he drives, takes his drop and I can get a little bit clearer picture from the line. So, and also, I like catch the ball too. So if we're a shotgun, you know, we're probably, we're probably throwing formations. So I'll take that. - Yeah, yeah, I was gonna say, I would imagine from your perspective too, out of shotgun. It's just easier to kind of like get into space, kind of get a feel for what's around you out in the flat. And then you're able to do your thing as a pass catcher, right? - Let me give you this. Yeah, let me give you this scenario. So I had a scenario actually two years ago, Jaden and we were running a play action from under center. And I had protection. I had pass protection on the same play. I stepped to the left to go do the play action. My defender came from the right side, right? So I'm going, Jaden's coming straight back. He's not looking down the field. He's looking back at me to give me a ball fake. And I gotta go, I gotta go right, but I'm stepping left. So I gotta get over there and I ended up getting blasted 'cause I was in a good position 'cause I was just too late to get over there. And I get thrown right into Jaden, it's a sack. And so like, it's like that that I would prefer if we were just doing a play action from the shotgun where he's already gonna be behind me. And I can abort and I have to go around him. So there's some technical things like that that I would prefer being from the shotgun. - Yeah, makes a lot of sense. All right, I want to talk to you about fantasy too. So you've sort of become like an ambassador within the space. You know, I see you everywhere. You know, you're speaking our language, us nerds and moms' basements. And we appreciate that greatly. But I'm curious, you know, you embracing fantasy football. When did you first realize that fantasy was just having such a tangible impact on the way that fans kind of viewed you as a player and how that's evolved and what you think locker rooms feel about the game these days. - Yeah, let's jump into it. I think first of all, I would love to professionalize fantasy sports in some type of way and be the commissioner of professional fantasy sports. I'm here for that. - And so that's the project I'm working on for next year. But that's, you said I'm trying to, I'm kind of becoming like an ambassador. I would love to be the commissioner of the professional league. - Love it. - So that's in the works. But fantasy, when did I first come into fantasy and realize the community was as dedicated as they were, it was my rookie year. So my rookie year was a third string running back and really was just playing on special teams. And then about three weeks in our backup ends up hurting his hamstring and I get elevated to second string. And this is like the first time I ever get in like some real burn as a backup. Melvin Gordon was in front of us as the starter. He actually had like some lingering injuries. So it's like awesome, you're gonna get some, you're gonna get some player offense this week. And this is a big jump for me because I'm like I said, usually playing on special teams. And so we're playing Jacksonville and I ended up popping off. I had like two touchdowns and like 70 yards. As a waiver pick up that you're like desperate. I need someone on the bench. Maybe like I got to bring someone in. So really anyone picked me up that week. But I ended up scoring, I don't even know, like 15 points in fantasy. And in that game, I was in at four minute offense at the end of the game, I ended up fumbling the ball. I fumbled the ball and we lose the game at overtime because of that, basically. I kind of led them to score a point in time in the game. And at the end of the game, I had a ton of fans that were pissed, charger fans. A rookie should never be in the game. That moment was too big for you. Yadi, yadi, yadi just ripping me. All of a sudden, I also have this huge community of fantasy fans. We love you, you're awesome. Like you're the best, like I didn't know you could do that. So I have all this love. I'm like who the heck are these people? So that was my first deduction to fantasy was end up losing the game, but they didn't care what the scoreboard said. said they just cared that I played well. So ever since then, I started to kind of embrace this community that didn't really care about the logo. They don't care about the name on your on your on the front, right? They just care about the name on the back and that you do well is Austin doing well for my team. And so I really I enjoyed that because it allows fans to open their mind across the league and follow other players all around regardless if they're on their fan, uh, their team. If yeah, you know, I grew up in Pittsburgh and, uh, and so I grew up a Steelers fan went to a ton of Steelers games growing up and stuff. And for me doing this is my job. I mean, this is, you know, I've been doing this now for over a decade, you know, as, as my full-time gig. And like what I've, I've just grown to appreciate what how other teams build and how other teams do things. And like you, if you talk to 17-year-old J.J. about like enjoying what the Ravens are doing, you know, as a Steelers fan, like he would, he would punch me in the face, right? Because just, but, but I, I can sit here and, and just appreciate the game more because of what fantasy football has done in terms of me, just understanding the game at a deeper level and stuff. I was going to say, for me, I would say 95% of the people that come up to me are like, Hey, I had you on fantasy or you crushed it for me in fantasy or I made some money betting on you. And so that has opened my eyes up to enjoying it and you asked about the locker room. Yeah. It is not in the locker room. It is not in the locker room at all. We as players typically do not pay attention to any of this stuff. I am definitely an outlier when it comes to getting into this because for me, I realized that, Hey, there's two sides of the, of the NFL that are a business. There's the one that we get paid directly and then there's the community that's out there. To get into the community, you got to do some extra stuff. You got to go out and kind of, you know, be active in some sort of way. Some people do it through charity, camps, things like that. Yeah. I was like, this fantasy thing is massive. People love this stuff. And so I'm like, I'm going to start my own show, start my own fantasy leagues and really get into that side. So that's kind of been my outside of football interests that I've been, you know, continuing to, to invest. And so most people get, they get the toxic side because here's the deal. Yeah. Here's the deal. There's way more positivity and fantasy than there is toxicity. However, however, maybe not sports betting, sports betting is a little different because we'll get into that second. But fantasy football way more positivity because people have a long stretch of time that you can go up and down. But the thing is, it's the negativity that speaks loudest. Yes. Right. So when you're in my DMs and comments, I'm just seeing that. I'm just seeing people just raging, right? Yeah. I'm not seeing all the positive. Like, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So if you're not really into it and like, following it that closely, you're going to see all that in big. This, these people suck. I hate this. For the most part, it's a, it's a pretty positive community. And here's my thing. I say, I tell this to my wife all the time, it's like, in fantasy, especially, it sucks to suck. If you suck, you're going to hear about it. If you don't suck, they're going to love you. Yeah. The better you are, the better it's going to be. Well, you also, you know, you're coming from the perspective that, you know, you were undrafted. And by the way, I have a, I have a prospect model that I built that, you know, tries to project how well running back some wide receivers and tight ends are going to perform at the NFL level. And unfortunately, I only, because I have to set the, like, you know, guardrails somewhere and I don't have undrafted who didn't go to the combine players and said, my otherwise, because it's all based on like, like, adjusted production in college. So, like, you know, program and age adjusted stuff, I mean, I know your production profile in college is absolutely bonkers, but you were not in the, in the zap model I call it, the Zachary's an adjusted prospect model. But you coming from, you know, an undrafted background where, you know, I don't, you know, expectations weren't as high as the first overall pick, obviously. Zero. And so I do think, I do think, though, that like, there's a story to you in particular with fantasy football, where you were sort of this, like, you know, like underdog type story, where you were, you were, and then you ended up being like a fantasy football hero to so many people because, you know, they probably acquired you, like you set off the waiver wire or they didn't even need to, like, go after you and their rookie draft and dynasty or something like that. And then you absolutely dominated and you were the, you know, the PPR scammer out there catching all these passes and you were helping people out that way. And so like, I would imagine that you are coming, you know, like you, hopefully you've experienced mostly good, like you're saying, which is really, really great. But I do, you know, speaking of like younger running backs and such, when you are looking at and you're watching a young running back, what are the things that that you were looking for that tell you whether he can play or not that maybe the box score isn't showing? Yeah. I love the setup. I would say this. I would, I say I took the stairs, you know, you can get to the end point, which is making a team and hopefully having an impact. Some people get the elevator, which is what I call the draft, some people get the fast track, right? Hey, elevator being top floor, first round pick might be a seventh round pick, but you're still getting the elevator. You still have some investment from that team, people that had to take the stairs, the undrafted people like myself that there was, there was no expectations. There was no investment from that team. So we had to earn every ounce of your taking, you're taking the stairs of a skyscraper, you know, and you're 100% so here's the thing here. Let me answer your question, too, because you asked like, what is it that you can't see in the box score? Well, it's not for many, but the mindset. It is straight up mindset, want to like, there's, there's so much that goes into this game and you hear about the mental part sometimes that pops up and the mental part of the game is so impactful that if you were locked in in the mind and here, let me give you perspective of how I treated it. For me, this wasn't just an opportunity to go and play football at the next level. I treated it like my life depended on it. I was the most stressed I've ever been in my life going through my OTAs in my training camp as a rookie because this was it. I have to make this work because there's nothing else besides this. And for me, I just remember non-stop studying being stressed. I was the only rookie, too. So I remember I was breaking down crying one time because I was so stressed. I never moved up the depth chart one time. I was six string and I felt like I was doing everything I possibly could. I'm studying extra. I would get like four reps a day, but my four reps would be solid. It wasn't like I was making crazy Superman plays, but I was doing my job. I was in right spot, right time using the right technique. And so I was doing the things that I was supposed to be doing because I was so locked in on not messing up when I got an opportunity because I didn't know when I was going to get those because it was far between. There's no six string. You're up. It's third string awesome. Hey, go snag a rep. And so I was 100% mentally engulfed in this opportunity. And yes, I had the physical attributes as far as like, hey, I was, I was free. I was fast. I wasn't the fastest. I was strong. Wasn't the strongest. But I made it work. I was compact. I was able to, you know, stand my ground. And then the mental part, I was using the right technique, the right time, and the coach has trusted me. So coaches continue to build trust in me because I was doing what they were, we were coaching too. And then I was showing the, hey, I can have some upside as well. So I remember my first kind of recognition from our head coach, Anthony Lynn at the time. I was on special team scout team. So I was on, I was the, I was the practice squad punt team for the punt team. And I was the personal protector. The guy that stands in the back. And I just remember I was flying every time and he jogged back, there's no like backup for the scout team. You draw back and you go again for the next group. And I'm full. I'm running like my life depends on it down the field. And Anthony Lynn comes into the special teams meeting. He's like, dang, like, hey, coach stew. That's our special teams coach. Like, who's number three? That guy's flying down the field and coach stew goes, that's, that's Ecclory's been giving us a hell of a look. All camp. And so that was like my first recognition of like, okay, maybe they see me. And my favorite stat to this day actually is I led the entire league and tackles on punt, my rookie year. Wow. Never put a punt in my life. I've never been on punt. But I treated it like, again, like my life depended on it. And so that was the opportunity. That was what was going to get me in the league. And that was the thing that they couldn't measure. And that's why it kind of was the underdog story because my mentality was able to push me through. But you can't, you can't measure that on paper. I'm Brett Coleman and I'm Trevor Sykema. Have you ever watched a game and wondered what really made the difference beyond the final score? That's exactly why we created NFL Pro. Every week we use exclusive next-gen stats insights and NFL content to break down the biggest stories, matchups and moments from around the league. 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Listen to NFL Daily on the iHeart Radio app Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast We also see that iG and you you doing some crazy lifts and yeah, so hey look it shows itself in different ways But can you interpret that can you interpret that as like oh this guy's actually really locked in Sorry to go on another little chance you but like the mental side like understanding the coaches like I didn't realize this until I really got into it but coaches Are so so on edge when it comes to making sure people are doing the right thing because If someone messes up like let's say I go out there and mess up a rep you know the head coach is looking at my position coach Like what the hell is he doing? Why is he in the wrong? Why is he not know what he's supposed to do So now he's he's on on the hot seat. He's looking like oh shoot like I got it So he wants to make sure that if he puts a guy out there that he knows what the heck he's doing and especially on third down when it comes to if you get the quarterback hit It's everybody it's it's it's on the player. It's on the the offensive line coach It's on the running back coach And so it's like Everyone has a trickle effect on how players can do on the field and so I was able to again being the right spot right time gain the trust And I slowly started to build off of that speaking of the coaching stuff Something I've always kind of preached to folks is that like you know We're evaluating running back talent We obviously are hoping and praying crossing our fingers that talent wins out that the best running back that that you know Ends up seeing the the most work right but ultimately running back arguably more than some other positions We'll come down to a coaching decision right like if coach wants to split a backfield you can split a backfield You know you can go that that direction I would first ask if that's something that you generally agree with that like coach to coach You're just going to see different preference and then that could just lead to different volume Which can then lead to obviously different fantasy production and then are there instances you don't have to name names or anything But are there instances where you just like say to yourself Why are these teams deploying these running backs this way? I think you know what you just talked about really resonated with me With like New England's backfield last year where you're talking about guys who are just doing their job and and are are you know Guys that that coaches might might just prefer more than what the average fan sees I think that's what we probably saw a lot of between Ramondra and Traveon last year where it was like You know you see the explosive back and Traveon you see what he can do like that gaming against Tampa Bay where he goes absolutely bonkers and and nuclear right But Ramondra aside from the fumbling stuff which he did fix you know during this the after the first month of the season Like he just is doing everything right right? I mean he's good in pass pro. He's able to to to grind out the tough yards etc etc So you know, I guess my you know to go back to the question is this A real thing in your opinion with the way that coaches just they're like I want to divvy it this way This is just the way it's going to be and we have to be cognizant of that as fantasy managers But then you know are there instances where you're sitting on your couch or if you're analyzing the game How whatever the case may be you're just like what in the world is this coach doing splitting the backfield like this? Yeah, I think there's a few different instances that play themselves out and you kind of see them throughout the league I'll name some teams as we get into it, but they're First of all Playing running back as a rookie is tough Because you spent it's it's really it's the past protection Yeah, the past protection is the biggest mental hurdle that coaches have to be able to trust and get over to trust you to go in on third downs or passing situations Two minutes third downs end of games or hey, you're down by a few scores those types of scenarios You've got to have a court running back in the game that can protect for your quarterback And if you can't it's gonna be hard for you to get on the field no matter how you might be the most explosive player ever However, we got to throw the ball 20 yards down the field. We can't keep handing it off to you So that's going to play a factor into it with rookies And that's what I see a lot with rookies and that's what I've seen from my experiences Rookie running backs have a tough time learning past protection because it's not simple Offensive lines you're gonna take the five people you got everybody else right right to take the five big you got anywhere Sorting stuff we're bumping stuff. They're moving around on defense It's like trying to just eliminate what you shouldn't got to be got to be frightening too. I mean these these two yeah People fast people are fast right you got do line coming up the field you got people looping and stuff So you're gonna be able to track with your eyes and know where people can fit and so yeah That is the biggest hurdle that you'll see maybe that's what happened out in New England with you guys or trade on I should say. I don't know. I don't know that scenario But yeah played the factor into it going back to the trust though Let's talk about the guys that don't don't that actually can stay on the field. There are a few guys and league that Can actually demand that type of respect and hey can actually do all three phases You know, I think a Christian McCafferies one that's done that say quans done that And so I think Davon cooks another one that's done that guys that they're just all around good between the tackles Can pass protect can catch the ball out of the backfield Those guys are going to be really easy to work with because they're going to be on top of their stuff And those guys have put a standard out there that hey I I deserve to be at this top level getting paid top dollar so I can I need to stay on the field But you're gonna have scenarios like you do with maybe like Derek Henry where He's so dominant and just running the ball that he might not be the best to put on there out there in third down You put like a hill out there something like that. Right. So you're gonna have these different scenarios that play themselves out And here the seasons long so if you can have some people to supplement People's strengths for me like right right now in my current position I'm definitely going to be a third down two minute and a game right passing situation type of player That's where I'm at my career That's where I've been strong and that's where I'm at right now And so you're gonna want to compliment and guess what having that compliment is actually great You still incorporate in a way that you can kind of hide it so it's not as obvious all the time But they do their homework too. They know what the strengths are stuff that but for longevity throughout the season It's going to help your backfield just as much, you know What's the biggest worry with Christian every single year? Well, he's gonna get hurt But when he's not hurt due to the most dynamic players late I'm in back position right and so you want to have some of that maintenance So it's not bad to have You know a tandem and stuff like that or someone another backup now from a fantasy perspective if you see a committee I run away. I don't even go near committee. You know, that's how we had it actually at Washington You know the past two years was like three running backs that are rotating through there You have guys that can run a couple guys that can pass and so in that backfield Hey, you have maybe a few guys that you can trust Maybe they're not all the strongest in certain spots So you kind of let them kind of go through get flow just kind of keep everyone fresh And contribute and so I'll end with that is so yeah, I'm always looking for the dominant, you know If I can and then a duo is not as bad, but then I stay away from the committees Yeah, yeah, I feel that another question. I have you know You obviously being one of the premier like past catching backs. We've seen really over the last decade in the league I'm curious you know when when I'm analyzing past catching stuff Especially when I'm looking at guys from college to the pros Like there's a lot of predictive metrics that are and I'm I'm the nerd in the space You know, I do things analytically and I'm looking at things from that perspective And there are definitely some things that I can look at Analytically that help predict and project how well a guy's gonna be a pass catcher in the NFL But regardless of that like I've gotten to the point where I almost view running back as and I want you to break this down Because it's it's something that I think is really important where I have like three buckets of past catching running back There's the guys who are like extremely elite they can line up all over the field You'll see them in the slot, you know Christian obviously being one of them a cafe for being one But then there's the guys who we just know it's just not what they do I mean, maybe you could put their canary in there But I'm even thinking more like Gus Edwards type players like it's just not not not their thing But they're obviously bruises they're great in between the tackles I would say though those extremes are are are pretty narrow There's not a ton of players that are in those buckets necessarily But there's a large bucket in the middle where when called upon they can do their thing It's just that it depends on what schematically things look like And what they are called to do right good example of that would be like Kenneth Walker Who I think is actually a fine pass catcher But he's been in these scenarios aside from the one year with Ryan Grub Where he's seeing like an 8% target share where you know instead of that like 13% type spike And so my question to you is like what are the things that you're looking for that separate A running back being a good pass catcher a great pass catcher to one that might have some work to do Yeah, I think a big part of that actually that you didn't mention was the coordinator And what is the coordinator's philosophy and the reason I say that is because like let's let's use an example from my past At the charges we get Joe Lombardi over from the Saints who had just had Alvin Camera so a lot of that that passing game was the little dump dumps down to the flat Right check downs or like number three in the progression usually the number five in the progression And so now hey, we're gonna give Austin the ball in space. He's gonna be in the grass He's gonna catch a lot more balls. He can get some screens down the red zone all that if you have a player that can Not even it what and in his thing my average, I think you know route run or catch When I was catching the ball was like negative two yards. Right. Right. I'm catching the ball behind the line of scrimmage And so I'm considered a I pass catcher running back But it doesn't mean I'm routing guys up out down the field like right I'm just getting dump off and I'm making people miss and so avoidability is going to help you as one of the Be a premier pass catcher because as a running back you're a lot of times behind the line of scrimmage after protecting And then everyone else is dumping it back and up from for defense and so I go from Joe Lombardi lead the league and touchdowns two years in a row And then all of a sudden we get Kellyn Moore who comes in from Dallas and what did he do they were just the number one Passing offense in the league That means they're trying to sling that thing down the field and all of a sudden Austin's productivity tanks Like I'm just not existing anymore because now number five in the progression as opposed to number three in the progression So the philosophy of the coordinators definitely going to play into that But then also as a route run or as a pass catching running back It is the avoidability because yeah a lot of times it's going to be something that's a short pass Can you make the first guy miss and so that is going to help Determine whether you're a route runner or not from an analytic standpoint because you're gonna get more balls thrown to you If you can make a man miss and so you can see these guys that are averaging between like nine and ten yards per Reception right those guys are making the first guy miss. They are not getting down the field and actually, you know, catching routes down the field like that. As a running bag, that's just not how our position works. So I would use that metric to the avoidability to, you know, kind of enhance your analytics of asking at you back. Yeah, it's interesting because I did a lot of research last year on just yards per out run because everyone uses yards per out run at wide receiver. And actually, from what I found was really predictive of future target share. So like if you had high yards per out run rates, future seasons, you would actually see an uptick and just volume, raw volume at the position, as opposed to, that's why like, you know, a player like Javante Williams, for instance, who has not been that efficient through the air, but, you know, it's kind of the default and Dallas right now, but it's a little bit scary from like an overall profile standpoint because, you know, it's more fragile, right? Because what if there was a player there that could step in and just be, you know, a little bit more efficient through the air? Whereas like, Jalen Warren, dude is just unreal every year, you know, on a per out run basis. Now, obviously last year, there was a little bit of that kind of game wall stuff going on. But yeah, I mean, like, it's a really, to me, it's just one of the more interesting, because it's so important in fantasy. The past catching stuff is like every other fantasy. So it's always been something I've been, I've been just, you know, really, really interested in. All right, just got more questions before I let you go. We're on the verge of watching a whole lot of football. Thank God, tier, finally, which fantasy players, any position do you think could break out this year? - I have a few. I think Dave Montgomery's gonna have a good year. I think this is, you know, he's getting older, you know, and running back terms anyway. And he's in it. And somewhat of a split carry backfield, we'll see. But I think a new contract and a new scenario with a team that's looking to make it better, better run, you know, they had an early round exit the Texans last year. So I'm thinking Dave Montgomery's gonna have a big year this year. And he's kind of getting broken up against away from good junior Gibbs, obviously. And so I think I'm looking for him. He's one of my kind of, like, not a sleeper, 'cause he's made me from self, but I think he's a little bit further down on the list. And then I think he's going to. I think he has potentially finished in top 10. In my opinion, it's his to lose. I like that new energy, though, of new team, new contract, kind of an energy, kind of prove it, type, "Hey, this is what I can do, type of energy." And then I think Lad McConkey's gonna be another one. Keenan Allen had 88 catches with the charges last year, 'cause he just has that history, and that's what he does. He gets open on third down. I used to call him Mr. Third down when I play with him, but I think because there was some injuries of Lad last year and then Keenan coming in, taking a lot of that lion's share, he's not competing. Like Keenan Lad basically plays the same position. Lad can go all over Keenan, can go all over. So I think Lad's gonna be one that's gonna have another pop-off you're here in your three form. - I love the Lad call especially. I mean, so like Mike McDonald's offense is, there's a lot of, you know, one, two wide receivers. He doesn't run a lot of a lot. And so, like when you get fewer wide receivers on the field, it just, you just hyper target those guys and lad's numbers with two or fewer wideouts on the field are just bonkers. I'm very excited for him this year. All right, before I let you go, one bold prediction for this season can be anything, but let's hear it. - My bold prediction is actually another charge of reference, but O'Marion Hampton, I have him for leading the league in rushing touchdowns this year. So that's not the question. - I just did a, my bold prediction piece, that was one of my bold predictions this year. - Hi. - Exactly, exactly. - Let's go. - Yeah, are you, like, do you think he can fit in that? Like, is it all good? There's been people who are like, if he on Amarion Hampton's talent, I love them as a prospect. I thought, you know, he got kind of an unfair shake last year from the offensive line injuries and stuff. Like, are you, are you in? Like, you think he can be a dominant player? - Well, I think to usage down with the running back position with McDaniel's down there is gonna feature him. They can try to run the ball in. And so, I mean, if you can run the ball in, especially with a hard ball who already likes to run the ball, I think that he can be featured down there in the goal line and gobble up all those rushing touchdowns. - I love it. I love it. - Man, thank you so much for the time. Let everyone know, you know, what you're working on, you know, plug whatever you want to. - Yeah, absolutely. So, obviously, fantasies here, and actually, I have a national fantasy league that I'm running this year. So, each week we're gonna see who the best in fantasy sports is every single week. We have a ton of prizes. It's free to play. It's at fantasy royale sports. We have an app and a website if you wanna check it out. But, again, nationwide, everyone plays with their buddies. So, you can be better than your friends, but we're trying to see who's the best in the nation. And this is all leading into me professionalizing fantasy sports next year as the commissioner. So, as your commissioner for next year, fantasy sports, you know, looking forward to having everyone that come out and compete. So, fantasy royale, check it out, and I'll see you on the leaderboards. - That's awesome, man. That's awesome. As usual, everyone, make sure you check out lateround.com, subscribe to the show, subscribe to the YouTube channel, all that good stuff. Otherwise, thanks for tuning in. (upbeat music) - Hey, I'm Mike Yam. - And I'm Trevor Sikama, and together, we host the NFL Fantasy Football Show. - Are you ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? - Because if you aren't locked in with us on the NFL Fantasy Football Show, you're already playing from behind. - Whether you're a first-time player or a grizzled vet chasing another championship, would you be the advantage and the confidence you need to make every move count? - Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football Show on the I-HAR radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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